#i'm legitimately at the point now where i forget that it was actually a real thing?

[howtofightwrite]

For a character that virtually can’t die and regenerates in order to keep living, how do you make action interesting? Emphasize they still feel pain, why they’re doing it?

I'm actually going to step back a bit from this question first, and complement it. This is a very honest question, and something most writers who include violence in their work, should really think about. Even if you don't think you have characters like this, you do.

Now, I'm going to dunk on Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw for a moment. Ages ago (I think it was in one of his Resistance reviews), Yahtzee described, “threatening to blow up the world,” as the laziest form of raising the stakes. Because, “hey, I live on a world.” He's mostly correct. Threatening your protagonist's life is even lazier. In the vast majority of cases, your audience knows you won't go through with it. That you won't kill off your protagonists.

With that in mind, when you decide your protagonist is completely immortal, that changes less about how you write them than you might expect. The biggest difference is simply that they're directly aware of their plot armor, rather than them engaging in faux indecision based on their perceived mortality. Again, this is something that every writer who uses violence should think about, at least a bit. It is natural for a character to fear for their life, and have reservations about risking their life, but making the part where your character's lives are on the line isn't automatically suspenseful. In a lot of cases (consciously or not), your audience will call your bluff, when you threaten to kill off a major character.

If you think back to major character deaths where something drops them without warning, part of what makes those scenes work is the lack of (apparent) setup. The writer didn't spend pages teasing you with the idea, they just went for the throat and ended that character on the spot. This is more respectful of your audience, because you're not telling them, “well, I might kill this character, or I might not.”

To be clear, I'm not saying that there's no place for teasing your audience with a character's impending demise, just pointing out that in a lot of cases, this won't generate the kind of suspense you'd hope for.

So, to get back on topic, how do you make it interesting? Remember that while this character can't die, the same is not true for the characters around them. Depending on the tone you're going for, you could create an absolutely brutal crucible effect, where everyone around your immortal gets burned off, sooner or later. Whether that's literal, or figurative, is up to you. Even if your character can't die, watching people they care about suffer and die is going to have an effect on them.

You probably don't need to draw special attention to the physical pain they experience, but you do want to be aware of it. Especially in the context of how pain affects the victim's behavior. Beyond that, there is probably an element of pain being far more annoying to the immortal than it would be to a normal person. They know it's not telling them anything meaningful, but it is distracting.

Long-term, both of these can easily result in personality shifts. And, legitimately, this is a scenario where a character may be immortal, but they would still experience significant changes over time, and with the growing emotional pain, could have very adverse effects on your personality. This does have some very real, “live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” potential. How many friends can you lose before you stop caring? How many funerals can you attend before you start taking the phrase, “you're either part of the solution or part of the problem,” a little too far? How many times can you pick yourself up off the pavement a blood-covered alleyway, surrounded by corpses, before you start to forget what made you human in the first place?

And, that's not the only option. The simplest answer for maintaining tension when one of your characters is immortal is keeping your eye on what they're trying to accomplish. Keep track of their objectives, because I guarantee they can fail those. Even just keeping their own nature concealed from the mortal world is probably fairly important, because of the idea that men in hazmat suits will drag them away to some research lab and poke them until they figure out how to replicate their immortality, is a classic (and potentially plausible) threat. (Bonus points, if you're wanting to loop in something like the medieval inquisitions, or some other secret societies that could pose this kind of a threat.)

So, what do you do? To dig out an old cliché threat, “there are fates worse than death,” and it's probably worth exploring them. This also opens up new possibilities for threats. Finally, it's worth remembering that immortality does not guarantee success. If your character is hoping for that, it might be time to give them a very harsh lesson.

-Starke

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[goddessxeffect]

《 MASTERPOST: Let go and let God 》

Quotes from blog post and answers from other bloggers regarding certain topics based in the teachings of law of consciousness and non duality. This is a summary of everything I think is incredibly useful and has been for me in understanding and applying this lifestyle. Long post ahead.

Basics & Teaching

"I contain all, nothing contains me." - Nisargadatta Maharaj

This subject cannot be learned intellectually, it cannot be learned through the mind [ego] because it's perceived just behind the mind. We can use the mind to gradually undo the limitations enough so that we can get behind the mind by getting it quieter. @4dbarbie-backup

What you can point out as 'this' or 'that' cannot be yourself. Surely, you can not be 'something' else. You are nothing perceivable, or imaginable. Yet, without you there can be neither perception nor imagination. Identity or Ego is merely a pattern of events in time and space, which are also just concepts belonging to the world of ego.@4dbarbie-backup YOU are life. you are life itself. you are all. you are how this all works. "me? this body? this mind?" not the body, mind, ego or thoughts. not even the feeling, beliefs & emotions. i'm talking about Self. Infinity. God. I AM. the awareness. the one that observes all. the life force is you. you animate all of what you see. @lains-reality

Realize you are never not IT. We are actually fully realized all the time. We are fully realized Beings saying that we are not. @4dbarbie-backup There is no becoming "aware". You can't become something you already are! You keep forgetting you are not the body-mind (ego). The body-mind lacks things, the body-mind takes it's surroundings to be real. The body-mind has a very limited viewpoint, it knows what it knows, it only sees what it sees. @iamthat-iam The [body-]mind cannot intimidate the Pure Self, it can only intimidate the idea you have of who you are, your self image. what the mistake is, is that we are taking the idea of who we are as the fact of who we are.@lains-reality

Everything you see and experience is only a mental condition, a dream-like state, easy to dispel by questioning its reality. Both sleep and waking are imagined.@4dbarbie-backup Dreams are just "materializations" of whatever our consciousness is aware of while the body rests. You can touch it, you can interact with it, your senses become active when you're dreaming at times. there's even a phenomenon where people actually thought their dreams were memories or something they legitimately experienced.@piercedblunt "But I am not conscious of myself when sleeping?!" You are aware of something though, being unconscious, which manifests instantly, you are sleeping. Being unconscious is an experience, and you're doing the same thing in the waking state.@4dbarbie-backup

Let's now take a look at this so-called physical world. The apparent solid outer world is just an illusory world. We created it mentally, which is also backed up by human science. But, and that's the catch, it is not external and so the only way to control the outside world is to step out of the world. The ego IS IN the world, and not you. Both the ego and the world are IN YOU.@4dbarbie-backup

When 'you' desire something, you [Consciousness] already have it. How do you already have it? Your true self is everything, it can't desire anything if it's already being anything. Everything that your ego desires already exists within consciousness. Remember that whenever your ego tries to bring up a desire. @iamthat-iam After all, when 'you' desired in your mind, wasn't there a moment where you had it? Where you imagined what it'd be like to have it, what it'd look like or how it'd make you feel? @cheryawa It is not instantly visible to you because you identify with the body and not your pure being. No matter how much you use your mind/imagination, you are who you are regardless of the imagines playing in the head. I could think of a panda a million times, imagine what it's like being a panda a thousand more, that doesn't make me into a panda when I still know myself to be a person.@4dbarbie-backup

Here's a scale of emotions you'll go through in your journey, from bottom to top: apathy, grief, fear, hostility, anger, indifference, acceptance, freedom finally - and then unlimited, independent joy. @4dbarbie-backup It’s not an euphoric feeling either but a real feeling of knowing and with that - indifference and power. It is very calm and serene, as if nothing can disturb you. @adadisciple

I've been looking at the things I want as existing for me to experience them. When I have a desire, I experience it as something that already belongs to me because everything is coming from (within) me. @4dbarbie-backup

NON-DUALISM

"It is the Self that believes there is a person and is conscious of being IT." - Ada B.

Let's break the word down first. “Non” of course means “no” or “not.” And “dual” means “two.” So, non-dual means not two. It says there is only one. This is referring to you, awareness [or consciousness], that there is only you, [...] the only thing that exists. You are the true reality. The only purpose for awareness is to observe, to oversee, to be. Nothing more, nothing less. For example, awareness is human, it can take on a human form, but human is not awareness or defines awareness as a whole. A human is simply a temporary form, but awareness is always free to be aware of any other form @itzalizeyyy

Whatever you imagine is the same as seeing it in the physical world, because both are still being an observed experience by the awareness, and therefore both are the same, as one (imagination). @itzalizeyyy

Helpful metaphors: When you watch a movie, you know it is a movie bc you are outside of it. you are observing it. now what about the characters in the movie? they dont know its a movie bc they are not outside of it. they think they are just regular ppl and they dont see the truth, their true selfs: which is just characters in a movie. @msperfect777 The ego is like your character in the game (of life), it's already a "manifestation" so it can't manifest (just like a book can't write itself or another book). You are aware of a character you go through life with. @consciousnessbaddie

Ego Death is then the disappearance of the egoistic sense of Self. You feel that your are no longer that.You don't disappear; you don't lose anything. There's no reason to fear losing your body, or losing anything. Yet, most of us are fearful that we're going to lose our body and be nothing. That's a serious error. You could be a hundred bodies! When the idea 'I am this body' dies, the witness does not. Death is merely the idea 'I have lost my body'. What you think yourself to be before death continues to be after death. Your sense of Self survives. @4dbarbie-backup

In Non Dualism, the goal is to stop identifying with ego and realize who you are.You see there's no seperation between you and anything so that means everything you once "desired" is already who you are. You never feel the sense of desire again because of this. Any "physical materialization" that happens after will not seem like such a big deal, since it was already who they were to begin with. @iamthat-iam

"I am that, I have always been that. All is well. There are no mistakes. I am in my right place." All you have to do is realize/ know your are not the mind (= identitiy, character, ego). Robert Adams

Self-Inquiry

" To know the source as source and appearance as appearance, and oneself as the source only is self-realization " - Ada B.

The mind is doing a good job actually, because it bites you and kicks you and teases you, because if it doesnt do that, then you'll want to make this limited feel your home.@lains-reality

Every thought is a thing of limitation. Therefore when we quiet the mind, we still these limiting thoughts and this infinite Being that we are becomes self obvious to us. We have convinced ourselves over the millenniums that we are these limited bodies, and we think it takes time to let go of these concepts of limitation. But time is a thing of the ego, it's a thought. @4dbarbie-backup

Learn the art of being aware of you (awareness). [...] You must not become what you already are, as the detached witness of every thought or sensation that comes and goes. [...] The practice of self-inquiry is returning to the fact of who and what you are. @anon-i-mus

It's a kind of surrendering but to me, truthfully and honestly, it felt more like a giving up. Even if it makes you miserable, accept the person you're identified with until you no more fear it or care if you stay the same. @4dbarbie-backup

-> Questions to ask yourself

Detachment

"Transcend your desires and your fears and you will have everything." - Ada B.

As Buddha taught, the root of suffering is attachment. It is not having the emotions and thoughts [...] but resisting or supressing them, and resisting the transitory nature of life and all things. Emotions and thoughts pass. No big deal. It is holding on to them when they are just coming up to leave or pass through that causes suffering. @lains-reality You need not stop thinking. Just cease being interested. It is disinterestedness that liberates. If you say, “There's no problem,” they won't vanish because you're saying, “There's no problem.” You're mentally holding onto the problem and therefore sustaining it. Erase the problem from your mind means to know (be aware) that everything is perfect and then the problem is necessarily non-existent. Basically, let go of it, because the problem is just an illusion. @4dbarbie-backup

You then ask how to stop being "Vanessa" ? - the reason you can't stop is because it's ALL YOU THINK YOU ARE. For example: You're driving a car. "I AM" is the car. You know how to drive it because you're already driving it by being Vanessa. Vanessa is something you add to the "I AM" and not you. You can't stop being Vanessa while being Vanessa! I think that's what everyone keeps asking: Vanessa wants to be Lara, not awareness [first]. @4dbarbie-backup

To talk of re-uniting the person with the self is also not right, because there is no person, only a mental picture given a false reality by conviction. Nothing was divided and there is nothing to unite. You are That. @4dbarbie-backup Nothing can remove your being. Nothing has ever stained your being.@lains-reality You think you have to do this and that because you think you're it, and you should act from it. That is not the case. There's nothing to do except disbelieve. But disbelieving and denial are not the same thing. Denial is when you deny reality to something you're already giving reality to. @4dbarbie-backup

Detachment is not lonely. It's freedom and it's real love. Needing is selfish, it's self-centered. The self has no preference and it's because of that that it can be everything. @4dbarbie-backup

Some of you are on this path for a while but to some extent still are identified with ego and that's OK. Don't get caught up in "your" expectations of what self-realization is supposed to be like. The expectations are making you turn this into a task, when it is supposed to be effortless. Yes, we have talked about feeling peaceful once you've realized yourself, but you're going to need to drop the expectations. It's okay if ego isn't completely grasping it, ego isn't real and it isn't who you are. @iamthat-iam

Fear is an invitation to remember who you truly are. Acknowledging fear doesn't make you any less worthy of or further away from what you truly desire. Similarly, acknowledging your shadows does not dim the Light that you are. The shadows you battle against are simply the seeming absence of you. Becoming entangled in the world of shadows is simply the forgetting of your Self; and Light casts shadows that come and go only to remember itself. The truth is that Light knows no opposition or enemy. Shadows have no separate existence from Light. Your fears are made of you. @lains-reality

The more I detached from ego, the freer I was to imagine what ego wanted without interference from conflicting thoughts/thoughts that "oppose" the desire. @iamthat-iam In fact, abandon all imaginings and know yourself as you are. Self-knowledge is detachment. All craving is due to a sense of insufficiency. @4dbarbie

To anyone who also wonders "how am I still picking this ego?": how many times have you thought about tomorrow? next week? future plans? there's your answer. and the worries about "life" come from them too. "if I don't prepare for/worry about this event that'll happen, I'll have to deal with the consequences of this action" you're telling yourself you will keep waking up as this exact same ego over and over. @glitterdoll888

If you come straight from Law of Assumption or Law of Attraction please keep on reading this last section!

“The simplest answer is usually the right one!.” - Occam’s razor

I think, that what we call 'manifestation' is life itself. i do not mean life in the way that you live A life, like its happening outside of you. i mean it as: it is natural & normal to manifest, its existance itself. it is not something you have, it just is. 'manifestation' is just life itself. it's how all works & is.@lains-reality

The similarity between ND and LOA is in the fact that What you’re aware of, is. LOA’s inner self is still ego. To talk about fulfilling self means fulfilling ego. There is nothing to fulfill if you are the Self and the only one that needs to be fulfilled is an ego, you’re still catering to an ego. @adadisciple

Please, please, understand that you don't have to DO anything! You are always awareness,you will never lack anything. Please stop worrying about the "physical" world and stop trying to materialize things within it! Non Dualism isn't a "new manifestation method" to "get what you want," you are realizing you never lacked anything this whole time. @iamthat-iam

The way the sun rises up in the morning, in the same way Vanessa happens to awareness. It is natural. Do you try to make it happen? It comes by itself (because you choose it as you).@adadisciple For example "I am a body" is a thought that runs automatically ("subconscious), because we do not look at it/know it, we have just accepted we are bodies and that's why we "see" a body. @4dbarbie-backup

You just need to allow something else to happen, not try to make it so!! You cannot help being what you are: Vanessa is the absolute to you now. But if she can be TO YOU, if she happens TO YOU, who is YOU? Your Vanessa "I" runs on autopilot, she is a symbol. She has no free will. To the Self, she is only an idea. She has been conditioned and programmed to think the way she does, it’s the only way she knows how to function. And that’s fine, let her be. Just don’t pick her as you.If she were a random stranger on the street, you would have no concern about her life. If you were Lara now, where would Vanessa be in your thoughts? That is the behavior you should strive for in your thinking, dispassion, disinterest, detachment. Let the thought of being her go. Just let them BE. The way you let Vanessa be. And you let Vanessa be by thinking that’s all you are, that’s what is true. @adadisciple

If you want a "method", then the very best method of all methods is to quiet the mind to see the Being that you are. Pose the question: “Who am I?” and if other thoughts come in, ask, “To whom are these thoughts?” The answer is “To me.” “Well, who am I?” and you're back on the track, seeking to see your Self. @4dbarbie-backup I sit in the feeling while focusing on something else in the present moment, and it usually goes away. @iamthat-iam

Non Dualism does not believe in “affirming” or “persisting” because if awareness is already everything, then it does not need to affirm or persist for its desire if it already has [or IS] its own desire. @itzalizeyyy Like repetition, it keeps you in lack. Do you need to remind yourself that you are a man or a woman? That experience, that form, is already being observed, is already being aware of. You know 'your' gender. @4dbarbie-backup

The truth is, there was no "3D" or "4D" in the first place. there is no imagination VS reality. nothing is real, it has always been illusion VS illusion. If anytime you get thoughts like "why is it not here" "why don't i see it" "why hasn't it manifested yet" you are immediately identifying with your human self. [...] Relying on the human senses will always be our downfall. @iamthat-iam

If you don't have the discipline to at least cut off all this excess of knowledge of information, you'll only be making it tougher on yourself. After you do that, stick to it until you're ready to let go and rely on yourself. Until you start behaving like the teacher and one is needed no more. You create the teacher because you think someone is more knowledgeable than you. That's fine for now, but trust the teacher, listen and apply.@4dbarbie-backup

I have Psychiatrist & doctors appointments, work, still need to eat, want to commit suicide? Psychiatrist appointment. What is that for? To correct your thinking, isn't that right? Reconditioning, changing, or even eliminating patterns of the mind. Now, I'm not telling you to stop going/stop working and or eating. That would be irresponsible of me. Leave your mind alone, that is all. @4dbarbie-backup

DO NOT ACTIVELY INTERFERE in ego's life or try to stop living that life while still being very attached to it, i.e. still identifying with that ego. Let the person continue to live it's life and fulfill it's obligations like studying, but maintain the knowing that it's not who you are. @iamthat-iam

But what about random things that I wasn't even aware of before they came? It's very simple, really. You are aware of being Vanessa and with Vanessa come specific beliefs. Characters have their own beliefs like certain weather can give you a cold, certain environments have insects etc. Thoughts dominate you only because you are interested in them. By resisting evil, you merely strengthen it. If you are "I AM", it means you are not the person experiencing the 3D world/thoughts/circumstances, you never were. The problem is excessive interest, leading to self-identification. Whatever you are engrossed in you take to be real. @4dbarbie-backup

[velvetvexations]

I feel like a lot of the trans women saying that masculinity/manhood is always rewarded in everyone because patriarchy often forget that the opposite is true, actually, for people who are seen as women/put in the "woman" category.

Because yes, trans women are usually forced into manhood and "rewarded" for being men, and punished for being women. But that's not because manhood is universally rewarded in everyone, but because partriarchy sees having been born with a penis as "man".

It also sees being born with a vagina as "woman", and every deviation from that is *also* punished.

Yes, people who are seen as women/girls may have more freedom in expression of gender (depending on where they are from. I hate when ppl act like people afab everywhere can just dress like men without punishment. There are so many countries with laws on what "women" (and those treated as women because of their agab) can wear, and if anyone believes for one second that breaking these laws is REWARDED in any way, they're so fucking deep in their own head and need to talk to someone from these countries) but that freedom was fought for by feminists! Feminists have fought to be simply just allowed to wear pants. It's ridiculous to look at how it is now (in the western world) and make conclusions on that without looking at *why* it is that way now and how it was before.

And people are usually expected to grow out of their tomboy-"phase" by the time they reach their late teens, or early twenties at latest, and become a feminine woman, wife, and mother. If you don't do that, your masculinity gets punished.

And the masculinity of people afab is also only (begrudgingly) accepted (in SOME places in the world) as long as they're still visible as women or girls and their masculinity is hot and serves cishet men. As soon as they step "too far" out of these roles (by being non-binary or men, or being "ugly", fat, or anything that would make them "undesirable"), their masculinity gets punished. Horribly.

It's really infuriating when (trans)radfem trans women try to act like their experiences are universal and whenever someone says something that disagrees with them, they must be lying or "delusional" (yay, ableism! so progressive /s) for thinking that they were, in fact, punished for their masculinity or manhood...

Sorry for unloading this on you, didn't know where else to put it. And thank you so much for listening.

I think a major issue here is that no matter how much we try to reason things out and work through why they act the way they do, radical feminism, trans or cis, ultimately comes down, at some point, to a deliberate decision to prioritize egocentrism and their own desires over seeing other people as real, actual people - not even other transfems, who they just sexualize and try to control, or call a TERF if they can't. And it's hard to reason with that.

Like, they have to know on some level that they hyperinflate trans women in particular being "socially murdered"* to use as social capital and terrorize younger** transfems into isolating themselves. Maybe a very long time ago for some of them it came from the distress they felt from the legitimately immense danger transfems face in a variety of contexts, but they've shot far beyond that now and just don't really care. They've built a cage of unreality around themselves that makes me feel like I'm talking to aliens.

Like the other day, I was talking to one who insisted that the tee-em-ees will not show up for me. Like, I said they did, and she said they won't, and I was like, but they DO! They have! Always! I've seen it with my own eyes, directly for me specifically! But it was just "who hurt you," "let yourself be angry," "don't settle for just scraps," "they won't treat you better if you throw yourself at their feet," "social murder," and it's like WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? ARE YOU HAVING A STROKE? WAS THIS A DREAM YOU HAD?

And what about the deliberately cruel fuckery, the constant derision of the most petty things like forcemasc? What the fuck do they get out of wrongly asserting that women are never punished for masculinity and never have a problem with being viewed as masculine, like why are they doing that, what is their goal? Because it seems like it's literally just "mock and invalidate the sexual interests of others and deem it an inferior copy of our thing."

What do they get out of misgendering cis and trans men for forcefem funsies and telling them to suck it up? They don't really believe that their forcefem joke is the only thing that might make an egg crack. That's extremely obviously a lie. They're doing it because they want to, because it's their kink, because they don't care about the feelings of other people, and they can use transmisogyny as a convenient defense when people ask them to moderate literally any of their behavior for the comfort of everyone else to literally any extent while demanding everyone else shut up and defer to them on every single topic in every single situation.

And this stuff with D20 and Ophiuchus and the transmasc character being treated better? A lie. Just fully making it up. Inventing it. Fabricating it. For attention.

I've never had one acknowledge it when I've tried to explain that I first learned about all of this from transmasc friends bringing it to me so they could defer to my opinion.

They're determined to stay like this. It sucks.

*truly a phrase that makes me livid to even think about now, they reduce it to about the same level of seriousness as forcefem jokes, every single time it's so thoughtlessly hollow and self-obsessed but you could guess that from it being a fair description of every thought they externalize

**let me make this clear, I'm referring to young adults, I am not accusing anyone of being predatory towards minors nor am I saying the motivations are necessarily sexual anyway, although clearly transradfems don't care about the effect their hyperbole will have on the mental health of minors exposed to it and trained from a young age to never trust anyone, so underage transfems are very much a concern here, but not in the sense that they're being directly and personally abused in any way

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

was i the asshole for refusing to pay a private contractor what they claimed i owed?

preface: i rent a townhouse that has both a front and a back yard, and the lawn mower broke (landlord refuses to fix it), so i was forced to find a landscaping company locally who could mow the grass in spring and summertime. i hate mowing so no real loss, plus i get to support local small businesses! score!

everyone around here sucks at communication (as in they just don't show up or respond to any texts, calls, or emails even when Maureen From The HOA is breathing down your neck) except for one company i've been using religiously ever since i found them. love these guys. quality work, excellent communication, affordable, flexible, these guys are the best and i have referred my neighbors to them as well.

at the beginning of spring 2023, money was kinda tight so i asked if they could only mow every three weeks. they told me no dice, only in two-week increments because they have a rolling scheduling of which neighborhoods get hit up on certain weeks. fair enough. i ask for a mow every four weeks. sure, the grass will get a little tall, but the HOA can shut up.

they come every two weeks instead and text AFTER they've already done the work, so i have to pay for it. i pay them promptly, but ask if they can please honor my wishes for it to be every four weeks, as we discussed. they honor that... once. and then go back to every two weeks. by this time, the grass is shooting up faster than expected and i still hate the HOA, so i sigh and let it go. every two weeks it is.

fast forward to late autumn as winter's rolling in and i'm writing the check for the last mow of the season when the guy calls and says "oh btw you owe hundreds of dollars we never told you about until just now".

somehow, they got it in their heads that they mowed my lawn every single week, and should be paid for that. not once did that happen. not only was there no communication about them having been there OR needing payment (remember how i said they were so good about communication? i have texts going back the entire season where they message me "hey we mowed your lawn today" every two weeks exactly, and what sense does it make for them to forget to say anything every other week on the nose?), but i think i would have noticed grass getting shorter for no reason. also remember how i specifically told them i wanted a mow every four weeks and never actually rescinded that request? it's in writing. it's in the text log. at no point did i ever approve this "weekly" work, even if they'd actually done it (which they didn't).

thing is, these guys are prompt and reliable. they're the best option i've got around these parts. they really don't strike me as the types to pull a fast one on me or scam me. i think it was a genuine, honest mistake and they got my house mixed up with someone else's in the ledger, and now they're out the money for work they legitimately performed... just not for me. i recommended them to my neighbors, remember? not impossible they got the house numbers for my street mixed up. a 6 can look like an 8, or a 7 like a 1 if your handwriting smudges.

i got so caught up in my kneejerk response of "hey what the fuck do you mean i owe money for work i told you i didn't want and you didn't actually do" that i didn't work with them to try to figure out what actually happened here, and now a local business got screwed over. WITAH?

What are these acronyms?

[starrrbakerrr]

Just reread the books as an adult and I must say as an adult it’s actually really hard to be nice about Gale. As a kid I was trying to be balanced and nice about the love triangle but as a grown adult woman I’m like “I don’t agree with your politics and also if any guy treated any of my friends the way you treat Katniss, I would stage an intervention”. And also Katniss never smiles around him 😞

I'm also doing a reread right now because I finally got hard copies of the books! It's going very slowly though lol

I really don't remember my exact feelings about Gale when I first read the books (I was in 6th-7th grade), but I don't think I ever liked him. I also remember hating how the movies emphasized the love triangle when reading the books it was obviously always Peeta.

I reread the books last March and as an adult I picked up so much about him. I think when I was young I was mostly anti-Gale because I loved Peeta/Everlark so much, but rereading as an adult I'm really able to specify what I dislike about Gale. He's just so... annoying.

On his politics, I'm actually a teeny bit sympathetic towards Gale because I don't think all the responsibility for Prim's death should be wholly on him. The severing of Katniss/Gale's relationship is so much deeper than him killing her sister. It's a plot point and dialogue that's been misinterpreted because of the movies. I think the way they presented it cheapens the story and it cheapens why Katniss ultimately chose Peeta.

Regardless, I can't help but dislike Gale. It is how he approaches his relationship with Katniss for me, and as you said how he treats Katniss. Whenever he speaks I'm annoyed. What bugs me is the entitlement he feels he has to Katniss. And some things he says give me the ick.

Knowing there’s people legitimately ship Everthorne is wild to me like 😭

Thanks for the ask!

(below is a tangent on the anti-Gale rhetoric. It’s a defense of one moment I think his hate is a bit too unreasonable so read with caution i guess)

I saw someone say on Twitter that Gale should be vilified for saying that killing people isn't much different than killing animals, and I think that person missed the point of that part in the book. And as some who likes literary analysis outside of my personal feelings for characters and ships, I kinda love that Suzanne wrote this. The dialogue:

“Katniss, it’s just hunting. You’re the best hunter I know,” says Gale. “It’s not just hunting. They’re armed. They think,” I say. “So do you. And you’ve had more practice. Real practice,” he says. “You know how to kill.” “Not people,” I say. “How different can it be, really?” says Gale grimly. The awful thing is that if I can forget they’re people, it will be no different at all.

In the movie, the line sounds brutal and violent and I think part of it could be delivery. In the book, to me, Gale doesn’t say that with confidence or with the belief that humans are dispensable, but “grimly.” And in the movie we don’t get Katniss’s inner thought that even though what Gale said was callous it’s valid because this is the world they're living in - a world that is violent and where Capitol citizens don’t see children as anything other then prey. These characters are extremely desensitized to violence and death. In Catching Fire, Peeta and Katniss curl up on the couch with a mug of warm milk to watch Haymitch's games like it’s a movie.

I think there are a lot of moments to dislike or have distaste for Gale, because I have many. But some of his hate goes overboard and people mostly on twitter and tiktok bc they see the movies as canon solely put the blame on an 18 y/o with immense trauma instead of the adult leaders who have never experienced life like him - Coin is from D13, Plutarch and Snow are from the Capitol.

And to call Gale worse than Snow and to excuse a lot of Snow’s actions, even making shit up about Snow like he cared and gave genuine condolences to Katniss about Prim, or say he didn’t murder Lucy Gray as a defense against Billy Taupe like the murder attempt isn’t just as bad, is seriously gross. I’m kinda glad tbosas and hunger games hype has died down on Twitter because the takes were increasingly getting worse and more illogical.

[justsalpals]

https://www.tumblr.com/justsalpals/751271185799675904/hes-an-afterthought-one-by-one-they-are-brought?source=share

ooh, rubbing my little hands together. I didn't think anyone was actually gonna go for this. hell yeah. guessing you just mean the whole post?

So! If I'm recalling correctly, this was written immediately after the finale. Post-episode is when I've always had the most luck getting eyes on a post, so I was in a bit of a hurry to get something out while there were still eyes in the tag. I knew going into the episode that Jace was nearly certainly gonna die and was looking forward to getting a good short angst piece out about it. Because that's how I roll.

The main inspiration was, pretty obviously, how we have no fucking clue what happened to Jace. He was being arrested, but then pushed into the lava? But the death was quick and jokey enough it could be argued to be a non-canon aside. But then again, shortly after all the shatter starred people were brought back to life! Does that include Jace? Why wouldn't it? The Bad Kids straight up do not know enough about this man to judge whether he was irredeemable and genuinely into it or just a brainwashed pawn. (The real answer, of course, is somewhere between.)

One thing is for sure: they don't talk about him ever again. Which I choose to interpret as them just fucking forgetting about him. (To be clear, I find this very funny. And in character for a bunch of teens who just saved the world again. They don't have bandwidth to think through every little person who's gonna be resurrected, okay?!) So, gods left to their own devices were told to bring back everyone who'd been shatter starred. I certainly don't see why Jace would be excluded.

But he is forgotten. His death was tacked onto the end, a joke to wrap up loose ends. And his resurrection is just as careless.

He is an afterthought.

Ooh nice one, Arson. Punchy! Depressing! This is our starting point, the tone setter. We're taking this and running with it.

Jace is brought back to life, and just. Left to his own devices. Not worth the effort. Yeah you helped try to kill a god and force the entire town to become an unwilling divine domain, but we legitimately do not care about you enough to even follow up. He's not a threat. He's not even enough of an annoyance to swing by and heckle with some jeering one liners. He's not worth it.

He's alone. Unmoored. Directionless. For the first time since Porter raised him from the dead, he can't feel that otherworldly anger that drove him.

His chest aches.

Was he not angry anymore? He should probably be angry, right? That's how villains feel after their plans are foiled, yeah? And I do believe that even before being brought back Wrong, Jace had a lot of anger he buried far down as he could. The shatter star didn't invent the anger, just stoked what was there already.

But that anger was the only thing keeping him upright for months. He wants to be angry now, wants to still have that drive and purpose, but he's so damn burnt out.

So where does he go from here? He's probably lost his job, and gets the feeling if he goes to check he'll just remind people of his existence and get thrown in jail after all. What's left? Jace being directionless is something I love to play with, and he's had all that direction and devotion ripped from his chest. What's there to do but grasp at ghosts?

So he goes to the gym. Probably doesn't even know why, just knows it was the last place he saw Porter.

Hey Arson, why the hell does he make a bunch of clones of himself?? That makes no sense. BECAUSE ITS A COOL VISUAL OKAY. The emptiness of the gym is Too Much. Summoning a crowd of yourself, but their eyes judge harsher than any outsider ever would.

He's lost in himself, and after so long he can't even figure out what it is he's feeling. He can't comprehend that he just misses Porter. And what way is there to speak with the man who would be god than to pray?

But Porter's not here anymore. Jace, alone forgotten directionless, has to figure it out on his own.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

You've said before in an ask that you should never feel guilty about liking something that brings you joy. I want to ask something related to that.

When I was little, I read Harry Potter all the time, and when i was older I still liked it. Then of course Rowling turns out to be a fucking *cow* and I'm ashamed to say it but I did mental gymnastics for a while because I felt absolutely horrible reading books written by the bitch. I don't do that anymore.

But I have read Harry Potter and I keep doing so. Because I like Harry Potter.

It took a lot for me to type that. People should absolutely hate Rowling's guts. And I do not give money to her. But everyone seems to genuinely hate the books now and it's extremely confronting. The 'h*rry p*tter' tag on this website. Casual posts about Harry Potter being dominated by people talking about the cow and how it's wrong to like the series, which is nothing more than a symbol of hate, something something anti-semitism that we conveniently never talked about until now, something, racism. At least, that's what it sounds like to me. People saying Christian fundamentalists in the early 2000s were actually right to hate the books and we really *should* ban and burn them. And so on. The message I see around me is 'This thing you like is bad. You are a bad person for liking it. You are a bad person for reading it. You are hurting people.'

And I don't know if I am.

This got to the point where I called a crisis helpline. I have actually self-harmed over this to 'punish' myself for liking the books. Ironically I now have a scar. I have friends who are trans. i don't want to hurt them.

I understand if you don't want to answer this ask. But I want to know - do you think liking Harry Potter makes me in any way bad? Do you legitimately think Harry Potter was just bad all along? I am genuinely asking. I want to know. But I don't expect to see this ask posted.

Thanks for reading.

Hey, first of all, I really hope you're doing ok. I'm glad you reached out for help and hope that you're recovering.

To answer your question though: you don't need my permission to like Harry Potter.

Literally millions of people loved Harry Potter for over 25 years. It changed the children's media landscape. It's a cultural touchstone. It's still beloved and children still read it.

However, Harry Potter is unique because unlike other beloved authors who were actually bigots (like Roald Dahl), JK Rowling is alive and actively using her platform to harm a vulnerable minority group. Buying Harry Potter merch directly funds her. It's good that you don't give money to her. But I feel like people should still enjoy something that meant so much to them without being harassed.

What people may forget is that the Harry Potter fandom is huge (or was, I'm not keeping tabs on it so I'm not sure) and played a key role in the shaping of modern Internet fandom with in-depth web sites, fan zines, conventions, real world sports clubs, and more. The fandom has a freakin' Wikipedia page for god's sake! Not many other fandoms can claim that. The point is that this book series sparked the creative fires of countless people so to say that it was always bad is to ignore how meaningful it was to people all over the world.

Also, to say that Harry Potter should have been burned like the Christian fundies wanted is just flat out playing into their hands. Censorship isn't good just because a book is problematic. It's far more beneficial to sit down and discuss why elements of a book are problematic and what that says about the author. It's important to be critically engaged with literature and not burn it all down because it doesn't meet the standards of 2024 political correctness. People need to actually discuss the book, how to identify those problematic elements and how to educate readers (young readers become future writers!) on how to avoid them.

But to go back to enjoying Harry Potter: yes, you can still do that. How you do that is up to you. Rowling betrayed millions of people and for many, it's far too painful to find joy in something that is being used to cause harm so they swing in the other direction and condemn the whole thing. If a person wants to abandon HP altogether, that's their choice. I don't read the books anymore. Occasionally, I'll watch the movies if it happens to be on TV. I still wear HP themed t shirts as pajamas. But I don't participate in the fandom anymore. I don't play any games or keep up with HP news. For me, HP is too connected to JKR. But I will never call someone evil for playing the games or buying tickets to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I will educate people but at the end of the day, it's their choice.

If you still wish to continue liking Harry Potter, you can do that. You can still participate in fandom because that does not give JKR any money. You can buy fan made merch off Etsy, read fan fiction, write blog posts about HP and also educate people about JKR. She may have created Harry Potter but fans made it the global phenomenon that it is.

No one has any right to police how other people engage with media and there is zero justification for bullying or harassing someone.

Remember, the type of media you enjoy does not make you a bad person. How you treat other people does.

[phoenixastramurdercore]

(Personal Stuff) Survived Yet again! Had a Mini Stroke, Worried bc Stroke Survivor!

Hey, I wanted to get back into art so bad I might need to go a bit slow. I had a major stroke 7 years ago and recovered pretty well over the years despite having multiple physical disabilities, lots of my memories recovered, my mobility recovered(besides pain issues and some other disabilities that spike if I move around TOO much)

And chronic fatigue isn't as bad/fluctuates. But I have to get more excercise even if it hurts me so that also leaves less time to draw and I have to take it easy/not think too hard about anything right now. I was really excited to get back into art and like do a whole bunch of stuff! But for some reason my overexcitement to do all the things game me a ton of symptoms over the past week of when I had a stroke like right before I had one, besides the face droop mostly I had a mini stroke yesterday and It was fairly short. I feel better today, I'm okay, But I wanted to let you guys know I've been gone for a while because my healths been really, really bad hahaha. I keep trying to improve it and do what I can, my physical body is so so sensitive to just mental overthinking and silly stuff to the point where I was overexerting my...brain? it's really hard to explain. Anyways! I'm fine, I'm okay, but I gotta go real slow at everything rn because that leaves me very prone to having an actual stroke again, and I don't want to know what another one would do if I survived it. Just MAN ya'll this just a note like take care of yourself, not trying to make anyone *panic* but stress is so so real and is so dangerous, legitimately. A lot of drs neglected my severe anxiety/panic attacks for yeaaaaarss like I was having panic attacks so often they eventually became seizures, and then I got more and mor health issues wrong with me. Stress can destroy you from the inside out. My dad also thinks I had a stroke or something like a stroke when I was 19/20 or something like that and he didn't know it was one at the time! and I didn't even know it happened. So if you aren't aware please know what the signs are. I had eye twitching and bad dizziness/vertigo for days and I could barely comprehend/what was being said to me, kept misunderstanding stuff and was reading/hearing things wrong and could not process stuff correctly. i kept forgetting what I was doing, or where I was or if some stuff existed. Now it's hard because some of my anxiety stuff can do things like that too. But the migraines and headaches I've been getting have been so bad, but then the numbness on one side came, and it was worse on the left side of my face(which is where I got face droop years ago) and my words werent totally slurred but weren't coming out right. WHEW. Following up with my dr soon and specialists..but they are booked far out so I hope she can see me sooner. But seriously guys take care of your mental health. You NEVER know what will happen fr. Life is so unpredictable! Stay strong <3 And prioritize your health no matter what happens.

[seroothincs]

Part 1 of my Overanalysis.

Who? Me?! Overanalysing something that only appeared for just two milliseconds and which possibly holds no further importance to the actual plot in the show and just doing this to feed my hunger for content of the wiseguys?!

It's more likely than you think.

Well, if the writers aren't gonna get to this interesting chapter of the mafia then I might just well do it myself. An interesting board though. Like, Tony is of course the biggest picture that takes up a lot of space on the board because he is the most government involved character, he's a freaking mafia underboss so obviously the FBI would be concerned for what kind of "Legitimate Business" he exactly takes part in and starts. We have Don Vittorio next to him, and I'm surprised he's not the bigger picture in this case since he's well-- the real boss, the don of his whole mafia organisation.

We usually just describe the springfield mafia as the D'amico mob because Tony is more involved with it than Vittorio is, even though he is the real don. This could just mean the writers often forget about Vittorio (like I do at times) or there's something else here that is left for me to discover. I wholeheartedly believe that Tony is really the don of the Springfield mafia, maybe and just maybe, Years ago Vittorio did step down as the don and passed the role onto Tony though now that HE was in charge he saw an increase of assassination attempts, not only on himself but on his whole team. The Gang that was responsible for these attacks were the Esposito's, a very old gang that has been at it with the DiMaggio's since the 30s and well the don of that family just so happened to be Vittorio's arch nemesis. Many, many times have they tried to assassinate Vittorio but he was always a step ahead. Now with Vittorio gone and the word quickly spreading on the streets, the Esposito's take their chance and try to finally eliminate the now renamed D'amico mob. They beg Vittorio to come back since the attacks are so brutal they don't know how to deal with them, even the more professional and clever capos such as Lefty and Righty are clueless. Vittorio simply rolls his eyes, groans and comes back, announcing himself to be the don BUT only appears as an acting boss for his mob. Tony is still in charge which he rightfully deserves but Vittorio is simply just there to remain as a shield for the D'Amicos, 'cuz now with him back the don of the Esposito's is absolutely destroyed and knows he can't go on with his attacks since Vittorio was always the clever ace and knew how to stop him each time. And so now they're just waiting for that don to die of old age so that Tony can finally operate as the official don in peace and Vittorio can step into his much needed retirement. I imagine it to be like that, but now besides Vittorio there are two more pictures. One of a guy that sort of looks like Legs and another titled "The Hat", very helpful to just have a guy named The hat but okay. Now that guy was also featured in "Donnie Fatso" when he had the car waiting for Tony, Louie, Legs and Homer. Possibly a low-life member like Frankie, or a soldier like him. I think he could be an associate, not an Mafia associate like you would think (examples such as Mayor Quimby or Krusty who frequently engage with the mob), he's more of Vittorio's associate, a man of mystery who can get you all kinds of information if you meet him in a dark enough street with rain pouring down like crazy and one tall street lamp shining in the dark. That's where you can meet him. And his name just being "The Hat" makes it all the more creepier, at this point the others are just too afraid to ask the don directly who The hat really is. I'm losing myself, anyways. This whole board is really interesting, especially when you see Mayor Quimby who is known to strike deals with the mob frequently, Krusty who is an addictive gambler and owes the mafia a lot- Snake is obvious as well what with him being a criminal but actually, I've never seen him interact with the mob. Well other than he might have stumbled upon them a couple of times in prison but that's it, he did meet them in the simpsons comics. I remember that. On the board however, there are a couple more things to talk about. There being of course Jimmy the snitch, the passport to it and the news article could point to it that he has been featured in repeated interviews, articles and the media, giving intel on the mafia to the government. His nickname being snitch is no surprise. Though the passport makes me think that maybe he travels a lot and stays low in other countries because of his snitching making him look like a walking target just waiting to get shot at.

Part 2 coming after this.

[theliterarywolf]

Alright, let's compile some spoiler-related asks under a Read More. There's four here so, uh... Plenty of reading

Anonymous asked: Holy shit, Submission-anon here. I was actually considering mentioning how much Zora's domain bothered me in Totk this time around. Glad to see I'm not the only one, and I hope it's fine I add my thoughts on that to my submission about my observations on Yona's character, since I feel it REALLY plays into WHY the entirety of Zora's domain feels a lot less... fun, emotional and personal, like it did in Botw, or even Aoc. Anonymous asked: Zora's domain was my fave in botw 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 sounds like it'll be my least fucking fave this time around fuck Anonymous asked: Dorephan deciding Sidon is straight, so he can have a go at Link. I'm only saying one thing: 20 liters. Anonymous asked: The straights are at it again /J But seriously, not going to be "QUEERPHOBIC!HDHUYDB!" Bullshit argument for loz, but I will point out that when someone says "This chick kinda sucks I think link fits better with this other fem character!" You get shitton of support or at least no real backlash, even if she's "only a friend". But if you say "I don't like Yona." even non shipping related, so many people will throw a tantrum and claim it's because "you wanna make link gay, dudes can be friends"

Anon 1: Feel free, anon.

Anon 2: I mean, you'll probably still have fun. I will say that reassembling the Zora Armor was interesting, at least...

Anon 3: First of all, I can't get over 'deciding' because I want anyone who has played through the Zora's Domain portion of TotK to look me in the eyes and deny that it honestly felt like Dorephan was more excited to see Link than Sidon was.

Like, yeah, after the Water Temple when Sidon went down on one knee to present his vow to Link and all, but still...

...Also, you just had to add that cursed tidbit at the end there, huh?

Anon 4: I feel that we have been seeing a more vocal amount of headcanon brainrot with ToTK as of late. Because, yeah, even though me and another anon were joking about Yona being a beard, they were just that: jokes. Some people out there are legitimately trying to cry homophobia because of her introduction and it's just, like I said, Sidon is a Prince (well, now a King but whatever), he is Dorephan's ONLY HEIR because Mipha DIED, he has to get married in order to keep the bloodline going. This isn't hard to understand.

But, also, I want to take a moment to point out the obnoxious level of 'this character is X and if you don't agree you're a bigot' as well as 'why do the alphabet-soup people ALWAYS have to make characters gay or trans?!'

Because I know where the upsurge in all of this came from: that interview that Aonuma gave where he was talking about 'oh, we always develop games with Link being more nonconforming to gender'.

And, of course, that should be taken as Link is more of a slate for the player to project themselves onto, no matter what gender or sexual-orientation, to create a more immersive experience.

But then we ended up with people going 'So, Link is trans then? It's canon, suck it homophobes!' And then legitimate edgelords going 'Link can't be a tranny, stop projecting onto everything!' And then there's that back and forth while rational people in the middle are just trying to live and vibe with 'In my headcanon, Link is a GNC man and Sidon has two hands and I'm happy and not bothering anyone'

So there's what was mentioned above and that animosity leaches over to conversations about Yona (people on both sides thinking that the only reason she's disliked is shipping)

Anyway, I'm just going to stay in my corner, enjoy this game at my slow-to-medium pace... And brace myself for the 'jealous wife'/'fujoshi wife' fics that will inevitably fill up the SidLink tag on AO3 because people forget that polyamory is a thing.

[kyi195]

Yea! And the even better (worse) part is that the level of familiarity with mobile OSes like iOS and Android are driving the development decisions of modern desktop OSes! From UI all the way down to the level of troubleshooting! Literally, on new Windows devices that are managed by an Intune environment, you aren't encouraged to wipe-and-load. Receiving a new device from an oem doesn't mean you slap it down on a workbench and lay out a fat image on it. You use the OOB image, hook it up to the network and it pulls any configuration down from whatever Intune tenant has the device's hardware hash stored. AND if for whatever reason the OS hits a point where its unusable? No REAL troubleshooting past surface level "oh are the drivers updated?". You just fuckin factory reset the bitch like a phone.

Legitimately fucking infuriating for people who actually want to know WHY shit breaks. Oh you want to run an automated tool? Hope you don't like having logs where you can go back through and see what happened. You just get some fucking cheeky "Hold on a second! Our code hamsters are monchin away at your problem!" until it finishes. Drives me up the goddamn wall!

But the problem is that boomers and Gen-X-ers just think "kids know computers" so no one fucking TEACHES kids how computers work these days. How to set them up. Its just expected. So there's a WHOLE new level of astonishment when some early 20s kid DOESN'T have some innate level of control over a standard desktop computer.

We got a new tech where I work who's like, I dunno, 20? Maybe? And she had to have training on how to set up a laptop setup (laptop dock, two monitors, soundbar, keyboard, mouse). That's not a drag on her, she just never had a reason to learn and this is her first step into the tech industry. But that's just something I took for granted because I, as someone who straddled the line of "go play in the street all summer" and "I play games on my computer with my friends", learned how to set a computer up when I was like, 7. I learned to not use both video cables (at that time, VGA and DVI). I knew what plugs went where. But I also grew up at a time where if you used a computerized device it was a proper desktop computer. Phones were still nokia feature phones. She's doin great now but I'm still catching myself saying phrases I'd use with my boss or the sysadmin team I shadow with and forgetting that she doesn't know these phrases because she never had to learn them before college.

this can't be true can it

[revclver-jesus]

Isn't he really...not actually confirmed to be legitimately religious, though...? It's kinda a plot point that what SEES reads in a newspaper is just outright not true and the first confirmed example of Takaya consciously lying about something (he knows SEES isn't at fault for the apathy syndrome, nor the murders and he does not actually considers himself to be Nyx's prophet, either. Plus Aki says that Takaya isn't being truthful and the general narrative framing of this game is a really obnoxious "main characters say so = it's objectively true").

Jin then claims that Strega literally only learned about Nyx after Ikutsuki's death, which implies that, up this point, they only vaguely recognized Tartarus as having some sort of role in bringing the end of the world (hence the "Tower of Demise"), at best (although, imo, they didn't know that either, since Takaya was clearly puzzled by what the twelve shadows even had to with it and seemed more concerned about the potential disappearance of the Dark Hour itself, rather than the tower). And, I mean, sure, he absolutely does genuinely recognize Nyx as a god, but also that's what she just objectively is (and Adachi felt similarly about Ameno-sagiri, if I remember correctly).

And where I agree that, outside of being a mercenary, his biggest sin within the narrative is literally just having a different life ideology than the main characters (which is actually more ableist of Atlus, than it is antagonistic of Takaya, for that matter, because unironically calling out who is functionally a palliative patient for passive suicidal ideation is just so absurd it's hilarious), but...isn't his actual religiousness literally just...fanon? Unless we are simply finding it interchangeable with fatalism (which he definitely is).

Unless-unless I am totally just missing some crucial piece of information, which is honestly kinda why I am even sending this in the first place, taking advantage of the guy's obvious understander saying something on the topic I've been curious about for some time. Sorry if it reads like I'm trying to um-actually you up, I promise it's not the intent, haha. Thank you in advance with how stupidly long this message is 🤍

(( Ok, forgive me, it is very late at night, so I apologize ahead of time if I'm not reading this great but if I don't answer now I will almost definitely forget to later--

First, I do want to clarify, everything I say about Takaya I am referring to my canon divergent take on him that i've written for 3 years, he's had a few adjustments made to him to make him a more coherent character, that's also why I emphasized "potentially a good antagonist" in that rambly post and my wording of I love the "idea" of a religious person in persona-- that is to say I don't think they actually depicted that completely in the canon series

Though honestly! I swear to god, I couldn't really give you a provable quote off the top of my head, but I've seen the novel, the stage play, the in-character AMA replies, and I could have sworn... I saw Takaya imply real reverence for Nyx. Because I remember making a post freaking out about it? Besides... I just find it hard to believe he didn't intuitively understand his persona and ability to see the dark hour were something from a higher power when he consistently refers to them as "blessings" and as the lab children as "chosen ones". You could argue he's referring to the scientists that tested on them but that's very unlikely considering he talks very resentfully about how they used him in his final fight speech and he seems to disregard Ikutsuki a unimportant. Its like he's... referring to something else blessing them.

This is the thing with Takaya-- I cannot give you... a single, easy, quick refuting explanation. I can only point to what little canon characterization he has and hope it makes intuitive sense lmao.

So.... What I think is most likely here, even by the main game's logic, disregarding my own canon-divergences... is that Takaya does indeed have a religion of a kind, but much like how the game takes the time to explain that Strega calls the tower something else, " The Tower of Demise"... They just didn't know the name of the god that was going to kill them. But surely they knew a god was going to kill them, why else would they call the tower the tower of demise, how else would they deduce that the tower was leading to anything of the sort without some higher knowledge of what's going on? And then that leads you to wonder where they got that knowledge, etc, and that's where headcanon has to fill in the blanks because its very unclear.

( though I admit i might just be forgetting something- )

Now one thing I do think, in my experience of having to depict this guy, is that it would be near impossible to not depict Takaya as a religious zealot-- as in a person with intense ideological drive based in spiritual beliefs-- and still keep him acting and speaking as he's only ever shown to speak in canon. To me, its very much a... "all but said" situation? Yes, he is a dishonest and manipulative man but... that passionate sermon in his final fight was entirely him showing his real zealotry. Its so evident in his archetype of character, his design, his way of speaking, that it naturally lends itself to depicting a man that is very religious in his thought process. Not merely a fatalist, but someone who holds visible reverence and manic exuberance for that which can end the world. To the point where I think it is fair to assume that in the event of say, my future-verse where he lives to see other gods attempt to end or change the world, Takaya would choose to side with the gods basically every time-- not simply because he wants the world to die, but because he holds their power in higher regard than humanity's obsession with trivially living on, unchanged and unimpeded. Its hard to explain-- but to me Takaya has a personality that is so fundamentally anti-mundane humanity that it necessitates a reverence for the supernatural and the divine-- if only because he seems to find the grand and cataclysmic to be outright awe inspiring in a very religious way, if not ideologically necessary.

Something of which is evident in how he seems to find such beauty in the dark hour itself! Such as in the novel, where he not only marvels at the sight of it but he's described as seeming to be revitalized by the atmosphere, as if coming alive. There's no magical explanation for this-- its just his mental state. He has some sort of worship-like fascination with all this supernatural stuff.

There's even an element of faith in his behavior! Notice how Takaya, despite his passion and frustration with the main party, will take a deep breath... and say... very well. "fate" will decide who is right. Why would he say that without some kind of belief in a destiny, that something will guide the outcome in his favor? Notice how he puts on the illusion of calm only right up until its evident that fate isn't on his side, then he seems to claim an unfairness. He's not merely indifferent, he has faith that things will go in his favor, because it rightfully ought to.

And the idea that he doesn't believe himself to be a prophet-- I don't believe that for a second. Perhaps logically he knows that not to be literally true, its not like he hears Nyx's voice giving him advice, but there is very much something about his personality that feels he deserves that title to some extent, he almost certainly believes he is some sort of " truth bestower " as entirely evident by just how he presents himself and how he speaks. I mean.... " It appears even I am fallible " is a battle quote of his.

Though full disclosure.......... I appreciate you thinking I'm the expert on this guy, but I'm... just some nerd fascinated by him more than anything! And even if the above is me trying to describe a more objective look at canon Takaya... My headcanon take, the one I write, has been shifted by dozens of interactions and years of headcanons-- I wouldn't be surprised if I'm just misremembering details.

If the new game comes out and... it turns out his entire behavior and mannerism is just an act he does for fun purely because it tricks the weak minded, I mean valid and I'll take that L, but I have to admit I can't blame fanon for taking this as his personality if its consistently his behavior whenever he's on screen. ))

[iiryebreadii]

OKAY. OKAY. finished totk. more thoughts. Everything is under a cut because 1) spoilers for the end of the game and 2) it got LONG many thoughts head full

I got all the shrines before going to fight ganondorf, and I'm sad to say they did the botw thing and made it so you can only fully upgrade either stamina OR hearts, not both. Finding the shrines was actually made much easier with the lightroots in the depths! I went around and filled out the full map underground and that let me know which shrines I had missed on the surface, and then for the sky islands I used the hero's path to see which ones I hadn't visited yet and then sifted through those until I found them all

Speaking of, THE REWARD FOR GETTING ALL THE SHRINES?? HELLO?? I can't wait to see what people say about that bit of lore cause idk WHAT is going on there. furry link real

going into the depths of the castle to find ganondorf was so nerve wracking lmao, the music did an excellent job of putting me on edge. and the little note about how the sages' powers can't reach you?? excellent, very ominous

Going back to the very beginning of the game, the corridor where you walk with zelda, but this time without her and with it covered in gloom... ough. My experience with the beginning of the game there was basically me just happy screaming about getting to walk around and talk to zelda, and that juxtaposed with the ending, where I'm getting ready to fight the demon king with ramping anxiety, OUGH very cool

my BROS came to HELP i love them. also I keep forgetting that mineru is a sage even though I use her for piggyback rides all the time

REHYDRATED GANONDORF REAL. like I know we saw him in the trailers and memories and stuff but I wasn't sure if we'd get to fight him at full strength you know? I thought they might pull a fast one on us and make the final fight against pee-paw ganon, which would have been kinda lame tbh

Ganondorf does perfect dodges too!! He gets the slow-mo!! thankfully he cannot flurry rush lol. I spent the entire first phase against him with both of use just circling each other and trading occasional blows, felt very cool

the transformation into the demon king was super cool but my favorite part might have been how the health bar just. kept going. nearly off the screen. that was equal parts awesome and hilarious

I saved a bunch of super strong weapons to fight him and what do I end up doing?? Only using the master sword. my WIFE made that sword for me I am damn well gonna use it to kill him. it just never occurred to me to try to use anything else lol. Except arrows with gibdo bones fused on, cause those things do CRAZY damage

MY MAN ATE HIS STONE. OKAY. OKAY. also I LOVE how much he looked like the calamity during his transformation, with the glow-y yellow eyes and misty body. I wonder if he has any memory of being calamity ganon? Maybe the calamity was just excess rage and malice instead of something with more intent. It was obviously intelligent, but how intelligent?

DRAGON FIGHT DRAGON FIGHT DRAGON FIGHT

MY WIFE CAME TO SAVE ME!! I LOVE HER!!! That whole part of the fight was super cinematic and fun, I got legitimately emotional when she dove in to the rescue. All that time I spent sitting on her head and flying around hyrule, who knew I was actually training for the final fight

ZELDAAAA I'm so glad I could undragon you girl I missed youuuu I missed you <3 rauru and sonia are vibing in the afterlife now, which now makes the fact that rauru passed on asap after helping link make sense, he was probably missing his wife :(

pretty wack that they gave link his normal arm back :/ I guess you could argue it got ungoopified by the shrines + the thing with Sonia and Rauru purifying dragon-zelda but it feels weird to me

I guess a counter point to that, without it we wouldn't get to parallel to the beginning with the reaching out to catch zelda. speaking of. REACHING OUT TO CATCH HER. AUGH IM NOT OK. IM NOT OK!!! literally so emotional. I thought reaching her was gonna be a cutscene but nope!! You have to dive to get to her!! makes me wonder what happens if you don't catch her.......but I would never dare experiment. that's my girl.

i am. so glad. she doesn't remember being a dragon for a billion years. hoooo that would be traumatic. I mean ya girl has trauma in spades but at least she doesn't have to deal with the memory of that part. and she was so happy that she got to see hyrule's founding!! She had her own whole adventure :) and at least a good portion of it was pleasant and filled with new friends!! good for her, good for her

post credits scene was pretty neat!! Felt nice to give mineru a little send off, not for me but for zelda. according to the stone monument things, they were pretty close and they hung out in mineru's lab a lot, so it's nice she got to have a proper goodbye to at least one of her friends from the past. And then everyone pledging to work with her to protect hyrule at the end :')

All in all I have had a STUPENDOUS time with this game, it was a fantastic sequel to a fantastic game. I'm probably gonna still play and find the rest of the sage's wills and play with the building mechanic some more, but I'll leave that for a bit later once I've had a chance to really absorb the ending!! I've got an idea for a totk PMV that I'm working on, so that might make an appearance on this blog once it's done 👀 I'm sure I'll have more thoughts later, but I think this will be my last post in this sort of style with the bullet points and such

also goodness gracious nintendo do NOT make another direct sequel these kids have gone through SO much. let zelda and link go take a nap they've earned it

[trickstercaptain-archive]

Hahahaha you’re post about kicking canon out the door had me rolling 😂😂😂

       where dmtnt jack belongs t b h

[lastoneout]

See I kinda get where this is coming from in some regards, but the inclusion of ADHD amongst the ways people are apparently "self-infantilizing" with the use of "therapy/social justice language" makes me hesitant to take anything else it's saying seriously.

It's kinda funny to see this author, at the end of the article, claim to care about disabled rights while repeating some absurdly ableist stereotypes and talking points? There is a long history of able-bodied neurotypical society infantilizing people with disabilities, and this article points that out, but STILL not only repeats that by implying that people with ADHD are idk, what? Lying? Making excuses for ourselves? Because babies have object permanence so surely we couldn't possibly actually struggle with something like that, but goes so far as to insinuate that said societal infantilization is OUR OWN FAULT somehow and/or we're weak for complaining about our symptoms.

ADHD is a disability. Literally, it is a medical condition that severely impairs one's ability to function from day to day up to the point of literally ruining lives. And one of the most common ADHD symptoms is memory problems. And it's not just "forgetting to text our friends back", though trust me that happens, it's forgetting to pay rent, forgetting to turn the stove off, losing very important things we need for work or school, not locking our door when we leave, fucking up our taxes, missing doctors appointments and medication refills, it is not "uwu I'm a child who can't remember stuff oops" it's "oh fuck the water got shut off because I forgot where I put my mail" and "I lost my job because I forgot which day my shift was for the tenth time".

And imo there's a pretty big difference between that and not having object permanence?? I mean I know people often describe ADHD memory problems as akin to a loss of object permanence but people with ADHD aren't babies. We understand that things exist when we can't see them in a way that infants don't, we just struggle to remember things if we can't see them. Like I know that my birth certificate exists, I just cannot fucking remember where it is right now. That's why it helps to take our cabinet doors off or make magnets for our fridges so we can SEE what we have to eat. Making more of our belongings visible is a legitimate way to manage our symptoms.

Tbh it's incredibly cruel to insinuate that people with ADHD are lazy or making excuses for themselves or literally stupider than a baby because of their medical condition. People with ADHD go our entire lives being told we're faking or we could remember things if we just tried harder and since we didn't we must not care and that we're lazy and stupid, there's no goddamn reason to repeat those ableist lies and pretend they're a hot take. A disabled person struggling with their medical condition is not inherently immature. Disabled people are not immature. We are adults. We have been BEGGING for YEARS to be treated like adults and it is NOT our fault that society continues to deny us that BASIC courtesy.

(And like again at the end of the article the author SAYS AS MUCH but like?? But they keep looping back around to claiming it's still our fault?? Like please explain to me how people with ADHD and disabled people giving into our own oppressors by *checks notes* talking about the very real and debilitating symptoms of our medical conditions?? This whole thing is coming so close to making a solid point but keeps switching its blame to things that are confusing at best and literally ableist at worst. I mean hell, they say being an adult is about being kind and taking care of yourself while using a common ADHD symptom as an example of a person not acting like an adult so like, are you also saying we can't be kind or take care of ourselves unless we overcome our disability?)

And that all brings us to the main problem with this article. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I could believe the author just included ADHD on a whim, or didn't mean to imply all of this, but that means they weren't thinking all that hard about what including ADHD actually MEANT or how it twisted their argument, and that makes me wonder how much they were thinking about anything else they wrote. You aboslutely need to consider what you're saying when it comes to topics like this, especially if you are later going to say you care about disability rights, and because this author didn't do that they ended up repeating a lot of ableist bullshit, intentionally or not.

As for the argument that this article really is too "simple" to get into detail about something as complex as disability and ableism, well, then it just shouldn't talk about ADHD at all. One of these things is not like the other, and if they aren't going to give it the care and consideration it deserves then they should leave these topics to the people who will.

This was an interesting article to read. I think it's a little simple but still fun to skim thru.

[saltminerising]

This probably won't get posted as the 'mins have declared that the recent Mousemod discourse has run its course, but I've been seriously peeved by the way she moderates since the whole blood "clarification" debacle and I just want to rant.

Mousemod's official title is "Community Manager," yet she doesn't seem to understand the community. Sometimes she doesn't even seem to understand the rules she sites (Once again I point to the blood "clarification" where she reworded a set of infamously vague rules and claimed it was clarifying.) and she never acknowledges the real emotions that are present when she locks a thread. Should people get so legitimately angry, hurt, frustrated, and generally heated over debates about pixel dragons? No, but they do. And shutting all of that down with a simple "this is against the rules," or even worse, deleting the thread entirely without saying a word is downright rude and honestly it's just poor moderation. It actively prolongs the issue.

I'm not talking about spam or bullying; a vast majority of Mousemod's locks have been fully respectful debates that were just deemed illegal because the team as a whole is too cowardly to let us discuss the rules in public. Now I'm fully aware that Mousemod is one team member and does not have total authority to make rules. But she is extraordinarily diligent in enforcing that rule, and always claiming that it's there to "respect the team" creates the opposite feeling. This is where people historically shut down criticism (ironically using the same shut down style as Mousemod herself) because a moderator abusing power or at the very least being overly strict on a pet sim isn't actually engaging in oppression.

You're right. Enforcing the letter of Pixel Dragon Law does not harm the livelihood or wellbeing of anyone. But she's still an authority figure and that still creates a power imbalance and regardless of whether that imbalance causes actual harm or just minor annoyance is irrelevant. It is wrong for an authority to enforce rules without accepting criticism. Contact Us is not a viable method of accepting criticism. It denies the necessary conversation required for strong, constructive criticism and has historically been proven to be as useless as a suggestion box. It is wrong for an authority to act as if plain, neutral language is a successful method of de-escalation, particularly when there was nothing to de-escalate. And no, criticism of this is not "backtalk." Backtalk doesn't exist. It is a word for ignorant misunderstanding of frustration as a challenge of one's power. No one is challenging the power of anyone on the team, we are simply asking them to be more empathetic, emotionally aware, and acknowledging of players as emotional and intelligent people.

And it is wrong for an authority to be inconsistent.

That, above everything else, is my problem with Mousemod. It was the core of the Blood Drama and it's the core of the current Ophiuchus Screenshot Drama. Many, many posts have been made on the forums and by extension, this blog, that actively harm people: posts containing "mild" transphobic and homophobic statements, ableist arguments, defenses of abuses of power, and others I'm likely forgetting about. Some of those have been removed. Many of them haven't.

And yet, with all of that existing, what Mousemod chooses to stick her nose into is a SCREENSHOT ABOUT SPAM ON A SITE SHE HAS NO POWER ON. Nowhere did anyone accuse Ophiuchus of anything other than spam, and extremely harmless spam at that. If that doesn't bother you, fine. But for me, especially after her actions in regards to the resurgence of the Blood Drama that happened this summer (which was to again restate unclear rules and claim that this was a clarification while flat-out stating that the lack of inconsistency used by the skin mods was by design), it's the cherry on top of the bad moderation milkshake. It's evident now more than ever that she thinks she's not only above the the players but is only obligated to enforce rules when and where she feels it's necessary, even if she was incorrect in said judgement. 

Go ahead, tell me to touch grass. That won't change the fact that Mousemod is not only bad at her job but she's purposefully not a part of the community she claims to manage. A problem doesn't have to be life and death to be a problem worth talking about.