#tldr this is why so many people have terrible takes

[burr-ell]

So I was, bless my heart, engaged in a discussion about Critical Role's pantheon on the bird app, prompted by my frustration with the way people have talked about the Raven Queen in recent months. In that discussion, the other party repeatedly compared the Raven Queen to a doctor or an employer, and, when told that these comparisons are flawed, claimed that it's necessary to use interpretive proxies to relate the gods to our material world to better understand them. I found this enlightening in the worst way.

What this person is saying is that the only way to understand things you don't immediately connect with and recognize in a story is to make them become familiar to you. Now I understand the root of this idea; part of the point of fiction and art is being able to relate to the particulars of a narrative to better understand someone else. There are many elements of different stories that do map well onto the real world. But therein lies the issue—past a certain point, fictional narratives will not ever be completely relatable to you, because they are never going to be exact 1:1 representations of your life. Even a real person's experience that is similar to yours will not match yours beat for beat because that is still a fundamentally different human being.

The question is, what do you do with that? How will you engage with this new concept or experience that the story is presenting? You can immediately try to make it comfortable and recognizable, or you can let go of yourself and accept that there are things here you may not know, and you get to know them through their voices alone.

At the end of the day, art is a form of communication where the communicator imparts some kind of message upon you, whether the message is something about death and grief and the value of life or that it's really funny to watch people get hit with heavy objects, and while it's up to you how you respond, your response may not ever be heard. A key part of communication is listening to others and treating them as fully autonomous human beings, and effective communication recognizes that some of those human beings' lived experiences are nowhere close to resembling yours and are not obligated to be. The only way to respect that is to meet people and their stories on their terms—giving up control and giving up that which you understand. You have to be willing, if only for a moment, to deny that your experiences should have any bearing on what another person is trying to say at all.

I can only speak for myself here, but if I'm not willing to do that, then what I'll end up putting back into the world in response will be nothing but reflections of myself. And I like myself a lot—which is why I know that sounds sad.

[loquora]

I'd like to take a couple of minutes to talk about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) and their terrible, very bad, no good stance on genAI (generative artificial intelligence) and why I won't be writing anything for this challenge again.

I'm very aware that I am an active and vocal genAI hater. But I am willing and open to hear about positive and useful things LLMs (large language models) can do. There are valid scientific uses for the technology and some really fascinating medical and academic breakthroughs that come from LLMs. But the use of genAI in creative writing context is complete bullshit.

Come with me for the breakdown.

The first part of their statement:

NaNoWriMo has made it clear they are not just tolerating genAI in their month long writing challenge, but that those of us who don't are 'classist' and 'ableist' because we don't.

The post was later amended with a list of reasons why they make each of those claims. We'll start from the top.

GenAI uses the technology in a way that is morally, ethically and environmentally bankrupt. See, all LLMs have to train on something. When you're using it to, say, detect cancers you can feed it images of cancer scans so that it builds up a dataset of what those look like to predict future scans. But when you want to generate text, images and video you have to feed it text, images and video. Those things came from people, actual people and actual artists who overwhelmingly did not agree to train anything with their work and can no longer wrest their work from the machine now that it's been stolen from them.

It also isn't 'intelligent' at all, considering it has that word in the name. Think of genAI like an alien learning our language with absolutely no frame of reference for what it's learning. It can predict that the letters "w-e" and "c-a-n" often come after the letters "y-e-s" because the phrase "yes we can" will come up often in training data, it's a common phrase. But it doesn't actually understand what any of those words MEAN. Just that they often follow one another so that when prompted it will, statistically, try put those letters and words together again.

So when it comes to actually writing or responding to prompts what you're getting is the most likely outcome based on a massive amount of data input. It is not actually giving you feedback on what your writing looks like, it's giving you the most statistically possible response based on input. It's fake feedback, a thousand other feedbacks crammed together and extruded into a goo that looks and sounds like feedback but is actually meaningless. ChatGPT doesn't understand your writing sample anymore than a phone tree understands your anger and desperation when you continue to say "OPERATOR" as clearly as you can to try to get through to a real human. Both understand you input a word and will output based on that, but context, emotions, cultural mores etc. are all beyond it.

This is why AI is so absurdly shitty at things like math, counting letters in words and identifying words that start with the same letter. It's mashing together a million math problem answers betting on the likelihood that statistically someone has already answered that question enough times in the training data that it can spit the correct answer out at you.

TLDR: If you're using genAI to get feedback on your writing you're not actually getting feedback on your writing at all, but the most statistically probable set of words that relate to feedback. So right off the bat the idea that genAI is going to help you be a better writer is just flat wrong. It doesn't know how to write, it doesn't even know how many Rs are in the word 'strawberry'.

Second point has the same issues as the first:

I actually agree with them on the point that if your brain doesn't handle certain writer activities well it's perfectly okay to use an outside source for help with it. GenAI isn't actually helping you be a better writer, though; it can't. It doesn't understand anything you write nor can it provide meaningful feedback when it's just spitting out statistically probably words to you based on your input. So while the point here is actually good on the surface, the solution of using genAI to help people who have trouble with certain aspects of writing is still not correct.

The final point:

Again, this is a very good point... if it wasn't being made in conjunction with a defense of generative AI WHICH DOES NOT HELP OR SOLVE THIS ISSUE. In fact, because of the known issues of bias in how genAI LLMs are built they can make issues for marginalized writers worse.

I genuinely have no idea how this very true paragraph about people who are routinely pushed out of traditional writing spaces is helped by genAI. Their entire point thus far seems to be that genAI is a 'cheap' alternative to some traditional writing aids but considering genAI doesn't work like that it's all dead in the water as far as I'm concerned.

If NaNoWriMo was actually concerned with solving these access issues to things they consider critical to writing in general, why not offer a place for real people to read and critique one another on their platform? There are myriad other technological solutions that don't cost huge amounts of water AND actually help aspiring writers!

All of this to say that you should write for yourself, write what you enjoy and get better the same way generations of people before you have: by reading other people's work, talking to and exchanging time with other authors and writing and rewriting in your own words until you're satisfied.

Wasting water asking genAI to do things for you that would make you a better writer to do yourself or with trusted allies is just that, a waste.

[ponytailzuko]

my miraculous "enemies" au

i wanted to post something to give context to art i post so here it is! i think you can consider this my "miraculous rewrite" if you want to call it that...? but its just me wanting everyone trying to steal each others miraculous. that's literally it. i love drama. details under the cut:

The Premise:

When Fu was a child training with the Order, they left him to guard a Miracle Box for as long as possible without food or water. Eventually, Fu got curious - he opened the box and a beautiful array of animals spilled out. Tikki and Plagg act like the angel and devil on Fu's shoulder: Plagg, along with many of the other kwamis, urge Fu to use his Miraculous to transform in order to get food from the kitchens. Tikki warns him otherwise, but Fu transforms with the Peacock and the Black Cat, and the destructive power of his emotions go on a rampage, destroying the Order.

In the destruction, Fu loses most of the miraculous and the grimoire. They're scattered all across the world, falling into different people's hands. Tikki vows to help Fu rectify his mistake of trusting Plagg and help recover the lost miraculous.

What Does This Change?

Miraculouses and grimoire pages are spread around the world, so magic is pretty commonplace. Superheroes and supervillains have existed in Paris before "canon."

Adrien finds the Black Cat independently from the Guardian. He makes a deal with Plagg - freedom for freedom. Plagg gives Adrien powers that allow Adrien to get out of the house, and Adrien lets Plagg do whatever otherwise - no commands, unlike his past holders.

Hints of the Black Cat hit the news and Fu sees it. Fu is out of shape, and the Black Cat holder looks young. Tikki goes out to choose a new holder - Marinette. Marinette is mostly the same in this; she uses the Ladybug for stopping supervillains, but this time she doesn't have a partner.

The Black Cat has a terrible reputation... After all, Plagg was locked up in the Miracle Box and never used for a reason. Ever since its been out, people have used it for horrific purposes. Fu and TIkki are sure that Chat Noir must be up to something. If he's not, then it'd still be safer to keep Plagg in the box. Marinette, with no experience, takes their advice to heart.

Instead, she and CN are 'frenemies.' They end up working together to defeat supervillains, but before Ladybug gets the chance to take his Miraculous, something always goes wrong!

Chat Noir is unaware that Ladybug is working for the Guardian. He assumes she also gained her miraculous independently and he wants to be friends! He's never made friends before, though... why do his attempts keep going so poorly!?

When Chat Noir does figure out what Ladybug is trying to do, it turns into a competition on who can steal one another's Miraculous first. Plagg is adamant to never be put back in the box again.

When Chat Noir is first spotted in Paris, Hawkmoth doesn't reveal himself at all. Instead, he akumatizes people to try and lure CN (+LB) out and assess them. LB + CN are both unaware that the supervillains they put behind bars are actually akumatized. He tries to pit them against each other until the two accidentally break an object and discover an akuma. Oops :/

Eventually, after discovering Hawkmoth's existence, Ladybug and Chat Noir make a "truce" to work together to defeat him before getting back to their business (trying to take each other's miraculous lmao).

i have so many little things in this au and a bunch of doodles that i'll finish one day, but that's the general gist. later on, other characters get miraculous (also independently) which you know... it adds to it. writing isn't my personal forte and this is too much for more than the occasional comic from me. so i might write an outline for how i'd write the full thing at some point. (shrug)

TLDR: Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hawkmoth all want each other's miraculous and team up and break up in different combos until eventually Ladybug and Chat Noir team up like in canon.

edit:

[thepringlesofblood]

Murderbot Citations

I'm writing a giant research paper on the murderbot diaries and how Wells contrasts utopia & dystopia in her worldbuilding to deepen both sets of lore. So, I have made a LOT of citations.

Like, a LOT of citations. I can't even begin to describe. and it has been a royal pain getting them all on the computer, formatted correctly, with page # and book attached.

So. I decided to publish my giant list of citations online in case anyone else wants to do posts/papers/projects on the murderbot diaries and needs formatted, direct quotes with page numbers attached. (Also to feel like all this work has been for more than just my own academic needs.)

TLDR: A compilation of quotes from The Murderbot Diaries with page numbers attached, ready to be adjusted to the citation style of your choice & used as in-text citations where you see fit to put them. Enjoy!

ASR = All Systems Red

AC = Artificial Condition

RP = Rogue Protocol

ES = Exit Strategy

NE = Network Effect

FT = Fugitive Telemetry

SC = System Collapse

I use 'mb' as shorthand for murderbot

It's mostly ASR, with some NE and FT thrown in, but I put all the abbreviations in case I wind up coming back and putting more citations here

My list is organized according to how I'm writing the paper (all ones about surveillance here, all the ones about contract slavery there, etc.), so the page numbers are not in order, and there might be a repeat or two, but they are in book order. some of them might be repeated bc I had them formatted in lists like "all quotes related to ___) and some quotes relate to multiple things.

if you're looking specifically for gender-related mb quotes, @worldsentwined made a wonderful post collecting them a while back. I also have a few other murderbot posts that have quotes in them that might not be here, including a reblog where a bunch of lovely people added extra citations onto my original post. I hope you find what you're looking for!

All Systems Red

“I had been on contracts where the clients would have told me to put the bleeding human down to go get the stuff.” (15) ASR

“There were groans and general complaining about having to pay high prices for shitty equipment. (I don’t take it personally.)” (31) ASR crossover w slavery

“My education modules were such cheap crap;” (34) ASR

“I’m not refundable.” (49) ASR

“(You had to check everything out and log any problems immediately when you took delivery or the company wasn’t liable.)” (52) ASR

“It was all company equipment though, per contract, and all subject to the same malfunctions as the crap they’d dumped on us.” (58) ASR

““The company could be bribed to conceal the existence of several hundred survey teams on this planet.” Survey teams, whole cities, lost colonies, traveling circuses, as long as they thought they could get away with it. I just didn’t see how they could get away with making a client survey team—two client survey teams—vanish. Or why they’d want to. There were too many bond companies out there, too many competitors. Dead clients were terrible for business. “I don’t think the company would collude with one set of clients to kill two other sets of clients. You purchased a bond agreement that the company would guarantee your safety or pay compensation in the event of your death or injury. Even if the company couldn’t be held liable or partially liable for your deaths, they would still have to make the payment to your heirs. DeltFall was a large operation. The death payout for them alone will be huge.” And the company hated to spend money.” (90) ASR

“The organic parts mostly sleep, but not always. You know something’s happening. They were trying to purge my memory. We’re too expensive to destroy.” (116) ASR

“The company required this as a security feature if you wanted your base to be anywhere without open terrain around it. It cost extra, and if you didn’t want it, it cost even more to guarantee your bond.” (124) ASR

“Okay, the problem is, I’ve mentioned this before, the company is cheap. When it comes to something like a beacon that just has to launch once if there’s an emergency, send a transmission through the wormhole, and then never gets retrieved, they’re very cheap.” (137) ASR

“I said, “This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” It’s an automatic reaction triggered by catastrophic malfunction…. “Your contract allows—” “Shut up,” Mensah snapped.” (139) ASR

“…we’re cheaply produced and we suck. Nobody would hire one of us for non-murdering purposes unless they had to.” (34) ASR

“In a smart world, I should go alone, but with the governor module I had to be within a hundred meters of at least one of the clients at all times, or it would fry me.” (37) ASR

“I walked out a little way, past a couple of the lakes, almost expecting to see something under the surface. Dead bodies, maybe. I’d seen plenty of those (and caused plenty of those) on past contracts, but this one had been dead-body-lacking, so far. It made for a nice change.” (44) ASR

“This is how we fight: throw ourselves at each other and see whose parts give out first.” (69) ASR

““Dr. Mensah,” I said, “this is a violation of security priority and I am contractually obligated to record this for report to the company—” It was in the buffer and the rest of my brain was empty.” (73) ASR

“The DeltFall SecUnits hadn’t been rogues, they had been inserted with combat override modules. The modules allow personal control over a SecUnit, turn it from a mostly autonomous construct into a gun puppet. The feed would be cut off, control would be over the comm, but functionality would depend on how complex the orders were. “Kill the humans” isn’t a complex order.” (75) ASR

““Because if the company wanted to sabotage you, they would have poisoned your supplies using the recycling systems. The company is more likely to kill you by accident.”” (81) ASR

“I said, “I did not hack my governor module to kill my clients. My governor module malfunctioned because the stupid company only buys the cheapest possible components. It malfunctioned and I lost control of my systems and I killed them. The company retrieved me and installed a new governor module. I hacked it so it wouldn’t happen again.” (81) ASR

"“Do they really expect to get away with this?” Ratthi turned to me, like he was expecting an answer.” (105)

““They may believe the company and whoever your beneficiaries are won’t look any further than the rogue SecUnits. But they can’t make two whole survey teams disappear unless their corporate or political entity doesn’t care about them. Does DeltFall’s care? Does yours?” (105) ASR

“Freehold meant it had been terraformed and colonized but wasn’t affiliated with any corporate confederations. Basically freehold generally meant shitshow so I hadn’t been expecting much from them. But they were surprisingly easy to work for.” (26) ASR

“The other good thing about my hacked governor module is that I could ignore the governor’s instructions to defend the stupid company.” (48) ASR

“I had a moment to feel betrayed, which was stupid. Volescu was my client, and I’d saved his life because that was my job, not because I liked him.” (79-80) ASR

“One saw me and Ratthi and said, “Again, this is irregular. Purging the unit’s memory before it changes hands isn’t just a policy, it’s best for the—” (143) ASR

“Maybe it would work out. This was what I was supposed to want. This was what everything had always told me I was supposed to want. Supposed to want.” (147) ASR

“Murderbots aren’t allowed to ride with the humans and I had to have verbal permission to enter. With my cracked governor there was nothing to stop me, but not letting anybody, especially the people who held my contract, know that I was a free agent was kind of important. Like, not having my organic components destroyed and the rest of me cut up for parts important.” (14) ASR

“I’m always supposed to speak respectfully to the clients, even when they’re about to accidentally commit suicide. HubSystem could log it and it could trigger punishment through the governor module.” (15) ASR

“…if it monitored the governor module and my feed like it was supposed to, it could lead to a lot of awkward questions and me being stripped for parts.” (31) ASR

“I had worked for some contracts that would have kept me standing here the entire day and night cycle, just on the off chance they wanted me to do something and didn’t want to bother using the feed to call me.” (33) ASR

“I don’t know why I was dancing around the word. Maybe because I thought she didn’t want to hear it. She’d just shot a heavily armed SecUnit with a mining drill to get me back; presumably she wanted to keep me.” (76) ASR

“Then Mensah said quietly, “SecUnit, do you have a name?” I wasn’t sure what she wanted. “No.” “It calls itself ‘Murderbot,’” Gurathin said." (82) ASR

“To them, talking to me was like talking to a hopper or a piece of mining equipment.” (127) ASR

“I know I said SecUnits aren’t sentimental about each other, but I wished it wasn’t one of the DeltFall units. It was in there somewhere, trapped in its own head, maybe aware, maybe not. Not that it matters. None of us had a choice.” (132) ASR

“Guardian was a nicer word than owner.” (148) ASR

“I’ve purchased your contract.” (145) ASR

“He said, “Good news! Dr. Mensah has permanently bought your contract! You’re coming home with us!” (141) ASR

“I’m off inventory.” They had told me that and maybe it was true.” (145) ASR

“SecSystem records everything, even inside the sleeping cabins, and I see everything.” (30) ASR

“I was supposed to check their personal logs periodically in case they were plotting to defraud the company or murder each other or something…” (57) ASR

“One of the reasons the bond company requires it, besides slapping more expensive markups on their clients, is that I was recording all their conversations all the time, though I wasn’t monitoring anything I didn’t need to do a half-assed version of my job. But the company would access all those recordings and data mine them for anything they could sell. No, they don’t tell people that. Yes, everyone does know it. No, there’s nothing you can do about it.” (27-28) ASR

“Now they knew their murderbot didn’t want to be around them any more than they wanted to be around it. I’d given a tiny piece of myself away. That can’t happen. I have too much to hide, and letting one piece go means the rest isn’t as protected.” (33-34) ASR

“No one would be shooting at me because they didn’t shoot people there. Mensah didn’t need a bodyguard there; nobody did. It sounded like a great place to live, if you were a human or augmented human.” (146) ASR

“If there’s a chance we can save lives, we have to take it,” Pin-Lee agreed.” (57) ASR

“They were the first clients I’d had who hadn’t had any previous experience with SecUnits” (40) ASR

““You have to think of it as a person,” Pin-Lee said to Gurathin.” (95) ASR

“”It is a person,” Arada insisted.” “I do think of it as a person,” Gurathin said. “An angry, heavily armed person who has no reason to trust us.” “Then stop being mean to it,” Ratthi told him. “That might help.”” (96) ASR

“Overse added, “It doesn’t want to interact with humans. And why should it? You know how constructs are treated, especially in corporate-political environments.”” (107) ASR

“”You know, in Preservation-controlled territory, bots are considered full citizens. A construct would fall under the same category.” He said this in the tone of giving me a hint. Whatever. Bots who are “full citizens” still have to have a human or augmented human guardian appointed, usually their employer; I’d seen it on the news feeds.” (112) ASR

“Ratthi smiled at the console. “Because Dr. Mensah is our political entity.” He made a little gesture, turning his hand palm up. “We’re from Preservation Alliance, one of the non-corporate system entities. Dr. Mensah is the current admin director on the steering committee. It’s an elected position, with a limited term. But one of the principles of our home is that our admins must also continue their regular work, whatever it is. Her regular work required this survey, so here she is, and here we are.”” (111) ASR

“Ratthi came over to see if I was all right, and I asked him to tell me about Preservation and how Mensah lived there. He said when she wasn’t doing admin work, she lived on a farm outside the capital city, with two marital partners, plus her sister and brother and their three marital partners, and a bunch of relatives and kids who Ratthi had lost count of.” (147) ASR

“Ratthi sighed. “Oh, yes, they know. You would not believe what we had to pay to guarantee the bond on the survey. These corporate arseholes are robbers.”” (112) ASR

““Because the scanners suck corporation balls,” Pin-Lee muttered.” (42) ASR

“Of course I need you. I have no experience in anything like this. None of us do. Sometimes humans can’t help but let emotion bleed through into the feed. She was furious and frightened, not at me, at the people who would do this, kill like this,” (107-108) ASR

“I said, “This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” It’s an automatic reaction triggered by catastrophic malfunction. Also, I really didn’t want them to try to move me because it hurt bad enough the way it was. “Your contract allows—” “Shut up,” Mensah snapped. “You shut the fuck up. We’re not leaving you.”” (139) ASR

"I had flashes off and on. The inside of the little hopper, my humans talking, Arada holding my hand." (140) ASR

“We had a problem at the hatch of the big hopper where Mensah wanted to get in last and I wanted to get in last. As a compromise, I grabbed her around the waist and swung us both up into the hatch as the ramp pulled in after us. I set her on her feet and she said, “Thank you, SecUnit,” while the others stared.” (99) ASR

““I know you’re more comfortable with keeping your helmet opaque, but the situation has changed. We need to see you.”” (103) ASR

““It’s usually better if humans think of me as a robot,” I said.” (103) ASR

““Maybe, under normal circumstances.” She was looking a little off to one side, not trying to make eye contact, which I appreciated. “But this situation is different. It would be better if they could think of you as a person who is trying to help. Because that’s how I think of you.” My insides melted. That’s the only way I could describe it. After a minute, when I had my expression under control, I cleared the face plate and had it and the helmet fold back into my armor. She said, “Thank you,” and I followed her up into the hopper.” (104) ASR

“They were saying things like I didn’t even know it had a face.” (21) ASR

“Arada and Pin-Lee didn’t try to talk to me, and Ratthi actually looked away when I eased past him to get to the cockpit. They were all so careful not to look at me or talk to me directly that as soon as we were in the air I did a quick spot check through HubSystem’s records of their conversations.” (39) ASR

“They had talked it over and all agreed not to “push me any further than I wanted to go” and they were all so nice and it was just excruciating.” (40) ASR

“That was when I realized they weren’t ignoring the possibility of sabotage.” (43) ASR

“This is why I didn’t want to come. I’ve got four perfectly good humans here and I didn’t want them to get killed by whatever took out DeltFall. It’s not like I cared about them personally, but it would look bad on my record, and my record was already pretty terrible.” (60) ASR

“It was nice having a human smart enough to work with like this.” (67) ASR

“I do a half-assed job sometimes, okay, most of the time, but Pin-Lee had checked, too, and she was thorough.” (71) ASR

“It was starting to occur to me that Dr. Mensah might actually be an intrepid galactic explorer, even if she didn’t look like the ones on the entertainment feed.” (73) ASR

“I hoped they hadn’t been stupid about it, too soft-hearted to kill me.” (77) ASR

“My clients are the best clients.” (78) ASR

“But I think the fact that the Unit has been acting to preserve our lives, to take care of us, while it was a free agent, gives us even more reason to trust it.”” (80) ASR

“Overse sounded mad. “It told us about the combat module, it told us to kill it. Why the hell would it do that if it wanted to hurt us?”” (81) ASR

“Before anyone else could move, Mensah said, calm and even, “SecUnit, I’d appreciate it if you put Gurathin down, please.” She’s a really good commander. I’m going to hack her file and put that in. If she’d gotten angry, shouted, let the others panic, I don’t know what would have happened.” (84-85) ASR

“She continued, “I would like you to remain part of our group, at least until we get off this planet and back to a place of safety. At that point, we can discuss what you’d like to do. But I swear to you, I won’t tell the company, or anyone outside this room, anything about you or the broken module.”” (86) ASR

“Of course she had to say that. What else could she do. I tried to decide whether to believe it or not, or whether it mattered, when I was hit by a wave of I don’t care. And I really didn’t. I said, “Okay.”” (86) ASR

““We have to shut it down, or it’s going to kill us.” Then he winced and looked at me. “Sorry, I meant HubSystem.”” (86-87) ASR

“Then Arada came up and patted my shoulder. “I’m sorry. This must be very upsetting. After what that other Unit did to you . . . Are you all right?” That was too much attention. I turned around and walked into the corner, facing away from them.” (87) ASR

“I should keep my mouth shut, keep them thinking of me as their normal obedient SecUnit, stop reminding them what I was. But I wanted them to be careful.” (92) ASR

““If a strange survey group landed here, all friendly, saying they had just arrived, and oh, we’ve had an equipment failure or our MedSystem’s down and we need help, you would let them in. Even if I told you not to, that it was against company safety protocol, you’d do it.” Not that I’m bitter, or anything. A lot of the company’s rules are stupid or just there to increase profit, but some of them are there for a good reason.” (92-93) ASR

[I cited this whole conversation bc I wasn't sure exactly what bits I wanted to use. apologies for the giant block text.]

“Ratthi’s expression was troubled. “But surely . . . It’s clear you have feelings—”” (54)

“She looked up, frowning. “Ratthi, what are you doing?” Ratthi shifted guiltily. “I know Mensah asked us not to, but—” He waved a hand. “You saw it.” Overse pulled her interface off. “You’re upsetting it,” she said, teeth gritted. “That’s my point!” He gestured in frustration. “The practice is disgusting, it’s horrible, it’s slavery. This is no more a machine than Gurathin is—” Exasperated, Overse said, “And you don’t think it knows that?” I’m supposed to let the clients do and say whatever they want to me and with an intact governor module I wouldn’t have a choice.” (54) ASR

“I’m also not supposed to snitch on clients to anybody except the company, but it was either that or jump out the hatch. I sent the conversation into the feed tagged for Mensah. From the cockpit, she shouted, “Ratthi! We talked about this!” I slid out of the seat and went to the back of the hopper, as far away as I could get, facing the supply lockers and the head. It was a mistake; it wasn’t a normal thing for a SecUnit with an intact governor module to do, but they didn’t notice. “I’ll apologize,” Ratthi was saying. “No, just leave it alone,” Mensah told him. “That would just make it worse,” Overse added.” (55) ASR

Network Effect

“Humans in the Preservation alliance didn't have to sign up for contract labor and get shipped off to mines or whatever for 80 to 90 percent of their lifespans. There was some strange system where they all got their food and shelter and education and medical for free, no matter what job they did.” (35-36) NE

“...it was a natural mistake on Arada’s part. In Preservation culture asking payment for anything considered necessary for living (food, power sources, education, the feed, etc.) was considered outrageous, but asking payment for life-saving help was right up there with cannibalism.” (201) NE

“There were "free" bots wandering around on Preservation, though they had guardians who were technically supposed to keep track of them.” (27) NE

“Plus, it was Preservation and there were no scanning drones, no armed human security, just some on-call human medics with bot assistants and “rangers” who mainly enforced environmental regulations and yelled at humans and augmented humans to get out of the way of the ground vehicles.” (24) NE

"Over the comm loudspeaker, Dr. Ratthi said, 'It is a person!'" (16) NE

“Even the individual humans’ feed signatures only contained info about sexual availability and gender presentation, which I didn’t give a damn about.” (13) NE

“If this went wrong I was going to feel really stupid. The Targets would finally show up and be all “What the hell was it trying to do to itself?”“ (305-306) NE

“That’s one of the reasons Me 1.0 misses its armor.” (293) NE

“You and Amena were right. 2.0 was a person. It wasn’t like a baby, but it was a person.” (340) NE

“The damage to its organic tissue and support structure is easily repaired.” (132) NE

“- because it thought you were dead. It was so upset I thought-Oh, hey, you’re here” (227) NE

“Amena’s voice said “No, it doesn’t like to be touched!”“ (335) NE

““No, it says it’s fine,” I heard her relaying to the others on our comm. “Well, yes, it’s furious,”” (12) NE

"It's not aliens, 2.0 said. We knew it wasn't aliens, I told it. It countered, We were seventy-two percent sure it wasn't aliens. That was an outdated assessment but I didn't need to argue with myself right now." (314) NE

Fugitive Telemetry

“Preservation had two economies, one a complicated barter system for planetary residents and one currency-based for visitors and for dealing with other polities. Most of the humans here didn’t really understand how important hard currency was in the Corporation Rim but the council did, and Mensah said the port took in enough in various fees to keep the station from being a drain on the planet’s resources.” (79) FT

“The Preservation Alliance has a weird thing about food and medical care and other thing humans need to survive being free and available anywhere.” (35) FT

“The employment contracts for Preservation citizens were pretty simple, because their planetary legal code had so many in-built protections already. (For example, humans and augmented humans can’t sign away their rights to their labor or bodily autonomy in perpetuity; that’s like, straight-up illegal.)” (12) FT

“Preservation has high safety standards so we passed through two air walls before we got to the cargo ship’s hatch.” (70) FT

“Right now Aylen and the other officers were explaining to their individual Targets what rights they had as detainees in Preservation Alliance territory. (It was a lot of rights. I was pretty sure it was more rights than a human who hadn’t been detained by Station Security had in the Corporation Rim.)” (85-86) FT

“As part of the rights thing, Aylen had told Target Five the scanner would be on, which I thought was playing way too fair,” (89-90) FT

“Station Security was only allowed to keep the Lalow for one Preservation day-cycle before they either had to charge the crew with something or let them go.” (106) FT

“You need a surveillance audit.” (145) “Some of those systems are under privacy lock, we’d need a judge-advocate to release their access records,” (146) FT [these are together bc its a line of dialogue from mb, a huge monologue about what a surveillance audit is, and then Indah's response, which is the thing I care about for my paper]

“Most of the station’s clothing supply came from the planet, where human hand-made clothing and textiles were so popular there was hardly any recycler-produced fabric. (I told you Preservation is weird.)” (22) FT

“The colony ship hadn’t just been left to rot; the humans liked it too much for that…Pieces of clear protective material had been placed over the occasional drawings on the bulkheads, and on the pieces of paper stuck to them and covered with scribbled handwriting and faded print. Feed markers had been installed by Station Historical/Environment Management with translations into Preservation Standard Nomenclature.” (123) FT

“…you’re on a giant spaceship that has been meticulously preserved as a historical artifact. If they still had intact lunch menus from however many years ago, the chances were good they still had the safety equipment.” (125) FT

“Station Security isn’t armed except with those extendable batons (they don’t even deliver shocks, they’re just for hitting/holding off aggressive intoxicated humans) and the officers are only issued energy weapons when there’s actually an energy-weapon-involved emergency.” (72) FT

“…they were here to assess the damage to the transport and try to repair it. (Apparently on Preservation this would be free? Gurathin said it fell under what they called a traveler’s aid rule. In the Corporation Rim, the transport would have had tp sit there damaged and racking up fines until its owner or an owner’s rep arrived.)” (55-56) FT

another "couldn't decide so the whole dang thing is here"

"For a name, I could use the local feed address that was hard coded into my neural interfaces. It wasn’t my real name, but it was what the systems I interfaced with called me. If I used it, the humans and augmented humans I encountered would think of me as a bot. Or I could use the name Rin. I liked it, and there were some humans outside the Corporation Rim who thought it was actually my name. I could use it, and the humans on the Station wouldn’t have to think about what I was, a construct made of cloned human tissue, augments, anxiety, depression, and unfocused rage, a killing machine for whichever humans rented me, until I made a mistake and got my brain destroyed by my governor module." (28) “I posted a feed ID with the name SecUnit, gender = not applicable, and no other information.” (29)

[salvatwh0re]

Hey girl! you explained really well why you think affirming for others won’t help but i honestly think that if you were to affirm for me/your followers, i personally would enter regardless

also you did say that you are now wanting to help others enter the void so, that’s going to happen but if i just may add in a lil bit of suggestion, maybe you could ask us to do a couple of things like a routine and affirm that “who ever follows this routine will enter the void regardless of everything in all realities”

i think it could be fun and a nice experience/experiment cause a blogger had done this before and had many success stories! like girl if you come up with something today i’m down to do it and share my success story with you right after cause i’m that confident it would work you know?

if you enter the void easily and instantly and could be down for this, i’d be so grateful for you giving this a chance, it’s worth a try imo

(as for others who can’t enter just yet cause of their mindset or something, we know you’ve got their backs too, cause you are starting a challenge soon right so they can work on their mindset and tap in the void then!)

i know mostly everyone presses on this individualist approach that you should be the one entering on your own account but i think we all go to help when it’s required, we go to the doc when we are sick, we go to tarot readers when we need a bit guidance and etc

tldr: we go to certain experts for their advice/help when it’s required! we live in a society and we rely on others for a bit of support every now and then!

and as for me i know that you entering the void and affirming for us would be a boost that could help me enter and be done with my terrible 3D circumstances once and for all so why not try!! i’m sure many people could relate w this and be so grateful for your help too

i have been trying for the void since years atp so i just know your help could seriously change this not just for me but a lot of people who are in the same boat pretty much. Could try it as a lil experiment and then go back to your challenge of course and what you have been planning! I really hope you give this a thought! Thank you!

(also you’re really really pretty btw!!!!) and i wanna go to machu picchu too!!!

Hii! omg this was a whole persuasive essay 😱

I must say you’re very good at writing lol. I actually didn’t want to mention this just yet but since you brought it up, i have seen that blogger and was very much inspired by it (hence why i’m starting a challenge). Also my subliminals too are a part of the experience.

I know it’s not my place to decide for yall, but i know that you will very much appreciate entering on your own. I’m always here to help, and i know it’s frustrating not seeing any movement after years of trying (trust me i’ve been there). But believe me when i tell you you’re gonna be so mad at yourself when you realize just how easy tapping into the void state is. Like genuinely im not even saying this because i do it all the time now. When i first tapped in and manifested everything, I got out and felt like the biggest dummy ever (not calling yall dumb btw 😭).

The point is, yall are simply just over complicating it and i’m actually so upset that it took me so many years to realize just how easy it is cause i could’ve had my dream life a long time ago and I wouldn’t have had to go through what i went through.

With my challenge (i promise it’s coming out sooner than you expect just bear with me 🙏🏽) you’ll definitely start realizing that on your own, with a little help on my end of course. What i don’t want to do, and will not do is all the work for you. Even though it doesn’t require much work on your end, the eye opening and truly awakening experience of finally pushing through was honestly the most humbling and beautiful experience ever. Like i will honestly never take anything for granted again because i’m just so grateful that i have the ability to manifest anything I want now.

When you’re first starting out you always think about it as an escape or like “I can have anything I want”. But once you actually do and you’re able to go about life and actually enjoy it with no worries whatsoever it’s just so amazing, I have no words for it.

But like i said in one of my other posts, some things in life are worth working/fighting for, and although the void state is truly the simplest thing ever (i blame tumblr and shiftok for overcomplicating it), i believe it’s one of those things that you need to experience and go through on your own cause it truly is such a personal and intimate journey with yourself. I’ve learned so much about myself on a spiritual level like honestly i cannot even express it in words.

I know some of you guys have been trying for months and even years (i was in your shoes once too, before i tapped in i was 2.5 years in) but follow through with my challenge, don’t give up on yourself and i promise you every thing will change for the better!

So again to answer your question, yes I am absolutely doing that, just in my own way. It might be frustrating to hear (i would know i hated when people would say this when i was struggling but in the end im grateful for it), but you honestly need to do this for yourself. I don’t know any of you personally and no matter how much you tell me about yourself and your circumstances i will never truly understand you or have your same perspective on life, so in reality you the only person who can truly help you is yourself. Look within first before you go outside of you for help. For some of you, you’ve already tried everything and I understand your frustration but also have some patience with yourself.

I promise you won’t be disappointed with my challenge ( it is being very carefully crafted, also i’m just having so much fun making it!)

I hope this answer was satisfactory for you! if there’s anything else you wanna suggest that i add to my challenge go right ahead! But again in short; my answer is yes :)

[archangel-004]

I love the concept of kazuhei as a ship and I love their potential dynamic but I dislike a lot of the content made of it because they mischaracterize the both of them SO BAD. Heizou is NOT SHY. He is a flirty bastard and if someone flirts with him he'll flirt right back no hesitance!! That's not to say he doesn't get flustered, he definitely does, but he's quick to snap right back. He also always is one to make the first move, not wait out because he's nervous. AND KAZUHA. Girl. He is NOT flirty. At least not in the confident and outright way so many people portray him being in the ship. I also don't see him as easily flustered. He speaks with flowery words and seems to conjure poetry out of nothing. HES ALSO PATIENT!!! Kazuha being as patient as he is is why I love this ship so much!! Because people usually see Heizou as a rambunctious nuisance. People find him annoying and find it easy to lose their temper around him. But I feel like Kazuha would have just enough patience to take his antics in stride. People have gotten too caught up in the fanon characterization of Heizou and no one actually sees how he is in reality. I blame this entirely on that one piece of birthday fanart hoyoverse released. That was his downfall, I think. TLDR; Kazuha and Heizou are so terribly mischaracterized it makes me wanna throw a chair

[lostacelonnie]

as per Some demand: on polish romantic literature, the depiction of russians, and world serpent of honkai impact 3rd fame. apologies if this is very unorganized but its all just things i was thinking about while distracted in class and not TERRIBLY serious analysis

so before i begin. im very sorry if i get Some details wrong because the main piece i’m using for comparison, dziady (część III) by adam mickiewicz, is something ive read a While ago and in all honesty did not feel like rereading just for this as its just general thoughts. i przy okazji przepraszam że postuję o mickiewiczu ale jest on najlepszym kontekstem do sytuacji mam nadzieję że mi wybaczycie.

anyway. to give non-polish people a bit of context: dziady (część III) was written by mickiewicz during his time in russia, after being exiled from his home country (poland, lithuania, or belarus, depending on who you ask). most of the work is centered around what is means to “fight for independence” (as this was a time when poland was under russian occupation, and didnt technically. Exist. mickiewicz’s nationality is a topic of discussion even today, but thats a whole another topic so i wont get into it), why the nation has to suffer, if this was god’s plan, a fighter vs a poet vs a "traitor" during a country's fall etc etc but that’s not what i’m going to focus on here.

the main thing i want to touch on, as you might’ve guessed by the first paragraph, is the depiction of the russian General Populace- specifically, petersburg’s. there’s a couple of relatively well-known scenes from this work but the one most relevant here is ustęp. i could not find an english translation available online for free and, seeing as even its relevant fragments are Quite Long, did not feel like translating them myself (sorry). but there’s two main ones to look at: petersburg and do przyjaciół moskali.

petersburg shows the vision of russians as very… individualistic. walking among the street are different social classes: the tsar and tsaritsa, a military general showing off his battle-earned awards despite the cold, low ranked soldiers, women in expensive fur coats and colorful hats, wealthy people getting into their carriages; and the poor, freezing and hungry, but still talking about how honored they are to see their “superiors”. they arent bad at heart, but theyre passive, uncaring of how both other nations and even other russians suffer under the tsar’s tyrannical rule, as long as they, themselves, aren’t inconvenienced.

do przyjaciół moskali (to [my] friends muscovites) is less of a narrative part as it is the musings of mickiewicz himself, remembering the cold and unfeeling faces of russians that exiled him, killed and imprisoned his friends and other people, all for the purpose of not having to deal with any problems themselves- no matter if they ruined someone else’s life. however, as he talks with hate about the powers over them, it’s not the people himself he curses out- rather, he wishes that they were free, and brave enough to do something instead of becoming co-perpetrators.

so, tldr: in this work (and many, many others; this sentiment is present throughout a lot of polish literature from romanticism onwards) the russian people are depicted as not inherently evil by themselves, but rather unwilling to fight back against the oppressor that is their own government, oftentimes even reveling in it (the so-called “heroism of captivity”); that, or being just entirely ignorant of their homeland's crimes.

another theme that is integral to this work is messianism of the polish nation- supposedly, the reason why Everything Just Keeps Going Wrong For Us is because god has a plan in which the polish have to suffer, so that nobody else has to, directly paralleling jesus. 

BUT. to get into the part in which i actually start talking about honkai. what i’ve been thinking about is that the way world serpent agents are depicted in the game is actually quite similar?

taking raven herself as an example- first of all, she is Actually Literally Russian but that doesn’t matter here. so before mei joins world serpent, raven is this Mysterious Evil person, working for a Mysterious Evil organisation. she’s cold and ruthless and doesn’t hesitate to carry out her mission if it means getting a paycheck. and then lament of the fallen happens, and mei is in world serpent, and natasha is this. still not a Warm person, yeah? but she’s passionate about being a bartender, and takes care of the roost. simple woman just trying to survive. she’s not a perfect example, of course- she did leave world serpent at a point, only coming back when she realized her other paychecks just simply aren’t enough to sustain both her and the kids- but she’s still a mercenary. she kills people for money. not a bad person, just forced into a terrible situation due to something out of her control- but nowhere near a morally pure one, either. (which i’m very happy about, because that would be boring).

but, if you want to dig deeper, there’s the gray serpents themselves, as well- cold in both the metaphorical AND the literal sense, being machines and all. this one speaks for itself, i think? emotionless and unwilling to compromise, only caring to serve their purpose while continuing the flame chasers', namely mobius’s, legacy. but even the serpents themselves are individuals- they have their own personalities, and interests, even while being mass produced drones. but, like the russians in dziady, theyre mostly focused on themselves- pretty well seen with the serpent present in the beginning of salt snow holy city arc (disconnected from the thing keeping him alive, just because the majority would be better off on their own, with no regard of what would happen to the less fortunate ones).

but, to touch on the previously mentioned messianism- in honkai, that could be attributed to anyone not belonging to ws, especially in arc city and during project stigma- bearing the burden of being, in a smaller or larger degree, sacrificed for some twisted definition of the “greater good”.

additionally, one of the characters who cooperate with world serpent while not being its part is cocolia, who is russian; the person who (albeit accidentally) gets kevin out of the sea of quanta is seele, raised in russia; and misteln, an important part of carrying out project stigma, was not only “created” in siberia, but also approached by the serpents, and recruited, exactly there.

i don’t think i have a good conclusion for this one? as i said, just general thoughts on a topic i found interesting. i’m sure there’s more that could be said here but that’s what comes to mind ^-^

[ink-the-squid-gremlin]

Endouma is a terrible ship, and here is why.

‼️WARNING‼️: Post not only contains semi spoilers for KNY, but it also contains mentions of things like suicide, depression and noncon/sexual assault. If you are uncomfortable with those topics, please refrain from reading.

TLDR: Enmu and Douma are not compatible with each other because that ship is mostly built up on fetished MLM tropes, overly sexualized versions of the characters and the romanticization of SA.

(God, I feel like I have been posting nothing but hot takes on this account as of late. I promise I will go back to posting art, cosplays, and more just chill stuff after this.)

Enmu and Douma are not characters that should not be shipped together, for multiple reasons. Starting off, THEY ARE NOTHING ALIKE!!!! I don’t know where or how it was decided that they were alike, or that Enmu is “Douma 2.0”, but it makes no sense. While both are meant to be irredeemable monsters, Enmu was an irredeemable monster from the get go. From what we know about his backstory, he knew he was scamming people and targeting the weak and vulnerable for it. Douma’s backstory goes a bit more in depth and explains that he was put into the role of “all mighty god” as a child, which lead to the power of it going to his head as he grew up. Douma was still an impressionable child who was failed by the adults around him, and as he grew up he took on some of those same traits as the adults he was surrounded by. The bottom line is this: Douma, while a shitty person, still has some way to sympathize with him, Enmu does not, and thats just on the story side of things.

Enmu and Douma also share nothing in common personality wise. On face value, they may kinda act similar (i.e how they talk (sorta)) but it really just stops there. Enmu ultimately had a goal to kill Tanjiro and gain more blood from Muzan so he could climb the ranks of the demon hierarchy. He wanted to gain more power and to overthrow one of the upper moons for the sake of power. He doesn’t care how many people he has to torment, hurt or kill, as long as he has spot in power, he is happy, hell, he literally has vulnerable and even sick children do his dirty work! Enmu is a sick and twisted individual and he prides himself on that. Douma on the other hand put on the happy and up beat facade to hide that he knows he was failed. Douma is aware he was failed as a human, and so he decided to fail his followers by being the embodiment of false hope. He plays into the false icon lifestyle by pretending to be hopeful and happy around his followers and even the other demons to an extent. He doesn’t care so much about power, rather he cares more about control. Douma keeps up his false religion persona to keep control over his followers. He knows he’s failing them, but he doesn’t want to lose the control he has over them.

Now onto the elephant in the room: the mischaracterization I’ve seen of both of them in the Endouma ship. In both fanart and fanfics I’ve seen and read (well more so forced down my throat since thats all I’ve seen with Enmu in recent times) both Enmu and Douma are mischaracterized to high hell just so we as the reader/viewer will feel pity for them. I’ve seen more of this with Enmu, in that all the stuff that made him unique from the other KNY demons is stripped away so his “savior boyfriend” Douma can comfort him and coddle him. Now, writing an AU is one thing, but if you’re just going to make content of the ship with the characters as they are in the series, then their actual personalities should be honored or at the very least acknowledged.

Going more in depth about the mischaracterizing I’ve been seeing with Enmu, almost all (ALMOST all, not all in general) Endouma content I’ve seen have made him either a depressed and anxious baby that Douma is meant to coddle, or an overly fetishized hyper feminine man thats there simply for sexual reasons. It just goes against their roles in the story of KNY.

Going off of the hyper feminine man mischaracterization of Enmu I’ve seen in regards to the Endouma ship, having him be pretty much a “femboy” not only contradicts him as a character, but it also is pushing toxic heteronormativity on a queer relationship. Making Enmu essentially the “woman”, while putting toxic heteronormativity in a very much MLM ship, it also just boils him down to a sex object and nothing else. Now, I will not say that portraying Enmu as a very sexual and even gross character is wrong, because there were plenty of scenes in KNY of him that had very sexual and perverted undertones, but that is what they were, undertones. There is more to his character than just the sexual undertones he has (as I stated earlier when describing him), and by boiling him down to a “sex doll” for Douma just kind of shows that there wasn’t much of an understanding of his character while making the ship art or a fic. He is much more than a sex object.

Moving onto the mischaracterization I’ve seen of Douma, while not nearly as bad as Enmu, it still feels very off from his character. Making Douma someone who GENUINELY cares for another person is also very contradictory to how he acts in the series. He is someone who cares very little for anyone he comes to meet, whether it be his followers or other demons. Now you may be asking “but, Ink! Douma saw Daki and Gyutaro when they were on the verge of death and decided to save them!” Which is exactly what I am talking about. The only reason he “saved” them was to keep up his facade of a savior and to get himself “brownie points” (for lac of a better term) so his public appearance would look good. Because he cared very little for Daki and Gyutaro, it shows that he only cares about looking like a good person and nothing else. Portraying him as essentially “Enmu’s therapist” that coddles him and such just feels weird. Douma has no emotional connections to anyone, so why would he have an enmotional connection to a demon that is considered lower than him?

Now similar to what I said about Enmu earlier, Douma is also much more than a sex obsessed pervert. Douma being portrayed as basically a male nymphomaniac in the Endouma ship is a very strange way to portray his character. Yes, he may have been fine with letting women seek refuge in his temple, but again, it was to make him seem and look like a good person. We should all know, or at least have the understanding that Douma is literally a woman eater. The women he houses in his temple ultimately have the fate of being nothing more than food. Viewing his reason for taking in women as something sexually driven is a complete misunderstanding of his actions. This misunderstanding of Douma paired with the sexual misunderstanding of Enmu not only creates a toxic relationship, but it also fetishizes and sexualizes MLM pairings. This is something I’ve noticed more in Endouma art, but a lot of it that I have seen feels very fetish-y. I can’t go too in-depth about this aspect, as I am a queer woman, but the way the ship is portrayed in a lot of the art I have seen of it feels as though it is pandering to the appeal of yaoi obsessed straight girls. While yaoi has been a term used for decades to refer to MLM based pairings in media like anime and manga, over the past couple of years, its meaning has become more based around fetishizing MLM pairings rather than just being about MLM pairings.

I now want to bring up something that I’ve seen associated with Endouma (and also the Enmuzan ship, but that is a topic for another time) that really makes me uncomfortable, and that is noncon and the romanization sexual assault. I don’t want to talk too much about this topic, as it is not only triggering for me, but it should also be common sense that fetishizing sexual assault is wrong. Again, this is more so something I have seen in artwork, but it seems almost normalized for Douma to be portrayed forcing himself onto Enmu. Now, I know you are all probably saying “Ink, if you don’t like it/are triggered by it, then don’t interact with it”, but when its all that has been made in regards to newer Enmu content as of late, and how people are hyping it up, its kind of hard to avoid. It makes me truly question just how many people really missed the point of their characters, and only focused on things like Enmu being more androgynous, and Douma being tall and muscular. In a general sense, if a ship is built on, or is popular from fetishized and romanticized sexual assault, it shouldn’t be a ship.

Finally, I just want to mention that these characters have NEVER once interacted in canon. I know that hasn’t stopped people from shipping characters before, but it’s just something I want bring up. (As well as the fact that the Upper Moon’s hate the Lower Moons)

I want to end off this post by saying that all of this is by no means targeted at a specific person, nor am I trying to say that my opinion is correct. I am just stating my own opinions and just stating observations I have made after being in the KNY/Enmu fanbase for nearly 4 years now. People are allowed to ship characters together (within reason) however they like, but just be aware of how it will look on your own part, and what views it may look like you have.

[discotenny]

An epidemic!

Had Gentaro brain rot first thing in the morning, my bad guys.

A bit steamy at the end ehe. Feel free to think of ways this could go after ✨😝😝

TLDR: Gentaro makes up bs just so you’ll kiss him

———

“Ah, dearest, come quick! I’m afraid I’ve come upon some terrible news!”

You had just gotten home- but the urgency in your lover’s voice makes you make your way to the bedroom where he lies. With the TV playing an unintelligible news broadcast- part of you is expecting something genuinely terrible.

Inside you see Gentaro lying down, seeming already have prepared the futon for you two to rest. Beside him is a lamp, a suited partner for the book in his hand.

“Why, do you see this broadcast! It’s saying there’s an epidemic of people my age falling ill due to not getting enough attention!” As he finishes his exclamation, he lets out a sigh. He then covers his mouth with his book as he stares at your form.

Your eyes turn to the TV screen beside you and see a basic cooking show playing on it. A small smile finds itself on your face as you look at him with a raised brow- “Oh really now?” You say.

“It seems you’ve missed the report,” his sneaky eyes dart away from you. He sighs longingly once more. “But, if you care- they say the only way to avoid this sudden tragedy would be to cuddle your partner after a long day of not being together…” He lets out another, long, dramatic sigh. “Again, if you care…”

The game he’s playing is one you’ve gone through many times before. “Why, if you were to get sick that would be a tragedy!” Hopeful eyes perk up at your words. “What would the symptoms of this illness be?”

“Ah~” You move closer to him and the book lowers from his mouth. “Well, from what I recall-“

“Longing eyes~” Even though you’re still in your day clothes he looks as you as if you’re the most alluring thing in the world.

“Go on,” You sit beside him on the futon and his eyes darken with something curious. A smug smile reveals itself from the corners of pages.

“Wistful thoughts~” The book lowers completely and it takes everything for you to not obviously focus on his lips.

“What else?” But it seems like Gentaro doesn’t care about being obvious.

“Deep sighs-“ At this you chuckle and he leans in slightly.

“And?” He feels your hot breath on his cold lips- so, so close to touching.

“A 100+ degree fever-“ You chuckle at his humor but he consumes it with a kiss. Gentaro pulls you closer, messing up the carefully prepared sheets. You’re caught for what seems like minutes in the middle of passionate, longing, lovesick kissing before you break for air.

“You know Gen, if you missed me you could’ve just said so~” You tease, a hand moving his brown locks from his eyes.

“Why, isn’t that what I’m doing now?” He looks at you with such softness it makes you fluster for a moment.

He pulls you into a kiss once more, a smile on his face as he brings a hand to your hip.

———

Writing for him is silly I would love to do it more myeheheh

[nhasablogg]

Something I've been wanting to say for a while

I admit I'm a coward. I can't help it. I have anxiety. I feel as if people will be mean to me even when I've not done anything. I want to protect my peace too much to get into things like I used to, but I need to say something, because it's a recurring thing and people think they can just send me things that they feel is true with no space for disagreement or a discussion. I'll probably make this post unrebloggable and close my asks for a while afterward, because I genuinely am not looking for other people's opinions about it. I already know it's varied, and that many people are very extreme about it, maybe because they just feel passionate that their view on it is right, which is fine as long as there's recognition that your views are not everyone's views, or maybe because the internet nowadays encourages aggression without trying to understand any other view on things.

I don't think liking tickling automatically makes it a kink, and so I don't agree that engaging in tickling with others, whether they know you like it or not, is necessarily something sexual or that it's this whole terrible thing you shouldn't do and if you do it makes you a disgusting human being. I think it's very bold for others to assume that the way THEY feel about it means everyone has the same feelings and experiences. This is so complex and personal, probably something that's been inside of us our entire lives and has developed with us. You can't tell people how to feel, just like I can't technically convince you it's not just a kink. It's weird that you don't think it would work both ways and that only your opinion on it needs to be aggressively shouted at others (you is not aimed at a person, but a general you - you get it, you're smart).

But! This whole discourse has made me feel afraid to admit that certain parts about my feelings for tickling ARE a kink, even though I'm not actually into sexual activities due to being asexual. Although I reckon people who aren't asexual feel this way too. I've seen so many takes about that if you have a tickle kink you can't enjoy it platonically that it's made me afraid to express my feelings on it on the one and only place I can do it, and I think that's stupid. I've been afraid of exploring different themes in my silly little fanfictions because of it. I think it's dangerous the way people will throw serious accusations at others just because THEY might find it sexual and nothing else. It's quite literally something people do to bond and have fun, be annoying, provoke, and sometimes to spice things up in the bedroom, and I can't comprehend why this community thinks those things can't be true at the same time. Humans are complex. Some people are terrible, but do you really think all of us are? I understand the need to protect others, but why must you always assume the worst in people who have never shown you or anyone else any malice? Do you really think I would sit on this blog and talk about something tickling related if I myself found it inappropriate? I wouldn't be stupid enough to admit to something like that anyway. Does this make sense? I just think a lot of people in this community are after the wrong people. I just write fics and sometimes talk about my life, and I would LIKE to be able to talk more about tickling, but I get scared to do so even though this is a tickling blog, to a certain degree.

I don't know. I don't think I managed to say all I wanted to say, but I just simply don't know how to say it. Tldr I guess: most of us are complex and can have more than one feeling about things and it's not up to you to decide how we feel.

[blackjackkent]

Admittedly I haven't played Lae'zel origin (or any origin) yet so maybe this is already discussed in more detail there, but I am thinking this morning about the period of maybe twenty minutes between her escaping her pod and finding Tav and how absolutely mind-bogglingly terrifying a situation it is for her.

As many other posts have already pointed out - she is literally living out the single scenario she has been taught to fear above ALL others. And given the nature of mind flayer transformation she has no reason to believe that she will find anyone else on the ship in the same situation - as far as she knows, she is completely alone.

More than that, too... there doesn't seem to be a ton of specific information about how she got captured by the nautiloid in the first place, which leaves plenty of room for headcanon, but dialogue DOES make clear (ref. BG3 wiki) that this was her first actual encounter with ghaik; she had fought other monsters alongside others of her clutch but never an actual illithid.

Wyll: "Lae'zel - did you ever fight illithid creatures in your training days?" Lae'zel: "Never. The ghaik aboard the nautiloid was the first I ever witnessed in flesh." Wyll: "Really? I figured you would have joined your fellow gith in a colony raid." Lae'zel: "A young warrior is expected to fight their first ghaik with their cousins - kin hatched from the same clutch. The ones who triumph earn a place in githyanki society. The one's who don't, perish."

By all githyanki measures, it seems reasonable to assume, we are meeting Lae'zel on the heels of a spectacular moment of failure. She (and perhaps the rest of her clutch) made their first attempt at taking on illithids, in the hopes of obtaining heads that would allow them into the midst of githyanki society in the Astral Plane. They failed, for unspecified reasons which might have involved her or been entirely outside her control. The nautiloid sails on, travels to the material plane, begins a rampage of destruction.

But Lae'zel was not even given the comfort of a death in combat; she was captured, left to stew on her failure while being infected by a tadpole in what she assumes is complete isolation. This is not only a nightmare scenario for her people culturally, but for her personally - Lae'zel fears failure and insignificance far more than she fears death. And she is terribly young in spite of her air of absolute confidence; has she ever operated outside of the strict guidance of a superior before? Probably not.

It would be so easy to give up. But of course she doesn't, because she is Lae'zel and she's a fucking badass. But it must be such a dark night of the soul, those twenty minutes or so, believing that her only options are to give up and become ghaik or push on and handle the situation in complete isolation.

Small wonder she seems so (for her) delighted to realize that you are not a thrall but are in fact someone still in control of their faculties also. "Vlaakith blesses me this day. Together we might survive." She is no longer alone in this terrible situation. And small wonder she subtly defers to you, given the option.

It also explains why (to my recollection) her dialogue is never about trying to communicate with the githyanki circling the ship. One would assume that she would consider them allies (given that she seems quite surprised by how wary the Y'llek gith are towards her), but she doesn't even seem to consider it. She only talks about getting back to the material plane and off the ship.

Shame, perhaps? Not wanting her people to see this moment of what she considers ultimate failure?

Lae'zel's strength of character and determination are such a fundamental part of her character, but what really fascinates me is how much fear they must be covering up. Out of everyone in the group, she is the one most out of her depth, suffering the most terrifying change of circumstances imaginable, and yet she still keeps pressing forward no matter what.

TLDR: They should add an option to give Lae'zel a hug right there on the nautiloid bc goddamn does she need one.

[firesnap]

i hate how toxic my mind is being, it’s firmly in the denial stage despite objectively knowing all the facts, and watching the vod, and i keep waking up and thinking it was a weird dream i had. worse, the denial is not being very feminist bc while i 100% believe shelby and do Not think she’s lying at all, and I 100% think she should have come forward to share her story as she did, and i think it sets a good example for her viewers and for culture of staying silent in general, I still keep hoping it’s actually all made up or that the stream never happened and she said nothing and we all lived in blissful ignorance. i think this is karma for not understanding why others had similar extreme reactions when the same sorta thing happened to their fave celeb. i’d never state any of these rather cruel thoughts as any sort of fact or truth but i still feel guilty that i have them and i still feel bad that i still wish they were the case, bc it is all just very self-centered. tldr: :(

I really need to acknowledge something that Bee said along the lines of "thought crimes aren't real as long as you recognize and still support Shelby despite your conflicted feelings." Like that's really the base of it, you know?

You can't control how you feel but the internet these days pushes such a weird idea that if you don't have the 'right' emotional response to something you're a terrible person. There were so many people that first day, when fans were grappling with the truth and grieving the loss of community, acting like that anything other than righteous anger was the wrong response. It wasn't. Shelby wanted us to take her warnings, but she also wanted to cut the support this guy was getting for a facade. People grieving and coming to terms with that part of it was a huge part of supporting Shelby.

It's okay to have messy feelings about a guy you supported for so long. I had long, long conversations with some of my closest friends that first day where we swung wildly between believing it, because we KNEW it was true, and sorta going back and forth about what if's.

It's just important to not choose to live in ignorance. You're not a self-centered for having those feelings, it's about how you respond to the actual situation at hand, and I can tell you're acknowledging what happened and choosing to not ignore it for your self-comfort. Everything you're going through is normal and you're trying your best.

[kingarthurflourofficial]

september/october reads

this was a SLOW season rip but we push on!

tongues of serpents 4.5/5 (i loveeee an exile book.)

victory of eagles 4.5/5 (oh you KNOW we cried during the war crimes)

catfishing on catnet 3.5/5 (solidly good speculative sci fi that was surprisingly sweet!)

starling house 3/5 (i do not Care about your straight people relationships give me that sweet sweet polyamory. once again it would literally fix everything!)

skunk and badger 4/5 (love an autistic MC)

egg marks the spot 3.5/5 (a little too much danger in this one!)

the third wife of faraday house DNF (the number of terrible jane eyre rip offs in this world..........)

all friends are necessary 4/5 (this book! is everything that's best about summer and about hooking up with your friends and coming to terms with grief and finding good people and holding on to them tightly and letting the soft animal of your body love what it loves!)

the strange case of the alchemist's daughter DNF (not through any fault of the book! it just reads like a YA book vs an adult one and i wasn't in the mood for it)

winter's orbit 4/5 (read this one on ao3 a longggg time ago but really enjoyed this updated version as well!)

ocean's echo 4/5 (likewise! not quite as much as winter's orbit but still very good)

hum 2/5 (IRRITATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING HERE AND WHAT WAS THE POINT OF IT! god i am still so full of rage over this like two months later rip so i guess if the point is to infuriate the reader the author succeeded? otherwise only read if you want to shriek like a tea kettle on the boil)

ballet shoes 5/5 (an EXCELLENT expurgation of the above - what a delight this book is! and i can't wait to see the stage show with my lover in a month!)

the silvered 4.5/5 (now THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS HOW YOU DO IT! take note @ alix harrow this is how you write a 'straight' couple and then fix literally all the problems by means of werewolves + polyamory)

the disasters DNF (victim of the enshittification of YA)

someone you can build a nest in 4.5/5 (add this to the list of queer books that are not defanged! you're reading it and begging the author not to be a coward and then they're NOT a coward and in fact they're the encapsulation of the why are you booing me i'm right meme. tldr; this book is fucking fantastic)

reverie DNF (literally have none of these YA writers heard! of an editor!)

how to become the dark lord and die trying 4/5 (feels weird giving this the FUN and SEXY nomer but it was! and also didn't shy away from the inevitable horror of a time loop! a+ work!)

dead country DNF (another one where it's not the book's fault - just wasn't the right time and place for me to read it)

the lies of locke lamora DNF (WHY can i not get through this book! i've enjoyed it! but can i finish it?! no!)

the exiles 5/5 (hilary mckay you will ALWAYS! be famous!)

the exiles at home 5/5 (SEE ABOVE)

the exiles in love 5/5 ((SEE ABOVE!!!!!!!!))

the manor house governess DNF (one of those books where you RUN to goodreads to see if anyone else has picked up on the same things you did and thank GOD many people did. girl (gn) you cannot write a 'gothic' novel like this! what is wrong with you!)

literally. so much astolat fic.

also. an insane amount of sga fic.

also. a 630k xfiles fic ((i don't even GO here)).

ozma of oz 4/5

jingo 5/5 (sometimes you just need the home comfort of a pratchett)

a taste of copper 3.5/5 (love a period love story that is meticulously researched and likewise written! straight out of howard pyle!)

[a0wz]

MAWS Thoughts on S2E5

Spoilers Including Pictures Ahead!

TLDR - I wasn't a fan of the way things went. I think there are better ways to execute what happened in the ep.

Relationship Conflicts: Lois and Jimmy

1. I think it's corny to have Clois' "break up" be because of a bachelor's show. Yes, Lois is always questioning her worth and has terrible abandonment issues, but I feel like it could have been approached in a more realistic way.

2. In combination to that, Jimmy shouldn't have to hide from Clark because of the convention when Clark was there seeing how much Jimmy was trying to defend him. Jimmy didn't know they were going to bring out Lex and discus Superman being an problem. He was put on the spot and Clark knows that. Why can't he use the brains he has to hunt down cryptids and make the simple conclusion that Clark wouldn't be upset with him and would even find comfort that his friend was put on the spot and still did his best to defend Superman.

Side note. There are 24 hours in the day, Lois and Clark have phones and know where each other lives yet we are to believe they have found ABSOLUTEYLY NO time to talk to each other???

I make these two main points to propose a different sequence of events that still impacts significant relationships after the attack in S2E4:

After the attack, Jimmy suggests that Superman lays low for a while since so many influential people seem to have been convinced of Superman being an issue. Of course Clark would disagree because he can literally hear and see how bad things can get without him helping out and he needs to be identifiable to his cousin when she shows up. After hearing the assignment being given to Cat, Clark finds out that he is wanted at the Bachelor event and would be happy to attend because it's for charity. The issue is he doesn't tell anyone about it because Jimmy and Lois agreed he should lay low. Lois confides in Jimmy about her job offer in Gotham and he offers to go with her to check out the city because he also is following a story about some mysterious things going on there (this could be a way to hint at some batman related stuff). Jimmy and Lois run into Kara and because they have more than one braincell, they figure out she's Clark's cousin and try to bring her to him. Lois find out from Kara's rambling that Clark set off the beaker without telling her and she's upset with him while trying to understand more about Kara. In looking for Clark they find Superman on the dating show but missed the part where Superman explained he was seeing someone. Lois is even more upset since Clark didn't tell her about it (this would be a genuine asshat move on his part, a real flaw instead of some childish thing) and by how well Superman and Silver are getting along and even how she defends him. All of these things compound into her spiraling and Kara has a bad impression of Clark after seeing how hurt Lois is by him and his actions (the concept of being a bad s/o has to exist on Krypton if they are similar to earth enough to have marriages). Kara flips out on Clark and Lois and Jimmy can't convince her to stop. Clark finds out that Kara is mad and him for hurting Lois' feelings and they fight. Kara takes Superman. END OF EP.

Criticisms of Kara + her being set up with Jimmy.

She looks out of place. I get her design is directly inspired by Android 18 from Dragon Ball but her hairstyle specifically is too anime for the more Western based show and MAKES HER LOOK 14 YRS OLD which leads me to my other point.

2. It's weird that she looks 14 and is being set up with Jimmy who's 23 (wiki says he was born in 01'). It's giving the older caretaker of a uneducated child orphan vibes when he was taking her around the city showing her things instead of a first date vibe the show was going for.

3. How is Jimmy in love with her??? Because she's pretty???? He knows nothing about her and why isn't he freaked out by the fact that it obviously seems like she's never experienced extremely common things like hot dogs and ice-cream. His entire deal is sniffing out weird alien and supernatural stuff so how was the way she behaved not a red flag to him??? Also I feel like her being so naive of Earth's culture plays into her being inappropriately young.

[badp1l0t]

Ya’ll…I honestly dont think many people are gonna see this…but those who do, please stay and read. You dont need to reblog this post or like it or anything (and im not just saying this as reverse psychology, Im being dead serious, and I’m only adding tags so that people can see this and maybe even be inspired), just center your mind towards this blog. I have something important to share.

I understand this might be a ‘tldr’ or ‘idrc’ moment for some of yall by the way, and that’s fine. If i randomly saw this on tumblr I probably wouldn’t read it either lol. But if you could just take a few minutes out of your life to read this, i would really appreciate it.

So I just got this gut feeling only a couple minutes ago that I felt really deep inside me (dont take that outta context). Everything around me just disappeared, dissolved, just popped out of existence. I suddenly realized how terrible the world is, like my brain just snapped into reality…just…finally realized whats actually happening in the world. I noticed how terrible people can be, and a gut wrenching, primal rage bubbled in stomach. Moments later, I thought about what I’m doing with my life, how I’m wasting it away, just spending all of my life on my phone, ipad, TV, computer, PS5, nintendo….how i’ve never felt myself truly accomplish something or feel satisfied. I noticed how I have done NOTHING in my life except just plowing through every day without doing anything meaningful. I just felt unfulfilled…unsatisfied. I wanted to get off my phone and go outside and enjoy what life really is. The reason why I’m still on my phone here is to type this messages. What im trying to say is…you should really just put your screen down and really just enjoy life for what it is, to just enjoy life and really experience what you were made for. To just sit down and relax, go outside, look up at the sky, and just contemplate what you’re doing with your life. Just be. Be alive. Enjoy your time here.

Ik it’s kind of weird to be hearing this from helluva boss obsessed chronically online person that has terrible repetitive grammar and spelling, and I’m sure that you’ve heard this messages a hundred times, but I just feel like this is what people should experience in life. To just experience what it’s like to live.

To just…be.

I love you all 🌺❤️

[linddzz]

hello, here for your opinion on odysseus! have you read madeline miller’s “circe”? if so, what did you think of odysseus?

Ooooohhhhhhhh you're nudging at a pandoras box asking me my opinions of Madeline Miller 🙃

To answer while holding the full ranting instinct back on a leash (partially bc I legit don't have much time for much typing rn AND I know lots of people like MM and idk I generally don't enjoy making people feel like they shouldn't like a thing, but I also love being salty and this is my constant internal struggle):

With a lot of her characterizations I feel like M.M. either goes too hard making them sympathetic (Circe and Patrocles being the top contenders who come to mind) or she swings too hard the other way. Odysseus is like....fine? He's not outright terrible? But he does fall into her "they are either sympathetic (cougboringcough) beauties with maayybe a couple Tragic Flaws (that are barely flaws, goD why couldn't she just let Circe have full agency and purposely curse Scylla why can't maybe Penelope be as much of a scheming suspicious fucker as her husband GOD these "feminist retelling" authors are too cowardly to touch Medea-nonono the rant is leashed I'm staying on target!) or they are horrible awful people." But she's made so many comments that make me baffled about her academic background in classics (why would you say all the gods are sociopaths Madeline??? that is an actual ancient cultures religion you're trashing??? do you not get how gods are used narratively in stories is not the same as they're worshipped esp in a religion without strict canon??? You know how we all understand that Paradise Lost isnt Christian canon what the F-Not ranting not ranting I'm good!!) lmao. She seems to fall into the common take I see where modern Anglo morality is projected on the characters divorced of the time/culture/narrative they are set in, and then go "omg how did people think this was a hero?"

Anyway I just don't see how people can look at Odysseus being a scheming ratfuck compulsive liar (who is also a great warrior in violent times bc it...was a warrior society who told his story) and go "um he's terrible why would anyone like him as he is originally????" while MCU Loki was so popular they kept bringing him back from the dead to continue being A Scheming Little Bastard.

(EDIT: uh tldr is I read Circe. The entire experience was me going "oooo it's about to get good" and then realizing that Circe is just boring the whole time. Came out the other end with more feelings about how M.M. writes women than Odysseus, but her Odysseus is part of a trend of doing a lot of black and white morality shenanigans)