#I have been in most of these categories at varying points in my life

[michaelmilligan]

The Jonmartin manifesto no one asked for but needed to get out

So, I've not been in the tma fandom for long yet, having only listened to it for the first time a few months ago. But from browsing the Jonmartin (and teaholding and jmart) tag regularly, it seems to me like most jonmartin shippers fall into one of these two categories:

They would find each other in every universe; or

It's a miracle they even got together in this universe

(Obviously, that's an oversimplification, and people who express one view in one post can easily hold a different view at another time - these are fictional characters we're talking about after all, and headcanons don't need to be consistent and can even contradict each other. This is just the general vibe I got so far.)

Anyway, I wanted to add my own two cents on the topic, because while I understand where both of these views are coming from, I think neither of them is ultimately correct.

(Putting the rest under a read more - be warned that this is NOT a spoiler-free post, so if you haven't finished listening to TMA yet and you want a spoiler-free experience, you probably shouldn't read this.)

So, before we get to my own opinion, let's first look at where the two options I mentioned above come from, shall we?

"They would find each other in every universe"

Obviously, this view is highly romantic - star-crossed lovers, finding each other again and again. It is both a good foundational basis for AUs, and a ray of hope in the face of the tragedy that is the tma finale.

Of course, concerning the finale, this is a rather different take than concerning AUs (since it would mean the very same characters finding each other again in a different world, not fundamentally different characters, shaped by said other world, also finding each other). And maybe when people express this view, they mean more the finale fix-its than AUs, though I suspect that plenty of people mean both.

It's a nice, comforting thought. And don't we all need some comfort after the finale? Yes, we certainly do. (Except for the people who read only hurt without comfort and angst, I guess. You do you, and I'm glad you're having fun, but personally I do desperately need some comfort, lmao.)

Is this view supported by canon though?

Cynical minds would say no, and personally I'm more inclined to agree with them, though as I've said, for me the truth lies outside of those two rigid stances (somewhere in between, I suppose).

I don't see much in canon which points to Jon and Martin falling in love under any circumstances/in any universe, especially considering their... let's say difficult relationships at the start of the show. But of course we must also take into account the specific circumstances in canon (more on that below) and interpretations vary, and I do very much enjoy AUs, so I'm certainly not trying to throw shade if you're on this side of the 'divide'.

Mostly, I think there CAN be other circumstances in which those two get together, outside the canon ones. (I'm writing a canon-divergent jonmartin fic myself, lol.) Let's get into that while we look at the other view, shall we.

"It's a miracle they even got together in this one"

Ah, the Martin-approved stance. One could say 'well, they literally said it in canon' and be done with it. However, that would require us to believe that the opinions of the characters are always true and correct, which. Lmao. We only have to listen to season 2 of tma to know that this is very much not the case.

And even if S5 Martin is not S2 Jon at the height of his paranoia, he's still very much a man shaped by his own life and experiences. I'm sure he would call himself a realist, but he honestly seems more like a pessimist to me. Which is understandable, given his life, and his association with the Lonely, which has often been (in my opinion accurately) compared to depression.

The thing is, Jon did treat Martin horribly in S1, and then he admittedly treated everyone horribly in S2. It was only in the course of S3 that their relationship got more, let's say, equal, with Jon no longer thinking Martin would be 'contributing nothing but delays'. (And then of course we have S4, which I LOVE even though it hurts me deeply. Then again, that's the whole show. And, obviously, S5 my beloved.)

So. Jon seemed to hate Martin in S1, while Martin was arguably already in love with the man. (Arguably. We do know that he acted catty to Basira in S2, so it's reasonable to assume that he started liking him at some point in S1, or even before the show started.) Then a lot of traumatic things happened, and they got together.

This means it must be the traumatic things that made them compatible, right? Just like Martin says in S5?

Well, one could see it that way. Jon certainly changed over the seasons, coming off his high horse and such. (In S5, he arguably gets back on it quite a bit, but then he IS the Eye's specialest little princess in a world that's literally ruled by it. And also he is slowly losing his grip on his own humanity. But I digress.)

And I do think that the trauma channeled a lot of those changes - the first time we see Jon being actually emotionally open (something he still struggles with over all seasons, because people don't just change fundamentally that quickly) is during Prentiss' attack on the Institute. They're in a situation where they might reasonably die (they even expect it, because they don't know that Elias is just rubbing his greedy little paws as he waits for things to get worse before he saves them with the gas).

I do think that moment could have been a big turning point for Jon and Martin, if it hadn't been immediately followed with the discovery of Gertrude's body, and Jon's subsequent descent into paranoia. Jon opened up, and also saw that Martin was rather competent during the attack, which could have led to them becoming closer, respectively having at least something like a normal work relationship.

But then Jon got paranoid and interpreted everything he saw negatively, including Martin's competence, which was twisted in his mind to 'What if he's just been pretending to be incompetent and is actually an evil agent out to kill the archivist'.

(Big sigh.)

Anyway, before I lose myself in the red string as well: Yes, Jon seems to 'mellow' over the seasons, especially with regard to Martin, at the same time that he's going through terribly traumatic events.

But does that mean that it's actually the trauma that's changing him and his relationships? Partly, certainly, but I would argue that trauma doesn't make you nicer or kinder. It might make you realise some things, but that doesn't mean that you can't realise those things in other ways.

And does it means that they couldn't have come together if they had met under different circumstances? Also not necessarily! I would even argue that the specific circumstances they met under were detrimental to Jon's first impression of Martin. And yes, this goes beyond the dog story.

So let's try and dissect their relationship from the start.

A theory of... something like nuance, or whatever

The starting situation

(Yes, I did have to use a Supernatural gif, thank you for asking. No, I will not apologise. <3)

Alright. So let's start with what we actually know about Jon and Martin's first meeting. Obviously, there's the dog story, though as far as I know that's not 'canon' because it wasn't actually in the podcast. I still like it, and think it adds another reason to Jon's behaviour, though I don't necessarily think it's necessary, because Jon already had lots of other reasons to tell himself that Martin wasn't worth his time.

1.1. Jon has issues. More at 11.

First of all, we learn throughout the podcast that Jon doesn't actually have any qualifications to lead an archive. He's probably 29 when the show starts (in 2016, going by the fandom wiki stating that he was born in 1987, which is reasonable given everything we learn about his age).

So, he's 29 and suddenly appointed, after four years of working in one department, to become the head of a completely different department. He does not have a degree that would give him credentials for leading an archive, nor are we told that he has ever even worked in an archive. For all we know, and that he knows, he is woefully underqualified. (This is also, I think, highlighted in S2 when Jon threatens to resign, only to then be baffled by Elias saying that he would be difficult to replace. Elias means something completely different than his skill set as an archivist with a lower case 'a', presumably, but then Jon doesn't know that.)

This means that Jon is in a highly stressful position, because he's trying to do a job he doesn't actually know how to do, while also trying not to let on that he doesn't know how to do it!

It doesn't help that Jon is also terribly scared of what all might be lurking in the shadows (or even in the light), as he himself admits during the Prentiss attack. He is extremely high-strung from day one, basically a wet chihuahua shaking in a slight breeze, while trying to seem like a strong bulldog.

We also know that Jon asked for two people to be his assistants: Tim and Sasha. They both worked in research, and Sasha also briefly worked in artefact storage, making them both qualified to help Jon with following up on statements. But I think more than their qualifications, Jon probably requested them because he knew and got along with them.

Imagine: Your boss tells you that he's promoting you into a position you're not qualified for and which you have no real clue how to do. Wouldn't you rather have people around you who you're already friendly with, and who are likely to cut you some slack if you're not perfect on day one? I know I would!

1.2. Elias is a little shit and I want to kill him with hammers (affectionately)

And then Elias transfers Martin.

I'm going off the dog story again, because again, I like it, and I think it does fit neatly into canon. If this story is to be believed, Elias neither asked nor did he tell Jon that he was giving him another assistant. He apparently simply told Martin 'you work at the archives now, congratulations' and then went back to his office to smile smugly to himself.

This is a VERY bad start for a working relationship, because not only does Martin come in unannounced, this also comes off as Elias not respecting Jon, or potentially even sending someone to report back to Elias (because Martin is the only one who doesn't have an established rapport with Jon).

Jon never verbalises this suspicion, so maybe this is too much interpretation on my part, but in any case it's cause for a lot of resentment on Jon's part, and since he can't exactly let it out on Elias (who is rarely there, anyway), he simply lets it out on Martin.

He finds reasons to do so, of course, insulting his work and all that. It's probably easy, especially in the beginning, because not unlike Jon, Martin doesn't have any qualifications to work in an archive! He worked at the library before, and we know that his degree is made up (which we can only assume Elias knows, considering he can know almost anything).

(I actually find the question on why Elias transferred Martin in the first place extremely interesting, and might get into that in another post. But this one is already too long, lmao.)

1.3. Martin is too nice, aka Jon has even more issues

This is mostly my personal headcanon, though I do feel it fits Jon's character - which is that he doesn't know how to deal with nice people.

Not kind people. Not friendly people. But nice people.

People who do things seemingly out of the mere goodness of their heart. Like bringing their mean boss tea when he never asked them to do that. Like being friendly even in the face of insults. Someone who constantly takes himself back in favour of other people and their opinions.

People like Martin is appearing to be. Appearing, because Martin isn't actually like that. He does have his opinions, and he could probably grumble up a storm in S1 about Jon, but Jon is his BOSS, and so he plays.

Martin also IS genuinely a nice person most of the time (when he's not on a revenge rampage, making his boyfriend murder people). He doesn't have to do nice things for Jon like bring him tea in S2. But he does. Because that's Martin's way of trying to reach out, to show other people that he means no harm (and that he can be useful).

(I also think that Jon's snappish behaviour, where Martin never quite knows what will set the man off, might remind him off his mum, but again I digress. :))

But I think Jon doesn't know how to deal with that, because even when he's not in the height of paranoia, he still suspects that people who are THAT nice (especially when they have no reason to be nice because he's being an arsehole to them) have a secret agenda. This is playing into what I said under 2 (the part that might be too much interpretation on my side lol), because if Jon suspects that Martin is reporting back to Elias, or is at least someone who would not be friendly if he found out that Jon doesn't know what he's doing, then he can't allow himself to relax around him, and he certainly can't allow himself to be lulled into false security (as Jon would think) around him.

Tl;dr on this point: I think Jon is wary of Martin's niceness because he thinks he might be fishing for gossip/anything he can use against Jon. And even if he isn't, Jon thinks he would be likely to use anything he learns against Jon, because they weren't friends to begin with, and Jon's behaviour has made them anything but that.

(We have to remember that this is the guy who says in S2 that he knows what it's like to 'lack the respect of one's peers', aka the kid who got bullied by at least one older kid, and likely had no or very few friends - plus he believes in the supernatural, which doesn't exactly lend itself well to getting academic respect.)

1.4. They were fucked from the start, your honour

Basically what the meme says, but yeah. The they were put in practically guaranteed that Jon would be wary of Martin, and that Martin would be trying extra hard to make friends with him, which in turn would make Jon even more wary/hostile.

And Elias made it worse, either knowingly or by negligence (not telling Jon about transferring Martin).

If we add the whole dog story to it... they were fucked. I do actually wonder if, assuming we take the dog story as canon, Elias actually somehow managed to set that up. Or whether he was at least cackling (sorry, smiling ever so silently, but smugly) in his office as it happened, or whenever he ended up knowing that it happened.

2. Yes, we've had one starting point, but what about second starting point?

As we have established above, the starting situation for Jon and Martin was... not ideal. So, would they have gotten together easily given a different starting point, like in a cute coffee shop AU?

Eh.

It's true that the specific situation they were in made it a lot harder for them to actually communicate and see each other as they are than it had to be. That doesn't mean that a different situation would have made it easy, though.

Their personalities still make it hard, though, as even without the added stress of a new job, Jon is still a little chihuahua shaking in the corner, who tries to make up for it by barking at everyone, and Martin is still the guy trying to approach him with treats and getting his hand bitten.

There are certainly specific situation that could make it easier, especially if Jon isn't scared as hell, and has maybe already learned that not everyone who does something nice for him wants to just pull on his strings. (Yes, I do think that the thing that makes Martin, according to Annabelle, suited for the Web, is the thing that put Jon on edge at the beginning. I don't know if this was intended at all, but it makes me cackle.)

The beauty of fanfic is that we can do whatever the hell we want. But I think the most fun thing an AU author can do is think 'What would have to happen, in this specific scenario, for these two to get over themselves and get together?'

Excursion: Martin, my beloved depressed blorbo who I am certainly not projecting on, haha

Because it IS both of them who need to get over themselves. Of course Jon's issues are the most obvious, and I've certainly expanded on them enough. But Martin also has a problem, and it's that he's constantly hiding his true feelings and opinions, especially anger and fear.

That makes sense, perhaps, in a workplace, though considering he's dealing with a walking, talking worm hive and a stalker boss... Let's just say it probably would have helped Tim, too, if Martin hadn't been so desperate to make everyone be friends again.

Because Martin is always TRYING to make everything better for everyone, but he's actually not helping anyone. Being nice to Jon and bringing him tea doesn't help battle his paranoia. And trying to tell Tim not to be so angry at Jon, and can't they all be friends, doesn't actually help Tim with his anger.

All Martin is essentially doing is making himself small and saying 'let's get along, pretty please' every now and then. I don't know if it would have helped if he had expressed his own fears and anger, and maybe Jon would have misconstrued that as well, too deep in his paranoia already. But at least Tim might have realised that he was not alone in all this. (His biggest problem, as he says in S2, is that he feels that no one has his back, which I think at least partly results from no one expressing the same anger, aka no one validating his feelings.)

Anyway! (Jon voice) Excursion ends.

3. (To the melody of 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor') What shall we do with these total idiots?

So, how ARE these two going to get together, if they're so woefully unequipped to deal with each other?

Well, first we need to give Martin a good helping of self-confidence. Then we need to kind of give Jon the same, since his problem ALSO is that he's unsure of himself, he just tries to make other people small to cover it up, instead of making himself small. (And isn't that a funny thing to do for someone who we know was bullied. To become a bully himself. Oh, the snake, biting its own tail...)

The easy answer is, of course: You can come up with your own version, get creative. <3

The more complex answer is: A lot of stuff, probably. Jon and Martin will certainly need time to get to know each other, and of course it depends on what situation you put them in to start. But there will be misunderstandings, and there will be hurt feelings, and I am going to soak it up all like a particularly slowburn-greedy sponge.

I feel like there are probably five million ways to get them together, and some might be cute and fluffy (if they go to therapy first, I guess, lol) and many will be full of tears. <3 (Jon voice) And I want to see them all on my desk by Friday! So get to it!

In all seriousness though, yeah, I think there's not one right way for them to get together (though canon did it well imo). But it's also a little more complex than we might give it credit to (very much including me).

4. So what now?

I don't know. I'm not your dad. Write a fic. Draw a picture. Put down your own thoughts on the matter. Or take a shower and clean up your room, young Padawan!

(Though actually, if you've read this post from start to finish in one session, what you should probably do is get up and stretch and get some water.)

And above all! And this is imperative.

Have a good day. <3

[intern-seraph]

twst biology lore and you

aka is malleus a mammal (and other seraph classics)

i have been Thinking as of late. about twst biology. again. i've already theorized about the surname practices of the briar valley fae and, of course, posed questions to my followers about what frog people would be and the implications of draconic fae being oviparous.

so, of course, i have come bearing the same questions and statements and analyses, but collated into a neat little post and with more up-to-date information. spoilers ahead, if that isn't clear.

sorry.

ON CLASSIFICATION: WHAT MAKES A BEASTFOLK A BEASTFOLK? A FAE A FAE? A MERFOLK A MERFOLK?

it is, on its face, easy to determine the line between merfolk and other humanoids in twisted wonderland: merfolk need to live in the water. everyone else does not. this covers all extant fish species, cephalopods like octopi, and any marine mammals.

cool. okay.

what about. amphibians.

are there frog people? salamander people? would they be classed as merfolk because their life cycles require a semiaquatic environment? would their young be born with tails instead of legs??? or would they be beastfolk, since adult amphibians are mostly terrestrial? (but in that case.. what about axolotls? they're fully aquatic due to maintaining their juvenile, gilled form even as adults)

the line between beastfolk and fae, on the other hand, is much more blurry. the primary characteristics that seem to be possessed by all fae are slit pupils, pointed ears, and large magical reserves that play an important role in maintaining their lives. they also have very long lifespans and accordingly age very slowly, but these appear to vary between different "types" of fae (bat fae, for example, tend to have a lifespan of around a thousand years, while draconic fae can live for many thousands of years). we know that (of the large fae, we're not going to go into the small fae folk of the faelands) there exist draconic fae (the draconia family and possibly another royal fae family from the land of red dragons?), bat fae (lilia), and crocodilian fae (the zigvolt family), but obviously there are more than that.

excluding bat fae, it might then be assumed that beastfolk are distinguished by inheriting traits from various mammalian species (see: lion beastfolk (the sunset savannah royal family), hyena beastfolk (ruggie's family and neighbors), wolf beastfolk (jack and his family), fox beastfolk (fellow honest/ernesto foulworth (why did they name him a real person name.......)), and cat beastfolk (gidel/gino)). HOWEVER. there exists. BIRD BEASTFOLK, as we learn in tamashina-mina/cloudcalling on the savannah when we meet kifaji/neji! this means! that the label of "beastfolk"!! does not just!!!! apply to!!!!! mammals!!!!!!!

after all.

as we all know.

birds are reptiles :)

anyways.

WHAT, THEN, DRAWS THE LINE? is it magical capacity? that would make sense when considering the existence of bat fae, as bats are mammals, which one might assume places bat people in the category of beastfolk. would that then mean that there are crocodile beastfolk in addition to crocodile fae? and then would that mean that some animal species just. cannot exist in both fae in beastfolk, like dragons? are they just... too innately magical to be beastfolk? what happens when there exist beastfolk with high magical capacity??? HELLO? IS THIS THING ON????

YANA. HOW DO YOU CATEGORIZE THESE THINGS. WHERE IS THE LINE, YANA. YANA TOBOSO ANSWER ME GOD DAMN IT.

NIPPLES, BELLY BUTTONS, AND OTHER DRACONIA THINGS

mammals quite famously have mammary glands. we're literally named after them, they're really hard to miss (usually. we'll get there.). all female mammals have them, many males also have them.

for most mammalian species, mammary glands secrete milk through a nipple. this goes for everyone except the monotremes, who are freaks that lactate via secreting it from their skin. monotremes do not have nipples, regardless of sex.

so, what are monotremes? in short, they are the only order of mammals that are oviparous, meaning they reproduce by laying eggs. as stated before, they lack nipples and instead secrete milk through their skin. there are 5 extant species of monotreme (4 echidnas and the platypus).

why am i talking about this, though. why do you need to know any of this.

because i need yall to understand how bizarre it is for a mammal to lay eggs!!! AND THE DRACONIC FAE ARE OVIPAROUS!!! this brings me to the haunting question... is malleus draconia a mammal. if he is, then is he a monotreme?

all oviparous animals (monotreme or not) lack a belly button by the way. the belly button, or navel, is essentially a scar left behind after the umbilical cord dries up and falls off/is cut. oviparous critters don't have an umbilical cord! anyways, does malleus have a belly button? DOES MALLEUS HAVE NIPPLES??? has yana toboso been covering up every inch of malleus' skin in all his outfits so far to avoid showing us his navel-less tummy?? was he excluded from the stitch event so he wouldn't have a nip-less groovy when all the other boys have nips???? i need answers. now.

SPECIATION, OR THE LACK THEREOF

the biological definition of a species is "a group of organisms that can reproduce with one another in nature and produce fertile offspring"*

with this in consideration, if beastfolk, fae, merfolk, and humans are all different species, they should not be able to produce fertile offspring across species lines.

this is, on its face, simple. they are so very different, after all!

... you may have noticed that i have avoided using the term "species" to refer to these different groups, aside from the animals the former three are based on. yeah. about that.

sebek exists. so do his siblings.

he is half-fae half-human. so are they.

if he and his siblings are able to have biological children of their own, this means that fae and humans are NOT different species.

okay, wow, what fucking gives, then? are beastfolk, fae, merfolk, and humans just... the same species?

i propose that they are.

consider the dog: we commonly think of dogs as being a separate species from wolves, yet wolves and dogs are able to produce fertile offspring: the wolfdog! this has led to wolves and dogs being classified more recently not as separate species, but as subspecies of Canis lupus (a common, extinct ancestor species).

I PROPOSE. THAT BEASTFOLK, FAE, MERFOLK, AND HUMANS. ARE THE DOGS TO EACH OTHERS' WOLVES.

THEY ARE THE SAME FUCKING SPECIES. THEY ARE ALL HOMO SAPIENS.

THANK YOU. AND GOOD NIGHT.

(* yes i know that the definition of species can vary and that people may disagree with a rigid interpretation or whatever. this is an analysis post about disney's villain anime boy mobile game Twisted-Wonderland i genuinely don't know why someone would expect me to engage that thoroughly in discussions of scientific semantics)

[elminx]

Since I have seen a lot of posts about correspondences in witchcraft going around again, I wanted to stop for a minute and talk about how correspondences work and why you might want to make sure that you understand the correspondences you are using in your own craft.

This is likely an oversimplification, but I think that we can break down correspondences into three main categories:

Cultural Correspondences - these are often heavily steeped in the mythology and folklore of a particular region. They are often but not always correspondences of items found in that region. This is where correspondences become the most varied because, despite what you may have read in Those Bad Witchcraft Books, culture is not universal. A great example of this is that most Western cultures associate the color black with Death and Mourning but a lot of non-Western cultures have the same association with the color white. It stands to reason that this type of correspondence will work the best for you if you are sticking as close to the correspondences of the bioregion that you grew up in as possible (1) and that they will be most effective when used magically on somebody else from that bioregion (2).

Material Correspondences - these correspondences are based on the physical properties of the item in question. Some plants are edible, some medicinal, and some poisonous. Things with thorns can hurt you when you touch them. Quartz has high levels of electric conductivity. The idea here is that if Rosemary repels insects, it can be used in a banishment spell to repel that unwanted "insect" from your life. These are, in my opinion, the immutable correspondences - the item you are using will ALWAYS carry its physical characteristics with it into your magic. Spicy peppers will always be Hot and Burning, so-called "Weeds" will always grow tenaciously, and Sugar will always be Sweet. It is worth keeping in mind here that when using plants, the part of the plant may affect whether it carries that correspondence. Sometimes only one part of the plant carries a particular property - consider the difference between the sweet scent of rose petals that we use in love spells versus the sharp thorn that would be better used for protection. 3. Sympathetic Correspondences - The base concept behind sympathy is that two things that are alike in some way share a connection with one another that can be harnessed magically. The more alike that two things are, the deeper the connection. There are many ways that this is used in magic. A lot of herbal correspondences involve sympathy through the Doctrine of Signatures. This is the thought process that anything shaped like an ear can be used to affect ears/hearing magically. The Doctrine of Signatures gets rolled in a little bit with Cultural Correspondences as it is heavily rooted in Western herbalism, but it deserves a mention on its own. Another way that sympathetic magic makes its way into correspondences is the idea that an object from a particular place carries some of the energy of that place which can be harvested for magical intent. You see this in the use of bank dirt in money spells or cemetery dirt in baneful magic. This is also where Holy water, moon water, and stormwater come into play - here we are assuming that something that has been done to the water (being blessed by a priest, charged in the moon, or collected during a storm) carries an inherent energy that can be then transferred to your spell. Depending on your viewpoint, you may or may not agree with the concepts of sympathetic magic.

And that's the whole point of this. Witchcraft, as a whole, isn't the sort of path where you are supposed to proceed based entirely on blind faith. If you're flipping to a certain page in Scott Cunningham's infamous Green Book and finding the first money herb you come across to use in a spell, you are probably doing yourself a disservice. I suggest that you look closer. Not only will the physical correspondence change how your spell manifests (I've written about this before) but you may find that you don't even BELIEVE or AGREE with that correspondence at all. And maybe that's not important to you (but if that's true, why are you even reading this?). But I suggest that it should be. That understanding of a correspondence deepens your connection with the energy of the item you are looking to use. Moreover, exploring it further may give you all sorts of juicy ideas for spellwork to augment that energy.

Do you like my work? You can support me by tipping me on Kofi or purchasing an astrology report written just for you.

[manie-sans-delire-x]

Thoughts on ASPD stigma.

Even psych professionals often dont comprehend how having CD or ASPD (or NPD or even BPD) is not the same as having "bad person disorder", and they forget that a person without those disorders can be equally toxic or manipulative. ANYONE can be. Even depression or anxiety can contribute to someone being toxic. Drug addicts are known for being highly manipulative and toxic, yet we correctly identify them as the victim and patient who needs serious help. (And you dont even choose to have a mental illness at all, while many addictions start as a choice).

The stigma and defeatist attitude of psych professionals refusing to treat ASPD or see it as impossible leads to confirmation bias and a self-fulfilled prophecy. Even if the ASPD itself cannot be treated, most have co-morbid issues, and a depressed, drug addicted, traumatized sociopath will behave worse than a non-depressed, non-addicted, healthier one. They should focus on other areas and work on what they can. The brain, and life itself, is a system, and making one aspect healthier will make all parts at least a little healthier. Also, they know people with ASPD notoriously do not seek out treatment and tend to reject it, so why not try when someone is willing and take the opportunity to learn what works and what doesnt? Where is the willingness to try? To try challenging their own therapeutic skills? The academic curiosity to learn?

Ive been medically discriminated twice, due to an ASPD diagnosis myself, and due to my own schooling in psych, I know that they straight up teach students that therapy just makes people with ASPD more manipulative. And I'm actually not even denying that, I do think thats true in many cases, but refusing to treat a person with mental illnesses and trauma because they MIGHT become more manipulative in the future is crazy. This way of thinking is not tolerated in any other field- medical, legal. A doctor doesnt (usually) refuse to give treatment, even to a murderer or rapist. A judge cant sentence a person as guilty because they feel like they might commit a crime in future. (And at least committing a crime is objective, while "being manipulative" is subjective, vague, and also not illegal...).

Whenever I work as a mental health professional, I make a point to approach my clients with unrelenting positive regard. I think the best of them even when they're being very symptomatic, even when cursing me out and physically attacking me. I hold the belief that they are trying their best and severely struggling, and I treat every day as a new leaf and fresh start between us. The patient who actually has the illness is the one suffering the most. Its a disorder for that reason, because having it really sucks and negatively impacts a persons life in every category of functioning. No one sane chooses that. If I can do this with an ASPD diagnosis, they certainly are able to.

I think this stigma could be reduced a little by including internal experience and thought process in the diagnosis criteria, or at least discussing it with students, not just focusing on external behavior. This deeper understanding of the psychology behind ASPD may increase empathy and help clinicians see ASPD as a complex, usually trauma-driven mental illness whose presentation can vary a lot between people and that doesnt make up the entirety of a person's personality, instead of just seeing someone choosing to be shitty.

Also I know prison inmates are a conveniently available population to research, but they should really research people with ASPD who are able to keep out of prison and somewhat function in society, and females too, not just violent male convicts. Obviously basing all knowledge on extreme cases and only one sex is going to give a skewed perception.

[laugtherhyena]

Fuck you *categorizes your moonscorches*

Earlier today i was chatting with my friends and it made me think a lot about the moonscorched forms of the termina cast and what they represent, the conversation itself was about Daan and Elise's relationship and how i personally don't think we can use Stitches as an accurate way to read her character due to moonscorch.

Because the moonscorch forms are at their core a distorted version of someone, however the way in which they're distorted tends to vary a lot between characters to the point that in order to understand what way that is you need to know who they were as humans, which is something we can't do with Elise since she's a background character who we never interact or see when she was alive.

This made me want to look into and try to categories the termina participants moonscorch forms in the way i think the distortion potrays them as, which it's not accurate to them as people in most cases.

-Daan: "This isn't who i am"

There's nothing about Pocketcat that resembles Daan aside from his physical appearance and a couple odd lines (of which i feel like may happen because he is a fresh new body for Pocketcat? So he still has a few of Daan's memories and mannerisms but those will likely fade away the longer he stays in that body) because he's just a creature who took over his body, Pocketcat is not Daan and Daan is not Pocketcat. I personally don't even count this as a moonscorch form, but sources tend to group him with the others, so i might as well add him in this list.

-Abella and Marcoh: "This isn't who i am, but what the world percieves me as"

To look at the Chaugnar and conclude that Abella is a rude and violent person is just straight up wrong. Abella as a person is kind, sweet and caring, but not only is her profession something uncommon for women to have in that time period but she actively works for an organization that values her skills and not her as a person.

It's easy to percive her as something she isn't judging solely by appearance and/or an abridged description of her character. This is what the Chaugnar is, it's Abella being potrayed as the mindless brute she doesn't want to be seen as.

The same thing happens with Marcoh, his background, his connection to mobsters, his reputation as a street boxer, all of those things can paint the image of Marcoh as a dangerous and violent man when in reality he is genuinely a good person at heart.

-Levi, Marina and Olivia: "This isn't who i want to be"

These the most upsetting form of moonscorch in my opinion because the distress and agony the characters are going through it's incredibly apparent.

Levi despises wars, they took so much away from him and gave nothing but trauma and addiction in return. He hates being associate with them which is why Weeping scope cries as he relentlessly scratches the gun on his head, it's Levi desperately trying separate himself from wars and violence, unfortunately to no avail.

Following her father's footsteps is not something Marina wants nor does she feel like she has to, the idea that her life has been decided from the moment she was born by someone else is something she hates. Marina's moonscorch is her being forced into this role and being controled by another person, a parasite that has logged itself onto her body and now gives her orders on everything she has to do.

This last one may be a little more of a stretch, i don't know Olivia as well as i know the other two, but her moonscorch being a giant machine that continuously poisons you through the fight makes me think about how much Olivia hates feeling like she's a bother to others and that a group would do better without her to "slow them down". There's also the fact that she's a botanist and machines are pretty much the polar opposite of the nature she cares so much about.

-Tanaka and Henryk: "This is who i need to be"

Judgement is pretty much the embodiment of Tanaka's feelings about how as the head of his family and their main source of income he needs to keeping going regardless of his mental of physical state, it doesn't matter if he's hurt or exhausted he needs to continue working, he has to, the grind never stops! Because this is what he thinks will make him the perfect eldest son.

Now this other one is heavily tied with my personal interpretation of Henryk's character; which is a man who, coming from a career that's usually not seen as very "manly", wants to fit in and conform with society's expectations of how a man is supposed to be because he hates the feeling of rejection.

That's why the Gentleman is, well, a gentleman. It's the kind of person Henryk feels like he needs to be. He's big, strong and moreover he's a leader, the mayor or Prehevil, it makes me think a lot about how men are expected to grow into strong leading figures just for the sake of being a guy.

-Samarie and O'saa: "This is who i should be"

Truth be told O'saa is one of the characters in this game i know the least about, so i had to get some help from my friend Marco on this and at the end of the day we thought this category was the best to describe his moonscorch. O'saa doesn't live by anyone else's rules, be it the government, the gods, he doesn't even follow the rules of the yellow mages, the Mastermind may be a manifestation of his ego as in if he isn't following them then he surely must be above all of these forces? Hard to say.

Now Samarie is a weird one, i don't really know where to start? So i think I'll do it by the name lf her moonscorch form, Dysmorphia, which is when someone obsseses over one or more aspects of their body that they consider a flaw. From her lines i get the feeling that Samarie really doesn't like herself that much and reading her mind mostly shows her calling herself a fool or a fucking idiot, so it's plausible that this dislike towards herself also applies to physical appearance and not just her as a person.

My friend once pointed out that Dysmorphia looks like the opposite of Samarie and while he said it in a joke manner i do feel like there's some logic behind it; Samarie has long hair but Dysmorphia has none, Samarie is skinny and bony while Dysmorphia is big and round, Samarie is always with a tired and kinda sad expression while Dysmorphoria apears to be smiling. It could be that Samarie hates herself so much that she sees this monstrosity that's the opposite of her as "perfect form" of sorts? She does say that she's radiating as Dysmorphia, i guess it's food for thought.

Because really this entire section is mostly me theorizing/speculating because these two were the hardest characters for me to categorize on this.

-Karin and Caligura: "This is who i trully am"

This is one of the most interesting moonscorch categories because they're the only ones that accurately potray who these characters are despite being distortions of their human selves.

Karin is the Valkyrie, she genuinely believes she's doing a good thing with her work, that she's is imortalizing these fallen soldiers and giving them the recognition they deserve. At the same time she knows those who criticize her work have a point, she makes a living out talking about these tragedies like a vulture that feeds of a corpse on the side of the road, yet she sticks to her beliefs that what she does is good at the end of the day.

Meanwhile Caligura is undeniably a vile disgusting man, he is a monster inside and out. So seing him as a giant scrotum that stays submerged in gross sewer water does a good job at summarizing who he is as a person.

[hwnglx]

do u think the jealousy men in kpop have of her are whole groups of idols orrrr is it like small pockets of them? but either way if i were jennie she should tell them to man up. lol make their own success. does jennie still love performing / blinks? sometimes she gave the vibe that she didnt really want to perform as well as say lisa.

i have to honestly say, it's more of an exception, that a male idol doesn't feel intimidated by female idols more successful than them. this has been a reoccurring theme throughout several of my readings. the more successful the woman is, the more insecure the men get around her. also, i gotta say that i can see this being more severe for korean men. so many of them are still bizarrely uncomfortable with the thought of women overtaking men in the same category, in their mind that's just not how it works. this is more of a trivial example, but during my reading i saw boy groups being weirded out about girl groups taking the win over them at music shows. doesn't matter if they're idols, they're still men at the end of the day, so a large majority still go through life seeing women's primary advantage being their sex appeal. many korean men struggle comprehending women's appeal lying in their talent. which is fucking weird to say the least.

to get to jennie, it's definitely the insecure idols with a fragile ego who seemed to be most jealous of her. i could also see some idols feeling genuinely attracted to her being such a boss, however they were more of a minority lol. (though i saw some even thinking they could benefit from jennie's success by linking up with her so lol talk about fragile egos) i couldn't really see any whole groups persé, feelings do seem to vary from member to member.

jennie loves the creative and expressive side of performing, but she doesn't enjoy the pressure and the strict gazes that result from it. i can sense that, for a long time, her view of performing had been tainted by all the scrutiny she was put under, and i can see her having a lot anxiety about going on stage for a good while. in my reading, i could sense this huge dislike towards being controlled, and having to continuously reach this level of perfection in order for people to not hate on her. she very often felt like she was singled out, and no matter what she did, she never really did enough for people to leave her alone. like doomed if i do, doomed if i don't.

however, i can tell she's been able to shed a lot of those negative emotions towards performing at this point, and wants to bring back the genuine love she has for it. the stage was usually her home, the place she felt most comfortable and confident at, so she wants to go back for sure.

[freetobeafcknriot]

Okay but hello! I saw your post about a Soulmate!AU for TUA and with season 4 coming I feel like I need to know more sooooo may I?

anon the way you made me screech and giggle and cry tears of joy because of course you may know more?? i've been waiting for this??? for reference, this is the post and this is how i'm tagging the au to keep track of it on my blog. because i may not have a title, but i'm an editor and sometimes a writer and almost always i just have an overreacting imagination. so i definitely needed a tag. anyway! i'll... idk i will give you a few details? hcs? this is the gist of it, buckle up !

the psa for this is that there are two kind of soulmarks: the ones you already have when you are born (if you're born with it; not everyone is and as a matter of fact the only two brellies to have a twin flame are allison and klaus) and the ones that appear through life (way more common). a case could be made to differentiate between these two categories, for which we either talk about twin flames—allegedly what once was one single soul now split in two perfect halves who are said to recognize and yearn for one another—or soulmates—two souls drawn to one another out of compatibility or remembrance who connect and form something.

this may vary from one culture to another, but there generally is no fixed standard regarding romantic or platonic bonds, as every soulmark and soul bond are unique in form and shape and meaning. this is the core of it all.

now. . . when they're little, reginald makes six of his seven children get the umbrella academy tattoo. in this universe, that tattoo is sort of a faux mark, because reginald had a strict and precise stance on soulmarks and at the time claimed that such things were foolish compared to the duty the academy had towards the world. the team should have formed a united front, be a unit, so that tattoo was a symbol that was to be seen as binding. marks and bonds can be made not just by fate, after all! at the time, little viktor was exempt from it because he wasn't part of the academy.

(little did they know that years down the line, in the sixties, an actual mark would appear on that same spot. this time though there would be seven of them.)

anyway, i don't know if you want a rundown of the soulmarks and whatnot? i have an in-depth list of bonds (both marked and not) with backstories and considerations and hcs regarding canon events that is quite lengthy because i imagine the au splitting in two branches at some point—one canon compliant up to season 4 when it's out and one canon divergent post-season 1 or 2—and  i'm also writing down a list of the soul bonds within the academy that is basically an abstract from viktor's book (because he would have included it too). i'll keep it short for starters because otherwise i'll end up unloading too much on you all and i'm afraid of being too all over the place, but basically. THE SOUL BONDS:

there's the tattoo of the series/faux mark and the actual soulmark that in my mind appears on top of it mid-season 2 and is shared by the brellies. team zero, hey? then from the oldest to the most recent to manifest we've got. . .

FIVE & VIKTOR, the rings ┈ because i nicknamed them all according to their soulmarks they have this small pigmented ring on the right ring finger that changes in shade depending on the physical distance between them. very subtle and cool and with much lore following canon, as you may guess. the only thing i'm gonna say for now is that five and vik's soul bond goes back to when they were four and it played a small role in the leaving lights on and sanwiches out situation.

LUTHER & ALLISON, the cryptolect ┈ it means that they can speak a language of their own. literally! it's impossible for anybody but them to understand it, reginald probably tried and failed to identify patterns or elements from various linguistic branches to make some sense of it but it just can't be picked up or taught as it's basically second nature. given how luther and allison were as kids it was such a big deal and so obvious that no one even remembers a time before and obviously due to recent events it's kinda cool to me to see it as a bit deteriorated but still ever-present bond.

FIVE & BEN, the wisps ┈ literally what five started calling the two flame-like little spirits that represent his and ben's soul bond after ben pointed out that they looked like the will-'o-the-wisp he'd read about in a book. but also because of the way they would appear and always lead the way to one another. that was their thing. nobody but five and ben has ever been able to see the wisps, not even klaus, so they had a theory that maybe they were an echoed apparition of their souls or something like that. there's a lot of lore/hcs here, too, especially regarding five's disappearance and time in the apocalypse and ben's afterlife as a ghost. all i can say is ‘so close yet far’ and ‘never truly gone’.

KLAUS & BEN, the timers ┈ it is as it says, only there were speculations about what the timers led to given that they weren't aligned (read: they were counting down to different dates) and not even made out of conventional numerals. the soulmark itself was a bit above the inner crook of the left elbow, no darker than a sunspot, regularly in motion and indicating years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds in roman numerals, which is part of the reason why it was a bit difficult to interpret with no previous familiarity. even more so if you're oblivious or in denial. again, lore and angst and delayed realization came with a row of light null characters in its stead. quite a bit of baggage because i love them and canon says so.

DIEGO & KLAUS, the compass ┈ more specifically, i have it jotted down as a moving indicator that appeared more or less when they were around thirteen or fourteen. it might have seemed out of the blue then, but all things considered it wasn't that unexpected, especially when you look at season one or if you too think that diego used to haul klaus from the streets or drag him to rehab if they ran into one another. anyway, their soulmark is kind of a compass if you go by its shape. it's embedded on the lower part of the palm of their right hand, towards the thumb (below klaus' hello tattoo), and it does move and spin, but instead of pointing north it points you towards the general direction of the other.

OG!BEN & VIKTOR, the blossoms ┈ the most subtle and late soul bond of them all. i like to think that the lowest numbers were close as kids, given the information we were given, so even though their relationship might have stilled a little in their teens it was still tender enough to grant viktor and ben a soul bond. they were never sure of when it happened because the only instance where the soulmark in on itself becomes visible is when they touch. physical contact equals a tiny luminescent outlined flower appearing near the knuckle of their left middle finger. to which i feel the need to remind you all of this:

so these are the soul bonds within the hargreeves siblings! without taking into account sparrow!ben (or the sparrows in general) because stars do i have something in store for pookie as well.

i was tempted to add more, but i also wanted to emphasize how there doesn't always need to be an actual, visible soulmark for a bond to be important plus i'm waiting to see if season 4 makes me add more lol. diego is a primary example of this because, without spoiling anything, he secretly craved that kind of bond as a child, even though his siblings love him just the same regardless. it's also the reason why i have a list of non-marked bonds as well as one for soul bonds featuring characters outside of the academy. there might also be a playlist somewhere, because each bond has a song in my mind, but i digress!

this has gotten super long already so for now, that's it that's all. but i'm tagging this au and working on it and my inbox is there if you uuh, wanna chat about it more? ngl it was hard not being able to rant about it with anybody, because there are some elements and facts and implications there that genuinely alter my brain chemistry daily. so thank you for the ask, nonnie! <3

[aurora-313]

I've been openly critical of Thousand Year Blood War since its weekly manga release way back in late 2010s. It was so immemorable that I'd legitimately forgotten it, and by extension Bleach, existed until the announcement in 2022.

The revelations presented require so much backreading and contradicts earlier established facts, it make it difficult to tolerate. Interpersonal reveals reflect incredibly poorly on many characters, demonstrating in some cases outright negligent tendencies in their duty of care towards others and themselves.

(Masaki, Isshin, you don't have to tell him everything but its not hard to teach your god-child basic safety and the supernatural equivalent of 'don't run in oncoming traffic'. The fact neither did of you did, makes you damned irresponsible parents imo. Almost like your powers were retconned into existence without thinking through the rammifications, huh?).

The sum total of my issues are too numerous to mention but my biggest issue is theme of fate in Bleach; how it applies to Ichigo's desire for self-determination and how TYBW in particular gleefully pisses all over that.

While fate and destiny can be aspiring things, they are by definition traps. Confines. Set parameters that must be fulfilled. As a result two primary attitudes exist in response; one must rise to meet the occasion gloriously or defy it to forge one's own path (success varies).

Ichigo's opinion has always fallen into the latter category.

Ichigo wanted to destroy fate. Wanted to negate its unfairness. To remove its strangling shackles from his life and those he cares for. To quote:

If fate is a milestone, then we are the grist. There is nothing we can do. So I wish for strength. If I cannot protect them from the wheel, then give me a strong blade, and enough strength... to shatter fate.

In essence this is how Ichigo wants express his agency and self-determination, by protecting others. He wants to defend the downtrodden from the unfairness ugliness of reality. An agency he gains through obtaining Shinigami power from Rukia.

Or so he believes.

Problem is, every arc and especially TYBW exposes that theme as a total lie.

Whenever Ichigo believes he's expressing agency to combat whatever ill fortunate awaits those he wishes to protect, he is in fact playing into the hands of others.

He believes he's making an active choice to defend and guard and protect, but in reality Ichigo has never had a choice in anything, merely the illusion of one. Worst of all Ichigo never realizes most of his choices are illusions.

With every subsequent arc, the sad truth is that Ichigo is enslaved to fate. Shackled to its designs since the dawn of reality. Enchained by the literal gods and devils on his shoulder. At one point, fate even turns Ichigo's own body against him as his Quincy blood forces him to slay the previous Soul King.

In his drive to break fate's confines, Ichigo becomes its ultimate poster boy and enforcer.

But in a sad yet classic prophetic twist; Ichigo believes he's actively fighting an unfair destiny.

A destiny written by the Soul King's Almighty eons ago.

In a word, the Almighty is omniscience. First held by the Soul King and later Yhwach.

Conceptually, omniscience and free will cannot co-exist. The world is self-determination or pre-destination. There's no middle ground.

This in mind; the Soul King knew precisely how he would die. He knew a Shiba scion would eventually gain the power to release him from his torment eons upon eons after his sealing under the compulsion of Yhwach's Quincy blood, then slay Yhwach to replace him.

In other words, Ichigo's desire for self-determination was the greatest lie of this story. His every action and reaction were predicted and cemented since the dawn of time. Taken to its logical extreme, Ichigo arguably had no free will at all (absolutely fitting because he reads like a damn automaton in the last arc). He's a pre-programmed organic robot blindly following the path set before him by his creators, there's no error codes (ie. questions or hesitations) because his programmers told him exactly the right command prompts to set him loose.

And almost as the ultimate spit in the face for Ichigo's futile wish for agency in his own fate? Yhwach curses him in the end. Cursed Ichigo with a prophesy that at the moment of his greatest happiness, Yhwach will return to crush it to dust.

Meaning Ichigo is now destined to carry that curse for the rest of his days, his days as a human, his days as a soul, possibly even after his soul death and winding up in hell.

By the avatar of fate's own command, Ichigo is never permitted to find true happiness again.

Which actually rather neatly explains why Ichigo seemingly retired from shinigami work after the war concluded. And a rather damning indication of his marriage to Orihime and his own son.

When is Ichigo at his happiest? When he's engaged with the spirit world. What's he done in the ten year timeskip? Cut himself off from the spirit world. When does Yhwach show up again? The first time Ichigo engages with the spirit world after ten long years.

All told, its a rather tragic tale, isn't it?

Then again, I suppose that could be Kubo's intention. The more Ichigo tries to fight fate, the more fate bitch slaps him and tells him 'get back in your lane.' And Ichigo, after years of being thoroughly defanged, bows his head and obeys.

If that's so, then I congratulate him on delivering such a tragic despair-filled message.

[arthurtaylorlester]

whispers into your inbox "jmart was the worst thing that could have happened in tma; it wrecked Jon's character and is the most transparent 'how do we not have our mc become suicidal?' I have ever seen. TMA then falls into the hole of the only important or good enough relationships being romantic, discarding previous character development to throw everything into romance solves all ~ ♡ I hate it and I hate how much Jon is woobified and infantilized in the fandom to drool over Martin and I hate how everyone acts like their relationship is good, when I think either of them with 5 years of a normal life would realize how awful the relationship was for both of them." Anyway lol I expect no response or post of this I am just being spicey on anon

oh anon you thought i was gonna see a take like this and not post it?

i need you to out yourself to me because goddamn this is an interesting take!

look, i love jmart, but even with 5 seasons of development they still somehow managed to feel rushed?

i disagree in that their relationship being unhealthy is a bad thing for them, because like the appeal of podcasts for me is the fucked up relationships. fucked up characters = fucked up relationships, yknow? like john and arthur from malevolent, normally, they'd hate each other without much of a second thought, but that's not the point, they love each other despite that, and that kind of extends to jmart for me.

i also totally agree with the fandom criticism, woobifying jon is like the only tma content i see on twt and it is soooooo annoying.

my personal qualms with tma however is in part the lore decisions and how the fandom treats the lore (and also the whole podcast).

s1 is easily the best season, mostly because you have no fucking idea what's going on, but after s2 things really start feeling like they're being drawn out, at least to me? like i think season 3-4 couldve been one thing, and um. season 5 is fun if you like jmart and the eye ig. i know most of this is a gross oversimplification (not forgetting yall basira&daisy fans) but after the core cast of season 1-2 i could not really get the other characters being fundamental in the story (not georgie. i love georgie)

don't get me wrong, the not-sasha arc was amazing! but after tim died, and martin fucked off for most of a season being sad, i was a bit bored. the buried isnt interesting to me sorry.

and also they under-utilize basically every fear, including the eye, and the one that upsets me the most is the stranger. oh what is it? circus and clowns ig. LIKE OPEN UP YOUR EYES THE WORLD IS OPEN TO YOU THE UNCANNY VALLEY AS SO MANY NICHES PLEASE

and by the end of the show, it just feels like they keep rotating the same 3 fears, and the others just kind fade into the bg

and then there's the fandom. i'm sorry but some of you guys act like tma is the end-all-be-all of fiction horror podcasts. when it's just not. sorry, but the magnus archives, after s1, just isnt scary. you know what's going on, the fears! which are neatly tied into these categories of oddities!

and the show explicitly states that the 14 fears categorization is arbitrary and that they all bleed into one another, but the fandom just. ignores that? like i've heard so many people go to other podcasts and say ''oh x is so eye avatar-coded!!'' and then x just has some vague eye symbolism that isnt even the point (this is about arthur lester)

and like i don't understand how tma manages to be the most mainstream fiction podcast nowadays, when welcome to night vale is right there ! and yes, i am implying that wtnv is objectively better than tma, because wtnv despite running for 12 goddamn years has never bored me with an episode, and it has roughly the same amounts of episodes! they both have similar formats that could repetitive quick (radio show vs statements) and even though i'd say statements have more creative freedom, wtnv still manages to not be boring. this might also just be a fact of better and more varied authors but hey, this is just my opinion

i want it to be clear that i'm not trying to start discourse, i still like tma! the fanartists are some of the most talented artists i've seen, and the fics are just aughhhhhhhhhhhh /pos

[wildernessuntothemselves]

Hi~♡ so, the list I said I could do right?

Turns out some of my favorites got recently deleted and I obviously can't recommend your own fics to you, so there are only 28 beomgyu fics/writings here (not counting multiple chapters of the same series). I also may have skipped a few just cause i was very tired while putting this together, idk, if i did i may make another list with them. As compensation I am giving a few sub!yeonjun ones at the end, hope it counts.

Quality and size of the writings vary a lot. I also don't know why the hybrid fics are all a little angsty. But seriously, three of the fics that disappeared were sooo good... and now I will never be able to read them again.

♡ Series

• Now Live! Stream

Summary: Every Thursday night at 8pm, you tune into your favourite camboy: Angel313. What you don’t know is he even goes to the same uni as you, is in the same class as you and is Choi Beomgyu, the campus fuckboy but will you keep his secret?

• On Accident

Summary: your roommate is cute but your thoughts haven't been so innocent lately

• Fuck You Series

Summary: you and Beomgyu are both from infamous rival bands at the same uni, you being the bassist of your band: Blue Moon. Beomgyu being the lead guitarist of his band: Tomorrow x Together . You hate Beomgyu the most out of all of them though and one night at a party you decide to teach him a "lesson" and become...fuck buddies ??

♡ Multi partners or Poly

• You never even wanna talk about it

genre: polyamory, runaways, smut, strict parents, hurt/comfort, set in mid 00’s.

• Kinktober day 12

Summary: Beomgyu wants to cum and goes about in in all the wrong ways. Which leads to him being forced to watch Yeonjun get off while he faces harsh criticism from their girlfriend.

♡ Fluffy smuts

• March 13th, 2001

summary: you show beomgyu how much you love him

• (nameless fic)

summary: beomgyu has been teasing you nonstop the entire day. calling you mommy every chance he could. he's amazed with how a word could make you so giggly. so he kept doing it.

• (nameless fic)

summary: inexperienced beomgyu getting off on fingering u for the first time

• Missed You

Summary: beomgyu sends you a very inappropriate video of himself whilst you’re at work.

• Pacifier

Summary: beomgyu loves your tits so much it gets him to cum untouched

• (nameless fic)

Summary: boobie boy Gyu

• Pretty Boy

Summary: cute boyfriend gyu misses you very very much and wants you to fuck him with your strap, so he decides to surprise you and be a good boy.

♡ Angsty smuts

• Until it Hurts a Little Less

(the author didn't make a summary for it, but basically y/n life is going from bad to worst, hybrid!gyu doesn't help by being a mean piece of shit, eventually you hit your breaking point and... you will have to read to figure out the rest)

• (nameless fic)

Summary: sub!dog hybrid Gyu is in heat and begging for help (I'm keeping this in the angsty category because y/n is overworked and ends up being mean to gyu in a non sexy way)

• Puppy

Summary: beomgyu acting like a bad puppy towards you and well.. you decide to turn the tables on him. so you fuck kitty!yeonjun in front of him

♡ Casual(?) Smuts

• (nameless fic)

summary: fuck buddy!beomgyu who loves marking you up. knowing that even if it's not him who you're fucking, the other person could never own you the way the have.

• (nameless fic)

summary: you met your older sister's best friend, beomgyu, at your sister's birthday party. you've been stealing glances with each other. flirting from afar until you got fired up with waiting for him to make a move on you. (there is no clear sub/dom dynamics here, but it's good so I'm keeping it here)

• (nameless fic)

summary: smoking with sub!beomgyu and things get a little heated

• High

(more smoking with beomgyu and things getting heated)

• My Pretty

(boyfriend gyu come over and find you still sleeping, so he decides to wake you up in the best way. he is not exactly subby, but very sweet and loving)

• Needy for You

Summary: you are close friends, laying on the bed cuddling until the innocent gentle touches turn into more suggestive touches and things happen

• Kinktober day 25

Summary: service top gyu likes being degraded

• Corrupt File

Summary: the pretentious genius boy in your class ends up being a needy subby virgin cutie

• Feel Good

Summary: softdom!reader makes her sweet pup feel good

♡ Perv!Gyu

• The Urge

Summary: Beomgyu knew it wasn't right, and he was being a dirty, disgusting pervert but, he just couldn't help himself when it came to you. (not exactly sub!gyu but he is so down bad it's worth it)

♡ Comedy (?) Smut

• Cuffed

Summary: Cop!gyu thinks with his dick

♡ Not smut, just whipped Gyu

• Nap of A Star

summary. you’re taking a nap on your friend’s lap

• 8:55PM

(just beomgyu simping for you in his head but not knowing how to act)

♡ BONUS: sub!junnie

• Sweet Creature

Summary: fairy!reader lures yeonjun into the woods

•𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝒷𝑜𝓎 ☽ 𝒶 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝑜𝓎

Summary: another fic where fairy!reader lures yeonjun into the woods

• Morning Cuddles

Summary: Just waking up in the morning with him by your side...except a bit steamier than just that

• Love me More

Summary:  yeonjun arranged what he called “fucking meetings” so he could make you forget about college for a bit, as the amazingly great person he was, clearly this isn’t sarcasm. but when you two left the room, you had to act like complete strangers around each other, dying to claim your true feelings. one day after he saw you getting to involved with another man, he decided to finally act up before he regretted it. Switch!Jun

• Call Connecting...

Summary: You and Yeonjun call frequently while hes on tour. Normally one of his members would be there with him, but this time, it’s just you two with nothing to stop you.

• Perv best friend Yeonjun

• Bunny hybrid!Jun

(I was gonna add the @s but I forgot and now I am tired, sorry)

~♡anon

thank you so much 😭😭😭😭😭

i actually know a lot of these (which just goes to show how few sub gyu fics there are out there) but there are some that i haven't seen before so yay. but even the ones that i know are nice to read again. i stayed up till 7 am reading some of them 😂

[alarrytale]

Hey I’ve talked about this on here before but I very much disagree with people wanting to label Louis as an alcoholic. People really like to use that term and it doesn’t really apply to Louis from what I can see and this is why: in addiction medicine addiction is something that gets in the way of a person’s ability to live their lives. Things like relationship problems, inability to work/hold a job or legal problems related to their use and continuing the behavior despite persistent harmful consequences. And then there’s dependency and brain changes and things like that. In the US where I am, the surgeon general says men can have 2 drinks every single day. Whether you think people should or not is up to you but that’s the official stance. Louis doesn’t seem to have trouble with his work commitments considering he just came off a successful international tour. He seems to have strong relationships with people in his life. And I’ve never heard about Louis being too drunk. As we’ve seen this week addiction is very serious and should be taken seriously, Louis doesn’t hit the marks for that diagnosis or label. At most, in my opinion, he MIGHT be a problem drinker (that’s the official term 🤷🏻‍♀️) which means in practice that he should be careful. Personally I don’t think he is, I think he’s a social drinker and he’s young and likes to have fun and is very much in control of his substance use. He also seems to have a strong support system which is critical. I don’t think it helps anyone to decide anyone who consumes drugs or alcohol is an addict. They could be! But most people are not. I also think that it’s not right for us as fans to decide that. If he ever does experience addiction which I hope he does not, I hope we will all respect his privacy and show compassion if he ever wanted to share that with us. Liam chose to share it but he didn’t have to. Ok this has gotten way longer than I meant for it to. My main point: Louis doesn’t appear to meet the requirements.

Hi, anon!

I haven't seen anyone label Louis as an alcoholic, other than harries who say it to hate on him. I don't think Louis is an alcoholic, but he's got a dependency that he's talked about himself that's concerning to me. We have had several instances of Louis being too drunk, and it's all been after life changing events in his life. Alcohol is a coping mechanisms for him, and i don't think that's debatable at all. I think we can all agree on that. There are also a lot of functioning alcoholics out there, who has an addiction and a dependency, where you can hardly tell they have a problem because they do their job and keep their commitments, while hiding their dependency or not realising they have an issue.

I don't think it's very helpful to judge anyone, but it's also not helpful to ignore the signs we see and sweep it under the carpet either. If he's got a problematic relationship with alcohol, i think he should seek help and stop drinking alltogether before it turns into alcholism. I understand Louis' need to dull his pain and trauma, because we all know what he's been through. He's doing remarkably well mentally despite everything. But he's still at risk and there are better ways of dealing with pain and trauma that i wish he'd give an honest try. We all love him and want him happy and healthy, and around for a long time.

Also, the amount of units of alcohol per week people should limit themselves to, varies from country to country. It's also about how often you drink, pattern of drinking, what you drink and tolerance levels. Some people are more at risk than others, and i would say Louis is in that category.

It's really hard to sit by and just watch someone you love be in pain and dealing with it in unhealthy ways, without being able to help and support them in any way. I really hope Louis is concious of his relationship with alcohol and knows he's at risk. But i have to say that i'm not sure he is.

[genshinconfessions]

"Actually, Nahida only takes a smaller form because she's the youngest archon--"

So you're telling me she identifies most with a child body.

"Well, no, see she's just short-"

But you just related her form to her age and how she percieves her age

"Yeah, but she's so mature-"

Because of the trauma. Literally as a result of her trauma. Maybe she could've aged differently and chosen her form as such should she have been given a proper upbringing, but that doesn't change the fact that as of now she Views herself as a Child and Projects The Body Of One.

---- I'm sorry, I can't - with Sigewinne being revealed, I've been seeing more shit sexualizing children and I'm Tired. Lets just put it to rest, okay? Tall body models? Typically adults, no exceptions come to mind. Medium body models? Some young adults and some teenagers.

But characters with the Smallest Model? It's not just short. Look at their proportions. If they were just short, they'd still have similar proportions to the previous models, but they don't. Their heads are largened with softened features and their body shape matches other child models in the game. An argument for body type also doesn't work given Genshin isn't exactly inclusive and such logic would only apply to one of the three model categories. They are children. Stop fucking around with your "AcTUaLly" - It doesn't matter. You are attracted to CHILDREN and need HELP. If not help, then to be on a list. Either check yourself and improve, or at least quit making excuses so the rest of us can ignore you as we so please whilst also redirecting younger members of the community.

Not to mention, those that plea and cry that their "waifus" aren't actually children and are just short adults, typically don't have that reflect in their content created and consumed. Maybe I'd take y'all a little more at face value if y'all actually y'know, drew and wrote what you supposedly believe. Hell, it'd still be a problem if it were Jean or Lisa being sexualized, but drawn and written blatantly as children.

Also, anyone that may want to say "oh, you don't believe in short people" - I DO. I AM a short person. A short asian person who has been infantalized and not treated as an adult. But I have also been a child who was sexualized. And now both intermingle in my life. I am sick and tired of it all. It's all just shitty excuses. Thirst after literally anything else. Work out whatever you have going on with consenting adults instead of projecting it onto public media that has an audience of varying ages Including Minors. Additionally; Venting, coping, and exploring darker topics via fiction is NOT the same as GLORIFYING and INDULGING. That line should be Very Distinct.

(one last point: some people say characters like Dori and Sigewinne are a salesperson and nurse respectively, adult professions, yeah? Well friendly reminder, Barbara is ALSO a nurse. Fischl is an adventurer, and she's no older than 16. We are going by FANTASY LOGIC in which children can wield weapons and explore nations with little to no supervision! The given profession of any character as well as their attire means nothing in that kind of world.)

i'm sorry you've had to go through such things, anon :///

but i agree with you; it's a problem that definitely extends outside of genshin but for some reason, ppl seem so desensitized to it and shrug it off as 'oh waifu go brrrr' which is quite irresponsible imo

i'm a big proponent of 'fiction is fiction and you can think whatever you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone', but in this case, these things DO harm ppl; they harm all the very young children who play genshin and partake in fandom discussions

it's very important for everyone to realize that even if a piece of media is fictional and thinking/saying/doing certain things won't hurt the characters, your actions will absolutely set an example in real life, very possibly harming the younger members of the fandom

the line is quite gray sometimes, in fandom circles, and it might be hard to tell what's 'okay' and what's 'not okay', but i think most ppl have a good sense of what's simply enjoying a character vs sexualizing them

and hence, it becomes our responsibility to call out the things that are disturbing and potentially harmful. even if the original person who did those things won't change, you've at least spread awareness to others and let them know that [whatever the thing was] is unacceptable

katheryne from liyue

[thatndginger]

Happy WBW, K! I'm wondering about the world of Shapeshifter. What sort of supernatural things exist in that world and how well do they all coexist? I feel like if I try to ask additional questions in too much detail I will reveal that I don't know much about that world, but I'd like to please go ahead and ramble about any aspect you like!

Hey Moshke! Sorry this took so long for me to get to ^.^|| Life has been a lot lately.

Don’t worry at all about not knowing much about Shapeshifter world. All my actually worldbuilding stuff is scattered to hell and breakfast, so if anyone besides myself *did* actually know about it at this point, I’d be amazed. Maybe when I finally finish a draft that will change…

There are three main types of supernatural creatures in the Shapeshifter world: human-like, animal-like, and ‘other’. These are very broad categories, to be sure, but it’s kind of like taxonomic classification, you know? Start with the broadest categories, and narrow it down from there. 

Human-like supernaturals are, by definition, primarily human or humanoid in appearance and behavior. Many scholars classify human-like supernaturals as “beings who were once human, but have since been altered via magic into something else”. Human-origin shapeshifters fit into this category, as well as vampires, various faeries, and some spirits. There is debate over whether witches classify as supernatural beings, but most scholars exclude witches on the grounds that they only manipulate magic and aren’t changed by exposure to it.

Animal-like supernaturals are primary animal in appearance and behavior. These supernaturals are perhaps the most varied category, since they can be anything from a spectral cat to a bird that can wield magical healing powers. Animal-origin shapeshifters such as selkies or kitsune fit into this category; as well as creatures such as the various Celtic water horses, magical birds like the Sri Lankan devil birds and Chinese shangyang, the Chilean carbuncle, and Argentenian peryton. 

‘Other’ supernaturals are those who do not easily fall into human- or animal-like categories, or have yet to be ‘proven’ scientifically. Things like ghosts, gods and deities, and a variety of mythical creatures that show up in ancient stories are in this category. Anything that can be believed in but never definitively proven tends to end up in this category.

For the most part, all supernatural creatures tend to coexist well enough, though there are definitely prejudices between most of the human-like supernatural creatures. Vampires and shapeshifters tend to dislike being around each other, but will work together and live in proximity if they need to. Faeries and spirits are usually isolated to ‘wild’ places and are distrusting of most humans and human-like creatures, to the point that there are many people who don’t believe that faeries and spirits still exist - if they ever did. Animal-like supernaturals tend to be rather rare and also prefer isolation over human interaction, but they’ll interact with other supernaturals when given reason. There’s only been a few points in history where supernatural creatures were actively hostile to each other. Their hostility is usually reserved for humans.

[small-screen-superman]

The Missed Potential of Clark Kent in Superman: The Animated Series

This post is also on my independent blog, Small Screen Superman - go there for an even better experience!

Clark Kent is my favorite part of Superman. On a basic level, it’s not hard to explain why: I enjoy the contrast between him and Superman, how he can add depth to Superman’s character, and the fact that Superman can be more easily challenged in this identity. But to go into detail is more complicated, because Clark can be many different things and serve many different purposes within a story. Who he is and how he has been portrayed throughout the decades and different continuities has varied as much as his alter ego, if not more. But most of the time, there are two basic “takes” on Clark that have been used heavily throughout the years:

The original version, where Superman tries to make Clark as different as possible from his true Superman personality in order to keep his secret identity safe. As a result, Clark displays various traits that are seemingly the opposite of Superman, usually cowardice and being “mild-mannered”, as well as physical weakness and perhaps clumsiness, and sometimes even more traits to make him contrast with his true identity and personality as Superman. Let’s call this “wimpy Clark”.

The version codified by the 1986 Post-Crisis reboot of DC Comics (but not a completely new invention of that reboot), where Clark Kent is considered Superman’s true identity, and thus he has the same assertive and strong personality as his alter ego. Let’s call this “assertive Clark”.

It’s important to not oversimplify things. Even most versions of “wimpy Clark” can be assertive at times, which makes sense. Clark is a reporter, one of the best reporters for a huge, famous newspaper, and the stories he works on tend to be about things that make for interesting stories to readers, like crime, corruption and intense stuff in general. It’s hard to report about this stuff if you’re a total wimp 24/7. And occasionally, a Clark will come along who doesn’t fit into one of these two categories.

Still, for the most part, Clark Kents usually fit into one of the two takes. As diametrically opposed as they seem to be, I enjoy both. Theoretically, I prefer “assertive Clark” when done right, but I certainly don’t prefer it unconditionally. I enjoy a well-written, well-utilized “wimpy Clark” more than a poorly-written, poorly-utilized “assertive Clark”. That brings me to the main topic of this article: Clark in Superman: The Animated Series.

The most obvious issue is that the Clark Kent identity just doesn’t get that much screen time. Ironically, despite this being one of those “Clark is the real identity” takes, there’s less focus on Clark than there is on the average “wimpy Clark”, who’s supposedly the “fake identity”. Now, not every piece of Superman media is obligated to give a bunch of time to the Clark identity, but this is an entire Superman solo show. There should theoretically be plenty of time to go over different aspects of the protagonist’s life.

Maybe if they managed to do a lot in a small amount of time, it’d be fine. But Clark’s personal and professional lives are largely neglected. We don’t get to see much of his daily life at the Daily Planet – Perry White is basically demoted to a background character. We don’t get to see his personal relationships get much development, to the point that they barely even implement his attraction to Lois or attempts to have a relationship with her. You don’t need me to tell you that Clark pining after Lois and Lois snubbing him while being interested in Superman is a staple of the character, but this isn’t really a part of Superman: TAS. What makes this even weirder is that in the third part of the World’s Finest 3-part episode, they mention this famous love triangle, despite the fact that they failed to actually show it!

This still doesn’t have to be a major problem in and of itself, though. Every version of Superman emphasizes different things. My concern isn’t that Superman: TAS didn’t tick the right boxes when it came to Clark, but that they underutilized him in general. My favorite show, Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves, also didn’t emphasize romance or the love triangle, but it focused a lot on Clark’s life as a reporter and gave him strong relationships with Perry, Lois, Jimmy, and the show’s resident police character Inspector Henderson. It utilized Clark better than any other Superman media, in my opinion. You really got a feeling of who he was as a person and how he cares about the people in his life and about fighting crime and helping people, not just as Superman, but as a reporter too.

These choices, as well as Reeves’ acting and the writing in general, make me really appreciate Superman’s character in Adventures of Superman. Seeing him in his human life (which feels very authentic – this version of Clark is arguably the first “assertive Clark”) not only makes him easier to relate to, but also easier to admire, because we see him being a good person in his day-to-day life, not just when using his powers.

Now, S:TAS has very different emphases than AoS – it’s far more focused on superhero action than solving mysteries, so it’s natural that the Clark identity would be used less. But it’s still a part of the show, and in my opinion, if you’re going to include an aspect in your show, you should make good use of it.

Interestingly enough, S:TAS does make good use of the Clark identity in one episode…and basically only that episode. That episode, The Lake Mr. Kent, is naturally one of my favorite episodes of the show. Its format is more similar to an AoS episode since the plot is based on Clark investigating a story in the hope of helping someone – specifically, he’s trying to help a soon-to-be-executed death row inmate who he believes to be innocent. (This is actually the same basic premise as one of my favorite episodes of AoS, Five Minutes to Doom!)

This episode does a good job fulfilling what I’m looking for when it comes to Clark: it shows his willingness to follow through on what he believes even if others don’t agree and gives him a challenge that he wouldn’t have if he was just Superman (the crux of the episode and reason for its name is that, when Clark gets too close to the truth, someone tries to blow him up, and so everyone thinks Clark is dead). Even Clark’s journalistic rivalry with Lois is present here, in the form of Clark bragging to her about the story! (I love when Clark is smug.)

Furthermore, it actually does give some meaningful answers as to what being Clark means for Superman, even if it’s mostly done through Clark making direct statements. When talking with his parents about his “death”, he mentions that he is Clark and has to be able to spend time in this identity rather than as Superman or he’d “go crazy”.

That’s a pretty basic statement of the post-Crisis concept of Clark, but it’s worthwhile to establish. What’s interesting about this is that it shows that his life as Clark Kent is extremely important to Superman, but the lack of focus on Clark in the rest of the series shows that it’s not very important to the writers.

A more interesting character moment to me is when Clark acquires the evidence proving the condemned man’s innocence, he drives to the governor to deliver it as Clark. In narration, he says this is partially to avoid awkward questions (presumably he’s worried about his secret identity), but also mentions that ego is involved – that he wants this to be “Clark’s victory, not Superman’s”. This is a more interesting and concrete demonstration of what it means for Superman to consider Clark to be his true identity. He cares about being recognized for his accomplishments as an investigative journalist, and that makes him feel very human.

So The Late Mr. Kent is a great episode that actually uses the Clark identity well, but it’s a major outlier in S:TAS. It cannot truly make up for the lack of focus and development on Clark and his relationships in the rest of the series. The very concept of the episode, Clark Kent’s seeming death, can’t hit as hard as it would have if the rest of the series had done a better job establishing Clark’s importance to his friends and to Superman. The scene where Lois talks to Superman about Clark and her regret about not having told him her feelings (though it’s unclear whether they are romantic or just feelings of respect or friendship) would’ve hit a lot harder if we had been shown more of Lois and Clark’s relationship in the rest of the series. This scene’s significance to the viewer is mostly based on general knowledge of the Superman concept rather than the show itself.

I can’t help but think about what could’ve been. What if this had been a show that actually put a decent amount of focus on Clark and Lois’ evolving relationship? This could’ve been more than a nice moment, but an actual turning point. Even though Clark obviously turned out to not be dead, Lois would’ve realized that she can’t take him for granted and may have tried to express her feelings more, enabling them to build a strong friendship or even become romantically involved. But S:TAS wasn’t interested in that, sadly. Even if it wanted to mainly focus on fun action, that doesn’t mean spending time on characters or relationships wasn’t an option.

And I need to emphasize that The Late Mr. Kent is an extreme outlier as far as Clark Kent in S:TAS goes. Even on the rare occasion that the Clark identity gets significant screen time in an episode, there’s rarely much of interest in his actions and behavior. And I wish so much that his friendships with Lois or Jimmy were better established – not even The Late Mr. Kent did much in that department.

For a more typical example of Clark in S:TAS, let’s take a quick look at another one of my favorite episodes, Ghost in the Machine. The amount of screen time Clark gets in this one is actually fairly significant by this show’s standards. He and Lois attend an unveiling of Lex Luthor’s new technology, they discuss what happened as they drive away, Clark goes to Luthor’s office and tries to get some answers by talking with Mercy Graves (Luthor’s bodyguard), and later, he talks with Lois on the phone.

That’s enough scenes for some interesting characterization to happen, but we don’t really get any. Lois and Clark’s conversations are mostly about advancing the plot. (Though I do love Clark’s facial expression here.)

When he’s interacting with Mercy, he just comes across as a hard-ass reporter. Honestly, I find this slightly off-putting since even when he’s not “mild-mannered”, Clark usually feels a bit more subtle than this. Even if he’s not actively trying to project weakness and seem different from Superman, that doesn’t mean Clark should be as tough and aggressive as a reporter as Superman is when dealing with a threat. Part of the appeal of seeing Clark in his civilian life is seeing Superman when he’s not actively dealing with a dangerous situation and thus has a chance to breathe a little and not be “on the attack”.

(I will say, it’s sometimes understandable for Clark to be aggressive as a reporter. But I’d like to see more variety that shows the breadth of his career and experiences, and that can’t really happen in this show due to the lack of focus on journalism.)

Sadly, the entire series gives us very few moments when Clark can relax, and it’s not like he’s relaxing much in the Superman identity either. We just don’t get much time with the character when he’s not dealing with an immediate problem. There’s an episode, Father’s Day, where Clark’s parents come to Metropolis and are going to have dinner with him and Lois, but this is interrupted by bad guy shenanigans, and we never go back to it. What a great opportunity this would’ve been for interactions, characterization, and just seeing Clark have a good time with people who are important to him!

Ultimately, I get that S:TAS is trying to focus on action, but I feel more meaningful characterization or relationships could be squeezed in even in small moments if necessary. The fact that they aren’t demonstrates that it just isn’t a priority for the show. And considering the show also doesn’t have much interest in mysteries or other kinds of stories where Clark can progress the plot, the end result is a show where the Clark Kent identity doesn’t have a place.

But as it is, S:TAS is a series where Superman’s human identity is underutilized and largely uninteresting. How big a problem this is varies from person to person, but to me, it’s a big deal. It could be considered a symptom of the greater problem of the show focusing on action to the detriment of characterization and relationships. At any rate, it’s something about the show that’s pretty disappointing, and I don’t feel like the show “makes up for it” – that it’s using the Superman identity in such in-depth and complex ways that they just can’t spare time for Clark, or something. I think there’s plenty of times when this show could be more interesting by using Clark more or better. And I think in general, when we’re talking about an entire TV show focused on a single main character, seeing multiple facets of a protagonist’s life be well-developed and interesting shouldn’t be too much to ask.

And more broadly speaking, I think it demonstrates a truth about “assertive Clark” in general. If you’re going to have Clark be the “true identity”, it makes sense to make it important to the story, since after all, it’s important to Superman. Otherwise, what’s the point? I guess it might make viewers feel good that Superman sees himself as “one of us”, but other than that, Clark serves little purpose. And to me, that’s just not satisfactory.

[mcalhenwrites]

It took me far too long to realize that all the hard work had paid off and continued to do so, in regards to my writing. In the past, when I'd feel proud of a story or a scene, I'd immediately scramble back to, "Well, someone will read it, and they'll find the flaws, and they'll know I'm an imposter."

Every single person who writes - even those who've done it 50, 60 years - doesn't do it perfectly. That's impossible.

The definition of what makes "good" writing also varies per person. I personally love it when the writing style is a bit more poetic (you can see that influence slowly infiltrating my own work) and we hear details about the characters that give us more depth about their background and personality. Meanwhile, some people want that to be kept vague and for the story to cut to the chase.

I though my writing was too simple/basic, and I've been told my writing wasn't good enough for anyone to read in writing circles. I've been told my characters all fall into the same category. There's more history with this, but people read my fics and my original works and still liked them. I know these things weren't true then and they're especially not true now, but I was so insecure and afraid that I believed the negative commentary most.

I don't think being hard on myself was all that helpful, either. So none of that improved me. My methods of going about improvement did, but I might have done better at this stage in life if I hadn't let terrible people confirm my negative feelings.

(This isn't about criticism, either. I like concrit! But insulting someone's work or tearing it down in a public space for your friends to have a go just makes you a shitty person. It doesn't make you helpful whatsoever.)

I've also not been able to trust writing circles for years, which sucks. I have some friends who also write, but I'm typically pretty careful and don't do well integrating into new writing circles. Not really fair to the writers in them, so I've finally dipped out of trying to get involved in any until I figure out how to socialize without fearing that I'll end up the butt of all jokes.

And getting over that is hard, I tell you. Even now, I hesitate. "My writing might actually be all those things, and I'm defying reason by saying it's good." Only to then realize that if I wrote exactly like those people's favorite authors, but they knew it was me, it wouldn't matter how good it was. They were out to make fun. Maybe that stems from jealousy or just their own general insecurity that makes them need to drag down others with them. I'm sure some were not into whatever I was writing, but it's improtant to learn how to handle that without being cruel to the author and their work.

All I can really do about it is make sure that's the type of writer I never become. That's the best I can do: support writers by buying books, leaving genuine commentary on AO3, and enjoying my own writing journey.

I love writing. The joy of creating characters and worlds, of weaving them into words... I love that entire process so much. I told myself a year ago - when I took down all my writing from the public eye and locked my works in a private AO3 collection - that I wanted to focus on that for a while. It helped me so much to take a step back for about three months. I also don't mind that most of that stuff is still private.

I did leave up a couple of anon works, but only because I didn't want them to disappear at the same time that all my other writing did. (And those are still anon, and people don't know I've written them.)

These days, I still worry that even the writing I've set aside for publication will never take off, and that I won't have my writing career, but... that's never going to stop me from writing any of it. At this point, I don't think anything beyond a life-altering severe health issue or death is capable of stopping me.

This doesn't mean I doubt my writing quality! I think that the book industry isn't particularly great to begin with, and self-publication is complicated when you have to be your own PR person. What I write is also not for everyone. It's a little weird to say it's niche, as if that makes it special, but I just mean that it might only ever appeal to a small group of people.

I have to keep writing what's in my heart. But after all this time, I'm glad I'm still here, that I have always and will always write what I need to, for myself.

And it's also okay if I want to monetize some of it and share some of it for free, if I want to post or publish it because I think it's good enough to share. Libraries and book stores exist because people do that. We now have the internet to share our writing, whether it be original or fic, and I think that's a beautiful thing. (Side note that fic is just as valuable as original, and I don't condone saying one is better than the other. That's needlessly cruel to people who work hard on their writing writing, regardless of what they write. The publishing industry has its messes, but fics/fandoms do too, and you just have to find the writers who deliver what you like. If you exclusively prefer fic to original or original to fic, that's fine, just don't make your personal tastes a reason to insult millions of writers whose works you've never read. As an author of both and as a fan of authors who write both... I have a wider pool of writing to enjoy!) Anyway, I suppose I'll always fight some imposter syndrome, but... it's nice to also recognize my own skill level. It's nice to have others recognize it, too. I do think that helps a little. We all need some support and encouragement. We shouldn't forget our roots, but it's not necessary to take the journey through writing alone unless that's what we prefer. :)

[onlineassignmentservice02]

How to write a good case study

To complete a case study, you will need to analyze a real-world scenario and then argue how the various aspects of that scenario relate to theory. The case can relate to either a real-life or hypothetical occurrence, organization, person, or group of individuals, as well as an issue. Depending on the task that has been given to you, you may be expected to propose answers to issues or suggestions for how things should proceed in the future.

In most cases, a case study will be presented in the form of either an essay or a report. In the second case, your assignment will most likely be broken up into sections that have headings and subheadings to make it simple for you to find the information that is most relevant to your project.

Case studies can be approached from a variety of angles; therefore, it is imperative that you double-verify the particular guidelines that have been provided to you at all times. Case studies can be broken down into two primary categories: descriptive and problem-solving.

Writing for the people who will read it

The way you convey yourself in language should be convincing and user-centered communication. To accomplish this, you will need to conduct in-depth research on your target demographic, also known as your stakeholders. Your stakeholders are not only the people who are going to read what you have written but also the people who are going to be affected by any decisions or recommendations that you choose to include. In other words, your audience may be composed of a variety of people who have varying requirements and points of view. This pertains to both the case study you are working on for an assignment as well as the report you are writing for your place of employment.

When you have a good understanding of your audience, it will be much easier for you to alter the way in which you convey your information. This includes adapting the way you express yourself linguistically, as well as your tone and style, to fit the requirements of your stakeholders. If, for instance, your case study is intended for the Minister of Health, then the tone of your writing will need to be professional, and you will need to make sure that any technical words are presented in a way that is both clear and succinct while also providing real examples.

Consider the following questions:

Who will read my case study, and what are their motivations? Which of the following best describes the needs, preferences, expectations, and goals of the stakeholders? How can I write in a manner that is both clear and simple for this specific audience? How exactly will my case study be utilized by the stakeholders in their work? Which of the necessary technical concepts have I clarified, and have I done so in language that is both clear and succinct?