#truth and reconciliation processes

[fayevalcntine]

It's honestly wild any time I remember how some people argue that Daniel's role or statements should be considered invalid by default because of how brash and unforgiving he is in his judgement as if the sole reason why he's even in Dubai in the first place and going through Claudia's diaries isn't because of Louis

[wingzoffeather]

In general, I don't interpret Viren's letter as explaining WHAT happened with the past & his dark magic usage. He's NOT writing "So this a step-by-step rundown of how I got here."

(And S5 already confirmed that Claudia, and probs Soren too, already have at least a vague idea of what prompted Lissa to leave them & K'ppar to suddenly disappear. "If it wasn't for dad's dark magic you wouldn't be alive" - Claudia to Soren when he was captured in their camp. And it's implied that Soren feels some guilt about this, too.)

No, I interpret the letter as Viren trying to explain to Soren the emotional WHY & HOW of his villainous descent. (paraphrase) "I thought I was doing it out of love for you. But, when my personal life started spiraling, then I started blaming you. You didn't deserve it & I regret it."

This is still a kind of self-serving validation exercise. The overall message he's trying to communicate is: "I need you to understand me, understand why I hurt you, even if I didn't mean to. Before I am possibly executed."

And Viren realizes that his letter only serves HIS desire to reconcile and make peace and the info in his letter would probably be yet another emotional burden for Soren to carry; so he does the selfless thing & burns it.

Sometimes the selfless & right thing to do, is to just let someone continue to hate you, after you've hurt them. Especially if it's a coping mechanism, when they're vulnerable. It would definitely be a LOT to ask if Soren, to start a forgiving & reconciliation process with how raw he clearly still is.

"Truth is everything. But before you give it to another, ask yourself: are you giving them clarity, light, and purpose? Or are you shifting a burden to someone who needs all their strength?" - Astrid, season 6

And, this kind of sacrifice is actually in-line with Viren's core principle: A parent makes sacrifices for their children, never the other way around.

Viren sacrifices his freedom for Claudia, his daughter, to finally set a good example; he no longer has faith in the "power" of dark magic as a "creative solution". He'd been it's most steadfast student & he hopes, seeing him leave it behind, Claudia will also give up on dark magic. It only leads to pain & failure, and he wants her to live HER life, freely.

He sacrifices his life for Katolis' people. So they may live through Sol Regem's attack. This is his atonement for his political betrayal.

But, Viren sacrifices his one effective bid for forgiveness & reconciliation, for Soren. This is his atonement for causing him so much anguish, confusion, & self-doubt. While he very much no longer wants to be his son's villain, he recognizes that attempting reconciliation, right here & now, is not what's best for Soren's emotional well-being. So he accepts it, & willingly lets himself die, as Soren's villain.

[etz-ashashiyot]

Hi nonny,

OHHHHHHhhhhh so this is about Kahanists, Ben-Gvir, and his cadre of absolutely batshit parade of horribles.

Great news! I actually link to articles about what Kahanism is and why it has no place in decent society in my pinned About post.

I have tried to educate people about literal terrorist and terror enthusiast Itamar Ben-Gvir previously on this blog, although now is as good a time as any to link to it as a reminder.

And I have called out terrible behavior on Israel's side in the past as well. (These are just the examples I found while digging for the other links, but there's more if you look.)

Rape, sexual abuse, torture, terrorism, etc. are bad no matter who is doing it and I have never taken another position on that matter. It's fucked up when people do it in the US, it's fucked when people do it in Israel, and it's fucked up when Hamas members do it. No one gets a free pass here.

I don't actually think we disagree on that, at least.

That all said, I still refuse to judge Israeli citizens as a whole or the validity of Israel as a country based on the actions of the absolute worst members of their society. It's awful and the victims deserve real accountability and justice. This is the same standard I use for Palestinians as well. I do not think Hamas is representative of your average Palestinian citizen either*, nor do I think that their right to self-determination should be denied because of Hamas - just that a disarmed and dismantled Hamas is necessary for building a lasting and democratic Palestinian state alongside Israel. But don't take it from me.

*I'm certain someone is likely to come along and argue about the complicity of Gazan civilians in 10/7 and other earlier atrocities. I understand where that is coming from, but at the same time, I think it is also worth considering how Gazans live under Hamas' brutal authoritarian regime and have been intentionally radicalized. I think any future peace project is going to require deep educational work, deradicalization work, and Truth and Reconciliation processes for both sides in order to stick.

A final reminder that this is the best summary of my views on the conflict as a whole.

[deception-united]

Hello, I love your blog. I'm writing a story about cheating and I was wondering how you write the person finding out and the couple breaking up making it clingy and annoying?

Hi, thanks for asking! Writing about cheating and the fallout can be emotionally intense, so it's important to approach it with sensitivity and realism. Though this is a very general mould, it would typically go something like this:

Build trust: Start by creating a strong foundation of trust and intimacy between the couple before the cheating occurs. This makes the betrayal more impactful.

Foreshadowing: You may want to drop subtle hints or foreshadow events that hint at the possibility of infidelity. This builds suspense and keeps readers engaged—though you may decide to go about it with a different approach and make it as much of a shock for the reader as it is for the character.

Discovery: The moment the person finds out about the cheating should be a pivotal and emotionally charged scene. Consider different ways they might discover the truth - catching the cheater in the act, finding incriminating evidence, or hearing about it from someone else.

Emotional reaction: Show the emotional turmoil of the person who's been cheated on. Their initial shock, disbelief, anger, and heartbreak should be vividly portrayed, whether through the narrative (if it's in their POV), their thoughts, actions, or dialogue.

Confrontation: The confrontation between the couple can be a powerful scene. Explore the dynamics of their relationship as they confront the betrayal and try to make sense of what happened. Make it intense and dramatic, with raw emotions pouring out. It's important to use dialogue that reflects the feelings of betrayal and hurt.

Escalation: As the truth comes out and emotions run high, the situation may escalate, leading to a heated argument or even a physical altercation. Be mindful of realistic consequences and character reactions.

Aftermath: Show the aftermath of the breakup: the emotional fallout for both parties involved, any collateral damage to friendships or family relationships, the process of healing and moving on (or not. Revenge and resentment is good, too), and how the experience changes the characters. This will add depth and carry the story forward.

Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Emphasise overreaction: Show one or both parties overreacting to the situation. This could involve exaggerated emotions, dramatic accusations, or unreasonable demands.

Focus on insecurities: Highlight the insecurities of the person who discovers the cheating. This could involve them constantly seeking reassurance or displaying jealousy even in unrelated situations.

Miscommunication: Introduce misunderstandings or misinterpretations that fuel the high-strung emotions present in the altercation. Perhaps the person who discovers the cheating misinterprets innocent actions as signs of further betrayal.

Obsessive behaviour: Show the person exhibiting obsessive behaviour. Namely, stalking.

Guilt-tripping: Have the person who discovers the cheating guilt-trip the other person, making them feel overly responsible for the situation and manipulating them emotionally. This could also work the other way around.

Introduce third parties: Include meddling friends or family members who exacerbate the situation by taking sides, spreading rumors, or encouraging certain behaviour.

Unhealthy dependence: You can depict the person who discovers the cheating as overly dependent on the relationship for their happiness and sense of self-worth, making the breakup even more devastating for them.

Exaggerate emotional rollercoaster: Showcase extreme mood swings, from intense anger and resentment to desperate pleas for reconciliation, creating a rollercoaster of emotions that can be exhausting for the other party.

Avoid rational dialogue: Keep the conversation between the couple filled with emotional outbursts and irrational accusations rather than rational discussions, preventing any resolution or closure.

Prolong the drama: Drag out the breakup process with unnecessary confrontations, repeated arguments, and attempts at reconciliation, making it feel drawn-out and tiresome for both characters and readers alike and making the resolution or aftermath all the more satisfying.

Again, all this depends on your story and characters, but I hope this is helpful nonetheless. Happy writing ❤

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[bonefall]

BB!TPB Titles

Having some fun just absentmindedly thinking of titles for the BB overhauls of main arc books. I think I'm gonna do it for all of them, because I actually really like renaming these and explaining my thought process

But here's TPB for now, because it's on my mind after that little scene bundle I wrote

Below the cut;

Arc Rename: The Prophecies Begin -> The Forest Four

Into the Wild -> Into the Clans

Fire and Ice -> Thermal and Undertow

Forest of Secrets -> Forest of Flowers

Rising Storm -> Rejected Rites

A Dangerous Path -> The Hunting Trail

The Darkest Hour -> Before the Dawn

The Forest Four

It's the intro to the original four, y'know? Plus, I use this term all the time in Clan Culture entries to specify when something is different about SkyClan from the "Forest Four." Makes sense it's the arc title.

Plus, there's a bit of a thing going on, especially in the later books, where the number of the Clans comes up a lot. Three Great Clans, but only four modern ones, River and Shadow combine to make TigerClan leaving three, BloodClan would make four, LionClan's alliance leaving two...

In BB, they know about SkyClan in history lessons, but Firestar doesn't think about it much until after this arc is done. More importantly, his choice to spare Scourge at the end of the arc suddenly means there's a Forest Four, and a Town One. I just think that's interesting.

(for some reason I also just love Scourge's insult where he calls Firestar a "forest fool" lmao. four forest fools.)

Into the Clans

The book with the expanded intro to the culture of the Clans. I feel like it's more fitting for BB to not call it "into the WILD" because... well, Clan cats DON'T see themselves as ""wild"" like animals. They're in Clans, with culture. They have ranks, politics, family, and even cooking and little kitty tools. It doesn't really make sense to me that they define themselves as "wild" just because their home has nature.

To them, loners are who's "wild," y'know? Rusty isn't totally coming to the Clans because it's wild, he's coming because of the community. Friendships and bonds with cats like Ravenpaw, Graystripe, Frostfur, Spottedleaf, Bluestar, and the sense that he could belong here. That he matters to these people.

This title's the one I'm actually waffling the most on, though. I don't like it very much yet. I don't feel like it captures the feeling I'm going for. It's also really close to a field guide title.

Thermal and Undertow

I've always interpreted "Fire and Ice" to be about how differently Graystripe and Fireheart are as people, and how that starts pulling them apart. The thing that people focus on is their "reconciliation" at the end of the book, but what stands out about it to me is that this is the book where Fireheart's TRULY integrated into the Clan.

His friendship with Graystripe is strained because of the HalfClan relationship Gray gets in, and he starts looking back to his roots for comfort because he doesn't feel like he's completely part of ThunderClan. I love this irony; they're BOTH struggling with loyalty in this broken system, experiencing types of xenophobia that prevent them from having happiness, but not yet wise enough to recognize they have a similar problem.

They're both breaking the law to talk to outsiders. Their forbidden love, both familial and romantic, makes Clan life harder. They're BOTH not doing anything wrong, but the STRUCTURE of their society is setting them against each other.

Graystripe responds, eventually, by leaving. Fireheart thinks he can make a home where he is. They're both wrong. The STRUCTURE needs to be challenged.

And meanwhile, they must go to fetch WindClan after it was driven out. They have to face RiverClan AND ShadowClan when Crookedstar and Nightstar show that power acts through them, as leaders. All the while, they experience the simple truth that love for cats in other Clans makes cruel, bloodthirsty battles like these too difficult to be sustainable.

And that's just canon!! I fucking love this book!!!

So in the rename, I'm putting emphasis on the natural flow, above and below. A wind is controlled by the temperature, rising up into a warm thermal. An undertow is a ferocious current that will pull you into the cold depths. They're not so different, in the end.

Forest of Flowers

And that leads right into canon's Forest of Secrets, where we learn that the older warriors also struggled with those pressures. Fireheart and Graystripe were never alone, cats have been suffering under this cruel system for GENERATIONS.

In BB, this is where I'm dropping the flower symbolism for the three major branches of politics in Forest Four society, which persist and are expanded on for the rest of BB;

Traditionalism, represented by the Honeysuckle, is used to justify the current system. "The Clans are branches of a honeysuckle bush. We fight and strangle each other for the light, and this prunes the weakest sprigs and rewards the fittest. When the winter comes, the strongest branches ensure the survival of the bush."

He also learns, much earlier, of Tigerstar's mentor. He hears the Parable of the Thistle, a story about how a young apprentice was forced to attempt to uproot a bull thistle, only managing to spread its seeds across a clearing, and won a trip to the Cleric's den for the trouble. How Tigerstar, and others, believe the honeysuckle must be challenged.

And meanwhile, he uncovers the story of the Forget-me-nots. A friend group even stronger than his collection of allies, with cats of every Clan, and how ambition drove it apart. How Bluestar looks back at it with both silly shame and deep appreciation.

The kindling ember in Fireheart's chest as he realizes he is the heir of a Forget-me-not, and that surrounding the obvious slash across Tigerclaw's nose, are the subtle pockmarks of thistle thorns.

Rejected Rites

I feel like Rising Storm is the "weakest" book of TPB, because it's where canon's cracks begin to show.

There's still a lot I love about this book. I love the way that Bluestar's cruelty arc begins with her grace and altruism towards other Clans not being returned without a catch. I adore the rescue of Bramblekit and Yellowfang’s guilty, harrowing death insisting she deserves judgement as Fireheart insists she is a good person. Its harsh ending revealing Tigerstar as leader of ShadowClan is a gut punch in an already brutal book, making an excellent mid-arc climax

But I feel its sudden turn towards suggesting the status quo was actually good drags it down.

For example, Cloudpaw is constantly arguing with Fireheart, in ridiculous fights Fire started. He's abducted by humans and returns in the same book, suggesting his uncle was totally right all along and he Totally Promises he won't mess with humans any more. The fact Fire was projecting on his young nephew and denying him answers when he questions their way of life, in a way very similar to the shame Firepaw himself went through, is not addressed.

A lot more of this book than you remember is also dedicated to Fireheart and Sandstorm arguing because the writers think a good romance is when you hate each other but stay together anyway.

So instead, this book in BB focuses more on what I DO like; Fireheart learning to be a LEADER. He's young, inexperienced, and has acted mostly alone up to this point. The Clan is in a moment of SERIOUS tumult as it reckons with how no one saw ANY signs about Tigerclaw.

As he loses his mentor Bluestar to paranoia, he has to learn which warriors are truly trustworthy, and try to win back those whose loyalties might stray.

In this way, Rejected Rites is about the WHOLE Clan. It's Whitestorm throwing his reputation and experience behind Fireheart. It's Goldenflower and how her disgust with her ex-mate blows her mind open and she shifts into Fire's most ferocious champion. It's Mousefur deciding that Tigerclaw was a uniquely bad person and refusing to admit fault with a Clan that supported him.

And of course it's about Cloudpaw, grappling with how Fireheart insists he's his mentor, not his father, not his friend, going back to how he botches the Queen’s Rights on bringing him to the Clan. Fireheart, too, is a flawed person capable of being complicit in damaging systems.

The Hunting Trail

The dog plot barely needs a recap, it's this fandom's bread and butter. But there's a small, VERY popular misconception about; in canon, Tigerstar only uses the dogs at the END of this book with a rabbit trick. Before that, the dogs are practically a natural disaster he has nothing to do with.

There's a reason why it's misremembered. It works better if he's more involved with them the whole time, showing how DANGEROUS he is, how Bluestar's fixation on her war with StarClan is blinding her to reality, and adding to the tragedy and madness by having Swiftpaw getting wrapped up in his father's/stepfather's quest for revenge.

So in BB, Tigerstar's involved MUCH sooner. He freed the dogs.

The title change reflects that. There's a hunting trail and the cats of ThunderClan are its prey, but it doesn't specify who the predator is. In the end, it was Tigerstar's scheme all along and Bluestar sacrifices herself to save her apprentice.

(I also want to take the moment to highlight how short-sighted and impulsive Tigerstar's plans actually are, something I find fascinating about him as a character. He's malicious and intelligent enough to make some incredible schemes, taking advantage of every opportunity. But he never accounts for details like... "what if my dogs don't go right to where I want them to go?" or "what if I'm not picked as deputy after I kill Redtail?" or even "what will i do after my demons kill all the living cats?")

TigerClan is also forming earlier. It begins in THIS book. Stonefur and Mistyfoot are "detained" after leaping into the ravine to rescue Fireheart and Bluestar, it's all the "evidence" Tigerstar needed to accuse them of divided loyalty. To finally start his persecution of HalfClan cats.

Before the Dawn

...In spite of its iconic moments, I'll be honest; Darkest Hour is actually the book that makes me the angriest about the original series.

All arc long, we are shown that the Clans are flawed. They have been, long before Rusty set foot in the woods that day. It NEEDS bigotry to exist the way it does, fostering xenophobia between Clan cats so that love and friendship won't get in the way of violence, encouraging and even rewarding extreme Jingoism, and even setting clanmates against each other for these senseless problems instead of the STRUCTURE of Clan society.

Darkest Hour SLAMS the breaks on that theme, and brings the message to a screeching halt.

FIRST of all, this is the book where it's explicitly stated that StarClan "doesn't interfere," even giving them a moment where they yell at protagonist about free will or whatever while simultaneously barking a vague, ultimately useless prophecy at him. The first of many scenes like it in later arcs. It feels completely and utterly out of left field, instantly turning StarClan from a mysterious, possibly not even fully benevolent force, into THE most annoying plot device ever.

Secondly... BloodClan.

BloodClan is introduced as a TRULY EVIL group of horrible atheists who hate love and friendship, to the point of banning families, and are now here to destroy our glorious society and steal our home. They're depicted as being ruled by fear and brutality, unbound by concepts like "honor" or "loyalty." You cannot reason with them or spare their lives, the barbarians must be killed and kept out, lest they replace us.

(there is even a moment where it's implied that if the soldiers lose the war, BloodClan will come and murder the elders and children too.)

It is SO bad and SO egregious, and it's played completely unironically. It bothers me so badly I've talked about it before. Multiple times, actually

After Tigerstar gets his well-deserved grallocking like a 10-point buck, the endgame villain of TPB is a foreigner and his army. Scourge is a foil of Firestar himself, but THIS one hates the clans and doesn't worship the right god, which makes him dangerous. Firestar is textually stronger than him because of his faith in StarClan.

At the end of the day, TPB, and the rest of the series that follows, doesn't refute Tigerstar's ideology. It even agrees. Weakness IS abhorrent. Outsiders ARE to be distrusted. Split loyalties ARE detestable. It just didn't like that he challenged the status quo.

Foreigners and their leaders ARE less trustworthy and more villainous than Clan cats. Wariness and even violence towards them is necessary, "justifying" the isolationist structure of the Clans. Scourge is only the first in a very long chain; then comes Sol, One Eye, Slash, and Darktail. Even Hawkfrost and Willow Tail can fit into this pattern.

With the death of these evil, troublemaking cats, the Clans return to the status quo. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Darkest Hour frames this like a wonderful, triumphant thing, with Firestar noting how the now-leaderless BloodClan fighters look so inferior to Clan warriors, Scourge's evil will never haunt them again (Tigerstar gets to be grieved though), and that with LionClan disbanding, they will all return to their petty bullshit squabbles.

So, BB's renaming.

I had a lot of ideas. I really liked the name "Moment of Truth" because it's the book that really brings together the theme of the arc, ending with Firestar realizing Scourge is right to distrust the Clans and that change is DESPERATELY needed, but the more I thought about it... the more I liked Before the Dawn

Reference to the phrase "The darkest hour comes before the dawn" BB is a much more optimistic story than canon, by tweaking the themes and details while following the major beats. Something is just... idk poetic? About picking the more uplifting part of the idiom. It feels right, like it's almost too perfect to go with any other title

It's a new era for the culture going foward It IS right before a "new dawn." It's the start of major changes to Clan culture, setting the events of the rest of BB into motion. The years and generations that follow are going to see major changes to the code, territory, culture, and philosophy in the universe. The choice that Firestar makes here is going to bring the Clans into a new epoch. Plus the cats are crepuscular now so I can literally have the final battle take place just before dawn because subtext is for CHUMPS

I like the idea of opening up the next arc with Dawn Just because that's really funny to me lmaoo. Something is cute about titles that reference each other. Maybe the first book of TNP could be "Dawn of the End" since the destruction of the forest starts early. Maybe add in some apocalyptic prophecies and such...

[dollypopup]

bridgerton season 3 part 2 spoilers

I want to preface this with saying that I have loved Polin for two years. Two years, hundreds of thousands of words, and almost 50 stories. I have loved this couple through fan edits, through fics, through rereads, through songs. I have loved this couple so deeply and earnestly and endlessly

And so my disappointment in Part 2 stems, predominately, from the fact that I just wish it had been better.

I wish it hadn't been as cut through with plotlines that went, ultimately, nowhere. Will and Alice with the tension of 'I don't want to give up the club' 'Well, you should to suit the status quo' 'Oh, okay'. Benedict with his 'I love being free. Let's shag freely!' 'I may have feelings for you' 'I still just want to shag freely, but now I'm opening up more options' (tho, congrats on the bisexuality!) Violet and Marcus who are just being set up for the final season. Cressida, who's story tugged my heartstrings so much, and ended up in the dirt.

But more than anything, I wish Colin had gotten more. There were so many moments where he could have been expanded upon, where his character could have shined, and I truly want to commend Luke Newton, he did a phenomenal job with the crumbs he was given, but was ultimately shoved to the wayside for the Lady Whistledown plot.

In truth, this is a writing problem. The actors are phenomenal. They have chemistry, they have passion, and they are all believable, but the writing fell flat. They gave too much time to side plots and, frankly, to Debling, who was such a nothingburger and didn't even return that it was evident he only existed because the series was afraid to lean fully into Colin's complexities. You know what is more compelling and more worthwhile to explore than 'Oh, I could lose her to someone else?'

Losing her to herself.

Colin spent part 2 ultimately SAD. And he had every right to be. But instead of fully exploring that, he was relegated to the sidelines to support Penelope's storyline. And I understand completely that this season was for the Pen stans, but damn, I wish he got SOMETHING. Kanthony's advice to him was useless, Colin started the series knowing he couldn't open up to his brothers and still not doing so by the end. Colin saying that his ultimate purpose was to support and love Pen was a horrific cop out and a disservice of his character. It's a bad plotline when a woman says so for a man, and it's a bad plotline when a man says so for a woman.

I love these two so much, and I feel like they could have had so much better. Penelope now writing the same gossip, tying herself to Mayfair, but under her name now, thus ensuring that people are aware and being different around her for the sake of her publication is bad. To imply that her dreams are Lady Whistledown is lazy- Lady Whistledown is a plot device the writers are unable to let go, not Penelope's ultimate dreams.

You want me to believe that this woman's biggest dreams are to continue writing gossip? Not novels? Not stories? Not an autobiography? Not to travel? Not to make more friends? But to have a baby and write about parties? They tried giving legitimacy to gossip as if Penelope ever had any peer review, as if she is the be all end all of what is and is not true- she cannot possibly know fully.

I wanted more for her than to be a teenage mum tied to a gossip blog. I wanted more for Colin than to publish a book offscreen and take over an estate until his son comes of age. I wanted more for POLIN. Their beautiful moments were truly BEAUTIFUL. That first time scene was lovely- but how much lovelier would it be after he knew who she was in full and accepted all of it? Their reconciliation felt hollow because he was not truly given the time to process it. The pain of separation, sleeping on the couch as she took the bed, was hardly explored outside of a few quick scenes.

No montage of their letters, no Colin standing beside her, and that Lady Whistledown reveal where everyone clapped? I don't understand it. I wish so much that this show took a good story and made it better, and that's where my bitterness lies. Not because I'm a hater, but because I'm a lover. I wanted to love it so, so much.

And I know it could have been better. My couple is better than this. My couple is better than Penelope's ultimate goal being independence and Colin's ultimate goal being an accessory. My couple is a pair of equals. My couple is a pairing of two people who love one another so damn much they can't even stand it. Where is my Penelope who fights for him? Where is my Colin who announces to the world he loves her?

I guess that Polin ended up on the cutting room floor in the edits, because what we got wasn't enough for me

[alleyskywalker]

Some of Louis’ choices in the finale do make me raise my eyebrows a little bit at him. He's got all the right to be pissed at Armand, no question. But why does this automatically redeem Lestat in his eyes? OK, sure, Lestat saves him - that's new information to him, but...First, this doesn't change anything about Lestat's part in Claudia's death (which is what he primarily confronted him about in the tower) nor the fact that Lestat willingly participated in the trial. Nor does it change the fact that Armand saved him from being starved to death. Technically, they both saved Louis, but at different points and in different ways. (If Armand really wanted him dead, he could have just left him in the wall or could have warned the coven about Louis’ plan to destroy/attack them, etc. And even though he lied about the proportion of his role, Armand had already admitted to knowing that the coven was planning to kill Louis and Claudia. And…Louis makes the choice to warn Armand to not be at the theater before he gets the “full” story of how much Armand knew/participated. At that point, all Louis “knew” was that Armand had saved him, which…wasn’t even technically a lie in and of itself, just, again the degree of things.)

So, what really changes re: Armand and Lestat in the final reveal? For Armand: he participated in the trial more actively and in saving Louis less than originally supposed. For Lestat: he participated in saving Louis, whereas initially Louis thought he hadn’t. So ultimately…both Armand and Lestat actively participate in the trial and then both participate in saving Louis. (Granted, Armand lies more in the process. But on the other hand – Armand can’t really be expected to care about Claudia and Lestat can; Armand had attachments and commitments to the coven and Lestat didn’t…) If Louis had just walked away from Armand as well, that’s fair enough. But how does Lestat suddenly warrant a reconciliation (and apology??) when a similar level of participation in this whole debacle warrants Armand – Louis’ partner for decades, whom he had supposedly forgiven for the worst of what happened in Paris, who has stuck with him through various self-destructive behavior trying to fix what he'd broken – an immediate break up (with some physical violence to boot) with no questions asked? (And he has to be at least somewhat over it if he hasn’t bothered to hunt down Sam despite them knowing all about where he is and what he’s up to these days.)

Speaking of questions for Louis, here’s one. So, Armand claims that the coven “improvised” a death sentence from the word banishment. He says this in the context of claiming that he saved Louis by mind controlling the crowd into sentencing Louis to banishment instead of death. But what if…it’s not true that the coven “improvised”? Perhaps “banishment” has a double meaning or gets used as a euphemism for those sentenced to die of starvation in the wall or just who get buried in those crypts after committing crimes. I’m not saying, btw, that this is indeed so, but we don’t actually have evidence that it isn’t. Satiago getting flustered at first indicates that this isn’t a formal way to refer to this kind of punishment/sentencing at least, but when he tells the coven to “tuck him in nice and tight” everyone know exactly what he means, so there’s a basis to assume  the possibility of some common understanding of banishment = getting shoved into the wall, alive or not, whether slang, euphemism or similar. So, let’s for a second assume this is true.

Armand wouldn’t admit this context to Louis while he’s lying about saving him at the trial, because it takes away from Armand’s role as his savior, so if he’s going to lie about mind controlling the crowd, he has to lie/bend the truth about how much the coven needed to improvise to arrange for a death sentence regardless. It also makes sense then that Armand might not have taken this road to trying to save Louis, in fear/knowledge that it would/could just come out worse.

So, what of Lestat? Lestat knows the rules, conventions, and language customs around the coven because, well, he founded/was part of it. So if “banishment” could be easily interpreted as “banishment to starve in the wall,” then Lestat would know that or could be expected to. Yet, this is the punishment he chose when he could have mind controlled the crowd into saying anything. Hell, why didn’t he mind control them into saying “not guilty?” Would have solved a lot of issues, yk?  Would this make Lestat kinda extra vengeful/sadistic? Sure, but…he did just willingly participate as the star witness in a trial to burn Louis and their “daughter” to death. Is this really sooo out of character from what Louis knows or thinks he knows about Lestat at that point in time? Like, not even to question Daniel’s suggestion that Lestat saved him – even though, the script is not actually evidence of that, just that Armand might have had a more extensive role in the play? (And…he could have still been under duress to direct it as much as he would have been to just not tell Louis about it. But Louis doesn’t ask about/consider this either.)

I’m not saying that’s how it went, mind. The reunion scene with Lestat makes it pretty clear that Lestat had in fact wanted to save Louis. But Louis can’t/doesn’t know this, certainly not prior to the reunion scene. Did Lestat actually save him? Is there any other context he might be missing? This is just a theory Daniel has after all. Does Claudia’s death no longer matter then? Doesn’t this just mean that both Lestat and Armand belatedly tried to save him? He’s obviously shocked and not thinking straight – I’m not saying this to bash him or anything (and leaving Armand would have been a justified reaction regardless, just for the lying). But it’s kinda crazy to me that Louis is apparently so eager to believe the worst of Armand and find any reason possible to forgive Lestat at the drop of a hat.  

I don’t really have a point here. Just…need to throw thoughts into the void because the show melted my brain a bit. Forgive me, etc. I do love/enjoy all these characters.

[mageknight14]

I made a whole Twitter thread about this a few months back but I figured that I might as well bring it here as well.

Today I want to take some time to make another NEO TWEWY analysis post on the Identity Crisis sidequest revolving around Eiru and how it actually provides extra insight into Nagi and Fret’s characters.

Basically, the main gist of the sidequest is that Nagi and Fret are debating on how to imprint confidence onto Eiru, who’s suffering with his physical insecurities, and this is where we see the differences with Nagi and Fret's philosophies on life.

Fret's response is to tell Eiru to ignore the haters and even more so, ignore confronting the insecurities; life is better when you don't have to concern yourself with anything or try; don't take anything seriously. Nagi, however, believes that insecurities should be understood and harnessed so that they can ultimately be turned into a strength that can be used as a tool for success; accept your weaknesses and come to terms with them so that you can weaponize your strengths better.

On a surface level, these might read to be the same thing. Fret’s advice can be read positively as "don't let others judge you for something you can't control" and Fret certainly thinks so, hence why he thinks that he and Nagi are on the same page even though she disagrees.

However, when you read between the lines and think about it some more, there are notable implications that Fret's advice is more of a dismissive approach to dealing with emotional struggles as opposed to Nagi's own methodology. It’s no coincidence that Fret used to be a fan of the Eiji "the Prince" Oji in his ennui/apathy phase. The Prince in the original TWEWY was beloved for his “don’t give a damn attitude” and how he expressed that both in person and in his blog “F Everything.” Fret claims to have grown out of it but with certain reveals about his character later on, there are some implications that Fret latched onto the Prince and aspired to his attitude due to his own struggles with feeling genuine and wanting to embracing apathy instead.

However, if you recall in the original game, Neku and Joshua came around and helped the Prince sort out his own issues and in the process, helped him to become more genuine and true to himself in the process. With all of this in mind, you can interpret Fret’s response as him seeing the process of the Prince’s reconciliation with his genuine emotions happening in front of him and didn’t want to confront the possibility of that happening to him as well so he "grows out of it." It also acts as a neat parallel to Neku and his own thing with CAT. Whereas Neku latched onto his misinterpretation of CAT’s words in order to cope with his trauma, Fret turned away from the Prince changing so that he wouldn’t have to deal with his own trauma just yet.

To get back to the quest, if player had decided to choose Fret's philosophy, Eiru ends up doing just that, spinning Fret's stance on the situation into self-motivating positivity. However, there's a element of emotional responsibility lacking in Fret's way of processing struggles in that he doesn't seem to have the awareness to recognize the difference between overcoming adversity and just ignoring it (or maybe he does but refuses to confront that truth). In order for someone to truly not care what other people think, they need to do what Nagi suggested first, which is to find acceptance with their insecurities and build a stronger foundation for their character through that acceptance.

If the player chose Fret's approach to solving Eiru's issue, his dialogue afterwards shows how he feels about not having to face issues head on, with Nagi lamenting that her approach was not used despite being glad that Eiru's mood was visibily improved.

I also really like this moment here for how it subtly foreshadows what caused Fret’s attitude and way of thinking to happen in the first place.

Stuff like this is why I always tend to roll my eyes whenever I hear the claim that "Nagi is mean to Fret for no reason" when moments like these show why she acts the way she does towards him: their philosophies on life are complete polar opposites.

In Nagi’s eyes, Fret acting the way he did screamed to her that he seemingly had no regard for how his attitude and actions towards others made other people feel in service of his own self-interest and she fundamentally cannot get along with other people of that nature, as shown with how she dismisses Motoi entirely off the bat when the crew first meets him because she could tell that there was something off about his attitude. However, once it was revealed that Fret’s attitude was due to him trying to unhealthily cope with his trauma and not because he was seemingly unconcerned for the feelings of others, she’s far more understandable towards him and empathizes with his grief.

That’s when Nagi learns to understand that she does not need to dismiss people right away and that they, like Fret, might be going through struggles of their own and trying to cope with it via other means, even if she doesn’t agree with it at first. Hence the friendship they start up at the end of the convo.

The characters in NEO have a lot of internal flaws they need to work through, some that might not be immediate obvious at first compared to the original, but when you look back at it all, the game goes through a lot of painstaking detail to flesh out their struggles and mindset and aspects like these is what makes the game a joy for me to replay whenever I go back to it.

[annabelle-creart]

The 13 Primes Au

OK HEAR ME OUT: Predacon Starscream-

“MORE?!”

YES, MORE!!!!

Starscream united forces with Galvatron, now he didn’t wanted to become decepticon ruler, he only wanted vengeance against Megatron, and if he got a good job on the process would take it, but figured out Galvatron was just as bad (and even worse) than Megatron, but still worked for him so he could find Megatron and kill him with his own servos, unfortunately, the Terrans got involved, and with it the truth of the Primes and the real reason why Megatron left decepticons

Cody was like 17 and on vacation, but instead of vacation, he got into in the middle of a autobot-cybertron battle infiltrating with Terrans, Black Swan and the two young Maltos, Robby of 18 and Mo of 14, trying to stop the clones and both the remaining autobots of killing each other, with no success and some little injuries, until they found Starscream

You will think he’s stupid but he’s not, he figured out easy about Nightshade and Black Swan’s secret, even wanted to shot them too for being Primes but got conviced by Hashtag and by Nightshade’s actions and decided it was time to stop being such a motherfragger (just a way of say it)

BUT NOT BEFORE TRYING TO KILL MEGATRON FIRST, Sideswipe tried to took all the guys out of the place but Black Swan came back before the portal closed, but not before Megatron almost killed Starscream (that bot looked like shit, believe me, i imagine it, like, worse of how Soundwave let him on Skybound after kicking Ravage), and in a angry state Black Swan attacked Megatron and took Starscream out of it, managing to do a plan with the rest of the kids and terrans to transmute his spark into another body, finding parts of Onyx’s old death body on the cave the Cryptid Mask was guarded and asking Heatwave to help them repair Starscream on the forge with those pieces of Onyx, the still good pieces of Starscream’s body and new pieces they took of some dead clones, while Heatwave managed to try to do a new body and keeping Starscream alive as much as possible, Hashtag, Nightshade and Black Swan used the Cryptid Mask, the Emberstone and the Chimera Stone (which Nightshade gifted to Trash time ago because Servo didn’t wanted it anymore) to transmute Starscream’s spark into the new body, which, after a week when Starscream woke up from a coma, discovered he became a predacon with Onyx’s old parts (just to be clear, he’s no god, he’s just a normal mortal but the new t-cog and the new pieces made him a predacon)

And ps: due to the secrets and all the weird thing that happened that period of time, Heatwave decided to tell his team he’s a Prime too, same with Soundwave, Shockwave and Makeshift (Servo’s still a secret), and the whole team didn’t knew what to do for a whole week, until Heatwave got bored of it and talked personally with everyone (Boulder didn’t talked to him for the ENTIRE week and Heatwave was dying inside for it, mostly because Bulkhead didn’t hot separated of Boulder all of it)

Ps 2: Strascream discovering he wasn’t dead was like feeling betrayed again by the Primes but couldn’t be mad with the terrans or with B.S (he liked them too much), so, he just tried to get accomplished to his new strange form, got reconciliated with the three ‘cons on the process and decided maybe it was time to move on and dedicate to another thing (it took him a while and some existencial crisis but finally became a good member of society, one with weird ideas but at least he was good now) and as a fun fact, he tried to became a rescue bot during his existencial period, and really dedicated to be good on it (and surprisingly was really good at it) but simply didn’t found it good for him or fulfilling, so, he explored more fields, but was an aerial rescuer if it was necessary

And as an extra and greeting for reading all this, here a little Sideswipe’s spoiler:

[harmonyhealinghub]

Honouring Truth and Reconciliation Day: Remembering the Importance of Orange Shirt Day

Shaina Tranquilino

September 30, 2023

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of truth and reconciliation in acknowledging and healing the wounds caused by historical injustices. Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Day, recognized on September 30th annually, serves as a crucial reminder that understanding our past is essential for building a more inclusive and harmonious future. In conjunction with this day, Orange Shirt Day stands as a poignant symbol of remembrance and reflection concerning the devastating impacts of residential schools. This blog post aims to shed light on both events' significance and highlight why they deserve our attention.

1. Understanding Truth and Reconciliation:

Truth and Reconciliation Day holds immense value as it acknowledges the painful history experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada due to colonization policies such as the Indian Residential Schools system. The objective is not only to remember but also to foster an environment where dialogue, empathy, and understanding can flourish between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous Canadians.

2. Recognizing Orange Shirt Day:

Orange Shirt Day complements Truth and Reconciliation Day by focusing specifically on raising awareness about residential schools' traumatic legacy. Initiated by Phyllis Webstad's story when her new orange shirt was taken from her upon arrival at a residential school, this day reminds us of the countless children who were stripped of their culture, language, identity, dignity, and familial bonds.

3. Learning Lessons From Our Past:

By commemorating these days collectively, we acknowledge that recognizing historical wrongs paves the way for healing intergenerational trauma. It prompts us to reflect on how similar systemic injustices persist today within various societal structures—education systems, healthcare disparities, judicial processes—among others.

4. Promoting Education & Awareness:

Educating ourselves about Indigenous history should extend beyond one designated day or month; however, Truth and Reconciliation Day provides an opportunity for all Canadians to engage in learning about the diverse cultures, traditions, and contributions of Indigenous peoples. It encourages us to become active participants in reconciliation efforts by challenging stereotypes and fostering inclusive spaces.

5. Fostering Reconciliation:

Reconciliation is a journey that involves listening, understanding, respect, and dismantling systemic barriers. On this day, let's strive for meaningful reconciliation by recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples and promoting their self-determination while building bridges between communities based on mutual trust and understanding.

Truth and Reconciliation Day signifies an essential step towards healing historical wounds, acknowledging past injustices, and promoting unity among Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Together with Orange Shirt Day, it reminds us that we must confront uncomfortable truths if we genuinely seek reconciliation in our society. Let us embrace these days as opportunities to learn from our history, amplify Indigenous voices, work towards positive change, and build a future where cultural diversity thrives within an atmosphere of truth, compassion, justice, and respect for all.

[seungkwansphd]

i look good on you

pairing: producer!woozi x producer!YN word count: 965 synopsis: it's been months since you and woozi broke up, surrounded by a series of strange circumstances, but you haven't stopped thinking of each other and it shows. themes: exes to reconciliation, angst-lite, i stan poppi she's a laugh riot. lyrics borrowed from paper - kenzie and deny - monsta x.

a/n: i promise i'm working on 'room for interpretation', but that ad for 'paper' keeps popping up while i watch abbot elementary and it's stuck in my head.

“Hey Poppi, one sec?” you pulled your headphones off and walked into the recording booth.

“Sorry, it’s not right is it?” the singer looked up at you apologetically.

“Hey, you’re okay!” you smiled encouragingly at the young singer. “You sound great, it’s just…this song is about longing for someone that you aren’t with anymore. It should be more…heartbreaking.”

“I’ve never experienced that before,” she shrugged, making a funny face at you.

“Hmm,” you nodded, trying to think of how to describe the tone you were after.

“She looks good on paper, but I look good on you”

You sang briefly for her, stretching the syllables out in a slightly exaggerated fashion.

“A little more strain on the vocals. Like your voice is about to break, but you’re managing to keep it together.”

You nodded enthusiastically as she tried again. Much better.

…

You smiled happily as you watched another clip of Poppi’s interview. The song you’d produced for her had really taken off and she'd been doing such a good job with all of the press. For such a fresh new talent, you were really impressed with her and hoped to work with her again.

…

“Oh oh oh! Here it is! YN’s new song!” Hoshi screamed excitedly when the ad came on.

Jihoon’s head turned automatically at the sound of your name. Even though it’d been months since you’d broken up, he still couldn’t seem to help himself. He had been trying his best not to keep tabs on you, but he had heard through the grapevine that you’d been working with Poppi on their new album. He hadn’t had the heart to listen to it yet, but he was happy to see the success that she'd been having.

When the song came to an end, all eyes were on him.

“What?” he asked gruffly.

“Did you hear that?” Hoshi screamed. “Were you listening to the lyrics?”

“What?” Jihoon’s brow furrowed. Truth be told, he’d been too wrapped up in his own thoughts to really digest the lyrics.

“Hold on actually,” Hoshi started typing furiously on his phone. He brought his hand to his mouth dramatically. “We’re gonna leave because you need to listen to this. Alone.”

Jihoon did nothing to stop them, because he liked being alone more than most things. It was probably an hour more before he caved and played Poppi’s new song on his speakers.

‘My friends saw you with her

Then I saw the pictures’

Jihoon’s heart stopped.

‘No one moves on that fast’

He leaned back in his chair and pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes, thinking furiously. He tried to line up dates in his head. No.

He wanted to call you. Explain the situation because he now understood how it would have looked from your perspective, but what the hell could he even say?

“Sorry YN, the members all coordinated shenanigans that week because Vernon was having a dating scandal?”

Somehow he didn’t think that would cut it.

…

Your eyebrows raised as you read the headline. ‘Fans react to Producer Woozi dropping a surprise track’. You burned with curiosity, but it would have to wait until later. Today you were recording with Poppi again. Her label had been so pleased with the success of Paper that they’d contracted you for two more songs.

“YN YN!” she burst into the studio unceremoniously, holding her phone out at you. “We need to listen to Woozi’s new song!”

“I-,”

“Right now, no negotiation! This is part of my creative process!” she barreled past you.

You didn’t put up a fight as you were itching to hear the song as well. You tried to avoid Poppi’s gaze and focus on the lyrics, but her eyes burned into you so you had to turn away from her halfway through. When it ended, you were silent.

“I’m going to start yelling,” she announced, giving you fair warning.

“Sleep won't come, you're depicted on the ceiling?!”

“I'm left with these feelings, and why is your old space so dark?”

She continued to shout lyrics at you until she ran out of notable ones and started again at the beginning.

“I think this song is about you!”

“Why would you think that?” you narrowed your eyes at her.

“I’m on stan Twitter! I know you and Woozi dated secretly. And then you broke up. And then Dispatch posted pictures of him with some other person. And then you wrote Paper. And then he just dropped this?”

You almost burst out laughing. The way Poppi was rattling off her thoughts felt very much like that ‘Conspiracy Theory Charlie Day’ meme. You were amazed, fans really had a way of sleuthing out the truth. If only there was some way to harness that energy to solve crimes.

“You should talk to him. Something seemed off about those Dispatch photos. The timing was so close to Vernon’s little dating scandal. Hoshi’s thing with Soohyuk too. Personally I think it was all a ruse to distract.”

You rolled your eyes playfully at her. This was getting a little ‘The Moon Landing was Fake’ for you, so you redirected her focus to the demo track. She urged you again, at the end of your session, to message him before giving you a hug.

[yn]: ‘hey. heard the new song, it’s really good.’

You jumped when your phone started ringing moments later.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Jihoon’s gravelly voice came through.

Your heart twisted in your chest. It had been so long since you’d heard his voice and yet it felt familiar as if no time had passed. You’d been doing your best to ignore this feeling…move on, but you missed him.

“Can we talk?” he brought you back to the present.

“...yeah. Yeah, we can.”

[interlockingpatches]

Sorry if you've already answered this but: how do you begin to write your patterns to the interlocking patches? I've brainstormed some ideas I'd love to make and was just wondering if there was an easier way to figure out how to make instructions for the design instead of just using my best guesses and hoping it will turn out well like I've been doing :] you're awesome!! Thanks for inspiring me to make my own things!!

Not to worry! I tacked a longer, unasked-for tutorial onto this reblog awhile ago, but I enjoy walking through the process :)

Start with a sketch on graph paper. I've been meaning to do a free pattern in advance of Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada), so we'll do that.

Draw a box around the finished motif and label the rows.

I think if someone had done a few motifs from patterns already, they could tough it out with just this for a chart. Grid lines are the Colour A mesh, bold lines are dcs worked on front (or through both meshes), unbolded lines are on back. Diagonals are diagonals — (tr,dc)tog, (dc,tr)tog, or (tr,dc,tr)tog. The first foundation chain (FA) is the width of the pinstripe in msps (squares) times 2 plus 4, and you make the first dc in ch 5*

What's missing is the Colour B (background) mesh. If you don't do fill stitches, you don't really need it: you're just making T (or F) stitches and working behind outlines. Free-handing fill stitches isn't impossible, but If you had double-grid graph paper (or made the sketch double-size), it would be easy to draw them out. As it is…

I messed things up immediately, and bailed to Illustrator.

Which is honestly the way to go, if only to be able to quickly create and compare different versions of a motif, but "pay for Illustrator** and learn how to use it" is kind of crummy advice. (That other post has a lot more details on Illustrator IIRC).

Anyhoo, when I first started, I did my "patterns" as pixel drawings in Photoshop. With a little practice, even that can be enough to go on :)

*To my great consternation and embarrassment, all my published patterns tell you to make an extra foundation chain and start in chain 6. I swear I had reasons for doing it that way; the difference is negligible, and it's literally how every patch I've ever posted was made, but ch 5 is better and more normal, and I'll be correcting all the Gumroad patterns with the next (and hopefully final!) update ASAP. So yes. If you're doing my patterns, and it tells you to chain an odd number and start in ch 6, you may subtract 1 ch and start in ch 5 (if it tells you to chain an even number that's actually correct) or not.

**I made one attempt at doing these in Inkscape awhile back but just could not figure out a functional equivalent for the Rectangular Grid tool and clearly didn't spend that long trying

[winnipegwinterpeg]

For decades, a trio of roadways in Winnipeg bore the name of a bishop who led the campaign for residential schools.

Today, new names for a new chapter.

On National Indigenous Peoples Day, elders, knowledge keepers, and city and provincial officials gathered at a renaming ceremony for Abinojii Mikanah.

Among dancing and fiddling and prayer, reflection on the tough road travelled to arrive here and the hopes for a smoother one ahead.

"Abinojii Mikanah is an opportunity for all of our children to walk over that bridge. We are very humbled and thankful for the recognition and acceptance," Frank Beaulieu, an Anishinaabe Knowledge Keeper from Sandy Bay First Nation, said at the ceremony Friday.

The changes come after city council voted in April to approve a bylaw change that formally renamed the three streets that once paid tribute to Bishop Vital Grandin.

What were once known as Bishop Grandin Boulevard, Bishop Grandin Trail, and Grandin Street are now called Abinojii Mikanah, Awasisak Mēskanôw, and Taapweewin Way, respectively.

"The renaming of these streets is more than a symbolic gesture - it is a step, an important step for our entire community, our city, our province, our nation toward reconciliation, acknowledging past injustices and honouring the resilience and the strength of Indigenous communities," said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

What's in a name?

While new signs have been up for weeks, Friday's ceremony made the name changes official.

The new names were chosen by an Indigenous naming circle made up of elders, residential school survivors, knowledge keepers, and youth.

"The goal was to select names that honour Indigenous experience and Indigenous culture," Gillingham said.

Abinojii Mikanah means “The Children’s Way/Road” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe, and is meant to honour the experiences of Indigenous residential school and day school survivors, and those who didn't make it home.

Awasisak Mēskanôw means children and journey, and represent the "journey" that was discussed during the consultation process.

Taapweewin means truth in Michif, and is an effort to include each of the seven languages outlined in the Manitoba Aboriginal Languages Recognition Act.

A legacy reconsidered

The previous roads were named for Bishop Vital Grandin, whose legacy has been reconsidered following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report.

In addition to its 94 calls to action, it included a detailed history of the residential school system in Canada, and identified the bishop as one of its architects and champions.

He appealed to the federal government to increase grants to these schools and encouraged the building of industrial schools in Western Canada.

[crazykuroneko]

Joining the Rewind the Tape event

This will be my first time rewatching IWTV S1 since it's first broadcast (excluding the indirect watch I get from watching YouTube reactions). I'm bad at creating content, but I have been meaning to rewatch it the same way I watch movies; with my note app ready for me to write down things I notice. And like when watching movies, I don't really care about source material nor the existing theories; I just try to deduce from what I see. So, I feel this is a good way to refresh my mind before going into S2 after all the fanons and theories going around. I use my note to decide how I score a film, so I write down technical stuff as well.

If anyone wants to discuss, feel free to reply ✌️

Here is my note for S01E1:

• What a witty opening. Tricking audience that it's something it's not (an ad, which is closer to our reality). Setting the tone of what's to come.

• "Your sources are your Sherpas (a guide?). Your editor is your priest. Honesty is not a tactic."

• "Can he make his fantasy a reality?" Touche!

• 9/4/73. 4 September 1973

• Daniel looks so pissed listening to the old tape lol.

• That transition of Louis' face over the city. That's so Great Gatsby of him. And the long close shot makes Louis so still and inhuman, what a contrast with the ones from the church scene.

• "Have I hit the nerve?" Drink every time the script being so funny!

• Louis: "Yet you come anyway". Daniel: "That's my voice but I don't remember it" 

• "Truth and reconciliation" Reconciliation: the process of making two opposite beliefs, ideas, or situations agree.

• June 14, 2022.

• "The favored son. And capital to oversee as consequence"

• "You're a pimp". "The product is desire" The difference in their language in this dialogue is so interesting.

• Bricks hitting Fenwick after he tried to rape her. That's our girl 😌✊

• The score came up on the right time.

• Lestat witnessing and hearing the contradiction in Louis over loving his brother versus going hard on him in order to survive and falling in love immediately 😌✊✊✊✊

• "Let's not fuss on the particulars" Particulars in question are women being exploited and sometimes raped, but okay. 

• Florence and Grace don't like to hear the hard facts, I see. 

• "A lie I told myself about myself"

• No that white man Louis staring at is so ugly. Louis, please!

• Oh, Les definitely hears Tom inviting Louis for a game on Friday.

• "And there's a food" *gestures to Lily*. God, i love this script.

• Oh, Lestat did "mezmerized" Louis here (either accidentally or not idk), like he did with Paul later at the dinner. Hence, Louis says "not with my family".

• "Emasculation AND admiration in equal measure. I wanted to murder the man, and I wanted TO BE the man." Basically a summary of what attracts Louis to Lestat. 

• Lestat killing the white man with lamp scene is interesting if you consider what we watch as Louis' POV because logically Louis didn't see it as it happened in 1910. But the existence of this scene signals that 2022 Louis (or Louis after the fact) now knows that Lestat did prowling the city during the night killing people. Iirc there will be more scenes like this.

• Help Sam and Jacob's chemistry right when their eyes meet each other 😭😭😭😭♥️

• Not @ Lestat dumbing himself down in front of the white men and Louis smiled adorably over it even though he probably knew that's just an act. We lost him so fast

• The practical effects are so cool.

• Lestat was like don't you know your value etc etc, yet he still did not back up Louis to Fenwick. The red flag is red flagging.

• "He's not revealed his vampire nature yet." But Louis definitely knows something is up with him (see: two instances of "mezmerize" and the time stop)

• That shot of Leslou in the mirror at the tailor is so cute 🥺

• "Mother loves European" Louis is so her son 😂

• "He ain't takin' it you getting married" Paul was indeed getting worse 😭

• Lestat being so taken aback with how blunt Paul is then taken aback over Louis' lying to his family he's not enjoying opera is so funny. 

• Sam's eyebrows definitely have a life of their own lol

• Louis gives Lestat's "violent and weird peculiarity" a pass unless it's toward his loved ones. Reminds me of that Jacob's interview on the domestic abuse in the show.

• The talk Leslou have while walking back to Lestat's house is really the summary of Louis' different "hats". "They sit in judgement. Paul is the only one to say it to my face"

• Louis' action vs words when Lestat asked him for a "nightcap" is 🤌

• I thought Lestat's hand is in Lily's skirt when she seemingly orgasm, but it isn't. His hand also doesn't explore too much on her at Fairplay Saloon either compared to what Louis' narration implies. Is it the show being careful how they touch women or is it some kind of "censor"? I need to pay attention to it later.

• The choreo between Leslou to make it look like they're fighting for control/dominance. This is A grade yaoi 🤌🤌🤌🤌

• Louis checking on Daniel whether he has ~ embraced his sexuality~ then describing his homosexual intimate moment with drugs to a former addict is a very deliberate choice. Daniel isn't the only one digging in this interview.

• Drinking blood from another in an intimate setting feels extremely intimate

• Gosh Paul doesn't even want Levi to touch him

• The tap dance scene 😭 Paul 😭

• Paul spiralling down pre-wedding, seemingly angry during the wedding, eating a lot, remembering their best time, checking on Louis and Grace, saying I love you. Yeah, he definitely did it himself 🥲

• I know the night sky is a green screen, but the lights hit Louis' face so beautifully. I don't know how they did it 

• Florence 😡😡😡😡

• "Miss Lily proved herself a poor subtitute" Lestat 😡😡😡😡😡

• Lestat is completely out of touch with humanity, he only cares about himself.

• Finnick must think it's very weird that he has to keep Lestat away from Louis that he gets his arm broken but the next time they meet, Leslou are close again 😅

• Daniel Hart slaying with the score 🤌🤌🤌🤌

• Louis connects the dots when he hears Lily got the "fever" 😞

• Jacob's acting at the confession. The score filling the space over his voice. The mixing tuned up perfectly when Lestat snatching the priest. 🤌

• Lestat knocked down two lamps, one is so far away from the confession, to give proper lighting is so funny lol. (I know it's shooting necessity but still 😂)

• Sam definitely has a subwoofer in his throat wtf (I'm listening with earphones)

• You can see Sam hasn't used to talk with his fangs on here.

• The camera trick after Lestat punched the priest is so clever.

• I wonder what Lestat is hearing during his proposal scene, because he definitely gets Louis the moment he says he loves him. The change in Louis' face 🥲

• Sam's eye acting during the part laid over with Louis' narration. That part will always be my Roman Empire 

• "For the first time in my life, I was seen". Not "felt seen". He's still sure that that's a fact. 

• Louis already gives little nods the moment Lestat finished "for eternity" 🥲🥲🥲🥲

• Jacob's whole monologue during the turn 🤌🤌🤌

• "He sat there, radiant" *while Lestat's is laying down, catching his breath* Louis' narration is more "flowery" than the recollection?

Summary: I'm extremely impressed with how much we know about Louis' personality (especially the contradiction in himsef) just from the script of this episode. Alan Taylor trusts Jacob and Sam's ability a lot to do a lot of close-ups and just let their faces tell the story. Louis' costumes, scores, and audio mixing are perfection.

[graygiantess]

I (finally) uploaded the next installment in my Decisions series!

Heavy Drum is out now on Ao3!

Rated M for swearing and existential dread. 😅

Daniel and Armand love each other soooo much and don't know how to process the fact that Daniel’s health is declining, so they do the sensible thing: throw things and pretend they can't stand each other. 🤷‍♀️

Like all my fics, this can be read as a standalone piece, but it's meant as a sequel to Truth and Reconciliation.

[cognitivejustice]

An International Labour Organization (ILO) report found that:

More than 86% of Indigenous peoples globally work in the informal economy, compared to 66% for their non-Indigenous counterparts.

Indigenous peoples are nearly three times more likely to be living in extreme poverty compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts.

The share of wage and salaried workers is considerably lower among the Indigenous (27.9%) than among the non-Indigenous (49.1%) population.

Globally, Indigenous peoples are earning 18.5% less than non-Indigenous people.

Workers’ unions are enhancing the representation of Indigenous peoples in their organisations and building alliances with Indigenous peoples’ organisations to address mutual concerns, including compliance with ILO C169:

New Zealand: Unions are advocating for legislation to make ethnic and gender pay gap reporting mandatory. This transparency is crucial to closing the significant gender pay gap faced by Indigenous women. While overall the gender pay gap between women and men in New Zealand is 8.6%, Pacific women in New Zealand earn around 26.5% less than non-Indigenous men.

Australia: Unions are working to ensure strong union representation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, empowering them to achieve just wages, social protection and self-determined, fulfilling employment.

Norway: The Norwegian Trade Union Confederation (LO Norway) promotes Indigenous culture and identity through leadership, cultural outlets and support for the truth and reconciliation process

Latin America: To hold governments to account, trade unions are using the ILO’s supervisory mechanisms. This includes highlighting issues such as occupational safety and forced labour.