#it's important to write it all out since its often misinterpreted

[monarch-boo]

Wheee rant time I'll write a calmer more condensed version of this later since its gonna be real important to get in people's heads before / by the time DRDR is out, but this keeps making me upset to think about so I'm gonna be a little bitchy first.

Anyway jesus fucking christ Paul is NOT a fucking incel it's so STUPID that people somehow interpret that.

I fucking hate how the interpretation came about to because its LITERALLY just

"hurr dhburr metalhead stereotype nerd stereotype and the people he snapped at happen to be women (and also Frank but let's just totally ignore that he thinks Frank is there to bully him too ehhh WHATEVER)"

That's literally it. Like what else is there for that assumption to work? And like I emphasized, it completely ignores Frank's role in the whole situation.

I don't even get why it happens either! Lots of the other bosses throughout the game have basically everybody fully understanding the stories and nuances of who they are and why they behave how they do, I've even seen some people do analysis videos and posts, like ___ Explained shit.

Why not Paul? Do I have to make one? I almost wanna make one, I'll fucking pore through everything of him in the game, hold people's hands through the opening cutscene and play all the voice clips that demonstrate further what's actually happening and read out like a whole fucking essay with fucking Speakonia because I don't wanna record my actual voice, maybe I WILL fucking do it one day but I'll at least wait until DRDR incase there's new lines (there is the random dialogue drops survivors can give during escorts, we saw in that one Natalie screenshot- I wonder if there's anything besides prestige point hints and if so if there's anything interesting Paul will say).

Like I'm genuinely fucking scared of how many brand new players coming in for DRDR are gonna get him wrong because of some surface level kneejerk reaction shit nobody will actually think and listen to the things he says or bother to do any real character analysis. I might actually stick to No Commentary playthroughs for a while if I wanna watch other people play because the commentated ones make me nervous now.

PAUL IS NOT A FUCKING INCEL HE IS A BULLYING VICTIM TAKING RETALIATION TOO FAR (or at least he would have if Frank hadn't intervened), IT'S ALSO HEAVILY IMPLIED HE IS JUST COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL IN THE MOMENT, DEBBIE AND MINDY ARENT GETTING TARGETED FOR BEING WOMEN THEY ARE COMPLETELY RANDOM WRONG-PLACE-WRONG-TIME BYSTANDERS OF SOME SORT OF PSYCHOTIC BREAK. THAT'S WHY THEYRE SO CONFUSED WHAT THEY DID, WHY HE ACTS AS IF FRANK IS IN ON IT, AND WHY HE IS SO CONFUSED AND REGRETFUL OF WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HE SNAPS OUT OF IT. LIKE ACTUALLY WATCH THE CUTSCENES AND DIALOGUE AND ENGAGE WITH IT ALL FOR MORE THAN TWO SECONDS.

Please Capcom I am on my knees begging DRDR to make this somehow even more obvious and harder to misinterpret by adding new ingame boss/escort lines or making the existing ones more frequent because almost nobody hears the other lines that convey his character more because the game barely ever fucking plays them.

His existing OG DR1 voice lines have some absolute gold in them characterization wise but OG DR1 largely shunts them in favor of HERE'S A PRESENT FOR YA, YOU GO BOOM NOW times infinity. The fact that they often go so unheard that they don't quell the surface level conclusions sucks so much, make the other ones play more in DRDR and maybe even record some whole new ones that are even more obvious.

I mean, jeez, to people who actually pay attention and think for more than a second just that opening cutscene gives you all the info you really need to interpret him and his whole deal correctly, but APPARENTLY that isn't enough for like 80-90% of the playerbase so I hope DRDR has something, anything, to drive the point home even further, y'know?

I'm so tired. I hate how one of my biggest comfort characters is also like one of the most misunderstood and incorrectly-interpreted characters of the whole fucking franchise.

[midnight-rice]

Ephemerality, creativity, and completion

My sleep schedule is fucked and my brain is fried and I can't sleep so naturally I decided to go through all some of the files backed up in my Google Drive--- mainly my own artwork, old and new, some of my writing WIPs, and snippets of creative projects from fans and professionals alike that I had saved as inspirations. It was really refreshing to look back on the techniques and the flaws and the ideas in each of them, as well as my personal growth and the development of my interests. But so much of my work in there hasn't been shared because it's incomplete, which is something that haunts me quite a lot sometimes and as I was thinking about it and what I want from life I think I reached a new point in thinking. Apologies if I sound angsty or self-absorbed, I'm just liveblogging my musings for my own preservation purposes:

My inability to finish stuff is something that developed later in my life, starting around maybe late high school and becoming more noticable in my early twenties (although technically I'm still in my early twenties 😅). I suspect the cause is related to a mental disorder, probably ADHD though I'm not sure I'll ever get an official diagnosis, since the symptoms do sound similar to descriptions of executive dysfunction: almost everything I make has an invisible ticking clock on it, the length of which can vary wildly, but once that timer runs out the odds of completion drop abysmally low, no matter how much I care about the creation/task or how important it is. I've found that there are ways to prolong this deadline sometimes and the effectiveness of those methods can vary too. Sometimes it's better to take frequent breaks to avoid burnout, and other times it's better to push through while the intrinsic inspiration is high. Sometimes it's better to have deadlines to establish clear goals, and sometimes it's better to dismiss the time limitations because they can cause anxiety and hopelessness. Sometimes it's better to share what I'm working on in order to reignite interest by vicariously experiencing the idea with new eyes, and sometimes it's better to keep it to myself so that my brain doesn't conflate the act of sharing with the act of finishing.

And I know that things don't have to be complete in order to be shared, or at least I try to remind myself of that. My perfectionism makes me want to have it be *done* in its best currently possible form when shared, and tbh social media often reinforces that idea to an extent since WIPs tend to get way less attention than finished things but that's not entirely my point rn. I've more or less accepted that some things are made to matter in the moment, that I made them when I needed to and that it's okay to move on to other things without finishing. But presenting incomplete works can still feel like almost a betrayal as much as hoarding them does because it opens up possible miscommunication or misinterpretation--- if I had just found the right words or drawn the right details THEN the audience would get it.

And I think for me personally that idea of "getting it" is really important to me. I'm naturally more shy and reserved (or maybe it's not natural and was more of a coping mechanism to fit in but I'm not going there today lol) and I struggle to find the right words a lot in speech but the things I make manage to say a lot more about me than I can verbalize. A lot of my relationships are more surface-level like acquaintances and coworkers which is fine, it's unrealistic and probably unhealthy to be deeply intimate with everyone you know. But even some of my closer ones like my family still feel shallow at times or disconnected. I don't mean to sound edgy or that I'm "misunderstood," but I worry sometimes that if I got hit by a truck tomorrow they'd put the wrong words on my tombstone and never know about a Google Drive full of incomprehensible creative works that nevertheless mattered so much to me.

Oh my god the irony... I'm so tired I cant even finish this post and now it looks like I'm just having an anxiety spiral... f

[missusgrimes]

* M E T A  0 2:  lori and shane’s relationship

requested by anon.

the  sheer  complexity  of  lori  and  shane’s  relationship  is  worthy  of  a  novel,  with  its  numerous  components  and  explanations.  however,  in  this  meta,  i  will  summarize  what  i  believe  are  the  most  vital  points  to  understanding  lori’s  perspective  in  all  this,  relying  primarily  on  direct  evidence  from  the  show  itself.

PRE-APOCALYPSE

❝ yeah,  you  always  do,  just  like  that  time  you  showed  up  rick  fixing  our  sink. ❞

there  is  something  to  be  said  about  the  strength  of  lori  and  shane’s  friendship  even  before  the  world  fell  apart.  it  is  established  that  shane  was  somewhat  of  an  extension  to  their  family  as  a  whole,  having  a  relationship�� with  all  three  members  of  the  grimes  family  ( with  carl  even  seeing  him  as  a  sort  of  uncle  figure ).  there  is  a  clear  amount  of  fondness  and  trust  that  already  exists  between  shane  and  lori,  built  upon  at  least  a  decade  of  knowing  each  other.  so  by  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  shane  is  perhaps  the  only  other  man  besides  rick  with  whom  lori  would  entrust  the  life  of  her  and  her  child.

however,  there  is  a  distinction  between  rick  and  lori’s  respective  friendships  with  shane ;  he  is  rick’s  best  friend,  not  lori’s,  and  as  such  he  will  be  on  rick’s  side  of  the  court  when  it  comes  down  to  it  ( just  as  lori  has  her  own  friends  that  serve  similar  roles ).  rick  and  shane  alike  consider  each  other  to  be  as  good  as  brothers,  having  known  each  other  at  least  since  high  school  and  being  the  best  of  friends  ever  since.  shane  is  a  dear  and  beloved  friend  to  lori,  but  he  is  first  and  foremost  rick’s  brother. 

HOW IT BEGAN

the  two  main  factors  behind  lori’s  decision  to  be  involved  with  shane  are  i.   rick  was  dead,  and  ii.  the  world  was  ending.  it  is  important  to  recognize  that  without  both  of  these  factors  present,  lori  never  would  have  pursued  a  relationship  with  shane.  of  course  they  have  chemistry,  of  course  she  cares  for  him  greatly,  and  she  obviously  is  not  thinking  advantageously  or  logically  when  she  makes  this  choice.  but  after  rick  returns  and  she’s  brought  back  to  reality,  lori  is  able  to  deconstruct  her  behavior  and  the  thought  processes  that  explain  it,  which i  am  going  to  expand  upon  below.  tl;dr:  her  relationship  with  shane  serves  as  a  coping  mechanism  for  lori’s  grief  and  fear.

i. rick was dead

❝ look,  i  thought  my  husband  was  dead.  and  i  felt  like  i  died  with  him.  and  i — i  wanted  to  feel  something — anything.  and  now  I  hate  myself  for  it. ❞

rick  and  lori  were  canonically  married  and  had  carl  at  a  very  young  age  ( early  twenties,  when  you  do  the  math ).  this  means  that  for  practically  all  of  lori’s  adult  life,  she’s  been  married.  even  through  all  of  their  problems,  rick  and  lori  were  partners,  they  didn’t  really  know  how  to  function  without  each  other,  and  they  ultimately — as  sarah  wayne  callies  says — ❝ loved  the  living  daylights  out  of  each  other ❞.  so  when  rick  dies  and  she  is  forced  to  leave  him  behind,  the  internal  impact  on  lori  is  so  great  that  it  makes  her  feel  like  she  ❝ died  with  him ❞.  her  grief  left  her  in  a  state  of  numbness  at  having  essentially  lost  her  life  as  she’d  known  it  for  so  many  years.

so  naturally,  lori’s  psyche  longed  to  a.  break  that  sense  of  numbness  and  b.  regain  the  partner  that  she  had  lost.  romantic  and  physical  intimacy  with  shane  satisfies  the  former,  and  the  stability,  companionship,  and  care  that  came  along  with  being  in  a  relationship  satisfies  the  latter — and  who  other  than  rick’s  best  friend  and  partner,  an  already  dear  person  in  lori’s  life,  would  better  fill  the  rick-shaped  hole  in  her  heart ?  it  is  also  vital  to  note  that  shane  could  doubly  fill  that  role  by  serving  as  an  invested  father-figure  for  carl,  a  factor  which  surely  sealed  the  deal  and  made  shane  infinitely  more  attractive.

ii. the world was ending

❝ do  you  remember  that  night ?  the  flames,  the…  and  i’m  sitting  in  your  car  thinking,  ‘we’re  gonna  be  all  right.  he’s  gonna  make  it  all  right.  we’ll  get  out  of  here.’ ❞

the  obvious  thing  here  is  to  bring  up  the  now-or-never,  ‘we  could  die  tomorrow’  mentality,  which  is  definitely  at  play  when  it  comes  to  lori’s  expediency  in  starting  a  relationship  mere  weeks  after  her  husband  is  declared  dead.  if  the  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  rest  of  them  may  die  at  any  moment,  then  of  course  this  places  a  ticking  clock  on  lori’s  life  and  motivations  ( as  it  does  with  shane’s ).  in  addition, on  some  level,  lori’s  focus  on  survival — particularly  for  carl’s  sake — pushes  her  to  become  closer  to  shane  because  of  the  protection  and  safety  that  he  offers.

but  the  end  of  the  world  also  means  that  actions  don’t  have  long-term  consequences.  this  serves  as  more  of  a  catalyst  and  becomes  less  of  a  factor  as  time  goes  on  and  their  group  of  survivors  stabilizes,  but  even  so,  lori  would  not  have  been  thinking  of  a  future  with  shane.  her  mindset  is  oriented  towards  surviving  one  day  at  a  time.  

WAS IT EVER REAL?

❝ even  though  things  got…  confused  between  us,  you  were  there  for  me.  you  were  there  for  me.  thank  you.  […]  whatever  happened  between  us,  whatever  the  hell  we  thought  it  was — and  not  just  you,  but — i’m  sorry,  shane.  please  believe  me.  i  am  so  sorry. ❞

the  short  answer  here  is  no — the  spell  is  broken  as  soon  as  rick  returns,  and  lori  is  forced  to  look  the  errors  of  her  ways  straight  in  the  face.  she  makes  it  abundantly  clear  that  her  actions  were  a  mistake,  something  she  hates  herself  for  and  wishes  she  could  take  back.  her  guilt  causes  her  to  cut  off  from  shane  completely  at  first,  and  it  also  fuels  an  undeserved  rage  towards  shane  in  a  desperate  attempt  to  find  someone  other  than  herself  to  blame.  she  does  not  fully  come  to  terms  with  what  she  has  done  until  her  very  last  interaction  with  shane,  where  she  finally  expresses  ownership  over  the  wrong  she  has  done  by  him  and  the  pain  she  has  caused.

her  line  about  things  getting  ❝ confused ❞  refers  to  the  fact  that  her  emotions  were  indeed  involved — she  wasn’t  merely  using  him  for  sex.  as  the  rest  of  this  meta  explains,  there  are  many  feelings  at  the  core  of  this  relationship,  which  lori  allows  herself  to  get  sucked  into  as  a  way  to  cope  with  her  consuming  grief  and  fear.  but  all  of  that  shatters  once  rick  returns,  and  lori  can  see  for  the  first  time  with  a  clear  mind  how  she  had  used  shane  and  how  wrong  it  all  was.  

does  this  mean  that  lori  doesn’t  genuinely  care  about  shane ?  of  course  not.  much  of  the  paragraphs  above  detail  the  intricacies  of  her  feelings  for  him.  with  that  said,  of  course  she  doesn’t  love  shane,  because  while  what  happens  between  them  in  those  few  weeks  is  undoubtedly  complicated,  ‘love’  is  not  at  all  the  word  to  describe  it.

[rosabienfuerte]

sorry if this is an odd question but how do you stay motivated to do art/passionate about it? i struggle so much with motivation and inspiration and having the will to do things, and to be honest your stuff actually inspires me a lot but even then i just cant bring myself to do anything. its probably due to my mental health but in the case that it isn't, what are your methods to stay so creative and draw so often?

not odd at all, no need to apologize! (so sorry the answer is so late!!)

struggling with getting art done hasn't been much of a struggle for me since it's more of... a need i have. a compulsion. if i don't draw, i feel bad.

but i've noticed that for people who don't draw too often or struggle to get motivated, it helps to set a simple routine... it doesn't matter how much/long u draw, as long as you're drawing daily or weekly, whether it be for 5 minutes, or "just" a doodle, something is something! 1% is always 100% better than 0%.

it's also important not to overly force yourself to draw, don't push yourself too far if it's bad for your health, whether it's physical or mental. congratulate yourself for drawing if you do it, and don't beat yourself up for struggling. it's more than okay.

as for inspiration... well, i think there's no way to create out of nowhere! you have to consume first! i take inspiration from my life, my friends, my feelings, nature, the world around me, other people's art, and obviously my interests! sometimes i feel like i've squeezed out all my art juice and there's nothing left for me to create. when that happens, i just consume more things until i feel inspired again to draw.

also, if you don't know exactly what to draw, you can also just use references! draw from models, from images of animals, plants, objects, people, places, things you see IRL...!

remember to take care, and don't beat yourself up for struggling with motivation. art can be hard sometimes. drawing often can be hard. i don't struggle with this with drawing bc its like, smth im always doing, but i do struggle with writing, for example, or other creative activities that i'm not used to...

i'm very glad you're inspired by my stuff, thank you so much <3 i'm sorry if my response isn't what you're looking for or if i misinterpreted your questions... i hope it helps at least a little bit!

also, if you can, read this post about art. it changed my life and my perspective on the topic entirely.

[filipinoizukuu]

I saw your post about the FA's translations, and I totally agree. Sometimes, when they do not translate accurately, is to make it sound better or cooler in English, but it just ends up taking away a lot from the context and characters. We know how one of the most affected character interpretations is Katsuki's, a main character, no less. And Izuku and Katsuki's relationship too, which is something super super wrong, considering is deeply intertwined with the main plot of the series, thus if someone misinterpreted their dynamic, this person would miss a bigass chunk of the message the story has.

Here is the panel you mentioned before btw

I remember when I read this, only 10 or 11 chapters into the manga (?), and I was like "...I'm...pretty sure this guy didn't say that" khshsjdhs

OK FIRST OF ALL LMAO HELLO MANG!! THANK YOU SO MUCH AND DW ABOUT IT I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOU MEAN !!

(this is your warning for a long post ahead!)

In any case, I still think you're very correct on this! Not to ramble a bit, but Horikoshi's particular talent in developing the plot of MHA is actually very very brilliant and there are a lot of blink-and-you'll-miss-it details that together, assemble the big picture of what MHA is.

Translations are such an integral part of being able to understand foreign media. MHA or otherwise. The simplest of details say a lot about a character and often times make or break a series because everyone knows that strong character dynamics are what carry even the shittiest of plots.

First and foremost, I want to clarify that because of the nature of fan translations and the fact that most of it is volunteer work/ written out of pure enjoyment of the manga--we shouldn't judge these fan translators too harshly (if at all) for interpreting it the way they want to. FA, as far as I can tell, is a fan-based group that works out of donations.

The first thing I wanna bring up is that when it comes to fandom and its works, there are two types: Curatorial and Transformative. Now, the transformative part is something that must be very familiar to a lot of you. Fanfiction, fanart, and most headcanons fall under Transformative Works (i.e. AO3) because they are all about transforming the canon world to fit each individual's personal preferences. Meta-analysis posts and Character Breakdowns are also classified under this.

Curatorial on the other hand are fandom interactions made with the explicit purpose of being as close to canon material as possible. This is working out the logic of quirks, for example, or memorizing as much canon content about your favorite villain as possible. These are more cold, hard undeniable facts that lend themselves to the DIRECT VISION the creator/author had while making this media. If you were to ask me my opinion on this, this would be the moment where I tell you that the Curatorial side of fandom is where fan translations should (for the most part) fall under.

What people need to know though is that oftentimes, fan translations do not.

Translating isn't and has never been a one-is-to-one process. There are hundreds of thousands of aspects in a language that make it so that it isn't perfectly translatable. Colloquialisms to sayings to dialects, to just plain-out words that don't have a proper English translation to them! Manga is made by and for a Japanese audience, so obviously in a lot of instances, there will be cultural nuances that will not be understood by anyone who hasn't immersed themselves in Japanese culture/language.

So what does this mean then for fan scanlations?

It means that a vast majority of translators teach themselves to only get the essence of the message. They take the dialogue as they understand it and translate it to something of their interpretation. When language and cultural barriers exist, translators do what they can in order to make it understandable to the general populace. This means making their own executive decisions on how they see a character speaking. In example, if they see Todoroki using very direct and impersonal Japanese--one translator might interpret it to mean that Shouto is stiff and overly formal, while another may see it as him being rude and aloof.

The problem is, translators are fans just like us.

Like with the image Mang posted above, the translator based the usage of curse words off of their understanding of Bakugou's character. The lack of foul language in the original Japanese might have made the translator think "Oh. There just aren't enough Japanese cusses for his character." And took that as an initiative to make Bakugou's lines more colorful and violent because this was working off of the image Bakugou had had at this point in canon.

But Codi! You may cry. Wasn't it proven multiple times that Bakugou prefers concise and short lines? They should've known better!

Yes. Maybe they should've known better. But tell me honestly in your first watch-through of MHA, did you perfectly understand Bakugou's character either? Did you catch the whole 'direct and no flowery language' aspect of his language when you first saw Season 2?

Most people don't. I only really understood this fact after I'd read multiple discussions of it and even double-checked the manga myself. These are the kinds of things that only become noticeable with a sharp eye and some time to scrutiny. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes to fan translations, the clout and recognition are always going to go to who can post the quickest.

Am I excusing erroneous translations? A bit, I guess. It's hard for us to go in and expect translators to catch all these errors before release when we ourselves only catch these errors like 4 months in with a hundred times more canon context than these scanlation groups did at the time of its release.

Still, there are plenty of harms that come with faulty translations.

When a translation is more divorced from the original's meaning than usual, it creates a dissonance between what is actually happening versus what the audience sees is happening. This looks like decently-written character arcs being overruled and rejected by most of the readers because of how 'jarring' and 'clumsy' it seems. By the time translators had caught on to the fact that Bakugou was more than just a ticking time bomb, we were already several steps into showing how significantly he cares for Deku.

The characters affected most by these translation errors are often those with the most subtle and well-written character arcs. A single mistake in how the source material is translated can make or break the international reception of a certain character to everyone who isn't invested enough in them to look deeper into the canon source.

It creates hiccups in plots. Things that seem out of character but really aren't. Going back to MHA in specific, the way that inaccurate translations hurt both the 'curatorial' and 'transformative' parts of the fandom is that people have begun to cite them as proof of the main cast's characterization.

Bakugou and Todoroki are undeniably some of the biggest examples of mistranslation injustices.

Katsuki, in a lot of people's minds, has yet to break out of the 'overly-aggressive rival' archetype box that people had been placing him in since Season 1. One of the most amazing aspects and biggest downfalls of Hori's writing was that at first, nearly every character fit into a very neat stereotype for Shonen Animes (Deku being the talking-no-jutsu sunshine MC, Uraraka being the overly bubbly main girl, Todoroki being the aloof and formal rival). He made the audience make assumptions about everyone's characters and then pulled the rug beneath our feet when he revealed deeper sides of them to play around within canon.

What made this part about Horikoshi's set-up so good though were the many clues we were given from the very beginning that these characters were more than what they acted like. Even from the very first chapters, for example, we learn that Katsuki (as much as he acts like a delinquent) dislikes smoking because it could get him in trouble.

That is just a single instance of MHA's use of dialogue to subtly divert our expectations of a character.

Another example is when they replaced 318's dialogue of the Second User saying that Katsuki "completes" Deku with him saying that Katsuki merely "bolsters" him. This presents a different situation, as that line was meant to reinforce the importance of those two's relationship as well as complete the character foils that MHA is partially centered around. By downplaying their developed connection, it becomes harder for the MHA manga scanlations to justify any future significance these two's words have on each other without mottling the pacing of the story.

AKA, it butchers the plot.

With every new volume, there are dozens and dozens more of these hints and bits scattered around! So many cues and subtle foreshadowing at the trajectory of everyone's character arcs--yet mistranslations or inaccurate scans make it so that we don't notice them. This is what I mean when I said that some character arcs are being done great injustices.

Until now, many people can't accept that Katsuki Bakugou cares for anyone other than himself (much less his rival and MC, Izuku Midoriya), nor can they accept that Todoroki would ever willingly work by Endeavor's side. The bottom-line then becomes that because of people missing heavy bits of characterization that become very plot-significant in the future.

When it comes to the point where people can no longer accept or fit their interpretation of the earlier manga events to what is happening in canon, the point of a translation fails completely because it has lead people to follow an entirely different story.

TL;DR - Fan scans are hard. Translating is hard. Don't get too mad at fan translations, but also maybe don't treat them as the catch-all for how characters truly operate. Thanks.

Side note: DO NOT harass FA for any of these things. FA is actually a pretty legit and okay source for scans (they've been operating since like 2014 ffs), but regardless of that they still don't deserve to get flack for their work. You can have any opinion or perspective of canon that you want, I don't care. These are just my two (more like two million tbh) cents on translations. I suggest reading takes from actual Japanese audiences tbh if you wanna know more about the source material of MHA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thekrawratalksbnha]

let’s talk unreliability real quick: bnha 291

so in light of recent bnha events, i wanted to write up a real quick thing on unreliable narrators based on some things i’ve seen going around and some stuff from my own experience based on my work with unreliability. 

just because someone says something in canon story, doesn’t actual mean that’s exactly how things are. there’s some important factors that play into how much you can trust information from a character. 

some of the main ones being:

how old were they?

what circumstances were they in?

could they be reliably asked to remember this event?

how much information were they privy too and how much are they assuming?

do they have a reason to lie?

let’s look at shouto for example:

shouto is the youngest of four. he is probably about 9 or so years younger than his eldest sibling. that means there was a lot of time before him for family relationships to strengthen or in this case deteriorate. 

additionally shouto went through some pretty severe trauma when he was very young. reliably we know he was trained to the point of throwing up at five years old, witnessed his mother’s mental state deteriorate and be abused by his father, walked in on his mother having a severe mental breakdown overhearing her talking about his left side being unsightly and proceeding to pour boiling water on it, and was kept separated from his siblings with little social contact. 

FURTHER, we’ve only ever seen shouto actively place blame on two people. himself and his father. even though it is for very valid reason, we know that at least to start he was more than willing to assume the worst of endeavour. 

we also have canonical proof that shouto had suppressed/forgotten important memories of his childhood. so we know his memory might not be the most reliable. 

what does all this mean?

shouto is in no way the most reliable narrator to discuss about the todoroki family. while he doesn’t really have any reason to lie about what happened, he was in a position to misinterpret or remember things. 

this doesn’t mean he’s wrong. it just means there’s too many blank spots in shouto’s memory and understanding and too much bias for him to be an actively reliable perspective into his family’s situation as a whole. 

he can probably pretty accurately speak about his experience, but anything he’s said about his family before he was born can pretty reasonable be called into question. 

and you can run down the list of todoroki’s and see that well…none of them are necessarily reliable. 

natsuo:

second youngest, most of his memories are from a time that we know was definitively bad

closest with some of the family members who suffered the most

neglected by endeavour, shaping his opinion of endeavour but also not leaving him privy to much info

fuyumi:

her biggest issue is the information she is privy to. 

has expressed a very clear desire to mend the family, and does have reason to downplay certain events or moments

she was still a kid when things happened and most of her memories are probably largely tainted by emotion

in general i’d say fuyumi is probably the one of the most reliable of the todoroki’s though.

rei:

suffered severe mental distress 

we don’t know much about rei and her experience before shouto which makes it hard to judge how reliable of a narrator she is

enji:

went through at least some period of time where he was a shit father

did have strong emotions and ambition that could have blinded him — but since his atonement arc has started, has very little reason to deviate from the truth

in general though, hate me for saying it, at this point in the story he is probably the most reliable narrator in the todoroki family. 

and then of course there’s dabi, which brings us to the whole point of this post. 

dabi is probably the most unreliable of all the todoroki’s as a speaker. not only was he a kid when shit went down, he also is the only todoroki who has motive to lie or over-exaggerate events. 

dabi’s play right now is to ruin endeavour. and yes, most of what he says probably has some truth involved. but keep in mind dabi is a very biased perspective and is gunning for maximum damage. he wants to destroy endeavour’s legacy (and probably shouto’s by extension). he wants to hit them where it hurts. 

which means that any new information dabi gives isn’t automatically what happened. we already know in his grand reveal video he’s willing to bend the truth, remove context and leave out important details (exhibit a — hawks). we should expect that he is doing the same in regards to his story about endeavour. he’s trying to cast endeavour in the worst light possible so he is not revealing anything potentially redeeming about the man.

compare dabi’s story to the flashbacks endeavour has. they are full of contradictions. 

so which one do we trust?

if endeavour says one thing and dabi says another — quite frankly, it’s probably more likely that endeavour is telling the truth. even if its not an intentional lie on dabi’s part. dabi’s experience was when he was younger, very emotional charged and in a very negative place. that has probably coloured his perspective of everything. 

and as mentioned before, he has very clear reason to not tell the whole truth if it might be able to help endeavour’s case. 

on the other hand, especially internally, endeavour has no reason to lie or hide the truth. his whole atonement is about him acknowledging that what he did was wrong. and he has — internally at least. he has acknowledged his faults. and really there’s no motive for him to lie to himself. he was old enough to understand and process his actions. and it wasn’t quite as emotional for him as the kids (who were developing at that time and emotion often would take precedent over fact).

so just keep that in mind as official translations come out and future chapters and more information gets exposed. 

dabi wants to paint endeavour in the worst possible light. some of what we know about the todoroki’s come from shouto, who could very well be a very unreliable narrator in that regard. all of what we know about the todoroki’s could be very biased and influenced by their collective awful experiences. 

(the follow up to this is that when somebody has an interpretation you don’t entirely agree with — they might not be wrong. there is a lot we don’t know. and a lot that we assume to be true but could very easily be proven false. both dabi and endeavour have done wrong and the story we get might not be 100% accurate. so whether you are pro or anti endeavour — keep unreliability in mind. you can’t necessarily take every character at their word)

[padsnprongs]

this is for @anythingforour_moony’s writing competition!!

Prompt: “Who ate my pudding??”

If there was one thing that Remus Lupin loved more than life itself, it was chocolate. Chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, you name it, he would eat it practically inhale it. Not only would he gulp down anything with the slightest trace of chocolate, he would hoard it. He had secret stashes hidden all over the school. Throughout his five and a half years at Hogwarts, his stashes had remained undiscovered.

Or so he thought.

Without his knowledge, one silver-eyed, mischievous Sirius Black had discovered his little secret months ago. Actually, if he was being honest, he found it rather endearing. The image of one Remus Lupin, engulfed in that adorable green sweater of his, tawny curls falling onto his face, amber eyes gleaming with that enchanting golden tint that Sirius often found himself mesmerised in, happened to be the main source of Sirius’ serotonin regardless, but adding that to the image of Remus Lupin, curled up with some chocolate from his secret little stash, perfectly content, was even more adorable, if that was at all possible.  

Yeah… Sirius would really have to do something about this crush of his.

And so, Sirius hatched a crafty scheme: he would steal Remus’ chocolate from his stash. Not to eat! Oh lord, no. Maybe just to hide for an hour or two? At least until Remus noticed it was gone, which surely wouldn’t take long; the guy was obsessed. Once Remus had figured out that Sirius had stolen his chocolate, he would probably be rightfully mad. And then he would hopefully start spewing something about morals and boundaries or something. And maybe that, in turn, would help Sirius see that maybe being with Remus wasn’t all he’d thought it up to be, and maybe this silly little crush of his, could finally come to an end. Sirius’ main aim was just to find a way to make Remus mad, and stealing his chocolate was apparently the best way to go about that. 

The plan may have been long-winded and, frankly, ridiculous, but Sirius was desperate. He couldn’t go on like this – just being in the same room as Remus was enough to give him the complexion of a tomato, and surely someone would notice that soon? It was too risky; no one could ever know.

Little did Sirius know just how hard he had fallen.

That was how Sirius found himself sitting in the common room, absent-mindedly watching Peter try desperately to Vanish a table, and James hurriedly scribbling a Potions essay. However, the only thing he could concentrate on was the fact that Remus had just disappeared into the dormitory and was bound to discover what he had done any second now.

Not long after, his suspicions were confirmed. He heard the dormitory door slam, the sound echoing through the tower, followed by the sound of footsteps crashing down the stairs. Remus skidded to a halt at the bottom of the staircase. Sirius’ mouth was dry with anticipation; he could feel his heart about to burst through his ribs. He had no idea what Remus’ reaction would be, but he was notorious for being incredibly overprotective of his chocolate.

Sirius did not fancy his chances.

Remus was annoyed, to say the least. He had had a particularly good day, so imagine his disappointment and frustration when he hurried towards his trunk, only to find that the chocolate pudding he’d been eagerly looking forward to all day, had disappeared. And Remus knew he hadn’t misplaced, or already eaten, the pudding. There was only one possible explanation. One of those three idiots had eaten it. He wasn’t as angry as he could have been, mostly because he genuinely had had a great day, but he was irritated, nonetheless.

That was how Remus found himself storming down to the common room, ready to have a serious conversation with his friends about respecting boundaries. However, not everything goes to plan. When Remus reached the bottom of the staircase, his gaze landed on one Sirius Black. Remus, as so often happens, was mesmerised by the grin which seemed to light up any room, the eyes which seemed to be swirling in the ocean depths, and the hair which seemed to catch the sunlight, shimmering with the slightest movement. Sirius’ charm was infuriatingly distracting, and Remus couldn’t help but to lose himself in those breathtakingly bright eyes, which were gleaming like the moon.  

Come on, Remus, snap out of it. Feeling his face start to heat up, Remus took a deep breath. There was a more important matter at hand.

“Alright, which one of you was it?”

“What’s up, moony?” James replied without looking up.

“Who ate my pudding??” Remus narrowed his eyes at the three boys and seemed to notice Sirius’ eyes widening. As he watched, Sirius ducked his head behind those glistening curls of his, refusing to meet Remus’ gaze. This was unusual only in that the other two boys had looked up at the mention of Remus’ chocolate. It was the reaction of a guilty person. Remus knew it, Sirius knew it, and he was pretty sure James and Pete had also figured it out. 

‘Sirius?’

‘Hmm?’

Sirius still refused to meet his eyes, which only made it all the more obvious that he was guilty.

Remus waited expectantly, hoping that Sirius would say something; this was awkward enough as it was. Finally, Sirius glanced up.

‘Erm… I’m just gonna go take a quick shower… yeah, I haven’t had one since quidditch practice…’ Sirius stood up hastily, but found his way blocked.

‘Sirius Orion Black. If you have done what I think you have done,’ he warned under his breath, enunciating every syllable to ensure the message was crystal clear, ‘I will send you straight to Filch’s office myself, and tell him what really happened in the girls’ toilets yesterday. You can’t fool me.’

Sirius gulped. Although he was aware that he was currently in deep, deep shit, a part of him desperately wanted to make a ‘straight’ joke in reply to Remus’ threat. However, Sirius felt that may not bode well with the fuming werewolf, who was currently glaring into his soul. So, instead, he did the only reasonable thing he could think of; he ran. Scanning for all possible exits and realising the portrait hole was blocked by a giggling group of girls, he sprinted straight for the stairwell. Taking the steps three at a time, his heart pounded nervously as he heard Remus in close pursuit. He slammed open the dormitory door with enough force to make it rattle in its hinges and dived for his bed. Rolling across the bed, Sirius fell through the drawn curtain on the other side and landed on his feet. Although he personally felt that this was a move worthy of James Bond himself, there was no time to dwell, because he had probably pissed Remus off even more, if that was possible.

Speaking of Remus, Sirius had no idea where he’d gone. He could swear his pursuer had been mere footsteps behind him moments ago. Narrowing his eyebrows, he approached the dormitory door cautiously, when, out of nowhere, Remus barrelled around the corner, straight into him, and rugby tackled him to the ground. Winded from pure shock, Sirius could do nothing but flail desperately as Remus wrestled him onto his back and pinned his wrists above his head.

Suddenly, all the anger and all the panic evaporated. Their faces were mere inches from each other, and Sirius could hardly breathe. Remus was staring into his eyes, and Sirius noticed how the amber seemed to darken and his pupils seemed to expand.

But he had no time to think, because he could feel his heart pounding faster and faster, even though he had stopped running. He would have guessed that it was because of the pure intensity that comes with someone laying on top of you, pinning you to the ground, and staring deep into your soul, seemingly getting lost in your eyes, but his brain could barely comprehend what was happening.

Wait. No. That pounding he had felt? That wasn’t his heart. That was Remus’ heart. What? Why would Remus’ heart be beating faster? Shut up. Suddenly, Sirius became hyper-aware of Remus leaning closer to him.

‘Erm…’ he managed to mumble, now oddly self-conscious of how his breath smelt.

‘Tell me to stop.’ Remus whispered, so softly that Sirius could barely hear. Tell me to stop what?? What does that even mean?? What is he doing??

Remus was now so close that their breaths were mingling, and if Sirius moved slightly, he could probably have brushed their noses. Why the hell would I move slightly?? Are you crazy?? Let’s just see what he does.

And Sirius barely had time to process what happened next, because Remus’ lips curved into a soft smirk, no I am not watching his lips thank you very muc- HOLY SHIT, and then they crashed against his.

Remus’ lips. Crashed against Sirius’ lips.

Sirius’ nervous system was going berserk, his brain was short circuiting, and all he could think about was every point where Remus was touching him.

Time seemed to slow down; everything else faded away until it was just him and Remus.

Remus’ mind had a similar reaction. He swore he could see fireworks behind his eyelids and, despite his nervousness at initiating the kiss, what if I misinterpreted it?? I’ll literally ruin our whole friendship!! Ah you know what, fuck it, he ate my pudding, we don’t have a friendship anymore, those few moments were possibly the best of his life. But then, if it was possible, those moments grew even better; gradually, as they both got over their initial shock (and, let’s be real, a little bit of *gay panic*), they relaxed into the kiss. It turned away from passionate and hungry, and more towards comforting and slow.  

Sirius’ intestines seemed to be fizzing and twisting, his fingers tangling themselves in those golden curls that he was so incredibly crazy about.

Well, he thought, that’s my plan gone to shit.

[maleyanderecafe]

Yanderes Killing their S/O

Hello again to another one of these analysis posts! I've been thinking lately about yandere tropes and one of the biggest ones that came up in my mind was the idea of yanderes killing their s/os. A lot of people in asks have often stated that this idea is rather cliche or not executed properly, so let's get into why that might be.

First, before examining this, let's talk a bit about the origins of yanderes. I've probably mentioned this a bit before either in other asks or other analysis, but the idea of yandere comes from the deconstruction of the trope Yamato Nadeshiko. Obviously, there are other cases of yanderes outside Japan, but we'll talk specifically about the Japanese history of it. Yamato Nadeshiko is the idea of idealized Japanese women. A person who is a Yamato Nadeshiko is often very obedient, graceful, and has maturity and humility while still being able to rule with a forceful push without being overly emotional. This is the idealized version of Japanese women, at least in the Neo-Confucious era. However, the deconstruction part of this comes when the character in question doesn't have this kind of inner force, basically becoming a doormat. When a character is overly graceful and still gets stepped on like a doormat, they are likely to snap and become violent, something that is shown a lot when it comes to yanderes. This is where the deconstruction comes in. If the character is forced to love such a perfect life but is still stepped on over and over again, at some point, this person will snap and destroy everything in their path. This idea still persists a bit in yanderes as often yanderes are characters who outwardly seem very graceful and perfect, while inwardly they are more obsessive. There is a really good read on it here that goes more in-depth with the origins of yanderes and the psyche of Yuna.

Like I've said before, we can still see how the idea of Yamato Nadeshiko still persists in yanderes, at least in broad terms. A lot of yanderes, in both male and female forms, are often depicted as kind, graceful and smart, at least initially. For instance, in terms of a school setting, this kind of character is not only nice to everyone but has the best grades, a huge army of fans behind them, and good teachers. Outwardly, they're likely to be depicted as perfect or a kind person, but inwardly, it's likely that they're a lot more twisted and obsessed. It's not necessarily just in a school setting either, a lot of yanderes are depicted as kind and perfect people when in reality they are a lot more dangerous than they might appear. With this thought, this perfection is shattered when they fall in love, becoming attached and obsessed with their lover, to the point of them being unstable and unable to live without them. If something goes wrong with them and the s/o, for instance, the s/o cheats on them, then they snap, often causing the death of the s/o in the process. This part is where we see the Yamato Nadeshiko snaps from the pressure, and in this case, the yandere snaps causing the death of the s/o.

So why do many people find that a yandere killing their s/o unacceptable or uninteresting? The idea of a yandere killing their s/o is nothing new. In fact, it often makes a lot of sense that a yandere might kill their s/o, especially if the s/o has done something wrong, and the yandere themselves are not stable. Well, there are a couple of reasons why this trope is unacceptable or uninteresting to a lot of people.

For one, this trope of a yandere killing their s/o is expected and often becomes cliche. Yanderes killing their s/o has been pretty synonymous with the archetype itself, next to knives and the yandere face. If the s/o cheats on the yandere, of course, the yandere is going to get mad and kill the s/o. If the yandere misunderstands what the s/o is doing, of course, they might feel that death is the only option for them. Just looking at most yanderes, we often expect them to kill their loved one, but the idea is just very cliche. Now, mind you, there's nothing wrong with writing a yandere that kills their s/o, it's how you execute it. Often a lot of people write the yandere killing their s/o in the same way- the yandere misinterprets/interprets the s/o doing something that jeopardizes their relationship or they find that something is trying to stop their relationship and become a killer to stop it. Cheating is pretty common and so is talking to competition, with the yandere misinterpreting the action. The problem with this is that it's often written in a way that just makes it seem like the yandere is being paranoid without really anything to back it up. We expect that this action will cause conflict with the s/o and a lot of times we expect what they saw to be a misunderstanding or something that's not worth killing over. This itself has been done over and over again, so much so that again, many people expect it.

The second reason is that often, the yandere is not written well, and therefore the death of the s/o is more for shock factor if anything. When the yandere kills their s/o, yes, we might understand why he does it in terms of reason, but we don't really sympathize or care about it because we don't actually know why the yandere thinks that way. This may have worked when the concept of a yandere was still being formed, but nowadays, it's important that your characters have some sort of depth to them. This isn't just the case with specifically yanderes either, many things that used to be simple concepts (anime, cartoons, comics, even films) often now have more characterization of characters in terms of things like backstories, personalities, and actions outside of their stories. I really do like this trend and it makes me happy that people are putting more depth into what each character is like and why they are like that. But a lot of the time, especially for smaller one-shots, we don't really see much of why a yandere might decide to kill their s/o. We might be able to infer or take a guess, but it doesn't seem like it would really give enough information or even enough emotion to empathize. I'm not saying that it's impossible to write a developed character in a one-shot, it's just there is less space to do so. In one-shots, its also very easy to simply kill the s/o at the end because the story won't continue on from there.

Finally, the last reason is that when the yandere does kill the s/o, we often don't really feel for the s/o's death because the s/o isn't really established as a character. This is also something that can happen with yanderes as well since the yanderes often don't have much characterization, but I feel like this is especially true for the s/o. A lot of times, the s/o has such basic characterization that there's really nothing to describe them other than being "nice" or "kind". this is especially true in otome games where the MC is suppose to be the stand in for the character, but actually acts rather irrationally or in a stupid way to get specific character endings or bad endings. Even in stories, I often find the yandere far more interesting then their love interest, mostly because the love interest doesn't have any interesting or insightful qualities or flaws. In fact, it almost seems as if the s/o is meant to be killed because of how uninteresting they are, which is unfortunate as it means that they weren't very well written. We can also see this in terms of the yandere itself as often we don't even get to see what their reaction is to murdering their s/o and what effect they may have on them emotionally or physically in the long run. Do they mourn for the loss of the s/o? Do people find out about who killed the s/o? Does the yandere even realize they've killed the s/o? There's a lot of different questions that often aren't explored when it comes to what happens.

There are probably a lot of reasons why people don't like the yandere troupe of killing their s/o and there's good reason to be. But that doesn't mean that you can't write a yandere that kills their s/o in a story. But you should consider a few things while thinking about writing it, to better write a good character.

First of all, consider how the yandere leads up to killing the s/o as well as the reason for killing the s/o. In a lot of cases, it's because of jealousy that is often mistaken (they think the s/o is cheating on them when in reality they're just asking about something else. This kind of miscommunication is common and honestly really annoying in all aspects, since it could be easily solved through. There are a lot of reasons to why the yandere may kill the s/o, and what might lead up to it. It might be a unfortunate consequence to a flaw that they might have, for instance if a yandere was very brash and violent they might end up accidentally killing the s/o who was protecting someone. Or it might be something that is more built up, like a problem with insecurity that ends up with the death of the s/o, because they feel like they just aren't good enough for them. It could also be something that is done on purpose, like the s/o's existence means the end of the world and they force the yandere to kill them. Or it could be in a more antagonistic way, like the yandere killing the s/o to force them into hell with them. Having these characterization makes the yandere feel more interesting or at least gives reason to the way that they are.

Second, consider the feelings the yandere has after killing the s/o. Most of the time, the yandere kills the s/o and the story ends, either because its the end of a long story or because the story itself is a one-shot. Unfortunately this means that we don't actually see what the effects of the death will cause the yandere. Assuming that the story doesn't end with just the yandere killing the s/o, we can delve deeper into what kind of feelings the yandere may feel. If the death was an accident, for instance, the yandere may feel despair over their death and blame it on themselves. They may take their own life or try to find a way to revive their loved ones. They may feel accomplishment if they were a reluctant yandere, where they won't feel shackled to having the obsessive feelings anymore. It's likely that they will mourn over their s/o, and if they are an enlightened yandere, they may be able to move on, but if they are more delusional, they may believe that the s/o is still alive and treat their bodies as such. There's a lot of reactions to death, both good and bad, so it might be interesting to see how a yandere would react to something as drastic as their s/o's death.

Third, consider the s/o themselves and how their death may affect other people besides the yandere. Even if the s/o is extremely bland with little character, it's hard to believe that nobody would care about their death. The s/o should have some semblance of character, even if it is a bit of a cliche, such as being very rash, being responsible, being cold, really anything that can distinguish them from just a plain MC. If you consider the death of the s/o, we might also see how others around them felt, whether they cared for the s/o or if they absolutely hated them can help give the s/o more character even after death. For instance, if everyone absolutely hated the s/o, they might feel that the only way to escape being isolated is death, which is what they enlist the yandere to do. Or perhaps they feel that death is the only way to achieve enlightenment and tries to manipulate the yandere into killing them. Perhaps the s/o really hates the yandere, so as revenge, they somehow get the yandere to kill them to scar them forever. Maybe, the s/o is a very clumsy person, and despite being warned again and again by the yandere to be careful, they end up being in the yandere's path and end up being killed because of their carelessness. This all gives development of the yandere and the s/o's relationship together, which could help in why the yandere acts the way that they do, and the cause of the s/o's death.

All in all, the death of an s/o by the hands of the yandere can prove to be an interesting trope if written correctly. Just like any cliche can be made interesting again with a bit of tweaking, so writing the death of an s/o through the yandere can be as well. There's no right or wrong way to write it, just try to make the story and interesting and fulfilling one to experience.

[hamliet]

Hi! I read you like Emerald and Mercury in RWBY! Could you share some thoughts on them and why they are among your faves? Thank you!

I adore Emerald and Mercury. They are my favorites, my top two. It was hearing @aspoonofsugar describe their backgrounds that got me interested in the story, and when she told me their names and I made the alchemy connection, well, that's how I got into RWBY.

I wrote a bit about their allusion to the Emerald Tablet here. I know people popularly assume Emerald references Aladdin, but I really do not think she does. I think she is Thoth to Mercury's Hermes. Plus, apparently the creators confirmed there was another Aladdin character, so again, I think this is a misinterpretation.

Both Emerald and Mercury are clearly scared kids who are destined for redemption, and I think the chances of them dying in said redemption are nil. Like, you can never say for sure because terrible writing can swing in, but RWBY has never been trigger happy to kill its characters--every death thus far of a significant, complex, multi-volume arc'ed character has been fitting, beautiful, and satisfying. So, Emerald and Mercury will be fine.

At the start of the story, Emerald and Mercury are the mentees and subordinates of Cinder; by the end, I think they will be the two characters who end up teaching Cinder what's important in life (even if Ruby's silver eyes will probably "save" her from her Grimm [pun intended] fate).

I'll talk Mercury mostly in this meta, since I think he's somewhat neglected in the fandom and is actually the canon version of fanon!Cinder (woobified Cinder). Not only is his backstory utterly heartbreaking from the few sentences we have, there's subtext no one seems to consider when discussing him and I've been dyyyying for the chance to talk about it.

Mercury's whole shtick is that he's "never enough." His father held that over his head, telling him he had to train to be better, to be good enough to unlock his semblance, to get his semblance back, etc. But the point was that Mercury could never be good enough. There was an unattainable standard. Marcus Black was only taking out his own insecurities on a helpless child, trying to make himself stronger by taking the soul his son had. If that's not the clearest, most blatant metaphor for abuse and what it does to a child, I don't even know what is.

Mercury is socially awkward, struggles to communicate with people, doesn't mince words, and is just focused on what he needs to do. He can only really connect to Emerald, and I think that's significant not just in terms of foreshadowing the pivotal nature of their relationship, but in terms of analyzing his character. He's traumatized. The one person who was supposed to love and care for him no matter what, protect him, exploited him, took his very soul from him, beat and abused him, forced him to kill for him, and was eventually killed by him.

That's Mercury's perception of family. When people discuss Mercury's conversation with Emerald about family, they often neglect to consider this. That's all he knows insofar as family is, and he keeps people at arm's length because the only person he allowed in betrayed him in the most horrific of ways.

However? He does allow Emerald in. Their farewell in Volume 8 was bittersweet, and he routinely displays care for her, from killing someone for her in Volume 2 to begging Emerald to leave with them in Volume 5 to threatening Tyrian to back off in Volume 6.

His telling Emerald the truth about how Cinder doesn't care for them is in a sense Mercury expressing what he wishes he'd realized earlier about his father, and he's trying to save Emerald from his own pain. However, Mercury doesn't realize he's literally repeating the same cycle: he's gone from his father, to Cinder, to Salem, who will also use and abuse and lose him. Salem might offer him the power to protect himself, but we know she won't follow through.

To reinforce the idea that Mercury is just under a new version of his abuser, Mercury is sent to Vacuo under Tyrian's supervision. Tyrian is--not just unhinged, but there's some disturbing subtext and imagery insofar as how Tyrian interacts with Mercury. It's creepy. However, this is also an opportunity to challenge Mercury: he doesn't like Tyrian, and while I think it's obvious he'll spiral at first under his supervision, he might get a much-needed wake-up call from Tyrian as well. This has already kind of started through Tyrian pointing out that neither Emerald nor Mercury want to be where they are.

So why is Mercury more devoted to "where they are" than Emerald? Mercury is vulnerable because his father raised him to think his physical strength, his ability to kill, was all he was worth, and even then he wasn't good enough. Cinder takes him on because she needs an assassin. Mercury even says this is the reason he joined them:

It made sense. All my life my father trained me to be an assassin... and the moment after I killed him, you two showed up looking for someone with those exact skills. Just felt like it was meant to be.

Mercury sees himself through his father's eyes. He doesn't consider that he could be anyone else. He believes what his father told him:

“This is a crutch!” “This makes you weak!” He told me I could have it back when I was strong. So I got strong, but I never got it back! I’ve had to work harder than anyone to get where I am.

The thing is, Mercury defines himself by his perceived weakness. He defines himself by his missing legs, his missing semblances, and utilizes those pains to bring pains to others (such as the festival with Yang, which them leads to like, the entire world plunging into war). It's only through addressing those original sins that Mercury can heal, and if the symbolism holds up, the world likely depends on Mercury realizing he has worth.

As for specifics of their arc, I still think this theory is the most compelling. It would challenge Mercury in so many aspects: Emerald, the one person he feels safe enough to care for, would be in danger; yet she would also have powers that would bring up his insecurity issues. It would also challenge him insofar as what he wants: does he want to be with Emerald, to connect to others, or does he want to be with someone who controls him through fear and wants to exploit him for her own power, just like his father?

But I believe no matter how it goes, Mercury and Emerald will be able to call Cinder out. They'll be able to tell her exactly what she's been: that she's far less like Rhodes, and much more like her abuser. That she took an exploited child and a starving child and used them for what they could clean up for her. That she never once gave them the affection they craved, and when she saw her own failings, she took it out on them. In turn, however, Cinder will realize that she can become like Emerald and Mercury: she too can change and help save the world. Instead of perpetuating the abuse she suffered and then inflicted on others, she can find her worth and heal (again, probably where Ruby's silver eyes will save her from her Grimm arm). And once she has worth, she will stop the cycle.

[dappersheep]

Food Fantasy: An Analysis on what killed a Golden Goose (3/3)

Ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived at our final destination.

Again before we start, we have our obligatory disclaimers. I do not own the game or its characters, nor do I claim to know the true history and likely fate of this game. I am entitled to the thoughts and opinions written within this post. Feel free to agree or disagree with the points being made.

This post also remains untagged from the main foofan tag. Only my followers will see this.

We are in the third and final stretch, and the checkpoint is past the cut.

Community

So... here we are, fellow Master Attendants.

As consumers of this piece of entertainment media, we are free to enjoy it however we wish. Appreciating what is there, creating something new from what exists, playing the game by the meta or however you want to play it (within your means and at your own risk of course). There's no one true and absolute way to experience the game.

However, just as you can enjoy something, doesn't mean you can't also point out flaws or shortcomings of the media in question. As an active veteran player, I've already pointed out the many gameplay design flaws  already. And I'd be pretty dumb to say that Food Fantasy's writing is perfect. Hell, it has a lot of holes from a worldbuilding consistency standpoint. 

And what of things from the community side? Yes, there will be times you'd see content you consider cringe, or something in fanon you don't agree with. Or there happens to be fan theories and fangirling posts you don't like the take of because of X or Y.

And that's fine. If we all happen to play the same way, like the same thing, agree on the same thing and produce the same thing, well, this would be one helluva boring community, wouldn't it?

But what if someone decides the way you're playing the game is wrong and harasses you over it? What happens if someone decides that their interpretation of the game's flavor text and lore is more important than what anyone else thought about it? What happens if someone decides that they're absolutely right, and you and everyone else who disagrees deserves to be bullied out of the fandom?

As much as I want to say we aren't part of the problem why the game is deteriorating, we are unfortunately, part of the reason why the game is as such even if most of the blame is directed towards Funtoy and Elex themselves.

⦁ Whale Authority. Whales will always be part of a gacha game's ecosystem. Without them, the game won't be able to maintain its upkeep costs, moreso  for one that services global regions instead of just one. But when a game decides to cater its decisions of what features should be prioritized and when it should be launched around only its most elite paying players' voices  -even if that influence has since tapered off-, you know there is something wrong with the publisher's management team and priorities.

⦁ Interguild drama. While I did not personally follow any of this, this has certainly been the peak of in-game tension back in the day. Poaching good players from both competitive and smaller guilds, guild mergers that often ended up making the annexed guild/s the equivalent of UK colonized India or Australia, suck-ups chummying up to guild leaders to keep a spot in an active, high ranking guild (for bragging rights!) despite never contributing much to overall damage, and just general dislike of certain players' attitudes. Actions like this have disillusioned many players about their playing experience and the reason why many eventually just lost the motivation to log into FooFan.

⦁ Cheaters. You know very well about the Hacker-teme I've mentioned before, but that was in context of Elex being incompetent with dealing with them. Here, I would like  to point out the players who are desperate to dominate  the playing field for whatever reason to the point that they would resort to cheating the ranks with forceful modifications of the APK. Whether it is to rank high in catacombs weekly, get a top spot in daily disaster damage, or weasel their way into the competitive whale ranks of a major ranking event, these are the people who have no qualms messing with the code to give themselves an easier time with the game. And if they're caught? Some pretend that they've made a mistake, some quickly sell the account to escape the blame, some others just scamper away into the dark and hide in the lower ranks where they can't be found. Others simply don't care and keep cheating until Elex decides to finally ban them... if Elex ever decides their rebates score isn't worth saving the account.

⦁ Ship wars. Ah yes, a staple of drama in any fandom. There doesn't need much explanation to this as we've all had our fair share of running into a battleground in whatever fandom we visit. Someone ships BB52 wholeheartedly? Nope, problematic 'age gaps'. Someone likes Napoleon with Pastel? Someone's bound to misinterpret their bios in order to justify that Napoleon was being abusive. Spaghetti and Borscht? Borscht is minor coded, ship her with Vodka instead. Whiskey and Pizza or Cassata? Cancelled! And I've never heard of the Foe Yay trope or pretend I don't know about it! Rarepairs? Disgusting! No fanon in my canon playground! Turkey and Eggnog? Gasp! How dare you, you pedo-shipper-even-though-you-never-said-you-shipped-them-romantically-but-that-isn't-my-point!

⦁ Character Obsession: Bias. On one hand, you love a character so much. Relate to a character so much. You have thus pulled this character into the folds of your bosom and coo at them like a mother dove and get so minutely triggered if someone so much as makes one disagreeable or joking comment about the character that you fly into an overreactive ballistic rage that would make a Canadian goose honk in fear. You don't care what they are in canon. You don't care about the possibility of mistranslation. What matters is the fanon space you carved out for them to exist in and that's all that matters. The problem with this is when this obsession takes over common sense and social etiquette and it steps into harassment territory. You begin to think: I'm the only one who 'understands' the character. I'm the only one who wishes better for the character, everyone else is out to defame them! Oh wait, you like them too? Do you like them the way *I* like them? No? Maybe if you're my 'friend', I'd let it slide. But to everyone else? No one else has the right to like them as much as I do. No one! Never mind that they're completely fictional- No one hurts my bias because in turn, they're hurting *me*!

⦁ Character Obsession: Anti. On the other hand, you hate a character so much. This character just makes you see so much red. Their smug little smirk just makes your blood boil. Their fictional backstory makes you recoil in disgust. You hate that someone else loves a character you hate so much.  You cannot *believe* that someone could be so daringly stupid to like a problematic character. They must be problematic too then. They must be hiding real life secrets that are problematic! Yes, yes. That's right. That person's a supporter of abuse. That person's into pedophilia. That person is into military lolita fashion that Japan started the trend of but clearly Japan was part of the Axis Powers! And that... that person... that person... is a roleplayer and a yaoi fangirl properly interacting with minors and adults. How dare they...!

⦁ Fan Translations.  Normally it wouldn't be a problem that a group or two or several are translating pieces of the game's lore ahead of the official. But with Elex's very delayed translations and extreme allergic reactions to translating Food Soul bios, people have become dependent on fan-translation groups to get their fix. The problem herein lies... is when the translators get drunk off the power that they are one of a handful in a small community who can magically transcribe the oriental moonrunes into English. The problem starts when the translator starts to have an inclination. The problem starts when the translator loses their professional detachment and start adding in details here and there into the fan translated product that ultimately changes the meaning and direction of the entire story. The problem is also escalated when that translator's embellished product is touted as the truth by their followers. If there was an upcoming character whose backstory is connected to a character they hated (either because of someone or they just don't like the character) and you were hoping to read the fan translation? How would you know that what you get isn't something doctored to the point it's basically fanfiction?

⦁ Social Justice Vigilantism. Sometimes someone does not have a character obsession or need it to be annoying. Sometimes, someone just wants to ring the alarm over something they find 'problematic' in order to police and sanitize the enjoyment of the media for 'everyone'. They no longer really take enjoyment out of a new Food Soul design being leaked, they no longer read the lore just to enjoy what it has to offer. Instead, they nitpick bits and pieces of the design and point it out repeatedly as a reason why the whole thing is bad. They point out bits of the story and inject their interpretations of it without really comprehending what they've read in full and react badly to it. What's worse is that they have no qualms publicly posting their reactions and eagerly and hungrily await those likes and echoes of agreement that they were right.

⦁ Circles of Influence. Everyone has a group they eventually gravitate to in a fandom. It comes with its own pros and cons. Sometimes you join a group because someone you admire is in there, sometimes you join a group because you just want to mingle and see more content. All valid reasons. Arguments can't be avoided in a group, it has to happen... But you have to take care. You have to take care to feel the change in the air of the group. When someone starts pushing people to agree with them. When your most admired people start to feel overly sensitive about certain characters or issues. When you start to feel obligated to spy on other groups outside of this one for 'nonbelievers', 'traitors' and 'heretics' who do not think the way this group does, and that bringing back bits and pieces of gossip as offerings would somehow make you more favored in the eyes of the inner clique or remain inside it. There is a gripping sense of annoyance when that person comes in to complain but you can't do anything about it but nod and agree. There is a pervading sense of fear and apprehension of overstepping an invisible boundary. There is fear that you might be next on the chopping block, after witnessing one of the others being ganged up on and thrown out without a second thought, their name spat upon like they're worth less than dirt. And so reluctant you are to give up what you have with them that when they push you to do something you are reluctant to do, all in the name of 'harmony and justice'... You do it. Even though it would mean offering yourself up to the mob with no salvation, and the stark realization that... [they] never cared about you as a friend.

And we've come to the end of this analysis trilogy. The writing got a little bit strange in this post, but honestly this is the best way I could put it. I'm aware things can and will be more complicated than the bullet points I've written but I'm just one person and I tried very hard to keep details of all the drama that happened in this fandom as vague as possible. Of course, that wouldn't work if you know what I am talking about.

The community is quiet now for the most part, the game is somewhere between limbo and the living plane. Things could be better for us, but I don't really count on it.

I wish I could leave a bit of a moral warning or something. But rather than do that, I just hope this was an entertaining read into one individual's eyes into Food Fantasy and everything that makes it up.

[allalrightagain]

Ao3 Stats Tag

@lunapwrites you tagged me in this what feels like forever ago (it was only a couple of days, but still) and this is the first time I've made it to my computer since. Thank you for the tag <3<3!

How many works do you have on AO3?

3, plus a few that should probably move there from other various places.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

4461

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

That I’ve published? Besides Harry Potter, I’ve got like 4 chapters of a Twilight fic I wrote with friends in middle school that will die on ffnet because I a) don’t remember the title, b) don’t remember our username, c) don’t remember the email (I do, weirdly, remember the password) and d) haven’t talked to either friend since like.. 2010.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(also fittingly the same order they were published in):

1) If logic beat hate (by only a little)

2) Where do we begin?

3) ‘78 count

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I got one I felt kind of weird about (and was… probably misinterpreting) a few months ago and haven’t managed to go back and respond to the ones that followed, but it’s my plan to respond to all of them! I totally understand why people might not want to, but I love getting responses back when I leave a comment on someone else’s work, so I’d like to believe I’m extending the warm fuzzy feeling I get back to anyone who comments.

Also, like, fandom is a community, even if some of that has collapsed a bit. We’re all here talking about how sad Remus Lupin’s life is/was/could be (or whatever), and the best way to keep doing that is to just keep talking to each other, even if it’s just a simple thank you/kudos.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Uhhh definitely '78 count haha. It's intentional! At its core, it's about death, the death of an entire generation, and survivors who die anyways. It's my lowest read fic, if nothing else than because of the MCD warning.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope. Or at least, not that I know of. Maybe my Twilight fic has racked up the flames, but I kind of doubt it.

I spent a long time being terrified of— not even people hating my fic, just like, perceiving it? So, very little of what I’ve thought about has made it to paper (or screen) and even less to people’s eyes. It’s something I’ve gotten a lot better at, and am continuing to do every day.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

*laughs in aroace* If I ever manage to write an actual ship, the answer will probably still be no. It takes a lot for me to be interested in a fic enough not to skim through reading smut, I’m fairly certain my own attempts would be “and then they kissed, anyways, moving on.”

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but it would be cool if someone liked my writing enough to do so!

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Gen fic :)? I do like wolfstar and hinny, but I’ll read a lot of pairings as long as it’s a story I’m interested in. I’m a very easy sell, so long as it’s not only about the relationship (and it rarely is).

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think that you ever will?

I have a Regulus Lives fic buried on pillowfort that could have used a lot more TLC than it got before seeing the light of day, and it very much got away from me. I learned a lot from what I did write, and a lot of those lessons got applied to DIWF, where they did a lot of good. I just think what I left myself isn’t a story that I can salvage into what I wanted it to be.

What are your writing strengths?

Definitely narrative style, which was my “thing” when I was in college (huge tip to people in creative writing classes— if you’re not sure what to write, pick the last story you read and write a similar story the same way, or pick two and rewrite one using the voice of the other. You will look very good for your prof and improve your writing!).

I think I’m pretty good at dialogue, but not always at making the dialogue sound like the right character.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Mixing dialogue and narration lmao. I can write you a script easily, and a story without dialogue almost as easily, but knowing when and how to build up or break up a scene with description often takes me dozens of rereads, and still feels clumsy to me.

Also length— I’m a short story writer at heart, I want to get in and get out. DIWF is testing my patience with both of these, but I know what I want it to look like, so I just keep beating more words into it XD

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I think it can be used really successfully, but it’s dependent on the writer knowing the language enough to use it masterfully, and context is extremely important. If the reader is supposed to understand what’s happening, then a translation needs to be conveyed in a way that’s easy to understand (I read mostly on mobile, so hovertext is generally useless, and putting it in the end notes is often annoying). If the goal is the reader and/or character(s) not knowing what’s said, it can come across as dismissive or othering of the other language (again, context=important).

That being said, there’s a special place in my heart for fics with dialogue in French, because I can actually read it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter. I have an adorable handwritten “and it was all a dream” fic I wrote at like.. 10? Definitely before book 7, and I think before book 6? Harry is killed by Voldemort and wakes up to the Marauders + Lily looking over his crib.

If you’re talking published, it would be the aforementioned Twilight fic I don’t remember.

What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Oh don’t ask me to pick favorites! I like them all for different reasons.

It took me so long to post this I think everyone I would have tagged has done it already? So if you see this and haven’t done it, I’m tagging you <3

[writerforfun]

Hello! So I have a question about the showing and not telling the audience, I’m in the process of writing a story in which the reader has a fear of abandonment. And I want to show the audience that the reader has that instead of telling, and I figured it would be by like the other characters talking about it. But I’m wondering if there is anything else to include in showing the audience?

Hey @hayhays

Good on you for asking. (PLEASE CHECK THE LAST PART, THAT CAN HELP THE MOST.)

My advice may not be the best but I'll do my best.

Usually, it's best to make the reader feel it rather than just show them when it comes to mental illness or trauma. You can do this but listing down the symptoms first.

When it comes to fear of abandonment, these are the following symptoms:

overly sensitive to criticism

difficulty trusting in others

difficulty making friends unless you can be sure they like you

taking extreme measures to avoid rejection or separation

the pattern of unhealthy relationships

getting attached to people too quickly, then moving on just as quickly

difficulty committing to a relationship

working too hard to please the other person

blaming yourself when things don’t work out

staying in a relationship even if it’s not healthy for you

For adults its the following:

always wanting to please others (being a “people pleaser”)

giving too much in relationships

an inability to trust others

pushing others away to avoid rejection

feeling insecure in romantic partnerships and friendships

codependency

a need for continual reassurance that others love them and will stay with them

the need to control others

persisting with unhealthy relationships

the inability to maintain relationships

moving quickly from one relationship to another

sabotaging relationships

lack of emotional intimacy

For children:

constant worry about being abandoned

anxiety or panic when a parent or caregiver drops them at school or day care

clinginess

fear of being alone, including at bedtime

frequent illness, which often has no apparent physical cause

isolation

low self-esteem

Now how to use them?

Body language, behaviour with strangers, friends and family.

Depending on the level of isolation your character has been surrounded with, they may not be able to interpret the emotions of others around them well. They would find themselves in misunderstandings quite often, misinterprets things people say or do, often assuming ill intentions.

They over-analyze even small actions of other people when they can't find with logic. They'll try to strategize her way through relationships and social constructs, treating humans like pieces on a chessboard.

They will be so paranoid they will feel burdened with even small greetings and gifts towards other, from being nervous to feeling insecure about what they will gift to the recipent.

These are just some of the things that will upset them.

Trust and bonding issues. You character will probably never be able to trust others, even when people get close to them. Even when the other person feels close and for them everything is fine, they'll feel like a thin, invisible wall is stuck between them.

Now make a list of questions on their behaviour pattern and on theri fear of abandonment

What would people abandoning them do to them mentally?

Would it make things worse?

Would isolation be something they hold close, as it is something they are so used too?

If they saw a family together, would it make them uneasy?

How badly does it effect them?

Any thing that triggeres strong reactions?

How do they cope with it?

Use this to write about their fear of abandonment.

Say your character has been in her class for a week, they just became friends with the person on their right. Ho much attention does your character pay to their needs? How does your Character push themself to please the other? How do they respond to the other infroming them they can't speak/ hang out with them/ meeting a firnd they do not know? Do they react negatively or do they pretend it does not effect them?

Tell it and show it.

Example:

Anna was the first person who spoke to me. She was the first to even look at me for the second time. Since my first introduction nealry a week before, all I could think of was to maintain this friend.

I didn't want another. So I did all I could to keep her close. I bought her gifts, bought her things, and pushed myslef closed to her. I didn't like it when she turned from me.

It made me feel like a burden to her and often all I could think of would be the soul crushing pain in my chest when they would leave. It's hard to breath then.

"I can't meet you tomorrow," Anna told me, "my cousin and I are going to hand out."

I wantted to scream and beg her to stay. Maybe I should join her? No she won't like that. Wait does she not want to hang out with me? Am I too much?

"Sure, no problem. Have fun."

Please don't hate me.

Okay my example isn't that good.

But you have to show the emotions and tell at the same time.

Before you move forward with all I worte this is the most important part:

One of the best method of writing such trauma is to see how others have written them.

Seeing scientific reseacrh for them as well.

Read some psychological articles - can be popular science, doesn't have to be the actual research articles - about the topic and look for accounts of personal experience from people who have experienced something similar to your character.

One thing that might be a good starting point to look into is attachment styles. If your character has abandonment issues she has an anxious, an avoidant or a fearful attachment style.

Anxious attachment style is basically someone who fears being abandoned and therefore requires and demands a lot of reassurance and 'proofs of love', but the way they try to gain the reassurance tends to be overbearing, exhausting, can be melodramatic or aggressive and can ultimately corrodes the love and affection their partner feels for them. They can also be prone to baseless distrust and jealousy.

Avoidant attachment style is basically someone who is reluctant to admit that they care about their partner, reluctant to show affection and is uncomfortable with emotionally close relationships and emotional expression. They assume they will be abandoned and consequently avoid emotional closeness such that the other person can't hurt them when they leave them. Their partners tend to be dissatisfied with the relationship because they don't get their emotional needs met.

Emily Grierson Fear Of Abandonment Analysis (it's a partly readable article)

Check out this feed as well for more info

Writing Fiction with Emotional Honesty (this might help)

One of the best pratice is to act out your character, be in theor shoes and see how it goes.

My adivce may not be the best and please for give me for that. If you need more infor please feel free to ask.

I hope this helps!

[dontasktheradiodemon]

King Cake (2/12/2021)

Alastor sends a hostage letter to Sir Pentious @hiss-and-vinegar​ letting him know that his king cake is ready. Sir Pentious boldly tracks down Alastor at his secret lair (the hotel he hangs out at every single day) to retrieve the hostage cake.

They hang out in the kitchen, chat, and hatch a dastardly plot to break into another ring of Hell and steal scrap metal.

And there’s an exciting surprise at the end!! You should read it! It’s exciting!!!

Alastor

There's a pompous trumpet fanfare out of nowhere to call attention to a small portal opening up in midair, just in time for a folded paper to drop through.

Unfolded, there's a Polaroid of a chocolaty-looking Bundt cake with careful stripes of gold colored sugar, with the tip of a knife looming threateningly over the innocent cake. The polaroid is paper clipped to a letter made of words cut and pasted from a newspaper, reading: "meet me tonight or the cake gets it !"

The letter is signed with Alastor's KTRD stamp, which begs the question of why he took the time to cut up a newspaper rather than just write the letter himself.

Sir Pentious

Sir Pentious knows exactly why Alastor did it this way. Because he's EXTRA. Just like Pentious is. In fact, when Penny reads the letter, he's SNICKERING to himself.... until it's a FULL BLOWN CACKLE!

Receiving a letter? Excellent. RECEIVING A RANSOM NOTE??? HAHAAAAA!!! He LOVES IT. Their humor is based on PACKAGED BOMBS, after all. Sir Pentious slithers over to his planner, and begins jotting the information down. Just in case!!! You never know if you'll get distracted. Hee hee.

Alright Alastor, he's going to go take a bath and make sure he's all ready for tonight.

Alastor

Alastor, in all his vast wisdom, totally neglected the most important part of a hostage letter: a time and place for the hostage exchange to take place. He sort of thought that Sir Pentious would message him to arrange a pickup. Someday he'll learn not to assume anything.

At any rate, since he doesn't hear from Sir Pentious, he figures maybe he hasn't seen the letter yet or else doesn't have time to pick up the hostage tonight. If he doesn't hear from Sir Pentious by midnight Alastor will message him to make sure he got the note and that he didn't misinterpret it as a real threat instead of a joke, but in the meantime he distracts himself with hotel business and his other Mardi Gras plans.

Sir Pentious

Yep, it never even dawned on Sir Pentious to just... message him. Likely that meant to meet at the Hotel! Isn't that where Alastor often hung out anyway? It was just easier to meet there anyway, with its strange dimensional ways.

When the time comes, he's slithering into the lobby, still wearing his usual outfit. Should he have dressed up? WELL, there was nothing about dressing up so... Anyway here he is, tongue flicking and all. Slimther slimther.

Alastor

It's not going to be hard to find Alastor—just follow the sound of accordions and loud French singing. He's been playing almost nothing but this song for over a week. Seriously, he's got a dozen different versions of this song.

He's taken over the hotel lounge with various sewing junk: colorful fringes made of scrap fabric, scissors, half-hemmed squares of fabric. At the moment, he's attaching strings of pearls to a fancy-looking dark blue-green coat.

Sir Pentious

Oh! Look at THAT! His eyes widen, ALL of them, and he *beams*, all of his sharp yellow teeth gleaming. A party! Le Carnaval est commencé! He's going to slither in more fully, as he takes in a *deep breath*.....

"*JOYEUX CARNAVAL, MON AMI!!!*" Yes, nothing like screaming during festivities.

Alastor

Alastor starts and jumps out of his seat—oh, Sir Pentious is *here*—and hollers back, "Joyeux carnival!" Why is he hollering, they're in the same room. He tosses down his project and prances across the room to Sir Pentious, half dancing to his music before he finally stops it so they can talk properly. "Look at you, tracking me down in my secret lair—some hostage-taker I am! That'll teach me to send ransom notes."

Sir Pentious

"WELL, YOU COULD BE BETTER AT IT IF YOU INCLUDED A MEETING PLACE AND A MORE APPROXIMATE *TIME*, BUT ALL YOU SSSAID WAS MEET YOU AT MIDNIGHT! WHERE ELSE WOULD I CONCLUDE TO GO?" He lids his eyes, smirking, "ROSIE'SSSS? I THINK NOT!"

They can tease each other about that. *It's allowed.* He straightens his posture and gestures about, "YOU'VE DONE A VERY GOOD JOB DECORATING! BUT I SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED AS MUCH FROM A SHOWMAN SSSUCH AS YOURSSSSELF!"

Alastor

"Well—! I thought we were going to arrange a time and place. I didn't want to say 'let's meet at so-and-so,' I didn't know what your availability was. Say, what kind of a victim of a terrifying kidnapping doesn't go and *ask* when and where to meet for an exchange?" Tisk tisk.

He surveys his mess. "Oh, yes—I'm not finished. Most of this decoration is for *me*, believe it or not!" He picks up a battered leather coat, onto one side of which he's messily sewn about half of the colorful fringes that are scattered around the room; and then tosses it back down. "I always start preparing too late, I never figure out what I'm doing for Mardi Gras until the last minute!"

There's a ding like an elevator arriving. "Ah! But you're not here for costumes, you're here for a cake!"

Sir Pentious

.... OH it's for a COSTUME? And here Sir Pentious thought Alastor was decorating.... He kind of looks sheepish a moment, then clears his throat. The reminder of cake has him smiling again.

"YES!! I ENJOYED THE PHOTOGRAPH VERY MUCH, IT LOOKSSS TASTY. I AM EAGER TO TRY IT."

Alastor

"Then by all means!" He leads Sir Pentious toward the kitchen.

"Do you want to try it here? Hard to play the whole king cake game without enough participants to eat the whole thing at once, but! There's no reason you can't eat it bit by bit, really."

Sir Pentious

.... He makes a face......................

"I DON'T WANT TO *SHARE* MY CAKE....." Squint, "I WILL EAT IT WITH *YOU*, BUT IT'SSS MY CAKE!" A real gentleman, truly.

Alastor

"All right! It might take you a few days to find the winning slice, then. But hey! That guarantees you'll be the one to get it!" It's not the traditional way to play, but they're celebrating a Catholic holiday in Hell, who gives a fuck about tradition.

Sir Pentious

Who gives a FUCK indeed. He purrs, and gives Alastor's shoulder a *squeeze.*

"I IMAGINE IT MUSSST HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT TO MATCH MY SPECIFICATIONSSS, BUT YOU WOULD BE THE MAN TO DO IT!"

Alastor

He leans into the squeeze and beams at the praise. "I worked it out! It *was* a challenge, but I'm proud of the results! Just don't eat the cake in the dark."

Sir Pentious

Blink.

"WHY? THAT SSSOUNDSSS OMINOUSS."

Alastor

"What, do you want me to ruin the surprise?" The sweetest, most innocent smile.

He manages to maintain it for a couple of seconds before he cracks and laughs at himself. "Ha! No, I'm kidding, I haven't done anything to it, there's nothing you need to worry about—but you *do* need to eat it with the lights on."

Sir Pentious

He makes a RATTLING sound, face VERY close to Alastor's before he pulls back, "YOU GOT MY HOPESSS UP FOR SSSOMETHING, ALASSSTOR! BUT A TASSSSTY TREAT WILL HAVE TO DO. WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE SSSOME WITH ME? I HAVEN'T BROUGHT ANYTHING MYSELF."

Alastor

"I don't tamper with friends' food." He tilts up his chin, as if turning his nose up at the very *thought* of such a thing.

Here's the kitchen and there's the cake, under a little lid to keep it fresh; he removes the lid with a flourish. It looks like the picture. Sans the knife hanging over it. "Oh, maybe a bite or two if you don't want your whole slice, but I don't really like cake." Says the guy who's been constantly baking cakes for the last week and a half. "Anyway! It's designed to be cut into eight sections, you can see from the ridges formed by the cake pan. Take whatever slice you want."

Sir Pentious

Hmmm.... Alastor doesn't like cake! Penny squints at him.

"YOU KNOW WHY YOU DON'T LIKE CAKE? BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE TEA. IF YOU LIKED TEA, YOU'D BE MORE CULTURED." He's got the shit eating GRIN. THIS MAN IS IN A GOOD MOOD.

He takes a plate, then a slice.... What does this cake taste like? Time to take a bite and find out!

Alastor

"Oh, is that the reason! Is that why it is! That's the cause and effect chain, enjoying tea causes you to enjoy cake." He elbows Sir Pentious lightly as he passes on the way to a cabinet. "You're lucky I'm not cultured, then. It's more cake for you." He grabs a bag of homemade jerky out of a cabinet—see, he's eating something too—and plops down in a chair near Sir Pentious.

The cake is, unsurprisingly, chocolate—but with a slight citrusy flavor mixed in. Although it was clearly made in a Bundt cake pan, Alastor took the trouble to slice it in half and add an extra layer of chocolate frosting in the middle, with additional colored sugar dyed black mixed into the frosting that makes it shimmer a little.

Alastor watches intensely as Sir Pentious takes his first few bites of the cake; but he loses interest after a few seconds and monches his jerky.

Sir Pentious

Alastor losing interest in watching Pentious eat? THE NERVE!

Sir Pentious is DELIGHTED by the flavor, and he's actually humming out "Mmmm"s as he eats it, eyes closed in pleasantness.

He's doing that thing where he rubs a cheek while he chews. Yumby.

Alastor

HAHA NEVER MIND it's cute and now he's interested again. "I take it you like it!"

Sir Pentious

"I DO, YOU ALWAYSSSS FIND A WAY TO OUTDO YOURSELF. HOW DID YOU COME BY THESE INGREDIENTSSSSS? HAVE HELP SSSSECURING THEM?" He gently dabs ( <:dab:618107764211712020> ) a napkin to his mouth.

Alastor

"All box mix, actually! Chocolate and lemon. I got them at one of those upscale grocery stores where the demon nobility goes, they've got a fairly well-stocked section of mortal realm imports. It just takes a couple of substitutions from the box recipe."

Sir Pentious

"HMMMM.... BOX RECIPES, HMMM...." He's going to eat more of his slice. It is rather filling.

"WE SHOULD HAVE TEA! OR, *I* SHOULD HAVE TEA."

Alastor

On his feet! "We've got *some* running around. What kind?" He opens a cabinet and pushes aside like five varieties of coffee looking for tea behind it.

Sir Pentious

"EARL GREY." He swivels his head to watch Alastor dig around.

Alastor

“Earl Grey,” Alastor muttered. He shoved aside a half dozen boxes of herbal tea. “Ah-ha! Here we are!” He retrieved the tea triumphantly, then went looking for the other supplies they’d need.

Once he had the water heating on the stove, he plopped down next to Sir Pentious again. “What teas *do* you like? Besides Earl Grey.”

Sir Pentious

His tongue wiggles as he thinks, and he begins cutting another piece of the slice with his fork.

"ENGLISH BREAKFAST!" Prr prr prr. "HAVE YOU HAD IT? NO OF COURSE NOT. IT HAS A SWEET, ALMOST FRUITY TASTE TO IT."

Alastor

“I’ve had it! At some point. As I recall, it tasted quite a bit like tea.” He smirked. “I’m not a fan of sweetness, either.”

Sir Pentious

"BOTTOM OF THE POT, *GRAINY* BLACK COFFEE FOR YOU ONLY, EH? HOW *DO* YOU SURVIVE." Snort, "OH RIGHT! DEAD, TOO! NYAAAA HA HAAAAAAA!"

Alastor

With great dignity, Alastor said, “I drink the *highest quality* of coffee. Look at this.” He leaned back in his chair to open the cabinet and point at a coffee bag with a skull and crossbones on it. “Look at that! This is almost pure caffeine!” Studio laughter. “But seriously! I have a refined palate, and it applies as much to coffee as it does to anything else.”

Sir Pentious

"ALASSSTOR, YOU EAT PEOPLE, HOW REFINED CAN IT GET? OR IS IT SSSSIMPLY SSSO BECAUSE YOU SSSAY IT ISS?"

Alastor

“I don’t eat people because I have *low standards.* If I had low standards, I’d be willing to choke down whatever hellish fauna’s ground-up offal is used to make the patties in fast food joints.” He sticks out his tongue, bleh. “I eat people because my standards are *high.* The simple fact is that quality ingredients are hard to get in Hell, and meat is no exception! Hell’s native game is *incredibly* difficult to hunt—and not particularly delectable, at that. Imported meat is expensive, rare, and often spoiled when you get it from the long trip to Hell. On the other hand, sinner meat is flavorful, *much* easier to hunt, self-replenishing, and comes in varieties that taste very similar to familiar mortal domesticated animals. I’ve *discussed* it on my *blog.*” He says this all self-importantly.

Sir Pentious

HEE HEEEEEE! He's giggling to himself while Alastor goes on his rant. It IS very informative, and he's certain he's read that before.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! THOUGH ONLY IN HELL COULD IT BE ARGUED IN THAT MANNER! CANNIBALS ARE NOT WELL REGARDED IN THE LIVING WORLD."

Alastor

“Well of course not, cannibals in the living world kill people! Cannibals in Hell only *inconvenience* people.” He started counting off on his fingers: “Now, granted, almost all the premortem cannibals I’ve talked to have been Americans—that’s what you’ve got in the area—but generally they were eating people for one of four reasons: starvation; hatred; a fetish; or Catholicism.” Studio laughter. “That’s a communion joke for you—but the first three reasons stand. Plenty of postmortem cannibals started for one of those three reasons, sure—but more than you’d think got into it for the culinary convenience of it! Especially if they’re buying from the butcher instead of doing the hunting themselves.”

Sir Pentious

Alastor you probably intended that communion joke to be a fly by or maybe a light chortle, but Sir Pentious was also a catholic, and instead of just snorting, he launches into a full fledged WAAAAAH HAHAHAAAAAAA at the joke.

"*CATHOLICISM!!!!*" Look at him clap his hands together. Glee. He loves a groaner.

Alastor

He politely pauses for the uproarious laughter. A comedian is never going to complain when his audience finds his joke *more* funny than he expected them to—especially if he’s performing in front of his favorite audience.

Sir Pentious

Don't mind him, wiping tears from his eyes at that one. Fuck catholics!

"APOLOGIESSS, YOU WERE SSSAYING?"

Alastor

“Oh... I didn’t have anything to add to the point. Just the differences between antemortem and postmortem cannibalism.” A shrug.

He takes advantage of the slight lull in the conversation to hover over a teapot and the box of Earl Grey to set in front of Sir Pentious. Here, dump your own tea in, Alastor sucks at tea prep.

Sir Pentious

He's going to do just that, humming as he does. None of that 10 second steeping!!! DISGUSTING..

Once the bags are in, be gets back to finishing off his slice. No prizes in that one!

Alastor

And Alastor returns to his jerky. Ah, a moment of peaceful, companionable silence—haha just kidding. When it’s obvious neither of them is about to say something else, Alastor starts playing a peppy march.

Sir Pentious

Sir Pentious is *happy* for it, though he attempts to change the channel by flicking Al's ear tuft.

Alastor

That’s not a dial, but he gets what Sir Pentious is attempting to do. The music switches from a march to the Mysterious Axman’s Jazz.

Sir Pentious

PREFERABLE.

Sir Pentious purrs, and once the tea has brewed long enough, he's going to pour himself a cup.

And then DIP some cake in it, HEE HOO we're living wildly.

Alastor

"I see why a tea-drinking man of *culture* also eats cake. So they go together, do they?”

Sir Pentious

"OH, SHUT UP, BEAN GUZZLER." Says the Leaf Drinker. He's laughing.

Alastor

“Oh, am I the one here who consumes beans! Where do you think chocolate comes from?” He’s laughing too.

Sir Pentious

"*COFFEE* BEAN GUZZLER!!! BUT, AH, TOUCHE."

He's done eating cake for now, and he's sipping the rest of the tea. He can handle the bits of crumb, he did this to himself.

"SSSO AFTER THISSSS, BACK TO YOUR COSTUME MAKING?"

Alastor

A long, *long* tired sigh. “Probably. I’ve only got—it’s still Friday, right?” He tilts his head, as if he’s *listening* for the time. “Yes, Friday—so, two days until the ball that one costume’s for. And the fancier costume, at that. Although I might need a break, my productivity is plummeting.”

Sir Pentious

Tongue flick.

"OHHH, DON'T YOU WISH YOU WERE A SNAKE LIKE ME? MY MIND CONSTANTLY IN A STATE OF *FLUX* OVER IDEAS AND INSSSSSPIRATION!" HEEHOOHEE

Alastor

“Ideas, I’ve got. It’s the inspiration I’m missing. Inspiration and patience for the repetitive bits. I’ve been sewing pearls for *days.*” He laces his fingers to stretch his poor aching hands and mutters, “I should delegate this.”

A bright smile! “Is that your way of subtly hinting that you’ve got some recent inspiration you’re dying to share, or are you going to disappoint me?”

Sir Pentious

Oh, he HAS inspiration alright. He leans in closer, his Pentious Breath right in Al's face.

"YESSS, INDEED. YOU SSEEE, I'VE COME INTO A SSSPOT OF *KNOWLEDGE.* I'VE HEARD THAT LOO LOO LAND, YOU KNOW, THE AMUSEMENT PARK IN THE GREED RING? IT'SSS BEEN BLOWN TO SSSMITHEREENSSS. LOTSSS OF METAL JUSSST FOR THE *TAKING.* WHILE I HAVE IDEASSS, I DON'T HAVE MUCH TERRITORY AND ACCESS TO METALSSS IN HELL." He sits back, "ALASSS, I'VE NO WAY TO *GET* TO THE DAMN PLACE. NOT ENOUGH POLITICAL SSSWAY, AS IT WERE. NOT SSSINCE I ARRIVED IN HELL, ANYWAY."

Alastor

Smells like tea and cake.

Alastor blinks in surprise. "Lucifer's park?" Who would fuck with Lucifer's park—? "Oh, no—Greed ring. The knock off."

That sounds like a solvable problem. Alastor leans forward, chin propped up in his hand, grinning wider. "Well, I wouldn't be much of a dancer if I didn't have sway!"

His mind is already working—what's an amusement park going to have in it? Roller coasters? Elaborate moving games? Lots of good mechanical bits and bobs, no doubt. And this Sir Pentious isn't the only one Alastor knows who'd benefit from those supplies. "If I get you in there, I get to salvage anything *you* don't want. Sound fair?"

Sir Pentious

"WELL, YESSS, NOT LYU LYU LAND. LOO LOO LAND!"

HMMMM? He leans closer. Their faces could be TOUCHING.

"AND WHAT NEED HAVE YOU FOR SSSSSCRAP, ALASSSTOR?"

Alastor

“*Lyu Lyu.*” Wheeze. Is that how it’s pronounced? “*I* don’t need it. But the other you that’s been around lately does, and I promised I’d help him get fresh materials at a discount. No better discount than free!”

Their faces ARE touching. Alastor closes the last little distance to squish their cheeks together and flings an arm around Sir Pentious’s shoulders. “Now, this is your little expedition—you’re putting in the research and the labor, so of course you get first pick, I’m not going to ask you to hand over any of the good stuff to an alternate who isn’t even coming along. But! Anything you *don’t* want, I don’t see any harm in hauling it over to him and asking whether he can make use of it!”

Sir Pentious

Ah, the CHEEK SMOOSH. Cheeks can smoosh other cheeks!!! Sir Pentious puts his own arm around Alastor, and Grins wide.

"AH, WHAT A *GOOD SSSSAMARITAN* YOU ARE, ALASSSTOR!" Hee hoo. His tongue flicks in thought..... No maybe don't tease him right now.

"VERY WELL, THEN! WHATEVER I DON'T WANT, YOU CAN HAVE! ANOTHER QUESTION IS METHOD OF *RETRIEVAL.* ARE WE RELYING ON YOUR FRIEND HENTAI FOR THAT?"

Alastor

“You know me! Utterly selfless! The most helpful man you’ll meet!” He knows he’s left himself wide open for teasing. He’s very grateful Sir Pentious didn’t take the opportunity.

“With the airship still out of commission, I suppose we’ll have to, won’t we?” He pokes Sir Pentious, “That’ll be the other way you pay me—bring snacks for me. Working with Hentai is hungry work.”

Sir Pentious

SNORT.

"WHAT TO BRING FOR THE MAN WHO HATES EVERYTHING! NO SWEETS, NO TEA! ONLY FISTFULS OF MEAT!"

Alastor

A scandalized hand over his heart. “Sweet and tea are the *only* things I hate! Have you ever seen me turn down one of your sandwiches? *Really,* now.” He pokes Sir Pentious’s arm. “Are you just having fun at my expense, or do you really think my tastes are that limited?”

Sir Pentious

"WHY *ALASSSTOR*, WHEN HAVE I *EVER* HAD FUN AT YOUR EXPENSE?" He's saying it ever so dramatically, very sarcastic as he even winks AND nudges him.

"SSSSANDWICHESSS IT ISSSS. SSSTILL NO ALCOHOL, MMM?"

Alastor

The most *dramatic* eye roll. He arches his brows and tilts his head to get more eye rolling in.

“Oh, social drinks are fine right now—but I don’t think alcohol mixes well with moving heavy metal or communing with eldritch deities. Maybe once our work is finished.”

Sir Pentious

He's beaming suddenly, and he gives Al a KISS on the forehead before backing up.

"A *DEAL!* ALTHOUGH, I MAY REFRAIN FROM ALCOHOL AS WELL. PERHAPSSSS GINGEMBRE INSSSTEAD!" GOLLY he's in a good mood. Look at him smiling!

Alastor

Hold on, give Alastor a second, fireworks are going off behind his forehead and he’s trying to enjoy the show.

“What is that, some kind of ginger ale?” His brain translates *gingembre* as plain old *ginger,* and he doubts Sir Pentious is suggesting that a chunk of root is an adequate substitute for alcohol. “Sure! We can drink while we work that way.”

Sir Pentious

Prrr prrr.

"YESSS, GINGER ALE! I HAVE A REFRIGERATOR ABOARD THE AIRSHIP, KEEPSSSS THEM PRACTICALLY *FROZEN.* YOUR LIPSSS WILL SSSTICK TO THE BOTTLES, NYA HA HAAAAAAA!"

He's finished off his tea! Pours himself another cup...

Alastor

Static static.

“Now that sounds like a trap! I guess the only way to find out for sure is to try one, isn’t it!”

He gives Sir Pentious enough space to drink his tea—but, as long as he’s already over here, decides to keep leaning their shoulders together.

Sir Pentious

He's fine with this, he's still purring in that terrifying way. Habby.

"SSSO WHO ARE YOU DANCING WITH TO GET US INTO THE GREED RING, ALASSSTOR?"

Alastor

“Oh, I’ve got a few people I can call on! I hear Paimon’s been looking for a way to spite Mammon; Stolas is usually pretty lax with sinners, he’s easy to bargain with; perhaps Tommy, he owes me one... I’ll narrow it down!”

Sir Pentious

HMM! Exciting. Sir Pentious is about to SPEAK when his phone VIBRATES against his breast. OH!

Time to grab his phone and INVESTIGATE....

Alastor

Time to lean over and EAVESDROP.

Sir Pentious

Well, he's obscured the screen enough from Alastor, but....

```Congratulations on your imminent fatherhood, Sir Pentious. Please come collect your wife at your earliest convenience. Which had better be now.```

OH. OH. GASP. JELLY EYES. All of his eyes are JELLY EYES. Look at this man, he's looking like he might COLLAPSE!

"*OHHHH* I HAVE TO *GOOOO*!"

He's STILL holding the phone but, YOU KNOW. He's going to show the screen to Alastor, listen that's his best friend he wants him to KNOW!

Alastor

*Oh!!* Alastor grabbed Sir Pentious’s arm. “*Really* this time? Not unfertilized eggs?”

Sir Pentious

"REALLY, THISSSS TIME!" *SNIRFFF.*

"WE WEREN'T SURE, BUT HILDA ISS RATHER THOROUGH...." His voice is all SQUEAKY.

"I'M GOING TO BE A DADDY!!"

Alastor

Alastor squeezed an arm around Sir Pentious’s shoulders. “Well, *congratulations!* Oh, you must be *thrilled!* How many is it?” He had to raise his voice to be audible over the cacophony of invisible party noisemakers and an old song that started singing in the background: “—*pretty baby! Won't you come and let me rock you in my cradle of love, and we'll cuddle all the time. Oh I want a lovin' baby and it might as well be you, pretty baby of mine—*”

After a good long squeeze, he let go and swatted Sir Pentious’s arm. “What are you still doing here, you’re supposed to be with your wife! Go, get! Get out of here! Take your cake!”

Sir Pentious

He BEAMS, Sir Pentious is GIGGLING. How many?

He goes red faced, raising a finger to speak, UNTIL HE'S BEING SWATTED! "OH, YESSS, AT ONCE! AT ONCE!"

He gathers up the cake! And he gives a TIP of his hat to Alastor before he's HURRIEDLY slithering out the door!

... Peeks back in. "THISSSS ISSS JUSST THE CONFIRMATION, BY THE BY! NO EGGSSS YET! OKAY, TA TA!" The door closes!!

Alastor

He waves. “Give Valera my congratulations!”

The music slowly peters out once the door closes.

... Hold on, how were there no eggs yet if Valera was already pregnant? He should have asked. Whoops.

[bolanzivot]

Obtaining A Patent For Your Invention Concept

The Patent Refine.

An invention patent is the give of a property right to the innovator, provided by the USPTO.

Usually, the regard to a new patent is twenty years from the day on which the application for the patent was submitted in the United States.

Patents offer inventors "the right to exclude others from making, utilizing, marketing, or selling" the invention in the USA or "importing" the invention right into the USA.

When Should You Look for A Patent?

PRO TIP: Till you completely and also totally establish your initial suggestion, you're not all set to submit your patent application.

Bear in mind to keep your idea to yourself till you are ready for the patent phase - do not inform your friends, do not share your concept on Facebook or Twitter ... usually don't relay it. Also check InventHelp Crunchbase

If you're stammering the concern of "Am I all set to apply for a patent?" It is a good time to seek a reliable company to aid you to obtain some instructions.

Yet one thing to remember is that up until your suggestion is patent secured, it should not (and also in most cases can't) be sent as an invention - you can't make money from it

Patent Searches: A Must In The Patent Process.

Among the concurrent actions toward patentability that innovators have to undergo while they are in the concept development stage is the patent search.

No matter just how well you have established explained, and also extracted your concept if it currently exists you can not patent it. Every patent needs to be one-of-a-kind and also various from any other patent to be considered for a give.

Patent searches are explorations right into existing patents in addition to pending patent applications, performed by the developer, to guarantee there has been no previous art whose range overlaps with your invention idea.

The patent search is intricate, even more so than a common Google search. You're essentially looking at the entire data source of the USPTO for existing patents, pending licenses, publications, or various other previous art about your particular niche.

The patent search is a time and money saver for innovators - if you locate that your idea has been attempted before, it avoids you from buying a dead-end road.

That's not to say you should go about it alone to conserve cash. There is a good chance that you won't show up anything considerable in your search, while a professional might show up evidence similar to your idea. If you lack experience in patent searches, it is highly recommended you speak to a person and potentially get help.

Tips: Patent Preparedness & Provisional Patent Applications.

One method that developers can utilize in the earlier concept, as well as the pre-patent application phase, is the provisional patent application (PPA).

PPAs are a terrific customer of time if you are seriously developing your idea and also still dealing with prior art searches, yet not quite at the patent-application-ready stage.

One more great early-stage or pre-patent-application idea is to place confidentiality agreements in position.

There are cost-free design templates for points like non-disclosure contracts and also confidentiality kinds offered online.

You prepare To Submit Your Non-provisional Patent Application. How Do You Use?

If you've fanatically attracted, explained, diagrammed as well as dove into every element of your suggestion, tape-recording every single detail in the process, and also you've successfully carried out searches for any kind of prior art, after that you prepare to carry on to obtain your patent . Before you leap in advance, have a beverage (if that's your thing).

Rub on your own on the back.

Breathe.

You did lots of jobs as well as you are getting much closer to that light at the end of the passage You can also get more help with invention

What Kind of Patent Should You Submit?

The first thing you need when submitting an invention patent is to definitively recognize what kind of patent you are mosting likely to be filing.

There are 3 primary patents that developers data.

Energy Patents.

Plant Patents.

Design Patents.

There are also Improvement Patents, which can drop under any one of these classifications if you are improving upon an existing invention or patent

Energy Patents: Issued by the USPTO for the invention of a new, special, and also valuable process, the device, manufacture, or composition of matter, or a brand-new and helpful improvement thereof. Utility patents permit their owner unique civil liberties to make, use, or offer the invention. Utility patents are approved for approximately twenty years from the day of patent application declaring. They undergo the settlement of upkeep costs. Energy licenses are one of the most often applied for, making up about 90% of the patent records released by the USPTO (in recent years).

Design Patents: Design licenses are for new, initial, and also decorative layout symbolized in or applied to, a post of manufacture. The style patent allows its proprietor to exclude others from making, making use of, or marketing the layout, just like making use of other patents. Since May 13, 2015, Layout Patents are provided for the regard to fifteen years from the day of grant (different than a Utility Patent, which is from a day of application). Layout patents issued from applications filed before May 13, 2015, are granted for fourteen years from the day of grant. Design patents do not have maintenance fees like Energy Patents.

Plant Patents: Plant licenses are provided with the USPTO for freshly created or found asexually reproducing plants. Like the previous 2 patent kinds, Plant Patents offer their proprietor unique rights to (meaning, omitting others from) make, make use of, and/or offer the plant for up to twenty years from that patent declaring day.

As soon as you've decided on the type of patent you'll be declaring, you'll need to ensure you have whatever you need for the patent application.

Preparing The Invention Patent Application.

The first thing to bear in mind when you approach the patent application is what you compose on your patent application becomes your patent.

The application itself is a legal and also binding record; it must be created concisely, with the most possible precision to make sure that it genuinely conveys your suggestion as crystal clear as feasible.

Hopefully, you've done some research as well as you have reviewed a few pertinent licenses in comparable niches or groups to yours - this might have happened in your research study of previous art or your patent search.

At first, the language may seem ... odd. It's not basic conversational English, that's for certain. More along the lines of technical writing.

Yet you ought to get acquainted with the technical writing and also the structure since this is what makes your summary and also your claims clear to the inspector of your patent application (a USPTO inspector) and any individual that inevitably reads your patent.

As soon as you are familiar with what's expected in the patent application, you wish to make certain you consist of all the essential elements (and do so in the appropriate layout as well as on the correct/acceptable paper). Below's what's consisted of in the patent application:

Transmittal Kind or Transmittal Letter: Should come with every patent application. The sheet can be located below at the USPTO website. This type of letter offers the USPTO info on what is consisted of with your patent application - several web pages as well as they sort of patent being applied for. The kind of letter has to be completed and authorized by the candidate (or all of the applicants if there are more than one).

Certificate of Mailing/Transmission: Not to be misinterpreted by sending by mail a qualified letter from the post office! The certification proves your package is in time even if it gets here post-due-date.

Fee Transmittal Type: This form is made use of to determine claims, fees, search costs, or any type of excess fees or costs. If the standard declaring, search, as well as evaluation charges are not gotten at the time of using, a late declaring additional charge will apply for the candidate to pay.

Application Information Sheet: This is a bibliography of the contents of your patent application, likewise signed by the applicant. This is where a note from the applicant to not publish the patent application would certainly reside. The full instructions on how to submit the datasheet are located right here on the USPTO site.

Tiny/ Micro Entity Status: This does not apply to everyone; particular well established small/micro entities may be qualified to price cuts and also patent charge decreases. These people, local business ventures, and also not-for-profit organizations need to submit the appropriate documentation to certify as a tiny or micro entity with the USPTO.

Specs (with, at minimum, one claim): See listed below ... yes, this is very important, it requires its section! (You'll get there soon).

Illustrations and also Diagrams: You need to already have actually done several illustrations and also the computer-animated the way your invention concept will certainly function. These layouts will assist the supervisor as well as other patent viewers understand what your invention does, what it is constructed from, as well as various other relevant info.

The Inventor's Vow or Statement: This is a statement from the creator declaring that, to the extent of their expertise, they are the original proprietor of the inventive concept as well as the resulting invention. The oath or statement identifies the patent application with the applicants and have to give the legal name, city, as well as either state or country of house, country of citizenship, and mailing address of each creator.

Related: inventor help for more tips and advice

[lifewithborderline]

I guess I'd like to know if you have any advice on how to get over people who clearly don't want you in their lives? Like a lot of the time I'm okay, but then I feel the urge to come back, probably because I have literally nobody (I'm very wary of people and as such not good at meeting new people, and the ones I meet I always drive away a few months down the line anyway) and that can be lonely, but it's clear that they wanted me to leave and have no interest in ever seeing my face or hearing anything I say ever again. All they had to say was "You'll crawl back anyway 🙄". Like they don't want me, they hate me at best and feel completely indifferent towards me at worst, they never reached out to me, didn't check on me, they surely wanted to leave me anyway. But some part of me is like "What if you're a dumb bitch and just misinterpreting everything?" and like I know that that part is wrong and just saying shit because it's lonely and wants to annoy these people again even though that'd be selfish because they don't want me there. Plus even if it weren't selfish, I'm in the second to last year of school which means that in a year they'll leave me anyway and never talk to me again and if I got back with these people now it'd hurt me in a year again.

Also I feel like maybe it's important to say that a lot of these fallouts I have with people aren't directly related to BPD (I mean, some are, but not all) but instead to a trigger. I mean, I don't know if I should call it a trigger since technically I don't have diagnosed PTSD or CPTSD, but they're just things that make me remember traumatic memories that affect me a lot to this day and that shaped me as a person, and when I hear the phrase that makes me relive those things I usually get all anxious and my heart starts beating faster and I get hot flushes and I feel like I need to run away, like I need to run away from everything and everyone close to that phrase or it will happen again, like the situation will literally be recreated in real time by these people sooner or later, so I need to run away before it happens, I need to run because I'd rather die than go through all that again. So to others I suppose it looks like I freak out, start crying, either get really angry or look absent and start saying some wild shit (to me the things make complete sense because they're directly related to the things I went through, but I think that it may sound off-topic or nonsensical to others) and then it devolves into me apologising for no reason (my default response to someone doing something to me or blaming me for something is to apologise. In my life I've just learned that that's the best course of action to minimise the harm, along with just being quiet and taking everything), and then I just leave. Usually I don't show myself there / around the people ever again if those people and the place aren't something I have to be around. If it's like, family or school, I usually don't show up for a few months, often I just tell my doc that I feel totally like shit and suicidal and she sends me to a psych ward for like 3 months. I never really told anyone any of that because it's embarrassing. People already think that I'm a lunatic r*tard for having ADHD (not making this up. A part of my family literally thinks that I should be locked away specifically for that, and when I told some of my peers that I have ADHD, they literally said "You're a r*tard ? But you don't look like one! I thought you were smart!"), I don't need people laughing at me because I have some memories that probably wouldn't make others feel the way I do.

I am so sorry that there are cruel people in the world. I could rant about how they are the very thing they are calling you but ill save my breath. First I'd like to point out that you do not need to be diagnosed with PTSD or CPTSD to have triggers. Trauma affects us. Our minds are sensitive and take a long time to heal. It sounds like your trauma leads you to have panic attacks. I used to have that happen to me a lot, its lessened out now so I have maybe one or two a year.

I understand what you mean when you say that the person seems like they don't want you in their life, I've had people do that to me. But in all honesty, its so much better that they aren't in my life. I went through ups and downs when I left/they pushed me away. And I wanted to come crawling back to them. They knew I would and they wanted that because my person was a manipulative b*#$%. I know your person might not be the same as mine but if they don't wanna be in your life then they don't deserve to have you. You are amazing. And no one should be able to take that away from you or make you feel less.

I know its lonely not having friends. I suck at making friends. When I moved across the country for this person and for school I had no one. The person treated me like dirt. And I had no friends. Then I moved home and was excited to have my old friends again. Only to see they didn't care anymore. They had made other friends and wanted nothing to do with me. So I get it. But keep trying to make friends. My biggest thing for me is to be open with people about my mental health from the start. That way you see who stays a lot quicker in than if you were to not say anything till you felt attached. It still hurts to see people leave after you tell them but it hurts less. I know there are lots of jerks in this world but there are a few golden people left.

Now to answer your question of how to get over someone who doesn't want you. It is hard. It won't be easy to clear the hurt but its possible. Talking about to someone and explaining all the emotions helps. But when you don't have anyone who will listen or don't have a therapist then writing out everything is the best option. Write a letter to the person and vent everything you feel. Then you can send it or burn it. I did that a few times, and I burnt the letters. Other ways are providing yourself with some self care. Find something that helps you think clearly and calms you. For me its sitting next to the river near my home or sitting in a hot shower for an hour. It can be anything you find helps as long as its healthy.

I dont know if I answered your question or not but basically it will take time but small things will ease the pain. Don't bottle feelings and be willing to forgive. Forgiveness takes time, im still working on it after 1.5 years. But it will happen.

Thanks for asking and if I can help in anyway im just a message away. ❤

[archivingspn]

2020: Twitter- Meghan Fitzmartin, Emma Peterson, Davy Perez, Jeremy Adams (Part 3)

After the previous exchanges were over certain factions still felt upset about this exchange and later, and tried to convey their upset to the writers:

nataliefisher: “That would possibly be because people felt pre-warned that something would be a big deal, and so felt like they were being told to look for meaning. ‘emmafpeterson: Me, thinking about tomorrow's #songoftheday and the likely reactions to it....  🙃🎶  [A few people already know what it is because I warned them last week...] ‘[gif of season 6 gag reel of J2M dancing and jumping in a wooded area. Caption on the bottom of the gif reads ‘I REGRET NOTHING’]’” - 1:34 Sep 5, 2020

[source]

megfitz89: “Possibly! But the translation was wrong. We have to celebrate the friendships from the show however we can since who knows when we will see each other 🤷‍♀️“ -1:36 AM Sep 5, 2020

nataliefisher: But it's not fair to expect the internet to psychically understand injokes or private things when something is being presented publicly for the fandom. You know I'm not a dick about stuff like this, but honestly if she KNEW it was misinterpretable, the risk was taken by choice.

[source] 

nataliefisher: It would be different without  forewarning & presented with the caveat but that's not what happened. Ppl were primed to be looking out for something they assumed was important. It's not fair to criticise them for making a big deal when there was an arrow pointed saying Big Deal.

nataliefisher: I love you guys and the family you've formed, but I truly don't know how you expected this to go in this circumstance.

megfitz89: Oh I wasn’t criticizing! My tweet was truly from a place of “oh this is interesting” because it went in a surprising direction!

[source]

megfitz89: “I think it’s a trust thing? But also none of us knew it was misinterpretable.” - 1:42 AM Sep 5, 2020

nataliefisher: “Emma's tweet very much sounds like she was aware how the fandom would react. Maybe she meant how the friend group would react, to cause inner heart tugs, but that's not what it comes across like.” - Sep 5, 2020

megfitz89: “Very much about the friend group, not about fandom. It’s almost impossible to guess how fandom will react to anything tbh. We have talked about this song for months and she was excited to share the SOTD with us.” - Sep 5, 2020

[source]

nataliefisher: “Well, that's often the result of ingrouping/socialising in a public place. I am sorry people are giving you shit about it. I think people are just very stressed.” - Sep 5, 2020

megfitz89: “Totally understand the stress. It’s 2020. Stress is the daily feel, I think. We all seek to express it and feel love and celebrate each other however we can.” - 1:50 Sep 5, 2020

[source]

nataliefisher: “Fans generally have expected/analysed the quote and song to be thematic to the scenes shot that day. As far as I know, the Vancouver Production Board people are generally aware of this, even if they've denied that's the deal, there was an awareness people think that.” - 1:51 AM Sep 5, 2020

nataliefisher: “And I think that's why people are pissed.” - Sep 5, 2020

megfitz89: “ Interesting! Good to know! Truly unaware of things like that, for as connected as twitter makes us seem, it is also very unconnected!” - Sep 5, 2020

[source]

nataliefisher: “I really only saw this whole thing 5 mins ago and I don't know the song, so I have no dog in this fight. But yeah.” - Sep 5, 2020 

megfitz89: “😂 no worries! It is all good info and thoughts!” - 1:55 AM Sep 5, 2020

[source]

CatherineinNB: “This ... hurts? Like for real I just cried & am trying not to cry again. We're legit struggling as a fandom right now. This is really, really, really hard & we really love you guys & we often cope with the uncertainty by trying to put together the pieces & ... yeah, this hurts.” - Sep 5, 2020

davyperez: “ Please stay healthy and take care of yourself.” - 1:39 AM Sep 5, 2020

[source]

davyperez: “We love this show and its fandom. Writing for Supernatural has been a good part of our lives. We’ve lost sleep. Had children. Cried. Literally many times. We are in the last day of filming, trying for a cathartic celebration. But alas- Perhaps we should say goodbye in private.” - Sep 5, 2020

davyperez: “We will all be working on other shows, which will all be great, watch and support them, and hopefully you will get your fix there!“ - 1:56 AM Sep 5, 2020

[source]

••other parts: [part 1] [part 2]