#be assured this is a biased account

[channiesbakery]

fan account —

prompt / request — minghao finds your old fan account, and finds out that it wasn’t for him

pairing — fan!reader + boyfriend!minghao

word count — 923

genre — fluff

when you and minghao first started dating, you’d mentioned that you had a fan account before meeting him. you’d asked him if he wanted to see it but he declined and it never really came up again.

until today.

you’re just on your couch, peacefully reading your book when your usually calm boyfriend barges into the apartment.

“babe, we need to talk,” minghao states and you sit up, thinking it was a serious conversation.

“is everything okay?” you ask, seeing the serious look on his face. “no! nothing is okay! how could you!” minghao exclaims and now you’re really worried, trying to figure out what you’d done.

“what exactly did i do…” you trail off, not able to think of anything you’d done wrong recently. unless he was mad that you didn’t put the laundry away immediately or make the bed as neatly this morning. you knew your boyfriend liked everything to be neat and tidy but surely he couldn’t be this mad about that.

“i was just peacefully scrolling on my instagram explore page today when a certain fan account popped up,” minghao starts to explain, pacing the room a little.

“they posted a nice photo spread of my photo cards with a pretty tea set so i decided to stalk their page–”

“you stalk your fan’s accounts?” you raise an eyebrow, cutting him off. “i like to see my fan’s creativity. that’s not the point! anyways, i realize that this entire account is pretty much 90% dedicated to hoshi,” minghao says.

“and what’s worse is that i continued scrolling through it to find a photo of you! my girlfriend!” he exclaims.

“wait, this is why you’re upset? because you found my old fan account? babe, i told you about this when we started dating and i even asked if you wanted to see it,” you remind him.

“I’m not upset about the account. I’m upset that it’s dedicated to kwon soonyoung!” your boyfriend clarifies and you can’t help but be amused.

“seriously? it’s not that big a deal, babe. i has that account before we started dating– hell, before we even met,” you shrug, picking your book back up.

“okay but why hoshi?” he practically whines. “he was my bias back then–”

“he was your what?!” minghao gasps. “you biased hoshi? kwon soonyoung? hoshi?” he just stares at you.

“jealous?” you tease. “you biased him? your bias is a furry!” minghao gapes at you. “why did you even have so many photo cards of his,” he asks.

“okay it wasn’t my fault i always ended up pulling his photo cards in albums,” you shrug. “you should’ve sold them. and bought mine instead,” minghao states, his expression dead serious.

“aren’t you the one who tells your fans not to buy photo cards?” you give him a look. “this is different! you’re my girlfriend and you’re collecting a furry’s photo cards,” he argues.

“in my defense, i wasn’t your girlfriend when i was collecting him. besides, it’s not like hoshi’s the only one i posted on that account! I posted spreads for pretty much everyone, including you! it was just mostly hoshi and jeonghan because they were my biases,” you point out.

“oh great, so you biased the guy who thinks he’s a tiger and the one who has a pet rock,��� he says dryly.

“i might’ve biased them but you’re the one I’m in love with now,” you assure him, pulling him in for a soft kiss.

“so… where is your photo card binder?” he questions after pulling away and you raise an eyebrow at him. “you are not burning my collection,” you warn.

“i wasn’t going to burn it. i was going to sell it. and then use that money to buy you photo cards of me,” he corrects.

“it’s okay babe, i don’t need a photo card of you when i have the real thing,” you tell him, kissing him again before you focus back on your book.

you think minghao lets it go after that but you’re proven wrong a few weeks later when they have their comeback.

he comes home with a gift bag for you, making you raise an eyebrow. “shouldn’t i be the one giving you a gift to celebrate your comeback, not the other way around?” you ask but happily accept the gift.

he watches as you pulled out every album version. you don’t realize that the plastic seal had been broken on all of them as you open it.

you open the first album, checking your photo card pulls as your boyfriend watched with a smirk on his face.

“oh my god, all three hao’s? i don’t think I’ve ever pulled only one member before,” you say, setting down the three different photo cards of your boyfriend.

it wasn’t until you opened the carat version that you realized your boyfriend had done something.

“seriously?” you give him a look when you flip the photo cards to reveal, once again, all of his. plus the carat binder was also his.

“i guess you’ve lost your hoshi luck, honey. you got lucky pulling all of mine,” hao says innocently.

he watches as you pick up your phone, expecting you to take a photo of your pulls but instead he sees you tapping on it, most likely texting someone.

“who are you texting?” he asks and you look up at him. “hoshi. to ask for his photo cards,” you say, dead serious.

“hey! i posed cutely for all of my photo cards just for you and you still want his?”

[skyguygeneraltano]

I just know for the Star Wars version of Twitter, there is just this political update account that has millions and millions of followers. However…this account is like obviously biased to Padmé Amidala and just have posts like “look at her, such grace and eloquence that other Senators lack❤️” and it’s all friendly towards Chancellor Palpatine and Bail Organa and neutral towards mostly everyone else

However Rush Clovis is just getting roasted each time. Just tweets like “classless, disgusting weirdo” maybe Senator Clovis actually start to lose supporters and he wants to get to the bottom of this.

His followers track down the IP address and it’s from the Jedi Temple. Rush appears to the Council and the Council was just “no one is immature enough on the Order would do this…” and Obi-Wan reads the tweets and is just “uh maybe there is one person…we can’t tell you who it is but assure that their actions will have consequences ”

And that is why Anakin Skywalker had to do library duty for a month as a Jedi Knight

[mushroompollution]

Part 1: Bargaining

Finally, the day of negotiations had come.

Leo had suggested meeting in Reim Lunettes' office, an offer which had been met with surprise. This was an unofficial conversation, without the knowledge or approval of Pandora's other directors. Leo and his compatriots wouldn't be able to stroll right in through the front door and halls of the organization.

And they wouldn't need to. Leo still had the coordinates saved from the tea party and his attempts to snoop around for any information on Humpty Dumpty so long ago.

And so, at the appointed time, Leo appears in a flash and a burst of black feathers, a dramatic touch meant to mislead the reality of his teleporting trick. With him are Vincent, Echo, and Lottie, who had asked to come along after revealing her previous interactions with the Mad Hatter.

Waiting for them are Sharon, Break, Oz, Alice, and Gilbert. Elliot had been excluded, with Break declaring him too biased and too emotional, and Leo concerned for his safety.

As expected, the Baskervilles immediately find themselves caught inside a magic binding circle drawn upon the floor. "no hard feelings, it's an understandable precaution," Leo chirps. Not that it would matter. Though the circle froze their feet in place and prevented them from using their Chains, it couldn't account for the otherworldly technology in Leo's pocket should they need to escape.

Despite the unwelcome greeting, their meeting goes well.... For the most part.

Break admits for the first time what the Will of the Abyss's wish actually was: to be destroyed. Both parties begin to realize their goals are in alliance.

So why are they enemies?

They agree to work together, instead of fighting each other. No one quite notices the way Vincent's eyes narrow at Break in disgust.

The Sealing Stone is a matter of contention, however. Leo's desire for peace and clearing his clan's name come off earnest enough. But when pressed about the Baskervilles' mission, their reluctant leader has few answers.

How do you plan to actually kill the Will of the Abyss?

Or even reach her chambers, at the very bottom of the Abyss?

Was the Tragedy a consequence of the previous Glen's attempts to do the same?

Will it happen again?

Are his intentions as pure as his vessel's?

Questions all met with one common answer,

"i won't know until the Stone is broken and i can ask him plainly."

"do we have to ask him?" Oz wonders. "between all of us, we should be able to do it on our own, right?"

"If the Tragedy was caused by his last attempt, then he'll probably know how to prevent it from happening again," Lottie argues. "Don't you feel like something is coming? Like we don't have time to waste with trial and error and experiments, when we could just consult him instead?"

Leo tries to assure them he believes he'll retain his own personality. But he can't promise it. And for Break and Oz, that seems to be an issue. Leo spills his theories that the Tragedy wasn't the vicious plot the lone survivor had described.

"that's why we need to break the Stone and learn the truth from the memories of the so-called mastermind himself," Leo presses.

"But those are just theories," Break maintains.

"And why would Jack lie?" Oz asks.

"but that means putting the world in danger if you're wrong," Oz argues. "besides, Jack promised to show me the truth himself. even if I... really don't want to see that ever again......"

"and i'm offering to witness those atrocities myself in order to understand them," Leo asserts, those starry eyes fixed on the blond with an intense stare.

The debate draws on and on, both sides making their points. Finally, Break calls them all to silence just as tensions seem to flare.

Whether they break the Stone or not can be settled in their next meeting. After all, they still need to decide what to do about Pandora.

As important as he is, Break is not the sole voice of the organization. Their mission would go against all of Pandora's goals. It's why he had kept the truth from even Sharon and Reim for so long, worried he would be killed if his true intentions got out.

That said, with all this new information, he's confident he and Sharon can sway Duchess Rainsworth. "But that Idiot Hair Barma is a wild card." Leo and Vincent share a glance at that. Oz easily offers to convince his uncle.

But they won't likely be able to overrule Pandora's directors without a completely unanimous vote from the Dukedoms.

And Vanessa... "well, she's never really liked me," Leo admits. "if i can bring Elliot in, he might be able to change her mind, but i know she still blames me for everything that happened."

It's a start, at least. Break and Sharon agree to meet the Duchess as soon as possible. She'll know what to do, whether to proceed on their own or handle things through proper channels.

They can meet again tomorrow to decide the next step.

In the meantime, however, their conference is adjourned, and everyone begins to go their separate ways.

Break and Sharon stay behind inside the office to discuss. Leo sends Lottie to the others lurking nearby, then he and Vincent meet Oz and his friends outside the organization's headquarters. It's been so long since Leo's seen any of them. Maybe they can meet Elliot and get some lunch. As friends, not just enemies under ceasefire.

Gilbert and Vincent walk on ahead, speaking casually for the first time in what must be years. Gilbert apologizes for assuming the worst about his brother. Though the words turn his stomach, Vincent just smiles and assures him, "I did it for you though, brother.♡"

Alice runs off in the direction of a nearby food truck, following the smell of delicious meat.

Oz hangs back with him as Leo takes a moment to text Elliot.

"it's nice to think we might actually be able to resolve things without fighting for once," Oz remarks.

Leo smiles in agreement. "see, i told the others i wouldn't have to kill you," he giggles playfully. Oz's laugh isn't quite as comfortable. "i want to believe things are going to be okay. that even after i'm fully Glen, we'll still be able to work together. i don't want any more suffering, for any of us."

"yeah. I'd like that too," Oz agrees. A brief, content silence falls between them as Leo taps a message on his phone. A crisp, late winter breeze blows through the plaza, grey clouds rolling in overhead.

And then Oz offers a handshake.

Leo smiles, reaching out to return the gesture.

But their hands never meet.

There's the sound of metal as a sharpened chain flies through the air from the shadows.

A sickening burst of blood.

And suddenly, everything falls apart.

[professor-amaryllis]

Hello there! My name is Professor Bellamy Amaryllis, though most people who know me call me Amy. My kid @eartheats encouraged me to make an account on here- I guess that's what all the cool kids are doing nowadays, haha!

I’m agender and intersex and use They/He pronouns- She for some specific people as well. I'm Polyam, as well, so no need to go telling my partner about seeing me out and about- I assure you she knows!

If you were a child or have been around children anytime in the last 7 years you might know me as the Wild Guy, from my TV show Professor Amaryllis’s Wild Days! While I've been off the air for a year or so it's bloomed in popularity even still- it's hard to go too far without someone knowing who I am, hah!

I'm a poison specialist (though I have an affinity for fairy types as well) and one of the overseeing professors at the Goldenrod Ecological Society, really just a fancy title for the person who makes sure all the science is ethical, reliable and well documented. It's a lot of admin and outreach work and while it keeps me busy it's quite fulfilling.

This is a personal account, so I’ll be talking more about my life than my job, so sorry if you’re looking for a blog of just pokemon facts, because this certainly is not it.

//This is a soft reset of amy- you may notice that a good 90% of post from 2023 have been deleted! I realized that my early rp was not in line with what i'm doing with amy going forward! most plots, major events, and interactions from that time have been Retconned or Rewritten!! if you have questions feel free to DM me!

Hello!!! My name is Rabbit and I’m an adult, so be warned that there may be suggestive themes at times on this blog! I also will be doing some high stakes stuff!

I don’t interact with sentient pokemon or eebie deebies with very few and select exceptions (if you arent sure, ask!), and I’m picky about players with legendaries as well, as I have a specific cannon I’m working with!! No magic anons, crossover blogs, crack rp, or dream mail, though some peliper mail sent to amy's GES location is acceptable (within reason!! no magic anon but item things ahaha)

Amy’s a flawed character so please keep in mind that not everything he says is the objective truth! He can be biased, emotional, unprofessional and he can and will lie, though he prefers to tell half truths and avoid topics first.

Amy has a very detailed past, and he has his secrets and motives!! there’s usually at least something going on under the surface hehe so I wish you luck in trying to puzzle this man out! This character is my own personal Pepe Sylvia red string board and I enjoy playing him that way :)

I hope we can have fun together, but please please please remember that there is a person behind this blog, be nice!! or at least just not incredibly hateful. some negative asks can be fun but think before you send things please.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

A wildly flimsy internet rumor launched by a random pro-Trump X poster about an “ABC whistleblower” who purportedly claims that the network rigged the September 10 presidential debate went viral in MAGA spaces over the last several days, with Donald Trump and his allies floating congressional investigations and potential regulatory retribution against ABC News in response.  The right-wing pundits and Republican politicians pushing the story don’t actually know who the “ABC whistleblower” is, if their claims are credible, or even if the person actually exists — but the purported document supposedly supports their preferred narrative that ABC News’ moderators were biased, so they’re running with it.  The saga, while laughable, shows the right's ongoing tendency to embrace and elevate anything that confirms their worldview. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) laid out that strategy in a Sunday interview on CNN, admitting that he pushed a debunked, racist, and demagogic claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets because he wants to “create stories” that drive news coverage of immigration.

In the instance of the absurd “whistleblower” claim, Trump's allies trotted it out as they tried to cover for his flailing September 10 debate performance. Right-wing media figures lashed out at ABC News and its moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis with deranged invective and absurd conspiracy theories. And Trump himself said in an interview the following morning that “they ought to take away their license,” reiterating his support for government retribution against news outlets that displease him.  Then on September 12, a “verified” but obscure X poster with the handle “Black Insurrectionist--I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS” claimed they would release “an affidavit from an ABC whistleblower” by the end of the weekend. “The affidavit states how the Harris campaign was given sample question which were essentially the same questions that were given during the debate and separate assurances of fact checking Donald Trump and that she would NOT be fact checked,” the poster wrote.

Right-wing pundits had no reason to take claims from “Black Insurrectionist” at face value — other than the fact that the story confirmed their preexisting biases. A casual review of recent activity from the “Black Insurrectionist” account — which has posted to X more than 32,700 times over the 10 months since its November 2023 launch — reveals a strong tendency for unhinged, conspiracy-minded, and violent pro-Trump rants. 

MAGA media propagandists are running a baseless claim about a “whistleblower” from ABC as part of their war on ABC and Disney over the channel’s conduct during the 2024 Presidential debate between Kamala Harris v. Donald Trump.

[anonymous-dentist]

I’m not a Morning Crew Guy, but I do feel the need to defend Hideduo from people because I don’t feel like this take here actually takes any pov but Tubbo’s into consideration?

Because, really, if the Morning Crew fell apart, I’d think that it was some kind of mutually-assured destruction?

Sure, Pac and Fit got close, but it wasn’t until Tubbo actively tried sabotaging Fit’s relationship that Fit started distancing himself. When he asks Foolish if he really trusts Tubbo, Fit isn’t necessarily asking because he hates Tubbo or anything, it’s because Tubbo tried destroying one of the few good things to ever happen in Fit’s life without really taking any accountability for it

But, from Tubbo’s pov, Pac and Fit started hanging out with just each other, and they left him totally behind. And after he tried saving their group dynamic and relationship, they both turned around and ditched him to go share secrets with each other

Pac and Mike are the dynamic duo, they’ll always be together. And then you have Pac and Fit. And then you have Pac and Mike and Fit, leaving Tubbo alone. It’s easy to only watch his perspective and get caught up in that and forget that he’s a very biased narrator. He’s stuck in his own head and his own trauma, which is totally understandable, but it does throw a lot of his actions into question when you think about what’s going on with the other characters

Like, we have Pac. He cares about Morning Crew SO MUCH!!! When Tubbo tricked Pac into sabotaging his own first date with Fit via enderpearl stasis chamber, Pac wasn’t even angry. He just wanted to help Tubbo be happy again, and he probably thinks that Tubbo IS happy again now after the Fred Closure and the start of Fobo and stuff

And then there’s Fit, who we’ve already kinda talked about. Pac is one of the only good things to ever happen to him, he’s said as much himself, and Tubbo- one of his best friends on the server- trying to ruin their relationship? Kinda fucked up. It showed Fit that he can’t necessarily trust Tubbo because Tubbo doesn’t trust him. Tubbo didn’t trust Fit or Pac to not leave him behind, and, to someone experiencing his first real friend group in a long time, that’s fucked up.

Because, remember, Fit doesn’t know Tubbo’s whole Trauma Stuff. To him, Tubbo was the one to betray him.

So, if anything really broke Morning Crew up (which I’d argue hasn’t actually happened, it’s just that everyone has such different streaming schedules rn ooc and so they aren’t all on at the same time every day anymore), it’s the level of miscommunication and broken trust on both sides.

[smallidarityfan]

Hello! I know this is a Smallidarity blog. But I wanted to ask, what's your opinion on Boat Boys? And don't take this the wrong way, I love both Smallidarity and Boat Boys!

Hi!!! It's okay to ask non-smallidarity things hehe :3

text wall below (i like yapping):

I like Boat Boys !!! Honestly only just after Joel got onto Hermitcraft I'd say. I watched Joel's Double Life when it was uploading and honestly like. their dynamic didn't feel any more special than two guys playing minecraft and having fun on a casual/content creator level so it didn't really stand out to me at that point.

But Limited Life had like 2 banger Boat Boys one-liners from Etho i guess, and then the Decked Out Stream with the neck kisses bit which was pretty funny, and then Hermitcraft when they really went with the obsessed bit LMAO 😭😭

by HC tho I think they two finally had their dynamic sort of established ? Like we'd finally know how they'd act in casual circumstances or just when playing normal minecraft. Which I do like seeing at the times it happens!!

I think what really made me see their game is especially especially all the fan arts and those animations by Mellozheist really assured me of their dynamic and aesthetic as a duo, which I do love seeing on my tl often!!

Though in Joel's streams, chat would ask his opinion on Etho often and Joel would either make an obsession joke or comment how completely mysterious Etho is. Which tells me on the down-side that they're still at the stage of average friends and colleagues rather than close friends, so canon-wise they aren't my favourite duo compared to other pairings. (i am a sucker for dynamics of people who are close friends)

Also, pet peeve i have, but sometimes I do feel like their interactions feel a liiittle bit forced with chat pushing them to talk about their 'obsessions' with each other all the time. Which i feel like. yk it's been more than 6 months since the bit started. like even I am over smallidarity's "Is this the closest we're ever going to get to making out?" and don't base their entire dynamic on that one instance of them making out in Real Life smp. Yk ?!

(which i guess these kinda things are an unavoidable part of content creation where fans hold on to early introduced bits as long as there are new people flooding in) (so I won't generalize that much onto the duo themselves) (also i HATE FUN!!! /j)

All in all, canon-wise, not my favourite pair. But pretty high standings in terms of aesthetic and fanon interpretations !

Final score: 7.6/10 🆒‼️

(You can really tell that I like to stick close to canon dynamics rather than fanon concepts so er 😭 might be a tad bit biased) (i also loveeee best friends tropes if uh. that wasn't clear with my whole account. LMAO)

[dearweirdme]

Are Army OK? Because the amount of depraved takes i see on x from what i thought were standard bts accounts on the most bro-ey trailer ever is crazy. So many cringe takes and down right fetishising posts. Not totally into kpop and not familiar with how fandoms are maybe this is normal? I would be mortified to call myself army because this is really pathetic looking so sex deprived. Literally posting a wordart screen shot saying "gay sex" and getting thousands of like. Shits embarrassing af

Hi anon!

I’d say parts of Army are definitely not okay right now… take a guess which part that might be…

Even neutral seeming accounts can have biases and beliefs.. they probably feel justified by the Jkk push right now or something.

Absolutely mindblowing.

I assure you not all of army is like that, you’re just seeing the loudest voices right now.

[myemuisemo]

There is so much characterization tucked into "The Statement of the Case" in the 2nd of Letters from Watson about The Sign of the Four. To marshal my thoughts at all, let's go by character, starting with my cinnamon roll Dr. Watson, then turning to Holmes and to Mary Morstan.

Watson

Watson's close observation of Miss Morstan demonstrates that he's capable of making deductions from observation. He deduces from the simplicity of her attire that she has limited means, and he has a good deal to say about how the character promised by her features and manner.

In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature.

This is a tiny bit amusing because all of Miss Morstan's actions suggest she has the orderly soul of someone who would have been an accountant in an era more supportive of women's careers. This woman keeps receipts. She may be nervous about bringing her concerns to the Great Detective, but she's not the slightest bit delicate.

Watson seems a bit pricked in the ego by Holmes' extensive knowledge of cigar ash, as he's touting his experience with women. That would be a monograph, indeed, something sold discreetly, in a corner of the bookshop behind a curtain. I'm going to guess that the third continent, after Europe and Asia, is Africa, both because the British did a good deal of colonial meddling there and because it makes Holmes suggestion of The Martyrdom of Man so much more apposite.

Holmes

The Martyrdom of Man turns out to be a progressive best seller about world history. Author Winwood Reade's perspective is to show the importance of Africa in the development of the world. This is entirely at odds with Victorian self-confidence about the white European and American missions of colonialism. Holmes is implying, deliberately or not, that Watson knows less about at least two continents than he thinks he does.

Reade's prose feels comparatively modern -- it has the sprightly feel of early 20th century writing rather than the long, turgid sentences of the 19th century. I've been distracted by reading bits of it, as while it's not how an historian would handle its topics today, it's an interesting read.

A side note on Winwood Reade is that he was open about being an atheist, so his book is also at odds with the popular idea of Divine Providence smiling about the endeavors of the British Empire. Contemporary audiences would surely have drawn some conclusions about Holmes' religious and political leanings.

The book recommendation is preceded by Holmes establishing that he's not a sentimentalist:

He smiled gently. “It is of the first importance,” he said, “not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit,—a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.”

My first reaction was "welp, he really is ace, isn't he?" On reflection, I think that reaction is both right and wrong. On the side of "right," there is no way that Holmes, as written, is a neurotypical allosexual heterosexual. Asexuality is not the only possible category for him, but it's a solid contender.

On the side of "wrong," what he's arguing for from "I assure you" on is simply not to judge a book by its cover. We're used to that as a moral. We're also accustomed to believing that "body language" and such can give clues to the person within. Heck, Holmes was just on about handwriting analysis. So there's a messy little tension here between two views that were common then as now: "outer aspects reveal the person's true nature" and "don't judge a book by its cover."

Mary Morstan

I like Mary Morstan a good deal, not least because she keeps receipts.

This image from the New York Public Library gives a sense of Mary's plain beige walking suit, though the feathers are far too big.

My first reaction to Mary Morstan's backstory was to check the publication date of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, because how many little girls were being left in boarding schools by their UK Army officer fathers who were serving in India?

Quite a few, it seems. It was standard practice to send children back to the UK to boarding school "for their health." That last euphemism raised my "what in the racist colonial claptrap" hackles, but there was a legit health concern -- malaria. Malaria is potentially deadly for anyone and worse for children, since a child who survived might have ruined health and intellectual development for life. It was not until 1897 that surgeon Ronald Ross established that malaria was transmitted by mosquitos. Miss Morstan was a child in India in the 1860s; she really would have been sent away for her own safety.

Meanwhile, although A Little Princess was published in 1905, it was expanded from a short story published in 1887. a few years before The Sign of the Four was written. That doesn't mean there's a connection: stories about a common situation and the fears arising from it are going to have similarities.

Miss Morstan's lack of English relatives did have me wondering if her mother was Indian, especially as her complexion lacks "beauty" (isn't translucently pale). Since she's blonde and light-eyed, presumably we're to assume that both parents were English or Scottish. (The genetics of eye color inheritance weren't established at all until 1907, but people obviously had folk beliefs about how much children looked like their parents, and in what ways, before that. Using today's knowledge, it seems possible that her mother had one English parent and one Indian parent, but who knows?).

At twenty-seven, she is "on the shelf" -- past the ordinary age of courtship and marriage. Her job as either a companion or a governess implies she brings no financial assets to a marriage beyond those mysterious pearls. Watson's musings that twenty-seven is "a sweet age" establishes both that he's head-over-heels for Miss Morstan and that he's enough a man of the world to prefer a woman "a little sobered by experience" to a blushing debutante.

So do the mysterious pearls mean we're going down a path superficially similar to Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868), where a heroine inherits a mysterious gem from a British Army office relative? Rachel Verinder's uncle was a horrible person who came by his gem in the worst way; but Mary Morstan's father was a guard at a prison for political prisoners, which doesn't bode well for his connections. Mary has far too much good sense than to wear her pearls, though.

I do want my cinnamon roll Dr. Watson to get the girl.

[apinchofm]

wip wednesday

tagged by my enchanting @lavellenchanted 💖

Given I have just posted chapter seven of But All Will Be Well - which, I have to say is pretty good but I'm biased - here's a sneak from chapter eight that I'm still editing.

---

“I was thinking that we should spend the New Year there and return to Berlin at the end of January,” Friedrich suggested, his eyes lighting up, “Oh, you shall adore it! The theatre shows, the festivities.” The festive season in Vienna was always so beautiful. He had no doubt that Edwina would enjoy it there, especially as she would not be with her mother and sister.

“I like that idea.” Edwina agreed, “We shall make the plans. I cannot wait to see snow.”

Friedrich chuckled, “You will complain of the cold.”

“I will not!” Edwina protested, “I shall enjoy it, in my new coats. They were delivered today.” She had two coats in England, both suited for autumn and travelling but Prussia was and would be far colder than she would know. Charlotte and Eliza had recommended woollen stockings, gowns with longer sleeves. She had two new capes - one purple, the other cream, lined with wool. She even had a new purple coat with brown fur on the lining, at the end of the sleeves and a matching hat.

She frowned, “I should remember to give Wilhelm the notes to balance out the accounts. You have some new coats as well.”

“I do?” Friedrich asked.

"Your valet gave me your measurements. You had a hole in your black coat as well. The one with the velvet lining?” Edwina had noticed it, walking past the laundering room on her way from the kitchen.

"Yes, that is one my favourite coats."

Edwina tried not to laugh, seeing the slight alarm on his face, "Do not fret. I mended the hole for you." She assured and he softened, looking at her strangely. She stared back, bemused, "Are you upset?"

---

tagging @dreamstone28737 @phantomphaeton @waterlilyrose @mimix007

[youzicha]

It's late at night and I'm being paranoid, but guys, I'm starting to sense a vibe-shift away from the post-1950s consensus... Consider:

¶ Some recentish papers critical of split-brain patients, Libet experiment, which were approvingly cited by the usual free will/dualism mafia on rattumb. (I also think I saw someone quote this not-at-all recent deflationary account of blindsight?)

¶ This Tuesday someone called "a literal banana" posted a blogpost Against Automaticity which starts from the heuristics-and-biases field not replicating, says that we should instead think about "rational processes", and then jumps from there to saying that we should reject "the myth of the clockwork, the myth of mechanism ... the idea that you can explain every phenomenon causally", and instead turn to "Phenomenology" (which, banana assures us, "is not a woo model").

¶ But what is a rational process? I feel since Von Neumann and RAND the usual answer has been game theory, but that's also getting less popular? When Scott Alexander posted "Meditations on Moloch", Chris Hallquist wrote a reply saying that bad Nash equilibria is an excuse and the real problem is that the individual actors are bad people. And finally, both these strands join together neatly in this @raginrayguns post

 I think the appeal of the cog sci heuristics and biases stuff, as well as the game theory stuff and “moloch”, is substantially that they provide explanations in which bad things are nobody’s fault. 

I guess it's a bit risky to predict the course of intellectual history based on who I happen to follow on tumblr, but basically I foresee a return to Catholicism: an immaterial soul which can be good or bad and needs to individually cultivate virtue...

[randombungoupolls]

i think it might be worth rerunning a couple of the alignment polls in light of recent plot twists. specifically fukuchi gave me the idea bc his poll had a great majority toward deranged back in june but now i believe strong arguments could be made for all three categories

While this is understandable, there are two reasons we won't be doing that.

If we were to rerun every character that received development in Season 5, we'd end up rerunning half the polls. Little peak behind the curtain here, we're currently rerunning 11 polls due to ties in the original polling, and it took us an hour to prep all that, and we have to be here, as the polls launch, to make sure that nothing goes wrong and so that we can update the directory as the polls come out, which is another hour of work. While a lot of this is self imposed, a lot of this also assures quality, which overachieving Smore Mod here would not run this account without.

Smore Mod here is also heavily biased, and the partner I started this account with hasn't messaged me in half a year for seemingly no reason, so we have no checks and balances system. Smore Mod still agrees with the Deranged ruling on Fukuchi because Smore Mod still greatly hates Fukuchi, even knowing what we do in a post Season 5 era. And thus we will not be rerunning his poll.

Apologies if this is not the answer you wanted, but we also do intend to not abandon this account again, so if you have ideas for other alignment charts, or generally, anything to do with BSD that could be made into a poll, we'd be glad to hear suggestions, and there's a high chance we'd run those polls in the future.

[foreseers-flower]

i have a question i would like to ask you...because you;re the only astarion opinion-haver i trust these days

if you've already answered this or somethin similar apologies!

but i was gonna ask what you think astarion needs (not what he necessarily wants but you can include that too if you want :]) in a relationship

means a lot to me that you think that!!! im not really resident white boy expert imo

but if you are asking me i do think astarion needs someone who can care for him and give him a lot of attention but also someone who can give him direction and purpose

it is important for me to mention that i have no investment in astarion as a character like romantically. i like him and i enjoy writing him a lot but i have no biases towards his character that would make me think this way which is Important because i, from the bottom of my heart, believe astarion needs someone who can give him like... emotional enrichment and 'dominance' in some sense of the word.

submission is really subversive for astarion for this reason to me. but really at the core of it - submission that gives him purpose and reason. astarion is a very nuanced character. he needs agency, but he also needs unconditional love more than every other companion which is confirmed by other companions through dialogue.

to me - astarion needs someone who can not only spoil but also wrangle him. not necessarily domineering in the way people imagine. but someone who is comfortable setting and enforcing boundaries of behavior for him and taking care of him. someone who can allow him to explore himself in a controlled and healthy way while also giving him guidance from time to time without being condescending.

and this isn't because i think astarion is broken and can't make choices for himself but because i think he is owed not having to think. not having to figure out every single thing for survival etc.

this isnt to say the only relationship for astarion is a d/s one (but i should emphasize i really firmly believe this is a good thing for him) but that he needs someone with a lot of emotional maturity and a lot of self assurance to be firm with him sometimes and spoil him at others. the feral cat comparison is earned because he really does have like. rescue who needs scheduled feeding and plenty of pets vibe. don't let him step on your toes etc

anyway my point is mostly that i think astarion is most well suited for someone who can, in some capacity, look after him without expecting anything in return. i dont mean dominance in an innately sexual way but the underlying intimacy of letting yourself be completely and entirely accounted for.

i think even if his partner nature takes on a more submissive demeanor or passive role - it still ultimately ends with him listening to them and getting pampered by their affections. i also think this alligns with his wants he's just not very honest about it

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Anna Merlan at Mother Jones:

In recent days, a number of news sites that rely heavily on aggregation have posted stories about Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, reporting “allegations” that he sexually assaulted a minor while working as a teacher and football coach. The clearly false claims stem from the prolific work of one man, a Twitter conspiracy peddler who goes by Black Insurrectionist. After previously pushing a lie about a presidential debate “whistleblower,” he’s at it again, and even his clownish mistakes haven’t kept the claims from taking off on Twitter, or being promoted by automated sections of the news ecosystem. Black Insurrectionist, who tweets under the handle @docnetyoutube, is a self-professed MAGA fan who says he’s based in Dallas. He’s paid for his Twitter account, meaning his visibility is boosted on the site; he’s also followed by a number of people in the MAGA and right-leaning fake news spheres, including Donald Trump Jr., dirty tricks specialist and Trump adviser Roger Stone, Pizzagate promoter Liz Crokin, and conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones.

In September, he promoted an obviously fake story about a “whistleblower” at ABC News anonymously claiming the presidential debate hosted by the channel had been biased in favor of Kamala Harris. To back up the claims, he published a purported affidavit by the whistleblower, a poorly formatted and typo-riddled document that, among other things, claimed that Harris had been assured she wouldn’t be questioned about her time as “Attorney General in San Francisco,” a job she never held, as it doesn’t exist. The clumsy story still received immense pickup, including from hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who began tweeting at various entities to investigate the claim; Elon Musk also shared some of Ackman’s posts. 

Black Insurrectionist (aka “DocNetyoutube”), a fake news-peddling far-right conspiracy theorist X account, was the culprit behind the lurid lie about Kamala Harris VP pick Tim Walz by falsely accusing him of “sexual assault.”

[phvle]

Sociotype Profiles — LSI

Ego

Leading Ti

The need for existence to align strictly to an order is the main drive for LSIs, who demand a structured and consistent way of viewing their world and acting within it. LSIs naturally direct their attentions to understanding the rules for how things are, how things fit together and whether they do so coherently. With great precision, they are able to assess the logical correctness of systems and whether they follow from evident truths, or else pick out exactly where an action or statement has deviated from underlying principles. From such structures, LSIs establish certainty in their lives, knowing exactly what is correct or incorrect, what can be expected and what should not be, while bringing such assurances to others. LSIs tend to serve as voices of justice or incorruptibility to their friends and communities, setting out precisely what is fair or in line with the true way, and holding to these dictates without personal wants, biases or compromise. Commitment to one's beliefs is of prime importance to LSIs and through such a lens, they are able to interpret the world around them, setting out the priorities for themselves and others to follow, with a guarantee of what can be expected should these standards be adhered to, or transgressed.

Creative Se

In service to their code of beliefs, LSIs readily take action to build order from chaos, disciplining themselves in line with their convictions, while enforcing what they think is right or legitimate onto any situation. When acting in a way they feel is righteous, they will become untouchable, immoveable forces that none might dissuade, and will brook no opposition to their dogged determination and often sharp intellect. In a way, there are two different understandings of the LSI, depending on how much their principles align with existing authority. They may operate as willing soldiers or enforcers of the law, while rooting out any resistance. Alternatively, they may lead a revolution against a system they feel is fundamentally flawed or unjust, with the goal to tear it down and start anew. Others may be content living their own lives by the beliefs they have come to hold, away from a society that cannot live up to their expectations. In each case, LSIs are very capable of asserting their will to reshape reality in line with their understanding, while resisting temptations or contradictions in the battleground of ideas.

Super-Ego

Vulnerable Ne

In their maintenance of clarity and certainty, LSIs lack tolerance of ambiguity. While their logic enables the translation of a complex reality into a clear black and white, situations of ambiguity, where something could be one way or another, present a challenge to LSIs as they are unable to create certainty from this. In such scenarios, the LSI may hesitate, or else push forward blindly on what they are familiar with, not turning back or changing track even if the alternative hypothesis turns out to be true. LSIs tend to be very straightforward and stubborn in their worldviews, not being very open to the idea that their understanding may not be the absolute truth and that other people can have very different perspectives to their own for a wide variety of different reasons. It is rare for an LSI, once their mind is made up, to give anyone the chance of changing their mind. Instead they tend to assume that everyone must come to the conclusion they made from their own experiences, or else, have made a serious error. Consequently, the thought processes of LSIs may come across as overly confined and linear, lacking the flexibility and multiplicity to account for the more complex nuances and surprises that the world has to offer. Similarly any system they create may be too rigid in its precision and perhaps too draconian in its harshness, not accounting for new or unusual scenarios where what may have once seemed correct would end up being intuitively wrong.

Role Fi

LSIs are aware of the need to establish reliable relations with others and to know who they can trust. As such, LSIs tend to be careful in their associations with others, trying to make sure they know the people they are talking to. Similarly, LSIs usually know their personal attitudes towards others, being able to stick with people they personally like while avoiding those they do not. In the area of relationships, LSIs show a softer side to their personality, being more able outside of formality to make exceptions to their rules and give people personally close to them a break. For their friends, LSIs tend to show a strong loyalty and warm attachment. While laying down clear boundaries in their relations with others so that they know where not to cross, LSIs are better able to take the individual into account, working more closely to satisfy a close friend's needs. However, should the personal sphere conflict with the public, LSIs will readily prioritise the logic of their beliefs and commitments, not allowing their principles to be undermined by personal ties. The pressures of navigating this conflict between formality and familiarity can be a source of strain over time, and LSIs much prefer environments where everyone feels united under the set of priorities. In these situations, not only is everyone on the same side and able to be trusted to work towards the same goals, but also the LSI is not forced to justify any kind of special treatment.

Super-Id

Mobilizing Ni

While well suited to the order of a bureaucratic environment, LSIs are often discontent with sticking to something that feels mundane, or ultimately pointless. Instead, LSIs aspire towards a path of great meaning and purpose, that they can follow as a calling throughout their lives, while contributing to something greater than themselves. As such, LSIs are frequently motivated to apply their intellect in service of a higher cause, wanting to see the systems they believe in go on to meaningfully change the world. Although naturally strong at acting instantaneously in the moment, LSIs develop over time to think their actions through carefully and focus their efforts on planning ahead to see the right path or destiny ahead. As such, they aspire to know with certainty how things are going to happen and try to create schedules and strategies so that their projects remain neatly on track. However, such a desire to maintain singular commitments is often undermined by LSIs' inability to consider multiple possible ways an event can turn out. Certainty in their cause can cause their plans to lack contingencies, which they will pursue with great stubbornness, even to the edge of failure.

Suggestive Fe

For their formality, LSIs are socially conscious people who want to belong with a group of people. Although coming across as somewhat aloof to begin with, LSIs quickly thaw out in boisterous, fun conversations and can become quite expressive themselves, joining with the group mood. However, in their focus on thinking things through soberly and logically, LSIs are often the strong, silent types, coming off stiff or severe without the mood to pick them up. They may lack the social ease to express their emotions properly, or even recognise the passion within themselves. Often, an LSI will attempt to deliver information by virtue of the structure they have thought out, telling people what needs to be done in an overly technical manner rather than in a way that is uplifting to hear, or in a way which may unintentionally come across as rude or arrogant. They lack the natural charm and skill with emotive language necessary to persuade people that their structure is important to follow, and so may struggle to convince people outside of intellectual debate. As such, LSIs rarely succeed in contests of popularity and appealing to a large number of people, and may be restricted to preaching to the choir. LSIs long for an emotional stirring to bring what they believe to life and are very responsive to the passions of others that can ignite their hearts and minds. They appreciate the support of others who are more naturally charismatic, who are better able to engage with others on important issues and spread the right message to get others on board.

Id

Ignoring Te

LSIs tend to be very knowledgeable, and clear in the articulation of what they know, while, through careful and exacting attention to quality, creating systems that run like clockwork.. When formulating their plans or coming to a point of view, LSIs may rely extensively on observations of how things work in real life to build their initial knowledge base. However, the optimisation of processes and further updates to what they think and believe, according to new evidence, can be rejected by LSIs in favour of the consistency or integrity of the structures already in place. LSIs devise their ideologies as a model of absolute truth and tend to reject the position that such models need to be updated and tweaked over time. After all, if they have already come to understand the truth, why would more data collection be necessary? In the rare occasions where an LSI does change their system, it is more a complete ideological shift after a life-changing event, rather than one in a series of upgrades. They also may resent those who pragmatically compromise on what they believe to reach 'working solutions', believing these to be the half-measures of those without the courage to fight for the right outcome.

Demonstrative Si

The LSI's affinity for maintenance of rules and standards frequently accompanies a meticulous attention to detail. LSIs are usually very aware of precise differences in the way objects around them are arranged and will be very thorough, keeping things neatly on the razor edge of perfection. Sloppiness can be ruthlessly scrutinised and LSIs may insist on a task being done again if a small detail is missed out. Additionally, when not imposing the severity of some rule or requirement, LSIs are surprisingly good at chilling out, harmonising peacefully with their environment after an intense and demanding period of duty. They may make very capable hosts, crafting the ideal, aesthetically-pleasing space in which to relax and unwind. In this way, LSIs exercise a keen attention to their physical needs, enabling them to pursue their higher goals with sustainability and arranging their domestic or daily life to line up with their ideals.

Source: Wikisocion

[ravelintherain]

Some words on fanfiction, AO3 and imposing parallel realities on real people

Max Verstappen, the AO3 comment in the RBR video and fan culture in general.

Fan culture is not a new thing, nor even was created in the 2000s. There are tons of academic books describing this social movement that gained body, soul and mind with the advance of internet around the world due to the economic and technological development. I have studied it once to a uni assignment because I have an understand of the world around myself as a fan (from Pokémon, to K-POP, to Taylor Swift, always following the lore of something).

So being aware of fanfiction is one of the consequences of this condition. And they were created due to the great commitment of these fans to the original art, since they wanted to live in that world for more than the original one could provide them. And for art, it can be punctuated on the relationship fans have with real people. Boy bands were the first “victim” of the fictional words where they had entirely new personalities and sexuality, where they would do things they could not imagine why and/or how.

And this did not stop on the music. Everything that has fans, has fanfiction. Tumblr is a great witness of that, as well as Live Journal, and AO3. Fanfics two-decades old of artists a lot of us have not even heard about it in our yet short life spam on Earth. But they were there, marking the presence of fans in the history of fame and art. It was supposed to be ok, something harmless for those real people. But, come on, we are speaking about human beings.

Human irrationality and capitalism, hand in hand to turn the fan experience something so sick there are no words to describe it better. For the peeps who know how it works in K-POP: fans, imposed to a surreal beauty standard, are made to believe they would marry their favourite artists, so these artists should not date anyone (only their other bandmates, and in their created words based on pictures and videos quite biased).

I consumed a lot of K-POP fanfiction, even wrote it. But it didn’t stop me to be mesmerised by this anthropological phenomenon. I know the people I wrote about would never see my words, and why? Because it was all inside a bubble, in which there was an agreement of keeping it inside no matter what. These works help people to practise writing, to have a hobby, to meet new people with the same interests, this whole thing resumed nowadays on “AO3” or “Wattpad” was supposed to be a great community to share ideas and to develop hobbies and abilities in a safe environment.

However, it came to the spotlight the comment of a blessed human being in an official account of a important team of motorsport soliciting them to ask one of their drivers (which, for knowledge, is the currently world championship of said sport) if he knows what AO3 is. His team liked this blessed human being commented and now the internet (at least people who actually care) are commenting how absurd it can be to someone like him to get in touch with something like “AO3 culture”.

Public people have public personas. They trained their personas to profit based on what their target audience wants to consume. Every social individual is like that, we do exactly the same thing to our family, friends, schools and universities, and jobs. Have you ever thought that being seen as an LGBTQ+ man in love with some of your adversaries (even with a beautiful story of childhood competitiveness behind) is not part of the plan? That these kinds of people (> us <) are not the target audience?

F1 is a misogynist sport, full of straight and homophobic men. I’m not saying that the person involved and being questioned about AO3 is one of these things, but I can assure you that at least 70% of the people who buy his merch are. As a gay man, I know a few. So being part of such narrative is so bad for business… And worse, a narrative shoved down your throat that you don’t have a say on it since every word would be taken as offensive. You just have to wait and see if it doesn’t get any worse.

Then, you’re friends with this person they allegedly say you’re in love and have a secret relationship with (even having a LONG-TERM GIRLFRIEND being a HETEROSEXUAL MAN). You cannot be seen with this person since you don’t wanna to fill this narrative any more. Not because you’re against, but because you don’t wanna be part of something that it’s been out of control because a bunch of crazy people goes to your comment section to comment about it.

I’m not here to condemn anything nor no one (it would be so hypocrite…), even more considering that I’m no one to do that. But I invite whoever read this to think. Do not stop writing, or editing, or drawing fanarts, they are all forms of expressions and, above all, ART. But be careful in trying to prove something that is clearly not that deep and could harm real people, and real lives. Do not spread fan culture for people who aren’t fan. It’s fan culture, not people’s culture. Only someone who is fan will understand the pleasure of seeing a fanart, or reading a fanfic three times in a row for the micro dose of serotonin it’ll give you.

Being said that, be safe y’all and if you see any of these comments on TikTok or any other social media, primarily in main accounts, fight back. Fan culture has saved me a lot of times since I was a kid, I would HATE to see something to cause a disturbance on it (it seems it would with this AO3 thing, god help me).

Ravel.