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jellymeduza · 1 year

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I'm probably going to regret writing this as I rarely make non-Sims posts and get involved into political stuff, but I just feel I need to get this off my chest as it keeps bugging me more and more as time goes.

You see, I'm Polish and I see myself as a citizen of the global west. Most Polish people do. The thing is, we are too often put into "Eastern Europe" category by European and American journalists and scholars, which is something we don't identify with.

We speak of ourselves as Central Europeans. Unfortunately, you'll often find people on the Internet arguing that there's no such a thing as Central Europe - only Western and Eastern. If you want to go with this duality, then we'd call ourselves Western not Eastern (however the three groups division is better for describing the nations of Europe, imo).

There are also people who acknowlegde the existence of Central Europe but decide we're not that. Guess who is Central European according to them? Austrians! I've seen an article with Austria put into "Central Europe" bin and Poland, Czechia and Slovakia into "Eastern Europe" bin. Has the author seen a map? Czechia is Austria's northern neighbour. Moreover, Czechia, Slovakia and southern part of Poland were parts of Austrain Empire for crying out loud! So why? Because we're Slavic? Are Slavic people always eastern to you?

We argue that we don't feel eastern for many reasons - e.g. we use latin alphabet, our culture is Catholic Christianity based as opposed to Orthodox Christianity, we live literally in the central part of Europe. What we hear in return is that we're different from Germanic nations. Which like, duh, we are, obviously. But I can assure you average Pole is culturally and mentally closer to average German than to average Russian.

We find being called "Eastern European" offensive, frankly. It sounds to us as if somebody told us we are Russians. That's what Eastern Europe means to us - no human rights, violence and poverty. Now, some people in the west say that means we are Russphobic. I don't know, maybe we are. But you'd probably have similar views if generations of your nation had been subjects to Russian regime, be it tsar or USSR. So, naturally, when Russia attacked Ukraine we had great "disappointed but not surprised" mood.

Many of those people who refuse to call us Central Europeans (as if we aren't good enough to be called that) are progressives, which is quite baffling. If you are leftist and accept that e.g. trans people want to be called by correct pronouns and new names (rightfully so), why the hell can't you accept that we don't identify with Eastern Europe? Both matters are about who you are, how you see yourself and how you identify.

Another thing in a similar vein - it's tiring going abroad and hearing all the time "Oh, you're from Russia?" when people hear you speak in a Slavic language. I don't even know Russian language! This kind of behaviour carries the spirit of Pan-Slavism in Russian fashion - all Slavic nations should be united, but once they would be united, they all would become Russians.

ETA: Another thing I wanted to complain about but I forgot (because this post got quite long) is the depiction of Slavs in pop culture, especially Hollywood movies. They often show Slavs as baddies with thick accent, which is probably a remnant of cold war times. So what we usually get is some kind of token Slav (quite often shown as an ignorant violent drunkard) that is a Russian, because they can't tell us apart and most likely don't even care to create diverse Slavic characters. Even if some non-Russian Slavs are introduced in those media, they still carry Russian traits, like the accent which is pretty different for Polish language and Russian language. And those non-Russian Slavs often speak Russian instead of their correct language. Sometimes it gets even worse as they show Hungarians as Slavs. Like what??? Dude, Hungarians are not even Indo-European. Come on, Hollywood! You can do better than that! /End ETA

Maybe the reason for this kind of division is related to the fact that we were on the eastern part of the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, it's been over 30 years since the Curtain fell. During this time countries of Central Europe have joined NATO and EU. Our economy looks quite different than it had during communism. We've changed mentally too! More than a generation of people have been born after the fall of communism in Poland - some people born in the 90s already have children on their own. That's two generations!

So, please next time when you hear someone speak Slavic language, don't assume they speak Russian, for God's sake! Just ask them if you have to - just like you'd ask a person about their gender.

This is written from my perspective, so it might differ for other Central European Slavs - Czechs, Slovaks. I'm also curious how similar or different are views of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians.

As for the Central Europe discourse, I've read an article of Ukrainian journalist, who argued that the war might lead to Ukrainians identifying as Central Europans as well to strengthen the opposition between Ukrainian nation and Russian nation. That's another thing I'm curious of - how common is that opinion among Ukrainians?

Now I leave you be and go back to simming stuff.

#non sims #geopolitics #kind of

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miggylol · 10 months

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you mentioned textbanking to reach out to potential leftist voters in the tags on one of your posts - what org was that through? it sounds like something concrete and useful to do

It absolutely was! It felt really satisfying, especially when we'd go back to the campaign Slack channel and learn that we'd hit all the outreach goals for that day and more numbers would be released tomorrow.

Who to work with

I went through my main state Democratic party (so, California Dems) for a few reasons. One: they were keeping an eye on all candidates and issues, so I felt like my efforts were probably being directed toward the area of greatest need/risk. (Why you might not do this route: you really care about certain specific candidates/issues, and don't want to show up to volunteer one day and see that voters are being contacted about other things.)

Two: voters can be contacted by multiple groups, which obviously annoys them after a while. (This was in fact the thing that I did dislike about this process.) People get taken off the contact roster with a STOP response, but as political parties and PACs are forbidden by law from coordinating with each other, being removed from one group's roster doesn't mean they'll be removed from another group's. I liked going with the main party because they've been doing this the longest and have already contacted the most people, so I thought they'd probably have a contact list that was already the most edited. (Why you might not do this route: you don't care as much about this problem as me, and you care more about connecting all people who are aligned with you on [issue] instead of contacting the general left-leaning population.)

Three: this state party approach put me in touch only with California voters, and sometimes they do want to ask a few questions about greater details, or even what you personally care the most about. I felt qualified to talk about pretty much anything/anyone on our state ballot, so that was a good match. (Why you might not do this route: you don't want to be limited to contacting people in your own area, and you instead want to contact voters anywhere about [issue].)

So, broadly put: you can work with your own state party or with some PAC that focuses on specific issues (environment, schooling, foreign policy, etc.), depending on what sounds more appealing based on what I described above. There is of course the option of working with some other state's party, as well. For example, someone might think "well, I'm in IL and that's safe blue, so can I spend my energy elsewhere?" That's what I faced in California, and I decided to help our with our own swing districts and initiatives. But someone else near me might have decided to textbank for the swing states of AZ and NV, instead. That person in Illinois might decide to volunteer for, say, Wisconsin. (Which is probably the best-run state Dem party in the country, by the way!)

You also might do this if you're in a blood red state. It might feel like you're doing more good to volunteer for Georgia or Arizona (slowly turning blue) than to volunteer for your own state of Wyoming (the reddest state in the country). That can be a good investment of your time! On the other hand, it's still valuable to contact the locals. Even if they vote for Republicans, people can vote differently on specific local issues. For example, in Wyoming, there's momentum for huge developments in wind power that some entrenched oil/gas companies are pushing back against. If someone really cares about the environment, they could decide it's better to volunteer in WY than GA.

What does textbanking do, exactly?

You might be wondering if you'll be expected to argue with people, answer complicated questions, or what. No! There are texting portals that have a lot of pre-programmed answers to basic questions, like "What is [candidate's] stance on abortion?" If you contact someone who's argumentative or tells you to fuck off, you just click the "should be removed from list" button and disengage. If you contact someone who has questions you're not prepared to answer, you hop back into the Slack channel and ask an organizer to take over the conversation.

So, what are you doing, then? You are identifying voters who are likely to vote blue but are lower-motivation.

This is an incredibly important step to do in the lead-up to election days. If someone votes left and tells you that they've already taken advantage of early voting, you thank them and click the "has already voted" button. Then, the database removes them from further contact for this cycle, because their vote is banked and no more resources need to be spent on them. On the other hand, if there's someone who (for example) cares about abortion access but hasn't had time to vote yet, or doesn't know if they're registered, etc., they can be aided with information on how to vote/register. They can be offered transportation on Election Day, if they don't have a car. Textbanking helps to target the party's resources the most effectively, and get the most low-likelihood voters over the finish line.

In other words, textbanking is all about reaching tons of people and seeing where to aim more in-depth resources. Textbanking is largely not about converting uncertain moderates into blue voters. That's phonebanking and door-to-door visits, because talking with people is more convincing. But you can identify who might benefit from that kind of follow-up via textbanking.

How to get started

If you're thinking "sure, the state party approach sounds like it'd work for me," that's very easy to get started. Just google "[state] democrats texting" and you'll see a variety of options to get started. Or, you can go to the homepage of the state party, and there will be volunteer options listed there.

Alternately, you can go to the Democratic Party events page and see all volunteer events across the country, of every type. So there's not just textbanking, but other things that may uniquely appeal to you, like helping mobility-limited voters. (You can filter by type of event & location.)

If you want to work with a specific charity or PAC on a specific issue, then you'll need to track down their volunteer options. For example, I went to the Sierra Club and found this volunteer page, which has a bunch of options, but not a bunch of direct outreach. On the other hand, they do seem to have a texting team, but it's only visible if you log in, probably? Unfortunately, charities/PACs aren't as standardized and visible as the Democrats' volunteer options. However, once you become familiar with your organization of choice, then you're over the hurdle.

I find volunteering via textbanking to be satisfying, and also a way to burn off nervous stress during political seasons. Not only is it a distraction from the world, but it's also a distraction that achieves something.

What if I care about something, but I can't find textbanking for it?

At this time, you may be thinking "okay, I'll do textbanking for a ceasefire!" I thought the same thing, and started looking for options, assuming there would be some organization that was encouraging people to contact their rep/senators. And... I didn't find one. I did find multiple charities that made it easier to send emails and letters to politicians via online forms, which is certainly good! But I didn't find any charity that was directing people to those resources via texting the broad voter population.

In cases like this, you may choose to do your own unofficial "textbanking" by making posts about those resources, and drawing upon your own networks like they're the database you're contacting. That's certainly better than nothing, and it's a way to take action. If I see an option for this, I will definitely share this. I am obviously a fan of engagement via textbanking. Obviously.

I hope all that helps!

#strix-alba #politics #activism #long post

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engagemachine · 1 year

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Been seeing a lot of discourse about dark Romance books and how it’s wrong to read or write it. And it’s so discouraging for me. Because I love to read and write it. What’s your opinion on dark romance? Do you think fiction is a safe space to explore Dark topics or does it effect reality too much for it to be safe? Love your writing and blog btw

Anon, I am truly so, so sorry to hear that you have been seeing a lot of discourse about 'dark' romance and why it's wrong to enjoy it. That genuinely breaks my heart. Too often I see these arguments crop up online about why dark fiction is so "problematic", and more often than not, absolutely none of the points being argued have so much as a leg to stand on. It's honestly pathetic, especially as their tactics lean more towards shaming others as opposed to creating a compelling or even literate debate. These are usually the same type of people who would argue that video games cause violence, and who accused rock music of being "satanic" back in the 90s.

The reality is that people have always been violent -- throughout all periods of history -- and people always will be violent. There is simply no correlation between one thing and the other. Can video games inspire violence? Sure. Can rock music inspire 'devil worship'? Certainly. But for the vast majority of people who seek to enjoy these things, that is simply not the case.

I will try to keep this brief as I honestly hate dredging up this topic and it brings me back to what was, essentially, a very dark period of time, both emotionally and in terms of what I was feeling towards my own writing, but many of you know that there were several users here on Tumblr (chiefly one in particular, who is no longer here) who had made it her personal mission to publicly berate me/my writings for my "glamorization of CSA". In response, I wrote an extensive post about the topic, which you can read here. Seriously, please read this, because it's important for you to know the difference between depiction and glamorization, and I'm not going to discuss that in this particular ask.

During that time, I received numerous 'anonymous' threats, messages telling me to kill myself, that I was a horrible person, that Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan would be ashamed of me (lol) and that I was -- to phrase it in a nicer way than they did -- a piece of shit.

(Also, and this is kind of irrelevant, even though it's the first time I've spoken about it publicly: but I will also add that, one of the main reasons why this Tumblr user in question launched this public crusade against me in the first place was so that she could effectively turn readers away from my writing in an effort to shield people from the fact that she was blatantly plagiarizing my work to pad her own 'writing'. Which is absolute clown behavior on all fronts. Full stop.)

Anyway. These hateful threats from these 'anonymous' users thankfully did not have their intended affect -- that is so to say, there is nothing that anyone could ever say or do that would me stop writing -- however, I was briefly cowed into thoughts of submission, that maybe I should attempt to "dial back" my writing in favor or appealing to a wider or more general audience. I am ashamed to admit that elements of Burn were sped up that I am still grappling with -- in essence, Taylor's eighteenth birthday arriving much sooner within the narrative than I actually wanted it to -- simply so that Taylor would not be underaged during the consummation of her relationship with the Joker. Sometimes I think if I had the patience to go back and change things, I would, but I am far too invested in seeing the story forward at this point to want to make any major changes with the timeline. Also, if you'll read the above post that I linked, you'll see why Taylor's age is rather arbitrary in regards to her 'consent' anyway. That's a point I will argue to the grave.

I feel that so much of my own writing over the years has been censored (by my own hand) because I was often too afraid to "take it there" or go too dark for fear it would scare off readers. It wasn't until I wrote JK that I actually did "take it there" and go as dark as I really wanted, and I truly believe my writing blossomed because of it. It's worth noting that JK was the first time I'd ever looked at my writing and been incredibly proud of it, proud at how unflinchingly honest I was. That story bares my fucking soul. Sharing it, at the time, was one of the most vulnerable things I'd ever done.

To have that vulnerability challenged -- and even mocked, to some extent, by the crusade (read: toddler tirade) launched here against me on Tumblr -- felt not at all dissimilar to a knife to the gut.

I think one of the main reasons why people crusade against 'dark' fiction is because it makes them uncomfortable -- and, to a certain degree, it should make you uncomfortable. Not all writing is going to be rainbows and roses. Good, compelling writing should challenge the way you think, challenge the way perceive the world, make you question the things you thought you knew, etc.

Fiction thrives only because there is some form of conflict within the narrative: without conflict, you are stripped of the elements that make up a story. These efforts being made to "purify" fiction by ridding it of any elements that have been deemed "problematic" essentially strip a story of the very aspects that make it a story in the first place!

On a more personal note, I want to say something to you that I desperately wish someone would have said to me when I was a young teen nervously wishing she could write the things she wanted to write, someone who wished she did not feel such intense guilt for reading the things I used to read:

it is absolutely OK to like dark fiction. It is fine to want to read it, write it, praise it, be enthusiastic about it, talk about it, etc. Your feelings, desires, fantasies, are VALID.

I absolutely DO believe fiction is a safe space (perhaps the ONE safe space) where more 'taboo' subjects can be safely explored. Please don't ever let anyone discourage you from writing the story you feel needs to be told. Don't let anyone discourage you from holding back. Take comfort in the beautiful, kind person that I am sure that you are.

The people I have found within the 'darkfic' community have been some of the loveliest and kindest people I have ever met. I think there's a reason such sweet and oftentimes very soft individuals gravitate towards this kind of fiction, and I have seen my theory proven time and time again by the sheer volume of readers who have come to me with personal anecdotes about their own life experiences and why dark fiction is often so very therapeutic for them.

I would also like to stress that there is NEVER any justification necessary for why you like the things you do. You owe no one an explanation. Sometimes, I think, even as the reader, you don't know WHY you like the things you do, and that's perfectly okay! It doesn't make you a bad person. I believe I can speak for the vast majority of my readers when I say none of us would ever want to see the things that play out in dark fiction to actually happen in real life. Wanting to see something in fiction is not the same thing as advocating for it or wishing for it in real life.

I could honestly talk about this topic for hours. I genuinely feel so passionate about it, and it makes me deeply upset to know that so many readers/writers have been discouraged from engaging in fiction they should have the freedom to enjoy, simply because they have been shamed for partaking in it.

Please check out my purity culture tag, which sums up a lot of my thoughts in a manner much more concise than what I have written here.

Final thoughts: I just wanted to say thank you to anyone and everyone who has ever supported me/my writings, especially if you were present while I was bullied and plagiarized. Your support means the absolute world to me, especially when feelings of doubt creep in (because they still do) and the small part of me that wants to succumb to the hateful comments. Your kind words and your encouragement is truly the buoy that keeps me afloat.

To the anon who wrote this, I love you so much and please know you've got a huge community of people who will support you/your writings should you ever decide to publish them. All my love.

#anonymous #asks #censorship #illiteracy #purity culture

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incarnateirony · 2 years

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Hi, it's the "why do you think Bobo is on the Winchesters" anon again. I've gone back through your blog to try to figure out what your response meant but I hope you'll forgive me for needing a bit of clarification?

It seems like you're saying that Robbie drew Jensen a chart at some point, which is based on the chart that you linked me to in my last ask--I tried to look back on your blog to see where this info is from but I couldn't find anything. Where did you see/hear about Robbie drawing Jensen this chart?

And you're also saying that you gave this chart originally to Bobo (in public?) and that he must have given it to Robbie, and that's how it got to Robbie?

I promise I am actually trying to follow you but, I mean this in the nicest way, you are really hard to follow sometimes.

Robbie literally mentioned it in an interview.

The chart was given to Bobo, in public, new years eve, as I had older drafts (not the net 4 draft, I found that in public early February, as I've said many times) and saw what they were struggling over. Because, while bnfs like jus and charcubed refuse to peep about it now, or why they're doubling down so hard on the Chuck Won take complete with graphics right now, we'd had the same arguments in development for a month or two early 2021.

So I shoveled it to him, hell somewhere it's in my blog I just don't remember what I tagged it. I'd screenshot the convo again but you know, some uneducated buffoon sent william shatner and the trekkies at me to report bomb my account before Mark Pellegrino disappeared in a mist, cancelled 3 cons, and now has a gap until JULY on attendance. But that's totally unrelated. Nothing ever connects in these people's universes if the dots are inconvenient to connect. Either way, I can't pull my shit to source it to you. Sorry. If you wanna dig my blog to find the receipt that's fine.

Regardless, in an article, it was discussed that Jensen and Robbie were sitting in the car watching the filming of the prequel, and it was said, "we can't do it like this." (summarily, the linear post-15.18 bubble would leave us to either undo the finale entirely, which they didn't want to do, or make us watch dean die on a tack again literally.)

Robbie then, per the article, drew Jensen a chart on pathwork, which declared reshoots. Some were done on the spot since they were just kinda. There already, which is also why the pilot filming ran like 3+ weeks. Then, authors were brought in to craft out the rest of the series, at which point Bobo continued to be engaged, hence talking about Better Call Saul early May, when writing shit really starts moving. That's *why* Better Call Saul ended up evoked in later articles. Then, other reshoots were saved for fall when everybody was able to be back together again, hence visiting the graveyard again and stuff (because the angulature of Roxy was also nudged.)

This is *when* "Follow the Path of 1 Towards Heaven" integrated, as well as moving dean to the axis mundi liminally and going into the deeper perspective game imagination of it.

People *refusing to follow and onboard information does not remove the reality of it.* And frankly I don't feel compelled to dig through dozens of dozens of dozens of articles to find something I posted and pointed at half a year ago while nobody paid attention. I'm well past doing that level of emotional labor for people that are only asking a year late into the news cycle to deal with their own disillusionments. I'm a person, not a pez dispenser.

Congrats. THAT is the Truth. And fandom better start processing shit REAL fuckin quick.

youtube

I repeat. Jensen isn't the only one that can pull a long con.

amazing what you can accomplish if you listen first, understand second, and argue last if ever. Almost like I spent years building rapport with and trying to reinstate fandom's good faith in the authors for a reason, and always magically had insight about their intentions that was correct no matter how many Big Headed Idiot Consumers That Think They're ITK From M&Gs And Coffeerunners screamed at me for years. I listened. I saw. I understood the struggle. I updated the package. It changed the result. Berens openly talked about it but nobody listened.

Now everyone's plugging their ears in denial like it's gonna stop the train running them over. Or acting like how close Robbie and Bobo have been for years is an element you can hide, or their plot sharing, whether while they both worked in Carver era or Bobo carrying on Robbie's story elements as far as season 15, and people making confused monkey sounds that maybe Robbie and Bobo talk sometimes and share ideas, as normal human beings do. Because you forget they're human beings.

Robbie is, per their own words, the rose to bobo's jack. catch a FUCKING clue, numpties. Like Oh My God They Were Roommates besties. And you're just scratching your FUCKING heads because you can't compute the authors being real people might influence the stories they tell together.

like seriously dude. You're basically asking "HEY, BEYOND ALL THE STUFF IN PUBLIC OR IN ARTICLES, CAN YOU *PROVE* TO ME THAT THESE TWO BEST FRIENDS ACTUALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER?" who the FUCK are YOU. You want the answer? PAY THE FUCK ATTENTION.

Yes, I know you were being polite in this ask TECHNICALLY, but polite doesn't mean genuine. I'm fucking tired. I'm tired of people deleting the authenticity of the authors as people from the conversation, like they're some fucking primal force that exists only in the internet generating TV for you. A lot of this shit was perfectly public access information and I still need to apparently explain it over and over and over and over and over again, and the same dumb motherfuckers that screamed over me about these issues for 5 years while being proven wrong again and again have escalated to continuous doxxing attempts, but sure. Nothing's happening. Whatever.

Literally. You guys are fucking exhausting. There's a reason Robbie calls this shit revenge. Fucking pop off and rip this whole fandom a new asshole, king. Every fucking lane. I want this place to look like swiss cheese by the time you're done. Gaping dry-fucked ostiums for all.

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j3scax · 29 days

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Okay small rant time.

I'm getting real tired of like, social media atm. Idk if it's like, my own fault or the fault of the world or whatever but it just feels like everything is somehow so much more aggressively aggressive and in your face. Maybe when I was younger I just didn't realise, but it feels like recently all I see is drama, hit pieces or identity war shit.

I fully understand politics and such are important, as well as trying to help people understand why something may be problematic. But sometimes it feels so extremely overbearing. A lot of my YouTube feed is just "___ is over" or "___ is horrible" rather than like, random video essays I watch pretty much all the time. Most of the videos I watch aren't these kind of drama videos, I may watch an odd Moistcritical video now and then but other than that I wanna watch a fucking hour long video about Venus or something. It's why I appreciate channels like Wendigoon so much, even when he does get dragged into drama (which mind you is the personification of pointless drama I'm seeing) his channel just stays the same as always, I can just sit down and listen to him talk about some random cool niche thing.

Some social media platforms have always been like this, for example Twitter - that has always been a shit hole so it has always been easy to circumnavigate that kind of community since all you need to do is not to go on Twitter. But now it's just fucking everywhere and it makes me feel like shit. I'm tired of it all, and I don't care for it anymore. It feels like no matter where I go I have to deal with this shit, and although you could argue this stuff is important it surely isn't that important if I can talk to my friends or meet people irl and never get onto these subjects or topics. Sure it might come in passing like "Oh did you hear about ___" but that's the extent of it.

It also feels like no matter what your opinion is online you're somehow wrong to someone. You could give an extremely well detailed, well reasoned and well thought out opinion and you'll just be criticised just because mob mentality. And the inverse is true, it gives people with unreasoned opinions that are genuinely terrible to have a platform to share them. I've always said this is just the issue of free speech, if you allow people to freely speak there's going to be bad or negative opinions, but this shit shouldn't be constantly peddled to me on platforms like YouTube when I don't engage in the content.

I just feel like everything is more hateful and everyone seems to need to take sides on something, and if you even dare not to comment or remain partial (either because you don't care, don't want to involve yourself or believe you're not educated to give your opinion) you're somehow worse than fucking Satan himself. Yet even if you do give your stance you're still somehow hypocritical or a bad person. I just hate it and I genuinely don't think the internet used to be like this. I might be talking out of nostalgia. But pre-COVID compared to post-COVID just feels so much more noticeable to me.

I remember my time on social media back in 2019-2021 and while there were still some of the things I've discussed, it was nowhere near as obvious. Sure you had your niche areas of hatred like the DreamSMP, but as someone who never really engaged in the fandom or community I never really experienced the negatives of it and it wasn't as pushed into my face. That's how it used to feel to me, stuff like this would be relegated to just one area or fandom, rarely did stuff spread out of their own communities - and those that did spread out gained the reputation of being toxic with people knowing to avoid them. But now stuff begins to feed over into everything, and I mean everything. I could just be watching a streamer or whatever - someone who doesn't need to be or wouldn't be involved in said issue - and they'll be interrogated on every single view they have on every piece of drama. I was peddled a fucking GODZILLA drama video a couple days ago, a fandom I have never interacted with once or engaged with on YouTube.

I'm tired of it. Just because other people want to engage in a constant hate spiral to ruin their lives, want to constantly make money off of milking every topic of note, doesn't mean I want to. And if you ever express an opinion like this, suddenly you're a bad person, or you're defending whoever in whatever drama, or you're ignorant for ignoring current issues. Yes. I think knowing about and educating people on current issues is important, and I'm not saying it's bad to inform people or report news, but this shit is all I'm fucking given. Like I said earlier, you'd still have drama videos or exposés back before COVID, but it wouldn't constantly be in your face. It isn't like the News where you can choose to interact with it or not.

Even then, I'd still argue that the only issues that really matter are problems that relate to you - and these are the issues we should push people to research or interact with. We should push people to look into whether their tax money is being misused and we should educate them on it. We should educate people and give news to people about what is happening in their war torn home country. We shouldn't be constantly pushing people and forcing people to decide whether Mr. Beast is a pedophile or not. As someone who has no care for Mr. Beast, I don't fucking care and I don't want to see it or hear about it.

That's my little rant over.

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theokusgallery · 2 years

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There's one reason I like being AFAB and this reason is colors

#yeah so if you didn't know afabs tend to have more cones than. the other thing idk what they're called in english #and cones are what helps you differenciate colors!#which is also the reason why you'll see these posts sometimes about people arguing that two colors extremely similar are the same #usually the afabs will tend to see the difference more easily while it'll be more complicated for amabs #and i'll be damned if I can't differenciate the closest shades of blueish greens known to man lol #-- that's according to studies i've found at least. i believe they're accurate but well. can never be sure #also it's not Always the case amabs just happen to have a disadvantage -- doesn't mean that's everyone #rant

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ninjakk · 2 years

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Did WWX obtain the perfume pouch for LWJ - Theory analysis

MXTX is a master of using subtext to convey so many underlying meanings, just underneath the visible plot of her novels. There are many hidden gems in MDZS that the reader might not pick up on during a first read. Throughout the novel, we're often given explanations that connect little hints left in earlier chapters - eventually piecing them all together perfectly to form an enriching new perspective on previous scenes. Other times MXTX has faith in her readers abilities to gather clues and come to their own logical conclusions, without a full exposition. And of course, sometimes MXTX deliberately leaves things up to the reader's own interpretation as well - giving them a little freedom to use their imagination.

A particularly interesting theory I have come across is in regards to the perfume pouch. Some claim WWX obtained the pouch in order to treat LWJ's leg injury. Admittedly, it is something I picked up on and questioned during my first read, and by my second read I definitely thought it was more than WWX just wanting something nice off a girl. I just found it all a bit out of character for WWX to suddenly ignore LWJ, when he was clearly very concerned about him. Contrary to some people's opinion, WWX is not flighty and thoughtless. In fact, most of his actions are incredibly thought-out and deliberate. Even when he seems to be acting the fool or charming women - there is nearly always an ulterior motive. Of course, WWX is bubbly and likes to be silly, but he is more than capable of doing so while still executing something more serious at times.

Some might argue he had time to tell LWJ why he'd got the pouch in the first place and use the herbs to help him when he first obtained it. But with LWJ getting annoyed and trying to storm off, WWX leaves him alone for a moment to cool off - worried LWJ will hurt himself more if he carries on walking fast. We later find out WWX had also worked out during their interaction below, that LWJ needed to expel the bad blood that was collecting in his chest. This was something important that needed addressing, WWX knew this but never had time to help him until they were in the cave and he deemed it safe to do so. So the fact he wasn't able to help him with the above, means in turn, he did not have time to offer him the medicinal herbs he obtained from the perfume pouch either.

People also argue there was no exposition of him obtaining the perfume pouch for such reasons, which is true - but there are other things within the book without exposition as well. WWX cleverly orchestrated a situation where LWJ bought A-Yuan toys, to cheer the toddler up and make him see how kind LWJ actually was. It also helped LWJ feel better about the whole situation and encouraged them to form a little bond - so WX could go on a date catch up on old times and have some time together. But it is never explicitly confirmed that this is what WWX did. MXTX expects the reader to understand her main character and their motivations. With that in mind, I'm going take a closer look at the scene in question and comment as we go along. So get your popcorn kids, it's probably going to be one of my notoriously long posts! But hopefully you'll enjoy reading it nevertheless!

Chapters 51/52

Walking shoulder to shoulder with him, he asked, “What happened to your leg?” Lan WangJi stared straight at the front, “Nothing.” Wei WuXian, “We’re already familiar with each other, aren’t we? How cold—you don’t even bother giving me a single look. Your leg really is fine?” Lan WangJi, “We are not familiar.” Wei WuXian turned around and walked facing the back, determined on making Lan WangJi look at his face, “Don’t force yourself if it’s not fine. Is your leg hurt or broken? When did it happen?”

After noticing LWJ is ever so slightly limping, WWX is concerned and decides to check on him. LWJ denies there is anything wrong and refuses to look at him, seemingly giving him the cold shoulder. From the above we can see WWX is obviously worried about LWJs injury, but he's also upset he is being so cold towards him. He even mentions LWJ won't even look at him - which we know WWX has a little fixation on, from the amount of times he tries to get him to look at him every time they meet. WWX even turns around and walks backwards to try and get LWJ to look at him. WWX is just determined to make him look at his face, because of his subconscious feelings for him and his need for LWJ's attention. He then continues to bombard LWJ with questions, in what could be considered a worried tone. It's actually adorably sweet how concerned he is for LWJ.

Just as he was about to say, "do you want me to carry you", a fragrant breeze suddenly wafted around his nose. Wei WuXian turned around and looked to the side. His eyes immediately lit up. Seeing that he had stopped talking abruptly, Lan WangJi followed his gaze. He saw about half a dozen girls walking together. The one in the center wore a layer of chiffon over her coat of pale scarlet. As wind blew across, the chiffon swayed. Her figure looked exceptionally good from the back. This figure was what Wei WuXian had been looking at. One of the girls laughed, “MianMian, your perfume sachet truly is something special. After I wore it, bugs really did stop coming over. The scent is nice too. I seem to feel much more awake after I smell it.” The voice of the girl called MianMian was indeed soft and sweet, “Inside of the sachet is filled with minced medicinal plants. It can be useful in quite a lot of ways. I’ve still got a few here. Do any of you want one?” Wei WuXian swept over like a foreboding gust of wind, “MianMian, save me one too.”

A lot of people seem to debate the above paragraph quite often. I guess it's really up to the reader's interpretation. Personally, I think WWX wanted the perfume pouch to help LWJ. As we've seen in many other chapters, WWX is an incredibly intelligent and thoughtful person. He also uses his charms to obtain things such as information, and to a lesser extent the odd freebie (the loquat - and even then, one was for LWJ). It's not like him to be momentarily distracted by someone else, especially when he is around LWJ. However you look at it, WWX isn't flighty or self-centred - he's kind and caring. WWX is just not that shallow in my opinion.

WWX only stops talking to LWJ when he smells the sweet scent of the medicinal herbs. The narrative point of view suddenly switches to LWJ, and as such we are no longer able to see WWX's motivation or thought process. We don't even get a description of MianMian from WWXs POV until much later, and even then it's just that she's 'quite pretty' when justifying why he stopped her from being branded on the face. The description we receive above is LWJ's interpretation. With us unaware of WWXs intentions, it's up to the reader to decide what they think is his reasoning. Either way, it's quite interesting for MXTX to switch to LWJ's POV at such a moment. Even if it was just so we could get an idea of how LWJ was feeling at that moment, not much is really given away and the cold looks and tone he uses could have been conveyed either way. So there's no real reason to do this, unless MXTX is covering up what WWX's true intentions are.

WWX smells a herbal scent, hears MianMian state that the pouches contain medicinal herbs and then he approaches, asking for one also. WWX is very innovative and quick thinking. It really wouldn't be out of character for him to quickly work out from the smell and what MianMian said about the pouches containing medicinal herbs, that there may be something in them that could help LWJs injury. The conditions the disciples seem to be living in while at the indoctrination camp sound pretty basic and the Wens don't seem to care too much about the health or well-being of the 'guest' disciples. WWX knows it's highly unlikely they will treat LWJ's leg if it gets worse. He also knows LWJ wouldn't admit it to the Wen sect or seek help from them either. WWX has also mentioned that WC had a particular hatred for LWJ, JZX and himself because of how well they performed in last year's archery competition - so he's painting a pretty clear picture that LWJ isn't going to get help any other way. And as I've said earlier, it's not the only time we have WWX doing something that is hinted at, but not officially confirmed in the text.

The girl was surprised. She didn’t expect to hear a stranger’s voice barge in so suddenly. Turning around, she revealed a fair face, which frowned slightly as she asked, “Who are you? Why do you call me MianMian as well?” Wei WuXian grinned, “I heard all of them call you MianMian, so I thought that it’s your name. What, it’s not?” Lan WangJi watched them coldly. Seeing that he was at it again, Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes with emphasis. MianMian’s cheeks flushed, “You can’t call me that!” Wei WuXian, “Why not? How about this: if you tell me your name, I won’t call you MianMian anymore. What do you think?” MianMian, “Why do I have to tell you just because you asked? Before you ask for somebody else’s name, you should tell them your name first, shouldn’t you?” Wei WuXian, “Sure, if you want my name. Remember, my name is "YuanDao‟.” MianMian silently pronounced the name "YuanDao" a few times. She couldn’t remember if the young master of any sect had such a name. But, judging from the boy’s air and appearance, she didn’t think he was the average disciple.

The narrative has now switched to MianMian's POV. It's also MianMian who directs the conversation way from the perfume pouch, because she's surprised at WWX talking to her like they are familiar. Because she seems annoyed at him calling her that name, WWX tries to charm and diffuse her hostility towards him by making a joke. We can imagine if she'd just said yes, it would have been a very brief interaction, similar to him talking to the loquat sellers in Gusu - and just like then, it was in part for LWJ.

Looking at the teasing smile at the corners of Wei WuXian’s lips, she didn’t know what was going on. Suddenly, Lan WangJi’s low voice came from beside them, “A play on words.” She realized at once that it had been taken from the poetry line "its ceaseless bounds yearn for miles and miles on" and he was making fun of her. She stomped her feet in spite, “Who’s yearning for you? You have no face!” The girls collapsed into a laughing mess, chirping, “Wei WuXian, you really have no face!” “I’ve never seen someone as annoying as you!” “Let me tell you, she’s called…” MianMian dragged them away and turned to leave, “Let’s go, let’s go! You can’t tell it to him.”

We can see from the above that the other girls around MianMian all know who WWX is, yet he doesn't converse with them or even address any of them by name. If he was going over just to flirt - which we never actually see him do throughout the novel (other than with LWJ of course) he could have used the fact he is known to the others as a way to talk to MianMian. To me, it's quite obvious he is being very single minded and specifically wants a perfume pouch.

Wei WuXian shouted from behind, “You can go, but give me a sachet, won’t you?! You’re ignoring me? You don’t want to? If you don’t, I’ll find other people and ask for your name. There must be someone out there who’s willing to tell me…” Before he finished, a perfume sachet flew over from in front of him. It landed right in the middle of his chest. With an "ouch‟, Wei WuXian pretended as though his heart hurt, spinning the sachet around his hand with its ribbons around his finger. Even as he walked back to Lan WangJi, he was still spinning the sachet around, grinning.

WWX is trying to charm MianMian, but his intentions are quite clear. He'll stop pestering her if she gives him one of the perfume pouches. It's the first thing he asked her, and even as she was leaving it's the last thing he said before provoking her into throwing one at him. As usual, he's using his 'charm' to obtain something. Once he's got the perfume pouch, he heads straight back over to LWJ. As I've said previously, WWX isn't usually distracted by anyone when he's around LWJ. In fact, it's usually the opposite. When he's charming the loquat sellers in Gusu, he is obviously distracted by LWJ and even brings him into the conversation, drawing attention to his good looks. When he is talking to 'two slender-bodied maidens' (LWJ's POV, chapter 69), he is yet again distracted by LWJs good looks and throws a flower at him to get his attention. Even in the Lotus Seed Pod extra, WWX has the attention of the farm girls, but he is distracted by thoughts of LWJ once more.

Now you could argue as to why he didn't just tell her why he wanted it - which is a valid point. But as I've said above, LWJ is incredibly proud and WWX has already surmised LWJ probably doesn't want anyone to know about his injury. It's also in WWX's nature to 'trick' people into doing something for him or themselves. He does this throughout the novel. WWX is probably also being careful not to draw attention to LWJ's injury too much, as we've already been made aware, WC has singled them out personally, because of how well they did during the archery competition last year. WC was already being particularly harsh with the three of them (WWX, LWJ and JZX) and WWX is smart enough to ensure he doesn't provide any further leverage to use against LWJ.

Watching Lan WangJi’s expression grow colder, he asked, “What? You’re looking at me like that again. Right, where were we again? Let’s continue. How about I carry you on my back?” Lan WangJi looked at him quietly, “Do you behave in such a frivolous way towards everyone?” Wei WuXian thought for a second, “I think so?” Lan WangJi looked at the ground. He only replied a moment later, “How impudent!” He spoke the two words through clenched teeth, along with some strange hatred. He didn’t even deem it worthy to give WeiWuXian another glare. Lan WangJi strained to speed up and walk faster. Seeing that he was forcing himself again, Wei WuXian hurried, “Fine. You don’t have to walk this fast. I’ll just go.”

LWJ is less than welcoming and gives WWX a very frosty reception upon his return. He just thinks WWX acts this way with everyone - but of course we know the way he acts with LWJ is different. WWX ignores his glare and offers to carry him on his back. When LWJ asks if WWX 'behaves in such a frivolous way' with everyone, WWX replies 'yes' because to him he's not really done anything other than make a joke and obtain a perfume pouch. LWJ is (understandably to us) upset and just wants to get away from WWX. I always want to give LWJ a hug and WWX a smack over the head at this moment in time. Seeing LWJ hurting himself even more by trying to get away from him, WWX quickly tells him he'll leave him alone.

Combining three strides into two, he quickly caught up toJiang Cheng. Yet, Jiang Cheng didn’t give him any good looks either. He spoke menacingly, “You’re so ridiculous!” Wei WuXian, “It’s not like you’re Lan Zhan or anything, so why do you say ridiculous like he does? His face today is worse than how it used to be. What’s wrong with his leg?” Jiang Cheng spoke in a sour voice, “You still have the time to pay attention to him? Why don’t you pay attention to yourself!? I don’t know what tricks that idiot Wen Chao is planning this time, making us search for some cave entrance here in Dusk-Creek Mountain. Hopefully it’s not like last time when he made us circle up and be shields of flesh."

WWX catches up with JC and they have an argument about WWX's fixation with LWJ - as usual! We can see WWX is still very focused on LWJ and his current state. He doesn't even bite at JC's possible dig at how he just acted 'ridiculous' with MianMian. He just brings the conversation back to LWJ instantly. Before anything else could be said, a disciple near by interjects and tells WWX about the awful attack on the Cloud Recesses and how LWJ got his injury. Hearing this WWX is even more concerned and was about to turn back and insist on helping LWJ, when JC argues with him once again. This draws the attention of the Wen sect and they are told to concentrate on the task at hand. At this point, a lot happens quite quickly and as such WWX isn't able to help LWJ with his injury until much later.

Chapter 54

Suddenly, Wei WuXian caught a faint, herbal scent. Reaching into his lapel, he fished out a small sachet of perfume. The wet sachet hung from its tassels, delicate yet somewhat pitiful. Recalling how MianMian said that it was filled with medicinal plants, he opened it up at once and found that there were indeed herbs, along with a few small flowers, half-dried and quite chopped up.

So the perfume pouch finally comes into play. Understandably WWX has been rather distracted up until this point. Again, he is reminded of the pouch because he could smell the herbal scent - just as before. He then goes on to recall what MianMian had said about it containing medicinal herbs - again, just like before. He comes to the same conclusion that some people claim he did prior to obtaining the perfume pouch, in the exact same way. So it's not much of a jump to think this is what he originally thought anyway and he's just been reminded he had it on him.

Wei WuXian spoke as he picked them out, “I can’t believe that the girl’s perfume sachet ended up so useful. I’ll have to thank her properly when we go back.”

Some people query if WWX had indeed obtained the perfume pouch for LWJ in the first place, then why did he say the above? To me, I always read this as 'SO useful', because he is impressed it was useful in such a situation. There's intended emphasis on how useful it has been. If we're going down the route he initially got the perfume pouch for LWJ prior to this scene, he only obtained it hoping to help ease his pain and help him walk better. He wasn't expecting to use it on a bloody leg, covered in rows of teeth marks from a huge beast! So he puts emphasis on just how useful it turned out to be. If he thought it wasn't going to be useful, he'd have just said 'I can't believe this was useful', 'actually useful' or 'come in handy' - or something along those lines. I've also taken a look at a few different translations and they all use 'so', in order to stress it is more useful than he originally thought.

Obviously as I stated above, unless specifically confirmed by MXTX, any theory that can be backed by text, is of course plausible. I certainly think this explanation fits very well with WWX's personality/character, and definitely adds more depth to the scene and his actions. It also adds to one of the many misunderstandings WX share before becoming a couple. It's a running theme for WWX or LWJ to do something and the other totally misinterpret it, before they finally realise each other's feelings and the motivation behind their actions. As such, I think this fits quite nicely with the rest of the novel and certainly adds more value to the scene in question.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #mdzs novel #wei wuxian #lan wangji #Xuanwu of Slaughter #mianmian #mdzs meta #mdzs theories #perfume pouch

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herstarburststories · 4 years

Text

You Have A Home

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Reader

Summary: After a call from Y/N, Sam comes back town to help -- and brings Dean with him.

Requests: N°1 heyhey, could you do a Sam x reader where they went to college togehter and later meet again and they realise their feelings for eachother...xx + N°2: can you do a college sam headcanon with medicine student reader

A/N: This was fun! The monster here is mentioned in season 6, when the boys ask Bobby for advice on how to kill it. This is my first Samgirl long imagine, with Dean being the flirty he is. I wrote this almost one year ago, so it's more crude and I'm nervous to be posting it! And my piece for @cajunquandary 's 600 challenge, my prompt was monster of the week. Dividers by @talesmaniac89!

Dean's eyes remained on the road when the bitter statement left his body, tangled with a wry chuckle, “I can't believe you are still in touch with those people.”

“Those people?” Sam arched elbows, slightly skeptical by his brother's tone, “They were my friends, Dean.”

“Sammy, all our friends? Dead. They all die. Or worse.” He glanced at him for a moment, pursing his lips together. It might not be an easy assignment, but was part of the job. Sammy had tried to run away plenty times and always came back, when would he understand? “We don't get to have friends. You should've learned that.”

“They are not our friends, they are my friends. Also, they don't know about the hunting life, they aren't in harm.” Sammy hissed once the other locked his green eyes on the road again. Dean sighed, moving one hand away and up from the steering wheel in a rendition gesture.

“Whatever you say, man. I'm just warning you, this doesn't usually end up good for them.”

Sam scoffed, Dean could get on his nerves sometimes, “We saved many people that got to have a good life.”

“Yeah, but those people didn't know us before that. I told you when you left Stanford--”

“I didn't keep contact, okay!? I just... I just still have a phone that they have the number of. No social media, no calls on birthdays.” Nervously gesticulating, he added, “I know how to keep them safe, Dean.”

“So, old friend?” The eldest Winchester asked after the few minutes of silence that followed Sam's outburst, “Female old friend?”

“Yes. (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” Dean smirked, and Sam to rolled his eyes at his behavior, “Keep it in your pants.”

He'd let out a malicious laughter before turning on the radio, the first guitar sounds of AC/DC playing in the background.

“I think you'll be the one not keeping it, Sammy.”

“Hello?” The woman in nothing but a towel who had opened the door greeted them with a question, her brown eyes glaring at the two men with clear confusion.

Dean had no shame to check her out, innerly celebrating that she was still wet from her shower. Perhaps visiting Sam's friends wasn't that big mistake. “Hey, you.”

She grimaced at Dean for two seconds before turning her attention to Sam again, sudden recognition written on her face.

“Sam? Sam Winchester?” He nodded, smiling that light-hearted boyish grin at her. Not caring about her dressings, she just threw herself at Sammy, hugging him tightly. “I missed you!” She pulled away only to hit his shoulder. Her short stature didn't match Sam's, but he'd still make a grimace at her attempt of slap. “Why didn't you call? God, your hair grew a lot. Listen, I have some scissors.”

“Tried that, didn't work.” Dean interrupted their reencounter, trying to get in the conversation. An usual lopsided grin on his face, “Dean Winchester, Sam's brother.”

“Layla, Sam's friend.” She gave him a friendly smile in return, opening space for them to pass through the door before closing it, “Come in, I need to change in clothes.”

“I wouldn't even dream of that. Seriously.”

Layla would just wiggle one of her brows at Dean's comments, not impressed by it, “Ele é sempre assim? (Is he always like this?)”

Thankfully, Sam still remembered a bit of his friend's native language. He just chuckled, managing to apologize for Dean's typical Dean behavior, “Unfortunately. Sinto muito. (I'm sorry)”

“(Y/N) is in the kitchen. I'll be right back.” Her accent was thicking stronger duo the comfortability around Sam. Excusing herself, the caramel skinned girl leaded upstairs.

“What did she say?” Dean asked, side glancing at the path Layla had just gone on, not even sure of which language she'd just spoken, much less what was said. Sammy didn't bother replying, satisfied to grin at his obvxion brother. “Dude, come on!”

“Sam!” A well-known voice filled the room as the image of (Y/N) appeared in front of them, dressing your loyal cook's avental. You didn't think twice before jumping on Sam. “I missed you, giant!”

He, like always, caught you with a light-hearted laughter, “I missed you too, cupcake.” You two spent a few moments like this, enjoying each other's warm and long lost touch, until Dean cleared his throat. You finally went back to the ground, embarrassed by having a stranger to see that level of intimacy between you and Sam, “This is Dean, my--”

“Handsome brother. Hello, cupcake.” Dean was so going to tease Sam for the rest of his life for it.

“You really live up for Sam's description.” You giggled, heading towards the kitchen “Come in, I'm baking.”

“So, you and Layla still live together?”

“Most of the time, yes. You know how she is, comes and goes. Never wanted to stay in a place for too long and got a job that supported that.” The boys followed you, Dean examining the kitchen and trying to discover what you were cooking through the smell, while Sam couldn't take his eyes on you, “Apparently, just like you.”

Even though your back was facing them as you checked the food, the bite didn't pass unnoticed, “I had to leave, (Y/N)”

“I understand that, Sam. But you never called or texted. It was like I--” You quickly corrected yourself, “We never existed for you.”

“It's not like that.” Sam sighed, how could he justify? He knew you wouldn't buy a simple excuse. You were smart, and knew him too well to swallow a 'I went on a trip with my brother and just decided that college wasn't my deal' and leave it for that.

“I'm here!” Layla declared, arriving into the room with an excited smile, it was good to have the gang back together. Although, the tangible tension almost made her go back to the shower, “Am I interrupting something?”

“A sitcom DR.” Dean answered with sarcasm, spreading his figure on the chair when you turned around with an apple pie in your hands “What about we talk about the ca-- Is this pie?”

“We heard a scream followed by a loud roar and (Y/N) stayed near the camping part because there was still a signal and I went looking for who it was. When I got there, the thing ran away. Jorge's body... No human did that. His chest was cracked open irregularly, as if it was done by an animal and his heart looked weird. Like it was squeezed and drawn on up somehow?”

“We got a Samia.” Dean stated, relaxing on his spot. Some sault, rosemary and fire would do the job just fine, “Let me guess, it left a clawn near the body or inside it?”

Layla nodded, “Right in the chest or what lasted of it.”

“Are you okay? Finding the body in that state.” A comprehensive manner englobed Sam's question, whom noticed the normality with his friend described finding a shattered body.

“Just some guts.” She shrugged, a grimace was all the reaction they'd get. Crying wouldn't help, neither being terrorized as they expected her too. “I've seen Grey's Anatomy enough not to care about it.”

“Well, I'm literally a medicine student and I am still not okay with that. Especially after you made me go and check the body.” You argued, glaring at your best friend who'd only roll her eyes in response.

“I needed a professional to say if he was dead or not!”

“You need a therapist.”

Dean got up, looking straight at Layla. Time to play the hero in shining armor, “Don't worry with that, we will take care of it.”

Frowning, you were the one to respond, “Do you work for the police now or?”

“Are implying that we investigate it by ourselves?” Your best friend added.

Dean couldn't believe his brother. How the fuck did he let them get inside without saying they didn't know about the hunting business? It was a luck shot that they didn't think much when he said Samia.

“Nope. Not you two. We will do it.” The blonde one said, pointing at them with a smirk.

“I agree, we will do it.” Layla replied, matching his taunt smile.

“Sam, I'm not letting you and your brother do it by yourself. Jorge was my professor, I knew him. Besides, we found the body.” You got on your feet and crossed your arms, waiting for a response. Sam always had a sort of hero complex, ready to help no matter what, but there was no way you'd be letting him go into danger with his brother. Getting in your dormitory to kill a cockroach back then or facing an idiot during a bar fight to protect one of your friends was something, but this? They were talking about looking for an assassin. What if something happened to him? You were the one who called. All on you. The thought of Sam getting hurt for any reason was unbearable, but because of you? You weren't willing to do that.

“You would be in danger, (Y/N). You both.” He tried to explain, internally hoping you'd accept his reasoning and let it go. Sam didn't want you to become one of the friends who knew about this life, you deserve more. He already lost one woman he loved in this city, he couldn't lose another.

You huffed in frustration, “Just like you will!”

“It's different.” As he was terrified of, you insisted. Arms crossed still and eyes locked with his, determined to get something from him. Sam was smart enough to know that you would keep it going. Perhaps he could give you a short explanation, “Me and my brother, we are used to this. We hunt things like that.”

Layla tilted her head to the side. The way Sam talked remembered her of animal hunting, although she highly doubted that was the case, “Little more explanation?'”

“Monsters are real. Vampires, werewolves, spirits. The list goes on. Call us crazy. Roll the credits.” Sarcasm saltered every word of Dean's as he gestured up and down with a cocky smile. Everyone glared at him, a special furious look from his brother, “What? I thought they knew what we did and that's why she called.”

“Sam?” Your voice was fragile when you said his name, a demonstration that you would believe him through the fear of the truth, but that he had to say it.

Sam laid his hazel eyes on you. God, how he wished he didn't have to confirm anything, to break your vision of world so abruptly, “Dean is right. Supernatural things are real. I know it sounds--”

“Unbelievable? Problematic? Scary?”

“Yeah, all of them.” Sam offered you a humorless smile, then holding your hand the way he used to when you were nervous about an exam, “But I wouldn't lie to you, cupcake.”

The silence was broken by Layla opening a bottle of Whiskey, pouring them for the three people in the room besides herself. You rolled your eyes at your best friend, while Sam wore a tiny smile and Dean was astonished.

Noticing the eyes glued, the latina just shrugged “What? If you are gonna tell me that Dracula is real and you are a sort of Buffy's apprentice, then we will need some alcohol.”

“Why did you call?” Sammy asked, his brows knotted together, mouth slight open as he waited for your response. “You didn't know what I did. And he wasn't my professor at Stanford. Then why did you call, (Y/N)?”

You could make up a hundred excuses. Lie and say he was the one friend besides Layla that you had somehow a way to get to. Appeal to the excuse of 'I felt something weird about the death and you said I should call if I ever had a problem of any kind'. But for as much as you felt horrible for using a death as a pretext for calling him, that was partially the truth. You already had put yourself into a mess of monsters and a drained heart, it couldn't be scarier than being honest to Sam and to yourself.

At least, you hoped so. But your heart was rushing like when you saw Jorge's body. Jesus, when did love become so morbid?

You took a deep breath, oxygen barely achieving your lungs, and then started to talk.

“I wanted to call you the minute that you left, Sam. I almost did a million times.” You answered, looking down at the bottle of a sort of plant that he was putting in a dark green bag. “I thought about what you could be doing, what was so important that you couldn't send me a message. But you just didn't want to call, I guess.”

“I wanted to call, of course I did.” You scoffed at his statement, looking up to match his eyes, “(Y/N), I'm serious.”

“You didn't even come to Jess' funeral, Sam. Layla said that maybe you needed to leave to clear your mind, that was too much to deal with. But I was so worried, and sad and confused and I wanted to talk to you because you would understand, you always did. About anything. And I wanted to give you some sort of comfort, but--” You lifted your hands and shrugged your shoulder, a broken chuckle leaving your body. “But you weren't here.”

“You stopped leaving messages after two weeks. Calling was gone when it made a moth.” You sniffed. Sam's lips curved into a pure, cautelous grin. God, he was always so sweet. “The emails took two months.”

“You were never good with dates. I gave you a calendar in your freshman week.” Your teeth met your lower lip. He didn't answer, only nodding at your affirmation, omitting the fact that he still had the calendar between latin books and pieces of newspapers, “Yet, you remember all of it.”

Sam leaned forward, holding your hand with all the delicacy you would expect from a sculptor. It had been too long since he hugged you, and his touch made all your skin tickle with warmth. “I missed you too, (Y/N). I thought about you all those years.”

“So, Cupcake?”

"Let's focus on the case, Dean."

“Then you can go back and eat your cupcake?” He remarked with a grin. His brother just huffed, pointing the flashlight through the trees, “So, Layla…”

Sam rolled his eyes, like he usually did when Dean started being too Dean for his liking, “Dean. The case.”

Before he could make another teaseful comment, a roar invaded their audition. The hunters gave each other a quick glance before heading towards the direction of the noise.

Shaking the salt and rosemary mixture in his hands, Dean smirked, “That's it. Time to shine, cupcake.”

“I have to admit. Being patched up by a doctor is better than by Dean.”

A surprised, half relieved laughter came out your body as you finished another stitch on Sam's arm. That boy was unbelievable; openly talking and making jokes about his brother, who was also being patched up by your best friend in company of a bottle of whiskey, while he spoke about Layla's name being a rock song. You were working on a large wound on his shoulder-- which you were sure that was full of dirt from the forest.

Medicine student, but I'll take that complement.” You winked at him, gaining a soft grin from Sammy, “I was expecting more blo-- Why are you smiling? I'm touching a recent wound. It doesn't look dangerous, but I'm sure it is supposed to hurt. A lot.”

Sam's answer came out easily, the bare, vulnerable truth: “I'm happy you are here.”

You looked at him, his hair longer than before, but the soft simper remained on his face. You bit your lip to hold a giggle; her heart dared to hope. What he expected when he said things like this? A quiet contentment spread through his expression while he watched your reaction.

“You should have come home sooner.”

His mouth formed a line, “I don't have a home, (Y/N). It's just Dean, me and the road now.”

“No, Sam.” Shaking your head lightly, you intertwined your fingers with his. His life was dangerous, you couldn't afford the luxury of waiting even more to share what you had finally admitted to yourself in the moment he walked through the door. It didn't seem like the easiest, simpler situation. But the only hard thing you couldn’t go through was to be away from Sam Winchester. He lingered on you for years, you were done letting him run away. It was time to hold his hand and walk together. “You should've come home sooner. To me.”

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talkfantasytome · 3 years

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Going to delete ask posts that directly linked other people's posts, based on this feedback and suggestion (which I thoroughly appreciate!), as I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone or directly tell a specific person they're wrong. I'll repost the general content, with a summary of what was asked, starting with this post.

Anon Ask: Some people are saying that SJM has confirmed Vassien by saying that she'd like to do retellings of firebird legends, swan lake, and Vasilisa the Beautiful, using some shots of her comments. What are your thoughts on this? And the time on facebook that Sarah said E\ain and Lucien have a lot of "tension, growth, and healing to be found (together)".

The most important thing to consider here is timeline. Both of the twitter shown were made in April of 2015. The first one is, honestly, fairly irrelevant. First of all, she's just saying fairy tales she might like to retell. And, for the record, she has also said she'd like to do a retelling of The Little Mermaid, yet often people disregard that as an argument for Gwynriel. So, either her comments on what she'd like to do a retelling of matter, or they don't.

And, if they're saying that those comments are foreshadowing a Vassa + Lucien book, then clearly The Little Mermaid comments are foreshadowing a Gwynriel book. And then...where's E\ain's?

E\ain is getting a book, so which fairy tale gets the short straw?

Or, maybe, the story won't be exactly like the fairy tale.

I do think that both of those comments are important, but Sarah said she wants to do a retelling.

That could literally mean anything. All that tells us is that she will take themes and ideas from the story. I'm not saying Vassa won't be important in a later book, but Sarah can retell the story any way. She could have Vassa betray E\ain, get Koschei to transfer the curse over to the middle Archeron, and now E\ain is the swan on the lake (cause, come on, E\ain's def. a bit swan-like), and Lucien has to rescue her. Or, maybe Jurian is the one that rescues Vassa while Lucien and E\ain deal with Koschei?

There are so many options in a retelling that to say SJM telling us she wants to do a retelling of these stories is a clear sign that Vassa + Lucien are endgame is, honestly, not a very critical analysis.

I'm going to address this tweet next:

This twitter exchange happed April 30, 2015. ACOMAF was published in May of 2016. This post can not be used as foreshadowing of Vassa + Lucien, because it happened before we found out E\ain and Lucien are mates. That "at some point further down the road" literally means "any time after book 1".

People keep using this tweet and presenting it as if Sarah's response came recently. They're spreading misinformation - it may not be purposeful, they may not have seen or noticed the date, but this twitter exchange can't be used as proof that Lucien's person has to be someone other than E\ain, because when it was made we did not know about the Lucien and E\ain possibility.

That doesn't mean it definitely is talking about E\ain, but my point is that this is not proof of Vassa + Lucien, of someone else + Lucien, because of when it was posted.

As for other comments on retellings Sarah would like to do - it's the same argument as the first one. Sarah said she wants to do a retelling of the firebird and swan like. We all know this. It's not new information. People who are saying Vassa + Lucien won't happen aren't ignorant of this fact. We're well aware, and we're also well aware of every other thing Sarah has said, mentioned, foreshadowed, and we're tying it all together. Focusing solely on stories Sarah has mentioned she'd like to retell - not confirmed she will retell - and ignoring everything else doesn't provide a solid analysis. You have to weave how those stories would fit into the grander scheme, and look at the other surrounding factors as well.

And, again, we need to remember that Sarah can do whatever the hell she wants in terms of the story and how she chooses to retell a fairy tale. I mean, how often is Little Red Riding Hood turned into a werewolf story? And sometimes even Red is the wolf?

Writers use fairy tales as a base, a foundation, but then they make it their own. No writer is going to tell the fairy tale exactly how it first was. They're going to adjust it...a lot...to make it their own story.

I'd also like to point out that both times she mentions Vasilisa, she says "Vasilisa the Beautiful". The first time she also said 'the Brave', but the second, solely 'Beautiful'. Vassa is beautiful, of course, but one of E\ain's defining characteristics is her beauty. Even in ACOSF it was again mentioned, discussed, about how her beauty made others hate her.

Could Vassa be Vasilisa...of course. However, I think people are a bit blinded by the similarities in names. Remember, Vasilisa the Beautiful wasn't the firebird - those are different stories. And, honestly, after doing a bit of research into the tale, I'm starting to get more and more sure of the thought that the character who would portray Vasilisa is E\ain.

I think I'm going to do a post on it...

In the later comment on retellings she'd like to do - which we know came after the first as the first came out in August 2015 and that story she's telling was given after the second set of books was confirmed - I also find it interesting that she said Vasilisa the Beautiful (specifically) and Swan Lake, subbing out the firebird.

Why would she do that? Perhaps because she's already brought in the firebird pieces she planned to bring in. We already know that retelling, and how it's come to play. Vassa is a firebird by the curse.

I'm not saying it couldn't end in a Swan Lake thing, as that is what the curse reminds me of. But, personally, I think the fact that she's saying Swan Lake now is also symbolic of something more, possibly another character getting trapped by Koschei.

As for the other piece you asked about, I don't have much to say about it, because it feels like the closest we'll come to an elucien confirmation.

That was also posted a while ago, back when ACOMAF came out. So, it's not like this is recent information Sarah is providing us. However, we know that Sarah can sometimes end up choosing endgame based on gut and things that just hit her. Cassian and Nesta - literally didn't know about them until she wrote them on the same page and was like "oh shit". So Sarah saying that she and Lucien didn't see E\ain coming...I'm sorry, but that feels almost more telling than even the next part of the sentence - where she says they have growing and healing to do together.

That's so huge. And we haven't seen that yet. We've only really seen the tension.

Sarah said this back when ACOMAF came out. And it was around writing or publishing ACOWAR that she got the okay for the second set of books (I think?). Which means she was likely thinking about the longer-term stories before that. Which would explain why we didn't get that growth and healing in ACOWAR.

Instead, she left them in a spot where it seemed like a possibility, and then for the later books has just added more tension. But that journey is still there. She's had it planned for so long. And yes, maybe she could change her mind, but we only know of two cases where she did just that:

Az and Mor

Nesta and Lucien

For Az and Mor it was because she decided to make Mor bisexual and unable to be in an emotional relationship with a male. This was due to complaints over diversity. It's the closest Sarah's probably come to 'fanservice' - except, admittedly, this is so not fanservice. Fanservice is doing something like, say, having Voldemort and Bellatrix have a secret love child despite the fact that Voldy never once came off as having any form of romantic or sexual feelings for her or anyone, ever. (Seriously, that guy was asexual and that is a hill I'll die on.)

Adjusting a character due to legitimate complaints and concerns on diversity, not just fanservice. It's more a full on social service, really, to try and provide that representation better. Yes, it wasn't done in the best way, but she did make an attempt.

The second one - Nesta and Lucien. That was her general plan, until she put Nesta and Cassian on page together. Then it all went out the window. Just like all of Nesta's thoughts when she saw Cassian. Just like Cassian's entire brain when he saw Nesta. 👀

And we get it, because we see it too.

So, while Sarah could have changed her mind about E\ain and Lucien, the only reasons she'd do that don't yet apply. She's already made a change for the diversity complaints, and I don't see her doing that with these two. As for finding out they actually belong with someone else when she sees them on page - well, that hasn't happened yet. She made the E\ain + Lucien decision after we see E\ain and Azriel interact, so clearly Az is not that for E\ain. And we've seen Lucien and Vassa on page together. There's nothing there except Lucien being pained about her curse - which, yeah, she's his friend. How often is one IC member described as looking pained for another? Or thinks about how much it hurt them to see their friend hurt?

But we know what it looks like when the chemistry is so undeniable it will adjust Sarah's plans. And if you're not sure - go back and read all the Nessian scenes in ACOMAF. And then see the one scene where Lucien and Vassa are on page together - I think you'll find there's another male there that, with Vassa, rings closer to the Nessian home.

There was no on page chemistry between Vassa and Lucien, and certainly not enough to change Sarah's mind. Which would also mean E\ain already wasn't meant for Az, which is likely why no one arguing for Vassa + Lucien seems to care as much about that, because most people who ship them are already dead set on E\ain + Azriel.

So, there you have it, my point of view/rant on those two pieces. But it's always important to look at the context of a post, and especially the "source material" people use to provide proof. It's why I tend to stick to the text where I can, and only use SJM statements that don't have an expiration date to their importance. SJM saying something about how she loves happily ever afters, for example, no expiration date. SJM telling us in 2015 that there is someone special for Lucien down the road - an expiration date after the first sign of a possible love interest for Lucien. Once E\ain was declared to be his mate, that statement became irrelevant, because regardless of whether it will be E\ain or not, you can no longer state that it's clearly hinting at someone else, since E\ain is a love interest for Lucien.

#ask box #acotar #acotar thoughts #acotar theory #elucien #antielriel #anti elriel #anti vassien #elain archeron #elain and lucien #elain x lucien #lucien vanserra #gwynriel

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vidalinav · 3 years

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Firstly, no one wants a therapy book. These are books about Faeries. So no one is sitting wanting to read about withdrawals, puking, crying and screaming. Maybe a very SMALL contingent of readers. Not the majority. Nesta falling down the stairs, Nesta refusing to train, Nesta giving attitude to Cassian, that's it. That's the withdrawals. Since she is not a full blown alcoholic or a sex addict, there wouldn't be massive withdrawals. She is not Amy Winehouse.

Secondly, the intervention is done exactly for that reason--so she doesn't turn into Amy Winehouse. It's not 'implied' that she is having potentially dangerous sex with people who could hurt her. It's a fact. She says it herself. It's not 'implied' that she drinks too much. She says it herself. It's observed. The concern isn't that she is doing those things--no one is looking for her to become a sweet, celibate virgin. The concern is that she is doing these things TOO much. That's how you become an addict.

People in power, on whom she depends decided to step in and put an end to it. That's how interventions work. Especially since she decided to be completely dependent on them financially. If she had a job, then yes, no one can tell her what to do. You make your own bed and decisions, and that's what she did.

The whole 'sisterly' involvement--she was the person who cut everyone out. She cut out Feyre, then Elain, Cassian, Amren. It was her decision. What are they going to do? Did Elain not try to get involved in her life? Did she not invite her to Solstice? Elain was the only person who gave her a gift. Was it Elain or Nesta who decided that they didn't the other? As I recall, Nesta didn't acknowledge Elain on the street. She refused to participate. So should the sisters just take it? Accept the bullshit and keep the checks coming? Should Feyre and Elain just sit back and watch Nesta spiral out of control until she does become an addict and/or gets raped? or hurt? Yes, there comes a time when you are just fed up and Elain, or Feyre, are not obligated to coddle Nesta and let get do whatever it is that she wants to do, and watch her hurt herself.

I am aware of your opinions and you will never agree and I know you'll still insist that the IC is horrible and the sisters don't care. But honestly, they saved Nesta so there is that.

I sometimes don't know whether I should just delete these, because someone always write a whole ass aggressive post in the anons when you know you could just post it yourself. But sometimes I get a lot of joy out of these-- I wish you put this much energy in analyzing the actual text but alas.

Anyway, let me read.

Point 1: this is not a therapy book. I agree S/JM should stop writing about trauma.

Point 2: The intervention is done for exactly that reason--I argue that you don't know the reason and neither do I, and nor do I feel that S/JM does. You can definitely argue about addiction and where it leads, but I can argue that the text doesn't support that she has one or one that warrants an intervention beyond offering a support system, which then I ask why the intervention is there at all, since I know very well that characters do not have autonomy and this was an author's choice. I question S/JM's narrative decisions and how they are framed in the novel which is why I cannot support specific claims about characters.

Point 3: I already talked about this in a reblog. So I'm going to dismiss this one.

Point 4: If the intention on behalf of the writer is to show that they care, then... I got to see scenes where they care. It can't be speculation. It has to be concrete. If the goal is to show realism, then you have to show realistic consequences of trauma, the dirt of it all, and then also the push and pull of healing which arguably is not in here. You can show people being annoyed by her trauma, that's realistic but it's not realistic for someone to jump into an intervention. You know realistically, as in of this world, you cannot force anyone to be in a program without their consent, and they can leave at any time. Of course there are certain instances where this is not true, but it takes years to get people the healing or help for addiction/trauma that they need and if people don't want to heal well you can't do nothing about it. That's realistic.

If you are arguing that Nesta is rolling down a steep hill to nowheresville as it seems then... by all means it probably should take more than giving a gift at solstice, which doesn't make Elain nor Feyre look good that this is the height of trying. To go straight to intervention without convincing evidence that it's needed nor that they tried literally anything else is my point. So if the goal was to make the foundation for a sisterly relationship, I am not convinced. If the goal was to show they care, I am certainly not convinced.

The objective of any book is to convince the reader of something. If you did not convince a bulk of the readership, whether that be anti-Nesta's who are not quelled or pro-Nesta's who are not satisfied, then the writer did not convince well enough. Which is what I am saying specifically about the benevolence of the IC. That claim lacks contextual evidence. It is not about whether I like them or not. Who cares about that? I like interesting characters, I am arguing that if the author herself wanted me to believe they were "good" or morally righteous, she did not provide that basis. Actually she gave me a lot of evidence that they aren't. Which is fine, if it amounts to something. If doesn't then, S/JM wrote an unconvincing book.

Point 5: The book says that Nesta saved the IC, literally. The IC did not save Nesta, neither literally nor emotionally. That would mean they were directly involved or... empathetic and supportive, which I already said I'm not convinced and why that is. What saved Nesta and what made the majority of the book was the House, her friends, a goal, the Mother, and a romantic relationship. A support system. I can argue that. Anyone can argue that. For one, because the IC is notably absent for most of the book and when they're there they don't look great. Then you have to think why did S/JM make a relationship that is supportive and have that parallel the presence/absence of the IC who is blatantly not? Doesn't make them look great again. Interesting yes they are, but not benevolent.

Look, I'm assuming the point of sending me an anon is because you don't agree and you don't know what to do with that, but you also don't want to reblog and you want to make sure I see this post, because I probably wouldn't. It is totally within your right to argue. I love discussions even with people who do not agree with me. But I want to discuss things. So, give me contextual evidence. Give me lines, give me connections. Connect them dots. Once you have done this then hit me up and we'll discuss. Right now your argument is based on opinion alone. You think this. You think that. Purely speculative. It's not based on anything and therefore can't be argued well. For lack of a better way to say this, I don't care about your opinion. Opinions are not fact. They don't mean anything, they're as good as the people behind them. I want to discuss the text and how it works, and what it does, and how it's supported. The consequences of certain narrative decisions.

So, if you think the IC is supportive and justified and want to tell me specifically, show me how they are--by the book, how scenes are framed, what actions characters take along the path to the end. Not by what you know interventions are or because the idea of mental health/substance abuse issues is generally hard to deal with--that's not good enough. You cannot argue the text without using the text either in quote or paraphrasing or giving examples especially on a post where I am talking about the evidence and the lack of it. You said I wouldn't change my mind, you don't know that. I can certainly see something from your pov, but you have to do more than this.

You chose to leave an anon, so you either do the homework or you don't leave an anon with me.

#anti sjm #I do like when people leave me these interestingly enough #I just want more substance #give me something to comment on #I don't want to just reiterate what I have already said #if you don't agree I don't care #that literally does not bother me #but then you don't have to tell me about it either #that's a little childish

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patchun · 3 years

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WBaWC Deep Dive: Part 1/2

Lots of philosophical ideas are presented and explored in this game. In this post I aim to point them out. ZUN stated this in his SCooW interview:

"There isn't any sort of obvious theme to the story this time. It's mainly just an introduction of "there's a world like this out there". There's a variety of things going into that world, particularly satire, but if you ask what the work wants to show you, there isn't much in particular. "Here's this world called the Animal Realm, and here's these various elements spread throughout it."

And after doing a ton of digging... yeah, I think he's right. I was kind of hoping there would be something unintentional, but because the perspectives of the human and beast spirits aren't really shown, and only the spirits of their rulers, taking an actual message away from this game is very difficult. That said, I feel with this game more than any other, it's very easy to identify why certain decisions were made. Why is the first boss a stillborn child? Isn't that pretty random? No, let's look into it.

The story this time is quite complicated, so you may not be able to see the whole picture if you just play as one character. To be fair, you may not be able to do so even if you clear them all. (lol)

This will obviously be based on my own interpretation. Long post ahead.

Eika Ebisu. The soul of a stillborn child, and a master of stacking stones. Importantly:

She and the rest of the stillborn child spirits at Sai no Kawara stack stones as work every day. They stack stones as work, in Shinto mythology this is as repentance - because they brought sorrow to their parents by dying too early. Kind of morbidly amusing, I guess, but ZUN makes it a point to say this:

She's also a god of fortune who's able to change simple, pointless work into something that's enjoyable and worth doing, and who can make the best out of any bad situation.

Her ever-cheery demeanor, bright intellect, and penchant for constantly holding exciting new events like stone-stacking contests makes her the Sai no Kawara's resident idol, beloved by all the children's spirits there.

With the spirits of stillborns, yes. I feel like it's more hopeful to portray them as having fun in the afterlife, you know?

Being a god of fortune, Eika is able to make stone stacking FUN. The simple labor of stacking stones for these kids is no longer labor for repentance, but a game, thanks to her (NOTE: labor.) For that reason she is the resident "idol". She is probably the most healthy idol in the game, according to the ideology ZUN seems to be presenting, but we'll get into that later. There's more to this character.

In philosophical discussions of animal rights, when we ask "what is it that makes humans worthy of moral rights", we try to find a criteria. Something that humans have that nothing else does. That criteria then needs to be defended as being a good reason for humans to have moral rights. Used to, sentience was the argument made for human uniqueness. Humans are sentient and conscious, while animals are, in Descartes' scummy terms (sorry, I hate Descartes) "mere automata". We worked on this assumption from that idiot for years, but recently it has been scientifically proven that animals, at LEAST mammals, birds, crustaceans, cephalopods, and reptiles, are sentient, and it is summarized in a document called the Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness.

So this proves a problem for those who believe animals aren't worthy of moral rights. So then, what else do humans have that animals don't? Why are we special in deserving moral rights? Well, that would be our intelligence, right! Even the smartest animals are only about as smart as a five year old (this is not actually true but let's just pretend it is, they're smarter). But then, if intelligence is the criteria for moral rights, then what exactly is the system here? Does that mean that children are less worthy of moral rights than adults because they aren't as intelligent? Does this mean that people who mentally disabled and not viewed as "intelligent" by parts of the populace should be less deserving of moral treatment?

This has been a veryyy simplified summary of the discussion, but here's where it gets even more interesting. You see, here, two controversial ethical topics meet - abortion and animal rights. Because if you want to argue that sentience OR intelligence are the criteria for moral rights, then in either case, early fetuses absolutely do not have moral rights! This is a problem for anti-abortion arguers, which is a funny intersection in my opinion. I bring this up because, of course, while Eika is not an aborted fetus as far as I know, she is still a fetus. She is quite out of place in a game where the rest of the opponents up to Keiki are animal spirits, right? But no, the fetus and children in general actually have a very philosophically interesting place in animal rights discussions, because oftentimes to argue that animals are not deserving of moral rights you also have to take away the moral rights of children. In case this whole thing has left you confused, the side I took was that sentience IS the criteria for moral rights, meaning both animals and children have moral rights, while fetuses don't.

Now, what does Eika tell us about this? Well, nothing. Just that ZUN seems to have thought about it, really. But there are two keywords that apply broadly to WBaWC as a whole when talking about Eika:

Labor

Moral value

So let's continue.

Urumi Ushizaki. Seeing a farm animal after a stillborn child really set off some alarms. Her name translates to "moist beauty". Not sure I needed to know that, but I came across it in my research so now you do too.

She carries a stone carving of a baby. Once she gives the baby to someone to hold, she makes it heavier and submerges them in the river. She was an awe-inspiring youkai who took advantage of humans' kindness. However, since she's forbidden to attack humans in Gensokyo, she currently runs a fishery at the Sanzu River.

If one tries to cross the river without a shinigami's permission, they'll be attacked by creatures like extinct giant fish and plesiosaurs. Nowadays, she spends her time domesticating those giant fish, and makes a living wage by sometimes selling them in Gensokyo.

A baby then a cow with a baby. Urumi is the "Parental Guardian of Ancient Fish". She apparently domesticates them and makes a living wage (interesting terminology?) sometimes selling them to Gensokyo. But, it's implied that as a fisher, she actually cares about these fish. In Reimu (Wolf)'s story:

Reimu: I'm fine, thanks. If it's just fish I'll have to deal with, I'll filet 'em no problem.

Urumi: That so? Fine by me, then. I won't hold back when I turn you into food for my beloved ancient fish!

When Reimu threatens her fish, Urumi gets defensive. She refers to her fish as "beloved" and suggests valuing them over the protagonist, even though she isn't supposed to attack humans. In the SCooW interview, ZUN is asked, more or less, what's up with the fish in the Sanzu river? He responds:

It's full of fish that died, or went extinct. They can't go to Hell or the Netherworld after they die, you see... since fish and insects are in a bit of a separate category, the way I think about it.

So, remember that distinction we made earlier when talking about Ebisu? How the animals that have been proven to be sentient are mammals, birds, reptiles (cephalopods, crustaceans)? That excludes fish and insects, and here, ZUN makes that distinction as well. Fish sentience is still pretty up in the air at the moment. But that said, if there's any unintentional message in WBaWC, I suppose it would be here.

The fact that Urumi is able to domesticate these ancient fish in the first place implies a certain degree of sentience, and moreso, even without that, Urumi pretty clearly ascribes moral value to her fish in Reimu (Wolf)! In almost all routes, she defends her fish and suggests she'll feed the protagonist to them, but Reimu(Wolf) makes it the most clear that she actually cares about them. Which, when you think about it, of course you'll care about the things you domesticate.

Also Urumi's design is so cool and yet no one draws her anymore. Justice for Moist Beauty. There is more to be said about the livestock theme of this character, but we'll get back to that when we talk about Yachie's profile.

Kuwaka Niwatari.

Her true identity is that of Niwatarijin, the god of wild chickens from before they were domesticated. People tend to think of chickens as being sort of weak and cowardly, but she's a polite and just god who values equality and altruism above all. She's quietly considering what she can do to help raise the status of chickens, who've been reduced to a food source for humans.

If you've been following along so far, you probably understand already where this is going. A few words may stand out here. Domestication, equality and altruism above all, status, and "food source for humans."

Kutaka is probably the blatantly nicest character in WBaWC, who tests you because she's worried that if you go further, you'll be hurt (after winning, of course, the protagonists insult her). There's not just a ton to say about Kutaka's character itself, but there is this tidbit in ZUN's interview:

Chickens don't usually have a very positive image attached to them. Calling someone a "chicken" certainly doesn't make them sound strong either, right? And the only other common impression of them is as food, so I tried to give her a dignified feeling.

So, ZUN has deliberately designed Kutaka to be dignified, noted that she is a character who values equality and altruism, and included that one of her motivations is to raise the status of chickens who have been "reduced to a food source for humans." What's fascinating is that by creating Kutaka this way, he has given us a message - ZUN believes, to a degree, that Kutaka's motivation is a just one. Kutaka is intended TO raise the status of chickens. So let me say this. To those of you who made fucking chicken wing jokes after this character was revealed:

STOP. FUCK YOU. STOP.

If you'd like to repent, you can start by stacking stones. Trust me, it's fun!

Now, all of this is cool, but part 2 is where it's going to get interesting - when we finally get to Yachie's profile, the description of the "Animal Realm" of Hell. I'm excited, but I need to make dinner. Part 2 coming soon.

#touhou #th17 #wily beast and weakest creature #eika ebisu #urumi ushizaki #kuwaka niwatari #philosophy #animal ethics #reblogs appreciated greatly #patchunslibrary

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jackalgirl · 3 years

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Telling vs. Showing

I had posted an excerpt from the Turkey City Lexicon a while back, about "Telling Not Showing", which is one of those things that writers are recommended not to do.

Violates the cardinal rule of good writing. The reader should be allowed to react, not be instructed in how to react. Carefully observed details render authorial value judgments unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling us "she had a bad childhood, an unhappy childhood," specific incidents--involving, say, a locked closet and two jars of honey--should be shown.

I was thinking about this the other night -- and I stress that it came to me by itself, please please don't anyone think I'm calling you out on this, because I am not -- and thought it might be fun* to provide an example. Stick around (under the cut) if you're interested.

* I lie. Aethel and Felix told me to write this, and woke me up early to do so. Fine. I'm done, you two, may I please go get some more coffee? Thank you.

Telling

Felix found Aethel in the galley, reading one of Max’s books. He made a face, wondering why she was reading it. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her why — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so he sat down and asked anyway. She looked, he thought, a little relieved to be interrupted, which did not really surprise him. She was very much willing to tell him about it, and in fact confirmed his suspicion that she found the text…how did she put it? Tedious. But she was reading it to better understand the way the people in the Order think, so she was determined to read it anyway. Good luck with that, he thought, and got himself something to eat out of the fridge.

versus Showing

Felix found Aethel in the galley, a book open before her on the common table and a line between her eyebrows. It must be one of Max’s books, he thought. He sat down and she looked up. Perhaps he was imagining it, but it appeared to him that she had a look of relief on her face. “Watcha readin’, Aethel?” He asked her. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her a question like this — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so in this particular moment, he hadn’t hesitated. “One of the vicar’s books on Scientism,” she said, confirming his guess. He made a face. “Ugh. Why? You’re always arguing with him about it.” And driving him nuts. Another point in her favor, actually. “It’s important to him,” she said. “And what’s more, it’s important to this colony. It would be foolish for me to dismiss it. I want to understand it better.” Felix gestured at the book. “Is that helping?” Aethel let out a sigh. “Alas, no. It is tedious.” “That’s why I like serial books,” Felix grinned. He tilted his head. “Why is it, ah, tedious, though?” “The author uses words like a collector,” she said. “But not like an artist.” Felix tilted his head and his expression must have told her he didn’t get it — I don’t get it — because she leaned back and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you remember the Sprat Fancy party in Byzantium?” She asked. Felix felt his face screw up again. “It was awful.” At first, Byzantium had impressed him. It was so clean! But eventually he realized it was as full of trash as the rest of the Colony — just higher-class trash, is all. Plus, the people there were always looking down on him — worse than the crew of the Groundbreaker, if that was possible. Or worse than the crew had been, before I helped Aethel fix the heat. Now they liked him well enough. But in Byzantium, nothing the crew had done had changed the Byzantines’ attitudes towards them. Their disdain is baked in, Aethel had said at the time. And speaking of baking, Aethel said, “do you remember the food?” “Ugh. Do I ever. The prettiest food you ever saw. Tasted like shit, though.” “What would those people have thought of a Boarst Pocket?” Aethel asked. “Ha!” Felix drummed the table with his hands in amusement. “They’d hold up their noses, for sure. Something that plain and simple?” “And yet, it is delicious?” “Yes,” Felix spoke with the conviction of a dedicated cultist. Aethel nodded. She tapped the pages in front of her. “This book is like the food in Byzantium. It is concerned about its appearance, and about all the different colors it can show you — it is very pretty. But it tastes like shit.” “So why are you eating it?” Felix asked, then remembered she’d answered him earlier. “Because you want to understand the system,” he said. She nodded. “I think of it as reconnaissance,” she said. “At some point, I’m going to have to deal with Order people who are higher ranked than Max. I need to understand what they think — or at least, what they’re telling people they think, which may not be the same.” “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they all turned out to be a pack of hypocrites,” Felix said. “I’ll bet it’s all a show for power.” “Perhaps it’s not all a show for power,” Aethel suggested. But then she relented. “But yes, I tend to think that in the end, that’s the Order’s primary goal.” All that talk about Boarst Pockets made him want one, so he got up and got one out of the fridge. “Would you like one, boss?” He said, waggling the packet, knowing her answer in advance: “No thank you, Felix,” she said politely. He chuckled to himself. I don’t get how she can like spratwurst and not like boarst. Some things just defied understanding. I hope she has better luck with that book.

I liked writing this, because it gave me a little epiphany for another scene (the "Sprat Fancy" party) and an opportunity to put Sprat Fancy magazine into the actual fic, as opposed to it remaining as something of a joke.

[ Image description: cover of "Sprat Fancy", showing an adorable pink-splotched, white sprat from above, looking up at the camera with her gorgeous black eyes. Text reads: "Sprat Fancy Magazine - your guide to Halcyon's Fancy Sprats" and "Volume 22, Issue 8, 2 bits" with article leads: "Sacred Beasts: The Role of Sprats in the Faith", "Refuge: Keeping your precious sprat safe from marauders (and hungry neighbors)", "Ooo La La! Jolicoeur Haberdashery releases an all new line of fancy sprat fashion! Get a sneak peak of the latest on the Byzantine spratwalk!", "Place Your Bets: Your comprehensive guide to this season's All-Colony Fancy Spratstravanaza - who's in? Who's out? You may just be surprised by this year's contenders!" and a corner flag: "Ask Doctor Sprat". The cover image is captioned: "'Bakonu' by Captain Pearl Jenkins. With this large beauty take 'Best in Show' from Lord Reginald Kim III?" End ID. ]

Sometimes, having to write stuff out like this (especially between major scenes) is really daunting, because it generally doesn't come to me all at once like the major scenes do. I know, right from the get-go, that this is going to be a time-consuming process (I call it "sausage making"), and it's scary when I don't immediately see a clear way forward or understand how it will turn out. But I find that once I get going, the characters are happy to cooperate. And it's always worthwhile, because most of the time, I get some kind of revelation or epiphany (as above) that makes the story better, or maybe it's just neat and makes me giggle. But that's reason enough.

This is part of the pros of showing versus telling, in addition to giving the reader more to discover, understand, and react to on their own (rather than simply telling them how to react, which is what you want to avoid). The obvious con is that it takes so much longer. I would think that telling would be useful in contexts where you just don't have the column space, or are limited in the number of words you can provide. And I think it could also be useful -- used judiciously -- if you're deliberately trying to hide something from the reader.

But if you've been telling instead of showing because the amount of work you can see in front of you daunts you (or you just can't envision how it's going to go), I can only say: give it a try. You'll be surprised at what the characters are just waiting to tell you, if you only give them the chance.

#writing #the outer worlds #the journeyman #fanfic #telling not showing #showing not telling #also bathos #turkey city lexicon

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grayyxv · 4 years

Text

An Analysis of Portgas D. Ace

Alright I decided to do this since people actually enjoyed the analysis i did for Kid. Also, i find myself relating to him more and more recently. So, I thought: why not do an analysis of him?

Ace is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters in all of one piece so this might segway to become a "Why is Ace such a good character?" post.

Before I begin, just a disclaimer; I am aware that not everyone will agree with what I say so just make sure you understand that this is just my opinion. im just a psychology student so im just using whatever crap i learnt into analyzing this.

* This post might contain spoilers *

Here we go.

I think we can all agree that Ace is definitely one of the most loved characters in one piece. He has a shit ton of fans so i dont even NEED to convince you on why you should like him. But of course, there are fans that like him only because of his appearance or because of his abilities. So, id like to offer a different perspective- the same goes with my Kid post. Im just here to kind of breakdown the reasons why Ace is such an amazing character such that we can all appreciate him even more.

1. Background

Let us take a look at his background shall we? I think this is a very important part of Ace's character as all his choices and decisions stems from how he was raised during his childhood.

In the recent chapters of one piece, they showed a panel of Roger saying how he wanted a son. But we all know how that went. He was dead so he couldnt take care of Ace. Instead, taking care of Ace became Garp's responsibility, then it shifted to Dadan's responsibility.

Dadan was Ace' primary caretaker. While she provided and place for him to stay & food to eat, she isn't really shown spending time with him. She cared for him, that's for sure. But did she meet his emotional needs? I dont think so. Spending time with a chuld is very importsnt for their growth. But Dadan did not do that. It's evident that Ace displays the insecure-avoidant attachment style as he is unconcerned about his caregiver. This led him to develop trust issues as he got a bit older.

Another reason that could explain his behaviour in his childhood is that no one tried to address the relationship between him and Gol D. Roger. No one took time to acknowledge Ace's feelings about Roger. Everyone around him had said that he was an amazing man, but no one understood Ace when he said that Roger wasn't as great of a father. This led him to resent Roger even more- as well as the people who praised him.

Sabo's 'death' really affected Ace. Sabo was the first person who accepted Ace and I guess Ace must've grieved over him. (I mean, he does have a tattoo in memory of Sabo) But, Sabo was the reason why Ace decided to become stronger. So that he could fight for whoever he cared about.

2. Love

This is arguably the main theme in Ace's character.

His whole character arc revolves around acceptance and his goal in life was simply to find someone that could love him for who he was- not because he was the son of Roger. As explained above, he had attachment issues as he wasn't really shown any love as a kid. The firet person to accept him was Sabo then eventually, Luffy. It's unclear how Sabo and Ace met but, Sabo was definitely the first person to help Ace open up his heart. This is purely hypothetical but I think Ace saw similarities between himself and Sabo which eventually led them to becoming friends. On the other hand, he took a long time before he accepted Luffy. Luffy was an interesting child because he was so persistent in getting Ace's attention and acceptance. I'm sure Ace must have felt confused as to why someone would try so hard to even be accepted by him. Was it because he was Roger's son? Or did Luffy really want to befriend Ace because of who he was? When they became sworn brothers, it had meant that Ace was going to sacrifice everything for Sabo and Luffy. They followed different paths but Ace never stopped caring for them.

Moving on to the point where he first joined the Whiteheard pirates, this is when he experienced what it was like to have a family. Over time, they taught him about how a family should be like. They showed him unconditional love and sheltered him from those who would try to harm him. In return, he does the same for them. This was when Ace had found his purpose. His purpose was to protect those he cared about and those who cared about him.

3. Marineford

This is where Ace's character really was at its peak. We see that everything that we have understood about Ace makes sense as they are reflected in his actions. Him going after Blackbeard after he killed Thatch, then getting captured. But, this is where we learn that Ace is still struggling with his issues. He doesn't want to be saved because there's a part of him that thinks that no one cares about him. He thinks that nobody would bother risking their lives for him so, he didn't ask for any help as he didn't want to ne disappointed when no one came. At the same time, part of him clung on to that hope that he could be saved. That maybe just one person would come and rescue him.

As an audience, his conflicting emotions really impacted me because his feelings are all too real. What do i mean? This is kind of personal but, if you have ever struggled with mental illness you'll understand Ace's feelings. I've dealt with depression all my life and I could really relate to his feelings. Sometimes I wonder if I'm worth the effort, if there is any point in me living. Does anyone really care about me? Even if you don't have a mental health condition, surely you must have had times where you were in despair. That is when you wonder to yourself if there is any point in clinging onto hope. If there is anyonr that could save you from this situation. I think this side of Ace's character is so well written because it reflects reality.

The most heartbreaking scene is when Ace protects Luffy from Akainu. Some people argue that Ace's death was his own fault as he shouldn't have gotten agitated when Akainu insulted Whitebeard. But, you need to understand Whitebeard's relationship to Ace. To Ace, Whitebeard was the man that gave him everything a father would have. He was there for Ace physically and emotionally. He literally was the one who gave Ace the confidence and strength to fight for who he loves. So, I think that his actions and choices in that scene is perfectly valid. It fits his character.

Finally, Ace's death and his last words.

"Thank you for loving me."

This fucking broke my heart.

Everything about Ace's character is coming in full circle. His past, his choices, everything had been leading to this moment where he would die protecting the one he loved. He had finally achieved his goal in life- which was to find someone who could love him. He must've felt so fucking happy when he saw how so many people were willing to fight to save him. He finally attainted the happiness he had been searching for so, so long.

Then, he died.

This is going to segway a little but I really, really couldn't accept his death because he didn't deserve to die. Don't get me wrong, I do know how important his death is for the story and Luffy's character but I still can't accept that he couldn't live out the rest of his days happily. Also, the fact that he never got to see Sabo again just fucking breaks my heart because Sabo was the first person in his LIFE to accept him. (that is why i ship them lmao)

Anyways.

In summary, I think the reason why everyone loves Ace so much was because they could see themselves in his position. We can understand his conflicting feelings, his fears and worries because they are a reflection of reality. We desire for the same thing as he does: Love and acceptance. Which is why, we root for him. In times of despair, he clings on to hope- much like how we do in real life.

With that said, like how Ace deserves all the love in the world, you do too.

You deserve better.

TLDR; i love this man so, so much

#one piece #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace #sabo #asl #asl brothers #monkey d. luffy #luffy #whitebeard pirates

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