#different terminology was invented FOR A REASON

[thereisnolumos]

Modern fandom annoys me...

Headcanons are called headCANONS because their WHOLE POINT is that they work WITHIN THE CANON

IT. IS. IN. THE. FUCKING. NAME.

Your own ideas that has nothing to do with canon is FANON and should be treated as such. Those have no limits, rime or reason and can be as wild and unlikely as you want

EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN INVENTED LONG AGO

[physicallyimprobable]

what's the 3-dimensional number thing?

Well I'm glad you asked! For those confused, this is referring to my claim that "my favorite multiplication equation is 3 × 5 = 15 because it's the reason you can't make a three-dimensional number system" from back in this post. Now, this is gonna be a bit of a journey, so buckle up.

Part One: Numbers in Space

First of all, what do I mean by a three-dimensional number system? We say that the complex numbers are two-dimensional, and that the quaternions are four-dimensional, but what do we mean by these things? There's a few potential answers to this question, but for our purposes we'll take the following narrative:

Complex numbers can be written in the form (a+bi), where a and b are real numbers. For the variable-averse, this just means we have things like (3+6i) and (5-2i) and (-8+3i). Some amount of "units" (that is, ones), and some amount of i's.

Most people are happy to stop here and say "well, there's two numbers that you're using, so that's two dimensions, ho hum". I think that's underselling it, though, since there's something nontrivial and super cool happening here. See, each complex number has an "absolute value", which is its distance from zero. If you imagine "3+6i" to mean "three meters East and six meters North", then the distance to that point will be 6.708 meters. We say the absolute value of (3+6i), which is written like |3+6i|, is equal to 6.708. Similarly, interpreting "5-2i" to mean "five meters East and two meters South" we get that |5-2i| = 5.385.

The neat thing about this is that absolute values multiply really nicely. For example, the two numbers above multiply to give (3+6i) × (5-2i) = (27+24i) which has a length of 36.124. What's impressive is that this length is the product of our original lengths: 36.124 = 6.708 × 5.385. (Okay technically this is not true due to rounding but for the full values it is true.)

This is what we're going to say is necessary to for a number system to accurately represent a space. You need the numbers to have lengths corresponding to actual lengths in space, and you need those lengths to be "multiplicative", which just means it does the thing we just saw. (That is, when you multiply two numbers, their lengths are multiplied as well.)

There's still of course the question of what "actual lengths in space" means, but we can just use the usual Euclidean method of measurement. So, |3+6i| = √(3²+6²) and |5-2i| = √(5²+2²). This extends directly to the quaternions, which are written as (a+bi+cj+dk) for real numbers a, b, c, d. (Don't worry about what j and k mean if you don't know; it turns out not to really matter here.) The length of the quaternion 4+3i-7j+4k can be calculated like |4+3i-7j+4k| = √(4²+3²+7²+4²) = 9.486 and similarly for other points in "four-dimensional space". These are the kinds of number systems we're looking for.

[To be explicit, for those who know the words: What we are looking for is a vector algebra over the real numbers with a prescribed basis under which the Euclidean norm is multiplicative and the integer lattice forms a subring.]

Part Two: Sums of Squares

Now for something completely different. Have you ever thought about which numbers are the sum of two perfect squares? Thirteen works, for example, since 13 = 3² + 2². So does thirty-two, since 32 = 4² + 4². The squares themselves also work, since zero exists: 49 = 7² + 0². But there are some numbers, like three and six, which can't be written as a sum of two squares no matter how hard you try. (It's pretty easy to check this yourself; there aren't too many possibilities.)

Are there any patterns to which numbers are a sum of two squares and which are not? Yeah, loads. We're going to look at a particularly interesting one: Let's say a number is "S2" if it's a sum of two squares. (This thing where you just kinda invent new terminology for your situation is common in math. "S2" should be thought of as an adjective, like "orange" or "alphabetical".) Then here's the neat thing: If two numbers are S2 then their product is S2 as well.

Let's see a few small examples. We have 2 = 1² + 1², so we say that 2 is S2. Similarly 4 = 2² + 0² is S2. Then 2 × 4, that is to say, 8, should be S2 as well. Indeed, 8 = 2² + 2².

Another, slightly less trivial example. We've seen that 13 and 32 are both S2. Then their product, 416, should also be S2. Lo and behold, 416 = 20² + 4², so indeed it is S2.

How do we know this will always work? The simplest way, as long as you've already internalized the bit from Part 1 about absolute values, is to think about the norms of complex numbers. A norm is, quite simply, the square of the corresponding distance. (Okay yes it can also mean different things in other contexts, but for our purposes that's what a norm is.) The norm is written with double bars, so ‖3+6i‖ = 45 and ‖5-2i‖ = 29 and ‖4+3i-7j+4k‖ = 90.

One thing to notice is that if your starting numbers are whole numbers then the norm will also be a whole number. In fact, because of how we've defined lengths, the norm is just the sum of the squares of the real-number bits. So, any S2 number can be turned into a norm of a complex number: 13 can be written as ‖3+2i‖, 32 can be written as ‖4+4i‖, and 49 can be written as ‖7+0i‖.

The other thing to notice is that, since the absolute value is multiplicative, the norm is also multiplicative. That is to say, for example, ‖(3+6i) × (5-2i)‖ = ‖3+6i‖ × ‖5-2i‖. It's pretty simple to prove that this will work with any numbers you choose.

But lo, gaze upon what happens when we combine these two facts together! Consider the two S2 values 13 and 32 from before. Because of the first fact, we can write the product 13 × 32 in terms of norms: 13 × 32 = ‖3+2i‖ × ‖4+4i‖. So far so good. Then, using the second fact, we can pull the product into the norms: ‖3+2i‖ × ‖4+4i‖ = ‖(3+2i) × (4+4i)‖. Huzzah! Now, if we write out the multiplication as (3+2i) × (4+4i) = (4+20i), we can get a more natural looking norm equation: ‖3+2i‖ × ‖4+4i‖ = ‖4+20i‖ and finally, all we need to do is evaluate the norms to get our product! (3² + 2²) × (4² + 4²) = (4² + 20²)

The cool thing is that this works no matter what your starting numbers are. 218 = 13² + 7² and 292 = 16² + 6², so we can follow the chain to get 218 × 292 = ‖13+7i‖ × ‖16+6i‖ = ‖(13+7i) × (16+6i)‖ = ‖166+190i‖ = 166² + 190² and indeed you can check that both extremes are equal to 63,656. No matter which two S2 numbers you start with, if you know the squares that make them up, you can use this process to find squares that add to their product. That is to say, the product of two S2 numbers is S2.

Part Four: Why do we skip three?

Now we have all the ingredients we need for our cute little proof soup! First, let's hop to the quaternions and their norm. As you should hopefully remember, quaternions have four terms (some number of units, some number of i's, some number of j's, and some number of k's), so a quaternion norm will be a sum of four squares. For example, ‖4+3i-7j+4k‖ = 90 means 90 = 4² + 3² + 7² + 4².

Since we referred to sums of two squares as S2, let's say the sums of four squares are S4. 90 is S4 because it can be written as we did above. Similarly, 7 is S4 because 7 = 2² + 1² + 1² + 1², and 22 is S4 because 22 = 4² + 2² + 1² + 1². We are of course still allowed to use zeros; 6 = 2² + 1² + 1² + 0² is S4, as is our friend 13 = 3² + 2² + 0² + 0².

The same fact from the S2 numbers still applies here: since 7 is S4 and 6 is S4, we know that 42 (the product of 7 and 6) is S4. Indeed, after a bit of fiddling I've found that 42 = 6² + 4² + 1² + 1². I don't need to do that fiddling, however, if I happen to be able to calculate quaternions! All I need to do is follow the chain, just like before: 7 × 6 = ���2+i+j+k‖ × ‖2+i+j‖ = ‖(2+i+j+k) × (2+i+j)‖ = ‖2+3i+5j+2k‖ = 2² + 3² + 5² + 2². This is a different solution than the one I found earlier, but that's fine! As long as there's even one solution, 42 will be S4. Using the same logic, it should be clear that the product of any two S4 numbers is an S4 number.

Now, what goes wrong with three dimensions? Well, as you might have guessed, it has to do with S3 numbers, that is, numbers which can be written as a sum of three squares. If we had any three-dimensional number system, we'd be able to use the strategy we're now familiar with to prove that any product of S3 numbers is an S3 number. This would be fine, except, well…

3 × 5 = 15.

Why is this bad? See, 3 = 1² + 1² + 1² and 5 = 2² + 1² + 0², so both 3 and 5 are S3. However, you can check without too much trouble that 15 is not S3; no matter how hard you try, you can't write 15 as a sum of three squares.

And, well, that's it. The bucket has been kicked, the nails are in the coffin. You cannot make a three-dimensional number system with the kind of nice norm that the complex numbers and quaternions have. Even if someone comes to you excitedly, claiming to have figured it out, you can just toss them through these steps: • First, ask what the basis is. Complex numbers use 1 and i; quaternions use 1, i, j, and k. Let's say they answer with p, q, and r. • Second, ask them to multiply (p+q+r) by (2p+q). • Finally, well. If their system works, the resulting number should give you three numbers whose squares add to 15. Since that can't happen, you've shown that the norm is not actually multiplicative; their system doesn't capture the geometry of three dimensions.

[ratasum]

Asura hcs that I live by in my settings:

MOST asura are lactose intolerant. This stems from having been a race from deep underground that didn't have access to cow or dolyak milk until they came to the surface permanently after the loss of the six original cities. Much of the "milk" used in asuran cooking nowadays comes from other sources, like almonds and oats, but there are intrepid asura trying to invent the Tyrian version of lactaid.

The asuran language has no gendered words. Being a strict meritocracy with zero emphasis on gender or gender roles, asura don't really care much about the gender of another person in the grand scheme of things. It isn't uncommon for asuran sexualities to be very fluid, and of course homosexuality exists for them as much as anyone else, but as far as in their culture, your gender is something that is on your paperwork and can be changed whenever you like. Coming out as trans is a lot easier when it's "That's great, New Daughter, now let's finish your homework quick because the line at the Gender Record Office is gonna be about twenty people deep and I don't want to miss Tyrian Jeopardy."

Albinism, vitiligo, poliosis, amelanism, and leucism are very common among asura. It's really common in cave dwelling species to exhibit much higher rates of albinism and other forms of pigmentation loss, and I don't think it's any different for asura (or skritt, for that matter). It's probably seen as something incredibly attractive and desirable, despite the negative effects that come from living on the surface where the sun is a deadly laser. This is probably a leftover cultural trait from when they were underground, despite the inconveniences of the genetic mutations in the modern day.

Canonically we know large ears are attractive to asura, but I also think very large eyes and heads plays into this as well. With the eyes accounting for visual acuity and the head size... well. Asura are big on brainpower.

The Inquest still speaks "old" Asuran and doesn't use New Krytan unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. Seeing as how they're an Asura On Top organization, this just makes sense to me. Why would they BOTHER to speak New Krytan? That's the language of inferiors, as far as they're concerned. As such, if you want someone to translate something from the time of the exodus that has terminology and structure that's become obsolete, best find yourself someone in the Inquest. It's part of the reason they've remained relevant in asuran politics, despite being hated by much of the populace.

[amity-moonrise]

Ever since I made that post about the whole bullying thing on endos, my whole view of that side of the community has changed drastically.

No, I am still anti endo, but this time its just simply because of the scientific fact that you can’t be a system without trauma. HOWEVER, I understand that plurality is often interpreted differently, and I feel like part of the reason why theres so much discourse on this topic is because pro endos don’t have the language to express what they are actually trying to say.

Plurality in general, isn’t the same as DID/OSDD. In fact, it operates differently, theres often different ways it can happen, and I feel like people are just not using the right terminology to describe it.

Take tulpamancy for an example. Originally, tulpamancy is a Buddhist practice done to create a tulpa, which is a type of manmade spirit similar to an egregore or a servitor. Their main purpose is to aid the person who created them. They don’t exist in the mind, they exist outside of the mind as a manmade spirit.

But the pro endo/non traumagenic community misunderstood this practice and turned it into something completely different. While I understand why, this is a form of cultural appropriation, and a use of closed practices that are not meant to be done by non-Buddhists.

Its time that we really start making CDDs and general plurality more distinct. We need new terms, definitions, and concepts, ones that both communities can agree on. If pro endos are struggling to find the words, then we help them find those words. We don’t scream at them because of their differences, we encourage them to respect CDD systems and use the proper terminology.

And if you think it’s not possible then you are wrong. The community can exist without being ableist or misinformed about certain things. Just look at the Polymind community, they have similar concepts to non traumagenic plurality, but they don’t invade CDD spaces or are ableist towards CDD systems. It can be done, you just need to unlearn and relearn and rethink the choices and actions you make that could hurt CDD systems.

I have no problem with people digging into non traumagenic plurality and trying to make sense of how it even works. My problem is when you use it against CDD systems, steal our terms, and then act ableist towards us and call US the ableists or sysmeds for trying to defend our disorder.

This includes rebranding the origin terms. The term endogenic was created as an act of ableism. And having all origin names end so similarly makes it difficult to be distinct because it makes outsiders and singlets assume we are one community when we are not. They will assume that a traumagenic person is in the same community as a willowgenic person, simply because of how closely similar many of our origin terms are.

Non traumagenics need to be more distinct, because otherwise the impact you cause will unfortunately lead more and more medical professionals to not take CDDs seriously. It will lead to stigmatizing of both communities, which will lead more of us to just have no choice but to fight each other because we are told that thats the only option when it is clearly not.

Pro endos, endos, willows, tulpas, and other origins of non traumagenic plurality, DO BETTER. You have so many creative people, coiners, artists, nerds (/pos), people who are capable of inventing new ideas and terms that can improve your community. I have seen the coiner and artist blogs and they’re honestly great, you guys make up the bigger portion of the whole system side of the tumblr community. Your actions greatly impact CDDs because of how closely linked we are at the moment. Please don’t forget that.

I don’t like to hate on people or communities, I really don’t. I always prefer giving people the benefit of the doubt and second chances. I want you guys to do better.

If you need or want to use new terms, you can ask us on @amity-creates and we can help coin a new term for you. Or ask a pro endo blog if thats more comfortable for you.

As for our stance, we are and will mostly stay anti endo, but our blog is a safe space for everyone. If you see any of our old posts, don’t mind them, they’re our old opinions and whatnot, some of which we still hold to this day, we are just less ignorant about it. I highly doubt our stance will actually change anytime soon, especially since research is slow and there is still a lot that I highly disagree on that pro endos agree with, but we’re not going to be ignorant about it. Yes, we will start using the #endo safe tag from now on, except on posts where we are discussing anti endo views or specific CDD stuff.

Again, if this bothers you, then you can block us. Im not afraid of being harassed by radical anti endos anymore, I have the right to have my opinions, even if they are nuanced.

[former-leftist-jew]

I appreciate you reblogging my post, but I am perplexed as it says in your description that you are a Zionist, which is pretty ironic considering how I am quite the opposite on this issue.

You then proceed to mention the "Goyische Left"

A. Isn't 'Goyische' (moreso "Goyim") considered a Jewish slur for anyone considered to be a gentile? Isn't it a little bit prejudiced to use that sort of terminology? It would be wrong of a person to use the term "kike" when referring to Jews, so I personally think it goes the other way around too.

B. The "Left" as well as the "Right" aren't really a thing but social and political constructs people use to label a vague group of people and ideals, when it's more complicated than that & it's the reason I reject most politics in general besides Palestinians.

Yes, goyische" and "goyim" is a slur /sarcasm

Just like how "cis" and "cisgender" is a slur against non-trans people used by trans people and allies.

Just like how "gadjo" or "gadji" is a slur against non-Romani people hurled at them by Romani people.

Just like how "qallunaat" is a slur against non-Inuit people used by Inuit people.

Just like how "gringo" or "gringa" is a slur used by Spanish and Portuguese people to describe English-speaking Anglo Americans.

Whenever a small minority group has a word to describe general people outside that group (especially when it's a small, insular, minority group), it's automatically a slur, right?

--

The "Left" as well as the "Right" aren't really a thing but social and political constructs people use to label a vague group of people and ideals, when it's more complicated than that & it's the reason I reject most politics in general besides Palestinians.

Hate to break it to you, but "Palestinian" is just as much of a "social and political construct people use to label a vague group of people and ideas" just as much as "Left" and "Right," and you just fell for the party line.

Mosab Hassan Youself, son of one of Hamas' co-founders and a former Hamas operative himself, has talked extensively about the history of the Palestinian region for the last 100 years, and how the Arab Muslims political landscape has changed.

-

During the Peel Commission testimony in 1937, Arab leader Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi said, “There is no such country [as Palestine]! Palestine is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country is part of Syria.”

In that same testimony, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi said, “The Arabs do not admit the existence of the Jews as Zionists at all... we utterly refuse to meet at the same table with any persons who call themselves Zionist Jews.”

What changed?A PR-shift in the 1960's.

Zahir Muhsein, PLO leader at the time, said in an interview with Trouw Magazine, 31. March 1977:

"The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons!"

There, straight from the horse's mouth.

And what is "Arab unity," you may ask? It's basically Pan-Arab nationalism

And this sentiment was held long before the state of Israel, since Arabs also massacred pious Jews who'd been living in Hebron for centuries in the name of Arab superiority--er, unity.

Honestly, I could go on and on.

That's not getting into how "Palestine" itself is a colonialist term. After the Roman Empire annexed Judea and expelled most Jews, they renamed the region "Syria Palestinia," after the Jews' historic enemies (and largely gone), the Philistines.

And that's before getting into the Arab Muslims' conquest of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia in the 7th and 8th centuries, after Romans and Byzantines battered themselves into a stalemate and

I'll never not be floored by the irony of Arab Colonizers using the term "Palestine"

Granted, it's also really hard to look all this up in good faith, since lots of pro-Palestinians have essentially hijacked the internet and flood it with pro-Palestine propaganda, which has been working tirelessly to infiltrate every aspect of Western life for decades.

[sleepyfan-blog]

tell me about warhammer. i see you post about it and i have no idea where to start but i’m intrigued. guide me, oh wise one.

Hello friend! I am relatively new to the Warhammer Fandom myself. It's the Fandom that invented the Grimdark Fandom. The talking is "in the far future, there is only war"

There is a vast ocean of lore, as for where to start, it depends on what parts of Warhammer you wanna learn about?

Major factions: (note that all of the big factions have smaller sub factions)

The Imperium of Man: humans! There are several sub-factions within this faction. These include (but not limited to): nuns with guns, actual demi gods (but don't call them that), Large Angry Men, smaller men but also angry, tech bros, Not-God, and The Worst Nobles Ever

Necrons: ancient Egyptian flavored terminators. Quite possibly the reason why Chaos Exists as it does in the current setting due to Backstory War Reasons. Took a ten-millenia long power nap and woke up to find too many people on their lawn (the galaxy)

Tyranids: hungry buggos that devour entire planets

Chaos: the gods of the universe and their followers. Main flavors: hungry, angry, horny and plotting

Eldar: Space elves. They come in four main flavors: snooty, snooty in the woods, triple extra evil snooty, and clown. They murder-fucked a major deity into existence and it was Really Bad

T'au: Space goat people. They've just got onto the galactic stage and believe in the Greater Good

Orkz: fungal war-obsessed people. Most of them are not bright but possess a vicious sort of cunning

The C'Tan: different kinds of gods. Soul Devourers. Tricked the necrons into becoming terminators and then got blasted to bits by their shiny metal slaves out of spite

Ancient Ones: magically power psychic frog people. Created the Eldar, Orkz and possibly the necrons. They are dead bc the Necrons killed them bc the necrons pre-terminator form lived short painful lives

Common terminology:

The Warp: Space hell. It doubles as "fast" travel in universe, so yeah. Chaos primarily lives here

Psykers: Space magic users. They are connected to the warp. How they are treated depends on the faction/sub-faction that finds them

Nulls/Pariahs: anti-warp people. May or may not have been born without a soul. Powerful enough Nulls can permanently kill daemons

Astartes: also called Space Marines. Loyal to either the Imperium of Man, or if they are Very Spiky and mutated-looking, Chaos. BIG BOIS.

Primarchs: artificially created demi-gods by the Emperor of Man to help him take over the galaxy. It went great up until Horus was stabbed to death.... then healed at the temple of Evil Healing. It all went down hill from there. Some of them are dead, some are missing, others became daemons

Bolter: the sacred weapon of the office of a space marine. Does not shoot bullets or lazersrs, but actually small bomb-things

Chain-sword: chainsaw+ sword = this thing. Typically used by Space Marines bc Awesome Weapons

YouTube is a great way to get information on the different factions, depending on the content creator

[justenjoythegossip]

The polarization of the fandom and the impossible closure: a few thoughts

Did Chris and Abba spend the holidays together?

There was some controversy this week-end about what a mod wrote about a TikTok vid posted by Dustbin showing that Abba spent the holidays in Portugal. Dustbin then took out this vid very quickly after realizing his mistake. 

I won’t name this mod, because they have been harassed and attacked enough as it is. I do find puzzling that people (anon and other mods) were so interested and aggressive in their asks, as if that piece of information would change how they view this shitshow. 

No thanksgiving together and yet…

People know for an absolute fact that Chris and Abba didn’t spend Thanksgiving together thanks to the GQ event in Portugal and yet it did nothing to change anybody’s mind. People who think they are exclusively pr were obviously not very surprised. And people who think they are a legitimate couple with a PR spin didn’t suddenly start believing Chris and Abba were exclusively PR. And why would they? It is true that some real legitimate couples sometimes spend the holidays apart. And for all sorts of reasons. One of their family members might be sick. Or you might need to flash a ring at an event in your home country from a brand that sponsor your “RS” so that a trillion articles can be written about it… (Sidenote: contrary to what happened with that horrific cringy Valentine’s story, we can appreciate that the publications published those articles after the event happened and not before…)

So again, the information that Chris and Abba didn’t spend Christmas or New Year’s Eve together is unlikely to change anybody’s mind. But isn’t it the point?

The polarization of the fandom 

From the start of this shitshow, people have been fed so many breadcrumbs (follows and likes and emojis for ex) that were designed to have people speculate and invent an entire narrative about this “RS”. And since then, their teams have continued with the same strategy, the purposefully badly manufactured PR has enabled them to feed both “team real” and “team PR”. Can we just take a moment to look at the terminology used to describe the two opposing rival camps? The polarization of this fandom is both obvious and has been quite useful in keeping people engaged. And just like in politics, the tactics of divide and conquer were used over and over to keep people’s interest alive and to distract from the truth. Each event, each photo, each whatever were dissected by the fandom and could be interpreted in different ways to feed whatever narrative they chose to believe. 

The closure his fandom is looking for… 

One thing is certain, the truth is absolute and it’s out of our reach as we can only catch a glimpse of what is being fed to us. Some of Chris’ friends have made their profiles public long enough to leak a pic before returning to being private again, some material (pics, videos) were badly altered on purpose, we were shown the terrible behind the scenes of their first papwalk… Breadcrumbs, so many of them for us to try to put the puzzle back together. At this point, not much will have anybody change their opinion on the matter.  But more importantly, people are unlikely to get the closure they need. Even when they officially break up, people won’t hear from any of them that it was just a show. And a catastrophic one it was.

[eirikrjs]

not liking ffx2 is wild of you, actually. it's better than ffx. 😭

I have to strongly disagree. Some context for why I found FF X-2 disappointing 20+ years ago:

FFX-2 was the first direct sequel in FF franchise history, not counting the Legend of the Crystals anime. Not only that, it was the direct sequel to a game and story that was incredibly well-realized with a definitive ending that i never felt needed to be continued. Really, FFX's world-building is exceptional: Sin, the Yevon religion and the afterlife, Spira's various races, and various death states(sent/unsent/fiend), to name a few. Playing the game now for the first time since the PS2 days, I'm finding the game as a whole very cohesive, it really feels like it has a living culture.

I'm also struck by how Star Wars prequel-inspired the game is, which for 2001 means only the Phantom Menace (FFX's water theme vs. the Gungan underwater city, the general look of the CGI architecture and the focus on different races of people, etc.) -- I feel a little bit of Attack of the Clones too, only because I was absolutely still playing FFX by the time that movie came out in May 2002, though that's only a personal anecdote. There's also the incredible coincidence between the aquatic spherical Blitzball "field" and the floating water spheres seen in Revenge of the Sith's Aquatic Ballet scene:

Final Fantasy's first five years or so bore a definite original Star Wars trilogy influence with its various evil empires, FF2's Emperor David Bowie, etc. So it was interesting to realize the same was true all along with the prequels (I would argue FFXII is also prequel-influenced) Whomp whomp for the Sequel trilogy, though: FFXVI had to look to Game of Thrones instead (I have yet to play FFXVI, so I can't comment). But enough about Star Wars.

In sum, the reasons I bounced off of FFX-2 so hard include:

uncharacteristic direct sequel that doesn't live up to the creative scope or ambition of the original

Asset reuse galore made the game seem like a familiar retread in a way FF games never were at the time

Writing and world building were not up to par with the original

The soundtrack was of lesser quality as well (the two tracks I remember are the title screen and Real Emotion); I imported both FFX's and FFX-2's OSTs prior to their respective releases and only FFX's got any real play

I didn't care for its battle system: ATB felt like a step down, lacking the strategy required to master FFX's spin on things; I was indifferent to Dresspheres as a job system

All that said, FFX-2 was a popular sequel to a massively popular game, it just wasn't for me. I'm also generally a Final Fantasy completionist, and FFX-2 is a completionist's nightmare. Yuna's new costume was a convention cosplay staple for a solid decade, too.

On the topic of Lightning, I enjoyed FFXIII-2 a lot more than X-2, but, then again, XIII was a sad attempt to flesh out a world in the same way X did, so XIII-2 could only be a step up. Honestly, though, I think FF13's narrative fumblings are mostly that it got caught up too much with its own invented terminology.

[glowstone23b]

warden/ancient city thoughts …

Anicent cities aren’t actually cities, they’re actually massive temples instead that devoted themselves to a certain god (im not sure what god the old builders would worship akandk)

They laid many people to rest in those underground crypts, that a bit of their souls leaked out of the bodies and infected the glowing cave vines, resulting in a strange mutation of sculk

and as more people died and got places in those tombs,,, the more sculk spread

Eventually some worshippers caught notice of this and assumed it to be some gift from the gods, so they continued to add fuel to it, experimenting with it, etc, finding out that when a creature dies— instead of the soul ascending to an afterlife, it is instead pulled down by the sculk and merged into what was like a sentient hivemind of connected souls working together to become something akin to an organism

At some point, as evolution of the sculk furthered and sculk sensors formed, it eventually led to a sculk shrieker

and after worshippers activated it a couple times in a row,

It summoned the massive, blind hulking beast known as the warden. It harvested as many souls as it could from the worshippers as it chased after them, leaving no one in it’s wake, before retreating back into the biomass until the next time there is a significant amount of soul that alerts the shriekers once more

Ok mini rant story thing over. i like to think that sculk works in a weird sort of method

Catalyst farm and form the extra sculk needed to begin an infection —> sensors pick up on sounds made by noises that supposedly could be creatures with a soul —> shriekers sound a scream that helps determine if a warden should form —> warden harvests any nearby creatures to help the sculk spread. if killed, the warden drops a catalyst, so it can all begin again

The warden itself is a weird amalgamation of human souls stuck together fused with the sculk. the main reasoning for it being blind (other than cave animals usually being blind since low to zero light requires little need for eyes) is because detecting sound means a very high chance of something w soul

Sculk sickness …. Possibly a rare disease only picked up by deep miners. nasty no good and probably hurts as the sculk eats you from the inside out

Illagers came across the ancient cities and set up camp for a short amount of time to try and study the sculk . you can imagine what happened to them

[ i like to think every ‘living’ creature in minecraft has a soul. that keeps them alive and thinking and breathing and stuff. and undead mobs have soul residue which leaves them with very basic instincts or things they subconsciously remember how to do ITS A FUN THOUGHT ]

[ in my little au illagers love experimenting w souls . because the more you experiment the more messed up results you get (vexes being the fused collective of 2-3 allays, or creating abominations via sticking two different mob souls together… possibly how ravagers came to be since they look a bit like villagers that got turned into beasts . fun theorizing ]

Hey invention? Phanon? I love your mind, it's wonderful. Have a drawing!

I've never drawn a warden before, mostly because it's been very daunting, but I think I got it out the way I wanted it to!! Sculk itself is kind of like... a fungus-y tentacle-y mixture, and i got some inspiration from the devil's fingers fungus irl! Really cool, I suggest giving it a look-see.

In my head, sculk would start off kind of like little eggs or pips or... whatever those things are... there's a name for it, when a plant or a cell decides to split off to make a new plant or cell? Mitosis? Bulbs? Plantlets? There's a word I'm looking for. Anyways. They'd probably grow mini sculk bits off of more mature ones so they can drop off and spread on their own, kind of like some types of succulent if that makes sense? Which explains the little sticky-outy bits on the wardens' horn things. Man, there's gotta be proper terminology for this, my brain is not finding the right words today.

They'd release some sort of bioluminescence when disturbed, and have an almost tar-like substance produced to trap smaller mobs (spiders, bats, etc.) that happen to wander too close, akin to fly traps. It wouldn't work as well for humans, but it's not uncommon to have your foot tugged on by some sculk in the hopes it can digest you.

I went off "The warden itself is a weird amalgamation of human souls stuck together fused with the sculk" because it's FREAKING COOL, so !!! Yeah!! I've got some of the larger/longer sculk tendrils used as arms and 'fingers' in a sense, though they're not all that precise in use. It just opts to smack the heck out of people usually. The bones in the shoulders and feet I thought were really cool on the in-game design, so I feel that the sculk would grow around any sorts of bones it had access to to keep a more stable structure. Keeping yourself upright if you're a soft mass of plantiness/fungus-yness would be a little tough, I think. Also, keeping bones close to the sculk might make it easier to tether souls together? Who knows!

It'd be neat to see what types of matter the sculk would attach to to form a warden-- it could be enderman bones, for all we know! Big and long and short and stubby, and all of the bones are in the wrong places. Using femurs for toes, or ribs for arms... it'd definitely not be fun to see in person.

Sculk sickness sounds SO NEAT TOO!!! I imagine you might be able to inhale it, like spores? Since it feeds off of xp or souls, you just keep fueling it once you're infected whether you like it or not. Does it have any cure, or would you have to have some sort of surgery to try to remove the existing sculk from your body? That'd cause a heck of a lot of complications, if it were to block anything internally. Wild, but neat to theorize about.

And YES on the experimenting with souls thing! Especially with the update so vexes look a lot more like allays-- definitely experiment material. I wonder how many more mobs are out there that we haven't seen because they haven't been made yet? Just mish mashes of any sort of soul they could get their hands on, inhabiting a body that doesn't feel quite right. Kinda interesting!

Thank you for sharing as always ily you rule. Your theories slap, may your inventory be full of diamonds or something. May the Nether's fire guide your way, idk. More piglin-y, as per my blog, lol.

[perfect-bi-paradise]

I saw your post saying that bisexuality is the attraction to men, women and nonbinary people (all genders) and it's NOT the attraction to men and women only. I always thought pansexuality was the attraction to men, women and nonbinary people (all genders) and bisexuality was the attraction to men and women only so I'm confused by this post. Does this mean pansexuality is the attraction to men and women only? Did I get them the wrong way round?

The best answer I have to explain this is from my favorite bi page on Facebook and a link to a very good article about bisexual history.

So I wanna start off and say that I understand your confusion. A lot of people I'm sad to say have grown up with a very limited understanding of bisexuality because with the exception of a lucky few, most of us didn't have access to bisexual history or activism and got the bare minimum and narrow description of bisexuality which is the common "attracted to men and woman."

While bisexuals being attracted to men and woman is a technically correct definition since bisexuality does include them, it's not the whole truth and leaves out about 99% of the entire story. What people think that pansexuality is, is in truth what bisexuality has always been.

When it comes to there being a "difference" between bi and pan, honestly there really is no difference between Bi or Pan that many bisexuals cis, trans, and nonbinary alike have pointed out, doesn't end up relying on biphobia, transphobia, bi-erasure of bisexual history or just a lot of misinformation.

The whole reason pansexuality even became popular is because a 2002 Live Journal post by a teenager who also had no knowledge of bisexuality or it's history, said bisexuality was transphobic and only included cis men & woman which ended up spreading biphobia, and transphobia from there because the overwhelming majority of people just didn't have anyone to say "hey that's wrong, this is what bisexuality is" and set the record straight.

In reality bisexuality has always included and welcomed trans, nonbinary, and gender non conforming people even before we had modern terminology to describe them.

The definition "Regardless of gender" itself was invented by bisexual activists to define bisexuality and the modern bisexual movement that started in the 70's. So regardless of gender is bisexualities real definition.

Many people inappropriately try to use the "bi" prefix to argue what bisexuality should mean, and that is called an etymology fallacy. The "bi" in bisexuality doesn't represent a quantity of genders and never has. It refers to bridging the attraction patterns of homo (same as) and hetero (different from) which covers all regardless of gender because it's not based on gender in the first place. People using etymological fallacies to define bi as binary to justify biphobia is wrong and in the end hurts bisexuals. Though I'm just explaining and in no way accusing anybody of doing so.

Unfortunately since a lie and misinformation spread faster than the truth it's taken 20 years to put the pieces of knowledge of what bisexuality truly means back together that were lost or buried due to bi-erasure.

To quote Bisexual activists Janet Bode who invented the definition of regardless of gender in her book (The Pressure Cooker) : "Being bisexual does not mean having sexual relations with both sexes, but that they are capable of meaningful and intimate involvement with a person regardless of gender" - 1976

[bakiuwu]

After a while, I've finally decided who would be what in this au (these MIGHT change depending on how I feel about it in the future also everpony isn't listed lol)

Earthponies:

Baki

Kouze

Emi

Diane

Shibakuwa

Skiorsky

Yangi

Gaia/nourma

Ando

Tobe

Muhammad Ali

Spec

Yucchiro

___________________________

Unicorns:

Tokugawa

Kurhea

Jack

Motobe

Shiba

Strydum

Dorian

Igari

Jr

Natsue

___________________________

Pegasus:

Kosho

Hanayama-peagus/alicorn?????(I'll explain in a min)

Katsumi

Katou

Sudeo

Restu (he has no feeling in his wings)

Dolye

_______________________

Alicorn(yall already know )

Yujiro

Oliva

Guv

______________

Horse

Pickle(I will explain)

___________________

Musashi???????

Alright time for me to ramble about all the shit I came up with

Pickle is actually a horse, not an earthpony

Instead of him being referred to as a cavepony/earthpony, the accurate terminology for him is "Horse." Earthponies are descents of horses, The difference between the two is horses are stronger, taller, and more built while earthponies are way smaller and weaker

the term Horse was replaced with "earthponies." Due to how everyday earthponies dont share much resemblance to its ancestors so the term earthpony was invented, while Horse is used to refer to the species that came before.

Some earthponies still referred to themselves as "horses," even though they're not really horses....they're earthponies, but its very rare to hear the term used in everyday society.

Pickle's way of trying to communicate is speaking in horses vocal language,.....which is a forgotten language that no one can understand/speak, but Pickle is able to communicate with body language, which everypony is kinda able to understand

Yes, pickle is considered a carnivore. In this au, even tho I made it to were ponies,peagus, and unicorns are omnivores (this au goes against all facts of ponies/hores)

Just because some characters are peagus or unicorn, that does mean they themselves either use their magic or wings

Jack is a unicorn, but he purposely broke his horn off as a colt( just pretend that drawing i did of pony jack has a broken horn), to differentiate himself from Yujiro and to look more like an earth pony like Diane( just think of it as my one Jack au)

The reason yujrio and guverva fail to break theirs off is because alicorn horns are way stronger than a unicorns horns. The same can be said for the wings

When Yujro does his signature pose, yes, his wings do shoot out, making him look even more threatening( he hates that wings do that). Also, whenever he gets piss his wings shoot out as well

When yujiro was seeking out women to have his child, he specifically was looking for earthponies he did not want his child to be a peagus/unicorn. If baki would had come out as either(or god forbid a alicorn) he would have abandoned him on the spot

Yujiro has deep respect for earthponies, especially Pickle, due to him being a horse

Shiba has a broken horn due to being slammed in the head with a motorcycle

Retsu isn't able to use his wings, He has no feeling in his wings due to them being "dead," theres no blood flow or nerve movement in his wings, which doesn't bother him

Ok, let me explain hanyama kinda being an alicorn thing, so when hanyama was born, of course at first view, he's a peagus, but the doctor realized a werid bump in the middle of his head where a horn would be located at. After an x-ray, it was in fact a small ingrown horn.

The doctor wanted to remove it, but it turns out that if removed, it could fracture Hanyamas skull. With the risk of this happening, the doctor agreed to just leave it alone. He didn't tell his parents out of fear of Hanayamas father being the head of the Hanayama gang. Luckily, the ingrown horn never grew along with Hanyama. The bump is only noticeable if you're looking really hard at his forehead (so in a werid fucked up way being an alicorn is like a rare birth- defect)

Hanayama back tattoo also extended to his wings

Katou rides a motorcycle cause he doesn't know how to fly. He gets really defensive if you bring up his lack of flying, only doppo, sudeo,katsumi, and restu know.

Katou is afraid of heights, so there's that too

Doppo prefers walking over flying. The only time he flies is when he is taking Natsue for a lift around the city (she loves being high in the sky)

The characters who are all unicorns not use their magic for fighting, only for mundane things like holding and moving things

Using magic and your wings are prohibited in the underground arena

At times it's recommended for unicorns/peagus to cover their horns/wings because most fighters will attack thoes areas

Many peagus have gotten their wings torn off during a fight. the same goes for horns being broken

The sand of the arena is a mixture of teeth,parts of broken horns, and wing bone fragments

Most ponies walk/stand on their back legs, not everypony is able to do it, mainly only being able to doing it while fighting

Yangi is the only pony out of the convicts who stand/ walk with his back legs due to his posion hoove ( ok so I basically made up that if he was to stand/walk on all fours the posion in his hoove would travel up his leg and start to slowly infected him, so to prevent this he only walks on this two back legs) most ponies aren't able to do for a long periods of time except for yangi who had master it perfectly

Pickle also walks/stands on his back legs, which makes him even bigger

In the drawings of Musashi, he appears to be an earthpony, but when he passed, his body showed that he, in fact, had wings. He was a peagus the whole time who chose not to use his wings. This was kept a secret for years, even tho some rumor that he was a peagus, but it was always claimed as false.

Until he was clone, it came as shocked to Tokugawa and the others that he was a peagus. When asked about keeping his wings hidden, he answered that he didn't want to be viewed as having the upper hand on his enemies for being a peagus, since he didn't used them even in youth, he wished to view as an earthpony so he kept them hidden

Musashi also walks on his back legs

Ok.....that all I got for now......man, there's something wrong with me.

[redditreceipts]

i feel like i do agree with most radfem stances but then some just don’t make sense to me

like stating that someone’s bf begging for sex or acting sad he isn’t getting any is akin to rape/coercion into sex? it just doesn’t sit right to me because i got assaulted and it was .. forceful, i didn’t get to decide ‘oh i feel bad for this person, guess i will just do it!’ i didn’t want to and i was forced to. i feel like the many posts about how having consensual sex you regret because you consented for bad reasons making it ‘rape’ are disrespectful towards anyone who actually got assaulted/raped.

then there’s also the thing where Tifs are treated like they are just harmless deluded girls, when most tifs are homophobic and gross- you constantly see them mocking gay men and talking about how they want to go ‘stealth’ and would be fine tricking a gay man into sex. but radfems ignore that and mostly talk about tims.

i also don’t get if most radfems are pro gay or not because i got told multiple times that women who have consensual sex with men or who got married (by their own choice) to a man and had kids with him are also somehow ‘lesbians’. it just sounds like they think lesbian = manhating bisexual with trauma. idk most radfems on here i agree with until it comes down to these 3 points.

hmmm, so I can't speak for all feminists here on tumblr, but I can just give my personal opinion on these points.

So I don't have much authority on the first point, because I've never experienced that (well, I haven't experienced it so far lmao). But I think that the problem is that we have very few words for very different experiences of sexual violence. We have "molestation", "rape", "sexual violence", "coercion", "sexual assuault", - and... well, I'm not a native speaker so I don't know all of the terms, maybe, but most of these terms are just polite descriptions of sexual violence. I think we should invent new terms to differentiate. Maybe one umbrella term like "sexual violence", and then a term for coercion with physical violence, coercion with verbal violence, coercion with manipulation, coercion with threats of taking important things away from a person, coercion from an authority figure via their authority, rape of an inebriated person... Like with violence via physical impact, where we have the terms "punch", "hit", "strike", "nudge", "slap", "beat", "smack", "thump", "pound", "smash", "slam", "hammer", "box", "bump", "spank", etc. Imagine there was just one term: "to hit". But if there was just this one term "to hit", one person would say "I was hit" when they have been bumped into, and you would say "I was hit" when you had been punched in the face. It would of course seem crazy to act as if these two experiences had been similar, but the problem is not someone appropriating someone else's terminology, but the problem is that there is just one word for violence via impact. Maybe that's the problem?

Second, I do think that there is a difference between TIMs and TIFs. 1. Men are more violent than women and there is no reason to think that this would change with transition. There are violent women, yes, but not as many as there are violent men, so violence in men is far larger problem. 2. Also, a woman who is violent against men is less likely to be able to do harm because she will be smaller on average. 3. The general attitude toward transgender people among gay men and lesbian women is very different. While lesbians and bisexual women tend to welcome straight TIMs with open arms (and get to feel the repercussions of that), gay men tend to be much more confident in excluding women from their sexuality. Almost every subreddit for gay men would be labelled as a "TERF"-subreddit if it was women behaving in the exact same way. While gay men have basically the entire internet to talk about how they hate vagina, lesbians have carved out this very little space to talk about how they hate dick. so that's why this is much more frequent, I guess 4. most people on here are lesbian and bisexual women. So I guess that venting about transbians is more common because trans gay men don't invade our spaces. If they do, that's shitty nonetheless of course.

And on the third point - well, many women get married to men they are not attracted to. So if you marry a man you don't like and you do it because of internalised homophobia, you would still be a lesbian. If you are genuinely sexually attracted to him, you would be bisexual. But I've not really seen that happening, but if it did, I'd be happy to get a link because that's of course nonsense, a person who is genuinely attracted to men is not a lesbian.

I hope this answered your questions a bit :)

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Hello Fellow OP Fans! To celebrate catching up with this series I made a template to show off your favorite parts of the series. It can be used with drawings, screenshots, manga panels, or just text, whatever works.

Hopefully the categories should be pretty self-explanatory, but if you want more details check under the cut :) If you need help thinking of examples I recommend checking out the One Piece wiki, as they have charts showing everyone/everything for any specific categories (Example: All Marines), though beware of spoilers of course.

-The first row is pretty straightforward, though if you're having trouble thinking of emotional moments someone made a tier-list of some of the best ones here. Another way to think of it would be the scene that most affected you or that you respect the most.

-The second row is also pretty straightforward. The categories are broad enough where there will definitely be some overlap (Example, Bell-mere being your fave Marine and fave parent), it's up to you whether you want to add someone twice or feature your second favorite.

-For the Devil Fruit powers you could go with the ones you think are objectively the coolest, or the ones that are used in the most interesting way. Non-fruit technique refers to any fighting style or ability that isn't from a devil fruit. Some examples are different forms of Haki, Fish-man karate, Sulong Forms, Nami's clima-tact, Sword attacks, Sky-walking, Sharpshooting, ect ect. Ship design refers to the actual boats in the series, again the fan wiki has you set here.

-Split the Other Favorite character category into male and female for variety, apologies if your fave is non-binary, please feel free to cross one out and use it however you choose. Non-Straw Hat crew could be a rival pirate crew or any established group, like CP9 or Baroque Works.

-For 5th row I know not everyone is into shipping, so I left them open to choose romantic or platonic pairings. For shorthand I kept the MLW (Male/Woman), MLM (Male/Male), and WLW (Woman/Woman) terminology though. The Ship Other category can be used for sibling, bestie, poly-ships, ect, anything that wouldn't fit in the other 3 categories. For creatures I was thinking of the ones unique to the series, things like Sea Kings, Den-Den Mushi, Banana Gators, the Alabasta duck mounts, whatever that yellow dog thing from Wano is, ect. You could also choose your fave animal character though like Laboon or Chopper. (Again the wiki is good for this).

-For the final row, Inventions refer to things like Vivre Cards, the Sea Train, Pacifistas, Log Poses, Dials, the Clima-Tact, ect; any unique tech that adds to the world building. For the 2nd category there, I thought it would be neat to see what characters people would want to see join the Straw Hats as a permanent member. The idea would be to pick a character that did/could have an interesting/fun dynamic with the rest of the crew. I imagine long lived companions like Vivi, Carrot, and Law would be popular for this reason. For the Anime OPs and EDs you can find a playlist here with all of them, though if your exclusively a manga reader you can always skip these/use them as a free space.

And that's All! Use it as you please, no credit needed, though I'd love to see everyone's responses if you do use it. :)

[wundergeek]

Having terminology to describe yourself and your experiences can be a profound relief after a lifetime of feeling broken and invisible.

I say this as someone who collects underused labels! I'm an ace bi/demiromantic enby, for crying out loud.

However, there is an infuriatingly common impulse to restrict queer labels to one very SPECIFIC meaning and not allow room for interpretation. Which, as an enby for whom a lot of queer labels don't make sense, is. Just. REAL. FRUSTRATING.

Just now, I forced myself to walk by a post defining biromantic as "attraction to two specific genders", which is NOT what I mean when I say it. I call myself bi because I'm attracted to a group of related genders that definitely excludes A LOT of other genders. To whit, I'm attracted to men, trans mascs, and the occasional stone butch with incredible biceps. There's a lot of wibbly wobbly gender wender in my zone of attraction that defies specificity.

And honestly, as a bi enby, that's one of the reasons I gravitate toward bi as a label. Not everyone means the same thing when they use it, and that's FINE.

I don't want or need another microlabel meaning attraction to men, trans mascs, and the occasional stone butch with incredible biceps. I don't need another word that conveys "attracted to some genders but definitely not all of them". Bi is a perfectly good word with lots of different usages, and that's FINE. We don't need to invent unique words for every single permutation of adult sexuality and gender attraction combos.

[majokko120]

Transmission of Complex and Unfamiliar Knowledge

Maybe I'm just affected by my experience but is there a single good reason why any healthy teen or adult could not learn even the MOST complex matter if they read about it, attend lectures, and get active in it themselves?

I just don't see how there could be barriers and limitations to knowledge conceived of human minds being conveyed to the minds of other humans if proper effort is made to convey and receive that knowledge.

You could approach me with the most complex astrophysical topic of which I have no idea. I don't know its equations, formulations, the math, the tools, the norms, the terminology, the traditions and conventions. And yet if you confront me with an argument in this field, consisting of three or five elements, I would inspect each element, and if something in that element seems incomprehensible, I would study that particular thing until I can make sense of that element in your argument. I would work like this through each element in your argument, may it take days, weeks, or longer, until I can understand each element, and then, understanding each element, I could comprehend and see your entire argument. One cannot know what one never heard of, experienced, or studied. If a human invented something, the law of human transmissibility and mental reproduction requires that other humans will comprehend it, given enough time and effort to convey it.

If we never experienced, heard, read a specific information conceived by other humans we obviously cannot know it. If one person gained knowledge by a certain experience, what makes us think the other person wouldn't gain this (or different, or more) knowledge by having the same opportunity?

One important distinction: Character, more precisely, free will, even more, inherent inclinations and affinities. This I don't see as a constraint, like a hard limit, but rather aligned with self-conscious purpose that drives someone to pursue this or that. Also true here, one cannot pursue what one doesn't know. So the interplay between Self and Environment affects this course.

All knowledge that is human-conceived can ultimately be human-understood. The barriers of time, effort, and prerequisites do not negate this reality—they only shape the pace and breadth of its dissemination.

[freezerbnuuy]

Act 2:20 - A Time to Celebrate (Page 2)

LORE | CHARACTERS | ABOUT / CHAPTERS / WARNINGS

← PREVIOUS | BEGINNING | NEXT →

CONTENT WARNING: a minor one for used of outdated medical terminology

Katlego

I've decided to visit the Annorin mansion again- not to see Annorin, but to see his son, Owen.

His complete turnaround on the evening of the party was quite surprising. I don't really know what I plan to say to him. Whether I talk some sense into him, or even thank him for at least being willing to stand against his own father. Instead, I end up letting him talk to begin with.

I'm still seething about Annorin- not only for kicking me out and screwing over both Henford and San Myshuno, but because he's the reason I can't get back home.

He's the reason I may never see my family again. I've not burned with rage like this since he had me removed from Henford. Perhaps that's why I came here...to try and get over all that's happened.

"I'm not going to apologise, Katlego. An apology would mean very little. I know it is more my father's doing than mine, Katlego. I didn't know about everything he'd done, but I knew about how he cared more about money than people's lives. That alone is on me."

"I believe I owe the people of Henford some form of reparation- starting with you, Katlego."

"I don't need or want your money, Owen."

"Katlego, I have plenty. You could buy yourself a boat- visit your family-"

"Unlike you silver-spoon folk, I was raised to work hard and earn my way. I don't ask for help unless I absolutely need it. I'm not taking your money because I haven't earned it."

"Whatever do you mean? What about the people that do charitable work?"

"Well, that's different, isn't it? I have a means of earning money as a cunningwoman. Not everyone is so fortunate to have work, or to be able to. If you want to do something useful, donate your money to those who need it. I'm sure Father Morgan at the Peteran monastery would put it to good use. That's where I'm staying at the moment. The Peteran monastery does a lot of charitable work- feeding, clothing the poor, that sort of thing."

Owen shakes his head to both sides. "You don't even have a home of your own. Katlego, if you let me do one thing for you...let me at least give you a place to live."

"And my partner."

"And your partner."

"And my owl."

"...And your owl..."

Nia chirps and tilts her head. Owen smiles a little. I remember what Ellie tells me...it's okay to ask for help. I may as well take advantage of a billionaire's son just this once. 

"I'm surprised you're not more irate."

"Oh, I am. Seething. Raging. Burning inside with violent anger. Luckily, I am not a violent woman, and you are not your father. Yes, you turned a blind eye to his greed, but you didn't do what he did, and you're at least seeking to right wrongs in a way that matters." 

Owen nods, and what seems to be a genuine smile crosses his fine. "I appreciate that a lot, Katlego. Please, if there is anything I can ever do for you, let me know."

The two of us take a walk nearby.

"Is Samuel still alive?"

"Barely," Owen replies, with a hint of ire upon his voice. "I have no doubt it was the vampire. I could barely recognise him when I found him. He'll have use of his hands back eventually, but his eye was wounded, and he couldn't move his legs. He's confined to an invalid chair. I think he will be for the rest of his life."

"Invalid chair?"

"With wheels. It's a fairly recent invention. Quite the innovation."

Oskar...I told him! I told him not to hurt- no. No, I did not tell him that. All I told him was to not kill anyone...

"Owen, this may be my fault. I think he took my words too literally. I'd hoped he would have gotten the message that I didn't want anyone to get hurt-"

"Do not worry, Katlego," he says, his voice levelling out into an emotionless drone. "I'm not happy with what Oskar did, but I can't be too mad at him. Everyone in Henford has a reason to want to tear my father apart, and he's been more of a father to my little brother than Samuel has.

The trouble is...he's still my father. That's why I feel angry that Oskar did what he did. I want to despise Samuel, I do, but...I can't."

"Sometimes It's hard to hate the people that raised you...no matter how well or how badly they did so," I tell him. "I wish people didn't feel like they had to take what they didn't deserve to their families."