#all three of these guys are on a really interesting spectrum (lol) in regards to how they deal with human encounters in nm

[stuffyflowers]

I think Starlo makes a good sheriff in the way Martlet makes a good Royal Guard

They're not exactly good at their jobs, but they have strong emotional characters that drive them to do the right thing rather than convenient or injust protocol. Being in positions of authority, this is possibly one of the best traits you could possibly have imo.

This too is a Papyrus thing except unlike Papyrus I can believe they could actually be competent with some time

Yeah, when I say star and martlet aren’t good at their jobs I am referring to the one they are expected and try to perform. The Royal guard is full of rules and regulations which martlet can barely keep up with, as well as being at its core against what she believes is right in regards to the fallen humans and how monsterkinds freedom should be secured. The illusion of being an almighty sheriff breaks for starlo during his fight with clover, realising that apprehending them for simply being human as his role as a lawman of the underground would entail isn’t justice at all, and he’s not prepared to take a life. It’s not fair.

That doesn’t mean they have no leadership skills or strong moral character that they can put into other more useful/productive roles. I think they both show they can be great leaders when put in actual threatening situations in the climax of most routes. Starlo immediately forms a rescue plan for clover when he finds out about cerobas intentions (which would have worked if not for their own insistence to seek her out). Martlet is defined in every ending by her ability to try to achieve the most just outcome, whether it involves protecting/vouching for clover, trying to rehabilitate them, or having to take them down as a last resort.

Being in a position of power under asgores political regime doesnt go well for either of them bc they don’t get to use these qualities in a way that matters, they don’t get to follow their own idea of what ‘justice’ really entails. By post pacifist they both come to this realisation: star tones down the sheriff stuff in favour of focusing on the actual positives which his town brings to the underground. martlet quits her job and while we don’t see what she is doing with her life now, I think she tries to follow in the footsteps of her mentor (the one she knew, anyway) by making the world a better place through small acts of kindness. It’s the kindness of people like martlet that eventually allows for the barrier to break in the pacifist ending of undertale, after all :)

[foxymoxynoona]

Hiii hello. Sorry I didn’t send anything about flux, I wanted to sooo bad but I got covid (this is now my third day of fever☺️), lost a really close relative in the span of like 12 hours and I’m in pain cause I’m about to get my period sooo my concentration is stagnant: level 0🙂. Everything is pretty much hurting like a bitch but don’t worry I read as soon as it came out and OF COURSE I sent it to 🌚 and we started arguing again. (Btw she knows everything because even tho she’s still at the beginning I was tired of not having anyone to vent to so I literally told her every single detail that made me go crazy lol).

Let’s start off by saying I’m like 50% satisfied? Wtf jk? Nothing more to say? Sure? Never took a pill in Ibiza? Alright that’s gonna be a fun conversation, just saying☺️. I swear with this guy it’s like one step forward and 10 steps back. Also jungkook got MAD, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry towards her before. Should I say justified? Eeh I mean he never expressed how he actually felt regarding the Seojoon thing so for him to explode at some point was to be expected. I mean he got mad like at the beginning when the whole Lasagna Gate happened in her apartment but I don’t know, it hits different now.

Also, dr Kim I have a crush on you and the emotional stability you provide. You’re doing god’s work, truly. Even if you make me feel bad for defending Sasha because the rational side of me knows how there is no right or wrong in *most* situations here and everything is on a spectrum buuuut my irrational side is like fuck everything hug Sasha. A week ago we were talking about this in my group chat and I said “I think I empathize this much with her because we share some toxic traits so I try to find justification in her” and my friends (including 🌚) said “you think we’d let you to all the self sabotaging shit Sasha does? Don’t you dare, ESPECIALLY if you’re hooking up with Jeon Jungkook. You’re our key to become millionaires and you think we’d let that go to waste??” So loving and caring, my friends.

By the way I loove the discord channel, that was a great idea. I just need to figure out the time zones so i can text when everyone is awake😵‍💫

🌸

NOooooooooooo! I am so sorry! You have so many terrible things going on at once! I'm so sorry for your lost most of all; hopefully you'll be over the worst of covid soon. 💟💟💟

I hope the Flux drama a mental and emotional distraction when you needed it! Get wrapped up in their drama but rest in your own life 😢

I don't see why you would nee to feel bad about defending Sasha, though! Do you mean overall or in this specific instance?

It's been interesting reading commetns because I think we're all just so primed to be like "ok who was most right" in any situation we read, but I intentionally write really gnarled ones where there isn't usually some villain with an evil plan lol. I think too we were all so excited for Jungkook to finally speak up about some things we know he's been holding onto that we've forgotten he made that choice to not speak up about them in the first place and that doesn't excuse his behavior, even if it explains it. He can't hide his feelings and then when it's a convenient defense, finally let them erupt! Even if that's very human to do haha. Like if my kid kicks his brother, he can't just tell me "but he kicked me first" and I say oh ok, you're good to go then. Or even "he called me a poop head three days ago," "ah, got it baby, take him down then." 🤣

As much as we may want a partner to read our mind and notice when we are hurt, it's not fair to expect that and we need to communicate those things if we expect change. Now there are things they've argued about before that might still be happening, so I'm not saying this is just a wash in Sasha's direction either! That's why I had suggested in some other asks, it's really probably best to take things one at a time rather than trying to balance out some grand summation --not just because there are things on both sides, but because even though the context and cause behind things may be cumalitive, that doesn't mean the resulting actions were the mature/right ones. The mature relationship skill isn't to hold onto those things until you've hurt your partner and then whip them all out to deflect. I don't know that he was consciously doing that, but it's not that different actually than what everyone was mad at Namjoon doing. "Forget about X, she did Y so she's not allowed to be mad about Z."

Anywayyyy this is fun and tangled and I suspect mrelationship conselors would be salivating over this scenario LOL. But I'm glad you have friends who are looking out for you and your relationship with JK, even if it's so they can piggyback on your wealth 😂

I hope you get to feeling better soon and my best warm vibes go out to your family, I hope that isn't lessened by the goofy fic talk in the iddle of this ask.

[sage-nebula]

I caught up on Miraculous Ladybug a couple days ago, so I thought I’d jot some thoughts down now that I’ve seen every episode and have a clearer scope on the series and characters as a whole.

First and foremost, let me just say that I think people take this show way too seriously. As I mentioned before, all I saw before I actually sat down to watch the second season for myself was hate and negativity. People bashed the show, the creators, and so on and so forth left and right. The thing is, sure, there are concepts in this show that could be taken deeper if this was meant to be a serious, deep show. But it’s pretty clear that’s not the case. Miraculous Ladybug is a bit like a ‘90s action cartoon, albeit one with a shoujo flavoring. It’s meant to have about as much depth as, say, Jackie Chan Adventures. The characters do learn lessons and develop, sure, but the creators don’t hold true and fast to those lessons because their main objective is to entertain via monster of the week battles and the occasional plot movement here or there. That’s not to say that there aren’t areas where the show could be improved, but it is to say that this show isn’t meant to be a sprawling epic and is instead just a shallow, fun show to watch and unwind with. But regardless of what it’s meant to be, I think that people in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom should remember that no one is holding a gun to their head, forcing them to watch. If the show isn’t to their tastes, if they’re not having fun, if all it does is make them angry and miserable, they should stop watching. That’s what I did with Voltron: Legendary Defender. Of course I still hear things about it that make me mad, but I’m far less devastated than I would be if I had to watch the nonsense unfold in front of me (not to mention that I stopped feeling stress leading up to new season releases because I stopped watching the show). This is a cartoon about teenage superheroes. You’re not obligated to watch. If it’s not fun for you, go do something else. Find a new series to get into. I promise you, your life will only improve if you do.

That said:

Aside from the above, probably the most unpopular opinion I have about this show is that Gabriel Agreste is hands down the most interesting character. It might be because I’m an adult rather than a teenager myself, but I’m not that interested in the high school romances the show has to offer (and when I am, I prefer rarepairs that will never happen, lol), but I am interested in Gabriel’s history, what led to him becoming Hawk Moth, and how he continues to deal with that in the present day. Romance-wise, I think that Gabriel/Nathalie has the potential to be the most interesting ship on the show. I think that episodes that focus on the Agreste family and their history are the most interesting ones. And while Gabriel is clearly a villain and has done some awful things, I’m interested to see if they’ll successfully make him a tragic villain, because I feel the groundwork has already been laid out for that to be the case.

I’m crossing every finger I have that when Emilie Agreste is awoken from her coma, it’s revealed that she’s ten times the villain Gabriel ever was. Part of this is because I heard it said somewhere that Mayura was Hawk Moth’s boss, and yet we know that’s not the case with Gabriel and Nathalie; part of it is also because I’ve seen so many “OMG I WANT EMILIE TO GET FULL CUSTODY OF ADRIEN!!11!!” posts that give off the vibe of “mothers could never be abusive” and that rubs me the wrong way. (Same with “Nathalie needs to adopt Adrien” posts; she clearly doesn’t care about him half as much as she cares about Gabriel, stop acting like she’s a better parent than Gabriel just because she has a surplus of estrogen.) We know that Adrien has fond memories of Emilie and that she took sweet pictures of him, but: a.) If she was nice to Adrien, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t a villain to everyone else, and b.) She could have easily been the type of abuser to guilt trip and manipulate rather than neglect like Gabriel, meaning that Adrien might not have recognized her abuse for what it was and might have instead felt that any time she was upset, it was his fault, and c.) It’s entirely possible that Gabriel would have taken the brunt of whatever abuse was doled out in order to protect Adrien, with Adrien being none the wiser Any one of those possibilities could be true, but the fact that people don’t even want to acknowledge that Emilie could be terrible to reeks of “she’s his mother, of course she wouldn’t abuse him,” which I just don’t vibe with at all. Gabriel is an abusive parent as well (though we can see that he does care about Adrien, though not enough to stop what he’s doing), but that doesn’t mean that Emilie is great. The fact that Gabriel’s love toward Emilie is so unhealthy speaks to the fact that there was more to her (and their relationship) than meets the eye. (And yes, Gabriel’s love for her is unhealthy, and severely detrimental to his quality of life. Since losing Emilie, Gabriel has: - Not gone outside even for a moment, instead staying locked up in his manor all day. It’s noted several times in both “Style Queen” and “Queen Wasp” that his appearance in the latter episode was the first time he’s shown his face in public since Emilie disappeared. - Cut off practically every relationship he has and socially isolated himself from everyone else, including those who would show him any sort of love or affection, to the point where it catches him off-guard when someone---even his own son---does. - Neglects any other kind of needs in his life outside of those that are either necessary to support his family (his work) or bringing back Emilie. We never see him having fun, spending time with others, or even taking time to relax and recuperate. - Become extremely paranoid and mistrustful of others, keeping secrets from just about everyone and casting a suspicious eye on anyone he comes across. He’s also paranoid about the safety of his one remaining family member. Particularly with regards to how Gabriel has isolated himself from practically everyone save Emilie, I would argue that Gabriel’s abuse and neglect of Adrien is continuing a cycle from what Gabriel himself has experienced as a result of Emilie’s “disappearance,” and possibly even beforehand. Which of course DOES NOT excuse what he does to Adrien, but it might explain it. All in all, the relationship we see between Gabriel and Nathalie is far healthier than what we’ve been given of Gabriel and Emilie, and I’m curious to see if this continues in later episodes.)

I love Luka, and I really hope that we see more of him. Additional thoughts:

Upon watching “Captain Hardrock,” I got the vibe that Luka might be on the autism spectrum somewhere. I hesitate to say this because the last time I made an autistic headcanon I was screamed at for it and deemed a horrible person, but particularly with how Luka said that it’s easier for him to communicate through music rather through words, how he often looks down at his guitar instead of right at people (though he does make eye contact sometimes), how he tried to joke around with Marinette but ended up hurting her feelings and looked genuinely panicked / upset that he did so . . . I don’t know, I just kind of got that vibe from him. Like maybe he’s on the autism spectrum and music is his special interest, particularly because it’s a lot easier for him to convey what he’s feeling / thinking through music rather than through words, particularly without upsetting other people (because most people don’t get angry or upset when they hear music, whereas they might with his words). I think it’s be really neat to have the cool, suave character on the autism spectrum, anyway.

I don’t understand why people say Luka has no personality when he has about as much personality as any other character on the show, particularly the classmates. How does Luka have less personality than Nathaniel, or Rose, or Max? I think the real reason why people want to say Luka is “cardboard” and therefore a bad character is because he “threatens the love square,” which is nonsense. All Luka is doing is living his best life. (And the same goes for Kagami, tbh.) Let him live.

On that note, though, I prefer Luka/Marinette to Marinette/Adrien at this point. Marinette/Adrien has had some really sweet moments as well, and I still ship it (and know it’s endgame anyway), but at the moment the way Adrien behaves when he’s Chat makes him feel like he has a Nice Guy complex toward Ladybug, and I’m not here for that. “Glaciator” was one thing, but how he behaved in “Frozer” was unacceptable. I don’t hate the ship, but I much prefer Luka/Marinette, particularly since Luka has genuine interest from Marinette and has never been afraid to treat her like a princess, but at the same time will encourage her to go be happy when he realizes she has stronger feelings for someone else.

I wish that Luka would get the Dog Miraculous instead of the Snake Miraculous, but at least he’s getting one regardless, I guess.

I do think it’s an issue that all of Marinette’s love rivals are antagonistic in some way or another. Chloe is . . . Chloe, Lila is a compulsive liar who’s addicted to evil butterflies, and Kagami . . . honestly didn’t do a single thing wrong, but she was still characterized as being somewhat forward and antagonistic rather than sweet and perfectly nice like Adrien’s love rivals. I feel that this show has a bit of an issue with pitting girls against each other over a boy, and since Adrien’s not even that great of a boy (I like him fine, but he’s honestly not worth ladies fighting over), it rubs me the wrong way and I hope that, in season three, Marinette and Kagami can become friends.

Rose’s English voice (in season two, at least) is literally the worst thing I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing. She sounds like a chipmunk that sucked helium. No teenage girl actually sounds like that, what in the honest hell.

For that matter, Juleka’s English VA had a real bad day in “Zombiezou.” I’ve never heard more emotionless voice acting in my entire life, and for a zombie apocalypse parody episode, that’s a real issue.

For the most part I think that most of the “omg why can’t they recognize each other!!1!!!!111″ nonsense that I’ve seen around the fandom is just that, nonsense, because being unable to see through a paper-thin disguise is a superhero staple, and this show has even gone the extra mile to explain it’s the magic of the suits protecting their identities. That said, there have been a couple instances where I felt like Adrien and Marinette should have gotten suspicious or had questions, and most notably in “Frightengale.” Both of them had great reasons for not wanting to put on the Chat Noir and Ladybug masks, but what they both failed to consider or question is why the other person had such an issue. Like, Adrien knows that he doesn’t want to put on the mask because he’s the real Chat Noir and people will recognize him. But didn’t it strike him as odd that Marinette had similar objections to putting on the Ladybug mask? And the same is true in reverse. Marinette knew why she didn’t want to dress up as Ladybug for the video, but didn’t she ever wonder why Adrien was reluctant? I guess they were both too wrapped up in their own drama to consider it, which makes sense if you consider they’re teenagers, but it’s still something you’d think they’d ponder over later.

On that note, Plagg and Tikki are the real heroes for having to put up with this love square nonsense in-universe. Pour one out for them.

Adrien being a Nice Guy while he’s Chat Noir is an issue, but I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with what he said in “Malediktator” or “Chameleon”, and here’s why:

In “Malediktator”, Adrien was upset that the only person who provided him any company or friendship was leaving the country for an indefinite amount of time because she was upset, and he never even got to say goodbye to her. Note that (at least in the English version), Adrien never says that Marinette or the others can’t celebrate; he just says that he, personally, finds Chloe leaving to be awful, and objects to Marinette calling Chloe useless (which is a reasonable thing to object to, because in honesty saying someone is useless is pretty harsh and terrible). He then goes and sits quietly by himself, waiting for the party to be over. People have grown angry with him for this because Marinette was bullied by Chloe for years and they think that he should see her side of things, but the fact of the matter is that the people who make those claims aren’t seeing Adrien’s side of things, which Marinette herself realized when he left to go sit by himself. Here’s the thing: Neither Marinette nor Adrien were in the wrong. Marinette is perfectly entitled to be ecstatic that her bully is leaving forever, particularly since she’s Ladybug and said bully akumatizes people all the time and this will make less work for her. She wasn’t doing anything wrong by celebrating Chloe leaving, although again, saying that someone is useless is crossing a line (particularly since, as we find out later in the episode, Chloe already believes she’s useless because of her mother’s emotional abuse). Marinette didn’t do anything wrong. But Adrien is also perfectly entitled to be upset that his childhood friend---the only person who gave him companionship during his incarceration in his own home---is leaving on a bad note. If Chloe was leaving perfectly happily, I think he’d feel differently. He’d be happy for her. But he’s seen a side of Chloe that no one else has, and moreover, Adrien tends to be rather compassionate for other people’s struggles (something Kagami calls him out on). It’s perfectly understandable that he’s upset that his oldest friend is leaving on a bad note, and that he didn’t get to say goodbye to her besides. Moreover, since it was a shock to him, it’s natural that he didn’t realize how his words might have sounded to one of Chloe’s victims, especially since Marinette herself didn’t bring up the fact that Chloe had bullied her, but instead just said Chloe was awful and useless (which, as her friend, Adrien naturally rankled against).  This isn’t a situation of one being right and the other being wrong. This is a situation of two people coming at a situation from different perspectives, and feeling differently as a result.

As for “Chameleon,” as I believe I’ve explained elsewhere, Adrien was looking at the situation from the perspective of Chat Noir. If they upset Lila, she’s going to get akumatized again. This is something he knows for a fact, because it has happened multiple times now (at least twice that he knows of). Akumatizing Lila over and over again isn’t going to accomplish anything meaningful. All it’s going to do is create more work for Chat Noir and Ladybug, which Adrien wants to avoid. Adrien is looking at the bigger picture, which is hoping that perhaps Lila can become a better person, and if not, it’s better to pick your battles so that you can ultimately win the war rather than picking a fight every other day. He wasn’t wrong, and I strongly feel that people who insist he was are those that are projecting onto Marinette and just want to live through her as she stomps her bullies into the dirt.

Which, on that note, I find it really funny how people who claim to hate Chloe are the same people that like fan content where Marinette is being “petty” and “salty” and no better than Chloe herself. I agree that Marinette’s friends (sans Adrien) didn’t have her back in “Chameleon,” and that Alya’s behavior was especially out of character (and kind of funny at the end, because . . . yes, Alya, we do think you’d let your best friend sit alone, because you already did that, lol), but to imagine that Marinette Dupain-Cheng would suddenly take every single opportunity to insult and tear them down is completely missing the point of who Marinette is and why she’s a better person than people like Chloe (at present) and Lila. Again, I can only imagine this is self-projection of the “I wish I had been able to do this” variety, but I still find it really ironic that the people who hate Chloe and Lila make Marinette act almost exactly like them. (Also, it says something if you think Alya being a jerk once makes it all right for Marinette to treat her like dirt. For two seasons Alya was the best best friend someone could ask for. She made a mistake in one single episode, and you think Marinette should turn on her? Should say she’s no longer worthy of the Fox Miraculous? Please. That’s not how relationships work. Sometimes there are bumps and low points, but you communicate, work through, and apologize when you make mistakes. No one is perfect, Alya included.)

The first time Gabriel akumatized the baby it was funny because it was clearly an accident and he was just working with what he had (and it was a struggle). The second time I suppose it just happened because of all the akuma that were out at the time. But why was the baby akumatized again in “Weredad”? What purpose did that serve? What were you doing, Gabriel? Why this, again? Part of me feels like it was done because the writers needed a giant akuma, but like . . . there have been others . . . why the baby when he didn’t even want to akumatize the baby in the first place, I just . . . why.

Chloe’s transformation sequence has a similar grace to it that Adrien’s does (and tbh I like it a little more, especially with the toe tap and whatnot), and it makes me think that she’s secretly as much of a weeb as he is and they probably watched Sailor Moon together.

I like the unique transformation phrases in the English dub, but I wish that there was a bit more variety. Three out of five are “on/off” variants, and I like it when they’re a bit more creative like “claws in/out” or “let’s pounce.” Hopefully the transformations for future Miraculouses will be a bit more creative.

There are probably other thoughts but this is all I have for right now. Curious about the upcoming episodes and I’m surprised we got season three so soon, but also I imagine the release schedule might not be consistent, so there’s that, too. In any case, this is a cute and fun show so long as you don’t take it too seriously. I’m enjoying it, at least, and as far as I’m concerned that’s all that matters.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kazimirov-archive]

Cor: 7, 10 (u gotta pick another name !), 18, 27, 34, 42, 44, Brose: 3, 16, 18, 20, 29, 39, 40 Orlan: 47, 39, 18, 30, 17, 11, 5. :D also i gave them all 18 lol

Cor

1. If you could be a mythical creature, which would you choose?

“Oh. Hm. I don’t know if I’d want to be any fantasy creature that I can think of? Of course, elf is always the immediate reaction, but if we mean Tolkien’s elves, and I assume we are, they’re really kind of boring aren’t they? But I guess I’m also boring also. Or actually! a Water horse or hippocampus. They’re not super smart or anything, but there’s something infinitely cool about being a sea monster of sorts, but a sea monster that looks friendly enough to not be perceived as a threat.”

10. Do you like your name? Would you ever change it?

“I mean, yes? My parents gave me this name of course I like it. But if I had to change it, probably...jeong?? it’s weird to have it as a one character name, but one of the hanja for it means quiet or calm. i believe in choosing names for their meanings so having a name that actually fits me, and doesn’t just mean war horn would be nice. though i guess you could argue war horn does fit me since i think the horn players didn’t fight. they just played music and died, which sounds about right.”

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory.

“When I was little, my mom really tried to keep her Korean heritage alive for me. She spoke Korean to me and fed me Korean food and told me stories about her side of the family and their lives. I don’t remember very many details about my childhood, but I remember on several instances  sitting on her lap in bed as she went through Korean children’s books with me. She would point to the rabbit and ask, “Mwoya?” ‘What is it?’ and I would giggle and shout, “Naya!” ‘It’s me!’. To this day I mutter “naya” to myself whenever I see wild rabbits.”

27. Do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy?

“I don’t like the use of soggy here. Soggy has bad connotations. I like my cereal soft with a little bit of a crunch, and that is definitely not soggy.”

34. Do you address older people by their first or last name?

“Usually by their last. It’s very rude in Korea to address a stranger, particularly an older or higher ranking one, by their first name, so even though I grew up speaking Korean in America and Italy, you get into the habit of using last names anyway because the language is structured around that. And also both my parents and my aunt were very strict in regards to politeness, so last name was always safest.”

42. Where do you feel the safest?

“At home, wherever that may be. There’s something comforting about being surrounded by your own stuff in your own home and knowing that you belong there. I also find safety in certain people. Marcus, for example, is a very grounding person and I always seek him out in crowds or stressful situations because he makes me feel protected. Cesaire is also a very safe person to be around, but moreso on the ‘will neutralize any threats instantly’ end of the spectrum rather than the ‘chill person’ end.”

44. If you could travel back to any era, which would you choose?

“Well, we’re living in objectively the best era to be in, right? The best healthcare, the highest life expectancy, the most equality, and all that. So permanently? I would stay right here. But if it was just a trip, probably pre-colonial Africa or Asia or South America or something. It would be fascinating to see what those cultures were like before European influence, to see what they thought of religion and time and gender and all that. I’m not sure which one I would want to visit, though, I’ll have to think on that.”

Brose

3. If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?

“oh oh oh! knitting. it’s really domestic i know but paris is SO COLD and i want to learn how to make everyone aesthetic mittens and hats and all that! alaina and i could match :D”

16. Who do you want to be closer to?

“everyone??? i want to be closer to all my friends i want to be the most important person in their lives 800000% of the time. but more seriously, probably asiel?? weirdly enough. we’re friends of course but i dunno the bond he has with alaina just seems really nice, even though i also have that bond with her i guess. i just want more bonds!!”

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory.

“when i was almost three italy made it to the final round of the world cup, literally for the first time in like 12 years. so like my family was PUMPED. and i was really little of course but i remember being forced to stay up super late and watch the game and my parents gave me espresso because italians i guess. and then we lost BUT we still got second place and it had been 12 years and ohmyGOSH the shouting and cheering was insane!! and i was the tiniest 2 1/2 year old ever so i was literally passed around like a trophy and hoisted up into the air as everyone celebrated. it was amazing. i still have a picture of me swimming in my cousin’s jersey.”

20. What can you see outside your bedroom window?

“uhhh the city? lots of cool buildings and stuff i guess? also the seine which i hate to admit it but is a much nicer river to look at than the tiber. still not as nice as my hometown, though. ((((but a million times better than new york so i’m not bitching.))))”

29. Do you like reading? What was the last thing you read?

“uhhhh i don’t?? read??? i’ve never been much of a reader- i’m dyslexic and it’s just not my thing. the last thing i read was probably actually the bible?? i joined this online bible study and it’s been very interesting to compare people’s ideas about passages. but, fun trick i use: i have an audiobook of an italian translation, so it’s reading but only sort of.”

39. What is one thing you would want to teach your children?

“only one thing?? probably acceptance. acceptance of people’s differences, acceptance of life’s hardships, acceptance of your own existence, acceptance of truth even when it hurts. fighting is good and all, but being able to sit down and say ‘i accept whoever and whatever comes my way’ is really powerful. no that doesn’t mean you never stand up for yourself, you have to also accept that certain people and things might not be right for you, but it means that you are able to be at peace with life and if they come away with any lessons, i want it to be that.”

40. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it?

“i actually cracked and got one! i have my mom’s birthday on my ribs with my favorite bible passage under it. and and then alaina and i are getting ones, but the design and everything is a surprise!”

Orlan

47. How would you spend your ideal day?

“my ideal days are ones when things go right. i like being able to sit back and relax and not worry about plans or people messing up. on a day when everything is going right i would probably spend it lying around with thelry and just relaxing and watching tv and maybe cooking some real food. y’know, maximizing the relaxation.”

39. What is one thing you would want to teach your children?

“to always fight for what they believe in. that’s what my mamma taught me and it’s been my driving force my entire life. never stand down and let people walk over you or let the bad guys get away with it, because if you do you’re just as bad as them.”

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory.

“i don’t have many positive ones, especially since my mom died when i was fairly young, but we shared a bed and i remember having her arms around me and she would be right there if i had a nightmare or wanted a hug, ready to pull me closer and chase all the darkness away. i miss that.”

30. How do you show someone you love them?

“with closeness. like emotional closeness and also physical closeness. i let myself be open with them and let them be open with me and spend as much time in their presence as possible. i’m pretty obvious.”

17. Do you miss someone at the moment?

“mamma, always mamma.”

11. Who is a mentor to you?

“there’s no one in particular, but i like to study revolutionaries and rule breakers of the past. they inspire to me to stand behind my beliefs and morals, but also to be smart and not just charge ahead aimlessly. i particularly like studying insurgents of the past, it’s interesting to see how they played the game from both sides. as for mentors in my real life?? weirdly enough, probably some of the bosses i’ve come in contact with. our morals are the exact opposite,if they even have morals, but they are ruthless in their execution.”

5. What was your favourite book as a child?

“we had a copy of fiabe italiane growing up and my mother used to read to me from it and i’ve always said it was my favorite book. the problem is that she would rework the stories to make them less gory, because she thought fiction shouldn’t be violent if real life already was, so when i finally read the book on my own after she died i was shocked! so maybe not fiabe italiane, but i’m not sure what else to say.”

[realtalk-princeton]

Don't know whether to major in ORFE, COS, or ECON. I really love the financial sector in NYC and always wanted to work as an analyst in nyc for a group like goldman or jane street. Do you guys have any suggestions? I'm looking to major in something that will prepare me with the skills needed for finance jobs.

Response from Sulpicia:

Literally dozens of graduates from each of those majors go to jobs like the one you want every year, and so I wouldn’t consider one necessarily “better” than the others. I think that the most important thing is taking coursework across all three departments (plus other relevant departments) that will give you the skills you need, rather than just picking a major. Have you looked at the Finance certificate yet? That might interest you.

Since you can basically go into finance with any major and there’s a lot of crossover between the ones you picked (e.g. it’s totally doable to be an Econ major and get a COS certificate), I would consider which discipline/department you would feel the most comfortable spending two years with. Do you want to be AB or BSE? AB will likely provide more flexibility, but if you have a lot of AP credit BSE might let you take more classes in your area of interest and fewer in random distribution areas. Do you have friends in any department? Ask them what their classes and independent work are like. What sort of academic work do you imagine yourself doing? Ultimately, you major doesn’t matter THAT much because of the flexibility of Princeton coursework, so pick the place where you feel like you will be happiest and most engaged.

Response from Sushi:

Sulpicia ninja’d me but I hadwritten all of this already so I will add it here.

Iwill defer to Pichu, Edamame, Maybach, Harvey, or other contributors if theyhave different opinions on this question since they have more experience in thefield. They are free to delete my answer if they think it’s wrong/insufficient,but I wanted to provide some input from a not-completely-finance perspectivesince you asked about COS as well. I am speaking from the position ofinterviewing at companies such as Goldman/similar companies, as well asinterviewing at trading companies such as Jane Street/similar companies. I alsodid a Princeternship and another program at Jane Street, and lastly, I haveworked at a similar company in the past.

First,I think that you have to define which jobs you are interested in within the“financial sector.” There are hundreds of different kinds of niche jobs infinance. Investment banking is very different than private equity, working fora venture fund, etc. Since you asked about Goldman and Jane Streetspecifically, I will speak to my knowledge of those.

Ananalyst at places like Goldman is very different from being an analyst atplaces like Jane Street. This is evident even from the interviews. I have foundthat Goldman/similar interview is very focused on financial knowledge(terminology from ECO 362 but information from beyond ECO 362). If you applyfor a quant position at Goldman/similar, you will also have to demonstratebasic coding skills (my friends passed the bar with just COS 126). But you doNOT need COS at all for a job at Goldman/similar. You may have to do some extraself-studying because the knowledge gained by the finance certificate is notenough, but it’s mostly just qualitative econ knowledge that you have to know.

Onthe other hand, a Jane Street recruiter told me that they don’t look atpeople’s resumes unless they’ve already taken probability theory (ORF 309 here)for trading positions or functional programming (COS 326 here, they also lookfor algorithms COS 226) for software engineering positions (or have done theequivalent and have sufficient evidence to prove that, such as high level mathcompetitions for trading and a coursera/etc. course and sufficient sideprojects for software engineering). Also, at one of the companies similar toJane Street, a recruiter told me that they don’t even care whether you have anyfinancial background, they just want you to have the problem-solving ability,modeling/statistical analysis ability, and coding ability to take on a positionthere, and they will teach you all the finance when you join.

AlsoI think another consideration in choosing a company that you will ultimatelyend up in is the work-life balance. The lifestyles at these companies are alsovery different: I’ll give two different examples here since both Goldman andJane Street are near the middle of the spectrum of no work-life balance towork-life balance. I’ve heard that at BAML interns work 120+ hours a week,whereas at some more tech-focused trading companies like Citadel, there’s morework-life balance and it’s the very typical 40 hours a week workweek.

Sothe first step is realizing that you probably will need a different skillset tosucceed in acquiring a job at either of these companies. The people I know whointerned at Jane Street are COS or Math majors. The majority of people I knowwho interned at Goldman are COS, ORF, and ECO, though I do know plenty ofhumanities majors there too. Goldman also has a variety of positions. Theirtypical summer analyst position compared to more engineering type quantpositions (though if you want to do quant I would suggest not doing it at an IBplace, since you would probably have a better experience).

Second,however, you can get a job in finance regardless of what you major in, as longas you pass the resume screen and interviews, and you have the requisite skillsneeded for the position. As I said before, I know plenty of non-econ humanitiesmajors who get jobs at Goldman. If you want to work at Jane Street, any of themore mathematically-oriented majors would work, as long as you take therequired ORF/ECO/MAT classes to be considered. I believe Maybach has written atlength about this, and you can view it through the search bar, but it does noteven matter if you are math track or frat track econ to get these jobs. As longas you can pass the interview (there are plenty of resources online about this,also check Glassdoor for specific questions for specific companies), you willbe fine. Just choose a major where you can make sure that your GPA is above 3.5(3.6 preferred, higher for more selective companies like Jane Street) so thatyou pass the resume screen cutoff.

Also,I would like to add that if you are 100% sure you are going into industry, youdo not need to consider independent work strongly in your major choice. This isbecause you will spend more time prepping for interviews/interviewing in thefall/recruiting for interviews in the spring than doing your independent work(and most of the people I know who wanted to go into industry were 1) bse sothey didn’t have to write a thesis or 2) just wrote bs independent work so theycould graduate).

Hereare some courses that serve as baseline knowledge for the interviews for thesecompanies:

Goldman/similarANALYST: ECO 362 plus lots of self-study, no cos necessary

Goldman/similarQUANT: ECO 362 plus self-study, COS 126/226

JaneStreet/similar QUANT: COS 126/226, ORF 245/309/524/526, no econ necessary

JaneStreet/similar SOFTWARE: COS 126/226/326, no econ necessary

Response from Pichu:

^yeah sushi’s right for the most part and also why would i delete your answer you wrote so much lol. to OP: i would add ORF 335 to the list of courses for more quantitative roles. it’s the same as ECO 362 except you learn the derivations behind everything and actually understand what everything means.

goldman and jane street are pretty different types of companies, in regards to the types of roles available and culture. it seems like you just threw those 2 names out there because you heard people make a lot of money there. so from that it seems like youre not very intellectually driven, in which case the less quantitative and technical roles are probably more for you. so like investment banking or sales & trading at a bank, but basically everyone wants to do that so you should be prepared for some pretty intense competition (and long hours).

In the off-chance that you actually are intellectually curious and are actually interested in things like applied math (which is the same as ORFE) or math, then yeah like sushi said just get good at probability and apply to prop trading places like jane street or optiver. some will expect you to know some finance, some won’t care. if you put anything finance-related on your resume like a class you took, then be prepared to be asked about it. but yeah the culture there is a lot different than at banks, most people at prop trading firms are math/cs people, kinda nerdy, casual dress code that kinda thing.

but truth be told, no job will be super quantitative, even ones with the word “quant” in the name. if you’re actually interested in real quant work, a masters/phd is the way to go. this comes from multiple sources who are pretty experienced in the “financial sector in NYC” as you like to call it