#sometimes the simplest theories are the correct ones

[dazais-guardian-angel]

posting this at 1:30 in the fuckng morning before the finale, because I am nothing if not a procrastinator, for no other reason than to have it on my blog for posterity before the episode comes out.

My theory for Fukuchi’s (and thus the DoA as a whole) goal I’ve ultimately settled on is that he wants to use the page to write abilities out of history, and relive his life all the way back from when he and Fukuzawa first met, because he believes that if abilities had never forced him to go to war (or at least make the war change him) and indirectly caused Fukuzawa to have to play the role that he had to play as an assassin, that they could have lived out a simple and peaceful life together. It just makes sense that he’s doing everything for Fukuzawa, with how much heavy emphasis is being placed on the fact that Fukuchi had to have been in love with him… and it would explain why he’d be willing to kill him, if that death isn’t going to matter in the end if he can rewrite their history like he plans to. It would also explain why he’s working with Fyodor despite them seeing like they’d be completely incompatible with each other, because we already know that Fyodor wants to get rid of abilities, although we don’t know why, and so if Fukuchi has the same goal it would only make sense for Fyodor to go along with it.

I also think this would perfectly explain why Atsushi is so conflicted about whether or not the DoA’s plan should actually be stopped. If Fukuchi is doing this all out of love for Fukuzawa, and wanting him to have a better life… I can see why Atsushi would hesitate about preventing that, since he’s so kind. Additionally, as much as Atsushi has grown, he still struggles with his self-worth, and the tiger is so emblematic of all the reasons why he was told he never should have been born….. I don’t at all doubt that he would feel like a world without abilities, and thus himself, would be a better world. And of course, this would explain why he’d want to ask Fukuzawa for advice, of all people: not just because Fukuzawa is his boss and he trusts his wisdom, but because this whole thing is about Fukuzawa, and so his opinion is the one that matters most.

We don’t know how old FukuFuku were exactly when they first met, but 36 years ago would put them around age 9, which looks about right for their ages in their first flashback. And lastly….. If Fukuchi can’t succeed in his plan, he may be expecting and wanting for Fukuzawa to kill him, ala Gide vs Oda. The sword isn’t an ability, and Fukuzawa doesn’t have Fukuchi’s ability, so it wouldn’t exactly be an ability singularity situation again, but there’s still time shenanigans abound, and Fukuzawa is a very skilled swordsman…. so I wouldn’t be surprised if it really is very similar to an Oda vs Gide, with Fukuzawa finding and exploiting some sort of loophole with the sword, and them killing each other at the exact same time.

[fallingdown98]

FHJY Called Shot

Mostly making this post so if this is right i can say I called it. Obviously, thanks to the preview we know that the Bad Kids are gonna have to do the "Last Stand" exam. I'm aware that on a meta level, this was always going to happen because of how production works but I think this may also relate to some of the Teachers being in on the conspiracy w/ the RatGrinders + Ankarna. In on the conspiracy in this case, does not necessarily mean bad guy though because I have an inkling based on absolutely nothing that this conflict may involve more than just one conspiring group. Might even be willing to think the teachers may be the ones putting the RG up to the shit theyve been doing. Specifics under the read more because i have a lot of thoughts. Listed in most sus to least sus but worth noting

Porter - First to mention the Last Stand, Warhammer = Akarna’s Scales theory, Rage, his Giant lineage (Through Earth Genasi), Ancestral Paladin relates to prior point, Steering Fig away from Cass, “Barbarian” healed Ragh post prom before he was able to see Kalina (Also, didn’t use Lay on Hands which we now know he would have had access to), Paired with Jace Stardiamond (AKA another sus mf), unsurprised at the carnage on the first day of Freshman year

Jace - Current VP so has power even if he keeps claiming he doesn’t want it, Seen most w/ Porter (See above), Ragh saw him talking to Arianwen (And Kalina) post prom (Aka I think Spy’s tongue curse will lead to this), first to inspect the hellmouth magic FY and recognized both the divine and Nightmare King stuff, Yolanda specifically said she would go to Jace over Grix with the Lucy Info, Speculation: Divine Soul Sorcerer, Of Note: Would have had most contact with FY Villain Penelope Everpetal as she was also a sorc, Also also I DO NOT trust the fact that he put Riz on the faculty we still need to check those school Bylaws

Henry HopClap - Not on OG FY Faculty Roster, Grix’s hard drive, His connection with Ruben, Could have encouraged Gorgug w/ the intention/assumption he’d fail and thus would have to take The Last Stand, Frosty Faire Fest had some clearly evil artificing with the wires thing and would have the most knowledge in this regard

Zara Sool - Also not on OG FY Faculty Roster, Showed up at Mordred during Baron’s Game (I know they said in AP that it was a riff on Horror Movie Monsters but she was still the only one without a direct connection to the Manor), Lover of Celestial (Could be either pro or anti Ankarna), Also seen with Sus Porter, Agreed w/ Porter against Cass

Rogue Teacher - Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one, Maybe the Rogue teacher has put KLCK up to some amount of her plot or assisted in some way leading to Teach finding Student rather than Vice-Versa. 

Bobby Dawn - This mf is last just cuz we already know he’s up to some shady shit and I can’t wait for the Bad Kids to murder his pompous ass, Probably the one to expel Kristin which gives him both satisfaction but also leads to Last Stand

TLDR: I think there’s a conspiracy within the Faculty and that it’s possible Porter, Jace, Henry, Zara, and/or the Rogue Teacher are all working together. If they are pressuring the RatGrinders, that would give added motivation to fuck over the Bad Kids for a good grade. Also think something catastrophic will happen at the Last Stand and that it was part of the plan since day 1 (Im aware on a meta scale this may just be me overthinking and we just needed to give a reason to use the cool battleset)

[nofomogirl]

Before the Beginning (part 2.2.)

Part 1.1. | Part 1.2. | Part 1.3. | Part 1.4. | Part 1.5. |

Part 2.1. | Part 2.3. | Part 2.4. |

Continuing from the previous post (I really recommend checking it out before this one).

Let's consider each of my theories.

Aziraphale got it wrong

This theory's biggest appeal is that it paints an interesting picture of knowledge in Heaven. Or rather lack of it.

Before the Beginning Aziraphale is genuinely interested in the plan and generally comes across as well-informed. If he was wrong about what was it that was intended to last 6000 years, that begs the question: what kind of information was he working with? How vague and incomplete it must have been to misdirect him like this?

What if this was not an isolated slip or a personal flaw but this is what Heaven is like, in general? What if nothing is truly certain and just an interpretation, and therefore potentially wrong?

Good Omens do toy a lot with ideas like Heaven not being huge on knowledge so it would be fitting.

Heaven changed its mind

I imagine this theory would be particularly compelling if your headcanon is that Aziraphale genuinely believed he could course-correct Heaven's policies and make it better.

I mean, if Heaven originally intended to obliterate the entire universe but at some point scrapped that plan and decided to destroy just a single planet then there's no reason why it couldn't change other plans too.

Also, what I've written for the first theory about information in Heaven being unreliable still mostly holds because if plans can change then who's to say which ones are set in stone and which ones are negotiable.

Crowley doesn't remember

This theory's strongest point is that it's the simplest explanation. It's very likely within the current canon and it doesn't spawn as many additional questions as the others.

If Aziraphale got it wrong or Heaven changed its mind, when did Crowley find out? Before or after the Fall? If this was his first doubt why didn't it change anything that it wasn't the case in the end? Did Aziraphale find out it is going to be just Earth after all?

That's just the tip of the iceberg, really.

But memory loss makes it all simpler and doesn't contradict anything we already know.

Crowley is in denial

Now this theory, this one is my favourite.

That's because it offers an explanation for why Crowley constantly brushes off inconvenient facts other than "he's just an optimist" or "it's for Aziraphale's sake" or my least favourite "he knows it doesn't really matter".

Crowley is a trauma survivor who's permanently trapped in an oppressive and abusive system. That does things to a person. It leads to trauma responses and coping mechanisms that are often unhealthy and irrational.

(Funnily enough, while Aziraphale's abuse is so frequently invalidated, there are still a lot of amazing metas out there analyzing how his trauma messed with his head, as traumas tend to do. But I haven't seen similar takes on Crowley. Yes, his abuse is never questioned but it's constantly romanticized, which, if you think about it, isn't any better.)

In my opinion, Crowley's coping mechanism is that when there's something terrible that he cannot change, he does his best to ignore it and live his life as if it weren't true, sometimes to the point of pushing it entirely out of his consciousness.

My headcanon

As I've already written, I strongly favour the last theory. But that's not what I mean by "my headcanon".

My headcanon is that whatever is the reason and however it happened, Aziraphale and Crowley believe two different things. Crowley believes the 6000 years deadline applies to Earth alone. Aziraphale still believes it applies to the entire material universe. And they're both unaware that the other understands the End of the World differently.

I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this.

I hope to find some time and unsurprise you with it in the next post.

[hey-hamlet]

can you share your theory on the premature aging please i am really interested

Ok so! This is gonna be kinda nerdy - jargon translations at the bottom.

One of my 'how quirks work genetically' theories is that the quirk virus made germline mutations way more common - tanking the fertility rate bc some of the mutations were incompatible with life, but a a lot of those other mutations led to weird hair, skin and eye colours along with quirks. In real life viruses don't do this directly, some but can incorporate themselves into genomes in fragile places that can, indirectly, increase mutation rates. Also in real life these mutations just give you cancer, but anyway.

Another driver of mutation is stress - like real actual 'my life is a mess' stress, but specifically in this case I'm talking about oxidative stress - this can be caused via aforementioned real actual stress, lifestyle problems, immune system responses, etc. Normal metabolism also induces oxidative stress - OFA uses a *lot* of energy - even if it isn't all from calories, it's still got to be used like ATP!

Basically, you get OFA, and a quirk? Your body is mutation central.

Now you may be thinking - hang on, didn't you just say that all those mutations give you cancer? Where is the aging coming in? And honestly fair enough. Oxidative damage is believed to play some part in aging, but not the main part and it wouldn't explain why being quirkless protects you from it.

The answer is lamins - the weird part of the cell you never think about. Lamins are proteins that form a sort of mesh that keeps your cell nuclei nice and round, allowing for easy cell division and nice neat DNA organisation. Progeria is a rare disease caused by a single nucleotide mutation in the gene coding for the processing of lamins, causing them to fold incorrectly, leading to misshapen nuclei. The symptoms of this disease can be simplified to fatal accelerated and premature aging. These lamins and the associated abnormal nuclei can also be found in, unsurprisingly, the elderly (well, in everyone, but the quantity goes up with age).

This disease is typically a germline cell mutation itself, but now we get to play with the quirk virus (and also fudge genetics a touch). If the quirk virus inserted itself near the lamin gene, the chances of mutation are boosted - now, normally those mutated cells would just get cleared away by the immune system and everyone is happy. But, factor in the massive amounts of oxidative stress OFA causes on the already fragile region of DNA and we start accumulating these mutations in the lamin genes all over the place, causing that rapid and fatal aging seen in OFA wielders that have quirks.

jargon translations: germline mutation: mutation within germ cells - egg or sperm - that can pass on to your children. oxidative stress: you know how oxygen rusts metal? wild over simplification, but something a lot like that happens inside you. antioxidants (eaten and produced by the body) are 'easier to rust' and use up all of the reactive oxygen to keep your cells safe. ATP: adenosine triphosphate - the food you eat eventually ends up as this through a long and convoluted collection of pathways, and its the way your cells can actually make use of it. nucleotide: one of the 4 letters your DNA is made up of - in its simplest form, your DNA is just two matching strands made up of a bunch of these letters which your body reads like a computer reads binary code.

sources: i'm not citing them because i do enough of that in university, but studies, my course content and also wikipedia because sometimes you just need to make sure something you though you knew was right or not. you also do not actually need to trust me because this is just a fan theory about an anime, it just needs to sound good. to my knowledge i'm correct though, but have wildly over simplified a lot

[poirott]

this ^

Hello! Right? The editor is a mess, settings aren't user friendly, it takes 3 clicks to do the simplest tasks like uploading a gif or image from the harddrive. There's apparently a character limit for the caption area, there's not enough room for colorized text html because the code eats up too much space.

Gifs and images, once you upload them, are difficult to move around. Trying to "pull" and "push" a gif into a desired slot (left, right, top, bottom) has been so frustrating and far more difficult than such a task should be. It's like gifs are weighted down by rocks and won't slip into the correct slot. You have to re-do the order over and over again because they never appear in the slot they're supposed to. And sometimes the draft saves itself but other times it forgets the new steps you've made to the post and everything is lost again. You have to refresh the drafts page to see if the post is actually saved!

Then once you set up your gifs in the correct order, feeling like you've accomplished a Herculean task, and you re-edit text in the caption as a last tweak or something, ALL the gifs are in disarray for some reason and need to be re-arranged manually every single time you edit the text. It makes no sense. The code for the caption and the gifs shouldn't affect each other.

It takes me ages to post a simple photo set or a gif set with a caption. The code for the caption is long and overstuffed, further taking away room for colorized text that needs a lot more characters of code.

My temporary solution (that I'm still practicing through trial and error) is to get all the gifs/photos ready first, switch to html view and write the caption and color text as the very last step. This way, in theory, I only have to re-arrange every gif one more time, instead of several times, which is hard because it's my habit to tweak and re-tweak the text caption to my liking. Otherwise if I re-edit the text 10 times, the gifs are also messed up and in the wrong order 10 times. It still takes me several takes to re-arrange and edit because something always needs to be tweaked. It's like the new tumblr editor only saves the gifs/photos uploaded to a post, but not their order. The worst part is, it forgets I placed smaller 268px gifs side by side in a row, not in a column/top to bottom like one would large 540px gifs. Baffling.

The more stuff I find that's not working with the editor, the more frustrating sharing content becomes. Gif makers and other creators are gonna stop posting to tumblr if, on top of spending hours or days or WEEKS on gif sets (elaborate gif sets take a lot of time, energy and creativity), they also have to battle a stubborn, awkward editor that requires another 100 steps before the post is saved correctly for publishing!

Tumblr should have kept the legacy editor as a 2nd option for people who like the old version, and everything would have been fine. :(

[mooncalfe-art]

Hello! Just wanted to say I love your work! I’ve finally gotten around to reading “Wet Moon” - haven’t finished it yet, but I love the vibe and the feeling it gives me, like I’m reading a hidden gem I found in the comics section of the library when I was a young teen! Can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve felt that way, many thanks to you! I’ve also read some snippets of your old “Secrets of the Ooze” TMNT fan comic. I especially loved your portrayal of Pimiko! I’ve always thought that her backstory in the OG comic was extremely interesting lore-wise and I’ve got to wondering - do you think there’s any possible chance we might be seeing a certain someone whose name beings with “Pimi” and ends with “Ko” in the current ongoing comic sometime in the future? 👀

Also (switching topics just a bit!) I got to scanning comments online when I saw one particular comment wondering how Saki and Kitsune can afford the rent to their apartment. And at first, it made me laugh but then it got me curious… 🤔

A group of fans I’ve been talking with recently have come up with a couple of theories. One is that Kitsune wills a couple thousands of dollars into existence with her magic every so often. Another is that, maybe, they have a sum of money from the Foot Clan. My own personal favorite is that she mind-controls the landlord 😂 Is there any insight you can give us for this rather mundane yet mysterious topic? Thank you for taking the time to read this! 🙏

Hi! Thank you so much for checking out Wet Moon! And glad you liked my Pimiko from my fan comic, she was fun to draw. No plans at the moment to introduce her into the IDW comic but that would be cool! It could definitely work, there's plenty of room for Saki having previously-unknown children that could pop up, and I believe there's an early issue where it's mentioned that Saki and Kitsune have kids but they're never named or explored (anyone correct me if I'm wrong!). Thinking about it now I can't believe I never followed up on that.

Haha, I like Kitsune mind-controlling the landlord, that's funny. Or she creates illusory money that the landlord perceives as real but it's really just a magical illusion that will eventually fade. I guess the simplest answer, and the most boring, is that the building is Foot Clan property and Saki and Kitsune fully own it so there is no rent, it gets passed down through the years to various Foot Clan higher-ups, fully paid for. BUT that would still leave utilities, so maybe Saki has some friends at the power company that help out and/or Kitsune uses magic to influence the NYC Water Board. Personally I like the idea that Saki and Kitsune have a network of allies that work at various NYC businesses and government offices who secretly pull strings to make their utility bills disappear. What happens when one of them goes rogue?! Kitsune wakes up one day without hot water and all hell breaks loose.

[pokeglitchden]

@local-pokemart-worker

Alright, paperwork is signed, so it looks like we are ready to go in. That was a... very long waver they had me sign. Almost an inch thick!

Before I go in, I've got three working theories on what I believe is causing this.

1) Temporal anomaly caused by someone attempting some Pomeg abuse. A common side effect can be a person's pokemon appearing to fuse with another as their forms accidentally overlap one another. It isn't harmful to the pokemon, the effect is merely visual, though it could still mean a Decamark (or ??????????) Is present near by.

2) A Kantonian glitch pokemon has somehow become lost here. The closest I could find to the given description is Z ゥ, which takes the form of a cat like pokemon, but it's much closer to a Persian than a Skitty. It's harmless, though if being in this biome caused it to shift its form, we might not know what it's capable of. It has a variant that can produce a powerful visual toxin, but it shouldn't look like a cat in that case.

3) Gas leak. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one.

Anyway I'll be updating as I get further in. I'm bringing Gilligan and Kadabra with me, as well as little Query. Protection wise I have pokeballs, some repels, and a P̸̺̩̈̎̒̔̽̔͌͊́̔͂̎̌̅͝a̸̛͇͕̩̤̜͈̭̘͂͆̂͊̍ň̶̮̈̋i̷̧̙̮̦̱̺͖̹̲̦͒̑̓̃͛͋͒̋̾͘͝͝c̸̨̞͍̲̣̬͉͔̈́̀̊͑͋̎̌̔̿̉́ ̸̧͖̹̭͕̘̥̙͍͙̠̃͌̉̈́b̴̛̳̞͉̞̥̬̓̇̂̈́͠u̴̥͔͍̻̞͛͒͆̒̓̕t̸̡͖̗̮̀̀̇̉̈͗̌̍t̷̬́̂͜͜ơ̷̦̩̟͉̳͙͇̠͉̼̈n̷̺̤͕̖̱̮̲͉̲͓͓̠͆̈́ͅ that I don't think I'll need to use.

I've also brought a few recording devices and a detector for temporal anomalies, so I think our bases are covered.

Wish me luck!

[kaizo1573]

Notable Observations

In many deductions and templates I have frequently seen an individual mention observation as a foundation or fundamental core to which I agree. However these individuals too make slight mistakes by only observing what they can see. Of course, it is common to miss things that you cannot see as "out of sight, out of mind" is not an idiom for nothing. However, it is useful to always try to brainstorm what might be missing from the picture, as it is sometimes the smallest things that make the biggest impact. Observation by nature is analysing what you can see, but it is not confined only to what is blatantly obvious. It is equally informing to notice your neighbour's car parked out the front of their house as it is to not notice it there. Both scenarios have their own perfectly significant implications. One could be that they have not used their car and if they usually use their car when they go out it may imply, with a high probability, that they are still within their residence.

On the other hand, if you know that they use their car in accordance to when they go out, then you may infer with an equally high probability that they are no longer at their residence. In this case you can start to mind map and conjecture up possible hypotheses as to why are are not at home. One could be that they have gone out and need to carry something back with them, another reason could be that the weather does not permit them a comfortable journey to where they want to go but that could still go if they take the car etc, etc, etc... Then again, a missing car may not be any of those reasons. Maybe it has broken down and so is off in the shop for repairs. If this is the case then maybe it will be gone for a couple of days. On the other hand, maybe they lent the car to a family member? The possibilities are endless and can only be reduced down with further observations. Usually, with respect to Occam's Razor, it is often that the simplest theory or supposition that is most likely to be the correct one and hence through deductions, keeping them simple is often best. There should always be a balance kept. Remember, "It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has any data", but I shall add that it is an equally bad blunder to theorise too decidedly when one has limited data.

-K

[truckreincarnation]

solita(vee) | Vee | Trial 4.2 | Re: Avery, Manami, Nao, Shinjuku, Yuliya / Attn: All

There's a lot of talking and reasoning that they don't get involved in - after last trial, they've become substantially more reserved in whatever theories are brewing in that orange head of theirs, and their notebook as they scribble away.

"That's... Huh." They squint at what they've written, before looking up and over to Esmée, then to Yuliya, and then over to Manami, before finally clearing their throat to address the group as a whole. "Sorry, it's just... Correct me if I'm w-wrong, but trackin' what everyone has said, did anyone h-happen to see Luz at any point tonight after 7.30, when she left Mimi, Yuliya, and m-me in the dining hall? I thought that she might've been headed for the p-portal when she left by the east door but... Neither the pair in the b-ballroom or the groups of people in the manor seemingly saw her. The o-only room that she could've gone to where nobody entered or left in t-the hours after was Hawk's Room, but then she'd still have to pass through t-the fancy lounge, whether she was comin' or goin'."

Vee frowns. There's something else on their mind, but they'll risk pissing off a different person by commenting too much on it. "...I'll defer to specifics if a-asked, but our group found somethin' that suggests Luz c-could've been upstairs in the mail room sometime tonight, which means I c-could've been mistaken about her headin' to the portal earlier. It's e-entirely possible that she just headed to the east h-hallway on the first floor and upstairs, and up until some point in the n-night, was just always here in Amber's vicinity all along. And if that's t-the case..."

They flip through their notebook. "I figure if the b-bomb was only made tonight, then you'd have to spend a substantial amount of t-time here to make it. Based on where everyone could've and w-would've been tonight, then several people don't have any alibis for s-substantial periods of time, but by their own account were on o-one of these floors. Manami, Shinjuku, Nao, and I have long periods of t-time where we can't entirely be accounted for by someone or a-another, but so does Luz. So if Mimi's and Nao's theories are p-possible, then..."

Vee looks up, crossing their arms in thought. "Somebody who had the means to build and b-bring the bomb, and either had the means to prevent explosion damage or w-was caught in it anyways... Occam's Razor suggests the s-simplest solution is Luz, wouldn't you think? The thing is, we still h-haven't really identified a motive for all of this happenin', aside from w-wantin' to try and bring down the barrier to start. I know that Luz has that one D-Domain power of hers that she's used to redirect damage to her mirrored clone a few times." Referring to Crack the Mirror for clarity, since he wouldn't know its name as far as I can tell. "If she hadn't known about the d-doublin' of power that a barrier of that quality would reflect, it could be a c-calculated risk that left her at the epicenter of the blast..."

He trails off. "...But that's about as f-far as I can take the theory without any proof, and this is a-assumin' that Luz would even attempt this." Vee reflects. "Back to my question at least, would a-anyone here claim to have seen Luz tonight after 7.30?" For all they know, maybe someone did and forgot to say it.

[marcubus-dev-blog]

Occam’s Razor

Hey folks, heres another jargon of the day for you to chew on: Occam's Razor.

From ChatGPT:

"When faced with multiple explanations for a phenomenon , the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Keep Occam's Razor in mind and don't make things more complicated than they need to be."

Pushing ChatGPT some more to ELI5 it:

Occam's Razor is like a rule that says, "when you're trying to explain something, the simplest answer is usually the right one." So, if you see something weird happening and you want to know why, you might come up with lots of different ideas about what could be causing it. But if you remember Occam's Razor , you'll try to pick the simplest explanation that makes sense. This is because usually the simplest explanation is the most likely to be true . So, don't make things more complicated than they need to be - just keep it simple!

It is very alluring to go deep and assume something is more complicated than it really is - this is basically all conspiracy theories in a nutshell. Also consider the affect on other people - it can be exhausting going through every single  permutation of everything - sometimes this is absolutely necessary, but if you stick to Occam's Razor as a baseline heuristic you might do this a bit less and you can show off in other ways

Use this tool to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid), shave off some unlikely hypotheses and make (generally) better decisions.

[fuyu-mayoi]

I don’t know why people are jumping to conclusions and calling Suwon already dead?

Yoon talking about Senjusou healing properties in the exact same chapter, literally few pages before, Suwon’s illness appearing only after he ascended to the throne. You can interpret them as hints of whatever you want, but they sure are hints of something.

I can be totally off track but at least one of said two elements being linked to his condition has been theorized by literally everyone. Now either we are all a bunch of disillusioned fools or the suggestions are pretty evident. 

[gemsofgreece]

I saw the post about Erasmian accent.... please allow me to add on to this rant. Let's take the simplest word and the simplest word and the simplest grammatical rule.

Εἶναι. Pronounced ee-neh. Two syllables.

The tone it has is a perispomeni ( ῀ ) and it is there for one reason:

the "ει" in the first syllable is a long term vowel (sorry i do not know if this is the correct term in english)

the "αι" in the second syllable is a short term vowel.

long term before short term = gets a perispomeni.

its legit the most basic rule you learn for ancient greek.

and if anyone says "its pronounced as two letter but its one syllable" well lemme tell you what!! it ruins the whole point!!!!

the long and short term letters and grammatical rules about their punctuation were literally created for the flow of the words and for everything to sound in-place. if you add another letter it destroys the entire rulebook, whether it is theoretically one syllable or not.

and if we go on, the erasmian accent will just keep ruining more and more rules. i am so disappointed that my greek language teacher told me about the erasmian accent. she is a filologist and might know a bit more, but if you think about it it just doesnt make sense! it ruins the flow and beauty of pronouncing a word the right way.

Very good example. I think it's funny because even though αι and οι are generally long vowels (which are conventionally and questionably pronounced as two syllables), in the end of the word they become short vowels (one syllable pronounced as such). So... since the two letters are pronounced separately how can this be explained grammatically? Each letter has the length of half a syllable or something XD honestly how such things have escaped people so much...

Inspired by your example, I found another similar one: the word άνθρωποι (humans). The stress is on the antepenultimate which means that the last syllable must mandatorily become short as the antepenultimate syllable can never be stressed if the last one is long. With the Erasmian, not only the syllable doesn't become short but it also lasts the length of two syllables, raising the stress even higher in the word which is impossible, violating three basic rules simultaneously (the never antepenultimate when the last syllable is long, the change of the diphthongs to short when they are in the end and the impossibility of having a stress higher in the word than on the antepenultimate).

I think some Greeks in the past did spread the Erasmian (and a few still do), or at least some of its elements that are more valid, due to the overwhelming perception of western academics as the ultimate authority on everything. I imagine it would be hard for a linguist to phrase a different theory without getting marginalised. It's weird how fiercely defensive western scholars and students have been about Erasmian - most still go literally feral if you express doubts on its validity. Let's remember Erasmus was a Dutch who lived in 15th-16th centuries and never in his life met a Greek, medieval or modern or ancient. He never had exposure to spoken Greek, so I don't get why people swear by him without a second thought. Of course, for his time, his work has been colossal and great but achievements do age, and sometimes not very well.

[drakenxemma]

Emma and Draken: Figthing for love VS Protecting out of love

Please, before you read, consider that, as always, everything I'm about to say is just my humble opinion based on my personal interpretation of the characters and their story, it's not necessarily true or correct. So, let's start.

Chapter 108: Emma urges Hina to go to Takemichi to make up (since Takemichi had broken up with Hina after meeting her father). Here's what Emma says at some point:

This got me thinking. If I decontextualize these lines for a moment, there's more to them, as if Emma was obviously giving her friend a good advice, but she was also implicitly expressing how she'd like the things between her and Draken to go. She's probably the kind of person who would put transparency over everything else, especially when it comes to feelings. And she actually acts like that, she has no problem admitting and showing her love for Draken throughout the story. This also made me think that Emma possibly oscillates between the fear that he doesn't love her back and the benefit of the doubt, since sometimes Draken does things that leave little room for interpretation. I mean, when Emma tries to make him jealous she says that he's only interested in Mikey, bikes and fights, implying that he's not interested in her, whereas when she gets the birthday present from him her reaction is crystal clear, she senses that Draken's gesture is not one of a person whose heart has no special feelings for her. What I'm trying to say here is that Emma is not totally oblivious, she's confused by Draken's behaviors, she just can't tell whether he loves her or not. She's probably more convinced that it's an unrequited love, yet not completely sure about it. This interpretation seems more likely and realistic to me. I mean, human beings are never so radically and firmly convinced about things, no matter how desperate they are, they can tell when something's there, even though it's just hope that makes them delusional or even though they don't know how to call it. Come on, I think Emma wonders why Draken goes out with her, gives her birthday presents and goes back to arcades to win some pretty teddy bears she wanted, as much as she wonders why he's so reluctant to express his feelings, the point is that she ends up thinking that he's not interested in her, because it's the simplest explanation. How happy would she be if Draken confessed his feelings? How happy would Emma be if Draken fought for their love the way she's always tried hard to win his heart? Little does she know how much Draken struggles, too. The thing is Emma has her own idea of love: apparently, according to her, love is something you fight for, and indeed shortly before in the same chapter, when Hina tells her what happened between Takemichi and Mr. Tachibana, Emma answers:

Here Emma acknowledges what must've been Takemichi's difficulty in that circumstance, yet in the end she doesn't accept the possibility that someone doesn't go against everything and everyone for love, she eventually puts fighting for love over sacrificing one's feelings for the sake of the other. If I bring back my own theory (according to which Draken doesn't confess his feelings in order to protect Emma because otherwise she would become a more easy target for delinquents than she already is as Mikey's sister) and if I consider this theory true for a moment, then I can state that Draken's logic when it comes to love is diametrically opposed to Emma's. She'd rather fight for love, he'd rather repress his feeling of love in order to protect her. These two basically love each other, taking paths that, by their nature, can never meet. Tragic, isn't it? And, indeed, when in chapter 109 Hina and Takemichi have finally made up before their eyes in a cute and dramatic way, Emma genuinely cries out of happiness for her friends, but I think somehow she's also externalizing her wish to experience the same joy one day, that joy only one person can give you, the person you love saying they love you back. I mean, look at how Mikey teases her...

Also, look at Draken's reaction. By comparing Takemichi to Shinichiro, he is implicitly saying he admires him, his "weakness" in fights and when it comes to women is nothing when you're a person who's got friends' back and never gives up. He acknowledges this, but the fact that he uses words such as "weak" says a lot: Draken still thinks that showing feelings is a weakness, he still has this toxic conviction.

In Draken's character two factors coexist: feelings make people weak and loving someone when you're a gang member could put the other in danger (please, note he never specifically says this, but it's a thought I think is very likely for him to have, if I look at the scheme of his actions and behaviors throughout the story). And even so, he highly appreciates and admires who's brave enough to fight for love. It's not the first time he manifests such mindset. Looking back at chapter 6, here's what Draken says twice:

Here he is probably and literally referring to the general honor there is in fighting for a strong ideal. But, ultimately and implicitly, when he looks at and talks about Takemichi, he's very aware there's honor in fighting for love. It's just that he doesn't see showing feelings as an option for himself. That option would be a weakness, because sadly he has this mindset, but also in the sense that it would put Emma in danger. I think that when he imagines Emma as his girlfriend, he also consequently sees hordes of delinquents trying to easily get to him by hurting her. Being in a relationship in his current situation might cause pain to what he holds most dear. And this is something he highly abhors. In Draken's opinion, people who are not part of their world, can't and mustn't be casualties (he expresses this way of thinking when he and Mikey go to the hospital to visit the girl, in chapter 12). So the difference between Takemichi and Draken when it comes to loving someone doesn't lie in the quality and the quantity of their feelings for respectively Hinata and Emma, it just lies in a different and totally personal perspective from which they act. Whereas Takemichi fights for Hina, just like Emma fights for Draken to win his heart, Draken gives up his feelings both because he thinks they would be a weakness and not to make a victim out of anyone. In the end Emma falls victim of an entirely different situation Draken's feelings have nothing to do with, she loses her life cruelly and tragically, but surely not because of Draken's love. So, all his efforts went wasted, all their suffering for not spending their time together openly loving each other when they still had the chance went totally wasted. That's why Draken's attitude might be considered wrong in some respects, yet still a form of love (but I think this judgement is up to the reader's opinion, for example the way I see it, Draken, as mature as he might be, was still too young and inexperienced when it came to feelings to fully figure out what was the right thing to do in his position, of course I think he should've expressed his love, but I can see why he didn't, literally he never even experienced family love in his life, of course he didn't know how to properly handle feelings and he considered them a weakness).

[therealsaintscully]

Mary and butterflies - the inevitability of death, murderous calling cards and collectors

Some ramblings with links to other people’s excellent meta, in which I suggest that butterflies (and/or moths) symbolize Mary as Moriarty’s reincarnation and or calling card, while also hint at her inevitable death.

Disclaimers: credits are below the cut. I’m not an expert in any of these topics. Thank you, @thewatsonbeekeepers​​ for the beta. In this post I’ll be using moths and butterflies interchangeably, apologies to any entomologists.

Mary’s appearance in the show brings with it new imagery we haven’t seen prior to The Empty Hearse - butterflies. Once Mary’s in the picture, there are butterflies in some very strategic locations, all are either visually or subtextually leading to her. The show has done that previous to season 3; Moriarty is connected to some well established symbols like magpies, apples and IOUs. 

When I first started reading meta I used to think these themes were a bit of a stretch, but I’ve since accepted  that this is a show that puts barely noticeable phoenixes in a restaurant scene that shows us Sherlock rising from his death.

Here are some of the butterflies I spotted so far:

Butterflies (and in the case of this piece of meta, moth) symbolize most commonly resurrection, change and renewal. Behind the symbolism stands the transformation of a small, ungainly creature into something full-grown and unbound. In that case, in the simplest way, one could argue that butterflies were chosen to symbolize her because the ‘Mary Morstan’ persona was a stillborn’s identity that was stolen and used ‘reborn’ to create a new person.

But more than this simplistic idea; butterflies carry multiple symbolisms. When it comes to Sherlock, I and many others tend to look at Victorian symbolism, considering the detective’s Victorian roots. 

I find the appearance of butterflies interesting in Mary’s context, much like I find the skull interesting in Sherlock’s. The skulls, in Sherlock’s case, serve plenty of purposes, but one of them is the idea of memento mori.

Memento mori (Latin for 'remember that you [have to] die') is an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. These are representations that can appear in any form of art such as paintings, literature, poetry etc. It’s a concept that existed in many ancient cultures but is also deeply rooted in early Christianity. It serves to remind people of the inevitable; that even if we choose to ignore it, not think about it, it’s always there lurking, and the purpose is not to scare us but to encourage us to make good use of our time when we’re alive. Memento mori was the philosophy of reflecting on your own death as a form of spiritual improvement, and rejecting earthly vanities.

Victorians were obsessed with the concept (weren’t Victorians obsessed with everything?). They would take photographs of the dead and keep locks of hair of those who died in mourning brooches. It is said that they found these practices comforting. 

Another expression of the ‘remember that you must die’ concept was vanitas art;  vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. The Latin noun vanitas (from the Latin adjective vanus 'empty') means 'emptiness', 'futility', or 'worthlessness', the traditional Christian view being that earthly goods and pursuits are transient and worthless. It alludes to Ecclesiastes 1:2; 12:8, where vanitas translates the Hebrew word hevel (הבל), which also includes the concept of transitoriness. 

This concept reminds me, most especially, of the skull used in The Abominable Bride, which is actually Charles Allen Gilbert's 'All is Vanity' Illusion art.

Back to butterflies - butterflies are a staple component of vanitas art - paintings executed in the vanitas style were meant to remind viewers of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. They also provided a moral justification for painting attractive objects - in a way, it’s a justification for the vanity, or the human need of enjoyment of beautiful things.  Below is a vanitas by Jan Sanders van Hemessen:

But butterflies are also considered an omen of death: 

“Butterflies and moths were associated with death, sometimes merely as omens, sometimes as the soul or ghost.” These butterfly omens came in many ways.  For example, in the nineteenth century United States, some people thought that a trio of butterflies was an omen of death.” [x]

Oh.

But I also think there’s more to the butterfly symbolism than Mary’s imminent death; I suggest that, in keeping with @loudest-subtext-in-tv​ M-Theory (suggesting that Mary was planted in John’s life by Moriarty), they symbolize Mary as Moriarty reincarnated following his death in TRF. That Moriarty had indeed not disappointed Sherlock - there was a posthumous game after all! That Sherlock was supposed to understand that while one form of Moriarty died on that roof, another had emerged, continuing the mission of burning Sherlock’s heart. Mary is Moriarty’s calling card, left behind in the crime scene. They’re different, but not separate, which is why Sherlock is so obsessed with Moriarty between HLV-T6T; he’s both wrong and correct at the same time.

So far, what I’ve suggested is that in Sherlock, skulls are Sherlock’s symbolic memento mori - the skulls are associated with Sherlock in some very significant ways. 

However, Mary’s character was doomed from the start - she dies during Sherlock’s hiatus in ACD canon. I believe many fans assumed Sherlock’s Mary expected the same fate when she was introduced to the show. Although the story of Samarra is told by Sherlock, who expects his own death in T6T, Mary is the one who ends up dying. 

Butterflies in ACD canon

Searching for the significance of butterflies in the ACD and BBC canon led me to a number of interesting directions in meta written by others. 

The first and probably the best place to start is this meta post by @tendergingergirl​​, which I strongly suggest you read in full: Butterflies, Sexual Deviancy & The Bloodline Theory in The Hound of The Baskervilles. 

Stapleton also has a hobby. He collects bugs…Butterflies, to be exact. This can often be seen as purely academic, but depending on the actions of the hobbyist, they can indicate more disturbing things. That of holding something vulnerable captive, treating it as your hostage, pinning it down. The torture of animals has come to be a good indicator of someone who would do this to a human. He had already shown callousness by laughing as he recounts to Holmes of ponies wandering onto the Moor, becoming trapped, and dying. In 1974, there was a release of a new edition of Sherlock Holmes stories, with the forward of The Hound of The Baskervilles written by British author, John Fowles. He is responsible for several well-known works, including The French Lieutenant’s Wife. Another, was a novel that Mason finds himself wondering why Fowles doesn’t mention in his introduction, since the villain is such a close parallel to Stapleton.(but as we have learned through the study of ACD, most writers will not come right out and say where they got their inspiration. They like for you to guess!)

A lonely young man, works as a clerk, and collects butterflies, becomes obsessed with a pretty young girl, Miranda, an art student. He chloroforms, and kidnaps her, taking her to his cellar basement, to add Miranda to his collection. That book was called The Collector. But what else does it sound like?

“So yes, I googled. From an article on the release of the movie’s Documentary. "The docu proves a poor reference point for anyone who wants to understand the literary and movie links for “Lambs.” There’s no mention, for example, of how Harris partly based the butterfly-loving Bill on John Fowles’ kidnapper in “The Collector” …And here I thought Mofftiss added allusions to Silence of The Lambs into Sherlock just for fun. SMH.”

@tendergingergirl​ also added this photo to their post:

So what we have here is a chain of metatextualities/inspiration, starting with ACD’s THOB, where Jack Stapelton inspires a book about a disturbed butterfly collector (The Collector by John Fowles), which inspires a the author of Silence of the Lambs in creation of his character Buffalo Bill, a serial murderer who inserts a death's head moth into the victim's throat because he is fascinated by the insect's metamorphosis. Silence of the Lambs served as inspiration for Sherlock  as analyzed by @garkgatiss​ in Bond, Hannibal, and Holmes (I suggest you read the whole Hannibal section) . 

Let’s look again at some imagery from His Last Vow. Mary shoots Sherlock’s heart, essentially burning his heart out, and who does Sherlock meet in his Mind Palace in a very cocoon-like straightjacket? Yes, the dead dude who encourages him to die already (“one more push, and off you pop”).

What’s the next thing we as an audience see once Sherlock opens his eyes? Mary coming to the hospital to hear that Sherlock had, in fact, survived. And what is she wearing? Her butterfly scarf, one which will another appearance later in the episode, during the tarmac scene.

I also find it interesting that in the context of Sherlock and Silence of the Lamb, there’s an element of gender-switching between Moriarty and Mary. Buffalo Bill, the murderer from Silence of the Lambs, skins bodies of women to create himself a woman’s 'suit’; in Sherlock, Moriarty is a man-villain who transforms into a female-villain in the form of a bride and/or Mary. 

By the way, who else is obsessed with his suits?

Also, let’s not forget the worms, maggots and other such crawlers in the grave scene:

Now, let’s go over some of the photos I included in the beginning of this post a bit further.

Mrs. Hudson’s butterfly tea set is first shown in TEH - she uses it to serve John tea when he comes visiting her and tellis her about Mary. We also see it near John’s chair on the day of the wedding. This isn’t Sherlock’s set - his set is different, featuring the British Isles. Moriarty drinks from it in TRF. The next tea set we see, now that Moriarty is dead, is the butterflies one. In TLD, Mrs. Hudson uses Sherlock’s tea set - the butterflies are gone.

Mary’s bedroom wallpaper is very feminine, with flowers and butterflies, both complementing symbols while also very common in vanitas art. Much like Mrs. Hudson’s wallpaper in Baker Street, Mary’s wallpaper is supposed to show the contrast between Mary’s flat/Mary and Sherlock’s flat/Sherlock.

There’s an interesting moth reference in The Empty Hearse, which in my opinion, is Mary & Moriarty related. In short, in a previous piece of meta I wrote, I suggested that the Jack the Ripper case in TEH is subtext alluding to Mary’s skeletons, which Sherlock ignores because he’s upset by his reception by John. And what’s one of the first things Sherlock notices about the skeleton? New mothballs smell, hinting at an attempt to get rid of moth/butterflies - maybe a hint to  the fact that Sherlock has a chance to discover the truth about Mary but misses it. Also, in the context of Mary and the Jack the Ripper case, notice this transition:

Transitions are important on Sherlock - they’re nearly always there to draw our attention.

This, I think, is perhaps the most telling about a possible connection between Mary and Moriarty: we have both magpies (a Moriarty hint) and butterflies together here. This isn’t the only hint of Mary’s past we get in the wedding; there is, after all, the telegram from CAM.

Mary’s scarf is colorful, and it appears by the time Sherlock’s subconscious suspects Mary. Mary’s black butterfly dress - an ominous dress, I’d say - is the one she wears during the labour scene in the car. The third photo is a behind the scenes photo uploaded by Amanda Abbington, although I’m unsure whether this necklace is AA’s or Mary’s (but I couldn’t pass on including this).

Interestingly, the butterflies do not appear in Rosie’s context - either because it’s a telling sign that Mary won’t be with us much longer, or because Rosie is spared being considered a part of the ‘burning Sherlock’s heart’ plan. Sherlock, on the surface, seems to love Rosie and accepts her.

Also, another BTS photograph I came across during my research which I’ve never seen before and ties nicely to the vanity topic is this one (found here):

The Death's-head hawkmoth and ‘Death with Interruptions’

You’ll recall that I referenced The Collector and Silence of the Lambs, both featuring butterflies on their cover art. 

The Silence of the Lambs cover features Acherontia atropos, otherwise known as the death's-head hawkmoth. It gets its name from the sinister-looking skull shape on its back. In many cultures it is thought to be an omen of death. In a bit of another coincidental but stunning piece of symbolism, all three species of the Death's-head hawkmoth are commonly observed raiding beehives of different species of honey bee; A. atropos only invades colonies of the well-known western honey bee, Apis mellifera, and feeds on both nectar and honey. They can move about in hives without being disturbed because they mimic the scent of the bees and are not recognised as intruders.

Anyway, the use of Acherontia atropos reminded me of the book ‘Death with Interruptions’ by Jose Saramago. Interestingly, this is another book about a deathly collector with a butterfly on the cover:

In Death with Interruptions death is a woman, and she falls in love with one of her future victims. She decides to spare his life: Every time death sends him his letter [notifying him of his imminent death], it gets returned. death discovers that, without reason, this man has mistakenly not been killed. Although originally intending merely to analyse this man and discover why he is unique, death eventually becomes infatuated with him, so much so that she takes on human form to meet him. Upon visiting the cellist, she plans to personally give him the letter; instead, she falls in love with him, and, by doing so, she becomes even more human-like.

It’s pretty common to read theories about Mary who maybe was one of the assassins due to kill John both at the pool and in front of Barts. So we have a death harbinger trying to kill someone twice and failing. She then falls in love with him.

But how does the butterfly fit in?

Well, at some point in the story, death (that’s her name, sans a capital d), contemplates that using the death head butterfly, instead of a violet piece of paper, would have sent a much stronger message to those whose death is coming for.

And here’s another last bit of coincidental reference to Sherlock: I’d argue shades of purple, among them shades of violet, are associated with Mary and her secrets. There’s the purple dress she wears in TEH, her bridesmaids’ dresses include various shades of purple (including what I would argue was a violet sash) and let’s not forget:

Oh and, by the way, remember the song Donde Estas, Yolanda from TEH, about a woman called Yolanda? Always thought it was a bit of an odd choice for a song?

Yolanda is a female given name, of Greek origin, meaning Violet.

:)

Thoughts?

Credits: thank you @lukessense​ for directing me to @tendergingergirl​ meta about butterflies. Episode screenshots are from kissthemgoodbye.net.

@sarahthecoat​  @tjlcisthenewsexy​ @devoursjohnlock​ @inevitably-johnlocked​ @shylockgnomes​ @possiblyimbiassed​ @raggedyblue​ @ebaeschnbliah​ @gosherlocked​ @waitedforgarridebs​ @helloliriels​ 

[kimberly-spirits13]

Right Hand Man (Loyal to the End) Pt. 1

Pairing: Damian Wayne x reader

Synopsis: You were like Talia’s daughter. The only thing was that you weren’t and instead, you had grown up in the foster care system and at a young age were taken by and personally trained by Talia. Along the way, you meet Damian and the two of you start to work side by side and eventually, after some time become closer and closer. However, when disaster in the league strikes, you face balancing an old, forgotten life as a normal child and the burden of right hand to the demon heir.

Note: I know that this is long and that there are a good number of time skips, but I didn’t want to make this into a series and just wanted it as a long fic because .... well because I can lol

Also, I didn’t want to have Damian so young in this so just go with it. I’m thinking maybe early 15 or almost 16 at the most. Idk I just don’t like writing for young Dami.

Warnings: mentions of murder, blood, brief mentions of torture but not for long

Word Count: 2393

        Growing up was a lot different for you than anyone else. For the first part of your life, you grew up in a perfect little family with a stable living condition and happy atmosphere. What happened later was easy to explain in all theory. There was a drunk driver and it didn’t end to well for your parents. With no remaining family, you were thrown into the foster care system and rotated around homes until finally one day, a strange woman came in with a smiley demeanor and was walking around the orphanage that you were in looking around when her eyes landed on you. You stared before she approached you. During your time in the system, you met tons of different people. Most were good, but some were bad. Those bad people had two different personalities around different people and you recognized it easily. This time however, it was different. You knew she was bad, but not anything that you were really scared of.

        “You’re not who you say you are.” You whispered to her softly.

        She smiled in a way telling you were right. A few months after that encounter, she came back again. This time however, you were going with her. She took you to a hotel room after a short and quiet drive. That was when she finally started talking.

        “My name is Talia, you will address me as such.” She said, “I’m going to take you to a place far away from here where you will train to become one of the most lethal of your kind.” “I expect only obedience. If I do not get this, you will be punished. Now, do you understand?”

        “Yes Talia.” You replied carefully.

        “What is your preferred name?” Talia asked.

“Y/N.”

_______________________________________________________________________

        From then on, you were trained and taught with the best tutors alive. Not that they wanted to without a bit of persuasion and after your lessons, along with Damian’s, Talia’s birth son, they mysteriously disappeared. You knew what happened to them however. It was pretty easy to guess even for the most stupid person. Besides, you had to kill one yourself in the past.

        You were a quiet person and took well to Talia. She saw you as one of her own. That was high praise coming from someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone at a wrong glance. Your training came from her and only the top members of the League. Anyone else was seen as too easy or below even your own level of skill. That’s how it always was. You always avoided too much conversation with Damian when you were young and merely tolerated him for the most part. You saw him as a begrudging equal in power and standing. You were liked more secretly since you weren’t one to be overly proud or bold in talking about where you stood. In fact, the most you did was command and fight. You saw no point in boasting on positions of power. It was a useless waste of time and a means to get yourself killed.

        On days you got time off, even if It was for a few minutes, you were always found in the quietest parts of the base. Whether that was your room or any kind of gardens, you would be found there. Talia always knew where you were because of this.

        “I expect you are prepared for the next mission Y/N?” She asked walking to you one morning after training.

        “As always Talia.” You said standing to greet her.

        She sat down with you for only a little bit and the conversation was brief.

        “I’ve noticed you’ve been lost in thought recently.” She noted, “What matter is this over?”

        You were shocked. It wasn’t everyday Talia showed any kind of emotion like this. Maybe tiny, tiny gestures after successful missions that you had led, but not much other than that.

        “I’ve just been thinking of the success of my upcoming mission. I need to know that these certain recruits are not going to jeopardize the mission. While they aren’t new, I have an instinct they will prove unfit for this kind of work.”

        “I understand. Measures will be taken if they prove useless.” Talia assured, “All concerns aside, you are needed prepared and ready. If not, the roll of leader will be given elsewhere.”  

        “You should not concern yourself with me, I will be fully capable of leading a squad myself.” You stood, “it is time for me to leave however.”

_______________________________________________________________________

        The mission was going fine until now. You were right about the recruits. When they messed up, you immediately jumped into action killing who they missed. In this process, you were drenched in rain water and blood. No one had ever seen you this furious. This is why you were leader, you were the only one that knew what to do in times of stress and how to punish those who wronged the goal of the missions.

        “You fools!” You shouted in the ship, “You had the perfect chance and did not take it! Your assignments were simple for a reason and you almost jeopardized the entire assignment over a bit of rain!” “I have finished missions nearly dead and you incompetent idiots couldn’t kill four people.” “When we get back to the base, you should be expecting punishment accordingly.”

        The rest of the ride was dead silent but for your second in command and yourself discussing matters of the mission in a different language. It wasn’t a long flight and by the time you were back, you were still soaked. Brushing a piece of wet hair that was just now starting to curl once more, you approached Talia, who was being trailed closely by Damian who almost stepped back by the look you had on your face.

        “What happened?” Talia demanded glaring for a quick second at the questionable recruits.

        “The mission was almost jeopardized by the recruits that I raised concern about. They put unnecessary risks onto the table and missed the simple instructions they were assigned.” You narrowed your eyes some, “I took care of what they couldn’t.” “The mission was successful.”

        “Very well. Hit the showers and meet me in the briefing room in 40 minutes.” Talia said.

        “Understood.” You walked passed her and Damian, only stopping to acknowledge him for a few seconds, “Damian.” You said nodding.

        “Y/N.” You were the only one that could address him as his first name besides Talia and The Demon Head and you were the only one he’d use a first name for.

        You continued down the hallway and a few more before making into another sector of the building that you stayed. Those in high ranking had their own bathrooms such as you and Talia. It was seen as a sign of respect and designation from the rest. You walked into your bedroom, smaller as they tended to be and grabbed your change of clothes. This is what you normally wore around the complex if you weren’t going on missions. It was as simple as a black suit with straps for weapons and a place for your swords. Other than that, it was nothing special. It was against code to wear any kind of sleep wear outside of your room.

_______________________________________________________________________

        While on your way back from the briefing room, you decided to take a detour to the roof tops where you stayed sometimes. The view was incredible at night and the stars shown brighter than you’d seen anywhere else. There was a cool breeze up there and the occasional glimpse of the nightly patrol off in the distance. You were alone for most of the time and became captive to your own thoughts running wild. That didn’t mean you didn’t hear the footsteps behind you though.

        “What brings you to the roof?” You asked to the figure not even turning around.          

        You knew it was Damian just by how he walked. It typically took a few minutes for the two of you to drop your guard, even in the slightest, however it was the only time you could.

        “I wanted some fresh air and figured you’d be here. I am pleased to find that I was not incorrect in my thinking.” He replied sitting next to you.

        “I’m flattered.”

        The sarcastic tone of your comment led a smirk onto Damian’s face.

        “You looked abnormally angry after today’s assignment.” He commented, “I was surprised to see you so...”

        “Covered head to toe in blood and rain?”

        “Precisely.”

        “Well, that would not have happened if there was not a reason for it to. By all means, sometimes, I expect there to be mistakes. I also expect there to be repercussions. But if you cannot even finish off the simplest of tasks, you are by all means an absolute incompetent fool.” “I could have done that as a young child.”

        “I noticed you seemed to be less than pleased when recruits were assigned on Monday.” Damian said, “I presumed it was something to do with those individuals.”

        “Correct.”

        There was some silence between the two of you. Some night up on the rooftops, there were no conversations. You two acknowledged each other’s presence and continued on your way, minding your own business, and ultimately being comfortable in each other’s company. However, tonight you had something else in mind.

        “Has Talia been acting strangely more... emotional? In a positive way I think.” You asked him, “I thought it might have just been me, but with some more conversation with her earlier this morning, I suspect something must be wrong.”

        “I have noticed that. I am sure that there is nothing too terribly wrong to fear. Grandfather has had no change in his demeanor... That said, he is more seasoned to conflict.” Damian remarked, “You do get more information on matters on occasion with your status.”

        “I know, that’s why I’m concerned.” “I don’t want to be caught in the middle of some war or whatever the case may be. Besides, I have my real assignment which is watching over you. I don’t need anything getting in the way of why I’m supposedly really here.”          

        “You are aware that your “only job” isn’t just to be my protector or however my mother worded when we were young children. You’re also one of most commanding and powerful people I’ve ever met. Your position was well placed in your hands and it is well taken care of by you.” Damian commented.

        “High praise coming from the grandson of The Demon Head.” You almost let a smile slip onto your face at what he said.

        “I don’t remember a day where you weren’t there in some way.” He said, “Whether that was to scold me for being too proud of my bloodline or just making sarcastic remarks about anything you could.” He smirked, “Not that I didn’t fire back.”

        “Mhmm. Talia, as much as she doesn’t want to admit it was extremely amused when I used to talk like that to you. Although, she denies it every time now.” You thought back to the days when you and Damian used to bicker about everything. You were always secretly the more serious one no matter how much he wanted to keep that up. For you, there was no family line to fall back on. You only had your reputation and especially here, that was easy and dangerous to damage.

        “What do you think is going on?” He asked, “If there is anything wrong, one of us, if not both will know within the next few weeks at most.”

        “I don’t really know. I think that it might be something internal. The Demon Head and Talia might be about to sweep the lower and middle ranks for traitors or those less competent. They might even take the upper ranks. Just watch your back.”

        “As always.”

        You looked back out at the view looking at the mountain tops, inspecting each and every one that you could see. The snow gleamed in pale moonlight and every once in a while, you’d possibly see a shooting star go by. When training wasn’t underway and most everyone was asleep, the compound was one of the most peaceful places you’d ever been. You caught yourself yawning and suddenly a wave of exhaust washed over you.

        “How long has it been since you slept properly?” Damian asked noticing right away your shift in demeanor.

        “Maybe four days at best. It was just the mission preparations. I’ll be fine, besides, training for me in the morning is not until later. I’ll have time to sleep longer.” You stood back up, “I am going to head back to my room now. However, I do expect to see you at sparring tomorrow?”

        “I will be there.”

        With that, you hopped down the roof top and left back for your room. You knew he’d follow shortly after you, it was customary for him to after some alone time. That always helped with anything he was dealing with since he rarely ever got it. That’s the unspoken worst part about being in the positions you two were in. There was never any time to yourselves.

[rainbowsky]

Final round-up of fan fic asks

I've gotten a few more interesting responses to the fan fic discussion so I'm going to round them all up here. This will be my final post on the topic until/unless there's a dramatic new development, or a particularly notable response I want to highlight. Thanks to everyone who brought their thoughts and experiences to the topic. I hope everyone at least feels heard.

The biggest piece of advice that I would like to offer is for everyone to focus on what they love rather than what they hate. If we all did that, the world would be a better place. Alongside that, I'd like to remind everyone to please support authors whose work you like. It's so important. Give them a kudos, give them a nice comment, recommend their work to others. You never know what kind of grief and harassment they are dealing with to bring you these great stories, and our support means a lot.

This is in reference to previous posts here and here.

Anonymous asked:

With regard to fandom and fan fic issue, my years of experience being part of very large fandoms has led me to believe that big accounts are v important in facilitating and enforcing the general consensus of the whole fandom. Unless there will be big accs who'll remind everyone of being respectful & just not being a dick over other's preferences, nothing will change.

This is also the reason why I think certain solo fandoms have adapted weird and twisted narratives as their general fandom story because no big acc has tried to police them & and say hey pls be rational. Whether we like it or not, in a place where how far voices, ideas, tweets, posts get heard is based on the number of followers you have, big accs will have the power and influence in creating/curating/shifting the narratives.

So, if you want to know why your/our fandom thinks like this in general, look at what big accs are tweeting/posting, look at what ideas & values they follow, look at their preferences or how strongly they react to certain situations. it's taxing and toxic for big accs given the nature of social media these days, but it's also the reality of system, the more followers/audience you have, the more influence you will have.

So to anyone reading this I hope we all practice more restraint and reflection before we post anything. Remember that words, no matter what medium you write it in, will always carry weight.

So true. It is easy - even for myself who spends a fair chunk of time answering people's asks - to forget that people can sometimes be impressionable and what we say can influence people whether that's our intent or not. I get used to thinking of myself as a regular guy just doing my own thing when sometimes my thoughts and words go well beyond where I initially posted them.

I think it's important for us to be careful what we say, and it's equally important to be careful what we take from what other people say. Especially when it comes to big claims. Always get a second, third, fourth opinion and don't be afraid to ask for clarification if something doesn't sit right or sounds confusing.

It's also important to reflect on how our words and actions might affect other people's experience of fandom, and err on the side of 'live and let live' wherever possible. It's great to have our own preferences and to champion them, but we should try to do so in a way that leaves space for other people and perspectives.

The more unique perspectives and the more friendly, open dialog there is, the healthier the community will be as a whole.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging and guiding growth in the particular areas we are interested in, as long as it doesn't step on, oppress or attack those who are peacefully enjoying something different.

Anonymous 2 asked: bjyx fans attacking gdgdbaby for including zsww/lsfy dynamics in an event named bjyx then turning right around and attacking the zsww/lsfy event organizer for excluding bjyx? god, can you hear my facepalm and sigh of resignation and incredulity from over there? im genuinely not surprised that they're trying to drive an entire part of the fandom out by disgusting them (and me) with these immature tactics. i believe what im about to say next will sound quite bait-y and i respect your decision 1/?

should you choose not to post this. but i do know that it is not only me, in fact there are many out there, that is of this opinion. we just dont talk about it on twitter to avoid the potential mess it will bring lol. okay, here goes nothing. (do note that im talking about the majority here, not every single person is like this) so bjyx fans tend to be cishet females whereas zsww/lsfy fans are more diverse in terms of age and gender, and most of them are part of the queer community too 2/?

i would like to clarify that most of these zsww/lsfy fans are not dynamic exclusive (in the sense that they are friendly and interact with all ggdd fans) they just prefer to "identify" themselves as zsww/lsfy fans (on twitter specifically) just to form a distinction from bjyx fans who mostly are dynamic exclusive (as in; they do not consume non-bjyx content, and straightup refuse to interact with non-bjyx fans, often blocking them). as a result, id say that the zsww/lsfy communiy is way more 3/?

mature and respectful (after all, they're mostly queer people talking about a queer ship) whereas many problems in this fandom, such as the homophobia, adamantly insisting on "drawing lines" between dynamics, stem from the bjyx exclusive fans, comprised of cishet females who "may not know better". so, it is of no surprise to me that they're resorting to these immature tactics of calling gg unsavory names, and organizing retaliatory events with controversial topics in an attempt to "purify". 4/4

I trust that you have arrived at that theory through your own experience and observation. I haven't personally spent much time immersed in this stuff so I can't claim to have any real insight or expertise. If you say that's your experience of it, then at the very least that's how you've seen things up to this point.

I just want to say that I think we should always be careful about making assumptions about people's age, gender/gender identity, etc.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid doing that; because those assumptions could be very wrong, because those assumptions are often laced with ageism, sexism, etc., because those assumptions - even when correct - might not be an accurate basis for the conclusions we draw.

But the primary reason I recommend avoiding those type of assumptions is because anything that enables us to clump a group of people together in our minds like that will tend to make them easier to demonize and dehumanize. They are no longer individuals who are each responsible for their own unique perspectives, they are now 'the X group' who is known for 'A B C series of easily attackable ideas or behaviors'.

If we attribute undesirable traits and behaviors to a group of people we feel opposed to in some way, that makes us feel more righteous and justified in behaving unfairly toward them, dismissing their humanity and warring with them. It's just risky behavior to engage in, even when it's well-intentioned.

There might actually be some truth to what you're saying. It could very well be that most of these people are young, inexperienced, heteronormative, etc. but if that's the case then we should try to use those traits to better understand and empathize rather than to better dismiss and discredit.

Just my two cents on that.

It can be really frustrating dealing with what feels like other people attacking us, trying to oppress us, etc. - especially when there are more of them than there are of us. In my experience the best solutions to that sort of problem are generally the ones that focus on what we are doing and want to do rather than what they are doing that we don't want them to do.

As I am always preaching, we can't control what other people say, do or think. The only thing we have any control over is what we say, do and think (and how we respond to what they say, do and think).

I have found in my experience that the moment I step out of a conflict mindset and instead step into a problem-solving mindset, everything starts to come together. I feel better, my outlook is more positive, I can begin to see solutions and allies rather than problems and enemies, and most of all, I become more focused on what I am doing than what others are doing.

So I would recommend everyone who is invested in resolving these conflicts focus on that. "How can we best showcase and encourage the types of stories we enjoy?" instead of "How can we stop these other people from doing things we dislike?"

Anonymous 3 asked:

Hello again! It’s anon #3 from the fanfic post. I really do appreciate reading your thoughts on various issues like this, so thank you for always taking time to write in depth. As for supporting without going to war, the simplest way has always been to just show appreciation for the creators, hype them up. Kudos are the easiest way on ao3 but comments in addition are great. This goes for all content—art, fics, vids..etc. Creators love to see and read how people react to their content. Sharing is also great, fic recs are very helpful, just be cautious with art and reposting though. Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks so much, Anon. I think this is excellent advice. And it's true that appreciation is great, but helping to expand the audience is also great. Recommending stories, pointing people to the pages/websites of artists we like (as opposed to reposting), sharing our own ideas and approaches, encouraging people to try new things... all of this helps build healthier communities.

And here's another one: WRITE! DRAW! CREATE!

I urge anyone with creative interests or talents to bring their voices to the community because we all can benefit from hearing from you.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your thoughts on this issue. I hope that over time we can all work in positive ways to improve the situation.

I think this subject has been well-covered now so I'm going to retire it for the time being. If anyone still feels they want to discuss it further please feel free to message me privately. Thanks.