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blarfkey · 4 years ago

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Tips on Beta-ing Fic in Fandom

Hello! So I’ve noticed from some of my experiences and the experiences of others that not everyone fully understands how to beta a fic or how to ask for a beta reader.

And I get it. Editing is a delicate process, it's terrifying to ask someone to look at your work, and it's equally terrifying to feel responsible for the quality of someone else’s writing.

So I decided to write up a little guide. I enjoy being a beta reader and learned how to while I got my minor in creative writing and through participation in many writer workshops but being a good beta doesn’t require an education like that. A lot of bad experiences I’ve seen or heard about could be avoided with communication and basic courtesy.

More under the cut:

First of all, there are different levels of editing that require different levels of depth and commitment. A lot of issues crop up when two people have a different idea of what’s expected. So here is a way of looking at the different levels.

1. SPAG (SPelling And Grammar): This is the most basic level and has the least amount of time commitment. The beta looks for issues in grammar and spelling such as: comma rules, homophones, run on sentences, anything that obscures meaning, ect. This is the easiest level to ask for since it requires a basic read through and no knowledge of canon or characters or the fandom at all. If you are with a new beta whom you don’t know well, I would start with just this level.

2. Flow and Efficiency: this gets a little deeper into SPAG. A beta on this level would flag passages that slow down the pace of the story, words that are repeated too often, dialogue that doesn’t make sense or sounds awkward, pronoun confusion, sentence/paragraph order, ect. This requires more time and re-reading the fic more than once to do a thorough job.

3. Characterization: This deals with how in character your dialogue and actions feel in your story. If you’re writing a character for the first time or you don’t have a full understanding of them in canon, it can be helpful to ask a writer well versed in writing that character to take a look at your characterization. This does require more of a commitment than the others and you need to communicate with each other to discuss what seemed out of character and why and what alternatives could be taken instead.

4. Plot and Story: This is the biggest commitment for a beta and not something you ask a person to do real quick or even ask a person to do if you don’t know them very well. This type of editing asks someone to look at the story overall and see what is working and what is not working as far as plot goes.

Did the writer develop the story in a way that makes sense, did they lay down the seeds of the development throughout the fic, are they sticking to a theme, are they contradicting themselves throughout the fic, did they repeat a scene, ect? For multi-chapter fics, this requires a long term beta/writer relationship over the course of each chapter update.

You should not ask someone brand new to beta at this level for an update chapter, especially if they haven’t read your other chapters first or aren’t familiar with your writing. This level requires an immense amount of trust between beta and author and a huge time commitment for a beta.

~~~

Now that we understand the different levels of editing, here are some common courtesy guidelines for both authors and betas:

Author:

1. Decide beforehand what level you want your fic to be beta’d for. Communicate clearly exactly what you want your beta to look for and at what level you would like them to edit. You don’t have to use my guideline above exactly, but be clear if you want deeper edits than SPAG, for example. And understand that deeper edits, such as on structure and plot and characterization, require a lot of commitment on behalf of the beta reader. It’s understandable if they do not or are unable to give you that level of commitment so be clear about it upfront.

2. Be clear on your deadline of when you want this done.

3. Be clear on the length, pairing/characters involved, rating, and major content warnings when asking for a beta.

4. If you share a google doc, do not let any beta have full editing privileges. Even if you trust them, you won’t be able to see all the changes they make so you can learn from your mistakes. Keep the restrictions to commenter only.

5. Be upfront and honest about how sensitive you are to different kinds of feedback. Especially if you’ve been hurt in the past, be honest about what feedback you do not want.

6. Remember, you do not have to change everything a beta suggests. This is your story and even though they’ve done you a favor, it's ultimately your decision and judgement on your own fic.

That being said, you don’t need to argue with a beta about their suggestions. If you don’t agree with most or all of their ideas, they are not the beta for you. Thank them for their time and then follow through with your own suggestions or find a different beta.

Beta/Editor: Here are some basic courtesy rules you should follow when you are beta-ing.

1. Do not engage with fic that makes you uncomfortable, even if you want to be kind to a friend. Your reluctance shines through in your efforts and it does not end well for anyone. If you start a fic and then find you are uncomfortable with it, politely tell your author that you cannot continue. Do not do so in a way that shames their fic. You do not have to go into personal reasons why you cannot finish the fic, just tell them you are unable to do so.

2. Stick to the deadline you agreed to. If something comes up, let the author know as soon as possible so they can find someone else, especially if they are on a publishing schedule or have an exchange deadline.

3. Word all your non-spelling edits as suggestions, not commands. Ultimately any changes are the author’s decision and up to their discretion so it comes off as very rude and controlling when you use commands, as if you naturally know better than the author does at telling their own story. This also means that you should not change anything in the document without telling the author if they have given you full edit access on a google doc or word doc, ect.

Some ways of phrasing you can use to make suggestions:

A. “Could” and “can” instead of “should” and “need”.

For example: For example, Maybe you could move this paragraph to the beginning because of ____ reason instead of You need to move this paragraph to the beginning.

B. “I think” at the beginning of a suggestion, so it's clear it's your opinion and nothing else.

I think this paragraph works better at the front of the chapter rather than the end.

C. “Maybe” with a question mark.

This is one of my favorites. Think of it like brainstorming with someone. Maybe you could move this paragraph to the front of the chapter? Maybe X Character could do Y instead?

4. Always explain why you would make a change to story, flow, or characterization so the author understands your intent and reasoning.

5. Do not judge someone’s writing. This is their story and their ideas. Do not try to steer the plot in the direction you would want to take it, do not kinkshame any of their smut, do not criticize their story/pairing choices because they aren’t to your tastes. The goal is to improve what they already have, not change it to match what you personally like.

6. Do not offer only critical feedback without something positive. This is very important. Even if you are just at level one SPAG, leave a comment or highlight a passage, turn of phrase, line of dialogue that you enjoyed or leave a note at the bottom of something you think they did well.

Asking for critical feedback is terrifying, and if there is not a balance of positive and constructive feedback, authors can be discouraged from writing further if they think all they write is bad or needs work.

The way I did it in writing workshops is that I put every negative comment in between two positive comments. This might be unrealistic for beta, but you cannot beta a fic without leaving any positive feedback at all.

~~~

Communication and clear expectations go a long way in a good author/beta relationship. It helps to find someone whose fic they have written or bookmarked align with your own tastes if you want deeper edits. Make sure you have similar ideas on characterization, head-canons, interpretations of canon lore.

At the end of the day, however, it’s fanfiction. It is written for free and for fun. Little things that would not cut it in professional publication can slide in an fanfic and there should not be pressure to make a fic as perfect as a professional, published piece unless the author gives you that explicit expectation.

Please comment or send an ask/message if you have any questions about beta-ing!

#fandom #beta #beta readers #editing #fic editing #fanfiction #fic

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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Something I haven't seen anybody talk about is how RWBYs rejection of Ozpin puts their entire team in question. Ruby only overcame her hesitation in being leader with Ozpins assurance that mistakes were natural and she would rise to the occasion; Weiss only gave Ruby a chance once she had it pointed out that she thought she knew better than Ozpin and was being narrow minded. Shouldn't they find themselves questioning their team dynamic after rejecting the man they based it on?

We've discussed the lack of nuance in the Ozpin situation before, specifically how everyone has a uniform reaction to only the last part of the vision, but I think that lack of nuance extends to how underdeveloped and at times confusing their relationship with Ozpin is post-Beacon.

As you say, he had a hand in developing what's supposed to be the group's family, their team. I'm not saying he was solely responsible for the bonds they formed, or even that he had some huge impact beyond that gentle steering/running the school that put them in the same place, but just that he had some impact and that's never acknowledged.

Nor was his status as their headmaster more generally. They never mourned for him as a mentor, or even just another victim of the Fall of Beacon.

No one engages with the instability his death supposedly caused, though Volume 7's election plot shows that the group doesn't care at all about the politics of their world, even though Blake is supposed to.

When Ozpin reappears they're happy to see him... but in a way that implies they've got a cute little brother to tease now, not an ally deserving of equal respect, let alone a mentor.

This intensifies when Yang shows up and very publicly (within the group) challenges him. She believes she knows best, she's taking Raven at her word, she's calling Ozpin out in front of everyone, she's demanding promises after being proven wrong... the respect from Beacon is gone.

Then all of Volume 6-8 happens and we see that the group will not only turn on him in an instant, but are happy to cut him out of their lives completely. Saving Oscar, Ruby, and Maria's lives doesn't help. Presumably needing him to get into Atlas doesn't help. Months of down time and repeating his decisions doesn't help. He becomes nonexistent to them once the story no longer has need of him.

Tackling how rejecting Ozpin impacts the group's understanding of their own dynamic would require the story knowing what their relationship to Ozpin is. It's all over the place. He's the kind, mysterious mentor. Then he's the funny dude connected to a kid stranger. Then he's the worst person ever, despite the group having encountered Salem's henchmen already, the people actually trying to murder and kidnap them. Then he's insignificant for a huge stretch of time. Now he's... just there. I would have loved a scene, for example, where Ruby tries to come to terms with two different versions of Ozpin in her head: the one who trusted her with a team when she didn't even believe in herself vs. the one who didn't trust her with Salem's secret. That there is a major theme of a coming of age story, where the child realizes that the adults around her are fallible and lead complicated lives of their own. But, again, the desire for such a scene requires two things that RWBY continually fails to produce. The first is emotional payoff. Ruby didn't even react to Penny's resurrection, let alone her headmaster's place in her life. The second is a sound moral standing that acknowledges the nuance of the situation. If Ruby were to consider who Ozpin really is, that would require her to think about the differences between those events, which leads us to all the arguments we've been saying since Volume 6. Why would Ozpin trust her with a team but not Salem? Maybe because getting a team was a part of her structured education and this is a world-defining war. Maybe because she's seen first-hand what learning about Salem does to people, understands how fear can drive you to make questionable choices, and now knows that this secret is tied up in Ozpin's trauma. Maybe because she showed up in his safehouse when he never had any intention of getting her involved and she forced his hand by stealing a magical relic.

Having Ruby - or anyone - express ambivalence with the Ozpin situation because of what he's done for them, including how he helped form their team, would require the story to see him as something other than the 100% antagonist of this situation. They should be questioning a LOT of stuff post-vision, including what it means to so completely reject the man who helped form the core bonds they're now relying on to survive this war. I'm not saying the group owes him, I'm saying it takes a remarkably callous person (a remarkably one-note character) to never even struggle with, or just question what it means when someone who previously helped you so much suddenly hurts you instead. Ruby should be thinking about Ozpin letting her into Beacon early in the same way Yang should be thinking about Ironwood giving her an arm. These are defining moments for these girls, changing the course of their lives, and they occurred because of these men. That generates a certain amount of good will and fond feelings, something that never reappears once Ozpin and Ironwood came under fire. Just like we can't expect emotional nuance for the headmaster when the BFF Penny got none, I'm not at all surprised we failed to get an examination of team dynamics when the bigger, more obvious Ozpin influences were passed over too.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas #long post

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years ago

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Do you think you would enjoy writing a fairytale-esque Nielan story? Except, instead of being the scary beast or the fearsome dragon like he usually is, it's Nie Mingjue who gets to be in the heroine/damsel's role. :D

Toxicity - part 1 - ao3

When Nie Mingjue turned sixteen years old, he was alone.

He had taken nothing with him but his saber, Baxia. He had hugged his brother maybe-goodbye, and then he had gone down into the saber tombs to wait to see if this was the year he was going to go insane.

He hoped it wasn’t, of course. They’d lost his father only the year before, murdered by one of their political enemies – poisoned with his own saber, secretly weakened so that it’d shatter in the middle of a night-hunt and coated with some sort of toxin that ate away his brain within a few months. If Nie Mingjue went insane this year, his little brother, Nie Huaisang, would need to step up as the leader of their sect, and he was only eight years old.

(He didn��t have to spend his eighth birthday shivering in the saber tombs that he hadn’t even known existed before that day, clutching a saber he barely knew, in pain and wondering if he was about to die, but then again, Nie Huaisang wasn’t the one who’d been cursed with a body that cultivated three times as well as everybody else but would eventually cause him to lose his mind when he turned some multiple of eight.)

If he didn’t go insane this year, Nie Mingjue would finally accept the role of sect leader officially, and he’d devote himself to making his sect as powerful as he could in the short time he had left to him. He’d been refusing the role so far, purportedly on account of his grief at his father’s death, and everyone had been very understanding – only those closest to him knew the truth. He would have preferred that Nie Huaisang not know, maybe not ever but definitely not so young, but if Nie Mingjue really did go insane this year then Nie Huaisang would have to be sect leader, or at least sect-leader-to-be with their uncle twice removed acting as sect leader until he was old enough to take charge, so he had to know.

He’d cried a lot before Nie Mingjue left, and there wasn’t anything Nie Mingjue could do about it other than spend a bit of his time in the cold saber tomb mentally cursing the ones that did this to him.

It was, he’d been informed, originally meant as a gift.

His parents had had trouble conceiving shortly after their marriage, all their pregnancies ending up as miscarriages, and rather than marry in a concubine his father, hotheaded and reckless, had taken his bride to the mountains to request help from the dragons that sometimes stayed there as they passed through Qinghe on their mysterious business.

There’d been two of them, apparently. One was a celestial dragon, blue and white as a sky at noon and just as noble, five-clawed and smooth-scaled; the other a lowly flood dragon, yellow-bellied and scuttling and stinking of earth – while the ways of dragons were mysterious, Nie Mingjue’s father had confidently asserted that the two of them were sworn brothers in the same way as men, the latter having once saved the life of the former, and that their brotherhood had once included as its chief the proud azure dragon of the east, green of scale and mightier than either of the others.

The celestial dragon had heard their plea and had been delighted to be asked. He had sung them a song of overwhelming might, filling their ears to the point that Nie Mingjue’s mother became half-deaf, and promised them that they would not only bear a child, but that it would be blessed with the strength of the heroes of the ancient days, so as to serve with honor his parents, his sect, his land, his world. He shall be righteous and unyielding, straightforward and upright, the celestial dragon had declared, and then, having exhausted himself in his exertions, had retreated to the top of the mountain to sleep.

The flood dragon had watched the whole proceeding with a pleasant smile on its face, nodding along in interest, but the very moment the celestial dragon had closed its eyes he had said, Let me give you something too and breathed out poisonous fumes that had choked them both nearly to death. With that pleasant smile still firmly on its lips, it had told them a secret: that the celestial dragon had given them a gift, but that all gifts had a price. Their child would be just like the heroes of old, a candle burning too fiercely – doomed to madness that would turn all his strength into destruction, rendered blind and unable to tell apart those he loved from those he hated, turned into a beast that knew nothing but slaughter.

But not to worry, the flood dragon said. While he did not have the strength of the celestial dragon, he had taken a little bit of their life energy and used it and his own poison to lock away the prophesied madness into one year in every eight, so that their child would be able to live free and carefree the rest of the time.

At the time, they had thanked him, but – Nie Mingjue’s mother had been so weakened by the poison that she had not survived his birth, his father rendered vulnerable to his neighbor’s underhanded attack, and far from living free and carefree Nie Mingjue lived instead in terror of his eventual fate, knowing that one day he would go mad in the worst sort of way.

Some gift!

Nie Mingjue spent his sixteenth birthday meditating in the saber tombs, his saber unsheathed on his lap in the likely vain hope that if he really did go insane, he would turn it against himself out of lack of any other enemy to butcher as his ancestors had once done to animals for trade. He remained there for two days and two nights, wracked with terrible gripping pain from the remnants of the flood dragon’s palliative poison, and emerged only once there was no trace of the date left and he had answered all the questions posed to him by the guards set at the door to the tombs to their satisfaction, proving that he hadn’t gone mad and didn’t need to be left inside to either kill himself or slowly starve to death.

His brother was waiting for him by the gate of their home and had thrown himself into his arms, weeping, and Nie Mingjue vowed to himself that he would use the next eight years of his life to let Nie Huaisang live the best life he could give him.

He did the best he could.

Nie Mingjue devoted himself to strengthening his sect, recruiting steadily and devoting all his time to sect matters, putting aside any frivolity; to each one who rose to a level of sufficient strength and trust, Nie Mingjue entrusted the duty of guarding Nie Huaisang, pleading with them that when he died they would put themselves into his shoes, care for him as any elder brother would. He made sure his borders were well-defended and well-stocked, layer after layer of protections in place in the event of external attack, building it so that it could shut tight like a turtle in its shell, hidden behind an implacable wall of iron. To deal with internal threats, he promoted people on the basis of talent, careful not to have either too many old retainers or too many new faces, wanting each group to watch the other to try to forestall the other.

He tried to strengthen Nie Huaisang himself, but he had much less success with that. Terrified as he was of lashing out against his loved ones, Nie Mingjue found himself yielding time and time again to all of Nie Huaisang’s requests, forgiving all his faults and mistakes, the only educational tools left to him being scolding and appeals to Nie Huaisang’s own good sense.

Still, Nie Huaisang grew up clever, if lazy and a mediocre cultivator, and there was darkness in his eyes when he spoke of dragons, a common artistic motif that never appeared in any of his art.

When Nie Mingjue was twenty three and Nie Huaisang fifteen, he sent letters to the reclusive Cloud Recesses, a sect hidden away in the mountains of Gusu that was renowned for its artistic achievements in music and painting as well as swordsmanship, asking for permission for Nie Huaisang to attend lessons that summer. They agreed, leading to a flock of other sects seeking similar permission lest the Nie sect use the opportunity to form an alliance without including them.

Nie Mingjue had only been trying to find a place where Nie Huaisang could learn skills that would suit him well, and also to keep him out of the growing tensions developing with the Wen sect that had killed his father and had made several attempts to kill him, too, that only failed on account of underestimating his cultivation and martial skills – an easy mistake to make, if you didn’t know his story – but having Nie Huaisang befriend the other sect heirs and shining talents of his generation could only help increase his security, so he approved.

When he came to drop Nie Huaisang off, though, he insisted, as regretfully and politely as he could, on hearing about the defenses they had in place.

“If you do not trust us to protect your brother, perhaps you should rethink sending him to us at all,” Lan Qiren said, voice sharp and querulous. He was the sect’s representative – not actually sect leader, but the one who left their reclusive abode to do the external parts of the job normally associated with leadership – and the teacher in charge of the visiting students, and Nie Mingjue did not want to offend him, but he also knew how insidious the Wen sect could be when they wanted. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unwilling to retract the demand but also not wanting to spoil Nie Huaisang’s visit before it had even begun.

“It is a reasonable request,” said a calm voice that nevertheless carried with it a hint of laughter from behind his back, and Nie Mingjue tensed, not having heard someone approach. “Let me show Sect Leader Nie around, uncle.”

Lan Qiren’s face softened at once, something Nie Mingjue had never seen happen on his face before; he stroked his beard and cleared his throat before nodding, saving face by allowing himself to be persuaded.

Nie Mingjue saluted and bowed deeply, murmuring, “My sincere thanks for your indulgence,” before turning to look at – the most beautiful young man he’d ever seen in his life, actually. Tall and slender, dressed in the Lan sect’s white and blue, with a xiao tucked into his belt and a gentle smile on his face and warmth in his eyes...

Nie Mingjue had to clear his throat himself before saluting him as well, although the young man hummed immediately in disapproval and caught him before he could bow. “Nie Mingjue,” he said. “Of Qinghe Nie. And you are…?”

“Lan Xichen,” the young man said, omitting even his sect affiliation – though that was obvious enough. “Come with me, I’ll show you the main defenses we have set in place, although not all of them, of course.”

“Naturally,” Nie Mingjue hurried to say. “I would never want to pry into your sect’s secrets, Lan-gongzi! It’s only – my younger brother…”

“You’re worried about him,” Lan Xichen said, his smile deepening. “I understand.”

Normally, Nie Mingjue would leave it at that – he was not overly given to speaking with people, but he couldn’t help himself in this case. “He’s all I have in the world,” he admitted. “And I know I can’t protect him forever, or even for very much longer, but…what I can do, I would do.”

“You don’t need to explain, Sect Leader Nie –”

“Please,” Nie Mingjue said gruffly. “Call me by name.”

“Then I insist you call me by mine,” Lan Xichen said.

Nie Mingjue nodded, and they walked in comfortable silence. After a while, he, again uncharacteristically, initiated conversation: “You called Teacher Lan uncle, and he seems especially fond of you, much more than most. Are you directly related?”

“Oh, yes,” Lan Xichen said. “I’m his – ah, his nephew.”

Nie Mingjue frowned. “Really? I thought that was Lan Wangji…?”

“My younger brother,” Lan Xichen said, and he looked so pleased that Nie Mingjue didn’t have it in him to question any further, even though he’d really thought that Lan Wangji was the sole sect heir.

Still, when they came across Lan Wangji himself a little later, he saluted them both and referred to Lan Xichen as ‘xiongzhang’ – formal, but then again, Lan Wangji was very formal in all things – with a minute change of expression that suggested adoration, even awe, and so Nie Mingjue told himself that perhaps he had been mistaken. Or perhaps he had simply misunderstood, perhaps Lan Wangji was only the acting sect heir for external affairs, in the same way that Lan Qiren was, or maybe Lan Xichen had simply been exempted from the line of inheritance for whatever reason…

Either way, it wasn’t really his business.

He certainly wasn’t going to bring it up in front of Lan Xichen, with whom he unexpectedly got along splendidly – the conversation flowed easily, ranging over all sorts of subjects, and Nie Mingjue felt comfortable as if he’d known the other man for years.

“We must have been brothers in a past life,” he told Lan Xichen, and noticed the way Lan Xichen’s eyes grew briefly distant and dim, a little sad.

“We must have been,” he agreed, and clasped Nie Mingjue’s hands in his. “Regardless, I do not have words to express how much joy it brings me to meet you again in this life, my friend.”

Nie Mingjue went home feeling as light as air.

He clung onto that feeling throughout his twenty-fourth birthday, when the pangs of the poison wracked his body into horrific spasms, his back arching and arms and legs thrashing and every vein and meridian in his body aching fit to burst; it hurt so much that he thought he really would go insane, but just when he thought it was too much the pain began to fade and he survived.

Still, the experience was a bitter reminder that no matter how much Nie Mingjue’s heart sang and mood brightened at every letter from Lan Xichen, no matter how much he looked forward to discussion conferences as much as he had previously despised them only for the chance to see him, they could never be anything more than friends.

Distant friends, even. Bad enough that he would cause Nie Huaisang so much pain when he died too young �� it didn’t seem right to impose friendship on someone else who did not know.

Of course, thinking was one thing and enacting another, and Lan Xichen ignored every attempt he made to try away and put distance between them, visiting whenever he didn’t answer letters and refusing to be dissuaded when he tried to keep his responses curt and uninviting.

“Xichen, please,” Nie Mingjue said one evening, when they had been walking the ramparts in the Unclean Realm, he in his familial green and Lan Xichen in blue but both cast into equal shades of grey in the light of the moon, and he thought he’d never been happier in his life. “You don’t understand – I’m going to die, and you’ll be left behind. How can I do that to you?”

“Even if you died tomorrow, I would be happy to have been your friend today,” Lan Xichen declared, and Nie Mingjue wanted to kiss him more than anything. “Don’t push me away, Mingjue-xiong. Please.”

Nie Mingjue always yielded to those he loved most.

“All right,” he said with a sigh. “All right. Only promise me that you’ll stay safe, and that if – if I ever turn on you, or threaten you –”

“Remember that I can defend myself,” Lan Xichen said with a laugh. “Better than you might think. You aren’t nearly as bad at controlling your temper as you think, Mingjue-xiong.”

Nie Mingjue couldn’t explain more without explaining it all, and he didn’t want Lan Xichen to pity him, so he didn’t. They parted on good terms, with Nie Mingjue promising to return each correspondence as soon as he received them this time, and to let Lan Xichen know if he got any more “stupid ideas” from which he needed to be dissuaded.

The next letter arrived in the hands of a young man with a pleasant smile who introduced himself as Meng Yao.

“Xichen-xiong said that you valued talent and recognized merit,” he said. “I thought I might prevail on his recommendation, if you have room…?”

Nie Mingjue thought to himself with a smile that Lan Xichen had sent him a babysitter, and agreed to accept Meng Yao as a guest disciple. It didn’t take long to realize that Lan Xichen had sent him a treasure, brilliant at organizing and personnel management, wise beyond his years, and while he didn’t want to embarrass his friend by thanking him directly, he made sure to speak very highly of Meng Yao in all his letters. Lan Xichen responded warmly, saying how happy he was that Nie Mingjue was surrounded by people he trusted who supported him, and Nie Mingjue thought to himself with satisfaction that his message had been understood.

#mdzs #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #lan xichen #jin guangyao #my fic #my fics #toxicity #wantonlywindswept

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sketching-shark · 4 years ago

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I think we should start a protection squad (although they don’t need it because they can protect themselves) for Sun Wukong and Guanyin

“Begone monkie kid fandom trying to down grade these really interesting characters with interesting personality’s and backstory ( the both of them like seriously Guanyin backstory is so cool) to a villain wile trying to justify your angsty backstory (that are no where near as cool as monkey who fights gods and Person who has 1000 arms and heads to help people in need) for the actual villain”

So who wants to join

Me:*raises my hand*

Ps: sorry if I got Guanyin backstory wrong am not an expert on it.

Haha okay so some critiques on the jttw & associated media western fandom & fandom in general coming up, so please skip this upcoming text wall if you don't want to encounter my undoubtedly ~devastating~ words (i.e. don't like don't read as people love to say, & if I have to be inundated with images of my notp every time I go into the sun wukong tag then I imagine people can be chill with me expressing my opinions & giving people fair warning that I WILL be critiquing common fandom trends, but no need for you to see that if you don’t want to. Cool? Cool.)

-----

PFFFFFTTT oh man there are many times when I feel like signing up for such a protection squad...when it comes to the current western jttw & Sun Wukong fandom I do feel like I'm often swinging at a rapid pace between "well it's fandom & people are allowed to make the stories they want" & "I am once again begging my fellow monkie kid enthusiasts (& sometimes creators) to do more research into the og classic/show it more respect so you can avoid any potentially offensive/off-the-mark misunderstandings of the status & cultural context of the characters in their country of origin (I promise it's super interesting & I can provide you with links to free pdf copies of the entire Yu translation, i.e. the best one ever created, so feel free to ask!) & maybe also stop constantly stripping away all the nuance of Sun Wukong's character for the sake of either making him an entire asshole so your little meow meow can look completely innocent in comparison and/or making the monkey king's entire life & character revolve around said meow meow."

Like I get that fandom's supposed to be a kind of anything-goes environment, but one thing that honestly seems to be true of a lot of fandoms--and the western one for Sun Wukong & co. is certainly not immune from this--is that there often seems to be a kind of monoculturalization at work in what stories are created & what character interpretations are made popular. Across a multitude of fandoms, you frequently see basically nothing but the exact same tropes being made popular & even being insisted on for the canonical work (especially hasty redemption arcs & enemies to lovers these days), the exact same one-dimensional character types that characters from an original work keep getting shoved into, the exact same story beats, etc. And I get it to an extent, as fandom is generally a space where people just make art and fic for fun & without thinking too hard about it & without any pressure.

This seems to, however, often unfortunately lead to the mentality that it’s your god-given right to do literally whatever you want with literally any cultural figure without even the slightest bit of thought put into their cultural, historical, and even religious context, even (and sometimes especially) when it comes to figures that are really important in a culture outside your own. For such figures--even if you first encounter them in a children’s cartoon--you should be a little more careful with what you do with them than you would with your usual Saturday morning line-up. It of course has to be acknowledged that there exists a whole pile of absolutely ridiculous & cursed pieces of media that are based on Journey to the West & that were produced in mainland China, but for your own education if nothing else I consider it good practice for those of us (myself certainly included) who aren’t part of the culture that produced JTTW to put more thought into how we might want to portray these characters so that at the very least (to pull some things I’ve seen from the jttw western fandom) we’re not turning a goddess of mercy into an evil figure for the sake of Angst(TM), or relegating other important literary figures into the positions of offensive stereotypes, or making broad claims about the source text & original characterizations of various figures that are blatantly untrue, or mocking heavenly deities because of what’s actually your misunderstanding of how immortality works according to Daoist beliefs. Yet while a lot of this is often due to people not even trying to understand the context these figures are coming from, I do want to acknowledge that the journey (lol reference) to understand even a fraction of the original cultural context can be a daunting one, especially since, as I’ve mentioned before, it can be really hard & even next to impossible to find good, accessible, & legitimate explanations in English of how, for example, the relationship between Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China & according to the Buddhist beliefs that define the original work.

That is to say, I do think it’s an unfortunate, if unavoidable, part of any introduction of an original text into a culture foreign to its own for there to be sometimes a significant amount of misinterpretation, mistranslations, and false assumptions. There is, however, a big difference between learning from your honest mistakes, & doubling down on them while dismissing all criticism of your misinterpretation into that abstract category of “fandom drama.” The latter attitude is kind of shitty at best and horrifically entitled at worst.

Plus, as I’ve discovered, there is a great deal of interest and joy to be drawn from keeping yourself open to learning aspects of these texts & figures that you weren’t aware of! I can say from my own experience that I’ve always really enjoyed & appreciated it when individuals on this site who come from a Chinese background--and who know much more about the cultural context of JTTW than me--have taken the time to explain its various aspects. It often leaves me feeling like woooooaaaahhhhhHHH!!!! as to how amazingly full of nuanced meaning JTTW is like dang no wonder it’s one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels.

And I guess that right there is the heart of a lot of my own personal frustration and disappointment with the ways that fandoms often approach a literary work or other piece of media...like don’t get me wrong, a lot of the original works a fandom may grow around are just straight-up goofy & everyone’s aware of it & has fun with it, yet the trend of approaching what are often nuanced and multi-layered works in terms of how well they fit and/or can be shoved into pretty cliche ideas of Redemption Arc or Enemies to Lovers or Hero Actually Bad, Villain Actually Good etc...well, it just seems to cheapen and even erase even the possibility of understanding the wonderful complexity or even endearing simplicity that made these works so beloved in the first place. Again, I feel like I need to make it clear that I’m not saying fandom should be a space where people are constantly trying to one-up each other with their hot takes in literary analysis, but it would be nice and even beneficial to allow room for commentary that strives to approach these works in a multi-faceted way, analysis & interpretations that go against the popular fandom beliefs, & criticism of the work or even of fandom trends (yes it is in fact possible to legitimately love something but still be critical of its aspects) instead of immediately attacking people who try to engage in such as just being haters who don’t want anyone to have fun ever (X_X).

----

Anyway, I know I didn’t cover even half of the stuff you brought up in the first place anon, but I don’t want any interested parties to this post to suffer too long through my text wall lol. I was asked to try my hand at illustrating Guanyin, but as with you I’m nowhere near as informed as I should be about her, so I want to do more research on her history and religious importance before I attempt a portrait. I’ll try my best, and do plan to pair that illustration with my own outsider’s attempt to summarize her character. From what little I do know I am in full agreement that her backstory is so incredibly amazing...just the fact that she literally eschewed the bliss of Nirvana to help all beings reach it, and even split herself into pieces in the attempt to do so (with Buddha granting her eleven heads and a thousand arms as a result)...man, I can see why she’s such a beloved & respected deity.

----

As for what western fandom commonly does with everyone’s favorite god-fighting primate...I can talk about this at length if there’s interest, but for this post I’ll just say that I guess one lesson from all of this is that for all the centuries that have passed since Journey to the West was first completed, literally no one drawing inspiration from the original tale in the west (lol) has come even slightly close to being able to equal or even capture half the extent of the nuance, complexity, religious, historical, and cultural aspects, and humor that define Wu Cheng'en's story of an overpowered monkey who defied even Buddha.

So thank the heavens we'll always have the original.

#journey to the west #jttw #guanyin #sun wukong #monkey king #monkie kid #fandom #fandom critical

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etherealxgenie · 4 years ago

Text

Why Lila is Marinette’s Own Fault || Miraculous Why?

(Before I begin, note that this is my opinion over the topic and am no way am bashing anyone’s love for the ship and/or character. I respect who and what you like, therefore expect the same courtesy. However, if this is something you cannot handle, please click the back button as this will be a heavily discussed topic. No flames allowed. Other than that, enjoy.)

So usually in the story, there’s always one or two mean girls who is out to get the main character for some kind of superior reasons to justify. And there’s no reason as to why they act this way just for the sake of being mean.

Like the Ashleys from “Recess”, who tend to pick on kids just for the fun of it sometimes or cause they’re popular.

Same can go for Libby from “Sabrina The Teenage Witch” who was out to get something for what she wants or just to be superior to the other kids in school.

For Miraculous, we already have that kind of character, Chloe Bourgeois, who is the daddy’s girl of the Mayor to get what she wants. And until we had some small character development in season two (which season 3 took it away!!), we had no reason feeling sorry for her and she was just for the convenient plot in the social life for Marinette in the series.

And then… there’s Lila.

Before I get into hand in this, let me note that Lila is not a good person at all in the show. She’s a liar, a manipulator and will do whatever she can to get what she wants. She breaks into homes, steals and molests pretty models. She’s been pretty shown to be just selfish without consequences and unless we get a background story of why she acts this way, she has no excuse. Especially when she teams up with hawkdaddy to now have permission to invade and spy on Adrien whenever she wants? Fuck that.

So in Volpina, Lila is introduced as this pathological liar to get attention in season one. She obviously goes for Adrien cause he’s the famous model after all. Reasonable considering as the new person looking for attention, you seek out the most popular/famous person in the school. That would Adrien.

Though considering with her connections, it would’ve been smarter to try and impress Marinette instead if Lila did her research before she came into the scene. But of course, new person so she wouldn’t know, but whatever.

And we can see Lila easily just says things just to get Adrien’s approval and such.

And so, Marinette follows them around (stalking? really?) because Tikki points out Lila has the book Adrien took from his father’s vault and threw it in the trash.

Now the SMART thing to do would’ve been to see how Adrien would handle the situation and wait for him to leave, if to acknowledge Adrien has a mind of his own and knows when to walk away (which he does). Or at the very least, try to distract them as Marinette while Tikki retrieved the book.

But… no. You transform into Ladybug to lash out at a girl PUBLICALLY, for anyone including Adrien to hear, just to embarrass her and call her out on her lying because she… “hates liars”.

Marinette, you fucking lie ALL the time! Most of those times to Adrien! And I’m not just talking about when in regard to being Ladybug, you hypocritical- (groans)

I can list plenty of episodes: Gamer, Aninmaestro, Ikari Gozen and hell, even Reverser counts! If she hadn’t lied about Marc’s book, Nathaniel wouldn’t have torn it! (sighs)

And before you all start jumping at me saying Lila got what she deserves, I only agree partially. Ladybug, as a public figure and heroine, practically the face of Paris, acted irrationally lashing out at a bystander because of lies which were or were not believable. Lila was broadcasting a post or making the news, she was trying (poorly) to impress a boy. Ladybug gave Lila the Regina George treatment.

Yeah, so you caused an akumatized situation and Lila hates your guts. Hell, I would hate you too. That’s like a celebrity jumping at an innocent bystander when they’re whispering to their friend about a rumor that only the two of them were talking about. You can’t jump to try and stop them and should just let it dispel on its own. At that point, Lila had no real power but you just influenced her.

And… oh boy did things get worse because of this.

Look season 3 was trash (except for moments in certain episodes) and I feel talking about the infamous ‘Chameleon’ physically hurts me but… yeah gotta point out a few things. The whole episode was unrealistic, and it was an obvious ploy to be sympathetic to Marinette with Lila back… but… you’re not fooling me.

So, Lila is still on her lying game, being able to fool the students and the staff?! Okay if you believe a student has so many disabilities without any paperwork proof, you can actually get fired for that for fraud. As someone who worked with education before, that’s just pure incompetence.

So yeah, Marinette comes to school seeing the seats changes to accommodate Lila and upright begins to plot to discredit her for her lies. UM… what happened to trying to start over with Lila after failing to do so the first time?

Oh, that’s right. She gets that way (at least partly) because Lila is sitting next to Adrien. I can understand if it was because they rearranged the seating without her say so but let’s face it. Lila sitting next to Adrien was her real trigger.

So since Marinette failed to acknowledge her mistake the first time, she spends all day trying to prove Lila is lying and in return the class is angry at her. Alya even comes to point out that Marinette is jealous of Lila.

And you know what? Alya is right.

Alya knows at least what Marinette is capable of doing so when it comes to Adrien and how far she’s willing to go. Remember that Alya is the one who encouraged her to break into his locker and steal his phone. So of course, she’s worried Marinette is gonna do something to the new girl.

I don’t blame Alya for doing one of the most competent things in the show: Warning Marinette to NOT go off the handle without proof and not make herself look bad in the process.

And because Marinette failed to do so… she made Lila her enemy AGAIN. It was bad enough you had her as your enemy as Ladybug, but now you get to deal with twice the drama!

Your own fucking fault, Marinette.

Also, the advice Adrien gave? I don’t blame for him for it and neither should you. Yes, his advice is not perfect, but with the options he has on his plate, its hard to do something otherwise.

For every encounter Adrien has had with Lila, it ended up with her being akumatized or a disaster no matter how he tried to handle her. We didn’t get to see how he would resolve in Volpina because of Ladybug’s intervention, but he would try at least in Chameleon and try to get her to see she didn’t need to lie and actually tried to befriend her. At this point, Lila was already triggered by Ladybug and Marinette so she just might have to take Adrien by force instead.

At that point, Adrien just wants to stay away and which he was trying to tell Marinette don’t interact with Lila or confront her cause there’s no way to do so at this point. Maybe he was trying to tell her to wait until her rumors got discredited, but he didn’t say it clear enough for her to understand.

And keep in mind, Adrien is a sheltered child with little to zero social skills taught to him by Nathalie and Gabriel. Hell, we don’t know how his childhood was really like even with Emelie around either and Adrien seems more like the pacifist unless he needs to absolutely step in. And he did by cleaning up Marinette’s mess in ‘Ladybug’. So now he’s gotta suffer being around Lila more because of Marinette making Lila her enemy.

But once again, this is bad writing as the writers of the show obviously forgot what it’s like to live in reality. In the real world, Lila would be immediately discredited without any proof the moment she came back. Not to mention, some of the class have their own connections and have more braincells proven in the previous episodes. Google search and such. A 5-year-old wouldn’t believe these lies in these times. Hey, I believe that because I once had a kid in kindergarten during my time as an afterschool art teacher look at one of my books I illustrated before and said they liked the ‘graphics’.

Kids are fucking smarter nowadays than you think.

The only reason anyone would believe Lila’s lies is if she’s magically influenced with some kind of ‘silver tongue’ spell or something and honestly? It looks like that’s the reason.

I dunno if Thomas Astruc or Zag is trying to insult the kids/adults or insult themselves to say Paris people aren’t that smart. If it’s the latter, you should see what you are doing because I don’t want to believe that because that’s disrespectful.

I know it seems I’m trying to stand up for Lila this portion, but I’m just looking things in a more realistic and logical way. Did Lila take things too far? Yes, waaaayyy too far and should be arrested for it since she works for Hawkmoth. But it could’ve been handled better and that makes Marinette at fault too.

Part of me wonders if she’s done this before because in Zombiezou, she also causes Chloe to ruin her gift for Ms. bustier. If Marinette didn’t antagonize Chloe in the locker in front of the class, maybe she wouldn’t have done anything. Again, I’m not saying Chloe was justified, but if that was the reason, yeah I can see her doing it for payback.

So to all those fics where I’m supposed to be ‘Boo-hoo’ for Marinette because of what Lila did? Fuck you guys because you need to dig deeper into the story to see both sides and not just make it a pity party where Marinette is the innocent victim.

It’s called “Cause and Effect”.

And considering she made Lila her enemy, Marinette is gonna get effected enough because that’s how karma works.

#ooc #the artist speaks #the artist opinion #miraculous ladybug #marinette salt #adrien sugar #alya sugar #lila salt #mainly facts really #but there is some parts where i'm salty #so be warned #tw: cursing #constructive critism welcome #flames will be deleted #i know the difference folks

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thiswasinevitableid · 4 years ago

Note

Indruck 22 for the meet uglies?

Here you go! I went SFW on this one

you’re on a date with this awful, awful person who keeps getting under my skin because my friend and I have been eavesdropping all night and your date says something that makes me snap … I thought it was a first date, not a three year relationship

“...such a waste of money. I mean, why spend all that to get something tacky on your skin?”

Indrid rolls his eyes at Barclay from across the counter of the Amnesty Lodge coffee shop, the cooks arms and hands sporting a plethora of tattoos rivaled only by Indrid’s collection.

“I dunno, l like the one I got.” The other man--who seems to be on the worst first date of his life--shrugs.

“You honestly think you and Juno couldn’t have spent that money on something else in college?”

“I mean maybe but, uh, we were earnin our own cash, figured we got to decide what to spend it on.”

“Hmmmm” the first guy sips his coffee, “sounds like a typical excuse for someone who doesn’t want to admit a mistake.”

“C’mon, that ain’t fair-”

“Ugh, stop saying ain’t! I can’t take someone who talks like that to meet my family.” Before the target of his disdain can respond, he snaps his fingers, “hey, buddy, can I get a refill or what?”

“The station for black coffee refills is right there, sir.” Barclay indicates the very obvious corner of dispensers, his voice the kind of calm that Indrid knows means he’s memorizing this guys face to warn other staff about.

They earn a brief reprieve while The Asshole leaves the table. When he returns, he’s shaking his head.

“God, have you looked at the photos they’ve got up? Who the fuck wants to look at bones?”

Indrid quickly glances at his friend to be sure he’s permitted to start a fight. Barclay nods.

“Quite a lot of people.” Indrid spins on his stool. “I’ve sold a number of them just from the display here. So perhaps you could keep your rude, unclultured, close-minded, obnoxious mouth shut.”

The man balks, looks to his companion for help. He offers none, mouth trying to form words and only coming out with halves of ones (except for the “fucks” which are plentiful).

“Oh my fucking god, you agree with him! That’s it, I’m out.” The Asshole pushes back from the table and storms out. The remaining man leaps up, panicked.

“Fuck.”

“It’s okay man, shitty first dates happen to all of us.” Barclay offers from beside the bakery case.

“I mean yeah, they do, but that wasn’t one of ‘em. That was my boyfriend of three fuckin years.” He dashes out of the shop, sparing a final glare at Indrid as he does.

Indrid trades a sheepish look with his friend, “Oops.”

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

“I’m glad you finally get to meet Duck!” Aubrey grins over her shoulder as she and Indrid wind down the hall at the office Kepler magazine.

Founded by childhood friends, Kepler worked a combination of print and video content that saw its subscribers and revenue climb while other publications struggled to stay afloat. Aubrey was head of the video team, though she contributed content to the magazine in the form of interviews about environmental activists of color and sustainable gift guides.

Kepler has three sections: travel, science, and environmental writing. Indrid now has the honor of being one of their primary photographers. He started two weeks ago and is thoroughly enjoying his work and the company of the other staff. The only person he’s yet to meet is Duck Newton, one of the founders and main reporters, as he was off on an assignment.

Aubrey knocks, gets a friendly “come in” and ushers Indrid into the office.

Looking at him from behind the desk is The Asshole’s Boyfriend, whose face goes from open and friendly to confused, then to perturbed.

“You okay?”

“I, uh, fuck, n-ye.” Duck sighs, “remember how I told you Alex and I split after a shitty date in a coffee shop?” He points at Indrid, “this was the fella who, uh, expedited the process.”

“Ohhhh.” Aubrey frowns, then shrugs with a smile, “whelp, he’s our new photographer. We’ll see you around.” She hurries them outside once more, shutting the doors. As they head back the way they came, she whispers, “his ex was a huge fucking dick, so if word gets out everyone is gonna think you’re a fucking hero.”

“He didn’t seem to see it that way.”

“It was only a few weeks ago, so it’s still pretty fresh. He’ll heal from it okay, Duck’s a tough cookie. And I’m sure you guys’ll get along eventually.”

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

“Juno, please, you gotta come with me.”

“I would bud, except it’s April and I’s fifth wedding anniversary that weekend. And no, we already have plans, so we can’t just take over this assignment as part of the celebration.”

“Fuck” Duck leans back in his chair.

“...You really asked everyone?”

“Ye-no, fuck-”

“Duck.”

“I ain’t asked Indrid yet.”

“There it is.” Juno smirks, “you gotta ask; besides, we were gonna have him do illustrations for the feature, but photos would be even better. And we both know it ain’t his fault y’all broke up.”

Duck nods, promises to ask Indrid after lunch. He finds the photographer flipping through his files from his shoot for next issues cover. His silver hair is pulled back, red glasses sitting on the desk beside him so he can gauge color correctly.

Duck kind of wants to pull the silver locks just to see what happens. It’s not his fault Indrid looks like his Sophomore roommate who he had a raging crush on, only with more tattoos and a much more captivating face. Pity he helped fuck up Duck’s last chance at a stable relationship.

“Hey, Indrid, you got a minute?”

The photographer cocks his head.

“I, uh, so we got a feature on this whole chunk of places touting themselves as ‘sustainable romantic getaways. I booked a bunch of places, but a lot of ‘em will turn me away if I turn up solo. And the person I was supposed to go with ain’t an option any more. Neither is anyone else. You get my drift?”

Indrid pinches the bridge of his nose, “you realize this is a terrible idea, yes?”

“Hey, we been workin together just fine. Ain’t we? Wait, fuck, I ain’t been treatin you bad even when I’m tryin to be professional, am I?”

“No, you’ve been perfectly polite. But there’s a world of difference between being cordial in an office and going on what’s functionally a vacation together.”

Duck crosses his arms, “I ain’t about to lose eight hundred bucks in deposits.”

Indrid blinks, then chuckles, “Fair. What day do we leave?”

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

The temperature rises and the air dries as they speed south on Five. Indrid fiddles with games on his phone as cover for the list of “will this be a disaster or not” he’s mentally constructing. So far the signs are positive; Duck isn’t very chatty, but neither is Indrid. They have similar tastes in music, which makes much more sense when Duck explains he was a burn-out in high school. He also isn’t agitated by Indrid stimming, which makes it easier for the photographer to relax and enjoy the drive.

But they haven’t spoken about the elephant in the car, and Indrid resolves not to be the first to do so. No point in poking the sore spot if he doesn’t have to.

They stop at a Sinclair for gas. Duck reaches into his glovebox for something as Indrid climbs out, comes away with a photo instead. It’s one of those ones from a photobooth, faded but unmistakably him and his ex. His face falls for a second and Indrid scurries into the Dairy Queen attached to the convenience store.

As he waits in line, he turns one fact over in his mind like a picture he’s trying to make sense of; it would be easier to let their awkward first meeting go if he did not genuinely like the other man. He’s charming, in a quiet way, and very friendly. He’s built like the guys Indrid always got useless crushes on in college, usually third tier frat boys or--if he was lucky--a bear a few years older than him who liked his men on the odd side.

He doesn’t like seeing Duck sad. The sadness isn’t something he can fix. The stalemate between these two facts annoy the living hell out of him.

He’s next in line, glances up to confirm what he wants, and gets an idea. Last week, he overheard Duck talking with Aubrey about roadtrip snacks of their youth.

“One chocolate dipped cone, on me.” He holds the treat out to the other man.

“Oh. Uh, thanks. These are my favorite from when I was a kid.” Duck’s smile returns.

“I remembered. Or, ah, that is, I remembered you saying that.”

The smile changes, “you didn’t need to.”

“I wanted to. Shall we?”

“Yep. Uh, you gonna be able to drive and eat that at the same time?”

“Do not doubt my ability to consume ice cream under difficult circumstances, Duck Newton.”

They make it to their first stop unscathed. It’s what Duck refers to as, “eco-bespoke,” a fancy spa and hotel built in a former school, the kind that was made in an era of beautiful instead of grim educational architecture.

“Goats!” Indrid claps his hands, delighted, at the two animals stabled near the main building. One of it’s supposed sustainable elements is the small farm that helps feed the on-site restaurant. Duck smirks and Indrid suddenly feels the gulf in their upbringings, “Ah, I suppose they’re not exciting to someone who grew up in a rural town.”

“Nah, but they’re damn cute.” Duck checks the tag on their room keys, “okay, we’re in the green building, room 2B.”

Indrid snaps some photos as they cross the grounds, more to remind himself of things he wants to come back to later than anything else. He’s busy studying a strange mark on the wall by their door when Duck says, “I can sleep on the floor.”

“Why--oh” he stares at the single bed, “in retrospect, we should have seen this coming.”

“Yeah.” Duck drops his bag near the closet, slides the door to look for spare linens. Indrid summons his courage, finds it lacking, and so bolsters it with nonchalance.

“It’s a king, we could easily share.”

“You’d, uh, you’d be okay with that?”

“It is only narrow definitions of masculinity that mean something like sharing a bed is inherently sexual.”

He’s not entirely sure that made sense, but Duck nods, “You want the right side or left?”

“Right, please.”

“Great. And, uh, Indrid? Thanks for rollin with all this. I, uh, I know it’s fuckin weird but this is a huge feature for the magazine and we woulda been fucked if we had to pull it.”

Indrid gingerly sits on his side of the bed, “You’re welcome. And I don;t know about you, but” he smiles, catches Duck watching him intently in the mirror, “I’m enjoying myself so far.”

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

“Why has an activity that renders one incapable of using their thighs been deemed ‘romantic?” Indrid mumbles, face-down on the bed to offer his burning legs relief.

“Fuck if I know.” Duck groans as he sits next to him, “Kinda fun, but if I was doin this to get you in bed, I’d be fucked.”

“I am in bed” Indrid teases.

“And if I tried to put the moves of you you’d toss me outta it. Assumin I could even move myself that close.” Duck nudges him, then clears his throat, “uh, I mean, not like we’d be doin that-”

“Nono, point taken.” Indrid rolls over. The horseback ride was one of the “couples exclusives;” a trot out to a beautiful oasis for a gourmet picnic. Indrid got some excellent shots, including one of Duck with honeycomb dripping down his chin, which he will not be offering up to editors but may keep for himself. For it’s beautiful composition, of course.

Mercifully, their next stop is the pool. Indrid settles himself in the hot tub while Duck types some notes on his phone. Then his friend doffs his bathrobe and Indrid may as well be in a dream. In the steaming, echoing paradise of multi-colored tile and ecstatic shouts, Duck stands like one of the angelic fountains at its heart has come to life.

“You okay there, ‘Drid?”

“Yes.” He hopes his lack of glasses means Duck will mistake his blatant staring for trying to get his vision in focus.

“Then scoot your cu--uh, your butt over so I can sit down.”

Indrid gladly moves aside, finds he’s so comfortable with Duck pressed against him that he begins nodding off in the warm lull of the water. When the other man nudges him, saying it’s time to go, he finds a strong arm draped over his shoulder and Duck’s smile the most relaxed it’s been all trip.

Their last task at this location is to locate the speakeasy somewhere on the premises and order the “lovers delight” (only available to couples). To do so, they follow clues purple light bulbs, doors that lead to tiny, art-filled rooms, secret staircases, and a false supply closet to a dark wooded, dimly lit, incredibly pleasant bar looking out over the property. The drink turns out to be a massive goblet (more a bowl that someone stuck on a stem) of ginger syrup, prickly pear juice, and silver tequila.

It also turns out to be incredibly strong. So much so that when they get back to the room, Indrid loses his balance getting his shoes off, which makes Duck laugh, which results in both of them flopping onto the bed.

“S’fun. You’re, you’re real good at the clues. Should, should go to an escape room when we get home.”

“Wasn’t, hic, that hard. They, they want, hic, want you to find it.”

“Take the compliment, goofus” Duck pushes his shoulder.

“You’re, hic, the goofus.”

“Nuh uh.” Duck sticks his tongue out. Indrid does the same, then licks his cheek just to hear him laugh.

Duck rolls onto his back, giggles dying down to a contemplative sigh, “He woulda hated this.”

“Your ex?” Indrid crawls to stay close to him.

“Yeah. Everythin I like, or, or thought was fun, he thought it was a waste of time or just plain worthless. He, he wasn’t like that at the start. Dunno what changed. Probably me. Probably got borin. Got worse.”

Indrid is not so drunk that he believes he can fix this. But he’s just drunk enough to stroke Duck’s cheek and murmur, “No. Nono, hic, you’re th’best.”

He doesn’t remember falling asleep after that, but he must have, because his phone is beeping at them to get up and face the day. They do so with to-go coffees in one hand and their bags in the other, neither speaking of the night before until Indrid has turned the car into deeper desert.

“Sorry for gettin on a thing about Alex last night.”

“It was a three year relationship; goodness knows you’re allowed to have feelings about it.”

“Even relief?”

Indrid glances at him, “Of course.”

His friend leans back in his seat, sipping from his travel mug, “That’s half the reason I been in such a funk. I feel like I oughta be sad, then I feel guilty for the fact I’m relieved instead. But if I really was that unhappy in it, why did I hang around so long? Maybe that was the best I deserved, y’know?”

“I know the feeling, yes, but I can’t say I agree with your statement. You deserve someone who sees you for who you are and adores it, not someone who loved what you once were and became bitter when you grew.”

Duck looks at the console between them, at Indrid’s chipped black nails and the hand he hopes isn’t shaking. He squeezes it a moment longer than necessary, “Thanks, ‘Drid. It’s nice to hear that from someone who’s still gettin to know me. Juno and them, they’re my friends, I know they’re in my corner but, uh, sometimes I worry that anyone new is gonna find me dull or somethin like that.”

“I’m sure some people would, just as some take one look at me and decide I’m a weirdo who they don’t want to deal with. But I can say with certainty that I don’t find you that way.”

Duck grins all the way to their destination. It’s a quirky trailer park full of amenities and built mostly from salvaged materials, doing it’s best to run off the grid. It also gives each trailer a theme, and Indrid flaps his hands when he sees they’ve been booked in the “The Cramps” themed one.

“Hell yeah.” Duck mirrors his excitement as they open the door. Their haven from the desert sun is full of kitschy horror artifacts and a much smaller bed than the previous spot. There’s no debate this time; Indrid settles on the right, Duck on the left, and they settle in for a nap before venturing out to work.

They take in the bar, the arcade, the mini-golf course, and the “couples supply room” (“damn, didn’t know they made eggnog scented massage oil” “ooh, I like how that smells”), but Duck turns out to be most excited to rent a stargazing kit and guide Indrid out into the dark desert. They’re on their backs, shoulder to shoulder and munching chocolate covered fruit, when he discovers the source of his glee.

“There!” Duck points to a crackling streak of silver.

“A meteor” Indrid wiggles happily as a second one speeds through his view.

“It’s the Perseids, and this is a damn good place to watch ‘em. Look, there’s another one.” He’s breathless each time and Indrid’s heart threatens to beat hard enough to crack the earth at the sound.

“Did you ever wish on stars when you were little?”

“Yep. Never asked for much worth notin, though I’m pretty sure I wished once to just wake up and be a boy. Or, uh, guess for everyone to see me as one. What about you?”

“I wished...I wished for someone to do things like this with, some who’d kiss me and tell me that they didn’t need to wish because what they wanted was right here.. I love the world, I want to see so much of it, that’s half the reason I chose my profession.. But when I was young I thought I’d be with someone when I did. I thought it was easy to find that kind of love. To be worthy of it.”

“Hey now” Duck rolls onto his side. He’s backlit by the moon, meteors zipping behind him as if they, just like Indrid, are pulled to him, “what happened to all the stuff you said in the car about deservin someone who adores you?”

“It’s easy to apply such things to you, harder to believe them about myself.”

“How come?”

“Because you are everything a sensible person could want in a man and I am not.”

“That’s where you’re wrong” He sets a hand next to Indrid’s shoulder, “Can think of at least one sensible fella who wants to get to know you a whole hell of a lot.”

“He’ll get to know me plenty, we’re co-workers.”

“There are different kinds of gettin to know someone.” Duck dips down, brushes their noses together, “for instance, the last few days I’ve gotten to know you’re a damn good travel companion and that Ned was smart to hire you. But I’ve also gotten to know there’s some things about you I really wanna know.”

“Such as?” Indrid’s fingers find Duck’s sides.

“Such as whether you wanna go on a date with me when we get back. No assignment, just the two of us gettin some time together.”

“I want nothing more.” He leans up to kiss him, feels him shudder happily when their lips meet. Indrid wonders how long it’s been since someone kissed Duck like they meant it, and resolves to make up any deficits with an enthusiasm that would put horny eighteen year olds to shame.

Indrid nips Ducks ear, “you know, were it not for the threat of mosquitos and scorpions, I’d suggest we make good use of the non-food items in that basket.”

Ducks grin lights Indrid up like a comet, “Then howsabout we go test just how conducive our trailer is to romance?”

Indrid kisses him adoringly, “Lead on, sweetheart; I’ll follow you anywhere.”

#indruck #indrid cold/ duck newton #meet ugy

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blake-belladonna-defence-force · 4 years ago

Text

So... coming out as Not Cis can be pretty scary. You can never be 100% certain how it will go so there’s always this sense of anxiety about it.

But here’s a cool and positive lil thing that happened when I went for an interview with my job network provider;

I was interviewed by an older cishet bloke and he’s working really hard to find a job that works within my neurodivergent and physical limitations, which is awesome. Today, I showed up in my black jeans, combat boots, white button down shirt and black vest and he asks me, very quietly and tactfully, “Tell me if I’m stepping out of line... But is there a reason you dress like that?” and I felt a mild stab of panic and responded with “UH! I just... lean more towards the masculine style of dress?” as my voice went several octaves higher than my usual speaking voice.

He nods and gives me this reassuring smile and asks “Okay... it’s just you dress so differently to people I usually work so I just want to check in. Should I address you as a man or a woman?”

I’m feeling a little more comfortable and safe now that he’s had such a gentle, easy going reaction so I, albeit very nervously, say “I’m... actually non-binary.” I didn’t really delve into the whole demigirl thing because... that’s just a lot to get into.

This man then gives me another reassuring smile and says “Oh! I’ve worked with other non-binary people before. Would you like me to note that down for other workers?”

I’m absolutely stunned that everything is being accepted so casually so I just say “Yes, please... and uh... I use they/them pronouns as well.”

“Oh, I’ll note that too... but only if you’re comfortable with that?”

“Yes, please.”

This man then goes on to tell me that the company understands that gender is a very complex thing and that they are always trying to educate themselves because their goal is for their clients to feel comfortable and safe with them.

Cue me trying not to grin like an idiot and keep myself from getting emotional.

Then he tells me that there’s a thing where they set clients up with work clothes so I can tell them I prefer to dress in men’s clothing and feel more comfortable and confident in my own skin.

At this point, my job provider (who had been in a meeting) comes over to talk with us and the first bloke tells him (with my consent) that I’m non-binary and use they/them pronouns and this dude takes it in stride. For the rest of the interview, these two cishet men are referring to me by they/them without faltering a single time while apologising if they get it wrong.

Even had a chat with one of them about my trilby!

And when I thanked them for taking the time to learn and make queer folks feel safe and comfortable, they immediately told me that it’s their job to be a place of comfort and safety, to prepare us for work and build our confidence up. They make mistakes but they’re trying to learn and educate themselves so that people like me feel safe.

And let me tell you... I walked out of that interview with a bounce in my step and a delighted grin on my face. It was just... such a good experience!

Like... this cishet man clocked me as “Not Cis” right from the start and instead of making me feel unsafe, he went out of his way to check in and prove to me that I can feel safe with them. At no point did I feel like I was being forced to put myself. It felt more like... I was being given a chance to open up about who I am and that’s not something that happens often.

Honestly... maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. When I first met him, he took one look at my body language, smiled and held up his hands non-threateningly and said “You don’t like men coming near you, do you, kiddo? It’s cool! I get it. It can be pretty intimidating huh? May I shake your hand before we sit down?”

*snort* Dude’s observant as fuck, y’all.

It’s... really fucking amazing to be working with a company that respects my boundaries, respects my limitations and respects my identity like this. It’s strange, really, and refreshing to not have to hide behind “Oh... I’m just a butch woman” and instead have the freedom to say that I’m non-binary.

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vivithefolle · 4 years ago

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What are your favourite fanfic tropes/aus for romione?

(I’m gonna try to make my way through old asks I received AGES ago and never answered because I’m a procrastinating lump. Here’s betting I’m going to give up and play videogames all day instead.)

Oh my god, so many.

Okay so as a rule of thumb as long as it’s nice to Ron I’ll read it. I’ll read anything. I have been known to read Ron/Draco and even sacrificed my dignity and everything I stand for as a human being by reading some Ron/Snape stuff. Yes. I was THAT desperate. This is how low I’m willing to go because of sheer love for Ron.

Which means that when a fic will go “oh poor Hermione, poor Hermione who is waiting for Ron to grow up because She can see one day he could be worth it but for now he’s all dumb-dumb and inferior and doesn’t deserve Her perfection :(”, I will be judging. Judging very hard. I may not leave a comment but rest assured, my thoughts are loud enough for me. This is 2010s mentality. This is “haha I’m so like Hermione, not like other girls who throw themselves at boys, I’m so special and girl powery :)” Horribly Bad Feminism. Fuck that. We’re doing better now.

Speaking of doing better. Recently I read something about how Ron is, paraphrased, “the brute of the Trio”, spun in a positive way since he uses his strength to protect them but, but, still... please no? Just no! Just eff no with these takes about how Ron is a hypermasculine dudebro M For Manly™! No, no, fucking no! Just because he’s the Sulfur to Hermione’s Mercury and Sulfur represents the masculine component to Mercury’s feminine one, DOESN’T MEAN Ron is “the brute”! (”the” brute... seriously... who’s the more brutish one, the one who punches a racist in the face or the one who uses a torture curse as retribution for spitting on his fave teacher?)

The way I see him, Ron is a balance, a blend of feminine and masculine qualities intertwined close together. I LOVE that he can swear like a sailor but can only say “scarlet woman” or “cow” when it comes to insulting a woman. Some will probably see it as “hurr durr he sexist he doesnt think women can take it!!!!!!! >8C” but given that those are probably also the peeps who say “HE CALLE D HERMOANI A NIGHTMURRR!!!!!!! DDDDD8″ I’m gonna venture the idea that we don’t care about those folks’ biased, sexist opinions.

Where was I going with this... oh yes! Ok, so Ron can swear like a sailor yet couldn’t insult a girl to save his life. He’s strong physically but most of all he’s strong mentally (to put up with the way his friends treat him for years speaks a lot of his mental fortitude... and to top it off he comes back for more to boot! I’m not sure if that’s more mental fortitude or straight-up masochism though.) When he succeeds at things he gets a bit attention-whoreish but at the same time, you can see that when he’s being complimented he’s all unsure of himself and blushy and shy and you just, dude you can’t handle positive attention because you don’t know how to react to it I don’t know whether that’s adorable or the saddest thing I’ve seen in my life? He’s insecure but he’s always the first to cheer on Harry and Hermione when they’re doing something great, which speaks VOLUMES of Ron’s selflessness and of his actual character: to quote @peetamaellark, Ron doesn’t think “Harry is great, therefore he sucks and I hate him”, he thinks “Harry is great, therefore I suck and I hate me”. THIS is Ron. THIS is why Ron will lash out, not because he hates Harry, but because internally he hates himself and you can’t keep that sort of feeling bottled up for too long before... you got it, you explode.

I. Want. More. Fics where Hermione isn’t this ~oh dear~ Victorian damsel in distress who cries and Ron is the Big Strong Man who holds her with one arm and is stony-faced and goes “I’ll protect you”, please no that was old before it existed, let us have nice, realistic depictions of Ron and Hermione please.

Like, Hermione is more than capable of kicking butt herself. She IS absolutely nervous and scared and cries easily and that’s a vulnerability we NEED, but the fact that she can be super scared and crying but still hex her opponent into oblivion? THAT’s good, THAT’s excellent. It’s a very important message for girls, I think. “You can cry, you can be sensitive, you can be emotional, AND you can still kick butt”. And as important as that message is for girls, it’s also a very important message to give boys, because boys are socialized to “never cry” and that’s super unhealthy. I love Ron’s admiration of Hermione. I love the way Ron hesitates, the way he can be cautious when he needs to as much as he can be reckless and impulsive. I love how he shows himself to be a big softie and a sweet soul. I don’t think that makes him an “emasculated doormat” (to quote a guest I once saw on FFN), on the contrary it makes him an even better man in my eyes. You know why I love the locket scene so much? Because Ron’s tears aren’t ridiculed. Ron gets to cry about the terrible ordeal he’s been put through, and while Harry “pretends he can’t see Ron cry” because it’s more comfortable for him personally, he doesn’t try to tell Ron to “man up” or anything. His reassurance is pretty lousy but he lets Ron cry, he lets his friend be upset, and he doesn’t try to invalidate Ron’s pain. (ok, the “I thought you knew” is kiiiiinda on the way there, but it stops at that and I’m grateful for it).

I like. Seeing Ron distressed. I like seeing Ron upset and be allowed to be upset. I like to see Ron’s pain treated with respect. So when Ron is having a shit day I like to see him get a cuddle. I like seeing Ron go through horrible ordeals and break down and for his breakdown to be properly acknowledged and not turned into insensitive comic relief (ISN’T THAT RIGHT, LATTER HALF OF THE SILVER DOE????). I mean seriously, just imagine GOF, Harry sitting in the hospital wing after Cedric’s death, Molly Weasley gives him a hug and it’s all very sad and angsty. And now picture Ginny running into the room screaming “HARRY JAMES POTTER” and punching him over and over and saying “PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MAN, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER” then after two pages of Harry “explaining” himself to Ginny she goes away saying “aight but if you do that shit again you’ll have to answer to me” then Harry’s friends are like “damn she’s spunky huh?” and Harry laughs and everyone laughs and this is how the book ends? How would it be funny? How would it be appropriate? How would it feel like “romance”? When Ron returns in The Silver Doe, he’s been psychologically tortured (”tortured” is the actual word JKR uses, please), we don’t need him to be hurting outside as well.

I want more accountability for Hermione. More “uh hey Hermione maybe don’t do that”. More “hey Hermione you know you think of yourself as a good person buuuut yeah actually if all good persons were like you I’d be very afraid”. More “Hermione please for the love of God educate yourself”. More “Hermione sweetie I love you, but you can’t actually learn everything from books”. CHARACTER. DEVELOPMENT. PLEASE. Don’t be afraid to punch Hermione down and tear her apart the way the best Ron fics maim and torture our poor boy. Just because Rowling treated Hermione with kiddy princess gloves doesn’t mean you have to mimic her.

So when Hermione does a genuinely shitty thing let her own up to it. When Ron is a victim let him be upset and angry, even if Hermione is the one treating him badly. Just because he loves her doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to be disappointed in her or that she’s entitled to his immediate forgiveness. Give Ron and Hermione equal consideration. If you’re brushing off Hermione’s actions but condemning Ron for the slightest mistake, I am sure to hate it.

Okay, uh, so, those aren’t really tropes. Those are more just, guidelines I presume.

Oh, yeah, a trope that annoys me! Ron saying “you’re mine”, “my Hermione” and stuff, and Hermione just swoons and says “yours” and shiz. Ok, once in a while, why not. Once in a while. BUTT. I WANT HERMIONE TO SAY IT TOO. “Mine”, “my Ron!” and Ron swoons and says “yours, absolutely yours”. DO IT YOU COWARDS. FUCKING TAKE THOSE GENDER ROLES AND PUNCH’EM IN THE FACE.

Oh, right, while we’re on the subject of gender roles! Dad!Ron is everything. SingleParent!Ron is mwaaah. Stay-at-home-Dad!Ron is ALKZLDSJDLQSKLFJ <3. AnimalLover!Ron is HHHHNNNGG. Remember, the small gestures, the tiniest, softest acts Ron does (helping Harry get dressed when his arm is deboned, giving Dobby his brand-new sweater, praising Ginny, Luna and Neville when they escaped Umbridge), those are often those unremarkable, unmistakeably kind and sweet actions that tell us who Ron really is at his core: not a guy who’d want power at all costs, not a guy who’d give it all for ambition, not a guy who sees people as possessions, but someone kind who wants to make others happy.

Ok, I was also asked for AUs, so, uh, pretty much every AU is game as long as Ron gets treated with respect? I mean I don’t really care for Mafia!AUs or such but if you can find a way to fit good Romione then go for it I guess. Royalty AU, yeah why not but I often see Ron being made a prince while Hermione is a poor wee servant girl and like. Uuum, we’re talking about the same characters here? Hermione the highly educated girl who keeps on walking over everyone’s toes and loudly talking about how things should be done and is definitely Nouveau Riche, Ron who is a country boy who lives on a farm and is lost in the constant shuffle of his brothers, you think she should be the peasant and he should be the royal? Whaddafack? Oh, and all the “Hermione is a Muggle, Ron is a wizard” AUs that start this way BUTT! Suddenly... Hermione... turns out... to be (wait for it!)... A WITCH! And a super powerful super talented very good one too!!!... yeah ok, yawn. It’s quite scary, actually, how often I’ve seen that plotline, but in the rare cases when it’s Muggle!Ron and Witch!Hermione, Ron never ever EVER (I mean, seriously, NEVER EVER) turns out to have been a wizard, not even a mediocre one, all along. No, when Ron is made a Muggle for the sake of AU he stays a Muggle. But when Hermione is made a Muggle she has to turn out TO HAVE BEEN A WITCH ALL ALONG OMYGAH. I can count on one hand the number of Mugglemione/Wizardron fics that actually stick to their Mugglemione premise till the end - and usually they’re one-shots. (Also I don’t mean “Ron mistakes Hermione for a Muggle because he meets her in the Muggle world and assumes he must hide his magic from her, oh wait she was actually a witch!” fics, I mean genuinely “Hermione has been raised a Muggle her whole life, never had weird things happen to her her whole life ever, then Ron comes in and is a wizard and he does magic and Hermione wonders what it’d be like to be a witch and oh surprise! Don’t worry Hermione, you won’t have to feel not-special or mundane for long, here comes the plot contrivance to tell you you really were in fact the specialest of them all!!” fics.) Fairytale!AU is cool. Very good. But honestly I like to see them swapped around. Ron cursed by a nasty fae to be a Beast and Hermione stumbling upon him? Neat, especially if you don’t go the boring route of “oh let’s just rehash the Disney/the original book with different names and call it a day”. But Hermione cursed by an asshole fae for, let’s say, not sharing books, turning into a Beast, and Ron stumbling upon her as she’s trying to survive in the woods (and not doing a very good job of it)? Yes, brava, chief’s kiss. Rapunzel AU where Hermione’s bushy hair turns into the most impractical, most suffocating improvised ladder ever for Ron? Hilarious. Rapunzel AU where Ron has A GIANT EFFING PONYTAIL OF THE GODS and is screaming “ow ow ow” as Hermione makes her way up to his window cringing and saying “sorry! sorry! sorry! (damn his hair smells good)” on every step? Equally hilarious. Go! Be creative! Please I beg of you

Creature!fics! Oh my god there’s not enough of those, at least that aren’t focused on a bullshit pairing! Soulmate AUs! Give me everything! I’ll even take A/B/O if you insist on making it Romione! That’s how far I’ve fallen from human decency I’ll take anything just give me some good Ron content please I beg of you (Ah and to those that are going to say “Alpha Ron Omega Hermione :)))” well yes, but actually no. “Beta Ron Beta Hermione”? “Beta Ron Alpha Hermione”? “Omega Ron Alpha Hermione”??? HELL YEAH NOW WE’RE TALKIN)

Oh dear god I’m still not finished and I haven’t gone through everything someone stop me.

AND NOW BE CAREFUL CHILDREN, BELOW WILL BE SMUT.

Okay I don’t know if it qualifies as a trope, but. But. A more realistic depiction of Ron is usually what I’m after. All those fanfics that have Ron be “the sexy experienced one ;)))” ravishing “naive virginal Hermione ;))” is just UGH. We spent all the 2000-2010 period having fics like this, mind adding a bit of EQUALITY to the mix???

It’s just... I hate it okay? So many fics read like they’re just projection, writers who are essentially making Ron their big strong sex toy stud who's so attentive and sweet and cherishing, and so it does indirectly ends up as "servant Ron is so devoted to his goddess Hermione, providing pleasure to her while she doesn’t have to lift a finger”. The Dom!SexGod!Ron thing honestly depresses me... Since it's Ron taking care of Hermione, AGAIN. Like, he spends his WHOLE LIFE doing that already. Can we give him a break for once?

In the endI feel that it's less "Romione smut" and more "self-inserting into Hermione smut". In "real" Romione smut I think Ron and Hermione would switch roles according to what they feel like. And honestly I ALWAYS picture Ron being super nervous during Dom stuff, like he spanks her once then immediately he goes "oh my god are you okay?? did that hurt, do you want to stop?", things like that. I cannot imagine it happening any other way. XD Ron is just... too caring, too sensitive to do stuff like hard BDSM and that kind of thing in my opinion. He’s too much of a caretaker. I understand if it’s your kink and you’re perfectly free to project and write the fic you want, I’m not the fun police, but it’s just... I don’t think that’s really what Ron would be like. I just want MORE realistic Ron.

Also I’m trying really really hard to not point fingers here but WHY is it that it’s always “Ron growled” while it’s always “Hermione whimpered” or “Hermione moaned”? Like... you know it’s okay for a man to moan or whimper in pleasure too, right? You know Ron isn’t 110% muscles and testosterone? You know Hermione is allowed to be fierce too? Hermione can 100% “growl” and be dominant and pin Ron to the wall and reduce him to a puddle of goo if you’re brave enough?

(Honestly how sexy would Ron think that is? The woman he loves is half his size yet can pin him down and ravish him. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG RON HAS WANTED TO BE RAVISHED AND CHERISHED DO YOU KNOW HE’S BEEN WANTING THIS ALL HIS LIFE)

Oooo-kay, so that’s... mostly it, I reckon. Oh also Ron has a gigantic penisraise kink (and a great penis too, but mostly a praise kink). That’s canon and that’s all.

#vivi answers #ask #ron weasley #hermione granger #romione #harry potter #harry potter series #hp fanfic #fanfiction #tropes #au #writing

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quickspinner · 5 years ago

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Hi, I kind of have some questions that I’m curious about. Let’s say ML is getting a reboot and you were a writer hired for the show. 1. What would you change? And which episodes would you remove? 2.How would you have written Luka into season 1? 3. How would have made the interactions between Luka and Marinette work? 4. How would you write Lukanette to be endgame?

I feel like this is an essay question on a final exam! 😆 I’m going to have to be general by necessity here or I’d be writing several pages of thesis for weeks. (edit: and even so it is super long and wordy, so just imagine how bad it could have been)

1. What would I change?

Honestly, I don’t think I would change a lot of the basic premise. I like the show and I like the characters as a whole, but I would definitely tweak a few things in the storytelling approach.

a) I would remove some of the restrictions they’ve placed on themselves, such as their commitment to each episode being as stand alone as possible. It’s possible to have continuity and still have an episode format where young kids can jump in at any point and understand what’s going on. You can have character growth and consistent timelines without making it so that anyone who misses an episode is lost, and you can have the occasional two-parter episode if you have a heavy point to make. If this ultimately ends up shifting the target audience a little older, then so be it, although I don’t think it’s especially necessary. I feel like one of the show’s big problems is that they’re trying to tell a story that’s outgrown their framework, and it’s something that should have been planned for from the beginning.

b) I would rework their ‘forumula’ of having Marinette make a mistake and then learn from it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea of ‘each episode should teach a lesson’ but they’re not committed enough to it, and it’s a mistake to think that just because Marinette is the protagonist, she has to be the one making all the mistakes and learning all the lessons. As a result we end up with Marinette suffering for no good reason and apologizing in situations where she did nothing wrong, and the ‘lesson’ she was meant to learn ends up muddled and confusing. It’s okay if not every episode has a lesson. As a parent I don’t ask that every single moment of my children’s entertainment be educational, just that it not be actively harmful, and the current presentation often is thanks to their determination to blame Marinette and the confusing messaging that results. So, follow through with that lesson formula most of the time, but let the appropriate character learn a lesson, and address it more clearly.

Gamer 2.0 is a perfect example. The worst thing Marinette did was disregard Max’s feelings about the tournament so that she could play with Adrien, and they could have acknowledged that while also having Max learn the lesson that sometimes you have to learn to lose gracefully, and that just because effort isn’t rewarded the way you wanted it to be, it doesn’t mean it was without value. Or Reflekdoll; both Juleka and Alya had lessons to learn about communicating clearly and paying attention to other people’s feelings respectively.

c) Expanding from that, I’d have the narrative hold people accountable more equitably across the board. A good 90% of my frustration with Adrien/Chat Noir is that the narrative never holds him accountable for his actions (I’m excluding NY here because I have a whole other essay’s worth of Stuff to say on that, but yes, I will acknowledge that it was at least a minimal step forward towards holding him accountable). What I mean by that is, there is never any doubt that Chloe is behaving badly. There is never any doubt that Lila is not a good person. The narrative makes it clear through their presentations, the other characters’ reactions to them, and the consequences of their actions, that the way they behave is not okay.

Likewise, the narrative never fails to condemn Marinette for her mistakes, often through ridicule and humiliation and sometimes by consequences far out of proportion of her actual mistakes.

Adrien/Chat is never on the receiving end of that. None of the things he does that we’re all so salty about are ever that bad, certainly no worse than many other characters. However, he’s never held to account for it. There’s never any apology, and rarely any consequences. Copycat is maybe the closest episode to holding Chat accountable, but even so there’s no acknowledgement or apology required for Chat himself. Because, as per point b above, Marinette is the one who makes mistakes and learns lessons and so it’s her mistakes that we focus on. I was utterly shocked in Frozer when he leaned forward and told her to use her lucky charm instead of saying “hey, sorry I ran off and left you to face the villain alone, which might have gotten you seriously hurt if I hadn’t happened along in the nick of time.” It wasn’t fair of him to be upset with Ladybug in Siren when she agreed to do what she could to get Fu to fill him in (and followed through) but there was no apology for that either. He was right to be upset but he was mad at the wrong person, and at the end of the day he got what he wanted without actually having to admit that he did anything wrong or unfair, and that’s frustrating. Glaciator came close, when he graciously accepted Ladybug’s rejection, but there was no change after that to drive it home (and he wasn’t held accountable for lying to his friends to ditch their ice cream plan either). Again, none of these things individually make him a bad person or a horrible character, but it’s grating to see him constantly let off the hook, usually with Marinette having to take responsibility instead.

Not only Chat, but Alya as well, and we’ve actually seen Nino do some apologizing so that’s a positive start. Get past the idea that Marinette is the only one who can make mistakes and learn a lesson; the kids will learn it just as well from someone else. Go watch some 80′s cartoons, geeze, they were masters of the morality-based narrative.

Let us see Chat (and others) apologize and then (per point a) improve his behavior, maybe getting upset and caught up in his feelings again but this time recognizing that they have a job to do first. Let everybody grow, instead of pounding on Marinette again and again and again.

d) More time with the side characters. I don’t know how I’d manage it tbh, half an hour is not a lot of time, but I would love to see more of the friendships and especially the art club. Perhaps if the show were less focused on making Marinette the lesson of every episode, there would be more time for the other characters to grow and learn and be explored.

Which episodes would you remove?

I don’t think there are any episodes that I would remove...maybe Party Crasher because that episode was just...weird...but I did like the friendship aspect of it (this is one of those ones where their formula gets muddy and confusing, because...”don’t tell lies and make crappy excuses to your friends” is really what we were supposed to get from that? So, I don’t know if that episode was salvageable. Almost all the other episodes that really give me cringe (hello, Puppeteer 2) contained important moments that could have been delivered in a less upsetting matter if the points above were addressed. Stormy Weather 2 was pretty pointless, but it wouldn’t have been if there had been any actual continuity for a clip show to catch you up on. (while we were chatting today @verfound made a great point though about how Puppeteer 2 could have been used as a clip show as they walked through the wax museum, and I had to agree that would have been much more effective).

2.How would you have written Luka into season 1?

I honestly don’t think I would have? I think he came in at right about the right time. I would have maybe given him a cameo in Reflekta just to set up Captain Hardrock a little more, but other than that, I don’t think it was time for him to come on the scene yet.

3. How would have made the interactions between Luka and Marinette work?

I actually really like how things are now. I would like to see Marinette be more direct and honest with him. Right now, Luka consistently arranges everything so that she never has to admit anything she isn’t ready for. He addresses her feelings without her ever having to bring them up, admit to them, or voice them on her own, and while that’s very kind and I feel like both Luka’s perceptiveness and his kindness and desire to make her comfortable are very central to his character, I would like Marinette tp at some point acknowledge his feelings and her own to his face. Right now their relationship has a level of honesty that I feel like is lacking in most of the others, but it’s mainly due to Luka’s perceptiveness and willingness to be honest himself than it does with anything Marinette’s done, so I’d like to see her exhibit a little more agency there.

4. How would you write Lukanette to be endgame?

Ooof...I mean, I feel like I addressed some possibilities for that in Finding Harmony and in Second Chance. Marinette has to get over her feelings for Adrien, either by recognizing that she’s just ready to let go (Finding Harmony), dating him and letting the relationship come to a natural end (Second Chance), or confessing her feelings to him and being rejected so that she can get through the heartbreak and move on. The push-and-pull situation the show has her in right now was sustainable for a while, and for seasons one and two it felt like there was some growth there so her constant flailing didn’t seem totally useless. It seemed like she was getting closer to telling him, like she was getting more comfortable with him over time, like there was still the possibility of him liking her back. Up through Despair Bear I was on board with the Adrien is oblivious/in denial of his feelings theory and all was well.

But as he continued to choose Kagami over Marinette over and over then Marinette’s flailing began to be more pathetic and hopeless, and I became less willing to believe that Adrien had any real feelings for Marinette beyond friendship, and that’s where the ‘Whatever chance there was, I think I missed it’ conversation in Finding Harmony came from. There was a moment where maybe if she had been able to confess they could have been something, but she didn’t, and the moment has passed and now she has to move on.

So yeah, to me there has to be a breaking point of some kind that gives Marinette that push to start making an effort to get over her feelings (Puppeteer 2 would have been the perfect place for it, and I think it was after that episode that I actually started writing Finding Harmony). She’d have to put in effort, it would be hard, and she would do everything she was attempting to do in the NY special and more, and it would take time and support and it would hurt. There’d be Lukanette comfort and support just like there has been up until now, but they wouldn’t date until Marinette reached a point where she really felt free.

Second Chance was more along the lines of what I expected to actually happen, in that Marinette and Adrien would get together for a while, and then post series there would be a breakup and a reunion with Luka where they rekindle their feelings.

I haven’t written a fic where Marinette confesses and is rejected because I just don’t want to deal in that kind of pain. But, Miracle Queen is honestly an acceptable substitute, where she sees Adrien’s budding relationship with someone else and resigns herself to it and commits to moving on. I just would want season 4 to pick up at that point, and move her through that difficult time of trying to break all those old habits, trying to find a way to be his friend without indulging in ways that are unhealthy for her (like long tight hugs and sniffing his cologne). I don’t think rushing straight into another relationship is a healthy answer for either Marinette or Luka. This is something Marinette has to work through, and Luka can support her, but she has to do the work herself.

So that’s my off-the-cuff, didn’t study, winging it exam answer. Hope it satisfies some of your curiosity!

#quickanswers #quickrambles #ml salt #not really but I'll tag it to be safe #ml writers salt #lukanette

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vanillapie-80 · 4 years ago

Text

The Road to Recovery Chapter 3: Does the End Justify the Means?

Steve gets arrested by the Tribunal and has to make a choice to either go to trial or give up the amulet.

Ao3

Waiting for the children to enter to trollmarket was absolutely nerve-racking for Blinky and Aaaarrrgghh. They had no knowledge of troll law and didn’t have enough time to fully educate themselves about it. The large troll tried his best to help his companion, but books and fancy words were never his strong suit. After a few days, they finally got a message from Toby that they’d be here tonight. As Blinky was trying to organize which books would be proven useful to their case, until the redhead suddenly slid into their cave with a panicked expression.

“Blinky! We have a huge problem!” Toby shouted.

“By Deya’s grace, calm down Tobias. What happened?” The two trolls huddle around the teen as he gasps for breath. “Where is Claire and your classmate?”

“So you know when I explained about Steve?” The historian remembered clearly about that conversation, so Blinky nodded.

“Of course.” He responded.

“Well Usurna decided to arrest him instead of me or Claire. That wasn’t supposed to happen!” This was most puzzling for Blinky unless this crime extended beyond the subject of Gunmar’s release.

“How odd. Could it be that this case requires the trollhunter to be arrested, regardless of whoever wields it.” Binlky wondered to himself. “Come, we must go to the holding cells at once.”

When they got there, Toby could hardly call this room a holding cell since the “cells” were just cages hanging in the air. “I’m not going locked up like some kind of animal!” The redhead saw Steve with Claire by his side standing in front of Vendel and Usurna. “Whatever Lake did has nothing to do with me.”

“Be as it may, trollkind has relied too much on Merlin’s antiquated magic to shelter us, and now look where we are. The trollhunter has failed trollkind and unleashed Gunmar to the world. You will face trial in front of the Tribunal for James’ crime due to his absence. If found guilty-”

“The consequences could be.... Death.” Vendel finished solemnly.

Steve tensed at the sound of that, would he seriously be killed for a mistake he even didn’t do? “Woah! Don’t you think that’s a bit extreme? Steve has only been the trollhunter for less than a week and this is his first time using the armor. Yes, I get that this is for Jim’s crimes but can’t you take it easy for him?” Toby attempted to reason, trying his best to keep his cool.

Usurna's expression did not soften at the redhead’s suggestion. “There is mercy set on the table. If you allow us to destroy the amulet, we shall exile all of you, but no one will be harmed.”

“Really?” To Steve, it sounded like a deal of a lifetime. He won’t have to die and they could walk away scot-free, this all just didn’t seem worth fighting for.

“But without the amulet, there won’t be a trollhunter. How will you defeat Gunmar?” Claire asked suspiciously. To here, they��ve done so much to find a way to kill Gunmar, and she wouldn’t let all that effort be for nothing.

“That is for our kind to decide. Not for some human children.” Usurna said with a dominating tone.

Anger began to rise from Claire. “So that’s it? You’re just pissed that two humans just so happened to be chosen?”

Usurna gave the young girl a bitter expression before Blinky pulled Claire closed to his side. “My dear child, I understand your grievances, but Usurna is not someone you want to make an enemy of.” Blinky warned quietly for only her to hear. “I apologize on behalf of the welp, we shall accept the terms you have given us.”

As Usurna scoffed, Claire forced herself to stay silent, tightening his fist as hard as she could to restrain herself, and allowed the elders to leave.

“The trial begins at dawn. You have until then to decide.” Vendel looked down at Toby and Claire. “Let’s hope you choose the right path.”

Steve was then shoved into one of the cages by the guards, the door closing behind him. The cage was then lifted from the air at a height that would be too dangerous to jump from.

“Do we really have to wait until dawn to make a choice?” Claire blinked when she glanced up from where the blonde teen was and narrowed her eyes. “It seems like the answer is pretty clear.”

“I’m afraid that’s not true Steve. Without the amulet, we do not stand a chance at defeating Gunmar.” Blinky added as he took a few steps forwards towards the teens.

“But if I keep the amulet I’ll die!” He shouted. His voice was filled with fear while grabbing the bars with all his might.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s a chance that we can win this trial, right?” Toby looked at the two trolls for reassurance, but they grimaced in response.

“When trolls are put into trial, it’s uncommon for a defendant to be proven innocent.” The historian then quickly closed his mouth shut once he saw the redhead’s glare.

“Uncommon or not, I’m not taking that risk. My life is not worth sacrificing over a piece of jewelry.” Steve tried to take the amulet out of his chest but to no avail. “Why won’t this stupid thing come off?” He scowled.

“It doesn’t come off when you’re in distress,” Toby explained bluntly.

“No shit I am! And I don’t care what any of you say, I am not keeping it.” Steve finished with the stomp, which shook the cage.

“You’re not seeing the bigger picture here. Gunmar wants to take back the surface world. If you choose to walk away from this, all of humanity will be in danger.” Claire just wanted Steve to understand, but she knew how stubborn he was. Claire waited for the blonde teen to say more or to do anything really but he stayed silent, all while avoiding her gaze. She wasn’t sure how else to convince Steve, other than letting fate take the wheel and hope that he’ll change his mind before dawn.

Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea. Claire sighed and turned to the others, “Let’s go to the library.”

“Huh. Why?” Toby asked in bewilderment.

“If Steve refuses to listen to what we say, then trying to change his mind will be a waste of time. In the end, it’s his choice. So might as well prepare ourselves for everything.”

Steve didn’t bother watching them leave, and coincidentally that’s when armor finally came off. “Of course now of all times, you start working.” He muttered.

The longer Steve looked at the amulet, the more he felt his anger grow. Lake was stupid to even keep the damn thing. Who would risk their life like this? They were just teenagers. The vivid image of holding his dying classmate crawled back into his mind. The blonde teen immediately slammed his hand against the side of his head, trying to push that memory far to the back of his mind as possible.

“What makes you so important enough that I have to gamble away my own life?” He glanced once again at the magical object and has had enough of it. “You just make everything worse and everyone around you miserable. No one would ever want that in their life.” Steve hissed with such venom in his voice.

He straightened himself up and threw the amulet across the room. Steve leaned into the cage and dropped to his knees. Toby and Claire’s pleas at him echoed in his thoughts. No, he wasn’t going to change his mind. The amulet made a mistake when it chose Lake, and it continued to do so when it chose him.

Steve didn’t notice the amulet ticking rapidly. A bright orb is released from it and flies out of the holding cells all the way to the hero’s forge. The magic makes its way to Unkar’s petrified body. It placed itself where the amulet used to be and the armor’s markings began to glow. Back at the holding cells, Steve continued to be lost in his thoughts until he heard a voice all of a sudden.

“So the amulet made a mistake, eh?

“What the-!” The blond teen jumped from where he sat, clearly startled by his new “visitor”.

“You and that other fleshbag would not be the first.” Steve rubbed his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was correct.

“God, and I thought this day couldn’t get any weirder. Wait, what do you mean it’s not the first time the amulet made a mistake?” He questioned while trying to keep his focus on the magic orb.

“Do you not know who I am?” The voice almost sounded offended.

“I’m new to all of this magic business so no.” Steve tried his best to keep his distance away from the strange newcomer.

“Well I didn’t have much luck being a trollhunter, either. Couldn’t even last a day, I was ripped limb from limb.”

“Wow. Sucks to you.” Steve remarked, though very disturbed at this new found knowledge.

“You don’t say? For that, I’m known as Unkar the Unfortunate.” The spirit announced.

“That’s great and all but why are you here?” The blonde crossed his arms as he was becoming impatient.

“You’re so close to giving up the amulet yet you have doubts. Do you really wish to be the one to end a long line of grand warriors?” Unkar explained. “Many have sacrificed for this cause, even your fleshbag friend.”

“He’s not my friend, and why should I protect people who don't give two shits about me.” Steve interjects fiercely, now having the confidence of bringing himself closer to the spirit.

“Do you think Trollmarket simply accepted your predecessor with open arms? Carrying this mantle is never easy. But what do I know? I never got the chance to experience those hardships.”

The blonde teen pinched the bridge of his nose before saying, “Wow, you’re really proving your point there,” with a sarcastic tone.

“You think I would leave this as just a pep talk?” Unkar let out a single laugh before clarifying, “For a fleshbag like you, more must be done for you to truly see what it means to be a trollhunter.”

“Now hold on-” Suddenly the troll’s spirit began to shine brightly, forcing Steve to cover his eyes.

The next thing he knew, Steve was back on the surface of Arcadia, standing on top of the canal’s bridge. It noticeably was no longer nighttime, but there were too many clouds that blocked off the sun from ever appearing. The harsh winds shook the trees back and forth, and the faint sounds of thunder could be heard from afar.

“My sixteenth birthday, but do I get a vespa? No.” Steve looked to his left to see Lake trying to paddle as fast as he could in his bike while looking behind. Didn’t Lake’s birthday happen months ago? “I get a food processor and killer flying troll!”

From the other side, a large creature with wings came flying down, claws ready to snatch the trollhunter. “Lake look out!” The blonde teen shouted as he saw his classmate turn around just in time for the winged troll to grab him by the shoulders with an ear-piercing screech, flying off into the air.

Claire and Toby glanced at the stacks of books that were laid all over Blinky’s library. “So these are all the books about troll law?” She asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t say all of the books, rather the ones that seem most necessary for both of you to learn. Especially in a short amount of time.” Blinky started passing a few books to the two teens.

“You mean if Steve decides to keep the amulet,” Toby adds while glaring at the book he was given.

“Toby-”

“He’s going to give it to the Tribunal Claire! Steve cares for no one but himself, you should know that already.” Toby couldn’t understand why Claire was defending him so much. Steve says he’s trying to be a better person but that didn't change the fact that he was a bully most of their lives and tormented so many people under his own volition.

“Maybe, but the amulet must’ve chosen Steve for a reason. So forgive me if I have faith that he’ll make the right choice once dawn sets.” Aaarrrgghh gently separated the two so their argument would cease.

“You say that Steve now wields the amulet, despite master Jim being alive, correct?” The historian asked, hoping that he wasn’t mistaken.

Toby nodded before stating, “I’m not sure how, it didn’t look broken or anything.”

“Been long time since that happened.” Aaarrrgghh recalled to Blinky.

“Hold the phone, so this has happened before?” Claire questioned, very much intrigued by this fact.

“Yes. If a trollhunter were to be severely wounded to the point where they would be out of commission for quite some time, then the amulet can grant them the power to choose someone temporarily to take their place.” The historian explained, looking through a page in which it had the image of Merlin’s creation.

“So it’s like picking a substitute.” Toby suggested with a shrug.

“If you wish to view it like that then I suppose so.”

“Okay then, why didn’t you tell me or Jim about this from day one? Sure sounds like it’d be a useful thing to know.” The redhead didn’t want to get mad at Blinky, he was sure that the historian had his reasons. But it rubbed him the wrong way that it had taken his best friend from almost dying to find this out.

“The trollhunter themselves cannot control when to use this power, only the amulet can. And even then, it is extremely rare that they choose someone else when given the opportunity. As you know trolls are very adamant to doing things alone.” The historian clarified.

“That means Jim chose Steve when the amulet gave the all-clear to pick someone else in the woods.” Claire stated, more to herself. There was a long, awkward pause amongst the four of them.

“Why though?” Toby quickly raised his hands up once Claire turned to him with a furious expression. “I’m just saying. Wouldn’t Jim pick someone like you or me? You know, someone who knows how to deal with magic and trolls.”

“I don’t think the question of why matters at this point. Steve’s the trollhunter for now, so we have to make sure he doesn’t give up the amulet and die.” It was quite mind-boggling that Jim would choose Steve of all people, considering their history. She remembered their conversation from the campsite. Sure, maybe the two have grown closer, but it certainly wasn’t enough to explain this decision.

“And how exactly do we do that? None of us can change Steve’s mind like you said, and the Tribunal are pretty head-strong on their case.”

“Well, we make a plan. For whatever happens. And we can start that by learning how to be good lawyers.” Claire opened the book she had and gestured Toby to do the same. “Okay Blinky, where do we start?”

Steve sprinted towards Lake and jumped in hopes of catching him, but he was too far away. The winged-troll soon disappeared through the clouds as the blond teen landed back to the ground. Steve looked at the sky in hopes of finding something, he wasn’t just going to stand there like an idiot despite the many confused thoughts that were swarming through his head.

“Auuurrghh! Too high! Too high! There’s no way I can ever get down from here!” There was no source of sound to Lake’s voice, as if he was everywhere. His voice sounded so close yet no matter where Steve looked, Lake nowhere to be found.

“The amulet. I need the amulet.” Although it was hard to see, the blonde teen could see a small bright flash of light from above.

“Come on Jim. Hit the stalking, Hit it. But what am I going to do after the stalking lets go of me, the drop from here will kill me- shit!” Steve could a distant screech coming from the winged troll and bit his lip, then noticed Toby and Aaarrrgghh making their way to the bridge from the corner of his eye.

The redhead and his troll companion made no acknowledgment at all that Steve was here with them. “Hello? Am I invisible or something? He tried putting his hand on Toby’s shoulder, but it seemed to phase right through it. Steve was alarmed by this and quickly retracted his hand back. “I didn’t mean it literally!”

“Let go of me. Let go of me. Let go of me! Let go of me!-” The blonde teen hit his forehead with his palm in an attempt to somehow cancel out his classmate’s voice.

“He’s up there! How do we get up there?” Toby asked Aaarrrgghh as he managed to spot Lake.

“No wings.”

More questions continued to puzzle Steve, and hearing Lake repeating the same phrase in his head was starting to drive him crazy. The trollhunter then switched to cursing multiple times in fear, to screaming whenever lightning struck. Steve could feel the fear Lake was going through. The fear of falling to such heights that he could die on impact, the fear of not knowing how stalking had planned to dispose of him, and the fear of the lighting surrounding them.

“Too high.... Can’t breath.... Not enough air.” Fear was then slowly replaced by dread as Lake’s thoughts began to drift apart, with only the thunderous electricity to keep him alert.

Steve wanted to get out of here, he wanted to silence out the thoughts he was forced to hear. The blond teen tried leaving the scene, only to be thrown back to where he was by an invisible force once he made it to the end of the bridge. “You don’t need weapons. Your environment can sometimes be the weapon.”

Before Steve could wonder why he heard Blinky’s voice overlapping with Lake’s, the trollhunter thought, “The lighting ..... I could die.... The lighting is how I’ll finish this fight…...I could die....”

“What?!” There was no way Lake had the guts to do such a dangerous feat. Steve frantically tried to find where the stalking and Lake were in the sky.

“I’m going to end this one on my own terms..... Please be quick, please be quick, please be quick. For the love of god hurry up please!-” Then an ear-piercing sound was all Steve could hear. He wished it was a scream, but it was too distorted and there was no longer any hint of the trollhunter’s voice. It was like hearing nails scratching on a chalkboard. The blonde teen quickly tried to block the noise off by covering his ears, but it was pointless. He could still hear it very clearly.

Soon the noise was abruptly gone, and there was a long pause of silence. Steve slowly lowered his hands with much hesitation, it even took him a while to realize that there was a few tears streaming down his face.

“Hurry! Hurry, Hurry!” Toby shouted at Aaarrrgghh, watching his best friend fall from the sky. As Steve was attempting to register what had transpired, Aaarrrgghh jumped and managed to catch the unconscious trollhunter just in time from hitting the hard concrete of the bridge.

The large troll looks down at Lake, who began to open his eyes. “I’m still here.....”

Before the blonde teen could get closer to the group to see if Lake was okay, everything around him disappeared like dust being blown away from the wind, giving Steve the realization that it was nothing more than a memory, and one that wasn’t even his. Now stuck in an empty, back void, Steve began to call out, “Alright. I’m officially done with all this magic shit! I don’t even know what the hell is going on at this point.”

“I told you fleshbag, I’m going to make you see what it means to be a trollhunter.” Steve turned around and saw the spirit of Unkar’s.

“Okay one, I have a name. Two, I’d rather have the long boring pep talk than go through whatever you put me through again.” He snapped with a fierce tone, now trying to swat the spirit away but always managed to reappear.

“Ah but what of your predecessor? You knew very quickly that it was a memory of his. Must have taken a lot of bravery to kill the stalking that way. Why do you think he did such a thing?”

Steve thought for a moment, but was having much difficulty finding the answer. “I...I don’t know. Lake thought that he was going to die no matter what he did-”

“And yet the human trollhunter is alive. What would you think would happen if he let the stalking live?” Steve still struggled to find the answer, so Unkar continued. “I see that you have yet to figure it out.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Steve asked, his voice breaking. “Clearly I don’t have the answer you're looking for, and making me go through someone else’s memory didn’t work.”

“So far.” The spirit clarified. “Now you know that there’s something you must look for in these memories.”

The blonde teen questioned, “Hold on, what do you mean about that?” with an anxious expression before Unkar vanished.

Soon enough, the void where Steve stood began to take shape. It was replaced by rough, rocky walls that had green carvings that glowed, sharp orange crystals that seemed to act like bars in a prison cell. Once Steve looked around to see where exactly he was, a small dark room made him realize that it was, in fact, a prison cell.

“Not again.” He thought bitterly. But Unkar did say there was a reason he was showing Steve Lake’s memories, so perhaps he should listen to the spirit.

“Dictatious! Bring the trollhunter for another battle.” A distant voice bellowed, and despite being able to barely hear it, the blonde teen could feel so much hate through each word.

“This is.... Sooner than I expected.” Steve spotted Lake sitting in the corner of the room, where the light source was the weakest. “He’s not stupid, Gunmar knows that you have a limit. He wants to wear you down.”

Steve tried pushing down the creepy feeling of hearing Lake’s thoughts as if it was his own. “God everything hurts. I just want to go home.” He wasn’t successful.

The sounds of footsteps echoed in the prison and only grew stronger as time passed. “Here they come.” Outside of the cell was a green troll that looked eerily similar to Blinky, and two larger trolls by his side, who were most likely guards Steve assumed.

“Get up trollhunter. Lord Gunmar has requested your return, as always.” The green troll explained while removing the orange crystal as well.

“How much will it hurt this time Dictatious?,” is what Jim thought, but he said out loud, “Hate to break it to you but I don’t think I can make it.” Steve was not ready at all hearing Lake’s voice being so dry and hollow, just how long was he stuck here?

“You will battle against Gunmar’s soldiers, no excuse will suffice whatsoever.” Dictatious was beginning to lose his patience rather quickly.

The trollhunter didn’t look fazed from his response, just tired really. “Well, if you really want me to fight. I don’t suppose any of you know how to fix a broken leg?” He remarked with a small smile he managed to muster. “Amongst other things.....”

“Do you wish for us to remove your leg trollhunter?” Steve was startled that the troll was being actually serious about it, and he could sense that Lake felt the same way.

The trollhunter pictured the idea of his leg being viciously torn apart by a Gumm-Gumm, and it made Steve sick to his stomach.“On second thought, I think I’m good.” Lake muttered with a shaky voice. “Do you have something rigid like a big stick or something and some cloth?”

“Why do you ask?” Dictatious asked in an uncaring manner.

Lake rolled his eyes. “Why do I even bother? They wouldn’t care less if I was blind.” The trollhunter lifted himself up with the support of the walls of his cell. “Nevermind. Just drag to the arena like you always do.”

He limped his way to the cell's entrance and sure enough, the two guards grabbed Lake by the arms and pulled him out of the prison. As Lake was being pulled away, an invisible force began slowly pushing Steve, as if the walls were closing in on him.

“This is new.” He thought, then brought himself closer to the group.

Wherever they were, it was certainly the worst living conditions he had ever seen. Any form of life beyond its inhabitants seems to be nonexistent, unless rocks count as forms of life. Any signs of natural nights appeared nonexistent as well, as if the sun had disappeared.

“Is this going to be my last?” Lake thought. “I want it to be. I want it to be so bad. No one is coming for me, but it won’t make things better, I know it won’t.”

Steve wondered how brutal this place must’ve been, which then led to the question: just how long was Lake stuck here? When Domzalski was trying to explain the whole troll business with him, he said Lake was trapped in a place called the Darklands.

“It’s a super creepy place. Everything around you looks dead and it’s a pain to figure out where you’re going,” He sighed, then said, “To be honest, we were kind of lucky that we managed to get out in one piece.”

From the vague description Steve got, it wasn’t so far-fetched that this place was the Darklands. Soon enough, they made it to their destination. There were tons of guards everywhere inside some kind of area, and in the far-middle was a looming throne that Steve was sure any stereotypical villain would revel in sitting on. In the throne was a troll whose appearance was covered in the shadows, presumably Gunmar.

The two guards dropped Jim off the ground and exited the room. “The trollhunter Dark Lord, as you requested.” Dictatious said.

“Get up.” The large troll demanded with a growl. “At the very least pretend you are a worthy opponent.”

Lake slowly looked at Gunmar in the eye, and summoned his sword from his hands and jabbed to the ground, lifting himself up and using it as a support.

With no warning, various guards began charging at the trollhunter. As Lake glided to the sides away from the Gumm-Gumms’ attack, his broken leg was roaring with pain. Lake managed to keep a straight face, but Steve could hear it, the agonizing screams that were pushed into his thoughts. One of the Gumm-Gumms managed to hit the trolllhunter from the back of the head with their spear. Lake was quick to summon his shield when the Gumm-Gumm striked again. He diverted the weapon in front of him away with his shield and thrusted his sword through the Gumm-Gumm’s chest. The large troll petrified and crumbled into pieces.

Steve watched as trollhunter continued to fight relentlessly against Gunmar’s soldiers, and the longer Lake was fighting back, the more irritated the Skullcrusher was becoming. The blonde teen was in awe of how well Lake held on his own in a fight. After another Gumm-Gumm was slain, the trollhunter abruptly stopped and stumbled down. He gripped the leg Steve remembered was broken with a shuttered breath.

“Hurts....” Lake repeatedly thought as he winced. “I knew it was going to get worse if I moved too much”

The trollhunter could sense the presence of another Gumm-Gumm attempting to surround him. “Gunmar never seems to run out of soldiers.” Lake swung his sword diagonally at a Gumm-Gumm that was in front of him, but the newfound pain of his leg made him lose his footing. The large soldier swung the butt of their spear to Lake’s stomach with enough force to make him fall to his knees. But the Gumm-Gumm didn’t stop, they continued to hit Lake with their spear until it looked like he wasn’t able to stand back.

Gunmar seemed pleased, so the Gumm-Gumm swiftly made his way to the Skullcrusher’s throne and bowed to him, like a robot following its master’s commander. Steve heard the quiet coughs coming from Lake. He wiped away the blood from his mouth and slowly reached and grabbed his sword. “I can still take out one more.”

“Oh no.” Steve knew what the trollhunter was going to do, and it was a bad idea. Steve ran in front of Lake to stop him, but the trollhunter fazed right past the blonde teen, giving him the harsh reminder that all of this was just a memory, and he couldn’t change anything about this.

Lake raced towards the Gumm-Gumm and stabbed his sword deep into their back. As Gunmar’s soldier turned to a pile of lifeless rocks, the trollhunter smiled in satisfaction at the sight of the Skullcrusher’s shocked expression because to him, this was the only kind victory he was ever going to get.

Gunmar soon became enraged, he slammed his fist onto the handle of his throne and stood up with the look of murder in his eyes. But Dictatious quickly ran in front of the large troll. “Lord Gunmar, calm yourself. Don’t let this flessbag get to you so easily. Patience remember.” He advised with a shaky voice.

The trollhunter watched as Gumnar stared down at him and sat back down to his throne. “Take him back to his cell.” The Skullcrusher gritted his teeth.

The guards grabbed Lake and began dragging him out of the arena. On the way back, Steve could only hear the trollhunter’s abstract thoughts that felt too disconnected, itoo uncanny for him to listen to. The Gumm-Gumms threw Lake into his cell and closed the crystal bars. Lake laid in the same position for a while, still coughing up his blood, until he started to laugh. It started as quiet and soft until it slowly became loud enough that it echoed throughout the prison.

There was one thought in the trollhunter’s mind that, for some reason, was absolutely entertaining for him. That no matter how hard his enemies try and maybe even himself at this point, he can never seem to die. Many memories started to resurface. Steve couldn’t see it, but he sensed the feeling. That cold, bone-chilling feeling as if you looked at death straight in the eye and dread that comes with it. However the feeling always seems to last for a short amount of time and be replaced with pure relief, but the impact is still there, and it never loses its value.

When the laughter died down, Lake hissed as the pain of his injuries finally settled in. He dragged himself to the corner of the wall and leaned onto it. “Gunmar is going to make me regret what I did back there next time.” The trollhunter lazily tried to wipe off as much blood as he could from his face, but only made more of a mess than it originally was.

As Steve bent down to his knees and felt nothing but pity and regret for his classmate. “Got to hand it to you.” He muttered. “Takes a lot of work to pretend like none of this ever happened.” Steve thought of all of the strange occurrences surrounding Lake for the past few months. It was unnerving, everything seemed so clear now when it’d be damn impossible to connect the dots single-handedly before.

The blonde teen could feel how much the trollhunter missed training his friends. How much he missed hearing Blinky’s. How much he missed Aaarrrgghh. But most of all, how much he missed his mother’s presence. It was a warm, bittersweet emotion that Steve hasn’t really felt for a long time in such a way as this.

“They’re safe.” Lake thought. For the trolllhunter, it didn’t matter that he was going to be stuck here for the rest of his life, because Lake did what he came for.

“Am I ever going to see my baby brother?” Claire’s voice echoed. It was fine, if they were fine, he was fine. “A trollhunter answers every call. No matter what.” Steve turned and looked at Lake, before everything disappeared.

“So?” Unkar asked. The two of them standing in the void once again. “Do you understand now?”

As Steve stood back up, he responded with, “I guess. Don’t you think kind of messed up? That someone has to get hurt when they do something right? ”

“That is the harsh truth. A truth that you needed to know, doing good in the world like this must require us to take risks, even if it’s at the cost of our lives. I could not see that when I was alive and my cowardness had led me to my death.”

What Unkar said didn't sit well with Steve.“Then why did the amulet choose me?” He asked, his voice wavering. “I never took the time to do anything good for someone for so long. Why would it expect me to be capable of even being that brave?” Steve didn’t realize how much the words he was spouting out would hurt him.

“It wasn’t the amulet that chose you, rather you’re fleshbag friend.” Steve held his breath and looked at the spirit with a confused daze.

“Are you serious?”

“I have no reason to lie trollhunter.” Unkar said as reassurance.

Steve ran his fingers through his hair, choosing to ignore the spirit calling Lake his “friend” again. “That makes even less sense. He could have just picked his friends then. Why me? I’m not qualified to be a hero. I...I don’t deserve to be given this.”

“Your friend knew you before you took the wrong path. What’s to say he didn’t see that there was still good in you after all these years?” The blonde teen narrowed his eyes at Unkar.

“I told you, he’s not my friend, and I have no idea what you’re talking about with your cryptic ghost talk and all.” Steve remarked with a low voice. How would Lake want to be friends with someone who tormented him for years?

“No one is ever born evil trollhunter.” Steve blinked once, and Unkar and void were replaced with what looked like a playground.

His surroundings were blurry and faded. As if he was inside a badly done watercolor painting, and yet Steve had a feeling of familiarity. Something in his gut told Steve that he’s been here before, but could not remember no matter how hard he tried. There was an unnatural silence that made Steve incredibly uneasy. All of this just brings more emphasis that none of this was real, at the very least the other memories gave him the illusion that he really was there.

Steve walked around slowly and cautiously, trying to find the meaning of this memory, and he managed to find it. There was a secluded spot, where it managed to have every detail and aspect of its environment that separated itself from the abstract reality. In this spot were two young boys. One with dark hair who was trying to make something with the bundle of small flowers he had, and the other with blonde hair and was watching attentively, mindlessly fiddling the spare flowers with his hands.

The both of them seemed to be talking to each other, but none of the words came out, the conversation long forgotten. However, the blonde teen could see how happy they were and as he brought himself closer, Steve realized something that shook to his core. One of the little boys just so happened to be him. He then quickly turned toward the direction of the other boy and saw the black messy hair and the ocean blue eyes, there was no doubt in Steve that this was Lake.

But how? Steve had no recollection of this at all. Could he have just simply forgotten about it? No, that can’t be. It’d be absurd for Steve to forget something such as this. To know that someone he’d bully was also someone he was on good terms before in the past.

The young boy with dark hair hopped up and plopped the entangled flowers onto the head of the blonde teen’s younger self. Steve watched in bewilderment, there was no tension between the two, no hatred, fear, nothing negative of the sort, it was just a heartfelt, innocent moment and nothing else.

“Whatever happened to that boy?” A voice whispered to Steve’s ear, but it wasn’t Unkar’s, rather an older man he has never heard before.

The blonde teen glanced at his younger self, who was proudly wearing the flowers on his head. He began to recall an old memory of him coming back home from kindergarten, Steve remembered the moment his father saw him, he was absolutely furious. After that, Steve couldn’t seem to remember what happened next exactly, but rather fragments of it. Someone yelling, a child sobbing, the sharp pain of getting beaten over and over again, the bone-chilling fear that came with it, and the desperation to make it stop no matter what.

As Steve returned to the void, he thought of the day before the car wreck. The genuine smile on Lake’s face when he told him that he’d like to know the real Steve. How on earth did he manage to get his classmate to look at him the same way as all those years ago? The blonde teen sat still staring at his hands with a blank expression, the guilt inside of him building up as he thinks of every time he threw a punch at someone. Then sparks of magic formed in the palm of his hands until it began to form into the amulet of daylight.

“James has given you an opportunity.” The mysterious voice spoke. “A chance of redemption, this is your chance to prove that that kind boy is still there in you.”

Steve was awakened abruptly as the cage he was in was being lowered. When he looked down, Steve saw the others and Usurna. “I was asleep?” Steve thought, new questions now buzzing through his mind.

The moment the cage went down, Steve got up quickly as the door was opened for him. Claire noticed how startled he seemed to be and made her way towards him. “Are you alright? Did the guards do anything to you?”

“Huh? No, I’m.... fine.” He answered, still a bit dazed.

“So?” Usurna asked, “What is your choice, trollhunter?” Her staff slamming gently to the ground.

The blonde teen glanced down and saw right in front of him the amulet on the floor. As he picked it up, Steve began to think about his sort-of-maybe- dream, the mysterious voice echoing in his head. He then looked at his classmates. Steve could see how the two were bracing themselves for anything really.

“I....” Steve hunched over, closing his eyes shut. He thought as long and hard as he could, before taking a deep breath and finally straightening himself up with confidence. “ I’m going to keep the amulet.” Steve held the amulet close to his chest and then managed to summon the armor without saying the incantation.

Claire, Toby, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh looked at the trollhunter in surprise, then was replaced with smiles. “Really?” Toby wondered.

“Y-yeah. If it’s the thing that can kill the evil troll you told me, then I guess it’s worth fighting for.”

“So be it trollhunter.” Usurna raised her right hand and gestured to Steve towards the prison’s exit. As Steve walked past the troll, he heard her say, “Your trial awaits.”

Claire placed her hand on Toby’s shoulder with a determined expression. “See? I told you he wasn’t going to give it away.”

The redhead placed his hand to his hips and shook his head, his smile still present. “Yeah, I suppose you were right.” Toby began to think that perhaps there was more to Steve than just being a typical bully, but his doubts still lingered. He could only hope that what Steve told him at the hospital would be true in the long run.

“Don’t celebrate just yet you two. We still need to convince the Tribunal that Steve is not guilty, which I shall tell right now that it will not be an easy feat.” Blinky reminded the two teens.

With the others following behind, Steve walked through trollmarket. Hoping with all his might that he made the right decision.

#tales of arcadia #steve palchuk #toby domzalski #claire nuñez #blinky galadrigal #aaarrrgghh #jim lake jr #trollhunters #vanilla writing

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unsafepin · 4 years ago

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Optical Illusions: A Study of Aesthetics in Activism in Two Accounts

There’s been a particular thing bothering me about social media for a while. I should probably get a cool editing app, write it in a few bullet points and post it on Instagram. You know what I’m talking about, right? The goddamn infographics. If I have to sit through another slideshow explaining to me another military conflict, another societal issue, another existential unfairness on a baby pink background in a cheery font, I might combust. But the cognitive dissonance of aesthetics in activism has been a problem for a while, hasn’t it? So today, I want to examine the effect of focusing on aesthetics over content, or, on the flipside, not considering the optics of your activism enough, and what it does to the consumer of your content by picking apart two local activist-adjacent media projects, Tetraedras and Giljožinios.

Firstly, I want to make my own bias abundantly clear. I am personally acquainted with the teams of both projects, so obviously there will be innate personal bias involved. I highly encourage anyone reading to check both projects out themselves (@t3traedras and @giljozinios on Instagram, as well as Giljožinios’ YouTube channel) and make their own conclusions on the matter. I believe that while my familiarity breeds deeper knowledge of my subjects, it also makes me more vulnerable to assumptions about individuals involved. My insights come from the perspective of an observer, not an expert. Welcome to the circus.

The use of the word “optics” in a metaphorical political sense sprung up in the 1970s to describe the way major political decisions would not necessarily affect an average citizen, but how it would appear to them, e.g. 'U.S. President Barack Obama temporized for weeks, worrying about the optics of waging war in another Arab state after the Iraq fiasco' (Toronto Star, 19th March 2011). However, it’s become increasingly relevant in our age of social media, an age of perceptions over substance, of shortening attention spans and increased barrage of information one has to stomach daily. Social media is the great equalizer - a random person off the street can theoretically hold as much influence as a politician - thus it is becoming increasingly crucial for the average Joe posting on the countless apps owned by Facebook to be as familiar with PR terms as a firm with a six figure salary. Or at least that would be nice, seeing that more and more average Joes are becoming actively involved in politics and education, seeking to influence their newfound audience.

So, let’s see how successful average people with no media or politics degrees are at balancing their image. Both Tetraedras and Giljožinios lean into their 2010’s social media project optics: millennial pink themes, bold names, young teams. But that’s where the similarities end. Tetraedras’ brand is safety. The shades of color on the profile are calming, the illustrations are youthful and playful, their more serious posts are interspersed with more relaxing content (poetry, photoshoots, etc.). Giljožinios is confrontational. The colors electric, posts loud and to the point, they’re what it says on the box - a leftist project - and unapologetic about it. This might help to explain why audiences react as differently as they do to these two, on the surface, similar accounts. Because while you might’ve stumbled on Tetraedras organically while browsing, them having almost two thousand followers, Giljožinios crashed into the educational/political social media scene by being featured on the goddamn national news, that’s how controversial the project is. And obviously I am oversimplifying the issue, Tetraedras slowly built up to posting more opinionated content, while Giljožinios came in guns blazing accusing USA of imperialism, but you’ll have to let me explain. Tetraedras, in its essence, is a welcoming environment. They explain complicated problems in short bullet points with accompanying comforting visuals, their mascot is a inoffensive geometrical figure and their face is a beautiful girl, make-up matching the theme of the post. Giljožinios is named after a revolutionary device, their profile picture is a monarch being beheaded, their host quite infamously sat in front of Che Guevara memorabilia in their first and (as of writing) only video. It’s a lightning rod for angry comments by baby boomers, no matter what comes out of their mouth. In fact, I would argue that, if presented accordingly, the idea that the US is conducting a kind of modern imperialism is just a simple fact and personally can’t wait until Tetraedras posts that with a quirky illustration of Joe Biden to introduce the concept to the wider public.

This leads me to my next point, because despite what’s been previously suggested, I’m not here to solely sing Giljožinios’ praise. There is a cognitive dissonance in both of these flavors of social media activism, but while I can understand Tetraedras’ on a PR level, I’m kind of personally insulted by Giljožinios’. While purely personally I find aspects of Giljožinios’ radicalism distasteful, I appreciate the honesty in the youthful maximalism, of coming in strong and not backing down, but from the guys that made a communist Christmas tree once I almost expected something more stirring than “military industrial complex bad”. This leads me to ask: who is your content for? Your average breadtube-savvy twenty-something already heard this a thousand times, because they consume similar english-speaking content and I doubt any minds of the vatniks that came by to fume in the comment section are being changed. I’m obviously harking on a newborn project here, the team of which has already been bitten by authorities censoring their content, but so far there has been a lot of optical bark, but no substantial bite, especially considering the team seems to be in a safer place now. And the inverse is true for Tetraedras, while I can understand wanting to be visually interesting yet inoffensive, their visuals are sometimes laughably, morbidly light for the topics they discuss Sexily posing in Britney Spears-inspired outfits while discussing the horrors of her conservatorship springs to mind (funny how Britney’s conservatorship leads her to have next to none bodily autonomy, including her public costume choices). And, once again, your target audience is teenagers. They understand English, they’ve seen the news, they don’t need you to translate infographics filled with statistics and information that’s locally completely irrelevant. There needs to be some kind of middle ground between aesthetic cohesion and common sense, because this all signals to the viewer that the content is meant to be mindlessly consumed first and to educate second.

Which leads me to ponder what kind of consumption accounts like these encourage, which will surely lead me to an early grave as I drink away the existential dread of how social media rots all of our brains. Because yes, actually, producing funky visuals to convey an idea way too complicated for an Instagram post is fun. I myself got distracted multiple times during writing to make the first slide for my own post. Meta, I know. This is obviously more of a problem for Tetraedras, who seem to fervently resist injecting their content with a few more paragraphs and a tad more nuance, but even with Giljožinios choosing a more appropriate long-form format to educate, I still pray everyday they don’t get lost in the revolutionary reputation their group built up and forget to make a point, not just talking points.

Because what all this all inevitably leads to is misinforming the public. Again, this seems to be less of a problem for Giljožinios, as the amount of critical eyeballs they have on them leads to them being corrected on every incorrect numerical figure and grammatical mistake, I just hope all this harassment, once again, doesn’t get them all caught up in the optics of a revolution against all the Facebook boomers and forgetting to do their due diligence to the truth. As far as I know, the only factual mistake is miscalculating how much Lituania invests in NATO and there’s still a historical debate in their comment section about the existence of a CIA prison in Lithuania, if anyone’s concerned. Tetraedras, however, is safe. And safe content goes down just like a sugar-coated pill, you don’t even feel the need to fact-check it. And fact-checking is what it sorely requires, or else you’re left with implying that boxing causes men to become rapists and citing statistics of every country except the one in which, you know, me, the team and the absolute majority of their followers live in.

So what’s my goddamn point? Burn your phone and go live in the woods, always. But in the context of this essay, if you are a content creator that aims to educate, inform, incite, whatever, you need to put aesthetics on the backburner. And, more importantly, we as consumers need to stop tolerating content that puts being either pretty or inflammatory first instead of whatever message it’s trying to send, because the supply follows where the demand goes. Read books, watch long-form content made by experts, not teenagers on the internet chasing followers out of not even malicious intent, but almost a knee-jerk reaction. Because while the story of those two accounts cuts especially deep, expectations for local-, even friend-made content being much higher than that for some corporate accounts shooting their shot at activism, the problem is entrenched deep, thousands of accounts exhibiting the same problems racking up millions upon millions of followers. Having said that, my attention span is barely long enough to read the essays I write myself, so maybe do burn your phone and go live in the woods.

Also, pink is actually my brand so both of these accounts are being contacted by my lawyers and the rest of you don’t try any shit.

#unsafe pin

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blacknight1230 · 5 years ago

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Judge of Character

Damian Wayne Imagine

Damian Wayne isn’t big on friendship. From a young age, he has been taught not to trust anyone, including so-called family. Since he was taken under the Batman’s wing, he only trusts a very few, limited to his family. So it's no big surprise the blood son of world’s greatest detective reacts hostile towards a surprise guest in Batcave. But when he sees how his pets behave around her, he might change his mind.

Gotham Academy. The most prestigious school in the dangerous city. All of the city’s elite sent there children there. Unfortunately for Damian, he was also sent there for a highschool education. The blood son of the Bat hated it there; it was full of fake people, ones who snobbishly flounted themselves in the school’s halls all because their parent was the head of some notorious company, or something along those lines. Damian knew the only reason they put up with him was because of his father and his ties to Wayne Industries; anyone not on par with their wealth and status were considered lesser than them and they barely tried to hide it. This, coupled with Damian’s cold exterior, made it hard for him to make friends. One thing the young Robin did not need was groupies.

“How was your day, Master Damian?” Alfred asked the young teen when he picked him up from the academy. “Uneventful as always, Pennyworth. Teachers teaching, and I mean that loosely, subjects that a toddler could figure out and hormonal hazards gossiping and pretending to care about my wellbeing ... should I go on?” Damian tsked, looking out the sleek car’s windows. “So, high school, basically?” Alfred replied, eyes not moving from the road in front of him. “A high school full of uptight snobs. I don’t understand why Father makes me waste away there. I could probably teach better than the teachers there. And they supposedly have taught in Ivy League colleges.” “I understand your frustrations, Master Damian. But Master Bruce wants you to experience normal teenage life. Maybe even make some friends.” Damian scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I swing from rooftop to rooftop, battling the criminals of gotham’s seedy underworld and fight alongside metahumans. Tell me how that’s normal exactly?” “That way be true, but then again you don’t really hang out with people your own age, do you?” Alfred pointed out, raising an eyes at him through the rearview mirror. Damian remained quiet, his arms crossed over his chest in frustration.

The rest of ride back to Wayne Manor was silent, even as the expensive car parked in front of the main doors. Damian wordlessly strode into the mansion, after Alfred opened the door for him of course, dumping his backpack on the ground. “Master Damian, I’d like to inform you that Master Bruce has a guest that will stay in the Manor for awhile as they help your father on a case,” Alfred said as he picked up the discarded backpack, placing it next to the jackets and shoes. But when the butler turned around, Damian was nowhere to be found.

Damian hadn’t heard a single word that left Alfred’s mustached mouth for he already was making his way towards the secret entrance to the Bat Cave. “Father, are you here? I would like to have a word with you?” he called out once he made it to the Cave. Silence met him, even the bats that gave the cave its name were quiet. Damian was suspicious as he thought his father would be here. He specifically remembered that he had a case he was working on that was particularly difficult.

As he strode into the center of the cave, he could hear the sound of keys clicking as well as images popping up on the monitor, showing that someone was on the Batcomputer. But who? All he could see from his position were feminine gloved hands working across the keyboard. Intruder, he thought. Without a second thought, he grabbed a sword from the nearby weapon rack and lunged at the mysterious infiltrator. With a yell, he slashed at the back of the high chair in front of the supercomputer, slicing it right down the middle. He grabbed what was left of the chair and turned it around only for there to be no one in the chair. How? he thought. Where could they have gone? A voice calling out to him answered his question.

“That was close,” it said. Damian spun around to face the unknown intruder, sword pointed at them and his body in a defensive stance. In front of him stood a girl in hero attire, hands on her hips. This girl looked to be young teen around his age, yet she appeared to be wise beyond her years. The (f/c) and (2nd f/c) clad teen raised an eyebrow as she stared at him, also studying his appearance. “You must be the current Robin. It’s nice to me you. I’m -” she tried to introduce herself. But Damian did let her finished as he already leapt her. The girl was able to effortlessly dodge his multiple attacks, on the defensive as Damian relentless went after her.

In his effort to land a hit, Damian led the both of them to where the numerous Batsuits were located. The young Robin eyed his mysterious opponent, who didn’t show any signs of being worn out. Suddenly, he stabbed at opening he foresaw knowing there would be no way that the mysterious girl would be able to dodged it. Everything seemed to go in slow motion, the pointing tip of his sword stabbing through the air and towards the middle of the girl’s chest. But when the sworded entered the vicinity of the young girl, with a wave of her gloved hand a bright filled the air. Damian yelled in pain as the light blinded him and he felt his body rebound as if he ran into a brick wall.

He quickly regained his footing, skidding a foot or so across the hard metal flooring. When he regained his eyesight, his eyes widened at what was in front of him. The mysterious teenage girl was floating several feet off the ground, a bright electric blue light surrounding her, eyes glowing the same bright blue as electric blue glyphs surrounded her. Shit, Damian thought to himself. She’s a magic user. Before he could do anything, he was encased in a cube of translucent blue magic. Damian tried to break his magical prison, first with his sword and eventually with his fists, but it was useless. He was stuck right where he was and would not be able to escape.

“Maybe this will teach you a lesson,” the girl said, her glowing hand raised as she held up the magic barrier around him. “Let me out of here, intruder! How did you get into here! Who do you work for?” Damian yelled pounding his fists against his magical prison. “Intruder? I’m a guest, you snot nosed brat! I’m helping your father on a case in my mentor’s place,” the girl explained, acting insulted. “A likely story. My father just doesn’t trust any amateur vigilante,” Damian scoffed. “And yet this ‘amateur vigilante’ happened to trapped you in an inescapeable magical prison,” she sassed back. Damian glowered in response, opening his mouth to say something when a dark shadow enveloped both of them.

Batman glided down to them, his shadow shrinking as the legendary detective came closer. Damian smirked to himself, thinking that his father would now deal with the young intruder himself. The Bat landed on the cold metal platform, surveying the scene from under his cowl with calculating white lensed eyes. To the surprise of the young Robin, his father turned to the magical girl and said with a deadpan voice, “What happened?” “Father! I caught this witch snooping around the Cave and on the Batcomputer trying to -” “Excuse me, but I’m a sorceress, not a witch, you arrogant bastard. And I already told you I was invited here to help Batman!” the female vigilante interrupted.

Damian frowned and set his sights on the Bat, silently asking for confirmation. “She’s speaking the truth, Damian. I’ve asked (supernero name) to help due to her knowledge of the occult and its arts,” the older vigilante explained. “Didn’t Alfred tell you we would be having a guest? I specifically told him to remind you.” So that’s what Pennyworth was saying when I left him talking, Damian thought to himself. He realized his mistake, but remain quiet, not one to admit he was wrong.

Bruce sighed, his shoulders dropping as if he was exhausted from his younger’s sons actions. “(superhero name), can you release my son now?” he ordered sternly. “Yes sir.” With a wave of her hand, the magical prison surrounding the young Robin faded away. Damian took a cautionary step forward, just in case there was a hint of barrier left. Luckily there wasn’t and he was able to approach his father.

“Father, who this miscreant? How could you trust her? I never heard of this so called ‘(superhero name),’“ he complained. “Damian, her mentor is Zatanna, one of the members of Justice League Dark. I asked her for help but she was unable to come so she sent her apprentice instead,” Bruce patiently explained. Damian took a moment to remember everything he knew about Zatanna and the auxiliary Justice League group. If he remembered correctly, his father helped the group once to defeat a world-wide demonic threat.

“I don’t care if she’s the sidekick of a knock-off Justice League member. That doesn’t make her trustworthy,” Damian replied snarkingly. “Damian,” Bruce said, using his ‘father voice.’ “Sometimes the right thing to do is just give someone a chance. Only then will you find if it was worth it to trust them.”

Bruce walked off, leaving him silently stuing in place, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the knowledged passed onto him by his father. Alfred was the one to break the stiff silence, having come down to the cave with a silver platter in one hand. “Master Damian, if you’re not going to listen your father’s sound advice, would you at least like a sandwich I prepared?” he asked, an eyebrow raised as you stared down at the fuming teen in front of him. “Maybe later, Pennyworth,” he answered. Damian brushed past the elderly butler, making his way out of the Batcave. “Would you like one, Ms. (superhero name)?” he heard Alfred say. “I would love one. Do you happened to have (favorite sandwich)?” “I believe I do. Here you are.” Damian could only ‘tsk’ grumpily. She might have Alfred under her spell already but I won’t fall for it, he thought.

~ Time Skip ~

It’s been a week since the disliked newcomer arrived. A week of Damian having to deal with (superhero name) whenever he got back from school. The young Robin had enough; it seemed wherever he turned in the manor, she was there. Just her presence got him in a bad mood, despite the young heroine never have done something to warrant his grump disposition. What seemed to get even further on his nerves is that Alfred and even his father were friendly towards the girl. Well, as friendly as the Bat could get that is. Damian still did not trust the (f/c) clad hero, keeping his guard up whenever she tried to get him to warm up to her.

The blood son of the Bat was currently wandering the halls of the manor, caught in quite a predicament. “Alfred! Alfred!” he called out, eyes searching his surroundings. “Did you call me, Master Damian?” the elderly butler asked. It appears he was in the middle of dusting the decorative furniture in the hallway, as he had a feathered duster in hand and apron to protect his uniform. “I was calling for Alfred the Cat, actually. Have you seen him anywhere, Pennyworth?” Damian cleared up. “A yes, your feline companion named after yours truly. I should known you meant him. I haven’t seen him while I was doing my duties. But I believe he might be in family room as he quite likes it there,” Alfred replied. “Thank you, Pennyworth. I’ll leave you alone to continue with your work.”

Damian steadily made his way towards the family room, taking the magnificent wooden stairs down to the main floor of his ancestral home. In no time at all he had reached the informal room, where he his family usually spent their free time when guests weren’t over. But as he stepped into the room, he stopped in shock at the unbelievable sight in front of him. Sitting on the floor was (superhero name) leaning against a resting Titus and Alfred the Cat relaxing on her lap.

It was as he was in a daze, walking up to the young heroine. “What is going on?” he questioned. (superhero name) looked up at Damian in surprise, yet Alfred the Cat and Titus didn’t even move. “Oh, hi, Robin. How are you?” she responded nonchalantly as if she didn’t see Damian’s perplexed exterior. “You didn’t answer my question. What did you do to my pets?” Damian ignored her suggestion, face hardening as thousands of possible scenarios ran through his head. Why are they so comfortable around her? They usually dislike strangers, he was thinking.

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you are talking about. I’m just taking a break from the case so I can clear my head. Is that so wrong?” (superhero name) said, gloved hand running through the fur on Alfred the Cat’s back. Damian picked up on the sound of the feline purring, infuriating him further. “Whatever spell you put on them, you better take off right now. I don’t take kindly to magic being used on my family,” he ordered, crossing his arms across his chest, trying to look as threatening and serious as he could. But it obviously failed, as (superhero name) started to laugh at him. Damian growled, insulted at the sound of her mirthful bell-like laughter.

“Wow, you really are caught on this whole I’m-untrustworthy-and-possibly-a-criminal idea,” (superhero name) snickered once her laughter died down. “For all I know, you are a criminal. Or at least you’re not currently breaking the law. A mysterious past, no indication on whenever what you view as ‘right’ is actually ‘wrong’ ... Why would I trust you?” Damian pointed out rather harshly. (superhero name) just frowned, stopping her caressment of his pets. “Listen here, Bird-Brain,” she practically hissed. “If I really was such a bad person as you say, then why are your pets okay with me being here. They know nothing about me, just like you, yet they can tell I’m a good person.”

Damian tried to argue, but was unable to come up with anything and so remained silent. He thought over what she told him, fighting with himself over her words. If she what she said is true and that they aren’t under some type of spell ..., one part of his brain was saying. ... then maybe I should give the benefit of the doubt and trust her. But he other part was refusing to budge, scolding him. How do you know she’s trustworthy? Your pets being friendly with her doesn’t mean anything, it told him.

(Superhero name) saw how Damian was fighting an inward battle and sighed. “Listen, Robin,” she began, looking deep into his green eyes with her (e/c) one, refusing to look away. “There is reason why your pets are so comfortable with my presence. Its because they can tell I’m a good person. Animals have a rather exceptional judge of character, can’t you tell.” Her words hit him, settling into his brain. Damian couldn’t help but regret his previous actions, especially when Titus nuzzled his head into (superhero name)’s side and she wordlessly caressed his black fur with a warm smile.

Damian gave up, groaning loudly as he tried to apologize, albit awkwardly as this wasn’t something he did often. “I’m ... sorry, (superhero name). I see now that might have been a bit hasty with my judgement of you. I can see that you are a kind and worth of my trust,” he struggled to say. “I accept your apology. But please, call me (y/n). If we’re going to start over and be friends you should at least know my real name,”

“Damian. My name’s Damian,” he told her. (Y/n) gave a bright smile, one that caused a genuine smile to make its way to Damian’s lips. He couldn’t help but go over the word ‘friends’ in his head. I’ve never had a real friend before, he thought. It sounds nice. (Y/n) broke him out of his inner dialogue, patting a bean bag chair next to her as she smiled. “Come sit, Damian. I’m sure Titus and Alfred would love to have another person to cuddle with,” she joked. Her smile was contagious, making one appeared on Damian’s face as he silently did as she said. As soon as he sat on the cloth beanbag, sinking into the bean filled cushion, Titus shuffled himself so his large head was laying on his lap. A pang of amazement shot through his heart at the sight. Seeing Alfred the Cat doing the same to (y/n) made him feel all fuzzy inside. He let himself relax and leaned back into the plush bean bag, quietly chilling with (y/n) and his beloved animals.

~ Timeskip ~

Before long Damian and (y/n) went there separate ways. The supernatural case she was working on was solved and she left Bat & Co. to return to Zatanna. Meanwhile, Damian went back on with his public life, going back school and so on, and eventually back to the Titans. In the limited time they had with each other, Damian was able to bond with the magical teen. Their shared interests in art and love of animals of course brought them closer together. Alfred, the butler not the cat, was shocked that they had gotten so close, especially after their initial meeting. Even the big Bat himself raised an eyebrow as Damian and (y/n) gushed about one thing or another.

So when he had to return to Titans Tower, Damian secretly missed his fast friend. Sure, he had Raven, Beast Boy, Jaime, and Starfire, but it just wasn’t the same. I wonder what she’s up to now, he thought as he roamed the barren hallways.

Suddenly, Beast Boy rushed up to him in the form of a green cheetah. “Bro you’ll never believe this!” he exclaimed once he returned to his normal form. “What is it, Garfield?” Damian replied, hiding his curiosity behind a passive face. “We’ve got a new team member! They’re coming any minute now!” the shape-shifting teen bounced with excitement. “What?” Damian didn’t have time to process this new information, for Beast Boy grabbed his arm and pulled him along.

Now, Damian could have forced Garfield to let go of hi, but he decided it was better to just let the green teen do what he wanted. So in no time at all, he was in main entrance of the tower alongside the rest of the Titans. Garfield finally let go of him and immediately started to chattered Jaime’s ear off. “I see Garfield brought you up to pace,” Raven spoke, voice monotone as always. “Wish it someone told me the news sooner. Did you know about this?” he asked his goth friend. Raven nodded her head no, watching Starfire preparing for the newcomer. “I’m just as clueless as you are,” she replied. “I have feeling the League has a hand in this,” Damian scoffed.

Out of nowhere, a portal appeared, enveloping the area in a (f/c) glow. “Oh, they’re almost here! Everyone smile for our new friends and be on your best behavior,” Starfire ordered, excitement oozing off of her in waves. Through the magical interdimensional circle a figure appeared, silhoused by the intensity of the portal’s light. Everyone shielded their eyes until the figure stepped fully through and the portal disappeared behind them. Damian finally got a good look at the newcomer, gaze rising as he took in more of their appearance. When his green eyes stopped when he saw a familiar face.

The new team member was (y/n), dressed in a new uniform and an extra guest perched on her shoulder. A medium sized cat gazed at him with two different colored eyes, one blue and the other green, with a distinct fur pattern that made one half of its face orange with stripes while the other was completely black. I remember here telling me she always wanted an animal familiar, Damian thought. I see she finally got her wish. “Well, isn’t this a surprise,” (y/n) said, a smirk on her lips. “Didn’t expect to see here, Boy Wonder.” The rest of the team looked on shocked as Damian confidently strode up the sorceress. “Me, surprised? You give yourself too much credit, (superhero name),” he tsked. (y/n) just smiled , maneuvering her cat to be held in her arms. Things just got a lot more interesting.

#damian wayne imagine #damian wayne x reader #teen titans damian wayne imagine #teen titans damian wayne x reader #dc animated movie universe #dc animated movies #dc animated universe imagine #dc animated universe x reader

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grapefrutjuce · 5 years ago

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The first thing is to do with Amira’s outing of Kasim. I don’t blame Amira for this - I blame the writers. The second is the delicate situation that Amira and Dani find themselves in. Tons of rambling, again.

Is there a realistic, plausible circumstance where she might have outed Kasim in some fashion? Perhaps. I generally tend to thing it’s a bit out of character, but let’s say it could happen. People make mistakes, and that is indeed a Big Mistake. My issue is with the way it was framed.

As many people have pointed out, the moment of her decision to implore Dounia to check on Kasim while he was at home with Lucas was basically tension-free. Dounia wasn’t being angry or wrathful, and her gist of the situation was basically accurate. What did Amira have to gain in that moment by choosing to STILL push Dounia to find Kasim, at that exact time? I mean, by that point Dounia was accepting of Dani and Amira and the tone was mostly conciliatory. Amira could have let bygones be bygones for the sake of the friendship. Case CLOSED.

Instead, Amira’s actions came across as quite vengeful and calculating. Maybe if it had been in the middle of a heated argument - we’ve seen her lose her temper before - and she blurts out more than she should have. She could insist on Dounia confronting Kasim immediately (she’s sick and tired of being used and blamed), and he might be outed as a consequence.

But how about as an unintended consequence of Amira lashing out in anger, instead of totally on purpose? Where Amira thinks again and instantly regrets what she’s done, once she realizes? Not to mention completely neglects to mention Lucas or Kasim in her prayers...don’t even know what that’s about.

Plus, this is after Amira specifically told Lucas he could trust and confide in her. After knowing what Cris went through. I’m just baffled at this choice. I can’t really make it make sense, so I’ll just...ignore it I guess.

Now with Dani and Amira’s relationship. After the conversation she had in the library with Viri and Eva, I was wondering what direction things might take. Amira mentions struggling herself, and that she can’t imagine how bad it is for Dani. She mentions her desire to not ‘pick and choose’ from the rules. Eva emphasizes how big a Sacrifice this must be for Dani, because no guy would bother to do the same for her.

With this things in mind, I thought perhaps Amira might go to one of two extremes. One, she might feel guilty about what Dani is ‘giving up’ to be with her and as a result push herself beyond her established boundaries in terms of physical interaction. I didn’t want that to happen because it’s cliche and reiterates the implication that Amira - just Amira, as Dani himself wrote - isn’t enough. Chaos ensues, and she appears weak in her faith.

Or, she might do the opposite and cut Dani out of things unceremoniously (sort of like what OG Sana did when she found out Yousef was atheist). She wants to stick to the rules she chose, why involve Dani at all? She doesn’t want to be this great temptation or struggle for anyone, so maybe they should quit while they are ahead and keep their own separate paths. Given the friendship that Dani and Amira are supposed to share above all else (this is pointed out in the few interviews I’ve read), this makes her seem cold and uncompromising, that she doesn’t believe Viri’s ‘love can conquer all.’ I’m not interested in that ‘hard, fierce, independent’ stereotype for a WOC character.

Now, after the context of their almost kiss and Amira’s conversation with Nora about the situation, it seems like they’re walking on thin ice with option number one.

The almost kiss itself, I didn’t really have a problem with. They are attracted to each other, things are still new. It will be something they need to focus and work on, if they want a future together - there will be times of uncertainty or weakness. Communication will still be the key. I appreciate that Dani did try to break the tension afterward. I can’t say I fault him for following Amira’s lead in that moment. But he didn’t pursue it or pressure her, or act passive aggressive or disappointed. I can’t take such things for granted.

And, others might disagree with me here, but I don’t know if I’d like him being the one to ‘correct’ Amira in that sense. Like, if she had leaned in and he responded by reminding her of the rules they agreed to or turning away or something. In real life, I think it would be fine for him to do so - if they were in a serious, mature relationship. It’s always important to support your partner and encourage them to be true to themselves, or not to do something they might regret.

But on SKAM (a fictional show about a bunch of kids), I think it would irritate me if Dani was suddenly the morality police who had to chastely rebuff Amira’s advances. To me it would read like Amira lacks conviction or agency or both, or that she’s toying with this poor white boy’s heart. Or it would make him seem like the pure damsel to Amira’s lustful villain lol - IDK, just bad optics.

But, Amira’s conversation with Nora? I didn’t care for it, honestly. I didn’t really understand it. When Amira was talking about her decision to wear the hijab to her mom, it was made very clear that it was just that - her decision. It made sense to her and was right for her. But the way she talked about her relationship with Dani, makes it seem completely different. As though she herself wants the same type of relationship her friends have, and doesn’t see why it might not be the best decision for her personally. I mean, if it was her parents who just forbid it - ‘no kissing boys’ - then her complaints would sound normal, that she would feel it isn’t fair. Because your parents have a lot of control and can enforce seemingly arbitrary rules that you disagree with.

Here, that’s not exactly the situation. Amira told Dani she eventually wants to raise Muslim kids, and her education is her primary focus right now. She genuinely didn’t seem interested, or like she would derive much from, a casual relationship. I’m sure she would like to be physically affectionate with him; I’m not questioning that. But the way she spoke to Nora made it seem like she wasn’t choosing to abstain, like she didn’t agree with it and didn’t understand it.

‘You can do it and I can’t, that’s not fair.’ I mean, anyone can do anything. Isn’t that the point? You’re just trying to be honest with yourself in your own soul when you make your choices. So when Amira says she wonders if it’s all worth it, what does she mean? Not worth dating if you can’t do anything physical? Or not worth refraining from contact if you are dating? If she genuinely sees no harm in kissing Dani, or can do so while having a clean conscience, then what’s stopping her? Is it really just boiling down to ‘rules are rules’ for her?

It’s not that she wouldn’t have doubts, all people do. Just the wording, I don’t know. It didn’t sound so much like Amira as it did someone who follows religion merely by rote, with no thought or heart in it. Then why do it at all? I’m not a very good Muslim by any means, but in my view that is not sustainable.

My wish is that the Dani and Amira relationship succeeds to show that being ‘different’ is still valid, and you can choose to express your feelings with your partner in the right way for you. It doesn’t make it any ‘less’ than anyone else’s relationship and it isn’t wrong or dysfunctional. I don’t think the execution is that great, but I still have hope in the message. I’ve seen more than enough Nadia/Guzman types to last a million lifetimes - for once, can we please have the Muslim character worthy of devotion and romance without changing a thing?

#skam españa #amira naybet #dani soto #damira #danmira

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