#get their characterisations somewhat accurate

[ahalliance]

heartbroken: fans of media are engaging in the interpersonal character conflict proposed by the text but they’re mischaracterising your favourite guy in the process

[mychapel-004]

FNAF SPOILERS! SCROLL! TALKING ABOUT THE SPRINGLOCK SCENE!

i’ve seen so many people discussing the springlock scene in both negative and positive ways and i think it brings up really cool points about how matthew played that scene and balanced fan expectations with his own characterisation.

i think the discussions around this movie have rlly exposed the disconnect between fanon and canon in fnaf, especially talking abt the core games in isolation, bc frankly in the game universe (ignoring the books) we get Very Little characterisation for William other than the obvious, but Matthew managed to add so much in the way he talks and his body language.

in the reveal scene, we see afton at arguably his peak. in his first scene, he comes off as somewhat demeaning and judgemental until he recognises mike’s name, at which point he seems to have this nervous energy, rushing to cover it up but stumbling slightly, his reaction to the tables being turned even slightly is massive.

this is a man who committed multiple mrdrs in essentially broad daylight, hid the bodies in the most obvious place, and still got away with it, and then kept the crime scene as a trophy of his actions, and an ongoing prison sentence for his victims. he has been in complete control for decades, and is confident that he can deal with any kind of threat quickly. his confidence in his reveal is palpable

it changes when vanessa shoots him. the whole parallel with vanessa and the animatronics is hugely interesting too- how william refers to the animatronics almost endearingly as “kids” when he wants them to obey, how both vanny and the animatronics have an unearned loyalty to him, almost a pseudo-adoption through what he did to them, taking them from their parents and keeping them under his thumb, forever stuck as naive, forgiving, obedient children. vanessa breaking from that control shakes him, but the mask slips back into place almost immediately.

then, he’s outsmarted by the brother of one of his victims, and the child he planned to end next. his pseudo-children turn on him and he can no longer manipulate his appearance or shed his skin to escape. he explodes on them, and his language is incredibly telling that he is being dishonest.

he calls them small, trying to belittle them into submission, even though they are ten feet tall metal animatronics powered by rage. he is grasping at straws to regain control, and failing miserably.

finally, the springlocks go off. the locks in the movie look more like a ribcage, so the first two likely puncture his lungs. they’re slow, and painful, but he doesn’t scream or beg or sob. he grunts and groans, gritting his teeth and only letting out sounds of pain that sound almost involuntary. there is no way in hell he would visibly let himself show weakness or pain in front of these creatures that he believes he has control over. he isn’t brought to his knees until there are eight metal spikes embedded in his abdomen. he doesn’t let the mask fall for even a second, until he literally PUTS THE ACTUAL MASK ON and finally collapses. even then, he’s fighting for consciousness, twitching and writhing with no control over his body. william afton thrives on control, and his soul will not rest until he gets it back.

it’s why he keeps the pizzeria- he always comes back. he can’t help but return to the scene of the crime, putting on his old costume, continuing his killings. he revels in being a constant threat on the horizon. and now, he knows he is going to die, and he knows the suit will bring him back, and noone will be able to get rid of him then. so he puts the mask back on, and waits.

in terms of the sfx- they’re pretty accurate. with stab wounds, you need to leave the knife in the wound as long as possible for best chance of survival, as it stops the blood from escaping. in terms of the springlocks, there wouldn’t be copious amounts of blood as the locks are keeping the wounds filled- which is good because it means a slower, more painful death.

[earthtooz]

// PAIRING: eren jaeger x reader

// SYNOPSIS: eren's pretty adamant on getting you to kiss him.

// WARNINGS: FLUFF! reader teases eren, pouty eren, spin the bottle game... kinda, dialogue heavy, cursing, alcohol, lots and lots of, eren is drunk, lmk if there are other warnings i have bypassed!

// A/N: UNEDITED - tags work tags work tags work tags work tags work tags please work, first ever aot piece and i kinda pulled it out my ass lMFAOOOO :o i can't help it the eren and levi brainrot is real. hope i characterised eren somewhat accurately, enjoy <3

"you have to kiss me!" eren pleads, hands clasped together as his green eyes shine up at you.

“eren, what? no! you’re drunk!” you exclaim in retaliation, pushing his face away gently, but despite that, it’s not enough to stop his stubbornness. in fact, it actually intensifies his pleading expression, “you’re gross.”

his face contorts to resemble one of a kicked puppy.

you sigh, feeling the walls you built up soften a little, “eren, i’ll kiss you when your breath doesn’t reek of alcohol and when i know you want a kiss.”

the tips of your ears flush red at the last statement. when eren came up to you with an urgent request for you to kiss him, ‘on the lips’, as he reiterated, you choked on the soda you were drinking. yes, the carbonation got the better of you and started stinging your nostrils, and yes, you were very flustered at his request because first of all, that would cross the line of your friendship and second of all, the childish tone in his voice was very unfamiliar. 

the last time you’d heard eren sound this juvenile was when he was 15 and now, as young adults, you can’t remember the last time he whined over something.

especially something as futile as a kiss.

“if this is some dare you better tell me, because that would just be mean-” you murmur with a frown before he interrupts.

“it’s not a dare! i promise, jus’ kiss me.” 

“when you’re sober.”

“but sober me would chicken out,” he huffs, “please? just this once? doesn’t matter that i’m drunk.”

“yes it does! you could be spewing bullshit out your stupid mouth.”

“i spew bullshit out of my mouth even when i’m sober.”

“great, now i’m even more unconvinced.”

eren huffs and rests his head on your shoulder in defeat. you place a palm on the side of his head so that it doesn’t roll off.

a game of spin the bottle happening in the corner catches your eye. 

“why does it have to be me?” you ask, now playing with the roots of his hair, “if you so desperately want to kiss someone go over to that game happening. they look like they’re having fun.” 

“that’s connie, jean and sasha,” he comments.

“so? i’m sure they’re down to kiss you. jean’s a good kisser.”

“how do you know?”

you merely shrug with a smirk, looking to get a rise out of the brunet but irritation resides in his features. 

“you’re tellin’ me you’d rather kiss horse-face than me?” he questions in a demanding tone, gripping onto your shoulders. eren also adds a, “besides, i don’t want them to kiss me, i want you to kiss me and i’m not about to join a game where you’re not one of the options.”

suddenly a lightbulb appears on his head and he murmurs a ‘be right back’ before disappearing into the crowd. 

true to his word, eren manifests 30 seconds later, now holding an empty beer bottle as a faint yell of ‘what the hell, yeager?’ echoes behind him.

“sit down,” the brunet gently commands and you do as said, amused. 

“are we gonna play spin the bottle, eren?”

“yes.”

“just us?”

“yes.”

you were having fun at this point, so you tick your friend off a little more, “c’mon, that won’t be fun. armin seems like he’s down to play and so does-”

eren shoves the empty beer bottle into your hands with a simple command, “spin.”

doing as he says, he watches the glass closely as it circulates repeatedly from the sheer force you put into it but at last, it begins to slow, with the head finally choosing its victim.

it lands right on eren, no mistaking it. he laughs brightly and cheers.

“finally! you gotta kiss me now!” 

you smile softly at his behaviour, about to relent if it weren’t for mikasa cutting your interaction short with armin draped on her shoulder, “hey y/n, i think it’s the end of the night for armin and i. mind dropping us home?”

“sure,” you reply before glancing over to eren, who is seething with irritation at this point, “are you gonna go home too or wanna enjoy the party a little more?”

he grunts, “i’ll go.”

mikasa helps him up as you fish for your car keys, leading everyone to your car. the trip was quiet, eren’s unaddressed anger squeezing the peace away and instead, replacing it with a suffocating tension. it wasn’t until you arrive at a red light that mikasa speaks up.

“what’s your problem, eren?”

the man in question turns his head away, sulking further as he crunches up the plastic water bottle in his hands, “it’s nothing.”

she turns to you with confusion in her eyes and you can’t help but chuckle, “leave him be. boys will be boys. so how did armin pass out? thought he didn’t like getting pissed drunk.”

“he’s just a lightweight.”

“so’s eren. our luck, huh?”

mikasa grins and the conversation continues until you drop armin and mikasa off, leaving you alone with the same man who’s been harassing you for a kiss.

thinking about it is getting you flustered, but you recall how disappointed eren looked when mikasa interrupted his moment of victory and in compensation, you ask if he wants to ride shotgun. he grunts in agreement.

“you okay to stay the night at my apartment? i don’t trust that you’re gonna keep yourself safe whilst intoxicated. second i look away you might go and pick some fights with guys double your size.”

“and i’d win.”

“and you’d win.”

nothing eventful occurs during the drive back to your apartment and it’s not until you’re settled on the couch with pizza in between the two of you that he asks about the kiss again.

and you choke on your pizza all the same. dude really needs to learn what better timing is.

“i feel a lot more sober now, so please?”

“did you know that alcohol can last in your system for more than 24 hours-”

“stop avoiding the question.”

“adamant as ever. y’know what, when you wake up in the morning and you still feel the same, let me know.”

excitement glistens in his eyes, “hope ya like morning breath.”

you throw a pillow at him.

***

rapid knocking wakes you up from your slumber and the first thing you see when you wake up are the analog digits on your bedside clock reading 7:32. damn eren and his early bird tendencies - and why is he knocking so urgently at this time of day?

trudging to the door, you swing it open and you’re greeted by the charmingly boyish smile you’re accustomed to.

“so… about that kiss.”

yeah i didn't make y'all kiss in the end lMFAOO GET FUCKED!...but you look so pretty when you press reblog, like or follow 😁😁

hope you enjoyed regardless, have a good day/evening!

[ineedtorantaboutjiangcheng]

My first rant, and the reason I snapped and made this blog, is not about Jiang Cheng. It's actually about the characters around him.

See, I was reading this fic and, without naming any specifics, I was enjoying it. Nothing especially groundbreaking, but it was good enough that I was immersed. In fact, the thing that probably got me about this is that what I liked most about the fic, what was really sucked me in, was the characterisations. Wei Wuxian was the definite standout. Fic premise meant that he was injured, but he was being portrayed with his canonical resilience, which is rare enough that prior to this, I would have likely celebrated the fic for it's accuracy. It's a difficult thing to pull off, and I always give extra credit to authors who can walk the line of, essentially, whumping a character while still keeping them themselves.

Then it happened. Jiang Cheng showed up. I've sometimes clicked out of a fic just for that (the timing of his appearance is, occasionally, enough of an indicator of his role in the story that I know I'm not going to be able to jive with it), but I was immersed! And the author had gained my trust with the aforementioned character accuracy until that point! I was caught up, and ready to roll with whatever version of Jiang Cheng came out.

And, well, his behaviour seemed somewhat accurate to canon. Angry, accusatory, sort of irrational, in an overly suspicious way. Seemed pretty good. Again, the timing made me think that the fic was probably going to go the reconciliation path, but you know, I can get through that. I don't care enough about Jiang Cheng that his presence or absence alone is enough to ruin a fic I'm otherwise enjoying.

But then, imagine my shock. Jiang Cheng, post first siege (where, as far as everyone knows, he killed Wei Wuxian, and has spent the years since his death hunting down and torturing anyone who might be/reminds him of him. You can dispute Jiang Cheng's actions, if you wish, but not that this is how he is widely perceived), demands to see Wei Wuxian. And Lan Wangji, who loves Wei Wuxian, who spent stars knows how much time desperately trying to protect Wei Wuxian, who would stand between Wei Wuxian and the world if he had been allowed, just... agrees.

Lan Wangji. Agreed. To let a Jiang Cheng, who shows no, I don't know, remorse, or concern, or anything, toward a person he is credited with murdering, that Lan Wangji believes he murdered. And Lan Wangji just... yep. I'll just take you to see Wei Wuxian. Sure, he's injured, and vulnerable, and you show no sign of wanting to do anything other than a violence. Yep, right this way.

And THIS. THIS is why Jiang Cheng infuriates me. This is why I had to make this blog. Because I don't care about Jiang Cheng, love him, hate him, think he's the most evil scum imaginable, think he's the true victim of mdzs, I literally don't care. I don't have enough investment in the character to give a fuck about how accurate he is.

But I love Lan Wangji. I really do (and Wei Wuxian, and Wen Ning, and Wen Qing, and Jin Ling, and every other character even peripherally related to Jiang Cheng). So to see the characters I do care about being warped and twisted, just to try and force a particular narrative to play out about this one character? I've spent the past idk two hours as I set this up frothing with rage.

It's not like he's the main character of this fic. He's one of the last ones listed (after characters that are actually deceased throughout the entirety of the fic), and there's no, idk, Yunmeng siblings or reconciliation tag or anything. Full confession, I haven't finished the fic, but I'm well over halfway through, so I can somewhat confidently say that his presence, while maybe playing into something in the endgame, is not super critical.

And yet. The author, who until that point had been pretty good with their characterisations, felt the need to overlook one of the main characters primary personality traits (Lan Wangji's desire to protect people and keep safe that which he loves) in order to... make it slightly easier for Jiang Cheng to be shoehorned into the plot? Why? Just... why?

I'm frustrated. Frustrated, and confused. Is it lack of imagination? Could the author not think of a single other way Jiang Cheng might come into contact with Wei Wuxian after the first siege (assuming, of course, that he is alive)? I don't believe that, the author did well enough with thinking up some left field plot points at other stages of the fic. Did they overlook the fact that, Jiang Cheng having demanded Lan Wangji take him to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji could have just... not done that? Lan Wangji, Mr. You Are Not Qualified To Talk To Me, had no choice but to acquiesce to Jiang Cheng's will. He couldn't have just. refused. Or walked away from the conversation. Knocked him out and left. Or called out the inherent contradiction of Jiang Cheng wanting to visit someone he killed (again, regardless of your opinion on Jiang Cheng's culpability, it is made clear in canon that that is the version of events Lan Wangji knows/believes). Or at the very least placed conditions on Jiang Cheng that he's not allowed to do anything to harm Wei Wuxian.

But nope! In the space of a single scene, just by his very presence, apparently, Jiang Cheng is able to turn a fully fledged, well characterised version of Lan Wangji into a robot that cannot disobey a human's will due to it's programming.

And it may seem like I'm ragging on this poor author, or that I'm getting too worked up over one scene, and, and, yeah, that would... that would be correct (hence I'm trying to avoid saying anything identifying about the fic, though I realise that might lessen the impact of my arguments). But the thing is, it's not just this fic. Or just this author.

It's everywhere.

I cannot count the number of fics that have characters that otherwise align pretty well with their canonical selves, only for all that to go out the window the second Jiang Cheng shows up. It's like people can't help themselves. Jiang Cheng appears, and every other character must suddenly become whatever version of themselves makes Jiang Cheng appear most sympathetic/reasonable/well-intentioned. Whatever helps the author make Jiang Cheng be what they want him to be.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji definitely get this the worst. Wei Wuxian goes from an intelligent, calculating individual, who excels at reading the situations he's in and figuring out what's going to get him the outcome he wants*, to a reckless idiot who charges in without thinking because he wants to "be a hero". And Lan Wangji goes from someone who has repeatedly failed to save the ones he loves, and so is appropriately determined to protect them as much as he can (without becoming his father), to someone who thinks he always knows best**, and will happily put someone he loves into a potentially deadly situation because... I don't know. His thinking is pretty much never clearly explained, but I've seen different half-reasons. Sometimes Lan Wangji just thinks that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are such good, good brothers, and that Jiang Cheng is so important to Wei Wuxian that the chance to hold a conversation with him is worth Wei Wuxian... best case scenario, being verbally abused, worst case, being tortured to death. Sometimes he thinks he wouldn't be able to stop Jiang Cheng which... haha. Even Jin Ling, who reflexively defends Jiang Cheng over everything, thinks that Jiang Cheng doesn't stand a chance against Lan Wangji. Sometimes he thinks he shouldn't interfere with someone else's family... even though they aren't related, and Jiang Cheng cannot, under any circumstances, acknowledge Wei Wuxian as anything other than a disciple/servant. Also, Lan Wangji gets involved in everything. That's kind of his thing. You know... going where the chaos is? There's certainly a lot of chaos whenever Jiang Cheng is around...

But really, it's everyone. Wen Ning goes from being so defensive of Wei Wuxian that he breaks a promise and reveals a secret he kept for nearly twenty years just to get Jiang Cheng to stop talking shit, to usually being passively pushed into the back seat, his bond with Wei Wuxian glossed over in favour of the "brothers"***. Wen Qing, a person so devoted to Wei Wuxian that she sacrificed herself and her beloved brother on the off chance that it would mean he wouldn't have to face consequences for Jin Zixuan's death, is suddenly chastising Wei Wuxian for not doing more to smooth over their relationship. Jin Ling goes from creating a diversion so that he can help Wei Wuxian escape Jiang Cheng, despite knowing he would get in trouble for it, to trying to trick them into being in the same room. It's everyone.

Every. Single. Character. Must be changed, must behave in ways antithetical to their personalities and relationships, because it seems that's the only way many people can reconcile with their affection for a character that behaves the way Jiang Cheng does. In order to keep Jiang Cheng even slightly resembling his canonical self (angry. violent. verbally abusive at every possible opportunity), and yet still have him be welcomed and beloved by the other characters, every other character must lose integral parts of themselves. Mo Dao Zu Shi is, in many ways, a surprisingly tightly woven story when you start pulling threads, and if you want that jumper to work like pants, you need to get the scissors and start cutting.

Or at least, I can only assume that's what's happening. I can't fathom any other reason as to why so many fics, that are otherwise fairly true to character, veer so wildly OOC as soon as he appears. And it is so, so many fics. Note: I've read, ballpark, around two thousand mo dao zu shi fics (yes, I have no life. no, why do you ask?), and this happens in a staggering amount of them.

And basically, this is the root of my issue with Jiang Cheng. I don't care how you write him, he can be the most loving, soft, compassionate individual in the world in your fic, it's your fic, you write what you like****, I'm just going to engage less with those parts, because I don't care as much. You can make him greet each sunrise by weeping, and coo over every baby he encounters on the street, and weave blankets for the homeless in his free time. I literally don't care.

What I care about is the changes made to the other characters. That in order to raise Jiang Cheng, other characters must be dragged down. That he must be there, and he must be the secretly misunderstood caring brother, so every character that could challenge that in any way must be changed, by any means necessary, to prevent that.

(But really, do they? It's fanfiction. Can you really think of no way to make Jiang Cheng be the character you want him to be without mutilating everyone else? If you truly feel for him, truly think his actions make sense, truly wish to show how his relationships can be fixed without him altering his own attitude... then shouldn't it be easy enough, to persuade others of this, without turning the cohesive characters around him into a farce?)

* - since I know this is going to get disputed, even if only internally, by someone; the literal second scene involving Jiang Cheng (immediately post dancing-statue attack, Jiang Cheng suspects and wants to test with Zidian) has Wei Wuxian realise he's not going to be able to escape without some proof of innocence (i.e. reading the room, despite the stress of the moment). He then deliberately steps out of cover so Jiang Cheng can hit him, proving he's not possessing Mo Xuanyu, and then, when that's not enough to guarantee his freedom, he recognises that, and plays on Jiang Cheng's ego (and ymmv homophobia) by saying he's not his type, so Jiang Cheng can't take him without losing too much face, which Wei Wuxian knows he won't do, since Jiang Cheng is very concerned with reputation and appearances (after all, that's why he refused to help Wen Qing and Wen Ning, in spite of the debt he owed them). If that doesn't indicate Wei Wuxian is a clever person who thinks things through, I don't know what does.

** - not as worried about this being disputed, but I can see people thinking this so; no, Lan Wangji doesn't think he knows best. He did when he was young (or, at least, thought the rules he lived by were definitive morals), and that's what led to his rigid black-and-white thinking regarding rules and such. Then he got older, and got more experience, and made some mistakes, and realised that different people approach the world differently, and that he needed to be more flexible and meet people halfway if he wanted to be able to help them. See his change in attitude toward mo dao/gui dao.

*** - fic challenge; see how many fics that portray Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng as close, loving brothers, and also contain the close, caring, trustful friendship between Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. It's very, very few. On some level, I think everyone who wants to show Jiang Cheng as #bestbrother knows that, from his actions to his attitude, Wen Ning is what a beloved, caring, bad-reputation-but-is-actually-just-misunderstood baby-brother-figure should be.

**** - at the end of the day, everyone has the right the write whatever they like in their fic. I'm a full supporter and encourager of that. But if you don't make it clear that you are going to write OOC, I reserve the right to feel frustrated when I stumble across it. I would never comment it in the fic itself, Ican't imagine anything more poorly mannered, but I am, apparently, not above vague blogging about it (hopefully vague enough that no one can identify any specific fics).

[pinkandpurple360]

Actually, I just thought about something I disagree with in your theory, I don't think "dumb" or "stupid" is an accurate way of describing Mammon.

The best comparison I could think of would be Calvin Fischodeor from Bob's Burgers; a very wealthy, energetic, and somewhat immature man who does bad things, is aware they're seen as wrong, but doesn't get why and thinks people who consider him amoral are just fuddy-duddies. But most importantly, they both think in terms of business and don't really car about being insulted, and are more than willing to do good if it's profitable.

Oh and also there's literally an episode where Calvin uses prizes to convince the Belcher kids pretend to be his kids on father's day because he wanted to be a dad, I'm dead serious, that's an actual plot.

Very true, that’s a better characterisation of him than being stupid, he just doesn’t comprehend morality and has no self awareness because he’s been too privileged his whole life to ever need that. Like when he shows awareness that the robots are weird but he just says “I mean if it’ll make money sure”

It makes him more sinister that everyone assumes he’s sillier and less aware than he actually is, so when he shows insight and awareness of things you thought he wasnt observing, it catches you off guard.

But also I do enjoy his goofy face he is a little bit silly

[maeselc]

I'm very interested to know what after the brick is 👀 for the wip ask game

(WIP ask game)

Thanks so much for the ask ☺️

Haha so this one definitely has the most opaque title. It was originally a sequel to this pwp, and the working title for that was ‘Brick’, which no longer makes sense because I rewrote the bit that metaphorically referred to a brick wall (in favour of the more Star Trek-y ‘hit him like a disruptor blast’ lol)

In honesty, I started this a long time ago, and I think the way I wrote the characterisation in these fics is different to how I tend to write them now, and I think that’s made it harder to wrap up. I still keep intending to finish it, but I usually end up just rereading it and then closing the file lol. But someday I think I will finish it!

And uh. Just to be clear, it’s a sequel to that fic…so. yeah this one is just smut lol. The opening (which I would say is maybe more of an M rating) is below the cut.

It had taken some time to get here. When Garak had broached the subject, Julian had, in fact, worked it out before he let on (although whether his view of when Garak had first brought it up was in any way accurate was another question). When Garak had resorted to much more overt overtures – downright Human in his directness, Julian had teased – Julian had still put him off at first. This had led to some bickering, not all of it flirtatious. A particularly unwise comment from Garak regarding station gossip about the fantasy-conjuring aliens’ double of Lieutenant Dax had put paid to the whole topic for a while, though Julian had to concede that Garak was right about his predilections. Some of them, anyway.

It wasn’t that Julian didn’t like the idea of dominating Garak. Dear God, it certainly wasn’t that.

He didn’t think that trying to discuss it more openly would get him very far, but what concerned Julian was how difficult Garak seemed to find it to actually cede control. When they first began to test these waters, it troubled Julian further to see how much orchestration and choreography Garak put into being at his mercy. For all Garak was saying, Julian wasn’t sure he would actually enjoy letting him take more control. And their gentle forays into this territory over the past few weeks hadn’t gone as far to assuage his concerns as Garak seemed to think they should have. His tendency toward the extremely specific in his suggestions and the extremely derisive in his responses to any divergence from script was…well, it didn’t fill Julian with confidence. But as they’d gradually ramped things up, Julian had to concede that Garak seemed to be relaxing into it somewhat. And Garak was increasingly compelling in his beseechment. This had culminated in an encrypted text communication Julian received in the middle of a shift in the infirmary that was – in the context of Garak – eye-wateringly explicit, which had sent Julian straight to Garak’s quarters after his shift only to find Garak haughtily unwilling to let him in until their already-arranged dinner the following evening. This, another way that Garak was not actually allowing Julian to take control, gave Julian further pause. It also had the effect—likely as Garak intended—of making him absurdly horny. And anyway, as he had resolved after he’d gone to his own quarters for a swift and minimally satisfying wank, for Christ’s sake, he’s a grown man, he can make his own choices.

It was now clear that he needn’t have worried about that. Garak’s ridges had darkened noticeably as Julian had stripped him; he had let out a delighted little hum as his hands were pulled behind him and tied; he had actually grinned when Julian had produced the ball gag, before relaxing his jaw to accept it; and when Julian had gently guided him down to his knees, the look in his eyes was unmistakably adoring.

[evergreen-dryad]

thoughts on snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see

I can relate to Lily. It has me thinking of the female relationships I've had (thought of my 2nd best friend and my cousin), while she is in the wrong with how she lashed out and betrayed Snow Flower's secrets, I still empathised with how she was so hurt and angry and proceeded to Pick Out Every Happy Memory

on laotong, the descriptions really encapsulate what it's like to be so bonded with your best female friend. Evokes memories and emotions I have

there's so much queer subtext. discuss. Accidentally queer? (Was this meant to be a gimmick to show how close they are with little boundaries?)

Lily: doesn't like sex at all with her husband, notably blushed while imagining Snow Flower's moans of pleasures in her laotong's bed 'But how do I say this without sounding like a husband' -thinks of SF's touch while husband is first touching her -her first priority is Snow Flower, gets tremendously jealous/betrayed of the thought of SF sharing an equivalent bond with other women (sworn sisterhood) -has only ever broken the rules for Snow Flower -SF: writes poetry to Lily about them being birds. I was pretty damn sure she was referring to Lily as the 'phoenix (together with her)' even in her sanzhaoshu poem when Lily got married. Just as Lily also wrote of her as a phoenix in hers.

also the iconic Li Bai poem they write on each other that every chinese kid learns as a kid made queer: Quiet Night Thought. They're each other's home.

-they also didn't have a choice in their laotong, but this was the one good thing they could have all their lives

ironic how Lily would end up being like her mother and her mother-in-law 'obey rules' -and how while she was like that wanting for Snow Flower's own good, it still hurt her because it was taken to an extreme, what should have been encouragement turned into excess criticism and blind solutions -but also sympathising that it's hard: when someone you love and want to support is constantly miserable, and you want to do what you can (and this you feel the other can) to fix the situation

for me it's a cautionary tale in a way. To love is to accept and to listen, instead of trying to fix all the time. "...but inside I also waged something like a man's battle between my true nature and the person I should have been."

What lured me in: historical setting, friendship between women specifically (wouldn't you love anyone who matched you in so many ways?)

Irony of the reveal later of reversed fate: the poor one marries rich, the rich has a downfall and marries poor)

writing techniques, what works for it:

accurate evocation of emotions

detailed description of foods, colours, along with lush historical setting. (The description of the caramelised taro!!! I WANT) Characterisation seems right to history, Lily might only seem close to a 'modern' woman thinking fate can be changed at the end because she has power as Lady Lu

pacing? Just right I think. Tone -solemn, serious.

plot and agency were a lot clearer with peony in love (same author, also loved this book a lot more), whereas this one only meant to show a relationship in its full (which makes sense as it is meant to be an autobiography in regret)

oohhh even though it starts at the end, how much later revealed still becomes a surprise! The little foreshadowing

characterisation: someone on goodreads said they flattened to 1D as they got older. Don't think that was the case, but that's somewhat apt for SF bcs her life was so miserable she became thus (and partly bcs they've both gotten busy so the perception of narrator too)

relationships between women all explored, and between parents and children. Heartwarming moment to see that fathers also loved their daughters. My heart hurt (pg 110 when MC left her home and family to be married, and they all sang as part of the wedding rites -"Thank you for raising a worthless daughter" "Goodbye, daughter") reminded by my family. The slight rebellions they could all take as women with nu shu, and how they could be there for each other. How the harsh life of a woman and its stages was shown in that era.

the tragedy at the end (how it started at the end and began with such a fascinatingly clear memory at 7 years old) of misunderstanding, how even if her life has almost been perfect, she misunderstood due to her upbringing.

It is about love. How the narrator and MC yearned for love all her life, and who couldn't sympathise? And in such a society harsh to women, tragedy was bound to occur. "What was the point of being Lady Lu if I didn't have love in my life?"

how helpless you can be in misfortune and stick to convention as a way to help

snow flower's character (both of them as kids having fun and learning from each other!). the ways love was shown between them and in their families.

[phlve]

Psychosophy Attitudes — Logic

1L / First Logic

For 1L, thought, logic and self-sufficiency come first. 1L tend to go from concept to concept, often dragging life itself into the framework of their theories.

1L strive for universalism, that is, forming their own picture of the world, they try to include all the phenomena of life in this accurate picture and spread it to the whole world at once. They tend to generalise facts. From a thousand details, they are able to put together a single consistent picture, which they'll try to apply not only to these details, but also to all the others that are found in the world.

1L are characterised by consistent thinking. They strive for a result - some kind of final product, a formula - as universally applicable as possible.

The schemes and theories that 1L make are usually laconic. They strip all which they deem unimportant and give out a sharp, coincided, somewhat dry statement. Likewise, they don't like it when other people are overloaded with facts. To bring everything into a slender form, to remove the unnecessary - that's what they aspire to.

The memory of the 1L has the property of not storing "unnecessary" information, as by themselves they are not of interest to them, but they can on occasion link all these facts, numbers and names into a coherent scheme. The battle horse of 1L is system analysis.

1L sentences are distinguished by their laconicism, behind which the semantic fullness is felt. There can be many abstract nouns in their speech, since these categories are most conveniently used to generalise the experience that 1L constantly conduct. In this case, the presentation will be clear, with no frills.

1L have a distinctive property - the ability and need to think alone. It is important for them to get to the very essence of the matter, and for this they don't need company.

When a thought occurs to 1L, they are able to interrupt any activity and switch to this thought. This happens even with 1L children: a child can be alone for hours and reflect, refusing to play.

1L are not very talkative, they don't understand at all why idle chatter is needed, because to them life is made of absolute truths. So they resort to conversing only to find out the truth.

It is not easy to communicate with 1L, because to them there is only one correct opinion - their own. Communication with their willy-nilly will be reduced to a monologue: either very interesting or boring and unpleasant. They don't ask for someone else's opinion, they only assert their own. Even if they ask a question, it's probably rhetoric and leads to their answer. It's too difficult for them to communicate outside the affirmative form.

1L don't enter into every conversation. If they considerd themselves incompetent, then they'll prefer to remain silent.

If 1L have a lecture, they prefer to prepare a speech in advance and speak only within the framework of what has been written. They can be knocked down by any comment that is irrelevant, or someone else's opinion that they weren't prepared to refute.

If 1L realise that they're not right, it's painful. If they create a theory that turns out to be wrong, it could destroy their world. But not for long: soon they'll create a new theory, as logically consistent as possible.

It is peculiar to 1L to think of themselves as the “kings” of the Logical world - a person who is endowed with the power of the mind. The concept 1L: "I am a thought leader, I thought everything over, and my thought should be dominant."

The weak point of 1L is their inflexibility. Life moves forward, living standards and priorities change, and 1L remain categorically stable: they always know what is right and what is wrong. For this reason, most of the conflicts occur in their life.

Despite the fact that the results of the thinking of 1L are usually expressed in two or three precise formulas, the thinking apparatus of 1L is very heavy. 1L are not endowed with the ability to grasp on the fly and instantly process information. They need to first think about it, then integrate it into their system of ideas, and only then make a conclusion about its correctness. In this sense, 1L are slow-witted, their brains lacking flexibility.

The first reaction of 1L to any event is to understand what is happening, to explain the situation to oneself. It is very important for them to create a scheme according to which they can act. If something is incomprehensible or unexpected to 1L, it can seriously block their activity. Before starting any business, 1L often say: "We need to think this thorough."

1L are characterised by categorically in dealing with other people's thoughts and concepts. They can "crush" the interlocutor without any regard for the fact that he has his own opinion. For them, people are divided into right and wrong. The wrong must be taught. And they teach - pushing like a tank with their worldview system.

1L are at times poorly read, because why draw someone else's opinion from books when they have their own?

1L often overestimate the possibilities of their thinking. They tend not to doubt their minds and don't test their strength and sharpness. When someone asks them questions to test their abilities, they often respond dryly, as they consider it shameful to answer “I don’t know” (and add mentally: “I don’t want to know”). But give them a real task, where they're required not to know the facts, but to connect them through a logical thread - and you will get a brilliant response from them.

In general, people with 1L are the ones who are most interested in thinking. They have their own opinion about everything. They are not always wise men and thinkers, they are not even always people of great mind. They simply tend to assert the infallible truth and disregard the superfluous opinions.

1L types: LEFV, LEVF, LFEV, LFVE, LVEF, LVFE

2L / Second Logic

2L provoke reflection and discussion. Often, whether deservedly or not, they give the impression of a troll who mock someone else's stupidity. But in fact, 2L aren't happy with stupidity, on the contrary, they want an interesting discussion in which there are arguments and logical chains. 2L ask questions differently to find out the answer as to hear someone else's point of view and discuss it. They are disappointed by stubborn "square" interlocutors who do not appreciate the joy of thinking.

2L don't give out the result of their thoughts, they prefer the exchange of thoughts with the other party. Therefore, they love disputes, arguments, and communication. It's important for 2L not only to express themselves, but to listen to the reciprocal opinion, to consider it, to have an intellectual game.

One of the properties of the 2L is to involve people in communication, in dialogue. 2L engage in the conversation professionally. They ask a question even when they know the answer perfectly. In addition, they ask for advice, explain something, repeat something, and the other party swallows this bait, feeling at this moment important and significant.

If 2L have a monologue, they try to build it in the form of a dialogue: they argue with themselves and, unable to resist, ask the audience some questions too.

2L are tireless in their desire to maintain a dialogue, to talk about everything in the world. And they can do it for hours with unrelenting pleasure. At the same time, they are great both at speaking and listening.

2L communicate according to the principle “What I see - I sing about it”. They develop every thought that comes to their mind or arises during the course of a conversation. Enthusiasm for thought is one of the most characteristic features of 2L.

The minds of 2L contain both universal concepts and insignificant facts. After all, communication can stem from anything - and it is important for 2L to enter into any conversation, therefore they store a lot of facts and ideas to use when possible.

2L are interested in practically everything that happens in the world, without dividing into "significant" and "insignificant". Both global problems and minor events - they are ready to consider everything with equal attention and interest. Since childhood, they have had a thirst for knowledge, and they scoop out everything they can from the information field that surrounds them.

The hallmark of 2L is healthy cynicism. They don't need to have a complete picture in their head, they play with concepts and meanings. They don't know of prohibitions, dogmas, frameworks, rules - they discuss and think about everything.

2L think that they will change along the way. 2L don't hold absolute value to their thoughts, for they are not statements, but hypotheses. Within themselves, they don't believe in any dogma, any conviction that would keep the freedom of thought away from them. It is common for 2L people to refute today what was said yesterday.

2L don't put pressure on the partner, they cooperate with him. Even if the partner categorically expresses his opinion, 2L won't cut him off, won't impose their opinion in response. They can both agree and argue, but in fact, they catch his opinions like a ball, which is interesting to use for playing with intellectual muscles, and send it back as if it were a game.

The train of thought of the 2L has tremendous speed. Information is instantly retrieved from memory, options are calculated, hypotheses are proposed.

When communicating with the 2L, the feeling is created that the person will answer any question. Even if the 2L don't understand the subject, they can fearlessly enter into a conversation, relying only on their flexibility and freedom of mind. And if they understand the subject, then they're not afraid of any tricky question, comment and correction: they will always find something to answer.

2L are so confident in their ability to find the right answer to any question that they allow themselves to be careless with a word: instead of a specific word, they'll choose a harmless synonym. She may already think about something else and answer the interlocutor automatically, and after that she may not even remember that she said it.

2L are capable of upsetting any opponent if they try to "run over" them, but they will still try to handle their opinion with care. 2L are not offended if criticised — Their principle is: "if you know better, please tell me".

2L like very much when they're asked to explain something. They are able to make the most complex thoughts available to the common man. And if they don't understand something, they will explain patiently and as much as necessary, without the slightest dogmatism.

2L are not inclined to the written presentation of thoughts, they are interested in live communication. For a specific task, they can force themselves to sit down at the papers, but the texts look like something unfinished, like a fragment without a beginning and an end.

The world of the 2L is a vast, endless sea of facts and concepts, where intellectual freedom reigns, where they do not impose their opinions and are always ready to listen to the answer, where the conversation has intrinsic value, and where it does not matter when the point is made.

2L types: ELFV, ELVF, FLEV, FLVE, VLEF, VLFE

3L / Third Logic

3L people, like with any Third function, are characterised by duality. They are inclined to deny the ability of a person to know the world with the help of reason and describe it with logic, and at the same time, they passionately worship the mind, envy someone else's intellect and someone else's ability to describe the world with the help of formulas.

3L question everything, are ready to dispute any information - and at the same time are looking for the truth more than anything else.

Due to its subtlety, 3L are able to see the slightest logical inconsistencies. They will not miss the smallest break in a logical chain.

Owners of 3L are the most curious people in the world. They strive to know all aspects of being as accurately as possible. The world seems too complicated for them to understand it completely even though it is precisely what they most want. Such people study a lot, read - so as not to be made fools, not to make a mistake in some trifle. They ponder questions that others would not have thought of.

3L love to get to the bottom of things, even with rhetorical questions they want to know the exact answer and write down the most detailed "logical" instructions. They often ask paradoxical questions, interested in the inner essence of things. They love to bring every position to the point of absurdity.

3L are characterised by aversion to all kinds of categorical judgments. The problem is that most of the time 3L don't dare to raise sharp disputes, especially with those who are able to put them in their place with two or three phrases.

If 3L get into a discussion, they do it in order to assert themselves, and so as to not lose face, they prefer to think over everything in advance. But in the heat of an argument, they remain in constant readiness to curtail communication or even resort to manipulation.

Realisation of oneself in the sphere of intellectual communication is a source of stress for 3L. To hide their fear from others, they strike into denial of everything that is possible (i.e. scepticism), which is a good way to absolve oneself of responsibility. They'll make others try to prove that A is A and B is B, and they'll ask provocative opposing questions.

There is another benefit to this behaviour. 3L desperately want to come off as very intelligent people and are afraid of being called a "fool" more than anything else. When 3L start to quibble and deny, they look very smart. And at the same time, the responsibility for the result is completely shifted onto others.

3L can defend themselves not only with denial and withdrawal into logical twists, but also through attempts to end the conversation with phrases like: "Stop blabbering" and "Let's not talk about it." If this doesn't help, then they will become silent and pretend that they don't hear anything. It may seem to others that they're neglecting them, but they're actually experiencing mental pain.

The safest thing for 3L is to have a leisurely conversation rather than a debate, where they don't need to strain themselves and therefore there is no reason to hear the offensive "You are a fool, you do not understand anything and cannot explain."

3L are interlocutors who love to “sit on their ears”. They love idle chatter, conversations "about nothing" - after all, it is in such exchanges that one can enjoy the process, and it doesn't matter if it leads anywhere. At every opportunity, they try to strike up a dialogue in which they will ask many questions and argue on the most insignificant reasons. With this, they can bring their interlocutors to white heat.

These are people who get the highest pleasure when they learn something, prove a point, sort it out, endure new knowledge. 3L enjoy the very process of formulating thoughts, they savour words, themselves wondering how they add up to logical conclusions. They can go over the words for hours and revel in the subtle play of meanings with a partner who maintains such a dialogue.

3L have two favourite topics of conversation. The first is the denial of the need for reason in the knowledge of the world: 3L are ready to prove the inconsistency of a topic for hours. The second is a discussion of various speculative issues, where it is impossible to come to an unambiguous opinion: they will be happy to be sophisticated in considering the most incredible possibilities and not come to anything concrete in the end.

3L are the opponents of simple solutions. If it is possible to solve a problem in both a simple and a complex way, 3L will definitely give preference to the complex one. A simple solution would lead to a result; for 3L the ongoing process is most important.

The greatest difficulty for 3L is to assemble a consistent system out of all the facts known to it and to prioritise it. The mind of 3L is arranged in such a way that it is difficult to prioritise information: all the facts seem to be equal to each other, they find it difficult to give preference to one over the other.

3L are bad speakers. For them, transforming thoughts into words is a double stress: first, it is difficult for them to think clearly, and second, the connection between thought and speech is also somewhat broken for them. Often 3L move away from the main thought, lose it and can no longer return. And all this is accompanied by a painful feeling of failure.

At the same time, it's important for them to be understood. For this, they are ready to do a lot. Their well-being depends on this, on this basis they build relationships. This is their "Achilles heel", a vulnerable spot.

3L love all sorts of crosswords, tests, logic problems. In particular, it helps them to safely test their own knowledge and usefulness.

3L collect knowledge in order to flash it somewhere and they are very proud of it. If the Third Logic failed to realise itself in life as a person of great intelligence, it can be proud of the intellectual successes of its children and take each of their achievements as its own merit.

3L like to teach others, and they can do it for a long time and tediously, both in speech and in writing.

3L are prone to mysticism and superstition. This is for her an attempt to find a replacement for the rational principle for explaining the world. She often believes in omens and tries to literally follow the instructions given by various sorcerers and mystics.

Well developed 3L are wonderful, very interesting interlocutors who are able to consider each phenomenon from a myriad of different sides, find flaws in other people's statements and ask questions that expand the frame of the world of others.

In general, the world of the 3L is a tangled world of logical constructions, in which the endless process of formulating, proving and sorting out thoughts is the greatest pleasure, and the word "fool" is the greatest insult. They do not tolerate categorical statements and are always ready to answer: "No, this is not so." The Third Logic does not allow the mind to calm down. Communicating with the Third Logic, you understand that not all questions still have answers, that there is still something to think about.

3L types: EFLV, EVLF, FELV, FVLE, VELF, VFLE

4L / Fourth Logic

4L people are not interested in spending their lives on intellectual labour and searching for meaning. They sincerely do not care about the truth, the main thing is for it to work. The breadth and wealth of mental activity can not be expected from the,. Such a person will learn as much as is required for the realisation of his higher-standing functions.

4L is characterised by clarity, simplicity and laconic presentation of thoughts. Such people have a very methodical mind that throws away everything that is unnecessary. If a thought is incomprehensible to a 4L person, they will simply forget about it so as not to be overwhelmed.

4L speak as they think, in short, as they complete phrases. Their speech flows without difficulty, but is often chaotic, tense and inconsistent.

It's difficult for 4L to think in abstract categories. When they do this, it feels like they are using words that they don't understand. They usually try to be as specific as possible.

Usually 4L are able to consider only a separate fact, without its connection with other ones. System analysis comes to them with great difficulty.

The ideology of 4L has little to do with their life. They can assert anything - but absolutely not follow it. Here life is separate from thought. In this sense, the reasoning of the 4L is best trusted with great care.

4L are able to think independently, but the inclusion of intellect occurs only in the moment of need for a decision, under the pressure of external circumstances. They will not unnecessarily strain the brain. By virtue of their effectiveness, they try to follow the quickest path, and where serious intellectual efforts are required, it is easier for them to trust the authority that they choose for themselves.

Any information coming from outside is absolutely unreliable to the 4L. From the point of view of the 4L, they should collect the opinions of people with a higher standing Logic. Which they successfully do, collecting advice before making an important decision.

4L believe what those "who understand" tell it. They themselves cannot play with theories. They may have its own system of worldview, but it's not fundamental for them. In order not to "steam", it is easier for the 4L to accept a ready-made system - religious, philosophical, vital. At the same time, of all theories, 4L choose the simplest and most understandable.

It is common for the 4L to be "infected" with someone else's truth, but this may not be for long - as long as they are in contact with a person telling them his truth. When there is another interlocutor nearby - the Fourth Logic can also sincerely share his ideas.

4L are characterised by idle curiosity. They can be interested in a variety of things, read many books, and communicate with people of very different views. And everywhere they will be interested for some time, and they'll take all this as her own.

4L can easily develop other people's views and take part in any conversations, they aren't afraid of blows to the Logic and even direct doubts about her mental capabilities. Therefore, they are completely free in their self-expression.

4L don't put pressure on their opinion, even they give irrefutable and very thoughtful proofs. They can press on the higher functions of her psychotype.

4L are the most tenacious. They can adapt to any regime, any leader, any spouse, any boss, and will follow them, finding a lot of reasonableness in their arguments, and sincerely agreeing with them.

One of the weaknesses of 4L people is the inability to function in stressful situations. In these cases, the ability to think is simply "turned off", the person is seized with panic and cannot make an informed decision.

Even if the stress is not very strong, their ability to think is blocked, and they begin to rely on their upper functions — according to Logic, they're led by those who will lead them at that moment.

Being 4L doesn't mean having a lack of mind. 4L people can be very smart: the overwhelming majority of the world's population are 4L. And among them are many people whom we deservedly consider to be great thinkers.

4L types: EFVL, EVFL, FEVL, FVEL, VEFL, VFEL

[real-live-human]

Requesting that you talk about Finch

sniles at you.

ok so first up: a disclaimer that finch has had and likely will continue to have her story rewritten in pretty significant ways, so. no promises as to how much of this stays accurate or will line up with whatever i've said in the past. also secondary disclaimer that in the interest of getting to write more i will be making this more or less a completely comprehensive infodump on everything i have on her at present, so who knows how organised it'll end up.

so! the very basic introduction is that finch is a kholo - the term being taken from pathfinder 2e's renamed gnolls, but basically think big anthro hyena people. she was initially a dnd character, and i still have her set in a broadly medieval-fantasy-ish world, although she isn't really bound to the specifics of any published rpg system or setting these days. she's on the short and scrawnier end for her people, but still damn big next to a human, and in addition to being a skilled fighter, has gotten by thanks to (somewhat poorly-defined) magical abilities. (more on that later!)

finch's life can more or less be characterised by both being a victim of circumstance, and tending to not make very good choices. one older detail i'm debating whether or not to keep "canon" is that basically, when she was born, a disease swept through her clan, killing a lot of cubs and new mothers. while obviously nobody could really blame her for that, it did lead to people considering her to have been born under a bad sign, so to speak. either way, her early life was... not great. while fairly communal and focused on supporting everyone in the clan, kholo culture can also tend to be a bit of a meritocracy where anyone who isn't "pulling their weight" gets looked down on. finch, as the runt of her litter and permanently affected by the aforementioned childhood illness (if we keep that canon), was just never as big or strong as others her age. this also led to a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, where others' disdain for her caused her to isolate herself, which in such a community-focused culture, did not improve anyone's opinion.

what changed was another kholo named blackthorn (just thorn when she met finch - kholos get their second and eventually third names at major milestones). she was a mirror of finch in a lot of ways - well respected, strong, one of her generation's up and coming hunters. for reasons nobody else could really explain, the two actually got on really well together, and blackthorn came to be the one person finch really considered a friend. finch was still not broadly popular, but through a mixture of social connections via blackthorn and actually believing that maybe she wasn't destined to fuck everything up, things started to look up for finch. she gained status as a reasonably talented hunter, and despite remaining a bit of a black sheep, became somewhat more respected, if not always liked.

from her status as my official Angst Character, you will not be surprised to learn that this did not last. something happened - in earlier versions of her story, she gets a family member killed on a hunt and spirals right back into self-doubt, but i'm not too sure on the specifics as of now. regardless of what it was, finch's good fortune and reputation began to turn. i mentioned that kholo society's focus on supporting the clan as a whole has its darker side, and eventually finch came to be seen as a threat, having become more reckless and endangered her clanmates while out hunting. blackthorn found out that the oussla (essentially the leading council) planned to put her on trial for these charges, and told finch as much.

she took this about as well as you might guess. finch had been meant to be taken to trial the next morning, and so that night, just before dawn, she tried to slip out unnoticed. blackthorn caught up to her, and this led to a confrontation. blackthorn was convinced that she could vouch for finch and talk the oussla down from the usual penalties of execution or exile, but finch was sick of trying to rely on the clan's rules. when finch refused to stay, blackthorn tried to stop her, the two got into a brief fight, and after injuring blackthorn, finch managed to escape into the night. she would never see her clan again.

unfortunately, life outside the clan is not particularly easy. as i mentioned, the details of the broader setting are still pretty blurry, but humans and whatever other sapients exist tend to be disposed to see kholos as monstrous, or even outright demons. so finch managed to get by in self-imposed exile, although not without frequent conflict with human society. eventually, in a scrap with some soldiers after being caught stealing food, she was very nearly killed - she took a spear-butt to the head, was knocked down, and by all rights should have been skewered then and there. what changed her fortune this time could not have possibly been blackthorn.

time seemed to stop, and the entire world was coated in a haze of ash and smoke. a figure appeared out of the smoke, and although it was impossible to distinguish as more than a blurry silhouette, finch could swear it sounded just like blackthorn. it told her that if she wanted to survive, to not die at the end of some human's spear in a back-alley in the middle of nowhere, it could help her - but only if she let it. by all rights, she probably should have been more hesitant of it, but it sounded so much like her, and she wanted so badly to believe that blackthorn had found her somehow, that she accepted. an instant later, as the spearman tried to finish off his quarry, she seemed to dissipate into smoke for just a moment, long enough to flow up past his weapon and get her teeth into him.

this is where we get to her poorly-defined magic, mentioned earlier. the thing-that-is-not-blackthorn seems to have granted her some ability to phase in and out of solidity, vanishing into smoke and dust just long enough to slip past all manner of dangers. what exactly the being-that-could-not-have-been-blackthorn gets out of this "deal" is unclear, partially intentionally on my part, and partially because i have yet to work it out. using this magic too much does seem to take a toll on finch's health, burning through her own energy, but any strict benefit to that-which-she-desperately-wants-to-think-is-blackthorn is unclear. however, if it wasn't already obvious, it absolutely is not blackthorn - it may be some sort of amalgam of all of finch's guilt and fear and anger taken metaphysical form, or perhaps it's something entirely distinct from her, just taking the form of the only friend she ever had to manipulate her! the possibilities are numerous.

i. thiiiink that covers everything? there's a few miscellaneous notes i could add (like how finch is still just finch whereas thorn became blackthorn represents finch's disconnect from her own people, having never had that naming ceremony, or that i am partially ripping off how spirits work from a webcomic i really liked about 10 years ago) but if you want to know Who Finch Is and What's Her Deal, i'm pretty sure this covers it all. many thanks for asking :3

[incorrect-koh-posts]

If you search Krol Tredowaty in Polish you mighy find images of Baldwin IV. An early take. Very cool.

Oh, thank you for pointing that out to me! 💛

Have some lovely Baldwin IV cover illustrations for Zofia Kossak's 1937 novel The Leper King (Król Trędowaty):

I'm particularly fond of these two - I think the minimalist art style suits both the subject and our leprous boy quite well, and I like the design the artists chose for his cloak and veil.

I also came across a rather pretty Polish cover for the Bernard Hamilton book:

My version of the Kossak novel (published in Germany in 1964), sadly, looks quite boring in comparison:

And while we're on the subject: I have to admit I rather enjoyed Kossak's take on the events in the Holy Land between roughly 1176 and 1187. Of course, it is very old-fashioned in terms of its writing style, and far from historically accurate - but considering that it was published in 1937, long before most of the decisive academic works we know had been written, I think Kossak nonetheless did an admirable job with presenting the historical events in a way that is both comprehensible and somewhat entertaining. Being nitpicky about the details while having access to almost a hundred years' worth of further research would be a little unfair, in my opinion.

That said, I'm not sure this is the right novel for you to read if you are simply looking for some good sauce about Baldwin, since Kossak's portrayal of him is a bit of a mixed bag. In some instances, her Baldwin resembled the wise, gentle king we know from KoH very closely, but in others, he came across as whiny and wallowing in self-pity, acting much more childish than he should. (Remember: In that time and place, men were considered legal adults at the age of fifteen.) So, what I missed in Kossak's Baldwin sometimes was the inner strength that - according to the chroniclers - he must have possessed in spades. His mother Agnes of Courtenay, by the way, receives a similar treatment and is presented as an overweight clucking old hag, which is, unfortunately, the default characterisation she is given in older historical fiction.

Apart from that, though, The Leper King was a hoot. This may be just my particular brand of weirdness talking - I'm currently writing my thesis about medieval German literature, so go figure - but I unapologetically love those early literary takes on Baldwin & Co. Their differing characterisations of the various historical figures are always fun to compare, sometimes I merely get a good laugh out of them while other times I end up being surprised or even genuinely impressed. This novel, somehow, managed to pair the WTF-factor with moments that I found genuinely heart-warming and dialogue that was by turns either well-written or absolutely laughable.

To be fair, some of this can probably be chalked up to the translation because - let's face it - many things that sound fine in any other language become very odd, all of a sudden, when translated into German. Towards the end of the book, for example, Kossak covers the Hattin episode and thus briefly tells how Eschiva and her sons retreated into the citadel at Lake Tiberias when Salah ad-Din laid siege to the city. Upon hearing this news, Kossak's Raymond exclaims affectionately "Meine tapfere Alte!", which is best translated as "My valiant old lady!", and if that isn't the funniest shit ever, then I don't know.

What I also found particularly wholesome - though of course not historically viable - was the way Kossak depicted the relationship between Baldwin and Raymond. For some reason, she seems to think Raymond was Baldwin's uncle (when in reality he was his first cousin once removed), but the "favourite uncle & favourite nephew" dynamic she builds between them really works for this novel. As a Raymond fangirl, it was also quite refreshing to read something that showed him as both sympathetic AND ambitious and, for once, didn't make him do the whole "cackling evil relative who is after the crown" act.

In the German translation, Raymond repeatedly calls Baldwin fondly "Mein Junge" und "Mein Kleiner", which literally means "my boy" and "my little one". I'm not crying, you're crying. Baldwin, in turn, refers to Raymond as "Oheim", which is an old German term for "uncle" (specifically: the brother of the mother - imagine that: Raymond as Agnes of Courtenay's brother! 😂). Hence, while it is simply a genealogical mistake and historically speaking, of course, a cartload of bollocks, it nonetheless warms my heart that this novel chose to present us with the one and only depiction of a literal "Uncle Tibs".

So, yeah - this was a fun read.

[zensakira]

Some good things

So I bashed the movie somewhat in my previous post. But y'know what it has some stuff I like!!

Like the fact that adrien takes up a good chunk of the movie, and has his own time to expand on his family and the confrontation with his dad etc

I'm remembering the s5 finale and you know what movie adrien and chat noir get more screen time than the final 3 episodes, but hopefully that was a given

Gabriel is written more like a father, who doesn't know he's hurting kids, less controlling, is more disheveled, distraught, better!

You need to kill a villain before the akuma pops out of their *body*? Funky!

When you get a message your miraculous beeps. This makes so much communicating sense. It just does. Every time in the show someone's looking for the other partner and they're spamming messages and I just think - what's the point they won't get it anyway. But they do here!! Though its funny how adrien is like the more you're away the more they yearn for you and that's the most accurate chat noir irresponsibility trait I've seen.

Also tikki told marinette to work on her cat puns and I was scared for two minutes that they were going to re-characterise ladybug to be the one making the puns and I was horrified

Back to bashing it. Why no lucky charms :(

[melop-sia]

for @elphabaoftheopera

WOOT WOOOOOT!!! TO CELEBRATE THE FINAL CHAPTER BEING RELEASED, ME AND MYSTIC THOUGHT OF A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN REGARDS TO LFAY!!!!!!!!!!! TO SHOW OUR GRATITUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What was your overall experience / journey reading the fic?

esper / melop-sia: when i started reading, i was instantly hooked. i genuinely don't think i have liked a fic this much as this one. i loved it so much that id actively check my gmail inbox every hour or so to see if a new chapter was posted 🥲 the most chapters i read in a row was 6, and that was when i first discovered the fic!!! after, i became a slow reader and soaked up every little description you wrote because i didn't wanna miss anything– thats probably why i noticed so many parallels 😁!! doing that also let me take it your writing and it's awesome! even awesome enough to get me back into reading stuff! hell, this fic was a reason why i bought gregory maguire's wicked novel 😅 it lit back a love for reading that i hadn't seen for a few years at least! and back to parallels, they were undoubtedly a key part of enjoyment in my journey with lfay! i always got so excited when i found one and wouldn't hesitate to kick around all energised 🥳🥳 im so glad that you went the extra mile by adding the parallels, it vastly improved my reading experience!

mystic / mystic-oni: Okay I've gotta admit I'm not usually the romantic type but they r so cute omgggggg 🥺

I think if i could change anything about the story or my experience reading it i would leave everything the same. It was just something fun, exciting and immersive i could go to after a rough day and although I am guilty of sometimes having one or two chapters stacked up after forgetting to read 😅, I was never finding myself not wanting to read it unless I was trying to savour it for a time when I would need it most. Plus gave me something extra to talk about with esper/melop-sia 😁😁😁

Especially if we were both reading a chapter at the same time. O ye and the characters are so well done and like the ones we all know so sometimes i just forget i'm reading something fan made because it's that good. I actually sometimes finding myself just melding the two together on accident (i mean thats probably expected considering i'm still somewhat new to the wicked fandom but still it wouldnt be possible if the characters weren't portrayed accurately)!

What about the AU stood out to you (in comparison to the adapted material)?

esper: i think what really stood out to me was how much more you fleshed out each character in comparison to the musical. i loved how you gave everyone another layer of personality along with the ones already set by the musical, yet keeping dialogue and interactions so on point 💓! one thing that is so important to me is a character's personality being accurate. i have so much less enjoyment with a fic when characters are written completely different to their "source", so it was a relief and delight to see the consistent characterisation ⭐️⭐️⭐️!!! a bit off topic but i also really liked how you included some references from the book!

mystic: Well, i've only seen one of the musicals on yt (so far, might read the book cuz esper has it and she said she could lend it to me after they had finished it 😁😁). I really felt though from my experience with wicked (not much but anyways 😅) it really fleshed out more of the characters, like how elphaba has nyctophobia cuz it just added another like, obstacle and really added to her character and existing challenges. Also like the letters were a crucial part of moving this fic away from the original material, im rlly proud of myself because while it was in the part of the story where letters were most important, i noticed a lot of familiarity with something but i couldn't figure out what. Then i remembered i had seen the movie "You've got mail" and it was one of the inspirations which i love and made me enjoy the story even more just because it felt familiar in a way.

What was your favourite chapter? Why?

esper: wooof that is a hard questionn ����😯 i have a few favourites, but ill try to limit it to one or two...... after a bit of thinking, i think i have to say 11 and 19: each for pretty different reasons admittedly 😅. for one, i loved 19 particularly because of how sweet the fiyeraba date was!!! it was the [infodumping gf] and [polite listening bf] dynamic that i lovee so much 🥺🥺🥺 it was so cuteee!!!! the angst was saddening to say the least, but i really enjoyed how you wrote their dialogue and how they finally came to an agreement.

and. onto 11. that chapter was just insane /pos. it was so good i reread it multiple times and thought about it for a while and, at the same time was utterly speechless. i can say one thing though: the yearning. THE YEARNING!!!!!!!! the yearning was so good dudee!!!!!! i usually don't even like yearning but it was just wild how caught up they were both getting and the suspense was palpable. it was so impactful and therefore one of my favourites. close runner up for most favourites is 9 i loved how it finally broke down the established initial barrier and tension between elphaba and fiyero in an engaging way!! another runner up is 21 for an awesome sequence of scenes that made me feeeellll 🥺 soon to be elaborated on!

mystic: Oke im gonna be honest, in order to answer this question i found myself skimming over a lot of chapters that i had remembered i liked and i cant decide on one because they were all so great or had an important event that i couldn't compare to other chapters. I was planning on going into specifics but since i'm so torn im gonna save it for the moments question 😭

Tysm for the indecisiveness cuz all ur chapters are soo good u should be proud. Also it gave me a reason to look back to try and find my favourite and although i didnt get a clear result it was really refreshing reading the older chapters again.

What was your favourite scene or moment? Why?

esper: I HAVE A FEW FOR THIS ONE TOO!!! the first one that comes to mind is fiyero getting to kick jozsef's ass 😁 i absolutely loved how he got back at him after so long and im just a sucker for people getting what they deserve 🥳!!! it was an awesome inclusion and i was so satisfyed with how that turned out. alsooo i loved fiyeraba's bickering pre-museum break in, it definitely wasnt the first or last time i audibly laughed at something in this fic! and elphaba playing go fish with dorothy was hilarious and not near anything i expected for the last chapter of the main story 😅😅😅 that as well as her warming up to dorothy was simply amazing to me!

onto a more wholesome moment, i loved the dance between fiyero and elphie in the empty ozdust, it was such an intimate and romantic moment between them and i couldn't help but love them more after 🥺 following that, the scene of glinda and elphaba making up with each other and becoming friends again! it was just amazing and all around so pleasant to read!!! another few follow ups, glinda confronting fiyero and forgiving him, as well as starting the party! it was a nice flow of funny to touching and then hopeful!

mystic: oke for me its gotta be those bits where elphie does something cool or funny, like in chapter five when Jozsef was tryna splash her with water and she just dumped it all back on him, like that was pretty badass. Also the petition bit in chapter 7 had me dyinggggggg 💀💀💀 (especially the intimidation and fear, i found it pretty funny and also smart how they used that to get people to support their cause). Also the closet bit in chapter nine was really memorable, and exciting to read and I think most people really liked that part. Just the awkwardness and tensionnnnnn aaaaaaah!!! 😁🥲👏👏👏

Okay, and im sure the Ozdust in chapter 13 had everyone on the edge of their seats (Depending on whether u were sitting 😅) when all the secrets were revealed and the truth was spilled everywhere. Ending with quick escape and a great cliffhanger that kept everyone wondering about the chapters to come. There are so, so, so many more but I end up forgetting where after I try to reread (maybe i should have written notes or something idk 😆). Once again thank you so much for making these truly ✨magical✨ moments for people to enjoy.

Thoughts on the ending / last chapter?

esper: i know i already wrote my thoughts in a comment before, but now we have the epilogue so i can talk about that too!! for one, i don't think i would've had the ending any other way. 34 just had a great balance between presented aspects: it was heart-warming but bittersweet. not to mention such a satisfactory read after keeping up for the last month or two!

honestly im so happy about 35!!! honestly after the roller coaster of the "act 2 chapters" im glad we got a tonn of fluff. it was a wonderful peek into fiyeraba's new life and it was sooo cute 🥺🥺 genuinely loved it so much, another one of my favourite chapters❣️ im glad their story got to continue on into a fulfilling lifestyle for both of them 💗💗💗

mystic: Perfect. I didn't think too much about the last chapter before I read it because i didn't really want to go in with a predetermined idea of what I thought would happen because I just knew it might ruin the experience although I was very excited for it and did ponder for... maybe a minute or two 👀, and I came to the conclusion that I wasn't really sure where they would be next, but the fact they got to be together in the end without disturbance was good enough for me. I feel like the mood and especially the dialogue at the end of the chapter and just everything was more than I could have wanted, it was really good and never did I expect she would still be able to help the animals even after she moved and decided to try and just live a quiet, worry-free and normal life with Fiyero. Also just about the chapters before the epilogue, which i also really enjoyed, like how well Elphie got along with Dorothy, how she ultimately beat her final obstacle - her enemy since the beginning, the dark. Also Glinda in charge and Morrible in prison 😈✨🥳 yayyyyy 🎊

Final thoughts

esper: i thank you so much for this fic, it has really helped me through these few weeks and i commend you for making a fic worth all the praise given and more!!!!! im a little sad to see this journey over now, but im glad i was able to be part of it and get my friend into it too! ill likely be rereading as well as consuming some of your past content in waiting for your next project!! i really hope to experience that too 💖 sending much love and support

mystic: One of the only times that I can't help myself from writing "also" way too much because there are so many things I loved about this. Love, Fae & Yero was an adventure that I really felt apart of, and I hope I'm not too attached to let go of it now 😭😭😭

Me and esper spent a while writing this and they and I really want to thank you for your hard work, we tried to have this finished by a certain time and spent a while thinking of our questions as well as the most important things we should say. Hope we weren't too late 😅

AGAIN THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WRITING!!!!!

FROM ESPER AND MYSTIC 💚❤💖

[nepenthendline]

A Characterisation/Writing Guide - Autism and ADHD

Hi everyone! This post is going to be a guide on how to accurately write characters with Autism and ADHD. I have been so many works where Autism and ADHD have been terribly written - using so many stereotypes and just nonsense that has nothing to do with neurodivergences, so I hope this helps educate writers and give them more confidence to write such characters.

For reference, I have Autism and ADHD, as well as many friends with either, therefore this information is coming directly from a neurodivergent.

This guide will be split into three parts: characterisation in both Autism and ADHD, Autism chracterisation and ADHD characterisation. This being because Autism and ADHD, while two different disorders, do have some overlaps. 

TERMS:

Neurodivergent - describes those differing in mental or neurological function from what is considered typical or normal

Neurotypical - describes those who are considered normal and do not differ in mental or neurological function

NOTE - Not everyone is the same. Everyone is different and will act and feel in different ways, this is simply an overview of how Autism and ADHD typically can be characterised

MUTUAL CHARACTERISATION OF AUTISM AND ADHD:

As mentioned before, both Autism and ADHD do have overlapping traits that can make them look similar at times, although it is important to remember they are two very different disorders. 

Autism and ADHD are NOT mental illnesses or learning disabilities. They are neurological disorders that people are born with, and cannot be treated or cured. Neurodivergents can learn techniques to help manage their difficulties, however. It is important to note that while these are not mental illnesses, it is very common for neurodivergents to have mental illnesses (particularly anxiety or depression) or struggle with learning as a result of their difficulties.

MASKING:

Masking is a technique that neurodivergents develop in order to act or speak in a way that is ‘socially acceptable’ or neurotypical by observing and replicating neurotypicals in different situations. This includes subjects such as not stimming/keeping still, not saying particular things, following social cues, speaking with specific tones at specific times and so on. 

Not every neurodivergent will mask but most do. Everyone does this to a different extent; some mask 24/7 to the point where you would barely be able to recognise any ‘abnormal’ traits, whereas others only mask in more serious or professional situations and let loose around friends or family. It is up to you as the writer to decide how your character will mask, however there tend to be some trends. For example, those with high-function Autism (especially girls) are much better maskers than low-functioning Autism (especially boys).

Masking is exhausting; it takes a lot of effort to, essentially, act as a completely different person for the entire day. This does not mean that neurodivergents are two-faced in any aspect however. Neurodivergents simply tweak their existing personalities to ‘fit in’ with the people or situation. 

Masking in writing:

It is quite difficult to write masking as the person is essentially just acting like ‘normal’. However, there are some things you can include that help demonstrate masking:

 Adapted stims* that are much smaller and undetectable than a person’s usual stims, such as fiddling with their fingers or edge of their sleeve, looking around often or slight movements such as swaying or playing with jewellery they are wearing 

 Speaking more or less than usual and with much more changes in their pitch and tone

Slight cracks in a character’s masking, such as stimming when others aren’t looking, not holding eye-contact when speaking, face or tone falling flat at points

*Stims will be explained in the next section

STIMMING:

Stimming refers to self-stimulating, repetitive behaviours that are done to often calm a person down when in stress, or to show high levels of emotion such as happiness. Both neurodivergents and neurotypicals stim, however there are some difference. 

The most common examples of stims are bouncing your leg when sitting in a chair, clicking your pen repeatedly or tapping on a table, which are things that most people have done at some point. The difference is that neurodivergents have a lot less control over their stims, and they tend to be much ‘bigger’, louder, distracting or harmful. It is also much more difficult for a neurodivergent to stop or ‘hold in’ their stims, causing more stress and agitation. Some people have small stims like fiddling with their hands, others have much bigger stims like waving their arms around, and some have harmful stims such as scratching or banging their head against a wall. 

Stimming in writing:

If you are ever asked to write about how a character would help someone else/a reader with their stimming, please never ever write about the character stopping the other person/reader. This is extremely harmful for the stimming character and projects a view that stimming is bad or ‘naughty’, and many people have faced trauma over being forced to stopped stimming as it is seen as disrespectful or distracting. Stimming is often one of the only ways neurodivergents can clearly express their emotions. If you stop a stim, the person will simply stim in another way. Instead, try these ways:

Stim toys that the character can use, these are often small and discrete, and can allow the character to stim without harmful, loud or large movements

Distracting the character with something else, possibly an activity, something to hold, or audio/visual distractions

Reassure the character that these stims are ok and they are safe to do around other characters

Take notice of the situation the character is in, why are they stimming? Are they anxious? Are they excited? It is better to prevent the situation in the case of stress rather than try and stop the person from stimming, and allow the character to stim when feeling happy

In romantic situations, allowing the character to stim with their partner shows high levels of trust and acceptance, and it is also comforting for the stimming character to often use aspects of their partner to stim, such as playing with their partner’s fingers or hair

Exercise is a great way of helping those who stim often to release pent up energy

Stimmers can trigger other stimmers, so if you have two stimmers in a room together, chances are they will stim together, getting louder and bigger than usual

SENSORY SENSITIVTY:

Both those with Autism and/or ADHD tend to struggle with sensory sensitivity. This describes how people are easily affected by sensory input (sight, sound, taste, touch and smell). Most cases of sensory sensitivity end in distress, fear, panic and overload, however there are some people who feel comforted by high levels of sensory input. When people deal with too much sensory input, they often go into a ‘meltdown’. This is different for everyone, but often includes irritability, panic, shutting themselves off from others, extreme stimming and a feeling of being severely overwhelmed. Some people cannot speak at all during these episodes. while others may shout or make noises. They are often mistaken for tantrums, bad behaviour or just being grumpy. Young people tend to have much more active meltdowns, such as shouting, stimming, running off etc, however older people (especially girls) then to be more quiet, shut off and unable to continue speaking or doing tasks. That being said, everyone is different and anyone can have a different meltdown. 

Sensory sensitivity in writing: 

The best way to describe sensory sensitivity in writing is relating it to pain or panic. Often those with low tolerance to sensory input describe loud noises, for example, as physical pain in their head, or certain materials as making them feel faint or nauseous. 

Sensory sensitivity relates to any sense, so some people may be terrified of certain noises, feel panicked by certain smells or feelings or feel sick/vomit from certain tastes - please understand the severity of this for some people

Neurodivergents often find techniques to help them with this, such as wearing noise cancelling headphones or playing music or audio to distract them

The best way to help someone during a meltdown is to help them out of the situation and leave them to decompress. This might include letting them sit in a dark room for a while, laying in silence or touching an item/smelling something that brings them comfort

Describing a meltdown for a character can often be similarly written like a panic attack, and often meltdowns can lead to panic attacks for some people, such as an increased heart rate, sweating, crying, hyperventilating/heavy breathing etc.

Struggling to write sensory overload? Try and think how you would feel if you had 30 different voices screaming at you at once, with bright lights and super itchy clothing. Really panicked, scared and overwhelmed right? 

Those who are sensitive to sensory input often hear/feel/smell/see things much louder/easier/more extreme than others, so while something may be quiet to one person, it seems really loud to another

HABITS AND COMPLUSIONS

Neurodivergences come with a lot of habits and compulsions, somewhat similar to traits of OCD. These are things such as having to have particular routines, having to carry certain items with them at all times (mine are my BTS water bottle and earphones lol). Without fulfilling these habits, compulsions and comfort items, a person can become extremely stressed, panicked and overloaded. 

Habits and compulsions in writing:

Writing these can go from very subtle to extreme, it could be that someone has to get ready in the morning in a particular order, eat their food in a certain way/order or follow a particular route to get somewhere

The odd thing is that neurodivergents are actually pretty bad at developing habits, a neurodivergent could do the same thing over and over every single day, but completely forget to do it one day and never do it again

When writing for characters, some characters may be able to mask their distress when their habits/compulsions are not fulfilled, however others can not do so at all, but either way this sends the character into feeling of panic and distress

A character may develop certain habits/compulsions for different reasons, it could be from experiences, completely random, comforting senses or familiarity and fear 

For example when walking into my nearest town I have to walk a very specific route on a specific side of the road or I freak out, this is because it’s what I’m used to and I struggle to deal with change

Speaking of change, a character can be written as anxious or irritated when plans are changed

SPECIAL INTERESTS/HYPER-FIXATIONS:

Probably my favourite topic - neurodivergents often develop special interests and hyper-fixations. These relate to specific subjects or activities that a person will learn about or engage in with extreme focus and dedication. Some common examples are trains and butterflies, where a person will learn and memorise  every type of train, or every type of butterfly to exist, and how different trains work or the life cycles of butterflies. This can be of any topic though, as a child my personal special interest was Ancient Egypt and I spent all of my free time learning about the history. As I’ve gotten older, this has changed and my hyper-fixations have been mostly BTS and Haikyuu (with some short ones in between). 

Special interests/hyper-fixations in writing:

Info-dumping! Characters with special interests can often be written with moments of info-dumping, where they will talk about their special interest for a long period of time to someone else. They are often very excited, talk quickly and possibly even seem a little frantic when trying to explain their interest - this is something they have little control over and tend to talk for too long or at inappropriate times 

Stereotypes are often written in special interests, particularly the example I gave about trains - not every neurodivergent likes trains, please be creative when thinking about what special interest your character may have, if they have one at all

A character may have one long-standing special interest that they’ve been learning about for many years, or they can flutter between multiple hyper-fixations in the span of a few days

Hyper-fiaxtions can affect a character in ways such as forgetting to eat or sleep, forgetting to do other commitments or becoming extremely upset, stressed or unmotivated when that interest is no longer doable (such as if a TV series ends)

Some characters may be embarrassed about their interests, whereas others will happily info-dump with no concerns 

FRIENDSHIPS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Both Autism and ADHD can cause difficulties in making and keeping friendships or relationships. This is often due to struggles in communication, forgetting to speak to people, getting bored of social interaction, getting overwhelmed and feeling too ‘different’ from everyone else. Some people, however, can make friends every easily, particularly more extroverted and confident types. Autistics in particular tend to have small groups of friends that they feel truly comfortable with, and may struggle to understand why a person needs other friends/ a large group. This can lead to feelings of ejectment or jealously. A neurodivergent will often struggle to know how a person feels about them without being directly told, and will need frequent reassurance that this feeling is continuous. 

AUTISM CHARACTERISATIONS

Talking too much or very little - about 40% of people with Autism are mute, meaning they cannot speak. Characters could also be selectively mute, meaning they can only speak in situations they are comfortable with, or certain people

Autism is a communication disorder, majorly affecting a person’s ability to communicate and understand socialisation. Here is how to characterise Autism:

NOTE - I have used functioning labels here as, personally, I prefer to use them and is more often used where I am from, however some people prefer not to, please keep this in mind

Speaking out of turn - this is either because they do not understand the social cue of waiting until someone else has finished to talk, or because they will forget what is on their mind if they don’t say it immediately

Taking jokes or words literally - this can cause character’s to become distressed when they do not understand a joke, or end up doing a task that was not meant to happen because they took a conversation literally. This also include having difficulty understanding figures of speech such as ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’

Having difficulty understanding the rules of social interactions - this covers a range of things, from struggling to know what to say when speaking to a cashier at a store, to not knowing what to say in certain situations. An example of this is if someone said ‘hi, my name is ....”, the social cue is to respond with ‘hello, it’s nice to meet you, my name is ...”, however those with Autism tend not to understand this and may reply with something else. In my experiences, I often panic and say ‘thank you’ instead, despite this not being the ‘correct’ reply

Expressing the wrong emotions - Autism makes it very difficult to understand emotions, either from others or expressing them yourself. While others immediately know a smile means someone is happy, this is not something that is easy to understand in Autism. An autistic person may laugh or smile during negative situations, or look upset or mad in happy situations as they are either unaware of how they are carrying their body language, or simply do not know what body language fits with what emotion

Difficulty understanding emotion of others - whether it be verbal or non-verbal, it can be very difficult for those with Autism to understand what others are feeling and can often jump to the wrong conclusions

Using the wrong tone of voice or having a ‘robotic’ tone - For the same reason as the last point, those with Autism tend to either sound robotic at times, or use the wrong tone in the wrong situations, such as sounding angry when they are not, however they are often unaware of this when it happens. This also means they tend to be more blunt and literal in their own speech

Not understanding hints - those with Autism often need to be spoken to very directly as they struggle to understand hints or ‘read between the lines’. This could be anywhere from not understanding hints of romantic feelings, to someone mentioning that the trash is getting too full (as a hint that it needs to be taken out)

Difficulty with focus and following lists - this is an overlap with ADHD however the reasoning is often different, autistic people are often perfectionists, so if you give them a list of things to remember, they will focus so hard on remembering the first thing correctly that they forget the rest. Difficulty to focus is often due to a lack of interest in the topic 

Attention to detail and ‘all or nothing’ - Autistic people are great at paying attention to small details and often focus on that more than the big picture. They are also very ‘all or nothing’ with how they delegate their focus, if they are interested in something they will put their entire energy and focus into it until its perfect, if they aren’t interested? They probably wont do it at all, this often means that some Autistic people struggle academically because they don’t feel interested in the topics, and therefore have no motivation to do the work

Great at following rules and instructions - despite being bad at lists, Autistic people tend to be good at following rules, this is because they are often black and white, literal and easy to understand, they like structure!

Increased skills and abilities - those with autism are often more creative and intelligent in a wide variety of skills that neurotypicals, in fact to be diagnosed with high-functioning autism, you must have a higher-than-average IQ. Unfortunately the stereotype is that Autistics are dumb or stupid - this is not the case at all

Boys vs girls - everyone is different, however boys and girls tend to act very differently. Boys tend to be more extroverted and loud and particularly struggle with understanding emotions or talking in turn. Girls tend to be more introverted, quiet and can mask much better, but struggle more when knowing if it is acceptable to speak

No empathy? - this is what people often relate to Autism, however this is inaccurate. People with Autism can and do feel empathy, however it tends to be slightly different. For example, if a neurotypical told another neurotypical about a bad situation they went through, the other person would often reply with ‘I’m sorry that happened to you, I hope you feel better soon”. A neurodivergent, however, would often reply like this, “something similar happened to me once.....”. This often comes across rude to neurotypicals, however it is much easier for a neurodivergent to relate the person’s feeling to their own experiences, and share comfort by letting the person know they are not alone

Difficulty with eye contact -  good body language often explains that eye contact is key, however this is extremely difficulty for neurodivergents 

Forgetfulness - to be honest I don’t know why this is, autistics are just really forgetful. You need to repeatedly tell them to do something or they wont do it

Planning - autistics often need and enjoy planning their schedule. They find comfort in knowing exactly when, where and how things are happening and with who 

Shyness and introverted? - many autistics will be shy, introverted and struggle with social anxiety, but this is not the case for everyone. A person can be autistic and be super confident, loud and extroverted - it is a stereotype that being autistic makes you shy and quiet

REMEMBER - AUTISM IS A SPECTRUM DISORDER MEANING PEOPLE CAN RANGE FROM MILD TO SEVERE TRAITS, NOT EVERYONE WILL HAVE EVERY SINGLE TRAIT

AUTISM STEREOTYPES:

Everyone likes trains

They are rude and blunt

They are stupid/unintelligent

They cannot understand rules

They cannot feel empathy

They are quiet and shy

They are disruptive 

AD(H)D CHARACTERISATION

ADHD is a condition that affects the focus and attention of a person. Here’s how to characterise someone with ADHD:

Not everyone is hyperactive - firstly, the ‘hyperactive’ part of ADHD doesn’t often mean physically hyperactive, but a person can have ADD where they do not show hyperactive traits

Difficulty focusing - this is much more than just not being able to focus, there are many reasons as to why this is, including getting distracted easily (by external sources or their own thoughts). finding it difficult to understand social interactions, feeling overwhelmed

Hyperfocusing - on the flip side, ADHD can cause people to hyperfocus on certain things, where it takes all their time and energy and they forget to do other things such as eat or sleep

Difficulty with eye contact -  good body language often explains that eye contact is key, however this is extremely difficulty for neurodivergents 

Speaking out of turn - this is either because they do not understand the social cue of waiting until someone else has finished to talk, or because they will forget what is on their mind if they don’t say it immediately

Difficulties controlling emotions and mood swings - this is often comes out in anger and frustration. This can be for various reasons: they are frustrated that they cannot focus like others, a lack of motivation, get easily stressed and insecurity

Restlessness - this is often seen as being always ‘on the go’, they need to be busy at all times doing different activities. In writing this can be shown as excessive talking, fidgeting, getting bored easily or taking risks

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria - this is an emotional response to rejection or criticism which often looks like insecurity and anxiety. This could be real rejection, or perceived rejection, for example someone saying they are too busy to hang out may trigger an emotional response of rejection, low mood and anxiety in someone with ADHD. This can also lead to anger or panic, and causes people to become ‘people pleasers’ or not try at all

Poor organisation - the opposite of Autism where those with ADHD struggle with planning, organising, misplacing items and keeping things tidy. It is difficult to understand priorities, separate relevant and irrelevant information and time management. Those with ADHD often begin tasks and do not finish them due to restlessness, distractions or feeling overwhelmed by the task

Difficulties starting tasks - ADHD can make it very difficult to begin tasks as they feel too overwhelming, difficult or take too much focus. Breaking down tasks into smaller sections can help this a lot

Forgetfullness - out of sight, out of mind is often the case with ADHD, and so things like post-it notes and reminders can help people remember things they need to do

Multiple thoughts at once - neurotypicals tend to only have one thought/idea in their head at a time, however those with ADHD often juggle multiple thoughts which can lead to distraction and frustration

‘All or nothing’ - Those with ADHD tend to be ‘all or nothing’ with how they delegate their focus, if they are interested in something they will put their entire energy and focus into it until its perfect, if they aren’t interested? They probably wont do it at all, this often means that those with ADHD may struggle academically because they don’t feel interested in the topics. Unlike Autism, they tend not to focus well with repetitive  tasks as this lacks simulation

Medication - unlike Autism, ADHD can be helped with stimulant medication that allows them to focus a bit better. This is not a cure as ADHD cannot be cured, however it can be beneficial to some to help manage their struggles

Acting without thinking and being impulsive - to find some stimulation, those with ADHD may act without thinking of their consequences, or can engage in risky behaviour as other avenues may seem boring, please note this is not the case for everyone, and these ‘risks’ may be very mild like trying a new flavour of ice cream. They can act impulsively too and struggle to wait their turn

Communication difficulties - while ADHD is not a communication disorder, it can have affects on communication such as talking out of turn, starting conversations at the wrong times, being insensitive to particular topics or getting too distracted to focus on the conversation

Need reminders to take care of themselves - due to a mix of hyperfocusing and not focusing well, those with ADHD may often forget to do things such as eat, drink, sleep or shower

Quite easy to get their attention - when someone with ADHD is daydreaming, getting distracted or not focusing, it can be as simple as giving them a tap or a smile to bring their attention back to the matter at hand, even if these needs to be done multiple times

Rewarding behaviour - this technique works well as rewarding good behaviour releases dopamine, which is the hormone often lacked in those with ADHD, this allows people to connect activities and behaviours with positive feelings and are more likely to do it again in the future

ADHD STEROTYPES:

ADHD is ‘diet’ Autism

Those with ADHD cannot sit still

They are disruptive

Everyone with ADHD is hyperactive, loud and extroverted

[paynomindtomyidiocy]

can i just say I KNOW riordan has issues with misrepresentation but on the subject of the Kane siblings particularly i have a few thoughts:

I agree the polarisation and the characterisation of Carter as the ‘Black’ one and Sadie as the ‘white’ one is an issue and i don’t like it

A lot of people say her character is whitewashed because white-passing doesn’t mean white (which is how she’s often portrayed in fanart bc of blonde hair)

And while I agree that she should not be drawn or presented as fully white (I have always imagined her to be light-skinned with more ‘Black’ facial features – eg a broader nose or fuller lips, or even a larger forehead) (i use the quotation mark because it would not be accurate to insinuate that all (or even most, idk) Black people have those features)

, the response of a lot of people has irked me somewhat, because the new iterations of the fanart i have seen give her darker skin – which isn’t as big an issue bc ‘light’ skin is arbitrary anyways – but more notably, dark hair, as well as changing other aspects of canon appearance

(To clarify its not the canon divergence that irritates me)

Although I myself am not a mixed kid, I have seen and heard many people talk and write about their experiences with connecting (or not connecting) with both/all sides of their cultural/racial background

Most notably, white-passing people (some of whom don’t rly identify as white and struggle with that) – and I think that although yes, she is portrayed in a problematic way which should be fixed, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s supposed to represent a white-passing mixed child (not gonna go into whether or not that’s successful bc 1) that’s not my place, and 2) its a long story)

But to me it feels quite harmful, and even racist, to suggest that anyone who has skin ‘too light’ or lacks a certain type of hair should not be considered who they are? I don’t think you can invalidate someone’s identity based on how they present, which i think is the implication of changing the canon elements of her appearance that people deem to be ‘white’?

I understand the desire to be represented and im not trying to say she was necessarily good representation…but its not like she was presented as a fully Black girl – she is a white-passing mixed girl, and it strikes me as somewhat icky to try and erase the white-passing part

And for the record, this isn’t covered by the ‘white people get enough representation’ argument, however true that may be, because white-passing mixed people aren’t actually white so much as white-passing

To me, this would be somewhat similar to if there was a high-support autistic character who was depicted in a problematic way, and in the process of correcting for the portrayal and fanon, important parts of the high-support aspect were erased and they were made out to be more low-support

Anyways that was kinda a rant i just finally realised what i was trying to say lol sorry if its badly phrased its been a long week

Pls lmk ur thoughts and tell me what (im sure theres something) i did wrong, especially if ur Black, mixed, have read the series, etc

[acrossthewavesoftime]

📚 :-)

So, I've shared a great many story ideas, how about something a bit different now? I've dreamt about a 21st century stage adaption of Dearest Enemy (1925) for a long time (well, ever since @wmhowe introduced me to this joyful musical last year). I've posted about it before, but to give a quick summary, the musical is loosely based on true events when during the American Revolutionary War, a woman called Mary Lindley Murray who is said to have held up British General William Howe long enough at her residence to allow American forces to escape following their defeat in the action at Kip's Bay. In the musical, Mrs. Murray, her daughter, and above all, her Irish niece Betsy Burke and their friends decide to break the dull monotony of their lives as well-to-do ladies during wartime characterised by waiting for their male relatives, friends and love interests to come home from fighting with the Continental Army and come up with a plan to do their bit for the war effort. For one night, they're going to entertain General Howe's officers, thus help the American forces under General Putnam escape and, as an added bonus, get a night of partying and fun out of it all on the side. However, things don't go as planned as both both Jane Murray and her cousin Betsey genuinely fall in love with two dashing young redcoats, Governor Tryon's son Harry and Sir John Copeland. Betsy and Sir John are both as stubborn as they are proud and have many wonderful moments of fighting over being in love while openly disagreeing on politics. Sir John is later captured when a plan hatched by Betsy to let the Americans escape is set into motion, but all's well that ends well when George Washington himself comes to thank the Murray women and brings a special "gift" for Betsy: Sir John. Sadly, Dearest Enemy has not been performed on stage in the 21st century so far, and I would really love to see that changed. I am particularly fascinated by the 18th century setting coupled with 1920s music with a plethora of historical Easter eggs; the (sadly cut) number Girls Don't Tempt Me, sung by General Clinton, in its title alone hilariously accurately captures Clinton's very monogamous intentions towards a certain lady of the time; there's a big twist regarding the name of one of the main characters (more on that later) and Cheerio, a song about leaving Britain and going to war, sung by General Howe, eerily echoes WW1, as well as the similar, and documented worry of the latter's mother upon William going to war once again. If I were in charge of designing an adaption, I would love to have a revolving stage to allow for quick changes between different settings, one of which is the Murray house, which is shown in an open cross section, and the other an idyllic pastoral scene. The women's costumes are slightly exaggerated takes on the fashions of the 1770s, the men are all in contemporary uniforms. Big hair (wigs for everyone!), lots of bling and powder. Only Betsy is somewhat differently dressed than the others; she gets a 1920s robe de style, which are somewhat reminiscent of and deliberately play with evoking a slight semblance to 18th century gowns through their cut and sometimes decoration, and her hair is styled in water waves. Those sartorial differences are however never addressed by anybody.

Robe de style c. 1923, FIDM musem.

When the women anounce they're organising a ball, the costumes change; thanks to the modern marvels of zippers, push-buttons and velcro, the 18th century ladies transform into 1920s flappers.

Evening gown, c. 1925-28, Chertsey Museum; something I could picture Betsey wearing.

While the women change, the men remain in their 1770s attire. After the ball, the grand escape of American troops and Sir John's capture, Betsy is shown sitting at a table in the Murray residence, on which a grammophone sits, faintly playing Betsy and Sir John's recurring number Here In My Arms (bonus points if it's this original 1920s recording!).

When Washington brings Betsy her "gift", Sir John has transformed as well, and now wears 1920s mess dress.

Portrait of John Graves Simcoe, early 1770s, Riverbrink Art Museum; mess dress of a British officer of the Leicestershire Regiment, dated 1920, via Pinterest.

For some additional twists, and because I think that old plays can be adapted to pose new questions or challenge contemporary audiences by addressing contemporary issues, the name "Betsy Burke" was the alias used by Charles Edward Stuart on his flight to the Isle of Skye, disguised as a maid to Lady Flora MacDonald. Given the choice of this particular moniker, I am convinced it's hardly a coincidence. Why not use this piece of information to re-imagine Betsy as either trans or maybe a drag queen? I would be very excited to see such an interpretation, although I don't think that I'd be qualified of planning it beyond the basic idea.

I think I've been gushing for long enough now- I am sure I have only barely scratched the surface of how one could go about a modern adaption! :)

[delyth88]

Thoughts after rewatching Episode 4

Okay, so I took a couple of days to get over the excruciating cringeworthyness of a few many moments in episode 4 and have just finished rewatching it.

And I have to say thank goodness for whatever it is in the human brain that allows us to adapt! lol No, but srsly, I found it a much easier watch the second time, and its definitely keeping up the trend of the first three episodes of being something I can enjoy more the second time than the first.

So, my now somewhat less instant reaction thoughts:

I hadn’t noticed that it’s Sylvie that initiates the hand holding on Lamentis 1.  And I think I prefer this.  One thing I can’t stand is romance in TV or film where it’s all about the guy winning over the girl, like she’s clearly not interested, but somehow by the end of the movie she’s in love.  Okay, that’s a bit harsh, sometimes it’s done well, but it’s a convention that gets my hackles up and gets me all defensive, so I think I was taking some of this into the episode with me.

Interestingly, now that I’m thinking of it, I think this moment and the moment Sylvie asks if Loki is okay while they’re being escorted by the guards are the only moments I can recall where she showed any form of affection for him. *shrugs* 

Poor boy also seems so surprised at this.  And uncertain how to respond.  And I can’t help but see this in relation to the scene in Thor 1 where the frost giant grabs his forearm...  :’(

I also think another part of the reason I so disliked the romance on my first watch is that it was just another example of Loki over-doing the emotion thing in comparison to his previous characterisation. He certainly looks more into it than Sylvie, and this just bugs me, because again I think the way Sylvie is acting here is what I would have expected from Loki based on the films.

In the time prison, while I still don’t like the getting kicked in the crotch gimmick, I do like that they showed us Loki attempting to get out of the situation in what seems quite a reasonable way.  He explains the situation to Sif and asks for her help to escape.  I thought it was quite interesting, because we see his first instinct is to use his skills of persuasion and try to escape. Firstly because it’s an instance where he’s trying to plot an escape, not just avoiding her or fighting her. I like that he seems to have some hope that this is possible and isn’t just 100% resigned to the TVA being all-powerful.  And secondly, he speaks to Sif as a person, he doesn’t just treat her like some sort of solid hologram and try and knock her out, or stand by the door to make a surprise attack.  It doesn’t work, of course, and we’re supposed to find that funny, but at least he tried in a plausible way onscreen. unlike IW  And he asks her to trust him.  Which I found interesting because if he’s asking this then he must think there’s some chance that she will, which means there’s at least some level of respect between them.  And I like that.  I know I’m reading way too much into this that the writers certainly didn’t intend, but let me play over here.

I still don’t like the narcissist line.  But I think I can buy Loki exaggerating in his confession to get her to stop.  He doesn’t seem to be really particularly bothered by what he’s saying.  But when she walks out and says he will always be alone, even after what he’s just said, that seems to have an impact on him.

I do love this image though. He looks so smol. So sweet.

When Mobius retrieves Loki from the time prison after the first time, I can see after a second watch that Mobius is actually a little angry/disappointed that Loki ran off after the variant in Roxxcart.  Its subtle well subtler than Loki’s reactions so I hadn’t noticed.

I still dislike the way they did the romance thing.  The interrogation scene where Loki’s all “eww no, I don’t like her!” and then has this realisation that perhaps he does.  I felt like I was being beaten around the head with it.  Like teenagers teasing someone for liking someone else. smh

I’m also reminded that the English language really isn’t very good when it comes to words for ‘liking’ someone. I mean the UK seems to have ‘to fancy’ which would be more accurate, but gotta say I’m glad they didn’t use that here.

I still hate that Loki seems utterly unable to keep a secret or hide his emotions. To me this was a fundamental part of his character, and yet here we have Mobius calling him out because he can’t help but have this pained expression on his face and can’t keep his voice steady.  Black Widow wouldn’t have had to spend more than a minute with this variant of Loki.

Mobius: “What are you doing?”

Loki: “Passing the time.”

This line made me laugh this time.  Sassy Loki!

I still like the slightly veiled way Mobius apologises to Loki for saying he’s only destined to be the villain to make other people better. Nice, not too over the top. Makes Loki smile.

That animatronic timekeeper stuff was just weird.  There better be some good payoff for this in the next two episodes.

And now to the bit I hated the most on my first watch – that super cringey interrupted confession of feelings.

Looking at this again with fresh eyes I wonder if Loki was about to explain Mobius’s theory that their moment on Lamentis 1 might be able to destroy the TVA.  It just got awkward because to explain that he’d have to explain how he feels.  And I think they exaggerated that to make the impact of the pruning bigger.  

First he says “then who created the TVA?”  Then he turns away and he seems to be looking around for inspiration, and I think he’s actually thinking about this.  It wasn’t just rhetorical. We can see the moment he realises something, and he doesn’t seem particularly happy about it, and then he turns back to Sylvie.

“Sylvie, I have to tell you something.”

“We will figure this out.” I think this is an aside after he’s taken in how upset she is about this. And it’s true that if they take down the TVA then they probably have to learn who’s in charge eventually. And then he gets back to his original point.

“Because… er… back on Lamentis…” I think here he’s trying to find a way to explain that their moment caused the nexus event, and a big one at that, but he’s struggling to do so in a way that doesn’t make him completely vulnerable by telling her how he feels. But it’s not possible to talk about it so clinically, so he hesitates, “This is new for me…”  he realises he doesn’t actually know quite how to put this.

Now, if I can rationalise it in this way as being an important piece of information he needed to tell her that would help them bring down the TVA then I can be more okay with this than if it was just a poorly timed romantic confession (which is certainly what it appeared to be on first watch). Again, I’m probably clutching at straws here, but it helps me not want to gag while watching this. lol

I mean I still think it’s just a cringey awful scene and it’s so very cliche to interrupt someone before they can say ‘I love you’. But this is a way I can rationalise his actions and I’ll stick with this till proven otherwise, presumably in the next episode. Ha!

I can’t help but give a nod to another beautiful example of Tom’s eyes matching his shirt in the mid-credits scene. <3

I also think that what I’m experiencing watching each episode the first time is much more from Loki’s point of view.  Like I’m more personally invested in him doing well, him not being embarrassed, him looking good to others.  And so since the story is actually giving him a hell of a time I’m experiencing a lot of negative feelings on his behalf.  And this is because it’s unfolding in real time in front of me and in that moment it could go anywhere! So it feels more real perhaps??  On a second watch I know what’s coming and I’m able to watch it with an eye for the storytelling as a whole, not just as the real events of Loki’s life.  I don’t think I’ve been this much of a fan of any character in recent times to have experienced this before.  So it’s a fascinating thing to learn about being a fan. *shrugs*

Anyway, in summary, much more bearable on second watch.  Some good stuff in there, and I can ignore a good amount of the stuff I didn’t like – at least until next week.

So again I’m sorta somewhere in between loving and hating this show.

@iamanartichoke​ @scintillatingshortgirl19​ maybe some of this is useful to you?