#jan.reply

[zukkacore]

Not to pick on you, just an explanation that Groundhog Day was my basis for Timeloop Purist & it doesn’t have an explanation for why the timeloop is happening. I believe there was a draft when it was a curse from a vengeful ex girlfriend but that sucks and I’m glad it’s not in there. I guess that one is more binary than the other points either there’s an explanation or there’s no explanation.

I’m somewhat confident that Groundhog Day is not actually the first timeloop story to exist but it tends to be treated as the blueprint so I guess I did that too

(Tbh upon reevaluation I would probably shuffle some of these around on the spectrum a bit)

Actually neurodivergency is about sorting all Time Loop stories by where they fit on the scale from Time Loop Purist (i.e. Groundhog Day) to Time Loop Radical (i.e happy death day 2 u) instead of working on hitting your word count for NANOWRIMO

[zukkacore]

And I know most of these polls give an option for “multiple” or “more than one” but if I did that I truly believed it would’ve gotten 100%. FYI, “pristinely terrible” is going into my personal lexicon, thank you

[zukkacore]

Please don't feel bad for putting all your thoughts here!!!! honestly i 100% cosign and agree and i would much rather just Have the Discussion than feel the need to be coy abt it in the tags anyway. Anyway fuck my old restraint to just talk abt dnd overall im gonna go full blorbo-pilled this is about my favorite sopping wet beast. I feel like there's a general posture when i try to tackle the Jace Conundrum with any reading besides the one intended by the text that I'm inherently being defensive abt him, which i guess I am? But also, y'all don't understand. If the text is telling me to point and laugh at jace for being stupid, don't worry. I do. Readily < 3 (seriously, what's the point in having a blorbo if you can't laugh at his expense a little)

That being said, I don't LOVE ascribing intent to bleem when i cannot know what is in his heart, but I just feel like im chewing on drywall bc i feel like im pointing out the watsonian and the doylist reading of the text are just coming across completely differently when it comes to jace and whenever i express that its like. Oh no you're overthinking it. It seems pretty clear (in my opinion!!!!) that the text is trying to ascribe a "jace is privileged, jace has always had an easy life, the second he came up against one smidgen of resistance he caved b/c everything has always been tee'd up for him b/c of inherent magic, and now he is teaching that elitism and complacency to his students. And also he's kinda just dense and stupid and incurious" perspective on him and why we should not therefore feel sorry for him, which i think is a partial truth (& it is probably not a coincidence that his design is that of a white blonde man etc etc) but clashes with all these like other details in the show that are being taken pretty seriously. That seems like the obvious reading for how we are Meant to absorb his storyline. Plus the fact that he's a minor character so truly it is ultimately Not That Serious. I just think that that takeaway is so hard for me to earnestly buy as thematically coherent when we're seeing all the systemic schooling components that are making the bad kids lives miserable. Gorgug's terrible awful very bad no good year trying to get the MCAT thing sorted (multiclass commonality). Adaine having financial barriers to succeeding in class (barriers to succeeding in wizardry. Another commonality). Kristen being disadvantaged bc she has to make her own meaning and likes the idea of self determining but has this very disorganized way of thinking that makes sense in her head but is hard to communicate & is not accommodated for w/in the school system (the i have a hard time applying myself but the Girls Who Get It Get it vibe. Another commonality). Fig being naturally good at many different hats but also not being a traditional studious person & straight up deciding school is not for her! "I can't, I tried" holds hands with all their struggles!

Plus i meant what i said the other day when it was like. I just don't understand how anyone can take his "we just sit around and talk abt how great having innate magic is" comment at face value when the sorcery class would realistically be dealing with so much inherent volatility. I can buy that Jace's life has always been easy. I do not buy that he could coast by on doing nothing in that class, just knowing how sorcery actually works in dnd vs. the tone the text is trying to convey. The internal logic just does not make sense in my brain that he's telling the truth. Not every sorcerer is Penelope Everpetal. Some of them are Pete Conlan. It's not the doylist intention—again, i cannot say w/ 100% certainty but i will guess with probably too much unearned confidence that the statement is meant to be taken at face value (kinda absurd anyway considering he's lying the whole season abt what his other responsibilities are anyway which makes everything he says kinda suspect but anyway)—but if we remove intentionality from the analysis, it reads way more like something he is saying to be cavalier or nonchalant. (Friendly unassuming jace is a facade truthers literally rise up)

Nevermind the fact that I think "sit around all day and talk about how great having innate magic is" is not nearly as clear cut a "wow this guy sucks at what he does" statement as the paralanguage is trying to convey. Like we both agree sorcery is about self confidence, self control, etc. I made the theater teacher comparison for a reason. Some kids cannot be taught acting technique because the entire period is spent just getting them comfortable being on stage. And the risks of it being with kids with innate magic is like. Infinitely higher! Especially when they're coming into this school potentially viewing their magic as a burden or a danger. i also see this discussion with like. librarians and just getting kids to Start Reading. Like you have to meet them where they're at. You can't throw shakespeare at a kid who hates reading, if you want them to approach the subject with any kind of excitement, and you DON'T shame or tease them when pick up graphic novels bc that could be the bridge for their momentum. And i LOVE analysis, I'm such a turbo nerd and art rules are made up but at the same time learning about forms helps artists better articulate their aims! If i could throw every fourteen year old into reading shakespeare with excitement by analyzing the form, i would. But like. that's not how it works. And that's not a pure absolving of his teaching style. This is why my "he's great with the freshman, and terrible with the seniors" joke is a joke, but it feels true in spirit, to me anyway. Like, once these kids know what they're doing, they need a little more, and imo due to the limitations of his perspective, Jace cannot provide that. The girls who get it, get it. Schrodinger's good/bad teacher jace thesis is my truth. But this is not me saying my interpretation is fact or the only way to read that line, this is me asserting that the paralanguage is aiming to convey one reading (jace is a bad teacher), but i think the word choice leaves a lot more room for varied interpretation.

Btw i 100% agree that with the impracticality of the wizard multi-class, it feels like there could be an emotional reason for him wanting to multi-class. That feels like a logical conclusion. I think Jace tends to be written off as incurious, which i think is mostly true but literally "i can't i tried" indicates that was not a lifelong trait, at least to me. I think it's interesting when i talk to jace agnostics (aka my beloved friends irl who endure my bullshit) and to cite someone specifically (sorry if im throwing u under the bus), a friend said that they basically chalked the reasoning up to arrogance. Which i guess coheres with what the intended takeaway is meant to be for Jace. basically "i'm already good at everything i do and born naturally gifted so why not do this other thing just to prove i can" which. Makes sense. And I love when jace sucks so I'm not even opposed to it. But I do think ascribing arrogance to his character based on the handful of things he's said is like... It's definitely there, but we also see so little of him that even arrogance doesn't feel like a completely definitive character trait? Like. I think the reason arrogance gets ascribed to him is bc of the "how great innate magic is" comment and the calling wizards stinky thing. It's all we have to go on but it's also so sparse. And again, i'm doing a cringefail apologetic restorative reading of everything he says bc i like him, but i don't think those two interactions are enough to fully condemn him for arrogance. Maybe that's just me. I do think its interesting to see people's gut reactions to the "i cant, I tried" joke. Bc my friend was basically like "oh yeah that's just a natural extension of him being a conceited asshole who thinks he can do everything but has never had to work for it". Honestly, fair. Meanwhile maybe bc i was already biased i was like wow. Deeply pitiable. Deeply Baffling. Understandably played for humor, but feels like such an off the cuff joke that has implications that are NOT grappled with. And I just think we're primed to take Adaine's side in that interaction b/c obviously she's a protagonist, even tho saying "you could take a level of wizardry" to a sorcerer is kinda baffling! Little does bleem know how sick in the head that one line made me. I genuinely was such a jace agnostic before this.

I think i'm just a little too close to this issue to be fair abt it tho. As someone who DESPISES incuriosity, I get the whole Wizard understanding the fundamentals of the universe thing. As someone who is a very pedantic and obsessed with precision of lanugage and goes on these like weird riz spirals abt everything, I do not personally relate to the Girls Who Get it Get it thing (i do have problems with overexplaining but again that's bc im anxious about my precision of language) but my best friend is someone who struggles with brain fog in a way that they often feel very frustrated by their limitations with communication and are just like "why can't i just gesture wildly. You get it. you get it. right", maybe i just feel for him more than average. ALSO not to be cringefail but yeah, I got told i was bright as a kid then bombed my sophmore year of high school honors b/c i wasn't used to working for things. What about it.

Hi do you. By any chance want to expand on both 1) Sorcerer Wizard and the dichotomy and 2) Sorcerer trans thoughts??? Bc BOY I would LOVEEEEE to hear them if you’re willing to!!!

Hiiiii beloved old man yaoi mutual anyway sorry this took a hot sec bc I do have more thoughts on this but tragically they’re kinda formless and incoherent. Prepare for the unorganized paragraph monster. Anyway I’m like pretty bad at understand dnd as a system but I have seen other ppl who are actually better versed than me express like. A sorcerer / wizard multi class is pretty counterintuitive. And like, if that’s part of the character arc that’s fine, obviously with Gorgug it was an intentional character choice and they made a profound point of of him doing unexpected and not typically “optimal” just bc he liked it & bc of that he has a perspective on rage AND artificing different from everyone else. Idk if im over explaining the obvious with the like, oh wizardry is abt understanding the fundamentals and components of the arcane it’s abt studying the world whereas sorcery is abt control and understanding of the self etc etc. like described as the ability to “project one’s will” into the world and the meta magic mechanic is a way to actualize like. Being able to literally change the rules of magic (honestly very interesting and cool imo).

Like, I don’t think they HAVE to be opposed in terms of what they’re doing, if you think abt it like. Art rules ya know? Like you gotta learn the fundamentals and the rules before you can break them. So I could see that being a reason to study wizardry. And if your character just has a natural curiosity than sure. But also, I GET the reason why it’s an impractical build and a weird choice for a character beat bc the drawbacks of losing high level sorcery aren’t really compensated for in getting some wizard levels. Esp bc they’re different casting modifiers or whatever, int vs charisma. Like you have to have a high modifier in both to even make it worth it. AND on a character beat level, not to make this JUST abt our favorite sopping wet cat Jace stardiamond but like. Wouldn’t it be kinda counterintuitive to learn all these rules and fundamentals of magic and everything in those classes is saying THIS is how it works meanwhile there is something inherent in you that could change that? And I was like oh haha trans bc it’s abt saying like oh something essential is actually less rigid than you think + projecting your will is in my mind kinda like the ability to self-determine?

At the same time the counterpoint to this is that sorcery is about inherent magic so that IS like oh this is essential to your person. At the same time I feel like the distaste toward sorcerery bc it’s inherent or essential is kinda unfair bc like? Yeah divine right is not real, someone being inherently divinely powerful is not a thing in real life but also how different is that from the divine right of being a chosen one for a deity (like. Not to go toooo into fantasy high but Kristen IS a chosen one). So I get the counterpoint that sorcerery is bad and essentialist but eh? Like take it for what it represents on a thematic level, don’t take it so literally.

Not to backtrack but I don’t think self knowledge vs worldly knowledge HAVE to be fundamentally opposed, but I do think one class transitioning into the others would be really difficult bc it’s someone learning a system and realizing actually it’s bullshit and broken & malleable vs. someone who intuitively GETS that rules are kinda just made up and the education system is saying no this is truth. Despite everything about you being a contradiction to that. Like, I feel like a sorcerer is coming into low level wizardry learning “you can’t do 1 - 2” and intuitively they go but you can? But at that level it’s like no, you’re not ready to teach someone just being introduced to those concepts abt negative numbers abt imaginary numbers etc etc etc. (similar w biology. Like yeah we all took 7th grade bio where we learned there are 2 sexes. But actually the human body a lot more varied & complicated than that. These are rigid categories we made up to “better” understand things or articulate a certain idea but they also cause systemic harm) Also. There are some particles that behave differently when observed. I respect the wizard’s quest for knowledge as someone who is a turbo nerd. I respect it so hard. But also. I get why riz spirals abt it. It’s hard to be bleem coded and love complete taxonomies when you know the world is a lot more complicated than that. I get why a sorcerer wouldn’t be able to hack it. Again not to make this abt blorbo from our shows but the failed to wizard multiclass thing opened SUCH a can of words in my brain…..