#writing is too exact. too pointed. too devised. too intentional.

[isekyaaa]

I’ve been reading Kono Oto Tomare as of late and am having a good time, but it’s getting me thinking about art and the way things of the sort are commonly portrayed in manga. I never understood the idea of emotion or life being portrayed through art and music. I’ve never once heard or seen anything and felt emotion coming through. That being said, I can appreciate a piece. I can see and feel the skill coming across. I can feel the artist’s style. I can see the mechanics. But I can’t see how the way a piece of music is played or the way art is drawn conveys a part of its creator.

I feel I can relate more to music. I can be moved by music. I can sense the mood. I can hear a muddy sound vs a clear one. I can understand style. But at the same time, I don’t think music played by human beings is better than synths. To me it’s not a matter of emotion, but of feel and technical skill. I feel anything can be recreated digitally to sound authentic.

It makes me wonder if I lack something. Am I too focused on technique to be able to feel and see emotion in a piece? Are my eyes and ears not trained enough to sense the intention of the creator? Do I lack the heart to be able to connect?

[bernardsbendystraws]

𝒘𝒉𝒐'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘

⚠︎  mdni, smut, PSYCHO!MATT, PSYCHO!READER, unprotected sex, overstimulation, dom!matt, dom!reader sex toys, and more…

⤷ Get to reading, sluts. No copying. Ask if you’d like to use this as ‘inspiration.’ Fuck off and fuck me, lets get horny!!! Proofread by @bbernard-03.

matt’s favorite toy, Rose

©bernardsbendystraws

A sick, demented plan. Matt had been calculating, waiting for this exact moment for the entire month. He was intent on making it a scary night filled with excitement and fear. Your boyfriend had nearly taken into account every single detail there was to consider. He was so close to having you at his mercy fully, he just hadn’t accounted for this.

You read him like a book. The second you saw him writing in his journal with a mischievous grin, you knew he was plotting. Although, you didn’t expect this. His plan was devised thoroughly, details about how he was gonna get you tied up and lured to the unfinished basement were listed neatly. It would’ve worked if he hadn’t been so suspicious about the journal and if he hadn’t tempted you by leaving it open on the bed. 

Letters and sentences connected as you read his outlandish desire to have you like his victim. Of course, you were always more than willing to try things. You had a safe word and you were never afraid to use it. So, you fell right into his plan. You played into his dark fantasy, trying to act shocked as he tied a rope around your wrists as you sat in the creaky wooden chair. 

“How’s that feel, sweetheart?” He holds the vibrator along your bare thigh. Only your underwear covered your dripping heat as the cool air made you conscious of how much slick was soaking into the fabric, nearly turning it transparent. 

It’s a struggle to cut through the thick rope with such a small pocket knife, and his teasing isn’t helping. He coos watching you squirm as he presses the toy to your clit through the thin fabric. There’s a haunting grin on his face as you bite down on the inside of your cheek. You let him feel the pride, you let him think you’re helpless. 

“What are you—” He’s completely in shock as you untangle your hands and grab a hold of his shoulders. 

In a swift motion, you’ve pinned him down to sit in the chair. He’s helpless. 

There is no time to react as you knot the rope around his own wrists, your nimble fingers remembering the directions you had followed in preparation for this moment. It was all a part of your plan. Your sick, twisted, and flawless plan. 

He lets out a broken cry as you steal the toy from him, pushing the vibrations along his leaking tip as he writhes in the squeaky chair. “I—-no, how—fuck!” The scream leaves his mouth as tears run down from his eyes. Intensity from the toy pushes him over the edge quickly, cum spilling from his throbbing cock as you barely let your hand even stroke him. 

“Awwww,” you coo, pulling the toy away and throwing it onto the floor. Matt leans into your hand as you cup the side of his tear-stained cheek. There’s a glare of anger pointed from his end at you, his eyes squinted with rage as you pull off your panties and straddle his lap. “Did I ruin your plans, baby? Makes you upset, huh?” Matt tries to look away from you, but you’re quick to roughly pinch his chin and direct his gaze back to your face. “If you can’t be good for me, you don’t get to cum. I’d start apologizing before it’s too late…” 

Your words are followed by a loud hiss as you sink his dick inside of you. The deep sigh of feeling so full leaves your lips as you place your hands onto his shoulders, beginning to bounce up and down and smiling sickly at his cries from overstimulation. 

The sticky walls clasping around his cock makes Matt’s mind run blank. He knows he’s angry, but he can barely even remember why. Your hands tugging into his hair makes him lose everything. No dignity or thoughts are spared to keep any part of his plan intact. 

“I—please, I…fuck,” he raps, his eyes squinted shut as fat tears drop and fall. There’s no self control or ego left as he starts muttering apologies under his breath while you let out dry laughs and moans. 

“Trying to trick me, huh? So mean, Matt. Can’t—my god—can’t believe you weren’t bein’ honest to me,” you breathe out, heaving for air as your chest starts to contract with knots and twists of pleasure and satisfaction. 

Matt’s eyelashes are soaked in wet tears, clumping together beautifully as he stares at you with hooded eyes. “I…–’m sorry. I'll...I'll be good---I, please—let me cum,” he whines. 

Selfishly, your body forces him to his limits as you scream out with a knot unraveling in the pit of your gut. The high leaves your ego inflated as you tug harder into his hair. “Mhm, c’mon, cum in me, pretty boy,” you purr. There’s no hesitation as Matt screeches out, filling you with ropes of cum and whimpering out apologies. “---’m sorry, fuck—so sorry,”

You pull off of him with a heaving sigh, pulling the vibrator back into a tight hold and pushing it back against his pulsating tip.

“Oh, baby,” you coo, watching Matt’s eyes furrow with horror. 

“---you’re gonna be sorry.”

[naoke666]

Explaining Iruma and Kirio's relationship

Hey there! In case you have been struggling to understand what exactly the relationship between these two characters is, I have decided to write down this helpful guide to dispel any confusion you might have. 

Before writing this essay, I have carefully consulted with the manga's author, Osamu Nishi herself, and therefore everything I describe here is absolutely true and canon. This guide is 100% objective and explains the exact author’s intent towards the relationship between them.

Hopefully you will find this post useful. Let's begin!

***

...Kirio was Iruma's first crush.

At the point in story where they meet, Iruma has just learned the joy of achieving a goal, thanks to Amelie. However, that initial goal was simply "ranking up", a goal suggested by someone else but not something devised by Iruma. Now that he has learned how fun overcoming challenges is, Iruma is perfectly ready to start learning about what kind of ambition he has. Cue Kirio!

This gentle-looking demon with a weird accent vaguely says something about improving the lives of weak ones and making the Netherworld a fairer place, and it strikes gold. Doing good things for others? Creating a solution for inequality? This stuff resonates with Iruma deeply. Since Iruma's destiny is to become a demon king it only makes sense that these ideals would appeal to him. He imagines a date with Kirio where they are making cool magical tech to help disadvantaged demons together and for the first time in his life experiences inspiration.

There is one more thing that makes Kirio stand out in Iruma's eyes. Although he has already spent a bit of time in the Netherworld and is slowly getting used to it, Iruma is still a little uncomfortable with many of its customs. The folks here are all fun, but they are also a little too intense in their own ways. And that makes sense - they are demons after all. Something like kidnapping juniors and torturing them into joining your after-school club is not uncommon here. Iruma also has to deal with the constant anxiety about being found out as a human and getting eaten. He can never quite let his guard down, even around his friends.

Kirio, though - he is so round and sweet and harmless! He does not force or torture anyone into joining his batra, he is not intense at all, and he is actually sort of a push over too. His gentle demeanour and soft-spokenness appeal to Iruma not only because they are so relatable but also because they provide him with much needed break from the demons' over-the-top (although still fun!) nature.

During their first talk Iruma carefully lets his guard down - shares that he does not have that much mana either - and is met with pure acceptance, kindness, and a marriage proposal.

You might have noticed that I have slightly adjusted the text in a few of the previous manga panels. If you didn’t, that’s okay too. The changes are quite subtle, so they may be a little tough to spot. They are not done with the intention to alter the original dialogue but just to help convey author’s real intention.

It is no surprise that (in anime) Kirio becomes the first person who Iruma feels safe enough with to share that he is human.

On the one hand, Iruma feels safe with Kirio but on the other hand he feels inspired and uplifted by him too. It's only natural for a crush to develop in these conditions.

Iruma is consistently giddy and excited to spend time with Kirio. Once his feelings reach their peak, Iruma proposes to Kirio too.

In his passionate speech Iruma talks about how great it would be to try and strive for something as seemingly impossible as Battler Party Prize. Once someone who could only live from moment to moment, Iruma is for the first time excited to work towards a tougher, but more fulfilling objective. He wants everyone to realize how great Kirio’s Battler is - Kirio’s ambition becomes Iruma’s ambition too (or what he perceives that ambition to be).

Kirio appears in Iruma's life at the best moment. On the one hand, Iruma is slowly starting to figure out how fun it is to strive for goals, but needs to understand what he specifically wants; on the other hand he is still a little overwhelmed by the Netherworld and needs someone he could be a little less guarded around. Someone a little less demonic than all these demons around Iruma, but still a demon. And Kirio seems like the perfect undemon-like demon so far.

...Which is why Kirio revealing his true face is that shocking.

Kirio is introduced through the contrast to all the overly demonic characters, but his motivation makes him, in fact, the most demon-like demon that we have encountered so far. The Battler Arc is a little special compared to the rest of the arcs - and that is because it was originally intened as the series’ end, in case the manga was to get axed (https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/18287).

Nishi: You used to say. You said that you wanted to make it so exciting that it would be okay if the series ended here.

Editor: Yes, we talked about making the fourth volume of Kirio's story as if it were the final volume, so the climactic episode of the division showcase was written over a period of two weeks. Even in the first series of the anime, the producers often talked about how they wanted the resolution with Kirio to be practically the last episode.

(thank you deepl)

And I believe that because this arc was supposed to be the last, it could pull off the kind of things that all the following arcs can’t. One of them is taking a carefully built-up image of the Netherworld and then turning it completely upside down. Most of the series' jokes are built on the same idea: the demon world is almost like the human world, but turned up a notch, since it’s a demon world after all. For example - and ordinary school, but they have torture classes in here! Cause they are demons! Ha-ha! Despite this extremeness though, the Netherworld slowly grows on the reader, becomes cozy; the demons’ intensity becomes part of their charm. 

But revealing a character with motivation this vile and perverted ruins that wholesome image. This is supposed to be comedy! This is supposed to be a heart-warming found family show! How can a character like that exist in this world?! Yet, it doesn’t go against the world-building either. It’s almost like Nishi is smiling at us, asking “Hey, why are you so surprised? I told you, they are demons after all”. And all we can do is nod, as we realise how dangerous this world really is, and how much we do not know about it yet. It’s chilling, it’s shocking, it completely subverts everything we know about the story so far, it’s so surprisingly pitch-dark.

...And so Iruma realizes, that even though he loves Kirio very much, it would be a healthier choice to just stay friends!

Thus, instead of helping Kirio reach his ambition as he planned at first, Iruma destroys Kirio's ambition instead. He gently friendzones him by blasting through his barrier maze and plans with resolve and Yodth-level magic power.

In the aftermath of it all anyone else would feel betrayed by Kirio, be angry with him; alternatively, someone else might enter a deep denial about his true nature, try to justify his actions. But Iruma does neither of these. He is just not that kind of person. As we have learned during the climax of the battler arc, he does not see the point in wallowing in despair and anger; he prefers to move forward and take action. He also hates to see people get hurt and fundamentally disagrees with Kirio’s actions. And thus, Iruma stays true to himself - instead of being heartbroken and angry, instead of justifying Kirio, he simply accepts that his first love turned out to be a pervert terrorist. And he also acknowledges that despite everything, these feelings were real and special, and that he has grown a lot thanks to this person.

Iruma eventually moves on - to new experiences, new life, new people. He is not stuck in those memories, and in fact he doesn't think about Kirio too often. Yet, Kirio has a soft spot in Iruma's heart. Iruma still keeps a tag with his name on the club member list, and he has also expresses hope of meeting Kirio one day again.

Iruma is not waiting for Kirio because he is in denial about how terrible he is, or because he hopes to fix him. There are many ways to hint that Iruma is making a mistake by waiting for Kirio, and yet nothing like that is present. Desire to have it all, following his own ambition instead of being swept by somebody else's - all these important lessons Iruma has learned during his time with Kirio. Iruma is waiting for Kirio because he chooses to treasure the time they have spent together and because, if it's possible, Iruma would love to rekindle their connection. And although Kirio did not end up making for a great partner, he could very well make for a great friend maybe :)

***

...Iruma is Kirio's first crush.

Last time Kirio had a friend was in pre-elementary school, and that didn't go too well. Most people at school don't acknowledge his existence (because he wilfully conceals his presence with detection-warding glasses), and those who do notice him just bully and make fun of him (and they are completely correct).

So, it's a bit of a change in pace when this blue Kirby springs into his life.

We don't have as much insight into Kirio's thoughts yet (for obvious reasons), but we can probably assume that Iruma doesn't spark Kirio's interest as quickly as Kirio did Iruma's. While Iruma is busy crushing hard, Kirio simply enjoys his (and eventually the rest of Irutrio’s) company.

Still, it seems like he warms up to them. Knowing Kirio’s true nature, it’s easy to assume that he wasn’t honest when expressing how much fun he is having with everyone. But Kirio is not devoid of virtue! According to an interview from Animedia’s April 2021 issue Kirio never lies! He is a very honest guy! I guess...? ...Unless one means “only lies by omission”...? 

Kirio never lies.

KIRIO is often interpreted as a "traitor" to Iruma and his friends, but in fact, he is a character who has never lied. He considers Azu and Clara to be his good friends and lovely juniors, and he also really enjoys the activities of the Magical Tool Investigators. Even so, I couldn't help but want to see Azu and Clara hurt and Iruma in despair. It's a completely different feeling. He is a troubled guy. (Nishi)

So, Kirio is having fun with his new friends, and he is genuinely thankful to Iruma for making all this happen. And the fact that he gets to hurt his new friends and see their despair later? Absolute cherry on top. Instead of pretending to befriend them to manipulate them into his evil schemes he ACTUALLY befriends them and ALSO manipulates them into his evil schemes! Isn’t that nice.

Perhaps through a combination of gratitude and genuine friendship as well as exctimenet about his potential despair, Kirio slowly begins developing deeper feelings for Iruma too. Not a full blown crush by any means, but certainly the beginning of something. After Iruma gives a pationate speech about winning the Battler Party prize and marriage proposal, Kirio is visibly touched.

“Awwww, that guy is so sweet. Going to such length for me and my Battler... I am extra excited about making him cry now :)”

Hey, who wouldn’t feel at least a little fluttered when someone so obviously admires them and is inpired to share their ambition? 

So imagine Kirio’s shock when Iruma turns him down. What did poor Kirio even do to deserve this?! Oh, that’s right. Terrorism. 

Clearly, Iruma’s rejection is a great punch in the guts for Kirio. But, there is something else happening too. After being rejected so hard AND after having his years long in making plan being thwarted like that, Kirio realizes...

...he is deeply, madly in love now.

There is something I want to point out with Kirio here. As much as Kirio is frustrated with Iruma afterwards for ruining his plans, it’s important to note that he does not hate him - in fact, Kirio develops deep fascination with Iruma as a result. Every time Iruma reveals the strength of his ambition, Kirio reacts quite strongly: first time during their talk in Kirio’s secret room, which gives start to Kirio’s “we are matching” mantra, and second time during the arc’s climax. It is true that to him Iruma presents a worthy challenge, perhaps something Kirio hasn’t encountered before. However, Iruma doesn’t pick Kirio’s interest just because he didn’t despair. It’s because he didn’t despair due to the strength of his ambition. 

Kirio concludes that in the end they are not “matching” at all, because Iruma’s ambition is that much stronger. In the future, however, Kirio gets a ring explicitly made to “match” Iruma’s, perhaps indicating his desire to match with Iruma after all, including the strength of his ambition. 

How tragic - to develop feelings for someone who has just stopped being in love with you and rejected you! Kirio struggles with accepting his feelings at first. Yet he can’t help but save Iruma from falling to his death. Despite ruining his plans and being his natural enemy, Iruma has a soft spot in Kirio’s heart as well. Kirio understands - someone like this is extremely special, and he can’t afford to lose Iruma. 

...Not to say that if Iruma falls to his death right now Kirio will forever lose his chance of making him cry and destroying his life! There is no way he is missing out on THAT. 

Kirio’s perspective on Iruma changes forever; his life gets divided into two parts, before and after being defeated by Iruma. He promises to meet him again one day and literally disappears into the mist (goes to jail).

Perhaps the best way to summarize how Kirio feels about Iruma now is by quoting the anime’s director, Makoto Moriaki, from the interview she gave after season 1 finished airing (https://cho-animedia.jp/article/2020/02/29/17226.html):

-Who do you think is the character most healed by Iruma?

Perhaps it is KIRIWO. Kirio wants to see Iruma's despairing face, but I think it is because Iruma is someone he feels a great attraction to. I think it's the flip side of love. Kirio would not be interested in seeing the despair of a person he thinks is unimportant. And yet, the fact that Kirio wants to see Iruma's face of despair shows how much he loves Iruma. Perhaps he loves Iruma the most deeply. It is very interesting to watch with that in mind. There is a danger of loving in a world that others cannot imagine.

Kirio’s priorities shift: if he used to be more or less aligned with Baal’s objectives and vision before, but now it seems like Iruma has become a lot higher in his pyramid of needs.

Moreover, he is developing quite some possessive tendencies. He can’t bear hearing that someone else saw Iruma’s despair - noone else dares to bully Iruma except for Kirio himself. 

It is entirely possible that the interests of Baal’s organisation and Kirio’s own interest in Iruma might contradict each other one day.

While Iruma is moving on, living his life to the fullest, making new friends and working towards his dreams, Kirio is wallowing in the past, not being able to let go of his feelings. It is worth noting that he at least attempts to be healthy about his crush by continuing to pursue his own objectives and hobbies, such as terrorism. And yet Iruma consumes his thoughts, consumes his being. 

In this piece, Kirio’s drool represents his longing for Iruma, his desire to reconnect with his natural opposite, the yang to his yin, to feel complete. Also that he is an absolutely despicable person and that there is no way anyone can stan this guy, much less ship him with Iruma (/pos).

...It’s tough to imagine what the future of these two holds. It would be interesting to see how Kirio reacts upon finding out that Iruma holds no grudge at him and is in fact ready to reconnect. Kirio likely expects Iruma to be disgusted by him after he has revealed his true nature. Yet Iruma could become the only other person, aside from Baal, to accept Kirio for who he is, while discouraging his degeneracy.

It would also be interesting to see how Iruma would react upon finding out that Kirio knows that he is human, excited to chew on his guts and get off to his despair. 

After almost a year of not seeing each other they obviously have a lot to discuss. Will Kirio reignite the sparks of lost passion and turn Iruma into his lover after all? Will he get distracted and eat him up before he can do that? Will Iruma eat him up in self-defence instead? And what is Kirio planning to do with that dress?

No matter how it goes, I am sure that whatever development their love life will take once they meet again, it will be exciting and heart-throbbing regardless with only a little bit of pain and horror!

TL;DR: Iruma wanted to date Kirio but decided to stay friends when Kirio turned out to be #problematic. Kirio, on the other hand, only fell for Iruma after the rejection and is now walloving in his feelings and longing for him, while Iruma is moving on. Iruma still treasures the time they spent together and feels nostalgic for his first love. We are yet to learn whether meeting Iruma will eventually result in Kirio unlearning his toxic behaviours or whether it will enhance them and take away any chances Kirio has at getting a date with Iruma after all. 

I hope that you have found this guide useful, and thank you so much for reading!

P.S. this post is a big fat /hj

[pengosolvent]

I find myself going back to the 223 song you posted last year and I find it speaking to me all the time, or rather maybe just my OCs. I don't know if the intention was a romantic vibe of sorts, but It's resonated that way with me. I can't help but think of lovers who have spent a long time away from one another and reunite once again with an embrace. Maybe I'm wrong, but if you're willing to give a few details behind those lyrics, I'd be forever thankful for it.

I'd say your interpretation is some of the feelings in the song yes ... Sort of read more tag since long

King Deer and Bravocat are “lovers” (partners) but they become separated 223 is about King Deer's inner feelings He's generally really composed and a lot more "functional" seeming than bravocat is So while bravocat wears his ... odd behavior on his sleeve, king deer doesn't exactly do that he's a lot more reserved so 223 is a lot of feelings he doesn't tend to share at all the chaotic aspects of those feelings there is a lot of pain in relation to... trying to find a place to belong or feel cared about I wrote about this a bit on patreon a while ago, so i guess i'll try to take that and edit parts of it ---

“meaning: spoilers now for bravocats story this is the equivalent song to 224 on the bravocat album, but for king deer a big theme of bravocat's story is how opposite yet the same bravo and KD are 224 is essentially how bravo handles stress... everything feels slow motion, lethargic, not understandable but the stress is essentially.. short not that bravo gets over things quickly, but it's not really truly eliciting a reaction in bravo king deer though, while appearing calm and positive, thinks way too hard under the surface about whatever is stressing him while bravo is not very charming or sociable, and thus doesn't worry about that (or he does but not to a big extent), king deer is very charismatic and ... functional in society to put it lightly compared to bravo however, KD is very focused on always giving a pleasant presentation of himself to others when stress arises, it tends to bubble in KD. he never blows up, instead works towards doing whatever he can to fix whatever is stressing him which, in a sense is good but it can be limiting when the stress would involve him speaking up about something that is unpleasant to talk about the lyrics in english is representative of KD talking to bravo the concept of "god" in bravocats story is more so the concept of finding meaning/reason and if such a thing as meaning/reason even exists  

"Believe true, and know this:

i notice your heart's remiss.

Mine is too, but don't dismiss,

what I've learned wants no kiss." KD is trying to support bravocat, basically saying "look i know you're hurt and believe me i get that cuz i've been hurt too, but don't push me away. i'm not trying to get anything out of you." the last line specifically about the kiss is referencing that neither bravo nor KD are particularly comfortable with intimacy in different ways. they are both schizoid ( I am writing from experience in different lenses thru them i guess?) and while bravo has many of the negative traits and KD more of the "functional" ones, they both recognize and understand the way the other views the world (to varying degrees) but that is still frightening in a way. becoming close to someone, and knowing that, to most people, this would mean "romance" and neither of you have a concept of it and actively fear it i still don't understand romance as a concept anyway, the point is KD is trying to encourage bravo to not shut him out... bravo can be very self isolating and self-destructive sometimes depending on what he's focused on

"I know it's not my show

and I've been last to slow my hand,

yet god is not what I have found,

and I will not devise around this. "

another remark by KD to try to support bravo this one is basically something like... "listen, i know i'm not you so i can't understand your exact struggles and stresses, and i know i'm not perfect and i've probably hurt you without realizing sometimes... but that isn't inherently a bad sign. i haven't found this concept of meaning youre looking for, i've had to make my own meaning and i won't try to sugarcoat that, but i am here for you." [...] anyway, while KD tries to be pleasant, he also doesn't like to lie or give "disney" advice a big part of bravos stresses comes from not understanding if he has a place in the world or what it even means to be alive that sounds pretentious i dont know how to talk about my stories but, KD's balance of optimism and genuine firmness resonates with bravo and tends to calm him the spanish lyrics are more... KD's stresses with himself [Translation to english] " A smile doesn't fall, like the sun never fails. It doesn't matter what I feel, or what I dream, that's just how it goes. " KD is essentially a people pleaser and he will rather remove himself calmly from a situation than confront people. he's not a pushover per se, but he isn't one to stand up for himself unless he absolutely has to. sometimes this can make him feel trapped... and its a big part of why the bravocat comic even happens KD essentially wishes he could be superman and do everything for everyone and please everyone, but thats obviously impossible.. but he still tries too hard to go for that and he also tries to lessen any bad news ... sometimes by omission entirely which is its own can of worms”

[shadow-sovereign]

1/2 So, I've got another Solo Leveling idea. Goto Ryuji arrives in Korea thinking his plan was fool proof. He and his guild will lay a trap for the korean Hunters, leave the island and the ants will do the rest for them. Only his plan was not foolproof and he dies. And then he wakes up and it's the day he and his guild had ther friendly sparing match with the korean hunters.

2/2 So they go to Jeju island again and he thinks, this time will be different. And then he dies at the hands of the ant king again and again and again. Fortunately Sung Jin-Woo seems to be stronger then he thought. If only he could convince the brat to participate in the raid.

Oh, this is a very interesting idea. So many twisting paths a time loop fic can take. :D

I think I’d have him reset to his hotel room in South Korea. He would need a bit of time to react to his death and the unexpected time travel. If he woke up in the gym before the sparring, it’d be a lot more disorienting. He’d all of a sudden be in front of people, reacting to his death and just….I don’t like secondhand embarrassment. Ryuji wouldn’t want people to see him freaking out.

He’d be rather confused as he gets ready to visit the Korean Hunter’s Association for the ‘first’ (second) time. But his clever mind would soon be devising new plans, trying to use the time travel to his advantage.

First, he’d probably try to learn more about the Korean Hunters. See what skills of theirs he can use in his plans. He’s not one to easily give up on what he wants, so he’d still be trying to make his plan work, of the Korean Hunters dying and Japan kind of taking over? I don’t remember the exact details of what they were trying to do, how much control they wanted over South Korea.

Besides learning more about the Korean Hunters, the other thing Ryuji can control is how his Hunters are grouped together. Maybe, he thinks, they can survive long enough for him to get to them if he tries out different team arrangements. Then, sending them to different areas of the island, maybe the ant king will be less likely to notice some of them.

Eventually, Ryuji will have to concede that not only is he unable to win against the ant king, but that Sung would make their plan moot, anyway. Not only would it be a bad idea to make an enemy of someone so powerful, but with his summons, Sung could deal with all the high-ranking gates himself, leaving the weaker ones for the lower ranking Korean Hunters.

They have four days between that sparring and them all shipping out to Jejeu island. During that time, he tries to learn more about Sung, why he decided not to join them on the raid, so he can change his mind. Trying different tactics to get him to agree.

Though, I’m not sure what all he’d be willing to do. Nothing that would hurt his dignity or pride. Being too obvious about how much he wants Sung on the raid would make it seem like he thinks his guild can’t handle it.

I’m not sure how I’d have him convince Jin-Woo to go on the raid. He could always seduce him, like he accidentally did in my fic “My Love is a Fire”. It certainly wasn’t that Ryuji’s intention to have Jin-Woo disrupt his plans like that.

But I actually like the idea of Ryuji having to tell Jin-Woo about the time loop. And being flabbergasted when Jin-Woo believes him pretty easily. Jin-Woo, after all, has had to deal with the unbelievable nonsense the system has put him through. Plus, he’d be able to sense how frustrated Ryuji is with the situation, and perhaps some of the trauma of being killed repeatedly.

During this fic, I’d want to show some character development for Ryuji. Coming close to death, let alone actually dying, can make you re-evaluate some things, to think about what’s really important to you.

I’d want Ryuji to realize he actually would be upset if the S-ranks in his guild died. He was rather blasé about it in the novel and manhwa, but he died shortly after, so there’s no telling how he would have felt in the long term. Maybe he would have missed them. They were likely the ones he went on dungeon raids with, after all. He would have had conversations with them, listening to them bickering and teasing each other on missions. Seen them in casual settings as they relaxed after a raid, celebrating their success.

In the beginning of the loops, he’d be more indifferent to their deaths, thinking of them as variables to make his plan work, and assets he’s trying to keep alive for future plans. Then he keeps finding their bodies, perhaps even hearing their last words on the radio. Waking up after his own death to them being lively and dynamic, friendly towards him even as he’s leading them to their grisly end.

It starts to get to him, how much they trust in him. That his plan will succeed and that together, their strength can overcome any odds. Getting Sung on the raid stops just being about his own survival, but about keeping his guild members alive as well.

[This fic would definitely be good practice for writing these characters, developing their personalities and quirks, which would make it both fun and challenging.]

Ryuji is forced to confront his own emotions during these time loops, realizing he can’t actually avoid becoming attached to people without avoiding people altogether. Something he’s not willing to do. Instead, he’s just been trying to repress any sense of attachment, in the futile attempt to avoid grief.

He has to reevaluate how he deals with people. If he can’t avoid the negatives that come with being around people, then he should at least get to have the positives. Ryuji knows that humans benefit from friendship and romantic love, he’s just never thought the risk of grief and loss were worth it to him. But if he has to deal with it anyway, he’ll take every benefit he can get, grasping hold of it with greedy hands.

It starts with being more willing to have casual conversations with his S-rank guild members, allowing himself to start thinking of them as possible friends. Though he’d probably start off thinking of them as comrades, rather than the coworkers/employees/his people that he’s been thinking of them as. Comrades kind of feels like the halfway point between coworker and friend, plus it can be used as comrade-in-arms, people you fight together with against a common foe.

At the same time, he’d be learning more about Jin-Woo, trying to figure out what motivates the other Hunter. He’d probably want to spar against him, too, after their fight got interrupted. Maybe he’d try to use the time loops to learn how Jin-Woo fights, see if he can use that and his greater experience to last longer against the younger Hunter.

Ryuji is drawn to Jin-Woo’s strength, the mystery of his many abilities, and physically attracted to him. He starts to wonder about romantic attachments, about who he’d want in a life partner if he allowed himself that much attachment.

[I know your ask didn’t specifically mention them getting together, so I don’t know if you had that in mind. But it’s where my mind goes every time these two are the main characters of a story.]

Honestly, not sure how well I’d write this story. It sounds like a fun idea in theory, but doesn’t ignite as much excitement as some of the other ideas have. I feel like I’d write a couple chapters and then the inspiration would fizzle out. But if I ever get enough inspiration for it, then it could be fun to try my hand at it. Maybe write snippets of it.

Out of the fic submissions I’ve received, the one I’m most interested in writing is the one where Jin-Woo ends up in an alternate universe, where that Jin-Woo and Ryuji had been lovers before that Jin-Woo died. There’s a lot to explore when figuring out how the universes could differ.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Friends To Lovers (Reality) Masterlist

Links Last Checked: February 13th, 2024

Better Off As Lovers, and Not The Other Way Around (ao3) - acollectionofdaydreams

Summary: Dan and Phil have a system of pretending to be in a relationship to get them out of awkward situations, but Dan takes it too far the day he signs Phil up as his plus one for his five year school reunion. Dan didn't even want to go, but his ex-girlfriend is going to be there so it's too late to back out now. ~aka the fake relationship au that no one asked for~

Blurry Stranger (ao3) - phantropolis

Summary: Set in August of 2015, Phil is invited to his high school’s reunion. Afraid of being the only single one in attendance, he convinces Dan to accompany him as his fake ‘boyfriend’ for the week. It’s only when Phil allows his best friend into his childhood life and begins to see him in a romantic light that actual feelings start developing - but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be reciprocated.

Interrupted By Fireworks, Literally - ticklishhpickle

Summary: Dan has a wake up call when he realises 2018 is fast approaching, meaning he’s spent nearly a decade pining over the one and only Phil Lester. Not wanting to waste any more time, he devises a plan. This year, he’s going to kiss Phil at midnight. If he doesn’t kiss back, he’ll write it off as a drunk, meaningless mistake and try his best to move on. But if he does… oh, how Dan wants to know.

Late, But Not Too Late (ao3) - YourEyesHoldTheGalaxy

Summary: Phil realizes that he’s been in love with Dan since 2009 but has no intention of telling Dan, scared it will break them. Little does he know that he’s not he only one hiding something from the other.

Let me Show You (ao3) - mollieblack

Summary: Phil has a secret. He doesn’t know how to kiss.He kissed a few girls when he was younger, but they never seemed impressed and it made him feel insecure to the point of avoiding relationships because he was embarrassed.When Dan learns of his friend’s insecurity what will he do to help?

Only Fools (Do What I Do) - lolester

Summary: Dan and Phil were used to fans saying they were together, coming up with countless theories and analysing their every touch. It didn’t bother them; neither of them thought of the other as anything more than just a friend. That is, until a joke Phil made was misinterpreted, and somehow Dan thought they were dating and it was all Phil’s fault. Breaking up with Dan was going to be hard, though, and Phil didn’t want to ruin their friendship. Things were spiralling out of control.

Perfect (ao3) - ticklishpickle

Summary: When Dan begins distancing himself from his best friend, tension builds and feelings come out.

Pretend - lesteresce

Summary: “Hey Dan,” Phil said suddenly, gripping his mug as he holds it under the coffee machine, his face lighting up in the way it does when he’s finally gotten the take on a video. “What if,” he says slowly, savouring the words in his mouth. “We pretended, just for one day, that we had no idea who the other person is?”

Stubborn (ao3) - mollieblack

Summary: The sexual tension between Dan and Phil is obvious - and it's becoming obvious even to them. For some reason, though, there doesn't seem to be any rush. Instead both boys seem absolutely determined NOT to be the first one to admit their feelings, and it becomes a game of a sort.

Tell Me the Way Home (ao3) - amczingphil

Summary: Realising that you're hopelessly in love with your best friend isn't easy, but trying to secretly drop hints while simultaneously pretending everything is fine is harder.

Phil is in love with Dan - he has been for years - and he is trying to figure out how to subtly let him know without ruining their friendship, little does he know, Dan is trying to do the exact same thing.

The Consequences of a Sleepy Dan - youreyesholdgalaxies

Summary: Dan fell asleep too late, rather too early, and now he faces the consequences in the morning. Though they aren’t all bad.

The Laundry Fic - elliesfics

Summary: So we all know from Dan’s latest video that he spent his early years of Uni travelling down to Phil’s flat to do ‘laundry’. Here’s that fic.

The Way I See You - ineverhadmyinternetphase

Summary: Fiction. Dan’s shocked when he realises that Phil’s self-conscious about the way he looks. Apparently Phil doesn’t know that he isn’t allowed to be sad when Dan’s around. So Dan takes it upon himself to fix the situation - by complimenting something about Phil’s appearance every day. Trouble is, Dan isn’t very good at hiding his teensy tiny crush on Phil. (Originally written for the phanfic exchange from a prompt from comeonitsphan)

Toying With You (ao3) - AmberNotes (orphan_account), mollieblack

Summary: Dan thought it’d be a fun idea . . . Something to spice up the dreary routine of life. This is what led him to the remote controlled vibrator, figuring it could add a bit of excitement to his day. One problem. Dan drops the remote. And Phil has no idea what the small plastic oval he finds on the train is, but he likes clicking the button and turning the dials.

Waiting, Hoping With Each Breath - botanistlester

Summary: After Dan’s girlfriend breaks up with him, Phil finds his best friend suddenly a lot closer than he’s ever remembered them being before. For some reason, he doesn’t mind it much at all. In fact, Phil quite enjoys the late night cuddles and the way Dan clings to him whenever they watch television. He probably enjoys it a little bit too much.

Written in the Stars (ao3) - AmberNotes (orphan_account), mollieblack

Summary: Dan and Phil are friends. Best friends. Coworkers. Flatmates. Partners. They're just about everything two people can be, but they're not together. No, they're just platonic friends, which is why Dan's sudden obsession with Phanfiction throws everything off balance.

Can Dan’s writing become a reality?

[addictofsupernatural]

The Southsider (pt. 2)

Sweet Pea x reader

Chapter Summary: Things are getting off to a great start with Sweet Pea and y/n, but what happens when someone finds out her past?

Word Count: 2428

Chapter 1 • Chapter 3

You pulled up at the Whyte Wrym parking lot. Worried that your hair was a mess from the wind, you try to smoothen it. "You look good." Sweet Pea reaches his hand out for you. You smile and blush, looking down and taking his hand.

You two went inside and, much to Toni's delight, were still holding hands. Fangs eyed you both. "Cute." He said as he smirked.

Sweet Pea instantly yanked his hand away from yours. He looked at you with red cheeks. "You know how to play pool?"

"No. You wanna show me?" You smiled.

He grabbed a pool stick and put it in your hands. He stood right behind you, towering over you. "Okay bend down." You both bent down to the pool table. Your face felt extremely hot.

"Easy there, Sweets. Big brother is watching." Jughead said. Toni and Fangs were compressing their laughter from your blushing face.

Sweet Pea chose to block all of them out. "Hold the stick like this, and put your hand right here." He positions your arms and hands where they need to go. "And hit the ball." The stick then hit the white ball, sending all others if different directions. He then stood, you standing with him. "Looks like your stripes."

You looked at each other, close together. You were about to say something until a hand slaps Sweet Pea's back hard. "Sweet Pea." FP says, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Can I speak to you in private?" He tightens his grip.

"Sure." Sweet Pea said stiffly. They then both went outside.

They both left you worried for Sweet Pea. FP's dad instincts seem to have kicked in. Once those doors closed, the tight smile on his face was gone. "What the hell do you think your doing in there?"

"I was just teaching her how to play pool-"

"She's not just some cheap piece of meat that you can throw away after getting what you want."

"No! I wouldn't do that to her. I just thought she might have fun-"

FP yanked the collar of his jacket, pointing a finger at him. "You better watch yourself."

"-playing pool! I thought she might have fun playing pool." Sweet Pea defensively put his hands up.

He then let go of him. "Careful, boy. You don't use a girl like that."

Sweet Pea nodded and quickly walked back inside. When you saw him, it looked like he had seen a ghost. "Sweets, you good?" You put a hand on his arm.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm good." You were still pretty worried, so you gently squeezed his arm and let go.

"You wanna finish that pool game?"

After the pool game you talked with the four a while before Sweet Pea stood up. "It's kinda late, I'll take you home."

You gave him directions as you rode to the Northside with him. You stopped at a small house that had no cars in it's driveway. "Are your mom and dad out?" He asked as you hopped off.

"No, I live with my aunt. She's away on another business thing. It's just me right now." You shifted in your place, wanting to change the subject. "Tonight was cool, Pea. Thanks for that."

He nodded. You start to walk to the door when Sweet Pea asked, "What, no goodnight kiss?"

You turned around and looked at him and his teasing smile. You walked up to him and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Good night, Sweets. Can't wait to see you at school tomorrow." You turned and walked inside.

"Night." He said quietly. When you left he slowly went into the biggest smile ever. He then drove off, excited for tomorrow to come.

What the two of you didn't know was that at that exact moment Reggie was breaking into the sheriff's office to find anything he could on you, and what he found was unexpected. And just what he needed. He couldn't have a rebel at Riverdale High helping the Southside take over the school. Traitors of the Northside need to be punished.

He called Cheryl. "Do you realize what time it is? You have no respect for beauty sleep."

"I got something on y/n."

"I'm listening."

"I don't want to ruin the surprise yet, but get as many people as you can. Tomorrow at lunch we'll show those snakes that if they mess with us, we mess with those they care about."

"See you tomorrow then."

The next day you walked to school, meeting Kevin at the front. You looked at him very excitedly. "I went to the Whyte Wrym last night!"

His mouth flew open. "The Serpents' hang out spot?!" He nodded your head, blushing like crazy. He linked your arms together. "Tell me more."

As you and Kevin were talking, so were Sweet Pea, Toni and Fangs. "Alright dude, how are you going to get her to like you?"

"You think I know?" Sweet Pea said as they all got off their bikes.

"Maybe you should come on stronger?" Toni suggested.

"Or maybe we should help make them closer." Fangs nodded. Toni reluctantly agreed, and Sweet Pea had come to the conclusion that his friends were going to embarrass the crap out of him today.

You were walking and talking with Kevin when you both see Sweet Pea with Fangs and Toni in the hallways. "You have to go talk to him." Kevin told me.

"Are you sure? I feel more confident in the arms of my favorite gay." You said, playfully clinging to him.

"I'm rooting for you two now, so starting today I will do what I can to support this ship. Now go talk to him." You took a quick break, nodded, and started to walk towards Sweet Pea, but Kevin grabbed your arm. "Just promise you'll be careful?"

"Promise." And with that you were going to walk towards them, but Kevin grabbed your arm again.

"Wait, we have to make this subtle."

"What?"

"We should walk by and pretend to not have noticed them until he says hi. Come on." He grabs your arm and links it with his again.

"Your putting way too much thought into this." You whispered.

"Sh. It'll work."

You then walked closer to him, and just as Kevin said, he took notice in you. "Y/n. Hey." He waved, kind of nervous on how you'd react.

"Oh, hey Sweet Pea!"

"I'll leave you two be!" Kevin said.

You shook your head. "You're a big a loser as I am, Kev." He fixed his strap on his bag and smiled. "See you at lunch." He waved at you and Sweet Pea.

"What's with you two?" Sweet Pea smiled.

"Nothing. Just dorks being dorks together. Hey guys." The other two nod.

Toni taps Fang's arm, and he nods. He goes up to you and fake accidentally pushes you into Sweet Pea. "So how's your morni- oh crap. My bad y/n."

Your body goes forward into Sweet Pea, grabbing onto his jacket to stabilize yourself. "It's okay Fangs."

You then went to stand next to Sweet Pea. Fangs eyed Toni, meaning that it was her turn. She went next to you and leaned on your shoulder hard. "So, y/n, what do you think of the Whyte Wrym?"

Her leaning on you made you stumble into Sweet Pea's side, grabbing onto his arm. "Uh, it was cool. It felt really homey. Hey, you guys got your schedules today, right?"

"Yeah." Sweet Pea said, looking down at you. You were still holding onto his arm.

"Can I see?" They all handed you their papers. "Toni you have bio with me, Fangs we have US History, Sweets we got PE. We all have English together." The bell rang and you gave back the papers. "Toni let's go together."

"Sure." You both started walking towards your class. You turned and smiled, waving towards the two boys, with them waving back.

Right after you turned back around Sweet Pea punched Fangs in the shoulder. "What the hell was that?!"

"She held your arm, didn't she?" Fangs said while holding onto his shoulder.

The rest of your day went by smoothly and quickly. Biology with Toni was fun, and seeing how Fangs was a secret genius in History was interesting. Geometry was kind of slow, but that's what you had Archie there for. Now was fourth period: English.

You all were getting new seats, so all of you were at the perimeter of the room. "Is it me or is there a lot of people staring at us?" You asked Fangs.

"It's the jackets and tattoos. It scares them."

One guy walks past the four of you as he is assigned his seat, saying "Be careful babe, these guys are criminals."

Sweet Pea is extremely close to throwing a punch at this guy, but is stopped as you link your arm to Sweet Pea's, leaning onto him. "No, I think I'd prefer them to some high school has been waiting to happen. Thanks anyways, babe." You turned to Sweet Pea. "What a privledged asshole."

He let out a laugh. You really didn't care about where they came from. He wondered why that was, but dismissed the question.

The teacher then called out your name, followed by Toni, which meant that she sat behind you. When the teacher called him, it was the seat next to yours. He tried his very best to hide his smile. Fangs was behind him. It was perfect.

Your teacher now passed out the school books for Romeo and Juliet. She explained the gist of this unit. What the quizzes will be on, how we need to find literary devises, what writing assignments they will have. It was all so foreign to Sweet Pea. English was his worst subject. He's going to look like an idiot in front of you.

You were all tasked with reading Act I Scenes i-iii. You had to decipher what was going on in the story, and list out literary devices on what is was relating to and what it meant. Sweet Pea was going to die.

"Hey." You said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You good?"

"No." He said without thinking. "I mean yeah! It's just that I'm crap at English."

"Oh, then let's work on the homework together after school." He wondered how a person could be so nice. "You can pick me up when I'm done with my shift from Pop's."

"When do you get off?"

"Give me your number and I could text you when." This came out without the intention of anything except exchanging information. Once you realized what you said, you felt your cheeks get hot.

You silently handed him your phone. He put in his number, finding it sad that you were more smooth than he is. He still seemed to like being around you.

He gave it back to you with a new contact in your phone. You began to get cold from sitting under the air vent. You started to rub your arms and let down your hair for any sort of warmth.

Sweet Pea noticed this and shimmied out of his jacket. "Here." He handed it to you.

"Oh, no Sweets it's fine-"

"No it's not. You're cold, right? Put on the jacket."

You took it, giving him a teasing smile. "What?"

"You worried about me, Sweets?"

He smirked back. "You care about what I think of you, y/n?"

"Good one." You said, biting your lip as you smiled and looked down at the book to read. Sweet Pea looked at you in the oversized serpent jacket with your hair down. You looked hot and cute at the same time. He then looked back down at his own book, not understanding most of what he was reading. Meanwhile, Toni and Fangs were silently enjoying the show.

The bell rang and what began was what Reggie had been waiting for all day. Lunch.

They walked you to the cafeteria, which you normally don't eat at but you all heard that Reggie had important news. You parted ways with them once you saw your five friends over at a table.

"Oh, my God." Veronica said, staring at you. Kevin looked at you, then widened his eyes and looked again at you. You sat down next to Kevin, wondering why everyone was staring. Betty put a hand over her mouth to try to stop herself from laughing.

"Uh, y/n," Archie said, scratching the back of his head.

"Is that Sweet Pea's?" Jughead bluntly asked.

You looked down in embarrassment and saw that you were still wearing Sweet Pea's serpent jacket. You put your head down and played with the oversized sleeves. "Maybe."

"Wow, I was not expecting that." Veronica said. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Give it to me. I'll give it back to him." Jughead reached his hand out, waiting for the jacket to be given.

"Why?" You whined. "It's comfy. I can see why you guys always wear it."

"We don't wear it for comfort, y/n. It's a symbol of a tribe. It shouldn't just be handed to someone who's cold. It means a lot more than that!"

"So you're saying I'm important to him?" You teased, giving him a smile.

"Now y/n."

You rolled your eyes and took off the jacket. He grabbed it and went over to where his other friends were sitting, angrily saying something you couldn't hear. Sweet Pea shrugged in response and said something else. He then looked at your table, causing everyone else to look away. You kept your gaze at him, giving him a knowing look and a shrug. He smiled in return.

"Eyes in front." Jughead said as he stomped back over to your table. You turned back around and rested your chin on your hand.

"Are you jealous because their chemistry rivals that of bughead?" Kevin asked. Betty giggled and Jughead aggressively munched on his chips.

You turned to Betty. "Has Jughead ever let you wear his jacket?" She smiled and nodded. You jolted up. "What- Jug!"

Before he could protest, Reggie stood on top of a table. "Attention everybody. I have an announcement to make."

-------

Author Note: Sorry, I said I would reveal y/n's past in this chapter, but I wrote a lot and thought this would be a good place to leave off. I just want this to be more fluff than angst.

-------

Tag List:

@madaboutlili @sireennotsiren @elsie2018 @greyfairie @iamaunicorn4704 @wanna-plan-world-domination @whenallsaidanddone @t-a-i-l-o-r-m-a-d-e

[slightlyburnedpopcorn]

This is going to be a little bit of a different post than I usually do because usually on my blog I just reblog shit but. I don’t care. This is gonna be a long one boys so buckle up.

Disclaimer: George Orwell was homophobic as fuck and my intention is in no way to glorify him. 1984 is a work I care a lot about, but I am not ignoring the problematic aspects of the author and his work. I still think the book has a lot of valid points around using language to manipulate people and censorship, and this is just a really long rant I wrote at one in the morning after one too many arguments with someone about the book.

Thanks, 

Your local angry bisexual who keeps burning her popcorn

If I see someone throw 1984 to cry censorship because they don’t want some racist statue removed from public areas, or because history textbooks are recontextualizing how terrible imperialism is, or some shit like that, I will eat the entire novel. Because maybe then I can somehow find a way to communicate the use of censorship in the book that will get through people’s skulls.

1984 is not just about censorship. Yes, there is the concept of constant surveillance, but that is its own beast to tackle. And it’s not necessary to discuss in this essay-turned-rant (but I encourage you to read about it and draw your own conclusions). It is about the manipulation of language and media to effectively brainwash the population into a constant state of cognitive dissonance (aka doublethink, or holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously), especially when said population is in a particularly vulnerable place. 

Literally one of the main concepts of the book is newspeak, a language devised specifically to be as “efficient” as possible by simplifying grammar and restricting vocabulary down to the bare minimum needed to communicate. This is a direct way to control the thoughts of the people. If you are feeling “rebellious” or “oppressed”, how on earth are you able to communicate those feelings without the words to do so? Yeah, you can say it exists because you are obviously experience it, but how do you tell other people? And if you can’t tell other people, does it exist? It’s basically linguistic gaslighting! While newspeak is a very extreme form of mass mind control, more insidious versions of this concept can be seen in modern media. What sounds worse: civilian casualties or collateral damage? What is the goal of the news outlets who use those phrases?

I’m gonna use two headlines as an example: First is from Fox News, second is from NY Times.

I am not going to get into the content of the article, I am going to focus on the language used in the headline alone. IMMEDIATELY, Fox News is purposely using inflammatory language in order to incite outrage in the reader. By saying that leadership is needed after a fatal shooting, it creates a picture in the reader already that CHOP zone is a dangerous and unregulated area that needs tighter restrictions. Just using CHOP alone without explaining what it creates the feeling of violence thanks to the subtext of the actual word “chop”. Meanwhile, the NYTimes article uses more neutral-sounding language, describing what happened in Seattle’s autonomous zone like how a high schooler would write an academic paper. The headline is sterile but still effectively communicates what is describing.

Why am I explaining these differences? Because these headlines are describing the same story.

Changing the language in a piece changes the emotional reaction to it. Who are you more likely to be enraged at when you finish reading that article? What is the motivation of the new source when they write it like that?

Look I picked Fox News and NYTimes because it is the easiest and most obvious way to show this concept. Why did I bother to do that? Because these tactics don’t need to be on such an extreme scale to be an issue (even if I think that they currently are on an extreme enough scale). Strategies like these can be used to trick the public in a turbulent state into believing the most extreme beliefs that otherwise would have been considered nonsense.

On a related note, you wanna know something about Ingsoc, the totalitarian regime in 1984?

The people fucking voted it in. The population of England in the novel willingly gave up their rights because they fell for these specific tactics in a time of instability because they felt like it was a better option. They thought they would end up in a better place. They were tricked into a dictatorship by having their information manipulated by those in power who controlled it. The entire point of this is to show how any country could fall into a trap like this (If you want an example of the US Government manipulating information to trick the public besides Cold War propaganda, look into COINTELPRO).

Now after explaining the central concept in the novel, you can see why using this book as a defense against the removing statues of Confederate soldiers, as if it will lead to the removal of all monuments, is fucking stupid. Do you want to know why people use this book as a defense? Because Winston’s (the main character’s) job is to rewrite history to suit the needs of the government. They are taking the literal surface-level analysis and applying it to a situation that it does not at all apply to. Why doesn’t it apply? Winston’s job is not only to rewrite history but to literally wipe any evidence of any events ever happening that contradicts Ingsoc’s belief.

Without having to explain the actual in-universe plot, that’s like if in the middle of the Cold War the United States suddenly decided to tell the entire population that they are not fighting against Communism and the Soviet Union, but against the United Kingdom and capitalism. Meanwhile, they are also telling the population that the United States has been communist the whole time, and that their enemies have always been the United Kingdom and capitalism. And then Winston has to remove any evidence that contradicts the now-communist US’s war with the UK and capitalism.

Rewriting history and recontextualizing people and events is not censorship. In fact, it should be done whenever possible as more information and differing perspectives are made more accessible.

What is censorship? Preventing this information to be brought to light. What is the easiest way to control people? To keep them uninformed.

Removing monuments, renaming locations, any form of recontextualization is not the same thing as destroying any evidence of an alternative narrative.

And if you were taught to believe otherwise, then you need to question the motivation of the people in power who decided that it should be interpreted this way.

Because they are the real-world big brother.

And if you are focusing on the surface-level narrative of censoring historical information and not the greater context of what is being actually being censored and how, then you are falling in the exact same trap that 1984 describes.

TLDR: Stop using 1984 as a defense for censorship without understanding 1.) what is actually censorship and 2.) the specific and insidious form of censorship used in the novel and how people in power in our own country use this in current times. Throwing the novel around as if something like removing Confederate soldier statues from public parks is at all akin to censorship but ignoring how news media and politicians manipulate language to control public thought is exactly what big brother wants.

This is probably nothing new! This is probably repetitive! I don’t care, because this is an actual argument I constantly have with people!

Further info below the cut because this is long enough as is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe64p-QzhNE Ted Ed on the term “Orwellian”

https://www.wired.com/story/gone-with-the-wind-hbo-max/ Why HBO Max removing Gone With The Wind temporarily in order to add content warnings for its racist depictions is not censorship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship Wikipedia article on censorship

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorship American Library Association Explanation and Resource Guide on the First Amendment

https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1347&context=senproj_s2018 A long but informative paper on monuments, their role, and a comparison between the US and South Africa’s debates on their removal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO Wikipedia article on COINTELPRO that is a really good example of the government manipulating public thought

[supergenial]

Three Houses sucks actually

It’s been a whole month so after about 180 hours of play and doing all four routes, I thought I’d write down all the minor nitpicks that upset me about this fantastic game. Obviously spoilers ahead.

First of all, I do think it’s a great game, it’s one of my favorite fire emblem titles so far. I will not claim to be a veteran, but I have been playing since the gba games, I’ve played every game between fe6 and three houses, even fe12. I know genealogy is supposed to be GOAT but I’m holding out for a remake like I did with gaiden (and boy, waiting payed up big time on that one). Also if you love this game and think it’s perfect, that is awesome, I urge you to not read this so you don’t get upset about someone not understanding the game that you love (even though I love it too). Anyway, let’s begin:

I. The Four Routes are bad (together)

This game presents the player with a choice of 3 houses they can join, with that decision deciding which story you actually get to see. Along with Lion, Eagle and Deer, there’s also a “Church” route that is kind of lame, but not game-ruining. On their own they’re all actually pretty darn good stories. But these routes are extremely flawed. Not intrinsically, mind-you, but rather as a whole. In a game with multiple routes, you’d expect them to complement each other but instead each route actively makes the other ones actually worse. Do keep in mind that I think each route is pretty good on it’s own (even church) whichever one you pick first you will enjoy it greatly, and it will only deteriorate as you progress through the others.

Edelgard’s route is a political story of a revolutionary who wants to crush aristocracy and replace it with a meritocracy, her objective therefore is to crush the church that oversees the 3 nations. It feels like something out of shin megami tensei, she’s basically a chaos hero (which I usually hate) but with some nuance and less insane. It’s a great route! Gameplay-wise, it is my favorite, and also has the most thematic cohesion with the early game where all the students have misgivings about their noble status. Problem is it would have you believe that Dimitri has a complex ideological reason for standing up against her and protecting the church, when in reality playing his route tells you that he really has no political ideologies that he believes in (he straight up says this to Mercedes in their A support), he’s just a king defending his territory, which is really underwhelming as he has no parallels or contrasting motifs in regards to her, he’s just a dude. Another awful thing that basically everyone agrees is bad about this route is Those Who Slither in the Dark, a group that is set up as villains that have to be defeated, but instead get dealt with off-screen in the epilogue. You’d think it’s because they were lazy, and didn’t want to make a level for them, but there’s 2 routes in which you do fight them, they have their own level already in the game, it’s just not in this route. The plotline then just feels very lazy and incomplete, but even moreso once you play Claude’s route and you just... you just fight against those who slither, which is all I wanted to do at the end of Edelgard’s route. Perhaps the most disappointing route, but I happen to have an affinity for disappointment and the themes it goes for.

Dimtri’s route is a fantastic story of a broken man reclaiming his sanity. It’s the most character-driven and the most emotionally charged of the three. It’s an amazing route! Easily the best written as it picks a single theme (Dimitri’s downfall and rise) and does it extremely well instead of spreading too wide and losing focus. The ending is a bit underwhelming though. Basically everything after Dimitri recovers his humanity feels like filler, though his A supports are really amazing, all of them, making his post-feral phase worth it. The bigger problem is that this route actively sabotages the player’s enthusiasm towards playing Edelgard’s route as it paints her as the ultimate evil, the True and Only villain that has to be defeated. As such, a lot of the reaction I’ve seen online is that people who play this one first flat out refuse to play Edelgard’s route because really, why would you? She’s badbadnotgood, her sanity and reasoning are as flimsy as it gets, and she broke Dimitri’s heart when he was a kid, along with killing his entire family according to this route. You’d have to be insane to be excited to play as her, it’s something you’d only do for the sake of completionism. In the church and deer route you fight Edelgard too, but she’s presented as a well-intentioned extremist rather than an evil snake. Yes, even in the church route, the very one thing she wants to destroy!

Claude’s route on the other hand is so complete it suffers from it. It goes over every major plotline and actually solves it with very little thematic resonance between it all. Those who slide? He takes care of them. Rhea’s misdeeds? They’re acknowledged. Edelgard isn’t insane? He agrees. Who exactly was Nemesis?(the very first cutscene we’re shown!) Got it too. What is Sothis, what happened to her, why is she bound to Byleth? Got it. His route is ridiculous in that it covers too much ground and lore that could’ve been better put in the church route as it has no real thematic cohesion with Claude. He wants to end racism or something, ok cool, but he never fights any “race-realists”, none of the villains in his route are diametrically opposed to his ideals, and his final boss is a last minute diabolus ex machina with no real theme to it. It would’ve been easy to drive the point further that by beating the deadlords they’re burying the prejudices of the past and forging a new world without their literal ancestors hanging over them, but instead the scene goes for a sort of power of friendship type of feel and just rolls with that. It’s an exciting route with many hype moments, but when put together with the other ones, it feels kind of really weird that his route is basically a lore dump to fill in the lore gaps rather than a story about something.

It’s a given that in a game with 3 routes each one would tell their side of their story and be somewhat incomplete, leading the player to play all three to get the whole story. Instead these 3 routes actively try to drag each other lower instead of boosting each other higher, which is really disappointing. 

Don’t even get me started on the church route, that shouldn’t even be in the game at all. It’s the same as Claude’s route, the exact same, but without Claude. Ok so that means Seteth gets a lot of development in this route right? No, not really, he’s just kind of there. Rather than Seteth being the lord of the route it’s more like this is a lord-less route. Ghost Dimitri is a really cool scene, for sure, but outside of that seriously screw this route. You might think “well but I like Rhea, I want to be on her side”, well spoiler alert kiddo: you literally fight Rhea in this route, she’s the final boss. And you don’t get to hang out with her all that much either so forget about that. While I dislike Rhea, I think having a route for her is reasonable since that sickening mommy fetish is so popular these days so of course you’d want to pander to that audience for that sweet cash, but people who like Rhea don’t even get that because you have to actually kill her at the end (which I actually really like, it made the church route Actually Good for me, plus it’s a really fun level despite being yet another fight at Garreg Mach, more on that later). Also in this route you don’t get to see Rhea in her Seiros armor that is 10/10 hot as shit so why even bother, go play Edelgard’s route if you want to see some actually cool Rhea scenes and quotes.

edit: just been informed Rhea does live if you S-support her, kind of disappointed but ok, that’s pretty good for all who liked her and it makes sense.

II. Claude, the master tactician

“Ugh, don’t call me that”, Even he’s fed up with the title

My favorite of the three lords in the game is easily Claude but it’s pretty unfair that he survives every single route (unless you actively choose not to spare him in Edelgard’s route), whereas Dimitri and Edelgard always die outside of their routes. But that’s not the worst of him, what I hate about him is how he gets hyped up as THE MASTER STRATEGIST whenever other characters speak of him. Granted, writing a “Smart” character is hard because you have to be smart or else the readers won’t buy it, but the writers don’t even try and instead make him out to be a complete fool in almost every route (he’s actually pretty smart in the church route imo, but he’s also never seen in that one).

In his route, he does exhibit some degree of strategy and thought, devising a trap to protect Garreg Mach (by setting his allies on fire???) and doing a bit of a Trojan Horse when seizing Fort Merceus. However, if you play Dimitri’s route, Gilbert suggests doing the fire thing, and in the church route you just infiltrate Fort Merceus in the exact same way. So congratulations Claude, you’re about as smart as... Gilbert, a character that no one ever refers to as a strategic or military genius. This is another case of routes weighting down other routes, if you only play his route you think “oh yeah, he’s smart, he Trojan Horse’d the empire, what an absolute madlad”, but once you play the other routes it’s like, oh, ok, I guess that’s just meant to happen that way whichever side you choose.

Ok, maybe he’s not a genius master strategist in his story, sure, after all Byleth is the tactician so of course he’d take a back seat, but what about as an enemy commander? he’s gotta have some devious map design to back up his claim to genius, right? Wrong.

In Dimitri’s route you fight Claude and Edelgard post-timeskip at Gronder Field just like you did before the timeskip. In this battle, Claude’s objective is to stop Edelgard. You think to yourself, oh that’s wonderful, an ally! Together we’ll crush that evil snake together! Except his army focuses yours, instead of going straight for Edelgard, as he did in the very same battle pre-timeskip. The game says there’s some fog, but guess what, this game HAS a fog mechanic to make some maps have low-visibility, and that fog is not present in this map! As such, he comes off as a total doofus in this chapter. This battle feels like Batman v Superman, a fight that just “has” to happen to sell the idea that the heroes are against each other, but Batman and Superman shouldn’t be fighting at all to begin with, they’re on the same side! They only fight because it’s the “hype” thing to do. Sigh.

Later on in the same route Claude is attacked by the empire in his hometown. His “master strategy” is to corner himself against an army that outnumbers his army 10:1, and trust that Dimitri will save him, the very same Dimitri that nearly killed him a couple days ago at Gronder Field. This is a pretty stupid and naive strategy on it’s own, but it gets worse once you look at the enemy troops in this map. They are all horses or infantry, not a single flier. Claude himself, he rides a wyvern. He could’ve escaped out to the sea, you might even think that’s his plan, but no, because Judith is there in the map and she certainly isn’t riding a wyvern, same goes for all his other men. Imagine the mockery, the sheer audacity of driving your enemy into a corner and thinking you’ll kill him only for all his men to suddenly get on wyverns and escape from you, which is possible thanks to the mount/unmount mechanic. Just imagine, you’re trying to save him and upon reaching halfway through the map, he and all his men get on wyverns and escape, saying they’ll trust you to take care of the empire as they run away, as you realize he just fooled you into taking out the trash for him. It would’ve been awesome! A moment worthy of The Master Trickster, but no, you just have to kill the boss before he kills Claude and Judith and that’s the map, that’s the whole thing.

And don’t even get me started on his map on Edelgard’s route. For a whole month people hype Claude up to be John Von Neumann combined with The Joker and Sun Tzu, so I’m expecting his level to be a really twisted one: warps, damaging terrain, falco knights with horse slayers, ballistae, swordmasters with armorslayers, siege tomes, sleep staves, berserk staves, etc. Instead, the level in which you fight against Claude has basically 0 unusual terrains, his “master strategy” is to just call for reinforcements until you cut off the source of reinforcements. This means that his “incredibly genius master tactic of galaxy-brain depth” is to use brute force, which is literally the exact opposite of clever tactics. Needless to say, this was to me the biggest disappointment, really wasted that opportunity to make a level that’s actually unique.

Then you go on to fight Dimitri’s right afterwards and guess what: his map has a siege tome user(with decent crit rate!), it has a unique monster gimmick where you have to kill an enemy every turn to avoid them turning into monsters, it has 4 commanders all calling for reinforcements leaving you to choose wisely which one needs to be stopped first, it has a river separating both sides of the map so that your teams have to be cleanly split up if going for multiple objectives, etc. It’s my favorite level in the game because it’s well thought out, interesting and basically more like what you’d expect of the mission where you’d fight a tactical mastermind. Sigh.

III. Ideological Conflict (a lack of it)

This is my biggest issue with the game

I really memed myself playing Edelgard's route so early because as I said previously it feels like a shin megami tensei chaos-route. She is fighting for an ideal, and so I falsely developed the hope that the game would have an ideological conflict. If you play Claude's route, you see that he is also fighting for his ideals, dude wants to end racism, that is awesome! However even when the characters do fight each other, their ideals are never in conflict. In Edelgard’s paralogue you fend off an almyrian invasion but she tells Byleth that she wishes they could be allies, and that in the future they should sit down and talk with almyrians to make their relationship better. In Claude’s route he is often fed up with the church’s historical revisionism and you can see he holds a lot of contempt for the institution as a whole. Edelgard and Claude may fight each other due to circumstance but their ideals are never against each other, in fact they kind of want the same things. And surely enough, Dimitri also thinks racism is whack, which is mostly explored through his relationship with Dedue. But Dimitri just doesn’t really believe in anything, in his route he’s completely reactive to the forces around him, there’s just no ideal world that he’s working towards, instead he just deals with the bullshit others have set in his way (not that there’s anything actually wrong with that, it’s just really underwhelming when the other stories are about ideals). 

And really that’s ok. Like I said this is a problem of my own I memed myself into thinking I was playing a much better game, and only have myself to blame for those expectations. It’s very normal of intelligent systems to not want to put into the game a playable character who is racist or anti-equality. Except we have Lorenz and Ferdinand, two characters that are so fiercely pro-aristocracy I started the game hating them(nowadays Ferdinand is easily in my top 5). Ferdinand believes that nobility is a cross to be carried for the good of the people and that rather than a highway to an easy life, it is a tremendous responsibility to bear and that commoners are better off relying on a noble like himself to make their lives better.

Nobility being a cross is something supported by the narrative! There are many characters dissatisfied with their lives solely because they were born as nobles and have to deal with problems exclusive to nobles, most notably Sylvain, Ingrid and then Mercedes who straight up becomes a commoner because of the pressure of nobility. Lorenz on the other hand has been pressured by his family so much he’s a completely brainwashed tool of the aristocrats, but as the game progresses he gets his head out of his ass and becomes a more likeable character. 

“Edelgard intends to abolish the nobility, but I know I can disuade her”, Ferdinand you bumbling fool, that is literally her main policy, have you ever actually listened to her?

Those two show it is possible for the team to write characters with bad ideals and then develop them into likeable ones, they just didn’t feel like having a lord that upholds bad ideals and grows out of them or is betrayed by their shortcomings. Hell, just imagine if after the last chapter in black eagles those who slither betrayed Edelgard instantly, showing that allying yourself with villainous people only because they’re convenient is sure to lead to betrayal. It would’ve been a sobering moment to see her say that maybe, maybe pairing up with mustache-twirling bad guys might have been a bad idea after all and having to really consider the damage she might have caused by letting them co-exist with her for her goals. Instead her route just ends, significantly shorter than all others. Aghhh. But yeah, this is a problem of my own expectations because fire emblem never had amazingly complex stories to begin with (I know I know, genealogy is supposed to be pretty deep, but that was over 20 years ago, it’s just not relevant to modern fire emblem until it gets a remake).

“Wait so you want Dimitri to be racist?” Oh hell no. Dimitri is literally perfect as he is, just look at him. What I’m saying is he should’ve gotten his own game, because he doesn’t fit in with the other two lords in this game as he has no vision of how the world should be (other than “Good”) and no ideological struggle he needs the world to understand. His story just doesn’t need Fodlan. The kicker is that his house, were it not for their tight and adorable friendship, is the one that is more likely to side with Edelgard as Sylvain, Mercedes, Ingrid, and Felix all hate nobility/aristocracy, and Ashe’s dad whom he idolizes literally gets sentenced to death by the church. Dimitri on a solo game would’ve been a cool story (better than Fates that’s for sure). But in three houses he doesn’t complement the other two lords, and the other two lords also bring him down. It’s what I’ve been saying: the routes just don’t complement each other. Remember how I said many people played Blue Lions and then just flat out refused to play the other routes? It sounded like I was belittling them but those people were right, they’re living their best life and I applaud them, they truly beat the game.

Worth noting that the church route is technically, from an outside perspective, a pro-aristocracy route. The black eagles students are all aristocrats except for Dorothea, and in this route it’d be a fair observation to say that they’re a bunch of spoiled kids who are trying to preserve the status-quo because they don’t want to give up their lands and servants. Obviously this isn’t how the route approaches character motivations, but an incisive in-world historian would’ve made this scathing observation by simply looking at who’s spearheading the revolt against the emperor: a bunch of rich kids.

IV. The Pre-Timeskip common route (FOUR times)

Moving onto gameplay-related nitpicks: what were they thinking? There’s like 13 chapters before the timeskip in every route, and they are always the same missions regardless of which house you choose. One of them is to kill Ashe’s dad and the other one is to kill Sylvain’s brother, you would think those missions would be exclusive to the blue lions and that other routes would have an equivalent for them: a story that hits home, that gets personal with one of the characters you chose and more importantly that just plays differently across all the routes. Instead the game would have you play the same missions 4 times so that you end up dreading the sight of them, on top of them having no real relation to the characters you’re using in 3/4ths of the routes. If the dlc route has me defend Garreg Mach even one more time, I’ll just go insane. Speaking of that:

V. Dimitri, Claude and Church route all have same maps

If you feel like playing all four routes, it’s gonna feel like you’re just playing the exact same game over and over. The maps you play in are literally all the same. And Edelgard isn’t scot-free either, but at least in her maps you fight from the other perspective of the map you know, you’re at least coming at it from another angle (though she will still have you defend Garreg Mach post-timeskip, completely negating the pleasure of not doing that pre-timeskip). I get it: these maps are huge, and they’re highly detailed because you can zoom in and literally see the battalions and all that, it’s really super neat and takes a lot of time to make so you can’t just have a hundred maps. But I mean by the end of the game (that is, playing all four routes) looking at any of the maps feels so tiring. I feel like I might just never replay any of the routes at least for a very long time because I’ve grown sick of seeing them over and over and over so many times. And dear lord, if I have to play Flayn’s paralogue one more time without fliers I’ll just shoot myself. Speaking of fliers.

VI. Fliers are absurdly broken

Literally what were they thinking. Wyvern Riders have absolutely insane stats and thanks to the dismount feature, they lose nothing by being in that class. The last levels in Claude and Edelgard’s routes are severely favored toward fliers too, both of them featuring tons of damaging terrain that is hard to cross for horses, though at least Nemesis has the decency of having many ballistae set up (probably because Claude himself is a flier so they expect you to have at least one). Also all that damaging terrain screws over horses because they thought horses were broken or something. But really, you’d think mobility is such an important stat that they’d compensate for it elsewhere, but no, all you lose is the opportunity cost of not having more crit as a war master (which female characters don’t have access to anyway) or being able to use magic. And horse units just get screwed over in every conceivable way, you’d expect that they at least get some beefy additional stats over wyvern riders but instead they’re actually weaker since wyverns are faster and speed is such an important stat. Also wyverns have so much defense that even in hard mode arrows (their supposed weakness) will have trouble denting them (or even hitting them thanks to their extremely high avoid).

edit: I also invite you to look at the growth rate modifiers for each class and see that all horse classes provide a negative speed growth rate, which is bad enough without realizing that wyverns are so minmaxed they even provide a cute minus 5 magic as a “balance” while getting boosts to both defense and speed in their final class. Are you kidding me? Horses are basically a player trap, they look cool and they’re half the master classes so they gotta be useful, right? Couldn’t be more wrong. Also what’s the deal with mortal savant providing -10% speed growth, that shit is bananas, how could the Naruto class hamper your speed if Naruto is all about that running, IT’S INSANE.

This is all exacerbated once you go for a low-turn-count playthrough, a fairly popular style of play among fans of the series where as the name indicates you try to beat the levels in as few turns as possible. Suddenly fliers go from clearly the strongest, to necessary. What’s absurd is how fliers are affected by the Stride battalion in the same way all other units are. Stride is a battalion effect that allows a group of units to have higher movement for one turn, your little walking units suddenly being able to walk 12 squares like it’s nothing feels pretty good but this battalion can also boost the movement of fliers and horses which means: why would you waste it on infantry units? It would’ve been so easy, and would’ve made so much sense for stride to only work on walking units, or to at least have reduced effectiveness on mounted units, but they just completely forgot that.

I knew I should’ve gone wyvern, could’ve had way more 1′s

VII. Crests

Oh wow, a neat game feature where each character has a unique skill related to their bloodline, and the story acknowledges their existence by saying they’re so highly valued they decide who’s noble and who isn’t. Surely they came up with really interesting effects for all of them, right? Wrong. “Raise Mt when using skills”, “Raise Mt when using magic”, “Raise Mt when attacking”. This shit is boring. But hey it’s ok right, you can’t expect them to come up with unique interesting skills for each character to have right? Except they did, each character (crest-bearer or not) has a personal skill, and they are all way more interesting than crests. The only non-boring crests are the ones bore by Annete, Mercedes, Hilda and Ferdinand. And Annete doesn’t even learn meteor, so her magic-conservation isn’t even that amazing once she becomes a gremory, though it probably is fairly useful if she becomes a dark knight instead. I will say though, crests are still way better than the personal crit skills from radiant dawn, like Stun and the like which were basically glorified critical hits in some cases or straight up silencers in the case of luna or eclipse (hell, those skills got so bad that the endgame is filled with Nihil wielders, characters who just straight up cancel the activation of enemy skills because the game itself had to patch them out preemptively due to how ridiculous they were, but at least they were impressive and memorable and not just “raise Mt a little bit sometimes” are you kidding me).

VIII. Lost items

Up until now these have all been nitpicks but if anything gets my blood boiling is those dreaded lost items, a gameplay feature that I just straight up gave up on and never looked back. You find a billion lost items throughout the monastery, which is great, an item that shows the personality of the character that lost it, and once you return it to them your affection grows. The problem is that there’s really like a hundred of them, and they’re not hard to find but rather are a pain to give back to their owners, for the screen where you select them doesn’t allow for any kind of sorting options. How hard was it isys?? I press X and the items are ordered alphabetically, was that really so hard? You really expect me to rummage through this endless list until I find the right one from the sea of really small text for ants? THIS IS THE REAL GAMEBREAKER, THIS IS WHERE IT ALL FALLS APART AND I REALIZE THIS GAME IS A TOOL OF THE DEVIL TO WRECK HAVOC INTO THE SOULS OF ALL PLAYERS.

In the end

So yeah, basically it’s a pretty good game, I’d say at least a 9/10 and unironically among my favorite fire emblems. I won’t go into detail about what I like because that’s not the point of the post and really who gives a shit, but it’s really good and I can’t wait for the dlc next year! Also this:

(also please let magic always function like in this game where instead of tomes and staves you have a set number of uses per encounter like it’s dungeons and dragons, that shit ruled)

edit: I did another post about the maddening difficulty, you might like it if you have read this far 

[buzzdixonwriter]

Social Justice Warrior Snowflake

All the unimaginative neo-nazis and their alt-right fans glom onto certain catch phrases the way anxious middle schoolers glom onto the latest slang in a desperate attempt to pass for one of the cool kids.

Catch phrases and slogans are a great way to avoid thinking, and when you avoid thinking you dupe yourself into believing you are also avoiding responsibility, that if anything goes wrong the “they” are responsible and not “me” because “I was only following orders” or “they said it was okay”.

Neeps.  Nope.  Sorry.  We allow none of that bullshit here.

Here we do the math, we show the work, we follow things through to their logical-even-if-painful conclusions…and we live with the results.

So let’s look at two phrases the neo-nazi propagandists and their stooges like to bandy about.

The first is “social justice warrior” or SJW.[1]

Let’s break the phrase down into its three components.

First, ”social”.  From the Latin socialis "of companionship, of allies; united, living with others; of marriage, conjugal"; in this context it means “of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society.”

In particular, relating to an orderly, peaceable culture among people who follow basic principles that reduce friction and maximize benefits to as many people as possible.

A society adheres to certain codes / morals / taboos / ethics so as to maintain order.

Clearly, not all societies are the same, and what might fly in an Irish pub might not pass muster in a Moroccan coffee house.

However, both societies, Irish and Moroccan, possess certain standards they subscribe to, and woe to those who violate said standards by either acts of omission or commission.

If you deny a patron of either pub or coffee house their due rights in those environments, you can expect someone to stick up for them.

So “social” in the SJW context means a person who recognizes no one is an island, and that all of us owe one another basic rights and courtesies.

To be opposed to “social” means by definition to be anti-social, or to live one’s life only for one’s own benefit.

Not all anti-social people are destructive psychopaths, but by definition all destructive psychopaths are anti-social.

So to use “social” as part of a derogatory insult is pretty much declaring one is at odds with what society stands for.

This is not necessarily a good thing.  Hunter S. Thompson wrote extensively about Hell’s Angels and other outlaw motorcycle clubs, and while he took a sympathetic view of them and pointed out the numerous times they had been framed or set up by the establishment, he also noted their isolation from society fueled their animus against it, a truly self-fulfilling / self-defeating prophecy.

The Hell’s Angels, a surprisingly conservative and authoritarian group on their own terms, at least possess a live-and-let-live attitude where they will not actively seek out confrontation if left alone.

Not so the neo-nazis, who see any gain by any non-neo-nazi as a loss for them.

Which brings us to the second part of the phrase, “justice”.

Bad movies and TV shows and comic books obliterate the original meaning of “justice” and replace it with retribution.

Retribution is not justice.  Retribution is merely…retribution.

Justice is what happens before any wrong occurs; justice is not about returning pain for pain.

The neo-nazi mindset scorns the idea of justice while embracing the concept of punishment.

Punishment is what those in authority mete out to those who dare disobey them, and this is the rationale behind the alt-right’s scorn of justice.

“Justice” in the SJW context means taking pro-active steps to avoid harm or injustice falling on someone.

Justice is served if a store isn’t robbed, it is not served if it merely punishes those who committed the crime.

This is why the neo-nazis mock the concept of justice, frequently linking it to a straw man of their own devising:  Political Correctness.

“PC” is nothing more / nothing less than the golden rule -- threat others as you wish to be treated -- writ large.  It is an open and above board effort to forestall problems and injustice and harm by rephrasing issues so all sides are treated fairly,

I have yet to hear an anti-PC argument that does not boil down to some variant of “I can’t call people [slur of choice] anymore without being criticized for it!”

Anti-PC rhetoric is the mark of the coward and the bully, not of fearless persons who can defend their ideas.

As noted previously, the neo-nazi / anti-PC mindset is incapable of tolerating anything that challenges its authority, despite such authority often being unearned.

When they hear an oppressed group should be treated with the exact same dignity and respect them demand for themselves from others, neo-nazis respond with anger and resentment that their “right” to treat others unilaterally without fear of accountability or reprisal is being challenged.

Their argument against “Political Correctness” and their argument against “justice” are one and the same, and knowing that an open and honest assessment of their arguments would demonstrate their intellectual and ethical bankruptcy, they lash out in pre-emptive strikes (literally and figuratively) to prevent themselves from ever having to live up to the standards established by America’s founding fathers.

Their claims that “PC culture” squelches the free expression of ideas is simply further proof of the paucity of their own arguments.

Ideas can be expressed in a vast array of means, and if so-called “PC culture” requires a certain vocabulary, then intellectually fully engaged people can make their ideas known -- and known clearly! -- in any number of ways.

Neo-nazis fancy themselves as people of action, not intellect, and as noted do not want a genuine discussion of ideas but only acquiescence to a system that benefits them at the expense of others.

They refuse to embrace any system in which they are not the dominant group but instead are one of many.[2]

The final sneer from the neo-nazis’ lips is aimed at “warrior” which they use with deliberate irony, denigrating SJWs as impotent whiners while they are people of action.[3]

They hurl this epithet at those who stand up and voice support for people who have received a raw deal by society and want to see them treated fairly under the law.

This is where one must pause and scratch one’s head at the number of military and law enforcement personnel who support neo-nazi beliefs.  They are either woefully ill-informed on who and what they are supposed to be defending, or else they are deliberately and willfully betraying the nation that has trusted them.

And I write this as a military vet.  Even in the post-Vietnam era we were all acutely aware we had sacrificed certain rights and privileges guaranteed our fellow citizens in order to serve our country by protecting those rights and privileges for those fellow citizens.

Too many military and police today do not see themselves as servants of their nation and what it stands for, but rather as self-justified authority, might made right by application of force.

It’s easy to grasp why this appeals to the neo-nazi mindset -- inarticulate action aimed at others to force them to obey simply for the sake of obedience.

And it is a well documented fact that in many jurisdictions the police have indeed been infiltrated by crypto-fascists -- klansmen, neo-nazis, and white supremacists -- who subvert the mission of their own departments in order to wage war n those they consider “undesirable”.[4]

Thus, whenever one hears the term “social justice warrior” used as an insult, one is very clearly hearing the speaker rejecting all sense of society and justice in order to claim unearned power and authority over others.

There is no escaping this truth.

In the case of the military and the police, this attitude besmirches the huge sacrifice made by others in order to protect the weak, the poor, the powerless, the defenseless, and the oppressed.

The military and police who support neo-nazis and their alt-right followers are for all intents and purposes wiping their asses with the Constitution and turning Arlington into a vast cesspool.

If that image offends thee, soldier / sailor / airman / officer, ask yourself why.

As stated earlier, there is no dodging unpleasant truth here.

Finally, the neo-nazis’ use of the term “snowflake” to denigrate SJWs.  Again, the all too literal neo-nazi mindset fails to grasp the irony of their use of the term.

To them a snowflake is weak and ineffectual, melting at the first sign of trouble.

As with the fasces, the symbol they use belies their own philosophy.

A snowflake by itself is weak and fragile; every human being is.[5]

You know what you call a bunch of snowflakes moving in the same direction?

AN AVALANCHE

And nothing stops an avalanche:  You either get out of the way or you let it roll over you and hope you survive.

By their words ye shall know them.  The neo-nazis and their alt-right supporters are incapable of recognizing how badly their own words portray them.  They do not lack the intellectual capacity to grasp such ideas -- indeed, in technical fields they often easily grasp far more complex subjects -- but they lack the introspection to see how “social justice” is in fact a true measure of a person.

They lack introspection because they fear responsibility.

They love exercising authority over others, they loath exercising mastery over themselves.

. . .

[1]  Another sign of weak minded neo-nazis is not only a fondness for reducing everything down to simplistic slogans but then boiling those slogans down even further into abbreviations.  What this does is remove all intellectual thought and rational articulation from the equation, suspends critical thinking, and renders complex, profound, and often nuanced and complicated issues down to pure visceral emotional reactions -- reactions often totally at odds with the subject they are directed towards.  Eventually even the abbreviations are discarded and replaced by a symbol designed to stir up violent emotion and spur unreflective action guided by others who are doing the thinking for those doing the work.  “SJW” is always used in a sneering, derogatory, to ridicule and belittle those whom the neo-nazis and their alt-right sycophants have slapped this label on.

[2]  Ironically, the very symbol of fascism -- the fasces, or axe with the handle reinforced by a bundle of sticks -- was co-opted by Mussolini and his crew of thugs despite the fact it symbolized the very thing they were opposed to! (i.e., trust, loyalty, and cooperation among all people).

[3]  Yeah, I know, I’ve seen pictures of them, too.  Irony is not one of their strong points.

[4]  And the great tragedy -- the great betrayal -- is that honorable police officers, exhibiting loyalty to their own, allow the normalization of such treacherous behavior, and in doing so actually undermine their own real authority as well as the authority of the society that grants them that authority in order to protect the society itself.

[5]  Though neo-nazis and their ilk live in a mental comic book where they are great invulnerable superheroes who can do no wrong and make no mistakes.

© Buzz Dixon

[jacobsmith321]

The Personality of the Characters.

It’s good to talk about the history and how much you love the films...but that doesn’t mean much unless you explain why there’s so much charm. The reason why the films also work are because of the characters that are written in, the quirks and redeemable or possibly irredeemable traits they carry.

Aardman has created a LOT of diverse personalities and why they work so well with one another or against each other, is due to a combination of realism along with fiction. The realistic likes, dislikes, quirks and lovable aspects, fused within a made up world, where anything can happen.

Examples

Wallace and Gromit

Wallace and Gromit’s dynamic is that of being best friends (more than master and owner, plus dogs are “man’s best friend”). They read together, eat together and work together. They both work average jobs and man very complex inversions that allow them to make simple tasks !easier” with such needless devises and ridiculous strategies (but they work), for simple tasks such as washing windows, baking bread or pest control. This part of their dynamic makes them interesting because they could make almost anything they wanted and their next mundane task can be taken to a hilarious and grand level.

As to how their personalities make them so great, takes that previous concept to a whole new level. Wallace is your typical stereotypical Brit; Wallance loves to drink tea, relax, read the newspaper and speaks in an old timely accent, having words like “chum” or “lad”. He even has mild mannerisms to not raise his voice, be patient and take it easy. But this personality trait can also make him very unaware of his surrounding, almost leading to him causing accidents accidents or forgetting very important tasks. This also leads him to being very unaware of danger and leading to a situation getting out of hand unintentionally. He’s a genius but not very smart. He’ll fall for almost any lady or believe someone too quickly. Also, he’s crackers for cheese and it’s his weakness and it adds that little quirk in his personality which shows how human and life like he is. His big cheesy grin and way he holds his hands up, shows he’s a very friendly and lovely chap.

This is where Gromit comes in. His personality is the exact opposite; he’s always got Wallace’s back no matter what. He’s the first one who’s always aware and suspicious of a situation. Gromit’s just like Wallace where he’s calm and wants to relax but when trouble’s afoot he needs to put down the cuppa and put on a fresh pot to see what’s going on. He may save Wallace from dangerous robot dogs, a hunter who wants to steal back his girl, a crazy bread baking serial killer or even a thieving penguin. Gromit’s a dog so he doesn’t speak or have a mouth but that’s the beauty of his design. You get everything from the expression of his eyes, movements and action alone. You can tell exactly what’s thinking and what his train of thought is, like rolling his eyes means he’s sighing, the slight moody with a lifted brow is suspicion or squinting his eyes with a lifted brow means he’s embarrassed...it just works. His quirkiness is that he’s still a dog, so he can’t be understood no matter how many times he tries to point something out and does become the butt of the joke when one of Wallace’s inventions needs something done or goes wrong, He’s still got chew toys, record labels like Puppy Love and still gets things like collars or leads.

Wallace is the comic relief and Gromit is the straight man (a person who has to be the mature and non-jokey person in the group). They make a perfect comedic duo, are always there one another and are 2 of Britain’s most iconic characters.

Feathers McGraw

Out of all the villains in British animation, this has to be one of the most scariest and hilarious ones. Feather McGraw was introduced in the Wallace and Gromit episode “The Wrong Trousers” where Wallace and Gromit have a new person renting a room in their house but when Wallace gets a new pair of techno trousers, all becomes hectic. The new person renting their room is Feather McGraw (a penguin) who is actually a master thief who wears a chicken hat in his crimes to not get caught when he takes it off. Feathers uses Wallace and the techno trousers to steal the diamond but thankfully Gromit had caught on to him and after a complicated heist and dramatic train scene, they Feathers and sent him to...a zoo.

Feathers works as a villain in the context of Wallace and Gromit because he’s a goody little penguin with a silly chicken hat...but that doesn’t make you laugh honestly. Due to his emotionless look, lack of expression and subtle movements made, you get this off vibe from him. Animals need to have some sort of emotional, indication; it doesn’t matter if the signals animals and humans get are angry, happy sad or bored, they need something. Feather has not emotions and even when he does that willy little thing when he flips the rubber chicken hat over his heads, it’s just a slight break away from the tension we get from him.

Gromit doesn’t like him and he honestly scares Gromit, with making his living conditions harder. Wallace suffers with a humiliation of being stuck in the techno trousers and even during his sleep he was forces to do a heist. During the train scene, Feathers had a revolver to shoot at them both to ward them off while he was getting away. That is insane and quite frankly frightening for a small flightless bird to have. He’s goofy in terms of his concept and design...but his lack of expression and devious actions make him more scary frankly. Also like Gromit, he says nothing and has no mouth (he has a beak but it never opens).

Morph

Morph is their oldest surviving character and series, even before their poster men of Wallace and Gromit. 

Morph is a Plasticine model who loves to play games and do silly antics with his friends. His main power is to...morph and become whatever he wants. He can also be pulled apart and stick pieces back onto himself. be flattened and brought back to normal shape, stretch himself and more. He can transform into objects and animals.

His personality is child like and goofy (since his program is very catered to the younger demographic), so he’s relatable to children when acting like this. 

He speaks but not with a normal voice, as it’s high pitch and their are odd vocals with no actual dialogue or proper wording, which can work as the character’s expression, tone of voice and actions can say more than actual words can, so more focus and fun’s put on the concept of the skits.

Morph works as a characters because he’s simple. He gets grumpy when he’s annoyed by someone or something doesn’t go his way but he likes to play and be silly, even pull jokes at times. He doesn’t need to be too complex but he’s expressive enough for kids to love him.

Ginger

Ginger is from one of my favourite childhood films, Chicken Run (also their first collaboration with Dreamworks). This Aardman product was brilliant in terms of writing, character depth, progression and development. It was a WW2 styled film about chickens that want escape the coop and farm they’re stuck in, before they’re turned into pies. They lead by a brave chicken named Ginger, who never gives up on wanting to leave and no matter how many times she’s put into solitary confinement, she manages to get back up. Eventually after an ecounter with Rocky the Rooster, they attempt to learn how to fly and after a load of events, it lead to them creating a plain to escape the farm and they manage to live a peaceful life.

As to how Ginger works as a character, she is your typical strong headed protagonist that never gives up but she has faith in others which makes her strong. She’s the most stable minded but even her aspirations can make her irrational. She has the best intentions and keeps the groups of chickens from getting mad and going off the rails. 

Ginger’s development with Rocky shows how even she needs faith herself and that she’s open to letting people give her hope, so when she finds out Rocky lied to her about being able to fly, she felt a sense of betrayal within her...but even then, she puts other’s feelings before hers and so she carries on working on that plan to create a plain and even defeats the farmer planning to kill her and the chickens. She even forgives Rocky for what he lied about when he returned to save them.

This shows that Aardman don’t just make films based off comedy but can be serious and apply subtle messages, themes and heart whelming stories.

Ginger personifies that greatly. She’s got a lot of wonderful, strong traits but her faults make her perfect, because she’s not perfect (no one is but everyone has their unique aspects, even the negative one). Also her character design is well worked with slight human elements to let her be practical and emotive but still look like a chicken.

Conclusion

Aardman don’t just make characters, they make people. They don’t make them perfect but that’s what makes them perfect. their struggles and life style feels relatable and real; the companionship, silliness, slightly serious moments and captivating quirks makes them human and likable.

They definitely add a lot of British elements into their stories and they personify those qualities well via their characters, in speech, actions and movements.

Aardman, knows what their doing and always had been,

Virgin Media. (2020, September 13). Ten cracking Aardman characters. Retrieved October 3, 2020, from Virgin Media: https://www.virginmedia.com/virgin-tv-edit/movies/our-favourite-aardman-character (Images are from)

[mlablockquote204]

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[edwad]

on marx’s inferno

there are weaknesses in arguments that refer to marx’s notes/letters regarding the lack of something, especially since so little of it survives and even less of it has been translated, but you would think something as critical as the very structure of marx’s argument in volume 1 and how it relates to the socialist theory of his contemporaries (and those who came before) would have popped up, if not in marx’s own hand then in engels’, if not in engels’ then in the socialist response to volume 1, who apparently was supposed to be aware of the content of these debates regarding the place of “hell” and dante’s inferno as a literary analogy, etc. 

william roberts makes what i think is an excellent point in his response to david harvey’s review, when he says “The literary form of his [marx’s] intervention is not a costume he dresses his theory up in; it is the form of the theory itself.” to me, this is an crucial insight (although worded somewhat awkwardly), but i dont think it means what he believes it does. that marx’s style is reflective of the theory, rather than just being how it appears, is something i think to be absolutely true. i mentioned the other day how marx’s use of irony goes beyond tone and is a way for marx to capture the contradictory nature of the subject. robert paul wolff asserts that “The key to an understanding of Capital is the concept of mystification,” which marx addresses -- theoretically -- through his use of irony. wolff says, “Marx’s complex vision of the reality and mystifying appearance of capitalist society can be rendered literarily only by the ironic discourse that we in fact find in Capital.” later on (more profoundly), he notes, 

“Marx wishes to assert, as an indispensable tenet of his analysis of capitalism, that the particular obfuscations exhibited in classical political economy are the necessary and characteristic mode in which capitalist social relations misrepresent themselves. Every mode of production, he argues, rationalises its social relationships of production in a distinctive manner. Capitalism’s strategy of justification is to present a surface appearance of justice and equal exchange, so concealing its fundamental exploitative nature as to appear to have nothing to hide. 

Marx must find a language that will permit him to do three things at once. His language must express the mysteriousness of our daily experience of commodity production and exchange; it must lead us to confront that mysteriousness; and it must help us to dispel the illusion so that we may apprehend the real nature of capitalist social relations and move beyond the false clarity of classical political economy to a true understanding of exploitation, accumulation, and crisis.

Marx seeks, furthermore, a discourse that will permit him, while accomplishing this complex effort of demystification, still to capture and express the extent to which he, and we, as participants in the mystified social order of capitalism, preserve its illusions, fetishisms, and mysteries even as we expose them and strive to overcome them. We shall find that Marx’s language in the opening chapters of Capital is artfully devised for these purposes, while permitting the expression of complex moral sentiments in a fashion that would be prohibited by the style of Value, Price, and Profit. Indeed, it is not too strong to say that Capital is a work of high literary art whose dominant metaphors, ironic structure, and authorial voice subserve a deliberate philosophical purpose”

this, i think, is an extremely powerful way to read volume 1, and i think roberts is right to discuss the ways in which marx’s style is more than just marx talking about concepts in an exciting or “simplified” way, but, counter to his interpretation, i believe it to be a very real attempt at grappling with “the ironic structure of the crazy, inverted world of capitalism” through language.  

in this, i think roberts falls for a problem also outlined by wolff,

“To say that a poet speaks metaphorically is to say that the poet sees certain resemblances or correspondences and wishes us to see them as well. But to say that the world is in itself metaphorical – so that the poet merely discovers what already exists – is to say that objects, events, and relationships themselves refer to other objects, events, and relationships. Now, on the face of it, the rising of the sun in the East cannot itself refer to the resurrection of Jesus, or the eventual ascension into heaven of those who have been saved, although I, as the observer of the event, may draw that comparison. Only if the universe is imbued with meaning, only, that is, if the universe is the intentional product of a purposeful Creator, can it make sense to describe objects or events as themselves referring.”

roberts seems to be “the observer of the event”, having projected his metaphor onto volume 1 in this exact way. rather than simply projecting a parallel which has useful implications, as in the case of “the poet”, he sees the parallel that he himself has constructed as evidence of “the intentional product of a purposeful Creator”, in this instance, the Creator of volume 1.

that his book might stimulate discussion in extremely important ways, and perhaps even change the way that we reflect on volume 1, is a very good thing, but that can happen without assuming any intent on marx’s part here. if anything, the information we have seems to imply that robert’s thesis falls flat, and i think he believes that this tie between metaphor and marx’s project is crucial to the validity of his reading. 

maybe some would deny the relevance of a book that is solely interested in constructing a new angle to approach volume 1 that didn’t derive from marx himself, but i think that’s a mistake. when it comes to approaching a text like this, we are bound to project on it in our own ways. to have a book which offers a macro-projection which bears implications for the potential political aspects of marx’s capital is exciting and useful, at the very least in the generation of new discussions and ideas. 

since we’re quickly approaching the 150th anniversary of volume 1, we’re bound to get lots of books dealing with the text, but this one may have a more important role to play in how people construct their reading of capital than the same old debates thrown around by the same old theorists for the millionth time. this is a truly original thesis, and something which we should reflect on, but without it turning into an imposition of “what marx really meant”. the danger in this sort of approach is that it works like vice grips on the reading of marx, and encourages the opposite of open discussion but rather tries to narrow the scope and limit the potential utility of marx’s critique. that marx may have intended to write volume 1 is not really up for debate, but a reading regarding his intention to write it in the way roberts seems to believe, which is predicated on flimsy terms like this (especially being pushed in the way it is), can do more harm than good.

if it brings people to marx, or even forces us to revisit him on new terms, then the book is a success. but that success does not have to include an agreement with the straightjacket of roberts’ interpretation.

[bonesandblood-sunandmoon]

Lycanthropy::HIV

I’m certainly not the first person to approach this topic, but in the process of writing an HP fic with an HIV+ character, I’m really being forced to look at the world building of lycanthropy in comparison to HIV.

Just a sampling of other articles:

Remus Lupin and the stigmatised illness: why lycanthropy is not a good metaphor for HIV/AIDS [article link] - Goes into Lupin as the “good outlier” compared to other werewolves.

Dear JK Rowling: Being a Werewolf Is Not Like Having HIV [article link] from TheBody, an HIV/AIDS resource - Goes into the queercoding and problem with isolation being a tactic to manage werewolves, among other points.

While it’s easier to google ‘HIV and lycanthropy’ and get takes like this, I can’t say it’s an example of everyone being in agreement. Some of the more astute fans were able to make a connection during PoA when it was just another element of Lupin’s queercoding, and I vaguely remember a ‘foot in the door’ attitude since this was supposed to be a YA series started in the late 1990s. (But, well, JKR was JKR, and some story elements don’t age well.)

#1: Historical Presence

Lycanthropy: In universe, there’s no origin werewolf, but the wiki entry includes a reference to the Werewolf Code of Conduct of 1637 and werewolves wanting to create their own societies, which isn’t terribly surprising for a population that’s been around for at least 350 years, if not longer [Werewolf HP Wiki link].

HIV: Testing old tissue and blood samples and virus sequencing has been able to trace a likely origin for the first non-human to human virus transmission (circa 1910), the emergence of strains that could pass from human to human (1910 - 1950), and some people who died prior to the 1980s from secondary infections brought on by AIDS [Timeline of early HIV/AIDS cases; Transmission from non-humans to humans; and Emergence of HIV]. However, at the height of the epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, this was not common knowledge, and I wouldn’t expect an HIV+ character to know this within a story or think HIV wasn’t a ‘new’ thing.

#2: Transmission Method

Lycanthropy: Being a werewolf is supposedly only possible via being bitten by a werewolf in their wolf form, while an injury from a werewolf in their human form creates “lupine tendencies like a fondness for rare meat” without the ability to transform into a wolf form [Werewolf HP Wiki link]. (Because Bill’s attack from an untransformed Greyback is relatively late in terms of how long fans were writing about werewolves, some continue to ignore that any side effects result from human form injuries, like scratching and biting, and/or human saliva because it retroactively creates issues for some foreplay and sex scenes.)

Prior to Bill’s attack, canon created an impression that wolf form saliva meeting human blood is the only means of transmission so human form blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids were ‘safe’, which removed the sexually transmitted infection aspect and stigma. There was also an impression that scratching and the resulting facial scarring were not the primary means of infection, but after Bill’s attack which primarily featured human form scratching, canon became a little less clear on the exact mechanism that results in lycanthropy. (Only wolf form saliva? Both human and wolf form saliva? Something transferred into the bloodstream via scratches that isn’t saliva?)

HIV: According to CDC numbers from 2015, spitting and biting have a “negligible” risk (technically possible but unlikely and not well documented) [CDC HIV Risk Behaviors]. Generally, the risk is so low that spit swapping varieties of kissing are included under myth busting questions about how HIV isn’t spread.

HIV is spread through certain bodily fluids - blood, semen (cum), pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk - coming into contact with mucous membranes, damaged tissue (ex. open cut), or being directly injected into the bloodstream via needle or syringe [CDC HIV Transmission]. While sexual activity is not the only means of transmission, it is unavoidably a well known one that factors into how people reacted to HIV and AIDS.

#3: Transmission Rate

Lycanthropy: As far as we know, the transmission rate from a wolf form bite is 100%. It’s only with Greyback’s human form attack on Bill that there’s discussion of not all werewolf attacks resulting in passing on lycanthropy, but that’s transferring the analogy about variable transmission rates for HIV from ‘wolf form bite’ to a general ‘attack’. There’s not really a lycan version of an undetectable viral load in this analogy.

HIV: Fun fact, this does not have a 100% transmission rate. I can’t give you the ole razzle dazzle with a bunch of math because there are different high/medium/low risk activities, ways to reduce transmission (PrEP is pre-exposure, PEP is post-exposure), and variables that mean you are not guaranteed to get HIV from the same activity every single time, particularly if you factor in an undetectable viral load. Granted, some elements of this weren’t known in the 1990s, but given that JKR wasn’t writing and releasing her books then, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for some of this nuance to be given consideration.

#4: Management via Medication

Lycanthropy: The expensive ingredients and difficult brewing instructions for Wolfsbane Potion do work within this analogy for difficulty affording and accessing early antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is part of how lycanthropy could get interpreted as a metaphor for HIV by readers before JKR weighed in, but I must admit that her world building to give lycanthropy at least a 350 year history makes it harder to understand Wolfsbane Potion only getting invented in the 1970s. The framing of Remus missing one dose just one month in PoA also sets up an unsettling “if you miss one dose, you are in fact a danger to everyone” scenario.

HIV: This is an area where it takes some careful phrasing with search terms because today’s options for medicine are not exactly the same as what would’ve been available in the 1990s. Generally speaking, the combination options that offer two or three medicines in one pill sound like they may have been more likely to be separate, and some of the side effects were different (more likely to be more severe when it came to effects on the liver, unless I’m misinterpreting). Most sound like they were once or twice a day, everyday prescriptions, and it was likely you would need various supplements and ‘not really treating the HIV but still needed’ other pills. However, I haven’t tried to definitively track the minutiae of differences in medication between then and now, so I must admit that I have a general impression more so than exact details. The biggest component in relation to the lycanthropy aspect is that it takes more than one missed dose to undo the effects of being medication compliant.

#5: Management via Isolation

Lycanthropy: Because Wolfsbane Potion is more literally a sedative that just reduces a wolf wanting to attack humans, really the “best medicine” is isolation. It comes across as an easy solution since the Shrieking Shack was devised while Remus was at school before Wolfsbane Potion was invented, but it feeds the encouragement of social isolation for werewolves in their human form, particularly those too poor to access the Wolfsbane Potion. (Hint: Probably the majority.)

HIV: There’s a bit of a history with AIDS patients and isolation, but I must admit that I’m unsure if it’s more USA specific than a universal experience. Remember how no one wanted to visit the wizard who had just been bitten in OotP while Arthur was in St. Mungo’s over the holidays? Well, magnify that, so the wizard wasn’t able to be on the same floor as non-lycans, staff would avoid bringing food and interacting, and he might have to be sent to a separate facility that only catered to lycans.

At any rate, a fair amount of people liked the idea of isolation with HIV+ people because they wanted to avoid getting HIV and had inaccurate ideas of how that happened (breathing the same air, social touching, touching an object after an HIV+ person, etc.), so someone should’ve reconsidered how isolation was used for werewolves.

#6: Life Outcome

Lycanthropy: From the sounds of it, when Greyback isn’t involved in an intentional death, you’ll live but hate yourself, and society will hate you because they somehow still think you’ll turn people as a human even after over 350 years of knowing about werewolves. Plus, the wiki cites (from a page that used to be on Pottermore) “tragic tales are told of knowing victims begging for death rather than becoming werewolves” [Werewolf HP Wiki link].

There’s really no beating around the bush - that sounds incredibly depressing. For fuck’s sake, there’s no sense of community and making the best of your life even if it is different now that might sound like there’s still a chance to have a life. (Greyback having an underground society of werewolves who hate the Wizarding world because they’re hated so much isn’t exactly a positive example of community, by the way.) The main canon example of werewolf life expectancy (Remus lived 33 years after infection) doesn’t provide a judge of all werewolves when Wizarding Wars have also factored into reduced life expectancy.

HIV: Admittedly, it depends on when you’re writing about getting a diagnosis. The height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and into the 1990s is not the same as the late 1990s and early 2000s or the present day (2019). Another factor is the particular diagnosis of Stage 1 (acute HIV; the first few weeks of infection), Stage 2 (chronic HIV, which can be asymptomatic), or Stage 3 (AIDS). A person who doesn’t seek out ART could be at Stage 2 for about 10 years and Stage 3 for another three years, but that’s not a guarantee or reflective of life expectancy while on medication [The Stage of HIV Infection].

#7: Inheritability (or Transmission to Offspring)

Lycanthropy: Strictly speaking, it takes a bite from the werewolf parent in wolf form for a child to acquire their parent’s lycanthropy. However, the concern and “this is new so no one knows” quality of Tonks’ pregnancy created an air of uncertainty that means some fans attribute Teddy not being a werewolf to Tonks being a Metamorphmagus and/or lycanthropy only being transmitted to the child if the pregnant person is infected.

Bizarrely, the Werewolf Wiki claims Teddy Lupin is the only known case of a werewolf having a child in human form, which doesn’t sound plausible when werewolves have been around for over 350 years and, y’know, monsterfuckers exist. (Yes, this is a YA series and getting into the nitty gritty would be inappropriate for the genre, but JKR specifically planned out Teddy Lupin, so a little critical thinking about werewolf/human is necessary.)

HIV: I must admit most resources turning up are within the last few years and may not be 100% transferable to the 1990s, but it is certainly possible to have an HIV- child if the sperm providing person is HIV+ by reducing the risk of transmission to the egg providing person, who faces a higher risk of transmission to the child [HIV and Family Planning]. It’s not a guarantee that a child will acquire HIV if the person carrying the pregnancy is HIV+, but exposure to blood during delivery and breastfeeding do carry a risk.

(I suggest that link provided earlier for more information in this area because I don’t know much about family planning options other than IVF being available in the early 1990s.) I must admit that using this element of transmission in the metaphor with lycanthropy would keep every instance from coming across as “intentional bite from monster”, and having some sort of rules for whether a child could have lycanthropy would come across as more purposeful world building than a slapstick view that Teddy Lupin is the only known case.

#8: Good Exception versus Bad Actually Dangerous Group

Lycanthropy: Of course the anti-lycan bias and discrimination doesn’t make sense when it’s Remus Lupin, but it’s a totally different story with Greyback, who climbed into Remus’ bedroom via a window and bit him as a child (Predatory Gay vibes anyone, plus a side of Sexual Deviancy with some of his other lines at women). Most werewolves align with the Dark Side and Greyback wants to turn as many children as possible in order to outnumber the Wizarding world and take over (Older Predatory Gay wants to “recruit” our Good -Het- Normal Children anyone?).

HIV: The first example that I can think of is admittedly an example of a child in the US who needed a blood transfusion acquiring HIV. Instead of being an example of HIV being transmitted via blood and not synonymous with gay sex, Ryan White was a virtuous exception to ‘God is punishing the gays’ narrative. (This isn’t to say that this is exactly how the White family presented their son’s AIDS diagnosis, but it does factor into how other people used this case and how people remember the comparison between a hemophiliac child ‘who didn’t do anything to deserve this’ and ‘the people who did do something to deserve this’.)

#9: The Elephant in the Room

Lycanthropy: A metaphor for HIV, a disease that impacted queer communities and is still incredibly associated with queer men by some people, carries an element of queercoding. While HIV is transmitted through various bodily fluids and does not require sexual activity, there’s still an association with receptive anal sex, which is associated with queer men. Depending on where you live in the 2000s, this perception of who is more likely to be HIV+ may not be queer men, but I can’t make guaranteed statements about the 1990s. Admittedly, some of this may be US heavy, but it’s certainly an element of HIV’s historical context that a writer has to face when writing a metaphor for HIV. Whether JKR likes it or not, this is a part of why Remus has been interpreted as a queer character and shipped with other men by fans.

HIV: While sexual activity is not the only way to transmit the virus, it is indeed a factor of how people reacted to those who were HIV+, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. It intersects with other social attitudes around sex education (who tells the teens about sex when, talking with other adults about sex, condom usage and access), sex work, drug use (particularly if needles are shared), and the “you may not like it, but it’s there” areas of bathhouses / hooking up and BDSM in queer history. (Loads of the people doing kink were queer. Sex is not mandatory but can happen in a scene. Some kinky activities don’t look like “penis going into something” sex, but bodily fluids can still be present for potential sharing, including blood.) It’s an overlapping area of homophobia, biphobia, and other queerphobia with the association of a sexually transmitted virus meaning sexual deviancy sort of connection. Werewolves don’t have to check off these boxes like some sort of prerequisite list, but some of this baggage tags along when writing a metaphor for HIV, particularly when a teacher loses his job because he can’t be around the children for their safety.

#10: Government Action

Lycanthropy: No offense, but if actual irl Great Britain managed to hunt their native wolf population to extinction by the 1700s, if not earlier in some places [History of Wolves in the UK], I don’t see how the Wizarding world didn’t do that well before the 1990s with werewolves through sheer indifference to stopping Muggle hunters. Full offense, but I don’t trust a government that has a Werewolf Registry and a Werewolf Capture Unit to not also have ulterior motives around forced sterilization (whether by design or indifference to wolf forms being sterilized), designated living areas “to protect others”, surveillance measures (because some werewolves hate the Wizarding world and are ‘anti-Ministry’), and attempted control of that population.

There are plenty of seeds for some serious anti-lycan bias and discrimination that would in fact mirror how different ethnic, racial, and religious groups have been treated if a writer wanted werewolves to face that in a magical universe, especially if werewolves have been around and hated for over 350 years. This is an area where the historical presence works against the metaphor because, as one example, there would be an expectation that employment discrimination like the bill passed after Remus left Hogwarts would already be in place. If lycanthropy is an established stigmatised chronic condition, keep that history in mind during world building. If lycanthropy is a stand-in for HIV, keep the relative ‘newness’ for a story set in the 1990s in mind.

According to the Werewolf Wiki, the Werewolf Registry is by volunteer basis so it’s not up to date, but that sounds like a cop-out when the Ministry of Magic can track the births of magical children, know when an underage wix performs magic, and has all kinds of literal magic that one can track and monitor with. Yeah, they were comically bad at finding Azkaban escapees, but in the hands of someone wanting to flex government surveillance abilities, you can start at microchipping and work from there. (How many people would bat an eye at a wolf getting a microchip in the 1990s, particularly if the Ministry was involved in some sort of ‘we’ll eventually share with the Muggles’ reserve?)

HIV: I must admit this is an area where I would have to carefully make sure I was looking into UK specific information because not every administration in every country took a silence and indifference route (or fed into certain religious arguments). Granted, the social stigma that leads to employment and housing discrimination that leads to underemployment, unemployment, and living in poverty that are attributed to werewolves certainly isn’t a stretch in the metaphor.

Conclusion

Writing lycanthropy as a metaphor for HIV resulted in some areas of successful interpretation by readers, but I can’t say I’m surprised that fans often tweak werewolf canon to address holes in the metaphor. I don’t have every area mapped out in the exact details of difference here, but overall, I don’t think it’s going to be impossibly difficult to delineate HIV-as-HIV in this fic as separate from lycanthropy. One element that doesn’t have an irl parallel (and can’t be factored into the metaphor) is that by not actually including HIV in the Wizarding world, canon doesn’t provide a blueprint for addressing whether certain viruses or diseases ‘originate’ from Muggles and thus feeds into anti-Muggle bias. Not that this excuses serophobia, but it would undoubtedly affect Ministerial response to HIV+ wixen (ex. the Wizarding version of the NHS won’t cover ART because “that only happens to Muggles”).

-

{I must admit that I am not an expert on this topic, and there’s no pressure to signal boost this post or completely throw out the lycanthropy as HIV metaphor. It’s fine if followers elect to ignore me poking at world building / expansion for a particular fic.}

[submissive-shimrose-writes]

Normally, my Fridays at work are short, but today it was long. A student promised that she’d be in for tutoring right after class, but she didn’t show. I could have been home. I discussed it with the boss. It was me trying to make extra time for a student who is far behind on her work and in danger of failing, but I guess that isn’t going to happen again.

I had even tried to get her to show up in the morning before her classes, but  she didn’t know if she was capable of waking up before 10am. I’ll have to accept that the student’s drive just is not there and that’s difficult for me. I was a 4.0 student and graduated last year, college filled my every waking thought, I never left home without a textbook, I devised every possible way to study while on the go, I stalked my course assignments, I harrassed my instructors for additional assignments, I helped fellow classmates and led study groups, and I had a part time job as well as 5 kids at home. I knew that it was best for me to stay away from home in order to study and get coursework completed. I picked different study locations to add some variety to my day. When at home I would get up at 2am in order to get more study time in. I’m just saying.. you know.. if a students were even half as dedicated, then I would help them regardless of pay. I only get paid for 25 hours a week or less. When students don’t show up for their session I might get paid for doing nothing, but by the time I could go home, it would be time for another student’s session and often the next student doesn’t show up either. I can understand, they aren’t difficult classes, but then I see that these students are failing and I think that maybe they should show up. I am irritated about staying late on a Friday for a broken promise. I helped a student with math today and it’s a bit of a challenge EVEN for me, but I understand quickly. I have picked up tutoring for classes I don’t know much about, but that’s because there isn’t someone else that can do it and I learn fast. I think that my memory might even be slightly photographic (even though I get lost everywhere I go.. the photos must only work for academics). I fear that Sir might not like this, but I told AP that I get lost everywhere. He said that he would have to keep close tabs on me and that made me feel special to him. I’m still waiting on him to take the hint and call more often. Maybe implying that I would break up with him if he doesn’t call isn’t a good enough hint.. maybe it’s time to do it.

A student I was working with wasn’t done with her math assignment, but I had to leave or risk a $35 late charge tacked onto the rent. I hated having to leave. There’s even a possibility that I was over my assigned hours and wasn’t being paid. I’ll run the excel hour calculator I created tomorrow. I had to run, drive, and walk faster than usual to get a money order and get to the rental office. I had been speaking to the office person when While in the office I was thinking of the repair I already reported needed to be done a week ago and some other needed repairs. Sir called and that was a train wreck. He asked where I was and I said that he didn’t need to know. Telling him would have put me in a bad state of mind. When I’m in the presence of someone or some situation I don’t want to deal with, I need to NOT talk about it. There was a time I had lost the rent money order a few years ago and when Sir asked what I was doing my stress levels tripled. I can be in the state of managing stress and trying to stay calm, but I can’t talk about it or everything falls apart. So on this occasion, Sir asked where I was and I said “running errands”, but he didn’t hear that and so I said “you don’t need to know.” Half the time I don’t even know where I am or I lack the ability to explain the location. Anyway, Sir ordered me to text him with an answer and hung up on me. I was in my business/confrontational personality and getting ready to complain in my capacity of tenant. Sir gets irritated and hangs up on me, so I don’t even make any complaints. I paid the rent and left. I was too stressed to even be depressed about anything. I drove home and started doing some cleaning, because that’s what I often do when upset. In that time I’d been offline, Sir had called, texted, and messaged a few times. He said that he was worried and asked that I respond to him. I did text and it was short, because I never know if it’s ever okay to text him. I’d love to text longer responses. They’d say

But I always restrain myself and that is hard. I can write in my blog and not worry about Sir being found out and so here I am again. I never feel that any place else is safe. Maybe Sir’s paranoia has rubbed off on me. I wish that Sir would at some point say that I could text or message freely and just give me that safe space for awhile. At present, it is NEVER safe.

When AP texts me I’m sighing with irritation. When Sir texts me I think it’s the most special thing in the world. That’s a huge difference. I really don’t know if I can be in a relationship lately. AP calls once, maybe twice a week. Sir calls at least twice a day. And anyway, why would I date when Sir has been providing so much care? It’s almost like I don’t need AP anymore, except that I sort of want to be penetrated again. I’m sorry.. I just really do. Even though he has a very small toy.. I mean.. Equipment. I can still feel it because I’m tight. I stopped playing my vaginal games, because I was told that my husband could not move at all when inside me and I was told to loosen up. Sir had this evil thought to have me play with toys, so that I’d be much looser and that’s mean, but it amused me. I really wish that Sir had time to wear me out sexually like he used to. I have Dejavu like I’ve written that previous sentence before, but I don’t know when. AP just doesn’t have the same privileges as Sir. I guess that one example could be that Sir said that I’m not allowed to have anal sex? Sir has never visited or met me, but is claiming rights? It’s strange. I know that anal hurts, but I think it’s something I’ll want to experience one day.

  I mentioned to AP that I’m struggling installing a lock on my front door. He asked why I’d not asked for help when I have a man (referring to himself). I find that amusing and I find myself having to think about that, because he barely calls me. Maybe if he’d just call everyday. I’d told him that it’s important to hear his voice. It is so very easy for me to distance myself from someone when I am not hearing their voice on a regular basis and I’ve tried to explain that to him, not in those exact words. I’ve said that it doesn’t seem like a relationship exists when he can’t even pick up the phone. He seems intent on having a relationship, but I don’t know how intent he is on “building” one. Sir has mentioned that I might become a booty call and it hurts that he’d say that. I said that I can’t continue to talk to Sir if he drags me down everyday. I think I should be happy and well adjusted, but I’ll always be with Sir as long as I can be his baby girl.

Normally, my Fridays at work are short, but today it was long. A student promised that she’d be in for tutoring right after class, but she didn’t show.

Normally, my Fridays at work are short, but today it was long. A student promised that she'd be in for tutoring right after class, but she didn't show.

[veliusthewanderer]

Would You Rather...? Politics Edition

In recent weeks, a slew of sexual misconduct allegations have been flying back and forth, on both sides of the political divide. As if the trauma of the recent Harvey Weinstein sexual scandal wasn’t bad enough for Democrats, now former comedian-turned-senator Al Franken faces allegations from one-possibly two-accusers of sexual misconduct both before and during his senate tenure.

But before Republicans start playing the “you got busted” game, let me remind you of another politician who has been busted for sexual misconduct and pedophilia: Roy Moore, former Chief Justice of the state of Alabama and current contender for the Alabama seat in the US Senate. So far it seems that he has nine accusers alleging sexual misconduct going back to the 1970s, when Moore was in his thirties. While some of the women-then girls-were at least 16 years old, one was 14 at the time of her encounter with Moore, which makes that particular case one not just of misconduct, but statutory rape, and pedophilia. Moore, of course, is no stranger to controversy, having been elected-and removed-twice for his stance on same-sex marriage, abortion, and the erecting of a stone monument to the Ten Commandments outside the Alabama Judicial Building.

To paint the picture a bit more broadly, Al Franken has admitted to the misconduct he is accused of, and even called for an investigation into himself. While conservatives would shout “remove him!” and threaten to destroy all SNL DVDs featuring Franken (as they likely did with all movies and comedy shows featuring Bill Cosby), I personally see this as a brilliant and welcome move by Franken. He apologized to the victim, who showed equal graciousness by not only accepting the apology, but even making it clear she did not seek his removal from the Senate. This is in stark (very stark) contrast to Roy Moore. Granted he isn’t actually IN the Senate (yet), but that matters little in this discussion. Alabama politics has already shown itself to be devisive on the Republican side, with ‘President’ Donald Trump supporting Moore’s GOP rival Luther Strange and former White House Chief Strategist, Trump Worshipper Par Excellance and Leader of the fake news Breitbart Stephen Bannon backing Moore. Considering the backing of the most powerful (and narcissistic) Republican in the country, Strange should’ve won the nomination (how Strange....get it?) But it was the tiny-pistol toting, cowboy hat wearing Moore who won. Trump inevitably-and possibly out of fear the Too Far Right would attack him without remorse should he not do so-endorsed and pledged to campaign for Moore in Alabama. This makes more sense considering the six (on record) women alleging sexual misconduct by Trump pre-politician, whom he attacked on the campaign trail, going so far as to even threaten legal action against them. Those accusations and allegations were reinforced by the ‘Access Hollywood’ audio tape where Trump boasts of “grabbing women by the p*ssy”. Even more shocking, ridiculous, but no less expected, Kayla Moore, Roy Moore’s loyal subservient wife of 33 years, not only refuted the accusations against her husband, but even attacked the Washington Post, the accusers, and (for whatever stupid reason) the Clintons (specifically Hillary) for their so-called concerted attack against the character of her husband, practically DARING anyone to step up to her and challenge her counters.

It seems that the political divide just got wider as a result. On the one hand, conservatives are demanding the head (figuratively speaking) of Al Franken while at the same time trying to slut-shame the victims of Roy Moore. On the other hand, liberals like myself are satisfied that Franken is willing to cooperate in an investigation, yet find that aside from the ‘establishment’ GOP, many conservatives are fully prepared to pull every dirty trick out of their collective rear-ends to defend Moore and slut-shame his victims. Worse, those same conservatives who still believe that pedophile Moore is their champion of moral values, voted in the other sexual predator, Trump, into the Oval Office. They make claims that “God has forgiven Moore, as have I, and as should everyone who is truly a Christian”. Let me be clear on this point before I go further: SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, REGARDLESS OF ONE’S POLITICAL BACKGROUND. It was done successfully in the Weinstein case, is being done as successfully in the Al Franken case, and is being brushed off as “fake news attacks” in the Moore case.

My mind returns to the interview I seen a few days ago, of a resident of Gadsden, Alabama who was asked whether in light of the allegations, she would still vote for Roy Moore. Her response of “Well, God has forgiven him for his past sins, so he’s okay in my book” (not an accurate response, admittedly, but close enough to the substance) made me personally sick to my stomach. How far has Alabama fallen that we would not only support a sexual predator for POTUS (and before anyone thinks to bring up Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, that was a private affair between consenting adults....note those two words: consenting adults), and a US Attorney General with a racist past, but will even consider bringing a pedophile into the hallowed halls of the US Senate? And to those ‘Christian’ conservatives who maintain that “God has forgiven Roy Moore”, how do you know? Do you have a direct line to the Almighty? Did you plant a bug in the prayer-line between Moore and God? Suppose God is simply biding his time, waiting for the right moment to exact punishment on Moore, perhaps a sudden, lethal heart attack, or cancer? Can you honestly say that you know God’s heart and mind better than God Himself?

I end this blog with a game called “Would You Rather?” The first question, sadly was answered back in November of 2016: Would you rather a sexual predator, misogynist, sexist, narcissistic, hispanophobic, Islamophobic, racist rich white guy be president, or a white, female Democrat not intent on causing World War III be the president? For many, the choice was denied them because the rest made that choice for them...or rather, a foreign government enabled the rest to choose for them (Yes, Russia). Now, would you rather have a Democrat who is pro-choice, anti tax cuts-for-rich-people, pro-gun safety become the next Senate representative from Alabama, or a gun-loving, “pro-life”, sexual predator and pedophile former Chief Justice be the new senator? Would you rather see Al Franken or Roy Moore get the boot from the Senate? Would you rather actually vote for Roy Moore, that child predator, or write in Luther Strange or even (unlikely as it is he’d return to the Senate) Jeff Sessions? December 12th will answer those questions. If there are truly Christian people in Alabama, then you know what you must do is prevent Moore from becoming the Voice of Alabama, even if it means holding your noses up and voting for Doug Jones. Don’t repeat the mistake of 2016 by letting another sexual predator (and in Moore’s case, a pedophile) attain government office.