#because they are both so used to defining themselves in the context of another person

[mesetacadre]

How can I stop my otherwise well-meaning friends and myself from falling into the trap of Adventurism?

Adventurism is so appealing because it interfaces with (1) an understandable impatience to see change and with (2) the individualism conditioned into people by growing up in and existing within liberal frameworks and common pathways for understanding societal and historical change. If, for the formative years of your life, the dominant ideology of capitalism, that being liberalism in all its branches, is educated into you through all possible channels, especially history, it's to be expected that an individual who decides to participate in some of that change will see themselves as an agent in and of themselves. If your perspective on both history and current events can be boiled down to a simple concatenation of events whose only common motor is the free will of the most remarkable individuals, then you will try to act like one of those remarkable individuals and create one of these events through the only motor of your free will. And, the set of actions and attitudes that fall under the category of adventurism meets those frameworks very neatly for the radical extremes of liberalism. It's both the far left of liberalism and far right of liberalism that find adventurist methods appealing, though for describing the attitudes of that far right, using accelerationism is more common and IMO more accurate, but at their core, adventurism and accelerationism are the same methods modified by the particulars of their corresponding ideologies.

That is an erroneous way to look at the world of course, history is moved by the forces exerted by massified classes, themselves defined by their role in the mode of production, as well as the historical forces that serve as a precedent. It's not remarkable individuals who move history in any direction that they please, it's history and the weight of the context in which they exist that limits and expands the possibility of their action. It's more than the simple sum of all individual parts. Individuals are not agents, they are constituent parts that can only effect change when they act like so, organized as constituent parts, aware of the limitations and possibilities afforded by the past and present context. If you want to avoid the pitfalls of liberalism and individualism, such as adventurism, you should commit to a conscious change in the framework through which you see history, because adventurism is logical in one framework, and isn't in another.

This whole CEO murder business has had people of all stripes (such as myself, even if you think I'm a wet blanket) making fun of the situation. I also don't particularly care for the life of a capitalist. But there is also a smaller group of people who seem to believe this is significant. And within that, I think there is another division. First, the people who think this is significant because they believe that healthcare insurance providers have now been bullied into giving a better service, or because they believe that now all CEOs across the board will be scared themselves and do better things (or even because apparently now everyone will be hunting their nearest CEO). These are all various forms of engagement with adventurism. The second group of people, who I think are being much more reasonable, see the generalized perspective on this being that of celebration, that such a bad person got their comeuppance, and that this is first a proof that it's still very possible to stimulate class consciousness in the US working class, and that it is second a good opportunity to stimulate it.

While this is in some ways true, the class consciousness in display ("even by trump supporters", as if the difference between them and US democrats even existed) is one that's extremely unconscious. People dislike this guy because he's notorious among healthcare insurance providers and even his predecessors for denying a lot of claims. This is individualism again, people dislike him individually and maybe they dislike all individual healthcare insurance providers CEOs, or even all individual CEOs regardless of sector. The vast majority of people celebrating who you wouldn't expect aren't class conscious, they're class unconscious from decades of consequent liberal punches to their liver, heart, and head. Most people dislike him as an individual, and it's not very difficult to hate all CEOs without ever stepping off the wide bounds of liberalism and individualism. In fact, it's the placing that of pointless hate at the center of your ideology that's preventing you from shedding the ideology of capitalism.

And no, I don't mean to say that it's pointless to talk to your lifelong republican uncle about this or whoever, and I would encourage my USamerican followers to use this event to their advantage. But you can't think that just hating CEOs is a good enough base to develop a revolutionary consciousness. You need to begin seeing the world through a class lens, only then can you only really understand the impotence of adventurism, and that it lies in the fact that it does not engage with change through class, but through the individual, who by itself is an insignificant agent of change.

[hahahafangirl]

[WBK Character Analysis] Suo Hayato and the Crisis of Contact [Part 1]

EDITs

5/29: Added commentaries to Suo v. Oobiki and minor edits.

This is yet another contribution to the well-made observations that: Suo does not eat with others in a story that emphasizes eating together; his fighting style is predominantly evasive amidst a narrative of fighting as a conversation; and all the deflections he deploys in response to any attempts to know him deeper. All in all, an avoidance of contact and any violation of boundaries — the literal boundary of bodily contact and symbolic boundary of knowing.

Overall, most of the observations here are… not that new. However, there are a few things I have personally seen less discussed in details: humor as deflection (both in the story and its effect on the fandom), Suo’s arrogance and disinterests in his opponents, and his subtle detachment from his peers… even if he loves and cares for them.

The language of this analysis is heavily based on Anne Carson’s essay Dirt and Desire: An Essay on the Phenomenology of Female Pollution in Antiquity. Unfortunately, I am too much of an insane Anne Carson stan to discuss this in any normal way (deeply sorry for that). Regardless, I will try to be as clear as possible, despite my general insistence in uh. using the words that I do (bear with me). Because I am absolutely insane, have a table of content:

Contact as a crisis; dirt; leakage (Part 1)

Suo's general (habitual) deflections (Part 1)

Suo's emotional intelligence and approach to emotionality (Part 1.5)

Teenage arrogance and disinterest in Others

Suo's relationships to other people; or, the disparateness between Love and Relationship

Suo versus Sakura

Note that much of these are interpretations/extrapolations outside of things that are explicit in canon.

I will try to keep each post about 2-3k or less; this total analysis will be split over multiple part. Part 1 (this one) will focus on point 1) and justifies its connection to Suo (and WBK) and point 2), which are primarily textual evidences.

Crisis of Contact: so what the hell am I talking about?

This portion will be on Anne Carson's Dirt and Desire essay, as to provide the context in which I framed this character analysis. I will try to be as brief as I can while being understandable. The original essay itself, as the title revealed, is mostly about the construction of female gender (roles) in Greek antiquity, but its discussion of Touch, Dirt, and Leakage proved to be very useful frameworks!

First, on Touch:

As members of human society, perhaps the most difficult task we face daily is that of touching one another---whether the touch is physical, moral, emotional, or imaginary. Contact is crisis. As the anthropologists say, "Every touch is a modified blow."

This is what I mean by the "crisis of contact." Every contact itself is a mini-crisis: when we exchange blows, our skin touch, thus violating a closed and fixed physical boundary; when we converse, our words and minds touch, thus breaking open our worldviews and preconception; when we connect with other, they (and we) shattered the walls we constructed in our mind and permanently nestled themselves into our minds and hearts. These are all the things that Sakura, our beloved MC, is challenged by the narratives to learn how to do-- and succeed. His blushing embarrassment, in this framework, is a response to these "crises" of violations.

[Sakura blushes nearly every time he learns how to communicate and recognize his feelings... lol]

[the mortifying ordeal of being known]

on Dirt:

"Dirt" may be defined as "matter out of place." The poached egg on your plate at breakfast is not dirt; the poached egg on the floor of the Reading Room of the British Museum is... Mary Douglas calls pollution "a particular class of dangers which are not powers vested in humans but which can be released by human actions."

A little more background: the Greek antiquity conceptualize men as "hot, dry, vessel" and women as "cold, wet, liquid (to be contained in a vessel". So, dirt as "matter out of place" equates to "liquid not being properly contained". As Mary Douglas puts it, being "dirt" is not anything inherent to human or even women in particular; we all just have the ability to displace matters and make them "dirt" -- including ourselves. Sakura was treated, as we can put it, "less than dirt" for being "out of place." Same with Kaji's unrestrainable anger -- until Hiiragi figured out a way to help him "contain" it. Umemiya, as a child, felt that his own grief was displaced, his own life and his family's lives misplaced between who die and who gets to live -- his entire existence as "dirty". We can formulate any ostracism and troubles in Wind Breaker into displacement and dirt -- it's a fun exercise! But it will be more helpful if we put this construction of "dirt" into use.

How does any of this relates to Suo? We already noticed that he avoids, and, if he cannot, minimizes all contacts-- avoiding all the crises that everyone else, especially Sakura, go through. Most of these have lead to immense character growth. Maybe it's just not Suo's time to go into it yet. But for a deuteragonist, on a similar level of screen-time and importance as Nirei, Suo's arc thus far remains glaringly stagnant. One thing that he perhaps "grew" in is holding in his ruthlessness better after Sakura refocused Suo's vengeance in a more productive way (fight off other opponents and not beat one guy to death) during the KEEL fight. But we haven't seen a situation that actually "proves" that growth in a fight yet. So far, no contact, no crises yet, to grow, while Umemiya has explicitly said: "You need a little bit of conflicts to grow." Thus far Suo's "vessel" remains completely intact and its contents unseen (unlike Sakura's and Nirei's anxieties and trauma).

Where does dirt comes in? On a more literal sense, we have seen that Suo... never get dirtied after a fight. There is one (1) chapter where his face is scuffed (ch145)...

... significantly less than others, and it magically disappear in the next chapter. I think it's innocuous enough to be a mistake in Nii-sensei's part (either to remove or to add it), but, there is another interpretation: Let's remind ourselves that stories are about narratives, and that character, their design, their physical and mental states, are tools of the narratives*. Suo's (minimally) scuffed state is more symbolic of the Bofurin kids engaging in Sakura's struggle to pull him out of it -- a collective contact, willingly be "dirtied" to touch and pull Sakura out of drowning -- rather than Suo finally getting injured in a fight, after all. In addition to this, it will be visually jarring if Suo remains untouched here (note that this is not to dismiss what I said right before that).

*(Nii-sensei has such a command of details and themes in WBK that I must allow everything to be Symbolic-- there will be more on this in other topic)

Although this is a counterexample, it is to emphasize that, well, we noticed that Suo has never been dirtied or "touched" in any way in a fight. In a work where people routinely gets injured, bleed, violently got their face smashed in (I'm still in pain thinking about the Kaji v. Banjo fight), Suo never has his boundaries breached the way others has. No contact, no dirt. A closed room. He never let anything "out of place" be on him and is never actively being "out of place" himself -- even in the Red Light district, he does not seems frazzled (out of place) the way Nirei or Sakura were. No crack in the vessel, no leakage; nothing is leaving him either. No substantial personal fact is known-- for a deuteragonist, that's quite unusual.

The only "secret" we know? Natto. It is honestly lighthearted enough to be a joke (that is not to dismiss its importance or factuality!). It becomes a gag in the fandom! Purely because of how little else we know about Suo!

AND SUO DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY DEFLECT IT HIMSELF. THE NARRATIVE DID IT FOR HIM!!!!!

LIKE. LMFAO. OMFG. WE HAVE ALL BEEN PLAYED!!!!!!!!

THE NARRATIVE WANTS SUO TO BE AS INSCRUTABLE AS POSSIBLE.

GO HOME. THERE IS NOTHING FOR US.

JK! WE ARE STILL DIGGING OURSELVES INTO IT FOR ANY GRAIN OF INFORMATION THAT WE CAN!

We have some textual evidences already. Let's go for more.

More on Suo's habitual deflections

Let's begin by making a list of his deflections:

Fighting style: predominantly defensive; "pushing away" instead of "smashing in"

Personal information: humor to deflect from (what could be) his insecurities; reveal-not-reveal origin of his fighting styles, or details about his master; the "diet"

Emotionality: "I'm not usually this emotional"; disquiets hiding underneath maturity

Clothing: no skin?.megamind

Narrative/Production deflections: why is Suo the only person whose room is not revealed? lmfao?

Ok. I think that's everything.

Fighting styles:

Suo is a predominantly defensive fighter. In a fight with non-fighters involved, he naturally steps into a protective role by default. The only time this changed was when Nirei volunteered to take that role and encouraged Sakura and Suo to go on the offense. Defense or offense, Suo deflects moves and takes down opponents by their offensive momentum — if they pass out hitting their head on concrete, great! He does not contribute his own force into the fight; no horse in the race, no input to the conversations.

Compare to, say, Sakura and most others, who charges ahead, moving into their opponents' space to attack; Tsugeura, whose virtue involves allowing opponent one (1) hit and then... German suplex them; or Kiryu, whose fighting style is most similar to Suo — except he often disables his opponents with what looks like accupressure. Perhaps the most relevant difference is that Kiryu does charge ahead to fight, and some of his moves involve pulling the opponents in. Suo does none of that— he waits until they violate his space and pushes them out.

Pulling in...

Pushing out. Note that Suo does not reach for his opponents— he waits until they are in his space.

The only time we have seen Suo "attack", per se, is 1) KEEL and 2) against Oobiki, where he needed to wrap things up quickly and this isn't an opponent who would go down with deflection. That's the literal, in-text explanation at least. Symbolically? I'm not sure! Maybe Suo did in fact get close enough to Nirei and his classmates to expresses something about himself— not deflect, but rather, physically engages in the fight. That will take me more time to think about.

EDIT: Hey, this is also the fight where Suo finally reveals something about himself— specifically, his philosophy and focus on teaching, “discipline” as passing down knowledge (and, side notes, not as “punishment” — this is something I’m exploring in a fic actually xP). We even got the first visual of his Master! So, yep, he contributed something in this conversation here. This is the very first step in advancing towards Suo’s backstory; Nii-sensei is telling us to be patient! We got a similar visual (the back of the head) of Akari ~200 chapters before Kiryu’s arc, after all.

And this is also the same fight where Suo's untouchability and INSCRUTABILITY ("I can't read you at all") is explicitly addressed— by a fighter that is approximately Noroshi's caliber; or at least, much stronger than KEEL or Kanuma.

In KEEL, his aggression was taken as unusual/"the wrong decision". Against Kanuma, he didn't even mean to hit for real— only to scare/shock the opponents. Suo is an incredible fighter, acknowledged by Nirei's intels, Hiiragi and Umemiya themselves, and Sakura wanting to fight him. And, from his untouchability, literally (as in, not symbolically) we have yet to actually see Suo's full, current capability at all! And that is A LOT to hold out on when every character, one after another, get pushed to their limit. Suo's avoidance of initiating fights is narratively convenient to this end and also... says something about his refusal to initiate a "conversation".

2. Personal information and humor

We have seen this before with natto! His easy-going demeanor, ability to diffusive and deflect ("This conversation is about Sakura!") enables him to stagnate the conversation until the narrative ended it for him. As for reveal-not-reveal: I want to note that we do know things about Suo; quite a few things, in fact. Suo does not never say anything about himself, but give enough information to satisfy/shut down the conversation without providing anything revealing about himself. "Oh, I can't personally tell you what my fighting style is-- my Master is self-taught." (You have a Master? What are they like? How long have you been practicing? What?) "Oh, I'm on a diet." (What kind of diet? What can you actually eat and not eat? Why aren't you eating anything at all?)

Suo has been demonstrated to be an incredibly socially-capable person; his self-selected main role as vice-captain is negotiation and people-dealing. He has shown an incredible level of emotional intelligence, sensibility, and sensitivity to other's thoughts and feelings: being able to tell that Sakura is not used to other helping him, therefore knowing that it will be difficult for them all if Nirei and him continue to push; repeatedly being able to use Umemiya "against" Sugishita to get the latter to do things. Suo knows how to start and end a conversation, what to say, how to steer the interaction one way or another, how to stall— his social skills and suaveness are vitals in all these social deflections.

Notably, humor plays into this a lot (yet another example of social-capability). His eyepatch is the biggest mystery by far— and he was able to shut down any speculations or focus on it by bringing it up before anyone else can, therefore being in control of the topic.

Note that he brought it up out-of-nowhere, already anticipating the curiosity: "By the way..." and quickly changes the topic to Sakura

The constant, mysterious "diet" is also introduced under humorous connotations (Suo agreeing with Nirei's about the unusualness of the context of the meal, then immediately subverts expectation by reveal that should he be able to eat, he would-- he is just on a diet).

He blatantly lies — for innocuous things such that they are humorous — and gets out of explaining anything; like why he does not want to go into water

(My theory on this is quite innocuous: depends on how recent Suo's eye injury is, healing can be quite slow and touching sea water is... bad for that. It'd just ruin the mood if we bring it up.)

With the eyepatch and the water, is there a chance that Nirei is too polite to push it? Absolutely. And that is another "manipulation" of social situation Suo is capable of: he gives non-answer that is tonally appropriates such that it is impolite/insensitive should anyone tries to push. Boom, nobody knows anything. Closed room, no leakage.

3. Emotional disquiets

Suo's "veneer" of calmness and maturity is so constant and iconic that the smallest ripple sends the narratives (and us) to ruin! And this contrast is emphasized by the narratives— I'm only showing here the more subtle signs in each "incident", and we already feel the disruption!

(Note the look of disdain in this one— we will come back to this later)

Suo is not as "mature" or unperturbed as he paints himself to be; he is, after all, a human, and a 15 year old child at that. In a story that emphasizes realistic emotional responses, it is extremely unrealistic to paint a 15yo boy as having it all together (orewing wrote an excellent post on this subject). Maturity, in this case, is a mask and therefore another deflection— hiding away his emotions and disdain until it came bursting out of him, ignoring his emotions to prevent others from seeing and "interacting" with it — vision becomes another mode of boundary violations (yes, this is in the Anne Carson essay). Now, the interesting question here is: Why is this the case? Unfortunately, that is outside the scope of this research <3

4. Conservative clothing: no_skin?.megamind

It's not about being revealing, it's about his wardrobe being so distinctly old-school and especially jarringly conservative in the beach trip that brought to attention how uh. tall the wall is. Funnily enough, recently there was a fake-merch post going around on Twitter that people immediately spotted as fake because Suo reveals his upper torso in that one (lol) and the official one, coming out the next day, has him covered from head to toe. Symbolically speaking, this is yet another visual hint that Suo is extremely mysterious and elusive. Fashion and personal styles are extremely important to WBK's characterization and narratives. Everything design-wise is very intentional— including Suo's secrecy.

It's highkey just funny as a gag at this point. There were theories about secret back tattoos (I think primarily motivated by Nii-sensei once posting a character design hiding elaborate back tattoos under normal school uniform that does looks suspiciously like Suo's initial design, now that I think about it.) I don't know if I believe that; scars theories are more likely, but I don't think tonally WBK is trying to tell a more violent stories than what normal people within 1-1.5 standard deviation of the Bell curve will experience. In other words, I don't think the narrative looks to tell what is implied if Suo's back is elaborately tattooed or viciously scarred. I am not saying that HCs about these are invalid, just that— who knows what is in store! It is possible that Suo, with all of his evasiveness and general strangeness from the narrative, is in fact the one representing the "exorbitant" violence in the world.

5. Narrative deflections: Nii-sensei is holding out on us.

Here is the final straw: It is no coincidence or innocuous chances that all of these deflections and overall sense of detachment is overthinking. Nii-sensei seems to be extremely involved, by usual manga standard, into (at least evidently) merch and game adaptation of Wind Breaker. Wanijima, I'm pretty sure, was introduced as a WBK game character prior to his "adoption" into the manga. All the merch strictly sticks to Suo's visual conservativeness. And, very intentionally, Suo is the only main class 1-1 member whose bedroom is not shown in the artbook. What is Nii-sensei hiding? A lot, it looks like.

What does that means besides confirming that we aren't all extremely delusional? Nii-sensei seems to be deflecting us, too. Well, it's actually way too late at night and I have spent too long writing this to overthink this point. I can only be certain that there will be a lot in store for Suo's character developments, arc, and that I trust Nii-sensei's pen. Amen.

That's it for now! Part 2 will hopefully cover the last three points (maybe only one or two each) depends on how much I have to say. Evidently, I have waaaaay more to say than I thought. Thanks for holding out if you reach this point, and let me say that we did most of the heavy lifting/justifications here :thumbs-up: The discussion of dirt, leakage, and crisis was hopefully constructive/interesting!

I would love any feedbacks/thoughts AND FEELINGS on this, including if my writing is absolutely unreadable (and yeah feel free to use anon questions should you desire to). Would be beyond happy to clarify anything I wrote, and discuss more!

See yall in Part 2, which may come out earlier than I or you want or expected.

[panpanix]

In slay the princess there are so many opinions on the princess that I personally believe really fit with Io (siege smp). I've done this before with a different opinion but I'm doing another

This one is sharp and single-minded. She is cruelty. But she is also joy. She will make for an indomitable heart. Do not mourn her - she is exactly where she needs to be.

This one is sharp and single-minded. Io was able to escape the crypt because they tricked Percy, but they didn't need to try to bite him but in their mind they needed to hurt the council (because they thought Percy was part of the council). This shows both their wit and focused goal of revenge.

She is cruelty. But she is also joy. Io used to be kind, a little abrasive and prideful but still kind, at least according to Vers when talking to Dawn. But they now show themselves to be dangerous to anyone who might try to hurt them.

She will make for an indomitable heart. The coucil would definately try braking down Io mentally throughout the centuries but Io still kept fighting for their freedom and revenge.

Do not mourn her - she is exactly where she needs to be. This sounds like something Vers would probably say to Kahza because Kahza was against Io being imprisoned again. Whereas Vers knows this is what Io needs to truly live again.

I have a lot more quotes from slay the princess that fit Io and I think the reason why is because the princess is imprisoned at the begining and in many routes her 'trust' gets betrayed and so the context is the same but more importantly I think is that the princess changes on your actions and the councils actions have been far from kind. As well as the princess often being considered a metaphor for love which Io's life has been shaped by, their love and trust for Elyas being in their eyes betrayed.

but those are just my thoughts, I might do this again but I should probably work on my Io fic instead.

[stupidlittlespirit]

Seeing how Ford typically responds to situations based on logic, and considering how smart he is he’s a little too good at rationalizing not-so-great decisions, I think someone who has high emotional/social intelligence and empathy.

Yeah sure you’re not as good as he is with astrophysics and biochemistry and other such whatever, very few people are, but you have a frankly remarkable understanding of other people and their emotions, and as much as it initially bothers him, you give it to him like it is and not just what he wants to hear. Ford has always appreciated that about you.

I just love the idea of two people who are both equally very intelligent, just in different ways. Where one comes up short, the other thrives.

just my thoughts 💭 hope you’re having a nice day :>

It's funny because I think as you said, at first it would be quite unnerving to him.

Society in general considers intelligence to be defined by 'IQ' levels (which are bullshit anyway) and a person's books smarts, for want of a better word. Emotional intelligence isn't considered to be as desirable or as needed, and therefore you're not often perceived as being smart on the same level as someone who's a lawyer or something. Emotions are just as vital as theoretic knowledge, but they aren't considered as 'serving' a person's needs, however in actual fact, that's exactly why the world is the way that it currently is (imo): A lack of emotional intelligence.

I think Ford would be guilty of holding that belief throughout the majority his life, too. He's always relied on, and been told that, his IQ is all he needs and is more important. His emotions will make him weak and he's too smart to worry about all that.

If he met someone who was very capable of pulling apart their own/his/another person's behaviours and feelings and then combing through them to examine the factors that inform those reactions, I think it would be very jarring for him.

People often (in my experience) tend to feel quite exposed by that; it makes them 'vulnerable' because people like to hide how they feel in order to protect themselves, and they can get quite defensive over it. Which is very normal!

I think he would be similar in that regard. You'd have to do a lot of work around teaching him the tools to examine his own feelings and helping him communicate them, whilst gaining his trust to let him understand that you're not going to use that intimate knowledge of those emotions against him. You just truly want to help.

Where other people lack the insight, gently showing them their own dissected feelings is really helpful for getting them to understand them themselves and I do think that it can assist them in communicating their needs with less shame because they know you're a safe place to unload them.

I'm also suuuper biased to the balancing thing, as you said. Partnerships that compliment each other in that way are very cool to me. He's the brains, you're the heart. Not that the other isn't capable of either, but just that you each have your areas of expertise and are a bit better at it than the other. And that's okay.

Personally, I do think that high levels of emotional intelligence are on par with ability in things like astrophysics because they require very extensive work and study to examine and understand, just like any science. In math, for example, you have clear, defined answers, whereas with stuff like this, you have to be aware of SO much in terms of context and individuality, and a lot of it is undefined. It requires understanding on many different levels.

[29daffodils]

wtf is this about again #3 : what's wrong with ghost-shipping?

this floated into my timeline and all i could think was, “good lord, not again.”

disclaimer : OP is a som, so don't come at me saying I'm not.

(ngl i've heard the term ghostship too many times over the past month, these people are like a toddler with a new cuss word or something).

context : for those unaware, somsoms are grumbling on twitter again because someone decided to say “oh khaomix are so cute together” or something along those lines (I'm not entirely sure) but essentially, they were shipping khaomix because they were seen hanging out together during songkran '25.

now as most fandom oldies know, this is exactly how most RPF shipping happens. you see two people together and your fujo heart flutters and you start shipping them. simple.

problem here is somsoms are always taking it upon themselves to “protect” the boys (firstkhao) from “malicious fans” who like to ship them with everyone else they interact with, eg : first/tay, khao/mix, joong/first, etc.

all these people believe that you're disrespecting khaotung and first by shipping them with others, when khao has himself said he doesn't like being shipped with others (i can neither confirm nor deny this claim since i've only heard this from soms themselves, so if anybody would like to enlighten me with a video or something, feel free, inbox is open).

moreover, ever since the ohmkhao banner incident happened (more on this later), they've been doubling down against people who prefer either khaotung or first with other partners, with the explanation that fans shove their ghostships onto the actors when they've repeatedly said they don't like being shipped outside of the official CP.

(now about the ohmkhao banner thing : my first thought upon seeing that thing was not “why are they shipping khao with someone else?” but “why the fuck does ohm's b'day banner have another person who is not ohm on it?”

so no, do not go putting on a ghostship banner on someone's birthday. i wouldn't even want the official ship's banner on an actors's b'day. it's disrespectful to the person. it doesn't matter in what faith you do it, a person should be defined by their own individuality first. in this case, yes stop shoving your ships where they don't belong. )

anyway, coming back to the ohmkhao incident : during ohm's (nanon's ex, leng's ohm (now ex) — for those like me who get confused which ohm it is) b'day event, some fans put up a banner with khaotung and ohm on it because they ship them and wanted ohm to see the potential of working with khaotung (which, valid, because they are both great actors but. but. i'll come to that). anyway, soms jumped them (for their own agenda) and they got grilled to hell and back.

anyway. my point is :

RPF shipping has always been a slippery slope and considering how the thai BL industry uses RPF ships to keep pairs relevant, i will go out on a limb and assume most actors know how shipping and fandom spaces work. it may be a personal opinion for some actors to not like being shipped with people other than their official CP partner for obvious reasons like : 1) they just don't like it, 2) they are concerned there will be unnecessary infighting between fandoms which will ultimately take a toll on their own lives, and 3) they are actually in love with their CP partner and want to be linked with no one else, the probability of which is a 0.2% at best.

i know this is gonna fall on deaf ears but ships are fictional (until otherwise confirmed) and the actors CANNOT do anything about it. most fan spaces are separate from the actors themselves but certain sections of the BL fandoms like to merge it together to the extent that they start behaving like caretakers. no! your favourite actor has a mind of his own and by that virtue i believe he knows how fandom spaces work and will do his best to keep himself away from ghostships if he so wishes. as far as i know, most actors do not read fanfictions of their own ships nor do they interact with fan content as much. as far as respecting opinions goes, i think as decent fans the most we can and should do is not spam the actors' posts with mentions of the ghostship and always use a tag so it can be filtered out if they wish to do so.

now i may sound like an absolute unfeeling asshole but the onus shouldn't be on fans to look after the actors' well being! every time i see a take like this (so and so has said they don't like this thing) it blows my mind because all it does is sow discontent among fans while the company and managers take a back seat watching it all unfold (eg : the whole situation with ohmnanon). not only does this harbour unhealthy para social attachment between fans and their respective biases, but it literally fucks up fan spaces as a whole.

besides all this, the same way you can think the official ship is dating irl, other fans can do with their ships too. i dunno how this is so hard to understand.

shipping is inherently fictional. there is no truth to it beyond the shipper's own imagination.

so let fandom spaces be civil and fun and stop bothering with what the actors think!

peace out!!

[sarucane]

Stede Bonnet's Stories (S1)

My favorite theme (right now) in OFMD is storytelling, and how the characters' stories shape the narrative and one another. In OFMD, stories are how people connect to one another. How they figure out their place in the world around them, how they form communities, how they grow and change. Because stories are also how the characters come to understand themselves.

In the first season, Stede is the loudest and most determined storyteller of them all. He's literally paying someone to follow him around and write his story; he's built the entire ship and outfitted it to create a certain story; he's wearing mad, impractical clothes in a harsh climate to express his personality.

On the one hand, this is a dumb thing to do. The crew can't read the library he's provided for them; his clothes (and incompetence) make his first "raid" a disaster; the pirates are plotting mutiny very quickly indeed. And his attempts to "toughen up" wind up nearly burying the crew in a larger, imperial story of race and class.

On the other hand, it's an immensely brave thing to do. Stede doesn't really try to be "like Blackbeard." He doesn't disguise his accent, wear ugly clothes, or make an example of someone on the crew to show his "iron fist." He is trying to do something genuinely different. To be a gentleman and a pirate. To tell a story that hasn't been told before. And to create space for others to tell a story: when Wee John voices criticism, Stede hands over his own fabrics to the crew and encourages them to "express yourselves." Between the bedtime stories and Stede's lie about Nigel (which is revealed very quickly afterwards), the crew decide they'll try telling his "new" story with him.

At first, the weakness in Stede's story seems to be that he's telling it in the wrong place. That his fiction is too far from reality, which is going to crush his story (as so many stories have been crushed throughout history).

And that is a problem, and his misjudgments wind up with him being betrayed by pirates and almost executed by Spanish naval officers. But it's a solvable problem, with help.

From the moment they meet, Ed and Stede are at their best when they tell stories together. When they work together, they figure stuff out about themselves, they connect with one another and with the crew, and they find a way to write the third story in a world that tells them they have only two options (gentleman or pirate). They make ship into a lighthouse; they bring a kraken to life and finally beginning to understand it; Stede uses his ship's mast and Ed's trick to outwit Izzy; a treasure map yields actual 'treasure'; the ship is invaded by the English, but everyone emerges safe and alive.

But it doesn't last. Because the real weakness of Stede's storytelling isn't the context. It's that Stede doesn't believe it himself.

Stede is doing all this to try to be both a boy worthy of respect from his father, and a boy who picks flowers. He's still defining himself by the terms of the world he came from. By running away, not running towards something.

So, when Chauncey confronts him with his own "monstrousness," Stede believes him. It's all his insecurities come to life. And he believes Chauncey when he says Stede's "brought history's greatest pirate to ruin."

If all Stede will ever be is a "little rich boy," then he needs to stop trying to be something else. Because telling that story means hurting others.

Stede's wrong. Telling a story, even when you don't fully believe it, changes you and the people who listened to your story. And when Stede gives up on his storytelling, the causes and effects circle round: Stede told stories. As a result, other people told stories. And even if Stede stops telling stories, or tries to tell different stories, other people won't.

Stede lied when he confessed to Nigel's murder. Said he deserved to die for leaving his wife and family. But he doesn't die there, because Ed tells his own story about grace, and the crew takes Stede's mad stories as their own.

And because of what Stede did, Mary Bonnet was able to tell her own story, fully and on her own terms. And to believe in it completely. Ed and the crew were able to tell their stories, too--which comes near to an actual transformation.

In the end, it doesn't matter that Stede didn't believe his story. He changed anyway. He created space for other people to change, to tell stories that unraveled his own lies, that saved him from himself. And he awkwardly, finally, figured out what story he wanted to tell. His own truest story.

And to escape the truth he's accidentally been trapped in, Stede tells a story that inverts what he did before. At the beginning of the season, Stede was telling a story that no one believed. That only he even really tried to believe. But in the finale, he stages an elaborate fuckery to tell a story that everyone believes--except him, and the people who matter. Truth materializes from the fiction.

Stede's stories set so many people free. And in the end, when he's brave enough to lie his way to the truth, Stede's stories set him free, too.

[majorasnightmare]

follow-up question to the ask about Dirge's adoptive parents: how does being raised by drow in early childhood affect his relationship with Minthara? does it make a difference?

how does it affect their relationship when Dirge inevitably remembers them (and how they died)?

DIRGETHARA POSTING HOURS ARE REAL AND RIGHT NOW!!! in response to THIIIIIS older ask!

The memories Dirge gets in game are all he gets. He never remembers anything more about his parents. The Emperor's Dream Guardian disguise falling is the only Extrs Bonus lore Dirge gets, with the vaguest recollection its his mother once he gets the Heal memory of killing his family. Other than that? Nothing. His parents are strangers to him, and he barely recalls his father's face, the memory distorted by time and savagery both. His mothers image is overlaid with the Emperor's deception. He recalls nothing of his childhood, with him or with Orin. His life starts that day in the Nautiloid, with vague blurry context before it. His past is a ghost he can never see clearly.

Minthara, in a lot of ways, is Dirge's only real connection to that past. The context that gave rise to his parents, the circumstances that led to them being involved in his life. He doesn't get to have any answers about their lives or their upbringings, the food they missed or the traditions they wouldve wanted to take with them. He doesnt even know if they *liked* Menzo. All he can do is learn as much as he can, and Minthara is Dirge's only real window into that world. Its one that ends up meaning a surprising amount to him.

Initially his curiosity about Menzoberranzan was because of his interest in Minthara herself, but post act 3 (when hes seen his mother and recognized her image as such thru the emperor, and recalls the killing of his parents), it takes on a personal interest. After the epilogue, Dirge really has to build himself up as someone who exists outside of Bhaal, something and someONE more than just another bhaalspawn. He has to contextualize his identity and his personhood beyond the scraps Bhaal has left him with. Part of that is his heritage as a tiefling of course (which he has ties with through Karlach), part of that is his religious upbringing (which Shadowheart and Isobel can also contribute to), but a prominent part he has no context for is that he was taken in by a drow couple in the poor part of the Gate. In that way, Minthara's recollection of Menzoberranzan is both his past, through his parents, and his future, through her.

I think Minthara groks that very early on. Shes someone deeply defined by her origins and the background it gave her, and knows Dirge is more or less floundering lost in that regard. Its... difficult, to live contextless. She couldn't imagine it for herself, and she'd hate for it to happen to anyone else. Everyone is a result of the circumstances that gave rise to them, and while the rest of the world has the privellege of knowing themselves (even if most lack the desire to interrogate themselves as such), Dirge is forced to play detective even as his past looms ever present like an eternal poltergeist. Defined and forged by invisible mysteries, their mechanisms forever shrouded by the fog of amnesia and trauma. Minthara likes to feel needed, like shes useful and contributing, and while that subsides some once shes settled into her new life in the Gate, she does still take a non insignificant amount of pride and satisfaction in being Dirge's *only* connection to Menzo. Not to the degree of sabotage, but theres something comforting about her partner not only taking an interest in her life because its *hers*, but because its something irreplacable she can offer *him* too. Minthara enjoys that fluid past-present relation Menzo now occupies for them: her fondly remembered childhood, his shrouded past, their lives entagled in each other so inextricably. The flavors and customs he mightve grown up with, an intrinsic part of his beloved. Its very... warm, if that makes sense. Theres a lot of earnest, genuine sincerity to it, on both their ends. An equal amount of self interest and compassion. Its very reciprocal. And it forms a lot of the bedrock foundation that makes up both of them, as individuals and as a couple.

Overall, Dirge being raised by drow didn't end up having much influence on his personality, because of Bhaal's intervention. He ended up a perfect fit for Menzo anyways out of sheer coincidence (and, as Minthara would probably affirm, its simply the most efficient and logical conclusion to reach when in circumstances necessitating the acquisition of power 😤 #MenzoNumber1) but not as a result of his upbringing. Well. Not as a result of his PARENTS upbringing that is. Hard to impart much cultural heritage when your making ends meet in a foreign surface city where your barely tolerated and definitely not accepted, raising a toddler who MIIIIGHT be subject to Evil Influences (if the rumors about tieflings are anything to go by) but is mostly just Loudly Three Years Old, all while juggling work and domestic care and managing schedules and also trying to find some way to snag presents and treats for the big-eyed little creachur back home. Dirge was honestly JUST getting to about the age where things werent so hectic and he didn't need so much constant attention, which wouldve given them some much needed breathing room to really share that heritage with Dirge, but god forbid Bhaals favorite knife arm gets anything.

So the long and short of it is that Dirge's parents didnt have time to contribute much to how he turned out, but the vacancy they left behind is a shared point of connection for both him and Minthara, so even though they were prevented from helping to shape the person he used to be, in no small way they get to contribute to the person he gets to be now.

[zykamiliah]

There's a line from a Mili song that I feel encapsulates a lot of QiJiu. It's "You were right, the ones who gravitate towards self-sacrifice are the most, are the most selfish ghosts" from Dancing Ghost's Ball Jointed Darling. I think that SJ and YQY both want the other to live, even if it's without them. The difference is that SJ will lie to himself about that because he'd much prefer to keep YQY with him then not. YQY on the other hand is so used to taking on the weight of other's that he doesn't really see himself as having a use if he's not stuck being a pillar for others. He knows SJ wouldn't be happy carrying the weight with him so he keeps taking on more and more of SJ's actions as his own guilt in a twisted way of protecting him. SJ want's them to be equals and YQY want's to be SJ's shield no matter what it costs himself. SJ doesn't have the emotional knowledge to be able to actually accurately describe his own feelings I think, he's in such a base sense of paranoia that he can't trust anything that YQY or anyone else does for him. Sorry for the ramble, I just feel like both the lack of communication between them and WWX & JC is more complicated then other's think and it's not a matter of morality. They are all really complicated characters and I feel like reducing them to villain and hero doesn't do the story any favors.

setting aside the differences between qijiu and wwx and jc's relationship, i agree with you on this.

i think a big takeaway from mxtx's novels is that most characters can't be defined by binaries (with some exceptions): they are people making choices. sometimes those choices hurt people, and that's what you learn first: the bad choices. then mxtx shows you where the characters come from, and you can sympathize with them, yet still there is a point where the characters, regardless of their backstory, consciously take a path of hurting others (and themselves, inevitably) that's what actually condemned them. but the thing is, you can point to any moment of that backstory and say "see, if this had been different, maybe they wouldn't made that choice". they're tragic characters because their circumstances were unfortunate, and those circumstances doomed them to make terrible choices; then, at the same time, those were their conscious choices. they had agency.

you can see all that play out in qijiu and their messy, complicated relationship. one can understand why they made those choices, even if we disagree with them. even the most selfless action can turn selfish and vice versa. you can love someone and hurt them. you can love someone and lash out at them because there's unhappiness and anger within you. and the worldview of people with self-worth issues tends to twist to fit those believes.

i think you mention something that's actually really important and it's that neither side of qijiu have the emotional knowledge to express themselves in another way; i'd add that they never had a chance to learn how to do it, and specially sj, who had two major bad influences in his life that he ended up emulating, consciously or not. i'd also add that in the "dog eats dog" world that's pidw, sj, someone who grew up in the streets, must have the belief of "survival of the fitness", and because his experiences, appearing weak or letting others step over him (from his point of view) feels like a threat to him. he's paranoid about losing, because losing means his way of surviving is threatened. in that context, someone that puts themselves in danger to protect him or back him up becomes precious. sj may be power-hungry, petty, jealous, mean, aggressive and vitriolic, but he is steadfastly loyal to the ONLY person that has shown to care for him selflessly and unconditionally; and he'll be like that in return. but after what he perceives as a betrayal, his feelings for yqy are complicated. he resents him but loves him, thus he doesn't know where he stands and the only thing he's sure about is that yqy feels guilty and indebted and he'll push and push to see how much yqy is willing to take for this debt he has to him.

i also think that yqy should have been harder on sj irt what sj did as a peak lord. more than trying to coax him, he should have put his foot down about what sj did to lbh and not just passively and sadly allow it to happen, no matter that sj had the authority over qjp. because of his guilt and his love and his pity for sj, he allowed what he shouldn't. even out of love and pity bad choices are made. he had a better grasp on what's right or wrong and that something like abusing disciples would eventually bite sj in the ass (Karma), so it wasn't as if he didn't know. and this type of relationship is something that happens in real life, particularly in parent-child relationships where the parent pities the child to the point that they let the child do whatever they want and just apologize in their stead. in the long run it ends up hurting the child more.

but even yqy's choices i can understand, because i know where yqy comes from. and i think that's the point: just understanding the big spectrum of human experience that can be expressed through this characters, understanding the characters and seeing things from their point of view. if mxtx didn't want us to see that, she would have done like airplane and just chop off the backstories.

i ended up rambling too haha :3

[mdhwrites]

Why Do Modern Isekai Like Slavery?

So the easy answer here is that it allows the MC to treat a girl like complete shit and she still has to suck his dick. That it's part of the power fantasy. However, that's the easy answer. That's treating these authors like they're just trying to find an easy answer for fetish bait and for getting to the tropes that their audience likes. I don't find that useful analytically. So, for now, we're going to hang that up and talk about shudders for a moment the narrative utility in a fantasy story of including slavery. God I hate some of the shit this will make me have to say.

I do want to be clear: Slavery is bad. Absolutely terrible. There are few worse things you could to a human being. I would personally argue that killing another human being is less inhumane than slavery. I feel like I should make this clear because I am going to talk about, from a storytelling perspective, how acknowledging slavery in your setting can be useful, especially for these sorts of stories.

With that out of the way:

Any fish out of water story, which ALL isekai inherently are, need a few things to make sure our protagonist doesn't just wander around for a couple days before dying of lack of food or pissing the wrong person off. Those things, though this list is not comprehensive:

A basic understanding of the world, or at least someway to be stopped from breaking common knowledge on accident.

Something that can help them survive in this new world.

Something to help them not go crazy

If we address MODERN isekai's tropes directly, we could also add "Must be a love interest" to this because these are harem anime trying to not have the stigma of harem anime. This actually does add an extra wrinkle of:

4. Isn't going to fuck off when they get the protagonist to safety or when they choose to do things like go fight the demon lord or whatever.

So you need adhesion. That moment in a romance title where the two people aren't just potentially interested in each other but stuck. Something that makes sure that no matter what happens, the starter town farm girl nuts up and shuts up.

A slave girl, genuinely, fits ALL OF THESE. They can be a constant companion who is always on their side who also has a familiarity with the world and has lived at least some amount of a harsh existence and so likely knows something about surviving in this world. The fact that they can't go anywhere or question you inherently adds to this adhesion. Even if it's an isekai protagonist who frees the slave girl in question, they'll just go with the angle of "I owe you my life and so I pledge it eternally to you."

Put a pin in that last part. We'll get back to it.

It also accomplishes a lot of things outside of just this narrative utility for our protagonist mechanically. It also allows for worldbuilding and character defining. Does he just buy the slave like in Shield Hero? Well, he's kind of a bastard then and he's a bit more anti-hero because he's willing to help the slave trade. Does he instead kick down the door, slaughter the slaver and free the girls? Well, you get an early moment of being a badass and unarguably the hero. In both cases, it also opens the door for both author and audience to claim that this is 'dark' fantasy because they're tackling real atrocities like slavery!

Rolls eyes out of the back of his head.

It's incredibly efficient storytelling... and it's also really fucking lazy. Slavery is the poor man's option here and requires you to just acknowledge slavery as the selling of people and not its wider contexts or even the wider traumas of anyone who has even been threatened to be enslaved. It is a very callous, very utilitarian way to use the trope which is kind of terrible for something that actually happened.

Remember that pin? Yeah, that's just a character deciding to enslave themselves rather than being officially enslaved which... What? Who the fuck chooses that? Now yes, an argument can be made of "If I don't stick with you, I'd die," but that's STILL the argument of the slaver as well. That they're too far from home, or that their home is gone, and so they HAVE to behave until they can have a master who will take care of them. It is just another prison. But that's NOT useful for the narrative purposes being exploited here and so we just go with some fantasy 'life debt' bullshit which immediately obliterates really any attempt to claim you're dark fantasy. REAL dark fantasy has the hero free the slaves, them look at him like "Okay, what now motherfucker?" and question how he's now going to keep them alive because at least the slaver was doing that much. Or when he tries to make them work for him, they will bring up the arguments I am because if he actually gave a shit about them, instead of posing virtuously, he would help them get home and back to their own live. They wouldn't force these people to just be an extension of themselves because 'dark' fantasy interrogates the tropes of fantasy and how they ACTUALLY might play out because fantasy worlds are always a place of grand cruelties and injustice due to their commonly very violent nature.

The point to all of this is that at the beginning of this, I discarded the meta or marketing reasons for the use of the trope. The problem is that modern is isekai is so poisoned in so many aspects that even if you discard one explanation of laziness and poor writing... You just run into another. That's why these shows have the reputation they do. Do they sometimes manage to be better? There's too many of them not to have exceptions. The rule though is that the writing is bound by genre law to be as abused and warped as the author needs it to be to just get the story done.

And that's bad for everyone, like always. See you next tale.

======+++++======

What's extra funny to me is that if you wanted to not have the real world baggage and actually make the life debt thing maybe work, there's a really easy answer: Highway rescue. Someone is accosted by bandits, the hero saves them but OH NO! The wagon that's destroyed already had all their stuff so they need their savior's help further and if they will help them live, they will do anything for them. There you go. Just as easy but you don't look like a creepy dick of an author who is exploiting real world tragedies without actually acknowledging what they do to people.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[tales-from-nocturnaliss]

Happy Blorbo Blursday from the Creators Club. Does your character miss anyone? Why do they miss this person? What would they be willing to do to see them again?

Oh well I kinda covered this over here without meaning to <<

So to give more context because it's both wholesome but also look away if you have any age gap triggers, Devon has been essentially this... presence in an important bloodline of the world. His first memory was Sorasiehn, whom he spent centuries with, and I discovered over time just how absolutely *core memory* this dysfunctional, never-defined relationship was. To the point that, when she died abruptly (unnatural death), he had to essentially shove all of the memories aside just to survive.

And went back to her home village, where he looked after Sorasiehn's daughter, Nefahtil, once she herself came back home (there's really too much context to give, bear with me that I shorten). Where things got tricky and um spiraled a bit is when Nefahtil had a daughter. A beautiful, gentle little soul with a power of her own, like her ancestors. Hers was a power of manipulation of the mind. A power she ended up not controling, as she didn't realize it essentially leaked from her.

Where it gets iffy and heartbreaking and I decide today I wanna talk about it, is that her power manipulated Devon's emotions. Not intentionally. But, as she grew older, into a young mature woman (I cannot stress her adultness enough), the fatherly feelings he had for her twisted into something wrong born from the buried feelings for Sorasiehn. Leading to Devon just... thinking he was in love, when his love was actually for Sorasiehn.

Before you scream at me in outrage: no, nothing happened. The man has some never-remembered trauma that makes intimacy for him impossible (thank fuck for that I say), and the fact of the matter is that, twisted as his feelings were, they were still nothing like the feelings he had for Sorasiehn (which I have been exploring since it was brought up to me that he sounded like something he's not, which hurt, buuuuuut led me to SO MANY FEELS about he and Sorasiehn that I am grateful for the pain now long gone). As said: twisted.

And it is this twisted nature of feelings that made him miss Selessannea with a blind madness completely unlike himself. That made him pursue necromancers and kill them mercilessly, lost in the grief of having watched her wither and die for a man he believed didn't love her (but, that man did, Devon simply couldn't/wouldn't see it). And all of this is *why* he missed Selessannea like a crazy man... because he was, in essence, crazy.

Now. Obviously, there was nothing he could've given or done to see her again, save to die - and even so. But, centuries later, he does encounter a true lethal creature who plays with his mind, too, and brings out all the actual grief but also anger he held for Selessannea, and twists that withering last image into an image of him killing her. Which I mention because it twisted things back into a sense of growing order. Snapped the twisted feelings back into their righful place, leaving room for different feelings to emerge. Different memories. Memories of Sorasiehn.

Where I'm at currently, he's not remembering Sorasiehn clearly yet, but he also doesn't miss Selessannea as he used to. The feelings have stabilized, righted themselves enough that I can feel relief. But ohhhh once he remembers her? Well, as I've seen in an AU with a close friend, the memory of Sorasiehn will be like death. It will be terrible. Devastating. Shred his heart to pieces and leave nothing standing.

And her, he will miss because he truly, genuinely, did love her, as she loved him, though neither of them ever defined these feelings, nor accepted them, nor acknowledged them. They lived side by side, vampire man and warrior elf, he proudly devoted and she fierce and cold, but oh how they cared about one another. For her, he would be willing to give anything to hold her again, just one more time.

[sheltershock]

Sashamilla version of Rewrite the Stars.

This is my thought today. (Actually not really I’ve had it for months, today is the day I finally write it down.)

However, Milla is in Zac Efron’s role and Sasha’s is in Zendaya’s. It just fits their personalities and worldviews way better. Milla is the idealistic dreamer who’s accomplished and overcome so much she’s convinced she can do pretty much everything. Because she can but that’s besides the point. She’s also in tune with her own and other’s emotions to be able to actually call out the present feelings(“you know I want you / it’s not a secret I try to hide / I know you want me”).

Meanwhile Sasha is the more negative centered side of the argument voiced by Zendaya. Both the negativity charged powers and literally being down to earth compared to Milla play into it. Also crucially is that this is the side of the argument that fate is real and cannot be changed(“no one can rewrite the stars / how can you say that you’ll be mine?”). While there’s no definitive proof in the games that Sasha thinks fate is absolute, he does have a line in RoR that might believe in destiny, but also would not actively attempt to change it, “Who am I to stand in the way of our destiny, even if that destiny is our destruction?” Plus there’s the stars/galaxy/space/aliens special interest so yeah Stars. Sasha stands pretty firmly on the side of order to the point that chaos is hard to function for him so the idea of rewriting the stars/constellations, even if possible, could also get some derision from him.

And then there’s the idea of the song to begin with, that our leads are separated by something insurmountable. The in text scenario from the musical can apply to sashamilla since they’re also an interracial couple. But racism is depressing, so there’s some alternative factors that can be used. There’s the idea that because they’re opposites that they’re simply too different from each other. They’re “doomed to break” if you will. Or a more psychological reason could be played that the reason they can’t be together is because their past trauma of suddenly losing a loved one prevents them from truly loving another person again. Of course with this context, it would mean that Milla is ready to try to love someone else again, and Sasha isn’t, which is believable. I personally think that although romantic relationships shouldn’t really define characters, I do think that Sasha/Milla is the other’s happy ending by being able to love another person again especially when they’re both in such a dangerous field. They’re both likely to die suddenly, but they both decide that love/being loved is worth the possible reoccurring pain and that’s their happy ending by choosing to be happy with each other.

Additionally the verses “because we’re able to be / just you and me within these walls / but when we go outside / you’re gonna wake up and see / that it was hopeless after all” can be whatever you interpreted above. “Within these walls” can refer to their own minds/privacy where they can be fine by themselves but not in public aka “outside.” Or it can refer to the Psychonauts as a sanctuary that they can be psychics or basically share parts that can’t be comfortably shown to the rest of the world “outside.” I really like these verses in relation to the ship, good opportunity for storytelling.

Now if this was an animatic, I’d suggest that the visuals take place inside their minds. With Milla’s levitation a similar thing can be done with the trapeze art(?) from the original musical. But the entire time it’s abundantly clear visually how the other sticks out in the opposing mind. I think it would be cool if they were chasing each other. So it starts out in Milla’s mind, and she’s just singing her heart out but she’s just too good at levitating and Sasha cannot keep up with her. They both have points of just barely being close enough but momentum is just a bit stronger, fate’s just a little bit stronger.

And then during the transition where it would be Sasha’s turn to sing, he’s given up on trying to keep up and just leaves back to his own mind. Milla obviously follows after, she’s chasing now. But despite his mind being a large cube with tons of empty space the entire time it’s unfolding and refolding back as both for Sasha to move around and Milla to stumble over her own obstacles. I also want the idea of the appearing/disappearing trapdoor from PN1 to be an element during where Sasha keeps suddenly disappearing through spaces that you wouldn’t immediately identify as doors. It would also coincide with the verse “and there are some doors that we can’t walk through” emphasis on the we specifically(because I like literalism). Milla’s good with levitation but with what’s effectively teleportation she’s struggling to keep up.

Of course the repeated line of “(what if we/no one can) rewrite the stars” is accompanied but different but similar visuals depending on the mind. Milla’s has spinning lights from the disco balls, and the geometric/math like designs in the sky in Sasha’s that I interpreted as constellations is of course, the stars.

Also the line “I want to fly with you / I want to fall with you.” I have no thoughts. It’s just them, I don’t really have to explain that. I’m just pointing it out.

The final part of the song where both voices come in for an overlapping duet would be cool if the aesthetics of both of their minds somehow combined. I don’t know how. It might even be a nightmare to design, but it would be interesting and like a blending of their ideas and persons into this new destiny they’ve created. But nonetheless it should look beautiful. They’re finally in sync, being able to fly and fall together.

I just think the song fits them and their personalities. And there’s the irony that I’m pretty sure they were, in reality, designed for each other. That they “were the one they were might to find” so, cute, obviously. So, yeah, my thoughts on a song and a ship.

[ahgastayverse]

EIGHT TYPES OF LOVE ACCORDING TO ANCIENT GREEK

STRAY KIDS “MAXIDENT” HEART VERSION PHOTO TEASERS THEORY

Ancient Greek society recognized that there are many kinds of love. There are eight different words for love in Greek, in fact, and defining each allows us to fully interpret the context of the love we feel for others.

Agape - Felix

Eros - Jisung

Philia - Seungmin

Philautia - Chan

Storge - I.N

Pragma - Changbin

Ludus - Hyunjin

Mania - Lee Know

Agape - Unconditional Love

First, we have agape love. This is an altruistic, selfless, unconditional love. The Greeks thought it was quite radical, perhaps because so few people seem capable of feeling it long-term.

Eros - Romanic Love

Eros is named after the Greek god of love and fertility. Therefore, it is usually associated with romantic, passionate, and physical love. It is an expression of sexual passion and desire.

The Greeks were actually quite fearful of this love, strangely enough. They thought that because human beings have an instinctual impulse to procreate, that this love was so powerful and it would result in a loss of control.

Philia - Affectionate Love

The Greeks defined this kind of love as “affectionate love” In other words, it is the kind of love that you feel for your friends.

Ironically, the ancient Greeks thought this kind of love was better than eros (sexual love), because it represented love between people who considered themselves equals.

While a lot of people associate the word “love” with romance, Plato always argued that physical attraction wasn’t necessary for love. Hence, why there are many different types of love. This type, in particular, is often referred to as “platonic” love – love without sexual acts.

Philautia - Self-love

Philautia is self-love. In our modern day society, most people associate self-love with being narcissistic, selfish, or stuck on themselves. However, this is not what the ancient Greeks meant by self-love.

Self-love is not negative or unhealthy in any way. In fact, it’s necessary to be able to give and receive love from other people. We cannot give to others what we don’t have. And if we don’t love ourselves, how can we truly love others?

Another way to look at self-love is by thinking about it as self-compassion. Just as you might show affection and love to another person, you must also show that same affection and love to yourself.

Storge - Familiar Love

Storge can be defined as “familiar love”. Although that’s a strange term, let me explain what it really means.

This type of love looks and feels a lot like philia – affectionate love felt between friends. However, this love is more like a parent-child love.

Just like philia, there is not physical or sexual attraction. But there is a strong bond, kinship, and familiarity between people.

Pragma - Enduring Love

The ancient Greeks define pragma as “enduring love”. In other words, it’s almost the opposite of eros (sexual love). Eros tends to burn out quickly because of its passion and intensity. However, pragma is a love that has matured and developed over a long period of time.

The kind of old married couples who have been together since their teenage years and still hold hands, well, that’s a great example of pragma. Unfortunately, this kind of love is somewhat rare to find – especially in society today. These days, people seem to think the grass is always greener on the other side. And therefore, they don’t have the patience or desire to watch love grow over time.

This type of love doesn’t require a lot of effort in a relationship. Both people are good at making compromises, and each of them puts in equal efforts to make the other person happy.

Ludus - Playful Love

Ludus is known as the “playful love”. However, a better way to describe it is the feeling of infatuation in the early days of romance. If you’ve been in love before, you know what I’m talking about.

It’s the butterflies in your stomach, the giddiness you feel when you see your love walk through the door, and the feeling of never wanting to be without them.

Studies show that when people are experiencing this type of love, their brain is acting much like it does if it was on cocaine. In other words, your brain is lit up and active just like someone who is literally high on a drug. It makes you feel alive and excited about life.

Mania - Obsessive Love

Mania is not necessarily a good type of love, because it is obsessive. It’s the type of love that can lead someone into madness, jealousy, or even anger. That is because the balance between eros (sexual) and ludus (playful) is terribly off.

Many people who experience this type of love suffer from low self-esteem. They fear losing the object of their love, and this fear compels them to say or do some “crazy” things in order to keep them.

If not kept under control, mania can be very destructive in some cases.

Wikipedia

[x-other-souled-x]

This is how I feel about the word "system."

This is from another post on phantom limbs and that term's usage in both medical and community settings, and the debate of changing the term to something else for the community who is usuing it as a no-so-medical term, for the sake of it being used in a medical context. However I didn't want to jack the post with my own ramble about an unrelated word.

I blocked out distracting surrounding text, but You can read the post for yourself, and get the full context, here:

The main thing I wanted to pull, however, is that when language already exists, it's ridiculous to ask people to change that and loose all connection they have with the "out group" who is not entrenched in online communities and their jargon.

I also will say that you can be a system, and have all the markers that make someone a system, without needing to ever touch the medical world.

Again, a system is defined as a grouping of parts that work together as one.

Under this framing on the term system (which on this page was followed by several uses of the word in a medical context, the majority of which were bodily function systems or social systems such as medical and support) any person who relates to the idea of being multiple parts or entities would be able to call themselves a system.

If I wanted to be silly, which I kind of do because I think this is a little bit of a silly thing to argue about, I could claim that by nature of our physical bodies literally being made of many interconnecting systems, that we all, every living organism on this planet, could call itself a system. I have a respiratory system, a digestive system, a nervous system, etc. And that's just a physical reality.

But putting the silliness aside.

The term and it's usage is so broad that you can not gatekeep it. And asking people to change what terms they use because in one specific context a system is used medically to refer, sometimes, to DID patients. It's ridiculous when the same term is also used broadly in many other contexts, both in and outside of medical settings.

Asking people to change that language is just asking them to be further alienated from community and make it more difficult for them to communicate with others.

We need common language, not highly specific micro labels, to communicate with people outside of incredibly niche online communities.

[jimstan2024]

"One Voice, One Faith, One YIFI [YOUTH]: Mission in Action to the Fullness of Life"

As one faithful community, as one organization, and as one church, how do we make sure that our lives are one and we are in action – that we are achieving the fullness of life?

The key lies in our relationships, and in the one who restores them.

“At the heart of a broken world there are broken relationships. In a life that seems less than full, this is one of the first things we should look to. And this doesn’t just mean relationships with other people. For an abundant life, we need to look to our relationships with God, with creation, and with ourselves – as well as with others.”

Jesus is able to offer life to the fullness of it because he is able to bring harmony to all these things. ‘Through him all things were made’ (John 1:3), and through him all things are remade: he is the great healer and restorer, the one who is ‘making everything new.’ (Revelation 21:5) the story on healing the paralytic man shows the oneness of life in one faith in one action embracing total acceptance and inclusiveness.

This is why we, the YOUTH are so passionate about working through our ministry. We know that it is the restoration of relationships that we will enable people to lift themselves out of disconnection to the society.

The entire organization and ministry of the Youth has been called to look back the journey of the Youth of Iglesia Filipina Independiente, coming from ordinary Young People becoming a Modern Hero casting all form of dehumanization in the society and influence young people to be empowered, motivated and unified.

One Voice: “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.” Isaiah 58:1,Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding” Proverbs 2:3. “That together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”Romans 15:6-7 ESV. These text expresses that as young people our ministry advocates to be the voice of our ministry. As we work hand-in-hand, the life and witnessing journey of each youth member of this institution amplifies the voice of those young people who are dis-heard by the community.

One Faith: "Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” — C.S. Lewis. Faith is a fundamental part of the christian life . As Youth of the church One Faith defines the needs on leaning on faith in difficult situations can help ministry overcomes even the most harmful and challenging it face during on its service. Moreover, we can be left feeling hopeless, broken, and desperate. Having faith along with a positive outlook can help to motivate and encourage the people around us to do the same. After we take a look at these moving leap-of-faith, we can share your vision with friends and family so they can be encouraged, as well.

One YIFI: We do have lots of different lay ministries. Ministry maintain the action of advocacy in life. An organization that talk and consider while the fullness of the ministries serve and care. A young people  make decisions and implement actions.  YFI  that implementer and decision-makers. The people who do the ministry get to make their own decisions about that ministry. We do not separate authority from responsibility. We trust young people with both. YIFI that evolves and involve themselves as strong individual with interconnected personality to promote the avenue of action achieving the ministry of Christ in today's context.

Mission in Action to the Fullness of Life: We must remember that the church is a body not a business. It is an organism not just an organization, and so God intends for it to operate on the basis of spiritual gifts. . You have to figure out who your evangelistic mission is and focus on it. No style of church can possibly reach everyone, that’s the reason young people is needed. Take a close look and you’ll find that every church has a culture. This culture is determined by the predominant kind of people who make up the congregation. Whoever your church has right now is who you’re likely to attract more of whether you like that fact or not.

The most overlooked principle for ministry growth is we have to love people the way Jesus did. The reason Jesus attracted such large crowds is because He loved people. On the other hand, the real reason they don’t have a crowd is because they don't want a crowd! They love their own comfort more than they love lost people. To reach unbelievers you have to move outside your own comfort zone and do things that often feel awkward and uncomfortable to you. It takes unselfish people to grow a church. Lost people have a lot of problems and their lives are messy. Its not by accident that Jesus compared evangelism to fishing. Fishing is often messy and smelly. So many churches want the fish they catch to be precanceled, gutted, cleaned and cooked. That’s why they never reach anyone.

There is no ONE WAY to grow a ministry! It takes all kinds of individual to reach all kinds of people. If you’re getting the job done lives are being changed then like the way you’re doing it, move forward to the fullness of life as ONE.

[bastard-aziraphale]

for emma - bon iver

cw: bruises, implied s/exual content

grant and terry jr. as high school sweethearts + (eventually) friendly exes is Everything to me. also grant and lark friends to ill-advised fwbs to lovers <3 anyway i just have been very compelled by the idea of terry jr. really struggling to move on at first, because he just strikes me as a bit of a hopeless romantic and also grant would have been his first serious relationship and (arguably more important) his best friend from ages 13-18

also have a lil thing in the works for grant's POV of the breakup >:3c stay tuned >:3cc

[screampotato]

Of course the system has problems (edit to add: it's more problems than system, honestly). What I'm mainly trying to address is what I'm seeing a lot on here, which are young people having a lot of anxiety over the question of "what is a good grade?", as if that were both an objectively answerable question (it isn't, it depends on context and your own aims and needs), and as if it were something that they can use to judge their own worth in a meaningful way. And that's incredibly problematic.

Part of what's feeding into my response here is a post by one of my own mutuals the other day being really upset and anxious because they had got e.g. 70% or something, and they had been proud of that, but then they kept seeing people online defining a "good grade" as 80% or 90%, and as a result they were feeling like they were dumb. Actually dumb. And breaking their heart about it.

It is hard to come up through school, with all the (in my opinion way overblown) focus on "good grades" and NOT internalise grades as some sort of objective judgement on your worth as a person. It's toxic and incredibly unhealthy for young people. I wish there were something I could do about this, but I'm neither a high school teacher nor a politician, so there isn't.

At the end of the day, I'm an engineer. I value things according to their beauty or their usefulness and that's it. I don't care about grades in the abstract at all, as a judgement of somebody's worth or "cleverness", and neither should you. Instead, you should consider what grades you want, and what grades you need (taking into account your cultural context, planned career, the culture in that career and so on) and aim for that. Give up the idea of "good grades" and instead focus on what grades will get you where you need to go. And find your self-esteem and positive self-image in something other than percentages given to you in exams, which are themselves a terrible way to assess most subjects. But that's a rant for another day.

this is something i’ve noticed varies a lot among my friends so i’m curious:

also preferably add what country you’re in bc is def a cultural thing ◡̈