#if it's more about changing someone's mind or opinion on some fundamental things it gets even more complicated i think

[toddtakefive]

btw todd’s reluctance to join the dps because he doesn’t want to read (which is then accommodated for) and is scared to put himself out there (which is also worked through) being read as todd not wanting to go AT ALL, and thus neil making the proper accommodations (“todd anderson, who prefers not to read, will keep the minutes of the meetings”) and encouraging him to step out of the box that stifles him being seen as ‘forceful’ or like he can’t take no for an answer makes me insane with rage

[jeanmoreaux]

Hey, sibling anon here. I appreciate your very thoughtful response. I agree with everything tbh. I’m also an older sister, and me and my brother do have a decent relationship compared to before (I like to believe)

But sometimes I have these little heartbreaks when it hits me that we’re not always in sync or we don’t agree on some things. And we don’t always have to! I know. It’s just that I want to make sure we’re actual friends you know. Not just that blood is all that keeps us together. Cz we are all we have, one day when our parents are gone. He’s all I’ll have.

I guess it’s me wanting to feel assured someone has my back. Because I don’t feel that, and I’m pretty much on my own and it’s nobody’s job but mine to take care of myself. It’s not fair to force it on siblings to be there either…they have their own lives to live and all.

I guess I’m just ranting nonsense here and sibling relationships are complicated and etc. as an older sister, …it would just be nice to know it’s not in vain. All the things we do for our younger sibling/s. In many ways I feel like half a mom, but I’m not a mom. Just an older sister.

i don't think you're talking nonsense!! it's valid to have these feelings and want to have a good and lasting relationship with a sibling. i really get the assurance part—sometimes you just want to know that someone is in your corner, cares about, sticks around.... you wanting your brother to be that person for you (and you for him) is not unreasonable at all. people need people. ofc you can't force anyone to be there for you, but i think you can certainly ask. maybe just being honest and open about what you wish your sibling relationship could be might bring about a desire shift. maybe your brother even feels the same. and if that's not something you want to address directly (bc it's scary and hard), i found that approaching the relationship with my brothers like a friendship can help. but even then it's hard to establish a feeling of being in sync. if you have a similar kind of humour that's already a great start (which is often the case with siblings, i feel). i also try to lean into common interests and make that a topic of conversation or a fun activity (like a movie/tv show night, a trip to somewhere, etc.). i am sure (or, well, i hope) you also share some history of fun things you did together as kids that can help you connect (sometimes that ties into the shared interests). keeping relationships of any kind alive is very hard and requires work, and you can't do that work alone. it's a team effort.

[gentleralts]

not to be a downer but while i agree with the sentiment of what the "death note AU where hbomberguy solves the kira case while investigating light yagami for something unrelated to the murders" post is trying to go for, it gets a bunch of stuff fundamentally wrong about light as a character and of how the death note itself works, and as a noted Light Yagami Hater™ i feel like i should set things straight here:

light was top of his class in high school and got into one of the most prestigious universities in his region. he does his research pretty thoroughly and would not even consider plagiarizing anything, especially with how unreliable it would make you look if you got caught. this "light would probably be a plagiarist if he was a youtuber" bit seems like it's there just because the james sommerton video is so fresh in our minds; if that post was drafted like a year ago there'd probably be a bit in there instead about light straight up lying about his accomplishments and how his mother is very proud

"light would have unhinged right-wing political takes if he was on youtube" there's a pretty significant possibility that he would, although not intentionally. light would brand himself as more of a center-left intellectual debater type and gets popular going up against people who are so right-wing that his points seem progressive by comparison (on top of him being conventionally attractive), and that would make stuff like his misogyny and pro-cop stances and "there are some types of people the world would be better off without" sentiments stand out when comparing him to more leftist youtubers. hbomb's initial investigation into light likely started out with the thesis of "light yagami can get away with saying shit like this because he's an extremely fuckable twink"

the thing about that post that stood out to me as its most egregious mistake though was the insistence of legal names being the ones you need to kill someone with the note. you've probably seen joke posts going around before like "if you write a trans person's deadname into the death note it kills you instead," and that's built upon one of the rules of the death note:

[id: The names you see with the eye power of a god of death are the names needed to kill that person. You will be able to see the names even if that person isn't registered in the family registration.]

a name doesn't have to be legally registered for it to work, and a legal name might not even work in some cases. granted a change of a legal name could still be a viable defensive strategy to throw off someone trying to research what your name is, but outright saying "i've legally changed my name to something you won't be able to find out so you can't kill me" will not protect you from the death note at all.

in my opinion, i believe the point in which hbomb spots the thread leading to his conclusion of light yagami being behind the kira murders is around the end of the yotsuba arc. he'd be able to intuit the first, second, and third kiras being separate entities by the types of people they kill, and the situation of "this guy i've been looking into has dropped off the face of the internet for like two months and the kira murders are suddenly different" would probably be too interesting of coincidence for him to ignore

[derpydoteddrake]

Viktor is under some kind of influence, but at first glance it's hard to tell the exact nature of it.

But I believe its more simple than one would think.

The core is basically jingling keys in front of him and telling him to look at them.

But I believe its more simple than one would think.

The core is basically jingling keys in front of him and telling him to look at them.

Firstly, why is the sky hallucination sus? could it just be his own mind?

Her guiding him to her book and later showing up next to the shimmer addict could be explained as just his conscious.

However, he also woke up to her screams and it was her voice that guided him to the addicts, both things go beyond what could manifest only from his own perception of things.

Not only that, this is the exact place where he later cocoons himself again. So it's no accident he ended up here.

It's also good to note how Viktors saw her differently then how she was, he sees him as a more idolised version of herself, which is als a good indication that she is not real.

But then in act 2 she appeals completely harmless, she doesn't push him into anything, and it looks like she offers some sense of emotional support.

And that's the point, it's feeding into viktors weaknesses as a person, all it needs to do, is give him the illusion of company, and keep him in his head.

Viktor was always a loner, but he also seeked out second opinions and he was in fact very lonely and wished for company.

This is exactly what the core is giving him the illusion of. A second opinion and company.

By herself “sky” does not offer any new information to viktor, she is either stathing things he is already aware of, things viktor thinks she would say, or reassures him.

“She liked me, she would be concerned about me!”

“I remember telling her that once!”

“She was caring, she would be upset at someone's death!”

In fact, it might even try to distract him from the important things, we don't see a lot of it, but the moment Viktor starts to wonder what's up with Jayce, she attempts to move his thoughts elsewhere from thinking about what is wrong with him.

Viktors perception of the world is fundamentally changed, this is already pretty isolating but now he has a mind buddy! He's Not alone anymore, there's someone who talks to him, who cares about him, who he can share ideas with,

someone who loves him.

I'm going to concede, I do think their relationship has a romantic undertone, if for nothing else it's because viktors perception of sky is pretty heavily defined by her love letters to him.

Regardless of your reading (how much do you think he reciprocates that), it is giving him the company he wished for.

Why is that bad?

It's because it keeps him docile, and so far up his own 4ss that he doesn't realise how messed up what he is actually doing is. He is stuck with his own regurgitated thoughts.

The only thing he ever gets is reassurance that what he is doing is in fact good, he doesn't have an outside perspective on what's happening with him or around him.

He doesn't have the head space to self reflect cuz something always chimes in, always keeps him thinking, solving problems, solving puzzles.

We never once saw him actively trying to talk to any of his followers, the only people who he does are not affected by him, and come to him directly, he didn't even bother seeking out Jayce himself.

The only way he communicates with them is when he wants to do his creepy puppet thing and if the only thing left in his followers head is gratitude towards him and he never examines what it did to them as people, no wonder he doesn't notice a thing.

He just unquestionably spreads the core's influence.

No wonder the first awful idea anyone gave him in who knows how long that isn't his own stuck with him.

He always had a tendency to get sucked into his work and dont bother with people (ironically that is one of the reasons sky got dusted) and don't bother with anything else, and now the conditions are orchestrated for this to basically keep him in his own head.

He doesn't really care about his followers either, he watched one of them get smashed and didn't give a damn.

He doesn't care for them as people, they are more akin to problems he can solve and move on. He was barely even bothered about Jayce's condition, probably assuming he will come to him and he can fix him right away.

We can see this in his visions of how he conceptualizes himself, he looks very human, and yet he got these unsettling yellow eyes. He is blind to the ways he changed, just look at how he acts in them.

At first glance he appears a lot more emotive and it also tells us that he is fairly enjoying himself and his new perception of the world but also the main thing we see of him is his endless curiosity about things, not his empathy towards them.

He is well meaning of course, but he doesn't/cant reflect enough to see what he is really doing. Namely taking away the things he saw in these people, their dreams.

And he constantly has problems to solve, we saw how many people went to him, he always has something to think about, and he always has someone to talk to about it without needing to waste precious time on seeking out a second opinion.

In s1 he barely reacted to the beginning of a civil war going around him, now people depend on him and in the middle of a civil war he doesn't have any way of protecting these people.

He barely gives a damn about him slowly deteriorating. He doesn't live in reality anymore. He cannot see the forest for the trees. (though he might have had some plans we don't know of, since Salo was gathering materials for him.)

And his guilt just amplifies this.

From s1 one of his strongest traits was how much he believed if he gets the right tools, and the opportunity, he can help people.

“Do you think my life ambition is to be an assistant?”

“If you are going to change the world don't ask for permission.”

“All I did was believe in myself.”

This is what skys death puts into question.

This is why he almost jumped afterwards, this fundamental belief in himself was put into question. He got the chance to do what he wanted and someone died.

This is where his guilt comes into play, he isn't making his own dream a reality, we saw that what he really wanted is to give people tools that they can use to create, but that's not what he is doing.

He is doing what he believes Skye's dream was.

It doesn't even look like he invents things anymore, he just mostly uses his powers and studies botanics. (tho we saw Salo steal some stuff for him so he might have some plans that we don't know yet?)

This is even the context he brought her up to jayce: she had such dreams.

From her notes we can assume she hoped to help make a zaun that is cleaner and more connected to nature.

This is the reason why he is so receptive to skyes positive affirmation, its because in his head he is correcting his wrong, her affirmation and forgiveness gave him back the belief that he can still do good.

Now he has the right tools and the opportunity to do it, so he won't fail again.

He is literally wearing her symbol on his clothes.

He is doing this out of some kind of repentance for his sins.

So the way he sees it: he is helping these people, who on they own free will just happen to stay here cuz its nice and he conveniently can puppet them if needed, he doesn't question that cuz he never bothers to talk to them and skys happy and she talks to him so why bother when no one sees the world like he does.

What he doesn't realise is that he is pretty much meant to die there.

There's a reason why his palace was builded here, he literally got told to build it there. It was there so he could die and cocoon himself again.

When he first saw jayce and encountered the singularity, he was literally describing himself.

“self annihilating and replicating” That's him, this entity is connected to him, he is meant to die and be reborn over and over again. He might not completely embody it yet, but he is a product of it. (and he will probably gonna try to harness it, that's what the beginning of ep 6 set up.)

I don't think he expected jayce to shoot him, when he saw what he was going to do he looked pretty shocked, but he was intentionally kept docile by the core basically guaranteeing that even actually he will die out.

And then he had the audacity to conclude it must have happened cuz people just suck.

He tried nothing to prevent this and he is already out of options.

To his defense he was probably really lost in the sauce at this point.

This is also why he was making his following, he was supposed to draw power from them after he dies so he can be reborn again.

This also means that singed and ambessa are probably interfering with this process.

It would explain why he looks so wrong in the poster.

In conclusion, the core keeps Viktor in a mind state where he is docile enough not to question what's happening around him using his already existing flaws against him in order to spread itself.

One last thing I would like to add is that I don't think this will be his final transformation, I believe the final one will either happen at the top of the hex gate or at the bottom of it.

[synthetickitsune]

svt + helping you through a break up // gn!reader

S.Coups ❧ Find him right after it happens. Your feet will carry you to his apartment without you thinking about it. You're both surprised when he opens the door. His first Instinct is to protect. What happened? Who hurt you? He’s ready to run out and fight. Nobody makes his people sad, angry, comfortable - whatever you’re feeling - without consequence. Then again, as much as he would like to solve the situation and make it better, he can’t. So he stays with you. He brings you water and something to eat. He instructs you to breathe, teaching you the breathing exercise he often does. He offers you his hoodie that smells like him - in case you want to steal it. Again. He hopes you will, it always made you so smug and happy. He’s in full damage control mode. He only gets out the most basic information out of you - did they at least treat you decently? Did you fight? There’s so many variables that he settles for matching your energy in the end. He makes you stay at his. He doesn’t want you to be alone. Through the day he lists all the reasons why he likes you, why his members like you. He won't allow someone stupid enough not to appreciate you to bring you down. Even if the breakup was a peaceful one, he wants to make sure you know to take your time. Get used to it and don’t rush, feelings are fickle things and it may just hit you hard later. He watches over you, asks his friends what to do when he’s lost. It’s a pretty big change, but Cheol helps you navigate through the worst of it.

Jeonghan ❧ Find him when it happens before it actually happens. When the bad days start to outnumber the good ones, when you start to have doubts and your heart aches. Jeonghan respects you. He knows this is a sensitive issue and that you need his support so he makes sure you don't see when he clenches his jaw and grits his teeth. Sometimes because your partner is an asshole, sometimes because you're so stupid it's driving him crazy, and sometimes because he knows. He has a knack for being right and being able to look at the bigger picture. He realizes where things are headed before you do but he doesn't mention anything, lets you figure it out on your own. He’d love to be wrong, but he seldom is. Who's feelings changed first? You don't know. When you realize things can’t be fixed, he rubs your back as you cry it out. He squeezes your shoulder and gives you a tight smile whenever you come over, sigh and tell him the latest updates. He doesn’t suggest for you to just do it already, knows you must be already feeling stretched too thin and exhausted. Though he provides his opinion when you ask for it. There’s a gentleness in his voice that doesn’t set off an outburst. He reminds you your feelings are valid when you realize you’re over it before it’s even official. He reminds you not to feel guilty. When the breakup happens, he waits for you with open arms. It’s been over for a long time for you. Even if you feel a sense of freedom, there are some nasty feelings plaquing your mind. He helps to chase them away.

Joshua ❧ Find him when you don’t know what to do. Change is hard and confusing. More so when something that felt so fundamental, something so intimate, is the subject of it. Joshua knows what happened when you show up, shoulders drooped and hands flailing as you try to explain without breaking down. He invites you in with a sympathetic smile. He sits you down on his couch and asks whether you feel tired. He brings you a blanket and lets you sleep because sometimes that’s the only thing that helps take the edge off. He’ll guide you so even if you let go for a bit, bouncing back will be easier. He makes you a cup of tea and forces the cup into your hands once it's not too hot. He sits close to you but doesn't initiate any physical contact without your request or permission. He listens intently if you want to talk, asking questions at the right time so that he understands better, and to be honest - it helps you put things into perspective as well. If you don't want to talk, he puts on your comfort show and reminds you where to find the shower, where you can find some clothes to borrow, and informs you that you will be staying the night - unless you want to be alone. And even then only if you promise to always answer his texts and calls. He takes control. He monitors you and reacts to your changing mood with endless patience. He keeps his voice calm and not too loud. He reassures you he’s right here if you need anything. It's easy to trust him if he never broke his promise.

Jun ❧ Find him when you need to be distracted. He won’t treat you any different. It's unsettling at first but most wonderful after getting used to it. Your life’s still there; it's not like everything changed. Call Jun and ask him if he's free, and find yourself at an arcade, a mall, a coffee shop... He jokes around you like he's always done. He doesn’t once ask or mention your ex like the relationship never happened. He pays attention, he always does, but it's different now. He doesn't comment on it if you suddenly space out. He hands you a tissue when you break down unexpectedly and shields you with his body so the passersby can’t see you. He doesn't comment on it once you calm down, he only asks ready? like you were just tying your shoe. It’s reassuring in its own way and after being grilled by your friends, your family, and living and dealing with the aftermath of the breakup, it feels great to just be yourself. He makes you the center of his attention and it's so obvious he doesn't care about anything but you when you speak. He's not holding back on the bickering and teasing. When you're playing games he pokes your side to make you jump and lose focus - and lose. It's the best day you’ve had in a while and you’re smiling. He hugs you and coos at you as you smile through tears when he walks you home. He offers to stay over, tells you to imagine you’re just kids again having a sleepover with your best friend. You eat too many snacks and stay up ridiculously late but you finally feel like yourself for a while.

Hoshi ❧ Find him when you need cheering up. He wants to cry with you - he does - but you’re sad and neither of you wants that. That person isn't worth it. So he dries your tears and he makes it his mission to make you happy again. He knows his sparkling eyes, his tiger claws so gingerly bent into a horanghae, nor his cute act will be enough but he won’t give up. Not on you, never. He knows there's security in familiarity so he takes you to your spots. The one cafe where he once spilled both your drinks on you. He takes a photo of you right there; dry and holding the same drinks. You complain about the weird looks the barista kept throwing your way. He's ready to fight them if they ruined your day, he'll have you know. It won't be necessary, though, because you say so and you smile. He gets nostalgic, reminiscing about the good ol’ times you’ve had and sharing episodes about the members. It's impossible not to smile. He gives you space to talk but he understands you might not want to - and it's fine! He can talk enough for both of you. He links your arms together on the street. He just wants to show support, doesn't want to lose you when the streets get crowded. But it works. He drags you with him and he sees you smile back every time he turns to you. How could you not? He takes pictures of you two together to replace certain other pictures - the only reference to your ex that he sheepishly makes. He’s glad to see the progress. He tears up when in the last pic the smile reaches your eyes.

Wonwoo ❧ Find him when you can’t be alone. Curl in the corner of his sofa, he’ll throw a blanket over you, tuck you in and bring you tea. He’ll give you the tv remote and let you watch anything you want if that’s what you want to do, but he’s fine with you just scrolling on your phone or watching something on your own. He’ll read closeby, within arm’s reach. He’ll let you sit next to him and rest your head on his shoulder if that will make you feel safe. He’ll listen to you or he’ll try to fill the silence with his voice. He’s not that good at it but he’ll try. You trusted him enough to come to him, explained in a meek voice that you just can’t be alone and he was the first person to come to mind. He won’t let you down. Checking up on you from the corner of his eye once in a while, he hopes this is enough. That it’s enough for him to just exist in the same space, both of you doing your own thing. He’s happy like that. Comfortable. You always said you felt the same, is it still true? When you ask him if he wants to go for a walk, he agrees. He wonders whether the air of his home feels too suffocating for you. But as you walk, he sees you swing your arms, your shoulders relaxed. You seem so much better than when you came by, tense and anxious. You turn your head and thank him. He doesn’t feel like he did much, but to you he feels like a safe harbor.

Woozi ❧ Find him when you need someone to understand. He insists he's not good at these things. Feelings are hard, so when you come to him particularly vulnerable and emotional, he's out of his depth. He knows you need support, though, and you need it now. He does the only thing he can think of - the only thing he's somewhat confident might work: he takes you to his studio. Once there, he lets you sit in his chair because he knows that alone will make you crack a teasing remark and smile, if only for a second. He asks for your preference - are you angry? Sad? Numb? He's got playlists worthy stash of wips that he can show you. When instrumentals are not enough, he sings for you. You've never seen him more nervous. It’s endearing, and you appreciate that he makes himself as vulnerable as you feel. You wonder about the songs he’s made. He's got the feelings down close enough. Just a liiiittle bit more and it's gonna be perfect. You tell him and he jumps at a chance because you’re finally talking and he wants to help. You go over the lyrics and as you do, you get more in touch with yourself. You're not the most eloquent when it comes to expressing how you feel but Jihoon is naturally gifted in the area and he honed his skills to near perfection. With each line he creates based on your feelings, you cry because that’s it. He’s too awkward to do more than pat your back. You might still be a mess, but you feel comforted knowing someone gets it.

The8 ❧ Find him when you’re ready to process things. Nothing's ever easy and you're hurting. He hates it and as much as he's a good listener, he wants to help; to solve the problem and have you back. He gives you your favorite cup and brews tea to go with the heaviness of the situation. He has you meditate with him before you say a word and he needs it as much as you do. Because he's your friend. And friends sometimes need some tough love. The breakup left some things unresolved, things you keep thinking about that you can't imagine talking about with your ex so he tries to help. If something seems like your fault, though, he'll tell you. He feels bad about it, tries to be gentle. Being the one in the wrong hurts and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth but you can take responsibility. He talks with you for hours, going through the pieces left behind that linger in your mind. He keeps moving closer as the hour gets late and your speech gets more fragmented and you need to take pauses. You need this but it brings back all the memories. He's not affectionate all that often but maybe that's why the hug he gives you feels so comforting. He lets you lean on him as you served the tea in your cup and tell him the things that really hurt or that just stick to you so you carry them around without having anywhere to put them down. He listens and shares his opinions without forcing them upon you like some of your other friends. When you wake up on his couch the next day, it feels like you really started a new chapter.

Mingyu ❧ Find him when you need a shoulder to cry on. He's heard the wobbliness of your voice, the unspoken announcement. He doesn't ask when you arrive at his place. He's got it all ready. Every pillow he owns is piled on his couch, he has blankets, fairylights. The table holds all kinds of drinks and snacks and he tells you where to find ice cream if you want to go the stereotypical route. His effort is enough to make you break down and he's almost carrying you to the couch, holding you and patting your hair. He's fighting tears himself because he can't stand seeing you in so much pain. He'll sit next to you and rub your back or he’ll lie down with you and hold you if you’d prefer. He lets you lead, lets you guide him through what's allowed and desired and what's not. He lets you do the talking, get it all out, cry until you have no tears left. He's got a dozen tissue boxes ready, and when you apologize for ruining his shirt, he grins. It's the shirt he usually wears while cooking. It's meant to get dirty - it doesn't matter if it's batter or snot. He feels proud when you smile. Once it's all out of your system, he takes his role as your emotional support even more seriously. You talk about whatever comes to mind and you're free to use him as a teddy bear if that's what you need. He puts on a romcom and you laugh at how stupid it is. You cry again when the leads get a happy ending but he's there to hold you and cry with you. Only so you don't feel ashamed afterwards, of course.

DK ❧ Find him when you need to forget. You beg him to help, to go out with you, but he won’t. He absolutely won’t because that’s not a good idea and it’s definitely not safe. And safe is what he needs you to be so instead he invites you over. It’s a hard sell but he succeeds eventually, if only because of your fondness for him. And he’s prepared. He has the karaoke ready. He has the worst movies known to mankind all set up so you can channel your emotions at something. He has drinks that only seem alcoholic but illusion is good enough. He won’t have you clouding your judgment and emotions more. It hurts enough to see you so lost and overwhelmed. And the illusion is enough. Seokmin will pretend to be drunk with you. He’ll scream his heart out singing with you, he’ll yell and throw popcorn at the screen at every stupid, nonsensical thing that happens. More than that though, he’ll challenge you to an infinite game of monopoly because it turns out that thing is impossible to finish when it’s just between the two of you but it’s fine because you’re so focused on beating his ass that it’s very obviously the only thing on your mind. And he’s glad. He gets too into it too and it’s chaos. A lovely chaos. You end up sleeping over and you’re sulking because you didn’t win. (Neither did he.) As you say your good nights, though, you hug him and hold him for a few seconds. It’s nice to feel normal again. It’s an illusion, like the drunken high, but it’s enough. This is what you want to get back. And you’ll fight for it like you fought in monopoly.

Seungkwan ❧ Find him when you need a safety net. He's there to catch you. You've seen each other at your best and at your worst. He'd never judge you but he'll also step in and be honest if he needs to. He's just there. The first few days after it happened he’s calling you if you don't answer his text within an hour. Tell him you just can't be alone and he'll be at your door with food and drinks and the latest gossip to take your mind off things. You'll let him in on the drama happening between your friends too. He tucks you in when you get tired. If there are unpleasant calls to be made, he offers to hold your hand through them. It seems childish but it works. You feel better with him by your side. At least someone seems to have your back. At the same time, don't try anything as stupid as calling your ex on his watch. It doesn't matter if you miss them and don't care about your pride or if you've agreed to stay friends and you just want to talk. He stresses the importance of taking your time to deal with it and letting things settle. You might fight because of it but you know he's right. He doesn't leave. He knows he's also a handful when emotions get the best of him. He knows the ups and downs. He laughs when you laugh and cries when you cry. You talk shit about your exes and swear and promise to never betray each other. It's a process, getting over it. It reminds you too much of actually moving. You pack and unpack things - and Seungkwan’s always there to help.

Vernon ❧ Find him when you’re angry. When anger burns inside your veins and threatens to burn you whole. Vernon doesn't quite know how to deal with it and he's awkward with feelings. He hates seeing you this out of control but if he knows one thing, it’s that feelings shouldn't be repressed. Especially not ones as destructive as anger. He won’t have anything happening to you. When it’s not enough to let you rant and pace around his apartment, he'll take you to one of those rage rooms. Maybe he’ll smash a thing or two but for the most part he'll hype you up. You're a raging wildfire and he's the gasoline. He’ll scream with you, he'll howl when you smash the already broken pieces into dust. He'll agree with your angry vents. He'll feed into your anger so you can get it all out and then some. Your body can only spend so much energy, though. When you can no longer swing the bat in your hands, you leave and he takes you straight for some food. Diets be damned - you're both getting exactly what you crave. He takes you home before your mood can do a nosedive straight into a bottomless pit of despair. He stays, awkwardly patting your back as you cry. That's life - you win some, you lose some, but you'll be happy again. He doesn't leave until he's sure you'll be okay, be it the same day or the next. It must’ve been exhausting but he waves you off when you try to apologize. That’s what friends are for - things are gonna be fine. You believe it when he’s the one saying it.

Dino ❧ Find him when you need an older brother. Chan is always there for you and the second you show up at his doorstep and your facade crumbless once the we broke up leaves your lips, he's pulling you into a tight hug and into his home. He doesn't pry unless you wanna share but he cracks jokes at your now-ex’s expense. He rants about the things he's never liked about them. He's ready to be fiercely protective should they appear and ask about you. He insists on it even if you tell him time and time again it's not that dramatic. It's cute, though, and some part of you appreciates it. The whole ordeal feels kind of uprooting so you’re grateful when he reminds you that his home is yours too. There's so many things to solve. It's scary. Chan is painfully aware of this and promises to help as much as he can. He can be there when it’s time to pick up things, even if the only thing he can do is to stay in the car as a support should anything happen. If you want, he’ll go through each of your concerns and listen to your worried ramblings before talking to you calmly, offering his perspective not clouded by emotions even if it's anything but. He’ll curse your ex with every second breath if humor’s what's gonna help, or he'll just silently keep his hand on your knee or an arm around your shoulders. His friends are yours, you can always be surrounded by people. You’re not alone. He’ll always be there for you. He loves you, and he protects the people he loves.

[niuttuc]

What are your opinions on the Commander bans?

(Putting this out of the blue, this will be about the fast mana. Nadu also got banned, but Nadu doesn't really matter here. It's good that he's gone, though it doesn't make a ton of difference considering people already identified him as a broken card and pushed it away. Also this post became long but there's a TL;DR at the end if you want.

And for context if someone somehow missed the announcement this week: Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus and Dockside Extortionist were just banned in Commander. A bunch of controversy has ensued.)

Alright, tackling this can of worms. It will be a long one. Well, I have very positive thoughts about the bannings themselves, they can only be positive for the gameplay end, my only slight bad feeling personally is that I've traded my mana crypt (I wasn't playing with it) to someone I know three or four months back and I feel bad for them, but they found a home for it in a cube, so it stays being played.

I have generally believed fast mana makes for worse games, and I have for years removed my Sol Rings from my decks, didn't play my mana crypt even after I opened it, and never tried to even obtain a dockside even when I knew it could be a great card in several of my decks. I am plenty surprised at the announcement that seemed to come out of the blue after so long of no changes, especially since these cards have been issues in the way the ban announcement describes for years at this point. But at some point the band-aid needs to be ripped off. I also understand why Sol Ring isn't banned, even if I believe the format's gameplay would be better if it didn't exist in it. There are more factors at play here, and most people, particularly casual people, would want to keep it in their decks than have it banned, and that's more important. I'll just keep not putting it in mine.

I've seen some people claim that it would negatively impact cEDH metagame. Now, I do not play cEDH so feel free to disregard my opinion on this if you do and think I'm completely off-base. But my understanding of cEDH is NOT that it's a healthy metagame or an actually good competitive environment. The rules of the format are designed to make commander awful to compete in. And the banlist has, from its inception, explicitly not been aimed at regulating a balanced competitive format. This is also why, in my mind, the idea of splitting cEDH and Commander into separate banlists and formats is a nonstarter. As I'll get to later, there are already separations like that, the only thing that'd change is that there would be a new niche format, and actual competitive commander using Commander's rules would keep on, because using Commander's rules is the point of it.

cEDH comes from the will to take the rules as they are, NOT meant for this, and see what happens when you push them to the extreme. cEDH's meta as far as I can tell is basically just a bunch of flavors of combo decks pitted against each other, with a handful of hyper-targeted combo-killers in the meta too. This is reminiscent of combo winter, widely regarded as one of the least healthy metagames of all time, but stretched to years and years.

There are certainly people that will appeal to, since it's not actually about a healthy metagame and more about tiny optimizations and ultra-tight piloting and navigating a pod. But this also means a banning doesn't change the fundamental nature of all this, nor should it take it into account. If someone wanted an actual singleton competitive experience designed for a more healthy and balanced metagame, they could look at Duel Commander, now officially supported on MTGO and that walks back many of the uncompetitive rules changes of Commander to allow it, or even Highlander formats of all kinds, designed for the ground up for a diverse and balanced but powerful competitive experience.

Now, with that aside, the main complaints I've seen about the bannings have overwhelmingly been along the lines of "I lost money so this decision sucks", either outright or behind a thin veil. While it does suck that people lost money, the monetary value of a card cannot shield it from banning if it's egregious. The next argument, then is that there should have been more of a warning that the RC was looking at those cards and considering banning them. But for how long? And for what purpose? Relatively few actually read what the RC writes, particularly when there are no changes, and thus far it hadn't resulted in actual changes in years. And if the warning was stronger, what would be the result? People in the know selling their cards in advance to people who aren't so they aren't the ones left holding the bag? That just pushes the problem away to different people. If the price goes down by half, it doesn't matter if it's over the course of three months or two days, someone is "losing" that money somewhere.

And yes, a banning cut the price of those cards in a bunch, but so do reprintings. If the cards were reprinted regularly, and not at mythic in masters sets, they'd not climb this high to have so much to lose. If they were a positive on the format, reprints would even be welcome by all, allowing more people into the format. WotC is the one handling that end of things, and they see more profit in starving players than in overflooding a market.

I've also occasionally seen the argument that "they shouldn't have banned Jeweled Lotus because Jeweled Lotus was made for Commander and only works in Commander and now there's nothing to do with it (meme Legacy deck aside.)" It is true that Jeweled Lotus is now essentially a blank piece of cardboard. But if it is such an issue in the ONE FORMAT IT WAS MADE FOR, then that isn't a reason to just ignore it and carry on. That's a reason that WotC shouldn't have made the card in the first place, yes, since the result is the same except a lot of players got burned. It's not like Jeweled Lotus being an issue was a surprise, there was plenty of commentary on that end when it was revealed, and the most optimistic ones on the impact on the format were along the lines of "I don't know how this could make the format better, but maybe it doesn't make it worse."

With all of that, I must add and condemn people who used this as a pretext to attack individuals, most prominently members of the Rules Committee and Commander Advisory Group (the latter of which had no idea this was coming), or more generally people trying to support the ban, and probably some directed at people protesting it too, though I've seen less in the way of very public examples of the latter. Emotions runs hot, the knee-jerk reaction to change is already negative and it's even worse if you feel like you've lost money, but that's no excuse for the kinds of insults, threats and other name-calling that has occurred in startling amounts over the past week. Only a tiny percentage got there, but any amount is too much.

I believe that the negative reactions (the regular ones, not the actively harmful ones), as loud as they are, only represent a small portion of the overall community. The people discussing Magic: The Gathering on the internet are, overall, a small fraction of the playerbase, and tend to be way more into the game than the average player. As such, they're also way more likely to have obtained some of these expensive cards that were banned, and therefore to feel affected by these bans, both monetarily and by needing to remove the cards from their decks. To further that, negative comments are much more likely to get posted (and to linger days later, and keep being posted), than positive ones, or people that don't care enough to post their thoughts to begin with. So even if you see a lot of negativity on this ban in places, I believe it to be the product of a loud minority.

I've also seen people arguing that since Commander is a casual format, it doesn't need a banlist at all and they'll just ignore this one. That's true! If it works for you, that's great, that's the format working as intended! But many people don't have the luxury to curate a personal experience with a specific group, or don't have the time and knowledge to do so. For those, the official banlist provides a good base, and now that base states that stuff that makes a ton of mana early is usually makes for worse games.

TL;DR:

I like the bans on a gameplay perspective, the announcement was out of the blue but the band-aid needed to be ripped off, cEDH will be fine because that's what it was made for, sorry if you lost money on this, but it shouldn't be more important than the health of the entire format, the people shouting loudly are likely a minority, and the people attacking others over it a small minority within that one, but don't be a part of that select group. A banlist is good and one that actually tries to fix things instead of claiming the issues are smaller than they are is also something positive.

[baku-usagi]

I made a post the other a few months back about how nice it is to have a character who wants marriage but doesn't want children via gale and I just want to add on to that because I see so many people who draw him as a dad and it gave me a visceral reaction.. I'd never like comment on their stuff because like people are allowed to make their happy endings be whatever they want obviously but I think it bothers me so much because, (and this is really really rampant in the bg3 community worse then in any other Fandom I'm in)

People really don't like these characters a lot of the time? And it shows really poignantly when they see a character have an opinion they don't like and go "he doesn't mean that lol it's just cause he's afraid he wouldn't be a good parent and We know he would"

But would he? Why does him being a good, kind, loving and warm person immediately mean he'd be a good parent?

People project these weird fantasies onto the characters that just absolutely throw in the trash the way the characters are actually written and what makes them so beautiful.

A better example is with astarion, there has been like a billion tiktok videos unpacking it but it's also some thing me and my sister have talked about a lot.

I'd say like 60%, if not more, of the people who claim to be astarion fans think that ascending him his morally good and project this weird dark romance book bad boy persona onto him. Or rather, they literally never see him for more then the facade he puts up.

Those specific Astarion fans hear the line 'I don't know If I want anyone to see me in a sexual way" and plug their ears because that ruins the hot sexed up fuck me vampire they want him to be.

And it, as silly as I know This is, genuinely triggers me to see it.

Again people can enjoy their Fandom, I just scroll on by im not gonna moral police Someones fun but it's like, so very sad to me to see these characters stripped of their personalities and be so fundamentally misunderstood.

Anyway back to the point specifically, seeing people envisioning him as a dad or with children and with their pregnant characters feels like a weird kind of disrespect to me. He uses dialog that is often used by people who don't want kids when explaining that feeling.. And as someone who doesn't want kids I think it makes me feel like a level of my own personal Choice is being stomped.

People who draw gale with kids even tho he has said he didn't want to be A father feels too close to home for me with people telling me I'll change my mind about not wanting kids and I'll get over it.

Anyway tldr I'm just being a piss baby that fans make gale a have kids💁

[pongnosis]

How does Alex view Sagitta and how does Sagitta view Alex? I kind of get loose older brother/younger brother vibes from them. How would their relationship evolve as Alex gets older and takes over Scorpia?

(under a read-more for rambling)

To Alex, Sagitta provides a bit of humanity in his life that he finds himself increasingly missing as he grows into his future role. They're not good people, but they're good to him, and that matters a lot. To younger Alex, they definitely fill a role of sort-of older brothers. He doesn't have to worry about politics from them and they're protective in a way that no one else around him is. Yassen is focused on Alex's future survival (which is rarely a kind place to be), Jack doesn't have the influence to shield him, and Dr Three is ... well. Dr Three.

To Sagitta, Alex is a part of the team and often a younger brother more than a commanding officer. Less experienced than the rest of them, with some holes in his training to patch up, but fundamentally one of them. They trust him, know he has their back, and that's priceless for someone in their world. Sure, he's technically their superior - and all the more so as he grows up - but Alex listens to them, and he's learned more from them than he has from a lot of his official instructors.

It's a dynamic that changes with Alex's promotion to Head of SCORPIA, but never to the extent that Alex stops having a soft spot for them. Alex at twenty-five gives orders and can expect to have them obeyed, but the original members of Sagitta are some of the few people who can tell Orion no and actually have him stop and listen (he might still go through with whatever they disagree with, but he will listen and consider their opinion, because he also trusts that they have his best interests in mind). Sagitta respects Alex as the Head, but they also remember the fifteen-year-old kid they originally met and that makes him human to them in a way he isn't to just about anyone else. In a very real way, they grew up together. Sagitta grew with their new position and responsibilities, and Alex with his training. They were there when he struggled with his orders, when he was furious with Yassen, through nightmares and awful choices and everything he had to give up to have a chance to keep control of SCORPIA. They've killed for him so he wouldn't have to, fudged reports to give him a breather when he needed it, and handled potentially-disastrous situations in his name when he had too much to juggle already. They're ultimately responsible for his security and continued survival, and Alex trusts them absolutely. That's a rare thing for someone in his position, and while the trust carries over to the security teams that eventually take over after Sagitta, there will never be the same foundation of humanity and growing up together.

[britneyshakespeare]

Had the extremely upsetting experience of a mutual of like 6 years going off on me for occasionally making posts about supporting Harris because apparently that makes me a g n cide denier who refuses to learn and grow, with all of my views just being assumed not even from what I've told them I believe or what I've posted before, but just because I DON'T post particularly the kind of things they THINK I should be. When I pointed out how much they were just completely assuming about stuff I'd never talked to them about, I was told it doesn't matter what I do in real life or "care" about if I simply disagree with their conclusion and vote for her anyway. Like they were absolutely not sorry for the level of maliciousness they not just assumed of my character, but for some reason thought appropriate to bring directly to me before unfollowing me. No apology whatsoever for how discomforting or upsetting that might be and certainly no acknowledgment that I could disagree with them and still be a good person. I just got another even longer rant about how they fundamentally can't fuck with me because of this one thing, no matter WHAT else I do in my real life (which I pointed out that they do not know), and how I'm directly supporting fascism.

Like seriously what is it about Tumblr that makes people think they know someone based off of occasional posts? There were just such DEEP assumptions they were making of me and going off of very little or absolutely nothing. Around the time I first became mutuals with that person I used to express my personality and beliefs and talk about what was going on in my life a lot more openly, but I've significantly scaled back on doing that in many ways for many reasons. One of my major ones is privacy and the way I've had strangers outside my followers and following circles just find random things I say and dogpile me for it. I was fundamentally changed after some T Fs did that to me like 3 years ago. I also just didn't have many conversations w that person anymore (I message people in general on here like 10x less than I did circa 2018-2019, which I'm somewhat sorry about!). My point is to say I think this person felt comfortable assuming that they knew me, especially who I am in 2024 at the age of 25, much better than they actually did.

One of the specific things they accused me of was being afraid of learning and growing (because I don't perform social media activism on here like they think I should). Like AFRAID to take criticism. When again I've never received criticism from them or had to respond to any criticism on here before as pertaining to my views on... well, absolutely any of the issues they accused me of not caring about. They essentially treated it as if the only thing in the world I cared about was the US election and characterized me as the most out-of-touch liberal they could possibly imagine, because I'm not "pushing" Kamala Harris to be better (Oh?? Should I do that on here?? Does she read my blog??).

And most hypocritically what they said was that I only *sometimes* *vaguely* post pro-Harris things (I often post like 5 or fewer things in a day though?). But here's the kicker. "Because I know I'll get shit for it. And rightfully so."

Really????? Not a single person, anon or not, in my messages or in a tagged post or anything, has ever given me shit before for saying who I'm voting for. I'm actually NOT afraid of "getting shit" for that opinion, I just don't start fights with people who are anti-voting. And why should I??? I genuinely don't believe in trying to change the minds of strangers on the internet about that sort of thing. I'm just not confrontational about it; that is so not the same thing as being "afraid of getting shit." I'm not posting ENOUGH about my support for Harris, therefore I'm afraid. But therefore they can also make all these assumptions about me being their strawman for an ignorant Harris supporter.

I'm afraid of getting shit but I still post anyway? But if I weren't afraid of getting shit I'd be posting a lot more?? This is ALL based on their assumptions of what my blog *should* look like, based on what I really and truly believe. My level of posting every now and then is an accurate gauge of my feelings on complex, sensitive, global issues. Because I'm voting for the Democratic presidential candidate and I'm ok sharing pretty much just that little glimpse of myself.

I really don't think that person knows just how inappropriate and insulting that is to just say all of that to me. Like they really know what's going on in my head. Their first message began and ended with like "I'm sorry I love you I just can't take it anymore" but they clearly weren't sorry enough to try and be more respectful to me, and they didn't love me enough not to default to extremely ungenerous assumptions and attacking me based off of those instead of any actual words I've said that they take issue with.

Online radicalization is real and it's not necessarily bad because your political views can start to fall well out of the contemporary Overton window. The way you find it appropriate to treat people whose views, however common, seem to fundamentally misalign with yours... that does matter. You can't just assume the worst of everyone and then act on that in how you approach them as individuals. And then be shocked that you don't stay friends with them. You can't be confrontational with someone about an issue you've never had an honest conversation about, and then expect them to take your bad faith in them as reasonable well-meaning criticism.

I'm afraid of criticism??? I'm afraid of criticism. No I'm not. This person and I have never had an issue before where they criticized me and I got harshly defensive. It was ALL projection. The entire tone of their messages was as if all their anti-voting posts recently were somehow in communication with the occasional go-vote-for-Harris posts that I make. That's not a conversation. I don't post for your satisfaction. I don't post in "response" to my mutuals I disagree with. I just post what's on my mind, sometimes, about some things. I really again can't stress enough how baffled I am by this

[gigidragonbbxxx]

a personal struggle + an education

this is all just gigi's opinions + thoughts

Reader, I'm struggling with empathy right now.

Don't worry, I'm not suffering from a personality pathology, I promise I am quite sympathetic and empathetic. It's just battling the feeling of wanting to be kind but also seeing a major problem and knowing I need to get it off my chest.

Let me give it to yall straight (with tweaked/paraphrased details to protect privacy and not to out anyone):

I saw a favorite loass coach/twt account/subliminal creator make fun of an "old timey" English sentence either from Neville Goddard or Edward Art. They proceeded to say that they "hate" it and "why can't they just say it simpler". and then someone else commented "they're talking bullshit fr".

The convo thread on twt devolved into an echo chamber that essentially boiled down to the old fool's adage "If I don't understand it, it must be stupid and not worth it."

This really triggered me because

The phrase quoted was not that hard to understand.

It was clear these women were not educated

Why am I judging or mad at people for their ignorance? (this is why I kept quiet on twt and went here to vent. I acknowledge that two things can be true, I can be kind and still be honest.)

I was and currently am still wrestling with these things within me.

On one hand I don't want to judge. I want to be inclusive and welcoming and supportive.

On the other hand - yall don't look educated, yall wind up looking dumb.

I'll say a harsh truth yall and you can go argue with a damn wall but I know I'm right: stupidity is not cute.

My Hot Take (not so hot when you think about it)

The Law of Assumption rewards those who feed their mind with knowledge

Before you argue with me, think about it. Seriously.

I don't want to seem ableist if someone suffers from dyslexia or if someone struggles in school. It's totally okay to have different paths to learning. The importance is still obtaining the information. You can read or listen to the audiobook, etc. The paths to knowledge are varied but in the end the result is the same - THE KNOWING.

The "old timey" sentence that the creator complained about COULD BE READ BY NINTH GRADERS BECAUSE OF SHAKESPEARE EXPOSURE.

That's why I was exasperated. They were complaining about English (the only language in which they are fluent) that is regularly taught to 14 year olds.

Guys. Stand up. Please stand the fuck up.

Who in this world is gonna take you seriously without BASIC COMPETENCY in literature or math?

Lemme roast some of yall if you want to disagree:

Yall wanna be master manifesters and claim to understand the double slit experiment but can't even name the fundamental laws of science or explain them.

Yall wanna be successful in your businesses and don't know how to calculate your profits.

Yall wanna be seen as intellectuals who "understand" more than the majority of the population and yall can't even fucking read Descartes or Shakespeare.

Yall wanna be content creators and don't know how to proofread.

One time I bought an affirmation tape that came with a pdf with all the affirmations listed. The tape itself was excellent but the pdf was riddled with errors! It makes me sad because something that can help change your life, like a sleep tape to saturate, "cheapens" in its authenticity at the price of minor errors. Sigh.

Let me tell you that 100% you can be successful in this world just by going to the end and claiming it.

BUT YOU LOSE A LOT OF TREASURE BY NOT GIVING YOURSELF THE TOOLS TO DIG FOR IT.

THERE IS SO MUCH FOUNDATIONAL INFORMATION WITHIN THESE "OLD TIMEY" TEXTS.

and if you don't like any of it and just wanna watch sammy ingram and manifest like that THEN GO AHEAD BUT DONT CLAIM TO NOT UNDERSTAND A SENTENCE AND THEN CALL IT BULLSHIT.

just be honest and own it!

be honest that you don't wanna read, that you don't wanna be academic and that's 100% okay and you're still beautiful and worth everything but

do not put down the value of what is being said just because you don't understand it

That's why I am frustrated, reader.

I am educated enough to recognize when someone's ignorance is just that - ignorance.

But I am human enough to be annoyed.

So please give yourselves some grace and take the time to appreciate knowledge. Without the knowledge of the law of assumption, we wouldn't all be here interacting with one another.

xx, gigi

p.s. for those of you who are more familiar with reading the Bible via the law of assumption lens - I beg you to think of Solomon. He was asked by God what he would like and Solomon chose wisdom over material things. Why is that? Because through wisdom comes the ability to know how to obtain all one's desires. Food for thought.

[sokkastyles]

Hey!, I love your atla meta and zutara posts.

I was scrolling through Instagram and saw this. So if u don't mind, what do you think about this?

After a break from the atla fandom bcz the discourse lowkey left me exhausted and traumatized. This was'nt pleasant.

Maybe it's bcz this feels like someone read a zutara post and is trying to paint smth similar to it with maiko , but for some reason, this makes me feel kinda sick.

Thoughts?

I think I've responded to this sentiment before because there's a lot to unpack with the idea that Mai "loved Zuko unconditionally," because first of all, she didn't. Their relationship only began because Azula decided it would be more beneficial to bring Zuko back as an ally than as an enemy. If things had gone as expected, Zuko would have been brought back to the fire nation as a prisoner, and he would have been spending the trip home in a cell like Iroh instead of smooching Mai. We have no idea whether Mai might have been distressed by this possibility and the hand she would have played in it, and the show gets her off the hook from having to have feelings about it because things just happen to work out so that she doesn't have to and she gets a boyfriend instead of the knowledge that she helped destroy the life of the boy she had a crush on when they were kids. I actually asked myself once whether she would have cared, and even attempted to write a fic where I started out thinking that Mai would actually try to break Zuko out of prison, but that's not what ended up happening as I channeled Mai's character. Here's the fic by the way.

My point is that their relationship is conditional. It's conditional on Zuko choosing to side with the fire nation. That's why he has to break up with her when he realizes that's not what he wants anymore, and when he tries to explain that to her, she refuses to understand it. And then when she decides to get back together with him, it's conditional, too. She literally tells him never to break up with her again. That's not something you say to a person you love unconditionally, because unconditional love means allowing someone to make their own choices, even if it means letting them go. I'm not even sure you can claim Mai loved Zuko before his banishment, either, since all we see is her blushing once when they were kids. The most you can say is she had a kiddie crush.

I've also seen people say that she loves him unconditionally because she's willing to get back together with him despite not agreeing with his morals, and as I've already said, that isn't true, because she threatens him with ultimatums, and she makes Zuko promise something he can't keep. They broke up because of their differing morals, and since that doesn't change, Zuko is likely to do the same thing again, just like he did at the Boiling Rock when Mai thought he would just back down if she yelled and threw things enough.

But also, the idea that unconditional love in this particular instance is a good thing is something I have to question in the first place. Unconditional love is a lofty phrase, but there are absolutely things that SHOULD be conditional in relationships, and having the same morals and ideals is one of those things. Especially since Zuko is the Fire Lord and his beliefs about politics and ethics will affect the future of his country. This isn't just a difference of opinion, it's something that makes them fundamentally incompatible and it's never resolved. And using it to claim that Mai "loves him unconditionally" because she's willing to stay with him even though they have fundamentally different ideals rubs me the wrong way.

Which leads me back to why I think people make these arguments in the first place, and I agree that it's nauseating. Because often when people say this, they're making some kind of implication that Zuko was so horrible to her and he should be grateful to her that she's willing to stick with him. And not only is that a shitty thing to do to someone in a relationship, but it is not unconditional love. It's gaslighting. It's especially creepy because Zuko has already had enough of that shit in his life. He deserves to be with someone who loves him for who he is, not despite who he is, and that kind of love is not real love to begin with. People are like "oh, but she saved him!" Yeah, she was the reason he was in danger in the first place, though. "Oh, but she put up with his anger and jealousy!" He was angry and jealous because she wouldn't listen when he tried to tell her that he was hurting. "But she isn't his therapist!" Literally shut up. I've said it before and I will say it again, I don't think I've ever seen a fictional relationship be accidentally written like an abusive relationship the way this one is, and it's even worse given that Zuko already has a history of abuse.

And yeah, I agree I think people try to make this argument to counteract Zutara, because Zutara is so much about change. Zuko had to change to have a friendship with Katara, so to counteract people try to make Mai a more appealing partner because she "accepted" him even when he was a mess. But the thing is, as I outlined above, not only is this not true, because Mai isn't particularly accepting. But the other thing is that changing, becoming a better person for someone else, is a good thing. Not being fixed by a relationship, but being willing to become better for the person you love. Katara may not have loved Zuko when he was a villain, but she believed he could change, and that actually is unconditional love, the right kind of unconditional love, the kind of unconditional love that makes people better and doesn't come with obligations. Mai loving Zuko when he's a confused mess isn't all that impressive since his abusive father and sister also "loved" him when he was enough of a mess to be kept under their thumb. This is abuser logic. And it's even more transparent because the second Zuko stands up for himself and takes steps to become a better, happier version of himself, Mai can't stand it and refuses to listen to his reasons, and then continues to act like he'll just shut up and put up if she tells him to.

This sounds harsh but a lot of it isn't directed at Mai necessarily, who is a fictional character who suffers from being underwritten and used by writers with an agenda. But the people who make these arguments that don't seem to realize how much they reek of abuse apologism, about a character whose narrative is so much about overcoming abuse? They can absolutely shut up.

Zuko doesn't owe Mai - or anyone - anything no matter how much she loved him or for how long.

I'd also question whether she made him "happier than we've ever seen him." Half those screenshots don't even show Zuko happy. Another one is when Zuko is commiserating with Mai over "hating the world." The last one is when Zuko is surprised that Mai doesn't hate him. So much for unconditional love.

[avelera]

What kind of stories would you say are better suited to be written as fanfic? What kind of ideas work better/worse as such — for both long (to incredibly long) and short (to incredibly short) stories?

I'm going to take a step back because your questions requires a definition of fanfiction.

Fanfiction, in my opinion, is a derivative work that requires knowledge of another author's work in order to be effective to the audience.

This is why, in my opinion, protestations that John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Virgil's "The Aeneid" not being fanfic are based on a value judgement towards fanfic that I find inaccurate. People who protest that those are not fanfiction have a value judgement in which fanfiction inherently means "low quality", which is a separate paradigm of understanding than my own. However, in order to derive the full enjoyment and understanding of "Paradise Lost" the author John Milton assumes deep knowledge of Christian dogma. The story does not work if you have no idea who God, Satan, and Jesus Christ are on a fundamental level and why Salvation is a good thing and Damnation a bad one.

Likewise, "The Aeneid" assumes and requires familiarity with the story of the Trojan War. The impact is severely lessened if the audience does not know what the Trojan War is, who the major players were, and why Aeneas would be fleeing Troy with his father and son. Characters they meet along the way lack impact if you don't know them as figures from the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, a separate author.

As a note, a writer cannot create fanfiction of their own original work. An original character in an original universe cannot be a Mary Sue, unless we change the definition (which I believe we should, to one better understood as "an unconvincing power fantasy" but I digress). The Odyssey is not fanfiction of the Iliad unless we believe that Homer did not write both of them. This gets convoluted when we start talking about things like mythology and shared universes.

However, "Fifty Shades of Gray" though it began its life as fanfiction, is not fanfiction, wild as that may sound. That is because though Fifty Shades in its original form was "Twilight" fanfiction, a reader does not require knowledge of Twilight to understand and enjoy the story in its current form. They might derive some deeper enjoyment from knowing its origins but that falls more into the category of "reference" at this point, in my opinion, than "derivative".

"Referential" is different than "derivative" by the way, in my mind. "Shrek 2" might make visual gag references to other works like "Lord of the Rings" that are more effective if the viewer has seen Lord of the Rings, but the story itself does not require you to have seen Lord of the Rings to follow it or to enjoy it. The story stands on its own without requiring you to stop what you're doing, watch Lord of the Rings, and come back.

So, to your question, first and foremost story length has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a story is better told as a fanfic.

What determines whether a story makes more sense as original fiction or as a fanfic is depth of knowledge of another work by a different creator in order to fully appreciate it.

A story about a high school girl falling in love with a vampire that ends in tragedy does not inherently need to be a Twilight fanfic. You can start from scratch with new characters in a new setting and no knowledge of Twilight would be required, though an audience familiar with Twilight might better understand the author's frame of reference.

A story by someone other than Stephanie Meyer about how Bella Swan came to regret her choice to become a vampire is a fanfic, even if the above mentioned original story and this fanfic cover many of the same emotional beats. Because the story relies on the audience's emotional connection, positive or negative, to the specific character of Bella Swan and the events of the Twilight series in order to follow this imagined sequel where she realized she made a mistake.

Now, that's a pretty canon-adjacent fanfic. I, personally, am not a huge fan of fanfiction AUs like Coffeeshop AUs where very little is kept of canon except the bare minimum of character appearances. I truly do think the author would be better served to saw off the serial number and just write an original work if the only they're keeping is the character appearances and a largely fanon interpretation of the characters. If you take out the vampires, and the high school, and you have Bella working for Edward in a high powered corporate setting and they decide to enter into a contractual BDSM relationship, I think the correct thing to do is to just adjust the story and publish "Fifty Shades of Gray" as an original novel, because you're so far away from Twilight at that point that all you're really keeping is the audience's attachment to that property and some elements of the power dynamic between Bella and Edward, which are easily transposed onto another fictional couple.

However, I am not representative of all fanfiction readers or writers. To some people, presumably, the fact that these characters aren't Bella and Edward makes the story not worth reading, even if their names are the only recognizable shared element with the original work. To each their own.

Finally, to fully answer your question I would say this:

A story that should be a fanfic is one where your goal is to specifically draw upon the depth of emotion and shared understanding of a character with the audience to make the story work. If it would require half the book to explain who these characters are and what they've done and why we should care about their past adventures in order to read this current exploration, you probably have a fanfic on your hands.

Ex. "I want to explore Bella learning she made a mistake by becoming a vampire." But in order to do this anguished character exploration you have to explain who Bella is, who Edward is, how they met, what her other options were, what events occurred to drive her to her decision, etc etc. Basically, a whole separate book before you can open to what you want to write which is her staring out the window realizing she hates her life.

But, if you want to write about a character who hates being a vampire and then embarks on other adventures, and all we really need to know is that at some point their high school crush turned them into a vampire and they now regret it...? No references to the Cullens, no Jacob, no Forks, no battles over Bella and Edwards love? Then you can probably just do an original story. And eventually, after you establish your new characters and world, you might be able to circle around to the moody emotional deep dive with your original character that you wanted to do with Bella.

It's a really nuanced question. It's hard to anticipate everything someone might mean. It's really dependent on the story. But I hope this makes sense!

[watermelonsloth]

Shikamaru’s Sexism Could’ve Worked

I think everyone’s aware that all throughout part 1 Shikamaru was a raging misogynist, but a lot of people ignore it. It makes sense why; it’s an immediate character ruiner and the author couldn’t even be bothered to remember it when shippuden rolled around. On one hand, it’s funny to think that the implication of Shikamaru’s sexism dissipating over the time skip (a time skip that characters only matured over) is that sexism is something only the mentally equivalent of children have and you’re supposed to mature out of it. On the other hand, I see it as yet another missed opportunity.

Addressing the idea of biases is not only an interesting topic when it’s actually discussed, but it’s also in line with the series’s theme about understanding bringing people together. Yes, it’s funny to say bigotry is the result of immaturity, but it isn’t accurate. Bigotry is the result of the belief of a group of people is fundamentally different from you that ranges from simple biases that align with common stereotypes (like women being submissive, Jewish people being greedy, etc.) to believing a group isn’t human.

I don’t think Shikamaru is quite extreme enough to view women as nonhuman, but he doesn’t just have simple biases. Keep in mind that I mean the sort of everyday biases most people have when I say “simple biases”. They’re more expectations for how someone will act based on a group they’re a part of and they’re mostly subconscious. Bigotry is an extremely harsh term for it because it’s just ignorance. A person hasn’t interacted with a group much so they base their conclusions about that group on what they’ve heard from others or seen through media. Shikamaru isn’t just presumptuous, he makes judgments and condescends women based on their sex. I’d say he’s somewhere in the lower-middle range; he isn’t outright discriminatory, but he’s an asshole coworker who says some dumb shit.

So, what would I do with him? I’d give him an arc similar to the ones Sokka from ATLA and Louis from Beastars have. The character’s beliefs are challenged by a character/through a scene(Team Avatar get captured by the kyoshi warriors and Legoshi’s character respectively), then while still in a state of worldview confusion, they interact with people from the group they’re biased against which changes their perspective(Kyoshi warriors/Suki and the Shishigumi). I don’t want anything to think that I believe it’s the responsibility of the marginalized group to educate or walk ignorant people to a place of tolerance or understanding because it’s not, but I do believe that the only way you can view people as equals is by interacting with them as equals.

I see it playing out like this:

The chunin exams stay the same with Shikamaru still beating Kin and Temari. The focus is establishing his character, his strengths and weaknesses in combat, and his dynamic with the other cast members.

Shikamaru gets a scene to show his opinion on Tsunade becoming the first female Hokage to expand on the assumptions he’s working under specifically (women only care about superficial and frivolous things, and they’re weak in combat).

During the Sasuke Retrieval arc, he gets his ass absolutely kicked by Tayuya and he’s saved by Temari, who says she arrived to help mend the relationship between Suna and Konoha. (Tayuya challenges his assumption that women are weak and Temari challenges the assumption that women are superficial.)

Over the training period/in shippuden, Shikamaru would further interact with the female cast (on screen) and have his biases challenged even more by characters like Sakura, Ino, Hinata, TenTen, Temari, and Tsunade furthering their skills and showing competency both in and out of combat.

This could culminate in something dramatic like a fight against a female villain (Konan, genderbent Hidan, or new villain) that he actually takes seriously or he could simply move past his ignorance.

I know that you can argue that all of this happened, but I’m not giving Kishimoto points for doing all of his good character writing/development off screen.

[not-a-mongoose]

Hey! I've just had a really interesting conversation with a friend (which i won't detail here, but it was interesting).

Anyways I'm gonna make this post because it's really important to me.

What with the events going on, things seem very bad. The cult-following of Trump as well as the assassination attempt likely smothering any attention the Project 2025 thing was getting from the politically unaligned, and the sympathy garnered from the attempt in itself, makes for a pretty difficult front in terms of the upcoming election...

However.

Even though the first thoughts outside of the shitposting are probably to curl up and accept defeat, Don't Do That.

There are still things we can do.

There is always the option of doing something. Maybe some things are harder to do than others, but there is always an option of something to do.

In this case there's a very clear option of what to do.

What with project 2025 (if you aren't aware please research it) and what we already know of republican values and the previous Trump presidency, regardless of what you think of Biden, a vote for the Democrats is at least a vote against the Republicans.

There is the idea that it's fundamentally better to not vote than to vote for an imperfect candidate, but one thing:

There is more good in voting against a fascist far right party like the republicans than there ever will be in abstaining from a vote for any moral reason.

It's like: You're hanging out in town when you hear about a group of people going to harm a person you're close to. You can either find a way to stop them or slow them, or you can continue on with your day and hope they just don't find that person or change their mind. You might uncomfortable with doing that, but fundamentally it's better to find a way to stop them, either by physically preventing them from harming the person, or by helping that person hide or otherwise preventing the group from finding them.

It might feel simple to just give up, especially if it feels like the group is big, but remember that you are not alone in this. There are millions of people who don't want the far right to take control of america. And you have your own talents. You don't have to make a post or anything, but you could reblog other ones, or even just encourage people on the fence to look into what Project 2025 was about, or encourage them to vote, or even just vote yourself if you're the age of majority!

It's also important to remember: Choosing not to act is in itself an action. You are responsible for your own actions. In my opinion, it's better to act than to hope someone else fills in for you.

There is Always something you can do. And if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they're wrong.

[pleucas]

this is said with no malice towards you i love your art!! i like you!!

also not capitalizing chuuya's name even tho i have better humor than this

this is going to be loooong but i never read a more stupid ask….

i don’t hate skk bcs i use my brain and see that they’re actually good and a fun ship when someone isn’t ruining it. what i hate is most skkers being unfunny towards Dazai and the continuous mischaracterization of him just to make chuuya look better (mostly chuuya stans but also dumb Dazai stans are guilty of it)

and no Dazai isn’t the worst and chuuya doesn’t deserve better in fact i think yall can’t handle a person with mental illness and a fake persona he clearly put on people always demonize him so i think saying he’s the worst and chuuya isn’t proves my point. they both EQUALLY did the same bad things Dazai isn’t more toxic than chuuya it’s more like Dazai is the one who’s going back to a toxic ex (mind u chuuya was ready to hurt or maybe even kill some of the ada members people Dazai obviously cares for)

the skk hater? who loves chuuya and hate Dazai because they know chuuya’s character will never be as important or as impactful on bsd universe as Dazai’s noted.

if you love chuuya and hate Dazai your opinion about Dazai is immediately invalid like i think they just know no bsd character can be better written and more interesting than Dazai he's what keeping bsd good (and Fyodor i liked him in the last chapters even more)

imo if chuuya keeps appearing he'll just get boring🤷‍♀️ because most of his storyline is over

Dazai on the other hand always entertaining and deep and there’s a reason he’s involved in everything and never forget everything he did for chuuya stormbringer would be nothing without Dazai helping chuuya from the shadows and chuuya knows it but i guess people will still makes him the bad person in skk when he’s the one trying to change and be better person

also Dazai is someone who’s storyline is still on going as well as we know almost nothing about his past or what actually goes on in his brain i can say three things about his backstory and that’s it.

sorry for rumbling i can’t take that level of stupidity

pls don’t block me im not evil…..

holy shit we got cross-ask beef. this is insane

i'm gonna lowercase Both their names because i think this is the reasonable next step. LOL. & i'll also ramble a bit to match ur freak!

i will strive to clarify that me agreeing that dz=worst chuuya deserves better was, as i specified, "on a generalized scale" — on a very, very, VERY surface level this is a jokey way i've seen a lot of skkers talk about their relationship. more of an inside joke atp ig? idk. srry if that wasnt clear

but i do think it's valid to dislike a ship because you don't like one half of it. i totally get how dz's character can piss ppl off, esp if ure missing lns and mangas (which rimu wasn't, but they watched the anime first so the precedent was set). i found the first part of their thesis to be pretty funny actually, just (again) taking it at face-value.

it's also understandable that they try and dissect dz then miss the mark by a mile LOL. but again, can't be blamed if you hate the guy and thus don't read into him too much, which i think is a reasonable way to consume media... probably more reasonable than me. hence why i didn't respond with my own thesis paper. overall idk man it's not that deep, i've been having fun with rimu and i'd advise y'all to also be silly w/ ur Budgeted RPF Dead Author Yaoi, it'll make things a lot better

abt what you've said, i think dz and chuuya can't exist as true characters w/o each other, unless you fundamentally change their truth. a lot of their good & bad (& inbetween) sides are exposed through their relationship, which i believe is asgr's very interesting way of employing "show-don't-tell." i don't think chuuya's storyline is over, because dazai's isn't, and vice versa. this doesn't mean i don't think they have their own arcs, just that these arcs Must involve the other — if dz's main conflict is good/bad + the mafia, chuuya is his biggest amiable tie to it, and if chuuya's conflict is his self + power, dz must be there for corruption. there's more to say there, but again i don't want to feed rimu's claims of us all being dormant essayists LOL

we got dz glazer and rimu, D1 dz hater. and cheese anon.

[ackackh]

well this maybe a little excessive but 🍊 🍋 🍈 🫐 🍇, if you will!

Thank you for the ask, anon! This is too long and I don’t regret it! 💕

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo…)

There. Are. So. Many. The first character who came to mind tho is Doc Bryan. I wrote 5k words of a fic forever ago from his POV and I loved working in that space but I also find his voice really hard to pin down. One day I will finish it and you’ll get to read all about how when you’re sad it helps to fuck a friend. (Ray)

🍋 What’s your favorite spicier trope to write?

MMMM this is a hard one because I feel like I’m still finding my voice in this area. Uh I do love writing a first-time scene tho. And first time bottoming? Yes pls. Literally it’s in both the aforementioned Doc fic (Ray) and in DOGSTAR. (Andy) I feel like the general consensus in the fandom is that Eddie bottoms, which I also like, but I’m really into the idea of Andy specifically needing to let someone take care of him. Eddie is happy to help.

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

Ray, my truest blorbo, I have put him in Blender as a 3D model and am rotating him as we speak. Of course I love the motor-mouthing, but my favorite thing about him is that he’s so fucking intelligent underneath that. Like the most perceptive motherfucker. In God Is a Bluegill, he is constantly noticing EVERYTHING, especially how other people are feeling, and that 100% informs his behavior. Boy is a sponge. And his mania is either a medication for himself or for others and either way, I do think it’s genuine, I just think he also uses it as a social tool.

Also, if I’m writing BradRay, I love to make him quietly suffer. Little queer guy from Missouri, he’s internalized the idea that he doesn’t get to have what he wants, so he doesn’t even try to attain it. So while Brad is either pining after someone else, or hung up on his ex, Ray is like, ‘I’m gonna be the best friend, I’ll be whatever you need.’ And it’s BAD FOR HIM. There are similar things going on in the Doc fic as well, Ray wanting to do whatever he can to hold his friends together, likely at his own personal risk.

Damn, I need to finish that Brad-gets-dumped-during-OIF fic.

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

I’m pretty pleased with what the HBOWar fandom has to offer, we have so many talented writers who have lots of different ideas, so it’s hard to think of what I’m missing. I’d love to see more Doc Bryan POV, obviously I’m currently thinking on him a lot.

Here’s something I’ve wanted to write about because I love projecting and you can’t stop me: gimme transmasc Ray. I need a fic where his mania, his bravado, his insight into others are all things he’s developed to protect himself throughout his life. Like, I get we’d have to write around a lot of stuff with the Marines, but trans soldiers, at the very least, did/do exist in Middle East deployments, so I feel like we could suspend our disbelief a lil bit. Also foaming at the mouth for an E rated fic featuring this. For reasons. Ahem 😅

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Not to be on my AndyEddie bullshit again, but I could write over and over again about Andy and the day Eddie died. I’m visiting it way too much in DOGSTAR. But in my defense, I’m focusing a lot more on trauma in this version and in a world in which either survived, I think Eddie getting hit on the ridge would have fundamentally changed Andy. Especially, as is the case in this fic, if Andy believed Eddie was dead and not just wounded.