#the education they're paying for and does my job for me and makes my life easier and is immune to any poor descions i might make

[bitchfitch]

I'm getting a service dog in the new year! No matter what it takes. The current hurdle is the fact that the estimated cost for a service dog who fits my needs is 16k USD. Which is more than what I as a crippled tranny make in a year.

If you'd like to help, every dollar I make on commissions between now and bringing my pup home will be put towards this fund. Further information on prices and such are below the cut.

If you want to help but don't want blorbo art then here's a Kofi link. Thank you. Every dollar really does count.

An FAQ and the current progress towards the fundraiser is below the cut.

1600/16000

🟩🟩🟩🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪

What does the 16k cover?

The puppy, the training education, some supplies, and some back up in case the first pup is deemed unsuitable for the work. (1 in 2 service dog prospects don't make it to the end of training unfortunately. I will be keeping the first dog even if it doesn't make it as a service dog because I know I don't have the heart to let go of a puppy after spending a minimum of a year working with it. but I don't have the housing/money for 3 rottweilers so if the second fails too I'll just have two really well trained dogs.)

What happens if you don't get the money?

I have some things I can sell, like my van, that will close the gap.

How are you going to pay for the dog's expenses after getting it?

My own expenses are extremely low, I've already determined that the dog will not cause excessive strain on my budget.

Why a Rottweiler instead of a lab or golden retriever?

I need a balance and alert dog, basically an animal who'll act as a counterweight to help stop me falling along with a handful of less breed specific tasks. I'm 250 lbs and can pick up and carry most people, I need a large heavy dog or else they're just going to fall with me instead of helping balance. rottweilers were chosen over other breeds who could do the job because of their short coats (it gets well over 110°f/43°c here, long coats are not an option) and calm, alert, protective

Why the name Jabalí?

My dad's family is from Germany, my mom's is from Mexico, If the dog is going to be German, then the name should be Mexican to honor that. (Also it's just a cute name. It means boar, and is pronounced Ha Va Le, like in jabalina)

How are you going to go about training?

I'm going to attend a localish service dog trainer education course. It costs about the same as hiring someone to do it professionally, so I might as well be the professional since im going to need a new service dog every 4-8 years until I die.

(it takes 2 years to train a pup, and the last few years of a dog's life can often involve eye, ear, or joint issues that make them no longer suitable to be a service dog. Instead they get to retire and have a lot of treats while they help train up the next pup. Rotties have a life expectancy of 8-12, 2 years for training and 2 for retirement means only 4 of actual work on the low end, and 8 at the absolute max)

Are you going through a proper breeder?

Yes, I have a list of a handful of breeders who health test, register, and show their dogs in schutzhund. As well as one who fits those criteria and has had pups go on to be service dogs.

How many blorbos do you need to draw to make it happen?

Using my average commission sale as a baseline: 267 total 241 to go.

[roomwithanopenfire]

making my advisor's job easier and making my schedule by myself

[demonslayerunhinged]

Unhinged analysis

Why is Sanemi so aggro? (Part 2)

This section is mostly from a class/economic standpoint and doesn't really focus on the demon attack on his family. It is also not only based on my little understanding based on the research I did about poverty and class in Edo/Late Meiji Japan but also based on my experiences as someone who grew up poverty-er-adjacent.

This blog here has an article that does a deep dive into Sanemi based on Japanese culture and history. Their work was what inspired me to do a deeper dive into Sanemi's poor backgoround. It's in Japanese but the translations are so worth it, and they have writeups on other characters!

Now lets get to it, this is post is going to be very long and very sappy, be warned.

His Background

We all know that Sanemi grew up poor, but it's poor in a way that's different from the other characters. We can attribute Gyomei's poverty to his religious faith in a way, Tanjiro and Muichiro are more modest than actually poor - at least they own their houses. The Shinazugawas had a shitty landlord whose son made fun of them for being 'the poor people with too many kids', they lived in these rundown, face-to-face, the-neighbors-know-all-your-business row houses.

Sanemi grew up in the slums with a population of citizens who were essentially 'left behind' during the rise of urbanization and industrialization. These citizens not only had to deal with characterizations that portray them as being ignorant, uneducated, boorish, dirty, aggressive, mannerless and ignorant, but also with being preyed upon by greedy landlords, merchants and businessmen. The government weren't of much help either because they would rather put in efforts into removing them as far as possible from the modern cities, away from the eyes of foreigners.

In my experience, slum dwellers rarely if ever rise above their station in life. Their lack of education and exposure prevents them from making a better life for themselves and even if they do move to the city, they are stuck doing menial or manual labor jobs with shitty pay. They spend their entire lives in perpetual poverty no matter how hard they work and how many jobs they take because they're ultimately fighting a system that has not only abandoned them but also creates policies that prevent them from moving higher in life.

Due to these frustrations, a lot of them take up gambling and drinking alcohol to cope with their sorrows. Frustrations with the system and with their situations lead to a lot of them taking up gambling and developing alcoholism to cope. There is also high rate of violence among them, especially domestic violence as heads of households who were usually the ones to go out into the world and deal with the discrimination and struggles while trying to pursue low class jobs would take out their anger on their wives and ultimately children. The children who grow up in this environment, where violence is all they know would eventually go on to become abusers themselves when they start families of their own, that is, if they don't die of illness or are killed before that.

You can read more about it here, here, here, here and here.

We can see that with Sanemi's dad, the piece of shit who took out all his anger and frustrations on his wife and children before ultimately becoming a victim of violence himself.

After his death, we see Sanemi having to take up the responsibility of taking care of the family as was culturally expected of the firstborn and the oldest boy - similar to Tanjiro. When Sanemi's dad died, he had to take up a job to take care of the family. In the scene where he talks with Genya about their dad's death and their promise to take care of their mother and siblings, we can see that Sanemi is pulling a rickshaw.

Rickshaw pullers were among the lowest classes of manual labor, they were referred to sometimes as 'Human horses' and while they were mostly known for transporting people, they were also hired by merchants and regular people to transport goods as well. We're not told of the work his mother did before she turned into a demon, but she might have been a domestic worker or a waitress of some sort. It's not hard to imagine that there were times when the kids had to go hungry.

So what's the point of all this story? Well because children who come from these backgrounds are not only often violent and aggressive in their language, conduct and personality but even if they do manage to make it to adulthood and by some miracle manage to break through the class barrier they often come out of the other side with a MASSIVE inferiority complex.

And our dear boy Sanemi has one, big time.

Now that we've talked about his background, let's talk about how all this contributes to his....

Relationships

In the fandom, the main complaints about Sanemi is his behavior towards Giyuu, Tanjiro, the demon slayer trainees and Genya, so I'm going to focus on just these.

Giyuu

Like I've mentioned before @roseameilatempest already posted a great write-up about Sanemi and his complicated relationship with Giyuu, so I'm just adding to it.

The two main things that create friction in their relationship, aside from Giyuu's inability to communicate are Sanemi's low self-esteem and his aggressive personality. The low self-esteem really showed itself when he questioned Giyuu at the Hashira meeting about his 'I'm not like you guys attitude'.

In this scene he asks

Which is a really interesting question because of all the Hashiras he's the only one who voices this sentiment. Obanai just talks about Giyuu wanting to get ahead, Shinobu just asks him to explain himself, Muichiro doesn't really care, but there's the thing about being the baby of the group so he may not want to butt-in to the 'adult' matters. Gyomei is praying.

Sanemi's the only one who stands up and confronts Giyuu about the matter but given his background as previously discussed it's almost as if he's asking "Are you looking down on me?".

From the little we know of Giyuu's backstory, he didn't grow up in poverty. After his family died, he went to go live with relatives before making the decision to leave and join the corps. He has fair skin and soft looking features in contrast to Sanemi's rough, scarred ones. He has slim, delicate-looking hands with piano-playing fingers compared to Sanemi large, knobby, rough-looking hands with early-onset-arthritis-ass fingers.

Even his conduct has a certain air of class to it. So when Giyuu says stuff like 'I'm not like other girls-I mean Hashira', the inferiority complex part of Sanemi is triggered, and he takes it as an attack on him thinking that Giyuu is looking down on him because of his poor background and his class.

But Sanemi deep down cares, even if he doesn't realize it. Instead of dismissing Giyuu as just being a dick, he tries to get an answer, an explanation, but because of his rough way of speaking and his aggressive personality it comes out confrontational. He doesn't know how to express himself in a non-aggressive way because nobody ever taught him how.

Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤)

Ah yes, Sanemi's BFF. I'm honestly surprised that some people don't understand why Sanemi does not vibe with Tanjiro. Tanjiro embarrassed him in their first meeting, only to escape the consequences for his actions because of the Master's benevolence. He questioned his worth as a Hashira which, as mentioned in the previous post, is the core of Sanemi's identity.

In their second encounter, Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤) talked back to him. Now, despite all the wacky and interesting characters, the fancy mods to their uniform with the haoris and stuff, the Demon Slayers Corps are still a military organization. They have a hierarchy, they have rules and punishments for those who break them and within the context of the military and cultural values: You don't talk back to your superiors, you don't disrespect them and you most certainly don't embarrass them no matter how in the right you feel you are. It's not fair, it just is. Some superiors may tolerate it like Tengen, Giyuu, Mitsuri and Shinobu but others, like Sanemi, Gyomei, Obanai and even Muichiro will not.

I mean, even Mitsuri complained about Genya's behavior when she first met him, even though his actions were because of him being shy.

The first time Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤) disrespected Sanemi, he was on neutral ground, the Master's mansion. Kagaya is a saint, so he understood Tanjiro's actions, but remember he also chided Tanjiro a bit, even if it was in a soft manner. Now in this second encounter, He's in Sanemi's house, in his domain, and you can't come about here disrespecting your senior in their own house. And If you do, be prepared to face the consequences.

Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤) then embarrassed Sanemi again by (rightfully) calling him out on his shitty behavior towards Genya, in public, in front of his other subordinates. He then proceeds to not only block Sanemi's punch but to counter it with an embarrassing kick to the neck, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE SCRUBS! Like what? In some organizations, you could be penalized and immediately kicked out, but like I said, Kagaya is a saint.

That's why Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤) was given the reprimand and Sanemi wasn't. Because he was in the wrong.

The concept may seem foreign to people who grew up in the west, but for those of us from home countries that have rigid power and class structures, we know this pain all too well.

That's why you talk and complain about your superiors BEHIND their backs, like Zenitsu does.

I swear, Zenitsu is probably the realest character in the series, I love him so much 😂.

Then in the last encounter they had, Tanjiro embarrassed Sanemi again, but this time it's worse because he did it RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS CRUSH!

Your senior's business is not your business, if you see them fighting, it's best just to leave them alone and pray it's the one you hate that gets his ass kicked.

So here's Sanemi trying to communicate with his crush, and he's about to get to the part where they get to put their hands on each other ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Then Tanjiro comes up and gets between them, ignoring the restraining order and then asking if they were fighting over ohagi.

He then reveals Sanemi's biggest secret: That he's gay-I-mean-er likes ohagi. Neither Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤) nor Giyuu see any problem with this because soft boys but for a tough, scary man like Sanemi this is a problem. He's a man, he shouldn't be taking sweets! (which is like a real thing in Japan, so i learned. You can read about it here, here, here and here), also Sanemi loves ohagi becuase his mom used to make it; men shouldn't be thinking about their mommies! Men should be tough and only eat manly things like raw bull testicles and cement!

Then Tanjiro(bestest boy ❤) drives the knife even further by asking him about his ohagi preferences, while Giyuu (who unknown to Sanemi is glad to have found an opportunity to rizz him up) asks him to confirm but in Sanemi's mind he thinks Giyuu is making fun of him too.

So Tanjiro has, so far, called him a shitty Hashira, a shitty brother, and now a shitty man. All he wanted to do was smash and now he's getting pressed by a 16 year old. So yea, our boy is going to react in the only way he knows how - by giving Tanjiro a swift clock to the jaw.

At this point, you've gotta pity Sanemi, he's the real victim in this relationship. But let's move on.

The Trainees

This is another complaint that also confuses me because the answer is so obvious. Why is Sanemi hard on the trainees?

Because Sanemi's training is Infinite Strikes! Because his training is supposed to be hard! Because they're at war! Because Muzan might be coming soon! Because this is a military training! Because the Hashiras are basically Drill Sergeants! Because Sanemi says fuck you!

But seriously, I don't understand why Sanemi and Obanai are getting hate for their training methods when Tengen's was just as harsh, Mitsuri was basically ending family bloodlines, Muichiro deadass was about to sashimi someone's child.

And Gyomei? Gyomei's training basically qualifies as torture by the Geneva convention laws. You see these guys below? These boys are all dead! Dead, i tell you! You can't convince me otherwise!

Even Inosuke died!

The training is meant to be harsh because it's not just the trainees lives at stake, it's the people of Japan, it's the lives of their friends, families and loved ones. The Hashiras know this and Sanemi whose whole life revolves around being a demon slayer and killer, especially knows this.

He and Obanai don't have the luxury of sending the junior slayers back for their protection like they did in the mansion. Like we saw in the last episode of the season, Muzan came after everyone not just the Hashira. Despite his rough and harsh exterior, Sanemi actually cares about his colleagues and his subordinates and he doesn't want them to die needlessly. If that means he has to be the 'bad' Hashira, then that's fine with him.

Genya

There's no justification for the shit he pulled trying to poke Genya's eyes out. I've made like two posts regarding this before about how his actions were not only stupid but will ultimately be pointless because Genya is amazing!

Aside from wanting to keep Genya safe (whatever that means), I think one of the reasons Sanemi doesn't want to come in contact with Genya is because when he's around Genya he's reminded of the past and trauma that he's trying to repress. I don't think it was a random choice that older Genya is dressed in a way almost similar to baby Genya. So everytime Sanemi sees him, despite Genya's size and the awesome things he's done, all he can see is that little boy that he almost failed to protect, that called him a monster, that rejected him and seeing that reopens that old core wound. That he's a monster.

Sanemi isn't ready to face all that, so with the little understanding of his own emotions and the trappings of toxic masculinity, he pushes Genya away becuase doing so is way, way, way easier than talking to his brother. It's easier than revealing to Genya that Genya's words did hurt him, that he failed to protect their mom and siblings and that maybe Genya is right, he is a monster, that even though he saved Genya it doesn't change the fact that he used his very hands to kill the only person that loved and protected them in this world.

I think a lot of people really underestimate the gravity of what baby Sanemi did. Tanjiro couldn't kill Nezuko and I'm sure he himself would've rather died than raise a hand to his loved ones but Tanjiro was lucky in a sick way because Nezuko was not only the only survivor but encountered Giyuu who who gave him the opportunity to save Nezuko, essentially giving her a second life. Sanemi never had that chance. In order to protect his brother, he had to kill his beloved mother, and you can just imagine the amount of damage that can do to a child's psyche.

I read a comment on Youtube that said this was probably the reason why Sanemi was so feverently against the Master's defence of Nezuko and that when Nezuko rejected his blood, his whole worldview must have shattered because if Nezuko was able to overcome her demonic urges and still maintain her sanity, why couldn't his beloved mother?

But you might ask, how come Genya seems fine? Well, he wasn't at first, he was basically Sanemi 2.0 but he was able to make peace with himself, escape the trappings of toxic masculinity and the violence that they were raised in. Instead of bottling up his emotions, he wants to reach out, to apologize for his behavior, to mend their brotherhood because no matter how Sanemi is now, no matter how many times he tells him to get lost, no matter the harsh words he throws at him, to Genya he'll always be his Aniki.

The same Aniki who's been looking out for him, the same Aniki that sought him out and comforted him after he punched the landlord's shitty son, the same Aniki who gave him a piggyback ride despite them practically being the same height just to make Genya feel happy and loved, the same Aniki who let out that brilliant laugh after they made the promise to protect their family as he pulled the Rickshaw to make some money for the family, the same Aniki who is the sweetest, kindest person in the whole world.

While we see the rough, scarred, aggressive and scary Sanemi, Genya only sees this:

I'm sure a lot of us know what it's like to be angry, to lash out, to push people away and how difficult it is go through life in a world that doesn't care about you or your trauma. We know what it's like to be left behind and forgotten. We wander aimlessly through life hurting with a feeling of emptiness and we don't even know why. Some of us overcome, some of us don't. We just make do with the tools and little resources we have and Sanemi is a painful reminder of that.

In Conclusion, Sanemi is a complex character. He's not all star good, he's a dick, some of his actions are straightup unhinged, but that's what makes him human. He's not perfect, and for us to appreciate this character we have to accept him in all his wild, raging, scarred, petty-ass, little-brother-eye-poking, women's-size-7-feet-having, ohagi-loving glory.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hello, so maybe I’m misunderstanding something based on the bits and pieces I know about ethics and philosophy :what kinds of things constitute as morally good? You said and someone else said health is morally neutral. Which I get the individual part but wanting for others to be educated and healthy I thought * would be examples of moral goodness?¿ Help me to see more pf your point if you are willing

okay, let's talk about education and health.

those are both really big factors in a lot of people's lives, and of course it's good when people have access to opportunities for education and healthcare. I'm not arguing against that at all.

but there is no component of morality to people's level of education or health. attending college, for instance, does not make someone a better person than someone who dropped out of high school. a person with a college degree is likely to have access to better-paying jobs and impact their quality of life, sure, and higher education is desirable to many people because of that; totally understandable. but that's completely different from what I'm talking about, which is whether or not being educated is innately virtuous, which it's not. at an early age, especially, education is something that happens mostly at random, determined primarily by the opportunities available to the family someone is born into.

health is something that is moralized RELENTLESSLY, especially in American culture. many fat activists talk at length about how fatness is seen as a failure of both health and morality - the assumption being that a.) fat people are innately unhealthy and b.) a responsible person would make an effort not to be fat and therefore not to be unhealthy - and that's only one particularly visible example. think about the tendency, for instance, to suggest that people who die of COVID must deserve it based on assumptions made about their masking/vaccine status, as if thousands of people who took every possible precaution didn't also die. in my field, sex education, there's also a TERRIBLE tendency to stigmatize people with sexually transmitted infections and treat them as dangerous, irresponsible, and undeserving of sex of physical intimacy, the most prominent example being the AIDS epidemic during which many people very literally believed that the epidemic was a divine punishment for the "sin" of homosexuality.

of course, health has nothing to do with morality. terrible people live long and healthy lives, the kindest and most selfless people you'll ever meet die in agonizing pain from preventable diseases. similarly to education, it's largely determined by social position.

similarly, activities considered "healthy" carry no moral weight. if you want to eat your veggies or run marathons or never smoke a day in your life, awesome! that's great for you! and I'm right there with you, I love veggies and yoga and rock climbing and all kinds of activities, and I myself don't smoke. but nothing about any of those activities are like, divinely virtuous and make you a certifiable better person than someone who never exercises and lives on cheese and weed. that person is equally allowed to do that and is not an inferior person for choosing that path for their life.

again, healthcare and education are important to many people's quality of life, but they're human rights, not moral measurements.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for mentioning college again to my online friend, despite her telling me she knows it's not for her/not making a decision about it right now?

We both turned 18 this year, and are in our last years of highschool, and hopefully will both graduate this year! We met two years ago, and call and play games together sometimes, send each other selfies, share our silly crushes—she's the best girl friend I have right now and im very grateful for her.

Some info about me: both of my parents grew up very low income and from rough places and got full scholarships/a deal(like they pay for your college, and then you work for them after), because of this they're financially doing much better than both their families(my mother regularly sending money back home to pay for surgeries , bills, etc.). All of this is to say I've been raised with the mindset that higher education is my ticket to bettering my life, and I take school very seriously. I live in an area with a lot of immigrants, and all my friends do plan on going to college. Here is my disclaimer that I know college is *not* for everyone, and you do not need to go to college to be successful. But my friend is in the same stage in life as me, and I think it could be beneficial for her. She's not the best student at all(also home-schooled and does online schooling), but she's passing all her classes. We've talked about it before and I've asked if she's thought about college, and she said no because everyone in her family who went was just left with debt. Additionally she's not motivated in school now, so she doesn't think she would be motivated in college and would just end up as a "money dump". She's also talked about college with her mom, who said that she was only 18 and didn't need to make decisions about it right now. Right now her plan is to get a minimum wage job after high school(she's mentioned a fast food chain). I do think it would be good for her to get out of the house because right now she's basically stuck at home because her mom doesn't like going places. To my knowledge she has no friends irl, because of the homeschooling. Which is one of the reasons why I think college would be great for her--the chance to be with other people your own age.

We've only talked about college one time where I just asked, and after that I haven't mentioned it because I don't want to act like I have any say in her life decisions or make her feel bad. I've just been thinking about it lately because logically to me it seems like if she did want to go to college, now would be the best time because she would have the support of her online school where she has a counselor. Her mom didn't go to college and she isn't in regular contact with her dad.

For more context my family is middle class and I'm not sure what her financial situation is, but I do know comfortable but not deeply so. I would hate to bring up college if it's something she knows she cant afford( but long term I think going to college would help her make more money than any job she started now, which is why Im thinking about bringing it up again). I don't know if this is enough context, and I'm willing to provide more! I'll admit I'm not the smartest teen out there, so if you see any thing wrong with my thinking or think I'm a total asshole please tell me and I'll check my behavior. Im also keeping in mind her lack of motivation that she mentioned she had in school, and of course her mental health and wellbeing is of like. the utmost importance.

so, would I be the asshole for bringing up college with her again, despite knowing her situation? I really love this friend and the last thing I would want to do with her is be disrespectful and insensitive. thank you for very much, Tumblr! any advice you can give in the comments would be greatly appreciated.

What are these acronyms?

[just-animaxiz]

Ok thanks to the 6Teen! RC9GN crew by @lsd-ink, I'm now thinking of funny/cute headcannons (Mostly about Punk Bots, Randy, and some of the other characters) SO IM DRAGGING YOU ALL WITH ME ON THIS ONE.

Starting off with my favs.

To pay off for their jail time, The Punks decided to work at the McMall (Cuz McFist owns 80% of the places), but somehow, Spike is not too keen on working so he decided to take a part-time job as a mechanic in a local station. Luckily it's not a product of McFist.

While Spike works at a mechanic, Thorn works as a bookstore worker and Skewer works in a Claire's type of store! Despite their appearances, they're really decently well with their jobs!

Thanks to @destiny-in-the-universe I do hc that the Punks do go to Randy's school to finish education, and surprisingly, they're really good at a few subjects! Most definitely, they're really skilled at creative writing, shop class, and gym!

Like always, Spike is envious when he first meet Randy. Seeing him have this normal life, with a loving parent, normal home, and everything. Though, Spike can't bully Randy because it doesn't make him feel better. They eventually bond over music, get to know after awkward moments, then eventually, the two got closer like brothers!

Spike got his attack dog moments not only to Randy but to Thorn and Skewer as well. He's been their provider ever since they escaped, and he doesn't want ANYONE to hurt them.

Doesn't matter if you're a girl, guy, nonbinary or anything - Spike will judge you when you're dating Randy or his brothers. He wanted someone who's good for them, and if they ever break a brother's heart, the wolf will bite.

While working at Claire's, Skewer gets asked by a little girl on why he's dressed like that. To humor her, he told the girl that he's the guard of the store, protecting anyone who tries to ruin the princesses' jewels and presents. His looks is a warning sign to anyone who tries to steal them. Astonished, she assumed he's a knight, along with Thorn and Spike, and she gave him the loyal knight ceremony where she tapped a toy wand over his shoulders and deemed him, "Sir Skewer!"

That encounter made Skewer happy in the inside, and if anyone makes of that, they'll know why his name is Skewer.

Thorn, meanwhile, loves working at the bookstore because he loves reading. He entertains the audience by reenacting the scenes, especially in manga books, and got the store a very good attention gain!

He does wonder about Japan and is always ecstatic whenever Mrs. Cunningham includes them on holiday trips to Japan.

Usually, when Randy's group comes together, Spike comes to visit with the other Punks on their breaks, and they have a good time hanging out!

Spike calls Heidi wrong names just to annoy her like how she annoyed Randy by calling him the wrong names.

Skewer and Howard have a chess battle, even though Howard thought it would be lame at first - The reason why he changed is because Skewer claimed Howard can't win.

Thorn have a little gossip fun with the girls, and sometimes would tease Randy over the girl he likes.

Now I heard Randy is the Ninja in this au, and if so, Spike would 100% know it's him. Why? Cuz he's his brother. The others will know eventually.

One thing to note is how Spike's face changed whenever he passes by a McFist product or even a poster of McFist.

NOW TIME FOR OTHER RC9GN CHARACTERS

Bucky, Steven, and Flute Girl all work at the music store. Bucky is very happy and friendly - Flute Girl is cynical and annoyed - Steven is [Trombone Music]

Bash is the local bully and thinks he has power over everyone because 1. His stepdad is the owner of everything, including the mall and 2. Cuz he's big and powerful. Some of the only people who aren't afraid are The Punks and Mrs. Cunningham.

Remember the Creepy Swamp Wizard, CatFish Booray? He has a food truck outside of the mall and it... Well you decide.

Mrs. Cunningham, in my book, is a lawyer that is often not present to the boys. She's been working hard to pay off for everything, but when she does have time, she wants to get to know each of her boys well and hang out with them.

When she needs alone time, Mrs. Cunningham usually either reads novels or practices fighting at the gym. It gets the stress from work out of her. People saw her as agile and skilled, which is how they saw Randy being talented at athletics.

Morgan is one of the popular girls and she is the queen of dancing. She leads dancing mobs at public places for the popularity.

McFist is occasionally seen at the Mall during grand openings or new product advertisements; however, one time he spotted Spike in the distance and he can't help but feel like the punk's familiar to him.

[autisticlee]

can there be a service for autistic people (maybe even other disabilities too) that's kind of like an aide or helper or assistant, but more of a casual friendly type thing? basically people volunteer to be paired with autistic people who don't have friends and struggle to make them and their job is to be our friend as in go places with us, play games, chat, etc. whatever friends do. but they are contractually obligated to stick with it and not hurt or abandon us, but work with us. maybe invite us to hang out with their friends. we can try different people to see who we best fit with. then maybe that person sticks with one of us and not multiple so they dont play favorites and neglect us or get overwhelmed or something.

it's a volunteer job and they don't get paid because all they're doing is being a friend and doing normal things that doesn't deserve pay lol. why should you get paid to pretend to be someone's friend? do it because you want to support someone who needs you, nit because you think it will be an easy job to make money. and friendship isn't a job. that weeds out people only doing it for money and not trying very hard or quitting when they think it's too hard and abandoning the person they were paired with. and that way it's a free service for us since most of us are poor. but they probably need to get some education as well, and we go over our own specific needs and expectations so they know what we need and expect from them, how to work with us, and what they should expect from us. they could work with counselors so if there are any problems they can't handle and are worried about us, we can get a check in or something. but generally, this would be good for very social and friendly people who like to help others and are open minded, accepting, and kindhearted. (which is getting increasingly hard to find in my experience...)

it would be hard to find the right people, but that's why it's good to have meetups and try to find the right match. because sometimes I think that, even if I dont relate to the neurotypical/allistic/abled people, it might be helpful to have someone who can navigate the social situations for me and let me just follow along and be included in things. someone I can ask to go to a convention with me and they can be my voice and keep me company and lead me, while having fun themselves. or someone who invites me to a party with their friends and let's me mostly ait in their room with their cat, but occasionally step out to listen to their conversation and laugh with them. I can absorb their fun energy and have more fun, feel included, but have the space i need, because they are willing to work with me, support me, and acccept me, my needs, and my boundaries.

other autistic or in general ND and disabled people are cool and all, but when they also struggle like I do, we end up not talking to each other becasue we don't know how or cant. we often don't get along because differences that get in the way ("im autistic and I can do that why don't you just do it too" -a real life example that I experienced) or we cant meet each other's needs or struggle with boundary issues. maybe we both need help and can't help each other. or if the other does help it burns them out so fast they are miserable (like my one friend who always has to speak for me and then shes burnt out for months after and cant even talk to me over text....we used to be so close. now we barely talk 🥲). or they don't want to do the things I want to do, like going out somewhere, and rather watch TV all day when I hate doing that.

it would be nice to have someone to consistently rely on to help me out with doing "normal" things no one else will do with me because i'm too autistic for them, or they are too disabled to deal with me. I know people aren't obligated to be my friend or do things with me. so that's why a "job" for this would be great, so someone IS more obligated to do it. because i'm so incredibly lonely and exhausted and losing my mind over having not a single person to turn to or rely on 🥲

does that make sense?????

[hyenahunt]

Obbligato: The Devotion to Tatsumi Kazehaya - 13

Writer: Akira

Season: Spring, three years ago

Characters: Kaname, Tatsumi, Jun

Proofreading: Remi + 310mc (JP) & honeyspades (ENG)

Translation: Peace & hyenahunt

Tatsumi: The root of all misfortune lies in inequality and injustice. They are the root of all unhappiness. That is why they must be corrected.

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Kaname: ... I feel the same as Sazanami. If the fame and shine doesn't belong to my own name, then there's no point to it.

But... Still, it seems as if "Tatsumi Kazehaya" is doing well for itself.

Maybe I should learn from it. Throw away this pride of mine and ensure success through that.

All so I can become the sparkling idol I've always dreamed of being.

Tatsumi: Haha. If you so wish, then we are able to help you in a number of ways. We offer idol practices, studies, and can even help you find work — all free of charge.

In fact, I pay everyone who comes to one of my gatherings an equal part of my own wages.

Kaname: What do you mean...?

Tatsumi: You see, I have no interest in money. All of the money that "Tatsumi Kazehaya" accumulates is thus given out in equal shares to those gathered here.

No matter how much you've done, or what you've helped with, you're given the same amount of pay as the person next to you.

Hence, I've asked them to help me with the work I've received as much as possible.

Kaname: Are you for real? You're the one paying them?

It isn't the other way around? They're only managing to catch rays of the limelight because of you, aren't they? And yet... you're paying them?

Tatsumi: That's right. I likened it to a company, didn't I? Anyone who becomes a part of "Tatsumi Kazehaya" is offered the same regular pay as everyone else within it.

It's only natural to reward those who work a reasonable sum, isn't it? I would never ask someone to do my work for free.

Such a thing would be against our doctrine— nay, against human decency itself.

Jun: Ohhh, I get it now... I see just why these guys don't care for working on their own and are perfectly content just being "Tatsumi Kazehaya's assistants.”

They can just kick back and let their earnings pour in that way. Why wouldn't they? The cash they earn through this kinda fixed income is definitely gonna be way more than whatever an idol with no accomplishments could get through independent work.

And on top of that, Kazehaya-senpai's so brilliant at what he does that his work's a huge success every single time. Thanks to that, these guys get the chance to shine while avoiding any risk of failure or injury, or of being thought of as useless.

Sure is a dream job — one fit for morons.

Kaname: And on top of that, if I'm understanding correctly, you pay those a fair wage even if they haven't worked at all?

Tatsumi: I do. We don't discriminate here, you see. All are equal.

Jun: Mmm, well, I’m not that educated so I might be wrong, but this whole arrangement'spretty much that thing, isn't it? Starts with a c and ends with ism....

Our country's a capitalist nation, so y'know, the opposite of that —

Tatsumi: There's truly no need to go that far. I only wish to treat everyone as equally and fairly as possible.

Such a world would be ideal, wouldn't you agree? I want to make it a reality.

Tatsumi: Everyone is treated equally, given the same opportunities, and is paid fairly for their work. That way, everyone is able to live a happy, fulfilling life.

The root of all misfortune lies in inequality and injustice. They are the root of all unhappiness.

That is why they must be corrected.

There is a distinct disparity between the Special and Non-Special Students here at Reimei Academy. I'm doing what I can to close it.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, or even where you came from: you will be treated equally. Everyone will carry the same weight, walk the same amount of steps, and reach the same destination.

Everyone finishes at the same time. Everyone will be granted the same first place result, fairly and ideally.

And that is how we'll stop needless fighting over who's won and lost, we'll cease begrudging others for what they have, and we'll share the same happiness with one another.

That is the ideal world I dream of.

To bring it even slightly closer to reality, I'm doing what I can— though at the moment, this small sphere is all I'm able to influence in such a way.

Tatsumi: One day, I will take all those who inhabit Reimei Academy, the teachers and Special Students alike, as well as those in the idol industry, in this country, in this world...

And change their ways so we may live in such an Eden.

No, it's more than that. That is my mission in life as the Voice of God, as someone born within a family who teaches His words.

I truly believe that, and so I will live by that faith.

Tatsumi: May all of God's creations be blessed. Amen.

[ ☆ ]

✦✦✦✦✦

← prev ✦ all ✦ next →

[theflannelwizard]

PLEASE. gimme your scout thoughts NAOOOWW GIMME GIMME GIMMEE

THIS IS THE BEST ASK ANYONE HAS EVER SENT ME. Buckle up cause I have a LOT of Scout thoughts. Some of these are supported by canon and some of them are just random ass headcanons but fuck it we ball. Under a read more cause it is gonna get long.

The more he brags about something, the more insecure he is about it. To me he reads as deeply in need of validation and when he's out here flexing and talking about how hot he is it's largely in hopes that someone will agree for once.

That said I don't think the ego is entirely an act. He does think he's hot shit. He just ALSO really really really needs to hear someone else say it cause he's starved for affection.

Not to be a scoutpauling enjoyer on main but I think he calls her all the time for no reason. Calls her to tell her a joke he thought of or to brag about whatever he's just done or to awkwardly ask how she's doing and then say "yeah, me too" no matter how she responds. And she's usually too busy to really engage him but she wouldn't pick up if she didn't want him calling. And she does usually pick up.

Middle school dropout. I do buy into him being dyslexic but I also think he just isn't very educated. It was more important to get a damn job. His family is huge, his mom is single, and I am no longer certain whether I'm joking when I say Spy didn't pay child support.

I think he calls Medic 'Ma' sometimes and it started 100% as a joke, like when teenagers call their teacher 'Mom' on purpose, but now it's just Something He Does.

Sometimes I see people write him and Soldier as not getting along and I totally get where that's coming from but it's not my truth. To me they are best friends who chase each other around the base with BB guns and make campfire food and root beer floats together and get too hyped for the 4th of July (Soldier likes the America of it all, Scout likes the candy and fireworks, they both like American marching band music) and like. They have fun together. They egg each other on.

Blinks in photos. Every. Single. Time.

He claims he’s good at cleaning but he is not. If you ask him to wash dishes he will rinse them, if you ask him to sweep or mop he will not do anymore than makes the place Look clean at surface level, etc etc. He’s the same way with cleaning himself. He counts rain as a shower and swimming pools as baths.

The exception to that rule is his ma and Miss Pauling, he cleans up pretty nice for them. They're also the only people he'll wear a suit for.

If he knew Spy was his dad he would be mad about it. He would not call him Dad. He would probably try to use it for comedy but not because he actually thinks it's funny, just cause he uses humor to cope. And uhhh he would go from "that guy's a prick" to "that guy ruined my life and I am never speaking to him again." sorry for not thinking he would forgive and forget right away but he deserves to be angry at least at first.

Speaking of. I think the scoutpauling and spydad dynamic is so funny. Imagine you're the spy and you abandoned your son as a toddler and then not only does said son end up back in your life as your obnoxious ass coworker but he's dating your boss. And he complains to your boss about how hard his life was growing up fatherless. And your boss knows you're the deadbeat dad her boyfriend got fucked over by. I would be SWEATING.

This man LOVES comic books but he skips over big chunks of text and words that take too long to sound out. When that happens he just infers from the pictures what’s going on. Secretly he really wants someone to read his comic books aloud to him and do silly voices and help him get better at spelling/phonics but he would NEVER ask. He’s not a little kid anymore, he doesn’t need to be treated like one.

I think sometimes he flat out refuses to take his shirt off for anything and when this happens it is always because he’s been bleeding so heavily from his chest, back, or side that his shirt dried into the scab and now it would hurt like hell if he tore it off. However this is also the only time that anyone actually encourages him to take his shirt off because nobody cares about his abs and shoulders but they do care a little about making sure he doesn’t get super infected and die.

Swears he isn’t scared of escalators but that’s a lie, he thinks he’s gonna trip and get shredded.

Not licensed to drive but knows how. His driving is insane off roads, people die if they get in a car with him off roads, but when he's on a road he actually drives very well cause he knows he can't afford to get pulled over. A cop sees him speeding and suddenly he's being taken in for countless charges of murder and possession of illegal firearms and who knows what else.

And of course, he hates the Mets and the Yankees <3

[goth-oatmilk-latte]

a compilation of how my family members are treated vs how im treated

stepbrother: allowed to have bipolar disorder. allowed to literally be a deadbeat dad, but my parents will do anything for his child, financial or otherwise. allowed to quit all career obligations and do nothing for months and ask my parents for money to fund his life because he "needed a break from everything." had his ENTIRE education funded by both his parents plus my mother. has actually been bailed out of near jail time for old, unpaid parking tickets. he is 4 years older than me.

my stepsister: encouraged to pursue her dream, which is being a SAHM working an actual pyramid scheme job. was also told it was okay if she dropped out of college to get married and have kids, was basically encouraged to do so bc she was marrying someone our family presumed will take care of her. gets treated like a princess, gets everything she wants more or less bc shes pretty and has a kid. shes 2 years older than me.

my cousin: has quit every career ever. is piss poor mother. has on multiple occasions left kids at her parents to go party. her parents (my aunt and uncle) felt bad for her bc working was "too hard" so they gave her their house and pay for everything she does. everything she does is some insane celebration. shes not depressed, she will literally tell you she's lazy, enjoys being lazy, and doesnt want to do much bc its more fun to sit around and have other ppl do things for her. entire family encourages and fawn over every stupid thing she does. had 2 kids while unemployed and unmarried, given evrry resource possible. even my stepdad makes sure she doesnt need anything. same age as my stepbrother.

me: has graduated from two degrees and received no recognition, in fact my mother acted like my graduation from mortuary school was somehow a burden on her. was told "figure it out" about college, and then bitched at for every decision i made relating to it. no recognition for accomplishments period. finally got help for severe untreated mental illness, constantly told i just want attention, my own mother told our family i made up having an ED doe attention, and my mother threw my meds away one year when i came home from college on break bc she thought it was hard drugs. not even allowed to be mentally ill, literally taunted for showing symptoms. was taunted and made fun of for being visably depressed when my dad died. always told to figure it out myself. was told if i ever had a kid not to expect any kind of help. never praised. never celebrated. constantly nitpicked about everything. family was so uninterested in me that half of them never even paid attention to me being engaged, and then was literally told "we wish it was [name redacted] instead, he was a nice boy" even though the person they're referring to raped me, and I told them that. could probably never do a damn thing right or get any type of praise even if i cured cancer, AIDS, and abolished world poverty.

just wondering where they get the idea that im the least favorite and also why i want nothing to do with anyone. "we love everyone equally" YEAH? ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT??

[ooops-i-arted]

Season 3 Episode 2 child development thoughts?????

Hey so you know how I've been beating the drum FOREVER of "won't it be so cool when Grogu feels more confident in himself and can be more proactive in the story?" WELL NOW WE DID IT!!!

Maybe not quite that level yet but HE SAVED DAD!! He did it!! Even when he felt afraid, probably overwhelmed, likely fighting the instinct to stay with Dad and use the Force, he did it! He conquered his own fears and kept his clarity of mind (like a Jedi) and used his Force powers and what he'd been taught by Din to quickly and readily get Din help. I AM SO PROUD OF MY BABY!!! Look at how far he's come from a little scared baby hiding in a pod!!

Scooting back to the beginning, I loved how he proudly showed Peli he could jump (and she praised him like the good aunt she is). And.... was that Grogu's first word? It did sound a bit like "Peli." This is one of a few instances we get over this episode and the next of Grogu "talking." Not stock baby sounds, but clearly trying to emulate the speech of adults in his life. We know the species can speak Basic (Yoda, Yaddle, Oteg, Vandar) so either Grogu has been strongly discouraged from trying to speak before he was taken in by Din (my personal theory) or he has a physical issue in his mouth structure that makes it difficult to speak (also a possibility but I'm not very knowledgeable, just what I've picked up from the wonderful speech pathologists at my job). I still think the real reason is a mute child is more marketable because most people don't actually like kids unless they're being cute props and not acting like actual kids. (Exhibit A: The reaction to young Anakin and Leia and being called brats for.....acting like normal kids. But let's move on from a personal pet peeve of mine.)

We've seen Din talk more and more to Grogu throughout the season as he grows more comfortable in a caretaker role, and he continues this by teaching Grogu about "their" culture. (Grogu is officially a Mandalorian now!) It's plot-relevant but it's also wonderful to see Din take an active role in Grogu's education. Din has seen the dangers of the galaxy and wants Grogu prepared, and I think he enjoys having someone to share his knowledge with and teach and parent. Grogu is clearly into it, facing Din, listening closely to him (and we KNOW when he chooses not to listen, he shows it).

Grogu showing empathy for R5 and being worried about it shows that he is developing social-emotional skills. Kids are pretty egocentric by design; they can't always meet their own needs and have to make sure they can direct an adult to get their physical, emotional, and mental needs met. Preschool is when we start teaching respect and compassion for others more purposefully (it should be modeled at all times - kids emulate what they see) because they're typically in a classroom setting and interacting with people more. While Din does do a lot of violence and killing for money, Grogu has also seen him speak politely to others, take care of people like Frog Lady when they need help, respect others' space by ducking in Kuiil and the Anzellans' dwellings, talk respectfully to others even when they disagree, so on. Din is actually a pretty good model, you know, minus the violence and the killing. I do my best to model at all times what I want my kids to act like, big moments (guiding them in using words when upset) and small (saying excuse me when I bump them, please and thank you when I ask them to do something, etc). It pays off because now my class sees and learns the expectations and by this time of the year, they aren't typically yelling across the room "Miss L he took my toy!" they're saying "I was using that, please give it back" and then coming over if needed to say "Miss L, can you help me? I was playing with that and [Friend] took it." Grogu has absorbed what Din is showing him. In turn, we see this again when Din takes Grogu's concerns seriously and reacts accordingly. To Din it's just a droid, but Grogu is worried, and Grogu can trust that Din will respond to that worry and reassure him either verbally, letting him watch on the scanner, or by fetching their poor droid friend. Grogu learns from Din because he trusts him and believes in him - just like my students learn from me and value what I say because I have demonstrated that I care about them, will treat them with respect, and can be a reliable person when they need me, and we have built a relationship off that.

We also once again see Grogu demonstrate a secure, healthy relationship with Din and the worth of Din's parenting by immediately going into his pod and sealing it when asked. A child who does not have consistent expectations or boundaries will test them to try and figure them out. Grogu knows that Dad means what he says and trusts that Din is telling him to get in the pod for a good reason, and will come get him when pod time is done. So he listens.

I loved seeing Grogu try to save Din. He's acting independently, but it's clear he's learned some skills from Din and Luke. He's able to successfully sneak right up to Din and would've probably gotten him out if the machinery hadn't clanged. He listens to Din when told to go, which had to be hard - it's scary to leave Dad even when Dad isn't in trouble! But he really shows off his cognitive skills. He's able to think through sneaking up to Dad. He's able to focus and use the Force well enough to leap several times. He shows memory skills by being able to track their path back to the N-1 and then show Bo the way back. He reacts quickly and adapts to any obstacles, even though he was scared. We see later when he's with Bo, he's much more scared and hesitant. He was definitely afraid of those dangers, but was able to push through it and not be ruled by emotion alone. That's a great show of maturity and I'm so proud of him!! His display of memory skills continues as he "communicates" to R5 to take him to Kalevala, remembering what Din has taught him. I also wonder if this will keep motivating him to keep trying to speak. Grogu wants to communicate so much! He knows it would be easier and I bet he's bursting with things to tell Din!

I was also wondering if he was able to control his pod, and yes, he finally can! This shows that not only he has matured enough to be more independent, he is trustworthy enough that Din knows he won't wander off and will be safe. The last three pods have all had controls via Din's gauntlet. Grogu could open and close the red-and-white one but we saw no ability to control it. But now he gets a big boy pod! This will really help him be more independent and proactive and safe and I think it will be good for him, so that he can keep developing his self-confidence in his own independence while still being safe. Din probably feels better knowing Grogu can escape dangers and isn't as totally reliant on him as he was in previous seasons.

Overall this was a really solid episode for Grogu. We've really seen how he's learned and matured. I hope this season gives him even more character development, and while I maintain my opinion that Disney would prefer a mute, cute-baby-noises character to better sell merch.... I hope I'm wrong and we're building up towards Grogu speaking!!

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for trying to keep my small business running so I don't get evicted?

I (52M) am technically a partner in an undertaker's business in a small town. Of course, in practice I run it singlehandedly, as the other partner, my father-in-law (76M), has for many years now been unable to work, owing to his age, deafness, and...having a few tiles missing from his roof, so to speak. He hardly understands what I'm talking about half the time, let alone running a business--though he seems to be able to sniff out when I'm drunk like a damn bloodhound, but that's another matter entirely. For the purposes of this account of my circumstances, suffice it to say that only my hard work, and more importantly my ingenuity, stand between myself, my cat (13F), my father-in-law and my wife (31F), and abject destitution.

Now, in recent years I have been finding it increasingly difficult to make enough money to keep us in business. My wife puts the blame on me, saying the business was thriving when her father was in charge of it, and accusing me of spending too much of what little income I do earn on liquor. Now, I put it to you, if you were in my situation--a highly intelligent and educated man, one who deserves a better life than this, and instead is trapped in this decrepit old house with a decrepit old father-in-law to support (I've offered to take care of him more permanently but my "bitter half" always objects to the idea, for some incomprehensible reason), struggling to keep a failing business afloat, and married to a brainless cow like that who constantly torments me with the caterwauling she calls singing--wouldn't you find yourself in need of a drop of liquid consolation from time to time? And yet somehow she continues to insist that this whole situation is MY fault.

It's a thankless job, you know. I've tried everything. I've attempted a variety of money-saving measures, although my sole employee (59M) has the nerve to get judgemental about that, saying it's "not right" to throw a corpse into the grave and reuse the coffin because he "doesn't like to see anyone buried naked" (what, does he think they'll get cold? They're DEAD, for pity's sake!). I don't know who he thinks he is, criticising my morality, when he's a wanted bank-robber and it's only my generosity and the goodness of my heart keeping him safe from the authorities.

Anyway, I am finding myself increasingly hard-pushed for money. Ultimately, a business needs customers, and we simply don't have enough. My wife's been nagging me about our financial situation more than ever, the aforementioned employee has been ungrateful enough to start hinting at a desire to be PAID, and the landlord (how the hell should I know how old he is? he's a penny-pinching old pig, that's what he is! M) has now decided to start making demands that I pay my rent, which APPARENTLY hasn't been paid for a year, and threatening to evict me. What kind of heartless monster would force an undeserving man and his cat (and wife and father-in-law I suppose...) to live in the street?! It's a cruel, harsh world we live in... But even on the rare occasions that someone in this community conveniently dies and provides me with a bit of money, after spending it on various necessities (the "water of life" being among them, along with the occasional new black suit or Inverness cape--one's presentation and apparel are of great importance, you know!), nothing remains to pay the rent with.

So can I REALLY be blamed for deciding that in the absence of customers, my only choice is to create them? My targets are old men, who likely wouldn't have lived much longer anyway, and I make it appear as if they died in their sleep. I choose wealthy ones so I can get paid for their expensive funerals. They were doing no-one any good just sitting there on all that money. I call it enterprising spirit, but my ungrateful employee calls it a crime. I'm starting to think my cat's the only person who isn't constantly casting judgement upon my business practices. (Even she occasionally looks disapproving--but then, you know how cats are, I doubt it means anything.)

Personally, I think I'm just an entrepreneur of death trying to make his way in this cruel and unjust world. Anyone who has a problem with my methods can go to the devil--in fact, I'd happily send them there myself. Back me up on this, won't you, my dear friends? I'm not TA, am I?

[myshredda]

Remember how Red was turned into Mr. Peterson of Peterson's and SONS and Friends Bits and Parts Limited? Where's the sons? Show me the sons! Dad Red confirmed?

The jobs episode is SUCH an interesting episode, not only because it was the first look back at the trio that we'd gotten since the cancelation of the original show (rip Wakey Wakey), but also because it was establishing the ideological themes for the channel 4 series!

Jobs has hands down my favorite message of all the new episodes, and I would say it's the one that most clearly projects that 'this is the twisted version of a children's educational puppet show' vibe that Becky and Joe are going for. Where shows like Sesame Street or Under the Umbrella Tree would paint these wonderful pictures of a life filled with endless possibility and the chance to get the job of your dreams, DHMIS tackles this topic in the more realistic way.

Being pigeonholed into a low-paying factory job with high-risk of personal injury, repetitive work, lack of personal fulfillment, and the eventual realization that you wasted the best years of your life at a company that would fire you the instant you've become an inconvenience to their bottom line (say: being old, or getting injured, or y'know, both) is the more likely outcome for children that watch these puppet shows, especially considering Sesame Street was created to connect with low income, inner city children. The system is rigged against kids like this from the moment they're born, and it's implemented and carried out generation over generation by those who either stumbled into wealth through unethical means or inherited it from relatives that built it through the exploitation of the working class.

So, where does Red morphing into Mr. Peterson fit into my mini-essay on the harsh realties of capitalism? I'm very happy you asked!!!

Red's character arc in the Jobs episode (or episode arc, whichever you prefer) is a representation of the people in life that are allowed to fail upward. Red doesn't have any specific skills that set him apart from Duck or Yellow that would constitute him being the best person to be 'the boss' (unless you count him looking like a Smart Boy in his outfit) Red quiet literally wanders into the head office and is given a job he's unqualified for, no questions asked. He's surrounded by yes-men in the form of the Fax Machine and the Bin who both idealize him due to his high position in the company and want to get close to him to ensure their standing potentially being uplifted by proximity to Red (ie: the Fax Machine's constant flirting)

Red himself is incredibly incredibly useless in his position (literally the only thing he does is tell people he doesn't work at the company over the phone, pee without washing his hands, and make empty speeches when needed) but he's able to keep that position for FORTY YEARS simply because he was in the right place at the right time. I believe the way he eventually adopts the moniker of "Mr. Peterson" is an example of how these big companies pretend to be 'family owned and operated' in an attempt to seem more relatable (such as Walmart and Disney, which are two megacorporation that operate under the family name of their founder) but in reality they're run by whichever CEO managed to fall into the position. There is no 'Mr. Peterson' or his 'Sons' or their 'Friends'. There's only a boss that managed to trip into a high-paying position and now parades around wearing the company name on his lanyard, factory employees that are overworked and exploited, staff members that leech off the higherups, or workers that attempt to break free from this mold and are punished by society for attempting to find a better life.

(Also my joke answer is Yellow is his son and Red is a DILF because of this.)

[addictedtostorytelling]

hey, my question is not related to csi but rather the method you use to "read" the characters. Here's the thing, there's this character in a game that I'd like to understand better but i don't know where to begin. He's not a playable character but he's somewhat important to the story, he's the only one truly interested in ending the curse.

And I know the chances of you actually knowing or even playing the game is pretty low, I'd love if you could help me with this.

hi, @a-carnie-and-a-cop!

so reading characters is a lot like reading real people, in that in order to figure out what they're about, first you have to get to know them.

the trouble is, of course, that whereas with a real life person you were trying to get to know, you could spend actual time with them and ask them questions about themselves and observe their behaviors in different situations/in response to various stimuli, with fictional characters you are limited to what information is available to you in the source material, which sometimes is fairly sparse, particularly if the character is more minor or peripheral to the story.

and god help you if the source material itself is underwritten.

consequently, you will often have to extrapolate a lot from relatively little in order to make heads or tails of why a character is the way they are.

some thoughts on how to go about doing so after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

__

so first things first:

in order to get to know the character, i recommend reading/watching/playing the source material multiple times.

taking notes when you do so also helps.

when looking for information about a character, there are three main areas to focus on, if they are available to you.

the first is the world they inhabit. even in stories that ostensibly take place in "the real world" in present times, you have to spend some time getting to know the setting, in terms of the job the character works, their socioeconomic position, their social status, their educational background, etc. however, in fantasy settings, you also have to learn the "rules of the world" and its mechanics—so, for example, if the character is a mage, what does that mean? what's the lore? how does the magic work? how are characters of this type typically regarded in this fictional society?, etc. every character, whether they are in a more realistic/contemporary setting or a more fantastical or even historical one, has a context, and learning that context can help you to evaluate them.

the second is area to focus on when getting to know a character is their individual background: i.e., when, where, and how they grew up; any early losses they suffered; what their formative experiences were; what their important relationships were like; etc.

this area is of course one that isn't necessarily available to us with every character. sometimes we meet characters as fully formed adults, and we never learn about anything that happened to them when they were younger.

certainly, it is just as true in fiction as it is in real life: the things that happen to people during their early years, when they are vulnerable and impressionable, shape them in adulthood.

so to whatever extent you can, you want to try to find out what kinds of experiences the character had leading up to the point where they currently are in-story. especially with things like family history and personal tragedies, the more you can learn about them, the better.

the third area to focus on in terms of learning a character well enough to analyze them would be how the character operates within their story world at present: i.e., what kinds of choices they make inside of the narrative, what their habits are, how they interact with others, what their current relationships are, etc.

and this is the really important one.

thankfully, even if the story world and the character's background remain more of a mystery to you, you will always have at least some access to what they're currently doing in the story.

so pay attention!

any time they mention a memory, show strong emotion (either positive or negative about something), or take an action with story implications or consequences, you want to make note of it. the same goes for any kinds of tics they may have—for instance, if they light up whenever a particular person appears or they get grouchy anytime a particular topic comes up. watch their expressions and their body language. listen to how they talk. see how they interact with the world they live in. what kind of person they are. how they present themselves. how others view them. what kinds of things they try to keep private. what kinds of things they willingly broadcast.

then, you want to start looking both for patterns and for breaks in patterns.

any time you can say "well, they always do x" or "they usually always do x, except for in this instance, where they did y," that's something you should focus in on.

take sara sidle, for example.

prior to s5 of the show, we as the viewing audience were not privy to her backstory. however, there were still some signposts for us to look at when trying to figure out what her deal was.

something that was true of her from the very beginning of the show was that she tended to get extremely upset over cases that involved violence towards women (such as in episode 01x16 "too tough to die") and more specifically intimate partner violence towards woman (such as in episode 01x10 "sex, lies, & larvae"), particularly of the husband-on-wife variety, as well as cases that involved children who were taken into foster care (such as in episode 01x07 "blood drops").

given that sara could be fairly objective about most other cases, her extreme emotional reactions to ipv and foster child cases were notable—something that stood out about her.

particularly as the seasons progressed, it started to be a pattern with her: any time one of these cases popped up, she would get agitated. it was like clockwork. a very reliable trait.

as an analyst, when you become aware of something like that happening, that's your cue to start asking why—why might she be behaving in this way? what's motivating her?

and of course it was impossible for us as views to fully guess the specifics of her backstory—i.e., that her schizophrenic mother had killed her abusive father and that she had ended up in foster care—prior to when sara finally unveiled them to use in episode 05x13 "nesting dolls."

but even before that point, we could be fairly certain that sara had some kind of history with intimate partner violence in her life—either because she had herself been a victim of it or someone she deeply cared about had been.

ditto for her whole deal with the foster care system.

and that's the thing: usually it's a good bet that if there is some topic or cause or person that the character is consistently getting emotional about, there is something in their past that makes them have that strong reaction. oftentimes, either they or someone they cared about may have had some kind of transformative experience related to that thing.

if the reaction is negative, then often the thing was a trauma.

if the reaction is positive, then often the thing was some kind of positive experience or relationship.

of course, some characters are "louder" about their feelings than others.

for as much as sara doesn't often speak openly about her past (and absolutely did not do so with anyone prior to s5), she has also always worn her heart on her sleeve, meaning that her emotions are visible even when she's keeping quiet about her reasons for feeling them.

however, other characters—like grissom, say—are often less demonstrative, so it may be harder to identify what their "sticking points" tend to be.

in the absence of big, outward displays of emotion, you have to sometimes look at the moments where they are notably quiet—at what they purposefully don't talk about; the things they play closest to the chest and even actively conceal.

and, again, you're looking for patterns.

using grissom as our example, though he never admitted to his love for sara aloud prior to episode 04x12 "butterflied," the facts that he was so consistently protective of her (see episode 01x23 "the strip strangler"), jealous over her relationships with other men (see episodes 03x01 "revenge is best served cold," 03x02 "the accused is entitled," and 03x03 "let the seller beware"), and just kind of always gravitated toward her (see episode 02x23 "the hunger artist") spoke absolute volumes about how he felt about her, even prior to when he made that confession.

to this same end, it can be especially illuminating if you catch a character behaving unusually or irrationally about something—going against their norms, taking actions that from a logical perspective don't make sense, being self-sabotaging or making choices that seem counterintuitive, etc.—because, the things is, when they are well-written, fictional characters, like real life people, are not necessarily always sensible, honest with themselves and with others, well-intentioned, or correct in their assumptions, etc. particularly when it comes down to their deepest-seated desires, fears, doubts, etc., they will, just like the rest of us, oftentimes flail and misstep and even hurt their own causes.

again, looking at grissom, he is typically a very even-tempered, quiet, civil person; however, in situations where sara is threatened, he tends to go more than a little berserk, suddenly becoming imperious, stormy, and irrational (see episode 01x23 "the strip stranger"). he breaks all of his rules for her, and the fact that he does is significant.

so that's another thing to look for as a cue.

of course, just recognizing patterns/broken patterns isn't the be-all and end-all here.

as i like to tell my writing students, just being able to articulate something you have observed about a text and say "here is something that i noticed" is to provide summary, and it's not the same as analysis.

in order to analyze, you have to draw inferences and essentially make "because" statements.

"sara gets worked up whenever she works ipv cases."

okay. there's your summary.

what does that mean? what's the implication there?

"sara gets worked up whenever she works ipv cases, probably because she has personal experience with ipv. she might have herself had an abusive boyfriend at some point, or maybe a family member was abused, like her mother. since she seems to get most upset about husband-on-wife ipv cases, i tend to think maybe her father was abusive toward her mother. that might also be why she sometimes is so reactive toward domineering men."

that's your analysis.

you have to be able to connect the dots.

unfortunately, trying to connect the dots is where things get really difficult, because in order to figure out that kind of "cause and effect" stuff, you have to know just kind of generally how human behavior tends to work.

people (both fictional and real) are messy.

as stated above, they don't always act in ways that are sensible. they don't always do what is in their own self-interests. there is not always a direct 1:1 correlation between x event in someone's past and y behavior in their present. sometimes there is more of a complicated relationship between experience and behavior, especially when trauma is involved.

there are no hard, fast rules.

while nick gets upset about child abuse cases because he was abused as a child, grissom gets upset about them just because he cares a lot about protecting children.

you've gotta look at the individual.

even if two characters behave similarly to each other, they may ultimately have very different motivations for that behavior.

for example, prior to getting together, both grissom and sara believe they are unlovable. however, grissom feels that way because he was experienced a lot of rejection and unacceptance throughout his adult life, whereas sara feels that way due to her family history/genetics/trauma/mental illness, which by and large links back to her childhood.

that's why it's important to find out as much about a character's biography as you can so you can start to see maybe some of those precipitating factors that influence them to be the way they are.

but, even then, it's still not easy to draw those implications.

knowing a bit about psychology helps.

so does practicing empathy.

while you of course don't have to condone a character's actions or agree with their reasons for doing things, you do have to be able to say, "i understand why they'd feel that way or why they'd do x, y, or z thing."

of course, barring cases where they're being written badly/in a way that is ooc for them; then, you just discount the behavior because he would not fucking say that!

it's worth acknowledging here that people-reading can sometimes be difficult for neurodivergent individuals, so if you happen to be someone who struggles with interpreting social cues in real life, it may be an equally challenging endeavor to try and do so in fiction.

that said, one thing that makes fictional behaviors somewhat easier to interpret than real life ones is that fictional behaviors often tie in with the major themes of a work and are designed to have "narrative payoff."

that means you can kind of look at the end to unravel the beginning (of course assuming that the story is concluded or at least the arc in question is).

why does grissom act so hot and cold with sara in s4? well, it may not be obvious as the story is playing out in real time, but once you get to episode 04x12 "butterflied" and hear his confession to dr. lurie, in which he admits that he loves sara but feels as if he can never have her, then you can look back over all of his previous encounters with sara throughout the season and retroactively apply that understanding to those actions.

at a most basic level, he acted the way he did because he was afraid of never being able to have the thing he most wanted.

if you are someone who struggles with understanding why people (both real and fictional) do the things you do, i recommend you try to expose yourself to a lot of different stories, paying attention to the way the characters in them act as you read, watch, or play through them. try to think about similar patterns of behavior that you see between different characters in different works. if you do, you'll start to get a feel for what kinds of things people tend to do when they feel particular emotions or have particular kinds of experiences (e.g., "people who are grieving often cry, close themselves off to the people around them, express anger, put themselves in harm's way and/or take needless risks, experience guilt surrounding the person or thing they lost, etc.").

as stated above, human behavior is always multifarious and individual.

however, there do tend to be "commonplaces," and the more examples you can expose yourself to, the more you can start to recognize those commonplaces when you encounter them in your favorite stories and characters.

tropes are tropes for a reason.

so.

to apply all of the above advice to the character in your game, without knowing the franchise or character specifically, here are some of the questions i recommend you try to answer in order to analyze him:

what is going on with the curse? how does it affect the people in the game? what are some of the possible implications it has on the story world?

what are the reasons why other characters seem disinterested in ending the curse (even though, in theory, it is a bad thing™)?

is there anything in this character's past that could account for him having a different attitude towards the curse than the other characters around him do? does he have any personal experiences with the curse or has anyone or anything he cares about been affected by it in any way?

what is his character like in general? within the story world, is he portrayed as being a protagonist or an antagonist? does he generally seem to care about people/things/causes outside of himself and his immediate sphere of responsibility or not? is there anyone or anything he might be trying to protect? does it seem to be in keeping with everything else that you know about his character for him to care about breaking the curse or is it something of an aberration for him (i.e., is this part of a pattern for him or is it an anomaly)?

what is he willing to do and especially to sacrifice in order to end the curse? what is at stake for him if he fails? what is at stake for him if he succeeds?

what does he say about the curse and/or the state of the story world under the curse? what does he not say? does he get notably emotional about anything curse-adjacent? is he notably silent about anything curse-adjacent?

what kinds of things do you see him doing in his efforts to break the curse?

once you ask yourself these questions and come up with some answers, start looking for those patterns and/or broken patterns i talked about.

then start drawing connections.

"i know x thing happened to him in his past, and it was related to the curse in this way. because of that, he might feel like _________ and be motivated to do y."

in general, it is always good practice when analyzing a character to consider both what their greatest fears might be and what their greatest hopes might be.

what are they afraid of?

what do they want?

that's where their core characterization lies.

of course, one big disclaimer i have to put on everything i've said here is that sometimes fiction is just poorly written and the way that certain characters are depicted doesn't ultimately make sense, no matter how hard you think about things.

another big disclaimer is that sometimes we as the audience will never get enough context to understand the underlying motivations of a character, even if their behavior does seem to have some internal logic to it. like. we may just ultimately have to say, "the way he's acting right now tracks with something, but i don't know what that something is."

it all kind of depends on what the writers/creators of the source material bring to the table and how skilled or unskilled they are at implying depth.

anyway.

if nothing else, the thing to take away from all of this rambling is to just keep asking the question "why might he be doing this?" and trying, to the best of your abilities, based on what information is available in the game, to answer.

that's what i teach my students to do in my literature courses: to interrogate motivations.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[187days]

Day Eleven

The staff shortage kept making itself known today.

We only have two custodians, and if you've been reading my previous entries you'll know we're expected to clean our own classrooms as a result, so I swept the floor when I arrived. Then I spent the rest of my prep time getting my boards ready, making copies, grading, answering emails...

One of those emails was a note from Mr. B that the social studies department's Quia subscription was about to expire. I was sure I'd renewed it, so I sent a few emails of my own to try and figure out what had happened. Turns out, there was an issue with the invoice that the folks at the district office hadn't gotten to yet because, of course, they're understaffed, too. Thankfully, it wasn't difficult to resolve.

More difficult to resolve: our shortage of paras and special education case managers. That's way above my pay grade, but Ms. E came to ask some questions about state laws relating to class sizes, numbers of students with IEPs per class, that kind of thing, and we got to talking about it. She's understandably stressed about how hard it is to do her job right now.

Mine as a regular ed. teacher in the only fully-staffed department in the building is a million times easier. I go in my room, I do my thing. Heck, I'm even getting the timing down in the half block classes now. My Global Studies lesson (about life in the coldest permanently inhabited village on earth, since we're talking about how the environment impacts other aspects of culture) was pretty close to perfect (and my APGOV Students were just working on projects, so that was easy). Woot.

But, yeah, stress levels elsewhere in the building are high.

That was clear at today's faculty meeting when a rather... spirited... debate broke out about some of the new rules the admins asked us to impose this year to address tardiness and truancy (two major post-pandemic issues, and not just at my school, I know). Does it suck to restrict kids' freedom of movement? For sure. But is the school having fewer discipline and safety issues? Significantly so. No one was arguing that the outcome is bad, just that there might be less restrictive ways of a achieving it. The Principal and The Deans indicated that they're open to having those conversations, but they want to keep doing things as we're doing them for at least a quarter- enough time to gather some good data- so someone remind me of this entry in eight weeks, I guess.

[riftwalker-limbro]

4 for Vince, 11 for Bruiser, 16 for anyone from the Deimos Triad at your choice, 8 for Kali

Piles these upon you for hopefully ample entertainment

Thank You Friend Much Appreciated Essay Incoming >:)))

recap of the rules for me: "Respond from your oc’s point of view! For this ask game, imagine that your oc cannot lie, and feels comfortable explaining themselves to the interviewer." Other context is I'll answer from post-Collective POVs, so after getting the Deimos squad back together and making everything alright there again but before Roach & the New War & everything there happens.

additionally, because i'm finding 'answer something in their voice' an interestingly difficult exercise to get myself to do, everyone's medium of answering will be text post and not speaking/conversation djfbgjhb.

---

4 for Vince: "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?"

When I was young, I didn't much think about my future - because I was very absorbed in what I was doing right then, maybe? Never really saw reason to focus on what wasn't, yet. When I started hitting points where I had to choose what subjects to study, I chose mathematics - by then, I was good at it thanks to a few educators with their hearts in the right place, and my family told me it was prestiguous and I was capable, so I might as well. Where I ended up was not planned, but not unexpected either. Well, apart from the whole Helminth thing. That was a surprise.

---

11 for Bruiser: "What does your dream room/house look like? Would you mind showing some inspiration pictures?"

The messiest place you've ever seen. I have a system, but I'm not telling you what it is. That would take out the magic.

Seriously, though: trinkets, reminders, comfort items everywhere. Back when I only had a bunk in a Solaris basement, I had a box of photos of me and my friends: odd jobs we were doing, gags we would pull off, life milestones. It'd be nice to have space to hang them so I could see them without having to open a box and flip through them every time. I don't see the point of trying to hide that you live somewhere if there's no one to hide from.

A whole house is a bit beyond me - I've never needed more than just a room, but if I can just say anything - it'd have so many spare rooms. You never know when you encounter someone in need. Paying it forwards, something like that. If I could still eat, it'd have the biggest kitchen, too - I was a good cook, back in my day, believe it or not!

If I were still human, I'd also need a gym, obviously. But that won't help me much anymore now, so it's whatever.

---

16 for (spins wheel) Verica: "Do you believe in soulmates? Why or why not?"

Good thing you're asking me, because if you asked either of the others, you'd have gotten some sciency bullshit spiel that wouldn't make any sense if you thought about it for one minute. That's not what this question is about.

I don't think soulmates are something that just happen. You've gotta click with someone, and you've gotta work to really cultivate something. This might just sound like the 101 of friendships and relationships in general, but do you think they're much different?

It doesn't have to have a scientific basis to be real, is what Vince and Pule can sometimes forget. Yeah, it's a bit idealist, but what's life without ideas? This is the kind of magic you need to believe in to make it work for you. I wasn't scientifically sure that anyone would come for me after I sealed myself in Suda's cryo-storage, least of all the one I wanted to, but that worked out in the end. And Pule wasn't far away to begin with. Without knowing about each other, we managed to either stick together or find each other again. I choose to see the magic in that.

---

8 for Kali: "What do you like to do for fun?"

Set shit on fire.

When there's nothing that needs a little fire to brighten its day, I'm usually content to just... watch. Love just observing my tribe, pack, family, whatever you want to call it. They're always scurrying around doing things, maybe not minding themselves or their possessions as closely as they should. You can learn a lot about people this way, and this knowledge can be used in a multitude of ways, if you're creative like me.

People or places. Traveling is fun also. Back before everything, we would always get sent somewhere else, always see new sights. The system is a beautiful place if you let it be. You just have to know how to look.