#I mean……it’s the Aligned Continuity

[nonbinary-potatoes]

Prompt: star 05/11/12 @rosekillermicrofic

Word count: 464

"I don't get it," Evan said, looking at the piece of parchment Barty had handed him. He had read it three times, and all Barty did was stare expectantly.

"It's my divination work. We're doing star readings," Barty explained at last. He took the paper back and pointed at a diagram of different stars labelled with different times and dates.

"This one here" he pointed at a constellation label 01/09/72 12:34 "is when I met you" he grinned widely, digging in his pocket and slotting a green apple lollipop in his mouth. He spoke around the sweet as he continued to explain.

"See because... I don't know if some air and fire sign was aligned with mercury when we met. That means we're actually soul mates, " he laughed, taking the lollipop out his mouth and offering it to Evan. Evan took it and tucked it safely between his lips, raising an eyebrow at Barty's explanation.

"S'a good job, I already knew that," Evan joked, frowning as Barty continued to drone on about divination, not even acknowledging the hilarious joke he had made.

Barty had taken all 12 OWLS and seemed to enjoy every subject equally and was physically unable to shut up about every assignment and tidbit of information he learnt. Evan wouldn't have been shocked if he could pass all 12 just from having to share a room with Barty.

After far too long of listening to how the universe allegedly was certain that he and his boyfriend were meant to be, something he had to listen to a slightly different explanation of everytime Barty came back from divination, Evan had grown slightly bored. It wasn't that he didn't love Barty - he loved him to bits and peices, and he did love watching Barty talk about things he found interesting and how he was not so subtly showing his love for Evan even if it was in an odd way. But you can only listen to your boyfriend say mercury is in the microwave, and that makes us soul mates so many times before it feels like overkill.

"Bee..." Evan said, taking the near gone lollipop from his mouth to speak "Bee" he repeated himself after Barty didn't listen. "For fucks sake.." Evan grumbled under his breath, leaning foreward and pressing a short kiss onto Barty’s lips.

"I love you, but please, can we talk about anything but divination?" Evan half pleaded, trying to come off light and joking.

Barty took the lollipop back and nodded, biting down on the remains of the candy and thinking for a moment before tossing the marked work aside and grinning madly - his teeth stained slightly green.

"Did I tell you I read this book on necromancy..." Barty began, and Evan was content to just listen.

[chiefdirector]

Predicting - Tim Bradford | The Rookie

"I don't want to talk about it," (Y/N) said, trying to move away from her husband. She was, however, unsuccessful in her attempt as he grabbed her arm. "Let me go, Tim."

He dropped his grip, "Don't you see the correlation? It's blatant. Dyer has made her move."

"I'm aware of that. Doesn't mean I want to talk about it though."

"Why are you being like this?"

"Like what?" She said as her gaze hardened. "Like I don't care, it's because I can't. Not right now. She wants me to care, to play her game; I refuse, Tim. I'm not going to be a pawn anymore."

"So you're going to do nothing?" he asked incredulously, almost in disbelief that he had to ask the question to begin with.

"Exactly." She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Tim tried to hide his dumbfounded expression but (Y/N) caught on quickly. "Think about it, babe. Why would she go through all this effort? To taunt me, first.." (Y/N) paused, finally letting her wall of apathy crumble. "First my brother, now she tries to provoke me with this mess."

"So you're not reacting, at all? What makes it worse?"

"That's what I'm counting on." She said before making her way back to her desk, leaving Tim no room to argue.

—

"You were right."

Tim's voice broke the silence surrounding (Y/N). They had not exchanged words since earlier in the day. Chen helped Tim stew on (Y/N)’s plan, and after he had calmed down, even he could admit that it was a good plan. All they would do otherwise was entertain the criminal.

(Y/N) looked up at his words, briefly moving her attention away from the laptop screen in front of her. She knew that she didn't need to verbally acknowledge his statement, instead opting to pat the space on the couch beside her, beckoning him over.

It only took a moment for Tim to settle in her side before she turned the screen so he could see what she was looking at.

"I've been looking into Dyer's history, known contacts, her usual M.O. Something about her actions now didn't seem to align with the intel we already had on her. So I did some digging, and I was right, it isn't the same."

"Right..." he trailed off.

"Rosalind Dyer plays to win, and this battle could be infinite. She's already on death row, so there isn't anything that she could lose, or gain from this."

Tim hummed, prompting her to continue. "There is no conceivable outcome where she lands victorious. She doesn't want anything; this is a means to an end."

Before she could continue her train of thought any further, Tim's phone rang. Gesturing for (Y/N) to wait, he grabbed his cell and answered it. (Y/N) had thought nothing of it, beginning to pick at her nails when Tim's concerned voice brought her attention back to him.

Questioningly, she raised her eyebrow at him as he continued to talk. Although she wasn't left to wonder for long before he hung up, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"What happened? Is something wrong?" She asked, moved forward to place her hand on his.

"We're testing your theory out now, the Department of Corrections are preparing to transport Dyer to the station. She's agreed to show the location of more of her victims."

"When?"

"She's spending the night in one of our cells, ready to start early tomorrow."

She took a moment to digest the new information. "I'm not going with her. I don't think any contact is a good idea.'

"I agree, but Grey doesn't."

"What?"

"That was him on the phone," Tim sighed, "He wants you to escort her."

"Great," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she began to make a game plan for tomorrow. Although try as she might, (Y/N) could not seem to rid herself of the pit that had begun to grow in the bottom of her stomach.

She knew that nothing could happen, not yet anyways, and especially not tomorrow. Rosalind would be in lock and chains, surrounded by the best police officers Los Angeles had to offer, but he ailment did seem to quell at that thought.

It would be far too simple, far too easy for Rosalind to make her next move when she was out of prison. It would be like taking candy from a baby, which worried (Y/N). She was missing something.

The thought had started to make her head spin, but soon that spinning became an ache and it didn't take long for it to turn into a sharp pressure pushing against her skull. She moved to get up and take herself to bed when she felt her blood rush from her head, dizziness causing her to pause.

"(Y/N)," Tim siad, quickly moving to support her, "Are you okay?"

(Y/N) nodded, trying to stabilise herself, "Just moved too fast I think. I'm fine."

She moved to get up again, this time managing to stand. Collecting herself, she tried to excuse herself to bed, but as she approached the door, her body came crumbling down once again, this time she succumbed to unconsciousness.

Tags: @xceafh @kmc1989 @buba424 @salty0cracker @iamasimpingh0e @malindacath @agentred27 @hufflepuffwhore13 @tessalynni @anaferreira-4 @starstruckchopshoptyphoon @alessiamargaux @rexit-mo @ladespedidas @omg-its-vixen @agentcable @rookietrek @fluentmoviequoter

P.s if you saw a grammatical error, no the fuck you didnt

[torque-witch]

Post-election comfort reading

It's only Wednesday, huh?

Well, let's take a breather and pull some cards. What should we be remembering and paying attention to today?

Page of Cups

Communication through art and creativity is the backbone of humanity. It is always needed, and right now we should all be using our energy to channel inspiration and creativity, even if it is dark. Art has always been subversive to an extent, but it is important because it lays out our emotions and thoughts in a way that transcends speaking. Whether it is music, podcasts, paintings, digital art, drawing - focus on something creative to get through the days ahead. Art is always needed.

The Star

This one got me, y'all. "Hope and inspiration after turbulence" feels a bit like a slap in the face, but it does have merit. In order to draw from that well though, we need to put energy back into it too. Align yourselves with your higher self, your spirit, your calling and keep going. What you value does have energy in this world, and the power to lead to healing. Just because the world seeks to poison that well does not mean we have to let it. Share what makes you, you. Be loud and vocal about what and who you love. There is always hope when there is at least one person in your court, even if it is you. Don't give up.

Queen of Pentacles, Reversed

Anxiety is winning today, but that's okay. Just don't let yourself suffer for too long. Achieving victory today was not going to mean that the work was over. Always be looking for opportunity to change your outlook and take those risks. For now though, find your center. Find your support. Build a peaceful environment for you and your comrades by continuing to be the person you want to be. 

Seek Inspiration in Unusual Places

Apparently the key word for today is "inspiration" and it may feel like a challenge today to even think about. But as we move forward, keep continuing to support and commune with the weird, the marginalized, and those in opposition to the mainstream. You can find a home there in times of need. You can find strength in numbers. You can find the inspiration to overcome all that seeks to tear us down. We aren't going anywhere. 

I love you and please stay hydrated, try to eat something and take your meds if you need them. And rest!! We can do the work another day. 

Decks used are Lubanko Tarot and Inquire Within Oracle. 

[dinarosie]

Still, to appease the more radical purebloods and future death eaters, Snape must have internalized some of that anti muggleborn propaganda that Voldemort was spewing and the hatred his Slytherin friends were spreading. Although I'm aware that majority of the wizarding society held some superiority over muggles and I even believe many of the so called good purebloods (like the Potters) were condecensing to muggleborns sometimes, tho unknowingly, there is a difference between quiet prejudice with no ill intent and the radical bigoted beliefs that some of the wizards held. The death eaters clearly believed that muggles were human sickness and muggleborns were no better and Snape was around that rhetoric every day and later became part of its circle. I always just saw Snape as a selfish person who tried to gain more power and a sense of belonging and he was insecure enough to believe many of the bigoted beliefs that was part of Voldemort propaganda or just the overall hardcore prejudice. He called muggleborns mudbloods even when he was Lily's friend. I always imagine him as someone who would dismiss Lily's feelings about slytherins and even gaslight her about Voldemort's propaganda and her worry behind anti muggleborns rhetoric. Like he downplayed it while participating in it at the same time. We can see this with any real life prejudice existing in our world. Many people who are homophobic try to create reasons for disliking gay people and when gay people complain about their hatred, they just downplay it, make it seem like its not that big of a deal or just continue with their excuses. I can see Snape being like that. And even if his reason for joining death eaters had nothing to do with violence and hatred, he became part of it anyway and being part of something like that influences the way you think especially if you wanted to be part of it. He also became part of it during the time the violence was already known and that certainly did not stop him so he must have had some prejudices or highly ignorant beliefs towards muggleborns.

It seems like you're very determined to apply a strictly logical, real-world mindset to a fictional, fantasy world. I get that imagining a Severus Snape with deeply ingrained, extremist, anti-Muggle biases would make more sense in a real-world context and may feel more "realistic". But that wasn’t the point of Snape’s character. This is a story, and not everything needs to follow real-world logic exactly. Even in reality, not everything unfolds as expected. Snape’s character is, in many ways, an exception���he surprises audiences frequently and makes choices that don’t always align with his past actions or logical expectations. Some of these contradictions seem deliberate; Snape has to exist in this gray area for the story to hold its depth and ambiguity.

So, while Snape does associate with future Death Eaters and, at times, seems to justify their actions, that doesn’t mean he fully internalized all of their views or intended to act exactly like them. Lily did a similar thing, in a way: she mentions that she often tried to excuse Snape’s behavior or overlook his mistakes. But we wouldn’t conclude that Lily agreed with or had adopted Snape’s beliefs. Another example is Peter Pettigrew, who is almost Snape’s opposite. Peter was sorted into Gryffindor, the very house that upholds Dumbledore’s ideals and values. He surrounded himself with people destined to be future Order members, yet look at what he became. Peter didn’t just reject his friends’ beliefs; he betrayed them completely and was loyal to Voldemort for years, even plotting his friends' deaths and stayed loyal to Voldemort for years afterward, to the point of risking Harry’s life for Voldemort's return.

I don’t deny that Snape held biases and some prejudiced views, whether as a teenager or a young Death Eater. But, as I mentioned in my previous post, there’s no solid evidence that he was an extreme racist, a torturer of Muggle-borns, or someone who delighted in the idea of “cleansing” the wizarding world.

As a personal opinion, I also feel that comparing real-world homophobia to anti-Muggle sentiment in the wizarding world isn’t quite the same. Muggles and wizards have a long, tumultuous history, and at one point, Muggles persecuted wizards to the extent that they had to hide their world to ensure safety and survival. This isn’t a distant past—Hagrid even mentions in Philosopher’s Stone that Muggles would likely exploit wizards if they discovered their powers. So, while homophobia is irrational and baseless, anti-Muggle sentiments in the wizarding world, however wrong, are somewhat rooted in historical fear and survival. It’s no surprise, then, that the wizarding society hasn’t fully let go of its anti-Muggle biases, even after the wars.

[developing-human-code]

I know that unlike a lot of other people here, I prefer to keep politics outside of my tumblr, but I need to do this.

Now more than ever.

Everything is below the cut so I don't block off other important posts here, please reblog and spread it around.

If you are like me and living in a red state, whatever you do, keep pushing for answers, do not stop. If you live in a blue state, keep pushing forward, and do not let them silence your questions. And make sure you fight, and prepare to learn how to use weapons you never want to use, which means yes, go get a gun license. They're going to make it harder to get birth control than a gun, so take advantage of them letting you become defensive.

If you stop or let them silence you, we fail. If we fail, we die. And I'm not saying that lightly. I'm currently living in a state where a used car salesman was voted in instead of a politician that actually backed up his words with action.

And while many do what they can to prep (which god are they clever as hell, I wish I could prep like they can but well, not too good of a situation), many more need to not only question but also get out there and speak out, no, scream out and fight against genuine tyranny rising thanks to these people who voted for him and those who could participate but chose not to. You may try to act moral but know that silence supports violence, as you always say, and your silence supported a very violent man, now many like I need to have to pick up defenses, hide our identities, and walk the streets, protesting for change for the better and fighting against everything they try to do.

If you truly wish to save this country, understand that someone with my political alignment is not your enemy, and stop saying that I'm on the right because I am aligned with liberal ideology, I have never voted for anyone on the right since I was able to vote. You are blind to what people on the right truly are, and now you're going to deal with a wake up call. I never wanted this, so don't say I did. In fact, people like me are more allies to you than anyone else right now.

And for those who wish to fight I have these diagrams for you to help prepare for a protest, and make sure you protest, do not stay silent. That is what they want. Do not let them get what they want, fight against them with words, with actions, and if needed, with weapons.

These are all individual diagrams and lists to help prepare and gather proper evidence for protests (gather evidence but do not gather identification of your fellow protestors).

And this is a set of images all interconnected to help inform you on how to properly make it through the protest and how to contact legal help, all vital for these next four years, as they will be relentless in trying to silence us, again,

DO NOT LET THEM SILENCE YOU, IF YOU LET THEM SILENCE YOU, THEY WIN, DO NOT LET THEM WIN

We must all stand for those who we call friends, family, lovers, people you care for, we must fight for and continue to fight for.

I'm taking my stand, will you?

[yukaro353]

Joining this because it totally aligns with my thinking.

I feel like Lin had some kind of public affair (and by public I mean some paparazzi went all out for a compromising photo of her and someone in their free time) that made a big splash because she's still a public figure, and come on, she could deal with the press, but she couldn't handle the jealousy that Tenzin couldn't hide, feeling crazy because "He doesn't have feelings for me and I'm misunderstanding him."

Making sure after that that any romantic interactions were kept under the table so as not to deal with how uncomfortable Tenzin's strange behaviors made her.

Also linked to the fact that she probably initially avoided reciprocating Tenzin's feelings because she had all the appearance of being that kind of girl who in her adolescence decided that she would never be a mother and since then has been clear that a relationship with the future only air nomad would end badly, so why ruin their friendship on something with no future?

And Tenzin trying to respect that position until other people (with more similar ideals) started to pursue her and the guy couldn't stand it, Lin had to be his woman and no one else's, he did everything in his power to win her heart and, even after the breakup, he continues to do everything in his power to feel like the only one.

Anyone is a casual romance for Chief Beifong. But him? No, he was the love of her life, and he feeds that guilty fantasy every day.

i have this HC that tenzin is so obsessed with lin though they have broken up decades ago but i feel like he still have his home office full of pictures of her or some paintings he did of her. I mean he kinda feels like the possessive kind and i know that he’s so relieved that she’s still single because if that woman dated someone he’s going to rip his hair even though he’s bald

I also have the same hc!!

Tenzin knows that he has no right to be or feel possessive over Lin when he's the one who ended their relationship. But he just can't help it.

He doesn't want Lin to belong to anyone but him, even if he's now married to someone else. Honestly, I don't think his marriage is really a priority. It's just something he has that he makes sure not to fuck up, but also doesn't put as much effort like he did with Lin.

Pema probably just tells herself "He's so busy. He's a councilman. He's training Korra. He's keeping the city safe. He's stressed out." so she tolerates him not being super present most of the time.

But back to Tenzin being obsessed with Lin. That might also be the reason he's a workaholic too. His position as councilman works pretty closely with RCPD, so being involved with work also means knowing what Lin is up to and how he can keep her safe from his end.

Tenzin tries to get the tabs on Lin's personal life, but she's got him blocked out in so many ways. She becomes even more private and Tenzin kicks himself for having to hurt her the way he did.

He finds out Lin has a new boyfriend and he's livid. Nothing seems to comfort him. He's just moody for months. Tenzin wants to go kick this guy's ass for even having the guts to ask Lin out.

[sphnyspinspin]

Priscilla Bishop Pynch…

Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

@geluatekurama @luciolefire @asmoteeth @novafire-is-thinking

[willowser]

just to make sure we are all on the same page in this corner of the internet, i want to be explicitly clear about my stance/feelings on some things:

if i come across "content"/fic in this niche that i absolutely do not like, do not vibe with, am not interested in, that icks me out completely and totally—i scroll past it as quickly as i can and i move on with my day.

in the case that it's "content"/fic that really bothers or triggers me in any way, i make sure that i have blacklisted/blocked certain tags and keywords so that in the future i may not come across those things again.

i also understand that there is a variety of tags used throughout the internet and that websites are not perfect/things slip through the cracks. people are also human, and mistakes are also made.

in the event i am exposed to something that i do not want to see, point blank, i would never and will never believe it is my right to harass and terrorize the person writing said thing/s, and if i witness this kind of behavior being celebrated among the people around me, whoever you are, i will be removing you from my space.

to be perfectly and abundantly clear: i will always be a supporter of dark content, and its right to be written. even if i don't understand it, even if it "disgusts" me, even if i never want to read it.

please understand that i do not say this with hostility, nor do i mean it as a threat or to be confrontational. you should protect the space that you are in; this is me doing that, this is me making sure that you do that, even if it's against me.

[transingthoseformers]

Imagine that Bumblebee was born before his sire and carrier became Megatron and Optimus Prime, wait does that count as young unexpected pregnancy, so technically sparkling Bumblebee was In the middle of everything the beginng of war and last sparkling to born.

OOOOOO????? That has to have consequences, and also swings his age closer to depictions of him like we see in Earthspark as opposed to say tfp (probably) (probably)

[mann-walter]

I know for a fact that a handful of reactionary Cybertronians would want to reinstall and/or even intensify the pre-war caste system. I know for a fact that some bots—not only older bots because, you know, there are just those youngsters that wish to return to the “old days” that they themselves definitely have never tasted—blame the war on the lower castes and their “barbarism”, “anarchism” or simply use the war as a display of the dangers of a free and egalitarian society, and spouting things like “Well, some bots are created for servitude, you know”.

I just know.

[theskeletoninthegarden]

Sorry about the theater of emotions going on my face from across the room. I'm trying to resolve an argument that I made up between two fictional characters.

[loregoddess]

finally watched Nausicaa for the first time ever today, and now I officially have a favorite Ghibli movie

[arihi]

On my bullshit again but I still maintain the (once again very bastardized and westernized) idea of ‘healing’ a la “you don’t owe anything to anyone” and “cutting people off is maintaining healthy boundaries” is a brain rot and people are so caught up in their moral superiority of [have had a single thought of introspection at least once] they don’t realize how black and white and inconsistent these ideals are

[camelliagwerm]

I think when I replay PFKM (and I will at some point), I’m going to pick Tristian over the Occulus, because I’m salty Leonelle couldn’t even use the Occulus, but it also could open up this weird relationship between Leonelle and Tristian could have, by virtue of two things:

they both have relationships with Nyrissa that’s very “whatever the fuck is going on there”

Leonelle’s ancestor is an Erinys, an infernal mockery of the angelic form or a celestial who descended into Hell, and Tristian is a fallen deva. I wonder if he would feel an odd sort of kinship with her as a result of that.

[transingthoseformers]

Megatron is to Tarn what Megatronus was to D-16

You're not necessarily wrong but you've gotta account for how mtmte Megatron very purposefully warped and manipulated Tarn into who he was, then let him loose on the universe, while Megatronus Prime is usually either dead or unavailable while D-16 is created and online, and D-16 heavily draws off of Megatronus himself.

[mikkeneko]

In various places -- here, the bird app, even YouTube comments -- I keep running into people with some variation of the same question:

"Does Scum Villain have a teacher/student romance?" And every time I want to answer with: No, But Also Yes, But Also Not Really, It's Complicated (And That's On Purpose.)

Which is an answer that's too long to fit in a tweet or a YT comment, but fortunately tumblr has no (effective) post limit! So here I go.

1 - No

In the very straight forward porn cliche sense of "oh but professor, I really ~need~ to pass this class or my life will be ruined, can't I do ~anything~ to get you to change my grade?" *bats lashes* and "Hoho, my pretty young teen student, I've got your good grade right here in my pants, if you ~apply~ yourself..." then no.

No sex or romance between a teacher and their student in the bounds of a teacher-student relationship happens in this book. No deliberate grooming of an underage student on the part of a teacher occurs in this book. No sex or a romance between an adult character and an underage character occurs in this book, nor is the adult 'waiting' for the minor to reach adulthood to initiate one.

2 - But Also Yes

No sex or romance between a teacher and their student in the bounds of that relationship happens in this book. Two people who were formerly in a teacher and student relationship do enter into a sexual and romantic relationship by the end of the book. Also the nature of the society they're in further means that even though they are no longer in the schooling environment, it is socially assumed that the deference owed by a student to their teacher lasts forever, even after the student leaves that environment, and they continue to regard themselves and refer to themselves in those roles even though the teacher no longer strictly speaking has authority over the student.

Also, the student was really hot for his teacher even when he was still a student. (The teacher was oblivious to this fact.)

3 - But Also Not Really

By the time sex and romance is even on the horizon for these characters, their relationship has so drastically changed from that of a "teacher and student" that it is barely recognizeable as such. The power/authority dynamic between a teacher and their student is subsumed pretty much entirely by the facts that:

A. The 'student' has become a medeival fantasy warlord of such unsurpassable magic and might that literally no other person in this world can stand up against him, 'teacher' included, and the 'teacher' is well aware of that.

B. Also, the 'student' is metaphysically endowed (heh) with the Protagonist Halo, a literally active force within the setting they're part of, which means that not only can he not be defeated, he ontologically cannot be denied anything that he desires; what he wants, he gets, and what he doesn't want, cannot be forced on him.

C. ...But also, the teacher in this setting is a metaphysical outsider to the world order the student is part of, which means that he is aware of all of the above, and can and does manipulate it to suit his own agenda, which may or may not align with giving the student what he wants at any point in time. Assuming that the teacher has the correct understanding of what the student wants. (He doesn't.)

D. ........But also also, for all his power, one harsh word from him can destroy him. For all his knowledge, one tear can devastate him. (Which one? Both.)

4 - It's Complicated (On Purpose)

*throws the chalk against the wall*

Between a teacher and their student, who has the power? Between an emperor and a scholar, who has the power? Between a hero and the villain he is predestined to destroy, who has the power? Between a character and the reader who's read ahead to the end of the story, who has the power? Do we find some of these power imbalances more acceptable than others? And if so, why do we?

Trying to track Who Has The Power or Who Has An Unfair Advantage socially, physically, and metaphysically between this particular pair of characters is damn near impossible and that's on purpose.

The Scum Villain's Self Saving System is a lot of things, but one thing that absolutely defines it is that it is a parody. It's a parody and a deconstruction of a lot of things -- the 'stallion' genre, the 'isekai' genre, the 'pay-per-chapter webnovel' genre, the 'gay drama' genre and, most relevant to this conversation, it is a deconstruction of teacher-student romance.

What kind of a teacher-student romance has a clueless, fish-out-of water NEET in the role of the Wise Old Mentor? What kind of a teacher-student romance has a black-hearted, demonic, domineering feudal warlord in the role of the Blushing Virginal Student? What kind of a teacher-student romance has the two principals so close in age -- by the end of the book, they may be as little as a year apart -- that they're more like peers than teacher and student? What kind of audience are we, going into a story like this one and finding ourselves cheering for the teacher to fall in love and lust with his student, only to be disappointed when that doesn't happen because the teacher fails for three books straight to recognize love and lust when it's literally looking him in the face and crying?

Asking "does Scum Villain have a teacher-student romance?" is sort of like asking "does Galaxy Quest have a lot of high science fiction concepts?" No, but also yes, but also not really. It's complicated, and that's on purpose.