#meta tbt.

[lackenthusiasm-moved]

I can't agree with the popular fandom interpretation that Norm has max perception, max intelligence, and then ridiculously low charisma. I feel like charisma is probably his third highest skill and it's not any lower than a 5 minimum. Yes, he's a little socially awkward and introverted compared to Lucy and their dad and he doesn't fit in with the other vault dwellers, but charisma is not just about how much people like you or how easy it is to reason with them.

Sometimes charisma is deception and lying to get something you need in order to reach your goal (off the top of my head, in FNV you can literally just pass a speech check to lie to an NCR soldier at HELIOS One like 'oh no its ok my brother works here, i'm just here to see him' and they believe it and let you in). That's something Norm is good at playing at.

When he says "we can do what [the raiders] would have done to us," it shocks the others. He knew that it would, that was his whole purpose for saying it. He sees the power struggle between Reg and Woody as they compete for the the helm as interim Overseer in Hank's absence, and he knows that they're not going to last very long before Betty claims the title for herself. They don't have control over the meeting, Betty does. He acts more vulnerable around Betty than he truly is, he knows that she's trying to manipulate him and he's too sharp-minded to fall for it, but he does let her believe that she has the upper hand through deception.

[withsunlight]

random hc's about cipher + her accent

She *is* an American citizen despite her very obvious London accent. She was born in New York while her father was under the employment of V0ught in their R&D department ( hence why/how she got V'd up as a baby ). Rog moved the family back to London shortly after her first birthday to help set up a satellite lab there ( they are V0ught International, after all ). She has dual citizenship, but V0ught obviously doesn't want to acknowledge the British one at all.

Also re: her accent, there was a real push and a lot of pressure put on her while she was attending g0dolkin to lose the accent completely so by the time she was an upper classmen and being considered for the se.ven it couldn't be held against her. V0ught brough in vocal and linguistic coaches and everything. While she did learn to tamp it down, she doesn't make any real effort to hide it. TBH she hates how she sounds without it, and at this point, what are they going to do about it? It would be too weird for her to suddenly not have it now.

Re: her accent part 3, she makes a point to lean into it an makes it even more pronounced around an absolute prat like Fi.recracker for shits and giggles.

[lackenthusiasm]

Lord help us, I'm theory-crafting through late night analysis again. Under read more because it is long and also very potentially disturbing to read. TW for mentions of cannibalism, death, child death, animal death, and pregnancy.

Okay so. In one of the more horrific realizations I think I may have stumbled onto tonight… I did notice that the first time Norm goes into Vault 32 in episode 1, where he finds a corpse that appears to be missing a leg and then he runs back out with the realization that the real 32s are dead and the ones at the wedding party must be imposters… He was walking into 32's nursery wing, filled with baby cradles. I don't recall seeing any baby or child corpses among the dead which could be either comforting (maybe there weren't any kids within this crop of 32s yet) or incredibly sick and fucked up (maybe…the 32s ate their young in desperation to survive, like dysfunctional lab rats would…)

Dervin, one of the raiders captured and imprisoned by the 33ers, eventually tells Norm that he doesn't know what was going on in Vault 32, but the dwellers there were anything but innocent, pointing to the secret that Norm will soon dig into uncovering throughout the next several episodes.

Upon re-entering 32 later on, this time with Chet in tow, Norm examines a dead dweller's Pip-Boy, which indicates that the last bio-sign detected was over 2 years prior. Everyone in the vault has been dead for at least that long. As Chet and Norm explore, they stumble upon a television set in one of the living quarters with a corpse who had evidently been electrocuted to death. The TV plays a section of holotape describing the Rat Utopia experiment conducted by ethologist John B. Calhoun between the years 1958 and 1962. In this experiment, 4 groups of Norway rats were given unlimited access to food and water, enabling major population growth of their species over a period of 4 years.

In the original papers, educational films, and consequently the theory presented in the context of the TV series, the described experiment is heavily anthropomorphized and applies human characteristics to the animals such as greed and dominance. However, dominance theory, as a way of describing animal behavior, was based on a heavily flawed study conducted by Rudolph Schenkel in 1947 on captive wolves. The scarcity of resources such as food and breeding partners in captivity made the wolves feel anxious that they would lose whatever they had to another wolf if they didn’t act aggressively to ward off the potential threats. Humans saw this and we collectively decided, for some reason, that this must mean animals operate on a theory of alpha males and that they must dominate other animals.

Consequently, the Dominance Theory study was conducted in 1971 by behaviorist David Mech, who examined the behavior of wolves in the wild. A much more natural setting for them than a concrete cage. Influenced by the preceding study Mech based his work off of, he observed that wolf packs consisted of an alpha male and a female mate, and that they ruled over all of the other wolves in the pack, who were submissive to them.

In reality, what Mech was seeing was a pack that consisted of two parents known as breeders and their offspring. By the time Mech published his original study, he realized he had made a serious error in his observations and has since spent his entire career trying to correct that mistake. His original study is described as outmoded by many ethologistics in our present-day.

So the reality of Rat/Mouse Utopia is less about rodents gaining an insatiable bloodlust because every society throughout history is built on violence, and a lot more like this:

Due to the rat’s short gestation period and ability to raise multiple litters in quick succession, overpopulation can occur very rapidly and resources such as food, water, and breeding rights become more scarce because there are more rats to divide them between. This decrease in available resources causes the rats to become more anxious that they will not be able to sustain themselves or the new generation of rats they are meant to raise, often causing them to react with aggression toward other rats, whom they see increasingly as threats to their survival. If there is a lack of resources, or if the primary source is seen as inaccessible by the rats, they may resort to cannibalism, eating other rats to survive.

This phenomena came to be known as a behavioral sink, a collapse in species-typical behavior that can result from overpopulation.

Humans don’t have nearly as quick a turnaround rate on reproduction as rats or mice, but sustaining a pregnant human and then providing food for the resulting children through to adulthood does put more strain on available resources in the same way as with rats. Or any mammal, really.

We know that the people of Vault 32 discovered the truth about what was in 31, because they left behind messages written in blood that say “WE KNOW THE TRUTH” “DEATH TO MANAGEMENT” and “WE KNOW WHAT'S IN THERE” regarding Vault 31. They successfully started a revolt and they were able to overthrow the Overseer. But ultimately, that revolt ended in failure with everyone dying off. While some of the bodies seen clearly killed each other, it looks like others may have died by their own hand instead, or have at least been made to look as if they did. No matter what the real answer is behind why this happened in 32, but not 33, these are conditions that replicate the results achieved by the Rat Utopia experiments in a human population.

[konkuuritobye]

because i'm probably attempting to come back soon and write i think it's time to start posting some meta again

under the company of someone else, even with as much as jay has changed from who he was because of his disappearance, the old him will emerge if the person has enough patience

jay requires a lot of patience because he is cold and melancholic and sadistic. even though he's always been a bit melancholic, it's really both his optimism and hope for any kind of future that make him see that

the best and both most healing kind of person for jay are not only those who have patience, but also are willing to nurture the old parts of him that slowly begin to emerge again. encouragement and patience with his melancholy and nihilistic state of being are key

[lianlong]

Dan Heng's new idle pose resembling Yaoshi's so strongly is genuinely spicy since Long ( the Aeon of Permanence that the vidyadhara originate from ) was absorbed the Abundance, meaning that their paths inherently had an overlap before they were assimilated. They were not that different at all. On top of that, this is apparently a reference to the lalitasana, a stance or mudra from Indian art / dharmic religions. This relaxed attitude is known as the " royal position " or " royal ease " and is common in portraits of royals and religious people whose kingly characteristics are purposefully being emphasized. The person is seated on a throne, often stylized as a lotus throne ( very notable given all the lotus themes Dan Heng has in this form ), with one leg tucked under the seat and the other hanging down ( " pendent " ) to touch the ground and / or rest on a support. Oh, also the fact that his horns / antlers grow longer in this pose, and one of Yaoshi's signature features being their large deer-like antlers ... 👀

[enjomo-arch]

Some important points after reading few more chapters of the novel

Spoilers tw.

Ace was the first person ever who entered lands that belonged to Whitebeard and without fear or hesitation set the flag on Fish - Man island on fire. He declared a war against the four emperors while entering the New World.

Because of his silent hatred to Roger and the rebellion he lead within his heart Ace had no sense of rational thinking no matter how highly and mighty people spoke about the emperors or warlords. His only goal was to reach the peak of piratehood by the times and make his name even more famous than Roger's so people will never speak of his father again anywhere.

He essentially wanted to wipe Roger's name off the pages of history, wanted to flip the world upside down and be the man who starts a new era, make his name known and written under rocks. He wanted to wipe Rogers name just as much as he wanted it gone from the depths of his heart. Ace never cared about the One piece to begin with, he wanted to wipe his father off the memory of every person and replace it with his name.

Ace despite being aware of the state of the princess from fish men island never showed any sign of curiosity, despite hearing the story from Aladdin - local bartender He was not interested in past, Ace only sees the present and the future he already planned in his head.

Ace did not want to grab Isuka's hand to get her on his ship after defeating the vice admiral when he refused to become one of the Seven Warlords and revealing the bitter truth of Isuka's past to her. He couldn't touch her while being a pirate and her being a Navy member. More than that, he couldn't touch her because of Isuka's burnt hand. Ace feared deeply inside that if he touches her, he may hurt her like the fire did when she was a child. No matter how much he wanted to take her on the Piece of Spadille and create a new adventure with her, Ace knew he can't allow himself to grab her hand after everything.

Deuce compared Ace to the sun because of the loneliness that Ace feels as an unit. He often felt like he couldn't be loved and he's the same as the sun. Everyone looked up to him, even enemies had a massive respect to Ace. He was the center of everyone and everything but because the sun (ace) was "too bright" it was always alone. No one could get too close to Ace or they'd get burnt. Not by his fire but by the person Ace thinks he is. He feels undeserving of love of other people. He wants to make a home for others but while being homeless himself. All he could do is move forward at best.

[felinoir-a]

I have made the executive decision that Felicia’s feline mannerisms are based on the serval. And when she purrs, she sounds like this.

[4doji]

thinking about how little we see kiryu celebrating the birthday of others— he definitely doesn't celebrate his own, and the only time he would is at morning glory because of course the kids would NEVER not celebrate uncle kaz's birthday

i genuinely think birthdays traumatize him after what happened with yumi's birthday in 1/kiwami — she gets kidnapped by dojima for something awful, nishiki kills him, and kiryu willingly gets hauled off to jail in his place.

the only birthdays he would celebrate are haruka's and his kids— he wants those kids, who have endured so much, to be as happy as possible, especially shown in 5 where he practically sends his whole paycheck on sending money to them for christmas. he remembers every unique aspect about all ten kids (9 if you exclude haruka) what they're doing in school, what their special interests are... he knows a kid needs running shoes, baseball equipment, books, etc..

because he's always pulled into the fray of some wild conspiracy, entangled in a scheme or ploy, always pulled into the middle of some plot involving the omi, the tojo, the jingweon or the triads or it finds him despite his best efforts to get far away from it...

he doesn't celebrate birthdays much. not his own, not others, because he's always involved or gets himself involved in something and he's not around. i'm sure if 1 had gone differently, then..

[efloarchive]

friendly reminder that hana hates authority figures 😌🙏✨

[controlcha0s]

i have Far Too Many thoughts about shadow + savior complex

because first of all is the obvious point, maria. he holds his promise to her above all else, it has essentially crystallised into the center of his moral code. fight so that others can have a chance to be happy. agency vs destiny is a really important theme when it comes to shadow, as he’s always struggled with that agency and sense of self. however, i do think it bleeds over into an unhealthy degree in that he puts a lot of responsibility upon himself. this is combined with the fact he’s the ultimate lifeform and aware of that power. shadow is capable of a lot and therefore believes himself the most qualified for a particular situation (cough cough trying to take the inhibitors from sonic and fix the shatterverse in prime).

he also has his “lone wolf” tendencies, which is a combination of factors. shadow’s exterior is very rough and laconic, but he’s not necessarily an edgelord. it’s those traits along with being mature and calculating which makes him come across rude or cynical. he expresses care and respect, just in his own ways. but by default, he will take matters into his own hands and resist accepting help, and that’s on trauma :)

[lackenthusiasm]

As a continuation of this post: I started to second guess myself and even started questioning "am I even remembering that scene correctly? Maybe I imagined the room being a nursery when it wasn't..." but I've got screenshots on my side now and — yeah.

[lackenthusiasm-moved]

NAME ETYMOLOGY

I saw a post that claimed Norman's first name has roots in Christianity and Judaism as a biblical name that means "sincere" but while I tried to research this further, I only found one site that makes this statement and offers no sources to back it up so I decided to go do my own research instead.

The name Norman comes from a Germanic byname meaning "Northman", "Man of the North," and was used in reference to the Scandinavians. The Normans were Vikings who settled on the coast of France in the region that would come to be known as Normandy.

Following the Norman Conquest, in which the Vikings sought to expand their territory, the English began to adopt the term "Norman" into their vernacular in reference to Scandinavian barbarians, however the term fell out of use by the 14th century with the decline and assimilation of the Scandinavians/Vikings.

The name Norman was revived during the mid-19th century (1850s) by C.M. Yonges, who used the name for a character in his novel, The Daisy Chain, and since then other prolific bearers of the name have included the painter Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) and Norman Mailer (1923-2007).

MacLean as a surname has a bit of a rabbit hole attached to it, as it is an Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic surname MacGillEathain or MacGillEain, meaning "son of the servant of Eòin." Eòin is a Gaelic spelling of Iohannes, the Latin form of Greek Ioannes, but let's keep this simple and stick with the fact that all of these are derived from the Biblical name: John.

John appears in use by both the Old Testament and New Testament and means "Yahweh (God) is gracious." In terms of popularity and use, John was a name more commonly used among Christians in the Byzantine Empire, but following the First Crusade it spread to Western Europe, becoming extremely popular in England as a common male name from the 13th to 20th century.

[cutlier]

Frankie's room

[gravesung-moving]

chef/cafe au thoughts.

suguru caught a lucky break right out of culinary school and his career skyrocketed — maybe he owned an upscale restaurant. became known at first for his superhuman palette, then for a specific menu he did based on human vices that was meant to make the experience feel like eating the crimes of humanity (but in a delicious way) (you KNOW there was some kind of fucked up ortolan shit involved). kind of cutting edge and out-there, which is how it became so well-known so fast

but he tried to take on too much. crashed and burned, ended up at rock bottom and the restaurant closed. he sold the space and moved away with his daughters and never looked back. got chewed up and spit out real hard.

and like.... initially, he had this idea, right. his first ever idea for a restaurant was a laid back cafe (OBVIOUSLY called blue spring, who do you think i am) with a constantly rotating seasonal menu. but it got shot down by his mentors and colleagues because it wasn't haute cuisine enough, he couldn't get investment or funding for it. shelved it for the [unnamed for now] upscale place

but switching careers would mean wasting the last ten years, so he says fuck it. FUCK IT. he'll do it — on his own this time, with full creative control. the girls are teens now so they help him out with the designs and crafting the menu. it's cozy, but the food slaps and there's a new menu every month with some evergreen dishes he always has on there

the business is slow to start, but he's happy with that — he doesn't publicly link it to his name, tries to stay out of the press. just tryna live slow and spend time with his girls that he wasn't able to before!!!

postscript:

there is a gojo-shaped blank space in this verse because i have not figured out what to do with him yet — at least in verses where he's a past figure in geto's life. can vary by partner/thread, probably.

potential conflicts: wuh oh, the press find out / kenjaku as his old mentor who pushed him way too hard / the substance use issues he thought he had under control rear their heads again / pspsps bring in your muse's antags / general slice of life/ship conflicts

[valeurex]

Is there any other reason why Viserys choose to wife Alicent? And was it truly all Otto's doing?

If you mean any other than repeating what most do ( that she was kind, beautiful, intelligent, etc. ) yes, then there arguably is. I do dive into divergencies based on small analysis which is a factor of great importance but I shall formulate this as solely my HC.

Yes, it was done by Otto's manipulations.

AND

No, I don't think it happened entirely by his plotting, tho yes he does play a significant part in it. Neither CAN I answer directly because I think there's a mixture of both ; my stance here is very conflicting and here's why.

The issue of Otto's orchestration is like adding to the bonfire; you may additionally try to play the wind but you don't know how the fire will behave or which way it will go ...

The main reason why Viserys chose Alicent was because she wasn't vulturing around him like other women did. The show gives us scrubs of this angle but picture yourself in his situation, you're the King, highest autority around, suddenly single and everyone knows you must bring new wife ( and not just simply but enter that kind of marriage that will guarantee production of more descendants in closest period ), there's a lot of prying eyes with one main interest (power) why women would be clawing at you, you're not a hunter but the hunted one. And then there is Alicent, who by that time shows no other personal ambitions, no rapacious power play than her deepest condolences; to help him with the weight of his grief and the way she seemed to be thoughtful about his well-being while bringing little things he enjoyed and would find distraction in ( not herself!! )

He knew her, he knew Otto, he knew house Hightower. Otto served well for years to his family ( mainly -> Jaehaerys ) , so there was nothing like diving into unexplored waters plus this was another way how to secure him tighter by his side ( hah, this was a part of Visery's ambition if anything ). People may call it as they wish but I say it was based on a pillar of whim and comfort he long knew and thought he TRUSTED. The importance of verified inner circle is crucial. It's the: ' I am bound to eternally please everyone around, so why can't I do for once something for myself? ' ahgdjsf . Most politically convenient marriage included only 12-year-old Laena, so we all don't have to guess long why it's a huge no-no for him on many levels.

Interest & curiosity. There had to be handful of moments when Viserys ( after slowly getting used to her presence ) kinda /expected/ her arrival while musing upon her enigmatic side: ' oh, I do wonder what Alicent will think of this. ' Her stance, belief, angle of view ... that kind of conversationally-opinionated curiosity.

Summary? Course of circumstances fragmented into knotting bundle that turned out to be convenient for both parties.

BONUS.

- As for Alicent: we know the girl frankly had no choice because the other two powerful men unfairly decided fate for her. BUT if I dig in to find some positive aspect here - - if she felt that bad in his company she wouldn't continue to go there, she would either complain to Otto where we would see that either he or she would find a way how to swirl out from this mess of a situation. - As for Otto: he may be hyper-ambitious but I don't think he'd push his daughter to Viserys if he'd find him dangerous or unfitting for her by any means ( well, we don't know that don't we? But let's hope not ). - From Visery's perspective - he technically and commonsensically saw her frequent presence in his domain as a green light, and that's pretty much all to put a dot. My point here is that whatever happened between them kinda flourished naturally on pedestal of friendship subsequently building with time, and that highly contributed to his final decision which by all means wasn't immediate but a challenging one to make ...

[grievedifferent]

need to meta this but josh having seen / heard one of the creatures on the mountain in childhood is likely why he assumes so readily hannah isn’t real ie it aligns with what he hallucinates because it stems from a real fear that was impressioned on him as a kid. more into his fears, touching on his potential fear of the supernatural and how it conflicts with his conscious “un-fear” of it due to movie magic and also being told the things he sees aren’t real.