#I guess especially with where I am in the story I tend to group her together with Leonides

[nardos-primetime]

first thing that pops up on my for you page from your blog:

i am so lost from where this guy came from. is this an au? also i am extremely jealous of their hair, i want it for no good reason. lmfao sorry for the weird question/ask.

He's from a newer au I haven't talked about yet! Don't feel weird for asking at all!

The whole au is like. Heavily inspired by Cyberpunk 2077 (a guilty pleasure of mine), it could technically be a crossover au, I guess? I dunno, but I'm lazy/like to do stuff for fun, so certain aspects are obviously going to be changed. I'm not totally settled on designs, but I think I'm gonna keep most of the design aspects from this drawing for the "finalized" concepts.

The main plot centers on Casey Jr being put under the care of the turtles by "Mother" soon after having a whole (unwilling) relic insert situation in his brain, leading to former star Lou Jitsu to be revived within his mind!

The issue is that all of the turtles aren't really. The best father figures. None of them even want anything akin to a child, and even if Casey is 19, these guys are Mercs. Outside of their own clubbing and shows they do gigs for cash, including dangerous ones, ESPECIALLY dangerous ones. Having this new guy is like, a total roadblock, especially because Casey still, somehow, despite Night City's clutches and the last group he was pressured into before this, has some morals about him. The only reason they didn't kill him and stage an accident is because Mother promised them financial compensation for caring for him.

So he's stuck with four new "dads" who mostly all hate him or find him annoying, and Lou is not any different, he also finds him naive but he dislikes the turtles as well because he's a jaded old fuck (major hypocrite, too).

While the turtles are baseline all mercenaries, they share some traits between each other instead of leaving it to a "one guy only" job in most cases.

Donnie has the most technical skill, falling mostly under Techie and Net/Edgerunner, he adores tech after all, he also has illegally dabbles in being a ripperdoc, primarily for his brothers.

Mikey is actually the fallback for general medical issues, including those involving backfiring implants. He's only better at this because he's dabbled in researching (and using) tons of remedies, mainly for pain. He's the guy who's helped Donnie when working on inserting implants in the others. He's even stayed awake during his own surgeries to help Donnie during his fuck ups and implants.

Leo, while not extreme netrunner levels, does hold some hacking knowledge, just what he needs to make things a little easier with anything but combat most of the time, as combat is what he enjoys the most within jobs. He also tends to be the one to make their deals with Mother.

Raph is mainly muscle. Not to say he's simple, it's just his main role and main focus, having grown much more protective over the years, often acting as a bodyguard for the others during their own shows (hence he has the least involvement with any of their music). He's the least of the bad influences for Casey, at least directly.

They used to have another member of the group a few years ago, a media. Or a media wannabe, at least.

They normally have some reference to her, even if small, hidden within their shows.

This is all, of course, not tapping into their mystics, which are a bit different in this au as well with how they work. Lets just say Mother allows them special permissions when it comes to mystic usage.

...at least those are some of the basic ideas I've been throwing around in my head for the story, lol. I like to throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks to me. The whole thing is technically a wip still but so are 90% of my aus tbh lmao, this onrs just a lot more wippy because it's mainly a "for fun" au and I also haven't been able to play cyberpunk for myself to brush up on things outside of research and sometimes a man is just... not up for that, especially lately with my attention span, I hope to brush up a little more again sometime soon and maybe even delve into some aspects from the og ttrpg perhaps, I'm not sure yet, though, haha.

Oops long post, huh? My bad </3

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I (33, f) the asshole for bringing up a childhood story that made my cousin (36, f) uncomfortable in front of others?

Obviously based on the title alone, I'm an asshole, but I think I might be justified and would like a second opinion.... thanks!

So a little back story for context....I love my cousin. I truly do. We all grew up together so all of us are more like sisters than cousins. my cousin is beautiful, loud, and boisterous. She's loves to get attention and will try to get it anywhere she can. She posts on FB multiple times a day about her job, kids, or relationship. She's the golden child and she tries her hardest to live up to that reputation. She's the type of person who will get out of her car after a good song dancing and singing at the top of her lungs, especially if there are other people around to watch her, much to her kids dismay lol. She just knows how to have a good time and I honestly love that about her. I tend to be more reserved and relaxed, so I get a kick out of our differences.

But with that, she tends to be.... disingenuous... when someone steals the spot light from her, even when it's unintentional (which is the majority of the time, like they will just be sharing a story from work or something). She will act unbothered by it, but then her attitude will totally change. she will be fake nice and then bring up something that will make the person either embarrassed or want to retreat... then go right back to being content when the attention is back on her again. She does it so often, I kind of expect it to happen every time we hang out.

So here's the part where I may be the asshole... we're at a playzone for one of our other cousins kids' birthday and we're in a good handful sized group of adults chit chatting. A few people I've never met before but she knows them and we were all getting along just fine.

People tend to naturally be drawn to me because I try to be open and get along with most people, so I've been on the receiving end of my cousin's attitude a handful of times and this was one of those times lol. I'm typically not bothered by it because I'm a pretty confident person for the most part and I know my cousin well enough not to take it personally, but this time annoyed me because this is now the 5th time she's bringing this story up. It was like she didn't get the reaction out of me that she wanted the first 4 times, so now she really needed to land it this time. So I gave her a reaction....

A few minutes before I was sharing a story that the others were impressed by, I guess, but we moved on from it and I didn't think any more of it. Then while we were all talking, I believe I excused myself because I let out a small burp. So she goes, loudly so the group can hear, "do you remember when you were 6 and you were crying to your dad because your butt was itchy and you wanted him to scratch it? I don't know why, but your burp reminded me of that". So I'm like "ok? So?" Kids cry for stupid shit all the time and I was a stupid kid lmao. So I brushed it off but she decided to keep pushing it! And was like "yeah you were crying because you didn't want to scratch your ass and you sat there crying until it went away"

I was and still am unbothered by the story she brought up but I was more than a bit annoyed that she wouldnt let it go, so without much thinking I said "no I don't remember that as clearly as you do.... But I do remember my sister slapping the fuck out of you for saying something racist (we're half Asian) and out of pocket. Then you cried to your mama then she told your mom that you were lucky that all you got was a slap to the face... do you remember that?" She went ghost white, looked around the group and said "family is funny like that, huh?"

So am I the asshole for bringing up a story that made my cousin uncomfortable?

What are these acronyms?

[bleachbleachbleach]

Verisimilitude (long thoughts about writing)

Sometimes I get mailed random books to consider for course adoption. The first one I looked at the other day was so incredibly bad I could not make it past page 12--"oh my god I hate books" bad; "trees were wasted on this!!" bad. And then there's this one. I've made it to page 30-something and I could have told you 20 pages ago that Oliver Twist it would remain, but I am still reading it to read it, and maybe keep it to recommend extracurricularly. (The protagonist Alva is a weeb for American culture, whatever the word is for that, which I think could make for interesting study!) But that's all context to say,

AH YES THE INTERNET RABBIT HOLE OF NARUTO FAN FICTION, HENTAILORD. WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE.

SO...

BLEACH MENTION WHEN????

Based on the style of her screen name, the Naruto porn, and her listening to My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park, this girl is definitely living her teenage life in the mid-00s, in ways that are searingly obvious. Which feels like it should be a massive success in terms of using verisimilitude to pinpoint a particular time and place and, by extension, person. But I don't think it does?

In thinking about why this doesn't work for me as a reader:

1. As a general rule, I tend not to enjoy "fandom" subculture references like this in fiction, because they have never felt true to my experience of fandom, or even my experience of others' experiences of fandom. The specificity is there but not the verisimilitude. Whether this is because of an inability to articulate the breath of life that animates fandom spaces, or a feeling of needing to at least kind of translate it for the uninitiated general audience, I don't know. Not that Alva's narrative goes far enough to merit this discussion; she's just reading Naruto porn for one sentence, but it just doesn't land right for me. (Sidebar, this is probably also why I don't enjoy acafandom or fandom essays that aspire to acafandom; there's usually this attempted, manufactured critical/"objective" distance from the text that often feels performative, or at least the wrong [or less interesting] tool for the job. And even where 'in-group' positionality is addressed, the translation required to make these things legible to the out-group is just--well, not what I want in life, I guess!)

2. I am a great believer in drawing greatly from what you know and feel and all those random thoughts and behaviors and emotions and tics that make life interesting, and giving them to fiction. In fanfic especially, I am a great believer in seeing the author's hands in a text, making the story (and the original canon) unmistakably theirs. But I kind of always want them to be hands that are in the act of giving. By which I mean, I think there's a difference between all these things existing in a story and having been given to a character or a world or a story, and integrated genuinely into them.

Like, all I can think about while reading this book is how the author definitely lived through the mid-00s in a particular and very familiar way. Rather than create a richly immersive world, the details jump out of the page and leave the story behind. They don't feel like they belong to Alva (or perhaps Alva does not feel like a character with the depth to hold them and make them hers). They belong do the author, and to me, and to history, but Alva falls out of the equation. And if this is going to work, I feel like Alva can't fall out of the equation.

3. I was talking to a friend about something similar a few months ago. She was complaining about a historical fiction book she was reading with a book club she leads at the library she works at--how it was clearly very well-researched, but dry as hell. The information was not animated by the story itself. And I compared it to a fanfic I'd (not) read, where the author was very proud of all the research they'd done and how accurate-to-life its setting was. (To be clear, I'm not subtweeting Bleach fandom. Completely different fandom! Also this fanfic was published like 16 years ago.) The fic did bring in lots of specific details about trees and highways and city names--things I knew well, too, because it was set where my sister lives--but rather than be as exciting and, again, rich, as I feel like that familiarity could have been, it all felt dead. Because all these things were described specifically, but not true to how the narrating characters would describe them, or mentally catalogue them, or experience them.

And you might think, well, how would we possibly know how a character thinks about highways? It's not like he's explained this in canon. And I'd say, well, you definitely can. There are probably a lot of different ways a character could plausibly think about highways, depending on the specific shade and flavor of your characterization of them, all equally believable; but it's got to be part of the equation. There are a lot of ways to be right, and you know it when it's wrong. The wrong-est way it can be is for the way they think about highways to not factor into the way those dang highways are being described by them, in their POV.

4. I think about this both as a reader and as a writer--certainly more often as a writer, because I find that level of imagining a character's headspace the VERY best part of the process, and also because I am often concerned I am not doing it, or at least not well, lol. I'm positive I've done all the things I've just talked about not enjoying.

These concerns exist at the level of characterization work in general, but also at that level of, is the wizard behind the green curtain? Are his hands giving? Because while I do write fanfic because "it is fun" and because "this idea interests me," I am also usually writing it to work through deeply personal emotions/experiences. Which again, perhaps selfishly, I support that. But from a craft perspective I don't want it to feel, transparently, like "oh lol this author is going through it."

Moreover, from a relational perspective, I don't want that to be the relationship between me as author and the characters. Because one thing I am ALWAYS writing fanfic to do is to indulge my feelings about how much I am in complete, rapturous love with the characters and worlds in question. I don't want to just place things upon them, like a film or shroud; I want them to be given, integrated, arriving in the text wholly in their bodies and in their minds and entirely theirs. And I mean this for both the emotional arcs and conflicts and the random tics and details. I want them to have been given, and to belong, and to feel completely and inextricably theirs.

So, those are my thoughts about mid-00s Naruto porn!!!

I'd love to hear others' perspectives, as readers or writers or both. Have you had similar reactions, or quite different? Why do you write, and what do you want? What's your template for how you think about characterization, or your writerly relationship to canon/characters?

[lilbittymonster]

What important relationships changed or developed throughout Dawntrail?

:3c mostly snooping on their vacation but tbh there were other characters in Dawntrail who weren't Kitali and husbands so I GUESS if you want to talk about them hehehe

Well, the vacation has mostly just been the three of them (two once Estinien dips to head north) being Regular Guys. Most of their relationship mending happened during the 6.x patches when Estinien finally brought himself to return to Ishgard and to Borel manor specifically.

I think the most significant development there is Aymeric getting to see a new side of his wife that he only has so far heard about from her recounting. For the past several [UNITS OF TIME] he's been actually living the adventurer life with her and it's new and exciting and dangerous and refreshing for him. He hasn't seen this much sun in his entire life! This is great! He only got heat stroke twice!

As for non-husband NPCs, I think the biggest change would be between Kitali and Erenville. As the straight man of the group she would be gravitating towards him bc he tends to hang back and not get Involved(tm) in the proceedings as much as the twins and Krile are. She appreciates that he doesn't seem to be very impressed with her status as world hero and he is surprised at just how shrewd and pragmatic she can be when the situation calls for it. Congrats, Erenville, you have also fallen for the facade! The boat ride would have taken some time and I like to think they would have exchanged stories about adventuring and gleaning. They take you weird places and you get to see some cool stuff!

I was genuinely so excited when he offered (offered!! Initiated!!!) to travel with Kitali and Aymeric to Xak Tural. They were originally planning to go with Estinien, and the the kidnapping happened and so they decided to stay with the group as backup while Estinien went ahead. So they were glad to have a guide and someone who was. Well. An adultier adult sorry Krile to spend time with and to show them around.

Kitali was very concerned for him the entire Yyasulani/Heritage Found/Living Memory arc. She has her own baggage with family and mothers and neglect and the way that Iyaate spoke about his mother really did not do Cahciua any favours. Also the whole deadnaming thing absolutely did Not fly with her. She would have gotten in people's faces about it.

I'm still trying to sort out if she is a good person to try and offer him support in Living Memory. She has the fact that she won't offer platitudes like the rest of the group does going for her, but I don't think "hey your mom sounds like she kinda sucked, going off and leaving you like that" is exactly what Erenville needs to hear. On the other hand, Kitali also has "I lost a parent too early" to also offer so. Idk. She's very concerned for him especially when he goes off on his own for the third terminal shut down and then has his big blowout confrontation. He is in the soup. I hope she can be normal about all this.

In less tense developments, she is weaning the twins off of her support bit by bit by letting them handle the rites by themselves. Especially the Hanuhanu chain (which I am glad I did first) since that was where I felt the most redundant. Urqopacha left room to be a little more worldwise and lead by example. But Alisaie and Alphinaud have really come into their own since Endwalker so it's been nice letting them be confident in their own abilities as the story progresses and she is so so so so SOOO proud of them.

And you know what, even I was surprised at how chill Kitali was with G'raha being around. I wouldn't call their "relationship" important, they are Coworkers At Best, but they were actually really just mellow with each other the whole time. That entire canal town arc was probably meant to be for the shippers, and I can totally see how it could be construed as such, but I didn't feel any overt ~romance~ tones to it. It was two coworkers doing normal(?) Scion(?) business. So I think, while I am still holding out for a possible Y'shtola redemption arc, Kitali and G'raha have finally reached an understanding with each other.

Thanks so much for the ask @elizabethrobertajones this got very rambly.

22 Dawntrail Asks

[occatorcreator]

What are the planets relationship with there moons? And I guess also the four major dwarf planets with moons (Sorry Ceres)

Oohohoh I am eager to answer this one because the planet-moon relationships are one that are varied and complex depending on which part of the solar system you go to.

(and lol to Ceres. No worries, she can go with Merc and Venus in team 'no moons')

And there is a lot of planets and moons so I may need to break it down by groups:

Terrestrial Moons

We have 3 moons in among the terrestrial planets.

There is of course Earth & the Moon, who is called Luna in DPS. Luna and Earth have a strong friendship, practically siblings in nature. They like hanging out together, supporting each other, and are just a cute family. Earth and the Terrestrials treat Luna as a fellow planet, which comes into conflict with other moon systems and the Gas Giants who view Luna as "Earth's underling."

Then there's Phobos and Deimos, small rubble pile asteroids, and Mars. Here's the kicker with these three: Mars did not know she had any moons for the longest time! Because of their small size, Phobos and Deimos hid from Mars, hanging around because they like mooching off of Mars's stuff without her knowledge. Mars only found out about these two when Ceres became a planet the first time and caught her talking with them.

After that, it's just been awkward with Mars trying to initiating some relationship and ground rules and Phobos and Deimos wanting nothing to do with Mars still. It will take some time before either party find some common ground.

Jovian and Saturnian Moons

The Gas Giants have a different story due to having so many moons. They basically become their own mini systems with a hierarchy where large moons are high ranking and smaller moons are under them. I'm lumping Saturn and Jupiter together because they have similar attitudes towards their moons and vise versa.

Both Saturn and Jupiter have high expectations of them and sometimes patronize them. They see their moons are extensions of their images, so they care that they act accordingly so not to tarnish that image, and they expect them to do tasks for them. As a result, they tend to favor and interact with their larger moons. They entrust important tasks to the larger moons and have those moons keep their smaller moons in check.

Now because the Jovian and Saturnian systems have high expectations from patronizing giants, there is a lot of stress on these moons. The Galilean Moons have mixed feelings towards Jupiter, at times admiring him, other times resenting him, but ultimately loyal to him despite their misgivings. And Saturn's moons are outright terrified of disappointing her, especially after a moon of hers was… exiled.

So to summarize, it's best to see Jupiter/Saturn and their moons akin to the relationship between a Manager and their employees.

Bonus fact: Jovian moons' wear neck-wear (i.e. ties, chokers, necklaces, etc) while Saturnian moons' wear hair pins

Uranian and Neptunian Moons

The Ice Giants are more lax with their moons compared to Jupiter and Saturn and there isn't a strict hierarchy among the moons. However, their group of moons are more isolated from the greater systems and encourage in-group mentalities.

Uranus's moons are basically a giant theater troupe that are constantly practicing for their plays. In fact, they all wear acting masks. All the time! And Uranus is incredibly encouraging of his moons' theatrics and will defend them against any detractors. His moons, in turn, honor Uranus with their performance.

While Uranus and his moons are as close to positive for a gas giant and their moons can be, Neptune has the worst relationship with his moons. Mainly because, unlike the other giants, Neptune tries to act like he's a "father" of his moons. He's infantalizing, is inconsistent in his treatment, and wants to "take care" of his moons. That desire to have someone to care for leads to him capturing Triton early on.

His moons don't like how Neptune humiliates them, but they feel like there isn't much they can do to change the situation. Any attempts to leave or convince Neptune to change lead to Neptune becoming more clingy. These moons wear bandages they don't need.

Asteroid and Kuiper Belt

Finally, for any asteroids or KBO with moons are varied from group to group, but the object and their moon in question tend to see each other as equal and free agents. Sometimes both, like with Pluto and Charon, see each other as a binary planet system and not as moons at all.

These relationships range from familial, to just fellow roommates, to romantic so I'll quickly end off with the four dwarf planets:

Pluto & Charon are romantic, while Nyx, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx are fellow roommates, they get along well with Pluto and Charon.

Makemake sees her moons as family, they're close and mutually protective of one another.

Haumea and their moons are roommates and Haumea's moons do their own thing for the most part.

Eris and Dysnomia are incredibly close friends. Gal pals :)

Aaaaand that's it! I hope you didn't mind my long diatribe. But I could not tl:dr the moon relationships because they vary so so much.

[1d1195]

Yeah Covid really changed EVERYTHING! It was a wild time being a student during this but it was also really hard for teachers to adapt to a whole new dynamic so abruptly on top of the shit show that was the world ya know! And I’m so sorry that 21-22 was really hard for you :( but I’m glad that you’re at least okay now! No one can blame you!

And I am having a nice break/holiday, thank you so much bestie! ESPECIALLY AFTER YOU DROPPED THAT CHRISTMAS THEMED NEIGHBORS EXTRA!!!! Dilf Harry during Christmas is SUCH vibe😌

But seriously my heart was so happy to read about their little family again! I just love them so much!! Rory is SO CUTE😭 then he goes on saying how his mom asked Santa to not bring her gifts so he could have some more😭😭😭 DID YOU WANT TO KILL ME SAM!?! And like his innocence just makes it hurt so much! That was so sad omg :( but like I get it though bc she was raising a kid by herself and of course she would give up anything for Rory! I WOULD TOO!!! And then that part where he was waiting for Santa to come to ask him to bring presents for her😭 SAM THAT WAS SO CUTE😭 sometimes I feel like Rory tends to steal my attention away from Harry just because he’s so adorable lol

Ahhh I found this extra to be so sweet! I really do love that she has found someone like Harry who is slowly helping her become more open of the idea of letting someone take care of HER and enjoying doing stuff for herself! So so so sweet!! I enjoyed this so much and it was such a lovely surprise!!! Hope your holiday is just as special!-💜

That group was feral. I told everyone. I still think they are. I greatly worry about social skills. And life skills. I don't know if we as a society were prepared for such setbacks. We should have done something about it as a whole. But the world keeps turning kind of thing, I guess.

I didn't mean to kill you I swear! 😭 I've seen so many TikToks about how the mom doesn't get a stocking or how Santa doesn't get her presents. It was compounded by my bf telling me a story about when he worked in retail. There was a dad who went to the store to get his wife presents with his four kids on CHRISTMAS EVE and couldn't find what he wanted. I've never been so upset in my whole life. I found his story so traumatizing! Like Christmas is the SAME DAY every single year HOW COME YOU'RE NOT GOING EARLIER!? I got so mad at my bf like HE was the one that did it. Like what is the point of waiting?! I thought about it a lot and thought about how Rory and Harry would NEVER let that happen to our sweet MC.

I'm glad it was a nice surprise, though and you enjoyed it! They're so easy to write about...they're so so cute in my humble opinion 😊 I hope you have a nice, relaxing, special holiday as well! 💕

xoxo

[codenamesailordarillium]

Oh, both mentions are terrible. So bad they might as well have ignored her like they did Martha (justice for Martha). 13 telling Yaz (YAZ) that she likes her even better than her wife, 15 grouping River in with Adric (ADRIC) as ‘people we’ve lost’ rather than with Sarah Jane and Rose as ‘people we’ve loved’. On balance, 13´s mention might be very very slightly better? At least it highlights the nature of that relationship. 15 might as well have said ‘Professor River Song, archaeologist, Luna University’ for all the personalisation in that mention lol.

Oh trust me, I am very much in agreement about both, my friend.

I was gonna hold off until actually watching the sea devils ep, but honestly might as well say it here that errything I've seen so far of the 13&Yaz "romance" seems to have been heavily shoehorned into Flux & the rest of 13's specials. Specifically, mentioning "her wife" seems to me kind of a half-assed shorthand of trying to make it seem like 13 reciprocates whatever feelings Yaz suddenly has for her without actually putting in the work to actually show it. Basically it's like: ooh yeah, Doctor have wife, Doctor love wife, we mention wife for purpose of showing Doctor love this person too! Which, while obviously heavily colored by the embittered shipper goggles I wear, still objectively isn't the most impactful way to communicate romantic feelings. If anything, the impression I had when I first saw gifsets of the infamous "even my wife" line read more as 13 awkwardly trying to let Yaz down easy seems like it'll probably hold.

And I mainly say it seems shoved into Flux because my honest impression of 13 & Yaz's interactions in the prior two seasons to overall not be much materially different than those 13 has with Graham or Ryan. Other than the scene in the Mary Shelley ep where she's talking to the girl involved with Byron and mentions that her "special person" is kinda different, there's nothing there that would've explicitly made me think Yaz had feelings for the Doctor (tho I'm sure some would strongly argue for her screaming at the end of Spyfall p.1 when Dhavvan!Master yeets 13 out of the plane).

As for 15, yeah, unfortunately Ncuti's delivery of the way he says her name does come off rather detached and so I'm struggling a bit with it. I'll be honest, I don't love all the promo that seems to be hinting that 15 could potentially end up having something going on with Ruby. Don't have a ton of hope there, honestly kinda worried Rusty's probably gonna recycle his "Penny" concept of the companion that was originally supposed to come after Martha that 10 was supposed to fall head over heels for.

Honestly, it's been a bit of a frustrating time as a River & Doctor/River fan. I'm not out here looking to hate on Chib or I guess Rusty at this point for no reason, but the continued erasure of River's character is demoralizing as time goes on. Especially when sentiment in overall DW fandom in the past seemed to have been that we should just get over her because her story was "done". DW tends to be a veritable parade of previous characters making their glorious returns all the time, yet for some reason wanting River back in that capacity is unacceptable, even tho technically speaking that was the whole intent of her character originally, knowing the Doctor throughout all their past & future faces.

I think I'm just rambling at this point, but there are a lot of repressed feelings regarding all this that I haven't deigned to express in the past because I try my best not to dwell on fandom shit that I know will inevitably upset me. I guess I've hit something of a breaking point, so sorry for using your ask as a jumping off point to let off this particular steaming kettle anon.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Okay I AM GOING TO GO INTO MORE DETAIL because this has eaten a significant portion of my brain.

Keep in mind this is the kind of silly low-rent theory that doesn't matter, obviously. It's not important or anything, if true it would just be an interesting world detail.

If you had to guess Typhon's race from just her E2 art alone, you probably would eventually come to the conclusion that she is likely to be some kind of Pythia, especially if you're already familiar with the legend of Typhon. A fairly reasonable guess would be some kind of race such as the K'uk'ulkan, a Pythia Elder race. But she's not, she's a Sarkaz. We know she had two Sarkaz parents.

But she doesn't have any of the traits that we'd notice from any of the other Sarkaz races. The horns she has are ornaments, and part of a head piece, and while Sarkaz without horns do exist, she is pretty clearly not a Vampire and isn't likely to be a Lich either. Typhon as an eponymous race also runs into something very weird: theming.

Typhon, as a race, would fit into the theming of Elders, but is a weird fit for the theming of Sarkaz. Typhon is Greek in origin, which is a distinct rarity among the Sarkaz, but would fit right at home amongst the Elders, especially because of Cerberus, who mythologically is Typhon's son. The Cyclops themselves are also an interesting little enigma but that's for a different time.

Which brings us to Typhon's mythos. There's not a lot information about Typhon's parenting, but the most notable one is found in the Theogeny, where Typhon is the son of Gaia and Tartarus. An offspring of the Earth, and what is essentially an abyssal underworld.

There's nothing as of yet in the story to suggest this could be a potential side effect of exposure to Collapsal contamination, but we do know that Typhon was very heavily contaminated from Valarqvin's operator files, and from Typhon's own files we know that she suffered some brain damage as a result. We also have evidence that this can happen from the very beginning of the game in Ifrit, which is under different causes (especially given recent implications in Chapters 12 and 13 that Originium can alter DNA).

It wouldn't be out of the question for the reality warping Collapsals though. That a native inhabitant of Terra, exposed to the contamination of the Collapsal Abyss, became "Typhon".

Of course, let's be real, this has like 25-75 odds of actually being true, I readily admit that. The fact that Sarkaz races tend to be overwhelmingly antagonistic actually is something that would support Typhon's presence there. In addition, this doesn't really matter. Typhon is still a Sarkaz even if she's no longer a "Sarkaz" biologically. The Sarkaz themselves are a cultural grouping of a bunch of disparate races, and Typhon's change in situation isn't going to make a meaningful difference.

But its fun to think about.

I love Typhon a lot have we talked about my "Typhon is no longer a Sarkaz" theory yet

[alistonjdrake]

Part Eight: The Charitable

*Perhaps not the “first” but was the first spouse of any of the infamous ten children of King Frederick and certainly left her mark on the family. 

Lady Liliana ana’Ignacio Varona Born: Year 1748 after the fall of the Saints Parents: Lord Ignacio an’Lucho Varona and Lady Rosario ana’Max Murillo Spouse: Prince Cidro an’Frederick Harver

Much like Arturo, not much is known about Liliana’s upbringing. She was born in Nava, right before it’s reunion with Escan, in her father’s estate in Varon. She lived by the sea, surrounded by fields and grassy beaches instead of a city. As her father had sided with the victors, they had their titles changed and had some dues owed to their new king, but they did not lose things completely (and some of it could be owed to Lady Rosario having some de Flores relatives, making them in part distant cousins to the Harvers in their own right). 

We can assume she had a childhood befitting of any noble woman under the reign of King Frederick. She would have been educated in music and literature, and the adult Liliana could play three instruments. She would have been taught manners and etiquette, she would be raised to wear the new garments King Frederick introduced. She might have had companions, she might have been the type of girl to run barefoot through her estate’s gardens. This is not known for sure because as an adult, Liliana was astutely serious and never spoke much about her childhood.

Liliana truly first became known during her tenure as Princess Consort and wife to Prince Cidro, Crown Prince of the Escana Empire. It would remiss not to start there.

Liliana came to Graza in 1768 when she was twenty years old as a potential lady-in-waiting for either Princess Zurina or Queen Luca. She must have fit all the requirements so we can also claim that Liliana spoke Escan with the Grazan flare instead of the Navanese dialect, that she would have been beautiful and had kind manners, and (most importantly) was single.

It makes sense that a lady for the single Princess Zurina would also be single, but there was some rumors that King Frederick liked his queens to have single ladies-in-waiting for when he needed a companion during their months of confinement during pregnancy (although there’s been no express proof of this and frankly, King Frederick did not need to go to extremes to find someone to keep him company).

The most likely cause of this was likely to tempt more singles to Graza. The culture of the court was changing, turning younger as King Frederick’s children were getting older and entering public life. Notably, Prince Cidro was said to be a wild romantic not unlike his father although he never reached his name level of scandalous infamy. The younger brother, Prince Leonides, was also becoming famous both for his accomplishments and the council and general aloof nature. Liliana was not the only daughter sent in hordes for the first time as an attempt to woo the princes instead of the aging king. 

There are rumors that Liliana was first intended for Prince Leonides. The only evidence to suggest this being perhaps because King Frederick had never picked a candidate from Nava himself, they thought they’d be overlooked for his heir and it was perhaps more alluring to her parents to aim for the person who wasn’t famous for showering a new woman in romantic gifts every other month. 

However, those close to Prince Cidro said he nearly fainted the moment he saw Liliana. They had many differences. Prince Cidro was most known for his charming and friendly manners. A people pleaser, polite and almost ignorantly kind. Short in stature with humorously boyish looks. Liliana was the opposite of him in both appearance and personality. She was always more reserved with a rarely changing expression. And she was a head taller than him. 

Prince Cidro courted her for some several months. In letters Liliana sent back home, she would confess to being put off by his shortness and lack of serious attitude. She thought him foolish and claimed she could not bear to have a husband who make her feel like a mother. 

However, letters uncovered between the two of them tell a different story. There was a slow growth of mutual respect and admiration. Prince Cidro often addressed her in letters as, “my captor” or “my warden” suggesting that he felt entirely captivated and enthralled by her. The two did marry for love and by their choice in 1770 when they were twenty-two. 

The capital celebrated although not as loudly as they wanted (Queen Luca died not long after and mourning soured the usual long period of Escana partying after a wedding) but the people of the empire still rejoiced in delight for their new Princess Consort. 

Liliana might have never taken to the culture of the court, but she truly admired Graza and took up efforts to continue to ensure the city had clean water, well maintained streets, and used the influence she gained through marriage to fund the hygiene committee and also put more money into the hands of local charities. There was a lull after Queen Luca’s death where King Frederick did not immediately remarry for once and in the eyes of the people, Liliana took up this space.

She made a point to donate the things she wasn’t using, making a display to encourage courtiers to stop minding their own luxuries and to care about the people who lived in the city below the palace. She donated her clothes, her food. sheets and pillows. Some of which would be auctioned off at high prices and the money used to open schools or went towards building.

It should also be said, despite her Navanese background, Liliana was very Santivian which also made her, and by extension Prince Cidro, appeal favorably to the Justice and the holy capital. Liliana personally funded four convents and occasionally visited to sit and pray with the nuns.

When King Frederick married Queen Cordinia in 1773 she was immediately criticized for not being as charitable and caring as the empire’s Princess Consort, as well as mocked for being younger than her new daughter-in-law and stepson. In some cartoons that circulated Graza, Queen Cordinia was portrayed as a screaming baby while Liliana was always the “mature, kind, older sister” (the cartoons never named the characters but it was always pretty clear). 

Liliana and Prince Cidro also traveled frequently. Although they very rarely left the territories under the Escana Empire, they made a point of going on yearly tours. Even in Graza, Liliana made a point to spend time in the city and away from the palace. Wherever she went, the common people clamored to see her.  Liliana was never popular among courtiers, much she made her power in being a sort of beacon to the people they ruled. 

This makes her nearly the perfect contrast to Prince Leonides, who was feared by courtiers, loved by the council, and treated as folklore by the common people. They would butt heads often. Most owe this to how Prince Cidro treated them. Prince Leonides had already taken a position similar to Prince Sebastian’s both for his father and Prince Cidro himself, and Liliana’s influence over Prince Cidro not unlike Lady Helena’s over King Frederick. Some feared the two would fight over their spots beside the future king. Not to say that Prince Cidro was wholly uncapable, but he never stopped their rivalry either. 

What is also unique is how truly loving the marriage between Prince Cidro and Liliana was. The people were used to watching the trials of King Frederick’s relationships and how quickly he jumped from one bed to another, whereas Prince Cidro was almost cloyingly dedicated in his affection and faithfulness towards his wife. It served as a perfect added tag to the growing story of the lusty Escana man that was created by King Frederick and quickly spread outside the empire. That now it was possible to tame one of them.

While Liliana was loved, there was also some sour gossip waiting in the wings. Obviously, many at court did not shy away from voicing their negative opinions about her especially when she made no move to accommodate them or be the sort of social “queen” they were used to. She also did not have any children. At the time they married, the Escana were used to the announcement of pregnancies coming almost too fast but Prince Cidro and Liliana seemed in no hurry. 

King Frederick did not hide his worry at this. He was especially children-focused if only because he’d witnessed firsthand what not having an heir did to Oskya and the Ponsonbys, as well as lived among the fearful and vicious stories of baby killing and bloody fights for the throne. He did not want his children and descendants to have a similar problem. He pulled Liliana aside more than once to talk to her about this to which she would kiss his hand and say, “My Lord Father, please have patience,” and then she and Prince Cidro would be off on another trip. 

Liliana always kept herself composed and kept herself away from the rest of the Harver siblings. She did not pay attention to their dramas and did not mind court gossip either. She cultivated a close circle of ladies-in-waiting and went everywhere with an air of maturity and grace that was intimidating to many. 

At times, it has been recorded that she has a temper and has had moments of anger. For the most part, Liliana has kept to her own private circle and rarely shows herself in public but this does not grant her the same mockery as Princess Damaris. In fact, besides the few odd voices from councilmen and the extremely brave, most won’t even dare to say her name in even a sarcastic tone. 

in 1782, after twelve years of marriage, King Frederick could finally stop sweating as Liliana would return to Graza with the news that she’s pregnant. 

[iphijaania]

while i’m here something that’s annoyed me recently in the tma fandom is this ‘[character] can’t be [bad thing] because they’re from an oppressed group!’ mentality

like with basira— ‘stop drawing her in a hijab/portraying her as muslim cos she’s a policewoman and policewomen are bad to women of colour!’ completely ignoring the fact that many, many, many hijabi women are members of the met police, with many more muslim women and muslims being part of the wider uk police force. it isn’t a rare phenomenon, and you can see multiple stories about muslim policewomen in the uk.

are they shitty? yeah.

do they still join? YEAH.

and, believe it or not, people from minority communities can be shitty people! like, see the recent bidders for the leader of the tory party in the uk— currently, the two lead candidates are a woman and an indian man. the top four candidates were a black woman, two white women, and an indian man. and the black woman was the one who got the backing of britain first, who are literal fascists and by far the most racist group in the uk. because guess what? she was racist!

kemi badenoch’s a black woman, yeah, but she’s also upper-class, rascist, misogynistic and homophobic. because those views are not mutually exclusive with her race.

i’m a pakistani muslim immigrant in the uk. almost the entire pakistani community where i live are tories. my flatmates at uni consisted of a nigerian immigrant, a singaporean and a malaysian— all with tory parents. idk about the usa but here, class plays a much bigger role in political view in the uk than race does, and there are a lot of rich people of colour looking to keep themselves rich. and yes there’s obviously a link between class and race, but at the same time literally the most ‘diverse’ cabinet of ministers came under boris johnson— multiple important government roles went to women, to people of colour, to women of colour, all of whom were also awful people looking to secure their own position and power.

why am i saying this? because helen being black and being a tory aren’t mutually exclusive. basira being a muslim/ a hijabi and being a police officer aren’t mutually exclusive. jude perry being asian (probably meaning south asian) and being a stock broker aren’t mutually exclusive. hell, elias being a person of colour (as some people choose to portray him as and get bashed for) and a rich classist dickhead aren’t mutually exclusive. because they, objectively, are bad people, and people of colour can be bad people!

i get it, tma has a problem with how it portrays race— almost all the characters are aracial sans the antagonists (and, arguably, basira). and said antagonists of colour never have their experiences explored in context of their race— see annabelle and her medical abuse, and oliver and his experience with homelessness and mental illness. but at the same time bashing fans for how they choose to portray characters is not it, especially because it tends to be white people with a very us-centric/ one-sided view on race and class.

this is very rambly and it comes as a result of several posts that’ve irked me because the race discourse is, in itself, very annoying. i might write more on this, but please stop shaming people for how they portray characters and saying that one portrayal of a character is ‘incorrect’ based on race grounds (‘helen can’t be black! she’s a tory!’).

people of colour can be bad people. get over it. stop policing everything for your own sense of self-righteousness.

sincerely, a brown uk-based tma fan

[leviackermanscleaningbuddy]

hi skz pack <3 first of i wanna say ily and i'll literally die for all of you. you especially (y/n)!!! if any of these male boneheads hurt you, i'll throw hands (just kidding, maybe i'll pull on their ears a little and then pat their lil heads to say sorry). i have two questions (sfw and nsfw hehe) and it's for everyone so any of you can answer if you want!

first, are there any funny inside stories within the pack? i need my crumbs. i wanna know all the juicy gossip and potential blackmail. i personally think hyunjin and jisung are a chaos duo but i wouldn't... put it past any of you. *heart fingers*

second, and this is a lil spicy, but have any of you been dommed by y/n? i only ask because i'm a dom too and i am CONSTANTLY rooting for my girl y/n. does she dick any of u down??? does she top?? power bottom?? i need to KNOW. if she hasn't or you've never been, i implore you to let her. i know she has potential. BESTIE Y/N IF U CAN SEE THIS, GO CRAZY (consensually <3) !!! IM ENABLING YOU.

(jess sorry for the lack of asks, you know i love you. saw this ask thing though and jumped at the chance. i'll be back to my regular scheduled asks soon once college dies down T_T hope you're doing well!)

– 🤍

"Oooh, both of these are really great questions." Your eyes light up as you excitedly sit straighter in your chair. "I think we're gonna answer them individually, since there's so much to each one." You glance around at your packmates. "Which do you guys wanna answer first?"

Eight pairs of eyes stare back at you silently, and you sigh.

"Really? Okay, fine."

"You're up, buttercup." Minho quips dryly, raising an eyebrow as he stares at you, making you roll your eyes.

"Okay, first off-" You start seriously, motioning to the rest of the group. "I'm a complete switch, through and through. I think we all know this."

"However, there are definitely some key factors that affect which role I choose to portray during sex."

"This legitimately sounds like the start of my human behaviors lecture from last week." Jisung remarks with sarcasm, a smirk flickering across his lips. "Did you and Professor Nim collab?"

Seungmin elbows the other beta hard in the ribs, and he loses his breath with an audible oof. You shoot him a thankful look before you continue.

"The first factor, and definitely most important, is my partner's preference and comfort level."

Chan is nodding like he gets what you're saying, which is comforting, knowing that you're not just babbling like an idiot and making no sense.

Changbin offers you the hint of a smile as you push onward.

"It's not especially important to me what role I play, I don't have a strong preference usually, so if my partner is more comfortable with me domming, then that's what I'll do. If they'd rather I sub, and they take control, that's fine too."

Minho rolls his eyes good naturedly. "You're just a straight brat with me."

You point a finger in his direction sternly. "You don't count."

The other alpha smirks and shrugs. "It's fine. I'm not complaining."

"Anyway." You shoot him a glare and he gives you a little hand motion, as if to say go on. "Another factor that affects things is where everyone is at in their cycles. Typically, it's not the same for everyone, but pretty common, that when an alpha is in rut, they want to dom. Similarly, when an omega is in heat, they usually want to sub. It's biology's way of making things easier for everyone."

"I also tend to be a little more submissive when it comes to sexual interactions with the other alphas? It's not astoundingly evident, but my wolf's natural response when faced with another alpha-especially Chan-is to naturally be a little more submissive as a sign of respect I guess?"

You smirk now and dart a sidelong look at Chan, reaching out to curl your fingers around his thigh.

"Not to say I haven't dommed-a lot-with all of them. We absolutely do have sex toys, and I absolutely have used them, on everyone."

Chan sighs good naturedly and Minho snickers, Changbin grinning now.

"Gross." Jeongin rolls his eyes from where he's sitting in Felix's lap."

"Speaking of-" You point at the omega now, who glances back at you innocently, eyes wide. "-when it comes to the omegas, I usually tend to dom all the time. The baby and Felix especially. Hyunjin can go either way, sometimes he likes to switch it up and be in charge, but Lixie and Innie? They like to be coddled and taken care of."

"Pillow princesses." Jisung supplies without any guile, and Felix immediately nods.

"Hey, I like what I like."

"And we like you, princess." Changbin teases back, reaching out to pinch the omega's cheek affectionately between his fingers.

"Jisungie and Seungie." You think for a minute, considering, and then glance to the betas, who are not helpful in the least, giving you a shrug each. "Hmm. They tend to go either way. They're wild cards. Although Seungie prefers being in control usually, whereas Jisungie usually leans toward wanting to be told what to do."

"That's why Minho-hyung likes me so much." Jisung boasts, puffing his chest. "I'm a great listener."

"Bull shit." Minho immediately shoots back, and Jisung pouts.

"You're a terrible listener." You agree, and Jisung turns the full force of his wide eyed pout on you, making you laugh. "Everywhere except the bedroom."

Jisung shrugs, snuggling back beside Seungmin. "Whatever. I'll take it."

"When there's more than two people involved," You go on, considering for a moment. "That usually changes dynamics a bit, depending on who's wanting to do what. It's not as simple as just saying 'oh there's two alphas, so they'll obviously dom the omega or beta or whatever' because sometimes, one of us will dom the third party, and then the other doms the other alpha or vice versa. It really all comes back to, once again, comfort levels and preferences."

"Noona, if I came to you and hyung and asked to dom both of you, would you let me?" Jeongin pipes up, motioning between you and Chan with sudden eager excitement.

"Absolutely, Innie." Chan doesn't even hesitation, smiling fondly at the youngest, who is bouncing in his seat and making Felix wince.

"But you wouldn't." You grin. "Because we all know you'd rather be babied, especially by Channie and I."

Jeongin doesn't even consider pouting.

"Guilty."

"We're a pretty non-traditional pack to begin with," You add, glancing at Chan, who squeezes your fingers where they rest on his leg. "So being non-traditional in the bedroom isn't anything weird. Channie is head alpha, but he never asserts that over anyone unless they ask. He's more than happy to sub if that's what someone wants."

"Who would want that?" Jisung cries out, utterly scandalized. "Dom, primal, head alpha hyung is the hottest hyung. Period."

"Hear, hear." Hyunjin raises a fake glass into the air in a toast to Jisung's words, and it's probably the first time they've agreed on anything in days.

"I mean-" You shrug, biting back a smirk. "-I'm not saying I don't agree with you, but I have to admit, there's also something intrinsically pretty about Channie being the one beneath me and seeing just how much he can take before he's practically begging."

"Oh god." Chan groans beside you.

Across the room, Changbin audibly chokes.

Jisung looks utterly caught off guard as he gulps loudly. "I need to take a cold shower all of a sudden."

Minho grins and raises his own invisible glass to you in salute from the other couch.

"That's my girl."

[tolkien-fandom-history]

I (@dawnfelagund) specialize in Tolkien-based fanfiction, and this slice of fandom (which is not small as far as transformative fandoms go but oft-overlooked) is a perfect illustration of fan taxonomies and how they break down.

In the 2000s through the early 2010s, it used to be that it was pretty easy to "classify" a Tolkien fanfiction writer because they often did it themselves along genre (gen, slash, or het) and character group (usually Elves, Men, or Hobbits), so you ended up with authors who would assert things like, "I am a Hobbit genfic writer" or "I am an Elf slash writer." Then there were the Silmarillion people, where the genre and character group seemed to matter far less (and I am myself a Silmarillion person so I think I speak with some authority here!), though this group also cross-pollinated a lot with the other groups, especially those writing about Elves.

This taxonomy was reinforced by the infrastructure of the fandom itself, which (like many early 2000s fanfiction communities was oriented around email lists [mostly Yahoo! Groups] and LiveJournal) and involved dozens of fanfiction archives, many of them reflecting this same taxonomy: genre, character group, and sometimes both. (Some sites were more granular—focused, for example, on a specific character or relationship—but those super-specific archives almost always fit under either genre or character group or both.) Other ways to classify fanfiction didn't tend to rise to the level of taxonomy. For example, drabbling was extremely popular in early online Tolkienfic fandom, but there was no archive for just drabbles, and people didn't think of themselves as "drabble writers." Same with more typical literary genres (like horror or poetry) or even fandom genres (like fluff and hurt/comfort); archives for these didn't exist and people didn't tend to identify themselves as writers in these terms either.

A few early 2000s archives and groups didn't divide themselves in this way (the Henneth-Annun Story Archive is probably the biggest example), but fan conflicts still often aligned along the taxonomic lines all the same, with fans certain that an archive or group preferred/didn't prefer stories about Hobbits/Elves/Men/slash/het and was biased against the rest. Kristi Lee Brobeck documented this in 2004 for HASA, which was perhaps doomed to attract this kind of drama because it was a selective archive at the time, and fans looked for patterns in what stories were/were not accepted along the lines of—you guessed it!—genre and character group.

After the LotR film trilogy, this level of division began to collapse a bit. Multiple archives opened that allowed all types of stories and seemed to do so with relatively little conflict (LotRFanfiction.com, Tolkien Fan Fiction, Many Paths to Tread, and Faerie come immediately to mind; the Silmarillion Writers' Guild was Silmarillion-specific but otherwise open to all stories, no matter the genre or character focus).

Into the 2010s, as archives have closed and become inactive (and Y!G closed, and LJ has pretty much made themselves obsolete even among Tolkienfic fans, who are a group that historically sticks with what they know with the loyalty of Sam plodding behind Frodo into Mordor), these taxonomies have collapsed almost fully. Authors and readers still have preferences, of course, but these preferences govern where they post and socialize far less than they did ten-twenty years ago.

Tolkienfic fandom is also the perfect illustration of the breakdown of an affirmational-transformational binary as a way of classifying fans (which, to be clear, obsession_inc never intended her idea to be used as a binary ... but it is often discussed in either/or terms and so I often do the same). I have written in the past about how affirmational and transformational approaches to the texts coexist, and in many ways this coexistence even defines the Tolkienfic fandom. There are, first of all, complicated ideas of who holds authority over a text. If affirmational-transformational impulses exist on a binary, fanfiction writers should not care about Tolkien's authority, but they do. They care about getting the facts right; some of them do not want to write about things they think he'd disapprove of or otherwise try to maintain his moral/ethical approach (and think it's wrong to do otherwise). Others try to write in a "Tolkienesque style": One of my more memorable arguments was with someone who believed it was disrespectful to write Tolkien fanfic in American English. But views on authority are not tidy either, so you end up with fanfiction writers who write pairings that would have appalled Tolkien but who care very much about getting even the most obscure details right or maintaining a particular ethical frame.

And the curative or collecting impulse is strong in Tolkienfic fandom too ... not necessarily in terms of objects but in terms of canon. Tolkienfic authors not only spend years mastering the canon for themselves (collecting information for personal use), but many of them devote significant time and energy to collecting, recombining, and presenting this information in various ways for other fanfiction writers. For example, Tolkien fanfiction writers have put together and published online resources listing women who would have existed in the books but aren't named, travel times between locations in Middle-earth, and numerous resources for Tolkien's languages, especially names. This is the affirmational impulse to master the canon, but these resources are unique because they are aimed at other fanfiction writers with the intention of helping other authors get the details right in their stories: an affirmational practice leveraged for transformational purposes. Discussions in the fandom are likewise anchored in strong affirmational tendencies, and authors can usually identify not just the canon behind their creative choices but often how/why they selected a particular text as well (since many of the texts exist in multiple, sometimes contradictory forms), which then sometimes loops back to authority and whether some texts have more or less authority depending on when they were written and the level of editorial meddling in posthumous texts.

All of this to say (lol) that I think of the Tolkien fanfiction world in similar terms; in fact, it's how I've come to make sense of the fandom's history in my own mind, in many ways.

Taxonomies of Fandom

In the 19th century, taxonomies were a big deal. A hundred years after Linnaeus developed the system of binomial nomenclature, Darwinian natural philosophy emphasized that new and existing taxonomies should reflect the principle of common descent, giving rise to today’s system of evolutionary taxonomy. 

If you’ve read the Aubrey-Maturin series of nautical adventure novels, you might be familiar with Testudo aubreii, the majestic tortoise that Stephen Maturin named after his best friend Jack Aubrey. It is an honor not lightly to be given, a sort of taxonomy as immortality: “This is Testudo aubreii for all eternity; when the Hero of the Nile is forgotten, Captain Aubrey will live on in his tortoise. There’s glory for you.”  Putting a name to something makes it easier to understand and discuss; it can provide a starting point for study and for further investigation. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about taxonomy lately, thanks to a few conversations I’ve had this month with people looking for expertise on fans and fan studies for final projects. I’m always happy to chat about this stuff, but sometimes I’m unexpectedly run up against the limits of my expertise: to be honest, I don’t know a lot about sports fans, or the practices of fans of massive commercial domains like Disney.

I’m interested in transformative fandom, which is a relatively small (but impactful) slice of the pie, as well as digital platforms and the ways in which youth audiences in particular utilize affordances of those platforms to express enthusiasm. I suppose I’m a fan scholar in the same way that an expert in ants is an entomologist: it’s a useful bit of nomenclature, but don’t ask them about spiders. There’s obviously a lot of benefits to specialization: but for someone who has aspirations towards the public humanities, I’m increasingly aware of my own need to have a more comprehensive overview of the different types of fans. 

Over the 30 years of fan studies’ existence there have been numerous attempts to do just that: create a useful paradigm that neatly sections off fan practices into families and genii. The split between “transformational” and “affirmational” fandoms, first proposed by a pseudonymous fan in 2009 and later taken up by scholars like Henry Jenkins, is broadly handy, but problematic: it can lead to viewing “affirmational” fandom such as cosplaying, merchandise-buying, and information-collecting (such as in wikis) as purely mimetic and of lesser cultural value than “transformational” fan activities (see Hills, 2014). 

That binary also ignores the large swathes of people that perform both types of fandom, or whose fan practices exist somewhere in between, or not on that axis at all; it’s also slightly outdated. In 2009, transformational fans who wrote erotica about non-canonical ships could still be safely said to be “against” canon in some way, non-sanctioned and acting transgressively out of bounds. I would say that in many cases, that is far from the case today. 

Something I’m interested in is how fan practices develop and spread from one “genus” of fandom to another. (Presuming “species” is an individual fandom, and “genus” is a group of species connected by ancestry and shared practice). You see this in the phenomena in sports RPF, for example: slash fanfiction is a genre of practice developed by media fandom (TV/film fandom) in the 1970s and 80s, but it has been “adopted out” so to speak to form the nucleus of a sub-species of sports fans. 

This circulation of practice is especially notable in the field of transcultural fandom (see Morimoto, 2017). Fan practices developed in the context of East Asian pop music fandom, such as chart-boosting, have made their way over to Western fandoms and communities centering on non-music media objects. Digital platforms afford this circulation, which in turn results in a blurring of boundaries between fan species and increasing difficulty in parsing out which “type” of fan someone is. Practices are contagious and amoebic. The type of sparkly fancams intially made by K-pop idol fans were adopted by Succession stans. 

Like the animal kingdom, there’s just so much going on. To say nothing of what was going on. Which types of fans have gone extinct? Which modes of interacting with media are now archaeological artifacts, thanks to the shifting relationality of the apparatus of cultural production with respect to audiences? 

I think that especially in a time when many groups who might not explicitly consider themselves “fans” have freely taken up digital practices developed and popularized in fandom spaces, investigations into the origins and classifications of fans and fan culture has the potential to provide broader behavioral insights into online communities. 

[chibinightowl]

in all seriousness, how can one break into the jaytim fanfiction scene? from my perspective, there are a handful of established authors for the pairing, and they’re all great, so i’m not trying to say that they don’t deserve recognition and only get hits bc they’ve been around for years, but it seems like they’re such a long-standing and integral part of the pairing fandom that readers tend to gravitate towards their work and not others. so, it feels like newer authors struggle to even get a chance. thoughts? advice?

Hello!

This is quite the ask and, honestly, a very thought-provoking one.

When I first started writing fanfic back in...2016? (I think was around there) I started because I needed an escape from the hellscape my real life had become. It was also free, which was even more important since funds were tight. I didn't know anyone in fandom. I'd never participated in fandom. I was a complete unknown. But what I wrote, I wrote it for ME. I wrote what I wanted to read and that is something I still hold true to this day. And guess what? Apparently what I wanted to read were things other people wanted to read too.

I started as a gen-fic writer (who remembers Myth-Bats?) but I'd been reading a ton of slash. I knew what ships I liked, I knew what I didn't like, and so I eventually dipped my toe into JayTim.

I wish I could say there's some magic formula, but there really isn't. I'm lucky in the fact that I've been a huge reader of many different genres over the course of my life (I was in my mid 30s when I started writing fanfic, so do the math to where I am now) and that I also technically write for a living. I know what clean and professional business writing looks like, but trying to get that to translate into fanfic? There's a reason my fics are heavy on plot rather than scene building and description.

I do remember reading and rereading fics by my favorite fan writers and trying to pick apart what it was they did (hell, I still do it even today) to see if I could emulate that in some way because I just didn't like my style and wanted to see if I could change it. It took awhile, but eventually I found my own voice.

I know an incredible writer who has the most intricate and dramatic plots, who has a real flare for settings and world-building and character development and dialogue. Every time we talk, I'm just in awe that I have a personal friendship with her now. But guess what? She writes in 1st Person which is a turnoff for so many people. She's one the best writers I know and she and I have had many talks about why she doesn't get the kudos or hits that I do. It's depressing. It's gotten her down on more than one occasion.

But she keeps going because SHE likes what she writes and if it happens to resonate with a few people, then guess what? At least she's got a small, but dedicated group of readers.

For you, nony, I wish there was more I could offer to help beyond write what you want to read and write what you know/like. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself and don't be afraid to grow. Do what you're doing now and talk to the writers you like. Ask us questions about our fics and why we did this or that, especially if it seems very counter-intuitive to how you'd have done it. Sometimes the rationale might just be to subvert a trope, but there could be other reasons that might not only surprise you, but also give you something to really think about. I can't even begin to tell you how much of myself and my life experiences go into my writing. It's not always obvious (which is on purpose), but I really think it's touches like those that make a story more interesting.

If you are interacting in the JayTim fandom, then you know already that we might be small, but we're incredibly supportive of each other. If you aren't interacting, then come on in. The water's fine and there's a lot of us here who'd love to listen to your ideas and help spin them into a great story. Discord seems to be the place to be these days for fandom. I know the JayTim channel on the Capes & Coffee server (a Tim Drake server started by @shmoo92) is very active and, if you're at least 18, I've got a JayTim server of my own that I run. Please feel free to DM me here if you'd like a link to either one.

I hope this helps! Good luck and don't stop writing!

[starlight-phantom]

Maruki for the character meme? :3

What I like about them:

I love how versatile he is. I mentioned this to Deni a few days ago but there are so many angles to his character. He's the goofy school counselor, he's a supportive father/big brother figure, he's a traumatised victim, he's an intimidating antagonist, etc. You can do so much with his character, it's amazing. Plus I love how his motives are completely understandable and, in a way, admirable... But his methods are a bit of a yikes to put it lightly.

What I dislike about them:

He does decide what's best for the other characters without really talking to them about it. And that ends up not being what was best for them. Like, c'mon dude, I thought your job was listening to people.

Favourite moment:

I'm torn between his Rank 10 because that's just a really sweet scene between him and Ren after they've become quite close, especially since so many adults in the main story treat Ren so badly (excluding the obvious ones, I know they get better) and the final fist fight in his palace because wow, that scene is heart wrenching but cathartic and I cry every time I play through it.

Least favourite moment:

Honestly? When he shows the group Sumire's traumatic memories and causes her to break down. It just seems so out of character for him??? Like I get they had to reveal Sumire's true identity somehow, but I just don't see how that fits into Maruki's character when his whole thing is keeping people away from pain. I guess you could say he was making a point to Ren and Goro but even then, that still seems so out of character? I dunno, that scene is just odd when you think about it too much.

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more:

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again: I wish we had more scenes with third semester Palace ruler Maruki. That particular persona (don't) of his doesn't get anywhere enough screentime. Something I really, really want is a scene similar to P4G when Yu goes to see Adachi by himself and try to talk to him. I feel like that could have been a really interesting discussion, especially if it was a tense one where you had to choose your options carefully because Maruki is the one with complete control in his palace and his warped mindset makes him believe that he's helping Ren. I just think that would be cool.

An interesting AU for this character:

.... D-Do I even to say it? You already know. I am just that predictable.

A crossover:

I don't really tend to think of crossovers too much but I recently rewatched Promare for reasons, and a thought that randomly popped into my head was "Burnish Takuto" and it hasn't left me since.

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favourite ship):

Again, do I even need to say it???? Takurumi, and I really wish it got more attention from the fanbase. I know it won't because Rumi appeared for like 5 minutes in an 100+ game... But still. I can dream.

Other ships?:

Takawa is pretty cute, I like that one. Plus I've seen quite a bit of HaseMaru content that makes me wish we could see them interact in canon.

BROTP:

Obviously Ren because their relationship is really interesting one that I don't have the brainpower to analyse right now but I love how sassy Ren is towards Takuto, like when he forgot Ren's reward for helping him with his research and Ren just crosses his legs and folds his arm while staring at Takuto like an unimpressed mother.

But I really like the idea of Sojiro and Takuto, and let's throw Zenkichi into mix, bonding over how difficult it is to keep the thieves from getting into trouble and being tired dads.

NOTP:

Just any of the students. It just makes me uncomfortable.

An assortment of headcanons:

Like I said earlier, my brain ain't working today....I've been trying to convince myself to write today since I woke up at seven this morning... It's now quarter to six and I haven't written anything... Sorry about that...

I guess the only thing that pops into my mind is, if Takuto adopted an animal, he'd adopt an older one because it makes him sad to see them left behind when all the younger animals find families.

[larrycherry04]

Hey Larry,

I want to know about something and I hope you can make me understand... Since you are an AOT fan, what do you think about Mikasa??? I am seeing lot of views where Mikasa was being compared to a character from Naruto, 'You know who I mean'...

I know for sure, there is no other character in any other media who can come close to **ahem ahem**...

But objectively speaking without making any comparison, Does Mikasa have a considerable role in AoT??? Since I know she is the main character, does she carry the same weight as Eren??

Hello, Sparrow!

Thanks for the ask. This is my first time receiving one so I'm a bit excited and nervous.

So, I investigated your question and it’s interesting. I didn’t know people were comparing Mikasa with…. She who must not be named. My guess for this reason is probably because of their romantic interest.

Now I haven't finished watching the AOT series. I just began watching the show, but so far, I can depict what's going on.

So, start off with this.

“Does Mikasa have a considerable role in AoT??? Since I know she is the main character, does she carry the same weight as Eren??”

In other words, “How important she is to the plot, does she have her own arc and since she is a Main Character, can she stand as an equal or little less than the other Main Characters in terms of power and plot development???”

Mikasa is the second important character in the series, with Eren being the first. She helps move the plot forward and contributes to the war. Like Sasuke, she’s the heroine of the story. Along with Eren, she puts her being into helping and saving others that are in need. Although her goal within the story is to protect Eren at all causes, she puts focus on the mission given.

With her being an ackerman, she possesses powers that enable her to kill many titans and defeat stronger opponents. This also allows her to be placed within the elites. She has the ability to have complete control over her body and stay extremely calm over dreadful situations. This is why she’s labeled as one of the best of her 104th group.

Now let's get to the important question.

“In Short, is she (Mikasa) a Sakura 2.0, as many fans claim to be???”

Even though I haven’t watched the entire series, I am certain that Mikasa is ABOVE Sakura.

Unlike Sakura, Mikasa cares about her friends and people she holds dear. She ensures Armin of her trust in him, which gives Armin confidence in making difficult decisions. She’s kind to her teammates and is cooperative to an extent. She even consoles Annie who is her rival. Despite jealousy, (Annie’s relationship with Eren), she kinda befriends Annie and shows sympathy when Annie expresses her pain. Like Eren, Mikasa is very protective of her friends, especially Eren. She tends to hold grudges over people that hurt her friends, and as mentioned, especially Eren. Levi happens to fall on the bad side of Mikasa. When Captain Levi beats Eren during the court scene, this enrages Mikasa. Even though this was plotted and Eren complied with Erwin and Levi’s plan, Mikasa still disliked Levi. However, over time, she starts to respect the captain and learns to understand him as a person.

Now it’s clear as glass that Mikasa is in love with Eren. A blind person can pinpoint Mikasa’s love for Eren. With that being said, is her attraction similar to S*kura’s attraction to Sasuke? No. Mikasa has a good reason to like Eren.

Mikasa had a traumatic upbringing. She used to be a cheerful, outgoing, and gentle young girl. However, after watching her parents get killed, being kidnapped, and almost sold off, she changed into a quiet, emotionless girl. With that being said, Eren is the reason Mikasa isn’t someone’s property. He saved her life AND awakened her powers that were dormant. Mikasa said that Eren made her strong. He helped Mikasa become a strong and fearless person. He opened her eyes to the dark cruel world they live in. Eren makes Mikasa realize that the key to surviving is fighting back. Do not give up or give in easily. In a way, Eren is Mikasa’s perseverance. One of Mikasa’s flaws is that she tends to give up easily. In the kidnapper’s hideout, Mikasa didn’t retaliate and waited to be sold. However, Eren helped break that veil of “giving up” and she fought with all she had. Since then, Mikasa keeps his words to her heart. After leaving their homeland, Mikasa vowed to protect Eren at any cost.

Now Mikasa takes this too far and becomes overprotective of Eren. She orders him to find her whenever the issue arises, so she can better protect him. This always angered Eren and I won’t lie, I was annoyed too. I understand Eren is the only person Mikasa strongly cares for, but it didn’t make her over-protectiveness less annoying. It comes across as she doesn’t trust Eren to make it on his own, and she’s kinda treating him like a baby sometimes. I’m aware that’s not the case but that’s what I’m seeing. Anyways, Mikasa is extremely protective of Eren. She will challenge and fight anyone who dares to harm Eren (ex: Levi).

Unlike Sakura, Mikasa isn't a doormat to Eren. Mikasa has knocked sense into Eren when he does wrong or takes things too far. She has punched Eren for insulting Armin back when they were kids. She threw Eren against the wall for attacking citizens who dare insult the military. Mikasa has no issue calling out Eren when he’s in the wrong or being irrational.

As far as fighting abilities go, Mikasa can hold her own. She doesn’t need or crave protection like Sakura. As mentioned, her ackerman abilities are worth 100 soldiers. She’s strong, flexible, a genius, and fast. She’s strong enough to lift men three times her size (why bullies were afraid of Mikasa and not Eren) and can lift heavy weapons as eight spears. While she carries the right spears, she’s also able to throw them above her head, aiming arcuately at her target.

Now let’s move on to Sakura.

I can’t with this girl. I know you’ve done posts of Sakura and I don’t know if you’re doing a post on “Why I hate Sakura”, so I won’t go into explicit detail.

While Sakura is strong (has the ability to punch holes in the ground), good medical ninjutsu (trained from Tsunade), and knows some ninja techniques (charaka control), she doesn’t really do anything with these. She is always shown sitting on her behind while crapping on Naruto and moaning over Sasuke who doesn’t care about her, during battle.

Sakura isn’t in love with Sasuke. The girl is obsessed with him. It’s an unhealthy obsession. She only likes Sasuke for his looks, cold, lone wolf, bad-boy demeanor, and him being a prodigy. She doesn’t know him personally nor does she try. She just wants to--like you mentioned “show him off” like a prize. Sasuke rejected her many times, in a nice AND mean form, and she takes it as “oh he’s just hard to get!” He's a reward to her. Nothing more. Sakura is also willing to change her morals, turn against her friends for Sasuke. Sakura brings up revenge not being the answer and when Sasuke doesn’t listen, she gives in to his plan. I believe she offered twice to help Sasuke with his plan, knowing that Sasuke isn’t joking and is willing to hurt others. She’s so weak, I can’t stand it! I wouldn’t be surprised if Sakura was willing to kill for the boy. Even though I don’t ship Mikasa and Eren (I look at them as siblings) I still am willing to accept that they’re a couple. I would rather take them over SasuSaku any day.

Lastly, Sakura is a self-centered person. She thinks about herself and her needs. That’s another reason I don’t like SasuSaku. It’s always about Sakura and never about Sasuke because we already know what Sasuke wants. Avenging his clan, suppressing Itachi, and *cough* Naruto *cough*. Sakura doesn’t give a damn about what Sasuke wants. That scene of Sasuke leaving the hidden leaf village proves my point. It’s “What about me” rather than “what about you?” She’s willing to ditch her family and friends over a boy who doesn't even consider her as a friend. Sakura compares her minuet issues with Sasuke’s clan being wiped out. Him leaving her behind is equivalent to his clan being destroyed in her small narrow mind. I can’t believe there are people defending this woman. I find that very insensitive and disrespectful. She claims she understands him but deep down she understands him like I understand physics. (I don't).

She broke up her friendship with Ino over Sasuke. Even though Sakura wanted to feel independent and not rely on Ino (I understand that), however; she could have remained her friend instead of looking at her as a foe. Even when Ino helped her, Sakura doesn’t help Ino back. She doesn’t even console Ino when her father died during, it was Shikamaru who comforted a mourning Ino. Sakura leaves behind her team to catch up to Sasuke and forgets to come back for them. If it wasn’t for Kakashi, her team would have been spotted and harmed by enemies, especially with being intoxicated and unconscious. (Correct me if I’m wrong on that part).

Sakura bullies and talks down on Naruto. Now I’m all for banter and a little quarrel here and there. Like a relationship like Kageyama and Hinata from “Haikyuu!!”. My relationship with my sister is kinda like thers, but I don’t say or do anything that’ll cause harm to her. Sakura is spiteful. She beats Naruto and hits him. She doesn’t need a reason, she just does it either because Sasuke rejected her, or he “annoys” her. She’s insensitive to him. She brings up her issues with her parents and scolds Naruto for being understanding of her parents, even going as far as to say, “Sasuke would understand”. Like um no he wouldn’t. In fact, he would have chewed you out like he did in season one for making fun of an orphan losing his parents. She only fault guilt because Sasuke was mad at her, not because she realized how hurtful that was toward Naruto. Lastly, she fakes confesses her feelings to Naruto so she wouldn’t lose her chance with Sasuke, not thinking how this would hurt Naruto if he believed that lie. She only cares about herself. I swear, Sakura doesn’t like Naruto and there are times when I feel she really wants to hurt him. I know I’m being a bit dramatic but the way she treats him is vile. Even when he saves her life, she doesn’t appreciate his help because it’s not from Sasuke. When he tried to give her CPR, she punched him for “being gross” but didn’t have an issue with Sasuke giving her CPR. Or when Naruto just wanted to take a piss, she hit him and kicked him out, but was all for seeing Sasuke’s penis. (Gross and creepy!)

I don’t understand why Mikasa is being compared to Sakura when they’re different people. At least Mikasa has a reason to like Eren, rather than focusing on his looks or skills. Mikasa can take care of her problems versus Sakura crying for Naruto to fight her battles or help him fight in battles. Not only that, Mikasa cares about her friends. Sure, she places Eren on a higher level, but she still cares for her friends and is willing to fight for and alongside them. Sakura will drop you on your ass if she finds out you like Sasuke.

As far as character, Sakura isn’t very valuable. Naruto and Sasuke can be just a pair and the series would be just as good. Probably better. Sakura doesn’t hold any weight. I thought the only weight she held was being dead-weight to both Naruto and Sasuke but even then, her weight isn’t as effective toward them.

So, is Mikasa another version of Sakura? Hell no.

I hope this answers your question. I’m sorry if I sounded repetitive. My writing and analysis aren’t as impressive as yours, so again I apologize for the unprofessionalism. Let me know how you feel in the comments or message me back! I would like some feedback, whether it's positive, neutral, or negative! If I get anything wrong on Mikasa, please let me know! Again, I just got into this fandom.

Have a Happy New Year! - Larry

[wisteria-lodge]

authoritarian badger primary + snake secondary

Sorry if this is the improper channels, I just created my first ever tumblr account to follow you haha I would love help with sorting, you’re quite astute and it would be such a service to me as I’ve struggled for years with it, despite (or perhaps because of) reading so many posts about it! I’m much better at speed-reading randos, than I am at categorizing myself.  

I was that classic gifted underachiever.

ugh, I hate the word “gifted.” I’m so pleased that it’s falling out of favor in education circles.

I felt bad for some of my teachers, because I knew they probably blamed themselves. To make them see I appreciated them, I would study their teaching methods, and then give them positive feedback. I was the kid who would sleep through English, then write a collection of stories about the teachers, infusing classical literature and mythological references, performed them in the cafeteria, and sold them for lots of money to the students.

You sound like you were probably bored. Look, don’t feel bad about your teachers. Some students are just Anakins. High ability, low emotional maturity. We know that all we can do is give you guys a safe space until you figure yourselves out.

I wrote about my incompetent Math Teacher, Mrs. Malatestinic, as the Malatesting-Sphinx, an awful creature that posed mathematical riddles she herself did not understand. She didn’t like that (I failed math by 1 percent that semester lol), but when the math department heard me reading, he gasped sharply, his face went bright red and he started shaking in a way that looked life stifled laughter.

… this is your second, like, vengeance narrative? (slept though english class > made $$$ selling writing) (wrote hit piece about teacher > department head secretly agrees with you.) And you haven’t said anything that has anything to do with the Sortinghat Chats System???

I have almost no practical skills of my own (I find it hard to even change my lightbulbs, so I sometimes pee in the dark)

You must have some very understanding roommates.

but I pride myself on my interpersonal pixie dust. I seem to cheer people up, and I like to think I have a keen eye for people. One of my favourite compliments was when a young woman told me I had an almost supernatural ability for making others feel seen.

Okay, so a very social secondary, I can work with that. Going with *not Badger* as a hypothesis, since you almost seem to get kind of a kick out of not being exactly useful.

I naturally bond groups around me wherever I go, and I notice without this sort of found family dynamic in my life (a little team/group/family) I get depressed. I have fused my entire being with my job and have become a sort of mascot/face of the business, and despite not actually being the highest ranked/most senior employee.

… and we have a Badger primary.

I wish I was gentler, but my love for my people is pesky and meddlesome and I worry some day people will tire of me. I get overly involved in people’s lives (even when they ask me not to get involved, I take that as code for “I wouldn’t want to bother you, but secretly I wish you would get involved”).

I’m everyone’s unofficial therapist. This big mouth gets me into trouble sometimes, especially when I attack the powers that be on behalf of the underdog (something I can never resist)

Oh ouch. Yeah, that is some exploded, Authoritarian Badger right there. You get involved in peoples lives when they tell you to stay out? You view yourself as a universal therapist and righteous defender of those who cannot defend themselves? You write like you’ve got all the answers, and everyone else in your life is scared, or helpless.

I once flooded a grouchy old lady’s apartment by accident (ADHD) and then when she called to scream at me, she ended up telling me her whole life story instead.

I know this is the Badger secondary in me, but did you like… help fix the apartment? Untreated water damage can lead to black mold.

And yet, I cannot keep a secret to save my life, people should not be telling me things! My mom and boss often warn me about burning bridges. I know this is true in theory, but sometimes I just get triggered.

Impulsivity is something that people with ADHD can struggle with, but I can’t link it to a specific secondary.

I was bullied and abused a lot as a child/teen, but I never believed I deserved it, only that I lacked power, so I had to dig deep and outwit my opponents. I find story arcs of clever but physically underpowered oddballs like Mulan and Tyrion very satisfying for that reason! I tend to be a bit of a con for the cause at times—I toy with people and can be a bit of a “storyteller”. My saintly double badger mom strongly disapproves of this tendency in me, and half teasing, half scolding calls me Harold Hill (The Music Man).

Snake secondary, for sure. 

I have an awful petty flaw of never forgetting a slight! When the people I love/invest in betray me, I am devastated, and that disillusionment can fester into hatred under extreme circumstances. Darker still, when people cross a certain line morally, they seem to forfeit their personhood in my eyes. Gloves are off, and since I’m kind of an empath I basically have all the destruct codes to people’s souls.

That is… the dehumanizing aspect of a Badger primary in full swing, which has been a through line this whole time. The math teacher was incompetent, so it was fine to mess with her. The old lady was grouchy, so flooding her apartment wasn’t a big deal.

Some examples of my dark fuckery (if tldr, skip to final paragraph 😊):

I will cut this out, actually. There are a *lot* of revenge narratives here, some of them get pretty dark, and in my opinion… these are situations where you either went too far or shouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place. I guess they re-affirm the ‘I know best’ of the Authoritarian Badger, and the improvisational problem solving skills of the Snake secondary.

Um yes, so sorry about how long this is, every time I went to edit it down, it got longer! I understand if you don’t have the time or inclination to read, let alone analyze all this! But at least it helped me a little to write it all out. Please know I love your posts, you’re brilliant! I will lose entire days  studying and obsessing over your posts. Thank you for everything!

You’re welcome. And don’t take any of this too badly. Badger primaries get Authoritarian streaks sometimes, it happens. And if you’re worried that “people will tire of you” - I will say, as someone who has known quite a few Authoritarian Badgers. I didn’t get tired of them, I got exhausted, felt condescended to, and it was an all around unpleasant experience.