#creates such a repetition of names in a way my brain doesn't like

[jesncin]

You may be interested in knowing that Golden Age/Earth 2 Diana had a daughter

Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor, also known as Fury

She's present in the comic book version of The Sandman, she does have an equivalent in the show, but show Lyta is entirely unrelated to Diana

Oh that's neat! I only knew of Lizzie Prince (who I've just tossed ideas back and forth in my mind palace of how to re-imagine her- nothing concrete yet since getting into anything Wonder Woman means a lot of future work ahead of me) but I wasn't aware of Lyta-Fury.

Looks like the Sandman show is doing a lot of Standing On Its Own Outside of DC canon from what I've heard!

[raineydays411]

My fathers daughter pt 12

It all comes out sometime

"Jay?" You ask.

"Yeah its me. How the fuck did you get access to the coms?" He asks amused at your actions.

"Trust me hacking this isn't any harder than hydra files" You say passively, " Anyways that's not important, I think I can help with this Joker thing."

"Wait? Really?" He ask seriously, "Y/n, listen carefully, I need you to go into Bruce's office and find the big ass clock --"

"Yeah I already found the secret hide out" You say annoyed, "Mommy dearest kicked me out before I could tell her how I could help."

Jason sighed, knowing that his mother probably tried to use her mom voice on you. " Yeah, she told us she didn't want you to be in the whole vigilante think."

The anger that was simmering under your skin came back, but before you let it get the best of you, you continued. Knowing that this information was more important than whatever mommy issues you had.

"Right, well that's not important." You say," Listen to me now."

"I'm listening." Jason grunted, sounding like was punching someone,

"Whatever chemical agent Jackass put in his venom is the exact same stuff that was used to brainwash the Winter Soldier" You say quickly.

"Kid, I wanna believe you but how do you know that? Tim was just able to get a sample and process it."

"Because, I was told that every antidote you use only makes the effects stronger right?"

"Right" He says strained

"In order to make sure that the Winter Soldier stayed the Winter Soldier and not Bucky, Hydra had to make sure his brain produced a certain amount of hormones. And that whatever anybody used, the effects couldn't reverse. Hence chemical X."

"Chemical X?"

"The name is to long for me to attempt to pronounce, anyways, lucky for us, my daddy just so happened to create a serum that undoes Chemical X. And if I check," You pause, taking over the computer downstairs, and checking the sample Tim had sent in, " The component is there."

"Well I'll be damned"

"Exactly. Now, I need you to find a lab or something. This serum was made with the intention of being made on the fly. So everything you need should be there." You say pulling up a map of Gotham general.

"Wait, I need to tell Bruce." Jason said, " Joker said he had the only antidote and he's fighting him right now"

"No thats not possible. The only ones who know about it is my father and I." You said worridly.

Meanwhile while you were upstair lending a helping hand, downstairs Christine and Alfred were panicking because they lost control of Jason's com and the main computer.

'Alfred I can't find him" Christinen cried, " How did he just disappear like that?

"I don't know miss, there's no possible way he could've."

"Wait." Christine says looking up to the screen, " Bruce and Tim are gone"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How did you get con-"

"It's not important" You say cutting Batman off, " Listen to me, Joker doesn't have the cure."

"How do you know that?" The dark knight asks skeptically

"Because, until my dad figured it out, there was no cure." You say impatiently, " This chemical wasn't intended to have a cure."

"But you figured it out?"

"YES" You shout frustrated at the constant repetition, " DO you want the step by step or do you want to save lives?"

"hm" Bruce grunted, " And you know how to make it?"

"I do." You say earnestly

There was a pause, you heard grunting and what sounded like fighting in the background.

On Bruce's side, he managed to get the Joker disarmed and tied up.

He searched him for what he claimed was the vial containing the cure. But upon finding it, the Joker decided to throw his head back connecting with Batman's face. The sudden impact caused him to drop the vial, shattering it on the linoleum floor. The liquid oozing out and burning a hole into the floor.

"Ooops" the Joker cackled, " Aww poor Batsy, I guess I may have told a little white lie"

As Bruce rose from the floor, Robin ran in holding another vial

"Batman, the antidote." He says with a stern look on his face.

The smug smile fell from the Jokers face as he looked at the preteen.

"Thats...that's not possible!" Joker cried out, " There is no cure. There was never a cure."

Batman looked Joker straight in the eye, " No Joker, it looks like you miscalculated."

And with that, a swift punch to the face knocked the Joker out. A breath of relief flowed from the Batfamily. Now they can focus on what really mattered, helping the infected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in your room you paced, after explaining how to make the cure, you hadn't hear back from the family. The anxiety you had building up in you made your heart feel as of it was going to explode.

"Y/n" Jasons voice came from your computer, " It worked."

You felt like crying, " Really? Are you for real?'

"No I'm lying and everyone died" Jason said sarcastically, " Yes I'm for real."

"Thank god" You said wetly

"Oh god are you crying?" Jason said uncomfortably

"No." and with that you disconnected, allowing access back to the main computer downstairs. After doing that you sat on your be, taking a couple deep breaths to calm yourself. But the tears kept flowing. You were so worried that you didn't get the information to Bruce on time. You were worried about the people that were exposed for too long. The ones that the antidote may not have worked on.

You may have been able to help a few but how many more could you have saved if you were listened to right away. The anger simmered back in your body.

You hated that Christine treated you as if you were a child. She completely disregarded what you had to say and took a shot at your father. At least he was smart enough to know that you were capable of more than just sitting and twiddle your thumbs.

You had half a mind to go down there and give her a piece of you mind. But before you could, a chime came from your phone

"Hey Starky! guess who's on the neighborhood <3"

Wade?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the Batman co. finally made it back to the cave they all were exhausted. Every single one of them wanted to get home and take a shower. Dick and Jason would be staying at the manor simply because they couldn't muster up the energy to make their respective journeys back home. Damian and Cass were knocked out in the back of the batmobile and even Bruce was having a hard time staying awake while driving.

Honestly, ever since his family was created, Bruce/Batman became less about vengeance and more about protecting the city that he and his family live and care about. And maybe, if there was anyway that he can help mend the relationship between your family and his, perhaps you can be a part of his team as well, as sad at it was to say your hacking skills were way above his and Tims.

Lost in thought, Bruce didn't realized that when he pulled in Christine was in borderline hysterics and Alfred looked a little more frazzled than usual.

"Oh! Bruce!", Christine cried throwing herself into the confused bat, " What happened?! Is everyone one okay?"

"Christine, darling what are you-" Bruce was puzzled, Christine always had somewhat of a flair for the dramatics but there should be no reason for her to be this worried, especially because she's able to see everything .

"I thought we lost you! All of you!" Christine cried, eyes welling up with tears," The coms cut our for what felt like hours and then the main computer crashed! Me and Alfred both were barely able to get it rebooted before you got here!"

"Wait, if the main computer crashed then how was Y/n able to talk to us through the coms?" Tim asked tiredly, only jolting awake when Jason harshly elbowed him, signaling him to shut up about your participation.

"What do you mean? Y/n has been in her room this whole time." Christine says with a look of confusion on her face.

The batfamily all looked at each other, silently daring each other to step up and tell the truth, and face the wrath of their mother. Even Bruce didn't want to rat you out, knowing where Christine stood on her thoughts of you being involved.

Now don't get the wrong idea, Christine is by definition an overprotective mother. Theres no doubt about that. But there is a reason as to why she wants you out of the hero life and spot life in general.

Firstly, you are Tony Stark's daughter. There is no getting around that. And being Tony Stark's daughter also means you're Iron Mans daughter. And that is the whole reason you are there in Gotham in the first place. Amidst all the familial drama, everybody seemed to forget that you are still being hunted by an anonymous group. But Christine hasn't. Every night she lies awake worried to death that that was the night they found you. That they would come for you.

Secondly, the villians that her husband and family deal with are...for lack of words psychoic. If they figured out that you, Iron mans daughter, was helping their enemy Batman there would be more people after you. And from what Christine has witnessed these people do, the horrors and atrocities they casually commit. That frightens her even more.

So, with that being said, the look on her families face and the circumstances that had just occurred, it wasn't hard for her to figure out the cause of their technical malfunctions. And what a coincidence that these malfunctions only happened after you were sent to your room.

"Bruce.", Christine said in a clam even tone, " What are you not telling me." She didn't ask she demanded.

"Darling." Bruce said in a pleading tone, " It was a long night for everybody, why don't we just discuss it in the morning"

"Discuss it in the morning?" Christine asked incredulously, " Discuss it in the morning?! Do you know how worried I was? How worried WE were" She gestures to herself and Alfred who looked mildly uncomfortable to be put in the argument, " We thought you were injured or worse DEAD!"

The kids tried to slowly back out, inching towards the elevator that you totally didn't know was there.

"Don't even think about it" Christine said without looking at them, " How dare you all? How dare you? I asked ALL of you for one simple thing. Just one. To keep her OUT of it."

"Christine that's hardly fair-" Bruce started to say before getting cut off.

"No! It is totally fair! There are PEOPLE after her. People who are still out there by the way! Tony and his team haven't been able to find them! They keep slipping away whenever they get close! They are out there, trying to get MY daughter, for god knows what!"

Bruce glances towards the staircase entrance but before he can say anything Christine goes on, " DO you understand how hard it has been to keep anything from this world from her!"

"Ma she grew up in this world, it's not fair to just cut her out" Jason cuts in, " She feels left out because we're all pretending like we aren't who we are and pretending as of we don't have The Tony Starks daughter in our house. She's not a civilian, she's in it."

"She is not just Tonys daughter she's mine too!" Christine shouts before tears start to drop from her eyes, " Shes MINE, she can't be taken from me."

In the batmobile, Cass buries her face into a sleeping Damians chest.

"Mom, do you think any of us would let that happen?" Dick finally speaks up, " I mean, come on have a little faith"

" I just wanted her to stay out of it, to get out for good."

" Darling, that girl was not made to stay out of things, look at whp her parents are," Bruce chuckled, " Besides, she's never going to come around if we don't fully open ourselves up to her as well."

"You have to admit Ma, fighting is the only way any of us bonded" Jason says, " Except me, she likes me."

"I don't know why " Dick says with a frown, still bitter at the fact that you had bonded with Jason before him.

Christine sniffled before saying, " I still need to go talk to her, the way she cut us off was unacceptable."

"But-" Tim finally spoke out but it was too late, Christine was already marching to the elevator, mind made up about scolding you for what she thought was a practical joke.

The rest of the team was left in the Bat cave shaking their heads at their mothers stubbornness.

Bruce's sighed and started to put things away, " There's going to be fight and I don't want to be in the middle of that."

The three awake boys nodded.

" Someone wake up Damian and Cass, they need to go to bed."

Jason and Dick pushed Tim forward, if there was one other thing they didn't want to get in the middle of, was those two and their sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back upstairs you were filled to the brim with anger. You had gone downstairs to greet the returning heroes and rub your success in Christines face, only to overhear what you had already confirmed.

Christine had been purposefully keeping things from you. Not only about Bruce being Batman ( Which you already knew), but about your situation.

See, when you had first moved to Gotham, you knew that there would be almost little to no contact with your family. The few times you were able to talk to someone from back home it wasn't even your parents. Something about phone lines being traceable and unreliable.

The only line of communication was given to you by Natasha before you left, a single flip burner phone that was only to be used for emergencies.

But Christine apparently was getting updates directly from your father. Updates you were sure were meant to be given to you. So not only had she had a hand in the intentional isolation of you from her family, she was trying to isolate you from yours as well.

It made you so angry! You already have sacrificed so much just to be here and you didn't even want to be there in the first place. You ripped open your laptop and went to do a little digging. Upon doing that, you found about a dozen of lengthy emails from your father describing in great lengths about your situation and details about life back home. These emails were obviously meant to be read by you and they all were marked as read and filed away. How they got to the Batcomputer was unknown to you but as you scanned each word tears welled up into your eyes, you father had not forgot about you.

You sat on the bed, taking deep breaths trying to calm down. You managed to restrain yourself and not blow up at that woman in front of her whole family and you really were trying to calm down so you can have a mature conversation about it.

You were trying.

but then, "Y/n Stark how dare you disobey your mother!"

What?

"What?" You say eyes ripping open and anger finally bubbling over

"How dare you! I asked you for one thing! All I wanted was to make sure my family would have been okay!"

"And are they dead?" You ask bluntly, " Is everyone who was infected dead?"

Christine turned red, " That is not the point young lady and I don't appreciate you talking about your family like that."

"They are NOT my family!" You shout, " You are not my family"

'Y/n" Christine start but now you were the one to cut her off

"NO, and since we are on the topic of not appreciating things lets talk about how I don't appreciate how you have been deliberately LYING to me."

"Excuse me?" Christine asks angrily, " I will have you know that I do not have to disclose every single piece of information I have to yo."

" Not even when it's about my own father." You said with an even tone, " Or do you not have to disclose that piece of information to me."

Christine lifts her chine, " Y/n I have no idea what you are talking about?"

"Oh you don't?" You ask," So you and your husband aren't hiding emails from my father to me in that big ass computer?"

Eyes widen, " How do you -"

"How do I know about that?" You mock, " So it's true?"

"Y/n that's not the point" Christine started, " Your practical joke could have seriously put the lives of your siblings in danger."

" My siblings?" You ask, " They are not my siblings! I don't even know those people!"

Christine stays quiet, then shakes her head, " If you would just come out of the room and get to know them other than Jason-"

"Why so they could tell me how great you are?' You say, " So they can tell me memories they have of you being a good mother to them?"

Christine's eyes well up with tears, " Y/n that's not fair"

"Oh that not fair to you, mom?" you shout, " And it was so fair to me when you left me to raise another kid?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the hallway Dick and Jason are paused half way up the staircase.

Dicks heart falls into his stomach at your comment, knowing that that kid you were talking about was him.

Jason on the other hand had a grim look on his face. He knew that this conversation needed to happen in order for anything to move on.He knew the years of resentment you were holding on to. It wasn't fair to you that everyone in this house had this subconscious expectation that you should just put those years behind you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That is not what happened" Christine says wetly, " It was just hard, Y/n you don't understand."

"Hard?!" You shout angerliy, " It was hard? Hard for you to visit your daughter once every three fucking months? Was it hard for you to lead my dad on then crush his heart every time you left?"

"NO Y/N thats not true" Christine shouted but before she could continue you went on

"No???" you mocked, " Then what was it mom?"

" Everytime I went to see you, you had grown." Christine sniffs, " You had grown and had new adventures and stories and milestones that i was not a part of. I-"

"OH bullshit!" You shout

"Y/n." Christine says sadly

"NO, no you don't get to play that card! You left by choice!" You cry, " You left me by choice, you hid me away by choice! You chose this life for us."

" I loved you so much. I LOVE you so much Y/n!"

"You have a funny way of showing it." You say dryly, " You have this perfect life here. Perfect husband, a shit load of kids who adore you. I adored you. Why wasn't I enough?"

Christine's heartbroke and she couldn't answer you because truthfully, she didn't have an answer.

"And the one parent I was enough for I had to leave. I had to leave him and my mother behind for my other one who didn't want me. And I'm stuck in a house full of these kids who adore you and didn't know that I adored you well before them. And yet even though I'm here I'm alone. And that still isn't enough for you."

Christine wanted to say you weren't alone. You weren't because you have her. She's here for you, but that wasn't true. She hadn't been there. She wasn't there even when she was.

"You had to make me think my father forgot about me the way you did for what? So I can like you again? So I could forget all the times you promised you were going to come see me and you didn't? Why?"

"I..I just wanted to keep you safe.." Christine spouted pathetically.

"Safe?" You said, herding her towards your door, " No, everything you've done is because you want to look better. You're selfish. That's what you've always been"

And with that you slam the door in her face, startling the boys on the stairs and Christine as she didn't even realize that she was in the hallway.

Staring at your door she wept. For once, truly feeling the regret that she said she had been feeling. She did truly love you, she had not lied about that. To hear you finally say how you weren't enough for her broke her heart.

"Ma..are you okay?" Jason softly asked as Dick went to knock at your door, a bit angry at the way you spoke to his mother,

"Leave her be." A soft voice demanded from the hallway, " Dick, leave her be. Your mother was not the only one hurt in that conversation."

Bruce walked to Christine, and gently lead her to their room.

Upon the commotion outside, no one heard you open your window and slip out.

"It's about time, I almost died waiting for you."

"You can't die, that's your whole thing." You reply, wiping tears from your face.

"You're crying." Wade says in an unnaturally serious voice, " Do I have to kill your hot mom?"

You cringe, " No, just get me out of here."

"I could do that, actually I have a surprise for you~" He sings as he leads you to his taxi...

You heard what sounds like banging coming from the trunk and you're slightly scared to open it.

"Wade.."

"Oh don't be a pussy" He says opening the trunk.

Popping out with a gasp is

"Peter?" You say with a sigh, eyes welling up with tears again. You truly have missed your friends.

"That was not cool Wade!" He shouts, not grasping where he was, " The trunk smelled like nachos and vomit! I couldn't nngh-"

He grunts as you throw yourself into his arms, " Y/n.."

His arms wrap around you tightly, " Y/n what are you.. Where am I?"

"Gotham, now get me the hell out of here."

And with that, you're loaded into the car, taking the backseat with Peter and Wade in the front with an Indian man.

"Y/n this is Dopiender"

"Hello ms. Stark, I promise I will defend you with my life."

"Oh...well, thank you."

"This was surprisingly easy." Wade said as they pulled out of the long driveway, " Bruce Wayne should update his security."

What they didn't know, was that a pair of bright green eyes watched your reunion through the security camera in the Batcave. Squinting as they saw the tears flow freely through your face and noting the license plate and the men you were with.

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hi, I really love your writing. It’s actually incredible how you can write people of the same pronoun and still make it easy to discern the two characters. I was wondering if you have any tips on how to do that without using phrases like “the short one” or anything like that.

1. Use the character's names

I often use 'the protagonist ', 'the antagonist', 'the hero', 'the villain' on tumblr. However, functionally, I use these like names and/or titles.

Using a character name allows you to periodically clarify who is talking or doing something when the reader would otherwise get confused. I know some people take this a step further by actually using 'Hero' 'Villain' as names more literally/directly, but I don't personally like doing that. It jars my brain.

I think 'the hero' etc works as an indicator where 'the short one' doesn't because it's neutral/not providing new info. Traditionally, we often only use physical descriptors when we don't know who a character is, so it creates distance/can jar when used in the middle of a scene. If you are in first person or limited third, there's just not necessarily a reason why your narrator would think of the other character in that way, which is another reason it can feel odd.

Basically, it's a bit like how we don't notice 'said', but would really notice if someone was uttering/shouting/mumbling in every dialogue tag.

2. Use proper paragraphing.

New character doing something, new line. New person talking, new line. New idea/point, new line. Shift in time or setting, new line.

3. Don't be afraid of easy beats

What are easy beats, you say? They are the moments of action or thinking in between dialogue. Body language. Whatever. Even if you don't use 'he/they/she said', because that can get repetitive. They are a way of providing context and variety to your writing, that can often do double work making it clear who is doing or saying something.

Example:

''So this is dialogue," they said.

"Right."

"And you didn't need to say you were talking next, because it was obviously someone else because it was on the next line. And now it's obviously me again. Hi!"

"All well and good until we've been chatting like this forever."

"Well." They stretched out, lazily. "That's what the easy beat that just happened was for. Did you catch me stretching in the middle?"

"But now I'd need a name or some kind of indicator," Character B replied. "Or it feels odd. Too many theys"

"It's all about balance, my friend. The instinct comes with practice."

Character B wrinkled their nose. "But what if I want to talk for a really long time?"

"Well," they said. "Then you can often start with a pronoun use or a character name to establish. Then you make your next point. Try and keep it relatively easy to follow. After that, try to have some kind of easy beat or action happen so the whole thing isn't talking heads." Character A rose towering to their feet, waggling their fingers in another hello. "And, if we're lucky, we never need to say 'the short one said' again, because we can flow our descriptions more naturally into the action.' Now." They sauntered closer, stopping in front of Character A with the worst smirk that B had ever seen. "Shall we ask the audience which of us is taller?"

[crystalstunes]

crystal's tunes #2: WORRY. by Jeff Rosenstock (2016)

i was going to wait a while before talking about this album, but i mean come on, it's literally got a track called June 21st. if i was gonna do it any day it'd be today.

WORRY. is an album that's very special to me. i originally discovered it via James Acaster's book Perfect Sound Whatever (named after the closing track of the album), and in the years since it's become one of my most listened to albums of all time. i'm not going to link any specific songs here, because i feel like the album is meant to be listened to in its entirety.

this was the second studio album Jeff released after the end of his previous project, ska-punk collective Bomb the Music Industry!, which in itself was born out of the end of his previous-previous project The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. this album really feels like a culmination of all of his work leading up to this, refined to a T and bursting with energy.

"We're not stupid people but this financial oppression has got everyone believing all that we can do is nothing/'Cause we organise through avenues they lace with advertisements so the ones we rage against are still lining their pockets" - Festival Song (Track 3)

thematically, the album discusses a variety of issues with modern-day America, such as landlords/gentrification, the coroprate sponsors of festivals and culture, social media mining your data, police brutality, and how the world just keeps getting worse due to capitalism in general. this is especially evident on tracks such as Festival Song, Staring Out The Window at Your Old Apartment, Blast Damage Days, HELLLLHOOOOLE, and The Fuzz, but is present throughout the album. he also touches on some more personal issues, such as alcoholism and the struggles of being a DIY musician.

the production here is absolutely top-notch, every single element is balanced perfectly, guitars are clear and crushing when they need to be, drums are punchy, vocals cut through well and instruments such as saxophones, glockenspiels and synths are used in certain songs to offer various different sonic textures. its not just the instruments that are varied here though, he also travels across a number of styles such as his classic ska-punk on the 91 second track Rainbow, to more hardcore punk on 30 second track Planet Luxury.

the A-side of this album is fantastic, with tracks like We Begged 2 Explode, Pash Rash and Festival Song becoming fan favourites and staples of his live sets, but i think this album really comes into its own during it's B-side. every track from Blast Damage Days through to the final track Perfect Sound Whatever perfectly transition into each other, creating a medley of different punk subgenres that is absolutely incredible. it's cathartic and danceable all in one, and its one of my favourite things he's done on an album.

"Whenever we feel ashamed, being alive and awake in such an era of hate and military police/These are the mass murder days, we are the blast damage age, where we can't love anything, because they keep us afraid/Oh, I will be there, kicking, fighting, beating, screaming 'There's no fucking way I'm ever letting go of you!'" - Blast Damage Days (Track 9)

the album builds up in energy until its final anthemic, gang vocal repetitions of "Perfect always takes so long, because it don't exist/It doesn't exist!", which is one of Jeff's main mission statements creatively. the first Bomb the Music Industry! album Album Minus Band has anti-piracy hiss throughout from various plugins he used the demo versions of instead of buying, and a track that's project files corrupted so he couldnt mix it properly, but all of that just adds to the artistry of it all. nothing can ever truly be perfect, so just be honest and authentic and do what you want, because in both art and people, our imperfections are what make us whole. i'm not a perfect person, and that's alright. i may have my own anti-piracy demo plugin hiss in my brain, but that's just part of what makes me myself - i wouldn't truly be me without it, and that's beautiful.

i think this album is truly great because despite the overwhelmingly negative topics being discussed, in the end its hopeful, even if the world or your life seem like theyre fucked, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. the penultimate track ...While You're Alive, ends with the verse "And it's not like the love that they show us on TV/It's a home that can burn, it's a limb to freeze/It's worry/Love is worry". this can just be taken at face value as the fact that when you love someone you worry about them, but i interpret it a different way, especially with the context of the rest of the album.

when the government and systems are against you, you're fighting your own brain, and you're overwhelmed with worry, that worry is coming from a place of love, because you wouldnt worry about something you dont care about. you love yourself, you love the world, and in a way, your anxieties are really just a form of expressing your care and love even if it feels like fear, and anger, and sadness. and, for me at least, that's one of the most reassuring messages i've ever been given from an album. thanks, jeff.

"Because it's June 21st, and this winter was the worst we've ever seen, but we made it through the freeze/And now it's June 21st, and this winter was the worst we've ever seen, now it's 84 degrees forever." - June 21st (Track 14)

[show-us-kaidenshenandoah]

i think im gonna start a series called "Kaiden-Shenandoah's random life tips" bc there's just some odd things i do that make my life easier/more enjoyable. that. like. i dont think make me special?? but most of my loved ones i babble to, when i mention them, will look surprised and be all "damn, that's clever. that's an issue i never thought about, but yeah, i can see how thatd help others/myself. ill have to remember that"

so. this post is all JUST IN CASE it helps someone, even just one person, then the effort will have been entirely worth it. bc sometimes living life is hard and sometimes you just need to hear someone say "oh, what about this possible solution?" to help you out by applying such to your routines or use that suggestion as foundational inspiration for something more customized to your own life or whatever else— just to make living life that little bit easier. and if me sepcifically needing a lot of "oddball" solutions and pre-cautions helps others??? that makes me feel awesome (and less alone), so hell yeah, ill do my best to remember as many tips as i have and be consistent about posting them within this thread. just in case and all that jazz ✌️

(and, even tho this likely DOES NOT need to be said out loud, ill say it anyway as my own proverbial "Bill of Rights" style just-have-it-written-down-in-case-the-worst-happens-in-the-future (but hope for the best) PSA: if these dont apply to you?? or if you think "wtf, people need help with this?? our generation/the next generation is doomed"??? maYHAPS THIS POST ISN'T FOR YOU. this is applicable only to people with lifestyles and/or brains that are similar to me and my loved ones. if you arent of that lifestyle or brain-typage, then thats that lol of course you cant relate. it's an "apples and oranges" thing, y'know. not better/worse or special/normal; just different. it's not something you need, and that's super okay. just don't be rude about the difference. if youd like to be kind and reblog anyway in case any followers or loved ones of yours could be helped by any of this?? that's so fantastic. some of this stuff has some really bad internalized shame about it, or else people have been conditioned to just "keep that to themself; don't talk about it", and either way some of these topics (not all, but still) have people who are hiding their struggle from others as best they can. you don't know what you don't know; and you don't know what people don't tell you. so it's very generous of you, as someone who cant relate to some/all of this stuff, to reblog just in case one of those silent strugglers follow you and/or are a part of your inner-circle. thank you so much for sympathizing with struggles you know your life as is doesn't share and thank you for being kind ♡)

i dont expect this to be helpful to EVERYBODY, and def feel free to just screenshot what is valuable to you and abandon this actual post (just pls dont crop my name out, esp if you end up re-posting your copy to your own blog or on different social-media elsewhere. bc credit is nice lol) bc i assume this will become a long/repetitive post as i update on/off. and most people dont like long posts lmao rip so you dont gotta reblog it if you hate long/repetitive posts or are worried about your followers disliking any long/repetitive post (besides: ill sometimes make one-offs not attached to this post, probably. esp since im forgetful and tumblr is broken/i lose things easily. but ill try to reblog this one for most of them, since thats easier organization for my brain 🫶 lmao)

(but yeah i only have three ideas i wanna do today, but ill come back to this whenever i remember another one ive done thats been helpful to me and/or that i created alongside a loved one that helped them lol)

also pls note that i am dyslexic and do not plan on editing any of this too seriously. so forgive me for mispellings, for forgetting an entire word, and so on. this is me being very casual, so ill inevitably miss some mistakes i make and whatnot

hugs and kisses xoxo best wishes see you later babe

[diazisms]

Hello to one of my fav 9-1-1 writers!

I was just wondering how you find the motivation to write? I'm struggling with it right now and will appreciate any advice you can give!

HI FIRST OF ALL THANKS!!!! you're sweet :')

i'm in a bit of a slump right now mostly because all my writing juice is going towards my assignments for class (shocker, i, a writing and literature major, have to write about literature), however i think getting into the habit of writing consistently is so important. if not everyday than as much as you can. it doesn't even have to be that much but just a little bit of creative writing to keep the story going and you're brain used to having to work and think that way.

one thing that REALLY works for me in terms of longer writing is plotting as you go. i'll plot the first three chapters and then when i get to the third chapter i'll plot the next three. i like sticking to my outline it helps keep the story going in one clear direction, but i also get so frustrated when i plot an entire 90k fic or book and the narrative naturally starts unfolding in a different way. trying to beat the story into submission is...not easy. and then i always end up giving up. outline a little at a time but also having a general idea in mind to guide the plot works best for me.

also, for longer works, you can't just sit and write 90k in one go. that doesn't work and is probably not possible. but sometimes if you leave a scene you won't be able to go back to it, so i leave myself a little 1-2 sentence summary of where i planned for the scene to go so i don't stare at the words trying to figure out what the hell was supposed to happen next.

for shorter fics like one-shots under 10k i'll kind of just let it go where it wants to. and if i don't like where it's going i go back a few lines to figure out what changed and where the tone shifted into a direction i didn't like and couldn't continue in a way that felt...good or organic, i guess.

oh! one of my best tips and something i am ALWAYS doing in my writing that keeps it flowing because it keeps me really focused on the words and the story i'm telling is trying to make a conscious effort to not start sentences and paragraphs with the same letter. sometimes it's inevitable, but i do my best to make sure that doesn't happen.

for example, this is from a fic i'm working on

Tommy slows down like he’s about to pull out and Buck whines, high and throaty and embarrassingly needy. He hears Tommy laugh a little, teasing.

originally, i wrote it "Tommy slows down...Tommy laughs a little." but that felt repetitive in a way that had no real purpose or added to the story, you know? so i paused and tried to figure out how to reword the sentence so i'm not starting it all the same way.

it's really easy to get trapped in the "he did this. he did that. other character did this." which makes it feel stale and then it pulls you out of your own because you're staring at it like....this isn't fun.

and writing should be fun!

having to reword your sentences and rework your paragraphs so it's got a different rhythm to it and it isn't necessarily the same structure forces you to stay present in your writing and makes it more engaging. also, it makes for a better read as a reader.

it's annoying but sometimes you have to force motivation. you gotta sit down in front of whatever it is you use to write — laptop, cell phone, type writer, notebook, you name it — and stare at the blinking cursor until words come out.

shitty writing is still writing! you can edit a paragraph that you think sucks but you can't edit nothing. write. even if it's not the best thing ever. if you have a story you want to tell, put it in words. maybe it'll take you a day maybe it'll take you a year to write it, but that's okay. time will pass anyway, right? might as well create along the way.

no art is bad. no art is useless. if you're writing something and you scrap it, great, now you know what went wrong. what didn't work.

force it until it comes. that's my go-to move, to be honest. turn off distractions, write in a different window where you have no other tabs, really familiarize yourself with the text and story you're telling.

and you'll be golden :)

[fqirycollective]

Maladaptive Daydreaming and DID: A Theory

Introduction

Similar to my theory about the link between DID and ADHD, this comes purely from research and personal connections I've made from it. It also comes from some personal experiences, but I don't want to put as much emphasis on that. I have other posts about maladaptive daydreaming, but a quick definition is a psychiatric condition that causes long periods of vivid, intense daydreams that interfere with your life. This theory applies to other system types as well, but DID is a disorder caused by severe, repetitive childhood trauma that causes a child to dissociate to the extent their ego states can't integrate. I have other posts going over this more in detail, so I'll just go onto the theory! As always, this is just a theory and it's impossible to make it fit every single system's experience.

The Known Connection

There is already a known connection between daydreaming and DID. Daydreaming is a form of dissociation, though on the very very low, normal end of the dissociation spectrum. Maladaptive daydreaming is higher on the spectrum because it involves losing time to your daydreams and removing yourself from reality to immerse yourself within your daydream. Maladaptive daydreaming being a form of dissociation is a connection. Another one is how dissociative children (in creation of the system) are known to wish their trauma was happening to someone else, pretend it was happening to someone else, and eventually dissociate away from it so much that they have no idea it happened at all and/or believe it really did happen to someone else.

Innerworlds

The first part of the theory goes over innerworlds. Some of this is already regarded as fact, but other parts are a bit more controversal on how 100% it is. The theory is that a maladaptive daydreamer child who is also a system will likely have an innerworld. This is because their brain is able to create such complex worlds already in their daydreams, that an internal world wouldn't be as hard to create than if they didn't have the ability to create those complex worlds. I also believe so many systems' innerworlds are so vivid because of maladaptive daydreaming making it easier for them to visualize, not because of the roleplaying thing many fakeclaimers tend to think.

This is actually gone over in did-research.org where it says how highly dissociative and imaginative children may create complex innerworlds. The imaginative part, when paired with the known connection mentioned previously, makes me believe it has a strong connection to maladaptive daydreaming. Furthermore, I read a study about why polyfragmented systems tended to have larger and more complex innerworlds. Unfortunately, I didn't save the study, but the gist of it was that the brain sees the trauma as completely unescapable and therefore turns to itself as a way to cope through daydreaming and imaging themself away from it.

Polyfragmented systems often have continuous trauma and so the theory is they used daydreaming as a distraction while it was happening so the brain seeked a safe place inside the daydream. (Reminder: Daydreaming is a form of dissociation so as a coping mechanism for trauma, it can still lead to a system.) I think the brain uses daydreaming as a child to help create a place that will help them cope with current and future issues. This includes re-traumatization (unsafe innerworlds) because I believe the brain may re-traumatize itself to be able to prepare itself.

Roles

I want to start this out by saying this part of the theory is unlike the one before and is me expanding with my own theory instead of just explaining. When people ask why a specific role formed, they're met with the answer "because your brain needed it." While this is true, there's a reason *why* your brain knows what it needs. Thus, I researched why roles formed. The main theory I want to talk about doesn't have a name that I'm aware of. It essentially says that the roles alters take on are to handle the thoughts and affirmations the child usually poses on themself.

For example, a child thinking "I deserve this" may form a persecutor who seeks out similar behavior as the abuse, or a child thinking "I could protect myself if I were older" may form a protector that is older than the body. As a child, these thoughts may be more noticeable to themself but as you grow older, the dissociation and splitting become a subconcious thing. (Not that it's consciously being done as a child, but the known connection of daydreaming of it being someone else is and it's one of the examples given in the theory I read so the disconnect from the trauma may be partially intentional.) These subconscious thoughts while splitting are what are theorized to decide the role of the parts being formed, at least to some degree. Since learning of this theory, I've noticed this in my own system as well as a couple others I'm close to. These thoughts may be apart of a daydream, especially if it's the primary coping mechanism.

Now for the part where I add on. Again, this comes from research and are my personal connections. There are common themes associated with maladaptive daydreamers' daydreams that seem to match alter roles quite well, leading to me believing maladaptive daydreaming may play a larger part in roles than originally believed. For example, the companionship theme would match quite well with soothers, caretakers, and other roles where being there for someone is the main job. Another would be syskids that formed with the purpose of having the childhood the system never got and the theme of an idealized self. The thing about this part of the theory is that both DID (always) and maladaptive daydreaming (often but not proven always) stem from trauma and these are recurrent ideas among trauma survivors, so they may have nothing to do with one another. I found it an interesting thought to share anyways.

The other part of the theory is something I mentioned previously but didn't elaborate on: daydreaming as a primary coping mechanism. Not only could the thoughts while daydreaming have something to do with the roles, but I believe the daydreams themselves could too. For example, I often daydream of being powerful. Sometimes, powerful with the intent to protect and sometimes powerful with the intent to hurt (within the daydream). A system going directly to their coping mechanism of daydreaming while splitting and assuming a role of (in the example I gave) someone protective may make the subconcious and the brain feel they need a protector to survive because it's helping survive in the moment. I'm happy to answer any questions on any theories I talked about in this post, but just know the actual connection of maladaptive daydreaming to roles of alters was entirely mine and so I won't have sources on it.

[faefaye]

Having finished Library of Heaven's Path (I devour reading material), here's a "positives and negatives" sorta book review about it.

I shall proceed to be vague to avoid spoiling much :p.

Positives:

It's comedic. It gets repetitive a lot, but there's some new stuff now and then :p.

Zhang Xuan (the protag) "hooks or crooks" his way through stuff, and watching him twist situations to his favour is fun.

There's a real good plot twist at around Ch 1600, I was sorta feeling something off but it didn't hit me what until it was revealed and left me speechless.

ZX has some character growth, both as a teacher and a person. He regresses in this often but also acknowledges his own selfishness, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

There are some nice emotional moments, like the times when ZX or his students stand up for each other.

Certain moments, sometimes seeming small, get huge payoffs later on.

I liked how he developed his own techniques in the last part of the novel and how he thought through the inspirations for each one.

As someone who enjoyed Lord of the Mysteries and especially how its protag Klein masqueraded in a lot of identities, ZX's disguises were some of my favourite parts. The best of the lot would be the concrete image he created as "Yang shi".

Negatives:

Several repetitive situations, especially when it comes to the 'face-slapping' and the plot with the places ZX visits (ZX visits as a somewhat weak person, becomes top dog, learns there's a bigger world out there, moves there, rinse and repeat). Also repetitive phrasing, like "you are [x], your entire family is [x]" or "This much spiritual energy would suffice for an ordinary cultivator but ZX cultivated the Heaven's Path so he needs hundredfold more energy". I get it. The last one has happened every time. If I couldn't remember by Ch 1000, calling my brain the size of a peanut would be an insult to peanuts.

The time it takes for the payoffs mentioned in the positives are way too long at times.

The important plot point at around Ch 1500 was dragged out for too long. I knew it would happen the moment we heard about the clan, and every news ZX heard about it was just making it more obvious.

ZX's romantic relation felt too unreal and I don't know what he actually likes in her other than her being pretty. He just feels a sudden interest in her unlike all the women he knows and he goes along with it. And while that can be the nature of love, imo stories should build up more especially if you're going to portray it as some "against the world, we stand" epic tale.

Worldbuilding is meh. Things are brought up only when their plot relevance is at hand and this holds for 99% of stuff- places, groups, beasts, potions, techniques etc. There's also a sub-situation where ZX doubted something or did something important, but we're only told that later when its relevance appears even though we follow the guy every day. This can be good for stories in some cases, but it bothered me fairly in LOHP.

The timeline is insane. 1600 chapters cover a year's time. The first 200 chapters cover three weeks, I think? Can you imagine that?

ZX's emotional and social quotients go to negative numbers for humour purposes, but in so many other situations, he understands every aspect involved. Very frustrating.

He relies on his library so much. I get it's super useful to the point that not using it is dumb and ZX does eventually move to trying something by himself before using his library, but that takes way too much time. For over 1000 chapters, the library is what he always goes for. And past that, when he's explicitly told he needs to stop using his library, he doesn't and the consequences are never mentioned again.

Chapter names can be rather spoilery. I don't want to start a chapter and see that it's called "[x]'s Death" (this is an actual chapter name, I'm not lying). Especially since it's not even obvious [x] is going to die, it's only midway in the chapter we see it.

The ending felt rushed and way too happy. Particularly for Qiqi, I liked her but there were so many ways to give her a satisfying ending than what happened. I pity her more with the ending she got, honestly, than what would have been otherwise.

For whatever it matters, this was like the second cultivation-related novel I've finished (the first one was Faraway Wanderers) so maybe I'm just not used to the genre tropes.

Overall for holding me for all these chapters, I'm inclined to rate LOHP 2/5. A fairly mid work but helped me pass time :p.

[education-over-demonization]

Hello!

Firstly, I wanted to tell you that I really appreciate you giving others the opportunity to educate themselves on anything related to the multiple personality disorder. Being willing to do it is almost never easy (totally understandable). I completely agree with your account name. If it's not a bother, I'd like to ask you some questions that came to me while doing research on this topic. I don't have this type of disorder, but as a neurodivergent and empathetic person in general I don't feel good with the little information I have.

Some of the questions will be in form of statements, because they are conclusions that I reached by reading, but obviously I do not assume that they are true. I would be very grateful if you could instruct me regarding any of these or what you consider appropriate. I don't want to stop apologizing for the ignorance that my vocabulary probably contains. I'll cover this from a point of view that doesn't reveal most angles, and I'm sorry if any of that makes someone uncomfortable.

I'll start then:

This type of disorder only develops from an extremely traumatic event during early age, when the person is still developing their personality. You are not born with this disorder. Is that true?

I understand how a person can be, for example, Dean and John at the same time. But some people report having non-human alters. How is that possible? What kind of fragmentation occurs?

While this fragmentation is not technically a bad thing, I've read that some people don't want to heal, or "fusion", or whatever. I understand that there are different terms to describe different stages. Would it be wrong to tell a person in this situation that although their identities are respected, since right now they are more than one person at a time, they could be cured and it is not good to deny them that cure? I'm not saying "it can be cured" in the sense that if you don't, you're going to be a bad person, but I can't think of how it could be a good idea not to reverse symptoms that have fragmented a healthy development.

Do you know valid percentages regarding the rate of people fully recovered from this disorder?

Can it happen that some personality does not feel part of the family to which the real personality belongs? Is it valid to say "real personality"?

Sorry for rambling too much, I hope not being bothering. Once again I thank you. I hope my doubts are useful.

Have a good day!

Sorry for taking so long to answer this, but here you go! I’ll also number my answers for ease of correlating then to the correct question. Keep in mind that ages and specific experiences vary from person to person, thus why I often say “usually.” I also want to make it clear that while my language may sound harsh, this is not directed at you, I simply wanted to convey the information in a clear and concise way.

1. True! People aren’t born with DID. DID forms when repetitive trauma is experienced at a young age, often seen as before the age of 8, though there is speculation that it could happen with trauma occurring up to around age 13 in children who take longer to develop mentally. The child simply cannot deal with what is happening, so the brain creates a separate “person” to deal with the trauma. Depending on the type of trauma and the extent to which the child can handle it different types of amnesia can occur. In full blown DID (so to speak) you usually end up with total amnesia, meaning you don’t remember anything, while many people with OSDD (other specified dissociative disorder) have reported feeling emotional amnesia, where they can remember the event but have no emotion attached to it, or it can feel like walking a movie. Often you can get a mix of both, where the worst will be completely omitted but with lesser events the emotions may simply be removed, though it will vary from system to system. So while no one is born with it, the severity of dissociation and amnesia depends on each child, the trauma, and how it is experienced.

2. “Two people at once” could actually refer to a number of things! Most commonly to being cocon, when two or more alters are sharing control. They may trade off who does what, or one may simply be there to enjoy the ride! And nonhuman alters tend to happen when the child is alienated or being nonhuman provides safety. Religious trauma could cause an alter who is a demon or angel for example, and animal alters can come from corresponding abuse. While these are more common, it’s entirely possible to have an alter that could be something like a rock, for example this would allow them to be “outside” the trauma and just an observer.

3. This is a pretty complicated point, and there isn’t necessarily one “cure.” DID is a vast and complex disorder that looks different in everyone, so what could work for one system may not work for another. Being “cured” or “fixed” are controversial in terms as they imply something is broken, and while you can definitely argue that splitting is breaking apart the consciousness, it can also imply that it should not have happened and that the child should have stayed “whole.” And our head mates can feel like family, we’ve been with them practically our entire lives, and while to some systems final fusion (where only one “identity” remains) can be the dream, it can feel like murder to others. Fusion is when two or more alters fuse together to create one, however it’s a very tricky topic. While you can get amazing results, such as two very fragmented parts forming a more complete part, just one alter not wanting the fusion to occur can cause a lot of chaos and disorder within the system. Final fusion would also require the sharing of all memories as only one alter would be left, something not everyone wants to do. Many systems instead have a goal of functional multiplicity, meaning they do not plan on working towards a final fusion, but rather on perhaps the fusion of fragments to create more “complete” alters and to improve communication and break down amnesia barriers. While wanting to be “cured” should seem like a universal want, but it’s so much more complex than that. As above mentioned, calling it a cure can imply that the dissociation resulting from the trauma was “wrong” and that the child should have “dealt h with it.” While this is rarely what people mean it’s how it often comes across. Final fusion, and even functional multiplicity require tremendous amounts of work as well. Alters that are designed to function in day to day life by not remembering trauma might not be able to function suddenly, so it could potentially require a job that would allow you to take the necessary time off. It can mean extensive years in therapy, and can require a trauma specialist which can be expensive and hard to find, especially since DID is so under discussed even within psychologists. And the idea of being all alone in your head can be terrifying. If you spent most of your life working with a team of people, each with a role to conquer life, suddenly having to do all of it on your own can be terrifying, and it comes with the reality of what can feel like loosing friends, family, and even partners. So you can work to reverse the negative symptoms without final fusion, which is the goal for many while others work towards final fusion.

4. As said above, “fully recovered” is not easy to define. Unfortunately the statistics don’t look super good. Up to 72% of people with DID either have or will attempt suicide. And substances and the risk of addiction poses a huge threat as well. Depression and anxiety are common, and seeking help is terrifying. Many also end up in and stay in abusive relationships as well, and the lack of specialists and the difficulty of escaping abuse can make any sort or recovery extraordinarily difficult.

5. “Personality” tends to be seen as an outdated term, and “alters” or “parts” is now generally accepted, though some systems prefer one term or the other, and there’s nothing wrong with like one term and not another! The “real personality” you’re referring to is what was commonly referred to as the “core,” or the “original.” However those are also seen as outdated terms, and tends to imply that one had more right to exist than another. the “original” can be just as fragmented, if not more so than other alters, and is not necessarily set apart when categorizing. Rather, the host tends to be what people think of, as many assume that the “host” and “original,” (so to speak) are the same when that often isn’t the case. Many systems will refer to biological family as the “body’s family” or simply as theirs depending on how long they have been host. Who the host is can change over time as circumstances and needs change, and many systems have a host team, or a group of alters who front frequently to walk through day to day life!

Tldr; people aren’t born with DID, nonhuman alters are typically caused by severe trauma that dehumanizes the child, healing looks different for everyone and many dislike the idea of being “cured,” healing is very hard and time consuming, alters may not feel any relation to the body’s family at all, and the term “real personality” is very outdated as well as offensive.

[maziijapanese]

Unlocking the Key to Mastering Kanji Efficiently

Kanji can be one of the most complex yet rewarding aspects of learning Japanese. With thousands of characters to familiarize yourself with, the task may seem daunting. However, by employing the right techniques and utilizing helpful tools, you can make remarkable progress while enjoying the journey. Here are some practical strategies to help you excel at Kanji:

1. Establish a Daily Routine Consistency is key to mastering Kanji. Establishing a daily routine allows you to build a strong foundation over time. Set aside specific time each day to review and practice, even if it's just 15-20 minutes. This regular engagement with the characters will help solidify your understanding and create a habit that leads to long-term retention. Just like learning a musical instrument or a new sport, the small, consistent efforts you make every day will accumulate into significant progress.

2. Divide and Conquer The sheer number of Kanji characters can be overwhelming, but breaking your study sessions into smaller, more manageable chunks can make the process much more approachable. Rather than trying to learn a large number of Kanji characters at once, focus on a few each day. This method allows you to dive deeper into each character, understanding its meaning, pronunciation, and usage. Over time, these small victories will add up, and you'll find yourself with a solid repertoire of Kanji that you know well.

3. Get Hands-On In the digital age, it's easy to overlook the importance of physically writing out Kanji characters, but this traditional method still holds tremendous value. Writing each character by hand not only reinforces your memory but also ensures that you grasp the correct stroke order, which is crucial in achieving accuracy and fluency. The act of writing engages different parts of your brain than simply recognizing characters on a screen, leading to a deeper and more integrated understanding of Kanji.

4. Harness Technology Modern technology offers a wealth of resources that can greatly enhance your Kanji learning experience. Numerous apps and websites are specifically designed to help you study Kanji more effectively. Apps like Mazii allow you to create customizable flashcards that you can review daily, while tools like WaniKani offer a structured approach to learning Kanji with a focus on mnemonics and spaced repetition. These technological tools can complement your traditional study methods, providing interactive and engaging ways to reinforce your knowledge.

5. Immerse Yourself in Japanese Finally, one of the most effective ways to learn Kanji is by immersing yourself in the Japanese language. This means integrating Kanji into your daily life as much as possible. Start by consuming Japanese media that interests you—whether it's reading books like Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood" or "Kafka on the Shore," watching popular shows like "Terrace House," or enjoying classic films such as "My Neighbor Totoro." For those who enjoy anime, series like "Attack on Titan" or "Spirited Away" are not only entertaining but also provide valuable exposure to Kanji in context.

Immersion doesn't have to be limited to passive consumption. Try journaling in Japanese, labeling household items with their Kanji names, or participating in online language exchanges where you can practice reading and writing with native speakers. The more you engage with Kanji in real-world contexts, the more naturally you'll begin to recognize and understand the characters. Over time, what once seemed like an insurmountable challenge will become a familiar and integral part of your daily life.

Conclusion By applying these strategies—establishing a daily routine, breaking down your study sessions, getting hands-on with writing, harnessing technology, and immersing yourself in the language—you'll find that mastering Kanji becomes a more enjoyable and manageable process. Remember, the journey of learning Kanji is not just about memorizing characters, but about understanding and appreciating the depth of the Japanese language and culture. With patience, persistence, and the right approach, you'll unlock the key to Kanji mastery. Happy studying!

[shallowrambles]

Going anon because this is a sensitive subject in fandom and I don't want to offend anyone.

I'm don't 100% agree but you inspired me to take a closer look at the Blood Brother ep. I've never seen it analyzed like that, and although your words bothered me, I think you had some good points. I don't think the fandom idealization of Benny is as bad as the fandom version of Sam, but your argument that similar forces are at work for both of them is really compelling.

I never really cared about Andrea, but everything you said has given me pause, but I think you might be right and the illusion in The Werther Project is a lot closer to the actual Benny we see on screen.

I love your take on Andrea, and I'm with you that it might've have been cooler and more of an unexpected twist to see her in purgatory instead during season 15! I love your brain!

Happy to give you something to ponder, then! It's sometimes fun to entertain the shadow selves of characters, and I think the treatment of Andrea Kormos toes the line of darkness and nihilism in a way that is often overlooked. :-)

TBF, I think all soldier-coded characters struggle with this. Michael, Dean, Cas, Mary, AU Charlie and others...struggle with this pretty often. It's not unique to his character per se. It's that old soldier-coded derealization. I feel like it's especially strong/most pronounced in the in child-raised soldiers, ones who've been raised/created to fight (Dean, Mary, Cas, Jack, etc).

///

But anyway, I like this angle because it compels me, not because I dislike any of the soldier-coded characters. After all, it's a bit unflattering to be a soldier, fighter, warrior, (cop, hunter, military, angel, etc etc etc) in the first place!

But the idealization of Benny feeds into the strange imho idealization of Purgatory, that "pure" is somehow a positive thing when it's applied to Dean-Cas (it almost-never is in SPN, and I don't think it is here either). I think the whole existence of Purgatory is a nod to the worst selves of the soldiers, that black-and-white mentality and "rigid code" that both Dean and Cas tend to fall into...as well as suicidality and checking out of the complexity of "civilian" life.

When Benny says he doesn't "fit" and he's no good here, he's embodying the soldier who goes back. It's alluded to with, "The guy who got out and then came back. Like an idiot." It's got a name: "The Back There Paradox."

Deployments, and especially combat deployments, were a place where we knew how to use the skills we had developed. What we did was significant...Life could be very simple while deployed; get up, do your job... Sure, it got boring and repetitive, but we knew how to do stuff and we knew where things were. It was familiar."

We see this too with Dark Kaia in season 14-15: " At least over there, I understood things -- the world, my place in it."

What I'm saying is that soldier-coded characters' rigid adherence to "rules" can be just as neurotic as Sam's moral relativism spirals. (Cas is super fascinating because he embodies both tendencies!)

Purgatory represents "unthinking war," where there's 24/7, 360-degree combat. It's the horrific bloodlust that many soldiers are often too ashamed to admit they're addicted to, what is often quoted as: should "stay overseas, unsaid." It's the secret shame veterans won't readily admit to but many understand and know all too well.

Dean even shows signs of this in his fantasy world in AU Michael's bar, with the fame he crows about here (14x10, Nihilism):

DEAN: What you got? PAMELA: (wiping Deans face) Worst part of working here is having to clean up the blood after some pissed-off monster busts in to kill you. DEAN: (smirking) Well, what can I say? I'm famous.

///

"Being exposed to the adrenaline and the fame associated with being a soldier creates a dangerous addiction. Many veterans that deployed to combat come back to the states and chase the high that they felt on the battlefield." x

///

The unusual thing with Dean and Cas, is that they each recognize the nihilistic soldier in each other...ranging at times from joyful nihilism to the suicidal sorrow that's all wrapped up with identity-as-soldier-"weapon" and seeing combat far too often. (THIS is the subtext that attracts so many veterans.)

But the thing that's different for them is that they're crazed to get each other out. Underlined in two separate throughlines in season 8 and 15.

This is a little bit echoed in Alt Mary and Alt John, who also want to get each other out of hunting in SPNwin. That's what attracted Mary to John initially, that he was a soldier with a big heart even though he'd seen The Horrors.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is. I have a soft spot for the soldier who try, have tried, and are trying to get out. Even when they fail, like Benny did.

///

Anyway, soldiers are "loyal dogs." We see Dean referred to as a dog as late as season 15, when Lucifer calls him old "faithful," (like a dog) in one of Chuck's alternate endings. They're also "fish" (out of water). Bait. Bombs. Hammers. Blunt instruments.

They struggle with feeling perpetually dislocated when they're away from combat.

That’s where the, “I’m not sure what’s real” primarily stems from.

[linskywords]

Hi Linsky, I love your writing ❤️❤️

I was really interested to see you re-blog that post about 'fic red flags' I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you meant by 'epithets!' - I'd always thought the phrase "he muttered an epithet" meant the character had just sworn, but google had a different take so I wasn't sure what you meant by it :-) Obviously none of these are hard and fast rules but any knowledge I can glean from your experience would be so good.

Sorry if this is too pedantic. Hope you're having a great week!

Aw hi! Happy to talk about it. I have to admit to being a bit baffled when I first read your ask because "he muttered an epithet" isn't a usage I've ever heard before. I racked my brain and decided you probably meant "expletive"?? Let me know if I got it. 😁

Epithets in the way I meant them are when instead of calling a character by name, you refer to them by some other descriptor, such as "the taller man" or "the brunette." This is totally fine to do in a situation where the POV character doesn't know someone's name. (Fighting two anonymous goons: "He clubbed the taller man and pointed his gun at the one wearing a fedora.") Where I'm not a fan is when the character does know the person's name, but the author doesn't want to use it because they think it would be too repetitive, and they also don't want to use a pronoun because they think it would be too confusing. This happens a lot in slash and femslash where there's a love scene between two characters who use the same pronouns. And that's kind of fair -- write a sex scene between two men, and you get a heck of a lot of "he" and "him" and "his" floating around. But:

1) Sometimes it's less confusing than the author fears. "John kissed him" isn't actually ambiguous, because John isn't going to be kissing himself. And context covers a multitude of sins. Sometimes you have to trust that someone isn't going to stop stroking someone else's, er, body part and start stroking their own.

2) Even in cases where it actually would be confusing, it's usually better to just use the character's name again. Names are pretty neutral to readers; you can use them a lot without sounding repetitive. I find myself rationing descriptors when writing sex scenes (you can only get away with the word "desperate" so many times within a given stretch of paragraphs), but names are not something you need to ration like that. They're like the word "said." Functional and functionally invisible.

That said, sometimes you do end up in confusing situations where it would be awkward to reuse a name. "John picked up David's hand and put it on David's chest" is not great. In that case, I would probably rephrase or add something to separate the two uses of David's name. "John picked up David's hand -- large, callused -- and put it on David's chest." Already less awkward, and there's so much farther I could take it if I wanted to.

But why, you might be asking? (Or not -- maybe you already hate epithets and just didn't know what they were called.) Mostly, they're just hideously clunky. Names and pronouns are invisible, but epithets are definitely not. They stick out; they interrupt the flow of a sentence as much as or more than a name repetition would have. They also create more work for the reader. You're reading a sex scene between John and David, and now all of a sudden you have to remember which one is taller. Or which one is brunet. (Or maybe the taller one is also brunet, and the author is so opposed to repetition that they're using multiple epithets for the same person.) It can even create the hilarious impression that this is actually a sex scene among four people, or six. It's a slight barrier that keeps the reader from sinking as smoothly into the scene.

(This is also, incidentally, a problem any time you use multiple names for the same character. I remember when I first started writing Star Trek fic, I alternated calling Jim "Jim" and "Kirk" because I thought using too much of one or the other would be too repetitive. But names, as I've said above, aren't repetitive in the same way other words are. It is cleanest for the reader if there is one and only one way that a character is referred to in narration, even if other characters might have reasons for calling them multiple things in dialogue. The last thing you want to do is give your reader more work when they're trying to take in your story. When I imported my Star Trek fic to AO3, I'm pretty sure I standardized Jim's name.)

I will add: there ARE some times when epithets can be effective. Usually it's when there's some aspect of a character you particularly want to emphasize. "He sat back and watched the love of his life walk onto the stage." "They welcomed the conquering hero back to campus." Those epithets are saying something about the character in question; there's a reason to include them that isn't just to get around an awkward repetition. It's unlikely that you would mistake this kind of epithet for the other while writing. If you're fishing around for some way to describe a person to avoid repetition -- it's the bad kind.

So that's my beef with epithets. Hope that made sense. Expletives, on the other hand, I'm totally fine with. 😄

[scatterpatter]

"Where's the essay OP" Said no one, and yet here I am

Lampy isn't stupid, he's neruodivergent: a rushed-together masterpost

Disclaimer: I'm not a liscened medical professional but I'm neurodivergent who's close to many neurodivergent people so I know when certain traits strike me as very familiar... Also tblt is my comfort movie I've seen it probably over 100 times, not exaggerating, so if anyone here's an expert on it, it's me.

I'm only going by the first movie because while To The Rescue and Goes To Mars probably have evidence to back me up, I don't feel like sitting down to watch them as I don't have them as memorized as the original

Point #1: Lampy is arguably the most intelligent appliance in the movie

Honestly it apalls me that so many are convinced that Lampy is an idiot when he displays some of the most intelligent traits in the movie. I'll just list off some of the most important scenes that show this

1: When discussing a way to get to the city, Lampy comes up with plans that end up failing, true. But we should also consider that not only did Radio and Toaster come up with bad plans before deciding on the swivel chair, but 2/3 of Lampy's ideas involved the same mechanic: on something with wheels(yes the mattress had wheels for some reason) being powered by Kirby

2: "From here you can see the really big lamp!" This scene is simply due to the appliances being sheltered from the outside world. Lampy displays the same level of naive-ness as everyone else: Radio seems earnest in calling the sun a "really big lamp", and Kirby calls the grass "shag carpet". Lampy is not at a lower intelligence in this scene, he's exactly at the same level as everyone else

3: The scene with the storm really sells his intelligence. The appliances have a rudimentary understanding of electricity, most likely from being appliances, but Lampy displays an excelled level of understanding by sacrificing himself for the battery. He understands that batteries are powered by electricity, lightning is electricity, and by using himself as a lightning rod, he acts as the conductive metal to easily transfer this energy from the bolt to the battery. Technically this should have overcharged and fried the battery but we'll suspend disbelief for the sake of this movie.

4: He knew that stacking the appliances to roughly human height, creating a dark environment with ominous sounds, and putting Toaster at eye-level to scare the human with his own reflection... Again, this is an intelligent understanding of how to scare a human

5: It's unclear on whose idea it was to look up Rob in a phone book, however this shows that not only can Lampy read(most likely picked up from being Rob's reading light), ESPECIALLY when Toaster struggles to read, but also has an understanding of phone books, addresses, and finding humans based on family names. I cannot stress how intelligent this is for a sentient desk lamp

There's a few more minor examples, but these are the biggest cases. Lampy is intelligent.

Point #2: Lampy struggles with social cues and doesn't empathize as easily as others

My biggest point here is when people think neruodivergents are "dumb" for having trouble picking up on things like sarcasm when that just... isn't the case. A few notable examples include:

1: When Air Conditioner says "You're a real bright little lamp", Lampy doesn't pick up the sarcasm and thinks he's being complimented. Though he definitely shows a level of emotional intelligence because he looks to Toaster to confirm "hey I was complimented", sees they're still looking angry, and gets the hint that he was insulted without someone needing to explicitly tell him that, to which he then responds with "Heyyy >:("

2: Sometimes he's able to read the room and pick up on tones, but other times he shows a level of emotional density. Legitimately not knowing if Rob had returned even when seeing Blanky disappointed to the point of near tears... But then knowing "brains wouldnt hurt either" was a jab at their intelligence and reacting with appropriate annoyance... But also when Radio says "Things could be worse!", doesn't realize he's just saying that to make Toaster feel better and asks "How could they be worse?"

3: He bullies Blanky alongside Radio and the others, unclear if he's actually being a jerk or just "oh this is what everyone else is doing so this is the normal way to act", but he's legitimately confused when Toaster tries to explain why they're suddenly being nice to him. He doesn't get the "now I feel better" argument because his argument was "Well you were never this nice to him before". Even when Toaster tries to explain why it feels nice, it just doesn't click... until Toaster finds a way to explain that connects personally to Lampy's own emotional state. He has trouble empathizing until realizing "oh this is like this thing that I feel sometimes"

4: Something I've noticed when gathering evidence is that more than once, Lampy goes "Wow..." After someone gloats about themself(Twice with Radio, once with the Computer). It's clear by the third time, when Radio goes "What does that mean?" And Lampy responds "I don't know. [To Computer] What does that mean?" That he doesn't even know what's being gloated about, let alone why he should be impressed. He has the emotional intelligence to recognize when someone's gloating and the "appropriate" response of amazement, but it seems like it never comes from a place of earnest. (While Neurotypicals can and do engage in "performative" behavior, I tend to notice this way more commonly with neurodivergents)

Also the "wow..." Performative thing is VERY reminiscent of Peridot from Steven Universe(a characters who many autistic fans see themselves in and the creator herself saying she doesn't consider Peridot or any of the gems to be neurotypical) going "wow thanks" as her default "this is how I've been taught to show gratitude" response

Point #3: Miscellaneous traits that could be neurodivergent

These traits COULD be interpreted as neurodivergent, but I will admit they could also be interpreted as something else so like take these with a grain of salt

1: Lampy appears to have sensory needs. When sleeping, he needs to tap a rock a few times(presumably to make sure it's "right") before clonking his head on it. It's interesting because rocks aren't a very "lamp" thing whatsoever, and none of the other appliances look for pillow-ish objects to rest on, so this could be a sensory thing.

2: Lampy has an interesting vocal quirk: repetition of phrases at the beginning and end of a sentence. Instances include "How exactly do you propose we do that, exactly?" "All of a sudden you're being so darn nice to him all of a sudden" "The fact is there's just not enough facts" The third one is a bit of a stretch but the first two seem to indicate a possible pattern of speech. Part of me wants to say this could be a verbal tic or some type of verbal stimming, but I've never met anyone who has a tic or stim like this so I can't say it's a neurodivergent thing with confidence, but I wanted to mention this quirk regardless.

3: Physically saying how he feels. Two instances where multiple characters are laughing, Lampy speaks while laughing "That's funny - I'm dying!" "I'm aching with joy!". It's just interesting that no one else speaks while laughing and for whatever reason, Lampy needs to verbalize "Yes I find this very funny" as if simply laughing along isn't enough. I've seen somewhat similar stuff in neurodivergents who have issues expressing emotions implicitly so they state them explicitly instead.

4: I've noticed Lampy isn't touchy... except with Radio. Some neurodivergent people can have issues with physical contact, which could explain that. But I've also noticed that Radio also gives me huge neurodivergent vibes... But more importantly Radio is extremely touchy with everyone, Lampy included, hence them often getting into physical fights but also just- tapping them or wrapping a cord around the other and pulling him close(they're so in love but that's a post on its own). A possible explanation is Lampy having issues with touching others, but either feels comfortable being touchy with Radio(due to emotional bonds and trust) or simply recognizes "Radio likes being touchy so I should be touchy back". A stretch of an argument, I'll admit, but I think the interpretation is there and valid.

In conclusion

I mean idk if Lampy was written to be neurodivergent or if the writers just wanted him to be "quirky" and accidentally gave him a lot of neurodivergent traits, but he reads as very neurodivergent to me(probably autistic or adhd but I'm not a professional and can't diagnose him). But while I can chalk up neruodivergency being one of many possible interpretations of his character, I WILL argue that he's not "stupid" given the evidence we see throughout the movie

Tl;Dr: Lampy is evidently intelligent, but sometimes struggles with social cues, empathy, and overall shows numerous traits of neurodivergency

[clarz-cc-archive]

answered May 12, 2020

Q: i keep thinking about your epithets tweet and it made me realize how differently english and my first language work! like, in my native language you have to find any possible way to be as little repetitive as possible (i think this works for english too?) when you’re writing, and this includes first names too! of course this is all based on very basic writing skills, i admit i’m not really sure how it works with books i should pay more attention to it but what they teach us in school is to make the writing flow and repetitions are the biggest sin you could commit. so, every time i find epithets in a fic i wonder if the author is a non-native english speaker? because i’ve seen a lot of english speaker fic writers complaining about epithets! is it condemned in school too or is it just common sense not to use them? i find this really fascinating!!

A: so in english at the high school level they actually teach you the same thing, there's a lot of emphasis put on not re-using words and on avoiding repetition, but it's not actually the case in most english literature? the reason it's taught like that in schools is to encourage students to use a larger vocabulary and to learn how to construct sentences in different ways, but i think it can be so pounded into students' heads so frequently that it ends up creating bad habits that make your writing more difficult to read. i personally rarely see epithets used in english literature except when a character doesn't know someone's name yet (if someone is a stranger, then it sounds perfectly fine to refer to them as "the tall man" or something similar.) i can't really explain why epithets sound so bad to me, but i get the impression that in other languages it's much more common to refer to people by only by a quality or job title, for example how in korean how it's fine to address your teacher solely as "Teacher," but in english if you were to try to get your teacher's attention by saying "Teacher" instead of their name that would be considered *extremely* rude. i think epithets in english imply distance in a way that's considered odd for someone who you know well, so it's acceptable in a situation where the characters aren't familiar with each other but it feels strangely formal and jarring for a situation where ppl already know each other's names and are friends (and then gets even stranger when those characters are, say, having sex! 😂) flow is also very important in english writing, but i think what a lot of people, especially when they are new to writing, tend not to realize is that there are a lot of words that our brains as native speakers don't necessarily register and will kind of glide right over, and maintaining that glide is actually, in my opinion, very important for maintaining flow. changing the words you use constantly will disrupt that flow because it requires the reader to pay more attention to every one of those words. when you just say "jungkook," the reader already knows who that is and can picture him, but when you say "the raven-haired," the reader has to pause for a second to be like "wait which one's that again?" and it makes the writing flow LESS well rather than more. personally, i think rhythm in english is more important to maintaining flow than variety of word choice is, so varying the length of sentences, using words that have similar sounds in them next to each other (especially in descriptions), and other poetic devices like that will have a much bigger impact on how easy and pleasant your writing is to read. i'd actually never thought about this being a feature of people's writing when they're not native english speakers, so this ask made me think a lot, thank you! if anyone else has input on this from other languages i'd love to hear your thoughts.

asks in response to this one: #1