#there have been. Developments™. both in and out of fiction

[antisocialxconstruct]

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[sixstepsaway]

I don't get why people want to pretend Ed wasn't abusive. Why do people insist on making everything into binaries? Yes, Ed has been a victim of abuse. Yes, he has been abusive. Both things can be true. I love him because I think he's in interesting and I understand where his pain is coming from (even if I think S2 was a missed opportunity in terms of character development). But anyway, thank you for writing about this because maybe some folks genuinely don't recognize abusive trends.

I think it has a lot to do with the fandom culture of only being allowed to like "wholesome" ships.

Look at it this way: when season 1 was airing, Ed and Stede were, in fact, very wholesome. Sure, they had some moments of lesser wholesomeness, but overall they were pretty wholesome and sweet and gentle. They were sweet and finding love in middle age and it was adorable. They had a general stamp of fandom approval that they were, in fact, Wholesome And Good To Ship™.

If you look at other fandoms, you'll see a lot of times there's the Good And Acceptable Ship and then there's the Bad Ship (or ships) and the Bad Ship is always slapped with the "oh that's actually incest!" label when they've, idk, grown up together, or "oh it's abusive!" because one of them one time made a bad joke or something, or "power dynamics!" because one is 27 and one is 25 or one is short and the other is tall or whatever, and yeah sometimes the Bad Ship is actually toxic or whatever (which is not a reason to not ship and enjoy it!), but they're put in neat little boxes: Good and Bad.

And for a lot of people, those boxes keep them safe. Last year, someone who was an Izzy Hands fan got doxxed because...? They liked Izzy Hands and shipped him with... I don't know actually. Ed? Stede? It doesn't matter, all I know is they got doxxed.

The side of fandom that thinks you should only ship the Good Ship are toxic and downright dangerous. It's happened again and again in numerous fandoms and just keeps happening.

So when at the end of s1, Ed turned around and cut Izzy's toe off and fed it to him, I think a lot of people panicked because shit, now Ed was Bad too, and if he's Bad then you can't like him or relate to him or ship him with the Good guy of Stede, so what the fuck do you do?

Obvious answer: Blame Izzy. Izzy's already classed as Bad, so put all the responsibility on Izzy for Ed's darkness and then it's safe to ship Ed and Stede again and no one can call you an abuse apologist or whatever for liking them together.

(To be clear: Shipping says nothing about your real morality. This is very clear for many reasons, one of which is... spend thirty seconds watching fans of the Wholesome Ships dox people and abuse people online lol)

So they spent all this time saying Ed was just scared and lashing out, and now s2 has come along and Ed is... well, abusive, canonically.

And for most of us, that doesn't really matter. We can still enjoy Ed and Stede or Ed and Izzy, we can throw ourselves into fanworks and enjoy the show for the things we like, and we can critique the things we have issues with (my problem is not Ed being written as dark and twisty and having a villain arc, my problem is the show writing it badly, exploring it badly, and then handwaving it, because it's shitty writing) and still really enjoy the vibes we got from the show.

But for people who are scared because they spent all this time saying Izzy fans should kill themselves for liking an abuser, well... now they have a choice: either admit Ed is an abuser and admit that liking a character doesn't dictate your irl morality, nor does it say anything about you aside from what you enjoy in fiction, or excuse away his actions, insist he's just a lil meow meow and continue feeling safe in their little bubble.

In a lot of ways I can't blame people for wanting to duck and cover from it. I mean, look at the shit people get for liking characters who aren't perfect, or talking about the imperfections of characters, or just enjoying complex narratives!

But what genuinely concerns me isn't anything to do with the fiction really, it's when people look at Ed's behavior in 2x01 and 2x02 and go, "Nah he's fine," because oh, honey, no, you are making yourself so vulnerable to real life abuse. That is what worries me, which is why I answered that one ask saying Ed wasn't abusive, it felt important to point out why he is.

Anyway, that's what I think is happening here. I think people are just scared that if they admit their fave has multitudes and isn't a perfect character who never does any wrong, they'll get doxxed and abused and harassed online.

I get that.

[p0ppingjelly]

🫧 ★ ˗ˏˋ ꒰ you are now watching 𝙟𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙥™ tv ! ꒱ ˎˊ-

thank you to my sugar pie @venusvity for creating this beautiful graphic for me <333

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ 𝙟𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙥™ !

jellypop is a fictional 6 member girl group established under HYBE entertainment. the group debuted may 2022 with their smash hits BUBBLE and POP . they have a bright and fun concept that they bring across through their bubblegum pop sound as well as their catchy lyrics and choreography. many say, the group is bringing back the real k-pop.

although the entire group has been successful since their debut, there is no doubt that member jangmi is the stand out star due to her famous family ,charisma and visuals. there have been many controversy surrounding the group and jangmi’s blatant favouritism, with the group often being seen as “jangmi and friends.” she has always gotten the best outfits, the most screen time , the most lines -despite not being a main vocalist- as well as being the only member to have promotions outside of the group. this along with the competitiveness of the industry created jealousy towards jangmi leading to her being bullied and isolated by some members.

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ clair ™

clair nari moon was was born on the 25 of feb 2001 to moon jinyoung and alice kim in cape town, south africa. clair grew up alongside her older brother jonathan (jono) jaehyun moon and baby sister angela soyeon moon . clair went to a prestigious all girl catholic private school and was well known for her bubbly and likable personality . the atmosphere wasn’t one that she felt safe in as she struggled with navigating her sexuality. she comes from a musical family with her mother being a high school music teacher and her father although a chartered accountant , played the piano. clair sang in choir and was in the play every year throughout school. she learnt to play piano from her dad. her entire family would gather around the piano since she was a baby and sing songs together . she grew up surrounded by music and so it was no surprise she would pursue it one day. she never initially wanted to be a kpop idol but after seeing a random ad to audition for hybe her little sister told her to take the risk. clair ended up training at hybe for 3.5 years.

STAGE NAME clair ˒ 크레

BIRTH NAME clair nari moon / moon nari ˒ 문 나리

BIRTHDAY 25 feb 2001 * pisces ˒ ♓︎

POSITION leader ˒ lead vocalist

ETHNICITY korean

NATIONALITY south african

FACE CLAIM huh yunjin

HEIGHT 169cm ˒ 5'6

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ bora ™

lim bora was born on the 26th of april 2002 to lim jongho and yoon jiwoo. bora grew up incredibly wealthy with both of her parents coming from rich chaebol families that own large companies throughout korea. she is the first and only daughter ,the first grandchild and the first niece so she grew up incredibly spoilt. growing up bora always got what she wanted and even more attention. this developed into her having a bad attitude and a generally unpleasant demeanour. but shes always been seen as beautiful , alluring and her lifestyle was aspirational to everyone around her making the most popular girl in her school and as a trainee despite her unlikeable personality.bora has always enjoyed singing and playing the piano. she would self-accompany herself in many of her monthly evaluations, which garnered a lot of attention. she relished all the talk about being the next "it" girl in the industry. when jangmi entered the company and took all of the attention that she felt she deserved she couldn't handle it, this coupled up with her popularity with the general public she began to resent her. this resentment festered over the years and developed in to flat out bullying. she has always been a bully although she was never physical she still caused a lot of damage. amongst idols she has spread nasty rumours about jangmi, from bullying to slut shaming ruining her reputation and ability to form any relationships or friendship. in the group she has successfully isolated jangmi, her favouritism already caused discomfort and jealousy so it was fairly easy to achieve.

STAGE NAME bora ˒ 보라

BIRTH NAME lim bora ˒ 임 보라

BIRTHDAY 26 april 2002 * taurus ˒ ♉︎

POSITION main vocals

ETHNICITY korean

NATIONALITY korean

FACE CLAIM park sieun

HEIGHT 157 ˒ 5'2

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ akira ™

akira ‘ kiera ’ murakami was born on the 14th of august 2002 in the bustling shibuya district of japan. she was raised by her father after her parents' divorce, her 2 older sisters yui and and manami chose to live with their mother. akira's father frequently moved with his job and this led her to call over five cities home, namely chicago where she adopted the english name kiera. with her vibrant ,energetic, and infectious personality, akira effortlessly made friends wherever she went and was always well loved. her love for music and drama was evident from a young age, and she is a natural-born performer. she participated in the survival show produce 48, where she captivated audiences and placed 6th. as a result, she became a member of the popular girl group izone, further solidifying her status as a rising star in the entertainment industry. the names of the rigged members were never revealed but she is believed to possibly be one of the rigged in members. since debuting in jellypop akira has been a fairly popular member who is often chosen to join jangmi on her promotions. despite her overtly friendly personality, she has never clicked with jangmi and often joins bora in her bullying. bora has always said that akira is the most talented member and deserved to be the popular member instead of jangmi, who they believe has just been handed everything due to parents being famous. all of this caused her to resent the younger girl.

STAGE NAME akira ˒ 아키라

BIRTH NAME murakami akira ˒ 村上 あきら / kiera murakami

BIRTHDAY 14 aug 2002 * leo ˒ ♌︎

POSITION lead vocals ˒ lead dancer

ETHNICITY japanese

NATIONALITY japanese / american

FACE CLAIM kondou chisa

HEIGHT 160 ˒ 5'3

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ jangmi ™

kim jangmi was born on the 3rd of june 2003 and is the only child of actress park areum and soloist kim seojoon. the two were huge stars in the 90’s and early 00’s both winning awards in their respective careers. their pregnancy forced the two to announce their relationship and child to be. since jangmi was born she has been in the spotlight, her parents took her to award shows since she was a toddler. they also got a reality show when she was just 10 years old. it became a hit with multiple seasons until she was 14. as the only child and growing up in the industry she gets a lot of attention and loves it. her visuals have always been praised and she is very proud of them. her already established family, the public watching her grow up along with her incredible visuals has made her a stand out idol in the industry. she’s been labeled ‘the nations rose’ since her name means rose. jangmi wanted to pursue modeling but hybe reached out to her to ask her to join their upcoming girl group replacing her ex bff minchae and destroying their relationship forever. bora has hated jangmi since she entered the company and has made it her mission to ruin jangmi's reputation and life to punish her for taking all of the attention from her. due to her overbearing popularity she doesn’t have many friends even in her own group.

STAGE NAME jangmi ˒ 장미

BIRTH NAME kim jangmi ˒ 김 장미

BIRTHDAY 3 june 2003 * gemini ˒ ♊︎

POSITION face of group ˒ centre ˒ lead vocalist ˒ visual

ETHNICITY korean

NATIONALITY korean

FACE CLAIM jang wonyoung

HEIGHT 172cm ˒ 5'7

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ hana ™

identical twins hana & haruna yoshida were born on the 1st of october 2003 to hiroshi and miyoko yoshida. their older brother yuma. since they were born the twins have always been compared relentlessly and hana has always been an overachiever. this comparison carried on into school. both girls were very academically skilled but hana was always just slightly ahead and their parents never failed to remind everyone that hana was the “better” twin which created strain in their relationship. she was very competitive and felt a lot pressure to be perfect because it’s what everyone expected of her. the only time hana felt at peace was when she was singing or watching akb with her older brother yuma. she dreamed to be an akb idol one day but her parents refused she needed a “real” job . she never thought of trying to enter the kpop industry until she watched produce 48 and saw sakura, an ex akd member debut and become an idol. despite her parents disapproval hana decided to move to korea and follow her dream of becoming an idol.

STAGE NAME hana ˒ 하나

BIRTH NAME yoshida hana ˒ 吉田 花

BIRTHDAY 1 october 2003 * libra ˒ ♎︎

POSITION main vocalist ˒ lead dancer

ETHNICITY japanese

NATIONALITY japanese

FACE CLAIM juria ueda

HEIGHT 165cm ˒ 5'4

𐙚˙ ✧˖ ༘ trinh ™

trinty nguyen, or trin for short was born on november 20th, 2004 to mary and david nyugen. she was born in vietnam. she is their oldest child and has a younger brother trevor who was born in 2010. in 2009 her family moved to manchester, england after her dad got a major job opportunity. trin is deeply connected to her family and her culture, she loves celebrating vietnamese traditions and sharing them with her members. her love for her culture resulted in a love for food and cooking especially traditional dishes. on the groups youtube she does a lot of cooking videos and mukbangs just talking about life which has become a super popular section of their channel. one of trin's greatest passions is dancing, a skill she's been honing since the age of five. her moving to manchester greatly affected her life , introducing her to her love of dance. she grew up across the road from a famous dance studio and as soon as she stepped foot in there her life changed. one day her teacher told her about a open call audition for hybe and took her and some of her dance mates to the audition. out of everyone at the audition trin was the only one to make it through. she is the groups mood-maker and is undeniably a treat to be around.she is the only member that actively talks to jangmi, even considering her on of her closest friends.when on variety shows her and clair often put on their thickest accents and everyone eats it up. her infectious energy and natural talent make her a captivating performer.

STAGE NAME trinh ˒ 트리느

BIRTH NAME trinity nguyên / nguyễn thị trinh

BIRTHDAY 20 nov 2003 * sagittarius ˒ ♐︎

POSITION main dancer ˒ main rapper ˒ lead vocalist ˒ maknae

ETHNICITY vietnamese

NATIONALITY british

FACE CLAIM hanni pham

HEIGHT 163cm ˒ 5'4

[tearlessrain]

Tagged by @dingoat (thanks!!)

3 ships

okay so this is going to be 100% ocs but right now

My Sith Warrior Kalarros and @darth-bagel's smuggler/crimelord Sylvas. look it's basically just canon at this point, I love these two, I love their relationship. it could be argued that it's not really romantic, they're both married to other people and have a few other relationships (all consensually to be clear, they're not having an affair they're both very poly). Sylvas's husband was actually the one who originally set them up for some bdsm shenanigans (because honestly the only reason Kalarros isn't a pro dom is it's never occurred to him to charge for it, and said husband is also a Sith who'd considered Kalarros a friend for years prior to that and trusted him to look after Sylvas and treat them well) and they clicked spectacularly and developed a strong bond over the years. At this point they're so entwined with each other's stories that I've pretty much abandoned my original canon for Kalarros because it's just vastly improved with Sylvas in it lol. they've stuck by each other through some rough times on both sides and consider each other much more than casual play partners by now.

Khatte and another of Bagel's ocs, their bounty hunter Liz. honestly these two are just a lot of fun and kind of happened by accident, we had minimal involvement in this they just decided to develop a mutual crush and now Khatte has firmly entered his femdom era. it honestly wouldn't have worked pre Alliance era, Liz has zero tolerance for his bullshit and Khatte is significantly better at keeping his bullshit in check with some legitimate therapy under his belt. It's fairly casual but probably one of the healthiest relationships he's ever had just because he knows she won't settle for less and he likes her enough to meet those standards. what can I say, Khatte's type is people who could kill him and Liz's type (at least when it comes to men) is "extremely competent but also kind of pathetic" so of course they saw each other and instantly had to fuck.

taking an abrupt turn from SWTOR into BG3, my Durge (or half of my Durge) Ryldimar and @elaphaemourra's Tav Dragonfly. listen I did not particularly even like Durge as a concept until these two happened. [SPOILERS REDACTED I FUCKED UP SOME PEOPLE I TAGGED HAVEN'T PLAYED DURGE YET]

First Ship

I'm honestly not sure? technically this might also be ocs, because I was writing original fiction before I ever got into fandom spaces and even then I've never really actively shipped canon characters from other media that much (I passively ship a lot of things but I don't get that invested yknow?). so it's probably Talon and Iadra, my gryphons from a fantasy thing I started writing in high school and have been continuously developing for the last fifteen years or so. Talon is actually half gryphon, in this world gryphons are shapeshifters and are capable of both assuming a humanoid form and interbreeding with that planet's closest human analog (and also humans, theoretically, though I'm unclear on whether any of them have gotten to earth and tested that, the worldbuilding kind of got away from me and it's a beautiful mess now). gryphons bond for life the way a lot of predatory birds do and these two are completely devoted to each other, and also they have the fun aesthetic element of Talon being about 1/3 Iadra's size when she's in gryphonic form (due to an Incident™, he lost one of his wings years ago and it caused him to be stuck between forms, so he mainly looks like a slightly feathery Guy with a singular wing. about what you'd expect of an oc I made in high school but I love him okay).

Last Song

uuuh the Ken Theriot cover of The Witch of the Westmereland I think.

Currently Reading

honestly I have not been doing a lot of reading lately (been meaning to get back to it but yknow) but I'm in the middle of The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey

Last Film

OG Star Wars, couple days ago my internet went out and that was one of three movies I happen to have on my hard drive (take a wild guess what the other two are)

Currently Craving

Salmon chirashi. I literally always want any iteration of raw salmon combined with sushi rice. fortunately I'm refilling my meds in a few days (to be clear the meds are unrelated to my love of salmon, there just happens to be a really good sushi place within a block of my pharmacy so I get chirashi whenever I need to pick something up)

tagging (only if you want to!): @elvhenyoung, @elaphaemourra, @mercurypilgrim, @darkshadeless, @vampiraptor, @reucrion, @artpigeons, @chaoticspacefam

[therentyoupay]

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

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

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

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

#1. ————

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

FIRST PUBLISHED: January 31, 2009

LAST UPDATED: June 18, 2019

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

#2. ————

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

FIRST PUBLISHED: October 1, 2002

LAST UPDATED: December 30, 2022

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

————

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

mine! ————

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

FIRST PUBLISHED: January 17, 2014

LAST UPDATED: January 2, 2024

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

thoughts & feelings! ————

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

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

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

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

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

[paintedscales]

PRUDENCE– How far ahead do they plan? Are they able to strategize future potential factors? Do they go out of their way to ask for clarification, or simply assume they know what they’re doing?

I've returned to looking at my inbox and answering things that have just been...sitting there.

Hi, Cloud! Thank you for the ask, and thanks for the patience (both for how late this ask has been answered, and the art trade). I do appreciate it all. ; w ; / ♥ I hope you've also been well and not too terribly bogged down by work on your end, too, though!

Positive Psychology OC Ask Meme

Planning ahead has become a strength of Nomin's after her development with the tribe of Jhungid. It is a positive result of honing her ability to be patient and using that patience to plan ahead and bide her time in preparing for everything that led to her eventual freedom of not just herself, but others as well.

Unfortunately, though, it is all obviously situational, as it is for people that don't reside in fictional stories, I would argue. I mean, how can you plan for something that happens spontaneously? Spontaneity is certainly an obstacle that shows up quite a bit in Nomin's life after the ball really gets rolling on her being the Warrior of Light. Like...how do you plan for Mister Crystal Exarch Playing Gacha Impact™, whisking you and your friends away from the Source onto the First, you know?

Nomin's not necessarily a proud person, either, when it comes to things she knows and things she could still stand to learn. She's actually pretty humble in that regard. So asking for clarification and things to help her understand a situation is probably one of her stronger points...

As long as she's interested.

She's not interested in politics and political movements, for example. She doesn't have the patience for political movements or even politically motivated diplomacy a lot of the time. So she opts out of participating in the planning in those discussion topics.

If she has the downtime to be able to plan for battle, however, she will discuss battle plans and maneuvering the field. She's had to do things like that in the past, and she feels confident enough in being able to plan for combat. That's about as involved as she gets when it comes to political figureheads coming together to speak.

Though, certain plans she can keep close to her chest and act on them in time. Like planning to do something nice for others. That's an easier one that Nomin can do. Listening and paying attention to what people enjoy or what they like is another strength of Nomin's, and it allows her to plan to give people something nice that she knows they'll appreciate if she likes them.

[sorbetowl]

Horizon Ask Game

Oioioi, thanks for all the tags, @maybirdie, @meg-noel-art, @nerd-artist and @xxxhellfireravenxxx

1. ride or die ship (your otp): To no ones surprise, it's Ereloy, precisely as it reads on the can. They snatched my heart back in 2017 and haven't released it to this day.

2. most annoying ship: There are no annoying ships. Next question.

3. second favourite ship: Tough call. I'll go with Avad/Ersa, because they 100% had SOMETHING going on. Starcrossed lovers my beloved.

4. favourite platonic relationship: I'm living for the friendship between Alva and Kotallo. And Beta's line about Erend visiting her in the server room and being "loud...but funny". A kingdom for on-screen interactions between the two. Erend can be like "is free little sister". ;;

5. underrated ship: Drakka/Yarra. The raw enemies to lovers potential there...

6. overrated ship: I don't see anything overrated in a genuine outpouring of one's love for two fictional characters.

7. one thing i would change in canon: Now, after two main games and DLC? Oh, a fair bit. Varl's unnecessary death, even admitted to by the writers as being there for shock value. Shock over the drop in narrative quality post-HZD, maybe.

Same as reducing Erend to everyone's punching bag without a single thought behind his eyes. Fantastic how everyone easily picks up reading English while Erend struggles with it when he's canonically the only member (besides Aloy and Alva) who knows how to read at all. He's the one asking Aloy in HZD where she learned to read Glyphs, something unique to the Carja who reinvented written language based on a book, and the Oseram who got taught Carja Glyphs for trade, which eventually developed into their own alphabet (they get differentiated as "Carja Glyphs" and "(Oseram) Glyphs" in datapoints. Erend can read both. Two alphabets. That's more than many bilinguals)

But sure, he's the dumb dumb who can't read, not the companions that start completely illiterate.

8. something canon did right: All of HZD. What a masterful introduction to a new game franchise, and playing through it the first time unraveling all its mysteries is why I'm still here obsessed with the series.

9. a thing i'm proud of creating for the fandom: Probably the companion art piece for Love Games by my friend @maybirdie. It was incredible working with her as this beast of a fic came together and the friends that I made during that time are near and dear to my heart.

And of course, being on the artist team for the Horizon visual novel Focus On The Heart!

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldn't change a thing): Without a speck of doubt, Gildun. What a bundle of unbridled joy.

11. the character i relate to the most and why: Beta. We both have crippling anxiety, literally never go outside, and are unfortunately Very Smol™

12. character(-s) i hate the most and why: The worst I can feel about a character is indifference.

13. something i've learned from the fandom: After having been in a fandom that crashed and burned over a decade ago and coming out with a general aversion to fandom...at the end of the day, people from all trades of life coming together to enjoy and create for the same thing that they love with all their heart is a precious thing and we're all richer embracing each other's uniqueness in this gathering.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sensual Fingerblasting (wink-wonk)

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favourite character: Break In by Halestorm for Ereloy, and for favorite character (Erend) End Of Me by Ashes Remain

Tagging @emtazer, @imamandajulius, @souls-that-have-senses, @nmallenart, @bs-fangirl, @cranialgames

And everyone who sees this and would like to give a go~

[everyone-with-a-para]

Alright! The last poison: the Jellyfish bitch herself, Actress/Fictional!Lusamine.

When I say this would be an info dump, it will be an info dump.

Tldr: Lusabitch becomes besties with SpongeBob, cools tf down, diverge more, gets angsted by the paracosm's lore, all because of this one comic I found in kym.

The bitch has been through a lot. She's been around since day one of Screen Universe and even some time before that. She's one of the late comers to the previous paracosm and got carried over to Screen Universe during the transition.

Funny enough, I despise the bitch's canon self and still do. But her daydream counterpart diverge almost beyond recognition that I can't see her the same way anymore. You could say she became a fully grown para along side with SpongeBob and a few others.

Speaking of SpongeBob, my man is the one who started her development and divergence as a para! If it wasn't for him, idk what I could have done to her instead. Bro thought it was a good idea to befriend one of the most fucked up characters in the Pokémon franchise, ran with it, and actually ended up being iconic doing it. Not Lillie, not even Archie (even though he really should have). Nope, it's the Bitch™ he formed a bond with.

Imagine, your imaginary/daydream childhood best friend befriending a character you hate, and you ended up watching where it's heading until it's too late. By until it's too late, I mean ended up supporting their dynamic while being conflicted about it because of who the two people are involved in the said friendship. It's very much like that.

Although, I'm not really sure who even initiated the befriending. For all we know, it could have been mutual.

So how did that happen? It all started with encountering this joke comic on Know Your Meme of Lusamine recreating a SpongeBob episode where he attempted living with the jellyfish. I ran into it on Facebook when I was younger and the full title didn't load. It just stopped at the part that implied the Bitch being in a SpongeBob episode doing something, but it didn't say what. So my younger self was like "w h a t" and daydreamed of the two interacting more than usual. This is prior to Screen Universe. Back then, when she joined, she was just like her canon self, and Spunch was kinda diverging while being mostly in character. So they'd fight (mainly in the trophy room and Ultra Space, but it can be anywhere else) and be after each others' necks. She even froze him one time and he only escaped because plot armour.

When I finally read the full title and comic, that's where shit hit the fan and started the bond in motion. They didn't become besties over night, it had a rocky start because of how I see both characters at the time (love one, but hate the other). Their interactions and scenarios evolved over time. With shit like soulmate AUs, fights, and the copyright jokes to name a few. The memes involving Lus being portrayed as SpongeBob (either with a scene or as SpongeBob himself) definitely spiked the development of their relationship. I think they started to mellow down with eachother towards the end of the previous paracosm, and the transition between both daydream eras.

What really cemented their fate as a pair was drawing this fan art of the two riding on eachother's jellyfish forms back in 2019. A handful of people on the Pokémon Amino liked it and even commented on it. This was when Screen Universe was still pretty new and these two are still actually warming up to each other after like one to two years of fighting and bickering. They just eventually agreed Jellyfishes are neat and they should bond over their enthusiasm for them. There was another fan art I made with the two before that, but that didn't gain much attraction iirc.

Over the course of the paracosm's development, their bond grew and grew until we're where we are now. There had been some rough edges here and there like when they were starting out in Screen Universe's fresh beginnings, Lus was still pretty malicious even for SpongeBob's detriment. And there was an phase back in 2021-early 2022 where Sponge didn't treat her too well (saw her as a weapon for ends to meet), but eventually cut that shit out. But there's some fluff too, like when they had tea together, gush about jellyfishes, and spar.

I think I will have to cut the ask in two because this is getting long 💀

I think my many issues trying to post this is because of how long it is so I'm gonna try posting asks 2 and 3 in the replies instead of pasting it into the main body of the post

Reading this and shovelling popcorn into my mouth like it's the newest cult classic movie I'm so invested

SpongeBob Lusamine enemies to besties core <3 when the paras are emotionally dependent on each other >>>>>

Taking all the villain Fictionals and giving them soft blankets and hot chocolate and therapy btw

Fma:b mentioned!!!!! (Rip my fma:b paracosm my paraself was so OP in that when I was 14)

Mickey needs to take a fucking nap, sort his ego out, and rethink his life choices please and thank you

[softpadawan]

I don't necessarily eniteley hate Saberza. Hell, I feel bad that the line about them being siblings is about to get some people hella fucking dog piled. Because the level of vitriol they're about to catch is gonna be unnecessarily bad and for a fictional ship, at that. But, I'm not gonna lie and say I'm upset that some people are gonna stop shipping it. Cause that line was music to my fucking ears.

I hate how the ship appears 98% of the time. It's so fucking boring and such a fucking Het (Derogatory) Ship, even if they're both queer. It also appeals to the group that defangs female characters so they're the correct kind of soft for shipping.

Let, Sabine and Shin Hati be Feral Queers with each other. Want Ezra with a Wren? Tristan is right there. We can be so much more interesting and fun that the flour take of Sabezra.

I feel bad that the line about them being siblings is about to get some people hella fucking dog piled. Because the level of vitriol they're about to catch is gonna be unnecessarily bad and for a fictional ship, at that.

I truly, honestly sympathize with the Sabezra shippers and hope (a fool's hope; SW fans are the Worst™) that the fandom at least has the decency to practice the "block and ignore" and "your ship is not my ship and that's ok" policies because, like you said, it's all just make-believe crap and no reason to be an ass to people online.

But yeah, nonny, I also share your sentiment about the whole "thank fuck we dodged another boring-ass vanilla het ship"—and I don't say that out of hatred for M/F ships, but more so the absolute gut-wrenching failure on the part of professional writers to build a legitimately interesting, believable, complex (not conflicted, but complex in the sense of being fully fleshed-out, built upon something other than just raw sexual attraction) relationship between a male and female character without gutting their entire development arcs and reducing them to soppy banal cliches. (Like what you mentioned about writers "defanging" female characters to make them softer and more likeable. Yeah, that shit reeks. I'm not going to fault fanfic authors for not having unlearned this subtle-yet-deeply-ingrained flavor of misogyny yet—it's going to take a while to root out something so pervasive and insidious—but I am going to hold the professionals fully accountable for delivering egregious, sophomoric drivel and telling us it's Grade-A storytelling.)

Fantastic M/F ships can be done. Look at Pacific Rim. Literally any Hayao Miyazaki film featuring two main characters of the opposite sex.

Or maybe it's time to forget the "confirmed ship" stuff altogether and leave the entire relationship open to interpretation, like what people have been doing with Sabezra for the last nine years. (And what canon queer relationships/characters have been dealing with for decades, relegated to hints and easily-censored dialogue, keeping it "toned down" and "wholesome" to appeal to straight audiences who still hate them at the end of the day. But I digress.)

Bottom line, I think if writers spent more time focused on the story and individual characters instead of trying to set the boy up with the girl, it would do wonders for the quality of storytelling as well as preventing this caustic Pavlovian reaction we (I) are starting to have any time we're offered male/female romance onscreen. That's my opinion, anyway.

[callaeidae3]

what is your novel about?

Hi! 🌸 Thanks for your ask!! ~

My novel, "The Case of Kindall, K.", is a thriller / action & adventure story set in a fictional island nation kingdom, Arkala. İt's about a seventeen year old (Kyle Kindall) who's accused of manslaughter, and sent to prison. The person he allegedly killed was his classmate.

The judge of Kyle's case truthfully feels something is off about the whole thing, so he asks his friend (Yuuki, 25 yrs old, a warden at the detention centre) to help him privately investigate it. (Spoiler: the judge is very much correct - Kyle's case turns out to have something else going on behind the scenes...)

I've written out an outline of what happens during the first book - I described it to my friend the other day like this, which she enjoyed, so I thought I'd try to describe it again in that way! :)

--

İn the first half of the novel, Yuuki meets with Kyle regularly and talks with him, and tries to figure out what really happened with Kyle's case. Yuuki works at the detention centre where Kyle has been sent to.

While this is going on, a few schoolmates of Kyle's, including the judge's daughter, also come forward to give their support of Kyle's claim of innocence. Yuuki also decides he believes Kyle's version of what happened.

Both the judge and his friend are wary, however. They were both involved in a kidnapping incident the year before, and Kyle's case has something about it which feels like that. Yuuki developed PTSD from that incident. Yuuki's PTSD affects him, and he's concerned about how the solitary confinement of Kyle's imprisonment is affecting Kyle.

True to the judge's gut intinct, things start happening. Yuuki finds Kyle near death in his cell with hypothermia one morning. Yuuki carries Kyle out of the cell that day. He and the judge get Kyle an emergency clearance (which is helped by new evidence suggesting Kyle's pleading not guilty to be true).

For a few days, Kyle recovers in the homes of the judge and Yuuki's. Kyle deals with the realisations of post traumatic stress. There's lots of hurt comfort ~

İt isn't long before the Bad Guys ™ come to Yuuki's house. The antagonists try to kidnap Kyle. Both Yuuki and Kyle are rescued (by the judge and his family), but it's too dangerous to stay around. So Yuuki, Kyle, the judge and his family, as well as a few of the judge's daughter's friends - end up going on the run in the countryside.

Yuuki's arm was badly injured during the house attack. His arm was shot three times by the bad guys - they'd used him to get Kyle to cooperate and let himself be taken quietly. Yuuki's arm is too badly damaged, and they can't safely risk getting him to a hospital, so the judge's wife (who has formal field medic training) performed an amputation surgery on it.

(Note: there are no graphic descriptions of anything re the amputation!)

----

(Actual spoiler under the cut!)

What actually happened with Kyle's case now comes to light.

Among the judge's daughter's friends is eighteen year old Laura. Laura is actually a surviving royal, and has hidden her real identity as the "deceased princess" Amelia İhserh. Her family had been murdered by the country's current usurper leader, but she unbeknownstly escaped the massacre.

The Bad Guys had come close to discovering Amelia. What happened to Kyle, re his case, is that Kyle had accidentally overheard the Bad Guys talking about finding and killing Amelia. The Bad Guys sent someone after Kyle, on the same night he overheard the conversation, to kill him. The person they sent was the classmate that Kyle "killed". But Kyle fought back, and in the process, the knife ended up being driven into the classmate instead. Kyle was the one who was meant to be killed that night. But Kyle survived, and the person who meant to kill him died because of it.

--

So -- out on the run now, the group end up simultaneously trying to appeal Kyle's case, figure out exactly who's after them, and get Amelia to a place where she can declare her identity and attempt negotiations with the usurper. Yuuki's remnant limb heals without complications, but that's not to say Yuuki's recovery is easy for him. İn the aftermath of what they've both experienced, Kyle and Yuuki become closer.

The group eventually are discovered by police (who the group can't trust for their safety), and end up having to flee their safe house. Yuuki almost drowns in a river, and Kyle gets briefly caught by the bad guys. He escapes once, then gets caught again. Kyle is rescued when a few members of the group go back to search for him.

After a lot of hiking through the bush, the group make it to the palace. The palace is where the usurper leader resides. While Amelia talks with him, the rest of the group scatter (for safety). While Kyle and Yuuki are walking to their waiting place up on the hillside, Yuuki falls. Kyle catches him, but falls with him. Kyle sustains a head injury hitting his head on a rock on the way down. (The head injury is made worse when patrolling bad officers find them. Yuuki fends them off (and the officers fall out of sight down the hill).)

Meanwhile, in front of the palace, the usurper leader finally goes to shoot Amelia. But one of Amelia's group shoots him from afar with a rifle before he can fire at her.

Once the signal for the "all clear" is given, Yuuki carries Kyle on his shoulders down the hillside to safety. As soon as Yuuki gets himself and Kyle ti to safety, Yuuki passes out in exhaustion.

Once again together with the group, Yuuki and Kyle rest and recover. The judge's wife tends to Kyle with his head injury. The group move into the palace as a temporary base/shelter, to rest and to begin negotiations with the country's police force on how to proceed.

The novel ends with the judge expressing his belief of Kyle's innocence, and his promise fo help Kyle get his acquittal.

[frommybookbook]

So. I think it's pretty obvious (to the 2.8 people who actually follow me here and care) that I have been going down an ever-deepening rabbit hole of pulp noir mystery fiction over the last few months. What started as a harmless (except to my mental state) hyperfixation on all things Perry Mason (except the HBO series, you know what you did) has now branched into reading other pulp noir novels and watching some noir mystery films.

And folks, let me tell you, I am developing Opinions and Theories™. I'm not *quite* ready to put them all down in a coherent manner (mostly they're being sent to @epersonae in various forms of unhinged DMs across multiple platforms) but it's coming.

I just finished reading The Big Sleep this afternoon after reading The Maltese Falcon earlier this month and boy, do I have some thoughts. I could write an entire chapter on just the first page of each novel and how the reader is introduced to Sam Spade vs Philip Marlowe.

I recently watched Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum and The Blue Dahlia with Alan Ladd and re-watched Bogey in (the third) film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon and I have some Big Thoughts on how these men—not the characters they played but the men themselves—have influenced what modern audiences think of when they think of the noir detective protagonist and how that has influenced contemporary takes on the genre, both in film and novels.

Like I said, lots of thoughts. Watch this space.

[cat-buried-in-tall-grass]

arsene - azathoth + loki for mieran?? :0

arsene: has your oc ever been wronged by those around them? how bad was it? does it still affect them?

in a way, fate wronged him by making him come back when he decided the realm of living wasn't for him anymore. it affects him, every day, because even though he's not necessarily the person that killed themself, he still has to deal with that misery.

more utc !! sui + s/h mention cw, mild but yk

zorro: does your oc remember their past, if they have one? do they miss it? how do they feel about it?

he remembers his past life as quinn. it's complicated, it's like... he's haunting himself. he knows that's "him", he's kept his feelings, likes, relationships, but that's also... very much a different person. a living being, which he is not. but he doesn't miss that. not anymore.

captain kidd: does your oc have any scars or injuries? where do they come from? have they healed? how do they feel about them?

technically, in his "default" state, he has both the top surgery scars AND the cutting scars on his thighs that quinn had. but he doesn't really use that body lol the one he actually uses didn't have a top to surgery so it's mostly fine

carmen: what's your oc's relationship with their own body, in general? do they have any true confidence in their own appearance?

depends on the body! he feels a little disconnected from the default one, dysphoria both from gender stuff and the fact that it's not "his", while the one he uses (even if it is pretty similar) is one he's much more comfortable with. wonders of shapeshifting have allowed him to match how he wants to be.

goemon: is your oc partial to the arts? which ones? do they actually partake in them? do they see meaning in them?

his form of existence directly ties to art! specifically painting, drawing, and honstely throw a lil calligraphy in there too, his skin is quite literally stained with the ink that he uses to reap souls. he loves it, he sees meaning in them as they have given HIM a meaning completely untied to the sciences quinn dealt with.

johanna: what are your oc's religious beliefs, if they have any? are these beliefs commonplace where they live? do they practice this religion?

he's uh. he's the finalist equivalent of an angel? he isn't religious, never was, only really partakes in the religious practices he's invited to. but he is a figure of religion, technically, which is common across all reapers lol-

necronomicon: is your oc skilled with technology? to what extent? is it appreciated by the people around them?

pretty much! he is a Gamer™ so he knows his way around technology, and it's appreciated whenever anyone needs a last person for fps games lmfao

milady: does your oc come from wealth, poverty, or somewhere in between? what's their current situation with wealth? how'd their economic upbringing affect their current personality?

somewhere in the middle, upper middle class. money was rarely an issue, not when you work for the hea as a researcher and scholar. he's... well, above wealth? he's dead, he has no material needs, money doesn't exist to him as a necessity.

robin hood: did your oc have any childhood heroes, real or fictional? do they still look up to them now? why?

well... none that he can immediately recall. and he doesn't wanna recall too much. that childhood isn't his. it's not even the childhood of the man he's born from, really.

cendrillon: what's your oc's relationship with sports? what affects it?

he's not BAD at them by any means, esp now that he's developed his agility and all... but the nerd stereotype checks out. he's not great at em.

azathoth: what formal education has your oc received? what other forms of education? do they have any relation to academia?

HA. finished highschool and kinda... spedran a Death And Universe Studies major at the hea. his education was always somewhat higher, different. academia ruined quinn, though. it stripped him of joy and personhood. so mieran doesn't like it. not one bit.

loki: does your oc believe in revenge? in retributive justice? in punishment? at what cost? for whom?

he understands, logically, that it's wrong. that eye for an eye doesn't work on a large scale, that destiny somehow will always manage to deliver true justice, even if at a great cost. but he can't help but relish it. it feels right, it feels deserved, just. he wishes he could've had it. but it's just that: a personal, selfish wish. not a want. not a need.

[aranict]

Book asks! 9, 12, and 19 please :D

OOooh that was a hard one!

Wall of text incoming :D

9.if u were stuck on an island and could only have three books w u what would they be? (series would be counted as one cuz as i said so)

The Coldfire trilogy by C.S Friedman

Havenstar by Glenda Larke

Deathless by Catherynne Valente

Those books mean a lot to me, to be fair they are the only books I went back to  re-read right after I finished them. Each one has a different appeal, either due to its story, or its characters. 

Coldfire is a masterpiece of how to write a dark fantasy tale with The Most Memorable Villain (™) in the genre, whose moral decline goes far more than the lust for power; Tarrant is an once hailed saviour, a killer, a martyr, a master of demonic forces and unimaginable powers, who yet manages to have such a strong presence in the world, that even the main hero - Damien, the equivalent of the upright cleric of light - is drawn to. Damien’s own change of beliefs and attitude to him towards the series is beautifully executed and more importantly, believable ; in the end of the series, they are both changed, moved by their respective rigid values and beliefs, into camaraderie and understanding. Even if the book shows its age sometimes- its 34 years old by now -  its flaws can be overlooked in favour of the fantastic worldbuilding and the memorable main characters.

Havenstar is perhaps the most underrated standalone novel I have ever read. Again , published in the early 90s and relatively unknown, it has one of the most original concepts regarding the impact of magic and such forces - magic is chaotic, unpredictable, and seemingly controlled by demons, having disastrous effects when used without care.  The land itself is changed, where magic is present in abundance, with magic users being hunted as servants of the dark. People rely on mapmakers who can see and chart the ever changing landscape to travel  - people like the main protagonist, who takes it upon her to pick up her father’s work in mapping out the unstable wild lands. Keris is forced in one such journey to work with a man who is bound to the dark - Davron, a magic user, who represents the evil she has been taught to hate all her life. Only things are not what they seem, and Keris comes to understand that what she has been shown about magic is not quite true, and to see the plight of a persecuted people first hand, which helps here to grow out of her taught prejudices and narrow mindedness of the society she has been brought up in. Keris and Davron’s gradual transition from hate to understanding and eventually, to something more, is a masterfully told enemies-to-lovers story, which again, puts newer works on the genre to shame. I could go on and on about this book, but I would rather you just read it instead :)

Deathless is… I don’t really know what to say about this book, it walks the fine line between genre fiction and literary fiction, the prose is a work of art in itself, a lyrical, dark fairytale inspired by the Russian folklore of the Tsar of Life and Death. I do not think that I have read a love story more profound, more memorable, than that of Marya and Koschei; their love is something terrible to behold, bound to surpass the bounds of life and death. A fairytale told in the age where magic dies, the a dark , twisted story with the backdrop of the political turmoil and wars of the 20th century. It just something that you have to read :)  

“I do not tolerate a world emptied of you.” :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

12.a book/book series u wish u could read for the first time ever again?

I think that I would want to re-read the Malazan Book Of the Fallen series again, and re-live all the beautiful, tragic, heart-wrenching moments of this epic like the first time. It’s the pinnacle of epic fantasy for me, the kind that you cannot really describe in a short summary. It has the right amount of action, character development, insane lore and magic - think D&D but in a more mature setting. Gods walk the earth, magic tears the realm and the sky, legions battle impossible odds…It’s military fantasy, at its best, with politics, power plays between gods and mortals and flawed, tragic characters. Add to that the masterful writing of Steven Erikson, who writes a D&D fantasy like it's a Greek tragedy, and come on, what’s not to like?

Provided, they are difficult books. There is a lot of philosophy and symbolism thrown in and the prose is quite heavy, but… it’s beautiful :)

19.a book u came across randomly but ended up loving it?

Ok, a really random read that I actually enjoyed quite a lot was Anthony Ryan’s  A Pilgrimage of Swords. Although I’ve read quite a lot of Ryan’s works, I found this novella by chance while browsing books on the kobo store. It is not a full length novel but it’s exceptionally good, reads a lot like a D&D party adventure , a party of people thrown together on a quest. However, this is Ryan we’re talking about, so the worldbuilding is terrific, and the main character , the Pilgrim,  is just a chef’s kiss kind of morally grey character, who is equal parts intimidating, sarcastic, utterly likeable.  :) 

Thanks for tagging me!!!

[majorxmaggiexboy]

15 Questions 15 Mutuals

Rules: answer the questions and tag fifteen mutuals

tagged by @beterparker shgjsghjksl!

1. Are you named after anyone?

according to my mother it’s the phonetic spelling (it is not) of Michaela Quinn medicine woman bc she liked the way Sully, specifically, pronounced the woman’s name but she did NOT want people nicknaming me Mike so fast forward to last year when one of my coworkers nicknamed me Mickey,,,,,momsauce was,,,,devastated,,

2. When was the last time you cried?

*Noir Detective Voice* Thursday, January 5th, 2022, hours before being diagnosed with COVID-19 and unknowingly six days into actually having it,,,,,ngl if i was like, a cartoon character, it would have been adorable and i find it infuriating but i fully did the, eyes swimming, valiantly holding back tears, until momsauce looks at me and FLOODGATES AND “I really don’t feel good” AND *STARTS SOBBING* 

3. Do you have kids?

yes i have two daughters, Amicia de Rune and Wednesday Addams thank you for asking

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

i don’t think what i use even counts as sarcasm, it’s too obnoxious

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

usually just that they’re in the room

6. What's your eye colour?

brown

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy Endings, though Bittersweet is also good. I like to have my emotions wrung out and turned into a baseball bat which is then used to ALMOST murder me but then the ending turns out to be a highly competent doctor which then Heals Me and waters my crops and builds me a little house in the countryside to live out my days in peace

8. Any special talents?

i think my developing-stories hobby counts as a talent? it doesn’t really qualify as ‘special’, but i do be coming up with some Stuff and can make some pretty big leaps from very small prompts on the fly, which i didn’t realize until a friend pointed it out.

oh, also don’t know if it counts as a talent since there’s no on and off switch on it but irl people tend to come tell me their problems/backstory/any Drama(tm) they have going on even if we’ve barely spoken before that so

9. Where were you born?

A hospital in Alabama

10. What are your hobbies?

Painstakingly outlining stories and then usually not writing them, daydreaming about Blorbos, analyzing fiction, crochet, painting, sewing, a few little videogames.

11. Have you any pets?

YES i have three boys their names are Norrell, Chellers, and Eggroll. Eggroll is actually the eldest, he is gray and fluffy and smaller than the others. He was an outside cat until last August, when we moved and brought him with us. He has been thoroughly enjoying his retirement from the outside cat life. Norrell is SealPoint and Squishy and has big paws and Chellers is a fluffy black cat with no bones, they’re both four. These three are perfect and silly and i love them so much

12. What sports do you play/have played?

I played Red Rover once. OH!! I did paintball once. I think we used to play foursquare fairly frequently. 

13. How tall are you?

Last time i was actually measured it was 5′1/2″ but i think it’s more like 5′2″ now, surely.

14. Favorite subject in school?

Originally it was Math but then we hit that part where Math was work and Language Arts was intuitive and it’s been Language/related ever since.

15. Dream job?

Being paid to live as Madame from The Aristocats

Tagging:

@therapardalis, @cutecutejames, @brassandblue, @poploppege, @slow-burn-sally, @castledock, anybody else who would like to!

[thesearchforbluejello]

With the popularity of Ted Lasso, I'm genuinely just so glad that we got such a phenomenal show that has made an impact on so many people, and of course now we've also gotten the first season of Shrinking, which also knocked it out of the park.

But I still mourn Whiskey Cavalier every time I watch an episode of either of those.

There hasn't been a whole lot of tv I've actually enjoyed in the past several years, and these three feel like an absolute trifecta, but WC feels like the holy ghost at this point because there is SO MUCH of it in Ted Lasso and Shrinking-- it's so many of the same writers/directors/producers, but they're also just so similar right to their foundations. All three interrogate tv tropes and relationships (of all kinds!!!!!) and mental health through comedy, and Ted Lasso and Whiskey Cavalier actually interrogate an entire genre. I'd say that WC is more on that side than Ted Lasso even is, because although they definitely interrogate some of the tropes of sports fiction (toxic masculinity, anyone?), WC actually parodies spy fiction while playing itself as straight.

It just makes me absolutely feral to think about what more of Whiskey Cav would have looked like. A second season? A third? The development of the show from the original(-ish, one of the drafts) pilot to what was actually filmed shows so much growth and an acknowledgement that they could really work with what they had-- it turned from a show about a guy (hence the name) to a show about an entire team. Frankie took the spot as the second main character with Will once they cast Lauren Cohan (I don't think that happened before she was cast but I may be wrong) and another character was completely rewritten into Jai when Vir Das was cast. They had an entire plan for how to flip the TV trope of the will-they-won't-they relationship to a how-will-they-make-it-work relationship!!!!!! It would have been so good!!!!!! The amount of character development we got in just one season was far above and beyond anything else I've seen besides Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and honestly I think more actually happened specifically because they didn't have the assurance of more seasons (good thing they didn't assume, I guess) to build on things like the Ted Lasso Method™ but they still managed to do it without rushing it.

Honestly I feel like I could make a venn diagram of how all three of these shows all overlap and it would be hilarious. Excellent theme songs by well known artists without it feeling cheap? ✅✅✅ Excellent episodic music by well known artists also without it feeling cheap? ✅✅✅ Really well executed character development for ALL of the characters? ✅✅✅ Interrogation of tv tropes? ✅✅✅ More specifically, hilariously camp villains who still manage to take advantage of tropes to work? ✅✅ Incredibly well developed character relationships OF ALL KINDS that don't all hinge on only one romantic relationship as the centerpoint of everything? ✅✅✅ Queer characters who don't exist for the butt of a joke or solely as token queer characters? ✅✅✅ Every line is delivered with perfect comedic (or dramatic) delivery and timing? ✅✅✅

Anyway, this has been a barely coherent and very meandering way of saying that the fact that ABC put the episodes out of order really screwed things up, but Whiskey Cav really hit its stride there with the second half of season one and absolutely nailed the vibe they'd been working towards with the foundational episodes that came before them, and I just get SO ANGRY when I watch Ted Lasso and Shrinking despite the fact that they're both so good and I enjoy them so much because it makes me think about just how good a second (and third, damn it) season of Whiskey Cavalier would have been.

[xsoldier]

I mean let's be fair here, ALL of the Abrahamic religions have a host of issues in varying degrees all depending on how reinforced they are by whatever culture was leveraging the religion at the time as a tool for appeasing and controlling the populace through whatever period of adversity that branch / sect / school / etc. arose and developed during. However it's more common in the modern day for Judaism to get the blame pointed at it because of the New Testament vs. Old Testament thing.

That's a lot of what fueled the issues in WWII, because the research being done around 1920 focused on Mesopotamia started to show the pre-Abrahamic roots of older religions that Judaism & Christianity developed from, like Zoroastrianism and other Indus River Valley religions but especially around the time of the Akkadians & Babylonians militarily coalescing a bunch of religions together into the primary deities of city-states, and other early human civilization developments of law & order.

That information in the 1920s lead to this HUGELY broad-reaching Christian identity crisis, and so with the New Testament being almost wholly detached from those origins (at a glance but not really at all), this split Christianity into the Truth™ being focused on the New Testament as a way to disconnect from the Old Testament being inspired by other religions and not as easily defensible as the Word of God™ rather than being generationally iterative fan fiction (which it all is).

Even after all of the Holocaust and other atrocities that ensued during WWII that were additionally linked to even more complex sociopolitical scapegoating with the Jewish people in post-WWI Germany, a lot of that overall perspective was still held pretty universally by Christians on both sides, since the knowledge of history just got more comprehensive. That's a big part of the departure of religion in general, but especially Christianity as the bastion of all Truth during the Enlightenment, and moving into the more Morality-focused position it has in modern times, although America's conservative battle against Darwinian Evolution & un-Christian National History won't give that up entirely even a century later.

What that 1920s history of Old Testament vs. New Testament misses is the fact that around 400AD, the Roman Empire's Council of Nicea basically just redesigned contemporary Christianity to be a tool of the Roman Empire to seize power over it and gave the State authority to enact religious enforcement to make it into a tool of governance for the Empire. The myriad branches of Christianity before that were formed from tons of the same Zoroastrian and other contemporary influences just as much as Judaism had been, even BEFORE Rome basically canonized the version they liked the most, and relegated all the other branches off to the equivalent of AO3.

That excommunication set off the Vandals for disagreeing about the identity of Jesus, who basically saved Rome only for them to play the victim and besmirch a well earned ass-kicking with claims of looting and destruction that didn't happen, which is why the word Vandalism exists over 1500 years later. This same type of role-reversal and shifting who the good guy was carried on into the Holy Crusades and other applications of Christianity and the Support of God™ enabling Might Makes Right, which is why a duel between Knights was seen as a valid proof of Truth seeking.

That's what then spread out into all of the various schisms all across Europe between Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants and varying others leading up into the times of WWII, which then hooks into the things I mentioned previously and is why while it SEEMS easy to point at Christianity as bringing in all sorts of these bad things that Judaism didn't ever have… but it's not anywhere NEAR that simple despite the variety of the Christian religion being even more ubiquitous.

It's easy to be a part of the generic "Jesus was a pretty chill dude" American Christianity that's all about the New Testament and look at the Old Testament of God as a slightly unhinged Deity with emotions and wrath on par with the other contemporary religions at the time as being the root of a bunch of weirdly restrictive rules based on outdated cultural absolutes. That's why it's Old Testament passages that the more extremist Christian groups like the Westboro Baptists use to falsely justify their bigotry — but that doesn't mean that's where the problem lies. It is the same model that Mormonism uses for The Book of Mormon to be more absolute than the earlier books to do the same thing to Christianity that Christians do to Judaism. It's a systemic problem of adaptation.

Inherently the problem in most Abrahamic religions is that there are a bunch of issues that the core narrative addresses, which are strictly social contracts of tolerance & equality that aren't at all moral stances. The Biblical storytelling takes ownership of those ideas as though it were the sole arbiter of that social justice within the clothing of a moral stance underneath the One True God™ because that's how people were making this new thing called Laws work for early civilizations in the Indus River Valley.

This then defines everyone else as the "Other" placing the defacto position on this and ONLY this one God as being the defacto authority of things that are righteous and just. That's why unification took place in the form of Babylonians & Akkadians fighting over whose story got to be the real one via military conquest in the same way all Religious unification over an Empire happens. Same as Rome did with Christianity replacing its former religion, which is the same thing Japan did with Buddhism replacing Shinto. Shared belief is a LESS bloody & more effective solution than JUST military conquest.

And while the ruling Imperial religion is easy to criticize, Japan is an important reminder because while the early Empire was Buddhism, the resurgence in WWII was State Shinto, and the post-WWII systems were non-religious, but heavily influenced by conservative Western Christian policy. The point is that none of them are really any good at doing that thing, because the core problem always exists.

They're all storybooks with fandoms that get obsessive about details in ways that will become twisted when someone has a means to use it to consolidate understanding and leverage that narrative as power & moral superiority against an "other" …which is inherently a core part of the Abrahamic religions. That's because the First Temple was made when the Babylonians were syncretizing every other religion into a unified one through conquest, and Judaism defined itself as being "Not THAT god" even if the point of the religious syncretization was that everybody has different stories but the underlying concept is a shared truth, which is necessary for people to see eye-to-eye, rather than to create arbitrary divisions between meaningless lines in the sand over minutiae.

You can't get ANY religion with an absolute moral position like that to be in the right. Trying to focus on how one facet brought in all the issues to this once great and pure core religion is just ignoring all of the myriad of ways that it's being used exploitively by looking outwards more than inwards. That's just a facet of learning about the core goodness of what something grew FROM and ignoring what it ACTUALLY grew INTO in application.

Christianity & Catholocism brought in a whole host of issues present in modern Western society just like Judaism & Islam did for modern Middle Eastern society, just like Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, & Shinto did across modern Asian societies, or literally ANY other religion predominant in any area of the world, because they're shaped by culture & governance in gaining social alignment. And that's because there's actually one core truth you can see by looking at them all — there IS no single absolute perfect system of any kind that can be prescriptively applied into law and remain just throughout the shifting context of real life.

The closest I think anyone can get is by removing the identity of generational storytelling and disconnecting it from an authoritative position of absolute morality, and instead just examine the underlying framework of what in it best facilitates social equality & social tolerance and how it reinforces a mechanism to stifle the rise of social inequality & social intolerance, and do that however works best while understanding that's what others are doing… but we're a WAYS from being able to collectively align to that position being predominant.

Anything else is just splitting hairs, which is STILL interesting to do as a means to look at how cultures became what they have been at moments in time. It's a fantastic and often necessary learning tool, but it is ultimately meaningless as a search for the underlying Truth that will do anyone any good in the long-run being more in one than the other.

The more I learn about judaism the more I wonder where tf christianity got all its bad shit. Why is divorce a sin in christianity when judaism has recognized the right to divorce for nearly a millennia and has codified religious laws for it. Why does christianity consider sex to be dirty (to the point where puritans considered it a sin to enjoy having sex with your own spouse) when in judaism it's considered holy and it's a literal mitzvah to have sex with your spouse on the sabbath. Why does christianity consider it a sign that you're faithless if you question your religion when in judaism that's considered an essential part to developing your faith. I'm probably stating the obvious here but I still can't get over the fact that there's no historical basis to any of this shit before christianity started, it's like christians just said "hey guys what if we took the torah and built a new religion around it but this time it was actively hostile to human life"