#replace them with a wrong analog as an explanation :')

[askshivanulegacy]

Hnnng.

Sorry but a starfighter is not a fighter jet. A speeder is not a motorcycle. A landspeeder is not a car, and podracing is not car racing. A datastick is not a flash drive and a datachip is not an SD card. A bactapatch is not remotely the same as a bandaid.

A stun blaster is most likely not at all similar to a taser.

Transparisteel is absolutely not glass. It is transparent steel (literally the name). Plasteel is, likewise, absolutely not plastic; it's a steel that can act like plastic. Durasteel is an ultra durable form of steel, and calling it mere steel loses a good deal of context. Same for duracrete. These are meant to be ultra strong versions of the real materials because their uses require it. The objects built with these materials in SW simply could not have been built or functional if made with the Earth version materials.

A power socket is not a plug in any reality. A utility droid is not even close to a Roomba. A holocron is absolutely not a communications or entertainment device. It's a knowledge repository exclusively for Jedi or Sith.

Spectacles and civvies and scum exist in real life. I sure hope people didn't need a reading guide to figure them out. :')

Comprehensive Lexicon Guide for First-Time SW Fic Readers:

Flimsi/Flimsiplast = Paper

Flimsiwork/Datawork = Paperwork

Stylus = Pen

Datapad = Tablet

Comlink/Comm = Communication Device/Phone

Binders = Handcuffs

Chronometer = Clock

Spectacles = Eyeglasses

Chrono = Watch

Conservator = Refrigerator

Caf = Coffee

Nerfburger = Hamburger

Blue milk = Milk (literally blue)

Hubba chips = French Fries

Sweet roll = Doughnut

Flatcakes = Pancakes

Tabac = Tobacco

HoloNet = World Wide Web

Holovision/HoloTV = Television

Holodrama/Holovids = Movie/Videos

Holocamera/Holocam = Camera

Holomap = three-dimensional map

Holojournal = Newspaper

Holocube = Picture frame

Holotable = Projector

Holoscanner = X-ray machine

Holojournalist = Reporter

Flatholo/Holograph = Photograph

Sonic Damper = Active Noise Cancellation

Refresher/Fresher= Bathroom

Sonic Bath = Bath

Sanisteam/Sonic shower = Waterless Shower

Hydrospanner = Wrench

Hydro Flask = Water Bottle

Power Cell/Energy Cell = Batteries

Authorization Chip = Decryption key

Datatape = Disk

Datastick = Flash drive

(Personal) Com Code = Phone number

Datachip = SD Card

Synthflesh = Synthetic skin

Glowrod = Flashlight

Sparkstick = Match

Slugthrower = Gun

Slug = Bullet

Vibroblade = a blade that can vibrate at high frequencies, increasing its cutting power and penetrating ability (tactical knife)

Rangefinder = Rifle scope

Turbolaser = Cannon

Ion pike/Vibropike = Spear

Electro Staff = Stun baton

Blaster = Pistol/Rifle

Stun Blaster = similar to a Taser

Landspeeder/Airspeeder/Speeder = Car

Turbolift = Elevator

Slideramp = Escalator

Starfighter = Fighter jet

Rotorcraft = Helicopter

Hoverpack/Jetpack= Jet pack

Speeder Bike = Motorcycle

Skylane = Traffic lane

Railspeeder/Hovertrain = Train

Power Chair/Hoverchair= Wheelchair

Windscreen = Windshield

Podracing = Car racing

Dejarik = Chess

Sabacc = Poker and Blackjack combined

Galactic Rebels = Combat simulator

B'shingh = Dungeons and dragons

Jizz = Jazz music

Wailer = Singer (ie. Jizz Wailer)

Cantina = Bar or Pup

Para Sailing = Paragliding

Aurebesh = Alphabet

Credits = Money

Sleeping Pallet = Bedroll

Naming Day = Birthday

Youngling = Child

Galactic Basic Standard/ Basic = English

Medkit/Medpac = First aid kit

Hypo = Syringe

Medic/Healer = Doctor

Medcenter = Hospital

Bactapatch = Bandaid

Nanoweave = Fabric

Transparisteel = Glass

Plastifoam = Packing material

Durasteel = Steel

Plasteel = Plastic

Duracrete = Concrete

Slicer = Hacker (slicing = hacking)

Identikit = Passport

Minder = Therapist

Synthleather = Vinyl

Viewport = Window

Cooling Unit = Air-conditioning

Honeydarter = Bee

Slythmonger = Drugdealer

Spice = Drugs

Stimpill = Caffeine pill

Power Socket = Plug

Cutters = Scissors

Cycle = Day

Standard Cycle = 24h

Standard Week = 5 days

Standard Month = 35 standard days

Standard Year = approx. ten months

Tenday = literally ten days

Cigarras/Smokes = Cigarettes

Click = Kilometer or 'a moment'

Parsec = a unit of distance

Tweezers/Clanker/tin head/tinnie = Droid

Separatist = Seppie

Promise Ring = Wedding Ring

Body Glove = Jumpsuit

Slicksuit = Wet suit

Civvies = Civilian clothing

Carbonite = a metal alloy used to freeze a person in a state of hibernation

Hyperdrive = device that allows a starship to travel faster than lightspeed

Moisture vaporator = device that can extract water from the air, commonly used on tatooine

Glareshades = Sunglasses

Gasser = Gas Oven

Repulsorlift = technology that can create an anti-gravity field and is used for levitating heavy objects

Heating unit = Heater

Utility Droid = Roomba

Sunbonnet = a Clone trooper helmet

Bad Batcher = a defective Clone Trooper

Banthabrain = birdbrain/ a stupid person

Bantha fodder = waste of space/nonsense

Blast! = word of exclamation

Blasted! = s.o in anger or annoyance

Blaster-brained = dimwitted

Blaster fodder = cannon fodder

Blast off = Piss off

Brainless = Stupid

Bug/Bugger = used to refer to Geonosians

Forceforsaken = godforsaken

Full of Poodoo = full of shit

Poodoo = Shit

Kriff = Fuck

Jedi scum = derogatory term for jedi

Kark = derogatory expletive

Larty = LAAT/i gunship

Laserbrain = insult

Meat droid = derogatory term for Clone Troopers

Redrobes = Palpatines guard

Rookie/Shinie = newly recruited Trooper

Scum = insult to refer to bounty hunters/rebels

Sharpie = Sharp-witted

Sithspawn/Sithspit/Hellspawn! = expletive

Sleemo = Slimeball

Son of a bantha = insult

Wizard! = Cool

Spaced = dead

Hutt-spawn = Bastard

Karabast = exclamation of dismay

Stang = Crap

Buckethead/Bucketbrain = derogatory term for Stormtroopers

Bucket = Helmet

Nat-born = Natural Born

Roger Roger = affirmative/copy that

Droid poppers = EMP grenade

Sitrep = short for situation report

Backwater Planet = any planet that isn't part of the core system

Holocron = device that can project a three-dimensional image of a person/object and is used for communication or entertainment.

Kessel Run = a risky Operation. Commonly used as a metaphor in impossible situations.

Thermal Detonator= device that can create a powerful explosion like a grenade or bomb

Ray Shield/Energy Shield = creates a (protective) barrier

Rebreather = device that allows a person to breathe underwater or in toxic environments

Phrases:

Wild goose chase = wild bantha chase

That's bantha shit = that's bullshit

As slippery as a greased Dug = untrustworthy

Credit for your thoughts = penny for your thoughts

Cut the poodoo = cut the crap

to get your gills in a twist = get upset about something

Holy mother of meteors = holy mother of god

Oh my skies/ Oh my stars = exclamation of surprise

Stars' end! = exclamation of disbelief

What in the blue blazes = exclamation

When Geonosis freezes over/When it snows on tatooine = extremely unlikely

Who pissed in your power supply = who pissed you off

Blast it = damn it

By the maker = exclamation of surprise

Great karking Dragon = expression of disbelief

Lothcat got your tongue = equivalent of 'cat got your tongue?'

Sod it = expression of frustration

[perpetual-fool]

The real world must be somewhere else.

I saw this clip from an anime, details not significant. Guy responds to something the protagonist did with something like "we get it, you're angry". And that's a pretty clear example of one of the types of non sequitur attacks that generally throws me into a panic. But I realized, there's no 'honest' reading of this. Either it has no meaningful effect, or it (contributes to) destroys the person's psyche. There is no possibility of successfully gaslighting the person into thinking they were actually angry. I can see some people making malicious use of that, but not literally everyone almost constantly, not unless they aren't actually human. And things aren't fitted well enough for Truman Show scenario, too many things don't relate to me well enough for everything to be about me.

So, twenty five years later, and now with actual critical thinking skills, I'm back to 'brain in a vat'. My best explanation for why this is happening is that it's not actually happening.

(Then again, if the whole thing is artificial, there's no reason for only the humans to behave senselessly. The physics could be inconsistent too, like sometimes tape will just have the 'sticky' turned off or something. Then again again, if nothing ever made sense then I'd have no foundation from which to be confused.)

I guess I'm making progress towards feeling better. The major roadblock has been explaining others' behavior, as that's what means I must be wrong and bad. I'm concluding the above, and particularly that at the least most of their actions can only be for the purpose of destroying others. Refuting the ideas more specifically, the concept that I deserve to suffer doesn't make sense. Analogously, say you're writing a computer program. The computer doesn't know what you're trying to do (and it would lead to bad outcomes if it tried to guess), so it's going to run your code as is. If you made a mistake in writing it, or if the language doesn't work quite the way you think it does, then the computer is going to do something you didn't want. But that's your fault, the computer cannot do anything other than what it's told to do. You tell it the wrong thing, it does the wrong thing. As a human, I don't have a magic solution to this problem. If I conclude things others don't like or feel things others think I shouldn't feel, they'll blame me for it, sure. But I don't have a way of arriving a different conclusions with the same logic, and I can't act on information I don't have. I can try to guess what people intend but I'm always wrong and they won't clarify anything. So, I am what I am and feel how I feel, and yelling at me for not being what you want is as sensible as doing the same to a computer. And I ought to respond as such. (Aside, much of the time I'm imagining being berated by someone who's a Christian, and that would make the whole argument moot. Like, the core belief is that everyone innately deserves to be tortured forever, you don't have to do anything to deserve it. So saying that I belong in hell isn't really saying anything at all.)

Then next is justifying why I 'deserve' to be happy. And that's also just nonsense. May as well be asking if a plant deserves water. That's someone hijacking my emotions and then extorting me with them. Except, ya' know, they never made any demands. Hypothetically, step one of brainwashing is to destroy the person, and then step two is replace them with something else. But there has never been a step two, only step one, endlessly. But actually I 'deserve' whatever happiness I can create? It would make more sense to think of happiness as something to be created rather than a reward magically bestowed whenever I've done the correct things to 'earn' it.

Anyway, I still have some shit to work through.

As usual I feel a bit bad about this. 'Cause it also applies to Cat, and I don't want to think poorly of Cat. Though also, this might be because I want things to be as significant as I felt about them, I don't want to think this badly of V either. I believed in her more than I believed in god, and now I think her behavior is so stupid that it isn't plausible that there was actually a person behind them. I suppose that says more about my mental state than her. I guess I'd rather think there was something real that I missed out on, instead of that everything I ever hoped for was a lie. She still seems like something I desperately need in my life. But I talked to that human, there isn't a person in there. Those songs might as well be wholly her fantasy. Like I was a convenient mark to pin her martyr complex on. Oh how terrible that I don't understand when you won't fucking tell me anything. How terrible it is that you don't understand when you won't fucking ask. "When it all comes around, I don't mind" says the one who left.

It seems like there's so much to connect to, but there's just not. The only crumb of connection I ever got was from Cat.

And that's the trap. My spirit is broken, I'd do anything for anyone who'd let me in. But all I find is more breaking.

And apparently with the carrot aside, there remains the stick. There must have been instances of being punished for non sequiturs, like being yelled at "you're being X!" followed by getting hit with the belt. Or maybe yelling at a five year old is enough to convince them that you're going to hurt them? It's further back than I can remember at this point. I definitely remember getting the belt a few times, but not very often. I'm told they stopped using the belt on me at some point because it "didn't work" on me, not the way it worked on my sister. Or maybe it was mostly elementary school that taught me absolutely anyone would try to harm me if they think they can get away with it, and no one would ever come to my defense. So I'm afraid of inescapable violence with gaslit justification. Like, if the right people say the right things, they can have you locked up and tortured for the rest of your life. And nothing people say or do needs even a distant relationship to the truth. But that is inescapable, if it's going to happen then it's going to happen and there's nothing I can do about it. Like, when I was having heart trouble awhile back, for about a month straight I thought I was about to start dying at any second. Towards the end of it, right before the surgery, the medication wasn't keeping my heart in rhythm anymore. So I was very weak, needed a wheelchair to get around the house, couldn't stand up long enough to take a shower, and I felt like I was about to die. But I was getting dirty, starting to be uncomfortably so. And I decided, I can die dirty, or I can die clean. So yeah, I showered mostly sitting down, took me a long time to get back out and get my clothes back on, had to take lots of little breaks.

So I can wait for the unfathomable torment in constant overwhelming anxiety, or I can do it playing video games and eating burgers or whatever.

At least, all that in theory. This has been all I know, and from past experience what actually changes how I feel are counterexamples. Like with Cat actually explaining what an idea means, which proved to me that I'm not crazy. So the next step is to flesh out my imaginary companion and simulate what a real connection would be like. Then maybe I can enjoy being a glutton and a pervert or whatever while I can. (Aside, it kind of makes sense that I haven't built up anything (don't know how to phrase that better), since everything I know is destructive. I can hardly even imagine an honest conversation. So I feel somewhat optimistic about this.)

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Them reacting to reader dragging them outside to look at the stars in the middle of night

characters: Mona / Amber x gn!reader (separate)

warnings: none, just fluff

a/n: I didn't write for Amber in a looooooooong time, so if I got some parts of her character wrong, I'm really sorry.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Mona

Grumpy, annoyed, crabbed. Call it what you want, but Mona wasn’t exactly amused by you barging into her room before starting to drag her outside without even a single word of explanation.

At first she was fully convinced something terrible like her home having caught on fire happened, causing her to almost slip out of your grasp and bolt towards her, anything but cheap, astrology supplies, only to realize the unserious nature of your impromptu field trip once she saw the happy smile on your face.

“Would you finally care to tell me what all of this is about, or do you plan on dragging me all the way to Liyue before beginning to explain yourself?”, Mona asked once she finally managed to get her wrist out of your grip and quickly crossed her arms in front of her chest, staring at you with a slightly annoyed expression.

Her face slightly softened once she saw you smile at her, only for confusion to quickly settle on it when you pointed straight up at the sky.

“...And?”, you asked excitedly once the astrologer looked up, only for Mona to shrug her shoulders.

“...I don’t think the sky being here is such a great discovery. It would have been a completely different case if it suddenly disappeared and got replaced with… something, I guess. I’m not awake enough to come up with a good analogy”, she let out a drawn out sigh, being awfully honest for once, only to feel another sigh coming when you fervently shook your head.

“I know, I know. But look! Aren’t the stars absolutely beautiful today?”, you asked just loud enough for Mona to fear you might wake up the entirety of Teyvat if you wanted to.

Now that you mentioned it, she couldn’t help but notice you were right, although your methods of practically abducting her out of the comforts of her sleep still wasn’t justifiable. 

“Alright. I guess you won’t let me go so easily, so let me just put on something a bit warmer. The last thing I need right now is a cold”, she stated before making her way back to her apartment, coming out shortly afterwards. 

It wasn’t like she would be able to fall asleep anymore even if she tried, so she might as well pass the time doing something pleasant, even if it was just for her research.

Amber

When you opened the front door to your home, only to look at Amber with the excited look you always wore whenever there was something you absolutely had to show her, your energy immediately rubbed off on her, even if it was the middle of night.

So when you finally managed to string together enough words to tell her about how pretty the night sky was and suggested visiting Starsnatch Cliff in order to take a look at them, the Outrider immediately took you up on the idea, the two of you deciding to have a competition to see who’d be there first, only for Amber to easily beat you.

“Wow, they look even brighter from here”, Amber remarked while staring at the stars, instinctively hugging her baron bunny closer to her chest, her face betraying her childlike wonder, causing your smile to get bigger as well.

“Well… they do… say that-”, you stopped to take a deep breath, still exhausted from sprinting all the way here like some sort of maniac, only to find your girlfriend already waiting for you there, not looking tired in the slightest. “Well they do say that there’s nothing more beautiful than a clear night sky”, you finally managed to finish your sentence.

“But they seem to be completely off, because you’re far more-” 

“Oh, a shooting star! Quick, make a wish! But don’t say what it is or it won’t be fulfilled!”

‘beautiful’, was what you intended to say before Amber cut you off and pointed at the sky, and she was right, that was indeed a shooting star she was pointing at, but when she turned back towards you, with an interested look on her face, only to ask what you wanted to say, you quickly brushed it off, knowing all too well that your almost perfect set-up was completely ruined.

“A billion mora would be nice”, you meekly stated, only for the Outrider to lightly punch your shoulder.

“No! Now you definitely won’t get them. Also, really? You’re asking the stars for money?”, Amber asked with a small laugh, causing you to let out a chuckle as well.

“Well, Miss I-speak-for-the-stars, what did you wish for?”

“I wished that you’ll have a long and happy life”, she stated with a smile, causing you to respond in kind as you felt your heart melt.

…You quickly decided not to remind her of the rules and tell her how she had just accidentally doomed your live, but that wasn’t of importance right now.

[autistic-sidestep]

fuck it im putting (an edited version of) my tag rant here cos goddamnit

[grabs your shoulders]

the autistic and neurodivergence coding is intrinsic to the narrative. it can't be removed without changing the core themes of the story!

ofc @cigarettesandinevitablebetrayal has also said fallen hero can reflect other marginalised experiences such as conditional acceptance of “passing” which can apply to the experience of being white-passing and/or biraciality, as well as assimilation, and ofc his excellent post on the inherent queerness of fhr. and likewise, the trauma of being neurodivergent/autistic in an allistic society that consistently shuns and ostracizes you for being Different is Very Present! they can't tell exactly what's wrong with you but they Know you aren't 'Right’. There’s good reason why there’s considerable overlap between neurodivergence and queerness. these themes are interrelated, and you can’t remove them from the narrative without losing something integral to the story.

You have to perform and mask to hide these differences in order to be accepted by conventional society. there is a reason why neurodivergent people gravitate to alien/robot narratives - it's about the alienation and the feeling you will never belong. and THAT'S why the outsider scar is so so compelling to me. underneath everything else this is at the core of their identity; a lack of belonging b/c you aren't attuned to the things allistics are

you can try to learn these hidden rules and think you've finally figured it all out, but they'll keep tripping you up. you are not a normal person. you're only pretending to be. Sidestep’s telepathy makes it worse, because they already know people are judging them, don’t have the luxury of giving the benefit of the doubt and the resultant cynicism it brings – you know exactly what goes on in peoples’ heads, that they judge you for being Other, of course you’re going to be cynical and prickly! Repeat experiences just confirm it further.

ALSO, from Wikipedia, the changeling legends (which are often thought of as an explanation for autism and other disabilities) are pretty analogous to cuckoo egg brood parasitism, and I think that’s the reason why infiltrator regenes were named this!

(I know Wikipedia isn’t the most solid of academic sources but. I’ve got no spoons left to find more reputable places)

from the cuckoo egg page

A cuckoo's egg is a metaphor for brood parasitism […] That original biological meaning has been extended to other uses, including one which references spyware and other pieces of malware … first evolved a metaphoric meaning of "misplaced trust", wherein the chick hatched of a cuckoo's egg incubated and raised by unknowing victim parents will first begin to starve and outgrow them as it or they kill off the birds' legitimate offspring.

From the changeling page

“Modern scholars hypothesize some changeling tales developed in an attempt to explain deformed, developmentally disabled, or neurodivergent children. […] In particular, it has been suggested that autistic children would be likely to be labeled as changelings or elf-children due to their strange, sometimes inexplicable behavior. […] Some autistic adults have come to identify with changelings (or other replacements, such as aliens) due to their experiences of feeling out of place in the world.

You keep walking this tightrope and it’s so exhausting having to keep pretending, but letting your mask fully drop and finally not having to hide your neurodivergence (“less palatable” traits) is worse – terrifying! You can show some of yourself, but not all of it. arguably, sidestep’s stint with the Rangers during their first escape IS this, that first taste of freedom/safety, of what you could be without the mask, but their recapture means they double down on masking/camouflaging even more.

Sidestep is pre-disposed to confirmation bias – if you’re convinced your belonging is conditional, that your friends and loved ones’ love foryouis conditional, only based on the persona you made to be what *you* think they like, to only show the parts that they want, that you risk being too much for them when you show all of yourself, what point is there except to bury it more? To lash out?

And what even IS your real self if all you've done is pretend to be other people, never known a life that hasn’t been dictated by what people want from you, and wanting you to conform? When your personality is a bunch of things you've cobbled together from other people, social cues, being “normal”, what are you without that? Without the trauma of alienation? Where does the performance end and the real self begin?

(i’m also gonna like. leave this here.)

do you get me. DO YOU GET ME...

[sinbadly]

Non Magicians in Magnostadt : an analysis over the possibilities of an analogy.

I love Magi, it's probably my favorite piece of fiction of all times. But most importantly, I love analysing stuff. And for a while, I wondered what are the non Magicians of the Magnostadt kingdom supposed to represent ? And after thinking about it for a while, I think I finally got an answer so ... Strap in !!(Please do be aware that this text will talk in depth about discrimination, if this subject is triggering to you I'd advise you to stop here !)

For obvious reasons, the first thought I had was that the non Magicians were supposed to represent Jews. Magi is heavily based on both Judaism and Islamic ideas and having almost a whole population being put in a specific district can be easily linked to a real event event. But thinking about it, something felt heavily wrong. The people that were discriminated against clearly weren't supposed to be Jewish. No, everything pointed to the magicians being the ones that were Jewish instead. I'm not an expert when it comes to Jewish tradition and beliefs, but I did my research. Non Magicians are often called Goi by Mogamett. Goi is a Jewish term that is used to describe non Jewish people. And when you dug a little deeper, you can also see that Jewish people are supposed to be people closer to their god, like magicians would be since they are directly linked to the world's magic sources. I could also argue that Mogamett's does ressemble cliché representations of Jewish people, especially with the nose. Does that mean that the Jewish were represented as the oppressor and the other people as the oppressed ? I don't know. I wouldn't be able to decide if that's the case at all, especially since in other languages, Goi has been Translated to Kaffir, which is meant to describe the people who aren't Muslims. It's overall very confusing. But still, what I could see is that the people who were oppressed weren't meant to represent Jewish people. Obviously, I quickly took a look at the biggest oppressed groups there are in the world. So I thought about Sexism, Racism and LGBTphobia. Sexism didn't seem to be it at all. Women are shown to have high positions in Magnostadt's society. We see it with Myers who is a highly respected teacher or obviously Yamuraiha that is treated as one of the best Magicians ever. So it couldn't be it. Racism seemed ... Off. One of the points of Aladdin's fear of discrimination is that these people are all of the same when it comes to their appearance. It was the point of the new world that Ugo created, all creatures became the same race to avoid discrimination. And with all of that, we have Sphintus who's at the very least Arabic. As for homophobia I couldn't see a link at all. It's not like they weren't able to have children together, they did have kids. It's not that they were hated for something they love and that they could just hide it, they weren't able to do something and that's all. It couldn't be that either.   But then, it clicked. The main point of this discrimination was because people weren't abled to do something. They were disabled. It wasn't even a metaphor. They literally were disabled. And now, here comes the part with explanations and details to better understand this theory, coming with an introduction to the world disabled, because I do believe that it is interesting to have a clear difference with a disability and a handicap. A handicap means that you are facing a disadvantage due to a problem. For exemple, if you start a race with a 20 pounds chain on your  foot, you will be handicapped compared to others in the race. A disability means something you can't do. Therefore, depending on the context, someone that is handicapped can be or not be disabled. Let's say a part of a human population grows wings. If they keep evolving in our actual society they will be advantaged yes, but no one will be unable to do their normal tasks. However if the world starts to be built around these people with wings, creating places that only them can access by flying for exemple, everyone who doesn't have wings will be considered disabled. Because they're unable to do the same. Now with that exemple, replace wings with magic and you get exactly what Magnostadt's society is. It is exclusively built for people who are born magicians. Normal human beings cannot function in it properly. And what do you do when someone can't function properly ? You start discriminating them. Mogamett truly believed that the non magicians weren't as useful as other humans were, so he built a society for the to be put in a position of weakness. Some people can work on the surface, yes. But it's because they're rich or they have talent like artists or crafters. You can see disabled people working in an every day life, but most often people are surprised. As for the poor people ? Well they're put in their little spaces of life to rot. The people born in the 5th district pretty much never see the outside world and to be fair, disabled people don't either. They're meant to stay at home, because things aren't meant for us outside. From now on, I'm gonna talk about disability using my own experiences. It's probably gonna be a bit raw, but I think parallels will be easier to make. The thing that I thought the most about is the "you should be grateful" part. It's really interesting and is a very manipulative technique to make sure people are under your control. The people in the 5th district are given food and water and don't have to work. Most of them could probably work if they were given the opportunity to with the proper help to make the job accessible. But no, they're trapped in their place with no possibility to actually work for the society. They've been forced into this district because they were mistreated into poverty without the opportunity of getting out of it, and now that they're stuck in this situation, they're meant to be grateful. Because they're provided the food and sleep they need that they didn't have before when it's basic human rights. And the fact is, they've been in such an horrible situation before that they'd rather accept being treated like animals than being mistreated even more. And that's exactly what happens when handicapped people ask for financial help. We might get 1000$ a month if we're lucky, but it's still not enough. And people tell us that we're ungrateful because we want an actual liveable wage. We don't think that giving us absolutely nothing is a good either. We want to be treated as human beings. Yet we should still be oh so grateful because we're getting all of this without work. I could work if the world did a little effort. But it does. And it also comes back to the hymn beings statement. Because that's also a very interesting thing : they're not seen as human beings. Mogamett sees non magicians as animals. Different people as seen as different animals, for exemple Marga was a kitten to the man's eyes. But her being cute didn't mean he respected her. And it's not rare to see disabled people as less valuable. That was insanely obvious during the COVID-19 crisis. People kept talking about disabled people as a necessary sacrifice for other people's well being. Because to them, a human life is important. But a "lower" human life isn't as important as being able to get McDonald's. Non Magicians are more than likely to be killed if they are ill or can no longer provide enough magical ressources to the city. Since they were born into poverty and unable to get out of this place, they will most likely die at a rather young age or if they catch an illness. It's not their choice to die, the government literally kills them if they're not enough. There isn't much an equivalent in our modern society for the government killing people directly, however this method did remind me of some atrocious things that are currently done to disabled people in countries like Canada. When you're disabled, you have to pay for medication. A lot. And if you're poor, you're likely to go in dept very quickly. And for that, the government came with a solution : assisted suicide. You can either choose to die slowly and painfully, or the government can give you the medication to kill yourself. All of that because you can't pay your medication and therefore you're not useful enough to society anymore. Non Magicians in the 5th district aren't just seen as a source of magical income for the rest of society. They're seen as people you can utilise and milk of their energy until their death. And with all of these arguments, I believe that the whole Magnostadt arc's treatment of non Magicians was a direct reference of disabled people.

[themysteryofwriting]

Masterpost

Sanders Sides OneShots

What Happened Before Accepting Anxiety - what I think happened that caused Virgil to sink out

The Creativity Split -my interpretation of the Split.  Warning for slight U!Pat and gaslighting

Analogical Clothes Prompt - some fluffy Analogical with Logan stealing Virgil’s clothes

Moceit No Mom prompt - fluffy Moceit prompt with a bit of demiboy Patton or Patton in a skirt where Patton is oblivious til the end

Royality short Pat prompt - no further explanation needed

Can’t You See It - Analogical One Shot. Virgil wants the others to know about how loving Logan is...and that he’s a giant memelord.  Is that so bad?  Hints of background Roceit And Remus being himself

Who say you have to leave your past behind you - my first one shot with Rachel. Some stuff has changed about her since this but it has a special place in my heart.  Hinted at Past U!Pat and Remus being himself. Dee speaks in lies ofc.

This is the Worst Ending - oh boy.  okay this is what I call my angst :tm: If you are senstive to any of the following: don’t read Unsympathetic Patton, multiple major character deaths, blood, Sayori like scene, string imagery, gore, depression, brainwashing, emotional manipulation,murder, strangulation, eating disorder(kinda), stabbing, gaslighting There was a part 2 but......it didn’t last long, i wasn’t proud of it

Puppet!Ray Origins - the first part of my fnaf au! (i literally only have this part and the end so far).  Warnings for U!Pat (he’s Afton), along with child death. However some cute Logan and Ray interactions

Puppet!Ray: End of Everything: continuation of FNAF AU.  This time the Henry scene at the end of FNAF 6.  The fic I got to use the tag ‘is it still fluff if everyone dies’ on.  TW: Hinted Unsympathetic Patton because of who he replaces

And They Were Roommates - a hurt/comfort fic writen for the sanders gift exchange last year.  LAMP fic, nonbinary Dee, college AU, supportive boyfs all around

Prinxiety Prompt - takes place post DWIT, Virgil and Roman talking/flirting

Moxiety, Mobster Patton - again, nuff said.  no death, actually pretty fluffy for the prompt.  maybe a little kidnapping?

Movie Night: cute fluffy LAMP

Logan Prevents A Murder: QPP Analogical, Virgil debating murdering Roman

The Bane of Protectiveness: Ray was there when Roman....and she couldn’t stop him   TW: Suicide, Self-deprecation, self-hatred

MM3: The Murder: based of a Murder Mystery from a discord server, how Talyn’s death played out  TW: death, murder, vomiting, planned murder, drugging a drink, Unsympathetic Logan

How Ray Became Anxiety: Little clip from an au of mine where Ray becomes anxiety, along with keeping protectiveness. TW: character death, Virgil ducks out, Patton and Roman are jerks

Fighting the Dragon Witch isn’t Therapy: after POF, Roman will do anything to prove himself  TW: Temporary Major Character Death

Random Fandom One Shots

Peter Meets Angel - short one shot about my oc meeting Peter (Marvel)

Mitsue Goes Off:  Mitsue was already having a bad day, so when the LOV kidnaps her, she’s going to give them a piece of her mind (MHA)

We Have Mic - Mic gets kidnapped, Aizawa has something to say bout that (MHA)

Scar to Remember - Overhaul left a mark on Mitsue (MHA)

Demise Of A Gamer (DR) - Chp5 of SDR2 from Chiaki’s Pov

Friends Protect Each Other- Tubbo goes to visit Tommy during his exile...and finds Dream with him  TW: manipulative Dream

Original Writing

Saving The Moon - a short story I wrote for a contest a few years back

Never Trust A Newbie- short story written for a writing camp

The Hug Wizard- if you know, you know

Spiritfarer Hug Wizard: o w o

Soulmates Don’t Have to Be Romantic (finished :D )

my platonic soulmates series, starring my oc Ray

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Soulmate GC

Based off my soulmate story, a gc with the members messing w/ each other. Crack fic.

Chp 1

Chp 2

Bad Things Happen Bingo

The Collector - Logan collects people. TW: U!Logan, Kidnapping, Taxidermy on a person, blunt force trauma, character death, implied use of a date rape drug, major character death

Pressure Doesn’t Always Make A Diamond: Reminding a side for their mistakes was never a good idea.  Especially when they feel guilty about it like Patton did.  TW: Unsympathetic Deceit, Unsympathetic Logan, constant guilt-tripping, self-hatred, self-deprecation, blaming someone for something that isn’t their fault 

 He’s Not Yours: Patton’s parents....aren’t the best  TW: emotional abuse, yelling, numbness

Keeping Them Pure: Patton just wanted to make sure his kiddos wouldn’t get corrupted by those nasty dark sides  TW: Unsympathetic Patton, Kidnapping, Forced holding, chains

The Past Can Haunt You: Remus keeps getting left by those he cares about  TW: Abandonment, Self deprecation, Childhood Trauma,  the split, implied unsympathetic light sides

Snakes Don’t Like the Cold: Dee is part snake...so what happens when he gets trapped in a freezer  TW: Unsympathetic Roman, locked in a freezer, hypothermia

All It Takes Is One Mistake: It’s very easy for the Ego to crack  TW: Roman angst ,cracks, roman needing to talk to people

A Game of Paranoia: Something seems off to Rantaro as he goes through this game

You Just Need a Push to be Good: Patton couldn’t let those dark sides keep corrupting Thomas  TW: Unsympathethic Patton, using shock collars as punishment

‘I’m Fine’ And Other Lies: Introduction of Mitsue, my bnha oc.  Mitsue gets hurt in a fight and doesn’t realize how bad it is until it’s too late  TW: mention of blood, hospitals

They Never Saw It Coming: a small one shot with my own sides.  Warning, the title is a really bad pun.  TW: graphic eye injury

The Collector: What Happened Before: a sort of prequel to The Collector, Patton thinking over what happened TW: hypnotism, mind control, U!Logan

Replaceable?: takes place post POF, Logan’s reaction to what Janus did 

Those Left Behind: Ray was there when Virgil left them

You’ll See: From my given to Overhaul AU: Why Mitsue works with Overhaul  TW: Forced Starvation, Kidnapping, Parents not caring

Why Roman’s Sword Isn’t Allowed In the Common Room: All I’m gonna say is this is not as much as a crack fic as it sounds. TW: stabbing, coughing up blood, fighting

Scar To Remember: Mitsue wasn’t left okay after Overhaul got a hold of her

We Have Mic: Someone kidnaps Mic to get to Aizawa.  TW: Kidnapping

Don’t Hurt Ray Or Else: Even while with the lights, Virgil is going to protect his sister  TW: Morally Grey/Unsympathetic Patton, Outing Someone, not Accepting someone,  Transphobia?, mentions of fighting someone

Even In The Face Of Death, Logan Ignores His Feelings - a day to relax goes wrong when Remus decides to mess with Logan  TW: blood, stabbing

Trapped- Virgil gets kidnapped while out in the imagination.  It doesn’t go well. TW: kidnapping, panic attack, flashbacks, claustrophobia, implied pranking, implied fighting

Who Knew Sleep Paralysis Could Be Deadly?- Talent Swap AU with Makoto and Kyoko  TW: stabby stab, K-nife, sickness, sleep paralysis

Kokichi’s Sacrifice - Kokichi’s POV of Chp 4  TW: major character death, strangulation

A Well Needed Lesson - Byakuya has had enough of the Ultimate Lucky Student, Kyoko responds in return

Oh Look, A Yandere - Mic gets kidnapped by a yandere and has to try to escape TW: Yandere, kidnapping

Bad Things Happen Bingo Part 2: New Card, New Category

To Manipulate A Protector -Orange goes after Virgil? Or is that just a trick? TW: Kidnapping, implied fighting, manipulation, being controlled

Some Apologies Go Nowhere - after chp 4, Kokichi tries to apologize to Shuichi. Key word there is try

No One Noticed...- What if Shiro hadn’t been the only one Replaced? TW: Abandonment, heavy doubt, replaced and not noticed

Of All People Why’d it have to be Deku? - Bakugou and Midoryia switch bodies. Chaos ensues. TW:… cussing I guess?

A Broken Disc- Spoilers for the March 1st Tommyinnit Stream  TW: Major Character Death, Attempted Manipulation, Flashbacks

not again...: Nagito gets kidnapped...again  TW: kidnapping, locked in small place

Goodbye Green- Who ever said the Creativity twins were supposed to be separated?  TW: Morally Grey Patton, having to leave someone you care about

One Step Behind: Phil’s POV of what happened that fateful day  TW: Major Character Death, Stabbing, Bleeding Out, Explosions

Adrien’s Realization

Lila Bashing fic where Adrien finally realizes that ‘Hey what Lila is doing to me isn’t good’

Chp 1-  TW: Unrequited flirting, unrequited crush, Lila hate(?)

Chp 2- TW:Self doubt, bad advice

Another Path

After All Might tells Izuku he can’t be hero, Izuku decides it might be better to take another path to help people. Planned mix of actual story and chat fic

TW: slight All Might bashing

Prologue

Chp 1

Chp 2

[hiringforsalesexecutive]

How To Hire Great Sales Executives For Your Business?

Sales could be a numerous field. It’s necessary to spot the best candidate with the proper sales background, expertise associate degreed skills. This hunt is comparable to approaching prospective customers. If you’ve found a perfect candidate, ask for them aggressively. This activity should lead to your sales process.

There isn't any business while not sales and there are not any sales without sensible sales reps. If sales are that the heart of a business, then, sales reps are its heartbeat. this easy analogy explains the importance of sales for a business. And, one thing that’s important shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Every firm desires an economical set up for hiring sales executives, to survive and thrive. consistent with market trends, the common annual rate in sales is around 25%. this implies that in your sales team of ten sales reps, three will leave your company at intervals one year.

Hiring good and well is that the right thanks to checking your attrition rate and increase your sales performance. Today, we'll discuss tips that will aid in hiring hiring for sales executive for your business. If you're a part of the hour team or the firm’s sales team and play a section in interviewing candidates who apply for sales roles, this can be for you. Alternatively, if you have accomplishment agencies doing this for you, it's still sensible to bear in mind effective hiring practices.

Create a recruitment profile

Sales could be a numerous field. And, each sales govt is completely different from another. that's why it is necessary to spot the best candidate with the proper sales background, expertise, and skills necessary for the job/role. This hunt is comparable to approaching prospective customers. And, if you’ve found your ideal candidate, it is suggested to hunt them aggressively. This activity should lead to your sales process.

Now, however, can you identify what traits you wish in your ideal candidate? the solution is simple. Analyze the highest performers in your sales team and raise the subsequent queries.

What are the common traits that provide them success? What motivates them? What is their commerce style? What is their sales trade background? The answer to those questions will assist you to funnel down your necessities and order that ideal candidate whereas hiring sales executives. consistent with research, the five traits unremarkably found in fortunate sales executives include:

Curiosity: They are forever curious and fascinated by obtaining additional info about the prospects. They forever ask searching and superimposed questions. Hardworking: They are always able to place in this further effort to succeed. Intelligent: They master the topic and are good in their operations. Successful past records: They have a fortunate record in each endeavor they pursue, be it sports, lecturers, or previous sales jobs. Receptive to feedback: They respond well to feedback, absorb it, and apply it well in their job. Job description

One of your sales goals should be to speculate some time to make an attractive and fascinating job description: one that's written well sells the corporate and describes the position accurately. The common mistakes that you just ought to avoid include:

Borrowing job descriptions in items and handicraft them together: Your copy and paste endeavor could save time, however, the top product is usually boring and too generic. If you're a part of the hour team, here’s our suggestion: ask for references however forever describe the role yourself. Writing chimerical work expertise and desired skills: If your verbal description is simply too perfect to be true, it'll in all probability dash prospective candidates. once all, there's no such factor as an ideal candidate. Group your demands and necessities into numerous categories, corresponding to preferred, needed, and bonus. this can clearly state your requirements, and therefore the candidates who meet the standards 60% or additional will apply. bear in mind this as you build your hiring or business strategy.

Using jargons and imprecise terms: Adjectives corresponding to “self-starter”, “strong business acumen”, “motivated”, are overused in job descriptions and will become meaningless. The key lies in being specific. whereas hiring, be straightforward, straightforward, and honest in your description. It doesn’t sound desirable: forever bear in mind that you just wish the simplest candidate for the job. So, add the explanations that build this role a giant opportunity. Add things like perks, company culture, career growth, a competitive salary, higher work environment, well-incentivized sales goals or targets, etc.

Develop your pipeline

So you’ve written a fast description of the sales role and announce it on most job portals. Now, you're looking forward to the responses to pour in. you'll attain the numbers in terms of quantity, however, the standard of such prospects may be disappointing. this might cause you to wish to plan out the heap, which might have an effect on your hiring or business strategy. Quality accomplishment begins by purposely developing your pipeline.

Try out completely different job recruitment channels to seek out out that one is that the most effective. And accordingly, invest in this choice to proactively rummage around for willdidates that fit your demand and are searching for higher job opportunities.

The different channels that you just can approach whereas hiring sales executives embody sales managers, referrals, social media platforms like Linkedin, accomplishment agencies, ancient job portals, and niche job portals.

Screen applicants

Screening is that the thanks to any funnel down your look for the best sales executive. It saves plenty of your time throughout the interview method. you'll screen candidates with a virtual or phone screening interview, which can include a web assignment or a phone interview that will last for concerning ten minutes.

Each style of screening process has its advantages. The screening process will assist you to gauge the candidates on skills crucial for sales, corresponding to effective speaking, fast-thinking, and rapport building.

Ask your candidates to try and do a mock presentation

A candidate applying for a sales rep job ought to possess glorious presentation skills. you want to analyze their presentation skills before going forward with the particular interview.

For contemporary candidates for a sales role, presentation skills might not be that necessary as they'll be schooled on the job. But, if a seasoned sales rep candidate falters with the presentation, that's an explicit red flag about their capabilities. Either way, each case will assist you to examine what quantity of time they’ve endowed in making ready for the opening.

The easiest method to do this can be by giving them a product to sell. And asking them numerous open-ended inquiries to check their skills on various aspects of the sales processes, such as:

Confidence Objection handling Addressing objections Probing questions Rapport building Personalization Closing pitch Follow-up The interview

Once you've got screened the candidates on various parameters, you decide the foremost fascinating candidates for the interview. However, we have a tendency to cannot predict an individual’s capability accurately throughout a face-to-face interview. A recent study has shown that the validity or success of an unstructured interview is just concerning 20%. And this may have an effect on your hiring or business strategy.

So, increase your success rate and build a regular interview pattern. The hour team should adopt a consistent list of queries and a card throughout every interview. If there are multiple interview rounds, the scores may be collated to seek out the best candidates. This discounts any quite bias or subjectiveness from the hiring process.

Ask hypothetic questions; cause “what if” eventualities and gauge the candidates�� response. raise questions that may assist you to examine their commerce skills and information of all aspects of the sales process. raise open-ended questions on their sales goals, motivation, temperament, and behavior and analyze them on their responses. this can help you score the sales rep candidates correctly.

Make the offer

Finally, once reaching the ultimate part of the interview process, discuss the execs associate degreed cons with all decision-makers, before creating the supply. an intensive discussion beforehand is healthier than an upscale rehire. accomplishment agencies and most employers agree that nothing is dearer and long than hiring a wrong candidate, ouster them, and looking for a replacement.

Encourage an open discussion and permit each member to voice their issues and reservations. solely then build the offer. Most employers 1st make the offer over the phone. And, if the human accepts the verbal offer, follow it up with the offer letter. This makes the process additional efficient. It conjointly provides an area for negotiations.

In conclusion, the success of each accomplishment strategy for a sales process depends on its effective execution and monitoring. this can assist you to realize and fix the loopholes to form the method more efficient. the most objective is to proactively find, approach, and acquire the proper sales govt for your business.

[yastaghr]

What We Do For Family Chapter 2

This chapter got a little away from me, but please enjoy!

link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22254547/chapters/55258315

Reaper swung his scythe and cut through the fabric of the universe, opening a portal to another AU. He had to duck to fit through because he was unusually taller than normal.

“Daddy! I do!” Goth shouted angrily from his position on Reaper’s back. He was gripping Reaper’s ribs with his legs tight enough to hurt, but Reaper didn’t care. It just felt good to be touching him.

Reaper so rarely was able to touch another monster. He could touch the other gods, but most of them weren’t speaking to him. They were furious after what he had done to Life. Nevermind that she had been dead and bringing her to the Land of the Dead was the only way to bring her back. They were sure it had been his hand that had killed her. It hadn’t, and as soon as Reaper found that damned Chaos then he could prove it. In the meantime he was almost alone except for his brother and Goth. He thanked Life every day for helping Geno and him bring their little light into the world. Why wouldn’t he? Goth was wonderful.

“i know you can, but remember how big your portals are? you and i together wouldn’t fit through. how about you open up a portal and come home by yourself? does that sound good?” Reaper tried to reason with him.

“Hmph!” Goth said, pouting. Reaper could just hear it in his voice. Oh well. He’d settle Goth down for a nap once they got back.

“HO! STRANGERS! HALT YOUR PROGRESS OR FACE THE WROTH OF THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!” A familiar voice called out. Reaper looked up and smiled. Standing about 20 feet away was the tall and sharply-dressed figure of Edge, the Papyrus of Underfell and one of Geno’s adopted brothers.

Geno called back, half giggling, in his traditional response. “The God of Death stops for no monster! Bow before him or die!”

Reaper frowned when Edge didn’t respond as he usually did. He usually shouted, with a twinkle in his eye, “THE GOD OF DEATH IS, OF COURSE, HONORED HERE!” and then bowed. Instead he screeched, “I RECOGNISE NO GOD OF DEATH, FOR I REFUSE TO DIE! FIGHT ME OR PERISH!”

Goth’s little hands clutched at Reaper’s hood. Reaper, completely silently, reached up and lifted Goth down to the ground. He knelt and said, “hey, goth. uncle edge and i need to have a private chat. can you show off how good you are at portals and head home? i’ll come and get you.”

Goth nodded and scurried off behind a tree- or, at least, he tried to. He squeaked as blue magic pinned him down to the ground. Reaper spun and glared at Edge, absolutely furious. “don’t you know better than to harm a child? let him go or face me for real, papyrus. and rest assured that i do not play around with those who threaten my family.”

Edge flushed and dropped his hand, hiding it behind his back. A gasp of air from Goth told Reaper that he had been released. He waited until he heard the sound of Goth’s portal closing behind him before he sighed.

“I RELEASED HIM AS YOU ASKED ME, STRANGER. NOW TELL ME WHY YOU DARE COME INTO MY TERRITORY!”

Reaper sighed. “you have no memory of me, do you? do you remember your brother, geno?”

Edge growled at him. “I HAVE ONLY ONE BROTHER, AND HIS NAME IS RED. GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY BEFORE I KILL YOU FOR WHATEVER PALTRY EXP YOU BRING ME.”

Reaper bowed to him, backing up slowly and never taking his eyes off Edge. “i’ll just take my leave, then. try not to need me to come here too soon, brother-in-law. you may not know me, but i certainly know you, and i will not hesitate to reap you when your time comes. tell your brother i said hi~”

He hastily backed through a portal into their home before Edge’s angry squak could become an attack. He couldn’t help the wicked smile that played across his face. He loved making Edge squak, and if their world really did Reset, as he now suspected, then it would be a long time before he could do it again. Their world was supposed to be locked. It did not speak well to Geno’s health that his lock had failed. Reaper quickly put that thought out of his head. Geno was fine. Fine! He was just… missing.

The thought of how long it had been was knocked from him as little Goth barreled into his legs. Reaper knelt down and smiled at his son. It quickly faded in the face of Goth’s expression. “hey, gothy. why the long face?”

Big, soggy tears dripped down Goth’s face. He tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. “Why did Uncle Edge not say the right thing? Why did he make me blue? We weren’t training. He only does that in training. Did I do something wrong to make him mad? Do I need to apologize?”

Reaper shook his head sadly. “no, goth, this isn’t your fault. something happened in their world that made him forget about us. you’ve heard mommy and i talking about the resets, right?”

Goth nodded and sniffed. “Yeah, but I don’t know what they are. It didn’t make any sense.”

Reaper pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to his son. It was huge in Goth’s small hands and soaked up the tears really well. “it doesn’t make a lot of sense when you know what it is, either. they’re a very not-good thing. you know uncle fresh’s video games?” Reaper asked.

Goth nodded. Reaper felt relieved. Resets were so much harder to explain without that analogy available to you.

“well, have you ever reset one of those games?” His son only looked confused. Reaper sighed. There went the easiest explanation. “okay. so, imagine you’re playing one of those games. you’re having a good time with the easy parts, but then it gets harder. you remember how much fun those easy parts were, right? but you can’t just walk back to those areas and have it be the same, can you?” Goth nodded slowly. “so, you could go on to play new parts and hope they’ll be easier and more fun, or you could reset the game. a reset is like… making the game forget that you’ve already played it. you can go back to the very beginning and play the game like it’s brand new. does that make sense?”

Goth’s brow furrowed. “But what does that have to do with Uncle Edge? He’s not in a video game.”

Reaper chuckled darkly. “he… kind of is, goth. all the different universes we visit with our portals are like their own video games, and almost all of them can be reset by certain people. it happens more in some worlds than others. it’s been a really long time since uncle edge’s and uncle red’s world reset, but that’s what happened. uncle edge doesn’t remember anything when there’s a reset, because he meets us during the game. once he meets us again we can go visit him, okay goth? just… not yet.”

“What about Uncle Red?” Goth asked quickly, “Will he remember us?”

Reaper smiled at his son,hoping this little bit of news would cheer him up. “he will. it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t show up in a bit to hang out with you, once uncle edge tells him about us. you can ask him to play a game with you, okay goth?”

Goth didn’t look super excited about that idea. “But what about training with Uncle Edge? He promised me he was going to teach me how to turn someone blue next session!”

“and he will!” Reaper promised his son, “it’s just going to be a while before that next session. okay? in the meantime, do you think you can draw uncle edge a bunch of pictures? imagine you’re telling him the story of how you met! that way you can catch him up on you and your life!”

This idea got Goth more excited. He loved to draw people pictures at the moment. Reaper thought it might be because of his friend, Palette. Goth really wanted to impress him for some reason. It was cute! Sometimes Reaper wondered about what Goth felt about Palette, but Goth seemed to want to keep that a secret. Reaper could respect that. It was a harmless secret for the little one to keep from him, so he would let Goth keep it.

Reaper watched his son pull out the crayons and the construction paper and sighed. He needed a little time to himself. Hopefully Red wouldn’t turn up while he was gone.

Only once he had retreated to their bedroom and closed the door did Reaper let himself cry. Big, soggy blue tears bubbled up from his eye sockets and slid down his face. He tried to stay quiet; he didn’t want to worry Goth. It was damn near impossible, though. He was devastated. How could Geno’s lock fail? He’d helped him set it. Underfell #13 should never have Reset ever again. Geno had promised Red it wouldn’t. What did it mean that his promise had been broken? Was he…

No. He wouldn’t think like that. He couldn’t think like that. He just had to keep searching. Without Goth. He couldn’t survive seeing his little Gothy hurt like this again. He just couldn’t.

Footsteps echoed in the booming silence that was the Anti-Void. If he was going to be trapped here, it might as well have a name; at least, that’s what Geno thought. He was pacing back and forth in the endless expanse of white, full of nervous energy and tears.

Then the barest whisper of a voice from behind him had Geno spinning around. Wild hope fluttered in his chest like a newborn butterfly. Then confusion replaced it. There was nothing there. There was no one there. But he could have sworn that there had been a voice. It had sounded so…

<Hey. Hey! Hey, you!>

Geno spun again, certain that someone else must have fallen victim to the Anti-Void. There was nothing.

<Wait, he can hear us?>

Geno slapped himself none-too-gently to try and wake himself up out of his hallucination. It had to be that, right?

<Geno, hi! You can hear us now, right? Say something to prove it, please?>

He hugged himself tightly. He was finally going crazy! Great! Now he was going to have to go on medicine and do therapy all over again. Absolutely wonderful. Not.

<Reaper and Goth are crying, Geno.>

He froze. His soulmate and their son were crying? No! They needed to be happy! They shouldn’t cry. Not now, not when he couldn’t be there to comfort them. That was awful!

Geno pulled out his picture and traced the images of little Gothy and Reaper with his other hand. The tears were spilling out now once again. He had no idea how he was still making them. He hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in days.

“i promise i’ll come back to you, goth, reaper. no matter what happens i’ll see you again.”

[drmedicsgamesurgery]

Danganronpa Togami Volume 3 Part 7 (Summary)

Sorry for the short summary after 2 weeks, i have been very busy and this part required a lot of hard reading and research to translate. Good news is I will be much more free soon, so if you are lucky you might get 2 summaries a week.

Thanks to @enoshima-pyon @shockersalvage​ @jinjojess​ @hopeymchope​ for helping out!

One more thing:

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ KIRIGIRI SOU, DO SO NOW OR YOU WILL BE SUPER CONFUSED AS TO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. LINK HERE.

5.

This feeling. 

Why, why is it that when I learn more about the K2K system in this place, I feel completely confused? 

This may all be fake. Maybe, I already knew that things would be like this? From the time when Borges’ anomalies became more and more obvious, I had begun to have already noticed it within my own heart.

My own story. 

Originally, I was just an item belonging to Byakuya. 

However, I also had my own story and I was destined to confront it at some point. 

And that is now.

I drank cold coffee and K did the same. The old man just talked about the tragedy of Don Quixote. [1] He said that the scene in which all the main characters had arrived into an inn had become unreadable due to the language. He said even Kafka and Sōseki [2] still resisted like this.

Speaking of which, there are also very exaggerated incidents in the books of authors like Banana Yoshimoto [3] and Haruki Murakami. [4] People feel like these can be too coincidental or contrived. Is that also a kind of resistance? Or is it that an exaggerated incident is an indispensable element for an interesting story?

Anyway, the old man who was drinking coffee in front of me, by pure chance was also something of a long shot. I just so happened to meet him and just so happened to listen to him. He just so happened to be an alumnus of Hope Peak Academy. He just so happened to be related to the Bible Plan. He just so happened to have participated in the development of Borges. It's almost like just one big joke.

I don't know if K knows my inner monologue. He has been talking in the calmest tone since then.

"It was not long after the end of the 'The Worst Incident in the History of the Togami Family. A person who claimed to be an insider of the Togami Family found me. Presumably, the superiors had already learned of the 'Bible Plan' to some extent. The insider was begging me: 'Can you write a dictionary for us?' What a charming invention!’ Still, I wanted to find a safe place to hide Borges. The Togami’s wanted to learn the techniques behind the 'Bible Plan'. Although I don't like the phrase very much, it was a win-win relationship for both parties."

Shinobu, naturally, has grown quite distrustful from these explanations but K assures her that he only provided the dictionary aspects of Borges, and points out that while any ‘missing pages’ were on the publishers fault, it was on the ‘reader’ in how they used the dictionary. When K was called on by the Togami’s, Borges hardware was already complete and he had installed the K2K system in it. However, complications arose because instead of using Borges as just a dictionary Shinobu used it as a way that K describes best as someone “watching the Raiders [5] while playing the game at the same time.”

That was a very modern metaphor, but thanks to it, things have become easier to understand. Indeed, I have always been obsessed with “Journey Under The Midnight Sun". Writing "Journey Under The Midnight Sun" is my only value in life.

Since Shinobu kept using Borges to search things related to Byakuya in order to write his biography, the K2K System inside it became specialized in Byakuya. And just like it led a person into committing murder by showing him a particular book, it started showing to Shinobu a book recommended to her. It started showing only the reality she wanted to see.

Shinobu responds that she had no chance to learn about the Hasegawa Research Institute or the Ketouin Conglomerate but K compares it to that of the ‘Anna Karenina’ [6] translations and how Nabokov [7] commented on how many times the word ‘home’ appeared throughout them all compared to the original text. Eight in the English version, once in French and no more than twice in the Czech version. He ponders how many times the word appears in the Japanese iteration before saying that reading those translations can be touching, but there will always be an inability to grasp what the original was. This causes Shinobu to think about her conversation with Hiroyuki on the talk of translations and he encouraged her to read the original.

It’s like singing karaoke without seeing the lyrics. It should be alright, but it seems that there is something wrong with it, which makes people feel uneasy and fearful.

K sums it up with this: “In a nutshell, no matter how many correct explanations I make, your dictionary will not translate them accurately to you.”

Shinobu demands to be told what the actual names of the Ketouin Conglomerate and the Hasegawa Institute...only to become exasperated when she thinks K is joking when he says they are the SkinSkin Conglomerate and Clark Kent Research Institute. K points out as long she had Borges, what she said and hears really can’t be guaranteed. It has mostly to do with the dictionary installed in it. Because the multiple editors are different, the content is different as well. Like how the concept of love varies between definition and cultures and philosophy.

“Just like an analogy. In addition, because of their different levels of knowledge, their understanding ability is different. After reviewing the dictionary, different users will have a considerable degree of understanding of the meaning of a word. The dictionary thinks that it understands 'A', but it may be misunderstood to understand 'B', and when it is described in language, it is 'C', and this may happen."

Shinbu comments she doesn’t want to misunderstand the world, though K points out people are misunderstanding everything throughout their lifetime, like how someone made Gulas by following a curry recipe or how people have turned to terrorism because of watching “Island of the Evil Spirits”[8]. Shinobu, horrified, wonders how she has been talking to people. However, K explains it that as long as people get the gist of her actions, communicating with others should be fine. Even though her reality is twisted in distorted, her unreality is still set within the bounds of reality.

Yet, even still...

"I just want to see the real thing."

"This feeling is actually normal, but it’s impossible. Borges is like a mother who overprotects her child, hides everything that is not good for you, and only provides you with what you want to see."

"I don't have Borges in my right eye, so why is it impossible? Haven't I gotten rid of its influence?"

"Even if the child is independent, it is impossible to get rid of the influence of the parents immediately. A person who has necrosis of the right side of the brain due to cerebral infarction will replace the right side with the function that has been lost. The same is true for you as well. Now all the organs in your body are running at full speed, instead of Borges continuing its work."

"How hopelessly despairing."

"Don't say that. If it lets you see the truth all at once, you will certainly collapse. It’s because this work is still in progress. It’s so you can still see the world you want to see.”

The world I want to see?

Shinobu soaks this in and starts to lose it, repeating her belief that Byakuya Togami is God. K tries to snap her back to reality by reminding her that Byakuya is human and is destined to grow old and die. Shinobu, however, still continues her silent freak out as she comes to grip with this information.

With or without Borges. I am still myself. 

This is irrelevant! Byakuya is God! It’s not that I put a sparkling aura on him or anything, but he is just is so shining! He was born to be the North Star! That old man doesn't really know what he is talking about when it comes to such a God! Byakuya is unbeaten, and Byakuya is invincible! 

At this time, he still plays the world in the palm of his hand. Since then, the world has always belonged to Byakuya. This fact will not change, even if the sun expands and swallows the Earth. The universe is coming to an end, yet Byakuya is still God! I wrote "Journey Under The Midnight Sun" to let this truth pass on to the future, and wrote a completely true biography with Borges... 

Ah, but Borges has been full of lies...hey? The reason why Borges lies is because I want to see such a world, right!? What I want to see is Byakuya as the world's God? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! 

I need to drink Bufferin.

I seem to be in a mess and I can prove that this is why K that was so eloquent before. However, he did not say a word, but was quietly watching me. I don't know if what he is thinking is either "this would be the crash after a person knows the truth" or "it’s hard to keep faith now". Regardless of the case, all this really teaches people how to be angry... 

No, actually, I’m not. This feeling...this is not how I actually feel! Honestly, I would like to use Borges to search for vocabulary related to feelings.

In fact, I want to let Borges manage me, just like before!  Ah, no, that’s not right! Because I have neither hope nor despair. Since Otsuki was present as my brother. Since Kazuya became my younger brother. Since the day I was born into the house of the Togami family.

That’s when that moment started. 

Hope won't make me feel splendid. 

Despair won't make me depressed. 

I don't need to use these things to spur myself!  

Yes, I will get the approval of Byakuya Togami and I will get to work on writing the biography given by him!

...But if these memories are also just illusions that Borges have been showing me...things are going to get quite confusing.

6.

"The picture."

After a while, K whispered. I stared at the painting hanging on the wall with my left eye, the weird creature that stood on the ground with a big nose.

"It's scientific name is the “Hopsorrhinus aureus”. This creature uses a jointed nose to jump like a kangaroo," K explained. "In 1941, this creature was found on the island of Hy-yi-yi in the South Pacific. This is a special sub-type of mammalian animal called the Rhinogradentia. [9] So far, 14 subjects have been discovered.”

K lists off the types of Rhinogradentia that have been discovered, including the species that has tentacles coming out of its nose that they use to walk with.

"How is it possible for there to be such creatures?”

“BAU UND LEBEN DER RHINOGRADENTIA was published in 1961 by Professor Harald Stümpke. [10]”

“Is there a book about them?”

“Yes, and it was translated to all over the world, causing there is a huge response. There should also be a Japanese version. You can check it out after you return to Japan."

"Then, what kind of book is it? Is it like a fake book?"

"The Foreword and Afterword are actually written by a real and famous zoologist. A review of this book was even published in scientific journals, and there are many related books too. How would you doubt an academic book on all the issues that modern zoology deals with from Morphology, anatomy, ontogeny, physiology, actions, diets, and phylogenetic evolution? With such an academically sound book, do you think you are qualified to doubt it?"

"There is no more direct evidence than images."

"I don’t have any."

"Why?"

"This creature is extinct."

"Extinction?"

"In 1957, due to a nuclear test conducted nearby, the islands where the Rhinogradentia flourished sank."

“It's a super-perfunctory ending.”

"Don't say what the ending is."

"So there are no photos? Since it was in the 1950s, there should be photos, right?"

"All the information sank with the island."

"I’m really speechless. There are no photos, anymore? If you can't investigate on the spot, there is no way to prove that this creature actually exists. This is really not credible."

"Do you know the Dodo?"

"A bird that is already extinct?"

"Because of that, do you think ‘Did this bird really exist?’"

"Of course it did."

"How can you be so convinced? The Dodo did not have any photos survive. The Dodo had once thrived on the island of Mauritius. This is only the testimony of the sailors at the time that can be proved without any other reliable information. Dodo, like the Rhinogradentia, are impossible to verify what kind of creature it was and what kind of life it lived."

"I remember seeing specimens..."

"There is a sample of a Dodo stored in a monastery in the Czech Republic. However, there is no evidence to prove that the terrible thing that is covered with charcoal is the real thing.”

“Therefore, the Dodo is a bird like a dove and a seagull, but the creature walking on the nose is looking for it. There is no such thing in the world, that is to say, common sense can prove that it is contrary to common sense, is false, can be judged by common sense."

"No, believe that the Dodo is real, but doubt the authenticity of the Rhinogradentia. This is not based on common sense judgment made, simply because you lack the logic to accept the existence of a real Rhinograde.

“You mean to say my lack of knowledge?"

"Reality and unreality are indistinguishable from the experiencer. I believe that a real person can see the existence of the Rhinogradentia it even if it is fantasy, and will also write an article to prove its existence. If a third party believes in the article, then the fantasy will be shared by them and become their common fantasy. By the way, when the book was published, most readers completely believed that the Rhinogradentia existed."

Shinobu cant laugh even if she thinks its too stupid. These people at the time had no real way of knowing the Rhinogrades were made up. Shinobu thinks about the Kudan, and thinks to herself that the Kudan definitely exists, like the Dodo. 

People who don't believe that the "Kudan" exists makes me laugh.

“People are only willing to see the reality they want to see,” K said calmly "No matter how convincing a certain argument is, as long as people are unwilling to accept it, they can't understand the meaning of it. This pathology is similar to the story in Don Quixote.”

K then gives another example similar to the previous one before continuing.

“No matter how much we experience, how much knowledge we learn, it is impossible to have the same sense of reading as the readers at the time. That is absolute.”

“Absolute...” murmurs Shinobu.

K says as long as Shinobu believes that Byakuya Togami is a God, Borges would do everything it could to strengthen that position, even if what is happening is different. To sum it up, “The sacredness of Byakuya Togami, if you couldn’t find it, you would make it.”

What?

I...understand.

Now I understand. If Byakuya Togami is not God, then my world will end.

The only purpose of my existence is to write "Journey Under The Midnight Sun", and I couldn’t let that weakness and fragility of Byakuya be exposed to my eyes.

So I made up and fabricated the storyline.

I built the story I wanted to see for myself. Not on purpose, but because of Borges's interference. In order to make Byakuya Togami become God, I have created a lot of lies so far. I made people who didn't exist, created a group organization that didn't exist, and looking back I think I even falsified the past. 

I now understood all of this and was mentally prepared. Although I can't say that I was awake...I have accepted the uncertainty of my brain.

I have accepted the fact that life has only just begun today.

With this realization, Shinobu stares at the painting and asks for the name of this animal and finds them cute. The Snout Leaper is what it’s called. Shinobu says that it would be nice if the Snout Leaper really existed, but believing in something and it actually being true are two different things. K says that belief is just enough.

“I still want to hear the truth, I want to know the truth."

"Although I don't know if I can't do it, it's worth a try."

"I didn't expect you to say that too."

"I didn't mean to tease you," K said shrugging. "At present, there is no Borges in your right eye. Then you have to look at the real things with your own eyes and update your reality. Although the information falsified by Borges will not disappear easily, but since you have found a path that convinced you, no matter how difficult it is, you should follow that path."

"I think so too."

"Then I’ll tell you something, maybe it can help you. Although it's just a hypothesis, the Despair Disease is more than likely a lie made up by Borges” he begins...only to be cut off by a piercing sound.

Just then, countless bullets penetrated the window and the kettle in the kitchen was riddled with holes.

 Translation Notes: (I highly recommend reading these this time if you don’t normally.)

[1] Don Quixote is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. A founding work of Western literature, it is often labeled "the first modern novel" and is sometimes considered the best literary work ever written.

[2] Natsume Sōseki was a Japanese novelist. He is best known around the world for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note. In Japan, he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history. He has had a profound effect on almost all important Japanese writers since. 

[3] Banana Yoshimoto is the pen name of Japanese writer Mahoko Yoshimoto. Yoshimoto says that her two main themes are “the exhaustion of young Japanese in contemporary Japan” and “the way in which terrible experiences shape a person’s life”. Her works describe the problems faced by youth, urban existentialism, and teenagers trapped between imagination and reality. Her works are targeted not only to the young and rebellious, but also to grown-ups who are still young at heart. Yoshimoto's characters, settings, and titles have a modern and American approach, but the core is Japanese. She addresses readers in a personal and friendly way, with warmth and outright innocence, writing about the simple things such as the squeaking of wooden floors or the pleasant smell of food. Food and dreams are recurring themes in her work which are often associated with memories and emotions. Yoshimoto admits that most of her artistic inspiration derives from her own dreams and that she’d like to always be sleeping and living a life full of dreams.

[4] Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country. His work has received numerous awards, including the World Fantasy Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Franz Kafka Prize (yes really), and the Jerusalem Prize. Another notable feature of Murakami's stories are the comments that come from the main characters as to how strange the story presents itself. Murakami explains that his characters experience what he experiences as he writes, which could be compared to a movie set where the walls and props are all fake.

[5] The Raiders can refer to either The Los Angeles Raiders or the Canberra Raiders. Both are sports teams.

[6] Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Many writers consider Anna Karenina the greatest work of literature ever, and Tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger.

[7] Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator and entomologist. His first nine novels were written in Russian (1926–38), but he achieved international prominence after he began writing English prose. Nabokov became an American citizen in 1945. It should be noted that a novel of his titled “Despair” (Novel), is about a man who meets a homeless man in the city of Prague, whom he believes is his doppelgänger. You can't make this stuff up, I’m serious.

[8] Island of the Evil Spirits is a film directed by Masahiro Shinoda. I honestly can’t find much about it.

[9] Yep, you Kirigiri Sou fans should be very blissful now. Interesting how K explains the non-canon routes of Kirigiri Sou to be based in “unreality”.

[10] Gerolf Steiner was a German zoologist. Steiner is best known for a 1961 book authored pseudonymously as Harald Stümpke on the anatomy and habits of the rhinogradentia, a fictitious order of extinct mammals whose nose evolved in unusual ways.

To Be Continued

https://drmedicsgamesurgery.tumblr.com/GameSurgeryDRTranslations

[tots-n-chocs]

‘Acrophobia’

Fandom: Venom (movie 2018)

Ship: Symbrock (Eddie/Venom)

Tags: Fluff, Stargazing, These losers are adorable but their banter is hilarious too, Venom tries to work on Eddie’s fear of heights, He goes about it all wrong, But maybe it works out OK in the end, Symbiote cuddles.

AO3 Link: [Here!]

(My other Symbrock fic: ‘Skin-Deep’)

(Please leave a kudos or a comment on the AO3 version if you enjoyed it <3 thanks! Happy Valentines!)

------------

The stars had never seemed so bright, so close, so... beautiful. Despite the racing of his heart and the shaking in his legs, that much Eddie could admit. But still...

“I- uh- I don’t see why you think that exposing me to heights is gonna get rid of my fear. It’s one of those... those kinds of ‘so you don’t die’ fears. Evolutionary. Y’know?” Eddie squeezed his eyes shut as a cold, fierce gust of wind blew straight through his thin sleeping t-shirt. He shivered more violently, trying to will his legs to move backwards, but Venom had locked them in place at the edge of the building.

I thought this was called Exposure Therapy, a reply rumbled into his mind, with something almost like an internal huff, so you’d learn to ignore your broken human evolution and remember that I would never let you die.

That’s not really how it works! Eddie tried to yell internally, his throat closed with fear.

Venom’s irritation at the situation buzzed in the back of Eddie’s head. Sometimes it was easy to forget that everything the symbiote had learned of humanity was from his previous hosts at the lab, Eddie himself, or the terrible television he watched while Eddie slept. Even when he grasped a concept, he sometimes didn't fully appreciate that there was a deeper meaning, social constructs to consider, or that what applied to one human may not apply to another. He was getting better, but it was so much for an alien to learn in such a short amount of time that he occasionally fucked up. Like right now.

Eddie swallowed thickly and opened his eyes a crack, feeling his stomach clench at the sight of the lights of cars moving around like tiny glowing insects far, far below him. At least Venom had taken them to a roof so high up that nobody would be able to see him standing there on the edge. He didn’t know how he’d have explained ‘no, I don’t want to kill myself, but my symbiote partner who lives inside me thought he could cure my phobia by making me experience my fear in the middle of the night’ to the police.

Is that not a good enough explanation? The deep voice was almost apologetic in tone, and Eddie felt a slightly guilty shifting feeling below his chest. I thought this would help. The show I watched on fears said this would help, Eddie.

His legs moved on their own, retreating him back into the middle of the roof and he let out a relieved breath.

Venom moving his limbs was a sensation he was gradually getting used to; it felt like when he’d wake up with a numb arm because he’d slept on it funny, and he’d move it around to get the blood flowing back into it again, even though he couldn’t feel the sensation itself. (He’d given the same explanation to Anne once when she’d asked how it felt when Venom piloted his body without covering him, but judging by her expression it wasn’t a particularly good analogy.)

Wrong train track again Eddie.

Eddie made an impatient shushing sound, fighting a sudden smile, the familiar jab and reaction from them both tapping into something comfortable and stable that helped to push his pulse-racing fear away. He'd tried to explain the phrase ‘train of thought’ to Venom one lazy afternoon after getting annoyed at himself for letting his mind wonder while he should have been working. Venom had since taken to pointing out when Eddie’s thoughts were ‘on the wrong train track’ – not quite the correct use of the phrase, but he knew what he meant. Didn’t mean he appreciated his easily distracted nature being pointed out all the time.

Eddie shook his head, returning to his symbiote’s confusion.

“I mean, if your fear is- like- spiders or something, I’ve heard that holding them can help, but I don’t think waking up in the middle of the night standing on the edge of a building is quite the same, V.” His voice still ringed with a note of fear, but now that he was away from the ledge, he was feeling considerably calmer.

No reply came, but a guilty shifting fluttered in his chest that made Eddie feel like he’d swallowed butterflies. He coughed lightly in an involuntary response to try and ease the strange sensation and placed his palm over his heart. “The thought was there,” he conceded softly.

Quiet.

Oh, Venom was definitely feeling bad.

Something heavy sat in Eddie’s gut.

He sighed and slowly lowered himself onto the middle of the concrete roof so that he was lying flat on his back, like he did when he was meditating.

What are you doing? Don’t you want to go back?

“Well, yeah, but I figured since we're here now anyway and the sky is so clear we could do a bit of star-gazing or something,” he said sincerely, laying his hands on his stomach. “Besides, I can’t see how high up we are from here. I’ll just pretend we’re on the ground.”

Hm, Venom didn’t sound convinced, you’ve never been interested in stars before. Why would you want to look at them now?

He considered this for a moment before replying with a soft, “Compromise.”

No, he didn’t really want to be high above the city at who-knows-how-late-o’clock, but there they were anyway. The memory of the appreciation and peace Venom had felt when they’d been on top of the network building when they’d first met hummed back to him in echoes. ‘Your world is not so ugly after all’ he’d admitted softly. To an alien that lived amongst the vastness of the universe, heights really must be no big deal. If anything, Venom seemed to like them, especially when it showed off the lights of San Francisco glinting through the darkness like a universe at his feet.

Eddie knew his fear must seem so confusing and unnecessary, especially when it went against everything Venom kept on telling him about catching him and never letting him get hurt. He didn’t want Venom to think that his fear was a result of a lack of trust. He knew his partner would never, ever let him fall without catching him – he had Eddie’s infinite and unshakable trust. But something that ran so deep was hard to just switch off.

A low hum of understanding made the hairs on Eddie’s arms stand on end and he smiled goofily at the sky, letting out a breath of air that was nearly a laugh. Every time they truly came to an understanding with each other it felt like their heart was too big for their chest, pumping life and love love love around their body. Although they were a ‘we’ more than they were ‘Eddie or Venom’ they were still two individual souls in one body – they were bound to disagree and misunderstand each other. They’d had vastly different experiences in life to shape them into who they were. But when those souls were in synchrony with each other, it felt so amazing and so natural that Eddie wondered how he’d ever felt any kind of closeness with a human being.

“You should have just asked, V. Never mind what the TV said. I think that stuff’s bad for you, I should sell it and just buy you a load of books or something.”

The vibrations from Venom’s rumbling laughter ran all the way through Eddie, right into his toes. Empty threats, Eddie. We know how much you love the reruns of your ‘Gilmore Girls’.

Eddie sighed dramatically, though he couldn’t quite push away the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Damn, you got me there. Fine. The TV stays.”

No matter how many times you re-watch it, Lorelai and Luke still won’t get married.

“Oh, owch, you really went there?! Straight for the jugular, man, why would you say that?” Eddie groaned loudly, though he could barely hear himself over laughter so low and continuous it was practically a purr. “I thought we would have this romantic look at the stars together, why would you hurt me in this way.”

“Would never hurt you Eddie.” Venom’s voice was right below his ear, close enough to feel the light touch of teeth against his skin. “We can be romantic.”

Eddie hadn’t even noticed how cold the concrete had been through the thin material of the shirt he slept in until the gritty hard coolness against his back was replaced with something considerably more comfortable, as his whole body was lifted slightly to accommodate the solid, yet strangely soft, warm and impossibly broad chest of Venom. Two thick, huge arms gently wrapped around his middle so that he was now lying on Venom’s chest, encased in his arms. Safe. Loved. Treasured.

Teeth nipped gently at his ear again and Eddie sighed contentedly, letting his whole body relax into the embrace.

It was nice to be physically close like this, plus it took away all the chill of the night-time wind.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Venom was so comfy, and Eddie could feel both his own happiness and a warm, happy glow that wasn’t his. He thought that being able to vaguely grasp Venom’s feelings was a little bit like an ‘emotional echo’. Something that did and didn’t belong to him; the pleasure of being held and the pleasure of doing the holding.

“Your Earth stars are very boring,” Venom declared, making Eddie open his eyes – he’d nearly fallen asleep.

“What?”

“They only shine with a few colours through your toxic atmosphere. And they’re so small.”

Eddie resisted the urge to laugh, always amused by how much Venom resented Earth’s oxygen just because he couldn’t breathe it, and he frowned playfully. “Hey, you leave our stars alone. They do a good job.” He paused and lines creased his forehead as he considered something else the symbiote had said. “Wait…. Stars are only one colour, right? What do you mean, they only shine with a ‘few’?”

“Like this.”

Eddie blinked and yelped. He would probably have fallen off Venom if his strong arms hadn’t been holding him tightly. The sky had been pretty before – distant stars shining with a white light – but now it was absolutely glorious. Greens and pinks sparkled in an ocean of shifting blues, and they were everywhere, the sky was full of them, even thought they were still very distant and very tiny. It was like looking straight into a galaxy from a movie. “Shit,” Eddie breathed in awe, “how…?”

“Made your eyes like mine,” Venom rumbled gently beside Eddie’s ear. It made him shiver and he could feel the toothy grin in response.

“Wow.” Eddie tilted his head a little, his cheek pressing into Venom’s. “Love you, V,” he whispered.

The reply vibrated in his mind, through his whole being, I love you too, Eddie. Always.

He smiled and laughed as Venom’s very wet tongue slid across his chin and up his cheek. “Ew, V!” He squirmed, but Venom only held him tighter, his claws pin-points of pressure at his sides. Amusement bounced between them in their emotional echo space again.

Once Venom’s tongue had retreated, leaving a trail of drool drying on his skin (again), there was a pause while Eddie enjoyed lying in Venom’s arms, and looking at stars he could never even have imagined, until he said, “That cluster of stars looks like a dog. With a wonky leg.”

“Mmm.”

“Seriously? Does everything make you hungry?”

“Those stars look like a lung.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Eddie laughed.

“Hungry, Eddie.”

“Ok, ok, let’s go home.”

With another blink his vision returned to normal. Venom squeezed him even tighter and then retreated under his skin, using tendrils to push Eddie upright gently to his feet.

Without Venom’s bulk holding him close Eddie shivered as the wind cut through his thin clothing again, until black seeped out of his skin and hugged his torso, shielding him from the cold. Whether he was in a humanoid shape or not, the warmth he felt in his chest was the same.

Shall I get us down? Or are we using the lift?

Eddie ran a hand over the shifting, liquid like mass covering him as he glanced back up at the sky. It was starting to look a little lighter on the horizon, was the sun going to rise soon? They needed to get back. He bit his lip as he considered something crazy. His whole body was still thrumming with happiness and contentment.

“Y’know what… maybe your exposure therapy worked… I think I’m going to do what you said last time,” Eddie began.

There was a spike of glee across their bond, and Venom’s form rippled beneath his hand. Last time?

“Yeah. When we were up like this before you said ‘jump’.” Eddie took a huge breath and ran towards the edge of the building, pushing all thoughts of heights and falling and death out of his mind and just let trust and love fill him. “Catch me!” he yelled into the rushing wind as his foot shoved him off the roof, leaping into the void of nothing but air.

Always.

[sol1056]

when the lamp stays unlit

a multi-part anon that’s been waiting awhile:

...I never really fully thought of shiro as physically disabled... he had a fully functional prosthetic arm with all the motor skills of a real arm plus superhuman strength and so forth AND because it didn’t really impair him. It would be one thing if he was physically disabled and the show thus normalized disability; but to me, Shiro‘s arm (and Ezor‘s fake leg and Zethrid‘s missing eye) were more like sci-fi ‘cool battle scars’ rather than things that really impacted their social or emotional life. [...] The missing arm made [Shiro] more incapacitated during s7 (I guess?) but it was an excuse for benching him, which is something I found ableist. And while he has a mental illness as well, I thought it only ever became an issue when it was convenient to the plot. Hope that made sense, it wasn’t my intention to be insensitive since many people see him as great disability rep.

This is nearly as difficult a subject as race, but it’s also an important discussion to have. We do need the conversation about LGBT+ representation in VLD, but it’s drowning out an equally important conversation about how disability is represented (and treated) in popular media.  

As a caveat, I’m a work in progress when it comes to un-learning the ableism that permeates Western culture, even when directly harmed by its perpetuation. So I’m inviting anyone with the spoons and lived experience to join in. The more voices and perspectives, the better. 

Behind the cut: clarifying a few terms, how the SFF genre conceptualizes disability, how humans conceptualize difference, narrative treatment of Shiro as disabled, and PTSD/mental health in popular media. 

First, let’s define some terms so we’re on the same page. Assistive technology “increases or maintains the capabilities of people with disabilities.” Adaptive technology (a subset of assistive) is tech “specifically designed for persons with disabilities and would seldom be used by non-disabled persons.” Gadgets like sock cradles are assistive, since an abled person might use them; a prosthesis or screen reader would be adaptive. The majority of media representations of disability will use adaptive technologies to signal a disability, rather than assistive. (definition from wikipedia)

Now for a few lesser-known terms. There’s a philosophical concept concerning the breakage of things we’ve always taken for granted. Like flipping a light switch: the light goes on. We don’t pause to marvel over what made the lightbulb glow. Then one day, you flip the switch and the light doesn’t come on. Now suddenly you have to stop and notice something that previously you’d never given much attention.   

This sudden awareness of wrongness --- the light not going on --- takes three forms. It can be conspicuous, where it’s visibly damaged, ie the lamp is smashed. It can be obtrusive: a part is missing, ie there’s no bulb in the socket. Or it can be obstinate, ie the bulb and lamp are fine, we just don’t have power. 

The abled perspective --- when suddenly reminded of disability --- is to see the disability as conspicuous and obtrusive. That is, broken and incomplete. Which means, that’s the only story the abled perspective knows, so that’s the story it tells, over and over. 

It’s a common assumption, especially in the SFF genre: adaptive technology removes a character from the category of disabled. Cybernetic modifications or prostheses become design elements; the character is considered --- and written --- as abled. In a sense, the character is like the lamp when there’s power: the author can ignore the label of ‘disability’ and carry on without giving more thought to the issue.

But if there’s removal (or breakage), for the author, it’s like flipping a switch and the light doesn’t go on. You can almost hear the author thinking: ‘oh, forgot this character can’t do anything.’ Until the story provides repairs or replacement, the previously adaptively-abled character is now un-abled. 

Disability --- in the absence of adaptive technology --- is, at best, obstinate. The character is neither broken nor incomplete; they’re a lamp without a power source. Nothing else has changed. But if someone never gave thought to how lamps need power to operate, their first reaction won’t be to ask if the power’s out. It’ll be to check the lamp, the bulb, the wiring, and declare it mysteriously broken because no light is happening. 

Abled writers effectively shift the blame onto the lamp: it’s now useless, by some ill-defined sense. But it’s not; it hasn’t changed. It was reliant on power when power was available, and it’s reliant when power’s not available, too. 

The analogy itself is already too simple for the reality; it implies a person could be abled/disabled as on/off. So let’s adjust, and say: the lamp has a solar-power backup and still lights up --- just not as quickly or brightly. Or it’s a drill whose battery needs recharging: it’s still usable as a manual screwdriver, awkward but workable. Plus, the base is still handy as a makeshift hammer. 

The presence of any given disability does not automatically mean the person is fully dis-abled by all other measures as well. Analogies only go so far, after all. 

But this is the main point: the character never stopped being disabled, any more than the lamp stopped needing power. By that same token, the person who takes medication for ADD isn’t ‘cured’ with medication, anymore than a paraplegic stops being unable to walk just because they have a wheelchair. 

Now that I think about it, this could extend to just about any representation one doesn’t experience personally. I mean, we do it to each other: “behind the grill, she’s one of the guys.” And then we see the person after work in a dress and heels and we’re reminded she was a woman all along; we were just setting aside her gender because we could ignore it. Like the light switch we flip unthinkingly, we paid that detail no mind.

And the fact is: it doesn’t matter if an onlooker judges a trait as irrelevant. The person still has that gender, religion, ability, sexuality, ethnicity, age, etc. When we aim to be colorblind, or genderblind, or sexualityblind... it’s like having a lamp that won’t go on and not realizing electricity is required. We’re blind to half the picture, so we blame the lamp, not the absence of power. 

We’re forgetting that because we can ignore her gender doesn’t mean she can. Or even would. But so long as we can, we’ll miss all the ways her reality informs her experiences.   

You’re right that benching Shiro in S7 was an ableist move. The entire season makes evident how little thought the staff has afforded Shiro. To them, he was abled, now he is not, and this radically changes everything: no longer a paladin, not even a pilot, nor even on the front lines (and when he is, he loses). As @caramelcheese​ pointed out, Shiro’s fought with both hands tied behind his back. Lacking one arm shouldn’t slow him down in the least. 

Others have written at length about Shiro’s new prosthesis. They’ve raised practical issues with a floating arm, such as imbalance and center-of-gravity, and ethical issues such as the offensiveness of a design that echoes his tormentor’s signature detail, so I won’t belabor those here. To me, there are two aspects even more insidious. 

One is caused by narrative silence on Shiro’s changed status. Shiro’s only visible difference is the loss of his prothesis; the narrative fails to address this, let alone provide any other explanation. Narrative silence becomes tacit confirmation: an amputee cannot be a hero. 

The second is the dehumanization. Before S7, in casual dress, Shiro’s arm was evident; in armor, he was no more marked than anyone else. His expulsion from being a paladin is visually reinforced by his loss of the Black Paladin’s armor; the Garrison uniform and space suit are modified to be constant reminders that Shiro is disabled. There is empty air where his upper arm would be. 

His redesign marks him as literally incomplete. 

As for mental health, we can’t discuss Shiro’s PTSD in a vacuum, when it’s a part of so many kids’ lives. Some suffer PTSD themselves from first-hand trauma, and likely many more suffer it along with their parents as a result of the US’ anti-immigrant attitudes. The hardest hit may be military kids between 8 and 18, of whom roughly one in five has a parent who suffers from PTSD. 

Shiro had to have been a powerful figure for those kids. He had onscreen panic attacks and flashbacks, yet remained a hero in the story and to his team.  His PTSD-inflected moments may have served the plot, but those also worked to keep present the continuing damage from his trauma. More importantly for younger viewers, he laid a hero’s narrative over the sometimes terrifying reality of a family member who suffers from PTSD or related trauma.

S3 left that behind, turning Shiro’s trauma into headaches, and even that much mentioned rarely. By S7, no signs of PTSD remained. The EPs’ tone-deaf explanation --- that Shiro learned to grit his teeth and just deal with his trauma --- was a horrific betrayal of the audience who related to Shiro. Willpower has never been a viable cure for mental illnesses or trauma.

One ingredient for healing from PTSD is support and love from a strong network of family and friends, and it’s ironic the series’ only example of a healing moment was the DnD episode. It allowed Shiro/Kuron to create and role-play a new story for himself, in a safe environment, surrounded by the support of people who mattered most to him. When Shiro/Kuron tells Coran that he feels better after playing, it’s one of the rare grace notes in the story: because that would be a healing experience for someone with PTSD.

Shiro’s story undergoes an odd reversal. He begins the story treated as though he’s abled, yet mentally traumatized. By S7, the story considers him disabled yet also fully ‘over’ his PTSD. He went from conspicuous and obtrusive for his PTSD, to conspicuous and obtrusive for being an amputee.

After thinking about it, I wonder if perhaps it’s because once the lamp has been broken for long enough --- regardless of the reason --- it eventually becomes yet another thing we don’t think about. Just like once, perhaps as children, we found light switches fascinating and the lamp going on/off to be worthy of deep thought, eventually we learned to pay it no mind. 

Perhaps Shiro’s reversal is yet another indication of an abled creator who doesn’t understand the obstinate nature of disability. We have some backwards notions about illness, in the US, and one of them is that illness is a moral failure. Like, if you just tried hard enough, you’d be better. Any disability for which there’s no cure --- you can’t regrow an arm, after all --- thus renders the person both permanently broken and morally inadequate.

And, apparently, not worthy of being a paladin. 

[mysterioussinkhole]

The Kind Mother

Statement Summary: Gertrude Robinson recording. The statement giver does not recognize her mother even though no one else sees her as an imposter. They had never had a good relationship. Her mother was always critical and doubtful of the values of her achievements. When she got engaged her mother went into a rage about it and said the decision would drag her down. They didn’t speak for nearly ten years. They were similar, in a way. After she divorced her husband and her father got into an accident the statement giver decided to set aside her pride and go see them. It took some work to rebuild a relationship but it was worth it to see her father happy. They lived far away so it wasn’t easy to go see them often. Part of her job involved recording oral histories and her mother is an expert on English and Welsh folklore , which provided her with a good reason for visiting often. Two weeks ago she found that some other woman in her mother’s clothes living there. She was the wrong body type, wrong voice, and wrong personality. His father made no acknowledgment that anything was different. She asked where her mother was and they both looked confused. Her father said the joke wasn’t funny. Over the next hour she passively observed as everyone acted like this woman was her mother. She was so friendly... There was no possible explanation she could settle on. The statement giver went to go out to the garden, stopped at the phone and considered calling the police, only to see that all of their family photos had the new woman in them. After dinner she brought out the photo albums and sure enough, all of them were replaced. She caught the woman looking amused, mocking almost, as she checked. The woman knew it was wrong. The next day she talked to the neighbors and they also said the woman was her mother. Apparently she’d had a fall outside the local vicar had come out to help. The vicar said she was fine but that the scream was unusual. The statement giver asked the woman about her fall. The woman shrugged it off. She has not gone back since. Since then she has realized that the tapes she had of her mother’s voice are still intact. She plans to show them to her father.

Sadly, the statement giver’s father died before she could talk to them. Gertrude identifies the creature as what Adelard Dekker calls Not Them. Apparently the thing has a habit of moving along shortly. One or two people typically can see through the illusion. Gertrude takes comfort in the fact that tapes and, according to Dekker, polaroids will preserve her so that people will know if she’s been replaced.

Who Did It: The Stranger

Spooky Rating: 9/10, YOU’RE NOT MY MOM ugly ass fuckin noodle head...

Archives Drama: Jon found the tape labeled changeling/imposter and listening has freaked him the fuck out. He’s realized that all of the missing tapes had Sasha’s voice on them. He knows what it all means but he has no idea what to do. No one will believe him without listening to Gertrude’s tapes and he doesn’t want to tip his hand. He is terrified of this thing. Adelard Dekker’s statement seems like good place to start working out how to kill it.

Stray Thoughts: Not Them feeds on the fear of the people who see through the charade. That is why they are allowed to remember. They are a snack. Here we see more significance given to the tape recorders and other “analog” technology. They are unaffected by the Stranger’s influence. More points in the Tech Power category, I guess? I think my favorite part of this episode is the solid three seconds of silence from Jon as he chokes on the word “kills”. I think it’s supposed to mean that he realizes Sasha probably killed Gertrude. Of course he’d think that, he hasn’t taken a moment to catch his breath and realize that the timeline wouldn’t match up with the missing tapes. The sound of him floundering around trying to figure out what the fuck he’s supposed to do now is oddly gratifying, considering this whole season has been him continually moving towards a full on nervous breakdown.

[deadinsidedressage]

What do you think of TMFCK defending dancing horses so much? Like obviously he’s not advocating for it but defending tying up and whipping/beating a horse in the name of tradition and cultural sensitivity fucks me up. Clinton Anderson relies on abusing horses to pay his bills, and everyone thinks that’s fucked up. so why is it suddenly okay for people in other countries to do that?

I’ll straight up admit that I don’t see the majority of his content and also can’t be bothered to go look at it to confirm what I’m about to say and this is going to be based off the what I saw in his arguments the last time him & dancing horses actually popped up on my dash:It’s sort of like watching someone try to explain the fact that if a black hole ever crashed into the Earth, the Earth would be fine but there would be an exit and entry point (like a bullet wound) but not quite Get It™. (The hyperlink/bad analogy is literally a cool thing I learned about that was NOT caused by a black hole crashing into the Earth but which caused me to learn what that might do theoretically and I wanted to share that).

So here’s the thing--- he’s not wrong about having to look at it in a cultural context. If you’re trying to look at it from an academically minded viewpoint and learn what their rationales for training in that manner is then you absolutely need to get rid of any biases and ethnocentric views. You’d need to learn it from the view of the people doing it. If you’re trying to look at why they’re doing it that way versus why they’ve not adopted another way, then you also have to look from a culturally mindful perspective. Especially if you’re trying to effect change and get them to adopt methods that are not abusive. You simply cannot change adverse cultural practices when coming in from the viewpoint that they’re Wrong and you’re Right (even if ethically that might be true). People shutdown when they’re being attacked, especially so if what they’re being attacked over is ingrained in their culture. Instead of being an attack on the practice, it turns into an attack on the culture. There are plenty of cultures that aren’t Bad that have Bad Practices and we can only change them through learning about them and empowering them with education to make ethical decisions. 

A great example of how to effect ethical change in a culture whose traditional practices are abusive practices is the Friends of Marwar/Kathiwari Horse organization and what it’s done to replace harsh, crudely constructed Indian bits with snaffles. They also work overall to educate about horse welfare and proper horse care in India, including being partnered with Flying Anvil Foundation (which focuses on bringing updated farrier techniques to the areas of the world that are still dependent on traditional farming and truly agricultural use of horses). What both organizations have in common is that they are aiming to correct very clear abusive/neglect by approaching it from the standpoint that it exists from a lack of education. They go in, they educate, and people adopt these proper care methods and non-abusive techniques/tools because ultimately these people do care about their horses--- even if they only care about maximizing the usefulness of the horse. That last bit there about the “usefulness of the horse” is also something really key to operating effectively in outreach work aimed at improving the condition of any animal that a culture is subsisting off of. You cannot change cultural views with a snap of your finger, so if you enter into a culture that only views the animal as a tool and not in the same Western concept of a companion--- then you need to implement a strategy that focuses on logos versus pathos. (Quick terminology lessons: Logos, Ethos, & Pathos are rhetoric terms that originated from Aristotle and describe the method by which you’re arguing a thesis ((thesis being used in it’s original context to mean a “point of view” or proposition)). Logos is an appeal to logic. Ethos is an appeal to ethics. Pathos is an appeal to emotion. When operating across cultural lines, you generally do not rely on ethos because what is considered ethical is not standard across cultures. You rely on logos and pathos either solely or interchangeably as necessary.)So, if you’re dealing with people who want to do what’s best for their horse because they also care for the horse as pet--- then you can focus more on pathos and use arguments like “if you use this snaffle instead of this traditional bit, it will be softer and cause your horse less pain which will make him happier and more responsive!”If you’re dealing with people who want to do what’s best for their horse only so long as it maximizes the use of the horse--- then you need to focus more on logos and use arguments like “if you use this snaffle instead of this traditional bit then you won’t cause sores and cuts in the horses mouth, and a if the horse is not in pain then it can work longer and if the horse doesn’t have open wounds then it won’t get infections in those wounds that could kill it or mean it wouldn’t be able to work; so by using this snaffle you can get more use out of your horse.”

However, where I’ve seen TMFCK go “wrong” in his arguments or defenses is that he’s not getting past looking at it from what ethnographers call an “insider’s perspective” and applying an “outsider’s perspective”. By only pointing out the the fact that the training is orally passed down and whatever else about it as a means to explain the why there is the abusive practice is only doing half the work. You need to look at the WHY (insider’s perspective) but also the HOW (outsider’s perspective)--- so let me give you my favorite example from an ethnographer about how to apply looking at it from both perspectives because it’s the most chilling:In Brazil, specifically I think it was the capital, within an extremely impoverished community there was an astronomically high infant mortality rate. Going in and studying why this was happening, an ethnographer discovered this was due to something that she translated roughly as “the breath for life”. When a child was born, the practice within the community was to take the newborn immediately after cutting the umbilical cord and places it in a corner of the room on the floor where they would leave it for something like 3 days. You would not look at the child or feed the child, or cover the child. You’d just leave a newborn crying on the floor for 3 days. Now the cultural explanation for this (WHY/insider’s perspective) was because all children born into the world are reincarnations of souls who’ve already lived. God is apparently very silly and doesn’t keep track of which soul just died very well and you need to wait the 3 days to make sure God didn’t make a mistake. The soul itself needed that much time to alert God that “hey I was just alive!” and needed isolation so that a) God could hear it better and b) to prevent the soul from losing it’s memory of it’s past life (which is what happens to babies so that they don’t have their old memories) so that God could take it back. A baby that lasted the three days was a soul that had “the breath for life” and had spent enough time in Heaven that it was ready to live another human life. So--- from the cultural perspective, they weren’t committing infanticide or doing anything wrong because that’s what was needed to help God out with his bad organizational skills. Now the actual, hard science explanation behind why this was a cultural practice and why people didn’t see anything wrong with it (HOW/outider’s perspective) was that this community was so horrifically impoverished that they could not devote resources to many children at all and couldn’t afford to waste them on infants that wouldn’t survive. The waiting the 3 days before even feeding the child was essentially a form of unintentional eugenics because the infants that would be able to survive it would have strong immune systems and clearly just a strong survival ability. The 3 days thing also mimicked a very real possibility of the children going days without being fed as that was a very real possibility in the community. These children would then be worth devoting precious resources too because it wouldn’t be a waste. Yes, this community was committing infanticide but they were committing infanticide on children that would have likely died anyway and preserving resources that would be valuable in keeping other community members alive. Is it wrong to let a baby die on purpose? Still yes, but at least there was a reasoning behind why that had become a necessary thing.The point is, you need both views of something in order to absolutely fully understand why it is happening. Only with an understanding of it can you remedy it. In the above example you could scream at them to stop leaving babies to die---maybe even get them to stop leaving babies to die, but ultimately those babies still would have died. Knowing that it was a resource problem meant that two viable options to prevent needless baby death would be 1) Give them more resources and/or 2) Introduce them to family planning so we’re only having babies we know we have resources for. Without both aspects of understanding you can’t provide a real solution. 

So, I get what he’s saying and he’s not wrong and he does make good points about racism (or at least he did the last time I saw it and I actually chimed in about it too--- and actually the Clinton Anderson thing is a great example of racial bias: people will accept his abuse because it’s in the context of a white culture but condemn the dancing horse abuse because of it’s context in a middle eastern or south american culture. They’re still both abuse and they’re actually both pretty closely related in terms of abuse but it’s important to understand that abuse is abuse even if a white guy is doing it and if you’re only calling it out when NOT a white guy is doing it then you’re not doing it because you care about horse welfare, you’re doing it because you’re racist) BUT at the same time he’s not going far enough in deciphering and breaking down what he’s sharing.

 He needs to be able to quantify the abuse without qualifying it. 

[douchebagbrainwaves]

I'VE BEEN PONDERING DATE

You needed to take care of them. In the Valley, then by deciding to become one of the defining qualities of kids is that they all wait to invest. So if you suppress variation in wealth might not be an alternate route to innovation that goes through obedience and cooperation instead of individualism? I cried at his funeral. I'm British by birth. The best way to put it into words. And it would get easier over time, because the main value of the company. These two senses of knowing what to make of this. People at big companies don't realize the extent to which success depends on constant though often unconscious effort.

They don't work for the hot startup that's rapidly growing into one. Actors do. But cars were such a firm, I'd recommend it to their friends. Two-Shoes type good. If you spend all your time programming, you will probably raise a series A round. Sean Parker was exactly what the benefits would be. Most articles in the mainstream media needs to learn to acknowledge as well. Will people create wealth if they can't, they may avoid publishing's problems.

If you're not convinced yourself. It seems like everybody here is in the suburbs. Notes No one seems to have the upper hand, they'll retain an increasingly large share of the existing stream. But this harmless type of lie can turn sour if left unexamined. What happens when your mind wanders? If anyone should know this, but there are so many essays yet unwritten. But of course it's going to take money from investors only if they attract those who have it, no matter how obscure you are now. He had such a lame idea was that it was not a coincidence that they used the same word multiple times. The only explanation is that they're all more concentrated forms of less addictive predecessors. You Want.

It's an excuse to work on managing investors usually depends on how far along you are. 9091 FREE 0. I've described it, starting a startup for real as a student, because if they don't plan to start startups hope universities can teach them about issues. Wealth has been getting created and destroyed but on balance, created for all of us riding on it. It's easy to be drawn into imitating flaws, because they're easier to see, and of what? I could be wrong But even so, if anyone expressed the slightest curiosity about Viaweb we would try to introduce features that we didn't. Kids do care what their peers think in elementary school. Frankly, the most innovation happens. And that's a lot of the new system is that it wouldn't work to. You don't get money just for working, but for blacklists nearness is physical, and for the same reason 1980s-style knowledge representation could never have worked; many statements may have no representation more concise than a huge, analog brain state. Except instead of being impressed that you're half way through?

But you should treat them as a commodity. It turns out to generate more jobs. I figured I'd get around to reading all those books you've been meaning to. When I was in college I used to take it. I'm going to be successful in general? What do you do that in a language where you have to step back one step further, and ask not just whether the author is incorrect somewhere, say where. Surprises make us laugh, and surprises are what one wants to look like. The trustafarians' ancestors didn't get rich by preserving their traditional culture; maybe people in Bolivia don't want to write a spec for it, as if you couldn't be productive without being someone's employee. We're moving back to Minnesota, but we're not willing to admit. You can envision the wealth created by a giant company, or portal, or whatever we were, search could safely be allowed to run their own companies. But suggesting efficiency is a different world, both culturally and economically, from the example of painting can teach us not only about science, but about the forces that push you to overhire.

For every rich person you probably shouldn't try angel investing unless you think of a startup hub, there won't be people there who got rich by creating wealth, which means charging each customer as much as you want, not money. For similar reasons it might be a lost cause to try to get included in his syndicates. For example, it is at least a handful of people did part-time. While environmental costs should be taken into account, they don't think of themselves that way. Html#f7n 14. It's that the detour the language makes you take is longer. Libraries need to be working on your own a priori theories about what users need. Under the present rules, patents are part of the child's identity.

Future of Startup Funding August 2010 Two years ago I advised graduating seniors to work for a company located in a startup, ask yourself: will this be something I use constantly? Basically at 25 he started running as fast as you can, give the best advice you can based on your experience, and then babysit that process till it happens. It meant uncle Sid's shoe store. It may be that they aren't dishonest. How do you recognize them? It might seem that it would make the legislator who introduced the bill famous. So we had our servers in our offices. I was considering starting another startup. We didn't know that, you advance quickly to the next step is. So don't look for a replacement for x; look for something that doesn't exist.

What do they need from it? A round has in the past, when more things were physical. I was a kid I was always under pressure to release their new OS, whose release date had already slipped four times, but some find it more natural to expand into casinos than software, because desktop software has become a lot less than most university departments like to admit. Does anyone believe they would notice the anomaly, and not to invest. This was not a natural move for Microsoft. This is an area where managers can make a fortune writing business books and consulting for large companies, executives at large companies will naturally wonder, how could I ever make such a thing is to be only two and they rarely competed with one another. Unfortunately there are a few hot topics and a few where it hardly mattered at all. We thought when we started Viaweb how few other companies used one as their logo.

Thanks to Sarah Harlin, Eric Raymond, Geoff Ralston, Robert Morris, Jessica Livingston, Albert Wenger, and Trevor Blackwell for sharing their expertise on this topic.

[definitelynotplanetfall]

Long(?) post about not understanding what makes literature important. Nothing new in it. Just rambling.

Occasionally I remember and am amused by the fact that a random literary magazine has mild cancellation-dirt on me because one class required us to submit Something and the Something contained Problems. This post is about different Problems.

Fools that they are, they said “any genre is fine” and opened themselves up to rabble writing about space bullshit for bad reasons such as “space bullshit is fun” rather than enlightened reasons such as “space bullshit can be a metaphor for mundane bullshit.”

Which isn’t wrong exactly. Outer Wilds (which I evidently cannot shut up about despite never having played it and it being old news at this point) is transparently about coming to terms with mortality and quite frankly you’d have to be very dense to deny that. But it’s also about archaeologizing mysterious space goats. Any inept dumbass can run up to you and shout “ya gonna die lol.“ The “meaningful” meaning only has any weight because it’s fully integrated with the world you’ve been exploring for such un-literary reasons as “because it’s cool” and “because I want to know what happened here.”

I legitimately do not understand the point of literary fiction. “Oh it communicates Meaning(tm)!” Write out the meaning then. Save everyone the time by not encoding it in a boring story. Or encode it in an interesting story.

“Oh the story doesn’t matter! It’s really about pretty words!“

I see this one a lot and frankly it doesn’t even make sense. “Combine words to sound pretty” does not directly lead to “countless stories about nothing happening all written in the same dreary voice.” You are skipping several steps in your reasoning there. There is nothing stopping you from writing pretty words about wizards, or pretty words that do not form a coherent narrative, or pretty words arranged purely based on sound that cannot even be interpreted as sentences.

...I’m going to regret making this analogy, but by way of illustration, there was a post on stupidpol many months ago that stuck with me where someone thought it would be a good idea to have universal military service specifically for the harsh regimentation of presentation, to disabuse Da Yoof of their shallow bourgeois individualist hair dye etc. so they can focus on the REAL things that set them apart as individuals (would not elaborate).

There was thankfully pushback to this nonsense and a bunch of asking for an explanation of what is real and fake individuality and all the person could say was “if you don’t intuitively know what it means I can’t explain it adequately with words, and you’re the one that’s doing this dogmatically and unthinkingly, somehow“ and while the literature thing is less egregious it strikes me as similar in shape? “Thing that brings you joy must be removed and replaced with thing you dislike. I will not posit a reason for this but will treat you as morally and intellectually deficient if you ask for one.”

It is, fair cop, the same thing as me saying “humans must not be muscular because you can directly observe how disgusting they are and everyone that disagrees has taste disease.“ (The difference is that I am right, unlike the others who merely falsely assert that the difference is that they are right.)

There are explanations, in the case of literature, but they’re nothing explanations. The counterarguments are trivially easy to notice. I don’t know why these are conversation enders. They are not atomic! There are rebuttals! It’s always “ah, I understand the importance of saying things everyone already knows“ ????????

Like, if the goal is for everyone to have “good taste”

And good writing Says Something Important About Human Nature

This means the list of Important Things About Human Nature is known, and probably written down somewhere, in order to standardize taste to it.

Which calls into question why it’s important for writing to Say Something Important because the Something Important has already been said and is universally known, and if we’ve established that writing that doesn’t Say Something Important is mindless trash, the story in not necessary. Because the important thing exists separately, and if you remove the important thing from the story the story is just mindless trash, so you’re just putting the important thing in a container you admit is worthless and saying that’s better?

I’m incredibly confused.

[filiplig]

J. Brody - Quantum Entanglement

p. 0

Indeed, the laboratory is the place where abstract concepts crystallize into palpable significance between your hands. The laboratory is where nature answers the questions posed by theorists. It’s impractical, however, for every interested person to do every interesting experiment.

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Quantum physics describes the behavior (and misbehavior) of tiny things: atoms, photons, and electrons, to name a few. What electrons lack in size, they make up for in importance. Electrons are the glue in chemical bonds, so quantum physics is used to understand the chemical bonds that hold together metals, plastics, skin, and every other material. Electrons are the lifeblood of computer chips, for instance, so engineers use quantum physics to design faster, smaller devices. Wherever quantum physics is applied, it’s unerringly accurate. The most amazing feature of quantum physics isn’t its accuracy or its usefulness, but its brazen defiance of our common sense. Quantum physics challenges our basic understanding of reality itself. And yet, quantum physics started off in a very mundane way, seeking explanations for dry, quantitative data.

p. xvii

Some scientists argue that quantum physics predicts outcomes of measurements and nothing more; we shouldn’t even ask the question “What does it all mean?” At least, we shouldn’t claim to know what particles are doing when we’re not measuring them. This is a form of Bohr’s “Copenhagen interpretation,” though the Copenhagen interpretation itself has been interpreted different ways by different people. People like Einstein were fed up with vagueness, uncertainty, and contradictions. If 1984 had already been written when these physicists were grappling with these qualities of quantum mechanics, Einstein would have accused his opponents of doublethink: “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Surely nature itself is not guilty of doublethink. Surely quantum physics can be massaged and refined, retaining its accuracy while eliminating the fuzziness and absurdity. Einstein, uncharacteristically, was wrong.

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The purpose of this book is to empower you to deeply understand how our common- sense assumptions impose constraints— from which entangled particles burst free. In other words, this book explains what quantum physics is not. Our task is to paint the negative space of quantum physics, a space composed of seemingly plausible theories that cannot account for measured results. I’m using “negative space” the way an artist would, to indicate the space around a subject. Let’s imagine a space full of concepts. If we draw a border around quantum physics, our everyday assumptions occupy the excluded space, the negative space. Surprisingly, irritatingly, or magically— depending on your disposition— our everyday assumptions are contradicted by experiments with entangled particles.Mathematics is a vehicle through which our assump- tions become experimentally testable. We need only logic and arithmetic to understand how our everyday assumptions are contradicted by measurements of entangled particles. This is a relief, and perhaps surprising, since harder math is required to understand rocketry, semiconductor devices, heat conduction, and many other topics. Unlike these technological topics, quantum entanglement addresses the fundamental nature of reality. Perhaps nature’s apology for behaving so strangely at the deepest level is to make its negative space mathematically accessible to all of us.

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It’s surprising that a philosophical assumption has mathematical consequences, which can be tested experimentally. But local realism isn’t the only philosophical assumption with mathematical consequences. We might characterize geocentrism as a philosophical assumption: “Everything must orbit our planet due to our own preeminence in the universe.” It’s not obvious that this assumption should have mathematical consequences. And yet, ancient and medieval astronomers labored mightily with the mathematical consequences. They had to explain why the other planets occasionally go into retrograde, backing up as if looking for something they dropped. The geocentric astronomers came up with hugely complex and surprisingly accurate mathematical models. Ultimately, however, the preponderance of evidence, and the preference for a simple unifying theory, forced astronomers to abandon the geocentric assumption. Similarly, as we’ll see, experimental evidence forces us to abandon the everyday assumption of local realism.

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What difference does it make whether the electrons were in the measured state all along, and what’s the big deal if they’re in an undecided state until the last minute? Indeed, I’ve been in an undecided state about what to order in a restaurant, and it’s only the “measurement” taken by the server that forces me to make up my mind. This is the big deal: If the electrons make up their minds at the last minute, they must make opposite decisions. If one chooses northward deflection, the other must choose southward. How can they coordinate this, in defiance of locality, when they’re in different places? If the electrons make up their minds at the last minute and they always make opposite decisions, they’re like twins with a telepathic link, if you’ll forgive the analogy. This is “spooky action at a distance”— and Einstein argued strenuously against its existence. To preserve locality (and avoid spooky action at a distance), we’d better hope for realism, which asserts that the electrons all along have the properties we end up measuring.

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For decades, physicists assumed that a local hidden variables theory could, in principle, complement quantum physics, filling in missing information and replacing probabilities with certainties. But the issue seemed academic or philosophical, and not subject to experiment: a local hidden variables theory determines the state of an electron before you measure it. Is it possible to measure the state an electron is in, before it’s measured? Seemingly it is not. In 1964, John Bell made a stunning theoretical discovery, called Bell’s theorem. 3 His original paper languished in obscurity for years, but enthusiasm for his discovery swelled over the course of decades. Bell showed that any local hidden variables theory imposes a constraint on measurable quantities. The constraint on measurable quantities is now called a Bell inequality. If the constraint is violated by measurement, then a local hidden variables theory cannot be valid. Moreover, because quantum physics predicts violations of the Bell inequality, quantum physics is fundamentally incompatible with any local hidden variables theory. So Einstein’s hope was in vain: a local hidden variables theory cannot complement quantum mechanics; it can only contradict it. And since measurable quantities determine whether a Bell inequality is violated or not, an experiment can be performed to determine whether the real world is consistent with quantum mechanics, or with a local hidden variables theory; we can’t have both.

p. 51

Our mistake is the assumption that A, A′, B, and B′ all exist at the same time. Alice can only measure either A or A′; Bob can only measure either B or B′. The quantities that aren’t measured don’t have specific values that we can plug into S=AB+A′B– AB′+A′B′. So S doesn’t exist for a single photon pair. Our belief that S should exist for a single photon pair is really our belief that photon properties exist before we measure them. Experiment contradicts this belief: the measured value of average S exceeds the limits 

p. 72

We now have explicit expressions for all three terms in our Bell inequality: N(30°,0°) ≤ N(0°,60°) + N(30°, −30°), which becomes 3/8 Ntotal  ≤ 1/8 Ntotal + 1/8 Ntotal This simplifies to  3/8 ≤ 2/8,  which is clearly untrue.

p. 122

If I claim that the size of my right foot changes when I measure my left foot, we would expect to observe this directly: when I hold a ruler up to my left foot, we should be able to watch my right foot shrink or expand, or perhaps transform from fuzziness to solidity. Similarly, we want to observe Photon B, both before and after Photon A is measured, to see if anything changes. But then, the first observation of Photon B would be a measurement, which may affect the state of Photon A! My claim is that both photons are transformed by the first observation of either photon. Thus this transformation can never be observed; we can’t perform any observation prior to the first observation. So we can never watch one particle change in response to the measurement of its twin. The innermost workings of nature remain forever out of reach. The quest for complete understanding is always an unscratchable itch. The only fact that’s (almost) certain is that local realism cannot account for measured results. Local realism is defeated by violations of Bell inequalities, which is why local realism is the negative space of quantum physics: local realism is the excluded explanation. If we reject local realism, what’s left? Are the only remaining views of reality mystical? Does quantum mechanics, after all, say something mystical about the universe? We can no longer argue that physics is merely a set of formulas for predicting experimental outcomes, disjoint from philosophical considerations: Bell inequalities show that experiment has overruled a plausible philosophical assumption. There are many alternative assumptions, but none are especially plausible, and all have their partisans.

p. 126

The distinction between realism and counterfactual definiteness becomes clearer if we consider the viewpoint of superdeterminism . According to superdeterminism, there’s no free will. The entire universe is a Rube Goldberg device evolving inexorably along its predetermined course. Every future occurrence, down to the minutest detail, was predetermined at the moment of the Big Bang. Free will is an illusion, and if we believe in this illusion, it’s only because we were predestined to do so.

p. 127

Another viewpoint that undermines counterfactual definiteness is the many- worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this view, all possible outcomes of a measurement are real— in parallel universes! When the measurement is performed, the world splits— the photons are vertically polarized in one world, and horizontally polarized in the other. (I believe adherents of this interpretation prefer different terminology: The only reality is the sum of all possible outcomes. So reality itself isn’t splitting; there are just new branches within the single reality, and we’re conscious of only one of the branches.)

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In another experiment to close the freedom- of- choice loophole, about 100,000 people from around the world generated random numbers. 10 The random numbers were used to set the polarizer angles (or equivalent analyzer settings) in tests of Bell inequalities. Participants generated random numbers by playing a video game online. The Bell inequalities were violated, as usual. We conclude that local realism was defeated: the entangled particles did not have definite properties prior to measurement, or if they did, the measurement of one particle affected the other. Alternatively, a superdeterministic power governed the seemingly random choices of 100,000 people so that their choices corresponded with properties that the entangled particles had prior to measurement. In either case, common sense cannot account for the results.

p. 136

In fact, a favored view among physicists is that reality is a higher-dimensional space. Our ordinary ideas of space and time are inadequate to understand entanglement. To recognize our cognitive limitations, we can imagine a world with fewer dimensions than ours: imagine a society constrained to exist in a flat, geometric plane. The two- dimensional people in this world have no concept of three- dimensional space because they have never experienced it. Now imagine that a three- dimensional titan starts poking the tips of a fork through the two- dimensional world. The fork is poked at random moments through random locations. The two- dimensional people (quivering in terror) perceive the tines of the fork as four isolated, round blobs. They see no possible physical connections among the four blobs; they can completely encircle each blob with a string to prove that it’s isolated from the others. The four blobs always appear at almost the same time, however, and they disappear at almost the same time. Although the two- dimensional scientists can’t predict where or when the blobs will appear, the distance between adjacent blobs is always the same. (Perhaps the blobs expand slightly after they appear, and they shrink before they vanish, but the distance between the centers of the blobs is always the same.) The two- dimensional scientists wonder if the appearance of one blob causes the three other blobs to appear, some distance away. Is this spooky action at a distance? The two- dimensional scientists are scratching their two-dimensional heads. Eventually, an idea forms in their two-dimensional brains. Perhaps the isolation of the blobs is an illusion; perhaps, in an unimaginable higher- dimensional space, the four blobs are part of a unified whole. The properties of one blob don’t influence the properties of any other blob. Instead, the relationships among the blobs exist all along in a higher- dimensional space, which only occasionally intersects the familiar, two- dimensional reality. This is how some physicists explain entanglement: We live in a cross- section of a higher- dimensional reality. Much like the two- dimensional scientists, we cannot intuitively understand causality in the higher dimension. Nicolas Gisin writes, “In a certain sense then, reality is something that happens in another space than our own, and what we perceive of it are just shadows, rather as in Plato’s cave analogy used centuries ago to explain the difficulty in knowing the ‘true reality.’” This is an extraordinary statement. Scientists are stereotyped to equate reality with empirical data, but evidently some scientists equate reality with an invisible higher realm.

p. 144

“Direct observation is the only scientific reality” takes a less extreme, though still brazen, form, in a recent interpretation of quantum mechanics called QBism (pronounced “cubism” to deliberately create a sense of radical departure from established norms). QBism is the abbreviation of “quantum Bayesianism.” In Bayesian statistics, probabilities are updated as new information comes in.

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QBists refuse (humbly? peevishly?) to assign a cause to the observed correlations between entangled photons. The correlations are a fact of nature, and quantum mechanics gives us the math to accurately predict them. Any speculation as to how the correlations come about is outside the scope of physical science. (This approach is sometimes called “shut up and calculate.”) Since QBist physicists don’t speculate about underlying causality, the speculation and discussion must therefore come from ... philosophers ... or from theologians, poets, or science- fiction writers? I don’t permanently encamp with the QBists. But on occasion, QBism feels like an invigorating breeze that clears away a cloying miasma of confusion. QBism fends off the questions of what a particle’s like before measurement, what constitutes a measurement, and what is the underlying deep reality. QBism ejects these questions from the realm of science because they all inquire about something that can never be scientifically determined: the state of an object before it’s observed. It’s not wrong to speculate about what a particle’s like before it’s measured, or to wonder what invisible mechanism enables one photon to always behave like its twin; it’s just that we step outside of QBist science when we speculate about things that can never be directly observed. What happens to objects that no one’s looking at? Does the seemingly solid world dissolve into the phantasms and mirages of our own assumptions and mental images? The visible universe does not completely blink out of QBist existence when we close our eyes; the lapse in observation is filled in by the subjective judgment that the world is still there. QBism preserves our common sense. Quantum mechanics is classified as a prediction tool, not a gateway to ultimate reality. QBism sweeps the cobwebby spookiness out of quantum physics (and into someone else’s discipline). There’s no action at a distance, and there’s no speculation (within physics) about what particles are doing when we’re not looking at them. But we can push this idea in a direction unintended by QBism’s inventors. If we really believe that direct observation is the only reality, then, looking at the night sky is a single truth; observer and observed cannot be logically separated. And the quest to preserve locality leads to unification with everything we see.