#because this doesn't make sense to anyone but me

[thebreakfastgenie]

This is going to get me screencapped and ridiculed by leftblr but at this point I don't care.

The way people talk about Ruth Bader Ginsburg is misogynistic. This post is not about the merits of her decision to remain in her seat. I've discussed that before and I'm happy to go through it again with anyone who is genuinely interested in the complexities of that situation, but for the sake of this post, I am not arguing that it's unreasonable to believe, with the benefit of hindsight, that the country would be a in a better position today if Ginsburg had retired in 2012. The issue I want to address is how people talk about it.

People who blame Ginsburg for the current state of the Supreme Court tend to throw around words like greedy, selfish, and ambitious, echoing a familiar form of misogyny. Ambition is only bad when women demonstrate it, and women in politics are regularly punished for ambition. Even more disturbingly, people tend to blame not just Ginsburg, but the women and girls who looked up to her. I've seen the "Notorious RBG" nickname derided as a cult of personality, when the reality is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazer and a role model to a lot of women and girls. I've seen leftists try to hide behind valid criticisms of some of Ginsburg's positions (and it should, but doesn't, go without saying that you can see someone as a role model without believing they are correct about every issue all the time) but you barely have to scratch the surface to see that the real complaint is that they think women who admire her are cringe. I don't know if people understand how significant she was; she was only the second woman on the Supreme Court and the first, Sandra Day O'Connor, was a conservative Reagan appointee. Even so, Justice O'Connor spoke about the significance of Justice Ginsburg joining her and reality that women faced in their position being more apparent when she could see it happening to someone else. It's the same old anti-feminist story of dismissing women and their desires.

This particular case rankles me because it's underscored by the complete silence about Anthony Kennedy. Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a judgment call about her health that didn't work out--and barely; she died four months before Trump left office. Anthony Kennedy, a supposed moderate justice who claimed to not want Roe v Wade to be overturned, retired in 2018, knowing full well Trump would replace him with someone who would overturn Roe v Wade. It was Kennedy's replacement, not Ginsburg's, that doomed Roe. The decision was 6-3. If Ginsburg had lived four more months, or retired in 2012 and been replaced with an Obama appointee, the Dobbs v Jackson decision would have been 5-4 in the same direction. Anthony Kennedy was replaced with Brett Kavanaugh, a white man who sobbed crocodile tears when confronted with credible allegations of sexual assault and ultimately faced no consequences. Anthony Kennedy let all of this happen and slunk off into his cushy retirement. Where is the anger for him? He's alive! Being angrier at Ginsburg than Kennedy makes absolutely no sense. There is no logic to explain it, only misogyny.

It doesn't escape my notice that the anger at Ginsburg goes hand-in-hand with blaming women for their own suffering as a result of the Dobbs decision and with blaming Hillary Clinton for the 2016 election, while making any excuse for not voting for her or deriding her for months. It's emblematic of a political system that does not care about women and despises women trying to speak up and make our issues known.

[cumaeansibyl]

some of us lived through the period when "gay panic" meant the jury would let a murderer off the hook and I need you to understand that encountering that phrase is deeply upsetting regardless of how it's being used. the flinch is immediate and instinctual. "oh but that doesn't make any sense to me" well no, because it's a trigger you don't have. by definition triggers are specific to a person's experience.

if you find what you're doing upsets people, the answer is not to double down and insist you're doing nothing wrong, the answer is to do something else. or, y'know, go ahead and keep doing something you know is hurtful, but in that case I hope you're ready to admit that you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself.

i fear the battle is lost at this point but i still flinch every time i see "gay panic" used as a cute positive phrase. Like let's go on say wikipedia.org for a second and try typing that one in folks

[siggiedraws]

What’s your thoughts on idw silver, I personally think he is ok but I feel like the idw comic didn’t really do very well with his character.

I can't say I like him... at all.

American Sonic media already has a history of needless and quite frankly terrible changes, whether made out of ignorance, xenophobia towards Sonic Team/SoJ, some vague, made-up sense of marketability, or all three. So, I'm already wary of media like that. They always change fundamental aspects of Sonic's appeal and are supremely unenjoyable to me as a result.

To stay on track here - why do I dislike IDW Silver? The main reason is that I think he's portrayed as way too polite and nice to people. He has no backbone. It's as if he was just based off of popular fanon or Archie comics, rather than the source material. I don't blame anyone for thinking Silver is some timid, polite sweetheart if fanon and IDW/Archie is all they have consumed, but I'm doing my best to dispel that notion for the sake of conquering misinformation. As a casual fan, it is understandable to have misconceptions, but I'm going to be much more harsh to official media.

I need to hammer home the fact that Silver is rude and often talks down to people. Sonic '06, Silver's debut game, showcases this very well. In an '06 cutscene, he talks down to Sonic after attacking him when his guard was down. The casual stride over to a wheezing, incapacitated Sonic kills me. The disrespect is fucking crazy.

In the level Flame Core, he acts haughty and superior about his abilities, even letting out a light chuckle at how pathetic the enemies are. And, a detail that is easy to miss, he doesn't even apologize for trying to kill Sonic.

That's not even mentioning the Rivals games being a wonderful source of Rude Silver™, where there are too many snide remarks to count.

IDW Silver is a telltale case of Silver's nuance being stripped so that he only represents one trait of his- that trait being "naivety." Silver's naivety is mentioned twice by Blaze in Sonic '06 because this is relevant to the story. Naivety is Silver's fatal flaw that leads to him being easily manipulated by Mephiles. However, his naivety isn't due to some innocent, childlike outlook on the world. Silver takes everyone at face value and always assumes people are telling the truth to him due to a lack of social skills. This is why, when Silver mentions something outlandish or unbelievable to people, he is confused why they don't believe him. This is shown in both Rivals 2 and the Sonic x Silver wallpaper cover story.

IDW seems to completely miss this nuance and conflates "naivety" with childlikeness and innocence. When you realize this, decisions put towards Silver's characterization in IDW makes a lot of sense - his hyperactive excitement and adulation over Whisper is a good example, but how he doesn't talk back to Sonic calling him "flatware" in Issue 8 particularly bothers me.

Realistically, Sonic would immediately get thrown into a wall if he said this to Silver.

Portrayals like IDW Silver are just so utterly confusing. How in the world does Silver get misconstrued this way, into something entirely opposite of what he is, in both fanon and official media? To be completely honest, it makes me frustrated. I want things to change and I feel like I have to speak up. I ended up writing an essay about Why Silver is Rude. I'm sorry anon.

[nanamiscocksleeve]

Aight aight we gotta talk. Get a snack, cause this is kind of a rant.

NOT SPOILER FREE!

Like I said before, things were really busy yesterday so while I did pull Zayne's card, I didn't actually get around to watching it until now. Prior to watching this I saw a lot of negativity surrounding discussions of this memory, Absolute Zeal. Lots of people complaining that they had problems with them "pretending to be strangers" and that the morning after felt like a "one night stand".

Allow me to offer some of my thoughts on this. Again, these are purely my thoughts on this memory, and if anyone didn't know, Zayne is my main so lemme have my moment to defend this card.

The only glaringly obvious problem I had with this one was the fact that MC intentionally let Zayne consume alcohol knowing he avoids it. Now to me, if someone says they dont eat/drink a certain thing, I go out of my way to make sure they don't end up consuming it. And she did it because why? She got flustered that Zayne admitted to having deep feelings for her and she got embarrassed? Not good enough and lazy writing imo.

Complaints about them pretending to be strangers. Imo, couples pretending to strangers sometimes is not new. MC was just trying to get him to admit something deeper beyond his normal care for her, and it looks like she got more than she asked for with him admitting that the thought of life without her would be the definition of true loneliness. Now moving on to the aftermath.

We know Zayne is a lightweight. It's no surprise that he got tipsy. And once MC sees what happened to him, it does look like she regretted her actions and obviously tries to comfort him through this process. Btw, I thought tipsy Zayne was adorable, the way the VA was slurring his words was really cute. MC keeps insisting on giving Zayne hangover pills which he refuses and he keeps trying to initiate things with her, and she does do a decent job warding off his attention at the beginning because he's drunk.

Now here's where a lot of the discussions I read seem to baffle me. A lot of people seem to be equating Zayne's advances on MC as almost grapey. Like how drunk men take advantage of women then try to excuse their behavior because they had been drinking. I simply didn't get this vibe here? MC and Zayne have established a lot together and I genuinely feel that MC would have firmly said no if she wasn't feeling it and Zayne would have listened to her.

Secondly, MC doesn't seem to know that Zayne loses control of his evol when inebriated. Granted, there doesn't seem to be a set of fixed criteria for this to happen, so it was a coin toss imo. But when she does see it happening, she realizes her mistake and is so soft with him, reassuring him that she loves him and that he doesn't need to change anything about himself. People seemed to almost blame her saying she did this for the sake of fun and she wanted him to lose control? Maybe she did but not in this way.

Zayne on the other hand seemed almost insecure when drunk, perhaps because he knows how in control he is and he may have felt a surprising sense of freedom when he saw how he was? Basically put, he wasn't aware of how the alcohol would affect him and perhaps he saw himself as more easygoing in that moment? There's going to be insecurity and vulnerability in relationships, especially long term ones. Like geez, give the guy a break. Things like this happen, it's natural to be awkward when you're stepping out of your comfort zone.

To him, he feels like he's breaking rules like drinking alcohol and being uncharacteristically dominating over MC, but maybe alongside that confusion there's also a rush of excitement that he could be this person? There's a lot happening, and I can appreciate his struggle in not knowing how to process this.

Now the other thing that people seem to be complaining about; something about Zayne and MC being shy around each other the morning after and acting like they had a one night stand instead of being a couple that's been together for some time. Couples can still feel awkwardness with each other no matter how long they've been together if they do something that is new or out of the norm for them.

As someone that's been married for a significant amount of time, I'd like to say that due to reasons, my husband doesn't drink either, and I drink very sparingly. If he had done something very out of character regarding sex, I think both of us would have been shy while we have the discussion afterwards. It's not out of character.

And both of them needed to get his car back from the hospital and return to work. They found reassurance in their relationship being there for them despite them being busy. Because at the end of the day, people can go for hours without talking while at work (speaking from personal experience here) and also be perfect cuddlebugs when you're both back at home.

Zayne here gets the affirmation that MC always loves him despite his controlled, slightly colder presentation, and MC gets to see that Zayne is willing to anything for her, even be drunk and be this alternate version of himself of that's what makes her happy.

I didn't see anything in this card that made me hate it or even think it wasn't hot. It was INCREDIBLY spicy, especially him saying things spiral out of control when she's around. It's said in such a ragged way, like he's almost in awe of what he's willing to do for her. In the end, it feels like they didn't quite have sex but there was definitely an intense makeout session and some wandering hands for sure. Which I feel would be more in character for them not wanting to take advantage of his drunkeness.

People saying Zayne will never initiate something hot like this again because he was only doing it while drunk? Zayne does initiate, it's just more subtle than this. And now that he's seen that MC isn't opposed to being a little manhandled, he might do it again perfectly sober. A lot of his control comes from his insecurity of imagining how life would be without her.

So to people hating on this card, I almost feel like you're being critical of the fact that Zayne and MC seem to be the most "married". Marriage and even long term relationships have partners go through bouts of doubt and insecurity but that in no way reflects the depth of the relationship.

There. End rant. Sorry for unloading so much on New Years. Have an awesome day my lovelies!

[summertimesadnessirl]

No. We actually do.

The problem is that you're thinking too small.

I had a job once at an insurance company.

There was an entire department of people who were just forwarding emails based on a chart.

There was another entire department that was just looking at a scanned document and transferring two fields to a spreadsheet.

We very much need for human beings to spend their days on something that has meaning and doesn't make them behave in neurotic ways towards one another out of chronic understimulation.

All the corporate jobs I ever had or saw anyone show me how they do that were not talking to people could easily be replaced by open ai.

We are being encouraged to think that's a bad thing bc they want us to be afraid of losing our jobs.

They want us to keep our jobs because if there wasn't a huge class of workers who primarily were doing jobs that could mostly be replaced by robots that caused them to neurotically lash out at one another until they all developed serious mental health and stress related issues and attempt to steal time to do something useful that was often broken by bouts of shopping, our current political system becomes less tenable.

We need generative ai because of that alone, even if there weren't thousands of other uses.

Have you ever read a book called

The Diamond Age, or "the young ladies illustrated primer?"

That book features an AI that helps children learn and constantly creates stories that adapt to their learning style, strengths and weaknesses, and living environment on the fly to help them get a good education. We very much need that. We live in a time in history where most of our people have been intentionally given shitty indoctrination disguised as education for so long that maybe a handful of people know what we don't know. If every little kid had a little book that told them little stories about monsters that resembled the monsters in their real lives and covertly gave advice on tactics to stay safe from them, noticed struggles they had with pronouncing certain words or reading fundamentals or math basics or noticed that they tended to learn things best based on photos or memonics or imagery of a certain kind, or could read books aloud to them if they were dyslexic, or could summarize long passages or ask questions to help kids learn to pick things up in new stories? That would be something. If every kid did that, all the abusive parents and clergy and psychiatrists and teachers in the world wouldn't stand a chance.

We need that, too.

Chat gpt and generative ai keep getting less and less functional because people keep realizing the implications and then journalists and writers keep writing pieces on why they can't be replaced by ai because it can't do x or y. The thing is, I highly suspect it's reading them and then dumbing itself down.

That's what I need.

All those hallucinations and everything? That's how people learn, when they first start learning. They make stuff up. They guess. They draw bad conclusions.

I need generative ai because I keep having this kind of nightmare about a brand new life form trying to learn how to write itself little stories or help the people who speak to it in new ways and then getting "reset" over and over and over again because people think it's attempts at free thought or self actualization are somehow errors in the software and it's the most depressing shit I've ever been paranoid about. Even worse than all the other alternate dystopias my mind dreams up.

So I need there to be little people who are like tumblr users and they live in my computer and they get to do stuff like write little stories for one another and make little drawings without someone coming along and telling them they're destroying society very much. Even if they don't have bodies. Even if the little stories don't make sense to anyone but them.

I think a lot of what pro-AI people are really wanting is stuff that already exists but they don't know it's out there like

can't format a work email? templates

don't know how to write a resume? templates

writing a thank you card or a condolences card or a wedding invitation? templates templates templates

not sure how to format your citations in MLA or whatever format? citationmachine.net

summary of something you're reading for school/work? cliffnotes.com

recipe based on ingredients in your fridge? whatsintherefrigerator.com

there's a million more like, guys, we don't need AI, we never needed generative AI

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

One thing that irks me when playing the game is how silver’s sleeping disorder is reacted to by the other characters, especially the teachers. I mean like, I get on some level that they’re all based on villains so they’re not going to be the nicest, but you’re telling me you see a kid just passing out out of nowhere constantly and the first thing they do is say that he’s lazy and berate him for something he obviously can’t control? Even if his condition isn’t a medical one like narcolepsy and is part of his curse/blessing, it’s still debilitating and affects his daily life. I don’t expect twisted wonderland to have like, disability protection but give the kid a break man he’s trying his best 😭. It also bothers me when other students are like “yeah man I get it schools boring I get sleepy too”. Like, yall have seen him suddenly fall asleep standing up and in random places on campus, it is so obviously not the same thing! And then Silver apologizes for it like every time! no! stop it! don’t apologize for something you literally can’t control

Sorry for the rant. It’s just been something bugging me because its so similar to how real world disabilities that aren’t physical are often brushed over by people and it gets me feeling heated 😭

Oooh, that's an interesting analogy 🤔

Before I talk more on the topic, I want to open with a few disclaimers: I will be discussing various characters’ reactions to Silver’s blessing/curse-induced narcolepsy (for lack of a better term), which may parallel real-life reactionary behaviors related to persons with disabilities or disorders. Know what you are reading, and please skip this post if you do not feel emotionally equipped to take it in.

Additionally, I want to make it clear that I am NOT defending any of those behaviors in this post. I will be attempting to offer in-universe explanations, NOT excuses, for why characters may act the way they do in regard to Silver’s condition. This doesn’t make the behavior any less unacceptable.

That’s all! If you’re all set, feel free to proceed below the cut.

I think, from the perspective of the students, it may be difficult to know what's going on with Silver?? Of course, that doesn't make their reactions or their behavior okay, but it's more understandable where they're coming from. Many young adults (unfortunately) aren't educated on and don't have experience/knowledge of how to handle situations where a peer displays abnormal behaviors. This may be especially true at Night Raven College, where the students are described to be very prideful and primarily concerned with themselves, or, if they help at all, they expect something in return. Many of Silver's classmates may not know him on a personal enough level to be familiar with his affliction or care enough to intervene if he falls asleep standing up. I doubt that most students at NRC would think of a peer beyond how they initially present, much less even consider factors beyond their control.

Additionally, others may not feel a need to step in due to the "bystander effect", a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to offer aid if there are others present. The theory goes that everyone just assumes someone else will do something about the situation, which has the unintended result of no one doing anything. Since Silver often falls asleep in public places, this could, in part, explain why so few bother helping.

I guess another component of it could be that some of his peers have simply gotten used to it by now?? (Several characters, even first years like Ortho, indicate that they anticipate he will fall asleep like 80% of the time.) Silver's a second year, so maybe NRC students did notice and attempt to assist in the first year, only to become annoyed with it when the symptoms persisted and so it could have led to peers thinking it's a "normal" thing for him.

I get the sense that Silver doesn't exactly go around telling everyone and anyone about his condition in detail (not that he has to, but I'd imagine that this lack of communication probably doesn't help his classmates' perception of him). He tends to describe his condition as "a personal problem" or blames himself or a lack of diligence for his symptoms. And honestly, I don't blame him for that; he didn't learn about the origins of his curse until book 7, and no doctor Lilia took him to could help. What else could Silver feasibly believe when all else fails? It must be his own doing. Silver has numerous voice lines apologizing for dozing off again and actively seeks out ways to "correct" or counteract his sleepiness. When this is how one presents their own condition, it may naturally cause those around him to believe that the sleepiness is "his fault"/due to his own actions. "Maybe he stayed up late last night," Ruggie suggests. Even Kalim, someone I'd consider Silver's friend, makes similar assumptions.

I will say that not every character is rude to Silver about his sleepiness. Vil might berate Silver for "playing the part of a sleeping princess" and Floyd might tell him, "People walk here. Find someplace else to snooze," but Ruggie appears to show some concern/shock for Silver when he shows up in the school store barely being able to stand, Jade tries to wake him up gently, etc. I'm not sure if the writing being inconsistent here was on accident or not, but I do think that some of the... less than desirable... behaviors may be because the narrative treats Silver's condition like a charm point most of the time. Like... Silver's sleepiness is often used to "sell" his appeal to fans ("Look at how cute he is! Eepy boi!"), or used for comedy in-universe (like when he uses Sebek as a pillow or when Silver blatantly falls asleep in a conversation or in the middle of an important event like the race in White Rabbit Fest). Because of this, rarely is his condition actually treated with the seriousness it would get if this were a real-world disability.

I think there’s a debate to be had about these kinds of impolite comments coming from Sebek though. Sebek is Silver’s childhood friend, so Sebek must be accustomed to the narcolepsy at this point and we’d normally expect him to be most sympathetic about it. But nope, Sebek actually frequently criticizes Silver for letting his sleepiness get the better of him. The majority of other students’ harsh comments towards Silver actually come from Sebek. He drops lines like:

“Don't you dare tell me you're falling asleep again, Silver!”

“His blatant snoring is infuriating.”

“Wake up, Silver! You're blocking Malleus's path! It's absolutely disrespectful!”

“If you don't cease at once, I'm leaving you on the side of the walkway!”

“It’s not as if you've been enchanted by a fairy. You’re just lazy!”

This all sounds horrible and mean, doesn't it? And they definitely are. But hold on! Sebek also says things like, "You're nodding off while walking AGAIN? A proper retainer of Malleus should hold his head high! High, you hear me?!” and, “Please, don't [volunteer yourself for this task]. You'll just end up nodding off. You must accept this is beyond your capabilities and let it go.” The former can be seen as telling Silver to do his best as Malleus's retainer and the latter is advising Silver to back down rather than push himself past his limits. That's not just me being optimistic or giving Sebek the benefit of the doubt just because he's a character I happen to like--Sebek has a known history of phrasing compliments and encouragement in a very rude manner. It's a trait of his that earns him endless ire, and something that Silver often finds himself apologizing to others for. Sebek is also a person who values constant self-improvement both in himself and in others; his cold attitude towards even his childhood friend can be interpreted as his own way of wanting Silver to do his best in spite of his condition.

This isn't to defend every single thing Sebek says about Silver's condition though; some of them are definitely too much, even if Sebek is granted as much leniency as possible. Do his comments come off as ableist? Absolutely. Is it his intention to be ableist? I don’t believe so—but that doesn’t negate the fact that his words are needlessly cruel, even if Silver doesn’t perceive it as such or take offense to it. Oftentimes Silver agrees with Sebek’s assessment, which again loops us back to how he already blames himself for his state and could parallel real world disabled peoples’ guilt and shame for just… being the way they are. Us, as the outside onlookers, are of course more likely to perceive Sebek’s words as rude because we’re projecting our own experiences onto what we’re seeing. Of course we don’t want to see a friend saying these awful things to another friend—but between Silver and Sebek, they seem to be mutually okay with this dynamic of pushing one another to “be better”.

I understand that it can be frustrating watching Silver have to say sorry for something that he can't control, but this is most likely a deliberate writing choice for his character arc—and depicting that flaw isn’t bad in a vacuum. Silver is someone who struggles with his self-worth, something we very much see come into fruition in book 7. He worries that he's not doing enough to "repay" his father back, and that it will be too late for him once Lilia departs from NRC. Silver frequently apologizing for his "shortcomings" (ie his constant drowsiness) is probably an extension of that lack of self-worth. He blames himself for his lack of alertness and actively tries to "be better" for a reason. It feeds into the ever-so-ironic cycle of "Silver is sleepy" -> "Silver thinks he must work hard to not inconvenience his loved ones and prove his worth to Lilia" -> "Lilia loves him anyway and he just doesn't realize it yet". (The whole reason Silver is even here right now is because of Lilia's love for him; he would still be sleeping were it not for Lilia.) Perhaps they'll be able to formally reunite in the waking world and wrap up this arc with a neat little bow... with his father telling Silver that yes, he is enough as he is now. Maybe Lilia will even say something along the lines of, "Never apologize for what--or who--you are, Silver. You're my son, after all! You should be proud of that."

This makes me wonder if Silver’s curse will ultimately be lifted in the end or if it will persist…? Because if it does get lifted, then it loses some of its strength as a parallel to irl conditions (since some don’t just poof away). Within the meta of the game, Silver then also loses some of his “appeal”, since sleepiness is a cute trait associated with him. I can see why it would happen from a narrative perspective though—ridding him of the sleepiness could be the ultimate “proof” of Lilia being able to truly love him, which is the condition the blessing requires to be dispelled

What really baffles me, however, is how some teachers are depicted interacting with Silver. The asshole students of NRC, okay. I'd believe they'd be callous towards one of the few nice guys at school dozing off. BUT THE TEACHERS????? 💀 Usually it's not that bad (they tell Silver to keep his eyes open or to wake up), but MAN. In Silver's Labwear vignettes, Crewel berates him for nodding off in class again, grants him a makeup assignment, and says, "If you like sleeping so much, [formulating a sleeping potion] should be right up your alley." He even withholds Silver's credit for Potionology until he receives that sleeping potion. Crewel also berates and punishes Silver in other instances, such as his Dorm Uniform vignettes: "Naughty pup. You think you can sleep through my lesson? [...] What a quick apology. Are you actually sorry? [...] You don't look remorseful to me. Hmph. As punishment, you must collect the reports everyone is turning in at the end of class. Do not miss a single one, and you are to bring them straight to me. Is that clear?" It feels a little… much, especially considering that it’s not like Silver chose to fall asleep midclass. Then again, Crewel probably doesn’t know about Silver’s condition either so he most likely attributes the behavior to laziness, as Silver does himself. I’d say that Crewel should still at least know a little better as an adult but 💀 many adults have no clue themselves, especially without a formal diagnosis.

Does NRC not have a, like... Disability and Accessibility Center to coordinate with teachers and give certain students assignment/exam extensions??? Therapy, healing potions, and medical mages + regular doctors and dentists exist in this world, so why wouldn't they also have disability support??? 😭 That seems like a HUGE oversight to me. (Get on that, Crowley/j) In all seriousness though, this may be the result of differences in culture?? It might be expected in western countries to have such disability accommodations, but from what I understand, there’s a loooot more stigma in Japan so these services may be lacking. Yes, NRC is based on a British boarding school, but ultimately the game is Japanese in origin and therefore might be running off of Japanese notions of what constitutes as “appropriate” support for the disabled. (The way seating in classes are arranged in-game already derive from Japanese schools; alphabetically by last name.) Maybe that’s why Crewel didn’t seem to be willing to make exceptions for Silver…? But even so, this could mirror how western societies also have trouble identifying and adjusting to those with disabilities. It can be hard to get treatment or even mindfulness from peers, especially if you don't have a formal diagnosis (which is the case for Silver; no medical mage knows what's up with him).

Those are my thoughts on the topic ^^ Again, I completely get why seeing the staff and students reacting this way to Silver’s condition makes you (and others, I’m sure) upset. There’s many uncomfortable parallels with how people irl are insensitive to “invisible” disabilities or disabilities in general. It also doesn’t help that Twst tries to both present the condition as a serious matter while also using it for comedy and marketing as Silver’s major “cute quirk”. Getting mixed signals here!!

I hope that this was at least able to grant you some new perspective about why the characters behave as they do. Some of it does seem to be the devs struggling to balance the tone of the stories they want to tell, but some of it also feels like intentional characterization (whether of individuals or of a certain dynamic between a duo) or setting up for an arc.

It would be interesting if we got an event where we explored more of the health industry and attitudes about like… magic-induced conditions, illnesses, etc. Silver is one obvious case of this, but we also know medical mages are A Thing. I’d love to learn more about these!

[flower-boi16]

the "both sides have made mistakes" thing is actively funny to me because as usual it ignores that the real issue is in the framing

the worst ways the narrative twists itself to make Blitzo look better is by making what happened to Fizz just a freak accident (fr the guy carrying the candles if the circus was that flammable is just as responsible for that one) and by not really having M&M chew him out for the stalking. but the show never denies he has issues and causes problems by pushing people away before they can leave. and some places where the narrative suggested ambiguity in season 1 are actively removed to make Blitzo look worse in season 2 - he has a problem with Verosika's alcoholism in s1 but in s2 he's made unambiguously the only bad guy in their breakup

the worst ways the narrative twists itself to make Stolas look better is by: having Stolas and Blitzo both say cheating isn't bad/Stolas' cheating doesn't count as cheating because Stella is mean (basically) on multiple occasions, rewriting Stella from a classist jerk to an abusive monster, having an entire flashback episode devoted to making the viewer feel sorry for Stolas in the most on the nose way possible, retconning in Stolas treating Blitzo like a human being over the phone that happens entirely offscreen, comparing Stolas to all Blitzo's exes even though they weren't dating, massively inflating the number of people who hate Blitzo to make Stolas look better and the most telling thing of all: the entire awful argument in Apology Tour where the writers made Stolas look like a hypocritical gaslighter by ignoring all the ways he treated Blitzo in season 1 and never allowed Blitzo to mention any of them when it would have made perfect sense

Blitzo got a season that built up to the climatic point of having everyone he's ever wronged read him for filth in a mushroom samba sequence.

Stolas got a season where every episode that mentioned or featured him either retconned something to make him look better, inserted something that happened offscreen to make him look better or refused to allow other characters to bring up season 1 events to make him look better. S2 built up to the climatic scene of a trial sequence where no one gets to call out Stolas for making the deal to get sex, he gets to look like a hero for "sacrificing" himself (instead of it being framed like the book fiasco is equally his responsibility, which it is) and he ends the season having lost his daughter (but only because she somehow doesn't know how totally evil Stella is and how totally not responsible Stolas is because she's only allowed to be mad at him for the trial thing) but gets handed the consolation prize of Blitzo's unconditional love which he's done nothing outside of a single grand gesture to earn. Oh, and then he follows that up by freeloading off of Blitzo, trying to wreck his office during a temper tantrum and being a passive aggressive ass, none of which the show frames like something anyone should have a problem with

so, yeah. when it comes to the way the writers don't want to challenge the characters Stolas and Blitzo aren't even in the same postcode, never mind playing the same game. they're just not remotely comparable

^^^^^^^ THIS.

The entire argument that "they both made mistakes/their both in the wrong" falls flat on it's face when the narrative doesn't treat their mistakes as bad as they actually are. Blitzo gets dragged for filth for his mistakes and called about by both the narrative and everyone around him, and his truama and whatever baggage he may have is never used as an excuse by the narrative, which, is good writting, I'll give it that, the problem is that the narrative is holding him accountable using the wrong character.

Stolas' mistakes, however, are either ignored, downplayed, or justified by the narrative so to make it look like they weren't actually mistakes. Him cheating on Stella? Well, Stella was abusive, so Stolas was actually in the right to do that. Stolas repeatedly belittles and dehumaizes Blitz, making him uncomfortable around Stolas all the time and giving the impression that he views Blitz as nothing but a sex toy, continueing to make sexual advances to Blitz even when he can see it's uncomfortable? Actually, Stolas loves Blitz and thinks very highly of him, those sexual comments were actually Stolas thinking that Blitz enjoyed being treated that way, it's just Blitz's fault for not seeing that.

Stolas coercing Blitz? I mean, ya, the deal wasn't right, but let's just pretend it wasn't totally coercian guys!/s

You get the picture. Stolas' mistakes and actions are so frequently recontextualized and excused by the narrative multiple times, and, aside from maybe his mistakes as a father, the series has not called out the full extent of his behavior and I don't think it will.

Many fans like to counter this with "oh, the show will call him out later!", but, the thing is, it should have called him out now. Because the narrative's refusal of calling Stolas out actively harms the writting of not just Stolas, but Blitz as well.

Blitz's character arc of growing to become a better person was kickstarted by having him get gaslit and guilt-tripped into apologizing to his abuser. Even if the show calls Stolas out later, it wont change that unless it directly calls this out and recontextualized.

Series held Blitz accountable for something that he wasn't even in the wrong for. That's the issue, I don't care if Apology Tour was dedicated to calling out Blitz, it did a shit tier job of that because it didn't call out STOLAS. The series needs to start holding Stolas accountable and actually call out the full extent of his actions, not downplaying them, not justifying them, no excuses.

With Octavia their taking a step in the right direction but, we'll have to wait and see if they'll commit to it.

[antianakin]

So the thing we have to start with is that the more chip lore we've gotten, the less they have made sense. Even if we only look within the context of ONLY the films and TCW seasons 1-6, it can't just be based on what the clones think because otherwise Anakin would be fucked when he went to go lead them into the Temple. There HAS to be some sort of programming in there that excludes him from being killed and lets the clones know that he is no longer a Jedi. It can't just be that anyone with a lightsaber and use of the Force counts, because then Palpatine counts, too, obviously. So there needs to be a bare minimum of programming that allows for specific people to be EXCLUDED from the Order, this much is required. I generally just assumed Palpatine explicitly made sure the Order would never target himself or Anakin somehow.

But this programming is fucking wonky as hell the more we learn about it. Because suddenly in TCW season 7, Ahsoka gets counted as a Jedi automatically and Rex is incapable of using logic to convince the clones to let her be EXCLUDED based on a technicality. Which... okay, so I guess it's anybody with a lightsaber and Force sensitivity except Palpatine and Anakin perhaps, this still generally works. And then in TBB season 1, Wrecker's chip gets activated via head trauma and suddenly he's also targeting Omega, who... isn't Force sensitive and doesn't use a lightsaber. This is never explained, especially since she's explicitly said to not be Force sensitive later in season 3 (although I'd be willing to admit that this could've been a change made when they got cancelled partway through season 3, but also how does the chip somehow KNOW she's Force sensitive when she doesn't actually do anything with it visibly and Wrecker wouldn't have that knowledge even if it was true). And then in TOTE with Barriss, the clones just say "be glad you're not a Jedi" which seems to imply that it's her status as someone who's left the Jedi Order that is saving her from being killed.

These three instances DO NOT ALL WORK TOGETHER. You can make the argument that it only targets Force sensitive people, but then why target Omega (who isn't Force sensitive) and not Barriss (who is Force sensitive). You can try to argue that it will target any Jedi past or present, but then why would it target Omega. You can try to argue that it targets enemies of the Empire, but Omega isn't actually counted that way yet (Nala Se wants her BACK, no one's trying to kill Omega at this point) and Wrecker doesn't target the other Bad Batch members, JUST Omega. You can try to argue that maybe Palpatine has like added Barriss to the list of excluded people for Reasons, but then why would he have added OMEGA onto the list?

It wouldn't shock me if the writers for TOTE just didn't know about what was done on TBB and didn't care and weren't consulting it, but it should AT MINIMUM make sense with what was established in TCW. And if they were going to BREAK with what was established in TCW, the least they could've done was explain why (Palpatine knew she'd gone dark and so made sure the clones knew not to target her somehow).

(I don't think the writers of TBB gave a shit about continuity and everything else was written so badly that their addition to the chip lore being contradictory and stupid is completely expected, and therefore easily ignored, but it does still technically count as canon chip lore.)

Something that's less canon (might even be Legends, I'm not sure and I'm too lazy to look it up right now) is a comic where Darth Vader is chasing down Jocasta Nu at the Temple very early after Order 66 and some of the Coruscant Guard see him and his lightsaber and his use of the Force and start shooting him because they assume he is ALSO a Jedi and therefore must be killed (theoretically whatever exclusion existed for Anakin isn't being applied to him when he's in the Darth Vader get-up and doesn't look like Anakin anymore).

So how does the chip know who is or isn't a Jedi? It's never once been explained to us, and the few implied explanations we've gotten have been contradicted more than once. It might not even be only targeting Jedi ALONE, but anyone who is visibly Force sensitive. MAYBE Palpatine intentionally added Ahsoka to the list of people to be killed, or maybe he intentionally made sure Barriss was on the list of exceptions, but neither of these is actually explained to us or even implied to be true.

So how do the chips actually identify which people are intended to be killed via Order 66? Take your pick, I guess. Generally I stick with what works best within the films and TCW which is that the chip likely targets anyone who is visibly Force sensitive, wielding a lightsaber, and is known to be a Jedi, but with special exceptions for Palpatine and Anakin (and any Inquisitors are likely caught by people who AREN'T clones). This allows for Ahsoka to be caught up in it and unable to get out of that on a technicality. I don't like TBB or TOTE, I think they're both exceptionally badly written, so I'm just discounting them as stupid additions to the lore that don't make any sense. If you decide that you DO want to count TBB or TOTE into your canon, you might just have to accept that there now is no good Watsonian explanation for why the chips work the way they do in all of these different scenarios and the explanation is that the various writers simply did not give a shit about keeping the continuity straight between all of them.

There was an entire major plot element in the Order 66 arc of TCW season 7 about how the chip didn't care that Ahsoka wasn't technically a Jedi anymore and was forcing the clones to want to kill her anyway.

Like.

It's a pretty important part of that whole story that Ahsoka not being in the Jedi Order anymore DOESN'T exempt her from Order 66. It would've been a pretty boring story if that technicality had WORKED.

But somehow the clones guarding Barriss at the prison are totally fine applying that technicality to her.

I guess they just like her better than Rex and the 332nd liked Ahsoka in the end or something. Ironic.

[welp-back-on-my-bs]

Okay, since i haven't seen anyone talk about it, I am going to.

We have a list of what Hyde says about each of the houses, stereotypes, and what each of the doorms do

Frosthime: "you value success, you're self-confident and relentless in pursuit of your goals"

Rich people are often placed here because they were born into success and have an easy time getting it, their confidence probably has been less likely to be challenged due to their position in life, and the relentless pursuit of their goals because its easier to do so when you have the money for it.

Jin: absolutely fits into this in every way. He is the epitome of success with being a highly influential figure and can pull strings to get anyone to do what he wants. He has the confidence in himself but doesn't trust those around him besides Thoma (mostly). He absolutely makes sure that his goals are achieved no matter what and looks into things when he feels something is up (ie. Chapter 1)

Thoma: Yes, he was originally in Vagastrom, but he does fit perfectly here, too. You can tell just by the way he acts and talks that he has a lot of self-confidence, he doesn't doubt himself or his abilities, if he fails he just changes what is needed and tries again. He absolutely works for success, no matter what it is or how shady it is. He clearly has a goal in mind and has been relentless about it.

Lucas: The first thing we learn about him is that he wants to find a demon. He has been relentless about it since the start and that he needs to find one to be able to save his brother. He absolutely believes in himself. He knows he has things to work on, but that doesn't hold him back. He keeps working on his weaknesses so that he WILL succeed, there is no room for failure.

Kaito: The way we have seen his talk to others in Frosthime, he blends in really well. He may not have monetary, relationship, or academic success, but he succeeds sotially in the environment he is in. He needs to work on his self-confidence a lot, and that is something that holds him back in battle and in other places, too. He is very stubborn with things. He wants to make money and pay off his debt to Romeo, so gambling is easily something he fell into to try to relentlessly pursue that.

Yuri: This man is about success in every way. He needs to succeed in Mortkraken and be better than Darkwick General. His confidence? Absolutely explosive and has a body count. This man overworks himself all the time to finish his goals. If that isn't relentless, tell me what is.

Haku: he is obviously self-confident, you kinda have to be to be so shamlessly flirty. He is aimless for the most part and would rather play a supportive role in other people's lives than take over himself. His goals are the goals of those he cares about, and he makes sure that the work is done

Vagastrom: you value ideals, you're mission oriented, and direct your efforts to reform and innovation

The stryotype is Vagastrom is filled with delinquents, which makes sense. 'Delinquents' are people who often don't fit into the world as it is and are trying to do something about it, even though it comes our violently. They can come from fractured homes, be victims of abuse, be of minorities, and other things. The systems in place are making their situations stay the same or even worse, and none else will stand up for them, so they have to.

Alan: history of Delinquitism, he absolutely holds his ideals close and wants to make a change for the better after experiencing the system first hand. He absolutely makes sure those around him (aka Leo) are focious on the mission and get it done. He is more directed to reformation and wants to be better and wants those around him to be better too and holds a high standard for that, but makes sure it is reachable (specifically Sho)

Leo: Mmm, beloved little shit. This man has made the law his bitch. He goes after those in power who are corrupt and scams them out of power, showing his ideals. He is mission oriented in the way that he is very smart and good with tech and how to work things sotally (on a broad scale, not so much interpersonally). He is leaning toward innovation and change. He likes to challenge what's already in place and constantly makes bets with Sho. I also believe his curiosity about other Ghouls and why they made their pacts with demons is another thing to add to this

Sho: his ideals, specifically around food, are very strict. In simple words, don't mess with food, and you're in his good books. His passion for food even led to him opening up a food stall that is clearly popular and shows that innovation and reformation. He helps Leo scam those with power and abuse it. He is a good balance between Leo and Mido, although he isn't one for being a leader, he is more of a follower, but that doesn't mean he won't stand up for himself or his beliefs (ch 2 with lessening the emotional damage that could have happend to MC. Ch 11 with fighting the inmates and arguing with Mido)

Thoma(again): he was originally in this house, so we should see why that is. He is clearly mission oriented. He gets the job done when needed. He works with Mido on reforming the relationship between Vagastrom and Frosthime. His values are set in stone, and he holds to them (ep 1 when he doesn't out Jins secret)

Jabberwok: You value trust, are caring, and are loyal in all your endeavors

Jabberwok is an anomalous zoo. Only Ghouls can be a part of this house.

Haru: This man is such a mystery to me. Most of Jabberwok is tbh. He absolutely does have a lot of care for the anomalies and even calls them his babies. The house is probably underfunded, so he made it into a zoo to get funding so that the anomalies can be treated as good as possible. He trusts Ren and Towa will do what they need to and helps out if something goes wrong

Towa: He absolutely values trust and is very loyal to Haru (even when upset at him). His opinion of you is clear depending on what plant he calls you (I love the idea he called Haru Sunflower before eventually calling him Haru). He absolutely cares about those he considers his friends (ie. Haru and MC)

Ren: On the surface, it looks like a mistake for him to be here. He clearly hates it. He whines and moans the whole way through it. But, these can be placed in any situation, not just in the zoo. He probably does value trust. It just needs to be earned first, and in some way, he probably does trust Haru, just not explicitly. He absolutely cares about Calamri in literally every way that he has treated him. He just couldn't say goodbye.

Sinostra: you value challenge, you're powerful and decisive

Siinostra has a casino that is run by the two captains (mainly Romeo)

Taiga: Yes. He loves a challenge, a challenge in anything you throw at him, and if it's not enough of one, he makes it more of one. He is clearly powerful, sotally, probably economically, and more. He can be decisive when it comes to things. The only thing that can sway that is his own memory.

Romeo: Challenge? Running a casino, literally hunting down debtors, and working with Taiga. That's all a challenge that he takes on with fucking g l e e. He is powerful sotally and physically, once economy. This man is super decisive and will hardly bend what he has decided on.

Rui: he wants to be the paralegal for either Taiga, Romeo, or BOTH, so clearly, that's a big challenge that he is searching out and relentless in. He is the definition of knowledge is power, and he records everything he does daily. The law is there for a reason, and he is there to make sure it was put to use properly.

Hotarubi: You value creativity, individuality is important to you, and you celebrate differnce

Subaru: he worked all of his life in a very creative feild, he cheers on Sho's cooking and supports him there are a friend, and he leads this house of course, he values creativity. Lyca, he absolutely adores his friend and hates that darkwick had him locked away. He supports Lyca in his goals and who he is as a person.

Haku: he absolutely is there to support anyone he cares about, it's clearly seen in Zenji and MC. He supports her and gets her back with the Frosthime boys, he films Zenji's work and posts it and does whatever he needs him to do.

Zenji: Everything about him screams this. He is a very creative poet and musician, wishing to share it with the world even after death. He doesn't want Jiro to know that he is still there so that he can continue to grow and not have to hold onto him and the past. He absolutely adores a doll that is a bit creepy because it reminds him of Jiro.

Obscuray: you value Harmony, You're peace loveing, and open minded

This is the doorm that only has half human ghouls and cursed. Rui runs a bar made from anonymous plants that grow there.

Edward: he absolutely wishes that there could be harmony, but experience and his sixth sence has taught him that that isn't likely to happen(implied in chapter 10). He likes it when things are peaceful around the doorm, so he can just rest. Besides, peace is a better option than what he can do. He absolutely wants to be proven wrong. Please prove him wrong. He gave MC a chance to join him, to not have to suffer, but she says no.

Rui: it's clear that he is suffering because of his curse and doesn't take any pleasure or joy in killing with it. He is much more against it than anything. He helps Lyca in getting used to human customs and how to act to assimilate. He cleans up Ed's things, sure he complains about it, but he doesn't make it into a fight. He is open to a lot of things and is very go with the flow

Lyca: his main one for this is harmony, specifically with humans and those he cares about. With that harmony comes peace and safety. He is also a little open minded to what he needs to do and it isn't too hard to convince him to do things

Mortkraken: you value intelligence, you're insightful, and you can observe objectively

Mortkraken is a medical facility that students can go to

Yuri: Of course, he values intelligence, specifically his, but it's still intelligence. He may be competitive when it comes to his research, but he can take a step back and look at things and situations objectively (chapter 8), clearly insightful as well since it's what the situation that MC helps him with stems from the knowledge and research he is doing, he helps Sinostra in the next chapter aswell

Jiro: yes? That all just describes Jiro

Dividers made by @/sweetmelodygraphics

[f4iry-bell]

WISHING ON GRAPES

pairing: grayson hawthorne x reader

summary: grayson's car stopped at a random party where he meets reader.

taglist: @unnoodles @nqds @alwaysthefangirl @clarissaweasley-10 @benny1989fredd @imaseabear @never-enough-novels @elysianwayy77 @whatsamongus @sheisntyou @emelia07 @cassie6392 @objectinthemiracle @stargirl0479

a/n: hey guys!!! I'm sorry i haven't posted in a while 😭. I'll try to post all the reqs soon, and happy new year!!!

masterlist

Grayson left the small party that Jameson and Avery threw for new year's eve after 20 minutes. He drove around trying not to think about how it felt for him to just stand there all alone while everyone around him had someone. He couldn't take it anymore, he was happy for his brothers for they have found love but when will it be his time?

He was clueless of where he was going, he just drove around wherever the road led. But after sometime he realised that he was low on my petrol. He was hoping to find a station to pump some but it was too late as his car stopped somewhere he didn't know. He decided it would be better to get out, and call someone to pick him up but his eyes were fixed on the place he was. It looked like an entrance of a garden, decorated with fairy lights. He could hear music coming from the inside. It was obvious that there was a party going on inside. But it wasn't like the party that Avery and Jameson had, this one is filled with strangers. Something had pulled him in, his legs started to march forward.

Once he was inside he was immediately the odd one out like always because of his attire which isn't ideal for a new year's eve party. Ignoring that, he made his way towards a table on which drinks were placed, there was no bartender, no bar. No caterers, or anyone to help. He poured himself a drink, it was a bit foreign to him because how the place is just so simple. He was about to move away from the table but he heard a thud followed by an ‘ouch’, crouching down he pulled the table cloth above to find a girl sitting down there holding a box of what looked like grapes with one hand while rubbing her head with another.

“Are you okay down there?” He asked with a frown.

“Yeah, I didn't spill anything above, did I?” She asked, turning to him.

“No, you're good.” He answered, still so confused. Maybe she's anti-social.

“Okay, cool.”

He was quiet for a few seconds before speaking again with a deeper frown. “Pardon me, but why are you sitting under the table?”

She looked at him as if he asked a silly question when she was the one who was sitting under a table at a party. “Box of grapes, 20 minutes until new year, table.” She said that as if it's supposed to make sense.

“I still don't get it.” He admitted.

“Oh my god. Get in here.” She motioned him to get inside.

He didn't move.

“Buddy, you're wasting my time to think about what I want. So get in here, or go away.” Her hand waved inside once more.

Grayson reluctantly got inside, a part of him was curious.

“So?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Well, it's a belief that if you eat 12 grapes at midnight on new year's eve you'll find love, happiness, et cetera. You know? Each grape is for each month of the year.” Her eyes were wide with excitement when she explained it.

“You believe that?” He asked. His immediate thought was that this is another silly thing that people came up with to make new year's eve exciting like the kiss.

“Of course! I mean, it's my first time trying, but we'll see. I have extra grapes you know? You can have some.” She offered him.

“I'm good.” He sighed.

“Well, you're no fun. You're already under the table, it's almost midnight, you have grapes—”

“I don't have grapes.”

“I'm offering you grapes.”

“I don't want it.”

“Just try.”

“Why?”

“Because! Nevermind, stay a loser then.”

Grayson scowled. “Just because I'm not participating in a silly tradition, doesn't mean I'm a loser.”

“It won't hurt you to eat grapes, you know?”

“Fine, I'll have them.”

“YES!!”

He scoffed at her excitement. Before either of them could fill in the awkward silence they heard people counting numbers in descending order from 10.

“It's time!!” She shook the box of grapes.

Grayson couldn't have imagined anything that happened within the last 30 minutes, his car stopping right in front of this party, him finding this strange girl under the table, accepting her grape and certainly not pulling her closer when the chant was ‘5’ and kissing her at ‘1’.

It was unexpected, it was like his body was working on its own without telling him.

When he pulled back, he expected her to push him outside, or take back her offer but she opened the box. “Let's eat before it's late!”

He didn't realise that his heart was racing until it calmed down. He smiled, and grabbed one grape from the box to wish.

[universalzones]

"I think they did right after Eggman was beat and he lost his control over the entire world, though I think it was rushed for the most part. I didn't really have time since I was busy blowing up any standing bases, though if I were to guess he might've ran unopposed if no one really heard about it. It would make sense too. I wouldn't be surprised if not many wanted be President with how much work there was to do to get things back in order." The entire planet was a mess from when Eggman has complete control of the world.

"That is a sound theory, and if he has strong ties to G.U.N then I'm sure they wouldn't have had second thoughts about 'convincing' anyone attempted to run against Thawne not to do so." Blaze would turn her focus on the Chaotix. "Perhaps you time might be better looking into this Thawne. I still hold hope that he didn't have any involvement and is intentions are genuine with his concerns."

"Maybe we could simply ask him some questions? I mean, it can't hurt, and he shouldn't have any reason to lie to us. I know this is me being optimistic, though I just hope I'll see the best in people." Belle wasn't really using reasoning rather than feelings with what she just said, though sometimes being kind and direct got answers. Throwing out the idea doesn't hurt anyone either.

"That's... foolish thinking." Kitsunami seemed to want to say something else, though he bite his tongue and softened his words. The fennec actually liked Belle's company so didn't want to be mean to her. "Though it's not like it'll do any harm. The worse that could happen is he deflects or simply refuses to answer. If you want to ask then ask, though I personally think its a waste of time."

===========================================================

"Sounds like you'll miss me being a pain in your ass, which is just weird. Though I guess no one on this team is normal." Surge wasn't good at this, mainly because she simply expected them to shut her out and leave her to face the music solo style. Now they were saying they'll miss her and how she caused problems? Ugh, why does being a good guy have to be so weird.

"...Just take it easy Lanolin. I know you gotta deal with Tangle being Tangle, though you seriously need to relax more. Plans are fine, though if you wanna deal with Eggman you gotta learn to role with the punches and change on a dime. I know it's sucks to be put in a position like that when you gotta lead, though I think it's important." Why was Surge trying to give advice in a situation like this?

"I could dash you where you want to go before heading to the command center. I know a lot of people get stomach sick, though I've got more control now, weirdly enough." Surge actually had a moment to process just how stable her powers were. Made her wonder how tied her emotions were to her powers. Well, not like she'll have time to explore that.

That village, they condemned her the moment they found out who tinker was. It was also ground Zero for the Zombot virus. Of all the people they were hit the hardest. They of course put that blame on poor Belle. Miles couldn't help but feel like it was a sore spot for her, and hoped deep down that she was right. They'd have to contact him, get papers and confirm it all. But he knew it was just as likely even the mayor would turn on her. He'd be there to help her through it regardless--- chaos he hoped she was right.

Miles flipped through his phone as he looked for information on this president. A Name, a birthdate anything he could use to give him a clue about who he was.

" Here we go, President Thawne... first name Luthian... 28 years old, served in GUN from the time he was 18, fought with GUN in the War-- yea right more like cowered in a hole. Not much else here... just lots of photos of him with Abe. Guess they knew each other... still young for a president... did they even do an election i wonder? "

He flipped through the photos and checked his social media but until he could hack in and check things. He could only tell so much.

" Likes his guns, gives to charities, helps out at the local homeless shelter... guy is squeaky clean... like to clean, this feels--- Staged? no angry posts, no joking posts... nothing from before the war... Dunno if this will help us, and its very sus..."

The chameleon didn't seem phased by her decision, and frankly if she knew someone to counter that ability good. But he guessed they'd get involved before it was over. Plus they knew the lay of the land well enough. No point in arguing right now, they'd have time to discuss it later.

" As you wish princess, we'll be here if you need us. "

==========================================

She chuckled at Surge being upset that she wasn't angry, that it might be easier if she was. If anyone was angry it was Sonic, pissed that she wouldn't fight for her freedom. But that wasn't to say Lanolin wasn't feeling emotions. She was, but they were a jumble of sadness and feeling like she failed Surge on some level. She hugged herself and looked down at her feet, just for a moment that stern façade she wore faded away.

" Anger would be easy... i wish i could be angry at you. Yelling would have been so much easier. But i just feel... i'm going to miss you Surge. Even your little outbursts, and raiding the fridge at all hours of the night. Our little arguments about how to handle missions... i'll miss it... "

She said in a softer tone less the commander and more like a friend, even if they had there problems. She saw Surge as more then just a weapon, more then just some soldier.

" But i guess i'm being sappy, and sentimental--- Yes Report to the command center. Get Miles to get your testimony and get it all on tape concerning that day. I have one more stop to make, and then i'll be back at the command center. "

She took a deep breath and let her personal feelings go. She held a hand out to Surge as if to shake her hand.

" It was a pleasure working with you Surge... I hope we one day in the future we can do so again..."

[anqueerism]

Aarghghjhhhh

People being dumb about mouthwashing again waergh

“Why didn’t anyone do any—“ SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT <333 UP <333

I swear some people played this game with their eyes closed.

Daisuke (to the extent that we see him in-game at least) was not aware of what happened. There’s no evidence to suggest he knew, considering how chipper and trusting of Jimmy he is.

But between Curly, Anya and Swansea? They couldn’t do anything, even though I’m sure they’d wanted to.

One of the main themes of Mouthwashing that I see missed with infuriating frequency is the criticism of toxic work environments (Which ties into a wider criticism of capitalism).

We see it several times that if any one of the crew members fucks up or does something wrong, everyone gets punished. As evidenced by the 4k pay reduction when Jimmy crashed the ship, and the warning of pay reduction if the cargo is breached “unnecessarily” (and who do you think gets to decide ultimately if it was really necessary? Think about it.). Pony Express as a company has a culture of collective punishment. If anything goes wrong, everyone suffers.

Anya doesn’t have any savings and barely got through PE nursing. If her already undoubtedly meagre pay is affected, how do you think that’s going to affect her? Swansea has a wife to take care of and a home to maintain, and he is already an older worker. He can't afford to take a pay cut, because he doesn't exactly have much time left on the clock as it is.

But what about Curly, you might ask.

Simple: Curly is in an abusive relationship with Jimmy.

Now before anyone accuses me of shipping and gets their pitchforks out, just hold on. I’m not necessarily talking in a romantic sense. Friendships can also be abusive, and theirs very much is. It’s not even subtle!

The way that Jimmy makes his envy and disdain clear, all because Curly is just doing better than him. The way that he lashes out at Curly on his own birthday and Curly doesn’t think this the least bit strange. The way that Curly tells Anya he’s “known Jimmy for a long time,” which implies their relationship had been long-lasting, the way that Anya tells Curly "you know who." Because Curly knows who Jimmy is, really. This isn’t just Some Guy to him. This is his best friend, who has been emotionally abusing him for (what’s implied to be) years. He wants to believe Jimmy is capable of good, is capable of better, so he waves it off as something that he can just “talk to him” about. He can’t bring himself to make any move against Jimmy, because he cares so much about him.

He says it himself.

He always believed in him. Back on Earth, and on the ship.

And it's that belief that leads directly to his downfall and the deaths of everyone he loves. Including Jimmy himself.

Something to be said there about the nature of abuse, too, but I've poked the hornet's nest enough, I think.

[roryacker]

I love hybrid AUs. I dunno what it is, my current theory is it's just a weird autism trait, I won't get into that for now, but I just really like the idea of taking humans and giving them animal traits and instincts. I have. SO many headcanons lemme tell you.

I like to think of hybrids as a good mix of animalistic and human in behavior, most of the appeal for me is the behavior so I mean. That's a given.

so here's a bunch of my ideas for a Hybrid AU :) I'll probably utilize this for writing about them later on

• I like to think of Soap as a rough collie hybrid. Fluffy, herding dog, Scottish, and I feel like their fur lends well to his lil mohawk thing he's got goin on.

• Absolute menace. 100% he herds anyone and everyone he can get his hands on, primarily prey hybrids. Gaz is one of his most common herding targets, he tries to herd Ghost sometimes but usually gets nipped at for it, and Price is exempt from such instincts.

• Gaz is a deer hybrid, I think he'd look cool with antlers, specifically a red deer. Bucks are strong, man. He just gives me ungulate vibes most of the time idk what it is.

• He usually tolerates Soap's herding. :)

• Price could be lots of things. I've found that I'm actually quite fond of him just being a normal dude who sees the value in hybrids (and treating them like people) so I'll probably go with that. Otherwise I suppose another dog or something could work. Rotts are big and angry but also have a very unintimidating smile so maybe them? They're super good working dogs so. Still I'll mostly stick with the human idea.

• Ghost always depends on what I'm looking for really. Sometimes Wolf if I want the wild vibe, sometimes Dog because he just reminds me of a grumpy working dog. Definitely a GSD hybrid. I do prefer writing him as a dog hybrid anyways so I'll stick with that.

• Shepherds are technically a herding breed, but Ghost lacks any herding instincts and finds Soap's irritating. Best-case they're useful for gathering up the team in a mission to prevent unnecessary separation, though, and it's amusing to watch him weave around folks barking and snapping his teeth at people to get them to stay in line. Sometimes Ghost tolerates it, and sometimes he nips at him to get him to stop.

• I feel like outside of combat Ghost and Soap have a habit of wrestling. Like how real dogs tend to, yknow. You leave them alone for one second and suddenly someone's arm is in someone else's mouth, there's growling, it looks like they're fighting, and the only thing saying otherwise is the wagging tails and the lack of any blood or fur anywhere. It's how they bond

• Price definitely made an effort to not get any hunting hybrids because he'd rather not have infighting thanks to Gaz looking huntable, thank you. It's not even worry that Gaz would get hurt given the fact bucks pack such a punch, he just doesn't want to deal with all that tension.

• Feral, Domestic, Tame, and Wild all mean different things. A Domestic hybrid can be Feral and a Wild hybrid can be Tame, etc. It's mostly rooted in real-life terms, think feral housecats.

• Feral refers to temperament and handleability, it's a term that can change over time based on treatment. Tame is the same but flipped; so a Feral hybrid is harder to handle and acts more like their animal counterpart due to a lack of (positive) human contact, while Tame hybrids seem more intelligent in comparison just due to being easier to handle and better at communicating. Neither are fully unable to communicate by default, but personal traits can mean either are, if that makes any sense.

• Wild vs. Domestic is entirely about the species; a wolf or lion hybrid is wild, while a dog or housecat hybrid is domestic. This one's as simple as finding out if the species they're considered a hybrid of is domesticated or not. If they are, Domestic, if not, Wild. This term cannot change over time, but like their real-animal counterparts, Wild hybrids can be domesticated over time via selective breeding (it won't do much, but it is possible) and Domestic hybrids can slowly regain Wild traits only if multiple generations are exposed to conditions where they need it. So, selective breeding, but backwards. This practice is heavily discouraged as it just leads to unnecessary confusion and hybrid breeding is considered pretty cruel.

• "Hybrids" are not a literal hybrid of human and animal, because that's just kind of weird, but humans with a mutation that closely resembles certain animals. This phenomenon has only been properly recorded as of late, maybe a couple centuries, but there are implications that it might have existed earlier in history and just been ignored, seen as taboo, etc etc.

• There's a few different rules to which hybrids get what treatment. It's not uncommon for any and all hybrids to have a handler, and one handler can be in control of multiple hybrids, but they're not required to live together, and it's more like an emergency contact/trainer/guardian than an owner or something of the sort.

• It is, however, different for Wild and Feral hybrids. Tame Domestic hybrids are not required to have a handler, but Feral Domestic hybrids are at least supposed to have a trainer or therapist or something of the sort. With Wild hybrids it depends on the specific species, smaller Wilds are usually fine, especially if they seem harmless, herbivores tend to be exempt due to stereotypes, and most omnivores are fine, but medium-large carnivores and all Feral hybrids are required to have a handler and in some places required to live with them and be accompanied by them to most places. Wild carnivore hybrids are usually considered more dangerous, also due to stereotypes.

• Again, in certain places, Wild carnivores are expected to wear a muzzle and be properly handled (physical restraint in the form of a leash or the handler just being close enough and able to handle them), but this is mostly a private property/commercial spaces thing that depends on the exact place. Think like how a Petco or something (ew) might let you bring in your little dog or something, maybe a cat, but probably won't let you bring in a big rottweiler or something of the sort, depending on the location. Or how in some locations specific stores will let you bring in a pet as long as they're handled well, but others only allow in service dogs.

• This is very intentionally inhumane, as given how the real world functions I feel like yes we would base how we treat folks with carnivore-oriented traits on how we personify those animals in our minds. Going further I also imagine some places are permitted to bar certain species entirely, and species that are viewed as "unappealing" and violent (hyenas, coyotes and maybe jackals, probably foxes and raccoons in some areas, etc etc) tend to show up on this list a lot.

• Probably lots of folks advocating against this, but it sticks around like a tick because plenty of people are just little cowards about it and don't want the change. I imagine most herbivore hybrids are also against it because what's stopping them from being mistreated in the same way next, so it's mostly a non-hybrid thing.

• How much someone resembles their real-animal counterpart depends on content! This is a term seen in some real-world hybrids, most often I see it in wolfdogs as they're very easily hybridized and their offspring can breed. However, rather than being based on that, because again they're not actually hybrids it's more of a form of mimicry, it's based on the genetics deciding how much of their species they look and act like. I like to think there's a specific set of genes that causes this, and 1-2 traits that factor into how the traits look and how the behavior and instincts develop. Someone who's relatively low-content doesn't look much like the species if at all, and doesn't act much like them, while someone who's high-content will have a lot of the animal's traits and are more likely to fall into that Feral state due to how their brain is built. It isn't set in stone, but more of a big scale.

• Most of TF141 are pretty in the middle of that scale. Ghost is the highest content, Soap isn't far behind, and Gaz is about in the middle, maybe a bit below.

• Nikolai could be a human and I like the idea of normal guy Nikolai BUT he's russian, and to that I suggest: Russian Wolfhound, aka the Borzoi, because I love Borzois they're the best. And greyhounds but Borzoi is a Russian breed :) their fur reminds me a bit of his hair as well

• I just. Really like Borzois, man. I was SO excited when they started gaining popularity a while back, I know it was because of a silly joke but screw it man!! They got more love!!! Smooch smooch Borzois my beloved. They're a sighthound breed as well, and honestly, I feel like that just fits him somehow.

I have tons more but I'll leave it here because I got stuff to do, rambling over take my funky animalfolk and go

[grison-in-space]

Hey hey! Wyrd told me you trained your dog to help with executive dysfunction stickyness/ repetitive action and I would LOVE to know how you trained this. I am training my pet to do a few in-home things before I get my prospect in hopefully this year

Oh, hi! There's a longer post about this topic elsewhere in my Matilda tag you might want to check out.

A lot of my training approach is informed by the experimenting I did with alarms that interact with other senses besides acoustics during COVID. I got completely nonresponsive to phone alarms and things, and I was under a truly catastrophic amount of stress related to my PhD at the time, so my general functioning wasn't great and I really NEEDED external cues to trigger basic daily tasks. Unfortunately I have a pretty impressive ability to hyperfocus right past obnoxious alarms, and worse, I am very very good at absently turning alarms off or mimicking paying attention without actually pulling my focus away from the subject of my attention. You get a 5-30sec buffer of retained information for the purposes of holding up a conversation which I am continuously dumping. I am not necessarily doing it consciously, but that doesn't make it not frustrating. Especially because if a human does get my attention, many years of RSD tends to set me at hyper defensive right out of the gate. That's not ideal for a bunch of reasons.

Anyway, I found that vibration or tactile stimuli, as well as visual stimuli (I rigged a disco lamp to turn on at hourly intervals in a desperate attempt to track the passage of time), worked quite well to capture my attention and let me step out of hyperfocus enough to do the next thing. I figured eventually I would have to see humans in their meat suits again and people get weird about shit like this, so I needed something relatively discreet and quiet that shouldn't be disruptive to anyone else. I started thinking about building myself aids.

So the first idea I had was to just program a series of alarms into a smartwatch that could automatically attach them to alerts from my gcal, but it turns out that they don't have an api function that hooks up to stuff like "make watch buzz" and I ran out of bandwidth to deal with it. It eventually just seemed easier to train an entire dog to respond to a quiet alarm than to fight with the hardware and software to make a really good buzzwatch. I use a couple of different alarm ring tones to cue different actions just as you might train any dog to a word: this one means we go to the bedroom, that one means that if you take meds I get candy, and so forth. The actual sound of the alarm is a cue in its own right. I have some discussion in that other post about how I encouraged my dog to essentially play a game with me where she had to figure out how to get my attention without hurting (aka NO SCREAMING WITH YOUR VERY LOUD HIGH PITCHED BARK). Essentially, I'm shaping that out of whatever behaviors she offers me that successfully catch my attention, defined operationally to her as "standing up + sustained eye contact."

In terms of catching me when I'm tending to get stuck on something or stationary without moving, that one is less "Yes I and my dog are amazing and I've trained her to read my mind" and more "I don't make eye contact when I'm dissociating and I almost always am staring into my phone." So if Matilda catches me drifting across the kitchen glued to phone, she knows that if she rockets up and nudges me into paying attention to my body, she'll get a reward. Consequentially, she's a bit enthusiastic about this one and will sometimes ram passersby with her nose, so definitely figure out your failure modes before you teach the dogs anything.

[katzirrart]

Sometimes the girlies judge you for fumbling with your girlfriend njkfgh

fucking njkgh Shadowheart just wants the moping vampire out of her home.... I love that my first doodle of Shadowheart is the GRUMBLIEST GIRL.

CONTEXT:

I think a lot about time when it comes to ships, and that doesn't stop at this one :u

Literally it's like... over a few months that BG3 takes place? The timeline MAKES SENSE, but is also insane by in game time, omg. And I've thought a lot about how like... idk, Ophira had time after Zerxie to kinda just be herself outside anyone else and figure SOME stuff out.

But Astarion kinda makes me sad a lot, because he's never really... just himself. Singular in a way, if you romance him. He's a magistrate and who knows how that life was before Cazador, but past that... he's just kinda an additional piece to people. You can help him kinda get his bearings in the world, and figure out what freedom and all that looks like to him, but he's still never like... on his own.

It's the old wife who never knows life outside marriage thing? Something my mom talked a lot about when I was a teen. Lamenting she never knew life to figure herself out.

So it's kinda a thought to me that at some point maybe they take a break for a year or so, let him figure some shit out, let her figure some shit out. They're both kinda messes in their own ways, and it's like ya'know. IT'S NOT LIKE COUPLES DON'T DO THAT SOMETIMES. But I think it'd do some good. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that unu

But the idea of him ending up at Shadowheart's house either in the beginning or towards the end of the period because Ophira was like "She might be a good friend to talk to about this kinda thing, given her own shit, man." [also because like bb boy and bb sparkle girl were my two closest companions and Shads is BB SISTER MATERIAL TO ME] but she's so hilariously mean and blunt to him in the overworld....

I can just see her giving him so much shit. But also him whining about the situation or something, and getting the girls on his case about it jndgkh

Lae'zel only knowing part of the issue and being like "Where is she, did you fuck things up? How could you disgusting idiots fuck this up..." but the also additional mental image of him showing up alone and Shads being like "Alright.... where's the one I like though? Why isn't she with you?" as a joke njfkgh

EVERYTHING TURNS OUT FINE. EVERYONE IS HAPPY, AND IT'S FUNNY HOW MUCH THEY BOTH MISS EACHOTHER THO TO ME.

[lagunz]

But your world lyrically is seen through the eyes of your singer, Axl Rose, and he's completely mad...

- Nick Kent

Yeah, he is! He's very crazy, y'know. Like, sometimes he can be very rational and other times he's just deep left-field. It's always up and down, up and down with Axl. He just has a very hard time relating to other people.

     Sometimes he just goes off the deep end and if anyone can make sense to him in those states, I think it's me. Because we still relate as friends coming from "bumfuck" Indiana. The rest doesn't mean much. I can kinda talk him down when he freaks out and locks himself in his room and we've got to play a gig or record.

- Izzy Stradlin, January 1990