#I'm interested in concrete solutions

[tap-tap-tap-im-in]

It may sound contradictory considering my profession, but if your description only says you are a digital marketer, I will block you immediately.

I am a web developer. I facilitate digital marketing in my day job, I don't need it invading my personal life and projects, even if the stuff I do for pleasure might be interesting to digital marketers.

If you too are a person first, that's fine. I'm just saying that no one needs accounts that only link over to seo optimized blog posts regurgitating the same incorrect interpretations of Google's latest guidelines about content or core web vitals that everyone else is sharing.

We care about optimized media delivery here. Tell me how you solve problems like filling out the length bar of audio and video tags while waiting for the media meta data to come in off the server. Do you roll your own data caches in addition to the same 4 WordPress plugins that everyone uses? Are you running on PHP 8.2 even though WP support for it is only in beta and not all plugins have fixed their compatibility errors?

[zedecksiew]

DECOLONISING D&D

In 2019, after seeing yet another round of alarmist discourse in Xwitter about how Dungeons & Dragons is FULL of COLONIALIST tropes and patterns, and needs to be revised, SCRUBBED of its PROBLEMATIC FILTH---I rage-tweeted this brainfart:

"Decolonising D&D"

I've seen this thread round the community, since. Humza K quotes it in Productive Scab-picking: On Oppressive Themes in Gaming. Prismatic Wasteland quotes it in Apolitical RPGs Don't Exist. Most recently, it was referenced in a 1999AD post about Western TTRPGs (an interesting discussion on its own merit; one that already has a counterpoint from Sandro / Fail Forward.)

If folks are still referring to it five years later, maybe I should give the thread a little more credit? Perhaps the fart miasma has crystalised into something concrete.

In the interest of record / saving this thought from the ephemerality of Xwitter, here is the text in full, properly paragraphed, and somewhat more cleanly expressed:

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"DECOLONISING D&D"

Firstly: saying "D&D is colonialist" is similar to saying: "the English language is colonialist".

If your method of decolonising RPGs is to abandon D&D---well, some folks abandon English; they don't want to work in the language of the coloniser. More power to them!

For those who want to continue using the "language" of D&D---

Going forth into the "wild hinterland" (as if this weren't somebody's homeland);

to "seek treasure" (as if this didn't belong to anybody);

and "slay monsters" (monsters to whom?)

Yeah. There's some problematic stuff here, and definitely these aspects should make more people uncomfortable.

But! I think it is an error to "decolonise D&D" by scrubbing such content from the game.

That feels like erasure; like an unwillingness to face history / context; like a way to appease one's own settler guilt.

Do you live in the West? Do you live in any Asian urban metropole? White or Person of Colour(tm)---you are already complicit in colonialist / capitalist (yes, of course they are inextricably linked) behaviour. (I can't speak for urban metropoles elsewhere, but I bet they are similar centres of extraction.)

Removing such patterns from the TTRPGs you play might let you feel better, at your game table. But won't change what you are.

I think it is more truthful and more useful NOT to avert one's eyes from D&D's colonialism.

The fact that going forth into the hinterland to seek treasure and slay monsters is a thing, and fucking fun, tells us valuable things about the shape and psychology of colonialism. Why conquistadors in the past did it; why liberal foreign policy, corporations, and post-colonial societies do it today.

Speaking personally:

I write stuff that evokes / deals with the context I'm in---Southeast Asia. An intrinsic part of that is looking at the ways colonial violence has happened to us---as well as the ways / reasons we now, supposedly free, perpetrate it on others.

A long chain of suffering. Heavy stuff.

I also write for people who want to have fun / kill monsters / pretend to be elves, of course. But for those people who want to consider serious stuff like colonialism: I offer no FIGHT THE POWER righteousness, no good feeling, no answers.

Only discomfort. Because the truth is uncomfortable.

Here's a screenshot of the Author's Note for Lorn Song of the Bachelor:

"Any text inspired by Southeast Asia has to reckon with colonialism ... This text presents a difficult situation; there are no easy solutions. "... If I offered a mechanical incentive for you to fight colonial invaders, you wouldn’t be making a moral decision, but a mercenary one. "The choice you face should echo ... the kind of calculus my grandparents faced."

I stand by that.

Also: might we be more precise and more careful about using the term "decolonising", please?

Here I quote Tuck and Yang's landmark and (sadly) still trenchant "Decolonization is not a metaphor":

"Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies ..."

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Further Reading

So this post isn't just me reheating a hot take, here are some touchstone writings from around the TTRPG community about colonialism as a subject and mode of play in games:

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"Jim Corbett was called upon to hunt down another fifty maneaters over the course of the next 35 years. Together, those tigers had killed over 2000 people, for much the same reasons as the Champawat Tiger - injury, desperation, starvation, and habitat loss. Would you look at that. The root cause was British colonialism."

D&D Doesn't Understand What Monsters Are from Throne of Salt

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"Another effect of having colonizers in my setting would be giving players the opportunity to drive them away from the islands, their home. This maybe just be for the catharsis. After all, isn’t catharsis a big part of why we play roleplaying games?"

I’m Adding Colonizers To My Setting from Goobernut's Blog

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"When you have a slime boy and the other characters are a really fat lizard and one's playing Humpty Dumpty, it completely shatters the straight-faced serious authoritarian illusion of race, and replaces it with complete fucking nonsense. I love the idea of proliferating the number and types of "races" into absurdity, to the point where the entire logical structure of it collapses in on itself and race as a category ceases to become coherent or meaningful in any sense."

Interview with Ava Islam - Designer of the RPG Errant from Ava Islam / The Lost Bay

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"Perhaps most critically, the fundamental basis of power is not land or even money but manpower. That’s what local rulers fight over, and what Chinese commercial networks export, in return for unique island products. It’s what the European colonists really need (even if it’s not what they most desire). There is rich loot to be grabbed in the form of spices, Spanish silver, Indian gold, sea cucumbers (the Chinese love ’em), perfumes, dyes, cloth etc. so there’s ample opportunity for piracy, trade and smuggling, but the key to long-term success – the key to independent survival – is nakedly and unquestionably uniting people."

Counter-colonial Heistcrawl: previous high scores from Richard's Dystopian Pokeverse

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"They worked their own land—which they dispossessed from American Indians—or became small shop owners or opportunistic gold diggers or bounty hunters or itinerant ranchers. To me, substituting these situations for one ruled by industrial monopoly ignores that the Wild West is a perfect example of how capitalism operates outside of (or prior to) mass industry, instead being composed of self-employers and self-sustainers."

Fantastic Detours - Frontier Scum from Traverse Fantasy / Bones of Contention

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"... using the Western framing and D&D's baked-in imperialist and capitalist structure to get people earnestly participating in the experience of forming imperial power structures and the early roots of regional capitalism ... The PCs aren't the drifters on the train or the townsfolk watching with apprehension - they're the railroad itself."

An Arrow for the General: Confronting D&D-as-Western in the Kalahari from A Most Majestic Fly Whisk

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[bktoluver]

Underground Heat

Dean Winchester x f!reader

Summary: while on a hunt with the brothers you and dean are captured and locked up. some teasing and banter leads to a fun time while waiting for sam to rescue you.

Warnings: 18+, afab!reader, unprotected p in v, no big o, classic male and female mc have sex at the most inconvenient time where the bad guys could def get them, against the wall, kinda nasty place to have sex, reader tries to act like she’s not interested, he clocks her so hard 🙏🏻

Word Count: 1,668

not proof read 🫶 im him but im also in love with him. also not sure if i want to use second person pov or third person pov which is better 😭

As you and Dean find yourselves trapped in the dimly lit sewer room, you can't help but feel a sense of unease wash over you. You glance around the damp space, your eyes adjusting to the darkness as you take in your surroundings. The air is thick with the smell of mold and decay, making it hard to breathe. You shiver involuntarily, pulling your jacket closer to your body for warmth.

"Great, just great," Dean mutters under his breath, running a hand through his messy hair. He looks around the room, his gaze settling on the metal door that's separating you from freedom. “Looks like we're stuck here until Sam figures out where we are."

You turn to face him, leaning against the cold concrete wall. "Well, we can't just sit here and wait for him to save us. We need to come up with a plan." Your voice echoes off the damp walls, the sound reverberating in the otherwise silent chamber.

Dean chuckles dryly, shaking his head. "And what plan would that be?" He crosses his arms over his chest.

"I don't know," you admit, biting your lower lip nervously. You begin pacing back and forth, your boots clicking against the wet floor. "Maybe there's something in here we can use to break down the door."

Dean raises an eyebrow at you. "Like what? A magic wand?" He scoffs, rolling his eyes. "There's nothing in here but mold and rat shit."

Your pacing comes to a halt as you turn to face him again, frustration creeping into your features.

"Well, thanks for being so helpful," you snap, letting out a frustrated sigh.

With a huff, you sink down onto the cold concrete floor, your legs giving out beneath you. You rest your back against the damp wall, closing your eyes as you try to think of a solution to your current predicament. Having been stupid enough to fall for the shifter’s trap, now stuck down in the sewers somewhere. The silence in the room is almost deafening, the only sounds coming from the distant dripping of water and the occasional scampering of rats in the distance.

As you sit there, you can't help but steal glances at Dean out of the corner of your eye. Even in this dire situation, he still manages to look incredibly attractive, despite the grimy surroundings. The way his clothes hug his muscular frame, the slight stubble lining his jawline, and those piercing green eyes that seem to see straight through you...

Snapping out of your momentary trance, you shake your head and push aside any unwanted thoughts. Now isn't the time for such foolish distractions.

As if sensing your gaze upon him, Dean turns to look at you, his expression unreadable.

"You know, if you keep staring at me like that, I might start thinking you actually like me," Dean taunts with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans back against the opposite wall.

You roll your eyes at him, a small smile playing on your lips despite yourself. "Fat chance," you retort.

"Oh really?" Dean challenges, pushing himself away from the wall and taking a step closer to you. "So you don't think I'm charming, funny, or irresistible?"

"Arrogant and delusional maybe," you say, fighting back a grin. You pull yourself up to your feet, brushing off the dust and dirt from your jeans. "But definitely not irresistible."

Dean takes another step forward, closing the distance between you. You can feel the heat radiating off his body, sending a small thrill down your spine and your breath hitches slightly as you catch a whiff of his cologne – a mix of sandalwood and citrus. . "Is that so?" He challenges, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yup," you confirm, trying to keep your tone casual even as your heart begins to race in your chest. You meet his gaze squarely, refusing to back down from his intense stare. There's no way you're going to let him know that he's affecting you like this. That would just be embarrassing.

But as Dean continues to close the distance between you, towering over you with his broad shoulders and commanding presence, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain your composure. The feeling is disconcerting yet undeniably tantalizing all at once. And that smug little smile he's sporting isn't helping matters either – if anything, it's goading you on even further. Unconsciously, you take a half-step back, only for him to follow suit and close the gap once more.

He leans in close, his lips curled upwards in a lopsided grin.

"No part of you wonders what it would be like..." Dean trails off, leaving the insinuation hanging heavily in the air between you like a fog, waiting for you to fill in the gaps in your mind.

“Curiosity killed the cat...” you remark as you continue to study his features intently, noting with barely concealed amusement the way color has risen ever so slightly along his neckline and ears. “But satisfaction brought it back.” He grins reciting the rest of the idiom and raising a challenging brow.

With no reaction from you, save the dumb staring, Dean moves in claiming your mouth with his, tongue sliding past your open lips eagerly exploring every inch.

As his lips press roughly against yours, the rational side of your brain seems to evaporate instantly—replaced by sheer sensation washing over your body as he forces your lips apart, seeking entrance. A surge of emotion floods through you at the contact; lust bubbling beneath your skin causing your knees to buckle for a split second before you catch yourself, wrapping your arms around his neck to steady yourself. Time seemed to slow to a crawl in this cramped and humid underground tomb. Seconds seem like hours and you realize this may not have been your greatest idea but its certainly working towards sating your carnal hunger for him all the same.

Feeling bold and wanting more—your fingers clench into fists twisting handfuls of fabric from his T-shirt as your thigh finds its way between his. Pressing urgently against his leg and eliciting an unexpected moan from the hunter entangled within this newfound intimacy with you against him—body melding against yours as you kiss feverishly ignoring all warning signs ringing in the back of your mind telling you now isn't the best time nor place to be doing whatever it is you both seem keen to act on. But none of that matters anymore as your world shrinks to just you and him.

His hands roam freely across your form claiming territory as they drift lower and lower until finally cupping your behind and hoisting you effortlessly into his arms, his strong grasp keeps you anchored there and your back pressed to the hard wall—a moan erupting from deep within your throat and vibrating through your entire chest cavity—inciting his grip on you further as he devours your gasps and moans mercilessly. Sucking your bottom lip into his mouth playfully before allowing a heated breath to fan across your swollen lips as they pull apart for air—only amplifying the growing hunger between you both—growing stronger by the second—making both participants acutely aware that restraint has officially lost this battlefield.

Dean relucatntly lets go of you as he lowers you back onto your feet. Leaning down over you, capturing your mouth in a hungry kiss which serves to draw another passionate whimper from deep inside you while he quickly removes your pants entirely unable to contain his desire for even a brief moment longer. Exposing the bare flesh of your legs; goosebumps littered across their surface and raising them as you kick them to the side haphazardly. Reaching for his belt impatiently after removing those pesky barriers - his lips remaining locked against yours as if worried you might change your mind at any second if given the chance—while freeing his rock hard erection from confinement at long last.

He grabbed hold of your hips firmly while lifting and hooking your legs around his waist to support you easily as your back hits the wall again.

Bringing his mouth down against yours savagely—as he lines up his throbbing shaft alongside your slickened entrance — rubbing it gently against you provoking a pleased purr from your trembling lips.

You hook your heels around the curve of his flexing buttocks and pulling him toward you desperately as you writhe against him attempting to coax that thick bulbous tip inside.

"Eager are we?" He teased; pressing upward with his hips and spearing into you slowly with one swift thrust that stole the breath from both of you simultaneously. “Shut up.” You gasp out, eyes closing.

You let out a choked cry of pleasure as he retracted his hips and then snapped them back into you; digging your fingernails deeply into the muscles of his arms.

The rough texture of the damp stone scrapes your back through your shirt fabric with every thrust sent rippling throughout your core. Your nails dig in deeper with each successive impact from his body impaling itself inside yours. Foreheads pressed against each other closely and steamy exhales mingle together in the chill damp air.

With sweat gathering at your brow, he leans into your body more intensely — crushing you between the unforgiving cement block wall behind you and the heavy weight of his torso pinning you in place against it. The forceful slaps of pelvises colliding and ragged breathing fill the otherwise quiet room.

Both you and Dean freeze immediately still locked in each others embrace as you hear someone calling out your names outside that closed door from somewhere down the corridor beyond it. You share a quick panicked glance before hastily pulling away from each other. Panic setting in and reality starting to settle back into focus as the sound of Sam's distant shouting reaches your ear drums. “Shit, Shit.” Disengaging hurriedly your movements jerky and erratic as you frantically begin to collect your discarded clothing from earlier, struggling to stuff limbs into holes and zippers moving at hyper speed. Once you have gathered everything up you dash over to the door making noise to attract Sam.

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam! Would you mind sharing the research (or if you're not comfortable with that, your general search terms) you found on children of parents with emotional disregulation? That's been a theme in my own life, but I haven't found good papers about it myself, so I'd be interested in learning more.

Truly, it is a fucking quest.

So, when I initially searched I only really found one good article on what I think of as the "pop psych" side of things:

The Emotionally Dysregulated Parent by The Curious Nerd

It suffers from the problem a lot of pop psych books do, which is that it offers a highly relatable checklist and very few concrete solutions, but I don't want to criticize that because it's also not claiming that offering solutions is the goal. The article is more of a "Hey is this what I'm dealing with? Yes? Okay" kind of a situation.

Also, to preface: there is a fairly fine but visible line dividing "emotionally dysregulated" from "emotionally immature" which I think is why Adult Children Of Emotionally Immature Parents didn't resonate with me as much as it has for some. Dysregulated parents can have a fairly high level of emotional maturity, they just have wildly unpredictable reactions at times because their emotions overwhelm their self-control. So the impact on the child is less visible, and looks less like the forms of abuse or neglect that we're accustomed to.

More research under the cut but also a warning at the very end for some discussion of some pretty heavy stuff -- I'll put a little bold header before that bit so folks know when to stop reading if they want. (No personal accounts of abuse, just a discussion of abusive behaviors.)

I was looking for more articles like the one above and more research papers about the issue, but the problem was that Research came in three flavors:

All our data comes from surveys that parents took about their own dysregulation and the dysregulation of their small children. This is...interesting, I guess, but it's not good data because it's all self-reported and only by the parents.

We are studying emotional dysregulation's impact on the relationship between parents and adult children...but only in situations where the adult child is the dysregulated one. Obviously this isn't helpful and also what the fuck.

A study that affirms that emotionally dysregulated parents raise emotionally dysregulated children. I know these are necessary in order to build a framework for further research but also, you know, water be wet.

What actually helped me was stumbling across a different term during this research: "High Self-Monitoring". This refers to people who, as children, experienced unstable or irregular behavior from their caregivers and who thus developed the habit of constantly monitoring others' behavior, and others' reactions to their behavior, to ensure that they are accepted and approved of.

I never felt comfortable with thinking of myself as hypervigilant because the behaviors of hypervigilance don't match mine, but the behaviors of high self-monitors do, because they're specifically focused on the behaviors of other people in social situations. Remember how I was literally diagnosed as extremely charming? Yeah, high self-monitoring is a huge part of that.

I haven't had a chance to explore this as much. I hesitate to say the below link is helpful, because I think a lot of his suggestions aren't really valid for people with any flavor of neurodiversity, but I do think his exploration of self-monitoring is generally informative:

How to Become Less Self-Conscious by Matt Norman

Relative to high self-monitoring is another term, "Parentification", which refers to a parent investing their child with the responsibility of parenting a sibling or becoming a caregiver for said parent. This is akin to "eldest daughter syndrome" that you may have seen discussed on Tumblr, but more clinically defined and intense (and less gendered). Again, I haven't had a chance to dig into Parentification, so I don't have more to recommend yet.

Discussion of childhood trauma below, specifically incest. Skip to the next bold header if you don't want to read this.

I will say, very frequently you see Parentification paired with another term, emotional incest, which refers to a parent putting their child in the position of a romantic partner but without the physical aspect of incest. It can involve venting to the child about romantic partners or work problems, depending on the child for emotional support, preventing the child from peer activities or age-appropriate friendships because of jealousy, and sometimes physical contact that's not sexual but also not parent-child appropriate.

I think "emotional incest" is a real behavior but also a really ugly term for that behavior, and Therapist agreed. It feels like the term adds stigma simply because incest is such a loaded word. It's something I have seen people use to refer to their own experiences and that's absolutely their call, I am not going to step to anyone who needs it or feels it applies to their situation. But if the term makes you uncomfortable I think that's also justified. In talking about it, Therapist and I reframed it as Boundary Breaking, but I think with a bit of work I can come up with something a bit more specific.

So, just, if you see a discussion of emotional incest I do recommend you have a look because it's an advanced form of parentification and may be something you want to deal with, but be aware the name may feel like it sucks and be ready to uh, deal with that.

Okay, here's the second bold header, you can come back now.

So yeah, my research has been very surface level, in part because once I found all this I wanted to bring it to Therapist for guidance in further research. But I do think that "emotional dysregulation and parents" is sadly not a great search term. You're better off searching for "high self-monitor" or "parentification" and keeping a keen eye out for additional keywords those searches may generate. Good luck...

[dross-the-fish]

A follower tagged me on a post that was talking about how Edward isn't actually a bad guy but rather he's misunderstood and I'm not going to reply to that post because I don't want to start drama on someone else's blog but I've seen the sentiment brought up a few times so I'm going to make a blanket post about the topic rather than single anyone out. The post I was tagged in mentions the trampling of the child and seems to frame it like an accident so I'll start there and I'll let Henry himself tell you how he views that incident. "An act of cruelty to a child aroused against me the anger of a passer by," He outright says it, it's an act of cruelty. He doesn't deny that. And that's what I hate about fanon Hyde. A lot of interps seem to forget that Hyde is a middle aged man struggling with a repressed sadistic streak and not a social awkward teenager. I think the most concrete evidence we have of Jekyll/Hyde's nature is in Jekyll's letter and how he describes himself and his relationship to Hyde. “To cast in my lot with Jekyll, was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde, was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless. The bargain might appear unequal; but there was still another consideration in the scales; for while Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost.” As afraid as he is of losing the life he's built for himself there's so much LONGING to be Hyde despite the evils Hyde has done. He wants to indulge in his appetites and he knows if he embraces Edward he won't even grieve his losses. I find it interesting that he notes that becoming Edward would cost him his "aspirations and interests," because he would be losing everything to his vice, choosing pleasure and indulgence over his own goals and ambitions. "If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also," Henry Jekyll is a complex and repressed but also very selfish man and here's where the interpretation of Edward as a metaphor for addiction comes most strongly into play. Jekyll shows textbook signs of a drug user: experimentation, denial or minimization of the harmful effects, attempts to quit, withdrawal when he goes too long without being Edward and eventually he develops a dependency and falls into a spiral. The fact that he's taking a potion just drives the imagery that much harder. Even the description of the effects of the potion itself mirror drug use. "something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body ; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a mill race in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul. I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked" It's agony at first but once the "high" hits and he becomes Edward he feels good and his inhibitions are gone. He can indulge every depraved and twisted act his heart desires without having to take the hit to his reputation or the responsibility. “since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double, and once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount” - Jekyll risks an overdose because he keeps taking more of the serum. This illustrates his dependency on Hyde and his inability to quit. One thing I've noticed about Hyde interps that favor the lighter, softer, readings of the character is that they almost always neglect the characterization of Henry Jekyll. Either depicting Jekyll as the good half or all but erasing them from their fanon version of Hyde and that's something you can't really do because it misses the point of Jekyll and Hyde. Which is about Henry Jekyll and his repression and his eventual turn to a destructive outlet.

"The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of Edward Hyde, they soon began to turn towards the monstrous. When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another, relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde." once the leash is off Jekyll is shocked by what he's capable of, what Hyde is capable of. The words used by Stevenson paint a lurid picture, Depravity, bestial, torture, villainous. He can't outright say what Hyde is doing but it's pretty clear he has a sadistic streak. He also lets slip at one point by using "My" instead of referring to Edward as separate. "My vicarious depravity." He's aware, he is complicit and he enjoys himself. You cannot separate Jekyll from Hyde therefore any interpretation of Hyde as being soft, innocent, unaware or merely mischievous is not only incorrect but it directly contradicts the purpose of the story and strips Jekyll of his complexity. If you can't like this character as he is written then you don't like this character. There are some things you can leave up to interpretation but Hyde's sadism and Jekyll's addiction to Hyde are both very clear cut and Jekyll's confession spells everything out in a way that you'd have to reach pretty far to claim that Edward is being misrepresented by Utterson throughout the bulk of the novel.

[tapedeckshoard]

Hello there lovely! I know you said mostly human centered so I'll leave a human alternative beneath this one if you don't feel up to it ^^

But the basic concept goes like this, Decepticon Reader (GN) is captured by the Autobots for intel. They refuse to spill which leads to interrogations, after which Ratchet typically patches them up. I'm thinking good old enemies to lovers, and as a bonus I think its more fun if reader is on the "crazy" side. As in, the smiley-type with a unnerving tiny amount of sadism.

If your not feeling up to it then simple headcanons revolving around a Human Decepticon reader with Kleptomania is also fine. Take your time with these darling <3

-🩹

Oooo, interesting idea! I tried my best! It's more enemies than enemies to lovers but oh well! This was fun to write! I kind of ran out of steam near the end. . .

-

Patching Up

Ratchet x GN!Cybertronian!Reader

SFW

1852 Words

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You never pegged the Autobots as the sort to do interrogations. Violent ones, at least. But you supposed war brings out the worst in everyone, including those like the bots standing before you. How long had this been going on? You hadn’t bothered to keep track. It’s not like it mattered. You were trapped here until you either managed to escape, died, or by some miracle, Megatron decided to save you. You sincerely doubted the third option was happening. So that left two.

The first option was preferred. Escaping would allow you to get away with your spark still intact. But the Autobots were deceptively good at keeping you contained. When you weren’t getting scolded for information, they kept you locked in a warehouse storage unit of sorts, something you noticed they had a lot of in their base of operations. Normally, you’d be able to bust out with no problems, but they reinforced the thing, making the door nearly impossible to break. Not that your servos were free to break them. Cuffs kept them firmly together. You were just thankful cuffs were all they put on you.

Of course, there was always the second option. Dying wasn’t the ideal solution, but at least it would get you out of this situation. And who knows? Maybe Primus would be a better conversationalist than these Autobots. 

You slumped against the wall, helm clicking against the hard concrete behind you. Above all, being a prisoner was boring. You supposed that was the point. Keeping you locked alone for long periods of time, only to drag you out and interrogate you until they got bored of you. 

They were no strangers to violence, either. They tried to keep up their calm facade. But when push came to shove, they were no different than your faction. You had the gashes to prove it. 

Energon stained your exterior, metal bent and faded, wires shoved out of place.

It was a miracle you hadn’t fully shut down. Well, you supposed you shouldn’t call it a miracle. The Autobot medic kept you well enough to continue the interrogations. He barely spoke to you, optics staring at whatever injury he was working on at the moment.

You tried to get under his skin, tease him a bit, but that only led to him cutting his operations short and leaving you to leak energon. So you learned to keep your mouth shut.

After months of this nonsense, you knew Megatron was never going to save you. He probably thought you had already perished. And you also knew that the Autobots were not going to stop their interrogations, either. And with Ratchet constantly patching you up, you weren’t dying anytime soon. 

All of these thoughts led you to come to one conclusion. You either had to give up the information, or die. 

You stood up, pushing yourself off the wall. You banged your cuffs against the door of your makeshift cell.

“Hey!” you called out, loud enough that you knew they could hear. “I’ll talk! Just let me out of here!”

It didn’t take long for you to be dragged out of your cell, Bulkhead pushing your back any time you paused or lost pace with the others. They kept your cuffs on, all optics on you as you were brought to the main silo.

“You wish to disclose what you know?” Optimus questioned you, optics narrowed skeptically. 

“Do I really have a choice here?” you spat back, leading Bulkhead to nudge your back none-too-gently. You growled, shooting him a glare. “Push me again, and I’ll bite your arm off,” you threatened.

Bulkhead reared his servo back, ready to strike, before Ratchet intervened.

“Can we focus here?” he snapped out, looking between you and Bulkhead angrily. He focused on you. “We’ve been at this for cycles. Why change your mind now?” 

“I’m not allowed to change my mind?” you questioned almost teasingly, barely stifling a smirk.

“I don’t believe you,” Ratchet replied, crossing his arms stubbornly. 

“What? You don’t trust me?” 

“You know I don’t,” Ratchet sneered. 

You faked a frown. “You’ve been patching me up for cycles. And not once have I tried to end your life. And you know I could if I wanted to.” 

“You’re not stupid enough to make an attempt on my life, you’d have nowhere to run.”

“You think I’m smart?” you cooed out. “D’aww, thanks.”

“Enough,” Optimus demanded, and the room fell silent. You weren’t crazy enough to interrupt a Prime. “Will you reveal the information we seek?”

You scoffed. “Fine. What do you want to know?” 

“The location of the Decepticon warship,” Ratchet told you. You shot him a look. 

“The sky, probably,” you snarked out. 

“We know you have the ability to find the Decepticon warship. You’re the best tracker the Decepticons have,” Ratchet pointed out. 

“I used to have the ability,” you replied with a huff. “Now? Who knows. It’s not like I’ve had the time to brush up on my tracking skills.”

“Will you make the attempt or not?” Ratchet snapped at you, clearly growing tired of your snark. 

You rolled your optics. “Fine,” you told him. You looked around, spotting the Autobots’ pathetic excuse for a computer system. “I’ll need access to that piece of scrap. Give me a few cycles, and I’ll have the location pinpointed, at least temporarily.” 

It was hard to work with an Autobot constantly hovering around you. You knew they didn’t trust you. They wanted to make sure you weren’t sending some sort of signal to the Decepticons. Not that you would. At least not now. Maybe back when you first got captured, but you grew to realize that your fellow Decepticons did not care about you. You were another cog in the machine. 

You let your annoyance fuel you, your desire for revenge against those who had led you rot in this silo.

Most of the time, the bot watching you was Ratchet. The others still had duties to attend to. They came and went, but Ratchet stayed. You grew used to his presence. He didn’t talk much, which was a relief. The only time he spoke was if he suspected you were up to something. But that became less and less frequent.

It was quiet, save for the sound of your digits tapping against the digital keyboard. The others were not present, so it left just you and Ratchet. He hovered behind you, as always.

“I’ve found it,” you spoke up, breaking the silence, watching the blinking dot on the screen coast lazily across the sky. 

Ratchet looked past you, optics scanning the information. “Hmph,” he finally said after a moment of silence. “Took you long enough.”

You turned, scowling at him. “I did it, didn’t I?” you snapped.

He looked at you skeptically. “Yes, I suppose you did,” he murmured.

You huffed, walking away from the screens you’d been stationed at for the longest time. “I’ve done my job,” you told him. “Am I free to go?”

“Free to go where?” Ratchet replied. “You’ve betrayed the Decepticons. You’ll be melted down for scrap if you return.”

“Anywhere but here,” you spat.

Ratchet huffed incredulously. “You think we’re going to just let you leave?”

Your steps were hard against the silo floor as you marched up to him, close enough to reach out and strangle him. “Who is going to stop me?” you questioned.

Ratchet didn’t back down, meeting your heated gaze. You watched his servos ball into fists at his sides. “You will remain here until Optimus and the others return.”

Before you realized what you were doing, you raced forward, using your body weight to throw him onto the floor. You stumbled atop him, quickly caging him underneath you. Your weapon activated, and you pointed it directly at his spark.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” you snarled.

Ratchet was stunned for a few moments before attempting to push you off of him. You didn’t budge.

His optics narrowed, and you felt a burning sensation on your side, realizing he’d activated his welder. You could smell burning metal. 

You scurried off of him, clutching your side, feeling the residual heat still lingering. 

He stumbled, regaining his footing, and you two stared at each other, nobody making the next move. You walked slowly around him.

“You’re injured,” he pointed out, making you scowl.

“And whose fault is that?” 

“You attacked me first.”

You scoffed. “I may not be a Decepticon anymore, but I am not an Autobot. And I refuse to stay in this silo any longer.” 

“That decision is not yours to make,” he replied.

You wanted to tackle him again, but you didn’t. This entire fight was stupid. Even if you managed to fight your way outside the silo, you couldn’t get far without the Autobots on your tail. They’d just drag you back here.

You huffed, turning your back. You stormed over to a medical berth, sitting down stubbornly. “Fine.”

He followed behind you, optics trained on the burn he’d given you during your fight. 

You noticed and shot him a dirty look. “Admiring your handiwork?” you spat.

“Let me take a look,” he said.

You kept your servos firmly covering most of the melted metal. “Why?”

“I should make sure you aren’t permanently injured.”

You wanted to tell him to leave you alone, but you also knew that he was a medic, and that you shouldn’t let your anger get in the way of him looking at an injury. You knew he was skilled at patching you up. He’d shown that before.

You begrudgingly moved your servos, optics trained on the burnt and melted metal staining your side.

He crouched down, looking over the injury. “Does it hurt?” 

You fought back a humorless laugh. “Yes, it hurts.”

“It’s still burning, then,” he concludes. “I need to cool down the injury.”

“Then quit talking and do it,” you told him, annoyed. 

He pulls a metal tin from his subspace, opening the cap and pouring some of the clear salve onto his servo. “Are you going to kill me if I apply this?” he asked you.

You huffed, making sure your servos were fully clear of your injury as you shot him a glare. “I’m still deciding,” you hissed.

The paste was cold, but it did get rid of the burning sensation that plagued your exterior. You let out a quiet sigh. “Thanks,” you murmured out, almost inaudible. “I guess.” 

He scoffed. “I’m a medic, it’s my job.” 

“Yeah, well, you’d be surprised at the amount of ‘cons who don’t do their job,” you quipped, rolling your optics. 

“No, I wouldn’t,” he replied. 

You shot him a glare. Just because you weren’t a Decepticon doesn’t mean you’d stand for him slandering your former allies. Even when you brought it up in the first place.

“Anyway,” you said. “Does this mean you’re going to shove me back in that cell now that I’ve pinpointed the warship for you?” 

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”

You hummed, a small smirk appearing on your lips. “You got that right.” 

[noangeleither]

"fixing" the panic attack scene to be more platonic ™

im extremely active on twt and have been noticing a sydcarmy tweet go viral multiple times a week (like w thousands of interactions its crazy), and its really great to see how much people love and see it for this ship. recently carmys panic attack scene went viral again, and naturally, some ppl gave their piece about how we are all dumb for interpreting it as romantic. that sydney represents his love for his job or his duty to the restaurant (*sigh*).

this scene imo, is the most concrete proof of this ship. i can excuse (not really) interpreting every interaction between them thus far as platonic but this scene....i just refuse. this is gonna be a long post, not analyzing the scene per se because i can't possibly say anything that hasn't already been said but more "fixing" the scene to fit the narrative of antis, and i hope in doing so really shows there's no other way to interpret this scene as other than romantic. again its gonna be a long post bc im just ranting and i think i will lose my mind if i dont type this out.

lets go.

so first off i like to think of this scene as an equation/experiment. simply a problem that needs to be solved.

problem/reason of panic = ...we will discuss this...

solution # 1 = claire -> failed

solution # 2 = sydney -> worked.

Problem/Reason

s02e09 opens up with carmy and claire finally consummating their relationship, with an interesting song choice might i add and carmy dissociating, looking sad, or broken (???) after. because many have said carmy pulling memories of sydney from his psyche to calm down have to do with work i always remember that, it really doesnt make any sense?

carmy is clearly having a panic attack due to him not being "fixed" as soon as he made it official with claire. he felt pressure from his family both currently and in the past to date claire because she is amazing and perfect. add mikey also being a part of that crowd, and carmy so desperately trying to connect with him when he cannot, is why i think he looks so despondent after that scene. i truly think he thought he would be a changed person after everything with claire and when that didn't happen he flipped...

we know this is the reason bc his panic attack starts with their sex scene and the lyric "I dont know" from strange currencies by REM.

this isn't to say that he isn't nervous or stressed about the soft open but its clear that he's not having a panic attack about work nor have we ever seen him have a work-related panic attack (correct me if I'm wrong). in s1 he has one or two due to him greiving his brother.

platonic fix: To make it about work I would have added scenes like when Carmy started that stove fire in braciole, his meltdown in review, some scenes of his horrible time at EMP, and him grieving his brother. i think these would represent his fear of failure, falling back into old toxic habits pertaining his career, the fear of fostering a toxic work environment like the ny chef and also the idea of "failing" mikey

but theres a reason why none of this occurs bc its not about his job or the opening of the bear. this is explicitly about his personal and romantic love life.

Solution # 1 : Claire

carmy proceeds to try and calm down by thinking of claire through literal rose-coloured glasses...

the music is distorted, he's thinking of his abusive family, he remembers every one pushing him to date claire bc shes a #goodthing.

again...this is not about his job and wouldnt make sense to think of sydneys place in his work life as a soultion to his clear personal problem....

platonic fix: in the story of carmys love life claire and sydney act as narrative foils. they have been compared and contrasted for all of s2. my platonic fix for this would be making the NY chef this first "solution" of a work-related panic attack. he represents a horrible time in his life but also represents a time when carmy was at the height of his career. when carmy gets locked in the walk in and has his monologue, its alluded to that he will revert back to that mind set in order to not let everyone down.

NY chef abused him for so long, it makes sense that carmys psyche would readily go back to his insults and the time he himself was an isolated 'psycho' bc it yielded results.

nothing is black and white and i DO think sydney represents a healthier approach to the toxic mess that is the culinary world and does represent that for carmy. if the show was invested in that, sydney and the NY chef could be overtly contrasted like sydney and claire have been.

BUT again this isnt about his job and dedication as a chef...thus why he tries to think of claire to solve his personal problem, and it fails.

Solution # 2: Sydney

LMFAOOO.

carmy then in a crazy plot twist starts thinking of his platonic work bestie sydney adamu....the love song dedicated by the show to his relationship with his girlfriend is then made clear highlighting some pretty damning lyrics about desire and love.....all platonic btw. yes you are dumb if you think otherwise (*wink*)

I actually have two platonic fixes for this...

platonic fix # 1: if we only wanted to focus on sydney as a person who calms carmy down because shes his work bestie who represents his responsibilty to the bear and the postive change they are trying effect in the culinary world, i would add scenes where they are...you know actually cooking???

i think its pretty crazy how the memories carmys immediately jump to are ones that have little to do with their jobs. when they first meet (would also like to note that when carmy first laid eyes on Sydney, he forgot she was there for a job, so this is his raw reaction to seeing a pretty girl lol) and when she comes back after she quit and their break up fight.

i would add their scenes in carmys kitchen (even tho this is extremely damning bc they were flirting DOWN - they don't make this easy at all). this represents their collaboration skills and the way they WORK and bounce ideas off of each other seamlessly. specifically the scene about him wanting to give her a star, representing his duty to her and the restaurant.

*and no shade to carmy but if his responsibility to the bear/syd as a co-worker was bothering him this much and calmed him down wouldn't he have just immediately called the fridge guy.....anyways*

platonic fix # 2 (the best one): if i was chris storer and joanna calo and i REALLY wanted to sell it that carmy isnt in love with sydney then i would put every single member of the OG beef crew + Nat to calm him down not just Sydney.

im talking to them laughing at family, carmy giving tina his chefs knife, richie in his new suit, carmys one on one w Marcus/trying his donut, nat telling carmy shes pregnant (signifing rebirth/wanting to rid all the toxic abuse from his family), carmy trying sydney risotto, and her face when he said it was tremendous etc etc...you get the gist

and honestly?

even as i type this out im tearing up a little bit bc that would have been really beautiful. carmy is changing. he can and is getting rid of old toxic habits from his family and the mess that is the culinary industry. things are changing for the better....that would be beautiful....IF his panic attack was about any of these things lol.

and to even look at this scene without this need for symmetry and we entertain the idea of carmy thinking about his job as a solution for his personal problem...carmy has said himself (s02e01) that this isnt fun for him. i dont think that means he hates cooking i kinda disagree with the ppl who think he isnt passionate about it. i just think currently its something that doesnt bring him joy but i do think its something hes starting to or at least could have started to enjoy if he just committed to working with syd...

conclusion

theres a lot of....delusion? denial? straight up bias? yes all of that, going on.

idk what is happening bc this show is really great at being subtle. but i dont know whats more in your face, dumbed down, even a toddler could understand, than this scene. if you dont come out of this understanding that carmy is falling in love/currently in love with Sydney...and i hate using this term..but you just arent media literate.

bonus: bc it makes me laugh and connects the purpose and solutions.

i think we need a Snyder Sydcarmy Cut™ of bolognese and omelette.

the start of the episode is when sydney and carmy fight over claires inclusion in the menu, and also when sydney randomly asks him to define his relationship with Claire. the episode would continue until we get to the table scene.

i think its WILD how as soon as Sydney asks him to define their relationship, carmy starts calling claire his girlfriend. then the show proceeds to insert sydney in their romantic montage, shows her tattoo about heartbreak and someone getting in the way of your relationship...THEN proceeds to have carmy compare these two women in his mind and only calms down after seeing Sydney.

i could talk about this scene for AGES. wheres the straitjacket....

[f-imaginings]

sooo i’m currently rereading kmky and im at the point where stanford gets upset that bill didn’t show up to ONE dream and just stops sleeping for 10 months (definitely not extreme on his part😭) and it’s got me thinking about later in the fic when he’s made it his life’s mission to Kill Bill ® and i cant help but wonder what would’ve happened if he had succeeded, this is the same man who freaked out from not having bill in his dreams so how the hell did he plan to cope without bill in existence

----------------

I get the feeling that he wouldn't have succeeded. A key point about Bill in my own lil head canon is that he's very hard to kill. The parallels between Bill and Zippy were very purposeful in kmky. The attitude he developed after outliving his people and the many assassination attempts from more powerful beings over the years is similar to Zippy's "what are you going to do about it? Kill me bitch!" attitude. The interesting thing about Zippy though is that she eventually found her equal in Jolene of Flames. Jolene isn't immortal though (unless Bill gave it as a wedding present) so Zippy might lapse back into destructive behaviours if Jolene ever passes away.

Back to Stanford though, he was in a downward spiral since the bibliosphere. He was disappointed he didn't die. He then goes off to find out more about Bill only to wake up with Bill literally cut out of his head courtesy of Jheselbraums metal plate. Jheselbraum sends him on a mission to build this gun playing on that hopelessness all "here's a purpose now you've hit rock bottom, it'll solve all your problems BC you're destined to kill Bill. You can trust me I'm an Oracle, you totally have the face of the man who'll take Bill down" and he just accepts this without really challenging it in any way BC he is already despondent in a way that Bill is out of his head. Bill made him feel important. He could have taken his new metal plate and gone to live out his life elsewhere happily but he wants to feel important and he wants to see Bill one last time, like some romantic hero, thinking they're destined to destroy each other, thinking that feels right.

When he was in the alternate world with the Institute of Oddology he came across as a man on a suicide mission and realised it too after spending enough time with Fiddleford, enough to be scared a little of the prospect, of realising how much he could lose by pursuing this, but he did it anyway, jumping into the portal to go kill Bill. This wasn't his Fiddleford, this wasn't his life that had been built up to such great heights so it was easier to give up on the idea of staying around for these things.

He was fully expecting to die, and I think he would have straight up broken down if Bill didn't kill him. If Bill caught him or kept him alive he would have in a way expected punishment or a solution somehow. They were both equally thrilled at the prospect of chasing each other down, like it was a special treat for them to each fill that role of hunter/prey in turn.

When the Portal opened and he's back with his family he would still feel justified or righteous in a way because his destiny wasn't stopped, just interrupted and now he has more reason than ever to prevent Bill from accessing earth. He starts getting more to live for outside of Bill and more parts of his life he wants to protect. He had zero support structure before but now he has concrete things to live for and put above this cat and mouse back and forth.

If he had succeeded he probably would have felt more guilt than is canon typical, I think Stanley making the big sacrifice redirected his guilt in canon to be more balanced. If he managed to down Bill in one shot I think he would have felt triumphant and also felt like he would have to hide his sadness from the kids and his family, and it would probably eat away at him until someone noticed and lanced the boil of those emotions so he could grieve freely. He'd be with family at that point though, and old friends, ppl who knew what Bill was like. I imagine Fiddleford would be great comfort to him, knowing that while Bill was generally awful he showed his good sides only to Stanford and that meant something. I think that could eventually help him heal from it.

Anyway super long rambley answer sorry if I got a little off task there but I hope this somewhat covers it.

[aspoonofsugar]

Hello, how are you? I hope you are well! I wanted to say that I feel like Kogami's revenge plot in Psycho Pass has been losing focus. Like, apparently he seeks to end Makishima out of personal revenge for Sasayama's death. But the anime shows and says little about Sasayama, and in its flashbacks their relationship is never the focus, in fact I don't remember a moment where they demonstrate a strong bond. I'm not saying it was poorly constructed or anything, I just feel like Kogami's motivation to stop Makishima doesn't have much to do with Sasayama. What do you think about it?

Hi!

I think Sasayama's relationship with Kogami is meant to parallel Akane and Kogami's to an extent, in the sense they worked together and were close, but at one point Sasayama died, which led to Kogami's spiral. I don't think the bond needs to be explored that much tbh for it to be effective. It is more than anything a bond, which is told to us, rather than shown. It is part of Kogami's background, rather than a part of his arc.

In short, I understand what you are saying, but Sasayama is more than anything a narrative device rather than a real character and must be taken as such. He is the inciting incident for Kogami's obsession towards Makishima and his growing doubts over Sybil's society. So, in a sense, I agree with you. The point of Kogami isn't that he loses it because a loved one dies. The point is Kogami discovers his idea of justice does not fit Sybil's society. That is the point of his character. He also gives in to aggressivity and revenge out of guilt, self-hate and frutstration.

In a sense, all of Psycho Pass main characters embody a specific political/philosophical stance and show how this stance can be detrimental if taken to the extreme:

Akane is an idealist/reformist - she is the moral backbone and is genuine in her endeavor, but this also makes so that by the end of season 1 she allies herself with the system with the vague hope one day Sybil will be dethroned. Still, she has not concrete plan on how to do it.

Makishima is an anarchist/terrorist - he is right in his criticism of the system and has a plan on how to destroy Sybil. Still, he acts just as cruelly and selfishly as the system does and hides his selfishness behind an idelogy.

The system is utilitarianism/dictatorship - it tries to make the interests of the majority of people, but ends up victimizing minority because of this. It offers security in exchange of freedom.

What about Kogami? I would say Kogami is individualism. He follows a personal code and is animated by a personal goal. He makes the interest of individuals and not of society. What matters for him isn't that there is a societal system that works, but that a very specific individual is punished for his crimes.

For example, Akane proposes to bring back a human jury to judge Makishima - hers is a solution which ties into a very specific idea of law and society. Kogami instead wants to simply kill Makishima and is uninterested in society judging him.

Thank you for the ask and happy holidays if you celebrate!

[shizukateal]

In honor of Across The Spiderverse going digital, here's the Beyond the Spiderverse Prediction Bingo!!!!

Explanations below the readmore:

Spider Ham's Chekov Hammer: simple enough to guess, I'm just really waiting for that to pay off, preferably over Miguel's head.

Spider Noir and Hobie get along: just some good ole' fanservice.

Miles G. is actually a dork (he's just better at hiding it. mildly): Wow, great introduction Miles G.! Very suspenseful and intimidating!! Let's see how long you can carry that demeanor without breaking.

Margo / Miles (Miles G.?) / Gwen Love Triangle (Pavitr is annoying about it): Pass the popcorn everyone. How resentful will be Miles when he meets Gwen again? Is getting the spider-band together enough for him or is it just the first step into making amends? Maybe he feels more grateful towards Margo (and Hobie) and will give Gwen (and Peter B.) the cold shoulder for a while. Will Miles G. also enter the ring? Maybe this one really cute comic by @bubblypinkfreak will become true.

Jess Drew Subplot (baby is born?): REAL interested in finding out why Jess would ever follow an asshole like Miguel. Also she deserves more plot relevance. And fanart. Aaaaaand I kinda want to see her husband too.

The Spot Collapses in on himself: Gonna be honest with you, people, I have no idea how they'll fight him, this just seems like the cleanest solution.

Miguel's actually just as much of an anomaly as Miles: My own personal theory, not really based on anything concrete beyond some flags I get from Miguel and some stuff I'll explain later. Basically, I think Miguel's projecting on Miles, and that's part of why his beef towards him is so intense. The only explanation I can think of is that he destroyed his original dimension, not just the one with his daughter in it, and the serum we see him take is what keeps him "stable" and "belonging" to Nueva York. Or you know, maybe just the watch, but the serum is more sus to me.

Gwen Stacy Fall Subversion: Either Gwen completes her character arc by saving Miles from falling to his death or she saves herself, thus breaking her karmic cycle of getting fridged.

Meows Morales cameo?? Pretty Please???: C'mooooon he became instantly popular and he's adorable!!!!! <3 <3 <3 bonus points if multiple miles help out to fight against Miguel's squad later.

We spend some time on Hobie's dimension: No idea how the plot would get there, but the concept art of Hobie's dimension is fire and I want to learn more about him <3 <3 <3 tell us why you almost gave up the mask, darling, and did you kill a cop in your dimension? <3 why would you feel bad about it? <3 <3 <3 <3

Gwiles Morales (he hates that name): Apparently this is how some of the staff called him. Poor guy.

The Spider-Band fights Earth 42's Sinister Six: For those who don't know, they control Earth 42, as confirmed by the art book. Nothing better to sweeten Miles G. to our heroes' side than taking care of them. Bonus points if one of them is explicitly a fascist and Hobie and Noir punch him together.

Miguel Bites Someone: bonus points if it's hot as fuck. Sorry but it's true.

Lyla's the real bad guy (beyonder): I'm gonna let moviebob do the heavylifting here. Could tie to that personal theory I explained above.

Peter B. vs Miguel fight redemption: ok this one I'm biased for because I personally find Peter B. more morally culpable than Gwen in their whole drama with Miles seeing as he's the adult with a kid. But also yeah, good chance for him to redeem himself in Miles eyes (or not! maybe Miles wants more from him that just standing up to a bully) and take Miguel down a peg. Bonus points if he looses a leg, because apparently that's something that happens in Spidergirl's comic.

Prowler!Hobie somehow: Not saying our Hobie will turn into the prowler, just that the connection will be addressed somehow. Idk man, it just feels like positioning Hobie as another mentor for Miles is very deliberate.

Miles feels guilty about Earth 42: Juicy source of drama between him and Miles G. as well as a free character arc about how responsibility is more than just cause and effect.

Miguel tries to redeem himself by dying but Miles won't allow him to: Miguel O'hara has several problems, and I speculate they all come from his self-obsession. Everything about the spider society is about him erecting structures dedicated to his pain to turn himself into the martyr holding reality together. So if he's finally proven wrong, it seems pretty in character to me that his idea of making amends would be to do the same thing one last time for "the right cause", being the diva he is and how he thinks you can sacrifice one person to save everyone else and all. I don't think Miles will allow that, though. Bonus if the scene parallels the one in into the spiderverse when Miles returns Peter B. home.

That one @cheezthatboiii comic / Mileswitch: because what's the point of having a twin if you can't fool people about it?

Gonzalo/Gonza Morales: The correct alternative to Gwiles if anyone during production has braincells or is latine.

Margo Subplot (family issues): confirmed in the artbook that she ended up having more plot relevance than originally planned, and even if that wasn't the case she deserves it. And more fanart.

The Spot is defeated with kindness: Ok. Before I said that I don't know how the Spot could be defeated with violence, but maybe that's not needed? He is clearly a foil to Miles after all, and I think it would do him (Miles) a lot of good to practice some radical empathy, even on someone who kinda doesn't "deserve" it. This isn't so much about him being ""redeemable"" (fandom has ruined that whole concept) so much as how much empathy the narrative is willing to grant him.

Jeff meets Gonza before Miles reveals to him that he's Spiderman. He's confused by having 2 sons: this just feels to me like the most probably sequence of events given the franchise's usual use of bathos and subversion of expectations.

Spider Support Network Finale: No more spider society authority "correcting" the multiverse, every spider-person gets a watch so their friends can come over and lend a hand and prevent as many deaths as possible.

Aaron 42 gets severely injured/dies: I don't want this to happen, it just seems like a way of trimming some fat in the cast and getting some more drama from Gonza.

[cowboy]

well hello

i'm going to be doing a public-facing journal just to see if there's any interest in conversation about the things i come across weekly and also i guess to keep myself consistent and thoughtful about what i write about.

8/22/2024

i had work today; i slept extremely early (at like 9pm) so i could wake up extremely early (i awoke before my alarm at like 4:45am?). despite being extremely groggy, it was really nice to be up so early. i got to bike down lake shore bike trail before the sun rose.

right before i arrived at the bike trail, coming from the west side, i saw the dark blue clouds cast by the pink rising sun, and they looked like massive, massive mountains. i kept wanting to take photos of the lake with the new light coming over it, but i was gonna be late to my job if i stopped. :(

at work, one of my coworkers learned that his grandpa was going to be put in hospice care. i wanted to ask how he was, and really listen, but i knew that if i did dig into it, it was going to be quickly interrupted by customers, or management, etc. etc. it reminded me of this book IN (it's a comic, actually) and how it can feel scary to reach further to ask how someone is really doing. it wasn't exactly the same, but the concept was there. i did ask if he was doing alright though and he was. i stayed back so he could leave a little earlier.

i've been dealing with some personal turmoils so i decided to jump into the lake (this is often my solution to feeling intense emotions, for some reason). as i biked up to the lake and climbed down to the edge, i saw someone tear their shirt off and leap into the thrashing waves. i set my stuff down and looked over again. a boy was laying on his back, surrounded by his family. he wasn't moving. i squinted and kept watching. no one looked overly concerned, but it was clear that the boy was not doing too hot. as it turns out, that boy had been near drowning, and the person who leapt into the water had done so to pull him out and save him. the hero was thanked by the family and he biked away past me. i heard one of the boy's family members say "i thought you were a goner, bro!" i think so much of how close people are to true danger every day, and this was a big reminder of that.

after having been privy to such a situation, i did think for a moment if it was appropriate for me to jump into the water that was in fact quite intense. but i know myself, so i tore off my clothes and jumped in very quickly. the water was deep and wavy and brightly teal blue. i had little choice but to let it drag me around for a moment. i climbed up on the wall ladder, looked around for a moment, and fell backwards again into an incoming wave. i let it soak my hair (i love how the lake leaves my hair) and then let another wave crash into me before finally scrambling up to the concrete again. i ate some turkey, then took my leave as a herd of geese came honking close to me.

i dragged my bike up to the grassy area and laid out in my underwear in the sun. the sounds of the wind and cicadas was so beautiful. after maybe 15 minutes, i climbed a nearby tree, made friends with it, and then put on my shorts and sweater, and biked home.

i bought new glasses just now since they mailed me a coupon. they're cute frames, two pairs! my old ones are like 4 years old now...

I've been feeling really useless lately, but not in a self-deprecating way (not too self-deprecating, though, i think?). i just have really been trying to figure out what i'm up to these days and while the answer is "so much", it's also just as much "so little". which is very frustrating.

I'm going to look into setting up an online shop in a moment i think. i tabled at chicago fan expo the other day and i had quite a few people interested in my work, which really surprised me. i'm not sure how to focus my perspective and """talent""" into art that makes me feel like i'm really doing anything worth adding to the world, but if i can manage to do that, it would be cool.

maybe it can also be a side thing.

anyway. now i'm rambling.

i'm going to keep trying to ground myself today with breathing. it's something i picked up from thich nhat han and also my therapist (lmao). i used to hate the idea of "breathing" doing "anything" for me, but something really changed in the past month or so, and it totally makes sense now.

i hope everyone's having a nice day and so on and so forth :)

[dead-rabbit-comics]

i have found the problems i was anticipating or maybe they have found me.

sidenote: was hoping this colour would be a little more olive and a little less military, i'll see what i can do about that. that'll be interesting.

anyways since everything was going very well i decided to change the tie-up to a satin - because i can weave that now!! exciting!!

as you can maybe tell from the photo, it works. but i have trouble with the last shaft, which wants to have its neutral position lower than everyone else. it's pulling down. i suspected this might be correlated with the cords of the last shaft/last treadle holes being taught, while all others have progressively more slack towards the front. so in rest position, these last cords are what hold the treadles up from the floor, the treadles rest on these cords, ergo the last shaft pulling down.

my non-weaving friend suggested yesterday that this might be an issue of me being perfectionistic and having reached a workable shed, to work with what i have achieved. that this tie-up may in fact be impossible to improve. however, i strongly feel it is not good enough to have a solution that: has a single treadle sticking up too high (making it difficult to operate) as well as a shed that is just barely workable. countermarch looms became widely used because they could do the exact thing i'm trying to do here (says allen fannin)

He also describes the issue i'm having quite nicely when talking about the balance required for the countermarch system and then he says this:

"[...] the weight of the treadles equalizes the pull on the ties to both the riser and sinker lamms, thereby canceling the resultant movement of a differential force between risers and sinkers."

when talking about how the treadles need be ≥ the weight of the harness.

overall i still don't feel like i quite understand. i suppose i can try taking out all the connections to the last shaft and see what happens. ok have tried that, 1 is still hanging low, 2 has joined it. uhm. conclusion?

the way i understand the countermarch system now, or try to picture it, is as a scale. the sinking and rising of each shaft is related to a piece of wood with a hole in the middle: when at rest, it should be horizontal. when you pull down on one end, the other rises and vice versa. to control this, both ends are attached to an upper and a lower lamm - one will raise the shed, one will lower it. which is pretty cool! because now you can make connections between these lamms and the treadles to store any combination of rising and sinking shafts. once i have done that tie-up, i can now step on the treadle, which will pull down the combination i have selected, which in turn brings up the remainder of the unconnected combination of lamms. yay, shed!

so anyways, i'm spending a lot of time sitting and staring and contemplating pivot points and feeling how much force it takes to lift pieces at different points and sighing a lot and generally feeling a little like the worlds dumbest creature. but we'll see.

in a way i am also happy to run into this issue, because if it just works, there's nothing to fix and i always feel like i don't really understand what's going on when that happens? i genuinely do prefer trying to work through issues rather than gliding along seamlessly (because that's where the learning happens yes, but also) because that is concrete, then the things i don't know take form and i can prod at their edges and try to get an idea of the shape of what i don't know. whereas if i'm unaware of not knowing something i certainly won't be able to do anything about it.

[ozzgin]

hope this doesn't come off as rude, but do you condone the usage of ai art? because I noticed you use ai art for quite a few of your post headers ^^;

No worries, it's a reasonable question, although a rather complex one! There are multiple layers that I would like to go through when answering you.

Do I condone the use of AI as a replacement for actual art? Obviously not. I enjoy drawing, and I enjoy collecting art. This won't change regardless of technology. The reality, however, is that generative AI will continue to develop, whether we like it or not. So, you know, instead of denying its existence, I would prefer to openly discuss it and have it regulated by laws and ethical conducts. For example, laws that would protect artists from being laid off in favor of one single AI engineer. Or laws that would limit the profit companies can make using undisclosed AI. Basically, making sure that this new technology serves the people instead or rendering them useless.

Do I condone the use of AI for individual use? Depends. My opinion is that non-profit, entertainment purposes are not the root of the problem. Someone generating a funny image of a cat is not the equivalent of someone generating hundreds of images a day. Those terrible environmental statistics you see online are mostly targeted at this kind of business usage. If you were to go on Instagram, for example, you would find a lot of accounts who publish vast amounts of AI works, often omitting this fact. Some sell merch, advice, or - if they are honest about their methods - courses and books on prompts and AI imagery. It's an actual thing. Does it take visibility away from actual artists? Absolutely. Even worse, it leads to a lot of doubt, where artists must prove themselves against accusatory claims. Again, I believe the solution is not to ignore progress or demand it stops, but to find concrete measures and implement them.

I use AI images for story headers, strictly for decorative purposes. If I want to express something visually, I will draw it myself. I do not have the time nor resources to draw every single picture I want to use on my hobby blog. Whoever disagrees with it is free to pay me a full employee salary. Mind you, on that note, I've seen a lot of people mentioning Pinterest and similar as open sources for pictures. They are not free repositories to just grab whatever you want. That photograph of a foggy forest was taken by someone and requires crediting. That unspecified manga panel was drawn by someone and requires crediting. 90% of the images I see here have no source or credit. I find it terribly hypocritical to parade as a supporter of human arts while conveniently ignoring every case where said human art is stolen, modified or uncredited.

Lastly, do I condone the use of AI by artists? This is an interesting topic, and a recent case immediately comes to mind: a well-established artist I've been following for over a decade has alluded to potentially training AI to replicate their art in the future. It's their way of easing their workload. Is it any different from comic artists using filtered photos to skip drawing backgrounds, for example? Is it any different from commission artists pre-drawing body parts and objects as brushes and stamps, so they can skip a lot of the drawing process? I am not a professional artist, nor do I require the use of this sort of assistance, but I cannot help but wonder: how many of the individuals who had a meltdown over this suggestion have actually paid or tipped an artist in their life? How many of them regularly call out stolen content? How many are mindful about the content they share/distribute/save, making sure it involves given permissions and fulfills ethical standards? I'm not necessarily calling people out; rather, I'm saying that the outrage is misdirected and untargeted.

I don't have a concrete conclusion to the last paragraph. It's a novel dilemma, a gray area with a lot of factors involved. At least to me. I wanted to include it in the conversation to show that generative AI and its implications are rapidly changing and expanding, so it's difficult to encapsulate it all in one definite opinion. All I can tell you is that my appreciation for human art has not changed, and I will continue to support it. :)

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Mechanical question since you're familiar with a ton of systems, do you know any trrpgs that have explicit mechanics for allowing the GM and or players to set the length of the campaign itself?

Ive been doing tabletop for a while now and one of the skills I'm trying to work on right now is to end my campaigns on a more satisfying note and part of that for me is figuring out how to tell a satisfying story in a descrite amount of time while accounting for player agency.

I was wondering if any designers thought about this and proposed solutions

Ooh, this is an interesting question! I'd look into games with explicit end-states or win/lose conditions.

A game like Apocalypse Keys (or other "Carved from Brindlewood" games) has a specific "end-state" for each Mystery you choose to play - though, if you decide to go for a longer series of multiple Mysteries, this is less applicable - that depends on gathering Keys (clues) and then attempting to solve the mystery with a specific move. Depending on the outcome of that move, you more or less get different endings to the Mystery.

I think Fiasco playsets also have specific end-conditions? But I haven't played it, so I'm less familiar there. And similarly, I think Lady Blackbird has an ending built in, but it has been a while since I've looked at it.

There's a book that came out a little bit ago that is basically a collection of ending minigames that you can use for different campaigns, but I am blanking on the name right now (if anyone knows, please sound off in the notes). This might? be the most interesting to you, and I wish I could remember what it was called!

When it comes to telling a satisfying story, I think that's also going to depend on what kind of game you're playing, and what sort of tools that game gives you.

A lot of "forever campaign games" (games that really expect you to play forever, which tend to be of the more "trad-ish" style), tend not to give a lot of support for character focused narrative arcs (in my experience), meaning most of that "storytelling" falls on the shoulder of the GM and typically to a lesser extent, the players.

In my experience, if you're looking for games that are more focused on providing tools for satisfying narrative arcs, most Powered by the Apocalypse games try to do something with that. Not all PbtA games are made equally, so it does vary. But, a lot of playbooks tend to include advancement options that have some sort of "retire this character", which isn't really about ending a campaign, but it does offer a concrete ending to a character that is typically thematically appropriate.

I think this section is getting a little long and also not entirely answering your question in regards to campaign length. I think it will ultimately come down to what you and the players think an ending is?

I'm certain there are some smaller games that very clearly play with the number of sessions you have to play, and I think I'll try and spend some time trawling itch to find some.

Outside of mechanics, I've played games with set session numbers and lengths, so going in we all knew when it would end, which in a sense made us more focused on a tighter story.

As a designer, I think it's really interesting! I tend to like designing stuff that focuses a lot on collaborative narrative creation and also emergent narrative (typically through the use of procedural tools), which doesn't necessarily align with strict session amounts (they're very much "poke around, see what happens, play until you want to move on" kind of games), but I think limiting the amount of time you have to accomplish something is a fun constraint to try and design with!

Anyways, long and mostly unhelpful answer aside, I'm gonna keep poking around at this and see what other examples I can find and try and come back to this.

[melodytaylorauthor]

Valancing and specificity

I'm gonna geek out about The Story Grid here again, because I have ADHD and specific and granular instructions make my brain go, and The Story Grid is especially good at that and avoiding all the woo-woo "you just have to feel it" bullshit. Okay? Okay.

All right. The latest Story Grid focus has been on descriptions. The book itself is more about plotting and editing, one of the classes they offer now is focused on scene writing, but lately language and description has been on their radar in their emails and Youtube. I dig.

So thing number one has been what they call "valanced language." This is simple. Squeeze descriptors into your nouns and verbs. If the right verb doesn't exist, use an adverb. Don't be scared, they have their place.

For example: "The woman ran down the hall."

Let's start with the first noun. Who was the woman? A secretary? A superhero? A dog groomer? See how each of those examples fills your brain with a distinct idea about why she might be running down a hall? You just fill in all sort of blanks on your own; how she's dressed, what it sounds like as she runs, what she might have in her hands, her expression.

Nice, how about "ran?" How is this woman running, exactly? Is she in a hurry? Is she worried? Is she angry? Does she scurry, or clatter, or jog, or race? If it's a secretary clattering down the hall, that's quite different from a superhero jogging down a hall, or a dog groomer racing down a hall. There are all sorts of implications that come with each, and your brain just fills them all in when the different words are used.

Okay, last, the hall. What kind of hall is it? Is it in a school, a business, a convent, a government building? A secretary clattering down a high school hall has a very different vibe than a hall of the White House. The same with a superhero, or a dog groomer. (Is it just me, or does "The dog groomer raced down the White House hall" scream rom-com? No?)

None of this is to say you have to say "the superhero" every time you refer to your superhero character; if it's established that she's a superhero, you can call her "the woman" or "Agnes." This exercise is to point out what Mark Twain has said: "The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug." It's so much easier to see it with this concrete example.

Now, number two, besides valanced language, the latest Story Grid emails and Youtube vids have been talking a lot about description. About how too much will kill your story, and not like, "You killed it!" but like, "It's dead." They point out that every time you pause the action to describe something, you take a chance that the reader won't put the book down. Readers read for action. They want to know what happens next, not what that tree looks like.

The solution? A few things. Use valanced language; fold your descriptions into the action, don't pause to describe something, note it while you're having the character doing something; and last and most deliciously, use specificity instead of vagueness.

I say "most deliciously" because to me, it is delicious. I love Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History, it's such a good braingasm. On one episode I listened to last year, he talked about how country music differs from rock in its ability to pull at people's heartstrings. The main point he gave was specificity -- the lyricist uses very particular imagery to put the listener in the shoes of the singer. I remember thinking that was really interesting, even though I don't like country music myself.

Then Tim Grahl brought up specificity in storytelling. He used this example: "I wanted to show an apartment in disarray, so I was picturing dirty dishes piled in the sink. But rather than just say there were dirty dishes piled in the sink, I have my character wanting to make coffee and finding the French press still caked with yesterday's grounds." That's just beautiful to my mind. It calls up everything you need to see about a place that hasn't been tidied in a while, it gets brought up while the character is doing something, and it has a vibe attached to it. Perfect.

So when you are writing a description, dial down into something particular about the thing you're describing. Traffic sounds? What about a car alarm going off that no one's paying attention to? A crowded cat room at a rescue? What about a calico kitten careening off the other cats after a stuffed mouse? Or cats tucking their paws in to avoid the careening kitten with a stuffed mouse? A boring day at work? How about if the co-worker is flicking paper clips into an empty cup at his desk?

I love stealing from my own life for this kind of thing. It lends some authenticity, I feel. Notice things around you in your life, then when you're writing, think of how to invoke the mood by pulling up one small, particular detail. Then weave that into the narrative, don't stop the action to deliver the picture. Keep the character moving and on-screen, have the description baked into the action somehow. And if it just won't bake in, cut it. Trust your reader to see your world through your character moving through it. Always trust your reader! If they're too dense to get it, you probably don't want them reading your book in the first place.

Anyhow, I am re-editing my first novel (because I want to, and I'm indie so I can), as well as editing my latest novel, and I just cut a couple paragraphs of description from each. In both cases, I dug down and got one particular detail about the descriptions, wove them into the action, and cut the rest. I can definitely see that that scenes are stronger for it, and the visualization of the setting is actually better with fewer but more specific words.

I fucking love what I do.

[dreamboundedstar]

MHA Fankid Quirk Experiments Part 3:

I did some more fankid quirk experiments for fun. Though I didn't even bother with giving them hero names or go into what I think they would look like. I mostly just wanted to get the quirk ideas out there asap. Maybe I'll edit this post later to give them hero names or describe what I think they would look like. For now, I'm content with what I have. I think I'm out of interesting quirk combo ideas for now. Izuku MidoriyaxMelissa Shield-

Hisoku (春足):

Pronouns: He/Him

Quirk: Orbital pull, this quirk gives Hisoku the ability to set his eyes on his target and set the target as his orbit and manipulate his own gravity to get to his target faster with great dexterity and precision. This quirk is a fusion between Inko Midoriya’s quirk and David Shield’s quirk.

I think while the quirk would make him run faster and jump higher, he does not get stronger. So his drawback is that he needs to be careful of what he’s setting his target on so he doesn’t get himself hurt or worse from the impact. The point of the quirk is that Hisoku is always ready to run to help those in need and catch somebody if they fall (within his weight limit).

Kani (火新):

Pronouns: She/Her

Quirk: Heroic spark, (based on a combination of Hisashi’s fire breath and Inko’s quirk) whenever Kani touches someone (or perhaps even herself), they would receive a boost of energy or confidence, making them more capable of handling challenges. This could manifest as temporary increased physical strength, mental clarity, or speed—basically becoming "fired up" to succeed. The more she has won in the past, the stronger her ability to "fire up" others, but as the stakes get higher, the effect becomes less pronounced. If she ever considers anything she did recently a loss, she’s back at square one with her quirk and needs to win more minor challenges so her quirk can help increase the odds of a battle as much as it can.

Once her quirk gets stronger, she won’t even need to touch people to give them a mental and physical boost. She can use her voice to give fired-up speeches that affect multiple people at once.

Tenya IidaxMei Hatsume-

Amami (天光):

Pronouns: She/Her

Quirk: Engine, like Tenya’s quirk, Amami has her engine quirk on the sides of her head (gives off the vibe of axolotl gills almost). However, instead of using the engine to propel herself faster, the engine acts as a generator to fuel a super-powered version of her brain. When using her quirk, her brain acts as a supercomputer and can create near-perfect predictions of potential outcomes and solutions for problems based on the information she is provided. However, since it’s based on only the information she’s received, her hypotheses aren’t 100% accurate thanks to unaccounted-for variables that could occur in her thought process.

The drawback of this is that if she uses the superpowered version of her brain too long, the engine overheats, and she gets massive headaches from dehydration. After that, she gets grouchy and doesn’t want to tell anybody anything until her headache is gone and she has something to drink something to refuel herself (grape juice, chocolate milk, or orange juice are preferable)

Tensakan (天目):

Pronouns: He/Him

Quirk: Camera, like Mei’s zoom quirk, Tensakan can “see” everything in an area within 5 kilometers. Even if he’s trapped in a concrete, empty room with no windows, Tensakan can still sense if there’s life outside his general area based on body heat. He can also project holograms of what he’s seen through his eyes like a projector. Though projections only work if he actually saw it. It doesn’t work if he only saw it through body heat when his vision was obstructed.

His other drawback is that his vision gets blurry if he uses his quirk too long and needs a mental break until his eyes clear up again. Apple juice, carrot juice, and orange juice help him refuel and get his vision back faster.

Ojiro MashiraoxToru Hagakure-

Akibi (晶尾):

Pronouns: She/Her

Quirk: Invisible tail, that’s it. The drawback is she can’t wear anything but skirts or dresses. It’s so she can properly use her quirk without being exposed and embarrassingly showing her backside. However, I suppose the other workaround Akibi could try trench coats or capes if she wants to wear pants.

Minoru MinetaxPony Tsunotori (I really, really can’t stand Mineta don’t get me wrong. I just had an idea and Pony was the best option for me to help bring that idea to life. Also, Mineta deserves a taste of his own medicine by having a daughter who’s just as perverted as he was! Karmic justice baby! Also, not for nothing, Pony is not really innocent either because she did make an insensitive comment to Shoji that aged like milk as the series continued. ((Doesn’t mean I think she deserves to be with Mineta because of it, I just think it would be funny for Mineta of all characters to call her out on her discrimination. XD)) I hate that the potential for the ship name, MinePony is so good but Mineta sucks so much. I’m doing it for the quirk idea though!)-

Nyumi (乳珠):

Pronouns: She/Her

Quirk: Bubble cannon, Nyumi’s horns look like similar to boba straws. Unlike Pony’s quirk, her horns don’t detach but her bubbly hair still does. She uses her straw-like horns as cannons to shoot her balls with more precision and force than Mineta does. When using her quirk the balls pop on impact and a sticky substance bursts out of the balls that cover more area than Mineta’s sticky balls do. However, she still can throw her balls regularly if she doesn’t need them to pop.

Neito MonomaxCamie Utsushimi (they literally never met but if she can handle Bakugo, she can handle Monoma. Plus, there’s so much quirk gene mixing potential with this pair!)

Eisha (映者)

Pronouns: They/Them

Quirk: Method Actor, with this quirk Eisha is able to copy the appearance and quirk of a person to an extent. The quirk activates when Eisha can see themself in a person and get into character before they take on the visual/audio appearance and quirk of their target. However, despite looking like the person they’re acting as, their appearance is just a projection with limited mass and it’s still them under the illusion. So even if a person touches them when they're using their quirk and it feels real, the illusion has about as much durability as Eisha does in their regular form. They can only copy one quirk at a time when they’re using their quirk, and they can only change to a different quirk once they let go of the illusion.

Even then they need time to refresh after spending so much time in character.  Like their father, Neito the quirk they copy is less powerful than the original. They can only use quirks that don’t require the years of physical training it would take to get to where the original is. The copied quirk only lasts about 5 minutes, but the illusion lasts longer as long as Eisha doesn’t break character or doesn’t take too much damage while in disguise.