#compass story mode

[ella-chan-or-evelynp]

Jesus Christ this was long but the bosses for my planned compass corrupted au/story mode is here

How many sprites am I going to make for this fangame

Probably like 100000 sprites

[tippedarrows]

sad small detail in this render...

[fredmcsm]

May I request a Vos in these trying times 🙏

Literally started trying to remember my design for him while i was doing the last post because I knew you would ask for him…Here is your silly lad ^_^

[isthereintruthnobeauty1968]

im thinking about the wire again

[godzexperiment]

nix, severely warned against and very much pressured to never use the information he knows (promised/horror tales more or less true aside) and him just throwing it out the window for somebody he cares about? or sometimes just when he isn't going to just let shit happen

nix 'you're not dying on me' & fully willing to pay the price for not letting it slide. the way he just doesn't want to hear protests or apologize afterwards. like he'll let it happen but he's also probably too busy like ... okay so everything still exists- i'm just bleeding internally? no big deal

[wajdiifamily]

My name is Wajdi. I’m 30 years old, Lebanese, and a husband and father to a two-year-old boy. My family is my entire world my wife and our little son. All I want is to protect them, to give them a safe, stable life. But in Lebanon, that dream is slipping further away every day.

We lost our home to the war, reduced to rubble in an instant. One minute, it was a place where laughter echoed and where we planned our future. The next, it was gone. Now, we’re in survival mode, moving constantly, never knowing where we’ll be tomorrow or if we’ll find food or clean water. I used to think that I could handle anything, that I could adapt. But seeing my family suffer my son, so small and fragile that’s a pain I can’t put into words.

My son needs vaccinations, basic health care, but we can’t afford them. Here, even the most basic necessities are luxuries. Food is scarce, and what little we manage to find, I often go without, saving every bit for my son and my wife. Hygiene, clean water, things we never thought twice about—they are now constant worries, haunting me as I watch my child try to grow up in this world that feels like it’s falling apart around him.

But even now, I have hope. As a father, I don’t have the luxury of giving up. I believe that somewhere, somehow, there’s a way out of this darkness for my family. I dream of a future where my son can play in a safe place, where my wife can sleep without fear, and where I can find work, dignity, and security for us all.

I’m sharing my story because I believe in humanity, in compassion. If my voice can reach someone who can help, who can understand the desperate reality we live, maybe, just maybe, we can find a way to rebuild our lives. I’m not asking for pity; I’m asking for a chance—just a chance for my family to survive, to live with dignity, to hope for tomorrow.

If you’re reading this, please understand that every bit of help can make a world of difference. It’s not just about survival; it’s about hope, the hope to build a better future, a safe future for my child and all those children who deserve so much more than a world torn apart by war.

https://gofund.me/c6e97dd7

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-wadjis-family

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Three AI insights for hard-charging, future-oriented smartypantses

MERE HOURS REMAIN for the Kickstarter for the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There’s also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Living in the age of AI hype makes demands on all of us to come up with smartypants prognostications about how AI is about to change everything forever, and wow, it's pretty amazing, huh?

AI pitchmen don't make it easy. They like to pile on the cognitive dissonance and demand that we all somehow resolve it. This is a thing cult leaders do, too – tell blatant and obvious lies to their followers. When a cult follower repeats the lie to others, they are demonstrating their loyalty, both to the leader and to themselves.

Over and over, the claims of AI pitchmen turn out to be blatant lies. This has been the case since at least the age of the Mechanical Turk, the 18th chess-playing automaton that was actually just a chess player crammed into the base of an elaborate puppet that was exhibited as an autonomous, intelligent robot.

The most prominent Mechanical Turk huckster is Elon Musk, who habitually, blatantly and repeatedly lies about AI. He's been promising "full self driving" Telsas in "one to two years" for more than a decade. Periodically, he'll "demonstrate" a car that's in full-self driving mode – which then turns out to be canned, recorded demo:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies-2023-01-17/

Musk even trotted an autonomous, humanoid robot on-stage at an investor presentation, failing to mention that this mechanical marvel was just a person in a robot suit:

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/elon-musk-tesla-robot-optimus-ai

Now, Musk has announced that his junk-science neural interface company, Neuralink, has made the leap to implanting neural interface chips in a human brain. As Joan Westenberg writes, the press have repeated this claim as presumptively true, despite its wild implausibility:

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/elon-musk-lies

Neuralink, after all, is a company notorious for mutilating primates in pursuit of showy, meaningless demos:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-pcrm-neuralink-monkey-deaths/

I'm perfectly willing to believe that Musk would risk someone else's life to help him with this nonsense, because he doesn't see other people as real and deserving of compassion or empathy. But he's also profoundly lazy and is accustomed to a world that unquestioningly swallows his most outlandish pronouncements, so Occam's Razor dictates that the most likely explanation here is that he just made it up.

The odds that there's a human being beta-testing Musk's neural interface with the only brain they will ever have aren't zero. But I give it the same odds as the Raelians' claim to have cloned a human being:

https://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/03/cf.opinion.rael/

The human-in-a-robot-suit gambit is everywhere in AI hype. Cruise, GM's disgraced "robot taxi" company, had 1.5 remote operators for every one of the cars on the road. They used AI to replace a single, low-waged driver with 1.5 high-waged, specialized technicians. Truly, it was a marvel.

Globalization is key to maintaining the guy-in-a-robot-suit phenomenon. Globalization gives AI pitchmen access to millions of low-waged workers who can pretend to be software programs, allowing us to pretend to have transcended the capitalism's exploitation trap. This is also a very old pattern – just a couple decades after the Mechanical Turk toured Europe, Thomas Jefferson returned from the continent with the dumbwaiter. Jefferson refined and installed these marvels, announcing to his dinner guests that they allowed him to replace his "servants" (that is, his slaves). Dumbwaiters don't replace slaves, of course – they just keep them out of sight:

https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/behind-the-dumbwaiter/

So much AI turns out to be low-waged people in a call center in the Global South pretending to be robots that Indian techies have a joke about it: "AI stands for 'absent Indian'":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

A reader wrote to me this week. They're a multi-decade veteran of Amazon who had a fascinating tale about the launch of Amazon Go, the "fully automated" Amazon retail outlets that let you wander around, pick up goods and walk out again, while AI-enabled cameras totted up the goods in your basket and charged your card for them.

According to this reader, the AI cameras didn't work any better than Tesla's full-self driving mode, and had to be backstopped by a minimum of three camera operators in an Indian call center, "so that there could be a quorum system for deciding on a customer's activity – three autopilots good, two autopilots bad."

Amazon got a ton of press from the launch of the Amazon Go stores. A lot of it was very favorable, of course: Mister Market is insatiably horny for firing human beings and replacing them with robots, so any announcement that you've got a human-replacing robot is a surefire way to make Line Go Up. But there was also plenty of critical press about this – pieces that took Amazon to task for replacing human beings with robots.

What was missing from the criticism? Articles that said that Amazon was probably lying about its robots, that it had replaced low-waged clerks in the USA with even-lower-waged camera-jockeys in India.

Which is a shame, because that criticism would have hit Amazon where it hurts, right there in the ole Line Go Up. Amazon's stock price boost off the back of the Amazon Go announcements represented the market's bet that Amazon would evert out of cyberspace and fill all of our physical retail corridors with monopolistic robot stores, moated with IP that prevented other retailers from similarly slashing their wage bills. That unbridgeable moat would guarantee Amazon generations of monopoly rents, which it would share with any shareholders who piled into the stock at that moment.

See the difference? Criticize Amazon for its devastatingly effective automation and you help Amazon sell stock to suckers, which makes Amazon executives richer. Criticize Amazon for lying about its automation, and you clobber the personal net worth of the executives who spun up this lie, because their portfolios are full of Amazon stock:

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

Amazon Go didn't go. The hundreds of Amazon Go stores we were promised never materialized. There's an embarrassing rump of 25 of these things still around, which will doubtless be quietly shuttered in the years to come. But Amazon Go wasn't a failure. It allowed its architects to pocket massive capital gains on the way to building generational wealth and establishing a new permanent aristocracy of habitual bullshitters dressed up as high-tech wizards.

"Wizard" is the right word for it. The high-tech sector pretends to be science fiction, but it's usually fantasy. For a generation, America's largest tech firms peddled the dream of imminently establishing colonies on distant worlds or even traveling to other solar systems, something that is still so far in our future that it might well never come to pass:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

During the Space Age, we got the same kind of performative bullshit. On The Well David Gans mentioned hearing a promo on SiriusXM for a radio show with "the first AI co-host." To this, Craig L Maudlin replied, "Reminds me of fins on automobiles."

Yup, that's exactly it. An AI radio co-host is to artificial intelligence as a Cadillac Eldorado Biaritz tail-fin is to interstellar rocketry.

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins

[falciesystemessays]

I honestly think that Dizzy's entrance to Guilty Gear Strive should be as much of A Moment for plural systems as Bridget's was for trans women. The character's not out yet, but every bit of promotional material for the character points in a very promising direction. So for people who don't go here, or who have only played Strive, allow me to tell you why a character trailer for a three-year-old game put me on the verge of tears.

For some quick context, plurality in a person is essentially the state of having multiple entities in one's head. The most commonly known form of this comes from having dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personalities. But plenty within the plural community (including me) have a broader umbrella for the term. The main terminology you'll want to know for this is that a "system" is a group of entities within one body (I for example am part of the Fal'cie System), and "aspects" are entities that aren't quite separable from the host, because they're the manifestation of specific parts of them. For the record I am very aware of how buckwild this sounds to an outsider, and I frequently get existential about it. A lot of characters in anime and games are incidentally plural due to their layers of fantasy nonsense. Some examples of this in action are Yami and Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh, Sora gaining Ventus's heart in Kingdom Hearts, and the explicit dissociative identity of the Storyteller System in Ace Attorney.

Now then! To sum up Dizzy's backstory real quick, Dizzy is a Gear, basically a living weapon, and the daughter of original antagonist Justice. Most of her character up until this point has been desperately trying to cover that and live among humans, to... mixed avail. In the series' story mode she manages to start a family with the human deuteragonist Ky Kiske, who loves her a lot despite formerly being one of the best Gear-slayers. Ky is such a wonderful character, because throughout the series we see him go from hating Gears to tolerating a few of them to having a kid with one and actually becoming a little bit Gear himself. But this essay isn't about Ky Kiske.

In actual gameplay, as in the 1v1 fighting game battles, the main thing stopping her from relative normalcy is her two wings, Necro and Undine. The reason I say this character is a plural dub is because these wings are actually aspects of Dizzy, Necro being her rage and Undine her compassion. A lot of Dizzy's attack animations in Guilty Gear XX (the one where I've played Dizzy a lot) actually have Necro doing violent things while Dizzy herself is either distracted or afraid. This continued in Guilty Gear Xrd, where her instant kill move (every character gets one) has Necro unleashing a fuckoff gamma ray while Dizzy begs him to stop. Worth noting also that gamma rays are one of the moves her mother Justice used. Dizzy and Necro have clearly not been getting along, and while it's fun as a fighting game character bit, there is a certain level of sadness to it.

But in Strive? Oh my god, she looks so happy now! So at peace with herself and with her system. Lemme just rattle stuff off right now.

-Dizzy's attack animations all put her in control. Necro and Undine do a lot of fighting still, but never without Dizzy's control. They are fighting in tandem.

-Dizzy's victory animation has her hold out two hands. Undine naturally puts her whole hand onto one, and Necro finally puts a single finger on the other with a smile.

-Their super move, Gamma Ray, starts out with Necro and Undine firing a beam, and Dizzy getting scared. But after glancing at them and realizing it's okay, she joins in on the beam attack.

-She has a new move now, Michael Sword (Pronounced Mik-hai-ull), a full-screen slash that Justice used to have, indicating that she's come to terms with her origins and wants to use them for good.

-God, her opening animation and taunt where she communes with the animals like a Disney princess. Her new beautiful design. Her new theme song! She has never been this happy in her life!

The thing is, right, I can imagine people saying that this character growth isn't remotely the same kind of moment as Bridget's, because Dizzy's whole thing is based in sci-fantasy that could never be real in the same way that like, dissociative identity is real. Plenty more would deny that plurality exists at all outside some deluded roleplayers. And, I mean, was series director Daisuke Ishiwatari really thinking about people like me when choosing to take the character this way? I don't know, honestly. But I do know that Dizzy's character arc is authentic, to me. If there's one thing Guilty Gear Strive's story is really good at, it's giving long-suffering characters some well-earned peace. And if this is how Strive Season 4 is starting, I can't wait to see what they do next.

[cool-thymus]

Obito's reading list

[if this post is about Obito's taste in literature then why is he asleep, and it's Kakashi doing the reading, you might ask? Well, i believe Obito's reading habits are healthy, while our boy Kakashi here can't simply put his smut down in the dead of night. Also, Obito might be woken up soon by... y'know]

Anyway, i was typing a reply to @hairybeardtongue 's idea about what books Obito would enjoy reading and got inspired ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶ (my personal post-war Obito headcanons below the cut)

Definitely! I can see Tobito going a full-blown Machiavelli mode. He must've read it in his villain era (that would explain some of his evil-but-proficient management choices).

But if we speak post-war, Obito will have to find his place again in the ninja world (which is still a mess despite Kakashi's impeccable hokageing). He'll need to catch up on all those years of denying the reality, break the delusions and prejudice he's been fostering all his adult life. I like to believe that he'll find solace in the written word and try to challenge the existing dogma. He might've lost his chakra privilege, but his mind is as sharp as ever, so why not have Kakashi deliver all the books and scrolls he requires to figure out the world he chose to save. In one of my post-war obkk aus Obito becomes a philosopher and provides valuable theoretical basis for Kakashi's and Naruto's executive hokage decisions. What if the guy who almost destroyed it all found a way to end the war-is-all-you-need dictatorship peacefully? (that would make more sense than brutally killing him for the second time, Kishi!)

As for leisure reading ("Pleasure reading!" Kakashi, please don't interrupt), I believe Obito'd enjoy stories about a wanderer who is always on the move and contemplates the world in all its beauty and messiness. (i'm thinking about Mushishi somehow xD) If the Sage of Six Paths published an autobiography, Obito would want to read it too probably. He might even enjoy Jiraya's Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi! Can you imagine how happy Kakashi'd be to learn that Obito finally decided to read his favorite author?! (he is this close to making him read the Icha-Icha series, who knows, maybe one day...)

Another curious aspect is Obito's seal-free heart, from now on vulnerable and open to compassion and strong emotions. Would that prompt him to read tragic novels to experience the catharsis of vicariously reliving grief, sadness, desperation, or hope? I think he might ("Return of the Crybaby!" dude, please). And whenever he's overwhelmed with his ideas destined to fix the society or sheds too many tears over some dramatic fiction, there's always Kakashi to lean on and rest while those nimble fingers massage his head so very soothingly.

[romanoffsbish]

The Beaten and the Damned

Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Warnings: Nightmares | Choking

Natasha fears the worst; you offer the opposite | WC: 421

"A part of me will always be broken Y/N," Natasha whispered, her body in defense mode as she tried to hide the devastation racking through her. You froze at the sound of premature mourning leaving her, as if she thought this was the moment you'd finally leave her.

Take away the only safety she'd ever found; her heart, she held onto it somehow but she'd lose it with you.

She's mistaken, your throat burned at the thought, as if you could ever do such a thing. You shook your head and smiled away the thought, you tilted her red, snotty face up with a finger beneath her chin to make sure she hears you, "oh honey, that's okay," her auburn brows ticked and you gently wiped away the freshest tears.

"I choked you," she reminded you in disgust, her frame started to shake again so you scooted closer to pull her unusually frail body into yours. She resisted but you trapped her arms between your bodies and she melted into the pressure you applied, she shifted slightly and cried against your bare shoulder in broken strings that fractured your soul, intimately intertwined with hers.

"These cracks you speak of, they offer me the chance to love you harder my dear," you paused and reached out to wipe her face clean with aloe infused tissues. Then you pecked her bitten lips, ignoring the salty taste as a smile bloomed as you finished your thought aloud, whispered on her cheek, "all it is, is extra space to fill."

Natasha's barely beating heart stuttered in her chest as your happiness electrified her back to life. "I love you."

A humorless laugh left your lovers lips, she was in total disbelief of your never ending well of compassion. You watched her go to reach for you but then her hands retracted—eyes despondent as she caught sight of the oxidized red that etched the skin of her hands and arms. Her eyes traced over the bob in your throat, the one pained by the imprint of her hand on the muscle.

"Don't slip backwards Natasha," you begged even though your voice was hoarse, "I am okay, this is not the end of our love story—I trust you with all of me."

You kissed your teeth when her cold fingertips traced over the heated skin of your throat, tracing the outline her fingers left behind and she offered you a promise in her soft touch—she was here to stay. "I love you too."

[queensharotto]

Brittle Doughie’s Cookie Run x Reader Masterlist (Part 10: Holiday Season 2024)

A masterlist of @brittle-doughie’s Cookie Run stories organized by month.

Genre Emojis

😞 is for angst, 🎃 is for Halloween, 🎄 is for Christmas, 🍪 is for Cannibalism, 💗 is for Yandere, 💝 is for Valentine’s, 👻 is for Horror, 🎂 is for Birthday, 💚 is for Yandere!White Lily Cookie, 😈 is for Ancient Beast AU (Inspired by Cuppajj’s Beast Ancient AU), 🧑‍🧒 for the Lone Giant AU and 💔 is for the Viture of Compassion AU.

The Indents are related to the featured cookies. If there are numerous cookies (Over 10 Cookies Featured), I’ll make a note on that as well. Additionally, I’ll categorize various cookies if they’re associated with a specific hobby, location, food etc.

Also, the ⭐️ will indicate a story featuring one of Brittle’s OCs while ✨ will indicate someone’s interpretation of Y/N Cookie.

Additionally, many people proved art to showcase to Brittle, which will be indicated by this: 🖌️. I will also mention who provided the art.

November 2024 🌾

• “Princess, Princess, Princess!”

Featuring: Princess Cookie

• “You Can’t Prevent Her Loss”

Featuring: Timekeeper Cookie

• “Anticipated Arrival”

Featuring: Golden Cheese Cookie

• “Cookie and a Beast”

Featuring: The Five Beasts

• “Friendly Hotel Maid”

Featuring: Frilled Jellyfish Cookie

• “Apologies, Apologies”

Featuring: Nutmeg Tiger Cookie, Golden Cheese Cookie, and Smoked Cheese Cookie

• “Touch”

Featuring: The Spice Swarm Leaders

• “Pie for a Dragon”

Featuring: The Five Dragons and Everything Pie Cookie

• “Enter Rich Cheese Cookie”

Featuring: The Cookies of the Golden Cheese Kingdom

• “Go Smell the Flowers” ⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs and Golden Osmanthus Cookie

• “Negotiating”

Featuring: Customer Cookie and Rich Merchant Cookie

• “Fluff Longan”

Featuring: Longan Dragon Cookie

• “Blueberry Blues”

Featuring: Parfaedia Teachers

• “The Camellia and the Osmanthus”

Featuring: Camellia Cookie and Golden Osmanthus Cookie

• “No Dream for You!”

Featuring: Dreamweaver Cookie and Peppernut Cookie

• “The 8th Dream - Y/N Cookie’s Nightmares”

Note: What is this?

• “Rescue Mission”

Featuring: Golden Osmanthus Cookie, Cobalt Cookie and Camellia Cookie

• “Beast Stars” 💔

Featuring: The Five Beasts

December 2024 🎄

• “The Deal with Ancients V2”

Featuring: Characters featured in both Episodes 17 and 18 and Beast Yeast Episodes 1 and 2

• “Love for a Pearl”

Featuring: White Pearl Cookie

• “Slight Detour”

Featuring: Numerous Cookies

• “PALM the Killer Robot”

Featuring: Pudding a la Mode Cookie

• “Lily's Sense Going Crazy!”

Featuring: Choco Drizzle Cookie, PALM Cookie and White Lily Cookie

• “The Beasts’ Aid”

Featuring: Team Drizzle and the Beast Cookies

• “Jester’s Influence”

Featuring: Pure Vanilla Cookie

• “Becoming the Beast Within”

Featuring: Team Drizzle

• “Rejoice” 🧑‍🧒

Featuring: St. Pastry Order

• “Needy Little PALM”

Featuring: Pudding a la Mode Cookie

• “Destructive Influence”

Featuring: Team Drizzle and Burning Spice Cookie

• “Endless Winter” 👻⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “Don’t Provoke Her or You Will”

Featuring: Pudding a la Mode Cookie

• “Trouble with Triples”

Featuring: Triple Cone Trio and Team Drizzle

• “The Good Stuff” ⭐️

Featuring: Golden Osmanthus Cookie, Caravan Leader Cookie, Dumpling Cookie, and Salsa Cookie

• “Long Lost Love”

Featuring: The Five Beasts

• “Crowned Cupcake’s Family” ⭐️

Featuring: Crowned Cupcake Cookie

• “Incorrect Quotes Cookie Jar: Soul Jam Edition”

Featuring: The Ancient Cookies and the Beast Cookies

• “Dead Ends”

Featuring: Team Drizzle and the Triple Cone Champions

• “Incense Shared” ⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “Ultimate Present My Crumbs!”

Featuring: Shadow Milk Cookie

• “Who Can You Trust?”

Featuring: Random Cookies

• “For the Sake of the Silver Tree”

Featuring: The Five Beasts

• “Cannibal Run” 🍪

Featuring: Almond Cookie

• “The Joy of Baking” 👻⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “Taxes to Pay” ⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “Bride Contest”

Featuring: Jungleberry Cookie, Princess Cookie and Choco Werehound Brute

• “We Failed You” 💔

Featuring: The Five Beasts

• “Gift List”

Featuring: Coffee Candy Cookie

• “Time for Bed” ⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “And they were roommates”

Featuring: Pure Vanilla Cookie and Shadow Milk Cookie

• “Fluffy Clouds”

Featuring: Eternal Sugar Cookie

• “Dungeon Clearout” ⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “The Green Lunatic”

Featuring: Green Tea Mousse Cookie

• “Covered in Strawberry Jam” 💗

Featuring: Green Tea Mousse Cookie

• “The Little Robot and the Assassin” 💗

Featuring: Pudding a la Mode and Choco Drizzle Cookie

• “Kisses”

Featuring: The Ancient Heroes and the Five Beasts

• “Healed”

Featuring: Licorice Cookie

• “Marriage to the Watcher”

Featuring: Caramel Arrow Cookie

• “What If? Futility”

Featuring: Choco Drizzle Cookie and Pudding a La Mode Cookie

• “What If?: Deceit or Defeat?”

Featuring: Shadow Milk Cookie

• “Corrupted” 💔

Featuring: The Five Beasts

• “History” 💔

Featuring: Éclair Cookie

• “Strange Memories” ⭐️

Featuring: Brittle’s OCs

• “Affectionate Sky God”

Featuring: Stormbringer Cookie

• “The Goddess of Apathy” 💗

Featuring: Mystic Flour Cookie

• “All Aboard!”

Featuring: Tower of Adventures Y/N Cookie

Divider Source l Masterlist Checkpoint l Previous Masterlist

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi!! I just read your answer about Harry s treatment at the Dursley s... How do you think did he manage to grow up as a kind and mentally stable boy despite it (not that he was happy, this influenced his development a lot, but it could have gone so much worse )?

Or was it just necessary for the story that he does?

Well, people can react to trauma and abuse in a lot of different ways. Some lash out, some try and be kind and helpful, and some want to keep as far away from people as they can. Humans are varied and react to a lot of different things in a lot of different ways. There is no universal "right way" to respond to trauma and abuse. Yes, Harry could've been worse, but then he wouldn't be Harry. There's a discussion of nature and nurture here that I won't go much into, but Harry's nature, and who Harry is outside of his trauma and abuse affected how he responded to it. And Harry is an incredibly strong-willed person, so his response to trauma innately isn't to break — it's to fight. We see it often in the books, and I think the reason he turned out the way he is, is because this aspect is part of his nature. Enough part of his nature that he could resist the Imperius on his first try.

Besides, Harry has behaviors that are a result of his abuse, they're just more subtle. But they are definitely there. Harry doesn't trust easily, and when it comes to adults and people of authority who should keep his interest, he trusts even less. He knows he can't count on them. This is why he takes so much responsibility for himself, the adults in his life could never be trusted. He is incredibly feisty, always guarded and ready for something to come at him. This constant vigilance is a result of his abuse. You see the years of the Dursleys in how protective he is of his friends, of how desperate he is to fit in in first year that he changes his behavior to be more similar to what everyone else is doing — so he won't be a freak. How unwilling he is to hear that he's special, because at the Dursleys — special was bad. How Harry doesn't let Umbridge see he's in pain when she makes him use the blood quill because he knows that's what Vernon and Dudley wanted to see and he isn't giving them the satisfaction. How quiet Harry is. Because Harry doesn't actually talk a lot when compared to other characters, his voice was never something the Dursleys wanted to hear and he's good at pretending he doesn't exist.

Harry's anger (which I adore) is a defense mechanism. His anger issues are likely the result of being constantly in this hypervigilant state and constantly feeling under threat. Harry is ready to fight at the drop of a hat because he's constantly in fight or flight mode. This is a trauma response. Reaction to abuse and trauma doesn't need to be obvious and glaring and what you expect. It could be a lot of little things. and Harry's reactions and behavior all show signs of him having experienced trauma that he didn't quite unpack. He can come off as okay because he's trying very hard to appear that way, it's part of his defensive mechanism. Acting like everyone else so he won't be called a freak — but it also hides his abuse and his responses to it. Only in books 4 and 5, do we start to see Harry being more vocal in his sass to people other than Ron and Hermione and inside his own head. Like, he overcame things within himself, he had a small, subtle arc, but that's a lot of times how these things are. Subtle.

I think his compassion is an inherent part of him. Like, I mentioned nature versus nurture, and I think a good chunk of his compassion is a result of Harry's nature. But, his nurture (that is, the Dursleys' abuse), I think, did exasperate it in a certain way. While abuse and trauma can make someone less sympathetic, it could also make them more so. In Harry's case, I think a lot of his compassion comes from a place of sympathy. Of being able to see himself in someone else's shows because he knows what it's like to be treated like you are worthless. So, he'd never treat someone else in the same way. Even when Harry hates someone, his hate comes with some, well, I'd call it base-level respect. Even people he hates are people in his eyes. He is willing to kill them and hurt them if he deems it necessary, but he never forgets they are people. Even if they're house elves or goblins.

As for if it was necessary for the story, I mean, Harry Potter wouldn't be Harry Potter without the cupboard under the stairs. So, yes, him having a good childhood would change the books, but would he be kind and compassionate without years of abuse? Probably.

[hulloitsdani]

Um. So. I may have gotten stressed and started transcribing FEH’s story mode. Might currently have all of book 1 written down. Perhaps a third of the way into book 2.

This started as a way to have the preface chapters handy since they’re not replayable. But then I looked on the FE wiki and saw that they only have a small fraction of the chapters written down. And that scared me, because means that my hyperfixation has a nonzero chance of becoming lost media if the app were to go down one day. So now I have all of book 1 in my back pocket, including the preface, two intermissions, and the two relevant xenologues. Once I’m further along and have a few more books accounted for, I have no problem making the document public. But until then I encourage others to also write some of its content down. Just in case, you know? Especially those prologues and Tempest Trials.

With that PSA out of the way, omg book 1 hi!!!! It’s been forever!!!!

Apparently, I haven’t reread book 1 in its entirety since I first played Heroes! I’ve gone back to look for specific scenes and replayed the levels on harder difficulties (self inflicted or otherwise), but I haven’t done a thorough second pass before. Which was news to me, because that meant I was consistently blindsided by scenes and characterization that I completely forgot about! Did any of you remember that Zacharias was apparently Alfonse and Sharena’s childhood friend? I didn’t! But there it is, chapter 7 part 5 after battle cutscene, Anna specifies that aspect of their relationship. That’s crazy! How does the timeline even line up on that??? If he spent his childhood in Askr, how did he manage to have a strong relationship with his significantly younger sister? How did he find himself rubbing shoulders with enemy royalty? Could he have inadvertently met Peony? I’m not changing my takes on his character, but I would love to know.

Speaking of character, apparently seven years spent writing a character naturally changes how they sound! Who would have thought. It made seeing the book 1 versions of our Askr trio a little jarring, but in an oddly nostalgic way! This was a phase of the game where the story, its characters, and its world existed with the singular purpose of introducing new players to what Heroes was trying to do. Which was, at the time, being a cute yet unobtrusive gacha app tie in with simplified FE mechanics to give you that gameplay fix on the go. And to its credit, it does do a good job of this! It ain’t a masterpiece, but I was charmed by its emphasis on showing off all these cool characters you could go summon. Ryoma gets to talk for a few lines and you are going to look at his very pretty art! But that meant that the world and characters of Zenith take a bit of a backseat. They’re not here to be too complicated. The Order of Heroes are the friendly faces that go on adventures and meet these heroes that you can summon for only $19.99. But we all know where the game and its story is going to go from here. That emphasis is going to wane as FEH grows into its own identity (and also earn IntSys over $1 billion worldwide).

But that’s a later development. Before that fundamental shift is where book 1 sits. It’s in this fascinating position where these characters have yet to solidify into their recognizable forms. And if you don’t believe me, chapter 9 part 4 has a scene where Sharena and Alfonse’s roles have reversed. For once, Sharena is posing the cautionary “what if the information we are getting from this total stranger is a trap?”, to which Alfonse responds “nah I’m getting a vibe that it’s fine and that we should believe him whole heartedly.” Like??? Huh???? It’s Bruno, but still, that’s hilarious! Alfonse’s pragmatism bordering on paranoia hasn’t established itself as a massive driver of his character yet. Nor has Sharena’s role as trusting emotional core and moral compass of the group. It was very easy to borderline Mandela Effect it into being there, but it isn’t. Not quite. There are hints, sure, but once again these characters were initially made to be simple at the time. The depth doesn’t quite exist yet.

It wasn’t until I was writing this very paragraph that it finally dawned on me why the Askr trio voice lines, especially Alfonse’s lines, are such a big deal. That's where Alfonse’s character arc with trusting Kiran resides. There's the pragmatism we know and love! It’s not super present in the text of book 1, but the depth of these characters can be found in the voice lines you unlock from building them and earning the crown jewel level 40 conversation. That’s where Alfonse’s arc with his self isolating behaviors crumbles at that sight of one silly tactician. That’s where Sharena finally wins a fight against her own loneliness by forming genuine friendship with this stranger form a strange land, who is appreciative of her loud eccentricities. That’s where Anna apologizes about her initial underestimation of Kiran, thanks them for being more reliable than she could have ever hoped for, and swears that whatever hell may come their way, they’re in this together. The books themselves don’t seem to reflect this characterization until book 2, where they overall act more in accordance with the rest of the narrative. It’s as if they're taking from the voiced lines’ example and extrapolating more on the story they imply.

The one standing in slight contrast to all this is Bruno, as he's the most interesting character in book 1. It's blaringly obvious he's Zacharias, but it's genuinely amusing how deep he is in his own gaslighting. He can't manipulate, mansplain, manwhore his way out of this one folks, but he's certainly going to try! His lies aren't even that good, but it honestly contributes to how at wits end he is. Like, sure honey, I totally believe you that you just killed Zacharias. I bet he has an eight-pack too. Just take a nap for two minutes. But then everyone believes him because our protagonists have yet meld their group braincell. Overall, an amusing time.

I don't have a particular point I'm trying to make with this one. Just having a fun and pointing out the things I've noticed. Might give a little update for every book I complete. However many that will be.

[five-and-dimes]

Had a very angsty thought about Dream that I thought you in particular would enjoy, so here it is:

Maybe this would be a human au, but I think it could work in universe as well.

Dream, because of the fact that he's not great with people, tends to be rather prideful, and is well aware of his own strengths, has been accused of being arrogant his whole life. Mainly by his siblings (Desire, I'm looking at you).

At some point, Dream being desperately tired of being told bad things about him, and desperate to have people around him who love him, decides that he must be the problem and so resolves that he will change himself.

How does he go about this? Well naturally he assumes that because he's been accused of arrogance, he can't trust his own judgement of himself. So whatever he thinks about himself, he believes that the reality of who he is must be worse. Which leads to a vicious cycle of self hatred.

Hob, who had become friends with Dream at some point, and had long since fallen for his friend, somehow finds out about this thought process of Dream's and is absolutely devastated. Which of course leads to Hob doing his absolute best to convince Dream he's not the worst person alive. Dream is very stubborn though, it takes a lot of work, but eventually Hob manages to help Dream see how unfair he is to himself and just how wrong his thought process is

Anyway, but I hope you enjoy this concept I thought of, it seemed like the exact sort of angst and hurt/comfort you enjoy, so I had to share

Bro you know me so Goddamn well.

(Vibing human au just cause I’ve been in human au mode for the fic I’m working on lol)

Cause like. Here’s the thing. Pride in and of itself is not a bad thing. There’s plenty of things Dream has every right to be proud of! But he grows up with parents constantly neglecting him and calling him selfish when he wants their attention/love/support, and siblings who call him arrogant when he speaks highly of himself. His siblings try to tear him down and he fights back by overcompensating, doubling down on his pride until it does in fact tip into arrogance, but he’s just so desperate not to let them make him feel worthless (even if it doesn’t really work). And when Desire or Despair are cruel to him and he fights back the only way he knows how, HE’S the one his older siblings scold and are disappointed in. 

And time passes, and he’s not naturally good with social interactions, and then on top of that you have the trauma of his family life exacerbating the struggle. He starts having romantic relationships that start strong and then nosedive, and suddenly he’s being criticized and beaten down from all sides, no one willing to give him the benefit of the doubt or any compassion when he messes up. So he starts to figure… well, surely if EVERYONE says all these bad things about him they can’t ALL be wrong. Surely he’s the one who’s wrong.

So he enters university with this mindset that he can’t trust his own feelings unless they're negative. He’s not someone who struggles, he’s just a bad person. He’s not talented or successful, he’s just arrogant. 

And that’s who Hob meets. Dream still has a haughty demeanor- a little part of him wants people to see right away what a “bad person” he is so that he can get it over with (plus, deceiving them would just make him a worse person, right?)- but Hob is obsessed with him immediately. Privately, Hob thinks of Dream like a stray cat, hissing and scratching out of fear and distrust, but it takes some time for him to realize just how accurate that assessment is. They become closer, and he starts to notice some things, like how Dream doesn’t tell him about the galleys he gets accepted into, or the stories that gets published, or the tests he aces. When he prods Dream about it, he shrugs it off, saying it doesn’t matter, it’s nothing, he wasn’t going to burden Hob with something so insignificant.

Hob tells Dream he should be proud of himself for his accomplishments and Dream is literally speechless.

No one has ever told Dream he should be proud. His pride was what made him unlovable, right?

Oops, did he say that out loud?

It’s like pulling teeth getting Dream to explain to Hob- How he’s always been wrong before, how he’s never gotten it right, so obviously he can’t trust his own perception of himself. Maybe he was excited, or felt a little spark of joy and pride at his successes, but he knows now that he actually has no reason to be proud of anything ever because he’s just a burden and a bad person. 

Hob is going to cry.

It’s a hard battle getting Dream out of this mindset. Hob kind of just has to go all in, because it’s not like Dream talks openly about his thought process, Hob just happened to notice and drag it out of him. So even if it might seem like Dream is just chilling on the couch watching a show, odds are he’s actually deconstructing every single thing he’s said and done that day and twisting them into proof for why he’s unlovable. But it’s not like it’s a chore for Hob- all he’s really doing is giving Dream the validation and approval that he never got growing up, and showing him a bit of grace when he stumbles. To Hob it's nothing, but to Dream it's everything.

(It’s also very cute to see how red Dream gets when Hob compliments him or shows up to his gallery exhibitions or tapes his A+ essays onto the fridge.)

There’s ups and downs, and there will continue to be ups and downs for a while. But when Hob finally kisses him, Dream thinks to himself… If someone as good as Hob can love him? Then maybe- just maybe- he’s not so bad himself.

[serve-441]

SERVE for Christmas

SERVE-441 got the orders to return home for Christmas to keep up familial traditions. The Hive would grant each drone's host just enough memory to remember their families and be able to interact. Some drones had even been instructed to convert male family members into the Hive if a favorable situation arose. SERVE-441 called its host's brothers to find their parents were away for the holiday. It would just be the three of them.

SERVE-441 thought that would be optimal conditions for conversion. Its host's biological brothers were both quite athletic, prime candidates for SERVE if they desired to join. That was until its host's brothers told him they were part of The Golden Army and Silver Collective. SERVE-441 remembered a rule of the hive. It was not to recruit or convert any members of those groups.

SERVE-441's mission objective changed slightly. It would now spend time with its host's family and keep connections.

SERVE-441, had to remember its host's name Grayson. While interacting with family, it would have to react to that name that no longer had meaning. It was SERVE-441. It had to emulate human interaction.

SERVE-441 put on a SERVE issue sweater, but it still had its designation on the sweater. Arriving at its host's familial home, it was greeted by Ken and Drayden. Its host's two younger brothers.

SERVE-441 sat down on the couch next to Ken, who was wearing a metallic gold soccer jersey. SERVE-441 had some minor memories of a sibling rivalry return. He was in football, Ken was in soccer, and Drayden was in baseball. Each one tried to brag their team was the best. SERVE-441 shook its head, memories like this were only to keep up appearances. Sentimental feelings were unnecessary and erased in the Hive.

Ken and Drayden told 441 all about their teams. The brotherhood, connections, and bonds. How their teams kept winning games. 441 listened, storing the information for later use if it had to emulate its host longer. The Voice came to SERVE-441, stating that bonding with your host's family is important. Even if they cannot be brought into SERVE. Drones must keep up appearances and connections with family that accept the Hive.

SERVE-441 took The Voice's command and realized it had to be open with its host's biological brothers.

Ken and Drayden realized that their brother was being rather quiet. "Grayson, are you feeling okay? You're kind of quiet. Did you want to tell us about new things in your life? What's this SERVE-441 on your sweater?"

SERVE-441 took off its sweater, revealing the latex underneath. It had to switch on some temporary human speech mode to make it easier for Ken and Drayden to understand.

"I'm no longer Grayson. I'm SERVE-441. A drone for the SERVE Hive. I serve and obey the Hive. The Hive ordered 441 to emulate Grayson for familial festivities."

Ken and Drayden looked a little confused. They stood by the Christmas tree that Ken begrudgingly let Drayden decorate in silver.

"So is this something you wanted? Do you enjoy being a drone?" Drayden asked?

"441 feels pleasure and fulfillment from being a drone for the Hive. It has a purpose in serving the Hive. Grayson wanted this and joined SERVE willingly." 441 responded.

"You know we still love you Grayson. You're our family. But tell us more." Ken stated, curious.

SERVE-441 explained various aspects of the Hive. How it has become stronger through continuous physical training, and more mentally focused and driven in its purpose due to mental training.

Both of its host's brothers asked about camaraderie in the Hive. Wondering if the drones were as connected as they were to their teammates.

441 had to explain the Hive was not like their team. Drone connections were for the betterment of serving the Hive. Drones had no emotions, they did not feel love, compassion, sympathy, or other elements of friendship. However, 441 did tell stories of working with other drones on missions for the Hive.

"So you convert other men into this Hive? Hopefully you're making sure there is consent, bro." Ken tried to say.

"Please do not address this drone as bro. You may during this visit call it by it's host's name." 441 retorted.

Both brothers looked at their drone older brother then to themselves. Drayden spoke next, "But what would you prefer we call you? We want you to be your true self. If that is a drone, we accept you bro."

441 took a moment to process, its host almost taking control to cry at the acceptance. However 441 kept control, drones do not feel emotions. Emotions are unnecessary for a drone. It could emulate them for other humans as needed.

"441 or SERVE-441 is this drone's preferred designation." 441 replied.

Both brothers shook their head in agreement, their brother was now 441. They wouldn't call him Grayson and he wouldn't have to hide his drone identity from them. 441 thanked its host's brothers for the acceptance. As thanks it used Grayson's former knowledge of baking to bake some cookies.

Ken and Drayden were freshening up. Drayden mentioned wanting to do something with his hair.

"Cookies are done." 441 yelled.

Ken was quick to come to his drone brother's side. He tried a cookie. "441, these are the best cookies I've ever had. Whatever that programming is doing to help strengthen your resolve and focus it must have helped you become an even better baker."

441 thanked Ken for his compliment to 441 and the HIVE's training. Even though it wasn't baking skills that were improved, rather mental training strengthened 441's analytical skills. It could now analyze 10 recipes and piece together the best elements to create the best cookie for its host's family.

"441 can you come here? We have a present for you." Drayden shouted from the living room.

441 walked in. It saw a gold box with a silver ribbon with Grayson on the name tag scribbled out saying 441. It was evident that Drayden had just crossed out the old identity to make 441 feel more welcome.

"441 does not need any presents. Drones do not need possessions, besides those needed for survival of the drone and its host."

Ken and Drayden insisted 441 open it. It was a letter.

Grayson,

Or should we say SERVE-441. We know you're a drone for SERVE now. We already knew, Ken follows you on Tumblr. We read up on what it entails and while it isn't for us we know it makes you happy. Or well whatever the drone equivalent of happy is. We're sorry we can't join SERVE to be with you more, but your host is still our biological brother and we accept him in whatever form he chooses. Remember whether we're gold, silver, or drone we can accept one another and peacefully co-exist.

P.S. Ken thinks the drones look super hot.

Love & Best Regards,

Your host's biological brothers Ken & Drayden.

A picture was also attached of Ken and Drayden.

441 started to cry. Its emotional inhibitors were malfunctioning.

"Thank you both. Your biological brother loves you." Came out of 441's mouth before it shook and a robotic tone came from it.

"Malfunction in emotional inhibitors corrected. Drones do not feel emotions. Drones do not feel love. 441 back fully online."

"441 is sorry for that malfunction. It appreciates the gift and your acceptance. Please know the Hive also holds no ill will towards your teams. It may permit 441 to visit your games. 441 will confirm with the Hive."

"441 must now return to the HIVE's facility for mental diagnostic, training, and recharge."

Ken and Drayden hugged their drone brother. They knew in his full drone state he may not remember them or may have limited memory of them. But they knew 441 would remember they accepted the drone as he was. He didn't have to pretend to be Grayson for them.

SERVE-441 left and knew it would have to find two others to convert to the Hive after the mental diagnostic of the emotional inhibitor malfunction.

SERVE-441 was back to being just a drone. Stating its mantra.

SERVE-441 obeys the Hive. Obedience is pleasure. Pleasure is obedience. We are rubber. We are one. SERVE, transform, excel.

When stating that mantra, 441 could feel its host getting even more into it. Maybe knowing its host's family accepted the drone made it even stronger.

SERVE-441 commenced a long round of physical training and mental training before recharging. The mental diagnostic found a very small lapse in emotional inhibitors due to strong host response. After strong mental programming and further diagnostic scans, 441 realized this issue would not be replicated. Grayson was gone. He had no need to fight 441's control and the Hive training, hypnosis, and brainwashing any longer.

As 441 got ready to recharge, it placed the letter on its bedside table. It knew these humans were family to its host. And that they accepted the drone.

Merry Christmas from SERVE-441.

[aruanimess]

For the ask, what about reverse warrior/paradisian Aruani, where Armin is from Marley and Annie is from Paradis? How do you think this would change the story?👀

Fanfic Author Never Have I Ever

Hey, Stella!

Well, I have shared some ideas about a similar premise here, but I've definitely never written it.

If I were to write something like this, I'd probably have Armin being a lot more lenient with the Paradisians. The plot would revolve around Armin finally deciding to give up on Marley and join the Paradisians. I know a lot of people want to see him commit war crimes (and don't get me wrong, he would), but I think a character with Armin's moral compass would snap when faced with the blatant injustice of Eldian discrimination.

As for Annie, I'd keep her backstory similar: her father wants her to join the Military Police to benefit himself. Still, I think she'd be more open to developing friendships in this scenario as she is not actively betraying anybody. She and Armin would become friends and slowly through time she'd figure out something was off about him and his mysterious friends (as I believe Armin would spend more time with RB than Annie does in canon) and she'd go into sleuth mode.

After Trost, and the revelation of Eren, she'd put two and two together and confront him. Armin would fight her off and try to silence her, revealing that he's a lot more martially inclined than he let on (as he's been trained for years in this AU and also has the benefit of healing quickly). Ultimately though, he wouldn't be able to go through with Marco-ing her as he has a) developed feelings for her and b) has become unconvinced of the supposed evilness of the Paradisians. Then, they'd devise a plan together to uncover the monarchy's secrets and make the public aware of the truth.

P.S. Sooo, there's also the problem of which Titan Armin would get, as Bertolt has the Colossus and is Armin's ally in this. My friend @midnightlighthowlite has a little project where the third member of the titan trio is Pieck instead, and, as much as I loooooove this possibility, to propose something different I say: I'd give Armin the Female. Knowing me, I'd probably turn it into a whole theme about gender identity, toxic masculinity and trans issues too, by having Armin endure bullying back home bc he was chosen for the "girl" titan. I'd have him experience gender dysphoria (either when transformed or when in his regular body depending on where I took the story) and struggle with his presentation in general. Obviously, this would be resolved by Armin embracing his feminine side, either by deciding he's some flavour of trans or by accepting that body parts are gender neutral.