#b) the more accurate you write Ratio

[ironunderstands]

Ngl I feel like some ratiorine artists don’t like or care about Dr. Ratio at all

Like I don’t really want to shit on the reverse lane because there is appeal there and most of you guys are chill, but it’s really annoying when you’re looking for Aventio/Ratiorine fanart and like… they just don’t understand Ratio for shit.

I don’t mean minor things either, I mean making him the embodiment of this image

Idk at this point some of yall should just make OCs because I’m kinda tired of 1/2 of a ship I like getting their character microwaved because people like Aventurine significantly more than him so they just turn Ratio into some stereotypical shitty bl webtoon top because actually taking 5 seconds to make sure he’s in character doesn’t matter to people who don’t give a shit about him anyways.

I’m not really asking for a change, like do what makes you happy ig, but I’m just annoyed and laying my grievances out because goddamn is this a pattern I am sick and tired of.

Badly characterized Ratio already makes me tweak out, but when it’s your own community man 😞 like yall were supposed to get him why are we here.

Also I want to rant about how fucking gross and downright evil the slavery fetishizing content is but that’s a more serious conversation for another time.

[pokemonunderdogtournament]

From running these, does it seem like older Pokemon tend to be more popular versus newer ones, or is it any pokemons game? I feel like I tend to see older 'mons winning in matchups against newer ones the majority of the time, but that might be some sort of confirmation bias on my end.

Whew ok! Sorry this took me so long to reply to. This kinda caught me right at the start of the busy period, and I didn't want to give it a half-assed answer, especially because I wasn't really super sure if I was seeing any notable trends. (Most of the time I dedicate to maintaining this event is spent setting things up instead of reviewing data!)

Here are some rough and probably not precisely accurate numbers:

For my health I don't have the time to write out proper descriptions, so hopefully my discussion will be helpful enough, especially because it can be fairly easy to draw some inaccurate conclusions from this specifically because it uses a lot of hard numbers vs ratios.

You can find that down here ⬇ (readmored for scrollability)

First table:

Gen 2 and Gen 7 (!) are performing the strongest overall. Gen 9 and Gen 5 (!!) are performing the most poorly. I figure Gen 9 isn't faring too well for a multitude of reasons -- most notably, I think, people haven't really had time to grow attached to these guys yet. To speculate on Gen 5, I have a few theories. Gen 5 introduced a lot of new Pokemon, interest gets spread out (though I am surprised that age-group nostalgia isn't helping it more along here...). If I recall correctly, a lot of the designs were also quite heavily critiqued, though I've never paid much attention to that sort of commentary.

I'm honestly surprised that Gen 1 is that close to even, but then I don't think it helps that a lot of the less popular designs keep popping up to be repeatedly swept... The data set isn't large enough to avoid being easily influenced by various sub-tournaments haha.

Second table:

This one looks at each generation and how it compares to matches where it was paired with older generations. Earlier generation results are less helpful because, for instance, Gen 2 only has to contend with Gen 1, but Gen 8 has to contend with Gens 1-7... I wasn't sure how to break this up more properly, and I've already spent so much time on this 😅 I could probably figure it out with time but I don't want to keep this ask on hold for like 3 more months. I think it's interesting to see how notably well Gen 7 performs here, like it has a notable number of wins though it's dealing with 6 entire generations.

Anyway, more red in the ratios (basically, more instances where Pokemon of a given generation lost to older gens more than they won) supports the hypothesis.

Third table:

Basically the opposite of the above. More green means more generations that fared better against the generations after it. Gen 5 is the only one who doesn't have this, but it's even. It's won as many Gen 6-9 polls as it's lost

Gen 8 being the strongest here is a little funny, but it just means that Gen 8 has been performing super well when specifically placed in contrast to Gen 9. The fact that there are so few polls in this category probably is why the ratio can get so high at all though.

Generation Gap Average:

This one's a bit hard for me to explain but it basically is concerned with how much the earliest generations perform against the latest generations, but close-generation matches take a lot of weight out of the end result. Basically though a smaller number means that the Generations aren't AS stratified. There's enough love for newer Gens vs older ones. This number hovered much closer to 1 for most of the data gathering.

Idk if this is helpful, but here's the formula:

=AVERAGE(ARRAYFORMULA(IF(B2:B-A2:A<>0, B2:B-A2:A,)))

The A col lists the winners and the losers are in B, so it's literally just averaging the difference between the winner and the loser. The best conclusion we can draw from this is that there is a preference toward older generations. If there was a preference toward newer ones, the number would be negative.

Old/New:

Literally just the number of older generation wins divided by newer generation wins, which you can see right next to that, so yeah older Gens, relative to the other Gen in the poll, have quite a bit of a lead.

Other notes:

In more recent polls, voting is actually skewing more toward later generations, but at the start, which notably voted on starters, voting was HEAVILY skewed toward older generations vs newer ones. It was unfortunately because I noticed this that I ended up having to collect data from all the (relevant) polls because those trends pretty strongly impacted the results...

Anyway! I don't feel confident to make any conclusions outright, but now at least we have an idea of what the numbers look like right now! Lots can be gleaned from this.

[cacodaemonia]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks so much for the tag, @lyntergalactic! :D I feel like I've done this before, but it must have been a whole ago. It looks fun! (also, I'm pasting just the questions at the bottom of the post if anyone wants to copy those)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 247, though I'm not really sure what the ratio is for images versus fics... Okay, apparently, 97 of them are tagged with 'fanart' and have fewer than 100 words, so somewhere around 100 image-only works and 147 fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 1,141,145; which includes a few collabs and fics for which I just contributed an image.

3. What fandoms do you write for? TCW exclusively 😅 Though I've done a handful of images for other things like Arcane, Dune, Trigun, The Expanse, House of the Dragon...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? A bunch of my works with the most kudos are images, but if we're talking fics, then I think it's just some of my oldest ones...

That’s Not How It Happened (This Is How It Happened) - Fives arc fix-it and my first fic.

Orbital Decay - Codywan that I haven't edited since I posted it, so I can't vouch for the quality.

Modulation - Another one I haven't touched since I posted it, but it's an 'Echo gets rescued much earlier than in canon and he and Fives reunite' fix-it of sorts.

Will You Walk With Me? - Waxer's pov from the start of the war to the (fix-it) end, and it mostly focuses on his and Boil's friendship (Waxer & Boil or Waxer/Boil pre-relationship - take your pick). Even though this certainly isn't the best thing I've written, it's my baby. 🧡

Interference - Umbara fix-it featuring minor canon characters and some necessary OCs in the first chapter, then more major canon characters later.

More stuff below the cut, since this is a long list...

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably You're Just Harder to See Than Most, which ends very sadly on its own, but it's part of a larger fix-it including Modulation above, so Fives and Echo get reunited.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Pfff like basically all of them, idk XD;

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, just on one sketch dump, where someone went through 6 chapters of spicy cloneshippy images and then decided they needed to complain about it being gross and immoral 🤣 It was hysterical kjlksahfg

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh yes, I'm a certified smut goblin. Not really sure what the question means by 'what kind,' but I guess 'porn with feelings' is probably the AO3 tag that would most accurately describe all of the smut I've written XD

10. Do you write crossovers? Nope.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! :D

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Hm, I suppose if we're defining that as like, "what ship have you intensely shipped for the longest amount of time," it would be destiel? I was veeeeeery into that ship for many years.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I've had one wip sitting around for over a year, and for a while I was thinking I wasn't going to get back to it ever. But I made a little vibes playlist for it and had some help brainstorming, so I'm hopeful I can start tackling it again after I get some current stuff drafted.

16. What are your writing strengths? Starting something and working on it until it's finished.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I have a lot of trouble generating ideas on my own.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I think it's fine as long as it's either A. very short and clear from context or B. for some reason, the writer is intending to confuse the reader and obfuscate what was said. I know I've said it before, but I'm not gonna scroll to the bottom of a fic every few paragraphs to find the translations for whole phrases or sentences. If the amount of 'other language' starts making the dialogue difficult to follow, I'm just gonna nope out.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically, I wrote one thing for Gundam Wing back in like 2000, but I can't even remember what I did with it or what it was about, exactly. Other than that, TCW.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? flsdlfg that's really difficult... idk man, if it's quality we're talking about rather than sentimentality, I'd say it's a toss-up between these three 😅:

My Heart's Red Muscle - Canon-divergent AU where Waxer is a cyborg.

Kinktober 2022 - Character studies/development through smut, where Waxer and Boil find a list of sexy things to try out, so it's kind of meta. It's from my main Open Skies AU, and I'm weirdly proud of this one XD;

We Could Breathe Underwater - Force-sensitive Waxer and Boil AU

Phew! Okay this took me like three sessions to answer, but it was fun :)

No-pressure tags: anyone who sees this and wants to do it, plus @lizardberries @elismor @bilbosmom-belladonna @valkeakuulas @petrifiedforests @marbled-polecat @writegowrite @sophronist @marbled-polecat @ivalane

20 Questions for Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

[pokemon-researcher-alexander]

@koffing-time getting down into the weeds on Houndoom burns here instead of clogging the other post. or as much as i can before some other researchers start yelling at me to just write a paper already. buckle up folks.

to start with i'm gonna paraphrase a Xander rant on why they're so vilified. in the eastern regions (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh) most fire types fall into at least one of three categories. they've either been domesticated for centuries (Torchic/Numel), live somewhere remote or inhospitable to humans (Magby/Slugma), or were once revered as a near-Legendary Pokémon (Arcanine/Ninetails).

Houndoom are an obvious outlier and justified or not are often blamed for livestock going missing. with the most potential for human conflict this makes them the most likely Pokémon in these regions to badly burn someone.

let's get something straight. third-degree burns are a nightmare to treat now with all of the options available. in olden times? if you could live without whatever was burned amputation was the simple answer. lot easier to keep a cut disinfected.

so while we now know that a Houndoom burn actually does have more lingering effects than other sources at least some of the reputation is a mythos. chopping off your own fingers to avoid the pain sounds better than saying "i'd rather not get sick and die".

that out of the way let's get into how it actually works.

i'll use the Charmander line as a basis of comparison since they're so well known. they also have a gland that they use to spray fire. they let some of the flammable liquid (essentially crude oil) pool in their mouths then ignite it with a spark tooth (won't be getting into the details but it's piezoelectric). with this pilot light burning they expel a larger amount of oil that ignites immediately (giving their attacks a characteristic explosive start).

aside from having a gland in the same position Houndoom are completely different. they (as well as Houndour) have no sparking mechanism and need some other way to kickstart the process at body temperature.

(Tix i'll send you the actual chemical names later. to stop people's eyes from glazing over any more i'm just gonna call 'em by letters.)

in the gland is primarily chemical A. A being extremely unstable and fairly volatile it's stored under pressure and mixed with an inhibitor (chemical B) to stop it from breaking down or evaporating.

when released from the gland the mixture travels through a channel during which most of B is reabsorbed for future use. meaning that nearly pure A enters the mouth where it undergoes a rapid decomposition reaction into chemicals C and D as well as a fair amount of heat.

out of the mouth C and D react further with oxygen to produce chemicals E, F, and G. the exact ratio depends on available oxygen and heat. more specifically there's a consistent starting ratio but G can further react with oxygen to make trace amounts of E and F but mostly water.

E is extremely flammable and ignites as it is formed using energy from the previous exotherms. F has a significantly higher flash point but actually burns at a lower temperature and this is what's actually burning when a ranged attack hits the target. with something like fire fang E is still going strong which is why those burns are usually worse (for the amount of time that the fire's actually in contact).

i'm familiar with the case that you mentioned and that's a bit of a weird one. i won't mention the patient's name (though you can find it fairly easily) but they were hit by a fire fang in a low-oxygen environment. so E burned up entirely but F was left behind and got in through the open wound.

their situation was atypical in that it left them with a source of chronic pain. hadn't thought of the tattoo analogy before since i don't have one but that's a pretty accurate summation of what happened to that patient.

but wait you might ask. if that's unusual then what actually causes the typical hypersensitization to pain in the afflicted area. it's actually our old friend G. as mentioned earlier it mainly decomposes to water so the body can process it but it takes time. and in that time it acts as a mutagen. affected cells (and their daughter cells since the DNA itself is affected) together release certain classes of prostaglandins in much higher concentrations than they should.

the net positive of this are that further wounds in the area clot faster are less likely to become infected and heal at a marginally better rate. the far more prevalent downside is that the tissues will experience a disproportionate amount of inflammation and pain at the slightest disturbance.

NSAIDs like Aleevee can help temporarily as they specifically reduce the rate of prostaglandin release. they should not be taken constantly without a physician's approval though as they work on the entire body rather than a targeted area and there is potential for long term side effects.

all this being said it's not something that most people need to worry about. Houndour end up producing G at lower concentrations so it's almost unheard of with them and even with Houndoom it shouldn't be a problem unless they were aiming for a third-degree burn (meaning that they were legitimately trying to kill you or your Pokémon). unless they're horribly trained this should never happen in a league battle but best to leave the wild ones alone in case they fear for their lives.

fuck.

i just thought of something this could actually be used for. now i've gotta write a damn paper and cite this post so it doesn't get flagged for plagiarism. how you gonna tell me i'm copying my own work. i wrote it dumbasses.

[longbobmckenzie]

💖 and 🎯 for the ask game please!

Thanks so much for the ask, Mo!

💖 What made you start writing?

Honestly, if it weren't for covid lockdowns, I'm not sure I ever would have started. I never had any interest in writing before (or at least, nothing more than a passing 'wish I could do that' interest), but I'd just started getting into LITG fanfiction (joined the fandom Jan 2020), and suddenly I had a lot more time on my hands. I had some ideas of things that I wanted to see in a fic (at the time there were only a handful of Bobby villa fics, believe it or not), so I figured if I wanted to see it, maybe other people would be interested too. It honestly still shocks me that a) people read it and liked it, b) that I actually finished it (not an insignificant feat considering the ratio of finished to unfinished villa fics), and c) that I'm still writing almost 3 years later

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

Ooh... I think some were pretty obvious? Like r!Lucas in W&S, Gary not being happy about Meg and Bobby in ijac... I don't think I'm super creative with my twists necessarily in the sense that they would be completely unexpected, so I think people generally have a pretty good sense of what's coming (and they know that either way, I'm gonna rip their hearts out and put them through a blender before putting them back together again)

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask

[phantomtutor]

v:* behavior:url(#default#VML); o:* behavior:url(#default#VML); w:* behavior:url(#default#VML); .shape behavior:url(#default#VML); Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; A: For each equation:Solve for  in terms of .                                                                                         (4)Find the value of the ratio                                                                                       (4)Write the ratio  in decimal form, correct to three decimal places where possible.  (4)B: For each pair of simultaneous equations: and andSolve for  and                                                                                                    (3)Find the ratio .                                                                                                      (4)Write the ratio  in decimal form correct to three decimal places where possible. (1)TASK 2                                                                                                                        [8]You may have noticed that the numbers 1, 2, 5, 8 and 13 have appeared as solutions in Task 1. These numbers form a sequence called the Fibonacci sequence.  In the Fibonacci sequence each number after the second term is the sum of the two before it. The table shows the first eight terms of the sequence (T1=term 1)T1T2T3T4T5T6T7T81123581321Write down the next three terms of the sequence.                                                (3)Find a new sequence by finding the ratio.            up to                                                                                        (2)Find the ratios in Question 2 correct to three decimal places.                               (2)Describe what you notice?                                                                                     (1)TASK 3                                                                                                                        [8]We can generate a sequence of numbers by continued square roots:Use a calculator (or Excel) to find the first ten terms of this sequence for .    Give your answers correct to four decimal places.Calculator tip:For T1 press ; for T2 press ; for T3 press  and so on, for each successive term.Write down each term’s value in a table.                                                                   (2)Find the first 11 terms of the same sequence for  and .Record these values in the same table.                                                                     (4)Describe what you notice about the values of the terms.                                          (2)TASK 4                                                                                                                        [6]We have seen the number 1,618 (1,61803398 to be more accurate), in three different situations●     the ratio of the terms of the Fibonacci sequence●     continued square roots●     continued fractions.This number is called ‘phi’ or .  It is an important number and is also called the Golden ratio.  has many special properties.  Let  Write down the value of                                                                            (1)What do you notice?                                                                                           (2)Use the fact that  to solve for  and show that .          (3)TASK 5                                                                                                                        [8]The Golden rectangle is a rectangle in which the ratio of the sides is  of approximately 1,618.Throughout the ages this ratio has been recognised as aesthetically pleasing.

  Many buildings and works of art have the Golden rectangle in them.  Two examples are the Parthenon in Greece and the United Nations building in New York, where the ratio of the width of the buildings compared with the height of every ten floors is the Golden ratio.Rectangle 1 has sides  and  with the ratio of length to breadth ofRectangle 2 is formed by creating a square of length  on the one side of Rectangle 1.  The remaining Rectangle 2 has sides of length and  with the ratio of length to breadth of ..  If the two rectangles have the same ratio of length to breadth, then they are Golden rectangles.  In other words .Show that the equation is the same as                                      (2)If , solve for  in the equation. Leave your answer in surd form.(Why can we discard one of the values of ?)                                                         (3)What do you notice about this number?                                                                   (1)Use the equation  to show that , use golden ratio           

[retvenkos]

“this place feels like home”

A/N: someone mentioned it, so here i am

WHAT THE HOGWARTS COMMON ROOMS LOOK LIKE, IN MY CLEARLY SUPERIOR OPINION...

gryffindor common room

i’m no interior decorator, and i’m betting godric gryffindor wasn’t either, so it looks like a glorified man cave

lots of designated areas for just hanging out, a huge, central fireplace, lots of open places perfect for pulling your wand on someone to duel, but very cluttered in other areas where you are meant to be close for house bonding!

secondly, there are a total of like, 4 desks you can use to work on, and they’re pushed to the walls, the chairs constantly stolen for something or another.

the main focus of the gryffindor common room is the couches and chairs

there’s a recliner that some muggle-born student brought in, and when they first kicked it out the purebloods went absolutely feral

they don’t know how it works, but they love it

there are so many radios... gryffindor has the best sound system for any kind of party. the other houses have to use charms to get the sound evenly distributed, but gryffindors just use their like, 10 different radios

there are a lot of spare pillows and blankets, but they don’t exactly have a place to go - they’re usually just thrown on the back of the couches or cast to the floor.

sometimes the 1st years will play “the ground is lava” and it’s vvv sweet

the ceiling has constellations mapped onto it, and they’re actually accurate. using your wand, you can “shift” the sky and it’s a really effective way to get your astronomy homework done

harry didn’t notice it because he’s as observant as a doorknob

the most chaotic thing about the gryffindor common room is the fact that there are real swords and battle axes on the wall, all of which belonged to godric gryffindor himself

students will 100% try to use them as jokes, but they can never manage to actually grab them? their hands just go right through them like they aren’t real

but if you approach them with nothing but wonder and reverence, when you reach out, you can most definitely feel them, and they are real

i really just want someone to have picked up a battle axe during the battle at hogwarts, now

there are a couple of portraits that give life advice, but most of them are #tired and leave their portraits to go visit others because the common room can get so crazy

the amount of animals this common room has,,,, i sure do hope you’re not allergic

there are lizards, rats, toads, cats, tarantulas...

if you’re afraid of any of them, tell your classmates when you’re still a first or second year and the whole of gryffindor tower will rally behind you to make the other person put their animal in their dormitory

there always seems to be leftover food from a party, so you’re well fed. 

and if you’re from another house, this is the easiest house to steal food from.

oh, and the carpet (because YEAH, someone put in carpet with some kind of magic) does not match the furnishings at all.

minimalists cry at the sight of this common room 

slytherin common room

first of all!!!! this common room has a glass ceiling because someone else came up with this idea and it is legendary

they mentioned the merfolk help with classes! they know sign language! i am very here for it.

then,,, there is an entire section of the common room that is dedicated to games - checkers, chess, poker, solitaire, even some muggle board games

it’s how they foster community. friendly competition is everything to slytherins and slytherins can actually do friendly competition, unlike ravenclaws

at lot of purebloods are still trying to win risk. it confuses them so much.

there’s probably a cat or two in this common room

they actually get along fairly well with the owls, but every so often snape has to come in and stop then from attacking each other and it would be hilarious if he weren’t so intimidating

there’s a lot more space in this common room, or maybe it’s just set up as to give the illusion of more space. either way, the slytherins are more spread out.

they don’t like breathing on each other

the gothic aesthetic does exist, but it’s not all gloomy because some intelligent slytherin’s know that’s bad for mental health.

they probably have a fourth of the room (maybe in a corner) that’s a little more lighted and cozy, with the most supportive portraits in that area

the slytherin common room has bean bags

this was a later addition, ofc, seeing as there is no way in hell salazar slytherin would ever allow that to happen

but everyone loves them a whole lot. 1st years always beeline for them

and slytherin was a good interior decorator, so we have the perfect ratio of portraits to wall space and the amount of lamps is actually palatable.

and there might be a dramatic hamlet skull on a table or two, but they’re not real - just decor. sometimes slytherin’s use them for pranks.

there’s actually a fair bit of communal property, too? like, there’s a lot of blankets, a bookshelf, and a table that always has food on it because the dungeons are hella far away from the kitchens and many slytherins like a good midnight snack

the slytherins actually talk more to ghosts than the other houses - ghosts like to hang out in the dungeons, and the amount of ghost jokes that the slytherins know is incredible

a group of hufflepuffs swear they once heard professor binns laugh at a ghost joke one of the slytherin’s retold

the snake iconography of this room is so high - it would honestly be a little unnerving if everyone wasn’t just used to it.

there’s probably a game going around where someone will conjure up an extra snake decoration and every week the first and second years are trying to find out which one it is

sometimes a very tired 5th year will give you a hint

there’s not a space that’s specifically designated for studying, but you can often find space in a few different places.

the desks are always being used for games, like i mentioned above, but someone had introduced the idea of lap desks and slytherins love that so much.

ravenclaw common room

this is the most minimalist of the common rooms in decor and style, but there’s so much happening at all times that it never looks bare

and a fair few ravenclaws are BIG about organization, so this is one of the more compartmentalized common rooms

it’s also formatted this way because the studious ravenclaw has threatened the musically inclined ravenclaw, saying that they will not hesitate to sabotage the other’s saxophone if they ever hear careless whisper while trying to study for n.e.w.t.s again.

also, i just want to say that ravenclaw house is probably one of the most diverse houses because creativity is so broad, and that combined with their individualistic streak means that community is a little less strong in this house, but there’s a place for everyone

i have no doubt that someone has enchanted the common room to expand on the inside, so it has much more room than say gryffindor common room or hufflepuff common room. 

they’re also big about making boundaries - there’s probably actual walls and doors between different areas. 

like, one for studying, one for art (like drawing and painting), one for music, etc.

also, you would think this is a quiet common room but you would be wrong.

the quiet ones are slytherin and hufflepuff. gryffindor and ravenclaw are both p chaotic.

except for the quiet room, which is as silent as they come. if you need quiet inspiration, you go there. it’s also the study room, though, so when you’re struck with inspiration, you have to keep quiet.

now, ravenclaws like to keep what is theirs, but they do have some communal property, mostly in the form of books and materials like typewriters and art supplies (although some people are very territorial about their brushes. it’s a toss up.)

there’s a floor to ceiling window that can actually be opened up - kind of like doors. the ravenclaws have it instead of the gryffindors because they have self control and won’t jump out the window without a sure plan of survival.

there’s also statues and busts! rowena ravenclaw was decent at interior design, and she loved sculpture - maybe she had a sculptor lover at one point? who knows? there’s just a lot of busts in ravenclaw tower

no doubt they’re enchanted to give advice or tbh just to gossip. i imagine there’s a lot of gossip in ravenclaw tower

the walls are painted in some places. it’s a rule that you don’t paint over other people’s art, but the paint is also enchanted so that if you look closely, you can see the name of who has painted what, and ravenclaws are too proud to do idiotic things like drawing crude doodles on the walls.

the only person to ever paint on the ceiling is luna lovegood, and she was commissioned to do so after her time at hogwarts.

there’s also a chalkboard wall for when you’re studying and need to write things down to think. beware, though, because your work can and will be erased.

you can also write on the large window i talked about! muggle students have brought dry erase markers and they are much needed.

oh, and ravenclaws have a lot of owl access - they owls like to stop at ravenclaw tower for treats and whatnot, and ravenclaws definitely use this to their advantage. they have priority for mail service and it’s a win tbh.

hufflepuff common room

now helga hufflepuff was no interior decorator either, but she was a homemaker, so we all know that this common room is the most home-like of the bunch

first of all, there are potted plants everywhere. hufflepuffs are known to be good at herbology, and that tradition means there are a whole lot of life in this common room

there’s also a curious amount of sunlight, too, despite being in the basement. i’m not exactly sure how it’s done, but the common room has actual sunlight - it’s important for the plants.

i also imagine there’s one wall that is a long mirror. you can use it for whatever you like, introspection, self affirmations, or reflecting light or whatever, but helga thought it was important to always be aware of yourself.

muggle students have brought sticky notes and now the mirror if full of them - little reminders, little motivations, fun quotes, jokes, etc.

there’s also a lot of couches and desks. the desks are usually very cluttered, but you can always find space for your stuff, somehow. and the couches are the softest at hogwarts, gryffindors have been trying to steal them for years.

also, the marauders were incredibly presumptuous, thinking they had found all of the secret passageways in the castle - there are at least 3 secret passages that only hufflepuffs know about and it’s one of the best kept secrets at hogwarts. they all connect to the common room.

and as initiation, on their first night as hufflepuffs, first years traverse secret passageways in the dark trying to figure out where they lead, all of them having to work together to figure out the lumos spell for some light.

and one of those passageways leads to the kitchens. it’s how they get the best food for parties. hufflepuffs often put in requests for what they want at breakfast or dinner.

this is also the warmest common room. i’m not exactly sure how it’s done, but the common room is never cold - maybe a little chilly, but not cold enough that you need a sweater.

the flooring is carpet, but parts of it are hard wood - it’s clear it used to be carpet, but was stained beyond repair from a broken pot or two.

there is toad supremacy in the hufflepuff common room. there’s probably one or two toads that don’t have real owners but are treated as the house pets.

there’s also a few paintings - all of them are smaller because there’s so much going on in this common room already, the walls have to be mellow to account for everything else, but there’s a couple and all of them like to tell jokes and give really good advice. 

two of the newer (and favorite) additions include cedric diggory and tonks. they both get along quite well, although tonks is more mischievous and cedric is more down to earth.

cedric will often tell you how to charm a professor, if you ask, and he might give answers to homework questions to favorite students.

similar to gryffindor common room, there’s a lot of cozy areas that encourage students to chat with each other and spend time together.

but similar to slytherin, there is a lot of games about - they involve less strategy and more fun (like hide and go seek or charades) - but games is a bonding strategy that hufflepuffs utilize.

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

-- taglist: @musicallisto, @theletterhart, @locke-writes, @randomfandomimagine, @brokenandheadoverheels, @timeofmadness, @writerdream22, @lotsoffandomrecs, @neelia-thedaughtherof-athena, @coffee--writes, @lenalxvegood, @cooloaflandhero, @swanimagines, @noesapphic​, @amortensie // message me if you want to be added!

[manie-sans-delire-x]

My thoughts/analysis of We Need to talk about Kevin

From abnormal psych class paper:

The character I chose to analyze and diagnose is Kevin Khatchadourian from the 2011 film, We Need to Talk about Kevin. Brilliantly depicted by star Ezra Miller and various other child actors, Kevin is an angry, emotionally detached boy who struggles in his complex relationship with his mother. We see the unhealthy relationship develop between the two through-out the film as Kevin grows from a baby to a young man, ending in tragedy as Kevin achieves his ultimate revenge against his mother by massacring the rest of their family as well as several classmates in a school shooting.  

After carefully noting Kevin’s behavior and the way he and his mother Eva interact when he is a young child, I have decided to diagnose Kevin with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). The diagnostic criteria from the current Diagnostic and Statistical manual (DSM-5) for RAD reads as follows: 

A. A consistent pattern of inhibited, emotionally withdrawn behavior toward adult caregivers, manifested by both of the following: 

1. The child rarely or minimally seeks comfort when distressed. 

2. The child rarely or minimally responds to comfort when distressed. 

B. A persistent social or emotional disturbance characterized by at least two of the following: 

Minimal social and emotional responsiveness to others 

Limited positive affect 

Episodes of unexplained irritability, sadness, or fearfulness that are evident even during nonthreatening interactions with adult caregivers. 

C. The child has experienced a pattern of extremes of insufficient care as evidenced by at least one of the following: 

Social neglect or deprivation in the form of persistent lack of having basic emotional needs for comfort, stimulation, and affection met by caring adults 

Repeated changes of primary caregivers that limit opportunities to form stable attachments (e.g., frequent changes in foster care) 

Rearing in unusual settings that severely limit opportunities to form selective attachments (e.g., institutions with high child to caregiver ratios) 

D. The care in Criterion C is presumed to be responsible for the disturbed behavior in Criterion A (e.g., the disturbances in Criterion A began following the lack of adequate care in Criterion C). 

E. The criteria are not met for autism spectrum disorder. 

F. The disturbance is evident before age 5 years. 

G. The child has a developmental age of at least nine months. 

Specify if Persistent: The disorder has been present for more than 12 months. 

Specify current severity: Reactive Attachment Disorder is specified as severe when a child exhibits all symptoms of the disorder, with each symptom manifesting at relatively high levels. 

Kevin displays behavior that meets both criteria A and B. As a baby he cried constantly, reportedly even when held, showing an inability or unwillingness to be soothed. As a toddler he shows defiance, disinterest in social interaction, and a refusal to engage in play, such as when his mother is attempting to play with a ball with him and he refuses to roll the ball back or respond in any way, instead staring at her with a sullen expression. Kevin also refuses his mother’s pleas to say the word “Mommy”. As a slightly older child, Kevin continues to act defiantly and shows anger, ripping up the paper when his mother attempts to school him, immediately soiling his newly changed diapers on purpose, throwing food against the wall and onto tables, breaking his crayons, making nonsensical noises to irritate his mother, and destroying his mother’s artfully decorated room. When he is taken to the doctor to be examined, he shows no expression, does not speak, and stiffens his body. When his baby sister is born, he purposefully sprinkles water onto the newborn, causing her to cry. It should be noted however that in one instance Kevin seems to relax his cold exterior and accept comfort from his mother, shown by the scene in which he falls ill and cuddles with his mother while she reads him a story. He even apologizes for her having to clean up his throw-up. Unfortunately, as soon as he is feeling well again he is back to being rude and rejecting any attempt of hers to take care of him, refusing her help to change his clothes.  

As for criteria C, although Kevin has not experienced extreme abuse or neglect, I believe Kevin suffered from a traumatic birth as it was mentioned that his mother was resisting. His mother Eva did not desire a child, especially not one as difficult as Kevin, so she emotionally neglects him and is cold to him. Eva makes it very clear to him that he is unwanted, telling him straight to his face that she was happy before she gave birth to him and not correcting him when Kevin mentions that Eva does not like him. In one instance, she is accidentally too rough with him and breaks his arm, which Kevin later refers to as being the most honest thing she ever did. Kevin also meets the criteria of D through G, and his symptoms are persistent. I would say Kevin has moderate to severe symptoms as he does exhibit all listed symptoms quite regularly.  

I believe Kevin’s psychological problems may also have developed into conduct disorder (CD) as an adolescent and then antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) or psychopathy in adulthood, especially after taking into consideration the mutilation of his sister’s eye and the killing of his sister’s guinea pig, his father, his sister, and several classmates. He shows no guilt or empathy, appears to have shallow emotions besides anger, and shows no evidence of having affection or emotional bonds to anyone. He is also very manipulative; putting on a fake act of normalcy for his father, turning his parents against each other, and navigating the legal system to get his best outcome. However, I know that children with RAD can also be violent and if not treated, behave in a way very similar to conduct disorder in adolescence and ASPD or psychopathy in adulthood. The main reason I chose to focus on RAD over CD or ASPD is because I believe the root of Kevin’s problem is immense pain at being rejected and unloved as a child and that he harbors a deep desire to have that connection but is unable to accept affection.  He is so focused on and consumed by his anger towards his mother, while someone with true psychopathy may be more detached and indifferent. I also leaned more towards RAD given that he showed symptoms from such a young age and did not seem to have any problems outside of his issues with his mother, such as acting out in school or engaging in petty, impulsive crime. I do wish that the film showed more of his interaction with his peers. Lastly, I felt RAD was a more accurate choice because of the subtle signs of it that are associated more with RAD than CD, such as stiffening his body when others try to hug him, making nonsensical sounds, and not making eye contact as an infant, although that may not have been intentionally put in the film. Either way, his parents certainly needed to talk to professionals about Kevin when he was a child. Had they done so, perhaps they could have prevented the tragedy of both his life and the pain he inflicted on others.  

Response to tumblr ask:

I agree! I would have loved to see how he interacts at school, what he does when he’s alone and has spare time, and more of his childhood.

I think he had multiple reasons:

1- To make his mother suffer since he obviously has a lot of anger and resentment towards her

2- Because he doesn’t feel much positive emotion and gave up on ever feeling pleasure or enjoyment from regular life. Normal life is incredibly boring for him. He wanted to DO something- real, meaningful, make something happen. He wanted to Live. I very much relate.

3- He enjoys the attention he gets from it.

We talked about this in my forensic psych club- whether we should give interviews and all this attention to violent criminals. Our society is fascinated by them to the point where we make movies and books. People sell and collect memorabilia. They have fan-girls writing love letters and showing up to their court sessions, even fighting each other over them. It’s pretty crazy. But on the other hand, it’s important that we study them. Or is it? There’s a debate about everything.

4- His philosophy and world view. 

He is very nihilistic, he doesn’t believe life “means” anything and right/wrong doesn’t exist/is just a matter of opinion or viewpoint. His actions don’t really matter either, nothing does. I used to think exactly like he did when I was a teen, and I still do in a way.

As for your last question, it’s easy to forget one way of thinking when you’re in another. It’s hard to remember how one state was when you’re in a different one. Also, as shitty as outside life can be, life in prison is even shittier. Makes you appreciate the ability of choice and being able to do things, even just to walk around outside or buy an icecream cone. He was also only 15 at the time of the crime, and in the last scene he’s 18. A lot of chemical changes and neural development happens in that time. He matured- his way of thinking about himself, the world, and the others around him changed.

[asstronauts]

Alphabet Soup

rating: t word count: 1.7k pairing: jemily summary: perhaps love is in the little moments more than the grand gestures. 26 times (among many) that JJ and Emily fall a little bit more in love with each other in the everyday, smaller moments.

read on ao3, if you’d prefer

---

A - alphabet soup

JJ bought cans of alphabet soup for the boys when Michael first began to read, but Emily quickly found it much more entertaining to spell out words like "boob" or "ass" or "sex?" punctuated with a poorly modified capital P in place of a question mark. JJ had to shut it down when Michael asked what a "tit" was, and Emily panicked and mumbled something about birds.

B - bedtime

They would often unwind by reading before bedtime, and JJ found that Emily read through many foreign literature books. The nights she would fall asleep to Emily stroking her hair and reading aloud in words she didn't understand were the nights she felt most rested.

C - constellations

It was clear that Emily didn't actually know any constellations besides the Big Dipper and Orion. But when she laid on the grass with Henry and Michael, she made up stories in the stars about great heroes and the adventures they went on, and the boys fell in love with the night sky.

D - driving

JJ insisted on driving everywhere without the help of smartphone maps, which had gotten them lost on several occasions. Somehow it felt alright, when she had one hand on the wheel and one hand on Emily's leg, the windows were down, and her hair was streaming in the wind and reflecting the setting sun. Somehow it felt alright to be lost with her.

E - errands

For whatever reason, JJ made running any errand seem like immense fun. Buying groceries, getting gas, even sending a letter felt like an adventure when she was there. They'd only gotten kicked out of one grocery store — when JJ had knocked over an entire display stand of candy bars after running and jumping onto a shopping cart. They didn't regret anything.

F - forehead kiss

JJ wasn't that much shorter than Emily, but when the brunette pressed her lips to her girlfriend's forehead, JJ would feel the need to bury her face in Emily's neck to hide her blushing cheeks.

G - graveyard

On that day, JJ just needed space. So Emily took her to the flower shop the day before and drove her to the cemetery that morning and left her alone until she was ready. In the evening, they didn't speak, just laid with one another on the couch until JJ fell asleep in her arms.

H - horror movie

It was a cheap jump scare, but it made JJ scream out and grab Emily's arm, prompting the older woman to laugh at her. JJ responded with a playful slap, and Emily had to kiss her to reaffirm her love. They didn't finish the movie.

I - ice cream

On a day off, Emily took the boys to get ice cream, and when they came home raving about how Emily had managed to stack five ice cream scoops on top of a single cone, JJ knew she was with the right woman.

J - jaw

Emily's knees grew weak whenever JJ kissed up her jaw and whispered in her ear. Her girlfriend caught on and loved messing with her, working her up into a complete frenzy, then saying the most unsexy thing she could think of. Emily hated it, but she also couldn’t help but to collapse into a fit of giggles when JJ planted kisses all up the side of her face and whispered something like "corned beef" in a seductive voice.

K - kitchen

JJ would use every kitchen utensil as a musical instrument during any spare moment in cooking — while the food was cooking, while the water boiled, while the oven was preheating. She would sing into a wooden spoon and shove it into Emily's face to finish the lyric, and the two would dance in each others' arms all throughout the kitchen.

L - letters

When Emily spent her time in Paris and London, she and JJ wrote each other scores of letters the times they weren't together. They'd both filled up an entire box of papers and knickknacks until they were reunited. Even after, JJ would sometimes write a letter addressed to Emily, drop it into the mailbox and tell Emily to check the mail, for no reason except to make her smile.

M - mugs

JJ had an entire cupboard dedicated to mugs for her tea, which Emily could never understand because she only seemed to ever use two of them: one being a lumpy mug Henry had made in a pottery store and the other being a Valentine’s Day gift from Emily with lovely ceramic boobs protruding from the mug’s body.

N - notes

Emily bought a massive pack of post-its and began leaving notes for JJ around work, bringing a smile to her face every time she found a little colorful message. Some were encouraging — you can do it, you light up my world, you're amazing. Some were cheesy — i love you, je t’aime, when you see this blow me a kiss. And some were...questionable — JJ had to hide the extremely accurate (and well-annotated!) drawing of her naked body before Hotch saw.

O - omelette

Most of the time, Emily couldn't cook without the risk of burning the house down, but for some reason, she made the most scrumptious omelette. Despite not knowing how to cook scrambled or fried or boiled eggs, Emily's omelettes were always perfectly cooked, with an impeccable ratio of egg to filling. JJ tried everything she could to make them the same way, but the boys always preferred Emily's omelettes on Sunday mornings. JJ wondered if it was something she learned during her time in Paris.

P - plants

Before JJ, Emily had never been very good at taking care of plants. They seemed to die with little to no warning. But JJ had taught her well, making little plant calendars and teaching her signs to watch out for, and one morning, JJ caught her talking to one of the plants. As she listened more carefully, she heard that Emily was talking to each plant in a different language — according to the plant’s country of origin.

Q - quiet

The moments after the boys were put to bed were some of the only moments of quiet JJ and Emily got alone during the day. No matter how busy or tired they were, they always intentionally took a few moments to just quietly be with one another, curled up in the other's arms, lying in the other's lap, or simply sitting side by side.

R - rain

They'd gotten caught in the storm on the way back to the office from lunch. Despite JJ’s coat held up above them, the pair was getting drenched anyway, and they gave up and decided to make out in the rain instead. They swung their hands back and forth as they splashed over to the BAU, arriving soaked to the bone but elated, as Hotch shook his head at their sodden clothing and dopey grins.

S - Sergio

Emily had arrived home early and found JJ dancing in the hallway with Sergio to "Can't Stop the Feeling" blasting on the bluetooth speaker. She lifted her ban on Justin Timberlake that day, which had previously been in place when in a moment of weakness, JJ had declared she would choose him over Emily if given the chance. (She’d taken it back for Emily's sake, but deep down she couldn't really decide.)

T - thermostat

JJ liked the thermostat to be set at no lower than 77 degrees, while Emily loved the room as cold as possible. The first few months that they lived together was a horrible battle of constantly changing from one drastic temperature to the next, before JJ finally agreed to keeping the temperature low as long as Emily agreed to cuddle with her any time she got cold. Emily did not, however, realize that this compromise extended to the workplace, where JJ would sporadically ask for cuddles throughout the day, and Emily would have to comply.

U - ugly pajamas

Emily loved her ugly pajama sets. One of her favorites was a bright green Grinch onesie in a ridiculous Christmas sweater. JJ hated it until Emily showed it to the boys, and Michael howled with laughter and asked for one for himself. From that day forward, Emily bought her ugly pajamas in full family sets, including accompanying costumes for Sergio.

V - vanilla

Emily didn’t quite mind JJ’s early morning jogs because her favorite moments were when JJ came home after, took a shower, and climbed back into bed to give Emily a warm embrace, flooding her senses with the smell of vanilla shampoo. Emily would roll over to nuzzle her head in the crook of JJ’s neck and plant soft kisses there, breathing in her favorite scent.

W - wine

Emily drank red, JJ drank white. And Henry and Michael loved to join in, pretending to be adults by sipping grape juice from their colorful cups. Perhaps their family had unconventional tea parties, but at least they always had massive amounts of fun doing family activities tipsy. These were the nights when it was almost difficult to tell the difference between Michael and Emily’s coloring pages.

X - X-Files

JJ didn’t fully understand Emily’s deep obsession with The X-Files, but after Emily convinced her that she wasn’t only watching for Gillian Anderson, the younger woman began finding the long rambles and discussions of extraterrestrial life more endearing and interesting.

Y - yarn

JJ really wanted to get the hang of knitting and give something special to the boys, but Emily kept distracting her. Any chance she got, Emily would hold the yarn balls to her chest as fake boobs, use threads of yarn as mustaches, and drum the knitting needles against any surface. It wasn’t that JJ couldn't finish her projects out of annoyance — it was that JJ couldn’t help but laugh and find her girlfriend irresistible, forcing her to set aside her work and wrap herself up instead in the brunette’s embrace.

Z - zoo

It was Emily's explosive childlike joy when she had seen the dolphins. She claimed it was for the boys’ sakes, but JJ had noticed the pure excitement in her eyes when they saw the sign and felt the way Emily had tugged on her wrist to rush to the stadium and grab seats right in the splash zone. And in the screams of laughter and the moment when both Henry and Michael clutched at Emily when the water washed over them, JJ knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this woman.

[ironunderstands]

2.1 was so good holy shit (spoilers, obviously)

GOD THEY ATE AND IM SPECIFICALLY GONNA TALK ABOUT HOW WELL THEY WROTE RATIO IN THIS BECAUSE IM FOAMING AT THE GODDAMN MOUTH IT CHANGES HOW YOU VIEW EVERYTHING BUT IN A GOOD WAY.

so, let’s start from the beginning in 2.0 I want to walk you through my experience of it

ratio mean to aventurine, everyone gets mad. I feel weird about it, pre-2.1 I come to the conclusion that he got used as a plot device in that scene, since being racist contradicts his core motivations and the dialogue is awkward and has no real reason behind it, I chalk it up to bad writing but ultimately forgive it because 2.1 seems centered around Aventurine so they need setup for that

2.1 drops, my bsf plays the update throughout the night and we are losing our shit. He gets to the part where Ratio “betrays” Aventurine. I fucking lose it, I try to reconcile this with my preconceived notions of ratio, they don’t match up at all, his behavior that whole time doesn’t in the slightest. I am confused, I wonder if I have been wrong about him this whole time, if his whole speech on the Space Station and his character quests were some kind of fluke. I mean it could be in character? Knowledge of how a stellaron works could save millions if not billions of lives, invaluable information which Ratio would have trouble turning down because of its value. It still feels deeply wrong, Ratio isnt a backstabber, and he wouldn’t so easily bargain with Sunday over information he has no confirmation of (and could likely obtain in some other way).

The story continues, me and Haseeb (aforementioned best friend) are still pissed, I’m losing it because my favorite character just did something so unforgivable and out of character and I feel like a complete and utter idiot for interpreting a character to be a good person when they so clearly weren’t. Well, I (luckily) was so so so so so so so wrong about that, as it was all a setup, a plan devised by Aventurine to distract Sunday and forward their goals. I’ve never been happier, and suddenly every weird behavior, every “this doesn’t make sense” goes from “bad writing” to perhaps one of my favorite retroactive twists in fiction.

Ratio belittling Aventurine for his background doesn’t make any sense, I mean we literally saw the guy give a whole ass speech about how he believes all people deserve access to knowledge and that everyone is capable of being creative and having intellect, but that they just have to try for it, and if they are incapable of it, he DOCTOR Ratio is there to lend a helping hand. To cure the galaxy of stupidity, something which he views as not the lack of knowledge but rather the misuse and misinterpretation of it, how he depises the Genius Society because they mostly do not try and use their intellect from the betterment of other, and actively guide/encourage other scientists (and in Hertas case the researchers at the space station) to view knowledge as some sort of prize or commodity rather than tool. This notion is what causes Screwellum to acknowledge that Ratio is more like a medical doctor than a scholar. And this notion is something Sunday Isn’t Aware Of.

Sunday doesn’t know who Ratio really is, he may have heard of his various exploits, but Ratio has a reputation for arrogance, bluntness and insensitivity, something which Ratio plays up to the nines. The 2.0 scene with Aventurine goes from seemingly massively OOC for Ratio to him actively playing up his negative reputation to play into Sundays perceptions of the pair for their plan. Ratio->

a) makes it seem like Aventurine fucked up and he’s mad at him for losing the cornerstones, something which Sunday would see and go “hmm they don’t like each other

b) this “oh I can drive a wedge between them” notion gets worse (although in their case better) when Ratio brings up Aventurine’s (not entirely accurate) background. Sunday now thinks he has leverage over Aventurine and even more of a chance of getting Ratio to betray him. Ratio also makes it seem like he just learned this information by stating he “did his homework” and this supposed unfamiliarity with one another would give Sunday more confidence to try and drive a wedge between them

c) this makes it seem like the IPC are unaware of the Families constant surveillance, as it looks like they are having an important conversation in a private room, which would make Sunday think they are unaware of his eyes and ears everywhere

Now let me qualify this notion with more evidence because you could still try and argue that the deal Ratio and Aventurine struck was post 2.0 argument

Topaz (my glorious Queen). At the end of the 1.4 (or was it 1.5?) Belabog quest she has a conversation with Aventurine in which he requests for her help in Penacony, and we do not get a confirmation on if she said yes or not. Until 2.1, in which the the Topaz (and Jade) stone in in Aventurines possession, meaning she took him up on that offer prior to 2.0 because how else would he bring multiple cornerstones there, which we know there are many because Ratio says he lost the cornerstones, not just his own. Topaz would not give this item up easily or on a whim in between 2.0 and 2.1, meaning she would have to be let in on his plan prior, meaning the plan was formed prior. Since Ratio was also assigned to this mission keeping him in the dark would make negative sense and actively undermine their collaboration, something which he brings up in their fake argument

2. The Final Victory Lightcone. I originally thought this scene to be after their argument for complicated reasons, the most important of which being the minor snippet of conversation we see between Ratio and Aventurine during the first time we meet Acheron. Aventurine mentions 3 chips, Ratio doubts him, and the lightcone description starts with Aventurine questioning his doubt and firing three shots, a perfect correlation that made me place the order of events in that way. However, we get to see the snippet of conversation between Aventurine and Ratio in game, right before they meet Sunday, not prior to the lightcone events. However, they are still clearly connected for aforementioned reasons, just in a different manner, let me explain. Now we know the three chips reference not bullets but the three cornerstones, and Ratio openly expresses his doubt because the family is always watching (something which I will get into) and because a part of him does doubt this plan will go well. However, Aventurine prior reminds him of the events of the lightcone with the three chips. My interpretation is that Aventurine took that gamble in the lightcone to convince Ratio to go along with his crazy plan since if he can win a game of Russian Roulette with an unwavering smile on his face he an insane gamble means nothing to him (ratio doesn’t buy it because it’s ratio but the sheer audacity or you could say the “charming audacity” makes him go along with it). In my opinion this scene only makes sense pre-penacony, due to the timeline of events, which is why I believe it the reason for the events in it has to be Aventurine trying to convince Ratio to join in.

3) The family is always watching. During the 2.1 story quest it gets brought up several times in many different ways that it seems like the family has eyes on everything and everyone. Sunday’s fuckass bird is everywhere, and the man himself (minus being a goddamn biblically accurate angel) is covered in eye shaped shit and possesses close ties with the Harmony, which lends itself well to a character that knows things considering the Aeon itself is a conglomeration of many different perspectives. He fucking perception checks Aventurine, when the crew goes to look for info on firefly they learn the dream pools monitor people’s vitals and everything, even producing a dialogue option where the trailblazer states they feel like their every move is being watched. Topaz gets stalked by bloodhound members upon arrival, I could go on. TLDR Sunday knows almost everything that’s going on in Penacony, this is what leads him to believe the traitor is within the family, and his access to knowledge is something the IPC 100% knows about. I mean they have been presumably attempting to try and get it back for a while, and they would reasonably extensively try and learn everything about it. The Family notoriously hates negotiating with them so the IPC either learning and/or coming to the conclusion that the Family is watching their every move isn’t a ridiculous notion. If this conversation was genuine, if Ratio truly wanted to discuss this matter with Aventurine, why would he do it in a likely wiretapped, not very soundproof room where any passerby could hear Ratio loudly exclaim that Aventurine lost the very important cornerstones and that he is also one of the most despised groups in the galaxy because that would really do numbers for both their reputations. If you think about it, this not being staged is an incredibly stupid blunder on Ratio’s end (minus the deliberate OOCness) because of all the places Ratio could set up a very important meeting he does it in one of the worst places ever.

4) The dialogue in the scene. It’s awkward, it’s so awkward and the whole “also my family died I didn’t get an education” seemed so tacked on the first time I watched it. Knowing now, it seemed so tacked on because it was, Aventurine had to shove the info in there somewhere and their incredible conversational skills decided that was the best part in there. Ratio fucking leaving before Aventurine is even done talking goes from a “huh weird” to a “wow he is really playing up this arrogant scholar role”. And if Ratio is playing the arrogant scholar, Aventurine is playing the dumb, helpless, blonde to a T. Losing the cornerstones and acting nonchalant about it, letting Ratio insult him so callously and letting the insults slide, talking absolute nonsense at the end about random things that don’t matter, sadly lamenting into the distance that he’s alone again. Bro is playing it up and I live for it. They also and play up these personas in their little adventure prior to meeting Sunday, Aventurine asks stupid questions like wondering about the species of the bird that make up the statues and talking about how he wants to play in the sandpit and even insulting Sunday a bit, behavior that would make Sunday think him unprepared and unserious rather than cold and calculating. If Aventurine does that well, Ratio plays up his arrogant, uncaring scholar persona to the nines. He insults any and every decision or thing Aventurine does, loudly sighing of how happy he is to finally have some peace and quiet when Aventurine leaves his sight for 0.00008 milleseconds, pointing out his sarcasm, beefing with a random Pepeshi bodyguard no reason, pointing out his sarcasm, just the exaggerated way he talks in general, and suggesting he admit Aventurine into the Genius Society (even Ratio wouldn’t stoop so low as to suggest Aventurine was worthy of that).

Moreover, this is really, really tragic because I do think there are several moments of genuine banter and fun the two share “Ratio, you’re huge!” was not added to the script to enhance the plot guys. And obviously Aventurine knows most of Ratios behavior is acting, however he has such severe trust issues, and Ratio is so damn straightforward and blunt that he worries the man was serious about some of it which just breaks my heart. Soft Ratio please add it give me one conversation, the note at the end of 2.1 doesn’t count it’s too short.

Ultimately, knowing what I know now I can’t help but view the 2.0 conversation with Aventurine as being anything but staged, it simply makes no sense otherwise, and it happily obsolescent Ratio of his sins. This was a bit incoherent I honestly just wanted to rant (if you couldn’t tell haha) but I hope you enjoyed it regardless. I need sincere Ratio more then I need oxygen and I’m not afraid to say it.

[ursie]

Hot take but we really need to just get rid if standardized test

Like a) they absolutely do not accurately gauge how much a student knows. I promise you how I write essays in class/on my own is completely different than how write them in three hours with two shitty short articles with a prompt I don't give a fuck abt(if I have to talk abt self driving cars one more fucking time I am moving to Antarctica) also the strict and silent testing environment causes sm stress and anxiety I promise it affects some ppls scores

I haven't done the state test for the past two years b/c of the pandemic and it has done nothing but improve my life. I learn the same I have forever but with significantly less stress and we a didn't have to waste two weeks of teachers desperately trying to teach us the test format and all the trick questions plus another week for testing itself

Plus there's the impact it's had on education itself by stressing teachers and focusing on memory rather than understanding

Plus it fucks funding and leads to extracurriculars getting cut. Like I promise we don't have shit scores because we don't have enough test we're 49th in education because we have the worst teacher to student ratio in the country and we haven't updated lessons to fit how kid's actually learn(and the stress poor kids face in general)

Like just fuck standardized testing I am not looking forward to it coming back this year

Oh literally it’s just ableist and classist and genuinely is proven not to work the American education system needs such an overhaul it’s so?? 😭 like at least pretend you care about our education for like five seconds

Send me your hot takes and or unpopular opinions

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Times Winston the Quant Was Right (The Series So Far)

3x03: "Boring." (he’s not wrong. so)

3x03: "I'm rejecting the premise, or flipping the script." (idk true of the character in general. he is one of the characters who hardly fits in / does not always follow the "rules" of work interactions, including here.)

3x03: "And they pay guarantees, not bonuses." (he doesn't get a bonus after his first year working in finance)

3x03: "I've heard about Taylor Mason; love to see if you live up to the hype..." (they do, & he apparently does love to see it. he is Right to say this)

3x09: "I promise to try. But as for successfully not being a dick: I can't absolutely guarantee it. Like I can my coding." ("you backslid into being a dick" "fine, yes, big time" "You Know What? The Other Two Were Sweet, But You're More Talented. I Need You." "Damn Right You Do, cuz i'm the yngwie malmsteen of coding: total control of the instrument.")

3x11: "Wait, this isn't some t-test. This is something you'd pitch an investor." (they are planning to pitch it to an investor)

3x11: "[Taylor: Are you going to tell me you can't play this solo?] Course not." (he doesn’t tell them that; he can play that solo)

3x11: "It's ready, it's fuckin’ ready, don't tell me it's not ready." (”it’s ready.”)

4x03: "Man, I fucking knew it. There was something unnatural about the way we were getting sawed off. I even started an email to let you know!" ("i'm cassandra!")

4x03: "It's pronounced 'owned.'" (it is, most pedantically correctly. we're fine w/little a pedantry around here)

4x08: "You've also never seen them cut off their own father's head before." (accurately understanding the Intrinsic emotional state behind taylor's Extrinsic behavior: "no, you're right" - taylor)

4x08: "I motherfucking win!" (being seemingly the one person to win their fight night bet)

4x11: [the whole 4x11 admonishlogue] (points were made; taylor listened)

4x12: "Q is for ‘quantitative,’ baby!" ("that it is." (it really is))

5x01: [he may be motivated to be contrarian out of Not Unearned pettiness lol but. while i’m sure axe cappers Could become quants if they wanted to i do not think it is inaccurate to say quants might be able to do some specialized math applications non quants couldn’t manage just b/c they choose to give quantly things a shot with 100% fundamental analyst experience (see: the sharpe ratio hundredths of a decimal moment in 5x02)]

5x02: [explaining math stuff to dollar bill (sure he also just wasn't actually going to Try to hone an algorithm for bill and also didn't bother actually doing anything with bill's money for real besides simulating a loss via an asshole tax but not like he's wrong about the algorithm lore)]

5x03: "No fuckin’ way you understand it." (mafee probably does not...(see: the 5x01 point))

5x03: "Hell yeah we can! I mean...this'll be the first live test, but yeah, I'm pretty fuckin' sure." (not only do they pull this off, he later divests all mase cap's non green investments for mase carb purposes in 5x05)

5x05: "The math works the same no matter the names we own and that is where you will always need me." (the math does work the same, at least)

5x05: "Her name's Rian? Are you serious? [...] Fuck. We are so screwed." (pending lmfao. You Know. possibilities)

5x05: “It's a coup d'etat." / [the whole idea wendy wants to get rid of taylor mason loyalists on purpose] (Accuracy Pending as well but. for a start he's just right that, whatever her agenda actually is, they can't trust wendy.)

5x05: "I've been aboard. The whole damn time!" (he really has)

5x06: [rian & winston's back & forth at their desks is basically them implicitly going "you're right, but" in each response to the other's previous remark]

5x07: [nothing rian & winston say to taylor in 5x07 is exactly like, coherent & correct, but shoutout to their still managing to give taylor the Key Info Rundown they need. winston's Being Right is also surely Sometimes about writing him as providing exposition for taylor / the viewer but hey. it still makes him a source of useful info & taylor is Right to listen to him all the time.]

[aurekfonts]

Translating the Sacred Jedi Texts - Part I

By Ender Smith

Adapted from the original twitter thread

This is the first part of an ongoing Jedi Text Translation series

The Sacred Jedi Texts are ancient writings of the Jedi religion in the world of Star Wars. Though their appearance is limited to just two of the films (The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker), they are given the thematic weight of representing the entire history of the Jedi religion.

In The Last Jedi, Yoda opines: “Read them, have you? Page turners they were not!”

Likewise, Phil Szostak (Lucasfilm creative art manager) has warned:

“designers don’t have time to add Easter eggs, lore hints or layers of symbolism (outside of the obvious). If you’re searching for hidden meaning in #StarWars art, it’s simply not there.”

Let us keep those thoughts in mind as we begin to explore and translate the Jedi Texts.

Jedi Texts Filler 01 by Dan Burke

Several unobscured pages of the Sacred Jedi Texts can be seen in The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker by Phil Szostak. The pages themselves appear to be assembled from individual blocks of text and illustrations, in order to meet the high demand of pages required for the film.

By cross-referencing these images with the Visual Dictionary, we learn that this language seems to be interchangeably referred to as “Protobesh” and “Coremaic.”

The implied etymology of the name “Coremaic” is that the language comes from the galactic core, the core worlds, or perhaps a specific planet such as Corellia or Coruscant.

“Protobesh“ meanwhile might refer to a precursor/prototypical form of Aurebesh, the most common alphabet in the Old Republic, Imperial, and New Republic eras.

Since many alphabets in Star Wars are simple substitution ciphers for English (equivalent to the in-universe “Basic”), I decided to try an automatic tool to decrypt them. (Boxentriq is my favourite).

After trying various blocks of text, and adjusting the decryption parameters, I was nearly ready to concede that it was untranslatable gibberish, until a single passage caught my attention, from the left-hand page of Jedi Texts Filler 01 by Dan Burke:

I noticed a couple of repeated words, one with 3 letters, and another with 4. After some trial and error, I began to see words resolve throughout the passage:

It reads [sic]:

IN THE SECOND PHASE OF EACH STAR CYCLE THE JEDI THE JEDI IS OFFER ED. ORCE OF THEIR.

While some of the sentences are incomplete, the pendulum had swung entirely the other way, and I was certain it could be translated!

So I turned to the right-hand page to see how accurately I could decipher it.

Translating a Lengthy Passage

There are definitely some new letters mixed in there, but because I had already accounted for over half of the alphabet in the first passage, it was possible to work out the missing letters using context:

It reads in its entirety [sic]:

IN THE SECOND PHASE OF EACH STAR CYCLE THE C THE JEDI IS OFFERED THE CHANCE TO ALIGN THEIR BEING WITH THTHE ORCEOF THEIR CHOSENCRYSTAL.

THE FORCEIS STRONGEST THE FORCE FLO WS FREELY THE FORCE IS ALL.

THIS M EANOTHING TO ME.

[this line is not readable, due to corruption in my source image] COMMON.

IS OFT EN AND EASIL Y MIS ALIGNED.

SPLIT PIECES CAN BE NO LONGER OF NEL TOANEL THE FORCEFAIL ED PIECES ARE HIGHLY. AND THEREFORE ILL EGAL TO TRAD E PIECES ARE TRADED AMOUNGST THE SMUGGL ERS AND BLACK MARKE EERS AS AS A POWER SOURCE.

KRC FOUR ALTHUGH COMMON IS OFT EN AND EASILY MIS ALIGNED FIVE SPLIT PIECES CAN BE NO LONGER THE FORCEFAILED PIECES ARE HIGHLY VOL ITILE.

A) AND THEREFORE ILL EGAL TO TRADE B) PIECES ARE OFT EN TRAD AMOUNG ST THE SMUGGLERS

C) AND BLACK MARKE EERS AS A POWER SOURCE

D) KCR FOUR ALT HOUGH COMMON

E) IS OFT EN AND EASILY MISALIGNED

F) SECTION NC TW O DENSITY RAT IO EIGHT SIXTHS CENTRAL ALITION

AND THER EFORE ILLEGAL TRADE PI ECES AR TO TRADE PI ARE OFT EN TRAD AMOUNGST THE SMUGGL ERS AND BLACK MARKE EERS AS A POW ER SOURCE

ALIGNMENT

IGNITION PROCESS

CRYSTAL WILL SDIVIDE INTO THREE PIECES IS MIS ALIGNE S IS MIS ALIGNED VOLITILE  ALTHOUGH COMMON.

Making Sense of it All

As you may be able to tell, there are several statements mixed together on this page with varying degrees of coherence.

I have attempted to reconstruct each source-statement as follows:

Regarding a ritual for the spiritual alignment of the crystal with the Jedi’s being:

In the second star cycle, the Jedi is offered the chance to align their being with the Force of their chosen crystal.

The Force is strongest when the Force flows freely. The Force is all.

Regarding the physical alignment of the crystal in the lightsaber:

Central alignment [with an accompanying illustration]

Ignition process [with an accompanying graph]

Section NC-2: Density ratio 8:6

Regarding flawed and damaged crystals:

[Crystals with some particular defect] are often and easily misaligned.

Split pieces can be no longer [functional? useable?].

The Force-failed pieces are highly volatile and therefore illegal to trade.

Pieces are therefore traded amongst the smugglers and black-marketeers as a power source.

Regarding the author’s personal feelings at time of writing:

This means nothing to me.

In Conclusion: Was Yoda Right?

If we take the literal text on the page as canonical, as existing exactly like this in the diegesis of the films, this particular Sacred Text seem to exhibit circular, stream-of-consciousness meditations upon complex scientific, religious, and economic systems. If so, I think we would be justified in agreeing with Yoda that “Page turners they were not.”

As for Phil Szostak’s statement from before, that “designers don’t have time to add Easter eggs, lore hints or layers of symbolism (outside of the obvious). If you’re searching for hidden meaning in #StarWars art, it’s simply not there,” I think it is important that we take it in context.

The concept artists behind Star Wars often do not spend more than a couple of hours on an individual painting. The pressures of the production schedule require artists to work quickly and iteratively. Ideas are thrown out and scrapped at a rapid pace as the story, design, and construction is undertaken.

While these pages are filled with references to kyber crystals and Jedi rituals, there is nothing too profound or complicated discussed. The repetition is the result of quickly copied phrases that are there to fill space and to visually tell a story of the volumes of Jedi texts and the writings they contain. That they contain any lore at all is remarkable, but we must not take that to mean that anything they say is immutable canon.

In other words, take the artist’s words at face-value here: “The Force flows freely. The Force is all. This means nothing to me.”

Resources & Acknowledgements

Here is my Protobesh alphabet chart based on my translations:

Ender Smith is the editor-in-chief of AurekFonts: the unofficial archive of in-universe Star Wars fonts.

Support future translations and typographic design at ko-fi.com/aurekfonts.

All photos used are the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. They have been used altered and unaltered for educational and critical purposes in accordance with Fair Use law.

[osakigitsune]

EraserJoke Blood Type?

Here I should be writing for my fanfics, but here I am making HCs for Eraserjoke...LMAO! 

Anyway, I had always thought as Emi as a B+ blood type since that’s what I am. Somehow I came across Japanese stereotypes and how they have all these stigmas against or for certain blood types. Crazy. 

So, I dug further into it since Horikoshi actually states some of the characters’ blood types. Aizawa is a B positive just so you all know. I guess that each race has different percentages and theories for each blood type which is interesting, since someone could be the same blood type somewhere else in the world, but the personality theories are different. 

Any who, I came across this site. 

https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-blood-type/

Looked through the data and found this chart. 

Blood Type Ratio in Japan    Positive Traits                 Negative Traits A                      40%               Earnest, Neat                Stubborn, Anxious O                      30%  Easygoing, Leadership Ability Insensitive, Unpunctual B                      20%        Passionate, Creative        Selfish, Uncooperative AB                    10%            Talented, Composed      Eccentric, Two-faced

Examining that, I would say right off the bat that Emi is easygoing, leadership ability, and unpunctual. Perhaps she could be stubborn as when it comes to her students or she disagrees with someone when she feels passionate about a topic or issue. 

“Blood type O is often described as rakkanshugi 楽観主義らっかんし���ぎ, or optimistic. They are outgoing, have leadership abilities, and are able to set the mood for groups of people. They don't care much about little things (as you can see from the mikan picture above), so their behavior sometimes freaks out more sensitive A types. Though they're often late to events (and sometimes rude), O types are incredibly resilient and flexible, enabling them to roll with the punches.”

Quoting the website, I can definitely see similarities between the blood type and Joke’s.  

“Blood type B is generally described as jikochū 自己中じこちゅう, or selfish. They are also known for their creativity. Blood type B has a strong sense of curiosity, but at the same time, loses interest easily. Though there are a lot of positives to B types, people tend to focus on the negatives for reasons we'll get into later. Some say their root is in nomadic peoples who roamed from place to place. “ 

Type B is Aizawa’s blood type and comparing that definition with type O, Joke is definitely not a B. As a B type, I can admit that this is a accurate definition. It’s not going to be 100% accurate, but it emphasizes the biggest qualities of the personality. 

“O × B: Type O is patient and they can enjoy and support Type B's free wheeling personality. A good pairing!” 

Scrolling down the website page, there will be a relationship type pairing section. Not to say that Eraserjoke has to be romantic, even though I ship it as my OTP. It could simply be platonic, where the two get along extremely well. 

[labyrinth-runner]

Writing Tag Game

I was tagged by @obirain- thank you bubby!

Name: Abbé

Fandom(s): Star Wars mostly, but also Shallow Grave, Birds of Prey, Moulin Rouge, Witcher, and Doctor Sleep. Tbh, I’m mostly a Ewan centric blog, fic wise, but I do enjoy writing for Anakin Skywalker and others. People just don’t ask for them as much.

Most popular oneshot: According to my top posts (Idk how accurate that is) it’s Become the Beast, which is my Anakin/ Suitless! Vader x Reader oneshot that I am very proud of because I spent a whole month writing it.

Most popular multichapter: Off of this site it’s Come What May, which is only on Ao3 & ff.net. It’s an obidala modern au with a lot of good obi and ani bonding moments because I made them foster brothers. On here, I think my most popular series might have been A Garden in Gotham, which is Reader x Roman.

Actual worst part of writing: Oh, the fact that I could keep going and going sometimes but I have to cut myself off because otherwise it’ll be ridiculous. Or, knowing where you’re going, and plotting out the chapter vaguely, but its so vague that it takes way more work to get from point a to b than you thought.

How you choose your titles: I try to make a pun. If I’m being honest. Or a reference. I try to pick something that just fits the vibe.

Do you outline? Yes. I used to wing it, back in like. May. But this makes it so much easier and sometimes it’s nice to see what I’ve accomplished so sometimes I’ll plot if I don’t have it in me to write a full fic that way I feel like I’m still writing even when I’m not. Tbh my writing process involves two notebooks before I even start typing.

Ideas you probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice? UM I FULLY INTEND TO GET AROUND TO THEM EVENTUALLY. But, a lot of sequel fics. I really want to write the sequel to Become the Beast, but I know I need a good chunk of time carved out for that. It’s entirely plotted, though.

Call outs @ me: Bitch, people will still love you even when you’re not constantly producing content. Remember that one time you wrote 12 one shots in one day for sinful sunday? Yeah? Well, NEVER AGAIN. your mental well being comes first.

Best writing traits: Title creation. Also dialogue. I spent a lot of time researching things before I write them, because I want it to feel as close to canon as possible.  If I step ooc, its because the premise of the fic was already a bit ooc to begin with.

Spicy tangential opinion: People need to ship and let ship a bit more. Also, the likes to reblogs ratio is still off. And people should comment more on things, because I can guarantee if you comment on a fic, the sequel gets bumped further up the list. ALSO, People need to respect OCs more. People (Myself included) spend a lot of time building an entire person and then they just... get ignored? Like, I get it, insert fics are more popular, but your fave canon characters are literally just another man’s OCs.

Tagging whoever wants to do this because I think its fun.

[dearartdirector]

I recently finished an illustration of a dark-skinned warrior wearing loincloth and tribal body paint, as instructed by my client for his fantasy game world. I like how it turned out, and I want to add diversity to my portfolio, but now I'm super anxious about posting it. I know that appropriation vs. appreciation is a big issue in some countries and I have no way to figure out if this artwork (or any I make in the future) is possibly offending someone, or totally fine to post. Any thoughts?

These kinds of questions are VERY hard to answer without seeing the art so here’s a few steps to take if you’re concerned:

1—Is the image objectifying or does it have agency? In other words, does the character look like they are in control of their own destiny or do they look submissive, or like an object for other people to control. This more often comes up in sexy/pin-up images, but it applies in general as well. are you portraying the character as someone who probably has a story of their own, or are they an object for others to use? Are you respecting the characters you are creating? Respect for the source material is the basic difference between appropriation vs. appreciation.

2—Show it to some people of the (race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, etc) that you are depicting. If you don’t have friends of that manner of person, ask genuinely online in an art crit group (there’s tons of them on facebook and discord, try to find a diverse one) - but no matter what people say, don’t argue with them, just accept all the feedback that comes, and see what the ratio of ok-to-not-ok it is as a whole. It’s really important to make sure you’re not missing something historical or important that you might not have known about. A good example is how brands can “accidentally” make things look like Minstrel Show imagery. Many European artists do not know this history and accidentally use these extremely racist images as reference, not realizing there’s a whole history there they’re unaware of. In publishing, we ask for “sensitivity reads” and this is kind of a “sensitivity view”.

If you make it past #1 & #2 you’re probably in the clear. Remember, this is not about saying artists and authors can’t depict or write about other kinds of people, it’s about making sure a) do it accurately and respectfully and b) they don’t take advantage of the community they’re trying to portray.

—Agent KillFee