#bc i think those jobs can still exist even if society doesn't do them

[3-aem]

I spent 3 hours this morning doing the final master trial level in botw and died on what was apparently the last level of it i am just gonna draw gojo nobody talk to me ever again

[kingprinceleo]

Please tell us more about Shadow and Rouge , Shadow and Knuckles, or the trio itself pls I’m begging 🧎🧎🧎🧎

!!! Ok uhh

They're fun I love them I need to do more stuff with them 😰

Knuckles and rouge have known each other for years before shadow appeared, knuckles used to offer his own blood to rouge so she wouldn't get into trouble with GUN for stealing or attacking people. Once rouge finds Sol it becomes way less common, since rouge can easily access food through their markets, but she still teases him about biting him bc she finds it funny.

Knuckles is a farm boy out in the Wild Zones! (Angel Island is one main island with 7 smaller ones branching off, 3 of them belonging to GUN, and the other 4 being untouched, the Wild Zones)

He's got a pickup truck 😎, growing food for himself and to supply his (pizza) food truck with fresh ingredients. In his free time he likes to treasure hunt around Angel Island, trying to piece together echidna tribe artifacts and other remnants of an older society before their modern time. Rouge likes to tag along sometimes and "help", stealing his shit >:/

She knows the echidna stuff is very personal to him tho, so she'll leave those pieces alone, everything else? She tries to snatch for either herself or to sell off to her black market dealers. They have a knack for knowing all the gemstone hotspots on the islands, they've been around for a long time, so rouge keeps contact with them regularly.

Things get shaken up pretty fast when they find shadow tho, a bloodied ball curled up in knuckles field, running on pure adrenaline and prey animal fear. Knuckles is the one primarily trying to deal with him while rouge just watches fjfjfnfn. Shadows pretty fucked up with some teeth growing over each other, claws out of control, and knuckles has to tussle with...All of that as he tries not to get his face ripped off

Shadow eventually gets taken care of and the next few days are knuckles just trying to understand what's going on, but shadow won't speak a word. Rouge decided to go digging for anything about him, and finds out that GUN is looking for him. And since rouge is already off the grid and doesn't exist to them, they decide it would be best for shadow to go stay with rouge rather than knuckles (neither rouge or shadow are a fan of this)

Rouge brushes him off a lot at first ! Doesn't care if he runs off on his own, not her problem. But eventually he starts growing on her, especially when he proves to be incredibly useful when she's stealing from GUN. That's how she starts bonding with him fjfjfnfn and it's something they regularly do for years, even while rouge is working within GUN as a supervisor for the chaotix.

At one point she finds shadows inhibitors and uncovers more about it through old documents and scans, and she lightens up on him a bit. Once he has his inhibitors back he slowly starts working up to talking again, and the blackouts he used to have stop entirely. Then rouge realizes he's the Biggest Bitch in the West <3 now being able to sling insults at each other like a full time job

But mostly things carry on pretty smoothly! Shadow used to have an extremely violent reaction to vampires even being mentioned, so rouge has never told him that she's one herself. And it's been so long that shadow just thinks all of her bat and vampire themed decor is just normal fnfjfnfjjrj.

Present day shadows out and about during the night, sleeping during the day bc he's got paranoia about being vulnerable. He n rouge still regularly loot from GUN for chaos drives and other valuables and shadow helps with the black market things on the occasion. Rouge has Tried to dissuade shadows obsession with wearing silver but he never listens </3. rouge would consider shadow a friend, but he views it more like a teammate situation, he's not a friend guy

And with knuckles! He would frequently come by to check on shadows wellbeing, maybe wrestle with him a bit for the enrichment and getting shadows energy out. Eventually knuckles offers shadow a job to work with him on the food truck and on the farm, which shadow accepts since he's really got nothing better to do on this island and needs money eventually and that's their main thing, being coworkers. Knuckles at one point gets shadow a sick ass hover motorcycle since shadow can't buy anything big under his own name. And shadows an incredible worker, his perfectionism being both a gift and a flaw.

All 3 of them hanging out present day would likely be rouge dragging shadow to knuckles house after a heist where they can just unwind and watch something together

Or knuckles and shadow sparring in the field, which rouge insists she's above getting her hands dirty for fun, until they bait her into the fight by starting an argument

And probably other little things I need to think about more !!

But uhh one last thing I think, rouge and knuckles are both fiercely protective of shadow, it won't pop up often, but if something is wrong theyll both always be the first to be there

Like when shadow n Hoax make their blood deal, rouge won't actively intervene unless something bad happens, she's trusts shadow can handle himself. But she would bludgeon Hoaxs head in if she found out he did something horrible to shadow

Knuckles . Didn't wait for an answer. Fjfjfnfn literally the first time he sees Hoax after learning about the blood deal it is On Sight, which is how knuckles is the first to learn who Hoax is!!!! He punches him so fucking hard he turns back into Sonic 🤭

uh !!!!! Oops that is a little long, they are just so silly to me, hope u got what u were looking for !!! Dnhfjfnfjf

[littleblueberryartist]

One personal gripe I have with TLT was that Annabeth mentioned that monsters often posed as doctors to medicate Demigods and dull their battle reflexes.

Cuz like as much as I love the series for being my first exposure to ADHD/dyslexia/neurodivergent representation. And the fact that it was about positive representation and solidarity in that.

Demonizing medication is,,,,,

So anyway canon is a suggestion and I'm going to ramble about my neurodivergent demigods thoughts (mainly focusing on ADHD because that's what I personally have)

My mini retcon is that Annabeth was misinformed and distrusting of adults because of her past

And like. Annabeth grew up at camp which is full of other neurodivergent kids that get it and accomodate her. It doesn't make her learning disabilities less disabling at times, but it likely meant that existing unmedicated didn't impact her nearly as badly as Percy or any of the other kids that weren't year rounders. So I think her views on the matter would be more detached as a result. She was also really young and I like to think she learns better in the future (maybe when she starts college bc the self directness of tertiary education hell is how I got diagnosed lol)

I wouldn't be surprised that monsters might try and disguise themselves as doctors, since if they're looking for demigods, that would be one way to find them. But I'm taking the "most doctors are monsters to try and medicate the half bloods" lore and throwing it out the window actually.

If anything I think it'd be better if it was more like. A representation of the doctors that won't listen to their patients, or the ones that maybe leave it *all* to the meds to help the kid or placate parents because believe me for a lot of people, me included, just meds are not enough.

I'm not completely sure how I'd go about it? Maybe they're trying to be doctors but because they're actually monsters they're not actually doing a good job??? Something about the importance of finding a good doctor??? But anyway that's the gist

Medication is not a cure all and it won't turn you into a zombie unless your dosage is wrong or the specific type of medication isn't for you. It's is so important to still have it as an option even if they're not for everyone and not demonize something that can genuinely help (even if the side effects can suck at times rip)

And like jokes on you my ADHD makes my thoughts jump so quickly that even if I notice the little things I will simply be on the next thing before I process. What battle reflexes? At least with meds I can focus on the things I notice djfjfjfjf

Anyway now that that's been covered onto the other ramblings!

Correct me if I'm wrong but I vaguely remember Percy talking about how his willpower crumbles at caffeine and how ironically soft drinks calmed him down (it's not ironic Percy it is simply how ADHD be sometimes)

So like

Even if the campers aren't medicated I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them self medicate with caffeine anyway like a lot of irl ppl do. (I've tried to self medicate with coffee a couple of times before I got diagnosed tho it always just made me sleepy)

I'd like to think that the Romans do actually have really good adhd healthcare bc as much as they're about battle and honing your skills they also have a whole ass city where you don't have to worry about monsters. Part of the reason ADHD is disabling is the environment, and in the books it's also what makes them good and necessary for a battle scenario. But these guys aren't battling! They're living peacefully in the city! So like I think they can afford to "dull one's senses" a bit.

This also extends to good healthcare in general. They're a society of largely neurodivergent people, which often come with other co-morbidities so it would make sense for them to expand to accommodate those too. Not to mention they're warriors, likely resulting in a good number of physically disabled residents. So it makes sense for them to cover all of that and have accessible infrastructure.

As far as I'm aware there was no confirmation whether legacies were neurodivergent and they make up a good chunk of New Rome. But!!! Since a lot of neurodivergencies (especially the focus of the books ADHD and dyslexia) are hereditary I'm gonna go ahead and say yeah lmao

Anyway new worldbuilding challenge let the Apollo (both Roman and Greek) kids work together with the Hecate/Trivia kids to make an ADHD med equivalent without as many of the irl drawbacks or smt I would kill to be able to focus without the cost of hunger be gone and meds crash superhell

[rudjedet]

hi!

this is random question and idk if you want to answer it but i still wanted to try asking.

i read your post about not caring too much if your book gets published bc you love writing and it kind of hit close to home.

i love philosophy, i want to study it, get at least MA in it, but everyone keeps saying it's an useless degree since it doesn't guarantee a lucrative job prospects and breaking into academia is almost impossible. yet i can't imagine giving up on it.

i imagine same things are being said about your field as well. so, my question is, what are your thoughts about this topic of "useless work", do you yourself profit financially from working in the field of your interest?

The only money I make off Egyptology is what people currently throw at me on my kofi, which isn't much (though people have been exceedingly generous and I appreciate it every time). The only money I've made off of writing came from the two short stories I published with the only Dutch magazine that pays (and total proceeds were less than €100).

But here's the thing: useless degrees don't exist in my opinion. Even if you don't land a job in academia/philosophy, studying it will have developed you transferrable skills. The trick is knowing which ones apply for which other jobs and how to market those to job interviewers. Studying ancient history gives you skills that might land you a job in e.g. data analysis or statistics, fields that seem mutually exclusive with ancient history but aren't.

Won't lie though, it's hard. Because the great majority of people doesn't see past your degree, and our capitalist hellscape means most if not all of arts/humanities-adjacent degrees and "hobbies" are nearly impossible to make a living out of. In that sense, sure, some degrees are indeed borderline "useless". But that's not the fault of the degree.

For me, Egyptology felt as the only degree I even could finish. That might be my brain lying to me because I've all my life been told that I give up too quickly, but either way, I just couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. Same with writing. So I'm just going to bash my head into the wall and try to make money in different ways until... idk, something else happens. Publishing is still not an end goal to me, but that doesn't mean I don't wish I could make a sustainable career out of either Egyptology or writing. In my opinion, universal basic income so that people can pursue what they want rather than need is the very first step we need to take to move towards a better society. I don't necessarily need to be paid for either Egyptology or writing, but I wish I could pursue them without worrying how I'm going to pay the bills.

I think a large part of being successful in your own endeavour if you want to actually work in philosophy/academia is going to be determined by your plan de campagne. Knowing what you need to get a job in your field, knowing that the chances are slim, knowing what your backup plans are... That's all stuff that will help you. I wish I could say "just follow your dreams and you'll get there" but that's a privilege not many of us get. I hope you will get there though, and I believe in you. If a philosophy MA is something you want to pursue, please find a way to pursue it.

[menlove]

u kno u could just add a comment right???

but anyway.... gonna address this!!

now. I didn't say that it's fake or unimportant. please step back for a second and read what I Actually said rather than inserting arguments I did not make to get angry about.

I want to highlight what you said: "and things become a problem when you try to force someone else to take it as seriously (or un) as you do"

absolutely agree with that... which is why the rest of this rant confuses me w that in mind?

like it's no problem if YOU personally want to define your sexuality in a very specific way. but you go on to say it's "needlessly confusing" to change these definitions..... how exactly does that jive with NOT telling people how to define their own sexuality? it isn't hurting you if someone else defines their own personal sexuality differently than you define yours. you will be fine. I promise that someone sharing your sexuality label who doesn't 100% see it the same way as you isn't like. destroying the sanctity of the label or having much material effect on your life at all. just like if someone identifies as a man and has a certain definition of that and what it means, it has no impact on his life if someone else identifies as a man in a different way. hence the comparison to gender identity here

no one is telling you they understand your sexuality better than you. they are simply telling you how they define their own sexuality. and if that conflicts with your definition and you share the same label, why are YOU the one who is automatically right and they're the one who's wrong? it's a very narrow way to view things imo. even if you heavily disagree with them, it's also not YOUR place to tell THEM that you understand THEIR sexuality better than them. you wind up at a standstill and all you can do without being assholes to each other is go "yeah alright you do you man" and move the fuck on bc it's genuinely none of your business

I'm not going to argue w you on how to view your sexuality. I don't care. all I ask is that when you see someone else sharing your label and you think to yourself "ugh that's not how I use my label" you keep that an inside thought & also recognize that people probably feel the same way about you. and would you want someone coming up to you and telling you can't identify as your sexuality bc of how THEY view it? probably not. and I'm sure you've had that happen to you, as most of us have.

at the end of the day we are all individuals living in a society with social constructs. some of us are going to find them incredibly important. some of us aren't. it isn't our job to tell other people how they need to define themselves. all you can do is decide what fits for YOU and what doesn't and go on with your day. you don't need to define other people or tell them they don't understand themselves. it's ridiculous and it's very presumptive

and also just remember: 100 years from now those "simple" definitions are going to look different and gay people are going to be having different arguments. our sexualities and genders and their definitions have changed over and over again and guess what? we're still here. and we always will be. even if the words to describe ourselves change. no one can take that away from you, or us. it's not a threat to our existence when those words change, bc they've changed countless times before and that's perfectly okay. you're still you and you're still attracted to the people you're attracted to and that still means something to you, no matter what someone else is doing.

it is deeply insecure to try and change everyone else around you & ensure that they're all following your exact line of thought just so you personally feel comfortable. and that's not a diss and it's true of all of us but it's a growing moment. learn to not give a fuck what other people are doing. you'll be happier that way, I promise

half this website really is like

gender is fake! tear down the gender binary! identify as anything you want!! it's a social construct!

........sexuality, on the other hand.... now THAT'S immutable, ancient, and sacred. these definitions are set in stone and real and everyone must follow them exactly or you are being xyz-phobic. what do you mean we're still just enforcing the gender binary. no no THIS time the gender essentialism is true and good and anything else is gross :/

[oswald-privileges]

ALL RIGHT BUT YOU ASKED FOR IT

Power of Three as a series is just. full of weaknesses, most of which come down to poor continuity and structure. I'm not gonna try and fix ALL of those, bc that'd be laborious as hell, but I will pick out things that I feel are the most egregious as case studies.

What Po3 does have, tho, is an absolutely shining strength in the concept of its three main characters. After twelve books of Blandly Heroic Protagonist Syndrome, Jayfeather is an absolute godsend. He's angry! He's rude! He's unhappy! He's not nice. I Love Him And He's My Son. Lionblaze has his invincible pride (hah) and emergent bloodlust, and Hollyleaf has her moral absolutism and certainty. These are good starting points for characters. Sadly, the lack of continuity undermines what could have been three really good character arcs.

So! I present to you:

HOW TO MAKE "WARRIORS: THE POWER OF THREE" NOT COMPLETELY SUCK ACCORDING TO MY PERSONAL TASTE; A NON-EXHAUSTIVE, NON-CONSECUTIVE LIST BY ME

ONE

- Have there be a persistant, overarching series threat. Sol is a character with amazing villain potential who does literally nothing except hang around, and do exactly 2 Bad Things completely off-screen. This Is Not Good.

- Instead, have him be present from the second book onwards- initially introduced as a friendly but enigmatic outsider who is slowly revealed across the series to be a complete black hole of a personality, a social parasite quietly rearranging whatever community he's a part of to just-so-happen to benefit him as much as humanly possible. His "preach individualism not starclan" methods are not so much values as one strategy out of many. (to those who know me- yes i have a type. no i will not apologise.)

- Maybe his ultimate goal is to dissolve and centralise the clans or something so that he can live out his life as a political puppetmaster in all the cat-luxury he likes. idk it's hard to imagine overall stakes for this rewrite BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL DOESN'T HAVE ANY

TWO

- For gods sake you don't have a series based on the premise of "the main characters develop super powers" and then only have the second power confirmed by the end of the fourth book. I understand the first book mostly focusing on Jayfeather- his powers are obvious from the start, he's got the strongest personality of the three, he gets access to most of the prophecy plot stuff because of them. But you NEED to have the other two show an interest in something concrete happening to them beyond that, and you need to at least hint towards the other two having something unique to them even if nobody clocks it yet.

- Have Jayfeather tell his siblings about the prophecy by the end of book two at the latest. The amount of time he spends noodling around not sharing it with them is inexcusable. It's not that it's out of character for him to hang onto a secret for a bit, it's just that there's no point and it slows everything down. It would be equally in character for him to go to his siblings and be like "look, i'm SPECIAL. well you as well but ALSO ME". Boy starts off as desperate for recognition, what can I say

THREE

- Have Jayfeather discover that StarClan don't withhold signs or information on purpose for the sake of "building courage and faith" or whatever nonsense. Seeing and communicating the future is metaphysically very difficult, so interpreting signs and messages is a genuine skill, or even an art. The cats of StarClan, however, really are just ghosts, much more similar to living cats than the currently living believe. This is the impotus for Jayfeather's discarding of his reverence for StarClan, which remains consistent throughout the series.

- Have Hollyleaf and Jayfeather both still change their cat careers in the first book, but put place more attention on the fact that they basically switched jobs. Have a scene where they end up yelling at each other, because can't the other see how lucky they have it? The tension breaks when they realise they've both lost something important to them- Jayfeather his chance to prove he's as capable as a sighted cat, and Hollyleaf her path to helping her clan in the way she thinks is best. They commiserate together, and reluctantly promise to do the best they can with their lots, so they don't waste the path the other wishes they'd taken. This closeness is eroded over the series as they disagree more and more on the subject of StarClan and its role in their moral choices and obligations.

FOUR

- Speaking of Hollyleaf! I nearly threw my phone across the room when the first Omen of the Stars book claimed that Hollyleaf "worked so hard to discover her power to help her clan". Where, Ms Erins??? I would have LOVED to have seen that!! Hollyleaf expresses absolutely no concern over the details of what power she has/will develop, and only has a couple of scenes even touching on her ambitions to help her clan. She has some vague ideas about becoming leader and like one scene where she gets to do some leadery things, but that never gets followed up on. What does happen is that the whole "warrior code" thing becomes more and more a part of her personality (for no clear reason) until she snaps.

- Hollyleaf going off the deep end is something I wanted so badly to get into and be moved by, because I could see where it comes from! Her moral certainty is fascinating, especially since it's based in something as abstract as the warrior code- which, when you think about it, isn't really... anything. There's no concrete set of rules that make it up, no traditional wording or cat philosophers, not even any fables. It's a handful of agreed-upon, common sense rules- don't cross boundaries, don't take prey that isn't yours, respect your ancestors, and don't murder. That's it!

- So, combining the above points, I think Hollyleaf not being one of the Three should stay, but both the audience and the characters are given good reason to believe she is. By around the third volume, make it so that Hollyleaf has found that her power is to get cats to "Do The Right Thing"- i.e. what she wants them to do. She sneaks off often to see Sol, who teachs her how to use this power. Her siblings are concerned about this new power, having already gotten a glimpse at what Sol can do, but she's confident that she can only use this power for good. Volume-specific plot happens, Sol manipulates her into causing him to win, she is shocked and horrified, and vows to stick ridgedly to what she knows is right i.e. The Warrior Code

- However, the more fervently she tries to stick to this abstract idea, the less it gives her results, the more her power seems to be failing. Believing that StarClan is taking her power away from her, she becomes caught up in a faith-guilt spiral that puts her in the position to snap at the end of the series. By that point it's clear to her siblings that Hollyleaf has no power- she was just very, very good at persuading people to do what she wanted.

FIVE

- Lionblaze is a girl now because I Said So. This Cat Is Trans And There's Nothing You Can Do About It.

- Her relationship with Heathertail stays the same- childhood sweethearts who are torn apart as they begin to understand the nature of the societal divides that exist between them.

- This can be used to contextualise the whole "half clan/outsider blood" thing as a cultural contradiction. In reality, inter- and outer- clan relationships aren't at all rare. They can't be, otherwise the whole society would be inbred out of existence in like five generations. But if at least one society of humans can spend a good 200 years pretending Sex Is Bad And Sinful Actually then cats can have persistant cat-racism in the face of all logic. Heathertail clocks this contradiction, Lionblaze doesn't.

- Her relationship-to-power arc doesn't need changing all that much either, other than starting much sooner and being more consistent. At first, she's completely overjoyed by her power, since unlike her siblings, it lines up so well with her ambition- become the finest warrior any of the clans have to offer. As the berserker rage aspect becomes more prevelent, she becomes more and more disturbed by the fact that she isn't disturbed by what she can do, and that she doesn't want the escalation of her power to stop.

- Tigerstar still does his thing, but Brambleclaw knows about it. He recognises the signs from when his father used to visit him, and tries to train Lionblaze in his own way. She ends up caught between wanting to be a good warrior, and testing the limits of her power.

SIX

- Jayfeather can stay basically the same because he's my perfect little angy boy and nothing needs to change. His arcs can be strengthened by having a more robust relationship with Yellowfang where they try to out-bitch each other, and coming to terms with his internalised ablism. Maybe he has a chat with Mothwing about faith a couple of times. Him furiously lashing out at being offered help transitions into an acceptence and understanding of his abilities more naturally. He never stops being A Grumpy Old Man.

- All fucking past-lives unexplained time travel goes in the BIN. Doesn't fucking happen. You can have that lore dump sprinkled across the books, or come from going deep into the tunnels and having a surreal meeting. Make it properly eldritch-level scary, shake Jayfeather's confidence in the idea of them being just a bunch of ghosts.

SEVEN

- Have the way Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight present very clearly as parents to the Three be explicitly, textually unusual. One of the things I liked so much about the first series was an almost total lack of emphasis on who was mated with who, and who was related or not. It felt very real to how feral cat colonies form, where raising kittens is a communal job. This gets completely dropped the moment series 2 starts and now the cats have monogamy.

- This emphasis on the family unit and fostering close relationships between parents and kittens is deliberate on the part of both Leafpool and Squirrelflight. Their aim is to cover for Leafpool so she doesn't lose her role as medicine cat- something she already gave up Crowfeather for before she was pregnant.

- In that little bit of backstory, have a robust reason for both Leafpool and Squirrelflight to leave the camp while Leafpool is pregnant and giving birth, possibly one that ties into the present day story in some minor way. I don't know how, it would just make that element of the story a lot more ground than "we left, the kits were born, then we came back and everyone was cool with it"

- When it comes to the "I am Not your mother" reveal, Jayfeather and Lionblaze are confused and hurt that they were lied to, but come to the reasonable conclusion that well, since they were raised mostly by Squirrelflight, saw Leafpool often, and are loved by both, they don't hate her. Lionblaze has something of a crisis over being half-clan, possibly initiating an attempted reunion with Heathertail. Jayfeather is more concerned with how other cats will think it makes him lesser, something he's still sensitive too.

- Hollyleaf, meanwhile, completely fucking snaps at the way her mother Violated Part Of The Code. It's a completely irrational reaction, but expected because she's been growing more and more reliant on The Code for the whole series, and less and less stable in her attempts to aid her clan and train to be its new leader.

- Squirrelflight is the one to murder Ashfur. This is easy to work out while reading- she's literally the only one of the four with a motive who isn't a perspective character. The mystery is less around finding out who did it, and more about why she did it (it's very ambiguous as to whether it was an accident or not). The main tension comes from who finds out when.

- Lionblaze is shocked, awed by how far she'd go to protect the three of them, and reassures her she did the right thing (as a way to salve her own uncertainty over her own longing for violence). Jayfeather makes it all about himself because he's Jayfeather- upset that he didn't know immediately, instead of, you know, figuring it out in a few hours because he can basically read minds. They try their best to hide it from Hollyleaf, who is already rattling around the final volume as a full-on antagonist, but are unsuccessful. This almost costs them something incredibly important- possibly Squirrelflight's life.

EIGHT

- the whole plot with the Tribe Of Rushing Water is a MASSIVE can of worms that could be removed from the series without issue. As it is:

- Characterize the Tribe as uncertain of how to fight other cats, because yes, they haven't had to do this before. DON'T characterise them as pathetic, doing whatever their leader says without thinking, and with ancestors who have Given Up

- Have some of the Tribe be really good at the violence. Worryingly good. Have others be sickened by what they're being asked to do.

- Have some of the clan cats reflect on what they've done. Hollyleaf would be all for introducing this society to jesus The Code, but even she might be horrified at being thanked by a tribe cat who can't wait to get out there and win themselves glory, only to be killed a few hours later

- The Tribe begin a new tradition of marking the walls in the mud they use as camoflage in order to commemorate their battles, and memorialise the fallen. One of the characters reflects on the fact that in a generation or two, the Tribe will feel like it's always been this way. How many of their own traditions- those that feel almost like natural law- started out the same way?

- Have Sol as the leader of the invaders, or maybe having insinuated himself into the tribe as a "mediator" and doing his charismatic cult leader thing.

NINE

- Cinderheart isn't a reincarnation of Cinderpelt. She's just named after her bc Cinderpelt saved her mother from a badger. this is because I think the reincanation thing is stupid and I can't think of a way to make it good.

TEN

- No more using tails as hand gestures like covering people's mouths. Never. None of it. It's expunged from existence.

Disclaimer: I haven't read Omen of the Stars yet, so I can't account for anything that might happen in that series that's grounded in Po3. I'm like... two thirds of the way through the first volume. I'm Not Impressed.

[liyuesbian]

yeah I honestly liked all of the inazuma 5* quests we've done so far! I think they all added something to those respective characters, save for ayaka's (it did further her characterization but also,,, a literal date. I think it was endearing but it made her feel kinda 2d? idk) I feel like the first two were kinda filler mostly because 2.0 was sorta the calm before the storm,,, (although why were we so passive fjdsfks i feel like the traveler needs to seek out stuff by themselves more lmao) raiden is finally someone who's both girlboss and kind and not reduced to either extreme (or limited to "(hot) wife material"), which is very very good

about the archons: YEAH I love Zhongli very much but I think he owes the adepti (at least) a Full explanation... he did mention that he hinted to both the Qixing and adepti that he's not dead but ganyu's dialogue when we were getting glaze lilies for the rite of parting AAAA I was so miffed Zhongli couldn't have taken her aside to tell her right there. Xiao too, literally they would be so worried for him and they deserve to hear it from him personally dammit >:|

I think the reasoning for the "test" was like. the traveler has a voiceline that basically says: if people knew Morax walked through Liyue every day, they would just go to him for advice, hang onto his every word and try to analyze and reanalyze it all the time, like with Ningguang's paper snow. I feel like that would be the scenario if Morax stepped down peacefully, since everyone would know he still exists; he doesn't get a good retirement and Liyue still relies on gods too much. trying to drown the city was a bit overkill (childe... o-o) but I will hesitantly trust Zhongli when he says he could and would save Liyue if it truly needed him.

also true true! the people still really believe in the archons, even with barbatos who's been absent for so long (venti...), and even after their gnoses are gone and all. it's cool how they have vastly different governance styles but their whole nation More or Less respects them

baal/ei hate is so uncalled for though wtf. At least Raiden's still doing her job unlike her slacking coworkers Zhongli and Venti. and regardless of whether she's done right or wrong, people can like fictional characters who've done bad things.... why must you inject morality into your personal faves :| (genshin fandom highkey sucks oml)

yeah!! the resistance barely got a mention except for Gorou in the end scene, and it's like ??? the war is over? or? it just went by too fast and it felt like in the end the resistance were mere pawns, since the real stuff was resolved by us and Yae (paimon's line that's like "they aren't a match for the raiden shogun" at the battle cutscene is the epitome of the resistance in 2.3)

nobody has explained to me how the resistance got into Tenshukaku/Inazuma City in the first place either 😩 it is nice to see you, Kazuha and Gorou, but what are you doing here?

-welcometoteyvat (eh you can call me by mystic or my url lol, I don't really care, and I think I returned your rant with a longer rant too hsdfsa)

AJWADAH hi mystic! i love how this turned into a "thoughts about 2.1!" discussion into a whole genshin discussion #''1?2!! AND I'M ALL FOR THIS BACK AND FORTH THING

(here we go again, 2.1 spoilers below the cut)

yes!! this date thing with the female characters needs to stop... and actually, i would've loved to know more about baal's friends in the actual story quest (like with venti) instead of having to explore inazuma to find out more (but i will admit that i do lowkey like how the lore is hidden inside teyvat's nooks and crannies but in the case of la signora... not really. we should've learned more abt her first before her death instead of us having to look at an artifact set's description. i'll forgive mhy for this though - maybe we'll get to know her more when snezhnaya releases) and i share your sentiments about raiden/ei! what a girlboss!

MHM i wasn't gonna get into the whole thing with the adepti and venti's extreme laziness but hey, it's here now lmao and right?! but hinting is not good enough for me >:( AHHAHA he owes xiao and ganyu so much they're basically avid followers of his and they have history togther but he doesn't even tell them the truth?! >:(

yepp i remember that but even then, he could've just said "yo i'm stepping down. you won't know who i am bc i'll be anonymous or whatever"... and it seems like zhongli had already integrated himself well in liyue. nobody questioned his sudden appearance or mentions when he came to be wangsheng's consultant (maybe there is but i can't rmbr anything off the top of my head)

RIGHT?! goddamn raiden is trying her best out here!! i'm not excusing her actions or ei's ignorance towards the inazuman modern society pre-raiden quest but she's still trying to run her country and the corruption of a certain influential department didn't rly help either. (and yep the genshin fandom does suck D: we don't have to "moralise" every aspect of fiction!!)

exactlyyyy and again, traveller saves the day !!!! i get that they have main character armour or wtv but still, aren't they a bit too invincible? they defeated an actual ARCHON on the second try && i can't believe it only took two people to stop an entire war which had people suffering, trying to escape inazuma and the tenryou commission and some even went MAD and had personality changes when they lost their visions but now it's all fine and dandy?

OH MY GOD that's true! i didn't think about that.. how did the resistance get into tenshukaku so quickly when they were, what, two islands away?

sigh 2.1 was messy

[sotorubio]

@odi-et-amo85 hm well there's probably no short way to describe prison abolition but to put it as briefly as possible i don't believe in any institution's right to dictate other ppl's lives. don't get me wrong there r ppl who deserve to rot in hell for their atrocities but it's not rly abt what these bad ppl deserve to receive it's what the supposed "good" ppl deserve to give.

we live in societies that r built on systems that r made to serve rich white ppl n there's no unbiased way to sentence ppl to a prison when we live in a world like that. i don't even just mean outright discrimination & prejudice in court or smth like that but a lot of crimes that r deemed prison worthy r based on how much they do (or historically have done) harm for a v specific group of ppl

i'm fortunate enough to live in a country where prisons r more humane than in a lot of places n i think we're top 3 of least corrupt countries n that can be seen when it comes to low crime rates. it's basically shown that a lot of countries w looser prison systems have lower crime rates (especially when it comes to re-offenders) than those w stricter systems. that leads me to a personal conclusion that if we then had no prisons at all that would eventually also mean almost non existent crime rates 🤷‍♀️

so i guess personal reason why i'm against prisons/think they're bad

1. it's wrong for ppl to have so much power over other ppl that they have the "right" to lock a living being inside a four wall cell

2. prisons r incredibly expensive n they don't actually prevent crime. they don't ensure public safety they just punish those who have already disrupted it. since the crime rates p much show that the tougher the punishment the more like is the inmate to commit another crime when they get out it makes much more sense to put the prison funds into prevention. for example providing housing, better healthcare, personal allowances & benefits for poor ppl etc etc we would prevent a whole lot of "crime" bc the lack of all of the above is a huge reason for crimes.

the ppl who still do end up hurting other ppl or smth very serious would rather be put in rehab (? not sure if that's the correct word in english but u get the idea) that not only helps them but also should help the society as that is a more effective way to prevent future crime than a punishment is

3. due to the fact that a punishment w inhumane treatment for several years if not decades in a locked up room is only going to make the inmate bitter at the system & most likely cause various health problems both mentally n physically, it certainly does not motivate anyone to change their ways bc they genuinely want to. therefore the only way a prison could make sure no one Actually re-offends is to keep them there till they literally die. a literal life in prison is no more right than a death sentence is, n i don't think i need to explain why the death sentence is bad. thankfully at least some human rights councils can agree that a literal life in prison is a human rights violation so even organisations that still uphold prisons see that doing smth like that is Wrong

4. personally my idea of what even should be considered a serious crime is very.. limited. basically even if we only ever put the Real Bad Criminals™️ in prison (which i still don't think is much more morally ok than putting smaller criminals in there) there would be very few ppl left to inhabit this buildings.

5. i'm anti-police so i feel like it doesn't fit my politics to first be against policing n then suddenly be like oh but we should still get some Other ppl to go after the criminals n do the cop things anyway

6. one of my future career options is a defense attorney so my job would literally be making sure ppl don't go to prison lol better start that mindset now if i end up studying that

to conclude the rant i'll say that anyone interested in prison abolition should go read some actual essays & literature by experienced abolitionists this is my stance on it rn but the more i study it the more perspective i get i'm just a 19 y/o sjw bitch i'm not the most knowledgeable source for it

[roseband]

Hey... Just wanted to say that if you use disability services that are there for your specific disability then it's not. Taking them away from someone else?? You using them doesn't mean someone else doesn't get to use them, it just means that both of you get help that you need. And one of the biggest internalized ableism pitfalls that I always have to pull myself out of his thinking that just because I'm not as bad as someone else that means I shouldn't need help because that's like. Not true lol.

how "good" or "bad" we are relatively to someone else does not mean anything if that makes sense?? There's always going to be someone worse off than you and there's always going to be someone better off than you but all three of you still deserve access to the same resources that were created for your disability. It shouldn't be a question of "does someone else need this more than me," just "do I need this."

Accessibility and accommodations are something that were fought for and are still being fought for us to use. There are so many loopholes and unspecific wording in those laws specifically because disability activists wanted to make it easy for as many of us to use them as possible. if we need them, we need them, and there is no harm in using them.

I know the guilt is there but that's been hardwired into us by a society that doesn't want us to exist. If the world wasn't built around ableism in the first place, this wouldn't even be a problem. Like hypothetically, if there's only one more disabled parking spot left and you take it because you need it, it's not your fault that someone else that might need it doesn't get to use it. It's the fault of the store for not adding more spaces and the government for not requiring more spaces and in the society that doesn't think it's important to bring it to the government's attention. And it does no help to anyone but that ableist society to turn away help that you need because someone else might need it. you both need it and you both should be accommodated.

Anyway didn't mean to write an essay lol congrats on your job thing I hope it goes well

OMG I know that I do this, and when I have friends do this I get so angry at them too!!!

Like the disability placard thing, I have a friend who has disability plates and a placard bc of a neurological disorder that causes nerve pain and blood issues in her extremities, and she sometimes... wont use her placard because "what if someone else needs it i can walk"

And I know that I have had active disability discrimination in the workforce in the past (a bdubs payed me the lowest of the whole staff including the people i trained bc when on host/cash i couldn't do drink follows....... i was never in the dining area... only on the takeout cash area...........they used my disability to pay me $3/hr less than everyone else,, i reported them and noped out to a new job after)

I feell like we're def all conditioned to not want to take help and yeaaaa ur essay is fine!!!!!!

[nbaceness]

Listen I'm not a therapist but I've been in your shoes so here's my story and hopefully you'll feel a little less lonely. (Get a therapist too tho)

So from 5th grade to graduation I was getting As and Bs - only C I ever got was Spanish 2. I dreamed of going to college and getting to learn all the cool new things since I was a kid. I had a tendency to forget that homework existed but it was no big deal bc ppl would remind me in the mornings and I'd have it done before class. I didn't think anything of that.

But the minute I got to college it was like some kind of switch flipped. Suddenly I had too much anxiety to leave my dorm to go eat. Suddenly no one was reminding me of homework. Suddenly I felt like the biggest failure in the world.

I had an inkling of what was going on with me. My friend who always had similar problems to me just got diagnosed with ADHD. But everywhere I turned I had Adults tm tell me that oh those symptoms you experience are just bc you're smart and everyone thinks they have ADHD just power through it.

I think I finished two maybe three classes out of 5 I had that semester. I just couldn't take going to class anymore. It felt like no one wanted to help me and I just wasted so much money.

I had to go home. The sense of shame this gave me stopped me from living my life for the next six months. (Eventually I learned that the birth control I had started to control my endometriosis was causing my depression to be worse. My brain doesn't like estrogen)

I found a different college, one that would let me live at home and hopefully that would minimize my social anxiety. Of course nothing in life can be planned and my dad got offered a job he'd been interested in for years a month before school started up. I was feeling better at that point and I desperately didn't want to move states again so I decided to give dorm life another shot. *Shockingly* the same thing happened that semester. Tho I did get my official diagnosis of ADHD at the end and everyone who pretends ADHD isn't a real thing can go fuck themselves.

Learning about ADHD and trying to figure out ways to manage myself that went against what I learned in the past helped. But I was still back home, not in school, and now I had no friends nearby bc this was a totally different state.

When I finally got myself back to school I had to let go of societies messages that community colleges were lesser. I still struggle with classes and time management and studying and my moods every single day.

I have only two more classes I need to take to get my associates degree. Getting my associates degree will be the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. I will treat that diploma like it's the goddamn PhD I grew up dreaming about.

But of course I had an anxiety breakdown the first day of those two classes and had to preemptively withdraw from them. While I try to be kind to myself I want desperately to punish myself bc I'm so close and my brain is doing this to me again. Keeping up my sense of self worth is hard.

And now this goddamn pandemic is happening. I can't do online classes either! They're hard as shit! I can't even remember that I signed up for a class if I'm not there in person!

But we can't change that there's a virus going around infecting ppls lungs and causing them to develop pneumonia and leading them to not being able to breathe. We can't change that online classes just don't work for us either. Putting a pause on school bc things out of your control are happening sucks, but it's out of your control. Despite what people tell you taking a semester or a year or even two years off isn't dropping out. It's being smart.

So yeah, get a therapist. They'll help you learn that you're gonna be fine.

If we have to stay at home for a year, and not go back to college in fall then I will have drop out because I can’t do online classes and if I drop out I will have to kill myself because I would be a failure and that would be the only thing that I would be good for. I very much hope that I can get back to college in the fall.

Nonnie, no. What you would do is take a break from classes, and then resume them once you were able to go back in person.

And not getting a college degree does not make you a failure. TBH you can make more money via many trades, and at those you train on the job.

It used to be quite normal to take a gap year or so in college.

What you DO need to do right now is find a therapist who can do online sessions with you, and work through this, because feeling like this is NOT normal and you need a professional who can help you.

[taketaemtoyourleader]

are people aware that you can date people of the opposite sex and still be gay? i mean, i know PLENTY of gays and lesbians that used to date plenty of people of the opposite sex before realizing they were actually gay, so i'll never understand why people keep bringing jonghyun's "girlfriends" (afaik he's only dated ONE woman publicly but people acts as if he dated several women) when that doesn't exclude him from being gay either. also "what's so special about being bi?" fuck that biphobia.

i dont like the usage of the term “opposite sex” or “opposite gender” bc its often used to imply that men and women are “opposite genders” and also that there are no other genders. im not saying that was your intention. just explaining. i prefer the term “different gender.” it gets across the idea that you’re not talking about your same gender without implying a binary, erasing nonbinary genders, or reinforcing problematic sexist constructs about manhood and womanhood being Opposite in some way.

but to get to the rest of your message: i largely agree with you. i think many people (a lot of cishets in particular) have this idea that to be Truly Gay, you have to know from the time you’re like… 4 years old, and you have to never date someone who isnt your same gender, and you have to be out, or at least exhibiting The Obvious Signs Of Being A Gay, which often have to do with whatever stereotypes cishets attach to queer people.

and look: there are some queer people who do indeed fit all or most of those qualifications, for whatever reason, including that maybe it’s just naturally how they express themselves. which is fine. and being a gay person who fits gay stereotypes doesnt make you a stereotype. you’re just being you, and its not your fault that cishets flatten and dehumanize you.

but there are also a lot of queer people who dont know until theyre 17, or 34, or 68 years old, or even older. there are a lot of queer people who grow up thinking and saying that they are straight. there are a lot of queer people who are bisexual or pansexual and think theyre straight bc, you know, if you’re a boy who’s into girls, and you don’t know much about bi/pan folk, you’re often going to assume you’re straight. there are a lot of queer folk who do in fact know that they are queer but stay closeted because they wanna stay safe and keep their family, their job, their place of worship, their school, etc.

there are gay boys who date girls bc they dont know yet that they’re gay. there are bi/pan boys who date girls bc theyre genuinely into girls, and also bc society doesnt make it easy for them to have other options. there are ace boys who date girls bc It’s What You Do. there are ace boys in queer/quasiplatonic relationships with girls. there are gay boys who date trans boys who society thinks are girls. there are gay boys who date gay girls bc they are mutually bearding for each other. there are queer boys who date girls bc its convenient. there are queer boys who date girls bc theyre scared. there are queer boys who date girls and boys at the same time. there are queer boys who continue to be partnered to a girl after coming out to themself as not being sexually or romantically into girls bc they realize that they have a bond with this girl that is more important to them than sex or romance. there are gay boys who stay married to girls bc they wanna provide a stable home environment for their kids.

this isnt an exhaustive list, and it isnt even factoring in how your own gender(s) or lack thereof and your changing knowledge and understanding and acceptance of it can affect your sexual and romantic orientations.

this shit is Complicated. its often fluid. many of us learn this stuff through trial and error, over many years of trying on and casting off different labels. and it’s hard, because we don’t have a manual, and bc cishets like to act like we dont exist, or that we’re only real if we do A, B, or C, or present like X, Y, or Z.

so when cishets look at a person and go: “he cant be gay/queer! he had/has a girlfriend!” it just shows their overwhelming ignorance of what it means to be queer and closeted and deal with the complicated and often fluid natures of gender and sexuality.