#because they just didn't fit with the info and world building we had before

[chiyana]

HA yeah that was…that was from Tuesday night so you know a dude had to be a little sedated

But in ANY case, I for one am happy to have another chapter in this trying time! Regardless of thematic coincidences!

And I’ve thought about it more, and I think Kryptonians would definitely use fluorescent based sequencing, as opposed to something chemistry based, because they’re such a heavily wavelength based species and sequencing using flashing colors detection really fits that, you know? They seem like they would utilize lasers forever and for everything

And while I’m sure they have something to do whole genome sequencing that’s faster than we currently have (tho we are limited by how fast chemistry can you know. Chemical), I like to think Tim’s sequencing was done using Sanger sequencing, or the equivalent, because it’s fairly easy, fairly accurate, and it’s confirmed they already have sequenced something similar before so they would have the materials already (and you know, now that I think about it, Kon being a hybrid and in canon Kal having a half/half kid does indicate Kryptonian DNA has the same if not chemically compatible bases to humans)

If I had a heavy hunch about the identity of a sequence AND I already had the materials from before, it would take me like….personally 4-5 hours from start to finish to confirm Tim was human, and that’s from using my 2005 sequencer. If I needed more information/more sequence, I would use a next gen sequencer of some kind, but those take a lot longer to set up, like…hmmm at least a day (you can way more info, like in depth population analysis or a Whole Entire Genome, but they don’t NEED that right now)

Also I just love Sanger sequencing a lot, it’s so neat how it works. It’s like. It’s like you place a train on a track, and the train is a short DNA sequence you know (or hope) matches somewhere in your sample. And that train goes forward, replicating the strand of DNA it’s on (the train track). And every so often, the train will get stopped in its path by a glowing DNA base, 4 different colors for the 4 different bases. And this train does this thousands and thousands of times, getting stopped randomly at any point in the track with a glowing base. And when it’s done, you use an electric/magnetic current to separate the different train paths, from shortest (train gets stopped immediately) to longest (train gets stopped a solid mile down the track). And then look. At which color each track glows. Because they’re in order of size now! So you can see what the sequence of the whole track is by checking the order of the glowing bases from smallest to largest! I love it, I want to be buried in a Sanger sequencer when I die

Anyway. I actually love how you write your fic because you put just enough science in it to entice me and make me think, but not so much that it kills suspension of disbelief. It’s the perfect amount of explanation for me, unlike other shows that shall not be named

Ooh! I like the idea of them using fluorescent based sequencing, since yeah considering how heavily light/the sun ties into them conceptually and thematically, they absolutely would use lasers for everything forever XD

I didn't know about different kinds of sequencing, but Sanger sequencing does sound really cool! I like learning about neat tricks in science used to gather data quickly and accurately and then organize it to sort through and understand :)

Thank you so much for sharing, and I'm glad you like the fic! Also, if you want sci-fi world-building that really gets into the weeds of things like different genes and chemical structures, I recommend checking out Jay Eaton and Runaway to the Stars! It's a currently updating webcomic, but they're on Tumblr as well as jayrockin. The story follows a hypercarnivore alien/aerospace engineer named Talita who gets involved in fixing a pirate ship and running off to have space adventures. There's SO MUCH world building and thought gone into the world of the story that I think you would be interested in (if you haven't heard about it already).

Thank you again for the ask!

[silver-wield]

I think it was you that proposed the theories, but I have some questions: 1) What was your thoughts on the idea of Argento possibly being Tifa's mom & that they're from Wutai (due to her maybe putting Leviathan's Materia in the town well)? I DID look & Argento seems to have blue eyes (eye because eye patch) from the shots I could make out from them. Plus the only info we DO know about Tifa's mom is that she dies from an illness & we haven't physically seen her any from what I'm aware of.

2) Do you think they'll ever go into why Tifa has red eyes in the games? And/or if they'll hint to her & Vincent maybe being related somehow, like that they're cousins or something? I DO know that I saw your post where you pointed out they were the "original versions" of what would end up being Aerith & Sephiroth in the early "relationship chart" concept pic. (I don't know if her also being related to Yuffie somehow due to Wutai ties would be too much.)

3) Do you think Usher (the Dirge multiplayer character's guide) could have been turned into the Restrictor we meet in its story mode? We know who the VA of the latter is but we don't know about Usher's from what I was able to find, & it's been a bit since I've watched the cutscenes so I haven't compare them.

4) Do you think they could repurpose the plot point of the Player Tsviet being able to resist the Restrictor's control being either the previous Usher connection idea where his SOLDIER version is him trying to help & guide the player, or possibly Hojo trying out a "prototype" version of the plot he tries to preform with Weiss where he tries to mentally hijack him?

Hi 👋👋👋 welcome to the random weirdness that is my Tumblr 🤣

So the theory about Argento came before we got any info from ToTP, where we see that Tifa's mother is called Thea and she grew up in Nibelheim. It really was just a random shot in the dark all based on this one fact that Argento came from Wutai and looked a bit like Tifa and I have a weakness for super cool badasses. So it wasn't really anything serious, outside of looking up a bit of character info and connecting some very tenuous dots for fun and fanfiction fodder. I think I did actually use that HC in a fanfiction, so some of what I said at the time wound up being because I was working out stuff for that reason and thought it was a fun topic to talk about. There's so many characters and stories in ffvii and a lot of them get overlooked for the main cast or because salty dumdums don't want anybody to acknowledge anything, besides what they decide is important. So, it's actually a fact that Argento isn't Tifa's mother and isn't responsible for anything that happens in Nibelheim. We never find out why there's a materia in the water tower, but apparently it's been there for a long time.

Turns out that Nomura originally chose red eyes for Tifa because he liked the colour on her and how it fit with her aesthetic. Doesn't go any further than that with her design. Nojima is the one who had to work that into the world build, and I think at the time they didn't really pay it any mind and thought most people wouldn't either. Somewhere down the line they understood people's curiosity about Tifa's eyes, especially when they couldn't match the colour in AC and made them brown, so that really put attention on that aspect. With the expansion of world building through the compilation, we see several other characters with red eyes. Besides Vincent Valentine, there's also Rosso the Crimson from Dirge of Cerberus, and Matt Winsford from First Soldier, so I think the devs are trying to make an effort to normalise the eye colour while still getting the impression across that it's a fairly rare shade. And yeah, in early development Tifa and Vincent were brother and sister, and that's why they both have dark hair and red eyes, but they're clearly not related by the end of development, especially since Vincent is old enough to be her grandfather. As for Yuffie being Tifa's relative, that was a HC based mostly on ffx Yuna and Rikku being related because Nojima wrote both scenarios. I doubt it'd be true, but it's fun for fanfiction.

I honestly can't remember anything about the multi player mode for Dirge, so I can't really answer this. Last time I looked anything up for it was about 2yrs ago and it wasn't all that interesting for me so I very likely purged it from my brain 🤣

I doubt Nojima will pull any of the player aspect of Dirge from the game because that would take focus away from ffvii. At most, the devs have said they want to include a few references and locations from the compilation.

[problemswithbooks]

At least there’s still Mt. Lady, possibly HK’s best female Pro Hero.

Yeah, she's sadly the best we got. He managed to give her a mini arc about learning to work with others, and not be fame obsessed. I think from what little we've seen she's a decent character. But at the end of the day she gets less screen time then other side characters, like BJ. Plus, Kamui Woods got into the top 10 for his work during the Kamino Raid, but Mount Lady did just as much as he did, and didn't get that kind of boost. Woods doesn't even get a much depth as Mount Lady does, so that's kind of a weird choice in my opinion.

The thing is, I just find most of the fandom's reaction to Star and her poor treatment kind of disheartening. It's fine if people don't like her--she's not really given much depth to be liked for much more then her design and Quirk. And she is beating up a character people really like. But it's kind of frustrating to see posts about how awesome it is that Shig is gon'na kill her and it's what she deserves, while totally ignoring or even defending Hori's choice to introduce another female character as fodder for a male character to defeat in 4.5 chapters.

Like, I'm not saying Hori is a raging misogynist. All I'm saying is that due to being raised in a sexist society (which is pretty much everywhere) he has internal biases, which effect how he chooses to write and treat his female characters. This isn't even a solely male problem, there have been countless studies that show as soon as people know the gender of a baby--even before it's born, how they talk about it and perceive it change. Women aren't exempt form this, and I've seen this kind of sexist bias in books written by women.

So, it's a little weird when to see people say he's not being sexist, when it's so clear that he is. Star was never going to win--I knew that from the beginning and that was always my problem with his decision to make her a woman. At some point it seemed like she was going to be male, but he changed his mind--probably because he didn't enjoy drawing a man as much as a woman. I don't think he thought through the implications of changing the gender of the character or how it highlighted a pretty big problem in his writing--that he uses female characters as disposable objects that are nice to look at while they last.

A lot of his female characters could be replaced with a sexy lamp with a laser beam and not much would change. Like if this was a no-Quirk story, Star could be replaced with the the Tiamat Missile and AfO/Shig could steal it. All Star was there to do was to give Shig a free powerup and make him even more scary for the final fight. Lady Nagant could have been replaced by a voice recorder or video tape that info dumped the HPSC's crimes. Neither of these characters were necessary and that in and of it's self is an issue. They're there to look pretty and be sidelined or fridged for a male character's growth.

It was bad when he did it with Nagant, and it's bad now too. Yet, because Star was beating up a character they liked, a lot of people are saying she's a bitch, making fun of her and saying she deserved it--ignoring the fact she's not real so she can't make her own choices and was handcrafted by a male author who continues to use his adult female characters as punching bags. And it's just kind of depressing.

[stardustedknuckles]

Hi, how about #3. “Shhh. Don’t try to move. I’ve got you.” For Beau/Yasha. If you are interested, I would really appreciate a NB Beau story for this if you can! Thanks! :)

Written straight down the page, got away from me, more than 1k. They/she for Beau, plus an obligatory pun because like. That's just what it is to be NB sorry I do make the rules. Hurt/comfort, college AU, could fit right alongside anything I've done before but just also Beau is nonbinary. Early days. Enjoy!

"You're sure you're good?" Beau flipped off the guy who looked up from the nearby computer glare at her but lowered their voice a bit further as they sidled up to Yasha. "Because you look like shit. No offense."

The world was doing something kind of wavy as Yasha reached up for the book she'd come for, but she shook it off and blinked to clear her head. "I'm fine," she whispered back. "I told you. I'm not used to staying up studying like this."

"Yeah we need to get you some fuckin' study skills or something before finals," Beau remarked. "This is just midterms and you look three seconds from face planting."

Yasha didn't really have an argument for that. Also she wasn't really sure what would happen if she opened her mouth. She offered Beau a weak smile and made to step past her, but something fuzzy happened to gravity and the next thing she knew Beau had her by the arm in both hands and was puling her down. "Quit fighting me and sit," they hissed. "You're not good. You're dehydrated at best and probably made yourself sick staying up."

"I had water," Yasha protested. "Three hours ago."

Beau's face always looked angry, but now it looked severe. Worry, Yasha guessed. It was sweet coming from them. "Stay the fuck there. I'm going to the vending machine." Yasha blinked at the pap sound made when Beau stuck the back of their hand to her head. "You feel like a person," they whispered, aggrieved. "How's anyone get any info from that?"

"Take my card," Yasha mumbled.

"Fuck you."

She glared up at Beau. "You have three dollars to your name."

"Call it a micro trans action." She said each word distinctly. "Now stay."

Her hand when it brushed the side of Yasha's hand was softer this time, though that could have just been her hair buffering the feeling. "All your transactions are micro," Yasha muttered. Beau rolled their eyes and walked off with her hands in her pockets, but the third floor of the library was dead quiet and Yasha heard them break into a run at the end of the aisle. Damn. She must really look like shit. She definitely wasn't feeling so great, but she'd suffered exhaustion enough before to know whereabouts she was in terms of collapse. Kind of weird, to go from being unfazed by buildings routinely blowing up and fighting for her life on a daily basis to someone a little wiped because she'd gone too long without a granola bar.

Yasha lifted the book she'd pulled from the shelf and stared at it balefully. Maybe Beau had been right and she should have just pulled a random quote and bibliography from the internet. The essay was almost done anyway. She just couldn't shake the feeling that no matter how many shortcuts Beau took, if she tried it it would bite her in the ass. What if she lost her partial scholarship over feeling a little sick?

Her stomach gave a sudden lurch, then growled loud enough for half the third floor to hear. That seemed rude, and whatever Beau brought her was going to probably have a loud wrapper or something else to piss off everyone trying to study up here. She could at least haul her sorry ass to the elevators and wait there, where the silence hadn't quite set in and every sound didn't echo so much.

Yasha used the bookshelf to steady herself and get to her feet, and from there it was deceptively easy to put one foot in front of the other and shuffle towards the other side of the room.

She didn't quite make it. Yasha passed the last bookshelf and was about fifteen feet from the couch-chair things when she realized she might have underestimated just how far she was gone. Her foot scuffed the carpet wrong a second later, sending her tumbling onto the thin carpet. They got that part right, she thought dimly. Someone her size should have made a crash or at least a thud, but she hit the floor with hardly a whisper. Beau is going to be pissed, she thought, and then she passed out.

***

"Yasha. Yasha, hey. Yasha. Fucking answer me, Yash."

Yasha groaned and squinted against too-bright lights, tongue heavy in her mouth and feeling layered with something sweet. "Ow," she managed.

She heard a loud exhale of annoyance or relief and rolled her head towards the shape blocking the light. "Ah-ah. Don't try to move. Shh. I've got you." The dark shape resolved into Beau, backlit as they were from the fluorescents and holding a partially drained Powerade bottle. "Hold still and swallow."

Yeah, okay. Yasha held still as Beau tipped the bottle closer, and only when she moved to help the angle of things did she realize Beau's other hand was holding her head. "Sorry," she said once the bottle had been removed. "I really didn't think it was that bad yet."

"No shit," Beau shot back. They looked up past Yasha to something she couldn't see and made a universal "get lost" gesture with her arm. "She's fine. Fuck off." They glanced down at her. "Are you actually fine? Do you even have insurance?"

"It's eighty degrees in October and I wore my jacket," Yasha managed. "I'm an idiot, but I'm fine."

"You're not an idiot, you're a mess. There's a difference. The second one's fixable."

Yasha quirked a smile at that. Things were coming into better focus, equilibrium returning even as she still felt like warm death. "You're a mess."

"If you can talk, you can drink." Beau stuck the bottle back against her lip, but Yasha didn't think she imagined the curl of her their fingers in her hair.

"I can sit up now," she said she she was done. Her voice sounded stronger now - she actually believed herself.

Even if Beau didn't. "Nope. Five more minutes at least, and I will sit on you if I have to."

Yasha sighed and lifted a hand to her face, suddenly cognizant of the breeze on her skin. "My jacket -"

"it's right here." Beau lifted the familiar leather from Yasha's waist into her field of view. "Needed to get air in. Knew better than to put it anywhere else. And yes, technically that does mean you passed out and I started undressing you, get the jokes out of the way."

Yasha reached up carefully and touched her fingers to Beau's jaw. They frowned but didn't pull away. "I was just going to say thank you. And sorry again."

Now Beau batted her hand away. "Apologize again and I'm buying dinner."

Yasha scoffed, It didn't hurt this time or set off any little lights in her mind. "Dick."

"That's better." A little of her seemed to uncoil as they said it, and it was only then that Yasha pieced together what now seemed pretty obvious.

"Hey. Quit worrying. I'm fine."

Beau scowled at her. "Really selling that for me flat on your back in the campus library. I mean seriously, how the fuck were you after me all night to drink and eat snacks just for this to happen?"

Hmm. Well, that answer was anywhere between a sentence and a life history. "I don't do well with stress," she admitted, because it was technically true. "I just...didn't realize how stressed I was, actually."

To her surprise, Beau relaxed a little with a snort. "That's relatable at least." Their piercing eyes roved over Yasha for a moment, and then they dropped from their squat into a proper sit on the floor, careful with Yasha's head. "Want me to add your last citation? It's due in like an hour and we both know it's damn good and ready to go."

Yasha hesitated, anxiety flickering through her before she clamped down on it. "Yeah. If you would. Just...stick something in a spot it could go."

"Maybe when you're feeling better," Beau said breezily, reaching over Yasha to pull her messenger bag into their lap. "I'm going to fix your shit and print it, and then we're going to turn it in to your professor, and then we are going back to your apartment. It's Thursday," she reminded Yasha before she could protest. "Labs are on Tuesdays. I don't have anything left for the day, so suck it."

She ignored Yasha's eye roll and tapped at her screen. "And maybe change your PIN, uh. Sorry. I noticed the other night."

The floor was transitioning from comfortable to vaguely painful; Beau watched her warily as she sat up but didn't say anything. "Consider it sucked," said Yasha. "And I don't care that you know my computer password."

"Cool. This one, right?" They turned the screen so Yasha could see the essay title and tossed their braid over their shoulder when she nodded. "Just a sec."

They care about me, Yasha thought suddenly. It wasn't a particularly new realization - there was precious little about Beau that didn't make a fundamental kind of sense to Yasha - but up until now she'd been able to chalk up most of what they did for her as a sense of obligation. She'd seen the frustration and accepted it at face value, and only now watching them tap at her keyboard with a placid look of concentration and an empty Powerade bottle next to their knee did Yasha get a clear, solid glimpse of what it was to be cared for by one Beauregard Lionett. It was spiky. A little dangerous. Delicate, even, and so beautiful.

Their eyes slid sideways as her hands paused over the keyboard. "What."

"Nothing," Yasha said quickly. "Don't forget to close the quotation marks."

Beau glared at her, indignant, but whatever she was going to protest died when Yasha bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Yeah, you're fuckin' fine. You're still going to eat a godsdamn sandwich where I can see in the next twenty minutes though."

Yasha leaned up against the cool glass at her back and pulled her jacket up over her waist. "Deal."

[mythicamagic]

Top 10 Otome games list

I can't remember if I've made a list like this before but even so, I've played a few more now so, first list is according to story/writing and my choices as a reviewer. These are just my choices btw not everyone will agree because we all have different tastes even when I'm trying to be objective XD

1. Collar x Malice

2. Code Realize

3. Nameless: the one thing you must recall

4. Olympia Soiree

5. Piofiore Fated Memories

6. Nightshade

7. Cafe Enchante

8. Amnesia Memories

9. Hatoful Boyfriend or Mystic Messenger

10. Cinderella Phenomenon

----

However my Top 10 fav list according to my personal trash feels would go more liiiike:

1. Collar x Malice - Best story, best sleek style, best character group imo. It's a great game.

2. Code Realize (I love Van and SG is awesome)

3. Piofiore (entirely because of Yang let's be real here) this game is trash but its pretty trash and its MY trash okay? I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I dislike 2 of the LI's with a burning passion and am indifferent to the other two. The menu screen and options are so sleek and pretty, the music is top notch. the sprites and movements in fight scenes really paint the picture of whats going on. there's some loose Italian culture and history references too which is cool. It's just that the writing in the routes are pretty weak outside of Yang's route. The main 'plot' point involving Lili is terrible and I don't know why they're bringing it back for the sequel XD Don't ask me why I think Yang's route is great, we'll be here all day. Write me off as a simp, that's totally fair. In spite of my complaints, this thing has taken over my life so I guess it had the last laugh.

4. Nameless: the one thing you must recall - underrated! this is a really good game IMO. It's like toy story...but the dolls become sexy human love interests XD what's not to like? You got dolls who were traumatised by bad owners, you got a Buzz Lightyear guy who wants to be a hero, you got dolls who were mass-produced so they feel like they don't have a unique identity, dolls who were abandoned. It's great! Trauma! Trauma everywhere!

5: Nightshade (For Hanzo and Goemon) this game...has very questionable choices. I saw someone saying to stay away from it due to MC's age (16) because the age gaps are uncomfortable and one LI being her cousin but decided to check it out. Ultimately I'm glad I did. It's not the best game ever by any means. MC is pretty useless outside of Hanzo's route (there she's a friggin badass) the writing is a little clunky and feels more like a road trip story than an epic quest, but I found myself really enjoying Goemon and Hanzo's routes, provided you just mentally age MC up. (The age gaps would have been fine if MC was 20 but noooo)

6: Amnesia Memories (idk why but I'll be more likely to replay this one out of a lot of otomes. It's just very easy to play.)

7: Olympia Soiree (I love Akaza and Yosuga but the topics covered in the world are too depressing and bog the game down. It clashes a LOT with the game's style and presentation imo. I understand they're there for world-building and yes these are heavy topics that happen irl but almost every conversation with a LI will bring up discrimination, rape or 'traditional' roles for women and its just depressing and disheartening after a while bc none of it can be solved. I think the presentation in-game being overly bright and cute with soft colours doesn't fit the subject matter. Granted watching characters rebel against such an unfair class system could be inspiring, and sometimes its hopeful, but more often than not it feels like an info dump of misery. The romance also just didn't work for me for Riku, Himuka and Tokisada (and a scene with Yosuga felt very OOC) so yeah...this one was kind of overhyped to me. But the art is gorgeous. Akaza's route saved this game for me.

8. Hatoful Boyfriend - its fun but then wacks you over the head with that unexpectedly dramatic ending. Yeah it might be a meme choice, like woah! you date BIRDS, how wacky!! but if you actually play it, I'd argue the writing is pretty solid in making you care and FEEL something for these dumb bird photos.

9. Mystic Messenger - Mystic Messenger kind of saved me?? wow that's sad to say out loud XD I lived alone when I played this game, grieving and very lonely. Getting fake calls from fake boyfriends actually helped cheer me up during that time so it has a special place in my heart for that. Is it a good game? Well, I like it but I can't give an honest opinion since I last played it a long while ago and recent friends said they didn't like it that much, hence it being lower on the objective picks.

10. Cinderella Phenomenon - for a free game this is pretty good stuff imo, I like that MC has a lot of character development.

For Cafe Enchante- I loved the style and presentation and the found family feels but I couldn't latch onto any LI (I did with Ignis but then...that scene happened. You know the one if you've played) I actually find the side characters more interesting/hotter than the main cast haha add to that a TERRIBLE ending and this game is just a missed opportunity to me.

Honourable mentions of cute otomes: Rose of Winter, Cute Demon Crashers, RE: Alistair, Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome

Ehhh: Period Cube, Men of Yoshiwara

Probably wouldn't rec to a friend: Backstage Pass, Ozmafia (granted I only did one route I just did not enjoy it. I might try it again), 7'Scarlet, Seduce Me.

Backlog I own but haven't played yet: Hakuoki (Kyoto winds and Edo Blossoms), Psychedelcia of the Ashen Hawk, Psychedelcia of the Black Butterfly

[house-of-laminations]

hello!!! i just found your stuff and read through all of it its so good 😭😭😭 and you dont have to but im very curious to hear about your Thoughts™ about simeon and divinity bc it sounds so interesting. also bc in from the outside when simeon "‘It’s what you deserve,’ he thinks to himself, ‘the price for not Falling back when you had the chance.’ " i lost it like i havent stopped thinking about it since i saw it jshsjsksdjdhdh have a good day ❤

So. It's taken me since 29 December 2021 to answer this one, but in my defense!!! Every time I would make an attempt, new info would drop and I'd be forced to re-evaluate and rewrite the massive essay I'd always type in response. Nothing has really changed on that front, except for the fact I was asked twice now about this and that I simply Do Not Care anymore about canon (I never have really, I just pretended to if we're being honest here). I also haven't personally played any of the latest season, but I have been keeping up with the goss through people like the wonderful @demonfamilytherapist who sends me screenshots of spicy parts and posts like the ones second anon has linked.

But I don't want to keep being rude and ignoring these when I have A Lot To Say, so with that in mind... here are my Simeon Thoughts™ under the cut.

Simeon surprised me when I first started playing because I was kind of expecting the angels-are-enemies-of-demons trope. And while that was definitely there in the form of a young, idealistic Luke, Simeon served a different purpose: a connection to the past that remembers the brothers fondly. He often references the 'good old days' with Lucifer, and their 'Brothers no more' chat is filled with familial banter rather than guilt trips or what-could've-been's.

He's also mischievous (he has a propensity to play 'pranks' or hide things if he'll think it'll be interesting), prideful (just look at any of his directorial roles), and surprisingly, very flexible in his worldview and his thinking. Simeon is very willing to learn about the customs and practices of the devildom and the human world, and even make them his own.

But he's also a character of principle. He obviously didn't like the way the brothers were treated and talked about, even before their fall. After they fell, there was a point in which he too became demoted. I'm not sure if we know entirely why that is, but I'm willing to put money on the fact it was probably somehow related to the fallout (heh) of the war. Simeon rebels, in small and large ways, and it's not gone unnoticed. It's also not been enough to outright kick him out, either.

So why is it that when confronted with the choice to either break free from an oppressive environment (at the cost of losing your relationships and your way of life), or stay trapped within a system that doesn't necessarily support or understand you, does Simeon choose the latter?

It comes down to support, and the networks you build around yourself. In the case of the brothers who fell, they all had people they could rely on: each other, and perhaps even more importantly, Lucifer.

Mammon, Levi, Asmo, Beel, and Belphie all had people other than their father that they trusted implicitly, and held to a high regard. More than that, they had an authority figure they looked up to besides their ever-distant Father. Whether or not you see the relationship between Lucifer and his younger brothers as being slightly parental, there's no denying that he definitely had a hand in shaping the younger angels - as a role model, supportive presence, and a disciplinary figure.

Mammon's relationship with Lucifer is an excellent example of this. Here's a neurodivergent atypical angel who struggled with fitting in and doing what he's commanded to. He's punished quite harshly, if not outright ostracized by 'parental'/'authority' figures up until Lucifer comes along and takes a personal interest in him. More than once the game makes mention of the more 'parent/child' way Mammon and Lucifer viewed their relationship - to the point where there's a few jokes and references to Mammon outright calling Lucifer 'dad'. While Lucifer's relationship with the others may not have been as strong as what he has with Mammon, it's obvious that they each see him in a similar way.

When breaking relationships (romantic, familial, or platonic), especially in the context of abuse or mistreatment, it's easier to leave if you know you have something to fall back on. The brothers had Lucifer. Lucifer, well. He's a bit of a special case. His unique position and disposition allowed him an easier break. That, and he relies just as much on his brothers in return. The siblings (if we're including Lilith) forced him to be there, to commit to their emotional wellbeing. They became a responsibility - something for his pride to latch its claws into, as well as an emotional support of their own.

Simeon, however, was around the same age as Lucifer. The same rank, even. He's a bit more distant, like the other Seraph we've seen or heard of besides Lucifer. It could be because they're following the example of their father - a distant presence who seems to very rarely show any kind of emotional investment in the lives of others. Because of this, he never really formed the support networks he needed to allow for that leap of faith, the step towards a fall and to freedom when he realized he didn't quite fit in.

This is a lot of rambling, and it's all leading up to me saying that I think that Simeon was (and is) a very lonely creature who I don't think really wants to be an angel, but doesn't know if he can fully commit to being a demon either. Maybe down the line we'll see him well and truly fall, but I think it would take a lot of deprogramming and undoing millennia worth of conditioning to allow him to fully trust someone enough to allow him to make that leap.

[taurustony]

The True Mighty Bison - Season V edition.

Some weeks ago, I had a very productive discussion on twitter with Steven Mane about the subject of this essay, and he brought up very good points, an alternative theory (not as out there as mine) and reminded me I haven't actually added the ACTUAL Seth info from his story and Arcade endings to this text. Now that even Rose is on the game (although she didn't bring new info on this front), Let's update this very wild theory about our favorite psycho powered dictator. For the day you discovered the truth about M. Bison was the most important of your Street Fighter fan life. But for them, it was only Tuesday. HEAVY SPOILERS FOR SETH'S SFV STORY MODE AND ENDING. and in a lesser intensity, Rose's. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is M. Bison. Bison is one first class A-hole who runs the biggest crime syndicate on the world (Shadaloo), wants to spark global destruction if not given global domination and has a tendency to kidnap 16 year old girls.  Bison also wields something called Psycho Power. Through profane rituals (more of this in a bit), He is the biggest source/receptacle of it. this power is also destroying his body, which leads to the only thing he likes more than kidnapping 16 year old girls: Body Swapping. The body in the picture is not his original body, not even his first, but is the... model we are most used to see him using. This is how you would imagine him if one mentioned M. Bison. In SFV he finally got grey/white hair, but originally this body had black hair.

however...

These are Ed and Falke. They are CLONED Bodies of Bison, They are both spare bodies for M. Bison, created in a attempt to build a body strong enough to hold his power. They are both of the most recent attempt, the newer models so to speak. As far as we know, they are all biological (a point that will come up later) and since CAPCOM use the word CLONES, they share the same DNA as Bison. Physically speaking, they are around their late teens, although being much younger actually (both suffered from accelerated aging). They escaped Shadaloo due to the fact that an older model ended up destroying the base where they were being held. speaking of the Devil....

These are Seth and Abel.  Also, spare bodies of Bison. But (un)fortunately, they developed a conscience and independence. While Abel ran away and joined the french army, Seth created a splinter cell from Shadaloo called S.I.N. and planned a hostile takeover of the syndicate. One interesting fact is that both Seth and Abel are the SAME MODEL of bodies, but Seth installed the upgrade of the Tanden Engine on his body. So Seth was once like Abel and if given enough time and the proper modifications, Abel could become like Seth.  One recent release on Street Fighter V revealed the Seth was always more machine than man. If that is plainly due the Tanden Engine modification and what this means to Abel, its still unknown. both (Abel more than Seth) still have Bison’s DNA on them. Also, Bison considers this batch of clones a FAILED experiment Seth was the final Boss of Street Fighter IV, and Abel was the protagonist of that series. but, the older models are the more interesting ones.

These are Cammy and Decapre. Both are the oldest clone models player knew until recently. They are also fully biological and the first successful vessels for Psycho Power. Decapre is actually a “ Cammy Alpha“, a first attempt to create Cammy herself. Being fully biological, they ALSO carry Bison’s DNA. While Cammy became independent and joined the British Army, Decapre stayed brainwashed and a weapon for Shadaloo until recently (SFIV). Both Decapre and Cammy were part of a shadaloo project call “The Dolls project“: Most of the Dolls were the kidnapped teenage girls mentioned before, who were also test beds for Bison’s mind control via psycho power. There were 12 Dolls (Decapre and other 11), with Cammy being a 13th, codenamed Killer Bee. As of now, you probably noticed: 3 males, 3 females. We might be onto something here. But remember that profane ritual I mentioned? One of the results was this lady here...

This is Rose. In order to get full access to Psycho Power, Bison had to EXPEL ALL THE GOOD ENERGY FROM HIS SOUL. No joking. the good half of Bison’s Soul incarnated on a young Italian GIRL who was being born that moment and who grew up to be a incredible psychic and fortune teller ,plus the most powerful user of the SOUL POWER, the opposite to Bison’s Psycho Power. so Rose is the REINCARNATION of Bison’s soul, or at least half of it. After the events of SF Alpha 3, Bison even used Rose’s body as a vessel, to hide himself from the authorities. How she was freed and what happened to her during SFII is still unknown. Street Fighter V didn't really expanded on the relationship between Rose and Bison, as much as confirmed that as of the end of A Shadow Falls (SFV general story mode), Bison's is truly gone, at least as definitive as Rose can sense. Let's also remember that, until the interference of Rose herself, Cammy/Killer Bee was considered a succesfull attempt at creating the perfect body. If Rose hadn't freed Cammy's mind, which was as close to a blank slate and receptive as possible, its highly probable that Bison would be using her body instead. Still with me? STREET FIGHTER V: ARCADE EDITION added another point on this list: SETH was released in 2020 as a playable character, part of Season IV. HOWEVER, the FORM he appeared is quite the surprise.

THIS IS SETH! YES, THAT SAME SETH!! (a name tag on SFV confirms this is number 15, the seth that was at the center of SFIV events) After having all of his bodies destroyed during SFIV, his brain was placed by Juri on an old body known as DOLL UNIT 0. The interesting thing here is that Jury is doing this in behalf of a third party, identified only as voice on phone. This voice expected a male body, while Juri didn't even noticed (or cared) that Seth or DU0's had a gender. Doll Unit 0's body accepted Seth's biological brain without a problem. Seth's mind however, is on turmoil. When integrating with the DU0' original personality, something went wrong and Seth went completely batshit crazy. He only sees Psycho Power, and mistook Ed and Falke as being Bison himself, due to their Psycho Power energy. Some lines, such as this Seth is true perfection hints on a ongoing attempt of accepting the new body. The Arcade mode ending and an extra Seth on his Critical Art during his V-trigger 1 also hints that Seth's true power lies in the INTEGRATION with this new body. ALL OF THESE, ALL OF IT, are just canon facts from the SF series lore.  now for the speculation. Bison is not using the original body. And psycho power, specially the levels Bison desires, requires quite the strong one, which factors on why his current body is failing these days. why he had to abandon his original body? My only guess is that the profane ritual either destroyed it in the process or damaged it beyond repair. but at this point, Bison already had gained the power to posses other bodies. Doll Unit 0, the prototype for the perfect vessel, is female. Bison’s soul incarnated on a female body and until very recently, when his clone technology developed enough to create more radical deviations, the clones were all female. While there is several attempts of male bodies they are a late development and not only there is only one almost successful male body, it is the one that requires constant replacing AND Bison is trying to upgrade from, because it's not enough. But, the creation of a male body is stiil on the table and being attempted. Considering CAPCOM’s own words, that Seth is more machine than man, we can guess that Abel is probably just the biological basis for Seth, who is mostly the Tanden Engine and a biological brain. This is what was implemented into Doll Unit 0, who was completely female at that point, maybe even fully biological since Cammy, the earliest successful clone so far is fully biological as well. If we compare to real world cloning technology, cloning someone of the same gender is easier and more direct than altering the gender. Then there is the not-satated-but-extremely-obvious-fact that DU0 was the true first attempt at the tech that would produce Cammy, meaning, Shadaloo’s cloning tech was tested with HER. This also means that Doll Unit 0 IS EXTREMELY SIMILAR, IF NOT IDENTICAL, TO BISON'S ORIGINAL BODY. in conclusion: Bison’s original body is FEMALE and something close to this:

Thanks BbbSFXT from Deviant Art for the Mod and the picture. On the last version, I considered Mistress Bison being blonde, but thinking it through, it was more wishful thinking, trying to make them close to Cammy. Clones being a blonde is probably a side effect of DNA manipulation. Blond hair is recessive, and putting on the simplest, almost insulting way possible, it means blonde only happens if both sides of the DNA have the same code for hair. Since Bison is using the same DNA over and over, it makes sense clones would end up blonde. This also fits with DU0 being a very early prototype, with almost Bison's entire DNA intact, including the code for them hair. And now let's talk mysticism: There is the whole Yin/Yang theme surround everything Psycho Power, explicitly shown in Seth's design, but it was already there, at least as early as the Alpha/Zero series. In the balance of the Yin/Yang symbolism, Yin, the black part, can represent a “feminine principle” and also, can be a suffix/preffix meaning shadow. While Yang, the white part, can represent a “masculine principle” and also can be a suffix/preffix meaning light. these are parts in all living beings, be them male or female.

Psycho Power, the shadow, is feminine. Soul Power, the light, is masculine. There is a inversion of the symbolism here, with Bison, the male body, using the yin and Rose, the female body, using the yang. But the catch is: Rose is not a traditional reincarnation of Bison (obvious reasons) but received Bison's yang, on top of her natural one. This counts on why Rose is so powerful with Soul power. And while she doesn't seem to suffer a physical instability like Bison, as fortune teller and psychic, seem to be incredibly sensitive to strong emotions and energies around her (How the mind of G affected her on SFV being a exemple), I would argue that this extreme sensitiveness is the side effect of that extra yang energy. Let's also consider that while Bison wants MORE shadow and went way beyond what his natural body could hold, Rose stayed pretty much at her natural levels, as far as we know. So Bison's instability can be accounted as using insane levels of pure feminine energy inside a male body. Seth, the genderless one, will only find harmony in accepting his female body. Rose, the female body, is the only of them to have any kind of control and estability. This all points towards Mistress Bison, and that's the hill I'm dying on. this also ties to the idea proposed by Steven Mane: Psycho Power is closely related to the feminine and can't function properly, or at all, with men. Bison forcing that is the base reason for the physical instability. Which leads us to... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steven Mane's alternative theory of Psycho Power

The main gist here is that there isn't really any indication that Bison's OG body is any different from the one he uses today (which is true. There isn't a single line about it on the canon sources). The initial lack of male clones is accounted simply as that we haven't seen enough male clones, and they might have existed since Killer Bee's times. In his views, everything so far points to Bison desiring a male body. However, Psycho power works better with women, or was meant to be used by women. There is another fighting game with a similar plot, Skullgirls, in which the main McGuffin for that story is a mystical artifact that only works with women, which is why most of the cast of that game is female. And after Rose's SFV ending, I wouldn't put behind CAPCOM to lift another game's plot point for their own, specially one that would fit well with the already stablished canon. However, Steven Mane's best argument for this comes from SFA3 itself, or rather, the PSP version of SFA3. But before we get to that, let's go down on the memory lane and remember the facts.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, also known as Street Fighter Zero 3 Double Upper in Japan, is so far the last version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 released and it is an exclusive of the Playstation Portable console. The Alpha/Zero Series is the main focal point when talking about Bison and Psycho Power, as it's the series where Rose first appeared and in Alpha 3, we have the only canon appearance of Cammy as Killer Bee (on the intro of her first fight against Rose) and the first playable Dolls, Juli and Juni. SFA3 MAX is also, up to the publication of this, the only game in the series to have a guest character (the jury is still out on SFV last season V character). "Wait, Tony" you ask "Don't you mean 4 guest characters?" Eagle and Maki are not guests: They were always part of the Street Fighter franchise, and are contemporary to the events of the game . Yun makes a non-canon appearance which is explained by time travel (in his own quotes), since the events of Alpha series happen way when he was nothing but a toddler. But he is still part of the franchise, so not a guest, per se.

Ingrid, however, is a conundrum wrapped inside a enigma and kept inside a locked puzzle box missing some of its pieces. That is inside a cave inside a volcano under the pacific ocean. On the mariana trenches.

Ingrid is from a failed, unreleased CAPCOM game called CAPCOM Fighting All-Stars. Her first playable appearance is the ill-received crossover game CAPCOM Fighting Jam, known in Japan as CAPCOM Fighting Evolution.

In All-Stars, she was kind of a regular fighter, with a special importance to the plot and final boss. The very little we know about the plot hints on her being something beyond human. She carried a code Isis, is nicknamed the Eternal Goddess, and is said to posses the power of longevity.

On Fighting Jam, she has to solve some issues she had with Pyron, the final boss of that game and an alien who is basically a living sun and is hinted to be what ended the dinosaurs (i swear this is Darkstalkers Canon) Her ending there is... weird.

I brought this up because it adds a tiny little bit of context to her SFA3 MAX ending.

Ingrid claims ownership of the psycho power. Notice that its the power itself, not the Psycho Drive Bison's uses. And Bison is aware of that. Roses recognizes both as users of Psycho Power, even though she doesn't recognizes Ingrid. Also note at 00:59 that the focus point of the psycho drive carries Ingrid's Seal, the same one on the cups on her head AND the one she summons on her Fighting Jam ending. Oh, and she is capable of time travel. but no mention if she was the one who brought Yun to SFA3 time, though. What this all mean? Speculation time: According to Steven Mane's theory: With Ingrid being the creator of psycho power, Psycho power works better with women. You can even explain Bison's obsession with 16 year old girls: They are the ones who closely resemble Ingrid, who he knows is the original source of that power. This also explain why Bison's desire of a male body directly conflicts with psycho power: It was never meant for such body. and why there is so much female clones: It simply the result of experiments to see what fits better. But Bison is trying to get around this: He has been experimenting on both, noticing that male bodies deteriorate way faster, confirmed that female ones fit better, but for reasons only known to himself, this was not enough. The genderless Seth, a sentient machine build to gather psycho power, was Bison's latest attempt of circumvent the body type limitation, but it still didn't work (as stated by Bison himself) This is where Steven Mane's theory ends. But from that, we can jump to other conclusions: Ingrid is a goddess and is the source of Psycho Power energy. Notice that she is not the source of soul power though, so behind her innocent face, behind those red eyes, lies something sinister and evil. (Or maybe, Soul Power is simply Psycho Power with another name? Rose might be the one hiding something...) [Small June/2021 update: After a lazy Sunday re-reading the SF30th's bios, its is clear that Soul Power is not just Psycho Power with a different name. So if you want to follow this line of thought through, you have to consider that Ingrid is EVIL, or at least deals heavily with negative energies (closer to Akuma than Bison). and it opens the possibility of a God/Goddess of Soul Power somewhere out there on the SF Universe. but that is speculation for another time.]

Ingrid is time-travelling to specific points in time to collect parts of her power. Bison was one of those who stole it. Pyron probably did it too, and in 201X, Ryu has something to do with it.

Oh, extra fact: SFIII, the last game on the timeline, happens in 1999. SFV, the game that was released on the 10's, canonically happens during 1998. So the Ryu she is supposed to meet next is YET to appear (maybe in SF6?).

And because she is a time travellng goddess, not a dimension hopping one this means a direct connection between the worlds of Darkstalkers, Street Fighter and Red Earth, the three franchises from CAPCOM Fighting Jam: Darkstalkers' Human World could be considered to be Street Fighter's Earth, and Red Earth is literally another planet on the same universe, hinting a bigger CAPCOM shared timeline then we expected. We can also speculate that Bison ultimate goal would not be just global domination but to replace Ingrid as god/goddess of psycho power. And she took Yun to 1989 just for the LuLz. Why I didn't mentioned Ingrid up there in MY theory? because of CFN Portal. The Capcom Fighters Network Portal is essentially the final word on who is canon in Street Fighter. Released together with SFV, its a well documented, weirdly organized and deep source of any street fighter or final fight character you can imagine. Those 2 guys fighting on the intro of SF2 got bios there. As well as Hakan's daughters and Elena's Family. Heck, CFN Portal is the place that finally settled Chun-li's father name as Dorai.

There is also relevant guest characters and characters who appeared in other games but that CAPCOM consider part of the franchise and canon, such as Blade from the Street Fighter: The Movie game (now part of the North American operations of Shadaloo) and... Ruby Heart from MARVEL vs CAPCOM 2 (a version of her actually, before the events of that game). Ingrid is clearly shown as a guest character and NOT part of the street fighter franchise, as she does not have the SF franchise standard background. the only ones who this happen are special guests from, such as the ones from Street Fighter EX and Street Fighter 2010. Ingrid is also described there with her bio from CAPCOM Fighting All-Stars, rather then her own story on SFA3 MAX or even CAPCOM Fighting Jam, in a way making her role on SFA3 MAX similar to Evil Ryu's: A what-if non-canon scenario of the events of the game, that has no bearing on the main plot. Evil Ryu's ending are always Ryu kills everybody and wants more blood, never really explaining anything. Evil Ryu is more important as a visual representation of the dark side of Ryu rather than a character itself'. and because of that precedent, when CAPCOM itself gave her non-canon status, it's better to err on the side of caution and not consider her direct influence and acts when speculating about the plot and lore, unless they are the only source of some kind of hinted information. And there is one very canon character who has a situation like that. Killer Bee. As I mentioned before, the ONLY time Cammy acts as Killer Bee in canon is on her SFA3 arcade/story mode: In her intro against Rose, her very first fight, She initially starts under control of Bison. Rose actually recognizes Bison's Power and frees her, even before the fight starts. The fight itself is actually framed as a violent reaction to being freed. but there is a game where we can see Killer Bee Cammy in all her brainwashed glory: X-men vs Street Fighter. Released before Alpha 3 and the first game where Cammy is shown with her Alpha design. Her quotes there shows a profound reverence to Bison AND some are mechanical in nature. Goddess Ingrid (to differentiate a bit from Code Holder Ingrid) could be one of these instances: Canonically speaking, we know very little about Bison: What are his motivations, why he desires such levels of power or anything that would elevate him from one dimensional antagonist. Sagat started as that and became one of the most developed characters of the franchise. Gill is from the straight go good intentions that will end up bad. Seth is the whole reason of this essay, so I don't need to show you anymore how he turned out a interesting character. and there is G, who is either a suicide cult leader still looking for followers, or the savior of mankind. Not to mention that most players thought as a good guy until Rose's ending. like, holy psycho powered cow... Bison is still just the dictator who wants to rule the entire world. And the only character that deals with Psycho Power in a way that is not just evil power for the evil dictator is a character that, as far as CAPCOM is concerned, is not even acknowledged as the relevant version.

[aks3raao1]

Me, to Luja: So tell me about yourself

Luja: No

Me: ...ma'am I need to write the story—

Luja: Good luck <3

[now that I do think of it, ALTERNATIVE's main duo that's established right at the beginning is literally a chiller but edgier Katsuki and way worse sUrViVe Nagito genderbends]

~~~~~~

Luja Sen, she/her

Anyways, Luja and Romila are friends from middle school (the story starts with the beginning of their high school at AoS (Academy of the Specialised) which was essentially founded by Nyx). Luja gains her Specialisation (Ferrokinesis: The Ability to bend metal) at the age of twelve, so she has it for a lesser time period than Romila.

Luja primarily wants to become a scientist. Her family is happy with that, because it's praised and everything, especially in our society.

She has a gifted child superiority complex. Being a gifted child + Specialised means that she hardly had many friends in school. Her family had tried to get her to socialize....which didn't go down too well.

She believes that most people are annoying because they waste too much time on useless things like gossiping and what not, which she never showed much interest in and doesn't like to be dragged into those nonsense.

She is friends with Romila since they do share the same taste in stuff and were the only Specialised ones in their class. And they kinda stuck together for most of middle school and went into high school.

She has a problem when it comes to seeing Romila since she tends to see her bad parts and is like, "It's a phase" considering that it's not necessarily affecting her. Romila doesn't get too cranky with her since she fascinates her, with her passion™ for science. Also because she isn't all self sacrifice UwU.

Luja cares for her own self above others (but tends to put Romila pretty close to that hierarchy, which is why she's one of the only two Romila trusts during the Mansion of Death (the other person is Kratanos)) however she also does want to keep what friends she has and is generally caring towards them.

She has a genuine love for science and loves to discover how things work and why, and her favourite facet is Physics. She does want to invent things and honestly just make stuff easier for the Specialised who face a LOT of issues, especially when it comes to amenities since the government is an ass about accomodations and they gained the Fundamental Rights like ten years or so ago in the ALTERNATIVE timeline. And they gain an additional right ("The body won't be harmed for science") when they graduate from school, after signing a contract that they dedicate themselves to helping the government when called upon. (The whole contract is stupid and basically oppresses them more especially the punishment for not abiding by it).

With her goal of becoming a scientist, she wants to use her talents to make accomodations specifically for them so that she could have done something.

The things she fears the most is failure. Failing as in being unable to accomplish her goals. She is afraid of it because it's an unknown variable that's constantly haunted her and she's working hard for it to never reach her.

I suppose there's a way for her to confront that fear during the Mid terms at AoS where she essentially "loses" in the practicals due to her......teamwork issues.

Everyone thinks of her as stuck up and isn't interested to listen to her much and since she views the others as annoying people with annoying habits, she tends to fail to regulate them, causing Romila to win instead (yes, it's THAT unfortunate of a situation) in their match, which causes her to review a LOT of things and she tries to see what caused her to lose after having a severe breakdown.

She develops an inferiority complex in respect to Romila and then spends a long time wondering where she went wrong.

Rena (who somehow clung to her) tries to cheer her up but gets turned back halfway, but she still stays on and Luja is like, "Wtf" until she sees Romila going entirely off the deep end (she presents an interesting contrast to how Koldin sees Romila as well, she sees Romila's behavior and considers it as a justification for her own self....she uses Romila to justify herself a lot (since if you asked Romila, Luja was more or less fine according to her since she wasn't being a doormat and stood up for herself) while Koldin sees Romila as the reason he should cling onto his own stuff) and realises that she could be on the path to destruction herself and accepts Rena's help and tries to be more open to others which leads to the Mid terms parallels in the Archenemy of Society arc where she "succeeds" instead and manages to get the class together enough to escape the situation.

However it doesn't mean that her fear of failure has entirely vanished into the blue, she just reviews the ways she can fail better now and works around it to avoid it and has more confidence in her own self. But she is still scared of failing and would love to avoid that more than anything. However she's chiller after that.

Her intelligence is more or less on par with both Romila and Kratanos, making them the three main strategists in the final battle against the bigots (which is basically a rerun of the Mansion of Death situation but way way worse and fucked up and has different leads to it).

....

The thing is that, no matter what I do, she winds up feeling like one dimensional/repetitive, which is something I am trying to amend about all the characters (I mean, I had to revamp a lot of characters so it will probably take me a long long time to actually get to writing.........sigh besides she stands up like a cardboard amongst people (I mean, you have Romila and Kratanos with extremely complicated storylines and then you have her. Just there))

So the main question is how to make her more interesting as a character and on par with the rest while still keeping her character flaws and personality?

I think the easiest way to go abt this is to view her as a sassy Bakugo. They have the main points in common. They're salty, don't like to socialise, feel inferior to a certain someone while still having some semblance of confidence and a terrible fear of failure

Now as much as I hate to compare your character to another one, it makes it a lot easier to have them become - as my English teacher would say - more. So I am sorry if this comes off as offensive-

For Bakugo, he became interesting by playing a big part in the mc's main story and we do get a few scenes where his vulnerability is shown. I assume it's the same with your character but...what rlly ties the knot for me when it comes to Katsuki is the fact that his problems...are more than just an inferiority/superiority complex. His whole thing stems from background especially (*cough* abusive mom *cough*) and the fact that he's not the main character (or rather that the story isn't being told in his perspective).

These facts make us over think and want more of him. The mystery draws us in which is why I think Luja's character is so perfect for someone in the background. She doesn't like to reveal things abt herself and is pretty dismissive to most things on top of that (plainly just salty). Her character rlly draws you in and the best way to portray those kinds of characters is through another character. Ofc, you'd have to get to their POV eventually but it's important to note that most of the details should come from someone else's POV (an observer, if you will) instead of info dumping and starting straight with hers. A character that's mysterious with a very simple yet relatable story attracts a LOT more attention and interest when seen from someone else's perspective than when you kickstart it from theirs.

Ofc, if u are planning (or already have) started the story from her POV, that would be a bit problematic in terms of interest. But not a train wreck. This is where my other point comes in. The point of making a character have more than one problem

Different ppl as well as characters have a main problem but also different ones, no matter what way you look at it. It seems that even you are confused with all ur character's ins and outs (dw, we've all been there... I am still there tbh) and a solution to that is backtracking a bit and looking at their life from the very beginning in HEAVY detail (like more than u already did). Think abt what other trauma could have been caused, what doubts and fears could have slowly crept it's way to her heart and head (I am a sucker for long-lasting doubts that develop over time) and anything you can even so much as GRASP on. If you look at it and see it as a possibility, try to fit that into her character and add it subtly in different places (as subtext or a creative pattern, wordplay, doesn't rlly matter as long as it's not openly stated bc, remember, the key thing to these types of characters is mystery).

For example, a fear of failure can stem into anxiety before the character has even lost smth later in their life. They probably get rlly anxious when evaluating smth but don't show it much or at all so no one notices. This adds even MORE to the character bc you can build it up after other events. Like once they have failed, they could probably get even more anxious and then develop a bad relationship with the person who beat them (double the points if it was a friend). You could build all that up and turn it super toxic instead of jumping right to the healing. It makes it more interesting, doesn't it? Plus, reevaluating almost everything including world views after 1 loss is...kind of hard to believe even with anxiety (no offense)

Adding a lot of little problems and thinking abt how Luja's behaviour can impact other characters helps a terrible lot if ur doing most of the story from her POV. Especially since she's probably the most relatable character (from what I've heard anyway). I have a certain saying... it goes like, "It's better to have a relatable and connecting character than one with a problem that is too big for normal people to fathom."

I like characters with heart-wrenching problems that I would never be able to relate to (take maybe Shigaraki as an example ig?) But my favourite are the ones that make me feel as tho I made a real connection

Also, I would like to say...if ur looking to progress her character even further, I would debate on whether it's the complete end to the novel or if there'll be a second part. If it's a second part, keep some of Luja's issues. Make her get better but not completely "YAY, I AM DONE BEING TORMENTED". If it's the end of the novel/series/etc., make it so that she's resolved most of most of her issues. They don't have to be completely gone but they have to be a lot better compared to how they started. And how i would work that out is a mind map but knowing ur a scatterbrain...lets talk it out where everything is all over the place

Luja's main thing is to gain confidence in herself and be finally ok with losing, right? If you ask me, that's a tough one but not impossible. I think to get her from point A to point B is to put up a bunch of events like:

Get her super anxious when doing smth

Lose to *insert person*

Have a breakdown and over think on what she could have done better (on the project or whatever she lost at)

Get even more anxious and totally mess up the next thing

Lose once again (double points if it's the same person as last time)

Overthinking abt how she's not good enough

F i g h t i n g f r i e n d s c o z d r a m a

"YoU'rE nEvEr GoNnA gEt BeTtEr If YoU kEeP tHiNkInG aBoUt YoUrSeLf"

Over think abt no. 8 bc out of options and ideas and ✨a n x i e t y✨

Try listening to others more and become b e t t e r

Win smth (bc creator forbid 3 losses in a row to start depression)

Lose again (there is gonna be a bit of back and forth but is necessary for development)

"I tHoUgHt I wAs FiNaLlY dOiNg SoMeThInG rIgHt AnD nOw LoOk"

"Losing is not th3 3nd of th3 fucking world, you lunatic"

"WELL, IT IS TO ME, BITCH"

*insert psychology somehow idk*

Another loss

"I'm angry...but I'm ok"

Note that idk where bullying would come in and these are only how I would think it to go-

A character like this isn't rlly my strong suit when it comes to them resolving their problems but they are fun to write and think abt-

................................did I just give you advice on how to traumatize? I-

[luna-tormenta]

Lúthiena & The Fam Book Review: Urban Faery Magick by Tara Sanchez

This is my first witchy book review, please bare with me. It may not be the best review but, I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences, as well as some of my spirit family's opinions on it! Hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for reading💀🌙🌻

Lúthiena's Review

This book challenges the reader to "stretch their understanding of the world around them" (pg 7), and after reading, I believe it truly lived up to these words. Urban Faery Magick is dedicated to techniques, experiences, encounters, and everything in-between of working with and learning about the Fae in modern times!

Firstly, I would like to say, the title of this book should be "Modern Faery Magick" or "Faery Magick of Today", because it has a TON of information on working with the Fair Folk. Not just working with them in an "Urban" sense. Yes I know it says "Connecting to the Fae in the Modern World" underneath the title, but I just think it should have been named differently🤔🤷‍♀️

The first portion of this book, is all about techniques of meditation, protection, and how to build up necessary skills for communicating and working with the Fae. Such as working with your imagination to build up your Sight, practicing Pareidolia (the ability to see faces and shapes in objects), and dowsing for Fae activity. There are a bunch of techniques, that I will describe in a later paragraph! It also contains information on the Courts, names, and folklore surrounding these amazing spirits. Tara does an amazing, in-depth job with writing about the Fae, especially when in the case of working with them.

Chapter 3 contains detailed descriptions of basic techniques to aid the reader in their exploration of Faeries. It covers breathing techniques, rhythmic breathing and walking, and a meditation called "The Silence Between" (pg 42).

This involves listening to your heart beat and feeling your pulse to meditate (your heartbeat and pulse don't line up and there's a small pause between each.) While using this technique, it allows you to enter into the Otherworld through the slight pause, it's a neutral ground between our realm and theirs, it's "the silence between" both worlds.

Next in line comes a cleansing/grounding technique, called the Verdant Breath, which uses the aid of an Ivy plant spirit. In chapter 4, Tara uses this breathing technique to go a little further and work with this spirit to protect yourself. I really enjoyed learning the different techniques throughout this chapter, it was really cool to see new components I've never learned before. I have tried the Verdant Breath and have seen a difference in my ability to meditate. Next, I will be trying the Silence Between.

Teachings in chapters 3 and 4 are there to help you build up skills for further exercises and meditations that are placed throughout the entire book. Tara also uses these chapters to explain why it is important to build up your abilities before interacting with the Fae, and why it's highly recommended to protect yourself. Amongst these pages are different charms and amulets to use, as well.

Next we further our understanding of the Fae through chapters 5-7, and look into further techniques used in folklore and history. I really like Tara's use of history and folktales because she touches on bits and pieces of EVERYTHING, and knows when to stay in her lane.

The second half of Urban Faery Magick is my favorite. Tara introduces an elemental system known as Wu Xing, because not all Faeries "fit neatly into the boxes" of the five elemental system we know as witches, and I highly agree with her! (Pg 101) In ways this system is alike the five elemental system we know and frequently use, but is a bit different. I highly recommend looking into Wu Xing a bit further after reading Tara's book.

Leaving out Spirit of the western elemental system, Tara combines the Wu Xing elements with the 4 elements of our normal system, to create more categories for identifying and labeling species of Fae. I have included a quote of page #104 for a better understanding of how Tara classifies and combines the elements.

"Note: ...The manner in which my system combines the Eastern and Western systems follows a very similar process, with each of the Eastern elements combing to make aspects of the Western (or vice versa), as can be seen in the table below.

[Picture ID: Columns of the Eastern and Western elementals systems. Across the top are five boxes containing the words Wood, Fire, Metal, Water and Earth, each box contains a element. On the left side of the graph contains four boxes, from top to bottom, with the words Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The different element columns are combined. Top to bottom, under the "Wood" category, we have "Earth of Wood, Air of Wood, Fire of Wood, Water of Wood". To the right of "Wood", under the "Fire" category there is "Earth of Fire, Air of Fire, Fire of Fire, Water of Fire". To the right of "Fire" is "Metal". This category starts with "Earth of Metal" then "Air of Metal, Fire of Metal, Water of Metal". Next in line is "Water". Underneath we have "Earth of Water, Air of Water, Fire of Water, Water of Water". The last category is "Earth". Underneath is "Earth of Earth, Air of Earth, Fire of Earth, Water of Earth". END ID]

This was also my first ID description. Please let me know if I need to make any changes to it! Thank you!

Therefore a being who is traditionally considered a water elemental may well actually be earth of water. Or, as with one of the entities I have worked with, fire of water. Another being may be air of metal rather than entirely air. Yet another, earth of wood, and so on.

...For each element, we will follow a case study for a particular Fae, getting to know them within environments where you may have not have thought to find them." (Page 104)

The case studies are a mix of Tara's personal experiences as well as experiences of mutuals of hers, and range across a few generations.

Each element has its own chapter, and contains a lot of information about each element. Tara does "modern sightings" for the elements, as well as two case studies. There are paragraphs dedicated to aligning yourself with each element, which I wish were a little bit longer. She also gives lovely guided meditations to visit and learn about each element's realm. At the end of each element chapter, Tara concludes with "Finding Other Fae" which includes names of Fae species to be on the lookout for!

The only bad thing I'd have to say about this book is the paragraph on giving thanks to Faeries. It states not to directly say "thank you" or acknowledge them for helping you. I, and I state again, I believe in giving thanks to my Faerie friends. Plus, Tara kind of contradicts herself by dedicating a paragraph to "not thanking the Fae" then tells you, in a later chapter, to "thank the Fae you work with". But, I digress.

I'm super grateful to have come across this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who works with the Fae, as well as beginners, because like Tara says in the beginning, everyone can learn at least one new thing! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Spirit Family's Reviews:

Dawn, the Selkie:

"I really enjoyed the classification of the elemental systems combined. It adds a deeper perspective and understanding of Fae for humans to learn about us. This allows them to form a better viewpoint on our aspects as Faeries."

L, a Lunar Moth Faerie:

"I enjoyed the element system like Dawn, but got a bit confused on how to categorize Fae, like myself, who have planetary aspects. I wonder if Lúthiena will write to the author for me!! Other than that I agree the info gives aspiring AND experienced Fae workers a ton of info to starting and maintaining relationships with spirits of our kind. I also believe it is in our nature to urbanize and I like Tara's view on it. She should write another book!!"

Ly, High Lord Fae of the Night Court:

"The information provided in Urban Faery Magick is simply put and highly informative. As a High Fae Lord, it is my duty to join together with different types of Faeries, meaning I have met quite a few species. Tara adds great descriptions to each element she provides, and elegantly designed ways the reader can interact with each element. This is a must-read for anyone wishing to add a little magic to their lives, or is wanting to find a path into our world."

Tar, High Lord Fae of the Summer Court:

"Continuing off my friend's review, I would wish to add that Tara magnificently wrote Urban Faery Magick. You can clearly see the dedication she has towards working with Faeries throughout the pages. She must have a higher purpose of working with the Fae. I especially enjoy knowing she is teaching others about things like the Thorn Gates, since a lot of portals have been destroyed. Hopefully, thanks to Tara's book, they may gain the respect they once had."

Bo, a Boggart:

"Let's just say I did NOT like the stuff said towards boggarts. We are not house faeries gone wild. Yes, sometimes we have slightly irritating tendencies. But we always mean well to you humans. Other than that the book was great."

Hank, an Eyeball Demon:

"Even though I am no where near a classification of Fae, I have had many encounters with them over my many years. Tara has an interesting take on the modernization of the Fae species that is very true and real. I agree the titled works, Urban Faery Magick, should be on every spirit worker's shelf."

Dara, a Toddler Fae*:

"I really liked the story of Rumpleskillson. (Rumpelstiltskin). It was like so cool he could turn that stuff to gold. Maybe I can do that someday. Also, there's like so many stories of us in that book! El Cadejo was another cool one! If you like stories about us you should read that book"

*For those who are not aware, Dara is an experimental hybrid Faery. He was rescued from a Spirit Hoarder who enjoyed experimenting on faeries.

Ra, a Rose Demon:

"I didn't enjoy being called a plant diva, no matter how true the statement is.

The Earth class was slightly misunderstood as we are still here, thriving ever beautifully on. Some of us just choose to hide in your plants more carefully.

Like Hank said, I don't technically fall under the Faery thing either, but I am a plant spirit and Tara mostly depicted us perfectly. I mean she did write some pretty neat stuff." **brushes hair off shoulder**

Aaron, a Hellhound:

"This was a very knowledge filled book."

LA, a Dandelion Angel:

"Firstly, we're not ALL plant divas. We just really like things to go certain ways. Other than being called a diva, the pages of Urban Faery Magick contained useful information for Fae workers. I especially liked reading the Cairn exercise and how it instructed to build it at home, NOT in nature. I also agree Tara should create another magical read like this."

We hope you enjoyed our reviews!

For more information on Urban Faery Magick please visit:

Search "Urban Faery Magick" on Amazon

Www.TaraSanchez.com

[a-duck-with-a-book]

REVIEW // The Mask of Mirrors (Rook & Rose #1) by M. A. Carrick

★★★★☆

🌟 HIDDEN GEM 🌟

I have a few conflicting feelings regarding this novel, although I found it to be overwhelmingly well-written, with beautiful prose and next-level world building. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: give me a map and a timeline and I will love your book. I decided to divide my review into what I loved, what rubbed me the wrong way, and what I remained on the fence about. (I’ve noticed I spent quite a bit of space detailed my dislikes, so I want to emphasize that I really enjoyed this book and that I this is one of the most well-written novels I have read this year.)

// image: official cover art //

Loved ♡

Scroll through the reviews and you will see that this book has received plenty of praise, and rightfully so. I’m a sucker for world-building, but I think even those who usually skim the lore and history lessons in novels will appreciate the efforts the authors went to in order to create the world around the protagonists. By the time I finished I found that I had learned more from one book than I had from reading some other full series. They are able to fit so much without relying on info dumps, allowing the book to truly come to life.

Secondly, I appreciated that the world was casually LGBTQ+ friendly. It has always bothered me when authors go to the trouble of creating a fantasy world just to make it… homophobic. There are a variety of LGBTQ+ characters, and while the authors ensure that their sexuality or gender identity is canon, they avoid using these same characteristics as plot points.

Also, look at the cover art.

Some spoilers ahead-be wary of SPOILER warnings!

Disliked :(

I’m not a massive fan of using multiple POV’s, and one of the main reasons I am apprehensive of them is that authors sometimes fail to balance the time the readers spend with each protagonist. This happens to an extreme degree in Mask of Mirrors. We spend 90% of the time seeing the story through Ren’s perspective, 5% through Grey, and 5% through Vargo. And yes, these are obviously just estimates, and YES, we also get a couple passages from other characters, but the point stands! I wish we had spent more time developing Grey’s storyline, as both his and Vargo’s character arcs felt rushed and underdeveloped. [SPOILER] After finishing the book, I see why it was useful to show both their POV’s less often in order to leave the ending a surprise for the reader, but I think it would have been much more emotionally impactful if we had been able to follow their stories and get to know them better through more POV’s. [SPOILER END] I wish the authors had either eliminated their passages altogether or inserted more from their perspective-in their current state, they make the book feel unbalanced.

Finally, I think Ren benefits a bit too much from plot armor. I don’t dislike her per se, but I did get annoyed from time to time when everything conveniently went her way. Especially at the beginning, so many puzzle pieces consistently come together for the sake of her storyline, and this just took me out of the story. It is only about halfway through the book that we see her begin to face actual consequences, although I would argue that she gets away with a LOT near the end of the book as well. This apparent invulnerability and extraordinarily good luck made her a bit hard to relate to and like, at least for me. At one point she also gets so angry with a couple other characters for lying abut who one of them was… but like… isn’t that her entire plot line… that she’s pretending to be someone else? It was just too difficult in that moment to sympathize with her anger when she was able to get off without any repercussions after her own con. When people did discover that she was lying about her identity, they forgave her almost immediately. [SPOILER] Leato and Giuna both seem to be angry and hurt, but almost immediately Leato gets over it and then is in no position to make charges against her (going back to the convenient chain of events for Ren’s con to work) and Giuna never really does anything about it. If anything, she also seems to get over really quickly, and it is never truly a problem for Ren that Giuna found out. If anything, Giuna ends up helping her even more than she did before she learned of her true identity. [SPOILER END] The stakes were set so high for this con but we never really saw any lasting consequences. There was no reason for me to be anxious about Ren’s fate because it never felt like she was in any real danger.

[SPOILER?] My last issue, but the one that made me the most upset: why does the two-faced villain always have to be the bisexual character? One of the authors very kindly answered my question on Goodreads when I brought up this issue, (here is the link to that conversation) and while I can see why they made this decision, in the current climate of the abundance of this "betrayer" arc for bisexual character I simply didn't enjoy it. Again, this is a personal issue and since one of the authors is bi herself I am certainly not trying to call them out or anything like that. :) [SPOILER END]

Unsure?

I would tell anyone thinking of picking this book up to prepare for a steep learning curve. You are thrown into a world with different terms and lore, and since the POV characters are already familiar with them (none of the “remote village boy who is ignorant of the ways of the world” here) it can be very confusing to keep up with the avalanche of names and politics and history. It speaks to the deep world-building which I appreciate, but, at the same time, it was definitely difficult to get through the first half of the book. I don’t see this as a negative because, again, with world-building this intricate, it is necessary for the reader to put some effort into learning the background, and I think the authors did as good a job handling this conundrum as they could.

Lastly, I have a very personal issue that I do not count against the book-I love Giuna, and I really wish we had gotten more time with her to explore her character. She feels very reactive in this novel, only there to serve as plot fodder or build up other character’s arcs and personalities, but I can sense that she could be so much more. I hope to see more of her in future books!

[seenashwrite]

Notes From Nash: Season 15 Episode 1

So here's the thing.

It wasn't bad.

It wasn't great.

Both those things are fine, of course shouldn’t want it to be bad, and matter of fact I didn't need nor want it to be great, better to save great for the finale.

But thing is, it was meh.

The premiere episode of your final season should be tight, tight, tight - no extraneous information or scenes, get in and get out, convey the most crucial of information, lay a foundation upon which to build.

And, well.... 

Meh. 

[Of course, spoilers below cut]

Before we go on - If you're new, hi, I'm Nash. I don't so much recap these things (though I have been known to on occasion, time permitting) as break 'em down regarding the writing. I don't go in any particular order, sometimes it's in order of the ep, sometimes it's topically organized. Bail now if you're interested in meta and reading into shit or whatever. This is constructive critique, where I call it like I see it, both the nailed it-s and the whiffed it-s.

To begin with, let's get this out of the way - because it's relevant to what I'm about to say - that whomever is responsible for approving the release of the Jake Abel-as-Michael shots and the Sam-might-be-Samifer shots and the Dean-Mark-of-Cain shots and hey-is-that-Gabriel's-horn shots is a goddamned dimwit. They just blew some of their wad, right there. That should've been saved for gut-punches in episodes, not in previews and behind-the-scenes and all that other marketing jazz.

That foundation I mentioned before - I get what the season is going to be because, even if I hadn't picked up on it before-----

I had.

-----then I certainly did thanks to Sam's exposition anvil there at the end. *insert eye-roll*  And speaking of the end, that flashback to the shutting of the trunk was so hamfisted, it just... it just wasn't necessary. I've said this before: leave little treats for your longtime fans. That could’ve been one, that echo back to the beginning, but they whiffed it with that insert of the clip. And that's what the entirety of this season should be, frankly. There should be *zero* explaining, *minimal* flashing back, because if somebody's coming into this on year fifteen, then welcome to the fam and all, and also I am so sorry, you need to binge the fuck out of everything and then join in, we ain't got time for that. Neither should the writers. Them's the breaks. They don’t need to accrue new fans for higher/sustained ratings, it’s the end of the goddamn show, so quit spoon-feeding explanations, and with that nice little moment getting skewered, I groan at the thought of all the flashing back and explaining that could potentially lie ahead. 

So, foundation: is the foundation we're building upon this little town? Since that’s where we spent 98% of our precious season premiere time? This town where the ghosts who were interchangeably referred to as souls from hell are all clustered instead of flying away to wherever the fuck they want? Also, don't monster “souls” go to Purgatory? That specific clown was a creature, a rakshasa, not a ghost. If this is the ghost of that monster, did Purgatory bust open, too? If not, why? Why weren't souls also expelled from Heaven? From the Empty? From the Veil? The logical answer is, of course, because Sam and Dean would be no match for all of those, and we have to get them to the end of the season. But those are some nice places to start for laying a foundation: the rules of the game. At least some of the rules, so that they aren’t all dropped in one fell swoop with an exposition anvil from someone later down the road.

****

---> ETA: Several people have brought up to me that the clown is Gacy, not the Rakshasa who appeared as a clown in Season 2 Episode 2 "Everybody Loves A Clown". 

Two things here:

(1) Yes, I checked, and see what y'all mean - the clown we saw is indeed dolled up just like the Gacy ghost from end of S14. I think the writers whiffed this because... 

(2) ...the Rakshasa fits more with what they've shown in 15.1 (the Rak went after a child at her house in 2.2), and it also fits the theme of ghosts from the way-back-when, re: Bloody Mary and Woman In White, so since they've got such a hard-on for this Sam-and-clowns thing and apparently want to drive it into the ground, they should've chosen the Rak  

Also worth noting, the writers never should have made it Gacy in the first place, the most cursory google of Gacy would've told them that the clown thing has been blown way out of proportion and has essentially nothing to do with his murdering (i.e. - it wasn’t his killin’ costume/part of his killing m.o./routine). I won't go into detail here, you can go on that journey yourselves, but his jam was not going after a cabin full of teens, nor children’s birthday parties, nor was it just willy-nilly murdering whomever he laid eyes on. 

It was stupid call by the writers, and they should feel stupid.

****

[pause]

The reason I mention all of these places: these aren’t just the monsters that Dean and Sam have killed. This is what it *should* have been. But I feel - at this point, having no other info - that this is a major whiff on the writers’ parts, having all the souls in hell come to the surface. Because that’s what new demon friend said - that all the doors opened, that hell was chaos. So it’s not just the ones that Sam and Dean killed, at least that’s what I’m divining from that statement. 

[unpause]

I give no fucks about this little town. Try this: Have them going back to the bunker to re-group and seeing things along the way, such as that car on the side of the road like they did. Perhaps they hear about a massacre at a slumber party from Jody. Perhaps Sam is checking the internet while Cas is frowning and looking at his wound, and is like "A mother and child escaped from a birthday party where a bunch of people were killed and they swear it's a clown. Dean - these are all our old cases."

[pause]

Stop with Sam and clowns. We got it. 

NO REALLY WE GOT IT

Or if gonna do it, be creative about it. 

---> shameless plug <---

[unpause]

Then speaking of Cas and the bullet wound - another bit of bad writing, here. Subtlety, writers. Look it up. Here's how it should've gone:

. Cas: [frowning as hand hovers over Sam's shoulder]

Sam: What?

Cas: [narrows eyes; hesitates] Something... I'm not certain. [meets Sam's eye] I don't think I'm able to heal it completely. Are you in much pain?

Sam: [seeming a bit surprised at his own answer] No, actually. It's not-----

[Sam cuts himself off as Cas' hand makes contact with his shoulder; sees blurry, muddled flashes of suggestive visions; gasps and stumbles back] .

See? We arrived at the same place, but elegantly. Less "YOU'RE TOTALLY GONNA BE LIKE A SAMIFER SOMETHING-SOMETHING YOUR VISIONS ARE BACK BLEEEECCCCHHH VOMITS CHUNKY FORESHADOWING"

The point is, the fuck with this town? We're back there next week, too? WHO CARES. And I bet you money, with how much time they wasted in this ep and the time I betcha they're gonna waste next ep, that I----

Er, um. I mean that "they". Ahem. The writers.

----could've combined whatever is going to be accomplished next ep into this one for an actually meaty season premiere. Which this was not. This was not a hearty, filling steak. This was yesterday's meatloaf that's still pretty tasty but soggy.

It's the little things. You scrap every single extraneous bit. Seconds are precious because when you add up enough clumps of them, they can equal minutes. Here's a tiny example: Sam laying on the floor of the crypt and being like "I hear water" then it's like "you hear water?" then "yeah maybe it's a drainage line" then "or a sewer" then "let's break this open", then the breaking, then here comes corpsey friend.

Instead: They're talking and there's increasingly aggressive banging on the door, they all scootch a little closer to the opposite wall, then corpsey busts through. We don't need all that blah-blah. And as much as I love new demon friend, I genuinely do, there was too much blah-blah-banter with him, as well. Huge props on the Alastair callback, *that* is the shit I was talking about earlier, callbacks with no other explanation, just the look on Dean's face when he said it was plenty. Well played, there. 

Otherwise, let's goooooooooo. The pacing was all off, there was *way* too much time wasted, especially with all the Sam and Cas going through the town stuff. Easily two-to-three minutes could've been shaved off of that alone.

Because here we are: what was accomplished that was of import? Jack's body is possessed (and that demon is great, best part of the ep), and he confirmed the cage is open. This is interesting info to have. We got a glimpse of the return of Sam's visions, which hints at a return to how the guys were in the past, so might make us think they - along with the world - are in rewind mode, as well. Also interesting to ponder upon.

[pause]

Which, this then begs: why is Cas not being reset, too? Why are his powers still wonky? Wouldn't THAT have been a real kick in the pants, seeing Cas whup some ass, even if just moderately here at the first and everybody having a "WHOA" moment of looks at each other? And then if so, continuing with the earlier questions that at least should have been asked - I don’t expect answers in ep one but lay the foundation via asks - are all the angels back, as well? Is Billie still officially Death? Because Dean killed Death, did he not? So is O.G. Death back?

[unpause]

And... that's it. That’s what we learned. We knew at the end of last season that Chuck was resetting things. This wasn't new information. We were given the scenes of Bloody Mary and the woman in white and the clown at the end of 14's finale. So this information doesn't count. And like I said above, the guys catching on to this could've been handled in a more expedited fashion so that we can get on with it. The writers have very little time to wrap up the show, and thus far I’m not encouraged by what I’ve seen.

::sigh::

We got work to do, indeed.

[mentalillnessmouse]

(p1) Hi, I'm writing because I feel there is no hope for me. I'm 30, I live at home where I get verbally mistreated (it was physical when I was younger.) I'm morbidly obese, agoraphobic, I literally didn't leave the house for a 2 year period and still rarely do. I have 0 friends and never had any except a few online ones who ditched me years ago. I was bullied constantly. I have self-harm marks all over my arms. I've NEVER had a job, or finished high school. I still almost never leave the house.

(p2) I’ve asked for help to learn to drive, but they tell me I can’t. I guess because they call me autistic and tell me I am not very smart and make jokes about me having ADHD. I took those comments seriously and they told me I was “looking for problems.” WHAT? I made the mistake of speaking with a few psychiatrists about it who shut me down because, in their words, I didn’t “look” like I had those issues. And that my parents had hard jobs so it made sense they would lash out at me. 

(p3) I deal with other issues too like menorrhagia. A doctor had me do an ultrasound (this was like my 3rd one since ‘06) and sent me to a specialist because they saw something. The specialist said she didn’t think anything was there and wasn’t going to actually examine me. I gave up. I’m afraid to speak up for myself, I genuinely don’t understand how to live, make friends, talk to people. I feel like I just have TOO MANY issues. And at my age I don’t see why anyone would bother with me anymore.

(p4) I have an appt with a psych at the same place as the others because I have my city’s free insurance and nowhere else to go. I don’t know if I can do it again after this? I just wanted somewhere to reach out at least one more time :( I’ve reached out to others (like extended family) who will talk to me for a bit then ignore? I can’t help but to feel damaged or like I’m doing something wrong I can’t figure out. I feel like a weak loser and I didn’t try good enough.I’m sorry this is so long

Hello Anon, 

I’m mod Bee and I’ll do my best to help you out, but I received help myself from the other mods to write you back. So this is a communal effort!

Thank you for reaching out, and I’m sorry you’re going though such a difficult and distressing situation. You sound strong and tenacious, and I’m proud of you for the way you keep trying to improve your life. 

We have some suggestions that we hope can be of help. They’ll concerne:

finding online communities/groups to hang out with

finding a professional that suits your needs 

looking for courses you can join 

thinking about possible job options 

Just an head up: this is going to be long, and it will contain tons of links. I’ll highlight one - that I think it’s most useful - for each section, but I suggest you to go through them all. 

1. finding online communities/groups to hang out with

Having friends is important for our mental health, but it can get difficult to make new ones, especially when we’ve been burned before.  

Online communities, forums, and groups, can be good places to start looking for friends again. You can approach them with as much caution as you need, and find those people you relate with the most.

If you like games, and rpgs in particular, there are online options that allow you to connect with other others all over the world. Activities like Dungeon&Dragons are based around players’ interactions, so you’d get to know people without putting the stress on forging new friendships. The article 10 Best Online Chat Rooms & Games suggests other equally fitting games. 

Forums and groups where you can share your experience and fears are another important tool you can use. I’ve looked into active ones and found Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia Forum, r/Agoraphobia/ (on reddit), bus (a self-harm support forum), Mental health support group and discussion community, Online Support Groups by Turn2Me, PsychForums (Psychology and Mental Health Forums), and the ReachOut app.

Trying with pen pals - a one on one exchange - could also be a good idea: InterPals and PenPalWorld are only two of the many websites dedicated to this purpose. Here’s some tips on how it works.

Finally, there are apps with the specific purpose of finding new friends, like Bumble BFF. Try to see if you there’s one of your liking in this list.

2. finding a professional that suits your needs

We usually recommend what it’s colloquially called “psychiatrist/therapist shopping”, the act of choosing a professional after inquiring what we need to know of their line of work, based on our own wishes, and asking this to more than one.

It’s difficult when insurance covers just a little portion of professionals, but not impossible. 

Can’t afford therapy? No insurance? Need low cost options? Here is a great list of ways to get help when money or insurance is an issue.

Therapy For Every Budget: How To Access It

9 Ways to Get Free or Cheap Therapy When You Don’t Have Health Insurance

Dial 211 for Essential Community Services: if you call 211, you can ask about free therapy options in your area, or how to work with you insurance to afford other professionals.

If none of these options work out, and you have to stick with the professional your insurance provides, there are measures you can take that might help making the sessions successful. Check out 21 Tips for getting the most out of each therapy session and How to Talk to Your Doctors When They Don’t Listen. 

If your new psychiatrist tries to dismiss you without hearing everything that you have to say, insist that they write on your record exactly what they did and why, and that you absolutely want a copy of it before you exit their room. It’s your right to have both your requests accomplished. I know it’s not easy to have them respected: you’ll probably have to stand your ground and that can be difficult, but I think it’s important for you and fundamental for what you can get out of this session. This is a post with links to various module you can complete to help you assert yourself, which I suggest you to start before going to your appointment, if you can. It can be useful to face your family, too.

Does your insurance cover a different specialist for the gynecological problem your doctor wanted you to check out? Is there any free or low-cost clinic near you, like Planned Parenthood or Free Clinic? You can inquire about their services through email.

3. looking for courses you can join

Online courses can be helpful for a number of things, like keeping busy, learning new stuff, feeling accomplished, and possibly getting some qualifications. 

There are some free options that end with a proper certificate, but not all are accredited, meaning that they’re not automatically accepted by employers (they can choose to consider them valid or not). Still, there are no downsides in joining such a course, seeing that it doesn’t cost anything but your time.

Not accredited certificates/no certificates:

Alison’s Diploma Courses and Certificate Courses 

FutureLearn doesn’t grant you certificates with their free courses, but it still provides learning access

edX’s Courses

Udemi, not free but it offers up to 90% discounts generally once a month

Learn how to code, a masterpost that lists different courses to learn coding

Free Online Language Courses, a masterpost that lists different courses to learn languages  

24 Invaluable Skills To Learn For Free

Accredited certificates

coursera offers some free courses, and/or the possibility to apply for financial aid

Online Degree require no tuition, no applications, and no interviews, and has worked so participating Universities around the country will consider the courses for credit, potentially finishing up to an entire freshman year of college

edX’s Professional Certificate Programs are not free, but edX offers up to a 90% discount to those who prove they cannot pay a full price.

University Of The People is tuition-free, which means there is no charge for teaching or instruction, only initial fees (around 160$) for each course. You can also apply for scholarships.

on StudyPortal - Scholarships, you can find a huge number of scholarships available in your country, and here you can find the easiest scholarships to apply to. There are also scholarships for online courses.

There’s also the possibility of completing high school through virtual courses, and if they’re organized by your State’s public school system, they should be free. You can find more info on this here. 

4. thinking about possible job options

Working towards finding a job is important for our own self-worth and feeling like a valuable member of society, and of course it can also help with looking for better therapy. 

It can be tricky when mental and physical illnesses are at play, though. That’s why I’d like to give you some online options here, too, that don’t ask for any particular prerequisite, and would give you enough free time to focus to get better. Jobs like data entry or app testing are doable from home, and may not pay much, but they’d allow you to start building some savings. 

5 Online Jobs That Require Little or No Experience

No Experience? Start One of These Online Jobs

Best Data Entry Jobs From Home

10 (Legit) Data Entry Jobs from Home

Work At Home Data Entry on Indeed.com

FlexJobs

Glassdoor

Whatever you choose, creating a strong resume is always a good step. I’m giving you some resources on how to do that:

How to Create a Professional Resume

How To Make A Resume 101

Help Everyone Find A Job In Their Field

And between checking out all these options we gave you, please try to do some of this Workout For Daily Life, because focusing on a screen for too long can cause so many aches!

You’re not a loser, you’re strong and you keep fighting for yourself, which is admirable. I hope these resources can be of help, and please do send another ask if you need anything else.

Take care,

mod Bee

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

1. I am an INTP 5w6 female and I want to know how to meet new people, it didn't bother me before but I had a boyfriend.of 1.5years and I now miss having someone in my life, don't remember exactly what I wrote but I thought I had made a good choice and was really hopeful about that relationship and I tried hard to make it work but I couldn't deal with his bs anymore, I did for a while cause I thought he was worth it, I've been trying to build deeper relationships but didn't care before so imbehnd

2. My ex wasn't extremely manipulative but he lied and hid things from me and got angry when I complained when his stories made no sense, I left We knew each other for so long and I couldn't deal with him not apologizing for his bs and blaming me for what he was doing, I just couldn't justify the relationship even if I still loved him This lead me to believe my strategy was wrong since I thought I knew him and that he was more mature than that, no matter how high the filter this could happen..

3. It's just so disappointing, you know? That people can be such assholes after managing to present themselves as the opposite of that for so long I've never really had close friendships except for my ex, and a few friends (I guess?) I didn't care much for this before since I'm alright on my own, but I found that I really liked having someone, so I'm trying to meet new people now that I'm more or less healing, but idk how to do it, acquaintances used to fall in my lap before but not anymore

4. I'm 23 yo, about to get my degree. I do have a crush on a classmate but when I try to picture us going out it feels awkward and weird since I don't know him very well, I need to know people well before considering dating... I'm just very lost and I feel kind of behind from everyone else since I'm super inexperienced (only that one bf, and it was long distance...) and idk how to correct that at this point. I've been dressing better so people treat me better (haven't noticed, makes sense tho)

5. People do seem to like me well enough but I guess everyone already has their group of friends and is too busy to invite me places often enough that I become part of the core group, but I'm getting there, a bit (I think) I've been going everywhere I've been invited with my classmates lately but they don't really bring anyone new, I've managed to be a step up from acquaintance with a girl friend, which is nice, with older friends the same thing happens, even if we come across their friends...

6. I've always had a hard time fitting in very well, romantically I'd love to have someone at a similar experience level because I feel like I missed out on being a crucial relationship for the other person, but my ex had several gfs before and I didn't care too much then but now I do because afterwards certain things made me feel bad, but I guess I could manage anyway.I also get paranoid when I read what other bs some people manage to do like marrying someone but loving their bestfriend instead

7. I apologize for making it so long but I thought it'd be necessary to give a bit of info on myself and my thoughts, my age, what I've been trying etc I just wanna meet good people at this point in my life and want some tips on how to do that without taking extremely long only for them to be assholes anyways... I think I've managed to make some more acquaintances but I've only clicked with two girls I talk to outside of the classroom when we're not hanging out, gonna focus on them rn-----------------------

(very long response ahead)

I know this is not what you asked nor is it necessarily going to be helpful or relevant but: I would strongly rethink your type. Ti-doms and 5s are both vanishingly unlikely to drop seven asks worth of highly personal and emotionally open information in the inboxes of total strangers.

With regards to the actual question, this is really not an MBTI question (more on this at the end) and not entirely something I’d consider myself an expert on. I very much hope I am not the only person you can go to on this because I personally wouldn’t want me to be my only source of advice on this. With those caveats, see below.

I think Tumblr (and to be fair some forms of media) portray friendships and relationships as an attraction at first sight/immediate connection.

This is fucking stupid.

Because I tie everything back to my personal soapbox causes: this is why I have such disdain for the anti-small talk crowd, or people who think they’re special because they crave a deep, below-the-surface human connection. Nearly everyone wants deep connection. It’s normal and healthy. It’s also an ongoing process that nearly always involves some period of time during which you and the other potential friend are awkward acquaintances who don’t entirely understand each other and have to talk about surface-level things. You can’t speedrun intimacy.

This is particularly true in adulthood. Children do make friends more quickly, but also children are weird and fickle and a friendship can be based on little more than sharing crayons (not to knock that, plenty of great friendships started that way) while adults have a much better sense of who they are and also typically a much more narrow definition of who they want as a friend and all kinds of emotional baggage to boot.

Essentially, if you want a friendship that matches the depth of a relationship of 1.5 years it’s probably going to take close to 1.5 years to get there, and from what you said you’d known each other even longer before the romantic relationship, so add that time too. Which might not be what you want to hear, but it’s important to manage the expectation. Basically all relationships (and by this I mean romantic or platonic) start out with little connection, and you become friends through building that connection, and you can’t really rush it.

I believe in “clicking” in the sense of there being an immediate mutual interest in getting to know each other better, but speaking practically, regardless of the initial chemistry you are still basically intrigued strangers at that point. All clicking does is provide additional motivation for that process of getting to know each other. And speaking from experience, deep friendships in the long term don’t always have an initial “click”. I’ve had relationships that were initially quite intense fade away, and others slowly grow from acquaintanceship into lasting intimate friendship even if we didn’t expect it on first meeting. The myth of clicking is confirmation bias - unless there was a serious fallout, you’ll probably forget the people who you thought you clicked with if it didn’t just work out, and conversely it’s not hard to look back through the lenses of memory and nostalgia and find a single moment when a friendship or love crystalized, even though the reality is that it was merely the tipping point after considerable energy had already been invested on both sides.

In terms of practical advice, finishing up a degree is a uniquely awkward time, especially if all your classmates are in the same boat, because there’s often a mentality of “we’re all going to leave soon, let’s stick with the friendships we have.” Others in your class may not have that motivation to make a close connection, and it sucks but it’s temporary. The good news is that the larger world doesn’t feel that way. It is a bit more difficult to make friends as an adult, just because you’re not spending time with people naturally the same way as you do in school, but meetups and clubs and social organizations all exist for this reason and are explicitly there for people who want to make friends. And again, it’s going to be a slow process. I respect that it’s frustrating having to start from what feels like square one, but it’s unavoidable.

As for dating, you don’t need to do apps if you don’t want to! But you’re right. It’s going to be comparatively inefficient. Particularly if you prefer to date people you already know socially, you’ll have to put in a lot of effort going to social things and building those acquaintanceships over time and you might need to ask someone out face to face. Inexperience is fine. Everyone has to start somewhere. The tradeoff is more that you can’t screen people as well if you’re on apps, and they can be kind of impersonal but you do get to interact with many people quickly on your own terms without having to go outside and with the luxury of being able to think up witty comebacks instead of having to chat in real time.

(I do want to counter the idea that people who use apps are any less deep or anything like that. Some people are comfortable with casual hookups and some aren’t, but many people use apps to set up a date first and see if they have enough of an interest to keep things going. As with all of the above, everything has to start somewhere and if you think of the app as a way to facilitate meeting people, rather than “I must make a romantic connection with this person tonight”, and steer towards dating vs. hookup apps/make it clear you’re looking for long-term relationships, you might have more luck. The point of the first date for most people isn’t to find a partner, though sometimes that happens; it’s to find someone you enjoy enough to go on a second date with and slowly get to know).

One final thought: all this advice applies universally but I actually think considering it in the context of MBTI is more harmful than helpful, or at best misleading. For example, you say that being a 5 you take too long to check if people are safe, which whether or not you actually are a 5 also has absolutely nothing to do with being a 5, and even if you are a 5 and this is a 5 thing, you’re aware of this behavior! You can stop doing that then! MBTI is not destiny!

Regardless of type, no one automatically knows what to say in every situation, no one can read minds, and no one has discovered the secret to always being liked and never being rejected. Type can convey talent or inclination but skill requires time. Extroverts are often better with people because they have to be - they aren’t as okay with just being alone, especially when younger, so they go out and deal with people and through that process learn to make friends. But they weren’t born with it. Sites that favor introverts and/or intuitives are terrible for a lot of reasons but I find they perpetuate the ideas I disagreed with above, that friendships for introverts and intuitives must always be with people who Click and Already Get It. This is wrong and it’s limiting. Obviously don’t pursue a friendship or relationship if you don’t like the person, but don’t write someone off just because you didn’t feel a magical spark right away. That’s not being deep and sensitive - that’s being closed off to new experiences. Anything worth doing involves real-world effort and some amount of risk, and usually it involves patience and time and awkwardness and uncertainty as well.

[avernale]

Have You Seen These New Pokémon? Have you SEEN Them?

New trailer for Scarlet and Violet finally dropped. I was getting so itchy for new information, I was about to try and start making stuff up!

I still might.

Website has also updated. I had problems accessing it, but it turned out to be my VPN.

Trailer and commentary in the Keep Reading link

First notable thing about the trailer are the Pokémon stickers on the wall I didn't notice before. Not much to say, just wanted to point them out.

Second is the new Pokémon Center, which is now... a gas station? I mean, that's what first comes to mind when I see it, but it's actually more of a kiosk now than an entire building. I'm willing to bet this is just how they are in The Wilderness, since I'm pretty sure there were traditional Pokémon Center buildings in the previous trailer. This is probably so they don't need to have NPC's in The Out Of Doors perform this function (though they still could if they wanted). It's probably also a PokéMart, PC, and other functions.

There appear to be two academies. Judging from the starting outfit thing, which you belong to probably depends on version. I get the impression only one will exist per game, but not necessarily.

There are also two professors in this game, but it's also one per version! Tron-reject Turo (short for Arturo, probably, but likely Turbo also. This may be more apparent later) in Violet and Unfrozen Cavewoman Professor Sada (seriously, what is she wearing?) in Scarlet. Also of note, the change in character art style indeed goes beyond the player character.

After new footage of the starters (with more info on the website), we're introduced to Nemona. Judging from what she says, you meet her before you pick your first Pokémon. The website describes her as a guide rather than a rival, and I'm getting a "Sempai" vibe here. She probably goes to the same school as you as an upperclassman, which is a fairly literal translation of the word though I think it implies a sort of casual mentorship as well.

I also notice some asymmetry in her design with that single, elbow length glove. I'm betting either it or at least the bracelet part is the new Gimmick Band, like the Z-Ring in Sun & Moon or the Dynamax Band in Sword & Shield. You won't see it on the player character in either trailer, but they've left the Gimmick Bands out before properly introducing them in past generations.

Nemona also introduces us to Pawmi, which is probably the worst Pikachu derivation I've seen. It didn't even read as one until I saw it was an Electric type on the website. I see it now, of course, but this thing doesn't even have a nose! This looks like someone tried to reverse-engineer Pikachu for their own game and avoid copyright infringement as much as possible. I mean, you could say that about all the Pikachu derivations, but... What even is it? A red panda? A chinchilla? A chipmunk? It's almost shapeless.

Also, in-world multiplayer is back, but now it's less of pseudo-MMO free-for-all. You can link up with up to four friends and... go your separate ways? I mean, sure, I guess. I'm not sure if that's meant to be a selling point or just a framing device for the rest of the trailer. Also, it looks like trainer customization is back. Yay! I didn't really doubt it but I thought it seemed possible with the version-exclusive starting outfits.

After a couple more returning Pokémon (Fletchinder and Flaafy), we're introduced to Smoliv. Love the name, hate the design. It's like a knock-off Petilil, but I'll give it a pass for now since it's probably going to have an evolution that looks more interesting. It apparently produces oil that's not fit for human consumption, but I imagine Oliverybig's oil will be a popular cooking ingredient. But it can't just be a black olive, right? It's gotta be, like, a vine with black olives (or even Smolivs *shudder*) growing on it.

Next, we're introduced to Lechonk, who is the only named Pokémon in this trailer because we also get to see the battle interface. The interface isn't much to write home about, though I do notice angles in the corners that kinda makes it look like we're watching through a camera. Will Drone Rotom play a larger roll in this game?

Also, now that I take a closer look, I notice that while Quaxly's HP bar is in the lower left corner, Lechonk's is above its head. That is very much like Legends Arceus, which suggests to me that you can have impromptu horde battles against wandering overworld Pokémon in much the same way. Maybe more of that system is returning than I expected...

Also, Lechonk is the best of these three new Pokémon, visually. Still not great, but I like this little piggy better than Smoliv and Pawmi. Liking the name, too, though I feel it's a bit meme-y. Can't wait to see what porker this thing evolves into.

More returning Pokémon, a couple of which we get to see in the new trading sequence. Kind of a weird flex, but okay. It's notable in that completely done in some separate, glow-space cutscene, instead being shown flying from their trainers' hands in the overworld and passing each other in the skies above. Neat.

A lot more returning Pokémon (including some I think were cut from the other Switch games?) leading to what appears to be an outdoor battle court. My impression is that this is what Gyms look like now, though I could be misinterpreting things. I can't imagine that they're purely for having open-world PVP, though.

Oh, Pikachu's back. Okay.

Then we leave actual game footage as the camera runs through some kind of chasm, across some sea, and up a stone spire, splitting into two frames. And at the precipice(s) stand the Box Legendaries!

On the left, Scarlet's Koraidon, a red, serpentine, feathered lizard with what looks like a wheel in its chest. Clearly based on motorcycles. And on the right, Violet's Miraidon, a blue, robotic serpent with jets for legs! (I was calling them "Road Rage" and "Jet Blue" before I found their names) Personally, I'm liking Koraidon more than Miraidon, but I think I might need more incentive to get Scarlet instead of Violet.

We also get to see the box art, which has a leather-bound look it behind the effects around the legendaries. Now I'm getting even more of a fairy-tale vibe! Although, the Pokémon themselves aren't very story-bookish, are they?

Oh! And the release date! November 18 this year! For now, at least.

Then the trailer ends with a Pokéball flying across a shifting, crystalline background that suggests quantum foam to me. Will the multiverse play as big a roll in this game as it did in Sun & Moon? Does this foreshadow the "Villain" legendary? Or even the Evil Team? Or is it just how they end all their videos from now on? I wonder how long it'll be until we find out.

Incidentally, I was thinking about the Legendaries' designs and how they've been introduced, and I came...

...To a startling conclusion!

...On these games' signature gimmick!

Pokémon On Motorcycles!

Seriously, though. There's a old episode of the anime that featured "Extreme Pokémon Training," which was essentially chariot races but with Pokémon. I can easily imagine Jet Blue and Road Rage Miraidon and Koraidon in some kind of racing battle. It's probably unlikely and I'm not sure how it'd work, but it's exciting to think about!