#i have to find a researchable local problem to write about

[roseglazedlens]

⦑ THE FUCKING DEAD ⦒ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

➠ series masterlist | 🔃girl’s route | 🔃boy’s route |

𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐓┇𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑┇𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐅𝐈𝐂┇𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 LEON S. KENNEDY & CARLOS OLIVEIRA X AFAB GN! READER ADA WONG & JILL VALENTINE X AFAB GN! READER chapter synopsis: You are amongst the top five selected for this infiltration to take down Glenn Arias. An argument unfolds between the agents and you are forced to pick a side. chapter content: smut in next chapter, resident evil: vendetta spoilers, zombies, haunted mansion, explicit themes throughout this series. a/n: welcome to my second series!! (need to finish my first one oops) on a thursday one month ago, i thought to myself 'zombie threesome hehehe', then i took the idea and sprinted with it and this series is born. so, uh... zombiefuckers rise up?? « 3.3 k words | general masterlist | ao3 | reblogs appreciated! »

Millions are dying—Mass infections are happening across the globe swamping the streets with an unbeknownst fear. The symptoms of this virus are faint, indecipherable next to an x-ray of a man who is perfectly healthy. Not even the carrier themselves are aware of how the virus lies underneath their veins, dormant, until a click of button is pressed from a commander far away, then their symptoms worsen: a headache, a cold, veins turning purple as the poison hatches in them, spreading, until the only thing that can manoeuvre their limbs is the word: KILL.

That’s the greatest strength of this virus. Anyone can be infected, and maybe, you already are.

This product first reached the underground market three months ago. Called the A-Virus; a bioweapon succeeded in the market for its ability to infect targeted communities remotely and leaving no evidence on the perpetrator, which no other distributors had successfully produced before.

Engineered by Glenn Arias, the researcher sold over thousands of this bioweapon, becoming a billionaire overnight at the cost of lives lost from the whims of the rich. He supplied the wealthy and corrupted, like insatiable brats, with new remote-controlled monster trucks, who only aims to tear down families and have their victims beg mercy to a monster that will not speak reason.

Hence, this problem brought attention to a global scale, having the DSO come in alliance with the BSAA and other independent mercenaries to hunt down the vaccine and put a stop to Arias’ grand schemes. Handpicking five agents who are equipped with both experience and skill to combat a zombie attack on this scale of doom and urgency.

Those five agents are Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira, Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, and you.

A plan is already in place. A distraction concocted with your intel and the help of a senior researcher of all things bioweapons, Rebecca Chambers. While Arias is busy attending fake business meetings on the other side of the world, the five of you will infiltrate his private mansion to retrieve a concentrated sample of the A-Virus. Rebecca can use the sample to reverse engineer it into a cure and send her findings to facilities across the world.

The plan sounds brilliant in writing, but when you arrived his private mansion in Queretaro region, Mexico, something is off about this place.

Arias is a mastermind, you had been warned many times, in which you appropriately prepared all your best gear for this mission to treat it with utmost gravity. You’re thinking armed guards, well-equipped security, BOWs. But when the five of you pushed open the front doors of his mansion, it was quiet.

Empty. Not a single soul. Just five of you greeted by the whisk of wind through weakly hinged windows that somehow makes the humid air stick to your skin further. Did Rebecca get the wrong info? No one lived there. From what you heard when you were in town, not even the locals dare to venture anywhere near the odd gothic mansion on the top of the hill. They said it’s abandoned, cursed, rumoured to whisk away young children if they ever step foot inside.

It’s a story they say to stop the naughty kids, you remind yourself. It’s not haunted. And you’re not a kid anymore.

The inside is abandoned. Cobwebs lay thick between cornices and carved columns, the floors laced with a film of dust on the luxurious dark wood flooring, creaking with worn age as you take each step. Besides the chandelier, every single piece of furniture is either the same colour of black or red, or nothing else. The soft red velvet upholstery and the rug are made with the same fabric. And you can find the same dark wood in every corner of this house. It’s in the tables, the shelves, the chaise, the painting frames, and stone-like head sculpture whittled with the same exact dark wood, ridged the exact uniform way.

Then, you look at the wall. Black patches of mould smearing across the burgundy wallpaper like a crime scene.

Something creaks behind you. The hair on your arms stands up as you shiver, immediately followed by a wave of embarrassment. Despite the number of times you had taken down hordes of incoming zombies like they’re cardboard targets, why is a bit of wind freaking you out? It’s not a ghost, just old foundations, maybe mice, or wind kicking something off a table, like how every old house sounds like. You look around to see if anyone else catches you jumping at nothing, before Jill says, thankfully unaware of your worry:

“God, the smell. What have they done to this place?” Her hand flies over her nose as if that will help to shield any smell whatsoever. Unfortunately, the building is moulded far beyond salvageable that the stench lingers in every part of the mansion.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad. We get weeks-old corpses in body bags every day. It’s absolutely retching.” Jill’s earpiece fizzes into life, and she recognises the familiar playful lilt of Rebecca’s voice on the other side of the line.

“At least that’s refrigerated and contained, Rebecca. This fucking stinks.” Jill scrunches her face like she just ate something unpleasant.

“I’m sending my sympathies from my well-conditioned lab right now.”

Carlos appears from Jill’s behind, placing a firm, teasing hand on top of Jill’s shoulder. His wavy curls catch in the wind and his teeth glistens sparkly white. “Yeah Jill, got a problem with my natural musk?”

Jill shrugs his hand off, grimacing at his attempts at flirtation. “Take a shower first, then we’ll talk.”

In which Carlos laughs, holds his hand out at his heart as if it was just torn into shreds. “That hurts my feelings, Jill. Why aren’t you ever saying things like that to pretty boy over there?”

“I have a name, Oliveira.” The blond man turns around at the call of his nickname, familiar with the nickname, but it's not pleasantly received by him.

“I think pretty boy suits you more, Kennedy.” Carlos replies, a glint in his voice that hints something a bit less than friendliness between them.

“Ah, so you do know my name.” Leon quips back while staring directly into Carlos’ eyes, before getting cut off by Jill.

“I would, Carlos, but if I have to hear one more corny ass comeback from Leon’s mouth, I’ll throw myself out the window right now.”

“Takes a genius to get my humour.” Leon smirks.

Your eyebrows raise almost immediately to chime in. “Erm… I think we have different meanings for the word ‘genius’.”

Quiet chuckles ripple through the room. It helps that you have worked with these guys throughout the years and had come to know and get close to them—some a bit closer than just friends—but none of them are strangers by far. Usually, you would be working with only one or two of these guys, never in a big group like this, but it seems that everyone is already well-acquainted with each other.

You toss a glance at Carlos and catch him staring at you, smiling. Ah, you see now. Carlos must have been trying to lighten the mood because you had been jumpy ever since you had arrived. You nod at him, a silent thank you before the five of you venture deeper into the eerie atmosphere.

The goal is to arrive at Glenn Aria’s office. According to Rebecca’s intel, Arias hid a concentrated sample in a safe last time he was here. You will need Ada to crack the safe to retrieve the sample and deliver it to Rebecca. As you traverse the corridors, it twists and turns in different directions—whoever engineered this did not enjoy unexpected guests at all. But under Rebecca’s guidance, she walks you and your team through the labyrinth with ease and precision.

But unfortunately, not ease and precision on your part. You trip over your own leg and almost fall to the floor as you round a harsh turn according to Rebecca’s instructions, and Jill catches you right on the arm before you fall.

“Easy there.” Jill pulls you up the ground, and you regain some balance. “You good? Mind your step.”

“Why did I agree to babysit?” Ada speaks, finally, for the first time in this mission. Despite how quietly she spoke under her breath, her words abruptly cut through the air, and all attention is on her and the red sweater dress that curves into her frame perfectly now.

“Oh, I bet once you get your paycheck it will be worth it. Or will you be betraying us, huh, Ada?”

Leon smirks loudly. Ada’s face goes from tired to exhausted in one second. “You just can’t let bygones be bygones, can you?”

“That’s rich coming from someone who used to work for Wesker.” Ada’s heels come to a stop, and with a slow turn, she stares deeply into Leon’s eyes that speak a million threats without needing to be utter a word. Oh, and believe me, you do not want to be messing with Ada. You learnt that the hard way.

“Woah, guys. Let’s keep this civil. No need to get heated.” Carlos rushes to stand right between them as the duo glares at each other with passionate fury and resentment.

You nod, joining Carlos’ side to stand by him. “Carlos’s right. This is not the time to pick a fight.” But it falls on the deaf ears of Leon and Ada.

“Thousands were killed. I want what’s good for the people, and I’m not sure Ada here is on the same page.” Leon continues, adding fuel to the fire.

Ada lets out a disbelieved gasp in response, before recollecting herself and replying in her usual tone of calmness: “Someone has to pay the price. I’m just the executor.”

“Regardless of our motivations, we all are on the same side here.” Carlos attempts at resolution again, putting his hands up in between them, and fails embarrassingly once more.

The air is heated with hostility; Leon and Ada’s eyes are locked in a trance, a hazy spite that reigns their composure, that looking away from each other means forfeiting. You don’t see either of them walking away first, they are both prideful people after all.

“Uh… Jill? Some help?” Carlos looks around to find Jill, who is leaning against a wall, her arms relaxing by her sides, unphased by the fire stirring right in front of the crowd.

“Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Jill is merely waiting for either one of the parties roll over.

You feel speckles of flame through the two of them, as if steam is retreating over the top of their heads, burning not just them, but also everyone else in the room. Until the boiling point hits, and it erupts all in one second. The duo walks away, off to different directions in bitter adrenaline, until you and Carlos are just looking at each other.

“I guess we’ll take five. There’s a safe room up ahead.” Carlos is speaking, but you’re the one listening.

The five of you enters the safe room in silence. It is a storage room—despite its name, it’s quite large for a normal storage room—with boxes stacked on all ends that made the room seem smaller in comparison. A ceiling light illuminates the room dimly, but it isn’t enough to shade away years of old animosity from their past.

The lively conversations you had mere minutes ago is gone now. Just silence and awkward rustling as each of you sits in your own designated corner. Carlos and Jill find themselves a seat on top of a firm box. Leon and Ada giving each other the silent treatment, standing on farthest end of the room to each other. You are simply minding your own business, gathering materials to craft a flashbang to pass the time. Doesn’t hurt to have more supplies anyway.

There is a notable division on each side, an imaginary alliance that you choose to be on neither side. Until Leon crosses the boundary line, somehow making his way to you. He picks up an empty grenade case next to you, assembling the pieces together for your project.

“Sorry you had to see that.” A little guilt tugs at Leon’s voice.

“Not at all. I get why you felt that way.” Leon nods, a look of gratitude hanging softly through a smile. His other finger seals the flashbang cap and hands it back to you. “But you need to learn to control your temper. Especially when it comes to Ada.”

Speaking of Ada, a shiver runs down your spine suddenly. The feeling of someone sending laser signs and telepathic warnings towards you. You turn around towards the direction of the aura to find Ada, her back leaning against the wall, arms crossed without engaging or acknowledging anyone in the room. She stands by herself alone, and that’s how you had always known Ada—distant and in her own mysterious world. Not really a chatter, despite the number of times she had saved you in the past.

Ada does not look at you, but you can feel her glaring down—either you or Leon—with her entire body.

“Good to see the two of you getting along at least.” Carlos holds out two plastic water bottles to you two from a supply crate he found in the room, which Jill has finished downing two of them already.

You two gesture ‘no thanks.’ Ada does not spare Carlos a glance at his direction when he offers.

“You’re welcome, I guess.” Carlos says sarcastically, before taking in a generous sip from his drink.

There’s a moment of silence. Then, a moment of dry coughs; a squeak of footsteps, a joint click from a stretching neck. Then silence once more.

“I’ve had enough.” Jill slaps her hands on her thigh before pushing herself up from her seat. “You guys gonna keep acting like kids? Grow up, this isn’t high school anymore. Take your drama outside. If we’re gonna take down Arias, we have to get along. And yes, that means moving on from shit that happened… five years ago? Five years ago and you two are still hung up? Unlike you all, I’m actually looking forward to go home and get a decent shower, hopefully soon.”

You nod in approval as Jill speaks her mind, and you are glad at least the few of you have their priorities in order. Ada flicks her head away from Jill, but her silence is telling of how much she is thinking over Jill’s words.

“Leon, can you accept this?” Jill asks.

There’s a bit of reluctance in his voice, but he agrees anyway. “Fine.”

“Ada?”

Before Ada can respond, smoke is creeping into your vision, coming in quick. It merges into your view, obscuring it, and you whiff something artificial, some kind of chemicals that is piercing to your nose and eyes. You can’t help but wince, hands groping the air in attempts to find comfort in the person closest to you—anyone for that matter—to indicate you’re safe and is indeed not under attack. Your fingers find themselves in a fistful of someone’s shirt, muscles tensing tightly underneath the fabric on their shoulder cap.

“Leon. Is that you?” You cry out.

“It’s me. Stay close and don’t let go. It’s an ambush.” Leon pulls your arm towards him, securing your safety with his hand in yours.

There is some coughing through the air, faint panic in voices underneath the hissing of gas that seems to be coming from above. You hold onto Leon a bit tighter.

Carlos calls out desperately “Where are you guys? Is everyone okay?” as he flaps his hand around the smoke to stir it away. He finds you and Leon almost immediately, and looks down to your hands, finding them clasped tight against each other. Your hand lets go of Leon flying behind your back, but Carlos already saw it.

Jill is coughing deep from the smoke. “I-I’m here!”

“It seems like we’re all here.” Ada says, composed as ever despite the circumstances.

The smoke dissipates—until most of the fog fades away, escaping through the cracks underneath the door to the other side. Leaving the five of you standing in the same storage room darting eyes around, seemingly unharmed, and even more confused.

After what feels like a while later, Jill finally breaks the silence: “Huh. What was that?”

“No enemies.” Ada unholsters the pistol from her belt, inspecting the room and the door behind the room. “Clear on this side too.”

It’s strange. If this is an ambush, why isn’t there an attack?

Leon places a finger on his earpiece to activate his microphone. “Rebecca, come in. We’ve just been ambushed by some kind of smoke, but nobody’s hurt. Happen to know what’s going on?”

His earpiece buzzes into life. “Hmm, let’s see. From the architecture plans, I see the vents are connected to a lab below. It seems abandoned, there are no signs of anyone triggering an attack on my end.”

“Whatever it is, we need to investigate.” Leon’s voice is firm and serious. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

You swallow deeply, fear settling back inside you. “You think it’s a trap?”

“I think…” Leon pinches his chin. “…Arias knows that we’re here.”

Your heart drops—Bundle of fear, anxiety and stress springing back into your nerves as you probe at the possibility of Glen Arias knowing where you are. What you’re trying to do. Making sure you will never reach that sample despite your hardest wills.

“He shouldn’t. Rebecca, didn’t Arias get on the jet?” Carlos is also thinking too.

“Affirmative. Security footage showed Arias walking into his private jet, and it took off four hours ago. He should still be in the air. No signal of them making a pitstop anywhere.”

You hear black pumps clacking against the hardwood floor. “I’m getting the sample.” Says Ada, her foot is already halfway out of the door. “Follow me or not, I don’t care. I’m here for the objective, and only that.”

“And what if something happens to you?” Carlos asks, genuinely concerned.

“I’ll deal with it if it happens.” Ada waves dismissively.

“Ada’s right, we could be set on a wild goose chase.” Jill chimes in. “Millions of lives are dying. We don’t have time to waste.”

“I guess it’s just you and me then, pretty boy.” Carlos rounds his arm around Leon’s neck, bringing him closer in an almost choking grip, a little too close and tight to his liking. And with Leon’s history with Carlos, Leon refuses to believe this is just a friendly gesture.

Leon grimaces, removing Carlos’ hand over him. “So that’s it? We’re splitting up?” The answer is unanimous. “Fine. I guess we’ll cover more ground if we split up.”

Rebecca, through the other side of your earpiece, speaks: “Be careful everyone. You don’t know what kind of schemes Glenn Arias had set up. Please stay safe.”

“We’ll be fine, as long as we don't have any traitors in our team.” Leon says the word ‘traitor’ while maintaining eye contact with Ada. She ignores him, simply deadpans.

“Well, what about you?” Leon nudges at your arm.

You are faced with two options. Indulge in your curiosity and find the source of the gas, or stick to mission as planned? Both options will be dangerous. So who will you trust with your life?

[OPTION A] “I’ll follow the girls.”

[OPTION B] “I’ll follow the boys.”

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 thanks for reading! come check out my other works! ���yours truly, rose. i love my beta reader @scar-crossedlvrs! series taglist: @j3llyd0nut @ovaryacted @daydreamrot @madcap-riflette @access--granted @obsolescent @briermelli @secretiveauthor @ghosty-frog @navstuffs @slowcryinginthedark @rentaldarling @lesbntired © roseglazedlens — please do not repost, plagiarise, or feed to ai.

[writingwithcolor]

Sri Lankan Fairies and Senegalese Goddesses: Mixing Mythology as a Mixed Creator

[Note: this archive ask was submitted before the Masterpost rules took effect in 2023. The ask has been abridged for clarity.]

@reydjarinkenobi asked:

Hi, I’m half Sri Lankan/half white Australian, second gen immigrant though my mum moved when she was a kid. My main character for my story is a mixed demigod/fae. [...] Her bio mum is essentially a Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy and her other bio mum (goddess) is a goddess of my own creation, Nettamaar, who’s name is derived from [...] Wolof words [...]. The community of mages that she presided over is from the South Eastern region of Senegal [...] In the beginning years of European imperialism, the goddess basically protected them through magic and by blessing a set of triplets effectively cutting them off from the outside world for a few centuries [...] I was unable to find a goddess that fit the story I wanted to tell [...] and also couldn’t find much information on the internet for local gods, which is why I have created my own. I know that the gods in Hinduism do sort of fit into [the story] but my Sri Lankan side is Christian and I don’t feel comfortable representing the Hindu gods in the way that I will be this goddess [...]. I wanted to know if any aspect of the community’s history is problematic as well as if I should continue looking further to try and find an African deity that matched my narrative needs? I was also worried that having a mixed main character who’s specifically half black would present problems as I can’t truly understand the black experience. I plan on getting mixed and black sensitivity readers once I finish my drafts [...] I do take jabs at white supremacy and imperialism and I I am planning to reflect my feelings of growing up not immersed in your own culture and feeling overwhelmed with what you don’t know when you get older [...]. I’m sorry for the long ask but I don’t really have anyone to talk to about writing and I’m quite worried about my story coming across as insensitive or problematic because of cultural history that I am not educated enough in.

Reconciliation Requires Research

First off: how close is this world’s history to our own, omitting the magic? If you’re aiming for it to be essentially parallel, I would keep in mind that Senegal was affected by the spread of Islam before the Europeans arrived, and most people there are Muslim, albeit with Wolof and other influences. 

About your Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy character: I’ll point you to this previous post on Magical humanoid worldbuilding, Desi fairies as well as this previous post on Characterization for South Asian-coded characters for some of our commentary on South Asian ‘fae’. Since she is also Scottish, the concept can tie back to the Celtic ideas of the fae.

However, reconciliation of both sides of her background can be tricky. Do you plan on including specific Sri Lankan mythos into her heritage? I would tread carefully with it, if you plan to do so. Not every polytheistic culture will have similar analogues that you can pull from.

To put it plainly, if you’re worried about not knowing enough of the cultural histories, seek out people who have those backgrounds and talk to them about it. Do your research thoroughly: find resources that come from those cultures and read carefully about the mythos that you plan to incorporate. Look for specificity when you reach out to sensitivity readers and try to find sources that go beyond a surface-level analysis of the cultures you’re looking to portray. 

~ Abhaya

I see you are drawing on Gaelic lore for your storytelling. Abhaya has given you good links to discussions we’ve had at WWC and the potential blindspots in assuming, relative to monotheistic religions like Christianity, that all polytheistic and pluralistic lore is similar to Gaelic folklore. Fae are one kind of folklore. There are many others. Consider:

Is it compatible? Are Fae compatible with the Senegalese folklore you are utilizing? 

Is it specific? What ethnic/religious groups in Senegal are you drawing from? 

Is it suitable? Are there more appropriate cultures for the type of lore you wish to create?

Remember, Senegalese is a national designation, not an ethnic one, and certainly not a designation that will inform you with respect to religious traditions. But more importantly:

...Research Requires Reconciliation

My question is why choose Senegal when your own heritage offers so much room for exploration? This isn’t to say I believe a half Sri-Lankan person shouldn’t utilize Senegalese folklore in their coding or vice-versa, but, to put it bluntly, you don’t seem very comfortable with your heritage. Religions can change, but not everything cultural changes when this happens. I think your relationship with your mother’s side’s culture offers valuable insight to how to tackle the above, and I’ll explain why.  

I myself am biracial and bicultural, and I had to know a lot about my own background before I was confident using other cultures in my writing. I had to understand my own identity—what elements from my background I wished to prioritize and what I wished to jettison. Only then was I able to think about how my work would resonate with a person from the relevant background, what to be mindful of, and where my blindspots would interfere. 

I echo Abhaya’s recommendation for much, much more research, but also include my own personal recommendation for greater self-exploration. I strongly believe the better one knows oneself, the better they can create. It is presumptuous for me to assume, but your ask’s phrasing, the outlined plot and its themes all convey a lack of confidence in your mixed identity that may interfere with confidence when researching and world-building. I’m not saying give up on this story, but if anxiety on respectful representation is a large barrier for you at the moment, this story may be a good candidate for a personal project to keep to yourself until you feel more ready.

(See similar asker concerns here: Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction, here: Representing Biracial Black South American Experiences and here: Am I fetishizing my Japanese character?)

- Marika.

Start More Freely with Easy Mode

Question: Why not make a complete high-fantasy universe, with no need of establishing clear real-world parallels in the text? It gives you plenty of leg room to incorporate pluralistic, multicultural mythos + folklore into the same story without excessive sweating about historically accurate worldbuilding.

It's not a *foolproof* method; even subtly coded multicultural fantasy societies like Avatar or the Grishaverse exhibit certain harmful tropes. I also don't know if you are aiming for low vs high fantasy, or the degree of your reliance on real world culture / religion / identity cues.

But don't you think it's far easier for this fantasy project to not have the additional burden of historical accuracy in the worldbuilding? Not only because I agree with Mod Marika that perhaps you seem hesitant about the identity aspect, but because your WIP idea can include themes of othering and cultural belonging (and yes, even jabs at supremacist institutions) in an original fantasy universe too. I don't think I would mind if I saw a couple of cultural markers of a Mughal Era India-inspired society without getting a full rundown of their agricultural practices, social conventions and tax systems, lol.

Mod Abhaya has provided a few good resources about what *not* to do when drawing heavily from cultural coding. With that at hand, I don't think your project should be a problem if you simply make it an alternate universe like Etheria (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Inys (The Priory of the Orange Tree) or Earthsea (the Earthsea series, Ursula K. Le Guin). Mind you, we can trace the analogues to each universe, but there is a lot of freedom to maneuver as you wish when incorporating identities in original fantasy. And of course, multiple sensitivity readers are a must! Wishing you the best for the project.

- Mod Mimi

[maxiemclaren]

Can you please do one where Oscar and Y/N get a cat together? Ty x

The Orange Tabby

Warnings: fluff with a little angst

Pairing: Oscar Piastri x fem!reader

Summary: you try to convince Oscar to get a cat and he caves.

a/n i honestly blacked out while writing this so let’s hope you enjoy!

“Babe please, just look at how cute they are!” you pleaded with the biggest puppy eyes you could muster, showing him all the cats that were up for adoption at your local shelter. “y/n, love you know how much traveling we do there is just no logical way we could have a pet right now, I’m sorry” he says pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead, searching your face for a reaction, you just sigh and fall into his chest and mumble out “fine, I guess one of us has to be realistic”

Over the next few weeks you keep trying to bring up adopting a cat practically anytime you could. When he was working out, making meals, practicing on the sim, even some times when he was in meetings you would find ways to mention the beautiful orange tabby cat that they recently had received. In the kitchen Oscar was making dinner for the both of you, when suddenly you mentioned the orange cat again. “Enough y/n! I understand you might want a cat, but have you thought that maybe I don’t want one!?” Oscar yelled out of frustration, you stood there almost paralyzed, sure you’ve had your fair share of disagreements but he never raised his voice towards you. “Yeah, I guess I never thought about that, sorry Oscar.” you said and retired to the bedroom for the rest of the night. A sigh left Oscar, feeling regretful of yelling at you, he knew better than to come in the shared bedroom when you were both on edge.

In truth Oscar was trying to research how you guys could bring the cat along with you for the races, well along with getting the adoption papers in order, apparently he was a very popular cat having around 15 other people wanting to adopt him.

Oscar kept tip-toeing around the whole cat disagreement for the next week and just blissfully listened to explain why you were so hell bent on getting one. “Well my grandmother had an orange tabby cat when I was younger and he was my favorite thing” you said feeling emotional. He nodded along and held your hand while you explained, he decided enough was enough and he wanted to tell you the good news. “Love, I need to tell you something” he said practically bursting at the seams, you look at him to proceed with what he needed to say “I actually put in adoption papers for the orange tabby as soon as you showed him to me” he blurted out in a rush. “You’re kidding, Oscar Jack Piastri. You better not be messing with me” you said pointing a stern finger at him. “I’m being 100% serious my love, we pick him up next week” 

Next week rolls around with lightning speed, you two have been out almost all day making sure you have everything you need for your cat. Except there was one problem, you couldn’t decide on a name. “Ooh how about Oliver, hmm maybe Thomas” you said very enthusiastically. Oscar just laughed “Seriously Thomas? What is he an old man? A tank engine train?” you huffed back racking your brain for a name you could both agree on when all of a sudden Oscar had a light bulb moment. “Wait what if we named him Papaya?” You thought about it for a moment and came to agreement on the name. 

It has been the best 4 months with Papaya by your side quite literally, it was like your grandmother’s cat was reincarnated into him, he never left your side making Oscar a little jealous that the cat was getting more attention than him. “But loveee, he gets cuddles all day! What about me?” Oscar said pouting, you just chuckled and opened your arms for your clingy boyfriend. “Have I told you that you’re the best boyfriend?” you said while running your fingers through his hair while he laid on top of you. He mumbled out “Yes, at least twice a day since we got papaya” Looking up towards you, pure love behind his eyes. 

[thurio-edau]

SBG GANG MENTAL ANALYSIS

yup, him for part two. funny thing despite Aiden being my favourite character I'm most excited for the other three posts I'll make, especially the last one. there's a lot to unpack here so

also im writing this with a migraine pls read it-

Part 2: Aiden Clark

ah, yes. the obviously-mentally-ill from the start fan favourite Aiden Clark. let's go.

first, I want to start with something I find really important about his character, what makes him heavily mischaracterized in the fandom. the 'psychopath' cliche.

the terms 'psychopath', 'insane' and 'unstable' are often confused with each other due to media stereotypes, such as Aiden here. one, he is not a psychopath. psychopath literally means a self-centered person who lacks sympathy, affection and care; making them far from most other characters in their franchise. their lack of sympathy/empathy often makes them criminalized, here

disturbing content warning, for an example of a psychopath.

let's take Gressil from Homesick for example since a lot of SBG readers also read Homesick. so, here, Gressil is a perfect example of an actual psychopath. his lack of empathy makes him torment others, he's very self-centered. and when asked why he's doing this? he says he was bored. let's look at Aiden here. what does Aiden do when bored? probably dumb ideas or annoy Tyler. not torturing people for fun. Aiden is just a boy who likes thrills, but he has a sense of empathy, care and justice.

you wanna see a psychopathic Aiden?? the canvas is it

(our local Logan hater is publishing the canvas eps go checc beachy out)

but that's him, not our Aiden. canvas does not equal originals y'all

alright, now since we got that cleared out!! firstly, ADHD.

I think everyone in the fandom is already aware that Aiden is ADHD but I'm still going to talk about it just like Ashlyn's autism. Red has also said that she wrote Aiden with ADHD in mind but hadn't canonically confirmed anyone as neurodivergent. let's start with the main symptoms of ADHD, also known as Attention Decifit and Hyperactivity Disorder.

I know about 5 different ADHD people myself and did some research, it probably won't be extremely accurate since I'm not ADHD myself, but I'll try to do whatever I can. first with the AD part, Attention Decifit.

now as seen, he doesn't exactly have any problems with theorizing itself. but the problem is that his attention just goes away easily.

i mean cmon bro was making memes on the job

he tries to do work, but can't. he has a low attention span which makes him not able to concentrate. he can't keep it up for long, he'll get distracted or bored too easily about things that doesn't interest in specially.

it's just distracting. what his attention is on constantly changes, there's more to that after the ADHD part but we're here for now.

the hyperactivity... it's a lot more apparent. but I should explain the insane-unstable thing before that.

insane means that someone's mental health is not in an okay situation, where it prevents the person from thinking normally, acting rationally, very often found together with delusions. the person is seriously mentally ill where it might count as a disability.

unstable, however, where someone is prone to psychiatric problems, has moodswings etc. they're not exactly the most sane person, but they aren't insane either. Aiden here, obviously falls on the unstable side. maybe just a little bit insane if you squint. this will be brought up later too, but it mixed well with his hyperactivity too.

and as we all know, our boy isn't exactly the most stable person. (sorry for the collages, but since there is a tumblr picture limit i have to keep on collaging. yes i learnt from the last time) his hyperactivity mixes with his unstable mindset which makes him incresingly vulnerable to danger- which he likes. from when the first shift happened, he's been really careless about stuff but it's been all about his love for thrill.

and it irritates Tyler, too.

the main subplot about his character is that he's a person of excitement. guess what? ADHD people like the excitement, they like new things, they like the adrenaline and thrill. now, Aiden's main characteristic of being unstable mixed with ADHD makes him an even more reckless person. another thing mixing with the hyperactivity, is boundaries.

this part will mostly be about Ashlyn since the boundary issue only happens with her.

I talked about this on Ashlyn's side on my Ashlyn analysis, now it's time for Aiden's side.

he's really annoying to her at first. Ashlyn is someone with lots of boundaries, like high walls. and who tries to climb them with his dumbass? Aiden of course.

she kept rejecting his efforts to befriend her for some time, until the night they stole the jeep. then she managed to actually bring the walls down, and accept them all into her life. but damn was she blunt.

felt that honestly

and Aiden understands her that night, too.

Ashlyn was hesistant to hug him, yes, he was aware. but she still did which made him realize she was also trying. i have to tell you, people with ADHD and people with autism either have trouble getting along, or go perfectly well. my ADHD sibling for example, I have to push them away for a lot and tell them to lower their voice. but once they remember my boundaries it actually becomes a normal, even pleasant hangout. which, Aiden realizes and tries to get along with. he tries.

seeing his efforts on her boundaries makes something click in her mind. and she starts to be a lot nicer when they hang out in the arcade.

Aiden eventually learns and remembers what she's like and what she loves to do. he already tried to watch her ballet sessions once -got slammed-, he's been to her room where he remembered the mat from and her fighting makes it obvious. I'm sure he knew he'd get cooked by betting that. but he still did,

because he knew it'd interest her. which he succeeded, he saw her smile again. the arcade day went great until Barron and his gang pulled up, but if we ignore that part it all went well. Aiden started to understand and respect her boundaries.

anyways then Tyler fucking dies

he knows that Ashlyn feels guilty. Aiden wants to comfort her through it, but also do it correctly. without going over any boundaries. which makes him really,

really,

really surprised when she responds.

also including this pannel cause its hilarious

here we see that he's still trying. hell, I'm sure he spent minutes thinking if he should come close physically to help her. that's probably why he just nudged her softly before anything else. he's not used to it, he has to conciously make an effort to not cross said boundaries. keeping his voice lower, try to not be so reckless, not doing anything physically close unless she reciprocates. wow how i wish another someone i knew irl tried that hard instead of blaming it on me cOUGH COUGH COUGH

also other small things to include

he's yapping a lot

he has a comically large amount of puzzles in his backpack for one single trip

and sticks his head into lamps for some reason

but that's just Aiden and his little neurodivergent brain for ya.

now the part I wanted to get to the most.

Borderline Personality Disorder.

first, what is Borderline Personality Disorder?

shortened as BPD, borderline is when someone's mood is inconsistent and swinging. think of it's name; the person's mental state is in the border, in the border line, switching up fastly. the most easily understood and common type is when the person goes from a depression to a happy state. but no matter which state they are in and/or go to, one thing stays the same: it is unstable.

one thing about borderline is that it is frequently mixed with bipolar. however bipolar is a neurodivengercy which means it is what someone is born with and cannot be changed. but borderline is obtained later in life. it usually happens with depression. bipolar is much more random and the episodes last longer in comparison. it may last up to hours, and the person's memory might have trouble remembering their episodes. borderline, on the other hand, is a short-lived mood swing.

now here. here's the catch; people with BPD during mood swings can have reckless behaviour, suicidal thoughts -in his case as far as we know, lowered sense of protecting himself- or a loss of understanding danger. sounds familiar?

borderline's recklessness and dangerousness, sometimes self-destructive acts combines with ADHD's love for thrill and excitement, combined with Aiden's own personality all make up for a great condition of instability.

Aiden's behaviour constantly goes crazy, I think his most frequent mood swing might be his normal self (at least, as normal as he could be) to this more maniac way of acting. I noticed it from his eyes, when he's in a more calm-ish normal state his pupils are a bit more dilated. in the pictures above, you can clearly see that he's still in the episode; filled with the adrenaline, the unstable way of thinking.

but, what causes that? surely a mental illness such as borderline doesn't happen on it's own.

right?

cause it didn't.

it never works that way.

but it can get better.

eventually.

but what happened to him?

personally, as much as a large amounnt of people seems to believe it's something like family abuse I don't think so. maybe neglect, maybe withdrawal, maybe maybe. but we've seen his parents. I don't think they would hurt him like that. I can't put any more pictures, but this is the last part anyway. his parents seem to be kind and gentle, despite that picture in his house. I'm thinking the picture was only for the dramatic effect. his parents said that he used to be really calm and quiet during Lily's birthday, and both Aiden and Ben seem comfortable around them. they were happy taking Ben in too, any kind of abusive parent wouldn't do that at least that's what I believe. also there is that Aiden got serious and concerned when he learnt that their parents were also in the facility, most likely worried for his own as you would have thought.

there was a post that I've been trying to find for like half an hour, I commented on it but I can't find the post now. the person talked about their own theory. if I remember correctly it was that when Aiden was depressive as a child, his parents took him to a thrilling activity like the ones he's been talking about (bungee-jumping, skydiving etc.) and the thrill made him actually get excited. which is why his parents allowed him to go even more reckless, because they are aware of how prone their son could be to the depression.

what happened? let's ignore the parents factor. someone can have a loving family and still be traumatized, someone can be taken care of and still feel abandoned, someone can never have confronted a situation they are terrified of.

one of my theories is that, the loneliness. it must get to a child heavily considering children need to not be left alone, but Aiden was. he didn't have any actual friends since they always moved from one place to another from his parents' business, and they might have not had enough time to make for him (which I believe is bullshitting, every child deserves to be taken some time out for. some people quit their jobs entirely for their child.) and be unaware, and that doesn't change that he was still depressed and alone. his depressive state was seemingly before Ben was taken in. now here one thing with borderline, at least from my experience, is faking actions. smiles, laughs, friendships, conversations... almost as if there's two different lives; one fake, and one real. you keep on switching, you keep on swinging between the sides where you're yourself and where you're just mimicking 'normal human behaviour'.

it starts from faking a happy state during their depression, and by time you're faking it it becomes an automatic adition to your personality. to your mind. once it furthers, it becomes the disorder. Aiden we see is always smiling. it becomes a habit that only breaks sometimes. now, I'm not saying his smile is fake- I think his face is literally just stuck like that. it breaks ever so slightly sometimes. fake it till ya make it yanno? that kind of thing. and when he swings from his calm mood to his borderline-d mood, his pupils get small and his smile gets worse. noticably worse. I'll be rereading the series (AGAIN) and this time look at all the small details since Red loves putting them and I love theorizing so

which, wraps up the Aiden thing! im actually really proud of how i could put my thoughts into text which i never could. i'd love any additions because i love other opinions as well.

and you know what? im glad Ash and Ai are out of the place because the rest are what I'm actually looking forward to >:)

...and i should sleep. really.

(wow sorry yall i finished this hours ago and said 'alright reread to make sure its good before sleep' and fell asleep through it lol sorry for 4 hour delay ig)

(leaving for school rn see yall 8 hours later 🫡)

[fatehbaz]

all the time, gotta walk away, for a moment, take a break, infuriated, when reading about European implementation of forced labour, particularly and especially thinking about nineteenth and early twentieth centuries plantations, whether it's sugarcane or rubber or tea or banana, whether it's British plantations in Assam or Malaya; Belgian plantations in Congo; French plantations in West Africa; Dutch plantations in Java; de facto United States-controlled plantations in Haiti or Guatemala or Cuba or Colombia. and the story is always: "and then the government tried to find a way to reimpose slavery under a different name. and then the government destroyed vast regions of forest for monoculture plantations. and then the government forced thousands to become homeless and then criminalized poverty to force people into plantation work or prison labor." like the plantation industries are central (entangled with every commodity and every infrastructure project) and their directors are influencing each other despite spatial distance between London and the Caribbean and the Philippines.

and so the same few dozen administrators and companies and institutions keep making appearances everywhere, like they have outsized influence in history. like they are important nodes in a network. and they all cite each other, and write letters to each other, and send plant collection gifts to each other, and attend each other's lectures, and inspire other companies and colonial powers to adapt their policies/techniques.

but. important that we ought not characterize some systems and forces (surveillance apparatuses, industrial might, capitalism itself) as willful or always conscious. this is a critical addendum. a lot of those forces are self-perpetuating, or at least not, like, a sentient monster. we ought to avoid imagining a hypothetical boardroom full of be-suited businessmen smoking cigars and plotting schemes. this runs the risk of misunderstanding the forces that kill us, runs the risk of attributing qualities to those forces that they don't actually possess. but sometimes, in some cases, there really are, like, a few particular assholes with a disproportionate amount of influence making problems for everyone else.

not to over-simplify, but sometimes it's like the same prominent people, and a few key well-placed connections and enablers in research institutions or infrastructure companies. they're prison wardens and lietuenant governors and medical doctors and engineers and military commanders and botanists and bankers, and they all co-ordinate these multi-faceted plans to dispossess the locals, build the roads, occupy the local government, co-erce the labour, tend the plants, ship the products.

so you'll be reading the story of like a decade in British Singapore and you're like "oh, i bet that one ambitious British surgeon who is into 'economics' and is obsessed with tigers and has the big nutmeg garden in his backyard is gonna show up again" and sure enough he does. but also sometimes you're reading about another situation halfway across the planet and then they surprise you (because so many of them are wealthy and influential and friends with each other) and it'll be like "oh you're reading about a British officer displacing local people to construct a new building in Nigeria? surprise cameo! he just got a letter from the dude at the university back in London or the agriculturalist in Jamaica or the urban planner from Bombay, they all went to school together and they're also all investors in the same rubber plantation in Malaya". so you'll see repeated references to the same names like "the British governor of Bengal" or "[a financial institution or bank from Paris or New York City]" or "[a specific colonial doctor/laboratory that does unethical experiments or eugenics stuff]" or "lead tropical agriculture adviser to [major corporation]" or "the United Fruit Company" and it's like "not you again"

[revalition]

OCT 13 - SUGGESTION Charm men and women. Play the puppet-master.

snake suggestion my beloved. that will very likely not be the last of you see of him haha. making the most of my weird skill dreams

lots of great quotes under the quote! and valuable insights! (not actually valuable, but shh) would recommend looking through them more than usual though!

suggestion quotes! I had a complete disinterest in this guy tbh, I was rather distracted by the other, arguably better, purple skills in my high PSY playthrough and then I had super low PSY my second and barely heard from him. So it was a lot of fun finding these cause I hadn't seen lots of it yet!

fun suggestion facts from my spreadsheet as well

- he says 'please' to you one time and 'sorry' to you zero times! he might encourage you to do both plenty but is a reasonably unapologetic skill himself (though does resort to self-deprecation several times)

- he has a perfectly average swear score of 5 (I have everyone's swear scores! right now they're only based off of shit and fuck though. so there's room for improvement)

- Says "I" and "we" a perfectly even number of times (not counting quoting others) which I count to deduce if the skill is self centered or not lmao

- refers to kim as "kim" once and lieutenant 20 times! he is respectful of kim!

anyway!

absolutely no way these weren't going in here. confirmed the most useless, compromised skill of all!! (please fire him) also the only guy to give volition a nickname <333 but please dont ever talk about him like that again suggestion

failing this suggestion check over and over! suggestion noooo... resorting to begging at the end. *puh-leeeeeze* 😭

another gorgeous suggestion fail! what a guy

who let this stupid skill into harry's head?

not the two separated words 'bad ass' hghh. this isn't even the only time!!! he writes it as bad-ass *once*. and! he's the one who tells you not to make fun of garte for saying it as two words

suggestion's actually really observant! and has lots of insights into kim!

like he makes sure you know when you did something that lowered kim's opinion of you :) thanks buddy

this is extremely important. I can *hear* his voice cracking on the sorry cop when I read it.

I got called out for being a sorry cop *so* early into my first playthrough. and it was absolutely personal. and I was like wow, I hate this guy already, what's his problem? :)))

(the sorry cop dialogue didn't come up at all my second playthrough haha)

what better idea than to use the expression on evrart? two local idiots advising you :)

it's hilarious to me that succeeding this check against Klaasje at the beginning of the game results in suggestion just telling you not to do it. it's that bad of an idea. it could never succeed.

holding this suggestion failure very gently. I don't remember Suggestion being named Social Anxiety???

ty suggestion, you tell him

sad suggestion :( nooo sweetie you're not. well. maybe a little.

hghkj capitalist suggestion!!

that's what you get for not listening!!

not a screenshot cause I ran out of space but just shoving this in here

+2 Authority: Nothing to lose

+2 Suggestion: I always liked you the best

these are the research bonuses from finger on the eject button. who is he referring to?? :,( you as in harry? you as in authority? a more vague 'you'?

as always, I have to include the super sad dream quotes. poor guy. it's not your fault.

this is so funny. good try suggestion... good try

he's hilarious

look at my two idiots :) <3 look at them.

my delight upon getting this in my first (high PSY) playthrough! we got kim to wear the jacket!

small suggestion win

why does he talk like that??

why? why? shhhh

hating him. throwing suggestion at the wall.

this stupid skilllll

he's an idiot.

volition, with his head in his hands, every time suggestion opens his mouth

thought this was interesting. is suggestion able to infer things from shiver's visions? the way the skills interact with shivers fascinates me endlessly. especially since at one point one of them asks if you've asked the wind for advice before - can they not hear her?? I haven't dug into the shivers dialogue enough yet. next week...

he has so much insight into how to talk to people! gotta put at least one example of him being useful in here...

look at them. they are like oil and water. authority calls him a groveling sycophant so. deserved.

(also merriam webster defines a sycophant as "a servile self-seeking flatterer" and I love that.)

((and servile means "having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others" because I had to look that one up too))

is suggestion just a people pleaser under it all? :( why I gotta empathize with even the worst of these guys. echem too, there's *so* much good intention buried under layers and layers of bad coping mechanisms and personality issues and internalized misogyny and self doubt. And those things twist what could be really good advice on communicating and connecting with other people into something manipulative and ugly.

........

.............

(reluctantly picks him up and holds him gently) it's okay. you can heal too someday.

also! there are ZERO suggestion passive fails :( the only other skill with none is H/E coordination (who has like, a quarter the amount of passives sugg has). but it's okay, he gets lots of active fails to make up for it I guess.

that's it for suggestion. I went in here expecting to make a compilation of idiot suggestion quotes (and mostly did) and ended up being endeared by him instead. oops. that's the problem with all these guys, they're *so* strongly shaped by Harry's thoughts and feelings and experiences. Someone else's Suggestion skill might barely be slimy at all. would it still be named Suggestion then?

(mildly related but I don't have a Suggestion in my own system, at least afaik. Which isn't saying a lot because I thought there were only 6 skills in here a week and a half ago and that was. not at all right. so. but it only makes me wonder about him more!!)

[ms-demeanor]

Heya, got a question about cybersecurity meetups. Do you think folks would be cool with a rando showing up because they're curious and like learning new stuff, especially for writing? And also because internet privacy is super important rn and there's no good books or written sources I can find on hacking, the dark web, etc; let alone digestible to somebody who knows what a directory is and how to use command line and not much more.

Also. I know it's gonna vary per location, so if you can't speak for all of 'em, I get it. Are these kinds of spaces like 2600 and Defcon queer friendly? Or I guess what I'm asking is are they notorious a place queer people should avoid. I'm non-binary and don't rly pass as remotely normal or straight, and I have nobody to go with me :|

Thank you!

Meetups that are publicly listed are very cool about randos showing up to learn new stuff and talk to weird people. Most meetups tend to be about 5 parts socializing and 1 part "tech activity" like a talk or a demo if they have a tech activity at all, so you're mostly just going to be meeting people and talking to them about themselves.

I will say, if you show up specifically saying "i'm a writer and i'm here to learn about stuff for writing" you're probably going to get some trolling - that's pretty common and a lot of meetups do have to deal with stuff like journalists periodically showing up to get the inside scoop about the scary hackers and that usually gets some fairly mean-spirited teasing directed at them.

So it's better to show up because you want to learn generally. People don't like being used as reference material during their socializing; they're there to hang out and talk to people with similar interests, so ask them about their interests. You can just say you're new to the scene and you heard about hacker meetups online and wanted to learn more.

If you want to do something to pregame and learn a bit about hacking ahead of time you may want to try hackthissite.org, check out 2600 magazine, or look on the DefCon forums to see what's going on in your local DC Groups. There are some good books about hacking; I like The Cuckoo's Egg and am asking anyone with good books or memoirs about hacking to chime in in the notes.

I will say, asking about the darkweb specifically might get you some eyerolls because it's something that sounds a lot scarier and more intimidating to most people than it actually is. You can get on the darkweb now. You can do it on your phone. Here's a very basic get-started guide. I don't think it's necessary to use a VPN to use Tor (most guides recommend it and then link to pages full of affiliate links for VPNs), and here's the Tor user manual to get started if you want to. Be careful, and if you're planning on doing anything that requires actual anonymity do a LOT more research before you follow the advice in any guide, but yeah pretty much everybody with an internet connection can get access to the darkweb in about twenty minutes. It's just websites that you need to use a slightly different set of tools to navigate to (granted, the content of the websites might be horrifying, so. Again. Be careful.)

Anyway moving on:

Defcon has had Queercon (a queer party for queer hackers) as a part of the con for at like twenty years and I know many queer and trans people who are part of the scene. And there are a lot of trans folks who I know who are volunteers at defcon and help to run hackerspaces and who volunteer and attend and run all manner of cons. I can't speak for your local group, but I've found that hackers in generally are more tolerant of a *lot* of things than the broader population is (they are weird people who engage in a hobby or who engage in work that is often technically criminal - they don't have a lot of room to judge and the more sensible ones among them know that).

HOWEVER I have personally had problems with defcon the conference specifically about harassment and infosec does lag behind other parts of the tech sector in participation from women. Defcon is working on it and i know their current head of conference security is very serious about ensuring that it's a welcoming space for people and that if people DO have problems at the con it is handled in a serious, sensitive way. (Legitimately, he's a good dude) I just. I don't go to defcon. There's more info in my pinned post. That conference is burned for me.

BUT there are a lot of other conferences, big and small, and there are a lot of local groups to look into. You'll have to get to know your local scene, but I'd bet that if one part of your local scene is unwelcoming that other parts are more open.

[adarkrainbow]

Romanian witches: Baba Cloantza

Last time I talked about Muma Padurii, the Forest Mom. And I promised you Baba Cloantza...

The whole idea of the Baba Cloantza is quite fascinating. When I read the article about the Romanian translations of Frau Holle which prompted me to do this series about Romanian witches (I'll talk more about this in the third part of the series), they evoked Baba Cloanta (yes, without the "z") as the traditional wicked witch and child-eating hag of Romanian fairytales. If you do research about Muma Padurii, you will sometimes find that "Baba Cloanta" can be an alternate name or identity for the Muma, especially in her "creepy wicked witch eating children soup" fairytale self. But if you research Baba Cloanta/Cloantza on her own, most of the time all you'll find is a mention saying "Baba Cloantza is the Romanian name of Baba-Yaga" or "Baba Cloanta is the Romanian equivalent of the famous Russian witch / she is the Carpathian Baba-Yaga".

Now... I do understand why everybody loves Baba Yaga, but I also understand why having Baba Yaga everywhere can be a problem. There is a reasoning behind saying "Baba-Yaga is a character present throughout all Slavic fairytales" and "Baba Yaga is a character of Eastern Europe fairytales"... But this oversimplification can cause a problem when it sweeps under the rug national "cousins" of the Baba Yaga. Again, remember that the Baba Yaga we know today was defined and shaped by Afanassiev's Russian Folktales... It is a specifically Russian character. Yes she does answer to and manifests an archetype present throughout Eastern Europe, and you have several Eastern European manifestations of a local Baba-Yaga... But then you have characters like Baba Cloantza. Who is indeed an equivalent to the Russian Baba Yaga... But she is still her own character, a specific Romanian entity, and saying she is just "Baba Yaga with a different name" can be a quite problematic claim...

So today I invite you to discover Baba Cloantza, a Romanian witch which yes, can be the Romanian translation of "Baba Yaga", but is also an alternate identity of Muma Padurii, as well as her own character with specific roots in Romanian folklore.

For this post I will rely onto an article written in French by Simona Ferent, "Baba Cloantza, la Yaga édentée" (Baba Cloantza, the Toothless Yaga) - it was published as part of a collection of studies and articles around the figure of Baba Yaga for a Sciences and Literature journal (it was called "Baba Yaga en chair et en os", "Baba Yaga in flesh and bone"). I literaly translated the article a long time ago and I do regret doing so because it might have made it quite unreadable... But if you can read French go check it out because it is one of the most complete resources I could find about Baba Cloantza online.

It is also because of this article that I write Baba Cloantza instead of "Cloanta", which Ferent highlighted as a better transliteration of the Romanian Cloanţa.

Baba Cloantza is one of the central witches of Romanian fairytales, and a well-known figure of the Carpathian folklore. But there is already a difference established between her and the Russian Baba-Yaga by her very name. Indeed "Cloantza" means an old woman, an ugly woman... a toothless woman. Hence the name of the article, "the toothless Yaga". Not only does this name evokes a toothless hag, it also insists upon her mouth, because "cloantza" is a pejorative name for a mouth. So the Baba Cloantza is a figure associated with the mouth - as much the decrepit toothless hole of an old ugly woman, as the devouring maw of the fairytale monster... and as the mouth from which ancient wisdom and magical secrets comes from. She is the "frightening wisdom", as Ferent says. Because, as a "baba", she is this ambiguous figure between the demon in human shape and the spiritual guide: the baba is the witch and the wise-woman, the isolated and lonely old woman that lives outside of the village, near or into the woods, the one who holds power over love, healing, divination and the weather... As such in fairytales she is the monster to fight and avoid, as much as the magical woman that will help the hero in his fight against a supernatural power, guide a lost traveller, or assist a woman with a tragic love story.

Ferent's article covers a wide range of sources and domains, as a testimony of the Baba Cloantza's huge presence in Romanian culture. The works of Vasile Alecsandri, where she is a prophet, a healer and a demon ; the ones of George Coşbuc where she is a leftover of an ancient Dacian goddess ; the modern, caricatural, buffoon-like depictions of Tudor Arghezi and Gelu Vlaşin ; and finally the great and iconic fairytale collections of Romania, those of Petre Ispirescu and Ion Creange, where the Baba Cloantza is a needed element within the hero's initiation and journey into the world/otherworld...

Given there is a lot of info, I will put this under a cut.

Simona Ferent identifies seven "faces" or seven "aspects" of the figure of the Baba Cloantza.

First, the Cloantza as the "village's oracle". In 1843, Vasile Alecsandri created a poem called "Kraiu-Nou" taking inspiration from the folktales surrounding the Sburător, a night-haunting supernatural entity embodying the "malevolent seduction", a sort of vampire preying upon sleeping women. This works depicts a countryside dominated by the moon - the "Kraiu-Nou" itself corresponds to the first phase of the moon, which is the most effective moment to formulate wishes (especially love wishes). The story describes Zamfira, who is a Romantic incarnation of the "beautiful, virgin, Romanian peasant girl". She makes her own love wishes to the moon and becomes the prey of the Sburător. In this story, Baba Cloantza appears as a wise-woman who warns the girl of the danger that threatens her. She performs a divination ritual by looking into forty-one grains of corn, and by doing so she tells her she must flee a beautiful stranger with a soft voice (the vampire). [The poem notably opposes the frightful prediction of the baba with the predictions of the "wise men" and elders of the village who said Zamfira would have a happy life] The Cloantza even appears on a sort of mount that later turns out to be the very grave of the vampire... But despite all those warnings, Zamfira follows the eroticism and charms of the mysterious "lover of the shadows", who ends up stealing her life-force... Here Baba Cloantza is still the "old woman at the limit of the village", the physical margin of the community, and her role as an oracle highlights her ambiguity as the one who warns of the danger, but seems to cause it, since her prophecy is self-fulfilling. She is the first to mention the vampire before it appears, and she sits on what seems to be its grave... She tries to scare the girl away from the monster, but the way she describes him makes him appear seducing and conjures up the first fantasies of romance within Zamfira. As such, the baba Cloantza warns the girl of her doom... while throwing her (accidentaly?) in the arms of her killer. (There is also a whole thing to say about how the first crescent of the moon is strongly associated with the manifestation of ghosts and the apparition of malevolent beings ; and how the baba Cloantza embodies here an archetypal fear and archaic warning of sexuality, that the vampire embodies as the one who preys upon the pure virgin girl...)

Second, the Cloantza as the "healer". In the folk-poem "Burueana de leac" ("the weed that heals"), we have a traditional depiction of the peasant man adressing a prayer/request to the village baba - in this case, we have the story of a man in love in such a desperate way he is ready to curse. The man, overtaken by a desire that strongly looks like a demonic possession (there are motifs of the extinguished sun , and the grave calling for the man), calls for the "mama Ileana", the only one able to "put out the fire" of his heart. The folklorist Alecsdandri explained that "mother Ileana" is another name for the "village baba" - more specifically it is the name of the healer of Romanian villages, who uses both plants and magical words, and bases her craft on the various times of the folk-calendar (which mixes Christian celebrations with pagan feasts). This is all the ambiguity of this specific baba. On one side she refers to the Christian religiousness: she uses religious icons, the village's church, she sings in honor of the Virgin Mary or of God... On the other, her rituals are distinctively pagan: she uses flowers and weeds, she carries a supposedly magical water, her incantations are said to be "witchcraft" and she uses wands made of hazel-tree...

Third, the Cloantza as a caricature. The Romanian poets heavily relied on the figure of baba as the "village healer". Tudor Arghezi depicted in 1948 a baba performing miracles within her village, said to know the spells of love that unite or separate lovers, as well as the remedies for various aches (from tooth-aches to heart-aches). But the portrait he makes of her is a caricature of a witch: she is a hunchback, who heals everybody with "two coal pellets and three lies", and refuses her services to the poor (due to being a greedy woman). This is no mistake that the poet makes "miracle" (minuni) rhyme with "minciuni", "lie". This baba is a scam. If we move to Gelu Vlaşin, we see baba Cloantza as an hallucination, or a psychological projection. The poet is half-drunk half-delirious, he wants to pay prostitutes but is too poor, so he goes looking for the "baba cloantza" so she can cast a "spell of wealth" onto him. And she appears in the middle of a series of very revealing symbols (dwarfs, circuses, prostitutes, spiders), in what the poet ultimately describes as a "fairytale for morons".

Ferent notably studies here a "variation" of the baba Cloantza, called the Baba Hârca. The Baba Hârca is a folktale character, an old witch who lives alone in a cavern within the depths of the woods, because she is afraid of humans. She typically uses skulls (human or animal) for her magic rituals. "hârca" is a depreciative term for an old woman, an ugly woman or a wicked woman (or all three at once) - but it also means "skull", hence why the witch uses them to perform her spell. In the fairytales collected by Romanian folklorists we see that Baba Cloantza and Baba Hârca often appear as synonymous, in fact the two names can be used alternatively within a same fairytale. And in a Romanian "small-opera" created in 1848, by Matei Millo and Alexandru Flechtenmacher, it is under this name that the witch appears. "Baba Hârca, a small opera of witchcraft in two acts and three tableaux". Here the Hârca is actually a comical character appearing as a caricature of a gypsy woman, as well as a transvestite role (since the witch is played by Matei Millo himself).

Fourth, the Cloantza as a "ritualistic sorceress". Ferent reminds her reader that most of what we know of the Baba Cloantza has been "degraded" because it went through the literary phantasm of a disappeared pastoral world (by authors who sang in a Romantic way the countryside of old), and through the prism of fairytales simplified for children - but she also reminds the reader of how the Romanian folklorists (such as Alecsdandri in his collect of "Cucul si Turturica") tried to identified the older roots of the folk-beliefs and superstitions. For example, in "Cucul si Turturica" - the dialogue between the "cucul", the "cuckoo", a mysterious, dangerous bird-son of a wicked witch, and the "turturica", the turtledove, the symbol of angelical love - we see a transcription of rural witchcraft. The "baba" preserved throughout the many proverbs of Romanian language is a supernatural entity within the village, a witch tied to the world of the demons. Baba Cloantza is recognized as different from regular human beings, but still accepted within the system of the community - because the witch is the intermediary between the living and the otherworld, and the catalyst of magical rituals. The baba, as the talented healer, "takes the ill upon her" - she is the mouth, as we saw, but the mouth that "sucks up" the evils to expel them in a symbolical way. The ritual is a manifestation of this "devouring" of the bad things, with an insistance on the power within the baba's words. The Cloantza, the "toothless", performs her magic as a ritualistic digestion (at least according to Ferent): she literaly feeds on the fears of the peasants, and uses as a magical "substance" her very words. This is why, while reflecting a distant, archaic form of hedonism and animism, the character of the baba always causes fear and fatalism... Let's return to the dialogue. The cuckoo is a playful, mischievious, jovial spirit who sings his desire and his determination, and will use the not-so-moral means his witch-mother taught him to seduce and have sex with the one he wants. Here, the malevolent influence of the Cloanta in romance becomes a game ; but a game of seduction filled with dangers, as symbolized by the objects the baba uses. When a baba must bewitch a young man, she uses the bones of a bat trapped on Christmas Eve and buried alive in an anthill. With these bones, the Cloantza makes a hook to "hook" the heart of the one we want, and a small shovel to keep away those that are unloved.

Most of the powers of the baba seem to be tied to the element of water. The witch uses the water of rivers ; she can control the rain ; she uses holy water to cast spells, or she uses a "virgin water", "untouched water" (a term for enchanted water). Other elements can be used in baba rituals (the hazel-tree wand, the corn grains, the traditional "batic", the scarf around a peasant woman's head), and they all reference the society of the countryside, the world of the peasants where any everyday item can be filled with magic. Ferent reminds here the importance of the communion with nature in the Romanian countryside. The peasant can sing a "doïna", a melancholic song, to his "spirit-brother", which can be a tree, a flower, a bird, an animal or the entire forest. All sorts of magical beings fill the countryside, such as the ielele (the "sirens of the woods") that inhabit hills and mountains. And if a young man is not careful when walking among the plains or choosing his travel-staff... he might get bewitched by the voice of a Cloantza, wandering forever, or snatched away in the sky "like an arrow flying". Only a knife stuck into the ground can break the spell of wandering.... Ferent also heavily insists upon the importance of recitation in spells: the baba always uses the "descântec", a form of invocation whose name means "a word, sung or recited, which can bewitch or break a spell". We have preserved a lot of these incantations, which were created for many various situations - there was a spell to heal snake-bites, there was another for people who feared to be alone... Or rather the fear of the "urât", a term quite difficult to translate, which literaly means "ugly", but explains a form of anguish towards the idea of being abandoned, mixed to a fear of the "other". Ferent proposes the idea of being "alone in a haunted house": that's the urât. To return to Baba Cloantza: she embodies all of the traits that were given to the village witch. Like them, she was here to offer magical solutions and answers to the very real needs and fears of the peasants.

Fifth, the Cloantza as the "shapeshifting female". The baba is also a manifestation of the archetype of the "Dreaded Mother" and the "Witch-Goddess" (or "Dreaded Goddess/Witch Mother ; or Mother Goddess and Dreaded Witch, however you like to arrange things). [Ferent highlights how there's always a multi-faced archetype of the "female", such as how the witch at the same time recalls ancient figures of priestesses or women initiated to the secrets of nature, and mythological characters such as Gaia, Maia, Circe, Demeter, Isis or Lilith]. The baba Cloantza is what happens when the "supreme female principle" becomes uncanny. For example, a recurring element in folk-mythology is that the baba can give birth to extraordinary physical beings. George Cosbuc, in "Atque nos!", reminds how the baba is the mother of a young man who was said to grow "in one year as much as others did in ten". George Cosbuc notably wrote texts celebrating the "magico-religious alchemy" that gives birth in Romania to a rich gallery of female mythical beings: the baba Dochia (with probably Dacian origins), the Mama-Noptii (Mother of Night) surrounded by vampire-being, as well as the female Saints Tuesday, Friday, Wednesday and Thursday (described as pagan figures born of a Christianization of the deities of the Greco-Roman pantheon that were Mars, Zeus, Venus and Mercury). In fairytales, the baba usually appears as the embodiment of a wild elemental power.

The writer Ion Creangă, in the famous fairytale "Povestea porcului" (The tale of the pig), fragments the "baba" in three characters. First, she is the elderly peasant-woman who, despaired by her own sterility, adopts a pig she raises as a son (and will turn out to be a Prince Charming under a curse). Second, she is the Three Saints (Saint Wednesday, Saint Friday and Saint Sunday), three witches that will guide the heroine in her initiation-journey to find back her husband (the pig/prince she lost by throwing his pig-skin/pig-disguise into the fire). In a third time, the baba is "baba Cloantza the Toothless", the hag that keeps the prince her prisoner with malevolent powers. The pig-prince-hero not only will manage to outwit the Cloantza and find back his beloved, he will also free her from the spell that prevented her from giving birth (a four-year spell!). This story is haunted by the idea of the "cursed procreation", declined in three aspects. 1) the sterility of the old woman 2) the spell that prevents the heroine from giving birth to the child she is pregnant with 3) the idea of giving birth to a demon. When the pregnant heroine travels to the baba Cloantza's domain, she goes through a hellish-landscape filled with dragons and 24-headed otters, and moreso she enters a world ruled by greed, cunning and wickedness. Here, the wicked witch is the antithesis of the naive young princess. The fairytale calls baba Cloantza "Hârca" (the name is invoked when the narration insists upon her old age, her crooked mind, and ugliness), but it also gives her the name Talpa Iadului (The Mole of the Devil). And the Mole of the Devil is actually one of the most evil beings of Romanian mythology, because it was believed to be the mother of all the demons, and renowned for its intelligence and treacherous nature. At the end of the fairytale, the Toothless baba/Skull/Mole of the Devil ends up punished by being tied to the tail of a horse - bringing back the comical and extravagant tone that opened the fairytale, and prevents it from falling into too much darkness.

This structure of the youngest daughter of a king undergoing an initiation journey can be found in many fairytales. Petre Ispirescu, a great fan of Romanian folklore, published in 1676 "Porcul cel Fermecat" (The bewitched pig), a story that his own mother had told him, and that reuses the antithesis of the Baba Cloantza (here, a mother of dragons) with a young women (who discovers against her will the magical powers and the devious tricks of the witch). In this fairytale, the baba embodies a trial of Fate that the heroine must overcome to reach happiness (symbolized by a wedding out of love). The story tells the adventures of the youngest daughter of a king who, following her two older sisters, enters a room of the castle his father had forbidden her to go into. The princesses discovers there an oracle-book which predicts royal weddings for the older sisters, a wedding with a pig for the third. The prophecy will come true and the princess is forced to leave her house to follow a pig, with a human voice so beautiful everybody suspects a spell is at work. The princess comes to love her strange husband, who removes his pig skin every night to become a man, but right as she was getting used to her new life she meets baba Cloantza, who tells her she can break the spell by tying up her husband to the bed with a magical rope. Trusting the hag, the young bride uses the rope, but it breaks and her husband disappears - not without telling her that, had she not obeyed the witch, he would have been set free from his curse in three days. The young wife, her newborn child in her arms, undergoes a quest to find her husband. Throughout hostile lands she obtains the advice and gifts of 1) the Moon and her sisters 2) the mother of the Sun and 3) the mother of the Wind. Arriving at the house of the cursed prince, the girl proves her intelligence and determination by making a ladder out of the magical chicken bones the three supernatural women gave her, and even cuts her own little finger to complete it. When she finds back her husband, he reveals her the full truth, and how his curse was caused by the Cloantza, because he had killed a dragon that was the baba's son. As we can see with all those stories, the idea is the same: to obtain her happy end and eternal bliss, the young woman must journey through a desert that symbolizes a journey outside of the real world ; the strange journey always begins with the girl breaking the law imposed by the father, and each time the baba Cloantza appears as the embodiment of the crime the girl must expiate/the evil she must vanquish.

Petre Ispirescu also depicted the baba Cloantza as the mother of a dragon in another fairytale, where the prince must kill it to free an enslaved princess. In this fairytale called "Poveste Taraneasca", "Peasant tale", the character of the Cloantza lives within a hellish world, with her courtyard surrounded by impaled human heads. In this tale, the Cloantza shows a trait that makes her close to the vodou sorcerers: she gains her strength and her immortality by swallowing, or rather "drinking", spirits that she keeps locked up in a barrel. By extension, we see that in this tale, the main threat of the story are the various vampires that live within her domain, and who try to steal away the soul of the old king.

Sixth, the Cloantza as the "devilish witch". An old proverb of Romania recalled by Alecsandri says "Baba-i calul dracului". Literaly "the Baba is the horse of the devil". Literary: "Old witch, bearer of Satan!". This proverb notably opens a poem of Alescandri called "Baba Cloantza" and written in 1842 - a folklore-inspired work that Alecsandri considered one of his best improvisations. In this text, the baba is reconstructed in the style of a Shakespearian witch. The Cloantza appears mad with lust for a beautiful young boy. The poem drifts into an infernal rural night, where malevolent ghosts fill the night-clouds, and snakes slither among the flowers of bewitched ponds. In this perverse Eden, under a "pale and blond moon", the Cloantza invokes several demons while threatening the young man with the worst torments if he ever resists to her charms. However, when the demons fail to perform their deed, the old Cloantza uses Satan himself, and offers him her soul without thinking about the consequences. The deal with the devil makes her act in a way that recalls a possession or insanity (running around, jumping, flying in the sky, screaming exorcism rituals). The "mad Kloantza", surrounded by the "thousand infernal spirits", fails to notice the laugh in the woods that announces her doom. Right as she arrives "two steps" away from her beloved, the Cloantaza's dream becomes a nightmare: the rooster's chant wakes up the village-folks, the ghosts of the night fade away, and we conclude on an aquatic final scene. Satan snatches his prey, the baba, and the two jump away into the depths of the pond... Nature returns to a seren and calm state, but the danger is not gone, because the poem adds that a "melancholic voice" can still be heard from the pond, calling and seducing the men that walk near it late in the evening, promising them protection "by my exorcisms of the evil eye, of cruel fate and snake bites." Critics have pointed out a dual reading of the poem. On one side, it is the epic depictions of an unhealthy love, the inappropriate passion of an elderly woman for a young man, doubled by the fairytale figures of the wicked witch in love with the Prince Charming ; on the other side, there is an humoristic reading of the poem as a display of petty feuds, vain quarrels, annoying demands and bothersome requests. As such, the baba's original duality returns: a devilish character, and a spirit of mischief.

Seventh, the Cloantza as "the avatar of Death". In a very old folk-song of Romania, "Holera" (Cholera, collected by Alecsandri in 1853), the Cloantza appears with the imagery of the Roman Furies, with snakes in her hair. We find back another syncretism of Christianity and paganism, mixing the Furies of Ancient Rome with the vengeful angels of the Bible: wild hair, a dry skin, a "venomous" body, a sword of fire in one hand... Here, the Cloantza is the embodiment of death. More precisely, she represents the deadly disease of the cholera that appears on the path of the carefree and joyful young man Vâlcu. No negociation is possible: the Cloantza is a Grim Reaper. In fact, in the song she is exclusively referred to as "cloantza", the term "baba" disappears, removing any form of humanity.

In conclusion, Baba Cloantza throughout the Romanian folktales is a multi-faced, multi-voiced entity. She is the baba that heals or mutilates, she is the old woman that makes people cry or laugh. She is an oracle who sometimes has to work to make sure her prophecies come true. And Ferent concludes that somehow, the baba Cloantza acts as a double of the storyteller itself, as an entity that represents the "power of fiction". Because one of the main powers of the Cloantza is to turn the fears and anxieties of those that seek her into prophecies - aka into tales that will orientate the person's mind towards the future and force them to think about their own role in the world. The storyteller lacks a "real" power, and as such is as "toothless" as the Cloantza, but they still are the owner of a form of magic - a magic of illusions that can nourish or poison. As such, when the storyteller describes the baba, somehow they are describing themselves, presenting their own self within their fictional world. And as such, the baba kept evolving and changing throughout the centuries, going from a mystical therapeutic character in ancient days to a subversive but harmless entity in contemporary fiction.

[bonefall]

Do all cats in the bb universe generally cook their food and make tools, etc? Or is it just specific highly developed groups? Do the clan cats look down on rouges or loners who may not have the resources or know-how to cook their food?

It is specific, highly developed groups. Making fire is very difficult, and a skill that must be taught. Park Cats didn't have it; you can trace fire as an invention in this region back to the Great Kinships of the Lake, the society that Fallenleaf ruined.

Even within Clan culture I imagine it's pretty difficult. On the Great Journey, I imagine Crowfoot was actually the one who set 75% of their campfires. He'd get impatient with how long it takes everyone else.

Most cats in the BB!Universe have basic tool manipulation skills, on the level of a Caledonian Crow or a Kea. There would be papers in universe documenting this; they have a casual understanding of water displacement, simple door handles, and backpack zippers. The difference with cats and birds, however, is that cats are lazy.

This can make domestic cats pretty difficult to research. They're not usually motivated by fun or satisfaction quite like a parrot. Other small differences between Albion (BB!UK) and the real world (Canon!UK)

(side note. yes i do laugh at my own jokes. you will not stop me.)

Some fridges have a latch or better suction to close them. These are marketed as "pet savvy." Not all households have them though.

I don't design with ACTUAL genetics in mind the same way I DO write dialogue with Clanmew in mind, but I do think that genetics are different here. One example of this is Sweetness Tolerance.

"Problem Groups" of feral cats are treated as a bigger problem in general, on the same level as problematic monkey troops. Rounding these up is a job handled by local municipalities.

Every town has a "local colony," though they're usually not paid attention to. It's just vaguely known as a feature of human settlement.

BloodClan IS special, and it's a well known local quirk that some of the cats in the local colony wear strange collars.

DEEP BB!Iceberg lore here but Jellicle cats are canon. They live in the south.

A well-established group of cats with a religion system will start to develop physical differences from the "Standard BB!Cat," but never enough to be too different.

Hengest, where Jessy, Stormcloud, and Fernsong came from, has good examples of normal colonies. Disorganized groups that vaguely follow a few charismatic leaders, but for the most part, hang out where they can find the most food and sleep safely.

Research into "Cat Culture" is in its infancy. The discoveries that are going to be made about Clan cats will advance scientific understanding of what a cat is truly capable of immensely.

Functionally though? It's not going to change people's lives too much, besides make it easier to register cats as service animals lmao.

But, anyway, unfortunately, yes Clan cats look down on outsiders who do not know how to use fire. They accuse them of being full of worms.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Drafting the Adventure: Wilderness and Exploration

For a game with exploration as one of it’s “core pillars”, d&d is kinda shit at producing gameplay conducive to actually making players feel like they’re exploring.If you play it by the book travelling from point A to B often feels like a slog, and a good number of groups are completely justified in skipping it entirely and just getting to the good bits. I think the problem largely stems from trying to cram the hexcrawl/westmarches style of gameplay from d&d’s heyday into the central gameplay loop when really it should be the focus of very particular kinds of adventure. Think of a big exploration adventure the same way you’d run a heist or murder mystery, usually a one off unless you’re running a specialized campaign. 

With that said, the base rules for hanging out in the wilderness are IMO in massive need of an overhaul, so we might as well overhaul those along with setting up a good guidelines for running an exploration based adventure. Before we dive under the hood and get into all those storybuilding steps and mechanics, lets look at how my system works from the players’ perspective: 

In lieu of any urgent quests or fantastic job offers, a group of adventurers decide they’re going to explore the wilderness outside their settlement and look for some opportunities. 

One character chats up the locals, hearing rumours of what might be going on outside the walls. The second does some research on the area and finds a few trustworthy maps to copy. Another checks the local bountyboard for outlaws and monsters it might pay to hunt down. 

The party sets out, and the DM asks the party which player wants to be the group’s surveyor: keeping a list of what places the party has visited, what options are available to them, and what might need a bit more exploration. 

The DM has divided the area they’re exploring into zones with names like “The forbidden peaks” or “ The merry meadows” which gives each area a strong geographic identity and makes it easy for the party to remember and gives them an idea of what to expect. 

Every time the party walks into a new zone, they learn the area’s name, and how many “points of interest” are in that region. A point of interest could be anything from a unique environmental detail to the lead in to an encounter to a monster lair to the entrance to a whole dungeon. The surveyor keeps track of these points of interest, making space to write in whatever details they think are relevant. 

Likewise upon entering into a new zone, the party are made aware of “landmarks” striking points of interest that are obvious to the naked eye and don’t need to be searched for. Because this group prepared before they left, they’ll likely have learned of a few more points of interest in the region based off the information they gathered. 

When the party have fully explored a point of interest, the DM tells the surveyor to check off the name of that location, indicating that it’s safe and that the party can turn their attention elsewhere

When deciding where to go next, the party has two options:  Set out for a specific area (one they know about or have visited before) or to Wander, poking around till they find a location they didn’t know about previously. The DM may ask for checks while the party is traveling based on the difficulty of reaching the point of interest or the particulars of the zone they’re travelling through. 

Because the DM has been upfront with how many points of interest are in the zone, the party have an understandable goal of filling in a list and checking off each location. This feels like actual exploration because the party is actually making the decision of where to go and how deep to search, combining those key elements of choice and discovery that make setting out into the unknown so rewarding. 

Below the cut I’m going to go into detail about how to BUILD an exploration adventure, everything from designing goals to fit your narrative needs to choosing what kind of points of interest to seed into the world .

First step: Setting Bounderies 

When preparing a wilderness adventure, you’re going to settle on an area that the party is exploring and why: are they low level nobodies knocking about the countryside surrounding the starting village till the call to adventure finds them? Are they high level heroes looking to comb a vast wasteland for the location of a forgotten temple? Are they desperate survivors battling the elements as they attempt to find a pass through the deep wilderness? Obviously these will set the scale and tone of your adventure, but they’ll also help you define your boundaries: are your party moving towards a specific goal, or are they fucking around? Are they able to return to the comforts of civilization on the regular, or are they on their own? Is their exploration more of a self driven sandbox, or are they trying to find a route to a particular destination fellowship style. 

Perhaps most importantly you need to ask: SHOULD this adventure be exploration focused? These sorts of adventures are a lot of work and if the party is only going to go through this region once you might be better served by just planning some encounters and pantomiming the idea of exploration in your narration. 

Second step: Zoning it out

Now that you’ve settled on your region, you’re going to start cutting it up into Zones, large areas with a distinct geographic identity that will stick in your party’s mind: the area around a village might be divided by its cardinal points into fields, swamp, forest, and hills, able to be explored in any order, where as an attempt to cross the mountains might be separated into a sequence of 1) foothills 2) a choice between peaks OR caverns 3) river 4) lake. Obviously you’ll give each zone a striking name as you develop its theme that will help reinforce its identity by the time you present this to the party. I’d recommend three to six zones, as any more than that it gets hard to differentiate them from eachother. 

Third step: Making lists

Now comes the fun part in designing your points of interest. I’ve found this is a two part process of brainstorming physical locations within each zone and determining what sort of encounters might happen there, though often times the latter comes before the former. It’s important to remember that an encounter is more than a fight, and fights are more than just face to face combat.  Here’s some ideas to get your brainstorming started:

Generally you’ll want atleast four and a maximum of twelve points of interest per zone ( though I tend to default to six) this is not only to prevent you from having to make too much content, but also to be able to use a die to determine what random point of interest the party finds when wandering. Every 2 locations they check off your list, decrease the die size.

Between landmarks and information that a party can gather through rumour/studying maps, I’d advise having no more than half your Zone’s content discoverable before the party actually starts wandering. This is to preserve the sense of the unknown which is vital to feeling like exploration means something.

Landmarks are like billboards drawing your party to particular content, ranging from natural features like hills or rivers to ruins or statues. Use them to deliver details the party should know about the zone early.

Trails or other signs of habitation are your friend, as they allow you to tease what an encounter MIGHT be without giving things away immediately; bandit ambushes, lost travellers, local wildlife, all of these could be at the end of a trail, but it’s far easier for you to bait the party with their own curiosity than come with an obvious “this place looks like a trap, do you want to step in it?”

When it actually comes to combat encounters, I’d advise balancing how challenging the encounter is with how much forewarning the party has. Ambushes they walk right into should be easy or very easy, while medium and hard encounters should either be opt in ( seeking out a beast in its lair) or avoidable ( hiding while the chimera circles overhead)

Points of interest can have many things to discover within them, such as frontier settlements, or Structures and Caverns which can be run as small dungeons.

Some locations may act as gateways into different zones. This is particularly useful for overland travel adventures where the party has to find the right point of interest to lead them on to the next phase of their journey. 

For longer explorations it’s a good idea to include “safeholds”, places the party can use as a campsite rather than roughing it in the wilderness an being exposed to the elements or the threat of random encounters.

Puzzles and scavenger hunts are amazing activities at points of interest, especially if the party needs to go somewhere else in the zone/area to solve them.

Need to express that one particular point of interest ( or perhaps a whole zone) is difficult to traverse? Have the party roll con saves to avoid exhaustion/survival checks to find a better route. You can likewise do this with stealth checks to avoid the patrol routes of enemies or the hunting grounds of vicious predators.

[notbecauseofvictories]

obssessed with Mark Pavillion XIII being paranoid and also correct. The Cassandra of gazebo researchers!! This is the peril of being annoying at local government meetings! (anyway I now need this novel too, please write it thank you in advance)

The worst part---or the second worst part, since the first worst part is obviously the fact that the gazebos will rise up once more and demand a bloody toll for all the years of peace they bestowed on their less-than-grateful adherents---is that Mark Jr. has to eventually come down off the stage. He has to stick his poster-board charts under his arm, and catch the bus, take that to the train, and then wait for his cousin Sam to pick him up at the station.

He has to go to family dinner. That's definitely the second worst part, after the probable large-scale slaughter.

There's nothing Mark hates more than the sight of the whole Pavillion clan, gathered around the table. Boasting about their recent schemes to coax garage bands out from basements, charm puppeteers into taking a gig that's long past any child's bedtime. They are the Pavillions, after all! Marcus Pavillion the First was there, he worked with President Washington himself to create the first American gazebo; he corresponded with the Italian masters of the casina, married a woman from the Bavarian Schöns ("The Dianatempel was ours, did you know?" Mark's mother liked to say at parties, then smile coyly.) The Pavillions have been keepers almost as long as there have been structures to keep, theirs is a rich and storied history.

........Mark does not appreciate this. Mark spends most of his time at the kid's table, trying to avoid conversation about whether gazebos prefer to eat in solitary dignity, or to tear into a visiting chamber ensemble with a full audience. It makes him uncomfortable when Kimmy, his youngest cousin, starts scrawling red lines around her smiling clown---"He's being eaten!" she says cheerfully.

Mark does not ask follow up questions.

The problem---after problems one and two, already mentioned---is that he doesn't know if there's any stopping this. With the odd exception (e.g., the 2004 incident that resulted in Hurridge, Minnesota being carefully removed from US maps) gazebos seem content these days to snack on the occasional piano player, with a couple rambunctious kids as an digestif. But Mark has been tracking these things. He knows that the incidents are gathering closer together, both in time and in location. He knows they're getting less easy to predict, less easy to hide, less easy to excuse. His family might sit around the table and complain about keeping 4-5 gazebos happy, but Marcus Pavillion died trying to appease just one. Those times will come again---are coming. Are here. Mark's got the numbers to prove it.

Walking back from the bus stop, Mark finds himself looking up and---suddenly stops dead outside a lot that's been vacant almost as long as he's lived in this neighborhood. There's a safety fence around the property now, and silhouetted in the light is a brand new sign. UNDER CONSTRUCTION, the sign states, above a sketchy outline of a park. COMING SOON!

In the center of the picture sits a gazebo.

[lilyspider]

Who is Afraid of Whom?

Subtitle: Korekiyo is an unreliable narrator Read as: Please for the love of god stop taking everything Korekiyo says at face value and be willing to look at the Shinguuji's dynamic with a bit more complexity instead of blaming Miyadera for everything. I've teased this for a bit but I've been working on a very long meta write up of a reading of these two following the canon text as much as possible while providing my own insights. This is Part 1 of X (I'll update this when I finish this series and add links as I continue.) Content warnings for discussions of abuse and incest.

To begin, I understand that this is a controversial topic. If you believe Korekiyo to be the victim of years of abuse, whatever I write here will probably come off as heartless apologism for the “worst Danganronpa character.” I hope that if this analysis at any point causes you genuine emotional distress or discomfort that you just close it. If you choose to continue reading it, then I hope you can give me the benefit of the doubt for where I’m coming from and save any judgment for the end. 

For the sake of simplicity, I am going to be referring to Korekiyo’s sister by the fan name Miyadera. I unfortunately do not know which individual deserves the credit for this name as it was coined back before the localization, but I do know it is an alternate reading of the characters in Shinguji, 真宮寺. 宮 is Miya and 寺 is tera. 

宮 could be literally translated to palace or shrine, but is usually only reserved for Shinto shrines. 寺 is used only for Buddhist temples. I have a post explaining more about this [here].

I’d like to start by debunking what seems to be a rumor/misreading of the text that has become canon to many people. Many fans I’ve seen believe Korekiyo is the only victim in the dynamic or that he is afraid of his sister. What is provided for evidence is usually how nervous Korekiyo seems during the trial once he’s on the ropes and the tulpa manifests. 

On that note, I want to clarify that I will be referring to the Miyadera that speaks through Korekiyo as a tulpa. I have seen some interpretations that treat their situation as more like a dissociative disorder, but I will not be touching on that or give that reading any credibility as I find it to be a bit disrespectful. The killer/villain with dissociative identity disorder is also a bit of an overplayed trope.

If you’re not familiar with what a tulpa is, I’ll provide a very simplified definition here. If anything I say seems to be unclear, you’re free to do your own research. If I get anything wrong, please don’t hesitate to correct me!

Tulpas have a Buddhist origin and were believed to be a manifestation that guides someone who has not reached nirvana yet. The simplest way to describe them would be as a spiritual guide. 

Other forms of tulpas are not from one specific religion and have a connection to theosophy. 

Theosophy is another very complex concept that I’ll simplify as a belief in a spiritual reality/separate realm that can be reached through meditation, revelations, or other states of heightened awareness and or emotions. These tulpas are believed to be connected to or have come from this other realm.

The final type of tulpa I’d like to discuss is a significantly more modern concept and is connected to groups that refer to themselves as tulpamancers. For people in this group, a tulpa is completely divorced from all spirituality and is treated more psychologically. These manifestations are much more deliberate as these individuals try to create tulpas of one specific person. It is usually done to cope with loneliness or other problems like anxiety. There are also instances of people claiming to have had romantic or sexual interactions with their tulpas. 

I believe the writers took inspiration from all potential manifestations of tulpas when they wrote the Miyadera tulpa. The most modern take and tulpamancers probably had the most influence. Korekiyo does share his experience of when the tulpa of his sister first manifested, but I would like to look into that in detail later. I plan on discussing all information about Korekiyo and Miyadera that’s revealed in FTEs, Salmon Team, and other similar events in the same section. 

Back to Korekiyo’s fear, the insistence that Korekiyo is afraid of Miyadera and even the tulpa of her never seemed to click for me. Chapter 3, especially the trial, are the parts of Danganronpa V3 I am the most familiar with. Korekiyo is most certainly panicking when his plans are unraveled, but none of that fear seemed to be caused by the presence of the tulpa. He is also able to relay his story about Miyadera after the trial with perfect clarity. For people who read Korekiyo as a victim, this probably doesn’t seem like solid proof. His erratic behavior and validating his experience could just be seen as a trauma response. 

In order to refresh my memory, I decided I’d be revisiting the trial and the scenes that follow it. I will not be looking too deeply at the first half of the trial since the tulpa has no presence, and Korekiyo does not reference his sister at all. A lot of this analysis is being done as a reaction to replaying and rewatching content in the game so my takes will be fresh. 

If I need to revisit the first half of the trial for parts later in this analysis, I will do so.

Korekiyo’s calm facade finally breaks once it becomes obvious that admitting he murdered Tenko put him into a corner and also implicated him in Angie’s killing. 

Korekiyo's specific quote when the tulpa cuts in is “I will not fear. I will not back down.” The tulpa is then revealed. I specifically attribute the above quote to Korekiyo and not Miyadera because it’s not spoken in the voice that is used for Miyadera in the rest of the trial. 

I have heard that it is easier to tell the two apart in the original Japanese text because they have different speaking styles, but I’m not familiar enough with Japanese to cite too much from the original text. I don’t want to potentially muddy the waters due to a mistranslation on my part. Thankfully, for the rest of the trial, it’s usually very clear which one of them is speaking. 

The first instance of the Miyadera tulpa appearing is when Korekiyo is under extreme stress, and her main goal is to help bring him down from this intense emotional state. It’s the first thing she does before addressing anyone else in the trial. 

If I was a bit less diligent, I’d stop this section here and say the argument that Korekiyo is afraid of the tulpa is debunked. However, I’d like to be as thorough as possible so we’ll continue on with this topic. 

Miyadera’s words encourage Korekiyo to keep arguing for his innocence in the murder case. The rebuttal that follows is done by Korekiyo alone. 

Miyadera appears once again when Korekiyo’s rebuttal isn’t enough to prove his innocence, and they have definitive proof that he murdered Angie. 

The lines that follow are somewhat controversial, and they are the ones I believe are misinterpreted the most often. Miyadera says: “You mustn’t raise your voice. You mustn’t stutter. You mustn’t lose composure. You mustn't become flustered. You mustn’t waver.” 

For some reason, this is seen as Miyadera scolding Korekiyo and as clear evidence that she abused him in the past. However, in the full context of the scene, it’s pretty obvious that Korekiyo is losing the ability to argue for his innocence without panicking. Miyadera is reassuring him that he doesn’t need to worry about everyone else in the trial, calling them a “sorry lot”. 

Miyadera is saying that as long as Korekiyo remains calm then he should be able to make an argument that will prove he’s not guilty. Her appearance is only for his benefit as he is able to continue speaking more concisely each time after she speaks.

Once he gets back on his feet, Miyadera gives him further encouragement and praises him.

One could argue this is an instance of emotional manipulation (though I’d have to wonder why she would be manipulating him for an outcome that’s in his best interest. We can return to this later), but I believe it does prove that he is not afraid of her. Without her encouragement, the latter half of the trial would have been significantly shorter. I doubt Korekiyo would have been able to argue for his innocence with the panicked state he was in. 

The next scene is another line I see as being wildly misunderstood to the point where I wonder if anyone discussing it has actually seen it in context.

In a lot of fanworks, for some reason, “Come on, apologize” is treated as something Miyadera has said to Korekiyo as another instance of scolding him or pushing him into a corner. Though it’s pretty clear in the context of the scene that Miyadera is angry at Shuichi and tells him to apologize for continuing to accuse Korekiyo. 

During the argument armament, Miyadera continues to encourage Korekiyo during his final pleas for his innocence. Even the final point that Shuichi has to prove wrong is her defending him. 

I will admit that Korekiyo’s reactions to being put on the spot are very intense. Both the English and Japanese VAs did an amazing job selling his distress! I’m just not sure how any of that is attributed to Miyadera’s presence. 

It’s a completely incorrect reading of the trial that’s unfortunately been spread around even further by the wiki and other pages making this exact claim. There are people who don’t play through the entire game themselves or rely on reading fan wikis and write-ups for refreshers if they haven’t played in a while. If it’s been a long time since you’ve played V3, and you end up relying on one of these inaccurate fan descriptions, you might remember Korekiyo’s strong emotional reactions and Miyadera’s regular cut ins. It’s possible that you won’t remember the exact specifics, but since the vibes seem to match that kind of interpretation, you'll leave the fan wiki article convinced that Korekiyo was afraid because of Miyadera’s presence. 

The trials in V3 are very long, and Miyadera doesn’t appear until the two hour mark. If someone was a bit unclear on how their interactions went or forgot the specifics, I wouldn’t blame them. The problems truly arise when it comes down to this complete misinterpretation that only works when these lines are removed from the original context. 

Before we make further progress and get to the post trial conversations, I wanted to address another theory that doesn’t really hold water. 

Some people believe that Korekiyo’s murders were actually committed by the Miyadera tulpa. This seems to be a way for them to absolve Korekiyo of blame and force it all onto his sister. It’s an interpretation pretty common if someone has already decided Korekiyo is exclusively the victim and all wrong-doing is Miyadera’s fault. 

To me, this doesn’t make sense for a few reasons. 

First of all, Danganronpa is a generally straightforward narrative that makes big or shocking reveals very obvious. If this was a case of a separate personality or tulpa being the one forcing Korekiyo to kill women, then it would have been spelled out directly. 

During the trial, Korekiyo does act a bit confused and denies all of the accusations levied against him, but isn’t that common for every culprit in the series? The killer breakdown is something that’s kind of seen as iconic. 

The over the top reactions and reveal of a new set of sprites for a character are a key part of every trial. Again, pretty much every culprit denies their guilt until they’re backed into a corner, so Korekiyo’s situation isn’t unique at all. 

If we put the tulpa back into the full context of the trial and the murders as a whole, we’ve already established Miyadera’s presence is meant to soothe and comfort Korekiyo. She appears whenever a situation is too stressful for him to handle. One might argue that committing the murders would be an intense burden, and that would probably be the case for any character except Korekiyo. 

As early as Chapter 1, Korekiyo makes references to murder and other pretty morbid topics. He comments on how Gonta’s physical strength would make it easy for him to harm someone. In the early parts of Chapter 3, he threatens to rip out Kokichi’s nerves after he mishandles the gold katana. 

I would believe that the Miyadera tulpa played a direct role in the murders if Korekiyo displayed any signs of being uncomfortable around violence or blood. Since he doesn’t and also was very invested in the mechanics of the seesaw trap, I have no reason to believe Miyadera was the true killer. 

I also believe that if she did play a bigger part, then the final image at the end of the closing argument would have shown her face or maybe both Shingujis back to back.

The Miyadera tulpa also tells Korekiyo it’s time for him to admit defeat when there are no further arguments to be made. If she was truly the one responsible, wouldn’t she apologize to Korekiyo for committing murders that led to his downfall? 

Korekiyo is the one who takes responsibility before the voting starts and is completely calm by this point. He directly says the only thing he regrets is not being able to make one hundred friends, which is a reference to how many women he killed. 

While an exact number isn’t given, he does say he was very close. That probably pushes the total number of victims to somewhere between 80 and 90 if killing Angie and Tenko wasn’t enough to reach his goal. 

My analysis of the trial basically concludes here, and I believe I’ve provided enough evidence to prove that Korekiyo doesn’t show any fear towards Miyadera. A majority of arguments meant to prove Miyadera is the abuser and Korekiyo is the victim usually rely on this point. In the next post I will breakdown the post trial conversations and then circle back to Korekiyo's behavior at the beginning of the game. If you've made it this far, thank you so much.

[marcelwrites]

These excerpts were found within a decaying journal inside an old house I was clearing out for a family friend before it's demolished and the land is cleared and put on the market. After asking around and doing some research, I found out the owner was a man named Jeremiah Balcom. Jeremiah was not known for his friendliness or conversation but was considered to be a good neighbour albeit one that kept to himself. On the contrary, his wife Ramona was well known around town and to this day is spoken about by some of the elderly community with love and respect. Interestingly, I learnt that his wife, Ramona, was reported missing in 1972. Extensive searches were conducted up and down the lake and estuary systems but no trace of here was ever found. The local children still play a game where they'll swim out towards the middle of the lake and say Ramona three times under the water. Upon doing so a pale white hand is meant to ascend up from the depths and tug at your ankle. Jeremiah himself went missing in the late 1970s. His current whereabouts is unknown, but given his age at the time of his disappearance, 55, he is presumed deceased. Someone was telling me that about 30 years ago they were travelling up north and after spending some time in Darwin, a man that looked eerily similar to Jeremiah sat next to them in a pub. However, after some soft some conversation and soft questioning, the man abruptly paid his tab and left. Strange.

*March 3rd, 1977*

Oh, Ramona, I dreamt of you again last night. You came over me like a curse. A naked spectral body, the moonlight shining through and illuminating you from within. You descended from the heavens, just for me. Was it in forgiveness? If not then why was your touch so gentle for I surely don't deserve the grace of your fingers on my flesh.

*March 7th, 1977*

The whispering, almost like a chant, I couldn't make it out clearly, and it's keeping me from sleep. I've combed through your old diary and some of your correspondence to try and find some hint, a glimmer of truth, hidden amongst the pages but it remains unrevealed. I believe you're trying to tell me something or else why would I have dreamt of you at all?

*March 8th, 1977*

I found something you'd written about wanting to write a novel about a loveless marriage and I hope it didn't reflect some true feelings you harboured within. God knows we had our problems but no marriage is perfect. I'll read further in hopes to elucidate your reasoning.

*March 11th, 1977*

Sleep escapes me still. When I drowse, I'm startled awake, as if thrust by vile hands back to consciousness. The trembling in my own hands is persistent and exacerbated by this lack of rest. Perhaps it's the cold Victorian weather. I'll look into warmer climes soon enough.

*March 15th, 1977*

Rest! Finally! My dear Ramona came to me again but this time covered in unsightly bruises and scars. Why does she torment me so? Is it not enough that I'm a mess of sleeplessness and guilt?

There are several journal entries unrelated to Ramona where Jeremiah speaks about doing yard work and trying to cut down his nightly drinking to just a single glass of whiskey. The troubles seems to begin anew around April Fool's Day.

*April 1st, 1977.*

More nightmares. Ramona whispers to me and it sounds like she's saying, "Murder!". It can't be. That isn't true at all. She wouldn't and I must be mishearing or misunderstanding what she's saying. Ramona wouldn't lie to me. I know she wouldn't!

More to follow once I've read further into the journal.

[fruityyamenrunner]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1977/10/20/cia-circumcision-study-secretly-circumscribed/798d65ab-821c-4cc8-bf2d-a47881f747cf/

CIA Circumcision Study Secretly Circumscribed

By Richard Cohen

October 20, 1977

HOW TO BEGIN? How to begin a column about the CIA's secret study of the effect of circumcision? You see my problem. You understand. Therefore, it will come as no surprise if I begin slowly, sort of backing into the subject, telling you that I first learned of the CIA program in The Washington Post. There was a small story of exactly four paragraphs and it was pointed out to me by my wife who said, if I recall correctly, "Look at this." I pretended to be indignant.

I read the story. It said that the CIA in the early 1960s "funded" experiments on circumcised children "to determine if the operation left any emotional after-effects . . . The aim was to determine if circumcision at a significant stage of a child's development produced anxieties such as fear of castration . . ." It went on a bit more and ended with the news that the conclusions, if any, were not revealed. I waited.

I waited for the other shoe to drop. I waited for some senator or congressman or anybody to yell bloody murder. Nothing, I waited for someone to ask for an investigation. Nothing. I waited for an editorial, somebody maybe asking what business it was of the CIA's to find out anything about circumcision. Nothing. I waited for a press release from the ACLU, pointing out that there is nothing in the CIA's charter allowing it to do this kind of research. Nothing.

I kept waiting. Surely someone would say something. Surely someone would write something. Surely, this was an outrage - the CIA finally going completly bonkers. I mean, even its wildest programs on mind control had to do, in a loose way, with intelligence. But this - what had this to do with anything? I waited. Nothing.

So I started to ask people if they had read the story. I asked because after a while I thought maybe I was the only one who had seen it. Most people said they didn't see it, but a few said they did. They had nothing to say about it. Every once in a while, I would sneak a look at the story, as if reassuring myself that it had really been in the paper. Then one day someone wrote something about it. It was James A. Wechsler of the New York Post and he wrote a column.

He wrote about how he had seen the same story I had seen, only he had seen it in the New York Times. He wrote how no one else had seen it and he, too, kept wondering why nothing was being done - no one saying anything, no calls for a congressional investigation, nothing but a deafening silence. He wrote about how after a while he doubted that he had seen the story, how he searched his desk for it, how it was suddenly missing. I read that and was yelling in my head. "You read it, Jimmy, you read it. Just you and me. Jimmy, we read it. We know. No one else knows. Just you and me."

Anyway, Wechsler's column didn't advance the story any, didn't tell you anything that wasn't in the first newspaper accounts of the experiments, and so I continued to wait for someone to give it the full treatment. It never happened, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought that the ball, so to speak, was in my court.

I would do a column and in this column I would say that this story about the circumcision experiments was a commentary on our times - a commentary on now blase and jaded we've become about CIA abuses. The story, after all, cmae after several years of disclosures about CIA abuses and cockamamy schemes - everything from an attempt to hand Fidel Castro a poison cigar ("Have, have one of mine") to enlisting the Mafia in the war on Castro to recent stories about the agency's mind-control program in which it dropped more mickeys into more drinks than Mickey Spillane has done in a life-time of stories. It was our CIA, after all, that opened a bordello of sorts in San Francisco where, in the name of intelligence, it drugged unsuspecting men and watched through a two-way mirror as they engaged in sex with a presumably patriotic prostitute. After that, a circumcision study pales by comparison.

You read that kind of stuff and you can understand how people could become blase, shrug their shoulders at the news. You could understand that and you could write a column about that and you would not be wrong. But you would not be telling the truth, either. For what vexed me more than anything about that original story was that business about the conclusions not being revealed. After all, let's face it - it's not a bad question. It's a question debated for generations. I wanted to know the answer.

So I called the CIA, acting very reportorial and somber, and I told my business to a woman who answered the phone and she volunteered that the agency had gotten lots of letters from people who also wanted to know what the CIA had learned about circumcision. Well. I asked slyly, what do you tell them? She giggled. No comment, she said.Then I got a public information officer on the phone. Very pleasant. Very nice. He explained that the existence of the program had been deduced from financial records but the study and its conclusion, if any, were no longer available. It had been destroyed in 1973. I hung up depressed, but then I thought of something that gave me hope. I mean, you never know anymore.

Maybe the Department of Agriculture will get interested.

what did "dick cohen" writing in 1977 mean by this?

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

I like The X-Files, should I watch Fringe?

I decided to watch Fringe because it was frequently recommended as a show for fans of TXF. I was really curious how similar it would be and would I actually enjoy it? I'm only on S2 E5, so this post will be my impressions of the first season. I'll probably write another post after watching more of the show. I'll also try to make this as spoiler free as possible so anyone can read it!

What is Fringe about? The main character is FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham. We meet her when she's assigned to a case in which everyone on board a plane dies from a mysterious illness. The plane lands successfully at Boston Logan (due to some auto-landing feature - not sure if this is even real) and this is where we find out that Boston (aka Vancouver) is our setting for the show. Dunham traces the mysterious illness back to the research of a former Harvard professor (Dr. Walter Bishop), who is currently in a psychiatric institution, and she needs his son (Peter Bishop) to get him out. By the end of the episode, the three of them form the core of the Fringe division, a cohort of agents and consultants working on unexplained cases (sound familiar??).

How are Fringe and TXF similar?

Both shows center on a special division within the FBI that involve unexplained phenonomen.

Both are filmed in Vancouver.

Both feature monster of the week and mythology episodes.

Both have a strong female lead.

Both have the potential for romance between the two leads (Olivia and Peter).

How are the two shows different?

Fringe features an ensemble cast, whereas TXF was really only Mulder and Scully. I enjoy the relationships between the characters (like Peter and his father, and Walter and Astrid), but the show hasn't done a great job of fleshing out characters aside from the core three. Poor Astrid has pretty much no personality aside from performing lab work with Walter.

The show does not have the same atmosphere as TXF seasons 1-5, even though they're both filmed in the same locale. It might be because of film vs. digital, but the cinematography on Fringe is lacking compared to the beautiful forests we're used to seeing on TXF.

Fringe does a great job of tying a majority of their monster of the week episodes back to the main mythology. The problem with this is that it's hard to watch these episodes independently as they don't have a truly self-contained story.

The mythology storyline is well-developed and I heard that there's actually a plan for the plot (unlike TXF).

Fringe is sci-fi. There are no paranormal, supernatural, or horror elements.

Other impressions:

It took me about halfway through season 1 to start getting into the show, and it seems like that might be some others' experience (and why they may have stopped).

I find it hard to follow the cases sometimes, because they involve technology that is extremely advanced or currently doesn't exist at all, and it seems like the writers don't really understand it either.

I have a feeling we'll be seeing a romantic relationship between Olivia and Peter at some point and I think the show is doing a good job of slowly developing their bond. I've also heard that Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson did not get along on set (sound familiar??) but they have decent chemistry - not as good as David and Gillian but as we all know, there's not a fair comparison.

There's random things that rub me the wrong way, like Walter performing autopsies (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he's an MD, just has several PhDs), how every single case relates back to Walter's research (this man is like 10 Einsteins because he was conducting experiments in every field and all of it beyond the realm of known science), Walter touching dead bodies at crime scenes without gloves (I know this happens in TXF but it's so egregious in Fringe). Despite all this, I do like Walter's character and I think John Noble gives an excellent performance.

Olivia Dunham is a well-rounded character and Anna Torv is great. I really enjoy the relationship she has with her sister and niece.

So far, I enjoy the mythology episodes more than the monster of the week, which is the opposite of my opinion for TXF.

It's funny that there are 15 years between the premiere of TXF (1993) and Fringe (2008) and about another 15 years to present day (2024). But Fringe seems so modern compared to TXF. You can barely tell it's 15 years old, except for the lack of iPhones and I'm sure even that will change in the next few seasons.

Should I watch it??

If you really enjoy sci-fi, I would say definitely check it out. If you're on the fence, or don't like sci-fi at all, I would skip this one.

It probably sounds like I don't enjoy Fringe based on my above points. I think part of it is that I am comparing it to TXF, even while watching, and TXF is definitely better (imo). I also enjoy horror more than sci fi. But, Fringe is holding my interest for now and I've heard that it improves throughout the seasons, so I'm going to keep watching.

I'll definitely write an update post at some point - if I finish the show or stop watching it.

I'm so curious to hear the thoughts of others who have watched Fringe! Do you agree with my assessments so far? What are your opinions and how does it compare to The X-Files for you?

[raccoonsrummagerostrum]

Yautja x reader Valentine’s Day special <3

Yautja x reader fluff

Minor Warnings: Dead animals, bones, blood

Major Warnings: none

Word count: 1,041

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. I'm very surprised that anyone is reading these, but I have very much enjoyed writing them. Please stay tuned for more. And if you have any requests feel free to send them my way. 

The culture divide between you and your yautja was more like a gaping chasm. Yautja culture was completely unlike modern ooman culture, and ooman culture was straight up baffling to yautjas. 

Because of this the two of you found yourself explaining many things to each other. Through this your lover had learned about ooman food, jobs, the concept of a home, movies, music, and many other things. While you learned about blooding rituals, clan marks, the honor code, bad bloods, and space travel. You both had learned so much about the other and their culture. All this knowledge would culminate in Valentine's day.

The topic got brought up when the two of you were watching TV and a jewelry commercial came on. Your lover asked about it and you explained about the holiday, and how it acts as an opportunity to do something special for the people you love. The gears in your lover's mind began to turn, meanwhile you panicked. 

What were you going to do? You had just explained about the holiday so obviously they would expect you to do something. You needed a plan.

You decided to do something that your yautja would understand. Thinking back to everything you've learned about their culture and everything they've done for you. You remembered all the gifts they've gotten you. Every time they’ve returned from a hunt they would bring you a skull. They would often save the biggest skull for their own trophy, but nevertheless they would always bring you something. Sometimes they would give you the biggest skull, just to show you how much they love you. So you decided that to demonstrate how much you love them, you would get them a skull. Only one problem.

You yourself are not a hunter, and even if you were you would only be limited to the animals on earth. So you did what modern humans did best. Online shopping. You were a bit surprised that you could actually buy a real lion skull for a reasonable amount. It wasn't cheap, but when put into perspective of everything your lover does to bring you a skull, the price felt like peanuts. While you were there you bought some shark teeth and some bone beads to top it off. 

Once the package arrived you went to work stringing the teeth and beads into a necklace. You knew that symbolic body adornment was a very prominent feature of yautja culture so you thought this would be a nice addition to their hunting armor. As well as a substitute for a ring. You hadn't previously discussed marriage with them. Not like the yautja even have a concept of marriage. But your heart fluttered at the thought of this necklace symbolizing your relationship with them.

--

After your detailed explanation of this ooman holiday, your lover's thoughts were racing. Ooman culture had always confused them, but you had seemed excited for this holiday so they wanted to do something special for you. So they decided that they would do things the ooman way. They threw themselves into research about ooman traditions. Spending hours on the yautja net reading every article they could find about ooman courtship. Eventually they hatched a plan

Sneaking onto a small local farm they collected a coo (Cow) for the main dish. They gathered some early blooming flowers from the nearby forest, and lastly lifted some chocolate chips from your kitchen. While you were out they spent the morning of the 14th cooking. Well, as best as they could. 

They nearly set the place on fire, searing the meat. And there was a lot of blood to clean up. And Then they heard your key in the lock, they scrambled to set the table. But at last everything was perfect. 

After kicking off your shoes you scurry to your bedroom to grab the stashed gifts for your lover, avoiding the kitchen in the process. There your lover waits for seconds then minutes. They grow inpatient, and almost go looking for you, before they hear your footsteps headed toward the kitchen. 

Surprised is an understatement. Coming into the kitchen you saw your lover, standing awkwardly on the other side of the table. Laid out on the table where two plates decorated with two rather lage stakes, there were glasses of what you hoped was wine, and a cup of chocolate chips which made you giggle. The centerpiece of it all was the clean cow skull. You smiled, admiring all the work done, and trying not to notice the still messy kitchen. 

Your lover gazed at you from where they stood, loving the way your face changed from startled, to surprised, to a quiet joy. Their gaze drifted town to the brightly wrapped packages in your hands. They walked over to you and gently rested a hand on your shoulder which snapped your focus back to them. Words failed you as you smiled up at them. And remembering what they've learned for the ooman articles they quickly moved to pull out your chair. 

What followed was a delightful evening though slightly awkward evening. Your lover tried and mostly fumbled an attempt to be a chivalrous and attentive ooman partner, which resulted with you politely giggling, trying not to hurt their feelings. And you tried to play the part of supportive yautja mate despite how confused you were, and how forgiving your lover had to be. 

But the only thing that really mattered was that you loved the effort your lover had put into pampering you. And the thought you put into the gifts that they loved. 

By the time dinner was over the two of you could hardly keep a straight face, your lover had revealed that they had read that oomans are very attracted to food delivery so they had considered trying it. You didn’t have the heart to tell them the truth, but just assured them that the dinner was the right choice. And you confessed that you had not hunted the lion yourself. But assured you that they didn’t care about that. 

To end the night the two of you made your way to the couch for your favorite activity. Cuddling under blankets, and making fun of bad ooman TV. <3