#all these things keep happening and it's making the story so complex that it's nuts to keep track of all of it

[jessicas-pi]

makes me giggle when someone says that i must have put a lot of thought into the plot of time heals. like on the one hand yes i do spend at least 1 hour per day thinking about it. on the other hand. babygirl you have no idea how many of the plotlines have shown up out of absolutely nowhere.

[astromechs]

For the au question: rebelcaptain in the hunger games

jyn was originally from district 2; her family lived inside the military complex known as the nut, and her father developed weapons for the capitol. somewhere along the way (or maybe it was true all along, no one knows!), both galen and lyra became connected to an interdistrict underground network of rebels, and were killed when their involvement came to light. jyn was taken in by family friend saw, and taken out of district 2 into district 5. they thought that's what would keep her safe — but of course, the capitol has spies everywhere, and so jyn's name was a target to be pulled in the reaping.

cassian is from district 3 — at least, that's what he's told everyone all his life, where the family he lives with is from, and where he's reaped as tribute from. this, of course, is not the whole truth; cassian was the (apparent) sole survivor out of what was once district 13 before the district was (apparently) wiped off the map. and the capitol knows; again, they have spies everywhere. his name was also a target for the reaping to keep district 13 covered up once and for all.

so how do two tributes from two different districts that don't have communication with each other because the capitol keeps them deliberately apart, who are supposed to kill the other in the arena to save their own lives, come to work together? not easily. there's a great deal of animosity in training between them and in some of the pre-games events where the tributes have contact, but when they get into the arena — they make an alliance, because they each have skills and knowledge that are useful; jyn with combat training from when she lived in district 2 and with saw, cassian with extensive knowledge of electrical systems courtesy of living in district 3, as well as scarily good aim. and they come to find that they have a lot in common. they come to like each other — really connect with someone for the first time.

and here's the thing, everyone knows that alliances are going to be temporary; there will be a point where they'll end, because the games only have one victor, right? wrong. they point blank refuse to end that alliance, refuse to turn anything on one another when they're the last two left. they, instead, rig an insane plan to blow up the arena together, even if it means taking themselves out with it. no more fucking hunger games. so they do. and —

in the chaos that ensues, saw and some band of people working with him as rebels get them out of the arena before the whole thing blows up. was this planned ahead of time? not that jyn knew; saw was just counting on his baby girl. anyway, hoo boy is the capitol pissed now, everyone involved is now very explicitly a fugitive, and welcome, in earnest, to the rebellion. and other stuff happens but this was dangerous enough getting me thinking about a hunger games au and i'm not going any further right now ghfjdks

send me a potential au, and i'll tell you five facts that would happen in a story!

[leon-stupid-kennedy]

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles ➨Talking Evil (the blog by DSC's director) ➨ Reimagining Leon & The Leon of 1998

Reimagining Leon (2009.05.08)

If you watch the recent Darkside Chronicles trailer, you will see the names of some of our staff displayed at the end for a few seconds. We are a very enthusiastic team that is looking forward to bringing you a quality game. I’d like to introduce you to some of the really talented team members, hopefully illustrating some of the cool things about Darkside Chronicles along the way.

First I’d like to talk a bit about our scenario writer, Shotaro Suga.

Mr. Suga has written the scripts for some great Japanese anime such as the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, Eureka Seven, and Darker Than Black. He has also worked here at Capcom on Devil May Cry 4 as well as Resident Evil: Degeneration.

Resident Evil: Degeneration is a story about Leon and Claire, set in 2005 after the events of Resident Evil 4. Mr Suga was the one who created an engaging drama in a rich setting which complimented the stunning CG visuals of the film.

In a previous post I explained one of our themes; that of presence (a heightened sense of reality that enhances the gameplay experience). With Darkside Chronicles we want that sense of presence to surpass what we did in Umbrella Chronicles. The scenario and all the lines of dialogue in the game play an important role in realizing this theme. I asked Mr. Suga to create a script with realistic dialogue filled with raw feeling.

The first big question we had to deal with in moving from drafts to the final scenario was how to portray Leon in this game. Since appearing in Resident Evil 2, Leon has starred in both Resident Evil 4 and the Degeneration film. Resident Evil 2 came out over 10 years ago so we wanted to re-envision Leon’s first adventure taking current expectations into account rather than just copying Resident Evil 2 verbatim.

In Umbrella Chronicles, and indeed the Chronicles series as a whole, we want to revisit the true stories of the characters’ motivations and intentions. Even if this isn’t directly related to the gameplay, it‘s very important to focus on these things to keep the characters and world of Resident Evil appealing.

However, this was unexpectedly difficult in Leon’s case. He’s not as simple as Chris or Jill, definitely a tough nut to crack.

Leon was nothing but a rookie police officer when he was caught up in the Raccoon City incident. When did he change so drastically? What do you think Leon’s real purpose and motivations are? Money? Love? Duty? Honor? Perhaps revenge?

Mr. Suga already has experience with Leon in writing the script for Degeneration. In re-imagining Leon’s Raccoon City exploits, he has strived to create a character that is more consistent with the “resourceful special-agent” Leon we know from newer Resident Evil stories. What happened to Leon that made him choose that life?

Mr. Suga and I have gone through many revisions trying different things with Leon’s character, and this process has yielded a great final scenario. The story of how Leon lives his life and the choices he makes is one of the themes I am very excited to explore with you in the Darkside Chronicles.

The Leon of 1998 (2009.05.22)

The Leon in Darkside Chronicles appears as he was in 1998. This was the year the T-Virus spread throughout Raccoon City and started the whole Resident Evil series. Leon must endure a bitter struggle to escape the doomed Raccoon City.

Leon looks a little different compared to his other appearances in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4. He’s a fresh rookie cop, and his looks are somewhat soft. But we wanted to leave hints of the man Leon would become in Resident Evil 4.

We debated long and hard about what kind of voice to give this young Leon and still maintain his character’s image.

Paul Mercier did most of the voice work for Leon in Resident Evil 4. He also played Leon in the CG movie Resident Evil: Degeneration. Paul has become our image of what Leon’s character is.

We did the voice recording in Los Angeles. Paul’s real voice is actually low and cool, as it is in Degeneration. But since for this setting we needed a very young Leon, we had him say his lines in a higher pitch. Early recording sessions were drawn out at times because during intense lines, sometimes Paul would revert back to his natural, low voice. But, he was very professional. Once he understood what we were trying to accomplish with the character, recording went quite smoothly with little need for multiple takes. In my mind, Paul’s voice as Leon is dazzling. It’s perfect.

In Resident Evil 2, we were shown a Leon who was serious (almost to a fault), and a sucker for the ladies. We tried to maintain those qualities for him in Darkside Chronicles. The aim of the scenario concept for Darkside Chronicles was to preserve the feeling of the old games while making them more interesting, and to retell those stories from the first person perspective. So, we’ve decide to give Leon a little girl trouble in this game as well.

With Claire, Ada, and Sherry as the scenario’s female characters, something is bound to happen. ;-)

More than 10 years has gone by since the release of Resident Evil 2, and graphics technology has come a long way since then. Likewise, advancements in sound technology have made equally great strides. As such, I knew I would have to take character dialogue very seriously. So, I got together with Mr. Suga, whom I mentioned before, to put together the script. We decided to use dialog to give the audience a deeper look into the characters.

How could we create an emotional drama between Leon and another female character?

I met with Cinematic Director Hide Gondoh over and over trying to come up with a solution.

I’ve worked with Mr. Gondoh before on titles like Resident Evil Remake, and Resident Evil 4. He’s an extremely talented director who can handle everything from event scene choreography, to staff coordination. It just so happens that he is fond of Leon’s character. And he wisely suggested that we write Leon with a focus on realism.

Will all this tension and realism Leon is feeling fit into the game’s overall theme of “presence”?

At first I thought that with a pre-existing Resident Evil scenario, the lines for that scenario would be, for the most part, already written. But, for Darkside Chronicles, we are taking it to another level.

We will continue to challenge ourselves and make this one of the most epic Resident Evil games yet!

[childlikegoblinqueen]

SCOM WRITING NOTES:

The Sweet Child Universe has its own Coffee House AU!

Maybe it is me being nostalgic for my barista days, but I really enjoy the headcanon that Hunter would take a job at Robin's Roast as a barista.

It is the type of work that is very task oriented and focused, but it provides small comforts for those you serve. Coffee is life.

I keep saying that this phase of SCOM is all about Hunter taking control of how his story is told by the public as Willow's due date closes in, and a whole new book of unwritten pages and experiences will be placed before him.

If he's going to be stalked by the media, he is going to make sure he is doing things that make him happy and help heal the damage done by Belos that remains ten years later -- lest others try to re-write a part of that.

So, while the entire stint making specialty drinks with intricate foam art -- and some of the weird requests for his autograph -- exhausted Hunter greatly, he did enjoy just doing some menial tasks that made people happy and encouraged them to donate to a good cause.

Also, he got to see Willow chill and relish in her own accomplishments outside of his drama and her difficult pregnancy.

There's a bunch of personal stuff in here. It is February in SCOM universe. I recall really, desperately trying to cling to anything that could be ME outside of what was happening in my own body. Literally all anyone wanted to talk to me about was my pregnancy or how my size (4’11 with a tiny frame) and the fact that I was carrying twins meant I’d definitely be delivering early (I didn’t!) and how difficult having one newborn was and that the two would be too much for me. (It was nuts but I have no frame of reference for anything else.)

Willow isn’t having twins, but it is a high risk pregnancy. As we know, Hunter feels VERY responsible for the complications Willow is having, but he's determined to face whatever is needed with her! I recall work shopping this fic with a mutual and they mentioned that they'd seen fics where Willow gets pregnant and Hunter freaks and runs... and I just don't see him being like that?

As Loz AKA @probablyhuntersmom has noted in multiple Metas, "Family" and "Our Family" are keystone phrases for Hunter. He's got his found and chosen family now, and he's about to start one of his own. He's in it for the long haul, and though the fear that coming from abuse would perpetuate the cycle still lingers, there's a lot more there now.

Hunter knows he wants to be a loving father, but outside forces are shoehorning him into a narrative he's realizing FINALLY isn't fair, because his own story is much more complex, and by the Titan's will, he's going to knuckle down and stick by Willow no matter what. Because this is what he's always wanted.

Unfortunately there are some who have given into wild conspiracy theories that Hunter had something to do with the disappearance of this crazy biotch.

[stealingyourbones]

Half-Life anon again. Im so glad you already played portal, that would definitely be next on the list!! DOOM is *also* so so good, between it and HL, it's probably the bigger adrenaline rush, and, at least as far as the classic game go, probably far less mechanically complex than HL! If you want the Full Lore for the classic games (1, 2, and 64) be sure to look up the manuals first, since they do the whole "setting up the story in the manual" thing before just dropping you right into the game.

Modern DOOM (2016 and Eternal) has absolutely nuts gameplay that makes you feel like a total badass no matter what difficulty you play on, and lore is all in the games ok, but... well. You'd be hard pressed to find a fan who doesn't think the story is a hot mess of a dumpster fire (including the ones who like or at least don't mind it, such as myself.) Especially Eternal's dlc has a very "but what ACTUALLY happened was [absolutely bs stupid rule-of-cool lore drop that makes no sense]" feel to it. The current lead writer keeps changing and adding lore three years after the fact, and most of us have decided by now that he's full of shit. But hey! You're a DC comics fan, I'm sure you know what that's like! The games are still good and I still love them anyway.

DOOM 3 is... sort of its own thing, in a weird limbo state. It's not really part of the same continuity as the rest of the games, and it leans a bit more heavily on the horror and suspense themes than the "you're not stuck with them, they're stuck with YOU" theme of the other games, so dont go into it expecting the same feel. It doesn't run quite as fluid as the other games, but it's the first true 3D game, as opposed to the classic 2.5D.

Anyway! That is all for now (again) but if you keep talking about these games, I will happily keep infodumping to you as long as you'll let me. :3

!!! Dude I’m so fuckin down for u to continue infodumping!

Good to know that the 2016 Doom’s storyline is a bit wild. As long as I can throw hands with demons I don’t mind >:D

Both Doom 1 and 2 are so fun dude!!! I also played My House.wad because it sounded cool and oh boy was it cool!!!! House of Leaves is on my reading list so I’m interested to see how the feller that made the .wad was inspired by it.

[ahundredtimesover]

Hey there! 😊 I just wanted to send you some love for another great chapter! As seemingly heartbreaking and devastating as the whole thing is, I am glad you chose to go this route. It can be easy to think that they can work together and still get their happily ever after, but that's not how life works and I'm glad you chose not to go that route.

I also really like your timing for these events because they now know about each other's feelings, but her leaving keeps things from getting messy. If things had played out even just slightly different then their feelings for each other could cause more problems for them in the long run. However, by her resigning now, instead of waiting until the Arts Center is finished, it keeps things from becoming complicated and allows them to have a future if they want to. I will say the one thing that drives me nuts about these two though is they act as if her quitting means they can't have a relationship at all and it just makes me want to smack them lol.

I'm also very excited about her leaving for this position at Rkive because I always liked the idea of her working at the Arts Center, she really connected with it and the ideas behind it. Working at the publishing house would give her more creative experience and time to find the self-confidence she needs to believe that her skills and abilities are what got her the position, and that it has nothing to dow with her history with the Jeons. If she were to work at the Arts Center, it would be because she loves the work and believes she could have a good impact there.

Again, I absolutely loved the chapter - you always do such a great job - and I can't wait to see what happens next! 😊😁❤

Hiii I'm so sorry this is late but I'm here! And I love these thoughts! 💕

��� some spoilers 🚧

I get the appeal of a workplace romance but I chose to focus on the workplace romance buildup haha and my dramatic ass wanted all this drama bc why not! 🤭 But I get the timing thing that you're saying. Imagine staying after all that... It'll definitely be awkward and messy, and people could catch on, and that's attention that neither of them wants. As for them acting as if quitting means they can't have a relationship - that's true. It's something that people around them are wondering about, too.

But remember, there's that added layer of both of them doubting each other’s sincerity because their timing was off - he thinks her feelings are tied to her loyalty to the family bc she wasn't truthful about their past much earlier; she thinks he just wants the convenience of her being around bc he kissed her after he found out about her plans. It's not as easy as saying that she's now free so they could be together (and it's also not so much of her healing/finding herself before that) bc they're unsure of what the other person is feeling. So we'll see how they address this insincerity thing and be mature enough to go for what they want.

One of the things that also I wanted to show with this Rkive Publishing opportunity is that OC enjoys working, she enjoys the grind, she's a doer - what she was missing was the meaning of all that. At my old job, I was stressed to the bone and underpaid but I loved the work, I believed in it. And that's what OC wants. It doesn't help that she's 'alone' in Seoul, so there's a lot of the intimacy and connection - to her job, to her purpose, to herself, and with another person - that she's been yearning.

I know it's all so complex but thank you for sticking around and enjoying this story! 🥹🥹💕💕

[edgythoughts]

Why Do Students Struggle With Newton’s Laws 2025

Why Do Students Struggle With Newton’s Laws 2025

Book Answer (The Proper Textbook Version) Newton's Laws of Motion describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting upon it. These laws are: - First Law (Law of Inertia): An object remains at rest or moves in a straight line at constant speed unless acted upon by a net external force. - Second Law: The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. This is expressed as F = ma. - Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These laws form the foundation of classical mechanics and are essential in understanding how objects move under various force interactions. The Real Talk: Why Newton’s Laws Drive Students Nuts Alright, let’s be real. Newton’s Laws might look all clean and logical on paper, but the moment you're thrown into a physics problem? Chaos. Here’s why students find this topic painfully confusing — and how to make sense of it. 1. It Sounds Too Simple (Until It Isn’t) “An object in motion stays in motion…” Cool, right? Until your brain goes: wait, why does a ball slow down when I throw it? Shouldn’t it just keep going? Textbooks say “net force,” but gravity, friction, and other invisible forces mess with your understanding right from the start. What’s happening: You’re trying to picture ideal physics in a non-ideal world full of friction, air resistance, and annoying reality. The First Law is pure, but the real world adds complexity.

2. Free Body Diagrams = Brain Meltdown Let’s be honest — drawing those arrows, labeling forces, figuring out what’s acting where? It can feel like assembling IKEA furniture without the manual. Why it’s confusing: Most students don’t get enough practice identifying forces. They memorize problems instead of really “seeing” the push, pull, or tension in each scenario. Fix it: Break it down. One object. One set of forces. Build slowly. 3. Second Law (F = ma) Looks Easy but Acts Sneaky “Force equals mass times acceleration” — sounds manageable until your teacher starts throwing in elevators, inclines, pulleys, and friction. Suddenly you’re lost in variables and directions. Here’s what actually helps: Realizing that F = ma isn’t a formula to plug into — it’s a way of thinking. What force is acting? What’s it doing to the motion? Don’t rush to solve; understand the story first. 4. Third Law = The Big Plot Twist You push a wall. It pushes you back. So why aren’t you flying across the room? This law just messes with intuition. The trick: Third Law pairs happen between different objects. When you push the wall, it pushes back on you — but your feet push on the floor, and friction keeps you grounded. Students struggle because they think both forces act on the same thing. Once you get this: mind = blown. 5. Too Many Words, Not Enough “Feel” Textbooks often throw a bunch of definitions at you. But Newton’s Laws are best learned with motion — pushing stuff, sliding books, tossing balls. Most students struggle because they don’t “feel” the laws in action. We read about them but don’t interact with them. That’s why physics labs or watching slow-motion videos of collisions can suddenly make the laws click. Let’s Make It Super Easy (The Fun Explanation) Still confused? Here’s Newton’s Laws in ultra-simple, human-brain-friendly words: - Law 1: Things like to chill how they are. You gotta force them to change. - Law 2: The harder you push, the more it moves — unless it's super heavy. - Law 3: Punch a wall? It punches back. Physics doesn’t care about your feelings. Boom. You just did Newtonian mechanics. Want to practice? Next time you're in a car and it suddenly stops — notice how your body wants to keep going? That’s the First Law. And your seatbelt is the external force stopping you. You’ve lived physics. Related Articles from EdgyThoughts.com: https://edgythoughts.com/why-do-students-procrastinate-despite-knowing-the-consequences-2025/ External Resource: If you want the full, technical dive: Newton's Laws of Motion (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtons_laws_of_motion Final Word Newton's Laws aren't hard because they’re impossible — they’re hard because they require a shift in how we understand motion. It’s not about memorizing formulas; it’s about observing the forces all around us and figuring out how they act. Read the full article

[perlapulido]

Their Sweet Poison

Summary: "I know whoever is reading this is asking about me in this story but let me tell you who i am. My names Erica LaRosa. Im a complex girl with unique skills which you gonna find out here along how i ended up in Hell reuniting with an old friend of mine. Then theres a guy named Valentino who will not " Bang! "Babycakes! Your Big Daddy's here! Where are you?" said Valentino in the other room. "Fuck me! Gotta go." said Erica escaping to the window. She looked at the reader pointing her claw finger at them with her on the window sill. "You fucks didnt see me." she says before jumping out as the door opened.

Ch5

? POV

Pain. Was all i remembered before i found myself in a new place that only can be seen as a nightmare when i see demons that i never seen or heard before. Not to mention the fucking pentagram in the red sky and a sun that glows white or whatever. I wasn't paying too much attention after i almost got ran fucking over in the middle of the street that i woke up in. Looking around for anyone that looked who can help me until my eyes landed on my reflection catching me completely off guard. My iris turned from light brown to red cat eyes with my sclera black even body kinda change too. my smooth light peach skin turned to a very light grey short fur with horns and had a fluffy cat tail that matched my black ombre grey hair. The only that remained the same was my figure including my huge ass that i got from my grandma which can sometimes be a pain when i comes to pervs or going through doors depending on the size. I started walking down the block seeing demons killing, selling drugs, or something that normally doesnt happen in Los Angeles until i felt a hard smack on my ass making me turn around to see a large lizard demon with a biker like outfit by the black tank top and matching baggy pants with chains making his red scars? and tattoos stand out. "What fine piece of ass doing alone?" said the lizard demon. "Not sleeping with you thats for sure after you smacked my ass." said the young woman. "Hey its not my fault that your booty is juicy looking." said the lizard demon towering over her figure. "Mind if i have a taste of that." he says. "If only you can still feel this." said the woman ramming her foot between his legs and ran off. "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" the lizard demon yelled while the woman kept on running until she was far away to loose him and catch her breathe. "If Erica was here wouldve thought i was a nut." said the woman then looked at a large sign making her pale. "Oh no. This isnt a fucked up dream. im literally in hell." said the woman. "You certainly right about that one." said a voice on her left. the woman looked to see a blonde with rosy cheeks pale skin an wore a red fitted suit walking over to her with a friendly smile. "Welcome to Hell. I'm Charlie Morningstar. Princess of Hell and founder of the Hazbin Hotel where demons an sinner such as yourself can find redemption." said the blonde. "Denise. And you want to redeem demons?" said Denise looking at her. "Of course. Everyone makes mistakes but can be given second chances. Wanna see the Hotel? If youre interested." said Charlie. "If it gets me somewhere safe then okay." said Denise. "Really?! Great then come with me." said Charlie. I walked with Charlie and talked to her to keep my min off the demons an other things that were happening even her talking about Extermination Day really freaked me out. Like you dont want to die again an with the hotel like hers should could be the chance of survival. I mean its worth a shot right?

We got to the hotel which looked weird with the ship and radio station standing out from most of the hotel before going inside. I saw it was very nice even had a bar with Charlie standing with mile admiring the way i was checking the place out. "So what o you think?" said Charlie looking at me. "Charlie, where have you been?" said a new voice. A woman with long hair came over covering her eye with a large pink x wearing a bow an grey an light purplish dress seeing me  then looked at Charlie. "Who's she?" said the woman. "Vaggie meet Denise. She's new here in Hell. I found her running away from a guy and went to see if she was okay which i hope didnt creep you out." said Charlie looking at me. "No. Not at all I just dont like pervs who look at my body especially my huge ass." said Denise. "I notice but didnt want to be rude since our bodies are different. Anyway Vaggie is the manager an have three other staff members who should be around here." said Charlie. "Aare you going to checking?" said Vaggie. "It seems okay but I doubt i can be redeemed for the shit me and my sister did together." said Denise. "Then let me go get the book to check you in an get you a key to your room." said Vaggie going to the front desk. "Oh heres one of our employees. Husk is our bartender." said Charlie seeing the cat demon with wings. Husk looked at Denise as he kept on walking to his bar to clean the glass an looked at Vaggie who held up a clipboard and a key. "Just write your name an we can take you to your room." said Vaggie. "So is there anyone else besides me?" sai Denise writing own her information. "Theres Erica an Angel Dust. Theyre both very nice once you get to know them but just a heads up on those two." said Charlie. "Angel is a pornstar who will literally flirt with anyone an can be a pain in the ass." said Vaggie looking at the paper that Denise finished filling out. "Like Husk cant drooling over how huge my ass is. Which is real by the way." said Denise. "Erica is okay but has attitude issues that you need to get used to." said Charlie hearing two voices coming in. "MOVE BITCH!" said a voice behind Denise.

Denise turned around seeing a spider demon almost fall to the floor with a demon who looked familiar to her running at her. "Are we missing something?" said Vaggie seeing the demon hug Denise. "Erica? Do you know who she is?" said Charlie once Erica pulled away. "Sorry. Everyone. This is my sister Denise. What got you down here?" said Erica. "Wait a minute? When you said your sister had a huge ass. You werent fucking around." said the spider demon walking over checking Denise out. "Yeah and she's off limits." said Erica. "Denise. This is Angel Dust. The slut." said Erica. "Hey. Question. Did you seriously get blown to pieces by Artie?" said Denise looking at her. "Yeah and he's here down here too." said Erica. "Well since you are sisters. I can let you two be and catch up." said Charlie walking away with Vaggie. "So what got you own here?" said Erica looking at Denise. All i di was get into a fist fight with some girl accusing me of seducing her man that was fixing my garbage disposal to my apartment. I just giving her all i got even sitting on op of her then felt a sharp in my throat and ended up here." said Denise. "Why dont we finish our chat in my room? i think Husk is getting hard from looking at you." said Angel whispering the last to the girls. The three went in the elevator to the floor Angel is in an walked to his room. "Make yourself comfy." said Angel laying on his bed with his pig Fat Nuggets. "Nice room. So is there anything i should know about hell besides Extermination Day?" said Denise sitting on the edge of the bed. "Yeah. Dont fuck with Alastor the Radio Demon or make a deal with him. He's the designer of the hotel and can get along everyone is he wants to. Also stay away from Valentino who is Anthony's boss." said Erica sitting on the chair of the vanity. "Your real name is Anthony?" said Denise. "Only if we are alone. Besides Valentino can get violent if he doesn't what or Who he wants?" said Angel looking at Erica. "Which is another reason i fucking hate him." said Erica rolling her eyes. "Noted. How is Hell so far?" said Denise. "Meh. Not that much different back home but i can get you a job with me at Ozzie's." said Erica. "She's a very likable waitress for her bitchy attitude and cleans around closing time at night." said Angel. "Not bad of payment and you never believe the shit i find and get to keep." said Erica looking at Denise. She and Angel told her more bout hell an each rings along with some help tips to survive at any situations.

[veliseraptor]

I don't know what hopepunk is and at this point I'm too afraid to ask

well anon, part of your problem here is that hopepunk is in a lot of ways a meaningless descriptor that means whatever people want it to mean.

took a bit of digging but I found the post that broke down a lot of my issues with hopepunk as a concept/subgenre, here; to quote from that:

You may notice that the philosophy is incoherent, mainly boiling down to “the things I like are hopepunk and the things I don’t like aren’t.” It builds a philosophy out of opposition to a strawman of “grimdark” that doesn’t really exist. So hopepunk means you keep fighting for what you believe in regardless of what that is, and violence isn’t the answer, except when it is. Hopepunk is about being kind and soft but also about punching the bad guy with the gun. Hopepunk is a morass of FEELING REALLY STRONGLY ABOUT THINGS!!! without a fundamental core of… anything concrete.

[...]

Hopepunk in practice is unbearably twee.  The goal is to be to inspire a feeling of hope in the reader, which means that nothing bad is allowed to really happen, characters aren’t ever allowed to mess up or be mean or have flaws, and any mistake is well-intentioned and quickly & easily resolved by talking about your feelings.

and I could just leave it at that because, like I said, pretty good summation of my perspective, but sometimes an ask hits me at the exact right time for me to go off about something that consistently irritates me but I usually keep my mouth shut about for one reason or another.

and I feel like the first thing I want to say is. look. it's not like I'm out here going "hope is for losers and all I ever want is tragic stories where everything is awful forever." but the thing about hopepunk, at least in the ways I see it described, is that, in its dedication to be "the opposite of grimdark," shies away from representing darkness at all, except maybe in the most cursory, glancing ways. there's nothing to confront, nothing to push back against. villains are easily identified and unproblematically evil. protagonists are unimpeachably nice and good, and always have perfect politics. moral complexity is to be avoided, because raising too many questions might interrupt the positive feelings the author hopes to evoke.

not only does this create, in my opinion, really dull stories about very uninteresting characters, it also blunts anything the book is trying to say. if you don't want to confront any kind of conflict or struggle in depth then you've kneecapped your ability to talk about the full range of human experience. if the only antagonist you allow is a hollow caricature, then there's only so much room your protagonists have to express strength in opposing them.

the whole framework results in a kind of tepid, anodyne storytelling that expresses meaningless platitudes that the audience is presumed to agree with, often with a side helping of didacticism and "teachable moments." it's weak storytelling.

there's a world in which "hopepunk" is referring to a kind of story that I actually really like; for instance, there's a world in which one could call Malazan: Book of the Fallen "hopepunk." I am tempted to do that, just because I think it would drive people nuts. I think hopepunk wants to be doing something like the line from The Silmarillion that opens the tale of Beren and Luthien: "Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures."

but out of a fear of representing anything actually ugly, or possibly making people feel kinda bad about something, or challenging the reader in any way, everything that might have been interesting gets stripped out and what's left is literature that feels like cotton candy: maybe it's sweet, but there's nothing to bite into, and nothing that lingers.

[cyberphuck]

Assassin’s Apprentice Abridged: Part One

EDIT: Tumblr randomly swallowed like 500 words in the middle of this, so I've added that back in.

I am finally embarking on my long-threatened project to summarize all of the Farseer Trilogy for my friend Razz so they can understand my shitposts about it but don’t actually have to read it. I started with this post about the cast of characters in the first book.

This is being broken up into sections because the trilogy and AA in particular (as well as Royal Assassin... whew, that one’s gonna be hard) is so insanely long and complex.

And now, Ladies and Gentlequeers, AA Abridged: Part One.

We open on the narrator musing both about writing a history of the Six Duchies (but being unable to because every time he tries it turns into a salty rant about everything bad that's ever happened to him) and also about how very old and decrepit he is. He is hunched over his writing desk, his fingers gnarled and knuckly, literally crumbling away like a Thanos-snapped MCU character as he sorrowfully attempts to make some record of the long and storied life he's lived before he lapses into the sweet void of death.

Fitz is 35.

"I bet you're wondering how I got here," Fitz writes. "It all began when I was born. Neither of my parents bothered to show up."

Actually, the curtain opens on Fitz as a six year old, being hauled up to the front doors of a fort by a cranky older man. "Surely you must have memories of your childhood before six," someone in the audience asks, but Fitz replies "No, I definitely don't, I never did and I'm tired of you asking me that." It never really becomes super important what he was doing before he was six, unless you count the time where he was traveling from the King-In-Waiting's ballsack to the sweet hot vagina of Some Lady He Never Spoke To Again.

Fitz is scooped up and brought inside the fort, and presented to Prince Verity. You'd think Verity would be at least a little upset that his older brother has muddied the line of succession with his long-ago nut, but Verity acts as if Fitz's existence is the funniest thing he's ever seen. "Yep, looks just like him," Verity confirms, then instructs a soldier to bring Fitz to Burrich.

That's right, the cranky old man hammers on the front door, waits for someone to open it, says "this is Prince Chivalry's kid and I'm tired of dealing with him," and then walks off. Despite this, Fitz never develops any abandonment issues and only has healthy and honest relationships with people for the rest of his life.

"Those are all the memories I have of that fort," Fitz writes, "except for that one night that Prince Verity, Burrich, and Prince Regal stood and looked in on me in the stall and Regal complained that I was muddying the line of succession."

Burrich does not think this situation is as funny as Verity did.

But he's honest and loyal, so he sighs and says "C'mon, Lil Accident, I'll find a place for you to sleep." That place is in a horse stall with Vixen, the hound dog, and Nosy, her pup. Burrich looks down at all of them, mutters "Patience is gonna have a fucking aneurysm" and then walks off.

After a couple of weeks, Burrich puts Lil Accident on a horse behind him and they ride away from Moonseye and towards Buckkeep. During this time, offstage, Fitz's father Chivalry gets word of his appearance and does the only sensible and logical thing, which is to ollie out the window while flipping everyone off and yelling "GOOD LUCK FIGURING THIS ONE OUT, LOSERS!" He abdicates and retires to a farm with his weirdo wife, which pisses off basically everyone.

Burrich and Fitz arrive at Buckkeep, the capital of the Six Duchies, a tall castle on a hill overlooking the ocean. Burrich is the stablemaster, in charge of all the critters large and small at the keep. He'd also been Chivalry's right hand man until he'd jumped in front of a boar to keep it from killing the Prince and fucked up his leg. Burrich comes home to Buckkeep with a bad leg and a six year old bastard to find that his bestie has just fucking peaced out without saying anything to him. He's kind of having a bad day. He hands Fitz off to stableboy Cobb, who leads him and pup Nosy to the kitchens to get something to eat.

Cobb sits FItz-and-Nosy just outside the kitchens and goes inside for delicious pie. A burly man walks by Fitz, does a double-take, then points and yells, "Hey everyone! It's Chivalry's Bastard!"

Fitz shrinks down.

"I heard you don't even have a name!" Burly man hollers, then gets right up in Fitz's face. "Is that true, tiny and defenseless six year old boy that I'm accosting? You don't have a name?"

Fitz yells "NOOOOOO" and, like a tiny, dirty Jedi master, force-shoves the man onto his ass. The crowd, assuming that the dude was just a coward who couldn't handle being yelled at by a toddler, has a laugh and carries on with their tasks. Fitz gets up and he and Nosy run away and spend all day hiding in a hole.

Burrich does eventually find him, and with a hearty "what the fuck you can't just burrow underneath the shed, get out of there," returns him to the stables, where his new home is Burrich's little bachelor pad above the stalls. In the days and weeks that follow, Fitz wakes up, eats breakfast, and immediately escapes the keep to go down to the town and run around with a bunch of street kids.

Fitz doesn't say much but he's game for anything and he has a dog, so he's accepted into the gang as "Newboy." He and his new friends generally just run around making trouble, stealing food, and bothering people. One of the notables in the bunch is Molly Nosebleed, called that because she always looks like someone just got done beating the shit out of her. Wholesome!

One sunny day, Fitz, Molly and Nosy are on the rocks near the beach looking for sheel to eat. I have no idea what sheel is and neither does Google. Then Molly's dad shows up to hit her with a stick to teach her a lesson about having a drunk, violent dad.

Alarmed, Fitz force-shoves Molly's dad into the sand. Molly immediately freaks out and struggles to get dad back on his feet to stagger back to their candle-making shop (or chandlery if you're feeling fancy). Fitz is confused at the intricacies of abusive relationships, but relieved that no one yet knows that he has force-shoving powers.

Aside from his brief encounter with childhood trauma, everything is going great for Fitz. Then one day, while he and his fellow urchins (and Nosy) are running from a dude whose sausages they just stole, Fitz runs right the fuck into Burrich.

"You get your butt right back up to the castle, young man," Burrich says, dragging Fitz along by his ear. "And if I EVER find out you've been down in town hanging out with someone again, I will personally have sex with them a bunch of times," he added foreshadowingly.

"I don't have to do what you say," Fitz barks.

"Bark," says Nosy.

Burrich's eyes narrow. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asks.

"I don't really know numbers," says Fitz.

"Bark," says Nosy.

"Nosy says that's three," Fitz translates.

"Alrighty then, no more puppy for you, the puppy is going to live on a farm upstate," Burrich says. He drags the puppy outside.

Presumably something cool happens to it.

So now instead of slumming around Buckkeep Town, Fitz spends his days following Burrich around and being taught how to manage horses and dogs but not birds because birds apparently hate bastards. Fitz is careful not to let Burrich see him being friendly with any animals.

One day, Fitz is sitting underneath a table in the Great Hall, being friendly with a bunch of puppies. It's the morning after a party and there's plenty of leftover food to be had, and he's happily stuffing pies down his shirt and sharing pieces with the pups. Then he hears footsteps and who should show up but KING SHREWD!

Shrewd is technically Fitz's grandfather but has never really spoken to him. He's walking along with Prince Regal (*crowd boos*) and the king's new fool, a weirdo albino child who's just cartwheeling along behind them.

Fitz goes "hmm, time to bounce" and crawls out from under the table. Shrewd stops to look at him. "Ah, the Little Accident," he says. "If you leave weapons laying around, someone will eventually pick them up and stab you with them."

"What?" says Regal.

"What?" says Fitz.

"I am not going to leave you laying around for someone else to kill me with," Shrewd says. "Lil Accident, take this pin. I am going to to feed you, train you, house you and clothe you. If anyone's got shit to say about it, show them this pin. It means you belong to me."

"...Okay, sure," Fitz shrugs. He puts the pin into the collar of his shirt. Shrewd nods magnanimously and walks on. Regal flips him off. The Fool cartwheels out the door as they leave.

That night, Fitz goes home to Burrich's bachelor pad, but Burrich turns him right back around. "You done gone and did it now," he says. "King Shrewd noticed you and now you're gonna have to go live inside the castle like a fancy lad. Go on."

"But despite my fear and resentment of you, I see you as a protector and father figure," Fitz says.

"Oh little boy who blew up my life, I love and resent you too," Burrich assures him. "If you get lonely, you can come back down here and I'll murder another puppy for you."

Fitz trudges up to the castle. He has a room of his own. There's a fucking weird tapestry on the wall of the ancient King Wisdom consorting with... what is that thing? Slenderman? It's creepy.

Weeks go by. Fitz is kept busy with new lessons in reading and writing and 'rithmetic, as well as swordery. Once in a very long while, he makes the trip back down to the town to visit his buddies, but those trips become fewer and farther between.

It's the middle of the night.

Fitz wakes up to a draft and a light in his face. There's an old man at the foot of his bed, holding up a lantern. "Come with me," the old man says.

"Oh," Fitz yawns, getting out of bed. "It's the call to adventure."

The old man leads Fitz to a doorway in the wall that hadn't been there before. This is where the draft was coming from-- a steep staircase leading up between walls. Old man leads Fitz up a maze of passageways and then finally to a huge hidden room with all the amenities a crazy old wall-man could want, like a fireplace and comfy chairs and a big bed and a library and a science lab.

Also, the old looks like he took a hot frying pan to the face. Like he really looks like hell.

"Wrow," Fitz says.

"Wrow indeed, boy," the old man agrees. "My name is Chade. I bet I look familiar to you. Well it's because I'm King Shrewd's brother and I blah blah blah I have a weasel named Slink. Next you're going to ask what the fuck happened to my face. I can tell everything you're thinking, because I'm a master spy and assassin and-- now this part you should take to heart-- I am always right about everything. Never doubt me."

"Okay," Fitz says.

"Good. That out of the way, let's train you to kill people."

[navree]

Finished my reading of F&B, and to my shock Rhaenyra's character is pretty dark there... Like they've whitewashed her to an extreme degree

And there is no prophecy , no righteous goal etc.. and that's really good tbh because in that way the whole conflict feels more human. Like people irl don't need prophecy to be ambitious or power-hungry . Aegon is not a crybaby , Alicent is more ambitious and shrewd, Daemon is definitely much darker than his show version but also much more interesting...

I wonder why they didn't keep with the main characterization of the characters and tried to flesh them in the show instead of changing them completely.

Yeah they've lightened Rhaenyra up a lot in the show, though to be fair we haven't gotten to some of her darker stuff, but even things that have already happened, like her involvement in Vaemond's death or the Silent Five has been incredibly watered down.

Things like the prophecy providing a goal and some plot contrivances I think are largely there for two reasons: one, George told the showrunners that Aegon the Conqueror had foreseen something involving the war with The Others before he decided to conquer Westeros, and they added that into the show, two, because it's a prequel. Because Fire & Blood is a textbook and mostly just a supplementary piece of reading and not a story in its own right, it doesn't need to be connected to anything involving the main story other than the fact that it's about the Targaryens and there are Targaryen characters in ASOIAF. But because House of the Dragon is a direct prequel, a narrative that is adding some background depth to the original narrative of Game of Thrones, there does need to be some interconnectedness. There needs to be a thread tying one end to the other beyond just "Dany's a popular character and the Targaryens have the most recorded history about them when compared to the other major families", and the prophecy tying into the central conflict of GOT is that. I've been on record saying I don't think it was a good idea or very well done, but that's what they did.

As to why they changed certain things, it is largely to make them more palatable, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. For one, I'm personally a fan of Aegon as played by TGC being this pathetic pretty boy, sopping wet kitten with big needy eyes, desperate for love bundle of issues type of character, I think it's very fun and creatively fulfilling (and Tom and his tear ducts are killing it). For two, when converting any written narrative into a visual format, you're automatically put at a disadvantage by removing things like inner monologue, internal character voice, thoughts and observations, and really anything that cannot be externalized via facial expressions and spoken word. You can try to make up for it in a myriad of ways (Die Hard took a very stoic and quiet character from the book and made him a chatterbox in order to verbalize the thoughts he was having even though it completely changed the characterization, Twilight just plugs in Bella's narration everywhere, the first Dune adaptation did that batshit thing where it added internal monologue for like literally every character, it's so fucking nuts) or you can just ignore it (the Hunger Games movies kept Katniss's stoic characterization but didn't add in any narration to make up for her blank façade and let us see the complexities of her inner character the way we can in the book, which made movie!Katniss a faithful book character but kind of bad as a film protagonist). It's why, in the original show, Tyrion ended up getting a lot of his bad qualities washed away, because without the benefit of his inner monologue and his thoughts and viewing the world through his eyes like we do on the page, instead seeing things objectively on a screen, him doing things like slapping Shae and pawing at thirteen year old Sansa or constantly talking about all the women he wants to sexually assault (to say nothing of the women he actually sexually assaults) would make him completely unsympathetic and turn audiences against him. It's probably why they softened some of Theon too (he's a lot worse in ACOK than he is in season 2) and also why they made sure to show us everything he went through rather than have him vanish and then reappear as Reek the way he did in the books.

The characters in Fire & Blood are not written to be likable, they're ambitious and power hungry and while we all have our favorites and people that we're willing to excuse anything for ("Alys blew up someone's head" "Rhaenys torched people during the Conquest" grow up and have some fun, God forbid women do anything, I support them), we all know that this is one family full of dramatic bitches fighting for who can be the absolute monarch in a brutal feudal system and birthright monarchy is a scam anyway. But in a show, with a narrative, where you do need to have something approaching a protagonist and antagonist (GOT had good and evil on both sides of every conflict, but Joffrey and Ramsay and the White Walkers and the Essossi slavers clearly filled the roles of "big antagonists" for all the characters no matter whose side you're on), having everyone be miserable drama hoes 24/7 from the word "go" just isn't going to get audiences interested. And that's not gonna fly if you're HBO and you are a company attempting to make a profit like every other company on the planet, you need to get general audiences invested when there's clearly not much of an audience for "book only" people who'd shrugged off HBO's version ASOIAF ever since D&D started mucking it up atrociously. So lightening certain characters, making them more palatable in order to have their intricacies conveyed better in a visual format, that makes sense, that's what they ultimately had to land on to make the show work.

I'm not even against it per se, I like the starting off point we had for most of the characters and the change made to things like Rhaenyra and Alicent's dynamic and the new undertones in the subtext. It's mainly how they built on it from there, and some of the choices they've made, that I've had an issue with. But even then, as I've personally said, my critiques tend to be along the lines of liking the foundation and just wanting to build something different, or thinking certain plots and elements were an example of good idea but bad execution. If they'd started the show from the beginning of F&B, then maybe we'd have gotten a more book accurate Dance, since it would come a lot later and we'd have had time to get to know some great Targs but some incredibly awful Targs as well, but that's all in the past at this point.

I tend to just accept that book canon and show canon are different stories, which they are by design, and appreciate them both on their own merits.

[lex-dalan]

Hello Tumblr!

It's @nameless-writer-for-stories here, remember me? Dang, it's been like 5 years since I went on hiatus. My life had been nuts and still is now.

I would like to apologize to those who followed me (through these users: @nameless-writer-for-stories @rwby-dust) for the radio silence and long overdue hiatus. I did not mean to leave you all in the dark without explanations.

My previous years of Tumblr wasn't that bad, the issue was me. To be honest, I literally had no clue what I was doing despite my imaginations and urge to show my creativeness. Let's just say growing up into a full adult is a literal rollercoaster for me so I wasn't really myself at that time. There were times I tend to feel doubt in my writing and art, and experienced inferiority complex--which was definitely not good so I had to leave the social media to clear my head.

I resumed to practicing my drawing skills before I entered college in 2019. Around that time, I was late to join Arknights, a tower-defense game that was released in early January. And boy, it was the best game for me. Because of its art and lore, I got inspired to come back for creating art. I was not confident if I can make a return in Tumblr so, I decided to try Twitter with a fresh start and didn't bother posting my Tumblr works because of my insecurities. My first experience there was awkward and barely gained any followers so I was doubting myself again.

However, I stopped doubting and started thinking, "the only reason you didn't have anything is because you're not pushing to try more." Later on, I tried posting new art contents like mini comics and some of my favourite Arknights characters. It was slow progress and I only had 76 followers. Honestly, it was okay for me since it means I needed to improve more--until I got roped into League of Legends because of Starguardians2022. Not gonna lie, I was attracted to that because of the potential angst material (I'm crazy lol), especially Akali. There's just something about her that I can relate in a deeper level and I fell in love with her prime lore and SG lore.

So, I started drawing Lol content and also tried playing the game. Several days later, I finally got 100 followers! I was really happy and decided to keep it up. I'm still drawing Arknights content whenever I feel like it, and I'm planning to make a fan Star Guardian story with a little twist.

Just when I started to make more posts, the Elon Musk incident happened. I won't explain the details because I know that everyone has seen the news. Everyone in Twitter began talking about moving into different social medias but honestly, it's hard to leave Twitter behind because everyone was comfortable in speaking their thoughts and sharing things that they couldn't be able to share in real life, and I feel that way too. I came back to Tumblr with a good reason--that is to keep going. Sure, it's sad that Twitter is doomed to close but if it weren't for that site, I would have not be able to meet people who shows confidence in showing their artworks, and fan literature. Whether they're silly drawings or shenanigans, they are truly dedicated and passionate in their works. They inspired me to keep trying and show the best of what I can do.

Until Twitter does shut itself down, I will bring everything from that site to here. So, yeah---

I'M ALIVE FELLAS!

[3liza]

hey im not gonna spread your weird social media-mediated brain infection on my blog, instead here are some cool studies to look at about how the "beautiful people have an easier life, every day, all the time" is a simplistic view, and is also patriarchal as fuck. more recent studies on "beauty privilege" are finding that the issue is complex, and that perceived beauty acts as a negative pressure in some/many social situations. i have always wondered why my experiences varied so much from the apparent wonderland the pop-science concept of "beauty privilege" paints, and more recent studies (often designed by women this time, imagine) are getting into the complexity there.

you personally may want to think about not reading my social media accounts if they are making you feel and act like this. i think i am not going to interact with you anymore if i can help it because i feel bad about what it is doing to you. anyway.

the short version is that beauty is beneficial in heterosexual social situations when dealing with the opposite sex, but detrimental when dealing with the same sex. this aspect of the research is usually ignored because who needs nuance in their pop psychology, right? not this guy (pointing 2 self)

very simply put, a beautiful woman can flirt her way out of a ticket from a heterosexual male cop. if she tries it on a person who doesnt consider her a potential romantic partner, there may be (and apparenly often are) negative consequences.

similarly in my own life i find that 99% of the apparent opportunities i'd been given for being young and fuckable were predicated on me actually fucking* the person who "offered" them, and most of them turned out to be fake/insincere opportunities anyway. tumblr refers to this as "grooming" when applied to child subjects (which i was, for much of it) but the behavior persists into the target's adulthood, middle age, and even old age if certain conditions are met. i can't find any studies on this because you can't put a Sleazy Guy in a lab setting and ask him "hey were you actually going to hire this woman on hte up-and-up, or were you going to 'hire' her and then spend 16 months making increasingly deranged sexual harassment attempts before reporting her to HR for made-up reasons and then finally firing her or hamstringing her career? just wondering".

i always think about that episode of Always Sunny where Mac goes nuts because every kid in his class was molested by the gym teacher and he imagines this to be some sort of privilege, even though charlie was one of the victims and is clearly devastated by it. thats what this conversation feels like every time it gets to the level of anons making fake tumblr accounts to KEEP pestering me about this stuff. remember that thing i said earlier about blood in the water, and how i dont post about bad shit that happened to me because it attracts the wrong kind of attention??? hehuehueheuheuhuehriuhgfidsrhru

actually thats a whole other realm of study: why victims of sexual assault and abuse are often re-victimized. until recently it was assumed that the victims were making bad decisions in who to trust, and this is sooorrrrtt of true, but doesn't tell the whole story. i read a study once that i am trying to find and will post later if i find it, that took video of adult women study subjects (who had agreed to be filmed) walking normally just down the street publically, and showed this video to male test subjects. if im remembering the study correctly, which i may not be, the male subjects who scored higher on psychopathy indices were better able to indentify the women in the test footage who had been sexually assaulted at some point in their former lives.

something to think about is a lot of "attractive" qualities (including proccupation with physical appearance leading to altering that appearance to be more beautiful), especially in the manic pixie archetype, are very strongly represented in trauma victims, especially sexual assault survivors (as is the opposite, intentionally trying to be "unattractive" to avoid further victimization). this includes "seductiveness", one of the adjectives used to diagnose child sexual abuse victims before the verbiage in the literature got cleaned up. obviouly a child cant be "seductive" and thats pretty offensive and fucked up to say. what they meant is that the childs behavior has been altered by trauma to become sexualized to appease attackers. this is part of the "fawn" sector of emergency responses in humans (along with fight, flight, and freeze).

so when we talk so cavalierly of "beauty" and "attractive people" vs "unattractive people" we are simplifying an issue that is so complex it is difficult even to think about. this complexity makes me go "hmm" every time theres a study on it, much less a popular belief. a lot of it sort of doesnt square with easily-observable phenomena: if physical beauty is so correlated to success, why are the 1% of wealthy people, politicians, actual power-holders, hell even the CEOs of normal companies, very very rarely what you would consider physically beautiful, even when they havent aged out of what the culture thinks is the maximum span of time someone can be "hot"? some of this is just personal preference, and it's real hard to study any of this because of how complex that issue becomes. but where are all these hot successful people i keep hearing about? are they all trophy spouses and retired from the public eye? you can definitely cherrypick examples of "influencers" etc but thats an extremely narrow line of work, and not representative.

anyway! lot of the "do beautiful people get more stuff" research is from quite a while ago, wasnt designed well, and was based on a work and social culture that was quite a bit different than it is now. but even older studies document this effect. ive spent like many minutes typing about this stupid bullshit so im bored and annoyed now and i dont want to type about it anymore

1. Effects of Self-Esteem Threat on Physical Attractiveness Stereotypes

2. Does being attractive always help? positive and negative effects of attractiveness on social decision making (cant find the sci-hub version, alas, but documents a negative effect we're actually seeing an anecdotal example of in my inbox rn)

3. Is beauty a gift or a curse? The influence of an offender’s physical attractiveness on forgiveness

* often it wasnt even just a sex thing. it's very very often a romance/relationship that is desired by the perpetrator. it's a misapprehension of the public that sexual harassment/grooming is "just about sex" or even less accurately "just about power", it isnt

[nowis-scales]

Headcanons for Hinoka’s Birthday

Of the royal siblings, I find that I see the least love for Hinoka. Given the overall structuring of the story and everything, I can see why that came to be, but... well, to be honest, I still find that I find I love her more and more every day. So! Here are a set of headcanons for the pegasus princess’s birthday. Hopefully someone will find joy in them!

• The common belief among most is that Ryoma is the tough nut to crack when it comes to people dating their siblings. This is blatantly wrong — it’s Hinoka. Sure, he cares to some degree, but nobody cares like Hinoka does. She is very protective of her siblings and insists that their partners treat them like the wonderful people they are. The first couple weeks of the relationship will feel like a soft probation whenever Hinoka is around. She might even set Kaze up on a mission to just check in every once in awhile to ensure the relationship is going well. She definitely tries not to be too invasive, lest she upset her siblings, but she wants to know for certain that their partners are good for them. It’s also worth noting that this is not reserved for Takumi and Sakura. Those who date Corrin, Azura, and even Ryoma will get this treatment. Hell, if you show interest in Setsuna, she might act the same! It’s quite a journey to get her blessing, but once you have it, she’ll treat you like you’re part of her family too.

•  The least picky eater in like... all of Hoshido. As I mentioned in a previous headcanon post, the one thing she doesn’t really like to eat is roe. Everything else is pretty much fair game. Of the Hoshidans, she is the most willing to try Nohrian foods. Scarlet even managed to convince her to try the Chevois delicacy that is escargot. Pretty much everyone else at the table was horrified, but she admitted that with a little seasoning, they didn’t taste half bad. Some credit her poor cooking ability to her weird ability to eat most things, but nobody’s sure whether or not that’s true.

• If you’re ever having a rough night and want to sleep in her bed with her, she honestly might let you. Between Ryoma who was terrified of sleeping alone after Cheve, Takumi who suffers from night terrors, Azura who mutters and cries in her sleep, and Sakura who fears being attacked during the night by either ghosts or Nohrians... Hinoka has learned to enjoy the presence of others when she’s sleeping. Her siblings can just crawl into her bed and snuggle up at any time, and she’ll accept them without even opening her eyes. I imagine Elise probably ended up in her bed once by accident, looking for Camilla in the dark but snuggling up with Hinoka instead. Hinoka was very confused upon waking up to discover that she was not, in fact, cuddling with Sakura.

• When it comes to alcohol, Hinoka is a mega lightweight, but she’s also ferociously in denial about it. She will talk herself up and even participate in drinking contests, but she’s really not able to handle much before she begins stumbling all over and slurring her words. The end result of her trying to keep up with everyone else is usually having her siblings or retainers help her back to her room while she tries not to throw up or fall over. It’s just not good for her all around, but everyone else finds it a bit funny.

• If there is one comment she hates hearing more than anything, it’s when she gets angry or embarrassed, and someone says that her face is turning as red as her hair. If she’s already angry and you say that to her, I would run if I were you. If she had a list of pet peeves, hearing that comment would be at the top of the list. Seriously, just why?

• The “haha Hinoka doesn’t have big boobs” jokes is prevalent in fandom, just as it always is when a character’s breasts are sized anything other than a middling cup size. In the anthology comics, I believe they even reference this with Hinoka envying Camilla’s chest... but to be honest, I actually get the feeling she doesn’t. Maybe she might have as a young teenager, but as an adult, I think she probably grew comfortable with her chest size. She finds it easier to fight without having to worry about extra support, so when people tease her about it, she just kind of shrugs her shoulders and makes some remark. Doesn’t really matter to her either way, she just wishes she could find some way to help her friends like Camilla be more comfortable!

• At 21 years old, she still maintains that one of her simultaneously proudest and most embarrassing moments on earth was when she punched her cousin in the face. Now, Hinoka’s not a punch without reason kind of girl. If she’s going to hit, it’s going to be with purpose. She also, like all of the Hoshidan siblings, does not care for most of her cousins. This cousin, Hikaru, happened to be one she particularly could not stand due to his horrible attitude and superiority complex. In this case, the purpose behind her hit was knocking the snot out of her awful cousin, who had cornered Azura and threatened to hurt her. Considering that Hinoka had never once liked him, she had no qualms with hitting him right in the kisser. She probably might have kept going after him too, but was promptly stopped by Mikoto and Ryoma trying to pull her away from him. She admits that she could have controlled her temper better, but she also admits that it was totally worth it.

• There is absolutely this impression among the people of Hoshido that the royals are so cool and perfect, but Hinoka will tell you herself she was an awkward teenager. Growing up a princess meant she still had responsibilities, even with her battle training, so she found herself really caught between the two impressions she was giving off. Couple that with the fact that she had an awkward puberty like so many of us do, complete with lanky body and acne, and she’d admit that she came out of her cocoon as a beautiful butterfly. She was still pretty cool even when she was a self-proclaimed caterpillar, though. She was just also still figuring herself out.

• The people around her are fairly positive that she stopped being a crybaby a long time ago, right? They’re not exactly correct. In fact, Hinoka is still quite prone to bursting into tears. She simply has a better grasp on her crying reflex than she did when she was a girl, so when she needs to cry, she will often hold it in until she’s private and can finally let the tears release. Of course, there are times when she refuses to hold back, such as in Birthright when they locate Takumi after him having been missing. Some things just call for tears more than others, you know? In those moments, she tries to not be as ashamed of them as she might be otherwise.

• I’ve mentioned before that my interpretation of Ikona doesn’t really have her as the best mom. She was resentful of her husband and to an extent her children, but would often grow to love them quickly upon interacting more. Even so, she had a tendency to play favourites. Protective and obedient of her beloved mother, Ikona favoured Hinoka a bit more than the others. It was actually her influence that built some of Hinoka’s negative behaviour towards Mikoto, for her mother would convince her that it was acceptable to treat her in such a way because she was trying to “get rid of” Ikona. Looking back on the relationship between herself and her mother now, Hinoka does not regard it as exceptionally healthy... but still feels a little guilty about how much she secretly misses her.

[sepublic]

Barrel’s Warhammer!

           YYYYOOOOOO SASHA!!!!

           She really is the epitome, the pinnacle, of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss! I love Sasha, she’s such an utter mess, morally ambiguous and then downright terrible in so many ways, and genuinely unhinged in just as many! She’s a freaking riot and SUCH an amazing character, y’all!

           In general, I adore how Toads are handled in this show! Yeah, they’re big and brutish and used as thugs… But the show still clearly portrays them as people, and some of them are terrible like Bog, but others are just trying to live their lives, like Percy and Braddock! And how they’re all clearly working with this ascribed role as Andrias’ enforcers and iron fist across Amphibia, how they’re encouraged to be cruel brutes… But they’re still people and they’re still oppressed, which is why Grime is leading his rebellion! Good for him, good for THEM!

           Also… GRIMMITY?!?! Beatrix?! Grime LORE! I like how Beatrix and Grime have blind eyes on opposite sides, and Sasha roasting Bufo by naturally connecting his name to Buffoon, WONDERFUL! Aldo’s also a legendary, killer design, he reminds me of VLD Zarkon, old and decrepit and fanged and clearly has seen a LOT of stuff, a real warrior of his time… Honestly, getting a look into the Toads and THEIR complicated role in this story, as the ‘bad guys’ but not really, there’s more to them; It’s such a fit to Sasha’s character, and I LOVE how she’s such an utter brute for someone who normally seems accustomed to using honey over vinegar to attract flies (to feed her Toads)! She’s nuts, she’s great.

           I love the explanation for the eye symbol, I love Sasha really getting to appreciate Percy and Braddock, and for a moment I thought she really was learning her lesson… When she gave them an out, I thought maybe she took what happened with Anne to heart, but now…! Maybe this is what she’s always done; Made empty promises. God, I love this little arc for her character, how she wants to be a good friend, but she keeps valuing power and control over all else…

           AND HER RAGE! HER JEALOUSY! At Anne and Marcy being with each other, leaving her out, Sasha’s mind jumping to all of the worst conclusions, and how THAT anger is what unlocks her gem power, not heroism or anything else! Sasha’s such a complex and messed-up character but you can’t help but root for her, she really IS a Problematic Fave! God, with how she’s going to meet Anne in a volcano, and the whole “Sasha is Anakin and Anne is Obi-Wan” just WRITES itself, with Sasha angrily accusing Anne of turning Marcy against her, Anne retorting that Sasha did that herself, etc.!

           God Sasha’s such a complicated mess and ball of unresolved emotions and contradictions, denial that’s insisting everything’s fine when it’s really not… She’s a manipulator who prefers to be hands-off, yet is also somehow the raw brute with unthinking, unyielding strength! She’s utterly terrifying, no wonder all of the Toads are in awe of her ferocity and power!

           Also, I like how Barrel’s Warhammer was included; At first I wondered WHY the Narwhal Worm would guard the weapon used by the Toad who fought it, but as we can clearly see… Barrel must’ve conked it out BADLY with his Warhammer, knocking it out, and the hammer has been stuck since! And once more, the hammer has been slammed into the worm… And in general, I love seeing the Toads just ROOT around Sasha and Grime, I love seeing villainous characters get to go feral and unhinged as you root for them, as THEY rise up and fight against all odds as the underdogs!

           Percy and Braddock and the gag with the kawaii poses was great, but it’s also sad to see them go! They’re definitely a wake-up call for Sasha and I like it, I wonder if you could parallel them, one-by-one, to Anne and Marcy respectively? Perhaps Anne and Marcy were initially not taken seriously by Sasha at first, but ultimately she DID grow to care for them and not just as ‘tools’, who knows? With Anne and Percy and Braddock, I think Sasha’s going to have to reconsider things… And GRIME, how he just sort of accepts that, yeah, you gotta lose people to achieve a goal! I could see him being a bad influence to Sasha, unintentionally- Like her, he means well, they’re really great parallels to one another!

           Like, Sasha and Grime are both brutes, power-hungry, and wanting control, but Sasha prefers subtlety and manipulation, appeals to both her and others’ emotions, while Grime prefers to be raw and unthinking strength, he’s a seasoned veteran from combat, while Sasha is likely a rich kid, young and learning… They’re such a dynamic duo with a lot to teach one another! Maybe Grime sees himself in Sasha; Himself when HE was a kid… Maybe when he was a gladiator, he had friends but left them behind to be promoted to Captain? I wonder if Beatrix has anything to say on this, too…

           Could Beatrix provide insight to Grimmity? Did Grime leave her behind in a sense…? Does SASHA have a sibling, and that leads to her weird power complex, as another parallel to Grime! Either way it’s sweet, I adore the dynamic of two horrible people who are good friends and bad, enabling influences to each other… Being problematic faves, you can’t help but cringe at their mistakes but also cheer as they win as underdogs and turn the tables on their enemies! I like how Sasha is still supportive of Grime and vice-versa, Grime’s guiding this kid, but Sasha’s fully supporting Grime as the de-facto leader and backing him up, not trying to seize control!

           I think it really parallels Anne, how she just wanted to get back home… But somewhere along the way, she realizes how much she loves and enjoys this, and values her friend! And maybe it could lead to Sasha not wanting to head back home after all, especially if there’s nothing there for her; Which could play into her keeping all of her gem powers as she opposes Andrias openly, while Anne has some of her power because again, she’s more neutral, and then Marcy has none because she’s fully bought into the Newt King’s schtick!

           Also, it’s funny that Sasha is no doubt feeling betrayed, like her trust has been jeopardized by Anne and Marcy, considering she did the same to Anne in Reunion! Lying to her about what she intended to do with the Frogs… It’s wonderfully hypocritical and this kid does NOT want self-awareness, she’ll toy with it for a bit, but then immediately backpedal! Get better and well Sasha, for everyone’s sake… The confrontation and paranoia as she loses her friends and only has Grime, who means well but isn’t so great himself, is also nice!

           Honestly, there’s even a parallel to the idea of Sasha meaning well, only to be ruined by her own toxicity… And Grime wanting a better life for Toads in his revolution, but still allowing a hierarchy to exist by the end of the day, instead of abolishing it for all! They both have good ideas and initiative, but it’s ruined by Sasha and Grime not backing down on certain things and not listening to others, being SO sure they’re right… Very compelling stuff. Now I’m starting to wonder if Sasha will be open to Anne about her suspicions, if they WILL get along for the Third Temple…

           …Or if she’ll try to manipulate and fool her again, thinking that SHE’s been betrayed herself! And maybe Sasha will realize her faults in the battle of Newtopia, only for it to be too late, Anne has been too betrayed, Sasha has only herself (and, well, Andrias) to blame! In the meantime, as Sasha no doubt embraces her role as a rebel, but also unknowingly as a hero against Andrias and his master… I can see her tapping more into her gem powers and actually using them as part of her rage, hence the shots we see from the Third Temple! She’s going to be terrifying, y’all, and even more of a match for Yunnan at this point… And Anne, poor Anne’s going to be caught between TWO toxic friends!

           Both mean well, but both have other bad points… And it just means Anne’s gonna have to forge her own path, make her own decisions and group and faction, be her own person and take initiative once more! But it’s also gonna be lonely and could contribute to more trust issues along the way… And maybe she’ll think she can only trust herself, only do things on her own, and how this might pair badly with her selfless martyr-complex. We’ll have to wait and see, though… We’ll have to wait and see.

[luasworkshop]

Oh man you guys are curious! Ok so...

The following take may be wrong - I'm just doing my best to express a feeling:

Tinfoil hat 'Was Valerius Supposed to be the 6th LI instead of Lucio?' rambling beneath the cut:

*Puts on tinfoil hat* Ok... so... like, I don't know if I can attribute this to more than 'vibes' but I feel like at SOME point Valerius was meant as the 6th route instead of Lucio. He seems better developed within the prologue and other LIs routes to exist as a full on LI than Lucio who seems to initially just be poised as a secondary villain (to the Devil - not fundamentally a bad thing, secondary villains can be a lot of fun).

All of the routes of the Arcana are focused around helping self-actualize the LI's and helping them cope with and manage their responses to previous traumas. To get to the upright ending you interact with them in ways that support their own personal growth away from their most self-destructive tendencies. To get the reversed endings you let them sink further into precisely that. Valerius is perfectly poised to fill out this route just the same as the other LI's - we know from canon he made his deal in desperation, being overwhelmed when Lucio passed and Nadia was unconscious. He bristles with agitation and anger at anything that upsets the hegemony he feels is established and keeps Vesuvia running (as the 'reversed' heirophant would - sticking to traditions that no longer work.) He has chained himself to order and security - and in a possible upright for him we could see him break from tradition and conformity to (as with all the routes except Portia) solve the Count's murder and reverse the fallout of Lucio's poor decision making. In his reversed we could see him fail to break away from tradition and seize control over a corrupted and decaying Vesuvia spiraling into his demon form. To me - these seem like super familiar character beats to the first three routes (Nadia, Azra, and Julian).

Cases for Valerius:

A) There's more than enough of him the prologue to put in a Memory image, moreso than the other courtiers and certainly as much as say, Muriel.

B) He shows up in all of the routes almost as much as the various other LIs do, his story intertwining with everything else in complex ways that reveal bits of his background and motivations (it varies and of course his presence leans heavily into Nadia's route BUT he's still in say, Muriel's route having his own little redemption arc.)

C) He has potential for a mark - given his deal, chains, and eventual demon form.

D) This is a bit negated by the fact he's a courtier (and there are secondary characters that do) but he has his own sprites, unique design, and distinct character (unlike, say, the guards or other palace staff).

E) He doesn't just 'fit' with the other courtiers and their theming - he is unique in being brought into all this recently and trying to make his way through a lot more than he's able to (boy is in over his head).

F) He has an intense, personal relationship to his patron Arcana, the same as all the other LIs EXCEPT LUCIO (who is the Fool - not the Devil, until the Devil is using him as a puppet).

Cases against Lucio:

A) What even WAS his route? I'm sorry I don't think 'vague adventure story' is appropriate for a character who is the secondary antagonist in four out of six routes - especially someone guilty of kidnapping, coercion, blackmail, and, literally the source of the plague which killed many MANY people. Go full villain or go full redemption, not just... what smacks of pandering (I can't support this - it's just... vibes... yanno? I've seen when writers fandom pander before and this feels like trying to tread the most boring middle road to appeal to the widest audience and totally loosing the character somewhere in the middle. Death by committee and all that.)

B) He has very little personality (outside of hedonist asshole) in the routes up until we get to half-way through Portia's route and then in his own - he's simply a stooge for the Devil in all of the other routes (most of his character building in Muriel's route is... well it's MORGA'S character building, the devil is wearing Lucio like a festive little coat).

C) He serves as a better foil for Valerius than the other way round - he represents the traditions that Valerius seeks to uphold, but has so badly corrupted them that the city is falling into ruin. Lucio seems to just see Valerius as a party favor or general nuisance (which explains why he doesn't really show in Lucio's route)... I'm trying to say it's weird to underutilize a fairly major side-character in a route focused on a former count.

D) Back to those Upright and Reversed endings... sure his fit alright enough (either fucking off to do whatever, or turning into a pretty pet who doesn't have to make decisions) but compared to the ways in which say - Nadia either takes on all responsibility herself or allows you to help and lets herself become a fully complex person of her own making... Lucio's are very much simply reactionary rather than internal growth. His character either wasn't given or never was intended to have enough depth to carry the weight of a full story-line.

So what do I think happened? I think somewhere between the first three routes and deciding on the second three a decision was made to make Lucio a love interest over Valerius. I don't think Nyx Hydra anticipated his popularity as a character off the bat, but when looking to expand the story had some choices to make with their direction - they went with (what I feel is) the weaker of two story options due to Lucio's popularity in the fandom (and then took his story a whole... direction which is a whole 'nother rant.) Valerius would have been in keeping with the other LIs, Lucio had potential but it didn't come to much (especially as his development is otherwise rather lackluster.)

So ANYWAY I think maybe at some point Valerius was slated as a love interest (given his development) but it got scrapped in favor of Lucio (due to fandom popularity).

*Takes off tinfoil hat*

But... that's just my own rambling - I could be wrong, maybe they DID plan a Lucio route from the start and I'm just off my nut, but something smells like milquetoast fan-service on his route to me.