#I dont understand why its so hard to treat me with the kindness i give others for everyone around me

[timeisacephalopod]

Lol out of curiosity I looked up my old job on Indeed and yes they ARE urgently hiring for the position and if I didn't get treated like dog shit for expecting a stress free work environment with reasonable expectations and not wildly cunty management who seemed to be under the impression they were doing THE most important job at THE most important store ever maybe I wouldn't have just not shown up one day 🤷🏻‍♀️ asshole thing to do to my poor coworkers but I didn't even have the energy to quit right after spending a month and a half feeling deeply surveilled at every aspect of my job lest I get another frivolous writeup no one else got for doing their jobs worse than me so fine. You want me gone enough to threaten my livelihood and SHRUG when I point out I have rent to pay, fine, but I wouldn't put up with that behavior from anyone in my life generally and I LIKE those people so my JOB pulling bullshit? Oh hell no, if I wouldn't take it from people I CHOOSE to be around on purpose I ain't taking shit from a fucking JOB. I refuse to be in a work environment that's unaware it's a GROCERY STORE, not a 5 star establishment frequented exclusively by world leaders or some shit. Like Sam, my job is cooking food at a fucking sobeys and you're acting as if I'm disarming bombs it's so important get reasonable priorities and standards for employees and then apply them equally to managers and not EXCLUSIVELY minimum wage staff 🙄

Which is funny because my new job everyone seems surprised with how fast I've caught on to stuff down to a coworker yesterday telling me he thought I worked in a shoppers prior to the pharmacy I'm in because Im catching on so quick. This isn't unusual for me either, some time in the last five or so years I've found every workplace I'm at I end up being heavily relied on because I'm good at my job, so fucking sucks to suck for sobeys because it took me some week or so to be consistently praised for being better at the job than the guy I replaced only for them to throw that out because they think management should be able to do whatever the fuck they want while they shove minimum wage staff under a fucking microscope to ensure they're doing their shit right and even that isn't consistent. They punished me exclusively because I did not lay down to be treated as a door mat and dished the treatment I got handed. If you treat me like shit I WILL treat you the way you treat me, no worse, and sometimes a little better because I don't lose my moral standards in that treatment either. Just because I'm being an ass doesn't mean I'm willing to do whatever the fuck, just enough to ensure that the person who's decided I'm their new plaything knows that'll be going both ways so fuck off. I've never had a job so willing to keep on shit management they had at LEAST a dozen meetings with regarding performance and I was the one who got punished for being frustrated about that. But I will take a new significantly less stressful job 🙌🏻

[derit-s]

:(

[miya-rin]

“what the fuck do you two think youre doing?”

shit, you think, you didnt notice the balcony door had been slid open until you heard the voice of one of your brothers. you start to pull away from suna’s lips which earns you a small whine from his end, his grip tightens around you and honestly it its quite cute the way he is trying so hard to savour the moment. “come back later, we’re kinda busy.” the boy mutters before trying to move your face away from the distraction so that he can kiss you once more.

“suna you get your hands off of her right now, i dont give a fuck that its your birthday.” osamu pipes up, he looks furious and a little bit disgusted, if it hadnt been for the situation youre in right now you would think its kind of funny.

“samu lay off him, it was a mutual agreement, im just as guilty as he is ok?” that does not seem to help the boys understand, if anything they seem even more angry with you both.

“what the fuck do you mean it was a mutual agreement? are you two hooking up or something? yn he just turned 18 a few hours ago are you forgetting that?” atsumu says, he is rambling on with every excuse he can think of as to why this is “so wrong”, from the corner of your eye you can see suna trying so very hard to hide the grin that is creeping its way onto his face, his hands still all over you despite the fact that you arent alone anymore.

“listen, it was his birthday wish ok? i swear it didn’t mean anything,” sunas grip begins to loosen ever so slightly, “i just though it would get him off my back and get him over his little crush on me.” suna’s facial expression shifts but you choose to ignore it, you have bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

“no this is not ok, how would you feel if me or samu kissed one of your friends because it was their birthday wish?”

“that’s different, why would my friends want to kiss either of you?”

“excuse me? ill have you know that many women want to kiss me! and dont think youre getting off the hook either suna, ill make sure you never-“ you dont even want to hear the threat that is about to come out of his mouth, you just want to get out of this shitty situation.

“boys please, just give us five minutes to talk and then we will be back inside ok? i promise.” your efforts to plead with your brothers finally work.

“…fine,” atsumu mumbles, “but this better be a one time thing. im not gonna deal with you two being all lovey dovey around me.” and with that he lightly tugs on osamu’s sleeve, signalling him to walk back inside and continue the party. he closes the balcony door but not before bringing two fingers up to his eyes and then pointing them at the two of you. its a warning.

you turn back to suna and notice the sad look on his face - he looks kinda cute like this, “so, what do-“.

“did you really mean what you just said to them?” the poor boy looks heartbroken, after waiting three years to finally have a chance with the girl he loves wants the moment is ruined like that? “did you actually just do that so i would leave you alone?” his hands fully leave your body now and he takes a step back to put some distance between you two.

“well i mean sort of yeah… ive never looked at you in any way other than my brothers best friend if im going to be honest, i dont know if thats because of the age difference or what but ive never thought we could be anything.” the look of hurt is prominent on his face no matter how hard he tries to hide it, normally playful banter would have been thrown back and forth between the two of you but rintarou just stays silent, an indication that youve fucked up.

“listen suna i dont know what you want me to say, i wasnt really thinking when i said that to atsumu it just came out. i am 4 years older than you and many people would not approve of us if i decided to give you a chance.”

“who cares? i could treat you so right if you would just let me. i have waited entirely too long for this moment, all im asking for is one date.”

“you said that about the kiss too, one thing is never enough with you is it? you always need more.” a playful smile creeps onto your face which is outshined by the one on sunas, he knows that your smile means that you agree to go on a date with him.

“i really hope you arent fucking with me right now, that would be so cruel, especially on my birthday.”

“oh give the birthday excuse a rest now will you? you dont need to keep on at me you have already got what you want.”

“mhm i absolutely have,” he walks closer and once again wraps his arms around you, placing a hand under your jawbone to make you look up at him, “and i couldnt be happier.” he states as he pulls you in for a passionate kiss once more <3

[mokafen1]

reset your journey

attempting to shift shouldnt feel like a never ending cycle.

shifting, per say, is not hard by any means, yet we over-complicate it anyway by focusing on the struggles instead of the goal. once we get tired of not doing any progress, shifting wont feel the same, that is usually followed by a break, but instead of a break, i recommend resetting your journey completely. let me explain:

the joy and excitement that you felt at the start of your shifting journey cant be brought back, but you can replicate it. in contrary to how we look at shifting today, we used to focus on the destination, not the struggles and frustration of trying to get there. weve accumulated so much information about shifting over the years that it doesnt even seem thrilling anymore, we were so clueless and i suppose that explains why shifting sounded so incredible, we had yet to really understand it.

i will give you some examples of what my definition of restarting your journey can look like, but really, its up to you to figure it out, i dont speak for the entirety of the community. the world is your oyster, you are in a greater position to take charge of your choices than everybody else.

so, in theory, finding an exemplification for what we see as something new and exciting should help. instead of giving up and taking breaks that usually bring you back to the same never ending cycle you thought you left behind, you can start doing things that you know will remind you of how fun shifting used to feel like when you first started.

for instance, i will write a schedule for how each and every single day in my OR will look like if we bring shifting into the equation. i will note it down that at 3pm i will affirm and when ill shift ill try *insert method here*. personally thats something i used to do when i first started, ironic as it is, i dropped it because i felt like i needed a break.

you will get there, it feels just as real as everything else around you right now. so what if you didnt shift yesterday? are you scared youre not gonna make it ever? you have nothing to lose. treat shifting as any other goal you might want to reach, because really, lets be honest, shifting isnt something wow, humans wouldnt be humans without the act of shifting itself. woooow that person shifted what a big deal, shut up. thats the kind of attitude you should have towards this situation. at the very start we were so motivated, so RESTART RESTART RESTART. restart your journey until it feels right.

im not saying breaks arent necessary, they can very well be, but on the other hand i think i should bring to light the reason why we get so burnt out that we feel the need to quit in the first place.

[thesophistiicate]

im not trying to act all high and mighty, im just genuinely confused by this... i truly dont understand girls who allow themselves to be put in degrading situations the same as the last anon? surely its glaringly obvious that man just wanted a body to use? i know i sound so mean but im genuinely actually confused whenever i hear or read girls talking about experiences like that i find it very hard to understand what would make them give the most undeserving men access to their bodies and souls like that... i can kind of understand if you sleep with a man for the first time and he treats you badly after but what i dont understand is going back again and again and expecting a different result. at that point maybe youre a little to blame as well? why would you even sleep with someone who youre not even in a relationship with? im just very lost i thought by now we all know better than to give just anyone our time. i see this even in my girl friends, theyre all so beautiful and intelligent yet they date terrible men that shouldnt even be allowed to breathe the same air as them and when they inevitably cheat or hurt them they genuinely get heartbroken and then they start to tell me about things the man has said to them and show me their text conversations and in my head im like "hes telling you right there in that message that he doesnt care about you..? what did you expect..?" sometimes it feels like girls get into situationships and relationships just to get themselves hurt on purpose because, and this is gonna sound so mean but i dont know how else to word this, but theres no way people can genuinely be this blind and stupid. i just find it so hard to feel sympathy for girls who numerously get shown and told theyre only being used for sex and still stick around for a different outcome. is that what love supposed to be? am i the one with the twisted understanding of love? am i missing something? i hope im not coming off as heartless or conceited, im genuinely confused i just dont know how to express or word it well

i'm happy to hold space for expressing thoughts imperfectly or even harshly, so long as we are willing to find understanding and not stay stuck in judgement 🤍 i would say the challenge for you here is learning to stay out of judgement (it is all right to acknowledge that's not how you would act, but attaching value statements and labels like 'stupid' don't help you be kind and don't help anyone else thrive either), and leaning into empathy (finding understanding when someone acts in a way you wouldn't, rather than judgement and frustration).

i say this as someone who used to be really judgemental, not to tell you off, but because it's so good for the soul to learn this growth. judgement and labels are easy, it's far more difficult to build the emotional intelligence to hold space for nuance and complexity, to extend compassion and nurture even when somebody is making imperfect decisions.

i think that you're someone with a really good level of self worth and self respect who cares about others too. that's so amazing! the best thing you can do is continue to hold your standards and lead by example. you aren't the one who has it wrong at all. healthy, respectful relationships aren't like this! keep your standards high, show your friends examples of high standards. as much as it will feel like they aren't listening, sometimes a simple, fairly neutrally toned: "wow, you deserve better" or "geez, i wouldn't put up with that" or "that's not normal" will linger and have more long-term impact than you realise.

i know it's easy to look in from the outside and say, can't you see it?! he just sucks!! or to look at the end of a crazy story and be like, girl, there was SO many red flags wtf!! (lol me at my past self!) but when you're in the middle of it, it's actually really hard. these people are master manipulators and they know how to keep their victims hooked. love bombing, mixed signals, disrespectful treatment to lower self worth... it's a wild ride inside the storm, you simply cannot see clearly because they are committed to obscuring the view.

at the core women get themselves into these situations because of low self worth. it's why i talk about it ALL THE TIME, it's SO CRUCIAL. when you don't value yourself, you put up with being disrespected. the more you are disrespected, the lower your self worth drops and the more bad treatment you accept. it's a toxic cycle. it's the exact same dynamics as in any abusive or domestic violence scenario (even if the relationships aren't abusive and he's just casually disrespectful - that is the beginning of abuse), and it's pretty well researched why women stay, how they get in those situations, why they find it difficult to leave, why the cycle keeps repeating with new partners. i'd highly recommend researching it if you want to understand it better. every woman should be educated on this topic.

you are right to some extent: if you want to get out of the cycle you do have to take responsibility for your own behaviour. you have to ask why you're accepting being treated that way. what led you there. why you are obsessing over their behaviours but not questioning your own.

but to confront all this is very difficult and painful and often related to trauma and neglect. yet another reason why so many can't escape the cycle, to face all of that can be more painful than putting up with a shitty guy who just wants sex without commitment... the crap treatment is easier to face, until it isn't.

it is a form of self-harm, a kind of self-destruction as a way a broken mind and spirit tries to cope with trauma. to end the relationship would be to limp out and finally confront how broken you are. when you stay in it you can stay delulu. it's a form of escape.

of course, to a healthy person it doesn't make sense. why would anyone ever willingly hurt themselves? and yet, it's a psychologically observable phenomenon and unfortunately the solution and path to healing is far more complex than just not doing that or getting into those situations. if only!!

but the way out DOES involve making a decision that you deserve better. which is why we need to keep talking about these things, bringing them to light, being compassionate, creating safe spaces for women in these relationships to talk about what they're experiencing without judgement, shame, being called stupid or asking for it etc 🤍

i could speak for a long time on this, but i'll leave it there for now... it's all right to not understand it. i actually think that's a good thing in a way, it means you're in a good place. but certainly if you really want to understand it, the research is there!

[spaceless-vacuum]

Fandom‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ Legend of Zelda (age of calamity)

Pairing‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ Yandere!Calamity x reader

Word count‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ 3618

Summery‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ another prompt list thing, but this time its the revamped yandere alphabet ask game wich you can find here. i answered all of them and got a bit carried away.

Misc‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ not proofread at all I dont want to and you cant make me, stalking, kidnapping, Calamity has issues with the royal family and Zelda, i couldnt decide to place this before, during, or after the events of the game so its all a bet on which.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

He is attached to you at the hip. It kind of throws everyone in for a loop because he follows you the same way he does the princess. Just trailing you around and making sure you  get to your house safe, oftentimes he'll even go inside to make sure that you're safe there too. He doesn't involve himself in your life at first, rather hes just happy to be able to spend time with you, even if you aren't aware he's there. It can be a bit strange at times with the way he doesn't talk and just stares off into the distance or the way everyone seems to talk about the two of you even when you're not even that close yet but he seems to enjoy spending time with you. It’s hard to push him away when all he’s doing is escorting you.

Which is where things start to shift. As he gets more comfortable with you he will start to open up more. It's easy to see where his knightly training begins and doesn't really stop (he joined them around the age of twelve or something?) but he isn't always some silent statue. Rather once he starts to open up it's hard not to notice.

The way he starts moving less mechanically around your house. Slouching on the couch next to you or mumbling curses under his breath when the food doesn't turn out just right. He makes the conscious choice to put on this facade to the public and around others so much so that when he takes it off he is already confessing his love to you. It’s impossible not to notice this fact with the way he is always around you and never says why. Just that he has a desire to keep you safe.

How intense this is is how much you fight back. Won’t allow yourself to be seen with him? He'll follow you from further behind. You avoid him? Impossible, he'll just ask around and say it's an order or something. Lock all your doors? He's already requested another key from a local smith. No matter how far you get he's not that far behind you. Especially not after the towers rise and he gets to teleport all over Hyrule.

:readmore:

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Yes. I feel like he would be almost numb to violence to the point that the only thing that stops him is his knightly training. He can't just fight someone out of the blue, he has to reason that they deserved it because they were terrible people already. This isn't hard for him to do but he does have to make a few steps to reason out what they've done however most if not all of it is done clean and efficiently. The war claims another life and no one bats an eye.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Absolutely not. Not even in a joking manner he finds that even when you jokingly pick on the ones you love it doesn't actually show that you love them; being kind no matter what is far more important than taking the time to get in a quick joke.

That being said he just does not care at all if you fight back or kick and scream because he sees it as a natural response to the situation. You won't win any of the fights and no one will ever hear your screams but he does understand why you're scared and he gives you your space. It's like having a new cat in the house. You can follow them as they explore their new home but picking them up may get you scratches!

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

He would get a kick at making you dance with him by coercing you or promising to give you a small privilege back in return. He never gets the chance to dance a lot at the balls and parties that are thrown in Hyrule castle because he has to guard the princess but he loves to do so. Makes him feel like a proper knight courting someone and he likes to treat you with proper chivalrous attitudes and gifts while pretending this is a normal relationship.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

After the fighting is done he's a lot more open with how much he hated the part he played in the war with how useless he felt the whole time. Later he starts looking back on events like getting the mastersword and realises that everyone was wrong about him and he did do a lot of work. The fact that everyone sweeps him under the rug never goes unignored but he doesn't try to fight it much because to do so would mean fighting years worth of politics and the royalty of this decade being worse than Wild’s because they never had to admit that their plan with the guardians was the wrong way to go (cough Zelda cough) which means that any complaints fall on deaf ears. They won so that's all that matters, right?

If it's during the war he’s quiet and doesn't talk but it's really easy to tell what's on his mind. From the way he collapses next to you after a few days away fighting on the front lines or how he can't let go to say goodbye because he just ended then more minutes of this. You own his heart and it's written all over his actions but he doesn't say it much. You can tell what's up with him but not enough to know the details; all you can see are the broad strokes.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

He does not care. You need time to adjust and that much is clear just don't hurt yourself or try to start an actual fight and you'll be allowed time and space to process your new arrangement.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Trying to escape or even planning an attempt is one of the worst things you can do with him. Calamity as a yandere is aware of his actions but just delusional enough to believe that you love him regardless/can learn to love him regardless. I feel like he wouldn't just up and abandon his duties but if you ran away he would have to until he could get you back. This is the most heartbreaking thing you can do with him because he needs the balance between home and work life and you were that outlet and after you leave he has to make a choice between his own selfish needs and his duty as a knight and hero. Regardless of what happens and if you're successful at walking away or not he will have a meltdown and the fallout if he manages to catch you will be severe. Even if it's not your fault someone has to take the blame for his leave of absence and he can hardly explain you away now can he?

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Depending on the type of person you are it can be one of three things his lack of expression on what he wants from you, him being unaware of how his manners and actions can come off as cold or cruel, or the fact that he truly does not care what you say to him he's convinced you're in love with him and just need time to settle down.

Like on one hand not knowing what this person wants from you and him never expressing it is scary but there's ways to work around it. His noncommittal town and the way he shrugs after every question is annoying but not hostile. The militaristic attitudes and cold gleam in his eye scares you more than how uncaring he is. It's unnerving how whenever you have a thought about acting up he stares at you with a wolf's grin; almost daring you to try him so he can show you how little it would matter. 

Lastly it's the delusions that get you the most. The way he acts as if this is just a nonuniform household where the homelife will just slowly get better. He expects you to be a stay at home lover with all the benefits that come with it. Hell sneaks up behind you for a kiss goodbye and gets confused as to why you move away. Him sneaking into your shared bed at night gives you a heart attack each morning because you never heard him come home much less slip into bed. Each time you show some amount of fear or hesitation genuinely doesn't register why you're upset at first. Like there is a literal brick wall between the man and what he's done. Of course he knows and the wall starts to crumble at times but is it staying up safer for you than the alternative?

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

A two story house with a white picket fence or the two of you travelling around Hyrule together without a care in the world. A vacation really. He just wants to live with you and get to know you and always have you by his side. Really as long as you're there with him he can settle into just about any routine.

Life isn't always so kind however. He is both tied to the royal family as a knight and unable to leave until the war is packed up, cleaned up, and the remains are nowhere to be seen because of his role as the hero and it being his job to help sort out this mess. Before and during the war he's too focused on trying to keep it all from falling apart that he can hardly give either of you a relaxing life away from it all; and afterwards he can't leave just yet. Maybe in a few years or something. Link will have to wait and see what the future holds.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Not only does this Link get really jealous but his way of coping is to just get a house somewhere away from everyone. Deep into a forest so that your only contact is his type of jealousy. It’s not really his fault he just can't help it. With all the monsters roaming around now, the calamity acting up, and the yiga clan assassins Calamity can not and will not risk losing you. Not his shining star.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Silent guardian or loving husband. He has two modes and I think that about sums it up. He is either falling back onto his knight training and acting like a blushing mess around you while trying to be quiet and cordial or he's holding onto you from behind layering kisses onto your neck talking about what to bring on the picnic he's planning. Once he comes out of his shell it’s hard for him to go back in. Link’s just so in love with you acting like you're already married feels so natural. The calming effect it has on him is another reason for locking you away from the rest of the world. He can hardly risk losing you, not after everything that's happened.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

Time spent together is both a love language and a stalking habit for him. It may seem like he's acting out of the blue or like everyone knows about how he feels except for you and that's because he has far too much anxiety to approach you at first. People will see how he acts around you and connect the dots but he would rather fight a hundred boblokins than approach you so his main task is to stay out of your sight until he feels safe. Once he's over the pounding in his chest when he gets close he'll start to just hover around. At this point it's up to you to talk to him or make the first move because this man will do nothing to announce himself. He'll just follow you around until the day he kidnaps you and the whiplash will be so staggering due to the fact that he just assumes you'll happily live with him.

Mask: Are their true colours drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Sort of? This isn't to say that his real personality is hiding away somewhere; rather , he does open up and talk to you more than he does other people. Zelda sees it sometimes, Revali likes to tease it out of him, and the other champions see it the most due to the time they all spend together. It's not like he  enjoys hiding or or his knightly demeanour is a facade but he does have more to him hiding away until it feels safe to let it free again.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Calamity would say that the punishment needs to be fitting of the crime so this would change depending on what you've done and the severity of the damage. Running away? You'll be chained to the bed or a wall until he's certain you won't again. Fighting him too much? Exposure therapy you have to lay with him on the bed for several hours while he cuddles you and plays with your hair. Got caught with a weapon? He'll take away all sharp objects including forks!

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

As many as it takes to get the job done. Link knows that you won't be happy as he slowly strips you of your autonomy but if he has to for the two of you to have a happy ending together he will.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

He’s patient up until it starts becoming a problem. You can do whatever you want until it starts to have consequences. You can shout and holler all you want but if he gets a headache, you start to lose your voice, or if it gets a bit too loud and he's worried someone will hear you he'll put an end to it.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Nope! Even during the war with how many people just went missing or were lost to time he never gives up hope. He knows that you're out there somewhere. There's no way someone as sweet as you was left to rot in some field without him. The gods themselves would have to come down and relay the information before he would accept it.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

He feels bad about the negative ways it seems to have affected you but he doesn't actually feel bad about abducting you. Just that he understands why you're upset and hates to see you in pain. You wouldn't be let go but he can be convinced to give you a shooter leash, to the point that the collar has almost fallen off. It takes a long time because he doesn't trust easy but Calamity can be talked into giving you free time alone and the option to walk around as you choose as long as he trusts you to stay one hundred percent.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

A mixture of how he was raised and needing an outlet for his emotions. That isn't to say he needs an outlet for negative emotions, far from that there's plenty of enemies on the field, instead he has all these soft spots he doesn't feel safe showing anyone but you. Kidnapping you is a knee jerk reaction from him due to having this strong feeling of adoration for this diamond among coal.

Joining the knights while twelve years old, thrown into the world of politics with no prior knowledge, trusting the higher ups absolutely only to watch as their plans fail and collapse in on themselves, and knowing that everyone sees him as a figure rather than a person makes you the anomaly. You're so sweet and kind and you don't even make fun of him or talk behind his back. Your smile feels so real that he can't let go. He needs you, he needs to feel like himself again.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

It hurts him but all of your actions as long as they seem like an appropriate response for the situation make him hurt but he can hardly stop you unless it becomes an issue. You need your time to heal and adjust just like he does. If he stopped you it would only send a message that your emotions aren't important as his comfort around those emotions. A situation he's all too familiar with; so he lets you do as you will so long as you stay happy and healthy overall.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

Calamity would bring you so many trophies from his time spent in the war. A lynel horn from one that snuck into an outpost. He tells you exactly what happened and how he defeated it, and oh so happily shows off the blood stained trophy while you wonder if someone so sweet looking could really do something so violent. He'll keep them around the house along with a collection of other items that he's gathered over his time travelling around Hyrule. He likes to bring you parts of the outside world so you don't grow depressed while trapped inside the house.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

There are times he lets his guard down and those show that it is an option to try and get away, but let's be real here he can never truly let his guard down because of the stress of the world literally self destructing around him so it's pretty much impossible unless he's not around. Maybe the time he spends away from you is his biggest weakness but he can always get you back can't he?

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Not on purpose. In his mind it's his job to protect you at all costs, no matter who he has to get through! Hurting you even as a form of punishment is not an option. He will find other ways around the issue because he could never bring himself to hurt you. Doesn't mean he can't intimidate you.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Oh ok so this might get a little sappy but he spends every moment he can daydreaming about you. When he picks up an item he thinks about showing it to you so you can see the same things he does. He'll attempt to include you into every little part of his life because that's how he wants you to treat him. He wants to get to know everything about you because all those little details about you fascinate him and make him fall deeper in love with you. Watching you stand across the kitchen choosing your favourite mug makes his heart skip a beat because he knows it's your favourite and he made you clean it so you would have it this morning. His acts of love language are acts of service (such as watching over you or proving himself as courageous enough) and giving you love in the same way he wants to be loved.

He knows he can't bring you along on his adventure but he still wants you there. He can't place you in danger but him being Link is more than a title to him and the way that everyone treats it as a thing someone can fit into rather than who he is as a person makes him upset. This is to say he would like to bring you along on trips to camp and show you the countryside like he could have in breath of the wild but he is unable to in this timeline. Making bringing you items from his trips back the only way he can break this barrier without leaving you  in or near an active warzone.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Several months. He can last a few months before realising you are the sun to his moon and he has to protect that light or else he might lose it forever.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

No! He doesn't want you to break, he wants you to love him as much as he loves you. This might not be entirely possible but he knows you can try. Maybe if all things work out you can even have a somewhat normal relationship if you don't mind all the rules you  have to follow. It is dangerous to go alone after all.

[sugakookie127]

Hey guys, so im back and i honestly regret giving the 3d so much power over me, this cycle… its so tiring so i WILL change. Ive said this before but i mean it! I will start my change by listening to adambja’s desired reality tape and their instant manifesting abilities tape! I’ll share my honest response to it everyday and while i listen, i’ll also be changing myself to be my desired self. I will stop giving my ego any attention and just dwell in the blissful feeling of my desires already being mine. I think my problem is that i think TOO damn much! Like… TOO MUCH. I keep asking myself questions like,” how do you know if this is working”,” i dont feel relaxed or fulfilled enough so am i doing something wrong?”, “what am i missing?”, “how have i been manifesting on a day to day basis and why is it hard now?”, etc etc. ive been asking myself too much questions and not understanding anything or “forgetting” what i learned about loa BECAUSE of my self doubt which has made me decide to overconsume. I feel like now that i think about it, ive been deciding a LOT of things. I’ve been deciding to continue to believe the 3d is real, decided to continuosly doubt myself, decided to stress myself out, decided to overconsume and everything. So now im going to decide that this is me putting my foot down because im tired of the self doubt, self hate, insecurity and mood swings CAUSED by these “insecurities”. I wouldnt be feeling this way at all if i were my desired self. So while i decide to listen to the adambja tapes i’ve mentioned, im also going to follow a “routine” but i won’t treat it as something that i HAVE TO DO like homework because manifestation is about having fun as the creator or the “buyer” in your reality. It’s not necessarily a process but it’s like walking into a store where EVERYTHING u want is available for u at no cost and all you have to do is take something and then it’s yours now. It belongs to u and you are now that person WITH that desire. Idk, it’s like i DO know how to manifest but i cant feel that “acceptance” feeling when i imagine myself with it.. y’know? ( i better after all that damn overconsumption) So im going to meditate while i listen to the tapes and when i go to sleep, i’m going to think affirmations like,” i love ending my day in my perfect room looking this effortlessly beautiful while going to bed”. Im going to vaunt and do things the way my desired self would and if that means im going to post everyday and be like her, then so be it. Expect my success story this week because i decide that i’m not a failure. I decide that i no longer want to see the 3d as the truth cus it’s no fun😛 also expect a daily review on adambja’s tapes 😗 i decide that i’m not ugly no more cus girl TUH. What hater would really have the nerve to call me that💀 im too fine and they know it. I feel like i fall in love with myself all over again anytime i think of myself but it’s impossible NOT to because i’m just that kind of person. Im too lovely and irresistible to NOT fall in love with. Yea i DO have $995 and i will win the contest i made with my bestie cus my paycheck bouta be $695 lol WHY? CUS I SAID SO. Subconscience i know you’re listening bookie, my love, i already have my desires no matter what, ok? PERIODT

K bye yall💚💚💚

[writers-get-biters]

sooooo tired of feeling bad and shitty and stuck and miserable

fuck my relationship ocd i hate it so much and also fuck being forced to do stuff i dont want by people i dont want to be with sometimes (like now )they get into some sort of fucked up loop where i feel miserable because of stuff in my brain and then theres external stuff which also fucks it up more so then my disabilities become more disabling because obviously and then i get blamed and hurt more externally because of my disabilities that are not! my! fault! and then of course that makes internal shit worse so then im just stuck in the middle forced to pretend shit doesnt suck and actually im fine and actually everythings fine keep being "jokingly" mean to me and pushing my boundaries i dont care i get it its actually really okay if you say something to me that most other people i know offline wouldnt consider mean even though i have told you to stop its okay if you dont stop i guess i guess its fine if no one listens to me and i have to sit in miserable silence by myself because i dont even feel like doing anything that any of my ceters enjoy like drawing or our data entry projects or video games or writing and it doesnt matter i guess that im so stressed because since its from an arbitrary authoritative institution everyone is supposedly fine with that makes it totally okay and actually the real problem is me and i guess im the problem and reason why no one wants to talk to me or communicate with me the way i want to be talked to or otherwise communicated with yeah my bad i guess its all my fault and im supposed to just suck it up and stop complaining and also its creepy and wrong and bad i guess for me to try to cope with any of this the way that i want to and i guess yeah i need to and should be keeping it a secret because otherwise ill make everyone else uncomfortable and thats the worst possible outcome btw no person left behind unless its me in which case utilitarianism is always right and we cant give a shit about everyone yk like someone is always going to be miserable but we should prioritize the most people so if i mention kink (ew) or my other interests (ew) im a horrible really bad person actually because im making other people (more important than me. btw) uncomfortable and upset also i should ignore the fact that i am systematically and systemically being isolated from and kept away from people who might actually show understanding and kindness towards me or be in a similar position and extend the kind of support i desperately need but its cool because you keep saying youre only doing that because im "better than them" and actually youre helping me because "those people" are bad and wrong and harmful and they might make me (simultaneously innocent and guilty) do bad things like drugs that might offer a chance to alleviate some of my pain or transition to a bodymind i& want or be angry or just generally be a "bad person" and not be able to participate in the joys of continuing the chain of oppression and harm. but its fine because its for my benefit actually because you frame it as ""those people" have it so hard and theyre so unlucky (because theyre treated like shit by everyone which is true because people's actions are definitely a matter of "luck") and i just want to spare you from that" how kind of you wow youre so sweet and nice to me right now because i havent violated any of your rules yet what a great person you are because you let me be myself to a certain extent (a tiny little eensy-weensy extent but thats fine because its more than i deserve anyway) and since im being invited to participate in the continuation of oppression and pain it would be pretty rude for me to say no and if i did say no it would definitely justify treating me badly and doing all of the things you do to "those people" to me because im technically actually even worse than "those people" because i could have been normal i could have just accepted your rules (that were literally killing me to follow) (not that you noticed)

and also on the other hand the people arguing against you get to use me as their fun little trick-up-their-sleeve because obviously its ridiculous to treat someone like me the way that you have and will and i can be used as a perfect little pawn

[the ceter who wrote this switched out around here, but before they did, it asked that the others of us post this vent anyway if they were unable to finish or post it]

[cartoonrival]

ok + for goodness' sake sasuke so that the screenshot takes up less space

1)parallels between naruto/sasuke and naruto/kawaki. i think honestly carrying over and actually bringing attention to the love-obsession thing that was going on sort of mostly unaddressed in the original series (in terms of no one called naruto as insane as they frankly shouldve) has the potential to be very interesting, especially because bringing it into the sphere of a father-son relationship rather than a platonic/romantic one is not really something i've seen before, along with the fact that kawaki doesn't actually know naruto much at all, making this very much an idolization of an idea of the person who saved you, someone who can do no wrong and is so without flaw. it was what this dude said:

like kawaki's obsession is weird and emblematic of how he grew up. also, the way that both of them sort of end up treating the other like a thing to be protected or owned or passed around, kawaki trapping him in time prison with zero regards for the fact that no one wants to be in time prison, and naruto's famous "give sasuke back/dont talk about sasuke like you own him in front of me/i'll get sasuke back/ill break your legs if i have to", there is the dismissal of actual personal wants However.

kawaki does this because he thinks that naruto's life is worth more than anything ever, and the reason he thinks this is because he thinks naruto is the most perfect person in the world and the only one who can save the world from evil. in naruto's case, even though he has a habit of possessiveness, sasuke is very much still a person to him, someone he violently and desperately wants to be close to. he doesnt think sasuke is perfect or can do no wrong, he just doesnt really give a fuck what wrong things sasuke does because he loves him too much and wants him too bad to ever hold anything against him. anything sasuke does is understandable and forgivable. naruto wouldnt put sasuke in time prison to protect him because then they couldnt hang out, and he knows sasuke wouldnt want that anyways. while i think naruto's obsession is insane, its more possessive than dehumanizing, which is def the angle kawaki is taking. again, i think this could be interesting if it was expounded upon but i dont think anyone in boruto is enough of a character for this actually do be pulled off in any satisfying way.

2)boruto/kawaki vs naruto/sasuke. i think honestly i just dont really have it in me to even act like kawaki and boruto have a dynamic that even comes close to the bullshit naruto and sasuke have going on, but if i were to attempt to explain why i dont think this is the case than i think at least part of it (beyond the fact taht ever character in boruto is painfully undercooked) is that boruto and kawaki's bond is based almost entirely around both being marked by karma. like they become friends sort of on a more surface level same way boruto is friends with anyone else, but its definitely not the same as naruto and sasuke's inexplicable pull towards one another since they were kids. even though kawaki has like sort of stupid convoluted internal strife going on, boruto doesnt honestly have enough inner issues to even shadow the bizarre knot that is sns. boruto and naruto both didn't want to kill their wayward friends because it's hard to kill someone you care about, i don't think that reads as a strong parallel because its like . what kind of story would it be if boruto was just like Okay lets kill him... now! also if kawaki dies naruto stays trapped im p sure so if he kills kawaki he is also functionally killing his dad

3)naruto and sasuke are both terrible parents but sasuke is leagues leagues leagues worse and he sees boruto has his son more than he will ever see sarada as his daughter. to him, she is his daughter because that is the only way she should have the sharingan. he can't really stand being around her and any interaction he has with her is out of guilt. boruto is his son because boruto is naruto's son

4)why did they bring up that jiraiya might get resurrected and then just drop it or is this me forgetting since i watched boruto 6+ months ago

[razette-moved]

We finished season 3 of Bungo Stray Dogs. We are basking in the Wan! episodes before the agony of the next seasons. Cant even find relief in the manga; the manga readers are coping hard in the tags! youre all so brave!

Thoughts so far;

Dazai is a mood. Theres so much wrong with that man. hes suffering. his smile is a knife. All ive seen is the anime and Im kinda desperate for more, so Im gonna have to invest in all the light novels immediately.

Atsushi being told to run away from Akutagawa immediately on sight, and then meeting him 20 minutes later is hilarious imo. he did not run on sight. do you think they tell all newbies that? If it were me I wouldnt have even recognized him. Id forget his name and his face immediately. Dazai wouldve stepped in and Idve been, oh i thought hed be taller.

Atsushi and Akutagawa passing therapy tips and tricks back and forth is great. Theyve been fighting the whole time nonstop. theyve only fought like 3 ish times total so far. theyre already so over each other. theyre fed up. get this guy outta here!

Why do they ask for kunikidas advice and then not take it? its not really a critique, i actually find it funny. its a coin flip. he's right or hes a stick in the mud. Man is coping hard. he cares so much. he cares too much.

I like to pretend the tanizaki siblings arent blood related. not real sure that fixes anything but im coping.

i dont really think i should go read the classics just because im watching an anime, right. Theyre worth reading on their own; im just lazy. but i kiiiinda feel like doing so would give me better understanding of this story? I can tell im missing a whole dimension by not doing so. is that wrong?

I think im gonna have to cave and call Chuuya my favourite character. Every scene hes in is great. there should be way more of them.

Im the kind of person who loves like 95% of all ships. youd be a little hard pressed to find a ship i dont care for. Im usually only neutral at worst. unfortunately skk is has consumed my soul.

calico cat man is trans. or intersexed. cant change my mind.

The americans are hilarious. southern belle. evil preacher. money man. work a holic ability. but theyre not treated as just a joke. theyre all great characters.

when life gives you lemons use them to make bombs.

lemon balm pun?

there are not enough kajji gifs.

I wonder what Jun'ichiros training looks like. He is way too good as a potential assassin to not be receiving any. I wish we could see more of him and kenji

I told my partner about kouyou x yosano. they said theyd sell their soul for it. then they squinted at me and asked if it was a crackship that never meets in canon. I said I have no idea.

Actually the ranpoe ship is SO CUTE. What do you MEAN he keeps trying to write better and better mysteries to impress beat Ranpo? And Ranpo is delighted every time. Ranpo defeats each one and then slips a complement between singing his own praises. do you think Poe lives for it? i do.

tbf Edgar Allen Poe the irl author is actually one of my favourite authors. someday when I have money im gonna start collecting.

Fyodor creeps me out. I know he is supposed to because he is a villain, but i always feel bad about it. I want to like him as a villain more than I do. i think villains should me more appreciated. a well written villain is like nice butter to steak.

I think those are my loudest thoughts so far. Im waiting to hear good or bad news from the manga readers before I start reading the manga. I am much weaker and cant handle the pressure.

anyone want to talk about their favourite parts?

[furiousgoldfish]

Damn i was not expecting the "#tw extreme abuse", thank you very much for your words though

I might be able to help the person who asked about healthy relationships though, ive made a lot of good relationships despite my family:

Communication

•above all else, communicate. Tell them about yourself. Learn about them. Get to know eachother! Likes, dislikes. Boundaries especially! Check in on them. Just a quick hi once in a while can do wonders (lots of relationships fail due to lack of communication or miscommunication)

•listen to eachother

Arguements

•if something happens you can always walk away, make sure the other person understands that they can as well. Take time to collect yourselves and explain later why your upset

•be clear and ask for clarification where you need it

•fights can be scary but dont think that someone will leave you after one

•try to steer clear of insults/threats/blackmail if your angry, thats hard to repair after

Trust

•i know its hard to trust and you can take all the time you need to learn how, but making healthy relationships is a good way to learn trust.

•Dont lie to them or you will get caught up in trying to keep it under wraps (unless its to protect your safety, in that case maybe being around this person is not a good idea), not only will they not trust you but you wont give yourself the opportunity to trust them

Kindness

•be nice. Its simple. Good people, the people that will make for great friends/support/family will be kind back! Go out and meet people! Youll make friends! Just give yourself a chance!

•treat other how you deserve to be treated, with all the love and kindess you should have gotten! They will pay it back, they will love you!

Other notes

•express interest in their interests. You dont have to be a big fan, people will want to show you what they like when they like you. They're sharing something special to them. So ask about it! You dont have to engage much with it, but show them their interests have value. It will make them really happy, and they should be open to yours as well.

•do fun shit together! Something you both enjoy! If there isnt anything that overlaps you can do your own stuff in eachothers company. Just hanging out with them is enough.

•being able to love someone else, is to love yourself. You're filled with so much compassion and care for this person, and they will feel the same. They will be their to love you when life hits the fan.

•again take your time, it can be hard to get right. If it doesn't work out thats an experience you can carry into the next relationship, something to learn from.

Caution:

-make sure they actually make you happy and treat you well, not that theyre just the first person you could latch onto

-make sure you both have personal freedoms, your loyalty to eachother should not come at that cost

-keep yourself safe, safety comes first

Finding good people is a very important one as well, if anyone needs i could try explaining that too. Hope this helps.

Hey thank you for sending this manual!

Yeah your situation is extreme, I'm thinking about you and hoping that you get to experience freedom.

Your manual sounds really nice and is filled with common sense, and I've been following these types of guidelines for most of my life, but still had absolutely no luck. The thing is, this would work if you're surrounded with kind, understanding, non-abusive, friendly people who also just wanted to be friends with you and reciprocate and earn your trust and keep you in your life.

However a lot of people will see your friendly, kind, compassionate and communicative nature and decide to make use of it. It's been the hardest thing for me to realize when the other person is just pretending to be friendly back, in order to exploit me. It's really difficult to take distance from someone when they make you feel guilty for it and attack you for it, and it's hard to not feel guilty and betrayed when it happens. Manipulative people make great use of trust and communication you give them! Treating them with love and kindness will often get you in a situation where love and kindness will be expected, or demanded out of you, while you find yourself unable to ask even for some patience and space for yourself. And I'm worried that this is the situation for most abused people, we're often trying so hard to be kind, communicative, trusting, interested, loyal, patient, giving, caring, compassionate, and they zero in on that and eat it up, taking some time to make us let our guard down, before they start banking on us being in their service.

I have been trying to find good people all of my life, and fell unsuccessful, and I've tried hundreds of people, created a system of red flags that make me drop them, and had to drop pretty much everyone. And it's not as if this manual is generally bad, or I've just sucked so much at communicating and building boundaries, it's just, really difficult after abuse to feel okay around people, and to not be bothered by some of their manipulative nature - it hurts us more than it hurts others.

So even as I'm really bad with people, I can't recommend being very kind, trusting or communicative, of course it's nice if you can be that and not get hurt for it, but I absolutely cannot. It never happened once in my life, that someone returned the same kindness, love and care I gave them, and it often broke my heart. I would have to be very naive to still believe that I just haven't done it for the right person - hundreds of people reacted similarly, took what they could, then either turned on me, hurt me and pretended it was okay and I should stop being sensitive, or abandoned me altogether if I ever stood up to them.

This all is not your fault, and I can completely understand how you sent in these instructions with best of intentions, sincerely believing that this is the key to healthy relationships. It seemed like that to me too, when I was younger! I fully believed this would work, kind people would see me and return the kindness, it would be okay. The only thing I can recommend is the stuff you have under caution - if someone fails to reciprocate, or reciprocates at first and then stops reciprocating, get distance. If your freedom around this person is limited, get away, get distance. If they start treating you worse at any point, get distance. It's not worth ending up in another abusive, neglected or scary situation just for the hope of human connection. And it's also really difficult for an abused person tell when they're being neglected, treated badly or their kindness is not reciprocated, just because we've already been used to so much worse, so anyone not outright threatening to kill us seems like a nice enough person who deserves our whole heart. They often do not.

[scriptstructure]

Hello i am the anon from earlier, thank you for the troubel you gone through to help me. So there are four things structure wise that i strugel with.

The first one is an issue of paceing. The first five chapters of my book are fast paced but after that there is a rapid slow and i am afraid its not going to work. Its not unintentional on my part, the pov character is rushing to find something and he is forced to slow down and i want the redear to feel how he feels but i am afraid I am playing it too harsh. Do you know any way i could make this more enjoyabel? Come to think of it chapter six is the turning point of the plot in two otherways and i am having troubel with all of it.

Secondly its also a turn in how the story is structured. Before that, there is some emotional and character relation focused moments but mainly just to explain why the pov acts the way he does and then the description of said foolish actions, in short the plot is action driven. But after that he is forced to sit and examine his actions (and draw the incorrect conclusion why he did it, naturaly) and get to know the people he found himself souronded with and convince them to help him and his two friends instead of doing their own thing. The plot focus gets shifted onto character relations both internal in the POV figuring himself out as the story goes on and the two to each other completely unknown factions getting to know eachother both at cultural level and concrete characters developing bonds. I have plot points figured out but i can't make the shift work, and i can't string it together afterwards. Action and external conflict fueled plots are a lot easier to find resources for.

The tird probleme piece is the second PoV character, who is the other MC and is the leader of the other, and bigger factiona. Her PoV is esential for all this to work out. Her first chapter is the sixst one. She is deifeid in story and it makes her rather detached from everyone. she has troubel understanding and expresing herself because of it. As the story goes on and the two MCs get to know eachother she becomes a lot less criptic and distant and a lot more human. I had the idea that as this happens i would give her more and more POV chapters until its even and we are switching back and forth between her and the the male MC. This seemed like a good idea but i am having a hard time implementing it. Is it even viabel or should i just kill my darling and give her as much PoV chapters as i need her to have. Do you know a way i could balance these two ideas.

The fourth issue is chapter six itself. Because for all the weight it's pulling it's anemic. Its the female MC discussing with her advisors what to do with the strangers, how to treat them how to help them, the second half is just her having an existential crisis and the reader getting a peak at what her internal world is like, and how she thinks so they understand why she acts the way she does later. Problem with this is that the most obvious tension and hook for the male MCs next chapter is him getting to know what is going to happen to them. I either pull the readers leg and dont give them a solid answer in the entirity of chapter six or i slaughter the tension and start to build it up again. Worse thing is, the answer itself is pretty inconclusive, female MC wants to wait and see what kind of people she is dealing with befor burning time and resources on helping their goal but its clear to him that she is not heartless enough to kick them to the curb with no help to survive. So not a lot of risk either. It absolutely doesn't have enough meat on its bones to be cut up in two. I need the argument with the advisors to introduce them because they are important characters and its the best way to introduce them, but it seems like this is just doing more harm than good. What should i do with this?

Sorry this got so long,and sorry if its hard to understand, english is not my first language. I hope its not to much. Thank you for the time you spent reading it and thank you for any answer you give in advance.

Hope you have a great day :)

The first five chapters of my book are fast paced but after that there is a rapid slow. Do you know any way i could make this more enjoyable?

An important thing to remember about pacing is that you can use faster, more frantic episodes, and slower, more contemplative episodes to contrast one another, and heighten the impact of each.

If a whole book is just endless frantic rushing from one thing to the next, it gets tiring—not just for the characters, but for the readers—you often benefit from some ‘down time’ to let everyone regroup and recover, and prepare for the next action sequence.

Ways to emphasise this may be to show your characters who have been doing a lot of rushing and action, now in recovery phase: do they have wounds that need tending to, do they need to have a few solid meals to rebuild themselves, do they need to sleep for twelve hours solid, and so on.

As well, your protagonist’s mental stamina may well be flagging at this point, if he hasn’t had any opportunity to sit and rest and think about what is happening, he may be running on fumes, and simply doing whatever seems to need doing next out of sheer exhaustion (you mention that he’s been making some poor decisions, and if he’s been stuck in high action mode for five chapters without a break, a part of that might be just exhaustion!)

Have you ever gotten home after a big day, thinking ‘ok, now that’s done, I will go and do those chores I’ve been putting off…’ and then you sit down and zone out entirely until suddenly it’s dark and you’re hungry and when did you even fall asleep??—well imagine that process happening while you’re also trying to negotiate an alliance with a bigger faction than yours.

I think that you have the elements here for your ‘down time’ and ‘slow chapters’ to be fine and good additions to your story—but here’s the thing:

You have to stop thinking of quiet and slow parts of stories as ‘boring’ or ‘nothing happening’

It might help you to re-consider about what you’re writing in the quiet scenes, and think of the human relationships and interpersonal conflicts as though they were action scenes. When you think about a conversation, imagine the dynamic of a fight scene, these people are using words instead of fists, but they’re functionally doing the same thing. It is possible to write conversations that are just as engaging as any action scene.

Also, it’s probably a good time to mention, because I think that this is sometimes an issue that writers have when thinking about their own works: the reader wants to get invested in your characters. The reader will probably enjoy all the high action and drama, but they want to get to know your characters, and how they think and why they do the things they do, so that when all that action is happening, they have someone to be cheering for (or commiserating with!)

Quiet, introspective, and character driven scenes aren’t boring because they aren’t action scenes, in fact it is arguable that these are the scenes that make action scenes have any relevance at all! Why should I care that the guys in the giant mechas are beating each other up, if I don’t know them?

Problems two and three: I will combine them

Now, I may be wrong, so feel free to ignore this if it isn’t helpful to you, but it seems to me that the ‘problems’ you have here are actually just the structure of the story showing in a way that you weren’t expecting.

From what you’ve described, I understand that the first POV character’s character arc is one where he goes from being someone who is very high in action and low in introspection, to having to do more introspection in order to grow and develop as a person and a leader.

The second POV character’s arc sounds like she’s going from being someone who is extremely introspective and withdrawn to the point of almost inaction, (aside from intellectualised action, like discussing things with advisors and issuing orders), who’s so internalised that she has trouble even communicating with people outside of her own head, and who has to learn to be more spontaneous and take action.

Essentially, it seems to me that these two characters are travelling in opposite directions, to meet somewhere in the middle, where each of them gains a little of the other’s strengths.

In this light, what you’ve descibed sounds like it makes perfect sense to me structurally:

->We start with six action-heavy chapters where the protagonist’s lack of introspection leads to foolish mistakes.

->We meet a new POV chaacter who is withdrawn, separated from her people, and has a lot of weight resting on her shoulders.

->Over time, as they interact, and over the course of the story, each one starts to learn from the other (I’m assuming here that they’ll be spending a decent amount of time interacting), and at the end each of them has been able to take on some of the other’s positive traits in ways that help them with the problems they were having earlier.

Now, leaving it six chapters to introduce your second POV character may or may not be too long, but it depends entirely on how long the book is and what kind of story it is. If it’s a big fat fantasy or scifi brick, then six chapters is nothing! If it’s a pacy little 80k contemporary novel, then six chapters might be pushing it, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

I think that your idea of having the female MC’s chapters be sporadic at first and then become more frequent as the book progresses can be a very effective way of showing the development of both characters. You haven’t mentioned whether you’ve outlined your story in any detail, so if you haven’t, I would suggest doing a proper outline so that you can see exactly what information needs to be included where, and you can organise your chapters so that eveything flows toward the outcome you want.

Issue the fourth: Chapter six is anaemic

I have to ask, but is it really? Or is it just that you’re overly familiar with this chapter, and you’re comparing it unfavourably to the more action packed chapters?

You’ve got a lot going on here, meetings with advisors, a big decision regarding the smaller faction, the female MC’s internal conflict, etc. there’s a lot going on here, and you can slow down and take your time with it, as I said earlier, it might be helpful for you to think of, for example, the discussion with the advisors as an action sequence.

There are a number of people around a table, each of them has their own agenda, each of them has their own secrets, and personal desires, as well as various conflicts and relationships with the other people at that table. They have to engage in conversation to try and get as much of their own agenda fulfilled, while trying to sabotage their rivals and enemies goals. All of this through words. Of course, there might be some physical intimidation, or raised voices, etc, but the main arena is the arena of ideas.

Now, as to the conundrum with whether or not the reader, and/ or the male MC should find out about what the female MC’s decided to do, it isn’t at all unreasonable to let that question go unanswered in the sixth chapter. As I said in the paragraph above, there’s going to be all kinds of undercurrents and political interplay among the advisors, and it would be totally understandable for the female MC to leave the meeting with ‘I’m going to think about it, I’ll let you all know my decision tomorrow,” or whatever she would say—especially if her actual decision is something like “I need to wait and see what they’re like before I make a decision”. In her position, keeping her decision to herself until she knows for sure who and what she's dealing with is smart, and it's a power move. Everyone else is waiting on her decision!

And following from that, I would gently suggest that the strongest tension in the following chapter comes not from the male MC getting a solid answer, but from him having to sit with not having an answer yet. This would be another chance for him to practice introspection, or alternatively, for him to do something impulsive and foolish, which provides another example to him of why a little more intospection might be helpful for him.

Don’t feel like you need to provide answers for everything right away, you can let the reader sit with the tension, and even explore possibilities before locking things down.

You’ve said that it’s “clear to him that she is not heartless enough to kick them to the curb with no help to survive” but that’s a total gamble! It is extremely reckless to base his, and his faction’s success or survival on the belief that the leader of another faction is soft hearted enough to help them, without a clear way that this would be helpful for the bigger faction!

To say again: I don’t think you realise quite how much there is going on in Chapter Six!!

You have descibed a lot of complicated moving parts, here, and I think that mapping out the politics and the interpersonal conflicts among this cast of characters (advisors, faction members, etc) so that you can draw upon and refer to that web of interactions is going to help bring this chapter to life for you.

Some reading suggestions:

I think it would be worthwhile for you to try reading some fiction that has a combination of high and low action sequences, where each is as heavily weighted with importance and plot relevance as the other. Some of these are more difficult reads than others, and I know you’ve said that English is your second language, but you seem to write pretty well, so I think you should be able to handle these.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

This is a scifi novella about exploring alien planets, where most of the action is very peaceful, rather than conflict-based, but it is pretty exciting, wandering through vast cosmic distances, and going to hugely diverse alien worlds. It is also a profoundly quiet, and introspective novella about human nature and the passage of time.

Dune by Frank Herbert

This is a scifi classic for a reason! This book has plenty of fights and action sequences, but it is also a book which very literally turns internal thoughts and conversations into action sequences. The human conflicts are also placed against a backdrop of ecological writing which contextualises all of the action.

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Another classic, this one doesn’t make use of a whole lot of internal thoughts, but it does do a lot of landscape mood setting. Vast stetches of descriptions of fields and trees and forests, interrupted now and then by a life-and-death flight from a wraith. Once you get into the right frame of mind, the rhythm of the descriptions and the action really bring the ‘epic’ into Epic Fantasy

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

This is a Space Opera which has its fair share of assasination attempts, and chases, but the most part of the book is concerned with linguistics, and politics, and that does not make it any less tense to read.

In summary:

I understand that you’re not feeling confident about your story, and the decisions you’ve made about it. But to me it sounds like you’ve got some perfectly good ideas, and you’re just a bit uncertain about how to execute them. That’s ok!

The thing is, that if you write a first draft, and the stuff that you’re trying to do doesn’t work out, nothing bad happens! I promise!

In fact, something great happens: You then have a whole first draft to start fixing!

It can be difficult, when you’re only partway through a story, to see how what you’ve written is going to fit in with the rest of the story. What you have right now feels huge! It’s everything of the book that exists so far! It really overpowers the rest of the book (which hasn’t been written yet)

Of course it does. But when you’ve written the rest of the book and the stuff you have so far is put into context, everything will feel a lot more balanced. And if it doesn’t? That’s what editing is for!

Make sure that you’ve got a decent working outline to refer back to, and just write the story!

You can do it!

--Mason

[joelletwo]

(second post) extensively noted im RLY unclear on a lot of endgame gintama. i am disabled and it makes me a bad reader and im irritable abt it and i dont really want anyone to explain things to me on this Specific post lol. im just thinking things thru to myself.

hard to hold a lot of sugi's gayass trauma mental processes in my head all at once. the elisions between destroying the world [math symbol] destroying gintoki who stands in the way of that as a universal constant [math symbol] destroying the political foundations of the country from the inside using connections with the same forces (this guy does NOT understand the larger background plots of gintama and isnt sure if this is correct ->) that in part got his teacher killed and set this whole thing off* [math symbol] destroying himself.

(*side note i think there was a real missed opportunity to bookend all of sugi's political maneuvering which was treated by the plot as. SIGNIFICANT. and extensive. and effective. and one step ahead of all the chars we see pre-utsuro reveals. by revisiting it after the utsuro reveals and coming down on his schemes as either ultimately fruitless and really just getting him in over his head bc he didnt understand the real forces at play OR still effective bc sorachi wanted to retroactively say he and katsura understood all the shadowy background shenanigans. but zura kind of takes over the role of political maneuverer. but worse and stupider.)

(not a WHOLE lot under the cut its just getting unwieldy as a post.)

like if he just wants to kill himself why does he have to take the world down with him (katsura planning a beautiful death seppuku line). if he's doing this out of love for gintoki (canon fact.) why does gintoki need to be broken.

but if i stop trying to untangle what materially he means by all of that then i can understand sugi's actions post-execution as kind of in parallel with my understanding of oboro and utsuro's, which is to say, they are acting on behalf of what they think are universal laws of nature both because they believe in them and also to push the world to the breaking point to test their immutability and prove their fatalistic worldviews right or wrong. [with gintoki as the main tool to do so.]

sugi's inability to reconcile gintoki's decision to save them over sensei bc he cant understand how he'd possibly deserve it + resents gintoki for going against their understood mutual sensei as number one priority + grieves for gintoki having to bear that cross. um. turns into the desire to. destroy the world that made gintoki cry -> gintoki is an unshakeable barrier of protection in front of that world -> prove that the world sucks and isnt worth protecting by making it into sugi's own most pessimistic conceptions of it from childhood that shouyou had started to prove him wrong about -> push gintoki to a point where he will realize that he chose wrong and sugi was meant to die instead

and in parallel. avenge the death of the man who had shown him a better path in life -> throw away the life that man had sacrificed himself to protect -> um if i go down this path i just start rewriting reductionisms' proofs on seppuku and bushido again. waves hand. take the contradictory tragedy as laid out.

like utsuro trying the open mind+open heart gambit for one life and then immediately giving up. and oboro. well oboro is harder to unpack and summarize for me. but he serves utsuro's goals in service of his own goal of. proving rebellion like he and shouyou tried is futile? takes it upon himself to destroy shouyou's legacy to prove it's okay that shouyou-the-concept died. idk a lot of layers going on in oboro its not important to focus on here.

the. making a half-step of progress into a better world that you're having to pioneer and imagine into existence. and then, when u fail under the world's pushback, deciding to undo all that progress with your own hands. and one guy says no, it's still possible, and im going to do it. and you're like. what if i made it as hard as possible so that if u succeed despite that u realize my dearest hopes with IRREFUTABLE proof so that i dont have to face how scary it is to try without knowing if its even possible.

WHIIIIIIIICH. i find all of that incredibly sexy on all of their parts. i enjoy it a lot i like it when humans act out of irrepressible existential fear bc fuck man. living is scary. thats basically the backbone of every gintama antagonist and gintoki [who carries on shouyou's desire to fight and win against his own nature, and thus is himself an antagonist].

whiiiiiiiiiiich. makes it so interesting that these three specifically. other than bansai lol. are the ONLY!!!!!! real casualties of the story conclusion. that gintoki DOES carry thru and realize all their hopes of the world for them by beating them as obstacles. AND they dont get to live and see the fruits of it. but im not prepared to unpack what that means narratively at this point in time.

[necroromantics]

Also gonna make things clear cuz I've just been listening to my gf and not engaging but seriously man this is insane.

I'm not a Nazi, in the full screenshots which they cropped out, I said I had another server with absolutely no rules (besides dont be a pedo), and I was saying that in that server, everything was allowed. You people need to understand that not being able to care about something does NOT mean you support it. Its not black or white

I have NEVER said anything or made jokes regarding rape/sa, that is actually one of the things (including pedophilia) that I am very morally against. I have not spent so much of my time helping my friends report their rapists, helping vulnerable people get out of extortion online, and being there for the people in my life who have experienced that just for some randos online to lie to people about me.

The most I have made is your mom jokes and necro jokes, which I personally don't consider morally wrong, and if they are, then I'll work on it, but I don't have the same understanding of things like that. I never learned where the line is like most people have, and thats why Im dedicated to learning it in adulthood

And do not make drug use a moral issue. My "morality" about drug use is completely nonexistent because I grew up in that. I have spent many years heavily involved with drugs, I know exactly what its like, and nothing about drugs is a moral issue.

And here again the same issue of straight up fucking ableism bro. Don't try to shame me for not having conventional morals when you know damn well I, and many other people, struggle with conditions that impact that (ASPD). Hearing about the ableism towards people like me from these guys isn't surprising in the slightest

I'm not gonna say I didn't say those things, cuz like I said, I said those things, I made those jokes, and I've said worse. The difference now is that those things were said more than a year ago. It's insane how you act high and mighty and then judge me on things I said that long ago to friends who made the same jokes and encouraged that kind of behaviour (none of which I talk to anymore, for the exact reason that they encouraged my bad behaviour).

I said what I said, I know it was wrong, I take full accountability. I have spent my time since doing my best to be more than that. I have spent a lot of my time trying to adjust to moral and social norms, even when it gets really difficult and I have to deal with people like this who wont give me space to grow and change for the better.

I have amazing friends and mutuals and people in my life who support me because they know how hard I try. My girlfriend even is a fucking hardass and would NOT have put up with any of my shit if she didn't see how hard I try. I've spent a lot of time with people who are like how I was, people who have done and said much worse things than me, and I understand how uncomfortable and jarring it is. Thats exactly why I'm so passionate about being more than that. And thats why this situation bothers me so much.

You all talk about me and how I mention my disorder as if you're not just shitting on stuff that is directly tied into having ASPD. And to hear that you have a history of that stuff? Im not crazy to say theres a lot of ableism going on here. I will always be open and honest about the person I have been, but I want it to be used as a reference point for how much I've grown and changed since then.

I will always be an advocate for people like me. I will always give support and speak out for those who struggle with being treated like a bad person because of the things they say, not because of who they are. (And if you know anything about people, you know theres a huge difference)

You guys have been on me for MONTHS way after I blocked and went on with my life. In those months you've spent doing nothing but nitpicking everything single thing Ive ever done and constantly spreading negativity, I have been working on myself, and I hope that somewhere along the line, you guys have or will too

But anyways, I needed to get this out. I hope that this blows over and I can continue working on living a life full of joy and love and keeping the good people in my life. And despite everything, I hope that for all of you guys as well, I hope that you can find peace and some happiness where it counts

[gyroncraft]

🏰Build Process & Guide💁‍♂️

I'm making this in-depth post about my process, @lordoftablecloths asked how i planned the build and ill make this a separate post for all interested, this might be pretty long so it'll be under the cut, i'll add pictures where i can to help explain :3 will contain mostly explanations why i did what i did with a few technical tips mixed in.

I • Introduction & Inspiration

I'm going to try and structure this like a guide from the bottom up on how i made my castle build. let it be known that the order I've presented here isn't the exact order i built it in, and you don't have to follow exactly either, I'm choosing an order that i hope makes the most sense. whether you're planning a castle in creative or survival i hope this is useful. as for what inspired the look of the castle, its hard to pin down anything exactly, i love the look of places like Neuschwanstein Castle and Mont-Saint-Michel to give some basic examples, i recommend looking around Wikipedia (and the rest of the internet) for examples of existing churches castles fortresses etc around the world to draw from, sometimes you can even find floor plans and architectural drawings etc on google images

I HIGHLY recommend you build with XYZ coordinates enabled! even in survival it can help with your builds, it can be enabled in the settings on world creation or by using the command:

/gamerule showcoordinates true

II • Picking a Build Location

I started a new world with normal settings creative mode and cheats (i also use world-edit but won't be going over that in this post as i barely understand it myself lol) basically just fly around your world until you see some interesting looking geography, a certain biome, anything that brings you some inspiration

this castle mount i found is isolated by itself in a small valley between two large ridges and a river, thus i thought a castle would be the perfect thing to build here, there's plenty of room for a town as well

III • Terraforming & Laying Foundations

when starting a foundation on a hill/slope i try and find a good flat area to start clearing, you can shave off a few layers to get a level starting area, what to then do to get a terraced look is simply stand on your top level, sneak to the edge, and while keeping your Y level look straight down and fill outwards as far as you can reach, this will make 4 block high walls; exact heights are always up to you, treat every number like a suggestion and build what YOU think looks good! the number of tiers is also your choice, multiple is nice if you want multilevel walkways implemented into any steep area you want to be more accessible.

and dont forget to extend your build material all the way into the ground!

IV • Central Core & Courtyard

I think the very first thing i put on the mountain was the circle which would eventually be the main tower, acting as a main core for the building containing the main starway and a throne room at the top. I'd suggest having multiple intersecting shapes for your base, as you can build each of those shapes up in and out in separate ways the higher you go, which is pretty much the philosophy i had for this build, just remember to account for multiple stairways if you separate those shapes higher up.

i figured there should be some sort of tiered system of courtyards and walls since the hill has a natural gentle(ish) slope on the west. if you have the space for it i recommend filling in some green spaces for your castle residents, don't be afraid to have a steep cutoff like in the above image, you can put a castle wall or structure there later. for me, i wanted it to feel like a hike up to the castle through a winding path of gates, stairs, courtyards, and green areas

The hall with the rainbow windows was the first enclosed room i built, essentially a chunk of the floorplan reserved for a kind of reception space/grand entrance, once you've got a basic foundation down a small building like this can help you get a grasp of what kind of style/materials the rest of the castle will have. this is where i decided the castle would consist of stone brick foundations, smooth stone walls, a band of bricks on each floor; this can be super helpful while building inside and outside, i also like how it looks.

V • Main Building Facade

since i didn't want this entire build to be a blob of stone bricks i decided to add a decorative facade on the outside of the main keep, the idea is to have more blackstone near the top, to emphasize that the upper parts contain more important... stuff :P

these are built more or less outside of the main stone walls (except for some window protrusions) this means the interior rooms won't have to have one weird wall of blackstone, as i wanted the inside of the castle to have relatively plain smooth stone rooms

VI • "Defensive" Walls & Extra Foundations

castles need some sort of protection against people wandering in, right? the placement of these outer walls was kinda random, i just tried to enclose some courtyard spaces without going out too far to keep the walls a reasonable height

the way most of the outer walls were built was i started with a one block wide guide, making sure i didnt cut off any diagonals so that when built up there would be a small but navigable corridor within them (see below) this way people/guards etc. can move about the lower areas of the castle complex without being seen. I tried to keep most of the walls like this 3 blocks wide with a step out to 5 blocks at the top to account for a 3x path with walls/battlements on both sides

i also added towers at junctions to sort of act like small hubs (useful for stairways, ladders, guard barracks, defensive supplies and buildings etc.

VII • Other Structures

a castle build can be more than just a keep and some walls, some supporting structures are:

the windmill(s), if the people here are growing grain they must have somewhere to mill it, right? of course all you need to actually do that is a crafting table, stuff like this also won't move (unless you use a mod like technic, but bedrock users are SOL for mods like that afaik) but i like to add elements of realism into my builds, suspend your disbelief!

the "library", originally this was going to be a sparring arena, then a temple, then a library, but as of now there's a much better stocked library in the central keep, i'm trying to think of what to turn this into,

the alchemist's tower, a detached tower containing a brewing lab along with a nether portal and some ingredient storage. only accessible via a small bridge, if i ever expand the dungeons or construct a sewer system i'll consider connecting it through a new stairway in here 🤫

VIII • Farms & Irrigation

this is the first field of crops i built for the castle (intended to be private and for the castle only), very simple with some covered water troughs for irrigation, i didn't plan the stepped farms until much later so this will probably get changed without completely redoing it, maybe turned into a greenhouse with farmed flowers

the newer farms cover much more area and have more variety, as well as a more organic looking irrigation system, these might be extended even further at some point to be a food source for the whole area.

there are small channels of waterlogged stair blocks i've kinda snaked through the farmland to make quarter block wide water channels, my idea is that this castle sits on a (possibly mystical) spring which feeds the fresh water needs of the castle complex and town (aqueducts may appear in the future)

IX • Outer Wall Details

since having nothing but flat walls isnt very interesting, i'll show some ways to give them more... visual texture? interest? either way.

you can really just stick a layer of arches or even simple columns over a flat wall and itll look 10x better

i recommend stair and wall blocks mainly for this, if you're building in wood you can use trap doors to add just a little more to an arch

X • Floor Appearance & Hierarchy

one of the most important things to decide when i start a build is what floor height i want to have, i try to keep each floor in the castle the same height for consistency. below i have an example of six floors with different block heights

I always try to have each floor made of distinct layers (the stone brick band helps me remember where the floor block is supposed to be) the way i like to do it is as follows (top to bottom):

[1 Block] floor, solid block, this is the floor of the next level

[1-3 Blocks] ceiling, i like to use stairs and slabs so you dont see the bottom of the next floor up, but you can decide if you want that to show or not, using single lines of slabs can look like wood beams

[2-5 Blocks] walls and windows, the main section of the wall, solid

[1 Block] guide layer made of a different material, or just use the same throughout, this should be where your legs are

[1 Block] floor, solid block, you'll walk upon this

about the hierarchy, thats just relating to the fact that i didnt want (too many) glass windows in the dungeon sections of the castle, i wanted it to feel cold, grimy, and drafty ya know? so the lowest levels have a few iron barred windows as well as a bunch of slit windows made using stair blocks, there are also more and more windows the higher up you go. There are some windows that extend out each floor as well

XI • Interior Details

The lowest parts of the castle consist of stonebrick halls, storage rooms, connections to the outer wall corridors, and possibly forgotten paths to the depths... as stated earlier i try to have a floor material, and a wall+ceiling material

above: undercroft level, steel bar windows, stone brick, dingy

below: mid-level central keep (facing south) the windows here are glass, but still small, wood floors throughout, upper floors get the benefit of more natural light

pictured above is the central spiral staircase, it does take up quite a bit of the floorspace, but the wide and easy slope makes it easier to navigate so i think its worth it

the most fantastical details are currently in the ballroom, library, and throne room but im running out of picture slots so onto the next category

XII • Spires & Roofing

all of the roofing (aside from some detailing on the entrance hall) is mangrove wood, and i recommend choosing one roofing material to have throughout, though you'll see here that i'm using red nether brick walls, why? Well fence blocks don't connect to wall blocks, and iron rods won't connect to fence blocks (if this is bedrock only or something let me know..) i find it really useful to add these alternating stacks of those blocks to make quite sharp looking points along the ridges of the roof. i recommend trying out whatever different color palettes you can with the blocks we have in-game

the heights of the stacks also go up the higher (and thus farther away) you go, meaning the highest ridges will have 3 of each block stacked, like 3,3,3 and 2,2,2 instead of the 1,1,1 seen in the foreground above

XIII • :3

thank u for coming to my ted talk! i might update this post to add some clarity if i need to, hope you enjoyed it if you made it this far. I had fun writing it up, might do more posts like this in the future.

[1-up-chump]

-sees another blog make raiden out to be an idiot with feelings and gives me war flashbacks to "thor poptart" era, sighs and pulls out block button-

(Rant bellow)

Seriously folks, maybe its just me but why tf do these types always get this treatment? Eternal/otherworldly characters are treated as stupid puppies or stupid brick walls when it comes to mortals ESPECIALLY if they worked with the mortals for a long enough time to know how to socialize. As someone who has undiagnosed adhd (and possibly autism) its endlessly frustrating in a weird way to me. To perfectly understand emotions but not be so expressive or beholden by them in certain areas myself.

Its like people dont give a shit about character development or logic and try so hard to shove a character into a box type. Like making raiden to be the big oblivious authority type who doesn't know how to emotions (when he's so fucking old he knows better and hes CANONLY wise so stop projecting your emotionally constipated daddy issues onto him as some idiot old man whos only good quality is like, his dick or something)

It's irritating its like ffs just because NRS fucked him up doesn't mean you should continue to either. I beeeeeeggg of you PLEASE read up on his old portrayals in the games or the very least watch the older media of raiden. Preferably defenders of the realm (one season, you can blow through it easily) or the mk 95 movie (not just for raiden but for the best liu kang and shang tsung as well)

He is wise, BELIEVES IN HUMANITY and the right to free will even if the elder gods manipulate destiny to coerce mortals, loyal and fierce to protect his realm to the best of his abilities. And one thing about believing in "humanity" is that you're gonna pick up on the humor or the very least how to fucking socialize. Which raiden is absolutely capable of.

Raiden can be chill, he's just FUCKING STRESSED FROM MAKING SURE EARTHREALM DOESN'T GET RAWDOGGED BY SHAO KAHN OR ANYONE ELSE. You can't blame him for going insane when the mortal he kind of helped raised (liu kang, and idc its heavily implied raiden was involved with him more than a master but a father figure) not only died but more threats poured in (aka onaga or shinnok)

So yeah i apologize for going insane but i hope someone understands why this makes me feel so irritated