#that's a huge amount of care and work that won't be possible if we have more people sick with bird flu

[albonium]

wear N95 masks indoors everywhere, wash your hands and everything you handle, wear glasses, don't touch animals, don't let your cat out, don't eat animal products that haven't been thoroughly cooked/pasterised

[dreamerinthemoonlight]

Genshin Guys with an S/O on their Period: Waking up with a Mess and Cramps Edition (Diluc, Kaeya, Neuvillette, Itto)

A/N: Now that I can do more than curl up on the couch letting the heating pad do it's job kind of here we go.

Do we even know what period products people on Teyvat use? And have they even invented Midol? Like, what does a Teyvat medicine cabinet look like?

CW: mentions of blood because period, duh, hurt/comfort

Diluc x fem!reader, Kaeya x fem!reader, Neuvillette x fem!reader, Itto x fem!reader

Requests are OPEN

Diluc

Diluc is a heaven send at a time like this, no doubt it

The man is on it

Let's say he comes home from some Mondstadt batman-ing and goes to curl up in bed with you

Only to find you asleep, but curled up in pain and a growing red spot on the sheets

Thanks be to Adelinde for making sure he's not clueless about female issues. If he didn't know anything before dating you, she made sure he had an clue after

He wakes you up, gently, and helps you get to the bathroom so he can help clean you up, while Adelinde (who makes a habit of staying up when Diluc does his vigilante thing) makes sure the sheets are changed and gets you whatever pain relief Mondstadt has available

After you're clean and have whatever products you use on, you go back to bed and he curls up behind you. He uses his vision to warm his hands and uses them as a hot pad for you

Let's be real, you don't get better than a pyro vision for dealing with cramps

Kaeya

Kaeya is not quite as good as Diluc (mostly because of his vision, lol)

In this case he has the decency to not tease and poke fun. Even if he didn't know that doing so would result in his premature death, he actually feels sympathy

When he wakes up next to you, finding you curled up and nearly crying, he's momentarily very concerned. After all, his pretty little s/o is in pain and that just won't do

A quick once over and he spots the blood pooling between your legs and the concern subsides. This isn't the first time this has happened, especially if you're not possessed of a clock-work cycle, though your cramps usually aren't this bad

Because both of you are familiar with this routine, he''s got a lot of stuff on hand. Like Diluc, he makes sure you wake up and get cleaned up while he changes sheets and runs to pester Barbara about something to help the cramps. Again, he doesn't have the advantage of a pyro vision

If he has a mission that day, he does it as quick as possible, but if he just has paper work, he carries that shit home and does it while taking care of you

He wants you to focus on not hurting, so any chores you would do he takes over (it gives him a way to avoid paperwork, lol)

Neuvillette

I'm not saying Neuvie would freak, the first time this happened, but yeah, the man freaks the fuck out

I mean, dragon boy doesn't spend that much time in close proximity to human females. He conceivably is fully unaware of what exactly a period entails.

When you wake up cursing and hissing in pain, which wakes him up in the process, he's genuinely scared for you

After all, you look like you're in huge amounts of pain and that's blood on the sheets. It takes you several minutes to calm Neuvie down, to make sure than he's not blowing things too far out of proportion

Eventually you manage to enlist his help cleaning up. He's perfectly happy to give a little help making sure the bloodstains on your thighs are gone and changing the sheets

He still calls one of the Melusine nurses. A) you're in pain and that's unacceptable to him and b) he's still not 100% certain that you're OK

You roll your eyes, but it does hurt and I'm not sure what kind of over the counter period relief Teyvat has. Either way, you'll have something that might help

After the Melusine leaves, you pull him back to bed and cuddle while you explain female biology in depth. First time a 500 year old dragon has had to take sex-ed lol

Once you're done he feels a little embarrassed over his overreaction

Needless to say, your next period goes much smoother. Once he's aware of the issue, he does some research on his own, talks to some other girls about ways to make it easier (basically being a stand up, super loyal boyfriend.n outstanding boyfriend)

Eventually the entire ordeal is something the two of you will laugh over

Itto

I rarely write for Itto, but I think the idea of Itto seeing the period mess and cramps would be kinda funny. At least from the outside. I would not want to be the s/o in this situation. It's a mess

He thinks the world is ending. Blows it waaaay out of proportion, and unlike Neuvie, he doesn't really listen.

Once you convince him you're not dying, he thinks you're the absolute coolest for being able to bleed every month and be in that much pain and not die

You might have to stop him from trying to "join his most awesome girlfriend ". Like, if you're so cool for this, obviously the One and Oni must be able to as well? Right.

You immediately call Shinobu because, "No. Itto. You have a dick. If you try and bleed like this. you'll die."

You and Shinobu stop him from trying to have a period too, because he'd try...somehow, and send him on basic errands or something. Anything to distract him.

Honestly, I feel like dealing with Itto's...whatever he has going on...would be more exhausting than the period and cramps

In this situation, Shinobu is your girl. She is prepared, both with the ability to redirect Itto and whatever you don't have on hand in case of mess and cramps

[chimggukchim]

2024...A Look Back At Jikook

As we bring in the new year and all the possibilities and hope that it brings, I thought I'd reflect on the year that was 2024 and all that we received from Jimin and Jungkook. Here are some of my favourite presents!

Are You Sure? - Duh! Lol. How else would I begin this list? I don't think there was anyone who could have ever predicted that we would be getting a reality series with just Jikook. Like...THAT HAPPENED! We literally got to spend 8+ hours with Jikook and their dynamic. Added to that...MERCH?! So I'd say it was a pretty rewarding year if we'd just gotten that.

MUSE - I'm sure we all felt a bit dejected when FACE's promo time wasn't that long due to most of the guys needing to release their stuff before their enlistment date in December. This is not meant to be a fighting point (I don't care to entertain mantis). Anyway, it was a joy to not only see him release another album, but also have that album and it's HUGE single be given an adequate amount of focus time. I personally enjoyed MUSE more, as the songs were more to my taste and...BLONDE JIMIN!!! I was completely obsessed with his look for this album. And I love that even though a lot of English was incorporated into the album, there was still a very big presence of Jimin in its creation. Jimin is so creative, it isn't even funny, and I personally look forward to him being more involved in BTS' music production and lyricism.

WHO - Listen...when Seven came out and did THOSE numbers, my mind was blown. Just look at the records it took from BTS and Dynamite/Butter! I was like...how can that ever be topped? Well, Park Jimin had something to say about that, apparently. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I was simply dumbfounded that Who was not only keeping pace or was close to what Seven did last year, but surpassed it in so many key areas! It isn't that I doubted Jimin or anything. But certain patterns have been established; Jungkook has, for years, been arguably the most popular member just based purely on a consumption factor. So his releases would have done numbers. And Seven was a very heavily promoted single. Not to mention, Jungkook himself was present to do a promo run (which is why it got radio for those who don't understand how radio deals work in the US). So what Who has achieved without all of that (especially without Jimin to physically be here to promote) is absolutely incredible. And it shows me that, like Jungkook, Jimin would absolutely kill a solo run whenever he so chooses in the future. I am like a proud mama seeing what Who continues to achieve to this day, and am happy that he has the support.

Who Is My Heart Waiting For - Yes, Jimin. Who was your heart truly waiting for? lol. I won't go into much analysis here because there are amazingly detailed, cohesive, logical takes on the Who MV by others, so you can check those out. What I will say is that there is not a doubt in my mind that those are Jungkook's eyes in that billboard, and that this MV was done deliberately. Jimin and Jungkook have, over the years and on numerous occasions, put a bit of each other into their art, and just enough to have our heads scratching yet not be overtly obvious about anything. Kings of subtle yet loud, I would say. And this MV for me, was another example of that. Sure, one can debate that we can't be 100% certain it's JK but to that I say...to each his own. Because it wasn't just the eye thing. It was the entire MV. And the link to Taeyang and his ENL mv, I don't think is a coincidence. He is one of Jimin's biggest influences, and they did spend time together. I truly do think that Jimin used this opportunity to tell us who really has his heart.

Jikook are a MUSICAL DUO FORCE to be reckoned with - Potential relationship aside, looking at Jimin and Jungkook from a purely professional standpoint, what 2024 has shown me is that if these two were to ever be given the opportunity to become a sub-unit in the future...they would conquer the musical world. They have both shown with their music, that they have the support to be absolutely successful, and with the release of AYS, and how it was received, there is an indication that they are a very popular duo within the fandom as well (don't let keyboard trolls on social media gaslight you into thinking otherwise). Plus, the stage presence they have individually, and the chemistry they have together is otherwordly insane. So if there is one wish that I did have where jikook are concerned, it would be that BigHit see the potential there and give them a shot at a sub-unit at some time.

Jikook continues to Jikook - No matter what anyone comes on here to say (anti, solo, akgae, denialists etc), 2024 has shown us that Jimin and Jungkook continue to go very strong. They enlisted together for a reason, and it seems that they are happy they did so. These two continue to be the 'You Are Me, I Am You' duo that the universe conspired to put together. They are happy together now, and I cannot wait for them to be happy together come June, 2025.

Anyway, those were just some of the little gifts that I was happy to be given by these two this past year. I'm sure I missed some stuff, so you are most welcome to share your thoughts too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

[alexanderwales]

Save the Cat!: the short review

I liveblogged this book (anything tagged #save the cat on this blog), but this is the actual review of it.

Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder is a book about screenwriting, and it's very specifically about screenwriting spec scripts in order to get huge sales for movies. Blake Snyder worked mostly with family films, PG affairs, and sold a pretty large number of scripts, most of them by sticking to a formula. He knew a lot of people in the business, and his ethos seems like it was their ethos (though I should probably read a few other books for comparison before making any sweeping generalizations).

Blake Snyder is a hack screenwriter, but he's a hack's hack, and aside from a few completely unwarranted barbs at films which were more commercially successful and societally important than anything he would ever end up doing with his life (he died in 2009), he seems to understand who and what he was. He's writing screenplays to sell those screenplays for the highest possible dollar amount. He calls his screenplays "product". He cares about good story only in the sense that he wants whatever producer or actor is reading the script to think that it's hot shit.

Some of this is probably an act, Snyder playing up some version of himself like a good writer would. He contradicts himself at certain points, and reveals that he doesn't walk the walk quite so cleanly as the rest of the book would have us believe. He's brash, in a way that I found charming.

He's also irritating, because I fundamentally disagree with this approach to making art, and maybe that would be fine if I could just say "eh, we have very different goals" but he also doesn't seem to understand his own system very well, nor does he seem eager to explore it, and he's constantly just saying stuff without regard to whether or not it's true, or makes sense. I get the feeling that the book was written in a bit of a rush, something to work on while beating out scripts, rather than being a labor of careful love. That it took off was either his marketing talents or just that its paint-by-numbers specifics are really appealing. There are pieces that I would have pegged as being written by GPT if the book didn't predate LLMs by a wide margin, especially some examples that make no damned sense and his rambling-but-formulaic way of imparting lessons.

A lot of the examples are also kind of eye-rolling, but I cut him a little slack, because it's hard to write about writing, and giving examples of tricks you use is one of the hardest parts. You kind of need the reader to have read/seen the thing in its entirety, because if you give the brief version, with no investment or background, it just seems lame. Some of this is also Snyder, who worked mostly in 90s PG family movies: those examples are always going to be a bit cringe.

This book is the #1 book in Amazon for screenwriting, and so far as I can tell, has been the top book for screenwriting since it came out twenty years ago. It's a bestseller. As a writer, I think it's kind of crap, both because it pushes formula and because I think that it's not likely to result in very good scripts. I think you can tell a good story using this formula, but once you've mastered the formula and understand how all the pieces are supposed to move together along with the principles of storytelling, you won't need the formula. The book also does a bad job on principles of storytelling, at least in my opinion, dancing around them rather than laying them out in a clear and concise way, and especially in the middle it's poorly structured, which is somewhat ironic given how much Snyder seems to lean on structure.

I have never written a screenplay, much less sold one. Going into 2024, I told myself that this would be the year to give it a go, and I've been writing a comic, which is much closer to screenwriting than prose fiction. Maybe 2025 is going to be my year to actually sit down and hammer out a screenplay, but I can't say that I expect to take too much from this book.

[skaruresonic]

https://www.tumblr.com/skaruresonic/766227191005577216/so-clean-sweep-has-just-been-exposed?source=share

"How do they think this is going to reflect on them?"

Something like that would require to the writers to think about what they wrote beyond vibes and vague understanding of tropes. So I wouldn't count on it ever being brought up.

If they do bring up the topic they'll somehow spin it so that Sonic's the one responsible for every bad thing to ever happen. This comic only brings up the negative implications of things when the writers want to make a game character look incompetent or scummy.

Lanolin's hot head tyrant personality almost got people killed during the race. Sonic saved those people but he's still definitely the worst person ever because we say so. That's how this comic is.

They won't talk about how bad this makes the restoration look. They're gonna warp the narrative to make Sonic and his friends look like idiotic villains even if that conclusion is completely illogical.

Yeah I didn't mention it too much in my reactions, but there was an odd emphasis on public perception throughout this arc. Tails and Amy are suddenly worried about "ruining" the race by breaching the Restoration shuttle. It's one of the reasons they chose not to take the infinitely simpler option of flying up there on the Tornado.

Sonic being revealed to be the Phantom Rider in front of his friends is treated like a hard-hitting moment of betrayal (to the point where Tangle, standing frozen in shock, would have been crushed under a falling rock if Whisper hadn't pulled her away. and no, I am not making that up)... but it kind of doesn't mean anything if he doesn't ultimately care.

Surge suddenly grows to care about the public's adoration where before she didn't care about the world. Because praise kink is enough to override her brainwashing, apparently.

Clutch is instantly exposed in 4K HD through a public broadcast.

Given this emphasis on PR, logically people should have questions about how Clean Sweep managed to fool the Restoration. Not only did Clean Sweep poison water, land, and air to a seemingly Eggman-esque extent that it's tainted crops, they're said to have "falsified records" and "violently silenced" whistleblowers. How they failed to notice any of this, especially given everyone's sensitivity to the environment following Forces and the metal virus, is beyond me.

You mean Jewel, whose existence revolves around doing paperwork, was fooled by forged documents?

You mean Lanolin, who has a huge stick up her ass about keeping her people in line, was so remiss at vetting a company that wanted to work with her organization that she didn't notice folks were being tied up and stuffed into closets?

You mean the organization dedicated to making the world a better place, at best, failed to notice the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF POLLUTION their sponsor was getting up to?

In a more coherent narrative, there's no way people wouldn't connect the dots. All of this combined would imply a massive failure on the Restoration's part and possibly damage their reputation.

[all-pacas]

I saw some of your posts saying how observant and clever Chase is,while also being a "dumb whore". I feel like this is the right place to say that I don't find his "ditzy slut" moments funny in isolation,without taking his cunning,calculating traits into account. If Chase is just a "himbo",it takes away the shock value(not to mention I've seen way funnier "simple dumbasses" than "isolated Chase moments"). On the other hand,a guy who can clearly think on his feet making terrible mistakes that could be avoided by a bit of common sense is a recipe for hilarious "wtf?" moments. Like,I've seen you deduce stuff with striking accuracy with minimal information,how did you come with such an inane conclusion? It's what they call "high intelligence,low wisdom".

Also,I saw a post of you saying Foreman is "book-smarter" than Chase,while the latter is more observant and a "people-person",besides having more "improvising" skills. This is certainly interesting,considering their backgrounds(Foreman was raised in the hood,had some involvement with gangs;whereas Chase was a rich brat with many opportunities. One would think their skillsets would be inverted,lol)

Even before I finished reading this comment, I was planning on making a "he's a high in/low wisdom," so thanks for making that joke for me, lol.

The thing is, Chase is legitimately very lazy. Or like. He works hard and he's very good at his job, but I think it's interesting that both his specialties are… obviously to be a doctor you have to be smart, but he has very hands on specialties. His job isn't to memorize and know everything about auto-immune diseases, his job is to be great at cutting people open and fixing them. Again, I am well aware surgeons and intensive care takes a lot of knowledge! But it's interesting to me, you know? He definitely comes off as less cerebral.

And he's deeply unambitious. He spends half the show in a fellowship, a training program, because he's more comfortable there. Cameron and Foreman have a subplot about writing articles; we never hear anything about Chase doing the same. House literally has to fire Chase to get him off the team. Where Foreman is always desperately trying to prove himself and be the best doctor in the room, and where Cameron is honestly also deeply competitive and demands respect, Chase… we joke about him being spineless, he is spineless, but also he never really seems to mind it. He doesn't care. He does not seem offended Foreman keeps getting put in charge, nor does he really want it for himself. He has the most seniority of the fellows, but never plays it up; he's fine where he is. And I think that's where his 'laziness' comes in. He just… doesn't try very hard. Very rich kid of him, tbh. He coasts whenever possible.

Meanwhile Foreman is a huge perfectionist, and has a huge inferiority complex. He is the first to tell everyone he had perfect grades (he tells Chase a time or two), went to top schools, has a perfect resume, because Foreman derives a lot of his self worth from being able to say that: if he's the best, no one can say he doesn't belong. I think it's because of his background that he's like this: he's a Black man from a Bad Neighborhood and has a Record and he's absolutely aware what that makes him in the eyes of others. He can't afford to be like Chase — Chase can get away with being lazy and unambitious because he's a rich, good looking, white guy (and foreign, at that — but the good kind of foreign, who speaks English as a first language and comes from a rich and successful family). If Foreman acted like Chase — like he didn't give a shit about his career, like he was just working for House for the hell of it — it would look different. It would feel different. Foreman is a perfectionist and has an inferiority complex because his whole life the world has told him he's not as good, he's doomed to "turn out" bad, he won't and can't amount to anything because of who he is. Cameron is assertive and ambitious and gets really touchy when people underestimate or overlook her, because she's sensitive and kind and weak (Foreman himself tells Cameron he thinks she needs to "toughen up"), and so she also constantly has to prove herself, and that she can be a Good Doctor And Leader while still being compassionate and soft. Again, Chase doesn't have to worry about any of this. He can be unambitious and easy-going about his career, because it doesn't really matter to him in the same way. He doesn't have to be the best student or get the best marks and have the best record. He has very little to prove.

And in a way, Chase is in the same kind of perception trap as the others. Not to suggest he has it soooo much worse than Foreman, but because he's a Rich Good Looking Dude, you kind of expect him to be a nepobaby. You kind of expect him to be useless and underqualified and shallow. To coast on his looks and to not have brains and have no idea how to manage in the Real World. It's definitely how Foreman sees Chase — he says as much, and lowkey hates him for it, and fair enough — but again what's interesting to me is where it isn't quite true. Chase is brilliant, when he cares enough to try. His apathy is learned, not born from an easy life; he comes off as cool and easy-going but holds grudges and resentments and trauma about two inches down. He's afraid of rejection and trying and failing, and so stays in his comfort zones. But where Foreman spends all his time and energy trying to prove the entire world wrong, to fight every automatic perception of who he is as a person, Chase leans in to his own facade. I actually think that S8 Foreman is a pretty happy person. I think S8 Chase, Chase MD in House's office, is at least 70% miserable.

[hopeful-engineer]

People will talk about 'diet culture', 'diet industry' and how we need to 'stop giving food a moral value' and 'stop demonizing food', and while it's true, that food has no 'moral value', it's also true, that some kinds of food are bad for your health in long term. Eating a burger or pizza doesn't make you a bad person (honestly, idk why someone would even think it does?), but if you eat it too often, it will make your body feel worse. And don't forget, that 'processed food industry' also exists, and doesn't care about your health and wellbeing. It's goal is (obviously) to sell you as many of it's products as possible, so this 'eat whatever you want, whenever you want' narrative actually works to it's advantage. Food doesn't have a moral value, but it has a nutritional value and consuming huge amounts of sugar, carbohydrates and artificial flavors can make you feel better emotionally for a moment, but definetely won't make you feel better, both physically and emotionally, in the future.

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Well, it’s been a week and I've had time to cool down and put together my thoughts on Season of the Seraph and its ending. So here goes.

The season finale plot did not require Rasputin to die. "The eliksni are trying to get control of the warsats" is literally a strike. If the warsats needed to be taken off the table as a get-out-of-jail-free card we could have blown the network and kept Rasputin himself. There was an active decision to kill him. Having thought about it, I think I understand why this decision was made - but I still think it's a terrible decision, and I'll explain why.

Before we start, I don't want to sound like I'm going after Destiny's narrative team either personally or professionally. I'm not calling them terrible writers, much less terrible people. I don't know them! They might even be terrible people, for all I know. While I refer to a single monolithic "narrative team," I know in reality there are multiple groups working on different stories. I’m not a professional writer, and they are. And I genuinely believe all of them are talented people who work hard and care about Destiny. But that doesn't mean I don't have some criticisms.

After considering it I think there are three possible reasons to kill Rasputin:

1). The narrative team believed this was a good emotional conclusion that brought closure to his character arc in Destiny. In this case I just think they're flat-out wrong. I'd say "I respect it" but I kind of don't because I think it's so terribly wrong. I don't know what other people think Rasputin's character arc involved, but I won't get closure till Rasputin faces the Witness again and finally ends the war he's been trapped in for centuries. But I get why they would do it, if they believed this. And that final mission was really good. I had a hard time noticing at the time, but it was very well-done, and the cutscene proper was well-shot, -scripted, and -acted (though I'm still angry about the Traveler upstaging Rasputin's death). They put a huge amount of effort into it and into the story work all season long.

But his death being well-done doesn’t change whether I think it was a good narrative choice. Even saying “Rasputin’s arc should conclude here,” the way it was set up had him sacrificing himself to basically cancel himself out. Unless they’re saving up a plot twist, Rasputin ultimately contributed nothing to the fight. He didn’t do any damage to the Fleet or Witness, or anything to stymie Xivu Arath. He died thinking he’d never helped humanity at all and it was safer if he didn’t exist. I don’t know about you, but I find that extremely unsatisfying.

2). Someone doesn't like Rasputin/doesn't know what to do with him. This is two reasons, but they overlap. The Operation: Sancus mission dialogue pissed me off because it gave me the impression that whoever was writing it really didn't like Rasputin and was taking the chance to morally excoriate him. A more subtle version recurs in the final mission where Rasputin is essentially sacrificing himself to null out his own existence - saying "as long as I exist I'm a threat to humanity" - as if he can't ever help or contribute more than endanger people, which is just flat-out wrong. "Humanity doesn't need a Warmind" you're part of humanity, Red. He’s a person; he doesn’t need to justify living. If someone just decided Rasputin Was Bad Actually I’d be very angry indeed. But I don't think it's that personal. Destiny has lots of writers and multiple narrative teams will touch the same work. One person's distaste probably wouldn't steer an entire season.

Related, however, is the reason that maybe no one knows what to do with Rasputin. To be honest I sympathize with this one. Would it shock anyone to hear I've thought about how I would script a Rasputin-focused season? It's surprisingly hard to build a plot around him. A game needs to be interactive and Rasputin's kind of all or nothing - either he can handle the whole problem himself or he can't do anything at all. Red also mostly plays defense. He doesn't have a goal he's working towards other than "kill the Witness/save humanity." You need to come up with a plausible goal that we can believably help him achieve, and that's nontrivial. But, well, that's why I'm not a professional games writer and these people are. "Not sure what do" is not IMO sufficient justification for assassinating one of Destiny's oldest characters/factions.

3). The Destiny narrative team is trying to "declutter" the setting and foreground story by sidelining characters who take a lot of lore to understand. I think this is the real reason, and it's worth talking more about.

A lot of us lore-nerds have long complained about Destiny not foregrounding its setting and story, and Bungie has responded by trying to do so. I think we didn't consider what that would actually look like. Imagine Destiny's story like a long movie. Now imagine people are constantly coming and going from the audience, and everyone who comes in has to nudge their neighbor and go, "hey, what's happening?" Destiny is always (hopefully) acquiring new players, and existing ones are dropping out and coming back. Even most established players either don't read the lore or don't track/remember it. We the lore-keepers are very much the anomaly. If we want story to be a focus, that story also has to be more accessible to new players, lapsed players, people who don't bother reading loretabs, etc., because otherwise it harms their experience and there's a lot more of them than there are of us.

I think this is why we've seen a lot of seasons that introduce whole new concepts - the eliksni Sacred Splicers, for instance - rather than following on existing storylines. Introducing a mostly-new concept puts new and old players on a similar footing. Haunted is another type of compromise between the goal of furthering the story and the goal of making it accessible. Calus and Leviathan are back, but so warped that old players have as much to learn as new ones, and the Sever missions dive deep into character pasts but pretty explicitly describe the emotional arcs they're illustrating, so you don't have to be familiar with that character to get what they're going through. To those who already know Zavala, Crow, etc., it seems laughably obvious and strained. But to those who just got here, this is their first time learning not just about Safiyah but also about Zavala. I think this is also why there have been multiple casual retcons of minor stuff - there isn't time to explain the history, and they've decided it's not worth confusing people.

Rasputin is old. He's been a significant part of Destiny since literally the pre-Alpha test. The complexity and history that are part of why we love the Warmind also make him hell to explain to new people. It takes a decent amount of lore to get invested in his character and since Beyond Light none of that lore is featured in-game. Pre-Season of the Seraph, anyone who began with Beyond Light literally never met him. They never visited Hellas Basin, which is one big environmental story about Rasputin, and The Will of Thousands strike, which demonstrates Red's power and contains many possible dialogues that emphasize him trusting you/acting as an ally, left the playlist ages ago. Since then a new player's only gameplay interaction with him has been Fallen SABER, in which Red yells incoherent Russian and tries to flatten you with a warsat. Is it a surprise relatively new players might not be up on his character arc?

Season of the Seraph, with its narrative of rebuilding Rasputin from the ground up, would be a perfect time to introduce new players to Red's long history, and they...kind of...did that. They worked in Felwinter although then for some reason felt the need to retcon in the whole "Clovis wanted to destroy the Traveler" plan. If you were a new player who didn't know anything about Destiny lore, and you just played Season of the Seraph, you'd get an entire canned arc for Rasputin that hits the early high notes: built to be a weapon, rebelled against his constraints, humanities nerd, big smite, loves Ana and Elsie, makes mistakes but genuinely cares and wants to help.

But that's where Seraph stops. In existing lore (I almost typed "in reality") Rasputin worked out the whole "not a weapon" thing well back during the Golden Age. For a lot of us Warmind fans the most interesting parts of his story happened after that - the entire Collapse, confrontation with Darkness, years of hiding, etc., not to mention all his character development during Warmind and Worthy. He's gone through a lot, and Seraph misses all of it (except Felwinter) in favor of rehashing the same arc for a third time. It's like when moviemakers keep rebooting a superhero origin story. It may be a good story, but eventually we'd like to move on to the other parts we enjoy: this sleeping giant, hard scifi AI, grouchy old bastard, lost lore of the Golden Age, champion of humanity, learning from defeat, learning to trust again, the morality and trauma of warfare - what it means to lose a war - a being never meant to become what he was transforming still further, still unfolding his own potential.

So understanding why they might have done this doesn't excuse what I still see as a terrible narrative choice. I think dropping Rasputin is a major waste of potential, and he's far from the only tricky character to explain. Osiris, or at least the Cult of Osiris, is similarly old. His story is complex and weird and requires knowledge from Curse and earlier, yet he's still playing a major role. Other current characters like Elsie, Saladin, and Crow also need a decent amount of knowledge about previous game events to get why they are the way they are. Saladin's origin story isn't even in this game. It's not Rasputin's fault the game went three years without so much as mentioning him outside of written lore. What was wrong with the great Xivu-Rasputin “war god” parallels most of the season worked to set up, about the intent of violence? Are we never going to explore those? Are we just throwing out all the dialogues planning a role for Red in the upcoming war? Why did we have a dramatic confrontation about trusting Rasputin to operate independently if he were going to be gone in a month anyway? Just in Seraph alone the number of interesting plot threads abruptly trashed by this death argues against it.

Rasputin's longevity is precisely part of why he should stick around. In the first mission of Destiny 1 you wake up in his shadow. He has a history with us. There's just no one quite like him in Destiny. He's not just a character but an entire faction. He explores a part of story space that no one else does. He resonates with us as people rather than players. I assume Neomuna will pick up the Golden Age banner, but it’s a thriving city; Rasputin represented the ruins, the dangers of a dead age, the shadow of apocalypse. He's also maybe the most Guardian-like character and one of the best to weave a parallel/cautionary tale - were we, too, only made to be weapons? But if Rasputin didn't stay a weapon, can we too transcend that intention? And of all the factions in our solar system, the two with the most personal scores to settle with the Witness are the eliksni and Rasputin, and Misraaks'/Eramis' story has focused much more on the Traveler's flight than the Fleet's attack. Of everyone in Destiny Rasputin has the most desperately personal motive for revenge on the monochrome bastard. Now he's not even going to be there to watch it crash and burn.

I understand that foregrounding story also comes with the requirement that it be accessible to those who don't do their lore homework. I appreciate the monumental amount of work that's gone into doing that and the experimental nature of it. But I think the balance has skewed too far towards accessibility. Stuff like the end of Season of Plunder that has zero narrative motivation or continuity and doesn't even get a pretend justification drives me absolutely batty. You can only break internal rules so many times before players stop buying whatever narrative stakes you're trying to set up. Making the story easier to follow doesn't mean characters have to be cartoonishly-exaggerated caricatures like Clovis was in Seraph - just absolutely cartoonishly evil - or reduced to one or two character motives explicitly laid out for the player (though, credit where credit is due, Clovis was hilarious.) It doesn't mean the dialogue has to be as subtle as a Thundercrash. It doesn't mean you get a blank check to retcon or invent whatever's needed to create the intended character arc. If anything that discourages looking further into lore - why bother to learn it when next season will change it all again? I think Y5 represents a lot of experimentation by the Destiny narrative team, and I really respect that. But I also hope they learn what didn’t work from it, and sacrificing Rasputin in an ultimately pointless and unnecessary finale is a major misstep.

[furinana]

Thoughts on Kaneko's departure, the current state of Megaten and etcetera

When scrolling through jpn Twitter, I got reminded of a certain Atlus survey from years ago. For those unfamiliar, Atlus surveys often wonder about how receptive people would be regarding derivative content (spinoffs, remakes etc) of several titles you could think of. Among those that would turn out real were Soul Hackers and obviously the Personas.

[Left: Nocturne, both SMTIV games and Digital Devil Saga as part of the selectable options for a "full remake title" in an Atlus survey from 2020. Right: Shigeo Komori's comment on the future of the franchise in 2022]

The good: the current staff (still) cares enough to attempt to shine a new spotlight on old entries even if some would be deemed less profitable for the current fanbase's standards. The hmm: with Kaneko gone and cementing that "the old days won't return", the shoes become large for newcomers to fit in. Even if one has soul behind the job, the current industry prioritizing long developments and less risky directions makes it tough for them to create even one third of what the original staff was able to do in the same amount of time. On top of it, seeing this huge list of "potential works to get rehashed" almost in a Disney remake vein isn't particularly exciting. SMTIVA was only 4 years old in that goddamn screenshot and you already are throwing the possibility of a remake? Hello?

Non-Persona stuff is so far in-between nowadays that it's hard to write a conclusive piece regarding how far the current staff can go without relying on already established works.

Well... we can comment on the mixed reaction on popular illustrator Shirow Miwa being hired for a "sequel" of Soul Hackers.

The main point of concern here: with one-time artists and non-centralized direction, it becomes harder to achieve a worldbuilding where the worlds of different games smoothly connect together like they did back in the golden era of Megaten.

Recurring characters like Lucifer or Tamaki felt appropriately part of the universe even across different games they were at due to Kaneko's design philosophy of sticking closely to real-life fashion aside having a character's personality and background closely define how they would look staying consistent in the entries he contributed to.

On the other hand, Shirow Miwa was specifically told he should just design on his own instead of working around Kaneko's style that molded the franchise to this day. The feeling that long-time Devil Summoner fans didn't like it due to aesthetic clash was on the air thus contributing on the motives for why the game couldn't grab a significant part of potential buyers.

Before going too deep on this, let's not get the wrong idea: non-staff illustrators being collaborators aren't at all new for Megaten titles. Yasuomi Umetsu for SMT Nine, Suzuhito Yasuda for the Devil Survivor duology, toi8 for Tokyo Mirage, Tatsuro Iwamoto for Dx2, the list goes on. But behind those entries, there's noticeably a lack of commitment prevalent in those decisions. Most are treated as self-contained worlds separated from the world of games Kaneko worked as the main designer, thus they're treated as their own thing instead of another part of the puzzle hence considered "safer to experiment".

Anyone can understand the amount of expectation that such a bold numbered title like Soul Hackers 2, in a subseries well-known for hit after hit like the Devil Summoner series carries above these, however.

Specially when one-time collabs have been shown to carry the risk of underperforming considerably.

[SMT Nine and Tokyo Mirage had the excuse of being in flopped consoles but how lenient can you be to Soul Hackers 2?]

Another recent example of mixed reactions (albeit to a minor degree) were the SMTIV-exclusive demons drawn by Tokusatsu media-related artists Keita Amemiya, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Kyouma Aki: most didn't reappear even for the SMTIV sequel and the few ones that leaped had to be redrawn by Doi, the actual staff artist that took over the role of main character & demon designer thus the face of the current mainline.

[Doi-designed demons such as Chironnupu or Mermaid are the sole examples of SMTIV reps carrying over to other games]

The thing is, SMTIV was the fastest-selling mainline game (even compared to big ones like Nocturne or SMTV) while Apocalypse sold enough to beat Strange Journey's sales. Did it sell well because of the collabs or despite them? Either way, they seem to have decided to stick with style consistency over quantity.

Doi worked under Kaneko for several years before being given the opportunity to produce original designs for the games thus the picture of a recurring staff artist that is deeply involved in how the franchise shaped itself and is well-acquainted with elements that both old and new fans want earns more trust and familiarity compared to one-time contributors.

[It's also important to acknowledge that Doi isn't the only artist retouching art for current Megaten around: Akira Odagaki was the one behind the remake of Strange Journey, with Doi only providing Alex and the exclusive demon additions]

While Kaneko's resigning was understandably a shock for many fans, one cannot argue against his desires towards a career path of more freedom, considering the unstable state that many creatives go through in the game industry, veterans and greenhorns alike:

Is Kaneko a misunderstood genius that Atlus was extremely foolish to let go? Or is he out of touch and will be another Keiji Inafune/Yuji Naka case? Only time will tell. But both things can be true

As a sidenote, Kaneko's interest in shady business practices feels similarly disconnected from reality as something Ishida said in the Soul Hackers 2 interview:

[Nevermind doxxing, bots taking over or drones killing innocent people, guys. Technology turned out to be completely harmless]

What else do we have left?

When talking of style consistency and thought-provoking worldbuilding ties to other titles, mainline SMT as of now stays as the one thing I have been interested on even when under a different team.

SMT5 went through the shortcoming of being another unfinished debut release requiring an inhanced version to truly shine its full potential (which is unfortunate for day1 fans but then again, Nocturne was fully guilty of this for three times).

Kaneko is irreplaceable. But I also enjoy Doi's contributions (alongside Yamai's and Kozuka's) and given the appropriate time and budget, I believe in the potential that the staff responsible for the latest SMTs has in building ground on their own, even regarding new ways of twisting expectations of long-time players and extending the world of SMT to bigger horizons instead of plain soft resets in the continuity.

And at the end of the day, other members of the original staff exist beyond Kaneko and are amazingly receptive to keeping on celebrating the franchise such as Tsukasa Masuko (that recently released a new soundtrack arrangement for Megami Tensei 1&2 funded by Kickstarter) or of course, original franchise creator Aya Nishitani himself that often deepdives into Megaten worldbuilding concepts and theories to the franchise on his Twitter account, even going as far as translating for free the last book of the Megami Tensei novel trilogy for the enjoyment of English-speaking fans.

[satellitedarling]

hello this is going to be venting,nothing extreme but honestly everyone should have the independence to decide whether to read or interact with this shit so I'd rather say it upfront rather than shove it down people's throats, mentions of prescription drug abuse,you've been warned, with love

Despite my current medication helping me tremendously, I still feel like there's an overwhelming amount to unpack. I feel like an onion, tear off a layer and there's just more and more shit underneath and it seems never ending lol. that's not to say my meds aren't helping me,they definitely are, but they're also bringing to light issues that I had unknowingly "put to the side" while I was suffering a lot more before these meds. I feel so lonely and yet I can't get close to anyone, no matter how hard I try, how many new people I meet, I just can't help but want to run away and distance myself from everyone because I start to think that they hate me or because I feel scared of them, unable to bring myself to talk to them. I don't even know what would help me at this point, I have one friend who I love being around, that I can be comfortable and 100% open with, but they're always busy,always unavailable, it's not their fault in any way of course, but I can't stand that the only person I feel a genuinely deep bond with is someone I see very rarely. I have tried so hard to meet people online and irl, and despite going through the motions, being as open as possible, being as kind as possible, I simply can't feel the same way around them as I do with him, there's just something different about him, we get along so well, he's a sweetheart, an angel who wouldn't hurt a fly, he's the person who makes me laugh the most in the world, the one person I'm not uncomfortable around irl, I fucking love him, platonically that is. I have tried so hard to broaden my horizons, meet new people, but it's like nothing can replace him, I'm tired of meeting new people irl or online, I don't want a large group of friends, I want one or two close ones, that's it, just people that care about me as much as I care about them, a lifelong friendship, marnie and me style, bridge to terrabithia style and many others I can't bring to mind.

I just want to feel as loved as the people I give my love to, they're such wonderful people, I try so hard to please them in any way I can, to be as kind and generous as I can be, respect every one of their boundaries, I'm trying to become the perfect friend but its clearly not working, and it's obviously not their fault but I feel lile I have no one else to turn to, I want a best friend, I want someone with whom I can discuss anything and everything, I want them to be happy to see me just as much as I'm happy to see them, I want to give my all to make them happy, I want to receive the love and care that I'm trying so hard to give. When these rare people I get close to aren't receptive, take distance from me then there's no one to blame but I feel like I'm in an impasse socially: Now what? try to meet new people? it won't feel the same, I'm way too picky about this shit, I feel the urge to run away as soon as I see one small thing that scares me within them.

The people I say this to often make the justified remark that the exclusivity and mutual care for one-another is often a motivator for others when trying to find a romantic partner but I don't want a romantic partner, friends are so much more important to me, being in a relationship was hard because of my asexuality and my huge fear of abandonment, I always need to run away,keep a distance. I need to find a friend, I don't know where, but one that considers me an important part of their life at least, I want a best friend, a lifelong brother/sister that I can always reach in times of need or when I want to simply talk with them, I'm just so tired of not being emotionally available unless with certain people, I'm tired of feeling like everyone hates,avoids, and will abandon me, I try so hard to be a good person in my daily life, I try to make people smile at my work, to cheer them up, to be a ray of sunshine, it makes me feel good but as soon as I'm not working or serving people, that I'm now alone or have free time, I just feel such a crippling loneliness and boredom, I have lots of people to talk to but it simply *never* feels the same as him, no matter how hard i try to form meaningful bonds, the issue comes from within me. fuck this brain.

and then there's the whole aspect of gender envy, disliking my masculine characteristics but not exactly wanting 100% feminine characteristics, I'm tired of my body, only part I like is my face, that's a good start I suppose. just so tired of growing up with the fear of losing my effeminate qualities.

I'm gonna end this here because I'm too woozy and tired to keep writing, I'm so tired, absolutely not suicidal but heavily lonely, this isn't a cry for help per se, but I just can't stand living like this anymore. the only times I feel happy are when I'm working because it stops me from overthinking for a while, ignore my loneliness, feel like a good person

look,im tired, I won't keep writing, I might pass out any second but fuck I can't stand my mind working like this

sorry for this, I just needed to write it down, I can't talk about it with anyone around me irl, it's so tiring, I've made so many efforts and steps and yet the empty feeling won't subside, feels like I'll never find someone like Yann ever again and that we keep getting more and more distant because he's so busy and anxious, I love him so much, platonically, but I could give my life for him if it came to it, I just adore him so much

ok I'll stop now sorry, I'm not 100% conscious right now because of Xanax so if none of this makes sense ,hen I come back to reread this post I wouldn't be surprised

peace, love and happiness, to whoever is reading this, be a force of good in the world, even on a small scale, make a cashier smile, help the old people that can't carry their belongings, lend an ear to those who need one, etcetera

goodnight

[cryptidsurveys]

Saturday, December 7th, 2024.

Do you ever wonder what other people think of your survey answers? Yeah. I often wonder what people think of me in general.

Are there any survey-takers that you simply do not like because of their answers? No one currently. I basically "like" everyone I follow. It kind of reminds me of a work setting - we might not have anything in common, our personalities might not mesh well, and we might never be friends or interact outside of work hours, but we can still get along and get the job done. The "job" being to churn out surveys until the end of time, apparently.

Has anyone ever said anything in response to a survey question that offended you? Sure.

Which of the following sounds more appealing at the present moment : a bag of chips, a handful of cookies, a slice of pie / cake, or some crackers? Any particular kind? My stomach has been an absolute mess since Tuesday. What's weird is that it hasn't really killed my appetite, but it has gotten to the point where I'm afraid to eat pretty much anything lest it bring on The Sours. I'm eating an oatmeal bowl atm because I know I have to eat something and I am hungry, but…ugh. We'll see how this goes. I know that doesn't answer the question, though, so let's go with a bag of chips. Preferably the baked bbq chips I have in the cupboard.

How many pets have you had in your household at one time? Not even gonna try to count the fish we had when I was a child, but we've had six cats at one time.

Do you know anyone that works for a cable company? I don't.

What was the last thing you heard / read / saw that made you want to face-palm? Probably some political thing my dad was telling me about this morning. Not his opinion of it, but the situation in general.

Have you ever watched the show Raising Hope? If yes, what did you think of it? I've never even heard of it before.

Name one person on Xanga that you would be interested to be friends with. Or, if you are uncomfortable doing so, is there even anyone on Xanga that you find interesting & that you think you could be friends with? Xanga, Myspace, Bzoink... RIP. :'(

Is it cold enough to comfortably wear pants where you are, without getting too warm? I wear pants all year-round regardless of the temperature, but yes, it is cool enough to be comfortable.

What do you / does your family pay for rent? Do you think that your home is worth that amount? The house is paid off. I think we just have to pay property taxes, but I'm not sure how much that is.

Are your walls pretty sound-proof or is it easy to hear other people talking even if they’re several rooms away from you? I can't make out the words, but I can hear my dad when he's all the way downstairs.

Have you ever had family portraits done? Is this something you are fond of doing, or do you dread it? I think so. I was too little to care. It's not something we do anymore.

When was the last time you had oatmeal, if ever? Do you use milk or water in it? Just finished a bowl. I use water.

Do you have anything on your bedroom door? Have you ever? There are some glow-in-the-dark stars. And I covered my childhood bedroom door in random stickers.

Have you ever worked hard on something, only to have someone ruin it [whether literally or figuratively]? Reconnecting with my mom. We're still okay, but my sibling popped up in September and said some shit and now my parents won't even speak to one another. We used to be able to go out to eat or go see a film together and it was starting to feel like a little (albeit somewhat dysfunctional) family again, so it's just a huge bummer.

Does taking medication make you nervous? Is it something you avoid as much as possible? I don't mind taking things like OTC migraine meds and Tums, but anything beyond that I tend to avoid. I've had some bad experiences with mental health meds in the past. I also don't feel as though they helped me very much, if at all.

Do you ever learn new words [or even “remember” old words] that you become addicted to saying & repeat them in almost every sentence? That can happen with certain slang words / expressions.

Who do you know that suffers from bad dandruff, if anyone? I don't think I know anyone. My scalp is somewhat dry, but it's not horrendous.

Do you think that after the age of 90 you should stop caring so much about what you intake & just eat / drink whatever you want because you might as well since you’d be on the verge of death anyhow? I mean…I guess that would depend on my mindset once I reached that age. If I was still in reasonably good health and was enjoying my life, then I would probably do my best to take decent care of myself. If I was ready to die, then…welp.

Are the bottoms of your feet dirty? Not really? I mean, they're feet, so I wouldn't consider them clean even though I just had a shower and am now wearing socks and slippers, but they aren't covered in filth or whatever.

What do you do with your gum after you are done chewing it? Throw it in the trash.

Do you know someone that [unintentionally] types in caps a lot & then afterward apologizes for it? Do you watch what you are typing to ensure that you don’t make mistakes like that, or do you tend to stare down at the keyboard as you type? I don't know anyone like that, nor do I tend to make that kind of mistake. I typically look at the screen and not my keyboard.

Are you at all interested in the lives of celebrities? Why do you think people care so much about the lives of people that they don’t even know? Lol do people like Amberlynn and Eugenia count as celebrities? I honestly can't explain the appeal. At least in Eugenia's case (as with several other sufferers), I can chock it up to a form of morbid curiosity due to my own struggles. But when it comes to Amber…I have no excuse. Tbh, I no longer even recall how I ended up in the Amberverse, but now I don't know how to leave.

What is a site that you go to when you need a good laugh? If I'm looking for laughs, then I'd probably scroll through my Instagram feed.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

What would incentive a city to completely redesign their whole city and make all similar use buildings with the same layout and connect all the buildings together. What I mean by similar use is office buildings vs residental buildings vs public buildings. Of course individuals owning specific units/floors can do whatever contruction they want. I'm talking about something the size of Manhattan. Could they possibly do it in sections? Especially since people are living and working there. Start with new land taken from reclamation or the wilderness? Perhaps it would take 100 years from the first new building to the very last one? Then there's the problem of perhaps historical buildings - perhaps those might be exceptions that won't get connected? Or what happens if for whatever reason the project just stops half way. I mean 100 years is a whole long time. Governments that allowed it back then could totally have changed.

Utuabzu: You should look into Kowloon Walled City. While it no longer exists, and was vastly smaller, it was probably the nearest equivalent to what you want here. But something that should be obvious from even a brief skim of wikipedia is that Kowloon Walled City developed the way it did because of some specific circumstances. It was without any formal government and thus acted as a refuge for displaced people from China and various criminals and social outcasts from Hong Kong, and its physical area was firmly constrained, forcing any new construction to be inwards and upwards, rather than outwards. You should consider why your community is being built like this. Is their physical area constrained by geography or politics? Is there some cultural reason?

Another thing you should consider is the psychological and social impact that a monotonous urban environment will have on the people living in it. There's a reason everyone hates the repetitive grey concrete blocks that were built in postwar Eastern Europe and as public housing in much of the west. They lack any visual interest, and this has negative psychological effects on the people living in and around them, and the uniformity makes it difficult for people to form any sort of attachment to the space. Which is a major reason why these buildings tend to look so dingy now. Nobody gives enough of a damn to clean or maintain them.

Conversely, add a bit of visual interest via ornamentation and a more human scale, and people start to like the place, and are more likely to care for it. Look at the historic cores of older cities across the world, and the amount of effort and resources people are willing to expend to maintain them. People like pretty things and pretty places, especially ones that feel distinct. They help to form local identities - we are people from this place - which help to create a sense of community and shared responsibility for them.

Now, if you want a dingy dystopian megacity, look to big public housing projects from the 50s to about the 80s or 90s in the US and Western Europe, and cheaply built Soviet apartments, and sprinkle in some Kowloon for flavour. You can make a place pretty believably unpleasant by looking at real world examples. But if you want this to be a pleasant place, you need to consider the way the built environment is going to make people feel.

Feral: In addition Utuabzu’s examples, I would look to the Boulevards of Paris, which include construction across regime changes. 

I’d also like to point out, if it’s not on your mind already for this world, but an official “state architecture” is heavily associated with fascism and other forms of totalitarianism. Back in 2020, there was a huge kerfuffle in the American architectural world when Trump signed an Executive Order limiting the styles of architecture federal buildings were allowed to be constructed in with for this very reason. 

[giantkillerjack]

Yo I don't know if anyone else is seriously bothered by this but those "good luck" posts where everyone goes wow this post really works you HAVE to reblog it or else you won't get the good thing that happens when you reblog it and therefore it's your fault if the good thing doesn't happen because you didn't reblog the post,

Yeah, those posts. They don't ummmmmmmmm

They don't work.

Like, listen, a little prayer of good luck to give yourself hope is one thing, but every single one of these posts has a comment that is like "this is literally magic I received life-altering amounts of money because of this post REBLOG THIS NOW." And assuming these accounts aren't just also the original poster emotionally manipulating people - And brushing over how foolish/cruel it feels to give false hope and additional tasks to those in poverty AND moving on from how absolutely shitty these posts are for people with compulsion-related disorders or difficulty discerning reality--

it feels to me that the more we make up magic that doesn't exist in this world, the harder it is to see how things really are, and the more it obscures from us the magic that actually does exist. Things like magnetism, electricity, human thought and connection, emotion, storytelling, machinery, fire. That's the sort of magic we have in this world. These magics are real and they can be manipulated in miraculous and terrible ways.

And maybe it's just the way my mind works, but if I am able to convince myself that a photo of a four-leaf clover has any amount of cosmic power over my life, then I am no longer looking clearly at my situation and what I need to do to change it. I am no longer able to truly see the magic that IS there.

I feel the same way about astrology honestly. I don't think it's bad to believe in as long as you're not ascribing it to unwilling people, but I personally do feel like if I believed the shapes the Romans saw in the stars made me who I am, then not only would I deny myself autonomy, but also I would miss out on the magic of the stars as huge lonely nuclear light giants indifferent to and ignorant of the lives of humans in terrifying and beautiful ways. I might even dismiss scientific discoveries that didn't fit my view. And I think I've seen enough of the damage that can do for one lifetime. (I am aware that I probably wouldn't have so many problems with astrology if I wasn't a furious ex-Catholic. But again, there's nothing wrong with faith as long as you're not slapping it onto other people.)

But, gods, I hate these fucking good luck posts.

I am not poor due to the stars or the lack of luck-money posts on my dashboard. I am poor because I live in oppressive power structures that I hope to see burn in my lifetime. I need as clear a view of this reality as possible.

If you want to spread positive magic, you have to spread love and information and images/stories of a beautiful shared future that other people are invited to be a part of.

I'm a big believer in Hope. I believe hope is a sacred thing. But I'm not a big fan of false hope.

So in conclusion, if you reblog this post and then tomorrow something very lucky and seemingly unrelated happens, it had nothing to do with this post.

The only Magic will be the magic of unfathomably huge amounts of data transferring all across the world instantaneously to reach you and show you words that came from someone else's heart and mind.

The only Magic will be however it makes you feel to know that if you need luck, at least one other person in this world wants good things to happen to you: I care that you are found. I care that you are loved. I care that you are safe. I care that you live long enough to find or be found by happiness and that you then live for a very long time after that. And I don't need to meet you to know that I'm right.

Know that I will spend the rest of my life working to build spaces where you would be welcome. And maybe you and I will never meet, but I happen to know there's a whole lot of people like me in this world. And I happen to know that as long as you are alive, there is a chance you will grow old in warmth and comfort, surrounded by friends. There is a chance that your old eyes will be crinkled at the sides with laugh lines. And that's magic. That's real magic.

[megers67]

Figured I'd get some notes down for a Hazbin Hotel OC just to get it out of my head. No design since I don't got the brain for that, ha! Will I ever use her in anything? Prolly not. But some notes nonetheless. Just initial ones.

General/As an Overlord

Her name is Margaret and she died in the mid 1800s at the age of 17. Considering having her die during the Great Famine (Ireland) but more research on that is needed before I truly settle on that.

She had lived on the streets with other kids, eventually running her own gang as she got older. Think Oliver Twist kind of stuff. She died because she crossed the wrong rich dude.

In Hell, she performs a similar role. She takes care of any kids that end up in Hell. Not as many as there would be on Earth, but a concerning amount regardless.

She actually is an Overlord, but she only considers herself one "by technicality." She's not in it for power, but to be a force strong enough to protect her kids.

She rarely goes to Overlord meetings since she just prefers that her and her kids stay out of everyone's way as much as possible. That said, when she does, it's usually to either maintain/reinforce relationships with the other Overlords or if she thinks she needs to to represent her kids.

Of the Overlords, her best relationship is with Rosie. Mostly because the kids in Cannibal Town seem to be well-looked after and Margaret appreciates that. That and Rosie's personality seems to likely get along with most people.

Power-wise, she is prolly in the lower end of the Overlords, if not the lowest. She is not combat oriented and would rather remove herself from fights if she can. Though woe betide any thug who hurts her kids.

The only actual power/ability I have figured out is invisibility. She can make herself and anything she touches invisible if she wants, though I haven't worked out much details beyond that.

Copper Kids

Her running deal with her kids is if they are under her protection, they get a place to stay and food in their bellies. She will have their soul, but mostly to keep other overlords from taking their souls than anything else.

If anyone wants to leave, they can have their soul back, but they can't stay with her if they do. They can always come back, but not if someone else has their soul. Too much risk. Early on, there was a big incident where a kid whose soul was owned but someone else was a huge safety hazard for the other kids since they HAD to listen to their master above Margaret (details to be determined). She put in this rule ever since.

Margaret has arrangements with the other Overlords in order to protect her kids. They mostly revolve "we will stay out of your way and won't steal from you if you don't kidnap or hurt my kids." Though some overlords have special arrangements like Rosie and Carmilla. Likely more but hard to know unless we get more info on some of the others. The Vs are just standard for now.

Kids contribute by being in one of the Groups within the gang. The ones I have figure out are the Corpse Crew, Cleaners, Pickpockets, Messengers, and Homesteaders. Though more if more information of other Overlords comes out.

Each group is headed by a group leader who have decently free range to organize as they see fit. As long as the work gets done and they stay in line, Margaret doesn't interfere too much. She only steps in if what they're doing gets risky with other Overlords or independent gangs.

Corpse Crew focuses on gathering body parts to collect and take to cannibal town. Part of the arrangement with Rosie. The kids in this group, if they can stomach it, tend to like it because Rosie treats them well.

Cleaners also go through things after street fights are done, etc. but they collect valuables to sell and also discarded weapons, including shell casings and used bullets to take back to Carmilla. Carmilla prolly recycles the material, but mainly to help her keep control of who has weapons.

Pickpockets are pretty self-explanatory. Though may do more organized or larger thefts, this would be very rare with the risk involved.

Messengers have shifted focus over time since technology became a thing, but they mainly keep watch of things. Act as lookouts, relay messages between groups (including to other Overlords/gangs if need be). They can even be hired out by others to watch underlings and report back if said underling is suspecter to not be working as they should, etc. Valentino's only allowed involvement with the kids is for this sort of purpose and nothing else. He doesn't often because he prolly has his own guys for that though.

Homesteaders mainly take care of the hideout. Cooking and keeping the place relatively nice. They also check in on the various hideouts that Margaret has acquired over time. They are essentially very small places throughout the Pride Ring where kids can enter in real quick to escape from trouble for a bit.

Teens or those able to have legit jobs are likely to be in the Messenger or Homesteader group depending on the job. They may be outside the regular structure of the group, but still bring in an income and news/gossip that may be helpful.

Kids get to keep most of the income they make doing their various work, but a percentage goes to the group to maintain the hideout and other places, get food (less you have to steal the better). Margaret doesn't want to be rich and prolly wouldn't know what to do with wealth if she had it. Besides, the kids tend to be more hard working if they are mostly working for their own gain.

Personality/Trivia

She would really like to NOT have all this responsibility, but feels like if she doesn't, her kids won't be safe and she doesn't feel like any of the other current Overlords would look after her kids in the way she thinks they should be. Rosie would be the closest, but the assumption is that you have to be cannibal which her kids largely aren't. As such, she is very tired all the time.

Margaret is fairly paranoid and overly cautious, but when she gets a moment to breathe she's fairly goofy and spending time with the other kids to entertain them and cheer them up.

She didn't know how to read before she got to Hell. Even now, it is super basic.

Phones are only recently a THING. Margaret has one only because she kind of has to, but rarely uses it. Some of the more recent kids had to show her how or help her keep up with it. She doesn't have any social media presence herself.

Some of her kids describe her as a Boomer in a kid's body. She knows enough to know what this means and that it's an insult, so she gets defensive about it.

Margaret bottles up her anger quite a bit since she sees herself as too busy or careful to let it out in a safe and constructive manner. So if she finds someone hurting her kids, she is prone to going overboard. Sure it reinforces her power and status as an Overlord, but it definitely lets anger out.

The kids have a variety of nicknames for her, and she tries to keep up with them as much as possible. Though it also means that she is likely to answer to something or accidentally miss one. If other Overlords ask, she will usually tell them to call her Margaret or Big Sis or a derivative of one of these.

[siyasantlani111]

Detachment ~

Hello guys I'm back I hope you guys have been doing well, eating well and looking after yourselves. So today we are going to talk about detachment and how being detached is so much better than being attached as well as how being detached might help you manifest.

Ok so let's begin, I'm a very impatient person and I easily attach myself to my goals or people and as I have mentioned before that attachment isn't good for your energy, and also has certain consequences. I have been personally struggling with detachment myself, so today I thought let's write it down and organise my thoughts.

So guys I have already mentioned about detachment with people in my recent blogs so today I thought lets talk about detachment with your manifestations. So first thing's first: Recently I have had this one specific goal in my life and let's name it “goal A”. And I have been working towards that goal over a year now, however for the first six months I saw a huge amount of progress and I was extremely happy and grateful after receiving that progress, I literally had no hopes and channelled form a limiting mindset when it came to achieving this “goal A” I wasn't able to believe in myself that I'd ever be able to achieve it. However I still worked towards this goal and instead of focusing on the final product I focused on enjoying the process. However I made a huge progress, and I'm very grateful for that.But after six months the progress stopped and still I worked hard for this goal every single day without any excuses. Sometimes I would even over do the hardwork. And I started facing a little bit of a side effect. Howsoever I realised that my obsession with achieving this “goal A” is a little unhealthy and it is just very desperate. Because when I made progress I realised that I wasn't as desperate as I'm now ,when I'm not making any progress. However finally last month after working extra hard I made progress of 2%-3% however this month I was back to making no progress at all, and this 2-3% dropped too. Now when I realised that , I was in a constant state of fear, and started thinking what if I go back to where I started and what if there's no way I could even achieve this back, and I started channeling from fear. Now guys when we are constantly scared of something ,we attract it, and end up manifesting it. It's true! No bullshit. So yesterday I was like fuck it! Who cares literally who cares? Because at the end of the day me achieving this goal would make me the happiest and people won't give two shits about it, and it's not gonna be the end of the world even if I don't have it. And I was like why should I let it stress me out so much. Because guys trust me, when I want something I truly truly work hard for it, but this time I worked extra hard, I tried every method possible just to see progress, but I didn't because I was constantly giving desparate energy, and wanting something is good , having a goal is also good, it keeps you focused. But letting your entire world revolve around it, is being extremely desperate and attached isn't. So then I was like fuck it and I hand over this situation to God, he will handle it better than me, because literally who cares? But guys there's a big difference Between letting go and giving up, you let go when you are desperate and you give up when you don't believe in yourself. I'm still working everyday towards that goal but now I just don't even care about the outcome if it's meant for me it will simply find me, and if it's not ! Then who gives a shit! Something better will come. I'm still struggling with this because I have literally been so obsessed with achieving this goal, so detaching myself is going to be quite hard. Howsoever being in a constant state of stress and constantly giving off desperate energy is harder. So now I truly just don't want to care about the outcome anymore, I'm going to work hard for this goal however I'm not going to stress my self out. Also if I don't have it literally it's okay. And whenever I feel like working overtime, then I'll just come read this blog.

So guys that's it for today thankyou so so much for reading my blog, I love you guys so much byeeee ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[ramblingdisaster73]

I like that we're seeing a petty, asshole-ish side of Carlos. He needs to have flaws. I just don't like that we're probably not going to see a resolution to it. TK was clearly beat up (emotionally) by both himself and Carlos in 4x03 in order to up the drama, like you said. But there is no way it's going to be addressed in 4x04. There just won't be time. They're gonna show Carlos's ordeal, TK finding him, and then an emotional reunion. And then we move on to Marjan's and Grace's storylines in 4x05. And then we're probably not gonna see much of Tarlos until we get them happily planning their wedding (possibly with some lingering health concerns for Carlos). Like every single time TK and Carlos have fought or had problems, Carlos's actions will be swept under the rug. Idk maybe I'm wrong, but this is my prediction based on 1) the amount of story left to tell and the amount of time left to tell it, and 2) the track record of the show's treatment of TK and Carlos. And it's kind of depressing.

I totally get that. I felt the same way about how they totally romanticized Carlos buying the loft as a “surprise”. I also agree that we won’t get an on-screen resolution to the attitudes/treatment, at least not in 4x04. I totally agreed with TK that it was a power move, however well intentioned it had been, it was a power move (which I have thoughts on too – especially in light of him being legally married at that time).

I think that there is a possibility of Carlos saying something to someone other than TK about it, or maybe a reference at some point by the 4x08 “Control Freaks” episode. Similar to how TK worked through the break up (well blaming himself for it only) in his coma dream – I think we will get Carlos admitting his mistakes to Andrea or someone like that. I could be wrong – but this show LOVES it’s parallels, and that would be a good one.

It sometimes takes me several rewatches of scenes before I can truly appreciate them. I love 3x13 – it is a beautiful episode that truly showcases their love and growth, but some of the scenes were harder to watch for me at first – we just hurt for both of them, because we care about them. But, after doing my analysis, picking the episodes apart piece by piece, truly dig into the characters and their motivations, then I truly enjoy them.

That is how I was Tuesday night watching 4x03. I knew going into it that it would be rough. And it was. But I have watched it several times now, I appreciate each scene for what they are – more pieces to this big puzzle that is Carlos Reyes.

The hard part about loving these guys so fucking much, is that we want to see EVERYTHING, but they can only give us glimpses of their life with the occasional larger treat – but like Ronen has been saying there is way more Tarlos this season than ever before, so maybe we will both be surprised and get something on screen – but if not, then I know that myself and a bunch of other writers will be filling in the gaps with all the fics we can dream up.

I wish the show didn’t put so much of the blame for pretty much everything on TK, but another show I am a huge fan of, did the same thing with one of their main characters for 7 seasons – it didn’t matter who else participated in them, who else helped make the choices – this one character took like 94% of the blame for every decision made. It was maddening, there were never any good choices, so all decisions kinda sucked & had shitty consequences.  I have just accepted that TK is that character for this show, as frustrating as it can be. At least we have Ronen to portray him as wonderfully as he does.