#The way they see the world is so fascinating

[astudyinimagination]

You know what, don't just leave that there. Maybe, instead acting in deliberate bad faith, link the article: https://www.avclub.com/steven-moffat-condemns-ai

Heck, actually, I'm a bit miffed at the AV Club because the half of the subhead is not properly attributed. So I'm just gonna copy-paste the whole thing here because it's short. But before I do that, I'm going to say that, as an actual fangirl of Moffat, I forever have to contend with two things: 1. That he always does a lot of verbal vomit when he gives interviews. To be fair, I'm not sure that I would do that much better in his shoes. 2. That he has a certain sardonic wit that has always translated very poorly in written interviews, wherein writers almost never bother to try to convey his tone. He comes across much better when you can actually hear him speak, and in full context (something that's also rare in written interviews).

Full text of the article below (which includes a link to the origin of the interview, the Radio Times), with commentary from me:

Don’t worry, Whovians—it seems like the Doctor isn’t about to regenerate into a bastardized AI version of himself any time soon. Doctor Who writers Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies recently took on the topic of generative AI in a conversation with Radio Times, and while the former acknowledged that the technology is “fascinating,” he also derided it in the most “Doctor Who writer” verbiage possible. “My son explained it to me. He said, ‘Yes, it can do all these things. It might even get quite good at them. But it takes an immense amount of power to run AI.’ Whereas you can run a human being on sunlight and a vegetable patch,” Moffat said. [See, the first half of the subhead, or article subtitle, is Moffat's son speaking, but the subhead doesn't acknowledge that, which is extremely shoddy journalism on their part.] “Human beings are amazingly cheap, we’re knocking out human beings every day.” Definitely spoken like someone who spends his days writing about anything but. [Definitely spoken like someone with a very sardonic sense of humor, which apparently this writer can't grasp. By the way, the commentary in the article means that it's editorial rather than news, in case you were wondering.]

Still, Moffat does know his human patterns. “Unlike anything else in history, the more we use it, the less good it is,” he continued. “Because the more content that is out there produced by AI, the more it absorbs its own content, and eats its own tail.”

That’s a very astute—and upsetting—prediction, but Moffat and Davies aren’t all doom and gloom. After Davies got a quip in about how “television has run on those principals (absorbing its own content) for a very long time,” Moffat continued: “That’s true, but we occasionally have a new idea. I admit, it doesn’t happen very often, certainly not in my case, but occasionally I have a new idea. But [AI] will never have a new idea. That’s not what it does.”

Davies, for one, doesn’t think the two of them will be replaced any time soon. He’s also far more optimistic about the state of television than some recent reports suggest he maybe should be. The overall number of shows on the air may be steadily decreasing, but the showrunner thinks “the rate of new ideas on television is higher than we ever allow for.” “We always tend to think that things bumble along at a very average level, and the great outliers are here and there,” he continued. “And every month, or every two months—actually, every day, I could find you something brilliant on TV.” [I love his positivity here; it's very Doctorish.]

Hopefully, Doctor Who‘s upcoming Christmas special, titled “Joy To The World,” will be one of those brilliant things. The episode will feature Nicola Coughlan and see the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) check into a “time hotel” that allows him to visit every Christmas Day in history. You can watch that adventure on our present Christmas Day, even if you can’t travel back in time.

I’m just going to leave this here

[reasonsforhope]

i live in the midwest US, right? and something that's been so fascinating to me is the fact that i spend equal time, roughly, in urban, suburba, and rural areas- and i'm seeing the same renewables growth in all three. solar panels, advertisements for EVs, charging stations, newly installed wind turbines, actual EVs and hybrids on the roads, i've even been able to witness solar panel installations in the city. the buses in my city's fleet are more and more becoming electric or otherwise more sustainable. i see farmers with portable solar and batteries by their houses. people in the suburbs are getting solar installed and bragging about new electric vehicles.

it's becoming more and more commonplace, and it's both affordable and popular to go green. that really gives me hope, honestly. seeing people who don't really care about the environment go environmentally-friendly anyways, because it's profitable, or cool, or cheap, or just because they like it. sure, it's sort of sad, but on the other hand it shows me just how widespread this change is. and it's not a huge thing either!! like i just see new solar or wind or the like and it's more of a "huh. neat" or "we need to look into panels for the house" than anything else. so much hope in the little things like that, in seeing the way the world changes when no one is looking.

having governments and activist organizations working for this is making a change, and it's so beautiful and i'm so lucky that i get to be alive to see the world changing for the better. and my area is experiencing unprecedented growth!! and i see so much of that come with solar. there's like, a gas-station style charging station near me. isn't that awesome? i can't wait to see more of it.

That's awesome!! Thank you for sending this in, that really is so full of hope, especially the fact that it's the midwest and it's happening equally across urban, suburban, and rural settings. That's so great to hear.

The renewables revolution isn't going anywhere, and it's because of just what you said: it's cheaper and easier and more profitable. And it's gonna change the world.

[jadelover69]

PRESENTING... YUMI WOODS!! (again)

(i started this in Dec 17, 2024 😭💔 || dividers by @.kodasworld and @.dollywons)

(took layout inspo from @.viperbunnies, @.angelwishess, and @.theolivetree123 oc intros!! TYSM HEHE)

The bubbly and outgoing prefect of Ramshackle. Looked down upon by her peers for her talkative nature, something she does not pick up on but wishes to fix.

₊˚⊹♡BASIC INFO

Name: Yumi Woods Nicknames: Pompom Crabbie (Fl*yd) , Mademoiselle Maîtresse (Rook), Henchman (Grim...), Dearest, Dear (Jade!!! 😻����😻😻) Nicknames for others: Idiot/Sewer Rat, (Ace), CayCay (Cater), Muffin Man (Trey), Babe, Mama (JADE!!!! 😍😍😻😻😻🥰🥰🥰) Character Inspirations/Characters she’s twisted from: Mabel Pines (biggest inspiration) Pinkie Pie, Maddie Hatter Age: 16 Height: 182.88 cm (aka 6,0 LMAOO) Dominant Hand: Right Gender: Demi-girl (she/they) Orientation: Pansexual Birthday: August 24, Favorite Food: Skittles Least Favorite Food: Bacon Grade/Class: Freshmen or Class 1-A Dorm: Ramshackle Favorite/Best Subject: Astrology Homeland: ???

Dislikes: stereotypes, sour candy, the Dark Mirror, Crowley, her MULTIPLE crushes and one ex Likes: kaomojis, mermaids, pigs, romamce novels/movies, ziplining, grappling hooks, climbing,

Voicelaims: (❥•THESE ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE!!) ENG - Aiura Mikoto (TDLOSK) JAP - Amy Rose (Sonic Adventure 2)

₊˚⊹♡PERSONALITY

A very bubbly girl in her own world. Extremely fascinated by all thngs love even considering herself to be a good matchmaker (not that many can confirm that statement...)!

However she develops crushes very quickly. Which is heavily tied into that inferiority complex you mentioned in regards to her brother.

She felt neglected and less important, so she overcompensates and imagines all of these people, some of whom she barely even knows, could potentially like her, as a way to try to get that affection she longs for.

Ohhhh....and I can see her parents' divorce playing into the fact she seems to develop crushes and then drop them so quickly.

(credits to @moonyasnow beacsue WOOWOWO)

₊˚⊹♡APPEARANCE

A tall and lanky dark skinned girl with a high ponytail and dark brown hair.

Brown eyes with one having a star that emotes her specific emotions.

Colorful makeup, usuallly wearing pasty pink lipgloss.

₊˚⊹♡BACKGROUND / LORE

She was born to a ’happy’ couple in California with her twin brother, Malcolm. Over the years she and Malcolm grew apart, him growing smarter and Yumi getting ’dumber’. Sure she had friends and he didn’t but... what good would that do her? And of course due to his intelligence her parents cwred more about him, fostering a growing inferiority complex deep in her. She grew tired over this and one night she decided to go out with two friends, which they dared her to search through one of her grandaunts office and get a box of t-shirts. Searching through her (grand)aunts office she found a mirror seemingly bland but she was drawn towards it. It was covered with triangle patterns she couldn’t help but fawn over. She found the way it made her inch closer, magnetic in a way if she thought about it more. The mirror becomes to glow dimly until its grows brighter and brighter blinding her and she falls(?) into the mirror.

₊˚⊹♡RELATIONSHIPS (wippp)

MOST NOTABLE

Jade♥︎: IN LOVE...? || She’s SO DOWN BAD for him, which he knows and finds amusing. In no world would he ever reciprocate her feelings though. Only until after Book 6, he entertained the idea of being in love with her, her being kidnapped surprisingly shook him up in the long run.

Azul: SIBBLINGSSSSS!!!!! || During Book 3, they at first didn’t think much of eachother, Azul thinking she was annoying and Yumi thinking him as rude. But as their relationship progresses they care for eachither more and more. They adore eachother and wish that the other gets what they want in life.

Sam: THAT ONE UNCLE || They first OFFICIALLY met during Book 2, Yumi stuffing candy into a shopping bag and him convincing her to buy a grappling hook. After that interaction she kept coming back into the shop and he kept convincing her to spend money on candy.

Ace, Deuce, and Grim: ’UNRELUCTANT’ FRIENDS... || At first they didn’t care much about eachother often fighting and berating eachother. However they grew closer after almost DYING together multiple times. They can’t help but wish Yumi grows a stronger skin though.

જ⁀➴GALLERY

(aka art/writing/stuff of her!!)

TAGS:

general tag - #yumi woods

oc x canon GENERAL tag - #*ੈ✩‧₊˚starshroom𓋼𓍊𓋼

oc x canon ART tag - #🛼rollerskating mushroom🍄

₊˚⊹♡EVENT CARDS

THE GOLDEN FROST FESTIVAL

CHEERFORNRC

₊˚⊹♡ART MADE BY OTHERS

SHES SO CUTE KYAAAAAA TY TY FOR DRAIWNG HER IT MEANS A LOTTT

(both made by @.haeoflii)

(left made by @.liyuviq and right made by @.mhedusard)

(left made by @.blood-red-hummingbee and right by @.the-rini-rush)

(both by @.ghostiidasponk)

(left by @.ghostiidasponk and right by @.viperbunnies)

(both by @.anonymousplant)

(left by @.anonymousplant and right by MY TWIN @.shinysparklesapphires)

(left by @.viperbunnies and right by @.teighveepao)

(there WILL be a part two of the gallery 😭)

+transparents

[wheels-of-despair]

Me Without You Pairing: Eddie Munson x You Summary: Eddie's got another weird question for Evil Woman. Contains: A random question, a non-answer, a little panic, fluff. Words: 600ish

"What would you do if I died?"

"Avenge you," you answer, flipping a page in your magazine. You're lying on your stomach on Eddie's bed, and he's playing guitar in his chair. Just another average Wednesday evening. Alone. Unsupervised. In various states of undress. Doing different things on opposite sides of the room. Just happy to be near each other.

"No, seriously."

You look up to see that Eddie, half-lying in his chair with his bare feet propped up on the mess he calls a desk, is staring at you and waiting for his answer. He's not even looking at his guitar anymore, but he doesn't miss a note in a song that sounds vaguely Iron Maiden-y.

You think about the question for half a second before responding: "Pass."

"You can't pass," he argues, finally setting his other sweetheart aside. "Answer me."

"Nope," you make sure to pop the P as you turn to another glossy page of the magazine you're not really reading anymore.

"I wanna know!"

"Too bad."

"What would you do if I died, dammit?"

You toss the magazine aside, no longer able to focus on whatever the hell it was you found fascinating a few minutes ago.

"Why, are you planning on doing something stupid?"

"No."

"You already have a backup picked out and you want me to justify your choice of skank?"

"No."

"Then why are you obsessing over something so sad?"

"I'm just curious," he shrugs.

"Then you can keep on being curious," you sigh, crossing your arms on the bed and resting your cheek on them. You close your eyes. "Because I refuse to acknowledge a world without you in it."

Silence.

You hear the chair creak as he gets up. You freeze. Why do you feel tense all of a sudden? Your heart feels like it's beating faster and slower at the same time. You feel him approach. The mattress moves. He's put a knee on the bed beside your hip. And then the other. He's going to crawl over you.

No, he's going to lie on top of you.

He eases himself down a little bit at a time. You stay still, welcoming his body heat and oddly comforting weight.

"You can't just say shit like that to me," he mumbles, his lips grazing your ear.

"Why not?" you argue. "It's true."

Eddie kisses your neck, sighs, and rolls to the side. He lands beside you. You turn your head toward him. Your faces are just inches apart.

"You'd be fine without me," he says.

"I wouldn't be me without you," you whisper.

Something sad flashes through Eddie's eyes, and you feel it tug at your heart. He reaches for your hand, then brings it to his lips for a kiss.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispers.

"You better not," you breathe. "If you die, I die."

Your words hang in the air, heavy between you. You stare at each other in silence. It feels as though the world has stopped entirely. And then Eddie leans forward. His lips meet yours for a kiss so soft, it barely feels real. When he pulls back, your brain screams at you to chase his touch. You can't let him go. Not yet.

"Then we get to haunt the shit out of people, right?" he asks, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

You laugh quietly, relief flooding through you. The spell has been broken, the air has been cleared, the world has started to spin again. You've got him. He's got you. Things are just the way they should be.

"We don't have to wait 'til we're dead for that," you grin. "Wanna know what I've been doing to Gareth every night for the last week?"

[linddzz]

Oohh I LOVE this it's so well laid out (I see the tech brain at work lmaooo) and it has REALLY helped me get a better grasp on my own readings of how the arcane works.

I've had this vague nebulous idea that I felt pretty solid on but did not have the words for re: The Arcane but this really helps. Because the big thing that's stood out to me about the Arcane is that it functions within feedback loops that can build up out of control if left unbalanced, then stabilize if closed.

And the smoke thing and pointing out how Viktor/The Mage keeps the "exhaust" swirled in and fed back in was like the final puzzle piece!! Every moment of magic stabilized enough to use, has required an energy matching it's output fed back into it to close the loop. When it isn't balanced out, it just keeps building on itself in small direct ways (gems exploding) and larger less direct ones depending on the potential within the arcane vector (Viktor spiralling into becoming a world ending god.)

The gem puts out a bonkers amount of destructive power, so to stabilize it they need to increase the energy the machine puts into it to match what it puts out, aka. crank it. A stabilized gem is a perfectly balanced sphere, it could be argued that it automatically bounces the force put on it back into itself smoothly, thus not starting the build up. Ekko makes the Z-drive by creating an inverse of the acceleration rune, creating a contained and stabilized loop.

But the issue comes from expanding that self contained energy cycle beyond itself. There are LAYERS and if you push the arcane out of the little stabilized cycle you have achieved, the result exponentially builds up on itself. Hextech explodes if overloaded, and the explosions can build on themselves. If Ekko pushes his Z-drive out of the established balance he's made, it creates a friggin time smashing dimension bomb. Jayce and Viktor figured out a nicely stabilized little warp spell, and then they plugged a hundred more gems into it and kept slamming the go button to launch ships across the world without accounting for anything beyond keeping it from blowing up. They figured out a controlled burst of kinetic energy (used to either launch/charge projectiles or to create an energy beam) and then started using that in whatever cool shit they could think of.

So this is where I start getting more generalized/conceptual with it;

The snowball avalanche nature of an unbalanced arcane can expand into the rest of the world if left unchecked. Jayce and Viktor keep hitting that button and pissing it off (whether literally if you read the arcane as conscious or figuratively, either works). They keep building into what's happening. And more than that, they have woven themselves into all these layers of causes and effects.

There's the joke that they have so many self perpetuating feedback cycles, so many parallels within their relationships and individual arcs, and I think beyond a neat narrative device it's an actual result of them being what starts to wake the arcane. They're both avatars of the Arcane, both capturing different parts of the analytical and the instinctive nature, the lawful and the chaotic. As you put it, Jayce is the more lawful precise side and Viktor the more chaotic/theoretical side, but also Jayce is impulsive and brash while Viktor is focused and analytical.

Viktor can actually sense this function of the arcane when he's melded with the hexcore. He describes what he feels as a recursive impulse. He succeeds so insanely as a mage because his analytical approach means he recognizes the creation/destruction balance and he fixates on the beauty of that balance. He's fascinated by the anomaly as a contained force of pure chaotic feedback, his evolved forms are all mixes of clean sterility with the aesthetics of organic rot. He so wants Jayce to understand the sublime balance of order and chaos that he sees.

But while he's able to perfectly tap in to his own understanding of this, Viktor functions as a unit with Jayce. They started it together, they need to finish it together in order to balance the living anomaly that is a Viktor power boosted and unbalanced.

For a fun extra gay level; I love thinking that this is a deeper drive for why Viktor is so insanely determined to get Jayce in on his glorious evolution and to be fully united with him. Viktor has an almost instinctive sense for the arcane now, and even if he may not know why, he knows he needs Jayce. But he keeps trying to force it. He's trying not to meld with Jayce as equals, but to absorb him, and that's why the moment Jayce is absorbed is the official tipping point of it being too late to stop what's happening, because now Viktor is just going to keep spiralling until he reaches the point of mage Viktor, who seems to have only stabilized after there's nothing left but himself, a singularity who is always self replicating (by going back and starting his "loop" with Jayce on purpose) and self annihilating (actively working to keep himself from existing), a living anomaly that appears to exist somewhat outside the bounds of universes and time, like the other anomalies do.

Anyway Im gonna have to make a separate post on how I think Jayce and Viktor's big recursive loop and all the little sub-loops in it play out. But the tldr of that is I think this is why the nebulous metaphysics of what Viktor and Jayce actually did to fix everything never bothered me much. Their loop got started by Jayce being saved with magic and being given the runestone, it ends/stabilizes when he gives the runestone back with the full knowledge of what it is to them, and even that only works if they go out clinging to each other with equal strength.

Okay so I recently got low-key obsessed with Jayvik and I’ve been liking your posts about them (top tier analysis btw). Anyway I’m curious about your opinions on a couple of things:

If Jayce’s love language is physical touch, what do you think Viktor’s love language is?

What do you think the Anomaly actually is? My headcanon is that it’s caused by all the paradoxes/timelines that Mad Wizard Viktor keeps making, but idk why it would only be under the Hexgates.

Hmm, when taking into account that the love languages thing is basically horoscopes for real people, but they may have informed how the characters were written, I'd say:

1 ) I completely agree that Jayce's love language is physical touch. That much is obvious.

Viktor's love language is Quality Time - that would explain why he starts getting irritated and hurt with Jayce near the end of S1 and why he's so moved and touched by them solving equations and spending time together pre-time skip. Actually, so much of Viktor's attitude towards Jayce is explained by him seeing Quality Time as a love language it's actually making me a bit dizzy, I need to think about this a lot more because I think this might have cracked something for me...

2 ) Hoooo boy, I actually have an answer for what the Anomaly is in my mind, but it's a lot less character driven and a more metaphysics driven because I was feral about Arcane S1 before I had anyone else to talk to about it online and I've spent a lot of time thinking about Hextech and Shimmer. OK, here goes:

Hextech is an axiomatic (lawful) channeling of forces of nature, namely magic. However, magic to stay pure and reliable requires an anarchic (chaotic) AND the axiomatic (lawful) balancing act for each use of its power if it's to stay "pure" and reliable. Otherwise, you invite chaos in. Namely, the Anomaly.

In addition, every use of magic/the Arcane puts off a certain amount of "car exhaust" for every use, this allows it from a Doylist perspective to be a climate change metaphor but it does go deeper than that and follows its own magical rules. If you look closely, overuse of Hextech always puts off smoke. Early uses don't do so as much, though. In my opinion, each puff of that "smoke" adds to a potential Anomaly.

Now if you're good at magic, and skilled with it, say if you're good mage, as seen with The Mage / Viktor in 1.02, you make a point of scooping up up all the exhaust from any use of rune magic and pouring it back into the spell.

Look at how the mage scoops up all the exhaust coming out of the spell here and weaves it back into the spell!

Hextech doesn't bother to do that! Because Jayce doesn't fundamentally understand that advanced level of magic! He just keeps calling on its energy without dealing with the output of smoke/chaos/Anomaly fumes so it's just hanging in the air.

By the way, all the smoke in Arcane is hand animated so to my eyes, all smoke actually matters. I'm actually a little bummed that S2 didn't go deeper into explaining the smoke that comes off of some uses of the Arcane but not others but I'm assuming they'll delve more into in future shows because The Arcane Is Awake Now, thanks to my brilliant science boy dipshits.

The cleanest, clearest use of Hextech we ever see is the first time the science boys use it to float:

I draw a few conclusions from this:

1 ) The first hit is always free - first time you use magic, magic is happy to help you out! It will do the thing you ask! No consequences!

2 ) Magic gets more and more angry the more times you use it. Actually, by the time we get to Vi using the Atlas Gauntlets repeatedly in S2, there's a little puff of smoke every. time. she uses. them.

3 ) Magic requires some balance. Breaking a window before it let the boys float? Cool, that's balance. But if you just have it doing the same constructive motion over and over, like sending out airships, but you don't let it break some things too? It gets annoyed.

4 ) If it doesn't get applied in a balanced way, magic/the Arcane gets mad. Ekko compared the Arcane's frustration to a sigh. That smoke? Is the sigh. Again, first time you use Hextech, magic which is at least semi-sentient, is MORE than happy to help! The more you keep demanding repeated axiomatic actions, the more it sighs in anger.

Then we get to the crux of your question: what is the Anomaly?

The Anomaly built up at the base of a tower stuffed full with polished, axiomatic, reinforced Hexgems that do one constructive task over and over and over again all day, every day: safely send ships from one place to another.

The Anomaly builds up from the frustration of not allowing magic to be free. Jayce is an axiomatic thinker, he sees magic as a tool, not as a force of nature, so he's been channeling it super precisely and not scooping up all that extra exhaust and channeling it back into the magic and that means it builds up this... pearl of an Anomaly which is all this wild magic with tons of chaotic potential that can do basically anything, including time and dimensional travel but it's gonna be super weird about it.

Soooo... thanks for giving me the chance to yell about Hextech, hope that was sort of what you had in mind!

[lovely-parasite-04]

Iced Coffee, Detective?

Agnes!Agatha Harkness x Fem!Reader

Prologue of ?

SUMMARY: One of the victims of Westview goes a little further than everyone else to be nice to the town hero, Agatha Harkness, or Detective Agnes O'Connor. She doesn't know what she's getting into when the Detective asks her to come in for "further questioning."

WARNINGS: Mention of murder (its only like a sentence), Agatha being Agatha

NOTE: This is mostly experimental because I hardly ever write and when I do, it never sees the light of day. However, I am In Love with Agatha, and I never see anyone write much about when she was under Wanda's spell. The experimental part is that this is meant to be comical and reader doesn't immediately start out with a big fat crush on Madame Harkness. It's also more on the simple side in terms of plot. I'm posting this first little bit to see how people enjoy it, and if it gets a lot of attention, I'll try to write more.

"Large Americano for Agnes?" I shout from my corner behind the counter, swiftly setting the paper cup down as I see the familiar brunette make her way towards me. I turn to begin making another order, but stay put to ask the older woman, "Any new cases, detective? I heard you on the phone over there talking about a lot of work to get back to. "

Agnes (Agatha) takes a large sip of her iced coffee, testing the flavor and swallowing, before responding with, "I'm not supposed to talk about the investigation and I don't entertain rumors about how the victim passed." She barely made eye contact with me, but I'm shocked she didn't immediately leave after receiving her order. She is usually in a hurry to get her coffee and go.

"Oh... of course. Sorry." I have no idea what she heard me say, because I didn't mention anything about a victim. I know I don't necessarily have to play along with her delusions like I do; most people simply tell her to have a nice day and direct her towards the door, but I can't help but be fascinated by what she is going through.

Seeing it from the outside, anyway.

I was among the rest of Westview during the Scarlet Witch's spell. Just the thought of it sends a shiver down my spine. Losing control of everything but your mind can be terrifying, wanting to say something but saying something else. Being frozen in time until you were needed for a plot point for a completely deranged woman. Losing track of time and wondering if it will ever end.

Agatha Harkness had been a town hero, stopping Wanda Maxifmoff and freeing everyone in Westview. But now she was stuck in the same spell with no end in sight.

Her Nosy Neighbor character lasted for about 2 years and everything seemed to be normal. She would gossip with her closest neighbors and those who volunteered to check in on her and bring her groceries, and she pretty much kept to herself. However, her characters have started to derail into different "genres". The first shift the town noticed was around Christmas last year. She seemed to be acting out a Hallmark movie, following around this one guy while pretending she was just bumping into him and trying to show him the "true meaning of Christmas."

It was funnier to watch than any actual Hallmark movie I had ever seen. The guy was married with a family, and continued to tell Agatha as such until she shifted again. That was when I made the observation that in Agatha's delusions, she doesn't always hear exactly what we say. It's like her brain can't comprehend anything that doesn't fit the little world she's made, so it makes something else up entirely for her to play off of.

I'm also convinced that she is controlling her delusions now. Maybe not intentionally, but I no longer see the hold Wanda had over her. Maybe this spell that Agatha is under is different from ours. She has no control of her mind. We only had control of our minds.

I feel bad for her, and I'm really intrigued by her as a person in general - I mean she's a fucking witch from 1690's Salem - so I steal any chance I get to talk to her. It helps that she is a regular at the coffee shop I work at.

Back in the moment, I need to move to the other end of the counter to finish this new order, and I'm positive she'll walk away once I do. I simply say, "Have a nice day!" And start to step away when she surprises me again.

"You knew her, huh?" Holding the coffee close to her chest and mouthing at a straw she slipped in while I was lost in thought. She follows me around the counter, not bothering to mutter anything to the other customers she runs into along the way. Her whole focus is on me.

"I...knew who?"

She heard me that time, giving me the full name of someone I'd never heard of before.

"Oh, her? Yea. Yea, me and her go way back."

  I'm a sucker for improv, okay? What's the harm? Even if she found out I was lying, she can't hurt me. She lost all her magic. Right?

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to come with me back to the prescient, so I can ask you a few questions about the girl and the nights leading up to her death."

Well, fuck. My boss would never let me leave for this. A real cop, sure. The town cook? Absolutely not. "I'm sorry, detective O'Connor, I'd have to wait until I get off work."

"Relax, hon." She said condescendingly "Let's just wait until you get off work -" What a great and completely original idea, Agatha. "I'll give you my card and you give me a call later today, okay?"

She proceeds to hand me an index card with the name Wanda gave her, Detective Agnes O'Connor, above a phone number. On the back is her house address. All handwritten.

  Bless her heart.

  "Okay- I hope you don't hand these out to everyone..." The last part was more of an outside thought, and thankfully Agatha didn't seem to hear it anyway, waving over her shoulder and exiting.

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

[anxiousnerdwritings]

It’s barely even Christmas and I saw a video on TikTok about a mum who somehow didn’t realize that she got three or four times the amount of gifts for one child then the other so there was literally like a massive pile of gifts and then a very noticeably smaller pile of gifts for the other child and all I could think about was Ginny and Twin!Reader and Molly having that issue

Them waking up and running to the Christmas tree and seeing everyone has a pile of gifts whether it’s from Arthur and Molly then maybe a few from some extended relatives or friends while the Reader just has a Weasley jumper in his least favourite colour and some homemade sweets and whatever it was Percy scraped the money for to get him and he’s all ecstatic because at least this year she didn’t forget to knit his jumper but Percy is trying to refrain from ripping out his own hair on the other side of the room because Ginny is unwrapping a Dudley amount of gifts while her baby brother is just sitting there, crossed legged in his ugly fucking sweater on the ground, smiling and trying not to cry the more gifts she goes through

I hate how accurate this would be for Molly regarding Weasley!Twin!Reader. She’s so tunnel vision on her precious baby girl that she totally forgets Twin!Reader altogether. It isn’t until she and Arthur are wrapping all the gifts late at night while all the kids are asleep that Arthur asks where Twin!Reader’s presents are. And you know damn well Molly won’t admit that she forgot to get him anything either. Cause she didn’t, she swears she didn’t. She just misplaced said gifts. That doesn’t make her a bad mother, accidents happen after all. Right? Meanwhile Arthur watches as she races around the house grabbing what spare yarn she has lying around and her magical knitting needles frantically knitting away as she tosses wildly different colors of yarn at them. The sweater Weasley!Twin!Reader ends up with on Christmas is a mash of hideous non-correlating colors and it wasn’t even wrapped in festive colored paper like the other siblings’ were, no his was crudely bunched up in brown paper. Not to mention the homemade sweets he gets with it aren’t even nicely wrapped either, they were instead hastily tossed into a napkin moments before the kids woke up and started making their way downstairs. The only true gift Weasley!Twin!Reader has is the one Percy managed to get for him, beautifully wrapped and overall perfect. (I also love to think that Ginny and Twin!Reader always hand make each other gifts every Christmas, something they’ve made into their own little tradition for one another so fortunately the Reader would also have that to look forward to.)

I just imagine a very half asleep Percy making his way downstairs, barely coherent about anything going on, until he notices the very tiny, thrown together “pile” off in the corner of the room and he just knows whose gifts those are for and suddenly he’s wide awake, blood pressure already rising. And it’s not even sunrise yet. When I tell you this boy would be staring Molly down, down to the depths of hell, I fucking mean it. Ginny may be Molly’s baby, but Twin!Reader is Percy’s and he won’t let this slide.

I could also see Molly telling Arthur to run to the shed and go pull something out of there to add to Weasley!Twin!Reader’s small “pile” of gifts. But I would really like to think that Arthur actually did get Weasley!Twin!Reader a gift on his own wholeheartedly with him in mind, of course it’s muggle related but it still means more than what Molly tried to put together. Especially if Weasley!Twin!Reader shares his father’s fascination with the muggle world. If that were the case then I could see Arthur being much closer to the Reader. He still isn’t necessarily a father to him as he should be but it’s a hell of a lot more of a relationship than what Molly can say she has with Weasley!Twin!Reader.

When Ginny is opening her plethora of gifts that just somehow seem to never end, she would wholeheartedly try to share some of them with Twin!Reader to open or trying to include him in on it somehow but Molly steps in, shooing Twin!Reader away and talking about how those are just for her and her alone. Meanwhile, Percy is clutching the Reader close as Twin!Reader smiles through watery eyes trying so hard not to cry and ruin the day for everyone. He wants to be supportive and he’s more than happy with the gifts he did get but seeing the looks on all his sibling’s faces, even the shameful look Arthur throws his way, he knows that none of this is acceptable. The only one who seems content is of course Molly.

I wouldn’t put it past Molly to hide/toss any gifts that Weasley!Twin!Reader got from any of their other relatives. Especially in the case of Weasley!Reader resembling the Black family side, courtesy of Grandma Cedrella. Particularly if Cedrella herself took to spoiling the Reader over any of the other kids in the family. I could just see there being a hidden wall in the attic with the ghoul where Molly has taken to keeping all the Reader’s other presents. Leave it to Harry and Ron to find it one day and finally so many things make sense. Like all the times Cedrella wrote to Weasley!Twin!Reader about how he liked the gifts she picked out for him and if there was anything specific she should get him next time or when she’d ask him in person at the next family get together. Meanwhile all this time everyone thought she was just in her old age and misremembering.

It isn’t until Weasley!Twin!Reader attends Hogwarts and makes his own friends that his little Christmas gift pile gets bigger and bigger each year until it goes unnoticed whether Molly actually went out of her way to get him something that year or not. Even his Slytherin housemates have gotten him more presents than Molly can ever admit to. Hell, not only them but their pureblood families have gone so far to add Weasley!Twin!Reader to their Christmas lists. So have the teachers. You should have seen Molly’s face when she found out one year the Reader went to the Zabini’s for the holidays after believing the Reader had stayed at Hogwarts over the break. And the only reason she thought that was because she never saw Weasley!Reader get off the train.

And Molly better brace herself when Lestrange!Daughter!OC (really gotta come up with a name for her) finds out. She would of course go absolutely hog wild spoiling her darling as he should be, but she will also be out for blood just as much. Imagine the look 👀 n Molly’s face when everyone wakes up on Christmas Day to an absolutely ridiculous amount of gifts littering the house, literally a pile touching the ceiling, nearly overflowing the house and each and everyone is addressed to Weasley!Reader. Lestrange!Daughter!OC going out of her way to not only spoil her darling herself but reaching out and making her rounds to everyone she knows who cares about Weasley!Reader and ensuring their gifts make it to him. Especially Cedrella’s. Her darling will never go without or feel less than ever again, not on her fucking watch. And even if Molly were to try and intercept Weasley!Reader’s gifts (literally imagining her pulling a Vernon with the Hogwarts letters), Lestrange!Daughter!OC has an army of house-elves tasked with making sure those presents get to who they’re meant for.

[animeyanderelover]

Hi, can I ask for a Chrollo and Pariston x reader that is like Nayuta/Makima from Chainsaw Man? Please, and I really like your writing style and take care of you ☺️🧡

Tw: Yandere themes, possessive behavior, obsession, manipulation, blackmailing, threats

Tags: @jamayah @leveyani @shenryu-sama @maggiequinn59 @chxxz @hyakki-yosai

Darling is like Makima from Csm

Chrollo Lucilfer

📖As soon as Chrollo's eyes land on you there is a bewitching pull that he feels within his chest, a tantalising mystery that promises a wisdom to be gained at the end. Chrollo has always observed human nature, has seen a person no different than a puppet. A mindset which you seem to share as a person to you is no different than a dog who should obey and stay loyal. You are like the reflection of a mirror and understanding you is discovering himself. Conversations between the two of you may look like nothing more than smalltalk yet in reality both of you constantly attempt to decipher and control the other one. Other spiders feel uncomfortable around you because they sense your attempts to manipulate them, the way your eyes seem to stare deep in their souls to have them submit to you. There is no one you care about, no one you truly love as your loyalty is chained to nothing. It is this one aspect that almost gives Chrollo more humanity than you possess as his loyalty lies with the Phantom Troupe. You long secretly for an equal relationship, something Chrollo cannot give you as he too longs to control. So the two of you engage in this invisible mindgame of who will possess who.

Pariston Hill

🐭​Pariston is a man who sees everything within this world as nothing more than a game. He wants to be entertained and winning or losing to him does not matter as long as he gets pleasure out of it. Unpredictable and shady, the both of you are polar opposites in a lot of aspects. You gain people's favor to make them your loyal dogs, he doesn't really care what people think. He is only invested in the game, you are invested in achieving your goals and are ruthless to achieve them. You fascinate Pariston, he wants to engage in a game with you. His plan is to meddle with your goals, to foil your plans and his attempts give him the attention from you which he so desperately desire. What he might have not expected though is to find someone so deeply manipulative and clever as you are as soon you turn the game on him. You show him indifference, the worst reaction of all that has Pariston itching within his skin. Suddenly he does you favors so that you may pay attention to him once more. The bright smile he gives you doesn't hide the hostility he feels though for you have reduced him to this state. He'll see it through to find the most creative ways to shatter you and bring you under his control.

[your-unfriendlyghost]

Johnny cade for the "give me a character" thingy cuz I love him :3

How I feel about this character

  I love Johnny, man. Very simple feelings ‘bout him, but yk, I love him. I don’t often…spin him ‘round in my brain like I do with some of the others, but I have a lot of strong opinions abt him and I love him lol

All the people I ship romantically with this character

  I occasionally ship him with Dally, but only occasionally. Idk they’ve got something goin on but idk what lol. I definitely don’t see them as an older brother and little brother, although I get where people are coming from- idk though, that’s like the least interesting take on their whole…deal for me I guess? I (personally) don’t think Dally and Johnny are brotherly/parental at all, and reducing them to that means losing out on the much more interesting (I think) dynamic that they do have- like Dally can’t be vulnerable with anyone BUT Johnny, and Johnny is at his most confident with Dally. And he has power over Dally that no one else does. It could be romantic or platonic for me, but the important thing is that they’re equals imo. I mean c’mon, only one of them’s canonically stabbed a guy to death, and it ain’t Dally. They’re tied together somehow idk man

  I sorta like the idea of Johnny and Sylvia being something tho. I don't think abt it much, but it adds something morally bad to a character that’s supposed to be purely good that I find fascinating. Not the sorta ship I ship per se, but one I like toying with sometimes because there’s so much to unpack there ig. I don’t usually see it as canon but I sometimes like it.

  Finally, I read this GUT WRENCHING fic one time where Johnny was who Sandy cheated on Soda with. I…really liked that fic. The ship hits a lotta the same notes as Johnny/Sylvia but explores Johnny and Soda…idk man again not the sorta thing I usually see as canon but holy shit the fic kinda blew my mind lol. It’s here if y’all wanna check it out- mind the tags and all. It’s a rarepair but it KILLS me man. It ain’t…canon to me, but I think abt it sometimes (the ship and the fic) and just feel things idk. (Part of that is probably b/c I love Soda, but yk)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

  Uhh Dally also honestly

  I mean Johnny and Pony are close too, but I really don’t see them as BEST friends. Ik a lotta people do which is perfectly valid, but in my head they’re…not? I dunno. They’re definitely friends, but TO ME it’s in the way that I’m friends with kids who I’ve grown up with who are like cousins to me now- we’re close, and I know they have my back, and I could tell them anything if I really wanted to, but I probably won’t unless we’re alone together in a church for a week. (@veggiesforpresident just talked abt them earlier today here, and she put it into words a helluva lot better than I am rn- definitely check that out)

My unpopular opinion about this character

He’s tough. I mean everyone knows that, but I’m not massively fond of fics/art that portray him as small and soft. Like sure, Pony sees him that way, but to the rest of the world Johnny is a hood. He may be small, but he can fight. He loves drag races, man!

  Idk, Ralph Macchio put it best in this behind the scenes book I own: 

  “Johnny was always described as the runt of the greaser litter- the one they all protected. However, as the story unfolded he became the most level-headed and clear-minded in the face of adversity. I always recognized that in him even from the first reading of the book at age twelve. I am biased, but he is one of the richest and fully drawn characters in the ensemble.”

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

  I’m biased b/c I love Soda but I woulda loved to see him hanging with Soda. Really the rest of the gang in general (not that there was time for that lol), but it’s canon to me that Johnny was friends with Soda first. Eventually they diverged and became close to Dally and Steve respectively, but in elementary school it was Johnny and Soda. 

  (On the other side of the coin, I like the idea of Dally and Steve having had a bit of a fling that they don’t talk about as a way of repressing their romantic feelings for Soda and Johnny respectively. But that’s not always canon to me lol.)

[ichiblogging]

Some ramblings about the World Hater Majik and the villain to protagonist with Ichi they have because I can’t keep quiet

They aren’t romantic - they want each other dead. They are mortal enemies. But they are rapidly growing obsessed with one another in such extreme ways…

At this point it’s more or less clear the Hater is meant to represent death. And Ichi? He is all who he prides himself to be because he survived. He resisted death. He’s a survivor first and a hunter second. He may love hunting but he respects life way too much to give in to the hunt without a decent cause.

And yet Ichi has that thrill of a kill.

He stabbed himself to stay awake. Just to kill the Hater. Even they point out Ichi could save the people instead. But the thing Ichi truly wants is different

Ichi wants to slay a new, exciting, challenging prey

And he enjoys every second of it

Ichi isn’t our typical goodie guy. He isn’t selfless. He is insane about all the smart ways you can kill. He loves the challenge. He burns to hunt, even though he found an altruistic outlet for it. The early life proximity to death not only made him resistant but taught him to be the apex predator.

—

But what fascinates me even more is the Hater’s reaction

Through the chapters prior we see them having all kinds of frustrated, bossy, cold and annoyed faces.

But when Ichi has his speech and says “what do I do to hunt you” last effort before passing out?

Their eyes shine.

We don’t know why. We don’t know what it is about Ichi that strikes The World Hater Majik so much at that moment. But they are astonished.

They smile.

And even more curiously - they pull back and hide that smile right away.

Even though they say Ichi is “out of his depth” what he did reached the depth of them. And they felt the need to repress it.

Maybe it is related to their trial. Maybe very few ever dared to challenge death itself.

Both of them are insane characters, Ichi and Hater, but they are so in just the right way to be perfect opponents who are deeply obsessed with one another. The world IS too small for both of them, so it will only end when one gets to kill the other

[danisdistant]

sunday x emanator of voracity reader? perchance

chat... am i cooking...

sunday - uncontrollable desire

a/n: as far as i know, oroboros is some hungry and desperate aeon who went missing eating the swarm. so as an emanator of voracity, you carry some of the hunger too. i love the interesting idea though, i wanna see some characters that follow missing aeons like argenti with the goddess of beauty…

[intro blog] | [taglist] | [masterlist]

»» ──────ஓ๑ ★ ๑ஓ ────── ««

not much is known about oroboros, much less about any existing followers or even emanators. but when the express stumbled across you in an unknown area of the universe, the first impression you left on everyone was your insatiable hunger.

as far as you could remember, you’ve always been hungry for your whole existence. no food, person, thing, or even planet could fully quench your hunger. however, you couldn't remember when you've become the emanator of voracity. the aeon of oroboros has long been missing, but you don't even remember a voice from THEM.

oh well. when the astral express first encountered you, they immediately considered you as a threat. what if you ate one of the crew members?? what if you ate several?? hell, the entire express?? despite your increasing appetite, you didn't feel a need to indulge yourself in a full course meal in front of you. after all, the express is the first couple of people you've seen after being stuck on this planet for how long?

they were hesitant letting you on the express. pom-pom especially was concerned about letting an emanator on their train. welt, himeko, dan heng, and even sunday were wary about your presence. march 7th and stelle felt like you gave off a weird aura. you were the outcast of the nameless, but you didn't really care that much.

maybe you joined the astral express after the boring and excruciating time you’ve spent hungry (almost starving) on that desolate planet. after all, you’ve been devouring rocks to fulfill the desire for just a brief moment. or maybe you joined because you wish to resume your devouring spree, using the express to travel to different worlds to completely ingulf them. or maybe you’ve joined for the hell of it.

after some time of not trying to eat your fellow crewmates, some started to become fascinated with you, since they haven’t seen a follower of THEM ever. on the other hand you’ve become more interested in a fellow bird boy.

you’ve been noticing that on some late nights on the express when everyone is supposed to be asleep, piano melodies have been echoing in the halls for minutes to hours before stopping.

when you asked sunday who he thought it came from, it surprised you to hear that it was actually him to played the melody. though, he was somewhat embarrassed given his attempt to subtly hide his face with his wings. he plays the piano at night to not disturb anyone after all.

but what interests you isn’t just his skill with the piano, or the way his fingers press each key with passion, no. for some reason, the melody eases your hunger and desire to indulge in anything you see. almost as if you were eating the music that actually filled you up.

so, you sometimes join sunday late at night to watch him play the piano, listening to his stories about each song he’s played for his sister. penacony, land of dreams, you wondered if you’d still be hungry when you go there.

but right now, you’re content with staying on the express and helping pom-pom around with cleaning (you basically just eat the trash to pom-pom’s horror). and as a bonus, you’re spending time with sunday at late nights, easing your own hunger as you devour his melodies and stories with a single bite.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Happy New Year! I've been writing too many recaps lately so this will be brief. Anyway as usual, spoilers and opinions below, read at your own risk.

QL - Currently Watching

🇹🇭 Caged Again [8/10] - The most wonderful surprise. Junior is an incredible character. I'm hoping they finish this one strong. 🇹🇭 Fourever You [13/16] - I don't know why I'm still watching. I really don't. 🇯🇵Miseinen [9/10] - I think some of the changes they made from the source material really didn't help the story in the second half of the show. And this last episode just felt like they were more focused on continuing the visual metaphors than to actually move the story forward in a way that made sense. I'm kinda disappointed tbh.

🇹🇭 Perfect 10 Liners [6/24] - Finally Perth.

🇹🇭 Sangmin Dinneaw [1/8] - Finally a collab where the language barrier is used for the story and for humor instead of whatever has been done till now. They cute. Really like the setting.

🇹🇼 See Your Love [11/13] - It's like watching two shows in one. On one side we have the most endearing couple. They are completely in love with each other and helping each other through their individual issues. And the other...I don't really know what's happening.

🇹🇭 The Heart Killers [6/12] - I'm still watching quietly.

🇹🇭 ThamePo [3/12] - They are so charming and earnest. And Est is too beautiful for this world. I'm really enjoying this one and I like the pacing so far.

🇹🇭 Your Sky [7/12] - They are very compelling to watch. So precious. But this last episode wasn't great. I hate what they are doing with Oh and really hope he just goes away. Great ensemble though.

QL - Finished

🇯🇵Love in the Air Koi - I appreciated the condensed stories, with less filler and the parallel kidnappings. And I preferred this version of the second couple.

🇯🇵 Love is a Poison - I adore them. Shiba is such a fascinating and original character. The actors did an incredible job, and I could watch them be battle husbands for 5 more seasons. Oh and the succulents. I will miss them most of all.

🇹🇭 My Stand-In - Final thoughts here.

🇹🇭 Spare Me Your Mercy - It's interesting in the context of euthanasia but not much else. The crime part of this was messy and the romance was practically not existent or otherwise not believable.

Others - Watched

🇹🇭High School Frenemy | 🇨🇳Fangs of Fortune | 🇯🇵Lion no Kakurega |🇰🇷 Squid Game 2

Coming in January: 05/01 - 🇹🇭 The Boy Next world 06/01 - 🇹🇭Ossan's Love Thailand 09/01 - 🇯🇵 When it Rains, It Pours - 🇯🇵 Call Me by No-Name 15/01 - 🇹🇼 Impression of Youth

I've finished my yearly recap by country. Korea | Thailand | Japan. I hope you all have the most wonderful year. As usual my ask box is open. 💜

[the-meme-monarch]

HI. HI AREN't YOU THE PERSON WHO MADE THAT DANDY'S WORLD ANIMATIC LIKE 6 DAYS AGO???????? I FOUND IT ON MY FEED, WENT LIKE "HOLY SHIT" AND SHARED IT TO MY FRIENDS- THEN I JUST FOUND YOU TODAY AND IM INTERNALLY SCREAMING

IT'S SO GOOD. IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD AND I HAVE BEEN SNEAKILY OPENING IT BACK UP JUST TO REWATCH IT FRAME BY FRAME. IT WAS AN INSTANT FOLLOW

anyways,,,, i'm so obsessed with the characters you gave them (AND THE LACK OF SHIPPING!!! IMMEDIATELY WENT LIKE :0 :D) especially shrimpo. it's just kinda like- they're still friends with everyone! they encourage him! but he feels insecure about it all..... and holy cow teagan you GO. threw some hands and was badass the whole way

do u have a fav toon??? (and i saw you read that you're bad at the game- i'm not the best either but if you ever wanna play together, i don't mind dming you and giving you my username!)

hope the text wall isn't too much i just felt i had to do it- seeya!!! your work is amazing and that's basically the tldr of this whole thing lol

i did do that :] I’ll put the link here for future ref

I’m glad you like the lack of shipping HJDJSJSJ it just does not interest me there’s a fucking black sludge to be worrying about. who’s kissing who is the Least of their problems /jokey

but so shrimpo is my favorite toon and delilah is my favorite human :] i just think there’s something Wrong with them in different ways and it fascinates me

but also i just Don’t Really play video games in general ! my sibling wanted to see if I’d like it and had me attempt a solo run with xer supervision to maybe learn the controls and everything. I played as finn and i think i was killed by twisted finn? or toodles idr. in like 20 seconds flat. i never even found a machine i barely made it out of sight of the elevator HDHDJSJSJS the controls just Felt Weird !

[peekofhistory]

You said about buying their own hanfu in one of the last asks. Is it really ok for non chinese people to buy it?

Where I live we are usually so preoccupied with cultural appropriation that I'm afraid to somehow cross the line.

Omg, thank you for asking this question, it's a really, really good one (I live in Canada and this is also an issue that pops up here).

In the daily life world, what I would recommend is do what feels safest for you. I know some people can take this sort of stuff to extremes, so protect yourself first. If you feel that wearing Hanfu as a non-Chinese person is going to get you attacked (in person, online, anywhere) then it might not be the best idea.

If you're just buying and not wearing out, buy away~!! No one knows what you have in your closet. Or you can always wear it around the house or in your backyard. You can also kind of..."take it apart". Like, wear a Hanfu top with some dress pants, or a Hanfu skirt with a regular blouse. You're less likely to attract attention that way.

In my own, personal opinion, though, I honestly have no issues at all with anyone wearing Hanfu on 2 conditions: It's not worn to mock or bash the culture. It's not worn with the intention to claim ownership of the garment.

I don't care if you wear it solely because it's pretty clothes, I don't care if you love Chinese history and culture and have a PhD in it and Hanfu is part of the package, I don't even care if you just happen to want to wear it for Halloween, as long as there's no malicious intent behind it I personally have no problems at all.

If you actually come to China and wear Hanfu, I can guarantee (yes, guarantee) that NO Chinese person will attack you for cultural appropriation. In fact, the opposite is MUCH more likely to happen in that Chinese people (in China) will LOVE that you are wearing Hanfu. That you show interest in our culture and history, that's very exciting!

I lived in Japan for several years for work and I wore kimonos once in a while there. My Japanese friends and colleagues had no issues with it, in fact they LOVED it (one of them even gave me a kimono from her family's collection). While traveling around I saw lots of non-Japanese people going to professional kimono studios to get done up and then visit tourist sites for photos, no one gave them any issues, no whispers, no side eyes, nothing but excitement to see visitors enjoying and participating in their culture.

I also used to like Lolita fashion, which is inspired by European historical clothing. No one in Canada had an issue with me wearing that sort of thing, even though my physical appearance is clearly not from Europe. If I ever go to Versailles, I plan on a full Marie Antoinette dress and hair and I'll stomp anyone who tries to tell me I can't.

It's fascinating to me that most people actually living IN the country of question don't see others enjoying their culture as a negative thing. In fact they generally are more than happy to share because it feels GOOD that others want to learn about your country. (And by "most people" I'm talking 99.999999%, I'm only leaving 0.0000001% possibility because China has a lot of people so maaaaaaaaybe you miiiiiiiiiight find one person who has an issue if you interview EVERYone)

I feel like the word "appropriation" needs to be better defined to those who are either: a) Trying to claim something not belonging to their culture is theirs b) Mocking or ridiculing another culture

I had a really sad experience once where one of my good friends and I were shopping in an Asian mall together. She's a brunette, Caucasian. She saw a qipao store (those Chinese form-fitting dresses) and admired how pretty the dresses in the display were so I said why don't we go in and try some on. She said she can't because she's afraid she'll get accused of cultural appropriation (much like yourself). I was SO incredibly sad when she said that, I honestly wanted to cry.

I WANT to share my culture with my friends and others around the world, I WANT people to come and participate in it. But I also understood that with the political atmosphere being what it is, she wasn't comfortable wearing it.

Sometimes it feels like there's a bunch of people who aren't actually interested in our culture, never been to China, never cracked open a book about China, never learned anything about China except maybe what's on the news, very gun-ho to gatekeep who gets to enjoy our culture FOR us (I won't speak for cultures I haven't explored, but I got a similar sense while living in Japan). They mean well, but...I do wish it could be more nuanced so that not everyone simply trying to learn and enjoy a culture outside of their DNA gets attacked.

Then there's my group who have "Chinese" DNA but were either born abroad or grew up abroad most of their life (technically there's no "Chinese" DNA, Chinese is not an ethnic group, but you get the idea). We've been exposed mainly to the political atmosphere outside, but our reaction to this issue splits.

Some are like me, we're happy to share, we're happy to see others enjoying Hanfu, buying it, wearing it, learning about it, etc.

Some will react to this issue similarly as those who attack anyone and everyone who tries to wear something not in their own culture. I find this group scarier because, to a completely non-Chinese person, this group seems to hold a lot of authority on the topic. They have a DNA connection to China, surely they get the final say in whether or not non-Chinese people should be "allowed" to wear Chinese traditional wear. But again, there's no nuance at all. I once saw someone from this group attack a Caucasian woman on Twitter for wearing chopsticks in their hair. Like...??????????????? Who...CARES???? Either they simply liked the look or just wanted the hair out of their face, who CARES. They weren't mocking China or Chinese culture, they weren't claiming sticks in hair was an idea they invented, like...seriously. Then anyone in the comments who said it wasn't a big deal this person would pull the "I'm Chinese" card, but when I checked her profile she left China before she was 4. Yes, she's technically "Chinese" but just how much authority should she hold telling others who gets to participate in Chinese culture?

And honestly, if we're being really, reeeeeeeeeally strict about who "gets" to enjoy Hanfu... "Han" is an ethnic group in China (95% of the population), "Hanfu" means the clothing of the Han ethnic group. I'm 1/8 Mongolian (on my mom's side someone married a Mongolian wife), does that mean I also can't wear Hanfu? Or I get to enjoy 7/8 of Hanfu?? Like...do we have to start doing DNA tests before enjoying cultures? xDD

Anyway, that's my giant, long take on the topic. Congrats if you read all of it ^^;;

You can always come to China (I'm here on a visit :D) and we can wear Hanfu together~ A non-Chinese person wearing Hanfu out would be a star at all the sites, you'll get random people asking you for photos (I get non-Chinese visitors asking me for photos when I wear Hanfu out in China, you'll get all the Chinese people asking you for photos xDD)

Look at these lovely visitors enjoying their trips to China wearing Hanfu :D

[truthwatcherblog]

I hope most of the Arc 1 Stormlight flashback characters get to take a backseat to the other characters in Arc 2. Except Venli. I am forever fascinated by Venli and I wish she had more chapters in Wind and Truth because I miss her. Okay this turned into a really long Venli appreciation post

First of all, her jealousy of Eshonai and her pursuit of power are both super interesting motivations. I like having a character who’s a protagonist who also wants power and was easily tempted into doing bad things, I think that makes Venli much more interesting. She was misled but she also very much wanted to be powerful amongst her people.

It’s also completely understandable that she wanted to pursue power in the way that she did because her people were suffering. They faced constant loss against the humans. Plus, she really wanted a way to save her mother. That’s where everything started even if it spiraled into a pursuit of power. Plus her role in her society as the keeper of songs, which she enjoys but also wishes she could do more with.. oh Venli I love you

Her arc in Rhythm of War with becoming a Knight Radiant despite being on the “bad” side, especially when paired with the entire Raboniel storyline, is great even though I wished it could’ve been a bigger focus. I love that people love Navani and Raboniel, I love them too, but as a result Venli’s arc gets overshadowed. She sings with the stones of Urithiru! She connects to one of the ancient, pre-shard gods! That’s so cool and I didn’t realize that’s what was happening at the time but it was setting up for the reveal of the older gods in Wind and Truth.

Oh oh I also think the Reachers and Timbre are so cool, the only type of Radiant Spren we’ve seen who still feel the betrayal of humanity but also see the necessity of forming new bonds, so they decide to bond with the Listeners. Not humans, but not serving Odium either.

When she finds Rlain and he’s like oh I thought I was the only one Venli I’m so glad you survived. And she’s so guilty because he doesn’t know that she was the one who was responsible for so much of what happened to their people. The guilt she feels, but also how that guilt powers her development.

The inherent loneliness and tragedy of her being the Last Listener, charged to use the story of her people as propaganda to get the more reluctant Singers to join the war effort even though that’s the opposite of what the Listeners wanted. Even though that goes against the songs she was taught to sing, to keep for her people. The happiness when she discovers that her people are still out there, that some of them survived.

I also wish Venli had gotten more of a role in Wind and Truth, though the book was already juggling a lot of storylines. The new Listener nation, situated around Retribution’s Perpendicularity, is fascinating to me. I hope that it’s revisited in the next arc, I mean it definitely seems like it’ll be important.

She and the Listeners are probably going to be one of the only people who have access to surgebinding on Retribution-ruled Roshar. They’ll be able to use Voidlight gemstones to fuel their powers while all the human Radiants will be relinquished to Urithiru (except Lift, and I also wonder if Renarin and Rlain will be able to use Voidlight because their spren don’t follow the normal rules… but I digress). They also have the only stable Perpendicularity on Roshar. That means if any off-world forces, worried about Retribution’s formation, want to access Roshar, they’ll need to get through Venli and the Listeners.

[dolphin1812]

While it is very funny to have this line:

"Although this detail has no connection whatever with the real substance of what we are about to relate, it will not be superfluous, if merely for the sake of exactness in all points, to mention here the various rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very moment when he arrived in the diocese."

Pop up right at the beginning of a book famous for digressions and details, what follows is just as interesting and relevant to the rest of the novel:

"True or false, that which is said of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all in their destinies, as that which they do."

Much of this, of course, directly applies to Myriel. Whether because of a lack of documentation (or, what is more likely in the aftermath of the French Revolution, the flight and/or death of the aristocrats who knew him and could speak to the rumors about his youth), his factual past is a mystery, and the emotions and experiences that led him to change so drastically are known only to himself.

Spoilers below:

Yet Myriel is not the one most vulnerable to rumor throughout the novel. Fantine loses her job (and thus is plunged into poverty) because of rumors. True, the rumors are confirmed, but the suspicion around her condemns her just as much as the truth itself. Valjean is an even more telling example. Although he condemns himself at the end of the novel with his isolation, what Marius believes about him is based on rumors and misunderstandings that create an outside enforcer of his self-inflicted punishments. While, again, there is some truth to what Marius believes - Valjean is an ex-convict - the rumors about his dangerousness and Marius' belief that he killed Javert are false. And in spite of that, neither one of these characters escapes these rumors before being condemned to death by them.

The image of these characters also determines their "destinies" in that class and gender stereotypes fix their position in society unless they manage to create new rumors and images (like Valjean did with Fauchelevent).

And, just as we see with Myriel's transformation, so much of his life is internal and unknowable to others beyond what he wishes to share. Of course, since this is a novel, we are permitted glimpses into the minds of many characters and therefore can't consider them unknowable in the way they are to each other (or that real people are to us), but it's another point against stereotyping.

On a different note, beginning with what the people around the bishop say about him automatically centers community in the novel. Although this community is not always positive (gossip and rumors are generally harmful in the context of Les Misérables), it is important. Even starting with a character who is not the main one demands of us to consider Valjean's world and his relations to others before we consider Valjean himself. Again, the judgment that comes with this is destructive, but there's also an element of care in it. The bishop deeply cares for those gossiping about him in his community, and his kindness was transformative for Jean Valjean. I don't know that I have fully coherent thoughts on this, but it's fascinating that we begin with all that is good about connecting with others in a meaningful way and the challenges in existing in a community in a book that largely revolves around a very isolated man who is that way because of these issues and who is also defined by his connections to others (Myriel inspiring him with his kindness, Cosette being his main source of joy and his purpose, etc).