#allistic saviorism

[iamtryingtobelieve]

Bah! I copied and pasted all the ones I wanted to ask and Tumblr is being dumb and won’t let me paste and honestly, too lazy to redo. So you get a screenshot ask!! 💕

Sorry it's very late but thank you very much Sara <3

1 - Top 10 Favourite Songs of All Time So this isn't a definitive top 10 as my choices tend to ebb and flow over the years but my number 1 pick has been my number 1 pick for a good 12/13 years now

Nine Inch Nails - In This Twilight

The Beatles - A Day In The Life

Lana Del Rey - Pawn Shop Blues

CHVRCHES - Under The Tide

blink-182 - Stay Together For The Kids

The 1975 - Sex

Enter Shikari - Mothership

Manic Street Preachers - William's Last Words

Green Day - Macy's Day Parade

Linkin Park - Waiting For The End

12 - 3 Songs That Make You Nostalgic?

Basshunter - All I Ever Wanted

Son of Dork - Ticket Outta Loserville

Allister - Somewhere On Fullerton

24 - Least Favourite Genre of Music? I don't really have one particularly and the ones I could put here, admittedly I've not dug deep enough to find anything I like. However the whole mc'ing/grime/drill/whatever the hell it is nowadays I can never get on board with, especially over here in the UK where some of this has caused such a problem that kids are genuinely losing their lives and causing all sorts of problems.

35 - Favourite Vocalist? Mike Patton... that absolute range and experimentation and weirdness you can do with the voice... holy shit

36 - Favourite Guitarist? Herman Li is one that instantly springs to mind for me - still has vivid flashbacks to hearing Through The Fire And The Flames for the first time

37 - Favourite Bassist? Les Claypool hands down. One of the reasons I'm interested in bass guitar and of course, Mike Dirnt from Green Day

38 - Favourite Drummer Ilan Rubin

42 - Top 3 Instrumental Songs (i could easily make this list all NIN but wanted to be fair)

Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place

The 1975 - Please Be Naked

John Murphy - In The House, In A Heartbeat

53 - Do You Have Any Tattoos Related To Bands/Artists? Not at the moment. I'm not against getting one though but inspiration hasn't struck me just yet

60 - Put Your Music Player On Shuffle and List The First 20 Songs (Be Honest!)

My Chemical Romance - The Ghost of You

Deftones - When Girls Telephone Boys

Sabrina Carpenter - Juno

The Japanese House - Still

Muse - Ghosts (How Can I Move On)

Less Than Jake - History of a Boring Town

Joji - Mr Hollywood

Phoebe Bridgers - Savior Complex

Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants

The Primitives - Crash

The Replacements - Swingin' Party

Joy Division - Atmosphere

The Yayhoos - Baby I Love You

Eels - 3 Speed

Bring Me The Horizon - Crucify Me

The Connells - '74/'75

Paramore - Brick By Boring Brick

Pulp - Like a Friend

Wolf Alice - Lisbon

Thanks for asking Sara <3

[thatcrazynerdgirl-blog1]

So upon watching Radio (2003) and just being a general consumer of media, I think I’ve realized the problem a lot of media has with representations of autistic/neurodivergent people and characters. That being that the story rarely centers the neurodivergent character in question other than as an object of interest.

What do I mean by this? It sort of falls into the same trap a lot of white savior story lines fall into. High budget Hollywood, especially in the past, could hardly tell stories about racial struggles without having it told through a white perspective. Examples include the Help, the Blind Side, etc. Hell even in allegorical stories, such as Avatar or Atlantis, the allegorical POC rarely get to tell their own story. Of course the problem is that these stories are often framed in how they relate to the white person rather than the actual issues the POC characters are going through.

A lot of autistic media similarly has an allistic person looking at them from the outside, rather than getting a look inside their inner world. Radio (2003) follows this closely. Radio (the central autistic character) is not the pov character but a point of interest for the coach of a football team, who is the actual main character. Similar stories, even if sympathetic to the character, tend to define the character by how they differ from the allistic characters. Worse versions of these stories can instead focus on the burden or struggles of working/living with autistic people, with examples including Music (2021) and other stories. Even worse these characters tend to be very static while allistic characters have the character arc that is focused on.

Even stories that do make the autistic character the main character, such as the Good Doctor (2017), still tend to make their autistic character a spectacle and frequently focus on how other people react to them.

This isn’t even restricted to inaccurate representation of autistic people. A common criticism of the 2018 Shera reboot and Entrapta is how she is often framed by how difficult other characters find it to work with her. At the very least, Shera gives a look at Entrapta’s inner world.

And it isn’t impossible for this to be done well. Stories of autistic characters and their struggles need to be told. However, these stories can be told while also giving a look at the inner world of the autistic character in question instead of forever wonder what’s going on in their head. Stories of social/education struggles have been told for years and been able to properly show how the characters are affected internally. If Good Will Hunting is able to talk about educational, financial, and personal struggles while still giving a look at Will’s inner world, why can’t more autistic characters tell their own stories? ADHD and dyslexic characters are able to be the focus and have powerful arcs, so why not autistic characters?

Thankfully more stories are actually placing autistic characters (or at least very coded autistic characters with no official confirmation) as main players without being a spectacle. I adore Aaron in Mitchells vs the Machines for how he is able to both be autistic and have a character arc. Donnie in ROTTMNT is a dynamic and fun character with many different character arcs who happens to be autistic. His neurodivergence is a part of him but it is far from his only defining feature.

This isn’t even getting into the problem of autistic characters and people rarely being portrayed by autistic actors but that’s a rant for another time.

Please feel free to add anything I missed or correct me where I’m wrong, this just occurred to me.

[wutbju]

Guy J. Hefner, 91, of Hamilton, OH went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on August 18, 2023 surrounded by his loving family. He was born on September 25, 1931, in Charleston, West Virginia to Ellodean H. and Guy H. Hefner. He was married to Colleen J. Tandy on December 28, 1954 in Miami, Florida.

Guy is survived by his two children, Carolyn Jan McAllister (Dale) of Hamilton, OH and Bradley Jay Hefner of Mason, OH; two granddaughters, Marilyn Joyce Cameron (Brooke) of Nashville, TN and Nancy Jan McAllister McLain (Matt) of Susanville, CA; and two great-grandsons, Griffin Allister Cameron and Lochlan Gunner Cameron of Nashville, TN.

Guy was preceded in death by Colleen, his loving wife of 66 years, his brother Dave L. Hefner, and his parents Ellodean H. (Drake) Hefner and Guy J. Hefner.

Guy was a very positive, loving man, dedicated to God and his family. He was an active member of 1st Baptist Church of Hamilton for 58 years, serving as Sunday School teacher, on the board of Trustees and as Moderator for many years. He excelled in football, playing for Graham High School in Bluefield, VA and later at Concord College. Due to an injury, he transferred to Bob Jones University where he met his future wife, Colleen Tandy. Guy graduated in 1955 with a B.S. degree in Art and History, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduation. He served as a Marine for 15 years, both active and reserve, and was discharged as a Captain.

In 1957 in Atlanta, GA, Guy began his 35-year career with The Prudential Insurance Company as a District Agent. A promotion to Sales Manager in 1961 relocated him to Birmingham, AL. Then in September of 1965, Guy was named the new District Manager of the Hamilton, OH District Office, serving 27 years until his retirement in 1992.

In 1993 Guy pursued his dream and thru hiked the 2,155 mile long Appalachian Trail. Then again in 2003, he completed the A.T. as a section hiker.

Guy enjoyed many special trips with his family, and was such a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather, supporting his children and granddaughters in their many activities. Popa was so very proud of his granddaughters, Marilyn and Nancy, and great-grandsons, Griffin and Lochlan. Guy and Colleen spent 66 wonderful years together and are now once again united. Even though he will be greatly missed, we all look forward to seeing Guy, Daddy, and Popa in Heaven some day!

[thechangeling]

I was reading your co-signing the narrative post- great post btw- and your thoughts on Kit Lightwood helped me figure out exactly what bothers me about the way other characters talk about and treat him.

So, there’s this kind of this running “joke” in TLH that Christopher’s interests are boring, that everyone else puts up with it him as though it’s this big nuisance, that everyone zones out hearing him talk… and on and on and on.*** And then there’s this scene where Grace is genuinely interested or at least not bringing him down about his self-expression and the things that bring him joy, and that’s romanticized as special when it’s really kind of the bare fuckin minimum. Like, I’m not saying James/Matthew/Thomas had to immerse themselves completely in every sciency detail but the constant “jokes” implying that Christopher’s work is boring or incomprehensible or not worth their time is just so tiring. There’s always an undercurrent of “Christopher’s just playing around uselessly” (which is not true and even when he’s having fun with his work then it’s still automatically WORTHY and VALUABLE because it makes him happy!) Not to mention this recurring problem directly contradicts the value that Christopher’s work has (beyond its inherent value) when he sends it into the world to literally save lives: the poison antidote, the fire messages that will probably come about in CoT.

And the thing is, the merry thieves’ disinterest is directly meant to foil grace’s interest in order to lend the Grace/Kit relationship a certain significance, as CC assigns to it. I’m not saying shared excitement over an interest/hobby/career/field/etc isn’t sweet platonically or romantically. I just really dislike how the idea CC is using is “no one else can bear to tolerate Kit’s ‘quirks’ but Grace, and that is Endearing, and so they are Soulmates (TM)” rather than the much healthier and positive idea that “Kit does cool sciencey stuff which his family and friends generally don’t share as strong a passion for but still don’t huff about it like it’s somehow a chore or a burden on them, and then Grace comes along and she does happen to share a similar passion and that’s the beginning of their ties to one another.” That second reasoning is what could make their friendship really refreshing; we don’t need ableism poorly twined into romance to enjoy that relationship.

I haven’t read TDA in a while but I’m thinking we could also find touches of this with Ty partly because so much of when we see him is from Kit’s POV? Not that Kit means harm or thinks himself heroic but CC on the other hand is a repeat offender in “abled/white/straight/cis character is ultimately and completely responsible for the salvation of disabled/POC/queer character in this aspect.” And I’m kind of half dreading the wicked powers for that reason among others …

I apologize if all this seems obvious or rambly. I do sometimes have trouble articulating things exactly but when I read your post i had a lightbulb moment and I wanted to note it down.

Have a great day!

***Side Note: this is why I really enjoy fan-created content that explores Christopher’s relationships with people (even people he didn’t interact with on-page in the canon) without that annoying and problematic aspect built into the framework of the relationship.

^^^^^^^^^THIS ALL OF THIS!!!!!!

Full disclosure this is gonna be kind of long sorry. But you have stumbled across my favourite topic to rant about. Allistic saviorism. Basically the name is pretty self explanatory. It's when an allistic person fictional or otherwise has the desire to or actively attempts to essentially "save" the autistic person from the horrors of the world or their life, or even themselves because they think that the autistic person isn't strong or capable enough to fix/handle it on their own. All of this is usually done for very self serving reasons. Part of this is also allistic people being praised as heroes for being nice to autistic people or asking them out, or loving them.

I don't neccesarily think that kitty is an allistic savior ship on it's own. I think that there are definitely peices of those beliefs scattered throughout the books and it might get worse in TWP. That's honestly something that I'm worried about too tbh. But honestly I think that the fandom made it a billion times worse.

This mainly allistic fandom wanted to romanticize the idea of Kit taking care of Ty and shouldering the burden of his "unpredictability." Kit is the only one who can get through to Ty. The only one who understands the mystery that is Ty 🙄. Some of this is canon too. For example, Ty can look Kit in the eye, he lets him touch him. He doesn't wear the headphones when Kit's around right? And Kit was able to calm him down during his meltdown.

And while some of this is really cute from a romantic perspective, it's also kinda problematic because it reeks of allistic saviorism. It promotes the idea that Kit is like Ty's "cure." And that's just impossible.

And honestly I know I've contributed to this in some ways. Because if I'm being perfectly honest with you, there's a part of me that enjoys that. The romantization of autism.

The idea of being taken care of.

The idea that someone could love an autistic person and see them as "beautiful" and "extraordinary" and all the things Kit calls Ty, was incredibly moving and appealing to me as a kid. It still is. Because I grew up on stories of charity cases and allistic saviorism making headlines with prom dates. I was super secretive about it, but I was always a romantic growing up. But I thought that it was impossible for me to have a real love story because people like me don't get that. (Not to get all sob story on you sorry. I overshare. It's an autistic thing.)

And there are some really compelling things about kitty that really do work. And I'm not trying to suggest that Kit learning to help Ty with the ...shall we say more colourful traits of his disability is a bad thing always. It's not. But I think the issue is with Ty's lack of pov and Ty's lack of a narrative in the books. It makes him seem like less of a completely developed character and more like, "Kit's" you know?

And because we don't have Ty's pov we don't really get what makes Kit have this sort of calming effect on him or why it's different. And more importantly we don't get why Ty's letting him in, we only get Kit pushing past his boundries. The entire thing becomes about Kit essentially and that's at the root of all allistic saviorism.

Also like you mentioned before, Kit is seen as special to a certain extent because he can handle Ty. That's not neccesarily something the character believes obviously, but again with CC co-signing the damn narrative with the way she makes the impact Kit has on Ty such a big deal in everyone's eyes and in QOAAD she really emphasizes the drain Ty's necromancy plan is taking on Kit, suddenly Ty's grief becomes all about Kit and with no pov from Ty, it's more allistic savior bs.

Honestly most of this isnt actually THAT bad it's just when you throw it all together and look at the ugly history and let's be honest present, of autistic people being silenced and spoken over by our caregivers and loved ones and we are treated like burdens on them, and how those people are praised for loving us, it kinda looks bad. But the fandom definitely made it worse.

I always get criticized for criticizing kitty by allistic people with, " well if you think they're so toxic then why do you even ship them?" Which is a piss poor take lacking in any nuance. An autistic person has the right to critique a dynamic involving an autistic character. More to the point, you can love something and be critical of it. I swear when this fandom finally figures that one out... we could accomplish so much.

I'm really hoping this is making sense it's like 2 in the morning. As for Grace and Christopher's dynamic I agree with you. I basically have nothing to add. Bare minimum. Should not be idolized. The way the others treat him should not just be brushed off as no big deal. It's ableism.

Basically it's just a bunch of classic mistakes that come from a neurotypical abled writer writing nd characters. Some mistakes are more damning then others. But it does make me scared for TWP.

I can only hope.

[zo1nkss]

Sara's whole character arc is so important to me as a resident Bitch With AuDHD.

Listen to me, okay? I have genuinely never seen an autistic character who was so casually autistic on screen without being a savior, a cautionary tale, or somehow tied up so much in being autistic that nothing else existed.

Not only that, but her morals are brought into question on multiple occasions. But it's never even implied(imo) that her autism OR adhd are to blame. Not by anyone on screen, at least. Im both s1 AND s2 she clearly chooses to believe and uphold ambiguous morals and ideals(like trying to enforce classism at home, or choosing to lie for August)

She struggles a lot with making sound decisions based on all the evidence bc she gets caught up in small details very easily, but this isn't made into some life shattering ordeal. She makes big mistakes and feels deep remorse for them, but her ability to change and learn from those choices isn't brought into question and I think that's the significant difference here that really gets to me.

Sara's not vilified or denied support or opportunity because she's AuDHD. People don't decide for her that she can't see the harm her actions have caused, in fact I think they do a really good job highlighting the difference in communication between Sara as an autistic and her allistic friends.

To her, this is a horrible thing she's done and they obviously never want to speak to her again. It's very common to go to extremes like that when ur autistic bc it /feels/ like every choice we make matters 100%, when that's not really how life works.

To them, this is a fracture in the structure of a friendship they're building and they want to talk it through. Find a solution. They don't want to just call it quits but she thinks they'll change their mind bc that's what she expects. I think they def need time to rebuild trust, she violated a lot of ppl's privacy and sabotaged her family(intending for something different to happen, but still). But they made it clear they don't want her to just leave. That was a conclusion she came to on her own.

Obviously this is only *one* example of autism and adhd and how they effect ppl's perspective and communication style. But as far as rep goes, it's done so casually as just part of the story and not a whole plot on it's own. It feels so different than most rep I've seen. And her morals aren't brought into question because of her NDs. But it's still made clear through the narrative - as long as you know the signs - that these mistakes are connected to them either way.

[notmuchofarolemodel]

music- sia’s movie

originally written on jan 24 2021

I can’t believe i’m writing about this. again.

So, if you didn’t already know, Sia directed a movie about an autistic girl, starring Maddie Ziegler. This is problematic for so many reasons, including the fact that Maddie is allistic (not autistic), Sia did next to no research on autism before directing the movie, and after announcing the movie, she took to twitter and attacked autistic people voicing their opinions. But she’s done so many more awful things since. So yay, article by me, the sequel. /s

Sia has done a few interviews over the last while about her movie and has responded to criticism about it. (very badly.)

Despite her claims, Sia was never going to cast an autistic actor in the first place. She said:

“I realized it wasn’t ableism [Casting Maddie]. I mean, it is ableism I guess as well, but it’s actually nepotism because I can’t do a project without her. I don’t want to. I wouldn’t make art if it didn’t include her.”

It was also found that Sia said had written a film for Maddie a long time ago- in 2015- which almost certainly means she never had any intentions of casting an autistic person.

The plot of the movie, and a clip have both been leaked since the release of the trailer in November.

‘Music’ falls back on harmful Hollywood sterotypes again, and again- but yet, after it was no longer fresh news, almost nobody but the autistic community was talking about it. It’s still set to be released soon this year, but stereotypes such as ‘autism = special/savant abilities’ as seen in Rain man, and ‘Autistic people don’t have feelings’ - are ones that lead to underdiagnosis, and biases in the professional world.

“We are particularly alarmed that Sia has said it would be ‘cruel’ to cast a nonspeaking autistic person as an actor. It suggests that she thinks that autistic people don’t understand our own lives and aren’t the people who should be telling our own stories. When people tell stories about autism that cut out an autistic point of view, when storytellers view us as objects to tell inspirational stories about, or when autism is treated as a narrative device rather than as a disability community full of real people, the stories that are told fall flat, don’t speak to our reality, and are often harmful to us.” -Zoe Gross, ASAN

Sia refused to refer to her main character as disabled, and only used the term ‘special abilities’ which just further proves how these sterotypes affect people’s view of autistic people. In today’s society, autism is a disability, and that’s not a bad thing. She also described the film as “Rainman, the musical- but with girls”

There are several meltdown scenes in the movie, and one of them has been leaked in a clip. In this, Music is having a meltdown in a park, and she is then held in prone restraint. Meaning she was jumped on top of and pinned to the ground. This was not only unnecessary, but potentially deadly. This film is going to be big, if it gets released, and it was very much made for a neurotypical audience’s enjoyment. People will likely see this movie, and think that restraining an autistic person is ok. It’s not. This is how people get killed. Recently a story came up about Eric Parsa, a 16 year old autistic boy who was killed at the hands of the police last year, after they used this ‘technique’ on him.

Regarding this scene Sia said, “If they [cinema-goers] watch the movie, it will allow them to touch into their compassion. That scene was so important to me, because of all the people staring. I felt compelled to put it in.”

This is why people need to listen and learn from actual autistic people. There’s so much dangerous misinformation out there, and it’s unacceptable. There is nothing ‘compassionate’ about harming people, and autistic people are people. i.e people who deserve the same rights and dignity as everyone else.

Sia continues to further dehumanize autistic people by constantly talking about ‘levels of functioning’. humans are impossibly complex, and there’s no one way to function. In an interview with Sia, nonspeaking autistic people are compared to ‘inanimate objects, like wigs’.

Sia also said “People functioning at Music’s level can’t get on Twitter and tell me I did a good job either.” This is untrue, firstly because, again- there’s no one way to function, and just because a person can’t speak, doen’t mean they don’t have a right to opinions, and feelings (and it definitely doesn’t mean they should be compared to ‘inanimate objects’), and secondly because many nonspeaking autistic people have taken to twitter and social media to tell her she’s done a bad job, she’s just chosen to ignore and insult them.

This whole thing is so infuriating, and it’s very obvious that Sia does not care about autistic people.

“Sia being ableist AF while claiming she meant well is some serious abled savior bullshit. I can’t believe so many people green-lit this project & the press team approved the ‘special abilities’ language. Disabled people clearly weren’t part of this production team.” -Kristen Parisi via twitter

She also claimed she decided to make the movie because she was inspired by a 16-year-old named Stevie that she met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. “Stevie used to sit next to me in the front row at my AA meetings. He was low-functioning and on the spectrum with echolalia; he’s the reason I wanted to make this movie,” she said. Autistic people don’t exist simply to be inspiring or make you feel good about yourself. We’re people, who just want to go about our lives, the same as anyone else- we don’t need a cure and we don’t need to fit people’s idea of what autism is, just let us be, please.

Finally, I’m just going to touch on the question ‘Why isn’t any criticism being directed at Maddie?’ This is because she likely didn’t have much say in the film at all. Keep in mind that she was only 13/14 at the start of this project. Sia also said Maddie was worried that people would think she was mocking autistic people. The film is a mockery of autistic people, but Sia is at fault.

“She had researched her role for two years, we watched movies together, and I taught her the nuances and ticks I had observed from [a] friend [with autism],” Sia said. “We did this in the most sensitive and respectful way.”

I can confirm that that is very much not sensitive and respectful- not to mention that Maddie also watched autism meltdowns as a part of her reseach too (filming a meltdown is incredibly dehumanizing) , but the fact that she learned how to ‘act autistic’ from sterotypes, taught to her by a person who just, doesn’t know anything about autism is awful, but also quite absurd. It makes no sense.

No, I do not wish to watch an abled-bodied actor wear my stims like itchy clothes. A caricature of my being.

No, I do not want to see her dance around in skin not her own, profiting from a life not her own.

No, I do not wish to support yet another film that will profit off the lives of disabled bodies without one disabled body involved. -tiffany hammond

I recieved quite a bit of backlash when I posted the first time about why casting a nondisabled actor for a disabled role is bad- from allistic people, so if any of you are reading this as nondisabled people- I literally do not care if you disagree, you don’t get to dictate how autistic people feel. Try a little harder to get out of your own head and see things from another person’s perspective xx

Now, for the love of God, please don’t watch this movie if it comes out in February, and listen to Autistic voices. : Here is a thread of positive autistic representation instead :)

click here for thread!

Sign the Petition

Filming & posting videos of children's autism meltdowns on YouTube is a clear violation of YouTube's community…www.change.org

link

Sign the Petition

Sia has announced she is directing a movie about an autistic woman, and claims she wants to represent the…www.change.org

all other relevant links are linked within the underlined text.

my original article - link

[localdiscountgoth]

why are allistic people so obsessed with person first language.

my own personal opinion is that exclusively policing that narrative makes it seem like autism is bad, something to be ashamed of.

‘your just a person who happens to be autistic.’ my dude, it impacts me everyday. its a part of me and my experiences which have made up my personality. its a part of me.

i mean obviously dont use it as a descriptor like you would do with someone who has blonde hair and glasses

it just feels super savior complex

why are allistic people fighting me on this. why wont they listen to actual autistic people. why are they sighting research papers written by allistic people. why are they so obsessed and where did this come from.

im also open to hearing the opinions of other autistic people (yes this includes self diagnosed)

[crystalelemental]

Aera, I have to keep this under a cut, there’s a lot.

“books-are-my-life-stuff: Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about the story event! I had fun reading all of them! I'm surprised that you like A Golden Future, even though (if I remember correctly) you're rather indifferent towards Morty as a character. I agree with what you said about the event, though! To me, my favorite story events are:

#3. Midnight Spookfest (Halloween 2021) #2. Hearts United #1. A Golden Future

Hearts United is really great to showcase how far the character has come, how they have overcome so many difficulties to reach this point. It's really touching, especially during N and Lillie's side of the story.

Halloween 2021 is because I'm biased. Morty and Caitlin's outfits are amazing. Allister made his appearance. And best of all, the fact that everyone almost got killed just because Morty didn't want to hurt Pumpkaboo's feelings by rejecting its offer to escort them to afterlife. I literally laughed out loud at that part, that's so silly I love Morty so much.

A Golden Future is my favorite for...obvious reasons. I cried so much when reading the story, it's so good and I'm happy for Morty. Honorable mentions for the Ideal Formula, who used to be my #1 favorite until A Golden Future dethroned it. I still bawled when Hilbert and N talked about the end of BW games with Unwavering Emotions in harmonica played. It was such a great moment.”

All very solid picks.  The 2021 Halloween one was close to the top as well, probably fifth favorite?  It didn’t have quite enough for me to love it as much as the others, but Caitlin being one of my top favorites was a good bit of bias as well, and I loved how she’s super excited but trying to remain composed so only Darach really notices how into this she is.  It’s just really cute, I love her.  Hearts United was okay, but I felt like the anniversary events didn’t really do enough.  They kinda just existed, and I wished they did more.  Especially knowing that Shining Heart of Dragons was technically part of the 1.5 anniversary, and that one’s fantastic.  I dunno.  Sometimes they do amazing writing work, and sometimes it feels like they’re pressured to put something out just to have the characters do a thing.

“A Pasio Spectacle is definitely the best solo event period. Everything about the event is just really great.

It's funny that my favorite Legendary Events are almost the same as you, except Pure Heart and Rainbow Wings are at #2 while Dragon that Rules the Sky is at #3. I like Zinnia, and I'm glad that she got her happy ending with Rayquaza.  Zinnia's storyline is kiiinda similar to Morty's in a way that both Morty and Zinnia wanted to be recognized by a Legendary Pokemon, but are considered unworthy and they chose the protagonists instead. Then they got their wanted Legendary at the end.

New World Dilemma would have been my top 3 if Sinnoh Villain Arc didn't ruin it, I still love it though. Give and Take is also great, it makes me like Sycamore, but yeah I agree with what you said.”

I think Zinnia’s just didn’t have the same level of impact for me, because...really, I just never connected with Zinnia?  She’s kind of obnoxious to me?  And to be honest, I find their circumstances different enough that I can appreciate Morty’s struggle, but not Zinnia’s.  Morty wants to better himself to be worthy of the legendary Ho-oh, and his ultimate goal is fairly low-stakes.  While Zinnia felt like she wanted to play the savior more than anything, but is at least willing to step aside to let someone else literally save the world.  Her search for Rayquaza never felt as personal to me, I guess.

Sinnoh Villain Arc is the greatest tragedy of this game, and I wish we could get a mulligan.  They somehow produced three of the coolest trainer/Pokemon pairs ever, and still made a bad story out of it.  I can’t believe it.

“Again, thanks a lot for sharing your opinions! Sorry that I couldn't help myself but to share my favorites too, but it's rare to be able to discuss about the event's story considering a lot of Masters players don't read the event story like what you found out back then. Glad to share opinions regarding the story with you who also like to read the story!”

You’re welcome!  I actually really like the story bits, and most of the events are at least decent.  Very few tend to be ones I dislike.  I think they do some great work with the source material, and I’m really looking forward to the Johto Villain Arc.

[writesistersociety]

Writing Disability and Neurodivergency

Writing Disability and Neurodivergency- Some simples Dos and Don’ts from a Person who is Both

Diverse representation in media is extremely important, and it’s more than just skin color or sexual/gender identity. Disability and neurodivergency are often grossly misrepresented in media, if they get represented at all. As an allistic, able-bodied, cishet woman, I’m constantly striving to put more diverse representation in my stories, but sometimes it gets scary! I’m a bad researcher, what if what I look up is wrong? When I’m so nervous about it, how do I know the line between accuracy and othering? 

I want to be able to represent these often marginalized and overlooked groups in a respectful way that doesn’t put my perception of them over what they feel and really are, so I talked to my friend @Franzidoeseverything on Instagram, and this is the rundown that thon gave me: 

“Word of advice, hold the opinions of someone living with the condition they’re talking about higher than someone who has a similar issue, but not the same thing. For example, I can’t talk about what it’s like to be in a wheelchair, but someone in a wheelchair who doesn’t have EDS cannot talk about what it’s like to have EDS. Same goes for neurodiversity, I can educate about autism but not ADHD.

NEURODIVERGENT CHARACTERS (Specifically Autism)

Don’t make them super weird or strange in unnecessary ways, but don’t try to make them as “normal” as possible. Stimming, being overwhelmed, shut downs, meltdowns, and things to accommodate sensory needs are normal for us, and they should be portrayed as such. Portraying them as weird, strange, or unnatural is gross. But simultaneously don’t make us as “neurotypical” as possible, don’t hide the less flattering sides of it, don’t hide the joy either.

Always avoid person first language. Say “autistic people” not “people with autism.” Make sure you’re using the right vocabulary.

Autistics aren’t robots, geniuses, or “special needs.” We’re disabled because our brains function differently in some ways.

All of our needs are different. Some autistics are nonverbal, some are hyper verbal, etc. We are not cookie cutters, we are just as unique, diverse, and individual as NTs. 

ALWAYS avoid stereotypes like Sheldon cooper and such.

Try your best to portray positive aspects of neurodiversity as actually positive. For example: “They were so overcome with joy about the news they couldn’t hold in from flapping their hands and jumping, a pure, unfiltered expression of happiness” is a better way to portray stimming than “Overcome with the news they couldn’t hold it in, as hard as they tried, and ended up flapping and jumping, which earned them some stares from everyone in the room.”

DISABILITY 

Everyone experiences pain differently. A wonderful, accurate, description of pain that comes to mind is the the beginning chapters of Misery by Stephen King. We usually have many different types of pain, caused by different things, and can sometimes distinguish between them.

We have good days and bad days, the good days are minimal pain (not none). The bad days are baddd. Learn about spoon theory, we use it to describe ourselves very frequently. 

DONT EVER CURE IT. DONT CURE PHYSICAL DISABILITIES OR NEUROLOGICAL. DONT DO IT. It’s horribly offensive and should always be avoided. Obvious exceptions for curable illnesses.

A disability will impact every single aspect of life, keep that in mind. For example, I have a lot of tooth issues due to EDS. 

Make sure your disabled character (physical or neurological) isn’t being infantilized by you. By other characters in order to make a point is fine, but as an author don’t forget disabled people smoke, drink, date, have a sex life, swear, get angry, get sad, feel joy, and every other aspect of life

Disabled characters should be in everything, even just as a background character, as long as they don’t exist for white saviorism or to make the main character look better. If you’re writing a piece with an emphasis on a disabled character, you have an ABSOLUTE DUTY to represent that community well or you cannot write that character. If you’re writing an autistic character, you bet your butt you’re personally gonna spotlight autistics, listen to them, and speak out against Autism $peaks.We aren’t inspiring for living day to day lives, stop the inspiration porn.”

Some general stereotypes to avoid:

Crazy/psycho ND character

Genius autistic

Sad good-for-nothing disabled character

Only there for inspiration disabled character

Only there to make another character look good disabled character

Only representing autistic children (it’s lifelong)

Saying “multiple personalities” instead of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, OSDD, etc).

OCD being only cleanliness character

Disabled character being cured or “finding God” and magically being fine (something about finding comfort in religion is obviously okay)

Some Instagram Accounts to Look At:

Thechronicon

Livingwaterless

Livingwithlilac

Living.With.Misophonia

Autiscope

Autism_unmasked

Actuallyautistictiktoks

Chronicallycatastrophic

How.u.feeling

Jessicaoutofthecloset

Sweetsensorystuff

εїз Happy Writing, Creative Minds  εїз

[thechildoflightning]

hi! I recently saw your post about writing autistic characters that said “Don’t play into the “savior caretaker” role. Know that autism falls on a spectrum and people experience it in all sorts of ways.” When you said this, did you mean don’t make the autistic character a caretaker, or when other characters taking care of them? Because my OC is a natural caretaker and loves to baby others and protect them. Would this be against your advice? Thank you!

Hi! This is forever late because I took a break from tumblr but I thought I’d still answer is you were still wondering or if anyone else is as well. I meant don’t make allistic (non autistic) characters “”heroes”” for taking care of an autistic person. While some autistic people do need support from various levels of caretakers, caretaking is a job. It’s not heroic. The idea of being heroic suggests an outstanding, incredible, noble action. It puts the idea into neurotypical people’s head that by interacting with or caring for an autistic person is a “heroic” action when in reality, it’s a normal daily occurrence. Don’t make us into the inspiration porn your character can feed off of.

That said, it can also be dangerous to make an autistic character a caretaker like you mentioned. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it! I’m autistic and I have a very caretaker personality that was exploited by people around me. I would say you can write a autistic person as a caretaker as long as you ask yourself 1) why are you writing them that way? what's the purpose? 2) If they weren't autistic would they sill be a caretaker? 3) are they used as inspiration porn? 4) do they struggle themselves and get support from others as well? It’s important to not let your character hold the weight of everyone else’s emotions and have them be the autistic caretaker that supports everyone around them while they get left in the dust. This is a dangerous, harmful trope.

If your character is only there to play the role as a caretaker because they are autistic, you need to change them. If that’s just another layer to their character, that’s okay. I’d also suggest getting a sensitivity reader and please be open to feedback from other autistic people. I only speak for myself and it’s important to remember we all have very different life experiences!

Hope this helps!

Remiel⚡

[sheisbeautyweareworldass]

Julians relationship with his siblings?? Please elaborate

oops, this has been sitting on here for a while, so sorry!! it’s not really my own criticism, more of a bunch of things i picked up on multiple discussions about this topic. @alastairxcarstairs recently answered an ask about her thoughts on julian and brought up some of his behavior with mark and ty on her tags. i believe @thechangeling previously talked about cc wrote him like an allistic savior if u r interested

[thechangeling]

Hey y'all with April on the horizon I need to ask the tsc fandom a favour.

Please don't make autism appreciation day about Ty.

There are real life autistics who need help. If you could just try and signal boost content from autistic creators or even donate to asan or Autistic women's and nonbinary network that would be super helpful. I don't really want to see allistics fawning over a fictional autistic character to show me their support. I'm sorry but that's kind of useless in the grand scheme of things.

And I'm not saying that representation is useless. I'm saying that sometimes in certain situations we need different things. On April 2nd we kinda need you to prove that you care about us irl. Especially since last year so many people in the fandom engaged in such blindingly tone deaf and ableist behavior on the day.

There were people making drawings with puzzle peices, writing cliche and stereotypical fanfics and even making cringy ass allistic savior like posts that maybe were supposed to be supportive but just triggered a lot of people.

I spent a day that is supposed to be for me angry and upset. I don't want to do that again.

Ok?

[zo1nkss]

Sara's whole character arc is so important to me as a resident Bitch With AuDHD.

Listen to me, okay? I have genuinely never seen an autistic character who was so casually autistic on screen without being a savior, a cautionary tale, or somehow tied up so much in being autistic that nothing else existed.

Not only that, but her morals are brought into question on multiple occasions. But it's never even implied(imo) that her autism OR adhd are to blame. Not by anyone on screen, at least. Im both s1 AND s2 she clearly chooses to believe and uphold ambiguous morals and ideals(like trying to enforce classism at home, or choosing to lie for August)

She struggles a lot with making sound decisions based on all the evidence bc she gets caught up in small details very easily, but this isn't made into some life shattering ordeal. She makes big mistakes and feels deep remorse for them, but her ability to change and learn from those choices isn't brought into question and I think that's the significant difference here that really gets to me.

Sara's not vilified or denied support or opportunity because she's AuDHD. People don't decide for her that she can't see the harm her actions have caused, in fact I think they do a really good job highlighting the difference in communication between Sara as an autistic and her allistic friends.

To her, this is a horrible thing she's done and they obviously never want to speak to her again. It's very common to go to extremes like that when ur autistic bc it /feels/ like every choice we make matters 100%, when that's not really how life works.

To them, this is a fracture in the structure of a friendship they're building and they want to talk it through. Find a solution. They don't want to just call it quits but she thinks they'll change their mind bc that's what she expects. I think they def need time to rebuild trust, she violated a lot of ppl's privacy and sabotaged her family(intending for something different to happen, but still). But they made it clear they don't want her to just leave. That was a conclusion she came to on her own.

Obviously this is only *one* example of autism and adhd and how they effect ppl's perspective and communication style. But as far as rep goes, it's done so casually as just part of the story and not a whole plot on it's own. It feels so different than most rep I've seen. And her morals aren't brought into question because of her NDs. But it's still made clear through the narrative - as long as you know the signs - that these mistakes are connected to them either way.

[imagine-pokemon]

Kabu but with a memey s/o lmaooo 🥺🥺

Did you mean: Me

If I get to heaven and God tells me I can’t come in because of my big fat crush on Kabu I’m coming after every single one of you and stealing all of your socks

---------

Kabu is completely clueless

He doesn’t really use social media at all, and it’s not because he’s old!!  He just doesn’t believe it adds anything important to his life s/o!

It’s definitely because he’s old

The first meme reference you made in front of him was “is that a weed” when he sent out his centiscorch for training

“S/o don’t call the cops!!”

He got really worried when you ran to the elevator and pressed the up button 3 times

Kabu really thought you were having a heat stroke of some sort

From then on you took it upon yourself to show him all of the current memes

He doesn’t get them at all and doesn’t really find them all that funny, but the way you laugh when you see him makes his heart swell with happiness so he supposes they’re not so bad

Kabu has made two memes

One was a send this to you s/o with no context and was edited by Gordie and Allister

The second one was of him asking a Nikit if he wanted to learn about the lord and savior Arceus

As long as you’re not doing something dangerous “for the meme” he’s okay with it

He made a secret meme account a month after you showed him what memes are, he knows you follow it but he finds it cute that you have no clue

[sneakymalou]

The post for Leon,Hop, and Raihan was so good! *because I’m so generous (and you probably don’t want this whole acc filled with Hop because I love him to the moon and back)* Could you do L,M,N,O,P for allister, Gordon, and Chairman Rose if it isn’t too much. Ps, If you don’t like the characters I picked you can always do our classic trio of Hop, Raihan, and Leon.

I'm so glad you liked it !! ( ˘ ³˘)♥ I totally understand your love for Hop, I've the same for Leon & Raihan (just can't choose between the two... not gonna happen 🥰) Let's go for three new boys, never wrote about them but I LOVE A GOOD CHALLENGE ! 🥳 (I love writing about pokemon so it's not too much don't worry ! ❤ Just, if you want 5 letters, I think I'll do a character per request ❤ that's why I'll do Gordie next time, if that's okay with u) Btw the way, I wanna hug cutie Allister forever 🤩

Allister

L   :   LOVE.   who does your muse love?

If somebody asks you that question, you're tempted to say his mask. The truth is, he never leaves it. Even when he sleeps, he let it on.

But you're his savior. He's young, always scary of every sound, weather, atmosphere... but he admires you deeply. He had the courage to tell you during the Pokemasters, when he had the chance to challenge you once more.

He loves everything about you : your voice, eye color, style, and of course your training technique. The first time he saw you, he was afraid. You were so confident and beautiful he couldn't breathe. Now, all he wants is to be by your side.

The best proof of his admiration and love for you ? He permitted his Mimikkyu to take a photo of him, mask off. And when you saw his face for the first time, he couldn't help but ask : “may I take it off ? I just... wan't to touch you...”

M   :   MOONLIGHT.   what is your muse’s ideal date? where / who with / etc?

Even if he doesn't look like one, Allister is a true romantic boy. If he asks you out, he manages to do it properly.

First, he charms you. He propose to take photos of both of you, to relax himself and be close to you. It's so difficult for him to open up he needs time to process it. Once he's more comfortable about the situation and the idea of going out, he asks you shyly, with hints. You're gonna have to guess what he truely wants sometimes...

Once the date is organized and settled, he brings you flowers. The D-day, he tries his best to look handsome, with a smooth and silky hair cut and classy clothes.

He'll go wherever you want. In fact, you probably might guide him for you first time. He wants it to be perfect... if you're not happy, it'd be a true failure for him.

N   :   NAUGHTY.   what is your muse like in bed?

Allister has needs, like everyone else. But he's also so shy and lost when it comes to love and touch that he doesn't know what to do.

Your first time have been epic : for a long time, he stood here, naked, looking at his feet as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. He was not only afraid but incapable of thinking straight.

He asked you several times what to do, what you liked, and you can't help but hug him when he asked you all of that. “If you don't want to, there's no hurry...” you whispered, heart broken to see him like this.

It was your kindness that helped him. “I never... if you guide me, I want to love you... learning everything you like. I want to love you in any ways possible...”

O   :   ODE.   does your muse have a way with words?

Definitively ! Making big sentences is impossible for him. He's so shy sometimes it's easier to talk with his pokemon. He's not wearing a mask for no reason, after all.

When he's at the gym stadium, he put his mask on and his more confident. It's probably the only place where nobody can frighten him.

Buuut he never does interview. He speaks only when necessary and in the first day of your relationship, you were a little shocked. Since then, he tried his best to talk to you frankly. He's still shy from time to time but you can handle : his efforts are not in vain, you love him too much to let him go...

P   :   PARTNER.   what does your muse look for in a partner? looks / personality?

Allister love the Haunter type for a reason : it's dark, elusive and even invisible. Perfect match for his personality, you have to admitt.

He always wear black and purple outfits, to match with his gym stadium atmosphere. Lots of people find him weirdo of course, but he doesn't care at all. Nobody can argue a personal taste for color right ?

That's maybe he started to love you with a single gaze : you never judge a book by its cover and you found his dark look pretty sexy. You love bright colors and being completely different is your strength.

Chairman Rose

L   :   LOVE.   who does your muse love?

Rose is a businessman, you can't help it. He loves his work, being around people and, most of all, being loves by people. He doesn't love one soul, but all souls of Galar.

At first you didn't think he was interested by you. His schedule is very, very busy and the number of his fan so big you can't remember the exact number.

Surprisingly, he invited you to dinner, and praised all those qualities of yours. You were not prepared for that. Beside blushing and smiling, you was oddly quiet. Him, the leader of all leaders, had a thing for you, of all people !

M   :   MOONLIGHT.   what is your muse’s ideal date? where / who with / etc?

Local food is in order. The first date you had was in a seafood restaurant, and after that, he kept surprising you with the best restaurant he knew. Rose is always encouraging local work and products, after all these two things helped him build his own fortune in the past.

He's fond of gifts, but he prefers to give than to receive one. That's how you ended with the most expensive necklace in the world at your first date. He loves to impress you, even if you don't need all of this to appreciate a moment with him.

In fact, having an hour in his company is pretty tricky : you hate everytime his assistant interrupts your date with an important meeting in her lips. His schedule is a nightmare for both of us, and you can't recall the last time you have spent all day by his side without an interruption...

N   :   NAUGHTY.   what is your muse like in bed?

Rose is a true man of experience : he knows exactly what he's doing and how to please you. To hear you express your satisfaction is a reason good enough to play with his fingers and tongue, and master your pleasure.

In other words, he's a very naughty man. He would make you beg for his touch, his lips, his warmth... all of his body possess yours, without any effort. It's natural, obvious, wonderful.

If he doesn't have much time to give you, when both of you are in bed, the outside world doesn't exist : it's just you and him, your two bodies and souls craving for each other...

O   :   ODE.   does your muse have a way with words?

Because he's a very public man, he knows how to make good use of words. He could have been a politician, but his current position satisfies him. Rose knows how to charm, to control and, above all, how to be essential to Galar.

He's good with his business, of course. But his words charmed you as well. It sounds like you're his puppet but you're not. He can hide between a lot of words, hide the truth but with you he's always sincere.

On the other hand, when he's not available to spend quality time with you, you can always find a letter, a poem or a little note in your pillow : his way to show his love, concern and desire to make you happy.

P   :   PARTNER.   what does your muse look for in a partner? looks / personality?

Obviously, a woman capable of baring his many absences. A businessman like him can't always spend time with you, and you have to accept that. Not being jealous of his assistant is critical : yes, he's with her all day long but you must trust him when he confess his love for you.

Being patient is a first step, but being ready for the very public life you'll live at his side is very important to. Your every move could be followed, critized and also felt the wrong way. Of course he always look after you and protect you from the paparazzi, but you must be strong if he's not there. Don't let your emotions get in the way of your love... that's all he asks of you.

About style, well... of course he prefers your body when naked, but offered you so many dresses already you don't have to worry about it : all of them were damn great, and you look like a princess in it...

[applin-around]

Paradise AU

Well, since it’s Pokemon Day, let’s go ahead and talk about the Paradise AU (totally not because I just finished typing it. Nope, planned it all along). The AU is supposed to be viewed as a game with branching paths, so I’ll be doing my best to portray my thoughts while giving the proper effects. We’ll only be covering the Galarian Region and Gordie as the player character. If enough people want, I’d be happy to share Allister as the PC and what’s going on in the other regions’ DLC.

The game starts with the narrator- a woman- talking about how the Regions have fared. It’s set on a Pangaea of all the regions, rather than them being apart. She recounts how Johto has become a massive raider kingdom, ruled by an Overboss with a few smaller bands, with their ferocious dragons quelling even the thought of rebellion. She explains how Unova suffered the worst of the attacks, almost everyone who survived remains in the ruins of a subway system. Hoenn is little more than a bunch of settlements just trying to survive. Alola is all but abandoned to the horribly mutated pokemon.

Galar? Galar seemed to have avoided just enough that they’re not quite so savage. The glittering jewel of the wasteland- Wyndon- far to the north. Smaller towns dot the landscape, but none capture anyone quite so much as Wyndon. Getting inside those walls is the dream of many-a-wastelander.

Gordie especially.

The scene cuts to black. He can hear people speaking. He hears a gunshot, then a ringing. The panicked voice of someone shouting for tools. 

His vision returned after a minute of silence. He’s in an old shack, a stranger there beside him. Strange… He can’t remember anything. Except for the face of a woman he… He thinks is his mother?

From there, the player gains control of Gordie. I’ll be covering the rough plot of each region DLC and personalities of characters. Please note that there are quite a few OCs meant to fill roles, but they’ll be largely ignored.

The Galarian Region is the base game. You have five endings without any updates or DLC

The Savior

The Savant

The Champion

The Demon

The Tyrant

Each ending is in lowering values of morality. The Savior and The Tyrant are completionist runs doing absolutely everything in one value of morality, good or evil. Savant and Demon are below, and The Champion is a special ending.

There are two main factions you can side with, plus Leon as a standalone. Before we get into the factions, let’s get into the characters.

Gordie is, as established, the player character. He has a default build you can go with- which is what he has if you’re playing as Allister, but can be customized however you see fit. Your choices will affect his tone and how he speaks to people.

Kabu is a veteran of a defunct group of military survivors. He’s one of the last survivors of the crisis that saw them all destroyed, working to keep himself hidden and away from others. He’s one of the first companions Gordie can get, within the starting town. He reacts badly to disrespected history and to the idea of machines having free will.

Piers is a former sniper for the faction that’s trying to gain control of the North. He was honorably discharged after an incident and never went back. He’s carrying with him the horrible guilt of his sister’s death and refuses to talk to Gordie about it without high enough affinity. He hates mercy killing and despises the faction coming up from the South. Gordie will lose him if he sides with that faction at all.

Melony is a doctor, working inside Wyndon. She’s one of the leading medics and she’s really just trying to help all these refugees trying to escape the battle before it tips. She’ll follow Gordie to the ends of the earth if he needs her to, and being around her increases his healing but lowers his intimidation. People just aren’t afraid of a man running around with his mommy.

Allister is a cursed child, which comes into play as the PC as well. He has a ghost trying to take control of him, and Gordie’s actions can influence if he loses control or not. It plays a much larger part as a player character.

Raihan is an unallied fighter. He’s just trying to survive out here and he really doesn’t want anyone taking control of his home. He’s the one to push Gordie towards siding with Leon. He is a powerful ally to have, both off and on the battlefield.

Other characters, generally, are refugees or trying to live a simple life. Gordie can recruit almost all the gym leaders as a temporary companion. For example, Milo is just trying to keep his farm going to feed Wyndon. Gordie can recruit him to help him find the cause of what’s causing problems with his water.

There are other factions, but the big players in Galar are what’s referred to as Legion, from the South, and Galar’s Rose, from the North. Leon’s faction is small, mostly just him, but he’s fighting hard.

The Legion is a glorified band of raiders to most in Galar. They hurt people and pokemon, they force people to obey, they’re slavers and criminals. Gordie can side with them but at the cost of the option of a good-morality ending. What they do is evil. Gordie cannot be good if he allies with them.

Piers’ personal experience with The Legion is worse than the other characters’. He despises them and will open fire immediately. He refuses to be near them and play nice, he will not disguise himself as a member. They’re the ones who killed Marnie, he’ll tell Gordie. That’s a half-truth.

Galar’s Rose is trying to protect the region, but they’re battling against a threat that’s horribly devoted to their leader. Cut off the head of the Seviper, they think. But that’s much easier said than done. All their assassins have been caught and killed. They’re different… Gordie can get any of the moral endings except the Tyrant. It really depends on how he handles things with them.

Generally, they are well-liked. Kabu seems a little against them but doesn’t specify. He won’t abandon Gordie, they’re better than The Legion.

Hammerlocke is the choke. It’s what they’re battling over. Control of the city that cuts the Region in half. Whichever faction takes it has a clear shot to take over and unite- or conquer- the rest of Galar. It would be Gordie that acts as the tipping point. The player’s input and control over his actions.

Now… I have one quest and scenes that keep playing in my head. Let’s cover that.

Gaining enough affinity with Piers unlocks a quest. You travel with him to the site of the incident, where he explains the incident. He walks along the path and tells Gordie of what happened. Finally, he stops at what seems like nothing. He drops down to his knees, his voice becomes choked.

He tells Gordie what happened to Marnie. Someone took her from him, sold her to the Legion. He chased them here, he hadn’t even realized it was the same place until after it was over. He had nothing, but as he watched from his vantage point, through his scope… He had only one way to save his sister from the horrible life she’d be subject to. He didn’t have enough bullets or resolve to go charging in to save her. He had only one option.

Two weeks later, if Gordie is not traveling with Piers, the broadcaster- the narrator- will speak to him through a radio station. Someone’s requested he come, alone, to pick someone up and escort her to her brother. She hasn’t spoken, but they think she will once she sees her brother. Gordie arrives at a refugee camp, a little ways from where the incident took place. Quite a few miles, really. Across the lake. He arrives to see another doctor with a Bronzor tending to a young woman. She’s sitting up, but her eyes look dull. She has a similar scar on her forehead to Gordie.

The doctor helps the girl stand and tells her that Gordie is going to take her to her brother. Her eyes get a light brighter. As Gordie walks her to Wyndon, he can talk with her about how she’s been doing. Weeks pass before they arrive. He leads her up the tower and calls Piers over. He looks… And the girl pushes past him. Excitedly running, light returned to her eyes. At the sight of her, Piers is shocked silent… But she runs into his arms. He drops to hug her immediately.

This quest gains a massive amount of affinity for Piers, and whenever he’s not traveling with Gordie, he’s much happier. He’s happier in general and fights harder. He has someone to protect now. He’s not just fighting because he has to. Because he wants to.

That is one of the examples of how Gordie effects the world around him… Though this quest can take a dark turn if Gordie sides with the Legion after… But we’ll leave that alone for now.

Gordie can save or ruin the lives of everyone in the wasteland. It’s all up to the player.