#of course i could search for more examples to get my point across but i struggle to read and mark of athenea was so hard to get through

[ladynicte]

Not hostility. 2. He had been stuck in a dungeon for a while partially because Nico lied to him. 3. Where? 4. Leo never knew Nico before and didn't know anything about him. Plus Nico was giving creepy vibes to everyone partially on purpose. 5. Where? 6. That's not what happened. 7. Again, Nico creeps pretty much everyone out partially on purpose. 8. That ESPECAIALLY never happened.

Oh so you do want me to keep going nice✨

Either way putting this whole answer under read more so it doesn't clog up anybody's dash cuz it got really long

Dude I don't know where your idea that he was being purposefully creepy comes from. He's literally denoted to smile at them a bunch of times even though Nico later one describes that emoting at all is difficult for him. If anything I would say that denotes he was trying to be friendly and it just didn't work.

He was for sure trying to stay away from them because Nico has a very hard time with living people plus living people who specifically seem to dislike him and only him.

But trying to keep your distance from a bunch of older kids you don't even know after you went through the most traumatic experience of your life plus the guy you are in love with just went missing together with his girlfriend isn't the same as purposefully going out of your way to creep people out just because

1. How the hell is not hostile to hope a child who was supposed to be under you special care dies a most painful death simply because it isn't convenient for you and your oppressive system that he lives. Maybe it's not personal but it sure as hell it's hostile.

2. Nico was said a dozen times to had been tricked by Hades, which he had no way of knowing he would have been tricked because yet again he's like 12 at this point Hades is his dad and prior to this had never lied to him.

Also love how you don't even bring up my point about Percy trying to hurry Nico up and wishing he could throw stuff at him so he would stop groaning while Nico had just gotten out of the jar. Funny

And yet again the point was to show hostility, it doesn't matter what motive there was for the hostility the only point was to show hostility against Nico, which I would argue pointing a sword at his neck it's pretty hostile.

3. Here

4. So what? That's not the point. First of all Leo did know Nico, not personally but he for sure saw how desperate to save Nico, Hazel his friend and a girl he was supposedly into, was. Also even if Nico was a complete stranger, he was literally a war prisoner, who couldn't even speak for a while, and actively needed his sword to even be able to walk.

I don't know about you but if I see a kid who has been kidnapped actively starved and literally went through hell, even if I don't know him, even if he's "Purposefully creepy" as you put him I'm still not gonna go out of my way to showcase to him how much he creeps me out and how much I don't like him, you know. Cuz basic human decency and all.

5. Yet again, here

6. First the screenshot

Yes Jason wanted to leave Nico in the jar, and you can say it was a strategic move, he was still abandoning Hazel's brother to his own slow demise. And that's still a bad thing to do, hell it breaks Hazel's trust in him to the point she starts thinking, what if I'm no good for the mission and he abandons me next.

He denotes that being a child of Pluto was hard enough as it was which means he does see being the child of one of the Chthonic Gods as a reason to be mistreated, and he's making the effort to not do that.

Which good for him but you know no other demigod gets that treatment it's only specifically the children of the king of the dead.

So yes that's literally just what happened.

7. Love how you don't even try to say that didn't happen because it was like straight up three chapters of that.

But so what? He's being creepy on purpose therefore he deserves to get chunked into water and left to his own luck? Really that's your point here?

First of all Frank is a good few years older than Nico, hell Frank has an almost three years gap with Hazel (Which don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure before the reckon when Nico himself was younger than Hazel it was a full three years) so why is he having beef with his girlfriend's scrawny brother.

And Nico's not even being creepy on purpose. But hell even if you think he was being creepy on purpose to Jason or Leo to keep them away, when was he ever creepy on purpose to Frank.

Frank and him already knew each other previously, and Nico never had any issue with him, it's only said that he likes to tease him sometimes.

And right after Frank is done talking about how pissed at Nico he is, Nico literally tells Hazel he likes her boyfriend.

But Frank was already reluctant about Nico even from back when they were in Camp Jupiter while he wasn't hostile like he got during the Quest, he did denote that Nico wasn't like Hazel, which in turn got Percy to defend Nico.

So yeah, so what. I don't get your point yes everybody is creeped out by Nico. Nico doesn't like creeping people out.

But the whole point of that answer was to say yes everybody is creeped out by him and reacts hostile to him, you just saying yes they are all creeped out by him is honestly just telling me I am right.

It doesn't even matter if he does it on purpose after being on literal Tartarus, but he's not even doing it on purpose mate.

No not even partially, he's aware he does that, doesn't mean he's doing it on purpose.

8. I will say The Camp becomes a better place for Nico post-Solangelo but before that no not really.

Nico actually sorta has some friends in Camp Jupiter, and Hazel says they just look at him as a travelling oddball, on the other hand in Camp Half-Blood, Nico never once felt comfortable or like he belonged, he was always leaving because he always perceived hostility against him.

The only times that Nico's life in Camp is described as anything else than hanging in the shadows and running away is after he reunites his Divine family to go battle against Kronos together, and stop the world from ending.

That's said to us by Percy who is denoted to be a pretty unrealiable narrator especially towards Nico so who knows how trustworthy that information even is

But we know that doesn't last very long from Nico saying so himself, plus the fact that right after that book we come back to Nico having left yet again, and Annabeth the only remaining Camp as we are told the Camp literally falls apart if neither Percy or Annabeth are there to attend it 24/7 during TOA, only briefly mentions Nico as yeah the dark creepy kid who's gone right now.

So yeah I don't think he was super popular there neither, but I think it's pretty telling he felt comfortable in Camp Jupiter after being there for less than a year, and never managed to feel accepted by Camp Half-Blood even after three years

[asterr1sk]

math homework ⭑𓂃 part 1 ⭑𓂃 part 2

⊹₊ ⋆ hong seunghan wc: 524 genre: fluff, friends to ?? a/n: i miss seunghan. bring my boy back.

you’ve been friends with seunghan for as long as you can remember. it was the first day of college. you didn’t know where to sit. it was either beside a group of guys that gave you the ick or another friend group that you obviously know you can’t get close to no matter what you do. this one guy caught your attention. he was sitting quietly, wearing both of his wired earphones, bopping his head along with the song. you decided to sit beside him, noticing some cute shinchan items on his desk. he felt your presence, so he looked at you and nodded, holding out his hand to say hi.

months later, you became closer to him. now here you are sitting on the floor of his dorm, trying to teach him the math lesson taught yesterday. you guys always made your schedule match so no one would be alone, knowing that neither of you are good at making friend. of course, the only exception was between the two of you. 

“this is too difficult, y/n~” he whined while throwing his hands up in defeat as he slid further down to the floor, looking like he had melted.

“well, it would be easy if you actually listened to the professor. right, seunghan?” you glared at him and pointed back at the paper with examples you made for him to answer.

“come on. you have to know this lesson. our professor might suddenly make us do a quiz. you know how he is. he makes us do some worksheets after three lessons, and they're graded.” you emphasized the last statement so he can sense that it’s serious.

“i hate doing this for grades, but okay, fine, whatever.” he sat back up and stuck his tongue at you. he finally answered the examples and slid the paper across the table. you checked his answers and let out a snort. 

“you’re shit at math.” you said in a laughing manner as you continued to check his answers.

“yeah. no shit, sherlock. that’s why i asked for you to help me.” he let out a huff and crossed his arms. you stood up so you could sit beside him. 

“then fucking move so i can teach you the right answers.” you put the paper back on the table and motioned for him to come closer.

“you were already in the right process, but your stupid ass decided to go the other way.” you looked back at him, then nudged his arm for him to pay attention. you noticed how his little black spike earring suits him so much. you always see him wearing that earring. it’s easy to recognize him from afar, even just by looking at his ears. 

“hey, y/n.” he snapped you back to reality. “i think i know it now,” he grinned, looking smug. 

“are you sure? maybe, you can answer the problem our professor gave.” he searched for it in the presentation given to us and started to write down numbers. 

you sat still there as you tried not to think more about the person beside you. he’s nothing else but a friend, right? 

[kekaki-cupcakes]

Hiii! So here’s an idea: Leo with Jason’s ex and dealing with insecurities about not being as good as Jason ad being a bf… wdyt? Ps: if u could write something for this I’d be like loving it but if not nvm! Ofc! Kisses and hearts and hugs and all in between dear!

So I went completely off topic but this has been sitting in my inbox for ages so I pumped this out in forty minutes, <3

kisses kisses love kisses --- Leo V x reader

»»————-　★　————-««

-It wasn’t your fault that your boyfriend stuck his tongue out a little bit when he was concentrating, and how he always seemed to have a song stuck in his head so he’d do little dances as he searched for tools, and the way his stupidly fluffy hair always seemed to bounce around.

-And somehow he didn’t even mind when you watched him work, or just did your own thing on one of the few couches in Bunker 9 that Harley hadn’t broken the springs of jumping up and down. You could just chill out and every few minutes he would walk past carrying saws and drills and kiss you on the top of your head.

-Although if you were being honest, sometimes you’d maybe might just take his tools out of his hands and pull him around to the other side of the couch for a few more kisses that would turn into Leo sitting opposite you cross legged giggling and whispering the most random things while you pressed kisses to his jaw and his neck and sometimes his lips just to shut him up so you could keep making out.

-He wasn’t very good at making out, you’d found out.

-Not in the way you’d think from that statement, he was a great kisser [you knew from experience. So much experience,]. Leo would just get so overwhelmed, in a good way of course, and forget to kiss back. He’d sit there beaming like a lovesick idiot while you gave him hickeys. You’d have to snap him out of it every once in a while because apparently after dating for a good while, he still couldn’t handle it. 

-Of course there were those times he’d just pounce with his slim fingers and his crooked teeth that seemed to become attached to your mouth in seconds. 

-You’d be wearing hoodies and concealer the next day, to put it simply. 

-Back to the point. 

-There’d still be nights where he’d be a bit off and you’d find a packet of oreo’s [probably Piper’s], and hot chocolate with mini marshmallows for you both. His sweet tooth could get dangerous sometimes. 

-You’d gotten pretty good at figuring out the difference between Leo’s bad days, and Leo’s very bad no good days. 

-Usually the first example could be fixed with snacks and a lot of kisses, which you weren’t exactly complaining about. The second kind, though, although snacks and kisses always helped, were usually spent trudging around one of your cabins in pajamas watching movies because there was nothing worse for everyone then an Angry Leo on the loose.

-Sometimes you wouldn’t even realize something was wrong until Leo would change into one of your hoodies and turn the lights off quickly with a tired ‘goodnight mi amor’.

-You knew to give him a while, Leo wasn’t one to express his more negative feelings [positive ones on the other hand, the whole of camp could pick Leo in a crowd just by his laugh], so you reached across your bed, which wasn’t hard. Single beds weren’t exactly roomie, even if your boyfriend was incredibly scrawny. 

-Even Leo on a very bad no good day couldn’t resist cuddles. 

-He is also the snuggliest little spoon to ever exist. You’d wrap your arms around his middle and on the nights when Leo didn’t want to talk he’d still fall back into you and you could feel his sleepy smile in the air.

-Leo knew that you loved him. 

-Most of the camp knew that you loved him, and vice versa.

-You’d had enough conversations at this point that you could just start pressing kisses to parts of Leo [with permission of course, and not in the way yall are thinking] to show all that love.

-He had insecurities, but he was working on them and you were so proud of him. There were always bad days though, so you would hold his hands in your own and whisper about how fluffy his hair was and how pretty his hands were and the fact that if he ever hated his body again you would kiss him until he couldn’t even think about unhappy things.

-However Leo acted after that, whether it was descending into a fit of giggles or continuing to grumble about how he wasn’t a very good boyfriend, he would be kissed until he couldn’t think. 

-It was safe to say that Leo had found a concealer to match his skin tone only a few weeks after you started dating. 

»»————-　★　————-««

[umbral-reign]

There is a post that comes across my dash every so often which talks about the two fundamental kinds of tragedies: the story that is tragic because it was always going to end in sorrow; and the story that is tragic because it didn't *have* to end in sorrow.

The latest episode of Wheel of Time (2x07) is, I think, an example of the latter - and yet, at the same time, I think it was a tragedy that was *destined* to happen.

I know there are theories concerning Compulsion having been used on Siuan (and possibly some other theories about why she acted as she did in Cairhien), and I do not at all want to discount them because honestly it would make sense. But, taking the events of the episode at face value - as much as I hate it, and as much as I personally wish it had gone a little differently, I do think that the way Moiraine and Siuan's conflict culminated was a horrible, tragic example showing just how toxic, damaging, and outright dangerous the fundamental traditions of the White Tower (and even culture of the Aes Sedai) are and have become.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

I do think that this episode, more than any of the others yet, suffered from the limited episodes Rafe/the writers were given to work with. It felt rushed, and we didn't get the chance to breathe with any of the characters in the really intense and honestly critical emotional scenes (e.g. the scene at the beginning where Moiraine and Siuan talk).

And it's there - the first scene with Moiraine and Siuan - that I think the tragedy that was to come was irrevocably decided. Because if Siuan had stopped, had listened, had given Moiraine the time she needed to be able to talk about what was happening, I think the whole mess could have been avoided. But Siuan didn't.

And I understand why, I think. Siuan was afraid and hurt. To her point of view, Moiraine had made it clear that she had cut her out of her confidence and counsel. Moiraine had been purposefully neglecting to share critical information with Siuan, and that information was very impactful on her ability to fill her role in the plan. To Siuan, I'm sure it absolutely looked like Moiraine had already broken faith with her - had already decided it wasn't *them* trying to find and protect and ready the Dragon Reborn, but *Moiraine* alone. Whether Siuan thought that choice was made from pride, grief, or Moiraine distrusting/distancing herself from Siuan, I don't think it would matter really. To Siuan, the outcome was the same.

It wasn't her and Moiraine against the world anymore. It was her, and Moiraine, and the world.

And Moiraine had proven herself incapable - at least, that's what it looked like.

There were plenty of ways that this could have been avoided. Moiraine could have been more open and forthright. Lan could have told Siuan about his suspicions regarding Moiraine's stilling. There are likely things that Alanna or even Verin could have said that would have inclined one (or the other, or even both! all three of them!) to have made different choices.

But there, I think, is the reason that this tragedy, while it could have been avoided, was destined to happen all the same - in one form or another, even if not that exact time and place and between those very specific women.

Because the Aes Sedai value secrecy and personal agenda above all else. Even if those secrets and those agendas are in the service of something else, something greater - a perfect example, of course, being Moiraine searching for the Dragon Reborn - the Aes Sedai do not trust each other. They cannot. Because their lives, their very society and community, is built on secrecy, on lies-spoken-as-truth, on politics and power and hidden agendas. They are at war against themselves, and not just because of the Black Ajah. They are at war against themselves because the White Tower does not allow honesty, trust, or open loyalty between its Sisters - ever.

And that is why, in the end of it all, I think the White Tower and the Aes Sedai, at least as they exist right now, need to be razed. Because how are those who are meant to protect and guard and guide the world able to do so, if they cannot even trust *any* of their own sisters to do the same for them?

That is why, while the tragedy of this episode could have been forestalled, maybe even avoided - it was destined to happen all the same.

But it hurts - so goddamn bad - that it had to be here, and now, and between Siuan and Moiraine.

[sugawarassoulmate]

Hii! I was binge reading your loser kuroo and oh my god 😭 it's literally everything I hope you don't mind me just venting everything I felt when reading fr.

The dynamic is just amazing! I'm not sure if bully!reader is not that common (everytime I search it's a bit hard to find, so omgg when I came across your work!). Sub guys are just 😪😔 a want you know?

The (lots of) 'first' interactions they had were so ughshsjsbs S-est tier! I felt the excitement on my body, like actually for real! Not gonna be a weirdo and get into details 🤭

And since I was reading it throughout the day I had to pause a few times, chorezz, and when it was getting too tiring and boring I'd stop to read and!! That's when the more angsty ones started and I was about to combust like lord how can life be like that?? Ik I'm being dramatic but it was like the story was kind of matching my mood.

So! It was the best rollercoaster I've been on so far. And again I really hope I'm not being too pushy? but I wanted to ask about some parts of the universe if that's fine! 😔

• are all of the works connected in the universe? I feel like to some point yes, not all of them, but you're the author!!

• about their dynamic in bed!! is the mc kind of like a sub? cause mc definitely leads the relationship. and how would tetsuro define himself? cause he acts like a sub (just realized how repetitive it sounds, sorry!) but when it comes to sex, at times he seems to be the one in "control", control might not be the best word to describe but, you know? for example when he's drunk. Sorry I don't know how to exactly say what's on my mind but you have a gigantic brain!! So I think the question is a tiny bit understandable.

• that part where he started showing interest in someone else?? That was my biggest wtfff moment (very respectfully). The part where I think I have more questions about. I feel like I'm really pushing my luck by asking these, so of course you can ignore these or just idk 😭. 1. Why did he start having feelings for someone else?? 2. Why did mc just ignore it like it was nothing when in other occasions they would be livid? 3. Why did *he* do that to mc? I was like damn bro there's no true love anywhere. In some occasions you mentioned mc being insecure and things like that. 4. How did mc really take it? Did mc feel sad at all with all that? What was mc really feeling through it all? Why did mc forgive him so easily? How was it when they got 'back together'? was mc even more of a cruel bitch to teach him a lesson or something? I'm light headed just thinking about it 😩.

I'm pretty sure there's more I want to ask but I can't remember right now and I feel like I went way over the socially acceptable to ask 😷

I just saw that were both infp and leo!! So happy very belated!!!

Thank you for the patience!

omg no i love these kinds of questions!!! i’m so glad you love their dynamic 🥹 trust me i love hearing all y’alls thoughts when it comes to my stuff it makes me so happy.

i’ll answer your questions one by one haha 

okey the worlds are kind of connected. you’re definitely right that in some ways they are and other ways they aren’t. i like the idea of everything being kinda interconnected in the sense that loser!kuroo, bully!osamu, and stoner!suga can all exist in one universe (the peach cinematic universe if u will) but i didn’t want to make hard rules if that makes sense??? cause i didn’t want to limit what scenarios i could put the characters in! so there’s deff the canon of osamu and reader being childhood frenemies and kuroo and his reader being college lab partners yeah but other than there aren’t rigid rules they have to follow. the freedom allows people to send in whatever request they want for those characters (so long as it doesn’t break my rules!!!) i hope that makes sense!!!

you’re definitely right about reader and loser!kuroo’s dynamic in bed! i just thought it was interesting for the mean, abrasive character to also be the sub in bed?? like “you’re a fucking loser, you can’t do anything without me but alsoooo please pin me down and hold me in bed.” i tend to imagine reader as being shorter/smaller than kuroo (but y’all can imagine reader any way you want!!) just cause i like the idea of mean person a who bullies and bosses around their much bigger/taller person b 😅

ok!!!!!! so i’m glad you caught onto that! it’s a dynamic that i’ve kind of been playing around with bc i have plans for a longer, possibly chaptered fic with that kind of plot in mind. if y’all remember that monstrous 8k fic i wrote for bully!samu and reader….i kinda want to do something similar??? (maybe reader finally tells kuroo she loves him?????) that’s very tbd at the moment haha

this was fun!! it felt like a press conference 😂😂😂 please send more asks like this i love talking about my writing and i LOVE even more hearing what all of you think!!!!

it’s not a bother to me at all!!!

[anotherwrld]

⟡ zodiacal shifting ⟡

I happened to stumble across a TikTok that alluded to the idea that your birth chart could really impact the trajectory of your shifting journey, so of course I had to check it out. A quick search later, and I find this creator who has basically a beginners guide to using your birth chart to your advantage and a dissection of zodiacal shifting.

below is simply some notes I took about my signs and the advice given for me ⟡

scorpio moon ⟡ mars: inconvenient, intensity, fast, and intimidating

- mars is intense and to the point in how it goes about business. it values and finds strength within valor and courage, while its weakness lies in impulsivity.

- this means very intense, almost debilitating shifting symptoms. this can include but is not limited to: feeling shadowy figures and presences during methods or meditation, auditory hallucinations, and haunting images. on the more tame side of symptoms, itching is very much a spoken for symptom.

- shifting unexpectedly or inconveniently is to be expected of the mars sign. love that lol !

- “mars generally makes shifting a slightly challenging journey as the lesser malefic, and would be considered a negative shifting placement. just because it is a negative doesn’t mean you won’t shift.”

- “mars appreciates a fighter, so if you can prove to mars that you can fight for what you want, you will be rewarded.”

recommended shifting method ⟡

- an awake method is your friend — make sure to enter the flow state

- if you must use a sleep method, try to enter hynagogia and then do your method while in that state

- shift during the day or evening, avoid doing so right before bed

- the “five break five” method (?)

- black noise

- use subliminals that are designed to be intense

cancer rising ⟡ mercury: wants to think, contradict, understand, and be open-minded

- a prisoner to your own mind. not quite a skeptic, but rather science based in how you question and pull apart shifting as a theory. easy to blame a method rather than blame the mindset, and easy to jump to beating yourself up for not shifting.

- as the journey progresses, you will find that letting go is the key. you have to let go entirely to all logic and yearning to understand, and come to peace it’s the fact that control is an illusion.

disconnecting from your CR ⟡

- don’t say affirmations if you don’t believe in them. don’t make them empty. if they don’t resonate, don’t put it out. rather, tweak and modify them to resonate with you instead. curate new ones that are charged with belief.

- brown noise can help dull out reality.

- genuinely try to trick yourself into shifting. lie until it becomes truth. the key isn’t delusion, it’s about consciously thinking and believing your ability until you shift.

- don’t fall into the temptation to believe you have it all figured out. if you attempt and don’t shift, obviously you don’t — so re-analyze and fix it.

- shifting is not something to tame. it is something that is meant to evolve around you.

grounding and connecting to your CR ⟡ 4th house

- “you likely aren’t going to be awake when you shift, but rather in a very fine line between a hypnagogic and hypnopomic state. for example, you might’ve scripted that your DR self is just waking up from a nap.”

- the goal is to manifest the world around you and ground yourself after you shift. ground yourself in your DR when you wake up and are conscious.

⟡ what I can do to alter and customize my shifting routine to fit me, like a custom tailored method ⟡

- creating my own listen along meditation. except, this isn’t just a meditation I’ll be listening to. in order to abide my the need to get into a flow state first, I’ll pull a meditation I resonate most with from YT, and drop it into a video editor. this will settle me into the flow state.

- then, ill add music and voice excerpts from my cc’s in for exactly five minutes. this will trigger the beginning of the five by five method. consciously, I’ll know the cut off of the voice excerpts will mean the end of the first five minutes. and with all of this media combined, it allows me to stay in that flow state as I won’t need to touch my phone and risk pulling myself from the immersion.

- I’ll have five minute intervals that swap between voice excerpts with underlying powerful subliminals (thanks to audio editing), and meditative guidance. since this is an awake method, I’ll do this and listen and follow until I fall asleep, with the intention that I will wake up in my DR.

- once conscious in my CR, I’ll ground myself. and thanks to the routine I’ll have set of meditating every morning, it will seem natural to continue to follow that routine, despite the fact that I’m in a different reality.

[ladycinism]

Whenever I smile too much thinking of a man I immediately go to youtube and search for men's reactions to Paris Paloma's songs and the rage immediately comes back.

None of them fucking gets it, if I weren't busy clenching my teeth it would actually be funny. I mean, I understand not getting all the references if you're not cultured but the meaning is there, her lyrics are constructed in a way that's both evocative and explicative so how can you fucking miss the point of the song?

Like, the obvious example would be "Labour" altough I've watched reactions of other songs too. I watched men saying stuff like

"Oh, I get it, it must be her personal experience"

And, of course it could be, but it's not just that, is it? it's our experience. I feel like every woman, directly or indirectly, can feel the song. (I watched a woman react to it and she was immediately like "oh, yeah, it's an hymn" and I remember screaming back "YES, YES IT IS")

Another said "I get why people could act like that" or "yeah, in relationships there's always one that does more than the other" and while these statements are both true, it is still not the point.

She's not just talking about toxic relationships or people, she's talking about men, about the universal experiences of women all across the globe and to see this men acting deliberately obtuse, having all these experiences laid out in front of them every day not just through media but in their daily lives as well and still refusing to see it just makes me furious. So please, please, please educate yourself, talk to the women in your life, ask them about their experiences and try not to feel like they're talking about you unless they say so. Try not to get angry and to really understand how they feel. And then try to start thinking about it more. It doesn't have to change your life (what a wonderful world it would be though if it did) but at least allow the thought to linger and grow.

(of course I don't claim I've watched every man-made reaction video of songs and of course I don't think it is all men, I feel stupid even just having to explain this. If you indentify as a man and feel offended by this post I would kindly ask you to examine why and maybe go get in touch with reality a little bit like, don't know, go talk to your friend, touch some grass)

[thunderblessedhero]

HOW ARE YOU ALL ALIVE???

N: Hoooo boy. You all… are probably in severe need of a recap. A lot has happened in the last… what, two hours? And even before that…

August: okay but I get to do the recap cause I was in the middle of it all!

Blake: hey, hey, hold on- I was missing for well over a month and presumed DEAD! I probably have like, a billion questions to answer, let me do it-

Hugh: Oh my god, we can ALL do the recap together, you idiots. We all kinda have our own piece of the story to tell, anyways.

N: Right, right, so where do I start… Well, a few days ago, I managed to find Zekrom again. After seeing what happened in Opelucid, we both decided it was time to end Team Plasma once and for all.

August: and while N was busy tracking them down, Hugh and I were following their trail! basically, after a LONG week of traveling, we made it to Humilau City and found their frigate hidden close by. Cheren, Hugh and I raided it, hoping to dismantle whatever super weapon they’d used to freeze Opelucid… but at one point we got chased off. except for me! I stowed away to find out where they were going. I told Hugh to rendezvous with Cheren and these ex-Team Plasma guys who were also there hoping to destroy the weapon at the giant chasm. also, their super weapon was Kyurem btw- from what Drayden told me, its the third piece of the original dragon. yknow, the thing Reshiram and Zekrom used to be a part of. basically its the husk that was left over after they split… and the DNA splicers- the artifact that Team Plasma stole and modified- could be used to fuse them all back together.

Hugh: The frigate landed, and while August went after Ghetsis and Kyurem, I raided the ship in search of my little sister’s stolen Purrloin. I… found it, but it’s a Liepard now and doesn’t recognize me. But… I’ll worry about all that later.

August: while I was fighting Ghetsis, N and Zekrom came flying in seconds before it tried to kill me.

N: Zekrom had picked up on Kyurem’s pain and tracked it- that’s how we managed to get there, in the nick of time no less. But… I wasn’t prepared for what Ghetsis- my… father, had planned. He used the DNA splicers to fuse Zekrom and Kyurem…

August: I tried to defeat it, but the thing was too strong. we were seconds away from losing when- lo and behold- RESHIRAM decided to show up to the party

Blake: uh huh, so basically, I didn’t die, which is good! Plasma just faked it to make an example out of me- originally I think they… were going to genuinely kill me, but Colress convinced Ghetsis I could still be useful in helping them find Reshiram.

Blake: they, uh… I’m not sure what they used to make that video look legit, but I have my suspicions. as far as I’m aware, they still have Nox, whose illusions are close to perfect, so- that’s my guess, at least. I just… really hope he survived that hit.

N: ….

Blake: …anyways, while I was being held captive that Colress freak ran some experiments on me. I lied and told them I couldn’t call Reshiram to my side on a whim, so he just opted to experiment on my chosen abilities to try and make me summon it.

Blake: it was… pretty messed up, not gonna lie. I’m not gonna go into detail about it. but it did help me tap into some of my powers. I can summon fire in my hand now, but more importantly, I learned to communicate with Reshiram across long distances via telepathy- not that I told any of this to Colress, of course. so then began me and Reshi’s silent planning- I told him to keep his distance until the time was right. eventually, I learned about the Kyurem project, and what they were planning to do once they got their hands on Reshi.

Blake: when the frigate landed in the giant chasm, I had NO idea August was even on board or planning to take on Ghetsis. my plan was to let Kyurem start its little region-freezing spree, wait until it needed a moment to recharge and catch its breath, then swoop in on Reshi while it was weakened and take Ghetsis out.

Blake: but as you can probably tell, that… didn’t end up being what happened. I heard the guards shout something about seeing Zekrom fly in after them, so Reshi and I jumped into action. It… it was rash and stupid, I know, but ever since I learned about N being back in Unova I’ve been worrying myself sick thinking about what might happen if Ghetsis caught word. of what he might do to him.

Blake: I managed to stun Black Kyurem, but not for long. it… well, the moment I arrived Ghetsis was quick to finish what he started.

August: Kyurem absorbed Reshiram, too, and now…

N: The original dragon is off on a violent rampage around Unova.

Hugh: Yeah, I got there just in time to see that monstrosity blow a hole in the chasm and trap Ghetsis under a pile of boulders. It’s not following his command anymore, by the looks of it, but it’s definitely not on our side either.

Blake: it was like the dragons were all struggling for control in one body…

N: And now its off in the far north of the region, flattening mountain ranges- thankfully there’s not a lot of civilization out there, but its only a matter of time before it reaches a city or town.

August: after everything ended, Keldeo found me again and said he knows someone who might be able to help. and like, we need all the help we can get obviously, so now we’re following him to wherever this backup of his is.

August: aaand now you’re all caught up! here’s to hoping whatever Keldeo wants to show us can help us split the dragons again. the DNA splicers were destroyed with Ghetsis, so… this could be our only hope…

[7ban-sama]

delineating adoration and possessiveness

It is finally time for me to cover something I have been meaning to cover in a post. [i waltz up to a podium and clear my throat] [ahem]

Tsukasa is NOT possessive. Tsukasa is NOT a yandere.

So there's my mission statement. Let's get to it!

To preface this all: I'm not here to say that Tsukasa's love is "sane" or "normal", etc. This isn't about disproving Tsukasa as an obsessive, eccentric individual; this will always be true about him, and, I love those traits! I'm simply here to advocate that Tsukasa is an example of adoration without a sense of possessive entitlement, specifically.

I'd also like to go ahead and assert that I do not think possessiveness is a wholly negative trait that makes a character unlikeable. It is in fact, one of my favorite aspects of Amane's personality. Also, I am Amane. I do not need Tsukasa's love to be selfless because that's the only good kind of love... I just like that it's how he is! Basically, the point of this post isn't to propose that anything is wrong, or bad, or needs to change. I like the way the characters contrast one another! You can almost think of this post as a taxonomical endeavor.

So... to start, I suppose we should define what a yandere is...! We'll just paste from wikipedia to make this straightforward, le etymology: "Borrowed from Japanese ヤンデレ (yandere), a portmanteau of 病んでる (yanderu), contraction of 病んでいる (yande iru), progressive tense of 病む (yamu, “to be sick”), and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb)."

But of course, words are more than just their literal definition/origins. A yandere is an archetype, and it comes with a gamut of behaviors, seen in media, fanwork and original art. What defines a yandere is obsessive AND possessive behavior. They are so in love with their object of affection, that they cannot handle anything getting between them, which is why things lead to extremes of violence. What makes the love 'sick' is that, even their beloved's disapproval and fear cannot dissuade them from their actions. Some yanderes literally cannot be rejected; nothing you say or do can override their will — they love you, so they're going to do it anyways. In other cases.... rejection breaks them, so much that they lash out on their love, basically the "if I can't have you, no one can" mentality.

It's easy to get a sampling of the common themes and visuals of yandere by just looking at pixiv, or even google search results, really. Obsessive, totally love-struck expressions, wielding a knife, 'protecting' their love from others, by way of violence or even extremes of kidnapping, etc. I think one of the most emblematic yanderes is Yuno from Mirai Nikki, and with good reason. She hits allll the beats. And she is best girl.

There are plentiful other examples across various series, and you'll start to find that they share similar visual cues and behaviors. Enough that I find myself going, hmm... now, this does feel... familiar...

hmmm... what could it mean?

... but, we can't base everything just on known tropes and iconic visuals. So we need to look at Tsukasa's actions, alongside other characters within JSHK, for context.

We'll start with Tsukasa's introduction.

This is probably one of the most commonly cited lines, that convinces people that Tsukasa is jealous of Nene, and resentful of Amane. Combined with the overall depiction of Tsukasa in this chapter being mysterious, ominous, and Amane becoming so distraught from this interaction. A lot of people see Tsukasa's behavior as being purposefully emotionally manipulative, essentially rubbing salt in the wound of Amane's guilt.

Sure, that's a way to look at this all, and I understand that might be everyone's first impressions of this scene. But, well... Given what we come to learn about Tsukasa later, in the very same volume, are we so certain that he is jealous of Nene...?

It's pretty inarguable at this point that yorishiro Tsukasa does not regret or dislike the shinjuu. He loves that Amane did it, so very much, down to the very expression he was wearing during it. And Tsukasa is not at all secretive of this fact; he states it with painful openness.

The more you read the manga, the more you really have to accept that Tsukasa is not at all put off by the idea of Amane killing him, to the point where even at the tender age of four, he is fascinated and intrigued by Amane's capacity for harming him.

Seems like it is fundamentally an aspect of Tsukasa's nature. Killing him was in no ways perceived as wrong, or horrible, or awful. Tsukasa is not vindictive or jealous. How Amane treats Nene does not make Tsukasa feel disrespected, forgotten, or discarded.

But how could he? When I break down his "you'll protect her but killed me" comment further... Now that we know what we do about yorishiro from chapter 95, is there at all a reason for Tsukasa to be envious of Amane being willing to protect Nene? Tsukasa's very existence is defined by the fact that he was something precious and protected.

Being treasured and protected by Amane is not exclusive to Nene at all. You can see where it might be difficult to stir up jealousy over her, in that case! But beyond that, I think he is just being cheeky, lol... as much as he looks at the knife and gets all natsukashii about it. So nostalgic, that knife... Takes me back-!! Says Tsukasa, lol. It's not uncommon for little side comics and illustrations to have Tsukasa defining himself, eagerly, as "the person Amane killed!" We recently even had that Halloween event where Tsukasa dressed himself as a wara ningyo to match Amane's Ushi no Koku Mairi shtick. Tsukasa loves their binary, where Amane is the weapon-wielder, and Tsukasa is the one being staked through the chest with it. Nails, knives... have at thee!

At the very least, metatextually, it's something AidaIro themselves feel is fine to rib and tease about.

But what about the tea party?

Well... I know that, at first glance, it seems as though the function of the tea party abduction is to "get rid" of Nene, so this scene is also widely assumed to be an expression of resentment or jealousy on Tsukasa's end. He says all of this, after all:

It should be noted, however, that none of this is dictated with any animosity; the assertion of this "rivalry" is very glib. It's almost just true in a technical sense, as him and Amane DO have opposing belief systems. Also, Tsukasa doesn't say that he intends to harm or kill Nene, here. He does not speak to Nene harshly at all; his speech is quite casual, even in the original JP of this scene. The sentiment is simply, "welp, anyways, you gotta get going now!" And, considering the fact that Nene actually obtains a physical item from the past Amane (which alters the past, presumably) it seems it really was time for her to go.

Early Tsukasa scenes are framed with the intention of preserving the mystery of who Tsukasa is and what his goals are. It's a twist, to later find out the Yugi's extensive shared history, and how they were precious towards one another. By volume 5, you're not sure what you can conclude yet. We, the readers, are (purposefully! immersively!) in the same camp as Nene: we sit there asking, why did Hanako kill his younger twin brother? What happened between them? But I believe the story is also structured to make you doubt the immediately drawn conclusions, and regularly reassess the information.

Here are some things to consider, after the tea party:

The immediate arc following these events is the Clock Keepers one, which reveals Nene is slated to die within a year. More recently, we now know that Nene's shortened lifespan is explicitly tied to the destruction of the School Wonders' yorishiro. It is the Broadcast Club's goal to have the yorishiro destroyed, and they outright intend Nene to be the one to do it. Tsukasa could not have been attempting to kill Nene, because she is a vital asset to their mission.

In Hell of Mirrors, Tsukasa is relieved to see that Nene is alive and well. He catches himself before he compulsively harms her, and then decides to set her aside somewhere, so as to not let Nene get in the way and further complicate things.

And now, to just be blunt. Tsukasa is an incredibly strong kaii, and Nene is a mortal human being. If he wanted to kill her, it would be effortless and easy to accomplish. Seriously he could, crush her like a grape between his fingers. Nene didn't survive the trip to Nowhere due to incompetence or bumbling! Nene entering the past briefly, and then being quickly rescued, was the intended outcome.

Frankly, the sheer ease of which Nene is isolated and abducted by the Broadcast Club, only furthers my certainty that there cannot be such animosity between her and Tsukasa. We can accept that Tsukasa needs Nene alive to destroy yorishiro, but that doesn't mean Nene has to be happy. IF Tsukasa wanted to be petty and jealous and invasive, he just could be, right? What's stopping him from cornering Nene, or even just tormenting her throughout the day? Even Mitsuba can be petulant and act out by stealing Kou's lunch for attention. But Nene receives no such treatment. Tsukasa is ostensibly far more powerful and crafty than Mitsuba as well, and yet, Nene is allowed to play silly little games of charades with Hanako in peace.

By contrast, how do Tsukasa's feelings stack up against other characters?

There is a gradient of possessiveness and jealousy shown within the manga, ranging from passionate extremes to more tempered, but still very real expressions of it.

Akane and Hanako are on the most extreme end of this spectrum, as... well, yanderes. Let's be blunt. That IS what they are. By this point in time, we've seen that they're both quite capable of disregarding everyone else's feelings for the sake of their own endeavors on behalf of their love. They fit the classic description of a yandere, too.

Perpetually monitoring objection of affection, intervening when others attempt to get close to them, feeling as though they are providing protection... being drawn to violent extremes, due to this... But, there's also (charmingly) less fantastical levels of jealousy expressed by them. Hanako is often clinging to Nene and worming his way between her and Kou, like a fussy cat.

It's so uncontrollable, this kind of thing... To the point where Akane can knowingly use the threat of kissing Nene to force Hanako out of hiding; a gesture from One crazy possessive fuck to another. It's Akane going yeah, I know that'd drive you insane, I know how your love works (because it's like mine).

But even someone less extreme, like Aoi, is capable of a sense of entitlement to Akane's love, and she cannot help but be jealous when he is courted by anyone else.

She maintains a preened image of not being effected by these sorts of things, but is clearly NOT okay when anything happens, in reality. This is a girl who is going to stay home due to feeling miserable at the thought of her friend pursuing Akane. But, Aoi is only human! It's pretty natural for a fifteen-year-old girl to cry over a long-time crush of hers becoming potentially unavailable! There's many degrees of jealousy, here.

With all that in mind... Are we to believe that Tsukasa is SO jealous of Nene that he would make digs at Amane for abandoning him in favor of her... AND drop Nene into an abyss to harm her... but, is simultaneously SO gracious, that he leaves her and Amane to bond and grow close? Those are all quite disparate behaviors, for someone intensely jealous and bitter. For a yandere, who cannot have their love denied... does it make sense to sit around while their object of affection has a twee little cheek kiss on the rooftop with someone? We KNOW for a fact, Akane and Hanako could not bear to do the same.

Speaking of kisses... and going back to the tea party: what is Tsukasa's reaction to when his brother has a new prospective relationship with a girl? ... is it as extreme as fending her off with a bat? Prying the two physically apart? Reduced to tears?

... nope! It's curiosity, and childlike intrigue! Tsukasa very eagerly would like to hear more, in fact! Oh oh, please tell me all about it!!! ... I even think he is so shocked about the concept of Sakura specifically dating Amane, because what, when, why!? Whoa...!!! How did Sakura do that without him realizing! ... by contrast, with Nene, it's almost as though he expects her to be dating Amane. Maybe this is what Tsukasa logically concludes, based on what he has seen between them?

Familial relationships may be separate from romantic ones typically, but it is not exactly a trait of yandere-ism to share, regardless of whatever their relation to the person they love even is. I think even as a strictly familial bond, if Tsukasa were a jealous type of person, he would be threatened by anyone accessing closeness to the previously friendless Amane. All that would matter is that a new person seeks to 'threaten' the closeness established between them. It would behoove Tsukasa to ignore a potential partner.

After all, it's not as if Amane and Nene never encroach on memories shared by the twins, since they attend a Tanabata festival together! You would think a highly jealous person couldn't bear to allow someone to make new, beautiful memories at a festival, just like the two of you used to!! And, yet! He simply does! Tsukasa let's Amane do many things! He does not intervene, where he surely could intervene. Easily! With a bucket of water! He permits Amane and Nene plenty of time without him, decidedly not being a total nightmare haunting them. From the vignettes we see, Tsukasa typically seems to be spending his free time playing games and distracting himself. Not so different from his brother, in that respect.

I think our lovely protagonist summarizes it best, here:

By Picture Perfect, even Nene is starting to glean that there's more to this circumstance than meets the eye.

I think that covers yorishiro Tsukasa's actions quite thoroughly... so.

Let's go further, into Tsukasa's past.

What about Tsukasa prior to becoming a yorishiro? Prior to the shinjuu, many years back, in his childhood. Before merging with the wish-granting entity, even. The boy that Nene and Kou meet. Is this Tsukasa jealous and clingy of Amane, and unable to share him in any way? Does Tsukasa feel competitive when Nene responds that she likes Amane, too?

Well... no! His reaction is far from that! He is excited to hear that Nene feels the same as him. It's those feelings that lead Tsukasa to explaining the details of his wish more. It's not as if Tsukasa was being an undiscerning child, either, as he wasn't willing to explain to Kou alone the details of his wish, despite being asked about it directly. The assertion that Nene likes Amane makes Tsukasa believe that Nene could then understand why he made the wish he did.

Nene liking Amane fosters trust and closeness between them. There is no sense of competition.

(As an aside, I find the word Tsukasa uses to mean "the same" in JP, sooo cute... おそろい (お揃い) ; going together, "matching" ! Ouhh yes you are... you two do match... QvQ)

It all tracks though, doesn't it? After all, Tsukasa already is assuming that Amane is living life happily without him, so why would Nene's feelings change anything? Amane already meant to have a future filled with many other people that are not Tsukasa. He does not ask anything of Amane.

In this scene, Kou asks what anyone would, really, given the circumstances. How is this okay...? What is the "point" of healing someone you love, if you never get to spend time with them, and experience their life together?

No one can be prepared for how Tsukasa's whole psyche is one sooo devoid of expectation or neediness...

Not even asking to be liked! Not asking to be treasured or remembered. Tsukasa accepts that his life is expendable, his remembrance is negligible. If Amane never thinks about him again and is busy being an amazing space explorer, happy and healthy with new loved ones, then that is fine by Tsukasa.

There is no "personal gain" here. There is no imposing a selfish will, or harming others to get what is desired. There is no demanding for attention. There is no refusal of rejection. There is no oppressive, inescapable conclusion.

Tsukasa has never trapped Amane and given him no other options other than himself. Instead, Tsukasa has sooner used himself as a means to relinquish Amane to the custody of others.

This is... as far from being a yandere as one can get, if you ask me.

I think Tsukasa really is composed of a graciousness that no one else in the cast is capable of. It's incredible, really, how he isn't even just, shaking and in tears at the thought of being unwanted, by the one person he loves more than anything. Tsukasa is simply... a very unique individual. I love you sweetie!!!!!

Also, I know that the following scene in the Red House, where Tsukasa rejoices about Amane killing him, is also cited as a major "yandere moment", but well, after everything I wrote... You can see how I believe that is a misnomer!! It takes more than just being "crazy"(in a broad, fictional sense) to be a yandere! Lots of characters are crazy and unstable, but that doesn't mean they lash out possessively over their love! A yandere must have their singular, coveted target that they never, ever relinquish! Ever!!! *huffing, puffing*

Besides, if anything, that scene is showing us the extent of Tsukasa's acceptance of whatever Amane would grant him. You are witnessing the euphoria of someone who thought that he was wholly hated and unwanted. To then be told that Amane would rather die together than grow up without him... It's an unfathomable, thrilling revelation. (And aren't we just like Tsukasa, dying to find out how, and why? Lol..)

We shouldn't forget, at the end of the day, who is the precious belonging here. Tsukasa has potentially been trapped in Amane's boundary, like Sumire was within Hakubo's, for who knows how many years... Er, and now that the recent chapter has also made it even MORE overt that Tsukasa is represented by the moon, let's not forget a certain someone and his lunar rock...

What a word to use! Aha. What could it meeeean? Hmm.... lol!

So yeah! That's... all that I wanted to cover, really! :3c I hope this offers some perspective... and, as a yandere, my perspective holds some weight here.

Playfully, I will append: I understand that what people are struggling with is also the fact that Tsukasa's emotional resonance isn't dissimilar to something like this:

... but to that, I simply must ask you all to have an open mind to the complexity of our dear sweet Tsukasa. He IS an obsessive person who feels things to fanastical extremes... But this all culminates in an extreme in the opposite direction — just plain, pure selflessness.

Additionally, Tsukasa seems captivated by others' selfishness, and exists to be a conduit of it, as someone granting your heart's desire. This places him in an unflattering position at times, being the one willing to execute things even if no one could approve of the results. But I think this is testament moreso to hearts being messy, and what one desires often being quite twisted and difficult to reconcile with — which is why it's easier to bury it deep down. Tsukasa doesn't care whether or not people hate him though, so... he risks the least by taking action on your behalf. He will do it! He will do what you are too afraid to do!

You should all be thanking him.

[rollercoasterwords]

I’m so genuinely intrigued and curious abt that post you made abt reaching out to the authors when you find a paper you want to read bc.. how are you finding these papers in the first place?? Do they show up on your tiktok fyp?? Do you just search up whatever topic you wanna read about on google scholar? I think that that’s really cool that you do that and I also would like to read about research that like actually interests me and not just papers assigned in class but I dunno where I would start looking for them. Sorry this ask is probably so random but do you have any tips?? lmao 😭

WHAT a fun question!!! of course i have tips!!!

first of all....free urself from the tiktok fyp i am begging u <3 like. ok i am sure there are people on there who are sharing academic articles and such but....more often with tiktok at least in my experience u just end up getting stuck in an endless scroll rather than actually following up on any interesting reading/research suggestions. also i think it is just like. a valuable and enriching skill to be able to think of things on ur own that u want to learn about and then go and find resources urself! like. approach tiktok w caution perhaps it could be helpful for some but i worry a bit that we are all becoming a little too reliant on algorithms to feed us Content, y'know?

anyway! as for how i find papers 2 read that interest me! most often it is a matter of finding something that sparks my interest + then going down a rabbit hole. and there are soooooo many ways to do this!! the internet is an amazing resource!!!! here is a list of some ways that i find interesting articles:

tumblr <3 lol i follow various blogs that post interesting stuff abt theory + academia every so often, and if i see a quote that interests me i'll go and try to find the article it came from! (you could also use tiktok this way if you've found some good people to follow! my main hesitation w tiktok is just that. it's an endless scroll + an algorithm which are both 2 things that i find distracting, and why i prefer tumblr)

substack - same kinda deal as tumblr; i subscribe to bloggers who write about topics that interest me and if they cite research in their posts i'll go try to find that research to read it myself

news articles/blog posts/essays that i come across online - again, if there's some interesting research cited, i'll go and try to find it

search by writer - if you keep hearing about an academic or someone suggests "oh read some so-and-so," go and look up so-and-so and see what they've written + what u can find online for free! most really famous/influential academics will have some free pdfs of their more influential work floating around online, and for smaller/niche academics--email them!

along the same lines - if u find an article or essay or speech by an academic and u like it, go find their biography page on the website of whatever school they teach at! schools will usually list professors' work, or at least a few examples, and you can find more stuff to read from that same person whose article you enjoyed. this is especially helpful if ur researching something kinda niche

wikipedia! people shit on wikipedia all the time as if it's not a "real source" but that's simply false! wikipedia is a great jumping-off point if you're interested in a broad topic but don't know where to start. go scroll through the wikipedia article about said topic and see what's cited there to get an idea of where you might be able to find some interesting articles/research to narrow ur focus!

look through the bibliography/citations on other research! if ur reading a book or article on an interesting topic + want to learn more, actually take a minute to scan through the citations and see if any titles catch ur eye!

ask people for recommendations! if u have an old/current professor or a friend or something who u know is interested in the same topic as u, ask if they have any reading recommendations!

if ur a university student--take advantage of that shit!!! look thru the papers on ur syllabus and scan the citations of the most interesting ones for further reading or go look up the writers u like best from the course to find more stuff they've written! look at the class listings for classes u aren't taking and if ur interested, ask those professors if they'd be willing to share their reading lists with you! keep an eye out for free lectures or events on new topics that interest you as a jumping-off point for finding new things to learn about! ask ur friends in other majors what they're learning about and go look it up if it interests you!

go to the library and look through the nonfiction section for topics ur interested in; check out books with cool titles! if they're boring, u can just return them

go to thrift stores or used bookstores and do the same thing! look for nonfiction books with interesting titles! i loooooooooove love love love looking through gender studies sections of bookstores for nonfiction--and then if i find a book i like, guess what that book's gonna cite?? more articles + books!!!!!! there is so much research + knowledge in the world just waiting to be shared!!!!

anyway. these are just some ways that i have found interesting new things to learn about! it sounds like u are currently a student--and like, trust me, i get that when ur constantly being assigned readings for classes it can just become a drag. but college is an AMAZING resource; i still go back and reference old notes from school to find research that i'm interested in, and some of my classes introduced me to articles that i still return to + cite today. research can be so so so fun + rewarding when ur just doing it for the joy of learning; the key really is to treat it like a little spiderweb. maybe most of ur assignments are boring, but this one article for class was really interesting and u actually find urself wanting to learn more--look at the research that article cited! google the names of the writers to see what else they've written! ask ur prof if they have any more suggestions similar to that article! the possibilities are endless!!

+ if ur a student, ur institution probably has access to a whole bunch of research databases where u can find articles + books for free, which is amaaaaaaaazing take advantage of that shit. but i am not currently a student, so my process for finding articles usually goes:

google + see if a free pdf magically pops up (happens more often than you'd think honestly)

failing that -- if it's a book, i check the online collection at my library + also on openlibrary and project gutenberg and zlibrary; for articles i usually check library genesis (sometimes i look for books here too) or sci-hub (usually works best if you search by doi)

failing that -- if it's an article, i go hunt down the email address of whoever wrote it and email them to ask for access! for books, if you really really want to read it you can usually put in a request at your local library for them to get it, but sometimes i do just have to give up if i can't find a book for free online anywhere :(

hopefully some of this was helpful !! and if ur looking for nonfiction book recs i have a post here with some stuff i've read over the past year or two and i also have a post here with like...some suggestions for intro gender studies/queer theory reading (mostly articles)!

[ghoultyrant]

Other M: Less Terrible Than I Thought

So I recently stumbled across a video digging into Metroid: Other M's localization, which argues that the localization is a strong part of Other M's issues; that the original Japanese has nuance that is lost in the official translation, and the localization straight-up inserts problematic changes and whatnot.

And... they make a pretty good case on this topic, more so than I was expecting at the start of the video. Particularly striking to me was actually the video touching on Phantoon, who came across to me as a plotless bonus boss you weren't supposed to think too hard about, but actually the Japanese manual for Super Metroid has a bit where it asserts that Phantoon is Mother Brain's 'consciousness' in physical form. (Which I've actually read elsewhere years ago, though I'd forgotten before watching this video) So... a Mother Brain variant dies over the course of Other M's plot, and along comes a Phantoon variant. That's actually a very sensible easter egg! Too bad being able to make sense of it relies on a detail that official translation excised. Oops.

A similar point is the 'hell run'; in the official localization, we end up with... well, this:

Whereas the video argues that the original intention is actually the player-as-Samus being led to deliberately subvert the spirit of Adam's orders: that he says basically "Restrict your search to places appropriately accessible with already-authorized upgrades", and then Samus/the player stays to the letter of this order (You can access the lava zone without the Varia Suit active, it's just a self-destructive idea) while violating the spirit of it. (Adam pretty obviously means "places that are reasonable to explore with your current kit")

Which... I actually buy? For starters, Fusion has pretty directly comparable elements, where eg the Diffusion Missile data gets sent, but the Federation has decided Samus is doing too good a job of killing things so they want to avoid her powering up enough to be able to kill their precious bioweapons so Adam doesn't mention it. And then the gameplay absolutely demands you collect it, at which point AI Adam tries to play it off like he has no idea what happened there. Fusion's story involves Samus increasingly getting, in-universe, 'off the rails' while her handler and their bosses are trying harder to keep her on the rails.

Alternatively, I could draw a comparison to Zero Mission, which has a standard Metroid linear route you're expected to take your first time, and then deliberately constructs all kinds of sequence breaks and item skips that an experienced player can figure out, emulating the kind of thing people have been doing in Super Metroid and Metroid Prime and so on for years. In particular, I'm thinking of the aspect where eg Metroid Prime's successive versions actively tried to close off such tricks, while players kept looking for (and finding) new ways to subvert the game's intended route, vs Zero Mission embraced players working to subvert the intended route. Samus 'sequence breaking' in the narrative and performing exactly the kind of 'hell run' sequence breakers do in other Metroid games is... very meta-appropriate in a way consistent with Zero Mission's handling.

In turn, this video led to me watching an alternate sub of Other M's 'movie mode' where this take on the translation is the basis, and... Other M's story does work better this way. I was surprised at how regularly stuff I found inane in its handling was due to the localization's handling: that for example I always found Furby-Ridley flagrantly suspicious to an eyeroll-worthy extent, and it turns out that's not 'the creators inexplicably expected you to be caught off guard when it turns out to be a threat' but rather is 'Samus herself is sure this thing is probably hostile/dangerous/suspicious'.

There's also a number of subtle implications that went over my head originally where I'm not sure how much of that is 'the localization directly butchered things such that it was hidden' vs how much is 'I was too busy reeling at the latest botched writing to be in the space for recognizing implications': that for example this time I caught that the narrative implies but does not actually spell out explicitly that Actual Madeline sicced the Metroid Queen on the traitor when said traitor came for her. (By a similar token, I caught this time that Melissa-pretending-to-be-Madeline fails to react to "Hi, I'm Samus Aran" while Actual Madeline is reassured that Samus is thus not one of the conspirators here to kill her: this makes sense! Melissa is an AI that's lived for, what, a couple years? On an isolated space station. Madeline is a regular human with a full life experience, so presumably she's heard of The Famous Samus Aran where Melissa might not have)

This isn't to suggest Other M has no problems in the original writing. The most glaring two are of course...

... the sheer indefensibility of this encounter in particular being the one where Ridley's appearance causes Samus to break down. The video tries to argue the game tries to justify this in a way that got lost in localization, and while I don't think that's untrue, in the end I don't think it matters much: this was a busted idea that would never have worked.

The other issue is Adam Shoots Samus In The Back For Her Own Good, of course.

It's less terrible in this version. Adam is not so clearly presented as a heroic good guy doing a smart and good thing Samus should be grateful for. The narrative logic for why Adam thinks it's a bad idea for Samus to go into Sector Zero is more coherent. (And why Adam is going inside at all has an actual suggestion of a reason) Adam and Samus' relationship is presented as more complicated than 'she looks up to him to an unreasonable extent', where there's less a built-up assumption we're supposed to back Adam's view, and in fact there's a fair amount of evidence we're supposed to side with Samus against him overall.

But it's still really, really dumb that Adam shoots Samus in the back when there's a Metroid right there, and the writing is hampered by the fact that Adam is just assuming the Metroids in Sector Zero are immune to freezing while the game fails to depict freeze-immune Metroids. I at least caught this time there's an actual implication he's right on this supposition, where Samus, much earlier in the game, reacts to a corpse as "That looks like a Metroid killed it! Oh crap! Wait, no, this area is too cold for that, and also they're extinct. There's gotta be another explanation."

Buuuut there still should've been stronger evidence of Sector Zero Metroids being immune to freezing.

And also even if that was fixed, Adam shooting Samus in the back to stop her is stupid, and absurdly stupid when there's a Metroid right there that he expects to be unable to hurt. The alternate translation doesn't change these problems.

More subtly/generally, the vibe I get from this translation is that the core story person/people (Yoshio Sakamoto, going by how the credits present things, but... credits are always an incomplete picture, and can be very misleading) were too aware of the themes they were trying to write.

That is, in watching this version, it was a lot clearer to me that Other M has as one of its main thrusts be about parent/child relationships, and more specifically that it's trying to argue that, basically, being a controlling jerk of a parent is going to blow up in your face someday so please consider not doing that. And honestly, the bits that are just the story doing that tale work okay-to-pretty-good.

But then there's all the secondary signaling thrown in that largely doesn't add anything or actively detracts from the story: the (baby) Bottle Ship name, Nightmare being given modified human baby cries and its face animated to more directly evoke a crying human baby, and so on; lots of stuff that is consistent with 'this game is trying to make a point about human parent/child relationships', but which aren't actually contributing to the message and all.

At this point I do suspect that if Other M had been given a less borked localization, it would've gone over better, but by 'better' I mean 'more like Hunters, which people mostly don't actively hate but they also are largely pretty unenthused about it'. (I liked it, and I still totally understand this reaction) The baseline handling absolutely has a number of pretty big flaws (I'm not even reiterating stuff like the camera work focusing way too much on clearly-intentional titillating shots, for example), where even a different translation doesn't iron them out.

But I am glad to have watched these two videos, and I think they should be seen by more people.

[anon-bunny]

I love your work! Do you happen to have any tips for artists looking to get into digital art using procreate?

Sure! I absolutely love using procreate. For whatever reason it’s considered a lowbrow art tool by major studios and companies??? But I can do pretty much anything I’d want to do in Photoshop in Procreate at a fraction of the cost. Plus working on an iPad means portability— If I want to draw in the car, on a plane, in a cafe, etc. I totally can. Glad to see more people are getting into using it! 💖 Alright, onto some tips.

The best way I can think to give tips is leading by example and offering points of reference through my own work and process. If you have follow up questions or are looking for something specific definitely send them my way. ✨😊✨

1. Know Yourself; Know Your Art Style

Whether you’re a long time digital artist or a traditional artist porting over to the digital medium it’s very important to know your work, your strengths, and your personal style. For example, I was very much a traditional artist who delved into digital artwork to keep up with career demands. For a LONG time there was stylistic dissonance between how I drew on paper and how I drew on SAI (the desktop paint tool where I got my start) because what I was subconsciously doing was keeping my style to myself traditionally and just mimicking the artwork I saw online when trying to make digital art.

Here are two pieces I made back in 2018, one traditional and one digital. They're both nice pieces, but if someone was asked which one was definitively one of my pieces they're much more likely to say the traditional piece because it's consistent with my style: limited colors, lineart heavy, etc. I kept trying to divorce from my traditional style when what I should have been doing was taking the extra time to learn how to do what I could already do traditionally in a digital program.

It's especially important to know your style and practice maintaining it regardless of media because the next tip is

2. Invest Time In Watching Others

In nearly every hobby, profession, skill, or interest one of the best ways to hone your craft is to see how other people do it. Hozier said in a recent interview when he's not writing or performing his music he's listening to someone else's music. It's very important to our ability to learn to see how a task can be done to help influence how we ultimately do it. I of course do not mean try to copy someone else's work, which was something I had to learn the hard way when I was starting out in digital art. One of the things I frequently did early on was tried to copy someone's painting technique as closely as I could which resulted in some less-than-inspiring artwork that didn't look much like my usual body of work.

Which is again, something that is easily prevented by just knowing your style.

Some places I go when looking to see how other people draw are YouTube, Tiktok, Artbooks, and Pinterest. Youtube and Tiktok are fabulous sharing platforms usually dealing in quick media where a single search for "procreate" or "speedpaint" yields THOUSANDS of results. Artbooks require a little more financial dedication, but they're great visual references that frequently come with some kind of tutorial in them. Some in my personal collection are Gothic Lolita Punk, Japanese Comickers, and The Complete Masters of The Poster. And Pinterest is frequently painted as a digital piracy war zone, but searching "art tutorial" or "digital art techniques" yields lots and lots of valuable information.

I've been professionally illustrating since 2017 and I STILL go back to these points of reference to see how other people are drawing, painting, etc. Who knows? I may learn something new that takes my art one step further.

3. Explore Brushes!

There are literally Tens of Thousands of brushes that are available all across the internet and I highly recommend taking the time to search google for packs of them. For the first year or so of working with procreate I ONLY used the default brushes that came with the program and while the art was decent I definitely could have used more experimentation to make more cohesive pieces.

As of right now I use a Frankenstein pack of lining and painting brushes that are a mess of brushes I made myself, brushes I got in art packs I found on itch.io or etsy, and some default brushes I've heavily modified to match my style.

I highly recommend playing with brush settings, searching for new brushes, and trying literally every brush you come across to see if you can find a use for it.

I've mentioned it several times throughout but it deserves its own bullet point, so my final tip is

4. Don't Ever Be Afraid To Google It

No artist knows everything. No one who claims to be an expert on Procreate knows absolutely every function, every application, and every trick all on their own--- but between all of us you can find practically anything just by googling it.

I have found super specific pattern brushes, youtube tutorials for pattern creation, configurations for pressure sensitivity, ideas for color palette building, templates for sticker making-- whenever I personally can't figure out someone else likely knows what to do. That's what community is all about!

You are not beholden only to your personal knowledge, so remember google is your friend!

I hope this helped! I tried to pair down the tips as much as I could but I just love getting asked about how I draw. 💖 If you or anyone else reading this has any specific questions you're more than welcome to DM me or send another ask. 😊 Have fun! Good luck drawing!!!

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

What’s everything we know about Apo’s Hassan meta?

I will answer, but my apologies anon, I will use your question as a springboard to provide more context. Because I am almost certain people who aren't aware of the setting details of Apo are gonna be confused and ask questions and I am lazy enough to want to prevent this. And more seriously, I try to be more personally aware that not everyone has the same level of knowledge in this fandom.

So, about the "Hassan meta".

If you only watched the Fate/Apocrypha anime, this detail about the nature of the alternate timeline may have not been made too clear to you because it's quickly glossed over. If you read the manga, you may remember it because it is in the backstory of one of the Red Masters, or you may not remember because it was a small thing about a character that was essentially cannon fodder and not relevant to the wider story.

If you are aware of what I'm talking about, just skip the section to "So where do the Hassans fit into this?"

So most people probably know how the world of Apo diverged from FSN, since it's pretty clear in every adaptation: during Fuyuki's Third Holy Grail War, which took place on the eve of World War II, Darnic Predstone Yggdmillenia, working with Nazis, stole the Greater Grail from right under Zouken's nose, and then disappeared off with it in Romania from right under the Third Reich's nose. But what people may not know is that, as a result of this grand heist, the details of the Holy Grail War leaked and now every mage tried to replicate the ritual all over the world over the next 60 years.

From the first volume:

Today, variations of the Holy Grail War ritual unfold across every continent. Of course, the majority of them are small in scale, with most only capable of summoning five Servants; even were the ritual itself established, it could not proceed to the point where it could grant any wish.

Fate/Apocrypha materials elaborates further, calling these small-scale imitation Holy Grail Wars "Subcategory (or Subspecies, depending on your translation) Holy Grail Wars" and explaining that it was Darnic who leaked the details of the Holy Grail War, to throw the Clock Tower off his scent that he had the actual functioning Fuyuki Holy Grail.

The small Holy Grail Wars that have been recklessly happening everywhere since several decades ago in the Apocrypha world. Varying from those with only two Servants to wars with five Servants which, though inferior in scale to Fuyuki, are still considerably large conflicts, all kinds of Holy Grails Wars are brightly, happily and violently taken place throughout the world. This is because, after the Third Holy Grail War, Darnic disseminated information on the structure of the Holy Grail War, which normally should have been concealed at all costs, to other magi in order to forestall them from searching for the Holy Grail that he had stolen. Even for magi who lament over how the Root is just a distant fairy tale, once they learned that they could take a step… or perhaps even just half a step towards reaching it through this ritual, they ended up desperately creating Holy Grails of their own. Broadly speaking, out of a hundred Holy Grails made, ninety-five of them get stalled due to setbacks in the midst of constructing them, and out of the remaining finished five Grails, four end up incomplete and explode while mana is poured into them. The last remaining Grail out of them all manages to work properly, but the ritual is degraded in quality and cannot be compared to the one in Fuyuki. However, with the mana accumulated in the Grail, it still becomes possible to bring about miracles of varying scale. Being summoned by such a shoddy Holy Grail is a real nuisance to the Servants, though. There are many Servants who refuse the summoning or rebel and kill their Masters.

The omnipresence of Holy Grail Wars has had various consequences. For example, only in Apo, Darnic is the highest rank of magi, Grand, but only because the overall number of magi in the world has sharply dropped due to how many died in shoddy Grail Wars, meaning the survivors bumped up a rank. There were also no Holy Grail War in Greece because everyone fought over catalysts for Heracles and Achilles, resulting in a bloodbath without Servant involved.

So where do the Hassans fit into this?

The "Hassan meta" anon refers to is one of those consequences of the spread of countless Holy Grail Wars. Over the years, ones of the best strategies to win a Subcategory HGW was simply to summon a Hassan: they are low cost and are night undetectable, making the use of them to simply take out all the other Masters instead of facing them a winning strategy. Just like "camping" in FPS or being a spellcaster in Elden Ring, this was an easy and very effective way to defeat much stronger opponents. Emphasis on "was", because this tactic became so well-known that, by the time of the Greater Holy Grail War in Romania, the identities of all Hassans and their Noble Phantasms was public knowledge, and countermeasures were devised to hard counter the Hassan meta.

To quote from the novels:

As the ritual of the Holy Grail War and its derivatives were repeated time and again, a number of strategies became established among its participants. It became common practices to prioritize the defeat of the Masters first - and to stay most on guard, not against the three knight Classes beginning with Saber, but the Assassin Servants. It proved nearly impossible to survive an ambush conducted via Presence Concealment unless a Servant was kept nearby at all times. However, ensuring that one's Servant stayed in visual contact for security, presented another problem when one faced off against another Servant. The risk of becoming a part of the battle itself became higher than ever, and even Heroic Spirits would be placed at a crushing disadvantage if required to fight while covering for another. Even if one's Servant was not directly killed in the initial encounter, if caught in a situation where their movements became bound, only defeat remained in the end. Yet it was also foolish to keep one's Servant at a distance. As well, one could never discount the possibility of Assassin intervening and killing one of the Servants while they were entangled in battle. There were even anecdotes that, in one particular offshoot Holy Grail War, the Master who summoned Assassin ended the War in just three days. As such, all Masters began desperately shoring up their defenses against Assassins. After all, the true name of the Assassin Servant was known wide and far. Hassan-i Sabbah was the head of a legendary order of shadowy killers in the Middle East, and the one from whom the term assassin could be traced back to. However, history told of only nineteen individuals who took up the name of Hassan. Normally, when summoning Assassin, one of these nineteen would be called. Although it was possible for others to answer the summons, the chances were so low that one could be forgiven for believing them nonexistent. Across the many Holy Grail Wars, not only had the true names of the nineteen Assassins been laid bare, but the nature of their Noble Phantasms as well. Yet the Masters feared Hassan-i Sabbah all the same. It was beyond count how many Masters lost their lives at their hands, as Hassan slipped through regardless of all their countermeasures. However, thanks to those countermeasures, the possibility of Hassan being killed by their targets became exceedingly high. It became common perception that summoning Assassin was an immeasurable gamble - as one either ended up taking the Holy Grail, or death swiftly followed.

And Fate/Apocrypha materials adds that the tactic was so well known it was part of a Holy Grail War wiki:

Amongst young magi, something like a “Holy Grail War Walkthrough Wiki” has been secretly created and is used to outwit obstinate old magi by mustering their intelligence… maybe. The early period right after the subspecies Holy Grails began was called the “golden era of Assassins,” where Assassins (Hassan-i-Sabbah) were a great menace (because, on top of their mana consumption being low, killing Masters was far easier than battles between Servants, so it might have seemed like easier work in its own way), but by the middle period, countermeasures against them were naturally taken and the Hassan boom fell into decline. It’s apparently a common sight for Masters who enjoy having their Servants fight each other to easily team up just as Assassin is confirmed to be summoned.

(I love how goofy the Holy Grail War Walkthrough Wiki is, more people should know about it.)

It's due to this state of things where Assassin Hassans are easily countered that Hyouma Sagara of the Black Faction deliberately summoned Jack the Ripper instead.

He wouldn’t have had any problem summoning Hassan as Assassin, but he judged that doing so would be disadvantageous under the current conditions where a certain amount of countermeasures against all nineteen different Hassans have been created over the many repetitions of subspecies Holy Grail Wars. Based on the shallowness of his own history as well, he tried to secure victory with a modern Heroic Spirit.

This is all we know about Apo's Hassan meta, unless Lost Einherjar added new things I'm not aware of.

[golbrocklovely]

i love snc which is why i follow this blog but there is a lot of negativity going around about people they were once close friends with. i think it's worth reminding everyone that we don't know any story 100% and it isn't our place to judge. the negativity only hurts yourself, too. take care of yourselves and let it go! 🫶🏻

i getchu anon. however… if i can speak my mind for just a moment.

i agree with the sentiment that we don't know the full story behind really anything snc related. i say that all the time and constantly remind everyone on here when things seem to be getting too heated. however, i also don't think we have to be positive all the time. of course, outright hating on someone isn't great or really necessary to get your point across. and especially sending hate is never the right thing to do, regardless of what that person has done. it's always best that if someone pisses you off deeply to just block them and move on bc it's not worth the energy it takes to pay attention to them.

that being said, ppl come on here to vent bc no one we vent about is on here. snc don't have an account on here, and neither does any of the other ppl we talk about. if i talk about sam, for instance, there's a 99.9% chance he's not gonna see it. but if he decides to come on here and search his tag, then he is actively wanting to see what ppl are saying. on other sites where he has a platform, he's getting opinions regardless of if he wants to see them or not. this place is just basically a space for us to scream into the void without the possibility of being seen, which is needed sometimes.

and with other sites, i can't exactly go on them and complain about a video or something dumb that happened or literally anything without someone being upset. that still happens on here too sometimes but i've also found a lot more ppl will agree with me bc they can be anonymous and not face backlash for having an unpopular opinion. that's why i allowed ppl to go anonymous and vent to me, bc literally no other platform with the snc fandom attached allows that. obviously, some ppl take it too far. i don't answer asks actually berating or calling someone names for the most part. there are constructive ways for us to say how we feel without getting mean.

but i will add that there are some ppl snc are or were friends with in the past that i personally believe have done some questionable shit, if not way worse. prime examples being brennen and elton. for those reasons alone, i'm not gonna talk highly of them ever. i will not be positive about them. some of their ex friends, i try my best to find the positives or not be so hard on, but if i feel like what they did is wrong, i'm not gonna be positive. granted, i could be completely wrong about the situation. and i'll admit that if i ever find out i am. but until then, i'm gonna have my opinion. and if you don't agree, totally understandable.

[buzzdixonwriter]

How This Writer's Mind Works

I get asked on occasion how I plot my stories and how I do research for them.

Truth be told, I’m not much of a plotter anymore.

Back in the day when I was writing for TV we needed things laid out in rigid beat outlines so we could fit the story into the time slot, but when it comes to prose I rare do more than three pages for a novel outline, just enough to give me a basic idea of the story and where it’s heading.

Specific incidents such as how I’m actually going to resolve the thing I tend to leave to the actual writing.

Similarly research follows no set formula.

Typically I spend years -- decades! -- on research because I might have an idea about doing a story set in a certain time and place but don’t start working on it until I find the proper angle of approach.

(Old time dramatists used to call this the inciting incident but that’s not how I see it.  The inciting incident is usually the scene that kicks the story into gear, but what the story is actually about is a far more nebulous topic.)

I’ll give you an example using my current WIP.

I first came up with the basic idea for the story back in the 1980s.  It sat in the back of my head / on my computer for about 40 years.

Every now and then I’d come across an interesting factoid that I’d add to my list of story notes, but nothing really solidified on this project until earlier this year when I stumbled across some information about a real life organization that existed at the time and location my novel takes place.

The little light, it comes on…

Now with a clear focus of what the story will be about, I could start work.

My story is set around 1910.  My primary characters are five people (3 male, 2 female) who end up working together on a project; call them Group A.

They will encounter and interact with a number of other individuals and groups of people over the course of the story, including one group loosely based on the aforementioned  real life organization that will play a major supporting role in the book; call them Group B.

I started researching things but typically wait until I’m actually involved in a scene to do specific detail, viz finding out what’s on the menu at post restaurants in that era.

In the story, I’m at a scene where a member of Group A -- an upper crust young lady from a respectable family -- sets off on a solo transcontinental railway journey that will reunite her with one of the other four members of Group A -- much to that person’s dismay.

She’s traveling incognito for…reasons…so she’s not traveling first class.

Okay, do a quick Google search on train travel circa 1910.  What trains were running back then?  What types of cars did they haul?  Pullman’s?  Great!  Wonderfully romantic way of traveling, even if consigned to a cheap berth.  Lots of web pages dedicated to the history of rail travel in general, Pullman’s in particular.  Tons of details…

…most of which I’ll never use, but which provides helpful in getting me to imagine the environment she’s traveling in.

Now, in Group A there’s a character I will describe as a hustler, a wheeler-dealer who’s always on the prowl for some new opportunity.

Logically he would link up with two of the other characters in the story (which he does) to provide the genesis of Group A.

In the course of the story he brings Group A into contact with several other people and groups, so my initial idea was that when the time came, he would be the person who first encounters Group B and puts them in contact with Group A.

That scene wouldn’t occur until after the young lady joins up with the rest of Group A (at this point, she only knows one member of Group A and they don’t know about her; her connection to that single individual is what brings her into the group).

So she’s on this train taking a multi-day transcontinental trip in disguise, trying to hide her upper class background.

Gal’s gotta eat, right?

So I did some research on Pullman dining cars of the era and found they typically offered two dining rooms with the kitchen in the middle.

One dining room for the upper crust.

One dining room for the hoi polloi.

They’re passing through the Midwest and it suddenly dawns on me that the real life organization Group B is based on had Midwest roots.

Now, the way I originally planned the meeting of Group A and Group B was:

The hustler encounters Group B.

The hustler suggests to Group A that they can benefit by working with Group B.

The upper crust young lady (who by that time has joined the rest of Group A) will talk to Group B and learn something about them

The hustler suggests the specific way the two groups can work together

But since the train is in the Midwest my young lady traveling alone can encounter some mashers in the lower class dining room and complain to the waiter about them.

The waiter feeling sorry for her goes to the first class dining room and asks a couple there if they would mind if the young lady joins them.

The couple are members of Group B, returning from a family wedding in the Midwest.

Naturally they are charmed to meet the upper crust young lady and for her protection invite her to dine with them every meal while traveling to their destination…

…which gives them (and me) a logical place to fill in all the pertinent details about Group B since they’ll be telling the young lady about it over various meals as I intercut with what’s happening to the rest of Group A.

And when they reach their final destination, the young lady is the one who can introduce Group A to Group B, giving her a far more pivotal role and realistically relieving the hustler of having to make all the connections in the story.

I had no way of knowing this when I started writing the story, all I knew was that the young lady would need to link up with the rest of Group A and eventually Group A would need to meet Group B.

Funny what just a little spur of the moment research can provide, hmm?

  © Buzz Dixon

[celestfoo]

Reflection Week 4-5

In week 4 My classmate and I brought in different objects, and we arranged them according to needs, wants, and prices. We had some debate on needs and wants, as everyone's perception of needs and wants is different, which is fair considering each of us has a different way of life. (left needs and wants, right least to most expensive)

debating on the topics we were going for haha

Tells me how things are being organized in a type of system to make it a clearer view. Just like how I have been using the grid system to make posters and websites so that they would be aligned and have a sense of hierarchy.

For Week 5, we went on a field trip! This was fun and interactive. We were told to capture five points in the museum that we found interesting to talk about.

Recycling Upcycling

This part of the exhibition caught my eyes by its vibrant colours and object placed. I was instantly drawn into it and wanted to find out more. The signs use and colours were definitely the main point the caught my attention the use of real life example were also nice for a viewer to experience. As mention above I believe that designer should design with a purpose. And this is another great example!

Upcycling! Using used plastic to create beautiful art.

2. Signages

We came across another part of the exhibit which were we saw some familiar signs. It was Singapore's iconic nightclub! With its neon light and font someone would be easily attracted to it and would even want to search it up afterwards! The night scene in Singapore has become lively over the years and this is great in attracting tourists.

3. Poster / Tourism

I saw a bunch of old-day posters of Singapore and other countries promoting tourism. I loved the colors and vintage style of the poster. Combining colors of each country and forming a poster I also liked how the poster was straightforward and you could understand from a glance. I would love to experiment this type of style and font in my future design as I talked about how I only like monotones and neutral colors however with seeing this inspired me to explore more retro colors and styles. Not limiting myself.

4. Timeline

I saw this huge stretch of timeline smack at the wall and of course, I would be curious as to what it was it was big and had a lot of words to it. Though it did not have many images it still managed to make me stay and the layout and bold fonts were good to grasp a reader's attention. This is a great way for travelers to get a glimpse of knowledge of Singapore too. I love the typography of this and how I could make use of such layout in the future, especially for newspapers and magazines!

5. Information

While browsing through the museum information of the artifact could be easily understood with the description at the side. The descriptions were in a simple font, easy to read, and a good length. information should be kept this way as I feel we should not overcomplicate the design when it comes to important information about history.

Overall this museum walked me through different styles of signs and how messages were delivered in different ways and compositions.