#And use even similar analogies and metaphors

[fragmentedblade]

I honestly have a pretty bad time capturing the heliobi

[mynnthia]

was talking with a friend about how some of dunmeshi fаndom misunderstands kabru's initial feelings towards laios.

to sum up kabru's situation via a self-contained modernized metaphor:

kabru is like a guy who lost his entire family in a highly traumatic car accident. years later he joins a discord server and takes note of laios, another server member who seems interesting, so they start chatting. then laios reveals his special interest and favorite movie of all time is David Cronenberg's Crash (1996), and invites kabru to go watch a demolition derby with him

[caliburn-the-sword]

the main talking point of a lot of people that love eah but bash on descendants is that "eah was deep!! descendants was just a disney knockoff that meant nothing and was just a cashgrab" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP (to be clear i am an eah lover). analytical thoughts to follow:

consider also, that auradon is portrayed as very technologically advanced in direct opposition to the isle being associated with magic (even with its ban) and a lot of of clearly second hand, worn and torn fridges and tvs and whatever

also, the fact that she felt PRESSURED to not only culturally assimilate into auradon culture, but alter her physical appearance to assimilate further. consider mal's costuming in the first movie. on the isle, we see her with (what i assume is her natural) purple hair, leather, etc. she is even, to a degree, gender nonconforming. pretty much the ONLY time we see her in skirts is when she's trying to impress ben for her plan to work

compare this with the hair costuming in descendants 2:

(i actually can't remember which scenes the third one was in but whatever) they have taken away her sparkle!! she's assimilated firstly into auradon fashion by dressing in pastels like them, and in SKIRTS which she textually only wore in the first movie when she wanted to impress ben. now with the added context of her wanting to impress auradon. and it really speaks a lot that she feels she has to conform to gender norms more in order to be accepted by auradon

and what about hair. she's felt the need to not only change the way she dresses, but change her hair to the eurocentric standard, so blonde that it's almost WHITE to conform to auradon's society (because let's be real, her mum's a fairy/dragon and her dad is a greek god. i'd be MORE surprised if she was DYING her hair purple than it being natural). changing your natural hair in order to to conform to and be accepted by the majority... where have i heard that one before??

shoutout to @soniccat

(to be clear. it is not a one for one analogy. "hey using a spell to force someone to forget what you did is an invasion" to me is like going "well actually people were right to fear mutants in x-men because some of them were walking weapons" IT'S A METAPHOR THAT IS ALSO A PLOT DEVICE)

('backwater' being used ironically, do not let my meaning be misconstrued here. a better way to word it is that immigrants are guilttripped into having to be 'grateful' for their oppression in a first world country because microaggressions or assimilation is considered better than the alternative, being back in your home country where living conditions may be considered poorer)

in the sense that for instance, jay put a VK spin on supporting feminism. like yes, he could've done it the rulefollowing, create a petition and gather signatures route, but INSTEAD he finds and exploits an existing loophole to let lonnie join the team. or evie shouting out dizzy's creations, uplifting her voice despite the fact she could've still taken the credit since she was the one that paired the outfit with the accessories. etc

are the descendants movies objectively bad movies?? yes. but this was to me, one of the most compelling analogies for immigrant struggles. take particular notice how almost ALL the main VKs are either racebent from the original disney movies (evie, carlos, uma) or were already based on an ethnic character (mal, jay)

but wait, mal is the whitest white girl to walk the planet. how is she already based on an ethnic character?

glad you asked. it is quite unclear in the descendants movie (basing its portrayal of maleficent on the disney sleeping beauty) is a fairy or a dragon. while the maleficent movie isn't canon to the descendants universe, i'm still going to use the fact that she's a fairy with the magical ability to turn herself into a dragon

a lot fairy folklore comes from ireland. the name maleficent itself, and i quote

shares similarities to the name millicent. millicent has irish (or scottish) roots (even a coat of arms) as in

thus one could argue that maleficent herself could potentially be irish coded

whether or not you agree with the idea that maleficent is irish coded, it is undeniable that mal is the daughter of hades, a greek god. it's a shame that that was a retcon in the third movie and not planned from the start, because the role could've gone to an actually greek actress (please google the ottoman empire and greek independence day if you still think it's not fitting for me to group mal with the others)

where was i going with this?? right. it's extremely telling that most of the main/side VKs, save for gil, are ethnic, in the story of a group of misfits finding themselves in an unfamiliar country with new social norms for them to learn as they try to fit in with and become accepted by their peers

[bbyboybucket]

So I wrote up all this stuff weeks ago and drafted it and forgot about it until I seen these tags from @kahuna-burger

And they are absolutely right. And I’m so glad someone agrees with me on this analogy, because this is EXACTLY how I see him, and exactly what I get into below. This is the whole thing I was writing up previously:

“The winter soldier was treated like a living weapon.”

Mmm, yes. The whole living weapon thing is not a wrong metaphor. But I’d argue that there’s something else far more accurate (aka what the now added tags say).

He wasn’t their weapon. He was their dog. In such an uncanny way, almost literal sense. I wouldn’t even say a guard dog, I’d actually say he was Hydra’s hunting dog.

I mean think about it. Really. They actually treated him like a dog.

He wears a harness. He wears a fucking muzzle for gods sake.

But that’s just the bare minimum of similarities.

What do they do when he gets out of line? To punish him, to put make him obey and learn to fall back into good behavior? They shock him. Just like how people have always used shock collars and electric fences for dogs. When he’s been “bad”, when he does something he’s not supposed to, he gets shocked to correct that behavior.

They also smack him and get physical. People don’t do that with weapons. There’s no point in that. And you wouldn’t wanna damage or harm a weapon. But people do smack dogs. They hit their dogs when they don’t behave or do something wrong because harm, pain, and damage will teach it. Just like it teaches him. And they’ll heal so it’s not a concern.

He was trained to obey commands. Just like dogs. He does any little thing he’s told because he’s conditioned with a rewards system. He even has specific command words that trigger compliance. Just like you teach a dog to sit or roll over with trigger words, he has em too. I mean literally, he has a Pavlovian response to said words. And what was the original Pavlov experiment done on? A dog. The only difference is he doesn’t get physical treats. His treat is praise, which they manipulated him into being desperate for. They even go as far to incentivize him with this praise (think about the bank scene, where Pierce praises him), just like you would present a dog with a treat when you want it to do a trick. Hell, actually praise is a way you reward dogs too, because they listen and learn when you tell them they’re a “good boy, good dog”.

Hydra asserts their dominance over him just in case he turns on them, just to remind of who’s the “alpha”. Because they know (just like big dog owners) that he can tear them up, he can attack and shred them to pieces, but if he thinks he’s not the “alpha” then he’ll back down.

And yeah, he’s protective and reliant on his “owners” like most dogs would be. But like I said, not just a guard dog. A hunting dog. Because just like people teach their dogs to track down and go after bears, squirrels, dear, etc. he was also taught how to track down stuff to kill. Stuff that his owner wanted dead. That’s his whole purpose, to hunt for them.

Also, think about how Hydra obtained him. It’s like if a person saw an injured dog in a ditch, brought it to a vet to heal up, then took it home to have as their own pet. Because that’s exactly what they did with him. It’s just the owner was an abusive one.

He wasn’t treated like some expensive tank or powerful arsenal of guns. He was treated like well trained hunting dog.

[huellitaa]

the world is yours, literally 💭🎀🧁

so if you've been on this side of tumblr or any girly self improvement etc. side of social media, there's a high chance you've discovered the statement "you are the creator of your own reality" or "the world is yours" or something along those lines at some point. it sounds so far fetched when you first hear it, without any thought going into its true meaning, but the reason this is used so much is because it is true.

we are our lives. you are the world around you. everything in our lives is intrinsically entwined in ways we can't explain and the biggest connection out of all of them is us and life. it sounds obvious and self explanatory, sure, but when you think of it on a deeper level and dig into the complexity of the notion, like most things, you'll find it holds a lot stronger of a stance in your life.

have you ever noticed how so many metaphors for your life and bettering yourself reference and relate to nature and the world? "treat urself like garbage and the flies will come”, “water your own garden before anyone else’s”, “the darker the night, the brighter the stars”, “needing good roots to grow", they all relate to the sun and the sky and the sea and the world and the ground we stand on. they all relate to earth.

have you ever noticed how when people free themselves from bad situations, their reality and their world around them seems to get better too? how it seems to shift along with them?

because we are our world. every building we've built, every concept we've invented, every life we've created and every life we've lost, everything on this earth down to the last blade of grass was once nothing, but once we began to discover and create and flourish and bloom (see, the analogy still stands even there), the world grew along with us, and still is every day.

in truth, the world is in no set way, shape or form. it is not a singular entity. that's why your life can be remade and reshaped so easily within the blink of an eye (but that's for another time) because the world you know is solely your reality. that's the reason everybody has a different perception of you just as you do them, the reason why we have separate interests, conflicting outlooks, the list goes on.

the more we grow, so does our world, and our reality. you've seen how many people have changed and grown and gotten happier and healthier and only kept on going when they finally began to step up and better themselves, how their world changed along with them. because us and the world are one and the same.

the most important thing i'd like you to ask yourself is how do you treat the world? how do you view the world? and how do you treat and view yourself? are there any particular differences? similarities? anything that stands out? what is the world to you?

all my love... 💬🎀🫶🏻💗

[covid-safer-hotties]

Opinion: Better protecting schools from COVID is within reach - Published Aug 17, 2022

This article was incredibly well sourced and correct: Why are these simple procedures not being implemented to keep children and teachers safe two years from publication?

Welcome to the “Live with COVID” era, where living with the virus means not talking about it at all. We’ve been told to pretend it’s over, though those “weird summer colds” and “lingering symptoms” indicate otherwise. Rising case rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. Best Summer Ever 2.0 is ending, which means kids are about to return for their third pandemic September.

Article content In the beginning, we were told that 1) kids don’t get COVID, 2) they do, but it’s mild, 3) vaccines alone will protect us, and 4) COVID does not spread in schools. While true that fewer children die from COVID than adults, they’re generally not supposed to die.

And kids are experiencing disabling long COVID, with estimated rates between two and 25 per cent of all infections, not counting reinfections. While vaccines mitigate the worst outcomes of COVID, they don’t completely stop transmission, and additional measures are required. And of course, as every parent knows, children don’t keep their germs to themselves. They go on to transmit to their teachers, parents and grandparents. Furthermore, outbreaks in schools do spread to the community.

Schools need to be safer for all students and staff, including those with medical concerns and vulnerable family members. Worker shortages are everywhere, education included. Sick teachers can’t teach, and more worryingly, may go on to develop long COVID, resulting in time away or even retirement.

It’s also harder for kids to learn when they’re sick and more absences means losing more time when so much has been lost to the pandemic. Looking at the Calgary Board of Education’s absence data, 6.3 per cent of students were away in April 2022, compared to 2.8 per cent in 2019. This is unsurprising, as there were essentially no protections in schools by June, despite low vaccination uptake and no vaccines for kids under five. No testing, mask mandates (Education Minister Adriana Lagrange outlawed those), enhanced ventilation nor in-room filtration (again, banned by the CBE). Yes, hand sanitizer was plentiful, but that doesn’t stop a virus that spreads through the air.

We can make schools safer for kids and their communities, but it means we have to talk about COVID. We need to acknowledge that COVID transmission is predominantly airborne, so that citizens have a framework for understanding risk. The smoke analogy, used by the Public Health Agency of Canada, and chief public health officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam, is an excellent metaphor.

There are multiple ways to make schools safer. Adequate ventilation, with a minimum of six fresh air changes per hour, mitigates build-up of viruses floating around in the air. Even opening windows/doors can be effective. Ventilation can be monitored through measuring the CO2 concentration in the room, essentially showing how much air one may be breathing in that was exhaled by someone else. Boston Public Schools is doing this and even has a public dashboard to share data. Upgrading filters in ventilation systems helps too, but as of May, the CBE has not completed this at any of their schools.

An additional intervention is filtration units like HEPA filters, or even homemade Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, to remove and trap virus particles. The CBE’s own risk management consultants acknowledged the effectiveness of this intervention.

Article content And we need to reinstate universal masking in zones where high community spread is identified, emphasizing respirator-style (N95 or KN95) masks for everyone. Information released in Alberta showed that schools with no mask mandates had three times more outbreaks than those with masking, confirming similar data from Arkansas and Massachusetts.

Pretending that COVID is over doesn’t it make it so. And it doesn’t help us “live with COVID” either. Yes, people are tired, we all want to move on. But making schools safer is fully within our reach. And until COVID is actually over, we can’t pretend our way out of it. So Alberta parents must demand the safety of their children and their teachers, or our leaders will simply go on pretending.

[evidence-based-activism]

you know that porn doesn't have to involve women, right? you know that porn can be animated, right? you know that sex workers often run their own websites and publish their own work, right? good lord

"all porn is bad because the porn industry is often abusive" ok. stop eating chocolate. all chocolate. the chocolate industry is hugely abusive. stop eating it. all of it. even chocolate that you're pretty sure was ethically sourced. even homemade chocolate from your neighbor or that you bought online from the person who harvested the beans

"you know that porn doesn't have to involve women, right?"

(1) The vast majority of it does. (2) I actually do care about the men being abused in pornography as well. It may not be as frequent of an issue, but it does exist. (3) So ... you admit that pornography hurts women?

(Also, here is a post with a quote on this topic.)

"you know that porn can be animated, right?"

There are three forms of harm resulting from pornography: (1) the harm incurred by the people who are involved in its production (primarily the women - and sometimes the men - being filmed), (2) the harm incurred by the "consumers" of pornography, (3) the harms incurred by society (e.g., the connection to misogynistic beliefs, violence rates, etc.).

Animated pornography doesn't involve the first harm, but it may (and likely does) involve the second two harms. There is very little research on animated and/or written pornography. (I've asked for people to send any me known sources on this topic in the past.) That being said, here's a few sources I did find:

This article [1] describes how hentai, a common form of animated pornography, is disproportionately viewed by children aged 6-12 years and includes violence directed at female characters.

This article describes the similarities between animated and "regular" pornography [2]. This post [3] describes how animated pornography may be a "supernormal stimulus", affecting us in way that mimic other supernormal stimuli (e.g., junk food).

You can consult this website [4] that lists literally hundreds of sources on the negative effects of pornography. Most of these concern the harm incurred by the "consumer", which are likely shared (at least in part) by animated pornography.

We absolutely need more research on the topic of animated pornography specifically (and also written/drawn pornography). But given that we've established the harms of pornography, it's reasonable for the "burden of proof" to be transferred (i.e., we no longer need to prove the harm of pornography, you need to prove that this harm doesn't apply to animated pornography).

"you know that sex workers often run their own websites and publish their own work, right?"

(1) You'll need to provide a source for that "often". (2) What "sex workers" do you mean, anon? Pimps and pornography producers have taken to calling themselves "sex workers", but they are clearly in a different situation than the women who are "having sex" and being filmed are in. (3) How do you know which websites and work are "their own"? How do you know if the content is being posted by the women in the video and not someone else? If everyone was of age? If all the sex acts were consensual? If the women consented to it being posted/distributed? If she's being coerced by a pimp or a boyfriend or economic destitution? (4) Most importantly: are you willing to risk watching and masturbating to a rape video?

[Your chocolate metaphor.]

This is a false analogy for a few of reasons. Most importantly, however, it is possible to produce chocolate without exploitation. It is not possible to produce pornography without exploitation. It isn't even possible to conform to existing health and safety laws; the only reason why the pornography industry exists (in the USA) is because the government hasn't been enforcing these protections.

Here's an article [5] discussing how prostitution (and pornography is just prostitution on film) upends traditional consumer models (and is therefore not comparable with other "products"). Here is a post comparing the pornography and film industries, so as to highlight the inherent and inescapable differences between them. And another post, with the same purpose.

Conclusion

Pornography results in violence against women and the majority of it is violence against women. No amount of false analogies or loaded questions will change that.

References under the cut:

Wheelock College, USA, et al. “Hentai and the Pornification of Childhood: How the Porn Industry Just Made the Case of Regulation.” Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, vol. 8, no. 1, Feb. 2023. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2023.08.01.03.

Fight the New Drug. “What Is Hentai Porn, and Why Is It So Popular?” Fight the New Drug, https://fightthenewdrug.org/exposing-the-new-wave-of-extreme-hentai-animated-porn/.

“Why Are People Sexually Attracted to Cartoons? Nikolaas Tinbergen’s Concept of ‘Supernormal Stimulus’ Explains Why Humans Are Attracted to a Heightened Version of Reality.” Your Brain On Porn, https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/rebooting-porn-use-faqs/how-is-internet-porn-different-from-porn-of-the-past/why-are-people-sexually-attracted-to-cartoons-nikolaas-tinbergens-concept-of-supernormal-stimulus-explains-why-humans-are-attracted-to-a-heightened-version-of-reality/.

“Relevant Research and Articles About the Studies.” Your Brain On Porn, https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-articles-about-the-studies/.

Farley, M. (2018). Risks of Prostitution: When the Person Is the Product. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 3(1), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.1086/695670

[loneberry]

Agustín Fernández Mallo on metaphor

“That we are in a time dominated by magical thinking is demonstrated by the incontestable fact that people increasingly make less of a distinction between metaphor and reality; the metaphor is assumed to be a truth, in its strict literalness. It is not that metaphors aren’t true, and far less that they aren’t real – they are at least as real as a theory – but rather that they have a different nature, the nature of analogies, figures that, while they relate to what we tend to call ‘reality’, bring something else into being: the maturity of an intellect that sees relations between things without confusing them as one and the same. In every period marked by magical thinking, it is more common than ever for love – the only thing that is not a metaphor for something else, the only thing that is raw material for the world, the only thing that, were it to become visible, would make us tremble in pure terror – to be subject to the fantasy-making of poems and made-for-TV films, of politics and markets. But there is more: if we consider it to be true (which it is) that only humans understand what a ‘representation of reality’ is (dogs do not distinguish between the rules governing a tree and a photo of a tree, they see both as occupying the same plane of reality), then only humans comprehend what a metaphor is, precisely the opposite as happens in periods marked by magical thinking, periods that therefore come to belong to animals. But there is even something else: if animals do not distinguish between the tree and the photo of the tree, it is only humans that detect what we can call a ‘lag’ in the perception of the two things, a difference, a kind of vertigo similar to that which exists between the magic number and its corresponding trick, between the character and the real-life actor. Hellenic physics knew this, and Newton did too, but it was not until Einstein’s arrival that cause and effect could be shown as not instantaneous, that between the effect and its cause there must always be an intermediate time of interaction, a ‘lag’, and that no line connecting whichever events can be faster than light. That human – only human – ‘lag’ enabling us to distinguish reality and metaphor, tree and photo of tree, is also a maximum line of light that submerges magical thinking in a cheap trick. Well, this very vertigo produced by the lag is love; but the love of the real. (Lag love)”

—Agustín Fernández Mallo, The Book of All Loves

Uncanny resonance with a post I made here on poetry/metaphors/gaps/psychosis. I said the lag was poetry, Mallo says the lag is love.

[batbeato]

I've talked briefly before about intersex Sayo, but... There's a lot you can read into regarding her relationship with her intersex status and with the perisex expectations she grows up with.

(This post reads Sayo using an intersex lens, as their experiences are analogous to real-life intersex people and can be seen as a metaphor for them, even if Sayo is never confirmed to have been born intersex.)

Sayo grows up with all sorts of expectations centered around the perisex 'AFAB' body: she will have a feminizing puberty, she will develop hips and feminine fat distribution, she will grow breasts, she will have periods, she will be capable of having children. But it goes beyond that - these are not only expectations Sayo has for herself, but expectations that society has for them, as well. People raised as girls are told that breasts and hips and fertility and vaginas will make them attractive to men, defines them as women, and makes them valuable - and thus the inverse is also the case: that without these things, they are not attractive to men, they are not women, and they are not valuable.

This equivalization of sex to gender means that Sayo, as they grow older and do not experience the perisex puberty promised to them, begins to feel unattractive, de-gendered, and worthless. This feeling only grows, and culminates in their self-definition as 'furniture', once they realize that they not only will never experience perisex puberty, but also will never be capable of reproducing. They say that "this body... isn't even capable of love" - "love" as is defined by the capacity to perform (heterosexual) sexual acts that can result in procreation. This can also indicate that Sayo wasn't physically capable of receiving vaginal penetrative sex. If Sayo was born perisex and AMAB (my personal preference), their vagina was surgically created. It may not be capable of pleasurable intercourse, or may not be able to fit a penis at all (or at least, without further procedures, such as dilation). If Sayo was born perisex and AFAB, their injuries and subsequent surgery may have resulted in a similar state for their vagina: one where vaginal penetration is painful or impossible.

(I personally believe Sayo to be AMAB, owing not only to the "man from 19 years ago" but also to Lion's status as the heir and more masculine-leaning presentation, something that would likely have been discouraged or looked down upon if Lion had been AFAB. I also lean towards it because of how AFAB Sayo/Lion has been used in the past to deny and discredit Sayo's trans identity and to enforce cishet norms onto Beatrice/Battler's and Will/Lion's relationships.)

Regardless of Sayo's assigned gender at birth, Sayo, both before and even moreso after the reveal of their past, felt unattractive, degendered, and desexed. In their attempts to claim identities that conformed to the allopericishet patriachy they grew up in, they lived their life as Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice.

Shannon represents the ideal femininity: she has large breasts, she is submissive, and she is kind and emotionally mature. Beatrice's body, much like Shannon's is sexualized - blonde, blue eyes, large chest, all for the sake of feeling attractive - though she is allowed to express non-feminine behaviors so long as she is not made visible to anyone. Through Shannon and Beatrice, who are both imagined to be perisex ideals, the intersex Sayo is able to reclaim her sexuality, though fear of being sexless remains.

In EP2, Beatrice taunts Shannon with how animalistic the desires of men are - "the black-as-tar lust of that glasses man behind you", "men are flies and maggots that get caught in your scent and gather around you". I believe this is a combination of things: fear of sexual assault, as her mother and potentially grandmother were assaulted; shaming of her own sexuality and desire to be seen sexually; and an affirmation that she is, in fact, sexually desirable. Beatrice, in saying that Shannon is an object of sexual desire, no matter how negatively framed, is affirming that if Sayo presents as a cis perisex woman, she is able to become attractive. She is able to escape being the sexless, genderless 'thing' she feels that her intersex status makes her.

In contrast, Kanon, who is masculine, is not ideal: he does not have large muscles, he is not emotionally mature, and he is effeminate. He is a man, but he is also not one who would be valued in the patriarchal society due to his lack of 'proof' of manhood (in strength, in sexual conquest, in appearance, in partaking in toxic masculinity). He is the closest Sayo comes to acknowledging their status as intersex and gender non-conforming - as someone who does not neatly fit into the biological sex binary or the constructed cisgender binary. And he is the persona who does the "dirty work" that stained his soul long ago, the persona who takes no active action and instead denies Jessica's affection, the persona who does not present himself as a sexual being at all.

The most we have is when Kanon takes out his blade in front of Jessica in EP2: the innuendo there is that he is exposing his status as furniture - his (intersex) body, and (intersex) genitalia - to her. He is displayed as a heroic knight who protects Jessica, thus reinforcing his masculinity (men and the masculine as the protecting force for the frailer, feminine idols). Only in Sayo's fantasies can their intersex body "pass" and fit into the cissexual ideal.

So Sayo finds their sexuality in presenting as perisex: their 'true' intersex self, disabled and degendered and desexed, is hidden away and removed from the perfect Golden Land.

I believe many intersex people can resonate with Sayo's feelings: sometimes to be intersex is to be hypersexualized, to be seen as "having both". But to be intersex can also mean to be degendered, desexed, and othered. It can mean that you are not seen as, or do not feel like, someone capable of being an object of sexual or romantic desire. Our genitals and non-conforming sexual characteristics are "freak shows" that need to be "fixed" for us to be "normal" and to engage in heterosexual relationships, and those efforts to "fix" us may only increase those feelings of being degendered, desexed, and othered.

For me there is something that I deeply relate to in Sayo's perception of their (analogous to) intersex body, and in their attempts to present as perisex in order to "fix" what is "wrong". But in the end, even Kanon, the most unlovable, intersex persona of them all, is loved in the Golden Land.

[qoldenskies]

I just finished binge reading your fanfiction and WOW. I have no words. (Actually I have a lot of words but I digress.)

First of all, objectively speaking, the writing is PHENOMENAL. I feel like this is just standard praise but I truly do mean it when I say that it’s GOOD. Like—good-good. There’s a nice use of evocative language and a blend of “complex” (rather I’d argue descriptive) verbs and adjectives, and also, the speaker tags are AMAZING. I personally struggle with using the “said” speaker tag too much and I notice many fic authors do too so it’s not a major grievance of mines (if any grievance,) but when it came to reading caged lungs the speaker tags were always new and very very (that’s two verys,) contextually sound. Like you did your research. I was on call with a friend praising your work and it really truly does stand strong after finishing the whole thing (as to date. you know?) . Not sure if this was intentional but I did notice the speaker tag “crowed” show up a lot, and it’s really ironic considering the motifs of being a bird in a cage, (I LOVED the analogies by the way, about how a caged bird was better than a dead bird and -oh my gosh!!! It’s just SO good!!!!!) and crows are..well…….birds. Also find it nice that you use CROWED out of all of them in the context of things—yes, I do know why—to make a comparison to a crows cawing and their vocal inflection HOWEVER, crows, as the animal, are clever and smart but social animals. They’re very quick witted and remember when they’ve been wronged. They’ll let their crow buddies know and it’s just a whole thing. I just really liked that detail even if it was completely unintentional. Also the tonal shift really hit me in the SHIN here. Going from Leo saying “peedrunner.” With no hesitation to —the absolutely heinous stuff (/pos) that I read is so JARRING but it works well in your favor. Speaking of jarring!!! REPETITION! You used repetition so masterfully in your work it was making me ANXIOUS to read it. It’s so. Tastefully done. Well done. I love this.

That’s in terms of writing though, in terms of the STORY!??? AWESOME AS WELL. Holy shit. You really just boiled Donnie down right to his bare characteristics, his weaknesses, it was . CRAZY.(in a good way.) the juxtaposition of everything with Donnie v. Which town and this whole fic is. So good. Good feels like such a redundant word to use. Spectacular? Stupendous? Prodigious? Savant-esque? You get the gist.

This is also a more personal reason why I like this, but autism is depicted so so so well in this. Idk if you’re autistic YOURSELF and it would honestly make so much sense but either way—thank.you. This is such an amazing depiction of how debilitating autism can be and it really spoke with my own experiences. 10/10 fic. I only have minor criticisms but otherwise this is beautiful. You are an insanely talented author and I can tell you put in the EFFORT to perfect your craft and it is worth it. I was up till 4 am reading it and it was well worth it.

AWHHHH THANK YOU!!!! some repeating words/phrases are intentional and others arent, im just an amateur writer and i notice stuff like that happening accidentally, but i will accept happy accidents!!! o7 i love when people read into my work and talk about the metaphors/symbolism mwah mwah mwah (i also do love that line about how caged birds still sing and dead ones dont...... oooh that says so much about how donnie operates in CL imo)

and ive mentioned it before but *TO MY KNOWLEDGE* i'm not autistic!! i have a brother that is (who is very similar to donnie actually) and i have a lot of overlapping behavior as someone with adhd, so i put a lot of personal experience into the way that i write neurodivergence (particularly in the fear of being too sensitive, or being unable to take jokes, since i grew up with a lot of that kind of bs leveraged at me) and made sure to be tactical when i wrote things i dont personally experience. its really good to hear it resonated, im glad!!! ^w^

this is such a nice ask thank you so much!!!!! was an absolute joy to wake up to haha

[lithopus]

For the ask game! 1! Who is your favorite character to write for and is this the character you find easiest to write for?

Thank you for the ask!

I guess for fanfiction, I pretty much only write Alhaitham and Kaveh’s POVs—although, actually, I’ve also written two (unposted, sfw) fics for my friends that contained Xingqiu’s POV, and he’s really fun to write for 😂 Now that I think about it, he’s probably the easiest perspective I’ve written. I enjoy his chivalrous and overdramatic way of speaking/narrating, and the guy is such a simp for Chongyun that it cracks me up. I definitely have a lot of fun writing him.

But, going back to Alhaitham and Kaveh…it’s difficult for me to choose! I like writing both of their perspectives for different reasons, and both of them are easy to write in some ways and challenging in others.

I’ll answer the question about whose POV is easiest first.

Technically, it’s Alhaitham’s—his way of thinking is a lot more accessible to me, whereas I sometimes struggle to relate to Kaveh’s perspective on things. It’s kind of similar to how Alhaitham “knows” Kaveh’s philosophies on a theoretical level, but doesn’t emotionally “understand” them the way that someone who personally shares Kaveh’s beliefs would. I more or less know how Kaveh’s mind works, but since I don’t usually approach things the way he does, his attitudes and ideals sometimes aren’t personally familiar to me. There are times when my brain has to work a bit harder to figure out how he views the world.

Because of that, though, I think that it might be easier—counterintuitively—for me to write stories from Kaveh’s perspective. Since I “understand” Alhaitham more, I can more easily convey what he’s thinking/feeling whenever I’m outside his head. Conversely, being inside Kaveh’s head allows me to get a closer look at how he’s processing things, which then makes it easier for me to work through his thoughts and figure out how to portray him.

So, Alhaitham’s POV is the easier perspective for me to write, in a vacuum…but if I’m writing a story about him and Kaveh, writing from Kaveh’s POV often makes things easier for me.

As for my favorite POV to write…if I had to choose a perspective to be stuck in, I think I’d choose Alhaitham’s. I love the unspoken depth of his love for Kaveh—like, his devotion is clear even from Kaveh’s POV, but being inside Alhaitham’s mind lets us see just how much he cares, even though he often hides it behind his sarcastic/detached attitude. I like being able to explore that side of him; it’s kind of like “looking behind the curtain” in the sense that we still see Alhaitham’s usual attitude with the way he speaks and acts, but we also see the contrasting tenderness he feels toward Kaveh (although, when I write him, Alhaitham’s narration does often try to bury that tenderness, lol).

That said, I do also like the idea of leaving Alhaitham’s unspoken affection…well, y’know, unspoken—so, being stuck in Alhaitham’s POV all the time wouldn’t be ideal for me.

It’s also interesting to get inside Alhaitham’s head and dismantle the “rational” barriers that he constructs around some things. That is, he’s clearly capable of caring deeply about certain things—like Kaveh—and I love writing about that kind of quiet intensity. And while I do believe that he’s the calm, logical person we see in canon, I also know that he can’t be invulnerable; he’s human, which means he’s capable of being hurt, and I like seeing how he processes those types of emotions.

But there are things that I enjoy about writing Kaveh’s perspective, too. For example, Kaveh’s artistry and ways of thinking give me more opportunities to be poetic with narration. When I’m writing Alhaitham’s POV, his analogies are usually more practical and functional; they tend to focus solely on explaining a concept, so while they might be creative sometimes, they won’t necessarily sound pretty. With Kaveh, though, I can let loose and be more indulgent with metaphors/imagery to explore a feeling or concept. I haven’t written poetry in a while, but his perspective gives me more room to flex those muscles, lol.

Kaveh’s perspective is also more straightforward, at least for me. Yes, he’s got a lot going on, and his psychology can get complicated at times—but he’s pretty much told us about all of his problems either through dialogue or his character stories, and we’ve seen him when he’s excited, happy, morose, angry, et cetera; he tends to acknowledge his feelings in a more “head-on” way, even when he’s trying to avoid his problems or downplay his emotions. So, I like that he’s a more “direct” kind of character, as opposed to the mental gymnastics Alhaitham performs in order to seem like An Incredibly Chill And Totally Unemotional Guy Who Is Never Bothered By Anything Ever.

(Now that I say that, it’s kind of funny that we joke about Kaveh’s mental acrobatics to misinterpret the things Alhaitham says, when Alhaitham is an Olympic gymnast in his own right 😂)

That’s my main answer, but I do have some additional thoughts about why writing Alhaitham’s POV can sometimes be a challenge for me. I’ll include those thoughts in a reblog, though, since I don’t want my response here to get too lengthy.

UPDATE: my additional thoughts are in this reblog

[abuse-ken]

Ito is not an evil murderer for no reason: a meta

I'm going to be breaking down the lyrics and PVs of three songs: Yellow Papa (x), Dear Suns (x), and Flower War. This is a chronological look at Ito's story. Feel free to look them over if you need a review :3 the song is linked in the first word, and the lyrics in the second. I left a second translation for Yellow Papa and Dear Suns because I like the second one better for readability. Flower War has lyrics in the captions of the PV

Before I start: As I understand things, this series of songs by Abuse is centered around a cult that primarily idolizes indulgence to any degree. Especially through Ito and Zoy, we see sex and cannibalism heavily intertwined. For this reason, I interpret cannibalism to be both literal and a metaphor for rape

Ito himself is the oldest of four siblings. He is fully man himself, but serves as a parallel to Ote in that his mind is that of a beast while his body isn't. His mom is a beastman, and his absent father is a man

Yellow Papa

*Please note that Ito is described as "only just learning how to read" during this song, making him around five

The general point of this song (which I assume most people don't know as this is a song that was initially supposed to be Dear Suns, but Abuse cut and put on Abuse Bundle instead) is to illustrate Ito's childhood. Both this and Dear Suns seem to serve similar purposes, both coming out after Flower War to further humanize Ito. This song follows a parentified Ito and his siblings as Ito begs for love from their parents. So fun and chill ty Abuse

We see a lot of talk of meat and being eaten, as is standard with Ito ofc:

Most notably, the line "'Love us, love us!', My mother's fangs gobbled me up, and I became raw meat". Obviously Ito was not literally eaten here, which leads us to the conclusion that Ito's mom is sexually abusive

This leads straight into "That sort of sensation was of falling from the top", tying back to the opening line of "I ate the raw meat that had fallen from the top", meaning one of two things. Either we are meant to take the first verse's lines as autocannibalism, a metaphor for how he is having to take care of his siblings with their father absent; or we are getting our first glimpse at why Ito might be a cannibal: need. If this isn't meant to be taken as an analogy and Ito is eating "raw meat" (presumably people), this paints a picture of him and his family being in a dog-eat-dog kind of world, having to cannibalize other vulnerable people around them in order to eat

We also see his mother ask if he is going to eat her, which he says he is. This is touched on more in Dear Suns, obviously. He cites his reason for eating her as because his father doesn't love her. With the final chorus showing Ito more desperate for his father's love than food, which he and his family are very clearly lacking, it gives us the general themes of Ito as a character:

Love, sex (and sexual abuse), and eating are all one and the same to him

Dear Suns

*Ito is older here, he seems to be at least a teenager based on the illustrations, but there is no lyrical acknowledgement of his age

As I'm sure most people know, this is more insight into Ito as a character rather than any particular event in his life, outside of the detailing of him eating mother and siblings

To begin with though, we get some elaboration on Ito's life before this song and how he came to be at the church. At about 1:43, the PV reads, "one thousand necks have been severed, so many bodies remain, sever the necks of one thousand [millionares?], blood stains remain even in the shower stalls, I'm in the middle of the street, I spend a year in the hospital, I don't know my name, I don't know where I live, 'you are a child, and this is your new family'." This implies that somewhere in between Yellow Papa and this song, while Ito was still young, he was eventually taken in off the street and to a hospital where he lived for a year, the church taking him in as him "new family" afterwards. This is over the line in the song that reads "you must protect your family, carve it into your DNA," which points to the church directing him into the role he takes on in Flower War to at least some extent

At 1:04, we also see a shot of text that reads, "for the first time in my life, I have a purpose" right as soon as the chorus starts detailing Ito killing and eating people, yet another implication that this is something he took on as more of a job than a crime of passion

There's also a shot of him wearing a collar with a chained lead at 1:26, which is obvious enough a sign of being controlled, especially when all the characters are dog-based. There is an inherent dehumanization to all of the characters in this plotline of Abuse's, but it applies to Ito too, not just the beastmen characters. Despite being fully aware of his actions, he is collared, compared to an animal, and dehumanized by the narrative itself

This song especially is full of evidence that Ito was brought up in the church for the sole purpose of protecting the people in their cult. With several lines about "having to protect his family" and especially "protect your family and their connection to you, it's carved into the spiral/(alternate translation above)", it really makes it seem like he's more of a child soldier for them than just the common interpretation of him being a yandere type. There's also the mention of "xochimiquiztli"* which ties in more with Flower War (obviously more explaination later), meaning not only in Flower War but this song too, he is canonically compared to an honored soldier going on what is basically a suicide mission for the sake of pride and protection of their religion

And of course, the song closes with Ito saying "this is wrong". He's aware that he is commiting horrible acts on some level, yet he keeps doing it because he loves his family

*Refers to a death on the battlefield in a flower war. From the Aztec Empire, roughly translates to "flowery death"

Flower War

*Still no age for Ito, and he is pictured as a fox, so it is hard to gauge

To begin with, I'll give a brief summary of what flower wars are. In the 1450s, the Aztecs were going through a famine, and determined that the gods were angry and needed human sacrifices. In order to obtain these, soldiers were sent out into small, pre-arranged battles to take prisoners. Any deaths (or xochimiquiztli as before mentioned) were considered honorable, and the dead would join the god of sun, fire, and war.

This is tied to Ito's character as a whole. He grew up in the church because of growing up on the streets without food, he is heavily tied to sun imagery in Dear Suns and Flower War (while Zoy is notably tied to fire), and Flower War tells the story of his noble flowery death. In my opinion, this is too much connection to brush off as just reading into things. Ito is almost canonically called a child soldier through this analogy alone

This song really only follows Ito's last kill and his own death, which is a mission he goes on in order to kill people who "made fun of father (Zoy)" and "tried to kill Ote". The whole way he goes on about loving his family and his victims (again, love=sex=hunger to Ito), degrading himself, and praising his family members. He also mentions several times (2:06, 3:26, 4:01) that he is not supposed to kill children, which seems to be his undoing. While reminding himself of this rule, which he seems to only follow because someone else set it for him, he is shot and killed

In the final shot of the song, we also see a carnation that is red and yellow, the red meaning love (or specifically love for your mother, bc he has mommy issues ig) and the yellow representing disappointment and contempt. Like Dear Suns, this final moment displays some level of regret for his actions, and a final callback to his mother, who has now been mentioned in all three of his songs

In conclusion: my blorbo did nothing wrong /j please stop pointing out that he is a cannibal every time I mention liking him

[memoriavivens]

Thoughts on Sphene

This will probably get rambly, fair warning. I’ll have it cut off since it’ll be long. This isn’t going to be polished writing, more just me getting all my thoughts out.

So I’ve mentioned before how much I love Sphene, and how much I’m bothered by the way people see her. So I figured I should get my view out there, even just in rough form. First of all- Sphene is absolutely a person. Maybe she’s the same as the original, maybe not, but that’s a moot point. I’ve seen a few things used to cast doubt on her humanity, the most common being that she’s of technological nature, or that she lacks a soul. I just don’t get why either of these should necessarily preclude her from personhood. I think it’s quite likely she’s a victim of people now associating all forms of artificial intelligence with generative “AI”, when in fact AI capable of true personhood is a long-running trope in fiction. Basically if you say Sphene isn’t a person you are also saying C-3PO isn’t a person. But what sort? One who loves nothing more than to help others, for starters. It’s her most consistent trait, from all that she does for the people of solution 9 and the outskirts to taking the blast back during the storm surge. And of course she wants to keep the endless around. This of course is where she hits conflict, because she wants (and needs, but more importantly genuinely wants) to preserve the endless forever, but on the other hand, doing so would require hurting so many other people- plus she knows that it’s unsustainable. And yet she still wants to do it, and I don’t blame her for still wanting to do it- failing to do so would be letting all these people you’ve cared for die after all. Letting them die isn’t an option, and not just because of the programming. She has agency in all this, as she makes clear. But she’s not comfortable with it- she backpedals and tries to minimize almost constantly. Asks us if there’s a better way to sustain them. Invites us to become citizens. Subtly, likely subconsciously, asks us to stop her. Tries to make us more comfortable with opposing her through analogies. And in the end she clearly falls into self-hatred over it, depending on your dialogue choices even denying her own humanity. She wants to do this and will do it, but at the same time she really does not want to do this. (Honestly, what could be more human than that?) I find all of this very relatable, myself- I struggle a lot with this sort of thing (on a vastly smaller scale, obviously, that’s just how fiction and real life work), and the ways she reacts to her dilemma and the ways I react to mine are very similar- indecision, self-hatred, frequently changing attitudes, all while none of these help with the problem at all. It’s not bad writing, it’s just a painful part of the human condition. I guess all this is why I like her so much and want good things for her. And I believe if some things went differently she could have had a happy ending- some things during dawntrail itself and not the backstory, I should clarify. The programming is just a metaphor for part of her own psyche, so there’s no need to assign it stock over her mentality. Any number of things could be used to dispose of it if necessary. I think what Sphene probably needs is:

. To know that the Endless were happy in the end, and it isn’t necessary to preserve them forever (She’d probably be more accepting of this when they are already gone)

. To understand that it isn’t too late to change.

. To believe it’s worth changing.

None of these things are easy to convince a person, but there are ways. For instance if I were making Dawntrail into a game where your choices can affect the outcome of things, I’d add a secret ending where she lives that can be accessed by completing every sidequest in Living Memory (Which everybody should do anyway) and then making some dialogue choices at the end to convince her of the three things above. That’s probably a rough version of how I’ll write the resolution in my version of the events as well.

Oh yeah a thought I forgot to include earlier- why she ultimately sides with Preservation. It’s because that’s the easier thing to go through with. The specific way she did it, especially, is just easier to go through with. All she has to do is erase herself, compared to all the work that redemption would be. I think she knows that redemption has a preferable outcome long-term, she’s smart enough to figure that out, but she has no support system and Wuk Lamat and canon WoL have really not shown themselves to be very committed to helping her. So, lacking anyone to help her, she picks the easy way out. Just like so many real people do.

So, that’s a very tough version of my thoughts on Sphene and why I love her so much! If you have anything to add or if you think anything needs clarifying, then by all means ask!

[kingbuffy]

tell me more about the analogy of the prized dollhouse, and Olivia and Corrine! how would Cathy fit in this analogy?

- @candles-inthewoods

Sure I'd love too! Now this is coming from someone who has only read Flowers in entirety. I know stuff that happens later in the series but I'm pulling my theories pretty much exclusively from Flowers in the Attic.

When Corrine gifts the dollhouse to Cory and Carrie Christmas morning, she tells Chris and Cathy a little about its history and how it once "belonged" to Olivia and later herself.

"When it belonged to my mother, it was kept in a huge glass box. She was allowed to look at it, but she could never touch it. When it was given to me, my father took a hammer and broke the glass box, and he allowed me to play with everything—on the condition that I would swear, with my hand on the Bible, not to break anything."

"Did you swear and did you break anything?" questioned Chris.

"Yes, I swore, and yes, I did break something." Her head bowed low so we couldn't watch her eyes. "There was another doll, a very handsome young man, and his arm came off when I tried to take off his coat. I was whipped, not only for breaking the doll, but for wanting to see what was underneath the clothes."

Flowers in the Attic ~ Holidays (pg. 178-179)

I think Corrine giving the dollhouse to the children, whether it was an attempt at goodwill or not, was her literally and metaphorically passing down to cycle of abuse.

And that's not just my interpretation, as Cathy herself expressed similar thoughts. She believed that the dollhouse was a lure for punishment, a display of power on the parents part, that Malcolm only let Corrine play with the dollhouse knowing she would break something, just so he could punish her. It's why Cathy was so terrified when they lost the baby cradle, fearing that Grandmother would whip Carrie as punishment, fearing that she had stolen the cradle herself so she could punish Carrie.

Not only that, but giving Cory and Carrie the dollhouse is almost a mockery of the children, giving them the illusion of living in a normal house, a house that they can only move through in their imaginations; a mockery of the life they could never have. It's fitting then that Cory's injured mouse Mickey adores playing inside it, as often Cathy herself describes the twins as sick mice, knowing only their confined space, knowing nothing better. Later Olivia herself claims that the noises in the attic are that of mice to sway the servants away from that part of the house. Giving the dollhouse essentially to "pests" to rot and decay. Perhaps Corrine's way to banish the past. Both the memories of the dollhouse along with the four forbidden children she longs and dreads to be rid of.

The dollhouse is the cycle of abuse given physical form. And each way it's used to hurt is different each generation. The way Olivia was abused is different to how she abused Corrine, who abused her own children in a starkly different way than Olivia. It's Cathy who recognized what the dollhouse was, which is why she holds no love for it, perhaps afraid that if she let's herself, she'll fall into the cycle just as her mother did. And yet, maybe she already did, allowing Carrie to love the dollhouse may have been her mistake, even though it's obvious she just wanted her little sister to find some happiness. After all, Cathy does become Carrie and Cory's replacement mother.

[unmeritedunearnedundeserved]

The Butterfly Law Of Attraction Analogy

When a caterpillar enters into a Chrysalis, many don't know that the caterpillar completely dissolves into a gooey liquid. None of the previous form is left or used. And then out of the goo begins to emerge the new form, the Butterfly. And the Butterfly 🦋 is capable of doing things that the caterpillar cannot. The Butterfly has wings and can travel great spans and distances that the caterpillar couldn't even imagine.

Likewise, in your learning of the Law of Attraction, there is a radical psychological transformation that one undergoes. A spiritual metamorphosis.

In order for one to evolve into the metaphorical "Butterfly" which can manifest all of their hearts desires and be capable of tremendous things, they must completely dissolve the previous concept of themselves.

Their old self-image must in effect be dissolved into a formless substance, similar to the goo that the caterpillar melts into.

None of your previous state of consciousness, your previous "form", can enter into the state of consciousness which would manifest your desire.

You must completely renounce your old identidy and identification in which you've seen and understood yourself to be an external being with an individualized personality.

You're "John Smith", "Sarah Jane", "Marlon Chavez" identidy must dissolve in order for you to evolve into the state which would effortlessly manifest your desires.

From your "caterpillar" (external / second cause) identidy, you can do nothing. For you are in the race belief of thinking you are a second cause, subject to the external world and somehow divorced and separate from the divine.

From your "Butterfly" (First Cause) identification, all things are possible to you because all things have already effortlessly been done for you, without any requirements of works or merits.

The caterpillar you, still believes in deservability and feels itself to be in need of external things or people to become whole and complete.

The Butterfly you, which is your true self, is whole and complete in and of itself, and is a law unto itself. None can stay it's hand or say unto it "what doest thou?"

The caterpillar you sees itself as subject to conditions.

The Butterfly you sees itself as author of conditions and full in possession of its desires, right now.

Enter fully into this Butterfly identification, for in doing so all of your desires effortlessly manifest into the external.

And in receiving greater revelation of the Law of Attraction, you will find yourself being effortlessly released from your old self concept which imprisoned you in your previous conditions and had you "crawling around" on your hands and knees in this world.

First Cause Consciousness has "wings" that second cause consciousness does not. And in order to experience the fullness of these wings, you must completely die to the previous indentification.

Let go of yourself as a caterpillar completely surrenders to the process of the chrysalis which melts it down and transforms it. For your chrysalis is a greater revelation of First Cause Consciousness, which leaves you changed, such that you will NEVER be the same.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 25/8

Aw, thank you! Sometimes I actually think I overdo it a little - that my dives are a little too deep. This is how I consume media IRL, though, so if nothing else, it's authentic.

The Battlefield is definitely growing. The spatial warping makes it hard to measure how much it's growing, so it could definitely be exponential, especially if we keep adding higher dimensions.

As for how Jack matches up against Bec - Jack is definitely smarter, but he's also a lot more vulnerable, since losing the Ring will render him powerless. He'd have to be incredibly careful in a fight, especially against someone just as fast as he is.

I still think Bec has the edge, but his victory is far from guaranteed. I totally understand why Jade wouldn't want to risk it.

Imagine what Eridan would have said to a 'lowly greenblood' like Jade.

Yeah, there's no way trolls have therapy.

I hate to say it, but the Alternian version of therapy is probably moirallegiance. You're supposed to rely on this one person to keep you emotionally stable - and if you're not outgoing or charismatic enough to find a moirail, you don't even have that.

Of course, this system has nothing in common with the relationship dynamics of any culture on Earth. We really dodged a bullet there!

Gamzee really leans into the 'court jester' aspect of being a bard. He doesn't take anything seriously, nor is he expected to do so - he's just off to the side, dancing.

Yeah, my prediction is that Vriska is going to use him.

If she can manipulate Tavros into trying to control Jack, she might actually be able to remove his Ring. I speculated that she might use some sort of cheat to gain an advantage in their fight, and I think we may have found it.

He casually controls Becsprite later on, so I don't think he needs their goals to align.

As for why Bec didn't try to save Jade - I think he knew instinctually that someone was going to make him save her, so he didn't need to do it manually. That's Alpha, baby!

I can't tell if I've reached the controversial part, to be honest. Was there discourse about whether Tavros had done anything wrong?

Personally, I think it's hard to argue that he didn't, but other characters have done much worse - and in much more ambiguous scenarios, too.

Lord English is coming, send help plz

Thank you! It's kind of funny actually - I know that Homestuck's irregular update schedule used to drive people mad, but I'm reading it at a similar pace, with similar irregularities, and it really has been a chill experience on my end.

Maybe it's because I'm not participating in the fandom the way live readers were, and therefore, I'm not subject to the weapons-grade hiatus brain that Cat has war stories about.

Poor Kanaya - she really knows how to pick 'em. Rose is definitely less stressful to crush on than Vriska, though.

I recently saw this quote for the first time in a while. Excited to learn which of the comic's several thousand plot points it's referencing.

@spyril4132 asked: i have seen this in my youtube recommendations and must now share [s] descend but with silvagunner's high quality nuclear rip - YouTube

Legitimately amazing, and perfectly timed.

For anyone doesn't know about Silvagunner, please take a dip down this rabbit hole.

I do wonder how she's getting physical details about the Sun. Isn't it, like, fully outside of conventional reality?

Maybe the Sun is physically real, despite being in an unreal location. Technically, that's also the case with sessions.

I do like the 'music player' metaphor from an earlier ask. You don't necessarily have to use discs - a cassette player is also a good choice, or maybe an older variety of music box.

If you want to stretch the symbolism a little, your Time Player could wield something really kooky, like an iPod Nano, MIDI keyboard, or analog radio.

(Sally the Time Player would wield Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS.)

It's been years since I've watched Primer, actually. I remember enjoying it, but I don't recall enough to give a proper review. Rewatch time!

Yeah, the rules for Captcha codes are all over the place. This example implies that they hold the general idea of an object, without any 'corruption' - but when John's Ghost Dad poster was defaced, its code did change.

The implication, I guess, is that defacing a poster counts as changing its nature, but spilling oil on a pogo ride does not. It's weird.

It is odd that it's marketed as a beta. Sburb and Sgrub seem almost identical, the latter's bifurcated session notwithstanding.

The human session failed, yes - but it failed due to manipulation, sabotage, and a generous helping of terrible luck. If Gamzee prototyped one of his clown posters, Jack's regicide could just as easily have happened in Sgrub.

All that said - when it comes to software development, I'd trust Sollux over Grandpa any day. If one of those games is more stable, it's Sgrub.

Alright, that one's actually pretty great lmao