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middlenamesage · 7 months ago

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⭐️ Lesser known significations of each of the planets ⭐️

Please note that with these planetary placements, the sign gives info about the style in which you conduct yourself, the house gives info about where in life you’re conducting yourself, and the aspects give info about other flavors brought up into the picture, and how your relationship with a placement affects you and fits into the rest of your consciousness/life.

Sun

Can show where/how you like to be creative or your creative gifts. The 5th house and Leo also can show this, but I don’t seem to read enough that the Sun🌞, as our creative life force, often correlates just as directly to the type of creativity or relationship with creativity someone has.

Moon

Can show your relationship with emotional empathy; how much of it you feel, where it feels strongest, how you express it, and how it affects you (this last point being seen through the aspects to your other planets). I wish to clarify that emotional empathy is feeling other people’s emotions, and it’s not the only kind of empathy. Anyone can learn to cultivate intellectual empathy, and act on empathy. But I’ve chosen to bring the subject of emotional empathy up with the Moon because so often people think how much one finds themselves feeling for others is shown by the amount of water placements in a chart. But it’s the Moon itself that actually somewhat singularly shows the most about emotional empathy. Having planets whose core functions don’t relate to our feelings and empathy in water signs, isn’t necessarily gonna make emotional empathy strong for someone. But the function of the Moon itself is to feel and to support our close interpersonal relations.

Mercury

Can give indications about your sense of humor! Mercury rules over language and conscious thought processes, so it can say a lot about what a person processes as being funny, and in what manner they deliver funny insights. Mercury is the original master of wit!

Venus

Can show where you overindulge or what you are most greedy with.

Yes, the benefics can spoil, and they too can corrupt! One corrupted side of Venus is taking too much for herself possibly at the expense of others, and preferring a lazy and pleasurable lifestyle while never putting in the work. In some charts, at some times in your life, Venus’s placement can show where this applies.

Mars

Can show the way you break up with someone. 💔 While Venus’s function is to draw connections and support to us, Mars has the important function of keeping the connections we don’t want out, and severing connections that are no longer working. Mars’ objective is to assert individual will and this can require setting boundaries. Understanding your Mars can help you learn how to set boundaries and understand your tendencies when it comes to breaking up.

Bonus because I think it’s a really good one: Mars can show what type of exercise would be best for you, being the planet of action and vitality.

Jupiter

Can show where you overestimate your abilities or have blind faith in something, in some charts at some times. I’m choosing to cite a more negative side for both of the benefics in this post, as those sides aren’t always talked about a lot. Jupiter allows us to establish our beliefs, and gaining confidence in the way we view things is what creates the space for us to expand. But sticking by beliefs blindly (when it comes to either general philosophies or your beliefs about yourself!), without proper consideration for why you actually believe them, will not create any authentic expansion.

Saturn

Can show realms that at some points in your life you flat out avoid and/or dislike to the point of disgust potentially. This depends on what else you have in that house and how Saturn is aspected, but this has seemed to hold true for both myself at points, and a decent number of others I have observed.

Let’s be real. Saturn is not easy. He/she wants to build something long and lasting, but to actually do so can just seem so daunting. Especially when the limitations in the short term view can look so severe. 🪐 “Get bitter or get better” is a Saturn original line. And most of us have experienced feeling only bitter about our Saturn placement at some point.

Uranus

Can show where you operate for the greater good. Something I appreciate about Uranus (and want to give this shout out during the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction). Uranus doesn’t tend to need the individual accolades (depending how he’s aspected and placed). He understands he’s working to liberate a society and I think that’s beautiful. *Jupiter gushing*

Neptune

Can show where you feel like a victim or have been victimized.

I see Neptune as an outcast and misunderstood, it’s an energy some people might be inclined to try to take advantage of. But it’s for this same reason that your Neptune placement can also show where you have a very keen ability to sense, and want to support, others who suffer a similar predicament as you.

Pluto

Can show where and how you may try to control others. I don’t feel I read enough about this one, for how very common this expression can be at some points in our lives. Pluto is the subject matter that has been hidden from the conscious parts of our minds, specifically because we were the ones to bury it when we felt shame or fear for our power. Yes, Pluto is our power, but at the times that we can’t recognize this, a common reaction is to subtly try to control others in those realms. It can be so subtle and unconscious that we’re likely to not even recognize the ways we are acting or speaking manipulatively. Often the only way to fully solve this issue is to face whatever you blocked from your conscious mind and to learn to see any fears or shame you have associated with your Pluto’s placement, as actually sources of your personal power. 🖤

When you build a relationship with the planets, you’re building your relationship with yourself.

🌞💫🪐🌝

#astrology #planets in astrology #learn astrology #astrology tumblr #astrology community #astrology observations #zodiac signs #natal astrology #planets

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cupcraft · 2 days ago

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hi cup! it's mare, it's been a bit and i hope you're doing well :) this is so specific but based on your Y chromosome post and the fact that you do research in sex in cancer (which is so cool btw) i remember hearing years ago that it's possible that with continued human evolving we might lose the Y chromosome entirely. obviously like many many many years from now. i was wondering if that is accurate at all? because i learned that when i was like, 16, but i brought it up in a conversation with my friends about intersexism recently and it's been on the mind since. wishing you the best :) !!

Well interestingly there's a lot of cool evolutionary stuff about how the Y chromosome lost a lot of its genes over time and thus lost its ability to do recombination with the X. And funnily enough there's a lot of genes that are shall i say similar between x and y (called homologues) that may have similar function (currently not all known a lot of y genes were thought to be nonfunctional entirely save for gonadal development, still understudied quite heavily).

As for the Y is going to be lost I haven't done a lot of research in thjs aspect specifically but I know there's been a lot of studies looking at Y degeneration (esp connected to its evolutionary history) and I think there's def some degeneration events occurring in Y as we know but it does seem like there's been some stabilization. We also know in aging Y is lost in blood cells. And we know that Y loss does occur in some cancers directly. I'd have to look more into the evolution stuff tbh but truly there's a lot we don't know too. The original paper I linked above talks about how chromosome loss isn't necessarily y specific either so it def applies to other chromosomes.

Hope that is a good explanation

#cup.sciencetalk #tea.cakes #ask

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sovaghoul · 10 months ago

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Definition

This is a basic outline of my personal guidelines for what constitutes a Wiccan path/system. Others’ definitions certainly vary, and these criteria do not necessarily apply to non-Wiccan Pagans/Witches/other Occultists. Most of the concepts addressed here will be investigated more in depth with future posts.

🕯🌒🌕🌘🕯

🔮 Section A: Belief. It is my assertion that belief, first and foremost, makes the Wiccan. What one does is important to discerning Tradition (or absence thereof), but is secondary to the broader collective of Wiccan religious paths.

Reverence of Goddess AND God, together and equally. Wiccan worship and practice focus on a God and a Goddess, seeing them as manifestations of masculine and feminine divinity (among other equal, opposite, and complimentary pairs of forces and concepts. They are but one type of symbolic division).

Belief that the Gods can be directly contacted, whether through channeling, meditation, or other means. Also, It’s important to realize that one doesn’t need an intermediary, but will sometimes need a teacher or guide for the contact to be safe and successful.

Having a reciprocal relationship with the Gods. We give to Them, so They may give to us.

Belief in the effectiveness of Magick. Having confidence that your rituals and spells will work as they should is just as important as performing those works.

🕯🌒🌕🌘🕯

🔮 Section B: Practice. While I put belief first in my own determinations, there are certain applications of those beliefs that I see as essential to practicing Wicca.

God forms/names are European in origin, exceptions to this being Egypt and the Middle East. This is because I see Wicca as the continuation/revival of Pre-Christian Native European Shamanism, and contact with Egypt and Arabia (Mesopotamia, Babylon, Sumer, etc.) is well-established throughout history, and there is much cross-cultural influence between these groups. Also, there are mythological themes these regions have in common, that are not as present in, say, Asia and other parts of Africa. Additionally, many other Indigenous cultures and beliefs around the world are closed systems.

Celebrating the Sabbats with an understanding of their symbolism and story. There are eight Sabbats, or holidays, in the Wiccan calendar, also sometimes referred to as the Wheel of the Year. The dates given below are those traditionally observed in the Northern Hemisphere.

Casting a Circle wherein the ritual will be held. The Circle denotes sacred space for sacred acts, and is consecrated to the Gods.

General ritual format includes calling the Quarters, invoking and contacting the Gods, a section for the ritual purpose (celebrate the Sabbat or Esbat, work Magick, etc.), Cakes and Wine (including a libation to the Gods), and then banishing the Quarters at closing.

The Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law are given some measure of importance. These ethical codes should not only advise on Magickal acts, but on the mundane actions of a Wiccan as well.

Sabbats:

🎃 Samhain – Oct. 31

🎄 Yule – on or about Dec. 21

🕯 Imbolc – Feb. 2

🥚 Eostar – on or about Mar. 21

❤ Beltane – May 1

☀️ Midsummer – on or about Jun. 21

🌾 Lammas – Aug. 1

🍁 Fall Equinox – on or about Sep. 21

🕯🌒🌕🌘🕯

🔮 Section C: Characteristics. These are descriptors, qualities that I feel are essential to the full knowledge and experience of Wicca.

Wicca is a fertility religion. Wiccans rejoice in and celebrate fertility in all its forms, sexual and otherwise (new growth, ideas, ventures, etc.).

Wicca is a nature religion. All of nature is seen as sacred and integral and interrelated. Humans are a part of nature, as are the Gods and the processes of Magick.

Wicca is an agricultural system. The Sabbats are aligned to the planting and harvest seasons, symbolically if not literally.

Wicca is a cyclical system. All the cycles of nature and the world are revered, including those of the Sun, Moon, Earth, planets/stars, seasons, and the life of all creatures, human and otherwise.

Wicca is a religion of balance. Just as life is a fact of existence, so is death. Just as Summer comes each year, so does Winter. Day and night, light and dark, each coin has a flip side, and all sides are important to Wiccan belief and practice.

Wicca is non-dualistic. Since each pairing listed above comes together to make something greater than the sum of its parts, the true nature of the reverence is for the whole, not simply the pieces. Wicca doesn’t view things as “either/or,” but “both/and.”

Wicca is a shamanic religion. A shaman is one who forms a personal relationship with the Gods and Spirits for the betterment of their tribe/family/people/etc., and has the ability to then travel the astral and communicate with the Gods and Spirits through various means, and also to provide healing. These goals are shared by Wicca, the skills to communicate, travel, and heal greatly encouraged and fostered by its teachings. Also integral to a shamanic system is the death-and-rebirth cycle, as shamanic initiations in tribal societies (which usually occur on the astral and are performed by Gods or Spirits) are said to involve being killed (often violently) and then reborn into a new knowledge and understanding. This symbolism is used in some Traditional Initiation ceremonies, but can be seen in all of Wicca in the God’s story as He traverses the Wheel of the Year.

Wicca is a priesthood. There are no lay people; even in ritual, it is important that everyone participate by lending their energy and intent to the rite at hand, even if the Priest/ess is the only one performing a physical action. Every Wiccan has the capacity to be a Priest/ess, and needs no intermediary between them and the Gods.

Wicca is an experiential religion. A lot of the theory and how-to and basic knowledge can be learned from books/websites, but to truly understand the fullness of the religion, one must actually practice it. There are also some aspects that simply cannot be learned or understood without actually going through them.

Wicca is a mystery religion. Those aspects that must be experienced are what I call the Greater Mysteries. The ways to achieve those Divine experiences are called the Lesser Mysteries. The Greater Mysteries are for all willing to seek them, the Lesser Mysteries are only Mysteries until one learns to properly perform and make use of them. In the case of Initiatory Oathbound Traditions, they are Mysteries to the uninitiated. In other words, the knowledge and experience you gain are Greater Mysteries, and the rituals and other acts that lead you to them are the Lesser Mysteries.

Next post: Categories

#wicca #wiccan #witch #witchcraft #pagan #paganism #about me #spirituality #religion #wicca 101

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gnomey22 · 8 months ago

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Failtopia Ship Popularity

The shipping side of the Failtopia fandom has never really been all that popular, considering how small the 'fandom' itself actually is compared to how many people casually watch the series, but what does exist about it is quite interesting. Not necessarily in a good way, but it's fandom shipping, of course it isn't.

What I specifically mean is, both existing seasons of Failtopia have had surprisingly similar formations of ships, and I'd like to break that down, explain why exactly the nonsense happened this way, for no other reason than my own enjoyment, and the five people who will ever read this post.

First off, the Erica ships.

Failica and Eribo are easily the most popular out of the S1 and S2 circles respectively, having far more vocal supporters than any other ship in the runnings. The connecting thread between them is clear to anyone who's watched the series - They both feature everyone's favourite character, Erica. A key difference between them, however, is also very obvious. The former is an F/M ship, and the latter is F/F. This discrepancy exists because, while Erica being a lesbian is possibly the single most popular headcanon in this entire fandom, it didn't become popular until S2. In S1, Erica was seen as a tsundere for not liking her male best friend, but once everyone collectively realised where her affections more likely were, a majority of people jumped ship. (Not necessarily to Eribo, at first, but I'll get to that.) Given her fan-favourite status, partially because of her attractiveness, it was only natural that the centre of the shipping scene would revolve around Erica, but it took until a certain outing to a botanical garden for people to get their acts together on what ship.

Next up, the inconsistently implied secondary ships.

Roseyawn and Marion don't even come close to the Erica ships' popularity, but they're definitely part of the discussion when we're talking about the most popular ships. The peaks of their popularities would probably rank at the third and fourth spots, but it's clear which one has more staying power, given the immediate end of the other. Both ships were heavily implied as a possibility throughout their seasons, with Rose and Pirahnyawn seeming to carry out an actual relationship in S1, and Mar and Orion flirting fairly often in S2, with Mar's romantic feeling being outright canon. However, Orion is a married man, and turns Mar down every time he tries to go further than flirting. On the other hand, when I say that only one Failtopia ship has been de-confirmed as endgame, I do not mean them. I mean Roseyawn, given that Pirahnyawn's daughter was canonically born and raised by him alone. Both ships exist directly because of canon interactions, but the same idea also works to their detriment - Roseyawn more than Marion.

Then, we have Lanchi.

Not two ships this time, but a single one that lasted throughout both seasons, the only one to do so. For good reason, too, even if it isn't obvious on the surface. It originated in S1 for much the same reason Roseyawn did, because of certain implications in their interactions. However, unlike Roseyawn, these interactions actually spelled out a positive image of their relationship. They failed to reach the heights of their fellow ships' popularities, but they were undeniably the third place contender. The very same statement applies to their popularity in S2, a season where Lanc doesn't even feature, but Chi does, and her lore explicitly states that the insane actions she took during the timeskip between seasons, were inspired by Lanc. She takes on his mannerisms throughout the remainder of the season, so even when Lanc himself is not present, the spirit of Lanchi remains prevalent. The other two S1 ships did not have this luxury, so they both died out.

Finally, we have the ones nobody wants to acknowledge.

These ships were only temporary in popularity, and mainly came about because of sheer desperation from the fans, scrounging for some shipping fuel they felt was missing at that point in the series. S1 had D*koboat, a literal pr*ship that likely only got its cult following because it was an alternative to Failica after Erica temporarily left the narrative, even having the same tsundere dynamic if you imagined it. S2 had Friendshrimp and Erichi, two ships that only barely don't count as pr*ship, because of technicalities regarding the ages of Friend and Chi, even though those weren't confirmed during the very short timeframe where these two ships gained their tiny followings. Shrimp, like Erica, was a fan-favourite that people wanted to ship, but they quickly realised that they just didn't have any good options. Erichi was, unfortunately, the original F/F ship for Erica, but because their relationship was made so clear to be nonromantic, it didn't last. They couldn't last, because they weren't made for that purpose.

TLDR: The big three ships of S1 were outdone by the big three ships of S2, and the other ones do not exist in Ba Sing Se.

#failtopia #failboat miitopia #failboat #not tagging characters #will tag the ships I favoured #eribo #marion #lanchi #and that's it #hope you liked the rambling #you probably didn't care and that's fine

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thehaniverse · 6 months ago

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absolutely loooove your coverage of the ador vs hybe legal battle. the absolute gag of the century was reading that the whistleblower was a potential investor ador higherups met with. I want to know what you think of mhj's plagiarism allegations. is it plausible for her to have a legal standing in saying that hybe did not have the right to use her old concept art from the source music x bighit audition as inspiration for illit?

Hello! I'm glad you enjoyed my coverage! And also your question is very interesting!

I'm by no means a legal expert but put simply, no, I don't think she has grounds for anything.

The difference is basically plagiarism vs copyright. Copyright (in most cases) includes a process in which an idea or creation is registered legally as a person's creation (sometimes automatically) and people can still replicate that idea if they add their own transformation to it. Plagiarism on the other hand is a copy that doesn't intrude on someone's copyright (ie not transformative) but also doesn't give them credit - it isn't illegal and is also much harder to prove as a well-known song doesn't need explicit credit to be recognized. (For example, if you covered Michael Jackson's 'Bad', you don't need to directly credit MJ for people to know it's his song.)

If you record a song cover and post it on YouTube as an example - this is not a copyright violation because it involves the original vocals of the person doing the cover, and thus is transformation. Similarly, if you add some variation to the original song such as in the vocals, but still label it as a cover then it is not plagiarism. The difference becomes when you try to pass it off as your own. As mentioned, because the vocals are different you can say the vocals are your own creation, but the backing track is technically being copied and violates the copyright. Ironically it isn't necessarily plagiarised because you could argue that the song is well known enough to not need credit.

Bringing this back to this situation, MHJ's '2YK concept' is technically based on an acclimation of various pre-existing ideas, images, and sounds from the 2000s, while she can say the combination she's made is unique, she can't copyright that interpretation because they aren't her original ideas. Similarly, with plagiarism, it's even harder to prove because she's complaining about individual dance moves instead of the whole routine - it can be argued that not only does she not have rights to those individual moves, but their incorporation into a technically new routine makes it transformative.

Put simply, she can't prove that she owns the move nor that the new routine isn't transformative so she has no legal case. However, I don't think that's her intention, it's all about public perception. Actually, a lot of K-Pop dances are not completely original or pay homage to other existing dances, but she's framing it as 'copying' to win public sympathy, and ultimately the public is the consumers. Many people are boycotting or picking apart both ILLIT and NewJeans depending on which side they stand on, and they will ultimately vote with their dollars.

Ironically, the fact she doesn't seem to have a legal case could be further grounds for BELIFT's case against her, as he publically accused them of copying NJs and she could be sued for defamation (which they are currently trying to do.) The only saving grace is that she said plagiarism, not copyright, but in Korea, you can be sued for defamation even if what you said is true. Even if she could prove it was plagiarism, she still doesn't have any legal standing as it's not covered by law.

Again, I'm no legal expert (especially not in Korean law) but that's how I personally understand the situation! It'll be interesting to see the results of everything, and I hope this helped at least a little bit~ I focused more on dancing but the same logic could be applied to the concept art too.

#HYBE #BANG PD #MIN HEE JIN #park jiwon #ADOR #HYBE vs ADOR #Min Heejin vs HYBE #Min Heejin #BTS #NewJeans #ILLIT #Le Sserafim #Kpop News #Kpop #K-entertainment #Q&A

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paopuofhearts · 1 year ago

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Mmmm I see a lot of interesting tags as people start following me for posting about being Native and Jewish when I discuss the intersectionality of these things.

So I'm just gonna. Like. Say my stance, because some of y'all are (potentially) really pushing some hardcore with some shit that goes directly against what I said in those posts.

Palestine is suffering through genocide and ethnic cleansing, as defined by the UN. Genocide is defined as "the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part... killing members of a group, causing serious harm to a group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its destruction in whole or in part" (alongside measures that impact children and limit the future of said group). That is a non-negotiable fact.

Hamas is a terrorist group. Terrorism is defined based only upon whether or not civilians are targeted. In this, plenty of nations and revolutionary groups easily fall under the label of terrorism. Hamas is not special in this regard. They are not decolonizing, and to say so is a major slap in the face to decolonial efforts.

*I would also add that Israel, by definition, also employs terrorist tactics, and could therefore be considered a terrorist nation. They do target civilians, and that's literally all terrorism as a tactic is. Terrorism becomes a moot point when both sides do the same thing to each other.

*I would to do a whole aside into the binary belief that's been pushed recently that decolonization must be violent because colonization is violent: this is inherently harmful and reductionist, because it demands that an oppressed group must act in the same way as their oppressors for freedom. Fuck that.

Israel as a modern day nation is built on the methodology and structure of settler-colonialism. Settler-colonialism is not a Western, European, or White concept: it is only related to Western, European, and White identity because it has been perpetuated the most by these (overlapping) groups. It was also literally stated by people who pushed the Zionist Movement (Herzl) that Israel as a modern nation would be a settler-colonial state. This can be considered what China has done to Tibet, or what Japan did during WW2.

The reason I say it is a settler-colonial methodology and structure, as opposed to the other definition that it must be a foreign entity taking over an indigenous entity as noted in the examples above (and this is why people need to agree on how they use terminology, because these kinds of words may have different definitions that can completely change your meaning), is because Jewish people are not foreign, they are indigenous. Judaism is directly tied to the land in multiple layered ways; you cannot separate it, even in diaspora.

*As a side note, this also applies to Zionism itself: it is a concept and a movement in which definitions may have some similarities but are very different. Zionism as a concept can mean two things (potentially three, but let's stick with two) from my understanding: seeing Jewish people in diaspora as their own autonomous group, similar to how Natives have tribal sovereignty - or simply meaning Jewish people have the right to return to the land they were forced into diaspora from in some way, potentially much like the Native Land Back movement where this does not necessarily mean completely taking over the land itself, but having access to it. Zionism as a movement is what created Israel as a modern nation state through the methodology and structure of settler-colonialism. To me, Israel may have originated as a promise for this, but it is not how to go about this; Israel is Not Okay in how it's going about this, and is no longer representative of Zionism in that regard (if it ever was to begin with, because Settler Colonialism is wrong; there are other ways to achieve what Zionism as a concept aimed for, and a Settler Colonial Nation State is Not It). Learning to understand how the term is being used is incredibly important, because it is not a one definition term, same as settler-colonialism.

So here's a fun fact that involves all these points: oppressed minorities that experience colonization and genocide are not immune to committing colonization and genocide against others - this is literally something any group can do to another group if they have resources to do it. This happened during the Rwandan Genocide, this happened during the Cambodian Genocide, this happens even today with plenty of other nonWestern, nonEuropean, nonWhite groups towards other nonWestern, nonEuropean, nonWhite groups. This is not specially reserved for only people within power against people without power. In fact, it's one of the remaining vestiges of leveraging what's left of Western, European, White imperialism: pitting oppressed minorities against each other to extract resources and influence by perpetuating conflict.

Why else is the US so involved in this conflict? Why else are so many nations engaged with trying to benefit from a zero-sum game where one side can be a sole victor instead of trying to work out other options? (Especially when people living through this have done and are doing the work of building bridges to support each other?)

Anyway. Palestine deserves to be its own nation once more. Zionism as a concept is something I support because Jewish people were forced into diaspora and forced from the land they are connected to. Realistically, Israel isn't going anywhere, but allowing a nation to actively and openly commit genocide and ethnic cleansing is horrific and terrible, and should never be supported.

These are all things that can coexist, and if you cannot comprehend that or disagree, potentially due to lack of understanding (which I find disappointing, as that implies a refusal to use terms correctly simply because they do not jive with the argument you want to center) or emotional reactionism (which I find completely fair, as this is a traumatic issue and affinity grouping is sometimes necessary for mental health), I would suggest unfollowing me.

At any rate, as I've said before: support Palestine without shoveling antisemitic propaganda by decentering the actual issues or erasing actual support. That's all.

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hzrnvm · 1 year ago

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How does Lojban go about making Words and Sentences quote un quote less Ambiguous and/or More Logical (Compared to other languages, What makes Speaking in Lojban less ambiguous?)

[apologies if this isn’t a clear question or if you’ve been asked this before]

First of all, thank you for the ask. It was a really interesting question, and I enjoyed thinking about it a lot! Now the answer begins.

So, first things first, I should mention that Lojban is actually not necessarily semantically unambiguous in practice! That is to say that while it's capable of being much more unambiguous semantically than other languages — mostly due to cmavo (grammar words) having clear defined meanings, the absence of homonyms, and tone of voice having no effect on meaning — it does allow for semantic ambiguity in communication. If only because humans are not telepathic, and thus complete semantic unambiguity is impossible.

[There were originally two paragraphs here explaining tanru and "zo'e" as examples of semantic ambiguity in Lojban but I realized that is not answering your question so I put it in another post and linked it here]

Now to answer the question you actually asked. Sorry I got a little off-track there. pe'i (lojban evidential indicator meaning "I think") the best way of answering "What makes Lojban syntacticically unambiguous?" is "What makes other languages syntactically ambiguous?". Now we're very lucky here, because Wikipedia has a page with examples of syntactically ambiguous sentences. For example, this one's a classic, "John saw the man on the mountain with a telescope." Now we can show all the ways this can be parsed with brackets [({})]:

[John saw the man] [on the mountain] [with a telescope]

[John saw the man] [on the mountain (with a telescope)]

[John saw (the man on the mountain)] [with a telescope]

[John saw (the man on {the mountain with a telescope})]

[John saw (the man {on the mountain} {with a telescope})]

Reordering these sentences can clarify their meaning:

John, on the mountain and using a telescope, saw the man

John, on the mountain that had a telescope, saw the man

John, using a telescope, saw the man who was on the mountain

John saw the man who was on the mountain that had a telescope

John saw the man who was on the mountain and had a telescope

See, all those meanings are expressed by the sentence! Now let's see how Lojban would say each of those meanings (using the assignable pro-sumti "ko'a" to refer to la .djan., and with links to definitions):

ko'a noi cpana le cmana cu viska le prenu sepi'o lo darvistci

ko'a noi cpana le cmana be setu'i lo darvistci cu viska le prenu

ko'a viska le prenu be tu'i le cmana sepi'o lo darvistci

ko'a viska le prenu be tu'i le cmana be setu'i lo darvistci

ko'a viska le prenu be tu'i le cmana bei sepi'o lo darvistci

Now, if you plug those sentences into the parser (I recommend 'Boxes' mode), you'll see that they all have completely different forms! And if you look for what's in these sentences that clarifies their meaning, you'll find one important thing: Scope. Phrases such as 'noi cpana le cmana' are directly connected to the words before them and are terminated either by a terminator or cu. In sentence 4, "with a telescope" is "be setu'i lo darvistci" (which is a location of a telescope) as it applies to "le cmana" (the mountain) because "be" applies to the preceding sumti. But in sentence 5, it's "bei sepi'o lo darvistci" (which [who] is using a telescope), and it applies to "le prenu" (the person) because "bei" applies to the sumti that the previous "be" applied to.

This might be hard to understand if you haven't read any of the CLL. It probably is, and you probably haven't. A lighter, smaller showcase of how Lojban achieves syntactic unambiguity can be seen in the phrase "little girls' school".

In English, this phrase is [syntactically] ambiguous as to whether it's a "[little girls] school" or a "little [girls' school]" — that is, is it a school for little girls or a little school for girls?. In Lojban, this is clearly defined. Where "cmalu", "nixli", and "ckule" mean "small", "girl", and "school" respectively, "cmalu nixli ckule" means the former, "[little girls] school". This is because in Lojban, tanru (explained in the linked post above and further explained in a later post)) follow the left-grouping rule, meaning they are grouped from the left first. To bypass this rule, you can use "bo", which joins words with the shortest scope possible. This would look like "cmalu nixli bo ckule", which does mean "little [girls' school]". You could also use "ke", which is terminated with "ke'e" and works like parantheses: this would look like "cmalu ke nixli ckule [ke'e]" (with the optional terminator left in brackets), and means the same thing as with "bo".

And yeah, that's unambiguity in Lojban! If you want a tl;dr, it's crafted definitions for semantic umambiguity, and detailed rigid rules for syntactic unambiguity. Thank you again for the ask, I had a lot of fun answering it :)

#ask #Anonymous #ok that should be good

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not-available-for-comment · 1 year ago

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Reading your wastewater post makes me, another person who has always been interested of the historical ways humans got rid of their waste, wish more people can tell me more facts. I know it is also sad that most ignore this part of society but if more people knew about it would help alleviate some of the modern water crisis issues. And how people to this day do not have safe ways of disposing human waste. Like my question mostly is that human waste used to be such a good compost but does eating certain things and medicines contaminate it so it’s unusable as such?

As a former entomologist as well I always wondered if dung beetles would be interested in human dung as well…

I watched a video on YouTube about how night soil men existed until the 20th century in Japan. It’s just a fascinating topic to me.

Hey hey! Sorry it took me a while to get to this. I am both 1) very behind on asks 2) often short on spoons. But nightsoil and "humanure" are interests of mine too, and I have some time to kill, so let's see what we can cover!

First of all, composting toilets are totally a thing, and common in RVs and off-grid housing. Here's a decent guide to using commercially purchased models, and here's one that focuses on building and using a homemade composting toilet. Note that both sources say to use the resulting compost on non-edible plants only. I would tend to strongly agree with this. Even municipal wastewater plants, which have the ability to monitor the composting process very intensely and precisely, can struggle to make food-grade compost with their waste. It's not impossible, and I'd be really interested to know if there is something fundamentally different about the nightsoil process that makes it easier, but for your average Joe in a non-nightsoil culture I'd say it's an excellent rule of thumb.

There are some additional considerations when using humanure on food crops. In cultures that have good access to oral medication, we are discovering that some oral medicines can end up in wastewater in high enough concentrations to affect the environment. I don't necessarily consider that a reason not to use humanure at all, but it's an additional reason why I wouldn't necessarily want to put it directly on my lettuce. Speaking of lettuce, there is some evidence that E. coli, particularly the O157 strain, has the ability to actually penetrate the cells of some lettuces, so applying possibly extra-germy compost to leafy greens in particular is a no for me, dawg. (I know this is older research, so if any biologists/botanists/food safety people want to chime in please feel free.)

That said, I don't think that saying humanure shouldn't be used on food crops is the same as saying it's useless. Trees are a potential beneficiary. I would personally feel comfortable using it in soil restoration in an area where I didn't plan to grow food crops for several years. (Though you'd have to be careful not to contaminate drinking water or nearby food crops when you applied it.) I'd use it in a flower garden in a heartbeat. Flowers and ornamentals are important to the human spirit even if you can't eat them (setting aside for now the ones you can...).

As an interesting aside, human urine is actually much more useful and easily treated on its own than it is after it's been mixed with *polite cough* solid waste. Every so often a designer comes out with a toilet intended to separate the two at, er, point of origin so that they can be treated differently. (The difficulty of course being that the rest of the wastewater collection system is not set up to separate them, and is significantly more costly and time-consuming to update than a toilet.)

That said, urine is fascinating in its own right as well. It may be safer to apply aged urine than treated wastewater as a fertilizer, in part because aged urine breaks down into ammonia. One of my favorite uses of aged urine/ammonia is in cycling new aquaponics systems to encourage them to develop the beneficial microbe base they need to run as a self-sustaining system. I also suspect that a lot of gross-out recipes for various older cloth and leather treatment processes, like turkey red, that "even included human urine!" were not the result indiscriminate pissing on your work but a chemically sound application of ammonia or similar compounds. (Any bigger dye nerds than me who want to weigh in PLEASE do!)

Having rambled a bit, I think my most succinct answer to your question is that there is tremendous potential in using human waste as fertilizer, but western culture has largely rejected it for so long that we just don't have the scientific basis (or, possibly, the cultural memory) to consistently produce food-safe compost from it *at this time*. I'm super excited to see how much interest there has been in changing this over the past 10-ish years that I've been vaguely involved with the industry, but I don't think we're at the point where it's usable *in that specific capacity* just yet. That said, even if you're not applying it to food crops, I think it's always worthwhile to learn more about where the industry is going and what the latest research is. I genuinely consider this such an exciting and fast-moving field, and I'm always excited to meet people who are interested in learning more!

Thanks for the ask!

#asks #I probably forgot something #I always forget something #but sometimes you just want to eat sausage and talk about humanure #y'know?#wastewater treatment #sludge #rocky rambles

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purplekoop · 2 years ago

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Okay Map/Hero Matching time

Explained the criteria in my last post, but to recap the idea is to see what heroes go along with what maps, either by shared nationality or story relevance.

These are two different criteria for a reason: Like I also mentioned in my last post, Moira is from Ireland, but there's no Irish map in-game as of now. However, she has significant story ties to Oasis, a map that takes place in Iraq. I would think it fair to say then that Oasis could be considered "Moira's map" even though there's a mismatch of nationality.

I did the list both ways, both attaching heroes to a list of maps, and assigning maps to a list of heroes. Let's start with the latter first:

Starting with the Tanks:

This is gonna be the same story with Zenyatta later, but Ramattra is weird because he technically doesn't have an official nationality. He's an Omnic built in the Omniums, with his exact location of origin unknown. He spent a good portion of his life in Nepal, but it's not his home country. However, it very clearly is the location most significant to him personally.

Orisa on the other hand is very clearly considered to be from Numbani. She was created in Numbani, her creator is from Numbani, they both currently still live in Numbani, I think it's pretty safe to say she's Numbanian. For what it's worth, Orisa is the only non-human character given a nationality on the fandom wiki.

Notice I also listed some maps that have an "indirect" connection to the hero. These are connections that don't necessarily correspond to place of origin or home or base of operations, but have some significance to the character. This is kind of an iffy criteria, so I got stricter with it as I went on.

Now for Damage heroes:

All of the Americans are in this category, go figure. America is also, go figure, the country with the most maps as of now (Route 66, Hollywood, Blizzard World, and Midtown. Actually only 4, I miscounted in my head but the point on the chart stands). The most interesting one to talk about is Reaper, who was a cop in Las Angeles before his time in Overwatch and Talon, which would technically make Hollywood "his map" more than anyone else's, but the hero and map have literally no significance to each other otherwise.

Bastion is also... weird. They're the one hero who doesn't have a specified point of origin, and also doesn't have a clear "home country". The Bastion robot units were originally created by SST Laboratories, which based on Torbjorn being a critical member of, may suggest that it's a Swedish company, and therefore by proxy you could consider Bastion to be Swedish? That's a bit of a stretch though, so to be safe I left their nationality blank, and only considered their resting place (Black Forest, Germany) as a directly relevant map.

Echo is the last weird "what country is the robot from" to discuss. Her creator, Mina Liao, is Singaporean. If we apply the Orisa logic of a robot created directly by one individual inheriting that creator's nationality (especially considering Echo literally copied some of Liao's behaviors and even her voice, with some sources implying a sort of mother/daughter bond between them), then Echo is also Singaporean. However, it's unlikely she was built in Singapore. Liao made Echo late into her time at Overwatch, whose major bases of operations were in Switzerland and Gibraltar. Either way... yeah I'm not researching Singapore's citizenship laws to determine if she counts for that.

(also if you look at the chart and say "what the hell are Gothenburg and Suravasa", then it's something I've explained before, but will get into more later here)

Now for the Supports:

Nothing we haven't seen already at this point, I've explained most of these with other heroes earlier.

Only thing to note is Ayutthaya, the Thailand-based CTF map added all the way back in Lunar New Year 2018. While we do finally have a Thai hero in Lifeweaver, as far as we know now he doesn't have anything in particular to do with the map. Ayutthaya as an arcade mode map doesn't have any lore in general (shoot, even less than most of the others), let alone anything tying it to Lifeweaver. Would've been a hell of a cool trick to have Lifeweaver planned to tie into the map since it was added, but... yeah no I don't think that's likely at all.

Now for the other way around, looking at this from the perspective of what maps have relevant heroes.

I didn't consider the non-canon maps (The 4 Workshop maps and the upcoming Talantis) or any map variants for... hopefully obvious reasons.

Starting with Escort and Hybrid.

I did these charts first, so I was a lot more lenient on what "indirect connections" would include. There's a number of maps that are relevant to Overwatch as a whole or Talon as a whole, but not any one member. For those, I just put the group name in that section.

As you might notice, a lot more maps don't have heroes than heroes not having maps. The only American map having any actual ties to any heroes is Route 66, the rest are completely unrelated.

Next up though, the Control, Push, and Assault maps:

Nothing else to note here, other than clarifying that yes, I am aware that Antarctica technically isn't a country, and The Moon is definitely not a country. But like. you know what I mean, right?

Anyways, moving ahead to the last few maps, these being the Arcade-exclusive maps and the future maps:

So lemme quickly recap Gothenburg and Suravasa.

Early on for Overwatch 2's initial announcements, we learned about a few new maps, including Gothenburg (an Assault map featuring Torbjorn's workshop) and a map said to take place in India (which I deduced in an earlier post was specifically Suravasa, a location from Symmetra's Stone by Stone story). We haven't seen these maps come to the game yet though, mostly because Assault was scrapped as a core game mode for Overwatch 2, and the replacement mode to adapt these maps into has yet to be revealed. They felt important to include here though, since we're aware of their existence and they're maps very clearly made to be home maps for some of the Overwatch heroes who've lacked one for the longest time.

Now for some data, which heroes and maps don't have a match?

The heroes (that have a specified nationality) without a map from the same country are Doomfist (Nigeria), Sigma (Netherlands), Baptiste (Haiti), Mercy (Switzerland), and Moira (Ireland).

Removing the heroes who have clear corresponding map for reasons besides nationality (and including dubious nationalities), the list of heroes without a map of any kind are just Sigma (unless you count Horizon Lunar Colony), Echo, Mercy, and Baptiste.

The maps without any heroes from the same country are Watchpoint: Gibraltar (Gibraltar), Rialto (Italy), Havana (Cuba), Circuit Royal (Monaco), Ilios (Greece), Oasis (Iraq), Antarctic Peninsula/Ecopoint Antarctica, Colosseo (Italy), Esperanca (Portugal), Petra (Southern Jordan), and Malevento (Italy).

Removing the maps that have a clear hero match that just isn't necessarily from the same country, the list goes down to Rialto, Havana, Circuit Royal, Ilios, Colosseo, Esperanca, Petra, and Malevento.

Soooooo yeah! If I missed something or you need clarification on something in the chats, then shoot me a reply to let me know!

...Why did I do this.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #long post #overwatch analysis

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bisquid · 1 year ago

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Okay I'm going to say a couple of things in bullet points bc it's late and I'm tired so please bear with me:

Apologies for the perhaps unnecessarily aggressive response; I've been fielding a fun and wide variety of obnoxious responses both in the notes and my inbox so I'm feeling a tad punchy

I am not trying to preach to anyone, but I am growing increasingly aware of an incredible amount of (justified) vitriol towards the one percent who are ruining everyone's lives, but also how much of that anger is being mistakenly directed at the wrong targets

Fuck knows it's satisfying to go 'ha ha look at the rich white assholes experiencing a consequence', but it's also frustrating to see 'rich white assholes' applied to an incredible number of not rich not necessarily white possibly assholes

(I have been sent death threats because "only a rich cunt would want death panels deciding who lives or dies because you can afford private healthcare" when I made a comment about the NHS, and also called a number of things I won't repeat here for the unforgivable crime of 'moving back in with my parents after uni')

Your patronisation is cute but alas misplaced: I already volunteer at my local food bank, (and my local wildlife rescue at my old location) and have on more than one occasion donated to them directly, so I appreciate your recognition of their value! I also regularly donate items to several local branches of charities such as the bhf and Oxfam.

I will admit that my primary focus is wildlife and biodiversity conservation, so most of my volunteering time and donations and whatnot tend to lean towards that, but there's a surprising amount of overlap between conservation and social responsibility

When you've had someone tell you to your face that your volunteering work is a pointless hypocrisy because it won't fix the underlying systemic inequality in the same breath that they've called the local pub landlady 'part of the problem' for owning the pub she tends bar and waits table at, you become rapidly weary - and wary - of the black and white false dichotomy mentality that is so prevalent on Tumblr

As a broke Brit with neither the time nor inclination to visit America much less attend burning man I feel that some of your vitriol may be a tad misplaced there

Additionally, there is a world of difference between the titan implosion and the burning man (and possibly fyre fest) incidents in that while the former is absolutely the well deserved 'find out' to a billionaire's 'fuck around', the latter are, purely by dint of the numbers involved, if nothing else, much less the specific details of the event in question, likely to be primarily affecting normal people who don't deserve to be experiencing whatever it is that's gone wrong

On which note: I truly regret mentioning burning man in the original post, because it's managed to derail my actual point, which is that having disposable income doesn't make someone The Rich™ and sitting around laughing at the suffering of the not-technichally-poor is not actually the class consciousness people seem to think it is

And furthermore this is a dangerous attitude to have because it encourages infighting among a group of people who have far more in common with each other than the actually rich people they're mistaking each other for

And moreover in the event of a genuine 'revolution' it will, just like many other 'socialist' uprisings in modern history (think the USSR, China, see the notes on this post) result in the deaths of many normal people who happened to 'look' wealthy enough to become targets

Finally: one of the specific reasons I made my own post rather than barging in on every post that set my teeth on edge was the recognition that it's not always necessary to start these kinds of discussions on a 'not that deep' post, however much I personally want to grab and shake the OPs and point them in the direction of the people who actually deserve their ire

Seeing the notes on posts about the Burning Man Debacle™ and for fucks sake I am taking the phrase 'eat the rich' away from y'all until you can CORRECTLY IDENTIFY the rich

Rich is 'arrived by way of their private jet', is 'dropped $500k on a submarine ticket', is '$500 is a rounding error'.

'$500 dollars for a nine day event they must all be rich white people' no you reactionary rotten potato that is actually an entirely reasonable price for an entirely normal person to pay for an annual event! $500 over the course of a year is approximately equivalent to one big takeout a month! Being able to afford that doesn't make you rich it makes you probably not poor! The 'rich or poor' narrative is a false dichotomy that completely excludes the fact that 'richness' or 'poorness' is a SCALE! It's not fucking categorical! You don't one day magically flip a switch and go from 'poor' to 'rich' or vice versa you see incremental changes over time! Wealth distribution is a (these days, admittedly, rather wonky) motherfucking BELL CURVE! . The fact that capitalism is driving more and more people to either extreme of said curve is just evidence of a broken system, but it doesn't change the fact that most people should have a decent amount of disposable income!

The fact that many people don't have said disposable income doesn't magically make the ones that do 'rich' it makes everyone else poor. And the people at fault for the massive and growing percentage of people living below the poverty line are not the ones managing to stay above it, it's the fault of the actually rich, the ones stealing our time and our health and our wages and our future in pursuit of a number on a screen. And the rich are the only people you're helping by hating the people struggling slightly less than you.

When it comes time to 'eat the rich' you're going to be murdering dentists and librarians and scientists while the actually rich point and laugh from a safe distance as you solve their problems for them.

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twistedmusings · 4 years ago

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How the dorm leaders react when they catch you kissing someone from their dorm [Part 2]

A/N: AND HERE IT IS! Oh my god I still can't believe I managed to get this done! I actually stayed on task! Honestly these three were probably my favourite from the original post, I've had far too much fun writing these bois.

And what can I say? Playfully flirty MC is a good MC u wu

Warnings: Heavy smooching, possessive talk, and the reader just really pushing the dorm leader's buttons~

Part 1 here!

“How dare you...?”

Vil was more than happy to be coming back to Pomefiore with all the stuff that had happened today. Classes were more annoying than usual, he had to chase Leona down to tell him to get his work done and there had been some problems in the modeling studio that caused the lights to be brighter than usual and now he had a headache that only a nap could fix.

Thing was, if he wanted to keep his schedule as tight as possible he would need to stay awake for...another 6 hours.

One good thing was waiting for him though. Rook had greeted him at the entrance and let him know that the Ramshackle prefect was in the dorm today as per his request.

Good.

This would keep him awake. He remembers promising you a lesson in proper skincare in order to remedy whatever you did once you woke up in the morning. Deep in the back of his head he remembers you telling him that you just splash cold water on your face but he preferred to think that you at least put some sort of moisturizer. Maybe.

He rushes to his room to freshen up and makes sure that he has the materials he needs. Vil had decided that his own brand of face cleansing products would be a good start for your skin. The tingles in his fingertips went ignored as he thought of you thinking about him in the morning. It wasn’t that sort of thing at all, he reminded himself. Dorm leaders were supposed to help each other out, despite how often they were at each other’s throats, and he was just fulfilling his role not just as a dorm leader but as a...friend.

Vil takes one last look at the mirror and makes his way down the row of rooms in Pomefiore to reach the Lounge, only to stop when he sees you being pulled into one of the many rooms by what was clearly a Pomefiore’s students hand.

Wait what?

It’s almost alarming how quickly he approaches the door and puts his foot in it, choosing to stay quiet as he sees that the two people in the room didn’t even bother to wonder why the door hadn’t closed all the way. The student was pressing kisses against your lips in small intervals, choosing instead to talk as you run your hands up the expensive purple robe and taking in the little designs.

“I had a new lip scrub I wanted you to try out.”

“Really? Then why aren’t we in the bathroom?"

“That’s rather forward for a dorm leader. Is everyone in Ramshackle this daring?”

Vil couldn’t even pinpoint the student’s name. That was your first offense. The only thing he remembers about him is the man’s caramel brown hair and how it contrasted beautifully against his dark skin. After that, nothing could pop into his head that would make that student even remotely interesting for you to be hanging off of him like that! Of all the people to be with, it just had to be a nameless potato, didn’t it?

The hairs at the back of his head stand up as the potato hands you what he believes to be the best lip scrub in the business, which only makes the alarms in Vil’s head go off even louder. That brand wasn’t even known for doing lip scrubs! In fact, they once put out a three in one shampoo/conditioner and the fact that the student even had that brand in the dorms and you just blatantly accepting it was your second offense.

And as much as he wanted to focus on that being the thing that truly bothered him, he felt the alarms deafening him as he saw the potato’s hands wrap around your waist as he kissed you again, your lips parting to let him inside.

He shouldn’t be looking at this, he should be leaving and just leave you to your own devices. The lesson wasn’t important, you weren’t that important to him--

Amethyst eyes widen when you tilt your head as the student starts kissing down your neck, already choosing one spot to make his own as he licks and nips at the skin while you dig your fingers into his robe.

Vil didn’t really know how to describe the sudden surge of energy that caused him to fling the door open and grab the student by the back of his robe and pull him backwards, eyes glaring at you the entire time as you whisper his name, as if suddenly remembering that you had a previous engagement before this whole ‘sticking your tongue down a Pomefiore student’s throat’’ business.

“Prefect. My room. Now.”

You put your hands up and walk out of the room without looking at him, Vil letting go of the student’s robes and walking out after you. He didn’t even need to tell him that he was in trouble, the student would realize it soon enough once Rook delivered the chores that needed to be done by tonight.

A list only that student would be getting instead of the entire dorm.

Vil closes the door of his room and turns the lock rather harshly, looking back at you sitting at the edge of his bed still staring at the window. You weren’t trying to defend yourself, you weren’t even looking at him.

“I hate to be kept waiting, Prefect. Not just that, it is extremely rude to keep someone waiting just so you can fraternize with someone in my dorm.”

No answer. He grabs his desk chair and sits down so he can face you directly.

“What made you go and pick that potato?”

“Why would that be any of your business Vil-senpai?”

It was very much his business, if you asked him. He would have been okay if it was Epel or even Rook that you had picked to make out with but he wasn’t just going to stand around and watch as one of the student’s whose name he didn’t even know threw all of his work out of the window! So he asked the question again, this time getting a chuckle as an answer which only served to upset him even more.

“Out of anyone in my dorm you could have picked, you had to go with someone who offers you such a low quality brand of lip scrub?”

“That is your problem with this? What he offered me? Me and him just started hanging out, we know nothing about each other! I just wanted to change that.”

His headache was coming back again.

Vil put hard work into everything he did. That was his work ethic and people be damned if they thought it was too much. Maybe they couldn’t handle it but they still respected it, respected his craft and the work he put into it.

So why do you, of all of his recent projects, disrespect him so blatantly?

It was clear you weren’t ready yet, Vil wasn’t done working with you yet. After doing something like this, and right inside his dorm, he knew that you had just taken all of the careful brushes and strokes he had decorated your canvas with…

And burnt it right in front of his eyes.

Which is why he didn’t necessarily feel any guilt when he grabbed your cheeks and pulled his own lipstick out of his back pocket, ignoring your protests.

“Quiet.”

He applies the shade quickly and before you have any chance to protest, pushes his lips against yours.

The kiss is anything but sweet. It’s almost punishing. Vil was reminding you that you were a work in progress. He still had so much left to teach you, so much left to work with you and if you kept rushing things you were going to make him mad. Once he was done with you, you could go about your pitiful little life and kiss whoever you wanted and he wouldn’t even bat an eyelash.

A hand grasps at his wrists as you press his palms on your cheeks, your tongue gently pressing against his lips so you could slip inside--

Nevermind. This sort of impatient kissing would also have to go.

He pulls away and pushes you onto the mattress, your eyes hazy with eagerness and confusion as Vil removes his jacket and gloves and leans down to trap you below him.

“Were you this greedy with him? Did he also get this treatment from you? No, don’t answer. I fear I’ll only get angrier if you do. Now be an obedient little potato and stay still, the first thing I’ll fix is that messy kissing of yours.”

“ :( “

Snacks runs had to be the most annoying and heart pounding of his usual daily life quests. If waking up was a struggle enough, especially when no special loot such as new anime or manga was available, it was hard to complete such basic tasks without some sort of incentive.

Although Idia guessed that not dying of starvation was enough of an incentive.

He walks down the corridor of his own dorm, humming a quiet tune to himself as he looks down at all the snacks he had acquired. Which, score! They even had a limited edition chip flavor that came with the card of one of his favourite idols! It took everything in his power to not just spend all of his money on more than one bag but he had such a good day today that he knew his gacha pull luck just had to be good.

The door to a room behind him opens, Idia quickly picking up his pace and hiding behind a corner as he looks at who it could be. He isn't against anyone in his dorm but...he didn't have the means to engage in any conversation that wasn't about his current FPS game or Gakemo so--

"Thank you for the help! I thought my phone was beyond repair!"

His hands tighten around the chips pressed tight to his chest, eyes wide in surprise as he sees you stepping out of the room.

Of all people...why were you here so late?

The student laughs as he scratches the back of his head, handing you back your phone and looking away.

“No--No problem! I...I honestly didn’t think you would come to me for help. I integrated the newest magical technology on it as well as voice activated features and a--a brand new messaging app that sends messages faster!”

Idia clicked his tongue as he heard the student speak. Look at him showing off. You didn’t know that he was taking advantage of your naive mind! You didn’t know anything about magic so, of course, all those features would sound fancy!

When it was literally taking your phone and just downloading some fancy new apps on it!

Yet there you were, marveling down at it as if you had just gotten the latest version.

Well maybe he shouldn’t complain too much, even from here he could see your smile. A part of him worried that all this luck he was suddenly getting would affect the luck he would get on his chip bag but...you were worth it.

Such a rare event shouldn’t be left unnoticed.

Maybe...maybe if he stayed here you could walk by and he could open up the ‘bumping into each other late at night’ event?

“So how can I repay you? Do you need anything done?”

Idia tunes back into the conversation as he frowns, looking back at the two of you as the student looks at every single corner of the ceiling instead of looking at you.

Payment? The guy had just downloaded a couple of apps that wasn’t good enough reason to offer some sort of payment. He frowns and taps his foot impatiently as the guy stutters out a few excuses before finally giving you an answer.

“A ki--A kiss? Would that be alright?”

The Ignihyde dorm leader almost falls down as he hears that, retreating further into his corner as he glared daggers at the guy who had just dared to ask for such a bold request.

A k--kis--kiss? A kiss...from you?

This guy was starting to piss him off! He should just be content staring at you! You were a SSR character all on your own! That guy should be happy he even got to talk to you at all and shouldn’t ask for more than he was given! He already rolled for such a life changing event why would he even want more!

His eyes soften when he sees you mull it over. It was okay, you could reject him. Such a guy wouldn’t even be worthy of a kiss from you so you so all you had to do was say no! Go on, [Y/N], just reject hi--

Idia can feel his heart breaking as his muscles stop working, dropping all of his stuff on the floor with a thud as the sound echoes. Yet it went ignored, the other two people in the hallway too busy with their own activities.

When...when had you even kissed him? Idia only remembers you putting your phone away and the moment he blinked you had already pressed your lips against that other guy--!

He should be leaving, why isn’t he moving?

The student’s hand goes to your waist as you deepen it, his face turning a deep shade of red as you pull away and tap his lips.

“Was that your first kiss?”

“...y--yes..”

You were smiling and giving him such a rare, almost ultimately rare item and Idia didn’t know how long he could stare until he combusted.

So all he could do was turn around…

And run as fast as he could.

He ignored the familiar voice calling out his name, footsteps quickly following him as he started to run out of breath.

Making a poor otaku like him run, even now you were still being so cruel to him!

Idia’s door slides open as he bursts inside, ready to bury himself in his bed and never come out again--!

Only to stop when he hears you hiss in pain.

Blue eyes turn around to see your foot jammed into his doorway, not allowing the electric door to slide closed. A part of him wants to immediately go to you and ask if you were alright but he stops himself as the image of your kiss flashes through his mind again.

“[Y/N]-shi! W--What--!”

You rub at your foot and sigh, walking in with a confused look as Idia presses his back against his bookshelf. He knew it. If a SSR character could be brought to real life, this is the sort of power they would have over him.

The kind of aura you were emitting was enough for him to want to get on his knees, but he chose to remain strong.

“I was calling out to you…didn’t you hear me?”

Idia turns his head and looks at the floor, the pain still raw and emotionally taxing than what he was used to. Disappointment was one thing but heartbreak was a complete other monster!

“Shouldn’t--Shouldn’t you be with your boyfriend?”

He spits the word out, annoyed that a guy from his dorm could unlock...no...could get someone like you. You were open to every single activity Idia gave you, you gave him good feedback and didn’t get scared when you two disagreed on something. Every manga he gave you, you read and every anime he told you to watch, you would watch it.

You were receptive, you were attentive, you were what Idia wanted in a real life friend!

He hadn’t dared hope for more!

That still didn’t mean he couldn’t fantasize when he was all by himself.

“Boyfriend…?”

You tilt your head in confusion before chuckling as you realized what had happened.

“Oh so you saw that.”

Is that all you were going to say?! You had just taken his heart and crushed it into tiny little pieces and you were just going to talk about what a pervert he was being!

Someone just KO him now, like right now!

“Yes...I saw. So what? You were just ki-kissi--doing that thing from everyone to see! So you should just go back to him instead of bullying me in my own room!”

Please just leave, he wanted to cry in peace.

Yet you stubbornly remain, just like the first time he met you.

“Idia I don’t know what crazy assumptions you are making but that guy isn’t my boyfriend.”

You put up one finger.

“He fixed my phone…”

Another one follows after.

“And he asked for a kiss for payment. Simple as that. You shouldn’t act like you caught us doing something major. It was just a kis---”

Large hands land on your shoulders as Idia now stands in front of you, head hung low as he mutters something to himself.

“Just a kiss….just a kiss.”

You jump as he gets close to your face, eyes staring at you pleadingly as he cupped your face.

“JUST A KISS? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE? AN EXTRA RARE CHARACTER SUCH AS YOURSELF SHOULDN’T BE GIVING OUT SUCH RARE ITEMS LIKE THAT!”

He shakes you back and forth.

“IF YOUR KISS WAS JUST NORMAL THEN EVEN I...I COULD--”

Idia’s eyes fall on your lips, the rush of adrenaline mixed in with his built up desire for you all culminating in two choices popping up in his head. And for the first time, he knew that hesitation was not an option.

So he dives in.

His lips met yours roughly, not really moving them or anything but just pressing them against you. You put your hands gently on his chest but he takes it as a protest, which only causes him to push them onto yours even more.

This was...disastrous.

He had never kissed anyone before. How in the world did he think that he would be able to kiss you? Ah, maybe this was a dream? Right! He had just dreamed all of this up and you didn’t really force your way into his room to confront him!

His hair flares up when you cup his face, pushing him away slightly and tilting him in such a way that your lips would meet in a much softer fashion. He looks down and sees you closing your eyes, following in your footsteps and melting inside your kiss.

You both pull away slowly, Idia opening his eyes and blushing when he sees you licking your lips and sending him a teasing grin.

A rare sight...made only for him.

“I feel like I just spent all my stamina on this one event...so I don’t want to go unrewarded. Can we go further? I want to go further. What option do I have to pick for you to do that again, [Y/N]?”

“Don’t touch them.”

“YOUNG MASTER! WHERE ARE YOU!”

Malleus sighs as he looks on at the Diasmonia students gathered around the outskirts of the school, smiling as he sees Sebek directing them each and every way. Sebek really didn’t give up, did he? One of his classes had been canceled and he was eager to see the gargoyles around Ramshackle in a much better light but he figured Sebek would cause up a stir when he didn’t find him in his classroom.

As much as he appreciated him, Sebek didn’t have to walk him to every single class.

He sighs and goes deeper into the woods behind Ramshackle, the small broken path there leading him down a familiar terrain.

This is where he usually walked with you, after all.

Seeing this place in bright light was so very different. Instead of it being illuminated by his lights, the sun peeked out from over the trees and provided a sunny trail instead of the usual moonlight. He took a deep breath as he breathed in the smell of flowers all around, all of them growing wildly around him and defying any human to try and tame them.

His fingers trace some of the thorns he found on some of them, the flowers attracted to his touch and moving closer to his hands as a small vine wrapped around his finger.

All with his magic’s help after all.

This was his safe space. Malleus would come here during his first and second year and lose himself in the wilderness. In here no one would fear him. Here every single thing was responsive to his touches and even dared to touch back. Some of the wild rose bushes also reminded him of him, Malleus adding a bit more thorns around the flowers as in to emulate the very home he missed.

In this lonely place, he flourished.

But it wasn’t so lonely now, was it?

His third year had brought one big surprise. A human. A child of man who did not know who he was or what he was capable of. They looked at him as if he was just any other stranger roaming around their dorm and not the next ruler of the Valley of Thorns.

And Malleus, being the very curious person he is, found himself pulled to your inattentiveness.

He had dropped many hints that he was eager to get to know you more, relishing in the fact that you two were starting to get closer. And while he had hoped to keep his identity a secret a bit longer, he found it almost unbearable for you to not know who he was.

If you were so open with who you were, then he should show you the same kind of respect.

How wonderful that you were now on a first name basis with each other.

Malleus could walk over to Ramshackle dorm now and knock on your door without hesitation, smiling as he sees your excitement at just what places you two would discover in the dead of night.

Bummer you couldn’t be with him now.

He had seen you come out of your dorm and ask Sebek if he needed any help, to which the fae replied rather rudely that no human could ever track down his young master, so he was a bit reluctant to discover any more places without you by his side.

These walks were something you two did together, after all.

So he remained at this spot, touching everything and anything that would strike his fancy while going deeper and deeper into a small clearing you two had found. A large tree decorated its middle, the leaves falling gently upon the ground as the sun shone down on the large pond that provided this part of the forest with the water it needed to balance out the sun’s gentle rays.

“Shhhh, don’t make too much noise.”

Malleus stops as he hears your voice, his head immediately turning towards the sound as he hears rustling behind him. He smiles and turns to where he thought you were coming from only to be struck by a sudden idea--and immediately hiding among the trees and bushes so you couldn’t see him.

Would you be surprised to find him here?

He hoped so. Malleus had the habit of appearing to you suddenly so this wouldn’t be breaking any traditions between you two. If he played his cards right, you might join him on a walk all the way to the edge of the island.

“Prefect do you know where you are going?”

“I do! I’ve been here so many times. Now come on!”

Another person’s voice. No...he had heard that voice before.

Malleus retreats back into his hiding spot as he sees you rush by, holding by the hand a Diasmonia student as he rushes to follow you. You smile and turn around, still holding his hand while the other looked on in amazement at where you had led him.

“Prefect...this is…”

“Like it? Me and Malleus found it a while ago. This is how we know we are close to the edge of the forest.”

The Diasmonia dorm leader smiles as he watches you show the student around, pointing out different sights and sounds as the other watched on in amazement. That student probably had never gone anywhere this secret and while Malleus was glad you were showing off the place you two shared…

There was a feeling deep inside his chest that flared up angrily as he caught the student looking at you more than his surroundings.

Green eyes watch as the student’s hand clenches and unclenches, seemingly working up the courage to do something as you continue speaking. Which was rather rude, in Malleus’s opinion. You were explaining some wonderful things about the flora here and he was just staring at you without engaging in the conversation.

And how did you two know each other? Malleus had never mentioned you in Diasmonia except to Silver and Lilia, had he known you before him?

Malleus hands grip the tree bark tighter as the student takes your hand, stopping your explanation as he gets you to focus your attention on him.

What--?

“I’ve been eager to find some time alone with you.”

The student clears his throat before pulling you by the hand gently, your surprised look turning into one of playfulness as you follow along with his movements. He leads you to the edge of the pond, spinning you around as you allow him to position you in such a way that you are now closer to him than before.

Which only makes the angry feeling in Malleus’s gut flare up even more.

“Have you now? What for?”

An answer Malleus wanted to know as well.

Blushing, the student smiles and leads you into a dance with no music which only served to make you laugh and make Malleus’s fingers dig deep into the wood of the poor tree.

In the dragon fae’s eyes, you two are dancing for hours without caring about who was around. Why had he even brought you here? This student was part of Sebek’s surveillance crew and yet here he was not doing his job. But he wasn’t the one who brought you here…

You were.

Your actions were lost on Malleus as the dance finishes up, the student dipping you low before bringing you up.

“So you brought me here to dance? Who knew Diasmonia students were so charming.”

Malleus didn’t like the way you were smiling, nor how your hands rested on the student’s shoulders. He hadn’t seen this side of you before, you were playing along with this student and his motives.

Had you always been so playful? Malleus had only seen you during the night and whenever you two spoke it was a conversation worthy of two friends sharing experiences together.

But not this...never this…

“Well, not just a dance. I’ve wanted to state my intentions outright.”

The tree starts to crack slowly as Malleus can feel more thorns growing out of the rose bushes around him.

“Ever since you arrived, you have been an enigma to me. You are always so helpful even to those who do not seek your aid. Even now, you didn’t have to help me search for our Young Master."

He wasn’t searching for anyone, he was too close to you for Malleus’s liking and he needed to learn how to respect your boundaries.

“Yet you still offered me your help...and I…I want to...”

The student was leaning closer as his hands slid down to your waist, Malleus staring as you started to tilt your head as you placed your hands on his chest while his lips were dead set on meeting yours--!

Your face is tilted up as cold lips meet yours, your mouth opening in a surprised gasp as the hold the student had on you was no longer shy and timid but angry and possessive. These lips were pulling you in closer and closer, greedily eating each and every sound you were making as the air was slowly stolen from your lungs.

A string of saliva is left hanging as you two separate, your eyes fluttering open as you think of something to say to such a ravishing kiss.

Only for them to open wide in surprise as you see who you had really kissed.

“Malleus!?”

You turn to look behind the fae’s back, the Diasmonia student looking at his Young Master in mild panic and surprise while Malleus presses you close against his chest, clearly hiding you from view.

Right before the student even had a chance to taste your lips, Malleus had rushed out of his hiding place and pulled him away by the collar of his shirt.

For a dragon to watch on as something that was his was so close to be taken away, the surprise must have gotten to him.

“Go tell Sebek to head back to Diasmonia and call off his search. I will be there by nightfall.”

The student tries to stutter out a response but Malleus glares back as he keeps you pressed firmly against him.

“Now.”

You watch the student leave in a hurry, following the broken path you had led him in with. Your eyes peek up to look at Malleus but the dorm leader waits until the sound of footsteps is long gone before tilting your face up again and leaning down to press his lips against yours in another rough and dominating kiss.

Hands push you forward as your back collides with the huge tree in the clearing, Malleus making sure that the back of your head meets the bark gently as his lips never parted from yours. You wrap your arms around him as best as you could and let out an involuntary squeak when the fae decides to pick you up so that you could pull him in even closer.

He is the one to pull away first, hands firmly on your bottom as you wrap your legs around his waist to support yourself.

“Malleus--”

The fae presses another kiss to your lips, effectively silencing you so that all your attention would be on him.

“Don’t ever bring someone else into this place, child of man. Do I make myself clear? This place is our haven and I will not have someone else come steal both it and you away from me. Well, even if you don’t understand, I’ll make sure to explain it to you thoroughly. Now...kiss me again.”

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst #twst x reader #twst mc #vil schoenheit #idia shroud #malleus draconia #vil x reader #idia x reader #malleus x reader #twst headcanons #twst imagines #vil schoenheit x reader #idia shroud x reader #malleus draconia x reader #//TO THE PEOPLE WHO ASKED ME ABOUT THIS A LOT!#//THIS IS FOR YOU!

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brushstrokesapocalyptic · 3 years ago

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it’s time for the “overanalyzing one-off lines” show!

so the very first thing magnus says when he sees pit in chapter 2 of kid icarus: uprising is as follows:

“Well, I didn’t expect to see an angel here. Hope this doesn’t mean I’ve kicked the bucket.”

now, i’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s a really weird thing for someone to say, and it’s even more weird that no one comments on it. pit and palutena go on talking about unrelated things, as if that’s a totally normal and expected thing for magnus to say.

now, if you’re like me, you probably also didn’t really react to this line the first few times you saw it. it’s the second chapter, kiu has a lot of slightly-odd lines which turn out to be foreshadowing. me, personally? my first thought was “oh, i guess angels are probably associated with escorting the dead to the afterlife,“ and then i moved on.

they’re not, though. that’s what reapers do. and there’s no way humans have these two races mixed up. just fucking look at them.

do they look anything alike to you??? no. they don’t. which raises the question of why, exactly, magnus said that.

now, we don’t know a lot about angels as a whole. pit (and by extension dark pit) is emphatically not the gold standard of angeldom. we can assume he looks fairly ordinary for an angel, seeing as no one has trouble identifying him as such. beyond that, though, a lot of what we know about angels comes from what pit isn’t. for starters, he can’t fly. and there’s something else, too, but i’ll get to that later.

before that, though, i’m gonna go through the various unsubstantiated comments made by people with a dubious level of authority on the subject. (incidentally, i sourced these screenshots from the wiki— much more convenient than trying to dig through youtube for every single random conversation.)

without any further ado! let’s get into it!

Angels as Messengers

Gaol: Aw, Palutena’s little messenger boy. And Magnus, it’s always a pleasure. (src)

in the specific context of overanalyzing magnus’s first line, this is an important sentence to pick out. magnus and gaol are both humans, both with presumably a fairly similar history as mercenaries up until gaol got stuffed in a suit of armor. but while magnus makes a weird comment about death, gaol calls pit a messenger.

and pit agrees with her!

Viridi: I wish I had an angel to do my bidding. It’s like having an intern.

Pit: I’m not an intern. I’m a messenger of the gods!

Viridi: Poor Pit. Don't you know that the definition of angel is "errand spirit"? (src)

this particular conversation is the most insight we get into angels as a whole, i think. viridi thinks of angels as like divine interns, there to do little tasks for gods, and palutena doesn’t exactly disagree with her. pit says they’re specifically messengers, which lines up with biblical mythology. i could see the traditional role of angels in the world of KI being exactly that, showing up to tell the humans what the gods have to say because the gods themselves are too busy being petty jerks to do it themselves.

The Angel’s Code of Conduct

Magnus: You go in fully dressed? Don't you at least want to change into a...swimming tunic or something?

Pit: Oh, no no no! The angel's code of conduct says that we must always be ready for duty.

Magnus: I guess you wouldn't be an angel if you didn't do things by the book. (src)

Pit: Hey! You know the angel's code of conduct! I need to be prepared at all times! (src)

another random little thing is the angel’s code of conduct. without a larger sample size, we can’t know if it’s a real thing or just an excuse to save on laundry, but apparently it’s against the rules to not be on call at all times. in pit’s case, the duty he has to be ready for is doing palutena’s dirty work, but it can easily mean just about anything— including, of course, being a messenger.

No Warrior

Chariot Master: But you are no warrior, angel. Tell me, why do you fight?

Pit: I fight for Lady Palutena. And I fight for the people under her protection!

Chariot Master: That's not reason enough for an angel. (src)

remember how i said there was something else weird about pit? the chariot master seems to think angels aren’t very prone to battle— or perhaps even that they’re actively opposed to it. this lines up well with the idea that they’re supposed to be messengers, peaceful go-betweens for gods and mortals. this does not line up well with pit, the adorable weapon of mass destruction.

and it also does absolutely nothing to explain the question driving the whole existence of this post.

you know what does kinda lean towards an explanation?

No Other Angels

Pit: Do all gods have their own angels, like you have me?

Palutena: No, I don't think that's necessarily the case. (src)

i said before that the Intern Pit conversation had the most illuminating information on angels. this is what i was actually referring to. on its own, it’s pretty innocuous, but it’s just as weird as the magnus line. shouldn’t pit know about other angels, seeing as he is one himself? but he doesn’t know if there are other angels.

the only angels we ever see are him and his clone. no one ever directly references the existence of other angels, they only make general statements about what angels as a whole are like— statements which clearly don’t apply to pit, meaning they’re not just extrapolating based on the one angel that definitely does exist.

the one time someone does comment on the hypothetical existence of other angels, palutena gives a vague answer to the tune of “no,” the topic is changed, and no one brings it up again.

let’s go over everything i’ve established about angels up to this point. they can fly, they’re peaceful messengers of the gods, and pit is the only one that seems to exist as of the start of KIU.

it should be pretty obvious at this point what answer i’m dancing around, if it wasn’t obvious from the start. pit is the only angel around because all the other ones are dead. the reason why magnus said what he did is that his thought process went something like this:

See an angel.

Think “Aren’t angels extinct? Is that a ghost? Am I a ghost? I sure hope not.“

Make a quip about that.

Move on with his life, because he isn’t dead and evidently neither is this guy.

i’m not gonna pretend i went into this post with the intent of any other conclusion to that mystery. anyone who’s bothered glancing over a plot summary for the original kid icarus can draw that conclusion. it’s certainly what i did, reinforced by fics by people who had the same thought!

the truth, however, is that this was all a trick to get you to read my analysis of the theoretical nature of angels as a race. now that you’re invested, i’m going to dramatically throw aside my cape and reveal my TRUE FORM: telling people that fandom consensus is wrong, and my ideas are cooler and better than everyone else’s and you should all throw roses at my feet and bow before your king.

(or just, y’know, take it as the subjective analysis that it is. whatever floats your boat.)

Hot Takes

the original kid icarus does not actually tell you about angels going extinct. here’s the wiki article with the full text of the backstory, just for convenience, so you know what i’m on about for the rest of this post.

so, the part of the story that i think gets misinterpreted is this part about palutena’s army.

Medusa led a surprise attack on Palutena's army which could barely fend off the attack. Palutena's army suffered major losses and was heavily defeated in the final battle.

specifically, i think a lot of people interpret said army as having been made up at least partly of angels. sure, in the actual game it consists entirely of centurions, but you have to take old NES games with a grain of salt. i know i don’t buy for a second that pit was part of palutena’s guard before the original game (he was just too goddamn young), there’s nothing wrong with reinterpreting things.

recall everything i established about angels already, though. this is the hot official lore, from the game everyone knows and loves. angels are messengers, and if the chariot master is to be believed, never warriors. pit is an outlier. palutena’s army consists of centurions, not angels. if medusa wiped them out, it wasn’t because they were fighting for palutena.

(and honestly, i don’t think angels are necessarily associated with palutena exclusively. sure, she’s got the wing imagery, and she’s got the one known surviving angel working for her, at least up until pittoo is born. but angels are messengers of the gods, not messengers of palutena. again, pit is an outlier.)

which all brings us to the real question of this post.

what the FUCK happened to all the other angels? why is there only pit? why does magnus act surprised to see a messenger of the gods, and make a quip about being dead, if not because angels are otherwise extinct?! WHO KILLED THEM, AND WHY?!

thus concludes the “over analyzing one-off lines“ show. see you next, uh, maybe at some point if i feel like it!

(also another thought i had but couldn’t find room to fit it in properly: the gods don’t really act like angels are all extinct, but i feel like that can be explained through the sheer scale of a god’s lifespan. if we assume they were wiped out sometime around the original kid icarus (even if not as palutena’s army) then that’s a whole twenty-five years. that’s a long time for us humans, but for a god, that might as well be last tuesday. “yeah, i know what angels are like. sure wish i could have one. too bad palutena’s got a monopoly on the one single angel that medusa didn’t manage to wreck.”)

#kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #the things i think of at five am #i am just yelling and spewing thoughts and theories and headcanons #if anyone has their own thoughts to add go right ahead i am dying to know whether or not i'm actually breaking new ground with all this #or if there's some vital lore i missed #or anything like that #i am OPEN for CONVERSATION

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liquidstar · 3 years ago

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I feel as if many people, myself included, have been having problems with the way “critical thinking” is conducted in fandom circles more and more. Which I’d say is a good thing, because it means we’re thinking critically. But still the issues with the faux-critical mentality and with the way we consume media through that fandom group mentality are incredibly widespread at this point, despite being very flawed, and there are still plenty of people who follow it blindly, ironically.

I sort of felt like I had to examine my personal feelings on it and I ended up writing a whole novel, which I’ll put under the cut, and I do welcome other people’s voices in the matter, because while I’m being as nuanced as I can here I obviously am still writing from personal experience and may overlook some things from my limited perspective. But by and large I think I’ve dissected the phenomena as best I can from what I’ve been seeing going on in fandom circles from a safe but observable distance.

Right off the bat I want to say, I think it's incredibly good and necessary to be critical of media and understand when you should stop consuming it, but that line can be a bit circumstantial sometimes for different people. There are a lot of anime that I used to watch as a teenager that I can’t enjoy anymore, because I got more and more uncomfortable overtime with the sexualization of young characters, partly because as I was getting older I was really starting to realize how big of an issue it was, and I certainly think more critically now than I did when I was 14. Of course I don’t assume everyone who still watches certain series is a pedophile, and I do think there are plenty of fans that understand this. However I still stay away from those circles and that’s a personal choice.

I don’t think a person is morally superior based on where they draw the line and their own boundaries with this type of stuff, what’s more important is your understanding of the problem and response to it. There are series I watch that have a lot of the same issues around sexualization of the young characters in the cast, but they’re relatively toned down and I can still enjoy the aspects of the series I actually like without it feeling as uncomfortable and extreme. Others will not be able to, and their issues with it are legitimate and ones that I still ultimately agree with, but they’re still free to dislike the series for it, after all our stance on the issue itself is the same so why would I resent them for it?

Different people are bound to have different lines they draw for how far certain things can go in media before they’re uncomfortable watching it and it doesn’t make it a moral failing of the person who can put up with more if they’re still capable of understanding why it’s bad to begin with and able to not let it effect them. But I don’t think that sentiment necessarily contradicts the idea that some things really are too far gone for this to apply, the above examples aren’t the same thing as a series centered solely around lolicon ecchi and it doesn’t take a lot of deep analysis to understand why. It’s not about a personal line anymore when it comes to things that are outright propaganda or predatory with harmful ideals woven into the message of the story itself. Critical thinking means knowing the difference between these, and no one can hold your hand through it. And simply slapping “I’m critical of my interests” on your bio isn’t a get out of jail free card, it’s always evident when someone isn’t truly thinking about the impact of the media they consume through the way they consume it.

I think the issue is that when people apply “Critical thinking” they don’t actually analyze the story and its intent, messages, themes, morals, and all that. Instead they approach it completely diegetically, it’s basically the thermian argument, the issue stems from thinking about the story and characters as if they’re real people and judging their actions through that perspective, rather than something from a writer trying to deliver a narrative by using the story and characters as tools. Like how people get upset about characters behaving “problematically” without realizing that it’s an intentional aspect of the story, that the character needs to cause problems for there to be conflict. What they should be looking at instead is what their behavior represents in the real world.

You do not need to apply real-world morals to fictional characters, you need to apply them to the narrative. The story exists in the real world, the characters and events within it do not. Fictional murderers themselves do not hurt anyone, no one is actually dying at their hands, but their actions hold weight in the narrative which itself can harm real people. If the character only murders gay people then it reflects on whatever the themes and messages of the story are, and it’s a major issue if it's framed as if they’re morally justified, or as if this is a noble action. And it’s a huge red flag if people stan this character, even if the story itself actually presents their actions as reprehensible. Or cases where the murderers themselves are some kind of awful stereotype, like Buffalo Bill who presents a violent and dangerous stereotype of trans women, making the character a transmisogynistic caricature (Intentional or otherwise) that has caused a lot of harm to the perception of trans women. When people say “Fiction affects reality” this is what they mean. They do not mean “People will see a pretend bad guy and become bad” they mean “Ideals represented in fiction will be pulled from the real world and reflected back onto it.”

However, stories shouldn’t have to spoon-feed you the lesson as if you’re watching a children’s cartoon, stories often have nuances and you have to actively analyze the themes of it all to understand it’s core messages. Oftentimes it can be intentionally murky and hard to parse especially if the subject matter itself is complicated. But you can’t simply read things on the surface and think you understand everything about them, without understanding the symbolism or subtext you can leave a series like Revolutionary Girl Utena thinking the titular Utena is heterosexual and was only ever in love with her prince. Things won’t always be face-value or clear-cut and you will be forced to come to your own conclusions sometimes too.

That’s why the whole fandom-based groupthink mentality about “critical thinking” doesn’t work, because it’s not critical. It’s simply looking into the crowd, seeing people say a show is problematic, and then dropping it without truly understanding why. It’s performative, consuming the best media isn’t activism and it doesn’t make you a better person. Listening to the voices of people whom the issues directly concerns will help you form an opinion, and to understand the issues from a more knowledgeable perspective beyond your own. All that means nothing if you just sweep it under the rug because you want to look infallible in your morality. That’s not being critical, it’s just being scared to analyze yourself, as well as what you engage with. You just don’t want to think about those things and you’re afraid of being less than perfect so you pretend it never happened.

And though I’m making this post, it’s not mine or anyone else’s job to hold your hand through all this and tell you “Oh this show is okay, but this show isn't, and this book is bad etc etc etc”. Because you actually have to think for yourself, you know, critically. Examples I’ve listed aren’t rules of thumb, they’re just examples and things will vary depending on the story and circumstance. You have to look at shit on a case-by-case basis instead of relying on spotting tropes without thinking about how they’re implemented and what they mean. That’s why it’s analysis, you have to use it to understand what the narrative is communicating to its audience, explicitly or implicitly, intentionally or incidentally, and understand how this reflects the real world and what kind of impact it can have on it.

A big problem with fandom is it has made interests synonymous with personality traits, as if every series we consume is a core part of our being, and everything we see in it reflects our viewpoints as well. So when people are told that a show they watched is problematic, they react very extremely, because they see it as basically the same thing as saying they themselves are problematic (It’s not). Everyone sees themselves as good people, they don’t want to be bad people, so this scares them and they either start hiding any evidence that they ever liked it, or they double down and start defending it despite all its flaws, often providing those aforementioned thermian arguments (“She dresses that way because of her powers!”).

That’s how you get people who call children’s cartoons “irredeemable media” and people who plaster “fiction=/= reality!” all over their blogs, both are basically trying to save face either by denying that they could ever consume anything problematic or denying that the problematic aspects exist all together. And absolutely no one is actually addressing the core issues anymore, save for those affected by them who pointed them out to begin with, only for their original point to become muffled in the discourse. No one is thinking critically because they’re more concerned with us-vs-them group mentality, both sides try to out-perform the other while the actual issue gets ignored or is used as nothing more than a gacha with no true understanding or sympathy behind it.

One of the other issues that comes from this is the fact that pretty much everyone thinks they’re the only person capable of being critical of their interests. That’s how you get those interactions where one person goes “OK [Media] fan” and another person replies “Bro you literally like [Other Media]”, because both parties think they’re the only ones capable of consuming a problematic piece of media and not becoming problematic themselves, anyone else who enjoys it is clearly incapable of being as big brained as them. It’s understandable because we know ourselves and trust ourselves more than strangers, and I’m not saying there can’t be certain fandoms who’s fans you don’t wanna interact with, but when we presume that we know better than everyone else we stop listening to other people all together. It’s good to trust your own judgement, it’s bad to assume no one else has the capacity to think for themselves either though.

The insistence that all media that you personally like is without moral failing and completely pure comes with the belief that all media that you personally dislike has to be morally bad in some way. As if you can’t just dislike a series because you find it annoying or it just doesn’t appeal to you, it has to be problematic, and you have to justify your dislike of it through that perspective. You have to believe that your view on whatever media it is is the objectively correct one, so you’ll likely pick apart all it’s flaws to prove you’re on the right side, but there’s no analysis of context or intent. Keep in mind this doesn’t necessarily mean those critiques are unfounded or invalid, but in cases like this they’re often skewed in one direction based on personal opinion. It’s just as flawed as ignoring all the faults in the stuff you like, it’s biased and subjective analysis that misses a lot of context in both cases, it’s not a good mindset to have about consuming media. It’s just another result of tying media consumption with identity and personal morals. The faux-critical mentality is an attempt to separate the two in a way that implies they’re a packaged deal to begin with, making it sort of impossible to truly do so in any meaningful way.

As far as I know this whole phenomena started with “Steven Universe Critical” in, like, 2016, and that’s where this mentality around “critical thinking” originated. It started out with just a few people correctly pointing out very legitimate issues with the series, but over time it grew into just a trend where people would make cutesy kin blogs with urls like critical-[character] or [character]crit to go with the fad as it divulged into Nostalgia Critic level critique. Of course there was backlash to this and criticism of the criticism, but no actual conversation to be had. Just people trying to out-do each other by acting as the most virtuous one in the room, and soon enough the fad became a huge echo-chamber that encouraged more and more outrageous takes for every little thing. The series itself was a children’s cartoon so it stands to reason that a lot of the fans were young teens, so this behavior isn’t too surprising and I do believe a lot of them did think they were doing the right thing, especially since it was encouraged. But that doesn’t erase the fact that there were actual real issues and concerns brought up about the series that got treated with very little sympathy and were instead drowning out people’s voices. Though those from a few years back may have grown up since and know better (Hopefully), the mentality stuck around and influenced the norm for how fandoms and fandom people conduct any sort of critique on media.

That’s a shame to me, because the pedestal people place fandom onto has completely disrupted our perception on how to engage with media in a normal way. Not everything should be consumed with fandom in mind, not everything is a coffee-shop au with no conflict, not everything is a children’s cartoon with the morals spoon-fed to you. Fandom has grown past the years of uncritical praise of a series, it’s much more mainstream now with a lot more voices in it beyond your small community on some forum, and people are allowed to use those voices. Just because it may not be as pleasant for you now because you don’t get to just turn your brain off and ignore all the flaws doesn’t mean you can put on your rose-tinted nostalgia goggles and pretend that fandom is actually all that is good in the world, to the point where you place it above the comfort and safety of others (Oftentimes children). Being uncritical of fandom itself is just as bad as being uncritical of what you consume to begin with.

At the end of the day it all just boils down to the ability to truly think for yourself but with sympathy and compassion for other people in mind, while also understanding that not everyone will come to the same conclusion as you and people are allowed to resent your interests. That doesn’t necessarily mean they hate you personally, you should be acknowledging the same issues after all. You can’t ignore aspects of it that aren’t convenient to your conclusion, you have to actually be critical and understand the issues to be able to form it.

I think that all we need is to not rely on fandom to tell us what to do, but still listen to the voices of others, take them into account to form our opinion too, boost their voices instead of drowning them out in the minutiae of internet discourse about which character is too much of an asshole to like. Think about what the characters and story represent non-diegetically instead of treating them like real people and events, rather a story with an intent and message to share through its story and characters, and whatever those reflect from the real world. That’s how fiction affects reality, because it exists in reality and reflects reality through its own lens. The story itself is real, with a real impact on you and many others, so think about the impact and why it all matters. Just… Think. Listen to others but think for yourself, that’s all.

#see i told you guys id find that essay and post it for real. i wasnt kidding.#good luck inbox of mine :praying:

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halliescomut · 1 year ago

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Okay....so we have a new edition to the crew. Lucid is out now, you can watch the official music video here, or the English version here where there's no video, but you do get to look at Faerie Jeff, so...let's get started.

I realized that in my original post while I talked about the stages of grief, I didn't define or name them, so I will do that now. The traditional 5 stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

As stated in the above selection, often these stages are described or accepted as a sort of chronological list, but they are not necessarily linear, and you can often bounce around from one to another. This is the Wikipedia entry that gets a bit more in-depth, but also cites different pushback to the theory. Now I'll say specifically for me, when it comes to very big emotions like grief, there is never a one-size-fits-all approach or concept that is going to directly connect with every person. We are all unique individuals, and if this type of system/thought process/description helps you to feel and work through your own grief in a more positive manner, then it's good. I have (unfortunately) quite a bit of experience with grief in general, and while this may not connect with me 100%, it did give me some tools and vocabulary to be able to talk through and communicate my feelings, which is ideal. But this isn't about me, so moving on.

I feel like I kind of have to separate the video from the lyrics a little bit. Like there's a clear connection in both of course, but I feel like combined there's a bit of a different story being told, so we'll start with lyrics.

In terms of this song in relations to the stages of grief, much like the song addresses these sort of in-between, liminal moments, I feel like this rests between denial and acceptance. The knowledge of the loss is there, but there's an opportunity to bask in the memory of what was, to forget the loss has happened for just that brief time. What it makes me think of specifically is the time after a loss happens where you forget for just a moment. It's after that period where the grief is still very present, very sharp, where there's details to be addressed to close out that relationship in a way. Now as always this can apply to any sort of loss, though with grief we most often associate it specifically with death. So that first period where you lose someone, there's details to be addressed, for relationships there's returning belongings, informing people, if it's to a point you were living together there's moving for at least one person. If it's a relationship even more developed, you're talking about divorce and all of those details, which depending on the situation and individuals can be very fraught.

But after that loss, there's days where you wake up, and for a moment you forget that person is gone. You can't just call them to tell them something exciting, or funny, or share big news. You can't text them a picture of a meme that made you think of them. And that's where I feel like this songs falls. It's those moments where the grief isn't the first thought, and you hold on instead to the knowledge of how that person would have reacted, how they might have laughed, what they would have said.

And that very much falls in line with the concept and title of the song, Lucid, which is most commonly thought of in the case of lucid dreaming, which is where you are dreaming, but aware that it's a dream. And because of that awareness you also have the ability to make choices, do things in the dream, you're now an active participant in the show your sleeping brain is putting on (Wikipedia entry here).

When you apply it, as it seems to be intended, to a broken relationship, he's talking about :

"Won't you miss the nights we drifted afar And knew we would find a place in the stars for two Taking you to dance in the sky"

which to me feels like a situation where he was (for lack of better terms) the dump-ee, not the dump-er, and saying "What about all of the good we had together?"

Then when you get to the last verse before we get chorus repeats we have:

"I fear time will drift you away from here I'll wait for you in the night as you fade away Holding every piece 'till you're gone"

And he's talking now about understanding that it's all over, but for now he's going to hold on to them still, just for a while and let everything sort of fade naturally. And this is the acceptance. When we talk about loss, acceptance isn't about forgetting, but more about keeping the good memories, and allowing those memories to lift us up, not bring us pain. For a relationship, think remembering the fun you had at the beach, and how you truly brought joy to each other for a moment, and not being stuck in feelings of sadness, or focused on the events that led to the dissolution of that relationship. How that person helped you grow as a human, how you created good together.

I'm gonna get real sad for just a second, because as I said I am quite acquainted with grief, but mine is of the loss of life variety, so that's what this will be about, so tread carefully. Over the last decade I have lost both of my parents and my closest grandfather, and a second grandfather. I've also been present as my brother and his wife dealt with fertility issues and losses, and so loss has been at the center of a lot of things over the last two years specifically. What this song brings forward for me, is kind of where I am in my journey dealing with my two most recent losses (my mother and grandfather) who I was incredibly close with. My memories now revolve around the good things, the funny, the important, the sweet, the precious, and while there's still bad memories (all humans are flawed and no parent is perfect) it's all balanced by love. Honestly now one of the hardest things to wrap my own mind around is that my niece and nephews will not have a clear memory of the Grandmother who loved them so dearly. My grandfather was blessed to see all of his grandchildren into adulthood, and many great grandchildren into the age of more permanent memory (older than about 5) and it sucks that my niece and nephews will only have pictures, and stories. But I'm also so happy to have had enough time with these people to be able to pass those stories on. To have known them well enough as an adult to have had those deep important discussions. I can truly give them a well-rounded idea of who their grandparents were and how I can truly see their legacy continuing on in the best way.

And the song even reflects that idea just a little bit, because what's lifting us out of the dream is daylight. The dawn of a new day with new possibilities.

So this was like 1200 words, I hope even a small portion made sense. I have thoughts on the MV, but those I will post separately. Please enjoy this pic of Jeffrey being an absolutely precious bean at the little premiere thing as a reward for reading this far...

Jeff Satur song theory

So there's something I noticed in listening to Jeff's English songs after Dum Dum came out last week. And it's just a theory, but it honestly was so interesting my brain just latched on and wouldn't let go.

For some caveats, I'm only counting songs he released in English that aren't related to tv shows, aren't collabs. So that means Fade, Hide, and Dum Dum. I'm specifying them having an English version, because there's not always full clarity with translated lyrics. With English releases I know that Jeff consciously chose the wording to evoke certain ideas/emotions, even if it may not be a direct translation to the original Thai.

So here's my theory...THE STAGES OF GRIEF.

The reason I thought about this was is interview with Woody where he talked about writing more melancholy music because he'd not had a successful relationship yet. Meaning for whatever reason they broke up, whether it was mutual isn't really the point, and honestly, the man is 28 (I think, I can't be bothered to Google) so in a decade I'd imagine he's had at least a few longer term relationships. But his songs that he writes are about his feelings after those 'failed' relationships. (I don't love the term failed, bc often it's not really anyone's direct fault, but I digress.)

But anyway, listening to Dum Dum, that's anger, 100% .

The lyrics scream anger and frustration, the aggression in the melody of the song, in the music video. It's all that white hot heat, and I think if you also look at the concept of there being two Jeff's in the video--there's a pretty common idea about anger turning someone into a different person. I've also seen people referencing the video in regards to Jeff kind of stepping back into the shoes of Kim almost in reference to what could Kim have been like if he lost Chay, or if he never found him, if he never became WiK, and I can definitely see that was well. In all of those scenarios, it's a Kim who's in mourning. A Kim who's grieving the loss of his true love, his first love, his chance at love. Grieving the loss of a future he decided for himself. There's a lot of possible subtext to read there. And all of this is what sparked the idea of grief and our human reactions to it as a possible theme of Jeff's music recently.

Going back and looking at the previous releases, we start with Hide, which was released in May of 2022. The lyrics, tone, feeling of the song, the say denial to me.

This idea of going to the places that remind him of their relationship. Asking to sing them one more song. Asking why they don't truly believe in his love for them. It also to me gives a feeling of maybe the relationship ending because they weren't in the same place as far as readiness for something public, serious, exclusive, there's quite a few reads here (which is why it's interesting). If you want to read it through a queer lens, as though one party was not ready to be out yet. I'm not here to speculate specifically on Jeff's sexuality, and honestly as a lyricist and composer, I don't think he needs to have direct 1:1 experience to be able to address that idea or include that as a facet of his lyrics.

The last song to go over is Fade. Fade to me brings to mind the bargaining stage, but in a little bit of a different way.

Normally with bargaining in regards to grief, it's very connected to denial, it's this concept of "if I had had done something different...", "if I made different choices...", "if I was a better person...". The music video offers the idea of his love interest dying, but this is of course applicable to just the idea of the 'death of a relationship'. It also relates to the story of the M/V on the level of "if I do better this life, maybe I wont lose them, maybe I'll be deemed worthy of more time with them..." Looking at the lyrics alone, without the context of the video, they can be seen as bargaining with the memory of the person. It's this exhaustion of being continuously reminded of a person, which makes you experience that grief over and over again. Our minds can't maintain that, regardless of the relationship you're grieving or the way in which that relationship ended.

In another aspect, not inline with this discussion, but certainly related in terms of this being a deep dive into his lyrics and concepts of his songs. I like that Jeff references crying. There's the overarching reason of it's important for boys and men to understand that crying is an acceptable reaction to grief and sadness. I think it really does matter, even with this not being the main point of the songs, it's still there, so it's still affecting listeners, it's still encouraging the idea of not being afraid of tears as a man, or as a human.

The lyrics of Fade say "crying but my eyes both have not been dry for days". He's deep in the grief still. Then in Dum Dum, "I used to cry but the tears is dry". He's starting to move on a little. I would say, based on the anger of Dum Dum, it's a mix of moving on and masking your pain with anger. I've said it before on here I'm sure, but it was pointed out by a therapist that anger is a secondary emotion. It's a reaction to something else, like frustration, like disappointment, and of course like grief or sadness. We bring anger to the forefront because it doesn't allow for too much analysis, and it also takes a lot of energy, which can help put you in a state where your mind becomes exhausted enough to rest. It's a similar idea to working out or doing activities you find physically exhausting in order to tire out your body.

Anyway, I don't know if any of you might have found this specifically accurate, relevant, interesting, but it's something that I just couldn't put away once I had sort of made the connection. In know they're loose connections, very much so, but I also don't think they're wild leaps.

I appreciation for reading all of this...if you did...enjoy yet another hot ass picture of Jeff:

#Jeff Satur #Jeff Satur Lucid #Studio on Saturn #music analysis #grief #does any of this make sense?#I hope so

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