#i say this as if its a common occurence when in reality its only happened in 2 books ive read so far

[panicbones]

ive been reading books with AI characters in it and i keep finding again and again that nobody does it like murderbot. also why are ppl so desperate to put the ship AI in a body bro the purpose youve defeated it BOO

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

Jayce and the fallacy of the butterfly effect in Arcane's narrative

If Jayce's symbol is the butterfly, then my theory is that we're going into a full "butterfly effect" narrative in Act 2. Either we'll watch it happen, or we'll only see Jayce come out the other side of it changed by the experience, knowing - or more importantly, THINKING he knows - what to do to change the future. Literally, to "defend tomorrow."

tl;dr: Jayce will encounter the butterfly effect in season 2. Viktor and Mel both foreshadowed this in season 1. I think Jayce will fixate on Viktor and will believe that stopping or changing Viktor either in the past or the present - most likely the present - will mean he can save the future. I believe this will lead to an even worse tragedy and may have the same effect as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ekko's approach to changing the future by sticking closer to the present - considering only tiny increments of time to alter more immediate future outcomes - will be the superior approach. I also think that Jayce attempting to change the future will create the conditions that push Viktor to become the Machine Herald.

One of the most common reactions even the casual viewer had to Arcane season 1 was this: "If [character] had just done this one small thing a little differently, [tragic event] wouldn't have happened!"

Arcane has been called a Greek tragedy for the main reason that because of how well built up the characters' personalities and reasonings are, there's no other way season 1 could have gone. There was no stopping the multiple tragedies that occurred, because with one event leading to another, the chain of seemingly inevitable events goes too far back to identify what one singular event caused everything, what one character made what one decision to put our characters on the terrible paths they walked.

Arcane is about to investigate this idea in its own narrative, and I think that Jayce will be the character to stumble into the flawed idea that you can change one event, or stop one character, and change the future for the better. This is because Jayce struggles with a few very interesting character flaws, one of them being that he believes himself to be the main character, and it is therefore his responsibility to intervene, be a hero, and fix things.

Viktor and Mel both foreshadow Jayce's future encounter with the butterfly effect.

Recall that Viktor said: "There is always a choice."

Jayce sees choices in black and white, believes that he has no other options but to go along with what he's persuaded and pushed into, and acts too boldly with too much power multiple times.

Recall that Mel said: "We can't change what fate has in store for us, but we don't have to face it alone."

Jayce tries to solve big problems on his own, and though he delegates to Enforcers and the like, Jayce relies on his reasoning and his alone to make important decisions if he doesn't simply become persuaded - usually through strong emotions like fear - by other characters. In addition, since Mel is specifically talking about Viktor's plight here, it's worth mentioning that while Jayce did say that he would help Viktor in acts 2 and 3 of season 1, Jayce does wind up leaving Viktor to face his fate alone. When Jayce tries to change that fate in s2 ep1, ep2 shows that only tragedy can come of this as well.

Viktor and Mel's statements here are not contradictory. Viktor makes the point that you can always make a choice. In context, he's literally referring to the classic "secret third option," because given a choice between aggression and passivity, war and surrender, Viktor chooses to defuse the bomb instead. Mel, interestingly, seems to believe that destiny is fixed in a broad sense, and she operates as a politician and diplomat and investor who navigates that line of destiny in the most optimal way possible. In reality, in context, she is referring to the fact that Viktor can't change the way he was born and so he has no way to change his fate and therefore must face it, which is true - she's only missing the information that Viktor actually does have the means to change his illness and his body. Her wisdom still applies however, because he'll have to accept the hand that fate deals him after he makes that choice. Will he face it alone, or not?

There is always a choice, there's even secret third options, because having a fate doesn't mean that you are doomed to make only one possible series of choices. What it does mean is that each choice comes with a hand that fate deals you. It is impossible to know what all of these branching choices and consequences are in advance, and it is just as impossible in hindsight - the branches are too complex and the end outcomes are all equally meaningful, just different. If Arcane season 2 is to be a tragedy, it may show us that each possible outcome is still tragic if you fall for the fallacy of the butterfly effect.

Jayce is counseled by some of the wisest, cleverest characters with the deepest life experiences in Arcane, but he hardly ever takes that counsel to heart. If he does, he still acts on that counsel in flawed ways that have unintended consequences. This will come to a head in season 2.

Viktor and Jayce both have a butterfly following them around in season 1. The butterfly effect refers to one small seemingly insignificant event changing the course of history, and changing that event therefore changes history. Viktor bled over the railing of a Hexgate in season 1:

And Heimerdinger sees what we can only assume is Viktor's blood contaminating (?) the Hexgate in s2 ep3:

This might be the seemingly unimportant "inciting incident" that Jayce (and Heimerdinger and Ekko) settle on as something that should be avoided or erased by changing the past (if they time-travel with Ekko, for example).

I doubt that, if this is what this crew chooses to fixate on, it will be the only event that is considered as something to change. But let's take this and run with it for the sake of discussion.

As silly as it sounds, how do you stop Viktor from allowing his blood to come into contact with the arcane? Stop Viktor's involvement with the Academy entirely? Don't invent Hextech at all? But what if someone else invents Hextech besides Jayce? What if future tragedy befalls Piltover because it didn't invent Hextech?

The possibilities and what-ifs could branch on forever. But because Jayce is who he is, and because his tragedy with Viktor is still raw and recent and frightening, I think Jayce's butterfly effect experience will have to do with Viktor.

My personal prediction is that the timeskip between s2 ep3 and ep4 will be Jayce experiencing a timeline where Viktor, taken over by the Hexcore, brings about an apocalyptic event similar to what Heimerdinger experienced in his past. Either Jayce and co. can't go into the past to change the present, or Heimerdinger and/or Ekko advise strongly against it to avoid a paradox. This will lead to them re-entering the canon Arcane timeline before this apocalypse, but still after the timeskip. Jayce, believing that destroying Viktor and his cult will save the future, and believing that resurrecting Viktor was Jayce's mistake to fix, attacks him. But the consequences don't unfold the way he hopes, because trying to change fate once the cards have already been dealt has led to tragedy before.

The butterfly is a symbol of something other than just the butterfly effect - change, evolution, and rebirth. If the butterfly symbolizes the butterfly effect for Jayce, then I think it has a different meaning for Viktor - the change and rebirth meaning.

I've always found it very interesting that we see a similar-looking butterfly on Progress Day... but made of metal.

Every time Viktor's situation changes, he adapts and evolves. If Jayce attacks him, if his cult is destroyed, if the Hexcore is causing Viktor to decay, if all of these things happen at once - he'll just evolve again, and I think the Machine Herald is the next step. And the Machine Herald will be a triumph for Viktor, but Jayce will believe that he's created something even worse. The resulting feud will be a personal nightmare for both of them.

I think this still allows Viktor to use his own agency to choose to become the Machine Herald (the MH will probably be the "secret third option" that saves Viktor, or there will be a secret third option that ends the feud) while still allowing Jayce to be offended and horrified at whatever the Machine Herald represents or is trying to do in the undercity. Introducing the element of time travel allows Arcane to explore the meta concept of tragedy and fate that season 1 was built on while showing that you can't "solve" a tragedy, because there are other terrible possibilities lurking behind alternate choices. Especially if what you're trying to change is singular people or events and not systems of power.

This is why Ekko's approach with his Z-drive will be superior to Jayce's sweeping attempt at changing the future. Ekko's goal has always been societal change. He creates his own punk society in the undercity, more progressive and successful than anything Vander or Silco ever created, and a better bastion of safety, hope, and progress than what Heimerdinger founded in Piltover. Trying to change systems by going back in time is most likely futile. But taking what Ekko has already built in the Firelights, curing his tree, and fighting for the Firelights' survival bit by bit by optimizing the present with the Z-drive shows that:

It's more worth it to focus on becoming wise (Ekko's mask is an owl) and making choices you won't regret

It's best if you don't face your fate alone (act as a collective and take care of each other)

Consider every option, not just the obvious black and white choices

Maintain and fix what you've already built instead of abandoning it once things get difficult

Adapt as needed if the choices you made lead to dark consequences, and once again, stick together and take care of each other when the bad times do come

That's my Act 2 but, ultimately, my season 2 prediction based on the butterfly symbolism we've already seen. Ekko's involvement is what will give the series the at least partial happy ending that the creators have referred to. I personally don't think that the Viktor/Jayce feud will end quite so well, but maybe, they will still survive.

[swallowerofdharma]

An example of novel that follows the literary realism tradition but is sometimes approached under romantic lens, and therefore distorted into something else entirely - maybe because of the (bad) movies adaptations? because of the marketing and the covers? I don’t know but I will link this no longer rebloggable post for you to check - is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

I read Lolita when I was seventeen, felt deeply discomforted but I liked the book, understood what it was doing with its narrator, but I have to add, before reading Lolita, I had already read Flaubert (Sentimental Education, didn’t finish Madame Bovary) and Émile Zola to name a few. I think that growing up I have read more books in this genre than others? I don’t know considering that back then I had to read a lot classics for school.

But long story short, I think something similar maybe it’s occurring with Saezuru. To be clear, I am not saying that you have to read it in a certain way, please I don’t really want to even imply that. Read it for yourself and your pleasure first. What I am saying is that, like Lolita, to me Saezuru makes total sense if we assume that it is written with a realistic intention and therefore not exactly bound by the rules of romantic novels that tend to present more positive and idealized views. After all manga are divided into demographics more than their genre, so authors draw very different stories. I still want these characters to find happiness! But I also want to be able to buy the eventual resolution and therefore I appreciate that the development of the story feels organic.

Anyway just a thought. Nakobov himself wrote (in Strong Opinions):

Reality is a very subjective affair. I can only define it as a kind of gradual accumulation of information; and as specialization. If we take a lily, for instance, or any other kind of natural object, a lily is more real to a naturalist than it is to an ordinary person. But it is still more real to a botanist. And yet another stage of reality is reached with that botanist who is a specialist in lilies. You can get nearer and nearer, so to speak, to reality; but you never get near enough because reality is an infinite succession of steps, levels of perception, false bottoms, and hence unquenchable, unattainable. You can know more and more about one thing but you can never know everything about one thing: it’s hopeless. So that we live surrounded by more or less ghostly objects— that machine, there, for instance. It’s a complete ghost to me— I don’t understand a thing about it and, well, it’s a mystery to me, as much of a mystery as it would be to Lord Byron.

As for marketing, if you check the link and think about Saezuru: the covers and merchandise vs the content of the chapters, vs the story as it’s told, the parallel with Lolita makes sense to me. The cover only has one imperative: to sell. But once you are alone with the story, you see that stylistic choices, tone, everything suggest that you read it in a critical way.

The way Yoneda Kou draws is also quite sober, discarding decorative details and paying attention more to frame and pov. The way she presents what happens is objective and detached, neutral I’d say, making us impartial observers most of the time, letting the actions speak without commentary being made. The dialogue is hard for our translators because it recreates the speech patterns of the various characters faithfully. And these characters are common yakuza that live harsh realities, the gritty social aspect of it is visible and part of the story, as well as social injustices and personal trauma, and keen and realistic attention to human behavior.

I guess all this clued me in to reading the story the way I do, and probably also why I chose it in the first place. Realism is the genre of fiction I am more read in, although I am expanding my horizons more and more.

[eretzyisrael]

by Aaron Bandler

“The whole idea that they’re using the Gaza ‘Health Ministry,’ that’s synonymous to Hamas,” Romirowsky said. “So basically you’re saying that you’re relying on the Hamas narrative to describe what is happening, which is totally detached from reality. Hamas has its own interests as far as aggrandizing everything … they’re looking to create a sense to put pressure on Israel by aggrandizing the numbers when they themselves are responsible for the devastation in Gaza. It’s all Hamas. Let’s be clear: This is part of the Hamas strategy.”

Editors who contended that the use of “massacre” violated Wikipedia’s neutral point of view (NPOV) policy were outnumbered, and the verdict was consensus to rename the article “Nuseirat rescue and massacre.”

“This is part of a concerted campaign to manipulate the narrative and thus rewrite history,” one Wikipedia editor told me. “The day of the rescue operation — they couldn’t simply let that be the story that four hostages were rescued so they had to rebrand it as a massacre in the refugee camp … and their main focus was butchering as many people as possible. They just happened to rescue four hostages. If Entebbe happened today, it would probably also be called ‘Entebbe airport massacre.’ Their MO is to deny that injustices occurred to us, but then take these said same incidents and repurpose it for themselves and their own narrative.”

An editor who grew disillusioned with Wikipedia after making thousands of edits told me that “even if some high-quality sources said a massacre happened, that still wouldn’t make it the COMMONNAME. Once upon a time, something like this would be called ‘Nuseirat operation’ or something neutral like that, it would describe the rescue and allegations of a massacre. But since experienced editors know very few people read beyond the title and lead, these guys are using their numbers to corrupt them both.”

Another editor told me that “a ‘massacre,’ by definition, is not a scientific classification. There are obviously many cases in which the term may be applied unambiguously, but that is not the situation here, nor in many of these contentious article title debates. All we are witnessing is subjective determination wholly driven by the politics and bias of the invoking party, specifically around what they wish to emphasize and ignore. The two sides doing their best to stack the optics deck with charged language to vilify the other side and win some endless PR war. They know that these article search results populate at the top of Google, and are widely cited and quoted by journalists and on social media. They so desperately want their authorship and preferred terminology to enter into common parlance and usage before everyday people have even had a second to think about whether the designation is true, or even appropriate to talk about it in that way. In the case of Nuseirat, what we know is that there was a rescue operation, as well as a reportedly sizable civilian casualty rate. I’m not sure if calling it ‘Nuseirat rescue and massacre’ is appropriate, and I don’t think most of the people who participated in the RM cared about finding the most appropriate solution as well. What we have now is a weird ‘Frankenstein’ result that only highlights the schism and unhealthy detente between sides with profoundly differing perspectives and agendas.” The editor contended that Wikipedia’s manual of style should be revised so the word “massacre” is “removed from general use in article titles when there is any ambiguity or intractable debate, or subject to far stricter criteria.”

One editor told me that the arguments put forward by those who wanted “massacre” in the title were “a stretch but it almost doesn’t matter because so many people bought it,” as there were “4-5 more supporters than opposers … the supporters of that name were particularly unified in their support — in fact, unusually so, so much so that they even carried a name that wasn’t even the one proposed. Which is possible to do but unusual.” The editor believes that the discussion had “all the hallmarks of canvassing and coordination, which we know they are doing on Discord.”

[st4r-sh0t]

Posting my opinion bc i'm never wrong and don't argue: mouthwashing!!!

I fucking love this game and it has been all over my fyp recently and i wanna talk about it bc 𝔂𝓮𝓼. for those that don't know mouthwashing is a game that u should go check out cuz its rly good. This post is gonna be kinda long bc i have a lot to say but yeah!!😋😋🤞

Stating off with 𝓳𝓸𝓶𝓫𝓪𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓪 i think a lot of people fail to realize that he is the most unreliable narrator ever. He isn't only unreliable when it comes to Anya, he is unreliable when it comes to everyone. He views the entire crew under a convoluted lens. This is because he is projecting! So mf hard!!! Notice how it is only after the crash that these "bad attributes" of every character is brought out.

In reality, 𝓳𝓪𝓶𝓮'𝓼 worse attributes have been shown because of the crash and as he spirals further and further he projects these attributes of himself onto the crew more and more. In this post i personally want to talk about curly because i don't rly see it a whole lot.

When it comes to curly specifically, the crash has turned curly paraplegic and highly dependent on other people. I've seen a lot of people say that this changed the way 𝓳𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓸 views curly but what everyone is missing is that he always thought this way about curly. he always saw curly has someone below him. the only difference is before curly was under him morally, now he is under him physically because he is disabled. He sees what has happened to curly as karma for his way of thinking.

This is common amongst narcissists because the idea of naturally occurring karma absolves them of any fault which lets 𝓳𝓸𝓻𝓭𝓪𝓷 believe that what happened on the tulpar was not his fault. Despite directly causing the crash, jumbo sees it as a necessary evil that had to be done to avoid the consequences of his actions (AKA, taking responsibility for anya). Because he views what happened to curly as justice/karma, having to take care of him becomes a chore and curlys very personhood is taken away from him. He is now a thing. A responsibility that he has to take because of what he has done and he is not happy about it.

Another thing I've seen is people saying that they don't feel bad about what happened to curly and that he deserved it for not defending Anya and while yes i do absolutely hate curly, nobody deserves the abuse that their abuser inflicts on them. "What happened to curly was horrifying" and "curly (in)directly caused everything on the tulpar" are ideas that should coexist. Also thats not the thing you should get from this game. It's not a story of karma, it's a cautionary tale about what happens when we let abuse(of anything; power, people, privilege) go unchecked.

TLDR; 𝓳𝓾𝓶𝓹 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽 is an unreliable narrator and people fail to apply that to every character in the game, not just Anya. when it comes to curly, he views him as conceded and sees what happened to him as karma.

Now although I do not argue and my opinion is always correct, I would love to hear your thoughts! Especially because this game is so subjective I would love to hear your opinions and even hot takes on this topic! Stay safe divas😘💅💅

[centrally-unplanned]

I always find the 'semiotics' or symbolic language of media interesting from an evolutionary perspective. Recently online there was a bit of a discussion about run cycles in animation; a guide to running written by Hayao Miyazaki from back in 1980 for which we had the text due to its inclusion in collected-writings book Starting Point has been missing its original accompanying visuals for all this time. Someone (Rebekah Machemer) found and scanned those drawings so now we have the complete work:

Very cool stuff, and really great to recover any lost production media like this. In the essay itself Miyazaki gets a bit philosophical - why care about running animation at all?

Above all what is most important is what one wants to express through the act of running…Men of strong resolve, who are wearing heavy armor and carrying swords, should run in a way that weak extras cannot. The running of surging masses on fire with anger, the running of a child doing his best to hold back tears until he reaches his house, the running of a heroine who has forsaken everything but the desire to flee—being able to show wonderful ways of running, running that expresses the very act of living, the pulse of life, across the screen would give me enormous delight. I dream of someday coming across a work that requires that kind of running.

On the one hand this all resonates; make the character visual, express their identity through motion, etc. On the other hand...girl who runs like this? I don't run, like, at all! It's not a common occurence in my everyday life to see a single person running, and if I do it is 99% of the time someone working out. I am pretty sure when I do run its way less an expression of my Forsaken Herione vibes and instead an expression of my 12-hours-a-day-on-a-computer workout routine.

-How you think you look running

-How you actually look running

What I am not saying here is that Miyazaki is wrong or anything to care about running. Instead I am saying that when he discusses how beautiful the act-of-running is, that is only partially coming from observing reality; it primarily comes from animation as a medium. Animation's value-add is the art-in-motion, you want the screen to be expressing itself to the audience through movement. You as an audience member want to see the animator themselves express their own aesthetic to you through that movement. There are a million ways to make that happen but running is one of the strongest; its character focused, universally applicable, common *enough* that you know what it looks like, you can make it diegetic to a climax if the plot demands it, etc. It makes sense for animation to utilize it, and it does - more than just animation, film all over does! It's a universally common symbol in the language of film with decades of meaning built into it.

But that meaning does not first come from real life, it comes from those demands of film-as-a-medium. In all likelihood no one has ever emoted a climactic meaning to you while running, or after running, you don't have a frame of reference for that. When you, as a viewer, are emotionally moved by the act of running, you feel that because film as a medium taught you to feel that. Compare it to how animation/film often focuses on the eyes and mouth for expressing emotion - that is not an invention of film, that is how real human beings communicate, when talking to a person you focus primarily on their eyes and mouth. The semiotics of film's language around eyes is built primarily from real life, which is much less true for running.

What is cool is how much of a semiotics of running animation has been built up given its origin within the demands of the medium. Miyazaki had a hot take and a desire to see artists push the craft as early as 1980; since then I can think of hundreds of running cycles artists have put their own touch on. I think of these as real Artist moments - it is something that the craft leads you to that you become obsessed with perfecting, existing for its own sake, something that interplays between observation and pure creativity. I can see these scenes now outside their own story, as the use and evolution of language. Which is neat!

[natrogersfics]

The Anthology - Chapter 3: Down Bad

Artwork by @faith2nyc Read on AO3

He’d made it all up.

It’s the only explanation Steve can conjure as he finds a seat in the corner of the café and picks up this morning’s copy of The Daily Star that’s laying on the table, his trusty baseball cap and aviators providing some semblance of cover from the blinding sunshine and the sharp eyes of other patrons.

NAT'S NIGHT OUT!!

He thumbs through the pages until he finds the images promised on the cover. Not only are they grainy from the zoom of the long lens being pushed to its limits, but also a touch overexposed. In any case, it doesn’t matter. He sees them all the same as he runs his hand over the shot of Natasha seated at a booth in a nightclub with a cocktail in hand. Of her dancing with her friends. And finally, of her leaving at the end of the night with a jacket draped over her shoulders that’s at least three sizes too big to be her own.

The last thought ties his stomach in knots, but truthfully, it’s the common denominator in all of the photos that’s most excruciating – the way she’s beaming from ear to ear. Not that he would ever begrudge her for finding happiness. It’s all he truly wants for her. And yet, he’d be lying if he said seeing her having the time of her life doesn’t make him feel as though there’s vice in his chest, slowly but surely squeezing the life out of him.

Since she inexplicably shut him out, his mental real estate has been consumed by trying to understand why. His nights have been divided between ruminating on what he could have done wrong and worrying that something had happened that she’s too afraid to share. Though seeing what’s in front of him now, he realizes that maybe the answer isn’t as complicated as he thought. For that shift between them, that cloying desire for more – be it time, touches… all of it – could have very well been one-sided. Perhaps he had assumed, wrongly, that the feeling was mutual. A severe miscalculation on his part when, in reality, it’s merely something his mind had fabricated to keep him from noticing that little by little, he had been covertly surrendering pieces of his heart to her.

Ah, hell.

His hand flies to his face at the gravity of the revelation, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. Hearts were never supposed to be part of the deal. And up until this very moment, it hadn’t occurred to him that he had jumped the gun. Not this irrefutably, at least. But while it’s taken him this long to figure it out, it’s evident that she had seen it first, her actions since then making her stance on the matter loud and clear.

“God, I thought I’d never make it to the end of that line.” Bucky’s complaint interrupts his thoughts, and he looks up in time to see his costar walk up to the table, offering him one of the to-go coffees in his grasp. “You owe me for that one, pal.”

“Add it to my tab,” he says dejectedly, accepting the cup as he rises from his seat. “You ready-”

“And what do we have there?” Bucky says, his lips curling into an approving smirk, and he follows his gaze to see him eyeing the magazine on the table. “Looks like someone had fun last night.”

“Seems so,” he says, and if Bucky is at all offended by his dismissive tone, he doesn’t show it. “Come on.”

They manage to exit the café unnoticed, but it’s as they turn the corner that they hear the telltale clicking of cameras. Next to him, Bucky scoffs. “You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

He looks up to see the hordes of paparazzi gathered at the end of the block, and with a sigh, he grips his coffee tighter, keeping his head low as he and Bucky begin to approach. As grateful as he is that he gets to do what he loves for a living, it’s times like this that truly made him miss being back home in Brooklyn, where people didn’t pay him any mind so long as he wasn’t blocking their way.

The commotion grows louder as they near, and they’re bombarded by questions the second they enter the melee.

“Steve, how are you doing today?”

“Can we get a smile, James?”

“Is this Cap’s final movie?”

“Excuse me,” he says firmly, bringing his free hand up to push away the lens when the paparazzo that asks the last question gets a little too close for comfort.

“Oh, come on, Steve!” the man says as he continues to follow him. “Just give us a scoop!”

“No comment,” he says, the exasperation evident in his tone now.

“If not about the movie, then something about your costars! There’s gotta be something. Your leading lady doesn’t seem interested in working-”

Anger flashes through him like lightning, and in an instant, he turns, his coffee hitting the ground as both his hands reach for the man’s collar. “What did you just say?” he says practically through gritted teeth. Vaguely, he’s aware of the voices and the clicks of the cameras intensifying as he tightens his grip, but he can’t bring himself to care. “Say it!”

Before he can get a response, Bucky is there, trying to wedge himself between him and the paparazzo. “Steve,” Bucky says, his voice all but pleading. “It’s not worth it, man.” He nods towards the crowd. “Come on, let go.”

He glances at the sea of cameras and phone screens that’s amassed around them before looking back at the man in his grasp who still has a smug look painted on his face. With a final glare at his captive, he shoves him away.

“What the hell has gotten into you?” Bucky says the second they're in the safety of the gym's lobby, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to stop him in his tracks.

His only response is to shrug out of Bucky’s grasp as he heads for the lockers. What did it matter, anyway.

Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

[chi-the-idiot]

Full credit to @electronicdelusionstarlight 's post on what if the voices stayed with their respective princesses post the ending, as my inspiration for this came from this very idea. (this version goes more off of the idea that after the gods left the voices each were given their own reality to live with, rather than off of the more correct "we leave as mortals" ending)

(also this is probably a completely inaccurate portrayal of The Cold and The Spectre, but please just go with it for now lol. I may change it later)

OK BUT HEAR ME OUT,

The Cold, who wakes up inside the cabin, finally with a body of his own, with the Spectre sitting next to him.

The Spectre, who tries to keep her distance from him and explains what happened with the two gods, and that she can't really explain why he came back to her.

The Cold, much like her, can't explain why they're both there, but since the Narrator isn't around anymore to dictate his life, he decides that it would be too much of a hassle to kill her.

The both of them remain in the cabin together, as there is no civilization around them (does civilization even exist at this point?) and it's better to go insane in company that go insane alone (or at least that's what the Spectre says, the Cold couldn't care less).

The years pass, and they've grown into a common pattern: the Cold wakes up and fiddles around the small house he has fancied for himself in the once old cabin, while the Spectre follows him around, telling him about what she saw outside the window last night, or commenting about what ideas occurred to her for small decorations to "their house", her words, not his (or so he claims, but each time she mentions it, his eyes look softer, and his feathers seem to puff out ever so slightly). Depending on wether the Cold is going to cut some wood or go hunting, the Spectre may tag along or not by possesing his body. If it's the former, she will spend her time looking around for pinecones or pretty flowers, and collecting them inside a small basket. If it's the latter, she will stay at home and make some decorations to their little home using the items collected.

The Cold is quiet, methodical, he never does something if it is redundant to him. The Spectre, however, is (ironically) filled with life, with an appreciation for small details and the nuances of life surrounding her. He never admits it, really, but he appreciates the attempts she makes to make him happy when she can.

It isn't always sunshine and rainbows. As much as she is vivacious she also isn't clueless, and things can get ugly when in a fight. She may also sometimes get a bit mournful about the life she lost, and although she tries not to outright pin the blame on the Cold (she knows the situation was out of their hands and it did bring the gods a happy ending after all), it's difficult to forget his quiet stare as he dug the blade into her chest. She gets quiet on those days, and if confronted about it, its likely a fight will start between them.

But at the end of the day, she chose to let bygones be bygones, and every day he proves to be changing and growing into someone worth forgiving. He never quite stops his frigid ways (he never hesitates when it comes to hunting, which is exactly why she stopped going with him on those trips), but he has started smiling more, and being more reciprocal of her attentions, in his own weird way.

And one night, many years after he first woke up, as he lays on the roof of the cabin watching the stars, her conciousness next to his, he will come to understand why he appeared here after the gods left, oh so long ago now. And he will whisper, a slight tone of wonder in his voice, into the quiet night, so that only she can hear what she thought would remain unsaid for the rest of his days. And she will smile, and the Cold will feel a warmth in his chest that he thought he would never feel, and he will find that he doesn't hate it as much as he thought he would.

"I love you"

[hellsbellschime]

I need to say this and you're really only one of my mutuals who I feel kinda safe saying this to, but as a pro Palestine supporter I'm horrified by the way some Pro Palestine supporters (not on here) approach the issue of sexual assault on October 7th which I've been forced to accept happened. From these people I get the undeniable sense that they actually think that if they address it, even show sympathy for any victims, they're endorsing Israel or their IOF or the lives of Palestinian people that were tragically lost in the months after October 7th which is just wild to me. Even if no sexual assault occurred on October 7th it's the way these people were so ready to believe that it didn't because they thought it would invalidate the Palestianian cause when the Palestianian cause is (tm) is about justice, and no context will ever justify or excuse sexual violence. These two issues should be able to co exist, and somehow it fucking doesn't for these people!

I just have immense sympathy for Jewish people particularly women who are feeling alienated/betrayed thanks to this whole matter because I hear genuine nonsense like "Oh you're weaponing SA" if you want to acknowledge what occurred on October 7th. It bothers me to put it lightly that some people are willing to take what was more than likely the worst thing that happened to these people and just basically not hold the perpetrators accountable because these people belong to a cause they support.... that's really fucking dangerous!

Its even more unforgivable when some victims involved were apparently minors and still these people are silent because their too much of a coward to speak about it because they don't see Israelis as human. You're justified in hating Israel but you're not justified in just.... avoiding the horror of what was done to Israelis because it makes YOU uncomfortable, because you're afraid, because whatever. This feels even more urgent to me given its Women's History month but some of the worst perpetrators of this whole issue have been women themselves which makes it even worse.

The whole denialism also reeks of antisemitism from some corners.

Um yeah, I have a lot of feelings about this, one of the biggest of which is that it's beyond disturbing that you feel unsafe saying this publicly, because it is so obviously and undeniably wrong. I understand that people just want there to be an easy villain and hero, but sexual assault and rape are such a telling and important war crime because there is no utility in it. You can make an argument that almost every crime you can imagine, theft, destruction of property, even murder can be "useful" in war, but sexual violence has no purpose or utility beyond humiliation and trauma. It is cruelty for the sake of it, and you can't even create the illusion of some kind of justification.

But the denialism is antisemitic, and not just partially or in some corners. Horrifically, rape of women (and men and children too) has pretty much always been seen as "the spoils of war," so these rapes and sexual abuses are unfortunately not unique in that sense. But denying their existence is antisemitic because A. once again, 10/7 was not some rebellion or resistance against Israel, it was a terrorist attack on civilians that was perpetrated by a directly stated antisemitic terrorist group, and B. because rape has been used as a weapon against Jewish people for millennia as a specific and targeted form of terrorism and abuse. I mean, one of the prevailing theories about why Judaism is matrilineal is because rape of Jewish women was just that common. So to have absolute proof that these things have happened and either act as if it's justified or literally deny the reality right in front of their faces is antisemitic, across the board, zero exceptions.

And I hate to speculate because god knows what will happen, but it's extremely likely that things are going to get worse before they get better. There are still a lot of hostages that haven't been returned or even seen in weeks or months, and Hamas has repeatedly turned down deals to exchange hostages for a ceasefire. There are only a few things that this can mean. One of the most absurd but still likely options is that they just don't know where the hostages are anymore, which also almost certainly doesn't mean anything good anyway. It's highly unlikely that all of these people vanished into thin air and are coincidentally being treated well. And another obvious possibility is that whatever has been done to them is so horrific and/or so undeniable that Hamas doesn't want them to be released, because as of now they're winning the PR war and are literally getting people to agree that either the sexual violence didn't happen or it was somehow deserved.

Clearly I can't know that this is the case and there are other possibilities to explain why Hamas has repeatedly passed on a ceasefire, but there's no benefit to not even showing proof of life for these hostages unless something REAL fucked up happened or is happening to them. But regardless, I feel it really bears repeating, an organization with the stated intention of destroying all Jews then raping and sexually abusing a bunch of Jewish people is SO absurdly antisemitic that it's like the kind of comically outsized example you would try to make to explain bigotry to someone who heard the word for the first time two minutes ago, so the people who are still denying this reality are neo-Nazis in SJW clothing.

[tala-bez-i]

At first sight II Chapter Twenty

(m!reader x Bonten!Haruchiyo Sanzu)

Fluff/slash/reader is male/cursing/BontenTimeline/drugs and alcohol mentioned/violence/blood/death

All characters that appeared in the Tokyo Revengers manga and anime belong to Ken Wakui.

Words: 3791

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The files that were saved on the flash drive Katsuro Wada had given you were somewhat what you and Okumura had expected. These were several-hour-long recordings that, at first glance, seemed not to have been edited in any way.

Each file contained 10 minutes of fairly good quality video, complete with audio, and depicted the most ordinary course of a day at a place that employed young men for entertainment purposes that, as you and Okumura already knew, had as much in common with escorts as a pharmacist had with surgery.

On the one hand, you were surprised that the place was still functioning and doing really well, especially when it came to income for Bonten, but on the other hand... The brothel, because that's what you had to call the place, was actually being raided by a prosecutor you knew well, with whom you had worked together many times.

That very fact made your stomach do a few somersaults with nerves. You hadn't felt such indignation and disgust in a long time.

Even the disgust caused by a certain minor situation that had occurred during your last interaction with Haruchiyo Sanzu was not at such a high level as now.

Perhaps what you felt was because the function Takara Kitagawa fulfilled should be impeccable and represent the pursuit of justice. He should protect all civilians from corruption and criminals through his actions. He should defend the system, not exploit its loopholes for his own disgusting purposes.

Not that you were any better, because after all, you were supposed to be in the same line with him and fight crime no matter who your opponent was. But this time, you were working with the largest and most dangerous syndicate in all of Japan because you still loved one of its members and recently you were starting to have more and more hope that you might be able to get close to him again…

Again. How idiotic that sounded. After all, in this reality, your paths had diverged before you had even become good friends – you had only just begun to gain his greater trust.

You should stop living in what happened before the time-leap, because it was only in your consciousness and being guided by those events could only cause you problems.

Yes, you had some tips on what to do and what to avoid, but something told you not to take your additional experiences 100% seriously.

"So..." Okumura spoke up from the small table next to you in the cramped kitchen. "What now?"

You were finishing your barely warm tea, wondering the exact same thing as your partner. Your heart was telling you to act, but your mind was telling you to wait, which was the most sensible thing to do.

“We are waiting for stronger evidence.”

“What could be stronger than the recordings we already have?”

“The recordings can be easily undermined. They might say they were manipulated. Especially since we haven’t found any other evidence yet that Kitagawa is corrupt.” You replied, understanding Okumura’s anger perfectly. “We need more evidence.”

“Where else are we supposed to get them? The guy’s out of our league. None of us are very close to him, and he’s always been easy to work with.” The man let out a frustrated sigh. “Cracking him down is going to be one of our hardest cases. Aside from the ones involving Yuu and Takenaka.”

You grimaced slightly, agreeing with him, or at least partly. “If we can tie him much more closely to Jun Takenaka himself, maybe we can discover who is actually behind his death.”

“Do you think it’s connected? It could always be a simple coincidence.”

"And that's why Jin Nagasawa's early release was revoked?" You reminded him and looked the black-haired man in the eye. "I don't think so. Something's up and either the bastard ordered the younger Takenaka's murder or he knows perfectly well who's responsible and why."

"Okay, you're right." Shinji sighed and finished his tea, then stood up from the table and stretched hard. "I'm going home. Secure those files Wada gave us and go to bed too. We have a difficult task ahead of us."

“Yes.” You stood up from the table to escort the man to the front door of the apartment. “Not only do we have to get permission to talk to Nagasawa again…”

“I meant pretending we don’t know anything about Kitagawa.” Okumura interrupted. “But that too… I just hope that this time we won’t have to talk to him directly about permission to talk. We haven’t needed that kind of trick before.”

"Back then it was about the other prisoners. Nagasawa is too connected to Takenaka and owns our dear prosecutor's favorite brothel."

"Favorite brothel... Fuck." Your partner mumbled as he tied his shoes. "I don't just want to break his nose. We'll deal with all that later. Have a good night."

You said goodbye to him and as soon as the door to your apartment, still yours, closed behind him, you went back to your small office and took one last look at the files you had received from Wada.

You selected one particular video file and opened it, watching once again as a scared Riku tried to get into the brothel manager's office, wanting to gain something that could be called sanctuary there.

Right behind him, a heavily muscled man appeared in the frame, whom you couldn't quite place, but you were sure he belonged to the underworld, and literally at the last moment the door to the room opened, and a prosecutor stood in the doorway, who at first looked nervous, but seeing what was happening in front of him, he was taken aback.

The young boy crouched down, thanks to which he was able to slip past the man into the depths of the room, and suddenly Kitagawa was pushed out of the office and in his place stood none other than Jun Takenaka in a rather combative pose.

You closed the recording and unplugged the flash drive from your computer, then put the item in the same place you kept your Sanzu-related items and went to take a hot shower, which you needed to wash away the tendrils of stress from yourself.

As soon as the warm water started to run down your back, your muscles began to relax more and more. Although none of what you learned today left your mind for even a split second.

You remembered perfectly well that day when Wada brought Riku's mother, Mrs. Yokota, to the police station, and you had to admit to yourself that it didn't seem like anything was wrong with her at all.

She seemed like the most ordinary person in the world. A mother whose child had gone missing and had later turned up safe and sound... Well, you could say that nothing had happened to him, because he had been taken to the hospital, where many tests had been performed on him and a dark secret had been discovered, the revelation of which had turned young Riku's entire world upside down.

Or at least that's what you thought, because if something like that happened to you, you would definitely be devastated, you would have a lot of questions and you wouldn't know what to do with yourself.

Riku was sad and extremely thoughtful when you and Okumura picked him up from his place of employment, but was it just because of his argument with Haji, or did he already know something about what his mother had done.

You and Tomoko would soon have to have a very important and specific conversation. Although, you knew what kind of answer your older sister would give you.

“None of your business. Watch your own ass.”

You sighed, turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower. As you dried your hot body with a towel, you could feel the cold tile through the bath mat you were standing on.

You couldn't wait for the upcoming move, and the mere thought of your new home having underfloor heating sent a short, pleasant shiver down your spine.

You loved the nice feeling of walking barefoot on a warm floor…

You laughed quietly to yourself.

And how many times have you slept on it because you couldn't reach the couch in the living room, let alone your bed upstairs.

Yes, those were good times, although not very easy and very dangerous, but at least you were by Haruchiyo's side almost all the time.

Your expression fell slightly and as soon as you put on your pajamas, which you decided to excuse due to the decreasing temperature outside, you lay down on your futon, wrapping yourself in warm blankets like a cocoon.

You stared at the ceiling, and every now and then sounds from other apartments reached your ears, thanks to which you didn't feel as lonely as you thought you would.

Although on the other hand, you would have preferred silence to encompass you at that moment.

Your thoughts once again wandered to Riku Miyajima and his mother, and once again you couldn't believe that such naive people as this boy could live in this world. Did he really believe what his mother told him, or did he just let her do all this, wanting to feel some kind of care from her side?

No... But you'd probably rather him just be that naive and stupid than agree to all the humiliation, abuse, and every other kind of suffering that was thrown at him.

The only thing you should be guided by is trust in your sister, who was handling this case, and faith that the boy will end up in the right place, where he'll be safe.

But you couldn't stop worrying. There was something about him that made you like him, and much deeper than you wanted. Okumura was right. You were starting to like Riku, and you weren't happy about it.

First of all, he was underage, and second of all, you wanted Sanzu back, who still held the lion's share of your heart.

You rolled over onto your side, nuzzling the edge of the blanket and slowly inhaling the floral scent of the masculine perfume you had sprayed on it the same day your relationship with Emi had officially ended, and your heart skipped a beat.

God, how you missed his closeness. The warmth and scent of his body. His strong arms, which often wrapped around you while you slept.

His beautiful long, thick eyelashes, from behind which his wonderful eyes, which so often sparkled as if millions of stars lived in them, looked at you, and those sweet, pale pink soft lips of his, which you loved to kiss so much and which you so often dreamed of smiling instead of twisted in anger or sadness… A little more… You felt that you were on the right track… A little more…

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"I'll kill him one day, you'll see L/n. I'll kill him one day." The irritated detective you were riding with in the car to the prison where the former business and life partner of the man you didn't get to know in this reality was serving his sentence. Which you had to admit you were still a bit disappointed about.

"Not at all. Your family relies on you too much. They depend on you and despite the financial security you've provided them with so far, they won't be able to live without you for too long in decent conditions." You said in a calm tone, focusing on driving. This time, you were the one behind the wheel, relieving your friend, whose appearance showed that his night was much shorter than yours.

“Mimiko can find someone better.”

“If she felt that way, I don’t think she would allow herself to get pregnant again.” You added, the corners of your lips turning up into a gentle smile. “If only you could see how lovingly she can look at you when you’re taking care of your sons.”

"I know my rascals adore you as well." Shinji said and you felt his searching gaze on you. "My Princess speaks quite fondly of you..."

"Absolutely not." You cut him off, having a hunch as to where your partner's thoughts were headed. "You won't kill anyone, especially a prosecutor, and you won't go to prison for it. You'll live a happy life with your beloved wife and together you'll raise your children to be model citizens."

"Fuck. My patience has never been at such a low ebb." The man sighed as you parked your car in one of the many empty parking spaces at the facility you were targeting.

"You just need to focus on something other than this dickhead for now. Maybe Nagasawa can tell us some secret about his sudden extension of sentence?"

"Yeah, I'd love to know who he beat up and why." Okumura snorted as he got out of the car.

"Especially since he supposedly didn't do it at all." You said, lifting the collar of your coat to at least slightly shield your neck from the cold wind. You hoped that you'd still be able to get your scarf back, but then again... It was a gift from Emi after all, so maybe for your own well-being, you should buy a new one.

You stopped in front of the guard's desk, who was currently responsible for the register of people visiting prisoners, and Okumura presented him with your pass.

The only thing you didn't expect was his answer.

The man handed you the document with a surprised expression and looked from you to your partner.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but there must be some mistake."

"What do you mean, mistake? We were already here on the same case less than a month ago." Okumura asked, frowning.

"The document is no longer valid..." The guard tried to explain, but Shinji interrupted him.

"It's new one, see?" He pointed to the date the document was issued. "Kitagawa sent it today..."

"With all due respect, Detective Okumura, that's not the problem."

"What do you mean?" You asked, feeling uneasy.

"The prisoner with this number and personal data died yesterday morning. We found him with his bedsheet wrapped around his neck. I'm very sorry, but Jin Nagasawa committed suicide."

"This is a joke, right?" You asked, feeling the corner of your mouth twitch.

"Unfortunately not." The guard answered you, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, pointing to the document your partner was holding with the other. "I'm surprised Prosecutor Kitagawa signed it. He was informed of the entire incident right after the doctor confirmed the prisoner's death."

Without wasting any time on the man's further explanation, Okumura turned on his heel and headed towards the exit, leaving you just as surprised as the guard. You had to run after him so that Shinji wouldn't accidentally leave you at the facility.

You had no intention of calling a taxi to get back to the police station. Besides, you had the keys to the car, so...

You saw your partner unlock the vehicle's doors with the spare keys he had pulled out of his coat pocket and get behind the wheel.

"Hey... Hey!" You ran to the car and quickly got in from the passenger side. "Fuck, wait, Okumura!"

"I don't have time for bullshit. I'll kill the son of a bitch today." The man replied angrily, quickly pulling out of the parking lot.

"Drive slower!" You fought with your seatbelt, starting to feel less and less confident. "Okumura, for God's sake, slow down!"

"The guy's getting off work early today, I don't have time to slow down."

When you finally managed to fasten your seatbelt, you glanced at your watch and shook your head. "It's overdue, Okumura. Kitagawa left work a good 40 minutes ago."

Shinji glanced at his watch and cursed as vehemently as you'd probably ever heard him curse. In fact, you were surprised that he knew such a strong curse, and a small part of you, the part that remained in you from the teenager who was just starting out in gangs, felt a certain respect for the detective.

For a moment your eyes looked from the driver to the buildings passing quickly outside the window and you noticed with relief that the car's speed decreased with each passing moment until the vehicle finally merged safely into the traffic, and a quiet sigh escaped your partner's lips, suggesting the tension slowly subsiding in the man.

"We have to inform the commander about this." You said after a moment of silence and Okumura ran his fingers through his black hair.

“I don’t know.” His voice was quieter, but no less serious than when he threatened to kill the prosecutor. “The old man and Kitagawa are good friends.”

You wanted to deny it, but you couldn’t. Everyone knew that the commander had lunched or dined with the corrupt prosecutor more than once, but…

“Maybe he doesn’t know what the guy’s been doing behind our backs?”

"What difference does that make? Maybe the old man knows it all too well and is covering it up?"

"I wouldn't suspect him of that, though. He's an honest guy." You frowned slightly. "I trust him."

"I know he was your father's friend and they worked together for many years. Very fruitful years at that, but people change."

"I don't know... We have to report it to him anyway."

“He will definitely say that the prosecutor has so many things on his plate that he made a mistake in allowing us to interrogate Nagasawa again.” Okumura said and you nodded.

“And that's for sure what he'll do, but we have to stick to the procedures. Is there anything more known about that kidnapped girl?” You tried to change the subject, but the man shrugged.

“Nothing new, but there's a rumor that Bonten may not have anything to do with it after all.”

"Huh?" You looked at him surprised, your recent conversation with Mochi echoing in your head again...

"Supposedly someone talked to some low-flying punk from them and he swore that they hadn't kidnapped any chicks recently, especially ones connected to the police." Shinji explained, and this time you were the one to shrug.

"Just because the guy didn't know anything doesn't mean the syndicate didn't do it."

"I thought so too, that's why... Listen, shouldn't Tomoko have some information on this?"

"Ko-chan?" You asked, surprised, but you quickly understood what the man was getting at. "Just because she works with a gang doesn't mean she participates in everything that concerns them."

"She knows a lot of things..."

"Believe me, if she knew anything about our friend's daughter, she wouldn't keep quiet." You said firmly, thus closing the subject, and Okumura didn't press further.

*bzzt, bzzt, bzzt*

You quickly pulled out your phone and seeing the phone number you were waiting impatiently for contact from, you answered the call.

"L/n, I'm listening."

"Good afternoon, Mr. L/n." A male voice spoke, sounding very optimistic. "This is Abe Ayumu, the housing agent..." He introduced himself politely. "I have some very good news for you. We have received the rest of the necessary documents and we can start the moving procedure at a time that suits you best. The furniture store has already completed the furniture you ordered and we are currently in the process of carrying out further procedures and services that you ordered from us."

"Ah, that's excellent news, thank you very much for the information." You replied in a calm tone, trying to distance yourself from your partner, who was trying to eavesdrop on your conversation in a less than discreet way. "As we agreed, I will transport the most personal things myself. As for the equipment, however, I changed my mind and decided to make a purchase from the catalog you provided."

On the other end of the line, you heard a brief rustle of paper. “Indeed, changes have been made… Excellent, then I will personally see to it that everything is in perfect order. Will you be able to come to our real estate office to collect the keys… Let’s say the day after tomorrow, at 4:00 p.m.?”

You gave Okumura a quick glance, knowing full well that the man had heard everything anyway. He nodded curtly and you confirmed the proposed date to your interlocutor.

"Excellent, have a nice day then and see you again."

"Okay. How much did you pay for the house?" Shinji asked as you put your phone back in your pocket.

“Almost the entire inheritance from my parents.” You answered, stretching the facts slightly, and the man whistled loudly.

“Are you crazy?”

“What? The amount includes new furniture and appliances. I’m leaving the old ones to Emi. I won’t lug it to the new house.” You explained, and your partner shook his head. “What this time?”

“Where are you going to live now?”

You gave him the new address and the man looked at you a few times with wide eyes.

"For God's sake, L/n... This is a hell of an expensive housing estate."

"I can afford to live in a place like this." You were slightly outraged. "Besides, Tomoko already lives there."

"She... I don't blame her. Actually, I'd be more surprised if she didn't live there. A place like this suits her..."

"And it doesn't suit me?"

“You know, L/n…” He looked at you again, then focused on driving. “No comment.”

“Hey…”

“However, Mai is the most humble person in your family and the most well-behaved.”

"Go choke yourself."

The car fell silent again.

“What now?” You asked after a moment. “We don’t have anything more on Takenaka. Nagasawa is dead.”

“And Bonten?” Okumura answered you with a question. “Maybe it’s worth trying to talk to them?”

“Who?”

“Who was Takenaka under?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know what category to put him in.”

“What do you mean?”

“Prostitution or drug dealing.”

“They have different bosses?” Shinji asked, parking the car in an empty parking space at the police station you worked at.

"I guess so..."

"Talk to Tomoko." You got out of the car and headed to the building. "Maybe she'll know something about it."

"And you?"

"I'm going where I need to report our beloved prosecutor's oversight." He answered you in a not-so-pleasant tone. "See you later."

You followed him with your gaze until he disappeared inside the building and you directed your steps outside the police station, heading along a route you already knew well to the café where your older sister liked to take breaks from work at this time of day.

You hoped you would meet her there today.

<PREVIOUS/NEXT>

[liamashleyclark]

False Memory Syndrome Vs Recovered Memories

127 x 89cm

Acrylic, paper, spray paint, wood, mount board, nails

2024

If you were around in the late 80's / early 90's you may recall Walkers crisps switching the colours of their Salt & Vinegar and Cheese & Onion flavours. It's such a common belief that most Brits of a certain age say they can remember this happening, however it never did. At least according to the company itself. Its such a common query that Walkers even have a section on their FAQs page for it. They say "Our Salt & Vinegar and Cheese & Onion flavour crisps packs have always been the colours they are today. Contrary to popular belief, we've never swapped the colours around, not even temporarily." Despite this statement hundreds, if not thousands, remember the switch, including Walkers own spokesperson Gary Lineker. The denial of the change has elicited newspaper articles, online threads, TV jokes and even a podcast; 2020's The Walkers Switch. Either the switch is part of a deeper crisp-based conspiracy or an example of the inconsistencies of collective memory, a false memory, the Mandela effect.

The Mandela effect was a term coined by paranormal researcher Fiona Broome, who had detailed memories of Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980's, despite living until 2013. The internet is filled with examples of the Mandela effect occurring to people from all over the world. They include incorrectly remembered movie lines, TV show names and brand logos. Broome has speculated that the phenomenon could be evidence of parallel realities, however scientists suggest that these false memories are often shaped by similar cognitive factors affecting multiple people, such as social and cognitive reinforcement of incorrect memories, or false information, such as misleading photographs.

False Memory Syndrome Vs Recovered Memories was the title of a unit in my A Level psychology class, and one of my first introductions into studying memory, its inconsistencies and how often it is unreliable. I've always been interested in memory, I have good recall for facts and information, l've made drawings about it in the past. In recent years I've become interested in collective memory, especially in reference to political and social history. Philosopher, poet, novelist George Santayana wrote his well quoted line "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" in 1905. When I think about this line currently I think of the return of once eradicated diseases, fuelled by the anti-vax conspiracy movement, from people who have no memory of the devastation of such diseases prior to the availability of vaccines. I also think though, about areas of history which are not forgotten, but sometimes misremembered. In recent years we've seen a rise in right-wing ideologies, which have included various groups using Nazi symbols across Europe and the US. It should be concerning that perhaps World War Two is currently being misremembered, not as a fight against Fascism and nationalism, but as a show of Western strength against socialist ideologies. This incorrect reframing is perhaps politically fuelled, and is becoming difficult to break down. Perhaps the past is not only repeated by those who cannot remember, but also by those whose memories have been changed, whether accidentally or intentionally.

[bugs-in-the-dirt]

ayo does anyone else have, like, a combination of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and Visual Snow Syndrome? do ppl usually have one or the other?

so, like, AIWS for me is usually only visual distortion. i've always described it like the world around me looks like its throbbing/pulsating. i've noticed folks seem to describe it like things are simultaneously black-and-white extremes, like for example:

feeling enormous like the Big Friendly Giant but also minuscule like Thumbelina

the space around you is both vastly spacious like a large empty gymnasium and cramped as hell like trying to fit yourself in a dollhouse

objects or people seeming really close like you're seeing them through binoculars or a zoomed-in photo online, but at the same time insanely far away as if you needed to yell from across a football field for them to hear you

even tho i never explained it as simultaneously opposing extremes, it's still exactly spot-on. i remember it only ever happening at night for some reason, and usually after i stare at something for seemingly too long and start to feel self-aware of perceiving reality. i recall as a child seeing the walls on the opposite side of my bedroom simultaneously or rapidly zooming in and out after taking in the size of the walls and focusing too hard on their connecting corners. when i looked away to try and make it stop, if i saw anything remotely rectangular or having flat edges then it would start occurring with that new thing in my sight. it usually stopped if i focused on something round, oddly enough. the worst part of these episodes for some reason was when something incredibly small felt like somehow it encompassed the entire universe? i totally forgot about that til i saw someone's reddit post mentioning it.

though there were nights where it would be so strong and constant it was horribly frightening - floors and walls would start moving like an unstable treehouse balancing on a singular weak limb, rectangles would lean into trapezoid shapes, the ground feeling like a wobbly conveyer-belt. it helped to walk out of my room during those worse episodes, though sometimes i'd walk into the bathroom and still feel like everything was spinning. walking during this time usually felt like time was moving unnaturally fast like is was on x4 speed or smth, but at the same time it felt slow since i was aware it wasnt actually sped-up movement.

that's when i'd start dissociating a bit and see a blurry hallucination of colorful hand-drawn sailboats? it was actually extremely soothing in comparison to the panic-attack-inducing distortion of reality around me, providing a gentle PBS Kids aesthetic of a visual that sailed smoothly across a cutely animated ocean. then when the vision disappeared everything would be normal again. this still happens with me today, which sucks, but the remembering the sailboats and isolating myself in a dark room helps remove all visuals that could possibly be distorted.

then of course Visual Snow Syndrome- i never had any idea what this was, the first time i saw it i was 3 or so maybe? i was, again, about to go to sleep when i saw colorful static making up the entire world around me. that night i was convinced they were an infestation of bugs? but no one else could see them? eventually i just randomly assumed it was this weird ability where i was sensitive to and could see molecules and atoms? but no apparently its a weird fuzzy neurological deviation. the thing about it tho is that wikipedia says the world tends to appear blurry when the static is visible, but my vision stays completely clear if not clearer, i just feel more aware of the visual static thats constantly in the background (its a lot easier to see in the dark or on a plain flat space that lacks luster and texture).

anyways, i've no idea if its common for folks with AIWS to also have Visual Snow Syndrome as well?just thought i'd share my experience with them in case someone else out there is feels they relate and is confused about it.

oh, and here's the reddit post i found that talked about AIWS - they articulate it so perfectly, i was amazed to see someone explain these symptoms that i've had yet had no understanding of what the heck it was:

[alovelyburn]

This has nothing to do with anything, but after having several arguments with AI  chatbots about this (don’t ask), it occurs to me that one of my biggest pet peeves with the evil (human) Griffith crowd is the rampant hypocrisy. 

Uh, just ranting about Griffith again, it’s been building up in the like 1.5 months I’ve been semi-MIA. Nothing to see here.

I’ve said before that when I read their descriptions of Griffith’s actions and crimes I feel like they’re sitting around going, “Oh hey tripped and fell on a guy one time, let’s call that assault and battery kekekekekekekeke.” And it really does feel like that, but it also feels like another pet peeve i have just in general which is an absolute refusal to consider contextual norms. And in this case that applies when judging him and only him.

For example, one thing that has come up is this idea that Griffith has child soldiers with the examples being Casca (because she was young when they met), Rickert, Sonia, etc. 

But ok first of all Griffith is the same age as Casca and she volunteered so that’s stupid. I’m not saying 14-year-olds or however old she was should be considered of sound mind to volunteer for war, I’m just saying if she can’t be considered responsible for her decision to join because she was a child then he shouldn’t be considered responsible for having the questionable judgment to accept her, because he’s exactly the same age as her.  

But more to the point, whatever historical period the Berserk timeline primarily adheres to, it isn’t “the modern one,” right? Whether you assume its moral standards are more in line with the middle ages or the renaissance or anything in between, it was still common for 12 and 13 year olds to be soldiers, so it’s a little weird to villify him for doing what everyone did, which is also evident in the fact that Guts was on the field as a literal 10-year-old and no one was surprised.

...also Rickert’s 20 years old now - if the Eclipse was 3-4 years in the past, then he was 16-17 back then, he’s not THAT young, he’s just short.

Similarly, if you’re going to get on him for being “brutal” and “using violence to attain his goals” then you ought to be getting on literally every major character and most of the minor ones. Everyone in the Band of the Hawk was a soldier - they’ve all killed dozens or hundreds of people. Griffith was a war leader - every single general or leader of men you see in Berserk makes the same kinds of choices he had to make. Serpico burned his own mother (”but he felt bad about it” Yeah, and Griffith did too?). They all use violence to achieve their goals - if anything, Griffith was a bit of a marshmallow for being so upset about it but he still did what he had to do. Guts has the highest body count in the manga, and is so unbothered that he never even thinks about it.

One conversation I had involved a statement of the effect of, “he’s not all bad or anything, but it's important to remember that he is brutal and destructive and willing to use violence to achieve his goals and blah blah, and I was just kind of like... I’m not here to pretend that he’s never been brutal, but where are the people saying “Yeah Guts has a good heart and mostly good intentions, BUT it’s also important to remember he has the highest body count in the manga and doesn’t care about it, he assaulted Casca, he was the actual one who committed all the assassinations and he wasn’t even bothered by it, he considers killing innocents a decent crowd-management technique, he routinely kills people literally just for not moving when he’s trying to get past them, and he’s been known to use children as monster bait.”

You hear a lot about how Griffith “used” Guts to commit those assassinations but that’s out of touch with reality. What actually happened in the first one is that he asked Guts to do it, Guts didn’t care and even made a quip about how Griffith shouldn’t have bothered making it a request and should’ve just made it an order, and then he went and did it and wouldn’t have been bothered if he hadn’t accidentally killed Adonis, which Griffith didn’t even tell him to do. And what actually happened in the second one was that they were co-conspirators, not some master manipulator and his puppet, and in the end Griffith felt bad about it and Guts didn’t.

What I’m saying is, not only do I on principle object to judging characters by standards that are wholly inapplicable to them in the context of their story and world, I also think it’s weird that it only applies to Griffith. It’s like everyone else in the series gets a “well that's just part of the world” pass, and then with Griffith it’s like let's list out everything he’s ever done that a 21st century western person would find objectionable, frame them all in as hyperbolic a way as possible, and then use them as examples of why he’s an awful person.

“He’s motivated by power, money and glory.” He never mentions money except in the context of needing it to supply his men, he specifically notes that he doesn’t really like the nobles and such fawning over him and as for power, I mean I guess wanting power is inherent to ambition but the only things we really know about his motivation directly is that he wants to see how far he can go, and the only thing we know about what he does when he has power is that he tries to move toward egalitarianism, like even Neo does that and Griffith certainly did. 

Someone once told me that he’s narcissistic because he’s preoccupied with his looks, but like... no he isn’t. It’s everyone else that’s preoccupied with his looks.

It’s just a bunch of unsupportable assumptions based on vibes, I don’t know how else to frame it. If you can’t back it up, don’t say it. Especially not to me, l-lol. 

...I should probably delete this, lmao. 

[hmshermitcraft]

Enemies to lovers don’t mind if I do!

Gem hated Pearl she hated everything about her from the fact her family took over the grimm lands, outlawed obsidian magic, and worst of all turned her kind Wither Hybrids into supposed “demons” it. Made. Her. Sick! Her home was turned into a bastardized version of what it was while she was barely surviving on the streets high and mighty Pearl was eating out of the lap of luxury.

Pearl hates her family she stays in the castle ninety percent of the time never getting the chance to leave to actually see the kingdom she’s supposed to rule one day. Hell it wasn’t even originally their kingdom they took it over! Not to mention that was before she was even born. And now she’s being taught that her family were right and just rulers when Pearl knew in reality they were maniacal and egotistical she never understood why they outlawed so many of the kingdoms naturally occurring forms of magic or labeled an entire native group of people as demons it made no sense and she was gonna get to the bottom of it!

Today was the day Gem was gonna end the supposed “royal line” once and for all magic loaded, obsidian knives ready, hungry for souls and ready to devour some. The plan was simple go in kill the queen, king, and princess then pin the blame on some other noble asshole…at least that was the plan until she was caught and thrown into the dungeon. She was shackled and hungry she needed to eat something anything but nope these people called her a demon and we’re gonna treat her like one.

When Pearl heard they had a new prisoner in the dungeons a Wither hybrid no less she immediately rushed down there after the guards were gone for the night to see frankly the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life. Gorgeous sunset orange hair, emerald green eyes, tanned freckled skin, twice her height by all accounts , a rack of antlers made of crying obsidian with beads and jewels hanging from them, and beautiful wither roses growing from her neck in a bush safe to say Pearl had fallen for this woman…now if only gem could say the same.

Right in front of her was the bane of her existence the person who caused her family, her people, her home to suffer! And she was just standing there like she was some sorta animal in a zoo growling before saying “so what do you want wanna see me beg? Because if so then screw off!” Gem didn’t care if this was the end of the line but she didn’t expect for her hands to suddenly be free via the pull of a lever as she looked up to see Pearl crying saying “I’m so sorry what my family has done…” and from there things only got more interesting and complicated

Over the months of Gem’s imprisonment Pearl visited every single day bringing food, water, and even a few pillows and blankets for Gem granted the first few weeks gem nearly tried to gore Pearl with her antlers or claw her. But eventually Gem realized she was just trying to help and the two started talking…and talking…and talking. Both learning things about the others life and culture that both were hooked on. Gem was legitimately surprised at how Pearl hanged onto every word of her explaining the intricacies of obsidian magic and its ties to the grimmlands. And Pearl didn’t expect Gem to cry when she described what’s normally a very boring royal ball.

And one thing led to another and a very passionate night one evening…*ahem* that made Gem realize she loved Pearl with all her heart. With the following day Pearl freeing her and the two of them throwing a Coupe against her parents with a bright future in mind for the kingdom. Well after the wedding of course.

They discovered they had... A lot more in common than they first thought. Gem, like Pearl, was born after the Grimmlands was overthrown by Pearl's family. And, if it hadn't happened, Gem would have been second in line to rule.

Instead, she and her people are demonised and live in poverty all because some assholes decided they wanted to take over the kingdom and then not even use the resources the kingdom offers! Not even try to understand its people. Then her attempt at freedom immediately fails, and she's left only with the pity of somebody she hates.

It took her a long time to come around to Pearl. She'd lived in a castle she had no rights to her entire life. It was hard for Gem to feel like she wasn't looking at her like a curiosity. Maybe it was her own prejudice, but she thinks it's a fair assumption to make.

Pearl was the one to realise Gem's links to the original royal family, though. It was by complete accident! Talking to Gem made Pearl want to learn more about the Grimmlands in its prime. This led to her researching the royal family and... Gem's name was scribbled onto the page with red ink, alongside a name Pearl didn't recognise. She asked Gem about it. Though reluctant to answer, Gem eventually tells her that's her brother.

The coup wasn't easy to accomplish. Pearl's parents have ruled with an iron fist, including their children. She isn't sad to see them lose their power. With Gem by her side, it's easy to gain the support of the people. Gaining their respect is harder, but with a plan ahead to integrate those of Pearl's people that remain whilst bringing the Grimmlands back to its technological glory - they think they've got a pretty good chance.

[sysmedsaresexist]

i think endogenics deserve their own -genic term that's not just clarifying that they're different than traumagenics tho. ill use non-traumagenic for a catchall for non-traumagenic systems but as a self descriptor it's like saying non-trans. like theres the word cis for a reason. ofc people CAN use nontraumagenic but i find it very.... strange. idk.

also spontaneous and created do work for endogenics, but doesn't cover ONLY endogenics (example: traumagenics who create system members especially for trauma-reasons, or experience members forming in a seemingly 'spontaneous' way, or yk. just mixed origin systems), so it's not a 1 to 1 replacement for the term (this is coming from a trauma-formed system who has created and spontaneous-seeming members, so saying those would count me, someone who's not (in a literal sense) endogenic, as the same as endogenics, when it's different.)

btw what would you think of someone using the term exogenic? since you don't like endogenic, i was wondering if you would think that it's direct technical opposite is bad as well, or if it's JUST endogenic for some reason.

Okay, we kind of have to work from the bottom up, here

So, first, where endogenic means internal and fantasy, exogenic means outside influence... Like trauma. Freud used endogenic for fantasy and exogenic for trauma. This is kind of a moot point. That would be worse? Still our term.

Second, CDD systems that create "endogenic" headmates, are still just... CDD systems. Mixed origin isn't a thing, and I don't believe you should try to put "origins" on individual alters. Alters can take years to make first contact with anyone, internally or externally. By that point, pinpointing what event created them, and more importantly, why they're there is nearly impossible. It's totally normal for CDD systems to have alters that are, or appear to be, purposefully created. I have some. There's so many reasons this could happen, but if there's a need, the brain will provide, consciously or subconsciously. Alters like this don't make you mixed origin.

It makes you a normal ass system.

It's about why the system formed in the first place, and for CDDs, that's trauma. Once the ability to create alters is there, you can and will continue to do so until problems with dissociation are under control.

There's zero rush to figure out the reason, too. It'll come with time when everyone is ready and as healing progresses. Being adamant that their origin must be this clearly "endogenic" cause has the potential of keeping them from processing other possible reasons. Just let them figure it out. We've all been there at some point. It took nearly three years to figure out where one of our members came from, and I feel like it would have taken longer if I hadn't known it was probably related to trauma somehow. Over time, reactions to certain things just sort of... Lead us to make the connection, and then we could start on offering proper support and reassurance when those reactions occurred.

It should come as no surprise, it was indeed related to trauma.

So, if it's a completely normal thing, why not just say you're a CDD system? Why does mixed origin need to be specified? What makes you different from other systems? From me?

Let me finish all that with, I can understand that these terms are helpful to some people, and I support them. I support the use of any language that helps people understand themselves better. My experiences won't be everyone's. Things that worked for me won't work for everyone.

However, I don't support using these words in ways that further blur the line between endogenic and CDD.

This means I have a very love-hate relationship with a lot of terms in use right now-- like mixed origin, because in its current use, it implies that experience is different and spreads the idea that this doesn't happen in CDDs, when in reality, it's incredibly common.

I'm not sure I understand the first half of this ask. Are you asking what I think they could call themselves instead? It was never about stopping people from using the word and more about pointing out that no one seems to give a shit about DID history. That it's ignored and swept under the rug without apology-- while telling us we're wrong and overreacting. That despite direct proof showing that things happened and were said, certain endos still have that information up and active, still circling through the community and further spreading misinformation.

Willfully.

Purposefully.

Intentionally.

I don't really care what endogenics do, at this point I just want them to stop conflating our experiences and talking over us.

[gothtransandroid]

Contemplating: What is Necromancy

There has been an excessive amount of speculation on proper methods here as to what can be done with necromancy and not much about what rules and realistic expectations one can have with the practice in a fantasy setting. Most of this will be personal takes and never feel that your take is less valid so long as your logic holds up with the rest of the world youve made for it to exist in.

To begin with, necromancy originates from an old practice of communicating with the dead to know the future as, back when such things were taken as real, people believed that the dead were untethered from the rules of both time and space, and could learn of the future by peering through the veil. With this in mind, spells for communicating with the dead should always be present on some level if you feel like a traditionalist in these things, from the smallest bit of flavor to the most plot critical elements it will add something extra by being grounded in a bit of reality.

Ideas can include therapy for the grieving who didnt get to say goodbye, crime scene detectives interviewing victims carefully, legal concerns over inheritance being resolved directly in lieu of a will and even historical documentation and verification of hypotheisis if a powerful enough necromancer can find an old enough spirit to connect with.

Now for the hard parts; necromancy in the common modern sense is using magic to influence the dead or dead things to do what you want them to. This can be drying and rotting out a dead thing into spellcasting ingredients or animating a skeleton to serve you in combat or chores. The mechanisms behind this are dependant on your world system and its physics but my preference is that all living things have a soul-like resevoir where the vital essence lies and when death occurs it is emptied. Then, a novice mage can fill that space with magic and puppet the dead object with said magic to twist it to their whim.

My personal take means that necromancy is easy, so much so that its like a gun: pick it up, load it and point, then the action happens. Dangerous, worse when respect is dropped from the equation, and made worse the more complex it gets. This isnt to say that necromancy is only a weapon, but that because its so easily used as one that it shouldnt be practiced without extreme regulation, and the ease of which it can be done means that such regulation is hard to maintain. If anyone can take their recently killed family and rampage through town in a bid for revenge against the killers while hurting people in the crossfire, it is not just traumatic but also generally horrific for all involved.

A hard question: does necromancy affect rot and decay? Personally, I say yes because it opens the space for more interesting uses of the magic. My take involves with how bacteria are living things, and a novice would be able to inject magic in the bacteria to force dead and even living bacteria to work faster, but because they are pushed in this way they also are pushed though absorbing the dead bacteria and reproducing new bacteria, inevitably bursting and causing a corpse explosion. A master, though, could work and shift the bacteria in such a way where you could make living people ill, cure living people of some illness, pick and choose which bacteria affect a dead thing and outright kill the bacteria and other microflora all at once.

Now for the positives: necromancy can affect any dead thing, from preserving plants and meat by accelerating the aging process in a clean environment, to forcing fermentation in certain foods and substances that can even make alcohols to sterilize and clean with. Necromancy could make a medical environment sterile faster than some other magics when broken down into potential capabilities. A fun fact is that the bacteria and temperature of a decaying human body kills off most dangerous viruses and bacteria to people so accelerating the breakdown of a body would be clean disposal of a body for sanitaion purposes, and the same works with some animals.

Redeeming the necromancer past a boogeyman who assaults the countryside is just a matter of open-mindedness. Detectives, historians, morticians, doctors, therapists, even personal lawyers could be necromancera in your setting if you just take what can be done and apply it.