#something something platos allegory of the cave

[luxlightly]

A real statement I heard that's honestly terrifying: "Tik tok forced brands to be more honest and real with people because tik tok doesn't accept fakeness and that's why propaganda doesn't work on us"

This was said by an adult who claimed to study marketing trends. Do...do people actually think those "hey guys!!! checking out these new Doritos™! Hashtag yum am I right?" videos by brands are real? I get so angry at those videos because they're so insidious in their attempt to appear like friends or fellow average people and not scripted actors, going so far as to fake things like poor lighting or stumbling words, but I didn't think anyone actually BOUGHT it.

And before anyone is like "lol just don't go on tik tok", this is clearly not an app specific issue. And I'm sure that plenty of people know better than to think that brand videos are real or assume that, because you can't tell the difference between a real person and an actor, it means that you can't be fooled by propaganda. And I recognize that it's certainly not an issue entirely divided on generational lines. But it is a disturbing trend in advertisement that has consequences, especially for those who grew up with it. Younger people will get freaked out by giving a second of clear audio before speaking in a recording because it sounds "faked" to them. "The millennial pause" indicates pretty clearly "I am filming something and presenting information and making sure that it doesn't get cut off by leaving a second of audio in case something goes wrong and needs to be edited". They don't get it's done intentionally or why and don't like the explanation when they get it. They get freaked out by presentation voices. Or at least find them off-putting. Anything that says "I'm recording this to give information clearly and concisely" reads as disingenuous to people who grew up in a world where advertisers and brands carefully construct a facade of being a "normal, flawed person, just like you! You can totally trust me! Treat me like a person instead of a brand that wants your money!" Intentional imperfection and careful replication of candid endorsements skeeve me out. People like me, who didn't grow up with it, feel weirded out by them. It's a lie and we don't like it. It feels MORE fake because of how clearly it's trying to appear real. But if you've grown up with nothing else, I guess anything that intentionally tells the viewer that the subject is presenting information formally reads as "they have an agenda". Anyone recording has an agenda. Even if that agenda is just "tell people about my new dog". When you stop believing that, you don't get more immune to propaganda, you stop being able to recognize it at all.

[rebornrosess]

glass animals lyrics are only meant to be understood by stoned people or gay people. if you’re both then you get to start hearing shapes and seeing the hat man.

[teamfortresstwo]

Hm . Alastor controls radio and the dark . Vox controls TV and the light . There’s a metaphor there .

[donghuamuqing]

Mike wheeler and his epic allegory swag

[cloudbends]

Finished the first dds yesterday btw. Banger fucking game and now onto the sequel

[nocturnowlette]

After a long time exploring hypnosis and wondering about its mechanics and functions and digging into everything I could, I have come to somewhat of a complete answer to the question of...

"What is hypnosis?"

I went through a lot of different answers over time, specifically attempting to peel back layers of arbitrariness to how we define hypnosis, and through learning how it works and talking with many other hypnotists and subjects about their views, the conclusion I've come to is simple: Hypnosis is not a state or a unique nonstate interaction. Hypnosis, and specifically hypnosis, does not actually exist.

The things that construct hypnosis do exist. In my opinion, those things are: focus, suggestibility, dissociation, and compartmentalization.

Focus in this analysis is defined as the threshold that defines what of the information we take in at all times is given attention. It is a filter limited in size that optimizes what our minds need to be aware of. It is specifically and deeply important to note that focus is limited.

Our entire sense of reality is always constructed out of a limited amount of stimuli, and so, small things, depending on how intense of focus is, can construct a significant portion of what our mind is taking in. To borrow the example of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, the people who from birth have only been able to witness silhouettes casting on to cave walls, that amount of stimuli is what composes their entire construct of what reality is. If, one day, the lights went out, it would be tantamount to an apocalypse.

In the act we call Hypnosis, the hypnotist attempts to consume as much of one's focus as possible as to project their ideas as largely as possible in the minds of their subjects.

Suggestibility in this analysis is defined as the simple and almost boring to describe function of the mind responding to new stimuli. If you respond to any new amount of information to enter your mind from reading a new word to feeling temperature to having your heart broken after a breakup. It might seem redundant to cast such a wide net for suggestibility, but if you remove all arbitrary restrictions, this is truly what suggestibility is.

Our minds have no connection to some absolute truth. To our minds, all information taken in is, at first, equally real to us. We need to create the understanding that some stimuli is fake and some is real, and that step comes after the initial absorption of information. Even the concept of fake and real need to be learned.

Our minds react strongly to purely hypothetical information all of the time. Anxiety, depression, worrying about future tests or the next job evaluation. If our mind believes with all of its heart that a bear is standing right behind us, our body will jump into fight or flight. The "actual reality" of the situation is irrelevant to the brain because it's not something the brain could ever connect with. Our minds, by design, extrapolate on limited information. We are designed to be suggested. Hypnotists simply exploit this necessary aspect of the mind.

Dissociation in this analysis is defined as any function of the mind that separates its awareness or means of processing information from its current, immediate environment. The actual traditional definition of dissociation obviously applies, but so does "meditation" and "immersion" and "highway hypnosis" and "flow states". The mind is always somewhat dissociated, just like it is always in a state of uneven focus and always suggestible.

If it separates you from the current, tangible, "real" moment and places you within a state of heightened focus on hypothetical or fake information, it is some function of dissociation.

This can be assisted by cutting off things like eyesight or fixating it on one point so that new information stops being taken in. This is also what leads to easier thinking while doing familiar tasks like chores or showering. The stimuli around you is so familiar that the mind has nothing to process, leading to an increase in internal thinking. Look into the default mode network if you're curious about learning more.

Compartmentalization in this analysis is defined as the process of drawing a conceptual outline around something in order to make it one defined thing. The field of analysis surrounding this is called Ontology, the study of what makes a thing a thing. In our minds, this is the process of building blocks of knowledge.

You can learn specific concepts like "chairs" or "self" or "red" and then build associations between those things, creating cities of knowledge where each thing connects to another in order to inform our perception and processing of everything we ever take in.

Compartmentalization is the thing that makes learning possible, and we exist constantly within perceptive structures that turn the chaotic series of stimuli we're always absorbing into a thing that makes sense. It is also the thing that makes triggers possible, it's what conditioning functions with.

We, as hypnotists, literally teach the concept of the trigger and build its associations so that the memory can then later be referenced.

When these interact, we have a dissociated subject (making them more able to accept hypothetical information and suspend their disbelief) whose focus has been drawn in strongly (thus making the information taken in construct a much larger piece of their reality), in order to suggest ideas to the mind that it partially takes as fact despite the hypothetical nature in order to compartmentalize and condition specific desired responses within the subject.

One could then say that hypnosis is this interaction. However, when considering such a thing, holes begin to form in that idea. The strongest case against it is actually quite simple and quite immutable: these four things already interact with eachother all of the time. In fact, they're designed to, it is the entire point of each function to do so. It would be defining hypnosis as the process of percieving.

You could then say that it is the faulty interaction of these four things. Hypnosis would then still apply to phantom pains and psyching yourself up and going to therapy. Hypothetical and often wrong feelings and ideas self-suggest us an uncountable amount of times per day.

What if, then, it was the intentional exploitation of these four elements? Well beyond the fact that almost nobody who does hypnosis knows about these things and that it can be done without knowing anything about hypnosis, it would again be defined as psyching someone else up or lying to someone or reading a book made by anyone that is not yourself.

This is all to say that nothing about hypnosis is unique at all. Every function and idea that could be applied to hypnosis could be applied to a wider function or idea, and so every attempt to define hypnosis begins creating arbitrary distinctions, ones that just nervously ignore every blurry line.

Once every possibility is whittled down, the only remaining one is that hypnosis is the act of participating in hypnosis.

While hypnosis is not a state, it is compartmentalized as one. It is the concept of a state of mind in which you can be suggested and controlled. It is the concept of a state of a heightened version of each of these four elements, and the compartmentalization of it as a state is the thing that gives hypnosis power.

It is a natural consequence of the mind's awareness of itself and its own manner of perception, a cognitohazard that is self-referential and self-reinforcing, using the real functions that our minds use to imagine a specific and distinct thing that occurs when they combine and the powers that are possible once that concept occurs.

Hypnosis itself is a conditioned concept.

Experienced subjects drop into trance easier not because they've being "conditioned better to hypnosis", it's because new subjects literally do not know or understand what it is. Experienced subjects draw on memory to fall into hypnosis, they are referencing the concept in their mind and emulating what it is that they believe it to be.

The concept of hypnosis is triggered by ideas that make the subject remember hypnosis.

This also means that hypnosis is different for every single person that is made aware of it. They all share similarities, but it makes it that so long as that something is rested in perception, the subject can be manipulated in almost any way so long as they believe with all of their mind that they can be affected that way.

If a subject believes they can lose full control of themselves, it will happen.

This makes it so that first impressions can matter a lot, that trauma and fears and anxieties can entirely change of how conditions and processes hypnosis, and that the concept can be changed and reconditioned over time, meaning nobody is hopeless.

To conclude, hypnosis is an imaginary but inevitable idea that uses each function that is associated with it to create itself and reinforce itself, and its existence as a state or process/interaction and defined concept in the mind that legitimizes it and allows us to detach ourselves from our own control.

It is not a state, but a concept of a state or process, and a concept that can be spread and taught and reinforced collectively through the idea of it existing.

This is, after a very long time of searching, what feels to be a satisfying relatively unified theory of hypnosis for me, and has tied off the majority of loose ends I had for it.

As a last note, don't take "imaginary" as a means to believe that it is weak or fragile. While it in itself does not exist in the way most things do, as spoken about before, "imaginary" can be as real to us as "real". Our minds don't necessarily know the difference.

Even further, this should be deeply freeing to know. Hypnosis can be whatever you want it to be. If it exists in perception, you can work to tweak it. Context always matters though, of course.

I hope you enjoyed reading. I don't know if anyone other than me has concluded this (I mean I'm sure others have), but I hope that something has been gained from your own perspective.

Thank you, and have a nice day.

[thegreatyin]

a lost and aimless person accidentally sees the true visage of a god she didn't know existed and becomes obsessed with recreating herself in its image, unaware that she's not only repeating the follies of said god but quite literally destroying herself in an attempt to experience the same glory all over again. and also she's a furry

it occurs to me that it takes very little recontextualization in order to turn the scoundrel into a lovecraftian horror protagonist

[kaiasky]

🍓 daughter-of-sapph0 Follow

op link the fucking article

⚪ fxckhaus Follow

https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football enjoy reading about football :)

🍓 daughter-of-sapph0 Follow

thanks. what the fuck

[x], desc in alt. If you're reading this, reblogs are back on! Go reblog the original post not my pale imitation. also stop using the for you page. u are in platos allegory of the cave. come out into the light of the following tab with me

[ladyshinga]

"Fallout show got something wrong, the 'Nebraska countryside' on the walls of the first vault doesn't look like Nebraska, we don't have those mountains and pretty colors"

haha yeah. I mean, would Vault-Tec do that? lie about something? fake it? paint an idyllic and peaceful and beautiful image of a romanticized version of America to manipulate peoples' feelings with, no matter how inaccurate?

that'd be such a weird and unusual thing for them to do haha

something something Plato's allegory of the cave something

[dailyadventureprompts]

Homebrew Mechanic: Meaningful Research

Being careful about when you deliver information to your party is one of the most difficult challenges a dungeonmaster may face, a balancing act that we constantly have to tweak as it affects the pacing of our campaigns.

That said, unlike a novel or movie or videogame where the writers can carefully mete out exposition at just the right time, we dungeonmasters have to deal with the fact that at any time (though usually not without prompting) our players are going to want answers about what's ACTUALLY going on, and they're going to take steps to find out.

To that end I'm going to offer up a few solutions to a problem I've seen pop up time and time again, where the heroes have gone to all the trouble to get themselves into a great repository of knowledge and end up rolling what seems like endless knowledge checks to find out what they probably already know. This has been largely inspired by my own experience but may have been influenced by watching what felt like several episodes worth of the critical role gang hitting the books and getting nothing in return.

I've got a whole write up on loredumps, and the best way to dripfeed information to the party, but this post is specifically for the point where a party has gained access to a supposed repository of lore and are then left twiddling their thumbs while the dm decides how much of the metaplot they're going to parcel out.

When the party gets to the library you need to ask yourself: Is the information there to be found?

No, I don't want them to know yet: Welcome them into the library and then save everyone some time by saying that after a few days of searching it’s become obvious the answers they seek aren’t here. Most vitally, you then either need to give them a new lead on where the information might be found, or present the development of another plot thread (new or old) so they can jump on something else without losing momentum.

No, I want them to have to work for it:  your players have suddenly given you a free “insert plothook here” opportunity. Send them in whichever direction you like, so long as they have to overcome great challenge to get there. This is technically just kicking the can down the road, but you can use that time to have important plot/character beats happen.

Yes, but I don’t want to give away the whole picture just yet:  The great thing about libraries is that they’re full of books, which are written by people,  who are famously bad at keeping their facts straight. Today we live in a world of objective or at least peer reviewed information but the facts in any texts your party are going to stumble across are going to be distorted by bias. This gives you the chance to give them the awnsers they want mixed in with a bunch of red herrings and misdirections. ( See the section below for ideas)

Yes, they just need to dig for it:  This is the option to pick if you're willing to give your party information upfront while at the same time making it SEEM like they're overcoming the odds . Consider having an encounter, or using my minigame system to represent their efforts at looking for needles in the lithographic haystack. Failure at this system results in one of the previous two options ( mixed information, or the need to go elsewhere), where as success gets them the info dump they so clearly crave.

The Art of obscuring knowledge AKA Plato’s allegory of the cave, but in reverse

One of the handiest tools in learning to deliver the right information at the right time is a sort of “slow release exposition” where you wrap a fragment lore the party vitally needs to know in a coating of irrelevant information,  which forces them to conjecture on possibilities and draw their own conclusions.  Once they have two or more pieces on the same subject they can begin to compare and contrast, forming an understanding that is merely the shadow of the truth but strong enough to operate off of. 

As someone who majored in history let me share some of my favourite ways I’ve had to dig for information, in the hopes that you’ll be able to use it to function your players.

A highly personal record in the relevant information is interpreted through a personal lens to the point where they can only see the information in question 

Important information cameos in the background of an unrelated historical account

The information can only be inferred from dry as hell accounts or census information. Cross reference with accounts of major historical events to get a better picture, but everything we need to know has been flattened into datapoints useful to the bureaucracy and needs to be re-extrapolated.

The original work was lost, and we only have this work alluding to it. Bonus points if the existent work is notably parodying the original, or is an attempt to discredit it.

Part of a larger chain of correspondence, referring to something the writers both experienced first hand and so had no reason to describe in detail. 

The storage medium (scroll, tablet, arcane data crystal) is damaged in some way, leading to only bits of information being known. 

Original witnesses Didn’t have the words to describe the thing or events in question and so used references from their own environment and culture. Alternatively, they had specific words but those have been bastardized by rough translations. 

Tremendously based towards a historical figure/ideology/religion to the point that all facts in the piece are questionable.  Bonus points if its part of a treatise on an observably untrue fact IE the flatness of earth

[thesirencult]

Have any favourite book recommendations? ✨💘

5 Books Everyone Should Read

This is a collection of 5 books I believe anyone can read and gain something from them. These are all from different genres and I probably need to post a bigger "masterlist" of sorts when I have the time ! @siren-honey thank you for this question ! These books are some I read (or re-read) this past few weeks, so they are not my "all star" rooster but nonetheless they are great books!

The Bank by Marc Roche

This is an older book but its teachings still ring true. My dad bought this book many many years ago and it talks about Goldman Sachs and how the big banks and investment companies "rule the world ". Now I know that doesn't sound very exciting to read baout but it is great for anyone who wants to level up and open their eyes on what is really going on in the world. If you can not find the book and want to learn a bit about it, just send me a private message or an ask and I will post a summary <3

2. Why Men Love Bitches

Everyone and I mean, EVERYONE should read this book. Don't scrunch your nose because of the name! It helps you come in contact with your auntentic self and the wild feminine side of yours. Let your head down tiger ! It's time to show what you're made of.

3. Plato's Republic

A dialogue written by Plato. It doesn't only discuss the matter of "justice" but it also contains the "Allegory Of The Cave". Now, I'm studying history and philosophy so these texts are "easy" (lies!) for me to read and analyze (more lies! lol), but if you don't want to read thw whole dialogue just search it up online and read about the main points. You will still learn something !

4. 48 Laws Of Power

I'm a history buff. I love the way Robert Greene, in all of his books, combines history with psychology. Sadly, his teachings are right. This book will help you distinguish people and learn how to spot the good characters in your life. Anything by Robert Greene is great to read! You won't want to put it down !

5. The Richest Man In Babylon

This book is one of my favourites because it is a no bull$hit guide to wealth. It tecahes the fundamentals and shows that they never changed. As an example, many "wealth coaches" tell you to never buy a house and always rent, but right now we see that it is much cheaper to buy than rent. These cycles repeat themselves all the time and the author suggests you always have a home, big enough to live at comfortably or that you can rent and use as an investment property. The book is also a container of wise teachings on life in general.

BONUS:

6. The Body Keeps The Score

Health is wealth. PERIOD. I love this book cause it shows the link between our brain, mindset and physical body. If you read just one book of all the ones I mentioned let it be this. As a society we have glorified wealth and wordly accomplishments and we have forgotten our temple, our vessel of life, our body!

[aphroditeslover11]

How they’d deal with a student with exam stress:

Jonathon Crane:

This guy literally lectures at a university as a part of his job so he knows exactly what you are going through and what the exams are like. He’s also a psychologist so he understands pretty well what kind of emotions and stresses that you’re going through. When you’re struggling with something he’ll try to help you by finding the answers for yourself to try and build up your confidence. He will hate to ever hear you talking about yourself like you’re hopeless, you get a lecture about how if you can’t do it yet then you will be able to soon. Any tears though and he immediately gets you to give in, he’ll pull some strings with your lecturer at the university and you’ll still pass the course anyway.

Jim:

He would be the sort of guy that would just sit down with you and try to help you to do it, he wouldn’t see the point of sitting down and anxiously procrastinating when you could just get the worries out of the way. He’s put his glasses on and sit down at the desk with you, taking your laptop and reading down the screen. After he’d puzzled it out he’d start with a “Right, so, what I think you need to do is…” You could expect lots of soft fore head kisses along the way to try and keep you motivated. If you were revising for exams rather than writing something for an assignment then he would make a revision timetable, he’s a fan of an excel spreadsheet to keep things on track. He’s the sort to proactively manage stress rather than letting it sit and get worse.

Lenny Miller:

He’s a bit of a liability to have around when you’re studying. He has a bit of an ego so if you ask for help with something he will insist that he knows how to do it even if he doesn’t. Sitting with Lenny Miller at 2 am as he tries to explain Plato’s allegory of the cave from a Wikipedia article, whilst complaining that it really doesn’t make a difference to the world anyway, is a uniquely irritating experience.

Oppie:

He can be pretty short with mere mortals who simply can’t see the world in any greater depth than what is directly in front of them. The likelihood is though that if he spends enough time with someone to help them study then he is going to make the time and have the patience to help you. He’d be a dream to study with, no matter the topic he would be the annoying sod that could pick up anything if he was given the time and resources, being able to reword passages from textbooks in such a way that you understood them straight away. He’d sit there all night with you chainsmoking cigarettes and sipping from a glass of whiskey. Somehow studying with Oppie was actually enjoyable!

[dragonomatopoeia]

okay i will say no matter how much i go back and forth with plato's allegory of the cave i cannot believe plato had the guts to go uggggh the representation of something will always be insufficient in comparison to the reality in both substance and ability to confer knowledge. in his ALLEGORY.

[inawickedlittletown]

You Can Always Find Me Where the Skies are Blue (BuckTommy fic) - 1/4

Summary:

Soulmates are rare. So rare that it's actually incredible that Buck has two soulmate couples in his life. Statistics tell him it's very unlikely for him to meet his soulmate. Of course, then he meets Tommy. Too bad it happens at the worst possible moment.

Canon compliant soulmate AU where Buck is still a mess and Tommy is still very understanding.

Words: 4,378

Ao3

-

Part One

The truth was that Buck never quite got an understanding for how the whole soulmate thing worked. His parents were soulmates which was strange to think about considering his childhood, but then Buck hadn’t known about the older brother he’d been born to save, the one he’d failed to save. 

From what he’d learned in school, soulmates had been more common in the past. They said it was something to do with population growth or something about cultural life experience and technology. 

There was a lot of research on why soulmates had dwindled, but no one had concrete answers. There was some kind of database where soulmates had to register. So while it wasn’t impossible to find a couple that were actually soulmates, more often than not people settled down with someone that wasn’t their soulmate. A lot of them were happy. 

Buck thought that one day, it would seem like some kind of myth. Instead of viewing Aristophanes’ speech in Plato’s symposium as an explanation, it would become legend. It would no longer be an early explanation of soulmates. It would be like Plato’s allegory of the cave, a thing to consider without real life application. 

And so, before Buck had even reached the age of eighteen, he was sure that he would never find his soulmate. He wasn’t resigned to it, he just knew enough about statistics and probability. Most people wouldn’t meet their soulmate. It was just how math worked. 

When he joined the 118, he couldn’t deny that a part of him had been surprised when he learned that Hen was married to her soulmate. He’d asked so many questions that Hen had eventually banned him from continuing to ask. 

It hadn’t stopped Buck from thinking that it was amazing. More surprising was his sister and Chim and how Buck had missed the whole thing even though he was the one to introduce them. That whole thing had made Buck well aware that even among soulmates things could be complicated. 

So, when Buck followed behind Chim and Eddie onto the tarmac of LAFD Harbor station air operations, the worry in his gut growing and growing the more he thought about Bobby and Athena being unreachable and Hen being correct about the need to go out and rescue them, he didn’t expect to meet his soulmate. 

In the books, it never described what it was like. It only said that you would know it if it happened to you. The book was right. 

Buck knew it the moment their eyes met. 

It was the world snapping to focus, narrowing down on that person and saying: “this one is for you”. It was a feeling in his gut. Tommy Kinard missed a step and as for Buck, he froze on the spot. What felt like minutes translated to seconds, but it was enough for them to both know. 

They were soulmates. 

Chim was explaining, expanding on what he’d said to Tommy over the phone as their uber driver drove them to Harbor. Tommy was nodding, but his eyes were on Buck and Buck couldn’t look away from him either. 

It was only when Tommy looked away that Buck dropped his eyes from Tommy. He tried to shake it off, remembering why they had faked stomach issues and left in the middle of a call. Yes, he might have found his soulmate, but it wasn’t the time or place. Of course, what they were about to do was verging on stupid and reckless…but if Hen was right — and she most likely was — then they had to and Buck couldn’t complicate matters because their pilot turned out to be his soulmate. 

He could tell that Tommy seemed to have decided the same from how quickly he began directing them to a helicopter.

“Thanks again, Tommy,” Chim said. “We’ll for sure owe you one. Collect from any of us.”

“That would require I know who exactly I’m allowing onto my helicopter,” Tommy said. 

Eddie stepped forward first, hand out to shake Tommy’s. “Eddie Diaz,” he said.

“I’m Evan Buckley,” Buck said, and he knew his voice was shaky. 

None of them noticed because it seemed that Hen had arrived. Tommy’s hand touched Buck’s shoulder. “Get situated. I’ll get Hen.”

His shoulder felt warm, it was in Buck’s head, but still it lingered even as he climbed in first. He took a few breaths to center himself. They would have time to deal with it later. He had to focus on that. By the time they were in the air, that got a little easier. When Tommy mentioned that they might all die, Buck felt the loss of what he’d just found and he wanted to scream. In a way, it also made perfect sense for his life. Of course he would meet his soulmate, get into a life or death situation, and perish. 

When they found the capsized cruise ship, he almost felt relieved, followed by the fear of what they would find once they got down there. Bobby and Athena had to be alright, they just had to be. 

Focusing on the work kept him from thinking about Tommy and about everything that came with it because there were so many layers to get through. It was a while before Bobby, the kid, and Eddie had climbed into the back of the helicopter, leaving Buck to sit up front. 

Tommy glanced at him right as he settled himself in and he smiled a smile that scrunched up his nose and the corners of his eyes. Buck shouldn’t have found it so endearing, then again, this was his soulmate. Buck smiled back and he wanted nothing more than to bring it up, to confirm with Tommy what they both knew to be true. He couldn’t, though. He didn’t want to do it over the open channel. So, instead, he turned away, admiring the clear blue skies and the water below. It was as if the storm they flew into hadn’t been there at all. When he looked back at Tommy again, it was even harder to look away, but he forced himself to when the helicopter touched down on the ship. 

His mind couldn’t quite wrap around it. He had a soulmate. He, Evan Buckley had a soulmate and he’d met him. Him. His soulmate was a dude. A man. It was hitting him secondary to the initial thing, that he had a soulmate at all. 

Same sex soulmates were a normal thing, Buck knew, it was just that in most instances soulmates were romantic and Buck wasn’t gay. He loved women. He slept with women. He was attracted to women. 

Bobby walked ahead of them and Buck heard Hen calling out to Athena. Buck stopped to watch as Bobby and Athena ran into each other’s arms and he was caught up in the moment. He hadn’t gotten a lot of time with Athena when Tommy first landed the helicopter on the capsized ship, but he’d seen her worry for Bobby. That was the devotion and love that Buck wanted…what he’d been searching for and failing to find for years. 

Athena and Bobby weren’t even soulmates, though they may as well be. They had always given Buck hope that he could be happy without a soulmate…but now he’d found his soulmate. Tommy. 

Eddie was next to him, but Buck was a little more focused on Tommy approaching. It all still felt like the wrong place or time and as Eddie headed towards the other side of the ship, leaving them seemingly alone, Buck had no idea what to do. Slowly, he turned to look at Tommy. Tommy was smiling wide. He looked beautiful. Buck didn’t think he’d ever thought that about a dude before and yet it was true. Their shared look was enough to confirm what Buck already knew. 

“You’re—” Buck managed to get out, his throat closing in on the word. 

“Yeah…we are,” Tommy said. His eyes were shining. 

Buck’s mind went blank, words and thoughts jumbled up in a way that had never happened before. Tommy seemed if not similarly affected, then willing to wait for Buck to be the first to say something. Buck also realized that he didn’t mind just losing himself in staring at Tommy. 

He only looked away when Eddie was back, bumping into his shoulder and delivering a bottle of water to him and Tommy each, entirely oblivious to what was going on between them. Buck’s hands shook as he opened the bottle, but he was grateful and drank almost all of it in one go. 

Eddie was talking about their ETA back to LA when Chim appeared at Tommy’s side. 

“Can’t thank you enough, man,” he said, clapping Tommy on the shoulder. 

Tommy laughed. “I’m always a call away, Howie. But, thank you…I really…thank you.” 

Chim just shook his head, but Tommy’s eyes were on Buck and Buck inhaled a breath. He’d have to thank Chim too, eventually. It wasn’t lost on him that he had introduced Chin to his soulmate and that Chim had now introduced Buck to his. 

Bobby and Athena approached, arms still around each other. They looked exhausted, but happy. 

“I was so glad to see you two,” Bobby said, directed at Buck and Eddie. Then, he turned towards Tommy. “And you…thank you, for helping these guys out.” 

Bobby reached out a hand and Tommy grasped it and Buck could tell he was shocked by Bobby pulling him into a quick but meaningful hug. Athena for her part just pat Tommy’s shoulder. 

It should have bothered Buck that he had yet to have a single moment alone with his soulmate, but he liked having him there among his family. They would talk about it, figure out what it meant later. It gave Buck a bit of time to think, too. He had a soulmate. His soulmate was a man. His soulmate was Tommy, a ridiculously impressive LAFD pilot. 

Buck was an ally. He always put a rainbow up on his social media in June. He’d gone to a few pride parades since living in LA. He’d never dated a guy before, though, never even thought that it was a possibility for him. Looking at Tommy, he wondered if Tommy had known that men were an option for him. All that Buck really knew about the guy was that he’d been with the 118 as far back as when Chim had become a firefighter and that he hadn’t stayed too long after Bobby took over as Captain. 

Maybe they were meant to be platonic…have some deep understanding about each other that no one else could ever comprehend. A little like he and Eddie, maybe. That wouldn’t be too bad. 

He stole glances of Tommy as Bobby and Athena started to tell them exactly what had gone down even before the hurricane. Buck was having a hard time focusing, but the few things he caught did make it seem like it had been far more eventful than any cruise had a right to be. 

He couldn’t deny that Tommy was attractive. He was tall and his arms were kind of huge. Tommy’s attention was wholly on Athena and Bobby, eyebrows a bit furrowed as Bobby explained how it had felt when the ship capsized. Buck’s attention was on the way Tommy’s mouth moved as if out of surprise for what Bobby had just said. His attention was drawn to Tommy’s storm colored eyes and on the slight curl of his hair. 

“I wish you had been there to see him, Buck,” Athena said. 

Buck refocused. Eyes reluctantly going to Athena. 

“Well, if Buck had been there, he would have been the one doing that climb,” Bobby said. “I’m going to be sore for days.” 

“I don’t think that’s the only reason,” Athena said. 

Tommy was called away before Buck could find a reason to explain wanting to talk to him on his own and then the next time he saw him, he was saying a quick goodbye and heading back to the helicopter. Buck watched him as he took off and wished that somehow he’d had a reason to go with him. 

“Cool guy,” Eddie said. 

“Yeah,” Buck said and he knew he sounded awestruck. 

—

Tommy had known from the moment he saw him. 

When his phone rang and Howie’s name appeared, Tommy had sort of known that Chim probably wanted something from him. It was why he called at all these days, but Tommy didn’t mind. He wasn’t wrong and as Chim explained something about Hen having a hunch and how she was probably gonna not pull off whatever she was thinking she was doing, Tommy had already mostly agreed to help. After all, Chim did save his life and he had a lot of respect for Hen too. 

Then, Chim arrived with two firefighters in tow. They both looked the part, strong and sturdy kind of guys. Attractive, though Tommy tried not to notice that type of thing while at work and most definitely about colleagues. It wasn’t until they had gotten nearer that Tommy got a better look at them, a better look at his soulmate. 

Tommy had never known that he would ever replicate the feeling of flying while on solid ground, but if asked to describe it later, that was what it felt like when his eyes landed on his soulmate right before he paused mid-step and almost lost his balance. He didn’t even know his name. 

Chim was giving him a more in depth explanation about the cruise ship and storm and Hen’s part in it, but while Tommy could hear him, he couldn’t process the information. He led them to the helicopter, glad it was already out on the tarmac and that it had been refueled just a few hours earlier. 

“Thanks again, Tommy,” Chim said. “We’ll for sure owe you one. Collect from any of us.”

“That would require I knew who exactly I was allowing onto my helicopter,” Tommy said, sure that if he didn’t say anything, he wouldn’t get to know his soulmate’s name. 

“Eddie Diaz,” the one that wasn’t his soulmate said, reaching his hand out for Tommy to shake.

“I’m Evan Buckley.”

Evan. Tommy repeated it inside his head. Evan. 

They didn’t shake hands like he and Eddie had, and Tommy had heard how shaky his voice sounded. He also didn’t miss the slight pink on Evan’s cheeks.  It was horrible timing. He could see the shock and awe in Evan’s face, but it was going to have to wait. So Tommy did the thing where he pushed aside the personal to focus on his job. He got Hen to the helicopter where the others were already stashed and then they were in the air. 

Tommy had been flying for so long that his focus didn’t need to be on it 100% of the time. It let him linger on the moment from earlier, what it had been like to see Evan Buckley for the very first time. He held onto that moment as they flew, even as he realized that what they were doing verged more on the dangerous and reckless side than anything he’d ever done. He had to get them through it, even when he had to make awful fake static noises at the chief and ignore his orders to get back to Harbor. 

In the end, it all worked out. 

They found the cruise ship and they were lucky they did, none of them talked about how easy it would have been for them to miss it. It was hours of work after that, not that Tommy minded. Eventually, he made a final trip to pick up Bobby, the kid he’d rescued, and Eddie and Evan. 

Evan wound up up front and maybe it was presumptuous to think about how good Evan looked right there at his side. Tommy hoped it would happen again and soon. With the skies having cleared up, the sun shone through and in the moments that Tommy allowed himself to take Evan in, there was no denying how gorgeous this boy was especially when the light hit him just right. 

With everything going on, they didn’t get more than a small moment to acknowledge it once they were on the ship and Tommy felt warm because it was real. He had a soulmate. 

It wasn’t until he was back at Harbor that he realized he hadn’t exchanged numbers with Evan — not that it was a big deal. He’d just have to call Chim. Yet, as much as there was an urgency, Tommy was still at work and he still had to write up a report about the night and explain to his Captain exactly what had gone down before he could finally end his shift. 

He texted Chim as he walked to his car almost an hour later, but got no response. When his phone did start vibrating, it was an unknown number. He picked up at once, heart in his throat because it had to be Evan. 

“Hello,” he said and hoped he sounded normal. 

“Hey, Tommy, it’s Eddie.”

He tried not to be disappointed, but of course he was. It was nothing against Eddie…it was just that he wanted to hear from Evan. 

“Got your number from Chim. I hope it’s okay I’m calling. I was just wondering if you’d want to meet up sometime,” Eddie said. 

For one very strange moment, Tommy wondered if Eddie was trying to ask him out. He probably had no idea that he and Evan were soulmates and…but, no, he didn’t think that Eddie had seemed interested in him like that. Tommy did wonder if it would be rude to ask Eddie for Evan’s number. He missed something that Eddie said, but caught:

“....drinks or something. Maybe as a thank you for helping us get to Bobby and Athena.” 

“Uh, sure,” Tommy said. 

“Cool. Cool. How about later tonight?” 

Tommy wasn’t great at saying no to things. He also had no reason to put Eddie off. “Yeah…yeah that sounds good. And if you want to invite anyone else from the 118 that’d be great.” 

Eddie chuckled. “I think they’re all pretty beat. It might just be us two, unless you want to bring along a friend or something.” 

Tommy wanted to ask about Evan. He wanted nothing more than to beg Eddie to bring Evan along. Knew if he did he would be giving away what they were or even just his interest in Evan. He couldn’t do that. 

“I’ll text you when and where,” Eddie said. “Just gotta secure a babysitter.”

“Okay,” Tommy said. “Sounds good.” 

Chim still hadn’t answered. Tommy texted Hen next. No response. Maybe it would be Eddie that would give him Evan’s number…Tommy would just have to show up for that hang out and get the number out of Eddie. Or maybe, Evan would call him first. He hadn’t known that this was going to be complicated and actually it kind of wasn’t, it was that he was impatient. 

Tommy managed a nap out of sheer exhaustion. He’d learned a long time ago how to sleep almost anywhere, which didn’t change that sometimes he just couldn’t sleep. Yet, despite not having contact with Evan, there was peace in knowing he was out there and knowing that he was his soulmate. 

Evan didn’t call. Chim and Hen didn’t respond. Eddie texted him the name of a bar that Tommy knew well. Some of the guys from Harbor liked going there to play pool. They also had Karaoke night every Wednesday night and trivia on Thursdays. Maybe he knew a little bit too much about that bar. So, he texted back a thumbs up and got ready to meet up with Eddie. Eddie was already at the bar when he arrived, a beer in front of him while he made small talk with the bartender. He looked relaxed, in a way that Tommy almost hadn’t expected him to be. 

“Hey!” Eddie threw out. ��Glad you made it.”

He took the stool next to Eddie, ordering a beer and then turning to him. “How’s it going? I was surprised to get your call.”

Eddie smiled easily. “Well after Buck turned me down for drinks, I thought maybe you were like me and needed this a bit after everything.”

He usually didn’t. Not that it wasn’t welcome. The bartender passed him his beer. 

“Evan turned you down?” Tommy asked.

“Uh…yeah, guess he was really tired.”

“Right,” Tommy said. “It was a long night.”

A longer night than Eddie knew. Tommy took a gulp of his beer and tried to figure out a way for him to keep the conversation on Buck…Evan. He was Evan to Tommy especially knowing that everyone else seemed to use the nickname. 

“Well Bobby is kind of like a father to Buck, so even though he didn’t show it…he was really worried.”

“Oh,” Tommy said. “It’s actually like a family over there.”

“You could say that,” Eddie said with a smile. “I guess it wasn’t that when you were at the 118?”

“Farthest thing from it,” Tommy said. “I guess I left right before things changed.”

He had never once regretted leaving when he did. Tommy had always meant to get back in the air. It was where he was freest and the thing he missed the most after leaving the army. So, when he had completed the required years as a firefighter, Tommy had started looking for a transfer to any of the air operation stations. His experience as a pilot helped, and he’d found a place where he belonged. He felt freer than he ever had and it had allowed him a brand new start. One in which he could explore parts of himself he hadn’t ever thought he would.  

“I should say I’m sorry you missed out, but I’m sure you love what you do.” 

“I do,” Tommy said. 

If there was one thing, it was Evan. Would he have met him earlier if he stayed? Of course there was no changing the past. There was also who Tommy had been then and Tommy could admit to himself that he hadn’t been ready for a soulmate, much less Evan. 

Eddie drew the conversation in another direction. They started exchanging stories then. Stories about their time at the army which led into conversations about what it was like to return to a civilian life. It was hard, Tommy knew, to talk about it with regular people that hadn’t served and hadn’t seen the things they had. It was clear almost right away that Eddie didn’t have anyone to talk to about stuff like that. Tommy did still have a few friends from back then, but they weren’t all that close anymore. He figured it was exactly why Eddie had reached out. 

Past that, though, they had other things in common and it wasn’t that Tommy forgot about Evan — he was always there in his mind — it was that Tommy found himself having a good time with Eddie. They got talking basketball when the scores of a game were being reported on the tv, and when an ad for a MMA fight came on Eddie made a comment about how he missed going to see fights live. 

“Shift ran late when tickets went on sale,” Eddie said. “Didn’t even get a chance to try and get at them.” 

“I have tickets for this one,” Tommy said. 

“I hate you right now,” Eddie said, but he said it with a grin. 

He hadn’t bought them. A buddy of his had asked if Tommy wanted to go and then because he was a promoter, given him the two tickets. Tommy had meant to ask someone from Harbor if they wanted to go with him, but he’d forgotten. 

“Hey, you want to go with me?” 

“What? Wait, are you serious, man?” 

“Yeah. I mean, it was gonna go to waste, so why not? Fight’s in Vegas. I can probably fly us there.” 

Eddie’s grin grew wider. “Hell yeah, that sounds amazing.” 

“Yeah?” 

Eddie’s hand landed on his shoulder. “You just made my night, man. This is awesome.” 

They talked MMA fighting for a while and he could tell that Eddie had probably dabbled in it a bit. 

“So,” he said two beers in. “Is this the norm for you and Evan? Going out after a shift?” 

“When my kid allows,” Eddie said. “Half the time we’re at my house or his apartment with Chris. Marisol’s gotten used to it.” 

“Marisol?”

“My girlfriend,” Eddie said. 

“Ah. And uh, what about his…partner?”

Tommy braced himself. He hadn’t thought about the possibility that Evan would be involved with someone. It was one of those things that you heard about, people that were happily in a relationship and suddenly one of them met their soulmate. It wasn’t like most people were out there waiting for their soulmate convinced that it was something that would actually happen.

Eddie laughed. “He broke up with his last girlfriend a little while ago. She was a death doula if you can believe that’s a real thing.” 

“I can’t actually,” Tommy said. “But clearly it didn’t work out.” 

“Nope,” Eddie said. “He has the worst luck.” 

“Maybe that’s changing,” Tommy said. 

The conversation shifted again somehow and Tommy couldn’t ask more questions about Evan without giving away that he was looking for information on him. Tommy didn’t want to tell Eddie about Evan being his soulmate, not without first speaking to Evan. He did garner that Eddie and Evan were close, but despite trying several times, didn’t manage to finangle a way to ask for Evan’s phone number. 

He felt a little bit pathetic. After all, who met their soulmate — a rarity in itself — and then not insist on taking a moment to talk even in spite of the circumstances? Insist on exchanging numbers? 

By the time he made it home, a little buzzed from the beer, he realized that somehow he’d made lots of plans to hang out with Eddie and none with Evan. He was a mess.

-

Part Two

[botanicallyinclinednerd]

LMK season 5 episode 8:

Imma break something

Yeah, pigsy, it's not a good thing that he was right

I refuse to acknowledge that MK just hugged his dad goodbye

What the fuck???

Im sorry, all I can hear is the fact that this is Matt Mercer

Mei is coming for Macky of my god

Is- is this just platos allegory of the cave??

"Leave the world a little better than you found it, right? The only way the world survives, that each of you survives, is if I don't" I'm going to start crying

[yuriskies]

Back in chapter 38, Shimeji and Majime descended into what they interpreted as the collective unconsciousness, can came across a single torch casting their shadows onto the walls. It's a pretty clear use of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, which asserts that the reality we perceive with our senses is akin to a shadow cast on the wall, and that the true reality, the object casting the shadow, is something that can only be perceived with higher reasoning skills.

Visual rhyming and repetition is a technique that is often employed in this story to draw connections between ideas. A major theme of Shimeji Simulation is how we change through our interactions with other people, how we absorb bits and pieces from those we let into our lives, and how we grow and change in response.

This scene in the final chapter makes use of the repeated imagery from ch 38 to play around with these ideas in the context of the cave allegory. Majime's world represents the "shadow" of herself, the aspects she embraces and presents to the world, while her true self sits at the center of it all. It is only when Shimeji commits to acknowledging Majime has already changed her and commits to being with her no matter the outcome that she is able to grasp Majime's "true form".