#at some point they might understand that life it isn't just black and white

[needle-thread-thimble-spear]

I find the cultural phenomena of the maid as opposed to its direct descendant (the generalized domestic laborer) to be really interesting, particularly in the transfeminine sphere. This post is gonna be kinda rambly and not have much a point and involve discussion of kink topics, abusive relationships, transmisogyny, colonial violence and its consequences, etc so heads up for that but anyway.

Starting with the regency/early victorian era Europe, there's this gradual development of a complex household structure among the upper classes, which caps out in the late victorian/edwardian era. This environment forges the "prototypical" idea we have of the maid, whom you'll see in period pieces and historical fiction. She might have worn a (modest!) black and white outfit, she might not have. If her employer is relatively poor she may supply her own clothes. Regardless though, she's a servant for someone wealthy enough to keep her on. Her employer might have inherited their wealth, or found success in a relatively new and burgeoning capitalism, but they were definitely a member of one of the upper classes. She might come from a working class family, or depending on her role, from the petty bourgeois/lesser nobility (it wasn't uncommon for a young lady to have a "companion", often poorer relative with no prospects of her own). It's interesting (though in hindsight not particularly surprising) how the space from where some women might become maids, wasn't very far away from the space where a family might keep on 1-3 people on staff (if you'd like to read more on this, Emily Post's original etiquette, written in 1922 is available for free on Project Gutenberg. Its a really interesting text, here's a summary of the maid section I wrote).

Anyway. Its around the height of this period that the "french maid" is codified. Apparently (my research on this isn't the most extensive I'll freely admit) it wasn't uncommon then for the english upper classes to hire maids from France. Wealthy men became quickly fascinated with them, and before long the french maid is a staple in the erotic material of the age. My understanding is that this is how the black-and-white stereotypical maid dress entered the public consciousness, since that was common at the time (indeed, other time periods and places had different standards for uniforms!) and is what the french maid in life would have worn.

After the world wars, the social landscape of wealthy people changed, the concept of the "middle class" crystalized, and a number of household appliances changed the nature of housework quite drastically. Most of the families that would have been considered middle class a few generations earlier stopped keeping on a "maid of all things". Very wealthy households would hire fewer members of staff, or simply stop hiring a permanent staff altogether. From then on, it would be the role of the housewife to do the domestic labor, or otherwise one keeps on a cleaner or a cleaning service who comes around every once a while. Eventually we enter the modern understanding of domestic labor, where live-in servants are rare and when they do exist they are often supplemented by cleaning services with no allegiance to any one household.

Meanwhile, the french maid continues along as a stock character, not just in explicitly erotic material but comedies and even historical/speculative fiction (and thus quite removed from her possibly more apt "prototypical" counterpart, see most anime/manga maids and "butlers"). At this point she may or may not bother with being french, and she may or may not bother with any domestic labor. The maid outfit (later costume) ends up as a stereotypical, almost trite set of clothing for sexual roleplay. It's in this environment that some early culture of "sissy" or "forcefem" kink latched onto the french maid. Since that avenue of kink focuses on feminization as humiliation, the positioning of the sub as a domestic servant for the (petty) nobility (which to be frank, is a pretty humiliating role all on its own, speaking from experience) dovetails into the whole shtick quite neatly.

Others more clever (and more concise...) than I am have written about how what makes forcefem hot is the transmisogyny. The transfemme is set up to hate herself, to self destruct, to feel shame and self-disgust, to feel terrified of herself, for what she is. I'm not gonna bother spelling out the connection here. A lot of transfemmes (even if they are terrified of it and try to avoid it like I did) find their way into that space pretransition. Or if they don't, they certainly become aware of it after they begin! And then we get all this response within our own culture. We reclaim "forcefem" as a term, maids become a common motif in the form of dolls in empty spaces type literature, but that undercurrent of internalized misogyny and shame still sits there I think. Don't mistake me, this isn't some sort of sex negative tirade against maidkink (that'd be a hypocrisy anyhow!) Rather I'd like to make the argument that we're frequently reclaiming something traumatic through it, even if we don't quite realize it. As transfemmes we often self efface when it comes to (trans)misogyny I think. It's easy for us to say we had an easy ride or that it wasn't so bad. But even so, ask yourself, would you be interested in maids so much if you weren't really badly hurt?

I want to end this going back to domestic labor. It has hardly been my career to this point. In fact, I've only spent a few months of my life as a housecleaner, several years ago before I transitioned. Those also happened to be some of the most grueling and torturous months of my life. A lot went wrong that summer. The work was physically demanding and the hours were long. It was one of my first experiences really working and I felt very loyal to my boss, whom I had a tangential personal relationship toward. I was alright at the work but I did it slowly, putting me behind my quotas. But the worst of it was the cementing of the unhealthy relationship I had with my ex into an abusive one. I won't bore you with the details, and beside they're torturous to relive. I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for it, I don't think I've felt so much shame and fear so intensely and for so long a duration since then. A screening of Silence of the Lambs was involved. What we've been through, what we've been subjected to, frequently leaves us pliable doormats, eager to please and easily abused. Many are eager to use us for that, and few things can feel so good as kind words from an abuser. If you're like me, maids are a lot about those feelings. The (trans)misogyny we undergo is a real phenomena. Maids for me is an acknowledgement of that.

Post Script: I think it's important to acknowledge how the history of domestic labor has been shaped by racial violence as well as (trans)misogynistic violence. In the United States, the prototypical maid could be white or black to suite the tastes of the employer. In northern culture, the maid was generally whiter than snow, because she was presumed to be better than her counterparts, thought to be less likely to steal and better mannered. That's what made the northern lady comfortable. In the south, the maid (who was often, maybe almost always black I'll have to do more research) was either enslaved or had ancestors who had been recently. Domestic staff being black was part of the mechanism of settler colonialism in the south. The southern lady was more comfortable seeing black women explicitly beneath her, so they were maids. I say was, but these attitudes persist, in one form or another, across the US today and influence who works where. In the modern domestic labor field, a lot of the workers are immigrants. When I did work cleaning houses, I met a lot of people from the Caribbean or Latin America. Remember when I said before that live in maids are rare, and often supported by outside cleaners? One of the women I met doing that job was a live in maid from the Caribbean (I wish I remember where but I'm afraid I don't. I was going through a lot at the time my memory of it all is difficult to access in good circumstances) who was responsible for cooking and laundry. We came in to do wetwork and dusting/vacuuming. That family had more money than grains of sand, and they weren't even so rich tbqh. At my agency, we'd usually get a temp staff from Eastern Europe to do the work but they were unavailable at the time due to the pandemic, so Americans were hired instead. It should be little surprise that a settler colonial state will oft assign the women of its (oft imported) underclasses to do any sort of difficult manual labor (particularly the kind that happens behind the scenes!). The institutions of sex, which disadvantage women (and trans women still further), are but one avenue of hierarchical social violence and these intersect with one another tightly.

Hope you enjoyed reading this ramble, and that you found it illuminating!

EDIT: removed a poorly constructed sentence that doesn't read well and utilizes figurative language in a place that should be more clear

[qoldenskies]

Thinking about Rise Splinter hate… it always makes me kinda sad. Like YEAH, it wasn’t right the way he treated the boys. But like, Rise is really good at expressing subtle familial dynamics, and one of the big ones for me is the fact that like… there’s always an undercurrent of “It’s complicated” to their interaction with Splinter. IRL, it always pisses me off to see people casting judgments on people’s relationships with their family, because you don’t know!! Yeah, they hurt you, but not everything’s black and white. It’s complicated. Because you love them, and sometimes you get to understand a little bit better why things happened as you get older.

In a matter of smaller importance, hate for him loses so many opportunities in his character… even things that might just be kinda off-handedly mentioned.

He fought for SEVEN years—give me Splinter with chronic pain. Splinter relating to his boys with their neurodivergence—it’s HIS fault they have it!!!

That was seven years of imprisonment, or even simpler, an abusive relationship. What did he learn from that? How did he change? What things are skewed in his worldview?

His childhood! We saw his relationship with his grandfather a bit, but how did Splinter grow into his dream of being a movies star? HIM BEING A MOVIE STAR. He was both a rebellious team and a literal celebrity, this guy probably took empyrean at some point without knowing it, just like. Recreationally or something LMAO.

I maybe just need more of his old man knowledge. Him being so loser-core was a great move by the Rise team, and I could SEE where his story was going—ROBBED. We were ROBBED.

splinter hate is CRAAAAZY when he's such an INTERESTING character who does actually have a lot of obvious depth. like he's goofy and he's objectively flawed as a parent but he does go out of his way to improve himself and LEARN throughout the show, and he does listen and apologize when he knows he's messed up. his issues are so similar to leo's actually, leo's a kid so he's got more leeway to be shitty but idk when people act like its endearing on him and not on splinter. splinter's hilarious free my man

on the other side of the coin i dont really like when people make him a perfect loving parent either,,, i think people going for all kinds of interpretations in order to serve whatever story they need is fine but i do prefer kind of messy parent splinter, i think its kind of sad to see him reduced down to bad or good. he LOVES his boys so dearly and he would NEVER intentionally want to hurt them, but he's quick to cast judgement when he's angered/feels disrespected (evil league of mutants comes to mind, but also in turtle dega nights when donnie first stops the tank) and he's really a lot more inattentive than he should be. but there are REASONS behind this, coming out of an abusive relationship, fighting in bloodsports against his consent for years, you could probably count the whole draxum thing as traumatic (its presented as kind of silly in the show, but considering what it lead to,, its a pivotal moment in the backstory. its one of those things that i reasonably feel can be recontextualized because its so essential) and then dealing with crippling body dysmorphia and being forced into the sewers with no company other than his children,, it really adds up

idk like ,,,, you can still be extremely traumatized and be a horrible parent. in fact trauma can be a direct CAUSE of being a bad parent because that kind of thing influences every facet of your life and if youre unprepared emotionally, yeah. but splinter isn't the kind of person to double down and become more overtly nasty when he feels cornered. if he gets the feeling that his kids are actually upset with him, he backtracks. this is actually kind of a key trait of his, that he does try very hard to correct himself when he messes up. he's communicative and apologetic, and he tries very hard to be that way.

and also this is maybe something that i just have a wider problem with when it comes to the way people interpret things in cartoons at times but splinter's actions in eps like lair games (especially in lair games) and flushed but never forgotten are meant to be like. jokes. its absurdist comedy that's meant to catch you off guard. there are more serious emotional beats in rise you can use but i think when youre adapting this world and characters into a more serious tone you have to keep that kind of thing in mind because some things are meant to be surprising and absurd for the sake of making you laugh. i think the best comparison i can think of is how in musical movies they're not actually singing (in most cases, sometimes the fact that they actually are is played for laughs it depends. but yk what i mean). the joke is that this is kind of a shitty thing he's doing but taking the actions themselves seriously in a vacuum in order to cast shame on a character has always been odd to me. that'd be like calling raph abusive for rolling up the window on mikey's neck in late fee. or calling the teetz murderers because they caused a robot mass suicide that one time. it just doesnt make any sense

[lapisnotlazuli]

Calling Lapis fans/defenders "gooners" is insanely closed minded of people. Steven Universe is a show where things aren't black and white because it is written realistically. Just because someone takes the time to understand or defend a character doesn't mean they just like the character for their looks.

Lapis was used over and over again. First she was put in the mirror and used that way, then by Peridot and Jasper as a source of information, then by Jasper in a fusion. She never even wanted to be part of a war, she got caught up in one and it took thousands of years to escape.

Jasper was abusive and it's implied/can be assumed she was physical with Lapis on the ship (if anybody wants I can go into detail on this). Lapis had one chance to save Steven. She didn't want to be used again and she snapped back. Jasper was fully ready to use her, Lapis was reacting in a fight/flight mode. Sure she WAS by the ocean but could she really summon the water before Jasper hurt/shattered her and went after Steven? In a life or death situation you don't think logically. Her first instinct wasn't even to fight, she tries to run and Jasper grabs her. Maybe there were other solutions but it mainly feels like victim blaming. Jasper was ready to use Lapis for power and Lapis knew this. Lapis very much just reacted. Why does she have to be a perfect victim to Jasper's force/abuse? Why do people forget how logic can fly out the door in a life or death scenario? Sure she could have done things differently but SU writes her realistically, people being abused don't always make the prettiest choices.

Once Lapis got to Earth, she had a day before another gem who used her (Peridot) started to try to be her friend. She just wasn't ready for that. Peridot sorry might have felt genuine from Peridot's POV but to Lapis it just sounded like "sorry I used you but you were just really useful lol". Apologies with a "but" often feel so half hearted and like the situation was actually just the receivers fault. Of course, Lapis shouldn't have yelled or broke the tape recorder but she had tried to just say no earlier. She didn't go straight to yelling like people act like she did. She was pushed past a point and snapped. Both gems in this episode could have handled it better.

Putting that aside, they become great friends later and are close!! However there's only about a year between this and her finding out the diamonds were aware of Earth. She didn't have time to heal in that year- no human would and a year is almost nothing to gems. She wanted to keep Peridot safe, that's why she tried to take Peridot with her. Even though Peridot wanted to stay, Lapis was too scared to. She snapped at Peridot because she was scared for herself and Peridot. Peridot was era 2, she would have never known the war like Lapis did. Of course, yelling and taking the barn wasn't the right thing but it is not black and white. Judging based off future and the end of S5, they talked and Lapis most likely apologized.

Lapis did do things wrong but she still isn't a bad person. The fandom seems to think someone has to be perfect to be a good person but the truth is noone is perfect.

She could've done things differently and she could've done the "right" thing several times but she grew and changed after her choices. She came back to help defend Earth- she came back to Peridot. I wish people didn't just hate her to make another character look better. Lapis is a good person who was used over and over again, of course she had some flaws. But at the end of the day what matters is the nuance of the situation.

I will always defend Lapis because people never take more than 5 seconds to understand her. Black and white thinking is far to common especially in this fandom.

[protectingtulpas]

Considering getting into tulpamancy, any advice you think doesn't get mentioned nearly as much as it should?

Hmmm this is a good question, stuff that isn't talked about a lot.... I can think of a few things, actually!

Here's some certified random tulpamancy advice from my own wisdom lmao

🔥 parrotnoia is almost completely counterable (especially for our "logical" brain) by asking your tulpa a follow-up to whatever response they gave. if they respond with anything near legible and sensible then you should treat it like it's a real response, even if you're not sure! You'll build up an understanding of what's your thoughts and what're your tulpa's eventually, and once you do, you'll be able to trust that second response. Sometimes I even have a problem with this from my side so like it's not just a host thing fr. If your brain just repeats the same or a similar thing over and over again though, it's probably just a repeating thought. We get those a lot cus of our adhd. (host wants me to say that if your tulpa is comfy with it and solid enough, you can ask them to reassure u that they're real. we do that a lot when they get paranoid)

🔥 self awareness isn't a lightswitch. There'll probably be a wide ocean between your tulpa's first signs of acting independently and them feeling like a fully solid person that's just as aware as you are. I was literally choosing where to move in wonderland within a day of starting forcing (i had an advantage cuz host had a form and wonderland ready for me lol, but some ppl like to go slower!) but it was months before it finally hit my host that the things I were saying by then was undeniably *me*. For them to realize, it actually took me diverging from their expectation by saying i wasn't too interested in hollow knight lmao. basically what I'm saying is there's a lot of in between so don't stress over black and white outcomes and such

🔥 It's way easier to start with partial possession first before learning how to fully switch. First time I used the body was just using the voice to sing and it was awesome, it's what a lot of newbies do to learn now

🔥 oh yeah if you're musically minded then MAKE A PLAYLIST FOR UR TULPA it'll help sooo much. Either start out with what you think they'll like and then let them curate it and add stuff later on, or turn it into a forcing exercise where you listen to different songs and try to feel if your tulpa is enjoying it or not, and add it to the playlist if it seems like they are! (If you're the kinda person that struggles with active forcing, putting on some appropriate bg music might help! keeps ur brain occupied and buzzing)

🔥 Unless they end up the same exact gender as you and a similar presentation, your tulpa is probably gonna have at least a bit of wonky gender feelings, and that's ok. they may end up being genderqueer in some way & they might not! It's their choice what label to use for themselves, not yours as the host.

🔥 Be prepared to split your budget at least a little bit if your tulpa ends up enjoying outerworld stuff a lot. Casey (a soulbond) and I like different types of fashion a ton, I like thrill rides and going to clubs and shows. We don't have a lot but we work it out so at least our most frequent fronters get to indulge a little sometimes - it's great if you can find something multiple ppl like

🔥 Your tulpa's sense of... mmm, let's say wisdom? Will be a bit different from yours. We're in a weird position - we're in a brain that's lived a whole biological life up to that point, with lots of experiences and instinctive patterns and understandings and shit built into us, cus that's just how the brain works. We also can look at the host's memories whenever we want, barring any outside issues. But at the same time we're also straight up *new,* thrown into the world without most of a childhood to grow up in (usually) or an entire life to build up a sense of self and figure ourselves out. We can see host's memories but they're not Ours, we didn't experience em. Y'know how teenagers are kinda weird and flip-floppy sometimes because they're still figuring themselves out? A lot of tulpas can be the same way, especially when we're new. They might go back and forth on basic opinions, struggle to understand topics you get already, sorta just miss things sometimes, or become super singleminded when they find something that gives them a sense of self. Basically just give your tulpa a wide range of things to do/try, and understand that we're pretty much speedrunning all the emotional + logical development that most hosts had their whole lives to work on.

✨ If anyone else has any other ideas go ahead and reblog + add stuff!!! ✨

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

Baby punks!

Listen up. I got a few tips and stuff.

1: Thrift everything. I'm not even remotely kidding. You can go MILES with the shit available at thrift stores and only spend like 10 bucks. I go to Goodwill about once a week and I find more than I even really need.

If you wanna make patches but don't have anything to cut up, just buy like 3 pairs of jeans for like 3 dollars and you'll be set up for a while. Cloth, clothes, gadgets, wallets, jackets, even shoes. If you're worried that punk is "expensive", you're not looking in the right places.

2: Five Below. They have really solid fabric paints and stencils you can get. Also check out Joann's and Michael's. They got needles, embroidery floss, fabric paints, fabrics, etc. But be wary about those two, prices are up due to inflation.

3: YouTube tutorials are your friend!! If you're confused about how to do something, take to the web. You won't get all your answers, but you sure will find how to attach a zipper to your pants.

4: Dental floss. This is brought up every time in these discussions because it works. If you need to sew something onto your pants, jacket, whatever, use dental floss. You can snatch some up at CVS. It is very helpful.

5: Find a jacket with wide armpits. Especially if it's denim and especially if you plan on adding zip-off sleeves. ESPECIALLY if you have armpit hair. Just trust me on this.

6: Do you drink soda/beer/other canned beverages? Because if you do, save them. The cans, the tabs, all of it. It can be very useful. The cans, you can turn into spikes. The tabs can be helpful for zippers, chainmail, whatever you might use them for.

7: Believe in what you're saying. Don't just claim you stand for human rights, put it into action. Learn. Understand that some women, black people, and/or other minorities are gonna be hesitant to trust you and understand why. Know when it is your turn to participate in a conversation, and don't force your way into a community or conversation that isn't yours. You're going to be in a strange place where you've been pushed away from all the bigots in your life but can't go to other minority communities because they don't know whether or not you can be trusted. And don't try to make them know that you're "one of the good whites/men/etc". You're gonna need to find community and put weight behind your words. A friend or a relative says something just a little bit off? Don't laugh it off, make them know it was wrong (my go-to is to stare at them in silence the moment they say it and not budge until they repent the comment). Nobody's gonna trust you unless you mean what you say.

8: Don't listen to the gatekeepers. Anybody who tells you "oh well, that's not really punk, you're a poser!" Is missing the point and is hence the real poser.

9: Participate in the culture! Really! Go to playlists, find local bands. Go to a punk show. Make friends, participate in rallies/protests.

10: Be you! Seriously, be you. Whatever you think would look cool or would be comfy, do it. Literally, if you wanna turn a winter coat into a battle jacket, go for it. The key to punk is expression. Don't feel like you've gotta meet up to everyone else's standards. Punk fashion should be a tool to help you find yourself and what you're comfortable in, what you enjoy. If you're doing something to fit in, you're doing it wrong, and you're doing yourself a disservice.

[illegiblewords]

Almost current in Dawntrail, I make some references to plot stuff under the cut but this post isn't mainly about Dawntrail. This is an analytical rant. There are people who disagree with me that I adore/respect to bits who have done brilliant stuff from angles I wouldn't take. People shouldn’t stop doing what they’re inspired to do according to whether I like or dislike something. This post qualifies less with 'I think' and 'I believe' statements/is a little harsher because I'm venting though. Proceed at your discretion.

Features critical/darker discussions of Venat and Hermes with brief mentions of Zenos.

I really, genuinely think a lot of people are only getting pieces of what's going on in FFXIV.

The story still isn't black and white. Characters very, very often are not what they advertise themselves to be. Neither the cast nor fans are immune to misjudging.

Hermes is not as compassionate as he presents himself. There is an enormous discrepancy between what he professes and the choices he consistently makes, both with regard to other ancients and creations. I do believe he was genuinely miserable but he is basically Satan from Paradise Lost, who wonders why he alone was made unsatisfied with obedience and perfection. Who recognizes there is difference in himself compared to others but is conflicted about whether this is a defect or higher calling. Satan sees himself as inherently 'other' above all else and Hermes is just the same. The shared snake imagery isn't a coincidence either.

Everything I've seen points to Hermes being a narcissist who does not have instinctive empathy in a society where empathy is the most valuable quality a person can have. He strives to have more empathy than all other people without truly understanding what that means. It's why he projects his anger and hatred onto the wolf creation as it dies instead of offering it any kind of comfort. It's why he sends Meteion into space to suffer pain, death, and despair as a high empathy being who challenges all concepts of what it means to be alive… instead of presenting her to the Bureau of the Architect, where her very existence might instigate star-wide reform for how all other creations are handled. For his ego, he needed to be the only one with extensive knowledge of dynamis. He needed to be the only one with answers from on high regarding the nature of life. That was far more important than Meteion's wishes or well-being, and the creations he claims to love are expendable for this purpose. He frequently oscillates between seeing himself as beneath all other ancients and the sole, divinely powerful judge/jury/executioner of all living things. Like Satan from Paradise Lost he can't be grouped with those around him. He can't be just one of many ancients dealing with fears, doubts, despairs. He MUST be exceptional above all else. I'd argue the main reason he accepts the Warrior of Light at all is because we do not appear as a fellow ancient to him--he sees us as a familiar, and therefore inherently without equal authority and agency compared to him. When we are useful to his worldview he uses us and when we aren't we're disposable.

I've seen people claim that Hermes is just anxious and that's why he didn't submit Meteion. You don't opt for genocide and decree all of humanity as immoral and unworthy of mercy without even allowing your targets a voice to answer out of anxiety. You certainly don't do that while having specifically gone out of your way to avoid any steps that might have given room for more charitable judgments. Hermes opted to destroy everyone because it was what he wanted to do, but it didn't fit his self-image as a benevolent and empathetic person to do so. That's why he made a loophole via memory erasure.

Venat, further, is not a hero. She's gray at best and in all likelihood a pretty dark shade of it. Light motifs and crystal mommy themes do not change this. She not only decided, independently, that Hermes' genocide was an appropriate course without allowing anyone else room to discuss or address the issue--she actively denied everyone else knowledge of what happened or even basic information about dynamis (LET ALONE METEION'S LOCATION) so they could deal with the issue effectively. She passed judgment on the entire Convocation because of Hermes' appointment without once judging herself for withholding information on his true character. There is a reason Emet-Selch called her out for being immediately ready to see herself as a morally correct messiah of the star. He wasn't wrong to do so. And especially after Endwalker I think Venat grossly misunderstood not only what led to worlds self-destructing on a philosophical level (never mind Meteion's emotion amplification powers), I think she misread her own star and its people. Pursuit of purity and certainty was what led to the destruction of worlds. The total absence of pain is just one form that can take, but it isn't necessary for a world to be in perpetual agony to avoid that. Venat dismissed the despairs and struggles of her own fellow ancients because there was no room for them in the view she had of herself and her world. If she didn't see them they didn't exist, but even when she did see them they didn't count enough to sway her judgment. Venat had to be the most correct person and she didn't allow even as Hydaelyn the possibility of making mistakes or unwarranted cruelty to others. She is 1000% guilty of 'ancient hubris'.

Venat might be a more middling gray, in my view, depending on whether she'd been trying to shield as many people as possible from tempering with the traveler's ward only for most of the star to become tempered by Zodiark post-summoning. There are a lot of repeating phrases between Elidibus, post-Final Days ancients, and the lunar shades that I think point to mass tempering. Venat would have grounds for assuming people had homogenized views, prayers, and voices if the star was largely tempered. If they weren't, I think she becomes pretty sinister for how she deals with people's post-Final Days trauma. Her injustice toward the ancients in that case would just happen to be in a way that benefits the shards.

The Zodiark plan prevented life from going extinct. It was necessary. Zodiark's tempering and the subsequent sacrifice spiral were not deliberate I suspect, seeing as Zodirk was the first primal EVER. People have been consistently misreading the loporrit quote on this to try and argue that Zodiark didn't temper the Unsundered.

The line states that Venat used a different summoning technique to the one utilized by Ascians. Venat's technique specifically does not temper people. The Ascian method does. If Venat's technique was used to summon an entity of Zodiark's magnitude (whose power could not be resisted according to Emet-Selch) there might be a slight tug toward tempering despite the technique being much safer.

This is not saying Zodiark didn't temper anyone. It's specifically saying that despite Venat having a safe technique, Zodiark's summoning was on such a monumental scale that even Venat's technique would carry some risk.

Meanwhile, Lahabrea has been getting set up for years as someone who has been dehumanized, judged, isolated, and misunderstood. This has continued to increasing degrees through Dawntrail. It has been going on since A Realm Reborn. The sheer consistency of it is insane at this point. There is a HUGE gap between how Lahabrea emotes and what he's actually feeling. His choices reflect this and it is demonstrated firsthand in Pandaemonium.

No one seemed to think it was weird that Lahabrea was ready to commit a pseudo-suicide by killing Hephaistos. No one seemed to catch that the 'pseudo-suicide' in the lyrics to Scream referenced Lahabrea, as did the 'shadow left far behind' line. People contorted themselves into pretzels trying to say that Scream was not about him. Nevermind that Pandaemonium is the Lahabrea raid, in which all other characters were supporting cast to flesh out Lahabrea. It must be mainly about Hegemone and Agdistis! If not them, it must be mainly about Erichthonios!

The man's entire story is about being dehumanized, dismissed, invalidated, and excluded while suffering severe mental illness. It's kind of horrendous that fans are continuing to do this to him on a meta level.

Lahabrea has a long history of Abrahamic imagery. If the Warring Triad mirror the Unsundered, Sephirot as the Tree of Life maps to the Kabbalistic process of creation. The game explicitly and correctly references this in the attacks used. The lyrics to Fiend track for Lahabrea as does the association with Id issues, and there's symbolically significant overlap between muscular/multi-armed Sephirot (where multiple arms reference the boddisatva Guanyin, who uses those many arms to help those in need) to muscular/multi-armed Zodiark as Lahabrea's creation. And Zodiark being Lahabrea's creation is indicated in Akademia Anyder. People have been trying to attribute Zodiark to Hermes because Hermes hijacked him in EW and it drives me nuts.

Meanhwile, what did Pandaemonium do?

Paired the Tree of Life to The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There's a ton of snake, fruit, and mouth imagery in Pandaemonium. Athena is Eve offering Lahabrea as Adam knowledge of good and evil via the soul bonding. Lahabrea has been afraid of himself as an extremely powerful ancient (which I've analyzed before, tying to Emet-Selch too), particularly given he's in a position of power. He reflects the societal idea that someone with his aetherial strength and authority cannot afford to be selfish or he risks causing immeasurable harm to others. Result is that Lahabrea is absolutely terrified of being selfish in any capacity, even on a basic healthy level. Athena meanwhile is a purely selfish being. Like I believe is the case with Hermes (and am positive is the case with Zenos)--she does not have instinctive empathy. Athena deliberately psychologically violated her husband by forcing him to acknowledge understanding selfish desire through her perspective, then compounded it by exploiting his lack of self-confidence to say he was bound to be just like her for understanding such selfishness. She's not an authority on that, but Lahabrea sees himself as personally less than Athena and is not at that point equipped to argue on his own behalf.

Anyway. Abrahamic connections, Hegemone has the snake imagery. Agdistis has the tree and the fruit. Athena is Eve. The soul bonding is the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Hephaistos uses a ton of snake imagery too. Lahabrea is covered in symbolism both on a personal psychological level and tied to traditional symbolism via the hand of god acting upon the world, the eye of god watching the world. For savage, one arm is covered in eyes. This is his role as Lahabrea employing power for his people. The other arm, his personal desires/needs, is long and thin and malformed/not really functional. He covers his heart with a pair of wings for protection and reduces himself, weeping, to DNA because that's the only value he sees in himself. He'd rather be that than himself as a person because at least as DNA he's wanted for something. Lahabrea doesn't think anyone would ever give a shit about him on a personal level.

When Hephaistos is defeated, there's a reason Lahabrea is shaken when he states that Hephaistos' goal was never to raise himself high. That was what Athena wanted and what she told him he'd want. All Hephaistos wanted was his family back and to be loved. That was the moment Lahabrea had to introspect and realized Athena wasn't correct about his motives. Her declaring something about him didn't make it true.

Erichthonios is convinced he has a cruel and indifferent father for much of the raid. We see him twist neutral-to-kind gestures as malicious in front of us, as with Lahabrea allowing him to go to Pandaemonium as a child but insisting he know spells to protect himself. Erichthonios takes Lahabrea's insistence as believing he's not good enough instead of wanting him to be safe. We also see Erichthonios construe something that actually points to Lahabrea being depressed (giving himself no credit for completing the phoenix and advertising nothing only to be surprised by coworkers throwing him a celebration anyway) as him scorning Pandaemonium for not sharing the achievement with them. Erichthonios was taught to do this by Athena, and Athena likewise twists Lahabrea's self-image as a form of psychological abuse from the moment he approaches her in the soul bonding scene. She cites his status and accuses Lahabrea of thinking himself morally above others for descending to Pandaemonium and judging her. It never occurs to Athena that Lahabrea would try to stop her because he loves and wants to protect his son.

People are projecting their own personal beef with parents behaving poorly to assume Lahabrea is an uncaring father. He's not. He's extremely mentally ill and Erichthonios was groomed by an abusive mother while having no concept of what Lahabrea's mental illness would even look like... let alone how to deal with it.

Lahabrea explicitly thinks Erichthonios is better off with the false memory of a mother who abused him than having him present as a father because he considers himself so personally worthless. He can only see his presence as a detriment in his son's life. He is a short step from the kind of suicide people commit when they think other people would be happier and less burdened if they were dead. 'They might be sad for a while, but ultimately they'll be better off.'

I'm not even bringing out my citations right now. This isn't an Archon Thesis because I want my evidence properly assembled for that. But I recently saw someone try to frame the Convocation and Zodiark plan as uniformly awful, when the reality is doing nothing would have resulted in life going extinct. And if we're talking about zodiac signs mapping to Convocation members, there are more layers to it than 'Ascians = bad versions of the zodiac'.

Ex. The duality (two fish) and creativity associated with Pisces both apply to Lahabrea, but the emotionality does too. It isn't obvious at first but when you look it's there. Lahabrea has hidden strong emotions consistently through a variety of methods across the game. Sometimes it's reserve, sometimes it's aggression, sometimes it's hysteria. But when you look at the surrounding circumstances from his perspective, it makes perfect sense how and why he'd emote that way. It has never been safe for him to be emotionally vulnerable.

One of the earliest moments of 'villain laughter' from him we see is at Carteneau. His assistant waits quietly for him to finish. At that point Bahamut had been unleashed in yet another action that goes directly against Lahabrea's own morals, but is necessary to the Ardor. The sundered respond by invoking Lahabrea's phoenix as protection for humanity against a primal Lahabrea helped orchestrate. On some level people instinctively believe Lahabrea can and will protect them despite his failures, their own reincarnations, and thousands of years passing. It's ironic and horrible but this kind of irony has been happening to Lahabrea over and over again. If he doesn't laugh the dude's going to cry and (again) it isn't safe for him to do that.

(Also as the only Ascian to ever refer to Zodiark as 'master', Lahabrea is A) very tempered B) continuing a pattern of thought/behavior/worldbuilding where he puts his people first and himself dead last C) not talking about Athena. Lahabrea says in-game he had no earthly idea Athena was in the Heart of Sabik. I do think Heart of Sabik effected him by magnifying his desire to save his people and redeem himself in the face of survivor's guilt. It might have influenced his phrasing too. I have theories about what Lahabrea did at Praetorium but blowing it up was not 'the ultimate magic' by any means. I'm pretty sure he used it as a Themis and/or Zodiark backup drive, which Athena's presence at Anabaseios proves is possible anyway. He doesn't need to know about her to figure it out.

People have tried to say Athena is Lahabrea's god instead of Zodiark. Especially given the history of abuse and Lahabrea's own repeatedly shown priorities/actions, that take is pretty appalling imo. Completely dismisses how devoted he has always been to his people to destroy his will and identity altogether on a meta level.)

Even if we strip shit down to the most bare bones narrative form and ignore evidence--where motives and arcs are concerned 'oh Lahabrea has always been evil/uncaring/sociopathic/self-absorbed and stayed that way forever after' is bad storytelling. That would require a 'failure to change' arc as literal or spiritual death. That arc form ties to death because life requires accounting for/adapting to new experiences. If a character fails to do that (for better or worse) that character is stagnant and effectively not living. Such arcs require meticulously showing the process of rejecting experiences though. Zoraal Ja actually approaches the form a bit when we see him repeatedly taking nothing from the trials he undergoes, but his trajectory becomes 'change for the worse' after losing to his father's shade. None of the Unsundered are set up with that arc form, Lahabrea included. It wouldn't offer any insight, fit with what we know of the ancients and their values/society, or carry any emotional impact. Trying to go that route without setup is just bad storytelling and makes characters less believable. But yeah. Tl;dr I really, really wish people paid more attention and examined words vs actions vs surrounding circumstances vs motives.

[walmartbrandwhatever]

I need to hear about WLW Marbit plssss

OKAY IM AWAKE NOW.

So last night me and some mutuals were yapping up a storm because someone had mentioned how a highschool production had a female two-bit and how marbit went crazy and since we all know I'm literally insane over wlw marbit we started yapping.

I fear I wrote SO much but I hope yall enjoy this because it's just me yapping and probably doesn't make sense.

So I believe @girlishwhimsies had mentioned soft butch two-bit x fem marcia and I fear I have NOT stopped thinking about it. Like godddd imagine all the events that happened.

Like Marcia a girl who has dated a lot of guys just praying to feel some sort of feeling back first talking to two-bit who is by far the coolest fucking girl she's ever seen and realizing something was different about this girl. Marcia who had learned very quickly in life that things were very "black and white" and there are rules she has to follow to stay with her collective group. Despite knowing that she still give this girl her number in hopes of... something.

Then Bob dies and her focus turns to Cherry and her boyfriend who's she's always just convinced herself she's liked him even though he sort of treats her like shit.

Two-Bit who the jokester still in her group full of boys and just having a blast is so silly to me. She's still a amazing fighter who's just pretty much doing whatever she wants without a care in the world. Her constantly getting in trouble at school for wearing pants and shorts at school. Two who stayed behind in order to watch over Johnny and ponyboy is actually so important to me (I believe @brunetteairhead said this at some point ‼️).

Two-Bit who has always seemed so brave and strong literally falling all over the place because of some soc girl who is prettier than anyone she's ever seen at the drive-in. She like tripping over herself trying to impress marcia because she's never met a soc girl like her before. She's quick-witted and confident and that takes two by surprise. And getting Marcia’s number was the highlight of her night. While walking home doubt settling and making her decide to toss the number assuming it was fake makes me so sick.

Then Johnny and pony run away and everything goes down from there. She see Marcia once in the week their two youngest are gone and it's at the police station. Marcia doesn't see her but two spots her almost immediately. Marcia is just staring off into space and the bag underneath her eyes are dark. Two was leaving after being questioned so they never got to talk again.

Then later that week two gets jumped. Marcia standing there with her back turned hurt her for more than any kick or punch she got from the socs pinning her down. Long after her torment two wasn't sure what she was going to do, she could barely walk let alone all the way to the curtis residence and that's when she sees someone coming towards her. Marcia coming back and helping Two and two finds herself in Marcia's house holding her side because it hurts like a bitch but she can't believe she's in Marcias house. The two of them practically losing it because they both sense there's something there but both know they can't act on it because Marcia still has a boyfriend and two still worried about her friends. (Marcia breaks things off with trip after this because she doesn't want to be with someone who thinks its okay to hurt others .)

Them meeting eachother after a few months post book and both of them just kicking their feet n shit because they are SO down right bad. Two-bit yapping to soda about marcia knowing she likes her so bad and Marcia yapping to Cherry about how two isn't like any boy she's ever met and how she really wants their friendship to be good and Cherry hesitantly pointing out how she thinks Marcia might want more than that and marcia freaking out because she knows that it's wrong to want to see herself with this girl. A girl who seems so impossibly strong and a girl who just seemed to understand her better than anyone she's ever known. She knows it's wrong but she can't find it in herself to care. She denys her feelings for awhile because she doesn't want to ruin everything she's worked so hard to build.

The two of them hanging out more and more until eventually they are hanging out at Marcias and two is allowing Marcia to paint her nails despite not necessarily caring too much about like having her nails being done etc but she can't find it in herself to say no to Marcia whenever she makes that face that looks like a puppy who just got kicked so she always agrees. Anyways the two of them are laughing and joking and Marcia like brushes a curl out of two-bit face and the both of them sort of freeze because they are so close together. Two-bit shockingly makes the first move and kisses Marcia (ofc with a bit of hesitation but Marcia meets her halfway) and the both of them just pull away both shocked that they just kissed.

Marcia in that moment does panic for a moment before realizing that she liked the kiss and that no kiss that she's ever shared with a boy ever felt like that. Part of her couldn't find it in her to care that this was "wrong." It felt right and she wanted more, she wanted to sit here and be happy with two.

Meanwhile two is panicking so bad because Marcia is just sitting there with this shocked expression and two-bit is frantically apologizing and trying so hard not to scream or cry she doesn't know herself bit then Marcia takes two-bits hands and tells her that it's alright and that she liked it which catches two completely off guard.

"Wait you did?"

"..yeah"

Anyways after that fact they just sort of just do not talk about it for the rest of the night because the both of them have no clue how to go about talking about what they are so they just wrap up their hangout and go about their week. Two-bit absolutely losing it the next day to soda and is practically screaming over how the kiss was and how she doesn't know what to do and marcia reluctantly yapping to cherry and cherry fully saying "I told you so" and marcia just going crazy because she wants to hold Two-bits hand and she wants to be able to kiss her again but not knowing if Two-Bit wants the same(she does) and they are just complete messes I fear.

ANYWAYS once they start dating they have sleep overs all the time. Two-bit will go to the curtis house and they immediately know she was at Marcias because her nails will be all nice and pretty and her hair will be all nicely braided and she is giving them the look of 'don't you dare talk about it'. Soda totally makes fun of her for it and they almost always end up fighting on the ground.

Anyways I have no clue if any of that makes sense but they've truly taken over my life I fear.

[kyliafanfiction]

If Vicky had Amy's power, she would handle it better, if only because she wouldn't have Carol being quite so hostile and she wouldn't have her fear of a villain dad and her incest crush making her fear changing Amy.

But Vicky would probably be at risk of working herself so hard she'd burn out. Vicky wants to help people, wants to make the world better, wants to be a hero. And I do wonder if she'd feel like she disappointed Carol (regardless of if she did or not) by not getting a 'go out and fight' power. So she might push herself more. On the other hand, she wouldn't have had all the reasons Amy pushed herself (fear of herself, wanting to escape home, fear she was evil, etc).

But, if all she did was heal, Shaper would still be pissed at her all the same.

Vicky probably wouldn't be so worried about brains, either, so she probably heals Mark's depression, or tries to, anyway, at some point. And she is prone to recklessness, so she might do something like that in a way that has consequences. I read a fic where Amy did cure Mark's depression once, and it led to Mark and Carol divorcing and Mark becoming a basically absentee dad, his personality quite different. Even if Vicky did it 'all right', there could be downsides and unexpected outcomes. And Vicky isn't stupid, so she'd understand fully how complicated the brain is, how much could go wrong.

If Bonesaw tries to recruit Vicky, I mean, anyone can break, anyone can snap, anyone can go bad, but Bonesaw would need a very different strategy to do it than what she tried with Amy.

Vicky... I could see her having a name like Panacea, but she might not go with that. I'm not sure if Amy actually picked Panacea, or if Carol or Sarah or someone else in the New Wave adults did.

Amy with Vicky's power has all her Carol and villain dad and incest crush related problems, but at the very least, doesn't have any fear she can lose control and change Vicky... unless of course she fears that her Aura can do something (though officially, the Aura can't, so... let's say it can't and Amy knows this... but I can see Amy worrying about it anyway. Girl is an anxious mess)

She'd probably be more likely - until or unless something made her snap, anyway - to not end up crippling people the way Vicky did, her fear of herself and her powers making her hold back. She'd probably set strict rules to hold herself back, and god knows Carol would probably give her all sorts of lectures about responsible use of her powers.

Amy would not revel in her power the way Vicky does. She'd probably hate having the aura... though that also raises questions of like, how much of Vicky's personality is shaped by her power. But let's assume the core of her personality remains the same. She'd probably try harder than Vicky to restrain her aura because she wouldn't want to be center of attention. She would probably not earn a 'collateral damage' nickname, though when you have that sort of power mistakes happen no matter what.

Amy... would she put herself at risk of burnout going out and fighting criminals all the time? It's not the same 'people are dying if I'm not doing heroing all the time' that she had with healing powers, so she may not feel the same guilt if she isn't out all the time, but she would still feel scrupulosity and Carol's black and white view of the world and her own self-loathing over her knowledge of her father being a villain and her fear that Carol's apparent negative feelings towards her are well founded...

She might feel like she has to go out every night, has to do more, has to push harder, has to catch more criminals. And that still leaves her at risk of burnout. On the other hand, she might not be able to get away with that quite as easily, just from a practical standpoint.

So if she's not able to push herself that much, she might have the opportunity for a social life... but she still may not take it, because she'd still hate herself and her feelings for Vicky. But she might.

Amy definitely wouldn't have a name like Glory Girl, but I can't really imagine what it would be instead.

Of course, the Bank doesn't happen in this AU at all, in anything resembling the way it did in canon. Vicky's still likely to be the more outgoing of the two, so she's likely to be trying to arrange double dates (But do she and Dean still get together? Let's assume so, for the sake of argument). So it is possible that Amy could be in the bank getting money for the double date, but if the robbery attempt happens, Amy's strategy for stopping it is going to be a lot more direct, before Skitter gets a chance to put all her spiders on all the hostages.

If her shield works the same as Vicky's, then Tattletale still maybe figures out the way it works and the one-two of a shot and then the bugs biting her happens, but with Vicky not physically present during the robbery, Tattletale wouldn't necessarily be in a position to find out about Amy's crush. She would still be able to threaten Amy with knowledge of who her dad is, which might still be a way to stall her and mess her up, but not quite as badly.

I'm not sure what specifically might make Amy snap, and no matter what she's not going to be able to snap in the way she did in canon (i.e. messing with Vicky's brain and stuff, and then the Wretch).

My best guess would be that, after having managed to hold back her whole career, not killing or crippling anyone, because she's been more careful, and then something happens. She kills someone, cripples them - and maybe it's even, like with healing Mark's brain (and killing that one regenerating hybrid Bonesaw sent after Amy paralyzed Rat Murderer), fully justifiable, the only real option... but that still might be enough to make Amy believe she can't be safe to be around, that she's too evil, etc.

One way to really dig the knife in is that Vicky finds her after Amy runs off (though Amy's ability to fly here does change the dynamic) and Amy if says 'don't touch me' and if Vicky hugs her regardless, maybe Amy shoves Vicky off too hard and like, breaks a bone or something? that would definitely mess Amy up. Vicky's response would not be great either, though she might have been able to pick up Amy's brain chemistry enough when she hugged her to realize how freaked out and panicked Amy is, so she might be slightly more understanding.

I mean, it's almost too easy to say, and it's not like scenarios where things end up just as bad or even worse than canon in a "Glory Girl!Amy and Panacea!VIcky" AU don't exist, but it is also very easy to imagine things working out better for both sisters.

Of course, the tragedy of what happens to them in canon is that it was so avoidable right up until the moment it wasn't, so this isn't that much more special.

Still, Amy does seem like she has less chance of snapping in this scenario, and certainly wouldn't snap in the same way, or with the same consequences. And as for Vicky... I mean, with Shaper being Shaper, god knows what happens. Vicky being less prone to being afraid of herself and her power, maybe she actually does experiment with it from time to time, in some sort of controlled manner, she is possibly willing to do brains, at least for healing concussions and brain cancer, etc then it's possible Shaper is actually less of a dick to her.

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, this is a bit of a call-out post, which I don't like to engage in, but some of the stuff that's been brought to my attention, that's apparently been being said about me and, by extension, people who share my views, isn't really something I can let stand.

So apparently there's some blogs going around vague posting about Levi fans who dare (oh the horror) to call Levi a good man and a hero, saying stuff like doing so is how one treads down the path toward Nazism, because it's a "denial" of Levi's faults, and if we don't condemn his violence as outright bad or wrong, then we're liable to start making excuses for and justifying all forms of violence.

Do I even need to lay out why this argument is absurd and absolutely childish at its core? I don't think so, but I will anyway.

One of the overarching and main themes of AoT is that we shouldn't flatly condemn people for their actions without first understanding the context of those actions. That nothing is ever so simple as being flatly right or wrong, good or bad. That there can be and are complicating factors that might lead to any, given person's actions or behavior.

Levi himself is a prime example of this, and we see the error of flatly condemning and writing him off as "bad" in the form of Jean's and Mikasa's judgmental and dismissive attitude toward him after seeing him engage in acts of violence, only to themselves be forced into similar acts moments later.

The stupidity inherent to uniformly condemning all violence as bad or wrong lies in its total failure to consider any mitigating circumstances that might have lead to the violence in the first place, and, ironically, it's THAT sort of basic and simplistic thinking that leads toward the kind of fanatical, ideological foundations of Nazism and other, similar movements. Nuanced thought, consideration, empathy and critical thinking are never the things that lead down that road. Moralistic and generalized view points are what do that. To call Levi a "morally grey" character is to fundamentally misunderstand that morality itself is a "grey" concept. There's no such thing a black and white morality. Almost nothing is always right and always wrong, including violence. Very few things, if anything, can be definitely categorized as right and wrong in and of itself. The argument that some things need to be wholly condemned or eradicated is, for example, the same sort of logic that people who advocate for censorship apply. All pornography is bad or wrong? Better to just flatly condemn and ban all of it, then. Oh my, you're going to let two men marry each other? What if someone wants to marry an animal next? Better just make gay marriage illegal then, I guess. Many Jews are bankers, and banking is a corrupt business that preys on people's vulnerabilities, thus, all Jews are really just money launders and loan sharks and need to be stopped. Killing and violence is always wrong, and so people who kill or commit acts of violence are always criminals and bad people with malicious intent or who reveal in other people's pain. See how that works? All generalizations like that lead to is mass persecution, either of a concept or of a person/group of people, without taking into consideration the actual complexity or nuanced reasoning for why something or someone might be a certain way or do a certain thing. That's what's dangerous.

To deny Levi is a good man or a hero because he commits acts of violence is to totaly deny and strip him of all the many aspects and characteristics of his personality that makes him who he actually is. Levi's violence doesn't define him. It isn't who he is. Rather, it's a product of the world he lives in and the circumstances of his upbringing and life. It doesn't signify the person he is at his core. It doesn't negate the immense compassion, kindness, empathy and sensitivity with which he regards and treats other people. It doesn't render his heroism worthless or questionable. It doesn't undermine his intentions or motivations. It doesn't rob his many sacrifices of their selflessness. That's why I say Levi is a good man. Not because he's on the "good guy side" or because he holds a certain set of ideological beliefs, but because of those inherent qualities which define him as a good man. Compassion, kindness, empathy, emotional intelligence, and a genuine desire to help others for others sake. He's a good person because he actually, truly cares about other people. Is that assessment of him supposed to somehow lead down the road to fanaticism? How absurd.

That's not to say Levi doesn't have flaws. Of course he does. He's a human being, and all human's are flawed. Nobody ever said Levi was a "perfect" hero, just that he is a hero. Understanding Levi's violence and where it comes from and why he engages in it doesn't mean we're excusing it or calling it "good". It's simply an attempt to understand and acknowledge one of the main themes of AoT, which is that a person committing a "bad act" doesn't in and of itself make them a "bad person", and that certain actions and behaviors that are deemed "bad" by society can and often do have reasonable and justifiable explanations at their root. Does Levi resort to violence too often and too easily? Sure. I've said that and acknowledged it on multiple occasions. I've dedicated entire, long-winded analysis posts to exploring the duality of Levi's compassionate and empathetic nature with the fact that he's one of the most violent characters in AoT. His knee-jerk reaction and response to most situations is to apply physical force of one kind or another. Levi is also an extremely emotional character, and is given at times to bouts of emotionally excessive response. When he kicks Eren and Jean after his conversation with Erwin. When he manhandles Historia for her initial, flat refusal to take the throne. When he kicks Eren's teeth in during the RtS arc, or on the airship in Liberio. When he tortures Zeke in the cart on the way to the capital. These are all instances of Levi giving in to his emotion and responding violently. And no, it's not good, but it also doesn't make Levi bad. It doesn't make his intentions malicious or cruel in nature. In all of these instances of violence on Levi's part, it's driven by an intense emotional response, generally in regard to some traumatic event. Levi learning Erwin might not be the good man he thought he was. Levi having to torture a man for specific information, only to have the point of it threatened by Historia's self-pity. Eren interfering with Levi's direct command during a situation in which time was severely limited in making a decision. Eren slaughtering countless innocent people. Zeke forcing Levi to kill more than two dozen of his own soldiers. All of the examples one could point to of Levi being "unnecessarily" violent, meaning in a way that didn't further some larger goal or cause, were all moments of emotional reaction linked either to trauma or urgency or both. Most of these responses from Levi, in fact, came about because he was upset about someone else getting hurt, or at the possibility of people getting hurt. They're rooted, at their core, in Levi's compassion for others. They're emotional responses triggered by Levi's empathy and care. He gets angry because he's scared or grief stricken over someone else' suffering. And that's my and other fans' only point. Levi's violence might be considered bad by some, but the underlying reasons for it almost always prove Levi's goodness. He responds so strongly because he cares. So to refuse to acknowledge the circumstances and context surrounding those acts of violence and to refuse to acknowledge the influence of his upbringing in his inclination to respond with violence is grossly unjust and unfair to who Levi is as a person. To pretend that his very nature can't be contradictory to his actions and behavior is to deny, not just Levi's complexity as a person, but the complexity of people overall. Because Levi's nature is, much of the time, contradictory to his actions, especially when one only looks at his actions in a vacuum instead of in context. He's a violent man who also holds more kindness and compassion in his heart for people than any other character in the story. That's a contradiction. But it's true, nonetheless. You can be a good person who does bad things, or things deemed wrong by others and society.

Levi doesn't enjoy violence, and anyone who says he does or tries to claim he does is flatly wrong. To say, just because Levi is good at violence, that must mean he's somehow born to it, or that it's in his nature to want to commit it, is equally unjust and unfair in the way it dismisses the circumstances of his life and upbringing. A person can be forced into doing something that goes against their core temperament and personality due to forces outside of their control, and acknowledging that about Levi and his violence isn't the same as claiming him to be a "perfect hero". He's not perfect, but he is a hero. He's a hero because he's inherently selfless and kind and empathetic toward other people and their suffering, because he's willing to do all he can to help other people, despite an upbringing which forced violence and a familiarity with violence into his life, despite a childhood and young adulthood filled with deprivation and poverty. He wasn't born with a violent temperament, he was raised in an environment that necessitated a reliance on violence in order to survive, and so we see that manifest in Levi as an adult. A reliance on violence to survive. Again, to not acknowledge that and the impact it had on Levi's behavior and actions is unjust and unfair to him as a person. A stupid oversimplification of not just Levi as a character, but of people in general, and of the concept of justifiable violence too. Pacifism is an ideal, but one which doesn't and can't always coexist with reality. To judge someone and condemn then for engaging in violence, no matter the circumstances surrounding that violence, when nature itself is predicated on violence, is absurd.

Context matters. Circumstances matter. Intent matters. Levi's violence was never ideological in its reasoning. He never committed acts of violence in service to some abstract school of thought or philosophy. He never killed anyone because he thought they represented or symbolized some great evil or threat to the world and needed to be eradicated as a result. Levi's acts of violence have always been practical in nature. Defense of himself and others against people directly threatening their well being. And further, Levi has never, not once, tried to impose his way of thinking or doing on a single, other person. He's always, always, allowed everyone to decide for themselves. To come to their own conclusions of what they believe is right and wrong, good or bad. He's always allowed everyone their own agency. He's never manipulated or badgered or bullied anyone into agreeing with him or tried to brainwash anyone into a certain set of ideological beliefs. He's only ever wanted and tried to ensure people the freedom to make those decisions for themselves, and he's only ever tried to protect people, more often than not at great cost to himself.

He's the very definition of a hero, and to accuse people who call him that of exhibiting the kind of ideological thinking that leads to Nazism is not only absurd, but a massive insult, both to Levi's character and to the intelligence of his fans. As if they're incapable of understanding the nature of violence because they differentiate between acts of violence by applying critical thought to outside factors and mitigating circumstances. I guess our justice system is similarly incapable of understanding the nature of violence too, then, because it also dares to weigh outside factors and mitigating circumstances when judging a person's "crimes" or "guilt". It isn't the people who apply nuanced thought and consideration to Levi's actions who are susceptible to fanaticism, it's the people making those sorts of accusations who are, in exposing their total inability to divorce themselves from their black and white view of reality.

[wanderingmoonflower]

a while back i made a post talking about how bede and marnie are perfect examples of foil characters (and also apparently that they were intrinsic??? i dunno where past me was going with that) but i think it's time i finally got around to actually talking about my ideas

tbh, i have no idea where to start, but initially i first came across this train of thought because i was poking fun at how they wore their gym uniforms completely opposite to each other, with bede being completely covered and wearing layers, while marnie shows a bit of skin and also isn't layered. while the layers thing doesn't apply to their regular outfits, bede is still completely covered, and marnie shows more skin than him

i think the best way to understand what i'm trying to say is to also consider their backgrounds too. despite the lack of parents (which is a common thing in pokemon anyway), bede didn't actually have anyone to support him until opal came along, whereas marnie had her brother, and then team yell later on. bede didn't have that. his league card even says that his parents ran into trouble and he didn't get along with the others. he essentially felt like rose changed his life. there's also the fact that bede most likely lived somewhere nicer than spikemuth if he stayed with rose, and ofc, spikemuth is dilapidated, has a shutter to close people out, and doesn't have a power spot

i think another thing might be because bede doesn't understand unconditional love. marnie understands that, as she's had people around her who love and care for her, but bede only knew that he had to work to get rose's affection, and that's when he ended up going to far. opal, despite her harsh training, would be able to teach him about unconditional love

i've also mentioned this to some friends, but marnie, hop, and the protagonist (whether it's victor or gloria) would be able to teach him about unconditional love too. i like drawing comparison to marnie in particular because they have that similarity of being the successor to another gym leader, so it's easy to make the association in your head, although you could probably make most of these points for hop as well

speaking of them being gym leaders, they (essentially) use opposite types to each other, and even their gmax pokemon are considered counterparts. it also their reasoning for joining the gym challenge is similar intially, but ends up differing when you look a little closer. they both joined for recognition but bede' wanted recognition from rose, and marnie rwanted recognition for spikemuth

i also like how marnie, despite her blank expression, is still a little playful, and very in touch with how she feels. bede on the other hand puts up all these theatrics and overall seems just kinda,,, bitter?

and also, slightly unrelated, but bede is pink/white and marnie is pink/black. i also am obsessed with the fact that the BUMP OF CHICKEN music video shows Bede all alone and then IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS UP WITH MARNIE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE. cruel. i'm obsessed with it

i'm sorry the post is so long. it got away from me a little bit. i still feel like i had a lot more to say, but take this image to end it out <3 i love bede and marnie a whole lot and i hope you understand where i'm coming from

[witherby]

format as in a way of writing!

like do you write much in a paragraph or not?

how do you think it’s aesthetically pleasing?

—🦈

Ah, okay! So, I've spent a lot of time reading and writing since I was, like, 8. I also took a Creative Writing minor in college to help me polish up a big chunk of my missing skills. At this point, what I lack isn't so much technique as it is..um...skill. LMAO. So please take this with a grain of salt!

The point is, there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to structure your stories. The people who tell you otherwise are being very kind, but not realistic. The biggest things you have to keep track of when you structure your stories are ideas, vocabulary, and dialogue.

This post is long and kind of preachy. Forgive me for that; I'm trying to answer you as best and earnestly as I can.

So, let's process ideas, first. You'll notice that I've started a new paragraph to cover this topic for you, because it is its own category and therefore doesn't make sense to lump together with the other two points mentioned above. If you're trying to convey an idea or a subject or a topic in an understandable way, you wanna keep the parts that are related to that idea/subject/topic together. If you don't have a lot to say about a thing, your paragraph about it is going to be smaller. If you have a lot to say about a thing, your paragraph is going to be bigger. This paragraph, for example, conveying information to you about conveying your ideas properly, is kinda long, which is normal and bound to happen sometimes. Your paragraphs don't all have to be of equal length from start to end.

Let's discuss vocabulary, next. Word choice is everything, in my opinion. The difference between "transparent" and "diaphanous" may not literally be much, but one of those words is definitely more well-known and easier to understand than the other. Don't assume your readers are babies and only give them tiny words to work with, yet do not presume that witnesses to your chronicles cling to an intellectual high ground on the contrary. You need just enough to draw people in, but not too much that it'll bore them and not so little that they're missing crucial story components. I advise cracking open a thesaurus and playing around with your word choices until you find a balance that makes you happiest.

Finally, let's touch on dialogue. "Dialogue?" You ask. "Yes," I say. "What do you mean?" You ask again. "I mean that there are two components at play for dialogue, and this paragraph is a glaring example."

"Every time a different character speaks, it is a new thought being expressed," I elaborate.

"What's that mean for me?" You might ask.

"It means," I say, "that a new thought gets a new paragraph. Now, if it's the same person speaking, you can let them ramble for a while and not create a new paragraph, because the reader inherently understands that it's the same person the whole time. But the second one is done, and another speaks instead, you need to visualize that change with the start of a new paragraph. You need to create that separation."

"I do?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Even for one-word answers? Replies so quick that they're barely anything?"

"Even then."

In summary, you can dress up your stories any way you want, with italics or big letters or small letters or pictures or borders, to your heart's content. It could be the prettiest post I've ever seen in my life. It's not gonna mean a thing if the work doesn't follow a smooth transition of subject, utilizes good verbiage, and has easy-to-follow dialogue, though.

Of course there are exceptions to these rules, because writing is not black and white. We wouldn't have poetry otherwise. But that would require much more typing and ranting and I've already gone on long enough. Practice is going to be your biggest teacher, but these are some good foundational points to keep in mind as you create.

I hope this was useful!

[erollhitchens]

Might be an unpopular opinion but what creek did didn't make him a villain as there was no real right or wrong thing to do in his situation.

The situation of being forced to commit a crime under threat of death is actually a tricky one but we do have legal defences in place so people can point out that if they only committed a crime under duress then the law will take that into account

that's the legal side of it now lets talk about the moral side of it I guess as I find it interesting to think about

sure its very easy to say that someone choosing their own life over that of a 100 or so people is selfish and evil but the actual fact of the matter is that creek was technically just an innocent party in this as well

who panicked Apon facing certain death as most people probably would and he gave in to fear and the fact is he had no other way to survive other than doing what his captors told him

the only thing I think he actually did wrong was behaving in such an unremorseful way towards his friends who probably would have understood more given everything he had been through that day

and the situation he was still currently in if he had simply behaved in a more sympathetic and guilty seeming way towards them.

but in regards to selling out the village to save himself? like I said despite how black and white it may seem to some people there is no objectively right or wrong thing in this situation at least not from creeks position

Gristle and Chef? absolutely its black and white since they tried to massacre a sentient species for their own people's good and didn't even try to come up with other solutions to the mass depression problem

but with creek it isn't because he simply was a hostage who had as much right to live as any other hostage of the Bergens and he wasn't the one actively trying to kill people chef and gristle were.

creek simply wanted to live and did what his captors told him to do which is perfectly understandable especially after being psychologically pressured the entire day.

so the movie treating him like a villain for this has never sat right with me honestly as its not as simple as the film makes out and I actually think it was perfectly reasonable of the characters to give him another chance in the tv show given the situation.

[mirror-ralsei]

THEORY: The Ink Blot Test & Symmetry in UTDR

This isn't as much of a typical theory as it is pointing out a design element that I think really needs more discussion: the distinctive style used in certain visuals in the game.

It's actually kind of difficult for me to describe. But there seems to be a recurring style used across many enemies and their weapons. This style is typically white in color, and typically very ornate and detailed-looking. It's easy to pick out because most of the shapes in Undertale/Deltarune's sprites are more simple...and because of one fact: all of these designs look symmetrical.

Here are the places I noticed this style appearing. Hopefully as you look at these, you can understand what I mean by a particular “ornate, symmetrical look”:

Reaper Bird's overworld appearance

Reaper Bird's body

Asriel's CHAOS BUSTER

Final Froggit

POSSIBLE: Knight Knight's Good Morningstar (listed here as “hammer”)

POSSIBLE: Memoryheads (they're in 3/4 view and melting-looking so it's harder to tell, but notice the curly parts and comb-teeth-like parts)

Gaster Blasters (using the unused version since it's easier to notice the style without the eyes)

(While most of these designs are technically not symmetrical if you look closely, they all definitely give the impression of being so.)

There's some other possible references to this style, but I'm just going to focus on the more distinct ones for now. And even some of the ones I've listed are debatable. If I had to pick just a few, I'd use Reaper Bird, their overworld sprite, and CHAOS BUSTER as the definitive examples.

So it's taken me a couple years of not quite being able to place why this style felt so familiar. At first I thought they might look like fractals...

...but that wasn't quite it. Finally, all of a sudden, I put my finger on it.

This design style reminds me of Rorschach blots.

For anyone who doesn't know, the Rorschach test is a psychological test involving the subject looking at inkblots and determining what these patterns look like to them. As you can see, the inkblots are very intricate and symmetrical - just like the examples above.

How does this connect to Undertale? Not too much. But Deltarune? Possibly a lot! Maybe that's the reason most of the instances where this style appears seem connected to Deltarune in some way.

For starters, inkblots are black and white. Specifically, they're black patterns on a white background. So far, every instance of these inkblot-like designs in UT/DR have been the inverse of this: they're all white patterns on dark or black backgrounds. We know light and dark have meaning in Deltarune, so this makes sense.

The ink blots' meaning are what you make of it. Your brain determines what real world things this abstract ink on paper looks like to you. This seems like it could tie into the concept behind the Dark Worlds, and how they seem like “interpretations” of items in real life: For example, the Halloween Pencil becomes a SpookySword. (It's possible the ShadowCrystals may play on this “perception” idea a bit too, but we don't know yet.)

Doctor Gaster seems to be conducting tests on us (Sound Test, SURVEY_PROGRAM, etc.) to observe our feedback. This thematically fits with this whole Rorschach blot test reference. I'm not sure if “WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?” from Entry 17 and the egg man's flavor text 'What do you think?” are necessarily connected to this at all, but it does happen to fit the theme, lol.

All right, so we've established that there seems to be a symmetrical-looking style. We theorized that maybe they were supposed to evoke a similar look to Rorschach blot tests.

Now we're going to speculate even further.

So why exactly was this Rorschach blot looking style chosen? I think this symmetrical look might be based around reflections. After all, Deltarune involves a Light World and Dark World that reflect each other. And there are actually a few important references to reflections across Undertale and Deltarune.

Kris first appeared in Undertale as the PC's reflection in a puddle if Undertale is being run in Debug mode (Video by marxvee)

Reaper Bird is encountered in a mirror

Asriel and Kris' sides of their room are almost perfectly symmetrical in terms of layout and furniture

Kris' room in Ralsei's Castle has mirrored sprites of Asriel's trophies

The File Select text before Chapter 1's completion states “CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION” when copying a file, “IT IS IMMUNE TO ITS OWN IMAGE” when trying to copy a fiile onto itself, and “IT CONFORMED TO THE REFLECTION” when overwriting a file with a copied one

Mettaton NEO's attack is incredibly high but defenses are low, Spamton NEO's defense is incredibly high but attack is low

Gaster's motif of “666” is “mirrored” by 999: 999 appears in multiple places, eg. Chara's attack, stats of Grandpa Semi were “atk: 99999, df: 99999, hp: 999” (pointed out by LeedleLel's comment on this video by Lil' Alien).

The background of Jevil's fight is a mirrored image of a carousel.

The mirrored sinks in the right hospital room read “(It's a regular sink.)” and “(It's a clone of the other sink.)” Also: “(Perhaps there was originally one tall sink that was cut in half to create both of them.)”

All leg options in the GONER_MAKER are identical except the final one, which is mirrored. (pointed out by Shayy via Semi Frequent Undertale Facts)

The background of the GONER_MAKER itself is mirrored.

The background of the Asriel Dreemurr fight is mirrored.

The strange fog graphic before Papyrus' battle appears mirrored.

"I can't get any closer to the camera, I can't even see...my...little reflection." from the Spamton Sweepstakes

POSSIBLE: Gaster's belly face (upside down, details are white on black background, where Gaster's main face are black on white background)

POSSIBLE: Hot Fridge (inverse of the function of a normal fridge. look this one's loose lol, only including it because Alphys invented it and fridges are tied to Asgore's egg fridge, Snowdrake's mother, the Sans fridge call, and maybe the unused “rustfridge” in the Trash Zone (a place rife with possible Deltarune references))

POSSIBLE: Unused rooms 123 and 321 (123 is a relatively accessible unused room with interesting dialogue and 321 is...dark, and "empty").

So notably, the places we find this reflection motif in Undertale seem mostly connected to Deltarune: Kris is the PC of Deltarune, Reaper Bird is tied to Deltarune through Everyman, Mettaton NEO is similar to Deltarune's Spamton NEO, and Gaster is...well, probably the one who gave us our SURVEY_PROGRAM in the first place. Even the more tenuous examples of reflections seem plausibly Deltarune-related, such as the fridge Fun call and the Gaster belly face in Spamton's dumpster and a reflected dark room.

I'd like to expound a little bit on the File Select and sink dialogues. Both of these seem to be playing with a concept that could explain this reflection motif.

Copying a file in the File Select seems to mean we are “reflecting” it onto another slot: “CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION.” We cannot copy a file onto itself because “IT IS IMMUNE TO ITS OWN IMAGE.” If we overwrite an existing file with a copied one, “IT CONFORMED TO THE REFLECTION.” Interestingly, though, if you copy a file into an empty slot... “THE DIVISION IS COMPLETE.”

Not multiplying the file - dividing it in two. The original file is also implied to be changed in some way by this, because if you cancel the action of copying a file into an empty slot, “IT RETAINED ITS ORIGINAL SHAPE.” Meaning it would not have retained its original shape if it were copied.

The flavor text for the “cloned” sinks reflects this (hah) exactly. “(It's a regular sink.)” and “(It's a clone of the other sink.)” are followed by “(Perhaps there was originally one tall sink that was cut in half to create both of them.)” Aside from being relevant to the only tall sink we know of, Papyrus' in Undertale, this seems to be setting up a concept of “reflections” representing “an original being divided in two.”

That's about as far as I can take this with the context we have now. We don't know what exactly this reflection/division concept will mean in the plot of Deltarune, as it hasn't showed its hand yet. We don't know if the resemblance of that one recurring style to inkblots is intentional or just coincidence. But at least we have some possible explanation for why these motifs of symmetry and reflections keep showing up.

[sunny6677]

Alright!! Info page for Athootita since I said I'd do one for her!

@rebootgrimm

This is Athootita! She has no last name, but mainly goes by she/her, and is okay with they/them. I imagine she's Lesbian and Ace lmao.

She was born sometime in Gamelion, though 'born' isn't exactly what I'd use to describe how she was born. After a priestess of Hestia, by the name of Episimosita, cleansed her space—but then spoke harshly of the well meaning children from outside who simply knocked something over by accident at the temple, and whom she ended up snapping at despite their young age, she spoke to Hestia at the fire of how she wished somehow she knew why those children thought the way they do, and why in their right mind they always acted so 'selfishly' and 'obnoxiously'. Both as a gift, but also as a lesson, Athootita is born from the fire of the hearth slowly, seeming like a small monster as she crawls out—considering she has teeth out, black eyes, and all. It's understandable while Epi (I'll call her that for short) is freaked out at first, but even after it's made clear that Athootita is a young life form despite looking so monstrous, and does clearly have no bad intent and is acting out of curiosity, Epi is a bit in denial about being 'in the wrong' about the way she treated children—and still acts cold as a result. However, when Hestia finally swoops down once Athootita has grown a bit more, Epi seems to have finally learnt her lesson—but is obviously not absolved of guilt considering she tried to kill Athootita at some point. Hestia scolds her, and tells the distressed Epi that she can not keep Athootita due to how she's behaved, but that she should know better than this as a priestess from now on. Epi promises to do better, and Athootita is taken away. Epi is (understandably) filled with guilt for the rest of her life, though she's very bitter about it, even if she never directly acts in any ill way toward a child again. After she's taken though, Hestia looks for someone to care for Athootita, since she can't herself due to some reason that's unspecified. However, Hermes, at a weirdly convenient time—is feeling saddened since most of his own children have aged by now, and even if he won't admit it, he does kind of miss being a father of a young one. So when Hestia either notices this, or just notices him in general after asking other God's to care for Athootita, she takes it to him as a last chance kinda thing—and though he's quite busy, he gleefully accepts, and takes her as his new adoptive child. Which is basically Athootita's whole backstory.

Athootita is not a Goddess, I would say?? At least not yet. But she is the embodiment of innocence. As in, child-like innocence. So though she can grow, she always does have innocent intent with her actions, and doesn't know that much. And she can have a very childish view of things. Cuz.. well, she IS a kid right now, but still. Due to this though, Hermes is protective of her, and determined to not let anyone hurt his kid.

Regardless, Athootita likes flowers, water, and the sky. She dislikes overwhelming coldness, waiting for too long, or people being generally mean to others—or acting in ways she deems mean.

I imagine she might have a little symbol of a flower on her back? Like, a symbol of a daisy. And most of the flowers in her hair are white carnations. Her eyes also can go black still, and she gains sharp teeth and claws at will, though can also gain them if she's feeling aggressive. She's also technically immortal? But can still be hurt, and can only be killed if being hurt by a being more powerful than her.

Athootita is generally quite energetic, happy-go-lucky, and naive. She's very curious, and easily amazed. But can be a bit obnoxious with some of the adventures she gets into sometimes, and causes trouble with both her dad and just other people in general a lot. She doesn't exactly understand that actions have consequences at first, which is why she gets into so much chaos, until Hermes possibly teaches her otherwise, though it seems unlikely he would since he's into mischief anyway. And she also cares for her loved ones, like Hermes, very much—and is both defensive of them and sweet with them.

She likes to skip pebbles and rocks, climb up things, and explore as hobbies—though she also enjoys listening to Hermes' lyre, and music in general. She has no exact role in the Pantheon at all yet due to how protected she has to be, but I imagine as the literal embodiment of innocence, she can tend to bring out the more parental or childish side of people quite easily—and serves as also kind of a symbol of a parent-child relationship, which could technically be considered a 'domain' of hers?? Unsure.

She's stupidly good at getting away from things before she can get into danger herself, is incredibly fast, and can stand her ground when she thinks someone's being unfair. But she is again quite naive, oblivious, and doesn't understand most things.

She has very pristine teeth for some reason. And I also imagine that her voice is very soft, quickly-spoken and high pitched. In human years, she'd be considered about like 13-15 at the time of Epic? But in most of her stories where she's younger with Hermes, she's about like 7-8 or 6-7 in human years. She usually wears whatever pretty rags Aphrodite gives her since Aphrodite favors her a bit (possibly due to Athootita befriending Eros and seeing him as a brother figure). Athootita is physically quite fragile and weak, so again, people have to be VERY careful with her.

She can only speak Greek, and has a Greek accent, but can understand other languages by just absorbing foreign text from a book and feeding it to her own brain as knowledge (it's a bit of an odd ability but ehh). She lives in a pretty, but large cave in the ocean with her own little bed and everything—and it mainly consists of random rocks, crystals, or tunnels. Hermes tends to visit her there a lot, and often takes care of her.

Athootita giggles a lot when she speaks. But she often exclaims 'Ohhhh!' out of astonishment. She's sometimes referred to as 'The Child of Hermes' or as 'Innocence-Embodiment' by both mortals and immortals alike. She's mainly scared of the dark after one particular incident with Scylla, which leads to Hermes setting up illuminated crystals in her cave that make it all lit up so she won't be afraid. But she has a general phobia of Hermes or anyone she cares about not loving her anymore for some reason. She has a good habit of defending herself when she realizes it's necessary, but a bad habit of not picking up on things.

Athootita stims a lot, and shakes her fists from excitement or jumps up and down as some of her little mannerisms. And she always seems to be bouncing around anytime she's moving. She technically is smart? She's just very oblivious, and again has a childish way of viewing things, so she just tends to trusts whatever Hermes says, who does usually teach her things—but can also trick her on purpose for laughs occasionally.

She's very interested in the growth of life, weather, and mortals, though also other creatures in general. She can laugh very easily, and usually has very naive solutions to problems. She can notice when people are upset, though she either resorts to giving them a hug, or trying to cheer them up with games or stuff in her pretty cave. She's very imaginative, and plays games by herself a lot. Athootita is very extroverted, and also hates it when people aren't fair about things. She's usually in quite a good mood, and also has a lil handshake with Hermes where she bangs her fists with his own, and then forms the symbol of a wing with their hands at the end./lh

Her lucky number is 4, and a prized possession she has is a little orange carnelian crystal Hermes gave to her as a present one time when going on a speech about how much he cared about her, and the little crystal necklace he once gave her as a way of letting her know that he'd 'always be there for her'.

She tends to prefer milk to drink, and also honey combs, though maybe cookies to eat. She always smells like water and rocks due to the cave she lives in. She always cries to Hermes whenever she's in distress about something, or needs help. Athootita would love to explore the world more, but has generally no goal right now since she's just living her best life. She doesn't need sleep, though she sometimes does anyway just to relax, and usually sleeps quire peacefully in a curled up position on one of the rocks, or even her own personal bed anytime she does. She can play with discus', and can also imitate bird calls. And anytime she 'sleeps', she makes little hums that almost sound like a bird cooing, but it's really her own equivalent of 'snoring'.

She has no exact beliefs other than 'world interesting!! Mean people bad, nice people good!! Don't be mean ever, you should always be friends with people and be happy :(('. And has a very positive self perception due to Hermes' constant praise and affection, so she's very happy with herself and likes herself a lot. She's very optimistic as well.

Her main motivation is simply just to be with her father, and those she loves every single day. And she believes that everyone deserves a second chance, as long as they mean it when they say they're sorry. The only dark secret she really has is both that she once lied to Hermes (which she deeply regrets and has apologized to him for, but told no one else about), and also that she can become kind of dangerous when in her more monstrous form—though only because she's physically more dangerous, and not because she actually wants to hurt anyone.

Her biggest dream is to see all of Olympus, and one day have her own room up there, so she can be with Hermes and Eros all the time basically. A small goal she later has is to gain her own island, since Circe has her own island anyway where she can control things. And Athootita'a deepest fear is dissapointing those she loves. She suffers from the external conflict of always causing mischief and never really facing the consequences for it, but she also suffers the internal conflict of being so oblivious she doesn't even realize any danger—and just thinks everything is perfectly fine most of the time.

She always regrets lying to her dad, and making him feel bad in any way. She wants everyone to be proud of her out of everything else in the world, which is why she's do determined to explore and 'impress people'. The external pressures she faces mainly has to do with some of her friends maybe sometimes getting a bit mad at her for her mischief, especially since she always gets off scott free, with Hermes being her dad and the God of Trickery. A insecurity she has later on is whether or not Hermes is proud of her. Her greatest joy is simply being alive at all. And a nightmare for her would be being taken away from everything she's ever cared for, and everyone she's ever loved. She eventually goes on to become a Bringer of Innocence when she ages more, and basically helps protect children and let them be kids while they still can.

Her abilities involve: Growing fangs, having sharp claws and super speed, being able to see things from a far away distance, being able to hide within a matter of seconds, always somehow weaseling her way out of things, etc etc

I shall post more on her later on—but this is everything about her for now./lh

However, I will post short stories about her and Hermes soon, simply to show off their dynamic, and because I was going to do something like that anyway—

[philsdrivinglicence]

Killing the white supremacist inside you. Easy mode. From one whitey to another.

Disclaimer: I am not an academic or an expert. Just a white person who's life was changed for the radically better during the BLM protests of 2020 who wants to share what worked for them.

Below is a non-comprehensive list of first steps you can take to begin the hard work of unpicking the layers upon layers of white supremacist bullshit baked into you from birth by the culture we live in (even if you grew up progressive or in a big city you are not exempt from this).

I made this list because POC in the phandom have been doing a lot of heavy lifting the past few days. I figured the least I could do is share what worked for me to understand what racism is and how its more subtle forms can manifest.

I hope we can all use the below as a starting point to help make the phandom a less racist and more welcoming place.

(btw I do think we are generally more self ware than many fandoms but as we are a mostly white space we have to keep ourselves accountable as white supremacy is an insidious bastard that will catch you unawares if you let it.)

So. Without further ado.

- read this article

- Read "Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race" by Reni Eddo Lodge (how you choose to source this book I will not judge but consider supporting a local book store)

- Stop being so afraid of being called racist. - Hopefully, if you are engaging in good faith then you already accept that racism is baked into our society. Racist is not a dogwhistle for "evil person". It is a descriptor of very specific behavior that we can all fall into if we don't keep ourselves sharp. So part 2 of this step is -

- Look back on your life and identify a time when you have participated in racism. My go to example is my 14 year old "never met a black person in real life" self, yelling along to N****s in Paris (uncensored, duh) at a house party with a bunch of other white 14 year olds. If you're getting really introspective you'll probably have multiple of these such moments. Sit with them, feel the cringe, think about what you might say to that version of yourself now, how you might have acted differently had you been aware the behavior was problematic. And then forgive yourself. Self flagellation does nothing good, the thing to do now is learn and progress. But you can't know what to change/avoid if you don't have examples to work off of. (This one is lowkey hard mode but worth doing early on so you can see your own progress over time. Also, if the examples you are thinking of were directly harmful you may also want to consider making amends in some way).

- Look at your playlists/album collection. If you don't see many/any POC musicians make a conscious effort to change that. Seek out interviews with your favourite artists and see which black artists have influenced them. Add them to your rotation.

- Do this with youtubers, authors, actors, screenwriters etc, etc. In all forms or art and entertainment, look at what you consume and if you find it overerall skewing white, make an effort to fill it with colour.

(Kill the voice inside you that says "I just prefer - blank-", or "the stuff they make just isn't for me, I prefer stuff I can relate to". This is the white supremacy talking, POC are not a monolith, look harder, you will find artists you connect with)

- Every time a POC points something out to you that seems off to them (I often refer to this as "this doesn't pass the sniff test") before jumping in to defend your fave/point of view/TV show etc. really sit with what they have said and try to consider why what they are pointing out, while not a big deal to you, could be a big deal to them.

Like I said up top, this is a non comprehensive list and is only intended as a starting point.

I usually wouldn't post something like this as I prefer to stay out of discourse but the conversation going on this past few days has really disappointed me. So many people are being dismissive toward POC fans and completely missing the points they are trying to make. So here's my two cents. Hope it's helpful.

[gardeningintrests]

humans are weird- mental health

now that i think about it, everyone and every living thing will have severe mental health issues upon being put in a bad situation or environment, like how dogs and cats will sometimes get anxious and yell and bite at you if you are a bad owner. and how some plants will be scared when you are a person who has done harm to it before.

so now I wonder, will aliens or other species and life tackle this mental health thing? or do they, like animals and plants, just think it's some form of instinct?

lets see how this goes baby

(also, my apologies for the weird English and maybe a switch between the UK and US ver of the language)

as the Terrans announce they have made a station at a dwarf planet near the Intergalactic Transportation Centre (ITC) that specializes in the form of psychology hospital for checkups and therapy sessions.

a few of the more advanced species in the Galactic Union were happy and most of the latter were confused.

psychology? hospital? what is this, do the Terrans think lowly of us so much that they had opened up a "mental hospital"?

upon seeing the rage of 99% of the Galactic Union ( Many species within systems, something like the EU on Earth) because of this newly opened hospital/ clinic/ office that made others feel they are unwell in the head, the Terrans called upon a press conference.

"We have heard of the unhappy feedback of the newly opened office. And I am sure all of you are aware that we humans are one of the sentient species that specializes in biology, especially the brain." The human, dressed in black with a white inner collar shirt paired with a black tie, a way of dressing different from their military, must be one of the Congressmen or a high authority figure.

"We opened this clinic/ hospital/ office because of various reasons. One is because as much more humans are traveling through the galaxies with the crew they are assigned or out on missions and events, we can safely say that more than 30% of our population, are in space, always on the go."

why do the human keep on talking useless speech? why do they not go straight to the point of this conference? such a waste of time.

"However, space travel isn't easy. it isn't quick either. so our kind has to sit through a very long transport, deal with their business, which takes roughly around a few months to a few years, and return back to home world where another long period of transport is needed."

do humans think they are the only ones with this problem? they might be new but they sure are demanding and self-centered aren't they?

"due to this fact, many become homesick and are dealing with chronic depression from the uncomfortable traveling and all the foreign work needed to do. with this and our conducted survey for both our kind and everyone else in the Galactic Union, we have deemed that unfortunately, many of our and your kind are in a very bad situation in terms of mental health "

the human sent everyone who is watching this channel or present a link to a video created by humans ( the link is in the word mental health)

what... what is this? mental health?

upon watching the video, X'aangrak't seemed to understand now. he now understands why humans were so awfully looking all the time.

"because of the risk of illness and the result that comes after we do not wish for our allies and our kind to fall into such a despairing place. we know we are not the only ones with the problem of homesickness, workplace bullying, abuse of power, and many other negative actions. generations, and generations, we and all of the life here have tried the resolve the issue of lives committing suicide acts just to come back to square 1"

the human wasn't wrong, lives are unique, and they are only able to form under the perfect circumstances in a system. so suicide cases is one of the major issues that the council of the Galatic Union has sought to fix

" so we come up with a plan, to not only help our kind but also all of the life that is existing in the Galaxy."

That's a bold move, how is a hospital full of drugs and equipment going to help us? if the issue the Galatic Union can't do anything to resolve this, how do they think they are going to do so?

" as us Terrans, although great at talking, is not so great in terms of communicating our thoughts and feelings. This is very well-known back at homeworld, so humans throughout history have studied how emotions and feelings affect a person and have made effective treatments and even categories of why a specific person is dysfunctional." oh really?

" so, for the sake of yourselves and your kind. the Galatic Union has come this far thanks to all of you. however it is undeniably true that space travel and work, is a heavy subjects that all of us carry inside, the pain sorrow, and tiredness you feel will eventually bring you down to the depths of despair and agony. so for your sake of yourself, give a visit to the new centre we opened, it is specialized in our feeling and emotion.'

...

" Be not afraid of letting your emotions go sometimes, as to be healthy is to cry, and soothe your own person, it is not a shameful act. but a powerful one That, is the end of my conference."

as the human steps down the stage and heads back to the vehicle transport, many reporters tried asking questions and begging for answers, but to no avail. no reply, just like how the humans in speeches and public has been

maybe... maybe i should give the centre a chance...

as X'aangrak't looks outside of his crew ship, with no one to talk to and always alone despite everyone on the ship. while the stars shone brightly outside in the galaxy, there has always been this feeling in his chest, maybe this time

he will feel better