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v3x-y0urs3lf · 8 months

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Love and DeepSpace x closeted trans MC.

Zayne: Okay, Last time I checked him and Mc have known each other for like.. years(?) I feel like he'd know something is off.

Like, Mc looking at their hospital reports that very obviously state (Male/Female) or some sort of ID that states their assigned gender at birth. I feel like he'd notice how focused they are but OF COURSE there isn't really a time or correct place to really talk about that sort of stuff (especially with how busy the two of them are.) and so MC doesn't mention it.

Which leaves Zayne to have to.

The next time the two get some downtime he asks about his suspicions, starting off with something like 'You've been off lately' or 'Have you been alright?' thinking at first it was about 'the attack' or about their job.

I want to say that asking him to call them by a 'nickname' is how this would go just because of the stress of trying to come out but.. I'm not exactly satisfied with that so let's say you actually tell him about what you've been thinking.

First off, Supportive. I don't think (Nor do I want to think) any of the characters are homophobic/transphobic. Zayne is a doctor for gods sake. He is not new to same sex relationships nor the concept of transgender people.

He's actually pretty cool with it (hah, get it?) He just asks whether you've decided on a new name, pronouns and if you're planning on any body modifications (Testosterone, Oestrogen, top surgery, bottom surgery, etc etc.)

I don't think Zayne would be all that knowledgable himself on how to do certain surgeries, but he would totally recommend you to other doctors/surgeons who he knows and trusts to be able to.

ALSO, VERY STRICT ON MAKING SURE YOU'RE NOT OVER-BINDING/TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF AFTER SURGERY. It's either he takes time off to help you recover(surgery) or he's constantly checking in through texts if he can't miss work.

Xavier:

Gonna be honest, don't have too many ideas for him. I want to say he wouldn't exactly bat an eye at anything Zayne would think was 'SUPER OBVIOUS' hints. He'd notice if you suddenly took on a new 'nickname' or if you started asking everyone else to call you by said 'nickname' and notice if you suddenly cut your hair/started growing out your hair.

He just wouldn't notice certain things like trying to dress closer to your preferred gender or if your voice started to gradually change (Whether it's from hormone supplements or vocal therapy.).. or he would and just wouldn't ask because 1. Those are pretty normal and tame things or 2. Because it's a gradual change and he just doesn't question it.

It's not until he thinks about it a little longer, let's say he's focusing on you that he starts to notice all the little things he missed. The way you've overall grown as a person and taken a liking to being seen as more feminine/androgynous/masculine.

I don't think he'd ask you directly, instead wait for you to bring it up to him. He doesn't want to overwhelm you or make you uncomfortable so.. he waits until you're ready. It's not like it isn't you just because you're finding out your gender after all.

I don't know how knowledgable he'd be on transgender people but he's definitely supportive. You could literally just tell him "I'm a ___, please call me __ and use __/__" and he'd just give you a thumbs up and continue about his day.

Raphael:

After Zayne I just got 0 ideas but I want to try and fit everyone in this so..

I want to say he'd notice certain changes like if you started growing out your hair, cut your hair, your voice was changing, etc.. thing is he'd forget and just think it was a normal. As in 'your voice was always that high' or 'you always dressed that way.'

If you started asking other people to start using certain 'Nicknames' then I'd imagine he'd start to notice after a while, He'd also be pretty annoyed if it was a name that he originally thought was just an 'us thing'. y'know? But he'd get even more annoyed and jealous if you got everyone else BUT him to start using different names for you, like, How DARE you? Did the two of you not have something special?

I don't think he'd notice if you started presenting differently(Dressing/acting more feminine/Masculine/androgynous.) and if he did then he wouldn't mention it. So what? you're just exploring different styles. That's fine.

It's not that he doesn't know what transgender people are / anything about queer people but he just.. doesn't really care? Like, He cares about you. Yes.

But your gender doesn't play into your worth.. why would he care? He'll respect your pronouns and decisions for yourself but unless you come out to him then he might not be too present in your transition.

He would try to help out with recovery, though. You might have to tease and pester him about it but at the end of the day, he cares and doesn't want you to hurt yourself by doing something you aren't supposed to during recovery.

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I feel the need to mention I haven't finished the story, I mainly got most of the plot of tiktok and stuff but I really like the game.

This is in no disrespect to the original mc, I understand the game was originated in China so we're more than likely not going to get any queer rep from this one.

I also wanted to add Tara and Caleb, I just got incrediblyyy lazy. Sorry.

Again. Sorry if these characters seem mischaracterised at all, This is just how I viewed them.

#love and deepspace x reader #rafayel love and deepspace x reader #zayne love and deepspace x reader #xavier love and deepspace x reader

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butterflydm · 1 year

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More thoughts on the Seanchan Problem (TM)

I recently ran across a very interesting set of posts about what we know & can guess about historical Sparta and how it doesn't much match Sparta as it gets glamorized in media: acoup[dot]blog/category/collections/this-isnt-sparta/

It got me to thinking about the Seanchan, and I wrote up a lot of what I'm posting here and but, funnily enough (I guess it makes sense that we're all thinking about how the show will handle the Seanchan right now!), some discussion about the Seanchan came up with @ofthebrownajah re: the show needing to handle the Seanchan differently than the books did (very much agreed on that point) and @markantonys re: the issues with how the Seanchan were handled in the books (also very much agreed) and it all seemed pretty related to this post that I had been working on.

So, the thoughts in the Sparta blog posts that I linked, about how a majority-slave population works (or fails to work), reminded me a lot about various questions that I've had about the Seanchan, especially as I've gone through my reread.

We know that the Seanchan were kinda a mishmash of Every Empire, but the slavery mentioned in Spartan society in particular seems to strike a pretty familiar chord (because it sounds like it was pretty brutal even by Greek standards).

This does get critical and it does get into major spoilers through Knife of Dreams.

We know from The Fires of Heaven (Rand & Avi's honeymoon trip) that there are constant uprisings and slave revolts on the Seanchan continent. The Seanchan like to playact at being the embodiment of 'order' when they come to try to conquer the Westlands, but they cannot even keep their own house in order. The whole reason they're good fighters/generals is explicitly because they've been fighting each other this whole time (we learn that in Winter's Heart).

Which is one of the reasons why Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams feel like such bizarre departures from the previously established 'reality' of the Seanchan as we know them -- in CoT & KoD, we're suddenly living in Tuon's sheltered dream-world about how the Seanchan work and the narrative (at least in Mat's storyline) seems to be asking us to take it at face value, both because Mat doesn't challenge it (and he should know better -- and DID know better back in WH) and because it backs her PoV up by giving us ~glowing~ recommendations from all her slaves that just adore her ~oh~ so much -- she's a GOOD slaver-owner who only beats her slaves *checks notes* when they say something that pisses her off while doing their best to obey her orders (Tuon's intro in Winter's Heart). Ah.

But at least she... allows them to get their wounds treated once they've groveled enough and convinced her that they love her more than anything and will lick her hand like a dog! So it's totally okay!

idk, even after some distance from my rereads of CoT & KoD, they are such a jarring experience. I have some complaints about the Sanderson co-authored books, which I talked about in-depth in my last reread post about AMoL, but nothing that approaches how I feel about how the Seanchan were handled in CoT & KoD, specifically in Mat & Perrin's storylines(*). Just... the whiplash that I get from the 180 that got pulled in-between WH & CoT in Mat's behavior alone(**).

And it's really that soft-focus glamorizing of the Seanchan in Mat & Perrin's storylines in CoT & KoD that makes me think about historical Sparta and how pop-culture history only focuses on the elite 5-10% of the population and not on the vast majority of the population who were being abused by said elites (if you're looking for a group in WoT that really does resemble "the 1%", then you should be looking at the Seanchan High Blood, not the Aes Sedai).

It does look like the show will be going hard with the Seanchan during S2 and really showing how horrific the slave-breaking is and I feel like, since they do have an overall plan in place, they probably already know what their endgame is for the Seanchan, so we won't get an abrupt "okay, slavery bad, sure but... what if the slaver is HOT when she tortures her slaves or prospective slaves? Have you thought about that?" and "What if you could save your wife for the low low price of selling two hundred women into a torturous existence for hundreds of years? What a bargain! Slavery is such a convenient tool, isn't it?" face-heel narrative turn like we had in CoT & KoD for Mat & Perrin.

But that kinda ties into a larger issue that it feels like Jordan was only partially aware of -- on one level, he definitely realized that objectification of women is not a great thing, but he also fell into it a lot without seeming to realize that he was doing it. There tends to be a vibe of "women being killed is an evil thing but women being tortured forever is okay because they're technically alive and that's all that matters; the quality of that life is not relevant in the way that it would be for a man".

In plotlines where Jordan was focused on women as people, he tended to do a lot better, but that only makes it stand out more in the places where he's failing to do that, imo.

The two hundred Shaido Wise Ones who get thrown into slavery are treated with less humanity than the single (male) Shaido prisoner whose hand Perrin cuts off. They're just the background element as Perrin thanks and praises the slaver who helped him buy his wife back with blood. Jordan frames two slavers (Tylee and Tuon) as "good ones" without actually making anything about their behavior different from the "bad ones" of the Seanchan, because they are important to the narratives of two of the main male characters and so get boosted into being 'better than the other Seanchan' without any actual behavioral changes on their parts(***). Protagonist-centered morality at its most 'yikes'.

When you combine this with Rand sending the damane back to the Seanchan after Semirhage's attack as a 'gesture of good faith', it just adds up to a vibe of "women's freedom is negotiable". And because of the focus in the latter books on the damane as opposed to the da'covale(****), it is women's freedom specifically that is shown not to be valued in the main male PoV chapters. We'll make a big deal about how we can't kill women, but we can let them be tortured and enslaved.

It's a very ugly theme for the three Two Rivers' boys all to be sharing in at the end of KoD. Jordan makes all of them make choices that are very dark, but Rand is the only one getting real narrative push-back about those choices (*!) by having people he respects with openly disagree with him on the matter (*!!).

The show really does need to either commit to having the change in Seanchan society actively begin to happen on-screen (*!!!), or they need to not have the boys willing to throw their morals away so easily. Ideally, both.

As it is, in the books, Perrin is just straight-up selling people into slavery at the end of KoD. Mat is having thoughts about how he would just curl up and die if this horrible slaver lady got killed. And, like Perrin, Rand has decided that women are property to trade around, though he is much more reluctant about it than Perrin (*!!!!).

...

(* Hmm, random thought but - I wonder if, for me, being so deeply unhappy with what Jordan was doing in Mat, Perrin, & Rand's storylines in CoT & KoD, meant that the different take that Sanderson had on the story (which is inevitable; no matter who took over the series, they would have a different take than Jordan did) was more likely to be something I would find positive because I was so disappointed with the state that Jordan had left things in?)

(** I know I repeat this a lot but Mat flips from sympathizing with the slaves to sympathizing with the slavers in less than a week, all off-the-page in-between Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight so it just really stands out to me when he starts doing things like using slavery as a threat against the Aes Sedai and forcing former slaves to share a wagon with their former abusers; Bethamin was actively abusing Teslyn a week ago and Mat makes them share sleeping quarters, meanwhile Tuon gets to be in a wagon alone with her slave and Setalle Anan who, just like Mat, has flipped from sympathizing with slaves to sympathizing with slavers in less than a week, taking Tuon under her wing and behaving as if she's a wee child in need of protection and being amused when the child throws tantrums and breaks things)

(*** contrast this with Egeanin, who does have to undergo a lot of changes, and who actively goes against the Seanchan norm more and more as her storyline progresses -- but, notably, Egeanin has a lot less temporal power in the Seanchan empire than either Tylee or Tuon, and also notably, her change in direction began when she was part of Elayne & Nynaeve's storyline and finished up in Egwene's storyline -- meanwhile, Tylee making a deal with a local in order to secure two hundred more damane sounds like something any Seanchan Blood would be willing to sign off on, and all we see from the Mat and Tuon 'relationship' is him making concession after concession to her while she throws tantrums, makes threats, and hurts his companions. We do have Alivia as representing the people who are injured and marginalized by the Seanchan elite, but we get so much less on her background and narrative PoV than we do for Tuon, who is on the top of the social heap. Giving Alivia more page time and a PoV or two would have helped balance out all the Tuon/elite High Blood focus in CoT & KoD; instead all her big conversations with Rand happen off the page and the books never explore her justified anger at her oppressors)

(*** though even the da'covale seem to be weighted towards women? The 'entertainment slaves' who dance for the Blood's pleasure always seem to be women and it seems like the majority of the da'covale that we see are women)

(*! though the Wise Ones disapprove about what Perrin does, the narrative ignores them just as much as Perrin does; and the same goes for Mat's bizarre choices in CoT & KoD -- we're never let inside the PoV of one of the people with him who disapproves of what he's doing)

(*!! Nynaeve, though even she, in accordance with the laws of No One Is Allowed To Offer Solutions About The Seanchan Especially Not To Rand, doesn't tell Rand any of the information that she has that might actually help him make better choices, like all sul'dam being capable of learning to channel, which is important military information for him to have!)

(*!!! which means that we, at least, need Tuon acknowledging that she can channel and that their society needs to change - it has to come from someone who actually has power in the Seanchan Empire, not just exiles like Egeanin)

(*!!!! I will also never back down on this being one of the biggest TACTICAL mistakes that Rand ever makes in the series. Sending back the sul'dam would be fine, whatever, because they're essentially prisoners of war, but sending back the damane tells the Daughter of the Nine Moons that Rand agrees that women who can channel are fair game as property to be bought and sold, which is the worst possible footing to begin his negotiations with the Seanchan on, as he has already conceded that women can be property)

#wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #knife of dreams #seanchan content warning #this is kind of a ramble #my wot meta #wot #wheel of time #the wheel of time #yes the notes are just as long as the rest of the post

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bikananjarrus · 2 months

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for the ask game, top ten book recommendations?? (can be sw or non-sw since ik you’ve gotten a lot of sw asks already 🫶🏻)

thank you for this question! 💙 (meant to answer this sooner but then i really had to think about some book recs). i will split it 50/50 and do 5 sw books and 5 non-sw books!

five sw books:

light of the jedi by charles soule. life-changing, showstopping, spectacular, will never be the same etc etc. (best place to start if you want to get into the high republic books!)

lost stars by claudia gray. my first sw book i ever read back when it was published in *pauses to look up* 2015. imo it is an EXCELLENT book to begin with if you're looking to get into sw books and are overwhelmed with where to start.

a new dawn by john jackson miller. for the rebels fans out there, and especially the kanera fans, this one's for you <3

not a traditional novel, but going off the last one, the kanan: the last padawan comic run. two volumes, 12 issues total. so so SO good! a must-read (imo) for rebels fans!

revenge of the sith novelization by matthew stover. if you're a prequels fan, or an anakin fan, or an obiwan fan, this book WILL hurt you. in the best way possible lol.

(quick honorable mention for the ahsoka book, but specifically the audiobook bc it's narrated by ashley eckstein and it felt like watching a clone wars arc)

five non-sw books:

i mean who would i be if i didn't mention the percy jackson books. i recognize i am biased bc they've been part of my life for so long now, so i have the nostalgia factor. but also that's my number one guy percy jackson!

what you're looking for is in the library by michiko aoyama. this book felt like a hug, and i definitely recommend for anyone who is feeling a bit lost or unsure of what they want to do with their life, where they are in life right now. it was a really great reminder that you can keep growing and change your mind and do something different with your life no matter what age you are.

a study in drowning by ava reid. a more recent read of mine, so maybe a bit of recency bias here, but it's about an architecture student who gets tasked with redesigning her favorite author's estate. she ends up working with her academic rival, and they discover secrets about the late author's life along the way. i remember (personally) having a few minor gripes with how the end all came together, but overall it was really atmospheric with lots of seaside imagery (which i love), and the setting and certain mystery elements made it enjoyable for me!

giovanni's room by james baldwin. read this for the first time when it was assigned to me in high school, and while i don't think i appreciated it much then, i reread it later on my own and really enjoyed it, so i'm grateful for my 12th grade english teacher for introducing it to me!

hani and ishu's guide to fake dating by adiba jaigirdar. this is just a really cute ya wlw romance! i listened to the audiobook for this and there were two separate narrators for hani and ishu, and i thought they both did a fantastic job! i read it last year and still think about it from time to time, so for anyone looking for an easy romance read, it's a good one!

still up for doing more of these, so feel free to ask me my top 5/top 10 anything!

#there are still a lot of sw books i haven't read that i want to #asks #answered #mik chats #book recs

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qqueenofhades · 5 months

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hiii ❣ it's a bit random but do you have any advice for a beginner writer?

i want to write web series and while i'm going to write for my pleasure, i still would love my work to be good enough to have readers.

but while i read stuff and write fics, i don't think it's enough to help me write an original several episode work. + i want to write in english but i'm not a native english speaker.

do you have a textbook or any resource in mind that you'd reccomend to a beginner writer?

Unfortunately, I don't have one single one-size-fits-all resource or silver-bullet magical writing improvement tool that I can recommend, as everyone learns/practices in different ways and some people swear by things that don't work for other people. I can't speak to the value of Grammarly or any other online tool that promises to make you a better writer, as they can often be used to feed your work into AI, make bizarre and/or flatly incorrect suggestions, or otherwise be confusing and unhelpful for a newbie writer, especially someone whose first language isn't English. If you work better within an interactive framework or just want to see if it does seem useful, then by all means do check it out, but don't feel like you HAVE to use it (or anything else) if it doesn't offer much to your process.

As ever, and unhelpfully, my advice for becoming a better writer is to write a lot and read a lot, in all kinds of genres. There's really no get-good-at-writing-quick hack to suddenly get you where you want to be overnight, but you CAN get there by dint of steady and sustained progress. You say that you already read things and write fics -- which is great! You clearly already have some practice with the overall concept, and you are not starting from total scratch. While a lot of writers have a goal of something they really want to do (i.e. in your case, write a web series) and feel like the first one they write has to be The Real and Good One that they only launch into after appropriate years of practice, that's not the case. You can start writing the series now, if you want to. You'll have to also share it with people who you trust to give you helpful and honest feedback (the mortifying ordeal of being known, etc) while also respecting the skill level that you're currently at and not tearing it down for being up to professional standards or something else that doesn't accurately reflect where you are and what you need feedback on. But yes, you will have to write steadily, share your writing with others, and challenge yourself to read and write in different kinds of texts -- i.e. not just fic or amateur fan content, but literature, nonfiction, genre fiction, academia, special interest subjects, and so forth. Writing by professionally published authors is not necessarily always better, but it does give you a sense as to what is deemed marketable, what the general skill level and standard is, and what you might like to emulate or try to do with your own projects.

Also, as a side note, I think that plenty of amateur or fan-written content on the internet is not necessarily outstandingly good, technically speaking. This doesn't mean it's bad -- plenty of people read and enjoy it anyway, and aren't coming in expecting it to be an award-winning piece of fine literature. Standards for what is good, enjoyable, or well-written vary dramatically by genre, medium, what your audience is expecting and/or paying for, and so forth. Some people also have high and/or picky standards for what they will read or what they find enjoyable to read, while others will just go along with the story and don't care as much about the format or technical prowess or so forth. So it is very much a subjective measurement, and if you get to a place where you enjoy reading your own stuff and find it engaging -- regardless of what arbitrary skill level you feel yourself to be on -- chances are that other people will too.

#anonymous #ask #writing advice

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anoramactir · 4 months

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book recs! tagged by @rosenfey & @jennystahl. blows kisses to both of you <3 i'll tag @a-treides, @katsigian, @dekarios, @shellibisshe, @devilbrakers, and @frankensteined.

last book you read. the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw.

horror/fantasy, kind of a little mermaid retelling? i had mixed feelings about it. there was definitely an interesting plot in there, but i thought it was bogged down by purple prose. felt more like a challenge to write the prettiest sentences possible - and there were v lovely lines! - than a story at times.

book you recommend. fight club by chuck palahniuk.

hard q, but i went with this one because i feel like the reputation the movie + it's fans have makes people avoid it. i could repeat all the soundbites about it being a brilliant satire & criticque of toxic masculinity (especially if you read the narrator as closeted) but tbh... i'm reccing it because i think it's fun. that's really it.

book you couldn't put down. bunny by mona awad.

disclaimer: i've seen this one hyped as the weirdest shit you'll ever read in your life but i didn't think it was that weird. lower your expectations. i did like it enough to finish in three days, though. idk what to say about it that won't spoil the plot— kinda heathers meets frankenstein? more eerie than scary.

book you've read twice or more. the queen's thief series by megan whalen turner.

society if this was the old school ya fantasy that blew up on booktok instead of shatter me: ☀️🌊🌳 i read this one back in high school and it rewired my brain permanently. attolia irene is the only girlboss that matters. i come back to it every few years (rereading book 4 now) & i think it still holds up.

book on your tbr. last call at the hotel imperial by deborah cohen.

it's a non-fiction about a group of reporters that covered ww2. i picked it up randomly at a bookstore because the cover was pretty, lol.

book you've put down. the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon.

i know i'd love it if i finished but it's just so long. 😭 i've tried like three times and i always lose steam about halfway through. at this point i'll finish it by 2050.

book on your wishlist. hollow places by christopher hadley.

ambie actually recced this to me ages ago and i've been dying to read it. it sounds so interesting! but it's not available as an ebook or at my library, and i'm banned from buying physical books until i get through my stupidly tall tbr stack. one day.

favorite book from your childhood. howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones.

nobody is surprised. it's probably my favorite book of all time. a+ vibes, characters, romance, everything. i own three copies and refuse to get rid of any. if i could find an autographed version, i'd own four.

book you would give a friend. interview with the vampire by anne rice.

i need you all to become obsessed with lestat & louis and then watch the amc series so it gets renewed for season 3. please & thank you.

book of poetry or lyrics you own. time is a mother by ocean vuong.

haven't read it yet, but i've heard great things!

nonfiction book you own. girl sleuth: nancy drew and the women who created her by melanie rehak.

goes into the creation of nancy drew & how it evolved through the years, especially how it was shaped by the original ghostwriter and the daughter of the creator, and their decades-long beef with each other. i came out of it with a parasocial grudge against a woman who died in 1982.

what you're currently reading. a conspiracy of kings by megan whalen turner.

book 4 of the queen's thief series. crown prince sophos has been kidnapped and sold into slavery and it's all very dramatic.

what you're planning on reading next. moby dick by herman melville.

i've never gotten around to this one and i feel like i have to eventually. there's a 75% chance i'll get sidetracked and pick up something totally different, though.

#tag games

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judgedarts · 7 months

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hi!! proud owner of i think 5 atp jojo chibi charms and VERY new artist alley vendor here and i was just wondering, how do you budget/manage costs for non local cons that might have high transportation costs or more expensive tables? do you usually make back what you spent on transport + table/tickets + merch production/ordering + etc at the con or is there a slight loss? this is mainly for my own reference asking someone successful so ty for answering!!!

hey! congratulations on becoming an AA vendor :,) im very honored that you've bought from me before and that you consider me a 'successful' vendor haha!

i'm really passionate when it comes to talking about AA stuff so I'll be putting my answer in the read more since it's pretty long lol!

to be honest, I'm in a very lucky position to be able to travel to conventions beyond the east coast because it can really get expensive T_T i think the most honest answer i can give you is that your first couple of cons most likely are going to be a slight loss for you income wise if you are planning on traveling for a convention - tbh, i generally don't recommend doing a convention out of your state/out of your means if you're very new to tabling. my very first conventions were in driving/public transport distance (i love you new york and new jersey!!!) so i never spent money other than the table cost and ordering product. so if you're starting out and live in a state that has local cons, id HIGHLY recommend doing local events to get experience and cutting down costs as much as you can so you can get the most out of it! if you do intend on doing out-of-state cons because your state doesn't have many small local cons, i totally get it, but again, just try to keep your costs as low as possible. here are some suggestions and things to keep in mind:

1.split costs with a friend

split the table, split hotel fees, split ubers, etc! if you have family/friends in that state, consider crashing at their place for the weekend! maybe treat them to dinner haha

2. save up funds

honestly, there's really no getting around it - you might have to get income from somewhere else besides selling merch @ cons! i worked a part-time job throughout college, did commissions/freelance, and had my store open to save up for cons.

3. remember to deduct all expenses for your business

keep in mind that table fees/travel and hotel fees/products/meals are all deductible. these are considered investments for your business and they're completely necessary for you to run said business so when it comes tax time, you'll be able to breathe a little easier haha.

4. know your limits and be cautious

unfortunately, not all cons are going to be successful or will go your way no matter how much money you pour into it. if you know a convention is going to be out of your means, you can always apply the following year. I've had plenty of cons i couldn't go to because i simply couldn't afford it at the time, but the more money you save up, the more experience you get, and the more connections you make, you'll be able to afford to go and be successful! i'd also do plenty of research about the convention (especially the attendance #s, how previous vendors feel about the con, etc) before you decide to go. 5. have fun!

even though the upfront price can be intimidating, you are still paying the price to travel, visit a city you've never been to, meet new people, fans, your friends, and make connections! not to mention the really inspiring and motivating atmosphere that artist alley can be. i hope that regardless of the money you make you take the time to enjoy the experience to the fullest and appreciate that you are sharing your awesome art with others :,)! i try to make the best out of a con even if i barely make even, and make new friends and connections because trust me, they are so meaningful ^^<3!

besides all that, i highly recommend joining the Artist Alley Network discord if you haven't already - there's a plethora of info, advice, etc that you can take away from there. https://discord.gg/artistalleynetwork i hope this was helpful! if you have any more specific questions I'm more than happy to answer them for you. if they're too specific or i don't feel comfortable answering, i hope you can understand too! good luck with all your AA endeavors - i believe in you and i really hope we will table at the same con soon!

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bunposting · 1 year

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Should we assume you have issues with the popular pet rabbit YouTube channel “Lennon the Bunny”? I’ve always been fond of rabbits but she’s what got me more interested in them in the first place (I do not have any rabbits, but I did unfortunately write an entire little care guide based mostly off of things like what she says and what the House Rabbit Society and similar sources say) and needless to say, I am concerned. It seems like from what you’re saying rabbits are much easier to care for than that (at least in terms of diet and sociality).

I do have issues with that channel, yes. That being said, I know better than to expect anything more from a pet rabbit channel.

In terms of sociality, even HRS themselves admit that it's extremely dangerous to try to bond two intact rabbits of the same sex because the chances are high that they'll constantly fight or even kill each other. When they talk about bonding rabbits, they talk about at least one or both rabbits being neutered. Rabbits naturally have Raging Hormones(tm) and that can make tensions high between them. In the wild they would mellow this out by having the does being pretty much constantly bred or nursing, but for obvious reasons that's not really good for somebody just trying to have some pet rabbits. So it's much better generally to just let the rabbits have their own space and be on their own. They can get the social interaction they want or need from the humans that care for them.

In terms of diet... let me try to explain it this way:

Imagine if the largest/wealthiest dog advocacy organization tried to say that dogs absolutely need to be fed a varied, raw food diet, and if you don't feed them that, then that's abuse and your dog's guts are going to spontaneously stop working. We know a raw diet for dogs can be great, but the problem is that it means the owner of the dog has to do a lot of research into the exact nutritional content of various things, the nutritional requirement of their specific dog, and all the math that goes into it - not to mention they have to have the money to be able to buy all those things or the time to grow/harvest those things. Most people just aren't able to do that, which is why high quality kibble and wet foods have been created.

HRS is basically exactly like that. They give a (very flawed, mind you - the amount of fruit they recommend is absurd and dangerous from the high sugar content) basic outline of what percent of various things should be in a rabbit's diet. A large portion is hay, the second largest portion is "leafy greens" (which they just all lump together in one category despite different greens having different nutritive contents) and then pellets and fruit are equal in their 'small' percentages. It would take a considerable amount of prior knowledge about the nutritional qualities of rabbit-safe ingredients, and a very good understanding of your rabbit's personal nutritional needs, in order to really make this diet work. Most people just don't have that capability.

Again, just as we know raw feeding can be great for dogs when done properly, feeding your rabbit a varied diet can be fantastic! You just really have to know what you're doing before you get into. If you don't, you're very likely to see GI issues like bloat or GI Stasis.

HRS and followers of them such as "Lennon the Bunny" will claim that complete feed pellets cause bloat or GI Stasis. This is interesting, because the only time I've heard of rabbits having these issues is if they were accidentally fed a bad batch of pellets (which isn't super duper common) - and even then, it's mostly bloat; I've heard of maybe two cases of GI Stasis from breeder rabbits total. Complete feed pellets are not much different than feeding your dog a high quality kibble - they take the guesswork out of feeding your animal, and guarantee your animal is getting exactly the right nutrition they need.

Instead, I've seen way more cases of bloat and GI stasis in pet rabbits, especially those being fed the HRS recommended diet. It's very likely the cause is that they are getting to much of one thing or another (whether that be sugar or something else) because their diet just isn't consistent and isn't actually well formulated.

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guywrestlingaddiction · 1 year

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Everything Great About: The Two sides of Mason - Mason Brooks v Geo/Neo Angelo (watchfighters.com)

Everything Great About these Matches: +9

I thought it'd be fun to look at two sides of the same coin that is Mason Brooks. So first off we have Mason as Superheel against Geo, then we'll see Mason crushed by an even bigger heel - Nero Angelo. Witness the two sides where the victor wins his stakes and takes what he wants.

SPOILER ALERT: I highly recommend viewing this match in its entirety before reading this post.

So let's begin:

First up we Mason in total heel mode against Geo (watchfighters.com)

+1: While I'm not normally a fan of one-sided squashes, this match clearly makes it work. Mason is one tough dude and few wrestlers can stand up to the guy and especially not newbie twinks. The backstory is that Geo probably came to this expecting to feel up Mason and enjoy the domination.

And within 30 seconds, Geo is down and unable (or unwilling) to rally against our stud.

Geo's not going anywhere ... can you blame him?

+1: For the OTK backbreaker. Things aren't so bad when you're beat by one of the best and who doesn't love a good OTK backbreaker?

+1: I love that throughout the beat job, Geo can't help but grope and feel up Mason. He has zero chance of winning so he might as well enjoy the ride!

+1: The domination is really the finale here but really what takes it to another level and makes the whole thing work is how Mason owns his jobber. The guy knows what he wants and without hesitation takes what he needs with Geo all the happier for it.

Geo gladly took everything Mason gave him. I counted him topped 5 different ways.

On to round 2, Mason v Neo Angelo (watchfighters.com)

+1: As much as I liked the fact that Geo was squashed, I also love the struggle between these two heels. Mason is built like the good guy but plays like a heel while Nero is undoubtedly the brawler. There's some serious back and forth between these heels and we get the privilege of viewing this action.

+1: As much I loved the struggle, I also loved to see Mason broken. It was all so surreal and out of place for our man to see him weak this totally deserves a point.

+1: For Nero's sexy signature move; "Nero [Devours you]" or the Bruno Bite.

+1: The finishing round was amazing: The POV, the close-ups, seeing Mason broken down and compelled to worship his conqueror. In fact, the pull of being dominated was so strong that our heel overcame all instincts and embraced the submission. Hell this deserves a bonus point for this move and it's effect on Mason [+1].

------- Everything Great About this Match: +9 So there you have it. This was a terrific exposition on the two sides of Mason Brooks - we see him riding high and treating a grateful jobber to the time of his life, then ravaged by an even greater heel and drained of his confidence. This was an amazing showcase of Mason in all his wrestling talents, his submissions, all his angles really, and definitely worth a watch.

For additional images, check out:

#gay wrestling #watchfighters.com #Mason Brooks #nero angelo

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lalaisdevoted · 3 months

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I've mentioned before that I love to dedicate songs to the Gods, so here's some songs I associate with the Gods that I work with (it all makes sense in my head):

Lady Athena:

^᪲᪲᪲ Labour - Paris Paloma;

^᪲᪲᪲ Paper Bag - Fiona Apple;

^᪲᪲᪲ Girl With One Eye - Florence + The Machine;

^᪲᪲᪲ The Great War - Taylor Swift;

^᪲᪲᪲ The Moon Will Sing - The Crane Wives;

^᪲᪲᪲ For me, even if Lady Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, I also think that she's the type that would like songs that carry rage or deep meanings. I want to have more songs to her playlist, but I only put songs that I think matches the Gods (in my opinion. Lady Athena helped me a lot to understand that it's okay to feel anger at how we are treated in the society, especially if you are a minority. So even if these songs talk more about feminism, Lady Athena protects everyone equally, and she too feel rage when we are being mistreated, being a woman or not. ^᪲᪲᪲

Lord Eros:

^᪲᪲᪲ So High School - Taylor Swift;

^᪲᪲᪲ Feelings Are Fatal - Mxmtoon;

^᪲᪲᪲ Love Me Again - V;

^᪲᪲᪲ Somebody To Love - Queen;

^᪲᪲᪲ Serendipity - BTS;

^᪲᪲᪲ Lord Eros' playlist is filled with love songs, and I think it's good because I'm too used listening to melancholic music, working with him made me see that loving people is something that I do without any effort. Lord Eros may be for romantic love, but he helped me see that I have so much love to give, and in the right moment, I will be loved in the same energy that I love. His playlist gives me hope for the day that I will find my only one. And I think I need more love songs that aren't only Taylor Swift songs haha ^᪲᪲᪲

Lady Aphrodite:

^᪲᪲᪲ Riptide - Vance Joy;

^᪲᪲᪲ Brooklyn Baby - Lana Del Rey

^᪲᪲ 007 - Tabber feat. Syd;

^᪲᪲᪲ Invisible String - Taylor Swift;

^᪲᪲᪲ Clara Bow - Taylor Swift;

^᪲᪲᪲ I love the playlist I made for Lady Aphrodite, it has romantic songs but also songs that make you feel pretty. Lady Aphrodite is helping me not only in my love path, but also to find beauty inside me. Lady Aphrodite was the first Deity that I worked with, but we spent some time without working together and now she's back in my life. The song that most represent her to me, is Riptide, I don't know why, but every time I listen it reminds me of her. Maybe it's the comfort and the pure love this song is, but for me it's totally Aphrodite's vibes ^᪲᪲᪲

Lord Apollo:

^᪲᪲᪲ Which Witch - Florence + The Machine;

^᪲᪲᪲ Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles;

^᪲᪲᪲ The Archer - Taylor Swift;

^᪲᪲᪲ Would That I - Hozier;

^᪲᪲᪲ Long Story Short - Taylor Swift;

^᪲᪲᪲ Lord Apollo's playlist is, by far, the most intimate I have between the Deities. And no, I'm not picking favorites or something like that, is just that Lord Apollo has been in my lowest moments, he heard me cry and ask myself why I was still alive because of how much I was suffering. His playlist is filled with songs about all type of feelings, if I'm still alive, is because of Lord Apollo and how much refugee I took in music. I asked Lord Apollo if he wanted me to make a new playlist for him, because his was filled with sad songs, unlike Lady Athena's that has songs about strength, Lord Apollo have songs about melancholy. And I was surprised that he said no, maybe it was because every song has a meaning to us, either way, Lord Apollo's playlist have a special place in my heart^᪲᪲᪲

Let me know if you guys want me to share more songs that I associate with the Deities! By the way, I'm addicted to Wait For Me (Reprise) of the Hadestown musical, I swear that this songs always give me chills.

Also, every song can be associated with the Gods because it's more about your relationship with them and the feeling you have than about the song alone. And I highly recommend having playlists for them! It's a devotional act but also something for you to cherish when you're feeling insecure.

For example, when I'm feeling insecure to go out alone, I put Lady Athena's playlist because it gives me strength to not back down.

Anyway, hope you guys have a great day, stay safe, drink water and if you're feeling like it, do some tarot. Maybe the Gods have something to say to you today!

#hellenic polytheism #apollo devotee #eros devotee #athena devotee #aphrodite devotee #eros deity #athena deity #apollo deity #aphrodite deity

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fleetingmotivation · 1 year

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[Alright, we're recording, you can begin.] OH! uh... h-hi, i'm ssc oh-five-one fo- [You can use your own name, not your code number.] Ohhhh.... My n-name is, um, Cherry. Soda...

[Hi Cherry, why don't you introduce yourself.] I'm Cherry Soda, and I am a Smith-Shimano Corporation pilot. I, um, am an ok shot, and i um, like music? [What kind of music do you like Cherry?] Mostly Breakcore?I like how fast it is, it helps me zone out... Is that not a good answer you look upset, did I make you upset? I'm sorry! [Its alright 0514, I just am not a fan of whatever you said. How about you tell people about what Smith-Shimano Corporation did for you?] You mean letting me pilot? [I meant regarding your transition, but you can talk about whatever you want.] Ah! ok. ... *papers rustling. Um, SSC- [Smith-Shimano Corporation] -Smith-Shimano Corporation actively helped me in becoming the me i wanted to be, with both medicine and gender affirming accommodations. do i read- [Yes this part here.] I think that anyone looking for a place that will encourage experimentation with gender as well as piloting a mech should report to a SS- A Smith-Shimano Corporation recruitment center.How was that? [That's good for now 0512. You're free to return to quarters]

SSC-0514 (Codename Cherry Soda) was originally part of a "Random Batch" - a batch of gene clones specifically focused or creating variation in expressed genes. These batches are useful for variety testing and as control groups for other experiments. 0514 had difficulty playing with other children, and as the years progressed developed an anxiety disorder that would get worse as time went on. At 14 her scores in pilot aptitude and general competency were low enough that the system flagged her for extradition from the pilot program and deportation to a standard colony world. While in a meeting about her failing scores she asked about a rumor she had heard about "women being better at taking heat because they are usually colder." When affirmed this to be true but negligible, she seemed sad. An onsite psychologist began meeting with her to discuss her relationship with gender, which eventually led to her deciding to transition. SSC was personally in favor of this development on account of the high rate of transgender pilots making up the ranks of LANCER pilots, as well as the optics associated with becoming viewed as The Transgender Corprostate. A researcher note at the time said: "Imagine if we could steal that title from HORUS! So many LANCER's would flock to us!"

0514 picked the name "Cherry Soda" and began medically transitioning soon after that. Her scores mildly improved, enough to secure her place in Live-Fire test scenarios. On her first sortie she was deployed as long-range support for the repossession of a VIP Convoy during a minor rebellion on SSC world Gardeniea-D12. Her Squad commander later said of her: "It was like something else, H- sorry, She was a totally different person, i was pushing up with the vanguard and by the time we reached the enemy convoy the entire guard detail was nothing but scrap. I asked her what happened and her voice was totally cold when she said she had cleared the way." Needless to say, but she received commendations for this. While her scores tend to flag in test scenarios her performance in Live-Fire scenarios are within the top 5% of all SSC pilots, putting her in the LANCER tier. On a personal level she seems excited by this, but she may just enjoy the praise.

Currently we are attempting to use her in a marketing capacity, a task she seems willing to help with. I recommend granting her Affordances with anything gender related, as long as we don't force anything on her (this would both corrupt our data and taint our image.) Test footage of her day to day life in our home facilities, as well as combat footage of her piloting is currently being recieved well, especially among our target demographics (queer people both within and without the gender spectrum) Test audiences noted "Enjoying her Pathetic Girl Swag" and "I want to buy her ice cream while shes sobbing hysterically."

She currently favors Long range combat and high mobility Chassis. She pilots a Customized SSC Dusk Wing, which She calls Amen Break. Amen Break has an onboard Comp/Con unit, who Is the only thing 0514 seems able to speak to without stuttering.

#my art #lancer rpg #mech pilot #she sucks so so bad and i love her #shes such a nervous wreck #amen break was fun to draw on attempt 14

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 years

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hey makenzie, i've got a bit of a situation here. i'm 25, never had sex before, and never paid attention during those safe sex psas bc i was sure i was ace and never wanted to have sex, due to a number of reasons - i'm autistic and very particular about things touching my body, especially food or fluids (i need to wash that shit off *immediately* or else i will combust) and probably also not eating enough but i digress. i matched with an amazing guy and now i think i want to do it but (1/?)

(2/2) i honestly don't really know where to start here. i know the risks and so i want to buy condoms but for some reason i get nervous about people seeing me buy condoms. i also haven't ever looked into getting PrEP or monkeypox vaccine bc i didn't plan on suddenly becoming a horndog. idk i guess i'm just looking for general advice for a 25yo male having sex for the first time and what i should expect/how should i prepare. like idk what douching is and at this point i'm afraid to ask lol

oh yeah, one more thing i wanted to add - while i'm not nervous about going into this bc this guy is seriously great and understanding as hell, i worry about my roommates hearing us and idk how to approach that. i probably worry too much as they seem to be fine with the noise level here (and me making protein shakes at 1am) but like. i still do. should i play music? put a sock on the door? i don't want them to hate me. ps: i love your blog and hope you have a good day

jesus christ I'm about to fit so much sex ed into one post

1.) start wherever you want; sex is whatever you and your partner(s) want it to be. only way to do it wrong is to do with without consent and communication.

2.) here are two fun facts about being an adult. the first one is that no one actually gives a shit about you buying condoms. no one gives a shit about you buying anything. your fellow customers aren't scrutinizing your purchases they're too busy worrying about you scrutinizing your purchases. the cashier definitely doesn't care, the cashier is contemplating killing everyone in the store and then themself. just buy the condoms.

the second fun fact is actually a house rule of mine, which is that if you're too squirrelly to acquire safer sex supplies yourself you don't get to have sex. the good news on that front is that ordering condoms online from places like Condom Depot is, like, really easy.

3.) PrEP is great to know about but only necessary if your intended partner is at risk of transmitting HIV to you during sex, which is a conversation y'all should have if you haven't already.

getting the monkeypox vaccine is always a solid move if you're in a high risk area, although I do need to emphasize again that it's worth talking to your partner about whether or not they're a considerable risk for transmitting monkeypox (if they haven't had any other partners in the last two weeks, or none of their other partners have tested positive in the last two weeks, they're probably good). regardless, you can easily find somewhere to get vaccinated here.

4.) re: first time having sex, if you've spent literally any time following me you know the best advice I can give you is that you should literally just Talk To This Guy about what you both want to do and feel comfortable with, but watching this video from incomparable sexologist Lindsey Doe isn't a bad place to begin. I'm a big fan of how much she emphasizes lube!

youtube

5.) douching is the practice of washing out a bodily cavity with fluids. many people like to do it before anal sex to lower their risk of defecating on a partner by accident, but it's totally optional and not a requisite for anyone. if you're interested, you can find a good introduction here:

youtube

it's worth noting that douching presumes anal sex will be taking place, which is something to discuss. anal sex can absolutely rule but it also requires care; I'd recommend this other Lindsey Doe video for some hot tips on how to start exploring that:

youtube

if anal penetration isn't your cup of tea but eating ass may be, check out dental dams - even a clean anus runs the risk of harboring fecal matter and baby you do NOT want that in your mouth! in a pinch, a dental dam can be made in a hurry by cutting a condom open down one side and laying it flat.

6.) similarly to sexual partners, the best way to learn what roommates are okay with is to ask. do the courtesy of giving your roommates a heads up that a guest is coming over and that sex is on the agenda; let them decide if they want to clear out, put on headphones, or what.

why are you making protein shakes at 1 AM. what's happening there.

#sex edventures 2022

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welcometothejianghu · 1 year

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I can't actually recommend Psych-Hunter, as it's not, strictly speaking, what you'd call good. It has, however, made us laugh out loud several times, and a lot of the visuals are really clever, and it's got to know what it's doing with how gay it's making those main boys (to say nothing of the police captain and that little cop who totally has a crush on him). It's weird and it's fun, and if you're looking for a thing to watch, you could do a lot worse!

NOTE: The preceding paragraph was written before I watched the last episode.

Look, this show is a hot mess. Let me break it down:

The good: some amazing visuals; excellent costuming (like, even when it's ugly, it's still good?); delightfully batshit worldbuilding decisions; fun short-arc mysteries; hella gay bromance; delicious boy tears; incredibly endearing secondary cast; great Psychonauts-esque plot device; some gorgeous mindscapes done with (mostly) practical effects; did I mention those two boys are real gay for one another?

The bad: little to no narrative cohesion; terribly bad pacing; high body count, especially of ladies; a couple inexplicable heel turns; when the CG is there, it's not great; plenty of unintentional comedy; most overarching mysteries remain completely unsolved.

The ugly: het romance that swings between just plain boring and outright skeevy; absolutely no grasp of the female lead's character; and of course, all the shit it pulls in the last episode.

...But obviously I found the whole mess still pretty compelling despite the flaws, considering I've just written like 1500 words of a Tumblr post that barely anybody else is ever going to read about it! So, uh, maybe that's an endorsement? I can't tell anymore.

Most of those words are beneath the cut, starting with the vaguely spoilery thoughts -- the ones you can read without spoiling yourself for the whole show. I'll mark when the big ones are coming up.

The good and the bad are, I think, somewhat self-explanatory. I want to talk about the ugly a bit, though.

The first two are actually two halves of the same problem. As a character, as she is written, Yuan Muqing sucks. Her entire personality is "whatever we need The Girl to be doing in this scene." She swings from Strong Independent Woman to Damsel In Distress to Spunky Female Police Officer to Spoiled Rich Schoolgirl to Giggling Love Interest with no sense that there should be any consistency between these states. Every detail of her life disappears the second it's not immediately relevant to the plot. She is a selection of two-dimensional objects chosen on a scene-by-scene basis to compliment whatever else is going on around her. I guess you could excuse this by [insert spoilers for the last episode here], but for that to work, the show would have to give off any sense that it understood her characterization was bad in the first place.

Whatever they could have done with the het romance was pretty doomed to fail from the start by having her be so badly written. (There are a few very cute moments they have later on, when they write her like an actual person, but it's too little too late.) She and Jiang Shuo already have little to no actual chemistry together, and the majority of their relationship is artificial overreaction-and-miscommunication conflict. And as though that weren't bad enough, the show keeps making it skeevy by making her so young. She's a high school student who has a very little-girl room, complete with dolls she talks to and petulantly punishes when she has tantrums. Many of her hairstyles and outfits also run young. Nobody gets a canonical age, but she's clearly a teen while both boys seem well into their twenties. The age gap does the relationship no favors.

Worse, the romance largely nukes her relationship to Qin Yiheng. When the show starts, they at least interact with one another, even if it looks like the show's going to get a "girl can't decide which boy she likes!" dynamic going with the main trio. Very quickly, though, she needs to be only The Love Interest for Jiang Shuo, meaning that she barely talks to Qin Yiheng for the whole rest of the show. Even when all three are onscreen together, those two might as well each be invisible to the other. They're not really a triangle -- they're a hinge, and the non-Jiang-Shuo points don't touch.

All that being said, there is such potential in her, and like 95% of that potential comes from the fact that the girl is obviously insane. Beyond even her canonical delusions, That Girl Ain't Right. Everything she does is so much better if you imagine there's a full-on roomba with knives simmering just beneath her bippy, ponytailed surface. She has to be Generalissimo Daddy's good little girl, when deep down she wants to do violence. That's great.

Some of the early promo materials I've seen make mention of how she's supposed to be the muscle of the operation. I wish they'd been far more consistent about that! She should absolutely be the party tank, bounding away from danger with a boy under each arm. All of the "oh no, Muqing got kidnapped/held hostage/threatened!" beats should have been responded to with a shrug.

But of course, it doesn't matter, because...

****MAJOR SPOILERS START HERE****

...it's not real.

Nearly none of it is real. There are two real people in the show, and everyone else is imaginary. Everything Jiang Shuo feels about her is completely one-sided, because she doesn't exist.

I am not categorically opposed to the final plot twist. I actually think, thematically, it makes a fair amount of sense, given how many other dreamscapes and mind-dives we've seen. What I'm opposed to is having it drop in the final episode, when there's no time to deal emotionally with any of it. If you wanted to pull that Inception shit, you should've done it at least halfway through the series. Give poor Jiang Shuo multiple episodes to deal with the truths that a) everyone he loves (minus one person) is a figment of his imagination, b) he is ultimately the one responsible for the horrors he has created, and c) he will have to decide in the end whether to live in the delusion or to destroy it by leaving. Let him wrestle with what he knows vs. what he feels. Give him plenty of time to deal with his guilt about what he's done to Qin'er. That would be delicious. That's not what we got.

Also, you've got to telegraph it, like, at all. As it is, I wondered for a while there whether something weird/bad happened, the real last episode got destroyed, and they had to hastily film an alternate ending. I am all but certain, on reflection, this is not what happened. There are just enough clues planted earlier that, yeah, I'm pretty sure this was the end they meant all along.

Which was such a bad decision. You know all those mysteries you were interested in, the ones driving the plot? Congratulations! You're never going to know! And it's not because the show got canceled or otherwise truncated -- no, it's because the show decided to tell you outright that those mysteries were never meant to be solved. It's a riddle that never had an answer in the first place.

I said at the time that the end feels exactly like an anime that got too far ahead of the manga, ran out of source material, and had to cobble together an ending that wouldn't spoil the manga's eventual logical conclusion. That's not quite what happened, but it's exactly the vibe.

(Not to get too spoilery of other properties here, but yeah, you realize this was the same guy who made Sand Sea, and that actually makes a lot of sense. Speaking of things that ran out the source material...)

My instinct is to tell people not to watch the last episode, to just stop at the end of 35 and make up your own stories about what comes next, but ... you kind of have to see it to believe it. It's worth it for the sheer audacity that would consider this a good ending.

I've seen plenty of people on various sites saying they loved the ending while clamoring in the same breath for a second season. No, friends, you're having the same reaction I did -- you know a twist like that should not be a last-minute drop. It's not a setup for anything; it's what happens when you can't stick the landing, so you throw out a bunch of impressive-sounding nonsense while pretending that was what you'd meant to do all along. A second season wouldn't solve the mysteries, because the show has declared that not only won't they be solved, they weren't even mysteries in the first place. They were fancy shiny meaningless things that made the plot go, and you were stupid for being invested in them.

And by "mysteries" here, I mean the actual things that are being held up as mysterious and in need of a solution, like Liu Zhi's identity and the Yin River treasures and what happened to Papa Qin. I don't mean the things like wtf is going on with Moustache Dad and his weird semi-k*kistan flag -- because those are just fun bits of magical realism worldbuilding. Clearly this is all operating in some urban fantasy next-world-over scenario, where we're in, uhhh, Zhanghai, Zhina. It's real-world enough that we still have the British and the Japanese, but fake enough that whatever was going on with that hypnotism clock and the lake monster skeleton? Totally normal.

I guess that's part of what I find so frustrating, that it made such an interesting world to play around in ... and then took the cop-out "it was all a dream!" explanation. All the trauma and deaths you felt sad about? Irrelevant. All the friends in danger? Who cares! All the stakes you thought mattered? Meaningless. What, you want new stakes to care about? Well, we'd love to, but the last episode's ending. Bye!

Anyway! Frustrating but compelling! I have now burned so many more brain cells on this show than it deserves, and I will probably continue burning more for fanfic purposes. If you made it this far into this nonsense -- both the show and this post -- I salute you.

#psych hunter #house haunters #心宅猎人 #i made this #meta #rec post

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elftwink · 11 months

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lots of discussion on the dash as of late about trying to get people to switch from dnd to other systems (filled with ppl saying correct and true things. this is not a criticism), but relatively little recommending specific games or systems. well be the change you want to see in the world is what they say, so to anyone looking to branch out but not sure where to start, i would like to recommend my all time favourite ttrpg:

SPACE TRAIN SPACE HEIST

here's the little itch.io blurb (or the important part anyway): "A high-octane, single session, GM-less, Forged In The Dark, goof of a game for 3-5 players about space robbing a space train."

the number one reason i recommend this one is that it's very easy to learn no matter what system you're used to or if you have ever played tabletop at all. the rules are quick and very clear, it only uses one type of dice (a d6, the one basically everyone has at least in some board game or another). i have played this game with people who have only ever played dnd, and i have played it at a board game night with 0 ttrpg players. the game recommends 3-5 players but ive played up to seven and with some effort i think you could also play with only two.

another reason: it's gmless, and it has ZERO prep (besides maybe reading the rules, but i read them for the first time while learning to play with a group, so its not THAT important). to me this is one of the major sticking points of trying to make a dnd group: deciding who is the dm and then relying on that person to prepare a session. while i love dming, sometimes you just also want to be a player for a bit. well now we're all players!

(there is a facilitator role that's explained at the back of the rulebook, if you want, and if your players are a bit nervous to play totally gmless. but tbh, i will say i often SAY i will facilitate and then change nothing about how i would play besides reminding people of the rules and making sure everyone gets a chance to speak, both things that by the end of the game other players are usually doing of their own volition to help each other along. often, especially with otherwise experienced players, it's a little intimidating to go without a gm because of convention, not because they aren't capable of doing it. they always are!)

the mechanics and theme encourage you to be as ridiculous as possible (with playbooks like space wizard, where you can cast any spell but only once before you forget it forever, or egghead, where you're completely useless on purpose except for one specific and critically heist related expertise; train cars filled with escher staircases; and npcs who are extradimensional dragons or intergalactic popstars. or who run a junkyard. yeah on the train in space), and when i play i try to emphasize that the only win condition is that the players have fun and the story be interesting and funny. while i don't want to just Explain All the Rules (i want you to download the pdf from the game designers that does that), i will tell you about what i think is the best one:

when you make an action roll, you roll a number of d6s based on a few conditions. the first and most important of those conditions is "describe what you do in cinematic detail". to me this is actually what makes this game so fucking great. one of the parts i always find difficult to handle with games like dnd is preventing slog. you know, when youve been in combat for awhile and at each turn the player is like "Well. im gonna use my greatsword." then they roll and they go "oh cool i hit" (<- completely deadpan voice and expression) and you the dm says "ok you did x amount of damage" and they go cool. turn over. BORING. now there's lots you can do as the dm to prevent this, but they rely on you the dm trying to prevent this. or coming together as a table and trying to find ways to prevent it together.

in space train space heist, in order to even roll in the first place, you are required to get descriptive!!! you can't say "well i hit him with a fireball" (a thing you can absolutely do in space train space heist, btw, as long as you're playing a space wizard), you have to go more like "i move my hands in a circular motion and start chanting an incantation and from my palms comes a great BLAST of fire that shoots across the room and i want to explode the security robot into a gazillion pieces" now THATS cinematic detail!!! and all that extra detail has the added bonus of making it that much easier for other players to work in where their character is, what they're doing, and what the group needs to do next. it makes it so much easier to get into the roleplay, and imo is such a beautiful way to work it into the mechanics, and it's SO much easier to involve players who are otherwise really nervous or uncertain about roleplaying

obviously it's very different mechanically and thematically from dungeons and dragons. to me this is part of why i think dnd players should give it a try; often dnd players branch out only to very similar games, and while i do think you should chase your bliss (and i have nothing against games like say pathfinder. would love to play it someday myself lol), i think space train space heist can show you just how wide and varied ttrpgs actually can be. and although i myself still continue to play dnd 5e and probably will for the forseeable future, i think my experiences playing space train space heist have exponentially improved how i handle dnd games and how i think about making it fun for everyone.

the game is $5 USD. if you aren't able to afford that, no worries because there are currently around 69 thousand community copies available for you. and if you bought the ttrpgs for trans rights itch.io bundle awhile ago you already own it! pleaseeee give it a go all you need is 2 friends, a few six-sided dice, and to get a little silly with it

#good idea generator #if enough people were interested i would literally make a discord server for the express purpose of running it for yall tbh #if even one person tries this game bc of this post i have succeeded i believe so strongly once you play then you will Realize #every time i play this everyone says the exact same thing: omg wow that was so fun and i understood it so fast!!#dont take my word for it though: just look at literally any review on the itch page!!! please its sooo good i love space train space heist

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