#unclear to me but statistically likely to be true)

[headspace-hotel]

Having a rough time finding more fics I'm interested in, maybe because I've restored myself on whatever ingredient or nutrient these fics were supposed to give me??? It's unclear. The obsession has somewhat faded. But it's nice to be obsessed.

Small handful of insights. First, I have become a very different person in the past few years and I no longer have a clear understanding of what I like to read. I near exclusively read original SFF in my teen years but now I can't interest myself in any of it and seem to enjoy just about anything else.

Second, I was having a terrible time reading SFF in my teen years, so I might have been wrong all along.

Third, the elitist snobbery prevalent among readers of books is a disease. Like, you have to love "books," but only real books, not formulaic genre fictions like those YA romantasy and trashy romance novels and pulpy "thrillers." Can we talk about how absurd this is? Step foot in a library, 85% of the fiction books in there are going to fail these readers' criteria for originality and intellectual sophistication. Readers of Westerns and Amish romances aren't some kind of aberrant offshoot, they are the true vine. They are the statistically typical reader. Folks are getting their panties in a knot about 25 year olds reading nothing but formulaic romance novel slop. This has been normal for decades. It's been a moral panic for centuries. Chill the fuck out.

Science fiction and fantasy has historically been considered worthless "genre fiction" trash, and unfortunately, I think writers and readers of original SFF have responded with "noooo, we're different and better than THOSE books" rather than "yeah, so what if we're like THOSE books?"

So there's a lot of SFF that is allergic to fun and thinks it's a lot "deeper" and more intellectual than it really is, and...yeah. It sucks. One of the first things I learned in my creative writing class is the distinction between "literary" and "genre" fiction, and SFF wants to be "literary" but I don't think "literary" is anything worth aspiring to be.

I think the slop of the masses is usually objectively better than Literary Works for people who are desperate to be perceived as intellectual. The stench of insincerity and defensive irony clings to that literary stuff.

Fourth, everybody likes to dunk on the people who say fanfiction has equal literary value to "published books," but those people are just objectively correct. There's no reason fanfiction should be considered inferior to other types of literary work. It's just a cultural attitude resulting from our extreme and weird intellectual property laws.

Fifth, I convinced myself I was too good for the Slop of The Masses and that's why I became depressed and stopped reading entirely. An exercise in humility.

Reading Bucky Barnes fan fictions like my life depends on it, part 2 (part 1 is here, and contains a lentil soup recipe) The first post was getting long so we have a new post now.

Another masterpiece: lilies with full hands. Another trauma recovery focused fic, where Bucky adopts a service dog, gets lots and lots of therapy, and learns what things like "consent" and "boundaries" are. Well, not what those things are, but that they apply in situations where others are touching him.

As with some of the other fics, this one portrays Bucky as a survivor of sexual violence, inflicted on him as part of his torture by Hydra, and delves deep into the feelings of self-blame and crushing shame he feels about all of the trauma he experienced, but especially the sexual assault. The way these feelings are shown in all their ugliness and complexity is hard-hitting and very powerful. It viscerally examines all the other traumas he went through as well: the whole nonconsensual human experimentation thing, getting his arm sawn off while he was awake, being forced to kill people, and being beaten and tortured in various other ways. As a whump enjoyer, I was Having A Good Time. We don't get, like, lengthy flashbacks, but there are some uhhh haunting details.

(except with the sexual assault stuff, which is more vague. Content warnings are provided nonetheless at the start of each chapter where this is discussed, though.)

I would say this was primarily fluffy, because most of the activities the characters are doing are things like bubble baths and game night and other chill and relaxing fun, but all of it is nonetheless a hell hole for Bucky because he is slamming back and forth from horrible flashbacks to humiliation and guilt to self-harm to being suicidal, and just when he is feeling better about one thing he's getting bodied by something else.

It is really, really hard for Bucky to accept that no part of what he went through was his fault. The most painful part is that after long enough of being brainwashed and tortured, he eventually stopped fighting back and just complied with his abusers' demands. It feels horrible that he ""let"" these things happen to him. But it wasn't his fault, even though he is physically super-strong and powerful and physically could have resisted.

A small spark of insight: no other character from the MCU or honestly from anything exudes such power and confidence in the way they move and inhabit their body as Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Everything about the character's physical presence on screen screams dominance, prowess and strength.

Therefore, it is compelling to write him as a rape survivor. If Bucky, a character who is pure power-fantasy-fuel, experienced sexual violence, then being a survivor of sexual violence doesn't define anyone or make anyone weak. The story evokes compassion for his feelings of humiliation, powerlessness, and self-blame, allowing the reader to explore these experiences along with him, to accept that he is not weak or at fault for what happened, and to feel that he deserves to get better.

Or at least that's my theory.

Can I just say something about these fics though? In every single one Steve decides he is Responsible For Fixing Everything and reacts VERY badly when realizing he triggered Bucky/otherwise fucked up, and goes on a whole internal I'm A Worthless Piece Of Garbage guilt pilgrimage, and at this point I just wanna fucking smack him hahah

[dawning-day]

[hyunjin skz voice] thats very knies 🤌

[tides-of-time]

asking you about this with my huge wet eyeball

OKAY.

I’m going to preface this with the acknowledgement that much of this is anecdotal, and is based on the way that accents play into socioeconomic class primarily in Australia and the UK (the two are quite similar, though I’m more knowledgeable on Australia, because, well, I live there,)—this is because accents are inextricably linked to the social perception of someone, which leads people to drawing certain conclusions based on that. This is also based moreso on lived experience than statistics, but I do know these things to be true outside of my own experiences, so. Y’know.

That said, we’ve all heard The Narrator speak by now—his voice is deep, smooth, and his accent can very easily be described as sounding quite posh—this, in and of itself, combined with the connotations that being/appearing posh comes with, is already an example of perceptions of class taken from accents.

I’ve found that, often, whilst reading fan-written dialogue and other such fiction, people will frequently write The Narrator’s dialogue a bit differently to how it appears in-game—his dialogue will have a lot of fancy little verbal flourishes, and it isn’t entirely uncommon to see him use petnames and such when referring to people, which he doesn’t really do at all in-game, beyond the occasional “sport/champ” here or there. Though this is incredibly uncommon, and I can only think of one instance of it off the top of my head.

He is also often drawn as being rather a well-dressed and dapper fellow, but, to this I ask—how true is that to his character? I do think that he would not be drawn so well put-together if not for his manner of speech, especially given that he’s a game developer-in universe (dependent on context and endings: like many things in TSP, the actual nature of his existence is unclear,) and often shows a level of (not nearly as explored as I’d like to see) emotional instability, insecurity, and apparent anxiety. I, too, am guilty of doing this! Although I do it consciously, with all of this information in the forefront of my mind. I do not think most do this intentionally, however.

So, too, do people often depict him as being far nicer in their fanworks than he ever really is in canon. That isn’t to say that he’s completely awful in-game, but, really, he’s not nearly as big a sweetheart as I often see depicted of him. I fully believe this to be, whether intentionally or not, a result of the way in which he carries himself, and the way in which he speaks, especially as I do not often see this phenomenon occur nearly as much in characters who have accents that would typically indicate lower class than his own accent, regardless of fandom.

It seems obvious, to me, because I do it myself and am very familiar with how accents influence the way in which you’re perceived—I actually possess more class mobility than the average person of my status would, purely because of the way that I dress and speak! It really has nothing to do with money at all, that The Narrator may, in some capacity, possess knowledge of this, too, whether consciously or not, exemplified in the language he uses, especially when trying to appear better than, or condescend, someone. Take, for example, his excessive use of multi-syllabic words when slyly insulting Stanley’s, the player’s, and/or the audience’s intelligence in certain endings, which he doesn’t really use in most of his more casual speech, (although him speaking in a condescending manner is an incredibly common occurrence, so. Do with that what you will.)

Those with “fancier” accents tend to be perceived quite differently to those with accents that more resemble/represent living in lower class areas. Arguably, how you say something is more important than what exactly you say.

“It’s not that deep,” oh, but nothing is quite so simple, dear reader! Especially not with I.

[dark-elf-writes]

WHAT IF OBORO LIVED AND WAS LIVING EVERY HIMBOS DREAM OF BAGGING A MILF AND TRIPPED HIS WAY INTO BEING IZUKU’S STEP DAD AND POST

Let's do this 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

-(he is enraptured.)

Oboro, the ultimate simp.

-(all tangled hair and pillow lines on her face)

I know this man thought that she was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in that moment. Like wanted a full blown painting of the way she looked.

-(one of his shirts to replace the one he got a little too excited to deal with the buttons of last night that hangs off of her)

Not sure who the friend is (Mitsuki? just based on canon, it's unclear) but I know for damn sure that she got pummeled with questions the millisecond she walked in the door.

-(Which yeah of course he is. That’s what moms are supposed to do, right?)

THIS MAN GETS IT!!!! We looooove him!!!!! Like this energy of parent gotta parent right? Like that a thing that just is? ahahah

-(“He’s quirkless”

He’s heard the whispers about what happens to quirkless kids and teens from other heroes,)

OOOOF like the amount of statistics and lived experience that must have flashed through his head at that moment. I know his hero brain went protec baby

-(times.)

I'm intrigued gooo ooooooon

-(And then, eventually, he meets Izuku. A timid little thing. All of seven years old)

Okay so some of my favorite fanart is little Izuku. Like they're always portrayed as positively tiny and the fact that Oboro is like seven foot tall and a scarred pro hero looking down at the itty bitty baby. I can only picture him looking down at Izuku before straight dropping to the floor to be on their level(also completely destroyed by the cute).

just

the woman he's already entirely smitten with and her tiny mini me in front of him. Never stood a chance.

-(He wants this.)

Understandable. As you should good sir

-('HOUSE HUSBAND OBORO, MALEWIFE OBORO')

rhtngjrakhuriwalngbjdksal I can't this entire ask!!!!!!

Like the image of this giant man in an apron that is meant for a 5'1" woman is fucking priceless, but the care of him making them meals and I just know that Inko became the most popular person at work for the next month solely for the gossip.(before things took a turn) Plus matching Izuku's socks by hero team up 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love it so much!!!!!

-(DadOboro introducing his son to his best friends and little fanboy Izuku’s reaction)

I feel like this is a requirement. I think I need to learn to draw at this point, I 'll pencil it in somewhere, because I need to see this visually almost as much as I need caffeine.

-(when Oboro plops down on the couch next to him one day and asks if Izuku comfortable meeting them)

Oboro, my love, of course your fankid is going to lose their absolute shit at the opportunity. So cavalier about it, just drop next to them like hey, let me make all of your dreams come true.

~I have a weird thing about cavalier announcements about big things. My dad sorted my mail when he told me he had cancer the first time, like while he was talking. It left a mark😅😅 I need you to be as serious as what you are telling me is!!!~

-(the closest Tenya has ever gotten to a tantrum is when the train broke down and nearly made him late to daycare.)

djegilhaekagyhjaklefnrethro 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 If this isn't the most accurate descriptor of the little Iida oh my god

-(He asks Tenya about his favorite hero.)

The fact that these men have to come to terms with the fact that their biggest fans are giant hero fanboys(kids) that live in their house. AHAHAHAHA I know Shouta and Hizashi gave them sooo much shit for it. Only for the tables to turn later.

-(Shouta is very clearly A Favorite(tm))

As he should be. I come to the decision that if you don't like Shouta, I don't trust you. But for him to be Izuku's idol as a hero osdjkahgejkwabngmdfmaluigj.

-(Shouta looks in a mirror with Erasure in because he was laughing too hard and please won’t you tell me?)

I need to know this. like seriously 🤣🤣🤣 '

-(There’s not so much of a gender crisis that night as a gender revelation.)

Oh the impact of Hizashi *my heart*

-(Oboro Vs. Izuku’s elementary school.)

I need a whole stage production of this. Like broadway level. Complete with songs.

-(they won’t look at him when they say they forgot it at school.)

Those aren't flags anymore, that's a banner on a plane, that's sky writing, that a billboard on the interstate. Oh honey....

-(The man working the desk in the office sneers)

and that's a one way ticket to the hospital with a broken jaw. Oboro is absolutely making up a story to cover for Inko here. Because I know for damn sure he taught her how to knock someone on their ass. "He tripped, and fell straight into her fist, it was the oddest thing. And sorry about the security cameras, lost control of my quirk for a second, can't see a damn thing through the clouds. My bad"

-(if he doesn’t see his kid right now something very bad is going to happen.)

Oof that intuition must suck sometimes my guy.

-Okay soo the fact that the guy was just like fine whatever go, without checking paperwork is absolutely infuriating to me, as someone who (as a services provider) had to be escorted to the room I was meeting someone in 🤬🤬

But the absolute joy that Oboro felt when Inko made him official on the paperwork. Oh my goooooooood

-(Izuku sits at a table alone covered in trash and scraps clearly not left by them.

Then Izuku reaches for their pencil case, battered and mostly empty even though Oboro just bought them new pens and pencils a week ago, and he sees the red mark on their wrist when their sleeve moves.)

Oboro will level the school. It will look just like this. dramatic effect and all. Inko hit the detonator(she wouldn't have managed to stand through the force generated)

-(They were even less prepared for a Incredibly Pissed Inko Midoriya still in her scrubs from the hospital to descend on them with all the wrath of a mother bear protecting her cub.)

As much as I love a good, bad mom Inko Aizawa adopts Izuku story, there's something so special about empowered momma bear Inko. Just perfection.

-(has him call up Tensei so they can start the transfer to Tenya’s school that night)

That stings the pride. Oh sweets, I'm sorry😭😭😭

-(Imagine the sludge villain attack still happening years down the line. Imagine the conversation with All Might being mostly the same. Imagine, alone and heartbroken and on a roof, Izuku hits the emergency beacon their dad gave him with a promise to always come if they needed him.

Imagine Oboro’s rage when he finally hears what happened.)

djgavjkghalngjekwargh FUCK YESSSSS ♾️/10 no notes. Need it like I need oxygen. please please please and thank you brilliant one.

-(Thinking about the combined ADHD energy of the two of them leading to flour and mess everywhere but they’re laughing and hushing each other so they don’t wake Inko up.)

IF THAT ISN"T THE SWEETEST GODDAMN MENTAL IMAGE ON THIS GODFORSAKEN EARTH SDHJGHRJKEGSJDKghjkelsngjial

Art! Art!!! I neeeeeeed it!!!

-(when they get more serious he helps her divorce Hisashi, does this happen and how does he react?)

*maniacal cackling* of course it does... and he must suffer 😈😈

-(Endeavor once made a snide comment but got quiet real quick when Oboro asked how much older he was than his wife.)

Fuck Endeavor. I hope someone empties multiple fire extinguishers on him on live television, before someone(Oboro) punts him off a cliff like he's aiming for a field goal. Scorecards are necessary.

-(Particularly after he cuts the “locker room talk” real short)

Gentlemen of the internet, take note. Locker room talk is bullshit when it's about femme presenting folks!!!!

- (She knows that there’s a type that men like Oboro tend to chase after and it’s not her. She’s short, has packed on a few pounds between late shifts and being a single mom, and while she sees herself as pretty she’s no model.)

Fuck beauty standards. That man would cause hurricanes to protect her. And Inko has MILF energy 💯

-(And he chose her. Time and time again)

^^^ Me when reading this

-(Oboro chose her, respected her, loved her and at the end of the day that was all that mattered.)

👏👏👏

-(It hurt, however, when Mitsuki pulled away.)

Ouch, like I find the canonical Bakugou family dynamics interesting as hell, but Mitsuki is always a wild card to me. Masaru seems to be much calmer. But this hurts. Like there's nothing like a friend to stab you in the back like this to leave scars that never fully heal and split open with just the slightest pressure.

-(Hizashi alone was responsible for the end of no less than fifteen journalists’ careers and Nezu sunk so many gossip rags and talk shows that he is the Macbeth of the industry.)

We love a social powerhouse or two.

-(He had all but forgotten his wife and kid. Had moved on. Then he gets served divorce papers and his perfect little fantasy shatters around him.)

Just desserts mother fucker!!!!!

-(I want to talk to my wife”

“Who?”

“Midoriya. Inko.”

“Oh I think you mean my future wife.”)

jfkgavnrjskdgh mcvjakghsjbnjef YYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS

-(So when Hisashi figures out Inko’s address (cough stalks her cough) and Oboro opens the door still half in costume with his bow staff draped over his shoulders and a scowl on his face because Inko definitely clocked that she was being followed and he has no patience for anyone that upsets his family)

Oh Oboro absolutely got laid that night. Izuku suddenly had a sleepover somewhere and Inko absolutely leapt on that ass. Not because she needed defending noooo, but the primitive hindbrain said fuck yes, to the impeccable specimen of a man intimidating the fuck out of the weasel that made her and her child's lives miserable for years.

-(squaring up with some low ranked hero)

She'd win. Hands down, no quirks necessary. Nope. My money's on her, any other bet is a sucker's bet. The rooftops found the popcorn and have scorecards ready and waiting for the absolute smack down

-So the combination of OfA and a big fucking stick still makes me cackle. Feral Izuku getting Yagi's attention and him pedo creepy stalking this fucking child home to use their fucked up power imbalance and pass along the quirk. Izuku should not be allowed to make big decisions without a full committee hearing.

-(she is going to shove her foot so far up the number one hero’s ass that he is going to be tasting her laces for the rest of his damn life.

Oboro breaks his jaw the next day.)

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAGUJKAGSKDGHNJKWALGNF Something about this landed just right to me and I fucking lost it reading that. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

-(BONK BONK BONK BONK)

Nothing further. No notes. Perfection. B O N K🤣🤣🤣🤣

-(I know I said that the experience of being hunted by the rooftops and Inko was unique but for Yagi it is becoming distressingly common.)

Okay but like, he should be terrified of Inko. Not just because she is Momma. But because she has multiple pro heroes that would actively cover up her crimes. Like you will never convince me that if it was for Izuku, any of the Rooftops would stop her. Noooo they would help her hide the evidence/body.

-(Oboro is very much the “actually sit on my face and if I die, I die doing what I love” Kind of man.)

As he should be.

-(ittle Zuku at maybe like ten at one of the galas Oboro has to go to in a cute little dress and sneakers)

art i neeeeeed aaarrrrttt

I can make king size blankets with a hook and string, I can make booties and hats. I can bind books, but I can't draw anything more than a stick figure and I'm so fucking angry about it.

Like everything about the gala is fucking perfection. Izuku standing on Oboro's feet when dancing, tiny sneakers and their giant counterparts. The Todoroki kids death glaring their father. Attempts at a waltz. Oh my god hgdjahterjaklnvfjkdalghuer

-"Found a stick on the ground" will forever be the best in universe joke of this AU. Because not only will Oboro never let it die, Izuku has got to make troll videos using the sound and stealing Oboro's staff. Like the idea of them with social media is amazing but like can you imagine. Oboro comes home and Izuku is very much playing it cool, only to be asked, "do you have any idea about why I may have been called in by my agency's PR department today?" Izuku "nope" runs for it.

-(Hisashi gets every headline of the three of them sent to him in triplicate.)

gkveajnrgjeaklngj AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH SUFFER@!!!!!!!f

-Everything about the engagement and wedding. EVERYTHING I don't have wooooorrrdsss. Like the proposal is fantastic. Big on family, but small and of course there has to be glitter! And the backyard wedding with Flower Child Izuku turning petals into weapons. And the viral reception videos. I would pay money to see those actually

-Tattooed Oboro hhhnnnnnnggghhh OjgkahgrjklSOH MY GOD Yes. Please. Papaboro with the markers and bonding and looking fine as hell in the process and the earning of the baby's truuuussttt

-(Hizashi stumbles a cross a sad purple child while out on patrol and takes him home and suddenly Izuku has a cousin.

Oboro goes full gender reveal “It’s a boy”

Ten year old Hitoshi realizes he is the only sane member of his new family real quick.)

Okay but is he though??? 😁😁😁 I love this though. sososoooo much. Like they give each other a ton of shit but Oboro must've went full fun uncle in .02 seconds and Izuku had to have their first three sleepovers planned in his notebook before the party even started(the confidence is there people!!!)

And confetti cannons!!!!!!!

-Okay so the word prompts are great and the idea of Oboro and Hizashi both constantly losing staring contests to Shouta (who's quirk relies entire on his ability to keep his eyes open) is priceless. I know Nemuri just called them idiots and said, 'I know a losing battle when I see one'

and the home prompt!!! Like oh my god. Is that to Inko? Or Oboro? Either way I'm here for it but I'm super fucking excited for the context.

and (some unholy intersection between traumatized kids clinging to the only sources of comfort and stability they had ever known and disgruntled siblings shoved into the back seat of a cramped car for a ten hour road trip, one stray elbow away from outright bloodshed.)

nghjeaklgnjreaghrjkagn ahahahahhahahahahahahah fucking accurate. My parents specifically bought a van that had a dvd player to try to stop of from fighting and it still didn't work. Alll the sibling energy here!!!!!!

AAAAAHHHHH I love this AU so much. Like Izuku deserve a dad that will go to bat for them every time. Including breaking the number one hero's jaw. And a crew of aunt, uncles and Bibi that will have an open door and a training schedule for them whenever they want. I'd also love to see Hitoshi brainwash Bakugou into punching himself in the face when they get to UA(when he makes the mistake of calling Izuku Deku), before that pomeranian is thrown in mandatory therapy from now until eternity.

I'm seriously so excited for this to come to life someday. Like it's going to be so fantastic!!!!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

This is another one I keep wanting to come back to. I’ve had like 90% of a chapter (and most of a smut oneshot) written for this forever but I for the life of me cannot get it finished. I will definitely come back to it though I love it so much.

[light-wrath-analysis]

Castlevania’s Death aka Oh God I Am Reaching: A character analysis

Preface: You may have seen this already a few years back. This is because I did in fact post this a few years back. However, that blog of mine is gone, so I am reposting it anew. I removed some fluff past me put in and I believe i should make sense without it, but please do shout if it does not and I will attempt to fix my mistakes. Thank you in advance.

Contents

A few useless fun facts

The sauce Core question Evidence Traits evidence Conclusion Traits and speech but wrapped in sauce (check „Hard“ data, „General“ section, for TLDR)

„Hard“ data (aka just a list of everything The Sauce covers. Think of the actual statistics in a research. The paper tells you about them in complex senteces but then provides you with the numbers.)

My personal shitty little observations

To make things easier, when referring to Death as a whole, I’ll be saying just Death. When referring specifically to the true form of Death, I’ll be saying „Death (true form).“

The Sauce (and my fruitless attempts at maintaining a coherent chain of thought)

Without further ado! Ladies, gentlemen, creatures of other titles and/or genders, I have asked myself the age-old question, my friends have asked themselves the age-old question: Is Death a theatre kid? Now, I come to you, bearing what you may choose to accept as an answer, or throw it out and beat me up behind an Albert.

I’d like to clarify that I employed both meta and in-universe thinking, but threw out chunks of meta thinking A) for convenience’s sake (depite my core principle never to give any author more potential credit than they are due) B) because my friend looked like they were about to beat me with a stick if I once more said the phrase „But this is probably just a mistake on the writers’ part and should be ignored.“ I will mention where I did this so you can decide for yourself if you desire to make a potential reach or discard it.

Core question

So, to start off bluntly: Is Death a theatre kid (and to what extent)? Lol. Lmao. No. Never (okay, that’s a lie). To elaborate: Death is not a theatre kid unless it is absolutely needed and even then he sucks at it.

What I am saying is that the disguises are both most likely manufactured by Death, and even if they aren’t, Death does not assume a role, or, in the case of The Alchemist, does not do it well.

„That is a bold statement, where is the evidence?“ I am glad you ask. Let us continue to:

The Evidence

Our first problem was the oddly common misconception that Death can only shapeshift into existing beings, even more specifically dead beings. Since this was a prevalent thought in our group, I am addressing it. It is, in fact, not even implied anywhere in canon. To be extra sure, I tried cross-referencing the game canon even though it is a completely different universe. Some aspects remain similar in those two universes after all. While the character of Death works a little different (and if the wiki is to be trusted it is unclear if game Death is supposed to be a Shinigami or the wester concept of Grim Reaper), the abilities seem to be the same, however, while there is an example of game Death shapeshifting, the wiki did not address nor specify whether or not the disguise (Zead) existed as a pre-established person before game Death took his form. If this is addressed in the games, I would like to know. With no further information, we decided that our common opinion was simply a bias most likely caused simply by the word „death.“ (and in one acquaintance’s case by DnD).

With that thrown out, we took a look at the designs of the disguises. This is where I am reaching and throwing out meta. If you wish to silence my tongue and accept meta as your god, that is completely understandable. As we all know, designs have both out of universe and in-universe implications. A design should convey a character’s role. However, this sometimes produces unintended implications in-universe (for example the ever classic question in JRPGs and anime: Who would wear bikini armour into battle?). Varney’s design is not really remarkable in this regard, its coat does have a scythe-like collar (as is stated to be intended in the art book), however, this could well enough be a coincidence in-universe. The odder one out of the bunch is The Alchemist. While the early designs in the art book have remarkably little to do with what most conceptualise as death (with the exception of the ever-present cape), the final design looks like what the average person might draw if you tell them to draw death – the colour scheme is cold, only brightened by the light blue, which could be considered a cold colour, it includes a cape reminiscent of the one the Grim Reaper is traditionally depicted wearing, and the gown is similar to the robe death tends to be depicted in as well. Out of universe, this makes complete sense, in-universe, it is a little odd but nothing major. Who’s to say that there couldn’t have been a random woman who looked like that? The thing that seals it for me in universe are her earrings. While the animators seemed to have taken some liberties with every frame, the general pattern actually mimics the patterns of Death’s (true form) rib cage. Again, out of universe? A normal design choice, a pretty cool one at that. In universe? Now where would you get a woman who has such earrings? Of course, there is also the possibility that Death can simply alter parts of the disguises. The mental image of Death adding specifically rib cage-patterned earrings is a hilarious one ngl.

Before we get to the next points, it is import to note that, as I mentioned, Death seems to have no interest in acting out a role and isn’t even good at it when he is. When posing as The Alchemist, the speech pattern is noticeably different (no swear words, more formal language in general), however, it very quickly starts shifting towards shortened verbs, and starts being formal again after a pause. Then it devolves into shortened verbs again. Varney and Death (true form) have a pretty much identical speech pattern, the only difference is that Death (true form) has a higher swear word percentage, but that may be due to the prevalence of pissed off scenes. All forms also pronounce words the same way (a fun tidbit that is not really meaningful is that The Alchemist never say can’t, only cannot). To add to that, Varney and Death (true form) sometimes speak in the exact same tone of voice as the other form. Out of universe, the usage of the same VA for Death (true form) and Varney might be some kind of indication as well („Oh dear author, that was most likely for budget reasons!“ Okay well I don’t see how that’s my problem.)

Now we can talk about a question that is related to this issue: Let’s say the disguises are pre-established people. Why would Death pick Varney as a disguise? There were, in general, two ideas. One mine and one was proposed by a guy on Discord, whom I thank for an outside perspective. He proposed that he may have been chosen because Death knew nobody knew him and as such could do fuck-all undetected. Although that makes sense, we must consider that Death repeatedly appears to be weirded out by the fact that nobody knows Varney, even in situations where acting in character (if Death even cared about acting in character in the first place, and he does not) is not necessary, which leads me to believe that Death genuinely didn’t expect that. Which is where my opinion comes into play. I believe that in this proposed scenario, Death would have chosen Varney as a disguise because he knew (or assumed) that Saint Germain knew who Varney was. Both this and the apparent expectation of Varney being known make me think that if this were the case, Death would have attempted to act in character as not to arouse suspicion. He, however, doesn’t act any different, not in general and not in front of people who were supposed to know Varney, and Saint Germain doesn’t get suspicious, implying that Death’s behaviour and mannerisms align with whatever Saint Germain knows about Varney (it is fair to note, however, that Saint Germain at this point probably wouldn’t notice even a brick flying straight at his face, so perhaps this is not the most reliable source.)

To add to that: I have noticed that the dates given by the show do not add up. What I will now be describing is another reach that is most easily explained by a simple mistake or lack of care for precision. If you desire to to disregard it, you may do so, however, I am bound by my friends’ annoyance at my too out-of-universe thinking and I must consider it as not to test their wrath. At this point, Castlevania takes place when? 1497? Saint Germain and maybe one more person (unsure, 100% certain only about Saint Germain) remark that Varney is 1000 years old. I do trust Saint Germain on this and take it as factual. When Varney gets annoyed that nobody knows him for like the third time, he asserts that he was mighty when London was a Roman ghost town. Except that London wouldn’t have been a Roman ghost town by the time Varney came into existence. Now, I did not have internet when I was making all my notes, but a source on the phone double checked the date when Romans definitely left London for me, because I had a feeling it was off but wasn’t sure due to the repeated migrations in and out of London. IF she is correct, the dates just don’t add up. If I bend to the will of my friend group, this effectively means that Death outed himself as not Varney, or at least admitted to being older than Varney should be. Might also imply that Death was in Londinium. What this says is that he definitely doesn’t care to be in character to the point of just straight up saying something that would immediately make anyone who knows history really suspicious. He says more things that could be taken as suspicious but not so much as this one, as the other lines could very well be interpreted metaphorically by everyone around („-you do not know what I am, but I tolerate you precisely because you’re good at death – it nourishes me.“) and some things that seem to align exclusively with Death’s (true form) goals and likely wouldn’t align with the average vampire mindset („He owes us death. Death in volumes unprecedented.“)

Now that we are past that: If Death doesn’t care about being in character and just does whatever unless it’s absolutely required for him to attempt to assume a role, why does he keep getting so weirdly offended when people don’t know Varney? Why does he keep asserting who his disguise is? I am of the opinion that a situation like that might happen only when you have a disguise for such a long time that it basically becomes you in a sense or when there was never a pre-established person in the first place.

And we arrive at one of my last points, this one ties in nicely with the first one. I, once again, cross-referenced the games’ canon because there was one thing that slightly confused me: During the 9th(?) episode, Trevor refers to Death (true form) exclusively as „it,“ but uses „he“ when remarking that Varney was likely a part of Dracula’s court. If taken as objective, this would draw a distinction between Varney and Death (true form). Plus the show says that Varney joined Dracula’s court one hundred years ago. I am unsure how reliable this piece of information is but considering that Varney does say that he’s of Dracula’s original cohort, I’ll believe it. Due to all of this, I wasn’t sure if I should be of the opinion that Death has been going around in this disguise for at least 100 years or if Varney himself was the one to join Dracula’s court. I decided to assume that the writers meant Death to be, in certain aspects, similar to the game’s canon (a factor in this decision was once again the uncertainty if game Death is the Grim Reaper or a Shinigami. A Shinigami could, in the realm of medieval fantasy that takes its artistic liberties, especially if it’s one made by someone with certain opinions, technically be described as an elemental spirit. Consdering that, one could argue that the Deaths are meant to be similar in at lest some aspects.). When I allowed myself to take this liberty, I then proceeded to take into account the fact that the game’s Death is second in command to Dracula and that it has been for quite some time. After doing so, I came to the conclusion that if the disguises were pre-established people, Death (true form) had to have been moonlighting as Varney for over 100 years, which would fall in line with the previous paragraph.

To take a break and enrich your reading experience, have a picture of the local ZOO’s echidna:

Traits Evidence

Let us move on to the even more subjective and questionable area: traits, speech patterns, movements.

The general traits of all forms are seemingly the same. All three forms are quick to take everything personally when questioned, are conceited, manipulative, arrogant and, in general, they’re pricks. All three use rhetorical questions (though The Alchemist uses them the most), and all three use similar hand gesticulation (specifically they orient their hand movements outwards. In other hand movement regards, there are some differences: The Alchemist moves both arms/hands outwards or keeps them both by her body; Varney usually has one hand by his body and the other oriented outwards, Death (true form) usually has both arms outwards). All three forms gravitate towards semi-formal language, using shortened forms of words with the occasional use of full forms (The Alchemist is a bit of an outlier in that, as mentioned, she starts with formal language and descends into a semi-formal one). All three forms also tend to start sentences with „and,“ with both Death (true form) and Varney using „well“ to start sentences as well. They all tend to end sentences with either the name + surname of the person they’re talking to, or their name + title, or „sir.“

There seems to be basically no line between Death (true form) and Varney. Obviously a lot of these things rely on the accuracy of general information provided by other characters though, as I am at the mercy of nothing if not accuracy. In addition to the common traits of all three forms, Death (true form) and Varney are both also entitled, power-hungry, often, they take a mocking tone and are loud even when it would be better to shut up. They are both cruel and have a peculiar vocabulary.

Varney and The Alchemist both also use the phrase „[somebody’s] Great Work,“ which would not be odd in my opinion if it was used for the same construct, as it might simply be the correct term for it, however, it is used in a different context each time.

(Author's 2024 note: Have a simple old as balls Varney doodle in these trying blocks of text)

Conclusion

All of this leads me to believe that The Alchemist and Varney are either forms fully made up by Death, or they are pre-established but Death has been disguising as Varney for a damn long time now. I personally do not think that either of those options is the more likely one, however, if you are of a diferent opinion, I would like to hear it. Personally, I choose to go with the first option, simply because I find the mental image of Death just making up a guy some 1000 years ago, the way you’d create some kind of -sona, incredibly hilarious.

Traits and speech but wrapped in sauce

After reaching this conclusion and choosing the option to go with, it came to the part that actually wasn’t originally planned but considering I got this far, I decided I might as well do it. It was time for using all three forms to determine the exact speech patterns (I actually don’t know why I did that. I think it’s a reflex because I usually only analyse a character when I need to write them, and when I wirte them, I obviously need o understand how they talk, preferably as perfectly as possible lest I commit the heresy of being out of character and then die out of shame), traits, and peculiar tidbits.

When he talks, Death seems to sometimes use rhetorical questions, the Alchemist form uses them the most but they are sparingly used elsewhere as well. When it comes to opening a sentence, there is a pattern of starting sentences with the words „and“ or „well,“ as I mentioned earlier. It is not too often that this happens but it isn’t rare enough for me not to write it down. When ending a sentence, a lot of the time, Death ends it with the name of the person he’s talking to, or with „sir.“ I found this a little unusual because, at least in my experience, that is not what people do when talking to someone 1 on 1. There is only one example of this, so take it with an even bigger grain of salt than the rest of this, but it also appears that when Death is angry, he starts putting the name in the middle of the sentence instead. Not sure why anyone would need to know this but like idk I feel like if I would need this if I weren’t me. Death also talks in an informal way most of the time, occasionally employing a more formal vocabulary. Interestingly enough, none of the forms actually ever use anything that I would consider to be an advanced word, making it entirely possible that Death wasn’t messing with Saint Germain when he (as Varney) told him that he was looking for a really big word but couldn’t find one. Which is useless but it’s funny. This is not mentioned in the “Hard” Data because I have it noted down in the line transcriptions in the form of various forms of underlining, but Varney specifically tends to stretch some words out, I can’t really describe it (author's 2024 note: I believe that what past me was attempting to describe was simply a British accent. I have analysed a lot of Brits since this analysis and am pretty confident that that is just how a lot of them talk). Instead of fair it’s more like faaaair, or instead of word, sometimes it sounds more like wrrrrrd. Useless as well but part of analysis nonetheless.

When it comes to the body, as I already said, all forms tend to make a fair share of hand and arm movements that are oriented outwards, with The Alchemist having her arms right by her body the majority of the time and emplyoing both of her arms and hands in those outwards oriented motions. Varney gesticulates a lot more than The Alchemist, however, he usually does so with one hand, the other tends to be by the body. Death (true form) nearly always holds both of his arms/hands in an outwards oriented gesture. The forms with eyes also appear not to have their eyes fully open, though I admit it is hard to tell in the case of The Alchemist if her eyes are just like that or if they are half closed.

Next, the emotional expressions. Death doesn’t really laugh/chuckle/etc whenever he is amused, instead, he seemingly does it when he is satisfied with himself, when he is nervous, or when someone does something he himself considers to be a fail of sorts. His amusement is more general: He seems amused whenever anyone says something seemingly stupid or nonsensical, when someone fails at something,… In general, he’s amused whenever your idea of a typical malicious person would be. He gets frustrated when he is challenged or questioned in any way, often appealing to his authority as a retort. However, when the person questioning him backs their words up with facts, he gets nervous instead.

I will leave the traits in the “Hard” data as I have no sauce to say about them. No, I will not elaborate on bulletpoint #2.

“Hard” Data

This is basically just a transcription of everything on the physical papers used for our notes, minus all the character lines transcriptions, which greatly reduces the numbers because most of those pages are just line transcriptions. I originally wanted to just scan the notes but I don’t think anyone could read my writing. Some of it is incomprehensible, especially because at the start we couldn’t really agree on what exactly certain things meant, as we just noted them down as they were to remember.

Small note: The notes make a distinction between a fight, conquest, war, and slaughter. This is further elaborated upon in „My personal shitty little observations"

My personal shitty little observations

1. Observation: There is a substantial difference between several types of „combat.“ There is war, then there is conquest, then there is battle/fight and then there is slaughter. To define what I mean, war is, ideally, a fair battle on a battlefield conducted under a moral code. Conquest is sometimes a consequence of war or planned when a war starts. It should also be conducted under a moral code. Both are mass battles. A fight is a, usually, one on one hands throwing. Or knife throwing. Or anything. A fight does not need to be fair but for it to be a fight, either party needs to have a chance at winning. Otherwise it’s just slaughter. Slaughter is a farmer culls a goat. Slaughter is when one party has practically no chance of winning, so much so that it cannot be called a fight anymore.

Death, for one reason or another, does not participate in a fight, any kind of fight, even when he has a high chance of winning. Death participates only when it’s slaughter, or at least when it appears to be a slaughter to him. Him and Ratko set a trap for Zamfir, when they could have likely demolished her and that one guard themselves. In the argument with Ratko, he mentions that he could easily obliterate him where he stands, yet he avoids any kind of confrontation even when it looks like Ratko might just resort to a good old hand-throwing (he says that he tolerates him because he’s good at death, which is understandable, but it’s odd that he doesn’t reiterate even when it comes close to blows.) When in the underground, Varney uses stealth to avoid a human guard, even though it would probably take the exact same amount of effort to one-show him in a way. He only murders an unarmed civilian and fights Trevor in his true form. That leads me to believe he only „fights“ when he considers the other party absolutely incapable of winning. I am not drawing any conclusion from this, I’m just saying. Draw whatever you want from that.

(nearly unreadable diagram to give you a break from the walls of text)

2. Observation: I find it absolutely hilarious that a character who is an inhuman being technically totally removed from humanity since its inception, probably closer to something like a rusalka or hejkal than a man, is ironically incredibly human in its traits and motivations.I mean, what are some traits beings like hejkal, rusalka or anything like that usually have? They tend to be more or less emotionless, soulless, cold but not in a mean way, they’re cold the way a stone is cold, impersonally, indifferently. They toy with humans but not to achieve anything, but the way a cat toys with a mouse, the way a kid toys with ants. These beings just…exist with nearly no emotions whatsoever, on a higher level, no anger or hatred or disgust. Would you be disgusted by an ant? In most depictions, they don’t even have the capacity. That makes them inhuman.

But he does behave in a typically human way., and is clearly not aware of this as he does attempt to separate concepts like need or greed from his existence by labeling them as “human.” He doesn’t label greed as just that, simply greed, a general concept anyone can experience, he labels greed as human. True, inhuman creatures in folklore and mythos usually do not experience greed, the exception to this rule being creatures like the gods of polytheistic cultures. Greek, Egyptian and Norse gods are, however, generally agreed to be pretty human. Ancient gods squabbled like humans, loved like humans, fought wars like humans. Which is where it comes back to showing very human behaviour. We have labeled greed as a human trait and we have established that ancient gods were, in a way, very human despite their higher standing (Most of them owned it though). Death does, in fact, experience this “human” greed and to a fairly big extent. Depending on the definition of experiencing need, one might also conclude that the character does experience need. Constructs do not experience need as is currently defined (the awareness of a lack/deficiency with the intention of changing that), I mean, fairies, rusalky, they just wait, they do their “job” and nothing more, nothing less, they don’t actively try to do anything about it.

It can also be safely said that Death does experience anger, frustration, disgust, amusement (possibly an inhuman emotion if treated as malice considering most inhuman creatures do in fact experience malice, although not personal malice, again, it’s the malice a child feels when emotionally torturing ants. Whether this character experiences personal or impersonal malice is unclear to me personally and I would have to consult this with my co-insane person and adopt their opinion as my own, for I have none on this matter), shock (do fairies feel shock? Do they give a shit if something unexpected happens? Is shock a human emotion?), nervousness, conceit (is that an emotion? I don’t know how to say that specific emotion when someone’s arrogance gets hurt, I know it IS a specific emotional state, I just don’t know what it’s called. Like when someone tells your grandpa that he’s wrong about something and he’s just super miffed about it the whole day and keeps trying to argue about it. I’m sure that’s a very specific emotion.), etc. Those are human emotions. Death, who should, in theory, be above the needless human squabbles and things, is very VERY human in behaviour, much like the gods of Ancient Greece. Which isn’t really odd or anything, I just think it’s interesting because the character himself separates himself from humanity and should be separate from it in theory. But he very much…isn’t. He thinks he’s on a high horse but he’s actually bonking people with a stick in the middle of a mud puddle like the rest of the polite society.

[isleofair]

5, 13, 17 and 27 for the ask game!

Thank you so much for the ask! 💚💚💚

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

I sat here for a while trying to think of one, but I don't think I have any superstitions, per se. The closest thing would be that I usually try to post the fic (and the post announcing it) on a minute of the hour that is a number I like (usually odd ones). But I have no particular belief about the consequences of this, so I couldn't really call it a superstition, I believe.

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

I think I have trouble writing about things I am genuinely, rationally afraid of (certain kinds of injury, the death of a loved one, and so on). Funnily enough, even though I am acrophobic, I love writing about flying.

The easiest thing for me to write about, by far, is love.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

OH GOSH I am so torn between the need to talk about this sort of thing and my usual reluctance to avoid spoiling even the premise! I have one big story planned that, as an AU, needs a lot of this sort of background stuff, but I haven't gotten all of the details down as of yet. So I will tell you about another WIP, which is my attempt at a Tiger & Bunny soulmate AU, since I don't know how much exposition I will manage to cram into the actual story.

The basic premise is that soul marks started appearing on people around the same time as NEXT powers (with, possibly, a more unclear/debated relation to an actual DNA mutation or other actual scientifically-provable source). Curiously, the overlap of people having both is lower than statistically expected, although still far from nonexistent. Since they have only been around for a few decades, they are only present on a small percentage of people, and their full meaning is still debated by some, the reactions and attitudes towards them are definitely mixed, although of course some parts of culture have latched onto them like mad.

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

My first instinct is to answer Harlan Moore, the villain in To a Steadfast Heart. He's a very flat character, an extremely one-dimensional scumbag who only appears in passing, really barely more than a plot-starting device; but the nature of his crimes and the moral questions about his fate were such that I felt like I had to tread very carefully around them, even though they were far from the main focus of the story.

(the ask game)

(which has such great questions, please, fellow writers, come play with me, pleeeeeeeease)

[night-raven-miscellany]

A strange letter arrives on the doorstep to Ramshackle, addressed to one Yuna Sid.

"My Dearest Yuna,

I hope this letter finds you well.

It has come to my attention that you have found yourself some place in which you do not belong...

Unfortunately, there was quite a large mistake on my part, and... Well. Let's just say there was a switch in some things... Like a package being delivered to the wrong address.

I can only hope that you would be interested to know that I can help you return home, and to do so, you only need to seek me out.

You can find me at-"

The rest of the note, including the name of the author who penned it, seems to have been smudged, likely by whoever delivered it. It's unclear as to whether this was accidental or purposeful, though. The only indication of the identity of the mysterious sender is a lone rose petal and the faint smell of perfume.

Yuna blinked slowly at the letter.

"who would... What?"

Her eyes scanned the words on the page, honing in on the particular phrase of 'I can help you return home'. She swore, though, upon realizing that the address and name were erased from the page and sighed. The only clues she had were the petal and the vaguely sweet scent that wafted from the page. And, of course, the only person that could've done those things couldn't possibly be in Twisted Wonderland. It was statistically impossible for such a thing to happen...

Yuna sighed and set the letter down on the table inside of the Ramshackle foyer. She'd just read it again later.

It didn't matter. It was probably too good to be true anyways.

[sophieinwonderland]

“I think there has been a lot of fearmongering in the community about the concept of plurals helping other plurals…But I've also seen it before with the demonization of the Plural Association's planned warmline for plurals. (This also was paired with a conflation of Warmlines and crisis Hotlines. Note that these are not the same.)”

Eh I do think there is some criticisms to be made about the warmline. Because they are unable to give support to someone in crisis, people who are using that line for that reason are likely to not experience adequate support (and unfortunately when talking about hotlines/warmlines, this can range from how telling someone in crisis to have a cup of tea/take a bath/etc can feel really minimising to even there have been scenarios where people actively mocked for their crisis).

Like already they do not seem knowledgeable on how a crisis/support plan could be something to reject (I reject them from a place of ‘they have been used to harm me’).

I understand there’s a difference between warmlines and hotlines, but as someone who used to have over 20 chatlines/hotlines bookmarked they do sometimes function the same (like some warmlines do claim to support people in crisis) and it’s understandable why someone would think that they are the same.

This ofc doesn’t mean the line shouldn’t exist, I just think that expecting there probably will be some issues is fine (because yeah there probably will be). I also haven’t personally encountered people who seem to really hate the idea of the hotline (besides being suspicious because it’s unclear where funding/donations are going unless you’re subscribed to certain things and/or are inside their plural community platform), so my comments might be a bit off-base (since it feels like I’m maybe missing some context but idk)

I can see how this might be a valid criticism of warmlines in general.

It's absolutely true that peer warmlines aren't equipped to deal with a crisis. (Of course, you can also argue that hotlines themselves aren't equipped to deal with plurality.) But this isn't what they're meant to do. It's not the fault of the warmline if people end up misusing it.

The issue here is that, if this is really their problem, then why not take it up with all warmlines? Why is a plural warmline, specifically, so egregious? Why is it always a problem for plurals to help other plurals?

If you want context, here is popular post from January.

Note that while the title says "warmline/hotline," the post itself only refers to it as a "hotline." Despite the fact that TPA only ever calls it a warmline from what I've found.

As mentioned above, this is also true of most warmlines. Most warmline volunteers are not trained professionals. They're volunteers and peers who might know what you're going through, and may be able to lend an ear when you're in need. That said, the claim that they aren't trained at all is wrong according to The Plural Association.

Obviously, risks still exist. Some may not feel 40 hours is enough. But this would also be true of ALL warmlines. It's not something unique to the Plural Association's warmline. So again, why is it only problematic when it's plurals helping other plurals?

And it's really not like Crisis Hotline are risk free either. Especially with conditions that the person on the other end just won't understand.

Context on this: TPA did a poll. TPA asked if participants felt crisis or hotline providers they've been in contact with understood DID and OSDD. 40% of the people who responded had never used a hotline or warmline.

The claim is that TPA was "manipulating data" by excluding the people who had never used a hotline from their data.

This is pretty obviously ridiculous if you think about it for more than two seconds. It's like if there was a poll about your customer service at Subway, and you said that excluding people who had never eaten at Subway from the statistic was "manipulating the data."

Obviously, the 40% who haven't been in contact with a hotline or crisis line shouldn't be counted given the very nature of the question.

The whole thing feels like a massive smear of plurals for trying to make a warmline for plurals to reach other plurals who might understand them and what they're going for in a way singlets can't.

Overall, even if it's not perfect, this is a goal that I believe should be celebrated and encouraged, not derided.

[grison-in-space]

Well, I'm glad then that I tempered my initial response somewhat--which is, to be clear, absolutely more inflected by having read over the linked scholarly response criticizing Fausto-Sterling's number than to your actual arguments and subsequent argments to @scientia-rex. I apologize for incorrectly characterizing your practice, and I am certainly very sympathetic to the desire to not doxx oneself over an argument on the internet; I've been mildly cagey about parts of my work here for the same reason. I don't want to make you responsible for the sins of an entire field any more than I'd like to be held responsible for the sins of mine.

I also agree that the NCAH numbers really are pretty high... and I think it's actually really interesting that Fausto-Sterling explicitly notes that those numbers are entirely dependent on Speier et al 1985 and that she hadn't verified them further. Which I went and looked up myself, because it was unclear to me whether or not Fausto-Sterling was reporting their numbers as proportion of live births or as proportions of live XX births, and if so where the mathematical errors lie. Part of the problem is that NCAH is wildly frequency dependent and so population estimates are going to vary dramatically depending on who you sample; that appears in Speier et al, too.

I can find modern evidence arguing that NCAH is active in perhaps 4.2% of cases of hyperandrogenic women, which are about 10% of the population. (PCOS, being a catch-all diagnosis of exclusion, will be a large fraction of that 10%.) That's in line with your figuring, too. However...

Here's the thing. Part of the project of increasing awareness of intersex conditions is actually a project of complicating our understanding of 'sex' as a static and binary condition except for rare exceptions. I don't think it's an artificial inflation of prevalence data to point out that it is in fact very common for people's bodies to fall outside of these associations--even if not everyone in this category is associated with ambiguous genitalia or needs/meets diagnostic standards for intervention.

When we talk about biological sex as a construct, we're saying that there's a pervasive assumption that there are these two categories of human, each with different means across a constellation of traits: sex chromosome status, SRY status, hormonal signaling both developmental-organizational and adult-activational, hair production and distribution, height and bone length, muscular and fat distribution, pain sensitivity, pelvis structure, even right down to details of our brains and behavior. And the assumption is that these things all covary, that there is this single unifying thing we call sex that drags them all together like a slider bar in a video game character construct.

And... that's not really true. For example, just because we can find average sex differences in various regions of the brain such that you can broadly characterize those regions as "masculinized" or "feminized," this does not mean that those regions covary in relative size such that the whole-brain "masculine" and the "feminine" exist in any sort of statistical pattern. Everyone's brain is characterized by a unique mash-up of size patterns that fall in different average places on a whole-population survey... but those measures often don't co-correlate, which means you can't predict anything about any given brain by knowing even as much as the sex and the size of any particular region with a known sex difference.

Even when you do have clear and measurable sex differences within traits, the absence of strong correlations among traits in the strength of phenotypic variation implies that sex is, at best, a sort of developmental history rather than a unifying and active trait of its own.

So when Fausto-Sterling is making those estimates of the number of intersex people, she is making a point about how frequently sex fails to follow this unifying-distribution model of divergent bodies. Even if she's failing to accurately estimate the prevalence of NCAH itself... that 10% of hyperandrogenic ovarian folks? Is itself an argument that this sort of thing--the dissociable patterns of hormonal, chromosomal, developmental, and genital sex--is still a lot more common than we think.

"But only 2% of the population is intersex. It's not that common. Why should we reframe or perception of gender for intersex people?"

Completely ignoring the fact that empathy exists. You do realize that 2% of the population in the medical field is considered very common, yes?

2% of children and 0.5% of adults have a peanut allergy and that's so common that they have entire rules around in in public spaces.

0.24-1% of the population has Rheumatoid arthritis. That's an eighth to a half of the number of intersex people!

1-2% of people are estimated to have autism, and that's considered a common condition.

0.1%-2.6% of people will get melanoma in their life time, and that's considered common.

1.2% of people have epilepsy and that's considered common.

Completely ignoring statistics like 6% of women have PCOS (which is a condition that can fall under the intersex umbrella). 2% of the population in the medical field is considered a common condition, and ergo by medical terms intersex is in itself common.

I don't think you realize how big 2% is. That's 2 in 100 people. If you walk into 3 fully filled classrooms (when I was in school a full classroom was 40 students). Chances are you just saw 2 intersex kids and didn't even know it.

So yeah. I think intersex is common enough to include in our discussions around gender and how transphobic rules affects intersex people.

-fae

[inoppositionflorien]

You know, having looked more into LandBack arguments since last time I did, I think they're still bad. It's probably the stupidest way to handle reparations available, and in many cases when practical arguments are made they fail to understand or willfully misinterpret what it means when people say "science has not caught up to indigenous farming methods" and spout stuff that's flatly untrue like "the indigenous people were more advanced agriculturally"

The first of those is true of literally every generational smallholding farmer ever, agricultural science is about the general case, not the specific, so someone who's been working the same land for years is likely to have more information that allows them to make more accurate assumptions about what grows where and have time to optimize their plants. Agricultural science is primarily about understanding how to raise yields in all cases, which it does very well.

The second point is only true if you talk about the Europeans who came first, who were generally not farmers and did not in fact know how to farm. At the time the most advanced agricultural practices were in the Middle East and North Africa where extremely advanced irrigation existed, and in Europe where they were managing a remarkably high yields for wheat and barley via three field systems (and later four field systems that incorporated livestock, though only the british were doing that during most of the early contact times).

While Maize was strictly a very productive staple grain, (it's actually unclear how good it was, initially it does seem to have been more productive per unit land than wheat, but it's unclear if these statistics were typical or accurate) this on its own is not particularly innovative. Rice is even more productive, after all. It's a matter of climate conditions which staple grain you can use. The polyculture crop system of the three sisters was and remains comparable in output to European (and parts of Asia that didn't do rice) three field rotation systems, but it doesn't seem to have been actually better excepting in that maize at that time and climate was more productive per unit land than wheat. Also, the polyculture system is known to have had less stability. (This problem was compensated for with trade usually), but it was susceptible to total breakdowns in ways the three field system was not. For instance, Cahokia, (almost certainly) due to declining soil fertility partly because the polyculture system doesn't replenish nitrogen as well as three field and partly due to climate shifts, collapsed hard. Generally, Europe didn't have to deal with these problems of soil fertility collapse on this level because of the comparative durability under stress of the three and four field systems.

(Sidenote, there are some polyculture practices adopted from Asia and Africa in the past two centuries in Europe now, but the European climate is generally not great for polyculture, it has had to be heavily modified. It's no coincidence that polyculture emerges almost exclusively in places with only two seasons like Southern Asia, West Africa, and Mesoamerica.)

As I'm sure I have before said, reparations should be provided because genocide is not a good thing to do, not some mythicalization of smallholding farmers knowledge generalized to an entire population or some vague idea that somehow "it would be better if the indigenous people were in charge" even though the fundamental problem with governance is that humans are involved and what particular kinds of humans are involved doesn't seem to change this. This is why I have advocated and continue to advocate that UBI pilot programs and long-term studies of the lifetime guaranteed income kind should prioritize native american communities for their applicants, providing both reparations and getting data at the same time about how to best implement UBI and hopefully prove me wrong that lifetime guaranteed income would significantly shrink the laborforce beyond sustainable levels, and not some LandBack proposal steeped in ridiculous autarkic views of economics and propped up pretty much entirely with incorrect understandings of things and with "remember the genocide? This means you can't question the efficacy of this idea."

[sharp-rosee]

"she is asking why the study is being brought up as it seems the study had nothing to do with the context of their conversation."

you're just insisting this is the case though! you're creating a situation where surely she was funny and right to say it that way. unfortunately it's not true - this wasn't that long ago lots of us remember this post. for someone that asks for proof you sure feel free to just invent stuff to fit your agenda. It wasn't part of a conversation, she was the OP taking a shot for no reason. But whatever continue to defend her.

Can you not read or something? My first sentence was saying that how she phrased it was fucked up.

And as far as I'm concerned, the person who provided that screenshot of her saying that has the link to the post, or can at least say where she got it from, but she's blocked me, so yes, at this point it is just your word against mine. Because, yknow, I guess to the women who insist Radblr is an echochamber, blocking a user without talking to them totally isn't hypocritical of them to do at all.

I don't know why you are so keen on insisting that asking for CONTEXT that could be provided is somehow soo bad of me? I apologize that I don't want to blindly believe like you do.

LIKE I'VE SAID BEFORE: If it were given context that she IS denying this statistic, then I'll apologize. Until then, no, not blindly believing people who continue to not answer me, block me, or even come off anon - that's not an indicator I'm a bigot who hates bisexuals and now hates lesbians bc I somehow hate same sex attracted women. Do you know how insane you all sound? Asking for context in a situation unclear doesn't mean I hate you.

[tc-doherty]

Heyoh TC! If you've already answered these, oops, but I'm curious to get Halloweeny. 🖤 and 🧡! Bonus, if you like: 📘, but strike the classic from it.

@unclear-contributions

Hello, thank you! I thought you put red at first not orange so you also get an additional bonus question b/c I can't see lmao

Are there any book series that you’ve been meaning to start but haven’t gotten around to yet? Which ones are they?

I was going to say I couldn't think of any but then I remembered that couple of years ago I bought Cronache del Mondo Emerso by Licia Troisi and I still haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I have absolutely no idea whether I'm going to love it or hate it, as my Italian friends are incredibly divided on this particular author, but I am looking forward to at least trying it.

Is there a particular book cover that you find absolutely stunning? Share a picture or describe it!

I'm always struck by how beautiful the 2Ha covers are! Didn't feel like grabbing my camera so I pulled this one off the internet.

Which classic book or author do you think everyone should read at least once in their lifetime, and why?

I actually do tend to really like a lot of books that are considered classics but I'm just not the kind of person who can go around saying "everybody should read/watch/whatever" something because I know that my taste tends to be…eccentric, to say the least. If you ask me for recommendations with specific criteria I can probably give you something but I don't really know if I've ever read anything I think should be a universal experience.

Who is your all-time favorite author, and what makes their writing so special to you?

It's hard for me to pick just one! Statistically in terms of number of volumes owned* it's probably Mercedes Lackey. And it's true I've been reading her work for really, really long time and she's been very influential on me – especially in the way that I approach world building and magic.

But there's a lot of authors who could be considered my favorite in one metric or another! Notable mentions are Brian Jacques, Henry Neff, Jane Linskold, and Rachel Neumeier.

*I also own a metric ton of books by Elisabetta Dami but that's a different issue.

~Book Ask Game~

[kaboom--bitch]

Hey so some of this response has made me think many thoughts so I'm going to add on as another person with BPD. Excuse any wording that's unclear, it's late and my thoughts are disoganised--feel free to clarify.

My biggest problem with your proposed definition is this section: "the pwBPD can potentially become unhealthily attached [to their FP.]" This is downplaying the very nature and definition of Borderline Personality Disorder and therefore imparts a misconception onto a common term and the disorder itself. BPD is defined as "a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity." (DSM-5-TR, 753) (ICD-11, 564)

Yeah, BPD absolutely has that line as part of its criteria and definition in the DSM. However, I don't think it'd be exactly correct to say that "can potentially become unhealthy" is wrong or undermining the disorder. The OP here doesn't seem to be talking about the disorder as a whole, they're talking about FPs. Which, yeah! Can be incredibly unhealthy. OP is only saying they can be either or. But you seem to be implying here that much more often than not, pwBPD do not (or cannot?) form healthy relationships with their FPs--which may be statistically true! But I don't think a disclaimer on the post about how harmful FPs are would exactly... Help people see pwBPD and their relationships as nuanced and not inherently harmful just 'cause they have a disorder.

I think the following paragraph also demonstrates my point and where I'm getting this implication from.

Favorite person(s) are people whom people with BPD have an intense emotional dependency and attachment on- it is an insecure attachment relationship.[1] I acknowledge there can be exceptions in parts and severity exists on a scale, but asserting that unhealthy attachment is only "potentially present" is definitively incorrect.

By saying "I acknowledge there can be exceptions in parts", you're stating that the rule is that FPs are unhealthy, while in some exceptions they can be healthy. While a lot of people experience unhealthy relationships with their FPs, I don't think it's undermining the disorder to say that they can be either healthy or unhealthy. FPs don't need to be seen as this almost-always inherently harmful relationship type, and this kind of thinking contributes to the stigma the OP is trying to directly avoid by being nuanced in their approach to the definition.

And hell, in therapy for this stuff you normally work toward managing relationships and forming strategies to make your relationships healthier, including with your FPs! I don't think people actively choosing working toward these goals should be appended as a "but only sometimes!" on the end.

Overwhelmingly, relationships (particularly romantic ones) suffer from emotional dysregulation, mistrust, and attachment insecurity.[2][3]

Mostly correct, but a nitpick here: These symptoms you mentioned don't necessarily mean they can't be managed in a healthy way for the relationship, and the way this is worded implies that the presence of any of these things indicates an inherently unhealthy relationship. Which isn't true in every single case! These symptoms can be talked out or otherwise managed.

Furthermore, saying "(unhealthy attachment) is less common than others (who?) claim" is not backed up and, again, goes against the definition.

I'm assuming the OP is referring to the stigmatised view of FPs that a lot of people tend to hold, particularly people who believe those with BPD are inherently more likely to be abusive in their relationships. These people claim that every and any relationship a pwBPD gets into is bound to be a disaster--so, yeah, unhealthy attachment is less common than others like to claim!

It's true that good communication and effort can make these relationships healthy, but you'll notice that even in studies where a couple communicate, mistrust and stress are stronger in the BPD couples.

Once again, the presence of mistrust doesn't inherently mean a relationship as a whole is unhealthy. The mistrust can be communicated and ironed out, even if it shows up again. Your BPD won't magically go away, but these symptoms can be managed in healthy ways! Those with trust issues originating from their BPD don't inherently have unhealthier relationships by default, once again this is stigma! You can work toward managing all this and you can make it work.

Studies aside, if you just take a look on Tumblr, Reddit, Quora, etc., you'll see endless posts about peoples' struggles with their FP's-

Honestly yeah, true. But I feel like people are more likely to post seeking help for their relationship or to complain about it than they are to talk about how good or healthy it is--the latter can be seen as gloating and, well... Of course in support spaces you're going to see people complaining and asking for help more often. That's what spaces for support and asking questions are for.

Second point: "this attachment can potentially lead the pwBPD to overlook the fps flaws to a point where it is unhealthy."  [sic]This is incomplete and leaves out splitting, which absolutely should not be left out when talking about FP's.

I feel like this post was meant to be a simple rundown and a flag coining as opposed to an in-depth look at how FPs intersect with splitting and such. I don't think you're wrong with most of these next few paragraphs I just also think you can have a definition of one term on a post without going in-depth into everything related to it.

I don't have any comments on the other stuff you've said, aside from this bit:

I'd also emphasize that other than good communication, strict boundaries for BOTH parties are an absolute necessity. This goes for any pw BPD's relationships but is ESPECIALLY true for FP relationships. They are extremely time-consuming and can lead to neglect of other relationships.

I think OP's "However, this is less common than others claim, and with effort and communication, this relationship can be healthy, as with any relationship." was meant to imply this exact thing. I don't really think appending "but this is needing to be STRICTLY MANAGED at ALL TIMES" to the end of every post about FPs or pwBPDs relationships is the best way to go about being informative in the end, because as I've said through this whole post, it kind of hammers in the stigma that pwBPD are inherently unhealthy in all of their relationships and kinda need to be kept on a metaphorical leash. Yes it's a disorder in the DSM for a reason! It sucks to have a lot of the time! But I feel like this whole thing needs to be treated with more nuance, because BPD isn't a death sentence to the hope of having healthy relationships. And in the end, this really isn't a post about how to manage your own FPs or relationships, it's just a flag coining and definition for the FP term.

・₊✧𝘈 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺｡｡｡ -`♡´-

♡Favorite Person♡

✧A favorite person (fp) is a term used to describe a particular special person experienced by those with BPD. This is a person that a person with BPD (pwBPD) who is held in such high regard that the pwbpd may believe they can almost do no wrong and that this person's opinions are more valuable than others, especially the pwBPD’s own. The pwBPD may feel energized and positive in the presence of their FP, but may also feel empty or negative without them. Their FP is placed on a very high pedestal above both the pwBPD and other people.✧

✧This attachment can potentially lead the pwBPD to overlook the fps flaws to a point where it is unhealthy, and the pwBPD can potentially become unhealthily attached. However, this is less common than others claim, and with effort and communication, this relationship can be healthy, as with any relationship.✧

For a full list of Special Person terms, I made this doc for a comprehensible list. If you'd like to use my PD flags as emojis, I made this discord server with them as heart emojis! (Originally made to react to my SPs messages)

[thecreaturecodex]

Great Old One, Tretarax

"Hunting Horror" by Loïc Muzy, © Éditions Sans-détour

[Commissioned by @lolicrusader. In Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos, hunting horrors are said to be extensions of a single Great Old One that shares all their intelligences. The commissioner wanted me to make that monster. I got a ton of lore info from them, and incorporated some of it into the flavor text of this entry, but there was no way to cover all of it; I'm sure they could share it if there's an interest. These statistics draw on both the Sandy Petersen version of the hunting horror and the Paizo official version.

Great Old One, Tretarax CR 26 CE Aberration This creature is a nightmarish abomination the size of a building, in the shape of a writhing, flying worm. Slime oozes from its semi-liquid body, and a three-lobed burning eye glares from over its maw of scissoring teeth.

Tretarax The Maw Betwixt, That Which Remains, The Root of Horror CE Great Old One of consumption and rebirth Domains Chaos, Evil, Repose, Trickery Subdomains Corruption, Deception, Greed, Souls Worshipers evil dragons, hags, witches Minions daemons, devourers, hunting horrors Unholy Symbol A spiral shaped maw filled with jagged teeth Favored Weapon flambard (bastard sword if not using)

Tretarax, the Maw Betwixt, is a wound in reality, a festering scar that seeks to devour the souls of entire planets full of life. The name Tretarax, and the memories that come with it, originally belonged to a great red wyrm who sought divinity, and came to blows with Trelmarixian, the Horseman of Famine, over it. Trelmarixian attempted to eat Tretarax right out of existence, but in so doing sprung a leak in the fabric of space and time. This blow to reality was mended by Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, who used this as an opportunity to invest what little remained of Tretarax into the consciousness of his hunting horrors, using Tretarax as a hub to direct them and allow them even greater movement through the cosmos. Tretarax’s shattered and reconstituted intelligence now seeks godhood, to serve Nyarlathotep and to devour indiscriminately, rendering its influence a dangerous blot on the River of Souls.

Tretarax enters combat with only utter destruction as a goal. As a hunting horror like entity, it is sensitive to sunlight, but the bright shining of a star does not burn its flesh the way lesser horrors are affected. This sunlight sensitivity is contagious, with whole cities turning from the light as Tretarax undulates past their people. It seeks to crush enemies in its coils and devour their essences with its gnashing teeth. Although Tretarax would rather close to melee in order to feel the life ebb from its victims, it will use its mastery of magic to blast foes who keep their distance. Tretarax rarely fights without lesser hunting horrors by its side, although it cares little for their safety or survival.

The cult of the Maw Betwixt grew from those who served the original dragon that gives Tretarax its name. It has further been seeded by Nyarlathotep’s efforts, although what exactly the Crawling Chaos has to gain by its minion being worshiped by mortals is unclear. Cultists of That Which Remains seek to prolong their own lives by draining the souls from others and weaken planar boundaries to allow monstrous things free access to the Material Plane. Many of their cults maintain levels of organization that seem harmless or even benevolent. These seek to slowly corrupt their worshipers to greater depravities—if this fails through guile, Tretarax can force the issue by sending foul dreams that warp people to chaos and evil. Cultists of Tretarax share common ground with the nihilism of daemons, but spitefully disrupt the plans of Trelmarixian specifically. Some of them support his rivals to the throne of Famine, such as Caracalla or Hexxus.

Tretarax                 CR 26 XP 2,457,600 CE Colossal aberration (Great Old One) Init +21; Senses darkvision 300 ft., Perception +30, scent, see in darkness, true seeing Aura mucus (20 ft.), unspeakable (Will DC 34, 300 ft.) Defense AC 44, touch 20, flat-footed 36 (-8 size, +7 Dex, +1 dodge, +24 natural, +10 insight) hp 585 (30d8+450); fast healing 20 Fort +24, Ref +19, Will +27 DR 15/—; Immune ability damage, ability drain, acid, cold, death effects, disease, electricity, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, petrifaction; SR 37 Defensive Abilities amorphous, freedom of movement, immortality, insanity Weaknesses susceptible to sunlight Offense Speed 40 ft., fly 80 ft. (perfect) Melee bite +32 (8d8+18/19–20 plus grab plus energy drain), tail slap +32 (4d8+18 plus grab), 2 wings +30 (4d6+9) Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft. (50 ft. with tail slap) Special Attacks constrict (4d8+27), crush, dreams of corruption, energy drain (1d4 levels, DC 34) fast swallow, mythic power (10/day, 1d12), squeezing coils, swallow whole (4d6 acid and 4d8+27 bludgeoning damage and energy drain, AC 22, 58 hp), telepathic assault   Spell-Like Abilities CL 26th; concentration +35 (+39 casting defensively) Constant—detect scrying, freedom of movement, true seeing At will—dream (M), enervation (M), gaseous form (M), greater teleport (self only), locate creature, locate object, nightmare (M)(DC 24), plane shift (M)(self only), telekinesis (M) (DC 24) 3/day—demand (DC 27), quickened scrying (DC 24) wish (M) (to duplicate sorcerer/wizard spells of 8th level or lower only) (DC 28) 1/day—discern location, ethereal jaunt, interplanetary teleport, meteor swarm (M)(DC 28), summon (9th level, CR 20 of hunting horrors), vision M = can use the mythic version of this spell Statistics  Str 46, Dex 25, Con 39, Int 23, Wis 30, Cha 28 Base Atk +22; CMB +48 (+52 when grappling); CMD 76 (can’t be tripped) Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (scrying), Stand Still, Toughness, Vital Strike Skills Acrobatics +31 (+34 when jumping), Bluff +33, Fly +31, Intimidate +36, Knowledge (arcana, geography, planes, religion) +27, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +30, Perception +34, Sense Motive +36, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +17, Survival +42; Racial Modifiers +8 Survival Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic; telepathy 300 ft. SQ contingency, hunter, manipulate magic, otherworldly insight, powerful tail, shared consciousness Special Abilities Contingency Tretarax maintains a contingency effect on itself to cast deeper darkness centered on itself if it is exposed to sunlight.

Crush (Ex) Tretarax can land on foes as a standard action, and then use its lengthy coils to crush them. This attack is effective only against creatures of Large size or smaller, and affects as many creatures as fit in Tretarax’s space. Any creature in the affected area must succeed at a DC 39 Reflex saving throw or be pinned, automatically taking 4d8+27 points of bludgeoning damage each round it is pinned. If Tretarax chooses to maintain the pin, it must succeed at a combat maneuver check as normal. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Dreams of Corruption (Su) Any creature that has inflicted a negative level on another creature, or who has witnessed a hunting horror, is susceptible to Tretarax’s dreams of corruption, regardless of distance (even across planar boundaries). When Tretarax targets such a creature with its nightmare spell-like ability, the creature must also succeed a DC 35 Will save or have its alignment move one step towards chaotic evil; first moving from law to chaos, then from good to evil. This shift in alignment is permanent, although it can be changed back through atonement or similar means. This is a mind-influencing ability, and the save DC is Charisma based.

Hunter (Ex) Tretarax gains a +8 racial bonus on Survival checks. When Tretarax succeeds at a Survival check to follow a creature’s tracks, it can declare that creature to be its prey. If there are multiple sets of tracks from a group of creatures traveling together, Tretarax can choose which specific creature becomes its prey if it knows the target is among those in the group; otherwise, its chosen prey is determined randomly. The next time Tretarax begins a battle against its prey, it gains a +10 bonus on its initiative check. In addition, its prey takes a –2 penalty on all saving throws against Tretarax’s spell-like abilities and unspeakable aura. Tretarax can have only one creature as its designated prey at any one time, and if 24 hours pass without Tretarax succeeding at a Survival check to follow that prey’s trail, that creature ceases being Tretarax’s prey.

Immortality (Ex) If Tretarax is slain, no hunting horror may use any teleportation effect until it is reborn. Tretarax will be recreated in the depths of space the next time two black holes collide.

Manipulate Magic (Sp) Tretarax can use wish three times per day as a spell-like ability without material components, but only to duplicate a sorcerer/wizard spell of 8th level or lower. Tretarax uses this ability to maintain a contingency effect on themselves as well.

Mucus (Su) Tretarax’s “flesh” constantly weeps thick foul mucus, seemingly melting off its serpentine frame as swiftly as it rebuilds and restores its shape. When Tretarax lands on a surface, the mucus swiftly spreads out in a twenty foot radius around the creature and hardens into a thick mud-like consistency. This area is treated as difficult terrain by all save hunting horrors.  Each round a creature other than a hunting horror begins its turn within this area, it must make a successful DC 39 Reflex save or become entangled for as long as it remains within the area. The mucus evaporates 1 minute after Tretarax leaves the area. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Powerful Tail (Ex) A hunting horror’s tail slap is treated as a primary natural attack.

Shared Consciousness (Ex) Tretarax shares his consciousness with all hunting horrors; it can see through the eyes of any other hunting horror by concentrating as long as they are on the same plane, regardless of distance. If Tretarax is encountered among other hunting horrors, none of them are considered to be flat-footed unless they all are.

Squeezing Coils (Ex) A creature that takes damage from Tretarax’s constrict ability after being struck by its tail slap attack must succeed at a DC 43 Fortitude saving throw or fall unconscious for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Strength-based.

Susceptible to Sunlight (Ex) Tretarax is considered to be sickened and shaken when in an area of natural sunlight.

Swallow Whole (Ex) Tretarax’s body constantly reforms and repairs itself. The hole created when a creature cuts its way out of Tretarax instantly seals as soon as the escaping creature exits.

Telepathic Assault (Su) As it attacks, Tretarax bombards its prey’s consciousness with its mind, sending grisly and horrific images into the victim’s thoughts in an attempt to undermine the potential meal’s defenses and to flavor the flesh with the tang of fear and despair. Whenever Tretarax attacks a creature, regardless of whether the attack successfully hits or not, that creature must make a successful DC 34 Will save or be staggered for 1 round by despair and horror at the images projected. An already staggered creature that fails this saving throw is also stunned for 1 round. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unspeakable Presence (Su) Failing a DC 34 Will save against Tretarax’s unspeakable presence causes the victim to gain Tretarax’s susceptibility to sunlight permanently until removed. This is a curse effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.

[nikadoesanart]

Answering Ranpo’s “How many bullets?”

On pages 20-21 of chapter 91, Ranpo asks the Agency members a question before explaining the answer to his question and how “One Order” works. Atsushi, Kunikida, and Yosano each share their responses to it, and I believe that how they each exactly respond speaks a lot for their past experiences and how those experiences have shaped them to be today.

The question being “How many bullets do you think it takes on average for a soldier to kill one enemy?”

For exact phrasing, I am using @buraihatranslations translation of ch 91. Read the full translation here

Atsushi says “maybe 5 or 10” which fits his more pacifist approach. If he’s able to relate to his opponents, he’ll try to reason with them first and foremost, as we’ve seen numerous times. He knows what it’s like to be weak and oppressed and has little to no fundamental understanding of the side of the oppressor (such as why they would do such a thing). It’s why he struggles to understand Akutagawa, because neither of them have ever talked and realized the similarities in their upbringing. He sees Dazai as a good person because he has not witnessed or experienced his past cruelty. He tried reasoning with Fukuchi, even trying to relate to how horrible torture must have been, until he heard that Fukuchi was on the giving end and not the receiving end of it. He can’t properly comprehend the mental toll of being on the giving end or what leads people to it, as we see with his struggle to sort out his feelings after learning of the director’s past in ch 39, Portrait of a Father. In short, for Atsushi its “talk first, shoot last only if necessary.”

Kunikida answered “Including coercion and control, at least one magazine or more. Wouldn’t you require 30-60?” As an idealist, it makes sense that Kunikida tries to aim for the best outcome, with the least casualties. We’ve seen him use his gun for non injuring purposes multiple times (breaking Sasaki out of the tank, bursting the pipe behind Akutagawa, etc). He’d rather use his words but is well aware of the other uses for the bullets that would cause little to no harm (intimidating enemies and nonconventional uses such as breaking someone out or stalling someone). His number likely accounts for most of the bullets being used on coercion and intimidation, with the bullets actually used to target a person with serious intent being a similar number to Atsushi’s. The key difference being that he’s more prepared to use violence, but in unconventional ways that would cause minimal harm or damage and is aware that weapons can be used in non harmful ways.

Yosano, who was very close to and witnessed the front lines of the Great War, said “...Probably, more.” It’s unclear as to who said “fifty thousand” and explained why on the next page (either Ranpo or Yosano, but likely Ranpo), but it seems that she was likely thinking of a similar number. She’s witnessed the effects of the mental strain of being told to shoot another person, especially repeatedly for a long time with no end in sight. The hesitation in her answer shows that she very well knows that it’s true but wishes that it wasn’t. She’s likely heard many stories from Tachihara’s brother and the other soldiers of what the battlefield is like. She hates to admit that this is the reality of the statistic but knows that the numbers can’t be denied. Also, as a doctor and someone with a healing ability, she’s indirectly on the receiving end of the statistic because she has to heal people that do get hit by the bullets and therefore is also on the receiving end of the mental strain of the whole thing. In fact because of her ability causing soldiers to be unable to return home altogether, I wouldn’t be surprised if she feels at fault for the statistic being so high because she essentially created a near immortal army. Being on the battlefield longer because you’re repeatedly in fighting condition would of course mean more bullets used in total, and with that a prolonged fear of actually hitting someone with the bullets yet being unable to go against commanding orders and not shoot.

I feel like this analysis may seem a bit obvious if you’ve been paying attention to Atsushi, Kunikida, and Yosano (at the very least) as characters throughout bsd and how the theme of one’s past affecting who you are today plays into bsd as a whole, but I just wanted to highlight this moment because I think Asagiri did a wonderful job as a writer with it, as well as Harukawa with illustrating it (I am forever in awe at how Harukawa draws facial expressions). Also thank you to @buraihatranslations for letting me use your translations in this post!

[onewomancitadel]

Hey listen, for whatever it’s worth. I’ve not even started reading your fic yet (planning to) (executive dysfunction has got me in a stranglehold rn), but the *reason* I’m planning to do so is you’re one of the very few people on RWBY tumblr whose analysis of Cinder/Jaune/the story generally rings true to me. I really really admire how plugged in you are to the text and (importantly, this is the specific thing that made me go “I gotta read Skimming Eye”) I feel that way even when my own analytical lens leads me to different conclusions from yours—it’s like. You GET it. You’re down in the bedrock of this story cracking open geodes. I’m sorry you’re feeling badly about the fandom’s general preference for pebbles. I’ve been holding off with the intention of actually, um, reading your fic before saying anything but here we are. I appreciate you and your reading of this story so much. Thank you for sharing.

I'm not really only talking about the fanon here but the commenting culture in general. For years I have put up with people negging my fanfic and I'm really tired of it. I don't want to interact with people who don't like major components of it. I don't find the criticism helpful (I have specific people I refer to for this) and I don't ask for it and I specifically don't request comments anymore so I don't seem ungrateful when they inevitably make me upset. I must've been unclear in the previous posts I made: it's not only the fanon I'm taking umbrage with here, it's the engagement itself.

Likely nothing is going to change, I just don't want anything to do with it right now and I don't want to post anything right now.

If everybody wants to know how pathetic I am, I go to other fandoms and read the comments sections for nicer fandoms and I think about how nice those people are and how happy they make those fic authors.

I have anonymously posted a fic work in a different fandom of a completely different demographic (non-anime adjacent) and the difference is night and day. I have slightly edited the statistics to anonymise it but these are the stats on a single oneshot for a different rarepair:

By the way, Skimming Eye has about a couple of hundred more kudos than that. So I'm aware it's statistically not a well-liked work lol.

But hopefully this also separately demonstrates I don't care about the status side of it. This anonymous posting is not a particularly inflammatory work, it's just in a different fandom from what I usually post in and I didn't want to open up another account for it.

I could cope if I were not getting comments altogether because there's a world of difference between writing for a rarepair for its own sake and the experience of the RWBY fandom.

I'm not asking for a hugbox I just want people to leave me alone and stop expecting my fanfic to be catering to their fanon and I beg for people to just stop fucking qualifying about how bad x component is. 'Oh most of this is shit but I really liked it!' The only bit I'm going to zero in on is the material substance particularly if it's non-canonical characterisation. Non-canonical characterisation is the most grievous issue one could possibly take with my work. The rest of it is irredeemable if so and honestly effectively makes the work pointless. The only reason to write is canon.

To be entirely honest I'm not sure how you can have an opinion on my fanfic without having read it and even here you say that your analysis departs from my own so how can you possibly know it's any good?

You're not obligated to say anything positive and that's not what I'm angling for, much as I appreciate the spirit of what you've said here.

I just don't want anything to do with the fandom right now and I'll have to figure out how I feel about it all later, if I decide to moderate comments or just turn them off altogether, because it feels like they do more harm than good now. I avoided checking my inbox for six months because of this.

I understand the RWBY fandom is not like other fandoms but where I come from when someone is sharing you their passion for free you treat them kindly. I don't read fanfic with fanon I don't like or pairings I don't like or writing that I fundamentally do not respect. I just move on. I extend courtesy to others I'd hoped would be extended to me.

Nothing will change so there's no point. I just need time away and to reconsider my options. Thanks for what you've said here. I hope you have a nice day. Don't stress about my reading my fic, take your time. You're under no obligation, and frankly you're probably not missing much. (Honestly, I really have no delusions about the quality of my work; that's not the point here).

Thanks again.

This reply is way too long but it's an issue I've been dealing with for a long time and I've just been told I'm ungrateful and should get over it and I really don't know what to do, that and I'm really tired. It's possible I'll be over it in a few days and I'll go back and dirty delete all these posts.