#It's one thing to be critical of your source it's another thing to see yourself and others as pawns to be used in arguments like that.

[dormhead]

Generally speaking I agree with the last post I've just also met introjects that were introduced to source from tiktok and let me tell you ... That changes your perpsective.

[mygnolia]

LOVE ON A FRESH SLATE ༄ TEASER

༄ SYNOPSIS -› Sim Jaeyun might not have many critically acclaimed films in his IMBD, but if there’s something to change that, it’s his upcoming film, ‘diving in love,’ a fresh summer romance that’s caught the attention of everyone on the internet. The only problem is, no one believes the chemistry will be up to rom-com standards. Maybe he’ll save his career by fake dating his cold-hearted co-star, aka you, to sell it?

༄ PAIR -› actor!sim jaeyun x fem actress!reader

༄ GENRE -› fluff, banter, angst, comfort ༄ TROPES -› enemies to lovers, heavy on the fake dating (i LOVE fake dating) ༄ WC -› estimated 15-20k idk lolz

༄ INCLUDES -› will be added!

༄ RELEASE DATE -› november!

༄ REN SAYS... me when summer also haha get it slate cuz they're actors but also it's e2l so misunderstandings heheheh am i funny (im not) | LIBRARY

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“You’re going to tell me you signed me up for the cult of Scientology, I assume,” You introduce yourself, shaking hands with the man next to Sunoo. 

Once again, there is just one empty seat before Jake Sim walks in, out of breath. “Jungwon, please don’t tell me–” He notices you after he barges in, taking in your poised manner as you wait for him to continue. But he doesn’t. The words die on his tongue when he sees you and the same manager from last week's meeting. 

“Please don’t tell me what?” Jungwon asks, raising an eyebrow as Jake sinks into the only chair left. The latter shakes his head, not wanting to elaborate any further. 

Sunoo sits up, putting his hands together after he finishes the last sip of his drink. “Open up the files, ____.” He motions to the manila folder on the table, and with much confusion, you peel back the cover to find a neat stack of black and white articles. 

Jungwon, who you can only assume is Jake’s manager, gets Jake to lean in and read what’s on the pages. “This,” he starts, spreading out the rest of the articles, “is every article in the past week with a negative outlook on whether or not the film will be up to par with the standards of the 2000’s.”

You scoff, eyes trailing over an article with your face as the cover. “Really? People hate me that much?” Your dry humor really only resonates with Sunoo, who sends you a look before trying to organize the flurry of papers.

“I doubt they’ll keep going,” Jake tries, fidgeting with his ring. Maybe his second rich person problem was figuring out how to get the media to like him again if the movie turns into a failure and he has to scour for another source of income. 

“Unless I solve world hunger, I doubt the media will turn away from the wine scandal any time soon.” Jake considers dropping out and cutting his losses early with the way you comment on your impending future. 

Jake’s manager shakes his head, closing the manila folder and essentially blocking it out before coming up with the worst possible plan in existence. 

“You two can fake date. Then, no one will question your chemistry, because they’ll think you’re in love.” 

There were only so many things you refused to do in your lifetime, but fake dating your co-star made it to the top of your list in record time. 

You shook your head. “Absolutely not.” At least Jake could agree with one thing you said. 

The silence almost turns awkward before Sunoo speaks up in agreement, ignoring you. “I like it, it’ll give them a chance to pretend to bond more. Plus, they’re both young and attractive, and Jake is a change of pace from all of her shitty ex-boyfriends.” If Jake still wanted to jump off a building after hearing their proposition, you’d unknowingly want to join him. 

You cough in your arm, hiding the embarrassment of his last comment before nodding to look at the actor. “You think just because I’m dating someone, it’ll make the movie more watchable?” 

Sunoo rolls his eyes. “I’d much rather watch a rom-com if it was confirmed that the actors found love on set. It’s a good story.” 

Jungwon interjects. “Good publicity.” 

The actor beside you finally speaks up. “And you want to start this arrangement…when?” 

“As soon as possible,” your manager answers, and his response might be some of the worst news you’ve heard in a while. “Hear me out, ‘____ ____ and Jake Sim falling in love the moment they’re casted. It’s fate. They’ve been in love since the beginning. I have to see it, their chemistry will be so good.’ ”

Before you nor Jake are able to come up with a rebuttal, Jungwon adds, “I know both of you can act, and even despite this fake relationship, the movie will be good. But if you can get away from the negative thoughts surrounding the film’s pre-release, it’ll generate so much more hype around it.” 

“Better for your conscience, ____. You don’t need angry Sunghoon fans sending you anymore death threats.” If Sunoo kept airing out your problems like that, you’d drag him out by the ear without any fake boyfriend in tow.

You really think about it, questioning if one PR stunt could get you out of the nepo baby ditch you’ve been trying to fight for years; it wasn’t even that you were bad at your job, your mother just never had anything nice to say to anyone. If anything, she was Hollywood’s actual mean girl.

“Fine.” You agree begrudgingly. 

Jake on the other hand has no idea what he’s getting out of this. How does fake-dating a girl he’s never liked help his reputation at all?

Maybe it’s because he couldn’t find an answer to it, or maybe Jake was comfortable enough asking something so brash in public. “What the hell do I get out of it?” 

You lean back in surprise, not used to hearing him so flustered by something. It was all your fault, Jake thinks as he once again pulls at his hair. 

The room is silent as everyone’s gears turn. Jake puts his hands on both sides of the armchair, about to get up and pretend this failure of a ruse ever existed. “If there’s nothing, I’m-”

“Wait,” you cut him off, eyes still fixed on something as you think. It’s good for you, and mainly you. Jake has a good reputation, people love natural chemistry and love a cute couple even more, and your name would be in summer-y titles for the next two months if your scheme worked out. But him? 

What could Jake Sim possibly want? 

“You want money? Connections? An interview with Justin Beiber?” You try, spewing what every boy would want when they were 13. 

Somehow, his head perks up when he hears his favorite celebrity’s name from your lips. 

“You could do that?” He asks, bewildered. 

“I thought you hated me for having a famous mom.” He stays silent. 

“Look, you’re up and coming. If this movie does well, I’ll send a letter to the top producers in the industry and tell them about how stunning of a performance you gave.” 

It’s a deal that’s extremely hard to pass on–hell, he’s literally getting paid to act in the movie anyways, so it’s not like he loses much if he says yes. But you’re snarky, and although you’re not outright rude, you never seem to be excited for anything, and Jake has no idea why the mood is so sour when he’s with you.

Whatever, it’s not like it’s real, anyways.  

Jake shrugs and pinches his nose bridge momentarily before sighing. “Where do I sign?” 

You thought that Jake had been oblivious to the whole thing as much as you were, but it seems like he knew about a hidden contract. Jungwon fishes out a crisp white sheet of paper from his bag. “You know me so well, and I didn’t even tell you anything,” and his response has you thinking that maybe the actor just knows his manager well. 

Suddenly, the next year of your love life is signed and tucked away into two identical copies for Jungwon and Sunoo, before the two shake hands and smile. “I’m excited for how things will go,” your manager comments before you two leave. 

The moment the door shuts behind you, you let out a long exhale, suddenly finding interest in your manicure. 

“You’re annoying, Sunoo. But I don’t doubt you.” 

The boy smiles and links arms with you, walking to the entrance of the studio building before you both catch wind of the paparazzi. 

A swarm of reporters and cameras catch your casual outfit and sunglasses when you emerge with your manager behind you. Questions bombard you, and you hear amongst the commotion a few reporters who are desperate for their next article to feature you. ‘Is it true that you’ve hated Sunghoon for years?’ ‘What do you have to say about your new film?’ ‘Do you have anything to say about Jake Sim?’ 

You pause momentarily on the way to your car, reconsidering if you should answer any question. “Me and Sunghoon have never had a disagreement, and I know he appreciated the Prada we sent him a few weeks ago.” Smiling at the memory, you choose to answer a few more questions before you have to go. “As for the new film? I’m fairly excited. Me and my boyfriend are more than ready to be filmed together." 

The gasps from the crowd leave you content as you slip into your car with Sunoo. “But don’t tell anyone I’m dating!” You yell out for good measure, knowing that by morning, everything will have changed.

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[gay-dorito-dust]

yandere jax x reader 🙏😼‼

Warning: Jax being Jax, manipulative, bullying, just over all unhealthy yandere shit that you get from these types of fics.

This fucker has keys to your room…if that’s not already concerning to begin with, it should be considering he uses them to his advantage in invading your room, seeing if there was anything he could take without you noticing for no other reason than the fact that he just could and nobody would stop him.

You will not be given a second alone to breath, nor have quality time for yourself either his bunny is looming over you and acting like his usual asshole self, while also claiming in the same breath that he only wanted to toughen you up in the case one do the adventures you went on…goes south really fast and certain decisions would have to be made on the fly.

It’s a surprise that you haven’t abstracted from Jax’s constant pestering and brutal criticism of your character on a regular basis. He thought it would be funny to see how fast you’d break or snap back at him, give him another side of you to be equally as obsessed with them he already was.

As long as Jax was about there was no such thing as personal space, his arm was always seen linked with yours, making it impossible for you to pull away from him as he’ll always have you dragged back to his side; even on adventures Jax made sure that no one else but him can be partnered up with you because he felt as though the likes of Pomni or Ragatha would try to make you see Jax the way they see him, or keep you away from him so that he couldn’t manipulate you into staying by his side or so they believed what he was doing. (Which was true but Jax didn’t want you to realise this so soon)

So even if they managed to get to you before him, Jax would be internally fuming but would compose himself by following you and remaining silent as a mouse as he watched pomni/Ragatha for signs that they’ll try to make you go against him. So if you think you’re being watched with such intent then you’d be right but Jax can easily slink off into the shadows and hide himself from being caught.

He’s got soft footfalls, meaning that you can’t hear him coming most of the time which works in his favour in getting close to you, leaning towards your ear and going ‘boo’ making you jolt and cling onto him by impulse. However Jax will see this as you accepting him as your source of safety and allows you to cling to him however you wish, it only fuels his obsession with you to somehow and even more unhealthier extent.

But if Jax got to you first when it came to partnering up for adventures, let’s just say death or hell would’ve been more appealing then being stuck with Jax for who knows how long. He would practically be using you as shield of sorts from whatever comes your way because he could, or shoving you in front of him to make sure the way ahead wasn’t secretly boobytrapped, laughing at you when you come back to him unamused and with blow darts within your body.

‘Oh you poor thing.’ He’d mockingly say as he pats your head before walking past you, now aware of what laid ahead thanks to your forced sacrifice by his hand.He’s just not the best to be struck with during adventures, you your are in safer hands with pomni and or Ragatha, hell even Kinger in all honesty but chances of you getting paired with them are slim to none.

Jax gets jealous when you spend time with others, he hates it because you were meant to be by his side, it’s cold without you to be near him and near him you’ll stay no matter what, and it was a fact that he does get across to everyone else eventually that they just leave you with Jax; much to your dismay. If they tried to get close to you or call you over to look at something, Jax would then have his hand on your bicep, keeping you close to him as he tells whoever is asking for you attention that your sick or busy.

Any and every excuse Jax could come up with just to keep you safe and away from anyone who wasn’t him. He may act controlling and an total dickhead towards you but he claims it was for your own good and that he only did what he did because he cared about you, those words that felt odd and weird coming out of his mouth.

Jax was your shadow in every sense of the word and you can’t escape, you can never escape from Jax because he’ll eventually find you regardless and you’ll be trapped within his arms, his grip seemingly tighten every time you tried to get out of his grip and his smile somehow grew wider at your attempts.

You can run but you can’t hide from Jax, so you’re better off just staying compliant to him and wherever he required if you wanted everyone else to remain unharmed.

[safety-pin-punk]

Punk 101: A Guide To Critical Thinking

We all know that critical thinking is important, and it's something that any punk will tell you is an essential component of advocacy and pushing for societal changes. But, what exactly is critical thinking? As defined by the dictionary, it's “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment”. And that's a good, short definition! But it can make the act of thinking critically seem a bit hard and over complicated for some people. So lets phrase it in a way that seems more manageable:

Critical Thinking is the act of taking in information, understanding it, and forming or connecting ideas because of it

Sounds easy enough, right! So then what are the steps one has to take in order to be a critical thinker? I’m glad you asked! Here's a list in no particular order:

Learn About Things - In order to fully understand information and evidence, you need to know about the topic! Whether the issue is social justice or environmental protection, you need to have a base knowledge on the topic in order to form opinions on it. Researching topics on your own or taking classes are great ways to get informed!

Recognize Bias From The Source And Prejudices From Yourself - No source of information will ever be without bias. A good example of this is how different new networks discuss the same event. One might praise it, while another says it was bad. When trying to understand the information to form your own opinions, it's important to separate the information from the biases of the source. In general, it's good to remember that a pure fact is just the information without an opinion attached to it. On a similar note, you also need to be aware of your own bias! When you form opinions, ask yourself *why* you have that opinion. Do you have a reason? If you were to have grown up with different life experiences, do you think your opinion would be different?

Go Straight To The Original Source - A good way to try and avoid bias is to go to the original source. Maybe news network A and news network B have differing opinions on a Tumblr post. Instead of trying to navigate those conflicting opinions to find the facts about the post, you can just go straight to the post itself!

How Reliable Is The Source And The Evidence - How much should you trust the source that you got the information from? Do they have a reputation of giving factual information? Can you find the information on any other sources? Or maybe someone is yelling about something online, but they’ve failed to add a link. It might make sense to trust what a well established researcher says without a source for their information, but maybe not some random person on twitter. Even if you have a primary source for where the information came from, it’s good to be cautious of the information itself. Sometimes false information is spread around on purpose or because of misunderstandings. 

What Is Being Excluded - Because biases exist, it is always possible that the source you are getting your information from is excluding more information either by accident or on purpose. To avoid missing information about a topic, it's good to check multiple sources and see if any have information that the others didn’t. A simple example of this would be two children playing on a playground. Child A pushes Child B, who gets hurt. When asked about what happened, Child A would say that Child B got hurt, but exclude the fact that it was their fault to avoid getting in trouble. Meanwhile, Child B and any bystanders would likely provide that information. 

What Is The Other Side Of The Issue And Why Does It Exist - You don’t have to agree with other sides of an argument, but it’s very important to be able to understand what they are, who thinks that way, and why they think that way. This will help you to see other points of view and counter any points they make in a discussion with understanding rather than anger or frustration. This is also important because it can expand your own opinions and judgments on a topic. Maybe the other side has points that you have never considered before, but now thinking about them has developed your own beliefs.

Avoid Black And White Thinking - Remember that the world does not exist in a good/bad duality. Everything will have problems, and the things that have problems might even have benefits. The world and its problems exist on a grayscale. To incorporate this into your thinking, try to understand *why* someone or something is doing something, the impacts it may have on multiple different communities, who it helps, and who it hinders. It's important to understand all facets of something before you form your opinion, otherwise you may be lacking very important details.

Don’t Forget To Fact Check - Never trust just one source, no matter how reliable it is! I usually recommend finding the information from at least 3 different sources before you confirm whether it's true or not!

Be Willing To Change Your Mind - Part of being a critical thinker that is often forgotten about is remembering to keep an open mind. Because critical thinking is based on the practice of learning new information, understanding it, and then forming/linking ideas, it is an opportunity to grow and change. You may start out advocating for one thing, but then through time, experience, and thinking, end up advocating for something slightly (or majorly) different. That is more than okay, and it's a sign of growth and maturity!

Resources to help learn how to think critically:

The Foundation for Critical Thinking https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/index-of-articles/1021/

The University of Tennessee https://www.utc.edu/academic-affairs/walker-center-for-teaching-and-learning/thinkachieve/critical-thinking-resources

The Element of Thought https://theelementsofthought.org/further-exploration/links/thinking/

The Better Future Program https://www.betterfutureprogram.org/liberation-library.html

My entire masterlist can be found here!!

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Playbook: Questions To Ask When Evaluating Your Relationships

Whether it's a friendship, colleague or professional relationship, romantic/sexual relationship, one with a family member, mentors, or with yourself. Here are some questions to ponder when trying to evaluate someone's true character and intentions. Consider the following if you think someone is trying to deceive, manipulate, love bomb, or blindside you in any way.

Do they live with integrity? Not the "I'll start tomorrow" type of integrity, but do they live in alignment with their general life philosophy, opinions, and values?

Do they take accountability for their actions, behaviors, and mistakes? Listen to whether they acknowledge their role in how a situation played out automatically when recounting a story to you. Even when another person is at fault, do they see the situation objectively? Do they play the blame game to make themselves appear like the innocent victim at all times or try to see how their actions may have consequences for others?

When you share your successes with them, is there immediate action to double down on making you feel good or do they automatically claim your win by telling them how it makes them feel or feel about you?

When you make a mistake or share a failure with them, do they seek to understand/offer support, try to distance themselves from your claim/actions, or provide unsolicited advice?

When offering criticism, do they judge your behaviors, attitude, and actions, or do they immediately start evaluating your character?

Do they engage in conversations to win or understand?

Do they make assumptions about your or your perceptions before hearing what you have to say about a particular situation? Do they ask or assume how you're feeling?

In a conflict, do they initiate a conversation by opening a dialogue or immediately jump to criticize you? Do they speak about an issue with you first directly, or do they try to get others on your side behind your back before confronting you?

Are they loyal to you, or do you believe they can "switch sides" at any time? A friend to all is a friend to none.

Do they seek connection or perceive you as a source of consistent attention? Do they ask you how you are or go on endless monologues about themselves/their struggles? When speaking about yourself to them, do they ask questions and seem curious or act dismissive in an attempt to redirect the conversation back to themselves?

Do they put effort into acknowledging your needs, interests, or preferences? Do they do favors or nice things for you that don't necessarily benefit them or relate to their interests, purely because they know you would enjoy it, without having to ask once they know you well?

Do they respect your boundaries? Do they react with understanding and compassion or rage and condescension if they cross them?

Do you feel supported or like you're nagging when expressing your needs to them? Do they value your input or say they do yet dismiss your needs through their actions?

Do they more often say or show that they're a good person? The more someone needs to validate their character, the less likely they've confronted the truth about themselves.

[weaselbeaselpants]

Sometimes it's not just a vibe; the bigger thing is to not divide

((warning: loooooong post with lots of talking sorry))

So recently (like, this day) @starlit-soothsayer made a comment about Sai Scribbles that I was about to honestly agree with because it sounded right to me. But then I happen to see that one of Lily's most prominent victims is deeply against Starlit's reasoning. They (this victim) is adamant that pp:"they not compare a person they don't vibe with [Sai] to a literal PREDATOR/GROOMER [Orchard]".

I get the said victim's take here, both on it's own and especially in relation to the last month/weeks. Recently one of the Lorch critical blogs, Fennec, decided it was a good idea to make a document calling Courtney Peet, Lily's abused sibling, ALSO a groomergooner just like their sister. Fennec's reasoning was shaky at best, vindictive, and stunk of the same kind of narrative Zena and Poppy, also grifters, took about Lily Orchard drama: "Lily's critics are the same kind of awful as her". Keep in mind, the reason I AM invested in the Lorch-drama is I've been worried about Lily Orchard's fans and base for years now. I've been mad at and staying on Lily's case for awhile. Say for Patchworkhearts, Sparky and Poppy herself, I wouldn't exactly call the want to see Lily put away and the push by different types/sorts of people to see that happen as analogous to what I just called Lily - a predator and a deflecting one at that.

I will say that " we ", aka all of the combined critics of Lily Orchard, aren't a fandom of even an exact community and besty buddy-buds, even if we support each other. Courtney, Lily's sibling, got on a lot of different people's cases here on tumblr before she was ultimately mass blocked by Lily's base. I remember. I saw it. Courtney and her story and testimony is a smoking gun, I'd say, in the truth of what kind of a person Lily is, but she's in no way a leader or even liked by all of us. On a personal petty basic-level I disagreed w Courtney over how she violently overstanned Johnny Depp and then over how Courtney talked about their niece and nephews offhandedly. I can't do anything about that, but, I'm allowed to support Courtney as a person without stanning her outright for what I think are her own demons. Courtney is not as bad a person as Lily Orchard because she is not the same kind of person as Lily Orchard.

Courtney is her own kind of a mess. And frankly so is Sai.

Two days ago, following drama from a different Lorch-critical blogger skeleton-bat implicated Sai to be as bad as Lorch and a groomer (no. Sai isn't a groomer. sns also don't do your 'proshippers = groomers' dance on me, Bats), one of the blogs that talking down skeleton-bats unpromptedly said skeleton bats was a joke and a phony for reblogging Palestine-gofundmeblogs. Their words were literally "all Palestinian bloggers are bots and scammers". I disagreed with that, because I know from my sources, lived experiences and someone with Palestinian family that that's simply untrue, to which this person proceeded to splain to me how ebeggers must be scams -Sai agreed with this person.

I am pro-Palestinian justice and aid in getting these people away from Gaza. I've been that way ever since I saw an ISRAELI film strait up say that what Israel is doing is wrong, long before Oct 7th 23'. I don't want to dwell to long on it or the explanations and fact checking for yourself with nonEnglish-speaking fundraisers how legit they are beyond going "look at the way it's written; it looks like begging", but now's not the time. This was my breaking point. I had to block Sai.

Personally I think Sai is a recovering edgeduchess who likes to pick on people first and then can get into the weeds of 'taking down' people if and when it benefits her. That doesn't make her a grifter ala skeleton-bat, Poppy and Zena or Fennec...but I do think that means she's more into the attention of p0wning Lorch, another queer creator, than she is other concerns. I do think she cares about the harm done by Lorch now, but in the beginning and definitely with her own non-Lorch-stan detractors, Sai struck me as being into dunking on Lily for attention. What bugged me about Sai's and that other user's comments was not only that it was unneeded/not relevant to what skeleton-bat is doing; it was that she tried to splain to me, a person who knows gofundme bloggers irl how they 'must be' scams especially in times of crisis. That was insensitive and wrong of her to do even if she doesn't mean anything hurtful by it. There ARE ways to say "hey, don't believe/reblog every fundraiser that comes your way sum might be scams" and there are ways NOT to do that; Sai chose the later option and frankly I see her as pretty racist at the moment by the confidence she chose in it. But obviously, I know some ppl are going to still support Sai, stand by her and that includes the victims of Lorch who are just happy that someone is helping them spread news of Lorch's crimes.

Bigotry is a different problem and a different evil than predation. One can be committed without the other and I'm not interested in splitting hairs over which one is "worse". ALTHOUGH Lily has been caught doing a lot of bigotry of her own, including just now, ON TOP OF being a grooming-predator. For Sai's case I don't think she even compares to Lily Orchard's racism and antisemitism. Sai seems like the kind of person who could learn if she really had to what she said was wrong. Lorch, if she were in Sai's place, would probably demand for days on end that Palestinian donations are inherent scams, that she is the only TRUE ally for both Palestine and then in the next two months delete the post and gaslight her audience into believing she's never said anything about Palestine ever.

Still though, personally, I'm allowed to not like Sai. I can admire her will, I think she's genuinely wanting to help ((she's absolutely a better artist than you, Orchards, stop criticizing Sai's damn art)) but I'm sorry I really don't like her after what happened two days ago. I left the convo because clearly I was making the sitch worse and I'm just not gonna step on Sai's toes about this if that's really how set she and that other blog I was arguing with feel. I'm genuinely hurt; deeply offended. I left. If other people of any other demographic feels differently about Sai I'm not going to get on their case about it. And I think part of the problem is that a lot of people ARE WANTING others to do something about it.

People dislike Sai and the cut of her jib in a serious enough way that they just can't stomach her even when she's on the side of 'good'....that's a really fair thing to do. For comparison, I really love Lindsay Ellis's stuff and agree with much of her takes. This does not mean I think people who say Ellis virtually forgave herself over her canceling are " wrong ". I personally hate being told I only 'stan' Ellis cuz I -"hate poc and Ellis is white so I 'MUST' feel more comfortable with her as a white girl". Not only is that a VERY weighted thing to throw at someone casually for why they must like a reviewer they grew up watching but....wtf!! do you seriously presume everyone who likes Ellis is a white girl? What if I were asian or black and still liked Ellis? What then? Because, if you're at all the kind of person -the kind of Lily Orchard-ish person- to start saying 'you aren't actually bipoc'/'you're a BAD bipoc' over a damn youtube personality that's definitely on you, hon.

I think that was skeleton-bats' problem [one of them] with all this. They can't leave it at Sai being an edgeduchess who used her own disability terms to her advantage and liking- they had to make it a matter of " tolerating Sai = Sai grooming people ". Which was unnecessary, foolish, and deeply insulting.

That's why skeleton-bat, you're also blocked atm alongside Sai. Blocks are created equally on tumblr but you don't need to use them equally. I block serious things like neon@zis and scambots as much as I do people who I know aren't going to listen to me, seem toxic and/or want to fight. I guess that was a blessing since you've been spamming the lily orchard tags with shit on everyone else who so much likes Sai or doesn't agree with you???

Look here- we are a bunch of adult strangers who at most found some comradery with each other over our mutual hurt, pain and anger at what Lily Orchard has done to us or to other people. We are not a fan base or even an anti-fanbase. With those of us who have actually known and hurt by Orchard and her fans, maybe don't insinuate that they're ally is now their 'savior' or that their personal beefemy is the same thing as their abuser.

We're gonna have to agree to disagree on this after awhile and focus on the bigger picture. If someone is here because they honestly want to see Lily Orchard go down because of her predation/gaslighting/grooming/bigotry, that person is your ally in this fight whether you like it or not. Sai is. That's how this works.

If someone says they want to see Lorch go down but really is more preoccupied with her being trans or 'progressive'(phony or not doesn't matter to people who unironically use 'woke' in 2024), wants to see a dumpster fire or is playing devil's advocate for Lily because "her critics are just as bad!! 8U"...enjoy your block too, hon.

We have a serial groomer to catch and make sure she doesn't hurt anyone again.

[accio-victuuri]

addressing what @rainbowsky posted here. first of all, i just wanna say i appreciate you and all the things you do for fandom. most especially, keeping your anon asks open for years. your strength and patience in dealing with all of THAT is admirable but i hope people will understand why it has come to this. RBS is not some AI chat bot, he is a real person. one can only take so much hate or negative things sent their way.

here is some very cute baby dandan / banana to make you smile. ☺️☺️☺️☺️ ( source )

there is a reason why he is mostly on tumblr and has repeatedly criticized twitter and the community there. so i just don’t understand why people continue to bring stuff from there to him except to disrespect his boundaries. if you are someone who thrives in that kind of environment, then good for you but keep it there. also, asks have always been meant for “questions” not “reactions” — that’s what your blogs are for. i’m sure there are some people who love the drama and are gagging for attention via any form of asks in whichever platform. obvs, RBS is not one of those.

and this issue is not entirely about the ask function of tumblr but more of the cpf experience in fandom. i don’t know how many times i have to say this but stop making so/os’ validation on candies as the deciding factor on whether you will enjoy it or not. the freakin “melon accounts” peddling anti rhetoric on twitter are not helping too — stop reading that bullshit.

it’s tough being a CPF by default so don’t make it harder on yourself by seeking things out that deliberately try to hurt you. the best response is to ignore and let them have their online tantrums. there is no piece of news and updates that is exclusive to so/o accounts, you can argue that cpfs are better in updates and even editing content. so i don’t know what will possess a cpf to follow a solo account. i personally don’t see any benefit. if you do, be ready to see things you don’t want to.

let’s just focus on spreading the good. be kind to one another. zz and wyb literally have yxh/anti companies with hundreds of employees going after them to take em down. we don’t need to be helping those losers out by repeating those lies to other people and getting affected by it.

[ceilidhtransing]

Here to once again sing the praises of Duolingo (and go on a long ramble about language learning)

I see a fair bit of criticism of Duo that essentially begins and ends with “Duolingo alone won't make you fluent”, stated as if it's obvious that this point alone is enough to totally condemn the app.

The thing is, “Duolingo alone won't make you fluent” is true*, but also a) pretty obvious to most dedicated language learners and b) not nearly enough to automatically render Duolingo not worth using.

[*It's also worth pointing out that “fluency” isn't really a single coherent concept: people can have radically different fluency levels across, for example, reading and speaking; different levels of proficiency can count as “fluent” in different settings depending on the needs of that setting; and not everyone learning a language is even aiming for “fluency” in the first place - though this also leads into a huge can of worms about the somewhat prevalent idea that fluency is the only worthwhile goal for learners and if you're not aiming to be fluent then it's a waste of time, but that's a discussion for another day.]

The value of Duolingo varies a lot by course, but my experience is that even though Duolingo alone won't “make you fluent”, the bigger, better-developed courses can take you a long way. Yes, obviously not to C2 “basically a native speaker” level, but pretty far. And that's personally where I find the app's real value: giving enough of a grounding in a language that other learning materials - short stories, podcasts, conversation groups, etc - become accessible. Of course Duolingo alone isn't going to make you fluent, but for a lot of learners it's an irreplaceable early tool on their journey towards proficiency.

Early on, when your level of knowledge of a language is zero or near-zero, so much of the struggle of learning is a feeling of total overwhelm as you try to figure out how to learn and find a method you'll stick to. Independent learning can feel like walking blindly through a maze of disparate and sometimes contradictory resources, some on grammar, some on vocab, some that say “start speaking immediately!”, some that say “get to grips with these grammar foundations before even trying to speak!”, some that insist there's no replacement for immersion, some that argue that immersion is like being thrown in the deep end and expecting yourself to swim, and this is where so many people burn themselves out. You can't read short stories or listen to podcasts when you know literally nothing of a language, and if you use a random unstructured assortment of materials then you'll probably end up learning grammar concepts in a very random and disconnected and confusing way. Duolingo bridges that early gap between “zero proficiency” and “some proficiency”, providing a structure that says “just keep doing this and you will watch your ability grow”.

Really, I think it's in precisely what “doing this” means that the disagreement arises. It's a very YMMV app, depending on how each person uses it. Someone using Duolingo for >30 minutes a day, making rapid and intense progress through their course, and seeking out alternative sources to clarify bits of grammar that they're confused by is having such a different experience from someone who does one lesson a day just to keep a streak going. Of course someone doing the latter isn't going to be “made fluent” that way - because there is no language-learning material on earth that is going to produce genuine progress with that little time and attention (and frankly there is no material on earth that is a 100% comprehensive standalone course from beginner to fluent and doesn't require any supplementation). Regardless of which material you're using - Duolingo, Babbel, Rosetta Stone, LanguagePod101, a YouTube series, a university course, a textbook, or any of the many other miscellaneous methods - time and attention is basically what it comes down to, and personally, in the beginner-to-intermediate stages of language learning, I've found Duolingo to have a pretty good ratio of “time and attention” to “language progress”.

Ultimately, Duo can be excellent at holding your hand through those early months of language learning, getting you to a point where you don't use “Duolingo alone”, because you now have enough confidence and grounding to supplement with things like short stories and podcasts and conversation partners - things that you would have found unbelievably daunting at the beginning, but that are now accessible to you thanks to a free app that guides you through a clear learning structure. I think that's great.

Zu lang, ich habe nicht gelesen - vielleicht bin ich noch nicht fließend, aber ich kann viel mehr mit Duo als ohne Duo sprechen :)

[1moreff-creator]

How the LGI MV proves MonoTVid is both canon and a doomed ship

In this totally serious analysis post, I will show you, with 100% irrefutable evidence, that MonoTVid (the common ship name for MonoTV x David) is destined to be both canon and a doomed ship. This is in honor of them recently winning that one poll in The Website Formerly Known As Twitter, a poll which I do not entirely understand but one which I will respect regardless.

I will not accept any criticism on this post. I am objectively correct. If you find mistakes in this post, then what you’ve found is a mistake in your brain.

Obviously a TV, Obviously a Ship

Observe.

Now, do you understand?

If you don’t, let me spell it out for you. We have what is “obviously a TV” with terrorist iconography, which obviously represents MonoTV, nearby several elements which clearly represent David. The hair clips, the megaphone, the dummy. You’ll see “dummies” is plural, because David is a dummy. This is the first clue to the tsundenderish nature of David, as he is literally calling himself a “baka”, perhaps even of the sussy variety. If he calls himself “baka”, could he use the same word to describe someone else?

But the true indication of this ship is the lemon on top of the TV. See, the lemon in the story “Lemon” by the man who wrote the story “Lemon”, whoever he was, is a lemon which represents, despite being a lemon, a person’s will to live. If you want further context on this lemon, read the background text near the lemon when the lyric “make a lemon bomb” shows up on screen, near the lemon. You think I’m gonna post an image of the lemon text near the lemon? No. You should know the lemon text near the lemon by heart.

Anyways, this lemon is obviously on top of the TV to represent that MonoTV is David’s reason to live. There are no other possible interpretations.

But you may also see those dandelions, labeled “weeds”. Weed is what I’m taking to make this post. Not cannabis, I am sniffing dandelions. This is besides the point.

Now, you’ll realize that since dandelions represent happiness, and even hope, the point the video tries to make with them is that David sees these things as annoying weeds. This shows MonoTV and David both hate hope. They are clearly lovers.

But what you didn’t notice, and I know you didn’t notice for I am in your walls, is footnote 18: “A/N: soz not very good at drawing flowers lol!!!”. See, David is the author of these notes, which is obvious from things like footnote 11, the “I am an only child” one. What this footnote means is that David gave these flowers to MonoTV, but he’s embarrassed about it, because he doesn’t think any gift can match the divine splendor of MonoTV. David is just that sweet. That much of a cinnamon roll who can do no wrong. A skrunkly. A blorbo. What other words can I use to brainwash Tumblr users.

Now, look at these.

Look at the balloon and the Monokuma plushie. Does my inconsistent coloring of “the” bother you? I am very evil. You’ll see the balloon is labeled “stupid kid’s toy”, while the plushie is “a popular toy”.

Now, you might think this is another indication that David sees anything related to hope, like balloons, as inherently childish and stupid. Meanwhile, he sees anything related to despair, like Monokuma, as more grounded.

You are wrong.

You seem, MonoTV has stated Monokuma is its dad. So this being in the video means that MonoTV is David’s daddy and his toy. I’ll explain when you’re older. Just kidding, I won’t. Fuck that.

Not convinced?

Why? I am always right, so you shouldn’t doubt me.

But okay, I guess:

I Will Bring Up Color Theory For The Thousandth Post In A Row

I am not linking the accirax post for the fiftieth time. Look it up yourself.

Look:

Yellow for David, cyan for MonoTV. Many have tried to come up with an answer for what “original” means, but it’s actually really simple.

See, David has an I. You wanna know who else has an I? Dark blue, which may be J. And J is the mastermind. Here’s the source for that, it’s somewhere in that video, you just have to find it.

So, J, who is the mastermind and thus essentially MonoTV, has the same letter as David. This clearly shows David and MonoTV are lovers.

Here’s another case of a cyan I.

Boom. Theorizing’s easy.

Then, look.

David has game in yellow, then MonoTV has game in cyan. They’re lovers. Do you find another explanation? No, no you don’t. You will not think critically about this post. You are not immune to MonoTVid propaganda.

But, alas, the ship is not to last.

David is a Cat

At the beginning of the video:

David calls himself a cat, then MonoTV shows up to remind us it’s a dog. You might think it doesn’t mean much, but there actually is meaning behind David being a cat. See, it’s related to the archaic Japanese pronoun “wagahai”, referenced-

Nah, you don’t care about that. David’s a cat, source just trust me bro.

That’s what the black and white cat sitting next to David actually represents: David, tied by color scheme to MonoTV. I’m writing this on my phone and don’t feel like waiting to get to a computer to get past the 10 image limit, so we’re out of visuals.

Why is this important? Well, if you take into account the Romeo and Juliet quote that footnote 8 is attached to (here’s a screenshot), it’s clear the MV is trying to convey a story of two people in love separated by fate. This is clearly about David and MonoTV, which is further represented by David being represented by a cat when MonoTV is obviously a dog. Truly sad. Can I get an amen?

Are you not convinced yet? Crazy. Well, one last thing then.

It’s All Democratic

“To be or not to be? Who knows? Let’s decide! Democratic-ly”

You see how the rules for class trials are on the same image as democratic-ly? Well, this is a clear reference to the poll on The Website Formerly Known As Twitter. Since MonoTVid was chosen as the winner of said poll, it was chosen “democratically”, and will thus become a canon doomed ship. You might wonder if this means the dev has the ability to see the future. But we are not to speculate on the dev’s identity, so while we can’t theorize they are clairvoyant, we also can’t speculate they aren’t. Checkmate.

In fact, The Website Formerly Known As Twitter is now sometimes referred to as “X”, an obvious reference to the X on this screen. Because surely no one would be so absolutely idiotic as to just name the website “X” for no reason.

But hold on, isn’t this X actually Roman numeral 10 for Min?

Well, obviously. We never saw Min’s corpse in her execution, which means she survived and is the second mastermind alongside J. Min is still alive. Min is still alive. Min is still alive. Min is still-

Am I a Whit Young kinnie, but specifically for Min? No, obviously. Because Min isn’t like Whit’s mom, because Min is still alive.

The point is, Min is related back to MonoTV through her mastermind-y nature, and MonoTV to MonoTVid, I’m too lazy to actually continue writing this post.

—————————————————————————

Did you actually read this all the way to end? Are you okay? Do you need a hug? Because this is insane. I don’t know why I made this. Take care!

[gunsandspaceships]

FAQ

I see this post is needed.

What is the purpose of this blog?

Analysis of the MCU and its characters, with a main focus on Tony Stark. Why? Because he is the most misunderstood character in the MCU. Sometimes I write/reblog about Comics versions too. This is not a "pure fun" blog, it's a meta blog about a fictional universe. I use sources, facts, educated guesses, all that scientific stuff.

Are fandoms just for "pure fun"?

No, they are for people. People like different things, not just "fun" ones.

"Fun" varies from person to person. My fun is science.

Are Comics Universes and characters the same as the MCU and its characters?

No, they are not. See this post and this one. Examples from different comics universes: 1610 Tony had a "tumor" in his brain, which was actually an Infinity Stone. 616 Tony never had tumors or Infinity Stones in his brain. 9810 and TRN591 Tonys are Sorcerers Supreme, while 616 or MCU Tonys are not. 1610 Nick Fury is African American. 616 Fury is white. I can go on forever.

Does Comics Canon apply to the MCU?

No (see previous question), unless the traits shown in the MCU are the same as in the Comics. Example, Tony Stark has 3-7 PhDs in 616 Universe, but in the MCU he has 2 (see this post). Another example: Steve Rogers had a smoking habit in the comics, but in the MCU he doesn't smoke.

MCU canon is canon only for the MCU. 616 canon is canon only for 616 Universe. 1610 canon only canon for 1610 Universe. The canon of your favorite fanfic is the canon of that fanfic, etc.

Am I anti-Steve?

No, I am not. Do I criticize him? Yes, when there is something to criticize for. The same applies to any other character: Rhodey, Pepper, Wanda, etc. It is science. Deal with it.

Do I hate anyone?

No, I don't feel hate. Can get angry and annoyed though. In this case - sorry if I bite you.

Do I ship Tony with anyone?

I ship Tony with Happiness. If he is happy with Pepper - great. If he is happy with Steve - I ship it. If he is happy with Stephen - I ship it too, and so on. But if they hurt him - I don't like it. Do you expect me to like it? What would be weird. The ideal option is when everyone is happy, loves and cares about each other.

How to react if I wrote a comment on your post/reblog of my post?

If you're open to discussion, great, that's what comments are for. If you are overly sensitive, can't stand other people's opinions, or deliberately ignore the facts, then it is your right to ignore my comments. And it is my right to write them. Remember that. It is called "communication", and that's what Tumblr and other social networks are for. If you cannot communicate with other people - talk to yourself.

Will I come to your post to write a comment about how wrong you are?

Am I so terrifying? If I see something is wrong, like 2+2 is stated as 5, and not 4, I will probably tell you about it. But I don't do it for headcanons. Headcanon is your HEADcanon. You can have any headcanon you want. It is your right 100%. But if your statement about CANON is incorrect and I can prove it - I can come to you. Remember, it is my right to do so.

Examples:

You have a headcanon that MCU Tony is of Italian descent. I will not correct you because the MCU never mentions what his origin is.

You stated that MCU Tony has a drinking problem. I will come to correct you, because this is not true and I proved it here.

If you said 616 Tony has a drinking problem, I will not correct you because it's true.

You said that in fanfic N a kitten was saved by Clint, but it was actually Natasha. If I read that fanfic, I will come to correct you.

I think it's fair.

To summarize: if you say/write something - be ready to prove your words. That's how it works in real world, that's how it should work online. If you deliberately lied or slandered someone, even if it's a fictional character, there must be consequences.

Do you have any questions?

Ask anything - my doors are always open. And I don't block people if I don't like what they say.

[loemius]

hi! just wanna say that your blog looks super interesting and i'm glad i came across it 😊 i'm wondering if you have any advice for someone new getting into hellenic polytheism. i have been really delving into my views on spirituality and religion for the first time in my life over the past year. i've been venerating Hekate a lot because of the deep calling i feel towards her. i've been thinking more and more about properly worshipping the other gods in the pantheon as well. i've always been very interested in all the mythology too. it feels right to start on so many levels but i am also so nervous at the same time :')

khaire!! thank you very much for your ask!! i'm very touched that you enjoy my blog so much and would ask for my advice. i'd love to give you some, with the caveat that i am absolutely not an expert or an authority and still have a lot to learn myself. i'm literally just a guy who loves the theoi a lot and does my best to worship them and honor them. this got very long so im gonna put this under a cut

first, i would encourage you to work past your nervousness. remember that historically speaking, children worshipped the theoi! there's plenty of evidence of this, from the rituals that youths would do as they became adults (such as cutting a lock of hair and offering it to the river [see iliad book 23 and pausanias 2.32.1 for primary sources on this, as a starting point]) or epithets like kourotropos (roughly translated to 'child nurturer', many theoi have this epithet, including hekate!). don't be scared of them. the theoi are gracious and good, and imo, they're very understanding. when i first started out, i prayed and basically said 'i'm new to this, i want to jump in and do my best, but i'm still learning. please be gentle and understanding to me as i embark on this path, and please guide me to worship you as you see fit.' i think being upfront about it really helps. i see a lot of people say that they want to worship but don't feel like they've done enough research or aren't ready for whatever reason. but you also have to start somewhere, and experience is a valuable tool on this path. it enriches your research to be doing it with a purpose, imo. you have to start somewhere yknow? as long as you're respectful, the theoi will be understanding, imo. i would highly, HIGHLY suggest you spend a lot of time researching. theoi.com is an invaluable resource. i also suggest perseus.edu, which is a digital library that has a wide collection of primary sources, including the epics and plays. i personally suggest the homeric hymns as a starting point, as most of them are rather short and approachable and make fantastic prayers to read aloud. i also suggest reading the epics and plays if you're able. secondary sources are also good. greek religion by walter burkert is a good source. i also suggest understanding greek religion by jennifer larson. people have a lot of divisive opinions on this one, but i think household worship by labrys can be a helpful source for what to do when it actually comes to doing your own worship and rituals. i also like hellenion as a source. use your discretion and critical thinking with all these sources. no one source is perfect. compare and contrast, look for biases, cross check. also, get interdisciplinary with it! look into theology, archeology, anthropology, philosophy, classics. don't be afraid to look in multiple places for information to piece it all together.

another suggestion i have is to spend some time immersing yourself in greek culture, both ancient and modern. religion and culture are deeply intertwined, and understanding the specific ways in which greeks view things will help you greatly. and look outside of greece too! ancient greece had a lot of contact with other areas of the world like italy, the middle east, and egypt, even india, and this absolutely influenced the religion and culture. be respectful to mediterranean people, and listen and elevate their voices. i very much like the blogs @/gemsofgreece and @/alatismeni-theitsa. you're not just learning about a religion, but an entire culture that still exists in the world today. here's my general worship advice: cleansing is important, but it doesn't have to be anything more than washing your hands before an offering or ritual. if you have a space for the theoi, try to keep it clean. offerings can be as simple or grand as you like. i find a lot of beauty in the simple things. a glass of water or sharing a meal goes a LONG way. clean, fresh water was a very coveted thing in the ancient world, so sharing a glass of water is honestly one of my favorite offerings. you can share your meal by praying over it and inviting the theoi to eat the steam/smells of the meal, or you could set aside a little plate for them if you wanted to (NOTE: traditionally, it is considered taboo to share offerings with kthonic deities. they were traditionally buried, and libations were poured onto the ground. in the modern day, i think setting things aside to be appropriately disposed of later or pouring things down the drain can be an acceptable substitute. its fine to share with ouranic deities!). really, just find little ways to involve them in your day to day life. pray. pray a lot, about anything, big or small. express gratitude to the theoi for the things you appreciate in your life, and share your struggles with them. it doesn't have to be formal (but it should be respectful). nurture your connections with the theoi and allow them to nurture you right back. do not feel obligated to share every part of your practice, especially online. keeping things to yourself or a close group of trusted friends can really be beneficial to you. truthfully i only post like .5% of my practice on this website. inherently, polytheistic practice in the modern day is a very personal practice. what might be a sign to you might not be to others. imo, the theoi reach out to us in ways that make sense to us, with the context and knowledge we have available, and that means its not always going to make sense to others. your practice should be for you and nobody else.

when it comes down to it, i suppose my advice is simple. research and just reach out. realize you're going to make mistakes sometimes (i have!) but as long as you have good intentions and respect the theoi, you'll be just fine. mistakes are a part of growing. don't beat yourself up over them -- use them as an opportunity to learn. we're only human, and the gods know this. your practice is going to change as you develop relationships with the theoi and learn more about them. things you might have resonated with at one point might not hit the same later on down the road, and thats okay! embrace that as a feature of polytheism, not a flaw. i realize i've given a lot of advice and this can be rather overwhelming. i've given you multiple places to start researching, and i absolutely was overwhelmed (and still am sometimes) with just how much information is out there. that is a blessing in hellenic polytheism. not every polytheistic religion has that wealth of information available, so take advantage of it, but do it in a way that's approachable for you. since you're interested in hekate, i would highly suggest you start with looking into deipnon . tldr its a monthly holiday on the new moon that honors hekate and her role in leading spirits, as well as purification for a new month. cleaning and purification of your home, food offerings, and charity acts are all great ways to honor this holiday. from there, you can easily incorporate noumenia and agaithos daimon (holidays to celebrate the beginning of a new month, usually devoted to zeus and other household gods such as apollon). ive really went off on a tangent here, so i'll cut myself off here. thank you again for asking a fantastic question, and i hope my answer can be of assistance to you and anyone else who might be in your position. may the gods bless you and look after you, and guide you with a kind hand as you embark on this journey. and have a great day and a fantastic meal friend <3

[wyked-ao3]

Heyyy! Question for you: What's the best writing advice you have for other writers? Feel free to go in depth if you'd like!

- @adhdprincess

Thank you for the ask. @bluefiredesire

Okay so to be honest that's a complicated things to me as each person will react differently to any advice given...so I'll break it down a bit and people can pick and choose from the statements most of this is personal so will not work for everyone.

If you have trouble spotting errors change the font you might not find everything but you will catch more of it...my recommendation would honestly be comic sans but if it doesn't work for you try another.

Accept that your story may not be perfect but you tried your best and beta readers will help smooth it's out more....they are a life saver be it a fanfiction or an original story.

Write what it is you want to write...if you change it to much you will not enjoy the story nearly as much be it a fanfiction or original work.. although on original works you do have to keep publishing standards in mind if you intend to go that route...also not going that route so... don't know a ton besides always read the small print.

If you hit a roadblock and time doesn't fix it then perhaps go back a chapter you may have went the wrong direction.

Another thing to remember is that your story is just that yours...add some twist and turns you enjoy or s little Easter egg that only certain people would know...have fun with your writing and it will show in the work.

On the other side of that

Writing will not always be easy and will push you at times.. remember to take care of yourself while crafting your worlds.

You will not catch all your mistakes and while it's embarrassing it's a part of life and having autocorrect... unfortunately along with any other number or reasons...

While you shouldn't be to critical of your work you will not improve if your aren't critical at all...its a hard thing to balance

Take advice from others when it's applicable and don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't know something .. most people who know about the subject will be happy to talk about it with you to some degree and will be way better than google.. although it doesn't hurt to double check your sources.

Beta readers and alpha readers can help troubleshoot but at the end of the day the decision is yours to make...and no two people will see things the exact same way, which is why beta readers are usually an important step if you can handle it. Although I always recommend the person to do the first read through be someone you trust and who's opinion you value...it makes things flow easier for both parties usually... although if you don't feel comfortable with friends reading it than perhaps a stranger works better for you...(Not my area of expertise)

While it's is your story sometimes it doesn't hurt to keep the readers in mind as well as the genre's general rules or structures... Sometimes stories just don't pan out for one reason or another..don't judge all of a genre on a few.

And last but not least not everyone is going to like your work and that's okay because eventually your work be it original or a fanfiction will find a fandom even if it's a small one...

once you post/publish you never know who has read it and you don't know how it effected them...it could be the story that gets someone through a rough time or it be someone's comfort story ...it could be completely average and that is something you will rarely ever find out

I'm not sure who all wants to see this so I'm not going to tag many ... although I would like to include a special thank you for beta reading @gioiaalbanoart who has already helped smooth it out a lot already and I'm looking for to seeing what we end up tackling in the second reading.. and your opinion of the last few chapters lol 🫂

And thank you as well as the two I recently asked @leahnardo-da-veggie and @illarian-rambling 🫂 I'm looking forward to seeing your feedback and incorporating parts of it in.

[aotopmha]

There has been a bunch of talk about FF14's 'normal' difficulty content these past few days and on my part, I think I could take or leave any potential difficulty/friction increases.

As a new player of about 3ish months, I'm having a blast of just trying to perfect the dungeons despite them having a very rigid structure.

This conversation is super interesting to think about from the perspective of players with varying playtime, too, I think.

To me as someone who has been playing for just a few months (nearing the Shadowbringers base game ending MSQ-wise) and been doing roulettes almost daily because I enjoy running the dungeons, obviously they still feel fresh and fun.

I'm still also getting used to the rotations of any of the jobs I've picked up and still building muscle memory, so to me the game feels just the right kind of "easy" at this difficulty. None of the normal difficulty content has been super hard, but I feel I still have to use my brain, so I'm not feeling any of the criticisms about the gameplay becoming mindless.

But on another side to this are those who have played for a much longer time and have become really familiar with their jobs, seen the dungeon/job structure stay the same through several of the latest expansions or even just stepped into harder content like extremes, savages and ultimates, and gained a different perspective on the game as a result.

No matter how good something is, if it is the same for a long time, people will get tired of it and if the fail states of a game are at some point too easily bypassed, a game can become a mindless hallway.

As I said, I'm not at this point with this game, but I can see how people would get there.

But I'm also not struggling to the point where I would find a little tougher dungeons off-putting or too much.

Same for having tougher rotations with stronger fail states.

As long as it feels good, I'll play it.

What I am worried about is the game going too far in the other direction, where the difficulty would be too much, specifically a possible situation where something feels unfair and frustrating to complete, rather than satisfying to complete because I think a bunch of the difficulty of the older dungeons comes from poor telegraphing, rather than fair and satisfying challenge.

An example here to me would also be the Ivalice alliance raids: they have really cool encounters for sure, but also a bunch of mechanics that have really unintuitive telegraphing.

I didn't fail the math boss because it is basic math, I failed it because I had no idea where to even look to solve the mechanic.

Why should I face the sniper with the hole in the shield and not the shield itself?

Stuff like that isn't a challenge you can figure out, it's an artificial obstacle you have to push yourself through until you find the solution.

I think Dzamael Darkhold is a really neat idea for boss management/positioning for tanks, but the "challenge" of sitting in the magitek circles is more annoying than any kind of challenge.

Copperbell Mines (Hard) also has some maybe neat ideas of using stuff within the environment, but also end up just being annoying, like the golem boss.

But if they mean stuff like the second boss of Bardam's Mettle, which is a neat pure mechanic fight or the beginning section of Hell's Kier and how that uses the fodder enemies, I'm all for it!

I welcome keeping things unique and fresh: mixing up the structure of dungeons, doing something more unique with regular mobs, punishing failing mechanics harder and making failing your rotation cost more.

In fact, if there is one element of criticism in terms of the game's difficulty I absolutely agree with, it's the idea that there is no ladder between the easy and hard content. If you want to try the hard content you either consult sources outside of the game or jump in without zero preparation by the game. That's why I've been hesitant to try: I like easing in to harder content via a possible ladder and work through that step by step.

My current plan, for example, is to reach endgame (lvl 90) and from there start with the easier extremes and work up to the tougher content if I enjoy the process.

But the game doesn't really prepare you for the tougher content in any form on its own as far as I've looked up. It just exists.

A version of the Hall of the Novice, like Hall of the Expert for extreme and savage content would be really cool I think and I think the current Hall of the Novice should not only be made mandatory, but be updated with a couple more concepts as you run through the MSQ, too, to just give you just a sense of how the more difficult content feels, which then would eventually lead to the harder 'expert' version to be unlocked.

(This also doesn't mean they should give everything away, only create a sort of mini extreme/savage level difficulty test before you let people do the content.)

I feel the easier mandatory tutorial would help a bunch with learning the game, especially help with reducing the amount of players who don't understand the basics of their jobs, while the presence of an expert hall would serve as at least some indication of what you're in for in harder content.

But to loop back to the start, my tl; dr is that I'm having fun with what we have now, but it's easy enough where I feel I wouldn't struggle too much if they raised the base difficulty, but more importantly, increased the friction or made the struggle itself more substantial, provided they did this is in a satisfying, rather than frustrating manner.

It's a balance that strikes me as fairly difficult to achieve, but if they do, I think they'll make something truly amazing out of it for players who enjoy easy and hard content alike.

In general, they are promising a lot of content with Dawntrail, but to me the most important element here is that all of that content would be actually good.

Quantity =/= quality, so, from the MSQ to the new exploratory zone to the new deep dungeon and even the graphics update, I'm just hoping everything they give us in the new expansion is good.

[eccentric-nucleus]

actually if i'm gonna make a games rec post.

here are some games i have enjoyed recent-ish.

kenshi. an open-world squad-based rpg with base-building elements. get stronger by getting beaten up. lose a fight and get knocked out, have your weapons and food taken by the bandits that mugged you and left you bleeding to death. get rescued by some slavers that capture you and sell you into slavery. free yourself from slavery and limp away until you roll in hours later with a whole squad of overpowered fighters. then head a little bit too far south and get murdered by skin bandits. they take your skin. this is a completely self-directed game; there's no "main plot", although arguably "figure out the history of the world" is kind of the main 'story' mystery. there's also a bunch of unique recruitable characters with custom-written interactions. i usually recruit exclusively from freeing slaves but you can do w/e.

wildmender. a survival gardening game. this one came out recently and the devs are still releasing bugfixes; it's unclear if they'll make large content patches in the future. apparently multiplayer can still be pretty glitchy, and there's a water flow bug that i've been finding very frustrating. the way biomes work is kind of unsatisfying. kind of slim content-wise, but still, i really enjoyed what's there. out of all of the climate change terraforming anxiety games i've seen, this has been the one i've most enjoyed.

hellpoint. a scifi soulslike made by a team of like 12 people. previously i had thought things like "it would be neat if dark souls was less linear". hellpoint is a great example of why that might be a nightmare. the areas are connected in such a complex way, with one-way routes and branching unlock keys and secret paths and hidden doors behind hidden doors that it gets profoundly disorienting. a hint: almost every single hidden door in the game (there are a lot) is the middle panel of the same exact three-paneled-wall geometry. once you notice what it is you will see it everywhere. also, the enemy designs are hot.

crystal project. remember playing fan translations of final fantasy v? remember wandering around in old mmos? crystal project is kind of a... turn-based rpg mmo-influenced platformer. with a job system. you can sequence break the game from the tutorial level and also at basically every other point in the game too, although until you know what to look for it might seem like there's a linear critical path. but there's a lot out there. hint: play on easy mode. the combat gets tough later on and the game absolutely expects you to be finding and exploiting some class combinations.

astlibra: revision. a sidescrolling rpg. it must have been released episodically originally or some of the chapter pacing makes no sense. also it was originally released with a mess of art sourced from all sorts of places; 'revision' is a re-release with a more unified art style. it gets extremely anime all the time. there's a whole obligatory section where you have to ask all the women in a town about what kind of panties they're wearing. it's rough. i enjoyed how chaotic the systems are and how much Stuff there is to pick up and upgrade and unlock. the plot goes some unexpected places though it doesn't quite stick the landing, i still enjoyed what it did. also karon should be the love interest instead.

silicon zeroes. a cpu-building puzzle game. this straddles the line between the tech/code games that are literally just "learn a new language and code in it" and ones that are more structure-themed like, idk, spacechem. connect modules to assemble solutions to problems. it takes too long to get to chapter 3, which is where they start asking you to make entire cpus.

ashen. another souls-like. i just really like the environments in this one. the initial area looks gorgeous and the way it changes through the game is really neat to see happen. the seat of the matriarch is wonderfully awful to traverse and i wish there had been two or three more dungeons like it in the game. you can't level up; you gain stats mostly by progressing sidequests and the name quest. i eventually ran out of things to spend money on AND inventory space to store items. the late-game tuning is a little rough but until then it's great. a hint: there are three weapon types and within that type nearly all the weapons are identical. you get thrown so many weapons that don't matter; don't worry about collecting all of them. see above re: running out of space and things to use money for.

i guess it would be cheating to recommend minecraft regrowth or morrowind but i have also been playing those.

[sewersystemsludgezone]

I genuinely wonder how people see therapists as a net good and bad therapists as "someone who just doesn't work out for you" when literally bad therapy can be permanently and severely damaging to recovery.

Genuinely i have had maybe one. Possibly two good therapists in my life. But the bad ones still like.

Tried to drive a narrative with my dissociative parts that just wasn't true of my system and tried to make me remember things i just could not remember even if it meant making me remember things that didn't happen to me

I think more people in trauma and dissociation communities need to look at more critical sources and truly fucking understand the gravity of trusting another person with the narrative of your trauma.

ESPECIALLY if you are at a particularly vulnerable spot in your recovery ESPECIALLY if you are still confused on what happened ESPECIALLY if you are still in denial of your trauma yourself

[cilis-readings]

general advice pac reading

reminder: these are very general readings. messages can be picked from each pile and apply to you and your current situation. take what resonates, leave what doesn’t :)

pile 1

you may be feeling like you’re wasting your time, this could be because you’ve been procrastinating more than usual lately. you see that this cycle of procrastination leads to no rewards and not recognition, it’s time to change. redefine what progress looks like to you. it doesn’t have to be some major thing, it could be small tasks that you’ve been putting off. that’s still getting something done! this bout of procrastination could have been brought on by straining yourself too much. bearing the weight of everyone’s responsibilities isn’t right or fair to you. overextending yourself and ignoring your boundaries for other peoples comfort and happiness isn’t okay. you can ask for assistance when you need it, just like you can say no if someone is asking too much of you or putting too much on your plate. try to remain objective and fair in everything that you do. be sure to hold yourself and others accountable as well.

pile 2

you might be feeling like you’re in constant competition with yourself and your ego. if this is the case, then it’s time to hone in on a collective vision. something that you and the people around you all stand for. be sure to leave room for constructive criticism when it’s needed, shutting down anything you deem offensive to you can lead you down a path of ignoring everything anyone says to you. don’t try to cling to control. trying to remain in control of everything causes us to go round and round in circles. external circumstances are always there, always testing us and our patience. we need to know what we can control versus what we have no control over. knowing this will open doors for us that will allow us to find partnerships, be it romantic or platonic, these partnerships will bring us what we need to further our development!

pile 3

there seems to be an imbalance in your life that’s causing disharmony and conflict. try to figure out the source of this imbalance and figure out how to restore balance back into your life! this will get rid of the disharmony and conflict bit by bit. you may have to take a step back from relationships and friendships in order to do this, withdrawing from these connections will give you the chance to introspect and search for the wisdom you need to make these changes for yourself. once you’ve established what you need to grow, it’s time to build that foundation! be ambitious about what you need to do, this will leave a lasting impact on yourself and your future relationships as well. even though you’re working on changing yourself for the better, you should still honor the past. even past versions of yourself are deserving of love.

if you’d like a more in depth reading i offer paid readings here!! i also have a tip jar if you’re feeling kind,, tips are not expected but they are very appreciated! any feedback is appreciated as well, i hope this reading was helpful to you in one way or another :)