#manipulation is someone trying to influence someone else into behaving how they want with no regard for what the other wants

[freakinator]

its crazy i really strongly do think derapchu isnt doing it on purpose. like he IS being weird and biased and forcing zam to choose between himself and mapicc is CRINGE especially when zam's made it very clear that mapicc is a relationship he wants to maintain. derap's had a kind of sus way of presenting himself since the trust trials! those were weird! this guy has some red flags!

maybe im biased bc i am number one team atlas/zamchu defender always but i really dont think hes being intentionally, like. i dont know how to say it. intentionally pushy, maybe? i really do think it comes from his own insecurities just manifesting as being weirdly clingy and wanting to make himself come off in the best light possible in all situations. which is why all his recountings of events are true, yes, but so strangely worded, and why he always makes zam give his opinion on something before giving him any information.

i dunno if im wording this in the best way. shrug! i think its very clear he cares about zam more than anything else, but i do think that fact might be lightly self-sabotaging. still love them tho

i think hes bbeing manipulative sorry, manipulation doesnt always come with evil intent or with the explicit intent to manipulate someone and you may be right that it comes from insecurity but it doesnt change the fact that he very clearly keeps trying to make zam choose choices that he wants him to, like hes trying to control him but with a soft hand cause he knows forcing him wont work

[howdoesagrapewrites]

ooo if you don't mind me sliding a request into your inbox then how about a yandere pavitr and gayatri

𝙎𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 ����𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣

Cw: yandere/lovesick!Pavitr and Gayatri x gn!reader, obsessive behavior, delusion, unhealthy relationships, manipulation, mention of kidnapping

Notes: I'm so excited about this request ong

>Pavitr is delusional, he thinks all he does is for the sake of Mumbattan and his partners, he does not perceive his behavior as negative, and will react badly to being contradicted

>Gayatri in the other hand, is a little more self aware, enough to know your fight or flight response can be triggered anytime if they lack discretion with their more... Unconventional practices

>Pavitr is obsessive by nature, but as a yandere he's more on the protective side, he doesn't think you'd ever leave him, after all, you three have a perfect relationship (or so says his delusions) but he does worry about your safety

>Gayatri does worry about your safety, but her biggest fear is that any of you would leave, she's more relaxed about Pavitr because, well, he cannot physically be more in love, but you, you could leave, and she cannot allow that to be a possibility

>What I think gives them extra points as yanderes, is that they don't work as a duo, but as couple, they're madly in love with eachother just like they're head over heels for you, so you're less likely to question their actions when you see them interacting with the other just like they do with you

>Pavitr acts like a manipulator, but he isn't, he just voices his feelings to you, and it sounds like manipulation. But Gayatri is, she will use every tool on the box to keep you with them

>It's not something Gayatri enjoys, but she's more likely to get verbally aggressive in an emotional outburst than Pav

>Her words are most likely to be directed to you, but Pavitr also gets a piece of it sometimes

>"You're out all night and you don't even call! How am I suppose to trust you this way! How am I supposed to trust you with Y/N?! You're a cheater! A liar! You just want to leave us!" Tears spill from her eyes, yelling with a broken voice, Pavitr comes close to her and softly but firmly grabs her wrists so she can't hit him, she hugs her tightly until her breathing stabilizes, whispering how much he loves her, how much he loves being with you, how he'd be caught dead before even looking at someone else

>Pavitr is low-key a masochist, he feels terribly guilty when he fails to save people as spiderman, or when he has to leave you to go on patrol, so he accepts every mean thing you or Gayatri have to say, and he even feels a little comforted if you're upset about him leaving, because that means you love him just as much as he does

>Gayatri spoils you both so much, clothes, spa days, books, skincare, jewelry (and you know indian jewelry is 🔛🔝), whatever you want. She does this in hopes of making you dependent on her, but it's also because she loves gift giving even as a sane lover

>If ever so much as say the word "leave" or "break-up" they're both having full on panic attacks and clinging to you for dear life

>Although if it's really serious, Gayatri acts cold and mean to you, calling a liar and a coward, she'll try to calm Pavitr and glare at you, using his reaction to manipulate you and make you see how much of a bad person you are to make poor sweet Pav behave this way

>If you seem like you're up to something (maybe escaping) Gayatri would use her influence to tell everyone you're mad, that your words cannot be trusted as you are experiencing a really bad maniac episode, but it's okay, they still love you, and take you back

>This strategy is powerful and unless you have a really really trusted friend (that it's already difficult with how clingy they are) who would believe you, you're pretty much screwed, everyone you know will send you back to them

>In case you haven't noticed, Gayatri is definitely the one that would kidnap you, but she really wants you to stay by your own free will

>But of you did manage to escape from them, they'll search for you, Pavitr would be satisfied just stalking you and occasionally stealing your stuff, but Gayatri isn't

>"Baby, don't worry, they do love us, it's just that they are so confused, it's not their fault, we need to find them so they can be safe, Y/N cannot be trusted with their own safety" she kisses her boyfriend's forehead and calms him down so they can start looking for you already

>Now, if you're okay with their yandere tendencies, it's just heaven

>They're so attentive and will shower you with love and gifts every second of the day, they may even allow you to go outside alone (not for too long ofc)

>They're both extremely clingy and sometimes keep you bound to bed for cuddle sessions that last DAYS, don't worry about food, you can order whatever you want:3

>Gayatri may be more dangerous, but they're both at your feet, if you were a manipulative person, it's okay, they'll do whatever you want, just don't leave

>They both love to kiss you for hours, until your lips are bruised and you feel dizzy from the lack of air

>As long as you're docile, they're sweet partners who may have a few screws loose, but love you endlessly

[mikuni14]

Jack & Joker - Ep 6

I am constantly fascinated and amazed by this series' ability to combine scenes of comedy, fun and flirtation with scenes showing the dark side of poverty and wealth and how it affects people. Like we see how almost everybody - recently Tattoo and Save - make choices that they would not normally make if not for the lack of options, the lack of ways out, the lack of money for a decent and normal life. We see how even small children are aware of their situation and how they want to lead a normal life, go to school, get an education, live carefree. We also see in the example of Tattoo and Save how often the poor, instead of uniting against the oppressor, the exploiter - throw their own, who have it just as hard, under the bus, so that they can get out of trouble themselves. As Hope, Tattoo and Save did while EACH OF THEM LIVES THE SAME WAY, IN THE SAME PLACE, THEY ARE IN THIS TOGETHER. And yet it is so easy to manipulate them, to turn them against each other, to use them, according to the old rule: divide and conquer. It's also hard to blame them in their situation, when from an early age they had to focus on survival and certainly paid a disproportionately high price for trying to be nice many times. So when they see a quick and easy opportunity to earn money, to get out of trouble, (like the beaten Tattoo afraid for his mother, or Save seeing beaten Hope who still has to go to work when he can barely stand) it's unfortunately understandable that they will behave selfishly... I'm not making excuses for them, they are acting stupidly and wrongly against those who have it just as hard as they do - I'm only saying that I understand their train of thought.

But we also see how money corrupts, destroys, and detaches rich people from reality, in the example of Boss, Aran, Rose, Joke's parents. For these people, dehumanizing others comes exceptionally easily. For Rose, Jack is a prize that she "graciously" cares for, but it doesn't occur to her at all that someone else, maybe less handsome and cute, might suffer because of her. And it doesn't occur to her at all that JACK might suffer - because she doesn't want that, right? So it's as if it happens automatically, because things happen the way she wants, right? How much Jack is a "thing" for the rich is evident from the expression of relief on Boss's face that he can so easily solve the necklace problem: because the payment is "only" Jack - and in his eyes it's.. nothing.

Similarly, for Joke's parents and for Boss, their children are just their extensions, they are to exist only as a fulfillment of their expectations. The worst thing for them is that they might look bad in the eyes of others and they only worry about whether their children won't ruin their perfect image.

It's interesting how the series compares Jack and Joke with the other characters, because Jack and Joke seem immune to these destructive influences and use their "talents" against the rich, and they throw them under the bus with a smile on their faces. In addition, their plans for the future, their actions, focus on others in a similar situation: other poor children, grandma, and in Joke's case - Jack 🤭

Anyway - this series, for being a little campy and super fun, actually doesn't fuck around with social issues 😤🥰

……..

L-O-V-E made me giggle and blush, my jaw dropped when I heard C-O-N-F-E-S-S (what? already?😲), and then my heart broke into a million pieces when I saw the look on Joke's face when it turned out it was just an English lesson💔 or was it really just that? 😏 And it kind of healed a little when I saw the shy and sweet smile of P-R-O-M-I-S-E on Joke's face at the end of the scene 💔🩹 How lovely it all is. How cute they are.

War killed it in this scene, the whole emotional journey he went through, from flirtatious, through shyness, complete disbelief and an obvious attempt to control his dare to hope, through crushing disappointment and discouragement, ending with joy at least from what he thinks Jack offers him now. Whenever I think about it I get goosebumps ✨

..............

The girls in this episode were absolutely adorable and funny 😆

Them -> 😏😆 emoji

[atropinenightshade]

"You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" Rafal Song Analysis (with some other mentions too)

My Rhian "Like a Villain" one here.

Song:

Also, this will involve Lord of the Flies references here and there, so a slight spoiler warning?

To the song:

Show me how to lie, you're getting better all the time And turning all against the one is an art that's hard to teach Another clever word sets off an unsuspecting herd And as you step back into line, a mob jumps to their feet

I imagine this as Rafal remembering when he was still alive, just watching everything unfold. I believe this may refer to Jack's influence over the boys of the island in the book. But in Rhian's case, he is a liar by stealing identity and teaming up with Marialena, the liar. And I think he lied in Fall to escape prison after Midas chose Rafal. Rhian turns people against the One, and I have always viewed him as the charismatic speaker who doesn't even need a script. When Rhian speaks to people, it's dangerous because somehow, they will follow. I don't see Rafal as having the same exact talent, and I have headcanonned him as someone who needs to practice speeches like everyone else in order for it to be decent. Rhian also turns people against Rafal, the herd being the trio and the other students in the main series, by pretending to be him. The mob could be his armies of trained soldiers or zombies or a mob against him. Against Rafal. But mostly I imagine the armies he got after the Kingdom Council meeting.

Now dance, fucker, dance, man, he never had a chance And no one even knew it was really only you And now you steal away Take him out today Nice work you did You're gonna go far, kid

This could be Rafal being killed, though he did have a chance, technically. It could be Peter Pan killing Timon, and Rafal assuming it was Rhian, with war breaking out because of his assumption. In Lord of the Flies, they kill Simon and start behaving like barbaric tribes. The Great War was led by three children/teenagers, in a way, because even with a life centuries long, the twins had teenage hormones and way of thinking. As the adults were weak, passive, and not leaders, this happened. I was also thinking of Rhian killing that soldier with his breath, and that guy didn't have a chance. Rhian shrugged it off and basically went all like "this is an example of what'll happen if you try that shit again. Got that?" But Rafal as a ghost tells Rhian bitterly that he'll go far with his violence, dishonesty, and manipulation. The "kid" part could be the way he has always viewed Rhian.

With a thousand lies and a good disguise Hit 'em right between the eyes Hit 'em right between the eyes When you walk away, nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See 'em running for their lives

Again, Rafal sees Rhian as the liar and using his face as the "good disguise." Now Rhian is a killer and he becomes someone people fear, starting from the army camp when Rafal was still living. When Rafal is dead, people fear Rhian through the false Rafal he acts as. Perhaps Rhian's callousness runs even deeper than Rafal's ever has. Because Rafal would never have lied the amount of times Rhian did or have worn his face. Rhian is more emotional and sensitive, which gives him an advantage. He now has a method to destroy someone to their core. He is the most dangerous because he never appeared to be. He should be feared most because of how his nature is. "Good disguise" can also be when Rhian started it by lying to Marialena by acting as Rafal to her when he spied on Midas and Rafal. This ties into my last paragraph. Also, I wanted to mention even Rhian's trap about the moth thing and how he pried and picked at Rafal to the point where even he was unsettled. Rafal is clever yes, but can we mention Rhian??? He is like the orca that is the true apex. He kills and scares off the sharks.

Slowly out of line, and drifting closer in your sight So play it out, I'm wide awake, it's a scene about me There's something in your way and now someone is gonna pay And if you can't get what you want, well, it's all because of me

This may be Rafal as a spirit looking upon his dead body and Rhian being so nonchalant about it. In fact, Rhian's attitude towards Rafal's death matches the previous lines of the song! Rhian is certainly out of line, and Rafal is that one thing in his way. After what Rafal said to him, Rhian makes him pay for sure. He thinks that he not being School Master is all due to Rafal being alive and taking that from him. Demoting him. Allowing him to die. Rafal will see himself as the victim here, which is what the lines sound like.

Now dance, fucker, dance, man, I never had a chance And no one even knew, it was really only you And now you'll lead the way Show the light of day Nice work you did You're gonna go far, kid

Nobody knew it was really Rhian-- main series included! And since these lines switched to first person, it could be Rafal saying he clearly had no chance to meet the students in the main series, or to show them who "Rafal" really was. He never had a chance to live a Good life because Rhian took that away. Rhian is now the one who will "lead the way/show the light of day." At least, he thinks he can, with the attitude that permeates the last chapter of Fall. The last two lines could be Rafal begrudgingly praising Rhian's work as a villain where even he himself as the sadist was outdone. Maybe Rafal also tells Rhian he'll go further than Rafal when it comes to villainy and evil.

With a thousand lies and a good disguise Hit 'em right between the eyes Hit 'em right between the eyes When you walk away, nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See 'em running for their lives Clever alibis, Lord of the Flies Hit 'em right between the eyes Hit 'em right between the eyes When you walk away, nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See 'em running for their lives

I suppose this part does confirm the Lord of the Flies references! But I imagine Rhian fooled the staff who existed immediately after the war into believing there was no murder. It was just that the Storian killed him! (I think it actually implies it in the book.)

[sophieinwonderland]

Imitated DID 2 - Hysterical Boogaloo

We're diving back in from where we left off last time. Now with the "hysterical" group.

There is actually a certain level of logic to part of this.

I don't diagnose people with disorders. But when talking about plurality with questioning systems, I find it much more useful to ask about their internal experiences and hear them described in their own words.

Especially because a lot of medical jargon and even plural community terms kind of suck for describing these type of experiences. If someone isn't describing things in their own words, I can understand feeling like they might be faking. But that doesn't mean they are.

Comorbid Mental Illnesses can affect communication: We have ASD. If you've noticed, we tend to use jargon and big words a lot. I often make up my own jargon too because much of what I see from psychiatry is inadequate. (I could go on long rants about how meaningless the word "dissociation" is.)

The issue is that a lot of people with ASD or other disorders might behave like this. We might use clinical words if we've studied them. I'd like to think We would have the presence of mind to not reply to a psychiatrist asking "what do you mean by amnesia" by explaining whether our amnesia is retrograde or anterograde, but I could easily imagine someone else doing that.

Some people also have personality types where they might be seeking respect, and trying to impress a psychiatrist with their knowledge of academic terms.

Perhaps what appears to not be genuine is just another condition that makes people communicate in ways a neurotypical wouldn't be expected to.

This also goes for other behavior that appears non-genuine. Maybe someone presenting more overt presentation just doesn't have a filter or social awareness.

(Also, amnesia isn't even professional jargon. It's used all the time by lay people.)

Again, most people with DID stated they would miss the voices of their alters: Like I said in the last post, 69% of DID voice hearers said they would miss their alters' voices if they were gone.

The feeling of "I won't let anybody take them away from me!" isn't uncommon. They're in the MAJORITY. Maybe expressing these feelings aloud is uncommon. But that just makes me further suspect influence from comorbid disorders that make it difficult to tell what's socially acceptable.

Another possibility is someone mentions their full trauma history and talks about their conditions as a test of sorts. They've learned to expect rejection, and want to be upfront about everything so that if they scare someone away, it will be right at the beginning of the relationship.

It's so important to account for different behaviors in different people, and different illnesses and conditions that can influence those behaviors.

WHAT?!

She couldn't handle Lucille, who always got her own way. Lucille is convinced that her mother physically and sexually abused her.

There are many ways to write this that wouldn't involve portraying the mother as a victim of a little girl.

It's stated as an objective fact that Lucille's mother "couldn't handle Lucille," suggesting Lucille was always the problem. Meanwhile, "Lucille is convinced" her mother abused her. It's not even neutral language, like she "reported" or "described" it. She's "convinced."

I'm absolutely appalled.

Also, it feels a little gross for the doctors to describe their patient as "attractive" and with a "seductive presentation." I'm not the only one feeling that, right?

So she essentially did report amnesia. It just sounds like she didn't understand what amnesia was or was in denial, and clinicians should have questioned further.

Surely, if she were trying to manipulate the clinicians, she'd have claimed to amnesia, right? Since amnesia is part of the criteria?

Like with the "borderline" group from before, she had DPDR.

So she recognized similarity in her own experiences with DID systems AND an independent clinician confirmed her DID.

But this is what they're using as evidence against her. That she heard about it first and then identified with it. But that's often how people learn about their disorders. Sure, sometimes it can be wrong. But it shouldn't be treated as evidence against somebody as it is here.

Quick reminder that she started to hurt herself in group treatment.

Why would you suggest she go without therapy? Supposedly it worked out if we trust the clinicians' report. But I'm not so certain I do. I doubt they'd say "we told her to take a hike and then she was worse off than when we left her."

Now, the actual section focused on Lucille isn't the last time we'll hear about her, so let's skip ahead a bit.

This adds a bit more context to the earlier wording of her being "convinced" her mother abused her.

But the implications are a bit more terrifying to me. What was left out of this case study?

Lucille comes in experiencing chronic symptoms of DP/DR. She believes her mother abused her. The clinicians here seem to take the side of the mother in a peculiar way, describing Lucille's mother as "being unable to handle" the little girl.

After leaving therapy and coming back for a follow up, Lucille is saying, uncertainly, that the abuse she endured might not have happened.

Did the clinicians, as authority figures, also try to convince Lucille that her memories of abuse were false?

This feels extremely gaslighty to me.

This is actually a good practice. And is a huge problem I have with the anti-endo ideology is that it often encourages people to look for trauma to confirm systemhood. If you tell someone who is a system they need trauma to be a system, there is a real concern of them trying to fit themselves into that box.

But is the implication that Lucille fabricated her trauma after seeking treatment for DID, and never believed it prior? If so, that feels like an incredibly relevant detail to omit from your case study.

So their opinion, ultimately, is that these cases of "imitated DID" are fabricating trauma memories.

Essentially, this paper is advocating for False Memory Syndrome.

And worse, they admit there's no way to reliably assess suggestibility in these patients, since the authors claim the suggestibility is selective and the scale useless.

It comes down to the individual clinicians with their individual biases to determine who is or isn't an actual trauma survivor.

What is all of this REALLY about?

Now we get to the real point

While other parts of the paper pay lip service to helping patients, a large amount of it is focused on addressing malpractice complaints.

Here is some interesting wording. Shouldn't the interests of the patients be the priority of therapy?

I understand the intent behind this. But the wording presents an adversarial relationship between clinicians and hostile patients where clinicians are meant to act as judges and authority figures, and acting in the interests of the patients is "collusion."

Ideally, even if a patient were faking DID, giving them a more correct diagnosis would still be working in the best interests of the patients, right? At no point should acting in the patient's interest be presented as a bad thing as it is here.

Patients suing therapists over believed-malpractice are presented as seeking "attention and gratification."

I'd agree that it would be interesting to know what groups the suing patients fall into. But there would need to be a better way to make such an assessment.

Because if you're going to have cases like Sandra's, mentioned in the last post, where clinicians are forming biases based on her life history of self-medication with drugs and having an older boyfriend before they even observe her, this method isn't effective.

What would be really interesting to me is, if Sandra or Lucille had gone to another clinic, would the other clinics have judged their DID as being imitated? Or is this solely a result of the biases of these clinicians?

In contrast, would those clinics have judged other patients that this clinic said had "genuine" DID of having imitated DID.

Is there even the slightest bit of credence to this concept? Can it be consistently applied or is this just the opinions of one clinic being treated as gospel?

The goal of the whole paper is pushing False Memory Syndrome in a way that pushes responsibility from clinicians onto patients.

Over 20 years later, and this hypothesis is still groundless. Not just the hypothesis that those responsible for lawsuits are imitated DID cases, but even that second opinions could confirm their own case studies as being imitated DID.

This paper that started the "imitated DID" myth, the paper that led to the controversial McLean video, is based on nothing.

It was motivated not with the goal of helping patients with DID nor helping the patients they accuse of imitating DID, but by the self-interest of clinicians trying to protect themselves from malpractice complaints of patients they treat as hostile and adversarial.

[destinygoldenstar]

🍀James Is A Bad Influencer🍀 - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 2 Episode 9 “Sabotage Below Zero”

I just got back from the doctors. So I'm exhausted due to a shot.

So perfect time to react to another episode.

Enjoy the reaction:

"A glass... with water... please..."

Is he at the bar?

Oh hey! Haven't seen you in awhile.

What is that turtle beer he's drinking?

"Look for the wise man who drinks from the turtle's neck."

OH.

OH MY GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THAT.

WAIT THAT WAS BUILDING UP TO SOMETHING?! I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST CRAZY.

"Who are you calling boss, Oliver?!"

Oh shit.

"YOU DARE CALL SOMEONE ELSE BESIDES ME YOUR FATHER?!"

I'm not gonna defend her or anything.

"Each Intern has a tracking chip in case they want to escape."

UM... IS THAT LEGAL?!?! WHAT THE HELL?!?!

Does Chris do this too? Is that how they all die?

"Everything is going great without you."

"Everyone is dead! It's awesome!"

"I'm sorry. Okay?"

*Gets 911 Ad*

Wow. That apology was so bad it made YouTube want to call 911.

Also WHY am I getting an ad for this show of all things??

"If I were to come back, you'd behave yourself for a few hours and then just go back to your old ways again."

THAT, my friends, is what we call, a TOXIC relationship.

"I promise you that this time, everything will be different."

I like her, actually. I know she's NOT a good person AT ALL. But I like that she's trying.

Krystal's a good character. I like this for her.

"Oh I bought that hotel."

I'M SORRY, YOU DID WHAT?!

DUDE, YOU DON'T NEED A MILLION BUCKS, WHY'D YOU COME ON THE SHOW?!

"Why did you give up the million?!"

"I have a perfume company for women. I never needed the money."

Oh, you do? You just now bring that up?

Wait why did you even come here then, if you'e rich?

"I came because I wanted to feel young and all that."

Okay, welp. I need to stop talking.

Oh what the- XD

Did Elsa freeze the summer again? What's happening?!

"Why's it so cold all of a sudden?"

LOOK OUTSIDE. TAKE IN NATURE. GET OFF YOUR PHONE.

I know he doesn't have his phone out, BUT GET OFF IT ANYWAY.

"Are you kidding?! This is incredible!"

Of course Rosa likes this. Bless her for being the sunshine amongst the whining.

"In my town, it never snows, so this is kind of exciting for me!"

You're Latina, right?

Maybe she's from the south. Idk. I don't remember if she said that or not.

"I wish Lake was here..."

Don't we all?

"I know, it's very sad..."

SHE DOES NOT GIVE A CRAP, OMG XD

"What would Rosa think of me if I told her that I knew Lake was going to be voted out and I didn't say anything?"

Yeah, that's messed up on your end.

"It's not something I'm proud of, but if I wanted Rosa to be by my side, it's best if Lake wasn't here."

I mean, I guess.

Allyson and Hunter are still the targets. And Karol too. So it's not like her alliance is in danger if James and Aiden are on their side.

I see her logic here.

It's still messed up though.

"YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE FRIEND. AND THAT FRIEND WILL BE ME."

"That's weird. There shouldn't be snow this time of ye-"

"Well..."

I know what the subtitle said. His line got CUT OFF there.

"Maybe it's because of climate change."

Allyson's voice sounds WAY different. Hello?

Was her VA not available today?

I'm used to her voice being deeper than this.

HEYO HEYO HANDS OFF

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY GIRL?!

"I know what it's like to feel left out, so I won't let it happen to you."

"I won't abandon you-UNLESS YOUR NAME IS LAKE."

Karol is... strangely NICE?

Not that she was malicious before. But idk, it's kinda catching me off guard. I thought she'd be wanting BLOOD.

As though she didn't get blood last episode.

"They manipulated everyone, had them under control and even told lies about me to the others to get me out."

Uh... YEP.

No, I'm completely on her side there. He DID do that. It was NOT fair to her.

I don't see wanting revenge as a necessarily bad thing here.

I don't like James all that much and I don't support most things he does, sorry...

"You seem so nice. How come James and Aiden hate you that much?"

I mean, she was a bit of a Karen at the first episode. But other than whining, she was pretty introverted and closed off and genuinely wanted to be friendly with Aiden.

James is STILL in the wrong in my book.

"I knew Karol was up to something."

I know YOU'RE up to something. YOU STALKER.

DON'T RECORD PEOPLE'S CONVERSATONS WITHOUT PERMISSION.

"Two weeks of therapy are not enough to change your attitude so radically."

And NO therapy is better?

If anything, that's proof she's trying.

KAROL IS NOT WRONG.

OH THOSE ARE CUTE-

I mean, shame we don't get ACTUAL winter outfits. I get that probably wasn't in the budget.

BUT THOSE EARMUFFS.

Why is Riya still wearing sandals in the snow?

She's that much of a queen her feet don't get cold.

Also why is her earmuff color white when her colors are red and gold?

I guess Aiden and James stole her colors.

Another thing to hate James for. Fuck him for stealing my queen's color.

"The most original sled will win an advantage in the second stage of the challenge."

Build Krystal's face. Then you'll automatically win. Trust me. It's a foolproof strategy.

"Your opinion is very important."

Aw! She's actually trying!

"If you help me, it won't be so original anymore."

OH WOW. COLD.

Way to dump your crush like that. Geez.

"Now that Tess is gone and with my apparent 'death', Hunter has felt guilty and wants to be in control of the situation. And I don't like that."

Why don't you like that?!

You DIED. Of course he'd want to look after you.

He's not even being bossy about it. COME ON. He's trying to help.

I also GOTTA look at Allyson's VA in the credits after this, cause this DEFINATELY someone different.

"Despite their appearance, most spiders are harmless."

Oh that's nice of her.

Oh this is so sweet. Aw...

Aw, the way it's on his shoulder. That's actually so sweet.

"I heard Karol and Riya talking."

Raya? RAYA?

PRONOUNCE HER NAME RIGHT, BITCH.

THE DISRESPECT.

"Karol wants us out. She's just pretending to be good to earn your trust."

"And I would NEVER stoop THAT LOW..."

OH WAIT, EXCEPT YOU DO.

Hey wait, so it's okay if James is faking nice to be a snake BUT GOD FORBID KAROL DO THE SAME THING?

I mean I know she killed everyone, BUT THAT WAS FAKE AND THAT WAS A GIG.

What's James' excuse?!

James... are you being possessive over Aiden? Is that what this is?

"God forbid Aiden have any friends besides me! That's why we got Lake out! And now KAROL wants to be friends? Oho, I can't have that! I need him for my Instagram! No one's gonna tune in to my content!"

"James, we'll talk about it later."

YES AIDEN. DON'T HEAR HIM OUT.

"I feel like he's trying to manipulate me and vote her out."

YES. THAT'S WHAT HE'S DOING. YOU ARE ON POINT.

WHO SIDED WITH YUL? NOT KAROL.

...well to be fair, James killed him. BUT THAT'S THE ONE REDEEMABLE THING.

Oooh, Riya, nooo...

Karol's is so cute.

Allyson made a snowboard.

Idk if that's part of the rules, but that's very cute.

Okay Rosa wins.

I didn't know you had a punk phase, girl!

Look at her, she's so happy and proud of herself!

HOW CAN YOU HATE ROSA?

OH MY GOD IT HAS HER DAUGHTER'S NAME WRITTEN ON THE HEAD?!

OH MY HEART ❤️

AND IT'S ROSES AROUND IT?!

She wins. In my book, she wins.

"Definitely Rosa Maria."

YEAH!!!! LET'S GO!!!!

"My sled is so well made it looks like I bought it."

"Exactly! For this reason, it completely lacks originality."

"Wait, I put a lot of personality into mine too."

"That's not a sled, that's a snowboard. It doesn't count."

DAMN, OLIVER WITH THE ROASTS.

"You can rest while I... relax my face for a bit."

XD

"It's just so hard to be decent! You have no idea!"

"It's rude to wait for a lady outside the bathroom, you know."

FACTS.

THAT'S PREDATORY.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just came back to make up with everyone."

Yeah, even in that Riya conversation, she didn't even say as a scheme "I want James and Aiden gone, let's sabotage them." She just said she hated them. WHICH IS JUSTIFIED GIVEN WHAT THEY DID TO HER.

HOW IS KAROL THE BAD GUY HERE?!

"Karol, I heard you tell Riya that you wanted me out."

AGAIN. THAT'S NOT HER NAME.

DO YOU JUST HATE WOMEN, JAMES? IS THAT IT?

I hope Riya and Karol beat his ass.

ALL WOMEN ARE QUEENS, JAMES

"And who is going to believe you after manipulating everyone?"

GET EM.

"Soon, you and that boy will be out of my camp."

Oh no, how dare she play the game /s

Look at how happy Rosa is.

She's just so happy to be here. I love her.

"I weigh twice as much as you. Maybe more."

"That's the point, Hunter. You don't have to carry all the weight by yourself. We are a team. We're supposed to do it together."

No offense Allyson, but THIS context makes it a bad example.

He's kinda right. I mean, maybe not twice as much, but he IS right.

He's not arguing teamwork. He's arguing logic.

The spider's still there.

They're just chilling. They want a ride.

"You already lied to me a couple times, so it wouldn't be very wise to blindly believe you again."

FACTS.

It's almost like your relationship is toxic and you need to get out of it...

"So are you going to stop saying those things about Karol?"

"No I'm just saying that to... apologize."

Oh?

"I don't regret having strategized in the game, but..."

Oh, no, he's not apologizing for shit. He's just making a scene.

"I think I should have included you in it."

What if Aiden doesn't want to scheme? Ever thought of that?

Not everyone in this game WANTS to be a schemer.

"Sorry."

That's a YouTube Apology right there.

Given he's an influencer, I wouldn't be surprised if that's a YouTube Apology.

"But I need you to trust me."

I hope Aiden says "Tough shit" and gets him out.

If this episode is building up James' elimination, then I won't complain.

"That's why when I get the chance, I'd like to vote them out."

WAIT, DID SHE SAY THAT?

I DON'T THINK SHE SAID THAT.

HOLD ON.

WE'RE REWINDING. I NEED TO LISTEN TO THAT CONVERSATION AGAIN.

"Hey Riya, I just wanted to tell you that I'm very happy to be back in the game. I never spoke to you and I would like to get to know you better."

"Oh sure Karol. I know what it's like to feel left out, so I won't let it happen to you."

"Thank you very much. It was very hard to be the second voted out after trying so hard."

"Why did you get voted out?"

"James and Aiden. They manipulated everyone, had them under control and even told lies about me to the others to get me out."

"Wow... that must have been frustrating."

"Yes, that's why when I get the chance, I'd like to vote them out."

Okay no, she DID say that.

FUCK ME. THAT'S MY BAD. I DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION.

Uh... yeah I'm just gonna leave my errors in this post, why not?

I'm tired from meds. Clearly my brain is elsewhere.

"And I was trusting her and doubting you. I feel like an idiot."

You had a right to not trust him, though.

They're kinda the same.

OH HEY.

Is that allowed? Are you allowed to have a wolf help you?

"We don't fit in this place. And although they may seem friendly, in the end we are not a priority for them. Sooner or later they will want to discard us."

Damn. She do have a point.

That's gonna cut Riya deep. Cause I don't think she had anyone prior to the game.

"Karol is right. I must not forget my goal. I haven't stopped failing in my work, that's why I came here. This is my last chance to be someone! And I don't want to return to India with my family!"

SLAY GIRL!! SLAY!!

I'm routing for her and Rosa. If you're wondering who I'm routing for to win: Riya and Rosa.

"I want you to see how things really are and understand me."

Idk if Rosa is like that though. That's the thing.

DAMN.

EVERYONE IS COLD TODAY.

DAMN ROSA! QUEEN!!!!

"You can use this helmet in case you bump into something."

Oh. Okay. Yeah, everyone else will CRASH AND GET SERIOUSLY HURT.

AYO. I SEE YOU.

Hey to be fair, he sideswiped her first.

UH, ARE YOU OKAY? THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT COULD'VE KILLED YOU.

Oh she's dead.

That was a head bash.

OH YOU'RE CHEATING. GOODBYE.

OH...

YEAH THAT LOOKS BAD...

"I need medical attention!"

Oh maybe she's fine. She doesn't sound in pain.

(Me trusting the voice acting as actually good)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

NO COME ON, NOT THE SPIDER

WHY?! THAT WAS NOT NECESSARY TO INCLUDE.

I blame Aiden. Aiden and James. Fuck them.

"With Hunter being the only one who crossed the finish line, he wins immunity."

HUH?! BUT HE DIDN'T HAVE THE BLINDFOLD ON. HELLO?!

YOU'RE BENDING YOUR OWN RULES TO BENEFIT THIS GUY-

I'm done. I'm done.

This episode hates women.

"Aiden, you darn *BLEEP*"

TELL HIM OFF

"I gave you that spider to take care of it! And you put it in danger like it's nothing?!"

TELL HIM

"You are trash, miserable, you and James are one of a kind!"

BLAME JAMES FOR THAT.

"Oh shut up Karol! You crashed into us during the challenge!"

BECAUSE YOU SIDESWIPED HER FIRST.

"If you think that harming a bug is worse than harming a person, then you are insane!"

IF YOU THINK PUTTING A BUG IN SOMEONE'S RIDE TO CRASH THEM AND INJURE THEM IS OKAY, THEN YOU ARE INSANE.

WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT HER?! CLEARLY SHE'S HURT ON THE GROUND.

I'm sorry, THAT IS NOT OKAY. NO MATTER THE PERSON.

"Everyone plays dirty and gets what they want."

I KNOW, RIYA. PREACH.

"Is that the only way to get far in this game?"

Have you seen Total Drama? Cause uh... YEAH.

"Well... I think James was right when he said we'd all do the same eventually."

ROSA DOESN'T. HUNTER DOESN'T. ALLYSON DOESN'T. RIYA... MAYBE.

NO. YOU ARE BEING INFLUENCED BY A MESSED UP SELFISH PREDATORY PERSON. AND THAT'S WHY YOU GOT SOMEONE IN THE HOSPITAL.

BUT THE PEOPLE YOU HOSPITALIZED ANTAGONIZED YOU, SO THAT MAKES IT OKAY I GUESS...

I'm trying to think why I'm against Karol getting hospitalized but celebrating Yul's poisoning? XD

I don't even like Karol all that much. Why am I celebrating Yul going to the hospital but feeling bad for Karol? They're both antagonists!

UH... let's go with female rep. WE NEED MORE SOLID FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN THESE TYPES OF SHOWS, GALS WHO DON'T GET PUSHED AROUND SO EASILY.

SO THEREFORE: IT'S OKAY IF KAROL ANTAGONIZES PEOPLE. BUT NOT YUL.

AND SHE CARED ABOUT THE ANIMALS. SO THAT MAKES IT OKAY.

(PS: PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY, THE REASON IS SIMPLY BIAS AGAINST YUL THE INDIVIDUAL AND FICTIONAL MEDIA INVESTMENT. IF THIS WAS REAL LIFE I WOULD NEVER PRAISE IT NO MATTER WHO YOU WERE.)

"Well, after doing a health check on her leg, it looks like she's not in condition to continue in the game."

Oooooohhhh... fuck off.

SHE CAME FOR ONE EPISODE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF HER COMING BACK?!

I mean at least with Eva it was a joke.

...those two have a lot in common, actually.

Diet Eva.

"YOU HAVE TO GET RID OF AIDEN AND JAMES. THEY ARE-"

ATTEMPTED MURDERERS.

YEAH I'LL FINISH HER SENTENCE FOR HER.

I mean, I don't know if Aiden was trying to kill Karol. He probably wasn't. BUT THE FACT THAT HE SHOWED NO REMORSE ABOUT IT MAKES ME THINK HE WAS.

Hunter, you DO realize that the MOMENT you don't get immunity, YOU'RE GONE, right?

"I didn't want to hurt Karol."

OH REALLY.

DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK SHE WOULDN'T CRASH DUE TO THAT SPIDER?

EVEN IF SHE DIDN'T BREAK HER LEG. SHE STILL WOULD'VE GOTTEN HURT BECAUSE OF YOU.

AND THE FACT YOU SHOWED NO REMORSE ABOUT IT.

"Well, the important thing is that she is already out of the game and the danger is over."

Someone you could've done by simply voting her out. But whatever. Not as flashy I guess.

"Was it wrong?"

Yes.

"No!"

FUCK OFF JAMES.

"You're finally thinking about the future of the game! I'm proud of you!"

"AWWWW, MY BOYFRIEND'S FIRST BATTERY CHARGE!!! HASHTAG LAWSUIT!!!"

James, you're a bad influencer.

I hate that. I actually hate that.

That wasn't okay. Aiden SHOULD at least feel bad.

AIDEN NEEDS TO DUMP JAMES.

Okay, LOOK, I'm NOT against strategizing. It's perfectly fine. It's a game after all.

I slandered Ellie last season BECAUSE I wanted her to be smarter about her strategic choices. (Yes, I already reacted to Season 1. Here's the fast pass to view them if you want my thoughts on that season. And here's the character tier list I did. And here's the post I made about Ellie's strategy.)

BUT I said this with her too: There's strategy to get ahead of the game. And then there's traumatizing people, and hurting them physically. Both of which are WAY more personal. And at that point, you can't really hate the game for how directed it is at the player.

James kinda makes me want to APOLOGIZE to Ellie.

At least Ellie is actually GOOD to Gabby. AND she didn't get anyone in the hospital.

Aiden and James do not work for me. Idk how popular of a take that is.

Now I want to see Aiden and Jake interact.

"Hey uh, Aiden? Your boyfriend gives a lot of red flags."

"It's a fashion choice. Look at you, Marinette."

"You sure you can trust him and he's not... you know...?"

"Oh you mean how you and Tom worked out?"

"Piss off, skunk hair."

THAT WOULD BE VERY FUNNY IF THAT'S ACTUALLY HOW IT IS.

I mean, we know it's Allyson. Right?

There's no stopping it.

'ALLY'

Yep.

'ALLY'

'ROSA'

HEYO, WHO VOTED ROSA?!

'ROSA'

'ALLY'

YEAH YOU AIN'T PERSUADING RIYA WITH VOTES ON ROSA.

OH.

OKAY.

NOOOOO HE'S NOT ARO 😭

MY HEADCANON (that I knew would be wrong anyway) IS DE-CONFIRMED! NOOOOOOO

Good for them.

I would've preferred Allyson and Tess, but I don't hate it.

"Hunter, no! We agreed that we wouldn't talk or do anything about this until the game is over."

Oh yeah, you did say that. That's not fair to Tess.

"Don't... don't say anything anymore."

Why are you against this? You wanted him!

Okay, welp, girl's playing hard to get. And I don't get it.

I mean, she's okay. I would say I like her. She just wasn't one of my favorites.

I need to look at the credits, cause I KNOW THAT'S NOT THE SAME VA.

'Ally - Ale Espinoza'

And I'm gonna look back at last episode. Who was the VA listed as there?

'Ally - Valentina Velasco'

Okay YEAH. I KNEW IT. IT'S NOT THE SAME.

I'm not gonna make assumptions why she left, cause I don't know. But I will say the FACT that she left and they replaced her.

I definitely want Riya to slay. Especially now that Karol got out.

What was even the point of her coming back if she wasn't gonna do anything...?

I mean I guess she influenced Riya. But that's about it.

So I guess, moral of the episode: Fuck women.

Just for that I hope my girls win.

I mean, I don't really hate Hunter or Aiden either. But uh... James SHOULD NOT be rewarded for what he's done.

It's just that in this season I like the girls in this cast a lot more. In Season 1 that wasn't the case, it was kind of equal.

Oh, yeah, and another thing? I actually really hate the snow. Yeah, I know. I can't stand the cold. Even as a kid I didn't like it. Maybe that's why my takes on this episode were the way they were.

[gingermcl]

Per an etymology dictionary the word Manipulate means "to handle skillfully by hand," a back-formation from manipulation.

Manipulation is “a method of digging ore” from French manipule "handful" from Latin manipulus "handful, sheaf, bundle," from manus "hand" + root of plere "to fill" Sense of "skillful handling of objects" is attested by 1826; extended by 1828 to "handling or managing of persons," especially to one's own advantage.

Man eye pull. When you manipulate somebody, you pull their mind or their eyes or perspective your way. Our mind is what is mined for our life force or ore. Our creative thought abilities. Manipulators often set up narratives that pull on your heart strings or inflame negative emotions in order to get others to think, feel, and behave certain ways.

Manipulation can be a skill. Managing to get someone to do what you want, and while keeping a pure intent isn’t always easy. Manipulators try to control other people and it seems the universe or consciousness likes to throw in surprises. Like anything else you can do positive or negative manipulation you could manipulate someone in such a way that they decide to better themselves or you could manipulate someone in such a way that they destroy themselves. If you don’t want to be manipulated, don’t let other people influence how you think I feel. Investigate information for yourself then see what you think and feel.

[maggie-parks]

Research Journal 3: Identity & Place

Artist 1: Paul Noble

Form: Graphite drawing on paper

Content: "Nobson", an imagined place: detailed symbolic city illustration influenced by architecture

Process: Similar to a Bosch painting, this type of drawing takes meticulous planning to include as many details as possible with as many separate parts in the composition for a viewing experience that takes much longer than a quick glance to see the whole picture. This requires skill in 2-point perspective drawing.

I chose this work because I am interested in the idea of adding fine details to a map that represents my identity, and I like Noble's style of drawing.

Artist 2: Ned Vizzini & Abigail Smith

Form: Book cover/jacket artwork

Content: Abigail Smith illustrates Ned Vizzini's concept of a "brain map" in his book It's Kind of a Funny Story. The main character in the book, Craig, drew maps of imaginary cities when he was a child. While being admitted into a mental hospital for 5 days, he takes an art class and revisits his childhood idea, and decides to draw these maps in silhouettes to describe them as "brain maps".

Process: The process on this one looks pretty straightforward design-wise as far as placing simple shapes into the composition, but it could be approached through different mediums like drawing, painting, collage, or digital.

I was thinking about this map for the original idea I had to illustrate my own "brain map", but wanted to take it a step further by adding in some serious detail and adding meaning with metaphor, which is where I would pull inspiration from Paul Noble.

Artist 3: Ed Fairburn

Form: portrait drawn in ink on a map (Marquette, MI)

Content & Process: Artist statement- “I manipulate paper maps to construct other forms, usually portraiture. I call this process topopointillism; a direct combination of topography and pointillism. Using traditional materials such as ink, paint, and pencil, I make gradual changes to the contours, roads, and other patterns found in cartography. These changes allow me to tease out the human form, resulting in a comfortable coexistence of figure and landscape. I aim to preserve the functionality of each map by feeding the composition instead of fighting it – I often spend hours studying the terrain before I begin any physical processes. I’m interested in the degree of subtlety behind each synchronization, and [how] a completed map behaves more like a portrait when viewed from further away – it’s almost paradoxical that a portrait should lose detail when examined closely."

Moving away from imaginary maps to real ones, Fairburn's portraits are stunning, I love his use of cross-hatching, and I love how drawing on a map from a specific place adds a level of meaning and context to the identity of the person in the piece. If I did something like this I would focus on someone else's identity instead of mine, as I don't feel like there's a strong connection to a particular place that shapes my identity.

Artist 4: Joseph Cornell

Form: shadowbox construction 

Content: Assembling multimedia shadowboxes, Cornell combined found objects, painted surfaces, and collages. He was a major collector of everyday ephemera, and his materials ranged from marbles and toys to maps and seashells.

Process: These shadow boxes consist of found objects but also carefully crafted paper figures as well. This art form emphasizes a layered look.

I love shadowboxes, and I like how Cornell showcased his collected items. There's a potential here to use found objects/personal items that represent my identity.

Artist 5: Gillian Lambert

Form: graphite drawing on paper 

Content & Process: Artist statement- “I try to find the beauty in what is traditionally unattractive, grotesque, awkward, or bizarre, I work primarily with self-portraits, but try to make them less personal by removing body parts and disguising others. I think there is a lot that can be learned from fragmenting and objectifying the human figure and face, and a lot that can be learned from witnessing the final product.”

Figure drawing is a very obvious/literal way to represent a sense of self & identity, I'm hoping to maybe draw a full-body self-portrait that leans into Lambert's style. I like how she emphasizes characteristics that can be described as unattractive or grotesque, which is what I would want to focus on if I were to make a figure drawing of myself.

[milarvela]

Maybe it doesn’t matter to him because of what you said about him and your mother? I mean, it’s a tad bizarre that he wouldn’t say anything. Understandable that someone would think he’s got brain problems. It’s kind of normal that people have questions, opinions and comments.

I do find it interesting that once again the TERF tactic is try and wrestle autonomy and self-control away from people who don’t follow your bigoted stances. Autistics must be being manipulated. Trans men are clearly confused little girls. Children obviously can’t understand their own minds and bodies. 

I don’t know about trans men being confused little girls, never heard that one, but while I don’t believe all so-called autistics even are autistic, there are lots of people willing to believe any old crap that fills some void in their life, like a need for a religion or a need to appear fashionable or just a need to feel special. I guess you’re too young to remember all the aromantic demisexuals that used to be on Tumblr. Lol, now it’s pronouns and being trans. Aren’t we so very precious. But those demisexuals weren’t doing any harm to themselves or others nor did they dictate how everybody else should behave around them. People like you, who believe children understand their own minds and bodies otoh... I’m sure you’ve heard about children wanting to be all sorts of animals etc. And people saying how absurd it is that those who can’t even have a tattoo or vote, should be able to decide about irreversible surgery. You’ve heard about detranstioners too and their problems. About parents who think their daughter is trans because she likes “boyish” things. Haven’t you?

Pop outside your own echo chamber once in a while.

By the way, lately I keep hearing about teenagers wrinkling their noses at this particular craze. Why? Because teachers are all for it. Apparently it’s not that cool and special anymore when older people accept and even endorse it. Some say trans influencers are getting laughed at by those who used to admire them. Probably too much optimism there but one can always hope. 

Terfs are for women’s rights and children’s safety. If that’s bigotry, happy to be a bigot. 🙂

My 90yr old Irish Catholic grandpa doesn’t miss with my gender. He’s never gotten my name wrong, or my pronouns, never even faltered over it.

It’s all so natural too: son, big man, young man…

We’ve never talked about it. He’s the only one who hasn’t pushed for details. He just accepted it and carried on because it’s not a huge deal.

It’s so comforting.

[bookofmirth]

Az, Gwyn, and power

Something I’ve seen going around a lot lately, in the past couple of months, is that if Azriel and Gwyn were to enter into a relationship, it would be unequal or imbalanced, basically that Azriel has more power than Gwyn and so it would make for a potentially... bad (? definition tbd) relationship.

I’ve already explained why the theory about Elain not knowing how the bond works makes her look like either stupid, or ignorant, or supremely passive. I’m assuming that is not the intention of the stans.

Now lemme explain why this interpretation, of a gwynriel relationship being inherently imbalanced and problematic for being so, would make Azriel look like an asshole.

I keep seeing people saying “because this person has power and this person doesn’t, this thing is bad”. No. That’s not how it works. Power is much more complex and nuanced than that, and it depends on how the individual decides to wield it. There are multiple ways that someone can gain, retain, and use power. Some have more access than others, for different reasons. However, it is not inevitable that those with more power will exploit those with less.

In the post about power I mentioned Rhys, and he is a great example of why having power isn’t necessarily a bad thing for everyone around him. The only thing that keeps Rhys from literally every sort of privilege is that he is half Illyrian. Other than that, he has everything going for him. However, he rarely, if ever, takes advantage of his power to the detriment of others. We could probably argue about why this is or isn’t true and to what extent, but the point is that we have other examples of similar fae - Beron - who wield the same types of power and do not gaf about anyone else. Rhys intentionally allows the IC to have a voice in what happens in the NC, he listens to them, he takes their advice, and sometimes he does a shitty job but he tries to avoid ruling with an iron fist.

Back to gwynriel.

So the idea that Gwyn and Azriel cannot be equals in a relationship initially came from the idea that Gwyn is, somehow, at 28 years old, mentally and emotionally a child. We know that this is NOT true. It has been confirmed by the writer, who did hear explanation of the different rates at which fae age. So her denial that Gwyn is a child was not out of context. She knew what people were thinking.

However, there are still issues that people bring up regarding Gwyn being a priestess and Azriel being the spymaster. But let’s be clear about who Gwyn and Azriel are:

Gwyn is a priestesses. She is not a nun. She spends her time learning and aiding others in that pursuit.

She protected children when her temple was under attack.

Gwyn is Carynthian. One of the only two women in history to earn that distinction. That accomplishment took intelligence, cunning, cooperation, and strength.

Gwyn is mostly High Fae.

Gwyn is a SA survivor.

Azriel rescued her.

Azriel is a spymaster.

Azriel is also Carynthian.

He is part Illyrian.

Azriel’s role in the library is not “supervisor”. He is not their camp counselor. He is not their authority figure. He brings women to the library who have been victimized, and then he leaves. 

The two people who are actually in charge of the library and its citizens safety are Morrigan and Rhysand.

Combining all those facts with Gwyn’s age, Gwyn is not Azriel’s inferior in any way. No matter which way you look at it, there is nothing about Azriel that inherently puts him in a position to abuse his power.

She is also not his inferior in terms of maturity (while I can see that being an argument, it would need to be equally applied to nessian, feysand, elucien, e*riel, etc.... and it’s not. Unless an sjm anti is reading this, then yeah, I can see them making that argument.)

So let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that Azriel does hold a position of authority over Gwyn. He doesn’t, but let’s just pretend that these arguments are actually valid.  If - if - Gwyn and Azriel were problematic as a relationship because of some power imbalance, then it stands to reason that that ship is problematic because Azriel is the type of person to exploit that imbalance.

Is that what y’all were going for when you try to say that gwynriel makes you feel uncomfortable??? Doubt it.

One last point about my list above - if y’all think that the fact that Azriel rescued Gwyn means that he can only see her that way, that he can only see her as an SA survivor and can never see beyond that, fails to recognize her growth and strength, even though he helped her to complete the Blood Rite Qualifier... again, that doesn’t say great things about Azriel (and maybe doesn’t say great things about people who would make that argument, since people are not defined by their trauma!)

I have seen (maybe? maybe I imagined this) a comparison between Azriel and Gwyn that he’s like... a teacher, and she’s the student, to explain why they are not an appropriate ship. The big problem with a teacher/student relationship is that the student in the scenario feels like they cannot say no. Your teacher is an authority, they are more mature, more knowledgeable, they have influence over whether you pass a class and get a good grade, they can tell your parents if you have been behaved or completing your work, etc. There are a lot of ways that a teacher can punish a student for not doing what they want. This is why those relationships are always frowned upon - it’s big dubcon territory, if not straight up noncon. 

However, again, Gwyn is participating in the Valkyrie training voluntarily. She lives at the library voluntarily. She is a priestess voluntarily. There is nothing that Azriel can do to Gwyn that would force her to comply with what he wants. Gwyn can tell Azriel to fuck off, to go choke, to eat dust, to go jerk off, and... nothing would happen. He would probably stop hanging around as much, but that’s... it. He has no actual power over her in the sense of being an authority figure or being in control of her life in any way.

Something that I almost put in that original post but didn’t because it was besides the point at the time, was that there are always power differences. People will always have differing levels of access to privilege and power. That does NOT mean that people can and must only ever be in relationships with people of similar levels or power/privilege. In that post I mentioned how feylin didn’t work out because Tamlin had so much access and Feyre had none - to compound this problem, he allowed her access to none. He did nothing to try to even the playing field, to educate or empower her. That’s what made it a problem. 

So do y’all think that Azriel would be like Beron? Someone willing to take the privilege he has and wield it over someone else like a cudgel? Or is he more like Rhys? Aware of his position and working to support - not manipulate - others? Because even if we were to accept the premise that there is a problematic power imbalance between Azriel and Gwyn, the only reason we should be uncomfortable with that is if we think that Azriel is the type of person who would exploit that imbalance. 

[animeyanderelover]

Yandere Fairy Tail Hc’s

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, delusions, clinginess, overprotective behavior, manipulation, stalking, blackmailing, threatening, sabotage, kidnapping, killing

Hibiki Lates

✨Hibiki is a semi-delusional Yandere. I admit it, he obviously is quite perceptive and intelligent so he isn't a fully delusional Yandere. Still though he can't help, but think of his darling as something more. He's a womanizer and rumors say that he's had many different girlfriends at the same time. But with the sudden entrance of his darling something seemed to change. He suddenly turned extremely obsessive, wanted to know everything about them and he could never stop thinking about them ever since. So even if he knows that some things he does aren't technically right, he views this whole situation as some sort of destiny and that his darling is his only one. He's quite infatuated with his darling for that reason.

✨Manipulative and overprotective. Hibiki obviously has his charm upon his sleeve and there is a reason he's been voted for several years in a row as a boyfriend every girl would like to have. Problem is that if his darling is looking for a serious relationship, they might ditch him since he is a womanizer and they wouldn't want to be with someone who hangs out with numerous women at the same time. Hibiki has to prove something in here and he is aware of that. But he's a determined and persistent man and he will make sure that he'll court his darling successfully and he isn't above making himself look better than other possible competitors. And a man has to protect his lover after all so of course he is more protective, though he overdoes it in order to look more like a gentleman.

✨Hibiki might just experience for the very first time in his life how real jealousy feels like when you have someone you want to love and cherish for the rest of your life. As someone who is constantly being talked over and the knowledge that he is everyone's dream man give him a certain confidence and since he is a polite man, he never really lashes out on someone. But he learns quickly that he dislikes it when someone else tries to charm his darling the way he does and that e likes it even less when they react flattered by it. Such experiences never really fail to make him a bit more possessive since it's a brilliant reminder that he wants no one else to steal you away from him.

✨He ensures protection as good as he can, but if his darling is a mage themselves he naturally admires their strength and respects it when they can kick someone's asses all by their own. We did see in the Grand Magic Games that he isn't exactly strong when it comes to brute strength so in that aspect his darling might actually surpass him, but he is smart and great in other things. He has without a doubt his own little fanbase and has influence due to his popularity so it may very well be that he uses this against people he views as serious threats and destroys their reputation just like this. He does this more with people who harrassed the s/o or make their life hard rather than people who try to snatch his darling away and make them theirs. In such cases he rather trusts his own looks and charms.

✨Assuming that he does manage to become his darling's boyfriend, it might be not very likely that they would break up very fast since Hibiki almost appears to be the prefect boyfriend, he's probably just a bit too much. But since Hibiki views the whole reason you two met in the first place as fate he of course doesn't plan on letting his darling leave now that he's found true love. He uses manipulation over violence since he sees himself above such brute methods and in general he prefers blackmailing and bribing over physical force the moment he fails to solve an issue the normal way.

✨It's really not seen as anything serious when he first is seen in public with you, but when it is suddenly made clear soon after that he stopped looking at other women and stopped flirting with every women he's encountering, it's made clear that this is due to his relationship with you. His teammates and Ichiya congratulate him soon after for having found the real passionate love. Hibiki is actually a bit careful around his teammates when you're with him since they are womanizers as well and for that might behave the same with you which does make him jealous a bit. I think he has no real problem being extremely cheesy and romantic with you even in front of others. That guy does give his darling space even if he can be rather clingy from time to time, but if he misses them he tends to try to communicate per telepathy.

Eve Tearm

💛Eve is pretty much alike to Hibiki in this matter. He as well is a semi-delusional Yandere. However, he isn't like Hibiki a more intellectual character yet and different from Hibiki lacks the more serious side. He is younger after all and views that as part of his charm so he has a far more stronger side to himself than Hibiki has. Because Eve falls much more faster in love than Hibiki does and for that has a much more stronger view on destiny and that him and his darling are meant to be. He is protective as well. He might be younger and maybe less experienced than his other friends, but he as well wants to prove his dedication and love to the s/o.

💛Obsessive which should be obvious. What kind of lover would he be if he wouldn't know how to make you happy and how to always surprise you pleasantly. Something that still marks a big difference between him and Hibiki is the fact that Eve actually turns out to be more on the shy side once he's really fallen hard for his darling which is why he at first tends to be a bit more on the stalkerish side before Ichiya, Ren and Hibiki encourage the young man to go for this beaty before someone else takes them away from Eve. That includes them as well, they are womanizers. Eve uses manipulation less than Hibiki does since he is surprisingly bashful, but he will sweet talk things more harmless and appealing if he has too.

💛Eve is less possessive than Hibiki is and overall is less jealous. His darling gets their freedom and can talk to others all they like, he can endure them having friends and spending time with others. He is somewhat more cautios around other members of The Trimens for clear reasons. It isn't like Hibiki and Ren don't respect the fact that yo are Eve's lover, but being charming and flirting with women runs simply through their blood and so they might subconsciously accidentally and up doing just that. Eve of course is respectful with his friends and they understand him and stop quickly as well. In front of strangers flirting he still retains that more mature approach similar to Hibiki, but just like him he shares the dislike of seeing other people being all gentleman and nice to you the same way he is. He's not shy when it comes to making it to others clear that you already have him.

💛Similar to Hibiki he will share the same respect and admiration in case you are a wizard yourself and for that have spells up your own sleeves to fight for yourself, though in case of a sudden battle Eve would like to fight right besides you. Even with his whole soulmate belief Eve still mostly turns away from the idea of killing someone as long as it isn’t an emergency situation. He likes discussing it out as well and in the case that someone does try to cause troubles, you have a guild ready to help you out since Eve naturally won’t let anyone harm you. He can sabotage certain situations as well where odds are put against the person he views as a threat.

💛Assuming that you are part of Blue Pegasus, you two would already spend a lot of time together so there would be no need for him to kidnap you since he constantly hangs around you in the guild, regarding clinginess he can be more extreme than Hibiki is. He is younger and more delusional after all. And since he is seen from everyone in the guild as sie sort of younger brother he would definitely be able to count on their help in case something should have happened that caused you to be mad at him.

💛The wizard, despite higher clinginess, still respects the fact to hold back in public more than Hibiki would. Ren and Hibiki most likely triggered him to go out of his way and talk to his darling way back when he was still a secret admirer and didn’t know how to set up a good scenario and how to talk to them. Has a more submissive nature to him so he would like his darling to be the one to lead this relationship whilst he follows along and does in the meantime things to please them and make them happy. But similar to Hibiki he stops flirting with other women as we for the sake of you.

Ren Akatsuki

🎆Funnily from all three of them, he probably is the most lucid one. But he still only is a semi-aware Yandere to have, he's stained ith the same delusions as his team members. He can view many of his habits as rather unusual and he knows that as well, but in the end his belief in the greater love manages to overcome most of his doubts and insecurities whether he's wrong about his feelings or not. He mostly tries to show his feelings in a more tsunderish form, but in the end he as well is far too much lovestruck to come over as very cold and his darling can tease him greatly for it. From The Trimens he's notably the most possessive Yandere to have.

🎆Protective and manipulative. No matter how cold he may try to act, he'll always defend you from others and save you when you do trip into some issues and even if he complains afterwards that you should have been more careful, he was very worried and that's evident. Ren is subtle about his manipulations as well, mainly because he wants his darling to love him without him having to use bribing and other sorts of lies and tricks, but similar to Eve he will do it when there would be the need for it.

🎆He doesn't get along very well with other men except Ichiya, Hibiki and Eve for the real funny reasons because he views other guys as his rivals in love (don't expect girls to be safe from this either, he'll merely be more polite). And Ren is the most rude about his jealousy because even if he is more embarrassed to show how much he really do loves you, he sure as hell won't have others flirt with you and take you away from him. He's the passive-aggressive type with such people and his feelings for his darling are always made obvious during such times. In front of people like Hibiki and Eve he is less harsh, but it doesn't stop him from shooing them away when they are suddenly all over you as well.

🎆He might just be the one who would be the easiest triggered from all of them to act when someone starts looking more and more like potential troubles for the s/o and the relationship. I would say that with love rivals he wouldn't be violent, more focused on just scaring them away and use threats and warnings to stay away the moment someone becomes very persistent on having his darling. If it comes to people such as bullies or perverts he has a faster way to react because simple flirting isn't anywhere near as worse as being catcalled or otheriwse humiliated. But just like with Hibiki and Eve I really only see him killing someone when the circumstances are very bad and the person turns out to be a possible death sentence for his darling if he doesn't do something. Anything can happen in the heat f a battle.

🎆Despite his tries to come over as a Tsundere, he still spends a lot of time with his darling which kind of blows his cover up, but that really isn't something new. Ren isn't necessarily clingy unless someone triggered his jealousy extremely or recently something bad happened to his darling and for that reason he decides to accompany them for safety reasons. Kidnapping is still something he wouldn't really consider since, as already mentioned, he is the most self-conscious Yandere to have from those three.

🎆How you can tease him about his constant tries to come over as a Tsundere despite easily getting flustered around you is really funny. Ren wants to look cool in front of his darling which means he obviously doesn't want to embarrass himself whilst you're watching so he always tries his best. He cools his interactions with other girls extremely down after he's courted you since he obviously cares about you more than anyone else. He might still fall back into the habit of simple flirting, but he learned his lessons quickly when you had enough of it, avoided him and did the exact same thing with Hibiki and Eve who naturally flirted back. He got quite mad at them afterwards for this, though they only helped you giving Ren a taste of his own medicine.

[advanceagility]

Influence – A Key to Marketing

It is more important to influence people than to impress them.– Adrian Rogers

Influence can be defined as the ability to affect and leads to change in themindset, character, behaviour, or development of someone or something. This ability requires a strong emotional connection with yourself and others. Those who are masters in the art of influence are also skilled at tapping into people’s emotions, which drive their actions. And that’s why influence is known to be synonymous with leadership. In fact, when Time magazine releases the ranks of the 100 most influential people throughout the globe, their largest group isn’t comprised of sports stars, philanthropists, or musical icons, but rather leaders such as Michelle Obama, Jacinda Ardern, Xi Jinping, and Bob Iger. A very clever form of manipulation is persuasion.

How do they try to manipulate us, and how do we overcome that situation?

1.     Marketers employagile toolsto get you to purchase their goods.

2.     People have to realise that marketers' choices are the result of their thinking.

3.     You might be persuaded to take action despite the fact that you don't want to.

4.     Marketers can use persuasion as a weapon in both offensive and defensive situations.

Given below are some of the smart goals of marketers:

1.     Displaying two things while underplaying one of them.

2.     Presenting the costlier item first to make the cheaper one appear inferior.

3.     Using a famous person to support your need for that product.

Recognize and avoid manipulative behaviour by:

1.     Considering whether you actually need that item

2.     Don't let a lack of funds influence your decision.

3.     Avoid feeling compelled to repay your favours.

4.     Keep in mind that businesses followbusiness agilityand focus on profit.

Safe principles for persuasion:

Three persuasive factors: -

·      A clever process serves as the initial component and tries to initiate persuasion.

·      The second is understanding "how to use the influence that persuasion provides”.

·      The third is being aware of "what persuasion can do”?

Favours have to be justified by marketers -

People are curious to know why they do anything. Make sure to give them a purpose because everyone wants to know. If you give a reason for the favour you're asking, you're more likely to receive a favourable response.

Celebrities play an important role -

According to the "liking Concept”, if something is suggested to us by a person we like, we are more inclined to accept or purchase it. The corporation employs your favourite star, but they aren't looking out for your interests.

Using morality as an agile tool

Make anagile principleregarding "what you want them to do"? If you want their cooperation. Most of the time, people like to live up to their standards.

Reciprocation is not required.

One common persuasion strategy is the reciprocity rule. When someone helps you, you feel obligated to return the favour. Marketers enhance thisempathyin you. They will treat someone else in the same way as they feel and behave towards you.

Decisions are influenced by authority.

You are more inclined to comply if someone holds a position of authority and orders you to do something or make a purchase. Consider whether they truly hold a position of authority or if they are merely trying to persuade you.

To maximise profit

To maximise profit,agile principlesare very helpful for marketers. We tend to take action when we have a fear of losing something because we care more about losing it than getting it. Act only when you are certain that you will succeed.

One of the best ways to influence people is to make them feel important. Most people enjoy those rare moments when others make them feel important. It is one of the deepest human desires.

–Roy T. Bennett

In this agile digital world influence is an important aspect of personality whether it is for an individual or an organization.  The right influence on others can help to change the mindset towards new development and processes to gain success and growth in agile working professions as well as other life aspects.

About Advance Agility

We, at Advance Agility, are the new-age Agile Coaching, Consulting and IT services company. We enable end-to-end Digital Transformation. Agile execution is integral to our being. We are doing SAFe implementation with small, medium and large organization across the globe. Our vision is to be the leading Agile execution player globally. To keep adding value at every process stage. We are on a mission to empower our clients, move from concept to cash in the shortest sustainable lead time by adopting human centric approach to business agility. Embracing the change is in our DNA. Things that keep us apart are Quicker and Seamless execution with End-to-end gamut of services. Our Global presence and Stellar Track Record give us an edge over our competitor.

Connect with us at advanceagility.com to learn about SAFe and SAFe Implementation. We provide various SAFe certification courses along with DevOps, Scrum, Agile Coaching and more trainings. Write to us at contact@advanceagilty.com for any agile training or consulting needs. We are always looking for competent agile trainers as well. So if you are a good trainer or want to become one, do get in touch with us to that we can learn, grow and achieve together.

[noblehcart]

gabby's kids: random hcs

hayden works at the docks nights and during the day at a restaurant as a busboy and whatever else they need that night. he's gotten into so many fights over the years and has one scar on his jaw and tattoos on his arms, which lead to the mistaken appearance that he's a tough guy (which to a degree he is a fighter) but he's got the heart of a poet and would love to write an album

ana is solely driven to help people on the streets and girls who are victims of sexual assault like she was. ana was practically born to be a lawyer with how well she can articulate and argue and how convincing she can be. the household joke is that she could sell salt water to a fish. she's the second mum to all the kids and loves being the big sister even if its overwhelming 80% of the time.

mia has vowed to make something of her life and do better and be better than her father. she will never let go of her last memory of her father when she was little and that spite is one of her driving factors. she resents the life she was denied by being acknowledged as her father's daughter and is absolutely determined to get that life she was deprived.

nick is gabby's troubled son, despite the handful the twins are. nick behaves and seemly always has a trick up his sleeve, but is never caught doing anything nefarious. he's insanely clever though his grades never seem to reflect it. he tries to wield control over the younger kids but he hasn't mastered the art of manipulation yet. gabby is sure if she doesn't find a way to get through to him he could be the next to.m rid.dle.

noah & erin are the pyro twins. they are 100% science experiments 100% of the time. between that and playing pranks on the other kids in the household they're a menace. however nothing is quite as bad as when they're angry at someone else for upsetting their siblings. gabby isn't very sure they won't turn into evil villains despite her trying to influence them to good.

avery is the softie of the boys, absolutely adores hayden and has aspirations to be a firefighter. he has such a big heart and tries to protect and be helpful to the girls, especially to ana.

lily is the silent genius of the family. she never reveals this to other people because she is horrifically shy but she's secretly a little genius who likes to stay quiet because its fun to watch and observe. she also doesn't want to be sent away like she sees genius kids often are in movies/tv.

sophia is the light of the household. she's the little princess of the house because everyone adores her, she's sweet and kind and adorable. her essence is absolutely glitter and pink and roses and everything that can make a girl charming and adored. the biggest sweetest eyes and charming curls.

victoria only comes second in adoration from the family to sophia because she's six months old. she loves music and being passed around in everyone's arms. in general a very good baby.

[didon]

Rashta, Navier and the true villain of The Remarried Empress

Listen, I don’t like Rashta. I don’t think I really need to explain why as most people clearly don’t. I think that she’s using very underhanded techniques to get what she needs and more. Because we all need safety and she comes from a place and status where she clearly need reassurance and that’s understandable. I find her annoying though because of the way she act and how she manipulate people. That’s my opinion. Navier clearly isn’t the only one she has hurt though so we can maybe stop using a sexist term like “Mary Sue” to describe her. The same way we need to watch our language about Rashta.

Now, I do believe that most of the hate should go on the Emperor even though it won’t because fandom is always more willing to hate on a “handsome” man rather than on any woman no matter how beautiful they are. Especially if they uses that beauty like Rashta does which was very common and still is. Not only is he the one truly being an ass to his wife, but he could have easily had people teach Rashta how to behave from the get go. Instead, he enjoys her ignorance because it satisfy his idea that he is this great person that everybody would love if they met. He cannot understand why Navier hasn’t fallen for him, despite not loving her himself, and need someone to reassure him that he is the gift to humanity he was probably told he was a thousand times growing up. He’s the true villain because he hurts both of the women, uses them to get what he wants, etc. For those that have read to the right part, let’s remember what is divorce plan actually is and how ridiculous it is.

I don’t think though that people should blame Navier for being “cold” (not that I’m seeing it here but still). She’s a young woman who was raised with an immense amount of pressure on her and she was probably taught that every single one of her actions have consequences. They actually do because whoever she talks to can be seen as favored and therefore will probably boast about it. The clothes she wear have an influence, her hair, etc. She can’t even unburden herself on anybody because that would be seen as weakness and as the Emperess she’s not allowed to have any. She has “everything” but not really because she is alone and not allowed to truly want or need for anything. Heck, people would probably talk if she were to express anything because how dare she need/want for anything, her who already has everything. She’s not even allowed friends that don’t work for her per her husband driving them away. She’s a bird that’s locked in a cage at all time and yet isn’t allowed to sing because it would make the free birds outside cry. She didn’t choose her life either, she was forced into it by her family.

That wasn’t my point while starting this though. I wanted to ask since when did slavery = bad become a hot take? I get that this is fiction, etc. but what is fiction but a reflection of our world and our values. Yes there are places were men can have multiple wives and mistresses and the women can’t say anything about it, but that’s not the case in South Korea. We’re also not talking about adultery. We’re talking about the very fact that somebody can “own” another’s life and impose their will and desire onto them. No matter if it’s fantasy or anything like it, it’s never okay. I don’t know in which universe people live but seeing an abject crime against humanity done and go “but it’s fiction” isn’t a good reasoning. The same way pure racism isn’t okay because of “fiction” or abuse isn’t okay for the same reason. I get that Rashta isn’t the most pleasant character but still. Especially since we are told here that she might be paying for someone’s else crime. Imagine how ridiculous that is. Your ancestor stole a loaf of bread or flirted with the wrong woman and the leader of your country decided that generations after them must pay for them. I know we are told that only a true “horrible” crime result in slavery but that all depend on the leader and their view of what categorizes a horrible crime. For some historical leaders, being born was a crime. That’s not counting a mad leader deciding to make their enemies disappear by selling them into slavery. Does someone really deserve to be treated as less than human because they or their parents did not agree with the political leader?

Rashta is a victim of that and is a villain sure but at least we have actual reason for her doing what she does. She evolved from the naive and trustable person we met at first, but how can she not when she’s trust in a political world with no idea how to swim in it. She’s also very much aware that her origin make her less in everybody’s mind around her. Now, does everything she does is okay or the right course of action? Of course not it isn’t. She quickly loses her innocence and start playing the game just like everybody else but she doesn’t deserve hate for that. The same way she doesn’t deserve hate for trying to survive in a world of sharks. It’s not a question of not trusting the Emperor, which she is right to do by the way seeing how he’s treated his wife and how others are treated for doing less than she is, but a question of trying to come out of all of it with her head on her shoulders and enough to live on. Does she eventually get greedy? Maybe and in my actual opinion yes, but she didn’t start wanting to steal a husband and a kingdom from someone else. Men are constantly manipulating her and using her for their own wishes and she can’t turn toward any of the ladies either because she is very much aware of how precarious her situation is. Unlike Navier, she can’t rely on being raised for the role of mistress or even her losing her status causing a political problem. She’s a nobody being used by rich men as a plaything and trying to not come out as a loser. She might be going at it wrong, but she was never taught how to do it right and you have to remember all the men that are filling her with lies and mistrust. Because pretty much every single of her “schemes” have come from a man telling her a lie or giving her a bad advice.

What I think is very interesting in this webtoon is the duality of Rashta and Navier because in a way, they end up in similar situations. They are both women that have to survive court and nobles being faker than plastic while men are trying to use them for their own gains and who have nobody to truly be able to turn to. Eventually, Navier gains people like that, but the tragedy of Rashta is that she doesn’t. She might think she can trust some people, but none of the people around her truly have her best interest at heart. The best thing for her would have been for Navier to take her under her wing while Rashta refuses to be the Emperor’s mistress (I can never remember his name sorry). By having the very same position that grants her the “security” she so need and desire, Rashta put her best ally in an enemy position and that’s what’s going to be her downfall. She might be annoying and pushing it sometimes, but we know she will drown because she’s never been taught otherwise. That’s why the true villain will always have to be the Emperor because he’s not only the one who pitted the two women by taking one as a mistress while married to the other one, but he never took the time to truly help his mistress, expecting others and especially Navier to do so for him. He could have brought her back to the palace as a guest only and Navier would have probably taken Rashta under her wing like she does for many others, but by making her a rival to Navier, he destroyed any chances she had to be able to leave him and survive which I think was something he did deliberately. There’s no way he wouldn’t have known that this would be the actual ending. He wanted to keep Rashta bound to him until he was done with her otherwise he would have asked Navier to help set her up with housing and maybe even a job. Instead, he probably held her status and her gender against her and decided to use her beauty for himself.

The lesson of this story in my opinion isn’t that beautiful women shouldn’t be trusted or that you have to be pure of heart and your history a blank slate to be worthy or anything like that but instead a lesson for women on who to trust and that we are stronger together than separated. It’s also a very clear lesson on how appearances can be wrong and it asks us the reader to truly wonder what makes someone a villain. Does wanting to survive in a hostile world make you one? Does not wanting to let someone take what is yours and what you have worked for your entire life does? Or does wanting to use others for your advantage, control them and force them to need you make you a villain?

[lesbiansforboromir]

HC - Prince Adrahil’s Effect on the Steward Family

SO! Let me tell you all about Finduilas’ dad. Adrahil is a rather complex man. On paper he was a wise ruler, a dedicated father and a loving husband, the very picture of his line’s ethereal and lofty mythology.  And these things might all be true! However, he was also controlling, self-aggrandising and overly ambitious. Adrahil wanted all things in his life, land and family to be just so, and it made him an incredibly difficult father for all his children, albeit in different ways. 

If you were to ask Boromir why he does not get along with his grandfather, he would tell you that Adrahil blamed Denethor for Finduilas’ death and was the cause of the rumours surrounding it. ‘Finduilas died because she was too long away from Dol Amroth’ and ‘the Lord Steward kept her too jealously’ were whispered about Minas Tirith and even further afield, and it made an already painful time even harder to bear for Finduilas’ husband and sons. 

However this explanation is really only a brief overview of a far more complex issue, partly because of Boromir’s reticence, but also because he is unaware of the longer history.

Adrahil had actually been using similar rumours to try and control Finduilas long before her death. She was never quite the daughter he wished her to be and the constant push/pull of Finduilas trying to define herself, whilst Adrahil tried to reign her back in, was the most prominent aspect of their relationship. You would think that one’s daughter marrying the heir to the Stewardship would make any father proud, but Adrahil found the autonomy and independence Finduilas had away from him as a married woman infuriating. He was sure she would be worse off for being out of his control. Finduilas meanwhile was very happy, sharing her life with someone whom she understood and who understood her to a degree she had not encountered before. 

And the only way Adrahil was able to exert anymore control over Finduilas was by attacking that relationship. Hence the rumours of her being stifled in Minas Tirith and being kept away from her ancestral home, taking advantage of the myths surrounding elves and the sea to enforce the point and make the gossip compelling. Adrahil had always felt that Denethor had stolen away his daughter and turned her into someone she was not, and any blame he laid at Denethor’s door after her death was just a continuation of that attitude. 

Which brings us to what Boromir is being reticent about. Because there had been a period of semi-calm before Finduilas died. With his grandsons growing up and Adrahil wanting to know them, and the parents not wanting to deny their children a relationship with their grandparents, there was incentive for peace and restraint between all parties. So Boromir knew Adrahil, felt the safe attachment of a child to a kind and indulgent family member and loved him because he knew that that was what Adrahil needed from him. And Adrahil took advantage of that. 

In Adrahil’s mind, if he couldn’t ‘save’ Finduilas from Denethor’s influence, he could at least keep a hold of his grandsons (and so still have control over a part of her.) And he both overestimated how much influence he had over Boromir, whilst underestimating how close he was to his father. This lead to Adrahil trying to convince Boromir of the rumours as well. 

This did not go well for him, but it wasn’t a smoothly dealt with scenario either. Boromir was old enough to internally understand that something was wrong with this situation, with what his grandfather was telling him and the way he was behaving, that he was being manipulated. But he had no ability to concisely explain those feelings. And Adrahil was an adult, easily able to divert and skew conversations to his favour without really even trying. So in a time when Boromir was already grieving his mother and struggling with expressing that grief, a man he wanted to trust and rely on was actively trying to convince him that the father he loved had killed his mother.

This was the start of a period in Boromir’s childhood where he struggled to control his anger and, particularly, his frustration. Adrahil’s attempts to manipulate him ended quite abruptly when ten year old Boromir (finding nothing else worked) lashed out at him violently and left his grandfather with an ugly bruise over his cheek and nose. (Boromir having always been inexplicably strong since he was a child, something that had never been more than an amusing family curiosity until now.) But Boromir struggled with the aftermath of it for some years later, having to come up with coping mechanisms and strategies to keep himself from breaking things in fits. He asked not to see his grandfather again, a request Denethor was only too happy to oblige. 

Faramir was old enough to understand that something was happening within his family, but still too young to full internalise it and was also very taken up with his own difficult grief. Hence, he maintained a fond relationship with his grandfather for the rest of his life. Adrahil was more subtle in his approach to Faramir and also truly held genuine love for him and his influence can still be seen decades later within Faramir’s attitude towards both Denethor and Boromir. The impression that Boromir is ‘un-intellectual’ and this kind of ‘only thinks with his fists’ idea either comes directly from Adrahil, or was at least heartily encouraged by him. In fact Faramir sometimes humorously reminds his brother of ‘that time you hit our grandfather’ as teasing proof of these concepts, unaware of the deeper meaning behind the incedent. 

Meanwhile it wasn’t until Boromir was an adult that he re-established contact with Adrahil. It was an awkward and stiff affair, but it smoothed out as the years went by, mostly thanks to Boromir’s now fully grown and iron-clade self control. However Boromir still minimised the time he had to spend in Adrahil’s company simply because he was one of the only people that truly threatened that self control. Whilst Boromir has always been good at letting grievances go, he found his anger at his grandfather’s actions only grew as the years passed and he understood more and more how cruel and exploitative they had been.

Boromir might have never truly gone through an ‘’adolescent phase’’ as we would know it, but Adrahil was a presence that brought out that self serving and destructive yearning in him. By 18 he had decided and planned for his sexuality to never be discovered by any of his family and was absolutely married to being a master of concealment. And indeed! It was vital he did so, not only for his own position, but the Stewardship and Gondor as a whole! 

And yet everytime he met his grandfather Boromir could not drown out the voice in his head that tempted; ‘You want to tell him you like dick so bad, you want to see how much more you can ruin this relationship, you want to cause family catastrophes on a massive scale. It will be horrible and you want it to be.’

And, in that moment, he really truly does, which is a disconcerting fact that Boromir tries his best to avoid and minimise as much as possible. 

[mybg3notebook]

Astarion and Power - Part 2

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were made up to the game version v4.1.101.4425. As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information.

Additional disclaimers about meta-knowledge and interpretations in (post)

The number between brackets [] represents the topic-block related to (this post), which gathers as much evidence as I could get.

Astarion: abuser / victim

Disclaimer about interpretation victim/abuser: I’m not a fan of bringing the allegory to the plain explicit comparison with serious stuff from real life, but the fandom seems to focus a lot on this aspect and therefore I would like to share my opinion on it. This topic may be sensitive for some people. Be aware of it. 

If we are going to engage into the comparison abuser/victim, from the section (Backstory: Mortal Astarion) we can assume that mortal Astarion was developed as an abuser so far the facts we got from the game/interviews. There is little doubt about it with the bits of information we have in EA. Maybe the full game or a retcon of his past may change this in the future. 

As a vampire spawn, Astarion presents a duality abuser-victim that comes from the archetype of the “bad behaved victim”. 

(Squeezing him in the shoulder. You try to connect, to let him know he's not alone- but he twists like a snake.) “No, I don't need your pity. I don't need anything from you. Go back to your wet dreams and leave me be.''

As a slave under Cazador’s power, humiliated and physically and psychologically tortured, he becomes a victim. He displays many of the most common behaviours of traumatised survivors: dismissal of the actions he suffered (humiliation and cruelty), sensitivity or violent rejection of gestures of pity, paranoia (for the abuser to appear at any moment), reiterative dreams focused on the abuser or their tortures, pride that may reach into arrogance of having survived tough situations. Considering that survival mode is his default, he can turn any of these aspects into tools to manipulate any potential benefactor (he may care little about). As long as he has a protector, he would do anything at his disposal to keep pleasant and agreeable to that benefactor (this characteristic is a permanent, constant, and obvious trait in his character).

But he is not a mere victim, he is also an abuser. And this aspect has been studied in psychology and sociology: it’s not a surprise that a good amount of abusers were victims before. There is a psychological process that can make victims prone to harness as much power as they can in order to avoid the abuse, and in doing so they become abusers. The fact that they can inflict similar or the same trauma on someone else, shifts the power imbalance they had always perceived in their life: the ex victim—now abuser—finds psychological relief. They find a way to perceive themselves as not powerless anymore, and this process can cross limits, making them enjoy when causing the same torture they suffered before. This is the (extremely brief and simplified) process known as the transformation of victim to victimiser (in a general violence-related way, not necessarily focused on sexual abuse), which tends to affect, so far the statistics show, a group of victims. 

With this brief introduction of the topic from the real life (this is why I dislike so much these comparisons, serious stuff brought into a fantasy world always feels like dismissing the real life issue) we can understand that Astarion has acquired a twisted taste to enjoy the same torments he suffered on himself, but applied on creatures he considers lesser: animals and weak creatures [3,4,6,7,11]. There is pride in his survival [14]: he follows the philosophy: “if I could survive it, you could do it too, otherwise, you must perish”.

He enjoys humiliation [6,10], despite being one of the most sensitive aspects that could trigger a violent reaction in him when Tav tries to humiliate him (dialogue about the Bedchamber Master). He enjoys the power he can have over others, over their wills [11], and aspires to have the control of the tadpole, at first to be free of Cazador’s influence, but as long as the game progresses, his intentions become clearer: he wants to control the tadpole to become powerful: the most powerful vampire of Faerun and bend everyone’s will [12]. This aspect is also ironic and hypocritical since Astarion displays violent reactions against mind control or against any intervention of his mind, so it’s something that triggers him in particular (video here).

He also has a taste to enjoy cruelty on animals [4], maybe because of all the resentment he has against them for having been the only means to sustain himself (he is directing his cruelty and hatred to the wrong group of living creatures though). And he also finds entertainment in murder and bloodshed [2,3,13], just because of it, most probably because all these abuses are proofs that he is now “more powerful” than those suffering it. However, part of this could be explained due to the Dark Desires element of the vampirism, to be fair. But considering Astarion’s backstory, I would say that vampirism only deepens his already evil traits.

Also, as a comment aside, I like to highlight how all this characterisation defies the romantisation of the archetype of the “good victim”. A good victim is—explaining it briefly and oversimplified—the one who encourages to spread goodness, self-sacrifice; their pain is hidden and/or used to improve, tends to be a highly empathetic person in front of similar abuses they suffered. It’s the antipode of the “bad behaved victim.” Which is basically all what we see in Astarion: selfish, violent, whimsical, cruel, psychopath.

In conclusion, we can see Astarion as a vampire spawn who embodies the duality of Victim-Abuser. 

However I would like to note that this is not a char where we can see how the victim becomes an abuser exclusively. In Astarion’s case, it is even more twisted because in his past he was a victimiser. His character lies on a Schrodinger duality: he was an abuser when he was mortal, he is an abuser and a victim at the same time as a vampire spawn (his torments can be understood as poetic justice since Astarion embodied the—corrupt—Justice himself), and he aspires to retake his abuser position in the future (so far EA allowed us to see it or the description of his characters in Larian’s web page), enjoying all the potential that the power of the tadpole can give him to “bend the will of others''. 

Astarion’s story represents topics that should allow us to think about how abusers are created, how they could also be victims, and how victims are not always free of evilness. Astarion also embodies the concept of how far punishment makes sense, how you can punish the abuse if there is no justice, how to punish evilness when it’s placed to have control of the Justice itself. How could we understand the punishment of evil creatures when there is no repent but a deepening of their evil nature? And finally… Would any victim not desire for their abuser to have a punishment like Astarion’s? 

I like to think that Cazador also represents the “modern prison system”, where criminals are gathered in panoptic structures (in this case, Astarion’s mind), tortured in many ways, while society expects them to recover. There is also the concept of how and when recovery is not possible anymore, because let’s be honest, saving people from dark paths is not always possible. Real life psychopath, serial rapists, and a broad amount of creatures who revel in torture and murder are beyond salvation. If we consider Cazador and Astarion as mirrored figures, it makes us think about how much of all of his story is about the eternal cycle of violence and about evilness without salvation. Also, this reflection of one on the other makes us believe that if there is no salvation for Cazador, there shouldn't be salvation for Astarion either; if Astarion can be saved… Cazador should too (after all, we don’t know anything about Cazador’s story). So many things to think about.

All these aspects and topics to think about are what make Cazador-Astarion dynamics worth understanding with a realistic and dark perspective of evilness, without woobifying Astarion as sadly a big part of his fandom does. 

As a note of colour to finish this section, it’s interesting to re-read the paragraph I had written in the first part (Astarion and Power - Part 1) where I briefly described Cazador. If we replace Cazador by the word Astarion we will obtain a curious result:

>>>Astarion has a particular pleasure for control, especially the one related to people’s will (we can see this pleasure progresses over time, increasing it. His need for freedom turns slowly into wanting to have control on everyone, because with power he can do everything he wants to). He enjoys cruelty, humiliation, and torture (read the analysis post done (here), there are dozens of facts showing it). He enjoys playing psychologically with his victims. He also likes to give false hope, making his victims believe that there is hope, removing it right in front of them (the Arabella’s approvals about making her parents believe she is alive when she is not, Mayrina’s hope of reviving her husband).

There are so many questions left in the air: has Cazador imparted Justice? Is 200 years too long for a punishment? I don’t believe there is an easy answer here. First, because we are mixing serious real-life dynamics in a fantasy setup, with the twisted componen of vampirism (a fantasy element always considered an allegory of abuse, power, and rape) and second, despite the analogy is there, and the comparison can be done lightly, Astarion has a particular backstory, with a particular amount of meta-knowledge that makes those answers even more complicated. 

Astarion’s Pain and Shallowness

Back scars scene (full Datamining info)

A pair of videos that pjenn has posted about Astarion’s scars on his back (1) (2) shows that he needs help to read it since he can’t see it in reflective surfaces due to his vampire nature. We get from the narrator: 

* He might be sneering, but you can see pain in his eyes. He needs help, but doesn’t know how to ask. *

What we can infer from this is that Astarion, whether mortal or spawn, never asked for help, and if this is true, I’m confused. If he truly doesn’t know how to ask for help… what had been happening with all the previous interactions he had with Tav? Implicitly asking for help against Cazador? The only answer I have to explain why 25 hours of game with Astarion asking for help against Cazador are suddenly erased and now “he doesn’t know how to ask to”, is that all those 25 hrs are about manipulation. Not a true, honest, clean asking for help. There is not much to say about this scene since it’s entirely under work so far. 

Mirror scene (full Datamining info)

This scene is mostly about vanity and, again, manipulation. 

He doesn't remember the colour of his eyes, and he barely remembers his face. As a vampire, he can‘t see his projection nor cast shadows. He explicitly says that he misses vanity, and even though it may be an honest loss he feels, he doesn’t miss the opportunity to use this moment as another hook to throw at Tav to keep them under his control as well as testing how deep his charm has reached Tav (If Tav shows appreciation, Astarion knows he keeps them under his thumb).

This scene basically shows that, even though evil characters/abusers also suffer (maybe the game would make us reflect eventually about Cazador’s pain?), and Astarion is stating his pain for losing things he appreciated: petty vanity (he can’t see himself in a mirror) and his memories (he has no memory of the colour of his eyes and his face is vague), he is still using all these moments to keep on working on his survival manipulation:

“(Vanity) is an indulgence, I’ll grant you that, but a weakness? A well-presented face can open a lot of doors.”

He has a personal drama, as he stated it at first, and the focus of all his conversation is always about how what he lost was a means for an end too. 

If Tav is the one engaging into being his Mirror, Astarion engages to appraise the reach of his presence in Tav. If Tav simply states it’s a decent face, Astarion will push the engagement for that appraisal. If you mock him about his age and skin, he won’t be offended (after all the moment is not meaningful for him, it’s shallow), and he would insist on a proper praise, because he is trying to taste the ground. 

The moment was meant to be used, and Astarion did it. It was not special to him:

"Mirrors are not much use, but being reflected in someone's else's eyes? I could do much worse.

If we do not derail the conversation in the funny moments where you can mock his beauty, age and skin, we keep gathering more information about what Astarion values the most:

Tav: “Is it all what you want? shallow praise?” Astarion: "Hardly, there is also gold, sex, revenge, quite the list, really. But failing any of those, I will always settle for shallow praise."

There is another option in this scene where Tav says that vanity is a reasonable price for vampire powers, but for once, Astarion is not so eager about this power, because it comes with Cazador. He knows that the price is way much bigger. 

Tav: “Vanity is a small price to pay to have vampire powers”. Astarion: "To you. To me it's just another thing that Cazador took from me".

The only moment when you can get a more emotional reaction is when you mock him about age/beauty/skin. That is how shallow this scene is. If you are a githyanki and your compliments are a list of raw facts about his persona, even if they are good or bad, Astarion can’t appraise Tav with that, and gets frustrated. 

Personally I think this scene has little value per se beyond the comedy, and even less value in terms of lore when you have Disguise spell available for so many characters. Anyone can disguise themselves as Astarion and he would finally see what he looks like… so… more reasons to show how cheap and shallow this scene is. Maybe that was the intention. Maybe it needs more work since, after all, it’s datamining info. There is not much to say about this scene since it’s entirely under work so far. 

The concept of Redemption/endings 

Among the (Datamined information) we have a set of gems under the name of Drunk bear (1) (2) (3) scenes, which speak more about Astarion and his relationship with Cazador and Power.

Tav: “You can start over. You can be better than what he made you.”

Ast: “Exactly. I can be better than him. Stronger, more powerful, more- oh, you meant “be kinder”? Pet bunnies, that sort of thing? I’ve no objection to being nice, of course. Once I have the power to bend others to my will.

T: “You think power lets you do anything free from consequences?”

A: “Well… yes. You can’t look at the world and tell me I’m wrong.”

T: “The strong have a duty to protect the weak”

A: “They’re doing a piss poor job, then. The strong had two centuries to pluck me from torture, but no one came. No, it was the mind flayers that rescued me. They gave me a gift: the strength to take my own freedom. I’m embracing this power- you should too.”

T: “You are free now. That’s what matters.”

A: “Is it? What good is freedom if I'm always watching in the shadows? No. I will be safe when I'm powerful enough to grind cazador into the dust. Powerful enough to do whatever the hell I want.”

T: “Power corrupts. You’d do well to remember that.”

A: “Oh I hope so. A little corruption sounds fun. I spent centuries as the victim of a corrupt man. It was the mind flayers that plucked me away from that.”

So far we see in this scene, Astarion reinforces his evilness, his desire for power, not just enough to save himself from Cazador’s claws, but to control other people, even though mind control is a triggering effect when it affects his own will. I believe in this interaction we see the contrast of the story that Astarion narrates mainly: the abuser who found a more powerful abuser. We shouldn’t forget he comes from a past where he was a corrupt magistrate. These words have almost a hypocrite meaning here. Astarion was a magistrate, by definition, someone who held power and should have helped those in despair, but he was corrupt and did not care. When he became a spawn, he ended up on the other side of the imbalanced power. He was the one asking for a powerful entity to help him, and none came, suffering a similar fate of despair than those who sought in him the concept of Justice and Power Used For Fairness. Like Astarion’s victims found freedom when a twisted creature like Cazador was incorporated into this situation, Astarion was free when the Mind flayers saved him from Cazador. 

I will not repeat this again: Astarion, so far in Early Access, looks like the story that could explain why Cazador is who he is. These scenes bring once more, another of the many proofs along the game where we see that Astarion has not learnt anything from his torment, he has not improved, he has turned into a more twisted and evil man than he was when he was a mortal magistrate, and there is no intentions to become a little more sympathetic. 

This brings me to think that, at least in EA, glimpses of future paths for Astarion may all be related to different degrees of evilness. 

First of all, we need to remember that Astarion is an evil character, and if we assume that what Sven said in several interviews doesn’t change, Larian is going to break the style this worked in bg1 and bg2, not making big shifting of the alignment in companions. For this reason I think these endings would entitle variations of evilness.

Astarion keeps repeating over and over his opinion about power as the only means to have access to his freedom. And as long the game evolves, he began to reinforce the importance of having power to “do whatever he wants”. Considering his tastes (how much he enjoys cruelty and bloodshed) we can agree that Astarion “doing whatever he wants” is not a good thing for Faerûn. He finds murdering a fine show, an entertainment. Certainly Astarion is a child of Bhaal in his fullest. 

He even mocks Tav when they comment about looking for self-improvement. “I can be better than him. Stronger, more powerful, more- oh, you meant “be kinder”? (...) Once I have the power to bend others to my will.” This is Cazador speaking. 

So, considering these details, I would suggest (predict is a too strong a word for this) that we have chances to three different kinds of endings and their variations:

The first one, screaming in all what Astarion does: Astarion becomes a full vampire and ends up as the next Cazador. If his approval is high (or some hidden requirement is met) he can turn his lover into another full vampire. If these requirements are not met, in a spawn, repeating the cycle that Astarion suffered but now, on Tav. 

The second one could be with Astarion killing Cazador remaining as a spawn and an agent of chaos and bloodshed. Maybe his relationship with Tav may help to have certain control on him (since we had seen that Astarion so far has been asking permission to kill npcs when the situation arises, so the MC could be turning into a master of choice.)

The third one, finding the cure of Vampirism, and letting Astarion continue with his life of evil corrupted magister. 

Some people ask about the possibility of a Redemption arc. I hardly see it (especially if I keep in mind how bg1 and bg2 worked, they never offered a “real” redemption arc, just small shifts here and there.)

Redemption could be acquired, according to these fans, using two mechanics. 

Astarion feels compassion out of the blue. He starts to have guilt for his past sins and develops empathy, despising cruelty. How? Who knows, so far in EA it has not been seen even once a hint, a scene, a bit of meta-knowledge in that direction. Honestly, so far we’ve seen, this option seems impossible to me, because Astarion has tons of chances to use the meta-knowledge of his approvals and disapprovals to show regret and empathy, and never happened. His character was always focused on himself, his vanity, his pain, his entertainment (which implies constant approval of cruel actions and torments and humiliation to others, especially the weak ones), his survival. If there is a character more far away from empathy right now in EA, it is Astarion. How do you start a redemption arc without the character showing compassion? No way.

Cure Vampirism. Vampirism is a curse, and therefore in the Forgotten Realm can be cured. But this, under no circumstances, can be considered a redemption arc. There is no redemption at all. The curse is lifted, and Astarion can return to be the same cruel magister he was before. No arc about remorse and empathy. 

His character is the story of an abuser who found a greater abuser and became a victim of the latter, seeking to return to his previous power position but stronger. Despite suffering this abuse, that could be understood as poetic justice (more like accidental justice) at certain point, he never developed empathy for those sharing his conditions. In fact, he cares little to inflict on others what he has exactly suffered. I hardly believe there is something else going on “in layers” in him at the moment, since the meta-knowledge provided by the approval/disapproval shows otherwise. My point is, I see little material here showing change. But again, this is EA.

We can see how this exact detail is managed with Shadowheart, from her we know even less than with Astarion because her memory was erased, but so far, we know she has some soft spots that were never shown explicitly, so Tav is oblivious to this information while the player knows it. 

This post was written on April 2021.  → For more Astarion: Analysis Series Index