#not necessarily the guiding factor

[rxttenfish]

fuck you, country isnt a bad genre of music, youre just classist

[greensagephase]

Getting Freaky with Miguel Includes... [spelling Valentine's]

warning: nsfw, so minors DNI, female reader

V - Velvet ropes/handcuffs

Miguel thinks you look so pretty when you're tied up for him 🎀 and at his mercy, so he'll tie your wrists. You like to tie him, too, sometimes for some activities.

A - Ass spanking

Miguel is an ass [and thighs] man [don't ask me how I know], so he loves spanking you. It's not necessarily harsh spanks, unless you're into that, but he simply enjoys watching the way your rear moves after he delivers the spanks. And of course, the cute moans and whines you make are another reason he enjoys it.

L - Lube, lots of it

He has plans which he cannot tell you about right now because the haters will try to sabotage him -- He wants to take a trip to poundtown with you, and since Valentine's is on a Friday this year, he decides a weekend trip there is just and necessary, so lube is a must.😌

E - Erotic massaging

You both love to massage each other's sensitive spots to get all riled up before the deed, focusing on stimulation and pressure on those spots. Other important factors: ambiance music [hehe]. Oils are a must, obviously, and Miguel really enjoys this part. He loves watching you grow more and more needy and aroused as he massages the oils onto your skin, and watches you in awe at how glowy and pretty your skin looks.

N - Nipple play

Miguel delivers light caresses, circular motions, gentle sucking and biting, licking, pinching, and rolling to your nipples, adding on to the teasing. No hard play unless you like that.

T - Thighs

As stated, Miguel is also a thighs man. He loves thick thighs and will worship yours like you're a goddess. He'll mark them with love bites and hickeys! His home is between them, and you better accept that.

An extra on thighs, Miguel loves having you ride his. 🤭 He loves how desperate you get for friction, so he likes to tease you by stopping your movements by grabbing you from the hips. He later helps you by guiding you, whispering how pretty you look leaving a mess on his skin.

I - Intercourse

The p in v, of course! After roleplay, he will ravish your kitty until he has you chanting his name like it's the only word you know. Since this will be a weekend situation, he'll switch it up between rough, slow, or gentle -- whatever you're both feeling in the moment and with your consent always. You'll also switch it up with positions from missionary to doggy style to mating press for, um, research purposes.

N - Nutting inside

Miguel will nut inside you every time. He's not wasting a single drop. 😌You both love the feeling of him finishing inside [breeding kink... *sighs*😔🙏🏼]. The sight of his hot cum and your juices combined dripping out of your pussy is always so hot and satisfying for you both. If going multiple times in one session, he'll use it as lube for sure and push it back inside with his tip [clawing at the walls of my enclosure rn; i'm ovulating, sorry].

E - Edging

You equally love edging each other until you have the other whining and whimpering for release. Miguel will finger you, use toys, or use his cock to edge you to that moment before climaxing only to stop with a teasing smirk while he hears your pleas for release. In return, you play with his cock and balls with your hands and/or mouth to edge him on. You enjoy doing this when he's all tied up, especially.

S - Spooning in Aftercare

To add some fluff to this spice, spooning. Miguel always spoons you after each session. Of course, this is after he helps you clean up and makes sure you're all comfortable. He wraps his body around yours to make you feel loved and safe, whispering sweet things into your ear, like how well you took him, how beautiful you look, and how much he loves you.🥹

Oh, and that he hopes a November baby will be part of your lives in the upcoming future 🤭

♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡_♡

Thought of this literally today. I'm ovulating, your honor. 😔 Thank you for reading!

Alondra❤️

[bitter-bats-cult-of-the-moon]

Spirit Work II

Spiritual Imposters

Before committing yourself to a deity or spirit one must communicate by learning about the entity in question, making certain they are who they say they are. Discovery of a spirit you thought you were working with is something else that leaves one feeling betrayed, upset, and oftentimes empty. Knowing the signs can really help discern things.

Mental Sock Puppets

A mental sock puppet is the result of talking to yourself and concluding self-talks as something else. The ego talks, you listen to yourself. Not a spirit. Or you establish contact but are incredibly biased hearing your thoughts. Not theirs.

It acts in accordance to your expectations.

You received no new information.

It’s only as knowledgeable as you are.

It only abides by your will. No one else.

It gives no signs unless you’re looking for them.

These are easy to get rid of if you identify the problem, recognize the problem, and let the narrative and ego go. No one needs to hear it. No one wants too either. You only end up hurting yourself and other people if things get too out of hand.

Lying Spirits

Some spirits are opportunists. They can portray an illusion pretending to be someone they’re not in order to gain loyalty and trust. They can take the form of a deity, guide, companion, or anything else that you would be most receptive to. This is why it’s good to know the basics to energy work and magick. Remember to learn different energies and how they feel to you. Remember to analyze the situation, yourself, the spirit, the environment, and working before proceeding forward. A lot of these malevolent entities like to feed off you or cause more drama that’s not necessarily needed.

Spirit Work and Continued Relationships

Veneration and Practice

This is about worshipping the deities or spirits you work with and highly depends on your practices and influences you choose to use and construct.

Most times there will be an altar setup or shrine dedicated to these spirits. Offerings of food, drink, incense, and trinkets would be a way of showing your dedication and interests of the spirits. There are other forms of interaction I have seen before.

Connection through art, music, nature, and meditation are just some of these other mediums. You don’t have to make this complex, and sometimes people have busy schedules making veneration hard to come by.

Try to keep things simple and remember it’s always okay to take a break due to circumstances. Spirits understand life comes first.

Patrons and Matrons

A Patron and Matron are deities that a devotee has a connection to. Its beyond standard devotional relations and is the main contact point for guidance and protection. It’s important to recognize that these types of relationships are built. They are not assigned.

Wicca is known for the patron and matron concept where duo theistic practices entail encouraging practitioners to seek out two divinities. The patron and matron would represent the divine masculine and divine feminine.

This is not a requirement in most practices, but in Wicca it is recognized in many circles.

Fallow Times

There are times where communication between you and the spirits can be difficult, and that’s okay. It happens with everyone. It doesn’t mean a spirit has left or that you’ve lost your ability to communicate. This feeling is temporary, and it’s a reminder that whenever this does happen, you need to take care of yourself first. Get the rest you deserve and try again later. Remember, this is normal due to circumstances – including stress, environmental factors, and any sort of disturbances one may have.

Oaths and Vows

There are many reasons why an individual would take an oath and vow. That’s between the practitioner and the spirit. This promise can come about for many different reasons, and even sometimes at the request of the spirit. However, this isn’t required if you are just working with them. It doesn’t mean control or status either. You can’t parade this around to get your way in certain situations. It doesn’t look good or help. Be aware of that. Remember why you did this, and what does it mean for you. That’s the most important part.

Displeasing Spirits

Those that are new to Spirit Work sometimes worry about displeasing the spirits. Repeat after me, deities and spirits who choose to work with you won’t get mad at you for being a human.

They will know there will be shortcomings, quirks, and variations.

You have NO obligation to listen to ANY person on this subject otherwise.

IF you do upset a spirit or make it angry question yourself as to why. Remember, communication is the key, and sometimes frictions can happen.

IF the behavior seems off and out of place, you may be dealing with an imposter. Check your sources and confirmation methods before determining the circumstances.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Supporting Characters

Supporting character - a person who plays a role in the life of a story’s protagonist.

Novelists and screenwriters don’t anchor a story around supporting characters, but they use them in the process of worldbuilding to create a compelling backdrop to the main character’s story arc.

A well-written supporting character will have:

a character arc,

a strong point of view, and

clear personality traits.

In many cases they will be the types of characters a reader might recognize from their own life and—like main characters—they will grow and change over the course of the storyline.

Characters who don’t change are known as flat characters, and while certain bit parts work just fine as flat characters, the majority of your secondary parts must be dynamic and engaging to a reader or viewer.

Tips for Writing Supporting Characters

Here are 8 key tips from Margaret Atwood on writing supporting characters:

Your secondary characters are formed by their life experiences. Character and event are inseparable because a person is what happens to them. This is true for main characters and minor characters alike. Even if a secondary character only appears sporadically throughout your novel, short story, or screenplay, supporting characters exist insofar as they experience events.

Secondary characters must be three dimensional, just like main characters. Your job as a writer is to learn about your character by observing how they interact with the world around them. Characters—like real people in real life—have hobbies, pets, histories, ruminations, quirks, and obsessions. They also have a backstory, just like the protagonist does. It’s essential to your novel that you understand these aspects of your character so that you are equipped to understand how they may react under the pressures of events they encounter.

Keep a track of your secondary characters with a character chart. When Margaret writes, she makes a character chart on which she writes each character, their birthday, and world events that might be relevant to them. In this way, she keeps track of how old characters are in relation to one another, and also how old they are when certain fictional or historical events occurred.

Make your characters interesting. Characters, like people, are imperfect. They don’t need to be likable, but they must be interesting. For example, Moby-Dick’s Captain Ahab was certainly not likable, but he was compelling, and that is Margaret’s bar for writing characters. Sometimes the characters in supporting roles are the ones who are easiest to push boundaries with. You should aim to create an interesting character that directly abets or stymies the protagonist’s goal but in a way that doesn’t necessarily conform to a worn-out archetype.

Every character needs to speak with purpose. When your characters are speaking, they should be trying to get something from one another or make a power play. As you draft each scene, ask yourself what your characters are trying to get. What are they trying to avoid? How do these wants inflect their speech and guide what they say—or don’t say? As you compose dialogue for your supporting characters, be mindful of their character roles within your primary storyline (as well as any subplots). Use their conversations efficiently to contribute to worldbuilding, character development, and the escalation of plot.

Take time to get dialogue right. To get dialogue right, you must understand how your characters speak. This is likely influenced by where they come from, their social class, upbringing, and myriad other factors. Speech and tone are always bound up in what has happened and is happening to a character. Shakespeare was exceptionally deft at encoding his characters’ speech with these social markers. In your own story, if the lead character is from Colorado and his best friend is from New York, their dialogue shouldn’t sound the same. Just as their worldview and personality traits must be distinct, so too must be their way of speaking. Most first-time authors tend to get their major characters’ dialogue correct, but it’s supporting characters’ dialogue that can separate great authors from those who are merely decent.

Choose secondary character names wisely. Be sure names are distinct, Margaret cautions, so that readers can tell characters apart. In cinema, the original Star Wars trilogy does a great job of this. Assuming Luke Skywalker is the protagonist, supporting character names like Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi are all distinct from one another, which aids a first-time viewer who is new to the Jedi universe.

Surprise your readers with unpredictable supporting characters. Margaret wants characters that surprise her and her readers. She connects this to humans’ evolutionary history: We don’t have to pay attention to things that are stable. But when something unexpected happens—the wolf comes out of the woods—we pay attention. We remain alert. Find ways to subvert your readers’ expectations about what secondary and tertiary characters do in a novel, short story, or film. Place your supporting characters in scenarios your audience could not have seen coming.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[clevercorvidae]

Why Viktor from Arcane is WRONG About Evolution

Right so, I'm getting my degree in evolutionary biology and evolution as a subject is my absolute bread and butter, so I thought I'd give some insight into a particular line from Arcane and why it both infuriated me AND is also brilliant writing.

(Quick note: I'm not writing this to say the SHOW is wrong about evolution or that the writing is bad. The writing around this is actually amazing and I'll get into that. This IS NOT a critique.)

The line in question happens during episode 6 of season 2 of the show during a conversation between Singed and Viktor where Viktor states the following:

"Evolution has a destination, not to combat nature, but to supercede it. The final, glorious evolution."

Every single thing about this statement is disastrously incorrect. And when I first heard it, it took everything in me not to scream in frustration, but I think I get it now.

The rest of this essay will be me picking apart this quote piece by piece, both to explain WHY its incorrect, but also why that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"Evolution Has a Destination"

We'll start with his first assertion, that evolution has a destination. This is patently false on every level. Evolution occurs constantly, it never ceases.

This is actually a really, really common misconception when it comes to evolution. Many people see the explanation for natural selection, survival of the fittest, and assume that that means evolution is a constant trend of "improvement". There's an assumption that, as we continue to evolve, we become "better".

But that's NOT what "survival of the fittest" means (nor is natural selection the only mechanism of evolution but I digress). "Fitness" is not some overall objective best form, it has a VERY specific definition.

Fitness, when discussing evolutionary biology, refers to your ability to survive within your environment long enough to produce viable offspring. It doesn't mean "fastest" or "strongest", and it's incredibly circumstantial. Every species encounters DIFFERENT challenges based on the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors of their environment. These pressures are what define "fitness". It's different for all species.

And those pressures are NOT static either. Your environment changes. Plate tectonics shift, natural disasters occur, weather patterns change, other species evolve alongside you, your circumstances as a species will never remain stagnant. New challenges WILL befall you in your environment and you WILL have to evolve new adaptations for continued success.

Even if you tailored everything to perfection, eliminated all challenges, and somehow obtained infinite resources, EVEN THEN you cannot escape the finite resource of SPACE. Your population's density will grow and eventually you will run out of space, and you'd need to, once again, adapt.

(Now, there is a concept in ecology called "climax", where an ecosystem could theoretically perfectly balance itself and remain unchanged for a statistically long period of time, exiting the cycle of succession and in essence, slowing evolution to a crawl at best.

However, this is not only purely hypothetical and heavily debated, it also is not permanent. Even this "perfectly" balanced state of equilibrium cannot compete with the force that is geology and time. Even an ecosystem in climax would eventually be torn asunder by the changing climate and plate tectonics, not to mention neighboring ecosystems.)

There is no static environment and there is no static life, so it's impossible for there to be a "perfect" lifeform. There is no destination, there can't be.

"Not to Combat Nature"

This is Viktor's second statement, and it's... a very interesting choice of words.

Because this... is not actually in response to what Singed says about evolution. His statement is in response to what Viktor has to say about fate:

Viktor: Do you believe in fate, Doctor? Our paths, carved before us guided by... an invisible hand.

Singed: Not fate, evolution. Nature's greatest force, forever in flux.

Singed says he believes in THIS in place of a belief in fate. He doesn't see it as combating nature, but as a force of nature itself. Instead this is actually Viktor's own initial assumption and interpretation of evolution. That evolution combats nature. This is obviously false, and Singed is the one with the right idea.

Evolution is, in fact, a facit of nature itself, of life itself. It is an inseparable part of what defines life; the essence of something being organic in the first place. As I said before, all life evolves CONSTANTLY. We NEVER stop evolving. The results of evolution are often too slow for us to see within our lifetimes, but its still happening. As Singed says, we are "forever in flux".

But Viktor is arguing against something else entirely: that evolution combats nature, that it is an aggressive force, maybe even a destructive one.

Most importantly, to meet something in combat is to be on equal footing, presumably, a mutual struggle. Nature and evolution, equals in a battle that will never end, oscillating between perfection and flaw. This is Viktor's view of Singed's response and of evolution as it currently stands.

"But to Supercede It."

Viktor, however, does not see evolution and nature as equals. Instead, he sees the path of evolution as one that will overtake nature and surpass it. In Viktor's mind humanity is destined to break out of the chains of the organic concept of flaw itself.

But that's impossible, because evolution requires flaws in the first place.

I've talked about how there's no such thing as a perfect, ideal life form, and that alone squanders Viktor's idea of evolution. But it's not just his end goal that doesn't mesh with reality, but the very function of evolution itself.

Evolution relies on diversity. In order for a trait to be selected for or against it must first EXIST within the population. A trait cannot be selected for if the genes that encode for it aren't present, and what is the only way for new alleles come into existence? Mutation. Mistakes. You could even call them imperfections.

Everything that makes us human originated as an inconsistency in the process of DNA replication. We are a tapestry of imperfections, every single living organism on earth. If we didn't have diversity in our gene pools we would have never even become multicellular, we would not have been able to keep up with the changing world at all.

How can you supercede nature via evolution when its made us everything that we are BECAUSE of how messy and flawed nature is in the first place. It's a paradox.

Altogether, Viktor's idea of a destination is impossible, and the very foundations of evolution are built on imperfections. So you may ask yourself: Why does he even believe in this? Why does he say all of this despite being such an intelligent character? Surely he knows he's wrong, right?

"The Final, Glorious Evolution"

Viktor as a character is a lot of things. He's shown to be incredibly intelligent and hyper-competent. He wants to make the world a better place for people suffering because he himself suffered greatly. He's also a perfectionist.

When we first meet Viktor, we're introduced to him as the assistant to the dean of the academy who holds his head high and isn't afraid to be snarky with Jayce for blowing up his apartment. On a whim he chooses to help Jayce, to inspire him to risk it all for Hextech, to improve lives.

He stands with Jayce on the ledge saying no one ever believed in him, so instead he believed in himself. He appears to be incredibly confident.

But we see through the rest of season one that that confidence doesn't come from a place of genuine self love, it comes from security in his abilities. His self-worth is tied to his usefulness, to his impact on the world. Imperfections, in Viktor's eyes, are a mere hindrance.

Viktor isn't actually as confident in himself as he first appears. He postures himself with a lot of faith in what he's able to do, but when it comes to what he IS NOT able to do, he shrivels. He's a deeply insecure person. His disability and his status as a Zaunite have done little for him but hold him back. He thinks he needs fixing, that the undercity needs fixing, that humanity as a whole needs fixing.

So when the hexcore is manipulating him, of course it targets this view in him. Like Viktor, the hexcore wants to change the world to be in its image. It wants to replace all that is organic with that which is artificial, ideal. And so it sings the song of the glorious evolution to Viktor.

Imagine it, a world with no pain, no conflict, no struggle. No environmental pressures to contend with, because a perfect being cannot struggle, it can't make mistakes that lead to pain.

But when we see that imagined world, its a wasteland. In Viktor's own words, a field of dreamless solitude. A flat expanse where nothing can change or grow, nothing new can be experienced, none of humanity's warmth and emotion exist anymore.

"There Is No Prize to Perfection, Only an End to Pursuit"

At first I thought it was kind of silly that a scientist would ever misunderstand evolution to the degree Viktor has with this line. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Viktor misunderstanding evolution is just another extension of his perfectionism. It's IMPORTANT that he's wrong actually, it's essential to his arc.

He can't perceive the truth of what evolution is at this point in the story because accepting that means accepting that there is beauty in imperfections.

And I think we all know that that lesson is one that he hadn't quit learned yet.

Thanks for reading my insane ramblings.

"There is beauty in imperfections. They made you who you are. An inseparable piece of everything I admired about you." - Jayce Talis

[shangyang]

is this a safe space to talk about my biggest gripe with arcane viktor's character arc? fair warning, this might get long.

the biggest thing (to me) that stands out about machine herald (og league viktor) is that his change from viktor, jayce's partner, to viktor, the machine herald of zaun, stems from this loss of respect and recognition, coupled with the realization that the people who he has held in high esteem have never seen him as their equals. not even the man he once called his partner. we can chalk up this inequality to a lot of things, but for the machine herald, it's very VERY clearly tied to two things that are integral to who he is, and therefore things he cannot necessarily change without radical action: his disability, and his status as a zaunite.

therefore, it makes sense to me that in league, what viktor does is a response to the one thing he CAN change: himself, and by extension, his disability. this is what the glorious evolution is - viktor, in his mind, is attempting to level the playing field by any and all means necessary. if being disabled is a contributing factor - IN HIS MIND - to being denied what he is owed, then viktor must erase that "critical weakness" from himself to evolve into someone who will not only command said respect, but take it by any means necessary.

this is, to put it plainly, eugenics. it's eugenics. there's no other way to really frame it, because what viktor is doing, in attempting to "evolve" himself and the people he helps beyond what he and piltover's hypercapitalist oligarchy percieves as their "deficiencies", is technically culling what a ruling class would deem as "undesirably qualities" from the population. and that's the literal definition of eugenics.

but what does this have to do with arcane viktor? well, what i think is important to note about machine herald viktor, is that a great majority of his actions, after being exiled from piltover, can be read within the lens of him taking piltover's oppressive mindset regarding abled bodies, respect, and fear, and applying it to both himself and zaun.

from my understanding of league events, mh viktor goes to extremes in reaction to what he percieves as massive slights against himself, his personhood, and his status as someone worthy of respect (and therefore someone worthy as being seen as a person), in league. that's why when jayce refuses to defend him against stanwick, and when viktor is cast out from piltover after leaving to do what he viewed was not only his duty as someone from zaun - helping victims of the factorywood explosion - but also piltover's duty to zaun, as their overseers (and oppressors), it calls into question the idea that he was ever a "person" in piltover to begin with. the guiding principle here is this: if you cannot command respect, or are not given respect/regard amongst those you view as your peers, then you're not a person to them, or at least your personhood must therefore exist subservient to theirs, because we respect those who we view as being on, at minimum, equal standing with us.

so that's an integral part of viktor's character - including the fact that the reason his actions must be viewed as misguided and ultimately insanely unethical, is because he's taking his oppressors views and reflecting them onto himself and his fellow opressed populace - a sort of internalized opression - so naturally, his actions therefore cannot be to the overall benefit of himself nor zaun. viktor's glorious evolution is, in some part - no matter how large or small, done in an attempt to negociate a place for himself within piltover's elite. if he cannot have their respect through conventional, by-the-book means (going through the academy), then viktor will have their fear.

to me, this is backed up by the fact that in jayce's path of champions game, if you (as jayce) choose to accept the machine herald's proposal, viktor goes on to present blitzcrank to all of piltover during the innovator's competition, and he makes specific note that he was "not expecting the crowds to embrace [his] work so readily," something which seems to bring him a measure of comfort, if not joy.

so we can distill viktor's arc within league into a pretty simple equation: viktor attempts to make it within piltovan society through the conventional route -> is denigrated and denied via core traits deemed undesirable by piltovan society -> internalizes and overcorrects on a massive scale. (via robot eugenics.) a key throughline in all of this is that these actions are taken, not only in pursuit of viktor's own, ultimate desire to reclaim a sense of personhood and power, but also - in SOME WAY - in retaliation for the real oppression zaun has faced for the near entirety of its existence.

there's definitely a debate to be had regarding how actually altruistic the machine herald is. i would say the answer is, well, not very, but it IS important to note that the machine herald's actions and the way he operations within zaun can be viewed as having the intent to, in some way, provide (what viktor views) to be an essential service to his community. the fact that this percieved essential service occasionally involves overwriting people's free will is...well...not great. remember, guys, free will is good! and important! please do not attempt to cut a man's ability to respond to fear from his mind.

but, okay. i've done a whole lot of talking about the machine herald's arc. what does this have to do with viktor?

my biggest gripe with viktor's character arc in arcane is twofold:

one, it removes the impact and influence of community from his actions. we have to remember, that the big incident that forces viktor from piltover long enough for stanwick to steal his invention is a chemical spill in the factorywoods. viktor specifically chooses to leave piltover behind in order to provide essential aid to his community. he is helping in a rescue effort, and in the wake of a massive disaster within his community, providing both medical aid and what is likely essential assistance, considering viktor's own, highly specialized capabilities as a doctor and a scientist.

(i know the doctor thing is debatable - there's this awesome post here by @clevercorvidae about how viktor in arcane definitely does not fucking understand how evolution and biology works, and you should definitely read it, it lays everything out super clearly and intelligently!)

but secondly, in having the hexcore be the primary impetus for viktor's flight from piltover, and his turn toward the glorious evolution, what arcane does is create an imbalance in viktor's character arc. whose respect is viktor now chasing? whose personhood is he seeking to affirm? you can make the argument, certainly, that the arcane herald, and viktor's decision to become such is still, in some way, a version of league viktor's transformation into the machine herald, but i'm going to be very honest - it's a weak fascimile of that transformation at best.

viktor does not choose to become the arcane herald after he realizes that the people of piltover - including his own partner - do not actually respect him, his contributions to their way of life, or even his personhood. viktor doesn't even decide to undergo the transformation after jayce destroys the commune viktor has created in zaun. in arcane, viktor decides to take that leap after jayce rejects him in the council room.

VIKTOR: Let us do this again, as partners. JAYCE: My partner died in this room.

the scene where viktor fully submits to the transformation - bidding goodbye to the specter of sky in the astral realm - only happens AFTER jayce issues this rejection. you could argue that this is meant to argue the moment where giopara (og league jayce) destroys the crystal the machine herald has been using to keep several, presumed dead, people alive. but they're not necessarily analogous: by the point in time that conflict occurs between giopara and the machine herald, they're already solidly enemies. it's a two-way sort of animosity. neither harbor any hope of getting the other to "see their side," and there are certainly no olive branches extended and summarily rejected.

so what does this mean for viktor's character arc? in my opinion, what this does is upset viktor's original role within league. i'm sure someone else can explain this better than i will, but bear with me.

when league's story was first being drip-fed to us, at the very start of the game's service, early champions gave the player base a feel for the specific themes, aesthetics, and quirks that were going to form the characterizing basis for each region. for example, characters like warwick and singed were the earliest zaun champions to be released, and so set the tone for the kind of stories that would be told in that region. however, jayce and viktor are amongst the earliest champions from the regions of piltover and zaun, whose stories are, in a very integral way, linked to one another. sure, warwick and singed have ties to one another - lore relevant ones at that. but jayce and viktor's stories are some of the earliest to really start to go in depth regarding the deep animosity and inequality that exists between the sister cities.

as i see it, viktor's role, within the greater narrative league is trying to weave, is to make a bit of a point: here is a failed example of unity between piltover and zaun. viktor and jayce's failed relationship in league stands as this great testament to the reasons why a peaceful, equal coexistence has not, and perhaps cannot be brokered between piltover and zaun. equal is the key word here. and maybe peaceful, too. but my point still stands.

arcane, admittedly, has a terrible habit of defanging the very real conflicts it attempts to tackle. you'll notice that a terrible amount of time is spent trying to ensure piltover doesn't come out looking like the ultimate villains of the series. (spoiler alert: piltover is definitely the fucking villain of arcane. no matter how you slice or dice it, it is, and it will always be.) but in order to do this, what arcane must do is completely isolate the majority of its zaunite characters from community with other zaunites. there's a reason you never saw viktor or ekko interact, beyond the final fight. there's a reason why all the zaunite main cast: ekko, jinx, sevika, vi, and viktor - must all operate in these semi-loner positions, lest they come across as being too invested in the well being of their community, and therefore cast too much of a light on the truth of the plight zaun is facing.

sevika and ekko are, of course, extremely interested in building community. but ekko is never really seen with his firelights in a meaningful way: we do not really know any of them, nor ekko's attachments to them. sevika, similarly, spends much of the show working alongisde the quote-unquote villain of season one, silco, in what amounts to little more as a watchdog position. furthermore, her efforts to create community in season two must be mediated through jinx, who notably has no real interest in political revolution, aside from how it might suit her own means (whether those are getting back at vi, or honoring silco in her own way).

arcane's strange handling of viktor's transformation into the machine herald - the arcane herald, now - through the manipulations of the hexcore and the Arcane, exist primarily to draw your eye away from the fact that there was another - more compelling - reason for viktor to go down this path.

not corruption. community. a desire for respect. a desire to truly be respected in piltover, no matter the cost. what viktor's character, at it's best, does is hold a mirror up to piltover. through his actions and his motivations, we see the ways in which piltover's strictly upheld heirarchies have failed not only the people of zaun, but also the people of piltover.

certainly, we see this in a way in arcane. jayce's speech at the very end, where he tells viktor that he is beautiful, imperfections and all, is very literally pointing toward viktor's internalized ableism. but the source of that internalized ableism is never something the show seems particularly interested in explictly exploring. certainly, the animators have left us crumbs and clues: they're there in the way salo - a councilor of piltover - isn't even afforded the dignity of a ramp when he's confined to a wheelchair, and the way viktor's name is never even on the hexgate blueprints. (which the kiramman family are responsible for archiving and keeping, by the way! funny how that works...)

but the show is afraid to say the truth out loud. it's afraid to really confront the root cause of almost every single one of the characters' problems: that being the harshly stratified system of haves and have-nots that piltover continues to enforce with an iron fist. instead, arcane forgoes a serious conversation about that - which is, in my mind, to be had through the medium of viktor and his character arc - for something easier. "more metaphorical." the hexcore corrupts. the arcane corrupts. internalized self hatred corrupts, but perhaps you had better not look too deeply into who placed that seed of self-hatred within you to begin with, or else the questions bloom into uncomfortable answers.

i don't know. it's not to say that i disliked how arcane ended, or where viktor was for the majority of season two. he's my favorite character! i love him dearly. i love the show dearly, faults and all. but as someone who does really love the original machine herald lore, with all its conflicting implications about the nature of piltover and the truth of its ownership over zaun, to take this route with viktor's arc in arcane is upsetting. there had to have been a way to keep the magic angle, while staying true to that commentary on systems of oppression and the mirrors those systems create of themselves that is core (to me) to viktor's character in league.

but i guess we'll never know.

[girlfishes]

I think that there is a compelling biological argument that men are naturally aggressive.

This will be me yapping for way too long, but hear me out.

In many sexually dimorphic species, the males live a very short life. Think of bugs, like spiders and wasps. When males are born, they inseminate eggs and then die, or eaten, or exiled. To keep them involved any longer is a waste of resources that could be used on the females to create more offspring. Male bugs live a harsh life, because they are barely necessary except in their limited reproductive role.

Bugs are r-selective species, which means that their reproductive cycles prioritize producing as many offspring as possible with the expectation that most will die before they reach maturity. And the limiting factor in that equation is the number of females, which means that more males are created than are necessary in a 50-50 split.

As life forms become more complex, species become k-selective. This means that the energy in reproduction is put into creating few good-quality offspring. The mothers spend more time with their children, gestate them inside their bodies in the case of mammals, and stay with them until they reach maturity. It takes much longer for a k-selective species to reach sexual maturity, and males in such species are no longer anatomically inferior like they are as bugs.

The primary interest of the individual male is to make sure that his genes are passed on. But this isn’t so easy. I’m going to speak in terms of bears from now on. One male bear can impregnate 50 female bears, and those female bears will no longer be fertile for some time. Bears won’t just pair off monogamously, so male bears face steep competition. They kill each other and they kill each other’s cubs in competition to the limited females who can pass on their genes.

Now what does this have to do with humans? Well, we’ve established that in order to survive and personally reproduce, a male of any species is fighting an uphill battle due to the limited number of females and the female need to not waste precious resources on them. Both of these stem from the different reproductive roles inherent in sexual dimorphism seen across species. The males who succeed in reproducing will have necessarily been stronger and more aggressive. Basic survival of the fittest method will tell you that whatever causes these traits will be passed down.

Humans are the same. The bodies of women are largely organized around the production of large gametes and the gestation and feeding of offspring. The male body is organized around the production of small gametes. Males have been selective bread over millions of years to compete with other men and ensure that women cannot siphon resources away from them. This manifest in higher muscle mass, larger stature, and yes, high testosterone.

For thousands of years human males have forced themselves to remain relevant by crippling the lives and freedoms of women by the disabling nature of pregnancy and their superior strength. They also wage this battle psychologically, which is unique to human beings.

It is important to note that I can argue these points and still acknowledge that men do have the ability to think, feel, and reflect on their actions. If they so chose, they could turn their backs on this troubled past and start a new way of society which values individuals for their minds instead of their bodies.

This is not a fatalist dooming of all future men to forever stick to this pattern. The aggressive actions of men are borne from a deep insecurity that women do not need them. Because we don’t. But the thing is, human beings are capable of valuing each other for more than our reproductive roles or capabilities. Men need to not let their maleness define how they relate to women and each other, but let their humanity guide how they treat other humans. Only then can we leave this all behind.

If you read all of this, thanks for bearing with me.

[transmutationisms]

could you talk more on eds and biopolitics?

sure, so this is broad strokes and it's also worth reiterating that the energy deficit characteristic of EDs can have a lot of different causes besides intentional food restriction—food insecurity is a huge and underrecognised factor here but there are many others. so when i talk about intentional restriction and the desire to be thin / lose weight, i'm not suggesting these are universal characteristics or causes of EDs.

anyway though, in the context of discussing these things, and particularly the relationship between 'diet culture' and EDs, a perennial frustration to me is that i often hear people fall back on the idea that the desire to be thin comes about as a result of the beauty standards perpetuated in mass media, fashion adverts, &c, without any subsequent interrogation of why it is that beauty itself is now so heavily dependent on thinness. after all, plenty of people have pointed out this is not a universal; beauty varies in different times and places, what is described or depicted as beautiful in historical records doesn't necessarily have much overlap with today's hegemonic standards, and so forth.

so when historicising this phenomenon it becomes very clear that the euro/anglo standard of thinness as beauty is, one, part of the ideological apparatus justifying colonialism thru the creation of race and white supremacy. sabrina strings and da'shaun harrison have written on this. two, the thin ideal is also inextricably tied up in medical discourses defining the ideal body as one that is economically productive, with the promise being that if the populace can be transformed into 'healthy',*** useful, hardworking citizens, the state benefits. control of bodyweight is therefore certainly a means of demonstrating one's supposed self-control, moral discipline, &c, but it is also a demand expressed in medical terms: these two discourses merge and overlap, and are both part of the capitalist state's transformation of its citizenry into a biological resource that can be controlled, managed, and exploited to bourgeois ends (profit): hence, biopolitics.

(***the story of how 'health' itself comes to be so dependent on thinness is obviously a critical piece of all this but this post is long as shit already so suffice it to say that this conflation is also not obvious, necessary, universal, &c &c)

medico-political discourses in the 19th century tended to talk about the dangers of both over- and under-weight more than what we hear now; similarly, if you think about something like wilbur atwater's calorie-value charts, these were explicitly intended to guide labourers to the most calorie-dense foods, because to atwater the central danger to be avoided was starvation among the workforce. these days in wealthy countries like the us, you are much more likely to hear about weight management in the context of demands to reduce; this is of course following moves like the WHO declaring an 'obesity epidemic' in 1997, and the rise in the usa of more explicitly nationalist, militaristic weight-loss rhetoric in the post-9/11 era.

however, my position is that these demands for thinness, and the beauty standard that follows and justifies them, are not a departure from earlier 19th- and 20th-century scientific nutrition advice, just an evolution that, for a multitude of reasons (politics, medical professional interests, insurance company practices, &c) has simply come to focus more on the ostensible economic and national threat posed by fatness. the underlying logic bears the biopolitical throughline: the state has, or ought to have, an interest in enforcing the health of its population, and as part of this demands that you the individual surveil and alter your weight according to the scientific guidelines du jour.

this is fertile ground for the development of what, in extreme form, we regard as ED pathology. first, because even the most purely 'health'-motivated individual engaging in the required degree of bodily monitoring and caloric restriction is liable to respond to energy deficit in ways that can become diagnosably distressing. second, because the morals of 'health' are never far from standards of beauty; thinness is sold in overtly profitable ways (the diet and weight-loss industries) and furthermore, our idea of beauty is often a kind of post hoc justification for the thinness already being demanded by state and medical authorities. which is really just to say, beauty is part of the ideological superstructure both resulting from and invoked as a justification for the material conditions of capitalist biopolitics. again this is very broad strokes, but imo it is a much more useful framework to understand EDs than simply presenting them as a result of desiring thinness because it is glorified in The Media, because... reasons (essentially the rené girard model, lol).

[unclewaynemunson]

More often than not, it doesn't work out.

Robin first learned that lesson with Vickie, when she thought she found the love of her life but ended up breaking things off because the way in which Vickie mirrored her anxiety back to her enhanced it tenfold and it turned out to be completely exhausting to keep up with that after the first wave of butterflies had died down.

After Vickie, there was Laura. Laura, with whom it seemed to work out until she told Robin that she couldn't bear keeping up with her weird, unsettling and way too vivid nightmares about Russian spies and monsters from fantasy stories every other night.

After Laura, there was Julia. Julia, who was amazing for four whole months until she told Robin with tears in her eyes that she couldn't tolerate the cheating anymore. It didn't matter how often Robin told her that sleeping with someone didn't necessarily mean sleeping with someone, that Steve was like a brother to her – and that the whole thing was utterly ridiculous in the first place because Robin was very much a lesbian. Needless to say, it didn't work out.

Then, there was Amy. Amy, who, like a cruel twist of fate, actually cheated on Robin. It was only a one-time thing, a drunken kiss during some stupid party, but it was enough to damage Robin's trust in her irreparably. So it didn't work out.

Up until then, she had chalked it up to a string of bad luck or maybe bad taste. But after Louise (who brought up the nightmares again), Valerie (who wanted some adventure in the bedroom and had to guide Robin through a panic attack filled with inexplicable flashbacks when she tried tying her to the bedframe), and Mathilde (who made a problem of Robin's regular 3am calls with Steve when neither of them could sleep), she starts to wonder if it wouldn't be more probable that it is herself who is the problem instead of this whole list of girls.

“Don't you dare say that about yourself,” says Nancy with fire in her voice when Robin finally dares to voice that thought out loud.

They're both lying down on Nancy's brand new couch, a pair of legs dangling over each side and their heads right next to each other in the middle. Except for that couch, the living room is still empty. Boxes are piled up everywhere, still waiting to be unpacked, but they can wait a little longer.

Robin is happy to have Nancy at her side again. It's been a while: college and differing career paths kept them separated through the majority of their friendship. But now Nancy has found her way back to Indiana, only half an hour away from where Robin has been living with Steve and Eddie ever since Mathilde broke up with her a few months ago.

She hasn't really been dating anyone since, and now that Nancy is also living in Indianapolis, she wonders if she'll ever feel the need to. No girl would ever be able to compare to Nancy Wheeler, after all; Robin knew that much as soon as she saw Nancy stepping out of the U-Haul wearing pastel-pink dungarees, with all grown-out curls cascading over her back and a thick layer of eyeliner around her beautiful doe eyes.

“Well, it could be true,” Robin presses on.

“No it can't!” Nancy says it in such an indignant tone that it makes Robin snort skeptically.

“I'm serious, Rob.” It sounds stern. “I know you and I know it's not true. It's not your fault.”

“You're seriously telling me I've been dating seven girls over the past seven years, and none of it worked out, and it's all because of them? All those relationships were wildly different; I'm the one consistent factor in all of them, Nance.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're the problem.” Nancy says it like it's obvious. “Maybe the problem is that you've been picking girls who all have one single thing in common, and that is that they never wanted to make the effort to really listen to you.”

"Huh." Robin closes her eyes for a second, taking her time to let those words sink in. She never thought about it that way. “You think so?”

“Yeah. Mathilde was a bitch anyway,” Nancy says matter-of-factly. “I mean, did she ever ask you to explain why you've been feeling the need to call Steve in the middle of the night lately?”

Robin shrugs. “That's a bit difficult to explain, isn't it?” she points out.

“That's what I'm saying,” says Nancy. “It's exactly why you keep picking out those kind of girls. Because if you're with someone who will actually listen to your story, you're gonna have a problem. Right?”

And, well, shit. It's not like Robin asked for a free therapy session here, but... Nancy is right. Of course she is. She always is.

Robin turns her head to the side, exchanging her view on the white ceiling for a much better one: Nancy's face, so close to her own that she can take in every little detail. The elegant slope of her nose, the wing of her eyeliner, the freckles on her cheeks, her perfect lips... Her face in this en-profile position is mesmerizing. It's not the first time that the thought comes to Robin's mind that Nancy looks like someone who should be in old paintings.

“Do you think you'll ever try to find someone who listens to you?” Nancy asks.

Robin tries to imagine that scenario; it's difficult. Not just because she doesn't really know how that would work in the first place, but mostly because she doesn't actually want to.

“Nah,” she says, trying to make it sound casual instead of really fucking sad.

“Why not?”

Because nobody can ever compare to you anyway, she thinks. But she bites her tongue and shrugs, turning her head back to the ceiling.

“That would be way too complicated, wouldn't it?”

Nancy shuffles and sighs; Robin feels her breath tickle against her cheek.

“I guess,” she mumbles.

“How did you do it?” Robin asks.

Nancy's dating history is not as tumultuous as Robin's. After things ended between her and Jonathan, she had been solo for a while. Then, there had been Ben, and then Kurt, and then it had again been just Nancy for a long time.

“Did what?”

“Did you ever find a way to tell Kurt about all the shit?”

“Nope.” It doesn't exactly sound like she tried very hard.

“Why not?”

“Because I did the same thing you did,” Nancy says. “Chose the wrong people to do that with. So I didn't have to think about it.”

That doesn't feel completely fair to Robin; Nancy had been with her boyfriends longer than Robin had been able to keep even one of her girlfriends around.

“I liked Kurt, he was nice,” she remarks in an attempt to point out the difference without being too blunt about it.

Nancy sighs. “Yeah, he was nice, but he wasn't... Right. I knew that from the beginning. Same with Ben. Even with Jonathan, in a way. Or Steve, even though I was too young to realize it.”

“What do you mean, not right?”

“Boys.”

“Wha-” Robin turns her head sideways so fast that she's lucky she doesn't pull a muscle.

She sees how Nancy's eyes drop from the ceiling and slowly find their way to Robin's face.

“Took me a while to figure that one out,” she says quietly. “But yeah.”

Robin wishes they were lying in a different position; one that would have made it possible for her to take Nancy's hand and squeeze it gently, or to wrap an arm around her, or to pull her in for a hug.

“Thank you for telling me.”

A soft smile is tugging at Nancy's lips. She looks at Robin like she wants to say something, then looks back up to the ceiling again, and Robin copies her movement, biting her own tongue again in order to give Nancy the time and space she clearly needs right now.

Usually, Robin struggles with silences; she'll feel words pile up inside of her until her need to fill the empty space will take over and she'll inevitably start rambling. But this one actually feels comfortable. She wishes that they could keep lying side-by-side on this couch for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, they can't, though. There's still way too much work to be done. So Nancy hauls her to her feet and soon, the couch gets company of a coffee table, a couple of cozy armchairs, a bookcase, a TV... There are boxes filled with books, kitchen appliances, picture frames, video tapes, clothes; there are closets that need to get assembled and a heavy bedframe that they can barely get to where they need it.

It feels like it will never end, but after two long days of hauling furniture around, the apartment starts to look like a home. A home for which Robin gets a spare key. It rests cold and shiny against the palm of her hand, where Nancy has dropped it, and it makes her realize how real it is that Nancy is finally living close to her again.

Nancy's couch becomes just as much of a home for Robin as her own living room. It's where the two of them share stories, tell secrets, laugh loudly, cry ugly... It's where they watch movies until deep in the night, snuggled up to each other under a soft blanket. It's where they read books side-by-side on lazy Sunday afternoons. It's where they listen to music together and where they listen to what the other has to tell about their day or about anything that's on their minds. It's where Robin finally gets the courage to tell Nancy that nobody has ever listened to her the way Nancy does. It's where Nancy scoots closer towards her to press a kiss against her cheek, right before she finds Robin's lips and they share their first kiss, warm and homely and perfect.

More often than not, it doesn't work out. But once in a lifetime, it does. And once is exactly enough.

[bblovetarot]

{𖥔} What in your life needs your attention?

ʚ ═══･୨ꕤ୧･═══ ɞ Pick a Pile ʚ ═══･୨ꕤ୧･═══ ɞ 

. ༄. paid readings . ༄

。°⚠︎°。follow your intuition when choosing a pile. if you're drawn to more than one pile, that's okay! you may have messages in more than one.

。°⚠︎°。tarot readings are not 100% accurate, and do not dictate your future. please keep in mind that you have free will. these readings are also general and aren't specific to one person, so please take what resonates and leave what doesn't! 

Pile 1

Pile 1, it seems that there's a crucial aspect of your life that needs attention—how past family treatment affects your present. Hurtful family beliefs or traditions may have shaped you into someone who lacks joy, hesitates to explore the world, and tries new things. There's a sense that you may have become cynical, losing belief in yourself and the possibility of miracles. Short bursts of inspiration often don't stick, and family might have led you to believe that your true dreams are unattainable, pushing you towards what's considered traditional and normal. However, these beliefs aren't serving you well, Pile 1. They've turned your perspective on life negative, making it challenging to find meaning in even the small things. You may be accustomed to doing what's perceived as normal and easy, but for growth and progress, stepping out of your comfort zone is necessary. There's a message, perhaps for some of you about moving out of a family home, but the fear of the unknown and the comfort of the familiar holds you back. It's essential to recognize that you might not be taking the right steps to get what you truly desire. You may have grand ideas for yourself but believe you can't implement them, thinking they're impossible or that you don't deserve them. It's crucial to understand that you, more than external factors, are the one holding yourself back. Bringing happiness and peace into your life will provide clarity and help you move forward. What brings you joy? What inspires you?Pay attention to your mindset and surroundings that might be hindering progress. Don't let internal doubts rob you of the opportunity to be truly happy in this lifetime. Spirit advises you to prepare for what comes when tackling these issues—it won't be easy, but it's a necessary transformation for your growth, much like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Trust that the universe will be with you every step of the way, guiding you through the darkness of uncertainty. Remember, everything happens for a reason.

Pile 2

It seems that there's someone in your life, Pile 3, who demands your attention, possibly a family member or someone you share a lot of happiness with. This person may exhibit characteristics of laziness, depression, reckless spending habits leading to financial burdens, or an excessive obsession with money. Whether describing someone else or reflecting aspects of yourself, take what resonates. This person appears to be ungrounded, potentially battling mental or physical illnesses, and displaying reckless tendencies. If this doesn't directly apply to you, it seems you feel caught in a dilemma about deciding whether to keep this person in your life. While you share many happy memories, you could be weary of their actions and arrogant behavior. There may not be direct rudeness or abuse, but a sense of unhealthy coping mechanisms. You might be contemplating whether to cut ties with them, desiring peace, calmness, and a journey towards happiness and healing. The universe advises you to listen to your intuition and heart, assuring you that you're supported in your decision. It's undoubtedly a tough choice, but prioritize your own well-being and happiness. You don't necessarily have to completely cut this person out, but creating some distance might be beneficial. If you resonate with the described person, it's crucial to focus on gaining control over impulsive actions, understanding that your current behavior is throwing you out of alignment. Strive for balance in various aspects of your life and tap into your intuition for true happiness. Check your level of confidence and assertiveness, ensuring it doesn't come off as overly pushy or arrogant. Reflect on how you present yourself to others, how you treat them and yourself, and where insecurities might be affecting your life. This can guide you towards a healthier and more balanced existence.

Pile 3

It appears that there's a childhood dream or a creative aspiration that once brought joy to your inner child. However, over time, it seems you've given up on this dream, possibly due to the challenges you faced when you attempted to pursue it. Fear of others' opinions, especially the potential for competition or tension, might be holding you back. If not competitiveness, it could be concerns about how others perceive your dream. The message emphasizes the importance of standing up for yourself and not letting others' opinions hinder your pursuit of happiness. Pay attention to your soul's calling and drown out the external noise. Embarking on this dream might induce stress, especially as it involves taking on significant responsibilities. However, you're not obligated to carry the burden alone. There's a suggestion to examine how you might be overwhelming yourself with unnecessary stress on this journey. Consider taking on responsibilities gradually rather than piling them all at once. Be mindful of your pacing and avoid rushing into things. It's essential to find a balance that allows you to move forward without burning yourself out, regaining motivation, and instilling discipline in pursuing this dream of yours.

[scintillyyy]

i wonder how many things in the 90s were AGAINST "tough on crime" thoughts

one of the ONLY examples i can think of is the original milestone comics and that's probably due to milestone being built by minorities

yea tbh you're probably not going to find a ton unless you look more at minority-led publishers or indie comics. which is why i get a little. like i know it doesn't seem this way but i actually am not thrilled to be defending dixon at all but i do think that at least half the accusations thrown at him need to be examined within a historical context and cultural norms of the period because the answer is not necessarily and only "because dixon is a conservative" or taking the base assumption that dixon is solely at fault for everything ever (especially when the directions he took characters was given approval by the batoffice and dennis o'neil and i love dennis o'neil as a editor but a lot of writers and editors of the era get off scott free by placing the blame solely on dixon). and i'm not even necessarily defending the cultural norms of the time, but like. i always point to the tim rages against marijuana issue that is like "man dixon is weird about drugs" only to look a the cover and realize tim's little DARE speech was actually written by alan grant! no man's land itself too was actually 80% written by people who were not dixon (including o'neil, rucka, grayson who consider themselves quite liberal) and dixon really only contributed to robin and nightwing on the event (and a YJ one shot) and gave an interview that said he didn't actually like quite a few things about NML and thought some of those events stretched plausibility too much. and yet he gets held accountable for being solely resposible for almost every single thing in 90s batcomics that is deemed conservative by today's standards when in fact he was working in a collaborative office that represented a multitude of differing viewpoints that came to an agreement on many storylines. ppl like to attribute a lot of personal power to dixon especially in his earliest years when he was probably at his most limited by and guided by bat-editorial (you can see in his later years following dennis o'neil leaving the helm where he starts to become even more overt and less leashed when it comes to things like tim's boarding school era). and not that he's not at fault or hands clean here--the man is at fault for and rightly taken to task for a lot and should continue to be done so. but i do wish people would also consider other factors at play. and acknowledge that he was not doing anything that didn't have at least a little approval and agreement from higher ups on how they wanted characters to grow and change.

[ensemblesongs]

Hello, I’m the anon who said I was disappointed and I’m here to apologize. When writing that comment I was going through a mental episode which (due to unrelated and personal issues) isn’t an excuse but definitely aided in the way I wrote that comment. I realize that it sounded very rude which was not my intention and makes me disappointed in myself. I was really sad to see one of my favorite enstars creators support the boycott because from the research I’ve done, by observing the reactions from both Japanese and Ryukyuan Enstars fans, they don’t seem to be very happy with the racial part of the boycott. Some are definitely still not happy that Akatsuki went from 3 to 4 but it has nothing to due with race for them. The reason I said the boycott itself seemed racist is because I’m seeing a lot of boycott supporters saying that BECAUSE of Ibuki’s Ryukyuan heritage he shouldn’t be in any unit at all and should remain by himself which makes me sad because he deserves a loving and supportive unit which Akatsuki definitely is. Again I’m very sorry for the way my previous comment came off and I still appreciate your work. I just hope that this informed you on the perspective of actual Japanese and Ryukyuan people.

Sweet thing! It's okay! Don't beat yourself up. I hope I didn't come off as aggressive, I can be emotional in the face of criticism but try my best to leave it out of my responses. I was explaining my motives!

He DOES deserve to be in a unit that will give him love. I felt a bit sad seeing him be neglected during the Esupuri debut, and I was personally hoping for him to be able to shine as a solo idol because that'd mean he would get to collab with all sorts of units like Madara does, and it felt like he was being set up to seek freedom and parallel him in some sort of way given his rejection of his role as a kid, but I would have also loved for him to belatedly join the rest of the new face idols in Esupuri, because I think his dynamic with Esu could have been interesting ♪ I even pondered the delusional combination of Ibuki and Kaname, though that would never happen, just because it's interesting to imagine.

I've definitely seen the people you're talking about, and also those who focus more on the AKATSUKI dilemma than Happy Element's mishandling of Ibuki. I only mentioned it because I think both are valid to be upset about and thought that maybe you didn't see anything wrong with the story at all. But one issue is so much larger than the other, especially when it's being done in a game with as big of an audience as Ansta, and I feel sad seeing people misdirect their hatred towards Ibuki — not just because he is a child and the victim here regardless of Keito's kindness (the traditional, Yamato Japanese character who is here to guide the proud, "indigenous demon" character down the right path. Do you see how that sounds? It's one thing for Keito to be his senior, drawn to him because of his experience with Kurou... ah, I don't know...), but because he is not real. The people who love him and feel connected to him are, though.

The "because" factor is less that because of his ethnicity he doesn't deserve to be in a unit, and more so that they are really doubtful that the writers will be able to pull it off inoffensively or that they already find it offensive due to the implications. At least, that's most of what I've seen. And again, the execution was just very poor. Ibuki and Esu are my favourite of the new kids, as I've mentioned. When it was revealed, I felt a sense of dread that still doesn't fade days after, cementing itself in my stomach as I watched the stream featuring the seiyuu via a third party. The way they're going for it is already rather reflective of history and not in a necessarily good way. I want to have hope that they will find a way to make this better, but I don't deserve to tell AKATSUKI-p to have that same faith, nor do I expect them to. It's sad that Happy Elements' official account is blocking people with genuine criticism, and very immature of them.

Anyway, I hope you'll feel better soon, Anon! And know that I, and many others, really do mean well. I've only seen two or so tweets in Japanese addressing the racism angle, honestly... even that much I was happy to see. Not that I think they're stupid or unaware. But there's a lot of work put into brushing Ryukyuan struggles under the rug.

[ffverr]

hello I come to you with a request. I watched x men 97 recently and was saddened by how little time the whole magneto in charge of the x men storyline got and I know he does this longer in the comics (I can't say why but the phrase "its seven in the morning max..." lives rent free in my brain) so I wanted to ask if you have any recommendation for comics from that era / any recommendations for comics with mister magnet-os because I want to get into x men comics but comics as always are so daunting

It is my great pleasure to answer this!!

Disclaimer 1, I am still going through a lot of the issues of this era but I will try my best to make it as clear a guide as I can for you!

Disclaimer 2, Headmaster of the school and leader of the X-Men are quite different positions that they kind of fused together in the 97 show so I do want to make it clear that magneto in the "seven in the morning" era is headmaster of the school, teaching young kids, while Storm is leading the X-men team and Scott is leading the X-factor team, so with that said:

Magneto's teacher arc starts in uncanny X-Men issues 199 and 200 (iconic issues containing the trial of magneto that was adapted in the show!) And then he is headmaster of the school in the book "The new mutants" by Chris Clermont, from issue 35 to issue 75. It is A LOT I admit and he gets a more minor place considering the book is about the kickass young class of new mutants that he's teaching. But it is worth checking out! Many consider this to kind of be peak magneto because.... he's trying so hard to be a good teacher and to handle all these kids and it's very humanizing for him!

I mean look at him and his 8 kids!

Now, how to get into Magneto overall? Let's get into it:

I believe it is impossible to get into Magneto without reading his ultimate origin story, Magneto: Testament by Greg Pack. It is a quick intro, it barely features his powers (not an action comic) and it is a very very emotional read. I consider it essential magneto reading!

Next up: Two One shots if you want to get a quick primer on the character pre moral arc instead of sitting through his few appearances in the Stan Lee comics:

A classic one: X-Men: God Loves, Men Kills by Chris Claremont. It is an iconic comic book one shot that can be read out of continuity just to see what his deal is when he's not necessarily on the side of the X-Men but fighting for his own ideals! It's overall a brilliant comic book!

If you want a more recent retelling of the first appearances of magneto you HAVE to read X-Men Mythos that retells magneto's major first appearance in the 60s in quite a beautiful and amazing way! It also has an absolutely insane magneto scene that is very memorable! (So this would "chronologically" come before God loves men Kills)

Now for his switch from cartoon villain of the 60s/early 70s to complex guy in the 80s, read the issues 149 and 150 from the run Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont. This is THE pivotal moment for "good guy" Magneto

(know that after issue 150, somehow he falls in the ocean from asteroid M, is rescued from a shark attack by Scott's girlfriend Lee Forester. They have a quick relationship where he struggled with his change of morals then he comes to the new mutants)

if you want to continue chronologically you read the issues 199 and 200 that I recommended at the start then go to the new mutants book I talked about earlier!

If you want MORE MODERN comics, then I advise you get right into what's happening at the moment!

House of X powers of X are two series that intertwine (you'll easily find them in the right order) by the same writer, Jonathan hickman!

It serves as a status quo change/relaunch of the X-Men universe. Magneto plays a big part of the story as he is directly involved in building a mutant nation. I'd say it's a bold but quite functional intro to X-Men comics!

Then he appears as a major character in the GREAT series X-Men Red by Al Ewing alongside Storm, a character that meant a lot to him in the 80s, so it's really nice to see again.

In this he is- epic, depressed, suicidal, sassy, it's great magneto stuff! This series is widely regarded as the best X-Men comic out right now!

(if you want context for this book read the event X of Swords, or I could explain if interested)

That's about all I will lay on you ! If this is hella confusing, don't hesitate to dm me! I can detail more cleanly exactly what you have to read and when!

Good reading!

[katieaki]

So, you’re interested in jumping into Pony Express but aren’t sure where to start/feel daunted by the undertaking/are freaked out about missing lore & context? Pony Express is intended to be a completely standalone work with no knowledge of my prior work necessary for enjoyment, but it has been rolling for quite a while now! Here’s some info to help you orient yourself! 💫 I recommend looking at this guide on desktop as the mobile version collapses the bullet points in a strange way.

✨ Here’s the absolute most basic summary:

Lou Primrose (30 years old, 5'0", illiterate, hardworking, 3x rodeo champion) is a rider for the Pony Express, the Wasteland's mail service. Lou has agreed to transport an unusual package from the middle of the Wasteland to the nearly uninhabited coast: a glamorous redhead named Holliday Bell. A case of mistaken identity sees Lou brutalized and disabled by religious assassin from the church of Johnny Knives (god of death) Reckoning "Artie" Tehachapi, who attempts to atone for her wrongdoing by serving Lou until she's healed. Together (for better or worse) the three of them head toward the ocean through unknown and dangerous territory.

This work is erotic in nature 🔞 with some violence and survival-type gore.

✨ If you’re totally new here, you might have some questions. Here’s a super quick primer under the cut!

What’s up with The Wasteland?

The Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic, non-dystopian society in the former American southwest. It has been several generations since the civilization Before (that’s us, or maybe like... our grandparents) was decimated. Nobody is particularly interested in the whys or hows of the collapse, though it seems that environmental disaster & earthquakes were the main factor.

It’s a series of towns, shrines, convents, and monasteries. Quite a lot of it is in repurposed buildings from Before (imagine Route 66-style gas stations, diners, and motels, all heavily repaired) and some of it is kind of ramshackle old-west-y new builds.

God of Death, religious assassins, churches– what’s up with all that? I’m afraid, sounds lore-y.

Wasteland society is heavily structured around the two churches of the gods of life & sorrow (The Listening Lady) and death & justice (Johnny Knives), who are married, immortal, and absolutely real. They live apart from the mortals, but they do live in the Wasteland with them. The Listening Lady’s church is responsible for basically every aspect of Wasteland life. Listening Church shrines and convents are also the Wasteland’s official or de facto orphanages, pantries, farms, hospitals, therapists, inns, textile mills, wedding venues, and basically everything else you need to keep a society functioning. Listening Church acolytes may have a huge variety of occupations, from the extremely down-to-earth (midwifery and laundry etc) to the real Weird and Churchy (doing rituals and divination etc). Many of them take a vow of silence in honor of The Listening Lady. The church of Johnny Knives is much smaller and much more specialized. Knife Church disciples are assassins whose sacred duty is to kill those who need killing, as judged by god. 

You don’t really need to get INTO this, though. What you need to know is: Listening Church acolytes are generally warm and kind and in caregiver- or artisan-type roles. Knife Church disciples are peacekeepers & generally a little scary, but are also working toward the public good– kind, but not necessarily nice.

I know the concept of gods and disciples invokes the image of like, robes and shit, but that is NOT how it is! Listening Church acolytes tend toward chiffon and midcentury-lingerie-as-outwear looks and/or country western workwear, depending. Knife Church disciples nearly invariably have sort of a greaser/biker/leather daddy thing going on. They all talk about the gods like they’re their parents and their bosses, which they are. I think it’s kind of more normal than you might be expecting. 

So there’s like, magic?

According to the Wastelanders, yes. You don’t need to worry too much about any of that. Just let them do their things.

And everyone is in a church?

Almost everyone interacts with Listening Church in some way, very few interact with Knife Church in any way, but most people in the Wasteland are ‘civilians’ (that is to say, not working for either church).

And they’re all lesbians? How do they have babies??

They’re not ALL lesbians, but basically all our POV characters are & it’s a very lesbian-heavy society. There are many ways that two women may have children, including biological. You got this, I know you do. 

And everyone is blue?

Yeah, but it doesn’t really come up.

Why?

Because I liked drawing them with the sky blue posca paint marker when I began this body of work.

Ok. What’s up with Lou?

Louetta “Lou” Primrose is a rider for the Pony Express– she’s a Wasteland mailman. Her job is basically her whole life. She’s been working since she was ten years old, working for the Pony Express since she was 14. After receiving a romantic rejection from Venus, the dance hall girl she’s in love with, Lou agrees to take a strange red-headed woman, Holliday Bell, to the (allegedly) uninhabited coast, where Holliday’s wife is (allegedly) waiting for her.

Lou is dedicated, practical, and hard-working, but also hot-headed, frequently mean, a little self-conscious, and ‘a rambling man,’ never in one place for long. She’s markedly not religious among other Wastelanders (so is a great pov character for you if you’re new to al this!). Her greatest achievement has been winning the main event at the Wasteland’s biggest horse games three years in a row, unseating the previous champion. Nobody else really cares that much.

What’s up with Holliday?

Holliday Bell is an elegant and mysterious woman who showed up to Lou’s post office with stamps pinned to her blouse, claiming she’d mailed herself there from a town hundreds of miles away. She is asking Lou, who works at the most westerly post office in Wasteland, to finish the delivery by bringing her way out to the coast where she claims her wife, a pearl diver, is waiting for her. 

Holliday is strange. From the beginning, Lou feels put off by her personality, which is both abrasive and seemingly rehearsed. She can be unspeakably cutting and is obviously hiding a big secret. 

What’s up with Artie?

Reckoning “RT” “Artie” Tehachapi is the Knife Church disciple who, after a series of lies and miscommunications spanning several parties across the Wasteland, is sent to apprehend Lou, who she thinks has kidnapped Holliday. She breaks Lou’s wrist and dislocates her shoulder in their first altercation before she learns that Lou is an innocent party in all of this. Deeply ashamed of her actions, she vows to serve Lou until they make it back to civilization.

Artie is upbeat and optimistic, especially for Knife Church, but her guilt at her transgressions against Lou & eagerness to make up for them have left her in a kind of anxiety spiral.  She’s the only one who has any real survival skills and continually works herself to the last drop, and then works herself a few drops more. When her big, horrible, deep, dark secret is revealed, her mental state continues to deteriorate.

What’s up with Venus? We haven’t seen her in a while?/Who’s the one-armed smokeshow?

Venus is Lou’s love interest, the girl she left behind in Hereafter. We haven’t seen her in a while because she, wisely, stayed there while Lou went off on her extremely inadvisable mission.

Venus of the Wastes is a dime-a-dance girl/saloon girl/sex worker who lives in Hereafter. She is Lou’s friend and Lou is both in love with her and her best client. Just before Lou left to deliver Holliday, she admitted to Venus that she was in love with her. Venus is, at least, very fond of Lou.

✨ Ok, but this is a lot! Where do I start??

If you’re looking to hop in on the story in progress, I’ve made summaries of part 1 , part 2 , and part 3 as we have gone on. I’ll update this with part 4 when we finish it. 

If you’re a completionist, the links above have epub & pdf files of the full text of each part. Here’s where part 4 begins, until we finish that part and I post it all together. You can find the rest of part 4 by scrolling backwards through the collection. I will also attach pdfs & epubs of all the full text to this post on my patreon!

If you’re a completionist completionist & you want it ALL, here’s everything and the chronological order in which they occur in-universe. Again, Pony Express is meant to be able to stand on its own two feet without any of the rest of this, but it might be fun for you to read the rest. The first three here are kind of a series, but Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame and Bloodied on Arrival could both be read independently. Care and Keeping probably needs those two to support it, unless you’re happy just jumping in and figuring stuff out via context. It’s Artie’s backstory, but it’s not necessary for you to read to make Pony Express make sense. It’ll just give you a little more dramatic irony etc. 

Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame  - a novella about Hero Sasaki, a novice acolyte at the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life & sorrow) who has been tasked with delivering a package to an anchorite from her church. Frances is a disgraced assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who has been tasked with escorting her. Through trials of the road, emergency first aid, prayer, ritual (blood and otherwise), a little sex, and a lot of tears, they find love exactly where they should've expected it in the first place.

Bloodied on Arrival - a novel about Nuisance (and Hero), a road-weary assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who finds herself and her new cat taking refuge at a companionship shrine run by a beautiful older widow, Hero, of the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life and sorrow). The two can't deny their immediate connection and aim for a rewarding one-night stand, but things don't go as planned.

Care and Keeping - a work in progress novel(?) about Hero and Nuisance and their new adopted feral child, Artie, a little girl who has known nothing but abuse, pain, and starvation who believes it’s her sacred mission to join Knife Church. Nuisance agrees to train her to join the church in a bid to keep her from it for as long as possible. This is a kind of coming-of-age story for Artie and a becoming parents story for Hero & Nuisance.

Pony Express - A work in progress novel about Lou (also featuring Artie) - see synopsis at beginning of post.

The novel/las are available for purchase on my Patreon for $5 or for pay-what-you-want $5+ on Gumroad. If you find you can’t afford that, but want to read it, please let me know! DM me wherever or email me at missluckycatknives (at) gmail (dot) com I’m happy to make my work accessible to you. All Pony Express and Care and Keeping are free as I work on them. 

[ninyard]

inspired by the last anon: do you have any unhinged kevin hc's?

(cw; abuse, sh, briefly) (this isn't a headcanon at all really. more of an au i guess. just thoughts. just a little what if?)

The sight of blood makes Kevin feels sick, not necessarily because it reminds him of his injury - though that's a big factor - but because it reminds him of what he is capable of, and some of the things he did with Riko by his side. When Neil's father cut up that man in that room - Kevin was there. Riko was there, too, of course, but Kevin has been around death and violence for a very, very long time.

Teenage boys are young and stupid and impressionable, and maybe there was a point where Kevin fought back and matched the pain Riko inflicted on him, at least until Riko went through puberty and became stronger, more evil, more interested in truly hurting Kevin than just having "fun".

Think of them being twelve, and Riko has just drawn lines into his own legs because he likes how it feels to bleed, to be in pain, and him and Kevin are sat on the floor of their bedroom. Riko hands Kevin the knife, and tells him to do it. On myself? Kevin asks, but Riko guides the point to his own skin. Kevin tells him to stop, but when he flinches at the sight of Riko's blood, Riko grabs his hair and asks him if he can see how good it feels to make someone bleed.

But then think of them a little bit older, and Kevin is on his bed, and as Riko crawls up towards him, he kicks him hard in the chest, so hard that he ends up winded and sits at the end of the bed, cursing him in Japanese until he can breathe again. One time Riko puts his fingers into Kevin's mouth, and Kevin bites down hard enough to break skin. He spits in Riko's face as he recoils, and Riko slaps him hard enough to leave a mark. They're young enough at this point that Kevin has not yet become truly afraid or aware of what Riko is truly capable of. So maybe one time, he pins Riko down, his hands above his head held down by his wrists, his free hand wrapped around Riko's throat, and for just a moment, Kevin wonders what it would feel like to watch the life leave his eyes. Riko has done this to him enough times that Kevin wants to know what it feels like, to hurt someone like this, to wrap his hands about their throat and feel them desperately try to find a way free. Riko's face gets redder and redder, and he's struggling under his weight, struggling harder the longer it all goes on. Kevin regrets it when he lets go, and Riko is too quick with his punches. Kevin regrets it when Riko does the same thing to him, but until he loses enough oxygen that he passes out, until he's unconscious and Riko has bound his hands to carve his name into Kevin's skin.

What if there was a point where Kevin had the strength in him to fight Riko? What if, for a short time, they fought like they were equals? Before Riko's abuse "became" abuse, before Kevin realised that this is not normal. Before Kevin truly felt scared of what he could do.

Riko gave Kevin a lot of fear, the guts of a PTSD diagnosis. As the years went on, things got worse, and Kevin became unable to be an equal with Riko any longer. but in those formative years, he also gave him a lot of knowledge on how to hurt people, too. He knows what Riko got off on. He knows what moves and attacks hurt the most. He knows where to hold a knife that any movement will hurt the person it's held up to. He knows where to punch someone, where the bruise will linger for weeks, and the pain even longer.

Maybe there’s a dealer out there, somewhere, that Kevin thinks of every now and again, who has a permanent scar from the first time Riko asked Kevin to try and see how it feels to cut someone up. Maybe there’s someone out there that Kevin burnt with a lighter, or matches, or maybe there's a handful of scars on Jean's body that Kevin has apologised far too many times for. Do you think he had to hold Jean down when Riko waterboarded him, or when Riko drew swirls into his chest with a knife? Do you think Riko held him down then, too, and handed Kevin the knife, and watched as Kevin apologised with his eyes, and cut Jean up from his neck to his stomach?

Maybe in this universe Kevin hides that part of him because he's so ashamed of the stupid, awful, disgusting things he did as a teenager. Maybe Kevin feels so much guilt and shame about who he was at one point that there is nothing in the world that can possibly clear his conscience.

Maybe in this universe, Kevin wishes he had never stopped fighting back. Maybe he ponders what it would've been like to be in Riko's position.

[smoothestjazz]

Games criticism is dead, and it's no one's fault. Speaking as a former freelance game critic, here're the major issues I've noticed recently.

1. Reviewers tend to review based on how subjectively fun the game is, not the objective measures of what the game does for the genre, whether it innovates, does anything new, is well crafted, or perhaps most important: whether it achieves what it set out to do. A good critic should, in my opinion, weigh both subjective and objective factors when reviewing games. This is something the film critics have figured out, but not so with game critics.

This has led to, in my personal opinion, polished mediocrity being lauded, because it's "fun", even when the game is objectively doing nothing for games as a whole, or the gamer in any meaningful way.

2. Reviewers are afraid to give bad scores for two reasons. Firstly, they may personally know the developers (online or otherwise), or are at least in an accessible place for the developers to speak to. I can personally speak to developers speaking to me or about me twice when they didn't like what I said about the games in reviews.

Secondly, reviewers are afraid of public reaction to the review. Developers are still receiving death threats when their games don't meet audience expectations; likewise, a reviewer who isn't a fan of a popular game may also see harassment campaigns. These factors make it difficult for a reviewer to deliver a perhaps correctly earned 2/10.

3. Game reviewing and journalism publications are dying. They're being bought up by big corps, and many are being shut down. This has resulted in a laser focus on the games big sites will cover, and not more niche areas.

(To briefly tangent, I wrote for a wargaming site back in the day. The site did okay but wasn't massive. It was bought by a large gaming publication; soon, one of the few review/ journalism wargaming sites shifted focus from wargaming to Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, and Pokemon guides. There are scant few sites that even review wargames left now, resulting in less "professional" articles being posted. Us freelancers don't have the money or necessarily the time to buy and write about the big games of the genre without a site to support us.)

The focus on AAA games by these sites lessens the breadth of what the sites will write about... and lead to less challenging writing about the games. Negative, thoughtful pieces of criticism don't generate clicks as much as guides do; this is a fact I was expressly told by my former editor. This being the case, it's not in big gaming sites' interest to write negatively about games they may be able to write guides for, which would generate more revenue.

In essence, I don't believe games journalism is in currently in a place to contribute anything to the medium. There are too many factors limiting the journalists themselves from being able to actually *criticize* what they're writing about. It is unsustainable in the long term, and I'm afraid the remaining serious review sites will be subsumed into the morass of guide-churning sites that masquerade as "journalism".