#and then we can both learn something new!

[dedalvs]

hey friend, i know you’ve been a pretty serious supporter and user of duolingo for a long time (so have i!), so i’m curious what your feeling is about the announcement that they’re going to be doubling down on using more and more AI for content creation, including using it to avoid having to hire actual humans?

personally, i’m really disappointed - i’ve disliked how much they’ve been using it so far, but the app is otherwise a great tool, and all of the other apps seem to use it, too, so it’s not easy to just jump ship to an app that isn’t using AI. i’ve seen a lot of responses that are like “hurr hurr just use a textbook idiot” which i find really unhelpful; learning from an app is easier and a lot more convenient in a lot of ways than having to use analog materials, especially if you study a high number of languages. still, i don’t ethically feel that i can keep giving them money if this is the direction they’re going.

what are your thoughts?

This is going to be a longer answer than you might have expected.

In 2001, fellow undergrad. Reiko Kataoka (now a professor at San Jose State) resurrected a club that had been dead for a few years at UC Berkeley linguistics: The Society of Linguistics Undergraduates (SLUG). One of its former undergraduate members, Alan Yu (now a professor at the University of Chicago), happened to be a graduate student at Berkeley at the time, so he helped her get it off the ground. The club was exactly what I was looking for at that time: a group for ling. undergrads. to get together and talk about language and linguistics, my new favorite thing. It was great! I even put together a couple phonology problems using my conlangs to distribute at a meeting. The following year I became the second president of the new SLUG and helped to create the SLUG Undergraduate Linguistics Symposium, where I gave my first talk on language creation. Being a part of this club was a major factor in shaping my undergraduate experience at Berkeley.

When I graduated I went to UC San Diego to pursue a graduate degree in linguistics. Part of the reason I chose UCSD was because it was an incredibly inviting atmosphere. Before we accepted they paid for prospective undergraduates down to San Diego and housed them with current grad. students who told them about the program and took them out for dinner, etc. It allowed prospective students to ask questions they wouldn't ask of professors (e.g. who's got beef with who). It was really cool, and so in our second year, we continued the tradition of housing prospective grad. students. Since we both went to Berkeley, my ex-wife (also a Berkeley ling. grad.) and I hosted Klinton Bicknell.

Klinton, it turns out, was the current president of SLUG. I didn't know him while I was at Cal, but we did overlap. It turns out he had renamed the club SLUGS, which I thought was weird. He said "It happened organically" and laughed in an off-putting way. He very much gave off the impression of someone who will smile at you and say whatever is necessary for you to go away. Klinton ended up going to UCSD the following year and I ended up leaving the following year.

Fast forward to 2016. HBO had put the kibosh on Living Language Valyrian, and so I turned to Duolingo. They had previously reached out about putting together a Dothraki course, but I declined, due to having a book out, Living Language Dothraki. With no hope for Valyrian, I asked if they'd be interested in me putting together a course on High Valyrian, which I did. I had some help at the beginning, but, truth be told, most of that course was built by me alone. I became very familiar with the Incubator, where Duolingo contributors built most of their courses. It was a bit clunky, but with enough elbow grease, you could put together something that was pretty darn good. It wasn't as shiny as their in house courses, because they couldn't do things like custom images, speaking challenges, etc., but it was still pretty good.

At the time I joined, everyone who was working in the Incubator was doing it for free. We were doing it because we wanted to put together a high quality course on our language of choice on Duolingo. When Duolingo went public, they realized this situation was untenable, so they began paying contributors. There were contracts, hourly wages, caps on billable hours, etc. It essentially became an as-you-will part time job, which wasn't too bad.

The Incubator faced a couple potentially insurmountable problems. When the courses were created by volunteers, Duolingo could say "This was made by volunteers; use at your own risk", essentially. Once they were paid, though, all courses became Duolingo products, which means they bear more responsibility for their quality. With so many courses (I mean, sooooooooo many courses) it's hard to ensure quality. Furthermore, "quality" doesn't just mean "are the exercises correct" and "are the sentences interesting". Quality means not being asked to translate sentences like "Women can't cook" or "The boy stabbed the puppy". With literally hundreds of courses each with thousands of sentences written by contractors, there was no way for Duolingo to ensure not just that they were staying on brand with these sentences, but that they weren't writing ugly things. There were reporting systems, there were admins that could resolve things behind the scenes, but with so much content, it became a situation where they would have had to hire a ton more people or scale back.

We saw what Duolingo did before with one aspect of their platform that had a similar issue. If you remember way back, Duolingo used to have a "forum", that was a real forum, but for most users, what it meant was on every single sentence in Duolingo users could make comments. These comments would explain grammar points, explain references, make jokes, etc. It was honestly really helpful. But, of course, with any system like that comes trolls, and so volunteers who had come to create language learning resources also found themselves being content reviewers, having to decide which comments to allow, which to delete, who to ban, etc. As Duolingo became more popular, the troll problem grew, and so eventually Duolingo's response was to kill the forum. This mean you were no longer able to see legitimate, helpful comments on sentences. They threw the baby out with the bathwater.

This is why it was no surprise to me when they shuttered the Incubator. The technology was out of date (from their standpoint, you understand. Their in house courses were way more sophisticated, but they couldn't update the Incubator without potentially breaking hundreds of courses they hadn't created themselves), quality assurance was nearly impossible, and they were also paying people to create and maintain these out-of-date courses they had no direct control over. Of course they closed it down. It would've taken a massive investment of time and resources (and capital) to take the Incubator as it was and turn it into something robust and future proof (think old Wordpress vs. Wordpress now), and Duolingo wanted to do other things, instead—like math and music. And so the Incubator died.

But that wasn't the only reason. This was something we heard internally and then heard later on publicly. There was rumbling that Duolingo was using AI to help flesh out their in house courses, which was troubling. This was before the big Gen AI boom, but after a particularly pernicious conlang-creation website I won't name had come to exist, so it caught my attention. I decided to do a little digging and see what this was all about, and I ended up with a familiar name.

Klinton Bicknell.

Indeed, the very same Klinton Bicknell was the head of all AI ventures at Duolingo. Whether enthusiastically or reluctantly or somewhere in between, he was absolutely a part of the decision to close the Incubator and remove all the contractors who had created all the courses that gave Duolingo its reputation. (Because, seriously, why did most of us go to Duolingo? Not for English, Spanish, French, and German.)

I know you sent this ask because of the recent news about Duolingo, but, to be honest, when I saw one of these articles float across my dash I had to check the date, because to me, the news was old. Duolingo isn't just now replacing contractors with AI: They already did. That was the Incubator; those were contractors. That is why there won't be more new language courses on Duolingo, and why the current courses are frozen. This isn't news. This is the continuation of a policy that had already firmly in place, and a direction that rests solidly on the shoulders of Klinton Bicknell.

But you don't have to take my word for it. He's talked about this plenty himself:

Podcast (Generative Now)

Article in Fast Company

Article in CNET

Google can help you find others.

At this point there's a sharp and baffling division in society with respect to generative AI. On the one hand, you have those of us who disapprove of generative AI on a truly fundamental level. Not only is the product something we don't want, the cost—both environmental and ethical—is utterly insupportable. Imagine someone asking you, "Hey, would you like a sandwich made out of shoelaces and shit?" And you say, "God, no, why would anyone ever want that?!" And their response is, "But wait! To make this sandwich out of shoelaces and shit we had to strangle 1,000 kittens and drain the power grid. Now do you want it?"

On the other side, there are people who are still—I mean today—saying things like, "Wow! Have you heard of this AI thing?! It's incredible! I want AI in everything! Can AI make my table better? Can I add AI to my arthritis? We should make everything AI as quickly as possible!"

And conversations between the two sides go roughly like this:

A: Good lord, now they're using AI art on phone ads? Something has to stop this… B: Yeah, it's so cool! Look, I can make a new emoji on my phone with AI! A: Uhhh…what? I was saying it's bad. B: Totally! I wonder if there's an AI shower yet? Like, it could control the temperature so you always have the perfect shower! A: Do you know how much power it takes to run these genAI apps? At a time when we're already struggling with income inequality, housing, inflation, and climate change? B: I know! We should get AI to fix that! A: But AI is the problem! B: Hey ChatGPT: Teach me how to surf!

It's frustrating, because the B group is very much the 💁 group. It's like, "Someone was using ChatGPT and it told them to kill themselves!" and they respond, "Ha, ha! Wow. That shouldn't have happened. What a learning opportunity! ☺️ Hey ChatGPT: How do you make gazpacho?" There's a complete disconnect.

In terms of what you do with your money, it's a difficult thing. For example, I've used Apple computers consistently since 1988. I'm fully immersed in the Apple ecosystem and I love what they do. They, like every other major company, are employing AI. If you go over to r/apple any time one of these articles comes out, it's all comments from people criticizing Apple for not putting together a better AI product and putting it out faster; none saying that they shouldn't be doing it. They're all ravenous for genAI for reasons that defy my understanding. And so what do I do? I've turned off the AI features on all my Apple devices, but beyond that, I'm locked in. From one direction, I look like a hypocrite for using devices created by a company that's investing in AI. From the other direction, though, I am using their devices to say what they're doing is fucking despicable, and they should stop—and I'll keep doing so so long as there's breath in my body.

Duolingo isn't necessary the way that, say, a computer or phone is nowadays. Duolingo is still usable for free, though, of course, they make it a frustrating experience to use its free service. (This is certainly nothing exclusive to Duolingo. That's the way of everything nowadays: streaming services, games, social media... Not "Well give you cool things if you pay!" but "We'll make your life miserable if you don't!") If you do use their Incubator courses, though, I can assure you that those are AI-free. lol They're too outdated to have anything like that. Some of those courses are bigger than others; some are better than others. But all of them were put together by human volunteers, so there's that, at least. At this point, I don't think Duolingo needs your money—nor will they miss it. They're on a kind of macro plane at the moment where the next ten years will either see the company get even bigger or completely disintegrate; there's no in between. They're likely going to take a big swing into education (perhaps something like Duolingo University [Duoversity?]) and it's either going to make a ton of money or bankrupt them. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I've taken the Finnish course in its entirety and we're doing Hungarian now, and I've learned a lot—not enough, but a lot. I'm grateful for it. I like the platform, and I agree with the basic tenets of the language courses (daily shallow intake is better than occasional deep intake; implicit learning ahead of explicit instruction is better than the reverse). I'm grateful they exist, I'm grateful we can still use them (because they can always retire all of them, remember), and I think it's brought a lot of positivity to the world. I think Luis Van Ahn is a good guy and I hope he can steer this thing back on course, but I'm not putting my money on it.

[mintyys-blog]

Hiiii! Can I make a req about reader x variants where the marks are told that their kid got into their first fight and won (e.g. school fight, training fight, fight against some invading enemies, ect)

HEADCANON | invincible variants children get in a fight at school

INVINCIBLE MASTERLIST 2 | WARNINGS: fighting

Do not repost, translate, or rewrite my work, whether AI-generated or otherwise, without my permission.

© @mintyys-blog

MAIN MARK

You found Mark pacing the living room, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey, babe,” you called out casually, “guess what? Our kid got into a fight today at school.”

Mark spun around so fast he almost knocked over a lamp. “WHAT? Are they okay?!” You smiled calmly. “They’re more than okay. They won.”

Mark’s jaw dropped. Then — a giant grin spread across his face. He looked like he could fly through the roof. “That’s my kid! Hell yeah!” He scooped you into a hug, laughing into your shoulder.

“Okay, okay,” he pulled back, grinning. “We have to celebrate. Ice cream? Pizza? Both??” Parenting lesson later. Right now, your kid was a champion.

SINISTER MARK

You leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. “Our kid beat someone’s ass today,” you said casually. Mark looked up from his book, eyes gleaming with interest. “Details?” he asked, voice low and dangerous.

“Schoolyard fight. Some jerk pushed them first.”

Sinister’s lips curled into a dark grin. “Defended themselves and won? Hah. They’re finally learning something useful.”

He shut the book with a thud. “I’m proud,” he said simply. “But next time, we teach them to hide the body.”

MOHAWK MARK

You found Mark lounging back in a chair, boots kicked up on the table, lazily scrolling through his phone. “Got somethin’ you gonna love,” you said, crossing your arms. He lifted an eyebrow, grinning lazily. “Yeah? Hit me.”

“Our kid? Got in their first fight today.”

He set the phone down, interest piqued. “They win?” You smirked. “Absolutely. Sent them to the hospital, nothing critical— but still”

Mark let out a sharp bark of laughter, slapping his hand on the table. “Ay, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” he said, standing up and bouncing a little on the balls of his feet like he was ready to square up himself.

“Lil’ monster got it from me, huh? You see ‘em? Bet they walked off like a boss, too.”He swaggered across the room, pretending to shadowbox, hyping himself — and your kid — up with every punch.

Later, he called the kid over just to dap them up and say: “Remember — first hit wins the fight. Keep it dirty if you gotta.”

VILTRUMITE MARK

You found Mark sharpening his blade when you delivered the news.“Our kid fought today,” you said simply. Mark didn’t even look up. “And?”

“They won,” you added with a shrug. Only then did Mark glance at you, a small, smug smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.“Of course they did.”

He set the blade down and crossed his arms. “Were they merciful?” he asked seriously. “It was a school fight, Mark.” He grunted, standing up tall and proud.

“Next time, they should leave no room for retaliation.” You sighed. Viltrumite standards were something else.

PRISONER MARK

Mark was sitting on the porch, smoking quietly when you walked up. “You’re gonna like this,” you teased, nudging his shoulder. He exhaled a cloud of smoke. “What?”

“Our kid got into their first fight. Won, too.”

Mark froze, staring out at the street. “Good,” he muttered, a gravelly pride lacing his voice. He leaned back, the corner of his mouth twitching into a rare, tiny smile.

“Means they’re learning.” Later that night, he cooked their favorite dinner — the closest thing he ever did to throwing a party.

OMNI MARK

Mark stood quietly by the window, arms crossed behind his back, observing the sky in silence when you approached.

“Mark,” you said carefully. “There’s been…an incident at training.”

He turned his head slightly toward you, patient and expectant. “Our child fought for the first time,” you continued. “And won.”

Mark’s gaze returned to the horizon, a slow, approving nod following. “They are Viltrumite. Survival is not optional — it is mandatory.” He stayed quiet for a long moment before adding, “Monitor their technique. Strength without control is a flaw.”

You almost smiled — because despite his severe exterior, you could see it: The faintest lift at the corner of his mouth. Silent, restrained pride.

Later that night, he personally oversaw their next training session with greater focus, expecting nothing less than perfection — but inside, he was… pleased.

[athenaeum-of-the-herald]

• Blackness and the Worshipping of "The White Man's God" •

TW/CW: Racism, anti-blackness, religious trauma

With my next few posts, I wanted to dig into some far deeper, more emotional, and personal topics that I feel I haven't seen discusses in the helpol community. Please understand that these new few posts come from my personal lived experiences and don't apply to everyone, but I feel like are topics that should be discussed and seen.

There is something to be said about growing up in religion, as many young black girls do. Even more to be said when we leave the faith we grew up with behind.

From a young age, I was taught the Christian God. Warned that leaving his side meant damnation. Taught that to leave God and even learn other religions was condemning myself to a life of sin. And this isn't just a young, black experience, as every race deals with the intensity of religious trauma spread throughout generations in the form of tradition. But in the black community, this feeling suffocates. It is ingrained in our very being, as our ancestors who were slaves were made to pray to a God that wasn't ours until we forgot what ours looked like. Until too many generations had folded their hands on their knees in pews forcibly carved by their fathers. Their grandfathers. Their great grandfathers. And that's not to say the black community is indoctrinated, but maybe it is.

No, indoctrinated isn't the right word. We simply pass down what we were taught, as our parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins were.

I remember when my church swapped out the photo of Jesus for a black one. I remember looking at it and wondering where the Jesus with lighter skin and blue eyes and wavy brown hair went. It was only when I began developing a sense of self that I had realized blackness meant not serving "the white God." Jesus was black. Every black person knew that, and to deny it meant you yourself weren't black.

Yet we still worshipped him in buildings modeled after those built by our great grandfathers who worshipped a Jesus with lighter skin, bluer eyes, smoother hair.

To be black is to be Christian. Catholic if you can afford the gas to drive to the bigger, nicer churches. And to leave Christianity is to be exiled from the community that you spend your whole life with. Your family. To not believe in God means you have the devil in you. Even the gang members that lived on my street had Bible scriptures tattooed on their bodies. Men I would see at church every Sunday in suits with their grandmothers and mothers. Folding their hands and praying for their friends that had been gunned down by other black men earlier that week. I'm sure the men they gunned down the week prior did the same thing. Funny enough, I remember as a little girl, when the shootouts would happen, my dad would have my brother and I get low to the ground in the house, and pray. So that in the unfortunate event that a stray bullet found its way into one of us, at least God would take us.

Even steeped in sin, to be black is to worship God.

Leaving Christianity was hard. It wasn't an all at once thing. It happened slowly. Starting with an interest in Greek mythology and Egyptian gods. I read Heroes of Olympus in middle school in secret, my dad would've thrown away my books if he knew I was reading about the Greek gods. My history class did a segment on ancient Egypt, and I studied every book on Anubis in the school library. I never checked them out, I was afraid they'd be found.

Maybe there was a taboo to it. To be black and interested in other religions. The spiral away from Christianity started there.

It was only in tearing my eyes from black Christianity that I began to notice that there were 2 paths of religious blackness. Christianity, or ancestral. You either worshipped the one and only God and no other, or you worked with your ancestors and respective black deities and rejected any other. Two very opposite paths, both with one similar rule.

You do not worship the white man's god or gods.

A black hellenic polytheist isn't some strange anomaly. Some rarity that's impossible to find. But it feels that way. I have met a handful of black helpols, and funny enough, we all typically come from previous religious backgrounds.

Of course black hellenic polytheists exist. But it could be considered that the vast majority of those within the religion are of lighter skin than we are. To announce yourself as a black follower of Greek gods tends to be met with off-putting looks from other black people. At best, a light laugh and a "sure". At worst, condemnation from the religious. Blackness means worshipping black gods. Or the capital G. Gods forbid your skin be lighter like mine is, where you'll be met with "that's that white in you."

On the other hand of this, you have non-black/poc worshippers with their own racial biases. Those who consider this religion theirs and not something for the black community to taint. I've been told plenty of times, "You have your own religion."You have closed religions and practices already. Why can't we have this one?" Mind you, none of these people were of Grrek descent. Simply ignorant children and adults with no understanding of themselves or how religion works.

So where does that leave blackness in hellenic polytheism?

Well, sometimes I don't know. But I find comfort in the gods I worship. In the gods I revere. Perhaps my blackness will always be a source of religious contention internationally. Perhaps externally.

But within the community I find in diverse spaces, there will always be acceptance of my blackness, and I pray that any black hellenic polytheist reading this feels the same.

Xaire the deathless gods, who do not see the color of my skin, but the beauty of my offerings ♡

[thezombieprostitute]

Tech Tuesday: Walter Marshall

Summary: Walter takes you shopping for a new bed.

Warnings: Size discrimination. Please let me know if I missed any!

A/N: Reader is short, female. No other physical descriptors used.

Previous

Tech Tuesdays Masterlist

"Do we have to do this Walter?" you whine as you get out of the truck.

"If you want me to stay overnight at your place again, yes," Walter replies. "That thing you call a bed can barely support the two of us when we're just resting, let alone when we're getting frisky. And I'm too old for the floor."

"Well why can't I just get you a really big dog bed, then?" You smirk at Walter's fake glare as you scritch his chin. "Fine," you concede. "But I reserve the right to complain the whole time."

"Of course," he nods as puts his arm behind you, gently pushing you into the furniture store. "And I'm okay with you getting a couch instead, just so long as it's got better support."

"Thank you for respecting the limitations of my space," you nod.

It didn't hurt he'd also agreed to pay for half the thing since he was the main reason you were buying it. Or so you let him think. In truth, you knew you'd needed to upgrade your tiny little bed couch for a while now. It definitely wasn't doing your back any favors. You'd added pillows to try to make it cushier, but that was a temporary fix.

But going out to a store and actually buying a better option was its own kind of torture. Salespeople bugged everyone, of course, but they often took your shorter stature as reason to invade your personal space. At least when you were at work your uniform gave you a modicum of respect, a bit of a bubble for your safety. Without it, you were just another short person they could smile about looking down on. You were a target they could push into buying something you really didn't want. You weren't a shrinking violet, and happily bit back at them if they pushed too hard, but it was exhausting and shouldn't have to happen in the first place.

Walter could tell you were on edge but wasn't sure why. He chalks it up to your hesitancy surrounding change and big purchases. He's learned his lesson on trying to speak for you but he's happy to accompany you.

Once inside, you both go directly to the couches. They're more familiar for you and your sleeping habits. The fold out ones are also more sturdy for Walter's sake. There are some things you'd love to do to really test out which couch would be best for both of you, but you don't feel like getting arrested for indecency. He volunteers to scout out other areas but you hold onto his hand to keep him near.

"You're my guard dog right now," you whisper to him. He's not entirely sure what to make of it, but he nods in agreement, if not understanding.

It isn't long until you're approached by a salesman. His name tag says "Pete" and his smile is just shy of sleazy. His focus is clearly on Walter and he greets him with a smile and a handshake, barely looking at you.

"So what can I help the two of you?" Pete offers.

Walter doesn't say anything, just points to you. You smile a little at the double take Pete does but drop it immediately when he gets a little too close.

"So what are you looking for, little lady?" he asks, changing tactics.

"Some personal space," you say flatly as you glare up at him.

For a moment it looks like Pete's smelled something awful but he fixes his composure and takes a step back, almost bumping into Walter. "That's fair," he nods. "Anything else I can get for you?"

You tell Pete the dimensions and requirements you're looking for and he starts walking you towards the pricier options. When you realize what he's doing you immediately turn and start walking towards other, more reasonably priced options. It might be rude, but you've got a budget and he's going to have to respect that.

Walter sees a momentary scowl on Pete's face but keeps his own mouth shut. You're in charge here, and he's happy to see you throwing the guy off. He's definitely understanding more of your request that he be your guard dog. Especially when Pete looks at Walter like, can you help me out here? Walter gives him an unfriendly smile and gestures for Pete to follow you. You're in charge. The sooner Pete respects that, the sooner he can get a sale.

The only time Walter says anything is when you have him try out the couches with you. He gives you honest opinions as he flops down onto them, testing how they handle his weight and rough treatment. He happily steps between you and Pete whenever you need to think. Making sure Pete can't add pressure to the decision.

When you're ready to make a decision you tell Pete which one you want and in what color. He tries to upsell you on a few things and you agree to the one that actually does sound like a good idea. He retains his customer service smile as he gets the paperwork and tallies everything up but the rest of his body language indicates he's not happy. He really should be happy he got anything from you.

The paperwork gets signed and the couch will be delivered to your little apartment in a couple of weeks. You shake Pete's hand and turn to head out. Walter also shakes his hand and Pete grumbles, "I don't understand how you can be so completely whipped for a chihuahua like her."

Walter squeezes Pete's hand extra hard, making the man wince. "Not my fault you can't handle a strong, intelligent, woman with an independent streak. Though now it makes sense why you're still single."

In the cab of Walter's truck you let yourself decompress. He climbs in soon after you do and starts the engine.

"I think I'm understanding a bit more of why you didn't want to do this," he starts. "So I want to thank you, again, for being willing to do so."

"Well, you weren't wrong about the couch needing to be replaced," you confess. "I was just being really stubborn."

"Understandably stubborn," he consoles. "Lost track of how many times I wanted to smack him."

"I'm really glad you didn't. That you let me actually be in charge and didn't step in unless I asked you to. You're a good guard dog."

"Ruff," Walter playfully barks, making you smile. "So, as a thank you, I was wondering if you'd let me treat you to some Dairy Queen?"

"That depends," you tease. "How much of a bill can I run up?"

"Hmm...just don't order everything from the menu?"

"I can work with that," you smile.

Next

Tech Tuesdays Masterlist

Tagging: @alicedopey; @changenameno; @delicatebarness; @ellethespaceunicorn; @icefrozendeadlyqueen; @irishhappiness; @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory; @kingliam2019; @kmc1989; @late-to-the-party-81; @lokislady82; @ronearoundblindly

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Wait, so apparently you can just train to learn how to not transform back after 5 min? It has nothing to do with personal growth or age? That sort of cheapens the whole process LB and CN went thru in S5 to unlock their “adult powers”

For those who are done with canon, anon is referencing the start of Revelator which sees all the new heroes earn "adult" status via a generic pep talk:

(Ladybug and Cat Noir watch their allies attempt to stop detransforming. Each one of them is in their own one side open cubicle) Ladybug: You can stop transforming back. Cat Noir: There's always room to evolve. Ladybug: Each one of you has already accomplished so much. Together we foiled so many threats Cat Noir: You'd be able to resist the temptation of evil. Ladybug: I entrusted you with your miraculous because I know you're good people. You're heroes!

This is incredibly lackluster, but to be fair, Ladybug and Chat Noir's "maturation" was also just them willing themselves into "adulthood" via a pep talk. They didn't go through some deep, personal journey. They just decided they didn't want to detransform anymore and the miraculous said, "Sure thing! Why not?" Seriously think about the following and see if you can think of a reason why this scene needed to wait until season five. Add far as I'm concerned, you could put this in season one and it would feel just as valid:

(Some people get encapsulated, but some fight back against the robots by pointing one of them at the other robots) Ladybug: Cat Noir, we have to do like them! We have to keep fighting! Cat Noir: They're not giving up, and we're not giving up! Ladybug: We won't de-transform back! Ever again! Cat Noir: Never again! (And with their efforts finally paying off, as Ladybug and Cat Noir regain both their powers back and transform back into their superhero identities, as well as fully charging their Miraculous)

I'd hardly call this a moment of maturity and personal growth. Nothing about this episode made them feel like they'd become better people. They didn't even learn a new lesson here! The civilians rising up was used for inspiration back in the season two final! Would the adult pep-talk have worked then if they'd thought to do it? All signs point to yes! I read this scene and think, "oh, right, this wasn't a careful and beautifully crafted character beat. This was random crap you threw in because you wanted Ladybug to have infinite lucky charms in the season five final so you just randomly upgraded her here."

I can't even think of a simple fix for this episode outside of reworking it to have something to do with showing sympathy for Chloe. Like maybe Marinette and Adrien are blaming Chloe for everything that's happening, but come to see her as a victim of Gabriel's plan and blame him instead. That's a sign of maturity so they upgrade.

I don't love that path since it doesn't feel tailored to their characters, but at least it's something! If you wanted to do this right, then season five needed to pick a major flaw or issue for Marinette and Adrien to overcome. Ideally they'd each have a unique character arc around the chosen topic(s) and earn their adult status in their own unique moment.

For example, it would make way more sense if Adrien got his upgrade after he stood up to his father in Representation, the episode directly after the one where Ladybug and Chat Noir upgrade to "adult" status. I'd rework this dialogue to be a lot more punchy:

Nightormentor: I will free you from your nightmares once I've found my son and your friend! Cat Noir: You really can't be trusted. What kind of father are you? (charges in) Nightormentor: Voyage! (escapes through a portal)

After this moment, Chat Noir upgrades, then goes to fight his father in earnest. It's not the best fix since this is:

Adrien confronting his father without Gabriel knowing that's what's happening

Adrien thinking he's dealing with a brainwashed version of Gabriel not fully-aware-and-in-control-of-his-words/actions Gabriel

The very next episode sees Adrien give into his father's control, severely undermining this moment (see my power of love rant if you want some nuance around that statement)

But at least this fix is something that feels unique to Adrien and fits the general themes of his character. The scene we get in canon could apply to any of the heroes which is why the rest of the team gets basically the exact same scene just slightly less dramatic.

If season five had actually let Marinette and Adrien earn their upgrades, then season six could have taken a page from shows like Winx and focused on the individual miraculers earning their upgrades, too. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I believe that most seasons of Winx saw the characters get a new power and earning that new power was one of the main ways the writers padded out the run time. Every one of the main characters got an episode focused on them earning their newest power-up. It wasn't anything amazing, but it did flesh out their characters a bit, giving each of them a moment to shine.

[sillygoofyqueer]

My brain right now: *screaming sobbing shaking* GUYS WE'RE ON A SCHEDULE IT'S BEDTIME SOON!!! The other half of my brain: SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! MAD SCIENTIST AU! WE MUST PREVAIL!!! Let's look at how everyone's doing since Wei Wuxian 'died', starting with Xue Yang and the Wen siblings!! *checks notes* Okayyy, sssooooo....they're all depressed and hate everything. Ever since Wei Wuxian 'died', there have been two mini wars - the Wen siblings + Xue Yang against all of the Wen, and then Xue Yang against literally all of the Wen. He tolerates Wen Qing and Wen Ning more than the rest of them because at least they actually cared about Wei Ying and he can sort of see why they never told he and Wei Ying about the truth (see, this is Wei Ying's influence at work because he would never do this in canon). Despite this, he still fucking despises the fact that they lied to them, something that led to Wei Ying's breakdown and demise. He would be alive if they had just told them the truth. Even though Xue Yang does know the truth, he also has to pretend that he doesn't so that he doesn't end up dead like Wei Ying.

The Wen really don't trust the Wen siblings or Xue Yang anymore, not after what happened to Wei Wuxian (and Wen Zhuliu), so they send them to Yiling both to head a supervisory office and for 'practical research'. Yes, this is also to mock them by reminding them of their dearest brother, the last one to lash out against the Wen and died because of it. Xue Yang is even more infuriated by this, and becomes a lot more volatile with everyone around him, clinging to all of Wei Ying's work and trying desperately to break the code of the notes so that he can connect with his gege again, so he can hear his voice and be reminded of how brilliant he always was. Not only does he hate the Wens, but he also despises the Nies for their part in Wei-gege's death. Nie Huaisang was the one who broke the news to Wei-gege, and Wei-gege had a qi deviation because of it. He makes it very clear that Nie Huaisang killed Wei-gege, and then refuses to keep up the communication they once had.

Nie Huaisang feels sick when he receives a note that only says 'Wei Wuxian was beaten and thrown into the Burial Mounds because of you.' He had begun to see Wei Wuxian as a friend, as a confidant that he could gossip and joke with, and now he's learned that Wei Wuxian was caught and handed a fate worse than death because of it. He panics, he hyperventilates, and it all comes spilling out to Nie Mingjue when he finds him. Nie Mingjue should be mad, he will be mad, but not while his didi is like this - even afterwards, when he's calmed down, Mingjue just cannot fully yell at him because Didi looks so miserable and guilty. So he grumbles something about "at least not all Wen are monsters" and asks to see all of the letters that Wei Wuxian had sent to Nie Huaisang just to be sure - if this boy truly was good, and had died an awful death, then he deserves Nie Mingjue's respect (He is good, of course he's good).

Meanwhile, Wei Ying is really going through it in the Burial Mounds. Even with the apparent coddling from It, he's still basically trying not to die all of the fucking time because Mama doesn't raise a weakling!! He's limping along with his fucked up legs, trying to find food and a water source and anything to hold the water source in and something to make a fire in and - sigh. He's in literally constant pain, with bad days and really fucking bad days, and the only light in the darkness (aside from the Burial Mounds whispering love and encouragement in his mind) is the qiankun pouch that he finds tucked into his inner robes. A cherished blanket to wrap around him and keep him a little warm without his usual layers, his beloved Suibian brings so much comfort and protection to him, pages upon pages of notes that will surely prove helpful in his environment, and! The sword from the Xuanwu, having been tucked in for safekeeping. It whispers to him.

Of course, during his time in the Burial Mounds, Wei Ying is most certainly changing. He's becoming more fucked up by the second with all of the spirits and voices whispering to him, a constant low murmur in the back of his mind that sometimes becomes screams for blood at any sign or thought of violence. He obsesses over all of his notes, all of the half-formed thoughts dancing through his mind, and rejects modao - it's not like he has any living humans around anyway - instead creating another new branch of cultivation based around ghosts. Guidao. He forgets to eat and sleep for days upon end without anyone there to bully him into taking care of himself, and the Burial Mounds equal parts forgetting and just generally unaware what is good for humans. He's working with resentful energy all of the time, he's made his own flute and is weaving it into every experiment. He's experimenting on himself. He's changing.

[blue-willow-tree]

Hey! Coming from Jades account, re my question about online dynamics. Any advice? Thank you! (Copied my reblog below here for reference.)

Hey! New domme here again. Met a wonderful girl and shes really taken my life by storm. We’re interested in starting a dynamic but we’re 90% online, although visits are planned soon.

I’m just curious, I know you’ve never had a long distance sub/domme relationship but where would you start if you were in my shoes?

We discussed kinks and boundaries at the very beginning of our conversations. We have done safe word discussions and both actively using them as needed. Someone suggested we start with small, easy to follow rules which we already have ex not touching herself without my permission, asking to cum etc which we already have done. She’s more experienced than I am, so just trying to get a better grasp on where to start, other than her wonderful input and suggestions. Same person suggested the Obedience app which I have and fooled around with a bit, and love the idea of.

I know you said you’re not in the headspace for asks so answer when you can, if you can! Thank you so much for your valued answers!

Hi there, love <3

I feel honoured for being trusted with this. The lovely @madamejadex is correct, I do have quite a bit experience when it comes to exploring BDSM online, and I'll do my best with this answer for you ♡

1. Don't overthink it

For the more SFW things, when it comes to exploring things online for the first time, people often let their mind spin and get overwhelmed because it's something new. But I promise, it isn't at all scary or something drastically different. When I speak to someone online, I like to picture the texts they're sending being spoken in their voice, and I like to imagine we're talking at a cafè or talking next to one another on a couch with some wine. Text like how you'd speak, imagine their voice saying all the words they're sending, and simply imagine you're in the same room. Don't let the idea of speaking to someone online seem daunting, rather embrace it and imagine how well you'd click in person through the way you text one another. That way, you can smile and giggle and feel a lot more carefree just by reading their texts, because you can allow yourself to imagine it playing out in real life. When it comes to sexual talks, I think it's wonderful that you two have discussed boundaries already and that you're exploring apps and learning about one another's kinky sides. This is a great step, and I say again to simply not let the idea of being online overwhelm you. Take things step by step, see what works and what doesn't work, and I suggest having a few sfw calls and one or two kinky calls before meeting to see how that energy would click when it comes to making conversation in real life or making dirty talk.

2. Save some things for when you meet

This is mostly for the SFW context of it all. If you two are planning to meet one another, which is seems like, I definitely suggest saving some stories or little facts about yourselves for that day. Everybody loves those fun "Ask me questions" online games when you get to know somebody you're texting with, and that can be extremely fun and healthy because you get to see how well you two click and get along, but don't share every little story or fun fact about yourself because then you won't have as many things to share when you meet each other. Or if you'd like, save those stories for a phone call, because then you can hear their genuine reactions and you can give those reactions to them as well, which makes the moment feel a bit more special. When it comes to the kinky side of things, it's definitely good to already have all your kinks laid out onto the table and it's good to explore some sexting, but keep some of the fantasies you have based on your shared kinks to yourself for a little while, so that she'll get even more butterflies when those fantasies come to life. But as I said, only the ones that are based off of your shared kinks. E.g let's say you both have a kink for public play. Instead of sexting about it, keep that information in your back pocket, and let it come to be for the first time in real life.

3. Understand that some things can go wrong, and prepare for them

When it comes to being online, there are a lot of things that can go wrong, and we need to be aware of those things. Perhaps you two are having a scene through sexting, and one of you gets an emergency phone call or has an emergency to attend to. I suggest coming up with a code word or emoji that you'll use specifically in that sort of situation, because you likely won't have time to type out a full sentence. Or, perhaps one of you gets triggered by the others text. This can happen sometimes, just as it does by hearing someone say something in your ear during a real-life scene and getting triggered by it. I suggest using the traffic light system with the coloured heart emojis, or having code words which will signal what the situation is. And because these things can happen, don't only have discussions on what sort of aftercare you each like in real life, but also state the sort of aftercare you like after an online scene. Of course these are a lot less intense, but they do require aftercare and you two need to know what you each prefer when it comes to being triggered or getting a drop in the middle of the scene. Some need space, some need extra attention, some need specific words to calm them down, etc etc. It's very important to implement this when it comes to exploring BDSM online.

4. Don't be scared to ask necessary questions

When people meet another dom/me or sub online that they seem to click with, they tend of avoid the important make-or-break questions simply so that they don't lose what they've just found. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop the eventual downfall when those make-or-break moments eventually occur. Ask the necessary questions, because at the end of the day the right person is the right person and the wrong person is the wrong person. "Are you looking for an exclusive committed relationship out of this or are you looking for something open?", "What are your opinions on _____", "I see that you want a committed relationship out of this, are you someone who wants marriage or never wants to get married?", "What type of domme/sub are you? (Rough, soft, gentle, brat, etc)", etc etc. Ask the necessary questions, both regarding what could make or break your dynamic, and your relationship as a whole. Ask these things before taking the big steps, so that you don't risk heartache even if it all seems like it clicks. Take the jump, and see where you fall. It might still be in each other's arms.

That's all I can think of to say here, but if I think of more I'll come back and add to this. I'll link this post to my pinned post as well ♡ I wish you two the absolute best and I'm sure you both will thrive in your dynamic/relationship! Have a beautiful week <3 Also, I have a post about punishments linked to my pinned post. Those can be implemented both in person or online, I think that's something that can be beneficial to read through when figuring out what punishment should be given to a certain action. Those are punishments I've given and received in online scenes <3

[urhoneycombwitch]

not necessarily fitting to the horny ass you're looking for but I've been pondering about roommates!

like what do they do when they fight/how do they fight? I know we got a little bit in the Christmas van fic, but I'm wondering how would they go about it when in the apartment? because at least with neighbor Eddie, they have their own space, even if it's strained to have to not use the hallway at the same time but at least it's still space? but if roommates fight, is Eddie the type to take off in the van for a little while? is it heated or more cold shoulder? or what's the olive branch that they typically offer each other when the emotions aren't as high anymore? dinner? a movie? a joint?

and my second, more silly, pondering is: the apartment is neutral territory, but is there any area within the apartment that has been designated a no zone? like is reader the type to be like "not on the counters, we eat there!" or is every square inch free for all?

excellent question. i think in this case it depends on the level of infraction, yanno?

I think there was a lot of tension at first learning how to live together. R has a lot of control issues around objects/likes the space of their apartment to feel a certain way (clean) but struggled with how to broach the topic with a guy she didn't know very well at the time.

once R+Eddie bonded and became friends it was easier to be real with him. no more secret grudges, because that shit just doesn't work when you share a space.

Eddie gets the idea of hosting a Town Hall every Sunday where you can air your grievances- like, actually write shit down that pisses you off during the week and read it off as a declaration to Eddie (sat in the Armchair of Importance and wearing his Town Hall hat. it's an old brown fedora-style from being Freddy Kreuger many Halloweens ago. Eddie does not fuck around with ceremony)

since Eddie is A. a good listener, B. can take instruction well, and C. wants to please you (desperately), these meetings do wonders for the tension around cleaning up and sharing spaces.

the need for meetings kind of falls off after awhile once you both get into a rhythm, but there's always that option to fall back on. while i think the van fic is indeed their first big, real fight, there's definitely been some fights before that big one.

when you get mad, it's generally over smaller things that build up over time (i.e. housework building up as aforementioned), and while the ol' Town Hall takes care of most of it, there's still shit that falls through the cracks or leaves you annoyed or mad enough to freeze Eddie out.

you're not super subtle about it, either, because you generally want him to know you're mad so he can fix it. however subconscious. truly believe how most reader-oriented fights have gone is Eddie comes home, hears you banging around in the sink, and immediately knows he's got something to fess up to or apologize for. just based on the noise. perceptive to you like that. (obviously this is not a great way to communicate BUT i'm thinking of the before-times where they were both so sick in love and denial it was hard to work around!!)

there've been instances of your anger towards other people Eddie's partnered with before, but since that's pre-van fic, you generally managed to ignore that jealous streak and turn it into productivity. like being a little too eager to meet Eddie's new hookup, or being overly excited for him, just to shake the seething jealousy off its course. (see: bathroom fic)

i think when Eddie gets mad, he's more prone to distance himself. like u said, anon, he definitely takes his van for a spin or says he's going for a walk (which means smoking out on the corner rain or sleet be damned) he doesn't want to take his anger out on you, even if you kinda deserve it in the moment. his early years included a dad who yelled and Eddie hates that shit.

so he'll blow off some steam and leave you to simmer too so that by the time he's back he'll have a better attitude, snacks from PJ's, and a joint to share. he'll apologize with words or olive branches or both, whatever he feels you need or the situation calls for. and since you're never to proud to apologize, too, it usually smooths over after a day.

okay now on to neutral zones. this is so funny to think about because you're right, I don't see our dear obsessive compulsive reader being chill with bare asses on the breakfast island.

i think there are a few hard nos- against the fridge is one. yes Eddie tried it as a joke once and no you didn't find it funny.

shower is fine since it usually involves getting clean at the same time, and you have fucked in the bathroom before but it does take active redirection of your brain to try and forget the grimy location the whole time.

i think out of desperation, you'll be hard pressed to find a surface of the apartment that hasn't been fucked on. the icky feeling usually comes after the flood of hormones seep out and Eddie still buried inside you, panting, kissing at your bare shoulder on the comedown, and he sees your expression and is like "oh my god. you're thinking about how bad you want to clean the counters right now, aren't you."

and you're like "no! of course not! I'm thinking about the crazy good sex we just had. I'm good and everything is normal." but you also can't stop staring at the indeterminate wet mark on the counter beside your thigh...

and Eddie who is sweet to his core just sighs and chuckles and says some version of "You grab the paper towels and I'll grab the diluted bleach bottle <3"

(more of the roommates cbf here!)

[elpeadro]

Dang, RIP to the funny gag I had in my head of Luz realizing the Heralds of this mysterious, evil space emperor who wield god-like powers are:

married???? they're wives??

really in need of a divorce

younger than or the same age as her

The first two are still canon here and funny in a toxic, 'oh god' sense from Luz's POV, but the cherry on top would've been if Sashanne were her age.

(Also, I never realized about TOH being 2022 and Amphibia being 2020. My methodology was the canon Frogvasion happens on Anne's 14th birthday (since the 10-year anniversary mentioned in the epilogue is on her 24th birthday), and then we see in the s2 finale of TOH the news article about Frogvasion being a 'hoax', and the s3 finale is 3 years later with Luz being 18, so she would've been 15 when that article released. Of course, this is all dependent on the Frogvasion article being released the same year as when the events actually happened.)

But putting aside my incorrect logic, I'm totally a fan of aging up the Calamity trio!

In my head, I already age them up to 15-16 in the show like the original pitch of Amphibia had it (a popular take that is supported by several details left in the show along with the trio's characterization). And given the circumstances of this AU, it makes sense to age them up several years.

Enough time needs to have passed for Anne and Sasha to fall back in (toxic) love - if they ever fell out of it - and get married (which, I'd definitely be open to hearing how that happened😂), for Darcy and their Heralds to conquer several worlds and get the empire growing, for Anne to grow jaded at the prospect of keeping hope and rebelling against Darcy (like Sasha still does) and accepting her place in their empire. Plus, given the tone and subject matter, it just makes sense for them to be adults, y'know?

No worries at all about the Anne subtlety thing lol. It's both me reading too much into it and also the meta perspective of the author's time and resources.

But even with knowing the meta angle of "the author only had so much room to write", I like the second explanation you gave of Anne being lazy and not giving her 100% best effort. To add onto the angst and edge, which is the foundation of this AU 😆, you could handwave it away as also being a product of Anne's jadedness.

When she first started being Darcy's Herald, she really gave it her all because she felt guilty and didn't want people to get hurt resisting her demands for surrender since resistance meant getting a show of force from Sasha which could go all the way up to burning the entire planet to the ground. So she's really on her A-game to be manipulative and subtle to ensure that things can be resolved peacefully. But after so many years and so many worlds conquered, she's accepted her place in the empire, and so she doesn't really care like she used to and goes for the blunt hammer approach, because worst case, Sasha just forcibly conquers this world if they try to resist.

Speaking of, yayyy Sasha aura-farming confirmed!!!!

Yeah, illusions were the one branch of magic where I could see how it could maybe do something against Sasha. Like, if you tricked her into attacking Anne or Darcy's castle hard enough to deal some major damage. Of course, if you made her attack Anne, say bye-bye to your world. Sasha and her rage would leave no survivors after that.

Also, the note about Sasha being able to out-heal Eda's decay magic is wonderful as always.

In total agreement on the Luz/TOH perspective being the most enjoyable and interesting part of this AU. Since you're scrapping the canon rules of the Calamity powers, we the audience get to follow along with Luz and company as they slowly learn just how unfairly powerful Darcy's Heralds are as they try to fight back. Plenty of dread moments where Anne or Sasha do something and our TOH cast go, "SHE CAN DO THAT??? THE FUCK????"

Plus it gives our protagonists the ultimate underdog energy, because they need the miracle of all miracles to get out of this one. It's an achievement in of itself that they've held out and survived for as long as they have, as of Luz's first journal entries.

Your note about how Sasha could overpower any attempt at mind control or bodily possession was something I was thinking about!

Even if the Collector was on the Isles and not out in the stars, I was imagining they couldn't solve this problem by turning Sashanne into puppets. Sasha would resist it both out of raw power and her Strength of character, making the star sticker on her forehead burn to ash. Anne would be so aware and in control of her emotions because of her powers that she would be able to circumvent the puppet magic's incapacitating effects on her mind and just calmly peel the sticker off her.

(Can you tell I'm in love with Sasha and Anne being edgy, dark, brokenly OP, villainous, toxicly yuri, and having tons of aura moments?)

The Journal of Luz Clawthorne Noceda, documenting the Frogvasion of the Boiling Isles.

I.e. I finally got around to making some art of my own for my edgy owlphibia au, specifically as told from Luz's very flawed and unreliable point of view. Feel free to ask me about details of the AU because I love talking!

Text and image description under the cut.

Image description: Four pictures of illustrated journal pages, each with one or two illustrations done in watercolour and ink.

The first page has watercolour and ink drawing of the Titan's skull from The Owl House, with the sky, clouds, and the moon in the background. The archive house, resembling a crown, is hanging aroudn the right side of the skull with a piece broken off. Above the skull, the castle from Amphibia is floating surrounded by smaller shapes too small to make out. Parts of the skull and land around it is smoking. On the right side of the page is a symbol resembling a frog's foot done in bronze ink, with the label "Empire's sigil?"

Text:

3 N.E.

36. abruary.

1 month after Frogvasion

Journal of Luz Clawthorne Noceda. It's been one month since the start of frogvasion (Bailey says that's a stupid name but she got her name from an old science-fiction book so she doesn't get a vote,) and I am writing this in our new resistance HQ (Hooty play Empire Strikes Back) at King's island.

I have decided to write this record of events [text is struck out]because auntie Lilith forced me [struck out text ends, next sentence is written in cursive] for the sake of future historians and to give the view of someone living through historical events. [cursive ends]

So, to recap: One month ago on the 3-year anniversary of Belos getting his ass kicked for good, a giant floating castle with an army of frog-shaped robots and warships popped out of thin air (or from a giant rainbow portal). Then a lady in a dress showed up in the middle of the party and gave an alien invasion speech about us joining the Empire of Calamity [frog foot symbol is drawn here]. So Raine (Lord High Prince) (that's witch prime minister) went to talk to her but then she did some mind control shit and we got them the heck out of there.

And now an army of frog robots (Frobots) are conquering the isles led by some crazy powerful fire god!!! I should probably explain her, huh?

Signed: Luz C. Noceda & Lilith Clawthorne.

[text ends]

The second page has a watercolour painting done entirely in blue and white, depicting a woman in silhouette with glowing white eyes. She has an afro and is wearing a dress and making a pose with one hand to her chest and one out to the side, and there is a halo above her head. Next to her is text saying "Looks human. Probably isn't."

Further down on the page is watercolour and ink drawing depicting an indistinct red figure kneeling to the blue figure from before, this time with her skin and hair coloured brown. Next to the red figure is the text "WTF?" with an arrow pointing to the figure, and next to the blue lady is text saying "Blue all over" "Glowy eyes" and "She's not that pretty."

Text:

The Blue Princess

(We don't know her name)

The first of the Empire of Calamity Leaders (???) who appeared.

She just appeared in the middle of the victory/anniversary feast and demanded we surrendered to her Emperor (we've had enough of that here, thank you). Lord Prince raine stepped up to talk to her, but it took like 5 seconds before they were kneeling. Sorry lady, we know what mind control looks like and we're not falling for it. [the "for it" is slightly smudged] woops.

Weirdly, Raine says they never felt a compulsion to kneel, and that it was more like the first time they met Belos - that this person is important and should be bowed to. I don't get how that's different but they say they also remember thinking she was the most beautiful person they've seen, so maybe it's a charm? Raine has snapped out of it, so it doesn't last long.

The princess hasn't appeared since then so she might not be a fighter, but Lilith is making potions of anti charm with B's moms, just in case.

signed: Luz C. Noceda.

Powers: Mind control

Weaknesses: Not a figher (???)

suspected

[text ends]

The third page has a watercolour painting of a dark silhouette with one arm raised surrounded by red flames. Above their head is an orb of white made up of lines curling in on themselves.

Next to the main painting is a watercolour and ink drawing of three figures. One is an indistinct man in purple with a topknot and cape, one is an indistinct green lady with palm-like hair, and one is the same figure from before. The former two are shooting abomination goop and vines towards the latter.

Text:

The Red General

(no name either)

The leader of the Empire's army. Since the start of Frogvasion, they've been leading that army of frogbots from city to city, ordering surrender and burning and pillaging when not met with compliance. They always wear that armor, so no idea what they look like. We just call them the Red General.

(Boscha wants me to write that she calls them "that red psycho." I said that's not very nice to people with psychosis and she said "eat my ass" so I said maybe later.)

They showed up first when we were evacuating the Council House (former Archive House) cuz a floating castle had started floating above it. And when I say "showed up" I mean cracked an entire wing while burning like a meteor.

Darius and Terra (she got out on probation) tried to hold them of while we evacuated, but...

I know plants can burn, I never thought I'd see abomination goop boil.

Darius is at the other base, recovering, but [text struck out and indistinct] He'll be fine. Bailey is just worried.

Red hasn't done anything like that again, but we'll be careful

Signed: Luz C. Noceda & Boscha

Boscha stop stop messing up the ink

-L

Make me

-B

I'm telling Lilith

-L

[text ends]

The fourth page is taken up by a watercolour painting depicting a pair of orange and yellow eyes with white pupils surrounded by darkness.

Text

The Emperor

Emperor of Numberless Worlds

The princess mentioned them. We know nothing

Boscha made dark chokelate and spilled all over this page.

-L

[text ends]

[triptychofvoids]

kinda love that people genuinely come to you for health advice and you earnestly answer them, thank you for your work

aheh gern gesehen, its what im here for!

[fortune-maiden]

Thinking about Shao Yuanyuan and her wildcard potential and it hit me today... just how much does she know? Does she live in a time loop similar to Lu Guang or does she hop in and out of the past like Cheng Xiaoshi? Does she know that Cheng Xiaoshi also has a death node?

It suddenly occurred to me to that the Shao Yuanyuan we likely saw during the fire in Ep 4, was either a time leaping SYY from the future or at least one who had information from her future self to know to be in Bridon at this point in time and also a Shao Yuanyuan who might have just realized Cheng Xiaoshi had awakened his own powers.

Given her meeting with Cheng Xiaoshi in Ep 6 where she acts like Cheng Xiaoshi should be aware of how this all works, I suspect that it's because the version of Shao Yuanyuan from Ep 4 arranged this meeting because she encountered Cheng Xiaoshi during the fire and thus knew he would show up in Bridon and go searching for them through Wang Qing. She needed to set up that meeting so she could tell Cheng Xiaoshi face to face not to pursue her anymore (and make things more complicated).

I also think that was her second attempt at doing so - the first being to go back years earlier to tell the Qiao family not to let him go to Bridon. But the future refused to change so she found another opportunity to try again.

And based on Lu Guang's comments it sounds like she would have also failed again in the original timeline. It's not clear how her conversation with CXS went last time (if there was one) but at the very least she might not have had time to make CXS promise not to chase after her anymore, and that would have likely sealed his fate. If anything, a sudden interrupted meeting like that might have even encouraged him further.

And this is all coming from a Shao Yuanyuan from an unknown point in the future...

Anyway this is a lot of words to say where in time is Shao Yuanyuan?

And what the heck does the timeline look like from her perspective?

[deadpoetsandlivinglegends]

Guys hear me out wait shhh guys listen listen reverse death anderperry like this poem but with Neil, Todd, and Jeff Anderson

[shannonsketches]

something something foils moving in opposite directions Goku's always happy to seek and fight stronger opponents because he spent most of his life being the strongest guy in the room and Vegeta wants to be the strongest/is always exhausted to find stronger opponents because he spent most of his life having to navigate his survival around the whims of the strongest guy in the universe room and so Goku has a foundation of safety and stability and so spends his time craving challenge and adventure and Vegeta has a foundation of challenge and adventure and spends his time craving safety and stability and the overlaid section of their venn diagram is that the only way they know how acquire and maintain those things is through battle

[thatmooncake]

Me when I’m writing: Man it’d probably be easier to just draw this

Me when I’m drawing: Man it’d probably be easier to just write this

[ichabodcranemills]

Exactly! And as you said, at least from the takes I've been reading, it's not about punishing Mark, it's about the logical consequences of their actions, and, for my part, I very much hope that they all face the consequences of choosing to be severed, but they'll be different for each of the refiners. And, as far as we can tell, everyone is facing them, in their own ways.

Dylan decided to get it because he couldn't keep another job, and his severed self had all the confidence he had lost, and that made his wife fall in love with iDylan. But they talked about it, both his selves are in the same mind space (natural reintegration coming? one can only hope).

Irving, as far as we can tell, got severed to fight Lumon. But losing his history with Lumon just let his innie as someone desperate for meaning, and he found that by being the biggest zealot of the refiners. That had already been his consequence. Without Helly and Burt, he'd just loose half his life for no reason at all. We don't know what happened to him, if his outie faced a different consequence, but his goal with severance wasn't achieved with the procedure itself.

And Helena, whether she was forced or not, she got severed to serve Lumon, but when she removed her history, all that was left was how much she hated that company and her own life. And she's certainly facing consequences over it. She had two attempts on her life already and her innie is probably going to be the one able to burn Lumon down. And Helena herself is learning that serving Lumon gives her absolutely nothing, having human connections is way more important, and she craves that and she envies Helly.

Similarly, Mark Scout should face the logical consequence of his choice of getting severed. He didn't face his grief or respected his wife's memory, he just erased her for eight hours every day. He created a severed self specifically to forget about Gemma, now he has to face the consequences of that. And his new self fell in love with someone else, and Mark at his core is a lover, is someone devoted to his love, so in the same way Mark Scout was with Gemma, Mark S is going to be with Helly. If somehow Mark Scout just gets his life and his wife back as it was, he still has to be haunted by Mark S and the life he built for himself. It can't be done in a way where he doesn't learn from his severing, and how he shouldn't have done that, he shouldn't have gone for the quick fix. If he doesn't face the consequences of creating Mark S, that would go against Severance's whole message of how severing oneself is a violation of your very psyche. So yeah, it's about Mark learning and the same way Dylan and Helena learnt something (Irving we just can't tell), I hope Mark also learns it. Ultimately I hope that the entire MDR team gets reintegrated.

the thing about the takes concerning mark needing Consequences for severing is that you can't use that logic if you're not going to apply it to Every Single Character in the severance universe. mark severing because lumon staged his wife's death and manufactured his grief then sold him a quick-fix for it is like... pretty tame compared to all the other stuff the other characters do but no one ever wants to talk about the consequences they need to face. it's always "they were a victim" until it comes to my friend mark scout.

[flyinglowdown]

i have a dream. and that dream is cressida/eloise/lord debling