#you have failed basic reading comprehension

[cantsayidont]

The sheer number of abridged, heavily sanitized versions of THE THREE MUSKETEERS presented as kids' stories or family entertainment is kind of a wonder given how much of the book's plot revolves around cuckolding, and it seems to have so rotted the brains of adapters that even the writers of versions not intended as Wholesome Family Entertainment (like the current two-part French feature) visibly struggle to grasp what the story is actually about.

[cinnabeat]

sometimes im like ew who has a superiority complex about media interpretaion and then someone says kh is confusing snd im like oh i get it now

[alazyparallelworld]

okay guys lets be honest with ourselves here though. like, for a moment,

to viewed & treated as an adult with "moderate/severe intellectual/developmental disabilities" you have to walk across a very thin line.

if you're too eloquent, your means of operation (ADLs, walking, talking, transportation, self-care) are assumed to be good. there is no true Passing, as an ablebodied/ableminded person online. IRL there are tics; there are deformations in the face, hands, that cue people into. "oh, you are not cognitively All There. got it."

if you are comprehensible, then it isn't that bad. you're basically an ableminded (read: normal) person. you're held to impossible standards of behavior, intellect, and motor skills - when you eventually fail their expectations, they react to it as a failure of you, as a person. that you did it on purpose. worse-case scenario, it'll spread that you're faking. your story of difficulty is just a ploy.

and this is if you're perceived and treated as an adult.

if there's visible, evident in text, that There Is Something Wrong with you on a neuron level? you become a kid. people are fascinated that you're online at all (and doubtful of your independence at this, another bell ring of are you faking?)

people mind their words around you. "fragile, like glass," is an understatement. i've had experiences IRL where strangers worriedly stood beside me, wondering where my parents/caregiver was. one woman got into my face, ignored my jolting away and stuttering, and moved my bangs out of my eyes. because it was Bad for me. (don't you know that?)

and that's, in person, when i have an adult's stature and appearance. where my drivers license has my 90s birthdate.

if your speech is broken - either in grammar or illogical - or you use assistive tools like an AAC board, speech to text, people assume that talking is hard for you. you need to be monitored by someone who knows better - you need to do as little as possible. you need to be away from everyone else; it's disturbing to see someone out of the SPED classroom, outside of the assisted living facilities.

and most of the time - even around the most sensitive, kind people and friends - i still fall into one or other binary of functional/nonfunctional. independent/dependent.

[jungwonnz]

stuck?!

feat niki x reader ; genre fluff, forced proximity, cute confessions! ; word count ~ 2.3k ; warnings swearing, miscommunications, my bad grammar

after a failed (?) confession to your friend riki, you get stuck in an elevator with him.

note it’s so hard to write comprehensive stories but i hope you guys can see the vision… i love the forced proximity trope sm 🙏 anyways, thank you for reading! 🥰

“oh my god, y/n, are you actually going to confess to him?!” your best friend, haerin, shouted, as you walked through the hallways to your second period class, ignoring the curious looks the other students gave you two. “shhh!!! do you want everyone to know? and yes, i’m serious.” you ended with a small smile on your face, watching your best friend excitedly squeal.

“finally! i’m so tired of watching you guys flirt, it’s so obvious he’s head over heels for you.” haerin concludes. you give her a playful shove as you both settle into your desks.

today was the day you decided to confess to your longtime crush, neighbour, and (other) best friend, nishimura riki. you met in middle school when he moved into the same floor as you. you always had small talk with him, and you can’t deny that you always found him cute.

when high school began, you both started walking to and from school together, talking about the most mundane things and growing close. you and riki were known for causing trouble in class.

your feelings for him grew more and more over the years. you both were in your final year of high school, and you decided it was now or never. plus, you were 99% sure he liked you back; the way he would blush and get so flustered around you made it obvious. or at least, that’s what haerin said.

you went old fashioned and wrote him a letter, mainly because if you did it in person you would likely become a stuttering mess and run away before you could finish. you were brave, just not that brave.

you walk with haerin to riki's locker right before lunch starts, and with a deep breath slid your letter in. haerin clapped and cheered as you pulled her hand and basically ran from the spot.

you and haerin sit outside on the school field, eating your lunches. you expected riki to come find you and talk to you about your letter at lunch, but he's nowhere to be found. haerin tries to reassure you by saying maybe he didn't see it yet.

as you both walk back around the field, you see him. his tall figure is running around the basketball court with his friends. and his bag is with him.

your heart drops. haerin looks at you, confused as to why you look so upset.

"haerin... riki always leaves his bag in his locker after first period and gets it right before break. that means that he got his bag from his locker, right?"

"if he got his bag from his locker, he must've seen your letter..." haerin realised.

and suddenly, your mind is racing with images of him laughing while reading your confession, laughing at you, and you wonder, how could you be so stupid to think he liked you back? haerin quickly put her arm around you and tried to reassure you. "y/n, you have no way to be sure that he read your letter so don't be sad. why don't you go and confront him? maybe this is all just a misunderstanding."

the rational part of you knew that talking to him was the best thing to do, but you were too scared. you used most of your courage to confess to him. you just wanted to go home and lie in your bed, away from everything. you were embarassed.

you felt yourself tearing up as you ran back inside the school, haerin right behind you. what you didn't see was riki looking at you from the basketball court. his friends followed his eyes. "isn't that y/n? why is she running?" jungwon asked. "yeah, it is. she's been ignoring me all day..." riki replied sadly.

you pulled yourself together in the bathroom, not wanting to cause a scene. finally, the end of the day came. riki would usually meet you at your locker to walk home with you, so you ask haerin if she could quickly get your stuff from your locker and bring it to you.

she managed to avoid him and brought your stuff to you quickly. "thank you haerin. i appreciate your help." you say, giving her a quick hug. you tell her that you'll wait in the library for a bit so you don't see riki. haerin is reluctant to leave you alone, but you reassure her that you'll be fine, so she left to catch her bus, waving at you with a sad smile on her face.

as you scroll meaninglessly on your phone, someone taps you on the shoulder. you look up to see sunoo, one of riki's friends. you feel your heart race.

"y/n! what are you doing here? riki's been looking for you since school ended, he's waiting to walk home with you." sunoo says, looking at you with a confused expression.

"ah sunoo, actually, i'm supposed to retake a test after school today. i was just doing some last minute revision! it might take me some time, so can you tell him to go on without me?" you say, forcing a smile.

sunoo agrees, and leaves you alone again. after a while, you leave the library and start walking home on your own, taking a different route.

by the time you finally reach your apartment and get into the elevator, you're just about ready to pass our on your bed. the walk home seemed like hours without riki's funny commentary, or his random stories about his day. you sigh and quickly press your floor number.

right before the elevator door could close, someone sticks their foot through to stop it. the door opens, and you watch as riki walks through the doors. your breath stops, and you suddenly feel as if you're drowning. your ears burn and you look down at the floor.

riki, on the other hand, is ecstatic to see you. "oh my god. y/n, where have you been all day? you never told me about retaking any test. are you avoiding me?" he asks, waving his hands around.

you don't answer him, anger and confusion boiling up inside you. why is he pretending not to know?

"you can't be serious right? i can't believe you." you scoffed. "i knew you were dense, but not this dense, riki."

now it's his turn to be confused. "so you have been ignoring me? what did i do? i've been looking for you basically all day." he said, the emotion in his voice growing.

"that's all you have to say? it's okay, riki. just because you don't feel the same way as me doesn't been you don't have to pretend it didn't happen. you can just tell me." your voice was cold and flat.

"what do you mean 'feel the same', y/n? am i missing something?" riki says softly, trying to calm you down.

"just leave it. i don't want to talk to you." is all you can say to him before your words catch in your throat. and suddenly the elevator feels suffocating and all you can think is “why haven't we got to our floor yet?” and your vision is tearing up and you try to ignore the way riki is looking at you with the most heartbroken eyes because if he really cared about you, then maybe this situation could be different.

without warning, there's a thud. both you and riki jump, startled. you notice that the elevator stopped moving.

no way. you and riki are stuck. you feel like bursting into tears.

a quick "what the fuck?" slips out of riki's mouth, while you curse your own luck. out of all the times this could happen, it had to happen now?

though it's silent as you both assess the situation, it feels deafening at the same time. you can't hide the feeling of panic growing inside you.

"are we really... stuck right now?" riki says, looking at you nervously.

you look at him out of the corner of your eye. "well obviously we are. this day can't get any worse, can it?" you reply with a sigh, covering your eyes with your hands as you sink onto the floor.

you watch as riki also settles down on the floor of the elevator, opposite from you. the management makes an announcement over the speakers, saying that technicians have been called and the elevator will be fixed soon, and that you both just have to wait it out.

you wonder if you should speak up, address the tension between you two. but you're just too scared. you tap on the floor apprehensively, thinking "why isn't he saying anything?"

as you steal a glance at riki, you realize why. his face is pale, his hands trembling, his eyes shut tight. his breaths are long and slow, as you notice sweat forming at his hairline.

and you finally remember that your best friend hates being in tight spaces.

in an instant, you scooch closer to him, unzipping your bag and taking your water bottle out. "what kind of friend am i? how could i forget?" you scold yourself. you hand him the water bottle, and you swore you could feel your heart shatter in your chest when he looked up at you with the most innocent look in his warm brown eyes.

you sit and hold his hands while he drinks, wiping his face and calming him down. no matter what happened between you two, riki would always be your friend before anything.

"thank you, y/n. i'm sorry about... everything that happened. but please, i genuinely don't know what you mean about... your feelings. did something happen?"

you look away from him and sigh, accepting the situation. "riki, i know you don't like me back and it's okay. i was just upset that you were acting as if you didn't read my letter." you look at him. "you know you could've just told me right? it would've hurt less."

a short pause followed your words.

"y/n you... like me?" riki whispers, his expression unreadable. you roll your eyes playfully and say "yes, idiot. that's what all of this was about."

out of nowhere, riki sits up. "y/n, what letter are you talking about?" he asks urgently.

"the letter that i left in your locker? my confession?" you answer, clueless as to why he's asking this way.

in an instant, riki looks away, his head in his hands. and slowly, you watch the smile on his face grow, his laughs slowly becoming louder, as you watch bewildered.

"y/n..." he spoke between giggles. "my lock broke this morning. i couldn't get into it all day. the janitor was supposed to open it after school, but i ended up leaving to look for you. i didn't read your letter..."

your jaw fell as you gasped. and the reality of the situation began to unfold in front of you. shocked, you realised that you had been upset and mean to him for no reason.

and you also realised that you had just confessed to him.

"riki... i'm so sorry. i didn't know..." you said, covering your face.

riki took your hands gently, and smiled at you. you looked at him as he began to speak.

"it's okay y/n. you should've just told me. i don't bite, y'know?" you watch as a blush begins to form on his face, and now you're very aware of how close your faces are, and the fact that niki is holding your hands.

"now that i know... y/n. i like you too. i always have, since the day you showed up at my door in middle school and introduced yourself. you've always been there for me since we started high school, and walking with you is my favourite part of everyday. i'm so happy right now..." he spoke softly, never once breaking eye contact.

"and i really hope that's what your letter was about because if not... this is kind of awkward." he finished, laughing.

you couldn't help yourself from tearing up as you broke out in a smile. covering your face, you smacked him. "i can't believe you're laughing at my pain! and yes, silly. that is what my letter was about."

you move forward to hug him, asking him "is this okay?" when he nods, you wrap your arms around him, smiling into his shoulder while you stroke his hair.

"i promise i'll read your full confession when i get it." he says, holding you tight. and you both settle comfortably in each other's embrace, almost forgetting that you both were stuck.

you were just so happy to be with him again.

and soon enough, the elevator began moving and you both were rescued. as soon as you stepped outside of the elevator, you stretched your arms and legs, looking over at the pretty boy beside you, the smile never once leaving your face.

you and riki walked down the hallway holding hands. stopping at your apartment door, you turn to face him, looking up at him.

the fondness in his eyes is undeniable. "y/n, you're so beautiful. i meant it all the times i said it." you noticed the way his hair fell in his eyes, and how he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"can i.. kiss you?" he mumbles.

you nod quickly, closing your eyes. and there, in front of your apartment door, you share a sweet kiss with your longtime crush, neighbour, and (other) best friend, nishimura riki. you both smile into the kiss.

after a few seconds, you pull away, giggling. he pulls you into his arms again, as you allow yourself to drown in the scent of his cologne.

"i can't believe we had to get stuck in an elevator to get to this point." he said, shaking his head. you laugh and pull away, just to give him another kiss. "thank you, riki." you whispered.

he looked at you and nodded, understanding right away. "anything for you, y/n."

[spacelazarwolf]

Never fails to amaze me how people fail basic reading comprehension around your posts, do you emit some kind of aura about this? Like this one isn't even the usual "what planet do you live on where this is how gender works" - although they ended up there - this is "you have failed at the basic concept of a metaphor". I think they got so blinded by Discourse Gender Words that they entirely missed the whole "metaphor" thing where - you never actually meant this to be about in-character gender! It was about reading something else about a character journey as A METAPHOR for gender. Fuck.

ppl read the words “trans man” and immediately fly into a frenzy. it’s fucking exhausting.

[creature-wizard]

I don't know if I just haven't encountered it yet, but I haven't really seen anyone talking about or acknowledging something that's neither Unverified Personal Gnosis or Shared Personal Gnosis, but rather a third thing: Personal Group Gnosis.

PGG emerges from a small group of people having similar experiences to each other, which may or may not resemble anything that people outside of the group are experiencing.

This isn't inherently a bad thing. But among those who lack critical thinking skills, it can lead to some real trouble if they conclude that their similar experiences means that they're uncovering an actual objective truth, regardless of whether it's congruent with anything anyone outside of the group is experiencing.

One thing that many people fail to account for is the fact that they and their group generally share many of the same preconceptions and biases. For example, a group of younger Wiccans are very likely to believe in now-debunked ideas such as the great goddess hypothesis and the witch cult hypothesis. They'll believe in the existence of pagan gods, but they'll probably have a Christian-influenced understanding of divinity and morality, with little to no comprehension of the role that animism played in the development of pre-Christian traditions, nor with any real appreciation for how different values influenced the stories that people told about gods and other spirits.

They might even be exposed to similar media, which gives them all similar ideas about gods, spirits, and history. Even if they don't directly engage with the most popular media, it can still reach them through second or third hand exposure.

They're also likely reading the same spiritual, occult, and esoteric writers; or at least, reading people who have very similar ideas to one another.

And finally, since they're most likely friends and therefore trust each other, they are naturally biased toward accepting each other's experiences as valid, and working them into their own mental maps of the spiritual or metaphysical world.

In short, they're all primed to have very similar experiences to each other.

Without awareness that exposure to similar ideas can influence similar mystical experiences, it's very easy for a small group like this to generate a sort of shared map of reality that they feel justified in regarding as absolutely, objectively true.

It's at this point that people begin to feel confident telling you that if you just talked to your gods about what they're claiming, your gods would absolutely confirm them to be true. And if they don't, you were never really talking to those gods.

Having one's entire internal map of reality dictated by Personal Group Gnosis can be incredibly dangerous. It alienates you from the rest of the world by making you feel as if the only people you can trust are those who agree with your PGG. It can make you see outsiders as spiritually inferior, especially if they disagree with you outright. It can even encourage conspiracy thinking, because attributing what outsiders believe (or apparently believe) to the actions of a malicious conspiracy is a very common rationalization.

In other words, this is how you get a cult.

Now, a lot of people won't recognize it as a cult (and some will vehemently deny it's a cult) because it might not have a clear leader (though there's almost certainly a small number of people who have the most influence), and it probably doesn't have a financial goal. However, the destructive capacities of small groups of people living in their own reality cannot be denied. Members who don't go along with the group's accepted model of reality are often treated harshly, and are frequently targets for harassment. They may say that if you don't like it you can just leave, but let's be real, that's no simple matter if you believe that these are the only people with a real grip on reality, or if these people are basically your only friends, or even just your only friends who share your spiritual beliefs.

(If you're in this kind of situation? My advice is to start making more friends outside of this group. You don't have to cut yourself off from this group cold turkey; you can just start hanging out with other people more.)

Now, I'd like to emphasize that none of this is to say that PGG is inherently bad; I am only pointing out that it can be incredibly dangerous for people who lack knowledge, perspective, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, a group where there's a lot of this going on can be very dangerous for those who desperately just want to belong and get along, and push themselves to adopt their groups popular beliefs for fear of consequences.

Just like a single person's UPG doesn't dictate reality for everyone, neither does a single group's gnosis. PGG isn't inherently any better or more "correct" than UPG.

[maxknightley]

I don’t expect a furry to get nuance in situations like this but shit like honors education/basically what you were talking about in that post is something parents of nd kids put their kids through because of ableism and trust me a lot of people who went through these programs that literally thrived on being violent towards people with learning disabilities, teaching people that failure isnt an option, and possibly returning home to abusive parents if you got anything below a b- is going to make people grow up thinking they failed and aren’t doing right, it’s not because they think they are better than you or whatever tf you were trying to imply with that just completely tone deaf post of yours by the way!

not only are you describing, point for point, things that I also went through, the entire thesis of that post was that being described as a "gifted child" doesn't meaningfully improve your life. you're getting angry at me for agreeing with you!!

but it's okay since this really emphasizes the central idea that being called a "gifted kid" doesn't actually mean you'll have a leg up on developing useful skills, like reading comprehension.

what does me being a furry have to do with it, btw. are you the only person on the planet who thinks furries are less likely to be neurodivergent

[vibinwiththefrogs]

How I'm studying Spanish after a long break

It's always hard getting back into a language that you know the basics in, because beginner materials are too easy and intermediate materials might be too advanced. After trying and failing multiple times to stick with Spanish again, I think I finally have a good system?

So for formal studying I'm using Mango Languages, but not actually taking the lessons. I find that I know about half the material in their unit 2, and it gets very repetitive and boring to go through the actual lessons, but I still want to cover what I don't know. So I've been making flashcards with the given vocab, studying the vocab, and then when I've reviewed it all I only go through the listening, reading, and recap given at the end of each chapter. So I've been able to learn more level-appropriate vocab in a structured way without the slog of going over things I know over and over. This has been about 1/3 of my time.

The other 2/3 of my time I've just been doing immersion. For listening I've been bouncing between watching the Spanish dub of Death Note, and watching Let's Plays on Youtube (specifically, I've been watching one for FNAF Security Breach and one for Disco Elysium). For reading I've been reading the Spanish translation of the webtoon Ring My Bell. For listening I don't usually take notes and I just focus on listening intently, but for reading I'll write down phrases and words that repeat or feel important.

I'm not quite sure if I can see clear progress yet because I've only been doing this for about 2 weeks. I still struggle a lot with understanding verb tense/conjugation, but I found drilling it isn't helpful to me in the past. But I feel like my listening comprehension has improved in the past two weeks. I feel like I can follow Death Note and streams and understand about 50% of what is said (and the rest from context), and I'm starting to be able to pick out individual words more clearly if I don't understand something.

The important thing about his routine though is that I haven't felt like things are too easy, and I also haven't felt bogged down by things being too difficult. I'm probably at a A2 level right now, and I'm hoping to be a solid B1 and generally conversational by the end of August. So I'm going to keep up this routine and see where it gets me.

[ariaste]

Are you, perchance, a 2013 BBC's Sherlock veteran

No particular reason I'm asking

I watched it and I think I probably reblogged a few things back in the day because I had mutuals who were into it. But I don't recall ever really feeling like I was in the fandom myself.

I'd guess that you're asking because you've recently read my Good Omens essay and your next question is about whether I was a supporter of The Johnlock Conspiracy, and the answer is a hard nah. At least to me personally, all the textual and meta-textual evidence made it abundantly clear, even a decade ago, that the show was not only inhospitable to queer fans, but actively and deliberately hostile towards them (one recalls that utterly mean-spirited depiction of what Steven Moffat thinks a "fangirl" looks and sounds like, as well as more than one occasion when he and others involved with the show mocked fans/fandom/fanfiction in interviews, on camera, with their actual human mouths). I do vaguely remember coming across people on tumblr in those days who were convinced that there was something else going on, that somehow Moffat was going to suddenly change his tune and start loving them back the way that they loved his show, that they would be rewarded for their faith by having their ship made canon, but that seemed extraordinarily unrealistic to me and not based on any concrete facts.

Now, don't get me wrong -- wishful thinking can be really fun, and you're not hurting anyone by hoping for the best and daydreaming about a happy ending. That's just basic human nature. But when someone shows you what kind of person they truly are, pay attention. Balance dreaming with prudence, and don't put all your eggs in one basket--or, rather, don't pin all your hopes on one stranger's artistic decisions.

Part of me wants to say that Steven Moffat is one of several significant contributors responsible for the deep-rooted media trauma that still afflicts thousands of fans today (consider how so many people watching the first season of Our Flag Means Death as it aired were utterly convinced that it was going to queerbait them and exploit their sincere, heartfelt desire for a queer love story on screen, the same way that nearly every other show had done already. So many people met that glimmer of hope with cynicism and pessimism, because when you've been not just disappointed but outright punished for wanting something, the natural trauma-response is to assume that you're not going to get it until you're proven wrong, because that's the only way you can protect your bruised, exhausted heart.

It is true that Moffat's cruelty to the fans of his show contributed to our collective media trauma. However, it is not the only thing that has done so: Particularly in America, we are in the midst of a literacy crisis. Schools have been failing us for more than two decades: They have increasingly failed to teach nuanced reading comprehension and to adequately equip young people with robust and agile critical thinking skills, and this means that an entire generation has been robbed of the tools that would help them to protect themselves from the psychic damage of media trauma before it happens. Moreover, it means that many people now insist on looking to canon to "legitimize" their ships, as if their own interest and enthusiasm was not sufficient. Instead of feeling empowered to reimagine the stories handed to us in order to suit our personal needs, we give away our power into the hands of strangers who do not feel any ethical responsibility to care for their audience as if the audience is a guest in their home. And thus, we get hurt. Media trauma is real, and it sucks.

To return to your original question, no, I don't consider myself a veteran of BBC Sherlock, because I wandered through town, saw that it wasn't worth the fight, and left before the war started.

Remember: In literary criticism and in science, you don't do good work by cherry-picking evidence that supports your pet theory; you do good work by assembling all the data and asking what theory would unify them into a cohesive whole. And if you're really good, you make the effort to be skeptical and look for evidence that might disprove your theory, and you invite others to check your math, because at the end of the day, you are a beautiful, imperfect human and sometimes you make mistakes.

[pfhwrittes]

so you admit to being friends with a pedophile idk why i'm surprised 🙄🙄🙄

i don't know if you're purposefully obtuse or particularly thick if this is your take away from my last post.

i'll assume you are thicker than pig shit because otherwise i have to contemplate the fact that your mother failed to swallow you when she had the chance.

however, because you seem to lack basic reading comprehension (which shouldn't come as a surprise on this fucking website) let me quote and reiterate the context of the post for you:

"i am also friends with someone irl who thought they were talking to another adult in an adult only space only to find out that the person they were talking to (and engaging in flirtatious conversation with) lied about their age. i witnessed first hand as this person contemplated ending their life because the child threatened to “leak” their conversations and called them a paedophile. i witnessed first hand the shame and fear this person lived with even as they went to the police of their own free will to clear their name."

my friend is not a paedophile because they weren't charged with a crime because it was evident from the chat logs that the child my friend was talking to lied about their age. because the child told my friend that they were 21 when they actually 15. because my friend was in an adult only online space (where you had to verify your age and be logged in to interact in this space). this child acted maliciously in order to bait my friend into suicide.

how fucking dare you come into my ask box on my blog and accuse me something that is categorically untrue. you weren't there. you did not call for an ambulance. nor have you been there while he has recovered. you do not know how badly this has rocked my friend's confidence and how he has withdrawn into himself both irl and online (in fact he no longer has any online presence) because he cannot bear the thought of someone dragging this up again. my friend is now completely sex and intimacy repulsed due to the trauma of this. his confidence is shattered. all because an entitled child lied about their age so they could access an adult only space.

get thoroughly fucked.

[ichinoue]

In the lust arc, ichigo never said the "her" kanji in the original Japanese scan, this kanji: 彼 was nowhere to be seen. It was ichigos instinct to protect that made him get up; he didn't know who was calling, but since someone was, he ahd to protect, that's who he is.

The translation for the original Japanese scan is:

“呼んでる. 呼んでるんだ. 聞こえる. 立てよ. 立て. 俺が. 俺が. 俺が護る."

“Calling. They are calling. I can hear it. Rise. Stand up. I…I…I will protect.”

I don't know why viz chose to add a non existent her, but in the original scan, there's no her.

Now you can ship what u like, just don't mischarecterize ichigo for the sake of it. We know you want it to appear that ichigo was down bad for orihime, just don't do it at the cost of ichigos charecter. This was a moment for ichigo to show his instinct to protect, no matter who, and his will as a shinigami.

You also say that in terms panel that ichigo blasts orihime away and off her feet, that he wasnt attacking her because "his sword was on the other side". If he raised from the DEAD to save her, why wouldn't he more cautious of her? That blast flew orihime off her feet, you dont do deliberately do that if ur protecting someone.

I've seen some people use the data book as an arguement to say it was about orihime since it says he was "bound to orihimes screams" when that was 3rd person. That was from a readers perspective, because we as readers knew that orihime was calling out to him, ichigo didn't.

If vasto lorde/ichigo meant to protect orihime, he wouldve said the her kanji in the original scan, and he wouldn't have blasted her away after that. By all means, enjoy ur ship. I don't give a fuck abt that, what I do give a fuck about is ichigo mischarecterization or a false narrative being pushed in order to enjoy ur ship. Ichigo rose from the dead to protect who was calling out to him, because that's what he does. The ichihime ship doenst need this moment to stay alive, once again I know ichihime shippers love to use this as a basis of thir arguement as to why its canon, but it simply didn't happen the way u guys say.

Call me an ichihime anti, call me an orihime hater, I don't give a fuck. Stop pushing false narratives to make ur ship appear any better than it does, its quite frustrating to see mischarecterization happen because of shipping. And I say this too any shippers who want to twist the narrative or mischarecterize charecters in order to validate their ship or prove that their ship is good.

Well guys, it's 2023 and here's another dolt ranting about pronouns in the lust arc, just like the IH Fail essay that ended up being a fail in and of itself.

When will these people learn that Japanese doesn't require pronouns the same way that English does?

Hell, English doesn't even require pronouns when it's redundant and *this* incredibly obvious who is being talked to and/or about:

Seriously. Even if the only thing Ichigo were saying here is the word "protect"...or furthermore, even if we were not meant to know what he was saying at all, and it was just some mumbled, broken speech that the reader was not meant to decipher...It's still blatantly evident that whatever it is he's saying, he's talking to/about Orihime.

I mean this is just hilarious to me. Here's Orihime and Ichigo, literally placed together in side by side panels as Ichigo continues to chant about protecting...And ichiruki shippers are like, "hmmm well, it's not super clear who he's talking about because there's no pronoun so...I guess we'll never know 🤷‍♀️."

When literally, she's...she's right there on the page lmao. That's Orihime, she's right there! You can't miss her!! Like c'mon, dude. This is basic reading comprehension. You really need a pronoun to help you figure this out when her face is right there? Directly adjacent to his? When she's listening to what he's saying, so that it can then dawn on her that, "oh shit, it's my fault, he's doing this for ME."

This is the very next page following that last one, with a flashback of the moment in question, of Orihime screaming out for Ichigo, the moment he could hear HER calling before he rose up from the dead, chanting about protection. Confirming for the 47 thousandth time that yeah, he rose up from the dead for her.

You think Kubo drew this^ entire page, at such a pivotal moment, to show that Orihime's...wrong? Like some sort of gag? She's just *imagining* that Ichigo rose up for her, but it's not actually true? That's...certainly an interesting way to interpret things lmao.

Here's the page the flashback references, of Orihime screaming, placed directly next to Ichigo just as he begins to rise up. But yeah, it had nothing at all to do with Orihime. Just a total coincidence, I'm sure.

And if that weren't enough, here's the Bleach Unmasked Databook:

完全虚化した一護は, 織姫が発した叫びを反芻 しその目的だけに縛られた。

"The perfectly hollowfied Ichigo ruminated over Orihime's screams and was bound only to that purpose"

You...mentioned this? Kind of?

"I've seen some people use the data book as an arguement to say it was about orihime since it says he was "bound to orihimes screams" when that was 3rd person. That was from a readers perspective, because we as readers knew that orihime was calling out to him, ichigo didn't."

The readers aren't the ones who bound Ichigo to Orihime's screams (especially not you, anon, since you keep insisting it had nothing to do with her lmao). Kubo did that. That's how he meant for this scene to be interpreted: that Ichigo was bound to Orihime's screams. But you're still here fighting against it for some reason lol.

Ichigo did know she was calling out to him. It was part of his internal monologue, as she's screaming, before he hollowfied. Whether the pronoun is there or not (because again, the pronoun for her doesn't *need* to be there to make it clear who he's talking about when she's clearly the only person screaming, placed directly next to a panel of him rising him up...) he could hear her voice. He could hear her calling him. He ruminated over ORIHIME'S screams and was bound to ONLY that purpose. Only her.

You can try to downplay it and remove her from the equation all you want, but it's impossible. It's impossible because she was the only one on her knees by his side when he died, the only one screaming, the only one whose voice he could hear, the only purpose he was bound to. The only one whose face is side by side with his as he speaks about protecting. The only one featured in a flashback to the crucial moment of her screaming, placed side by side with a panel of him about to rise up, confirming it was for her.

Try to crop her out of all the pages leading up to the moment Ichigo rises up and see how much is left. Try to make sense of him rising up because he can hear someone screaming, without her there...literally screaming. Try to erase her when she was the catalyst to it all.

And I guess at this point I just don't understand why that's so hard to believe? That Ichigo rose up from the dead for Orihime? Considering Kubo has confirmed that he planned the final chapter revealing the endgame couples after writing chapter ONE.

Is it really that difficult to fathom? That Kubo wrote Ichigo doing such a thing.....for his future wife? Considering Kubo *knew* they would be married in the end when he wrote the lust arc?

Honestly like, it's been seven years. What is the point of digging in your heels and shouting at clouds that scenes like this between Ichigo and Orihime were not romantic when their relationship was literally...planned out...to be romantic?

It's over, it's canon. You can either accept the high likelihood that you were misinterpreting Ichigo and Orihime's relationship from the way Kubo meant for it to be interpreted all along, or continue to rant in my inbox on anon. The choice is yours lol.

[flimflamfandom]

Flimflamuniverse Character Breakdown!

Have you ever been reading one of my fics and asked something like-

"Whaddya MEAN Freckle has an accent?"

"Why do they end up in Hollywood?"

"Who's Rocky dating, anyway!?"

Well WONDER NO MORE! This post is the comprehensive list for all yer Flimflamfandom character quirk questions!

Essentially all of the changes are character based, but we will be talking about slight setting differences as well.

Let's dive in!

THE SETTING:

Most of the setting is exactly the same - late 20s St. Louis!

HOWEVER -

During later period stuff (anything from 1929 onward) several of the characters have taken up roots and gone to Hollywood! This has to do with various career moves that take place over the duration of the AU

Significant parts of Calvin's story now take place in Cork, Ireland - this will be explained more in depth later.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED that by the time my AU takes place, the Daisy has picked up significantly in business.

THE CHARACTERS:

It's important to note that NONE OF THE CHARACTERS' CRIMINAL ATTRIBUTES WERE REVEALED UNTIL AROUND THE MID 70S, and by then, the shock and horror of this sort of thing were replaced with fascination.

CALVIN MCMURRAY:

1909-1939

Calvin's childhood is the same, up until the nebulous "incident" that gets Rocky kicked out of home. Because of this, Nina gets a bit spooked, and sends Calvin to finish his basic schooling in County Cork, Ireland. He completes his schooling, and comes back home just in time for the "event" at the police academy.

During his time at the Daisy, Calvin becomes very interested in writing, and begins writing for the Times Dispatch about baseball games. He eventually begins writing screenplays when he moves with Ivy to California. He writes 3 novels, 2 short story collections, and 3 books of poems, on top of 4 screenplays. He's a busy guy!

Unfortunately, sometime around 1936, he develops a form of tail cancer. He dies in 1939, just 10 days shy of his 30th birthday.

QUIRKS: -Calvin has an accent! He's a cork boy. He sounds like a Cork boy. -By the time of his death, Calvin has a son, named Finn.

IVY PEPPER:

1909-1999

Ivy's childhood and such don't change much at all. 'Cept a secret that has to do with Mitzi, but shh! It's a secret!

Ivy is majoring in mathematics at college, and she's MAJORING majoring in it. her specialty seems to be advanced algebra - ring theory, nonlinear algebra, stuff like that. She slowly starts to see herself doing less and less in the field, but she always keeps an interest in it, attends conferences, etc.

The thing that REALLY interests Ivy, though, is her theater course. She takes one as an arts credit and LOVES it! She turns out to be kind of a prodigy on stage! She does some more acting here and there, and happens to meet a producer of films in 1929, after she's changed names to Ivy McMurray. She drags Calvin out to Hollywood with her, and stars in at least a dozen films, winning awards for quite a few of them!

By her retirement from acting in the 1960s, (her last picture netted her an award, by the way) she began to help get all of her old things from the Daisy together, and turn them into a museum, called the Daisy Club Museum. She helped run and fund the museum until her death in 1999, just 2 weeks into the age of 90.

QUIRKS: -Won 5 Oscars - 3 best supporting, 2 best actress. -Contributed her skills and research to at least 3 Algebra textbooks, -Never remarried after Calvin - she was quoted as saying "He'll love me when I get where he is, too."

ROCKY RICKABY:

1904-1989

Rocky's time at the Daisy is marred by his failed romances. He swears he must be the most unlovable person on earth! In the AU, I used to have an OC set aside for him, but nowadays I keep it vague and just say he has a wife and kids. ANYHOW, after the Daisy, Rocky manages to recover a tad from his head wound, and, get this - became a comedian. He even had a circuit of all the speakeasies.

Rocky did need a job after all of that though, and ended up, eventually, in broadcasting, which turned into being a comedian, which turned into his own radio show, which turned into a television show in the early days of TV. Rocky moved out to Hollywood and accidentally bought the house right next to Ivy and Calvin's.

A man with a good reputation, even AFTER it came out that he was a serious gangster, Rickaby died peacefully in 1989, at the age of 85.

QUIRKS: -Rocky was a staunch civil rights, woman's rights, and gay rights activist up until the very end. This would often get him in trouble with networks and producers. -Really liked the Beatles when they crossed over to the US -There is a very persistent rumor that he was in the OSS during World War 2 - in fact, he was not, but he did do work for the Signal Corps making mildly funny training films.

MITZI MAY:

?-1980

Little is known of her childhood, or her adolescence before the Daisy.

Plenty is known AFTER it though!

Mitzi, unlike the others, was not headed for entertainment afterwards. She, instead, lived with Sedgewick Sable, and indeed remarried, but never took his last name. As the pressure from the depression started to ease, she managed to turn all that Daisy property (and all of the hidden away stash money) into a hotel! Mitzi became an incredibly successful hotelier, owning and helping to operate no less than 5 luxury hotels by 1956.

By 1970, she had gotten in touch with Ivy Pepper again, and asked about the Daisy Club Museum - she was instrumental in getting it started, as she still sorta owned the caves down there. She had the diea of making it a living history museum, and she also had the idea of making it like a sort of themed resort.

She died in her sleep in 1980. No one was precisely sure of her age.

QUIRKS: -No one really knows her age -She has a secret about Ivy that she's never told a soul, and it went with her to her grave -Mitzi had one known child by Sedgewick Sable - Minerva, born in 1934. Minerva became a costumer.

SEDGEWICK SABLE:

1895-1985

After the depression hit, Sable was distraught and destitu-JUST KIDDING, that paranoid buffoon hid cash in the walls. The WALLS, I tell you! It wasn't a ton, though, and they coasted by until the New Deal came around.

Work projects need work materials, and Wick was able to help provide them. With a new purpose, new drive, and tons of resources, Wick managed to get the company going again, renaming it to Sable Construction Materials, later just SCM. He even had to buy 3 Lake Freighters - the company still operates lake freighters today!

At the age of 90, Wick passed away in his sleep.

QUIRKS: -While Wick and Calvin were never close, both were HUGE baseball fans - Wick was obsessed with the Red Sox. -Wick was a surprisingly involved boss - most employees knew him personally.

MORDECAI HELLER:

1899-1983

At some point, Mordecai returned to the Daisy, to work with Calvin McMurray as a 'fix it' man. Mordecai admired the work, and stayed put until the place stopped being illegal.

After bouncing from job to job, thinking he would end up back in organized crime, Mordecai settled down in New York after finding out the man who wanted him dead had been killed in a car accident. Mordecai became an accountant and theater manager on Broadway - not a STAGE manager, mind you, just the guy who runs the theater. He really quite liked the work!

Mordecai Heller died in 1983 at the age of 84, of lung cancer.

QUIRKS: -Mordecai was a homosexual, and was well known as such. -Mordecai, a seemingly ice hearted man, actually kinda liked musicals...well. Good ones, anyway. -His least favorite show up there was Seesaw. His favorite was Pacific Overtures

VIKTOR VASKO:

1886-1978

After the Daisy became a legal operation, Viktor just...kept working there. You still need someone to lift boxes and tend a bar when it's legal, too! Viktor was actually a loyal employee of Mitzi until 1943, when he left to run a construction firm in St. Louis. He did that, and had a fairly uneventful life, dying in 1978 at the age of 92.

QUIRKS: -Viktor never remarried - but he did reconnect with his wife and daughter sometime in 1935. -Viktor's daughter went on to become a famous operatic soprano, and even served at the Met for a time. -Viktor never outed any of his former associates, even when talks of the Daisy Museum were beginning. He refused, worrying that he'd sully people's reputations.

DORIAN ZIBOWSKI:

?-1954

After the depression, it became harder for clubs to keep full time musicians. Zib was still at the Daisy until about 1932. Fortunately for him, in 1933, his old...work acquaintance? Rocky was running a radio show out of Los Angeles and was asked to help find a band leader.

After a brief stint on this show, Zib began to lead bands at the cutting edge of Jazz music - he considered becomeing an academic, but he never found the time to think too hard about the option.

A lifetime of smoking and drinking caught up to him fiercely, and he died of Lung Cancer in 1954.

QUIRKS: -He's still made outta triangles! -Zib learned to play every saxophone, and every reed instrument he could get his hands on. -Zib's final record was a live recording at the Pershing Lounge in Chicago, Illinois, 4 years before Ahmad Jamal made it famous.

THE SAVOYS:

Nico: 1900-1978 Serafine: 1902-1983

Little is known of the Savoys after their return to Louisiana in 1931. Some say Nico got back into boxing, or that Serafine was responsible for a rash of killings.

The two died peacefully in their homes, and lived to perfectly normal old ages...and yet, it seemed so suspicious when Nico died. He was just...on his back porch. With a note that was written in code...

QUIRKS: -Nico did, in fact, go back into boxing, but left for professional wrestling - the fictional kind. Serafine was, for a time, a voodoo practitioner for hire, who was well regarded in her community -Neither married, but both had several relationships

THE ARBOGASTS:

Abelard: 1886-1987 Bobby: 1898-1975 Elsa: 1900-1975

The Arbogasts lead a quiet, mostly obscure life, save for Abelard, who becomes quite the lit up theologian. He starts a cult in the woods of Missouri, and is found dead after his 101st birthday. The cult, as many do after a leader dies, fell into disarray and eventually splintered.

Bobby and Elsa dropped the funeral routine and moved closer to the city - Bobby became a school teacher and Elsa became a nurse. The two died months apart in 1975.

QUIRKS: -Elsa and Bobby were just about as in love with each other as Calvin and Ivy. -Bobby had severe PTSD from the war, and would often have episodes. Elsa hated seeing him that way, but helped him. -Abelard's Cult, "the new Thinkers", was bizarrely peaceful as cults are concerned. They never ate Fish, though...

LACY HARDT:

1904-1994

Lacy was a loyal employee of Sedgewick Sable for the first year after the depression. Eventually, though, she married Arthur Keane (an OC you can read about here), a guitarist, and moved with him to his hometown of Virginia Beach. There, she lived with him as an assistant to many prominent locals.

Eventually, the two moved again, back to Peoria, to take care of Lacy's ailing mother. This was around 1934. After Lacy's mother passed in 35, she was distraught. So, she decided to find a new hobby - writing and illustrating children's books. She got onto the idea after a phone call with Ivy, who handed over Calvin's agent's information.

When she retired, Lacy moved back to Virginia Beach with Arthur, who died a year before she did. QUIRKS -Lacy won a Caldecott Medal, and displayed it in her home office until her death -Until after her death, it was kept a secret by the McMurray family that Lacy, who was close with them, had been writing Finn (Calvin's son) notes as Mrs. Claus, as well as little stories, which eventually became her 'Rudy Sees the World' books.

THAT'S ALL I'M WRITING FOR NOW!

Again, pretty much all the changes are to the characters - the setting is, for the most part, untouched! I will be writing more about the AU when I get the chance, though!

[thydungeongal]

What's so confusing about Tunnels & Trolls?

I am halfway through 5th edition rulebook so I can't give any advice but for now it looks much more comprehensive and elegant than AD&D RAW. Rules of combat are very different from mainstream ttrpgs because it was very early and explicitly not for wargame fans, but they don't look really hard, especially once it explained the logic. I think that if I was alive back in 1979 I would pick it over D&D without hesitation. I haven't really read rules on monsters yet but yeah they look counterintuitive.

I am not calling you stupid, I just want to actually try it and want to be aware of what problems I may encounter. Also I specified the edition just in case it's different in some later or earlier ones.

(While we are at it, can I say how funny its magic works. Recieving damage reduces constitution instead of absent hit points, which makes sense because due to this wounded characters perform some tasks worse, but casting magic reduces strength the same way. I think that the idea was that casters are tired from casting spells but making magic reduce constitution would make wizards and rogues die too fast, but as a result they created the world of muscle wizards. Yes, I said rogues because in T&T rogues are apparently not thieves but mix of fighter and wizard that can do both swordfight and magic... but also kind of sucks at both. And their implied backstory is that they failed to develop any of the skills because either their life circumstances suck or they themself suck.)

(Also, I wanted to send you an ask like "how would ttrpgs look like if they evolved from something else other than miniature wargames?", and apparently T&T is how ttrpgs would like if they evolved from traditional dice games like what landsknechts played in.)

We found the guy,

No but seriously, based on what little I've looked at T&T it actually looks really neat and I enjoy the idea of combat being basically what I've talked about at one point (kind of like a game of football in that teams clash for a moment then get into a huddle and think of their next play). I think what has made T&T hard for my brain to grasp is in part because I'm so used to TTRPGs that follow the structures of D&D (which is actually most RPGs) that the subtle deviations from D&D structures in a dungeon game just make my brain resist receiving any information

But yeah I do have one of the rulebooks? I can't remember which edition it was. But I might go and give it another look.

[ellesliterarycorner]

Writing a Retelling

I used to not like reading or writing retellings, but I actually think that writing a retelling might be on my bingo card for 2023, so I decided to do some research on writing them and share it with y’all! I think the reason I used to dislike retellings was because they can go SO wrong, and they are really hard to write. But, the more I’ve looked into this, I’ve decided writing retellings is actually a really good exercise for writers. The world’s been around for so long that there are no completely new plots, and taking the essentials plots of one story and turning them into something new is a great exercise in the basics of plotting and understanding the nature of characters. 

Back to the OG

Read the original story! That might seem like an obvious thing, but sometimes it doesn’t feel every author remembers to do this. If it’s a story you haven’t read since you were little, don’t rely on your memory, especially if its a story with a lot of different remakes. Are you writing a retelling of the Disney movie Cinderella or the original Greek folk tale? Spoiler alert, they are not the same. You can write a retelling of either, but you do need to decide early on which one you are doing and stay consistent to it. I also think rereading the original story will remind you why you decided to write a retelling. Something about the story you loved so much you wanted to bring to a new audience or maybe something that felt unfinished or unanswered, and you just had to finish it and find the answered. 

Notes, Notes, Notes

I love taking notes, and I think that especially when writing a retelling copious notes are your best friend. Unfortunately, you aren’t going to be able to fit everything into your retelling, but writing notes on the most important things in the original story will help you have a guiding light and keep you organized. I would definitely recommend that you make a list of characters and their roles in the story. Are you keeping the same protagonist? Do you want to write from the antagonists point of view? Or give a side character their time to shine? I would also make a list of all of the settings in the story. Decide whether or not you’re keeping the same setting or revamping it for your story. Finally, make a list of all the major plot points. You’ll probably add more plot points into your story, but making sure that you know and understand the major plot points in the original story will help you as you’re writing. 

Inspired By or Retelling?

This may just be a personal nit-picky, schematic thing, but imo, a book can be inspired by something without being a retelling. Point and case being my favorite book to bash: A Court of Thorns and Roses. People have stopped leaning on this as much as they used too (mostly because ACOTAR has been rebranded as adult), but when it first came out ACOTAR was very much marketed as a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Me personally, I did not realize it was supposed to be a retelling until one of my friends told me after I had read it. Now, that either means that I have a poor level of reading comprehension or that the book is not a very good retelling. Obviously, I don’t like one of those answers, so let us presume that ACOTAR is not a very good retelling. I would say agree that elements of it are inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but I do not think that it is a retelling. SJM fails to keep many of the major themes and motifs of Beauty and the Beast which I think are necessary elements to qualify under the label retelling. 

But What’s the Twist???

Don’t be afraid to take risks and try new things when you write a retelling! Just because you’re writing a retelling doesn’t mean that you aren’t writing a story in your voice and your style of writing. Stay true to yourself, so long as you treat the original story with respect. A lot of retellings either give the story a new protagonist, a new setting, or set the story in a completely different genre. To get yourself going here are are a few questions to ask yourself after you’ve finished rereading the original story help you figure out what the twist of your retelling is going to be. 

Which of these characters do you feel curious about?

Which of these characters is the most hated / misunderstood?

Which of these characters could have the most interesting growth / character transformation through the course of this story?

How would this setting affect the protagonist and the other main characters? 

How would this setting affect the major conflict of the story?

How would this setting affect the themes of the original story? 

Which themes would be preserved and which themes would no longer feel relevant?

Elle’s Retelling Recommendations

And of course, I had to end this with a few retellings recommendations! Reading other retellings and seeing what other authors did well or not well is a great way to sharpen your own skills. 

Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood

I actually really liked this book, but I think its because even though I like Greek mythology, I admittedly am not the most knowledgable on the subject. I know the basics of Greek mythology, but unless something was blatantly wrong, I wouldn’t be able to tell. Apparently, this book had a lot of important Greek mythology plot points missing, but I thought it told the stories of Helen and Klytemnestra very well!

Circe and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 

I first read Circe for school, but I went back and read it a year or two ago. I vastly prefer Circe to Song of Achilles as I didn’t really like SoA all that much, but both are definitely retelling masterclasses. Madeline Miller is definitely the Queen of Greek mythology retellings.

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor 

This is one of my favorite books ever! I loved the Great Gatsby, and I am a Daisy Buchanan apologist. I love that this book fleshes out all of the female characters from the Great Gatsby, gives them proper back stories and answers one of the biggest questions from the original novel. 

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

This book is not the best book, and I only recommend it because it is in my opinion how not to do a retelling or even an inspired by book. My friend group was obsessed with this book in middle school, and the best way I can describe it is if Percy Jackson and Twilight had a baby. Take that as you will. 

[vikings-til-valhalla]

One of my best friends felt stupid for being a slow reader. Having been there multiple times myself, and battling those types of thoughts on a daily basis for my whole life as well, I decided to write this to her:

You're not alone in that... In school, my teachers would all constantly say, "You should be able to read one page per minute!" Or something like that, it may have been 1 page per 30 seconds for all I remember. But it took me, regardless of the size, regardless of the number of words, minimum 2 minutes per page, sometimes even more. Taking any test that was timed and required me to read, I was panicked knowing I'd never finish the text in time to answer the questions. And that was often the case. I felt like a failure, stupid, and it was reflected in test scores. I'd get the answers right! But I didn't have the time to finish them all, and that's where I got penalized. However, when I took an untimed test for literacy comprehension, I was told I had a college reading level while in middle school. I didn't believe them. I was literally failing English classes left and right. Then, for college, there was another untimed test for the same thing. I scored so high that they literally did not have classes that could challenge me, and just threw me into the hardest English course they had even though I was determined to not need it. I aced those courses for 2 years straight with A+ in both, because rather than focusing on how fast someone can read and answer questions, it focused on how well you understood the texts as a whole. My one professor gave me 105% because she was so impressed. So all that to basically say, regardless of how slow you read, no matter how many times you have to reread the text to understand it fully, as long as you understand it that's what matters, and shows how intelligent you are. Schools pressure you to be fast at everything because in the working world, time and money are one in the same. You have to cut corners and make the top dollar or else corporations see you as a failure. And what is traditional schooling in America but a pipeline to the working capitalism world??

I've met dyslexic people who published bestselling books. I've heard of authors who failed all of K-12 schooling and published well known books by the dozen. And I myself am a very slow reader who struggled all through school, failed most every class for being slow enough that I couldn't finish any tests, but I've been given untimed tests and proved to be highly intelligent in every subject, several languages, countless forms of comprehension, and I published 2 books by the age of 23.

But I am VERY slow at all of that. It takes me hours at a time to solve a small math problem. It takes me weeks to read a children's book. I usually have to hear something twice or more to understand it, unless I have subtitles to read so I can back up what my mind processes hearing, with something visual.

It doesn't matter how slow or fast you are. Intelligence is intelligence regardless. Capitalism just makes it seem like speed is the end all be all of everything, because if you're slow, you're not doing it right/well enough, and you're not making enough profit for anyone to value you.

What's important to remember is to value yourself and what you've accomplished, no matter how long you took to do it, how many tries it took to succeed, or who approves of the things you achieved besides yourself. Your best is good enough, you are good enough, and your worth is not determined by production quotas of any sort in any capacity. Worth is inherent, and also built upon at your own pace by accomplishing things within your personal scope.

[lunareiitic]

I get that this is the autism website, but we must understand that two things can be true at once. Nuance in morality in the most recent update is not "bad writing" or "failing to take a side". This is basic reading comprehension y'all- you'd rather have a villian with no depth or personality or motivation?

If you feel conflicted about Topaz, the writing is working.