#he's remembered that his source would probably like. not actually Hate someone for existing. at worst be mildly uncomfortable

[ngage2003]

Something that I feel isn't touched on enough is how the Operator is very much infohazard. Granted, that isn't its only quality, but it is a major one that often gets sidelined or isn't recognized.

I want to talk about it though.

First of all however, what is an infohazard?

Well, a philosopher named Nick Bostrom who specializes in existentialism defined it in 2011 as, "a risk that arises from the dissemination of (true) information that may cause harm or enable some agent to cause harm." Basically, a idea that is true that can hurt you, or more accurately, knowledge that can hurt you.

I believe the Operator functions like this, in a sense at least. Because while knowledge of it hurts you, it isn't as vague as a risk as Bostrom defines it. It is a living virus that induces feverish fear and obsession, and through your knowledge of it or your acquisition of knowledge, it sinks its claws further into you.

Note: Simply thinking about the same knowledge over and over isn't enough, I think. Alex probably thought about it even after fleeing and going to college with Amy despite trying not to. They were still safe for a while though. I think infected person would need to actively seek the object of their infection out and engage with it (like by going to Rosswood) and/or look for new information for their sickness to worsen, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Going from the top of the list of evidence, it takes three years [between 2006-2009] for Jay to actually watch the tapes containing the Operator and start experiencing infection—coughing, memory loss, intense paranoia that makes him film himself. We know these aren't normal because he points them out as such.

Alex beating Jay up just definitively isn't what causes the infection. Jay doesn't remember it, and sure you could claim thats a point towards infection, but he's just not sick after that point. He goes back to normal.

And it only gets worse as the series continues, as Jay sees the Operator more and more and dives deeper and deeper into this mystery, getting more and more wound up in it and its death. Its static starts to show up when he yells or is upset, as it does for Alex, and hell- you could argue that the seizures the Operator induces come from witnessing it too closely, from seeing it and the information of it overloading the human mind. Its existence is cancerous.

The seizures often seem directly related to Operatorture, where people get thrown around the outer edges of the Ark by the Operator and teleported, direct moments where people witness it.

That is what happens to Tim in Entry #65, and in Entry #86, Alex starts to have a seizure as he dies after getting thrown around.

Additionally, Jay straight up disappears for a moment before he has his seizure in Entry #72, and sure we don't know specifically what happened, but I think the implicative—and when he has his second seizure later its in the Ark already, or at least in the thing's domain, the shifting and ever hungry Rosswood.

Really, the only splinter in this theory is the fact that Tim doesn't produce more static when talking despite having the most experience with the Operator, but I have twoish answers for this.

Option A】 Tim just often doesn't get angry enough for us to see the static creep in. Probably due to his trauma and experiences in the institution, he just keeps a very tight hold on his emotions and tries not to get angry or upset, as a trauma response as showing those emotions while institutionalized got him in trouble. We only see him get angry really at his lowest—realizing Jay is a stalker, wondering if he is the source, chasing after Brian after blaming him for Jay's death. (Which was deserved.)

Even when fighting with Alex, Tim isn't that angry though. Honestly, his killing of him seems more panicked and impulsive than genuinely hateful or upset, especially considering his horrified reaction afterward.

That aside, he is very good at managing his emotions, and clearly someone who has been taught to deal with them privately or suppress and not show them. They're all wound up and clogged inside him or swallowed by numbness, but they're nothing like how clumsy anger and fear is spilling out of Alex and Jay constantly. Even when getting his medical records back, while he is annoyed he seems more tied than angry.

Tim just isn't an angry person, he isn't an emotional person at all really, burnt out on grief and trauma.

Still though, if you're skeptical of that let me offer option B】 As a system, Masky holds the memories/information about the Operator, and it is so overwhelming and there's so much from their life, protecting Tim from infection but in the process making her produces static even when idle and passive, like how Alex does towards the end of the series.

That is why it often causes video distortion or static when on screen, even when seemingly passive.

Yes, the body shares some symptoms of the infection despite Masky's best attempts to hide the trauma, [most notably the coughing*] but the reason Tim starts to produce static is because he is actually in a sense starting his own infection, like how Jay was at the start of the series.

⚹ I bring this up, but I don't think its too crazy to speculate that Tim's coughing is a product of his smoking habits, while Masky (when on screen) coughs because of her infection. Yes, in the tunnel Tim is coughing crazy but we know based on his behavior in Entry #64 and #65, when Jay encounters Tim in the car that it is probably a triggered Masky due to her limp expression, limping, and panicked irrational behavior. He could have been blurring at that point, hence why the infection seemed to bad.

Food for thought.

Additionally to all this, for a while there, Jessica is seemingly fine because she didn't remember the Operator. When we see her at the end of the series she is healthy y'know? Comfortable.

Yes, in the comics she deals with some Operator Infection, but that is only after Skully shows up and triggers her memories, bringing her out of remission.

I don't know, I think it is interesting and a seldom talked about aspect of the series. I think the "knowledge being dangerous" trope can be really iffy, but in Marble Hornets it works really well.

[iamnmbr3]

I honestly hate that it's framed as The Wizards Are Hiding From The Muggles For Fear Of Persecution like. No.

'They're scared of magic' the magic you're using to kill and torture? The magic you're using for dominance of other sentient species?

Also. The Muggles don't know they're there. The wizards make sure of that.

Yeah.... Honestly the whole Statue of Secrecy is just weird because wizards are so much more powerful than muggles. The explanation that Hagrid gives to Harry about why wizards are in hiding sounds like JKR didn't think her world building through very well propaganda made up to conceal the truth.

Wizard supremacist ideas are pretty common, even among people who aren't as extreme as Lucius Malfoy. And remember, that until the end of book 5 even Lucius was an extremely influential and well respected member of wizarding society. Yes, he kept some of his most violent ideas to himself, but very obviously he was able to openly voice a lot of what he believed and influence policy without significant backlash. Instead, it's people like Arthur Weasley who are looked down for being weird because they like muggles too much (and even Arthur doesn't truly see muggles as equals).

So given all of that it strains credulity that someone like Lucius wouldn't have been all 'you know what? let's just enslave the muggles.' This leads me to suspect that some muggles must have developed ways to fight wizards. Maybe they allied with other magical creatures or developed tech or got ahold of magical artifacts like the cursed necklace from book 6 that you can use to kill a magic user even if you don't have magic yourself. Perhaps muggleborns who sided with their muggle heritage were even the source of some of these means of fighting wizards, hence the fear and distrust of muggleborns among pureblood supremacists. I mean, using the same principals as the opal necklace, Hermione could probably make a gun with cursed bullets that a muggle could use to kill a wizard, if she wanted to.

This, combined with the fact that there are a LOT of muggles, could be the real reason that wizards exist in hiding and covertly influence the muggle world and make sure to wipe everyone's memories. I mean, they clearly have contact with muggle governments. I doubt Fudge is reporting the British Prime Minister out of the goodness of his heart because he cares about Muggles so much. There could well be a treaty of some sort. Yeah the Prime Minister doesn't know anything about it when Fudge shows up, but that's probably because his staff figured he'd be more receptive to the 'so magic is real actually' intelligence briefing AFTER meeting fudge.

The fact that wizards go to such lengths to conceal their presence and wipe people's memories suggest they are worried about what will happen if they get caught. Wizards are able to use their powers to maintain dominance by hiding their presence and influence and making sure that most people remain ignorant of their activities, since if they openly tried to just enslave everyone or openly went around treating muggles like animals, everyone would be able to band together and stop them...kind of like a less evil version of Russia now I think of it.

So yeah. They're in hiding not because muggles persecute them but because they want to get away with persecuting muggles.

[anxietysslave]

What Alastor from Hazbin Hotel would call you if you were dating:

Okay, with the new episodes of Hazbin Hotel releasing and it being a roller coaster of emotions, I've had a thing for Alastor. I personally don't see him as ace, but that's just my opinion. Either way, enjoy!

Baby:

No. Just no- he's more old-timey, and I feel like to him this is not appropriate.

Doll:

Again no- Could you imagine Alastor calling his s/o doll?- I just cannot- It's more old timey sure but I just don't see it.

Darling:

I could see him saying this for sure. I feel like he's said it before to other people in the show, but I can't remember-

Sweetheart:

Yes. Just yes. He already calls people this in the show, so I know he'd definitely call you this. Although I feel like he'd call you this during sweet moments rather than just random moments.

Dear

This is another one he's already called other people, so I feel like this would be the most frequent one.

Honey

I personally hate this pet name due to *cough* pedos who have bothered me *cough*. But otherwise, yes. This is one he'd call you. Again it wouldn't be one for random times of the day and reserved for sweet moments.

Babygirl/Boy:

...Do I even have to answer this one? No. Just no. If you asked him to call you this he'd look at you with the most disgusted look-

Kitten:

Nope, no, and no. This one is even worse to him than the one above. He's an old-timer, so things like this that would be... More modern is already a no, and getting animals involved? No. Just no. Not his thing. He'd give you worse than a disgusted look. And not in a sexual way either-

Beloved:

This is a good one! He uses it more when he's introducing you to people, and maybe if he's speaking sarcastically because let's be honest, he's a lil shit-

Sweetie:

Another nickname I'm not fond of thanks to those same weirdos! Either way yes he'd definitely use this one. More for questions like "What do you want to eat, sweetie?"

Squeeze:

This is actually a slang pet name-? Either way no. He'd tilt his head and look both disappointed in you and confused if you even suggested he call you that-

Mistress:

Once again, no. I feel like he's the type to hate people having control over him, and this one just sounds like this. Also, it was common to call someone you were cheating with a mistress so bad rep for him.

Pet:

No. Just no. Sure he'll call people he's teasing a pet or people he has a contract with like Husker. But he doesn't see you as a pet so he's not going to call you one.

Amour:

This one is one he probably wouldn't hear of and didn't know even existed word-wise, but he'd like it. I feel like this is one of the only ones he'll add to his vocabulary because he likes it

Angel:

Nope- Reminds him too much of Angel Dust- And he also knows that if he were to call you Angel around Angel Dust, it'd give Angel a perfect opportunity to wait so no-

Sexpot:

Yes, this was actually something I found for like a compliment, or if you're trying to pick someone up- Alastor would give you the dirtiest, nastiest look you could imagine. If you're joking with him when there's no one else, he won't say anything but give you the dirtiest glare. If you're joking and you're with people, you're getting the silent treatment for a whole month. And if you're dead serious... No more relationship for you.

I've been bored, so here's this random head cannon. Alastor is living in my head rent-free right now so I hope you enjoyed this! Have a good day/night! Master list: https://www.tumblr.com/anxietysslave/708212002841083904/masterlist?source=share

If you're going to request something, please take a look here to make sure it's something I'm comfortable with:

[septiccoffeefreak]

Hello, I wanted to ask how you're able to find peace in being open as a factive married to another factive? /gen I live in constant fear of being invalidated in the fandom. Sometimes I wish I could be out like you and other factives out here on Tumblr, but I couldn't fathom the idea that someone out there will harass me for "impersonating" my source... at the same time, I don't want people to see me either. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I think I just wanted to hear what you think of all this, from factive to factive. If you ever find this ask relevant to answer, thank you.

I know the feeling, sort of. Honestly when I got this I wasn't sure exactly how I would respond, because I don't really open up much and I don't consider myself someone who's good at emotional conversations with people, but I knew I wanted to reply. I just had to navigate how, I guess? Build up a response. Sorry for the wait.

I wish I had some magic cure all answer for you but honestly? On my end, I don't- although Tommy might have something. I've felt that feeling before, but in very little dosages in comparison to him.

Like, I had the advantage of Tommy making his Tumblr account before I did, so people knew I existed even before I made my own account. I DID have a Pinterest back then, and I did mention being a factive on there but people don't really talk on that site... All I really did when I first made a Tumblr was that I avoided talking to other JSE fans until I knew a specific person was okay for x, y, z reason, and then over time by doing that I just sort of fell into place?

But honestly I didn't get much backlash period. When I did it wasn't about me impersonating my source; it was about me either not being a real alter or about me being disrespectful to him because I'm in a relationship that's. My own relationship. Which is incredibly stupid but still. Even then though, it was only a few people and we just...both blocked them.

And I wasn't even that hesitant! Like I was worried yes, but not nearly as much as Tommy because I had seen introjects in my fandom be treated well, I'd even seen my source interact with some directly, so I knew it was safe.

Tommy was the direct opposite because his fandom is considered "cringe" and alters from there get made fun of, and also because he was concerned that the DSMP fandom specifically is/was harsh or hostile and that he'd have a harder time. So he'd probably be a better example to pull from, I think?

I defenitely know he was terrified at first. Like, REALLY terrified. He used to put spaces between "Tommy" and "innit", or even censor letters: only making an exception for his intro post at the time. He didn't interact with any DSMP posts or blogs at ALL, he was open about his identity in his bio and still went by Tommy, but was careful not to let any ofnhis posts pop up in the notes of DSMP blogs or in any dsmp-related searches. And nowadays that's obviously not the case anymore.

But as far as I'm aware that mostly just came from time, blocking a LOT of blogs pre-emptively if their bio or pinned implied we might have problems, and making one or two friends who WERE active and could ease him into it. I think he just got bolder as he realized how little people actually care? Fakeclaimers and assholes are real and out there but it's not a daily chore so long as you block people regularly (even if you just see them in passing, if you see a post from someone you've never met who thinks factives aren't real or something, do your future selves a favor and block just in case they find you later) and stay out of r/systemcringe and similar circles. I can't even remember how long ago the last time we got hate was but it was at LEAST before September.

Don't check your indirects- don't Google or search your username, don't check to see if you're on cringe compilations. Ignore anything you can and block it when it gets in your feed directly, and you'll find that all your nightmares about fakeclaimers are usually overzealous. They're awful, but they aren't super common. It's important to know how to prevent them from getting worse (don't post or reply to hate, for example) but it's also not something you'll encounter on a daily or even weekly basis, at least not in our experience. It's not as bad as your brain is telling you it is. Your imagination is scarier than reality.

If you want any more information on this though, then again I'll have to point you to Tommy. I know his anons are off right now as I'm posting this but he usually keeps them on and only turned them off temporarily for the first few days of that septicinnit poll thing- he'll turn them back on soon and you should be able to message him on anon once he does, assuming you want to stay anonymous and everything.

Good luck, and I hope you find peace of mind. You deserve to be happy and you deserve to be yourself. /Gen

[tsarisfanfiction]

So about Apollo Brats au, is that something like Cabin 7 (and maybe Meg or Nico too) getting trouble or annoying the hell out of Apollo until he cries on floor? Sounds like something that will finallyn convince Apollo to use protection maybe?

Congrats on hitting the one that doesn't actually exist as a doc yet but that I've been marinating in my head for ages because this is so much fun. Buckle in, because this post is probably going to take me until bedtime to write *eyes the time nervously*. It's getting put under a cut because it's long.

Apollo Brats specifically refers to two characters and one of them isn't an Apollo kid at all - hence why I haven't called this AU the Apollo Kids AU.

This AU (and it is, tragically, an AU) actually has its roots in SON, specifically when Gwen is killed and the narrative decides to point fingers at Octavian, despite this never actually making sense to me (but if I go on my Octavian was Wronged by the Narrative rant we'll be here until tomorrow so I'll save that rant for later). This also then springs forward to look at BOO, when the onagers fire without Octavian ever giving the order, and got me thinking (with the wonderful, enabling assistance of @fearlessinger) about who could actually be responsible for these acts, which both frame Octavian as evil but also don't actually match Octavian's character?

This had us stumped for a few minutes and I was beginning to worry that there was no-one in canon that could take the heat (and at this point, this was just a discussion about Octavian's character, not intended to spark an entire AU). Then I remembered one certain character who always seems to be floating around in Octavian's vicinity, and could be argued (if looked at in the correct light) to have motive for framing and then killing Octavian: Michael Kahale.

Now we spiral all the way down the rabbit hole of who is Michael, really, and what does he have to gain from sabotaging not just Octavian, but also Camp Jupiter - and the answer we came up with was Michael being one of Nero's demigods. He never appears in the same room as Meg (notable, given Apollo's apparent inability to not name every other character in the scene), and when he goes to head off the approaching army of the Triumvirate, there's never a sign of a battle, and we never get a body (the most we get is the nature spirits "seeing what happened" which is extremely nebulous and could easily mean "Michael betrayed you" if that's how we want to twist this).

Where does this spiral into an Apollo Brats AU, though?

Well, what if - what if - Will didn't give up on saving Octavian. Oh, don't get me wrong, Will still hates Octavian with a passion here, but Will knows Apollo and he knows that Apollo wouldn't actually be happy if one of his descendants died. So what if he keeps warning him, doesn't let Nico or Michael or Octavian stop him, and manages to actually tell Octavian he's all tangled up?

Octavian is not stupid. He is many things, and despite my pro-Octavian stance, morally grey is certainly one of those things - but he is not stupid. He is actually highly intelligent. Michael, his right hand man, the man he trusts, not telling him he's about to kill himself? After the weapons have been fired not on his orders (but obviously on the orders of someone high enough up the hierarchy that good Roman soldiers would obey without a second thought?). Octavian realises that he has been betrayed.

From there, it is only a few steps of logic to realise that the Triumvirate have not been helping him, but rather using him, and Will is right there as a handy source to be interrogated regarding what's actually going on with Apollo. No, Will is not impressed about this in the middle of a battle but also we all know Will doesn't stand for Apollo slander and will be ruthlessly fixing all of the misconceptions the Triumvirate have been slowly building up in Octavian through Michael.

Octavian respects Apollo a lot. He's his ancestor, for one thing, but also he's met him, he was willing to help Apollo in his plan (presumably to unite the camps, not pit them against each other - in this AU that's certainly the case but I will also claim that's the most likely reason in canon, too). Realising he's been manipulated into betraying Apollo? Oh, Octavian is pissed.

So is Will.

Not on Octavian's behalf - not in the slightest, as established Will really, really, does not like Octavian and his great-whatever nephew effectively changing sides is not going to magically wipe this slate clean in the slightest - but again, because of Apollo. Because of the slander this is putting to his father's name.

And so the alliance begins. The "the enemy of Apollo is my enemy" alliance. Octavian and Will set their sights on taking down the Triumvirate.

And poor Nico gets dragged along for the ride, because someone has to stop them getting themselves or each other killed and apparently he's ended up in that position. Therefore, we have the brilliant dynamic of Octavian, Will, and Nico. With no adult supervision, because Octavian might be eighteen but he certainly doesn't count as adult supervision here. If anyone's the adult supervision, it's Nico (who is biologically and mentally, if not legally, the youngest).

Highlights of this dynamic include:

Octavian being a smug bitch whenever anyone looks for the "adult" in the group because he's clearly the oldest, and Will being mad about this

Octavian being the only one that can drive. Nico gets so fed up of the posturing and gloating that he pulls out Jules Albert and designates him permanent chauffeur, and dares Octavian to argue with a pissed off son of Hades and his zombie driver. Octavian knows which battles should not be picked.

Will refusing to let Octavian's clear anemia continue - you're a descendant of Apollo, how have you let your health get this bad - and all the iron suppliments in Octavian's diet. Octavian is not happy about this but also can't deny it's doing wonders for his health and is mad that Will's right

Octavian and Will being unable to agree on any single thing and constantly about two seconds away from tearing each other's throats out

Nico ending up as the mediator and wondering when the hell did his life turn into this

Neither Octavian or Will are actually warriors, so Nico is the one primarily responsible for keeping them alive and constantly threatens to abandon them to their fate (but never does)

Likewise, Octavian and Will have mostly grown up inside the safety of their relative camps, and while they have some familiarity with how the real world works, they also haven't really had to nagivate it without a responsible adult (Naomi) before. Somehow, Nico ends up being the leader here, too.

Octavian getting really fed up of the awkward tension between Nico and Will as the Solangelo dynamic starts to develop and becomes the wingman for both of them to stop the damn teenage pre-relationship nonsense already (no, he still does not like Will. But he hates being stuck between two clearly falling for each other but refusing to admit it teenagers even more)

At some point enough time has passed that they unite with Lester-Apollo sometime between THO and TDP. As soon as he is convinced of his legitimacy, Nico hands the metaphorical leashes on these two Apollo Brats over and claims they're no longer his responsibility.

Then Nico discovers that actually Apollo is no better than his Brats and now Nico is holding three metaphorical leashes. He's very pleased to hand Apollo's over to Meg when she rejoins them during the TDP events.

Apollo, meanwhile, is panicking a lot. Firstly, because he's heard Will has allied with Octavian and last he knew, because he doesn't know at this point about the Triumvirate's manipulation, Octavian was betraying him and does that mean Will's turned on him, too?

He is relieved to learn the truth. Until he realises he now has another problem.

Because he's always been the kinda goofy clown dad in Will's vicinity. Nothing to be taken seriously, bit of a well-meaning idiot, Will has no reason to expect stuff from him. Meanwhile, with Octavian he was always the more serious, intelligent god.

Now, he cannot play the fool without getting side-eyed (and called out) by Octavian, and he cannot be serious and aloof and pretending to not actually care on a personal level without getting side-eyed (and called out) by Will. His facets and lies and masks are being shredded by the moment because these two were never meant to gang up on him - certainly not in a situation where he couldn't just poof and disappear in a shower of sunbeams - and now he's being forced to be honest because anything less is getting called out. He's been snared in a trap of his own making and he doesn't know how to get out.

The events of TDP also give us the one moment that makes everyone sit up and take note, and that's the one moment that Octavian and Will agree on something.

Georgina.

The instant the claim is made that she's Apollo's daughter, both of them are scoffing in tandem.

Dad would never forget one of his children, says Will with the same conviction he once declared Apollo would never instigate or want a war between the two camps, firm in his belief that Apollo does love them all and that forgetting one of his children, even with mortal memory issues? Impossible.

Octavian, on the other hand. Oh, ho, Octavian. Don't be ridiculous, he says, because to Octavian, a legacy of Apollo, ancestry is important. Octavian knows the names of every single legacy of Apollo that has ever been in New Rome, not just his own line but the others as well, and he recognises Georgina. She's got the same face as Camilla, a third-generation legacy of Apollo from a different branch who left New Rome for the mortal world a decade ago, it's beyond obvious that this is her daughter. Georgina is a legacy, not a child, of Apollo, and that makes all the difference.

When Will and Octavian agree on something, only a fool would ignore them. So far the only other thing they've agreed on is that the Triumvirate is going to go down and with this duo on the warpath it's clearly a matter of when, rather than if, they'll succeed (as long as they don't kill each other first).

This is about as far as I've got with this AU so far, but I'm having so much fun messing around with the idea of Octavian and Will working together to take down the Triumvirate with their chaperone Nico present to keep them alive (which involves not letting them kill each other), and Apollo having a panic attack or several about the entire situation in the background.

[missdrummond]

Album 77 Initial Reactions

*SPOILERS*

????? Of course Renee said no??? She is not a woman of faith she would be a terrible choice for this project????

Like defending someone else's beliefs is the kind of thing I would do for fun but I acknowledge that most people wouldn't want/be good at doing that. Including you Mr. Whittaker. Imagine if one of the kids came up to you and said they needed help on a paper which demonstrates how evolution is compatible with Christianity or that evolution disproves Christianity. You know perfectly well you wouldn't help them.

I don't like this new portrait gallery it's just imagination station and it's lost it's charm.

So, the sciencentist is referring to the beginning of Romans and I'd just like to point out that Paul is talking about Judaism as well as Christianity since they hadn't properly separated at that point.

I like the faith and science are compatible argument. However the claim that Christianity "invented" science is a gross simplification. Yes, Christains founded a lot of old universities. You know who else did? Muslims. Which would actually support the faith and science compatibility argument as well but we're not going to talk about that are we?

Also how does any of this help Camila the assignment was for how faith is BETTER than science. Which is an awful assignment but the AiO world is so strange I'll believe it. I mean I technically don't actually know what goes on in public schools maybe this kind of objectionable nonsense happens all the time. (It doesn't)

This misses the entire point of the portrait gallery.

Huh, didn't know God not being IN the universe was this widespread a doctrine. Cool.

That was actually a nice speech there Mr. Whittaker. *polite applause*

No, Galileo's problem wasn't that he contradicted the Bible (that is also a part of it) it was that he contradicted a specific Church doctrine and metaphor about Jesus. Actually I should fact check myself, I can't remember reading that from a reliable source so I probably just heard it somewhere my apologies to myself if I'm wrong.

Funny if I remember right exiling people is frequently what you did to heretics. Isn't that what happened after the council of Nicea?(Which I know is an unrelated event its just the first exiling I thought of) Renée's point still stands regardless of how well he's been treated.

Are you.... Tousen doing a bad italian accent?

Oh no. This is about evolution again.

Ok they made it subtle. And yeah this story most definitely sounds more like the kind of thing that was happening in this era. Would have been a good opportunity to point out that even pre reformation "the church" wasn't one entity with completely unanimous beliefs because if everyone hated his theory then there wouldn't be controversy really.

No! This wasn't a portrait gallery episode.

I need to read up on Galileo.

Bouns reaction:

First not everyone is here because the Mona Lisa is captivating. But I'm just bitter because I want people to talk about other paintings.

Second you can't destroy the painting then say why do people like it. That's like saying tell me why people like cake but you only get four, eggs, sugar, etc.

Third Renee loves math if she doesn't start going off about the golden rectangle or something I'm going to be sad.

She didn't that's a bummer. Like I know art theories are not full proof methodological tools for making good art, however it would be logical for someone in Renee's position to try and argue that perspective.

Ultimately I give this episode a thumbs up 👍 overall I like that the episode exists.

[maxwell-grant]

If you had your say, what villains would you want featured in future venom movies?

With the stuff they have the rights for and aren't saving for future/solo movies, within Venom characters, who is there to pick from? They did the Future Foundation for the first movie, they got to Carnage in the sequel, they've set up Pat Mulligan/Toxin and we're probably gonna either get that or Knull in the next one. They can't scale down to one of Spidey's billion crimelords or someone like Sin-Eater who at least kinda has something to do with Venom, they've set up world-threatening symbiotes as the baseline. Toxin is just nothing, there's nothing there, the most you can get out of him is by having him be We Have Spider-Man At Home, and they already set him Mulligan as Venom's Javert. Combine those two, pit Eddie against a jerk Spider-Man who goes Carnage sometimes, I guess it's something? Knull is a Thor villain who took the wrong turn at Albuquerque, I can't imagine how they'd do him for these movies without just pulling the trigger on a Venomverse outright, and there's been a lot of talk about how the next movie's gonna set up that, or a multiverse, or the Sonyverse, and I'm boring myself to sleep just talking about this.

They both suck and are big idiot nothings, and none of the prior guys were really good to begin with. Knull is a little more tolerable in my book because Al Ewing and the new game made decent enough soup out of it and Tradd Moore's art sold me on him a little bit, and Woody Harrelson playing Biff Tannen was by default the most entertaining Cletus Kasady has ever been aside from AXIS, but "occasionally amusing" doesn't equal good or even mediocre, and that's the issue with these movies in a nutshell. An occasionally funny schlub protagonist and offscreen promises can't make up for all the crap everything else, and Let There Be Carnage wore my goodwill towards even that real thin. I really did try to like it.

Don't get me wrong, I like that those movies exist. I'm still probably gonna drag my friend into the next one. I hate most Venom comics but I'm incorrigible Venom trash. If we have to put up with those films and a Madame Web every now and then as the price to pay for Sony keeping the rights and keeping Spiderverse and the games just as they are, then by all means keep them coming. But man, I did try, I seriously combed through Venom and the other symbiote's rogues galleries and supporting casts to try and find an answer for this, and all the characters I found were A: dogshit Venom / Spider-anciliary characters that don't have much of anything worth it to them, and B: halfway there Spider-Man leftovers who are better served just not having anything to do with Venom movies, so I guess the option I'd go here is for them to just make new ones. I mean, movie Carlton Drake was basically an original character and he was, okay I don't even remember a thing about that guy but he was probably better than Cletus because it's really not that hard to come up with a better villain than Cletus Kasady (who at his best just elicits a chuckle) and dirtbag CEO with the cops on his side is the kind of thing you want a character like Venom to be fighting so, I guess lean more on that.

I guess I'd put Venom against symbiote tech cops that he can kill and eat without complication and have those follow him around while the actual plot is about some dumb errand or personal conflict he runs, but I don't think the villains are really the missing piece here. Venom is a terrific Spider-Man villain, but as a protagonist he is frequently deeply lacking, and as a movie franchise has like two things going for it, the titular character and the humor of a couple low-stakes absurd comedy scenes like the lobster tank, so I'd take those and throw the source material in the trash and have them go through something like the fake sequels of 22 Jump Street, just put the character in dumb problems that they can try and solve in dumb ways and do their dumb comedy routine in, Venom as a vehicle for dark parody as an extension of what he was made to represent. Treat the movies less like they are steps in a cinematic universe or character pieces and more like genre films that get infected and corrupted by a monstrous violent walking alien apocalypse and the schlubby journalist meathead in a co-dependent relationship with said walking apocalypse.

Venom In Space. Venom Goes to Hollywood. Venom In The Hood. Venom Surfs The Web. Everyvenom Venomwhere All At Venom. Not even joking, if I could make a Venom musical / Little Shop of Venoms I'd do it in a heartbeat, and it would end with similar destruction. Because make no mistake, this is a Laurel and Hardy thing only to them, and to everyone else it's an escalating horror film with some kind of destruction left at the end, because that's what happens when Venom runs rampant and Spider-Man isn't there to stop them or at least keep them in line.

Venom is not just a parody, he is a rot at the heart that never stops growing, and even if Eddie Brock can strive to be a better man and even be a decent one, even if he and the Symbiote can bond as losers trying to be better, neither can escape the nature of what Venom fundamentally is, with a million new Carnages and Riots and Agonies and Screams and Viruses and symbiote cops and serial killers popping up every minute as a reminder. You can't really come up with a Venom-specific villain that's going to be greater than Venom himself already is as a Spider-Man villain, so I'd just lean into that. And then maybe, when and if it's time to finally deliver on that Spider-Man or Sinister Six encounter, they find themselves arriving too late after we've had enough movies to laugh at this idiot schlub and his predatory living cancer buddy while the world they've been protecting has been turning more into this. We put this world not in the hands of Spider-Man, because we have the full rights hope in overcoming hardship to be our better self, but in the claws of Venom, because we are fucking stupid.

[veliseraptor]

🪐🌵🍄🔪🦷🏜️ 🪲🎨 for the Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game! Hopefully you're having a nice day💜

⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

ooh this is a good one to...remind me of good things going on in my life right now, orz. not the easiest at the moment but

Writing is still going very slowly (more slowly than I would like), but last month I wrote the most in terms of word count that I have so far this year, and almost as much as in December despite the fact that I didn't have as much time off.

I'm really enjoying watching @ameliarating play Baldur's Gate 3 over her shoulder.

I'm planning on starting going swimming once a week, which is going to be a bit of a challenge to start but should be really good for me once I get in the habit.

⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

is it egotistical if I do one of my own? probably! I'm doing it anyway. I'm still very proud of my Exandria Unlimited: Calamity fanmix. I think it is a banger.

⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

while I think to start with Xue Yang hates Song Lan to absolute shreds after Xiao Xingchen dies, over time that changes and he gets increasingly attached to him, even though Song Lan doesn't, you know, have much of a personality at the time. He treats him sort of like he does, though, and by the time Wei Wuxian frees him Xue Yang sort of considers Song Lan his best friend, weirdly. Like, he's a science experiment but he's also a friend. It's the kind of relationship that only works if you're Xue Yang. The weirder thing is that it's not entirely one-sided.

⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

it's not that weird, but there was the time I had someone dig me up the translation of Ovid that existed in the 16th century for Lymond fic so that I could accurately quote what the English translation of a particular line would look like. Or maybe it was even more specific than that and I wanted to know what the Latin would look like, I don't exactly remember. I know it was specific. Most of the weirdly specific things I've researched for fic are Lymond-related and have to do with primary sources I'm borrowing quotations from.

⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

I'm much better at giving advice than taking it - I know all kinds of things I should be doing that would make my life better but actually implementing them is, uh, another story. But I guess if I were to try to think of something that I actually do do that I try to implement in my own life, maybe I'd say it's getting a little bit of an attitude of "do it anyway." It's sort of like the "do it scared" thing but it also includes things like "I'm tired" or "I don't think anyone will like this" or "I don't know if I like this" and sometimes the thing to do is just. Do it anyway.

Maybe this comes out of my knowing that my brain and my emotions are inherently skewed and unreliable and so if I didn't have that attitude it would get in the way of me doing much of anything.

⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

I feel like this is probably a common answer, but definitely I love a comment that does some kind of analysis/commentary on specific aspects of a work. it's not common, or anything, but I thrive on comments that take my work seriously in some way as worth lingering on things like word choice or what a particular excerpt says about characterization, or stuff like that. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

When they settled down at their campsite, Xingchen reached out to grasp Xue Yang’s wrist only for Xue Yang to flinch away.  Both of them froze. Xue Yang’s mouth twisted; Xingchen’s expression betrayed frustration and hurt together.  “Don’t fuss, Daozhang,” Xue Yang said, his voice studiously light. “I’m good.” “You’re still weak,” Xingchen said, at the same time as a-Qing said, “don’t be stupid.”  “I’ll be fine,” Xue Yang said dismissively. “I just need a minute, that’s all.” His body language had gone tense and defensive.

⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

my favorite? my absolute favorite? ever?? I don't even know how to choose. I guess if I'm picking one out of the many, many works of fanart that I love (seriously, there's so many), I might have to go with this commission I got from @yutaan. I love the joy of it, the expressions, and I'm a huge fan of papercraft as a medium - the variety of textures and patterns is a particular treat. It's really a lovely piece and the fact that it was made for me just makes it even more special.

[writers truth & dare ask game]

[iteh3xael]

Witchcraft Ask Game

What drew you to witchcraft?

Old bestie in HS was into it (we bonded over Charmed) and then had a REALLY weird series of run ins once I graduated college and did some psychedelics. Remembered I used to lucid dream and was fascinated by the Christian Book of Revelation as a CHILD and that kind of all merging into the queer pagan I find myself today.

2. Do you follow a specific witchcraft tradition, or are you eclectic?

I have a whole theory on DND and how witchcraft plays into that and how we basically are imbued with the power of our namesake and then the rest of kind of based on whatever you're exposed to and I'm not saying crystals will straight up give you super powers but like, runes have meaning and maybe don't fuck the stalachtite

3. Do you believe in the Threefold Law or karma in witchcraft?

There's something to be said about consequences to actions and the 2nd Law of Newton (equal and opposite) and 1st Law of Thermo (energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred) that definitely applies. FMA also taught me about fucking with life and death magic and you gotta be REALLY careful with what you ask for because the universe is VERY finicky.

4/5. What advice would you give to someone who feels called to witchcraft but is unsure where to begin?

Gonna self plug a post here about things I wish I knew when I started (everyone actually practices to a degree, it's just become really archaic to exist in a present fashion while also embracing the wonderment of things like dreams.

6. Have you ever had a dream or vision that felt prophetic?

Used to! Don't as much but I think it's a skill. Some people naturally have premonitions through dreams and mine are more like vivid intrusive thoughts that play through my head and I have to figure out which is actually useful.

7. What do you think of Aleister Crowley?

Ngl had to Google who that was because I don't really follow many contemporary people and knew he was a "magician" of sorts but I don't take any stock in orgs like the Free Masons or even Satanism even if I think there's probably ~something~ there. He was clearly smart enough to make it work but idk how much is just really smart social engineering (he was a spy, afterall) and a smattering of esoteric networking that led to him being fairly successful at whatever his craft was

8. Do you think witches can create their own deities?

So... I think witches occupy a kind of weird realm/dimension (on my scale it's on like, the 6th degree akin to the "inverted" dimension where we would think of them being akin to IRL angels) and so our calling is rooted in whatever incarnation pulls from original sources. Our names have power and "create" the source of inspiration (deities, gods, spirits, w/e) hence why we "choose" them when "coming out" as a way of embracing our sense of servitude to a higher being outside of our general sense of self.

9. How do you feel about people worshiping deities from pop culture?

Sure, why not lol.

10. What’s your opinion on the idea that "all magic comes with a cost"?

Ohhh yes yes yes. Hence why I affirm that people need to be serious about their approach to science as magic is just when science and art come together perfectly (think of siren's and their songs, beauty inspiring wars, love SAVING people).

11. What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you during a spell?

For years, I had never done a spell with another person before and kind of just fucked around and using objects that I figured would have SOME use, I just didn't know what for.

For instance: there was this ridiculous rubber ducky I got from some rando woman at a hotel from a work thing I was at in bumfuck Pennsylvania where she basically FORCED it upon me after I literally said no and tried to give it back but they were SO insistent despite being a complete stranger. I HATE having useless shit and usually just throw it away immediately but I didn't want to be rude so I threw it into my bag and kind of forgot about it.

Anyway, fast forward to me visiting my old bestie (mentioned prior) talking about The Craft while I'm unpacking my bag and how I never could seem to figure out spells while at the SAME time, being like "Oh hey! Do you want this rubber ducky?"

They flipped their shit because, there is a VERY particular spell about rubber duckies and not just finding one, a portion of the spell reads:

"...presented by hand, in a way that's select

a peculiar find, to earn the craft's respect"

and since then we did a spell about keys that still kind of haunts me to this day so uh... be careful y'all lol

12. If you could cast one spell right now, what would it be and why?

A relationship healing spell. Any help would be greatly appreciated. <8

13. What’s your belief on the afterlife, and how does it affect your spiritual practices?

I definitely think there's another realm out there and I try to just be present with what comes my way since this reality is already full of surprises. I really don't do any major spirit work because I kind of have a deep seated respect where the sense of awe is a bit terrifying so I just kinda see where it takes me and ask mindful questions.

14. What’s your opinion on the importance of connecting with the land in witchcraft?

Plz touch more grass lol If the elements of the Earth (AT LEAST FOUR of them aren't present when approaching a situation, you might need to recenter.

15. How do you feel about using magic to influence others?

Whether we like it or not, magic will ALWAYS be used to influence (literally just think of money or words as a concept). We have a duty to be responsible wielders for we are practitioners in a Dark Art that has a reputation for being misconstrued as evil. Embrace all the shades and don't be shy from the glimmers from the light :3

16. What’s your opinion on hexing or cursing?

I would advise against it though my namesake literally deals with them so uh, just be wise.

17. Do you believe in spiritual psychosis?

I want to say yet but honestly unsure of the full scope of the question so... TBD?

[shatar-aethelwynn]

To what "one-sided feud existing only in his mind", to what "hilarious anger", and to what "vitriol-spitting" are you referring, my dear? In our last interaction I was very polite and I tried earnestly (although in vain) to have a serious dialogue with you. But you have not appreciated my efforts for a dialogue in good faith and you attack me now with ridiculous claims. You also misrepresent grossly in your last posts my positions on a certain topic, in a way which is not particularly honest intellectually. I wonder why you act like this. Do you really need so desperately some attention and patting on your head from your friends, the great tumblr scholars? Moreover, permit me to say, my dear, that you are not in position to lecture me about proper critical use of sources and historical methodology. I say this because not only you made almost... 200 posts to defend against an obscure Arab nationalist author the historicity of the Biblical Exodus, but also because you tried to promote some months ago on this site as serious scientific paper a piece of creationist pseudoscience, which claimed that a "cosmic airburst" would have destroyed ancient "Sodom"! If I remember well, the backlash to this move of yours was so strong that even your eminent friends, who had tried to present you as authority in Biblical history, saw you eventually as liability and distanced themselves from you, despite the fact that their scholarly standards are not exactly the highest. Lol.

Reading comprehension really isn't you're strong suite is it my dear. Thank you for confirming you're stalking my blog and hate-reading though! I've also been polite, if amused, but your tone has been increasingly condescending. Expected I suppose if you are our old friend (3! years! this is so stupid!).

Let's see - 200 posts to defend against an author - hun, I was having fun with a book I came across that was still getting positive reviews that year. I didn't even finish because I got bored with how repeptitive it was. You of all people should understand the concept of hate reading. You do it so well. (Incidentally, you may want to take a break and come back in a few months, because your repetativeness is also starting to become boring. A break would solve that.)

As for Sodom, it was a legitimate question that I answered based on the information I had at the time I was tagged. After which someone (was that you too) said I was wrong and gave a source for a contradictory view, that can basically be summarized as "these people are wrong solely because they believe something in the Bible might have been true". And guess what, that was fine. Because, again, I understand the concept of nuance, and I don't claim to agree with the archeologists in question on their personal beliefs. The question was whether Sodom happened. I gave the two sites currently claimed for it. And I agreed that science could potentially prove both wrong in the future. That's how science and archaeology work. And I really don't understand why you would think my friends were distancing themselves from me on it. It was a short topic, not inside their fields, and they have lives outside this site that take their attention. Do you?

This behavior, by the way, is probably why anon asked if there was a feud. Text may be the worst format for conveying intention and tone but anyone can clearly read the condescension in yours.

You know what I find most amusing about this? Of the entire group of friends I'm actually the one most likely to need to reference Herodotus as a source ocassionally. But because I say he's not always right you assume I don't know how to use him, or that I'm not aware that Herodotean scholarship is a whole thing.

[iamnmbr3]

"Riddle thought he was special" he was????

I KNOW!! That bit is just absolutely wild. Until Dumbledore walked through is door, Tom Riddle was the only magical person he knew. He lived surrounded by Muggles. He was the only person in his whole miserable little world who could talks to animals and affect the world around him with just his mind. THE KID CAN DO MAGIC! That's pretty much the definition of being special! Also the first thing he actually says is "I knew I was different." Which again. He IS.

He's not like any of the people around him. Which is isolating and confusing. But also validating. A source of strength and pride for someone who has nothing and lives a violent difficult frightening existence. Someone who is hated and feared by the people around him. And remember, no matter hw unusual his control over his powers at such a young age was, at one point his acts of magic would have been as random and uncontrolled as any other wizard child's. Which means he probably got blamed for a lot of accidental magic that he had no idea how to control.

Also the way he's all 'I knew it' is really telling in the context of him thinking that Dumbledore is there to forcibly institutionalize him. Not only does it tell us about the kind of fear he's been living with. But also it suggests that perhaps a small part of him wasn't sure. Somewhere a tiny part of him fears that maybe he really is mad.

And what child hasn't dreamed of being special. Of growing up to do great things or discovering some secret hidden ability. And every child deserves to feel special sometimes. Children shouldn't be taught to be arrogant or self centered. But being made to feel special and valued and loved is an important part of a normal and happy childhood. And it's something that Tom has been totally denied. Tom, who has so little and is so alone and disliked, deserves to feel validated and special for once in his life.

And anyway. He literally is. He IS different. He IS special. He can use magic. And not just that. Even by wizard standards he is exceptionally gifted. Those are just objective facts, not arrogance. And it is the height of hypocrisy for Dumbledore, who frequently makes reference to his own genius and talent, to act as though Tom's words in unguarded moment of emotion are somehow evil or worthy of punishment.

Tom is reaching out, being unguarded with an adult for the first time in that conversation - perhaps ever. And what does Dumbledore do? He makes him feel small and powerless. He uses punishments and threats. He teaches Tom once more the lesson that his life has so often hammered into him that the world is divided between those with power and those without, that that there is no mercy, no kindness, no goodness with no string attached - only power and those too weak to seek it. What kind of a lesson is that? This was his opportunity to show Tom something else. How much might have been different if anyone else, anyone capable of basic kindness and compassion, anyone capable of putting their ego aside and treating a hurt child as a child, had walked in the door that day instead?

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Error Message Mission.

...

*Back on the Surface, a short while later, Shuichi procures all his personal items into a bag and starts to walk quietly through the forest.

...

Not even gonna say goodbye?

AH!?

*He jumps as he suddenly hears a voice behind him.

Ugh...Rantaro...Don’t sneak up on me like that!

Sorry...Would make a very good spy if you could just see me coming.

To answer your question, no, I’m not.

No one wants me here right now...I’ve been nothing but a bother, so I’m just going...

...You’re not even telling Kaito or Maki?

They probably hate me as well...I don’t think they want to see me right now...

Look Rantaro...Whatever your intentions are...whatever happened between you and Kaede before...It’s none of my business now...

Goodbye...

...*sigh* You’re surprisingly self-centered, you know that?

Huh?

*Shuichi starts to leave, but pauses as Rantaro says this, turning back around.

Kaito and Maki would fight the world to protect you; no way they don’t want to see you. It’s YOU who doesn’t want to see them.

Just as it’s YOU who needs Kaede, not the other way around, as Kyoko said.

...So you heard that part?

Actually kid...I watched your whole fight. And that mental breakdown afterwards.

Honestly, I think you do have motivation enough to save Kaede, and I daren’t not say that your love for her isn’t genuine...But it does seem to be something you’re doing for yourself rather than anybody else...

...

“I don’t want to hear that from ERR0RM3SS4GE scum that keeps all these secrets of the past from us,” that’s what you’re thinking, right?

No, not exactly. I was just thinking you were kind of right...

But what can I do!? Maybe I have royally messed up, but there’s nothing I can do to fix it! I can’t change my actions and I know I’ll never be forgiven!

What could I even do to make things right? Especially when I’m clearly incapable of standing on my own without using someone or something as a crutch!?

...

Look...I’m sorry for what I said to you, but I think it’s best that I just...go...

Alright...But hey, before you do...Just one more thing...

...What?

You know what I would do in a situation where I felt like I had messed up?

I would do my damn job...!

*Shuichi hesitates.

I-I’m sorry, I don’t quite follow.

Listen...I’m not giving up on you...Mind bending an ear for me for a second?

...

*Shuichi hesitantly nods.

Great...Now, here’s something I haven’t got around to telling anyone else yet, but do you remember when Kuripa and I found out the lab doesn’t belong to Zetsubou originally? Kaede just so happened to find out it’s source...

*Rantaro tells Shuichi what Kaede, Sora and Monodam discovered within the lab.

Future Foundation made this lab!? 

Apparently. But obviously, it’s been around way before Kyoko Kirigiri was even indited. 

Did you try asking Kyoko if she knew about it? Or Munakata?

No...After all, if they DID know the truth about the lab being Foundation property, that would mean they’re conscientiously keeping a secret from the rest of us.

While I think it’s more likely neither of them were ever aware of the lab’s existence, I would want to risk raising tensions and doubts by just...blatantly bringing it up while Kaede’s still inside.

It’ll slow process, no doubt.

Right, good point...But why do you think neither of them knew this? Shouldn’t this information be pretty essential to the Foundation proceeds if we had a lab of this scale available?

Well, from what I can tell, some sort of illicit experiment was going on in that lab, that whoever this “commander” was didn’t want the former Chairman knowing about it.

In the document Kaede found, written by Chisa Yukizome, she explains that she was keeping whatever was going on a secret from Kyosuke.

That’s Munakata’s first name alright...But wait...Yukizome? Chisa Yukizome?

You’re already familiar with her, right? Yes, she was aware of the lab, and the fact that she was means something was definitely going down in there.

Right...Yukizome was an Ultimate Despair...But hold on...What kinds of experiments were they doing? Human experiments?

Seems to be that way. They used words like “subjects” and from how it looks, they were trying to cure some sort of disease. Kaede even mentioned she found high security cells in the same room she found the letter.

I don’t suppose there were any famous diseases on record that spread during the tragedy, were there?

Some...But most of them were just simple pandemics like Coronavirus or health diseases caused by the toxicity in the atmosphere.

Right...I see we’ve got quite the mystery on our hands.

But why are you telling me all this?

Like I said, I’m not giving up on you, and I think you should do your job...So you’re gonna help me solve this mystery, detective Saihara.

What do you mean? This lab has been around for over a decade now. Surely most of the Foundation members who did know of it are either not around anymore, or will be difficult to track down.

Aha! Well, that’s the thing. The reason why I think you are just the man to help me get to the bottom of this, is because there’s another name that came up that you, sir, are already well familiar with.

...?

Koichi...Kizakura...

...!?

*Shuichi’s eyes widen.

Kizakura...!? He KNEW about this place!?

His name came up on the very same documents Kaede found. It seemed to me he was actively involved in whatever shady proceedings were in here...Though, I’m not quite sure if he stuck out until the end...

But yes, if anyone we know knows of the events that transpired in this lab, it’s him.

*Rantaro suddenly turns to Shuichi and bows.

Hence why I need your help, Shuichi Saihara...I need you to help me find Kizakura, and question him.

You really want to get to the bottom of this? Why? What’s in it for you?

Two reasons. For one, I’m genuinely curious, and it’s ERR0RM3SS4GE’s job to expose hidden corruption in big names.

Uh, not that I plan on bringing down FF’s reputation any more than it already has...I just would like everyone to know the full story.

And two...I want to help you.

Me?

If you do this, and report back to Kyoko with results, it might be enough to convince the Foundation that you deserve a second chance.

And you DO deserve a second chance. You AREN’T the bad guy here Shuichi. Just a little misguided maybe.

Rantaro...

What are you gonna do? You gonna try and do something to Kizakura...?

Like attack him? No. What good would that do me?

Here’s the deal. I could very easily track down Kizakura myself. I’d like to ask him a few questions, but the thing is, since I’m not exactly an official, I can’t procure a warrant, and he has no obligation to ask me what I believe will be an assortment of personal questions.

Not to mention he wouldn’t trust me any more than he trusts the wind not to blow off that odd little hat of his.

But you? Not only are you with Future Foundation; you saved his life once before. I think he owes you one.

I wouldn’t say I “saved his life.” Just that I got him off the hook for a crime he didn’t commit.

A crime of murder, Shuichi. One that would have undoubtedly put him on death row.

Again, you might be pushing it.

But you see my point, right?

You and me are gonna pay Kizakura a little visit, and if we can, find out everything we can about this lab, and what the hell happened here.

This could be what you need to prove to the Foundation of your worth. You game?

...

Yeah, I’m game...!

Good...Looking forward to working with you, Detective~

[stephaniedola]

FUCK im late anyway also for file my beloved: alone bound ;) hate skin

I LOVE U i knew youd give me the good good

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

oooh this is a good one.... SHAPEFILE grew up in a lab surrounded by scientists constantly observing him, and although he doesnt remember much about it, he definitely has an ingrained sense of feeling weird on his own. i think he probably finds being alone and undistracted very perturbing. if hes alone, hes probably doing GIS stuff and/or homework.

otherwise i feel like they fill their life with various odd characters to amuse them and keep them from feeling lonely. not that they'd admit that, and not that it would show based on how they treat people

really, when FILEs alone i feel like FILE just goes full autism mode. stim city. maybe those untapped traumas memories from FILEs childhood start to seep in... who knows

bound: Has your OC ever been imprisoned or captured? What happened? How did they get out? Did the experience leave any scars?

FILE was pretty much kept imprisoned for the first 13 years of his life, which, again, he does not remember but still has lingering emotional scars from. as for what happened, he has no way of knowing, but hes fairly certain it was bad. part of why he doesn't think too deeply about his issues and hates being alone with his thoughts is because of the weird triggers and fetishes he has that he can't place the origin of. its just NULL data. he does have scars, all over his body, but he was told they were all part of the process of creating him. frankenstein lookin ass.

they only got out by waking up age 13 (so they're told) with no memories, being told who they were (supposed to be?) and being assigned an adoptive family.

hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

the funnier and less twisted answer to this question is open source software. they fight constantly with Quin, the local naturalist dyke, who insists that Esri software (again, FILE believes they were literally created to shill this stuff) sucks and that proprietary software shouldnt exist. also, they hatefuck

as for the real answer, it's FILEs second thesis advisor (dont worry about what happened to the first one) Dr. Tan, who has taken an unfortunate liking to FILE, with whom FILE has a deeply questionable relationship FILE has very weird feelings about. FILE knows their dynamic is abusive but FILE feels like FILE brings it upon FILEself by being, on some level, into it.

when Tan's around in public, FILE gets very closed off and defensive, trying to put distance between them. in private, the facade fades quickly and FILE finds themself feeling painfully reliant on the affection and affirmation from the person they hate the most

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

ahhhh yes, the kicker to everything above. SHAPEFILE is so uncomfortable in their own skin it hurts. as has been the theme of these answers, they are in no way prepared to face the reality inside themself. what might that reality be? i think FILE's nightmare scenario would be to find out there was another path for him all along. that he doesnt need to be a machine to be a man, that he doesnt need to be a man to be a machine

thats part of why FILE hates Tan so much. tan acknowledges this potential, but also takes advantage of it. this all contributes to FILEs weird feelings about the already weird situation

accepting that they can be someone other than the person [ERROR: Data type 'person' not specified] ??? they were prescribed to be is the one thing they need the most to self-actualize, but SHAPEFILE is so far removed from the self. SHAPEFILE is just points, lines, and polygons. SHAPEFILE is just space.

but if he acknowledges it, he acknowledges that there's nothing special about him.

Geoffrey Isaiah Shapiro is just taking up space.

[allebooklover]

Go for it, always interested in AFO and OFA vestiges meta haha.

Def agreeing that AFO was selfish af, but for me I always like to think that it was a natural characteristic that got magnified by how he didn’t have anything in his life (except the brother he viewed more as a possession) and had to scrape for everything he could, creating an all consuming need for everything, ranging from materials to attention.

One thing that I did think of but hadn’t actually clicked until I saw your drawings was that - oh, AFO might have actually been jealous of Kudo over getting Yoichi’s attention, which is why he hated Kudo so much.

Like, his behaviour to Yoichi is genuinely bastard boyfriend material - views the other as a doll who must behave as AFO desires (paying attention to nobody but AFO), locks Yoichi away and isolates him to prevent Yoichi from looking away from him/punishment for not playing along, and when Yoichi tries to get away and cut ties and escape - he kills Yoichi. The phase between planning for escape and actually escaping is the most dangerous part of getting out of an abusive relationship, and it’s shown really well here just why it’s so dangerous. And it also shows really well just how selfish AFO is - when he loses Yoichi by killing him, he’s not upset at what Yoichi could be feeling - he’s upset over how it made him feel. Everything AFO thinks about centers back to himself and I find it fun to pick apart.

He wants Yoichi’s eyes on him, and only on him alone. Which is why I think it’s partially a reason he fixated on the demon lord so much.

This is gonna be an absolutely crackpot theory but hear me out. Even when AFO beat the shit out of Yoichi as kids, he didn’t look away from AFO. The first time I remember Yoichi looking away from AFO is when they’re reading the comics and talking about hero vs demon lord. Yoichi fixates on the hero, and like - AFO wants Yoichi’s eyes on him forever, Yoichi is currently looking at the hero, who’s the person most likely to destroy the hero that Yoichi looks upon? The demon lord that AFO liked. Not only is it about attention when he grew up in a society where it’s better they pretend he doesn’t exist because otherwise they’d kill him for having powers, and getting material goods because he didn’t have any that he didn’t steal growing up - it’s because Yoichi is fixated on the hero. AFO wants to become a demon lord to destroy the hero so Yoichi would have no choice but to look at him. Probably only a very small reason, and incredibly selfish which is on brand, but one that plays a part nevertheless.

So going along with this - Kudo is the hero that Yoichi gazes upon and roots for. And this has got to be infuriating for AFO because no, his brother is showing affection to someone else and he can’t handle that (which kind of makes sense if you believe that Yoichi was his only source of positive attention as kids but is still no excuse for his actions), but also - something that didn’t click until you pointed it out is that AFO, Yoichi, Kudo and Bruce all likely grew up in the same era where Quirks were seen as kill on sight. Kudo had a Quirk just like AFO, meaning they were both Othered by society, but unlike AFO, who was strong and ruthless and worked alone, Kudo had a weak Quirk, a soft spot for people in trouble, and worked with others. Kudo is the kind of person AFO would look down on for being weak, and yet his brother rooted for Kudo instead of AFO for those very qualities. What if part of the infuriation AFO has to Kudo is because Yoichi rooted for Kudo, someone he considered weak, despite their similarities as people who were Othered by society? And he’s jealous of Kudo for that?

Genuinely reminds me of that oppressive upper class father who upon seeing his daughter be in a loving relationship with a working class man goes ‘I give you everything (on the condition you live exactly as I tell you to no loopholes), and you instead go with this douchebag who has nothing? What’s he got that I don’t got? You’re locked in a room until you denounce him’ and when the daughter escapes he kills the daughter instead of letting her go or seeing the light, and doubles down because he can’t handle the guilt he feels - guilt over what he has done instead of what his daughter has felt and wanted. Absolutely amazing.

expanding on the thought of kudou getting the call sign 'hero' and afo getting irked by it for some reason

[zyzix]

it’s been this long since the release of NEO and what happens to Neku is still like. the Hardest thing to swallow in the story. it’s so bad from both a character writing and thematic point of view

the first thing people think about when they meet Neku again is that he is seriously OOC, but it’s not that simple. it goes deeper than that. It seems like he’s behaving this way for a reason but the reason That seems to be is ALSO an alarming turn for his character with no apparent explanation. What i mean:

Stage One is thinking Neku is OOC because he gets along with everyone pretty easily and isn’t grumpy and doesn’t seem to have a lot of thoughts about being stuck in the ruins of a dead city for three years straight

Stage Two is realizing that we don’t see Neku’s internal monologue in this game except a SINGLE exception in Another Day. Suddenly, he seems like Neku again. So on top of the character development we can know and assume he has had, he’d probably sound really normal to us in his head. Things like his characteristic snark, his internal logic for doing things, and his feelings about being isolated from everything he cares about for three years must simply be hidden away from us and the other characters.

Stage Three is remembering how much disdain Neku originally had for insincerity or fake-ness.

That brings us back to just... how much our current Neku exists and bends to suit the story of NEO, as opposed to being an extension of his previous self. Before, Neku hated how people would pretend, and pretend to be friendly (though he’d conflate the two.) Now I have to assume that Neku is pretending himself. There was supposed to be middle ground here related to opening up, I thought.

Now is it possible for someone to do a 180 like that? Certainly! But it’s another form of development we can’t actually look at the source for, in NEO. We don’t have the evidence to know Neku is this way through any natural, watsonian means. We only have the doylist side, the things we can see. We can only feel the author’s hand, and it pushes us towards trying to write Neku’s actual character ourselves. Do the work to make it make sense ourselves. If you’re still around, that’s what you’re doing.

Because no one understands NEO. This extends beyond Neku, but it’s really severe with him because sometimes when you see a characterization mishap like this you can at least interrogate the story for what good it did. If you do that for Neku in NEO there’s not much to come back with. What’s one of the themes of NEO? Oh, like being proactive, and self determination, and thinking for yourself and that stuff right? Then surely it makes sense for our beloved previous protagonist who we dragged back into this story to return to a life he actually had no active part in building for years. He’s been written for NEO’s convenience, not NEO’s good.

Maybe the worst part is that even when acknowledging that we can only put bandaids onto this situation, none of them can really be satisfying. Sure, I can try to make this cohere with Neku’s existing character arc, but the answers that make the most sense are always going to be the ones that suck. You take what we have for Neku and all you get for working with it is like. Fret’s arc about bein real? Minus the narrative resolution, minus the foundations in the narrative for resolution, plus more narrative baggage. Or a story where Neku feels more at home in the UG than the RG. Or a story about coping with the nitty gritty unreality of reality rewriting, or imposter syndrome, or trying to make up for a time in your youth you can never really get back.

I’m rambling at this point but it makes it really painful to look back at where og TWEWY left off, doesn’t it? Enough that i lost count of how many times i thought about writing a post like this. It’s the kind of thing that’ll bum you out no matter how interestingly you spin it.

[heartbrake-hotel]

Ugh. You won't believe this. I'm sorry to bug you, but I just needed to vent.

I saw some idiot on twitter saying that when E met Priscilla he had an eleven year old girl living with him in Germany. They mentioned Scotty Moore said that in his book so I looked it up. What he said was at the time E met Cilla, he had an "even younger German girl" (his words) living in the house with his father and grandmother. Except...well, I can't find any proof of this; there’s no evidence nor mention of this girl (or how old she was) anywhere else in the book nor in any other books written about him. No proof he had anyone else like that living with him in Germany.

So I don’t think that claim is true. Where do people come up with this stuff anyway? How do you not get into an argument with these idiots? Because it's super annoying.

ugh, believe it or not, baby, im not surprised at all. but you could never bug me !!! 💖 sorry it took me so long to answer this, but rest assured i haven't calmed down about this any since you first sent it 😅

a couple notes‐ honestly, i'm inclined to believe scotty. NOT TWITTER to clarify lol.. eleven seems young for him even if you are looking to view e through the most unflattering light possible 😬 but it seems likely to me that he had another teenage girl maybe not uh. officially on the lease or anything but staying over most nights ! more than ONE even sounds plausible.. we all know that someone didn't like his bed cold.!

people who claim to hate elvis sure spend an awful lot of time reviling him on the internet, especially by regurgitating half-remembered anecdotal evidence without citing their sources. 🙄 on the other hand, it's also easy to fall into the trap of too-faithful elvis historian; by that i mean that the fact that so much of his life is documented sometimes makes us complacent in our belief that if it can't be verified by multiple primary sources that it must not have happened. but we can't always say, and getting too involved as if the historical accuracy of one particular proposed event is the end-all be-all of elvis fandom can get exhausting.!

i wouldn't be surprised to find out either way, that this was or wasn't true. but you're free to make up your own mind, and if it distresses you, then fwiw i think you Totally have a leg to stand on affirming it never happened, like you said !! ultimately, it doesn't have much bearing on right now- if you like elvis, this vague and nebulous criticism probably isn't the thing that'll make you stop liking elvis, and if you hate elvis, you're probably determined to keep doing that regardless.

regarding the twitdiots- while looking into this claim i found a lady on there who legitimately believed that agent elvis tells the true story of how e was experimented on and mind controlled into drug abuse by the government.. like she said That with her whooole chest. so i don't put much stock in public opinion over there 😂😂💀

i want to fight those people extremely often (they're not just on twitter, either- it seems to have died down a little praise GOD but especially in early days after the movie there was a wave of ppl on here who would put their elvis hate in the main tags. WHICH DROVE ME BATTY), but i come from the "don't feed the trolls" era of fandom. as much as id like to rip 'em a new one when they rehash the same two issues over and over and OVER again ad nauseum, i content myself with the fact that they're living a pathetic existence in which they actively choose to fill their life with something they dislike for... no discernable reason.?

no one who spends their time bringing up a dead celebrity at all opportunities just to bash them is actually open to a discussion. and i do think there is a discussion to be had- his life was certainly very troubled, and i think there are a lot of nuanced issues that benefit from being spoken about openly !!!

but i like to debate bc i like to WIN- so jackasses tend to be a waste of my time 😘