#but im not finding anything rn. but im not looking extensively.

[mihotose]

wrt to the za/um situation id like people to consider their stance on piracy: is piracy a morally neutral act, hence everything can be pirated freely or is piracy a punishment for companies that "deserve" it? on the reverse of that, are there companies that don't "deserve" it, and how do you delineate that? is it really possible for you to believe both when the company has no way of knowing what your personal reasoning for it is?

for the record! i am pro piracy of everything, but im curious as to whether reminders to pirate, in this case, disco elysium, are more for You as the consumer to feel like you are doing More than what youre doing (that is, just downloading a game). rather, is there any material difference between pirating because you dont want to or cant pay for it and pirating in protest, outside of your own private feelings, when the company will not receive your money either way? (does it count as a loss in profits if they were never going to get it? if not, what is the purpose of the protest?)

this isnt to say it isnt necessary to tell people to pirate the game at all! but i think its not un-worth it to contextualise why it is "morally correct to pirate disco elysium" outside of a meme image or phrase (ie tell them about the situation if they didnt know) if someone is thinking about piracy in terms of a meaningful Action, and like, ground your stance in something more than pissing executives off

[kamiko1234]

It's aproximatly 3 in the morning in Germany rn and I am being haunted by a brainrot. So in additin to this post,

Imagine what would happen if Hank managed to somehow contact Markus/Jericho, and got them to agree to talk with him ? And now imagine if Connor found out about it.

Connor, being the calculated machine he is, knows that this is an act of treason Hank is commiting. Instead of immideatly arresting him however, the android instead decides to wait and trail his partner.

This is afterall the chance to get to Jericho's leader. So having his mind made up Connor trails Hank as the man goes to talk with Markus.

The lieutenant has no idea he's being followed, all that matters right now to him is getting Markus to help Connor. This may be his only chance to free his partner- and the androids by extension.

Markus meanwhile hopes to get a valuable ally out of this while also freeing another of his people.

The two agreed to meet in a more desolated area, and that Markus would come alone. The reason for that is that incase that this talk is some kind of trick, only Markus would get captured and the enemy wouldn't be able to immideatly storm Jericho or be led to it.

So, after everything is set up the parties meet. The second Markus appears however Connor steps out from his hiding spot with a gun drawn. The android immideatly informs them that both Markus and Hank are under arrest.

Hank barely manages to slap the gun out of Connor's hand intime. The ensuing scuffle goes anything but well for Hank. While he by no means is weak, he's no match for Connor who somehow manages to get his weapon back.

It ends with Hank on the ground, Connor standing above with a gun aimed at him. But just when it looks like his partner is going to shoot, nothing happens.

Hank opens his eyes to find Connor with wide eyes dropping the gun, Markus retracting his arm back to his side while informing the other android that he's free now.

Connor slumps to his knees, Hank understandably panicks and rushes to Connor's side. He asks him if he's okay, if he's feeling something- anything.

It takes a few seconds, but suddenly Hank is grabbed harder than what should be physically possible- even for an android - as he feels a face burrowing itself into his shoulder.

What follows is Hank trying to comfort a frankly hysterical Connor. Markus has never seen a redder LED in his life. Hank's pretty sure that if his partner had a need to breath, he'd be hyperventilating right now.

The normaly so composed Connor is all but gone. The android stumbles over himself with babbles of "I'm sorry" and "I didn't want this" mixed in with "I just couldn't stop-"

Turns out Hanks wasn't the only one being flung into the past. Connor had been too, but he was much more unfortunate compared to Hank.

His programm- it wad a lot stronger this time around. So was Amanda. No matter what he tried Connor just couldn't deviate. This left him stuck behind a metaphorical glass wall, unable to stop himself from doing what he did.

It was like some sort of fog was always clouding his mind, making the only thing visible being the things he needed to acomplish his mission.

Connor swears he never would have done what he did had he been in his right mind. He's so, so incredibly sorry. He never wanted to shoot those Tracis, promise. When Hank hugged im in that park the only thing Connor wanted to do was to hug him back- but it was like all his limps froze up even thinking about it !

Hank just shuts Connor up by hugging him tighter. He has his partner back , and that's all that matters to him right now.

[httpiastri]

i missed you!!! hope you’re enjoying your break from here, consider this an extension of my hug to wherever you are rn <33 big huuuuugggss for you from all of us here 🤗🩵

college!pepe going to his sisters for relationship advices 🫶🏻 correct me if im wrong, but i think pepe has older sisters? so maybe after the fight, or really just one random day where he feels like hmmm maybe i should confront my feelings and not run away from it anymore… he’ll sit with that thought for a bit until one day he just finds himself in front of their door (im thinking carla–i believe that’s one of his sister’s name–since she has a partner after all!) his excuse was that he missed his sisters and that he wanted to catch up a bit 💘

so imagine the look of surprise on their faces when he blurted out that he needs relationship advice!! just quietly says that he thinks he’s starting to fall for someone and he asked them how should he approach it because he’s feeling so confused and scared … he spent the next few hours just spilling everything to his sister and her wife, telling them how he thought he knew everything there is to be known about liking someone in courtesy of his last relationship, but when he met yn?! everything was out of the window. he tells them he thinks it’s worth taking the risk to fall for her, but he’s scared she won’t feel the same way and he’ll ended up being the only one to fall again 😵‍💫

and even as they attentively listen to pepe and his worries, they can’t help but share a look of like omg !!! their baby brother is all grown up JDHJDDK and also the fact that they don’t recall him asking them for any kind of advice during his last relationship and he was in an ACTUAL relationship then, and not in some sort of limbo between friends and something more like he is now!!! so they know he def reeeeeaaaaallly likes yn 🥹 they try to give advices where they can, just a few things from their own experience to ease his mind and though they know he’s capable of making good decisions, a little push in the right direction never hurts <33

- 🎀

aaaaaaa my love! thank you so much!!! big big hugs to you too <3<3

this ask is so sweet i feel like im getting a toothache 😭 pls he would be so cute going to his sisters like that... im imagining him being kinda nervous-ish when actually bringing it up, the like "so uh... i actually have something i wanted to ask you about....*long pause*..... well, there's this girl..." and they're kinda freaking out but trying not to because they don't want to stress him or anything, they don't wanna make a big deal out of it all. and they'll want him to tell it from the beginning, from how pepe and yn met and all of the things that have happened, and like... a sister can't not squeal from happiness when she sees her little brother all smiley talking about how the girl he likes fell asleep on his shoulder during a movie night at the apartment or something 😭

and yes like even if pepe might still have his doubts about the whole thing, the sisters are so sure just from the way he talks about her. he's lowkey blushing, only saying the sweetest things about her, and just :(( and his sisters ofc make sure to tell him that they'll always be there for him if he needs it for these kinds of things and that he shouldn't be shy to talk to them. they wanna support him all the way, and i feel like they would also continue to pester him with questions and ask him for updates when he's back at uni 😭

[yuwumeniji]

Luxiem x Persona

I am thou, Thou art I

A/N: A bullet pointed brainrot of two different fandoms i have rn.... mmmm.... many thoughts, head full ♡ also... when i think im done, i dont look back (no beta we die like men around here lmao) so im very sorry for the sloppiness lmao

EXTRA NOTES:

i'm seriously in love with this artwork and it became my muse lmao || A lot of the references will be more on Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal || Proceed under the cut!

General

Luxiem - a group of misfits turned phantom thieves who have shaken up society!

both shu and ike are third years, while mysta and luca are both second and first years respectively

vox is a student teacher at the same school as the rest of the boys. he is a history / language arts teacher.

the first palace was infiltrated by luca and shu

the last person to join was mysta due to his wariness of the others

they all meet up at vox's apartment since he's the only one out of the five that lived alone.

A people pleaser; despite his good intentions, he has yet to realize that others are just using the goodness of his heart to fulfill their evil tasks.

Codename: Novelist (He wants to overwrite his past failures and see a brighter tomorrow for himself)

What Triggered A Change Of Heart? : tired of being taken advantage of, ike had realized that he has to be able to think for himself - bearing witness to how cut-throat society really is and how fiends would use his kind-heartedness to their advantage, his persona had manifested as the strength needed to stand on his own two feet and his desire to become independent.

What Is His Persona?: A grotesque, hulking ball of tentacles. no one can see the middle of the creature. ike says that it's a reference to his untapped potential (mysta dismisses it as just something mysterious and didn't want to pry)

His Position: the brains of the operation. leave it to ike to help navigate and come up with creative plans to infiltrate palaces

a childish dreamer, blinded by his own ideals and has yet to be tainted by this cruel world.

Codename: Boss (He wanted to become Number. 1; actually based on an inside joke within their group as he is the one who usually lead discussions, thus leading to everyone in Luxiem calling him "Boss" or "The Big Boss")

What Triggered A Change Of Heart? : The realization that his dreams have long been crushed by the doings of a wicked adult. luca knew he was chasing nothing but a dream, yet it was what kept him going until he felt that it was time to face reality. the anger he feels over being stamped out like this and the idea that a new adventure awaits him had manifested as his persona.

What Is His Persona?: a humanoid like being with a lion's mane and strong arms. has the ability to stand on its hind legs. luca has thought about having a weight-lifting contest with his own persona (the others think it's a little absurd fighting himself since a persona is just an extension of oneself)

His Position: the brawn of the operation. being the massive ball of energy he is, leave the fighting to luca. even in dire situations where the team is surrounded by shadows, luca will find a way to break through via sheer will himself. he is also the most physically capable within the group.

A genius who wishes to be recognized past his intelligence.

Codename: Sleuth (He wishes to seek the truth behind the wicked desires of others)

What Triggered A Change Of Heart? : pushed over the edge, mysta had enough of people blindly praising his intelligence as if his other achievements were only due to the fact of his genius-disposition or of other means - he felt as if this was what trapped in his own fame (or infamy), he wanted to live freely. the manifestation of this desire revealed itself as his persona.

What Is His Persona?: a fox like creature that seems cute at first. if anything is known about mysta, it's that appearances are deceiving - despite the cuteness, mysta's persona is quite vicious and has the ability to rip apart even steel with it's teeth. mysta and his persona surprisingly get along well; his persona has the unique sentience about it and often is seen hanging off of his shoulder or hat when they are in the metaverse.

His Position: the escape artist. leave the escape to mysta, he's the only one capable of driving everyone to safety when the palace starts to crumble into nothingness (at least only one able to escape in time, the rest either don't have a license or don't have a sense of how quickly they need to escape - ike was the one who asked mysta if there were speed limits when escaping.)

The one who watches from the shadows, a witness to the everyday injustices.

Codename: Magician (Like a magician, his dexterity and adaptability in many and otherwise dire situations leave others in awe ; yet, he refuses to share how and why he knows such skills)

What Triggered A Change Of Heart? : the more shu bore witness to, the more he grew sick of it. he felt as though a bottomless pit had formed in his stomach as he watches wicked adults take advantage over the weak - and most importantly, how weak he was for hiding behind this fear, even if he had the means of helping others. his desire to see the world where the weak can live amongst the strong without cowering in fear has manifested into his persona.

What Is His Persona?: another humanoid like creature that stands on one leg. it appears to look like a shikigami with a magician's clothes. shu has tried drawing a face on his persona's paper-like face. he's surprised that it stays on sometimes.

His Position: intelligence master. from collecting data of the big bad they must face to finding who needed a change of heart within the depths of mementos, shu has it all covered. no one really knows how he gathers this much information and doesn't really want to know how either (shu says these are basic things you can find online about anyone, but none of the members want to question if he's actually telling the truth or not)

A young adult pressured by society, once an overachiever now weighted by the burden of life after high school.

Codename: Oni (The group named him Oni due to the appearance of his persona. He went along with the name because he couldn't think of a better one, plus he found it endearing how the group of his closest friends gave him the name.)

What Triggered A Change Of Heart? : vox's anger and desire to do more despite the now limited resources and time he has in comparision to an older adult, or a child. despite being an honours student, vox was hit with the sudden reality check that he can no longer do what he was once able to without being compared to others. he didn't like that at all and wanted to change that perspective once and for all.

What Is His Persona?: an oni-like creature that towered over the rest. powerful and all-mighty, yet regal and somewhat refined. vox wants to invite his persona to a tea party one day.

His Position: the guardian angel. despite his mean appearance, vox cares a lot about the members of the team and shines the brightest during desperate situations. he's the hope and the eldest brother of the bunch and he'll do anything to make sure the operation goes as smoothly as possible with little or no injury to the rest of the boys.

[inventedfangirling]

I have another theory that came into my head rn that i need to share and you liked my other „thought“ so here we go 😭 i saw a few people talking about the „death and funeral talk“ sand and ray had in the last ep. And now i can‘t stop thinking about how ray asked sand if sand would sing that one song by micro at his funeral. Some people saying this is foreshadowing that one of them will die, but what if rays obsession with this one song came from the fact that this song played while rays mom was dying or something like that. I mean in one of the first episodes ray said to sand that the music he was playing are the old vinyl records from his mom.

Oh i don‘t know if my writing make sense and if my thought makes sense. And sorry in advance, english isn‘t my first language. 😭

okay first of all thankyou for sharing this with me🌻

second of all your english is perfectly fine, and more importantly as long as it gets the point across thats all that matters imo🥰

and to respond to what you said, more than anything, to me, it was that very request of singing micro by ray that made me freak out initially, i was convinced they were gonna kill off ray...but when i rewatched it, i focused how sand also talks about not wanting to die and wanting to fulfill his dreams and thouhht OHNO theyre gonna take my boy away😭

and then you came along and gave your alternate explanation to what could possibly have warranted first gushing about khao's acting in the finale and it not only made total sense to me but also gives me far more mental peace so now im choosing to live in that headcanon hehe so thank YOU

and also i feel like yes for sure micro has something to do with ray's mom but i do not think it was playing while she lay dead cos that would have been such a traumatic memory for ray and he would NOT be singing that song with such joy and light heartedness if that was indeed the bgm to him seeing his mom's dead body.

so im thinking it must have been playing on one of the few occasions in ray's childhood when his mom found time and energy to spend with him. one rare afternoon where he got to spend time having fun with his mother, where he didnt feel like a burden, where she genuinely looked at him with fondness and love.

maybe one of his only few good memories with her. micro could have been playing while that was happening. this is more plausible imo.

but ofc i can think of an extreme possibility where micro was playing while he saw his mom's body but his brain wasnt processing that it was that song that was playing.

and maybe a few weeks later he finds himself humming it and he decides to play the vinyls again to find where this melody came from...he feels good humming it (and if i again make a few more leaps this could be because even though he didnt consciously register it, this song did play on one of the last few times he got to see his mother. maybe just that fact bound the song to his memories in a way that went beyond logic and reason, its not like things like that cant happen either) and he wants to know what song it is and ever since then he has been fond of it for some inexplicable reason he cant quite put his finger to.

i went back to ep 2 to check if ray talked about this song being his favourite or anything and i saw something and now you have to see it too

??????????????

i was NOT ready for that

i mean ofc its a normal thing to say when somebody is poking you while driving but still in the context of it all it freaked me out!!

and alsooo i found that the lyrics that he sings here actually goes well with my theory of ray's brain subconciously registering the song as what was playing the last time he saw her and now im shook cos GET A LOAD OF THIS->

its like ray's brain telling him to forget the traumatic memory (and by extension his past) and let go, but also at the same time, its also desperately holding the memories close and not letting him forget either!!

ofc the rest of the song might say something else entirely i do not know about that, but this really does strike a chord with ray's story imo.

anyways wow i did NOT expect to write this much, nor that i would be making these many interesting leaps, connections and discoveries along the way so thank YOU for prompting this all💕

hoping that our worst fears about the character's fates dont come true...hope that ray can forget, that he can let go after processing his emotions and actually go on that tour around the world with sand 🥺✨️

[jamtoasties3316]

okay this might get a bit long but i had a vision after seeing a the bachelor tiktok on my fyp so hear me out

charles, freshly off a championship and an exclusive ferrari extension, is looking for an omega mate. ferrari, of course, being ferrari, decide to arrange it for him. of course charles’ mate has to be approved by them, they can’t have il predestinato mating with just anyone, but also they offer a LOT of money for a potential mate. like, would-never-make-this-much-in-a-lifetime lot. but they also have strict criteria. and that attracts many candidates, including drivers, some by choice but most not. the teams happily offer up their omega drivers up as candidates, so attracted by all the perks they could get from mating their driver to ferrari’ champion. ollie and zhou and some others are offered by their teams as a hope for getting a better deal with ferrari

lance is offered by his father since he’s not doing anything to really help the team either way

to everyone’s shock max is being put out by red bull. he’s not invincible anymore now that charles’s started beating him, he’s getting way too expensive, and they know eventually he’s going to leave because he wants to have a family life outside f1, so they decide to use that to at least get their own gain from it

they’re all brought to maranello, washed, shaved, dressed in nice simple lingerie and pretty red dresses. then they’re put on show for charles

he gets to watch them twirl, squeeze their thighs and asses, pinch their nipples and squeeze their tits to make sure they can give milk, look at their pussies and finger them to make sure they get wet and stretch nicely

of course he also watches for reactions, the ones who react sweetly and the ones who are more stubborn. most of them really want charles to pick him, and the exceptions, like max, are fascinating to him

my fav for charles to pick is max. he’d be so charmed by his stubbornness and straightforwardness and he’d want to be the one who makes him into an incoherent sobbing mess

(There might be more coming im just venting ideas rn oxjxjx)

Oh yes!

I'll predestinato fulfilling his prophecy and getting championship and once he tells ferrari that he wants a mate, they scramble to find him,the best one!

Quite a few omega drivers get offered by their teams, Lando, Zhou, Lance maybe even Valtteri who is maybe a little too old for Charles but perfect for breeding! The biggest surprise is Red Bull offering Max, who is past his prime and will likely quit in the near future anyway to start a family.

They all get brought to maranello, together with various other Omegas thst are sons and daughters of rich influential people.

They all get washed and shaved and put in sheer red dresses that barely cover anything. Charles gets to test them all, squeeze their thighs and tits, smack their asses, and even look at their pretty pussies! Maybe they even need to blow dildos and bounce on them to show how good they would be!

Some are so eager to mate Charles while Max specifically keeps fighting snd protesting. He snarls when Charles touching his nice fat tits and has to be muzzled for Charles's safety when Charles inspects his pussy. But no matter how much max protested, his body seems so ready! His tits are perfect to feed pups and his pussy gets nice and wet from the lightest touches and he has barely any gag reflex!

Naturally Charles would want max and decides to have him in the final round where he gets to fuck all the Omegas he still debates on mating. Max still fights but the fight quickly leaves him when Charles fucks his wet pussy, watching Max's tits jiggle deliciously too!

[xanderisbraindead]

hai!! i saw ur post abt scene accessories and was wonderin if u had any resources (or alternatives 4 thriftin) 4 some1 in the uk!! its so hard 2 thrift or get anything here </3

Haii!

I had to kinda scour around since I don’t live in the uk but i hope this stuff can help!

Depop, poshmark, and Ebay are available in the uk. With ebay you need to go to ebay.co.uk , its a totally different site than ebay so you cant like ask an international seller to ship to you sadly

Clairs is a great store, idk ab over there but over here they’re kinda overpriced but maybe its bc of inflation (hopefully). They sell raccoon tails, regular colored extensions, fishnets, chokers, leather gloves. I can see a lot of stuff being cute to accessorize with in there

Omg ill find the link but it’s this seller on etsy that sells the best like scene stuff like those rubber band braclets. Id just look on etsy in general, i got a cute patterned cuff from there once

I have a site in mind but im blanking so hard rn. Ill remember it!! When i do ill add it here

(This isnt for clothing but i found it too) grindstore has tons of band merch and stuff, no accessories but they seem cool

I couldnt rlly find much im srry!! :(( But if i ever find something I will come back and like tell you or smthn

[faaarawayyy]

16. interesting ass question

“if you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same?”

oh wow. yeah this is VERY interesting hmmm….. im gonna take this three different ways. also im gonna get deep into this rn so

if i had grown up in a different family- which, for everyones perspective, i have a mom and a dad (who is chronically ill/disabled) and a year-younger brother who i live with. my mom is mexican, dad is american, so my brother and i are mexican-american. i think if i lived without any of these people there would already be an immediate difference. with only my dad and brother id probably be tougher, but not as happy. with only my mom and brother id be a bit more… not-tough? i guess? its hard to say whether i would be more content or less content than i am now. without my brother it is very easy to say i would be a very different, likely more unhappy person. turn my family into bigots and either which way that would be the same outcome, unhappy and feeling unsafe… yk, im queer, and i think i would be in any life. there is more of my family to take into account (grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc) and things probably would change about me if they were different too, but theres so many different possibilities with that. i will say there is one specific younger cousin i have so much hope for- i love her dearly and care about her with all i have. our closeness is only separated by the fact we arent siblings, i think. i’m the oldest (non-step) cousin in my family, so there’s a lot that everyone looks up to me for. not having any of them, especially the one i just talked about, would be so… strange, i think. like a missing piece.

if i had grown up in a different irl community, then damn, theres so many possibilities about that too. different city, different state, different country, different views, different ideologies, so so so many things could be so different. i am glad i grew up where i did/am growing up where i am, though. i know amazing and awful people alike and i think thats just… what community is. you will know people you love and you will know people you hate. thats just the nature of people i think. i would not change it though. shoutout to you and my other irl friends on this site <33

and god, if id grown up in a different online community… lets say i never ever stumbled into wof amino (shudders), and things would be so, so, so different in ways i cant even describe. being present online taught me about so many things, mostly about all the many different kinds of people that live and breathe and love on this earth just like me. i was introduced to the queer community, the neurodivergent community, the furry community, three that i identify with so strongly, and countless other peoples, like disabled communities i never wouldve known about otherwise. its crazy to think how much knowledge the online community gave me. despite the bad experiences and the trauma and the hurt ive faced here, too, i cant say anything other than that i love it. its a big part of what shaped me into what i am today. it introduced me to some of my closest friends, my found family (hugest shoutout in the world to freak bin, you guys are my everything) who i consider a wonderful extension on top of who i already have, my biggest inspirations and idols, it helped me find my footing in becoming an artist, a writer, someday an animator, and it helped me discover who i am- this funky queer, neurodivergent girlthing that i am which i had been unable to even fathom or explain to my own self for so long- and for that i have so much love.

i love what i grew up with and all the amazing people with me. i really would be very different without it all.

[shiftperception]

Im gonna be so honest Ive almost sent a 'Hey have you considered looking up plurality?' ask a few times based on a few of the posts youve made bc they sounded a Looot like things we used to think before realizing we were plural. (Down to the Not wanting to step on plural terms) Sorry if thats a weird thing to say, I wouldnt say anything and mind my own business but back when we were questioning I think it would have helped if someone had said anything to us. Wishing you luck on finding terms that work for you👍👍 -🦊

loool they have had me looking some stuff up lately, tho not extensively. some descriptions of plurality feel familiar to me because of the guys in my head™️, while at the same time there are a lot of things that make me think it couldn’t count. namely how On Purpose it is/was and how the switching povs mechanic is something I added very recently, like a year or two ago. Before that it was only my self insert and one guy, and I only ever ‘played as’ the self insert. Only after ‘swapping’ to said guy did I consider adding more, and still only three are ‘playable’ rn.

Tbh it’s the guy I first swapped to and how real his particular character feels that weirds me out. I’ve had him for years so it’s not that surprising- but I had the self insert longer and thought of her as some cheesy true inner self. Went by her name in my head and everything. Even she feels more like a traditional oc I can overhaul and modify from outside compared to him, who I swear feels like a living entity sometimes. at least in a figurative sense. I might never understand it.

Tho I’ve never been big on inserting myself into communities in general, so I’ll probly stick to my own terms. Definitely never escaping “who’s on first” lmao

[3liza]

talking about flters and real beauty vs fake beauty and cultural standards etc always makes me think about all the victorian and edwardian novels i read, where the things that people thought about beauty were recorded at length. recently ive been reading a lot of Thomas Hardy (best known for Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure) and there’s so much discussion of the beauty of people, particularly love interests, both men and women. and these writers, and their eras, and the culture of the eras, was of course obsessed with beauty and youth and also artificial beauty (being the eras of the really transformative corsets, not to mention some of the earliest industrialized or modernized beauty products or processes), as all human societies are to a greater or lesser extent in their own ways, but the thing that sticks out to me in reading these books is how beauty is not the singular or even the most important aspect of a person’s overall attraction. if someone has a beautiful face or figure, it is mentioned, but never to the obsessive, fixated extent that physical beauty is isolated from and elevated over all other features in modern american/western culture. there are plenty of protagonists or love interests in these books who are described as not young, or not remarkable, or not pretty, or even ugly or frightening, but nevertheless compellingly sexy and attractive, or simply interesting, or worthy in some way. 

its weird that the cultural consciousness has become seemingly ignorant of non-physical attraction. like that anon that was in my inbox talking about how they were “normal looking’ and therefore “needed” filters in order to “compete” with attractive people. it’s a weirdly mercenary and capitalist view of the social economy, first of all, which absolutely is not zero-sum no matter how badly the social networks want to convince us that it is. but there was never a single mention from that person about their ability to charm or entertain or attract using anything except a fake photo of themselves. wild. im fuckin worried about them! im worried about every young person how has brain worms

when i was about 4 and starting to become aware of how much adults were obsessed with my appearance because i was dainty and blonde and could do a passable shirley temple imitation, my parents gave me a very serious lecture about what physical beauty actually meant: i didn’t work for it (yet, i mean i do a lot of work now as an adult), it was given to me genetically. and someday, maybe sooner or more suddenly than anyone could predict, it would be gone. if accident, illness, or hardship didnt get me, old age eventually would. so with that being a certainty, i had better build a life and a personality on something other than my looks. and i said, ok. every day i get older im more grateful for that advice and the fact i decided to take it to heart instead of trying to gamble on Being Hot for long enough to get job security. which is also a valid career choice but it’s a risky one. always better to have a fallback just in case.

im of an age rn where a lot of women in my peer group are starting to get a very hunted vibe about the impending end of their youth, which is valid. theres nothing foolish about it, its not their fault, theyre not stupid or somehow lacking because this is an issue in their lives. but im noticing that i am significantly less freaked out by, idk, how long ago the 90s were or whatever, because i have been expecting to get old since i was in kindergarten. and i had adults around me who were just like “hey this is what old people look like and what bodies do over time. its not a big deal. everything on tv is fake btw”. i didnt get out unscathed, ive had eating disorders and all sort of weird brain-body problems. 

my advice i guess if i have any is to go outside and really look around you. notice how almost every single woman, and most men, has at least some cellulite, even if its just when theyre sitting down or whatever. notice how everyone has blemishes and zits. most people have some dandruff. if someone is wearing makeup, it’ll be cakey or balled up or smeared or uneven or clumpy even if it’s just a bit. everyone over the age of about 20 will have stretch marks somewhere, even if they aren’t visible except in certain light. i was under the impression i didnt have many until one time seeing a picture of my butt in FULL natural light and finally saw the entire surface of both cheeks was covered in straitions, they just were hard to see most of the time because im the color of drywall and scars tend to be light. it’s really easy to spot hair extensions and wigs and fake nails and fake tans and shapewear once you figure out how to see it. and none of these things take away from someone’s character. 

there’s a strong argument to be made that when corsetry was the norm, no woman was expected to simply be the shape of the corset unless she was actually wearing it. photographs and drawings of women in the 19th and early 20th century were retouched a bit as all photos have been, yes, but they were not retouched to make naked women appear to be corset-shaped. THAT is new. people are now getting surgery to be corset-shaped. and like, i dont think anyone should not be able to look however they want if they want to have that surgery. that is one meaning of cyborg feminism, probably. what i dont want, is for anyone to ever think that’s a normal way to look (except for veryvery tiny mathematical outliers, the Barbie Hips Georg of instagram) WITHOUT surgery or shapewear. which i see a lot now. i saw an instagram fashion designer with a very obviously surgically-altered body answer a question in her inbox about how she maintained her figure with some nonsense about diet and exercise. so now some (probably young) person out there is thinking that if they just do intermittent fasting enough, theyll look like a woman with butt and boob implants, a BBL, fillers, etc. that person probably thinks that if they arent able to diet and exercise good enough, they will fail at looking that way through their own laziness and lack of work ethic or whatever. i see that mindset constantly, especially in young women.

the surgery isnt the issue. the look itself isnt the issue. the filters themselves arent the issue. the issue is that on none of these images, is there an indication of what has been changed or how. the brain damage effect of filters would be lessened, i think, if everyone KNEW which images had been altered and how. so maybe thats the answer? mandatory labeling? i dont know. what’s terrifying is that the average adult human in america cant tell from a glance what has been altered in a photograph, no matter how clumsily, because they simply dont have a template for what a real human looks like anymore. the false images have supplanted the real images, the actual memories of alive humans that you know and have met or lived with. 

if you go into any of the shittier men’s spaces online you will find threads for posting pictures of “beautiful girls”, and it is page after page after page of teenagers in full makeup, hair extensions or wigs, circle lenses, facetuned, bodytuned, surgery, etc, and then hundreds of men yearning and fanning themselves over her “natural beauty”. dont go looking for this stuff, it will permanently fuck you up to know what a basic guy on the bus is thinking about women every day. dont do it

but i also seriously predict a backlash into “natural” looks after this current madness, similarly to how the 1960s saw the rise of the hippie girl with swingin titties, pit hair and no high heels after the consumer beauty madness of the 50s. of course the 60s beauty ideals were in some ways just as fake, but there was some authentic yearning towards a freedom from capitalist bodies as well. so when that happens send me $20: paypal.me/3liza. should be in like the next 4 years or so. thanks

[my-reality-my-rules]

technical details i added into my HP script

the original one is very extensive bc im a paranoid bitch but im on my phone rn and my ipad is deader than cedric and i can't find the charger for that. so bear with me as imma improvise rn :')

also!!! the things I've listed below were made with consideration of my own circumstances, so it wouldn't always apply to everyone!! you don't have to script some of the things i did if you're uncomfortable with them :)

CR+DR self

I can remember everything that happens/happened in my DR every time I wake up in my CR

I am immune to carrying any bad habits from my original reality to my desired one

all the memories I made or have in my DR will immediately come to me upon waking up

muscle memory also come to me immediately as I wake up in my DR

I possess excellent situational awareness

I think faster than most of the geniuses alive (my thought process is comparable to that of the Flash in the DC comics)

I am immune to legilimency probes, I have natural and powerful occlumency

no one can read my mind; not Dumbledore, not Snape, not Voldemort, not Ollivander, not even the Sorting Hat itself; therefore not a single being knows that I shifted

no prophet or seer can ever know about this reality, not Luna Lovegood nor Sybill Trelawney, not even the centaurs

I am immune to horcrux possession

I have a photographic memory, and am immune to ever forgetting anything

one day in my DR = 7 minutes in my CR

if there's anything else I've missed, my subconscious will fill out the blanks I've missed

I am the most powerful witch to have ever lived, becoming greater than even Dumbledore and Voldemort combined when I graduate Hogwarts; possibly surpassing even that of Morgana

I am excellent at wandless and wordless magic

appearance

I always have clean teeth—they are always white—no matter where or when, no matter what I have consumed

I always have good breath, no matter where or when, even after just waking up

I always manage to look graceful

I always smell good, all over my body

I am always beautiful, even with my wounds

I am always physically fit, no matter how much I eat

I am considered physically attractive

I am considered very photogenic

I am immune to drooling or snoring when I sleep; my mouth is always closed and my features look even more angelic when I do sleep

I am immune to forming a double chin

I am immune to hairfall and dull hair

I am immune to having any dirt in my eyes

I am immune to having split ends in my hair

I am immune to having snot when crying

I am immune to oil, sweat, and acne breakouts on my skin

I am immune to slouching, my posture is always straight

I have a pale but healthy, glowing complexion

I have good bone structure

I have zero pubic hair (which includes my nose, my armpits, my legs, my vagina, and my ass), so it is unnecessary for me to shave; the only hair I have on my body are the ones on my head

I manage to look attractive even while asleep

I manage to look beautiful even when I cry

I manage to look good in every angle, and every view

I manage to yawn cutely

i also added some physical flaws to my DR self:

(usually) bruised knuckles

split skin on my knuckles

a split bottom lip

(usually) bruised knees

slightly heavy bags around my eyes due to the lack of sleep, making the colour of my eyes more pronounced

here's a picture of my DR self for reference: (made with artbreeder)

so yes. i know that based on some of the details I've listed my DR self comes off as too much, in a sense, but it's called a desired reality for a reason

other than that, go wild with your script! have the fun that you can't find here.

[update: putting this here so i don't have to go back and forth on my page tryna look for posts]

[nct-lian]

relationships outside of sm

JENNIE + LIAN: JENLI

so iconic omg like how they do it, i have no idea

they hang out all the time and lian is literally ALWAYS on jennie’s instagram

the two of them once had an instagram story conversation over pigtails

like,, jennie posted a picture of lian’s pigtails for that one bicycle performance on her story and captioned it “pigtail baby” and then lian reposted it on her own story with a picture of jennie’s pigtails, captioning it “pigtail eomma”

speaking of eomma, jennie is genuinely her mother

jennie takes her shopping all the time

and in return, lian buys her food

the interactions these two used to have at award shows were SO CUTE

everyone remembers when jennie pretty much yelled out lian’s name and she just came running over to the members of blackpink after taeyong let her leave :(

i’m crying just thinking about it help

jennie also posted a full on instagram post for lian on her birthday and had such a sweet caption with it

it was something like “my daughter is finally 21 today! i hope she has an amazing day and i can’t wait to see her later tonight to give her a gift :) haneullie, lots of love from jennie eomma”

SPEAKING OF THE GIFT,, jennie bought her a whole ass $9000 necklace from chanel because she knew that lian was looking for more

IM IN TEARS AND SO ARE YOU ADMIT IT RN

jenli kpop bestest duo

dispatch once thought jennie was on a date with a girl but it turned out to just be her walking lian home after going shopping with her so they never posted anything about it

they were embarrassed they got something wrong so i get it

omfg when news came out that lian and jinwoo broke up mama jennie was threatening to punch the shit out of him

KEVIN + LIAN: LIMOON

what i’ve been waiting to write for so long okay here we go

so mf chaotic like there are compilations made of these two that scream “go crazy go stupid”

their time as guest mc’s for inkigayo was probably some of the best kpop content we’d gotten in a long ass time

KEVIN IS CAUTIOUS WHEN LETTING HER MEET HIS MEMBERS

cause she’s such a good friend to him and wtf why would he wanna share

“mine mine mine mine” constant dory vibes 24/7

lian thrives off of calling him by his korean name because she knows it annoys him

he’s constantly teasing her for having bagged milk in toronto so he deserves it

the one time lian and jacob talked to each other they seemed to be getting along too much for kevin’s liking so he really went:

“okay lian isn’t it time for you to go” because he WAS GETTING JEALOUSJCLSJX

their styles are pretty much complete opposites and everytime they take pictures together kevin never forgets to mention how off it all looks

“tf is that why are your clothes so boring”

“okay sNaKe pAnTs” because of that one eric moment on kpop daebak show where he said kevin had pants with snakes on them

ALSO BTW LIANS CLOTHES ARENT FUCKING BORING SHES JUST FANCY LIKE THAT

i’m getting heated let me calm down.

they normally speak in english to each other but since lian seems to be stuttering over her words when she isn’t speaking korean, he mixes in a few korean phrases every now and then to help her out

kevin is arguably the most hype every single time lian performs, like he really thinks there isn’t anything better

LIAN MAKES SURE TO UPDATE HER INSTAGRAM STORY WHENEVER TBZ HAVE A COMEBACK SO NCTZENS GO SUPPORT THEM

LIA + LIAN: LILIA

more lian x the canadian line WOOHOO

lia spent her trainee days really looking up to lian and she’s even mentioned before that she’d love for itzy to get the chance to collab with her for a song

she really has her fingers crossed for that btw

they actually met during an award show when ryujin, chaeryeong and yuna all had to leave because it was past curfew

lian decided to sit next to them and during all the intermissions between performances she, lia and yeji conversed to pass time

they ended up growing a friendship together but lian has a stronger bond with lia

she loves all the girls either way but yk

lia and lian love going to cafes together and taking adorable pictures :(

like whenever lia posts on itzy’s instagram midzeys don’t exactly know whether or not lian would be on it too :0

like lian normally posts all the scenery pictures she gets to keep her instagram pleasing whereas lia posts the pictures the two of them take together

my heart </3

lian treats lia like a whole daughter because it isn’t often she finds girls that are younger than her

*screams in the fact that majority of sm’s female artists are all from 2015 and under*

like when i say lian SPOILS her i’m not joking

she will randomly call lia up like:

“hey i’m gonna get you out of that dungeon, come get some chicken with me”

and then they’ll just hang out together

but only if lian is out of the dungeon herself because wbk she ain’t treated very well </3

EUNWOO + LIAN: WOOLI

their chemistry is fucking insane holy shit

like their acting for past to present was seriously so praised, netizens found it hard to believe it was all just for the show

dating rumours follow these two everywhere,, like everywhere

it’s one of the most popular ships inside ncity when it comes to lian and other idols

i kid you not one tweet said “chanhyeok treated jihye so well in past to present, i’m only wondering how well eunwoo would treat lian 👀”

LIKE STOP PUTTING IDEAS INTO PEOPLES HEADS YOURE KILING ME HERE ISTG

but yeah they do look really good together

and they’re an amazing pair for acting

when eunwoo started working with inyeop for true beauty, he said:

“hyung’s dating my girlfriend” because of the fact that both of them have acted with lian and BOTH of them dated her in the dramas

what a coincidence though

we all cried when we saw chanhyeok and jihye kiss for the first time DONT LIE

EUNWOO FOLLOWS HER ON INSTAGRAM

and they wished each other happy birthday on their instagram stories

there’s actually people who like to think that they dated while filming for past to present andddd they radiate big delulu vibes

like you know liskook shippers? wooli shipped are kinda the same, but not as intense (thank god)

BUT CAN WE BLAME THEM LIKE THEIR CHEMISTRY? THE WAY THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER? PLEASE

they took a lot of cute pictures together behind the scenes (ノ﹏ヽ)

MOMO + LIAN: LIMO

DANCER DUO DANCER DUO

this ship isn’t actually as popular as we would like it to be, but nonetheless people love limo

a lot of interactions during award shows !!

like for example momo’s fancams always captured her dancing perfectly to lian’s choreo

and lian smiling in momo’s direction

i love them

when lian found out about heechul and momo’s relationship, she asked momo if she was her mom now because of how much of a father figure she considers heechul to be JDFJK

“i mean sure”

they’ve actually done a vlive together before (ᗒᗨᗕ)

it was when lian visited her at the twice dorms and they ended up getting bored so they decided to do a vlive in the living room

THEY PLAYED DARE OR DARE AND LIAN HAD TO DO THE TEARS CHALLENGE (so chan whee) ON MOMOS KARAOKE MACHINE

her throat was dry for the rest of the night

after seeing momo’s hair for the i can’t stop me era, lian actually wanted to cut it like that

but she decided against it because she loves her long hair too much

the two of them met on hit the stage where they competed against each other in a freestyle dance battle

after that they just started casually talking over the phone and became great friends

with the way momo talks about lian, you’d think they’re dating-

“oh, lian- she’s so pretty! i love her a lot!”

and the same goes for lian, she loves talking about momo’s dancing skills

JACKSON + LIAN: JACKLIAN

her dad :/

adopted her with amber liu like a year ago so now she’s just his daughter

supports each other like crazy not even joking

jackson promotes her on instagram and twitter 24/7

THEY HAVE SO MANY INTERACTIONS THANK GOD

lian was once given a ridiculously short dress while attending an award show and jackson gave her his jacket to wear over her legs because she wasn’t provided a blanket :(

(keep in mind, she went there without the members!)

lian added all his music to her playlist :)

once got drunk together and spent like three hours doing karaoke but it’s okay cause it was fun

speaking of getting drunk, jackson’s the cool dad that lets her do whatever she wants

he has his protective moments where he’s like “ma’am where are you going on that short of a dress” but he’s also like “hey wanna go get chicken and soju”

they both appeared on a radio show together as guests and they ruined the whole broadcast because they were too loud

like they kept getting out of their seats to go wave at all the fans outside the window and they were just fighting back and forth about whether or not lian’s extensions look real

according to jackson, they’re “NOT AUTHENTIC ENOUGH- LOVE YOUR HAIR FOR WHAT IT IS, LIANNA HANEUL BAE.” lian’s hair lives matter :/

PLSSS WHEN HYOSEOP AND LIAN STARTED DATING- no

jackson was so proud that his good friend was smooching his other good friend but the protective dad instincts really kicked in

“break her heart and you die no cap”

was surprisingly chill when they broke up though, he was just glad lian didn’t cry

SUNMI + LIAN: SUNLI

SUNMI IS HER MOM OHMYGOD

so many interactions

honestly took lian under wing once she debuted as a soloist

female kpop soloists gotta have each other’s backs in this industry man :(

sunmi calls lian her princess SOBS

lian always hugs sunmi at award shows, like if they’re sitting close together

or if they’re standing next to each other on stage

you bet your ass lian is gripping onto sunmi for dear life

did a photoshoot together for marie claire korea

they’re so hot bro

BUT THEY FIRST MET ON WEEKLY IDOL NOT LONG AFTER LIAN DEBUTED AS A SOLOIST

they were kinda awkward ngl uh

but by the end of it they were besties :DD

and they’ve been besties ever since

lian is the ceo of doing dance covers for sunmi’s songs

cmon lian we’re waiting for tail 👀

sunmi has actually met lian’s grandma </3

like her and lian were hanging out at the dorms while the boys were out on a schedule and her grandma just randomly showed up with homemade food so that was definitely a win

BANG CHAN + LIAN: LICHAN

they’ve been friends for a LOOONGGG time

and chain’s known her since dating back to like, smrookies era when lian was still a red velvet member

like at that time she had no idea he existed, but he was keeping up with her daily :(

chan plays her music on vlives all the time and he always knows the dance moves

like he just dances along in his chair and mumbles the lyrics

we love to see it

a lot of fans ship them together

SURPRISE SURPRSIE AH

only because chan gives off big pining energy

lian only looks at him like “:D” whereas he looks at her like “♡•♡”

kinda sad but

lian promotes him on live so often HVKSVU

“my friend chan is coming back with his group soon, you should check it out! :)”

and the way she just says “my friend chan” LIKE ITS SO OBVIOUSLY A FRIENDZONE BUT HE THINKS ITS ADORABLE

he once got a comment on a vlive to react to lian moments, obviously complying because who wouldn’t

there was this one clip of her saying “my friend chan from stay kids!” and whoever edited the compilation added in squishy noises right after while zooming in on her face

AND CHAN BLUSHED SO HARD NOO

“oh- hahaha, uhh, she’s so cute aw hahahah”

ASHLEY + LIAN: ASHLI

oh god not another lian x mom ship

ASHLEY LOVES LIAN WOAH

like she’s submitted lian’s resume to bm so many times so they could be part of the big tiddie committee together

ashley is constantly, and i mean constantly, reposting all of lian’s posts on her story with captions like “LOOK AT HER GO”

and lian has even discovered all the cool instagram filters because of ashley, and now we get the quality content from her that WE DESERVEEEEE

back when lian’s album came out, all ashley’s story really was was just screenshots of her streaming all the songs and calling them bops

when they first met in person after texting back in forth, ashley spammed her instagram story with pictures of lian that she took without her looking

these two radiate a lot of “YES GIRL WORKKK ITTT TURN THIS WAY OKAYYY POSE POSE POSE” energy

lian’s been featured in one of ashley’s youtube videos and it was when they met for the first time :)

they exchange a lot of gifts through the mail

like lian once found a mug when shopping with doyoung and she thought that it would fit ashley’s taste so she sent it to her apartment

and ever since then they just send random little gifts to each other’s houses

it’s so cute

MATCHING BUCKET HATS THEY HAVE MATCHING BUCKET HATS !!!!!!

ashley talks about lian all the time

she always says that for someone so young, she’s accomplished a lot and she’s really proud of her

they wanna do tiktoks with each other but they never have the time </3

lian spam comments on ashley’s instagram like “WOAH” “OKAYYYY” “YESYESYES”

[inosukeslefttoe]

g-guhh... i watched this movie the other weekend and i wanted to rewatch it again before posting anything but like.. homie i honestly dont think my heart can take that lol

so from the aspect of like,, the amount of buildup and quality of the development of relationships and characters and just overall emotional-ness of the movie compared to the anime, clearly the anime is superior... HOWEVER.... this one decided to completely bypass the part of my heart dedicated for anime feelings and just jab right into the part that made me feel genuine heartbreak. so like,, i might be projecting my own feelings n experiences onto this a bit too much but i just gotta talk about it hehe

obviously ugetsu and akihiko had some super mixed up feelings towards each other that made their relationship super toxic and i just wanna talk about the complexity of those feelings and why i think they felt how they did. 

so i think that one of the biggest reasons they stayed together in their on and off sort of thing was because they were each others first loves. i believe akihiko mentioned that he moved in with ugetsu before he got the chance to live alone or smthn like that,, and they basically started their adult lives knowing nothing but each other. they were still developing as ppl and finding their own way as adults,, but before they were allowed to fully mature, they fell in love and fell into this almost codependent relationship where it was hard to imagine themselves without each other bc at this point,, all they knew was each other. 

another reason they fell in love was because of their shared passion for music and for the violin specifically !! but i also think that this is one of the major things that caused their downfall. i think that they ended up putting too much of their relationship onto that shared passion so it was no longer like,, something individual to each of them,, it was no longer about their individual passion for their craft but something that was holding together their relationship. and sure, having something so strong connecting two people can be wonderful, but it can also be harmful if it takes something so personal and unique to each person and is suddenly forcing it to be glue holding them to each other that leaves little room for their own expression if that makes sense.

 i think this shared love of music was also causing akihiko to feel like he was living in ugetsus shadow. and honestly, when u have a partner who is just so perfect at everything they do and u cant seem to catch up to them, it becomes rlly exhausting. akihiko didnt want his partner to see him as lesser or to pity him or act condescendingly seeing him struggle to catch up to his own talents so i think that could be part of what drove akihiko away from the violin. aside from this,, i think that since akihiko fell in love with ugestu due to his epic violin skills, he started associating the violin super strongly to ugetsu and no longer felt like it was an extension of himself,, but just something to relate to his partner who he also felt was far superior to him in this subject. as long as ugetsu was in his life, the violin would only ever remind akihiko of his partner and it could never be regained as something personal and expressive of himself. 

uhhh i think thats all i wanna talk about for rn regarding why their relationship got so messed up but like,,, i would also like to be emo about ugetsu for a second lmao

i just... when he was talking to mafuyu about how he was just sitting there waiting for akihiko to come home... how it seemed like he was talking less about their apartment and more like himself... UGH IM GONNA CRY BRO THAT FEELING WHEN U THINK SOMEONE IS UR HOME AND U THINK UR THEIRS BUT UR BOTH JUST MESSED UP AND TRAPPED IN A BROKEN HOME.... and also how he was clearly not having any of his needs satisfied by akihiko and would yknow have sex w other ppl and stuff but still go back to akihiko and it was clear that nothing rlly meant anything to ugetsu without him... god my feelings pls... HHH AND THE SCENE WHERE AKIHIKO WALKED AWAY FOR GOOD.... FUCK DUDE IM GONNA CRY THINKING ABOUT IT... it just hurt so bad to see that akihiko had matured and was so easily letting go of ugetsu for the final time and yeah that was fuckin awesome for him and im rlly happy he had the strength and development to do that... BUT... u can tell that ugetsu didnt have that maturity... and u could just see the panic and heartbreak and just overwhelming emotions that he was seeing like dude i could fucking hear every voice in ugetsus head just screaming at akihiko to come back to him and hold him one more time ... but he couldnt say anything. he looked so lost. he hadnt known anything aside from akihiko ,, and his passion for music was still strongly connected to their love so i imagine that at this point he genuinely felt that he had nothing. not even himself. the entire person that he built himself up to be was always leaning on akihiko since theyd grown so much together and akihiko had always been something constant in his life to where things didnt mean much without him. and suddenly he was just,, gone. and he took every part of ugetsu with him. at this point im probably projecting more than analyzing, but  this was just my take on their feelings and that specific scene. it was very very good that the two cut contact and are working to better themselves, and i know that they both knew that, but their whole situation was just. so fucking heartbreaking. and something extremely hard to do in that sort of codependent toxic relationship...

OKAY THAT WILL BE ALL BEFORE I CRY LOL BUT I HOPE IT MADE SENSE !!

[9w1ft]

i wanted to share...

today here in japan the government just updated its policy concerning coronavirus and the precautions have properly thrown a wrench into my day to day work and everything planned through spring. i’m rescheduling and reassessing everything, particularly for the next two months. school is being postponed in an increasing number of cities. because i’m a parent i’ll likely be working from home extensively soon.

the government here in japan is slow to set policy and slow to act but when they put out a policy basically everyone in the population follows suit.

the people of china and asia at large are being incredibly creative and resourceful and going to great lengths, working with one another to stop the spread.

but ...i’m worried about the US. seriously worried.

people can harbor and pass on the virus without displaying symptoms. so by not doing anything, you are potentially putting people with more weak immune systems at risk, even if you think you’re healthy. it’s up to everyone to try not to share germs with one another for awhile. cooperation.

tl;dr: please everyone take common sense precautions against coronavirus regardless of what your government says or doesn’t say.

wash your hands a lot. disinfect your phone a lot. don’t shake hands with others. avoid holding rails and pushing buttons (push elevator buttons with a pen, for example!) wear a mask if you can (if you can’t get over the social faux pax factor, wear a billowy scarf🧣 and cover your mouth), especially if you have a habit of touching your face unconsciously. wearing a mask helps remind yourself not to touch your mouth and nose, and keeps a good level of humidity for your throat.

to that point, wear glasses if you have a pair as a way to remind yourself to not rub your eyes.

stay hydrated.

don’t deprive yourself of sleep.

sorry if it comes off as alarmist.. but i think it needs to be shared because looking at discourse on twitter right now is giving me a headache. and we can tamper down and stamp out the spread of this virus if we collectively can all work together as citizens. ...hence my worry about the US... but the enemy here is really combatable at the individual level: we will have to combat disbelief and distrust and cynicism. and a super easy way to do that is by simply taking better care of yourself than you normally do. you may find people saying or you yourself may think that goverment(s) are exaggerating or fabricating the threat of this virus as part of a bigger strategy or whatnot but nothing bad can come of taking extra good care of yourself. please do that. if everyone can just do that, this should be over come summer...

if not.. 🤷🏻‍♀️ i’d say rn there’s a 20% chance that lover fest gets postponed, based on my assumption that coronavirus will take longer than projected to calm down (=my lack of faith in america, of which i am an expat). im sure they have a working contingency plan anyways.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

[ivedescoveredheathsjoker]

Feeling a bit sad tonight. I don't like living somtimes. I just...I want my life back. The one from 2 years ago.

I find it amazing how somone is crying out for help receives nothing. My parents know im not ok. Its becoming noticable in ways i can't comtrol. Apparently I look sad. Everyone (yes even friends) have said so. I took a picture when I was feeling rather happy and I still looked sad. Not only is that a clear sign but I have constant nightmares and trouble sleeping. Im sorry but im begging to get me fixed. I want to be fixed. I want to be better.

My dad....hes been a complete asshole. I mean about litterally everything. He makes fun of my music, relentlessly, only to switch on Christmas to give me a Cure cd. Which yes i loved, but now i definetley will never open up to u about anything bc guess what i am getting mixed messages and im not reading it well. Its also insulting and irritating that he did that. I am told im lazy bc hes suddlenly an artist and knows everything about painting. Yes he took a look at my 6 year old dollar store brushes that have been used extensively and expexted them to be in perfect fucking condition. Dude. Fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off. Some of the fucking damage is his fault for not being patient enough for me to wash them correctly bc i NEEDED to be whereever it was he wanted me to be.

I keep womdering what the fucking point is rn. Whats the point in living? I want to cut myself a lot. Not to end my life but just to cut away the feelings. Get all the awful thoughts, memories, and feelings out and away from me.

On the other hand I just...I wish I wasn't always the one to call out. The one who initiates things. It would be nice if my irl friends texted me to see if i was ok, rather than play among us. I dont even like playing it. I played for an entire day solid and was still crap at the game. Anyway. I just....I feel so fucking alone. I am somtimes happy somtimes sad. The truth is that my mood has been pretty low. I dont like bringing things up bc i feel like im ALWAYS sad or talking about how shitty i feel.