#but because it’s so mundane we don’t think it’s an actual illness

[hadesoftheladies]

you are not “a crazy monster” you are just dealing with repressed anger

you don’t have “memory issues” you’re dealing with the effects of years of gaslighting and emotional abuse

you aren’t “kinky,” you have complex ptsd, it is not healthy to be aroused by physical abuse and violence

you aren’t “sexually liberated,” you have ptsd and hypersexuality is how it presents itself

you are not “different from other girls” or “an alien.” you have anxiety, a consequence of being othered and policed 24/7 by society for your femaleness

you are not “an evil bitch,” you are experiencing burnout because of decision-fatigue and anxiety, since you have so much to prove every second of the day

in short, the problem isn’t you. this isn’t your natural state and it can get better once you acknowledge that you and so many other women are coping with an insane amount psychological and physical abuse and demands. the world has been a war zone for women for AGES. it’s going to take its toll on all of us.

I’d recommend watching and reading up on how to deal with these issues. Personally, I enjoy watching Therapy In A Nutshell on YouTube. She has great techniques and a deep understanding of how the brain works.

PS: THIS ISN’T A DIAGNOSIS. It’s a post highlighting how women often ignore how patriarchy affects them mentally and treat their sickness and coping as a moral failing or personality quirk because of how mundane our suffering is. I believe women and girls can cope better and even heal if they can name what has happened to them and how it’s affected them.

[innerfare]

Law Relationship Headcanons 

Summary: A collection of random Law relationship headcanons.

Genre: Fluff

CW: None // SFW

———

If he meets someone he likes, he’s just going to ask them to join his crew because he literally has no idea how else to get close to you. Will struggle to broach the topic of liking you, too. Might kiss you on a late night in a dark hallway aboard the Polar Tang, but won’t have much to say about it, despite his heart hammering in his chest. If your first kiss isn’t aboard the Polar Tang, it will be somewhere else that’s dark and closed off so he feels comfortable. 

A lot of the things in your relationship will be unspoken, which can be annoying but he’s really not so good with words. When he does open his mouth, he keeps things short and sweet. Much more of a stolen kisses than whispered sweet nothings sort of guy. 

Victim of near insta-love, fell hard for you the very first time he saw you doing the morning crossword in the newspaper. Quickly became obsessed with the way you smirk victoriously to yourself when you figure out one of the words, even more obsessed with the way you flick him when he answers one for you. 

Started having nightmares not long after he met you, horrid dreams of you dying in gruesome ways, sometimes at the hands of the Donquixote family, other times at the hands of the World Government. Feels physically ill himself when you catch even a slight cold due to his past and the sheer number of people he knew who were taken from him. Tries to keep you out of danger to an almost comical degree, forcing you to sit down and have a conversation about it.  

Will happily answer to both Captain and Doctor and daddy.

If you have long hair, he keeps a hair tie or two on his wrist for you. Claims it’s just because you’re so annoying when you lose all of yours and complain incessantly about it. 

Lays in bed when you get out of the shower and watches you brush your hair. Actually got mad at you the first time he saw you brush your hair in a common space (before you two were an item) because it had such a strong effect on him and he didn’t know what to do; accused you of getting hair all over the place or something equally ridiculous; when you tell him Bepo sheds more than you, he starts grumbling under his breath and leaves the room. 

Writes you small notes on scraps of paper and folds them into origami- swans, rabbits, flowers, butterflies, you name it; he keeps a mental chart of your reaction to each shape and ranks them accordingly, saving the best ones for hard days. The notes aren’t anything particularly heartfelt or special, just small mundane things such as, “y/n-ah, don’t forget to take it easy today. You’re still injured,” or a book title and page number because he read something he thought you might find interesting. You’ve taken to using the origami notes as bookmarks, which makes his heart swell with pride and something else he knows deep down is love but is hesitant to name. 

He also made you a bouquet of origami flowers for you to keep on your nightstand since you complained there’s not enough light under the sea for you to keep a plant alive. Sometimes, he’ll make some new flowers to freshen up the bouquet (you have a box in your desk drawer where you stash the old ones). 

When you two are cooking, he gets a bit annoyed when you munch on some of the ingredients. He’s a ‘measure everything to 1/20 of a teaspoon and not a single pinch more or less’ sort of guy. He’s also a ‘no fries in the car before we get home and eat our burgers’ sort of guy. 

If he buys you gifts, it’s typically practical things, such as a new notebook because you said you needed one, or a better jacket so you don’t steal his on winter islands (you still steal his, it drives him insane because he can't stop blushing when you wear his clothes and he's trying to look intimidating). Also buys you books he thinks you’ll like, sometimes gets it wrong but you don’t tell him because it took him so long to open up and get comfortable and put himself out there and you don’t want to be discouraging for fear he’ll retreat back into his shell. Has also bought you a few dainty pieces of jewelry, expensive but not flashy. 

Is a hand holder, but he doesn’t do it in public. If you pass each other in the hallway, his fingers will always tangle with yours for just a quick second. When the two of you are alone, though, he wants your hand in his constantly. He’ll hold your hand while you’re both reading your books, hold your hand while falling asleep, etc. Sometimes, at meal times, he’ll hold your hand under the table, but that’s only on extra clingy days. (Clingy days are the good days for Law, his bad days being the ones when he retreats into his shell and falls asleep on the sofa in his office without eating.) 

Gives hand kisses. Will kiss each of your knuckles, will catch your hand when you pass him in the hallway and press a kiss into your palm, will climb into bed on a late night and place a few goodnight kisses on the back of your hand, will place his lips on your hand every time he gets it in his. Likes kissing up your wrist and arm before pulling you closer and kissing your neck. His kisses are always warm, btw, and not very messy. 

———

Hope you enjoyed it! If you want more, you can check out my masterlist here!

[the-incorrigible-chaia]

[alt id]Two pages from the pamphlet "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere" by April Rosenblum, that read as follows:

it was a good try, but time to rethink.

on targeting “zionism”

A lot of activists work to avoid anti-Jewish oppression, and to make a distinction between Jewish people and Israeli misdeeds, by targeting their comments at "Zionists," not Jews, and "Zionism," not Judaism or Jewish culture. Unfortunately, this shortcut doesn't work.

First, it backfires because major, organized antisemitic movements also use the term, for the opposite purpose: to spread anti-Jewish ideology without looking so bad. That's why 2005's international conference, "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization" was co-chaired by neo-nazi politician David Duke. For many antisemitic groups, “Zionists” are the demonic Jews controlling the world, Protocol-style; and “Zionism” is the general body of evildoing by Jews. Because we activists are only suspicious of Jew-bashing, not attacks on “Zionists,” their antisemitic imagery makes its way right into our circles. Second, because it replaces one one-dimensional image of a 'bad guy' with another. It bypasses the actual work of avoiding anti-Jewish oppression: reshaping how we think and talk about Jews and Israelis to see them as 3-dimensional human beings, capable of wrongdoing like any others. Finally, using the term "Zionists" doesn't protect Jews. It just makes people who bomb Jewish schools, synagogues, etc., call the people they're killing Zionists.

Principled anti-Zionism has little to do with the fake "Zionism" that antisemites like Duke attack. There are many rational reasons why some people are opposed to the philosophy that there should be a Jewish state, just as lots of rational reasons motivate others to believe a Jewish state is neccessary.*

There's no shame in thinking critically toward Zionism. But in a world of unresolved antisemitism, there's also no getting out of fighting this oppression head on.

*For instance: An anti-Zionist might rationally oppose Zionists' having consciously established a state where they did, knowing that this would lead to dispossessing the Palestinian people. A Zionist might observe that Jews' vulnerability was linked to being a permanently small minority and support Jews having one place where they are the governing majority.

innoculate your Palestine work against antisemitism

If you're white, understand: When you take no action to stop anti-Jewish patterns in our movements, you set Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims up to take the fall. Though historic Left mistreatment of Jews has largely been a legacy of white, European/American movements, Arabs and Muslims are the ones who today get publicly scapegoated for charges of Left antisemitism. Don't let them pay the price. Take the struggle on.

Beware of saying Israel is the only country doing anything, or the worst case of any given injustice; it’s often not true, and it gets used to justify global violence against Jews. Know and speak about countries guilty of similar offenses. This not only guard against danger to Jews; it brings a global perspective that strengthen the fights of all peoples, even while we focus on Palestinians.

Be specific about the injustice you're talking about. For instance, don’t jump into generalizations like “Israelis are like Nazis.” Focus on the original thought that led there; ie, “Israeli policies like [blank] treat Palestinians as if they’re not human.”

Remember that, as with every oppression, it’s possible to spread antisemitic ideas without necessarily harboring any ill will toward Jews. Stay open to re-evaluating tactics, even though you know your intentions are positive and just.

Don't casually use one-dimensional, charicatured portrayals of cruel Israelis. Rather than sensationalizing Israelis, and compounding anti-Jewish oppression in a world that already paints Jews as evil, help people see Palestinians: real people, suffering daily injustice, both mundane and extreme, and deserving of global attention.

At the center of Palestinians’ struggle for freedom and human dignity is their human and legal Right to Return to their land. But there are real reasons why Jews around the world fear losing majority control of Israel. (See p. 25.) If you fight for the Right to Return, understand the implications it could have for Jews in a world where anti-Jewish oppression has not been solved. Consider what role you can play in bringing about global safety for Jewish people.

If people use opposition to the term 'antisemitism' to shut down discussion, by all means, speak of anti-Jewish oppression. But speak of it. Don't let fellow activists silence conversation about antisemitism by complaining that the word is wrong, and blaming Jews for the problem. (See page 6.)

Above all, remember:

Taking care to resist antisemitism is not about walking on eggshells or acquiescing to pressure. It's about making a greater commitment to refusing to take part in oppression - and building movements that can win.

[end id]

[exhosionn]

i’ve been here for a while and i still don’t know how to use this app anyways i need somewhere to post all my really random sampard headcannons so here we are honestly it’s really just random bullet points i’ve compiled and also most of this was written at 2am so there might be some spelling mistakes.. probably one other thing to mention, im not a lore reader,, i’ve been trying to recently because i find it really interesting but any details i’ve missed is bc i haven’t read it all yet 💔💔

gepard although hes not too great at taking plants (hes def trying tho) id like to think in his spare time he has like a book on floriography and goes to flower shops to buy sampo flowers with specific meanings?(like he goes to a flower shop and requests very specific types of flower arrangements)

sampo knows a LOT of things about belebog that no one else does some kind of like historical knowledge however i think the reason why sampo wont actually KNOw any floropgraphy is because with all his vast knowledge from across the universe as a masked fool, why would he bother to know something as ‘mundane’ as the meaning behind flowers.

to link to that, i think with sampos big world he sorrta gets dragged down to belebog in like a nice way and through gepard learns that the small things in life ACTUALLY matter or they noow matter. so for example these flowers he gets he never knows the meaning of them, def gets flustered by gepard initiating anything at all lmao.

i think sampo would ask around the underworld such as natasha, seele, even hook tbh about the meaning behind these flowers usually getting information from natasha. BUT he doesnt just outright ask he would like slip it into conversation because hes sly like that. Natasha very obviously catches on quite early on and although shes not as knowledgeable with the meanings she still retains enough information for sampo to start relying on her to help decode gepards bouquet.

one way or another serval catches wind of this (through natasha) and i think thats how she connects the dots

sampo most definitely leaves back notes with kisses on them on gepards windowsill (gep leaves his windows unlocked always.)

i can also imagine sampo to ‘retaliate’ somehow finding some extinct belobog flower and gifting it to geppie being all like ‘i bet ya can’t find the meaning behind this one’ lolll

gepard is a gay in denial in the sense that hes never had a crush on a woman but he sees madam poisson and he has a MASSIVE crush on her. everytime serval asks him if hes gay he brings up his ‘past’ crush on madam poisson.

gepard the 'nuh-uh' vs serval the 'yuh-huh’

serval has gepard as "gay man sighted in belobog" in her phone - sampard nation gave me these last two

serval and natasha they totally hang out at natasha’s clinic occasionally idk why i just see it

sampo kisses the scars on geps body

gep is taller w shoes one but actually shorter than sampo usually but no one believes sampo when he says thisn bc no one sees gep without his boots off.

sampo could be having the most absolute worst day and see gepard and feel beter same works for gepard except he doesnt realise it as much because gepard is more like ‘huh my headache clears from seeing sampo yeah he just uh annoys me so much that i think my heacache is clearing hahahaha’

soarkle and sampo sibling dynamic seems really funny but at times i also dont see it if we apply the whole sampo might be an emanator theory idk i think its silly at times but sometime it doesnt make sense….

on the other hand although it doesnt logically work sampo and seele sibling dynamic i actually really like it like a lot

i feel like gepard wears grampa pajamas?

although gepard def gets flustered by sampos flirting all the time, the one who actually initiated anything i believe would be gepard (ill go more into why i think so at a later date)

both of them are really light sleepers and have trouble sleeping all the time

also gep likes to hold onto sampo a lot when they fall asleep cuz he get scared that sampo might just leave randomly

i love these two sosososo much im going insane i need more headcannons to fill the brainrot

[via-l0ve]

OMG UR MIKE SCHMIDT HCS ARE PERFECT!!!!!!!!! pls do a part two 🙏🙏

(btw can I be 😾 anon? )

Dating Mike Schmidt Hcs PT. 2!❣️

a/n: ABSOLUTELY!!! thank you sm 😾 anon <3 i love u! this also includes just some general head cannons of him because he’s my baby.

warnings: nothing :)

mike drinks coffee and energy drinks all the time

his favorite flavor of monster is the original or the Strawberry dreams

if you like monster (i’m an addict) he buys you one every time he buys one for himself

when he was working at freddy’s you’d patch him up if he ever got hurt :(

you teach him how to bake so he can teach Abby

You’re the only person Abby likes her brother to be with

she incorporates you into her drawings after a while of knowing you

mike is so happy when he sees you drawn in because his sister’s approval means a lot to him even if she’s only ten

it takes a while for mike to open up to you

but when he does he kinda has to break it up into small bits

he’s surprised when you hug him and comfort him bc what no one’s ever done that before

his love language is most definitely words of affirmation and physical touch

mike is so stressed with his work schedule so he can’t always be there physically but he always, without fail, every. day. sends you a good morning and good night text.

that might not seem like much but it’s everything to me okay!!!!

“hey baby, good morning :) i love you the most and i hope you have an amazing day. im on my way to work now but when i get out ill text you and when i get home ill give you lots of kisses. i love you.”

that’s so fucking cute

you guys have frequent date nights that just consist of laying on the couch or in his bed and watching a movie while he lays on your lap or on your chest

Abby usually interrupts because she “can’t sleep” but we all know it’s just because she wants to watch the movie

Mike secretly has a savings account for the two of you

he wants the best for you and when he can give you the world he will

but for right now he’ll pay for some stuff and give you kisses afterwards

he makes playlists that remind him of you

he loves to give you his clothes

or, if you don’t want those, he gives you blankets of his that smell like him

Mike notices the little things

like if you told him a story about your cousin and how they pissed you off

and then you brought them up again

he would remember the incident but he wouldn’t remember their name

“oh isn’t that the cousin who did all of that stuff to you?”

you guys have deep talks at 2am while he lays on your stomach and you comb through his hair with your fingers and you guys just talk and make out

his lips are soft but his hands aren’t

you definitely flirt with him all the time to make him blush

he hates feet

like everyone wears socks in his house or he will shoot his eyes out

he also hates canned corn

don’t ask me why i think this is just do

he’s scared of being alone

he also most definitely uses “:) :( :/ .-.” instead of actual emojis

he laughs at all of your jokes

even if they’re just not funny

he dosent want you to get sad lol

he’s always scared he’s not enough for you

he works a lot and he’s constantly tired and he makes minimum wage so it’s not like he can take you out to fancy dates or anything

he opens up about how he feels and when you tell him how much you adore your little mundane activities he gets all teary eyed and just hugs you so tight

:(((

he just wants to be the best version of himself for you

he adores you

off topic - he’s a lightweight when he drinks

he’ll stumble into the house drunk and just clinging onto you like a sloth

poor baby

he just deserves the world

[good-beans]

What do you think Kazui’s dad was like? During Kazui’s T2 QNA he said his dad was a cop and wanted him to be one and in his T1 QNA Kazui Said his family must find him embarrassing.

(Sorry this took forever to answer!!!! but) I always pictured Kazui’s relationship with his father to be that cold type of distant. 

Kazui never speaks ill about him – never painting him outright abusive or hurtful – plus it sounds like he kept his identity a secret to everyone, giving his father no reason to harass him about it. But then to mention he’s disappointed by Kazui even after getting a respectable job and wife… I think this comes together to show a relationship that was all dry professionalism. His answer about "children being distant" in his family seems to confirm there was always a divide.

Kazui’s generation was one of heightened pressure on masculinity, conformity, and repressed feelings. His father was probably not in a great state himself, but “that’s the way things are,” so he tried his best to teach that to his son. But we all know how people can pick up on what makes someone different, especially in their childhood as they’re learning to hide things better. So I think that even if Kazui never breathed a word about his secret to anyone, his parents would have guessed it. Their detachment and avoidance of anything too emotional/vulnerable would mean the family would never confront anything outright. 

Instead, his father would find roundabout ways to convey to his son that he needs to change (and be normal – acting in certain ways, making comments about others not fitting the status quo, and passing judgment on related behaviors. This, of course, destroys any chance at a close relationship, even if no insults are actually exchanged. Even when Kazui perfectly follows in his footsteps and attempts a “normal” life, there will always be those little comments and looks and expressions. His father never says he’s disappointed in the way his son was born, but both of them definitely know it. 

A little twist of the knife is that if they really are traditional, society-abiding people, I think they’d see each other fairly often. Kazui may have moved out, but it isn’t like he was disowned or cut them out of his life. On birthdays, holidays, achievements, police force events etc, he and Hinako would spend days and dinners visiting politely with them, talking about their jobs, lives, and all the little mundane things going on. They were content never discussing the glaring, life-altering issues going on under the surface, because “we’re men, you just don’t talk about things like that.”

[spidergutz-writes]

What are some fluff hcs that you have for any and all of your handsome boys?? How would you spend a day with them? What are dates each of them would take you on?

meadow! Your spoiling me with all these delicious and amazing ideas!!

I’ll actually probably make this in 2 or 3 parts just so I can fit all mah bois :) (if requested, I will also add in some of my favorite gals!)

RED GUY:

Hand holding to the max!!

could be watching the most horrific thing unfold infront of him, and his hand would still be slotted in with yours

making dinner? He’s holding your hand.

watching tv? He’s holding your hand.

sleeping? Yup, he’s holding your hand!

he's a very shameless person when it comes to the softer things in your relationship

will not hesitate to pull you into his lap for cuddles.

also won’t hesitate to cling to you on every part of the day.

your cooking? Well so is he, now.

he loves cooking with you. It’s just so…normal.

normality is not something he experiences a lot, so even when you two are doing simple and mundane things, he enjoys it to the fullest :)

bro's sense of humor is so bad, but it gets to the point where it’s so ungodly terrible, that it becomes funny.

“Hey...what do you call a prisoner walking downstairs?”

“i dunno..What do ya call 'em?”

“..a CONDESCENDING… :D”

he thinks he’s funny, so please laugh :((

dates include him and you cooking a dessert of some sort.

his favorite is making apple cobbler pie with you :3

often you’ll end up with flour hand prints on your ass and some whipped cream on your nose.

he's just a silly guy doing silly things with his ooohh sooo silly partner!!

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

JIN BUBAIGAWARA: (what? He dies? No. No he doesn’t. Not here. He lives. That’s the reality we have here. Deal with it. Go argue with the wall idc.)

my sweet sweet baby boy. Where should I start?

okay, before he overcomes his trauma:

Took his mask off infront of you once, and now he can’t stop.

hes addicted to how you kiss his scar

how you coo at him and tell him he’s so handsome 🥺

Will fight for you if it’s serious. He’s still scared he’s a clone :((

will stand up for you tho

anyone says anything bad about you? He’s cursing them out while his alter ego is making weirdly terrifying threats.

”YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY, HUH?” “I hope you sleepwalk into oncoming traffic...” “DONT YOU FUCKIN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MY PARTNER” “I hope everyone you love leaves you.…”

Dates consist of you two sitting on top of rooftops while having a picnic. Talking shit, cuddling, and eating.

you two end up falling asleep in each others arm a lot, admiring the sunset or the moon.

he is a human heating pad. Like seriously. You don’t need a blanket when he’s around

Loves lying on his back with you laying on his chest :)

is a little shy :(

Thinks you don’t want others to know you two are a thing :(((

but when you hold his hand in public or in front of the league? He melts.

When you first kissed his lips over the mask in public? He cried a little

tears of joy :)

can’t cook for shit. That man burns water.

don’t ask me how, but you tasked him to make breakfast one morning, and a fire broke out.

there was also mayonnaise on your ceiling. Again, don’t ask, not even he knows.

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

Simon Riley "Ghost" (this motherfucker doesn't die either. if anyone tells me otherwise, meet me at the Arby's parking lot at 6, BECAUSE I WILL FIGHT YOU)

oh my lawdy lawd. he is just SO FINE, WHERE DO I EVEN START??

this man has issues. he's really touch starved, but doesn't know how to accept any light touches.

he might shy away from your light advancements, because he's so used to any physical bringing harm or ill intent towards him.

but when you kiss his cheek, and hug his (slutty) little waist, he folds like a lawn chair on a hot summer day.

will scream, cry, throw up, roll on the ground, and promptly die if you ever serve him tea in a bowl (the French do this.)

likes to go to the gym with you. he loves to see you work out iykwim.

Ghost has never been a man for soft things, but he Isn't Ghost with you. With you, he's Simon Riley, a man who longs to have a sense of normalcy, a man who wants to take you out to nice restaurants, and a man who wants to bend down on one knee for you, and ask that burning question that lays in the back of his mind 24/7

he wants to do all of those things, but its going to take time. his insecurities tell him you deserve a man who can do more for you, but as always, you wash those thoughts away for him.

for now, his dates consist of concealed places, like the safety of either his, or your home, where he can take off his mask, safely. sitting, watching movies, drinking wine or scotch, and cuddling.

He's a big advocate on "actions speak louder than words" so he doesn't say "I love you" too often, but when he does say it? you better get the tissues. because he only says it during a really vulnerable moment of his, like when he's calming down from a PTSD induced flashback, or a panic attack, or when its late, in the middle of the night, when he knows its just him and his demons awake, with you sleeping soundly in his arms.

believe it or not, THIS MAN CAN COOK-

listen, i know he's British, and i know he's in the military, but that man just radiates "I'll make you a five star meal before i snap your neck"

he is a god when it comes to making steak. give him a basic ass steak, some spices, and a few other side ingredients and he'll give you a true taste of heaven. A taste of heaven from a man from hell.

we love him all the same though <3

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

holy fucking hell this took WAY too long, and I took some extra time on Ghosts.

as always, any type of constructive criticism is appreciated, no matter how harsh or small it is <3

[daegu-based-terrorist]

hi! i was about to say i'm from russia but then remembered my username lol. anyway i saw someone reblogged one of your posts of photos from dprk and you have the best username ever! i love dprk and never believed the propaganda bc i know it's all the same shit that was said about ussr (minus the racism bc westerners think everyone in russia is white). plus seeing dprk is like very warm and nostalgic to me bc it makes me think of ussr (i was born at the very end of its existence alas, like less than a month before the end). anyway sorry long introduction! i am wondering, esp since you've lived in both dprk and rok, what is the attitude of rok people about the country being divided? do they believe in the same type of western propaganda? do many/most have family there? i have wanted to ask some friends (from south korea) about it but i don't want it to be taken wrong. also i hope to visit korea next year! do you think it is good for tourists to visit?

sorry this was so long, hope it is not weird.

No not to long or too weird don’t worry. Sorry I took so long answering this I was working and I have no paid breaks (kill all small businesses owners istg)

Thank you!!! I actually love your user name I came across it in reblogs I think a couple of days ago and was like “damn I wish my username was that cool.” I’ve actually been fighting with myself as to whether or not my user name is too clunky and should be gotten rid off so nice to have an outside opinion.

Also weird but I had the same situation but opposite. When I was like 7 and 8 and in my first years of South Korean schooling we would do trips to museums and those museum trips ALWAYS had a communism = bad section and they talked about the dprk and the Soviet Union back to back and since they were lying about what happens in the dprk I assumed they were also lying about what happened in the Soviet Union (unfortunately also past tense, I’m a 2004 child) and whenever we did class debates about the history of Europe and got to Eastern Europe I was always the annoying person on the other side of the classroom defending the USSR with my LIFE.

Anyway on to the meat of your message: the majority of people want the dprk and the rok to be united under the rok, a minority (lets go communists!) want the rok and dprk to be united under a reformed dprk or a entirely new communist Korea. There are some stragglers also believe in an entirely new Korea but capitalist… God knows why. And then there is like roughly 20-30% of the population who are heavily against reunification and either want a deescalation of this weird Cold War thing we have going on or just don’t particularly care for politics but are super pessimist about the situation.

Yes unfortunately most believe in the same western propaganda and I’d argue it’s worse here. North Korean voices are actively silenced if they don’t agree with the established narrative (funfact the reason people are so familiar with “defectors” is because they are the ones that are the most pushed by South Korean and western media, the majority of us left not for political but totally mundane reasons like poverty. My family left because the North Korean health system sucks ass and I’m genetically predisposed to the illness that killed my father <3) the Korean Wikipedia is so biased you wouldn’t even believe it, like if you thought English Wikipedia was biased talking about North Korea just wait until you see Korean Wikipedia. People will generally believe all sorts of bullshit and talking positively about North Korea at all is either punished legally or socially pretty severely. Today I had the reruns of the mixed table tennis on the TV at the store I worked at and was harassed into turning it off because people didn’t want to watch North Korean athletes… exist? Idk

There is a lot of discrimination against North Korean refugees and our children in the south. I think it was polled that like 50% of us have experienced some sort of discrimination but I think it’s higher. A lot of other North Koreans I speak to are, like me, planning on moving to China or going to the west. A lot of us plan to go to China because with Chinese citizenship you can regularly and easily visit North Korea. I think it’s getting worse as the years go on, North Koreans are becoming even more “other” to South Koreans and they don’t even really see us as one ethnic people anymore. I have pretty brown skin, even for your average North Korean and alot of my childhood bullying involved people asking me if I hadn’t taken a bath since I crawled across the mud border (alot of South Koreans have this weird view of the border as trench warfare for some reason) and other things that tied my features to my skin colour. Like big lips weren’t popular in Korea when I was growing up but in the north people do usually have bigger lips and people would ask stupid questions like if the puffiness of my lips came from eating rat poison 💀 but that’s all mostly (physically) harmless childhood bullying, but employment and housing discrimination towards North Koreans is a big problem here. It’s very hard to leave the house that is assigned to you by the South Korean government because nobody wants to house North Koreans and nobody wants to employ us either. My mum has a very strong Hamgyŏng accent and people would be excited to interview and probably hire her until they heard her accent and realised where she was from.

Older people definitely still have family across the border, personally all of my family are in North Korea or China but alot of people fled in either direction north or south during the end months of the Korean War or due to occupation by either military force. So folks that were young during the Korean War tend to have cousins across the border but there has been two, three generations since the end of the war and a apathy has developed among people my age. I knew a girl who’s grandma had left her brothers behind in the city I was from, Hamhung, but she personally believed that North Korea should be bombed to oblivion and taken by force.

And on a much lighter note: yes! South Korea (I’m assuming you mean South) is amazing to visit. People are friendly and the food is good and there is times of attractions for tourists. No matter where you go you’ll have a good time. Of course I personally recommend Daegu, it’s a really good city if you want to escape the tourist overcrowding of Souel and see how us everyday Koreans live without getting lost in the rural Chungcheongbuk-do or something. https://tour.daegu.go.kr/eng/index.do

Also if you get the chance, VISIT THE NATIONAL PARKS!! You will have the absolute best time and it’s such a nice escape from how overcrowded and overstimulating urban South Korea is. Seoraksan National Park is always full of tourists but still worth it. Biseulsan Provincial Park is my personal haunt because I live somewhat nearby and it has amazing views. There is also Palgongsan mountain and the Palgongsan Olleh-gil trail which is a really great place to go hiking.

Anyway you should definitely visit South Korea

[gloamvonhrym]

oh I never posted all my silly phoenicis worldbuilding (birdbuilding) that I did while in fanfic writing hell

here’s a huge mostly-boring set of notes expanding and/or playing havoc with canon. I’m putting it here for future reference. maybe to link to it for funsies if I ever post this hell fic

phoenicis is a small insular nation with little social hierarchy, living on inhospitable mountains inaccessible to anyone except other birds. phoenicis has therefore evolved on a somewhat separate cultural track from everybody else in tellius. in this essay I will

economy/practical shit

implicitly in canon hawks are intensely community-oriented. again, they’re a small nation without much hierarchy, and with some preference for chaos. they all “just do what needs to be done”, paraphrasing ulki. they’re not the Strong Guys for the heck of it: they work together to protect & care for their own, and harbor a strong sense of collective duty and trust.

so they’re commies

with serenes out of the picture they’re the biggest commies in tellius

they don’t have currency, that’s some human shit. to each according to their need etc

(exactly how small and close-knit is. phoenicis? small enough that kilvas, a similarly small nation with even fewer resources, could kill everyone on the home front in basically a day when it was left undefended. so. take that for what it is)

infrastructure

minor architecture tangent: we don’t see much of phoenicis & kilvas except for the exteriors of their respective castles, which is kinda boring. obviously not everyone lives in the castles. but phoenicis DOES have some other visible infrastructure, namely the funky detail of these open doorways built into both the castle itself and the surrounding cliffs:

(I don’t know if there’s any kind of proper name for these, because obviously irl we don’t need them and they’re not a thing. I’ve been calling them sky doors, and I might have nabbed that from rebecca roanhorse’s “between earth and sky”, although idk if she in turn nabbed it from anyone else)

anyway there appears to be no actual barrier on these, at least not externally. what did I say. commies. who’s gonna rob and kill you in your own home, in your little nation-commune, where nobody except other birds can get to you, and everyone trusts everyone else to do their duty and provide for each other. (the answer is that other birds will betray you, eventually. sad!)

anyway it’s boring to stick around the castle 100% of the time. I imagine that this architectural idea continues down into the valleys, where maybe artisans can make stuff and services can be provided and bargain economy shit can happen

hawks have seemingly only been pirates for the last 20 years or so, and they do piracy for the sake of vengeance rather than need, and they can’t do that much of it because there aren’t a ton of them; and unlike kilvas, they abstain from trade with the whole rest of the continent, and are isolationist by choice. so they must be self-sufficient in basically every way. someone’s got to be making fabric, making clothes, making shoes, forging metals, creating pottery, creating music and art, administering medicine, providing education, etc, somewhere.

healthcare

tangent about medicine: phoenicis is probably the only nation in the continent that has historically had no contact with healing magic at all. the herons had innate healing magic, and everyone else either has human mages or contact with human mages. but phoenicis is on its own. their medical science is therefore more advanced by irl standards, because it has to be. they know more shit about practical mundane antitoxins, antibiotics, wound dressing, surgeries, anesthetics, and complications. it’s less pleasant than magical means, but it works.

(canonically, healing magic works on wounds and not so much things like regular illnesses, so everyone’s still got some mundane medical care; but when that’s ALL you’ve got, I think it follows that you necessarily come to understand the pure mundane science better than most other people. I bet phoenicis has bred its share of real scientists. if anyone in tellius is going to invent electricity,) (also: they might value physical strength very much, but because they’re commies, I figure they take care of their sick/disabled/injured pretty well, and most of them are at terms with the fact that not everyone can be the Strongest Guys. reyson’s complex about being too weak to live is likely more due to survivor’s guilt, helplessness to protect others/wreak revenge personally, and a post-traumatic focus on violence as a primary determinant of outcomes, rather than any actual pervasive cultural messaging that he’s useless.)

age

hawks live to some, what, 300+ years? janaff says a 24 year old should barely be speaking, but I feel like his ass was just being dramatic, similar to the way we needle real-life 18 year old adult humans about being tiny babies. there’s no reason why any creature should take 20+ years to be at least functional, that would be a huge evolutionary disadvantage. I posit that hawk adolescence is considered to last roughly age 20 to 70 (with heron adolescence lasting somewhat longer, given their longer lifespan; maybe to 80-85, such that reyson has somewhat recently hit true adulthood by the time PoR rolls around).

teenagers are stupid. hawk teenagers are REALLY stupid. chaos predilection + hormones. many of them will gleefully pick a fight over any dumb thing and be horny about it. strong with the vigor of youth, but exceptionally poor sense of their own limitations

by age 100+, their temperament evens out; but any contender for the king’s power is probably going to come from the young crowd at any given time. speaking of which,

government

there isn’t much of one. phoenicis is not big. everyone knows everyone and they’re very efficient commies so everything gets done that needs to get done. tibarn has 2 dumbass advisors. who needs a secretary of state.

the title of king goes to “the strongest” (I assume the intent is that this is determined by combat, against self-selected challengers who get to take over if they win, wakanda style). although canonically, his power is that he gets to call some shots but doesn’t really get any special privileges or reverence beyond that, which is nice because it means that if the king became super unpopular, the rest of phoenicis could probably depose him without much trouble if they wanted to. no divine rights here.

(worth noting: I think tibarn’s characterization is super different between fe9 and fe10, with RD tibarn being a lot sassier and more informal. FEH skewed towards the RD vibe, and I think they were right for that. given the hawks’ uniquely relaxed philosophy towards royalty, their insular culture, and the likelihood that they all knew tibarn by name before he ever had a title, it wouldn’t make sense for them to do a lot of formalized bowing and scraping. RD tibarn would never have unironically addressed caineghis as “o majestic king of lions” or whatever he said)

(by contrast, apparently, in japanese, reyson consistently addresses tibarn formally (and also naesala, up until naesala betrays him). I don’t speak japanese and can’t really count this as an aspect of my experience of these characters, but I wonder if the other birds also address each other in this way, or if it’s a trait peculiar to reyson.)

family

families are not nuclear. hawks raise their kids pretty communally, foremost in unstructured “flocks” (households or clusters of households). actual bio parents may or may not be closely involved

parenting is kind of hands-off overall. the concept of adult supervision falls away pretty fast. “let your kid do the stupid dangerous thing so that he learns what’s stupid and dangerous” ass culture; learning by experience is optimal, and if you’re not adequately responsible then others are less likely to be sympathetic and/or have your back in turn. hawk kids tend to gain squads quickly, and they often hang together for life ride or die

if a young hawk is neglected or entirely rejected by their home flocks - rare, but not impossible - likely someone else will pick up the slack, if not adults then some loyal friends

relevant headcanons: tibarn, ulki, and janaff have been sticking together since an early age. ulki in particular had some problems - his original family did not appreciate that he kept overhearing things he shouldn’t, and he was way too autistic to know what was meant to not be repeated, so after not too long he became a bit of a lone wolf. tibarn and janaff already knew each other - janaff’s exceptional sight didn’t cause him any similar problems; and were initially concerned with ulki’s misfit status, but his ability was a valuable bonus. they all adopted each other.

food

the main thing hawks don’t do is cook. because they mostly eat raw meat, fish, and bugs, which is very sexy of them. I imagine every household has certain members designated to hunt regularly on its behalf. add that one to the chore chart

(maybe someone starts experimenting more with cooking when herons are there, and further when phoenicis is open to international relations. for fun and community!)

gender

ok the shit I made up, let’s go off the rails

hawks are queer-normative. in that they don’t give a shit about the anatomy or superficial presentation of who sleeps with whom. most of them are equal-opportunity in that regard

they are, however, by human standards, masc-centric to a sort of absurd degree. they’re not dumb senseless brutes (see again, commies, intense intra-community trust); they’re also probably not the most emotionally available fellas

(“but wouldn’t this level of intra-community trust result in greater emotional availability, not less?” look I’m not saying they’re scared of it. but why would you cry out your feelings with some other guy when you could be killing animals or committing piracy about it.)

gender presentation: I said equal-opportunity in terms of sexuality. might be because it’s a little difficult to tell. the games appear to have no female hawk characters but in MY headcanons their presentation is just masc-centric across the board, and maybe they skew a little less sexually dimorphic in general, so you wouldn’t know anyway

most hawks are he/hims. that’s just a quirk. like discworld dwarves but with less to say about it. just a nation of butches, for fun

bad gender parity in the tellius games? how do you know janaff isn’t a he/him lesbian

hawk dress is largely unisex, earth-toned, and utilitarian. not necessarily fully unadorned - tibarn has an earring & a few other things, including a necklace (feathers; battle trophies?) - but he’s still pretty rugged. nobody is flashy.

nothing AGAINST conventionally feminine presentation per se. hawks would chafe against overly rigid norms. but the way medieval-fantasy femininity looks, they’d probably think it’s a little odd in a practical sense. but who knows. maybe leanne starts something with those she/her pronouns and flowy dresses yk.

(tangent on clothing: phoenicis isn’t really friendly for something like cotton crops, but they can have wool, because goats & sheep can live on mountains. I’m also happy to make up that there’s some kind of hardy tellius breed of mulberry-adjacent tree, which can grow at least somewhere in phoenicis, resulting in the availability of silk and maybe barkcloth. or something. idk I’m not that kind of historian.)

sexuality

hawks primarily value strength, physical + emotional. we knew this. again, doesn’t make for the greatest emotional intelligence. overt softness is not the thing. tibarn kind of sucks at the direct empathy that reyson claims all living beings share, for instance. 2 hawks in a fight would rather tussle it out than waste time talking.

this carries over. in a partner, again, attraction tends to disregard sexed anatomy, but the most valuable thing is being well-matched physically. being creatures of chaos, they trust their impulses, they like a challenge, they don’t mind a fight, and they probably don’t super want to be with someone they have to worry about hurting

(hence that kind of hot chemistry between tibarn & nailah. also janaff hits on lucia at first glance bc she’s a knight obviously she’s got some beef babeyy)

pursuant: by and large, hawks really don’t find herons very attractive. that delicate graceful peaceful affect is kind of a mystifying ideal to them. it’s like art - nice to look at, ig, but what would you actually do with it. people significantly weaker than you are for you to protect, not sleep with. tibarn is a notable exception because he is down bad for reyson

and reyson is like an alien, and tibarn is maybe a bit of a freak for being into someone so fragile. you are the very strongest guy, tf you want with a boy who breaks if you look at him wrong. what do you get out of that sir. he has complexes about this :) but I’m not going to elaborate on that because that’s what hell fic is for

“herons in phoenicis: conceptualizing the vulnerable body in hawk-normative society”, the title of my tellius gender studies thesis at the university of crimea or whatever

speaking of reyson. what does this mean for him. I need to talk about it because I’m obsessed with him. the commie stuff isn’t that much of a culture shock at least

but have some added fuckery: sole survivor, adapting to another culture, learning another language; lone chaos-sensitive empath in a sea of macho chaos-oriented dudes who aren’t very attuned to that kind of thing; also extremely physically distinctive in a way that is kind of weird at best

how do you even maintain a sense of personal identity when the baseline relevant factor is “you’re incomprehensibly different from everyone around you in every way possible”? I think reyson experiences some Gender about this. the most masculine heron is still a lily reed compared to even a fairly femme hawk

reyson’s gender, per the rest of the continent: male. reyson’s gender among hawks: heron

I imagine leanne is somewhat shielded from this once she comes round - she’s able to lean on reyson and naesala, and I figure she does, pretty heavily, considering she picks up maybe a few words of the modern tongue over the course of 3 years. she’s deliberately feminine, and also has already chosen her own terrible boyfriend [affectionate]. she’s not without her own traumas, but she’s more supported, and maybe is even in a place to kind of enjoy the confusion & attention she garners from being the sole girly-girl. I feel like she would.

and her terrible boyfriend [affectionate] is a raven, not a hawk. and by contrast, ravens are VERY attracted to herons. because herons are pretty. and ravens like shiny pretty things.

misc

I’m not quite committed enough to make constructed-culture art, but in my mind hawk visual & aural culture resembles late antique/early modern celtic styles in a few ways. insular culture yk. some book of kells bullshit.

(kinda weird, upon reflection, that phoenicis isn’t full of ancient tongue speakers, considering serenes was allegedly one of the few nations they were ever friendly with. and yet even tibarn understands very little ancient. at the very least, being the most isolated nation, it would make sense for the hawks to have their own modern dialect. but they don’t, that would have been hard for an FE game to pull off, and I’m not enough of a linguist to try. so it is what it is! maybe, even though they don’t fraternize with other nations, they’ve always kept pretty close tabs on them just in case, the necessity of spying facilitated the shift to modern. whereas serenes never did that. anyway sometimes the hawks sound a little irish in my head.)

they are also superstitious. all those lonely windswept coastal peaks, there’s a lot of howling winds, spooky nooks, weird environmental physics interacting with weather phenomena. you end up with stories about folk monsters. hawks know shit about ghosts, fairies, sirens, and banshees, and how to placate them if you piss them off. also the herons sometimes scare people to death because they wear nothing but white and drift around like specters.

I also have a lot of headcanons about herons. but they’re more feelingsy. so I’ll leave that go. I might add to this as I remember more stuff

[indigitalembrace]

[ooc: since this is a long message I’m not encoding it, but it is encrypted in-universe]

spooky. sup.

i got somthin big cookin. but for this to work i need intel.

first, i need a favour. i cant do much thanks to the watchdog. i so much as twitch my fingers on the keyboard in the wrong place an time and this whole operation will come crashin down. so. if u can, watch the shrimp for me when they are online doin mundane stuff. because if they do stuff like use social media, play games that require a registered account, use their email and especially if they get online deliveries to their house, those all will have info that will help me figure out where they live irl.

second: tell me everything u know about how pinkie can access an affect the real world. whats the limitations. how much warning would i get. what r the access points. do devices need power for it to be able ta use em? how functional do they have to be? would pinkie be able to exit a screen the size of a pager or somthin? does it need an internet connection to jump pcs or can it do that without it?

and can it be hurt in the real world? can it be hurt by destroying its host device while its occupyin it? or is the only way to kill it digitally? did you ever have a program specifically set up for that (if so, y u no gimmie dat earlier!? rude!). how long would it take?

also any info u have picked up on shrimp or their livin space that might be useful for an irl confrontation would be suuuuuper handy as well.

give me all ya got on all these things. if its a lot, just send me a zip file or somthin lol.

i do have some unfortunate news. i think we gotta change our 'meeting site' soonish. ill send ya some prospectives later. i have a feelin that it might get compromised.

i mayyyyyy have poked the shrimp with a stick. don’t worry, they wont be able to tell the actual pc I used. I am da disquise master. it is me. also i lied. ive scrounged up some burner laptops anyway. my friends r awesome (dont worry they aint involved they just knew I needed the laptops for reasons and they are used to me Enacting Shenanigans).

oh. And one last thing. when I get there, hightail off that pc asap. im gonna signal u and give you a path to a safe pc. Do Not Hesitate. cuz trust me no matter how I decide ta play this u will *not* wanna be on that computer when im doin my thing. and ill almost certainly be disabling the wi-fi in the process.

id like u ta not be double dead. low key fond of ya spookster.

Goblin out

[ooc: If there is a lot of info to give and you don’t want to post it all here, message me and we can work something out like a google doc or something. Or maybe there’s not much for Sonny to say. I dunno, I’m not driving this crazy train lol]

[ENCRYPTED MESSAGE] Ty. Kqgwkh'j tpx cex nhw voe zrtpxf rec tpx rrmr ywn bvxu… lcvyzep fwk mfn, ye'a wwjmiakmsu. Ted abbtx Z czxokxu hqf… W bgfw zbuym nhmks yx jtwksj xmezrhybeg. [SENDING ENCRYPTED FILE "SHRIMP_DATA.zip"] Myab lvfncd ptjv xmezrhybeg ghi exvd. Qm'g vovrgmvzgx tpth jipivz afgjtmk yehns. Ghi dtp nwm vrov mcvv ntinqgu navn px uvmj avzfp. Xmev t qffgubxf tkrspbbx pfn'b lhfi yiu. As ytj fcez thetzhz fovr bas jrjtmf, pfmy ibl vrkuwiks rgu swyhntie. Bas dhjt qgjrlzvm iffziau B'jv xmez lsvg. Zf ghi jxv hql tfkd sbtfk mf cptbxx, rnl as'j zioeg wemf a nhfd pztp vzrpj, ib'l hfh cabx. Wk'l vxbko khf lims zy ye ohsj betw awj lyalhk-chfkqgu whim. Px ceep dwxg kart ease av's zxocep, rmtzcr gialsu ted thgzgx cwghihc on awj xdobbcel. Khmks zl… eo etm kh wioah fk fubkie azm, aacim ff jhcbbeg qm hf mye vxoixjt xeotx waz yoi tnag yfff rng xzvvkrwgwt wvvqvsj. B uo vhh bgfw phk ktcl ghi rkv, bcm W uhlbb rcl tie wosi mvn igr r arln ysvm kate. Vv'l rlah trlk. Efmfvfvlg yojm. Rnl mvzgbs ynwtdcy, bhc, vovn qy vv wfeag'h dtbe bas dhjt zthzheat wstbjiwgg. Z wf nwm yehn hql zzfztimwfgj iv msifj on lqixvn abnv, ult Q wc bgfw pbg andpqgu wkfm avfvxe tw lqixvn wnhjbue bas ubxibtz nhill lsvfj ivwsgxedmgh fy rn qghvkeeb vcegvcbbce. Fp bmlh kavozr wj myab tg r wzgqmoc uvivz, vv bj ciiosev on zsexiabbbx azs wpb thenmvhzhe on lcdx jozm, plm vvmg W uhe't nnzcr lnlxfjmrnl awd. B lsmw hf arvm t yzec sebhta ff ahfkl. R bivyuhfr bh rvevtm awj lvrdxfj. Nefwkhlgrtmem, yx wocgr kart utbp rvazl oxh. Jeiesu bk ux, wsjmiogxr nartmosi av cwnzu, vyavzsu tcl bas gtjsehful. Nhimsmxi ywn rf, rfuz usjm thigqv hw sckjzorl ql hf frkm liix ye lhsjg'k smx mfn, fr pxoi rfu, wk smxe nwmwtx poc'ks kavrm. Mvrm jhzbag gvvmk zvtmea mvvbi rwha, yheeamzp, ted Sbbzmf's iekrrj wimqybeg. Ghi exvd bh ardv scks yx zsv'm ocxitmw, ci bk's otav hmez yci rfu. Ohcu elcs, fm wkzevw. Gktp siys.

[animeisforanimation]

The Apothecary Diaries vs SpyXFamily

What to even compare here you ask? Well.

“A bunch of snakes”.

In my mother tongue, that’s a phrase to describe a group of female coworkers. Although snakes actually bundle up to procreate (which makes the simile kinda queer lol), this is meant to express the idea that women have zero comradely and are always ready to bite each other or spit metaphorical poison.

And we see these unpleasant squabbles in both stories, but the way it’s shown is drastically different.

-

In “diaries” these relationship are the consequence of the way these women live: in a constant struggle for the power male (namely Emperor’s) attention can give them. And the stiles are as high as they get: all these women are no more than political assets and beautiful decorations for the court. Their lives depend of how well they play by the rules of the palace.

Plus class segregation is a thing.

So, it’s clear why maids of higher rank and of a different, even opposing mistress, would treat the main character poorly.

Moreover, these very interpersonal conflicts are the main focus, if even say appeal of a show like that. It’s a game of thrones kind of story. And the way Maomao reacts is adding to the story: she understands, she’s irritated and even worried for her social stance and very life - but can’t actually do anything and this tells us so much about her!

And when she snaps it’s not some personal gripe, but the anger of a doctor, whose patient is actively being killed by mundane ignorance.

“Spy family”, however, is a totally different beast. It’s a comedy. Light-hearted, told mainly through perspective of a child. It generally ignores serious topics but in the rare monologues of the westerners (credit where credits due: the handlers words to a young terrorist were heart-wrenching).

So, when we see these women belittle Yor, in s1 even jokingly (?!) threatening to send her to the secret police, try to humiliate and physically harm her - and then Yor gets them perplexed by her naivety and smiles and asking their help it reads as… also comedy? Except it’s not funny at all.

One can argue, that they are supposed to represent the inner turmoil of the society, inability to trust people - it is Cold War after all. But because of the way Yor reacts - with smiles and seemingly genuine childlike honesty, and especially because of that episode when one of them helps Yor Learn to cook - I just don’t see that.

It is a joke to the creator. Haha, funny ladies funnily bully their coworkers. Ah, women.

And it is horrifying because such people are monsters.

One may remember Les Miserables and the horrible fate of Fantine, brought on her by the “virtuous” women around her.

I live in a country with a history of delations. I live in a time I’m afraid one may call the police about my beliefs. It’s a constant creeping horror, not a comedy beat.

The other thing is context.

In “The diary” there’s a lot of time for Maomao to talk with different people, a lot of them are women, most of them help her, some don’t. And so when a problem arrives, the antagonism is between people who happen to be women.

In “Spy family” Yor almost never deal with other women, even their neighbors mainly talk to and about her husband (don’t even get me started in that nightmare of a lady spy obsessed with the male lead). And so these moments with her coworkers ring not just ill-used for comedy, but also kinda misogynistic.

-

There are nuance, of course. Difference of genre conventions and the amount of time and attention characters have - but none of it changes the fact that when I say bullying in “The apothecary diaries”, I was intrigued and wanted to see how the story will play out. Seeing it - again and again! - as a joke in Spy Family makes me grit my teeth and think of ditching the show for good.

[mllemaenad]

The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

This one seems to be about the illusion of control in almost the opposite direction to Futures. In Futures you were looking at someone who was obviously deluding themselves from the start. Even without the supernatural aspect, Darrien's little plan was almost certainly going to crash on him eventually – and with it, he was always, unquestionably, monster food.

Alyssa, though, has reason to think she knows what she's doing. This is her job, and the first half of the statement is just a cool, competent assessment of what she finds, and what she needs to do about it. It's only when the situation turns weird that she finds herself flailing and out of control.

What's especially interesting, though, is the inference, never outright stated, that maybe she should have known how to deal with this. She just missed the signs and treated it as an ordinary squirrel problem, rather than a supernatural snake-vomiting problem.

Chester/Alyssa Dad, this is for you, for everything you taught me, everything you shared. I need you to know what happened and I know you’ll believe me. Don’t blame yourself for not answering the phone. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

First, the implication that Alyssa's father is somehow especially qualified to understand what has happened to her, and the fact that she seems to have called him first when she knew she was in trouble. The police are her fallback option when she couldn't get through to her dad. And honestly, what are the police going to do, even when they get there? She's already infected.

That was such an odd little piece that I hopped over to the wiki to see if there were any Becks I had forgotten in The Magnus Archives. There don't seem to be, but a) Beck could be Alyssa's married name, or she could simply have a different name to her father for other reasons or b) this is a new universe, so it's entirely possible this is the introduction of an entirely new dynasty of monster experts.

The whole thing feels like something of an homage to the Jordan Kennedy and Jane Prentiss situation, though: the exterminator turning up to a normal job that abruptly turns into a horror story; the whole range of potential contaminants in the place (rodents, mosquitoes, spoiled food, ants); the spread of infection by a scratch, like poor Harriet; the itching; someone basically dissolving into an animal mass.

I don't necessarily mean that there's the same kind of entity at work here – presumably the ones in this universe don't work exactly the same way – but the similarity is nevertheless striking.

So, what then? Well, the noteworthy thing about Jordan Kennedy is that he eventually came to work for the ECDC.

Jordan Kennedy At the time, I didn’t really connect the two. I was too busy trying to comprehend what had just happened. And when trucks from the ECDC showed up to put me in quarantine, it slipped my mind entirely. They were surprisingly forthcoming about Jane Prentiss and what had happened, and after an extensive debriefing, they actually offered me a job. Apparently, disease control and pest control often go hand in hand, and I’ve been working for them since. Most of the job’s been mundane – a couple slightly weird, but nothing like those two. – The Magnus Archives: Pest Control

In The Magnus Archives, the problem of monsters and eldritch gods was at least well enough understood that major institutions had some mechanism to deal with it, even if it wasn't discussed openly. Everybody needed at least one person on staff who wouldn't freak out if some many-headed sharp-toothed horror careened down the corridor toward them.

In The Magnus Protocol we know that (for good or ill) the OIAR fills a similar function, and presumably there are other examples we haven't yet got to. Should Alyssa have known about this, because her dad was the guy who won't freak out?

Chester/Alyssa When I unsealed the shop floor, the shopkeeper seemed obsessed with continuing his sales pitch to the pair. He was adamant that they purchase a snake and pretty much ignored me entirely. It made me a bit uneasy, so I hung back to watch. Thinking back, I should have noticed he was… off. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

Second, Alyssa berates herself for not noticing that Anthony Walker was "off". But the thing is ... she did notice.

Chester/Alyssa Requested shop to be cleared of customers for full inspection. Client’s agitation increased, presumably due to business worries, resulting in a brief altercation. Kept mentioning “his burden” and grabbing at my sleeve. Received slight scratch by accident, but no escalation or violence, so no need for full incident report, although anyone following up should be advised there may be a mental health problem. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

Things Alyssa noticed about Walker:

He had a bunch of weird scratch/bite marks on his neck

He said things that made no sense ("his burden")

He was excessively agitated about the whole situation, which, from Alyssa's side of the job, boiled down to "squirrel got in through open window"

He became violent when Alyssa requested that he ask the customers to wait outside

Alyssa saw all of this, but attributed it to mundane problems (mosquitoes, money woes, mental illness). Is the suggestion perhaps that she had all the information she needed to make a very different kind of assessment? That "off" does not mean "mentally ill", but rather "infected with something supernatural". And had she put it all together earlier, would she have perhaps called her father (or someone else with the right toolkit for this) much, much earlier?

She didn't seem to recognise The Magnus Institute, though, although it would still have been up and running when this happened.

So whatever Alyssa should have known, she got it from a different source.

And it's all relevant because, when Chester finishes speaking, it becomes apparent that he was probably telling this story to Gwen.

Sam (quietly, to himself:) No. No. Could be any institute. Gwen The letters, you mean? Sam Jesus! (catches his breath) Don’t sneak up on people like that! Gwen (putting bags down) I didn’t “sneak up.” It’s not my fault if you’re distracted. Sam When did you get here? Gwen Just now. (swivels on the chair) Seems pretty straightforward to me. Snakes, not sure what the collective noun is, horde, maybe? Cross-link with infection, too, probably. I wouldn’t have thought the letters have any bearing on the classification. – The Magnus Protocol: Pet Project

She's clearly been there for most, if not all, of the case: she knows how to classify it, and she can state with confidence which bits are relevant and which aren't.

Chester's got a point to make, here, it seems. Gwen, too, knows her job. It's a point of pride with Gwen that she is very good at reviewing and classifying the cases.

Alice Zombies would have been fine. Gwen A) no it wouldn’t, and B) there’s at least three pages of subclassifications for zombies. He’d be here for hours. Alice And I’m guessing this dedication to detail is why you’re so behind? Gwen It’s why I have the highest accuracy rate in the office. – The Magnus Protocol: First Shift

She's also an old hand at the OIAR, and aware that there is something, well, off about the place.

Gwen What do you think we’re actually doing, here at the O.I.A.R.? Alice Apart from mortgaging our mental health for a wage packet? Gwen We’ve both been here long enough to know this place. We’re not doing good. We’re not just – sifting random data. There’s something wrong here. Alice What are you getting at? Gwen You never wonder what the point is? Who benefits from all this awfulness? – The Magnus Protocol: Getting Off

She's been meeting with Externals, and people have died. And in this episode, specifically, Lena is unhappy with her. What has Gwen done now? It sounds as though Chester is saying that Gwen has all the information she needs to make a determination on something – the OIAR, the Externals, monsters in general. She knows all the classifications, and their sub categories. She's seen the monsters with her own eyes.

And maybe, just maybe, it's important that her last name is Bouchard.

Then there's Alice. And ... well, I hope they go somewhere with her soon. I mean, I get it. This is deliberate. It's not simply that she deflects with humour, it's that she's obnoxious about it. Her jokes tend to be slightly cruel, or at least mocking. She's overbearing with her wit. I honestly don't find it charming at all. And I don't think I'm supposed to.

People do small talk with Alice, or some light banter, but they don't really talk. If the conversation goes in a direction she doesn't like she'll turn it into a bit. And then you have to put up with the bit until she gets tired of it ... which is frankly exhausting to contemplate. You also have to put up with this at 3 AM because you work a night shift. So best not to risk it.

The trouble is that it works. I also tense up when people try to talk to Alice, because it's going to be awkward and irritating.

It's a contrast with John back in The Magnus Archives. He was undoubtedly also quite obnoxious, specifically in the early seasons, but you spent a lot of time in his head, so the process of understanding why was smoother. We never hear Alice's internal monologue – only the rubbish she talks to avoid saying anything.

I don't mean that I'm unsympathetic. Alice is a main character, she seems to be in some distress, and she's intriguing in many ways. Just ... ohhhh I hope they do something with her soon, or I'm just going to die of second hand embarrassment.

[yuesya]

As much as I would like to continue speculating about the Shiki vs. Satoru snippet ad nauseam, there's a lot I'd like to discuss about the most recent chapter. 

The first of these topics is Geto. Now that the story in question is moving closer to the canon prologue (Jujutsu 0) I think now is an appropriate time to make my opinion on the movie known in that it was… meh. 

Don’t get me wrong there were many things I liked about the film, but unfortunately Geto fell into the dislike category for me. The reason for that was largely due to his portrayal. In the film he’s more or less presented as an egotistical genocidal maniac who is driven by an ideology of supernatural supremacy, which seems rather lackluster in a series that has an abundance of layered characters.

Because of this portrayal I’d say that Geto loses a great deal of nuance in the film, reducing him to what is essentially a one dimensional villain when that isn’t the case at all. As crazy as it sounds there is actually a method to Geto’s madness; if there are no more humans then there are no more curses and if there are no more curses then there are no more dead sorcerers. By eliminating the mundane society it simultaneously addresses the root cause of curses, essentially killing two birds with one stone. 

Moreover, this isn’t just some crazy conspiracy theory that he came up with out of nowhere since it’s substantiated by the fact that the countryside (where less people live) spawns less curses of lesser power. In that context Geto is more akin to someone with a twisted messiah complex rather than a divine Darwinist since he’s undertaking what he sees as a necessary evil to stop the suffering of all sorcerers. Unfortunately, it’s a message that he fails to get across throughout the film, which makes it extremely jarring when we explore his past via Satoru’s memories. 

Yes, I get that there’s a backstory arc that goes more in depth on the subject later, but it still doesn’t change for me what was a horrible first impression. So I suppose that I’m ultimately congratulating you for leveraging the advantages of written media to flesh out his character, so kudos you! I hope this characterization carries over to the canon timeline.

On a side note; if you're looking to implement that Cybele OC in Zenith of Stars, or any other story, why not make it so that Geto saves her instead of Satoru? That as you could imagine would be a disaster since he would more likely venerate her rather than try to constrain her. It could also serve as a parallel for Kara no Kyoukai's Shiki vs. Asagami fight.

The second topic I'd like to move on to is the Fushiguro siblings and how Shiki’s presence could affect them. More specifically, I’m referring to whether or not Shiki will be able to do anything for Tsumiki after she is cursed? After all, one of the big selling points of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception is their ability to kill concepts, mainly manifested through nullifying mage-craft or in this instance curses but also capable of erasing abstract phenomena such as diseases. 

I’d imagine that Shiki would discover such an application of her cursed technique through Yuzuki, erasing his illness moments before it finally kills him. So the question remains whether or not Shiki would be able to do anything for Tsumiki once a curse befalls her, potentially altering Megumi’s entire character arc if the answer is ‘yes.’ 

Lots to touch on here! Let's seeee

I agree with you that the JJK0 movie casted Geto as more of a "flat villain," likely due to variety of factors and constraints. It probably didn't help that JJK0 was largely Okkotsu's story, so Geto's reasoning and motivation were never really explored in any detail. To Okkotsu, Geto was just a villain who waltzed in out of nowhere and tried to destroy everything and hurt his friends, so that's the portrayal we got I guess.

The only hint of something more to Geto as a character was in... what, the three lines of dialogue with Gojo right before he died?

I actually read the manga before finding the JJK0 short and later watching the movie, so for me I went into the pre-canon tidbit with context for things. If I'd read JJK0 first, I'd probably be a little unimpressed with Geto too; I think the Hidden Inventory arc definitely adds a lot more nuance to him (and Gojo as well). Hopefully at least a little bit of that is reflected in zenith of stars haha.

Cybele OC won't be added to the ongoing story! In terms of Mystic Eyes, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are the only ones we'll be seeing in zenith of stars.

It would be a fun thing to have the Cybele OC run into Geto, though. Although in that case, it's likely that Geto picks the OC up in the countryside at some point. If OC had their disastrous accident in the city, then there would be no escaping from the jujutsu administration.

I'd imagine that OC would be sent with Miguel to delay Gojo during the Night Parade? OC isn't able to 'petrify' Gojo, but they can hinder his movements with a sort of minor paralysis effect instead. And... maybe this extra delay gives Geto the few additional moments he needs to escape successfully.

Fushiguro siblings! I do intend to have the Fushiguro siblings show up again in the next chapter, although so far Gojo has been taking the spotlight haha.

In regards to Tsumiki being cursed, I have some loose plans in mind. I can confirm that I do plan on exploring the idea of 'killing concepts,' but that's all I'll say for now. :D

Thanks for sharing your speculations! It's fun to see what other people think and makes me excited to write more for future events haha.

[timemachineyeah]

finding out some media you didn’t know was sexual was doesn’t mean you’ve been, like, assaulted.

I don’t know a child on this earth who didn’t realize, some years later, that oh that was an innuendo or oh that was incredibly horny

even in cute kids stuff, it’s always been there and it hasn’t actually hurt us so far

but I think some kids who are, gladly, more aware of things like consent and sexual politics are having that very normal experience of realizing there was a sex angle to something you liked and instead of being like, “omg lol I was so naive” are feeling violated. because they only have one half of the equation figured out.

which maybe isn’t new. Idk. maybe that’s been a contributing element to puritanical thought since before the puritans.

but we also know it is very easy to take on the trauma of childhood assault without actually having to have been assaulted. the satanic panic happened. plus just the old belief in therapy that if you had mental illness you must have some associated trauma, causing lots of people to temporarily believe they had experienced atrocities that never happened because what else could explain their problems? that in some cases if someone else insists you must be traumatized or must have been violated somehow, you will believe them and begin to actually be traumatized

(the unfortunate result being that you’ll still have to them recover from that trauma, despite never directly experiencing it)

I know I’ve talked about this before but one of the biggest issues with purity culture, especially in the sense of sexual purity, is how it makes the mundane traumatic. but even if the mundane has traumatized you, that doesn’t mean it had to. you could have had a healthy reaction if you’d had a healthy upbringing or a healthy culture.

it didn’t traumatize you by existing as a sexual thing in the universe alongside you that you were able to interact with in an entirely non sexual way. you were traumatized by that non sexual interaction in retrospect because you were taught sex was dirty. and because even when you adopted more advanced views of consent you never dropped that underlying belief.

that sex is the harm, that sex is the corruption. that sex is a single easily defined thing and whatever that is is dangerous to look upon or speak of. so if someone else was interacting with something in a sexual way, or someone meant for it to be, that makes it only sexual, because once something is sexual it can’t be any other thing too. sex is a poison contaminating the contents of anything with even a single drop.

you don’t feel that way naturally, you feel that way because you’ve been raised in a culture that’s basically an extended Little Albert experiment but with sex instead of fluffy bunnies as the thing you’re being kept averse to

that you and a stranger had different experiences of something doesn’t mean that stranger assaulted you, nor has any creator by catering to that stranger without your notice

[angelfrogs]

I feel sorry for the general public of the Chainsaw man world. Like not only do they have to put up with Devil attacks the people who are supposed to be protecting them are not doing their jobs very well! What makes it even worse is they cannot call Public Safety out on their antics because they probably feel who else is going to protect them from Devil attacks? So they do not demand some reforms because why risk upsetting the boat in a situation like this?

Oh like 100% I feel bad for the general public in the csm universe, but I also find it a really compelling and realistic parallel to a lot of real life governments and government organizations. And also be honest that’s why I think there is a lot more public distrust of public safety in the csm universe than what we see in the manga! Mostly because the manga is from the perspectives of two people who have a very warped view of the world they’re in. Like with Denji, he grew up so outside of everything the beginning of csm is basically introducing him to the world he’s already been living in, and from there he was immediately picked up by public safety and didn’t see anything they (Makima) hadn’t vetted first. Meanwhile Asa is very much a teenage girl stuck in her own head (<- said with so much love and understanding) she has a lot of trouble looking outside herself at the world around her, and as a result a lot of her worldly opinions are ill informed or heavily dependent on the moment she’s in. It would not surprise me at all if the general public’s opinion of public safety was pretty low, even to the point of them experiencing trouble in the form of protests or something else in that likeness (in fact I highly expect this to be the case). There’s a lot of coverage in the manga about how chainsaw man is viewed by the public, but other groups like public safety don’t get brought up unless it’s in conjunction with chainsaw man. I think to an extent this is because the opinion of chainsaw man is what’s most relevant to the story, but I also think that it’s in part to emphasize that the coverage of chainsaw man is how Denji (and to an extent Asa but not as much) understands the public. For Denji he sees the general public as just another thing that will either provide him with the love he craves or the brutality he keeps facing, with little to nothing in between. Personally I think we will end up getting a lot more insight into the actual general public perceptions whenever Yoshida actually comes back into play (whenever that fucking happens). So far of all the younger characters he seems to have the most knowledgeable and objective perspective of the world around him, which has made his avoidant at best relationship with the narrative extremely irritating to me. But I really think the story is going to come back around to this specifically, especially with the comments made by several characters about the horrifying mundane events of living in an apocalypse (like Nayuta mentioning needing to go to school still during the chainsaw man zombies and the comment about the news talking about celebrities after the gang broke Denji out of public safety) but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see!

[rekikiri]

For the reading ask game

7 and 10!

hi mundane!! <3 thanks for the ask :))

7. tell me about the last thing you actually finished reading?

so if we count actual books, I’ll include the carry on series as a whole! I really enjoyed the books even though ‘wayward son’ and ‘any way the wind blows’ were very different from ‘carry on’. I enjoyed ‘carry on’ more now than I did when I first read it though. I like the way it dealt with simon’s mental health struggles and his relationship with baz even tho I wanted to bonk him upside the head a lot while he was making stupid decisions haha

10. tell me about your top (any number you want) favorite books?

oooh okay so I’m going to list the top ones that come to mind. I just know that I’m going to end up leaving off a book I LOVE and then ill feel like a moron but here’s the first that come to mind <3

the diviners by libba bray (series)

- one of my all time favorite series. I love the characters, the world (its set in New York City in the 1920s but with magical elements). Also has sooo much more representation than I anticipated going in! One of the few books I remember having legit asexual rep that I have read. It is lovely and I wish more people read it. (I don’t think I’ve ever cried as much from a book as I do when I reread the last book in this series. Don’t let that deter you!! It has a happy ending) has one of my favorite book boyfriends here

all for the game by nora sakavic (series)

- if you follow me or see me ever, this should not be a surprise whatsoever haha

the hunger games by suzanne collins (series)

- I read this series 12-13 years ago and it is one I reread still (most recent reread was dec 2023)

three dark crowns by kendare blake (series)

- love the sibling dynamics and the magic system is so interesting??? One of my favorite book boyfriends of all time is in this series

a far wilder magic by Allison saft

- very great book, has one of my other favorite book boyfriends. It’s kinda inspired by fullmetal alchemist in terms of the world aspects and the relationship gives me major mustang/hawkeye vibes

the raven cycle by Maggie stiefvater

- very popular series and I love the characters so much. they are just so special to me

under the whispering door by tj Kline

- the most recent read that I am putting here. I haven’t decided if this is necessarily a “favorite” but I read this book because Spiritfarer is one of my all time favorite video games and this has a similar concept. I couldn’t put it down and it made me cry like a baby but I really enjoyed reading it

percy jackson - rick riordan (series)

- I think the size of the fandom speaks for itself here lmao but its one of my favorite series I read last year

solitaire and radio silence by alice oseman

- separate books but I’m listing them together because same author. I LOVED these because of the friend dynamics (also aled is demi like me, which is a big thing that got me to read RS and I’m so glad I did)

six of crows - leigh bardugo (series)

- popular series, love the characters so much haha

***

I probably missed some great books but if you’re looking for recs!! these are some good ones to start with!!