#please feel free to chime in!!

[zesticky]

i'm absolutely gobsmacked every time i attempt to do a video edit of ava and deborah's relationship because like-

the amount of layers and parallels that the writers have given to them in three seasons is just insane

below is a list of all the parallels i'm trying to fit in

"the last thing on earth i want to do is move to the desert to write some lame jokes for an old hack." "i was right the day i met you, you are a fucking hack." "a hack is someone who does the same thing, over and over. deborah is the opposite. she keeps evolving and getting better."

"you have to scratch and claw and it never gets better. it just gets harder." this parallel between 01x02 and 03x01 is insane!!!

the salt and pepper shakers

"you can make it funny. you can make anything funny."

they speak their own little private language and make each other better

"you're just like me." deborah has said this twice on different occasions to ava

ava finds the package from kathy in the bin at deborah's place and gifts it to deborah at her show taping, with kathy THEN seeing the same poster at deborah's house for christmas and couldn't believe she saw it, with ava repyling with "she did, it made her really happy." when in fact, ava! gave! that! to! her!)

"don't leave me. [you got it.]" "don't-don't leave me. [okay, i won't.]"

deborah lets ava go so she can seek better job opportunities to advance her career

ava wants to be wherever deborah is, her wants and needs are ava's needs

deborah pushes ava away because she's afraid, and will do whatever it takes to make the show bulletproof, even if she thinks losing the people she loves is worth the sacrifice (and ultimately doesn't realise that would lead to her downfall in s4)

the subject of loneliness - deborah lost frank and kathy as a result, kathy leaves deborah because she can't stand the idea of deborah choosing her career over her personal life

"i know you. you're already making decisions out of fear and you'll keep doing it!" yet ava still stays with her in the end by deborah's own making... being a shark

[chronurgy]

I'd been thinking Sceleritas Fel sounded like it was from Latin and boy was I right. Sceleritas apparently variously translates as "crime" or "wickedness/criminality" while Fel is related to the gall bladder and often translates as "gall" or "bile". His name is literally Nasty Crime Boy

[justcallme-ange]

Hi I have a question on ur rival childhood friend au, how did dream went to neather and how exdee will react when he found out? (react that his son went missing?) Wanna know the story.

Oooh this is a great question! Okay this is going to be a little long so we'll go chronological. So Exdee finding out his son has gone missing, and Dream landing in the Nether. Well he wasn't happy that's for sure. As far as he knows, one moment Dream was there, and then the next:

As to why he's gone missing... I've been going back and forth with it being either enemies of the End, or another god jealous that Exdee created non-mob life, and wanted to take it for themselves. (Could be both idk at the moment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) Dream would have been something incredibly powerful if he'd stayed as a "demi-god" but now that he's a player - godhood is firmly out of his hands. Something about him being part of all three(?) gods' domains now. Closest thing he could get to that was to become an Admin (which is something similar to being a Warlock - where you have a patron god granting you the power to change your chosen world). Back to Exdee- He raged for days, tearing the End apart looking for his boy; side note - the End used to be a huge continent, which uh... when I say he tore it apart - there's a reason why the End is now a collection of islands. After tearing through his realm he tried to tear through the other ones, which was firmly stopped by both the Nether God (?) and the Overworld God (Lady Death), who at this point have no idea what's set him off. All they could get out of him was: "My Dream, My Dream is gone."

Lady Death does get the story out of him after a while, where he begs her to check that Dream hasn't become a part of her domain. Which she confirms he hasn't. But neither has any idea where he could have ended up, since usually falling into the void sent you to the Overworld. So Dream is MIA for a while before he's suddenly pops into existence in the Nether. The Nether God does tell Exdee eventually (after Exdee gets word from an Enderman) but due to it not being Exdee's Domain, he just kinda has to sit and watch his kid get into trouble without being able to help. He's not okay for a long time.

[novella-november]

Oh, and for those not participating in Ominous October (see my pinned post for details), does anyone have any suggestions for ways people can begin planning/outlining their Novella November projects?

Does anyone have some Outline templates they would like to share ?

I always just.... winged it in the past lol, but I *am* doing some more in-depth planning this time.

An outline at its most basic should at least consist of :

Who are the characters?

Where and when is it set?

What is the Big Problem/Plot of the story?

Some additional details you can fill in from there:

Who is your main character? What kind of personality, abilities, and flaws do they have? What do they look like? Sound like?

If there are two or more main characters, how are they connected to the Plot?

If there are two or more main character POVs, do the additional perspectives bring something new and interesting to the story?

What are your characters motivations? Do these motivations change over time?

What kind of Conflicts do your character(s) face?

What kind of setting is your story set in, and how does that influence your characters and the story?

If you have thought of one, what do you *want* the main Theme of your story to be?

How do you plan on including this theme in your work?

What will start your Character(s) on their journey in the plot?

How will they have changed by the time you reach the middle of the book?

What is the climax of the work going to be?

How are the events of the book resolved?

Are all of the strings tied up for a standalone, or are there still pieces left unraveled, for a sequel to explore, or simply for an open-ending, intended to invite speculation from the audience?

[canisalbus]

I do historical rapier fencing, and it is quite tough on the arms and legs! The classic rapier is around a kilo in weight, and maintaining precision while holding it out in front of you and thrusting is surprisingly taxing on the muscles. The concept of rapier being a light weapon is somewhat misleading - it only weights a little bit less (a few hundred grams at most) than an European longsword, and in my experience handling the rapier is actually tougher. In my first class I felt like my limbs were about to fall off because I had absolutely no stamina haha. :D

I've been trying to do some research on rapiers and fencing, mainly because Vasco (as a well trained nobleman of his time) is actually supposed to be a reasonably skilled swordsman and rapiers are the period accurate choice. They look very airy and light but it's still a significant piece of metal, and to my understanding the blade is comparatively long as well, for that maximum reach I suppose? It's always a little intimidating when I give a character a skill or a trait that is outside my area of expertise, because eventually someone who actually knows a lot about the subject will show up and I get scared of embarrassing myself with my limited understanding ´v`'

Modern Machete has the benefit of proper healthcare and better stress management so he's nowhere near as actively feeble as his chronically fatiqued 16th century counterpart. He's still twiggy and unsporty but if he really truly wanted to do fencing, I think it would be possible for him to gain the necessary physical endurance and fitness through persistent training.

[slavhew]

dreaming of friends

[pose reference: Reunion by Salman Toor (2018)]

[xiakeponz]

for modern AU fics - what chinese media did diaspora consume?

making this post because some of us in the diaspora server were having a chat about what Chinese media "Diaspora Chinese" watched in the 90's - 2000's (and even sooner than that) while not having access to satellite chinese media or streaming services - this is in the context of writing modern AU fics based off Chinese media/novels (so your main character's grandpa or uncle is not, in fact, watching an episode of Friends or Shortland Street or something as flavour text because sorry what the hell-)

We generally watched a lot of stuff on VCDs, including bootlegged and non-bootlegged movies, shows, anime/donghua. My household had a whole VCD album of this, and a lot of VCDs (even if they were pirated editions) would have a fancy hardcover box with a magnetic clasp and some artwork representing the show on it.

All of this is Mandarin - so not TVB stuff, because I'm from Northern China and I don't know any cantonese - but Canto friends, please feel free to add to the list! This is mostly stuff my parents liked to watch, or I liked to watch with them, with the exception of a few which I mainly watched with friends/cousins when I was maybe (in most cases) eleven/twelve years old onwards. This is a pretty personal list, meant to give people general idea of a possible "ballpark" of sorts, and by no means exhaustive.

Now, for the list of shows which I can confirm I had or someone I know had on VCD or some kind of offline media format lol (I'll try add release year stamps and links to the EN wikipedia where possible):

Period dramas (mostly Qing Dynasty stuff):

Huan Zhu Gege 还珠格格 (1998, April-) This is a classic, so many memes come from this show; hugely popular series, basically cemented Zhang Tie Lin's face as the face of the Qing Emperor for about a decade. Tie Chi Tong Ya Ji Xiao Lan 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚 (2002-2010) - I loved this show as a kid and watched all four seasons on repeat with family... The "trio" in this show are well known and loved.

Amazing Detective Di Ren Jie / 神探狄仁杰 (2004) A very popular and addictive show. Ok now the Big Four:

Romance of 3 kingdoms 1994 / 三国演义 (1994) - a classic that has had many remakes, my older cousin would play this on repeat...

Hong Lou Meng/红楼梦 （1987） - another classic with many remakes, but I think the most recognised by the public one is the 1987 one.

Journey to the West / 西游记 live action (1986) - I think the 1986 version of the live action is the most recognised one. *Shui Hu Zhuan / 水浒传 (1998) - I am not too familliar with the live action of this one in my household tbh bc my mum doesn't like it lol (she keeps saying it's too depressing) but I'm sure it's up there with the rest of the big four, if anyone has an opinion on this one please let me know!

Modern setting shows:

My dad loved all the Sun Honglei (孙红雷 - actor name) stuff, iirc it was a lot of MinGuo period espionage stuff, your shanghai 1920's sxc aesthetic. This actor has been around since 1999? Qian Fu （潜伏）was very famous, and Ren Jian Zheng Dao Shi Cang Sang （人间正道是沧桑）。 These were around '08 and '09.

Chuang Guan Dong - 闯关东 (2008) (Baidu link, sorry - couldn't get an EN wikipedia one). This show was huge when it was airing, everyone was watching it. I was pretty young but even I watched it and got invested ... and I thought it was such an "old person" show at the time lmao. Xiao Bing Zhang Ga / 小兵张嘎 （2004） (sorry, again Baidu link) - yo, anti-japanese war movies set between 1937-1945 were crazy popular - this is one of them and was very popular):

Donghua/Anime (all the stuff kid me watched and some which I didn't but were popular):

喜羊羊与灰太狼 (2005-) Calabash Brothers / 葫芦兄弟 （1986-1987） Black Cat Detective / Hei Mao Jing Zhang 黑猫警长 （1984-2010） Lan Mao Tao Qi 3000 Wen 蓝蓝猫淘气3000问 AKA 蓝猫 (blue cat) (October 1999 - Present) Legend of Ne Zha 哪吒传奇 (2003) Journey to the West/Xi You Ji 西游记 This was truly the Donghua I grew up on from when I was a bb, the OP song and ED song are classic bangers all kids know. Slam Dunk/ 灌篮高手 - People truly watched a lot of anime that may or may not have been terribly dubbed into mando (possibly canto too). Late 80s and 90s kids were all over this, and Dragon Ball, Crayon Shinchan (labixiaoxin).

Taiwanese Dramas:

This is mid-late 2000's, I would be remiss to not talk about the Taiwanese dramas of this era. Mike He, Rainie Yang, Wu Zun (amongst many, many others) were huge. Stuff like Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao, it started with a kiss, Hua Yang Shao Nv (Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi) were all pretty popular. Not sure if these shows all hold up in 2023, but boy were they popular at the time.

Note about CNY:

For CNY, people would try to tune into 春节联欢晚会 (the CCTV official CNY show) at that One Friend Who Had China Satellite TV's house. Zhao Ben Shan / 赵本山 was a comedy staple, and the show would often feature people from the music industry to perform. Eventually these people became more and more relevant to my gen and Jay Chou etc started appearing.

Last but not least Xian Jiaaaan 仙剑:

In 2005 I was all over 仙剑��侠传 (Chinese Paladin), based off the video game. This show was crazy popular and probably sent me and a whole lot of other kids into Xianxia / Wuxia hell (and Hu Ge hell, and later I came back to love Liu Yifei). Thank you. The OST is a true banger.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Tbh I don't see the point of Luka learning mirakungfu while Adrien and Marinette don't, even more so if the reason why Suhan teach that to him is because he knew LB and CN identity. Then shouldn't those two learn it also since they basically holding the miraculous that the villain want most? But then again it feels like "adult is useless except for some" seems to be one of the rule in this show.

I kind of despise the concept of mirakungfu because it makes no sense and because it feels disrespectful. I am by no means an expert on Chinese culture, so I don't know if it's actually offensive, but when all the writers are white, the name for the made up martial art is a parody of a real martial art, the box of magic items has nothing to do with the culture it's supposedly from, and the main character is completely removed from her heritage, it's just not a good look, especially since the monks are Tibetan and everything about the miraculous themselves is pretty explicitly Chinese. It just gives me uncomfortable vibes of Asian cultures being treated as both window dressing and an interchangeable monolith, but I don't have the expertise to really discuss that issue beyond "this feels like a bad idea and you probably want to talk to an expert on these topics to make sure you're not doing something offensive."

On the other hand, I love the concept of Guardian Luka! I have actually always wished that he had been given the miracle box instead of Marinette simply because I don't think that Marinette's personality is well suited to the role of Guardian and because I wanted her to have an actual team. Meanwhile, Luka freaking shines when they have him in a mentor role (Wishmaker & Migration) and I am of the firm belief that the Guardian should be a mentor to the other holders. It's why I said Marinette isn't suited to the role. As written, she just kind of hands out miraculous and orders people about. That's perfectly fine for a team leader! It's not so great for what I expect when I hear "guardian who chooses the holders of the ancient and powerful artifacts."

But that's not what they did with Luka. He isn't the holder of the miracle box. He just knows how to fight off miraculous wielders because reasons, so I have no idea what they're trying to do with him. Especially since his existence is straight up breaking their lore. In this case, it's the lore established back in Furious Fu, Su-Han's intro:

Su-Han: Let me remind you about some of the Perfect Precepts that you have broken. (flips pages) Precept 14: Kwamis must not live outside the box. (flips pages) Precept 52: Guardians must never lose a Miraculous. (flips pages) Precept 133: A guardian cannot, under any circumstances, wear a Miraculous. (closes the book)

Su-Han accepting Marinette as Guardian because what's done is done makes sense because of the memory BS (why is there no other way to hand off the box?), but that whole "Guardians don't wear Miraculous" rule is there for a reason! I think it may go a step too far, but the general principle does make a lot of sense. The Guardians should be in more of a support role simply from a security standpoint.

It's another reason I'm iffy on Marinette being the Guardian. The Guardian knows everyone's identities and - in the context of canon - has a direct line to the miracle box that any rando can access by capturing them. This makes it a really bad idea to have them fighting on the front lines as they know too much and are something of a security risk. Meanwhile the snake feels like a perfect miraculous for the Guardian to wield since the snake is meant to watch the battle from the sidelines.

It's all very confusing to me because I'm getting a thing I wanted, but in the most confusing and least interesting way. Instead of this feeling like a big plot point, it just feels like something they did because it's cool. I fear this is going to be like Luka learning the secret identities: a thing that should lead to something big plot-wise, but that ends up mostly ignored because it would complicate things too much. If anything, I expect this to mean that he's left out of big moments because the writers very clearly don't know how to write him now. Like he should have been involved in the Risk/Strikeback fight! His powers made more sense than anyone else's! But he couldn't be because then the Felix thing couldn't happen.

I do very much agree that Luka leaning mirakungfu is a big WTF because, if holders are randomly allowed to learn it now, then Marinette should be learning it too! She's actively fighting against a rouge holder, she knows all of the other holders' identities, and she is the guardian! Why is Su-Han mentoring Luka and not the actual guardian? It's all very annoying and I do not like it. It would honestly make more sense if Jagged and Penny were trained, but Luka was not, because Jagged and Penny are not holders, but they are acting as Luka's bodyguards of a sort. Instead, the writers have once again shat all over their lore in the name of doing something cool for a season finale and I would bet you that they're now going to have no idea how to handle the consequences of that in the coming season because they keep doing that. See: season three ending with a mass reveal and the writers subsequently ignoring the identity rules.

[teshadraws]

hi! quick seekers of soul question: what would happen if mew tried to make a human soul(s?) of someone who's plural (as in many minds in one body) into a pokémon? do you think they'd all become spiritomb or something?

It's a possibility, but I wouldn't say it's a sure thing.

Souls decide their species based on which one feels the most comfortable/fitting, so it would really depend on the specific system! I imagine some would like a multi-consciousness Pokemon like dodrio, while others would prefer to stick together in a single body, which could happen to be a spiritomb.

They wouldn't be destined to become a multi-conscious species, though--they managed just fine in one body in the human world, after all!

[tsams-and-co-memes]

Hiiii

Uh

What are some things EaPS Moon tend to say a lot? I can't think of any-

I've seen that you compile character canon info so I'm just hazardin a guess you watch a lot of the stuff. I'm making yet another rp blog, and I don't know where else to ask this without spoiling the surprise

If you can't think of any either, I can just go watch through stuff- just wanted to try n ask somewhere first

Uhhhh right offhand, I know he talks about wanting to make games a lot. He's repeatedly talked about Project Zomboid, and I remember him saying multiple times in one video that he's not a monster. That's all off the top of my head though, and I can't really think of anything else at the moment ^^" hope everything goes well with this rp blog you're making!

[thistaleisabloodyone]

Heya, I couldn't help but notice that you have a lot of Rampage merch. I am a new fan and I would like to buy some of their merch. So I wanted to ask you, where did you buy it? Could you give me some recommendations?

Hope you have a nice day

Love ya!!!🩷🩷🩷

Hello! Welcome to the fandom, I hope you're enjoying your stay 😊

For RMPG merch, I get them through three primary sources (long, rambly additions in indent so you can skip if you want):

CDJapan - albums, DVD/Blu-rays, books; does offer proxy service

This is where I buy my discs, like my CDs and my Blu-rays (... and that one time I accidentally bought the DVD version of Gene's United Journeys tour [/regrets]). I've also gotten a few books and magazines through here - my (first) copy of Riku's photobook, the 16Future book, the Anan magazine, etc. I have used their proxy service (where they act as the intermediary to buy things from Japanese stores for you) once. It wasn't the 'here's a thing I want to buy, can you buy it?' method, but they had a listing for the Exile Tribe Station edition cover of Etoile that you could buy through proxy and I was like "Hi, yes, please, I'll take that." They are letting you search Mercari on the website now, which is interesting. Have not used that aspect of their proxy service.

Exile Tribe Station Global - Tour merch, calendars, books

This is the official international merch store for Exile Tribe - you can buy tour merch here, as well as the yearly calendars and miscellaneous other things. Things tend to be out of stock here, unfortunately, especially the cheap things like the cards, but they do apparently restock occasionally because I just finally got Likiya's coin purse and Takuma's cup set for CyberHelix There is a Japanese store which has better stock, but you have to use a proxy service to use it and I am Lazy:tm:. Also, I want to use their global store so they keep it running - going off of my order numbers, they've had 219 orders through the global store since May 23rd last year and I account for six of those, so. If I can't get what I want through the global store, I go to stop #3.

Neokyo - proxy service, works with a number of websites. I typically use the Mercari listings

There are other proxy services - obviously CDJapan has added a search to their website for doing Mercari proxy purchases - but Neokyo is the one I use and I'm at 95 out of 99 purchases successful. (I've had 3 cancelled by seller, 1 cancelled because the seller never took the payment) They are a little expensive, there is a service fee on every purchase, but I find it worth it because I don't have to deal with buying things through a language barrier 😂 This is where I got most of my acrylic stands, basically all of my photo cards, my Ravers jersey, etc. Any disc I can't buy off of CDJapan - like Shokichi's first album, the High&Low soundtrack, etc. - I buy from here. This is how I got my first press copies of the first two albums. I also have the playing card deck in a shipment on its way, which I'm very happy about.

Quick notes - keep an eye on what cannot be shipped internationally. CDJapan's list is here, Neokyo's list is here. Whatever proxy service you use, if you choose to use a different one, should have a copy of it. Apparently the photo acrylic key chains from the new CyberHelix merch are magnetic, so you cannot buy it, it cannot be shipped internationally (at least according to CDJapan and Neokyo). Keep an eye out and don't accidentally buy a listing with it in it.

[therentyoupay]

just want to quickly tell you that i really admire your dedication in completing your 'at the center' fiction, which is WOW, absolutely commendable!! ( and expanding other drabbles as well??? i'm blown away ).

although we've only been following each other recently, i hope to be like you someday and have the motivation to keep posting updates for my fics no matter how long it takes 🥹 okay that's all and have a very nice day!!

thank you!! 😭😭😭😭🙏🙏💖💖💖💖 so much!!! for your sweet comments and for the encouragement and for dropping by to leave a message 😭😭💖💖💖💖💖🙏🙏🙏🙏 I HOPE YOU, TOO, HAVE A VERY NICE DAY ✨

and i'd like to also take a moment to say a few words about (✨forging, fostering✨) the motivation to keep posting updates for fics (no matter how long it takes!!!!), but first, i'd also like to very briefly share with you two of my all-time favorite fanfiction WIPs (one is ongoing 20+ years, and the other is 10+) to help contextualize my response:

#1. ————

More Than Human (Words: 332,245 | Complete: No) by sbj "Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Camus {High School AU!RrB/PpG}

FIRST PUBLISHED: January 31, 2009

LAST UPDATED: June 18, 2019

As of January 7, 2024, the chapter updates span 10 years, 4 months, and 21 days

#2. ————

Re-Entry (Words: 568,178 | Works: 22 | Complete: Yes) and Re-Entry: Journey of the Whills (Words: 923,940 | Works: 59 | Complete: No) Obi-Wan Kenobi, while still a young Padawan, suffers an injury and wakes up with all of the memories, experience, training, and Force-strength of Old Ben Kenobi. {Time Travel AU!Star Wars Re-Write} by flamethrower

FIRST PUBLISHED: October 1, 2002

LAST UPDATED: December 30, 2022

As of January 7, 2024, the chapter updates span 20 years, 3 months, and 6 days

————

these WIPs are only two examples! tons of my favorite stories have spanned multiple years of progress!

mine! ————

at the center (Words: 395,094 | Complete: No) by @therentyoupay Legends and fairy tales, magic and myths, and—at the center of it all—a story of a young, future-Queen and her young, ageless-Guardian; a girl cursed with fear and a god frozen in time, and all of the reasons why seeing isn't always at the heart of believing. {Guardian AU!Jelsa}

FIRST PUBLISHED: January 17, 2014

LAST UPDATED: January 2, 2024

As of January 7, 2024, the chapter updates span 9 years, 11 months, and 22 days (happy almost 10th anniversary!! ✨)

thoughts & feelings! ————

everyone writes at their own pace, in their own time, with the best resources they have, according to whatever life stage(s) they are at 💕

~most readers generally express gratitude and understanding and patience! fandom culture (across fandoms) shifts and changes all the time, so while there are times in fandom (generally) in which the ✨entitled expectation✨ is for fic authors to "WRITE FAST, PUBLISH OFTEN," there are also times in which readers go out of their way to share beautifully encouraging messages like "even if you never update again, i am so grateful for what you have given us (so far)!" and "i will wait for this story to update for the rest of my life, and i will be happy with an update no matter how long it takes" and, often—both messages at the same time. 💖

a good skill to develop is the mental strength to withstand the not-so-nice messages while absorbing the positivity of the lovely ones! i don't post or respond to the really nasty anons i sometimes receive 👀 like the ones that accuse me of having "abandoned nearly all [my] fics"—i personally delete them immediately! anons like that do not deserve someone else's ✨energy✨. (for the first time—i think, ever?—i did post someone's confusing? rude? anon the other day [i.e., i am a hoarder who creates suffering by withholding fic updates?? i think??], but i attribute that choice to publicly post [my reaction gif to that anon] to my current Life Stage™ and my hard-earned self-confidence in the knowledge that I Can Do Hard Things. ✨ my development of that muscle has come from finishing other long-progress fanfics, and, to be honest, Real Life Milestones like going to grad school [twice] and Doing a Dissertation ✨). all in all, the motivation to keep updating is really, at its core, about having the will and the time and the mental energy and the passion to dedicate time to something that you really want to do, even through all the obstacles and nonsense, which takes mental (and emotional) strength! 💖 develop and fortify your mental fortitude! 💖💖💖💖 it's a lifelong process! ✨

and lastly, and most importantly, in my opinion... regardless of whether or not you think any potential readers might be out there (chances are there WILL BE, but that's not the point!!!), just keep writing... and write what you want, and write for yourself! whether you update in two days, or ten years, or twenty-two—do it, anyway!! 💖💖💖💖💖

LOVE YOU, THANK YOU, GOOD LUCK 💖✨ (and keep me posted lol)

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

How does vetting a fund work? I ask because I'm not exactly one of the smart people and I'm poor, so best I can do is sometimes signal boost things and hope eyes get on it.

i don't verify fundraisers myself, so my perspective is limited, but to my understanding, there are two paths the vetting process can follow:

indirect vetting may include reverse-searching text and images, checking connected social media accounts, looking online for records of the beneficiary, and checking their account or fundraiser for the hallmarks of a scam. indirect vetting does not include making personal contact with the beneficiary or facilitator.

direct vetting involves reaching out to a beneficiary or facilitator and discussing their situation personally. the person vetting may ask to view official identification or documents, or they may simply interact with the person.

i hope this helps answer your question, anon! whether or not you're able to donate, your support and diligence are incredibly valuable 💛

[chutkiandchotte]

Who Owns Sheesh Mahal; and Why?

This post is inspired by this post by @jalebi-weds-bluetooth in which she discusses with great clarity and insight the question of what exactly happened in Arnav's past, his trauma due to it, and how he finally overcomes it on his second marriage day. Do go and read it if you haven't already! It's an extremely well-detailed answer. It inspired some thoughts in me about the inheritance laws, the legal implications of Chachaji's actions, and Arnav/Anjali's motivations in that period.

One larger question I find interesting is why Chacha-ji could usurp all the property over Anjali, the eldest child and Arnav, the direct male heir. Why didn't anybody fight it? Anjali? Mamaji? Dadiji? Arnav himself? Here's some context:

1. What is the actual Indian inheritance law and how did it apply to Sheesh Mahal/Arvind's wealth? Indian law does not allow ANY child in a Hindu family to be disinherited completely in favor of another heir from ancestral property. Which is to say, if a person has accumulated wealth of his own during his lifetime (such as Arnav, for example), he may will it away as he wishes. However, any ancestral property - defined as any unified property or wealth passed down over 4 or more generations - MUST be distributed equally amongst all children. Once it's divided, that property no longer counts as "ancestral" for the next generation. So, for example if the owner of an ancestral palace dies, ownership must be legally shared between his every child or it must be sold off so that every child can get a share of the profits. But those inherited profits would not be considered "ancestral" property and the next generation could dispose of it how they wish. Arnav's dad and his grandfather might have accumulated personal wealth through various means in their own lives but at the very least, Sheesh Mahal was an ancestral property which, after 1956 (when this law was instituted), would have to be equally shared between all children upon the passing of the owner (ie Arnav's grandfather). Exceptions:

If any/all legal claimants voluntarily signed away their rights.

Daughters: they are entitled to claim an equal share of their father's property under this law, even IF it's not strictly 4 generation ancestral - they can argue 2/3 generation inherited property to be ancestral property - this is a bit of legal grey area.

2. So, what was Chachaji's actual claim to the ancestral property and why didn't he fight his brother for it sooner? Now this all depends on things we have no idea about - years in which various people died, legal agreements, and so on. If Arnav's grandfather passed away before 1956, the ancestral property would have smoothly passed on in its entirety to a very young Arvind, no problem, and Chachaji would get nothing and could claim nothing during his brother's lifetime (cue the Shakespearean jealousy and resentment motivation). But that's not likely considering ages and timelines - most probably, Arnav's grandfather passed away after 1956. Then legally, Chacha-ji could have fought for his share of Sheesh Mahal upon the death of his father. However, the family could have settled on Chacha-ji an equivalent monetary amount (from their personal coffers) in lieu of his share of Sheesh Mahal, to prevent the palace having to be sold or shared. I could guess that some amount of emotional blackmail, coercion, bribery might have been exerted by elders of the family on Chacha-ji to not claim those rights and agree to take the money instead of it - but unfortunately, I don't think they made him sign a legally enforceable declaration stating this. Another possibility is that in the 60s, 70s or whenever Arnav's grandfather passed away, the Sheesh Mahal property maybe wasn't worth all that much as an old building in need of much repair and the monetary value he received would have seemed like a much better deal to Chachaji that he happily grabbed. Properties like that in tier-B cities of India greatly increased in value between the 1950s and mid-1990s - as towns became cities and cities became prosperous and commercial, what once was a crumbling, high maintenance, old fashioned mansion on the outskirts of a small city becomes a high value piece of real estate in the middle of a prime commercial area with certified heritage value to boot.

No matter what, I simply cannot imagine a greedy character like Chachaji not finding ways to use the 1956 Hindu inheritance law to his benefit if and when he most profitably could. It's highly possible that in the wake of Arvind's death he defended his claim to the property by arguing that he was unlawfully cut off from his due share during the time of his father's death and he was legally owed at least half the property. And the remainder also got in his control as the self-proclaimed "financial guardian" of his underage nephew which he could easily prove himself as. This is a likely scenario especially if Arvind/his father didn't bother to make Chachaji sign any official documents waiving off his rights and merely trusted to their family ties and good faith that he wouldn't try to push Arnav out in the future. Here are another few lessons from his family history that Arnav took to heart - trust no one, money talks loudest, and always secure your deals, entries and exits with tight legal contracts.

3. Let's go back a bit. Why is Chachaji middle class and covetous? If Chachaji didn't get his property pay-off at all (ie if his father died before 1956) it makes sense. But if he did get his pay off, why would he still be middle class/poorer than wealthy Raizadas in the flashback? I assume because unlike his brother/father, he may have got a substantial fund to start with but lacked the talent or drive to increase or even maintain it. He also likely lived in an extremely lavish way. He probably whittled a lot away in gambling, women, stupid business ventures, bad investments. So there he was at the time of Anjali's wedding, having spent much of the money he got in lieu of his ancestral shares, also having got used to his lavish lifestyle that probably burned that money up, and loathe to let go of it. Sidenote: I can imagine that maybe a short time before Anjali's wedding he came begging to his brother/mother for more money, or made a scene about his "rightful" share as per law but could get nothing and with Anjali's wedding and dowry costs coming up, not to mention Arnav's expensive education and personal rights on the inheritance, they insisted they did not have any money to spare for him. This probably created a huge amount of resentment in him and fuelled his spiteful and excessively cruel actions in throwing out Anjali and Arnav at that critical moment in their lives.

4. So we see how he swiped the property from Arnav. Then the next question is what about Anjali's legal claim and why did she never exercise it? For all his sociopathic greediness, Chachaji can't change the laws. One thing we CAN be sure of is that the 1956 ancestral property law definitely applied to Anjali as well as Arnav, in fact, twofold: as per that law as a daughter she had a legal right to fight for not only ancestral property but also as an adult she had the right to fight for an immediate share in all of her father's property and wealth. However, and here's the kicker, she most likely could not do so because her father himself probably made her sign away all her rights to her inheritance at the time of her marriage. And THIS one, I am sure, would have been legally enforceable. This is a common practice in wealthy families. See, these laws are made to breakdown patriarchal norms but as long as the patriarchy exists, sexism finds a way. It's a widespread practice to ask your daughter to sign away all of her rights to the family property just before her marriage, to avoid her or her in-laws laying claims to it at a future date. Considering Anjali's youth at the time of her first marriage, she probably didn't even know what she was signing; or belonging as she did to a loving and conservative family, she trusted her elders to make the right decision and signed it happily knowing what it was, thinking she was merely ensuring her Chotte got his due. It's also very likely that Arvind did not leave a will naming Arnav as his heir. A legal will is extremely hard to contest or sideline, even if the beneficiary is a minor. But in the absence of a will, wealth inheritance becomes a legal nightmare that often is solved by he who gets there first and he who can afford the most expensive lawyers. Who could have imagined the nightmarish events of Anjali's first wedding that would have made a legal will extremely important? But once that happened, Chacha-ji probably didn't waste any time. He used Arvind's lack of a will, Arnav's young age, Anjali's legally enforceable disavowal of her legal rights, and his own status as the only adult heir with legal rights to first, get control of all of Arvind's wealth and properties, and subsequently use expensive lawyers to get them legally all in his name. Yet another one of his father's mistakes that Arnav vowed not to repeat: as situations changed, remember how quick he was to make a new and clever will that cuts out untrustworthy relatives like Shyam (and Khushi in that period I guess 😭😭😭) and protects his loved ones like Anjali? It's that lesson that most likely saved his life from Shyam's murderous intentions in the kidnapping period!

5. Why didn't Mami, Nani, fight this inheritance situation? Chachaji may have neatly usurped everything but I still think there is enough ambiguity in the situation here that if taken to court by efficient lawyers, Chacha-ji could have been defeated. However, it would have been an extremely stressful, years long affair (these things can last decades), and extremely time and money intensive. I think Nani/Manohar would have been willing to fight for Arnav's rights, but Dadi would NEED to be involved and make regular court appearances, sign several documents, give testimony as part of their efforts. But she disappeared off to her ashram. Maybe she didn't want to fight her own son in court; maybe she resented Nani/Mama as being Ratna's family and responsible for this whole affair; maybe she just didn't have the selflessness or courage to fight a weary legal battle for her grandchildren. I can imagine her regularly skipping court appearances or refusing to sign documents that painted her or her husband and son in a bad/negligent light. Her total lack of interest and cooperation on this matter probably scuppered their chances or petered out the case before it even started. I can also imagine a young Arnav himself asking his Nani/Mama to give this up - we know he has a HUGE ego (he would hate others fight his battle for him) and a relentless burden of responsibility for his loved ones and a strong sense of duty in terms of what he owes people (he'd feel guilty at how stressed they are getting and how much money they are spending, money they probably couldn't afford, all for him...he'd already be feeling like a burden and hating it and this would exacerbate his feelings of humiliation). And then of course that would birth in him the intense and burning desire to ONE DAY get his ancestral rights back on his own merits and efforts, and complete his revenge on his Chachaji. And he did, and pretty spectacularly at that, as we saw in the events of the first episode.

6. Why didn't Arnav just legally fight his Chachaji to get the property back instead of the expensive buyout we saw in episode 1? He definitely could have, and probably would have saved some money in the process. Young Arnav probably did aim for a legal battle as the means to get his properties back, working towards, among other things, being rich enough to afford the kind of lawyers who can win this case. But probably just as he got that level of rich, his investigations into the current state of affairs would have told him that his Chachaji was on a rapid financial decline anyway; a legal victory would have been long-winded, maddeningly bureaucratic and piece meal, ultimately unsatisfying - and the humiliating "buy-out" plan would have occurred to him as a much more fun not to mention a more direct and vicious way to snatch the properties and complete his revenge. As we saw in the show, it was a well-thought out, long-term plan: keeping tabs on Chachaji's declining financial status, doing what he could to make it worse, then waiting for the perfect moment to strike when Chachaji's helplessness, humiliation, and suffering would be devastating and complete. Arnav would always rather go for one direct and efficient hit via a business deal than pay his lawyers to fight a never ending legal battle in the background of his life. Arnav is not greedy and he does not covet money for its own sake. Neither does he care about "saving" Sheesh Mahal. It was never about the his birth "rights" or an emotional connect to an ancestral property or regaining lost wealth for him. It was always about revenge for the suffering his uncle inflicted on his sister and himself, payback for the humiliation they endured, and closure for that moment of traumatic abandonment.

P.S. -

This is basically like a fanfic, I know, and that's because we have a bit of gap in the details of what happened in the past on the show so I had to fill those out myself. A lot of it is hinted but not confirmed, maybe that was part of their intention in creating an aura of horrific trauma around that past event? I do think after a certain point on the show, they could have explored some of these past events a little more, and particularly we could have got some more development on the Chachaji front. Since we didn't get that, I guess we can enjoy writing speculative posts like this one!

Speaking of fanfics, this OS titled Sheesh Mahal (once again by the super talented @jalebi-weds-bluetooth!) beautifully captures what I too think would have been Arnav's attitude towards this much contested piece of ancestral property after he's actually got it. It's also an amazing slice of happily married Arshi life, extremely cute and awww-worthy.

[queerholmcs]

funny (?) questions about mycroft in sherlock bbc: did he always wear a ring on his left hand or did he just forget to take it off for a scene and were meant to ignore that (i vividly remember seeing his hand in either s3 finale or s4e1 and that damn gold band... where tf did it come from?!) next time i rewatch the show ill have to pay attention but perhaps youve got some insight on this very specific detail heheh

oh no he does wear a gold ring on his ring finger of his right hand! in every episode, from the very beginning. if it were a signet ring it would be easier to guess at the intended purpose. but as it is, i have no idea. maybe they mentioned it in one of the episode commentaries or something but i must confess i have not watched those yet.

(bit out of focus here but you get the idea)

[naomiknight-17]

Watching a TED-ed video about trilobites and the accompanying animation had some jellyfish going by

But the jellyfish were flexing their tentacles to propel themselves while their bells remained static

THAT'S NOT HOW JELLYFISH WORK

They move by jet propulsion by flexing their bells!! Their tentacles are for hunting and defense not for locomotion!!!

How can I trust ANYTHING TED-ed tries to teach me EVER now!?