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overthinkingfandom · 3 years

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Cards on the Table - Breaking down the tactics in L'manburg Independence

/rp /dsmp

Much has been said in the fandom about L'manburg's independence. It is, after all, arguably the most important moment in DSMP's history, as the rest of the story wouldn't have existed without it.

In light of the recent anniversary of it, yes I know I’m late, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and add something to the discussion surrounding it. However, as the morality of the situation has been discussed to death I'll be taking a slightly different approach to it.

Due to the nature of the DSMP's medium, the story has many unique quirks. One of those quirks is how realistic the tactics used in the story's portrayal of politics are. The independence conflict is a great example of it. While on the surface things seem to be rather simplistic in nature, there's a lot more going on that’s less obvious.

Both Wilbur and Dream are brilliant politicians who get to show both their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with an equally skilled opponent in this encounter. There’s actually quite a bit to go into, despite their interactions being so short.

When most people think about the L'manburg's independence, they think about the moment the declaration has been written up and the subsequent declaration of war. While this moment is certainly iconic, it's not really all that impactful in the grand scheme of things. Both declarations are the culmination of decisions that have been made beforehand. It's the moment when those decisions were made that really influenced things.

Conveniently, Wilbur and Dream only hold a single conversation about L'manburg before the declarations are drawn up, so we don’t need to look far in order to figure out where those decisions were formed.

Wilbur has been working on L’manburg, collecting materials and building the wall surrounding it, for almost an hour when he spots Dream lurking. “Get [Dream] into the VC, I need to talk with him. He’s the leader of the other nation, I think we need to have a congress.” (52:44)

Dream: “Hello?”

Wilbur: “Hello Dream. Welcome to our great nation of L’manburg.”

Dream: “L’manburg?”

Wilbur: “Yes. We are seceding from Dream SMP. This is our own server now. This area, just this part [between the walls of L’manburg], is our server.”

Wilbur doesn’t waste any time before getting right down to business and talking about the matter at hand. However, the way he speaks about it here and in the rest of the conversation is fairly interesting. Wilbur is talking about L’manburg as if it’s something which already exists. They are seceding. This is their land. This conversation is merely a courtesy to give Dream a formal notice of their separation.

Yet, a bit later Wilbur shows he knows they need Dream’s acknowledgement in order for L’manburg to be its own entity. Independence is not a concrete thing that can just be taken or created on one person’s whim, after all. It only exists when the people with power agree it exists.

Wilbur: “Dream, basically all we want from you is just acknowledgement that we are an independent nation now. That’s all we need.” (56:20)

So if Wilbur knows they aren’t independent yet, why is he talking like that?

It’s because he’s using a salesman technique called an Assumptive Close. Instead of posing it as a question and putting the choice of agreeing or disagreeing in Dream’s hands, Wilbur acts as if it’s already true and leaves the burden of challenging his claims on Dream’s shoulders. He even moves on to ask secondary questions on how Dream feels about having embassies in his land (and notably he frames it as a question, unlike how he frames the topic of L’manburg’s independence) as if L’manburg is already a political entity.

Wilbur: “Dream, I’ve got a proposition for you. How do you feel about having Tommy’s land being an embassy? Like it’s an enclave in your own land.” (59:01)

Wilbur’s use of this technique has an interesting side effect in that it signals to Dream Wilbur is taking a non-compromising position in this negotiation. In essence saying “L’manburg is independent, take it or leave it.”

A non-compromising position is the game theory term for when someone goes, "I'm going to do that, this is going to happen and nothing can dissuade me from this course of action." It's a strong tactic which forces everyone to react to that person's position, reducing the others' options into a binary of either accepting that position or rejecting it.

This is a very common tactic and various manifestations of it can be seen all over history and media. From Martin Luther who refused to recant or compromise with his famous words of “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise” to groups who cultivate a "with us or against us" mentality to heroic characters who say they would die before giving in to whatever Evil the story focuses on.

This is the situation Dream is facing here. He can either accept Wilbur's assertion that L'manburg is an independent entity by either encouraging them or even doing nothing, or he can reject Wilbur's assertion by acting against it.

As we all know, he ended up choosing the second option but what were his considerations for doing so?

For that we would need to know what his goal was here, something we don't really get a sense of from his conversation with Wilbur. However, he ends up stating what it was in a later conversation with Skeppy.

(Emphasis added by me and wasn’t part of the original dialogue.)

“Everyone can build wherever they want. [L’manburg] just decided to say that they get to determine where they can build and we can’t and we said well no, you can’t do that. And that’s what the whole war was over.” (31:44)

“[L’manburg] can’t tell us that we can’t go in their land. That’s all we wanted to say. That they’re not independent, they are a part of the Dream Team SMP. They’re just a delusional, small part." (34:26)

Dream lies a lot, so just because he says something doesn't mean it's necessarily true. However, this seems to be genuine. Dream has no problem telling Skeppy “we burned down their houses and blew up the whole land.” (32:36) later on in the conversation, so we can rule out that he's trying to paint himself in a better light, and there aren't really any other reasons for him to lie to Skeppy here about this.

When looking at Dream's options with his goal we can see the choice is pretty much a no-brainer.

Accepting is a total lose scenario for him. Not only will it fail to fulfill his goals, it would actively encourage the sort of behavior he doesn't want to happen, as Wilbur would set a precedent that so long as someone insisted hard enough and implied Dream is a bad person he would fold in negotiations and give them what they want.

Rejecting gets him far closer to his goal of railing against L’manburg’s exclusion. Going to war means he has to invest much more effort and resources into his reaction than if he just accepted as well as deal with the risks any war has, however the sheer difference in ability between Dream's side and Wilbur's side make the risk minimal.

Going to a war he’s pretty sure he can win VS encouraging the sort of thing he disapproves of, isn’t really a hard choice.

This is actually the result of a mistake on Wilbur's part. CC!Wilbur called his character naive (37:49) and he's not wrong. Wilbur has a tendency to act as he wishes and not take into account that people might disagree or retaliate. We see it with him saying they could just ignore the Americans (1:51:17) or during the elections when he told Quackity his scheme and got blindsided by Quackity deciding to run against him.

Historically, non-compromising positions worked best when the person who used it made sure rejection would be more costly than acceptance in one way or the other. In essence, narrowing down the options for others even more and leaving them only with acceptance.

Wilbur may have managed to wipe off the table all other options and put pressure on Dream to accept with his use of Assumptive Close, but he didn't do anything to prevent Dream from rejecting. In fact, it seems like Wilbur didn't even consider it as a valid possibility as he outright dismissed it when Dream brought it up as an option.

Dream: “What happens if the rest of the server decides to take over your land?”

Wilbur: “They can’t. It’s literally not how servers- Dream you’re supposed to be smart man, that’s not how servers work. You can’t just take over another person’s server.” (54:33)

But, you may be asking, if it was better for Dream to go to war against L'manburg rather than grant them independence, why did he end up giving into their desire for independence in the war? Wouldn't it have been better if he just saved everyone the trouble and gave it to them when they asked for it the first time? Or maybe Dream’s obsession with Tommy and his discs is just that strong?

We can find the answer to all those questions at Punz’ video where he shows the behind the scenes of the independence war, including some of the planning which went into it from the Dream Team’s side of the war. Specifically, this quote:

Dream: “[The L’manburgians] are never gonna give up. So then in the end the resolution will probably just be, we won but they can think whatever they want, we’re just going to ignore them because they’re essentially like- You want to think you’re independent? You’re not, you’re still part of the SMP, but if you want to think you’re independent, you can.” (9:04)

“They’re never gonna give up.”

Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter, as this is what Dream thinks and so this is what dictates his actions. Perhaps he’s overestimating his opponents here, or maybe he’s talking about how even if L’manburg is defeated this time they would try again for independence in the future. In either case, it’s clear Dream thinks the best case scenario for him - completely preventing people from fighting for L'manburg's independence - is impossible.

So, he tries for the second best case. If he can’t prevent L’manburg, he’s going to allow it but only under Dream’s terms. That’s what his “they can think whatever they want” line is all about. He intends on giving them token independence here, something which would satisfy them but wouldn't pose a real threat. Which is exactly what he ends up offering them during the bow duel.

Dream: “Let me just clarify: if you win, we grant L’Manburg independence.”

Tommy: “Alright.”

Dream: “But we recognize it still as a part of the Dream Team SMP.”

Wilbur: “That’s fine, that’s a fine condition.” (40:54)

The token independence thing didn’t work out so well for him. L'manburg quickly grew to be seen as an entity separate from Greater Dream SMP by everyone, and so Dream was forced to concede and treat it as one as well.

However, despite this part of his plan failing, overall the independence war was a glowing success for Dream.

By giving L'manburg independence after winning the war, Dream sent a very clear message. L'manburg only gets to be independent so long as they stay on Dream's good side. If they don't adhere to the terms Dream sets out for them? He can and will kick their asses, as the war so aptly demonstrated.

This message is received loud and clear. During his entire presidency Wilbur went out of his way to treat Dream with respect and try not to piss him off. Something he clearly demonstrates a number of times, like when he asked if he should call Dream “king Dream” (59:08) or during the railway skirmish (24:16).

In fact, it can be argued that this message lasted all the way up to Tubbo's presidency. Unlike Quackity, who was perfectly fine with starting a fight with Dream, Tubbo knew first hand what a war against Dream looks like. He knew that they could not win a war against him, especially in their weakened state at the time, and that influenced his decision.

As Dream once said: "L'manburg can be independent but it can't be free."

#dsmp analysis #c!dream #c!wilbur #strategist c!dream #dreblr #dsmp #analysis #game theory stuff

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ddarker-dreams · 4 years

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A concept from a dream I had: Hisoka wants Chrollo's darling for himself and tries to steal her from him. Darling gets injured in the ensuing fight and has to get patched up afterwards by Machi. Then, a bit of fluff, darling seeks out Chrollo and hugs him for comfort because the whole thing has her a bit shaken. (Love your writing btw, it's super well written and captivating!)

Tunnel Vision. Yan Chrollo x Reader

Warnings: Implied amnesia. Word count: 2.2k. Note: thank you very much!! i made some minor changes, where darling is a member of the phantom troupe, and not yet aware of chrollo’s obsession. i hope you enjoy! i’ve had a lot of ideas for this specific darling with nen abilities and this idea seemed to fit her very well...

Sharp, pointed nails digging into your skin. The sickeningly sweet fragrance of bubblegum blended with metallic blood. Black dots obscuring your vision, the world growing further away with each miserable second. Through labored breathing, a tense dialogue is exchanged between both parties, the ringing from your ears making it impossible to know for sure what they’re saying. Falling in and out of consciousness, you pick up on a few phrases.

“Just admit it, you’re no worse than I am. Look what you did to the poor girl. ♥”

“Maybe so, but that’s inconsequential. Your judgment means nothing.”

...

“Ah… what… a shame, that I didn’t... get to play with her as much as you did--”

“Hmm… to think your voice has never bothered me this much until now. This should silence you permanently.”

“--So you shouldn’t move around much until it fully heals,” Machi instructs, her voice clear and direct. At your lack of immediate response, she frowns, snapping her fingers to pull you from your trance-like state. “Oi, [First]. Are you even listening?”

You blink, her voice cutting through your clouded mind like a knife. “My bad, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Machi sighs and places a hand on her hip. Sapphire eyes glance over your person, not even bothering to hide her intentions, stopping every time she reaches your healed wounds. Even though your inebriated state, you can tell she’s deep in thought. You doubt she’d tell you what’s on her mind if you asked. So you sit there in silence, politely waiting for her to repeat what you missed.

“I could tell. Just take it easy, you’re going to need a few days of rest.” Machi walks to her bag, rustling through its contents. She picks up a bottle of pills and places it on your nightstand. The same medicine that she had given you before treatment, to dull the pain. You fight back the urge to smile at the small gesture. Had you been any other customer of Machi’s, she would’ve left by now without a word, indifferent to your condition. Despite your best efforts, she catches onto your softened expression and clicks her tongue.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she deadpans, shooting you a glare. You give an apologetic smile. “Take one a day until it’s gone.”

“Thank you, Machi. I appreciate it.”

“As you should,” Machi throws her bag over her shoulder and goes to the door. Before she can turn the nob, she turns back at you. “I forgot to mention, but you have a visitor. The boss has been waiting here since he brought you in.”

An unknown emotion stirs in the depths of your soul. Any playful retaliation you had for Machi’s previous comment dies on your tongue, your eyebrows furrowing. Why do you feel troubled by this revelation? You fight back the anxiety that bubbles up in your stomach. There’s no time to linger on this newfound unease, as Chrollo enters the room after exchanging pleasantries with Machi. Despite your efforts to suppress your discomfort, your body does as it pleases, heart palpitating and throat feeling tight.

He shuts the door behind him quietly and leans against the wall.

Chrollo Lucilfer. You consider your relationship to be a strictly professional one -- maybe a touch of reverence on your behalf -- never feeling as friendly with him as with the other members. He stands before you now in casual attire. Jet black hair frames his face, loose and fine, proudly showcasing the unusual tattoo on his forehead. It’s strange to see him without his trademark leather coat. Instead, he wears jeans and a navy blue undershirt. Immediately, you pick up on the bloodstains on his shirt, assuming he had shed his coat before coming in.

He smiles at your staring, not commenting as you glance away. “How are you feeling?”

“The medicine hasn’t worn off, so not too bad,” you struggle to exhale, your breathing ragged. Why does it feel so warm in here all of a sudden? “Machi told me you, uh, carried me here. Thank you. I’m sorry about your shirt… I’ll buy you a replacement.”

Chrollo puts a hand up to stop you. “There’s no need.”

Being one on one with your mysterious boss is as awkward as you imagined it would be. You still don’t know why he’s here. In between jobs, Chrollo would disappear into thin air, untraceable until calling the Troupe back together. So him being the one to find you on the verge of death hasn’t made sense. Machi gave noncommittal answers whenever you brought this up or told you to ask him yourself. Which you intended to at the time, but now that you’re in his intimidating presence, the words die on your tongue before they can begin.

He pushes himself off the wall and sits on the edge of your bed. The proximity feels strangely intimate, your face flushing at how familiar the act seems to him. Chrollo’s close enough now where you can pick up on his rich cologne. Dry wood with hints of leather. The scent increases your heart rate, anxiety at a new peak. You bite your lip and ball your hands into a fist to try and cope with the all-encompassing unease. To appear weak in front of him would be an insult to your tattered pride.

“Machi informed me about your memory,” Chrollo leans forward as if to inspect you. Grey eyes bore deep into your soul, searching for something. “She said you thought it was July when you regained consciousness.”

You swallow thickly at his questioning. How humiliating is this? Whatever it was that had happened to injure you already felt degrading enough. your pride as a competent Nen user in shambles. The most plausible explanation is that Chrollo discovered you after you had lost a fight, but the remaining details are fuzzy at best. Theorizing is all you can do. The unexplained amnesia is frustrating, but it’s only a few months, so you figure it could’ve been worse.

“That’s correct.”

Chrollo closes his eyes, as if in deep reflection. “So that’s how it is. I’m sorry to disturb you while you’re trying to recover, but can I ask a few questions?”

“Ah, of course. I’m sorry if I’m forgetting something important…”

This catches his attention, his posture tensing ever so slightly. You notice how his jaw tightens and assume your guess was correct. Your desire for answers on these missing four months strengthens and you feel hopeful that Chrollo holds some of the answers. It’s frustrating how both Machi and Chrollo seem to know more than you do but are refusing to give solid answers. Maybe they’re being considerate of your health? You’re not so fragile that you need to be coddled by your fellow Troupe members.

Chrollo looks down at you through thick eyelashes. “Do you think that you are?”

“I… I think so, yes.”

He sits silently for a moment, running a hand through his hair and giving a bittersweet smile. “We’re in a relationship.”

Wait, what? This would explain why Chrollo was with you at a time when the Troupe wasn’t gathered and his casual demeanor. Your expression must not be as schooled as you intended, as he gives a humorless chuckle to your wide eyes and parted lips. You… were in a relationship with The Phantom Troupe’s boss? Your boss? When did that happen? How did that happen? Did the others know? Ah, the teasing that would come with that. It’s not that you don’t find him attractive, your eyes work just fine, but the revelation still takes you back. Cheeks burning, you break eye contact and play with your hair. Feeling overwhelmingly self-conscious, you pull your blanket up further to cover your bare shoulders.

“There’s no need to be so embarrassed, [First],” Chrollo chastises with a playful tilt of his head. “I’ve seen all of it many times before.”

He’s not making this easier on you. You’re desperate to move on from the subject and decide to bring up another troublesome topic. Though you have an idea of what the answer will be, you’d still prefer that he’d confirm it for peace of mind.

“I was wondering, boss--” you cut yourself off with an apologetic smile when he furrows his eyebrows, “--I mean, Chrollo, about my Hatsu. I can tell I don’t have it now. Are you ‘borrowing’ it?”

There’s no other plausible explanation. In what other scenarios would you lose a fight that horrendously? You can’t picture anything else, your abilities have been enough to earn you Chrollo’s recognition and subsequent invitation to the Troupe years ago. It’s not uncommon that your boss will ask to borrow other Troupe member’s abilities. Sometime during the months that you’ve forgotten, this must’ve happened, or so you assume.

Chrollo nods his head. “I am, yes. Why do you ask? Would you like it back?”

“It does feel like a part of me is missing,” you admit sheepishly, scratching your cheek. “So, if it isn’t too much trouble…”

“I had to delay the job I borrowed it for due to what happened to you. Is it alright if I hold onto it for just a bit longer?” He’s moving even closer to you now than before. The bed shifts underneath his weight, Chrollo delicately taking your face into his hands. Your mind has trouble scrounging together a comprehensible response. How can you focus when the pads of his thumbs rub soothing circles against your cheek, his deep eyes hypnotizing. You swallow thickly when his pointer finger drags slowly against your bottom lip. Chrollo told you that you’re together, you remind yourself, assuming he has just missed touching you. It’s impossible to not notice the hungry gleam in his eyes.

“Oh, well, in that case, it’s fine.” You only manage to relax when he pulls away from you, content with your response. This has been a draining series of events. Chrollo’s one-sided familiarity isn’t easy to keep up with, you still view him as your boss and he views you as a lover. Sensing your apprehension, he takes your hand in his and places it over your pounding heart.

“Do you feel this?” He hums, to which you nod, speechless at the bold action. “Even if you don’t remember your love for me, your body hasn’t forgotten a thing from our time together.”

Is that what this feeling is? Love? You want to trust him, to take his word for it, but something still doesn’t feel right. Chrollo’s presence has kept you on edge ever since he entered your room. Even now, your skin is covered in goosebumps, hair standing on the back of your neck. What else are you forgetting? This is the question that reverberates in your mind, threatening to consume you entirely. Softly, as not to offend him, you take his hand off you. Chrollo’s expression is unreadable as you do so.

“I’m sorry, Chrollo, I’m just not sure I’m ready for... this yet.” You admit in truth, guilt washing over you at how his flirtatious demeanor changes to a calculating one. This is the version of Chrollo that you’re most familiar with. Your mysterious boss, who coldly issues orders and relishes in thrill of thievery, someone not as personal as he’s been acting like. Chrollo moves back and you’re grateful for the room to gather your bearings.

“Of course,” his aloof tone sends shivers down your spine, a distant gleam in his eyes. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have every intention of watching over you until you recover. It wouldn’t sit well with me otherwise.”

Chrollo motions to your closet door, which is slightly ajar. Inside you recognize some of his clothes that are hanging next to yours. “And I do live here, but I’ll sleep on the couch for tonight. How does that sound?”

So the two of you were so close that you had invited him to move in? How fast was this relationship going, anyway? It doesn’t feel like you to get that intimate with someone else in such a short time. The way Chrollo phrased it makes it sound like you used to sleep in the same bed too, how embarrassing… God, his comments are going to be the end of you. You need time to think. To let all this information that’s been thrust onto you sink in.

“If it’s not too much for an inconvenience. I feel awful… about forgetting as much as I have. Machi said she didn’t see any notable head injuries, so I can only assume it was a Nen ability.”

“That could be it,” Chrollo responds more flippantly than you expected, standing from your bed. You thought he’d be eager to explore the avenues of returning your memory. Maybe it’s too painful to think about? “You haven’t eaten since this morning, so I’ll get us some dinner. Keep resting up.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry for all this trouble.”

Chrollo waves away your apology without concern. He does, however, acknowledge you before leaving your shared bedroom. There’s a smile on his face that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. You hope you’re imagining it.

“By the way, [First]... I want you to know this. I’ll have you fall in love with me again. That’s a promise.”

Then he’s gone without another word.

#chrollo x reader #chrollo imagine #chrollo lucilfer imagine #chrollo #chrollo lucilfer #yandere chrollo #yandere chrollo x reader #yandere chrollo lucilfer #yandere chrollo imagine #hxh #hxh x reader #yandere hxh x reader #elannia #yandere #yandere x reader #hxh imagines #my stuff #answered

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glitxhwayventeen · 3 years

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Moonlight

Seungcheol: Chapter 4 (Rain On Me)

Characters: Seungcheol x female reader

Genre/Warnings: multi-member au (different scenarios), werewolf au, fantasy, angst, obsessive behavior mentions, overprotective nature mentions, potential blood mentions, runaways, violence, kidnapping, death mentions, made up universe, genocide, Any others will be put as warnings when future chapters are thought up/written.

Author’s Note: Okay so this chapter is short but we’re getting to a major fight scene so get over it. I do plan on editing it better but y’all know the drill; I edit when I can as soon as I can. You’ll see the (Updated DATE) at the bottom of the screen, the three dots on the top right left will let you know WHEN I wrote it. The Update at the bottom lets you know when the last time I touched that story was.

Please remember that all of these chapters and the content within them are a work of fiction! They’re just for fun/entertainment!

Bold= Dialogue Italics= Thoughts

🥀

Moonlight Master List

Chapter 4: Rain On Me

He was dashing through the woods as fast as he could. Back home he could sense something bad had happened. He knew in his bones that something had gone wrong. He knew without a doubt that you were in trouble.

He had gotten a sudden pit in his stomach as he was putting the clean dishes away to their proper spot in the cabinets. He sat on the couch and tried to act as though he was fine so he wouldn’t worry the rest of the pack.

After all, he hadn’t ever felt such a feeling before so he couldn’t be 100% certain that you were struggling. For all he knew he could’ve felt something weird had been happening because you sneezed and weren’t around him for once. Therefore he saw no reason to alert his pack as he had no proof to back up his thought process.

But his heart started to beat out of his chest only seconds after he had finally managed to convince himself to sit down, and he just knew. You were in danger.

And you weren’t just in the average everyday danger a normal wolf always seemed to find themselves in. No, you were scared for your life. He had to find you. So he stood from his seat and bolted out the front door without so much as muttering a single word to his packmates.

He could sense you, he knew how frightened you were. He could practically feel the terror radiating off of you as he darted through the thick forest and into the night.

He couldn’t help but seethe with rage as he ran. His younger brothers were tasked with protecting you and they let something happen to you. He’d have to deal with them later. In the moment, he needed to focus on getting to you.

Though, he didn’t know where you were per say. He figured he would have to find out when the pull lead him to you. But based on his current surroundings, he knew you weren’t in the village anymore.

He also knew his brothers he had left at home couldn’t have been that far behind him. Though truthfully he didn’t care if he had any backup. He was going to tear apart whatever it was that even thought about trying to harm you until it was nothing more than little tiny microscopic pieces regardless of if anyone helped him.

As he continued his quest to find you, he realized his pull to you was leading him towards a mountain, one he definitely wasn’t familiar with. In fact, he wasn’t familiar with any of his surroundings.

But seungcheol did know one thing: Nothing good ever came from someone or something living in such a dark part of the kingdom.

His mind couldn’t help but be plagued with worry as all the horrid things that could’ve taken you flashed through his mind. What could have possibly taken you of all people by surprise? Why wouldn’t you fight them off? Why couldn’t you manage to get away? What had they planned on doing with you? What had they already done to you?

He knew his mind wandering wasn’t productive. He knew it would only stress him out more and make things harder on himself. And he needed to be on the top of his game in order to get you back into the safety of his arms.

So all Seungcheol could hope to do was stay on the positive side. He didn’t feel sluggish or tired at all, he felt quite the opposite actually, which meant they must have had you alert and awake wherever it was they were keeping you. He also didn’t sense any surreal amount of pain, which meant that they must not have physically harmed you yet.

And because he could feel your own heart rate creeping up in his throat, and because he didn’t feel any soul crushing sadness yet, he was at least still pretty positive that you were alive. Which meant you still had a fighting chance of getting out of whatever situation it was that you found yourself in.

He was so consumed by his concerns and fears for you that he didn’t even realize something had been following him until a loud snapping sound pulled him back to reality.

He got into an instinctive defensive position and let out a low warning growl in the direction of the broken branch before relaxing when he smelt an all too familiar mix of smells.

“God damn it you two! I could’ve killed you! Don’t you ever think before you do dumb shit!”

He was met with a slim gray wolf with a white belly, white paws, a white muzzle, and large paws followed by another gray wolf with sandy colored streaks towards it’s hips and longer legs.

“What are you both doing?” Seungcheol huffed, still wanting to follow his instincts and run to you but knowing he had to be sure his pack was safe as well.

He didn’t want anything to come above you, and he sure hoped you didn’t see it that way when he’d explain how they’d found you later, but he already had his brother with him now. He couldn’t just pretend that he was out on his own and leave them to fend for themselves. God, he really hated being an alpha sometimes.

When you ran out the door so quickly and we realized (Y/N) and the guys hadn’t come back yet, I figured something happened and you might need some help. So Jeonghan and I decided he should stay with the others at the house and I should go to you to help because I’m the fastest. Joshua explained to the older wolf via their pack’s telepathy line.

The eldest always did think it was strange they could always hear each other. They weren’t really sure how the mental connection worked themselves. They just knew that they heard each others thoughts all the time, sometimes without meaning to, sometimes on purpose, like now on. And other times just when they plan did not want to. Hell, it seemed like they heard each other especially at those times. But he didn’t want to think of that, he wanted to find you.

“Alright so that explains you but what about him? He’s no fighter. He should not be here. He should be back at the house.” Seungcheol gritted, now starting his pace up the mountain back up.

He couldn’t afford to waste anymore time. Not when he knew you were in trouble and he was now certain the younger Alpha seemed to have things taken care of back at home.

I thought I should come in case she needed immediate attention. Hansol defended his presence, both him and Joshua beginning to walk behind the oldest Alpha to listen for any signs of potential danger.

Seungcheol spun around at lightening speed to his brothers before he spoke, “What do you mean ‘in case she needed immediate attention’? What could you give her that I possibly couldn’t?!” He let out as a jealous snap to the younger wolf.

Healing Hyung. Hansol whined and put his snout toward the forest floor in submission, I came along in case she needed to be healed. To make sure it wouldn’t be too late to save her in case… you know.

Your mate’s heart and jaw dropped simultaneously. Hearing the whole weight of your situation mentioned by his younger packmate sent a new type of panick down Seungcheol’s spine. Oh God, What if you needed emergency healing?

Seungcheol gave the younger boy a quick thankful nod with wide eyes still plastered on his face and turned back around.

Silently, the group of boys slowly commenced their stealthy journey through the mountains to your destination. All they could do was hope and pray that they’d find you alive and well.

——

After what seemed like a lifetime of treading through the high peak’s numerous different terrains, Seungcheol heard a similar heartbeat that made his claws and fangs want to elongate instantly.

They were now in front of a very dark cave surrounded by dead trees and fluffy bushes, though sight would never be a problem for them as werewolves eyes practically had built in night vision.

They were now towards the top of the landmass’s head, and the altitude was taking a bit of a toll on the boys oxygen intake. Hansol’s breathing had gotten heavier. Shua’s had gotten more rapid. All three felt like they could fall over from lightheadedness any second. But that didn’t mean they were any less adamant about getting to you.

Though when Seungcheol heard a familiar voice yammering in his head in the distance and had smelt the air around him, he could t help but throw his partially transformed body into one of the bushes near the cave and begin growling menacingly, much to the other boys dismay.

“How fucking dare you come anywhere near her??” Seungcheol hissed at the boy beneath his grasp he had landed on, now laying down on the dirt floor with the elder’s claws digging into his shoulder slightly as he held him down.

Your mate tried his best to keep focus on protecting you and getting to you as fast as he could. But it seemed your fear had waned, at least for the time being, and that meant Seungcheol’s other wolf instincts could take over much easier than he would’ve liked.

So he saw red. His eyes were now a crimson blood color as he stared the younger wolf down and his heart began beating adrenaline through his chest.

“I’ve been tracking her all night, since the town. I sent Chan to get the rest of the pack. Clearly he fucking failed.” Seokmin scoffed while trying with great effort to push the older Alpha wolf off him.

Was Seokmin terrified to face the much stronger and much more skilled alpha? Yes. Was he scared of getting his ass best for letting harm come to you when he promised to look out for you? Of course. But was he gonna show that immediately to his pack? Absolutely not.

“You want to talk about how Chan failed??? What about you?? Huh??? She went missing on your watch! Channie’s the younger one. He’s the one that’s supposed to follow. He’s the one that’s allowed to fuck up. Not you! You were the one in charge of their safety and now look where we are!” Cheol whisper yelled at the younger boy, trying to remain quiet so they wouldn’t alert whoever was holding you of their presence.

But his nostrils flared harder and bigger with every sentence he spewed from his raw lips. He couldn’t help it. He was angry. He was furious. He was terrified of losing you. And now he had the object of all his intense emotions right in front of him. How could he not scold and yell at him even a little?

Seokmin knew he fucked up. Though he also knew that now was definitely not the time for his brother’s anger to bubble out. Their priority was getting you home safe and sound. He just had to get his leader to see that through his heightened testosterone.

“Cheol I know I messed up okay. And I’ll gladly take the ass whooping from you later I’d that’s what you want. But right now we need to focus on getting (Y/N) back.” Seokmin held his hands up in a peaceful manner to show his brother he meant no harm and posed no threat to him.

Seungcheol was well aware just how right his brother was, he just had to try and bottle up his emotions towards the two boys until he got you home and would be able to repremend them accordingly.

So he drew in one long deep breath and closed his eyes before he decided to breathe out and ignore his seething rage at the wolf under him.

It took a second, but soon the boys saw Seungcheol sigh and get up from his position of aggressively straddling Seokmin. The others had gotten closer to them both as they were worried the oldest would end up attempting to actually harm the younger wolf because of his hostile and panicked mood.

But in the end, all the boys let out a breath they didn’t even know they were holding in when their alpha helped Seokmin into a crouching position to match his own and asked him for a status report.

“She’s in there,” Seokmin declared, gesturing his head in the direction of the cave, “I counted maybe four or five other… things in there with her, but it was mainly by smell. Their smell’s… kinda cold and faint,” He clarified, crinkling his nose up at the reminder of the strange aroma radiating from the cave, “I don’t sense any other living beings or hear any heart beating other than her’s. So I’ve kind of been working on the assumption that whoever they are, they aren’t human.”

“F-Fuck.” Stuttered your mate who was now running his still shakey hand through his hair that had matted itself due to the amount of nervous sweat he was producing.

He was praying that the whole thing would be easy. That him and his brothers could just quickly go in, kill whatever it was that had abducted you, and get the hell out before anything worse could happen.

But four to five unknown creatures up against them didn’t sound like it was gonna be something simple. They knew nothing about what they were up against meaning they couldn’t use their knowledge to help them take them down. Not to mention they didn’t know the territory around them so they didn’t have any sort of tactical advantage they could use against them. And they didn’t even know if you were seriously hurt or not.

They were at a complete disadvantage and, as much as he wanted to just go in the cave and let havoc loose on whatever it was that kidnapped you, he had to think of some sort of plan to keep everything from falling apart. For your sake and for theirs. He just wasn’t sure how to do that just yet.

——

You woke up due to a throbbing pain you felt in your throat. But it took a moment of rapidly blinking your crystal clear eyes for your vision to adjust to the sudden pitch darkness around you.

You could feel your hands melded to the wall based on the limited mobility your arms had. You could also feel some sort of silver burning into your ankles. They must have been using silver chains. Great, whoever took you had some brains.

Once your grogginess dropped some, you could hear that there were other being talking together amongst themselves within the same room as you.

They were incredibly lean, pale, and almost the same height as the, what you could only assume was anyway, cave that you had found yourself stuck in. You weren’t sure what language they were speaking, or even if it what they were doing was speaking in a real language. They could’ve been communicating using some other form of vocalization for all you knew, but you couldn’t understand their low chattering within their group huddle.

Soon, you heard a snarl and that, on top of a new knowledge of knowing you weren’t alone caused you to jump in surprise.

This seemed to alert the very tall boney creatures to your sudden consciousness. Within a matter of seconds they all hurriedly scurried over to surround you. Their chatter was closer now, which meant you could hear what they were saying. Though, it still wasn’t very legible to you.

You noticed they were using bits and pieces of old Korean, a language not typically used or understood by people anymore, along with some more ancient Chinese and Japanese thrown in and some significant type of mumbles that they all seemed to understand with ease.

While you didn’t understand their weird tongue mumbling talk, you did understand and even speak the other languages used in their conversation. But part of you wished you hadn’t.

Because you managed to decipher about three words from their conversation. And those three words sent a chill so deep within you, you felt your bones go cold: ‘The’, ‘Girl’ and ‘Dinner.’

You gulped very visibly and peered down at your feet to try and shift your way out of the mess you found yourself in. But the new silver blisters forming on your legs refused to help you change your form to what you needed to be the most.

You tried and tried but no matter how hard you attempted to will and forced your body to obey you, you couldn’t phase. Soon, you managed to use up the majority of your energy. You let out an exhausted groan in defeat that seemed to also be noticed by your captors, not that you cared.

Your only hope now was that Seungcheol and your new pack would come and save you before it was too late.

(Edited 7/29/2023)

#seventeen #seventeen angst #seventeen au #seventeen fanfic #seventeen fluff #seventeen smut #svt au #seventeen x reader #svt seungcheol #seungcheol #scoups

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what-the-witch-stuff · 4 years

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Allright. Elliott thread that nobody asked for. Part 4

The words you read seem to be some alien gibberish? Try these first:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Don’t worry guys. It will be over soon, I promise.

Bevore we start: This happened yesterday.

And I basically turned into that iCarly gif, where she’s on the Computer, sippin’ her drink and goes: interesting.

Because look who we have here. Our future husband acting all self-aware? Right after I assumed in my last post that he never talks about the possibility of his failure...

Elliott, do you know that I talk shit about you on Tumblr?

Please stop breaking the 4th wall...

To safe at least some of my ‘credibility’, he followed this up with something along the lines of:

“No, no...I am not fishing for compliments. Which does not mean I don't appreciate them ;) “.

Sure. Whatever.

In comparison to that:

A few in-game days previously, I had a cut-scene with Leah, where the player can suggest that she should organise an art show. And there, Leah openly communicated her fears of ppl not liking her art. I was surprised about how open she was, given that it was probably her 2nd heart event or something (?). It's interesting, how Leah (who I perceived to be more reserved than Elliott), was so willing to let us know about her insecurities. Meanwhile, Elliot seems to brush these thoughts aside rather quickly and returns to his nonchalant, graceful self.

I always thought that from the two of them, it might be Elliott who is more vocal about his emotions. But now, Elliott doesn't seem to wear his heart on his sleeves as much as I thought he would. Which changed the way I think about him quite a bit. Maybe he is more likely to hide behind platitudes and a self-assuring smile, after all.

And what can we take from this, when we would want to write, let’s say a scene with Leah/Elliott friendship dynamic?

What do you guys think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, before I was so disgracefully exposed, I was roasting Elliott’s life choices. To which I now gladly return to.

You see, the "issue" I see with Elliott is, that he plays into a trope:

The brooding hermitic author, who turned his back onto society in favour of finding inspiration in nature.

While this might sound thrilling and "romantic", we know that Elliott is not the best candidate to conform to this lifestyle. Just compare, how we as the player, manage to form quite strong relationships with everyone in Pelikan Town just by talking to them regularly.

We see Elliott outside the beach-area quite often. But aside from Leah, he does not seem to interact with anyone much. I don't know if there are statements about Elliott made by other characters, to have some inkling on how they feel about him. But its quite remarkable, how all other friendships outside to his connection with Leah, are not explicitly known as canon (?).

After a whole year living in this town, previous to our arrival, I would suggest, that Elliott might still be very much an outsider. He even remarks how, with our arrival, it will be nice, to no longer be "the new guy" in town.

But the problem with that might have been Elliott's reservedness, to begin with. Polite, but yet, maybe, quite impersonal. All pleasantries and platitudes as mentioned above. It all plays into Elliott's refusal to experience the comforts of a normal lifestyle in favour of pursuing his art.

And I love how Elliott just brushes that aside as if its nothing. I'd really love to know: what would have been his plan b, if his debut failed?

Worst case cenario: What would he'd done, if he ended up stranded in Pelikan Town, penniless and unsuccessful?

Where would he go? Is there a place he can return to? A previous home, previous friends?

I don't think so.

But, dedicated, impuslive, sweet, dumb Elliott just thought to himself:

“I can do that. How bad can it be???, it will be fi~ne.It will be marvellous!

Authentic, truly!

It will be superb pictouresque and that is all I need to write my novel....”

Thanks Yoba. You’ll keep doing that please.

And then we also have interactions of the likes of:

“People have scaped a living off the sea for thousands of years....

I just go to the grocery store.”

A different thought I had on Elliott kind of plays into what I already said previously. But I will adress it as its own topic.

The downside of Elliott’s ego.

As much as we explored the rather whacky / chaotic elements of his character and how he does stupid shit for prestige itself, it is interesting to see what happens when the player challenges his self-dramatisation.

I keep re-thinking if and to what degree Elliott can laugh about himself.

He is not one for self-deprecating humour, I think.

I can imagine that to be more Shane’s thing.

We see different scenarios, in which Elliott reacts differently to things not going his way. One of the positives is the whole “A tiny crab made a home inside his coat pocket”- story. I have seen two interpretations of this scene. And both are dependent on the tone, in which you read his dialogue. One group thinks he is just complaining yet again.

On the other hand, you could read it more like:

“My, look what we have here. Can you believe that [y/name]?!“.

I think that Elliott does not appear to be angry or annoyed at all in that scenario, too. He could have vented to the player, how he needs a new coat, now. But he simply leaves it at that. And you know what?

But, there are other times, where Elliott reacts negatively to the player not doing what he wants you to do. Meaning: your reaction to him or your behaviour in a specific situation. Let's look at his 2nd (?) heart event at the Stardrop Saloon. He comes up to the bar, finds himself in the mood for company, and orders wine for you and ale for himself.

New Headcanon:

That little crab still lives there! It will probably live there long after you two get married. And he will feed it scraps from the dinner table even though you ask him not to.

Whatever...Sounds Cute.

My first reaction to that was: “aw, wHaT a GeNtLemAn!!!”. My second reaction was my inner feminist having a temper tantrum because: “how dare a man, to assume what I want to drink!”

New Headcanon on Elliott and gender roles, anyone? Or is it given, that with him being a good old fashioned lover boy, his expectation on any relationship dynamic might be more traditional?

As much as I find Elliott charming and all, this could be a great red flag and, again, beautiful material for character-conflict. Maybe Elliott needs to learn to not take everything at face value. Maybe he needs to learn, how to take a joke. Especially those made at his expense.

However, when the question arises, what the two of you should drink on, he will not laugh if you say “your doom”.

This is not something he sees as sarcasm or as a joke. In fact, you lose 50 friendship points! Like holy shit. That in itself is not much, but its a game-penalty. He is actively reacting negatively toward you. This is one of the few times, where your decision actively has an impact on the friendship-metre. Of course, that statement could be delivered in a non-joking matter. Which then justifies his reaction.... sure.

But even the fact that Elliott chooses, to not downplay or gloss-over your comment, leaves me with the following interpretation:

He hoped for a charming, flirtatious interaction. All you had to do, was to play along. But you ruined it.

Just imagine a situation with a little bit of miss-communication and a version of Elliott that is a little too proud for his own good and *chef's kiss* we have drama.

Me to Elliott and Farmer-OC: fight! fight! fight! fight! :D

All of you reading right now:

omg can't you just chill??? We are here for the fluff :(((

Also: depending on how it's written, that could be one of Elliott's major character flaws. The one that is not cute at all!

__________________________

I wanted to take some jabs at Elliott's likes and dislikes. But as it turned out: Yes, you can turn Duck feathers into quills. I had this funny headcanon that Elliott wanted to be extra special by choosing duck feathers as his preferred writing instrument. And I was all like: “use a pen!!”.

But then I found out about the Unobtainable Weapons-List and Elliott’s pen is one of them. Okay, whatever.

And then I asked google how to make quills. And while duck feathers are not the preferred or most popular option, there is also nothing that would speak against it, as long as the feather’s shaft is durable enough. So that theory has flown out of the window pretty quickly as well.

The only thing that comes to my mind instead is, how Elliott would still need a digital manuscript for publishing. But me screaming: “Where is your Laptop Elliott??? You need a computer! Its the 21 century!!!” is not half that funny anymore.

I guess I’ll end it here.

I hope you enjoyed this completely useless stream of consciousness.

I will now continue playing Stardew Valley and indulge in all my other quarantine-born obsessions.

I wish you a wonderful day and happy farming.

#stardew valley #stardew elliott #sdv #sdv headcanons #stardew valley headcanons #sdv elliott #elliott stardew valley #stardew valley elliott #elliott sdv #elliott stardew #it ends there #i am done #byebye #sdv fanfic

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saveourskinship · 3 years

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Thanks for the tag @thusatlas I’ve never done one of these. So

How many works do you have on AO3?

16 works, but if you count my collection of drabbles it is 42 (soon to be 61 once I finish updating my Ficlet Snack Pack.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

429863

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Harry Potter mostly, but when I was twelve I wrote Greek God fanfiction but it’s hard to tell what fanfic in that space. I mean, the masterpiece that is Lore Olympus isn’t exactly fanfic, right?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1) Transit of Venus

2) Curse of Fascinus

3) Her Curious Valentine’s

4) Are There Still Beautiful Things

5) Always Being Let Go

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do! Even if it’s just to thank someone and wish them a lovely day. I think the only comments I haven’t responded to are ones like ‘huh?’ or ‘eh?’. I can’t do much with those.

In a very gross way, comments are like laxatives. If you want more shit out of me, shove comments down my throat. My motivation will jump from toodle-doo to PHWOAR if anyone knows or understands what that means.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

The Alternate Ending (Tragic) to Transit of Venus.

Transit of Venus was already pretty angsty, but the people wanted to see the most harrowing of the five endings I wrote. So I put on my patent-pending Sob Through Anything glasses (eucalyptus on the nose grip, moisture wicking on the glass) and edited a Romeo + Juliet- style ending.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, but I do write Easter Eggs. Though I do have a plunny to crossover Derry Girls with Harry Potter where the character of James is Harry being sent to Derry for his protection.

It is the only crossover I’ve ever dabbled in and the the couple pages I’ve written are utter madness so I don’t hold out hope I’ll ever publish it..

Oh, but do songfics count? Because then I have LOADS. Mostly Taylor Swift because folklore stole my soul.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes, my favourite was telling me the entire premise of Transit of Venus was stupid and I should have taken a leaf out of their country’s way of doing things to up population and given tracts of land to couples . Soo... colonialism with implications of people displacement and other more heinous consequences they found preferable to a soul spell.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do write smut. My favourite type of smut to write is romantic, sensual smut. I’m also very much looking forward to writing the smut for my crackfic.

I think my most favourite smut scene I’ve written though is in Her Curious Valentine’s where Theo reads really bad, gratuitous Dramione smut out loud in the company of both Draco and Hermione while they try and ignore him.

I laughed a lot writing that.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I honestly have no idea how I’d even check that. But probably not. I doubt anyone would want to take credit for anything I write.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but as an exercise to practice my Te Reo, I occasionally translate passages of my own.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Dramione. I ‘White Flag by Dido’ Dramione. I stan, simp, ship, fangirl and tresh Dramione. I refuse to feel guilt, only pleasure. Please don’t come for me Ronmione fans, I like Ron, okay? I’m just shit at writing him and just make him say, “Bloody hell!” all the time.

But also Theo with anyone, particularly Harry. Theo is my favourite character because he is almost 100% fanon. He epitomises the Harry Potter fanfic community for me so I have to love him forever and ever.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m writing a WIP called ‘The Madnesses of Men’ that details seven women’s relationships with the men in their life: The three Black sisters, Pansy, Luna, Ginny and Hermione. Each has a Seven Deadly Sin as the title of their chapter and each has a completely different writing style. Luna’s chapter is entirely poetry. Bellatrix is an exercise of insanity and a stream of consciousness. Narcissa’s is all letters to Andromeda that she never sent.

I would love to finish it because it is something very different for me but I’m struggling to find Pansy and Andromeda’s voices. Le sigh, maybe one day. (But let’s be honest, it’ll never happen.)

What are your writing strengths?

Humour - I have a knack for gargling up ridiculous scenarios when I’m brushing my teeth, giggling maniacally like a calcium-deficient vampire while frothing at the mouth with reckless abandon. I put these scenarios in my writing and it goes over well.

Angst - People tell them I make them cry and have been known to punch the heart’s out of people’s bodies so I thank them and wish them a nice day. I once exacerbated someone’s chronic pain condition (which I still feel soul-crushingly guilty about) and was asked to reiterate the ‘Heartbreak’ tag on a fic. I guess that means I’m good at it. Sorry again to that reader!

Trope Twists - My favourite thing to write are twists on tropes. I enjoy finding new ways to tell old stories. Stay tuned for my take on the ‘Unexpected Pregnancy’ theme coming soon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Run-on sentences - I have a tendency to, more often than not, plug in far too many words which I think stems from some sort of childhood instinct that if I kept talking and talking then my sister won’t find out I drank all her juice and accidentally threw it back up on her favourite Skydancer.

Sticking to my plotting/theme - This has happened a lot. Incandescent was supposed to be a cottagecore, cute, fluffy romance Theomione. Now it is a sprawling space opera where Hermione has fought a god, has learned another version of herself will either save/destroy the entire world (not to mention Atlantis) and rescued a star after it was eaten by a black hole. Oh, and it takes place over one weekend.

The Absolute and Total Defeat of One Draco Malfoy had been fully plotted out for twenty-two chapters. It only took three for me to completely deviate. But it’s a crack fic, so it felt inevitable

The montage/transition pieces - I hate writing the banal parts between plot points. And I hate it because I’m really bad at it. I either skip over it too much or get bogged down in too many details.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I personally like reading dialogue in other languages. If used in a way that makes sense. Especially if the fic is set somewhere that doesn’t speak English, I like to learn a little of the setting’s language to immerse myself.

I tend to use use other languages sparingly in my own writing. Mostly because I don’t want to get it wrong and when I try, I end up in four hour long research holes of the best way to say ‘Hello’.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Ancient Greek mythology, I think. If it can be counted. Would that make ‘The Iliad’ or ‘The Odyssey’ fanfic? Oh gods, I’m going to obsess over this for days now.

What’s your favourite fic that you’ve written?

Transit of Venus because it taught me a lot, though I feel like I best nailed the setting I was going for in Are There Still Beautiful Things. The Absolute and Total Defeat of One Draco Malfoy always cheers me up.

But if I complete it and start posting (which I am DETERMINED to do, I WILL finish it before I start posting), I think my favourite will be my new WIP: What’s Owed When.

Tagging: @ohlenalena @megamegaturlte

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silcojinx · 5 years

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Hank x Connor: Is Hank Connor’s ‘Special Interest’? Long post but important...

Okay so let me start off with a disclaimer....While I am 100% certain that Connor was written to have ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) This was not confirmed or denied by the creator or any of the team that worked on Detroit. That said there is actual proof to determine that he, in fact, was written to have ASD. So much proof that it cannot be considered a coincidence. I am NOT self projecting I am simply going over canon facts. Also this is going to be a long post but please stick with me until the end because I am going to explain how this all links to Hank x Connor.

🌟*it should be noted that I am an adult female on the Autistic spectrum so I can relate to many of these things but I will keep to the facts in the game. Also I am not stereotyping in any way. These are just well known autistic factors that Connor is exhibiting....🌟

So first let me establish what actually fits the bill in terms of Autistic behaviors. So that we can know that Connor canonly has ASD.

1. Connor has a STIM....✅

A STIM or a self-stimulatory behaviour, also known as stimming and self-stimulation, is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, or moving objects. For an autistic person this is an extremely important because this motion can help ease anxiety in stressful situations.

Connor’s STIM would be flipping his coin. A repetitive motion that he does in stressful and anxiety inducing situations. This makes senses as to where and when we see Connor play around with his coin.

During the elevator ride to his first mission:

(thinking about what his mission will be like with anticipation anxiety)

Before meeting Hank for the first time:

(attributed to social anxiety)

And again in the elevator with Hank in the chapter “Public enemy”:

(After Amanda tells him “ I may have to replace you Connor...” and “Something’s happening, something serious...Hurry Connor. Time is running out” )

This one is the most telling pieces as the camera shot pans to Connor’s face and the blank stare he has tells the tale of the thoughts that are bothering him and stimming is almost an unconscious decision meant to make the stimmer feel at ease with their own nerves by distracting the brain with repetitive motions. Think of stimming as an outward expression of the abundant thoughts that run quickly through the Autistic person’s mind.

2. Connor Reconstructs while Markus Pre-constructs✅

This is a big part of ASD for a lot of autistic people (myself included) and this is a literal translation into physical form of what we/they go through on a daily basis and this has to do with impulse control and executive function (or the ability to control your impulses)

Executive dysfunction, which is common in people with autism, refers to a lack of one or more of the common executive skills or a tendency of these skills to require more time and effort than they usually do for other people.

This is also applied to Connor through the “Reconstructing function” that was programmed into his model. And once again there is proof that he not only doesn’t think about the consequences before acting but that he also has more trouble then the “normal android” when it comes to pre-constructing or thinking about the actions he takes first.

When Markus preconstructs a scenario this is essentially him thinking about how to do things before hand as we can see that he has the ability to warn himself of impending dangers.

As he thinks about the options carefully and in detail (like in the GIF above) he knows the option he is trying to take is dangerous because it “would be too high” to reach.

The earliest we see Connor do anything even remotely close to preconstructing (prior to meeting Markus and we will talk about that in a minute) is the chase scene when he is running after Rupert...

By pressing R2 you can see the different options and this means that Connor can actively assess the situation however it is not in as much detail as Markus’. He sees that it is dangerous but he has no clue about what would happen if he takes the route he chooses as his assessment is only “Fast but risky” or “Safe but slow” so he actually not predicting outcomes. It is also worth noting that in his Reconstruct mode he can only rewind the events after they have already taken place. This means that he didn’t need to think about the events leading up to the end result he just watches the playback after the crime has already been committed.

This is Connor not being able to see the end result of his actions similar to how impulse control problems happen in Autistic people....the action is taken and then reflected upon which can be dangerous and even deadly in many situations.

The difficulty that Connor experiences with actually executing a full Pre-construction is shown in the game as well as he is only able to run a full pre- construction after meeting Markus. All interactions was reconstructing until this point.

This brings me to Connor’s social interactions as lack of impulse control, basic understanding of human emotions, and what is appropriate vs what is not to say in public is prominent in Connor’s dialogue.

3. Connor does not understand implications or jokes✅

Who could forget the first time Connor met Hank in the bar and Hank sarcastically asks Connor if he “knows where he can stick his instructions” Connor looks confused and replies...”No...Where?”

He wasn’t trying to be funny he really did not get the joke nor the implication that Hank was trying to make here and asked with genuine intrigue. It is typically the case that most people with Autism (again including myself) they do not understand jokes or how to respond to them. Being analytical in nature some jokes are beyond them and they just do not know how to respond. Its common for males in particular on the autistic spectrum to over analyze the situation and think that the joke is actually serious communicating.

So we hit 3 major ASD traits:

1. Connor has a STIM ✅

2. Connor has impulse control problems✅

3. Connor has trouble with social skills✅

And that is just the tip of the iceburg....but lets move on. Another thing that Autistic people tend to do is have a special interest. This is something that the autistic person becomes emotionally attached to and wants to learn everything about.

“ One characteristic or autistic trait that is commonly seen in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, or Asperger’s Syndrome is a preoccupation with areas of “special interests.” So common is this trait of autism that it is listed as one of the diagnostic criteria of the disorder.” - Jeannie Davide-Rivera of aspiewriter.com

So what is Connor’s special interest you ask? And how did it develop?

Well lets start with the latter. A special interest starts with a pique of interest. (which I believe to be the scene at Jimmy’s bar) Then it evolves into a desire to learn everything about the subject and then share that knowledge with everyone else. The autistic person then dedicates every second of their free time to learning about and talking about the subject they have chosen.

“Most people with autism have particular favorite subjects. Special interests can simply be like hobbies or careers only more so: someone on the spectrum can dedicate an immense amount of time to their special interest, even dedicating every free moment to it.” -AmbitiousAboutAutism.org.uk

So what does Connor do in his free time?

At the Office.... (this is Connor learning about Hank after the initial pique of interest in his spare time at the office)

At Hank’s House it becomes an objective.... (This is Connor wanting to “Learn more about Hank” in his free time at Hank’s house *Notice “LEARN MORE is in bold white text while the rest is normal)

There is even a trophy for this if you learn everything there is to know about Hank.

My conclusion is yes, Hank is Connor’s ‘Special Interest’

“Furthermore, and maybe most importantly, these interests feed the autistic mind and soul. It is what calms, focuses, and brings pleasure. It is a way that these individuals decompress from a stressful day; a way to shut out the world for a while in order to refocus and recharge.” - Jeannie Davide-Rivera at aspiewriter.com

But there is another side to the symbolic flipping of Connor’s coin here. And that is an obsession. The way Detroit is written never ceases to amaze me at how in depth they take their symbolism and this is no different as Hank is meant to represent the “special interest” there is also one other thing that Connor can ultimately care about and that is his mission.

The two paths you can take as Connor comes down to Hank or The Mission..... Hank is the good healthy way of dealing with a “special interest” and the mission? Connor going down “machine path” is symbolic for an interest (the mission) becoming and absolute OBSESSION. And it is important to note the difference between Special interest and Obsession.

A special interest is something with special meaning and emotional attachment for the autistic person that they are willing to put in a lot of time and energy in their free time to learn about and this is also different from a hobby in the amount of time thinking about the subject in said free time. Where as an obsession has climbed to a point that the autistic person can no longer think of anything but the subject...like everything else becomes invalid to them.

I have heard a unanimous verdict among fans (<---me included) that machine Connor is “scary” and why do you think that is? It is because literally nothing matters to him but the mission.

He becomes cold, distant, and obsessed.

“When intensity and focus on an activity excludes everything else in the person’s life, the interest may be spiraling out of control. It is not uncommon for an autistic person to focus for hours on end engrossed in their area of interest. The intensity of focus shuts out the world around them to the point that hours and days can go by without even a thought of eating. Interruptions are unwelcomed, and can cause feelings of anger to surface. Even a routine bathroom break is seen as an unwanted interruption and source of irritation.” - Jeannie Davide-Rivera aspiewriter.com

So when the interest becomes an obsession any interruption of them thinking about the subject is unwelcome and they become ANGRY.

In the Gif above Connor is too far into his “machine path” or no longer feels the emotions that come with a ‘special interest’ (or Hank) and is instead into the “obsessed path” He no longer even cares about DYING. Instead with his last words are “We’ll meet again Markus.....This isnt over”

He no longer cares about himself “The mission is all that matters”

Also it is important to note that this is a MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLE.

And I can’t get over the fact that there is so many messages within this game. Cyberlife made Connor a deviant from the start in order to learn in real time how deviants think and act in certain situations. (<---as stated in my previous theory about Connor) So it is not far fetched to say that Cyberlife made him AUTISTIC from the start learning both how to stamp out deviance AND take control of mental health “problems” in one fell swoop. This also makes a point about society and how they view Autism and mental health problems in general....as if they are a “glitch” in your code and needs to be “dealt with” or “cured”

But the silver lining of this is there is another option for Connor. Another message this game gives is that one person can make the difference in the struggle with your mental health problem if they give the unconditional love and support that you need...

*BONUS* Autism Speaks color is blue...

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jbuffyangel · 5 years

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Undeserved Forgiveness: Arrow 7x18 Review (Lost Canary)

After seven years and 150 episodes (yes, I math’d it) Arrow has finally paid off a L*urel L*ance storyline in a way that makes sense and feels earned.

Let’s dig in…

Olicity

Sometimes the Arrow writers are so obtuse about their audience it boggles my mind. Then there are other times when they are so self aware I can’t help but laugh. “Lost Canary” is one of those self aware moment. It’s almost as if the writers said to themselves, “Okay. This episode is gonna be a lot about birds so we better give the audience some Olicity goodies to keep them happy.”

Smart move.

Arrow has to ship the boys off somewhere in order to have their all girls episode. Rene is off with Zoe on a school field trip while Oliver and Diggle try to find the person who killed Emiko’s mother, so they can convince her not to be evil. Or something? I think? It boils down to a interrogation of a Longbow Hunter. Yeah, remember the Longbow Hunters? Who knew they were still a thing? Not me.

It’s kind of fantastic all the guys are stuck with monumentally crappy storylines while the ladies have their moment in the sun. Ah the gloriousness of reversing gender roles.

Anywho, Oliver is going to leave Felicity which means WE GET WORRIED DADDY!

Oliver begs Felicity to take it easy.

Pffft, it’s like he’s never watched Arrow before. Dude, know your genre.

Felicity promises she’s going Netflix and chill. Oh girl, you totes just jinxed it.

And then it happens. Oliver rubs his stomach and says...

Source: olicitygifs

April 15, 2019 will hence forth be known as Precious Cargo Day in the Olicity fandom. We shall drink and sing in merriment while binge watching Olicity moments in celebration of this blessed day. For this is the day fan fiction came to life.

We’re five minutes and twelve seconds into this episode and I already think it’s fantastic.

After Oliver returns from his Longbow Hunter thing (Seriously don’t ask me what happened)

and Felicity returns from saving a soul and giving Earth 2 a hero to fight for them, our wonderfully stable and unproblematic married couple cuddle on the couch. Honestly, I don’t understand why Olicity snuggling and watching Netflix isn’t a hit show? It’s Emmy award winning entertainment.

Source: olicitygifs

Felicity was away from Oliver for a day and she practically ran into her husband’s arms, so I really don’t know how homegirl is gonna do twenty years without him. It hurts to think about, so let’s focus on the happy.

Source: olicitygifs

Oliver wants to order whatever Felicity is craving because he’s determined to be fictional perfection so no one can have realistic expectations of non fictional men. Felicity informs him L*urel is going back to Earth 2. He doesn’t care. I cannot describe to you how much Oliver Queen doesn’t care about any version of L*urel L*ance.

Once again I reflect upon the road we have traveled my friends. I don’t know how we got here, but our destination is glorious.

Worried Daddy is far more concerned that Felicity didn’t take it easy as she promised, but no worries the Green Arrow is here!

Oliver promises to take care of Felicity and then promptly falls asleep on her shoulder because he’s so exhausted.

Yup, that pretty much sums up the first trimester right there. You’re pregnant but you’re husband is the exhausted one.

She finagles a foot rub out of half asleep Oliver and they both collapse. MAX DOMESTICITY ACHIEVED.

Source: olicitygifs

Honestly, the show could have ended right here. I’d be thrilled.

Felicity Smoak and Canary Corp.

Yes, that’s the official title of the episode. Don’t @ me. Arrow has tried this Birds of Prey thing before. Remember Helena, L*urel and Sara in Season 2? Yeah, neither do I and why? BECAUSE IT DIDN’T HAVE FELICITY IN IT. Too bitter?

The Felicity Smoak/Oracle similarities were not lost on the Arrow writers and it’s clear they tried to adopt the moniker for our girl’s codename, but were shot down by the DC brass. Overwatch it is then and, as usual when it comes to Felicity Smoak and Emily Bett Rickards, she has made it her own.

This is Emily’s last season and therefore Arrow’s last chance to do a Birds of Prey themed episode with Felicity Smoak at the helm. Boy, they did not waste the opportunity. Thank goodness too because that would have been a real bummer.

“Lost Canary” is full on girl power. Arrow has many female characters, but the storylines are dominated by the men. It’s not a shocker. The main character is male. The writing staff I believe has been male dominated until a shake up this season. That’s not to say the male writers haven’t crafted a fantastic show with some amazing female characters – Felicity Smoak being at the top of the list. However, this show is long over due for the spotlight to shine on the female characters, actresses and writers.

Representation means hearing the voices of the marginalized, but “Lost Canary” is not simply Arrow ticking a box. Nor did the writers pad the episode with trite and insulting dialogue like...

(I will forever side eye The Flush for that one.)

No, “Lost Canary” is steeped in big life questions as it addresses the season theme of redemption head on. Each character has her own perspective on Bl*ck S*ren and redemption as a whole. Each character is given ample screen time to voice her perspective as the women debate the best way to handle Bl*ck S*ren’s recent downward spiral… or perhaps it’s a stagnant upward spiral. The point is the women are written like the multi faceted characters they are. WOULD WONDERS EVER CEASE?

Let the redemption debate commence.

Source: dcmultiverse

Bl*ck S*ren is back in the evil business. See, you can tell because of the all leather, black lipstick, cloak, tacky techno music and the sashay walk KC ripped off from Nina Dobrev.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

This is what I like to call an “Everything but the kitchen sink” visual trope. Oh hell, the kitchen sink was there too.

Bl*ck S*ren chucks the three piece power suits, with the shoulder pads that can fly her to Hong Kong, in favor of a more diabolical ensemble to convey her inner turmoil. The subtext is pretty much text. Arrow hammering away at it should be a monumentally huge tip off for where Bl*ck S*ren’s character is going.

The surprise isn’t so much where Arrow is going with this character, but rather in how they get there.

Admittedly, I struggled with E1 L*urel L*ance. I couldn’t stand her romance with Oliver, couldn’t keep up with her flip flopping personality, grew tired of her blaming everyone but herself, couldn’t forgive her for Tommy, hated her disdainful treatment of Felicity, and found her to be a insufferable pain in the ass, which she compounded by becoming a drunken, insufferable pain in the ass.

Whew. Season 1 and Season 2 were rough.

I had one bright and shining hope for this character – her Bl*ck C*nary storyline. It was a colossal disappointment.

Not even my deep love for the Lance sisters could save my investment in L*urel and I was overjoyed when Arrow killed her. It remains one of the best creative decisions this show ever made.

Regardless of the reasons for KC’s return (and there are reasons my friends), the writers smartly chose not to resurrect L*urel.

No need to bring back that mess. Instead, they started over with some doppelganger hijinks and crafted Evil L*urel aka Bl*ck S*ren from Earth 2.

It turns out Evil L*urel is a hell of a lot more fun than Saint L*urel. The character plays to KC’s acting strengths and she didn’t impede on Dinah Drake’s storyline as Bl*ck C*nary. Well, not much.

But the dramatic linchpin in Bl*ck S*ren’s character is that she’s not L*urel. Yes, she looks and sounds like the L*urel L*ance Team Arrow loved and lost, but no amount of time would ever make this woman into a replica of the one who died. This is a good thing because the woman Oliver Queen dedicated that ridiculous statue to was a hindrance to the story.

L*urel’s Season 6 arc was infuriating primarily because they reduced a meta human to a helpless victim. The writers shredded Quentin Lance’s character as he pursued his deeply unhealthy obsession with resurrecting his dead daughter through an entirely different human being. Let us never speak of it again.

Season 7 is a vast improvement. The good/evil push/pull remains the dramatic well the writers drink from, but instead of cramming old L*urel down Bl*ck S*ren’s throat they allowed her character to breathe. The fact she was different from L*urel is what made her interesting. Arrow didn’t run from it. They embraced it. And they paired her with an unlikely partner.

Felicity Smoak.

Bl*ck S*ren’s willingness to cross lines, including murder, was a necessary evil because Felicity’s husband was trapped inside the system. She needed help from someone with access and who wouldn’t be afraid to go over the line to get the job done. Suddenly, being evil doppelganger playing pretend lawyer was massive pro.

Bl*ck S*ren’s a sardonic wit and glowering demeanor made the perfect straight woman to Felicity Smoak’s ball of sunshine.

Except, Felicity wasn’t a ball of sunshine and more often than not L*urel was stopping her from going too far.

The two women worked in tandem as they questioned their morality and what defines good and evil. The ebb and flow of light and dark allowed Felicity and L*urel to see each other differently.

This sparked understanding, respect and finally compassion. Their interactions felt more honest than anything that transpired between E1 L*urel and Felicity and as a result their friendship was more believable.

I’ve enjoyed the good/evil/push/pull dynamic that’s made up the majority of Bl*ck S*ren’s arc this season because it was fairly even handed. When L*urel tipped too far in one direction they would shift her the other way. Every time L*urel helped Felicity with Oliver’s case or pulled her back from the ledge, she would follow it up with almost murdering someone.

Bl*ck S*ren’s instinct in almost any given scenario was to kill first and ask questions later. It flew in the face of the straight laced, law abiding DA image she cultivated by stealing E1 L*urel L*ance’s identity. The writers did this deliberately because everything that made Bl*ck S*ren “evil” is still there even as she tried emulating Quentin Lance’s dearly departed L*urel.

But eventually the writers need to pick a lane. Arrow has two choices – keep Bl*ck S*ren evil or redeem her. It’s kind of a like a love triangle. You can play with the back and forth for awhile, but eventually the writers need to make a decision. Otherwise the story loses any emotional authenticity.

The real shock of “Lost Canary” is how the writers present both sides of the argument. It’s so fair and logical. A L*urel L*ance centric episode is making sense. Talk about feeling like a fish out of water.

Dinah and Felicity are diametrically opposed when it comes to who Bl*ck S*ren is and if she can be redeemed. The argument boils down to nature versus nurture, but how Felicity and Dinah arrive at their individual conclusion fits not only within the scope of their own storylines, but within L*urel’s as well.

Dinah is nature. She firmly believes L*urel is an irredeemable killer and all efforts to save her are for naught because a killer is who she is. Dinah issues a warrant for L*urel’s arrest and believes she killed Diaz. I’ve been loudly advocating for some jail time for L*urel, but I didn’t really expect Arrow to go there. I’m not that lucky. A warrant for her arrest and L*urel on the run is close enough.

It’s understandable why Dinah believes Bl*ck S*ren is a lost cause. She witnessed her boyfriend’s murder at L*urel’s hand and a tearful apology doesn’t erase what happened.

Dinah has also been there any time L*urel has decided to murder someone, typically out of frustration, anger or to protect her own self interests. She would pull L*urel back from the ledge, but it’s difficult for her to believe BS was ever on the wagon when she so frequently fell off it.

Dinah is not wrong. L*urel is a murderer. Murder is L*urel’s default position whenever the going is rough, which is exactly what is happening now. Yes, L*urel is wrongly accused of murder, but let us not forget all the murders she did commit and has yet to pay for. Dinah didn’t love Bl*ck S*ren’s approach when it came to interrogating criminals, but the answer to these problems is not a crime spree.

Felicity is nurture. In the beginning, Felicity did not see Bl*ck S*ren as anything but criminal pretending to be her dead friend. She emotionally manipulated people and was reaping all the benefits of E1 L*urel’s life.

But the hubby was in the slammer and Felicity needed a lawyer, fake or real it didn’t matter. Desperate times call for desperate measures. L*urel was one of the only people to have Felicity’s back and their partnership grew into real friendship. Felicity has been the beneficiary of L*urel’s kindness and love, so she knows without a doubt there is good but it needs to be encouraged.

Felicity is so ardent in her belief that she bizarrely blames herself for L*urel’s crime spree because she wasn’t a good enough friend.

Let’s just pretend that’s true for a second (even though it’s not). The max penalty Felicity could incur would be paying for drinks some night. But L*urel tries to blow up Felicity and HER BABY. I feel safe categorizing that as an insane overreaction.

The truth is Felicity has been an amazing friend to L*urel and she continues to be throughout the episode. She proves to Dinah that L*urel has been framed by Emiko for Diaz’s murder. Felicity offers L*urel her support even after she goes on a crime spree.

L*urel: Oliver’s sister did me a favor because I was really sick and tired of pretending to be someone I’m not. Plus, no one believed it any way.

Felicity: I did! Look, what happened to you wasn’t fair. You were accused of murder, you lost your job, Dinah didn’t have your back I get it. You got a bucket load of bad news, but you are not Bl*ck S*ren. Not anymore.

L*urel: That’s funny I used to believe that too.

Felicity: Think of the good you’ve done L*urel. Think of honoring Quentin!

L*urel: Quentin is dead. Nobody cares about Quentin. He only wanted his daughter back.

Felicity: That is not true.

Well… far be it from me to disagree with my Queen but it is kind of true. This is a wonderfully impassioned speech even if I don’t agree with all of Felicity’s arguments. Sadly L*urel pretty much spits in Felicity’s face and is generally undeserving of all this support and understanding.

Felicity and Dinah have it out after L*urel tries to blow them up. Felicity continues to blame herself for this Bl*ck S*ren spiral whereas Dinah is firmly entrenched in the “Bl*ck S*ren Is a Murderer” camp. Felicity calls Dinah out on her hypocrisy when she boasts in a fit of moral superiority that she could have gone down the same road as L*urel, but didn’t.

Felicity accurately points out that the reason Dinah didn’t go down the same road was because she had the team. Dinah had friends who loved and supported her even when she didn’t deserve it.

Felicity ain’t wrong! I forgot Dinah is a murderer too. Yes, there is a big difference between murdering bad people versus murdering good people, but it doesn’t change the fact that Dinah has also taken lives.

While we’re on the subject on Vinnie, she also lied to the team about her relationship with him

and went on a crazy revenge bender after Bl*ck S*ren murdered him.

Dinah was in the Newbie tantrum up to her elbows, which included assaulting OTA when they refused to hand over Bl*ck S*ren.

Dinah was forgiven for all of these transgressions and welcomed back to the team with open arms without even apologizing. Now she’s the captain of the police force and a deputized vigilante. All of which would have never happened without Oliver Queen and Team Arrow.

Dinah was forgiven when she didn’t deserve it.

It was the second chance she needed to become someone who is deserving of that forgiveness.

(We can argue the semantics of whether or not Dinah really has become someone worthy of Oliver and Felicity’s love and trust another day. For the sake of this episode let’s just roll with it.)

Dinah continues to argue that even if all of that is true (WHICH IT IS HONEYCAKES) it doesn’t apply to L*urel because she doesn’t want a second chance. She never did. Felicity pushes back once again and argues the opposite. She thinks L*urel wants a second chance more than anyone else and didn’t realize it until it was already gone.

WOW. What a scene. It’s so invigorating to see two female characters argue passionately about something that has nothing to do with a man. This debate is about friendship, faith and forgiveness. It’s about the true meaning of redemption, who deserves it, and who decides who deserves it. Felicity and Dinah are arguing about their fundamental beliefs and challenging one another’s morality.

Source: hollandrooden

Dinah gave L*urel a chance and she blew it, so enough is enough. Felicity feels L*urel was succeeding at that second chance until she was wrongly accused. Sometimes people need several chances to get it right. I completely understand both Dinah and Felicity’s positions, which is how you know it’s a great storyline. If you can see both sides of the coin then the writers are mining drama with serious depth.

Both women are right and both are wrong. We’ve been exploring Bl*ck S*ren’s redemption since Season 5, but “Lost Canary” feels like the first honest conversation being had about it. I understand Dinah’s frustration because they are my frustrations.

I do not believe throwing on a three piece suit, playing lawyer, living someone else’s life and enjoying all the benefits someone else earned qualifies as redemption. Pretending to be E1 L*urel L*ance has protected Bl*ck S*ren from facing justice for any of her crimes. While I appreciate she’s helped put criminals away, freed Oliver Queen, and is a good friend to Felicity Smoak, it does not even out the cosmic scales when compared to the evil she has committed.

Bl*ck S*ren is a murderer. She was coddled by Quentin Lance because she looks like his dead daughter. Felicity reaches out again and again and Bl*ck S*ren continually rejects her love, support and forgiveness. I’ve watched Bl*ck S*ren time and again head out to murder someone as a solution to whatever problem she’s trying to solve. I’ve watched both Dinah and Felicity stop L*urel from committing those murders.

L*urel stopped because she was caught – not because she thinks murder is wrong. She doesn’t express remorse for wanting to kill someone either. She typically has a snippy remark for Dinah and Felicity as she slinks away from the scene of her premeditated murder.

Unfortunately, the writers are treating Bl*ck S*ren’s penchant to murder the same as E1 L*urel’s alcoholism. Felicity and Dinah tell Bl*ck S*ren to put down the drink and convince her to stay on the wagon. But we aren’t talking about booze. Bl*ck S*ren’s addiction is killing people. NOT. THE. SAME. THING. I get it, Dinah. Trust me.

Then there’s Felicity Smoak. She sees the best in Bl*ck S*ren even when she’s at her worst. Primarily because Bl*ck S*ren saw Felicity at her worst and pulled her back from the brink.

Felicity is not a killer because Bl*ck S*ren offered her hope. So, it’s understandable why Felicity refuses to abandon her friend especially now.

But that’s not all of it. Sure, BS was a good friend to Felicity, but that’s not why she is standing by her. The truth is Felicity Smoak is a really good person. She is intensely compassionate, loyal and supportive. Felicity sees the best in people and her ability to pull that light from those she loves is unparalleled. Nearly every character in the Arrowverse has benefited from Felicity’s steadfast encouragement.

I know this aspect of the character often frustrates some people. Some believe Felicity is used to prop up other characters. Her character suffers because she’s constantly launching another superhero.

The fastest way to cultivate a positive fan response to a new character is to filter that character through Felicity Smoak. She represents the audience opinions more often than not. Her popularity has a way of spilling over to problematic characters and it casts them in a more positive light. I don’t deny Arrow employs this practice often.

But I never saw it as a negative. Felicity is the believer. It’s what I love most about her. Diggle is the mind (moral compass) and Oliver is the soul, but Felicity is the heart. She is the hero of heroes.

L*urel L*ance was a wildly problematic character. The writers never quite knew what to do with her and they could never really settle on a personality with a defined set of characteristics.

We never knew what version of L*urel we were going to get week to week.

The writers struggled with her even more after rerouting the central romance away from Laurel to Felicity. Her storylines never seemed to get the necessary focus they required even though it felt like we spent an inordinate amount of time on L*urel. Watching Arrow develop her character was a lot like running in place, as @callistawolf once said.

Her messy history with Oliver also seemed to be the elephant in the room when it came to any friendship with Felicity. There’s never any discussion around the events of the Season 2 finale. Felicity wondered if Oliver’s “I love you” was real and I’m sure L*urel had some questions too.

Did she think it was all a ruse to save her life or did she simply accept that Oliver was really in love with Felicity? It seems like the latter although it’s never actually addressed. If there was any confusion on L*urel’s part I guess 3x01 cleared it up because the only thing on Oliver’s mind was Felicity Megan Smoak.

Arrow likes to pretend L*uriver never happened and it is completely understandable. It’s a bad dream we’d all like to forget,

but L*urel’s central connection to the team remained an ex boyfriend she didn’t like very much. I appreciate the show wanting to define a relationship between Felicity and L*urel outside of Oliver, but ignoring L*urel’s romantic history with him didn’t feel very honest.

Perhaps their friendship would have been more believable if the writers set aside time for L*urel and Felicity to bond outside of Team Arrow, but they didn’t. L*urel just shows up in the foundry and starts barking orders.

Even Felicity questioned their relationship status. Girl, same. They had moments of kindness, but we never saw them work as partners or enjoy each other as friends like Felicity and Bl*ck S*ren.

In fact, one of the most common arguments against L*urel being in the grave was that Felicity would never be that upset because she wasn’t that close to L*urel. HA! A lot of L*urel’s character was built upon telling rather than showing and her friendship with Felicity is one of the many areas the writers made that very frequent mistake.

The writers did not make that same mistake with Bl*ck S*ren. They gave her friendship with Felicity time to develop. They started off as enemies, but as circumstances evolved so did their relationship.

Bizarrely, this is why Bl*ck S*ren’s and Felicity’s friendship feels more honest and earned than anything Felicity had with E1 L*urel L*ance. Bl*ck S*ren’s connection to Team Arrow is through Felicity. She has absolutely nothing to do with Oliver Queen and IT’S FANTASTIC.

The writers tried to connect L*urel through Oliver for four years, but he was never the solution. Felicity is.

Felicity is the solution because she has a big bandwidth when it comes to forgiveness. No one has benefited more from it than Oliver Queen. Murder isn’t a deal breaker for Felicity. She fell in love with Oliver when he was dropping bodies. She barely blinked at Sara’s assassin history. Diggle murdered his own brother and I don’t think Felicity even commented on it. Remember when Roy thought he killed Sara? Who did he tell first? Felicity. She was freaked but calm. Dinah was a murderer and Felicity welcomed her onto the team with open arms. Rene pulled a gun on her and it was totally cool. I mean, sweet mother of Moses she was friends with Curtis Holt and tolerated his mansplaining and misogynistic bullshit, which says it all.

So is it really a shock Felicity is ride or die when it comes to Bl*ck S*ren? No. I identify with Dinah’s frustrations, but recognize Felicity is on the higher road. Simply put, Felicity Smoak is a better person than me. The belief she is giving Bl*ck S*ren is no different than the belief she gave to Oliver or Sara.

So, she’s challenging me as well. I cannot cheer Felicity on when she offers unconditional love to Oliver or Sara or John, but admonish her when she offers the same to L*urel L*ance. Sara was an assassin and I didn’t demand a prison sentence for her.

That said, I see one massive difference between Bl*ck S*ren and Oliver Queen. Oliver was remorseful about his past and crippled with guilt. He didn’t need additional punishment because he was already punishing himself enough. Oliver also spent five years in hell, lost nearly everyone he’s ever loved and is constantly sacrificing his happiness for the greater good.

His redemptive journey is wildly different from Bl*ck S*ren’s. Oliver didn’t get to just toss on a nice suit and call it a day. And he killed bad people!!! So, I maybe I can’t hold Bl*ck S*ren to a higher standard than other characters I love, but I can damn well hold her to the same standard.

So, is L*urel remorseful?

We don’t have to pick between Felicity and Dinah because it is possible to hold L*urel accountable and be compassionate. This is where Sara comes in.

Source: canarygifs

I have been incredibly frustrated with how Arrow has used Sara in the past when she’s come back as a guest star. I’m still ticked she didn’t get a goodbye scene with Quentin. The Sara I know on Legends isn’t always the same on Arrow, but “Lost Canary” is different. The writers give Sara her due and she reflects on her journey in a way she’s been allowed to before.

Everyone knows I’m a huge Lance sisters fan. The one saving grace in L*urel’s Season 2 storyline was when it stopped being about her relationship with Oliver and she began to focus on repairing her relationship with Sara.

I bought into the Bl*ck C*nary storyline in Season 3 because I believed Sara’s death was a life altering catalytic event for L*urel. “The Calm” remains my favorite L*urel L*ance episode and I will always believe Sara is her great love and vice versus. We all need something or someone to live for and that love doesn’t always have to be romantic in nature.

So, Sara coming back to town to protect her sister’s good name and offer some wisdom to Bl*ck S*ren made a lot of sense to me. Sara is the one who pieces together that maybe failing to kill Felicity and Dinah wasn’t a mistake after all. She uses her sisterly intuition and finds Bl*ck S*ren at Quentin’s grave.

Source: canarygifs

Sara gives it to L*urel straight in an EPIC speech. She owns all her past mistakes. Sara cheated with her sister’s boyfriend, let her family believe she was dead and then became an assassin.

Yuuuup. Sara Lance history sure is colorful! Each one of these errors in judgment is an unforgivable offense. And yet, L*urel found a way to forgive Sara. Well, after she blamed her for absolutely everything that went wrong in her and boozed her way through the liquor cabinet, but let’s not get bogged down in the details.

This remains my favorite Lance sister scene of all time because L*urel does not go to Sara offering forgiveness. No, L*urel comes to Sara begging for forgiveness. Despite everything she’d done and everything she suffered, Sara survived whereas L*urel was crippled by her pain. These two women found their way out of the dark together. Sara’s forgiveness put L*urel on a path to sobriety. L*urel’s forgiveness put Sara on a path to heroism. Neither of them truly deserved forgiveness for what they had done, but that’s not the point of forgiveness is it?

It was L*urel’s love, not Oliver’s that gave Sara the second chance she needed. Maybe Sara didn’t deserve forgiveness when L*urel gave it, but it sparked the beginning of her journey towards someone who did. Sara is the Original Canary, the captain of a time traveling superhero squad and the one and ONLY White Canary. She offers the wisdom of her life experience to help Bl*ck S*ren.

Source: canarygifs

She also calls Bl*ck S*ren out on her bullshit. She tried to be a hero for six months. TRYING? SIX MONTHS? She thinks that evens the score for years and years of mayhem, theft and murder?

We’re supposed to feel sorry for BS after she’s spent six months living in a comfortable apartment and getting paid well to do a job she didn’t earn.

Great, she helped Oliver out of prison. She also tried to kill him multiple times, so they aren’t exactly equal yet. When Sara tried to quit the murder business a lethal team of assassins came after her and she had to commit suicide to get them to leave her alone. But L*urel knows the horror of the Balmain double breasted, wool blend jacket. Poor baby.

I forgot she was accused of working with Diaz and lost her job. Yeah, except she did work with Diaz and SHE IS NOT A LAWYER SO SHE SHOULD LOSE HER JOB.

Then there’s being falsely accused of Diaz’s murder. Hmmm… who killed Vinnie again? L*urel being falsely accused of ONE murder compared to the multiple homicides she has committed and has yet to pay for in any real or substantial way does not equate. Yet, here she is with a stick up her ass and expecting everyone to feel sorry for her. You know, I take it back. She really is like E1 L*urel sometimes.

Sara explains what real redemption is and it is my favorite line of the episode.

Source: canarygifs

She’s right. Redemption is not a light switch that can be flipped on. L*urel can’t do a couple nice things and say, “TA DA! I AM REDEEMED!” It’s not how it works. There’s no endgame here. This is something L*urel needs work at for the rest of her life. She needs to fight every day to be a person worthy of forgiveness. When L*urel falls down, or life doesn’t go her way, she can’t throw an evil temper tantrum.

A real hero isn’t looking for a reward. A real hero doesn’t look for someone else to blame. A real hero doesn’t keep score. A real hero sacrifices and fights the good fight because it is the right thing to do. Does Bl*ck S*ren qualify?

No. She is not a hero yet. She is undeserving of the love, compassion and forgiveness Sara and Felicity are offering her.

But we all are undeserving of forgiveness. We are all broken in some way. We all do or say hurtful things. Each of us will either do something unforgivable or feel like we’ve done something unforgivable. What makes the difference in our life is having someone who loves us despite our sins.

We can see the people who have been loved when they are unlovable and those who have not when we look at the landscape of humanity. Sometimes we need a push in the right direction when we are at a crossroads, but not all of us have someone in our life who loves us enough to give one. The ones who do are blessed.

Bl*ck S*ren’s sins are deeply evil. She has dug herself a very large, dark hole. L*urel stopped Felicity from falling down the same hole because she knows there’s nothing but pain, emptiness and loneliness at the bottom. She knows how to stop someone from falling in, but L*urel does not know how to climb out. Bl*ck S*ren is stuck in a self destructive cycle. Felicity fundamentally believes every human being is redeemable if they want redemption, but some need more of a push than others.

The truth is we all need help out of the darkness. We all need someone to love us unconditionally. We all need someone reach down into the hole and offer a hand. But our redemption remains in our hands. It’s not enough for someone to reach out. We have to reach back.

All the evil hijinks boil down to a faceoff with Bl*ck S*ren and Felicity. Felicity tells BS one last time she believes in her, but ultimately it’s not about what she believes. It’s not about L*urel L*ance’s legacy or who Quentin wanted BS to be. This is about who Bl*ck S*ren wants to be. Free will my friends. It is a bitch.

COME ON! Nobody is killing Felicity Smoak least of all Bl*ck S*ren. L*urel is picking out china patterns in her head, so she ain’t killin’ bae. She joins Felicity and the rest of the birds and together they defeat the villain of the week. Sorry I really didn’t pay much attention to the partner.

Source: smoaktechs

In their victory celebration, Dinah decides not to arrest Bl*ck S*ren and even comes up with a get out of jail free card excuse aka “working undercover.” A relieved Felicity tells L*urel that everything can go back to normal.

But L*urel disagrees. It is time to stop running. It is time to stop pretending to be someone she’s not. It’s time to go back to Earth 2. She has to made amends in the place where she created so much pain. I. AM. SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, it’s not a stint in the pokey, but I WILL TAKE IT. Going back to Earth 2 is the next best thing. It addresses my primary problem with L*urel’s redemptive arc and that is pretending to be someone she’s not. Being Earth 1 L*urel L*ance protected Bl*ck S*ren from all the damage she caused on Earth 2. If she really wants a shot at redemption then she has to go back to the place where everyone knows her as Bl*ck S*ren. Earth 2 is where L*urel will be forced to confront everything she’s done and accept responsibility for it. There’s no hiding, running or easy outs on Earth 2. That is the place where an honest redemptive arc can begin.

Felicity understands and gives her a parting gift – E1 L*urel’s Bl*ck C*nary suit.

Source: nyssaalghl

It’s a beautiful full circle moment. I don’t make the rules! Felicity anoints the superheroes, assigns the names and hands out the couture! If she says L*urel should be Bl*ck C*nary on Earth 2 then L*urel is going to be Bl*ck C*nary on Earth 2. Fine with me!

L*urel meets Sara once more at Quentin’s grave. Her story always comes back to Sara no matter what version of L*urel it is. Felicity was the push, but Sara’s words lit the spark. She launched L*urel L*ance’s hero’s journey once again. Cuz see the light?!!!!

Source: canarygifs

This scene also feels like a goodbye to the Lance family. Quentin is gone, L*urel is dead, Sara is off hero-ing through time, and Bl*ck S*ren is returning to Earth 2. This isn’t the end of L*urel’s redemptive journey. It’s the beginning. But it is the first time I believe she might deserve it someday.

Source: nyssaalghl

FLASH FORWARD TIME!

Dinah created the Canary Network to be a support system for women, so someone always had their back. It’s a reminder to Dinah of what she failed to give Bl*ck S*ren once. It’s a whole conglomerate of leather clad ladies supporting ladies! LOOOOOOVE IT!

There is no singular Bl*ck C*nary. No one woman holds the title. It fulfills L*urel L*ance’s dying wish in a way she couldn’t even imagine at the time, which is why it is so fitting.

Unfortunately, Galaxy One massacres the network in “Lost Canary” and Dinah loses fifteen of her girls. It’s a devastating loss for Dinah, but I couldn’t help but cackle a little. Arrow never misses an opportunity to throw a little petty at the LL fandom. Oh you’re made we killed once Bl*ck C*nary? Watch us kill fifteen! How do you like them apples?!

Dinah, Felicity and Zoe want to lay low and regroup after such a big hit, but Mia is fired up and ready for pay back.

Source: amunetblack

Dinah tries to convince her to wait for the surviving canaries to fight back when the time is right, but Mia defiantly says...

Source: amunetblack

It’s like they tailor made her for us fandom. Mia Smoak is perfection on every level.

Dinah calls in some back up to keep an eye on Mia.

L*urel.

She saves Mia from some Galaxy One goons. Unfortunately, the horror show of a wig is back, but let us pray there are less buckles on the suit. The lipstick has changed from black to red so serious upgrade in that department.

Source: dcmultiverse

It’s a beautifully symbolic moment because L*urel saves Mia in an alley where a body of a dead canary is lying. It’s the same kind of alley where Sara fell to her death and launched L*urel’s Bl*ck C*nary journey.

It’s the same kind of alley where L*urel’s journey was foreshadowed in the pilot,

but with a significant change. L*urel is no longer connected to the man in the story, but to the women. Sara, L*urel, Felicity, Dinah, Bl*ck S*ren, Zoe and Mia all weave together in one beautiful thread. Bl*ck C*nary no longer belongs to one woman. It belongs to all of them.

The beauty of this is I don’t have to sit through another half baked Bl*ck C*nary storyline for L*urel. I trust she’s earned the suit on E2. Even better she’s still Bl*ck S*ren. This isn’t 2.0 of E1 L*urel L*nce. Hopefully, all the snarky wit, aptitude for zingers and glowering that made me fall in love with BS remains. I just needed her to stop murdering people. That’s all. All of this means I might finally have a version of L*urel L*nce that I can enjoy.

L*urel gives Mia some wisdom that screams THERE IS GOING TO BE A SPIN OFF,

but what I loved most is L*urel is still trying every day to prove she is a hero.

Redemption is a journey and not a destination. And undeserved forgiveness is often the beginning of that journey. Nobody knows that better than L*urel L*ance.

Stray Thoughts

#Fact. Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Bl*ck S*ren pretending to be L*urel acts somewhat normal. She ratchets up the cheese factor when she's Bl*ck S*ren. I forgot about that.

Emily is having an A+ hair season. Really it's like a Vidal Sassoon commercial every week.

This made me emotional. Source: olicitygifs

"Let's just call her a genius and leave it at that." Hubby is so proud of bae.

Bl*ck S*ren versus White Canary is like a heavy weight boxer fighting a chipmunk.

Felicity and Sara flirting is everything I didn’t know I need. The love triangle was centered on the wrong person in Season 2. It should have been Felicity and not Oliver. Source: ebett

Yup. We all knew. Source: felicitysmoakgifs

“Felicity Smoak is killing people now." Sara is my spirit animal.

Sara has seniority Dinah. It should've been you sitting it out. Respect your elder. Source: canarygifs

The great evil of this episode is the grommet sweater. We must protect the actresses from this atrocity because it's spreading.

This was cute. Source: hollandrooden

Sara has a baby on Earth 2? I NEED THE NAME. WHERE ARE PICTURES?

Don’t tell me L*urel is not in love with Felicity. I know my truth. Source: hollandrooden

Spit my drink out when Sara said this because it’s ridiculous. That said, Arrow continually painting Laurel as a saint is a constant reminder they are never bringing her back. the more Arrow paints Laurel as saint. Source: danverskara

Was it snowing in the future? What was up with the weather?

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 7x18 gifs credited.

The *** in names is so the review doesn’t show up in the tag.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

#arrow #arrow 7x18 #arrow reviews #olicity #felicity smoak #anti laurel lance #anti black siren #anti black canary #sara lance #anti dinah drake #arrow season 7 #arrow spoilers #arrow season 7 reviews #arrow season 7 review #season 7 episode review #season 7 episode reviews

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black---likemysoul · 5 years

Text

World Happiness Report explained that they are happy with their jobs?

Did you know that almost half of employees surveyed by the World Happiness Report explained that they are happy with their jobs? Are you currently employees one of them?

SHRM quotes that worker turnover costs just as much as 200% of an employee's salary. Since unhappy employees are more likely to search for another job, that can be costly for your business! Thankfully, there are ways that you can help to improve employee pride and relationships within your company.

Promote Communication and Immunology

Open dialogue and clear communication is critical to improving employee relations. It provides many advantages.

Fantastic communication can help to prevent worker confusion and unnecessary strain. It can decrease friction between employees, especially employees and management. It can help to set clear targets and expectations.

Provide a way for employees to communicate grievances and to solve a conflict. They must have a way to express themselves publicly and without fear of retaliation. That does not mean that employees should have the ability to gripe to the whole office, but there should be someone or a procedure where a worker can gripe.

Employees should also have the ability to ask questions and explain ideas. New policies, procedures, or expectations, including job expectations, should be communicated both verbally and in a written format. This permits employees a way to discuss and explain expectations, in addition to a resource to find clarification. While some learn best through written words, others learn best by hearing and doing.

Another crucial to communication is to be more transparent. Employees who believe that their supervisors are all open, honest, and trustworthy are far more likely to be less stressed and happier at the office.

Focus on Company Missions and Values

Most men and women want to be a part of something larger than themselves. This remains true of younger employees. Millennials have a great desire to be socially responsible and to benefit the planet as a whole.

These feelings are positive for your company. You can access them by sharing with your own employees your company values and mission. Instead, successful businesses have a reason behind why they do what they do. Your company fills a need that has been unfilled before. You have great hopes and ambitions for how you'll help more people. You have goals and dreams for your business. Share them.

What induced you to come up with your business? Why did you sacrifice many nights and additional hours to make success?

Share with your employees your core values such as honesty, service, or quality. These values help employees to feel as though they are a part of something significant.

Help Workers to Feel Valuable

Regardless of their actual quality of work, most employees feel proud of the discipline and results. Because of this, appreciation for a well-done job does more to motivate than criticism. But, it can be human nature to focus on the negative aspects of employee efficiency.

Instead, try to concentrate on the 9 things done correctly, instead of the 1 thing done wrong.

Check out these suggestions to helping employees to feel precious.

Say thank you for large and small things. It can vary from a simple thank you card to verbal appreciation.

Tell employees they are valuable. They will need to hear it. Letting them know when they handled a situation along with a client well can help motivate them to do it again.

Public recognition is a massive motivator for certain personalities. Plus, it's the additional advantage of showing that your company values and aims are significant!

Inspire and Reward

Look at creating employee goals with employees instead of handing them down. Invite employees to establish stretch targets: goals that are difficult but attainable.

The goals must be tough and measurable. These targets, written by employees have led in Google tools that we now take for granted. These include a new search engine and Gmail (as a searchable email). Thoughts were brought by employees that altered the face of Google for the better.

Your employees frequently have insights or ideas that can make a difference in their efficacy or in the organization's success. Tap into those ideas!

An additional way to inspire employees is to reward them. Consider having a gold, silver, bronze incentive for a variety of achievements of worker goals. Otherwise, you might end up in a similar scenario with Wells Fargo, in which corporate aims conflicted with corporate values and incentives won out.

Offer Career Development

Even lower-level employees can benefit from growth. Most individuals are happier when they have a goal or a dream to work toward. Think about the career path for your rankings. Think about the skills and newfound abilities your employees have.

Whenever possible, make the most of worker skills by adjusting their functions. This will help your worker to further develop skills and will bring added value to your organization.

Rotational training can cross-train employees to fill numerous roles. Tuition reimbursement or certificate programs can also help employees to progress in their career goals.

Boost Healthy Work/Life Balance

This can be especially true once you have virtually poured your life's blood and passion into your business's success.

However, employees who feel encouraged at home by their companies create a greater sense of devotion. It is not coincidental that a number of the very sought-after employee benefits include things that provide for a better work/life equilibrium. These advantages include flexible work schedules, paid time off, work from house ability, or health benefits that support family life.

But, it is not about the benefits. The attitude of your supervisors, when faced with employees' personal issues, will make a difference. Although employees often value the opportunity to work at home, this does not mean that you should ask them to take work home. Instead, work from house capabilities usually means the ability to work at home during a usual work-at-work day.

Managers can be supportive when employees will need to take off time. (even though they must also be trained on watching for worker requests that indicate potential FMLA use too.)

Use Software to Streamline Redundancy and Eliminate Mistakes

Implementing programs and applications can make a difference in worker relations. That's because it helps to automate and improve communications. Project management software make it easy for supervisors and staff members to find out what is required on a job and whose responsible. Messaging programs can make communicating instant and prevent the strain from obsessive extended discussions that frequently happen face-to-face. If you liked this article and you would like to obtain more information relating to this article then kindly visit us at Certifind.

By implementing the proper software, you can eliminate redundant jobs from employees and tap into their creativity instead. This also eliminates redundant timesheets data entry by payroll employees.

Other jobs can be streamlined. Through an employee portal, employees can view pay stubs, W2s, and request time off. They can update personal information and view the employee handbook.

Consider, the stress your employees survive when a key individual takes time off or stops unexpectedly. Make certain you have a process down that's listed key procedures. Software permits the reassignment of authority and makes this simpler.

Lastly, software will help you to stay compliant. Non-compliance carries several unintended effects. It causes undue strain on employees during investigations, potential gossip and negativity, and bad public standing. As soon as an employer endures standing reduction, it causes poorer relations with employees because they are more likely to feel as though their participation does not make the planet a better place. They are more likely to be unhappy with their work and more likely to jump on the bandwagon of dissatisfaction.

Conclusion

If you're feeling overwhelmed with these steps, don't worry. Implementing even one or two of these tools can allow you to improve employee relations. The most cost-effective will be to implement software tools. Many of these tools are free or they make more than their cost. Give us a call to discuss a number of these or fill out the form below.

What do you think?

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weretheoneswhowrite · 6 years

Text

Questions and Answers...

When it comes to Richonne goodness, there are few as good as @nyese3529. She could be described as a quiet storm in the world of Fanfiction. From wonderfully told tales of historical Richonne in Montana, to a modern day Richonne in Brooklyn, plus an assortment of other stories in between; @nyese3529 always has her readers devouring her stories and wanting more even before we finish the chapter.

We can’t know all of her secrets to being such an amazing writer, but hopefully this Q&A will help us to see how she got to be one of our favorites in the Fanfiction world.

Why is Richonne so fun to write?

“Writing for this couple has been interesting. Like most fanfictions, you’re able to take canon characters to new landscapes or places in alternate universes(au), or keep things canon(strictly or loosely)and legit do a better job at writing the characters in their world than the show writers ever have.

Do you have a writing schedule?

“Very much no. Lol. I used to do a lot of late night writing, then my work/school schedule changed so I do it when I can. When I finally sit down and write, it could be just a paragraph I get out or a whole 5000 word chapter. Just depends on my mood.”

What is your editing process?

“I write in layers. A very rough first draft, maybe with dialogue and small gestures. Then, I’ll re-read and add on to the story for its dramatic color, check punctuation and grammar. It takes me just as long to edit than it does to write.”

What drew you to fanfiction?

“I’ve liked fanfiction since I was a teen(Mulder and Scully, thanks for my teen obsessions). I read a lot, and have always liked going to other worlds. I used to dream up scenarios for my life that are so fairytale-like and they never happen. I found that fanfiction is never disappointing because you want your OTP’s to be endgame(at least I do). Also sex, I like to write them having sex. Lots of sex….kisses too. Lol.”

What has writing fanfiction taught you about being a writer?

“That I’m not perfect. Also, that there is a humbleness to putting yourself out there to receive reviews that are spectacular or extremely critical, or that you’ll get few or none at all. And not receiving reviews does not equate to being a good writer. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS! The actual Views I receive mean more to me, cause they let me know people are reading.”

Who outside the fandom knows you write fanfiction?

“Lots of people know, but they have never read anything. I remember with my first few stories I was so happy to get my reviews, I’d show them to my mom or sisters.”

How many people know you're a writer?

“My family knows that I write, but I have never given them anything to read.”

Where do you see your writing taking you?

“I’ve seen I’ve had readers from France, Spain, Brazil, China, Canada...etc and I’m like, “these wonderful people in other countries are reading my stories?” So, it can take me lots of places...where exactly it’ll take me, I’m not sure. I’ve had many people suggest to me on ff.net and Tumblr to try and publish some things, but I’m not sure where to even start with that. I do love writing, though. Whether it puts me on the map or not, I’ll wait and see."

Do you have advice for writers just starting out?

“Yes. Don’t be afraid to seek help. I remembering putting out two stories originally, and having 20 reviews for each one. I reached out to Siacore to ask what could I do to get more viewers/reviews. She told me it takes time to build a base, plus a lot of other things that I still remember to this day. So I’ll say, keep writing...especially for yourself and then for your readers. And always be happy that you had the courage to put yourself out there to be reviewed. Not many people can do what you do. Writing is a trying and time consuming process that is done literally to please and for not a penny more.”

What do you wish you knew before posting your first chapter?

“How to work ff.net. It was hard for my computer challenged butt to understand. Lol. Also, that the nerves and anxiety you experience before posting a chapter will NEVER go away.”

How many writing playlists do you have? Does your music have to change with what you write?

“I don’t have “playlists.” I might listen to a song and think it’s perfect to write a story around. Or, I’ll hear an old tune and think that’s what my Rick and Michonne are going through right now. So I’ll listen to a song on repeat endlessly. If the mood is sad, I’ll find the saddest song to listen to. A sexy song for sexy times and so on. But, I do have to listen to music often for inspiration.”

How many projects do you have going on right now? One major W.I.P. Y’all might have heard of a little story called “The Musings of Rick Grimes.” After I finally finish that, I think I still may churn out stories. I’ve made a few promises to people I have to keep.

Have you ever written a scene that’s made you cry?

“Yes. Every story I’ve written has made me shed a tear or two. A scene from Musings, which was similar to my life, did that. A scene from Blue Skies had me balling like a baby, and a scene from my Levees story(well a few from there)really had me crying.”

Where do you get your best story ideas?

“Real life historical events. My love for romance. My love for suspense. Stuff from canon Richonne and TWD. And the rest is stuff from my own personal life. I try to weave all of them together to get a great story. It’s worked out so far...I think.”

Do you have a solution for when you’re stuck?

“Not gonna lie. I have had major blocks with writing and I wanted to give up. I didn’t realize just how supportive the fandom is as a whole. And when I needed support for my personal life stuff, this fandom was right here. And when I got better and felt like my writing wasn’t the same, you guys have told me that it is. Do I have a method that best works, not really, but I write for me and when I’m ready, I write for y’all.”

What does WTOWW mean to you?

“Like I’ve said before, it’s important to get help from other writers. To have support. The network taught me that we are all real people, with real lives and goals and dreams. There is a sisterhood there that always puts a smile on my face and makes the other writers much more relatable. The inclusivity and our diversity is what makes it the best experience.”

Thank you @nyese3529 for allowing your readers a little more insight to your inner workings.

-We’re The Ones Who Write

#richonne fanfiction #fanfiction writers #nyese3529 #weretheoneswhowrite #WTOWW interviews

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yukipri · 6 years

Note

For the character ask, could you please do Arthur? I'm really curious to hear your thoughts / headcanons about him!

Thank you so much for sending this in~! WOWIE unexpected character, but that made this all the more fun to write :’D

002 | Give me a character & I will tell you: Arthur

Apologies if you adore this character bc I’m not too too kind to him here, but please take this as my interpretation of the character within the context of canon, in which he’s well, an ASS, to say it lightly ^ ^; I could defs probably like him in certain AUs!

How I feel about this character:

Within canon, I feel like he was made out to be a Big Bad and given a disproportionate amount of screen time for an unimpressive end result, and caused a shitton of pain without much purpose. He like, felt like a B-rated villain, acted like one, but got the drama of a Last Boss?? There wasn’t some deep betrayal or tragic past or anything that explained his actions or made them even slightly relatable. He was a coward, and jealous, and couldn’t live up, and died proving just that.

That whole, “You get why I hate you right, Ash?” Like, tbh, NO????? You try to make it sound profound, but all I get is that you wanted what Ash had, but can’t because you’re completely different people??? It ain’t that dramatic or deep????

Also, why is he called Arthur, he’s literally one of the only charas who’s called by his last name, and the one time Ash calls him Frederick he makes it sound so Meaningful, but I’m not getting much reason why his first name isn’t used?? Is it bc Freddie doesn’t sound scary??? Like Arthur is??? IDEK MAN

Oftentimes, even if they’re completely awful people, I can find villains interesting and multi-faceted, but a lot of Arthur just leaves me scritching my head ^ ^;; I won’t say I hate him bc that’s a really strong word for a fictional character, and I’m sure that in certain AU contexts, he could be written in a way that would make me like him, but boy am I also prepared to personally stab him in the neck for his role in Ep. 9 alone ^ ^;

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Uuuuuhhh, I’m going to say Eiji, but unless it’s a COMPLETELY ooc AU, it’d likely be completely one sided (rare for me I know LMAO). He’s that creep that keeps trying to approach Eiji, and Ash and Shorter gotta protect him HAHAH ^ ^;;;

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Not quite sure if it counts as an OTP, but boy oh boy is this kid fixated on Ash…

My unpopular opinion about this character:

HhrmmNNN, idk if this is unpopular or not, but I personally really wish he had gotten more depth? Like I felt like his whole feud with Ash had so much foreshadowing of something greater, but just left me feeling??????? That it?????? I don’t need him to be redeemable nor someone I can sympathize with, but I’d be interested in getting more about him that would maybe make me feel something other than There he goesssss ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at the end of the Coney Island fight scene ^ ^;;

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

REALLY WISH HE COULD HAVE DEVELOPED A CONSCIENCE AND SWITCHED LOYALTIES TO ASH. He’s one of the characters who was positioned so that if he HAD backstabbed Golzine at the right times, he could have changed the plot so much for the better. Maybe he was actually smart and curious, and pocketed the Banana Fish powder for himself instead of turning it in, and comes to the same conclusion as any sane person and decides it’s too dangerous, and decides to reluctantly team up with Ash. Maybe instead of being delighted at the effects of the drug, he’s horrified, and he gets Shorter out or swaps out the syringe for a placebo. It doesn’t even need to be for entirely altruistic motives, even just a, “This is fighting dirty and I want an ACTUALLY fair rematch with Ash, and that includes clearing out all the trash first.” Now this Arthur is one I could defs ship with Eiji LOL

My OTP:

Points above ^^^

My cross over ship:

UhhHHHHHHHH Arthur x His Conscience, since it clearly doesn’t exist in canon universe? LMAO

A headcanon fact:

OKAY I ACTUALLY GOT ONE FOR THIS. I gotta admit, I started seeing a lot more potential for Arthur as a comedic character after watching all the official episode previews (which almost all have funny lil dialogues between some of the characters and are GOLDEN).

In one of the earlier ones, Arthur reveals that he’s a weeb (not in the whee i like anime!uwu way, but in the White Guy Creepily Obsessed With Hyper Stereotypical and Fetishizing Fantasies of Japan way). It’s why he does the whole “Samurai Boy” thing and goes on about seppuku ^ ^;

ANYWAY in a Less Serious AU, Arthur’s definitely That White Guy, and Ash knows he’s a creep but it’s Shorter who immediately sees all the signs and has to take Eiji aside and is like Hey be careful around Arthur, he’s a particular kind of white guy you gotta watch out for, they claim they have “yellow fever” and are super creepy around Asian girls and apparently cute boys like you. And Eiji of course is clueless and doesn’t really get it until Arthur shows up one day and is like HEY SAMURAI BOY YOU WANT TO WEAR THIS SCHOOL GIRL UNIFORM FOR ME? THIS IS WHAT YOUR PEOPLE WEAR RIGHT aaaand Eiji quickly ducks behind Shorter bc yeah he Gets It Now.

(^WHICH, is not actually all that funny a scenario bc heck I’ve had it happen to me before in rl, but anyway Arthur being that Loser who follows Eiji around and probably clicks on Hot Asian Singles in Your Area links, and doesn’t get why Eiji likes Ash but not himself, another blond white guy. WHICH is creepy but is still the type of character that can be worked into AUs, unlike I Watched Your Friend Get Drugged By a Fatal Mind Control Drug and Laughed)

Also Shorter calls him Onion-head, bc that’s what his hairdo looks like :P (also from another episode preview).

send me a ship and I will tell you/Give me a character & I will tell you/send me 5 characters and I will rank them in order of preference

Please send me more~!

#Anonymous #YukiPri replies #Frederick Arthur #Banana Fish #BF #ask meme #long post #longpost

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momestuck · 5 years

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Epilogues: Candy, chapters 14-15 [Epilogue 3]

On to Epilogue 3.

The last Epilogue ended with a cliffhanger: prior to his disappearance, Dirk was constructing a ‘feminine’ robot, which Dave discovers is holding a note in its hand.

CW suicide for chapter 14. A successful suicide by hanging is described in some detail.

Also this Epilogue is really short and I actually read an entire nother epilogue before I realised that, so the next post will be very soon after this one!

Chapter 14

We get a POV chapter of Dirk, which might answer our question. This chapter is in second person, and brings back the “> Ascend” prompt, used so much throughout Homestuck. All that we know is “the world has been set on a path you cannot tread”. There are apparently no stakes or consequences - so Dirk has decided to kill himself. He succeeds, decapitating himself by hanging himself from a tower in a rather grim recapitulation of all the Dirk’s head jokes.

The narration is extremely self-aggrandising and condescending towards everyone else, as befits Dirk. Although exactly why he felt John’s decision to stay rendered anything he might do in the new world devoid of meaning or consequence, or prevented him from popping out into the Farthest Realm to get involved in some plots out there, is not immediately clear.

Although he’s god tier, the death ‘takes’:

Your body doesn’t get up, and your head doesn’t open its eyes. When you think so little of yourself as a moral character, any act of self-termination will result in a death that is Just.

Friggin’ Dirk.

Chapter 15

Funeral time. It begins about as awkward and ridiculously as Dirk himself.

Most of it is given to a speech by Dave. It’s well-written, in-voice, and makes me feel stuff about Dirk Strider. He specifically addresses intrusive thoughts about suicide, the shit that Bro did, the way that Dirk mattered to them even as weird and self-absorbed as he was. Which does kinda mean something, because I guess I feel like, like Dirk, I live a lot in my head, follow trains of thought that mean very little to other people, but I’ve managed to make myself matter to others anyway.

Not gonna kill myself though. Not anymore.

Gamzee, for some reason, has Dirk’s note, and accidentally destroys it. The narration continues to emphasise how disgusting Gamzee is: how much he smells, how he’s clumsy, openly scratches his crotch, etc. His attempt to recap Dirk’s final message is mostly skimmed over in narration. Jake’s also gonna give a speech but the camera mercifully spares us that.

John, at this point, offers to retcon the suicide. Because... he can actually do that. There’s a brief discussion of the difference between time travel and retcon (if Dave went back, it would allegedly just create a separate timeline where Dirk does not die). Dave is like, no, don’t do that John... but John attempts to do it anyway, only to find his powers no longer work!

At that point Roxy shows up and proposes. What’s that thing they have in America, where the studios are doing a donation drive so they write loads of really dramatic moments into shows? ‘Sweeps’? ...oh it’s actually to do with the ratings system, trying to court advertiser money, but same difference. It feels like that right now.

Something about this doesn’t feel... right? Just a few weeks ago, Roxy was happy with Calliope, and now she wants to have his babies? John feels like he’s missing something important here, like he went for a bathroom break during the part of the movie where the plot twist happens. He should give Roxy some time, get himself some space. It’s all happened so fast that it’s suffocating.

Yeah. Calliope hasn’t shown up onscreen for quite a lot of chapters. What are we missing? What profound effect has John’s decision to stay had, that’s caused everyone to suddenly be obsessed with pinning down ‘endgame’ relationships, having children etc.?

Roxy once again prophesises that they will be ‘so freakin happy!’. I’m getting more and more uneasy every time those words are uttered.

(Apparently ‘prophesise’ is nonstandard, but I like the sound of it more than ‘to prophesy’, so I’m keeping that, nyeh.)

Epilogue 3 as a whole

Suicide’s a heavy subject, and describing in second-person and in detail is intense reading, but also a pretty harsh thing to do without (localised) warning. I would personally have put a content note at the top of this chapter, and invited the reader to skip to the aftermath if they felt the need.

The funeral was well-written, even if we’re like, skating from dramatic moment to dramatic moment - deaths! funerals! proposals!

I imagine if I was more invested in Dirk I’d be a bit frustrated to see him so abruptly killed off, but I suspect he’ll have a much more substantial role in Meat.

Will be interesting to see just what is up with Calliope...

#momestuck

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forest-of-stories · 6 years

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“They Won’t Let You Remember”: Obsession Before Fandom

[This is another round of extremely personal spelunking into my own fannish past that I sometimes do on this and other platforms, including Dreamwidth, which is where I first posted it. Content warning for digressions into Fannish Discourse, and also brains - mostly mine - conflating fiction and reality in sometimes unhealthy ways.]

Not long ago, my mom asked me on the phone if I was aware that a new Men in Black movie would be out later this year. I told her that I knew, and added, “If I see it with other humans, they might have to hear how the original was one of the root causes of my mind control feelings.” Not the root cause, I should emphasize: those feelings could have come from any number of sources, but that number is probably greater than “one.” We both knew why she had brought up this particular franchise. There is a file cabinet in my childhood bedroom that once contained many, many handwritten stories – some co-written with middle school classmates, though most of them weren’t – that featured the titular secret organization, the protectors of the Earth from the scum of the universe, as the bad guys. I wrote those in order to deal with the sharp turn that my already present Mind Control Feelings took when a silly science fiction comedy featuring giant space bugs encouraged me to root for characters who maintained the status quo by erasing memories from ordinary people – people like me – on a regular basis. Some of you might be asking, “Wait, you knew it was only a movie, right?” And my answer would be, “Yes, but…” Since time and emotional distance have both clarified and obscured my understanding of how I used to think and behave, here is the best (and probably most long-winded) way that I can answer that question for both myself and others: I was an imaginative and overwhelmingly anxious child. On the one hand, my imaginative side desperately wanted magic and aliens and Weird Stuff to be real, which I still don’t think was always a bad thing. On the other hand, during my preteen and teenage years, my anxiety (which wouldn’t be linked to a diagnosis until much later in my life) manifested as “what if?” scenarios that were at least as convincing as reality… even if they were based in speculative fiction. Even if I didn’t believe that they would happen, I spent a lot of time telling myself stories about what might happen if they did, or even just thinking, “What if this is how the world is supposed to work, even if I don’t like it or want it and you can’t make me?” So, although I knew the difference between fiction and reality by the age of twelve, knew that Men in Black was Only A Movie, my “what if?” reflex kicked in hard the more I recognized its world as being much closer enough to my own than my previous, limited encounters with memory erasure in fiction. According to the rules of that world, if the Weird Stuff were real, I wouldn’t even know, and, according to the text, shouldn’t know. “Wasn’t the next line of the theme song ‘They won’t let you remember’?” Older Sister asked, the last time we talked about it. Yes. Yes, it was. The immediacy is right there in the song’s refrain (which, by the way, is still an earworm and a half). At one point, Tommy Lee Jones’ veteran agent character insists that, while Earth is constantly under extraterrestrial threat, humans can only live our lives peacefully if we don’t know about it. (Keeping in mind that humans do a pretty solid job of threatening life on Earth ourselves, I feel like that statement is also linked to questions about the supposedly blissful ignorance of privilege, which go beyond the scope of this post, but are still worth mentioning.) Maybe I reacted so strongly to that bit of dialogue because I believed that it wasn’t true, or because I feared that it was. I’m pretty sure that it was the combination of that scene and its message, with my recurring issues around authority and self-control, and my growing self-awareness about my misbehaving brain, that set my anxious imagination spinning. I would guess that I was wondering something like, “What if the only way that I could have peace of mind was if somebody or something else edited my thoughts and memories without my knowledge or consent?” That idea scared me. It made me angry. And since I was not mature enough to have any filters or sense of other people’s boundaries, I talked – loudly and incoherently – to anybody who would listen, and quite a few people who wouldn’t, about how scared and angry it made me. A lot of the things that I said and did are now difficult for me to understand (one might almost say… alien), and I’m not sure whether they helped with my worries or just made them worse. I do know that this was neither the first nor the last work of fiction about which some of my loved ones told me to shut up because I was too obsessed, resulting in screaming fights, sneering mockery, and tears. I was also old enough, you see, to understand that I wasn’t responding to fiction in the same way that a lot of my peers were, and to, perhaps, start feeling like there was something wrong with me. Not that this was enough to shut me, in fact, up. But I did something else, too: I started to write the stories that I mentioned above. Some of my point-of-view characters were disillusioned agents, others were characters from other media that I enjoyed; the more sources I could pull from, and the more surreal I could make the mix, the happier I was. Still other POV characters were authorial avatars who started out as innocent bystanders and narrowly escaped having their memories wiped. (A few of those self-insert fantasies also involved my earliest fictional crush, who just happened to be an alien from a certain book series that I loved at the time. I quite happily imagined scenarios in which my very knowledge of his true nature was forbidden and yet our love conquered all in the end, but I never put any of those scenarios on paper. I kind of wish I had.) Some of the storylines fizzled out after a few chapters, while others ended with my protagonists riding off into the sunset with their minds, for the time being, safe. I should stress that even my writing wasn't necessarily integrated into my life in a healthy way: I scribbled during my classes (yes, I got caught at least once), I wrote scenarios that crossed the line from nonsensical into offensive (why so many “man in a dress” jokes, younger self? Why even one?), and I buttonholed friends and classmates as audiences and even collaborators despite their probably being much less interested than I was. Even though I was discovering a third option besides “shut up forever” and “shut up never,” it would take several more years, at least two more obsessions, and the discovery of online fandom (I only somewhat knew what “online” was in the late 1990s, and “fandom” was nowhere near my vocabulary) before I sorted out the appropriate time and place for each of those options. But I was on my way there, even if I didn’t know what “there” was. When I questioned and pulled apart an established narrative to turn the heroes into villains and shine a light on viewpoints that I thought the original creators had overlooked, I was writing fanfiction, whether I knew it or not. When I finally did find my way to fandom communities, it was thanks to the Harry Potter books, whose world-building also relies on what TV Tropes calls “The Masquerade.” (If you look up the page for that trope, guess whose quote is right at the top? Yeah.) Which led me to recognize it in certain versions of X-Men, and The Incredibles, and Torchwood and The Vampire Diaries and and and… The more I saw of organized efforts to conceal the existence of Weird Stuff from the Oblivious Masses, the more I understood that the audience was meant to feel like we were in on the secret, but I couldn’t stop sympathizing with the people who weren’t. I still dislike and distrust that trope to this day, even in works that I otherwise enjoy, and storylines involving memory erasure – consensual or not, narratively endorsed or not – still push both good and bad buttons, sometimes both at once. And I believe that my explorations of mind control in fiction, from the beginning until now, have partly been informed by questions like, “What if I couldn’t trust my own mind, and was asked to believe that this was for my own good and/or the good of society?” And, since it bears mentioning: I hope that nobody interprets this recollection as, “A storytelling device warped Nevanna’s understanding of reality, and therefore stories can reprogram people’s behaviors and problematic fiction should be eliminated!” First of all, I object to that kind of black-and-white thinking, as a librarian, a writer, and someone who tries to thoughtfully consume media. Secondly, it’s more accurate that the dysfunction in my own brain once warped my understanding of reality; that even then, I was still responsible for my own actions; and although I have a history of giving fictional constructs an unhealthy amount of power over my own life, I grew out of it. And even though I have mixed feelings about the debate over Problematic Fiction, and I certainly do not condone harassment and shaming – because I’ve been there and done that, on both sides – I try to maintain that it is not my place to stop people from having negative emotions about stories. Even if I don’t agree, even when their objections make me uncomfortable, I can disagree with what they’re saying or doing without invalidating what they might be feeling. And I try to be better at doing so, because I am the last person in the world to deny that stories spark powerful emotions and thoughts, that sometimes they go against the creators’ intentions. Part of becoming a responsible consumer of media and participant in fandom is learning to manage those emotions constructively and make space for other people’s feelings and needs. I used to be angry at my younger self for being unable or unwilling to do that. I’m not anymore. That said, one of the differences between preteen Nevanna and thirty-something Nevanna is that nobody has to hear me talk about mind control unless they want to. (Although I’m happy that a noticeable number of people usually seem to want to.) I never saw the original Men in Black in the movie theater. I think it took me several tries (much to Younger Sister’s frustration) to sit through it on home video, and the ghost of who I was back then, as much as if not more than the actual content, has kept me from revisiting the 1997 movie in the intervening years. If I wanted to watch it again, I think that I would want (and here I'll paraphrase a fantasy series, also about aliens, that more or less avoids the Masquerade altogether) to prepare myself emotionally. I still haven’t watched the sequels or had much interest in doing so, and I never posted any fanfiction set in that universe. It has occurred to me that I might end up writing fic for the 2019 reimagining, if I see it (it wouldn’t be the first time in the recent past that I revisited fictional worlds from my childhood in new and surprising ways). But if I do write anything – and maybe even if I don’t – I will continue to feel pity and compassion and gratitude for the twelve-year-old believer in Weird Stuff who heard, “They won’t let you remember,” and responded, “What if I did anyway?”

#fictional is just differently real #nevanna life #nevanna likes mind stuff #even when she doesn't

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