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identityarchitect · 2 years

Text

[18/12 version; check notes to see if theres an updated version]

quick summary:

- newt schottelkotte posts an article about RQ mismanagement & exploitation (https://medium.com/@newtschott/whos-afraid-of-alex-j-newall-ae3a67f3a5e1)

- the first version of the article didn't note that newt is a marketing director at fable and folly, another podcasting network; this has now been edited in

- they cite approximately three sources in total, mostly coming back to unverifiable anonymous RQ affiliates (ex employees, people who were offered a position, etc). the other two sources are a tweet from RQ specifically about the official discord, and a line in the beginning stating that "The information presented in this article is not only taken from interviews with my sources, but publicly available data that I was able to find and access.". there is no further clarification of what data, where it came from, etc, and the only time a source is linked or references is the aforementioned tweet from RQ.

ETA: this is false! there are multiple sources on multiple different things.

- (https://rustyquill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Operations-Update-2020-PUBLIC-RELEASE-1.pdf) this RQ operations update was used to source two quotes on RQ's payment structure. it's worth noting that the payments listed in the article are all above both the uk minimum wage and (with the exclusion of the £11 figure) the national living wage (https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates, https://www.livingwage.org.uk/calculation)

- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1438175815615791111?s=20&t=m1Z2vI0Fmpvq3gVt72gIvQ) this rq tweet was used to source a screenshot from rq's statement about the discord.

- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1408001969218859008?s=20&t=ngBXzvyzl4PJY9XpOL7DjA) this rq thread was used to source a screenshot from rq about the transcripts.

- there is a relevant link to the unofficial fan transcripts, although i personally wouldn't necessarily call this a source.

- (https://medium.com/acast/how-to-go-from-0-to-millions-growth-strategies-for-fiction-podcasters-fde8d6dc0cb5) this callum dougherty interview was used to source a quote from callum dougherty about TMA's success.

- the interview is misquoted. newt's article quotes:

"Believe it or not, Magnus was something of a hit right out the gate. Comparative to I guess what would be considered a popular audio-drama podcast now. It found an audience quite quickly… To borrow a phrase from Alex Newall [Rusty Quill CEO and founder], I’d also mention that nothing at Rusty Quill — despite what it might seem — has ever happened by accident. And the factor that I would consider — and this may be my own ego — is the show began to grow really dramatically because this was the point that I came in."

- this misses out a relevant paragraph, reading

"Though what I would certainly say is that it was in 2019 that the show began to grow, and it went on what I would describe as a 10-month journey from being considered a very popular podcast, to the most popular fiction podcast in the world. That was a line of growth that looked pretty much like a straight line upwards, where we were finding month-on-month listenership doubling at a point. Every single month you could see it — there were hundreds of thousands, now there was a million this month, and it would go in that direction." (emphasis my own)

- newt's article goes on to state

"As someone who engaged in the fandom side of audio drama for a long time, including the period of Magnus’ rise to popularity to its finale, I remember things quite differently. TMA wasn’t nearly the smash hit Dougherty describes until about 2019, when the season four finale saw the consummation of Jon and Martin’s slow-burn enemies-to-lovers storyline. Until that point, I had never heard of TMA." (emphasis my own).

- it's also worth noting that newt's article didn't include the typical ellipses in square brackets to indicate missing text from a quote - it simply has an ellipses, which makes it seem that dougherty trailed off and then continued.

- at the end of the article, there are multiple links to social media accounts of people who may provide a list of laid off employees, intended for those looking to hire ex-RQ employees

- the rest of the claims made are either unsourced or from newt's anonymous sources.

- RUSTY QUILL HAVE RESPONDED: https://rustyquill.com/2022/12/13/public-response-to-an-opinion-piece/

- FABLE AND FOLLY HAVE ALSO RESPONDED: https://fableandfolly.com/2022/12/15/our-statement-on-the-article/

- rq has posted crew testimonials: https://rustyquill.com/crew-testimonials/

- tal, one of the editors, not affiliated w/ f&f, says this isn't a marketing thing, was run past two editors and multiple lawyers

- there's some truth in the article, mostly a lot of plausible but unverifiable things, and some plain misinformation / bad faith readings [i.e; article states that "there’s a very good chance that the list on Kickstarter of stretch goal guest writers may be the totality of the people in the audio fiction indie world that have still not had an experience with Rusty Quill." this is provably false; many of the guest writers have RQ podcasts or have interacted with RQ before, although it may be intended to mean bad experiences rather than simply an experience]

- ben meredith retweeted the article w/o comment; not sure what he's agreeing with. he also liked a tweet reading "Alright, read the thing. I’m terribly sorry for everyone who has been dealt with so badly by Rusty Quill - and I can only imagine the distress that must have incited this action. I hope these concerns are taken seriously, and that these issues are resolved swiftly.“ (https://twitter.com/GejWatts/status/1602420853630697475)

- ben meredith has now un-retweeted the article, although he hasn’t unliked the tweet about it

- malevolent podcast's official twitter posted

"I don't know much but I will say that if you decide to stop listening to my show; a show I work so very hard on, because of an article that presumptively and poorly attempts to speak for me, then I think you're hurting the thing you intend to be helping." (https://twitter.com/MalevolentCast/status/1602441871992782849?s=20&t=Z_86aECzgsdU9OgtfoiU6g)

- "harlan guthrie [creator of malevolent], quoted above, spoke on the topic in his discord server, invictus. i'm nor comfortable posting screencaps of his words, which were not intended as a public statement, without permission, but the highlights include: "The timing, authorship, and intent of this article doesn't sit well with me." "Overall, this isn't a watergate, neither is it an expose of a dangerous company, it's akin to a glassdoor report with half truths. My experience with RQ has been absolutely fine across the board." "The contract is in no way misleading nor manipulative the way the article would make it seem (no moreso than any other contract)"" (via orchidbreezefc on tumblr; i am not personally in this discord)

- malevolent podcast’s tumblr also posted this:

https://www.tumblr.com/malevolentcast/703493906802868224/you-probably-already-know-about-this-but-an

- the creator(? correct if wrong) of The Town Whispers and Tiny Terrors tweeted:

"What do I say here? I work day and night on @/TheTownWhispers & @/tinyterrorspod. I personally create, fund, produce, and direct my shows. What a shame to see someone speak on behalf of what I and others have built for years at our own expense dominate the conversation. No one reached out to me about "the article" ahead of time, no one asked me if I consented to be spoken for, I don't appreciate people victimizing me & weaponizing it for personal gain, & I don't appreciate that it's being passed off as a benevolent act of courage on my behalf." (https://twitter.com/ColeWeev/status/1602447361045065728?s=20&t=aAf1T5fen0FzXuAAllevLA)

- woe.begone's official twitter tweeted: "The only thing I want to say about The Article is that I am concerned that readers will believe things about my show and my relationship to my network that have not been my experience. I think this is what others mean when they describe feeling "spoken for."" (https://twitter.com/woebegonepod/status/1602453798332538881)

- the cellar letters twitter tweeted: "About the article: I am not going to attempt to invalidate anyone's thoughts or feelings... but I will say that it absolutely does not speak for me or align with my relationship and experiences with the network or anyone involved at the company. Love you all. Go create stuff." (https://twitter.com/CellarLetters/status/1602457106271330304)

- multiple people have reportedly been blocked by newt on twitter for criticising the article, or asking questions about it. (https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602425447098228737?s=20&t=IQ9wZJuHgqX2mgfDvTizqA, https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602455204557127681?s=20&t=j22xMz0Hxw0yvW6Oz7B8SQ)

- alexander j newall has given a statement to podnews! it reads;

"Redundancies can be a highly emotional topic but this opinion blog is full of provable factual inaccuracies and its writers include individuals that hold senior positions at competitor companies that stand to monetarily gain from a reputational attack. We were approached for comment under false pretences and were not given a copy of this piece by the author. Numerous cast, crew and contractors have notified us directly in solidary about similarly misleading approaches made to them for this blog.

Rusty Quill has already internally released its 2023 Operations Update which included factual information on these topics along with information on out 93% RQ Network creator retention rate and our independent Employee Satisfaction Survey which scored an exceptional minimum of 4.3 out of 5 in all areas. This Operations update is due for public release in the new year."

(https://podnews.net/update/audio-drama-company-drama)

- audio editor michelle snow made a thread about this: https://twitter.com/MeeshSnowDoes/status/1602717570729132035?s=20&t=mMfAO5TjNFBNWQ_aMfhsHw

- in the (unofficial) “Rusty Quill PLEBS” discord, the creator of the storage papers said “The RQN stuff - I'll just say it's not entirely accurate or, at least, it's not the full picture which means it's painted in an unnecessarily bad light. I can't comment on the RQO stuff because I'm as much in the dark about that as anyone. But, as others on RQN have said, there's at least some of that that hasn't been my experience (and, for the record, I myself am not legally obligated to not say negative things about RQ).”

- annie (an RQ editor) retweeted this (https://twitter.com/serhawke/status/1602375132579827713?s=20&t=Q3iAjLLwsdIqYShTKinvHw)

- this thread also has a useful tweet further up on how to assess the utility of a source:

"PURPOSE - what was it meant to achieve? ACCURACY - can the facts be proven or disproven? CONTENT - what does it actually tell you? LIMITATIONS - what is it NOT telling you? Why? AUTHOR - biased? DATE - was its publication date "convenient" for any reason? Firsthand or hearsay?"

[this method is from their partial study of history in uni]

edits: added crew testimonials, updated tl;dr

tldr: newt (marketing director at a different podcast network) posted an article making serious allegations of mistreatment & worker exploitation towards RQ. the article has some plain misinformation, some truth, and mainly unverifiable info from anonymous sources

multiple rq creators stated they weren’t asked about this, and that their experiences w/ rq aren’t accurate to the article and/or that it doesnt speak for them. all of the crew testimonials from rq’s post are positive.

rq have responded, saying that the allegations made in the article are false. fable & folly have responded, saying that newt made + posted the article of their own accord. i think newt’s working on a followup article, which i’ll add here when it’s released

#rusty quill

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lynnlyrae · 25 days

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The lost name

I think Vanitas’s real name could be Deucalion.

In this text I’ll cover my reasons for choosing this name, its connection to the story of Noah and the myth of Pandora and how would it correlate with the relationship of Vanitas and Noé.

Posting this as an actual answer to @scar-eyejolteon14 as promised here.

The lore of Deucalion

It all started when I was wondering what kind of name I could give Vani if I were to draw him as a Chasseur (ordinary human, who’ve never met Luna and never inherited their name). I began with the most obvious thing: checking Vani’s wiki page for existing details and references. I went with his zodiak sign, Aquarius, as the staring point, because stars and celestial bodies are recurring theme in VnC and well why not?..

The next obvious place to go is wiki page for Aquarius. Here we come across a fun thing: Babylonian star catalogues. They contained lists of stars, constellations, and planets.

I found the first picture on a somewhat strange website, but whatever. This is a fragment of a circular star calendar, which belonged to the library of King Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC) in Nineveh. The second picture is a star list, found in Uruk (320-150 BC). It had information on all constellations such as names, number of stars, their distance, etc. Just so we understand that astronomy was a big deal there.

And yes, the capital of Babylonia was Babel — that one city with the tower (The Book of Genesis, Genesis 11) which is referenced in VnC.

(Ch. 21)

What did Babylonian astronomers think of Aquarius? Well, they associated this constellation with the Ea. “The Great One” is his title. He’s also known as Enki, god of magic, fertility, creation, etc., who was originally a water god (and his temple name E-apsu means “house of the watery deep", idk I think it sounds really cool). The water theme is not random: Aquarius was also associated with floods. Water was sacred, but also deadly: floods were source of destruction.

Later, a Latin author Gaius Julius Hyginus quoted an Alexandrian historian Hegesianax that Deucalion is to be identified with Aquarius, "because during his reign such quantities of water poured from the sky that the great Flood resulted." Again, we see the idea of destructive flood. But where does Deucalion bring us? To Noah. Or Noé, if you will.

(Ch. 1)

Deucalion and Noah

Both Deucalion and Noah are central figures of the classical flood myth, which exists in various cultures. While these two are probably among the most popular figures, there are other examples, including Utnapishtim, who was warned by the god Ea (who also created humans among other things) about the flood and instructs him to build a boat and save his family and animals. The stories of Deucalion and Noah follow the same pattern with some minor variations. But Deucalion is the one who is associated with Aquarius, the constellation that symbolizes the coming of the flood and all its terrors, while Noah/Noé is associated with salvation of human race and all living things.

Deluge, 1864, by Aivazovsky. This painting depicts a beginning of a biblical story about the near-end of human race. It’s pretty much the same in other versions of the story.

Deucalion and Pandora

What’s interesting, Deucalion’s myth is directly related to Pandora’s myth. Deucalion is usually described as the son of Prometheus, while Deucalion’s wife Pyrrha was the daughter of Pandora. And Pandora’s myth is among the core themes of “Pandora hearts”. If we consider the possibility of VnC and PH’s universes being connected, the idea of Deucalion being Vani’s true name would also make sense… For example, this theory covers the topic.

Left – Noah gives Thanks for Deliverance, 1901, by Domenico Morelli. Here we see Noah from the Old Testament, with his family, as they give thanks for their safe deliverance back to land after surviving the flood. A double rainbow signifies God’s presence.

Right – Deucalion and Pyrrha, 1636–1637, by Rubens. This painting shows a scene from the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses. After surviving the disaster, they had to throw stones over their shoulders, each of which became a new human being.

Even if worlds of Pandora Hearts and Vanitas no Carte don’t exist in the same universe, there clearly is thematical relation between the two stories, one being about hope and another about despair. What’s even more interesting, there was actually a whole discourse about what’s hidden in Pandora’s jar: is it true hope or is it actually an illusion of salvation which hurts even more than actual despair? The translation of the word elpis, the spirit of hope in the jar, is actually neutral in its meaning. It’s simply “hope”, not inherently “good” or “bad”, which leaves a lot of space for interpretation in media.

Vanitas and Noé

Volume 3 cover implies that Vanitas will be marked by an Archiviste. It’s unknown whether this Archiviste would ne Noé or Machina or even some other. I hope it’s gonna be Noé, because it would break a specific border between them and it will definitely be very dramatic, but Machina might do it for the sake of obtaining information, which is her main thing. Anyway, regardless of who does this, when and why, I believe that this moment is probably the real possibility for revealing the true name of Vanitas.

On a side note, it would also be kinda interesting if Noé gets to know Vani’s true name, but it will still be hidden from us, the readers. There’s is also a possibility that Vani’s true name will not be revealed even in this situation. His goal is to erase everything related to the Vampire of the Blue Moon, and I guess that would mean erasing everything about himself too. But in Ch1 he promises to stay here even after he is gone, so it might imply that at least someone will get to remember him — perhaps as Xxxx the human, not Vanitas, kin of the Blue Moon. Which might mean going against Luna’s request…

(Ch. 50)

And, well, Xxxx could de Deucalion. Just think about it: wouldn’t it be cool if both Vani and Noé were given names with similar symbolism behind it and later both assume the moniker of Vanitas?

Plus the whole “loop” thing, like “memory loop” theory and “time loop theory” (here and here) again adds to the idea of connection between them. The loop where ends and beginnings melt into each other, like Ouroboros eating its own tail. The loop between Vanitas and Noé, where they will have to understand pointlessness and hopefulness of life – and what does in mean to save and be saved.

The ultimate hope of survival becomes fleeting dream for all caught in this loop. But every dream is destined to end, as pointed by Saint Germain. And what will happen, when Vanitas and Noé will have to wake up from the dream of their own? What will prevail - death and futility of life or salvation and rebirth?

(Ch. 55)

#vanitas no carte #memoir of vanitas #the case study of vanitas #vnc meta #vnc theory #vnc vanitas #vnc noé #vnc #mochizuki jun #case study of vanitas #noe archiviste #mochijunverse #vanitas no carte meta #vanitas no carte theory

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imabeautifulbutterfly · 16 days

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Hi Mimi!!!!!!! So excited for your celebration!!!! Congrats on the followers!!!!!

I'm asking for my beloved Sergeant, naturally XD Here's some prompts!

"Don't sign to me in that tone."

"Do that again, and I'll throw you out the window. Wait, what are you doing?" "Checking how high the drop is; seeing if it's worth it."

"Don't go where I can't follow...please, I need you."

@dragonrider9905 Ahhhhh! I was so excited to see your request. You always give me such awesome requests.

I really hope you like this, I left it open ended for you.

Love oo

Don't Go

Warning: Injury, bantering, bickering, blaster fire, almost getting shot, flirting, angst, I think that's it, let me know if I miss anything.

Italics - flashback

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Hunter sat beside your cot, holding your hand, pressing your fingers to his lips. Tech was busy focusing on the scanner, and trying to understand the readout. He got up and moved to the communication station, Hunter could sense his uneasiness, Tech’s sweat doubled in the last few seconds. Something must be wrong.

His eyes fell back on your face, it looked so different from what it usually was. Where was the smile that was always on your lips? Where was the glimmering sparkle in your eyes? He couldn’t see it with your eyelids closed.

‘Are you sure this is the way?’ You teasingly signed to Hunter as you both climbed your way around the side of the hotel towards the Ambassador’s suite.

Hunter focused his eyes back on your sleeping form, was that the last time he saw that sparkling smile? No. That wasn’t it.

‘Yes, I’m sure. Focus.’ Hunter signed back exasperated and rather rudely.

You pulled your head back a little, giving him a look that said, no you didn’t, and it took all his strength not to laugh when you signed ‘Don’t sign to me in that tone.’

Was that the last time you made him laugh? It couldn’t be. That couldn’t be the last time. He reached his hand out and gently caressed your forehead and cheek, “Wake up, cyar’ika. Please.”

When did everything go wrong? Was it because Cid had given them the wrong information again? Or was it when you threw him out of the way narrowly missing the blaster fire from the stormtroopers?

Hunter landed with a thud, his back slamming into the wall, your weight falling on top of him, knocking the air of his lungs. It took him a second longer than it should’ve to gain his breath back. Both of you were returning fire, and when one stormtrooper fell, two more took its place. You were both trapped, in the Ambassador’s study, when Tech commed, saying he found a hidden elevator. Within seconds a bookcase slid to the side and the elevator opened up.

A few minutes later, you were both on the roof of the building waiting for Tech to swing by to pick you both up.

Hunter paced back and forth shaking his head, “You’re reckless.”

“Excuse me? I believe the appropriate response is, ‘thank you, sweetheart, for saving my life,’ not, ‘you’re reckless.’” You shifted, shaking your head, as you saw the storm troopers down below calling for reinforcements. “Tech better hurry, we don’t have much time.”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

You looked over to Hunter, “Get what?”

“You do that again, and I’ll throw you out the window.” He watched as you leaned over the edge of the building, he grabbed your arm, “Wait. What are you doing?”

You smiled, “Just checking how high the drop is; seeing if it’s worth it.”

He shook his head, a smile slowly creeping onto his lips, as much as he wanted to fight you, he couldn’t help but love you more, he cupped your cheeks, pulling you into a kiss, “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“Probably, but it’ll be a fun ride.” You teased him, smiling against his lips.

You both pulled away when you heard the engines from the Marauder, Hunter forced you to clip on to the winch first, as soon as you were lifted off the ground, he clipped himself on to the second winch, as Wrecker started the winch.

In a split second that Hunter replayed over and over again in his head, wishing things had been different, he saw the blaster fire, fly past him and hit you in your chest. He screamed, turning to fire on the trooper who had taken an aim at you. Both he and Wrecker fired rapidly, as Omega pulled you from the ramp.

After that everything moved too fast and not fast enough. Wrecker picked you up like you weighed nothing and laid you on your bunk. Hunter closed the ramp and Tech entered hyperspace, faster than he had ever moved the ship.

And now, things were what they were.

Hunter sat there watching your chest slowly rise and lower, the oxygen mask strapped to your face helping you breathe. The bacta patch on your chest didn’t seem to be helping much, aside from slowly healing the wound.

He leaned closer, pressing his forehead against yours, his eyes closed as he breathed in your scent.

“Cyare, hang in there. Please, I can’t …” he cleared his throat, fighting back the warm bubble that was creeping up his throat, “Tech’s taking the ship to a medical way station that’s been abandoned since the war, he says there should be a surgery room, equipment and maybe supplies. So hang in there. Please.”

He reached up and wiped away the tear that had escaped, he pressed his lips to your temple, “Cyare,” he whispered, “Don’t go where I can’t follow … please, I need you, baby.”

Tears were streaming down his face, he couldn’t lose you, not when he finally found his peace. His rock. His home.

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listen-to-the-inner-walrus · 1 year

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can you explain why you dont believe the titanic switch conspiracy theory? didnt they find a propeller with "olympic" written on it amongst the wreckage?

i feel like the phrase "you just activated my trap card" applies here but i have also never watched yu-gi-oh so dont fully know the correct use of that. anyway whats the text limit on a tumblr post because i think i might hit it with this response.

before we begin (if you wanna join me on this fucking journey), ill just drop some useful sources on the topic:

olympic & titanic - an analysis of the robin gardiner conspiracy theory dissertation by mark chirnside in july 2006

titanic or olympic: which ship sank? by steve hall and bruce beveridge

olympic & titanic: the truth behind the conspiracy by steve hall and bruce beveridge

with that shipkeeping housekeeping out of the way, lets jump into it after the cut

so hands up, how many people knew that this theory originated in a book from 1995?

yeah, its a pretty modern theory considering titanic sank in 1912. the theory originated in the riddle of the titanic by robin gardiner and dan van der dat.

and the theory argues that the ships were switched and titanic (actually olympic) was deliberately sank as part of an insurance scam. now they didnt do this at all for shits and giggles. instead, the theory posits that the navy enquiry that followed the 1911 collision between hms hawke and olympic was biased which meant white star line couldnt recover the costs of repair from lloyds (the insurance company), and therefore, they wrote olmpic off as too damaged to be repaired, lied about the amount of damage, switched the ships and sank olympic disguised as titanic to recover some costs.

far-fetched? oh definitely and it gets worse, but ill leave that til later in this gargantuan response because its really fucking funny.

(seriously, i recommend you read til the end or just skip to the part where i start talking about the sinking itself because fam, gardiners theory gets wild )

according to van der dat, who is a dutch journalist and naval history writer with an incredibly dutch name, gardiner had wrote the manuscript after researching the titanic for however many years and sent it to his literary agent. this agent had previously worked with van der dat and so sent it to him to double-check the information by going back to the original sources. he then rewrote the book with line-by-line consultation with gardiner.

and would you like to hear a quote from van der dat regarding the theory? i think you would:

"the publishers were disillusioned when the theory did not stand up"

he also, in correspondence with titanic author and researcher paul lee, called it "bilge" which is a fun ship joke alongside calling the theory bullshit.

anyway, the publishers went ahead with the book anyway because fuck integrity, i guess... thats kinda harsh considering this first book (oh yeah, theres more) was praised for stellar research and for being balanced, and the final chapter of the book literally acknowledges that the wreck has titanics shipyard number (401) on it, hence disproving the theory.

in 1997, it was published in the us under the name the titanic conspiracy - cover-ups and mysteries of the worlds most famous sea disaster, and it sold like sliced bread in 1928 because 1997 was titanic fever, baby!

unsurprisingly, gardiner's following books (titanic: the ship that never sank? in 1998; the history of the white star line in 2001; the great titanic conspiracy in 2010) were a lot less well-received and were not co-authored by van der dat.

"but wait, kai!" you might shout if youre up to date with issues of the times from 1914, "what about raymond asquith's comments? he was junior counsel for the board of trade at the sinking inquiry!"

and i would say, what about it? the letter asquith wrote to the times was a sarcastic letter in response to a prior stance taken by the paper.

yes, he said "the architect, the owner, and the captain to repair their desperate fortunes by sinking the ship and sharing the insurance money" but said letter also included the phrase "manipulating dummy icebergs".

if were taking sarcastic or satirical responses outside of their original contexts as serious quotes, then i guess i need to cancel my dropout subscription since the company holds the opinion that oj simpson is innocent.

and while were here, that single deathbed confession from james fenton is not evidence of anything. his name is not on any crew lists or survivor lists, and not a single payment was ever claimed by a crewman called james fenton. he was not on board the titanic and his claims hold no weight.

now, my go-to explanation as to why i dont believe the switch theory is that their insurance scam would have lost them money and they would know that it would have lost them money.

see, it cost white star (which was a subsidiary of the international mercantile marine) £1.5million/$7.5million to build titanic and they insured it by lloyds (you can check their records on their website) for £1million/$5million.

you dont have to be good at maths to see a problem here.

they didnt just not insure the rest; it was self-insured by imm's insurance fund, but that still means theyd have lost £500,000/$2.5million on the sunken ship.

this whole insurance thing was established by uh the united states senate inquiry report:

"the vessel fully equipped, cost £1,500,000 sterling, or about $7,500,000. at the time of the accident the vessel carried insurance of £1,000,000 sterling or about $5,000,000, the remaining risk being carried by the company's insurance fund."

oh and the £1,000,009 insurance was announced in the daily mirror on 16th april 1912

and the insurance scam seemingly thought up by someones whose first and only introduction to maths was golf isnt the only way white star would have lost money on this.

after the sinking, olympic was temporarily pulled from service to increase safety measures like adding more lifeboats. obviously, a logical move made by a company with a brand new, safer ship on their hands who were desperate for any money they can make.

white star also halted construction of britannic, titanics other sister ship, in order to alter the design and make it safer. this costs quite a bit of money and is, again, an odd choice for a company apparently desperate for money.

and hey, question for you guys: if you were alive in 1913 and needed to cross the atlantic, would you

a) choose the near identical sister ship of that ship that sank last year and was the deadliest sinking of a ship at that time

b) choose any other option such as the lusitania or the mauretania or the ss france or the ss imperator

personally id take my chances with option a, idk about you

yeah so the point im making here is that the sinking of the titanic was what the kids say

a marketing disaster

it was the loss of the newest flagship on its maiden fucking voyage and it had been touted as "practically unsinkable". maybe just maybe people wouldnt feel that comfortable getting on a white star line ship after that.

i dont have any figures for you because reading through a detailed account of white stars history just is not on my to-do list, but that doesnt even matter. what matters is that its clearly a massive risk and who the fuck is taking that risk?

as titanic author, senan molony states:

"one doesnt need to compare designs and count portholes - a moments serious consideration of the reputational risk involved - individually and collectively - is all that is required to end any entertainment of the notion"

anyway, you guys wanna compare designs and count portholes? yeah? okay, here we go!

may i present a non-exhaustive list of differences between the ships:

olympics wheelhouse was curved; titanics was flat

titanic was 4 inches longer

the porthole arrangements on shelter deck c were different

on b deck, olympic had a 1st class promenade; titanic had 2 private verandahs and suites (put a pin in this by the way, it comes back in the best of ways)

titanic had additional cabins on promenade deck a

olympics promenade was open all the way along; on titanic, the forward half of the 1st class promenade on a-deck was enclosed with retractable glass screens

on titanic, the forward bridge wings aft docking bridge on the stern extended over the ships side by a couple of feet; this would not be true for olympic until the 1912/13 refit

the officers deck house was pushed out more on titanic

the iron gates of the elevators were different between the ships and this is evident in the wreck itself

their propellers had different pitches and hence not interchangeable (pitch is a theoretical concept which is like the distance a propeller would move if it turned once through something solid, yeah i dont know either)

the wireless cabin had an outside window on olympic, but not titanic

further, it was placed on the port side of the officers deck house on olympic but amidship on titanic

they had different air vent arrangements around the funnels

white star line cut the ships names into the shell-plating at the bow and stern, four feet high and a ½ inch deep

now, please, close your eyes, take a deep breath and consider how much money it would cost to switch just the list above. now compare all of that to the -£500,000/$2.5million youre losing in the insurance scam.

truly, a spend less on candles situation.

and while we're here, shall we quickly talk about how much hush money white star would be paying to silence everyone about this since its apparently an illegal insurance scam.

not to make another non-exhaustive list but heres just who i can think of that youd have to silence:

the 15,000 workers employed directly by the shipyard

the 20,000+ workers in support services or sub contractors

any permanent or casual staff at the belfast dock and harbour comission

all of the officers and crew who came directly from olympic onto titanic such as the captain or stewardess violet jessop (puppet history fans rise up) who interestingly remarked on how improved titanic was compared to olympic

any staff at white star, imm and harland & wolff (where she was built) who would be in the know such as designers

passengers who had previously sailed on olympic who then sailed on titanic

just like anyone in belfast who walked past while the ships were docked together

olympics wreckers: thomas wards & sons who kept huge loose-leaf ledgers for each ships. the one for olympic was 72 pages long and funnily enough olympics yard number and builders I'd frequently appear in it, as seen below

bob ballard who was the one who found titanic. hes known as a very honest man and didnt even claim salvage rights on titanic because he assumed everyone else would also recognise it was a gravesite. he also said "i think it is the titanic at the bottom of the ocean"

every other explorer or researcher like james fucking cameron or us navy consultant and titanic wreck explorer, parks stephenson

its been estimated likely over 60,000 people were involved in just the building of titanic. this was ⅕ of belfasts population and ⅓ of the working population. heres a photo of them leaving olympic at the end of the day

now maybe im just a fool, but that looks like a lot of people you need to silence, and unless white star were blackmailing them or idk fucking killing them i guess, thats a lot of hush money just in the photo above.

i mean, theres also the claim, from noted liar james fenton, that the surviving crew were forced to sign the official secrets act of 1911, but that act was about espionage that benefits the enemy military so im not sure how this is relevant to the switch, and also, again, the guy was never on the ship.

are you perhaps starting to get the picture as to why i dont believe the conspiracy theory because im still going.

okay so as established, if the ships were switched, there would have clearly been a lot of work that would need to be done to switch the ships.

and i only mentioned some of the structural differences, i didnt get into the aesthetic differences like the floor tiles and carpeting being different colours, or how the lounge furniture in each ship having the ship name on them.

mind you, this is what titanic looked like (in the foreground) when olympic was first docked next to her:

this was taken around october 11. olympic docked next to titanic on october 7th for repairs after that whole catastrophic collision.

now how much time do you think it was before olympic sailed away? mind you, titanic has already been launched at this point and just needs to be fitted-out, and that normally takes around 4 to 6 months?

oh, what was that? 44 days? why, kid, youre going somewhere. it was 44 days exactly!

now, i dont think i need to get into the fact that the dock only had 1 crane (which you needed to install and uninstall funnels and machinery) that physically couldnt reach olympic unless she was moved or how olympic was painted white for her launch and then painted black and that the white paint would get exposed in rough weather so the same would have to be applied to titanic so it would look convincingly like olympic.

i mean, you have that information now, but im hoping just by the words "44 days", you might get how off the wall insane it is to suggest white star was able to switch the ships so well no one noticed for decades in 44 fucking days.

"wait kai, youre forgetting that they were docked together again!" you shout, "after olympic threw a propeller, they were docked together from march 1st to march 7th 1912"

and i dont know dude, im pretty sure white star cant warp space time so i really dont know what eight extra days is gonna do.

i hate to strawman but man, the late robin gardiner would have won a gold medal in scarecrow hide and seek.

lets also take a quick detour into the idea that olympics repairs were so expensive.

without getting into gardiners claims about the damage because theres no evidence of it and as mark chirnside states "there are no credible sources indicating that the damage to olympic was worse than reported at the time - and indeed ample sworn expert testimony to the contrary", lets just quickly go over some financial stuff.

during the case, it was unofficially estimated that the damage didnt exceed $125,000. imm, by including lost passenger receipts, wanted to claim for as high as $750,000, but they lost that case.

during the year 1911, imms surplus profit was $822,062. so weve got:

750,000 > 822,062

now as we might remember from key stage 1 maths, the bigger number eats the smaller number, aka, their surplus profit covered the costs of repair.

aka, no ill-advised insurance scam needed.

"thousands of people in belfast would have seen the switch operation - and yet there is not one word in the papers of reporters or photographers rushing out to find out what was happening."

-dr paul lee

so this is the section where i ask how did no one fucking notice?

no one on titanic, who had previously sailed on olympic, ever said anything about the switch other than one guy who was literally not on the ship at any point.

no one who has ever explored the wreck or done research on it has definitively stated it was olympic. rather, they have definitively stated otherwise.

for example, what remains of the base on the wheelhouse shows it to be straight and not curved, and as you might remember: titanics wheelhouse was heterosexual straight and olympics was curved.

(id be impressed if you did remember)

also, as parks stephenson has stated:

"weve got actual high def images of this wreck. ive seen with my own eyes. weve identified the name titanic on the port bow"

its difficult to make out but its there; the name is on the fucking ship.

also, as you might remember, titanics b-deck was different to olympics. the 2 suites there were nicknamed the "millionaire suites" and jim cameron has used rovs to go inside of them.

funnily enough, robin gardiner has gone on the record saying that these suites didnt exist so make of that what you will.

and further, no one noticed anything about olympic even though she sailed for 24 more years. theres no written record of anything, theres nothing in the board of trade reports, theres no photographic proof and theres not even fucking hearsay.

she served as a damn troopship in ww1, youd figure someone would figure it out as all of her fittings were ripped out.

but no, theres nothing.

as i mentioned above, olympic was scrapped in 1935, but some of her fittings were auctioned off and still exist today. and these have the number 400 on them because that was her shipyard number. titanics was 401 and the wreck reflects this also:

the wooden parts are from olympic; the other has been salvaged from titanics wreck.

theres even the famous myth that olympic or olympus as one person told me is written on the propeller at the bottom of the ocean. its not, but you can see the number 401 written on it:

and while were disproving myths about the name olympic being on the titanic, the story about olympic being engraved on titanics lifeboats is also false:

theres no written testimony, no sketches and no photographs of this.

white star didnt engrave names onto lifeboats, the names were on metal plates that were screwed on

do you really think they did all of this work but just didnt fucking swap the lifeboats? if theyre this stupid, how did it take until 1995 for someone to figure it out?

we can also discuss the stupid olympic room thing while were here. see theres a maritime superstition that changing the name on a ship is bad luck and obviously, if youre swapping the ships, youre changing the names.

so to... get around this? cheat luck? outsmart superstition? i dont fucking know, to take a detour to avoid this, white star named a room "the olympic room."

i cannot find any evidence at all that this room ever existed. its not in the design plans or the blueprints, and no passenger or crew has ever said it existed, so im pretty sure the room just didnt exist.

and even if it did exist, titanic was in the olympic class of ships. thats what olympic, titanic and britannic were. its not weird to have an olympic room on an olympic class ship. i mean it is weird in this case since the room didnt exist, but you get my point.

and heres some quickfire myths and falsehoods

the myth about the 14 vs 16 bow portholes is also a false. yes, titanic had 14 portholes on launch but an extra 2 were added before her maiden voyage so yes, the ship photographed departing southampton with 16 bow portholes is the titanic, and do you really think it would take 83 years to figure this out if it was this easy?

similarly, titanic did have evenly spaced b-deck windows on launch, but then the extra verandahs and suites were added so the window configuration was altered, so that photograph is off the titanic.

the idea that titanic had a 2 degree list to port like the olympic before her is evidence of the switch theory is, to borrow a word from dan van der dat, bilge. plenty of ships at the time and now have minor lists. the one on titanic was only recorded by 2 passengers and we know that the list was related to coal consumption. it means nothing.

jp morgan (owner of imm) did not cancel last minute. as mark baber points out on encyclopedia titanica, it was announced in the new york times that hed be in venice on april 23. at that time, transatlantic voyages took at least 5 days so it would at least be a 10 day round trip and likely not give him time to get to venice for the opening of a store of whatever it was.

also, j bruce ismays wife and kids also didnt cancel last minute. theyd already decided to go on holiday to wales rather than sail on titanic.

addendum to that point: if ismay knew it was going to be sank deliberately and so warned his wife, why would he get on board himself? further, why would harland and wolff designer thomas andrews (who did not survive by the way) get on board?

and we're finally at my favourite part of this entire mess: the sinking itself.

see, a deliberate sinking doesnt really make sense for titanic because the conditions under which she sank has led to the descriptor "freak sinking."

these are: a new moon meaning less light, unusually calm ocean that disallowed lookouts to watch for foam as waves hit any icebergs, ice having drifted further south than normal for that time of year, and a sideways glancing blow that breached more watertight compartments than the ship could handle and stay afloat.

and idk dude, is there not an easier way? like maybe some light arson. just call it an accidental fire that got out of control and led to the ship being a write-off, this isnt difficult.

but you see gardiner has an answer to this, and i am laughing as im typing this, he claims that:

titanic didnt hit an iceberg, it hit an imm rescue ship.

thats right, this guy fully says titanic didnt hit an iceberg. apparently it hit another ship and NO ONE FUCKING NOTICED

i mean we have testimony from survivors but fuck them i guess.

he claims that as titanic was apparently a "steel double-hulled vessel" so an iceberg simply couldnt inflict so much damage.

yeah titanic wasnt double-hulled. she had a double bottom, but it was only after titanic that shipbuilders were like ah maybe full double hulls arent an unnecessary expense after all.

theres also the issue of uh no evidence of this rescue ship ever existing? at all? i dont know where it came from, i dont know where it went, and who fucking knows, maybe it was called the rms cotton eyed joe.

yeah so weve got a theory riddled with problems and im just gonna introduce some more problems with this theory as gardiner has also alleged that:

the original plan was to open the seacocks and slowly flood the ship, but this was interrupted by titanic hitting another ship

1) titanic didnt have seacocks? and 2) was the rest of it a coincidence then? i think its meant to be a coincidence.

i believe his theory is alleging that the crew on titanic would open the seacocks that didnt exist to flood the ship slowly, and that the imm rescue ship that also didnt exist was in the area in advance to help evacuate passengers, alongside other ships such as the ss californian.

this is that ship that was like 10 miles away or something and didnt respond to titanics distress signals. according to gardiner, they were expecting a rendezvous with titanic according to the "original plan", but never received it.

instead, they saw the rockets of the fabled imm rescue ship and helped them instead.

this is fucking stupid.

i cant be charitable here, its a fucking stupid theory. i mean, that imm ship did not exist, and also californian is a ridiculous choice for a rescue ship. her capacity was 47 passengers and 55 crew; there were more than 2200 people on board titanic.

to counteract this argument, gardiner alleges carpathia was also in on the scheme as a rescue ship. she, at least, had capacity for the passengers, but theres also several problems with this too.

for one, it was fucking 50 miles away and famously arrived several hours after the sinking even though the captain had her running at top speed to get there.

for two, carpathia was owned by cunard, white stars rival. was their rival line in on the insurance scam??? how much money did they have to pay cunard for this????? why? just why?

do you understand why i dont believe it? please tell me you understand. i need you to understand. i need you to tell me that you understand that the guy who created this conspiracy claimed titanic didnt hit an iceberg.

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winterrrnight · 1 year

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books

— drew starkey headcanons

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One of the biggest things you and Drew bond over is your love of books.

Drew absolutely loves to spoil you with taking you to the bookstore dates very often.

You both would hit your favorite coffee shop first and get your drinks in takeaway cups.

Then you would go to the bookstore.

Drew would follow you around as you go to different aisles of the store to see different books.

Each time he saw you being intrigued by a book's synopsis which you kept back on the shelf, he would pick it up behind your back to buy it for you.

He doesn't stop you from buying books. The more you buy, the happier he gets.

"But love I've already taken five!" You would protest when he would say these aren't enough.

"No one should ever be stopped from exploring the literature world sweets, buy some more." He would tell you.

Even though you only selected a few books to buy, at the counter you will see the amount of books have doubled.

"Where did these come from?" You would gasp at the pile.

"I saw you seeing these and having a look on your face which says 'hmmm I like this'." He would tell you, the books being the ones you had kept back on the shelves.

No doubt you were intrigued by them and wanted to read them, you didn't want Drew to spend too much on just books.

You would have to give in, because Drew is stubborn and he wouldn't listen to a single thing you'd say.

Each time you and Drew read a book, you both would annotate it.

You will tab the lines which you love, and write little notes in the margins.

Then you would give your annotated version of the book to the other person to read.

You both will then read the other's annotated books, which helps you give more insight on what the other thought.

You would add your own annotations to the books. You would run out of spaces quickly so you add the big post its to write in more content.

Once you both would be done reading the same book, you would have a massive discussion on it.

The discussion could start anywhere, at dinner, late at night when none of you can sleep, when you'd be having little drinks to relax.

It would help you understand each other's understanding about certain things more, strengthening your bond together.

Your favorite books are the classics, and the one book which you both enjoyed so much and reread it all the time is Oscar Wilde's 'Picture of Dorian Gray'.

You both emoted a lot to the book and bring it up often in your discussions.

Oh, and a little bonus: quoting your favorite lines from the books you love all the time in public when you're with friends or family, which is your own inside joke!

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @ragingsammie

(check out my post 'join my taglist' linked at the top if you want to be tagged! + send in requests!)

#drew starkey #drew starkey headcanons #headcanons #books #reading #bookworms #drew starkey fic #drew starkey oneshot #drew starkey x reader #drew starkey fanfiction #drew starkey fluff #drew starkey imagine #drew starkey one shot #written by edith! 🪄

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its-a-ducky-mess · 27 days

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Speculation: Sarah's Potential Neurodivergency

Some certain viewers and fans of Sarah & Duck have posed a certain question over time. So much so, that it's even one of Google's autocomplete results and one of the suggestions when you so much as look up the show or its characters. That question being...

"Is Sarah autistic?"

While (to my knowledge, and at the time of writing this) no staff of the show have put out an official word, some fans have theorized based on evidence seen in the show that Sarah is in fact autistic/neurodivergent. One such user is @beenovel, an autistic individual, whose theorizing has gotten me to do some of my own research over time as well. I will be paraphrasing and using their evidence here, marked by "quoted italics". I do not mean to steal their evidence or their work, but using it to compile a stronger collection of evidence for this theory/headcanon. Please check out their original analysis here.

As a warning, this post is incredibly long.

Clothing

"She has comfort clothes. A lot of cartoon characters wear the same outfit over and over again but Sarah is shown to have other clothes, she just likes her outfit best. When one of her shoes gets a hole she is very upset about the prospect of replacing them. I also like to think that the reason she’s always wearing her beanie is because (like me) she finds the pressure on her head comforting."

The shoe point is from Tapping Shoes. More about this will be elaborated on later, although it is worth mentioning that Sarah tried to play off the damage to her favorite shoes in order to keep them before being convinced to look for new ones.

While it's unknown as to her exact attachment to her pink jacket, Sarah has been shown to prize it. When the zip pull breaks off of it, she becomes incredibly upset and near-unresponsive. So much so, that Duck had to push a whimpering Sarah all the way to Scarf Lady's house in Haber Dasher.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 37, Haber Dasher]

When at her door, Sarah could only muster a heart-broken "Zip..." as she presents it to Scarf Lady. When Scarf Lady's solution doesn't work, Sarah sighs in resignation and hides behind a curtain.

Sarah's beanie/cap/hat is near and dear to her, as seen in Balloon Barnacles where she is upset over the possibility of losing her very first hat made for her by Scarf Lady. She's also had the hat long enough for it to appear (potentially) years earlier in the past, during the flashback in Duck Flies. The head pressure idea actually does have some more ground to it. During Cloud Tower, which takes place on a hot day, Sarah doesn't wear her jacket, but keeps the hat. Also in Doubles, in her tennis outfit, she actually does forgo the hat, but replaces it with a headband. This give a neat amount of credence to the pressure angle.

Favorites

"Her hyperfixations are sea cows (also known as manatees) and lemons. In one episode they are going to the zoo to see the sea cows and she mentions it’s been five days since they last visited the sea cows and the narrator replies with “[the sea cow]’s probably [wondering] where we’ve been”. This implies they often visit the zoo just to see the sea cows. For me, I was obsessed with otters... there was this one aquarium I used to go to... and it was my favorite place to go, even as an older teenager. I can watch them for hours and be perfectly happy, and Sarah seems to be the same way."

This moment is at the beginning of Paisley Sea. (This episode also contributes to another theory I'll post about later!) The zoo and aquariums are a frequent setting for certain episodes. Apart from having a poster of a sea cow in her bedroom, Sarah was upset at not getting the chance to adopt a sea cow during Basking Shark, seemingly disappointed at having to settle for the titular shark. Sarah also practically explodes with happiness upon seeing a baby sea cow during Paisley Sea.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 17, Paisley Sea]

In addition, every visit to the zoo that's occurred, Sarah has sought out the sea cow and greeted it at least once, if even for a moment. One such occurrence is in Planetarium Aquarium, where she even went back to say it was "still her favorite" and giving it a thumbs up despite not visiting them for a proper amount of time.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 15, Planetarium Aquarium] This is also a very adorable screenshot.

"She also has lemon water all the time. I don’t know if that’s a common British thing, but I know that my mom and I (both autistic) prefer our water with lemon in it because it adds flavor and makes it easier to stay hydrated."

Lemons remain a very present theme/motif throughout the show even outside of the lemon water drink.

[Sources: Series 2, Episode 13, Shallot Circus (top) | Series 1, Episode 32, Puncture Pump (bottom)]

Sarah has a lemon themed telephone, bike valve covers, and had difficulty picking a singular item from the cafe's menu in Lemon Cafe (although being on a very short time limit didn't help), let alone pick a drink. In the same episode, she goes through a lot of work to make her own lemon cafe. Sarah is the sole human enjoyer of lemon water within the show, and solely during Lemon Cafe, she seems disappointed when Duck, Umbrella, and Bug dislike lemon water, and seemingly doesn't understand why exactly they don't like it like she does. I say "human enjoyer" because Flamingo during Scared of Stairs drinks and likes lemon water, much to Sarah's enjoyment.

[Source: Series 1, Episode 30, Scared of Stairs]

Learning

"She loves learning things and pretty much every time she has a question that her dad the narrator can’t answer she looks it up on the computer or goes to the library to find out more. She gets very upset if she can’t find a satisfactory answer."

While I am personally a "NarraDad" truther as well (Despite the evidence which I'll discuss along with the theory in a future post, maybe), that's not the point here.

There are many points where Sarah will look something up on the computer in the technology room for answers, such as in Slow Quest and Tortoise Snooze. Sarah is also a frequent library visitor, and a few episodes take place there or are visited for a part of them (such as Cheer Up Donkey or Lost Librarian, to name a few).

Sarah also repeats back certain words or phrases sometimes (like repeating 'shokupan' from John during Fluff Bread), which beenovel says is how autistic children learn inflection, and hypothesizes this is a vocal stim for Sarah. She often mispronounces words, new or otherwise. Such as, saying "burger" instead of burglar (Constable Quack), "elephants" instead of eloquent (Mountain Mints), and "eyes, sky, dry" instead of "eins, zwei, drei", which is "one, two, three" in German (Woolly Memories, Duck Hotel). Possibly the funniest of these examples is Sarah pronouncing "itadakimasu", a Japanese phrase said before you begin eating, as "it's a ducky mess" (which is where I get my blog's handle from!!) during Fast Slow Bungalow. Sarah also clearly pronounces "hello" and "yes" as hullo and yus. Merchandise and social media confirms that she says them with a U as opposed to their proper versions. She also combines "it's nice" into "s'nice" at times, even to the point where the Narrator says s'nice and has to correct himself (Bench Blocked). "Suppose" also gets this treatment, sometimes sounding like "s'pose"

[Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYt4c2yHWQ | https://shop.sarahandduck.com/collections/art-prints-1/products/sarah-duck-a-z-art-print-sdaz]

On the topic of "proper" things, during Extra Bounce, Sarah and friends are brought to a room within the bouncy ball machine that houses unusually bouncing balls. The Narrator remarks "This must be the room for all the balls that don't bounce properly." Sarah then looks a bit upset and replies with a corrective/offended "Bounce differently."

beenovel writes "Autistic children are often upset at the prospect of toys or animals being treated differently just because they don’t do things the “right” way or are perceived as “broken”.

Sound Sensitivity

Tapping Shoes comes back into play here. Sarah sometimes shows an aversion/discomfort with certain noises, most prevalent being sudden, unexpected noise. In Tapping Shoes, when she unknowingly wore tap-dancing shoes and walked into the tiled kitchen, she became surprised and covered her ears first thing. She tried to quiet/muffle them, trying to get them to not make any sound until she's told that they're supposed to make sound. Before entering the noisy carriage in Train Fudge, she recoils back due to the noise and again, covers her ears first thing.

To link to another few point beenovel makes, Sarah becomes frustrated when others don't follow along with her games, such as her idea for her birthday in The Mouse's Birthday. Throughout the episode, all she wants is a quiet birthday, but is constantly annoyed and upset when her friends are loud, so much so that she retreats to the closet to escape the noise. beenovel states they've done this on multiple occasions as well.

Focus, Concentrate! /ref

Sarah has sometimes displayed inattentiveness and lack of focus, even when she's "supposed" to be focused.

"This is a common little kid trait but it’s more intense in autistic kids."

A possible instance of this is in Perimeter Pals, where while waiting for Tortoise to finish crossing their biking path, Sarah and Duck elect to take a break. They then nap for much longer than anticipated and have to scramble ahead to continue their park trip.

Funny Duck

"She’s taken an interest in an “odd” animal companion, and treats him more like a sibling than a pet."

Sarah may have a hyperfixation on ducks as well, in no small part due to Duck's presence in her life. Apart from her shirt and pajamas featuring ducks on them, she has a Duck shaped window in her house, as well as having a Duck costume already made and prepared before she even had the idea to swap with Duck during The Play.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 3, Cheer Up Donkey | Series 1, Episode 35, The Play]

She is also very emotionally attached to Duck and becomes downtrodden at the possibility of not being around him for a long period of time. She dearly misses Duck for the short time they're apart during Duck Flies, almost unable to fathom doing anything without him.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 40, Duck Flies]

This feeling of togetherness seems to go both ways, as when Duck does come back at the end of the episode, the Narrator remarks "It seems Duck missed you too."

The Bench

Sarah is strongly attached to a specific bench in the park. She treats this bench incredibly seriously. When highlighting various parts of town, she holds the bench to a higher regard than a playground (Outside Outside). Sarah doesn't like going to other nearby parks because they lack the bench (Fancy Park), and gets very upset when something prevents them from sitting there, such as a fairground obscuring it (Fairground), or a sleeping teenager (Bench Blocked). Duck, without any word from anyone, offers to bite the teenagers leg of his own volition, which Sarah gives him the okay to do. The Narrator has to interrupt Duck, and Sarah is shown with an excited look right before Duck is about to bite. When the Narrator wonders if there's other places to sit, Sarah shakes her head "no", and gives a hesitant, begrudging headshake when the Narrator pressed her if they've actually tried to look for a place.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 14, Bench Blocked]

Later in the same instance, Sarah herself tries to bite the guy but is stopped by a squirrel. Sarah and Duck sit on the bench even while the paint on it is still wet, and are so relieved that they can sit there that they don't notice the paint on them (Fancy Park). Likely the reason Sarah likes the bench so much is because she met Duck there when she was younger (Duck Flies).

Making Friends

Going back to friends, she seems a bit awkward when meeting real people. Inanimate objects or animals, not so much. She meets Rainbow, the celestial bodies, Cake, Bug, Umbrella, Leftover Wool, and more and seems nonplussed about it. In contrast, when she meets John and Flamingo during Doubles, she walks back into her yard after exchanging neutral greeting with an awkward pause, and without the Narrator prodding, likely would've not continued a conversation. In addition, she confuses John for a girl and Flamingo for a duck, likely trying to make sense out of the new people using herself and Duck as reference. John sounded like he had a higher voice when he said hello to Sarah, so maybe she just assumed John was a girl by that. Sarah also seems a bit awkward with adults she isn't familiar with/hasn't met yet, like Music Lady and Cloud Captain, though that might just be a common kid trait.

Organization and Spontaneity

"She likes having things be organized and in their place. She also likes categorizing/matching colors."

"She enjoys looking for things. Many episodes start with [Sarah] and [D]uck looking for things like crunchy leaves, green patches of grass, things that match the colors on her color wheel, fluffy clouds, etc."

Sarah has rows of identical hats in her closet, her tuba is always seen in her room when it's not being used, and she has a drawer full of her previous drawings in the living room (Picture Planes). The color wheel point references Rainbow's Niece. Cheer Up Donkey begins with Sarah and Duck counting grass in their back garden.

Sudden interest in random things is also a trait Sarah exhibits. She often declares things to be good, saying "this one is best" or similar. Octagon Club is the best example, she sees an octagon in a shapes book, and goes to find things around the area that's octagonal. She forms the titular Octagon Club and quickly invites many other friends into it.

Literal-mindedness

Sarah often takes some of the Narrator's jokes or metaphors seriously. Either that, or the jokes completely fly over her head. Kite Flight provides this exchange:

Narrator: What we need is a windbreak.

Sarah: Don't break the wind, we need it!

Mountain Mints also has this:

Sarah: The mint's at the top!

Narrator: Fine, why not… Perhaps I'll find a nice chocolate log cabin.

Sarah: [excitedly:] Ooh!

Stimming

Sarah, when excited, sometimes does this sort of shaky-fists gesture close to her face, usually accompanied by an excited 'oooh!' or other hushed surprised sounds. She does it a few more times in the series, but at this moment, other examples are escaping me.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 1, Lots of Shallots | Series 3, Episode 11, Fluff Bread]

Smaller tidbits I couldn't really fit anywhere else

She also sometimes does things in a formulaic fashion. Whenever she steps in snow or crunchy leaves, Sarah remarks "good crunch" (Seacow Snow Trail, Mountain Mints, Boo Night, among others) and becomes upset at Duck (albeit only for a brief moment) when he crunches some leaves in the path faster than her (Boo Night). She has commented "good crunch" since early childhood, as seen in Duck Flies.

Sarah originally would've kept her hair long and grown out simply because Scarf Lady didn't give her a good hair cut the "last time" during Hair Cut. She keeps trying to avoid it by preoccupying herself, and when she does eventually go to a salon, she tries to get Duck to take her place and admits that she's scared to the stylist. All in all, she lets a bad experience get the better of her and makes her catastrophize when trying something again.

Sometimes Sarah does things only she herself would like. One example I could think of is Cheer Up Donkey. Sarah played the tuba, which Donkey didn't like, but she was so into playing the tuba that it took the shouting of the Narrator for her to stop. When asked to try something that cheers her up and what makes her happy a short time after that, she immediately grabs the tuba again and has to be preemptively stopped before playing it again.

One more attachment related point similar to previous interests. Something ends up wrong with Sarah's tuba during Music Fixer, so she goes to the Music Shop to get it checked out. Music Lady tells her that she can hear what instruments think and that her tuba was saying it was too small for her (though that was just Bug). Sarah gets upset over having to replace her favorite instrument with something else and ends up not finding something that suits her before the episode's resolution.

As a final, sort of funny thing, Sarah is friends with a rainbow, and the rainbow lemniscate is the symbol of neurodiversity.

To my current knowledge I am not on the autism spectrum, and for that I do not wish to seem like I'm speaking on behalf of the autistic community. I do have ADHD however, which I was recently diagnosed with (I recognize those two are not the same thing). Thinking back on my childhood, a lot of Sarah's behaviors struck chords with my behaviors. Especially the sound sensitivity and lack of understanding with plans, those two were very prominent growing up, and the sound portion is still somewhat of an issue for me right now. Regardless of if Sarah is "canonically" autistic/neurodivergent, fans can interpret the cast of characters however they want, and I think it's sweet for kids watching Sarah & Duck to be almost represented in a way. It's also very nice that Sarah is never treated differently nor excluded from things because of her mannerisms. She's Sarah, and Sarah is s'nice.

#sarah & duck #sarah and duck #ducky-hc

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gamercats-fight · 5 months

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Morgana from Person 5 vs Krampy from Cattails: Wildwood Story. Vote for your fav!!

Need help picking? Check down here!

Morgana - P-Studio - 2016 - Anthropomorphic tuxedo cat:

-If we’re including his abilities in Mementos/Palaces then he has a clear advantage of being able to use his persona to cast spells as well as fight. He also uses a curved sword and a slingshot. If hurt he also has healing spells. His appearance in this form is mascot-esque, but don’t let his big head fool you—he’s quite agile. Having a persona at all grants the wielder extreme abilities. Fast enough to dodge lightning, take incredible damage and even able to fight against gods. This strength is only granted in places they can summon their persona, i.e. not the real world.

Even in his cat form while in the real world, he is extremely dexterous: able to pick locks. He’s also taken a kick from a guy and having a metal briefcase land directly on his head following a bit of a fall. Not altogether impressive but still something for a cat to endure. He’s also smarter than the average cat, giving him a nice advantage.

He does eventually become human in Persona 5 Royal, but is just a cat at the end of the original game.

-He can turn into a car and run over any competition. He’s a master thief and fought god once. Also he has a slingshot.

-1: THIS CAT IS A HEALER! He gets the best healing spell in the entire game and when I got it on him, I don't think he ever left my party

2: THIS CAT CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH AND WELL BEING! It's become a meme at this point, but Mona wants you to go to sleep >:(

(P5 Spoilers Beyond this Point)

3: THIS CAT IS THE COLLECTIVE HOPE OF HUMMANITY! It's explained late game, but Morgana was created through the last scraps of humanities hope against the false god that the party eventually fights

4: THIS CAT EXPOSED A MURDERER! Its not important but the scene IS funny so I feel obligated to mention it.

THIS CAT IS YOUR BUDDY AND I LOVE HIM AND WILL DEFEND HIM WITH MY DYING BREATH!!!!

-Everyone hates him for the stupid “go to sleep” mechanic + some of his issues with another character but he’s such a good boy i love him so much. he’s always with you, helping you out and supporting you! plus he’s so little brother coded oh my god. baby. baby boy. spoilers for p5: also he’s literally the manifestation of hope like guys. hope is a cat. hope is stored in the cat.

Krampy - Falcon Development - 2023 - Gray tabby medicine cat

-He's so autism

-Cattails is like Stardew Valley for warrior cat fans, and Krampy is a fan favorite for several good reasons. He's a kind of eccentric medieval doctor who also has trouble relating to other cats because of his weird experiments and love of leeches, but that passion also makes him very charming as a character. He's got a tendency to ramble and tell long stories and is just really wholesome all around. Also he wears a plague doctor mask which is just a really cool design choice.

-The iconic doctor of the Mystic Colony. Who doesn't want a medicine cat with a plague mask?? And they are a real character too. Some of their best quotes:

"“Actually, I don't believe we've been introduced. I am Krampy the doctor, and don't worry! I am not a bird. Although when I had that concussion, I did think I was... ... What was I saying again?"

“Greetings young kitten. Do you mind if I put leeches on your tail? It's for science. And, I think it would be funny. Or I could do it to myself... But then what will I do tomorrow?"

“I think you should wear a beaky mask, it will protect you in this world. I wish not to see my friends hurt. Although that is bad for business... bit of a double-edged sword. Don’t get hurt too often!”

“You have the worst-smelling miasma I have ever smelled! I can smell you from miles away! Why don't you roll in some garbage? - It can only improve your odor, and you end up where you belong!"

#gamercats tournament #polls #morgana #persona 5 #krampy #cattails wildwood story #cattails #cattails game #mona p5 #mona persona 5

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darbyoakana · 25 days

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An Overlord's Tail - Chapter 2

Summary: Vox X reader, F/M. Vox shows up at your apartment, wanting you back. Warnings: Fingering, vaginal penetration. This story is 18+, minors can fuck right off.

Other Notes: Enjoy the smut, after Chapter 2 it's going to be a slow burn

Darby Link Tree

____________________________________________

Chapter 2: (Un)wanted Visitor

“Don’t actions speak louder than words?” The hand at your cheek ran its fingers through your hair. His other hand pulled you into him by your waist. Holding your breath, you tensed as he leaned in. You bit your lip. “See, you missed me too.”

______________________________________________

The next few days weren’t so bad, you had two days left in the imaginary trial period. Charlie was keeping Alastor busy which meant you actually had time to work. Your shoes had remained dry, papers were finally organized. Several of which clearly had dried tears on them. One even had blood. You felt bad for whoever had previously attempted this job. You skimmed through the few existing reports on the computer, catching up on the resident drama.

You were in the middle of making a list when Alastor’s shadow swatted the cup of pens off your desk, laughing as it darted away. You groaned and rolled your eyes. The shadow itself was proving to be much like a sinister cat, not really causing any serious damage but you wanted to strangle it nonetheless. Could you strangle a shadow? Alastor himself had changed his approach on how to aggravate you. While he was not fond of people touching him or invading his personal space, he seemed to live a life of double standards. Alastor constantly got into people’s personal bubbles. Maybe he thought it bothered you as much as it would bother him? The micromanaging however was getting on your nerves.

Speaking off, just as you finished up your first resident report, there was Alastor. Face way too close to yours. You turned your head to face him, your noses almost touched. This was the sixth time he’d bothered you today.

“Good afternoon dear!”

“Hi. Is there something I can help you with sir?” you asked, trying to keep a professional tone.

“Just checking on your progress!”

“Oh, that's actually perfect I have a few things I wanted to run by you!”

“Is that so? I am all ears!”

“Well, one of the biggest complaints we’ve had so far is the lack of laundry services. Nifty has been taking care of it but we are starting to get an overwhelming amount of requests. I know Nifty enjoys what she does, so I don’t know if hiring more help in that department is the right call. But I was thinking we might want to consider creating a laundry room where guests can take care of their own laundry, which would take some weight off Nifty’s plate. She’d still take care of the bedding in the rooms, but the residents would be responsible for their own clothes. So in the meantime, I’ve contacted a laundry mat down the street and worked out a deal with them to give our residents a discount for using them.”

“Lovely idea!”

Alastor was starting to think you might actually be right for this role. In truth, he needed someone with the ability to endure this hotel. While driving people away was fun for him, it did serve a purpose.

“Secondly, looking at the meal schedule and cost- We are spending a lot on wasted food. And the meal schedule is a bit of a shit show. Relying on guests to sign up isn’t running smoothly. I did find out that the guest in room 310 used to be a chef. I asked him, and he is willing to take care of meals 3 days a week. And with the increase of residents, a continental breakfast would be more efficient. And we could have a simple rotating menu for dinners. I called around and got some quotes on catering services that I can go over with you later.” You whispered the last part. ”This would also lower the chances of Charlie cooking.”

“Ha Ha!” He squeezed your cheeks in his hand like a grandma would, just much harder. “My my, aren’t you efficient.”

“Thank you” you mumbled out of your squished mouth.

Overall you felt that things were going pretty well, Alastor wasn’t as aggressive about getting rid of you, and you were proving to be useful. And he had someone new to bother. 5 PM rolled around, and you felt far less exhausted than you did the previous nights. As you were heading out the door-

“Hey toots, were you not offered residency here at the hotel?” Angel asked, sitting at the bar.

“I was. I figured it was better to wait until the ‘trial period’ was over before making the commitment.”

“What trial period?”

“Haven’t you noticed, Alastor’s been driving anyone away who takes this job,” Husk remarked. “But you seem to be doing alright so far, kid, what’s your secret?”

“A tortuous six years at VoxTek,” you laughed.

“Oh shit, I thought you looked familiar! You were Vox’s assistant… and uh… Side piece if I’m not mistaken.” He winked at you.

“That is unfortunately correct.”

There was that intrusive image of Vox fucking you on his desk again.

“Oh man, he’s going to shit an absolute brick when he finds out you are working here!” Angel said, amused.

“Yeah well, whatever, fuck him,” you remarked.

“So you still miss him huh?” Angel said slyly. If anyone knew anything about toxic codependent relationships with your boss, it was Angel. “It will get easier, promise.”

“Doing my best to push it out of my mind and focus on other things.”

“Well, I think it’s great you were strong enough to leave and start over. It is very unlikely Vox would show up at the hotel. And HEY- if there's ever a boss that ain’t gonna try to fuck you, it’s Mr. Creepy pants over there.” He nodded towards Alastor who was talking with Charlie. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Good to know. Well, I got to get going guys, see you tomorrow.”

As you made your way up the stairs to your apartment, you worried. There was no way you’d be paid in time to keep your apartment, even if you were, you were a month behind. Your keys jingled in the lock as you swung the door open. Your apartment was a tiny studio. Empty kitchen, mattress on the floor, nothing to write home about. But tonight there was one thing in your apartment that didn’t belong there.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” There, sitting on your counter was Vox. “Please, let yourself in. Make yourself at home.”

��Aw come on babe, don’t be like that.”

“And how should I be?” you asked aggressively.

“Are you still mad? Aw, dollface, you know I’m sorry.” He hopped off the counter and walked towards you. “I want you back, come home with me, please?”

“Fuck off Vox.”

“I promise I’ll make it up to you, I miss you. Plus my new assistant is garrrrrbaaaage.”

“You are really something, you know that? It’s been three months. Three months I’ve been gone and you haven’t reached out once.”

“I wanted to give you your space. But don’t you think it’s been long enough, doll?” He pouted. “Plus you need somewhere to live, you’ve-”

“Oh. My. God.” You cut him off. “You bought this building, didn’t you? Just so you could evict me? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?”

“Just a little motivation, that’s all.”

“The manipulation never ends with you, does it?” You were wide-eyed, angry.

“Oh please, you want to talk manipulation? You think I wouldn’t find out about your new little job?” He scoffed. “Low blow, babe. Working for Alastor just to get back at me?”

“I know there is nothing I can say to make you believe otherwise, but not everything is about you. I couldn’t find any other job, I have no idea why but no one else would…..” You paused as it clicked in your mind. You took a deep breath and sighed. “You’ve been sabotaging that too, haven’t you? The hotel was the only job you didn’t have power over.” You started to laugh. “That’s just too brilliant. All your efforts and now I’m the one place you can’t reach me.”

That pissed him off. Vox pushed you against the wall, you continued to laugh. Vox had become unfamiliar with not getting what he wanted. People went out of their way to please him, including you. But not anymore and he didn’t like it.

“Quit being a bitch about this. I said I was sorry. If you don’t want to work, that’s fine.” His voice softened. “Babe, I’ll take care of you.” He ran his finger down your cheek. “Come back, please.”

You were struggling to ignore the wetness between your legs. You were desperate to feel close to someone, you’d been lonely and in truth, missed Vox quite a bit.

“You can’t talk your way out of this one.” You avoided looking him in the eye.

Your brain was screaming, alarms going off. Don’t give in, don’t be weak! But it was too late. Vox’s tongue was exploring your mouth, and the ache in your loins was throbbing. He knew he had you. The hand at your waist drifted down to your thigh, his fingers pushed your panties to the side, sliding between your lips.

“Fuck, doll, you are so wet right now.” He sunk two fingers into you, and you held his shoulders as you gasped, every muscle clenching. Leaning his screen on your forehead, he whispered. “Mmm fuck, I’ve missed you so much.”

His fingers moved in and out of you, slowly, as his thumb grazed your clit. You felt the heat rise within your whole body. You’d given in and didn’t care. Things had been difficult, you were exhausted and ate up the idea of forgetting everything for a few moments. You wanted to feel loved more than anything, even though you knew deep down it wasn’t real, it wouldn’t last. Your hand ran down his chest, palm cupping his hard cock under his pants. He moaned softly. His fingers became more aggressive, fueled by need. Your hand fumbled to find his belt, clawing at it, desperately trying to unbuckle it while he pummeled your wet cunt with his claws.

“You want my cock so bad, don’t you doll?” His free hand whipped the belt off him, and he dropped his slacks to his ankles, freeing his pulsing erection. You gripped his dick in your hand, he moaned as you ran your fingers up and down it slowly. “MMM. You want it, baby? Show me how much you want it.”

His fingers pulled out of you, leaving you feeling hollow and a smear of wetness between your thighs. You lowered to your knees, licking his engorged head. Licking Vox’s penis was a lot like licking a battery, a light electrical sensation ran through your tongue. He spread his fingers, observing the strings of cum hanging between them, before placing them in his mouth. You were massaging with your tongue when his other hand gripped the back of your head, shoving your face closer to his body. His cock hit the back of your throat with a gag.

“Uuuhhhmmph! G̷̩̥̪̠̃͂̂͋̕̕ͅŏ̴̢͉̥̘̀̇̑̾̃̋̚̚ḑ̵̝͍̟̼͕̭̯̝̗̯̇͆͗̔̂̊͠a̸̧̺̮͕̦͖̝̻͓̠̱͎̻̤̓͒̊͂̿͊͂͋̊̚ͅm̶̳̙̆͆̀̈͆̔n̴̙̲͙͕̅ babe.”

Relaxing your jaw, you let him fuck your face. Tears welled up in the corner of your eyes from suppressing your gags. He pulled your head back to look at the mess he’d made of you. Running his tip over your lips.

“Fuck me, please,” you softly whined.

“Anything for you, babe.”

Still holding a tight grip on your hair, he guided you to your feet before shoving you onto the bed. You laid back, resting on your elbows, legs open. Vox slotted himself between them. He ran his tip up and down between your sopping-wet lips, humming at the sensation.

“I love it when you look so needy, don’t worry hun, I’m going to make you feel so good.”

You bit your lip in anticipation, laying back fully on the bed. Leaning over you now, in one thrust he inserted the entirety of his shaft into you. You cried out, in both pleasure and pain. He gripped your throat as he relentlessly punished your cunt with his dick. Vox let out a pleasured grunt as your soft tissues clenched around him. The wet slap of his pelvis meeting yours was divine, but it was the cries you made that sent him closer and closer to climax.

“F̸̛̛̱̤͇̘̬͙̪͌̍͛̔̉̍u̶̪̗̝̅̿̄́̆̉̎͘͠͠ǔ̶̧͖͈̦̺̹͈̳̹͙͉̤̱̍̎̈͗̓̈́͋̓̏ừ̸͉̪̇̈́̌̍̌̂͂̊͒̀̕ç̴̡̲̲̼̠͙̖̺̮̝̻̟̃̉̒̓̑̐́̏͌̎̊͘̚͠ͅc̵̨͔͕̉͑̾͊̇̾͑̒̾̑̋͠ͅk̵̨͙̜̦͔̗͚͊͑…” His screen glitched as he bottomed out, over and over.

"Please..." your eyes rolled up into your head. “Please… Please Vox”

“You know how much I love it when you beg,” he growled. “I’m going to make you cum so hard, you won't be able to walk.”

His thrusts became shorter and harder, close to the end. He was holding off his climax the best he could, craving the feeling of you cumming all over his cock. You were close, the build-up was knotting up in you. You knew the neighbors could probably hear you at this point, you no longer had any control over the sounds escaping your slacked-open mouth. And with a jagged gasp, you squirted, riding the waves of orgasm. Vox hissed as the tightening of your walls sucked him into you, filling you with his own release. Your jaw chattered as a small surge of electricity washed over your body with his orgasm. You both remained motionless for a few moments, catching your breaths before he slowly pulled out of you. He collapsed on the bed next to you, you rolled to your side to meet his gaze.

“You know I’m sorry, right?” his tone was sincere as he cradled your cheek in his hand.

“I do,” you tried to give him a smile, but the tears were already building in your eyes. “I believe you, that you are sorry. I can even forgive you, eventually. But it doesn’t change what happened.”

“I can make it up to you, I promise. Please give me the chance.”

“How can I? You hypnotized me and broke my trust. It makes me question everything.”

“I know,” he sighed. “It was fucked up of me. I swear I’ll never do it again, we can even make a deal. Just.. come back.. Please.”

“How many times though? Before I found out?” Vox felt a heaviness in his chest. Guilt ran across his face. “Are my feelings for you even real? Was any of it?”

The tears were streaming, making a large wet spot on your pillow.

“We can start over. I know it will take time but let me try to earn your trust again.”

“I’m sorry. But for once you have to live with the consequences of your actions.” You tried to wipe the tears away.

The look of hurt on his screen was unbearable. It took everything to shove down the burning in your throat. You knew you couldn’t keep the strength to tell him no, not when he looked so pained.

“I’m sorry Vox. You should go.” Your jaw shook as you let out a sob. You rolled over, turning your back to him.

You wanted more than anything right now for things to go back the way it was. Blissfully ignorant. The moments when it was just you and Vox, who he was without the other Vs. The late nights, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. The flutters you’d feel from the way he’d glance at you in meetings. But things had become too broken to fix. Your heart ached.

Vox reached out to touch you and hesitated, he swallowed hard. While, yes, he had made some poor choices. He did miss you, you were his relief from the day. Where he found comfort when Val was being too much. When the pressure of being who he was as an overlord became too heavy. He tried to tell himself otherwise but the cruel reality of it sunk in when you left. The realization that he took you for granted.

You heard the crackle of electricity and with that Vox was gone. You let go of the strength, and the burning pain flooding up from your chest, exploding. You let out a loud wail. Curling into a ball holding yourself, you blubbered into your pillow. You cried for what felt like forever until you were completely empty and raw.

Only then did you fall asleep.

#hazbin fanfic #darby oakana #hazbin x reader #vox x reader

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ashesandhackles · 1 year

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HP Reread - Order of Phoenix (Part 2)

Chapter 13,14

"Ron was now so low in his seat that his nose was on his knees". when Hermione confronts Fred and George about them testing sweets on first years. Also, living with Weasleys made Hermione realise what is a below the belt threat for Fred and George: write to Molly. XD (also the reason Ron is reluctant to go against Fred and George, something he was willing to do last year in GOF with the whole blackmail scheme, is due to reminders of Percy as Ron now holds the Prefect badge.)

love that both Hermione and Ron had opportunities to not read the room XD Ron getting on Cho's case about being a Tornadoes supporter when its clear she wanted to talk to Harry, and Hermione with Luna after she expresses her support to Harry. And Hermione being like "No REGRATS" after Harry is all, "Do you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" XD

"And it looks like it's going to rain" "what's that got to do with homework?" "Nothing" Ron is training for Quidditch secretly <3 I like that his arc is trying to define himself on his own terms (esp after the falling out with Harry in GOF which was because he felt overshadowed) - and the fact he takes initiative to practise for Quidditch, to be on team, is a step in that direction.

Harry enters Umbridge's office, and immediately takes the scene as a battle of wills. An adult being horrendous/violent is not a surprise to him, so what counts as "winning" for him in this situation is to not show he is in pain, or to check the time for when he would be allowed to go, or ask or to even complain to Ron and Hermione about it. There is also a lot of shame surrounding abuse, and ideas of weakness in admitting something like that happened to you.

Ron and Harry having a moment - where Ron reveals he wants to try for Keeper, and Harry tells him about Umbridge. It is incredible that Ron, a peer, got Harry to open up about something that has shame surrounding it. Speaks to how safe Ron makes Harry feel.

Both Hermione and Ron egging him to go to Dumbledore at different time: it's clear these two co-parents have discussed him. Also Harry discussing Umbridge with Hermione is operating under the assumption that Ron told her - and he would be right. Trio dynamics <3

Harry refuses to "trouble" Dumbledore because he feels abandoned by him, so he thinks he would write to Sirius instead: his safe space. <3

Hermione inviting him to knit hats with her. She is so happy that she can make all sorts of patterns now.

"She's nearly as nice as your mum": the way Harry understands this about Sirius, and the way Sirius also immediately understands what Harry is saying about Umbridge enough to come to the fire later. <3 also "Please write back quickly":(

I really, really love how Harry and Cho is written right down to the time we get to scenes with second hand embarrassment. Harry's crush on her is so endearing, and I like that he is comforted that Cho did not hate him for being alive when Cedric is dead (it's a casual throwaway line to Harry's own survivor's guilt)

"he got off on a mere technicality""many people I have spoken to remained convinced of his guilt" - the way Percy needs to double down and convince himself that he is on the right track.

"Nearly everyone in the wizarding world thought Sirius a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort supporter, and he had to live with that knowledge for 14 years" the way this book emphasises how much Harry deeply understands Sirius. And also, now Sirius isnt cleared before his death hits hard.

Sirius' association of Hermione's worry for him as her sounding like Molly shows that he understands that Molly comes from a place of concern too. Also best evidence of their dynamic is not as prickly as it is made out to be.

Love the implication that Remus is just cussing Umbridge out in presence of Sirius. The comfort Remus feels speaks volumes.

"the world isnt split into good people and Death Eaters": an important quote, and given where Sirius comes from, a good insight into how he thinks.

Hermione looked upset when Sirius makes a joke about Kreacher, and this is because Sirius was the only adult to truly back her about Winky. Sirius knows she is right, just like he knows Dumbledore is right, Hermione invoking Dumbledore's name (like Molly did in the beginning) to get him to listen - he interrupts and changes the subject, because of how bitter he feels with regard to Dumbledore (just like Harry) + how isolated he is in a childhood home.

Sirius has personal bitter feelings about Dumbledore, but his eyes are clear with regard to the Order and what Dumbledore wants there: he warns the trio to not draw attention to the fact that Hagrid isnt there.

@artemisiablack masculinity meta covered 'less like your dad' moment in depth. My addition is - I am interested in Harry's complete understanding of this - not once does he become mad at this. Since he spends the entire book lashing out, isolated, disbelieved, he has a unique understanding of Sirius' position and is unusually forgiving of him. Remus tries the "what your father would have done/ wanted" route in DH, and Harry has far less understanding of it there because he is projecting himself onto Teddy's position.

Chapter 15, 16

I love the newspaper article about Hogwarts High Inquisitor. It is quite clearly a govt puff piece with support of a quote of a corrupt parent, Lucius Malfoy. The only dissent in the article comes at the end by Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Odgen, and Marchbank's quote of critique is something the prophet tries to diminish by having an article on her links with "subversive goblin groups" on page 17.

Lmao at Hermione looking sideways to see Harry's grade on his moonstone essay and when she gets neither Harry nor Ron's essay grades, she tries to engage them in a conversation about OWL grades. Until finally, Ron cracks and says, "If you want to know what grades we got, ask" and she is all,"I dont- I didnt mean - Well if you want to tell me". Such a poor liar LOL.

Ok I adore this detail of Fred and George naming the grades for them, and Ron raises his hand in mock celebration when they say "P is for poor" XD such a teenage boy thing.

Hermione retreated last time and came back with a new strategy. She came back to Umbridge's class reading the whole book. XD Umbridge tries to whisper to her, but Hermione speaks in clear, carrying voice so the rest of the class can overhear. Hermione rattles her enough that Umbridge forgets to whisper and then docks off points when she realises that Hermione outmaneuvered her. And then, Harry gets involved, to Hermione's distress.

"Yeah, Quirrel was a great teacher. There was a minor drawback of Lord Voldemort sticking out the back of his head" LOL

"Dean Thomas, if you do that to the mouse again, I shall put you in detention": Dean whatttt

Harry loses his temper with Umbridge in Care of magical Creatures again, and both Ron and Hermione groan. Poor kids. This is a hard year for them.

Harry comes back with a very severe bleeding hand and he is relieved that Hermione is being sympathetic instead of critical (like she was at breakfast when McGonagall took points off).

"Harry saw with an ominous feeling that her face was alight with fervour SPEW usually inspired in her" this is so endearing.

I love the tiny shade of coolness in Hermione when she mentions that Harry beat her in DADA when they had a competent teacher. It bothers her gifted child-ness a bit, but she is okay because it was done in a fair setting.

How much do you want to bet Ron and Hermione discussed the idea of Harry being a teacher and kind of laid a conversation trap.

also, Harry having his survivor guilt induced rant about how much it could have just been him who died instead of Cedric: it reminds me of the conversation in Deathly Hallows where Harry tells Ron: "Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was. I've been trying to tell you that for years."

Hermione says Voldemort for the first time, and that calms Harry down. It tells him that she is taking what he said seriously.

love that Hermione waited two whole weeks to broach the topic with Harry again. And also introduced the idea of this being an idea for a larger group of people. She believes there is a larger group of people who would be interested in what Harry has to say and that it isn't fair to deprive of them of a chance to learn - and it feels like either she has been in conversation with these people and has been gauging the mood.

and she names Ron as part of her initial idea, and Ron looks at her all alarmed . here is the confirmation that the conversation they had was rehearsed. Ron joins the conversation and backs Hermione once he is sure Harry is receptive to the idea.

the barman looked "tall and thin" and "vaguely familiar" to Harry. Aberforth :D

the man in dirty grey bandages is the one who informs Umbridge about the meeting: he is referenced earlier in the book as the dude who blows up toilets XD

"A couple of people?" but this is a good demonstration of scale of Hermione's ideas and also her awareness that this would be something Umbridge would disprove of.

first meeting of Fred and Aberforth. Later in DH, he will talk of him with familiarity: "Aberforth is getting ratty.."

love that Hermione's initial go to was to use Harry's reputation to give her idea credibility and Harry disproves that line of speech with a ":sharp look" but her voice grows bolder and has more conviction when she talks about what Umbridge teaches them is rubbish. It's a nice moment of Hermione taking on a leadership role.

Zacharias Smith's interruption rattles the trio, and both Ron and Hermione try to redirect the conversation away from Harry. But Harry intervenes in this case.

While Hermione gets nervous again, Susan Bones interrupts and bolsters the conversation in Harry's favour. ("is it true you can produce a Patronus?") also, love the detail that Molly asked Ron not to spread it around XD

also twins leap to Harry's defense when Zacharias is rude again. XD i really love that the twins are so protective about him.

Ginny intervening in Hermione and Luna's spat with a "hem hem". Love that Weasley family has a set of people who can imitate people very well. Ron does it in DH too - he imitates Pettigrew XD

the cute detail of Cho fastening her catch in hopes of staying back, but Marietta was being too impatient, so she had to leave. Such a teenage move.

ok, I know OOTP is a bit of transient phase for Romione: but I love the body language detail of Hermione turning around and trodding on Ron's feet in a shop. It speaks to how close they are standing - and it feels like a test of boundaries (we see this later with Ron gifting Hermione perfume).

OOTP - Chapter 17, 18

the beech tree the trio sits near the lake is a regular, they sit here again post-Grawp chapters (and it is the same tree Marauders are sitting under in SWM chapter).

love that Ron thinks Hermione projects her virtues onto everyone else (which she does in some ways!), but Hermione clarifies that no one can tell Umbridge because she jinxed the parchment. Ruthless lol.

Harry is so worried about Hedwig that he nearly forgets that she had a letter for him:( also the tenderness in the Harry-Hedwig here: and how annoyed she is with him for letting Grubby-Plank take her, and how that makes Harry feel.

Snape's reaction to Umbridge when she mentions DADA post, obviously sore subject for him, because he believes Dumbledore would not hand him that position out of lack of trust. In HBP, he mentions that he believes Dumbledore believes it will cause a relapse in his old ways - but in HBP, the year Dumbledore gives Snape the task to kill him, he is effectively also handing over his complete trust by giving him that post. (ofc, the job is jinxed, so there are reasons why Dumbledore didnt do it before- but I am looking at this in terms of an emotional dynamic between the two. It also adds an interesting layer to Dumbledore, someone who would refuse all sorts of temptation due to his own youth and how he projects those fears onto Snape)

Crookshanks coming close to the fire to put his face close to Sirius <3 Hermione has to pull him back to stop him from singeing his whiskers.

Hermione takes Sirius' advice about Three Broomsticks being a place that would be harder to overhear- her meeting with Rita and Luna later in the story takes place in Three broomsticks. Despite her reservations about Sirius' judgement at this point in the story, it's an interesting look into how her mind works.

What is the Mundungus-Aberforth backstory? He was apparently banned from Hog's Head 20 years ago. Is it the same tight spot Dumbledore bailed him out of?

Molly's perceptiveness about Harry's relationship with Sirius comes into play in her message that she asks Sirius to pass on. In the beginning of the book, she challenges Sirius' guardianship ("who else has he got?"), and here she has retreated to "though she accepts she has no authority over either of them and begs them..".

Love that Sirius tells Ron to tell Molly that he has passed it all on, "because I don't think she trusts me to." Sirius wants her approval.

Ofc Hermione suspecting this to be the case is one more reason the book is Hermione vs Umbridge. I also think, and this chapter demonstrates, with Hermione being the one with DA plan, creating failsafes, asking to think up a name, she functions as the leader-behind-the scenes.

Also Hedwig sitting on Dobby's topmost bobble is the cutest image.

Hermione bringing up the fact that Dobby's plans aren't always safe - with regard to room of requirement. I wonder if she was doubling back on the DA after the initial Sirius enthusiasm, and the enormity of what they are doing scared her for a moment. Or it was a need to double check.

ooh, Ginny had come in with Dean and other Gryffindors. Given that Ginny dates Dean in the next book, it is a significant point to her social circle.

"That's a majority - motion passed": Hermione XD

Harry being so cute that he decides not to point out that Neville's first attempt at Disarming when Harry is facing away from him does not actually count XD

Lmao @ twins going after Zacharias Smith. They are clearly very annoyed at him making jibes at Harry (as they displayed last time at Hog's Head).

Ok, Dean's enthusiasm is really <3 I forget that Dean's respect for Harry is what drives Dean's moment in DH, where he puts weight behind Harry being the Chosen one in the conversation. This, combined with how excited Neville was about disarming Harry, shows how the Gryffindor boys view him.

Chapter 19, 20

Queen Parvati has produced such a good reductor curse that she reduces an entire table full of sneakscopes to dust.

Hermione "trying to look modest" when Terry Boot is all admiration that she can do a NEWT level charm. LOL.

Loved the conversation between Harry and Hermione: he tells her it reminds him of the Dark mark, and she admits that is where she got the idea from. It is something she got out of Harry's retelling of the most traumatic night of his life, and I like that she stores details like this and treats information as information.

"Hey Potty I hear Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday" "Warrington's aim is so pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me": XD

Hermione kisses Ron on the cheek when he looks lost and miserable, and it is like the kiss brings him back to himself <3 he touches the spot slightly. (also she has to stand on tiptoe to do it. Ron is tall)

Angelina does not wince when Montague tries to crush her fingers. Go Angelina!

Lee trying to drown out the words of the terrible "Weasley is our King" song by shouting his commentary. Lee Jordan is King!

Draco actually wrote the lyrics for Weasley is our king, and Pansy was conducting it from the stands lol. Says a lot about the character dynamics here.

Harry holding George back, while the combined efforts of Angelina, Katie and Alicia are needed to stop Fred leaping on Malfoy XD and then of course Harry releases George when Draco insults his mum.

Hogwarts really doesn't care about verbal bullying. An entire song to wind up the Gryffindor Keeper? Okay. Muggle duelling after extended provocation? Oh good lord not.

Hagrid is back and so begins hints of my least favourite plotline: Grawp.

Chapter 20, 21, 22

Hermione wearing her own knobbly elf hats. So cute. I love how it is a little thing she takes pride in.

Ron being his caretaking self and really pressing about how Hagrid has been attacked. XD

Hagrid irritably calling them nosy and interfering and then his beard twitches and Harry grins. Harry bargains his Dementor story for Hagrid's tale.

Trolls on Polish border and a disagreement with vampire in Minsk? Gimme this bar tale!

love how much the everlasting fire imagery comes with Dumbledore: he offers the giants (via Hagrid) : everlasting fire. (there is Fawkes, and there is the inferno he uses against the Inferi)

Maxime being super impressive by both roughing it (Hagrid being all "she is such a well dressed woman but..") and also saving Hagrid from giants by being fast with her wand.

Okay, Hagrid going misty-eyed at memories of Maxime being fiery at the thought of attacking Death Eaters, and Harry allowing him 30 secs of reminiscences before clearing his throat, lol.

Hermione asking about Hagrid's mother and being scared of broaching the topic, and Ron covering for her<3

Thestrals first make an appearance through gnarled yew trees - to emphasise their connection with death. Nott, Harry and Neville are the only ones who can see them.

Neville being upset that his answer might have made things worse for hagrid, but truthfully, this entire segment is an exercise of Umbridge enjoying wielding her power.

Ron being greatly amused by Hermione's skiing holiday, and Harry being envious that Ron would go to Burrow until Ron tells him he is invited. And Harry feels guilty at the thought of Sirius being alone at Grimmauld Place for Christmas, and considers persuading Mrs Weasley to invite him. :(

Angelina sending Harry burning reproachful looks cos she had to recreate the Gryffindor team. XD Also, Ginny is on team as Seeker!

The tension building between Harry and Cho: how he resists the urge to walk past her several time after she beams at him, and how he hangs back hoping to get a Merry Christmas from her.

Cho is dealing with so many confused feelings in this scene: the what if about Cedric, and seeing Harry react heavily to his mention, she feels upset that she burdened him with her feelings, she says, "I know it must be horrible for you… me mentioning Cedric, when you saw him die. I suppose you want to forget about it?" and when Harry doesnt answer, she expresses her admiration and attraction.

the other half of him wanted to take it to the grave, Imao, Harry so dramatic.

"oh, are you that bad at kissing?" "dunno. maybe I am." "of course you arent." "how do you know?" LOL. The trio in this scene.

"emotional range of a teaspoon" - its a funny line, but it also conveys Hermione's feelings for Ron and how much she wants to disavow them at the moment, because he is "the most insensitive wart she had the misfortune to meet". XD The scene is also set around Hermione writing an essay to Krum.

Harry agreeing mindlessly to Ron's "he's a grouchy git, isn't he?" "bit grouchy, yeah." Also LOL at role reversal. Hermione was the one who said that Krum looks grumpy, and Ron was like, "who cares what he looks like" lol.

Harry wishing Sirius's head appears in the fire so he can ask for advice on girls XD

Harry's ridiculous dream before the nightmare conveys feelings of competition that he feels with regard to Cho's feelings for Cedric , and there is also a sense that he wants to give back to Dobby because he came to the room to set up Christmas baubles with Dobby's head.

Mrs Norris spots them on the way to Dumbledore's office (McGonagall shoos her), but the cat informs Filch, Filch informs Umbridge.

I love the implication here that Dumbledore is conducting a meeting with portraits (many of whom are in important wizarding institutions in the country, which means he gets information from everywhere). The discussion falls silent and portraits pretend to sleep as soon as there is a knock on the door.

"but in essence divided?" + the imagery of two serpents coiling and undulating in air. This is a reference to Voldemort's torn soul in Harry, but also the twin imagery between Harry and Voldemort is strong here.

also the comical whimsy of the portraits is there throughout the scene - them pretending to sleep but raising their eyelids enough to watch Harry, them yelling at Phineas to wake up, and finally, the witch with a wand that looked like a birch rod XD

love that Harry as a protector is embedded in Ginny's mind. She asks him directly what is going on, instead of the adults in the room. Harry reinforces this association by stepping directly in front of her in the climax chapters when Bellatrix threatens her.

ah the implication of Sirius being in his day clothes, and the whiff of a stale drink about him :(

Ron gives Harry a fleeting look(but does not challenge it) when Harry changes the story to as if he is watching the vision from sidelines, later on in the same chapter, he admits to seeing it through snake's eyes for Sirius and also admits to wanting to attack Dumbledore. Sirius gets the detail that Harry wanted to attack Dumbledore first.

Oh Sirius. :( It's such struggle for him to remain calm in a scene when Fred, understandably upset, hits at something below the belt. Sirius, who is a man of action, who ties his worth to doing hates being in this position. But once they sit down, he tries hard to be a host - giving them Butterbeer, suggesting they go to bed…

Ginny being curled like a cat and her eyes reflecting the firelight is such a sensual image.

"Harry and Sirius looked at each other often, intruders upon family grief… waiting… waiting". Again, the emphasis on how Harry views Sirius.

Sirius cooking for the Weasleys, Sirius saying "the more the merrier" and Molly beaming at him, and them cooking together <3

"well, he doesn't tell me anything any more" - not only does Harry confess the details of the vision, he also allows himself to tack on this resentful sentence of Dumbledore keeping him in the dark.

This is a bit of a moment for Sirius where he wants to assure Harry things are alright before admitting that the vision is worrying him - its one of the few moments in the series that Sirius is not entirely honest with Harry. So he goes to Dumbledore about this next to figure out wtf is going on - which is what arranges the Occlumency lessons.

LOL, the entrance to St. Mungos is a bit creepy, with dummy beckoning you closer with its jointed finger for entering.

Dilys (the headmistress) counting the Weasleys as though to report to Dumbledore who is visiting.

An old man with a hearing trumpet is here to see Broderick Bode.

Mrs Weasley panicking there is a werewolf in public ward, and Mr. Weasley assuring the man that Remus finds his condition easy to manage. Remus really never lets it show, unless he is bitching about Umbridge to Sirius. XD

Poor harry spends the entire chapter thinking that Weasleys had something "accusatory" in how they looked at him (a reflection of his own feelings of guilt), and he keeps being proven wrong: Molly hugs him and thanks him for saving Arthur's life, and Fred and George offer him extendable ears saying Harry has the right to listen in on their father. It makes the end of the chapter, where they are most likely worried about him and scared for him, all the more sad because Harry is going to think they are afraid of him

Chapter 23, 24

Harry's paranoia driving him to a point where he thinks he needs to go to privet Drive to keep other people safe.

Like Sirius, as angry as Harry gets at Dumbledore, he instantly obeys his instruction. And again like Sirius in his depressive episode, Harry also retreats to the room with Buckbeak, and refuses to eat.

hermione asking Harry not to tell Ron that skiing is not really her thing cos he kept laughing too much XD

Hermione and Ginny tag-teaming Harry out of his mood, leading to the "I forgot" "Lucky you" moment. And Ginny gives Harry the knowledge that gives him immediate comfort. Ron joins at the tail end of the conversation, where he senses Harry has started calming down. (He had previously looked down in response to Harry's angry glare)

Sirius singing "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs" and his delight at having the house full, "especially at having Harry back":(

Sirius and Remus sending presents that shows both of their tacitly approving DA. Lovely shade to Remus' characterisation. Also how sweet of Tonks to send in a small model of the Firebolt.

Remus comforting Molly about Percy and the implication later that Sirius and Molly are cooking together again - Molly "sounding like she had a bad head cold" and Sirius bringing in turkey.

"The perfume is really unusual Ron" - Ron spotting that Hermione is indeed, a girl. What an awkwardly cute romantic-but-is-it gesture.

Kreacher's den - that is the boiler room where he sleeps - really makes me side-eye the stupid house elf plot that says Walburga and Regulus were "kind" to Kreacher. Sure Jan.

Christmas is the time where there is an uptick of patients who have come in cos of a family argument XD

Remus going to the forlon werewolf in the ward. :(

the Healer who ran after Ron through six portraits to offer remedy for spattergroit XD this will come in handy in Deathly Hallows.

Hermione sounding "slightly breathless" at the sight of Lockhart. Her crush remains XD

Neville saving the wrapper he got from his mum.

Harry being suspicious of Kreacher's behavior is why he is the lead detective of a mystery novel character. XD

Sirius is that character whose presence is just so powerful that his mood infects everyone: whether he is cheerful during the beginning of the holiday, or when he is depressed near the end of the holiday ("oozing under doorways like noxious gas"). Intense boy.

Harry egging on his castle which was tussling with Ron's pawn, lmaoo. "Squash him, squash him, he is only a pawn you idiot." I will say that the "Lucky you" scene and further on put Ginny among the trio. She is sitting with Hermione and Crookshanks, watching Harry and Ron play chess.

Snape and Sirius scene: this is an incredibly fun scene with two characters who are quite a match for each other's verbal sparring, and it also lays out their priorities. Sirius' priority is Harry, and he undercuts the power Snape is trying to establish in the scene by claiming ownership of both the house ("it's my house, you see") and Harry (I'm his godfather"). Snape's priority is Dumbledore's orders + the Order (and he rubs the fact that he is doing an important role to hit undercut Sirius' power in return).

The history between these two also muddies the scene with other complicated things. The moment Sirius stands up to emphasise that Harry shouldnt be bullied, Snape's, ever the hypervigilant against his former bullies, goes to his wand in his pocket. (we see a version of this in SWM, where James calls to him, and "Snape reacted as though he was expecting an attack").

They both throw emasculating insults at each other: Snape goads him about hiding in his mother's house, while Sirius calls him Lucius' lapdog. So essentially, what these two men are saying in the scene is - Sirius: "Stop tormenting Harry" and Snape is saying (especially with the jab about how Lucius knew it was Sirius): "You are putting the Order at risk". Poor Harry stuck at forcing these two grown men apart, standing immobile between them, hand outstretched. XD

Sirius forcing himself to be cheerful around people, and Harry noticing his face fell back into a brooding expression when the focus isnt on him:(

Ugh, Harry just not wanting to leave Sirius behind and the way his chest is constricting at thought of parting. And Sirius giving him a way to contact him, and then giving him a one armed hug. These two loved each other so much:(

The adults fell silent when Harry came in for breakfast, and Tonks was nervous about staying too long in the square (she even threatens Stan for simply saying Harry's name loudly). I wonder what is happening here? Are they being watched/followed? I would have loved to know more behind the scenes Order stuff. Interesting how Tonks takes the lead in this two man job, and how she splits them up, tips Stan to move them along etc etc. More glimpses of her Auror! self.

Harry saying Voldemort's name unnerves Snape, and he almost rubs the arm where his mark is. It shows that Snape is indeed, scared of Voldemort. (also Harry asking the right questions - "why can I see from snake's mind if its Voldemort's thought I am sharing?" smart cookie. It's because Nagini is a Horcrux.)

"well for the first attempt that was not as poor as it could have been" is Snape almost unwillingly complimenting Harry lol, and then he offers feedback in his typical bad teacher way: "remain focused, you wasted too much time and energy shouting. You are handing me memories you fear"

After Harry sees his mother and father in mirror, and Cedric's death once again: Snape looks "paler than usual, and angrier". I dont think he expected to encounter Lily again.

"fools who wear their heart proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked easily - weak people in other words - stand no chance against his powers". Snape is talking about himself, especially teenage Snape who joined the Death Eaters. We see a glimpse of teenage Snape later on, lying on grass and throwing swear words at James even without his wand, throwing a slur at his best friend because he is humiliated - "easily provoked, who cannot control his emotions". This is such an interesting chapter because Snape is talking about himself and there is recognition of who Harry is, away from his projection of "James' son". Snape's lip curl when asking about Ripper the dog, and Harry thinks Snape is mocking him (but interestingly, he never uses it to mock Harry - now or in the future, because it disturbs his James projection on him), but these words show that Snape is recognising himself in him. He hates it and will disassociate from the realisation until near the end of the series. Which gives weight to the "look at me" moment. He is asking Harry to really see him, and asking to be seen in return ("look at me")

Harry asking whats in the department of mysteries, unnerving Snape. Because it holds the prophecy Snape had overheard, but it also tells Snape that this is something that is haunting Harry for months (as he will later tell Dumbledore). Harry and Snape stepping on emotional landmines around each other - it makes for very interesting scenes, but good god, this is such a bad idea.

Hermione looking at Fred and george's Invisibility Hats and puzzling out how they work, and compliments how cleverly they used the charm.

Hermione asking Ron to check up on Harry since he looked ill all evening. <3 these two co-parents.

#harry potter #harry james potter #hp reread #ron weasley #sirius black #hermione granger #remus lupin

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pb-dot · 1 year

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WIP Wednesday: The Spire

This fine Wipnesday I figured it was time to talk about one of the biggest movers & shakers of the setting in The Clockwork Boy. I've allowed these gentlemen and a majority of them are indeed men, to operate from the shadow up until now mostly to preserve the mystique, but no longer. This isn't to say I'm airing all the dirty laundry of course, but let's at least meet the bastards, shall we?

The Spire, in its strictest literal sense, refers to the massive tower built out of black stone very close to the physical center of the City. Despite looking like some artifact of the city's history, this dauntingly tall building is only about 20 years old and occupies much of the ground upon which the Imperial Palace was built. The palace itself didn't survive much more than a few years past the collapse as enterprising looters and premature archeologists all but disassembled the place.

The Spire was built, as discussed in earlier writings on The Coal Wars, by a faction of merchants, capital-owners, and various moneyed interests that by canny manipulation of the wartime economy had elevated their positions to the richest inhabitants of the crumbling Imelian empire. Now without even the faintest, most permissive fetters of the weakened Imelian government, there was no force in the city to oppose them, and the faction wanted it to be plainly obvious.

As a monument to their excessive wealth, these merchants commissioned the construction of The Spire. No expense was spared, at least in terms of material and equipment, albeit the occasional corner was cut when it came to manpower. Old habits, as they say, die hard. While this was not a formal statement of purpose, it certainly worked as one, as the organization was known as The Spire from that point on.

The Spire wields much power in the city, but they show a preference for keeping that power as hidden as possible. Granted, few things happen without their say-so, but they prefer to make sure the consequences for stepping out of line seem more like a rule of nature than an act of tyranny. A competing workshop that refused to pay Spire-owned businesses' fees for employing their quote-unquote patents, for example, would experience being blacklisted from major raw material traders, see steady clients cancel with little to no warning, and any number of utilities and services become unavailable to them. Some of these consequences, like being locked out of the raw materials market and having to pay increased docking fees at the local harbors could be understood as direct retaliation as many big names in these fields are owned by The Spire. What cannot be explained in such a direct way, however, is the work of The Enforcers.

The Enforcers portrays itself as something between a city-wide neighborhood watch and a bunch of soccer hooligans, albeit not in those exact words as neither the concept of soccer nor neighborhood watch groups are present in the setting. While this image might seem less than wholesome, the truth is even less charitable, as The Enforcers function as the more violent of The Spire's tools. In any official capacity, the two groups are not working in tandem, and any enforcer you meet is likely to take violent umbrage to the idea. It doesn't take a genius, however, to notice that The Enforcers tend to go after targets that act up against the interests of The Spire.

Whether one acts out doing something minor like denying The Spire their licensing fees or asking the question where such a patent is stored to double-check it, or more sizeable actions like The Northwest's efforts to democratize the workplace, it wouldn't take long for The Enforcers to come sniffing around the place. While the enforcers do not employ violence as a first attempted solution, threats of violence are high up on the list, and actual violence tends to follow shortly after.

Seeing as so much of what The Spire does is shrouded in secrecy, we see very little of it during The Clockwork Boy, and the towering spire that houses the organization, as well as The Clockmen, works more as an imposing site with ominous history than an active participant in the world. This is, however, exactly how The Spire likes it.

We do get a brief appearance by one of The Spire's members, a masked individual only identified as Creator's benefactor. It should be noted Creator does not much care for this classification and portrays the man more as a yoke on his back and/or a power-mad idiot king caught in his own puppet strings, depending on the kind of day he's having. Regardless, the Benefactor is the one responsible for hiring Creator for the Clockman project, and he has alluded to having at least partial command over The Enforcers. It is also apparent from his habit of wearing long hooded cloaks and golden theatre masks that the Benefactor has a flair for the dramatic in addition to a desire to keep his true identity hidden.

The Spire and the Benefactor are, as my pussyfooting around telling you what they're actually about might have revealed, supposed to be more important in later books of the Hearts In Clockwork series. As far as The Clockwork Boy is concerned, they're there more as a part of the setting and as an added pressure on Creator to drive his particular brand of crazy to the forefront in the most entertaining way.

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#writing #hearts in clockwork #the clockwork boy #writeblr #wip wednesday

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twixitativi · 5 months

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do you have any tips on writing an au? normal fics i can usually handle but i’m working on a kunichuu grease au and i’m finding it quite difficult.

hiya! thanks for asking :3 also good luck with that, that seems like so much fun omg; feel free to send when you start releasing, i'd love to check it out!

ill be using splinters as my example here purely because thats closer to what you're trying to do (movie/musical as reference)

this is going to be long as fuck because i tend to ramble and go into detail, so im adding a read-more. i sincerely hope this helps because i know its a LOT (potential spoilers for splinters included)

1. The Foundation

when i first started working on splinters, it started with a lot of idea bouncing. who would suit what role? why would that role work for them? originally, i had looked at dazai as jd and chuuya as veronica, or dazai as veronica with fyodor as his jd.

then, i also started thinking about story 'beats'. to be clear about what that means, i like to think of different parts/scenes that i need/want to hit, and kind of the order if possible. this usually intertwines with the original story-- in your case, grease.

all this starts falling into the next step:

2. Research

it may not be entirely apparent, but i did (and still do) a FUCK TON of research for splinters. by choosing to have multiple source materials to base your work off (both bsd AND grease), depending on how close/accurate you want to be, you're going to want to get in touch with the material.

you've mentioned grease-- i'm assuming you're doing this based off the movie (love the movie. need to rewatch). what i personally do with heathers the movie is that i watched it the entire way through first to refresh myself with the material. it might help you to take notes about different characters, ideas, plot lines. i found a copy of both scripts online in case i wanted to see about throwing an iconic line in during an important scene without diving through the whole movie to find it.

i dont know HOW historically accurate you want to go with your fic--you may be choosing to explore the concept of grease rather than the actual setting itself-- but grease takes place in the late 50s, TECHNICALLY early 60s (movie itself came out in the late 70s) (my mom LOVED it when it came out). so, you may want to do some basic research: fashions/trends of the time (this has gotten harder to search online, you may want to even run to the library and find some books if possible)? societal norms? what did normal teens do during that time? did they have arcades, did they go to restaurants, what was the average place they hung out at?

a lot of times, i have to double-check if some of the stuff in splinters is period accurate. each decade has different lingo, slang, and general information that was normal during it. hell, looking back at the 2010s versus 2020s, if you were to write a story during, saying, 2011, and have your characters saying "slay" and "yas queen" and "road work ahead, uh yeah i sure hope it does", i regret to inform you that that will NOT be accurate, as those phrases are more late 2010s + that vine came out in 2016. now, could you quote/potentially reference these things? absolutely! but you have to be more strategic about it.

ALSO. look up fun trivia about your source material! you know where i got my title from? its the english translation of the italian name for heathers. im not even kidding. also, mix and match material! hell, even throw references in to other material! i had my mean girls reference in there! because its bsd, i like to throw in authors i like from time to time where they fit!

another silly one: what music came out around that time, playing on the radio? HOW did they listen to music? i specifically listen to a 1989 top hits playlist when im trying to figure out what songs might be playing on the radio while my characters are driving-- and even THEN i still will look up specifically when that song came out, because i made the choice to be horribly specific with my timeline.

on that note:

3. If you can, DON'T SET A SPECIFIC MONTH/DAY/ETC.

i made my choices. do i regret them? YES. is it still fun to work with? absolutely, but also the heathers timeline is lowkey a mess and you could simultaneously claim it takes place in 2 months or several.

honestly, avoid specifics. having to keep track of a timeline is an absolute bitch, and it's going to make your life a lot harder, because then, you HAVE to make sure it all matches up. if i say that kunikida went and got his glasses in march, i cant say that his glasses are brand new in may (this is a hypothetical example).

timelines suck. unless you think you can dedicate the time and energy to keeping with one, don't do it.

4. OUTLINES.

i've been writing fanfics for years, which is wild to me. i was writing fanfics in single digits (didn't even know what fanfics were). one thing that i have especially found useful with splinters is to make outlines for where you want the story to go.

let me break it down for you:

you're gonna have MULTIPLE outlines, and they are NOT set in stone. they are guidelines for you to use so that you're not sitting there going "shit i don't know what to do next". they may be scenes you want to have in the fic. they may be important plot points. they may be absolutely stupid shit that youre like "if i dont get this in here i will cry" (diarrheazai is a threat that i intend to keep)

FIRSTLY. try making a general outline for your whole fic. you don't need super specifics, but think of what events occur during grease. in it, danny and sandy meet in the summer before their senior year. sandy meets and joins the pink ladies. there's a dance competition. danny and sandy fly off in a car into the sunset. etc. TO BE CLEAR, you don't have to keep all the details! it is your story, and what you want to do with it! having that structure can be helpful when you start though.

THEN. once you have that general outline? start trying to plan out chapters. you dont have to make outlines for them all at once. more often than not, i'll sit there before i start a new chapter just trying to outline what'll happen in it. this helps a LOT on multiple levels. i'll provide an example of what that can look like below (SPOILERS IF YOU'RE NOT UP-TO-DATE WITH SPLINTERS):

(the blacked out bit is spoilers, everything else should be clear to see)

a quick explanation: i dedicate a small document to outlines for each chapter. as you can see, with chapter beats, i have diff things i want to try to hit. the stuff highlighted in green is stuff that i come back post-chapter to confirm i hit. sometimes, if it's not EXACTLY in there, i'll leave a note in bold (ex: WAS MENTIONED).

but you can kind of see what im talking about here. i have some things that im trying to knock out per chapter.

other things in my doc to outline:

yes i talk to myself in my notes.

i highlight different scenes according to their relevance to certain characters sometimes; i add scenes in where i need to, and then ofc as you see ill go into detail about specific scenes. and AGAIN these are not set in stone. for example:

as you can see, shit changes over time. that boiler room make-out scene during the homecoming pep rally appeared in ch 11. i did not make this sequence fyodor's pov.

sometimes? i just dont have the time or energy to write shit/dont think its relevant to the plot. good bye, corn maze. you'll be remembered in my thoughts and my outline

also try to have fun while outlining. it doesnt need to be something serious. literally my outlines are a mix of dialogue, scenes, my own thoughts, etc. get silly with it. this is supposed to be fun and enjoyable!

ANOTHER THING:

5. LOOP SOMEONE INTO OBSESSING OVER THIS WITH YOU.

i was inspired by ardeidae to write splinters, and i have successfully trapped them in splinters world for almost an entire year now. by both of us loving it, we can keep ourselves focused on it.

what also helps is bouncing ideas off other people. me and lu have had conversation after conversation after conversation about different plot lines, scenes, etc. sometimes, i don't know what to do and i will ask lu (or other people) for advice about the progression.

you may have also heard of the engineering rubber duck method. if you're unfamiliar, engineers will sit there with a rubber ducky by them and talk to it about what they're working on until they figure out what they need to do. sometimes, just ranting about the fic is enough to help you spawn ideas about what to do next.

OH also

6. If you do end up making a timeline? Have a calendar on hand.

this is no longer 100% accurate to the progression of splinters and the chapters, but it helped a LOT. laying it out like this can make one hell of a difference. im a visual person, so doing this helped. also, can help you keep track of holidays and shit. if you want to give your characters a day off from classes, check a school calendar for holidays. be like "uhhhherrrr yeah they're taking, uhhhh veteran's day off" yk

7. Write, but don't force it.

splinters doesn't have an actual updating schedule because i work on it at my own pace, and update once i finish a chapter. now, i usually finish chapters after a month, but i don't say it updates on x day. don't box yourself in unless you truly think you can handle it. some people are very good about schedules. i am horrible at them, bc ykw? LIFE HAPPENS.

when im in the mood, i write. i will sit for HOURS and just write. grab some snacks, maybe pop on some music, get a buddy to sit with you, but just go for it. sometimes, i'll pull a 25-10 method-- 25 minutes of writing with ten minutes of relaxing and bullshitting--and that helps me not burn out as quickly. but honestly, you cant always brute force it.

have i had to brute force it sometimes? yes. you will get stuck. it naturally happens. sometimes, a scene fucking sucks and you're like "i hate this scene but it HAS to be in there" (if it doesnt fuck that shit. throw it out. blegh) sometimes, you need to mix things up to make it more appealing to you, because i am of the belief that the readers can tell when you're not invested in a scene. if im writing a scene and its going slowly and i just want to get it done? the quality's going to go down, and i KNOW it. so, i evaluate. what do i need to do for this scene to work? can i add something to help? do i need to just rewrite the bastard and call it a day?

and sometimes? you can just go ahead and put a little "<'scene'>" in and move on. depending on how much your fic relies on that scene, that won't always work, but sometimes, you just gotta leave it and come back to it. you can also do that with certain dialogue/details. if you're trying to get your characters from point A to point B, don't shove them there if they run out of gas. make a detour, and see what happens.

eerrrrrrr yeah, i THINK that's the majority of the advice i can give? sorry that that's a lot, but uhhh hope it helps! :')

#wild that people would want advice from me but hopefully itll help #good luck with your fic anon! it seems like fun!

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queencaramilflinda · 7 months

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Can I ask why you're a shriek week hater? Genuinely curious! I never watched it

Ok so I am putting this below a cut in case anyone doesn't want to look at discourse which is completely understandable. Also this got kinda long oops

Shriek week... where do I begin? Since you haven't seen the season, let me step back and explain the premise. Shriek Week was a season set at a university for monsters, DM'd by Gabe Hicks. It used a system made by Gabe called the Mythic System. Each PC (Ally Beardsley, Lily Du, Ify Nwadiwe and Dani Fernandez) plays a student at the school for monsters.

I should also preface by saying I havent seen the season since it came out years ago so this is all based on my best memory and posts about the situation

The plot. It is said in the adventuring party that the original premise for this season was for it to be a straight up and down dating sim style game, but that Gabe decided to go another direction between episodes 1&2, which means that the plot was clearly scraped together extremely last minute and is generally nonsensical. It involves clones and an evil plant and a bunch of other stuff, it's just kind of bad. The fact that the plot was shoe-horned in last minute also really effects the pacing of the season, because it was only 4 episodes long and only ever originally supposed to be a fun and quirky dating sim game.

The rail-roading. This problem is deeply connected to the previous point. I havent seen Gabe in literally anything else so in no way am I making any statement about his abilities as a DM, and I am not the type to throw the phrase rail-roading around willy-nilly. The thing is, that because the clones and evil plant monster plot got thrown in so last minute with so little time to be resolved, it a little bit took away player agency, with players consistently attempting/asking to do things only to be told no, and instead led down a very particular path. Usually I am very forgiving of this sort of behavior as DMing is very hard and it can be easy for players to get distracted from the plot at hand... however the players were brought into this game under the pretense that it would be rom-com in genre, not plot heavy. So it kind of makes sense for them to be confused and not on board with the plot that they didn't know to expect.

Terry Talbo. Ok this maybe a me thing, because I do not particularly like Ify Nwadiwe in general, but the way he plays his character Terry Talbo has always made me uncomfortable. To quote a post I made several months ago " Ify plays his character as being kind of pushy towards women, not taking no as an answer when asking them out, and generally being toxically masculine in a way that was not criticized by the narrative or even really the players at all." A scene that distinctly sticks out in my head as both bad manners and bad gameplay is when Terry attempts to ask out a woman at the gym, and rolls low on his check. As a result, the woman says no. Instead of backing off like a normal person Terry doubles down and insists on rolling at least one or two more times to try again, and eventually the lady relents and agrees to go on a date with him. It all just felt icky, and it was not just a one time occurrence.

The cast. (This may also just be a me thing). Each member of that cast individually are deeply funny and talented individuals. However the majority of them did not know each other and the chemistry of the group was way off and did not pass the vibe check to me. One of my favorite things about actual play shows is the secondhand feeling you get of being in a friend group and playing dnd. Shriek Week did not have this, which reduced my enjoyment.

The University Setting. I am putting this last because it's such a small complaint comparatively speaking, but the seasons that came immediately before Shriek Week were The Seven and Misfits and Magic. It was the third season in a row to take place in a school as one of its primary locations, and I think im not the only one who was feeling burned out of this premise by this point.

This is what I have off the top of my head without fact checking anything, so I apologize if I am missing something major or am incorrect about any of the details! I love d20, and while Shriek Week was not for me, it has in not in anyway impacted my devotion for the show.

#cienna talks #d20 #dimension 20 #discourse kinda

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dapperdatrainer · 2 months

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So, funny story I have for y’all.

So I was working with my mom at her beauty salon and some kid shows up asking for a grooming appointment with their Pokémon. We didn’t really think much of it since this kinda thing happens all the time, usually with canine or feline Pokémon. Honestly the weirdest we got was a Primarina from an Alolan tourist.

But that changed when the kid brought out an Iron Valiant. You know the robotic gardevoir/gallade paradox Pokémon? The one with the actual double bladed scythe? Yeah, that one. Now it isn’t my first time seeing a paradox Pokémon, especially since more of them started to just crawl out of area zero recently. I have seen a few. My mom has seen at least one (an Iron Treads to be exact) but some kid, probably like 6, just had this robotic powerhouse, and in a regular pokeball no less! My mom checked its level and it was like level 70 or something, so that kid was extremely lucky that he’d caught it in a regular ball.

It was covered in mud and dirty, and even a tiny bit of a clodsire’s sludge (which we safely disposed of). It was kinda like washing a car. The Iron Valiant was pretty still and didn’t mind the sponges and towels we used on it. I asked the kid where they found this Pokémon and it was just, like, near their house??? I think it was like curious or something? It was honestly really wild to hear the kid say all this. My mom didn’t mind the Iron Valiant though. She even joked about going to area zero herself and I quote “wrangling one up” (she’s southern btw. Also no mom that is illegal).

I hope that kid goes far. They seemed very sweet honestly.

#pkmn irl #pokeblogging #pokemon irl #pokeblog rp #pokemon unreality #pokeblr #rotomblr #rotumblr #pokeblog #paldea #Violet!Dapper

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secretgamergirl · 7 months

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All people are equal... well, except for Sally of course.

I walked in late on a conversation somewhere on civil rights somewhere and this one sentence jumped out at me somewhere in it: "Neurodivergent queer computer engineers aren't being chemically castrated by the state in my country anymore." I always feel guilty quoting people at random like this, particularly when I agree with the overall point they're arguing, but the specific wording here really struck me because, well, I'm a neurodivergent queer computer engineer and I was totally chemically castrated by the state in my country. Now I'm not sure what country the person saying this lives in, but I don't think its true of any of them.

From context, this seems to be specifically referencing Alan Turing, for reasons I assume you know or can easily look up, and that would suggest we're talking about the U.K. and WOW is that country not an exception here. If I recall correctly there's at least one other country that will full on accept refugees from the U.K. with how badly they're persecuting queer people. And like, yeah, obviously what we're invoking here is a law, at the time, in the place, where being gay was illegal and this one cool nerd who wrecked Nazis' stuff accepted "chemical castration" in lieu of a prison sentence for it, and what I'm thinking about are the hoops trans people have to jump through getting medical treatments they don't need or want to get proper legal recognition and protections, but that's not comparing apples and oranges, that's comparing like... apples and red apples.

I have a larger point than this, but I'm gonna need to take you down a quick rabbit hole with me. I was just about to start going off about how "chemical castration" is a particularly emotionally charged term for testosterone blocking medication, then launch into how those get pushed on trans women to access a lot of medical treatments and rights even when they actively don't want them, and frankly they have really awful side effects for anyone taking them, at least at that dosage, and the more I look into things the more support I see for the idea that we should maybe just give trans femmes various estrogens and trust that if their T levels are too high they'll come down just from that, without having to deal with a powerful diuretic that trashes energy levels and causes other issues. But I like to be accurate, so I double checked, and holy crap what they actually forced Alan Turing to take was diethylstilbestrol. Functionally speaking, that's synthetic form of estrogen which used to be what they'd give trans women (and menopause sufferers, and everyone else who takes it) instead of estradiol, but stopped because it was kind of an extra strength version with more serious side-effects. So turns out, and I'm sorry, there's really no other way to put this- They force-femmed Alan Turing. That's far worse than what I thought he was put through and what I thought he was put through as already pretty monstrous.

But yeah, point still stands. While there's plenty of trans people who can't or don't want to get HRT, for all sorts of reasons (it not working on them, health risks for some people, the point I was going to make about T blockers making people feel awful, potential sexual performance and/or fertility issues, that stuff ain't free, the only options being to push the hormone sliders to absolute extremes of testosterone or estrogens at the exclusion of the other, which doubly sucks if you're nonbinary and actively avoiding that very choice, etc.) it's generally a formal requirement to go pretty hardcore with it for years before you can have anything else done, whether we're talking about other sorts of medical care, or basic legal recognition. Actual literal surgical-removal-of-gonads castration is also required for any sort of legal rights in decidedly more places than you'd think, and plenty of trans people would very much like to keep those before even getting into what an ordeal that sort of surgical procedure is to even access, if it's even possible for a given person.

So yeah, if you're looking at stuff specifically from the perspective of a cis guy who's gay or bi (or from any of the various demographics who'd never be in such a situation) you can look at what happened to Alan Turing, and go "wow what horrible bigotry-soaked times we used to live in. I couldn't even imagine that happening now. We sure have made some progress." And OK, sure, but like... seriously I personally know at least a hundred neurodivergent queer computer engineers who don't have to imagine that happening now, because it's an actual fact of life we really do have to live with, on top of this whole other thing where the horrible effects this had on Turing's body and mind being basically what all trans people have to live with for significant percentages of our lives jumping through hoops for decades to access what we need to correct weird endocrine issues causing that crap to happen "naturally."

Now I'd hope most of us would agree that this crap is horrific and nobody should have to do with it, with this big cognitive divide between people who sincerely believe nobody HAS had to deal with it for decades, because that's what they learned in school, and people who deal with it, and would very much like to stop doing so. And this causes big huge arguments between people demanding basic equality and people who don't comprehend that we don't actually have it and think people must be asking for something else... but you know, there's also bigots. Who not only don't agree that nobody should have to do with it, but were in the room when the sort of laws that ruined Alan Turing's life were struck down (or not actually struck down but we all agree not to enforce them, for now, until they gain enough power to start doing so without too much fear of reprisal), specifically digging in their heels to get some sort of weird compromise where OK they'll give up on making some of these people's lives a living hell, but only if some exception for some smaller group specifically gets carved out so they still have someone to bully and firmer grounds to rationalize it.

And the thing of it is, this pattern is all over the whole civil rights movement. And you know, legislation in general really. OK, we can have government health care for the ultra-poor, but only if we can really screw over people in SOME income bracket, and also sabotage the whole thing with weird arbitrary restrictions. We can give people financial aid, but we have to make the application and renewal processes a full time hell job with a ton of triggers that get it pulled, including getting their feet partway under them financially.

There's been a whole thing in the past 5 years where people are shedding light on how it's not really true that women in the U.S. were categorically given to vote when the 19th amendment passed, pointing out various sub-groups who still couldn't vote, and what sort of legal reforms it took for each to be able (and honestly, there's still plenty who can't for various reasons). And then we have further conversations on how it's not like all these loopholes weren't being discussed within the suffrage movent. People were quite aware, but white supremacists and people who wanted not to alienate white supremacists pushed to exclude all these other people and focus the whole movement on white women specifically.

And hey, speaking of amendments that didn't actually do what we're all taught they did, you ever actually read the 13th? Here's the actual wording:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

That is a HELL of an exception in the middle there! Slavery is totally illegal... unless we send you to jail first. Oh by the way, we're hiring all these now out of work slave-catchers to work as cops and building more prisons than any other country in the world and having those prisoners do a bunch of manual labor for which the owners of those prisons get paid.

Anyway, the real obvious take away to all of this is that bigots will always cling to keeping some group of people they can kick around no matter what, and efforts to compromise with them will always involve sacrificing people to that sick desire, which is morally indefensible and should never been done.

The less obvious takeaway is that we all collectively turn a blind eye to that because we keep teaching these sanitized "arc of history bends ever towards freedom" success myths rather than be honest and point out how these exceptions get carved out. Pretty sure we'd be in a better place politically if we actually taught kids things like "so that slavery thing the civil war was fought over didn't even actually stop after that. It's still being done today even, because the horrifically evil pro-slavery managed to get this loophole carved out to keep doing it." Let's test my theory or something.

#civil rights #13th amendment #slavery #19th amendment #women's suffrage #alan turing #trans rights #bigotry #they force femmed alan turing #I'm really sorry if your name is Sally I didn't mean to single you out you deserve equality too I just needed a random name

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