#and I decided on a new course of action for The Problem. potentially

[thriftdyke]

I’ve been in the fucking trenches emotionally these past two weeks and The Problem is still not resolved but I had a fun time at an amusement park w some friends 2day :)

[elaemae]

The premium version of human is here to wreck house, mfs.

Twst x Obey me!AFAB!reader

(Reader is Ob's MC)

CW:

•NO APPEARANCE SPECIFIED FOR READER.

•Poly.

•Cursing.

•Reader is referred to as "you" or they/them and even "he/him" because NRC boys refer to any living humanoid in the school as a male by default.

•Crowley.

•It's my first time writing a fanfiction, pls tell me if I should continue writing this.

(Random pic go brr—)

What will happen when a perpetually hungry-for-cuddles and tired-of-this-shit hooman gets kidnapped by a motherfucking horse and decides (kinda? Yeah nope. This wasn't by choice.) to enroll in a school full of problematic kids and their irresponsible af headmage?

Chaos. Pure and utter chaos with a lot of high-end simping in the mix (Along with the slightly unhinged urge to commit arson and burn a bitch to crisp)

So read as [y/n] tries to run away from the school-life while trying to just get back to their goddamn harem family (God saw this thought and decided that giving y/n more harem members is the appropriate course of action), all while juggling the harsh responsibilities of being a guardian, babysitter, therapist, healer, protector, local crush and celebrity for poor Yuu and the entirety of NRC.

("Pls send help" — y/n)

• • • • •

Disclaimer: You may have been kidnapped to a whole 'nother world and you may be on the verge of a mental breakdown, but you're sure as hell gonna look hot and serve cunt while you go through all your problems.

Prologue: 1

IMPORTANT: Mc will be referred to as they/them in this story, but in these beginning chapters a lot of people will refer to mc as a dude because y'know; NRC is an ALL BOYS school and nrc students came to expect that those in the school are all boys.(this'll change dw)

In order to avoid confusion, every time that the MC is addressed by others as he/him or more; I will color it blue. why blue? I find it easier to read.

Sample; 'He turned to them.'

The "He" in this passage is referring to MC because the character referring to them thinks that they're a guy.

REMINDER: This is Fanfiction! Not everything will be the same as canon because of this thing called the 'butterfly effect'.

• • • •

The Dorm Leaders + lilia were just about to call this Opening Ceremony over.

So close to getting out of this hall and finally being able to go on their merry ways to escort the new students back to their respective dorms before the hectic-ness of preparing for hours starts to catch up to them.

Though, things are never quite that easy in NRC.

A commotion with the students quite far from them leaves the majority of them annoyed/disgruntled. (Kalim is just confused and curious)

The headmaster rushes to check what was wrong only for a student to point out that there is an unopened coffin floating in a shadowy part of the hall.

Armed with the desire to get this shit over with and to avoid embarrassment from missing a coffin when he was going around opening them and also, with Yuu waiting near the mirror, the headmaster opens the coffin to wake the new student inside.

The dorm leaders walked closer to be able to quickly usher the new student to the dark mirror only to notice that the headmaster froze up.

"...Headmaster? Are you alright?" Azul "Boutta-do-sumthin-devious" Ashengrotto asked with faux concern.

"Ah– Ah yes! I'm alright Mr. Ashengrotto."

Crowley the bitch cleared his throat and reached inside the coffin to wake the student up.

"Hmm..."

The dorm leaders subconsciously or not, peaked inside the coffin before getting gobsmacked by the sleeping student.

Sure, the student looked quite cute ("New potential apple locked in" — Vil.) even with half of his face obstructed but what really drew their attention were the jewelries that he was wearing.

Three luxurious looking earrings on each of his ears, all unique from each other, all with a respective color and design except for that one earring with two gemstones connected to it, orange and indigo. Seven gems, six earrings

An ornament on his forehead that looks to be a combination of a circlet and a Ferronnière made from gold, with intricate black bat-like wings surrounding the red gemstone in the middle.

And that's just the jewelry on his head.

There's also the sleek black choker with a golden sheen on his neck with a teal gemstone surrounded by small diamonds hanging in the middle.

They don't know if this guy has anymore but the jewels they can see for now is more than enough for them to make the deduction that this student has some alot of money on his hands.

No wonder the Headmaster froze up.

Azul subconsciously starts fixing up his appearance when he starts to wake up, wanting to make a good impression on a potential, rich victim client.

• • • •

"Mmh... What the hell.. Why is the bed so hard.."

You mumbled as you stirred, feeling someone lightly shaking you awake.

You opened your eyes, expecting maybe the brothers, solomon, dia, barbs, simeon or luke but you were instead met with a face obscured by a dark bird mask.

"..."

"..."

"You have two seconds to unhand me before you lose your hands." or your life. Depends on who I can summon first.

You made your voice as cold and unwelcoming as possible as the man with the bird mask squawked and backed away a bit in shock.

"H– How rude..! I'll have you know that I was only–"

"Where am I?"

You cut off the weird looking bird-man as you scanned your surroundings and moved to come out of the coffin why were you in a coffin? you were in, in fear of it closing and locking you inside.

You glance warily to the bird-man while keeping an eye on the huge number of robed individuals that you can see. are you in a cult? Damnit, did one of the Brothers' crazy cults decide to kidnap you out of jealousy again??

Especially the seven (reminder that lilia is there with the Housewardens) closest to you and bird-dude.

Some solomon-kinnie motherfucker is currently eyeing you down like he's about to sell your kidneys to the black market or something.. Hmm... Your fight or flight instincts are telling you to sell HIS kidneys instead.

*Ehem*

Burd-dude cleared his throat and addresses you.

"It seems that the teleportation magic has left you disoriented... No matter, I can forgive your offense of trying to threaten me for I am gracious!"

He then looked weirdly like a combination of preening peacock and a proud chicken.

"I repeat. Where in the unholy trinity of the three realms, am I?"

Now that raised a few eyebrows.

You feel for the necklace under your clothes that Thirteen gave you, filing the question of why you're also wearing the same robe as these people away, in your head.

While the guy that you now dub-thee as "bird-bitch" started gawking at you and going on a tangent of being disrespectful, you scan the big hall/room you're in looking for ways to escape.

• • • •

Hmm... This new student seems to be a knowledgeable individual.

Lilia kept his gaze on the student, studying how he took on a defensive stance the moment he got out of the coffin.

They need to calm this student quickly before something happens.

The student seems to be confused on why he's here and is looking for a way to get out.

If the way his eyes moved around the room in quick succession is any indicator.

Not the first time that something like this happens but add in the magicless student's appearance, he gets the feeling that something strange will occur once again.

Seeing him take out and grasp the palm-sized gemstone of a whole 'nother necklace hidden under his robe how many trinkets does this boy have??, Lilia got ready to jump in the fray should something happen.

There's a possibility that the student can use that necklace as a weapon if that was what he chose to hold in this situation and not his other shiny ornaments.

Lilia was proven right when the necklace and the gemstone glowed and formed into a fancy-looking staff that the student quickly pointed towards Crowley.

He looked at the dorm leaders around him to see if any of them will do something.

...

yeah no. If anything, they look like they're watching an amusing show. Especially Schoenheit and Kingscholar..

Though it seems more like Riddle is still assessing the situation before he brings out his infamous collar.

Haahh.. Youngsters these days..

Chapter list | → PROLOGUE 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Elae: Sorry if my grammar is off, English isn't my first language.

Btw, Thanks for reading this far! Hope you enjoyed it😊

Srry if my format is also off, I've only been using tumblr for a few days now...

MOST IMPORTANTLY; Should I continue reading this fanfic? I wanna know if people still read Obey mexTwst stories here...

[oh-no-its-bird]

hi listen i just had a divine intervention or smth lmk if you don't like it but

what if your team Ro time travel au + my time travel Tobirama

Team Ro would have memories of the canon and they got to this different timeline and there's Tobirama actively trying to seduce Uchiha fucking Madara. They didn't teach THAT in the Academy

They got in the time when Tobirama still orchestrated meetings, but Butsuma is already dead so if everything goes well, Tobirama would get Madara and peace soon.

And then there suddenly spawn a Hatake with a sharingan with 2 Uchiha kids and a Mokuton user. Political nightmare.

Later Tobirama recognises Kakashi and was like "The fuck? It's that Hatake from the war. What is he doing there, he should not have been born yet!!"

OHHH THATS SO GOOD THO???

I'm gonna be real I love the concept of "team ro time travel au but they time travel into someone else's time travel au," that's so good

If we go with your au, there's a really interesting immediate aspect of like: hey ! Tobirama might recognize Kakashi or maybe even Tenzo from the war, but these guys are way fucking younger than when they met !!!

Idk what exactly can be done with that but it's interesting to consider. Also Tobirama talked ab Itachi and his crimes before I'm p sure? So like he knows what happens to the Uchiha and that it was Itachi who did it for the village. I wanna see him faced w the kid who he once praised for slaughtering his own clan to prove his loyalty.

I wanna see him feel the consequences of the stress Itachi is under when he (and possibly Shisui) attempt to kill Madara.

Stop interfering with his fix it fic you brats!! He's already got it covered!! You're just causing a mess!!!!

They get zapped in, like, in the middle of Tobirama's happy ending epilogue too. Tobirama is peacefully eating dinner in his house w his new husband Madara thinking "well. Alls well that ends well." Then BOOM Kakashi Shisui Itachi and Tenzo crash out of fucking nowhere directly onto their table, getting covered in food and breaking the table in half

Immediatley arrested !! I feel like Tobirama would instantly understand what happened by recognizing their uniforms + potentially Kakashi + he's already a time traveler himself so it's really no stretch for him to go "oh fuck I didn't think we'd get a double jepordy in this bitch but I guess not"

But like it's not like he can just SAY that ? Or he could but it would bring a lot of questions he probably does not want to answer.

Now another problem arises in like. I don't think Tobirama is especially attached to any of these guys. I can see him maybe having a lingering "pay it forward ig" feeling just bc they're "loyal konoha soldiers" and it'd be a waste to let that resource just burn. But also like. Under no circumstances can Tobirama have these guys share certain aspects of future knowledge.

Tobirama worked so hard to get here !!!! Literal years of planning !!!! He got his happy ending and it very much rests on Madara staying safe and sane and NO ONE IMPLYING HE WILL BETRAY KONOHA EVER !!!!! Tobirama does not even wanna RISK that becoming a rumor, he will take no chances.

Anyways I think his best course of action would be to reveal himself as a time traveler specifically to team ro, then position himself as their hokage who they should remain loyal to, say that it is for Konoha's best interests that they do not reveal certain things, and play it by ear from there.

Tobirama deciding he can't risk team ro going forward in time again and potentially fucking up the time stream or smthn. They need to stay here. He can not risk losing this shit. Sorry guys it looks like your trapped here <3

Anyways team ro being scary loyal to him bc he is the closest approximation to their (current?) Hokage and only person w the knowledge to enforce that power over them (at this time)

In my original post, like, all of team ro are already established to be kind of at their worst and most loyal to the village at that point to. They are at THE age(s) to be manipulated like that tbh, rip

It's not too bad tho. I think Itachi would feel relieved but also very guilty. Shisui too. Tenzo is violently neutral bc hes still in his "learning to be a real boy" phase from root, but it's all positive for him tbh. Kakashi is tricky bc his mental state is the equivalent of someone rapidly bouncing a ball on a thin pane of glass trying to prove it's bullet proof (it's not) and has like MOUNTAINS of complexes around the words "konoha authority figure" and what he's leaving behind. He's probably the most determined to go back

Anyways uhh. Izuna gets Itachi to help him be skeptical of Tobirama and spy on him. Itachi only agrees bc he violently reminds him of Sasuke (this will develop into a complex if not stopped. Shisui is working on it.)

[tojisfavlatina]

‘Me and My Husband’

Wc: 3.9k

Cw: nonconsensual drug use, brief message of SA

An: if you’ve seen this fic before… yeah that was me i accidentally deleted my tumblr acc cuz i didn’t know deleting ONE blog deletes all of them… oops… i also wrote that spider-man gojo fic WHICH I WILL REWRITE AND REUPLOAD

Being engaged to Satoru Gojo was nothing short of perfect. You both completely trusted each other, you were completely in love, you rarely ever argued, and if you did, it was over the simplest of things and you’d both end up laughing at the end of it.

The only problem was his family. They didn’t approve of your ranking as a grade 3 sorcerer and they didn’t like how you chose to spend your time as a sweets maker, instead of trying to become at minimum, a grade 1. You had the potential, they were aware of that, but you just chose not to try and promote your rank. They saw your actions as rebellious and an embarrassment to sorcerers.

When you first started dating Satoru, they all laughed in your face, saying your relationship was nothing more than a fling, but once Satoru announced he had proposed to you, hell broke loose.

They condemned it, they hated it, they even sent you threats, stating if you didn’t break off the engagement, they’d ruin your life.

Satoru always told you to never worry about them. He’d always choose you over his family, and of course, you trusted him.

⋆

“Ugh, do you have to go?” Satoru had gotten a call, another mission he had to oversee, since no one else could be trusted enough to take care of it.

He laughed at your grumbling. “I wish I didn’t, but you know how it is.”

You threw your head back on the couch and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, I know… I just wish we could spend every day together.”

“Become a grade 1 and then we can go on missions everyday together.” He sat down next to you and placed his hand on your thigh.

You placed your hand on top of his. “Very funny, Satoru.”

You felt your phone buzzing and you quickly glanced at it, but the messages weren’t from anyone in your contacts.

2 New Messages From An Unsaved Number

hey it’s mei-mei

let’s go out tonight. just the two of us.

“It’s… Mei-Mei. Why would she be asking me to hang out?”

“Change of heart? I say give her a chance.”

“I don’t know… this feels random. She’s never liked me, Satoru, why would I believe she all of a sudden is a changed person?

“I think you’re acting way too paranoid.” You gave him a light smack on his forehead. He pouted at you as he rubbed it better. “Come on! It’s been forever since you’ve gone out, hasn’t it? Go have fun!”

You groaned with annoyance knowing he wouldn’t stop persisting. “Okay… only because you’re irritating me.” He gave you a smile and kissed your cheek before standing up.

“I guess I’ll see you later tonight. Have a great time baby.” Satoru gave you one last kiss before leaving.

Once you heard the door close, you flopped down onto the couch. You didn’t like the idea of hanging out with Mei-Mei, especially since it’d be just the two of you. There was a bad feeling growing in your gut, but you pushed it down because you told Satoru you’d have fun. You sent her a confirmation text and you felt your phone buzz a couple minutes later, but you didn’t even bother looking at it.

Slowly, you rose up from the couch and started getting ready. You didn’t bother doing much since you didn’t really care how Mei-Mei perceived you nor did you care about impressing anyone there. You were doing this for Satoru and Satoru only.

She sent you the address to a bar nearly half an hour away, so you decided to call an Uber instead of having her pick you up.

⋆

The bar was extremely busy, the only reason you were able to spot her was because of her bright hair.

You tapped her shoulder and let out a small hi. She let out a small gasp and gave you a smile before giving you a bone-crushing hug. “Go find us a table, I’ll get us drinks!” She left before you could even say anything, so you simply obliged.

You sat at an empty table and let out a shaky breath. You wanted to calm down, you wanted to have a good time, but this still felt strange.

She came back and slammed two glasses on the table, sliding one over to you.

“I wasn’t planning on drinking…”

“Come on~ one drink won’t hurt…”

“…Okay.” You took the shot from her and downed it immediately. It burned your throat, making you wince. There was a slight salty taste, but you ignored it, thinking maybe alcohol just tastes like that now. You rarely ever went out to bars or clubs, since Satoru was a lightweight and couldn’t get past two drinks. Mei-Mei giggled at your reaction and took her shot soon after.

“I’m gonna get us some more~.”

“N-no Mei-Mei, please I had the one drink, I think that’s enough.”

“What? You don’t want to have some more fun with your friend?”

“I… I’m gonna find the bathroom.” You quickly left your seat and walked forward, not even knowing if you were headed the right way. You eventually found the line for it and waited.

Once it was your turn, you felt yourself get lightheaded, must’ve been one hell of a shot Mei-Mei gave you.

You finished using the restroom and tried finding Mei-Mei, but couldn’t spot her. Every step you took had you stumbling, you couldn’t even stand up straight. You’ve only had one drink… Why was it affecting you this much?

You spotted white hair in the middle of a group of people, and you let out a sigh of relief. You hoped Mei-Mei could take you home since you felt so strange.

You pushed through the crowd to reach her, but once you did, it wasn’t her you saw.

“S-Satoru? Why are you h-here? … at work…” The words that could leave your mouth came out slurred and mumbled. The music started sounding extremely muffled, every blink you took made your vision blurrier. Satoru kept fading in and out, eventually, someone grabbed your arm and pulled you outside.

Your eyes shut. Once they opened again, you were inside a house, but you couldn’t tell who it belonged to.

Everything felt foggy, you felt nauseous. You wanted to stand, you tried to.

But you must’ve fallen, since the next time you had opened your eyes, you were blinded by the sun’s rays.

The first thing you felt was pain. Your head was throbbing and the light wasn’t making it any better. You rubbed your temples for any sort of relief, but to no avail.

You slowly opened your eyes, hoping they’d adjust to the light. Blink by blink, the light wasn’t so harsh anymore and you could fully open them. You looked around and didn’t recognize where you were.

Satoru. I need to call him. You looked around for your phone, but as you looked down, you weren’t in the clothes you put on last night. Instead, you wore an oversized shirt and sweats, clearly belonging to a man. A sick feeling grew in your stomach. There’s no way in hell…

“Mornin’.” A deep voice caused a shiver to run down your spine. Every worst case scenario went through your mind.

“W-who are you? Where am I?” He handed you two pills, but you refused to take them, you didn’t even know who he was.

The man only rolled his eyes at you before dropping the pills onto the coffee table. “They’re painkillers. Take ‘em’ or don’t, I don’t care.”

“How did I get here… did we…did you…” Sleeping in the house of a stranger scared you enough, but the possibility of him also taking advantage of you, made your heart almost stop.

“No. We didn’t have sex, I didn’t even touch you. The most we ‘did’ was me liftin’ your body off the floor.”

“Did you see the girl I was with? She has white hair-

“Yeah, she left. She came with us last night, but she was gone before I even woke up. Hell of a friend you got.” He walked to another room and came back out with a bag. “Here’s your shit. You should leave soon.” You only nodded to him before he left you alone again.

At the top of the bag was your phone, which thankfully, had enough battery to last you until you got home. There were 27 missed calls from Satoru alone, and a couple of others from your friends. You’d call them once you got home, right now you just wanted to hear Satoru. You dialed his number, but it immediately went to voicemail.

You didn’t think much of it. His phone was probably dead, you were always the one that plugged it in at night. You’d see him soon, so you simply ordered a ride home

⋆

You unlocked the front door, but it was eerily quiet inside. He was probably still asleep, he always woke up late.

You walked towards your room, the door was slightly cracked open, but you could see a figure inside, “Satoru?” Once you opened it all the way, you saw it was him and let all your things fall to the floor. You missed him so much, you just wanted him to hold you.

He had his blindfold on, which was extremely out of character, he rarely wore it around you anymore. He was sitting on your guy’s bed and stared at the wall ahead of him, not even glancing at you. “You’re back.” His tone was cold and his voice was meak, the complete opposite of what you had expected.

“Yeah… I am.” You approached him for a hug, but he stood up and immediately backed away from you. “Satoru? What’s wrong with you?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with me… the fuck is wrong with me…” He let out a dry laugh. Everything about him was confusing you. “What exactly did you do last night?”

“I… I don’t remember. I met up with Mei-Mei, I had a drink, then everything after that is… blurry.”

“What were you doing with Toji?”

“Who’s Toji?”

“So you don’t even know the man who you slept with last night. That’s fucking amazing.”

“What are you talking about? I didn���t sleep with anyone!”

He pulled out his phone and walked towards you. Satoru made you hold it as he swiped. On the screen was a picture of you getting pulled out of the bar by a man and you getting into that same man’s car. You recognized the man, you woke up in his house this morning. You started laughing at Satoru. “Is that Toji? Are you two friends? Wait… you both set this up to prank me! Oh~ you really got me.” You continued laughing, but as you looked at his face, he didn’t find this the slightest bit of amusing, making you stop.

He snatched his phone from your hand before inhaling deeply, “and whose clothes are you wearing?”

“I don’t know. I woke up like this.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned, “and you keep lying to me, even though I already know…”

“Already know what?” Your voice grew louder, angrier. “You don’t… believe me?”

“How am I supposed to!? There’s pictures, the clothes you’re wearing, Mei-Mei called and told me everything that happened.” Hearing her name made you pause…

Mei-Mei…

“You believe Mei-Mei over me? Satoru, you know she’s been oddly obsessed with you since you’ve known her.” You threw an accusing finger at him.

He only glared at your finger, and at you. “I’ve also known her longer than you. She’s given me evidence that you cheated on me, so is believing her really the craziest thing right now?” You were taken aback by his words. He had never doubted you before, but now he was believing Mei-Mei of all people.

“So is that what’s going on? Is this your lame ass way to end things with me, so you can go and have her? Is that why you were so insistent on me going out?” He rolled his eyes and scoffed at you.

“Don’t try turning this on me ‘cuz you can’t own up and admit you’re a whore now.” You lifted your hand to slap him, but your hand never made contact with his skin. His infinity was on. Satoru didn’t even trust you enough to have it off around you anymore.

You scoffed, tears were building in your eyes, but you refused to let them fall. You let out a shaky breath, “okay… I’ll admit to being a whore once you admit you were too pussy to end things with me, so you called your side bitch for help.”

“My family was right, I should’ve never proposed to you.” That was the last straw for you.

“Yeah, they were right.” You started gathering your things, but as you tried walking past him, he grabbed your arm to stop you.

“I already packed my things. You have my number right?” He let go of you and started walking out of the room, “make sure to get rid of it.” He walked further away and you eventually heard the front door slam shut.

Everything that just happened hit you all at once, finally breaking you. At first, you felt so betrayed, so angry. You threw the framed picture of him you kept on your nightstand against the wall, shattering it. Anything that even reminded you of him was broken. Once your rampage was over, you fell to your knees and started wailing, screamed until your voice was gone, you could barely breathe at this point.

You weren’t sure if you even wanted to.

Your entire life, the love of your life, gone.

Just like that.

⋆

A few days passed, you’d wake up hoping it was a nightmare, but the other side of the bed was always empty. He’s in the bathroom… he just woke up before me.

You’d get up to use the bathroom, but of course, it was empty, not even his toothbrush was there.

He was gone, and every time you came to that realization again, you’d break down sobbing.

⋆

A week passed. You knew he wouldn’t be there. You knew he wasn’t coming back. It still hurt, but you had to get use to it.

Word got out to your friends that you’d broken up, and they all sided with him. No one came to check up on you. It sucked, but you grew to understand it.

⋆

Three knocks sounded from the door. They were faint, almost hesitant. At first, you thought you imagined them, but then you heard them again, this time, a lot louder.

You opened the door to see the very man who had caused this depressive episode. Just seeing him made your knees almost buckle. Various emotions coursed through your body; rage, shame, sorrow, but worst of all, love.

You wanted to throw yourself back into his arms, for him to cradle you and say everything’s okay. You needed his warmth against yours and to bring you back the comfort you’ve been yearning for since he left.

But that wasn’t possible. Nothing he could say would fix what he’d done to you. His immediate response being to leave you, told you how much you really meant to him. He was so quick to push you away, like these last couple of years together truly meant nothing to him. It hurt to think about all the empty promises he had given you when he proposed.

How he promised to cherish you forever. How he swore to endlessly love you no matter what. How he’d choose to relive this lifetime over and over again if it meant being with you and only you.

The longer you stared into his eyes, the more you wanted to bawl. All of those happy memories you had with him flooded your mind, nearly drowning you into submission.

A lifetime had passed before you decided to be the one to break the silence. “Why are you here?” Your voice was laced with venom, making him rethink everything he wanted to say to you.

“I… I needed to see you again.” He could barely even look at you. Ironic. He knew he had caused you all of this pain and he wanted so badly to just hold you once more. “Can I come in?”

You exhaled before answering him, this didn’t feel real, you weren’t sure if you wanted it to be. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” His eyes pleaded to be let in, making it hard for you to refuse. You opened the door a little wider and let him walk past you. You closed the door behind him and stayed facing it.

“We need to talk.”

“I don’t think there’s much else to say.”

He tried turning you to face him, but you wouldn’t move. “Please. Just give me 5 minutes and then you can slap me, kick me, scream at me, I don’t care, please just… listen to me for a bit.”

You sighed. “5 minutes.” He let out a breath and thanked you. You ignored him and you both walked over to the living room.

You sat down and waited for him to start. He was nervous, he wouldn’t stop pacing around.

This was getting on your nerves. “Time’s ticking.”

“I found out my family had paid Mei-Mei to set you up. They paid her to drug you, and they paid Toji to take you home. I talked to Toji and he said he wasn’t aware of this plan they had set up. All he was told was to take you and Mei-Mei to his place and that’s what he did.” He said that all within a single breath.

Everything that had happened that night came back to you and what he just told you, explained everything.

It explained why you got drunk so easily, why you ended up in Toji’s car, why you woke up the next day with different clothes on, and why Mei-Mei had that picture of you and Toji together.

To say you were pissed was an understatement.

“You believed everyone else over me, over your own fucking fiancée.”

“Mei-Mei showed me proof! How am I supposed to believe words over that?” He threw his hands into the air out of frustration.

“Because they were my words! When have I ever fucking lied to you, Satoru?!” He was stunned into silence and you took a deep breath before you continued.

“When you proposed to me, I thought that meant we could trust one another, that we understood each other, that we were in love, but I see that I was wrong. You believed the bitch that’s been trying to get at you since high school. You chose the family that you shit talked more times than you’ve told me you loved me. All of them… over me.”

He was at a loss for words. He felt like the biggest idiot alive. Satoru knew he had made the worst mistake possible, believing others before you, and he could see that now.

Before, he was so blinded with anger, he was so hurt by you, he thought he had hated you. He even blamed himself, thinking you had cheated on him because he didn't care about you or didn’t appreciate you enough. He didn’t even stop to consider you were telling the truth.

You tore your eyes away from his body, knowing if you even caught a glance of him, you’d never say what needed to be said. “Maybe… maybe this is for the best. You need someone equally as strong alongside you. Someone who can pick up from where you may fall short, not someone weak, who drags you down alongside them. Maybe your family doing this was the right thing to do. You need to find someone better.”

Every word you spoke tore his heart apart. He hated hearing you belittle yourself, how you thought leaving him is what’s best, and how the both of you knew, you didn’t believe a single word that came out of your mouth.

He grabbed onto your hands and tried getting you to look at him, but you wouldn’t budge. “But there isn’t someone better. I don’t need to find anyone else… I need you. I can’t imagine my life without you, I don’t even know how I managed to live before I met you. You’re the reason I wake up in the morning and the reason I continue living. You make me want to get stronger so that every time I leave, you have that reassurance that I’m coming back home.” You continued looking away from him, causing him to feel helpless since he knew once your mind was set on something, there wasn’t any changing it.

He fell in love with your stubbornness, and now that same stubbornness became his grief. He couldn’t stop the flow of tears that fell from his eyes. Gojo hated showing weakness, he hated showing that he was just a human. He was never treated as such, so why act like one?

It hurt to see him like this. You hated seeing him in pain, but you kept convincing yourself this was the right decision. “Satoru, I’m always going to love you…” You tore your hands away from him and slid your engagement ring off your finger, “so when you eventually find the perfect somebody, the person who truly completes you, just know it was all because of me. Because I had the strength to let you go. I had the strength to let you find true happiness.” The tears that had been threatening to fall finally came crashing down.

You had spent the last few weeks all by yourself, abandoned by your fiancée, so officially breaking things off should’ve been easy. But it was so difficult having to mourn the very person that stood right in front of you.

It’d be so easy running back into his arms and saying everything’s okay. That everything would be fixed and everything would go back to normal.

However, there wasn’t any trust anymore, the very foundation your relationship was built on, was broken. Staying with him would mean living under his constant supervision, since he’d fear being lied to. You’d never be able to enjoy yourself without feeling guilty. It simply wasn’t possible.

You wiped your eyes and sniffled a few times before speaking again. “It’s been 5 minutes, Gojo. You should leave.”

He was on his knees, practically begging now. “Don’t do this. Don’t call me that. Please, we can make it work again, it’ll be okay.”

“I gave you what you wanted, and now it’s time for you to go.” He very hesitantly got up and tried to at least hug you, but you backed away from him. “Funny, you still haven’t even apologized to me.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but you quickly raised your hand to stop him. “Don’t bother. Just leave.”

Gojo wiped his eyes and turned to walk out. He wanted to say something, anything, but his mouth kept failing him. He decided to say nothing, he didn’t want to make it worse. He opened the door to leave but before he could, you grabbed his shoulder

“You have my number right?” He nodded, a spark of hope lit up in his eyes. “Make sure to get rid of it.”

[coffeegnomee]

i'd love to hear your thoughts on zam's new dilemma about wanting to use the rollback exploit to revive/help people if you have the time ^_^

Buckle up it's time to talk morality on lifesteal.

ZAM: “But like. If there was a way to theoretically use this for the good of the server, for, you know, something that is upholdedly, no matter what, undeniably, objectively just, right, something objectively righteous, then, i would have no problems with this i feel like.”

This debate over using an exploit to revive players is so interesting to me because, of course, zam takes it as being so tied up with morality. 

We as humans are intrinsically obsessed with morality. Every story revolves around it: heroes vs villains, or anti-heroes and morally grey characters. Everything returns to morality. 

Because in the real world, morality is of vital importance. It is literally life and death. What is good uplifts and allows us to live freely and love deeply. What is evil tears us apart. It ends in death. 

If you look at laws, everything revolves around morality. This is illegal bc it hurts this person, that is illegal bc it hurts that, etc etc. 

So of course in stories everything goes back to morality. It is the way we try out and learn and think about what is good and what is evil. The characters do good and do evil, they have to work through the consequences and learn from them, allowing us a free insight into what we might do ourselves in such a situation, or what we learn we must never do. 

So lifesteal is a story. A story that is populated by real world people, so everything ends up going back to real world morality. 

But it’s not the real world. It is minecraft. And that makes ALL the difference. 

Take murder for example. Murder is an objective evil. Why? In the real world it is the removal of another from this world, irrevocably. They are gone, no do overs, no second chances, gone. Gone because someone else took them away. And that’s evil because you matter. Every person. Nobody should decide if you die before your time.

That’s not what murder is on lifesteal. You JUST steal one permanent heart. The person can still come back, they can still exist in the realm. They can even get the heart back.

So what is analogous to murder? A death ban? 

It’s getting closer. But the revive beacon is an in-server tool to remove even the effects of a death ban. You can get a do over, a second chance. Even death is not permanent.

So murder isn’t the same, which is why we can love how much murder happens on the server, it’s not real, it’s all a game.

So from one perspective, murder on lifesteal is impossible to be an intrinsic evil. 

AND YET, it IS death and killing and in the real world that has weight and so the actions of the characters can be debated on moral lines both within themselves and between each other.  

What this gets to is the exploit. Finally. 

Because we have gotten to a point on lifesteal where some players don’t care about death bans. They don't want to play so instead of quitting silently they go out in a blaze of glory or whimsy. 

The analogous thing here, perhaps, could be like leaving your friend group when you go to college. 

Now, would it be an evil if you dragged your friend back from college and forced them to be around you and would not let them live their life? Yes. Because love is about free will. The freedom to choose to be with a person or not. You cannot love if you don’t have freedom. And love is an objective good. 

Reviving someone on lifesteal is not perfectly analogous to that because they aren’t dragging someone back on with the revive beacon. 

But the extent that we try and force others to play would be getting closer to being evil. You have to allow them to simply not play. Convincing isn’t an evil, it’s a suggestion, a request, letting the other know you want to be around them and enjoy their company. But force would be bad. 

So on one hand you have the potential “analogous to the real world” evil of preventing someone from playing with a death ban. That evil can be objected by the members of the server: in this case it would be a moral good to revive players. 

And on the other you have the moral good of free choice to play or not, and if someone decides to ban themselves that is not objectively evil. Bc they chose it. It would be morally neutral to revive them, and evil to force them back on or smth. 

And then you have this exploit. 

An exploit would be analogous to the real world as breaking a law. And if law breaking is a moral evil bc the laws are set for the moral good of the people (given that the law IS actually for the good of the people. Like, i’m not debating real life laws rn just giving the concept of above that it is logical for society to create laws for our good), then exploits are a moral evil. 

BUT this is lifesteal. As a content creator platform, any action taken for the good of content and for the good of the server wide story is ALWAYS a moral good. You are always morally good if you seek to keep the sever going through conflict and content bc it is for the benefit and uplifting of the other members. So an exploit for content is a moral good. 

Another set of two hands. 

Smash it together and you have Zam using an exploit to bring back members who wanted to be banned. 

This is suddenly analogous to like, breaking into prison to free a friend. By their own actions they landed there and they will get out given enough time served. Give them time and they will return. 

But breaking them out is to go around the perfectly legal system that is in place and will get them back eventually.

Bc using a legit revive beacon is perfectly legal, perfectly morally good. 

But using an illegal revive beacon IS breaking a law. And that is morally evil. Or is it good? Is it for the good of the server? Or is it breaking a morally just law?

Can that ever be justified? 

Can you be morally good when you break a law even when you know the affect you want won't even bring back the people you're trying to rescue? Can you involve yourself with someone who doesn't care about real world morality, only content creator morality and still come out morally good? Can you live with yourself knowing Spoke will mess up the server with this and your own justifications for your involvement might not matter at all bc the members you revive will never log back on?

Who the hell knows!

And THAT is why this arc is so fascinating. Because That is the POINT of the debate of morality. That is the POINT of story. That is the POINT of watching PrinceZam.

He brings the real world morality in AND the content creator morality into every one of his arcs.

And he will have internal struggles at every step of the way, particularly with this arc BECAUSE it folds up both sides of the debate.

His characters always are concerned with the real world morality and either align good, evil, or grey. But he himself will always have a separate debate about the content creator morality and wonder if this is this "good for the server" content or is this "bad for the server" content. And then the answer gets folded back up within his character.

While Mapicc, who I want to talk about after reading this back, Mapicc gets away with murder because for him real world morality doesn't matter at all; this is minecraft, no real world morals can affect me. Admin commands, exploits, murder. all are perfectly fair game.

What does matter to Mapicc is content creator morality. You are morally good or evil in his eyes to the extent that you are doing things that lead to interesting, fun, challenging, or otherwise good, content. You are evil to the extent that you are boring, use overwhelming power, or just don't have respect for the other people on the server.

And that just barely scratches the nuance of morality and decision making on lifesteal and how each member looks at it differently.

[tamamatango]

My Project Revealed: The Fabled Fanfiction Come to Fruition

Crossing an item off the bucket list before the dopamine gods give out on me. (Yes that’s the story link in case you want to just go there and skip the whole me not shutting up part)

Back in my most active period in the Keroro fandom, I tried and failed multiple times to write a fanfic; might’ve even talked about it here at some point. But for one reason or another, it just never panned out, and I ultimately fell out of it for a few years before I managed to publish anything. However, I got back into the practice with my next hyperfixation, so now that I’ve returned to frog hell again, I knew I had to do what teenage me could not.

I can’t say this is “the fanfic I always wanted to write,” because I ended up scrapping whatever I had started all those years ago. When this started to come together in my head, it initially seemed way too ambitious given the limited time I have and where my strengths and weaknesses lie as a writer…but I got possessed by the artsy demon or something and started to write it anyway. Whoops.

To Chase a Butterfly asks one simple question: What if Kururu actually failed to save Saburo at the end of episode 229? Okay that’s not really a simple question, considering it leads to a whole emotional and physical journey about grief and companionship and space-timey shenanigans. But basically, Kururu goes “bet” and attempts to bring him back to life. Naturally, the deuteragonist of such a story is…Dororo? Yes, at the central conflict of the story is Kururu’s friendship with Saburo, but it’s Dororo who serves as his confidant/partner in crime over the course of the story, and so I consider this to double as a KuruDoro fic as well—though I will make it clear now that it’s not conclusively romantic, so you can decide if that’s the direction they go in or if it stays platonic, and it works either way.

As of the latest update from. Uh. 15 minutes ago at the time of writing, the fic currently sits at about 60-65% completion and is divided into two parts. Part 1 (chapters 1–6) is the angst/drama-heavy half, which I uploaded in full as a batch drop. Part 2 (7+) is more action/adventure, sort of in the vein of what you’d expect from one of the Keroro movies, and I am updating it chapter-by-chapter, since it was getting too unsustainable to try to dump it all at once. AO3 has the most robust features, so that’s where it’s hosted for now, but I know people have very understandable problems with that site, so I’ll consider porting it elsewhere if that’s something anyone is interested in.

Well, that’s enough yammering from me. If you like the idea, please do check it out. Things are starting to heat up as the climax approaches, especially with the introduction of a surprise third major character who very longtime Kirb fans miiiight faintly recall. And if you’re already following it—it’s been up for a while now, just waited to discuss it here to temporarily save myself from potential embarrassment—thanks for your support, and I hope you look forward to the rest! Part 2 is very research/planning heavy and has been pretty challenging to write so far, but I intend to see this all the way through damn it. And yeah, this is what’s been pulling my focus away from the blog, but there will still be posts here whenever I feel like putting energy into an essay and/or next real info drop about the new anime (BNP gimme something soon please I’m parched).

[chaosfairy18]

Newsiestober Day 18 : Bad Moon Rising

Honestly, he should have seen it coming, but with how good everything had been lately, he just hadn’t thought of it. Maybe he just didn’t want to think of it.

Bumlets slowly sat down next to Swifty on the floor in front of the bed that had become his in the last month, putting a hand on his shoulder, not sure if he’d seen him with how he was hiding his face between his pulled-up knees. “Vince? Are you okay?”

“You know what day it is.”

So not okay then. “It’s not much different from what we practiced. I know you’ll control it, and just in case something happens I can easily defend myself, we talked about this.” Bumlets kept his voice calm and steady, wanting to coax the other boy out of his defensive shell. It was only a matter of time until he had confront what would happen, and they’d trained a lot for this.

“It’s different. It forces me to transform, not just- not just like when you help me. I- last time I attacked you-“

“Last time we didn’t know each other yet. You were scared.” Bumlets slung an arm around Swifty’s shoulders to pull him close. “And you didn’t hurt me at all.”

“Just because you’re a wizard, but I didn’t know that, anyone else I would’ve hurt-“

“But you didn’t.” Finally deciding to forcefully pull his head out of the defensive position, Bumlets grabbed both of Swifty’s cheeks, looking him in the already bloodshot hazel eyes, tears threatening to run down his face. “It was your first time transforming, you were scared, you got new instincts and didn’t want to be hurt yourself. It’s not your fault and nothing happened, Vincent.”

Now exactly one moon cycle ago, Bumlets had been interrupted at his midnight-full-moon-collecting of herbs by a large wolf running through his garden, startling as he saw him and snapping in his direction, clearly confused and scared. Bumlets had tried to calm it and get closer, assuming an injury, almost getting bit if it hadn’t been for his magic shielding his skin. The problem here had been, that the wolf wasn’t just that, but a werewolf, Swifty, to be exact, after he’d turned the first time.

He’d seen it as he got closer, seen the too human eyes, felt the too strong river of thoughts running through the creature, using a weaker, non-specific spell to communicate with him at least enough to make him understand that he’d be safe here, that he could hide here until morning if he needed to.

Bumlets wasn’t sure why Swifty had agreed, he hadn’t asked, but the next morning he’d found Swifty as he was now, curled in on himself and scared, but trusting him enough to not run far away.

It was easier to explain when they could both use words properly, and he’d found that Swifty never knew he was a werewolf until that transformation, having not grown up with his biological parents, so naturally, he’d been panicked. Then he’d also apologized over and over for attacking him, no matter that nothing happened, and of course Bumlets had told him he had nothing to apologize for.

Instead he’d offered him to stay, if he wanted. As a wizard, Bumlets had ressources to help him with transformations – not to mention knowledge on things and spells to protect himself – and in the forest there wouldn’t be anyone else he could potentially injure. “There’s no one around for a few miles and I can protect myself. I can help you try to control it, if you want.”, he’d said.

And had gotten a new roommate since.

It had been nice, too nice, everything going great and them getting along well, so of course it had to go worse again, to where they were now, Swifty terrified of what he might do, even though they had trained, even practiced the transformation without the full moon – which allowed clearer thoughts and control of one’s actions.

But it only made sense Swifty was still afraid.

“Let’s go downstairs into the garden. No matter what happens, it’ll be better outside.”

Bumlets just pulled him up as Swifty nodded, holding onto his arm and wiping at his eyes. “Sorry for being a mess.”

“You have every reason to be one.” He opened the door to the back, the last rays of sunlight already having disappeared, the flowers and herbs already in the dark. “It’s not something you knew of until a month ago and it changes you, completely, you have every reason to be afraid.”

Swifty just nodded and let himself be led near the stone fence, where Bumlets stopped. “Do you want me to stay close? Or- I could hold you. I just want to help when it happens.”

As much as Swifty was still scared of what he could do, of how he could hurt Bumlets in particular, he’d feel even worse if there was only the dark, cold garden here to comfort him. “Please.”

He wasn’t sure how long he still had, how hight the full moon was, but he did his best to ignore it, head lying on Bumlets’ lap while his eyes were closed. He could feel the sensations starting, slowly, much less intense than what had happened a month ago, but not of his own volition like the last few times he’d practiced it here.

“How long?”

“Maybe half an hour at most until the highest point. Don’t resist it, all will be okay.”

He kept trying to stay calm while Bumlets pet his head, soothing words and touches all around him. It was possible that the wizard also helped with spells, but he didn’t care, just trying to not get overwhelmed, limbs twitching now, waiting for what was inevitable.

When it came, it was sudden, almost surprising, making him roll off Bumlets’ lap to the grass, not fighting what was about to change him, that would only worsen the pain and make him slip somewhere into the instincts and far away from control.

“How do you feel?”, he heard, minutes later, the sensations ebbing down, having done what they aimed, leaving him a wolf, with no way to turn back until the sun turned up again. Getting on his four feet, he looked up, seeing Bumlets much clearer now in the dark, the slight blue hinting at his magic being used shining from his eyes, but not keeping his distance from him, as dangerous as he could be.

As he couldn’t answer, he just nudged Bumlets’ hand with his head, relieved to find his head mostly clear, no panic from last month left, though the new instincts and senses overwhelmed him still.

Swifty laid his head back on Bumlets’ lap, just wanting to close his eyes to at least not have to see anything, the new sounds of the surrounding forest and smells of the garden already enough.

“I told you we’d be fine. Just get used to it in your own time, I’ll be here.”

Swifty didn’t move from his spot much the entire night, and even after finally turning back, he just fell asleep in the same position again.

prompts by @newsiestober2024

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase- Why is The Hacker Such an Ass?

So, I was on TV Tropes awhile back. I was specifically on the Wild Mass Guessing (WMG) page for Cyberchase. The WMG page is a place for people to put their head-canons and wild ideas and explain why they have those ideas.

One head-canon that struck me as a bit odd was the idea that The Hacker is infected by some sort of virus that led to him becoming a villain. The idea is that he is not entirely in control of his actions, and that much of his current personality is just the virus talking. I'm sure people have already tapped into this idea for its fan-fiction potential.

At first, I sort of laughed off the idea and moved on. However, when I thought back over the various episodes of the show, I realized that the show did poke at the idea a few times, whether it was intentional or not.

I want to talk about two cases where the show poked at the idea. However, I want to make a few things clear first. First, I don't think this theory will ever be confirmed in the show. The show-runners love him just the way is. They love how pompous and preening he is.

They love him endangering our child protagonists.

They love setting him up for the Cybersquad to foil his plans in the end.

They love embarrassing him and poking holes in his image.

While the original story of The Hacker was that he was just born evil per "How It all Started"...

... they have since expanded his backstory to include a period of faithful service to Motherboard...

...followed by a turn to villainy later on, perhaps when he realized what the Transformatron could do.

Even when he went through his inevitable villain decay due to being defeated by children so many times, they fit it into the universe. The Hacker's current arc is that no one is Cyberspace is scared of him anymore, so he's trying to restore his image.

So, no, I don't think we're going to have the revelation that The Hacker is really a good person who is forced to be evil via a sentient virus, a magic spell, or hard drive damage.

If they were to go that route, they would have a problem. They would probably have to permanently reform The Hacker. And if he permanently cures Motherboard's virus, then the show ends.

Even if they decided to reform him, but left him unable to cure Motherboard's cirus, they would lose their OG villain. Yes, Ledge and Zusk exist, but they barely exist at this point, especially Ledge, who Motherboard probably deleted off-screen after what he did to the kids and Digit vanished a few seasons ago. They can't fill his shoes. Even Wicked, who's been the main villain in a few episodes, probably wouldn't be able to come up with a new, interesting, magic spell for every episode going forward.

And if they tried to confirm this theory without reforming Hacker, then the whole dynamic of the show changes. The kids wouldn't be cyber-chasing after a power-hungry cyborg who wants to control Cyberspace. They would be trying to heal a brain-damaged cyborg who once served and protected Motherboard.

Now, let's get to the two times where I think the show poked at the idea that The Hacker became a villain against his will and need to be healed.

The first case was in Season 3 Episode 6 "The Grapes of Plath". The main plot here is that the Crab Prince was dared to go into the forbidden abyss and came out with a glitch.

He has been transformed into a compulsive liar. This would apparently up-end society in Aquari-yum worse than when Icky, the last Cyberslug, dies, and he can no longer feed on the energy that threatens to boil over the site.

So, now, the kids need to go to the Fountain of Truth and retrieve the Grapes of Plath, which will cure him.

Meanwhile, the Hacker has a problem. His chin is all floppy. It just isn't as firm and rigid as it was when he was a younger borg, and now he is self-conscious about it.

He accidentally intercepts a transmission from Motherboard. While it's a bit garbled, he hears her mention a "fountain of *unintelligible* uth". Of course, we know that it is the Fountain of Truth, but he believes it to be the Fountain of Youth. He wants to use the grapes to restore his chin.

Now, we don't know much about the Grapes of Plath. We know that they come from the Fountain of Truth, and we know that, when the Crab Prince was dipped head to toe in them, they removed the glitch that turned him into a compulsive liar.

Were these grapes specifically engineered to fix glitches that involve compulsive lying? That's a very niche use case. I can't imagine Plath gets many visitors. We don't see any evidence that they force the subject to always tell the truth like the spell from the Jim Carrey movie "Liar Liar". Are these Grapes all about restoring someone to their true self by removing a glitch? I like that explanation best.

Still, despite the kid's warnings that these grapes are from the Fountain of Truth, not the Fountain of Youth, The Hacker jumps in and covers himself from head to toe.

And he comes out of the juice a completely different Borg.

The Hacker: Happy Birthday, Princey. Say hello to your new best friend, the meanest guy in Cyberspace. When it's my birthday I want a cute little pony, no, a lollipop.

He is promptly removed. At this point, he seemingly goes back to normal, and is no longer covered in grapes.

Hacker: Follow me, ya duncebuckets!

Hold up, what the fuck just happened? We go back to the status quo almost immediately, as this is a status quo show, but the Grapes of Plath affected The Hacker. Why would they do that? This isn't like The Hacker hitting his head in Season 2 Episode 10 "Raising the Bar", and then, afterwards, he thought that Buzz was the boss, and that he was the henchman. This is more like mixing a cure for magnetite poisoning, and then discovering that the cure didn't fully work because the damage was more severe than expected.

No one ever said the Grapes of Plath make someone friendlier. No one ever said they make you want things like lollipops and ponies. We know for sure that they were able to cure the glitch that made the Crab Prince a compulsive liar. We know for sure that they have some association with truth, as they come from the Fountain of Truth. We know that The Hacker started wishing the Crab Prince Happy Birthday and asking for lollipops and ponies after his exposure. We can theorize that their ability to heal someone from a glitch could come from an innate ability to help restore someone to their true self.

We know very little about what The Hacker's personality was like before he turned to villainy. Even his expanded backstory is mostly just the villainy he did before the Cybersquad was recruited.

his plans for the Transformation (and Coop's attempt to stop him)

his poisoning of Coop (and what that did to Slider)

his theft of the Encryptor Chip (and his banishment)

his tricking of the Flying Parallinis into rescuing him from Mount Way-Up-There (and the impact that mistake had on them)

his attack on Valussa (and Digit's defection)

his action of infecting Motherboard with a virus (and the start of the series)

Maybe The Hacker enjoyed ponies and lollipops back in the day. Maybe we saw the real Hacker for a few seconds there before the virus/spell/brain damage overwhelmed the healing power of the Grapes of Plath. I wonder.

Let's move on to the second time the show implied something was wrong. However, in order to talk about that, I have to lay out two assumptions.

First, let's assume that Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases. She does not seek easy ways out which would compromise her moral framework. This is what the show has been telling us for years.

I think the best example of this is probably one of the very best episodes of the show, Season 2 Episode 4 "True Colors". The Hacker calls an election for potentate and sets himself up to run against Motherboard, which is perfectly legal under the Cyber-constitution. Whether Motherboard truly believed The Hacker had reformed or not is unclear. However, it doesn't really matter. If he had won the election, she would have stepped down and followed the will of the people.

We learn that, if The Hacker wins, he will revise the Cyber-constitution to bring an end to the elections and make his rule permanent. The way he says it suggests that, as potentate, he would be able to revise the Cyber-constitution all by himself without any checks or balances.

Now, there's a whole can of worms here about a singular ruler being able to rewrite all of the laws unchecked, but I'm leaving that closed for now. However, this does mean that Motherboard could have rewritten the Cyber-constitution herself to shut down the Hacker's election plan right there. She didn't do it.

Second, let's assume that Motherboard was fully on board with the plan that Digit and the kids were executing during the episode that I am about to talk about. There are some things in this episode that suggest that the kids may have been running wild here, and that Motherboard was unaware of what was happening right until close to the end. I do plan to talk about that on another post. For now, we assume that Motherboard was on board the whole way.

Let's review:

Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases. She does not seek easy ways out which would compromise her moral framework.

Motherboard was fully on board with the plan that Digit and the kids were executing during the episode that I am about to talk about.

Do you have all of that? Good. Let's talk about Season 5 Episode 8 "Inside Hacker".

So, Digit gives us the premise up front.

Digit: Reprogramming Hacker so he changes back into his good old self. Our best plan yet!

So, I think we all see the ethical implications of attempting to rewrite someone's personality against their will. Of course, that's with our world's understanding of the importance of "the self" and free will.

But hey, maybe Cyberspace has a different idea of the "self" that we would consider dystopian. Maybe borgs reprogram each other all the time without consent. Maybe the "self" is fluid here. What else does the show have to say about the concept of reprogramming someone? Wasn't there an episode where Digit was considering allowing himself to be reprogrammed to be less clumsy? Yeah, it was Season 6 Episode 1 "Digit's B-Day Surprise".

Uh oh. There are consent forms for reprogramming someone, and I don't remember The Hacker signing anything. Does anyone remember who was trying to get Digit to provide consent to be reprogrammed in this episode?

Wait, so this is a line that even The Hacker won't cross? Well, the Cybersquad's plan just sounds wicked in a bad way.

That has a double-meaning, as Wicked has repeatedly engaged in reprogramming borgs against their will. We saw this in Season 2 Episode 3 "Harriet the Hippo and the Mean Green" and Season 7 Episode 7 "Spellbound". I'm not even going to touch what happened with "Designing Mr. Perfect".

So, yeah, reprogramming someone against their will is definitely a villainous act in Cyberspace. The kids may be naive on this point, but Motherboard isn't. Even the virus doesn't eliminate her moral code, as we've seen in the other episodes. So, how we do we resolve this? Well, sometimes kids cartoons make a mess of the discussion of free will. They will claim that a "good" character being brainwashed by the "bad guys" and turned "evil" is absolutely horrible, which is an excellent point to make.

However, that same show will then claim that an "evil" character being brainwashed by the "good guys" and turned "good" is absolutely fine. As long as the character isn't evil anymore, the show calls it a win. The most famous example of this is probably the "Care Bear Stare" from the Care Bears cartoons. That was just a brainwashing attack they used on their enemies.

Cyberchase has pretty simple morality. Motherboard is the ultimate good, while The Hacker is the ultimate evil. However, we are at least a little bit above The Care Bears here. The kids are required to abide by the laws of the different Cybersites that they take action in. They aren't given easy outs like shooting The Hacker until he stops being a villain. That sounds more like a gritty reboot of Cyberchase.

So, let's add one more assumption to the board for "Inside Hacker":

Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases. She does not seek easy ways out which would compromise her moral framework.

Motherboard was fully on board with the plan that Digit and the kids were executing during the episode that I am about to talk about.

Cyberchase is not The Care Bears.

So, how do we resolve the issue? Well, suppose that The Hacker started out as a good guy, who worked as a technician for Motherboard. He wanted to help make Cyberspace a great place, and all he wanted in return was to go home to his pony and lollipop at the end of the day. But then, one way or another, his personality was altered against his will, and he became obsessed with taking over Cyberspace. He became the villain he is today.

Then, perhaps the action of reprogramming him back to his original self without consent can be justified. After all, the original Hacker is not able to provide his consent. In that case, maybe it falls to Motherboard and Dr. Marbles to become his medical proxy.

Again, I don't think we'll ever see the show confirm this theory. It would just make too much of a mess if we haven't been with the real Hacker for the past 20 years. I do wonder if the implications of these two scenes were put in by the writers intentionally though.

There are other ways to look at this, of course, so let's pull our combined board here.

The Hacker acted strangely after being covered in the Grapes of Plath from the Fountain or Truth. These grapes are known to have repaired the glitch that turned the Crab Prince into a compulsive liar. The Hacker talked about celebrating the Crab Prince's birthday and wanting a pony and a lollipop for his birthday. He was back to normal shortly afterward.

The kids and Digit went forward with a plan to forcibly reprogram The Hacker against his will to turn him from a villain back into his original good self.

2a. We know that reprogramming someone against their will is a villainous act in Cyberspace. Wicked has done it numerous times. When The Hacker wanted to reprogram Digit, he would not proceed without getting his signature on the consent forms, which implies that reprogramming Digit without his consent is a line that The Hacker won't cross.

2b. We assumed that Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases.

2c. We assumed that Motherboard knew what the kids were up to throughout the episode, rather than just finding out at the very end.

On #1: The incident with the Grapes of Plath could have been a fluke. We still know next to nothing about how the grapes work. It could be like magnetite, which affects all borgs differently. On #2b: Perhaps Motherboard slipped up here with regards to her moral code. Perhaps, in a moment of anger over her own suffering with the virus, she put the kids on their mission to end the threat of The Hacker via forced reprogramming. If so, this is a pretty big black mark on her record.

On #2c: Some of the dialogue in "Inside Hacker" suggests that the kids and Digit came up with the plan. We don't actually see Motherboard's face until the very end. Perhaps she didn't realize what was really going on until that point. And at that point, the important thing was rescuing Matt, not scolding the children.

[dailycharacteroption]

Class Feature Friday: Enchantment School (Pathfinder Second Edition Wizard School)

(art by Julia Kovalyova on Artstation)

We’re back with another wizard school in second edition, only now that the remastered edition of 2E is out, they’ve thoroughly changed how wizard schooling is done now that the traditional magic schools have been dropped in favor of schools of thought in the setting rather than “what type of effect does this magic have”.

However, that does leave us with a small problem since a major part of the central region of Pathfinder’s core setting revolves around the traditional schools of magic: Thassilon, what with it’s ancient history of being ruled over by multiple runelords, each focused on a different school of magic.

Which is why I say that even if they strip the words “abjuration” and “evocation” from the game, there still is a place for these older versions of the magic, though you should probably update them to be in line with the power of their newer counterparts: In this case, In addition to the free 1st-level spell of your school you get at first level, you should also be getting free spells of that school at higher levels as you level up.

In any case, Enchantment!

When last we covered this school, we talked about how enchantment is the magic of the mind, how it can be used to elicit certain emotions, make others erroneously believe that you are a friend, directly control their actions, and even invoke words of power so potent that the minds and bodies of foes are forced to succumb to their hostile command. (It is important to remember these specifics now that future products will no longer list the schools of the spells they print, in case you want to use classic or “Thassilonian-Style” wizardry alongside the remastered rules, which I believe you should.)

While certainly not as violent or blatantly cruel as the destructive aspects of evocation or the reanimating power of necromancy, enchantment in the wrong hands can be just as much a tool of the wicked, violating the mind just as surely as the other two violate the body and soul.

However, in the right hands it can be a tool of benevolence and mercy. Plenty of enchantment spells bolster the vigor and positive emotions of allies, or can prevent bloodshed that would otherwise be inevitable, such as charming a guard to let you pass instead of slaying them.

Of course, much like evocation and necromancy, all bets are off in combat, where sapping the will to fight in foes or turning them against their allies is just another tool in the box when it comes to keeping yourself alive.

So yes, while the stereotype of the domineering enchanter that turns others into their slaves has plenty of truth to it, enchantment itself is not inherently evil, just like every school of magic.

Also, it’s worth noting that this school shares a lot of bones with the new “School of Mentalism”, but that also throws in illusion to the mix as well, so while you can use that instead, if you really wanna adhere to enchantment or make use of the greater school spell of this school, the choice is up to you.

As-written, enchanters get a enchantment spell at first level and extra spell slots for each spell level to cast the spells of that school. However, as I said before, you’re free to improve that to gaining spells for free at every spell level/rank. Exactly how you decide what spells they get is up to you, though. You might say they can pick from any appropriate rank spell of the right school or with the right vibes, or your GM might compile a specific list to match the modern schools.

The basic focus spell allows these wizards to subtly deflect the ire of their foes with enchanted words, potentially causing them to hesitate or be stopped in their tracks against them for a few seconds, which is a slightly more thematic parallel to First Edition’s dazing touch.

The greater focus spell differs slightly from it’s 1e equivalent, projecting fear rather than despair, but otherwise still hampering their enemies.

Additionally, the following feats prove especially useful to enchanters: Silent Spell, Irresistable Magic, Second Thoughts, and Spell Mastery, though others might go well with the other spells in your arsenal.

Being an enchanter means being a master of buffing, battlefield control, debuffing, and various utility effects outside of combat. While this does mean you’re probably not a direct damage dealer except when you need to be, it does make the rest of the party’s jobs that much easier. Naturally build with enchantment in mind, but don’t forget to diversify!

Though earlier we did mention that enchantment spells can easily be used for evil and the subversion of will is definitely a violent act, in a world of complex moralities, there may be entire disciplines in the setting that think differently. That fact alone means that this school of magic and it’s practitioners invite a lot of debate on both sides of the issue, which could be grounds for some fun worldbuilding and character moments.

Lambent Ollianara is not only beautiful, but literally incandescent as a brightsoul ifrit in addition to being an elf. Many have sought out her hand, but none have ever held her interest for long. Indeed, those that persist beyond reason find themselves compelled to leave her be thanks to her magic.

In a lonely tower in the middle of the valley, a hermit wizard dwells. Long ago he swore off people as too complicated, instead surrounding himself with the powerful and fierce primeval beasts of the region, particularly his twin pet Megalania lizards. After all, animals don’t complain when you secure their friendship with magic, after all.

A young noble has developed a clique of followers and sycophants among her young peers, who fawn over her constantly and go along with whatever she asks. It’s one thing to have the charisma to attract friends and assume a leadership role, but the speed at which this happened is alarming, so the party is asked to investigate for a magical or supernatural cause to this.

[carnivalls]

hiii. so. i'm a little trapped right now as far as writing goes - aka wholly unsure which of my two main projects to work on. and i've decided that after presenting my respective problems, i'm leaving my course of action up to all of you.

please read the propaganda before voting if possible!

EXPLANATIONS/PROPAGANDA.

terras town is about a girl, lev alvarez, who falls into a parallel world layered right under hers, and who needs to find a way back home before she brings her world crashing down alongside. however, lev's life back home is not going too well right now, and this goal rapidly starts to vanish as she deteriorates more and more into escapism in a world that carries no consequences for her.

pros of me working on this: this has been my main project since i was 15, i have it completely outlined and the characters are fully fleshed out and everything, i know how it all fits together and i'd kind of really love for it to be the first project i complete properly

cons of me working on this: structurally it's a bit fucked - it drags on in the same way for far too long, it has too much introspective activity and not enough external action, and the mc is totally severed from the wider plot surrounding her; thus risking a large part of the story not making sense until book 2 or (like i said) feeling repetitive as she simply does not engage with it. also it's a little cringe

good intentions is about the first academy in the saints-square built with the aim of anchoring cores (people who possess raw, explosive, very dangerous magic) to mages (an artificially created class of people who can siphon cores' magic into 'usable' forms), and more specifically about the experience of two girls (hess tiamaret & juve mizani) in the process. hess flat out refuses to become some rich girl's magical battery, and juve is very much keen on making her buckle and accept her 'help.' they're also both really fucking crazy and there's more to them but i'm still learning how to summarize their deal.

pros of me working on this: i think it runs a lot smoother than tt structurally, with a good balance of internal and external action; it's multiple person pov which is just v fun and also helps keep everyone involved in the wider plot, it has a more polished sense of character voice, juve is a low empathy love interest which ive always wanted to explore (i have a low empathy character in tt too but shes more of a minor character), if you like gideon the ninth vote this one

cons of me working on this: since it's a new wip i'm still not done plotting it, there's big worldbuilding gaps, and i have no idea how a lot of stuff ties together just yet (and potentially for a long while) so it'll take much longer to do. also everyone really does love tt, me included, so it feels a bit like a sell out.

some excerpts to help sway your mind either which way:

1. terras town

2. good intentions

[beanist]

this is probably a bad idea and will probably alienate a lot of my yugioh followers, but it looks like ill be leaving the website soon anyway so i guess i will soapbox for a little bit

people on tumblr have a serious problem with how they handle "sexual deviancy" and potential sexual crimes, as evidenced by the nonsense that happens with trans people, black people, etc on this website.

but so do the yugioh tumblr people in specific.

sometime last year, i was accused of sexually harassing someone over discord.

the person who accused me of sexual harassment wasn't even the person i allegedly harassed, it was someone who was hearing about it secondhand and decided, completely on their own, although the "victim" was not claiming sexual harassment, that it was indeed sexual harassment. they proceeded to then spread this rumour to the people i was talking to the most about yugioh. one person did the courtesy of breaking the news to me, i believe weeks after the rumours were spread.

the next few days after hearing that someone was accusing me of being a sexual predator and that this was causing me to be excluded from a group, i did my best to correct these rumours. the "victim" spoke up and clarified that no sexual harassment took place, which helped my case massively. if they stayed silent, i fear that i would have been branded a sexual predator forever, although there was absolutely no evidence to support that accusation. the accuser also admitted it wasn't true.

but i was completely mystified by what happened next. i expected the accuser (again, NOT the supposed "victim") to be banned from these communities for spreading rumours that i am a SEXUAL CRIMINAL, because that indicates this person is willing to make AND SPREAD serious accusations at the drop of a hat. (there were other claims they made. i will not memtion them for the sake of brevity.) this did not happen. i was told that i was overreacting, and that this person would not be dropped from these communities. at the same time, many offered to remain friends with me. how am i supposed to peacefully exist in communities where someone who has baselessly accused me of SEXUAL CRIMES is allowed to participate? in fact, some people DEFENDED that person against me because i was being "too aggressive" in my attempts to find out what was going on.

i have been very distrustful of the tumblr yugioh fandom since and withdrew from most yugioh discord servers as a result. i have very little faith in this fandom's ability to choose the correct course of action. the person who would spread rumours is on default protected against the person who is falsely accused.

i tell this story because i want people to know that this exact fandom, OUR community, is absolutely not safe from this bullshit either. i'm sure there are many, many stories similar to mine.

we must all do better.

[ink-flavored]

Reworking Pride

BTS Series: ⬅ Table of Contents - Reworking Justice ➡ Also available on Neocities! P&J Taglist (Check out my Google form to get added): @elegant-paper-collection @auroblaze @zeenimf @vacantgodling @foxys-fantasy-tales Banner art by @auroblaze

The first thing I decided needed a rework was, no surprise, the protagonist. Pride would need to change significantly, and not just for the obvious reasons. I needed to have a different visual for him so I could more easily create a separate personality and motivation from scratch, instead of constantly associating him with his alternate fanfiction self. I can’t draw, so I went onto this Picrew and threw together an initial appearance I could work off of.

I wanted to keep some of the punk elements like piercings and alternative dress, both as a kind of homage and to put a big neon sign over his head that reads HAS PROBLEMS WITH AUTHORITY. Same thing with the eyeliner—explicitly not conforming to gender norms, both signaling a problem with authority and implied queerness, which is intentional. The goatee was for fun, since “haha goats and Satan,” but I liked it so much I kept it. I did decide to make him white, instead of Japanese like his fanfiction counterpart, which is a change I did make with a purpose (I’ll get into it). The horns and tail being the classic cartoon devil were the only options available. It wasn’t the look I was going for with the story, but I added them anyway because they were cute.

One big deviation I decided on right away was that this isn’t going to be a stolen body, for Pride or Justice. Their appearances are what they look like, all the time, and Pride will ferry the soul for his contract without hijacking their appearance. I actually changed the way the whole contract thing works, too, but that’s a story for another post.

From here, I began brainstorming his personality. The fanfiction Pride & Justice was very short, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room for character development or action. In fact, Pride has a static character arc through the whole story. The only thing that changes by the end is him admitting that he’s scared to go back to Hell, and the rest of his personality remains exactly the same. That isn’t going to fly as an original character in a longer story.

In this new story, Pride as a character needs to be a shithead, for lack of better description. Not only is he a demon, he’s the embodiment of hubris, self-importance, and the root of all sin. He needs to be loud, obnoxious, arrogant, and outraged, if not violent, when he doesn’t get his way. Paradoxically, he also desperately needs people to like him. It’s well-documented that people with healthy relationships with their pride don’t do the grandiose “look at me, I’m so special” thing—their pride is self-evident, and exudes naturally. The people who do act incredibly shitty like this are compensating for a low self-esteem, declaring that they’re the best, that everything they do is the best, and that everyone should like them for being so obviously the best. This, of course, turns potential friends and companions away, and sends them further down into their spiral.

I took a great deal of (mostly tongue-in-cheek) inspiration from a Tweet by Sarah Hagi (that I can unfortunately not find the link to): “God, give me the confidence of a mediocre white dude.” I want Pride to be a critique of that guy you know, the one who acts like he’s the best thing since sliced bread, but isn’t really as great as he claims, and deep down he knows it. He hurts people to boost himself up, using his position of power over others to make himself feel more secure. Sure, he’s had pain, maybe even trauma, but he doesn’t want you to know that. It would be weak, in his mind, to admit that he has wounds so deep he can’t even look himself in the mirror.

So, as my protagonist, Pride needs to be fundamentally self-absorbed, taking pleasure in the pain of others, because he’s compensating for and masking a very deep emotional pain. I don’t want to be so black-and-white as to make the entire concept of “having pride” a strict evil, so over the course of the story I want to develop him into a healthier version of it. This would give him a very fulfilling arc—he begins the story as the negative expression of pride, hubris and self-importance and viciousness, and ends on the positive end of the spectrum, with genuine self-respect and confidence without needing to harm others. That’s a whole dang character with flaws and potential for growth if I do say so myself!

Obviously, I wasn’t quite done. Pride needed a pain to endure, something that would turn him into the vindictive little asshole we see before us. What better pain for a demon to have, what better way to turn them bitter against all of humanity and virtue, than to be cast out of Heaven by God for questioning His authority? Not only is Pride a demon, he’s one of the fallen angels who rebelled with Lucifer when he fell from Heaven.

My wonderful girlfriend, AuroBlaze, helped me solidify Pride’s appearance so I wouldn’t have to use the Picrew forever. The idea of him having the blond roots of his hair exposed was played as a joke, at first, because how funny would it be for him to always look like he had a shitty hair-dye job? But while we were talking, I realized it could be a brilliant metaphor for the very shoddy mask he wears to hide his aforementioned bitterness and trauma—especially if those exposed roots are the color his hair used to be as an angel, that won’t stay covered up, no matter how hard he tries.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The blond roots are still the color his hair was as an angel, but the reason they stick around is because it's essentially a magical scar. His dark hair stops right where it meets his horns, his broken halo. His former-holiness is burned into him, and can't be transformed or dyed away.

While we were discussing what I actually wanted his horns to look like, I solved a few world-building birds with one stone. The demons in this story, instead of just being goth angels, have their wings cut off by the other angels when they fall. Their halos are cracked in two, jammed into their heads, and become their horns, eternally smoking with once-holy fire. They grow tails from the trails of fire they leave as they fall to Hell, like the trail of a comet. They have several permanent reminders of the grace they lost.

Lo and behold, we have our final design:

[Tumblr version] [Instagram version]

Welcome to the world, Pride! You are a menace to society and will cause so much distress to everyone around you.

A few other details that I want to mention before we go: All demons have a secondary beast form they can transform into, either fully or partially (i.e. Pride can summon one monster arm if he wants). Compare this to angels having a human form and a “flaming wheel of eyes and fire” form. His horns and tail are also optional in this way—he can hide them from humans entirely if he wants. I won’t get deep into his powers or how this story’s version of magic works, but there’s a good chance I’ll make a separate post about it later.

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can see his beast form here, also drawn by AuroBlaze!

Also, for those of you waiting with bated breath for this: Pride will be explicitly bisexual in this book. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to bring it up yet, but I am very excited to populate this story with a lot of queer and trans characters, so it’ll be a topic at some point for sure.

On that note, there’s an internal war waging within me about whether or not I should make Pride trans. I’ve been on the fence about it for a while. Since he’s a multi-dimensional immortal creature who chose every detail of his body to his exact specifications, he wouldn’t need top surgery, hormones, or anything like that. It would just be the lower half that’s the contested zone. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal, but this story is a romance and there will be sex in it. So it’s unusually pressing!

The arguments against? I don’t want to perpetuate any harmful assumptions by making a trans character literally on the side of the devil. I already have more than a few trans side characters in the story, but I still don’t want to make any unfortunate comparisons in today’s landscape. There’s the whole “indoctrination” thing, tempting others to sin is a big part of his personal magic arsenal, don’t need to make too many jumps to get disingenuous there. There’s also the matter of my intended commentary—the “mediocre white man” stuff. While being trans wouldn’t make him less of a man, obviously, the kind of behavior I’m trying to critique is seen most often in cis white men. They use toxic masculinity as a shield because they’ve been told all their lives they aren’t allowed to show “weakness” in the form of emotional vulnerability, and hurting others is how they feel strong—like a “real man”—in the face of their pain. I don’t want to mess with the foundations of that critique, risk muddying it, or accidentally send a completely different message than I intended with such a delicate subject.

The arguments for are more self-indulgent. I am a huge fan of adding things to a story just because you like them, and something about Pride screams TRANS! at me. Trans men aren’t seen often in media, especially trans men who are visibly, vocally, and proudly gender non-conforming, and that representation is personally important to me. Also, trans men who don’t feel the need to get surgery are plenty scarce in the media landscape, which is again important to me personally. Beyond my personal investment, the metaphors I could play with regarding transness and fallen angels, and how toxic American Evangelical Christianity is to queer identities would tie in with a lot of other themes in the book. For any other story, that alone would be enough for me to shrug and make the change, but still I hesitate. Thoughts? Feelings? Advice? I’d love to hear it.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the time since I wrote this post, I did decide to make Pride canonically a trans man. Once I started viewing him as trans, I couldn’t un-see it, and it became an inextricable part of him as a character. I do plan on tying in all of the above-mentioned metaphors into his character, and more. One of Pride’s arcs in the book is about his self-discovery—about becoming someone he actually wants to be, not tied down to anyone’s opinion of him, and growing into a person who doesn’t need to identify himself with his past trauma. It moves him so powerfully, he genuinely wants to be a human by the end of the book, something he once reviled because of how they stole God’s love from him. I think the growth, metaphor, and representation all come together to be more important than the “mediocre white man” thing, or any possible bad-faith readings of a trans character (which the inevitable dipshits will do no matter what).

WHEW, this one was a doozy. I guess I was really excited to introduce this story officially! Thanks for reading this ramble all the way to the end. And as always, thank you for your continued support!

See you next time for more Behind The Scenes action!

— Annika

[ailelie]

Potential argument to develop more later:

So. I work in education. One thing I've learned from talking with teachers and kids is that kids will meet your expectations. I mean that in a negative way. If you decide early on that a kid is a troublemaker, that kid will become a troublemaker. Kids figure that if that's what you expect, they have no reason to do or be different. They get frustrated because their actions are always viewed with suspicion.

And, like, I get that, though from the other side. I was a "good kid." I was able to get away with so much shit just because the adults in my school assumed I had a good reason for, say, skipping class or getting sodas from the teachers' lounge, etc.

When kids get treated like problem children over and over again, have their behavior questioned over and over, and even have their good actions seen as a distraction or mask for some bad action over and over, they just give up. They become what teachers expect.

So, I know that how we view and treat people affects how they act and who they become. Surely you've noticed the same?

[Get them to give an example or two from their personal life.]

Right. And so that got me wondering--where else is this happening, you know? I saw this documentary that showed prison conditions* and they were horrible. People were basically treated like animals, you know? Worse than even.

And I just had to wonder...if kids who are treated like troublemakers become troublemakers, what happens when you treat people like animals? What do they become?

*Note: This is a lie, but I have read about prison conditions from various sources. Saying "a documentary" and then conveniently forgetting the name keeps the focus on the argument and off my sources.

The goal of this argument is to get my listener thinking about and questioning prisons and prison conditions.

It needs some finessing, still, but I think the bones are decent. You'll notice I start by sharing my personal experiences and I work toward finding some common ground in a way that gets them to accept my premise. Then I give that same premise a new context with my prisons question. I don't give a conclusion, but lead them to it.

After this, they'll likely have some response. The most likely response will be that people in prison are different. At which point, my question will be "how?" Or to ask something like, "But, do you think putting these people in prison, however much they deserve it, is making anything better?"

The one downside is that this can easily lead to the assumption that people freed from incarceration are inherently dangerous, which is not true and not where I want to go. I think the counter there would be something like "So we just give up? Or do we have to pay even more in taxes to keep people locked up forever? That doesn't seem very practical." The idea would be route them back to the idea that prisons are the problem, not people.

Obviously, this argument does not immediately argue for abolition or even mention it. You cannot start there...unless of course you have no hope of convincing the other person and the argument is a performance for third parties.

[devilsrecreation]

New TLG OC cuz apparently I don’t know when to quit

Makuu’s girlfriend/mate, Ucheshi (charm, humor)

She’s a sweet silly ray of sunshine whose sparring techniques are a bit…different from the other crocs, but they surprisingly work. She’s outgoing, extremely talkative (to the point where she doesn’t shut up easily), and prone to excitement. She’s also very affectionate with her loved ones and loves making others laugh. She prefers to settle things peacefully, but she won’t hesitate to get into a fight if it backfires.

You would think she wouldn’t be Makuu’s type and honestly, Makuu didn’t either. That was until she made him laugh. Then he started noticing how supportive and patient she was and found her…kinda cute. From then on, Makuu developed a soft spot for her and they formed a really wholesome relationship. It’s basically that of Roger and Jessica with the genders swapped cuz we need more silly ladies with absolute catches for a man lmao

-Her battle tactic is looking weak and acting like a damsel in distress, then defeating her opponent when their guard is down. She’s perfectly capable of defending herself

-She also just so happens to be Kiburi’s little sister so that’s fun

Could you imagine his reaction when he learns that Ucheshi and Makuu are dating?

“Course I’m gonna have a problem when MY RIVAL IS DATING MY LITTLE SISTER-”

-Speaking of which, Kiburi’s actions during “Let Sleeping Crocs Lie” hurt her immensely and caused a rift between them. He wasn’t the same big brother she knew and loved. He was completely different. Last time she ever saw him in the Pridelands was when he was heading to the Outlands with the others. They locked eyes for a moment, she turned away in shame, and that was that. They talked once during Season 2 in an effort to get Kiburi to change his ways, but he unfortunately was too far gone. This led to a fight (the argument kind) where they each said things they regret and haven’t spoken since.

-Having said that, Kiburi is still her brother and she loves him. He may want to hurt Makuu and take over the Pridelands, but she knows damn well he would never hurt her. While he does find her annoying, he’ll protect her with his life. They eventually start talking again and while it takes some time (and a little journey to Udugu), they decide to leave the past in the past and she forgives him

-Unlike Makuu and Kiburi, she has no problem with Hukumu and her float. In fact, they become pretty good friends! They’ll usually have a chat or take a little walk while the boys keep fighting lmao

-She’s a mentor figure to Chama, Mzaha, and Furaha. And by that, I mean a mentor of fun. She’s the kind of person (animal) who’s like “Are you doing that ridiculous dust joke….without me???”. They have so much respect for her hfhfgf

-She was the only croc willing to let Hodari into the float cuz she found him outright adorable. While the other females just rolled their eyes, Ucheshi was like 😃😃😃😃😃. When Hodari’s song was finished, she actually started thumping her tail (but stopped once she realized everyone else was laughing). Now that he’s an honorary croc, she treats him like her son. Loves the little guy to bits

And here’s a bonus quote since I couldn’t resist:

Makuu: I want my potential mate to be a brave, strong, intelligent, independent warrior

Ucheshi: *having a fun splashing match with Mzaha, Furaha, and Chama, laughing*

Makuu: ….That one. I want that one.

[hiccupmistress]

I've often been quite a fan of Star Trek's fandom wiki, "Memory Alpha". At first glance, its a very well-kept wiki, where people are quick to add new information, and the occasional attempt to spam the wiki with false or inflammatory information is quickly struck down.

However, when you take a closer look, its a rather nasty and pompous place.

For starters, character pages used to list a character's gender in the main info box at the top of pages. However, when Star Trek: Discovery introduced the franchise's first properly non-binary character, Adira, a few wiki contributors threw a temper-tantrum and now character pages do not list gender in the info box, and instead its mentioned in the main body of text if its considered "necessary".

Then there's the problem of the Wiki's framing device. Yes, a wiki, a site for which the main purpose is to be a resource of information decided it needed a framing device. The idea is that "MA is written from a POV from the distant future." Why is this a problem? Well, recently, a contributor opened a discussion article, (for those who don't know, this is a special page for the benefit of contributors to discuss potential changes to the way the wiki is run), talking about the way pictures on character pages are organised.

Currently, Memory Alpha will include two images on the top info-box of prominent recurring characters. The latest-chronological image at the top, and the earliest-chronological image at the bottom. The user on this discussion page posited that since the current "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is a prequel show that is taking time to flesh out characters who had very little screen time in the original series, that certain characters, such as George-Samuel Kirk or Robert April should have images swapped around so that the "primary" or most prominent depiction of the character is at the top. They used the examples specifically because, GS Kirk's only appearance in the originals was as a dead body, and Robert April's only appearance was a single episode of the Animated Series, and he's a different ethnicity, they claimed that "Adrien Holmes is meant to be the definitive portrayal of April".

This was met with nothing but backlash, the first quote I put in this post about "MA is written from a POV from the distant future" was used to justify why the later chronological appearances are listed at the top. But frankly, that doesn't hold water with Sam Kirk, because why would a future archive of historical information use a picture of someone's rotting corpse to depict who they were? And more importantly, this is where the whole thing of Memory Alpha having a framing device becomes a problem. Its all very quaint that the wiki has its lore, but at the end of the day, Memory Alpha isn't the SCP Foundation, its not archiving its own special set of original worldbuilding or anything, its a wiki for a bunch of TV shows and movies! Its primary purpose is to be a resource so fans can find out information. As the OP of the Discussion Page pointed out, anyone coming in to Star Trek through SNW who comes to look at Sam's MA page will see a dead body, kind of a spoiler if they're not already familiar with TOS.

Now yes, wiki pages will always have spoilers on them, that's kind of the point, but given his TOS appearance is just Shatner in a fake moustache, playing a corpse, there's really no need to classify that as the "most recent" iteration of the character.

Then of course, there's the Robert April thing. Of course someone chimed in to whine that changing April's ethnicity is "motivated by a dislike of character's original race. For fans who respect continuity, Adrien Holmes will never be the definitive Robert April. I've got nothing against him but I wish he played a new character." which is eye rolling. Someone did point out that live-action shouldn't trump animation. I can agree with that. There are certain circles who would tout that live action film or TV is inherently better than any other media, be it animation, comics, books, games etc, which it really shouldn't be held as, all forms of artistic expression should be held with the same respect, but, its nothing but red flags to whine that SNW hates white people because they cast a black actor as a formerly white character who only appeared in one episode animated on a budget of debt. And considering most of SNW's cast is white or white-passing, its hardly "a dislike of the original race". And guess how many people called out this user for whining about Adrien Holmes? None at all!!! Over the years, I've seen more Star Trek fans boasting that they never bothered watching TAS than I've seen say anything nice about TAS, so pretending to care that Commodore April is now a person of colour comes across incredibly disingenuous. (Not to mention the writer of the original Animated Series episode in which April has appeared has gone on record praising the casting of Holmes as live-action April, so really what does it matter if some 1970s micro-budget animation cells are contradicted)

Even with that aside, people were still arguing that the one-off animated appearance of April should still be at the top of his wiki page because "We're a future historical archive"

The point and TL;DR is a fan wiki should be a resource for real life fans in the real world first and foremost and have any framing devices second. Memory Alpha and the majority of its contributors don't seem to understand this. Maintaining some stupid illusion of being an in-universe archive seems to be more important to a lot of those people. And, between stuff like the gender tag mentioned at the top of the post, and the attitudes towards things like ethnic diversity, I don't really feel comfortable continuing to even use the wiki, much less contribute to it, as I have done on occasion. The admin at that wiki could really do to crack down on the gender-critical and racist-dogwhilstle-y users and have a serious think about whether they want to be running an actual wiki or an ARG disguised as a wiki, because the framing device BS is unnecessary as it is quaint.

[agandar]

nwos ramblings time

first of all WOOHOO YAHOO WAHA NEW TRAILER YIPPEE!!!

second of all. 2025. puts head in hands it's fine it's cool im patient it's not that long <- exploding

third. actual trailer thoughts.

it looks GREAT i REALLY LIKE IT

i really adore the artstyle they've used for the 3d models, they aren't as jarring as the old ones (which i didnt like at first but they grew on me) and still look real nice and stylized - a little nit picky but sometimes the mouths look? odd?? but like eh whatever. the noses too sometimes but again. eh whatever.

i will say though. i like the artstyle but. laytons new model. im kinda. iffy on it. at least right now it's prolly gonna be the old 3d models situation again where i gotta adjust then i can appreciate them in their own way but as of the moment. im kinda. hmmmm. i'll need to see them more in action too of course but right now he just feels. off. at times it looks fine and then others it looks odd. there's the outfit change, sure, which i wasnt the greatest fan of but i hardly hate it - i just prefer his big ol thick coat and sweater. that's fine, that isnt the problem, but he just. his whole shape language just feels! off! that man is a cylinder!! rounded squares!! reassuring and reliable!! in this he kinda looks like a triangle! maybe it's just the one idle pose cus we didnt see much STILL. part of what i liked about him is that this man is a TUBE. he is the cardboard tube that cain killed his brother with. now though he's looking less tube and more rolled up carpet with a rubber band on. but then again who knows these are just my initial gut reactions! maybe layton just decided he wanted to go to the club in which case slay king go for it also his head just looks like a touch too big but maybe that's also just my brain imagining things

also. luke's model. perfect no notes fantastic bowtie

the 3d cutscenes looked really nice which im pleasantly surprised by BUT i really hope they wont be used to like. replace 2d cutscenes. i dont imagine they will since they're a staple of the series but still.

kinda hope it stays like what we saw in the trailer where it's just layton's musings and lukes thoughts on things, maybe interspersed a bit throughout the gameplay where they need to be like 'look he picked up a thing here's a quick shot of it!' just yknow complimentary stuff and little moments. then again though i'd love for them to prove me wrong i just still have miracle mask cutscene ptsd

either way i like them so far and i hope this might mean we get a few more cutscenes where we can just see layton and luke interacting with stuff more. and also give us more swordfighting because i mean. layton swordfighting. it's the first time we've seen him in ages i'd be there trying to shove as many layton swordfights in as possible, finally give him a sword to just have on him at all times so that every single cutscene there's always the potential he'll just whip it out

the 2d art we have seen FANTASTIC i LOVE IT it's GREAT and the environments (or environment we've only seen like one) is DELIGHTFUL im so glad to see that good ol layton architecture im so excited to see more, ive always adored how environments and backgrounds are stylized also LITTLE LUKE AND LITTLE LAYTON SURVEYING THE SCENE!! THEY ARE JUST. IN THE CORNER. THEY ARE LOOKING!! it's a really small detail but it's GREAT i really hope it wont be just the one area

i also really like the hud we've seen so far, it looks clean without being obstructive or distracting - was a bit worried how they'd make it work on switch but so far it looks good still a bit worried about the memo just cus i know i will be playing mostly docked and memo functions with joysticks are. eck. but like hey im the one thats gonna opt out of using a stylus so that's on me, hopefully we can just stamp some stuff like circles and numbers maybe and that'll be enough

lastly though THE MUSIC!!! YEAHHH LAYTON MUSIC!!! layton music is always good this is no exception, absolutely looking forward to eventually having this new puzzle music ingrained in my mind after staring at a puzzle for 4 hours really been liking what we've been hearing so far it's got the good ol Layton Rhythm and the signature accordion but with a new twist i like, more brass instruments it sounds like man i cannot WAIT to hear what the title theme will sound like they always manage to pop off with the main theme

ok well anyway. managed to write a small opinion piece of a 3 minute trailer so that goes to show the grip this has on me. maybe this will finally spur me into finally doing art like ive been meaning to for uhhh checks watch. over. a year now. uhhhh anyway i think i've been writing this in snippets over the course of like an hour as i thought of more things to add but i dont have anything more at the moment so i am going to let this post go now to live in the wilderness. be free