#tl;dr good structure i'm eating it

[crehador]

translation issues aside, the story of reverse 1999 is really surprisingly good for a gacha. i'm vibing with the characters and setting, and the STRUCTURE of the currently released chapters is just downright excellent

major spoilers for chapters 1 through 4 below the cut

introducing us to the world through regulus was such a good call for chapter one, it's all new to her just like it's all new to the player. we get a chance to learn through her eyes

another reason this works so well imo is it paints vertin, in regulus's eyes, as this hyper-competent character with her own agenda and agency (only to reveal bit by bit that she's in a much more difficult position than it may seem at first, and in so many ways is still just a hurt kid trying to right the wrongs she's seen in this world, desperate not to lose more people)

then we move on to chapter 2, where we see schneider's tragedy unfold and meet some major players like arcana. schneider's story even on its own is pretty damn good, but the way vertin acts and reacts in chapter 2 is full of perfect little hints to what kind of past trauma might have shaped her

THEN CHAPTER 3. THE TRAUMA. i loved schneider's story, but i think this is where we really dive into the meat of the overarching plot. and it is such a perfect dive

like after the events of chapter 2, it does more or less make sense that vertin is being treated for Something. right away chapter 3 gives off a bit of a foreboding feeling because vertin's in the hands of the foundation now, which we as a player knows she doesn't trust, and it's deliberately made ambiguous what she's being treated for and exactly when she'll be released

but at this point, to me at least, it still seemed... possible that she really was just being treated for damage from chapter 2

THEN THE HORRORS UNFOLD vertin's past is shown to us throughout this chapter, and bit by bit it dawns that the foundation is capable of much more heinous acts than we already expected. when we meet the ring and isabella, a feeling of dread sets in right away. because they're clearly important to vertin, but where are they in the present? it's not hard to figure out she lost them (which adds so much dimension to her reactions to everything with schneider)

when the escape plan is coming together, with those side looks at what constantine is scheming, the inevitable dread gets heavier and heavier. like even knowing exactly what would happen, that the kids would be deliberately funneled into the storm just so vertin would see them die and feel responsible because it was her plan that led them there... seeing it actually happen was still a major gut punch, very effective

vertin's naivete in this past is such a haunting thing to see as well, there are moments where the text even shines a light on "will they realize this is going TOO smoothly for them?" and no! no they do not!! because they are 12-year-old kids who haven't lost all hope in the world!!!

seeing these grand scenes unfold with chess (and later go) on the screen was visually very cool as well, imo. might feel a bit gimmicky but it's a gimmick i enjoyed

anyway so then we get to chapter 4, and by then the sense of dread surrounding the foundation has fully set in. so it's almost unsurprising (yet still HORRIFYING) when you realize holy shit the foundation is keeping vertin hostage in a medically induced coma!! treatment for trauma my ass!!!

i feel like chapter 4 was the perfect place to end this arc as well, it was like an extended prologue. a lot of the tension/excitement for me came from the realization that vertin doesn't yet have a place to belong, it's not like "manus bad, foundation good" and that's that

looking at it through the lense of arknights, it would be like if doctor didn't have rhodes island at the start. all these factions around vertin, with their own agendas, and she doesn't have her own "home" yet

we get there, at the end of chapter 4. but of course it's not perfect, the terms of her operating her own team are very conditional, and there are loads of unanswered questions for the future

but it's a nice little set-up for future events, for vertin building this team (family) of arcanists who have some measure of freedom. the tension is still there, the foundation is still scheming, and some new mysterious organization is getting ready to enter the chat...?

all in all just, imo, an excellently structured story so far. it's a shame the translation detracts so much from it, i do think some powerful moments suffered from that. but the actual story is really quite strong, and vertin and her circle are all quite captivating to me so far

[qweerhet]

I see some of your pro-ai stuff, and I also see that you're very good at explaining things, so I have some concerns about ai that I'd like for you to explain if it's okay.

I'm very worried about the amount of pollution it takes to make an ai generated image, story, video, etc. I'm also very worried about ai imagery being used to spread disinformation.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to go by the stance that since we can't un-create ai, we should just try our best to manage. How do we manage things like disinformation and massive amounts of pollution? To be fair, I actually don't know the exact amount of pollution ai generated prompts make.

so, first off: the environmental devastation argument is so incorrect, i would honestly consider it intellectually dishonest. here is a good, thorough writeup of the issue.

the tl;dr is that trying to discuss the "environmental cost of AI" as one monolithic thing is incoherent; AI is an umbrella term that refers to a wide breadth of both machine-learning research and, like, random tech that gets swept up in the umbrella as a marketing gimmick. when most people doompost about the environmental cost of AI, they're discussing image generation programs and chat interfaces in particular, and the fact is that running these programs on your computer eats about as much energy as, like, playing an hour of skyrim. bluntly, i consider this argument intellectually dishonest from anyone who does not consider it equally unethical to play skyrim.

the vast majority of the environmental cost of AI such as image generation and chat interfaces comes from implementation by large corporations. this problem isn't tractable by banning the tool; it's a structural problem baked into the existence of massive corporations and the current phase of capitalism we're in. prior to generative AI becoming a worldwide cultural trend, corporations were still responsible for that much environmental devastation, primarily to the end of serving ads--and like. the vast majority of use cases corporations are twisting AI to fit boil down to serving ads. essentially, i think focusing on the tool in this particular case is missing the forest for the trees; as long as you're not addressing the structural incentives for corporations to blindly and mindlessly participate in unsustainable extractivism, they will continue to use any and all tools to participate in such, and i am equally concerned about the energy spent barraging me with literally dozens and dozens of digital animated billboards in a ten-mile radius as i am with the energy spent getting a chatbot to talk up their product to me.

moving onto the disinformation issue: actually, yes, i'm very concerned about that. i don't have any personal opinions on how to manage it, but it's a very strong concern of mine. lowering the skill floor for production of media does, necessarily, mean a lot of bad actors are now capable of producing a much larger glut of malicious content, much faster.

i do think that, historically speaking, similar explosions of disinformation & malicious media haven't been socially managed by banning the tool nor by shaming those who use it for non-malicious purposes--like, when it was adopted for personal use, the internet itself created a sudden huge explosion of spam and disinformation as never before seen in human history, but "get rid of the internet" was never a tractable solution to this, and "shame people you see using the internet" just didn't do anything for the problem.

wish i could be more helpful on solutions for that one--it's just not a field i have any particular knowledge in, but if there's anyone reading who'd like to add on with information about large-scale regulation of the sort of broad field of malicious content i'm discussing, feel free.

[mossymandibles]

I'm sure it's all lore that will be revealed in due time, but could you tell us about some of the side effects of consuming the celestial flesh?

I’m definitely not good at working linearly and slow at story plot reveal right now anyway, so happy to answer lol

Also, I wasn’t sure how to gage how much context this answer needed so sorry in advance for the long answer 😭. And cw for graphic descriptions of disease/body horror stuff.

Tl;dr Eating Yvishnir eventually caused evolutionary entropy that sometimes causes horrors.

It’s said that Yvishnir (the body not in the ocean) was a fallen star from long ago, before humanity and the fall of Tartarus(ocean body). The primordials, (Furies and sea dragons) were the ancient fish and birds that fed on Yvishnir in order to sustain their size and godhood and multiply on Earth as its continued keepers. They grew jealous over humanity’s progress and out of fear they buried Yvishnir so humans wouldn’t find it, and hid themselves away. That’s how part of the creation myth goes anyway. Then Tartarus fell and uncovered Yvishnir once again, drawing the primordials out and changing the sea.

So when I say ‘eating the flesh’, I mostly mean the Crux. At first, when Yvishnir was discovered and exposed to the atmosphere, it produced something called Crux which permeated the corpse and oozed from it as a liquid, thought to be a type of otherworldly bacterium or ichor to help it decompose. It caused a sort of explosion of hyper biodiversity/evolution, starting with plants. Here are some examples, mostly some fungi:

Most Humans didn’t really consider eating the Crux of course.

There were a few eccentrics and cults however that started the ball rolling. They would mostly eat it from fungi that had grown around Yvishnir, as well as cooking with it. This caused versions of human evolution, where they began to evolve into the Myce and other species to repopulate as, genetically merging with fungi in order to survive the new world. They’re under the blanket term ‘Hox Strays’, who make up most of Marrowtide and other known civilization islands to this day. There are different variations of these and their mutations have ‘stabilized’ over many generations but that’s another story.

As for Yvishnir, there was a point where the Crux changed its properties, becoming more crystalline. Entropy took over the longer the body was exposed. Even the very insects that were feeding on it began to quickly horrifically mutate and grow. People would say that demons were being birthed from its rotted juices. The Crux began to bring on less desirable effects. Humans classified it as several new forms of horrific diseases ranging from otherworldly prions to the very DNA itself denaturing and mutating.

✨Some outcomes include but are not limited to;✨

>Victims known to have fits of uncontrollable laughter while bleeding from orifices. Several cysts that had broken out on the skin were found to contain bits of teeth, hair and even eyes, like they were growing them.

>Some victims became more beast-like but at the cost of their minds and insatiable hunger for more of the celestial flesh/Crux.

>Victims first described it as a tingling sensation in their chest and extremities. Their blood began to change its molecular structure to be crystalline as well. Cells became shard-like, until their blood eventually hardened completely. It could be seen poking through skin, like they were full of glass.

>Worse still, in a sort of sped up form of the first outcome, they can become a never ending cycle of constantly evolving body parts, growing biomass like cancerous tumors of body parts forever in bloom, eg. growing several hands from your eye or numerous organs. The body can’t sustain this and it pretty much ends in death.

These modern day effects were mostly observed by The Ladder and they determined that Yvishnir was not to be consumed by organisms any longer. In the modern day it is safely contained in Hearth, which is the name of the quarantined citadel outside of The Fever, serving god knows what purpose aside from genetic experiments they’re rumored to be continuing with the remaining crystalline Crux Root.

The primordials felt that those who continued eating the Crux were forsaken, punished for eating the god. They along with others had migrated far, far away at that point, populating the mountains of Zenith and oceans that no one dared to sail through. The body of Yvishnir faded into legends. Even people living within Fever and the isles surrounding it knew less and less about the body as time went on, more focused on surviving day to day.

Their are cases where people have somehow managed to preserve the liquid form of Crux, said to still be procured and preserved when the body was first uncovered and would thus have the least amount of risk involved.

Some people hunt mermaids for the soul purpose of searching the contents of their stomach, to see if they have remnants of Tartarus in them.

With Tartarus it’s all based on theory because no one is able to get down there to see wtf is going on, they only see the results.

[doctormastertardis]

I am re-watching the first Dalek serial IN COLOR and it's a whole new experience bruhhh!

I love that Ian is the Doctor's conscience. When the Doctor speculated that the "people" (daleks) who live in the city are "very intelligent", Ian immediately replies with,

"Yes, but how do they USE their intelligence? What form does it (intelligence) take?" SPOKEN LIKE A GOOD PERSON. What good is intelligence if it takes the form of evil?

ALSO SEE: "note to self"/tags HERE & HERE :

#what is empathy without a moral code #without a moral code there is no empathy - just “rules” #and I don't have rules - social conventions ARE rules #social conventions are very subjective and are often in accordance with the POWER STRUCTURE of the system and interpersonal cultural biases #a lot of social conventions are oppressive and don't align with a moral code

#autism doesn't mean you don't have empathy #it means you have trouble understanding social cues #because often times SOCIAL CUES are conventional #and “conventionality” from an “autistic” perspective is something to be “dissected” first in order to understand “conventionality”

#Having a strong moral code doesn't mean the person has “low empathy” #THAT is misleading because EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE requires BOTH deep empathy AND a moral code

TL;DR: Empathy and intelligence need to have moral codes. Otherwise, both will merely be acting on conventionality/social rules. MORAL CODES ARE NOT SOCIETAL RULES/LAWS. Legality and social conventionalities aren't necessarily "good". In fact, often times, CONVENTIONALITY were made by and for those who monopolize power OVER others within a systemic OPPRESSIVE structure.

It's sorta like when people say shit like, "Hitler was a human being too so why should he get punished for a genocide? He was an artist too! He painted!!! He must have FELT something" OR

"(insert serial killer/extremely abusive person) eats and breathes like us too, so why talk bad about them when they clearly just have personal issues like you and me?"

Empathy and intelligence (emotional or otherwise) are not supposed to be a GENERIC application for everything. I'm only going on a tirade about this because a lot of New Age spirituality (the capitalist "psychedelic movement" in California) nowadays MASK the abusive system and PROTECT abusive people who perpetuate the oppressive system.

[blue-hi]

I should be using my hooky day to work on homework but there's a Situation in the group chat that is making me feel somehow lucky I had an evening class to attend, and I want to address it here because 1) this place acts like a diary for when I can't say something out loud and 2) I see what I consider to be the root of this particular problem in rhetoric all around this site (and places of similar persuasion, you'll see what I mean) and if possible, I want to help as best I can.

Under a read-more because unfortunately this is long. But if you have any interest in persuading people of your positions, especially political ones and especially this year, please consider what I have to say at least.

Tl;dr— Arguments require evidence, no matter how righteous you consider the cause to be; changing minds takes time and effort but that time and effort will be well-spent; your audience questioning your claim does not necessarily mean they are hostile to it, just that they want clarification.

First, the Situation, as quick as possible, as I understand it: a new individual joined some meetings of one of my friend groups last semester. We have meals which are open to all students, so this person is welcome to join us and we are happy to have them. Last night, after I left for class, they made a request to the group to help them fundraise to help someone they know pay rent. Which is totally understandable, but things have gone off the rails—

This person, so far, is not known for making requests. They're more like. Assumptions and demands. The message in the chat that they sent was definitely a demand, and it was definitely hostile, because of the response to the initial request, which I'll get back to shortly. I haven't been able to speak with them, only my other friends who were there, but I cannot honestly say that I believe the original topic was brought up with. Um. Tact.

The person they are fundraising for lives in another city entirely (another state even) and they have never met in person before. Not necessarily a red flag—I have plenty of friends I only know/have met online, and so overall I'm pro-being-friends-with-people-online (Hello! If you're reading this, you know who you are :) I love you)—but it can be. I don't know anything about my acquaintance's relationship with this person besides "they met online." How long have they known each other? Where did they meet? Do they know this person is who they say they are? A lot of my online friends, we've known each other for over ten years, and over multiple platforms. If they were catfishing me, it would be a hell of an accomplishment.

My acquaintance has been sending a lot of money to this person, reportedly. Like, enough that they came to us for meals because they don't have enough to eat themself.

So a potentially shady scenario (I'm equivocating because I'm trying to hang onto good-faith interpretations of things with all the strength I can muster but. It's definitely shady, let's not kid ourselves) presented with righteous gusto, to people who had not heard of this situation moments before.

Needless to say, this didn't go over well, and my friends weren't immediately on this train. This caused our acquaintance to leave in frustration, and they later put in the group chat a link to the fundraising page and the demand that they "expect each of us to donate and them prove to them that we donated."

This is continuing into this morning. My friends are doing their best to ignore it. Which I think is not how this gets resolved. I don't know how this gets resolved, but I don't think it will be pretty.

So. That's the Situation. What does this mean for the rest of us?

It turns out that I'm studying how to make arguments and effectively deal with people. Right now, in fact! I was doing a reading for one of my classes that dealt with how to structure effective arguments literally yesterday morning, before shit hit the fan. Let's go through how to do that.

How to Structure Arguments: Rhetoric 101

"Rhetoric" is a whole field in itself, but simply (admittedly, perhaps reductively), it is the art of persuasion. You have something you want to say, and you want the person you are speaking with to accept your position.

Quick definition, off the bat: argument is a neutral term here. People use it in English to talk about verbal fights (my other language is German, this would be streiten), but here, it will merely refer to an attempt at persuasion. If I want to refer to people yelling at each other, I'll use Streit or fight.

Your position, or your thesis, is a claim. It is the central idea around which your argument spins, and without it, there is no reason for you to me making an argument. My acquaintance's claim is that we should help them fundraise for their friend.

The reason you make a claim is called, fittingly, the reason. It is the basis for the claim, and the claim flows from it. My acquaintance's reason is that their friend is having financial troubles.

In addition, there is an unspoken warrant. A warrant is a general principle that binds the reason and the claim; it justifies (or warrants) the claim flowing from the reason. My acquaintance's warrant is that good people help others in trouble.

All of this is well an good. The problem is that this is where my acquaintance ended, and then made their ask (I...may be using that word liberally but technically that's the term). The further problem is, that's not a full argument.

What's missing? Evidence.

We still have many questions. I have a few of them above. Who is this person? What is their relationship to you? How did you meet? How long have you known each other? Do you have proof that they are who they say they are? What is their general history? Etc. etc. etc.

This is not to determine whether or not this person is deserving of help (maybe it is for others, but to me, that question is irrelevant). It's to learn more, to make an informed decision. Especially with something like financial resources. A rhetor has to be aware of their audience's hesitances, goals, resources, etc. Asking college students for money is always a hard sell, no matter what cause or what amount you're asking for. Maybe it's not "right," but it just is, and ignoring that will only kill your argument.

My point here is that people asking questions of a premise does not automatically mean they are disagreeing. It means they want to make informed decisions as to whether they agree or not, and they do not want to feel strong-armed into making that decision. In the end, it is your audience's decision as to whether they are convinced of your argument. All you can do is make it as best you can.

And to do that, you have to actually finish the damn thing.

I see this a lot in political discussions here. Person X has strongly held convictions, and they want to convince the more moderate Person Y to agree. Convictions like, "You should sign this petition to switch the city to renewable energy (claim), since our current energy sources pollute the air and water (reason)." This is a sympathetic cause for me, and I imagine you too. But Person Y is in their rights to ask for more clarification, even if they do agree. Maybe Person Y will ask questions like,

What kinds of renewable energy?

How long will implementing your vision take?

Will it create or destroy jobs?

Is the technology feasible?

How polluted are our air and water?

Etc.

Far too often, I see Person X get frustrated at this point. It's self-evident! Why are you pushing back at me! The environment will only get worse, we don't have time to sit around answering these questions! So they lash out, and Person Y walks away, deciding they hated that interaction and that they aren't going to do what Person X told them to do. Meanwhile the environment is still polluted.

I see this all over. It's an election year in the US. You're gonna see it a lot too. Why don't we make a game of it, see how many posts like this we can come across before November. We'll see if I haven't had a stroke by then.

My main critique of leftists is that we have no patience, not even to make an argument. Yes, many important things are pressing! Yes, people will get hurt unless they get fixed now! Yes, these are true!

But change doesn't happen overnight, not even in the most ideal of revolutions (my god, don't even get me started, that's another discussion entirely). Things take time, especially when trying to influence politics or attitudes of whole societies. It took 40 years for conservatives to overturn Roe. It may take 40 more years to put it back. That doesn't mean that all the time in the middle is misspent. Have you ever seen a stonecutter? It happens all at once, but what made it possible was the 100 whacks you didn't see.

Take the extra time and finish the argument. Don't assume people already agree, or that if they do, they'll follow you without question. Remember that questions and clarifications aren't inherently hostile. It is your audience's right to make their own decisions, so it is your duty to make your argument as effective as possible. Rhetoric is a finesse tool, not a hammer. If you try to bludgeon someone with it, it will break.

Post-script

I'm worried about my acquaintance. I don't want them to feel unwelcome with us, and I want them to take care of their own well-being. I'm a Franciscan, I get the impulse. Absolutely I do. But remember that it is not a sin to care for yourself as well.

The reading that inspired this impromptu essay is from The Craft of Argument by Joseph M. Williams and Gregory C. Columb, particularly Chapter 2, "Argument as Civil Conversation."

I didn't talk about tone here but I want to do a brief discussion of it. I'm aware this is possibly too-close to "tone-policing" and I do want to avoid that. But another fact of life as it is, is that people don't like being demanded to do things. How you say something is just as important as what you say (the medium is the message). It doesn't affect the quality of my claims—I can still be right even if I'm an absolute asshole, or I can be calm and civil and just plain wrong—but it does affect how those claims will be received. When I saw the demand in the group chat, my immediate reaction was, "Fuck that, why should I?" Even if I would donate, and therefore accept the claim, I still wouldn't follow through on that demand. Because I'm a petty and spiteful bitch and I don't like being talked to like that. But I can understand the difference between the claim and the demand; my other friends may not, and that hostile demand puts the entire argument at risk. Keep this in mind as well.

[grandmasickomode]

OC ask time! Who are your most active or developed OCs at the moment? And how would you describe their aesthetics?

OH GOD HELLO.

So basically, I have a handful of ocs that I'm like always chewing on. I will put them under the cut becausw this is gonna get LONG.

Spoilers for Library of Ruina ahoy btw. Also CW: gore I guess in the latter half.

First we have Kep'cho, who has been mentioned before, and he is part Mime on his mothers side. His mom was in fact a mime by birth and his dad was the leader of what amounts to a criminal organization obsessed with rules and pecking orders. (For the library or ruina fans in the audience, this is the Thumb).

His Mime-ish nature made shit hard, though he was often sullen and unwilling to speak to anyone anyway. The excessive structure was too much pressure for him, and so he did what any reasonable teen would do: fake his death and run away to work elsewhere.

His heavy involvment in the Lobotomy Corp/Library of Ruina universe makes it difficult for me to go into edtail about his adventures w/o spoilers. But hes a very calm, sullen man who has grown to learn to be more happy, and accept the idea that its ok to just be a lil silly and goofy.

He absolutely also has a clown bf now, a specific clown from Library of ruina.

Heres what he looks like:

And here he is with his Clown bf

I deew dis :>

anyway. There is also Tusya.

Tusya. Well shes kinda fucked up.

Less a girl and more a flesh polyp with a girl exterior, Tusya was born in the Outskirts of the Ruina universe. Taken in by R corp employee Lamarcus when he was on an expedition with the Rhinos, she was raised in the city, where thankfully she grew up okay despite everything.

Because as it turns out, being a fucked up little flesh eater/cannibal isnt the worst thing to be in this universe.

Tusya eventually grew up and started to work at Lobotomy corporation. She was INTENDED to be enrichment for Nothing There (read: he would tear her insides out and use her body as a shell to go walkabout) but that did not come to pass.

It turns out she has an affinity with Nothing there, as he does not see her as a human and as such, has no desire to kill her. Unlike other ocs who have an affinity with Nothing There, this isn't so much a friendship as it is "enrichment for two similar but different freaks".

At best, he tolerates and interacts with her because HEY. HEY HOW DID YOU GET YOUR SHELL LIKE THAT. HEY WHATS YOUR SECRET WHY ARE YOU ALLOWES TO WANDER WHEN I CANT??? At worst, he will try and eat her because she tastes good. He loves chewing on her hair, which is actually more like fleshy string cheese that looks like hair.

(Here we have Tusya modeling Lobotomy Corporation's attempt at making a clothing line. Its pretty fucking amazing to look at).

Tusya herself is somewhat unhinged, but not malevolent. She's arguably friendlier than most of her coworkers, but she also just. Does her own thing. She doesnt much care for right or wrong, just sees a goal and goes to get said goal by any means.

But how did she get this way?

To be honest Tumblr doesnt like links. So Im going to have to ask you listen to the following songs to help showcase tusya coming into being (dont worry its only 2 songs):

Kiss me, Kill me by Jerryterry

Lusus naturae by Jeff Williams

For those who want the tl;dr version, Tusya's parents (who are unknown to her) wandered into the wrong parts of the outskirts. Tusya's mother was devoured and absorbed by a flesh colony and was dispatched by well meaning membera of the town they belonged to.

After a year of dormancy, the flesh colony came back to life and spat out a now human shaped Polyp that now goes by Tusya.

Tusya is one of my most prolific ocs, being able to be found in many other universes, including but not limited to twisted wonderland, monster high, and dead by daylight.

[ericaloses]

Hello, all 2 of my followers who haven't given up on me!!

I haven't posted in so long!

I haven't had motivation to be really committed to anything, although having a healthy young pup does help me get out and be more active. He is quite attuned to me, though, and isn't so high energy that I can't miss a few days here and there.

My eating has been so blah. A real pain in the neck - actually tongue - is that the acid in even an apple is making certain taste buds swell and feel awful, and nearly all fruits are having that effect. SO annoying, because it limits my snacks when I want some sweetness.

One thing that I've been having more than I need is the really nice, Tassie-made cashew ice cream the local supermarket has brought in. Which is one reason I'm making this post. I have a food/fitness compromise for myself, and I'm writing it down for accountability:

When I feel like buying a tub of ice cream, I'm going onto Kobo and buying a book instead!

This is a good compromise because, brain food > unnecessary food and e-books don't add to the clutter I desperately need to find the motivation to bust!

The other things I have planned that will be giving me some structure in an exercise way revolve around my pup. I have a friend who has conservation detection dogs - an old hand and a pup in training - and I asked her if she could point me towards any basic resources for training scent dogs. So now I have a 15-day course workbook to train Tarka to be a sniffy boi. He won't be a professional sniffer, since I'm not able to work as his handler, but it will be awesome enrichment for him and his springer/hound nose.

Next, I want to teach him some gundog moves using lures and teaching him how to scurry. That will be more exercise for him, but there will be some for me as well!

And then, I want to do some agility stuff. When I'm teaching him about the course and obstacles, I'll be going around it with him, so that will get me moving!

I have become very dog-focused (you might have noticed?), but having Tarka has been a huge help with my emotional well being over the past 7 months.

TL;DR - Books instead of ice cream; lots of pup stuff for exercise and mental health. Might remember to post sometimes.

[thetwistedrope]

I know this is a dumb question, but would you mind explaining the Kemetic afterlife in layman terms? I still can't wrap my head around some of the concepts.

tl;dr: it depends on the era

pre-dynastic egyptians, the Buto Burials, show that there was still heavy focus on cattle, and ppl were buried wrapped in cow skins with a small amount of stuff. likely, to get them through the afterlife? to get them to wherever they needed to go. texts are sparse.

earliest dynastic eras of AE mostly focused on the king, a lot of egyptologists believe that the afterlife was only available to the king in the earliest eras of AE history, but i personally don't feel like we have enough information to really say that.

either way, you crawled up into the sky with teh gods. you are both saved by the gods and the enemy of the gods. you consume the gods and become a god. there's a lot of ladders.

the pyramid texts of the OK become the basis of coffin texts in the MK. tbh, a lot of the texts are really similar. i've flipped through both the PT and CT, and they are very similar. you still go claw and caojle your way to the gods until you become an akh.

later periods, the afterlife moved more into the ground, into caverns. BotD materials p much focus on this aspect of the afterlife, and by the latest periods, you get the Book of Earth which is... as the name suggests, funerary texts about the afterlife in the ground.

egyptologists will tell you that they prepared tombs and texts to get them through the afterlife, and that this persists throughout all of AE history. and that these things seemed necessary to be able to even become an akh, but i've personally never been a big fan of assuming that you need a bunch of physical shit to get to the Hall of Two Truths. it just doesn't sit right iwth my that commoners were somehow barred from an afterlife because they didn't have money. instead, i prefer to think that rich ppl needed to jump through hoops because rich ppl are awful at adhering to ma'at :)

anyways, after you die you're nothing but a shadow, a really weak spirit that isn't fully Established. your goal as a spirit is to become Established, to become an Akh. a "shining one." akh are represented by stars, because in the OK, you went into the sky when you died and became a star (which, again, goes against the idea that only the king could get there omg).

in order to become an akh, you gotta make it to the Hall of Two Truths. in order to get there, you need all that shit you were buried with (supposedly). you end up going through a journey of the duat, you meet different guardians and are supposed to know the right things to say to get through the gates and make it to the Hall. traditionally it's believed that the path to the Hall is treacherous, because the Duat has a bunch of things living in it that would love to eat you, but my personal experiences of the Duat haven't bore that out (esp in the modern era, idk maybe it was all spooky n shit in the past).

but also, i'm really not down with suggesting that poor ppl just get picked off because they didn't have money.

Naydler posits a different theory, that the process of going through the Duat and meeting all of the guardians and such helps you to become prepared for the Hall, and you only reach the Hall if you're actually ready to become an akh.

The most well-known part of the Hall is the negative confessions (sometimes called the 42 truths of ma'at, which is not a good name for them) and the weighing of the heart.

the confessions are really meant to be heka that fully transform you into someone who will exist within the structures of the Field of Reeds (sometimes called... aaru). by reciting them, you become the person the heka says you are. if you're not an absolute shit person, the heka should be enough (imo) to get you through the process.

after you say the heka, your heart is weighed and if you're "good enough" O welcomes you as an Akh into the field of reeds. from there, you can sorta.... do all sorts of things. but basically, after you become an akh, all of your physical trappings are no longer necessary to sustain you. you're able to come and go btwn the Duat and here, and you're able to partake of the offerings the gods receive each day (lol).

you are established there now, so you don't need to be fully established here. that's why the most dangerous time for a dead person is right after they die up until they pass through the Hall. this likely informs why later kings were not too concerned with robbing old tombs to refill their coffers. similarly, it mirrors the way that the AE ppl seemed to view akhu veneration. you would focus on specific ppl who are within a generation or so fo yourself, and then anyone who is beyond that point tended to get moved into a collective "past ancestors". the egyptians may have done this because after a point, you don't really necessarily /need/ the direct assistance of your remaining kin, because you are now fully established in teh duat.

i could include here what happens if you don't pass the weighing of the heart, but i'm gonna be real with each and every one of you: most of yall don't have shit to worry about. whatever trivial mistakes you're making in life are not what gets you fed to ammit. i'd say to not trouble yourself with that and just focus on being the best you you can be. care about others around you, care about yourself, don't be an exploitative shitbag, and you'll be fine.

idk, hopefully that helped.

[avelera]

Even as I literally just finished a fic where Ed is furious with Stede for leaving him, I'm still not 100% convinced that he will be.

The most compelling meta I've seen on this was someone pointing out that Ed didn't get mad after Stede left. He went back to the Revenge heartbroken and embarked on his whole "lesbian pottery teacher" era of self-care and creative expression. He took the lessons Stede gave him and the people Stede brought into his life and leaned on that support network and those healthy modes of emotional expression and by all appearances, seemed to be healing and figuring out who he was without Stede in his life but trying to keep the good parts of what Stede taught him about himself and what he wants out of life.

What set him off was Izzy's declaration of disgust at what he had become (again, a heartbroken but healthier person trying to work through an emotional time) and told him to get back in the closet and back to work, with the implied threat that Izzy (perhaps as a stand in for the ugly world of piracy itself) would eat Ed alive if he didn't. And Ed "snaps out of it" (in my reading, "as an abuse survivor, gets dragged back into his past toxic environment and habits") after he is shaken by this reminder, abandons his new support structure ("Bonnet's playthings"), gets rid of some (but not all) visible reminders of Stede (crying and basically torturing himself with the reminder of him with the lighthouse painting) in the public room of the captain's quarters (I maintain Stede's closet is untouched for a variety of reasons, and we can delve into the symbolism of Ed having a secret closet filled with the fine things of his boyfriend that no one else knows is there and that he doesn't show to the toxic people in his life another time).

^^ But that's where I think the slippage occurs, the confusion over whether he's mad at Stede or not. Because the predictable beat would be that he went home after being abandoned and immediately went full goth, reverting back to the Kraken as a direct cause and effect. But that didn't happen. So I guess I'm asking, is he throwing away Stede's things (including his crew) as an aggressive action towards Stede or towards the things Stede brought into Ed's life that are now Ed's things too?

There's an important nuance and distinction in the latter, that Ed's addressing something about himself rather than anything about Stede if that's the case. Substitute "Bonnet's playthings" with "Bonnet's friend group" that Ed's cutting himself off from and you can see the lie immediately: these are Ed's friends too. He's not cutting off all reminders of Stede, he keeps the lighthouse painting after all, he's cutting off the new path out of his life as Blackbeard (the toxic environment he was escaping) and most (but not all) of that support structure though in a self-destructive way (how else can keeping an enraged Jim around be viewed?).

TL;DR Ed's actions during the Kraken reversion are self-cauterizing rather than retribution towards Stede. Ed's immediate reaction to the breakup was different, we saw that. This isn't Ed's reaction to the breakup as such, this is Ed moving out of Stede's nice apartment and back into his old abusive home (while keeping a few mementos, like a metaphorical boyfriend sweater except it's your boyfriend's murderous knife-wielding crewmate, wtf Ed, this is strong evidence that your deathwish is back tbh).

And if we accept logically that the Kraken reversion isn't directed at Stede, it's more a sign of Ed giving up on the relationship and the possible future it represented for him, then I'm not sure what grounds there are to assume that Ed is going to be aggressive towards him if they reunite, other than cliche romance tropes which OFMD actually already avoided. And if Ed's heartbreak is as a result of Stede leaving then I struggle with how that justifies a reading where Stede coming back would be the point of conflict between them. Unless the real tragedy beat is if Ed sticks to his Kraken reversion by feigning apathy towards Stede, rather than anger?

[queerautism]

So, I've had an incredibly restricted diet due to sensory issues ever since I was literally a baby being fed mashed baby food-- my mom even had cps called on her when I was a toddler because at daycare I'd eat so many snacks because quelle surprise, Mass produced snack crackers were a safe food I could tolerate, but cps thought that meant my mom was starving me. (She was not)

She did her best to accommodate me growing up but my needs were different than the 5 other family members she needed to care for, and a lot more work

But now that I'm an adult who can cook for myself in my own kitchen or, if need be, drive myself to a fast food place for some nuggies, my sensory issues with food are p much a non issue for me most of the time.

Sit down restaurants and dinners at other people's houses are still a source of anxiety for me if I don't know the menu in advance, but that's not much of a problem nowadays (thank you pandemic /snark)

ANYWAYS tl;dr the better you are able to be accommodated for your differences the less distressing they will become for you.

I'm still autistic, I'm not fucking "cured," and this is just one little thing in comparison to most other people's problems.. but it was a huge deal to me growing up and I'm much happier now that it isn't a constant source of distress. I'm able to structure my life in lots of little ways now that some of my autistic traits are no longer sources of distress for me.

I hope everyone is able to find that source of relief, and if they can't, at least stop trying to fucking tear down the work of those of us who do.

This is a really good example, thank you!

[missymurder]

i wanna make out with yr fem noiz her hairs so cute. so flippy :) also would love to hear more abt your dmmd oc i feel like i never hear abt dmmd ocs im scared to talk abt mine

HIII sorry im replying so late!!!! I'm so happy u like my fem noiz she is The gamer girl i luv her

as for my dmmd oc..............i have so many things i want to say about her but i don't want to clog ppl's screens so im gonna stick em under a cut and pray tumblr doesnt do that thing where it just shows the whole thing anyway

(be warned it is a very, very, VERY chunky read more cause i'm just gonna ramble off how much of her story I have figured out at this point)

(TL;DR: nevaeh is born on a plane, -1 leg but +1 brain injury, she gets adopted, 20 yrs later does a DNA test, finds out shes got exactly one living relative in midorijima whos 100% a criminal)

Nevaeh time!!

Was born on a plane and subsequently chucked into a busy road upon landing, but got grabbed by a pair of local punks before anyone could hit her

fall damage gave her a bad leg injury, aka "had to cut the whole leg off" bad, as well as bonking her on the head which gave her severe memory + emotional regulation issues down the line

fast forward 20-ish years, Nevaeh (named after her papa's motorcycle, but backwards) is graduated from high school but a college dropout who's living with her dads and working part time at the local bar trying to save up some money for her own place

eating dinner w her dads when her papa mentions that some guy brought in a really nice motorcycle for repair (fancy Allmate port and everything), but wouldn't say how it got damaged and didn't ask how much it'd cost. obvs a criminal but he seemed like a calm, quiet guy so it probably wouldn't hurt to do the job, but his vibe was Off

he probably gets a felon's bike every single day so nevaeh decides to use her free day to follow her papa to work and see wtf has got him so weirded out about this guy

soon as he walks in, the vibes go bad and its like the whole place gets a little weird, but nevaeh can't shake the feeling that she knows this dude?? from somewhere?? way too old to be a high school classmate, too felon-y to be a teacher, doesn't seem like he'd hit up a bar for funsies, where tf does she know him from????

he gets his bike, pays what he has to + some extra, and leaves without getting his change back. thank god for that but now nevaeh is getting pissed off cause she KNOWS him from somewhere but like everything else, she just can't remember

her papa tells her to use the back door to cool off in the alleyway before she starts breaking stuff, but on her way out, she sees Bad Vibe dude smoking a pipe and leaning on his bike while he talks on his coil (no respect for the bike?? he really is some bad news)

AYO HE'S TALKING ABOUT ARMS SMUGGLING?? nah nevaeh can't hang w this guy he's Crazy crazy

but also she really really really wants to know how tf she knows him and if she doesn't find out she'll forget later and then she'll get more pissed off cause she forgot

fuck it we ball

"omg hey u like ur bike? my papa does great work hes like soo good at it anyways have you ever been to the Casa Flora on Yui-dori?? the high school right across the street?? prison?? i'm taking ur silence as a no just let me know when i get it right"

bad dude taps out his pipe and leaves (do criminals just not have manners now??)

maybe he has one of those familiar faces but lets be honest he looks like a personified brick wall no way he'd just be Some Guy in a crowd nevaeh KNOWS HIM

.........maybe they could b related? nevaeh knows she's adopted, he's the only non-Japanese non-white person she's seen around town besides herself and her dad, and they have similar cheekbone structure......kinda.....if you squint...........

only one way to find out: DNA TEST!!!!!! she sends her dna off to a company that checks Japan, North America, and Europe (covering all the bases here) for any relatives

good news! the test found lots of relatives! bad news! they are all dead!

the company actually has her come in and explains that she has a very very very VERY rare strain of DNA found in a teeny tiny section of North America which was home to a tribe of unnamed Native Americans who were said to be antisocial and reclusive

its most notable feature is a genetic whoopsie in melanin production that makes the eyes a bright gold color, but doesn't seem to affect much else besides maybe a higher chance of skin cancer??

unfortunately, the tribe was wiped out by a group of nationalist terrorists, and nevaeh most likely ended up in Japan because Toue's corporation swooped in to save her remaining family and bring them to Midorijima for treatment--that being said, all of them succumbed to their injuries and died within a few months

she must have gotten lost during the transportation process and was super duper lucky to have minor injuries

(obviously not what happened, but the sudden and violent destruction of an entire village doesn't just get Ignored in a world where social media exists, toue had to cover his ass somehow)

there's only one relative left whose name, age, gender, and living status are unknown, so there's a good chance that they're dead, too, but the company agrees to give Nevaeh whatever genetic information they have on this individual and hopefully she can use it to do some research on her own

its not very specific but she has a few tidbits that might help, namely that they're 42.5% Unknown Native American and 45.7% African-American (similar genetic makeup, so maybe some shared features), higher chance of being a smoker, and very likely to have a mood/personality disorder

.........hey wait a second

[vaspider]

Ah, yes, because as we know, the expression of free will is far more important than something that actually functions properly or creates real equity.

I have never seen a better explanation of the difference between the concept of charity and the concept of tzedakah, and why I don't like translating the latter word into "charity," because it's not.

"Charity" comes from the word carus, referring to the Greek word agape, for love. It comes from "feelings" as noted above. You do it because you love people. And in theory, this concept isn't bad, except that it can manifest like this bullshit above where what's more important is how the giver feels about it than how effective or just it is or what kind of real change it creates.

Tzedakah comes from the same root as tzedek, justice, as in "tzedek, tzedek tirdof," Justice, justice you will pursue. Tzedakah asks not how do I feel about this, do I love the people that I'm giving tzedakah to, do I feel good, do I feel like they deserve this, but is this just? This is why the highest level of tzedakah according to Maimonides is to give to someone in such a structured way as to allow them to no longer require help, and the second highest is to give in such a way that you don't know the person receiving and the person receiving doesn't know who gave. You know. Like. Systematically. In a structured way.

Tzedakah asks, "Is it creating justice?" not "does it make me feel good?"

(Nothing is a fool-proof system, because people will always be people, so don't bother me with that, but the difference in priority here is striking.)

The point of the above post is that people love feel-good stories that don't actually address the root causes, don't actually lift people as a whole out of poverty or need. People eat up stories where a kid runs a lemonade stand and wipes out the lunch debt of the kids at his school without asking "why does lunch debt exist, and shouldn't we just do away with it?" They devour stories where the kids at a school raise money to buy a car for the janitor at their school because he was walking 10 miles a day to work without asking "why doesn't his job pay him enough to be self-sufficient?"

These stories never address the root causes, never go beyond the surface, never want to systematically solve problems. Because if we did that, gosh, how would people have the "expression of free will" that allows them to feel good about lifting up a deserving poor?

I do think it's also extremely telling that the immediate assumption of the above poster is that they'd be required to give more than they'd receive, that they'd have to give monetarily, that they wouldn't get what they actually needed in their own time of need, or that their feelings are more important than someone else's dire need.

I dunno, buddy, if you're so sure that you're going to give more than you get, or that the system won't be there for you when you need it, you could try being part of the group that builds the system to make sure it works. But if the problem is that giving to others in a systematic way that actually works and creates justice and equity takes away the special warm feeling in your tummy, that sounds like a you problem.

tl;dr: nobody asked for you to be the bad example, but here you are, honking your squeaky red nose and spinning your bow tie for everybody.

[achillianacedemia]

Neil Abraham Josten‘s Birth Chart Analysis

Neil is a never endingly entertaining character, to read about and analysis. As a self proclaimed astrologer I've taken up the task of reading some of Neil's birth charts to better understand our beautiful Junkie. This might seem like a waste of time to most people, including myself, but I have no life and I need divination intuition practice. 

*Note: the information we were given about Neil’s birthday is he was born January 19, 1988 in either Alexandria, Virginia or Baltimore, Maryland. We do not know his time of birth so I can’t tell you his rising (If I had to guess: Aries?) or houses. I just go over his big 6 in this post. Nora if you see this… what time was Neil born?  

Sun: Capricorn

Your sun sign is considered your core self, that’s why everyone knows their sun sign (and because it’s the easiest to calculate). Fundamentally Capricorn suns are defined by their need for structure. They are people who are very skilled and ambitious and focused on this material plain. For Neil this manifests as his fixation on Exy. When Capricorns want to be good at something they will stop at nothing to achieve this goal to the point of self destruction. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, planet of fortune, which basically means Capricorns are almost destined to go through some sort of great misfortune, normally involving money in some way. Neil's money problems are deadlier than most but it's classic with this sign. Similar to how your Moon sign represents your relationship with your mother, your sun represents your father. Fun fact about the deity Saturn or Kronos: He ate his children. Need I say more? Capricorn and daddy issues are basically synonyms. Capricorn's aren't necessarily social, mostly because their trauma leads them to avoiding people to protect themselves. They put their goals ahead of all else, including love and connection. Neil rather talks about Exy then sexuality. Some say this make’s capricorns boring but these people clearly have never met a capricorn. Capricorns might be rough around the edges, but in my experience they are great friends, even if they don’t realize it. 

Moon: Aquarius

OH THE MOMMY ISSUES!!! So your moon represents your emotional self and your relationship with your mother... and Aquarius is ruled by Uranus or Ouranos in Greek myth. You thought Saturn/Kronos eating his kids was bad? URANUS SHOVED HIS CHILDREN BACK INTO HIS WIFES WOMB!!! I see this play out in how mother was highly disattached from him, leading him to respond to emotional situations in a disattached and uninteresting way. This is shown in how he grieves for Seth. Contrary to popular belief, Aquarius is an air sign, meaning they have the characteristic Air sign aversion to feeling feelings. They prefer to logic their way through situations and to use their coping mechanism to deal. Yes they have emotions but they don’t like to share them (‘iM FiNe”). In contrast with Neil's Capricorn sun Aquarius moon needs to be able to communicate. Not about feelings but about what they do like talking about what they enjoy. This leads to a personality that craves human connection but doesn't know how to ask for it. Aquarius moon people also don't really give a shit about labels. It's all semantics for them. Now here is my unpopular opinion: Aquarius placements are sarcastic and temperamental. I know I said they don’t really like to share their emotions, but I feel Anger in aquarius is a natural consequence of not sharing their emotions. TL;DR Aqaurius placements we know you use sarcasm to mask your feelings. Talk about it. 

Mercury: Aquarius

So your Mercury is how you communicate with the world and your logical mind. again Aquarius is a logical air sign. These people are natural intelligence. Yes this does explain why Neil is good at math. He doesn't necessarily have to study to understand things as much as he can just get things from intuition. This explains his playstyle being largely intuitive and hard to explain how he knows things. Mercury in Aquarius people are active protagonists in their lives and do things to change the things in their lives (see him bringing together the team) as the humanitarians of the zodiac it comes naturally. Also going back to his capricorn sun mixed with his Aquarius in mercury means he physically cannot not talk about Exy and opening up about feeling’s is actually painful. 

Venus: Pisces

BOTTOM!!! No but seriously, Your Venus is how you relate to people, the things you value, and your romantic endeavors. Pisces is something else really. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac giving them a spiritual, almost not their quality.  They don't like large groups typically prefer smaller social gatherings. When a Venus in Pisces love you they don't have boundary (you literally can't make this shit up it's literally the astrological embodiment of "It's always yes with you") they love you wholeheartedly and when it's just the two of you it's just two souls alone in an endless universe. If this sounds like an Andriel kiss scene then good because that's the vibe Pisces energy just gives off when they're MAKING YOUR DAMN HEART MELT WHAT THE HELL!!! So like most water signs THE SAVIOR COMPLEX IS REAL WITH THIS ONE!!! Neil values sacrifice and he rather be hurt then let someone else get hurt (*cough* running away to Evermore for Andrew *cough*). Pieces  will see you as your best self and likes to imagine you as your best self (Kevin and Neil both want Andrew to achieve his full potential in Exy). Venus really likes it in Pisces so pisces people are wholehearted in how they love. Basically they will love you with their entire soul and it will feel like a real life pipe dream. The only thing that can shatter this is when the other person tries to sabotage themself and their highest potential. Pisces wants the best for everyone and it hurts them to see other people not reach their fullest self. This is why that scene in TKM where Neil felt really hurt after Andrew didn't want to celebrate after winning the game and belittled Exy ment to much. More mushy gushy stuff, they believe in true love. They don't need to talk in order to feel that love. They rather just feel your souls connect on a higher level.

Mars: Sagittarius

So your Mars is akin to your Id. It's base animalistic desires. The things that make you tick. Sagittarius being the mutable fire sign is more mellow than your leos or aries. Sagittarius likes experiences. They tend to travel a lot and enjoy travel and experiencing new things. This sign is known for having commitment issues (being ruled by Jupiter) and likes to run from shit. This placement hates people who don't practice what they preach and hates to feel like they're being talked down to. They really want to try new things with you, be it traveling to new places or trying stuff out in the bedroom. Speaking of which… I mean they will try anything once. Definitely adrenaline junkies. The sign most likely to be down for a threesome. Also associated with the hips and thighs so definitely an ass man 

Damn that's really where i'm ending it. Here's his chart if you're curious...K bye

[not-poignant]

Pia, you are such a good writer. Do you have any books or fanworks (or other writers) that you take inspiration from? I used to copy phrases of 'interview with a vampire' so I could get a feel of how the prose worked, so I'm curious to know where you aquired such amazing skill. (and how i can get in on some of that action 👌)

Hiya anon!

I’m not sure I’m a good writer, but I’m glad you enjoy the writing! I still have so much to learn. So much, heh.

Nothing too specific, like I never went through a phase of copying phrases for example? But at university we sometimes had to write things in the style of someone else, so I’ve definitely done it for like...assignments. Just not privately.

By the time I was about 13 years old, I’d easily already read about 500 books (like, books with no pictures, lol), and by the time I was 18 that number was somewhere around 2,000. I had favourite authors, for sure, but there were so many at that point, that I no longer had specific prose styles I wanted to copy.

Like I remember I really wanted the childhood anguish I felt while reading The Monster Garden by Vivien Alcock (that fucked me up), but I know there were at least 15 other books I loved and adored and wanted to sink myself into. I don’t remember what they were now. And also like, TV and film? I wanted to write the feeling of watching The Last Unicorn as a child. I wanted dialogue that could be snappy and fast like what I saw in Press Gang (*sighs at Moffat these days*).

And that was like, as a young teenager. From there I just added and added to it. Like, okay, for example, in my study where I write - I have prints up on the wall. I look at them for motivation more than I’d ever read a favourite author before writing (the latter I think can pollute the integrity of my work these days, which isn’t to say it’s bad to write like them, it’s that these days I want to write like me). So I look at these prints. I have a ship in a sky to make me remember whimsy. I have a forest filled with moss to remember cool places, a whole lot of trees that make a gateway into a green sacred space that remind me of the Seelie and Unseelie Court, a lone house in the fog by a single tree, because I always want to imagine who lives there, a raven-woman, with a shaggy crest of multi-coloured feathers to remember shapesfhiting and magic, I have a fox lurking at night, a waterhorse-unicorn, a white raven soaring towards a golden moon, a phoenix-firebird, a sea-dragon.

That’s just some of it. I suppose because I need to evoke visual things in my brain before I can write.

I’ve cited clear influences for some things. Like I’ve said that Augus is somewhat an homage to Laurent from Captive Prince, which I’ve said since the beginning. But Augus isn’t a true strategist like Laurent, I still wanted him to be his own character. Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy in particular has helped me remember to anchor epic scope stories down into very real, small details - finding food and eating, getting dressed, sorting out the minutiae of the day to day. But I haven’t reread that trilogy in over 7 years. Cecilia Dart-Thornton’s Bitterbynde Trilogy is a huge influence (I highly recommend it, start with The Ill-Made Mute) because of the way she uses syncretism in her worldbuilding, with Australian native plants and animals found alongside characters like the Raven King and the Each Uisge (no really, it’s a strong influence, lol).

I don’t know how I got to where I got to. There’s really only two things that stand out: I consume creative content hugely, across a broad, broad sprectrum (music, movies, TV, plays, scripts, poetry, books - novels, short stories, fanfiction, art, sculpture), and I’ve written a huge amount. Like not-poignant wasn’t my first attempt at writing fanfiction, I’ve written over 300,000 words under another name, and I used to write privately before that.

And I’m sure if all of you privately wrote some 500,000 words, you’d all be really great writers (and probably a lot better than me!)

(And to be honest there are people who don’t even need to write that much to achieve that lol). 

I feel like I’m missing out on so many influences. But I am. How to describe that I want to capture in words that train scene from Spirited Away? Or that I want the first time I had Scottish poetry read to me in lunchlines to be the feeling I convey when I write about cold, rocky landscapes?

And this is just skipping out on fanworks entirely. I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’ve read well over 10,000 fanfics, I don’t know how much fanart I’ve looked at. I have writers I love, but I’m not sure how much they influence me. A lot of the time I love things I can’t do, or don’t want to do, or don’t want to do like that. Like, porn done in brevity? Great skill! I find it boring as a writer, and interesting as a reader, lol.

Long sex scenes have definitely come from fanfiction though. Not just specific authors, but this global sense that it’s just okay and won’t ruin your story structure, worldbuilding or pacing to sometimes spend 10,000 words on a physically intimate scene that can contain characterisation, growth and so on. Fanfic taught me that. But which ones? Idk. I have a vague sense that Harry Potter and Thorki fandoms were the two biggest contributors to that concept. But I like over 100 authors who all do that in both fandoms.

Tl;dr - there’s no secret. Read a lot. Write a lot. Everyone will get better if they do that.

[realtalk-princeton]

not going to lie, I can't afford an eating club and am not eligible for financial aid and am terrified I'm going to end up so socially isolated next year, any contribs have experience being independent/in co-ops and have advice for maintaining friendships with people when you mostly socialize over meals and all your friends will be in the same club together without you? (also why is the social structure here determined by whether or not you can afford 10k a year for a meal plan... actual gag)

Response from Sulpicia:

I have never been in an eating club. I never wanted to be and didn't feel like it was necessary. As a sophomore, it feels like everyone is joining clubs, but first of all a lot if people drop, and second of all they're across the street, not in a different country. There have been maybe 4 days here when my friends were at club events I couldn't attend that I felt left out, but that's it. For what it's worth, I don't really do "the social scene" here and have a close group of friends, about half of whom are in eating clubs. I'm also an RCA which has really shaped my upperclass experience.

Yes, eating in the dhall as an upperclassman is sort of isolating, and cooking can also be isolating/inconvenient depending on where your housing is. But food isn't everything; if all your friends join clubs, ask to hang out there. It's not illegal to be in an eating club building during the day, and you can always be a plus one to semis and formals. It does cost money to go, but is significantly less expensive than being a member. If you end up on a meal plan of some kind you can also do meal exchanges which helps keep people in your orbit.

I don't eat most meals with my friends, who are in clubs, coops, and independent. I rarely if ever eat with my SO, who is in an eating club. We are still very good friends because we make time for each other, as anybody can do regardless of how much homesick they have. Other contributors can talk about the independent life more, but a coop would probably be good for you, since it provides a social atmosphere at a fraction of the cost and also you have access to a kitchen where you can cook food which I think is a huge plus.

Yes, it sucks that eating clubs are super restrictive. Increasingly they're offering more financial aid within the club and I do know many people on full aid who are in clubs, but they're not financially accessible to everyone. I guess you can take comfort in the fact that all people who join clubs are doing is paying 10k to sit in one additional fancy building in a campus filled with fancy buildings to talk to and eat alongside people with whom they could freely associate at no additional cost literally anywhere else on this campus. I know it's a valuable space for a lot of people but is in no way crucial to having a "full" Princeton experience.

Tl;dr: If your friends are real friends you'll still be friends even if you're not eating together and eating clubs are honestly kind of overrated anyway

[theprideful]

I understand what you're saying, and I know you're trying to be inclusive and spread body positivity, but body shaming predominantly affects fat and disabled people. of course skinny people are affected as well and they deserve to feel good about themselves, but our society praises skinny people, and they are the face of the "beauty" industry. please note that i am not bashing skinny people. i want you all to feel comfortable and confident in your bodies. but there is a difference between the body shaming fat people face and what skinny people face.

above i was referencing clothing, which if you've ever been clothes shopping, you know is marketed specifically toward skinny people. fat people (mainly fat women) constantly get the shit end of the body positivity movement despite being the primary advocates and fighters for it. fat people get called horrible things and are told they're disgusting and undesirable. i am not saying that skinny people do not experience this. but once again, they are historically and statistically much more unlikely to experience it than fat people. fat people get no representation in media unless they're the object of ridicule or serve as the comedic relief. they get told that they're unhealthy, they don't get cute clothing that fits, and they have a much harder time getting equal treatment, including job opportunities and healthcare. they have even been refused service to places such as restaurants because their weight didn't fit a "professional setting" or because they were considered an eyesore to others.

skinny people may get harrassed for being "too thin," but in our western society, they are constantly favored and prioritized over fat people because they are considered more desirable and conscious over their appearance. the weight loss industry has invaded our idea of what people should look like and has capitalized on fat people's suffering; for instance, if a skinny girl wears loose-fitting clothes and a messy bun, she's considered "chic and cute". if a fat girl does the same thing, she "must not care about her appearance" and is "letting herself go". if a skinny person (especially a girl) eats three cheeseburgers, it's cute and they must be really hungry. if a fat person did that or even showed signs of hunger, then "it's no wonder they look like that." not to mention that most clothing is marketed toward skinny people. just go to a clothing store and look at the mannequins. almost all of them are size 0, few if any will be plus size.

and look below. i searched for prom dresses for fat girls, and the first results were all for petites.

even when searching specifically for plus size clothing, skinny people still found their way to the center of it. the only time we are ever accepted is when our curves make us look attractive in an hourglass shape, which is highly unrealistic and virtually impossible if your bone structure isn't already built that way.

skinny people statistically get better jobs and wages than fat people, especially in the filmmaking industry. most women get body shamed, including skinny people. but the violence and harrassment fat people face is much more overt and accepted/normalized as common (and validated!) practice. fat people get discarded, while skinny people get praised. it's not a competition, its a fact.

so while yes, everyone deserves to feel comfortable in their own skin, skinny people are much more likely to be accepted for their weight and treated with humanity than fat people. I'm not trying to leave anyone out, I'm just trying to make a group of people that are often ostracized feel welcome and let them know they're not alone.

TL;DR: fat people are constantly harassed and treated with disrespect while skinny people are praised for being the model of beauty and perfection in western society, so right now, fat people need acceptance. i shouldn't have to say that skinny people have worth too in a fatphobic world, because it is implied. skinny privilege exists. fat privilege does not. please, and i mean this in the kindest way possible, let us talk about the issues we face without centering yourselves.

have you ever cried in a dressing room or do you have skinny/pretty privilege