#in which case i will rebagel and add)

[phynali]

As the world's most random note about tagging, because I think of this every time I tag a post with an updated tag, I... "update" my tags

Meaning that over time as my moods and blog topics and interests and dialect and mutuals and inspirations all change, I'll go from using one standard tag to a another for that same exact content.

And I don't know if anyone else really does that or if it's a weird me thing?

When I first had a humor tag i called it "snort laugh" to convey, literal or just in tone, "this post surprised me into a half scoff laugh or making a snerk sound". It was inspired by a mutual's "ugly laughter" tag because i didn't want to steal that perfect tag whole cloth. But almost a decade later they're still using that tag and I've cycled through "snort laugh" and "laugh rule" and variants on "lmao" and "humour" and some i can't even remember. Right now I'm intermittently tagging "I loled". None of these have ever really fit well enough to stick around and I still think "snort laugh" every time i try a new one, even if i never liked that tag much either.

Some of my index tags are static and unchanging and some I still use, even if I used to tag every other post with them and now use that tag once a year maybe (social awareness comes to mind). Some I've always had 2 or 3 versions of, either because I like one but keep another for indexing or blacklisters (doggo and dogs) or simply because I can't recall what I use (was it world building or worldbuilding? Bat fam or bat family?) and end up converging as i decide on when and then diverging again when i change my mind... again. Many overlap a lot (positivity, daily dose of positivity, faith in humanity, love, human beings), while all actually being distinct enough i keep them all.

But with over a decade now of this account it seems it'd be a strange little nightmare to plumb, the work of a historian or linguist to go through the changing tides of tags and indexing, and I have to wonder what conclusions or insights they would be able to glean if they did, and what it might say about me.

[masked-disciple]

I wrote this at like 1am and people (including OP! :D) keep rebageling telling me that I'm right. Makes me happy.

Me and my fiance were talking about it again today and it's fascinating too because like- it makes a lot of sense if Mia does on some level resent both Maya and Diego even while fully aware that nothing in this has ever been either of their faults, just because trauma does that to you. Without Maya, she wouldn't have been parentified like that, and Diego did things on his own without consulting her and then he went into a coma and left her too.

She loves them, and she doesn't trust them either, because she can't. And I do definitely think that like... Part of her probably does think that Diego got hurt entirely because of her. Someone pointed out in the tags that there was no way she didn't know Dahlia was her cousin, and when she had one thing she genuinely enjoyed - Diego - her family came and ruined it, which just adds to the opinion that Mia probably has no use for the Fey legacy and heritage.

It would not be out of left field to argue that in her worst moments, Mia probably blames herself entirely: 'see, this is what happens when you trust someone else, this is what happens when you don't do things on your own'. She probably thought, when she gave the Thinker to Maya, that Maya was safe because Morgan wouldn't care about it, and thus, her family wouldn't ruin it and she'd be fine. Only the person who got hurt because she tried to trust someone else was her, and she died for it.

As an aside, while we know Diego didn't exactly regret killing Dahlia, most people figure he regrets killing Misty. He had to deal with Mia right after she left the village and was mostly out from under Morgan's thumb. People who just get out of traumatizing situations tend to fall apart in short order, because now they can finally stop expecting the shoe to drop, and relaxing means falling apart. He definitely would've known how she felt about her mother (which is Bad).

I do not believe Diego regretted killing Misty that much, at least no more than you'd expect him to after killing anyone. Misty hurt Mia pretty damn badly, Diego very well might've considered killing her and Dahlia to be two vengeance-birds with one stone.

But one thing that did just occur to me. We don't know exactly when Mia left the village, but she was born in 1989. Pearl was born 2009-2010. Mia was about 19-20 when Pearl was born. It's possible Mia left the moment she turned 18, but honestly? I figure she would have left when she found out Morgan was pregnant, or very soon after Pearl's birth, ceding the title of Master to Maya.

The why seems really obvious to me, if she did. She was older when Misty left, she very well would have had a better understanding of why Morgan's first marriage to the Hawthorne guy fell apart, she would have seen a lot more of Morgan at her worst: when she lost her daughters and the position of Master in one fell swoop. Even before anyone could've known Pearl was a prodigy, Mia could've seen the writing on the wall, and by ceding the title, she's getting herself out of the line of fire.

It's doubtful - insofar as canon imply it intentionally, but there's nothing contradicting the possibility - that Mia knew upfront that Morgan was the sort of person to happily kill Maya or frame her for murder so Pearl could be the Master. It's possible she did, but equally possible she didn't. In either case, Mia leaving the village would have been partly about finding her mother, but a lot more both "fuck your legacy" and "I like not being left for dead in some way so my aunt can take the metaphorical throne out from under me".

Even giving Maya evidence like the Thinker when they're so distant supports this, too. I don't think Mia ever intended Maya to be the Master, either. Despite it being a two-hour train ride to the village and despite that they don't talk very much, Mia was willing to give Maya evidence and teach her a little bit about law. It's certainly implying, at least to me, that Mia was very much planning on getting Maya out of the village the moment she was legally an adult, also getting her out of the line of fire.

Mia didn't know Pearl, and never had the chance to know her, so despite how much being Master would have been awful for Pearl, Mia was willing to throw her under for Maya's sake. It's not the most morally upstanding thing, no, but it makes a lot of sense. She couldn't save them both, but she could save her sister, or at least she was planning on doing that.

But she also never told Maya any of this, because that was more trust than she was willing to give her. She'd let Maya take evidence, but she would never have told her about the plan, because Diego proved that people knowing what she's up to means they want to help, and then they'll try to help without her leading them, and then they get hurt and abandon her.

Man I just. Mia is such a fascinating character. I think she should be allowed to have a gun.

thoughts on the queen mia fey

oh, many.

first of all, i feel like her role as a mentor gets underestimated simply because she is a woman and people are not used to seeing that. many see her as a funny older sister to phoenix who listens to him pining for miles, some straight up ship phoenix and mia, and i rarely see her being recognized for the person who taught phoenix how to be a lawyer despite that part being so heavily emphasized in ace attorney, especially when phoenix and the ghost of mia object at the same time in the aa3 final case. phoenix has her tactics and her mannerisms, and mia is forever in the hearts and minds of many, but at the same time, she was a very interesting separate person.

i think her relationship with maya was flawed, but good overall, and i think some things maya will never know about her. mia fey left to become a defense attorney for many reasons, but one of them canonically was to avoid family competition and let her sister become master in peace. did maya really want that? would maya rather just have her sister by her side? "i'm lonely without you", says maya on the phone, "just kidding", she adds, but she's very obviously not. mia does what she thinks is right and what she thinks is best: she cares so, so much and her determination can easily be compared to phoenix's, but it's interesting to me how many things she ended up doing alone. research on redd white? alone. maya, keep that clock for me, but i won't even tell you about the papers inside it. finding the truth of what happened with her mother? alone. haven't heard from you in a while, maya, thanks for calling. once she has done everything to teach phoenix as a ghost, she also leaves, and while that is a perfectly logical thing to do, i just can't shake off that feeling of her being a tad more independent than one should be

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

so!!  @persefoneshalott was lovely, kind and enough of an enabler to send me gg acapulco, and may i just say *screams* 

i just watched the pilot, and. oh my god. some very different things that stuck out to me

serena (well, sofia) trying to convince blair (well, barbi) that she doesn’t have a thing for nate (nico) by fake dating dan (he’s still dan! but rufus  - who is marcello - calls him danny at one point), whom they meet on the beach. she writes her number on his surfboard in lipstick!!! 

yes. dan is a surfer. and his room reminds me of american nate’s aesthetic, it’s very pale blue and full of sailboat models and pictures and motorcycle models and whatnot. 

remember in 1x02 of the english show when dan’s like “it’s not like you own this hotel” or whatevz to chuck? big uno reverse card here because dan’s dad marcello owns a hotel, and he’s put all his money into renovating it. 

for some reason, the actress they chose to play lily reminds me of anne archibald 😭😭

derena (dofia? ok that’s a terrible ship name) first date happened already! it was a very similar thing to the date in 1x05 of the english show, and after sofia pays the bill at the fancy restaurant dan takes her on an authentic dan parra date (yes, that’s his name) which involves rock climbing (in heels, for her! but she has a good time) and then he strips down to his underwear and jumps off a cliff just to prove he can

wasn’t a big fan of this dan, actually, he doesn’t have any of badgley’s awkward, self-conscious charm. what is s1 dan WITHOUT that, i mean, 

like. dan humphrey would never strip down to his underwear and be athletic to get the girl. that’s more of a nate archibald move. 

oh when chuck (max) tries to make a move on sofia, she takes his drink from him and tosses it in his face! 

i liked the actress who played barbi a lot, i think she got the blair-esque vulnerability mixed with don’t-let-them-in-don’t-let-them-see thing that blair’s got going. i loved the bit where she called a priest on the phone to do a confession but pretended that it was dorota (well, dora) who was having ‘sexually impure thoughts’. it felt SO blair, hahaha. 

i also liked  the actress who played sofia, she didn’t really compare to blake but i think she had the whole ‘smile at people sweetly and be forgiven for everything’ thing going for her, which is pretty much everything any serena needs

the serenate shepherd wedding scene (sofnico? okay i hate this shipname transposal thing) was HILARIOUS. it was sofia and nico by the pool and they’re both doing the serena&nate thing, she’s popping the champagne which goes Everywhere, and he’s laughing, and she’s laughing, and. it’s just like gg07 RIGHT UNTIL NICO ACCIDENTALLY PUSHES SOFIA INTO THE POOL. then he jumps in after her and they do the deed in the swimming pool. i’m sorry but like. i laughed SO much at this scene. 

nico buys barbi an expensive necklace and pays some guy to sing a song and serenades b at her birthday party as an apology for sleeping w/ sofia. much more effort than our old nate archie put in there. 

chuck - sorry, max- is kissing jenny on the yacht -subtitles were not very good at this point but i don’t think it was as non-consensual as english gg? jenny wanted him to kiss her, i don’t know if she wanted whatever else was going to happen. but it doesn’t matter because dan shows up and punches him in the stomach.

i was like, oh, that’s it? but NO. dan punches him AGAIN and KNOCKS HIM OFF THE YACHT. MAX/CHUCK FALLS INTO THE WATER. 

the episode ENDS with that!!! 

[sarasa-cat]

Something I didn’t want to add (potentially a derailment) on that big rebagels post on creativity, enjoyment, popularity, community, etc (https://sarasa-cat.tumblr.com/post/676129651534462976/ive-been-researching-motivation-and-turns-out)

Is how I have noticed over the years — both in fandom (online) and in professional creative work (mostly face to face) — is that the people who are most engaged in popularity contests and winner-take-all attitudes are the same people who engage in nasty, undermining, community dividing toxic behavior.

In a bunch of those cases, I (and others) have suspected that other issues were running amok inside of those folks— psychological issues and personality disorders that they were not addressing or seeking aid/treatment for.

I’ve seen a bunch of that in the arts and in academia. Whisper networks would warn unsuspecting people to be mindful around these folks. It would not surprise me one bit if this is also an issue in fandom.

But I also think that fandom is a bit different bc of how online it is. People, especially younger folks and newcomers of any age, often see the loudest voices bc that is how the public spaces in online communities are: dominated by the loudest voices. This creates a troubling situation for enculturation because it falsely normalizes toxic behaviors when, in fact, the vast majority of fandom just doesn’t do that stuff but you as a newcomer might not know that bc the vast majority occupies quieter spaces, many of which are off in the periphery.

Obviously ymmv.

[pen-for-sword]

rebageling to add:

people bawl, not ball, their eyes out (unless of course you mean that they are taking a melon baller to their face, in which case, carry on)

there are a lot of things, not alot of things

I don't have a third thing tbh but I like things in groups of threes

friendly reminder to check if you actually mean “a part” instead of “apart”

you can’t be “apart of X” ; you can be apart from X, because “apart” means away/separate/distinct from

but you can be “a part of X” because you are a single part (or piece or component) that belongs to or makes up X

NO: He was apart of the family.

OKAY: He was a part of the family.

OKAY: Though he was a part of the family, he lived apart from us.

[bobtheacorn]

Rebageling this for the morning crowd to add: there is obviously no pressure to be productive during quarantine! If all you do with your sudden downtime is nap or play Animal Crossing or watch YouTube videos that’s valid too!

Personally, I want to write!

But I can’t keep myself on task, especially when I’m at home and can do Literally Anything Else, which is why having a schedule (even a loose one!) and an event tracker to pressure me into getting my writing done works for me! I just wanted to share in case this might help someone else out, too!

In case anyone has forgotten (as I tend to do) NaNoWriMo is hosting a Camp NaNo during April and July! You can set your own word count, have separate goals, and with most people practicing social distancing bc of COVID 19, NaNo is launching an early initiative to help those who are quarantined stay focused, connected, and productive!

Their site, usually dormant during the off season, is already functioning the way it does during events! I’ve been working on my project for about two days now, and all the stat trackers and badges are working normally as far as I can tell! As someone who struggles to self-motivate even at the best of times, it’s been amazingly refreshing to have a set goal and silly rewards to focus on rather than the vague sense of timelessness that’s been permeating my days!

If you’re a writer and you feel like you’re drowning a little bit in the stay-at-home slumps, maybe this will help kick you out of it! 🌱