#i don't know if it's the mental illness or if i'm seriously simply like this

[septxwber]

it's so unsettling to get out of the shadows

[linkcharacter]

I feel like many people are too focused on what Curly could've 'done' instead of what he 'thought' about it, how he saw and processed it in his head. As I see it, the point isn't that he did nothing, it's that he keeps shoving away and downplaying Jimmy's bullshit in his perception, which would then lead to inaction from Curly's side. That if he could've, we don't know if he would've. Action is very much needed in cases like Anya's, though it wouldn't make things better in the Tulpar situation, BUT that's just the horror of it and it doesn't remove Curly's faults outside of that. The point is that Curly is human and isn't exempt from trying to avoid the issue at hand in his head because of who he is as a person and the environment they're in, the condition Curly's in. He knows it's BAD with Jimmy, yet due to either or both, prolonged conditioning of their toxic friendship and Curly's stunted mental state, it doesn't click in his head properly.

If Anya didn't end up pregnant, if Jimmy didn't crash the ship, would Curly have seriously contemplated about Jimmy or rethought their friendship after finding out he's a rapist? Would anything have changed between them? I would imagine if Curly want half-delirious half-conscious and not going through an existential crisis, then I would give it a very stretched "maybe", and it still would've taken time to detach yourself from a close friend (with possible emotional abuse benefits). But we don't know what COULD'VE been, we just know he DIDN'T. And that is behavior of an enabler, not ill-willed or inconsiderate, but it's human to be afraid of change and be attached. Still ended in upkeeping his friend's harmful behaviors, not due to lack of wanting him to change but that's just how things are. It's realistic, there's no inherent 'morality' attached to Curly's actions, they were simply actions, what matters is the result. Good intentions don't mean much in face of a horrific outcome.

Would Curly keep attempting to give Jimmy help to be better, in vain like he was suggested to have done before? Very possible. "We said tomorrow will be different. Today would be the last day."

Would Curly report Jimmy to the authorities if he could? We don't know (I'm leaning towards a no though). It's not a bad thing to want your friends to be better and believe in them, nor do I think cutting them off is always the best course of action. Rehabilitation is a good thing (though we don't know exactly how Curly tried to help Jim) and having a support system as friends can make it more effective especially if it's a person struggling financially and mentally in life like Jimmy. Yet Jimmy still has to take accountability and be handled in a proper manner for what he did, not just be let go off the hook, only hoping he will improve like Curly does. At some point Curly had to stop making Jimmy's actions his responsibility but never did, until the end.

The conditions of the Tulpar themselves are very lackluster, the system is unfair and harsh with what we know about Mouthwashing's world. The companies are uncaring and scummy as they are in real life, Pony Express especially being cheap and has no regard for the safety and well being of their employees. It all creates a systematic environment for the worst human traits to fester in unchecked, no one single individual could've "fixed it".

So realistically I don't see much that could've been done in the environment they were in and no matter what Curly did, the outcome would never be good. In any course of action Curly could've gone with, the situation isn't changing, Anya was assaulted, Jimmy is the Co-pilot, the duration of the flight is more than the pregnancy term, conflict within the crew will be punished financially by the HR, they were fired. It's horrible and irreparable no matter what. That is the situation.

But

Curly still downplayed it, that's the point. It's not about the potential actions we imagine he could've taken, it's about all the things he didn't take into account and lacked proper judgement towards his friend, which ended up festering a destructive parasite called Jimmy.

Not to mention that Mouthwashing is such a multifaceted game in terms of its themes, it cannot be defined by ONLY this one Curly idea. There's so much more to the story.

[foone]

It's sometimes hard to talk about silly counterfactual or just bad theories, because other people don't always understand the difference between "I'm making up a bad idea because it's amusing to me to consider the ramifications and functionality of a clearly bad idea" and "I have untreated schizophrenia".

Because the former is funny and amusing to me! I love it. And the second is... Not. It's mean to laugh at people's mental illness. And even if the content sometimes is similar, it's the larger context of it that makes it unfun to laugh at, at least for me. Maybe this doesn't bother other people as much?

It's like when I talk about weird computer ideas and someone goes "oh like TempleOS?" and it's... No! I'm into doing silly things with computers because I find that amusing and funny. I do not find TempleOS to be anything of the sort.

If the same content existed, but by someone who did it as a joke? Instead of someone with an admitted mental illness who got lolcow'd to death by 4chan? Yeah it'd be hilarious! I'd be all over that shit. But I know the background to why it's like this, and that is simply not funny to me. Enough so that it ruins any possible enjoyment for me. So TempleOS is nothing but a sad story to me, of a brilliant programmer who suffered from a severe mental illness that he eventually died from.

Maybe it's just my own struggles with mental health and all, but I just can't enjoy those kinds of things. Maybe it's just that other people don't as easily recognize the difference between "this bad idea is being explored for the amusement of the author, who is fully aware of how bad it is" and "this idea is being written about seriously by an author suffering from a severe mental illness".

Though if that was the case, you'd expect there to be more people assuming my writing is schizophrenic? Which basically never happens, it's just people going "oh this is like..." and naming something that was written by someone with schizophrenia or other psychotic condition. Maybe the comparison doesn't bother others as much? It just sometimes feels like people are going "oh, your joke reminds me of this other thing that isn't funny and is just sad"

Anyways, just to be clear, I don't mean that I have anything against people suffering from mental illness (which I hope should be obvious to most people?), or even their writing. It's just that "wacky things" aren't funny to me when they're clearly being written by someone suffering some kind of psychosis. It's the laughing at it that I have a problem with.

Like it's one thing to laugh when your buddy randomly goes "cinnamon eyeglasses!" because they're being a weirdo. It's a completely different thing to laugh at someone saying that because they just had a stroke and parts of their brain aren't functioning anymore. That's a bit what it's like to go "lol, TempleOS is so weird!". You're laughing at someone's illness. And frankly that's just kind of a dick move no matter what, you know?

[sweet-evie]

I have so many thoughts and headcanons about the Gojo clan... You have no idea. 😭 Also, I'm talking out of my ass and everything I say is fictional and from pure imagination... Don't take it seriously.

The Gojo clan may or may not span 40 generations based off of how long ago Suguwara Michizane lived...

and ummm... That's a lot of generational wealth 🤯.

Imagine if you married into that -- married Satoru Gojo. You're automatically the highest-ranking woman in the family, on top of having access to all that money. 😆

Listen, some of the world's richest families like the Rockefellers currently span 7 generations and they're worth billions of dollars.

Damn I really need a full backstory on the 3 major clans. I need to know how rich they are and how they maintained and/or grew that wealth until the modern day.

There's plenty of drama and info on the Zen'in clan. We get crumbs and pieces about the Kamo clan...

But info on the Gojo clan is close to nada, and I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM DAMMIT! I'm so thirsty for more worldbuilding in JJK, you have no idea.

At this point, just seeing Satoru's parents would make me happy.

I have a headcanon that Gojo's family, apart from being sorcerers and political powers in the jujutsu community, are probably mixed bags of company shareholders, politicians, lawyers, philantropists, etc.

Yeah, it's said that the Gojo clan is a one-man army that consists of Satoru Gojo, but I interpret that as Satoru outshining every other family member -- especially every other practicing sorcerer in the family. (There's simply no surpassing the wielder of the Six Eyes and the Limitless technique).

The Gojo clan is a sorcerer clan first and upper tier members of Japanese society second.

Some of Satoru's male relatives are probably Shinto and Buddhist monks. The point is to have a foothold in influential religions among non-sorcerers.

I like to think that maybe one sorcerer in the clan has Limitless... maybe his grandpa, but the man was never as efficient with it as Satoru Gojo.

Maybe the majority of the sorcerers in the Gojo clan fight with Grade 1 cursed tools and good-old hand-to-hand imbued with cursed energy. Maybe other cursed techniques exist within the Gojo clan too... It's all just overshadowed by Satoru.

I also think the Big 3 actually tend to keep to themselves (e.g., the Zen'ins having their own military unit). Their spawns don't ALL go to Jujutsu High, do they? It's a choice for them rather than a necessity. Like, Jujutsu High was established primarily for sorcerers who come from "somewhat normal" backgrounds, unlike people from the Big 3. Satoru was born into jujutsu sorcery and it's the only life he's ever known, whereas people like Suguru who come from non-sorcerer families are brought into Jujutsu Tech to learn about what it means to be a part of jujutsu society, and to teach them that they're not, you know, mentally ill because they can see curses.

Quick side note, I imagine Jujutsu Tech as the bridge between the branch of the Japanese government that is aware of the existence of curses and the jujutsu society as a whole. It just kind of makes sense that way, especially when you consider where their funds to pay people come from -- not from thin air, that's for sure. I mean, how else do the higher-ups get the funding to pay their actively practicing sorcerers, especially the special-grades? Does jujutsu sorcerer pay roll come from citizens' tax money?

Also... On top of Satoru Gojo having access to his clan's generational wealth and assets, how much is he getting paid as an instructor at Jujutsu Tech? Is that salary separate from his special-grade sorcerer salary? Is he technically working 2 full-time jobs?

Man is rolling in cash...

Anyway, I want to circle back to the point that Satoru Gojo is the most active sorcerer in the Gojo clan when it comes to interacting with the higher-ups and being a constant presence in Jujutsu Tech. Obviously, his fingerprints are all over Jujutsu society politics as well.

I headcanon that Satoru comes from a big family, actually. Satoru is an only child, but I imagine lots of cousins and aunts and uncles and distant relatives, and the Gojo estate is probably one massive compound where most of the family lives. Like, they can live in that huge ass ancestral property if they want too... There's plenty of room.

The clan also likely owns several other properties and probably small temples or shrines across Japan. They have one ancestral seat and other properties. That goes for the Kamo and the Zen'in clans as well.

That real estate portfolio be popping.

As for actual size, think Heian estate in ancient Japan big. It's expansive.

Maybe the sorcerers in the family would be fond of living in the Gojo estate. The others, especially the ones who hold positions in the government or the military or who have public-facing jobs have their own homes registered under their own name, and not... you know... registered under the family with the clan head.

Another headcanon is that the clan head is capable of assigning properties and other clan assets to family members if he chooses to. Satoru Gojo can give away houses if he wants too, like a nobleman or European feudal lord. But for real, the Gojo clan might have been part of the nobility in ancient Japan, only losing their noble titles after the Imperial family changed the rules around the 1940s.

Speaking of, it's probably not a reach to assume, that the clan head has his fingers in many many honey pots. 🍯 That is to say, Satoru Gojo has access to more money than he can spend in a single life time. And after he's passed, maybe the money just goes back to the surviving members of the clan.

I need to know Satoru Gojo's net worth.

I think each of the Big 3 has their own hierarchy and their own family politics. Again, the Zen'ins are a prime example...

For the Gojo clan, I headcanon that there's a small council of elders -- people way older than Satoru. Satoru's own father is probably part of that. Put his grandfather and a couple of uncles and aunts in there too.

How do they work? I imagine it's pretty similar to how the Small Council functions in Game of Thrones. Like, there's someone in charge of managing finances, someone who keeps an ear on clan politics, someone who has a foothold in the national military, etc.

I imagine they have a bi-weekly gathering. They offer counsel, but the final decision in any dilemma they discuss always falls to the clan head -- Satoru Gojo.

I also headcanon that Satoru has a penthouse somewhere in Tokyo -- a place he considers as his own residence, away from clan politics and the rest of his probably snobby family.

But Satoru is always busy, so his penthouse is way too clean. It looks like no one lives there.

This is the vibe of the penthouse... I have his penthouse in my Sims 4 game.

Speaking of snobby... The Gojo's clan general reputation? I would say... They're intellectual people, some of them are likely obsessed with history, and rigid and formal when it comes to observing traditions. I imagine they have a tendency to be really elegant.

Whenever the Zen'ins look at them, the stereotypical thought is, "Look at those pompous, snobby, jackasses."

In the succeeding years since December 7, 1989, the Gojo clan's sense of pride has only grown, because well... The most powerful and strongest sorcerer of the modern age came through their lineage.

Needless to say, Satoru Gojo is the pride and power of the Gojo clan.

Satoru's parents were practicing Grade 1 sorcerers... really active in the field, and Satoru's grandfather was Clan Head for a time.

Satoru's mom retired from fieldwork after she married Satoru's dad and after she got pregnant and became a mom. I love my headcanon that she's a shrewd politician and is all about maintaining good standing with the elders while doing intelligence gathering. The woman maintains a network, so she's always in-the-know.

Satoru doesn't make it easy for his mom especially when he goes around and does what he wants. e.g., Becoming a benefactor to Megumi, saving Yuji and Yuta, etc. She's actively working to cover his tracks wherever she can.

Satoru's mom is actively looking for a wife for him, for obvious reasons. The plan never came to fruition because of the Shibuya incident and Ch #236.

Satoru's father is more politician than actively practicing sorcerer by the time Satoru was studying in Jujutsu Tech. He's all about maintaining solid relations with the other clans, the elders, and collaborating with the branch of Japanese government that knows of the existence of jujutsu sorcery. He probably works with the Japanese government too.

Satoru Gojo visits the family estate once in a while... for other business, but primarily for hearings and clan meetings. It's peculiar to look at during these meetings because Satoru is the only person in that room who isn't wearing traditional clothes. Like, I headcanon that he shows up in casual attire, or his Jujutsu Tech uniform, complete with the blindfold.

His mom probably tried to talk him into wearing traditional clothes for these meetings when he was younger, but it just never stuck. Satoru is Satoru, after all.

After Satoru Gojo passes away, I like to imagine the Gojo clan takes a bit of a backseat. It's probably the wiser course of action too, considering everything that's happened in Japan after October 31, 2018.

[I know some people think he's the only survivor of the Gojo clan, but you gotta think of the fact that he learned about Hollow Purple from some people. Someone taught him FBE as a kid.]

[morallygreychaoticneutral]

The Evolution of Passion Continued: Competition

Steeping the Vampire Kiss again. Let get into this steaming cup.

I got an ask (truncated) from danmeiljie " thoughts about what happens in the woods in act 1, and how he initiates with his partner in the graveyard in act 3, But i was curious if you made any connections to his emotional journey and how that's reflected in these different sex scenes and his role in them. Thoughts about vampire physiology and how that might affect his behavior and choices and abilities during sex depending on diet as well."

This is my opinion analysis of the second seduction. I know he only asked for the two but were going to visit them all. Just for fun. This is triggered if you already unlocked Astarion's night in the woods before the grove party. There a a bunch of ways this could go so to keep it short, I am only looking at one route of the if you chose to sleep with him option.

WARNING: Game Spoilers, Topics of Sex, Abuse, and Adult themes/Language. Not underage appropriate.

This is not fact, just opinion based off my own and game experience. As always, how anybody cannons their relationships or behaviors is perfectly right! No blame, no shame, it's your game.!

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

Ahhh, nothing better than a long, hard fight with goblins to get the blood roaring and hormones circulating. I think Halsin said it best when he said ..

"there are a lot of "thirsty" people around here."

HA! Yeah there are. Wooo..choices, choices, choices. Companions offering companionship from all angles tonight. Unless he was talking about the wine...but I doubt it.

And guess who can hear all of those propositions? That's right, the all pointy eared elf using sex to try to keep Tav on his side.

Oh no..no no no no no this simply will not do.

There is a bit more behind this one than the woods encounter, but it is still a tactical move. He is at risk of losing the exclusiveness of having Tav as a sexual partner. And if that goes, in his mind, he has nothing to fall back on to keep them.

How many times was he told if it wasn't for his looks and sexual ability he would be worthless. Told there is nothing else worth liking about him.

Sigh.....

I think he is scared he is going to lose Tav to another companion here. He can't afford to be discarded with him not having much of an alliance with anyone else in the group. And he might be a smidge jealous.

"Here's my little treat with their cheeks all flushed."

This could be a nod to the conversations Tav has been having with the other party members. Cheeks blushed from all the suggestive and blatant attention. Or the wine, could be the wine too. Why is it always the wine?

"You will come to my bed tonight, wont you? "

The word will is italicized here meaning he is putting emphasis on it. This could be read as a subconscious command. Or he is soothing his own anxiety by making an affirmed statement. And he is ending the sentence as a question, not a statement. Surely Tav will choose his bed over the others, wont they? There's no way they wouldn't. Right? He said all the pretty words. Did the pleasurable things. They want him..don't they?

But Tav breaks him out of his own mental hell by playing hard to get again.

"Very presumptuous. I'm undecided what ill do tonight yet."

A very loud and cheeky come play with me. Make me change my mind that isn't made up already. That's how I heard it anyway.

And he does. Rising to the challenge in full Astarion fashion. Instead of being seriously seductive he is now blatantly making fun of his own pick up lines very theatrically.

And oh, the drama!

"Every part of your perfect body whispers temptation- It's as if the gods made you just to ruin me!"

Tell me you were a theater kid without telling me you were a theater kid.

I can defiantly see Tav chortling at this. And what does someone who craves attention love to do? Make people laugh. Its positive attention and he got it without using his body. And it feels amazing. He is being silly, he can be sweet. I feel like his hidden personality is peeking out here.

But, alas, he remembers what he is there to do. Lure, seduce, manipulate.

"Everyone's favorite. I love you."

How many times has that phrase been rendered meaningless in his own mouth? And how many people agreed to "loving" him having only touched his body. And I wonder if he is already assuming Tav might say the same. That small glimmer of hope of connection getting drowned out by in his own past.

"Don't be a fool, you know they will say the same thing everyone has ever said in the past. Just get on with it, stick to the plan."

But they don't. Tav is honest in saying they believe he is lying, its too soon for such things or calling his bluff in a sassy way.

"Having fun, are you?"

"I am. Its hard not to with you."

And he's starting to realize that there is more to you than what he gave you credit for. And within the space of then and now, he is finding that he actually likes you.

Another indicator that his feeling are growing here is he uses WE instead of YOU.

"Id much rather WE got to experience Each Others full portfolio of talents once again." Not, "Id much rather YOU got to" or "Don't YOU want to." He is not distancing himself from the suggestion like he normally does. "Of course, but only if YOU want to. But trust me, YOU do want to."

This, to me, is a very intense indication that, despite himself, he enjoyed aspects of the tryst out in the woods. Maybe not so much the act of sex itself but the company kept that night. Though i'm sure Tav was a consummate lover too (you know what you did) and he did get some pleasure out of it, I would think he is utterly sick of having it. Like being forced to eat peaches every single day till you don't care if every peach tree in the world burns to the ground. But if that's what he thinks it takes to get Tav all to himself, he is willing. But is it necessary?

There is no position to speak of this round, but there is an offer made that is more intimate than the woods. He has invited you to his "bed".

Now, whether he means this literally or figuratively im not sure, but either way it's an invite into his personal space. He could have very easily suggested another rondeaux in the woods to keep it ambiguous between you but instead used a more intimate choice of words.

This is a big step for someone with trust issues. He is very guarded of his privacy. Just ask the dryad at the circus.

"There's a spark here." I know he felt it too. The plan is unraveling, even if he can't see it quite yet.

On to the grand finale ! And then the other group incident that is a hot point because I was asked to talk about that as well.

[brittle-doughie]

I noticed that you mentioned Curious Cupcake as a direct sibling to Crowned rather than a distant relation in this post: https://brittle-doughie.tumblr.com/post/763651654696452096/dont-take-this-seriously-this-is-the-unhinged So I was at a crossroads as to what I should do. Should I... A: Just say it was a mistake and move on B: Rework Curious Cupcake's lore to fit this revelation I chose the latter because I thought it would be more fun on my end and I'd like to see what you'd think about my proposals. There are two questions I must answer when it comes to Curious being a direct sibling and thus part of the royal bloodline: why is she a detective and why is she all the way over in the Witch's Castle? --- My first idea was of Curious not actually being an assistant, but rather she THINKS she is. That's right, I'm pulling the amnesia card. I was thinking "What if Y/N Cookie and Curious had a similar dynamic to Popple and Rookie from Superstar Saga?" and applied that. I don't know where the witch's castle is geographically or if it's even on Earthbread but this first idea of mine is operating under the assumption that the Witch's Castle exists somewhere on Earthbread. So my idea goes like this: Curious Cupcake is away from the Cupcake Kingdom on some diplomatic mission when something happens in the destination, and Curious is caught in the crossfire. A bonk on the head later and she forgets she's a princess of the Cupcake Kingdom. Between then and the events of Witch's Castle she eventually picks up the delusions of being a detective's assistant (as well as the attire and magnifying glass). This would both explain why she's a detective and why she's over in the Witch's Castle, as well as giving her an MIA status in the CRK timelines. --- My second idea pays homage to her character inspiration. In this theoretical, Curious Cupcake gets ill and passes away. In the CRK timelines she simply stays dead and maybe visits as a ghost. In the Witch's Castle timeline, White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake Cookie would do some cookie necromancy to bring Curious back to life. This would go wrong and shunt Curious off to the Witch's Castle and maybe warps her mental state to give her those delusion of detective-hood. --- My third idea is a lot simpler: she stepped down of her own volition, wishing to be a simple detective's assistant --- (As a sidenote. If Crowned Cupcake has brute force, Royal Icing has social manipulation, and Princess Frosting has adaptability. I'd say Curious Cupcake would have a intermediate magic knowledge perhaps?) Anyway, those are my ideas of a lore rework to fit Curious Cupcake as a true sibling of Crowned Cupcake.

These are solid ideas, though I will have to lean towards the revelation being the former, I tend to forget things I’ve seen or wrote long ago and it can lead to conflicting conclusions later on.

But don’t let that stop you from exploring these concepts.

[leontalksalot]

I was wrong about the votv drama

I'll be honest that when the drama first started, I thought it was all just out of bullshit pettiness to get MrDrNose cancelled. So many people in the server have so many bad things to say about Kaiden, the guy who made the document, all those stories and claims about him, I believe them. I thought Kaiden was this unhinge weirdo that came from 4chan because so many other people in the community had so said so many things that make him seem like that. But as times goes on and the drama escalate even more, I just became tired and mad. I became part of the 'campaign' to get Kaiden gone from the internet for good. I was repeating the same baseless accusation that I heard from the server, taking it as facts without question. But now I just realized how much of an IDIOT I was. All those things that people were saying about Kaiden that make him look like a complete disgusting asshole are all complete bullshit to try and discredited and villainize him to make other people to bully and harass him into silence without knowing what said in the doc are true. The whole fanbase is a fucking echo chamber, everybody there are unhinge morons with the same fucked up belief that anybody who speak out on the bad things surrounding Drnose and his acquaintances are bad and deserve to be bullied. Seriously, here on tumblr or even in the official discord server there are people bullying and harassing other people for having a negative view on drnose, and the most crazy thing about that is that the mods are completely aware of this in the server, but they all choose to not do anything to stop it as if they don't care because the people that are getting bullied in the server believe nose is a scumbag, so they let the bullies get away with it. The eternitydev fanbase is actually completely corrupted and became a echo-chamber of insane people. These people have no care and humility, and that goes to the same with drnose. One of my friend's whose a patron told me about how he try to invalidate people criticizing him as nothing but insane and mentally ill people.

And than they told me about a drama in the librarian's discord between Drnose and kaiden and my god it just hurts to read.

(I had to take a screenshot from the document itself since I am too lazy to scroll through dm to find it) If I'm correct drnose is a 22 Y.O. adult and yet this is how he behaves. And It's ironic how drnose tries shame kai as "being negative" when he went and call people mentally ill, just literally being ableist. As well as letting people in his damn discord server to continuedly trash talk, harass and make harmful bullshit accusation to get kai more harassed. Seriously, some of the people made claims that he was a pedo or that he sent rape art to people. I feel sick to my stomach from the guilt and the embarrassment. That I take these people's bullshit at face value without giving it much thought and simply repeating what they said makes me feel so ashamed. Do not believe a single thing these people say. Their either morons believing other morons lies and is just repeating it or they're an asshole purposely trying to misinform people into turning against a kid. These people will manipulate and gaslight you to try and make you take their side and help them harass a kid and anybody speaking about it into silence. To the people I bullied, I am sorry, I am an idiot for even taking nose's side. I was an idiot to believe everything they said without question.

[just-hyde]

AI is theft.

Character.Ai still uses **stolen** data. Support real artists and writers. RP with real people.

IAMREALpleasegimmeahotchocotugmeinandgimmeasinglegoodreasontoliiiveeeeaaaaAAAAAAA

*Breakdown joins the chat*

An anon? How courageous of you. /lh

Actually right now you did what many chatbot users do— hide behind Persona just in case people don't accept your writing/rp style. But it's easier to play safe, I give you that. Your mental health should be your first priority no matter what people say

I do my art, write snippets of text, develop OCs and RP with people, but still make chatbots on different platforms

Why?

For shits and giggles

But no, friends, seriously

We already live with that and apparently are gonna continue to, unless the authorities decide to step in

For me cai was a tool to improve my vocabulary since 1) not so many native speakers were willing/had time to help, 2) even if they did, we had jobs and damn timezones which made our coordination harder, 3) I found out that ppl were simply too shy to play

Recently I've learned the term "Cringe culture" which is cringe itself and hella annoying at that— some writers are fucking scared to post, to be met with toxicity instead of actually useful critique

Anywho, the topic is controversial af.

On one hand, it did writers dirty. Well, fuck. On the other hand, your T9 was also trained on something and I deem LLM no much smarter than a huge T9 [a predictive text technology which almost every keyboard for phones and tablets has]

The problem I see is that the ai developers didn't ask for any data

How much easier everything would go if they had manners and/or paid for some materials? I usually don't mind lending a pen if someone asks, but can bite one's hand off if they grab it

As you might've noticed, I wanna use this ask to bring up some other interesting topics

My man, I've heard enough of "Why trying if ai renders better than me/uses better words"

Anxiety.

That's what makes me sad

If we ever manage to change that, to make people realise that human-made art is a freaking precious treasure with hours of effort spent on it, maybe earth heals and unicorns return

You buy funny one-nickel-worth stuff from Aliexpress, no? That's AI. As well as a half-gnawled pencil one finds in their old school backpack to write down an anecdote they've just heard

It's easy to focus on the bad side

If fish is ill in a dirty tank, are you gonna add more sand? Pfftt. I assume you gonna change filters, scrub that bastard clean and add more lil fishies to make others feel less lonely, instead of rumbling that you shouldn't have gotten any new weeds for the the bowl in the first place, because, who would've guessed, fish eat that. And poop. —a process natural as breathing

My suggestion is that we try to create a safe space which would encourage writing outside of roleplay, make young artists feel safe regardless of their level of skill

Or maybe I'm too far from the Internet in general and don't understand why writing example messages for a silly toy is suddenly a bad thing when it encourages kids to try themselves in text RPGs without any risk of being judged for that

An interesting topic you gave me, really, I've spent some time contemplating about it

Feel free to suggest things that we, as a community, can do right here and right now, because, gods know, I'm personally unable to atta-ta a corporation for "using language we all speak", especially when chatbots have some features which would be a damn shame not to use in language learning since it's so engaging and teaches kids new words in a forgiving game-like way

Though I hope there will be some law regulating ai and the use of ai-made products soon. Let's give it some time

[bibibbon]

if we're talking personality disorders (of the cluster b variety). obvi its not 1=1 but its far more likely and reasonable to say toga has bpd (with izuku or ochako being her "favorite person") than aspd. also when people call villains (or characters they don't like (← seen this one more than the first tbh)) "unsympathetic psychopaths", it really feels like they know nothing about aspd, personality disorders, and how they form. It also just feels kind of ableist towards real people with aspd? idk maybe i'm seeing things that's aren't there

These people know that aspd (and other personality disorders) form due to outside factors right? obvi there's the genetic factors but that just increases the possibility. these outside factors typically tends to be factors that is in some way traumatic for the person in question like emotional/mental abuse or neglect (*gestures to dabi*)

if anything, based off of that alone, toga being a "psychopath" just makes her more sympathetic in my eyes and people around her even more unsympathetic than they already are and I doubt anyone calling her a "psychopath" without aspd in mind wants that

.

.

.

this is also how i feel about people needless throwing around the word "narcissistic"* when it comes describing bakugo. (saying this as someone isn't a fan of him). bakugo with npd** could make him a more interesting if written correctly*** tbh and could probably be backed up in canon but in turn it would force people to seriously think and question if he actually had a good childhood and good parents… which from what i've seen alot of anti-bakugo people (including the ones that call him a "narcissistic") believe he has

*i'm sure there's bakugo stans out there call him "narcissistic" without npd in mind but atm i've only seen bakugo antis do that

**same with aspd

***without portraying bakugo as an ableist stereotype and/or excusing his actions

.

sorry abt the rant i'm just tired of the demonization surrounding personality disorders

You're definitely correct anon in saying that people tend to use words they either don't know the full meaning of or just mental health issues to demonise characters they don't like and this is a problem within all fandoms I have interacted with not only MHA.

When people use the words "psychopath" or "narcissist" it's rare to see them using it in the right context as most of the time it's used to demonise a character. For example take atla I have seen plenty of people label azula a psychopath but they do that to demonise and dehumanise her not to actually say that she is mentally ill. The same thing is done with characters like toga, Dabi, shigaraki and more!

Now I know that you're mainly quoting of the ask that @sapphic-agent sent me and actually she has made it clear that she doesn't view toga as psychopath and actually brought light to the issue of people dehumanising and purposefully misinterpreting the leauge. Now I don't know much about aspd in general but from what I have seen toga does seem to have some symptoms of aspd but it also makes sense to speculate that she may have BPD (none of this is cannonically confirmed but they would make for some interesting headcanons). Also like you mentioned it would be incredibly interesting to explore how toga got to such a mental state in the first place as mental health issues can happen to a variety of reasons for example or could be an environmental or social issue as we see that toga wasn't given the right support at home and was taught to simply build a mask and burry her urges deep down until it all broke and she broke, toga associated blood and cannibalism with love and self expression from early on. Also, it could be a biological factor since toga was born with a strong fascination for blood.

Overall, toga and her mental state is heavily influenced from all of those factors and it would be interesting if she was cannoncially diagnosed and had that be explored in depth.

However, mha does already have a character who is heavily implied to be mentally ill which is twice. Twice is heavily implied within the show to suffer from DID (dissociative identity disorder) and I think the way horikoshi presents this is really interesting it's to the point that it's incredibly integral to twice's character whether that be his name or what his quirk is.

We see exactly how his mental state worsens in his backstory and how he has reached his breaking point multiple times. Twice is also presented as the most redeemable of the leauge and we see that even with that the system doesn't care for him as twice mercilessly kills him even though he had a high and good chance of being saved and redeemed.

I do wish that hori spent a bit more time delving deeper into twice and developing him before killing him off while also making his death have a long lasting impact between characters (specifically the league)

I think what's interesting is that hori doesn't demonise jin for his mental issues but addresses them in a serious manner and a lot of the scenes where we do see him struggling we are able to feel a lot of sympathy for him.

This ends up being the exact opposite of what people usually do by demonising mental health and using it to dehumanise characters. Horikoshi uses it to humanise his characters whether that be twice who struggles with DID or tamaki who struggles with social anxiety. These issues are brought to light and aren't a one time thing but it's something that's integral to their character.

Now, moving onto my final comment : yep it's bakugo!

I admit that I have seen many bakugo antis and critiques label bakugo as a narcissist. I also believe that they don't inherently speak of the mental disorder when labeling him in such a way but use the word in exchange of other terms for bakugo like self 'absorbed' or 'selfish' or 'only cares for himself' etc.

Now, I agree this is bad and shouldn't be done. I do however want to offer my own view on this subject (iam also a big bakugo critic/anti) I personally don't think that bakugo suffers from Narcissistic personality disorder and I don't think that mitsuki is abusive towards her son.

I think that the scene with mitsuki hitting bakugo was played in a comedic light. This is the only scene we see mitsuki act aggressive towards bakugo in the whole manga while in the other scene she expresses concern over her son (for example katsuki doesn't like rain etc). I think @delawaredetroit post surrounding this has the best explanation

I also want to add the fact that bakugo feels comfortable enough to sit next his mother. He is right in between his parents (he could of sat away from her closer to his father if he wanted to but he didnt). Bakugo also feels comfortable enough to express himself in such a manner whether that be him calling his mother "hag" or also shouting at her when he is equally pissed off.

I do think that because the manga had already made it clear that abuse was a theme that was in the story and gave us an example of abuse (the todoroki family) that many did raise their heads at this scene and may of been concerned that this is abuse when it's not but its hard to spot since it's being presented in such a weird manner.

You do have a point bakugo's behaviour comes from somewhere and that's not talked about enough. I personally think that horikoshi didn't explore how society influenced bakugo's behaviour and his raging quirkless discrimation (maybe it's because hori didn't want to paint bakugo in such a bad light so he didn't make him prejudiced against the quirkless and didn't explore the theme of quirkless discirmation that he implemented into the story). There is also the superiority and inferiority complexes that bakugo seems to have that could be a result of a mixture of factors (biological, social and environmental) Now his brash behaviour could come biologically from his mother and it turned worse due to his environment where he was built up to be this guy who had everything so he should be happy as he fits into the status quo.

Tldr: mental health shouldn't be used as an excuse but it also shouldn't be used to demonise characters either.

[tippertot]

I just got caught up on interpolation and I have to say I seriously seriously love that fics version of Chert

If there's anything you can share about them that's not spoilers for future parts of the fic I would seriously love to read it because I'm so curious about their history (and their relationship with Gabbro and their hallucinations and everything about them)

If you don't want to share anything about them I just seriously have to say how much I appreciate the way they're written I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since I read chapter 20 and like oh my god I can't express how much I love them and idk thank you for making me cry ::)

CHERT!!!

Chert is so important to me. i remember meeting them in-game and asking all these questions like "what is a supernova? ::)" that I, an ASTRONAUT should DEFINITELY ALREADY KNOW. but i was impressed by how they answered, really simply but also not dumbing anything down or teasing you/going off on you for asking (unlike SOME npcs (Slate)). i was immediately like "wow you're nice! i like you! sorry about the trauma!"

as far as my fic goes, they've had issues with properly interpreting reality for the past several years. this more typically shows itself as paranoia, feeling like other people are against them or wish them ill or are trying to sabotage them, but when stressed can escalate to visual and auditory hallucinations. (this whole concept stems from me seeing the notes the would leave around in the game that would say like PROPERTY OF CHERT and then me overblowing that into a whole thing lol)

as it gradually got worse, a support team was formed for them, and it was eventually realized that these were symptoms of mental illness. so from there they started the process of trying different formulas of medications to deal with the symptoms. and they were at least partially successful!

Chert now has a relatively good understanding of the way their brain works and the have a good support system and coping mechanisms they can use to help when they're in a bad mental place, but this is all still pretty new for them and their mental illness isn't 100% managed yet.

while Chert can be rather private about the specific details (mainly because of their paranoia and prevent accidental interference with coping mechanisms), they don't have any problem openly discussing their mental illness on a big-picture level. there is no stigma in the community related to it, and it did not affect their ability to join OWV.

around the time Chert was in the middle of getting all this figured out, they were spending time with Tektite outside the village. Tektite (closest thing the Hearthians got to a therapist) was the one that figured out that Chert's issues might benefit from a more medically-inclined intervention and proposed the support team, which included Gneiss and Porphy.

at the same time as this, Tektite picked up on Gabbro also having some issues and started bringing them under their wing. and Chert just like pointed excitedly at Gabbro like "oh! you're mentally ill too!" and the two of them + Tektite became a little Mental Illness Club.

Gabbro was an a pretty vulnerable period in their life that involved a lot of self-doubt, so having someone like Chert around who could happily and casually chat about brains not working right was a big help for them. and Gabbro is very good at listening and not being judgmental, so as they spent more time together, Gabbro joined the short list of people that Chert trusts enough to get into the gritty details of what they're dealing with.

we will be focusing in on both Gabbro and Chert in a couple of upcoming chapters!

[sophieinwonderland]

r/FakeDisorderCringe doesn't know what biblical canon is, atheists are offended by saying God is plural, and other people casually throwing out some blasphemies and ableism!

👎

For uncreative title.

Atheists Pretending To Be Deeply Offended...

So, let me guess, you're not actually Christian are you?

Those guys sure aren't.

So weird how people pretend to be offended over a religion they aren't even a part of.

(Let's be real though, that's most of the tulpa discourse.)

Oh... you considered converting.

That clearly gives you a say in this conversation. /s

Meanwhile, my host actually lived the religion. He was Christian through his teenage years, and as a child helped his mom teach Sunday School and went to sleep every night on a Noah's Ark pillow.

Sorry, I distracted from your point. We're thieves stealing from a religion. 🙄

Okay, let's talk "canon!"

I just... I LOVE this whole conversation! 🤣

THIS is actual cringe.

Does anyone see the issue here?

I'll let u/AdSuccessful3533 spell it out. Possibly the only person with sense in the thread.

It's not just Catholic Canon either, but Biblical Canon! Like, there's a whole Wikipedia article on it!

The sheer self-righteous ignorance of r/Fakerdisordercringe (and r/systemscringe) never ceases to amaze me.

All of these people so bent out of shape over the use of "canon" to describe biblical text as if that's not been in use for hundreds of years!

"Something a middle schooler would say."

The Heresies!

That's correct. This is NOT the modalism heresy.

Modalism suggests God is a single unified being who reveals himself in different forms. God being plural would mean that God is three beings in one. This is completely in-line with the views of Trinitarianism.

An example of the modalism heresy would be more like this...

Comparing God to Optimus Prime, arguing that they're just different forms like Optimus Prime in a truck form vs him in a robot form, is modalism.

But if modalism isn't enough, we've got some tritheism too!

Besides the tritheism... it's really hard to take people who are calling tulpas appropriative seriously when they don't even know basic facts about the most popular religion in the world.

Also, the part about System not being a term for a person with DID is technically correct. System is, rather, the term used for the total collection of all the alters. But it is very much a term used by psychologists and it's accurate to refer to the Trinity as a system in this way.

Also, if the Tritheism bothers you, don't worry! We're going to go right back to modalism.

The H2O metaphor is controversial for the same reason as comparing God to Optimus Prime. It suggests God is simply changing form to become these different things.

Miscellaneous

Can you show me that rabbit hole?

I'm the one who Tweeted that, and have NEVER been on the OSDD sub.

Who do you think I am?

No... it definitely doesn't sound right. Religion shouldn't just be a thing for neurotypicals.

If one believes in God, then surely God made all people, including those of us who have mental illnesses. Why should Christianity and biblical references be kept away from people with mental illness other than ableism?

I mean, if by in peace, you mean without endogenic systems, then no. You can't.

We're here and we aren't going away. Ever.

And we exist in all spaces, including in your churches and your religious communities. And Christian systems shouldn't be expected to hide who they are because our existence bothers bigots like you.

We're going to share this world, and we're going to share spaces. And that includes churches and religious spaces too. Deal with it. 🤷‍♀️

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank everyone at r/fakedisordercringe for giving me the free material. For a subreddit that's designed to laugh at people for supposed "cringe," you all sure are a goldmine for it! 😜

[velvetvexations]

I'm genuinely trying to not just be constantly negative and starting shit and arguing with people. I feel like even the people I mostly agree with are getting put off by it if they haven't already. I'm very self-conscious about my opinions and how much I talk on a given subject, and I know I do have issues that make my expressed opinions more pointed than necessary.

But like, me jokingly comparing the Bad Kids to the protagonists of 8-Bit Theater is interesting, because I love 8-Bit Theater to death, it's an extremely important work to me, it hurts a lot that I didn't hear about the scriptbook Kickstarter until it was over and I'll always be looking for a pre-owned copy for the rest of my life.

Like, I think the issue isn't that I have a problem with the Bad Kids acting so awfully. That's okay, especially in a comedy. Comedic sociopathy is a totally fine trope and I enjoy it on a regular basis. The issue that gets me is that it's such a hard counter to not only D20's usual tone, but also the way the DM, the players, the narrative itself, and most of all the fandom treat them and their actions.

That's why I soured on Kristen specifically so hard and so fast, because before JY I just thought she was like, A Lot, but not really a big deal and had some good, solid moments in SY (I did not like FY in general for completely unrelated reasons, sadly). But with JY, it was like, right out the gate she's ignoring Cassandra literally half to death, and I wonder if that would have seriously bothered me as much as it did if the fandom wasn't determined to completely excuse her for it in spite of the fact that it was clearly meant to be a personal character flaw and not just "unfortunately mental illness is happening to her".

Even then I was like, hey, I watched those promo videos, this is obviously something that's been planned ahead and will be dealt with. I'm very far from the first person to point out that we're now entering the season finale and chaos has not yet stopped being cute. Partially that in particular may have been hamstrung by the dice rebellion in the mall fight, with the original plan having been for Cassandra to not get separated from Kristen so fast and subsequently unable to have them actively work on their relationship and Kristen's commitment to her. Kristen running for president also likely threw a monkey wrench into decutifying chaos, because there was never any chance of Ally going about that by having Kristen put on a slick suit and say "I need to take this seriously and research school governance and formulate a policy I'll elaborate on in a debate with Kipperlilly". The race for president could only possibly be a bit the second it went to her instead of Riz, not because I don't think Ally could handle that kinna plot if they set their mind to it, Margret Encino would have killed it just as good as Riz, but because it's simply so far from who Kristen Applebees is as a character.

So anyway, I sat there watching this season waiting for Kristen to grow up because I had faith that was going to happen. But lest you think I just hate Kristen and possibly also Ally, these last few weeks they've been the least of the issue.

As hilarious as it was I don't understand how in the good Lord's name we're supposed to care about Oisin "making Adaine think she liked him" by acting a little flustered around her when Fig literally started catfishing Ruben on the first day of school ages before they had any in-character reasons to suspect the Rat Grinders of anything, all so she could...no, really, why the fuck did she do that? What was the impetus for that decision? I cannot emphasize enough how little motivation is given for this course of action:

There is nothing to it except that Emily correctly pegged he'd be an antagonist later. It's like the detectives on Law & Order arresting someone because they recognized the special guest star.

And like, other people, I get it, other people who don't like the direction JY has taken can shrug it off more easily than I can, there are a million reasons to not treat this like the end of the world, but unfortunately my autism gets me stuck on shit and I just cannot reconcile things like this. I cannot take the show seriously and care about the protagonists as people and share joy in their triumphs and sorrow in their failures and ignore something as blatantly breaking the logic as stuff like this.

I'll grant you, okay, Adaine was understandably hurt but neither the Bad Kids nor the Intrepid Heroes were really like "oh now we have to really fucking ruin Oisin for being the worst person alive". The fandom treated it like he Frozen'd her but fandoms are dumb and should not dictate as much of my opinion as they do, I simply cannot fathom the kind of person who'll cry over the deep and traumatic emotional damage Oisin caused Adaine with his missed beer pong shots but doesn't think Fig should be in jail.

That's also not the end of it, though. I could keep going on just about Fig specifically and the fact that she is at least sex crimes-adjacent, not to mention Emily's infantilization of a very autistic-coded character, but I'm trying very hard to not just come off as being like the people who have harassed Emily and Ally over their roleplaying choices in the past. As I keep stressing, I like both of them and especially Emily because I've been a CollegeHumor fan longer than some D20 fans have been alive. I think I actually like Fig more accepting that she kinna canonically sucks and taking her as more a Complicated Woman than someone whose actions I need to reconcile with the expectation of her being better than that, although I know none of it will ever actually be addressed.

So yeah, all the Bad Kids have been fucking weird this season in ways they weren't in SY. Adaine's intense and completely inexplicable loathing of Kipperlilly was funny at first and then increasingly uncomfortable as it fed into the fans wanting to crucify her. Gorgug going full bully was weird but also like, a one line bit, but whatever. Riz stealing Kipperlilly's file was gross and would or SHOULD deeply hurt Jawbone if he ever found out, and you can say they had to do this horribly unethical action in the name of homeland security or whatever, I accept that there were extenuating circumstances, but it's given no thought whatsoever and absolutely no regard is given to the fact that she was trying to address her issues with the closest mental health professional available who Brennan goes out of his way to note is failing her by overcorrecting for his bias towards the BKs.

But as much as I genuinely believe Brennan has been planting seeds the Rat Grinders could be reached, he's not been great here either and like Mice & Murder these things are more on him than any of the players because he's the director here. Like, I'm embarrassed I got snippy with someone who guessed ahead of time that Kipperlilly desecrated the rogue teacher's grave, but nonetheless think it was a weird conclusion to reach and that it's just even more bizarre that it ended up being "right", except the way it's described doesn't even make sense.

Like, the goal was "find the rogue teacher", right? And the rogue teacher is dead. So to me, it certainly seems like bringing a back hoe to the graveyard is one hundred percent the right move! But even if we accept the apparent canonical intent that was Kipperlilly threatening to merely destroy the grave as an act of vandalism rather than retrieve the body, it's like...so what? Literally who cares? As if the Bad Kids or any other adventuring party wouldn't dig up a dead body to cast Speak with Dead or something, as if the foundational Dungeons & Dragons formula wasn't raiding tombs like 19th-century colonial archeologists? And why would any of that be necessary anyway, when Riz found Eugenia by just...walking up to the grave?

But regardless, that, you might say, is a matter of the Rat Grinders being unfairly presented as evil and not the Bad Kids being unfairly presented as good. When it comes to Brennan's part in it, though, these are the same issue, because as the creator and director of every atom of the world outside the PCs, he's just so very willing to go with what the players start to expect. That's fine for a home game, but this is like, a television show that people pay money for, and that's an issue. He'll plant enough seeds of the Rat Grinders being better than they're treated that a chunk of the audience will notice and think the players are being weird about them, but he won't push it further than that and instead just rolls with the players being weird because his first priority is their enjoyment.

Again, fine in a home game, obviously. But it creates this divide between the players and the audience because the world has been crafted in such a way that when the players being weird is noticed it's like, why are they being rewarded for that? Why are they getting zero pushback? Brennan and I both heavily, heavily value collaborative storytelling for good reason, it's why I love TTRPGs and actual plays, but if this were a story told by a single person you could either have the protagonists pick up on those hints, have it be a point that they didn't pick up on them, or just not even include them in the first place.

One of the reasons I really, really like Aabria's DMing, as I've said recently, is that she truly remains firm in her worldbuilding and is not shy about providing realistic consequences or acknowledging PC behavior is dissonant with what's going on around them. And it just makes it super ironic that Kipperlilly's whole deal is correctly identifying the fact that the world is warped around the Bad Kids, and in this season more than ever the DM is like, fully changing reality to accommodate them and giving them plot resolutions on a silver platter, to the point of letting them just full-on take back spells because the target turned out to not be there, which is pretty far beyond the quibble about the climactic move in Calamity's final boss fight.

It's not that I think D20 is 'rigged' exactly, because it's not really a game, or at least it's not really Dungeons & Dragons. This was a revelation I had when I watched Critical Role other than Calamity for the first time and was amazed by how they'd stand around after a battle looting bodies for random magic items. D20 isn't a sandbox TTRPG, it's a very on-rails shooting gallery with roughly as much choice in the narrative as a modern RPG video game, and it has to all wrap within a certain amount of sessions. That's fine, but occasionally it can feel deceptive when we pretend there's much chance of things going radically wrong. One of the reasons I liked the first half of Crown of Candy and all of The Ravening War so much is because they're the only times where failure has really, truly been on the table in an Intrepid Heroes season, but I still liked most of the other Intrepid Hero seasons nonetheless.

This season, I just, I dunno man. I don't believe Ice Feast just accidentally wah wah wah had the effect of completely neutralizing the primary threat of the final boss fight. And Blimeygate, like, I thought it was mostly a fun moment, but it also felt like the most exaggerated-for-marketing-purposes the "got'em!" bits have ever been.

But despite all that, I am still currently capable of enjoying the next season. I'm hoping next week does not make things dramatically worse.

[yanoverload]

Maybe that's a sign that we should be friends teehee jk jk.... unless 👀

But seriously, I probably wouldn't be that great either, I wouldn't ghost you, but I have this problem where I simply don't text my friends cuz I'm not used to having friends to text with, or just in general talk with, and my brain is also like "Oh you should text that friend!! Wait... maybe you shouldn't... wouldn't wanna bother them or be annoying..." it's mostly my mental illnesses talking, i'm trying to get better at dealing with it, but I still struggle a lot with that.

Also, I'm already looking up coral snake plushies. There are so many, I need them all, just wanna be surrounded by plushue sneks now

🇩🇪 Anon

I'm like that too! But it's like, I see the message and answer in my mind, but forget to answer physically ya know? ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

I love coral snakes, sad I can't really see them close LOL except on museums

I need to get a plushie too....

[ihavedonenothingright]

I try my best to be neutral about things I don't really like, but I think we need to reframe the way we discuss the classical world. I'm not saying you can't have fun with it—I think it's fascinating, and that's why I study it—but the Greek Mythology resurgence has led to a kind of weird mentality surrounding ancient religion, culture, and languages. There is no set 'canon' here, or 'one true version' of a myth; what we think of as Greek Mythology is a collection of stories pulled together from hundreds of city states with their own unique oral traditions, smashed into one broader narrative by various historians and poets. The details are going to vary, and that's normal—especially because most people are reading these stories in translation. Even if there was One True Original Story, you have no way of knowing what that is unless you learn to read Homeric Greek. Which was already a challenge for most of the other Greek writers you're familiar with.

Go and enjoy Epic or anything else you like. I think it's cool that more people are being introduced to classic literature right now, and I really hope that trend continues. I just wish people understood that they're engaging with a piece of collective culture, not something cohesive like the MCU. Details are going to vary, ancient writers have different takes on things, and that does not automatically make them worthless. Please let your interest in Homeric work take you other places. You can find a lot of interesting works online—for free!—that either influenced the things you already like, or built off of them. So here are a few of my recommendations.

The Descent of Ishtar, read by Martin West. I think it's important to note that Greek religion was heavily influenced by other existing traditions, and vice versa, since a lot of people seem to believe Greece is the original and other cultures simply 'copied.' This translation here is really lovely, AND you get the chance to listen to reconstructed Akkadian.

The Hippocratic Corpus, translated by Francis Adams. This is a pretty decent translation, and worth a read because it highlights 1. theological debates happening in real time over the causes of different illnesses and 2. the tendency Greeks and Romans had to attribute all noteworthy developments in a single field to one person. Homer probably didn't exist, at least not in the capacity we often think of, and neither did Hippocrates—so many of the texts in his own 'corpus' are in complete disagreement with each other. That said, they're still extremely useful. Airs, Waters, Places is a particularly important read in my opinion because it is intentionally xenophobic. Half of this text is a justification for the natural inferiority of Persians and all cultures ruled by or allied with the Achaemenid Empire, and this is not an uncommon opinion in Ancient Greek writing. I think it's important more people are aware of that since Ancient Greece is frequently idealized. Plus you'll get to read some VERY strange descriptions of human anatomy. Wait until you find out about how sperm makes your hair turn white.

Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Later Greek writers often get overlooked in favor of their predecessors, but Plutarch is particularly interesting because of the gap he's choosing to bridge: each section of Parallel Lives is a comparison between a significant Greek historical figure, and a significant Roman one. I can't not include Plutarch, especially since his section on Alexander the Great is one of our best sources of information on the man (no, seriously, we have lost SO much information over time). Anyway, I highly recommend it as a read. Perseus (the reading software) can be a little bit finicky, but this translation is pretty solid compared to some of their other, older available works.

[loserboysandlithium]

Wow I am the only one here that notice that all of this dykes bi clowns suffer from mental illness or something like that. Well I mean I'm not surprised tbh. This baby gore whore wherever her name is bithing and moaning about some writer is stalking her for her fics or something like that ( seriously doubt it but anyway) that this writer hates on them wherever by the way this is not me I don't write anything and I never tried. Why don't you losers just fuck off.

PS, that anon that sent you the message SLUT, whoever you are anon that was hysterical I love you 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

This isn’t even worth my breath but…

First, I’m glad you think making fun of mental illness is cool. You do realize we can’t actually help that? But if you’re trying to insinuate that that’s why we’re all “dykes bi clowns” then you’ve obviously just never had a taste of good pussy. 💅

Second, I don’t know what the fuck your obsession is with Morgan but back the fuck off and stop stalking people. It’s really fucking creepy that she keeps blocking you and yet you’re still on her page. 👀 I mean I’m obsessed with her too so I get it. But honey, I don’t think she feels the same about you so I’d move on.

Third, I wouldn’t try the writing thing if I was you because I can barely understand half of the shit you say anyways.

Fourth, how are you going to tell us to fuck off when you’re the one stalking people and sending them embarrassing anons constantly?? We’re not reaching out to you…

And finally, I am a slut and I don’t care. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 please find something better to do with your life. You are simply a homophobic, racist, piece of shit.

[heliosoll]

how did you deal with shifting not "working", like waking up in your cr after u went to sleep intending to wake up in your dr? like i know thats not a problem for you now, but before you shifted for the first time, how did you deal with that? for me, once i shift for the first time i have it scripted that ill be able to shift instantly etc. and ik technically thats true now, but after 3yrs of not seeing any progress, aiming to wake up in my dr is all i can muster. :/

Hm... if you mean how I dealt with it emotionally then:

I know it can be hard but don't blame yourself or insult yourself. You tried your best and that's what matter. Always be kind to yourself, even if you don't quite believe it yet!

Persist! Again, I know it's hard when it's been so long, but you've come this far. Ask yourself this question and answer sincerely, do you really want to give up? Some people might say yes, but if the answer is no, that's more than enough reason to keep going. You will shift. Believe in yourself more!

Take breaks when you need to! Don't let yourself get burnt out or spiteful toward shifting. If you need to chill and not think about it for a while, that's okay!

Try to stay motivated! Remember how you felt when you first discovered shifting or feel the emotions you know you'll have once you shift. Immerse yourself in your DR!

Now, if you meant what steps I took to actually shift for the first time after "failing" for a year:

First, failure in shifting doesn't exist. Trust me, I know how that sounds, but it's true. It simply doesn't exist. Whether you think of every action as a shift or not, failure isn't real. It's perceived. It's okay to feel bad and angry but once you've felt those emotions, take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are in control and that you literally cannot fail.

As a side note on the "failure not real" thing, the only thing "holding you back" is you. Now listen I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, okay? I understand how shitty that sounds and how your first reaction is probably "fuck off". I get it! I had the same reaction back then. But literally nothing and no one can stop you from shifting. Not the method, the time of day, the universe, or any deity or spirit. Nothing! NOTHING is holding you back. I know it can be hard, but getting comfortable with the idea that it's all you and learning how to not blame outside factors will really help in your shifting journey.

Most of the time when people are "failing", it's because of a belief they have. Maybe they still think shifting is fake and have the belief that it will never work. Maybe they believe they're not powerful enough or worthy enough. Maybe they think shifting is inherently hard and takes some people a lot of time to get there. Maybe they think methods matter. I don't know what beliefs you have, but when you get the time, truly go over each and every one. Do you have a belief that could be affecting your shifts?

If that's the case, start telling yourself that you'll shift no matter what. I really need you to understand that you can shift whenever you want, regardless of everything. You don't need a perfect self concept. You don't need perfect mental health. You can have limiting beliefs and still shift. Nothing matters! Truly let that sink in. Internalize the fact that shifting is all up to you and what you're telling yourself.

And above all, have fun!!!!! Too many people suck all the fun out of shifting for themselves. They create these intense rituals they don't even like, force themselves to try methods they hate, constantly insult themselves, and get jealous of other shifters. It's awful! Shifting is supposed to be fun! It's not supposed to be something that takes all your energy or something that makes you miserable. Seriously, if shifting is ever making you feel bad, take a step back and reassess some things. Let yourself have fun with shifting and I promise you'll see a lot more results!