#that this one was the proper and correct choice based on that

[wittlesissyb4by]

"Watcha doing, little one? Why are you coming into my room? You know the only reason you're allowed in here is if you need your diaper changed. Are you wet?"

You propped yourself up from your hands and knees so that you could submit to Michelle's humiliating diaper check.

Michelle was your 'Big'. After several drunken disorderlies around campus, and a reputation for sleeping with (and fucking over) several girls at the dorm, you were quickly labeled as a 'problematic student'.

It happens to a lot of incoming Freshman and Sophomores. Their first few years at college, without supervision, some don't know how to handle the freedom and end up abusing it.

So, in an effort to alleviate the problem and keep the campus/dormitory looking good, a program was established to help students better transition into their adult life. These problematic students obviously weren't ready to be adults, and they must need 'parental' supervision because, without it, they apparently didn't know how to behave.

Seniors in good standing would be assigned a 'little' that needed correction. They would monitor, counsel, and sometimes punish their little to make sure they were making proper choices. But, call a spade a spade: they were basically your glorified babysitter.

The program quickly evolved, with each dorm finding more and more...successful methods of rehabilitating their peers.

The powers that be at the University simply looked the other way. After all, constantly expelling students made them look bad, they couldn't develop a reputation for constantly admitting delinquents, and hazing was something that happened all the time anyway. So, they decided to leave each dorm to their own devices.

Unfortunately for you, the device at your dorm was quite possibly the most humiliating of them all. They called it the 'Crinkle Correction'. They said it served as a way to 'start fresh', by starting you over in big, fat, crinkly diapers.

You had little choice in the matter. At only 20 years of age, the citations you received for drinking could get you expelled, or worse, put in jail. Girls around campus could file reports that you abused/assaulted them (even though you didn't), and it would ruin your reputation and any chances of landing a good job. Your only choice was to man up and take it.

"My goodness you are wet!" Michelle exclaimed. "Look how plump and puffy your pamper is!"

You flushed as you knelt in front of her, wearing nothing but your soggy diaper, feeling her grope and poke every square inch of the front in order to emphasize her point.

After she was certain that your cheeks couldn't get any redder, she placed the tip of her finger into your waistband, and gently pulled back.

"D'awww! Why is it crying?" she cooed as she peeked inside, referring to your caged cock. Michelle thought it was the perfect solution to keep you from fucking every girl on campus (as if the diapers wouldn't serve the exact same purpose), "you're leaking chastity tears!" she giggled, wiggling her hips in her sweatshirt with nothing but panties underneath. She knew it drove you crazy, she liked watching you clench your legs in an attempt to stem the flow to your crotch.

She circled you, watching you tremble. You wondered if other Bigs were as dominant as her, as demeaning, or did you get unlucky in that regard too?

"Did you go poo poo too?" she sneered in her sinister voice, circling you like a lioness around her prey.

"Y-yes ma'am..." you whimpered.

Frumpp!!

A swift kick to the back of your droopy diaper, her foot perfectly landing at the base of your balls. It wasn't her first time. You groaned and collapsed forward on your hands and knees.

"Tell me." She hissed into your ear. "Tell me what you did in your diaper."

"I went poo poo's in my pampers, Mommy!!" you whined into the floor, trying your best not to sob in front of her. She'd made you call her 'Mommy' since the first day she 'adopted' you.

"Awww!! Is that what that stench is?" She asked, as if she didn't know it as soon as you crawled in. She probably could have smelled you from down the hallway.

"Yes Mommy!!" you blubbered, losing your composure. "Sorry for stinking up your room!! B-baby needed to make a boom boom!"

It was pathetic. Pitiful. But you told yourself this was your only chance of staying in college and landing a solid career.

"Hmmm...well I'm sorry, little one, but you know I don't change dirties. You're gonna have to go find an RF for that..." But that didn't stop her from pressing her hand to your padded behind and mushing the mess into your backside while you cringed and whimpered.

RF's were 'ReFormed' students that had already made it through their semester of Crinkle Correction. Having to change dirty diapers served as a reminder of what they'd been through, and how easily they could go back if they ever decide to slip up again.

You obviously knew this. You'd had to make several crawls of shame through the hallways to one of the RF's rooms. But Michelle insisted that you come show her your filthy diapers first.

"Off you go," she said, taking the pacifier dangling from your neck and putting it back in your mouth. She smiled triumphantly, turning back to finally find some bottoms to put on.

Dismissed, you begrudgingly made your way out the door.

"Come back later, loser." she called after you. "I've got some girlfriends coming over. We'll play dress-up and turn you into a wittle baby gurl!"

As if. You thought. No way you would subject yourself to that level of humiliation! But she must have read your mind.

"If you do, and you're a good wittle pwincess, I might let you borrow my vibrator!"

God damnit. You thought. I'll be there.

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

This was an exclusive caption on my SubStar for the past 6 months. Go there to get more captions you won't see anywhere else, full access to all of my stories, and help a great cause (my electricity bill)!!

[yandere-daydreams]

tw - overblot!malleus, obsessive behavior, delusional thoughts, i do not know what's going on in chapter seven but the dragon is hot so this is based mostly if not completely on vibes and lust.

This might have been the most lovely Malleus had ever seen you.

Not that you ever weren't lovely. He had thought, from the very moment that your paths collided, that you were one of the most exquisite human specimens he'd ever encountered, charming in your naivety, precious in your unwitting brazenness. Your encounters were few and far between, but he treasured each minute he spent in your company, held those moments aloft in his memory in way beings with lifespans like his own could rarely afford to. You were always lovely. He would loathe himself for implying that you weren't.

But, like this, you were magnificent. Posed on his throne, bedecked in patterned lace and lengths of silk, a silver tiara resting on your head - the only proper ornament for the companion of a King. Your eyes are closed, your sleep as deep and as still as that of those already in the loving embrace of Death, but he can imagine how beautifully they'd sparkle if you were awake, how happy you'd be that you've been chosen to stay closest to his side in this utopia of his creation. You would never abandon him, as Lilia proved to be so willing to. You would never betray him, never turn your back to him, never leave him cold and bleeding and so, so agonizingly alone.

He's made sure that you won't have to suffer for his company, either. He'll spend as much time as he can with you, sure, holding you in his lap and dragging his talons over your parted lips, but when he is forced to leave your side, he knows the testaments to his affection will stay with you, that the thorns winding up your arms and legs will keep you safe even when he cannot. He knows that, if you'd had time to make such a choice, you would not have shied away from his new form the way the others had, would have listened to him as he explained how he planned to correct the world that had done nothing but fallen out from beneath his feet with this newfound strength. He knows you would've continued to love him, awake or asleep, just as he continues to love you.

This is, truly, the most lovely you've ever been.

And because of Malleus, you will never have to be anything else ever again.

[read-write-thrive]

part 1 (both girls in their full outfits) ; part 2 (Edwina in several other outfits/sketches) ; part 3 (the companion to this piece aka Edwina getting ready :)

part 4 of my fem!payneland fanart series!!!! as I talked about with the poll, I have quite a few variations of this piece as I couldn’t make up my mind on a few of the elements, but I listened to your feedback and have included them all here !! the winner of the poll is above the cut with the rest of the variations below to hopefully make this not take up too much of your dash lol

lmk what you think - especially people who voted on the poll!! I’ve also included my thought process below the cut since I know y’all are interested :)

- first and foremost: I have absolutely no idea what order someone would get ready in with all these outfit components, so if you’re sitting here like “why is her makeup done when she has to pull a shirt over her head?” or something like that: you’re probably correct but my getting ready process is always chaos and there aren’t exactly articles on this sort of thing

- along with that: her straightening her hair is probably not accurate to how hair works but again I’ve got v little experience to pull from and trying to find a proper reference was a pain in the ass

yes her bra is fully rendered and then got covered up by her arm. I'm still mad that I did that to myself but I like the pose too much to change it so oh well

- (onto actual historical stuff!!)

- her hair is being straightened here despite straight not being in style during this era for several reasons:

1. I based her hair (and a lot of her style, as per part 1) on Rhoda Dakar of the band The Bodysnatchers, which was an all-female band that was part of the ska revival in the late 70s/early 80s. Rhoda Dakar in particular is a British artist (who’s still making music!) with an English mother and Jamaican father—so not only was she one of the only women of color I could find as part of this subgenre/in ths era/with plenty of photo references, but considering Jayden Revri is Jamaican and English (alongside Indian) himself I thought it was fitting! Her Bodysnatchers look is also much more femme leaning than the rest of the band, as well as her hair styled in a way that suggests straightening, so I carried that over to Charlotte here as well.

2. On a related note, there is a clear historical and modern difference in hairstyles worn/made popular/deemed fashionable by non-white versus white individuals and I thought it only appropriate to acknowledge that in my design of her. I even went so far as to research how her mom’s hair may have been styled since I assume that’s who would’ve been teaching her how to care for her hair in the first place. With that, I looked at popular Indian hair trends from the 60s (figuring that’s when Charlotte’s mom could’ve still been in India and following those trends) which also involved a preference for straight/wavy hair, with soft fringe made popular by Sadhana and the styles ranging from long and luscious to styled up into a very 60s beehive. Charlotte could easily also rock a beehive, especially since the 60s revival was a part of the ska revival movement and Dakar herself styled her hair as such, but I figured Charlotte is a little too much of a rebellious teenager to go for a look she’s seen her mom wear!

- her makeup is based off of the different members of The Bodysnatchers as well as other punk/ska fans at the time. The look usually required more blush that what I gave her here, but I wanted to make sure the eyes were the feature (since Charles wears eyeliner himself) and then the lips being any less just looked weird to me. Also, Dakar doesn't seem to wear the same heavy blush that the other members do, which could be a stylistic choice but could also be the potential lack of blush shades that would work well on her skin tone, so I went that route for Charlotte here

- her underwear is all based off of meticulous searching of historical advertisements, though I will admit the sources are (presumably) American since I couldn't find British equivalents (I'm hoping the styles were similar enough...) in particular:

1. Her bra is based off of: Playtex’s New Made for Me, Playtex’s Right For Me, and Playtex’s Thank Goodness It Fits (which are seriously the names of these as per the ads—how creative /s)

2. Her panties (or pants or underwear or whatever term you want to use) are based off of: Sears Best’s Nylon tricot panties, Sears Very Impressive Panties Nylon panties, and JCPenny’s eiderlon fashion panties

3. (In the below variations) Her pantyhose are theoretically based on L’eggs and Spirit by Stevens’s Slim & Slender pantyhose. But, honestly, they’re mostly based on my own experience wearing hose bc almost none of the ads showed how the gusset of the pantyhose actually looked so I needed to fill in the gaps (one of the many reasons I’m still unhappy with them—plus the wrinkles would not look right no matter what I did !!)

4. Her socks are called slouch socks! I don’t have a specific brand for them but the style was all the rage in the 80s-90s (and I want to own some so bad ngl)

- the hair straightener is just a blob based on the reference photo since trying to research historical hair tools was beyond me at the time apparently, but the style of outlet/plug is accurate to Britain in 1989 so there’s that at least (I have no idea why my brain works like this)

- since I talked about it in the poll I feel like I should address it here: technically having a bush was well out of fashion by 1989 due to the grooming boom and new types of hair removal popular throughout the 80s and 90s. However, she’s wearing multiple layers over it and is technically a teenager (in an abusive household and a catholic all-girls school, at that) so I kept going back and forth on it. It won the poll so it’s in the main post, but you’ll see in the below variations that I really went back and forth on it. that being said I do think it’s interesting given her nylon pants being semi-sheer besides at the gusset, so I’m not mad at it. plus I figured she was definitely shaving her legs/underarms, so maybe that balances it out ?

and finally here’s the other seven variations of this piece :) lmk what you think!!

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 7/16/2024

how your backyard hurricane go, the houston area? pretty good it doesn't seem

to be clear other than losing everything in my fridge and developing some mold around the windowframes IM personally fine and so are the girls and so is the lair. we lost power sunday afternoon and got it back friday morning (upside down smiley emoji x16)

listening

THREE CANONICALLY BISEXUAL CLUB BANGERS!!! also, trying out a new thing with spotify and youtube videos for songs bc my readership is about 70/30 and i want to streamline the process of actually listening to new music for ppl. it must be really annoying this week but that's bc there's three songs. sorry. it will rarely be this long

anyway.

ANXIETY by Lilyisthatyou is new to me, off the spotify autogenerated dance playlist. a chiller groove in the spelling-things-out genre of dance music. VERY flashy-lights music vid fyi

Why do I feel so alone? Does it show That I'm dancing to fill the void with pretty girls and pretty boys?

i know about kesha's joyride bc i happen to be an alive queer woman. im SO happy kesha is also alive and making music more regularly. this one is canonically bisexual bc kesha is bisexual. also a really flashy-lights lyric video. the most classically recession-pop/early KESHA sound of all three tuesdaysongs this week. im always fascinated when an accordion shows up.

Rev my engine ’til you make it purr Keep it kinky, but I come first Beep-beep, bitch, I'm outside Get in, loser, for the joyride

thank u new releases spotify playlist. also canonically bisexual bc the singer is, also an early KESHA feel but she is a metal artist first and foremost. very fun to headbang to at a stop light. i don't totally Love how it's an emasculating song but given how dudes in the metal scene generally are? i think she should make it more emasculating actually

Take you down a peg (And peg and peg and peg) If you're a macho man then beg (And beg and beg and beg) Bend you over the bed (The bed the bed the bed) It's time to take you down a peg (And peg and peg and peg)

-

reading

fun fact i still haven't seen this movie. i got this from the library the day before the hurricane proper and it gave me a really lovely two hours of not thinking about the active hurricane the day after. enormous format photographs! full-length shots of every look! ithe little personal notes from each designer were so fun to read, and i think this genuinely healed my heart a little. everyone was so excited to go into detail about what choices they made and what inspired them, and even though i would have loved more specific construction details, specific fiber types, and full-length shots of the Back of every look, i recognize i am a freak.

-

watching

watched a truly bonkers assortment of films at my bestie's house this week. her husband is big into godzilla and i sat down not really paying attention or planning to pay attention to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024, dir. Wingard) but found myself actually paying attention. i unfortunately was a character i hate, Person Who Stops The Movie Halfway Through To Demand A Recap. loved these guys, whatever the fuck they were

the most fun thing about this movie is that it is not a silent film but it acts like one. there are long, long stretches of movie without dialogue bc all the political action is happening between a bunch of giant monkeys. this is going to sound like im damning it with faint praise but they really thought carefully about directorial and artistic choices here! there was a vision and they executed it! it's fun to look at and not just because there's a big monkey in most of the shots!

-

playing

got a look at characters for the new fire-themed land coming up this fall. ppl are understandably big mad that the land is based on Ring of Fire cultures and everyone is paper-white. i think it is correct to be mad and ask them to do better, and they have tweaked designs before release before, however, i don't think this will bring about a sea change in gacha games.

i am rolling along clearing out map markers and achievement hunting and my GOD are there a lot of time-gated achievements in inazuma (electricity-themed legally-not-japan). so so so many of them i originally got halfway through or did 1/5 and then wandered off bc i didn't realize there was a quest or achievement locked behind doing something for three or five days in a row. i now have a post-it on the corner of my monitor with nine different things i have to keep checking in on this week. please someone give me a REAL JOB!!!!!!

-

making

cross stitch progress. this was the only thing i did last week aside from shake like a chihuahua and sleep. very slow going! may have to ship the package off to my brother with an IOU bc it is already stressfully late.

made the bean influencer soup (creamy miso coconut butter beans). i made a batch before the hurricane last week so most of my notes are from then. the grocery did not have canned butter beans so i made the same thing (big lima beans) from dry. i have not made beans from dry since i was very small. these beans were so large, so pale, so aggressive.

changes: i was able to find a little carton of straight coconut cream at the grocery but they were out of miso paste. i did have miso soup mix and plopped that in. i also used frozen spinch bc it’s cheaper and i felt better about it than the somewhat questionable fresh spinch on offer. also used two onions instead of one and a hearty dollop of minced jarred garlic bc who do u think i even fucking am. i would have loved to use fresh dill, bc i did plant some and it was growing very well, but the caterpillars were very intense and ate almost everything on my balcony.

going in the rotation! im making it AGAIN as im typing up this post! pretty cheap, very tasty, i don't regularly keep butter beans or coconut cream in my pantry but that can change!

[lemonwood31]

Character voice is obviously a tricky thing to get right, and I think about it a lot when I’m writing: how to make the character’s dialogue sound like them. One of the voices I think about most is Karlach’s, because I think her voice is a lot harder to get right than it seems on the surface.

I would say that the most distinctive feature of her voice is that it’s class-coded, and yet that class coding is actually more subtle than it seems at first. Her voice is clearly meant to reflect her background of growing up poor / working class: of all the quite proper-sounding companions, she stands out as sounding the most informal, the least posh. There are a few ways I think this is done: one is through slang and colloquialisms. She says things like ‘these guys’ and ‘wait a sec’ and ‘oh man’ and ‘hang on’. She calls people ‘pal’ and ‘buddy’ and ‘soldier’. She uses the occasional colourful turn of phrase like ‘go ape-smash’. And of course, she swears a lot. The second way I think she’s class-coded is less about word choice and more about tone, and that’s in her enthusiasm and bluntness, which of course contrast with the deliberately reserved, stiff-upper-lip tone of quote-unquote Queen’s English. And the third is through her accent and pronunciation features, like replacing ‘t’s with glottal stops (‘star’ed’ instead of ‘started’).

The thing that’s tricky about it, though, is that slang phrases and the occasional ‘gotta’ aside, everything she says is actually pretty grammatically correct. Her main grammatical feature, I think, is skipping words at the start of the sentence: as an example from one of her location lines, ‘Funny symbol on this prayer sheet. Hidden away for any special reason?’ (instead of ‘there’s a funny symbol... has it been hidden away’). She does this a whole lot; it’s really noticeable when you look through her party banter all at once. But the remainder of her sentences are actually quite proper and formal-English-sounding. And I think it’s easy to get tripped up and use the wrong class-coding features, making her less grammatically correct than she actually is or using eye dialect to give her pronunciation quirks that she doesn’t really have.

I also have a theory that her dialogue can be tricky because she sounds like such a type that you can end up accidentally coding her as the version of that type that’s right for your own part of the world, but which doesn’t ring true when her voice is based on British English. As an example, when I write her I have to keep googling her slang terms to check whether they’re regionally specific to my area – and a lot of the time they are, and they’re distinct not just to my area but to a certain social class. As another example, I’ve read more than one fanfic where I’ve found her voice jarring because it sounds American to me, and I wonder if that’s because the authors are giving her the features of speech that correspond to an American class archetype that Karlach might be from if she were Faerûn-American instead of Faerûn-English.

[laurelwen]

Martin McKenzie and Alex Forbes

I've been having a think about McKenzie, since he doesn't get a lot of attention. I tend to dismiss him because he represents a few tropes that I can't stand: the cocky, belligerent cop who runs on "gut instincts" that turn out to be correct. It's an archetype you find in a lot of media, and it always bugs me because I don't want this douchebag to be correct. He's also shown as a foil to Sally in an extremely sexist dynamic, which I discuss more here.

Setting aside the tired tropes and the sexist BS for a moment, I wanted to ask the question: why exactly is McKenzie SO absolutely sure that Alex is guilty from get go? My answer: because in fact, Alex and McKenzie are cut from the same cloth. I think Martin is Alex as he would be if he remained within the system, having made an uneasy truce with the rules but failing to be completely comfortable within those boundaries.

When you really compare them, their mannerisms are incredibly similar. Both of them sit the same, with a casual slouch that speaks to a certain insouciance. They aren't interested in presenting themselves as conforming to expected proper formality. In Alex, this is presented as a facet of teenage rebellion, while in Martin it suggests the maverick cop who bucks the system. These traits arise from the same type of personality.

When confronted with their own wrongdoing, both react by hiding their hands in their pockets, a signal that they are feeling defensive and/or guilty. Alex keeps his hands in his pockets the entire time he interacts with his father and with McKenzie, from the beginning to the end of each scene, while standing, sitting, and walking. McKenzie puts his hands in his pockets while Sally chews him out for punching Alex.

Both of them seem to have a certain level of oral fixation. Alex chews incessantly on his pen while struggling with his homework. McKenzie commits crimes against coffee by biting his styrofoam cup edges consistently, and he also has a smoking habit. These compulsions are often a response to stress--both are in stressful circumstances/lifestyles and both seem to lack any healthy outlets for their stress.

Alex and Martin share one other key trait: volatility and aggression. In circumstances where someone is antagonizing them, they both become angry and lash out with physical violence against the source of this antagonism.

I think Martin is particularly annoyed by Alex because they are so similar. I also offer this conjecture: perhaps he is firmly convinced that Alex is "an evil little fucker" because he senses a certain kinship with Alex, and that allows him to understand what kind of person Alex is and what he might be capable of.

Based on their other similarities, Martin could believably share Alex's darker impulses or tendencies as well. It's not uncommon for people with violent and aggressive personalities to seek out professions where they are allowed or even encouraged to vent those urges, and law enforcement is one of the most obvious choices. Though he might not have acted upon it in the same way, perhaps he recognizes this shared darkness and is therefore able to read Alex in a way that Sally cannot. Perhaps he looks at Alex and sees a mirror reflecting the darkest parts of himself back at him.

[Like Minds Masterpost]

[mongoosefangs]

Fursuit Camp 2024: Introduction

Hey, welcome to Fursuit Camp '24! If you're here, hopefully you're ready to follow along and make a suit at home- or maybe you just want to watch? Either way, before we dive in to the process, let's talk a little about what kind of fursuit we're going to be making!

First and foremost- there is no right or wrong way to make a fursuit.

There are countless styles, materials, and methods, and any number of reasons why you might prefer one over another. I've been making these things for a little under a decade; there are resources available now I never would have imagined seven or eight years ago, and who knows what tomorrow will bring? There are some insanely innovative people out there creating fursuits. There are also folks who do this for an entire living wage. I'm just a hobbyist, and I'm not here to tell you this is the one true correct way to make a fursuit. This is just how I do it!

The process I'm going to show you is a partial fursuit (head, handpaws, and tail) built on an upholstery foam base with a (non-moving) static jaw and (flat) 2D eyes. I'll be making teeth and claws out of polymer clay. The entire thing will be hand sewn.

Not that there's anything wrong with them- but if you're interested in plastic or resin heads, moving jaws, 3D following eyes, how to use a sewing machine, or anything else not listed here, this may not be the build for you!

It's not the most high tech, but it works pretty well for me. And hopefully it will work well for you too- especially if you are limited on funds, equipment, or working space. I'm aiming this demonstration to be as beginner-friendly as possible with no huge startup costs. If you already own a pair of scissors and a hot glue gun, great, there's two out of three major tools taken care of.

Except for maybe the fur fabric itself, ideally you can find most of the stuff you'll need at your local Wally World, craft store, and/or dollar store. I'm also a big fan of thrifted materials wherever possible. You might need to be a little more resourceful if you're not in the US, I can't speak for the supply chain everywhere, but hopefully nothing on the shopping list will be too hard to find. You can probably expect to spend about $200 USD on this project as presented, though a lot will depend on your individual choices. Fur might be the only major expense. And heck, you might not even use fur! But we'll get to that in a few days with our first instruction post :)

Next time, Fursuit Camp '24 starts proper!

[alillttn]

The Genshin drama with Natlan really is something to marvel at. On one hand, you have a Chinese developer with Chinese beauty standards having to constantly please the Chinese playerbase (they gave ten pulls for rolling back the Neuvilette bc the CN players threatened to report them to the CCP), and on the other hand, you have English-speaking players raising concerns about the racial representation about a region that was supposedly based on Africa/Mesoamerica. While it's understandable that it might have just been tone-deaf design, it's still important to give a region and its characters proper representation.

Although, as a writer, it's not the story-writer's obligation to change elements of a story they don't want. Ultimately, it would be better if these changes were made, but Hoyoverse has the last say on what elements are changed or not. The reason why I absolutely despise most political correctness companies like Sweet Baby Inc. is because they do not care about the artistic merit of a work and push an agenda in a place where it doesn't make sense. Not to say that all political correctness consultants are like that, but having the original vision of a story changed just to fit an agenda will only cause the story to collapse in on itself

However, it makes sense to make characters from an Africa/Mesoamerica-based region resemble the people who inhabit said region. Hoyoverse delves into heavy research when creating regions to a surprisingly profound degree, and it's a shame that such detailed settings represent the culture well, but the characters who inhabit the setting don't.

From even the trailers alone, it's safe to say that Hoyoverse put a lot of work into Natlan, but the choice of misrepresenting the people was the one avoidable mistake that they ignored. Hopefully, this will get resolved soon, but don't expect much from Hoyoverse. It's also safe to lower your expectations since this is Hoyoverse, and Hoyoverse doesn't listen to its players, but you absolutely *MUST* keep your standards high.

As a note, I've also noticed a lot of extreme opinions on this topic, where one side's defending Hoyoverse, while the other side is rightfully criticizing for something that was, at best, a tone-deaf choice, and at worst, whitewashing. It is necessary to *NEVER* lean on one end of the extreme or the other. The internet doesn't exactly encourage nuance, but most things aren't just black or white. The truth has multiple sides, and it's ill-advised to put your entire being on one of them. Keep an open, but reasonable mind, and stay safe.

[bengiyo]

Living With Him Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

Last week, things got awkward for Natsukawa as he didn't know how to be around Kazuhito anymore. Natsukawa got some help from Haruna, who also meddled to make sure these two connected properly. Kazuhito struggled with trying to be normal around Natsukawa, and things finally broke over cup noodles. We left at the two of them agreeing to go on a camping trip together.

Oh lord they went camping for the first time based purely on research only one of them did. They're definitely gonna get ants.

Ah, Natsukawa wants to be seen as competent here and Kazuhito keeps figuring things out.

Boy, why would you bring a flint and steel? We have lighters.

Mhmm, both of them defeated, now they need to be saved by cute girls.

Is Natsukawa jealous of these girls? Baby boy, Kazuhito is GAY. He doesn't want those girls going near YOU.

...has Kazuhito never peeled an onion??

Kebab is so satisfying. Excellent food choice.

I am noticing that these boys only have a tarp. Is there no tent??

Natsukawa, do not joke about not getting a proper finale. I am so sensitive about that right now.

Oh ho. They both got awkward about Kazuhito calling him Ryota. I really love the way Sato Ryuga moves as Kazuhito.

Yoshi is kind of a menace. I like it.

I love Kazuhito. He's so aware of his own feelings. Wanting Natsukawa to be jealous without having to test him is so correct.

Yes, Yoshi, get my boy the fuck out of there!

Oh hell yeah, plot rain! No fireworks tonight. We cannot light the spark of this relationship today.

He's all wet. Get him into the shower immediately!

I like how direct Natsukawa gets when he's frustrated.

Kazuhito you are too big, bro. Get in the tub!

Looks like next week is going to feature a bunch of flashbacks while Kazuhito is sick.

We slowed down a little bit this week, but I'm enjoying that the turn for Natsukawa is in wanting to be relied upon by Kazuhito. That feels so right for his character. I like the timing of this before Kazuhito gets sick and is vulnerable.

[thestupidhelmet]

I guess I just can’t imagine feeling that entitled and forgetting that I’m just a fan. As a creator myself I can’t rly imagine how I’d react if someone was like excuse me no, I know your art and your characters better than you do akshuallllly

I believe framing it as entitlement is the wrong way to think about it.

I can speak only for myself, but I see a variety of different but still canon or in-character ways for characters to develop. Not any of them is necessarily "right," which is to say not the One True and Only Path a character might take.

But whatever path a fictional character does take needs to be a path that character would take based on their personality, goals, emotional wounding, flaws, internal and external stressors. I don't have to like the path, but if it's one that doesn't break the fictional dream, I'll believe the character is capable of making that particular choice.

An example from That '70s Show. Jackie and Fez developing a romantic relationship is an in-character possibly in season 2 because of the episode "Eric and Kitty's Night Out". Had Jackie's development continued in the direction that episode points her, it would have led to a romantic arc between her and Fez. I wouldn't have liked it, but I would have accepted it as canon because the path made character sense at that time.

(But every episode after "Eric and Kitty's Night Out" provides a different context for Jackie's "realization" that she likes Fez romantically. Those post-episodes both corroborate the episodes preceding "Eric and Kitty's Night Out" that depict Jackie's non-romantic interest in Fez and show directly and indirectly that her "realization" is a misguided interpretation of her feelings of jealousy. Donna helps Jackie jump to her initial conclusion, but Jackie soon understands that she is jealous of the attention Fez gives to his girlfriend instead of her. She's not romantically attracted to him. She craves his worship.)

Had Jackie developed romantic feelings for Eric, however, on the show, I'd call, "Foul!" because it would be completely out of character for both of them. Jackie consistently expresses that she does not find Eric aesthetically or sexually attractive. Further, she's directly depicted as being sexually repulsed by him. Eric is shown to feel similarly about her except in the season 5 episode where Hyde convinces Eric that Jackie is "hot" when her personality is taken out of the equation.

But, generally, Jackie plays an antagonistic sibling role to Eric whenever Laurie isn't on the show. Eric even uses the same specific devil and hell insults on Jackie as he does Laurie, minus the slut-shaming.

Despite that I find the Jackie/Eric romantic intriguing, I can't consider it a canon, in-character pairing because it's simply not. My personal interests don't distort my writer's/reader's eye.

Speaking of equations, good writing does have a math-like aspect to it. 2 + 2 = 4. A character's personality, goals, trauma, flaws, established behavior + internal and external stressors = a character's choices. When I see in a show that the writing depicts two plus two as equaling five (character-wise), it's glaring.

I know that two plus two equals four, and pointing it out does not come from a place of entitlement but of a desire for truth. In the case of fiction, character and emotional truth. I want to correct the equation, but in fiction X can represent different but equally valid numbers to solve the equation.

A show's writers, unfortunately, too often put an invalid number for X that doesn't solve the character equation but collapses it in favor of a plot they want to pursue or any other reason that is not based on proper writing technique. Consistent characterization is an inconvenience they ignore.

A story (in whatever medium) must make sense. In college and selective post-college writing workshops, the students' (and teacher) are tasked with finding the flaws in their peers' stories, what breaks the fictional dream. We must, in our own writing and that of others', be aware of the characters' development and arc(s). What is working and why. What isn't working and why. Again, to make sure the story's equation is solved organically and logically.

In The Office (US), Greg Daniels (the creator and showrunner for most seasons and the final season) decided that Jim and Pam would separate in the final season and not reconcile until the last episode. John Krasinski (the actor who played Jim) was very tuned into the audience's reaction to the Jim/Pam storyline and saw that it wasn't good.

John told this to Greg and said that he worried Greg's plan (already written and partially filmed) would essentially destroy the show for the fans. They wouldn't be able to rewatch it happily, having experienced a traumatizing end for their favorite pairing.

Fortunately, the show's creator listened to John, to the fans, did a reshoot of the end of one already completed episode and re-edited under the wire then had the last few episodes rewritten to reflect Jim and Pam's reconciliation. This was absolutely the correct, in-character choice -- because the fans recognized a flaw in the equation, not the creator, and John (the actor) also recognized the flaw.

This wasn't the first time John objected to a character development on The Office. He also nixed the John-kisses-Cathy storyline proposed in season 8. He said the audience would never forgive Jim for cheating on Pam in any way. It's out of character for Jim, and instead the show depicts him as doing everything he can think of to get away from her in his Tallahassee hotel room. Again, someone who was not the writer knew better what a show's character would canonically do.

For John Krasinski and Leonard Nimoy, their fidelity was to the characters they portrayed. For many fans, including myself, it's the same. A sense of entitlement is not what I feel. I recognize when characters are written against their natures and want the equation to be corrected. TV showrunners and writers have a lot of external forces weighing on them from the industry and/or personal ambitions that undermine the characters they created or are tasked to write.

A sense of entitlement would entail, for instance, being blind (wilfully or ignorantly) to or simply not caring about character consistency so that the characters they ship become romantically involved on the shows they watch. Justifying their desire not with facts (i.e. what the characters actually say and do on a show) but with distortions and misinterpretations. Then attacking the showrunners and writers for not catering to their desires.

That '90s Show does not depict That '70s Show's canonical future (no idea if this is the reason for your asks, Anon, but it's relevant to the conversation). Canonical, well- and long-established facts from T7S are changed, distorted, or erased to create T9S's fictional dream. T9S is not a corollary of T7S's equation. It's a different equation altogether, using some of the same numbers but in different ways.

That's a fact, substantiated by statements made by T9S's creator Gregg Mettler and the show itself, and it's also not a problem as long as fans recognize -- in T7S's series director's statement about T7S S8 -- that T9S "is an alternative universe". In other words, not canon to T7S.

I enjoy That '90s Show as it's own thing, but I neither consider it or am satisfied by it as a canonical future for That '70s Show from both a fan's perspective and as an author.

[homestuckreplay]

she seems like a pretty regular girl to me!

(page 651-663)

9/17/2009 Wheel Spin: Captchalogue Lore Verdict: ????????

9/18/2009 Wheel Spin: Parent Bad :( Verdict: Well I’d take Dad over Big Imp any day and I think John would agree.

9/19/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: John, Mid-Ogre Ambush: 'haha where are my trick handcuffs?'

3 days’ worth of pages here because work has been eating me alive and time to write about Homestuck has been tragically limited. I will keep this so so short and focus only on what’s really important.

Currently, John is facing down two adversaries. One is the Crude Ogres, the physical challenge, and the other is GG, the mental challenge. I am delighted to learn that these higher level enemies are called ogres so that I can stop referring to them as Big Imp.

‘Hanging from the tree is your TIRE SWING. In a kid's yard, a tree without a tire swing is like a proper gentleman without a monocle. That is to say, HE CAN HARDLY BE CONSIDERED A TERRIBLY PROPER GENTLEMAN AT ALL.’ This is from page 27 (!!) and now on page 663, one of the ogres has stolen the swing and equipped tireswingkind. I guess any semblance of this still being John’s yard and John’s house is gone. The other ogre has taken Sassacre’s, while the imps have plundered the magic chest. I guess I’m thinking about how everything in John’s home that means something to him is now being used to hurt him, how he doesn’t get a place of respite or even a safe place to keep his possessions, which only highlights the need for the captchalogue system – for John and as a part of the story.

I’m so excited about Dark Kingdom Politics based on how the small imps are scared of the big imps. Thinking of them as chess pieces, it would not be correct to say that pawns are scared of rooks and bishops, as in chess no piece can threaten another piece of the same color. But seeing them as soldiers from a ‘kingdom entrenched in darkness’ (p.424) engaged in a war against the light, this fear does make sense, suggesting a more complex social order and NPCs with an inner life and a motivation beyond ‘grab object and attack.’

With that in mind, ‘You stop being the imp because that was stupid’ (p.657) is too hasty, I think that command giver was onto something. Your name is PAWN #413. As was previously mentioned you are AN IMP. A number of your SIBLINGS are scattered around this house. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for SILLY HATS. etc. I am being silly but I really would like to get their perspective, especially if it complicates the binary of light and darkness in ways that might affect John’s choices further in the game.

But the real star of these ogre pages is the visuals. The ogres are comically big, to the point where it’s hard to get a scale of how big in comparison to John. Seeing John’s house from a bunch of different vantage points, and then seeing a single toe curling in through the window or a hand slamming down from the roof as imps react in terror. I really enjoy quickly flicking through all these different angles of the house. I think this section would be cool as an animation too, like a faster paced version of the one on page 250 – I don’t know which version I’d like better but it’d be fun to compare.

The Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff on page 663 suggests we’ll cut back to Dave now, who, like John, is preparing for a dangerous rooftop encounter. Goodbye for now John <3

On page 651 we are treated to the LONG AWAITED GARDENGNOSTIC REVEAL!!!! We just get her silhouette (and pronouns, on the next page) so while I think the spikes on her head are just messy hair, it could also be a fun hat. This is a low bar to clear I’ll admit, but so much media has a lot more male characters than female, so I do appreciate Homestuck keeping things more balanced among the leads.

John’s dreams are represented in clouds. The two other places we’ve seen clouds are above John’s house before he was transported to the Medium (for example, p.82) and surrounding Skaia as it is described by Nannasprite (p.422-423). So it’s kind of like John is able to see all the way to Skaia in his dreams, and he sees his dad, a birthday cake, a box of Gushers, a harlequin emblem, Slimer, Harry Anderson, and finally his friend gardenGnostic. We then get a quick flash through the Sburb installation screen, a pumpkin, and a spirograph, as John suddenly wakes. Seeing the installation screen is especially wild – it’s like Sburb is reloading in his mind as he wakes.

Getting the GG sighting almost felt like a ‘be careful what you wish for’ moment, because John’s conversation with her on page 652 is the most frustrating thing I’ve ever read. If someone tried to message me like this I would block them. In past conversations GG has seemed mysterious, now she’s just obnoxious, and I don’t know if she’s reacting to John saying she ‘seems like a pretty regular girl’ and is trying to prove him wrong, or if there’s another reason.

For example, there are definite inconsistencies in how she talks about the meteor that might have been near her house, and possibly other things too. In the first Pesterlog we see between GG and John (p.169) she says ‘GG: there was a loud noise outside my house!! GG: it sounded like an explosion!!!!’ and also asks John what Sburb is, and if he got her package. On page 293, GG reports back and says that she ‘went to investigate the explosion’ and confirms that it was a meteor, describing it as ‘pretty big’ while not being allowed to get too close.

Then things start getting weird. On page 382, GG tells Dave about her present for John, saying that ‘GG: he will not open it GG: he will lose it!!!’ Based on timezones this conversation takes place 49 minutes before the earlier one with John. On page 442, GG gives Rose the tip about Sburb’s ability to resurrect Jaspers the cat, although does not mention Sburb by name.

Both of these stand out, but have plausible explanations. But what really tests the limits of possibility is this new conversation on page 652, in which GG says she ‘was confused’ about the meteor, ‘fell asleep for a while’ and ‘lost track of time’, that the meteor is ‘hard to explain’ but she ‘know[s] what it is now’ and strangest of all, ‘and now i know everythings going to be ok!!!’

????????

So originally I was wondering if GG might be two people, twins perhaps, one who has a psychic connection with a god or other powerful entity and one who doesn’t. That doesn’t explain how an explosion (that could be confused for a meteor) could prophesize good fortune, though. What might explain it is a UFO crash, manned by aliens who were somehow able to share some knowledge with GG. Given John’s movies, it is about time we got some aliens in this story. Honestly I’m pretty lost and don’t have a solid theory that explains everything even after sitting on it for a few days, but Rose and Dave are right. There’s something weird going on with this girl.

[kxowledge]

What's your skincare routine currently?

I actually spent the other week taking stock of how my current routine was working and deciding if I needed to change anything, so I have a lot to say on this

AM:

Wash face with water

(extra step for wintertime) Avène thermal water

Serum with antioxidants and niacinamide: just switched from facetheory Colloidal-C Anti-Redness Toner, which I got in hope of reducing redness (did nothing for me) back to facetheory’s Cera-C Pore Reducing Toner, which actually makes my skin look great. It has 5% niacinamide and a vitamin C derivative, which is what I want – I just would like extra perks (anti-redness). An alternative I’m considering is the Isntree Onion Newpair Gel cream.

(extra step if my skin is feeling very dry i.e. what I use during winter) hydrating serum: I’ve just finished Avène Hydrance Serum which I found very hydrating though too light weight (i.e. not good for winter for me) and honestly it lasted so little that I won’t buy it again. My go to instead is snail mucin: Mizon’s Snail Repair Ampoule (best formula but not so much product, what I’m currently using); or COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Essence (best bang for your buck, though my pump was really bad)

Alpha-arbutin: most recent addition to my skincare & it seems to be making a difference when it comes to discoloration (PIE). I’m using Beauty of Joseon Glow Deep Serum, mostly because this was the only product I could find here in Norway.

Caffeine for my undereye: I’m using The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream – while I can say it’s infinitely better than what The Ordinary offers (because why would you use a dropped for something that goes around the eyes!!), I can’t tell if I’m seeing results or not, despite using it for almost three months. Maybe?

Moisturizer: Eucerin 5% Urea Repair, my holy grail of all time. I buy this by the litre. Since I entered my mid-20s, my skin has turned dry. Combined with drier winters and the heating I have to put on to survive winter, this is the only thing that makes my skin stay intact.

Sunscreen: probably controversial, but I actually don’t wear sunscreen everyday, as the amount of light I get is ridiculous (though I do in the summer or if there is snow). Over the past year, I tried several ones and my top two choices are Beauty of Joseon Sun Relief (cannot fault a single thing and I found it to be good value for money based on how long it lasted me) and Isntree Onion Newpair Sunscreen (jury is out on whether the onion extract actually helps me, but I found the texture to be perfect for me and it actually ensures I apply a proper amount since it’s not too runny)

Dr.Jart+ Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment: amazing!! This has been so far the only thing that helped with redness. I haven’t worn foundation in a year and it’s only because of this. I don’t even think it’s that expensive because I spent 30£ for a 50 ml jar which lasts me six months of daily use. Love it.

PM:

My routine is the following:

Double cleanse: I’ve been liking a lot the Beauty of Jonseon Cleansing Balm – so far the best cleansing product I’ve tried. Micellar water is a no for me, as I don’t like using cotton pads. Oils are mostly ok as an alternative, with iUnik Calendula Complete Cleansing Oil being my failsafe (but it doesn’t remove 100% of my mascara).   Next, I use a foaming cleansing gel. My go-to used to be Neutrogena Clear & Defend, but it keeps being sold out, so I’m now using  CeraVe Blemish Control Cleanser. It works fine. My main criteria here is price tbh.

facetheory Exaglow serum: the daily base, with tranexamic acid, liquorice root, and a vitamin c derivative, this in combination with whatever active follows has helped me reduce my hyperpigmentation so so much

An active (see below)

Moisturizer: Eucerin Urea repair, again.

Actives is when things get more complicated, because I rotate weekly between (combinations of) them

Differin (adapalene): game changer, I tolerate it very well and I recently increased it to three times per week  + Azelaic acid: I love it and over the years I tried so many different products (available in Europe). I find that for me 10% works just as well as 20%. Usually, a higher price tag gets you better texture (i.e. less grainy) but not better results. Isispharma Metroruboril was very smooth, but a more basic one works just fine for me – hence why I keep going back to The Ordinary’s 10% one. It’s not an area where I feel like I should be spending a lot.

Kojic acid: I’m using Dermaceutic’s Radiance, which works fine in combination with my overall routine. + Retinol: bit of a controversial combination, but because I’ve been using retinols for so long, this works fine. I’m using A313, which is v gentle. I bought it in Paris and it has a too thick texture in my opinion, so once I finished the tube I’ll go back to my fave L’Oreal Revitalift (amazing fragrance, great texture, very hydrating too)

An exfoliant: while some of my products have small percentages of lactic acid in it, so I never felt the need to have a dedicated exfoliating step up. However, I thought I could benefit from it and started using  facetheory’s Glycolacsal which has glycolic acid (8.5%), salicylic acid (1%) and lactic acid (0.5%).  I use it twice a week and it’s really good.

In addition to all of this, twice a week I do a face mask with benoxyl peroxide in the shower which helps tons to keep acne at bay BUT is infinitely better than using the cream, which has bleached all of my towels. The cream used to be a must in my routine but now that overall my acne is under control, I don’t need to use it as often.

This ended up being extremely long, but I love skincare and I feel like I learnt so much about my own skin and how to work with it and what products work in the past few years. I’m testing new things but in a calculated manner. And I don’t know. Skincare is nothing static and the whole process of figuring things out can be fun (and necessary).

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Comeuppance yes injury - God forbid. by u/Evilvieh

Comeuppance yes, injury - God forbid. I want to take a moment to express that while I think Harry and his lovely wife Fang are ghastly people, I in no way wish them to come to physical harm. If I read the virtual room here aright, that’s the general feeling on this sub too. Comeuppance yes, injury - God forbid. I snark freely on their security theater because I think it’s based on delusion, not actual threats of violence. I’ve seen no evidence that they face any kind of danger different from the general ones that celebrity brings. I’ve seen no expert interviewed that they are in any kind of imminent danger. As the attacks on young Princess Anne, and Presidents Reagan & Ford proved, not even the finest security can prevent determined nutjobs. Luckily those aren't thick on the ground. The Aspartames like to bleat on about some online crap bags who were jailed for posting vile things about Mrs Mountbatten-Windsor. But the Kotzbrocken never lifted a finger against her, (unless I am misinformed?) and of course that was in Britain, where you can be prosecuted for speech, so of course they are jailed while in the US they might not have been. After seeing the unintentionally hilarious Scooter Goober™ scene in their NetfFlIx infomercial and all the shots of them before and since not wearing seatbelts, I think their “safety” concerns are a) real to him because she’s whipped up his innate paranoia and b) spurious from her because she just wants the entourage and whoop whoop arrivals. It seems to me that many people more famous than them get by with a more… reality-based security plan than the ruinous “billionaire” style 4 point 24/7 one they have now. If they want to throw money down that hole rather than getting proper therapy, a good fence and a better perspective of their relative importance in the Universe, that’s just another in a string of fine choices that have lead to their present situation. He was told about the consequences of quitting the royal job, and he had a year to come back. He chose another path. It’s not the taxpayer’s duty to defray the costs of his personal choice. I’m not sure why he feels particularly threatened in the UK, an unarmed society? Anyway that's my current thinking on this. Any counter arguments, fact correction, or insights would be appreciated. post link: https://ift.tt/7fSJq9n author: Evilvieh submitted: February 29, 2024 at 06:40PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[heinzpilsner]

(Writing this instead of watching a new trailer for the live action, because my timing is perfect as ever!)

...Anyway, here's a proper "smart and serious"™ remake of my "mixed signals zutara Southern Raiders" post (because my own poor choice of terminology I'm talking about you Sexual Frustration didn't sit quite well with me). Also, I realized some new things. And I'm a perfectionist of sorts! So, yep.

Let's analyze Zuko's and Katara's heated confrontation in the first half properly.

What Zuko actually said:

"Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you? ... What can I do to make it up to you?"

What Katara heard:

- Zuko doesn't differenciate Katara from all the other group members -> he doesn't think much about their intimate connection in Ba Sing Se;

- He doesn't realise the implications of what his betrayal meant in the context of the said connection (i.e., he's either a callous liar who never really cared about her grief or a volatile person who can change his mind way too easily and hence can't be trusted);

- After hearing her out, he offered to make up for his betrayal, but did not apologize for his insensitivity. He still don't get it, the idiot!

(Was he hesitant to approach this topic directly with Katara being so furious, or genuinely just didn't get it? I wonder. He sounds like a person unaffected by the catacombs, but clearly doesn't act like one. Almost as if he was affected, but never realized the extent by which Katara was affected as well).

What Katara actually said to Zuko:

"Everyone trusts you? I was the first person to trust you! Back in Ba Sing Se. You betrayed me and all of us! ... You could reconquer Ba Sing Se, or you could bring my mother back!"

What she was implying:

- She was personally hurt by his betrayal ("Everyone else"?! She was (is) not just "everyone else" for him!);

- Either she's using the "bringing back the dead mother" idea only as another metaphor of impossibility of their reconciliation, or, as Zuko suspected, this also implies that her anger at him is somehow connected to the topic.

There are two possible readings of Katara's slip of the tongue though:

1) Zuko's dense hypothesis: Katara simply projects on him her hatred for the Fire Nation and Yon Rha specifically;

2) Romantic hypothesis (which recontextualizes the whole dialogue in retrospect): Zuko's and Katara's connection in Ba Sing Se was based on the shared trauma of their lost mothers. So, this (in the light of the future events) is just another hint that Katara is hurt by Zuko's insensitivity. It signals she still have feelings for him, which in some measure fuels Katara's fury. This interpretation is supported by heavy romantic framing of the scene (Katara's physical agression adds a hint of sexuality to the mix as well, implying a suppressed desire to touch. It's no more than my speculation though, but usually, when I see a "shoulder check" trop in media, it occurs between two guys in the middle of some school, not between an angry girl and a sad boy under the full moon, you know).

Now, the funny thing. Previously, the second half of the episode didn't make much sense to me after the first one, because I saw those two hypotheses as incompatible within the same narrative logic. But just now, I found a different in-universe logical explanation for such a conclusion.

You see, Zuko's dense reading implies what from the start he saw the whole "facing Yon Rha" business as an attempt to redirect Katara's hate/anger from him onto it's "right" sourse. "Better him than me" logic, I guess. (Gosh, Zuko, not so selfless!)

They go with the plan based on the Zuko's interpretation, and Katara forgives him as a result, which means his reading of the situation was the only correct one, right? Wrong!

Because for once, Zuko was lucky. He didn't really voice his reasons out loud to Katara, and she decided that his primary motivation was lying elsewhere.

Namely, that he finally understood the imortance of their connection in Ba Sing Se and wanted to show her he did sincerely care about her grief (He was also lucky it kinda was the truth. Just... not the whole truth, you know).

(Btw, acknowledging Katara's hurt feelings is the only thing that could turn Zuko's "I waited out here all night" stunt from creepy and inappropriate into more or less okay in her eyes in retrospect, so... Yep. Another evidence for this hypothesis.)

So, while Zuko saw this trip as an attempt to manage Katara's hatred (and what an awful idea it was, but that's not the point now), Katara herself saw it as a test for Zuko's sincerity (which he passed).

And, I guess, as a happy result of this little miscommunication (and despite the crying unhealthiness of the whole "facing Yon Rha" idea), Katara was finally able to forgive him, yay!

(Do not try this at home though, boys and girls. I'm serious, those kids need their therapy.)

... The only problem though is what this miscommunication wasn't exactly addressed openly in the show itself. It's kinda just here, in the middle of the whole "to kill or not to kill" mess, and I had to strain my brain really hard to come to this conclusion (but I'm not really a smart person, after all). Still, this is the only reading of events what turns the episode's narrative into something that feels logical and consistent to me, you know.

But... After such a heavy romantic framing in the beginning (I mean, "What's with her? What's with him?" questions alone are basically screaming "those two have something between them we all can't explain by most obvious reasons"), you'd expect something more substantial would happen between the characters in the end. ... I'm just saying. I know it could't happen.

Ouch.

[darkfictionjude]

Etymology nonnie here!

I have come back. And well, I almost regret writing what I did about the names in a previous ask. This is because most of the names that begin with "Luc-" are names that I do not like that much, or that often got replaced by an English variant by Italian Americans (during the 1950s, since that's when Luce was born, if my calculation was correct they were born in 1952, but the data I found wasn't so specific).

Worse, I ended up with a selection of three names. None of which had nothing to do with Luce. In any case, I believe the nickname has more to do with personality or how the character is seen by others. Or it may be related to the incident. Who knows? Not me, but you do, dear Jude.

Those names are:

1) Angelo: While it was often replaced by an English name (like Andy or Andrew), it was used enough at the time for me to consider it. I enjoy the contrast with the story and setting. And I always have liked the name. More so than the Spanish version (I do like Ángel, but I prefer the Italian 'g' sound most of the time). Also, I think it fits with the idea I have of Luce so far. Yet I may be wrong, so I may give it some thought before picking this one.

2) Michele: In most circumstances it would be readily replaced by Michael (which I'm also technically considering, but I want to consider Michele the main choice instead of Michael). But I like the Italian version better.

*I did consider the combination of Michelangelo, but I think too much of the artist, and I don't feel worthy. Lol.

3) Ernesto: I like Earnest better, probably. And I find funny both Italian and Spanish have the same spelling and pronunciation. Similar to Angelo, I enjoy the contrast between the meaning and the story and setting. And the meaning seems to make sense with the Luce I'm imagining in my mind given what little we know of them.

Now, I'm not making you choose (although any commentary about your preference is welcome). Rather, I'm curious about something more open and that can help other players figuring the name they want for their Luce.

See, it was common for Italian Americans to use a translation or a similar English sounding name of an Italian name. Although, there were still some who used the proper Italian name. What I'm wondering is what Luce's parents would prefer? Would they go for the original Italian name, or would they prefer an English one because of how convenient it can be for Luce in their daily life?

Now I'm also remembering that Luce is probably customizable, which means their ethnicity is not necessarily just Italian American. In that case, would Luce's parents consider a name that resembled the other ethnic/country origin (of the mother, I would believe)? Or an Italian one? Or an English name both out of convenience for Luce and as a compromise between the two heritages?

Also, maybe unrelated, but feel free to ignore it if that's the case: Do you have a name for the MC you play when you are playtesting? Does it change based on IF? Do you go with a gender neutral name for all those MCs (since I assume some interactions based on gender require a different MC while testing), or with a specific name for male MCs and female MCs?

So yeah Luce doesn’t have to be Italian American, they can be mixed. Their father is Italian, he’s pure Italian but Maria can be from any background. As I’ve said the Italian heritage is strong in the family and it is traditionally patriarchal and so the children’s names are Italian names, not English variants. Antonio chose his children’s names.

I actually don’t have a specific name, I choose the first name available for each gender just to see how gender influenced flavour text is looking. So by that measure it does change for each IF since the suggested names are all different. For WWC, it’s normal yet old names, for EC it’s traditional Italian names, for OYHS it’s names that real Hollywood actors had. From what I’ve seen most players don’t think that much about their character’s name, really. Many people use the same name across many IFs

[bonefall]

I generally like the Dawn of the Clans characters, but man that Bumble scene is such a weird writing choice. Even if that scene was kept, I would have much preferred some sort of follow up scene where the cats realize how wrong they are, and deeply apologize to Bumble in some fashion. It’s late when I’m writing this, so apologies if this is slightly confusing. I think this is once again a sign the Erins need sensitivity readers.

I think this is beyond sensitivity readers, I think the writers who thought this was okay need to go into Lilo's Pickle Jar and get shaken around

Bumble's Exile needed a refutation. My problem with it is that the underlying philosophy is never addressed. Xenophobia and ableism plague the text, and you are meant to accept that everything they said about her in that scene was correct.

That it "never would have worked" if she joined the group, that it means her life had less value as a result, that Gray Wing and Turtle Tail had absolutely no fault and her death was some unavoidable thing. In canon, Bumble exists as a clumsy plot device to display Wind's "assuredness" and Gray Wing's "wisdom," the narrative discouraging you from giving her proper sympathy as a result.

WC is a series that, either through malice or incompetence, is ultimately pro-xenophobia. It DOES think you should be anti-foreigner, and stay wary of their malice (darktail) or their laziness (bumble). There are exceptions who can prove themselves to Clan cats over and over (firestar), but they're not the rule.

For BB, the way I'm planning to address it is to point this out as an example of Clear Sky's mindset acting like a poison on the cats in this group, especially Gray Wing. That Thunder thinks he's coming home, only to find it nearly identical to the group he just left.

Refuting this is rallying HIS supporters to go find her, and to create his own group based on his own principles.

Especially important as a contrast; ThunderClan's early strength is their ability to do diplomacy, thanks to Bumble the Translator. Unlike Shadow and Sky, they have an interest in getting to know and work with River Kingdom and the Wind Coalition.

One day, generations in the future, the Clans will fall into a terrible state. Culture is a living, shifting thing. War and bigoty cause the dominant mindset to swing towards xenophobia again, a clan will be exiled, and many cats will suffer.

But it is not that Era. It is the dawn of the clans, and the struggles of this day echo through history.