#I will be using this logic for my stories

[nikethestatue]

It was staring us in the face all this time, but it just dawned on me yesterday. Better later than never, right?

But Elriel WAS always endgame. From the very beginning.

We've argued for 4 years, pointlessly, but it was always right in front of our eyes. How?

Good, old Moriel.

Mor and Azriel.

Moriel was always the answer.

Now walk with me.

In ACOMAF, we have 3 couples seemingly established. Feyre and Rhys (a given), Nesta and Cassian (essentially a given, since he is crawling towards her on the floor with shredded wings when she is thrown into the Cauldron), and then, suddenly...Elucien. 'You are my mate' Lucien whispers to Elain. Done deal, right?

Who does it leave as 'available' at the end of ACOMAF?

Azriel and Mor, of course.

THE supposedly torrid romance of the last 500 years. But now, Cassian is out of the equation, because he met Nesta, and Mor and Azriel are free. Nothing stands between them.

So, if Moriel 'was the original ship' as so many claim, and Elriel were never meant to be, then the question arises:

Why didn't Sarah J Maas make Mor and Azriel a couple????????

Not only does she not make them a couple, she veers into a completely new and unexpected trajectory. She makes Mor absolutely unavailable to Azriel as a love interest.

SJM crushes Moriel in one fell swoop. ACOWAR, which should've been a Nessian and Moriel romance starter pack instead becomes a Nessian and Elriel starter pack.

Not only that, but SJM ships the newly minted mate Lucien away from his mate, and leaves Elain with...Azriel. And then proceeds to write complex and intimate scenes for Elain and Azriel.

She goes further--to drive the point home that Moriel is never going to happen, she makes Mor gay, and she also introduces Vassa, who has a much bigger story tied to Lucien than Lucien has with Elain. Additionally, SJM puts a cherry on top of that messy cake and reneges on Lucien's paternity, so he could be a spell cleaver.

Nothing, and I mean, absolutely NOTHING stopped SJM from writing Mor and Azriel. If she wanted to have them be endgame, she could've easily gone that way. And for those to claim that she made Mor bi/gay for some kind of DEI quota and 'diversity', she could've just as easily make Amren gay. In fact, Amren already implied that she preferred the female form, so the easiest and most logical thing to do was to have Amren say that she chose the female body and her sexual preference is also towards females. No one would've been surprised.

But no. Elain, even with a MATE, has been firmly attached to Azriel at the hip since ACOMAF.

Moriel was always a possibility, but not for SJM. She never changed her mind about one thing, and that is Elriel. There is no doubt that Elain and Azriel were always going to be endgame for SJM. Nothing's changed. There's never been any other options.

[elainsgirl]

If Azriel actually wanted Elain, just Elain, just her as a person, he would have NEVER questioned the caldron or her bond with Lucien because IT WOULD NOT MATTER TO HIM.

Questioning the caldron is him directly saying that he wants a mate bond and why wasn’t he given the same thing as his brothers. It’s a question posed in jealousy and envy. Not love.

It has nothing to do with Elain. She is a fantasy. A vessel for his desires. How he logics a way to get what he craves and wash away his self loathing.

Hey anon 🫶

Ill give you the benefit of the doubt and instead of taking you as a troll, I’ll pretend you genuinely want to have a conversation about this.

Logically - If Az wanted a mate, anon pls explain why he wants a woman w a mate? Me and you know that its possible to have two mates, Az doesn’t so why on gods green earth is he standing there, questioning eluciens bond? If his goal is to obtain a mate - isn’t it counterproductive to go and pine over Elain…who has a mate? That immediately means she cannot be his mate therefore if your statement was true - and Az *just* wants a mate, he never would have wanted Elain or developed some feelings for her instead he would still be waiting for the mating bond to snap between him and Mor, like he has for the past 500 years.

Did Azriel say he wanted a mate? No.

Did he compain why his brothers got mates and he didn’t? No. Jealousy? envy? Not really, bcs none of those emotions are hinted at verbally through speech or in his mind, he wasn’t stomping his feet compaining how unfair it was that Rhys and Cass had mates and he didnt.

Lets emphasise his question:

“Tell me Rhys, how does it make sense for my two brothers to be fated to, two sisters whilst the third was given to another?” There’s a difference between, “How” which is questioning a situation and “why” which is complaining about a situation. Notice how Mass didn’t use any names. She numerized, why? Bcs ACOTAR has a clear pattern of 3. When is this pattern broken? When it comes to elucien. Now, we all know Mass is following Koshei’s mythology, here is an interesting tidbit:

3 sisters who marry 3 wizards that were linked together. Mass cannot be more obvious in the direction of the story. And yes there are many variations of the mythology however the Og russian one fits ACOTAR the most then the others.

Azriel may crave love like his brothers but thats it. “To wash away his self-loathing” yet he thinks about how his scarred hands are touching Elain. He isn’t using her for anything. This man genuinely developed feelings for Elain and then realised hang on - could I be her mate? Thats it. Lets not act as tho most of us wouldn’t have also questioned the cauldron if we were in Azriels place. And finally, again.

If the shadowsinger solely wanted a mate - he never would have fallen for a woman w a mate. That literally is enough logic to disprove this take.

[princesscolumbia]

As someone who writes about aliens, I'm just going to say it's not a big spiritual deep-dive to write about them, either. Space aliens, illegal aliens, trans-universal/timeline aliens, cybernetic beings that are technically alien life...you name it, you can write about it with research and...

(Goddess help me, I just used a Spongebob meme!)

There's a post that circulates about how Tom Clancy has never served in the military but writes remarkably accurate military fiction. When asked, he explains that it's pretty much just him thinking through, "What would happen if abc did xyz? How would we handle it through a military lens?"

Of course, this requires that you put enough in your head so you can think through these kinds of questions in a logical and reasonable way, so this, also, requires research. It won't always look like what you think it does.

I have a project that (minor spoilers for those reading my stuff) has a plot thread that concludes about 400-600 years from now where humans are basically hybrid beings, nearly equal parts nanite and organic tissue. Not cyborgs, the synthetic bits aren't something added in, they're born with them, having received both the genetic material AND the nanites from their parents. By the time they're born, the nanites from both parents have reconfigured to be unique to the child's nanites as an amalgam of the nanites from both parents. The nanites basically make the humans immune to any previously encountered disease, repair ALL damage, even just the damage caused by aging, and allow the human to learn to control the nanites to directly shape their own body. In this transhuman future, the human consciousness isn't even necessarily confined to that particular body because it lives just as much in the nanite swarm as it does in the blob of tissue that forms the organic parts of the body, so even the total obliteration of the physical form isn't necessarily lethal so long as they have a connection to a network and enough time to escape through that connection. (Surprise ground-zero nuclear explosion or teleportation to the center of a star would do it, but even said nuclear explosion could be escaped with a fast enough network connection.) Said network connection can be always on, and for most people it is, simply because it gives them access to all of the rest of humanity no matter how alone they may be IRL. Since the nanites are simply part of the person's entire framework of who they are, the build instructions for new nanites would be constantly updated in the person's...person-hood framework in their consciousness 'blob' on the network. If the person had to do this kind of jump, they'd simply find the appropriate machinery connected to the 'net to build their nanite swarm, which would then seek out the appropriate organic components to build them a new body and they just move into that.

While I was workshopping this as an end-point for this particular series, I stumbled onto a series on ScribbleHub that...sadly seems to have languished, because I'd love to see how the stories in the series end! But, the central premise is about humans making first contact with an alien intelligence that is based on mycelium. They're a complex multicellular life form that exists in a networked-by-default state. The individuals exist inside a collective consciousness as distinct individuals and have their own cluster of cells in the colony, but they have a somewhat loose relationship with the physical world because they can simply grow custom tailored bodies from the cellular colony and then inhabit said body, break it off, then go about their business. They can sever their connection completely or keep it going remotely, and everything we would do with tech and tools they do by just growing whatever tech and tools they need from their own collective cellular mass.

The two ideas smashed together in my head and I realized something...

Individuals exist untethered from a single corporeal form

They live connected to others as both a community thing and a survival thing

They can exist as nothing but a concept but prefer to be tethered to a physical form, regardless of how instantiated it is or how big or small the physical form is

They can build themselves bodies from the ground up so long as the resources and network connection exists

The smallest unit of survival for propagation is a single cell. Sure, that single cell may not be able to do much and may not be connected to the collective, but it can replicate, and from that replication, create enough more of itself to rebuild an entire civilization if necessary

The collective is just as important and invaluable as the individual and everyone in the community is incentivized to maintain their collective since that's where they keep all their stuff. (And by "stuff" I mean "all the memories and experiences and everything that makes me 'me' is at least backed up in part of the complete whole of all the everything else about my people and my community")

Their perspective shifts from time scales of years and decades to centuries and millennia

Life experiences and knowledge and even basic empathetic understanding can be transmitted to others easily because it's just data and data can be copied and sent easily

I realized that between what Murbellass and I wrote, there's a convergent evolution happening on the galactic scale.

It all comes back to crab mushrooms.

(While this creates an interesting setting, I didn't really have anything but the setting until @machoestofmen showed me some humanoid automata monsters from Dragon Quest XI that trap creatures in the cages that make up their lower halves and look like dresses and they suggested, "What if this but forcefemme?" and I'm all, "Sounds like a mechanical version of HDG...wait..." and now I've got ANOTHER damn plot bunny in my head where all of these ideas come together in a story that takes place about a thousand years from now...)

MY POINT is...I don't know any mushroom people. To the best of my knowledge, no mycelium are connected to the Internet for me to ask, "Hey, how does this work for you?" But I don't have to. By exposing my mind to new stories, new ideas, new things to research that I've never encountered before, I'm able to imagine how such things might happen, what occurs when xyz meets abc, and then extrapolate the 'What happens next?!' from there.

if you’re white and wanna write a poc character and feel awkward about it i implore you to ignore any twitblr stuff treating it as a massive ethical burden and instead come in more with the same mindset you’d have if you wanted to write about idk firefighters but didn’t know anything about firefighters so you do... research. Like fuck off with the weird kinda creepy calls for spiritual introspection you’re not writing about god damn space aliens you’re writing about humans and if you think you need more perspective of different life experiences just read?

[theloremagpie]

The choice to open the cage was a very clear example of - what's interesting and satisfying as players in a campaign VS what's logical and sensible as characters in a story.

Bell's Hells now had the time, allies and resources to figure out a better solution to the Pradathos problem. But the players want that final face off with the biggest threat of the campaign before it ends.

It's easy for people to get invested in the show as you would a scripted narrative, and feel frustrated with these kind of decisions (myself included). But the joy of watching a TTRPG is seeing what happens when they press the big red button. So I am trying to let go of my worries for Exandria and the party, and just settle in for some fun D&D, where ever that takes us!

[like-tears-in-rain-storms]

Ok just had to share because I've been seeing these people all around and yet it had never happened directly to me.

So, great review of Nosferatu, and I get into A Situation with a person claiming that Orlok is a psychic pdfile rapist of child-Ellen and what's more, the covenant he tricked her into making with him symbolizes a marriage contract,thus Ellen is the analogue of a child bride and a denunciation of the buying and selling of women as brides through history and during that period in particular - also class analysis of how he's a parasite that sucks people dry, yadda yadda, we all know the class analysis. Now that's certainly....a take, and tbh I can see some elements of it sleekly fitting in with the way Eggers structures his themes, but to treat it so absolutely as THE explanation of such an intricate narrative....yeah. I had some issues with that.

And the whole affair ends with that person telling me verbatim, I kid you not, "you should examine why it is that you have a romantic reading on such an one-sided relationship between an undead rapist killer and his teenage victim".

And I'm like....what is this supposed to be? An own? Is it supposed to make me stop dead on my tracks and go "oh yeesh. Why am I romanticizing the goddamn gothic romance????? Am I some kind of monster? A ticking time bomb who'll listen tomorrow about a teen grooming victim of some degenerate and go "yeah but consider that she might have called on him on her dreams to liberate her and spread Covid around"???

To make a long story short, that passive-aggressive urge to self-psychologize with the hint that there's something wrong with myself did absolutely nothing to me,and I can explain it already as I did.

I had a romantic reading because I like gothic romance.

That's it, that's all the answer needed.

But I'm feeling rambly, so I'll elaborate. Because I like sounding the depths of the human mind and will and I like imagining it against powers that defy human measures. Because I like to imagine human nature as a universe, full of it's own destructive phenomena, natural disasters, secret cave systems and toxic geysers. Because in fiction I am free to do so, and can taste flavors that I would never seek out in the real world, like the vertigo of fulfilling the need for self-destruction, or the grandeur of being worth more than the entire world to someone, and what's more, I can acknowledge they exist, and can safely follow them to their logical limits from behind the safety of a book cover. Because on the page we can live out what can't be lived out in the real world even if we tried and because "some things belong on the page, others in life, and it's a blessed fool who can't tell the difference" and I don't know how others see themselves, but I am neither blessed nor a fool.

So needless to say, that wasn't the one it was probably intended as. Really interesting, though, to see such limited-minded puritanism take the stand on the event of Nosferatu coming out. Really interesting how, somehow, they are sounding more and more like crusaders of moral purity for the easily-deceived masses, only now dressed in some righteous "anti-abuse" garb, like abuse in the world will be affected if someone on the internet says that maybe the devouring embodiment of darkness that was rotting alive in the movie had some lasting and fatal effect on Ellen, and it didn't have to be love for it to be defining.

The real question is, why when your limit is the sky and you can make playgrounds out of your mind, do people feel the need to bring everything down to the unromantic, pedestrian and depressive reality that surrounds us whether we want it or not? As far as passive-aggressive urges for self-reflection go, I think that's a much more potentially productive one.

[zarvasace]

Pathfinder Chain 2.0

Masterpost

In which the LU boys are interpreted as having lived their lives and adventures in Golarion, as seen in Pathfinder 2e. Post/Mid-Godsrain. Will include art (mostly for character designs) and fic (specifically Febuwhump 2025.)

For some context in case you are unaware: Pathfinder is similar to Dungeons & Dragons, in which characters have numbers and you roll dice. It is generally played with a group of people each with their own character, but here I'm giving them all the numbers and using them as a basis for fic. It is a high-magic setting built on a foundation of Tolkien-inspired fantasy.

First appearance: Jan 8, 2025

Tag: #pathfinder chain (old designs use this tag, as well)

Previous Pathfinder Chain post, with old art.

This post will update as we go. I don't have all the art done yet but plan to before February. I'm working on formulating some sort of framing device and backstories so I'm able to fill as many Febuwhump prompts with this AU as possible—and perhaps some other ideas, depending on how this goes!

My previous Pathfinder Chain was made attempting to model the existing characters in the game as closely as possible, so we saw a lot of rangers and fighters and really only the one spellcaster (two, if we're counting Shadow.) These new character sheets have a different philosophy in mind, one that attempts to put the characters in the existing Pathfinder world and mesh their stories and gods with the lore. By that logic, there are more spellcasters, and I'm attempting to exaggerate the high-magic kitchen-sink god-bothered fantasy feel with these designs and stories. I'm very happy with them so far!! I'm planning to talk about the designs here, mostly, and reveal story details in fics.

In the update from 1.0 to 2.0, some of my decisions about ancestry and class changed, but plenty stayed the same. I've actually created character sheets this time, however, so I'm very excited to talk at length about those. :) For anyone interested in learning more about my choices, asks are open, and so is 2e.aonprd.com, the free, licensed online database of Pathfinder rules. I’m using Free Archetype and they’re all level 5.

Without further ado, may I happily present my second-version Pathfinder Chain, to be updated as I complete details and show you all the art that I'm working on!—

Four

Hyrule (art complete)

Legend

Sky

Time - human changeling, feybound, warrior muse bard, chronoskimmer

Twilight (art complete)

Warriors

Wild - human duskwalker, amnesiac, dragon instinct barbarian, wandering chef

Wind

All boys have been statted, and the ones marked "(art complete)" are likely to come out sooner, as time and inspiration allows.

[alexi-was-not-here]

Hey everyone... I saw the other reblogs and the were beautiful and I love them and you should go show them love and support BUT this story has been floating in my head and I would like to write my version {which will be extremely similar to the others BUT I love Janus and would like him to not be the bad guy... so think of this of an au of this hc I guess}

-----

Thomas had just woken up, which meant it was time for Virgil to go help Thomas make it through the day. Virgil left his room and began to make his way downstairs when all of a sudden he heard a yell, he turned towards the noise and saw a shocked formal looking side.

"Uh h-" Virgil went to greet him before he was cut off by a different voice

"Who. Are. You?" Said a side who looked like they were closet cosplaying every Disney prince combined, who was dawning a samurai sword strangely enough.

"I- I'm anxiety" Virgil responded nervously

"Why the hell are you here, Thomas doesn't need you, no one does" Virgil felt taken aback, he's a bit nervous to talk back considering the sword, but he's supposed to be there just as much as the rest of them, right?

"I- b-but-" Virgil is trying to get a sentence out but his mind is racing and his throat is starting to close.

"But what? Spit it out or," The "prince" 's grip tightens on the sword he's holding, though he stands his ground infront of two other sides, the one with a cardigan around his neck grips Roman's jacket, "get lost."

Virgil tried to get any words out of throat but instead all he got was his own racing thoughts and stinging behind his eyes. He walks back up the stairs and hears the other sides breathe a breath of relief and return to their happy banter they were having before he walked in. Virgil collapsed on his bed and finally he let muffled sobs escape his chest. He wasn't trying to scare anyone, he just- he was helpful right? Maybe he wasn't helpful after all, just like he had feared. Maybe he truly was there to cause distress. He fell asleep crying.

---

Time and time again he tried going downstairs but he would go back up to his room after being berated by the Prince guy, or freaking out the light blue side, or getting nervous and watchful glares from the formal side. He eventually stopped trying to help the three of them as he mostly seemed to be an annoyance, and favoring staying in his room instead and allowing his thoughts to consume him.

The only time he was able to not be a nuisance to the other sides was at night when Thomas was about to fall asleep, it was the only time he was able to talk to him. Though, he did occasionally get thrown out when Princey couldn't sleep either.

One thing Virgil enjoyed doing though, was sitting at the top of the stairs and eavesdrop on athe three other side who he found out were Morality, Logic, and Creativity. He enjoyed listening to them talk, and pretending that they talked to him too.

---

One day when Virgil was listening to Logic explain something he found intresting he was pulled out his thoughts by an unfamiliar voice.

"Hey, you seem cool. You wanna come hang out with us?" Virgil turned to see a side dressed similarly to Creativity except he seems to like black and green, bent over towards Virgil {a little too close} with a wide grin on his face.

"U-us?" Virgil asked confused considering he only saw green creativity{?}.

"Hello" Virgil heard a voice from the shadows {Totally not creepy} and a yellow gloved hand wave to him.

"Oh oh by the way, I'm creativity" Also Creativity said as he stood up straight and extended his hand to Virgil. "So what do you say wanna come with us?" Virgil glanced down at Logic remembering how apprehensive he was around him, at Morality who was so scared he would hide behind Princey and hold his jacket, and finally at Princey who when they first met had told him "Thomas doesn't need you, no one does" and those words still haunted him everytime he closed his eyes.

And then he looked at Creativity who said he was cool and seem eager to get to know him, and the not-at-all-creepy shadow figure in the hallway who smiled at him too, and he took Creativity's hand.

"I'm anxiety"

"Ooooo, well anxiety do you like Dance Dance Revolution?"

-------

It had been several months since Virgil decided to follow Creativity into their hangout. He learned that this Creativity's name is Remus and is essentially thoughts doesn't want to have, and while he never learned the other sides name, he did tell Virgil he has the role of Deceit though.

Living with them especially Remus had been... stressful to say the least but it was also the first time he felt wanted and, Deceit had even told him how cool it was he was anxiety and that Thomas is lucky to have him.

Unfortunately though despite all this he wanted so desperately to go back to the other sides. He was tired of being ignored and thanks to his time with "The Dark Sides" {it's what Remus called them} he had learned not to take crap. And it was time that Thomas finally heard him.

So, he went back to his room upstairs away from Deceit and Remus in the middle of the night, knowing he'd be able to talk to Thomas unbothered.

And he went downstairs in the morning, and didn't leave even after the groans or fears exclamations, and Princey didn't seem to be as eager with his sword so he stuck around. And FINALLY the sides would listen to him, even if they didn't particularly always like what he was saying.

--

Thanks for reading everyone!! I will make a part two if there is demand for it but I think I closed it up pretty okay :}

Angst idea

During Thomas’ preteen years everytime Virgil got near Patton or Logan, Roman would stand between them and draw his sword. They were a lot younger then and they didn’t understand each other like they do now. Anxiety scared them all even though he was just trying to help in his own way, partially because of the way he went about it, partially cause no one wants to be anxious and they were kids.

Logan would always tell Roman he was being excessive but he would screech Roman’s name if Anxiety was there and Roman wasn’t.

Patton always told Roman not to be mean when he started insulting Anxiety, but he did cower behind the creative side while he did it.

Virgil would put on a tough guy act “You think I’m scared of a sword Princey?” and he was, but more than that it hurt to watch the rest of Thomas hating him so much.

[deeranon]

May or may not be cooking up a theory that Furina doesn’t actually need to eat. She simply choses to take pleasure in tasting food as a way to stop herself from going insane over 500 years.

Furina Theory Below

Note: this is just a personal theory of mine and more so explanations to some questions I had that I turned I to headcanons with a bit of “science” behind them

If you do not agree with what I say, please ignore me and do not start an argument—otherwise you are petty and sad

Speaking on what we know, or I think is correct(I have not confirmed/checked in a while)—adepti/godly entities don’t need to eat. Furina, while technically human by other’s standards, is actually the body of a god. And when Focalors split her divinity from her body, why would that change the body’s biology or needs?

So technically Furina shouldn’t need to eat.

For example, Xiao eats almond tofu because it replicates when he used to eat dreams. But he doesn’t need it to survive. So he eats for taste rather than necessity.

And if non-humans do need sustenance, I doubt they get it from human food. Again, Xiao eating dreams/nightmares(though I doubt he would want to). Or their stomachs are simply different than a human, as they can eat human food. But we don’t really know where the food goes from there. It could evaporate the moment they swallow for all we know.

Additionally, Furina’s body was never even human to begin with. Focalors was an oceanid who merely mimicked humans outward appearances, and not things like intestines—based on the fact that oceanids prayed to the hydro god for children instead of giving birth like humans. So there is no stomach to digest food.

But what about after the prophecy? Surely Furina is human now? I hear you say?

Actually, I doubt it. During the final stage of the prophecy during the great flood, we see Furina completely submerged in water after Neuvillette kame-hame-ha’s the sky and turns Fontainians human. If she were human, I’m pretty sure at that point she would be dying of oxygen deprivation and trying to get above water like everyone else. But she doesn’t, and we know this because we see her exit the building after the water recedes, meaning she did not leave. And I doubt Furina suddenly found an air pocket while sitting unmovingly and depressed on her throne. Or that she found air anywhere else in the completely submerged building.

Then why didn’t she die by the primordial sea water?

Speaking from a theoretical standpoint without emotional interference, I can’t give an answer.

But personally, I have an idea of why:

Furina’s body. Specifically, the lack of power.

When Focalors split into Focalors and Furina, she stripped the body(Furina) of power. And we know the body does store power because the other archon’s hair glows when they use their element. Showing that the bodies they use do contain their magic.

Meaning Furina’s body is left empty, like a shell. So when the primordial sea tries to liquidate her, there is nothing for it to dissolve unlike normal Fontaine humans. Who were not technically actual humans until Neuvillette turned them. Hence, Furina could not die from the sea as a human but also is not a god.

Also, oceanids can breathe underwater—that’s a given because they are water. But we don’t really know about the human-looking oceanids living in Fontaine. I would guess that even in human form they had some sort of breathing system like gills or something for when they touched water.

Possibly Furina’s body can breathe under the water on its own without needing power. But we don’t know because any vision user can breathe underwater and there’s no way to find out. Sadly.

Back to my point about food, Furina forgot about everything but the prophecy when she was split off from Focalors if we are to take her words literally. Meaning any memories about food are null and gone.

Furina would have needed humans to introduce her to the concept of food. When she tries cake or something of the sort for the first time, I am sure she was in for a surprise. Along with every other kind of food.

The memory of the food lingers and Furina grows to like the taste. As time goes on and she starts to struggle, she might try to grasp at things that would bring her comfort if she could not confess to ease her burden. Like sweets. She starts to eat them more and more often the older she becomes. Until she looks human with how many meals she has. And then Furina gets used to eating so often that it sticks with her after retirement. Hence the macaroni.

In conclusion: Furina does not need to eat. Her species status: unknown, really. At least to me.

And that is the end of my theoretical ramble. Thank you. *bows*

[jadecantcreate]

i wanted to write a quick 3-chapter fic for day 4 of loa shiptober (how they met i think) and i (a fool) was like. yeah. i could totally write 3 chapters in a few hours. i was wrong. SO wrong. haven’t even finished kremy’s (the first one).

so instead have a maybe-past-kremy design that im conflicted about compared to his current design, as a peace offering

[fictionadventurer]

What was the point of Scrooge's trip with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? On a structural level, it makes sense--three is the fairy tale number, and you can't visit the past and present without also including the future--but on a character level, it doesn't quite seem necessary. Showing a man that he'll die alone, unloved, and unmourned seems like the strategy you take as the last-ditch effort to convince a guy that he needs to change his ways. But that situation doesn't apply to Scrooge. He started softening immediately after he first arrived in his past. By the time he finished with the Ghost of Christmas Present, he was fully onboard with the need to reform, so the Ghost's vision of his future seems like unnecessary cruelty. Why show him all this when he was already planning to change his ways?

A few things come to mind. One is that this vision of the future wouldn't have affected Scrooge unless he had already changed his ways. A cold, hard businessman could have seen his lonely death as just the way of the world, might have viewed the people who stole the clothes from his corpse as just people doing what's practical in this world. He needed to relearn the value of the intangibles--human connection, respect for others--to see the true horror of the lonely death and the vultures who defiled the dead man.

But why the horror? Can't he reform without being threatened with doom? It's possible--but it's also possible such a reform would be temporary. After all, Scrooge started as a friendly, loving young man, but retreated into himself and his business out of fear of poverty and fear of the way the world looks down upon poor people. Even if a reformed Scrooge started on a course of Christmas charity, there was always a chance that the enthusiasm would fade, and the worldly fears would start creeping back in. The only way to beat those fears is to give him something to fear that's even worse than poverty. He needs to see the horrible end that his selfish ways would lead to, so he won't be tempted to slide back into them.

There's also the fact that seeing his death makes him ecstatically happy to find that he's alive after the Ghost is gone. Had Scrooge been spared the vision of his future, he might have been happy to find himself on Christmas Day, but his joy would have been nowhere near the manic glee he experiences after coming back from the future. Now, he doesn't just get a new start--he gets a second chance. Coming back from his own grave makes him mindful of his death, but it also makes him hyperaware of the fact that he's still alive. He isn't in the ground yet. He still has time to do good and make connections with others so he doesn't die alone.

Seeing the past reminded him of the innocence he'd lost. Seeing the present reminded him of the people whose lives he was missing out on. Seeing the future reminded him that death is waiting, so it's important to live virtuously while we can. All three are important because all three brought him outside of himself and taught him to value the wider world, just in time to live through another Christmas Day.

[100percentdirtball]

transcript under the cut

A thread on bluesky from Talia Bhatt, username @enkiducoin.

It's a reply to Oruniter (@outsidein) whose original post was: It's astonishing how much discourse is just everlasting "all trans women are secretly Baeddels" panic. The idea that we're fighting a feminism that includes trans women but excludes trans men is arguing that the mythologised spectre of Baeddelism took over cis feminist spaces. It's often projections.

Talia's thread reads:

It's probably a good time to talk about the myth of the baddels.

Myth because the facts are sparse, largely unavailable, and ultimately don't matter--especially to those who are weaponizing the idea of the baeddel against transfeminist consciousness.

All we really know is two sentences.

During the 2010s, theree was a group of transfems on Tumblr (and some on Facebook) who dubbed themselves 'baeddels' and tried to theorize an early form of transfeminism. They made various missteps and eventually disbanded for interpersonal rather than ideological reasons.

That's about it.

What is far, far more important than the baeddels than their history or theory is the reaction to their existence, which continues to this day.

I don't actually know what their theories were because they weren't really influential, and nearly everything I've learned has been secondhand.

Some girls who weren't baeddels were held up as core members. Sometimes they were accused of being all-white despite that apparently being untrue. One Tumblr passed around accuses them of "anti-AFAB hate" and "AMAB supremacy" in a manner that's frankly reskinned transphobia.

It's a complete mess.

Here's why none of it matters, though.

You see, I wasn't on Tumblr during the 2010s. I wasn't even out online for over half that decade.

However, the literal millisecond I began speaking on feminist topics as a transfem--on TWITTER--I was called a 'baeddel'.

You see the tactic, I hope.

'Baeddel' was a word I had no context for, but in non-transfem queer spaces--especially fandom-oriented ones--it was a libelous word with a lot of weight. If I was a baeddel, I was a fascist radfem white-supremacist bioessentialist enbyphobe and more.

The word is meant to tar, and to silence.

Offenses worthy of the moniker 'baeddel' ranged from using "TME/TMA", to discussing transmisogyny, to simply being a trans girl who resisted disposability.

If you did, you were a bioessentialist TERF who hated transmascs and needed to unpack your "AMAB socialization".

That, in particular, was core to the 'baeddel' accusation. "AFABphobia", hatred of transmascs and "AFAB enbies", a certain prejudice that an AMAB might hold against an AFAB, if you will!

Ahem.

It's kind of fucking obvious when you put it in plain words what's happening here.

The idea of a feminism that is inclusive of trans women but exclusive of trans men is, frankly, entirely made up. No major feminist school of thought with any sway in real-world movements has ever theorized such a line, and if I'm being honest, it's logically impossible.

Yet the myth persists.

Even so, I've seen queer people deep in fandom spaces structure their understanding of actual GCs and TE"RFs" after their 'understanding' of baeddels. I've witnessed utter buffoons who thought 'radfems' were transfem-positive and transmasc-negative encounter actual GC transmisogyny and be stunned.

If I had read Baudrillard say something super clever about maps, territories, and hyperreals.

The specter of the baeddel is a campfire ghost story, a cautionary tale used to finger-wag at trans girls, warning us to not get too many funny dieas about having any dignity as feminist subjects.

How does the tale end?

Honestly, we just stopped caring.

The 'baeddel' accusation is so unfounded in anything real and so fucking stupid that all you could do after a point was laugh and shrug. Over time, I saw even cisfem friends be called 'baeddels' for showing solidarity to transfems.

The best part, though?

I'm pretty all my transmasc friends have been called 'baeddels' by now, too.

We've come completely full circle.

What did 'baeddel' originally mean? I don't know and I don't think we ever will.

Today, however, it means "uppity tranny", and anyone who supports us.

The tags on the original post read: #transfeminism#materialist feminism#gender is a regime#sex is a social construct#social constructionism#feminism#lesbian feminism#baeddel#y'all know that you keep circulating blog posts about baeddels by others right#you are defining a strawman and then insisting that trans girls with any feminist subjectivity are defined by that strawman#and yes i used strawMAN deliberately because a lot of this is an exercise in calling us sexist to non-transfem trans people#buried under 70 layers of tumblrspeak#you have just invented “transfeminazi”#get a fucking grip

On Transmisogyny, Feminism, and the Myth of the 'Baeddel'

This will go well.

[jamethinks]

One reason I feel like my sxf analysis always falls kind of flat is because I always overlook the supernatural elements of the story. One part of me gets that Anya has superpowers, but then I forget other characters can have superpowers, and we just don't know about it.

Speaking on the desmonds specifically because I feel like most people assume something is going over there given who Donovan is but I just think they're weird?

I don't think Donovan is a telepath who knows what Twilight is doing. I think he's a smart guy who knows a spy when he sees one. He's observant and calculated and knows how to have full control in every situation without exposing himself as the puppet master. He's knows how to say a lot without saying anything. He's a politican and an abuser so it adds up. But then I remember the scars on his head and it's like damn that's right too ig

Similarly, with Demetrius, when he first popped up, i never thought he was a telepath or that he was being experimented on. I just saw a tired, overworked child who has lost all light in his life, has not friends, no hobbies, no ambitions, and therefore no thoughts. I would even argue that the silence is more of a metaphor than a legit observation. It was supposed to be more of a visualization of his mind than a literal representation. To me, it was just a way of showing that Demetrius' mind is so fried from everything that he essentially doesn't even have thoughts anymore, and that's his challenge.

Then a more recent post i saw was speculating that Melinda also had something done to her and that's why she acts that way and I'm not like it's painfully obvious she's being abused and it's a bit weird you'd even think that. But I have to remind myself it isn't that kind of story, and it's not a farfetched idea that they would pull something like that.

I just be taking shit too seriously man idk

[transsexula]

"Just ignore how every minority man is treated, because talking about it is basically like saying some women don't experience misogyny"

Never the point of this convo. In fact, you're literally making up a guy to be mad at. Why is it that a different minority talking about their own issues in their own space makes you feel this way? Why is it a minority making their own words to explain something they experience now an attack on you? Is it, perhaps, that you don't understand the experience and therefore project your own understanding of it onto everyone who speaks about it regardless of THEIR actual experiences?

I'll be the first to admit I don't know every fucking experience out there. I gotta trust my trans sisters when they talk about their experiences- same with any other identity I don't understand. Why are trans men not afforded this? We are literally an oppressed minority. Our bodies are constantly regulated and cracked down on and treated as freakshows. I feel like on some level, as trans people, others have to feel it and see it. Right?

Or are we just supposed to stay invisible?

[carlyraejepsans]

for real WHERE does the idea that [utdr humans] are nongendered so that "you can project on them" come from. their literal character arcs are about NOT being a blank slate to be filled in by the audience

i think i understand the assumption on some level for undertale, because there is a very intentional effort to make you identify with the "player character" in order to make your choices feel like your own (the beating heart of undertale's metanarrative lies in giving you an alternative path to violence against its enemies after all, and whether you're still willing to persue it for your own selfish reasons. YOUR agency is crucial).

of course, the cardinal plot twist of the main ending sweeps the rug from under your feet on that in every way, and frisk's individuality becomes, in turn, a tool to further UT's OTHER main theme: completionism as a form of diegetic violence within the story. replaying the game would steal frisk's life and happy ending from them for our own perverse sentimentality, emotionally forcing our hand away from the reset button.

i think their neutrality absolutely aids in that immersion. but also, there's this weird attitude by (mostly) cis fans where it being functional within the story makes it... somehow "editable" and "up to the player" as well? which is gross and shows their ass on how they approach gender neutrality in general lol.

but also like. there's plenty of neutral, non PCharacters in undertale and deltarune. even when undertale was just an earthbound fangame and the player immersion metanarrative was completely absent, toby still described frisk as a "young, androgynous person". sometimes characters are just neutral by design. it's not that hard to understand lol.

anyone who makes this argument for kris deltarune is braindead. nothing else to say about it.

[deoidesign]

Hi, I kind of have a question, Adam said that can't walk in the sun when doesn't drink blood, but what exactly happens? Do vampires just burn immediately, begin to be more sensitive to sunburn or is it another kind of thing?

so, in time and time again I really wanted blood to be something of a medicinal need for vampires. it's not a 1:1 metaphor of course, please don't try to think of it that way, but it's how I conceptualize it.

He needs blood to go in the sun, to heal, to "be something of a human again" and it also grants him the ability to time travel, shapeshift, compel others...

Without blood, he can't do these things. So, to be honest, without blood vampires would just... die. They can't exist without it. being in the sun uses blood, its dangerous. it wears you down. it makes you weaker. it can kill you!

I realize this ends up making my vampires feel weak, but... it's a metaphor for chronic illness. They have limited energy and if they do not take the time and the 'medications' they need to recover, they'll become weak or die. They have to manage their limited energy.

there's extreme privilege for vampires who have steady access to blood, like Adam does. His access to blood lets him time travel, transform, go in the sun constantly, etc. Vampires without as much access have to become nocturnal, they get stuck in one place, they have to be careful because even a small cut can cost precious resources...

A desperate vampire might end up hurting someone for what they need. a vampire with people who are willing to help them can get by, or even thrive. a vampire with none of these will die.

I know it's not the most satisfying answer, but it is my answer! My experiences being chronically ill are very much at play here.

[bluesylveon2]

Malleus, one of the most powerful mages in Twisted Wonderland

Also Malleus: