#upfront & said it was a limited series

[nikossasaki]

💬

[buffyfan145]

Now we've gotten a 3rd "Rings of Power" fan account saying they've gotten slightly different takes on the role Calam Lynch is playing that is a mix of what Fellowship of Fans, The One Ring Net, Rings of Power Updates, and the leaks on Reddit said and new information. This also includes possible major spoilers about Celeborn, Halbrand/Sauron, Galadriel, Haladriel/Saurondriel, Celebrimbor, and more as well. They also provided new information about Charlie Vickers, as well as the role Gavi Singh Cherra is really playing. We'll finally be getting official spoilers from the US media, Amazon, and the cast/crew starting next month at the May Upfronts so we'll be able to cross reference all of these and get a clearer picture to what is correct or false as we get closer to season 2 airing this fall. Personally I'm excited but I totally understand why some fans are upset, especially since this sounds like the writers are taking a storyline from the books and giving it to a different character. The link to the article is in the comments but I've summerized it behind the cut.

Firstly the fansite Redanian Intelligence posted these. They're a fansite not just for "ROP" but also "The Witcher", "Games of Thrones", and other shows. They are usually pretty accurate with what they post too. Like FOF, they are saying that Calam Lynch has been cast as Celeborn but they also are saying he's playing two roles as Sauron does indeed shapeshift into Celeborn pretending that he came back from the dead/Valinor.

They're also saying Annatar isn't in the season but Sauron playing as Celeborn is what gets him back into Eregion. He pretends that the Valar gave him warning to come back and help the elves and that they have to create more rings and gets Celebrimbor to help.

However, the Annatar/Celebrimbor thing from the books is now changed to be Celeborn and Galadriel. Sauron pretends to be her husband and that he's helping them, but really it's not. It's not clear yet if the audience knows it's him but some are suggesting we might know it's Sauron/Halbrand possibly suggesting we see Charlie shapeshift into Calam and/or there are scenes were we the audience see it's really Charlie/Halbrand/Sauron instead of Calam/Celeborn.

So this is why the Celebrimbor fans are upset today and I totally understand as that is a major book change. Also since it's likely that Celebrimbor gets killed off at the end of the season too. At the same time being a Haladriel/Saurondriel shipper it'll show that they're one of the show's main relationships.

This site also says that in season 3 Calam will only play the real Celeborn, as Galadriel and everyone finds out the truth in the season finale, while Charlie goes back to being the only Sauron actor for the rest of the series. This I hope is true as I really only want the shapeshifting limited as it really should just be Charlie.

They're also claiming the show filmed multiple endings as a cliffhanger with Galadriel and Celeborn/Sauron. One is that she finds the real Celeborn and he's badly injured and we don't know if he'll live. Another is that Sauron as Celeborn tells her the real Celeborn is dead. A third is that she finds out Celeborn is still alive and being held prisoner but has to work with Sauron if she wants him back. Possible even more endings were filmed and not sure if Charlie was on set too but it's possible as FOF did have someone say Charlie and the other Sauron actor did film scenes at the same time.

They're also saying Galadriel and Celeborn/Sauron do kiss as well. One was saying it was the ending but it's possible since she thinks her husband came back they will have more kissing scenes. Very curious about this as if that's the case we're actually getting Haladriel/Saurondriel kissing scenes which I wanted but never thought would happen. LOL But now also wondering if we'll see the camera show us that it's Sauron/Halbrand kissing her too since again it's really them kissing.

This also would explain the chemistry tests too with Morfydd and Calam as he not only has to do one to be her husband but since he's playing another version of Sauron/Halbrand too so it has to match how it is between Morfydd and Charlie, who had a chemistry test in season 1. So we can say the show is doing a full fledged love triangle with them.

Then about Gavi, this site is saying the new race character he plays is a Stoor, the other Hobbit ancestor besides the Harfoots, and will have scenes with Nori and The Stranger. FOF and others confirmed that he was playing a new Tolkien race we hadn't seen yet.

[aspoonofsugar]

you wrote such a beautiful rwby analysis but unfortunately I think you put more thought into the plot than the entire writers room

Hi!

Thank you, I am happy you found my analysis beautiful!

That said, I am sorry, but I disagree with your statement. It is fine if you dislike the series and even if you criticize it, but as for me, I think the writing is rather strong.

Here are some thoughts, which aren't really directed at you, but rather are born by me seeing a tendency going around where it is somehow "cool" to outloud state RWBY is badly written. I even saw people like... "apologizing" because they enjoy the series. Newsflash...RWBY is good.

RWBY is a series with a writing that goes from decent to very good depending on the moment. I would give it from 7 to 8.5 or even 9 in some scenes. More importantly, it is a story the writers are clearly enjoying writing, as for now. This is why I like watching it. It is genuine, upfront in what it wants to say and it takes risks. Ironically, a series with limited resources shows much more freedom in execution than many other stories, which are economically backed up.

I would also add people keep talking about good writing, but never really elaborate on it... And like, trust me, I do think there is good writing and bad writing. The problem is that people just take examples of "well written series" and decide a series written differently must be bad. This isn't really the case.

First of all, let's focus only on a specific type of story, which is the kind most modern movies, books and series are. This type of story is built on 3 (4) factors:

Plot

Characters

Themes

(Worldbuilding)

I would say the first 3 are more important usually, but there are some stories where the worldbuilding is so strong it becomes its own selling point.

Now, a good story is usually strong in all these departments. The perfect story is top notch in all 3 (4). That is because a good plot usually lets you develop the characters better, which in turns helps exploring the theme.

However, here comes the amazing truth... even the most incredible stories. Even the masterpieces loved by everybody... even them... end up choosing only 1 or 2 of these aspects and sacrifice a little bit of the 3rd (and 4th) one.

Naoki Urasawa's Monster? Its focus is themes. He chooses to go all out on this department, which is why the story is so powerful and resonates so much with people. Still, to do so, he chooses to sacrifice some parts of the plot to the point... some mysteries are not really solved. Some people may be annoyed by it, but I would not call it a flaw. It is a choice. Leaving some things open enriches the themes.

Death Note? If the story has to choose between characters, themes and plot, it goes for plot. This is why despite having so many well liked characters, it is difficult to think of outstanding character arcs in it. The same goes for the themes, which are only touched superficially. This is why btw Death Note is not a fave of mine, really.

Now obviously, many examples can be done and we could discuss forever on some because there is always always always a subjective component. What I am trying to say is... there are different ways to write a story. Not all people would like the same. Luckily, we have tons of stories.

Back to RWBY. I would say RWBY shines when it comes to themes. Characters and plot are good and interesting, but what keeps the story together, despite it playing so much with genre is that it has a very strong thematic core. You can't invent it or fake it btw. See, Death Note's author tries to do it in later works (Platinum End cough cough), but fails. At the same time, there is another department RWBY is top notch and that is symbolism. RWBY has a very rich symbolic system. Again... surely there are coincidences, but like this is a little bit too much...imho.

Now, does it mean, the writers came up with all the patterns I and others find? Probably not, but here is the thing... writing has an unconscious component. If you go earnestly at it, you are bound to unconsciously create patterns. A good writer is able to recognize them (either consciously or unconciously) and to capitalize on them. So far, I think CRWBY has capitalized on the patterns they created. I also think it is clear they are very good at researching and at playing with different sources by going deep into them. Again, you can't come up with the Ever After if you have not read and even studied Alice in Wonderland. It is just impossible. You would end up with a shallow and uninteresting copy cat. The Ever After isn't that because it is used to explore themes, characters and lore in an interesting way. Hence... ladies and gentlemen... it is a fruit of... good writing.

But really, since people are not commenting on it... I would like to point out that in 5 episodes of less than 20 minutes, they have managed to introduce a whole world, with its own lore, set of characters and main story (Alyx's) and to tie it to the protagonists' predicament in a way that hits really hard thematically and psychologically... To do that you need exceptionally thight writing... it is not that simple to do...

Anyway, have a nice day anon and consider watching something else. Thanks God the world is full of stories!

[empressofthewind]

Analysis of Near's Relationships & Social Skills

fairly long post below the cut :-)

something that i find really interesting about Near's sociability in the manga is the fact that he's immediately presented as a recluse. in his very first scene, he's sitting alone completing a puzzle, and declines Linda's invitation to come outside "for once", without looking up or even remotely entertaining the request. this is backed up by his profile in Volume 13, in which his social skills are rated a 1/10, and it's said that he "keeps human contact to a minimum". yet when we see him throughout the rest of the series, this doesn't really seem to be the case. it's tough to analyse what he's like in typical social situations given that the circumstances under which we see him are quite unique, but he is surrounded by people pretty much 24/7 and seems to be very comfortable in this setting. he frequently asks for the input of his team, he is extremely willing to share his thoughts with them at any given time, and he also empathises with them and encourages them to speak up if they feel uncomfortable at any point (e.g., telling Gevanni he does not have to touch the notebook if he's too scared, and telling the entire team that they are welcome to stay at headquarters if they do not want to risk Mello making contact with them). so it doesn't feel right to say that he's shy or unwilling to talk to others, or that he has limited understanding of/regard for others' feelings; nor does it feel accurate to say that he keeps contact "to a minimum" when it's both shown and confirmed that he functions best with others around him.

the impression i get from him is that he is very willing and able to talk to people, but only when he needs to. he can hold a conversation just fine and he talks a lot when prompted, but he does not engage with people simply for the sake of socialising. he won’t go out of his way to initiate a casual chat just because. he does not conform to social norms, as exhibited by his preference for wearing socks and pyjamas even when meeting the President of the United States, so he won't participate in activities or conversations that he is not interested in just for the sake of earning brownie points with the people involved. he doesn't crave the approval of those around him and would rather be alone than engage in forced social interaction. his manner is also very blunt and he is not above brutal honestly. even his lies are very blunt and bold, such as him pretending that he dialled the wrong number when calling Light to confirm that Mogi was not Kira, or announcing to the task force that Mogi had died - which is a stark contrast to L, who lies often and is generally not upfront about it. i also feel like as much as he is willing and able to articulate his thoughts very clearly and extensively, this isn't necessarily his default. when receiving the news of L's death, for example, his instinct is to remain quiet, and process the information internally before speaking about it. on several occasions during the Kira case, he has to be prompted by the members of the SPK to share his thoughts. so i think it is perhaps reasonable to say he is instinctively a fairly quiet person, but is more than capable of speaking his mind if the need arises.

but despite all of this, i do definitely feel like he prefers having people around him. he's perfectly capable of reaching conclusions on his own, at times even faster than he would be when thinking aloud - case in point, the moment when he deduced that Mikami is X-Kira - so it isn't as though he needs to voice every individual thought. in fact, he doesn't really need to have others in the room with him at all, which is once again exemplified by the X-Kira deduction. but he often chooses to be around his team and voice his thoughts anyway, especially when he has strong opinions about something or someone, such as Kira supporters attempting to break into his hideout, or the president withdrawing his support from the SPK. i also think it's worth mentioning that despite him having been alone when he deduced that Mikami was X-Kira, he did invite both Gevanni and Rester into the room individually to ask for their opinions on who stands out to them from the broadcasts, so he could, in his words, use them as a reference. this suggests that he does not just share his thoughts and ask for input because he feels obligated to do so as a member of a team, but that he deems their contributions worth taking into account. it seems to me that he genuinely values the input and presence of his team and recognises that they are instrumental in solving the case; thus he offers them the courtesy of hearing his thoughts at every stage throughout the case, and explaining the logic behind the duties he needs them to perform for him.

once again, though, it's tough to analyse Near's social skills & habits when looking purely through the lens of his interactions with his employees, and there are limited options to investigate outside of the SPK. one thing that is clear to me, though, is that he draws very clear lines between people he does and doesn't respect, and treats them differently as a result. Light is the best example of a person Near does not respect. even before establishing that Light is Kira, Near has no issues telling him to his face that he and the task force are incompetent. after deducing that Light is Kira, Near is snarky with him, calls him out on his lies, and is the only person in the entirety of Death Note who tells Light to his face that he is a mass murderer, not a God. this ties both into Near's bluntness & honesty and his lack of desire for social approval; he has no interest in pretending to like people he fundamentally does not.

the best example of someone Near does respect, in my opinion, is Mello. Near's relationship with Mello is a particularly interesting case to analyse as an outlier amongst the people he interacts with. Mello is the only person we see him engage with (other than the brief exchange between him and Linda) whom he has history with beyond the Kira case, and who is neither a direct ally nor masquerading as one. Mello is actively working against Near, and thus, in theory, Near has no allegiance to him, nor any reason to be polite to him unless he considers Mello a potential threat whom he needs to be especially sensitive towards - which clearly isn't the case, given he makes no effort to appease Mello when his gun is pointed at Near and instead gives Mello permission to shoot him. so the way he speaks about and to Mello is very notable to me. it's abundantly clear to me that Near likes Mello and has a lot of respect for him. he praises Mello on his ability to get the Death Note before the SPK could, and does not hold Mello's crimes against him. Near talks about Kira and his followers with disdain and condemns them for their crimes, but he vehemently defends Mello, and is very quick to justify Mello's actions. he also went to great lengths to protect Mello by contacting everyone he knew of who had seen Mello’s face, and kept his photo protected for five years.

however, Near also puts very little effort into forming any sort of amicable relationship with Mello, as far as we can tell from canon. he accepts Roger's request for them to work together, but does not complain or attempt to stop Mello when he walks out. he does not console Mello over L's death, either, and he makes no attempt to extend his interactions with Mello later in the manga when Mello visits his headquarters and sends Mogi to him so they can conduct a joint interrogation. he never tries to convince Mello to like him and he doesn’t make a big deal about the effort he has put into protecting him. what this shows, in my opinion, is that if Near does have any interest in befriending and/or working with Mello (the latter of which i think is implied, and the former is more so a matter of interpretation), he does not want to force those relationships. he would be willing to align himself with Mello directly, but he does not want Mello to do so out of any sense of obligation. since Mello has made it clear that he has no interest in working with him, Near does not try to persuade him, and is perfectly comfortable to let him follow his own path if that is what he wishes to do. this could also give context to his apparent lack of friendships at Wammy's House, as specified in Volume 13 - if all of this is true, it's possible that there were others at Wammy's House whom he liked and would have been open to befriending, but because of his unwillingness to take initiative when it comes to forming these relationships, he gave off the impression that he was not interested, and would rather be alone.

[elrielbaby]

What are your thoughts for Rebel Witch? Think Gideon and Rune will end up together? I really hate Gideon right now! I know, I know after all he suffered of course he would act the way he did but still. He was willing to have Rune killed! How dare he!

Anon, I apologise, I went whole hog on this answer 😆

I have faith that we’ll get a good ending anon (and by that I mean they end up together and in love) I’ve watched a couple of lives the author did (they’re on her insta if you’re interested, one with fairyloot and one for a book club I believe) and the things she’s said give me hope. They’ll just have to suffer to get there 😆

Oh my friend, I know. I was pissed — but isn’t that a sign of the best, most true, enemies to lovers? At some point or another, one or both of them were in real danger from the other one 🥲

More than anything I want them to have an upfront, honest & to the point conversation.

Yes, Cressida is evil, beyond evil. That does not mean all witches are evil and should be treated the way they have been and put to death. Two things can be true at once, and two wrongs do not make a right. Cressida, and any witch who used their powers in similar ways, should pay for their crimes - but they are not the crimes of all witches.

Their problems are currently (but not limited to):

The current criminalisation and collective punishment of all witches, regardless as to wether they committed any actual crimes or not

Gideon believes Rune to be in league with Cressida, and potentially blames her along with Cressida for Alex’s death (as well as himself I’d wager)

They both believe that the others feelings were some sort of ruse (which is a confusing point to argue, because the manner in which they happened upon the feelings was a ruse - the feelings were an unwanted byproduct)

The power imbalance that exists between witches and non witches. I’m not sure if this is the series that will expand upon this issue, due to the fact it’s a duology, but there has to be a fair and just system put in place to be able to regulate the power witches have over those without powers.

Cressida.

My current hope, is that they work together in order to bring Cressida down, whilst also coming to an agreement on how best to move forward in order to have witches and non witches live together safely and peacefully. And of course, that they recognise and accept their feelings for each other and we leave them, happy and in love! I am SO excited to find out which way it goes though.

[kariachi]

The thing, with Gwen's actions in Cooper's premiere- I can't remember the title right now and I'm not looking it up- is that she is choosing to be as rough with Kevin as she is. The show makes it clear that she doesn't have to be hitting him as hard as she is, but she's doing it anyway because Kevin's been a teasing little shit all episode and Gwen believes that that is good enough reason to be use physical violence against him, repeatedly. The show could have used Kevin's role in the plan as a narrative punishment for his behavior and it would have been annoying but fine, but they had to make it clear that this was an interpersonal matter. They could have had her serious, they could have had her apologizing, but instead they have her smiling and happy and blatantly taking this opportunity to punish Kevin for displeasing her. The first episode these two have together as a couple and it entails Kevin being his normal self and Gwen responding with violence. And this isn't supposed to be a red flag.

And I'm thinking about it now and you can see Gwen getting bolder with this shit? Like, she pulls this once each series (off the top of my head) and each time she's more obvious with it? Like, here she's behind the boys, they can't see her expression, it's serious when they can see it, she lies about how hard she has to hit Kevin. In the Pandor episode she's upfront with dropping Kevin out of the air, and doesn't try to pretend she's sorry, but she does lie and say it was an accident, as unconvincing and without any real attempt to be convincing as it is. Then you get to Showdown, where she just straight shoves Kevin and Ben into freefall in front of witnesses without a single word.

Which makes sense, of course, in character, she would get bolder with that shit when she never gets consequences for it. The closest there are to any for her behavior is in the Pandor episode, where Kevin gets kidnapped and tricked into releasing Pandor who attacks her and threatens the area. But even then, the fact that this whole chunk of plot was prompted by her being using violence against Kevin again doesn't come up, and even the lesser issue she apologizes for is brushed aside with Kevin pointing out that she never holds shit against him- which is just canonically untrue. The point being, Gwen never actually has any consequences to her actions hit her. Shit is always brushed off, or in the cases where she's accidentally doing harm the blame is pushed elsewhere (looking at you In Charms Way and fuckers stating that Kevin should have read Gwen's mind apparently and known what she was up to). Even when it's people who aren't Kevin, like her threatening Nocturne- which surely didn't contribute to her developing Stockholm Syndrome, no way would one of the heroes threatening to, quote, "peel [her] like a grape" immediately after a traumatic experience have led to issues- things are just brushed aside.

So yeah, of course she gets more bold with this shit. Any sense that maybe there's something wrong with her actions and she should obscure or hide them (but not not engage in them, apparently) would have been repeatedly undercut by the lack of consequences, and by her being absolved of any guilt in shit with a quickness. The people in she and Kevin's life enable this shit by seemingly just rolling with it all and taking her side. Gwen of AF probably wouldn't have shoved Ben and Kevin into freefall, and definitely not with Rook watching, but by OV she's learned there's no consequences. And from what we're shown that remains the case.

Worse, given what we're shown and that we're shown it consistently, it's more than likely that she pulls similar, if likely smaller scale, shit in their day-to-day life. I've said before, somebody who'll shove their loved ones into freefall in front of witnesses like it's normal is not somebody who engages in healthy relationship patterns behind closed doors.

Personally I like to think that we've seen the limit of what she's willing to pull, because despite what people think I do like Gwen I wouldn't be so pissy about this shit if I didn't, but you could very much use this as an argument that she's going to get worse before she gets better. And I do believe that she could move off this path, but first she would have to get hit with consequences, proper consequences that hit her and aren't just shooed aside by those around her. Because she is a good person- in fact I think in-character the idea that what a Good Person does can't possible be That Bad plays a role in a lot of things from her behavior here and how people react to it to Ben getting away with a some of the shit he does, and that out-of-character it's why you get some fans who'll bend over backwards to explain how nothing they've done wrong was actually them doing wrong- but I think it's likely she's got herself convinced she's not doing anything wrong, with enabling forces on all sides, and would need a solid kick in the pants to realize that she's being an asshole.

She doesn't need to be like this, she didn't need to be like this. But the writers decided this was the person they wanted her to be, and that they didn't want us thinking twice about it or judging her based on her own actions. Same thing happened with Ben. It's poor characterwork in conjunction to story, a tale as old as longform stories.

Just had to go fuck up a perfectly good female lead with their own bullshit and bad humor.

[mady871]

LISTEN TO HOW SHE SPEAKS FOR KANTHONY! I AM SO EXCITED FOR S3

FANDOMS EVERYWHERE NEVER LEARN!!!

GRANTED IT WILL NOT BE AS GOOD AS THE BOOK! IT NEVER IS! SO MAKE DUE WITH EITHER WATCHING OR NOT BUT IF YOU DECIDE TO WATCH, THEN THEY MIGHT BE MORE INCLINED TO GET TO YOUR PRECIUS SHIP OF CHOICE!!!

OLD FAN HERE. FROM FANDOM OF OLD, THE FIRST ON THE NET:

HERE ARE MY CONSIDERATIONS:

I might have an idea of where are they going with season three if indeed it’s the last. if not even better, and it’s going to be glorius i think. sad that the actors for daphne/simon have decided not to reprise th role. i read this series years ago and i love all the books and carechters and the ensamble is unbelievable. my favorite is of course Penelope. i wish they had made show Penelope darker, and if she is, IT MAKES SENSE. I LOVE WHISTLEDOWN, but that is just me. show Pen might regret it on screen and want to be better. i wished instead she wouldn’t apologize to anybody. she had her reasons, and they are just as valid if not more then other. don’t canoodle in public and nothing would have hasppened. i think the Bridgerton are some sort of magnets for scandal and despite that they are not goven their due because they are who they are, while everyone else gets threted the same. bottom of the piramid is the Feastherington, and other then false pleasentries, they are threted as such. Penelope stands out, because she rebelled to the shackells not only of being a woman, but being a Featherington. PLUS whistledown, or the real society papers were mostly read by middle to lower class and they were to provide entrteniment to the average commoner.

ITS FUNCTION IS TO MOCK THE TON!

YOU ARE A PART OF THE TON, YOU ARE FAIR GAME. AGAIN BEHAVE WELL AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOU.

Don’t try to lie and cheat and make your way to a marriege where your husbund will have to raise someone else’s son. be upfront and marry. why wasn’t Marina upfront with Colin and give him the truth? why didn’t Colin listen to his darling friend Pen. i see Pen here stuck between not two but three sides. Colin, her own family and Whistledown, and Whistledown never betrayed her! lesser evil and all of that. today’s generation in commenting this issue show their naivety. you cannot judge a period piece with your modren criteria. you would need educate yourself on society in the 1810-1820 onwards.

AS A BUSINESS WOMAN, WHO EARNED HER OWN FUNDS, PENELOPE IS An INDIPENDENT, GO-GETTER. which is more then can be said for Eloise in the show, or earlier books!

PENELOPE KNOWS HER WORTH,  and utilises it at he best of her ability to try and limit her parents absolute incapability of managing the estate and the title. the lenght she goes to make sure her sisters are taken care of, i would have not done it. GOODBAY AND GOOD LUCK!

PENELOPE DOESN’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE TON AT LARGE.

she only wants someone to love her (WILL ACCEPT ARRANGED RESPECTFUL MARRIAGE AND EVEN LATER SEPERATE LIVES. DOES NOT EXCEPECT COLIN), a house to manage and children of her own. much like a woman of her time. a girl really, that was already put on the shelf the day she debuted.

RIMINDING PEOPLE THAT WATCH THE SHOW BUT NOT REALLY, THAT PENELOPE GAVE THE QUEEN THE DEEPEST, MOST DELICATE OF BOWS EVEN SURPRISING HER OWN MOTHER, WHO LET IT GO. COINCIDENCE, I THUIK NOT. BUT I DO NOT LIKE SHONDA RIMES, SO GOD KNOWS WHAT THAT WOMAN CAME UP WITH! “SHUDDER AS A X-PHILE”

PENELOPE HAS A TEMPER. NOT SOMEONE YOU WANT TO TRIFLE WITH, an i whish for s3 to show it. i want s3 to show that because of eloise/colin, for pen not to have a choice and shun whole of them. protected them long enough at her own expense!

PS: WORST WITLEDOWN VICTIM OF ALL? WHY, pen herself. None shunned, malingned overlooked, ignored, sneered at MORE than our Pen.

SHE REALLY MEANT ALL OF THOSE THINGS SHE WROTE ABOUT HERSELF OF THE DARLING BRINDGERTON CAME TO HER DEFENCE. ELOICE MANTIONED HER FAMILY, NEVER PEN HERSLF.

PENELOPE HAS BEEN LOOKING IN A MIRROR FAR LONGER THEN ANY OTHER CARACHTER.

FOR ME THAT SCENE WITH COLIN WAS SO FITTING, SHE BELIEVES WHAT THE MIRROR REFLECTS, AND HE SHOWS HER AND ONLY THEN SHE REALLY BELIEVES HIM! ONLY FUCKING THEN.

SHE IS NO VILLAIN, EVEN IF SHE WAS, SHE MANAGED NOT TWO BUT I THINK THREE SEASON BEFOR BEING DISCOVERED, AS SHE HAD ALREADY A SEASON UNDER HER BELT ALREADY DESPITE NOT HAVING HER COMING OUT TO THE QUEEN. BEFORE THE BRIDGERTON CAME TO LONDON FOR DAPHNE, BEFORE ELOISE.

MIGHT BE THE ANTI-HEROINE. NO DAMSEL IN DISTRESS I IMAGINE, SHE NEDDED TO BE!!

LASTLY, BEACAUSE IF I WAS IN PEN , IF I WAS IN HER SHOES IT WOULD BLOODY ANNOY ME TO HIGH HEAVENS TO THE POINT OF CALLING FOR STEALING TO THE LOCAL COINSTABULERY, ELOISE RUMMEGING THROUGH PEN STUFF, TURNING UP A BLOODY FLOOR BORD, BOY YOU BETTER RUN, I WOULD HAVE BEATEN YOU WITH IT!

THE UTTER PRIVILEDGE, AND DISRISPECT! THE UTTERMOST ROTTED THING ELOISE COULD HAVBE DONE, AND I SEE NO ONE ASKING WHY ELOISE DIDN’T CAME TO THE CONCLUSION SOONER AND FUCKING ASKED PEN, INSTED OF MAKING SUCH A MESS! IT ANNOYED ME SO MUCH LIKEHOW FUCKING DARE YOU? TO SOMEONELSE’S HOUSE, OH BOY!!!!

PEN IS A KEEN LISTENER, SHE TELLS THE TRUTH. SHE DOES NOT RUMMAGE IN PEOPLE GARBAGE! AND THAT IS WHAT ELOISE DID! IT’S MAYBE EVEN MORE UNFORGIVABLE THAT THE WAY COLIN SPOKE OF HER.

CAUSE YOU JUST KNOW THAT ELOISE IS GOING TO BE FINE, SHE IS A BRIDGERTON! (CAN’T DO NO WRONG!) AND YOU KNOW SHE WILL TELL SOMEONE, I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BONES (PLUS SHONDA RIMES! #ONEOFTHEWORSTSHOWRUNNERSEVER).

COLIN...oh you little summer child, the first three books “open mouth insert footh” lord almighty just thank good you are cute! noting bewtween the ears.forth book for me was oh, colin you utter imbecil, you pillock!!! still knows almost nothing ( insert John snow-kit harrington picture here”. still in the end he got it thank god.

WISTLEDOWN IS THE REASON WHY YOU KANTHONY, SIMON AND DAPHNE AND BENEDICT AND SOPHIE! FUCKING DEAL WITH IT!

Without wistledownn there would be no Bridgerton series! no ships no nothing. maybe it just me that nitece the intricaces but thats kindergarten stuff. READING  comprehension and all of that!

SO PUT THAT IN A PIPE AND FUCKING SMOKE IT!

FINALLY I WANT TO SEE THIS SIDE OF PENELOPE. enough with the sadness and the need to atone for sins were there were none!!! some anger would do her good. I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT.

...”feels good TO TAKE BACK WHAT’S YOURS every once in a while...”

[cavalierious-whim]

With the current batch of commissions in the editing stage, I'm opening up another round. This is not first come first serve, I will be picking and choosing which ideas I like and contacting those people. I am limiting to 3-5 SLOTS, depending on word counts.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

This is a round for flash fic commissions with two options:

- 1k words for $12.50 USD.

- 1.5k words for $20 USD. 

NSFW is an additional $5.

My usual commission rate is $1.50/100 words + $10 for NSFW, so you're actually saving $2.50 USD and the NSFW surcharge is half off!

I WILL NOT WRITE:

- Incest

- Pedophilia/Shota/Loli

- Hard Kinks suchs as piss/scat 

Ideas I'm Vibing With ATM:

- ZhongChi/Tartali/ZhongChiLi

- ChiXiao/XiaoChi

- ZhongChiXiao/ChiXiaoZhongli/Etc

- Dehya/Dunyarzad

- BeiGanyu/Ganyudou

- Beigguang

- ZhongXiao/XiaoZhong

- Cynonari/Tighnari/Cyno

- Haikaveh/Kaevham

- Cynotham/Alhaithno

- Aki/Angel

- Sylvix

- Genshin Impact

- Chainsaw Man

- FE3H

- Legend of Zelda

That being said, as everyone knows, I'm open to most ships. Just toss your idea out there if you're passionate about it.

If you think your idea fits within one of my series', note it! I'm more than willing to toss it in there if I agree. 

In addition to flashfic commissions, I also have a 'sponsor a wip' option. These come at a flat rate of $15 for 1-1.5k estimated words, and no NSFW surcharge. They are ideas pulled from my spreadsheet and perfect for people who want to support, but don't know what they want.

You can find the spreadsheet here: Sponsor a Prompt

Payment is due upfront and will be paid through my commissions tab on ko-fi. Expected turn around time is 1-2 Months. I will refund the total if I do not hit this goal.  If I decide to go with your commission, I will message you with further details.For any questions, don't hesitate to reach out and ask, either in my DMs, or my Ask Box.

[imaginationlandtrilogy]

Ike Broflovski Analysis Project: Relationship with Gerald (3/7)

My basic framework for these full character analyses - the limited that I’ve done - involve sections on as many family members as the character has. In my previous full character analysis, I wrote about Gerald, which involved a section on his relationship with Ike. When I write these, I like to get into the mindset of the character to view things from their perspective, hence why I was able to do a section on Gerald’s relationship with Ike and am now writing a section on Ike’s relationship with Gerald. However, it would be repetitive to do another analysis of this subject from the other side, so the framing of this section is going to be a little different.

An effect of viewing things with Gerald-tinted glasses previously was the claim of him attempting to be closer to Ike, as he was unable to be with Kyle. I made the claim that because Kyle was closer to Sheila in personality and Ike was more impressionable and young, Gerald sought to mold Ike to be more like him. Now that I understand Ike more as a character, I’d like to add on to my previous statement: Ike is more like Gerald, with or without his attempted influence. Perhaps Gerald senses this, or he just sees Ike as too young to be aware, but Ike is more like Gerald than anyone else in his family.

A large part of Ike’s personality is his desire and eagerness for maturity and independence, which, as it appears, ties into Gerald’s influence on him and how he’s linked with his father. Gerald’s most prominent influence on Ike is in his personality. There’s a clear shift in Ike’s independence and desired maturity around this point, as he moves further away from Kyle and the audience is able to view him as his own person, not just Kyle’s little brother. The influence that Gerald has on this is being the bridge between Ike’s dependence and independence. A future section of this analysis deals with Ike’s desire for maturity, so rather than repeating what I had said in my Gerald analysis with few differences, I’m going to get a head start on the future section and discuss the influence Gerald had on Ike’s development and increased desire for independence, beginning with the pre-existing similarities between the two.

Both Gerald and Ike prefer to be in the shadows than not. They’re not the type of people to be upfront about things, as compared to Sheila and Kyle, who aren’t shy of being vocal with their thoughts. They also tend to have a more vulgar vocabulary than the rest of the family and find humor in that. Interestingly enough, Gerald and Ike’s similarities counter Sheila and Kyle’s well. While Sheila and Kyle have been shown to be more gentle and other-focused, Gerald and Ike tend to be more closed and self-focused. Other-focused and self-focused are in reference to how an individual views the world. Neither is good nor bad, just differing personality traits. Other-focused individuals are those who tend to think of themselves alongside others as a group, the “we”. Self-focused individuals are the “I”, the people who view themselves as independent and less-grouped than others. It’s the thought process of the decisions someone makes in their everyday life - are they more likely to make decisions upon the impact of the group or themselves?

Typically, when it comes to a child being like their parent, there are two major influences: genetic and environmental. Kyle’s influence with Sheila is genetic - this is made evident throughout the series. “It’s a Jersey Thing” (S14E9) is a good example of this, as he couldn’t help becoming Kyley-B when he was around people from New Jersey, much like his mother. It’s mentioned numerous times how much Kyle is like Sheila, so much so that there’s an entire episode centered around this joke (“Super Hard PCness” [S21E9]). It’s heavily implied that Kyle’s similarities to Sheila are genetic and cannot be helped. Ike, on the other hand, does not show many similarities with his mother, but rather… his father. Of course, Ike is adopted, so it’s clear his similarities are rooted in environmental influences, not genetic.

Ike is still a child, so among the biggest factors of influence that Gerald has on him is speech and vocabulary. Ike is a follower rather than a leader, so he prefers to observe than participate. If you pay close attention to Ike throughout the series, you’ll notice patterns in his behavior. One of these patterns is his habit of repeating after others, particularly when the word tends to be more vulgar or aggressive. This begins around season nine, which correlates with Ike’s increase in development as a character. Something happened with the overall tone of South Park in these ‘golden seasons’, as they’re often referred. The kids became much less like traditional children and began having more firm and adult-like personalities. Imagine if these children, based on age, went up a few steps on a metaphorical staircase representing maturity. Children like Stan and Kyle now had a stronger personality closer to that of the adults in the show, while someone of Ike’s age is a few steps behind … still retaining some childlike qualities, but also standing out as an individual character - not just a child.

In “Mr. Garrison’s Fancy New Vagina” (S9E1), we witness Ike’s habit of repeating vulgar things for the first time. When Kyle is telling his parents about his teacher’s sex change, he uses the words “penis” and “vagina”, which Ike is happy to repeat. The full sentence was: “But our teacher, Mr. Garrison? He just had his penis made into a vagina. How come?” There are plenty of words Ike could have chosen to repeat, but he opted for the more unfamiliar and vulgar-sounding words. It’s not uncommon for children to do this, as they’re in their prime developmental stage and seek to learn all they can. However, it’s the repeated offenses on Ike’s part that makes this a part of his personality. The second example of this is once more repeated from Kyle, this time in “Smug Alert” (S10E2). When Kyle and Ike are high from the acid they took, Kyle says, “the acid. Dude. I’m totally tripping balls”. Ike immediately repeats, “I’m totally tripping balls right now. I’m totally tripping balls”. It’s interesting that his first two mimics of vulgar speech are from his brother, as given what occurs later in the season, you would expect Gerald to have that early influence on him. Instead, it seems when Ike was still moving up those metaphorical steps in development, he took after his brother. It’s plausible that Kyle paved the way for Ike to speak this way (especially considering how often Kyle swore in the early seasons), and when Ike got his footing as his own character in later seasons, he began repeating more after Gerald in season twenty, as that’s where he speaks the most vulgarity in individual episodes. There’s a gap in the series in-between Ike’s mimicry of Kyle and Gerald. It ties into Ike’s desire for maturity and independence, and in this gap, we see Ike speaking vulgarly on his own. As it isn’t directly tied with Gerald’s influence on him, but rather, Ike’s own personality, I won’t dive too deep, but I’d like to take a moment to point some of these out.

“Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy” (S10E10): “You’re dead to me, Kyle!” This isn’t quite as vulgar, but it is harsh in speech, especially considering how much Ike cares about his brother. I think… in terms of what Ike wants, he can be selfish at times and be more prone to do things for himself (like Gerald) when he has control over it, which can sometimes be at the expense of others. In “Fatbeard” (S13E7), Ike willingly leaves his family and everyone he loves behind to live his ‘dream’ as a pirate, but in “It’s Christmas in Canada” (S7E15) when he’s taken away from his family, he is extremely upset. I can only assume it’s the lack of control - Ike felt powerless when he was taken by his birth parents, but he had more control over leaving his family in “Fatbeard”, hence why he felt more comfortable doing so.

“Fatbeard”: Ike’s note to his family read, “...everyone at school is a fucking idiot, and if one more person talked to me about that Susan Boyle performance of Les Misérables, I was going to puke my balls out through my mouth” (extremely vulgar). When Ike is in Somalia, he doesn’t hesitate to slap Clyde when Cartman tells him to (harsh behavior). Near the end of the episode, Ike confesses, “I feel like an asshole” when he realizes how lucky he is to not have to pursue a pirate lifestyle (vulgar speech). 

“Dead Celebrities” (S13E8): When Ike gains consciousness of his body, he says in surprise, “holy shit. What the fuck am I wearing?” and “Kyle, what the fuck is going on?” (vulgar speech). 

Getting back on track and closing the gap, we see Ike mimic his brother again, this time in “It’s a Jersey Thing”. Kyle curiously asks his parents what ‘muff cabbage’ is and Ike excitingly repeats, “muff cabbage!” recognizing that it is a vulgar word in some way, despite not knowing what it means. He repeats this once more later in the conversation. This is the last we see of Ike mimicking Kyle. From here on out, Ike either picks up vocabulary from Gerald or speaks it on his own. In a way, this is the point where Ike truly shows his independence as a character.

The events of “Taming Strange” (S17E5) show Ike acting as if he were going through puberty. The canonity of this behavior is up in the air, as this was Ike on hormonal medicine - this was not regular Ike. However, I would like to believe it was, in a way, regular Ike, given the previously and soon-to-be-discussed evidence. It was Ike, but envisioning him as a teenager. The way he acted still had some hints of his regular self, such as his love for Yo Gabba Gabba or his annoyance of Kyle’s ‘Kick the Baby’game. Therefore, I would like to believe this is Ike’s personality, but at a much later time when he will naturally be affected by these hormones. That aside, I wanted to tie this section back to Gerald and pay special attention to the beginning of the episode. The episode begins with Mr. Mackey introducing Intellilink, and as he does so, he reads out a message that Ike posted to the school message board. The message read: “my brother is a homo”. Once more, this is evidence of Ike being vulgar or offensive in his speech. Attached to the picture was a drawing that Ike made of Kyle with a penis on his forehead, and written underneath is the caption “my brother”. That is just… so strangely similar to what Gerald did. I’m not saying that Ike would ever stoop to that same level, but the fact that both he and his father at some point had posted a photo to the school message board of someone with a penis on their face is too similar not to point out. The reason Ike did this was to antagonize his brother, something Kyle later confessed Ike had been doing more frequently. Sheila replied that Ike was just getting older, and “part of getting older is finding ways to assert your independence”. “Taming Strange” is not about Ike’s love for ‘inappropriate words’, but rather, his desire to be apart from his brother as if he really was a teenager. That is why he posted the message. He likely thought it was funny, but unlike Gerald, Ike may not have done it to be funny, but to differentiate himself from his brother as an act of rebellion. 

As established in my Gerald analysis, I discussed Gerald’s desire to speak with Ike about what he was doing. With having to keep his online identity a secret, it was likely eating away at him not being able to tell anybody, so, he decided Ike was the person he could trust the most. Ike is quiet, and Gerald knew this. His lack of involvement in things, contrasting heavily from his morally-firm brother, translated to Gerald as Ike being more similar to him. With all that’s been said and proven so far, it’s safe to assume that Ike is more like Gerald, but it’s unknown if Gerald was able to piece this together. He’s intelligent and there’s no doubting that, but at the time, Gerald was so smug about what he was doing that he didn’t truly consider that, but let his ego do it for him. What’s interesting about this assumption that Gerald mentally made is that… he was right. Although Ike didn’t go to the same depths as his father did this season, his one-on-one time with him did have its influence; and that is evident in Ike’s severe increase of vulgar vocabulary. Gerald had Ike type those vulgar comments for him, and later in the season, we see Ike using the same language without Gerald present. 

Perhaps it was Sheila’s behavior that allowed Ike to be influenced by Gerald, as Ike was visibly scared of his mother, but less skittish around Gerald. Despite the severity of the words he was saying, Gerald spoke more calmly, yet sternly, to Ike than Sheila did. To a child, tone is everything. Ike may have been more drawn to Gerald than Sheila this season for this reason. Sheila was in the same house, yelling and screaming, calling Ike a monster and threatening him with punishment, while Gerald was on a screen on the computer, telling him to “make sure the little worm is in the woman’s mouth”, and instructing him to type vulgarities. The difference in how Ike’s parents spoke to him likely influenced how he was going to respond to them. Of course, Ike didn’t agree with what his father was having him do - in fact, his expressions implied he was quite uncomfortable with it, but he was much more nonchalant and less fearful than he was with Sheila’s behavior. In season twenty, Ike was between a rock and a hard place, and he felt safer with Gerald than he did with Sheila, if only because he was more scared of his mother than his father.

This forced comfort is likely part of what pushed Ike forward to begin mimicking his father’s obscenities. First and foremost, Gerald having Ike troll for him meant that the words that Gerald was having him type were certain to enter Ike’s mind, and in turn, his vocabulary. It’s already been established that Ike has an interest in vulgar speech, so with Gerald having Ike type out these words, it sort of gave Ike this unspoken permission to use those words and incorporate them into his vocabulary, and he was eager to do so.

“Not Funny” (S20E9) showcases the verbal influence Gerald has on Ike firsthand. When Kyle and Ike are rushing into the church to rally people, Ike follows Kyle’s statement of “like, uh, a bunch of babies” with “like a bunch of pussies”. It’s unmistakable that he picked up this word from his father, especially since he pointed it out in the previous episode, “Members Only” (S20E8) in telling Kyle, “daddy called you a pussy”. He seemed quite eager to use the word again, given how his tone was much more direct than Kyle’s. This word is used again by Ike later in the episode when Mr. Slave is on the phone with President Garrison, persuading and manipulating him to bomb Denmark. Ike corrects Mr. Slave’s “pussy” statement into “pussy-ass bitch” to anger Garrison more. This is Ike personally learning from what Gerald taught him. They attempt to, in tune with the overarching plot, troll Garrison into bombing Denmark by riling him up through harsh words. Ike has always been the type of person to use vulgarities in his vocabulary, such as him exclaiming “oooh, shit” when he realized his father was in the soon-to-be-bombed Denmark. Comparing this to the rest of the series, however, the sudden increase of Ike’s swearing aligns with Gerald’s influence on him - this is clear. In a mimicked scene from Mr. Slave’s phone call with Garrison, Ike once more corrects Kyle, who is now calling, on his speech in order to anger Garrison. When Kyle calls Garrison “a little dipshit president”, Ike adds on in the background, saying, “with a dirty asshole…”. Kyle repeats that on the phone, and Ike finishes off with, “and you shit out your dick”. Kyle then holds the phone back and curiously asks Ike where he learned to speak like that. Ike replies cheerfully, “daddy!”. Ike’s vulgar similarities with his father are no longer speculation, but a fact, thanks to this patch of dialogue. Ike replied to his brother very matter-of-factly. He seemed proud of his vulgar vocabulary, and proud of the fact that he learned to speak that way from Gerald. I wouldn’t imagine that he wants to be like Gerald, especially all that Gerald had done this season, but Ike clearly gets enjoyment out of vulgarities, so it makes sense that he would pick up this way of speaking so willingly.

Ike’s season twenty vulgarity ties to a close in the finale of the season, “The End of Serialization As We Know It” (S20E10). This time, Sheila finds Ike speaking vulgarities to his computer. Interestingly enough, Ike wasn’t trolling. In a previous scene, Kyle had instructed Ike not to troll, so given this information, Ike is likely helping Kyle and his friends troll by instructing them of what to say, just like Gerald had done with him. Ike proved to be vital in Kyle’s mission to overload the Internet, as even Kyle was unable to replicate his father’s vulgarities so flawlessly. Ike aids in this again when Kyle moves to the library to troll - he adds small statements here and there to spice up the insults. Ike, no doubt, learned this from his father in “Members Only”, as he explained that although the extra words are a nuance, they are important. Ultimately, this is what Ike is replicating when he adds short comments to Kyle’s trolling. Following the added statement, Kyle tells Ike, “Ike, when this is all over, we’re going to need to clean your mouth out” only for Ike to reply, “you clean your fucking mouth out”. This statement was not meant in harm, as Ike loves his brother dearly. Rather, Ike likely found humor in the vulgarity and replied for his own enjoyment. 

It’s clear that in season twenty, Ike was influenced by Gerald’s vulgarity to incorporate it into his own vocabulary, but… does it last? Is Gerald’s influence on Ike’s vocabulary visible up to the present? It’s difficult to say for sure, as Ike hasn’t been as prominently featured in an episode since “The End of Serialization As We Know It”, but there are clues here and there to support this theory. Firstly, vulgarity doesn’t necessarily mean swearing. Vulgar, as defined by Oxford Languages, is “lacking sophistication or good taste; unrefined”. It’s the informal way of speaking, and Ike’s speech can often be nonchalant and informal in the vulgar sense. There are two major encounters with Ike following this season - the first being “Splatty Tomato” (S21E10) and the second being “Tegridy Farms” (S22E4). “Splatty Tomato” focuses more on the serious side of Ike, and when Ike is more serious and determined, he tends to be silent. His use of vulgarity is often reserved for situations where he’s more relaxed, so that could not apply here.

In “Tegridy Farms”, however, this vulgar side comes out once more. He has a small part in the episode, but his attitude is visible. In this episode, Kyle finds Ike vaping on the playground. The fact that he was vaping sets him apart from his straight-laced brother and mother, and closer to his father, who has been shown on occasion to give in to similar things (cheesing in “Major Boobage” [S12E3], to name one). When Kyle finds Ike, he’s very upset, but strangely enough, Ike isn’t. He doesn’t seem to show regret that he’s vaping, only regret that Kyle found out. He denies vaping with a very nonchalant “no” as he blows smoke into the air. Then, when Kyle takes the vaping pen away, Ike gets up and says, “Hey! Gimme back my vaporizer” in a defensive, demanding tone. Kyle once more reprimands him, and Ike replies, “Oh, come on! All the kids are doing it!”. It’s clear that Ike has changed since season twenty, I would say. He’s much more independent and willing to talk back. Even his voice is more clear and evolved from what it was earlier in the series. Bringing back the stairs metaphor, it’s as if Ike took one more step into becoming his own fully fleshed-out character - he’s well on the way. Gerald played a part in this, although he didn’t intend to. When it comes to Ike’s vulgar nature, it’s always been there. Ike simply has a personality where he finds humor and enjoyment in a blatant and often harsh way of speaking. Yet, there’s a bridge between the way he acts now and the way he acted earlier in the series - at the beginning of that bridge is his brother, and at the end is his father. Ike has become much more independent from Kyle, likely as an act of rebellion to be his own person, and in the process, he unintentionally took after Gerald, particularly in the department of vulgarity. This increased vulgarity aided heavily in Ike’s journey of self-appointed maturity and independence … to be fully discussed in a later analysis.

[alphabetsoup-blogposts]

Salary?

I've already said there was nothing to the story with F and AV other than R's spooky and prescient intervention. I had actually almost forgotten the amount (in dollars) until it appeared in the ether.

As for the other, it's a 15-year-long story with many intricate side-tracks and I don't know which bit you want. I don't know what I want to say about it, either. Clearly money is important now, since it feels a bit as though it is the measure not just of time but of time on earth. Nonetheless, as I say, I find it almost pathologically impossible to focus on it and if I leave a grievance behind me it won't be penury. If someone chooses to chisel a message on my gravestone let it be "they took my sanity and equilibrium" not "they wouldn't pay me enough"!

Here are some very brief highlights:

In 2004 I joined the organisation. It was an unusual set-up, legally employed in one hierarchy but asked to serve another. I thus had an internal manager and an external boss. The nearest analogy is a secondment but it was not that. Internally, the salary rule was generous in that it prescribed a presumed 2% pay increase every year to track the inflation target.

In late 2005 I became pregnant and later went to my internal manager to update him. The difficulties with the strange, unprecedented structure then began to reveal themselves because it was clear that the old lady had given no forethought to the situation and had no intention of paying two salaries for the requisite period in order to allocate someone to cover the role adequately. The solution that seemed to occur to everyone was to close the organisation down for the period of my maternity leave and that idea was floated. I knew, however, that the project wouldn't survive that kind of hiatus, so I arranged for an external provider to provide support free of charge for 3.5 months (which is all they could manage) and I limited my maternity leave accordingly. I only mention this because it made me very conscious that T&C negotiations were not going to proceed along normal (or even legal) lines—an inference borne out, as you have seen, by their wish to avoid auto-enrolling me into the pension plan in 2013—and that, if I wanted to preserve the organisation, I had to make personal sacrifices. In short, I realised that no one cared about the project as much as me. Here's a retrospective rant about it from my 2019 diary, nearly fifteen years after the event.

In 2008 my employer off-loaded costs, including my salary, on external funders. I was nonetheless still an employee in the traditional and standard way but I inferred that it was now less likely the old lady would take me to her heart (which was my chief ambition) and I started to look for a new job.

In 2008/9, after the GFC, my external boss asked me to forgo pay rises for the foreseeable future to demonstrate public spiritedness and I agreed. Nevertheless my final salary was, I think, some GBP154k.

In 2009-10, after looking all over for a role elsewhere, I resorted to being self-employed—a move that was, as discussed, facilitated by E—and I ended up working with R. Meanwhile, the subcommittee of external superiors which had been established to find a successor failed to do so. They made one offer and received one declination. I agreed with my external boss that I would serve in my old role as an interim, part-time manager at a salary of GBP55k. The idea, obviously, was that I would only work one third of my former hours.

From 2010-2012, I established myself in both roles. The self-employment was not a huge or instant success. It made some progress but the nature of the beast is roughly that one pays tax and expenditure upfront and waits patiently for income. Things were quite tough but we survived! Because I had (only) technically resigned from my full-time role, the old lady in the person of the Valet mandated that I should enter into a series of rolling 6-month contracts on minimal terms in my new part-time role. The written contract was in the form of a short letter each time. I honestly forget who signed them but a lot of additional terms would have to be implied into those contracts to make them make any sense at all. This is why the TUPE point is complicated.

In 2012-3, the old lady resolved to spin off and incorporate the organisation. I've said a bit about this but I'm going to be elliptical here because it's so involved. It was a kind of bomb detonating in my life. Between 2010 and 2013 I lost medical insurance, whatever claim arose from having been encouraged to opt out of the pension, and all the myriad day-to-day conveniences of institutional support. Everyone said "just pull a company down of the shelf and incorporate" but of course, I had to draft the articles,* find a system for expenses, consider liability for tax, institute a systems of controls and a code of conduct, figure out how to hire, fire etc, learn employment law and all the rest etc, etc, etc, etc. Meanwhile, I turned down work on other things and what small practice I had collapsed--yet I was still working round the clock.

Incidentally, one issue that the spin off brought to the fore was the question of the accuracy of the management accounts previously provided by the old lady, which led to a dispute over the funds to be transferred. During the 10 or 11 months prior to incorporation, it was very difficult to secure any agreement with respect to staff salaries and T&C

R assisted with the drafting in 2013. I told my external boss, who thought he should be invited to join the organisation for this and other reasons.

In 2014 I started working with F. Things eased financially but I now had 3 jobs and at least 4 different roles.

In 2015 AV fired me unceremoniously from the job with F without giving reasons. I cannot say it was a surprise since things had been, as we have said, combative and antagonistic from the start. This meant that things were tough financially again. R—by now on the board--suggested that he could ask for a pay rise on my behalf. I responded rather tartly that I had previously earned much more than he was suggesting for doing the same job (citing my final full-time salary) and that I was the CEO and could award myself a pay rise since I was now working much more than the 33% FTE originally envisioned. I did not ask for his help (since I had begun to harbour "appropriateness" concerns, you might say) but I did notify the Board that I expected to be paid GBP75k (or thereabouts) and my salary was increased accordingly.

Between 2015 and 2017 the Board suggested further pay increases and I demurred on the grounds that I would then be earning 4x what I could pay other members of staff.

(During 2015 through January 2016 there was another organisational shift as we registered and acquired a regulator of sorts. That process was largely directed by R—who had relevant expertise and was very familiar with the ins and outs—and approved by my then boss. K spoke up in favour. I was more or less fine with it but not particularly keen, recognising that it would involve more admin every year. I don't think it's particularly relevant to this discussion but it was another very busy, over-committed period for me.)

In October 2017 a new boss arrived. But in the preceding July he attended a board meeting as a guest and asked me if he could appoint a remuneration subcommittee of two persons, R and K (whom he named), to deal with my pay and the question of pay for other staff members. I (naively) agreed.

In the autumn, when said boss took over the reins it immediately became apparent that everything was going to be very, very fraught and I resigned. One aspect of that was his tendency to favoritise a younger staff member (M) and—inadvertently or otherwise—to cut me out of my own chain of supervision. I was then persuaded to stay by various reassurances but things actually only got worse.

Meanwhile the remuneration subcommittee was doing it's thing. There was a recommendation to increase my salary to GBP135k and that was put into effect because I dropped my ethical objections to a raise—TLDR, thinking that I would not stay long in any event—but there was also an astonishing, weird, creepy process of renegotiating contract terms which I just had not anticipated and found utterly fearful. A law firm was brought in and produced acres of boilerplate most of which seemed to be along the kind of "shall not bring into disrepute" lines. Clearly we were suddenly all opponents in some war that I hadn't foreseen and couldn't understand. This was weird. I'd put my career and life on hold again and again to bring this baby back from inevitable death, how could they suddenly see me as a the big, looming reputational risk? The subcommittee members insisted on having private meetings with the law firm drafting the new contracts...about what? Meanwhile, there were a series of humiliating board resolutions to cap my expenditure powers to below GBP5k per month and/or item...why? No reason was given other than natural caution. What changed?

Creepiest of all, in one meeting R started staring at M—the staff member responsible for HR in our tiny little enterprise—whose contract was also under consideration--in a bizarrely coded way...the kind of stare a parent might give to communicate to a child in public without "making a fuss". But we weren't in public. There were just 4 of us in every remuneration meeting. There was an almost imperceptible nod I caught, too...WTAF? And then he went off into one of several bizarrely fixated, rambling monologues about sick pay and his theory that someone could somehow take 18 months of sick leave on half-pay by "milking" her contract terms—a risk that just bore no relation to anything in the organisation's past or present. That was surreal given the actual, live TUPE questions the organisation should have faced but didn't because, as I say, I was too busy resuscitating a baby that the old lady wanted to kill off.

There were half a dozen reiterations of the contract boilerplate and I always refused to sign... ostensibly on the grounds that no risk was on our heat map that could possibly justify the new terms (which had not been stipulated for when the board resolved to address remuneration) but in reality just because I was utterly freaked out by the creepiness of the process. Something or other most definitely was being coded for someone and it wasn't being articulated to me.

In 2021, I finally did resign. I cited the remuneration process as "creepy" but there was so, so, so much more to say ("finger pistols" anyone?) and I mentioned it as just one minor issue in a litany. What I did not say and had no reason to say was that I wanted more money. I did not say that and it would not have been true, although now, of course, I have none.

If you want detail on a particular aspect you will have to be more precise. This is just the briefest overview and should be taken as such.

*As mentioned, R did a lot of the work here and made some strong recommendations on content. Some internal lawyers were assigned to help but they either did not, in fact, produce anything or they failed to produce anything usable—I think the former, but it was a long time ago.

[vanillahub]

Things you should know before becoming a mutual

List 10 or more things you find to be essential for your blog. Essentially, highlight your rules! Let people know what they should be aware of and expected, from you! Then tag anyone you would like to learn more from!

REPOST, DON'T REBLOG!

You must be at least 18 to follow any of my blogs, minors will be blocked on sight. With that said, I'm NOT comfortable interacting with anyone below the 20+ y/o mark.

I won’t follow if: I can’t see our muses interacting / you don’t have a rules and about page for your muse / you don’t have a writing sample / you post too many things unrelated to RP

English isn’t my first language. There will be posts in my mother language. No, they won't be tagged, cope. I'm open for PT-br RPs!

I will unfollow if I see anyone vagueposting. It doesn't matter the excuse one tries to use to defend it, I'll not stand by it in any shape or form.

When I ask you (rp partners) about your boundaries and limits. PLEASE be upfront and give me an honest answer, what you refuse to write, etc. The last thing I'd like to do would be to pitch an idea, that could be triggering to you! Don’t be afraid to tell me if I end up crossing a line with anything! It most certainly was a genuine mistake.

The fandoms I refuse to interact/associate myself with: League of Legends (including any and all spin-offs, especially Arcane), MLP, Homestuck, Undertale, FNaF, Fnf, Genshin Impact, Disney, Marvel (especially the MCU), Harry Potter and any form of real person/historical/religion roleplay. This means, I'll be extra picky towards multifandom blogs that have muses, from any of the aforementioned franchises.

Tags for you to blacklist: Sexual sunday (nsfw prompts reblogged on Sundays), shipping cw (art or edits of a ship), triggering content is tagged as “___ tw/cw” (tw for picture/visual posts and cw for written things), anything borderline risqué is tagged as suggestive cw.

No fictional kins/self-inserts period. I'm not here to judge anyone, but I'm also not here to engage or indulge others in that way. Have the concept of IC =/= OOC very clear, when approaching me.

I'm VERY selective with crossovers. It's not something I'm actively looking to do, in general. Contrary to what people may think, I actually don't know a whole lot of other series, outside of the ones I'm already RPing for. I also prefer doing crossovers with series that in my eyes, mesh well with one another to a degree. My most well known series include: Star wars, pokemon, castlevania, saint seiya, Tekken and Sonic

I’ll not dumbify or tone down my muses for anyone. While I'm totally open for discussing things, I'll NOT change core elements of my portrayals, just to suit sb else's wishes.

In that regard: It's up to you to avoid muses you know, will touch on subjects that may make you uncomfortable or trigger you. Prioritize your well-being.

Is shipping wars still a thing? Yeah, we respect our ships in this house. Regardless if they are CC x CC or OC x CC or even OC x OC. My only real hard limits for ships in general are incest, minor/adult and some specific NOTPs.

[kitsuna-ri]

So I lost my job yesterday and while I know it’s for the best (because ooh boy constant anxiety and stress) things were kinda fucked how it went down and I just want to make sure I’m not crazy. Here’s the rundown (it’s long, sorry):

Accepted SM assistant role last August. Was upfront about having limited experience, mostly either with accounts that had no budget or having long steps to go through to get a post approved. Said I was primarily a social WRITER but could make simple graphics and what not because I can use Photoshop and Canva. Basically hit the ground running, had virtually no real training and vague instructions. I was also suddenly in charge of way more categories, some of which had their own separate pages on social platforms and I would have to be responsible for all of them. I started with 5 categories, three of which consistently had multiple weekly or monthly events that needed posts. I also had to help boost, do mild comment and message moderation, and live tweet well into late hours or over the weekend. After getting settled I took on more work because we were a small team and I wanted to be as helpful as possible. I ended up taking on a weekly filming task that meant filming and editing the video in less than a day’s time. It took time because I had mentioned I don’t have strong video editing skills but I was willing to learn and try my best.

In late January, I was hit with a surprise move. I was told I had to be out by March and it was a few days from February. I was scrambled. But I still continued to take on what I could while panicking about my living situation. I get the move scheduled to not cost me too much missed time in the office. I asked my manager if I could WFH the day before my move just to wrap things up and was told to come in. I complied.

All this time, I have never once been approached about my quality of work from my clients or my boss. In fact, I even received a glowing yearly review and told I’m doing wonderful and I work great with my clients. We did have one of my categories break off and essentially took over their own social media with an influencer. It came as a big shock but I tried to roll with the punches and keep working hard for my other clients.

Then we had a HUGE event, like all hands on deck kind of thing. Still not given a ton of direction just “make as much content for this event as possible.” So I did. Now, around the end, I was having some trouble in my life (worries about my health, parents, etc) so I was admittedly burned out. I dropped a few balls. Nothing bad happened, no social catastrophe or anything, just didn’t pay attention when reposting a post and didn’t realize it was a carousel and not just one photo. I used a photo by prof photographer from a preview party and my manager felt the angle wasn’t good and took it down. Then, after she talked to me and was wanting to offer to show me some tips and tricks which I was eager for. Then there was an issue with a department she had basically dumped on me with little explanation and told me to use artist bios and I used one from the artist’s site and apparently that wasn’t ok. I told her I’d definitely be much more careful.

Then, I asked our intern to post a video on TT to continue a series we had started. Our intern was out but told me she could post things no problem even when I voiced concerns. She posted the video and apparently there was a typo. My manager completely loses it in in Teams but worse yet, in a group chat with one of my coworkers. I had a panic attack and was trying to explain what happened, apologizing and taking the Ls and offering solutions. She demands a conversation the next day so I agree.

She realizes like late morning that she had berated me in front of our coworker and apologized. But we were still having our convo. In this talk she’s telling me suddenly that my work has only ever just been “ok” which is the first time I’m ever hearing this feedback. We had monthly one on ones and she Never. Said. Anything. But now suddenly I was a problem and I needed to reconsider things, see if this is the right position, and she said she’d work with me and I was like “ok. I’m going to improve, I’m not going to screw up like this again.”

So the process was I sent her the design and proposed copy of what I wanted to post and she’d give me feedback. She NEVER came to shoot with me or show me tricks or tips except like once near the end. Instead she started “not giving a fuck” Because she was getting demoted from director to manager and was mad about it. She started half assing things and even being really curt and rude to clients. Meanwhile, I’m busting my ass to create only the best with minimal to no direction or real advice but I was noticing improvement. Plus, my clients were so happy with the work I was creating and how I was working with them.

I had another one on one and she tells me I’m doing great, she’s happy to see me taking everything to heart, etc etc.

This continues and other than one misunderstanding, I thought everything was great! I was doing more with video editing and really trying to make dynamic designs.

This month comes around and we’re suddenly hit with three BIG events in one of my categories, all happening at the same time, two events in one of my other categories, and I had also agreed to take one one other category which had weekly events as well. That meant for this month I ended up having 10 events to promote. We also lost our ability to boost ads so everything was relying on purely organic engagement. I made assets, I tried to balance posting with the three big events because they all had to post on the same IG/FB page. I didn’t want any one to be out shined and wanted to make sure the page didn’t seem spammy with so many posts each day because my other coworker also had two categories that shared the same page. So A LOT was being posted.

We have a meeting and someone asked if we were posting about a specific collection on social. We said yes, for sure. Because I had been posting. Then he continued on to say that he knew the lack of bids was just because this collection had way too high prices. Didn’t say anything else about social or our posts.

But my manager messages me basically berating me for not posting enough and why the fuck wasn’t I working hard. I was like ???? And explained my reasoning and immediately got told I was wrong and I had ten days to get posts up to three per event per day. So I proceeded to bust my ass.

Now, here’s the thing, I couldn’t post if she didn’t review my stuff. So I sent her all these posts to hit this new goal annnnnnnnnnnnd I got nothing back. For a day and a half. I had to ask for them three times before finally getting the feedback. But I still kept working. Then I unfortunately got food poisoning.

BUT because we had our new director starting, I took pepto and sipped on ginger ale so I could make it into the office. And I did. I did wind up leaving early but I had still been creating work and sending it.

However, because I suppressed my food poisoning the next day I was MISERABLE. So I finally decided to take the day. I sent my manager a message and hear nothing back so I make sure all my shit is handled and ended up having to do a whole video while feeling like death. But I did it.

I still had things ready and scheduled so I at least would be good to go. Now, in the afternoon my manager finally messaged me only to try and yell at me about a post my other coworker had done. She did say “apologies” and then asked if I’d be in the next day. I said I was going to do everything I could do I wouldn’t fall behind.

The next day, I did go in. A few hours later she suddenly showed up (she doesn’t work in office on Fridays). I’m working on some stuff, I had already sent her some things to approve, and she suddenly messaged me asking if I had a sec.

And that’s when she walked me to a conference room that HR was in. I even asked her if everything was ok while we were walking and she was like “mmhmm”

They didn’t let me pack my stuff, I had to ask my friend to get my things. They tried to be like “this isn’t a firing for anything bad…you just weren’t the right fit.” And my manager kept saying “we had all those discussions” but I’m over here like ?????? We’ve had maybe TWO and one was THIS WEEK!!! And it takes more than a day, hell a week, for HR to process a firing. I had formal write ups and yet I was done.

I’m so mad and also scared and just ugh. Fuck Capitalism, fuck that lying bitch, and just…fuck my life.

[thenickelportrust]

Masterpost

The Blurb:

It’s a story about a world full of heroes with odd and amazing powers! But… you’re not one of them. You don’t have powers, and you don’t plan to go and fight crime. No, you’re just a model, everyday citizen. A reporter, in fact, tied into the events of heroes but never really a part of them…

Except for one (well, two, but thats already said and done), little exception.

You work for The Nickelport Rust, a controversial paper known for one reason and one reason only.

Unmasking heroes.

_________

The Demo

Here!

Url: https://dashingdon.com/play/definitelynotrena/model-citizens-unmasked/mygame/

_________

The Characters

Characters Page (Has everyones genders, sexualities, and personalities. Includes minor characters)

Asks with everyone tagged

Finley Burke

Tag, Appearance

Rafael Darzi

Tag, Appearance

Jacob Greenhill

Tag, Appearance

Lucille “Lucy” Pinchette

Tag, Appearance

Yolanda Waltz

Tag, Appearance

Eileen Abney

Tag, Appearance

The Informant

Tag, Appearance

Ricky Dempsey

Tag, Appearance

Vera / Vega / Vincent Bayer 

Tag, Appearance

Erin Liu

Tag, Tag (before their name reveal)*, Appearance

Other specific Qs:

Where do the ROs live?

What about the MCs family?

*(there’s no link here yet because apparently I did not possess the foresight to actually tag the Qs with them as 10 before their name reveal so... that’s gonna take a hot second gimme a minute)

(Will also get the appearances up soon, too, having trouble finding the specific post with their appearances)

_________

Sketch Sunday, Fun Fact Friday, and Other Fun Things

Sketch Sunday Tag

Fun Fact Friday Tag

Short Stories Tag

_________

Other Social Media

Linktree

Redbubble

Itch.io 

Twitter 

Discord

_________

FAQ

When will the next update be out?

I don’t know the specific date and I’ll be honest I also don’t like giving specific dates because then if I break them that’s Bad. 

I do have a general goal and I’ll be happy to tell you my general goal but also keep in mind that, as always, Model Citizens: Unmasked is something written for fun and put up so others can have fun with it, too. While I wholly intend to see this project through to the end no matter what, I also intend to keep it as something I do for fun and relaxation, which does mean progress can slow if other priorities take precedence.

But all that aside--

Current General Goal for Next Update:

-- (i’ve been in a truman show style series of strange but minor misfortunes so its gonna take a hot sec to get that settled, sorry!) --

What will the next update be?

More stuff in the interview! Two main goals:

Adding more questions

I’m going to add some more basic questions to either make Yolanda more or less suspicious. So far not a lot of people have been kicked out of the interview and that’s good because it means I have more space to play around with the results of her suspicion.

To also go with this:

Upping the number of questions you can ask.

With the addition of questions you can ask I’m going to up the inquiry limit before you get kicked out of the interview. This will give you more room to pick and choose what’s important, I hope (allowing you to choose ones that aren’t as important to your article but could be a chance to curry favor / lower suspicion with her / just get to know Yolanda more, or stick to purely info gathering)

This will be a shorter update, and thus also come along quicker (not another year-long gap, aha) and hopefully with the higher inquiry limit and the extra questions make some secret scenes (getting kicked out and her romance, for example) more accessible in general.

Thanks for sticking around and your continued support!

Have you dropped this project? / Why is it so slow?

I know I kinda ramble-answered this in the first q but it’s my policy to be upfront and honest with the state of my priorities and this project:

Model Citizens: Unmasked is not dropped.

Model Citizens: Unmasked has always been for fun. This does mean it’s not going to be my number one priority most of the time-- however it also means I have zero qualms about taking all the time I need to do everything I want with it.

Model Citizens: Unmasked is going to be a very large undertaking. But that’s okay! Part of the reason I want to keep it as something I do for fun and relaxation and put up so others can relax and have fun with it is so that I don’t have to trim it back. I can let this story run wild and have three totally different paths for one scene because I’m not holding myself to a deadline or an expectation of word length or writing time or whatever. I can let myself go wild with 10 different ROs and their own storylines because I don’t care how long it takes to write them. 

I just wanna write them, so I will.

What’s the Current Word Count?

According to google docs: 350,000 words* *(rounded to the nearest 1,000 // including code (including that horribly messed up coding I have in chapter one, so once that’s fixed it might easily knock another 1-2K words off of that.)

(Send me some qs youd like in the FAQ if you want)

_________

General Content Warnings:

Drugs and alcohol, violence (in terms of fights, both physical and using weapons) / fantasy violence (in terms of powers), romantic content (nothing explicit).

If there’s anything else, let me know. Nothing should go into graphic detail, but they exist and there is some level of detail of each. So take care of yourselves!

Have a lovely day!

[scorpionyx9621]

In Defense of Mako from Legend of Korra: The Avatar Franchise's Unsung Hero (Warning | Does Contain Spoilers for the Legend of Korra as a whole series)

Well this isn't a controversial topic that's going to garner me hate. My main intro to fandom in general started way back with two franchises: Resident Evil and the Avatar: The Last Airbender Series. As someone who is on the verge of turning 26, I realize I'm on the older end of the demographic trend of those who like the franchise (Even though the show first aired in February 2005) and as many people will tell you, The ATLA franchise and especially the original series is widely lauded as one of, if not the best animated series of all time. With the Legend of Korra coming out as the sequel to the original series back in April of 2012, I was a high schooler during that time and was beginning to develop and understand more nuanced and complex topics and character traits. And to me, despite it's multiple flaws, The Legend of Korra was a brilliant sequel built atop a personally flawless universe.

The Legend of Korra was a more adult take on the Avatar franchise. A series well known for not shying away from very real and very adult topics like war, poverty, death, genocide, classisim, etc. To see this world evolve into an industrial revolution and live through its form of Gilded Age was such a unique and engaging twist on a fictional universe I already had a deep love for. We have our new Avatar; Korra, a young woman from the Southern Water Tribe given the title of the next Avatar following the death of Aang, the main character of the original ATLA series. We get to see her perspective and watch her juggle being The Avatar and being a young adult in the same universe we saw the original Gaang work tirelessly throughout their adult lives to create. We get to watch her make new friends and eventually form her own Team Avatar, which is where we get introduced to Mako and Bolin.

That's enough gushing about the universe this is set in but it does help provide context to what I will try to argue in this post. Mako is one quarter of Korra's Team Avatar, the eventual ignored axis of the Korra/Mako/Asami love triangle, and almost 70% of the drama that happens within the party. One of Legend of Korra's weaknesses as a series compared to Avatar the Last Airbender was its heavy focus on romantic relationships as subplot to create tension and drama within the team. To call Mako a fuckboy is like calling the sky blue. That being said, the sheer vitriol that the fandom has against him is astounding. The Legend of Korra holds no punches with Mako in that they are very upfront about Mako not being a generally nice person at best to being a selfish player at his lowest characterization. However none of this detracts from the fact that Mako has saved the world alongside Korra and the rest of Team Avatar MULTIPLE times.

Yet because of a poor reception of his character to the literal world-spanning conflict that was this show's shipping wars. We've seen Mako get cast to the side over and treated worse than the freaking villains of the show, which include but aren't limited to; terrorists who want to commit ethnic cleansing (Among) a religious zealot who wishes to usher in thousands of years of Darkness (Unalaq) an anarchist who literally does not care who he kills and ALSO wanted to commit ethnic cleansing (Zaheer) and a literal fascist dictator who was willing to go as far as putting her own people in concentration camps all because they disagree with her. (Kuvira)

In this tangent I'm not trying to say any of Mako's actions in his relationships with Korra and Asami were justified or good decisions. I am trying in this post to provide context as to why he is how he is and why he, to this day, still is my favorite protagonist from The Legend of Korra. So enjoy! Or don't, you're choosing to use your free time to read this, I'm just infodumping because I'm a LoK fan, a simp for Mako, and a history buff whose favorite time period to study is the Industrial Revolution/Gilded Age/Edwardian Era. So enjoy! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I guess we should give a general history of these two because hey, context. Mako is a mixed-heritage fire bender who grew up in Republic City, a nation-state-city-thing founded by the original Gaang to be a city where all people of all nationalities whether you were from the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, or the Northern and Southern Water tribes could come together and live harmoniously.

Mako and Bolin's father, San, was an Earth Bender and an Earth Kingdom national originally from Ba Sing Se who came from a very large family of grocers/produce vendors and hailed from the poorest economic circle/caste in Ba Sing Se. San had aspirations and dreamed of moving to the fabled Republic City in an attempt to try to better his life. This caused a fallout between San and his father, after which San made his way from Ba Sing Se to Republic City. After an undetermined amount of time, San met a Fire Nation woman named Naoki, the two formed a relationship and eventually had a son who could fire-bend. (Mako) Two years later, they had another son, this time one who could earth bend (Bollin)

We don't know the economic standing that San and Naoki found themselves in but considering how Mako and Bollin had to grow up following what happened, it can be assumed they were lower-middle class at best. However after an indeterminate amount of time, the family took this photo seen above together and sent it to San's family back in Ba Sing Se, like you'd take a picture of your family and send it out as holiday cards, which I assume this is what it was. But it let San's family know that he was alive and now has a family of his own and two sons.

Unfortunately this happiness did not last. As supposedly not long after, in a break-in robbery gone wrong, Mako witnessed as his mother and father were murdered by a fire bender. Making him not only an orphan but now the sole caretaker for his younger brother. Now, I need to stress to everyone reading this of the fact that not only was Mako just a kid when this happened, but Mako was EIGHT (8) years old when he watched his whole world get turned upside down as he watched a fire-bender murder his mother and father. Mako was a genuine child. Most human males don't start the very first phases of puberty until about 10 at the earliest. All of this piled on top of the fact that Mako now has to care for his six year old brother when he himself is just a kid.

People ask, 'why didn't Mako take Bolin and himself to Ba Sing Se?' 'What about Naoki's family?' San was basically disowned by his father, and from what we know about how Mako and Bolin stayed in Republic City it's very likely San didn't tell Mako or Bollin about his family. When Mako and Bolin met their paternal uncle Chow and their Grandmother Yin in Book 3, Chow and Yin didn't even know that San had died. That's how little San and his family communicated. The only reason why they even re-united was that Chow noticed the striking resemblance Bolin had to San. Chow's brother and Bolin's father. We literally know nothing about Naoki other than her name and what she looked like. We don't know her family or her origin or where she came from or even if she was a fire bender. It's implied that she was a fire bender because Mako is a fire bender, but we don't even know that for sure because again, all that we know is her name, what she looked like, and that she was from the Fire Nation. Even if Mako was 8, I feel if he had known about these family members, he would have at least tried to find them or reach out to them. But given what we were shown in S3. Mako and Bolin never knew they had family in Ba Sing Se, let alone they had any family left other than the two of them.

As the show went along we got more details about who the brothers were and how they came to be, and even a short mini-series on how three years prior to meeting Korra they met Pabu and discovered Pro-Bending called Republic City Hustle. It's a cute short that sheds light onto their background and insight to their characters.

It's established pretty early on that Mako is the stern, but caring older brother on the show. He still has his funny moments but in general his main focus is keeping him and Bolin alive. It's stated in the show that Mako did anything to keep him and Bolin fed and alive. A lot of people don't get that this show was taking place during this universe's Edwardian Era (it feels like the Gilded Age and the Edwardian Era get lumped together because it falls right after the industrial revolution and before World War I even though the Gilded Age ranges from 1870-1900 and the Edwardian Era spans from 1900-1914/15-ish. So I guess the Edwardian Era because they had radio broadcasts and early forms of movies/televisions but Auto/Satomobiles were just becoming mainstream/readily available.) (Post update I've come to realize that what they were going for was the Roaring 20's but this honestly changes little) ANYWAYS Child Labor laws really weren't what they used to be, even in the most progressive of countries at the time. I want to circle us back to Mako and Bolin by reminding you that Mako was 8 when his parents were murdered. At that point and time, as he watched both of his parents get murdered by a fire-bender, at that exact moment Mako stopped being a kid and immediately had to become an adult.

Mako is often portrayed as this brooding, hard ass type who can be really immature when upset but also gloats and acts even impudent at times. A lot of this stems from the fact that since he was 8, Mako had to learn not only how to survive on the streets of a major city, learn how to make money, how to feed, clean, house, and support not only himself but his six year old brother. Most people in their teens and twenties once they reach the point they can physically have children struggle with this GREATLY. Let alone an EIGHT YEAR OLD. Mako spent the entirety of his formative childhood years and well into his early adulthood having the stressors of a fully-matured adult on his shoulders. I'm not surprised at all he's lacking in terms of the social skills department. Especially when it comes to talking about his emotional maturity around friends and romantic partners. I think it's safe to say outside of what little schooling Mako did receive, his childhood wasn't focused on making friends and maintaining friendships/relationships.

Also yes, Mako detractors, it's proven multiple times that Mako and Bolin both are fully literate. Mako has been made to write NUMEROUS incident reports as a police officer via Lin Beifong, and in probably the stupidest use of the Avatar State ever, Korra used the bright white lights of doom to act as a nightlight for Mako so he could read a book. Infuriatingly stupid? You bet, does it show that a literal street-urchin defying all the odds thrown against him and being someone who is literate enough to enjoy a book on his own free time? You betcha.

In a roundabout way, I'm trying to explain that Mako doesn't have the best social skills based on the fact that he was an orphan in what was essentially the early 1910's for this world's societal timeframe and as such he didn't have much in the ways of a social upbringing. I don't think he really had a good, genuine friendship with anyone outside his brother until he met Korra and Asami. He most likely had to adopt the mindset that everyone who isn't paying him is an obstacle in the way of him earning a means to survive.

Yet at the same time, this is what I grew to love about Mako. Was that despite the literal mountain of trauma he carries on his shoulders, he's an amazingly well-adjusted person considering his circumstances.

When we first meet him in Book 1 he's finally at a bit of an upswing in his life, he works at a power plant that utilizes Fire Benders who can generate lighting to power Republic City's electricity. (Most likely fantastic for the environment, on a meta level thinking about human rights? This is a literal nightmare.) And with this job he's able to keep a roof over his and Bolin's head and he's able to participate in Pro-Bending on the side. Considering not 3 years before him and Bolin were basically wearing rags and on the street doing whatever he can to get him and Bolin food.

Can we also discuss how utterly broken Mako is if we go based on the original lore of the ATLA universe? If memory serves Lightning generation is a thing that naturally not every fire bender is able to do, like it's a genetic thing or something, it has culturally waned in terms of being taught. To the point that at the end of ATLA: The only four humans known to be capable of generating and redirecting lightning were Ozai, Zuko, Azula, and Aang. It became taught by Zuko through the generations and although it became significantly more common again, not every fire bender could generate lightning. Mako already is a fairly talented Fire Bender considering he hasn't had much of any formal training on his bending abilities but the fact that his fire bending is to the caliber as some of the fiercest enemies in ATLA, but having lighting generation skills on par with, if not surpassing that of the literal Fire Nation royal family not even a century ago.

And this is when we just meet Mako when he was just 18. He's able to generate a genuinely powerful blast of lightning at Amon while he's being blood bended and gave Amon a powerful enough blast to temporarily incapacitate him. (Aang was blood bended by Amon's father and was only able to break out by going into the Avatar state) but it gets to the point by book 4, in order to stop Kuvira's Mecha from destroying Republic City, Mako generates lightning at the spirit branch powering the machine to the point he physically burns and disfigures his own arm by just how much lightning this man was generating. The entire power-scaling gymnastics Legend of Korra goes through is already nonsense but this? This is fucking scary. This is some Sozin's comet level shit coming out of some random 22 year old man who grew up on the streets. I don't know how else to emphasize that Mako canonically has killed a person because of his lightning bending. (she was a villain about to murder him but still)

Regardless of his abilities, Mako is a character who has been through an extreme amount of trauma. As a social scientist by trade, Mako had defied literally every statistic placed against him. After losing his parents he not only was able to provide for himself but for Bolin too. He managed to do all of this starting before he even hit puberty. Yet despite all of the years of unresolved trauma. Mako is still a good person.

Back in Book 1 Mako was just as on board with taking down the Equalists as Korra. Mako did this to help people and he did all of this of his own volition. Yes he was at Korra's side and he was technically eating Asami, but Mako had 0 obligation to stay by The Avatar's side. Especially when him and his brother's lives were in danger. Given Mako's background and how he had to live a very selfish life to survive, this shows that Mako genuinely is a good person who went along for the ride and came out on top.

Funnily enough, when you look into the next Book, Mako becomes a cop in Republic City. Our boy here really is just poor Bruce Wayne with superpowers. He got to go on one vigilante adventure with a hot girl paying attention to him and now he's about honor and justice. God, Mako, I want to hit you. He clearly went through a power trip by the end of Book 1 and him working at a Power Plant wasn't going to give him the same kind of rush so he goes to Chief Beifong. And honestly, I'll bet Lin was fucking relieved that the most powerful fire bender she's ever seen is a temperamental 18 year old blue collar worker just suddenly decided to make any potential headache and stack of paperwork disappear by walking to her office and asking her for a job. And as Book 2 would later show us, Mako is literally just an incident report waiting to happen.

Regardless, a large part of his character arc was finding out how to be a good person and be a good friend at the same time. Mako is a character who tears down a lot of personal walls and matures a tremendous amount as the books go on. He starts as an adult at 18 with 10 years of experience to opening up as a friend and love interest, to being confronted with a lot of his own negative traits, him not taking it well, to him recognizing that no, he's not the hero and is actively the problem the majority of the time to bring a fully matured character by the end of the show. Again, Mako really is just Bruce Wayne if Bruce was poor and had to take care of a child once his parents died. I get Bruce's reasoning of being a vigilante hero and beating up "villains" isnt a story everyone likes. But I fuck it, I'm basically 2000 words in and we're still here.

Okay obligatory simp section: people don't appreciate the fact that Mako is INTIMIDATING AS FUCK. Yes the guy is in his late teens and early twenties but Mako is 6'2. And is an athlete who becomes a cop who then becomes the personal bodyguard to the heir of a Queen who was murdered. Wu hired Mako because he KNEW Mako's reputation as a bender. (and as a man) Mako is often portrayed as a stick whereas Bolin is everyone's beefy thick god supreme. Mako isn't thick with 72 C's but Mako is not scrawny and has a very athletic build and is quite muscular.

Add on top of the fact that benders, particularly Fire Benders, had a very negative stigma surrounding them during the events of book 1. Mako, to someone who you've never met, a 6'2 muscular, sharp-faced rough looking fire bender coming your way is a very intimidating site. And this information isn't lost on Mako. He's well aware that he holds the exact same power that many people in Republic City fear. He apologizes to Asami after finding out a fire-bender killed her mother. He carries the exact same power that was used by the very person he watched murder his own parents. And Mako knows how to capitalize on it. Mako has threatened to use his bending to harm people on numerous occasions as a means to get what he wants out of them. Notedly for the greater good but still. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a pissed off 18 year old who is pinning me to a wall and has fire superpowers and lightning superpowers to match that of the gods all whilst he's generating a knife made out of FIRE and putting it between my arm and my head. (Don't fucking lie you simp that is your DREAM)

One of the areas where I feel we see LoK succeed over ATLA is we truly get to see these characters evolve over the course of years. There's a big gap between books 2 and 3 and an even bigger gap between books 3 and 4. By the time we re-united with Mako at the start of book 4, he's 22 and a fully established adult. He's now the personal bodyguard for the extremely eccentric Prince Wu, the nephew of the now deceased tyrannical Earth Queen and next in line for the throne of the Earth Kingdom.

They establish very early on that yes, this is the same Mako as before for better or for worse, but Mako has truly come into his own of who he wants to be, a protector. He wants to be someone who defends the innocent and punishes those who are unjust (Insert Bruce Wayne reference here) However when we look at his re-design for Book 4 Mako has one of the most dramatic design changes. He's very non-descript with a toned down style as opposed to his loud and brash style with his rocking up-do haircut. He's now settled for a neat, gelled comb-over that looks like it ages him about 5 years older than he actually is. I feel a large part of this has to do with him working with royalty, as in the follow-up comics to Book 4, when given the choice and not under obligation to protect Prince Wu, Mako will choose to go back to his original hair style.

But Book 4 serves as what I consider a good enough wrap-up to his character. Mako realizes that even though he does still harbor feelings for Korra. That's not what is in both of their best interests and that's completely okay. Him and Korra are still able to maintain a solid friendship based on a deep amount of trust they both have for each other. I cannot stress enough that again, Mako and the rest of Team Avatar were walking into a mission against Kuvira they very likely wouldn't make it out of. And Mako very nearly almost killed himself by just how much he was exerting himself to destroy the Spirit Branch. Hell the actual burst of lighting he generated was so powerful and was so prolonged he literally physically burned his own arm to the point he's physically disfigured now because of it. That is how far Mako was willing to go for the Avatar and for what he believed in.

The Legend of Korra is a phenomenal successor to Avatar the Last Airbender. That being said, LoK had a lot of glaring weaknesses that overall dragged the show down. Its heavy reliance on its romantic subplot has got to be the biggest weakness of the show. As it polarized the fandom very quickly to the entirety of the main team. Mako fell on the short end of that straw because he was the player, the main love interest of the Avatar for the first half of the show and we spent the latter half dealing with the fallout of their relatively messy break up. Causing many in the fandom to immediately subjugate Mako to just being a fuckboy hard ass.

Mako is a character who has seen and lived through an untold amount of trauma from a very early age. I don't need a PHD or MD to tell the people of Tumblr.com that trauma literally changes the way you form relationships and respond to the world. Mako is no different. Yet he doesn't let his trauma define him. I like Mako as much as I do because he's an absolutely ridiculously powerful bender but also this is a man who you can't say no to. You can't tell Mako no or he can't do that because he's smart and creative enough to give it a multiple good college-trys and he's also strong enough to electrocute a quarter of freaking Republic City so he'll find a way to do it and get it done.

I think Mako's key sticking point is that he's a bit too adult of a character for this TV shows. A lot of the decisions he makes are seen as cold and harsh but this guy has spent a decade on the streets trying to keep not only himself but his kid brother alive. And the second he gets a moment to actually express himself emotionally and romantically things go awry because he wasn't properly socialized on how to sustain and maintain healthy friendships and romantic relationships. It almost feels like he was set-up from the get-go to fail in this regards.

Regardless Mako is not the demon the fandom makes him out to be. He's brash, brooding, and a little bit immature, but to call him the villain of the show is both an insult to Mako but to the villains of the show. Because Mako is the man who I genuinely believe would give you the shirt off his back if you were struggling and my single favorite part of this whole series is the villains. Where Korra's Team struggled and felt conflicted the villains were the true highlight of the show.

Anyways long tangent over: I love Mako and his absolute dorkiness and his stupid eyebrows and nice muscles. He's a genuinely good character who deserves his pearls but to be studied as well because why did we need to give him the power of Thor? Why? It was very sexy of them to do it but I'm just confused as to why. Anyways I hope you gained something out of this infodump because boy this took a day and a half.

[sneezypeasy]

Dissecting the Discourse: Part 3?

Welp, looks like there will be a third installment in my “Writing up a Zutara Drama Timeline” series. 

Full disclaimer upfront: The past two times I attempted to break down a Zutara fandom controversy, I was a neutral bystander who was mostly blindsided by what happened. I had to piece together the timeline of events as an outsider, someone who didn’t witness most of the infighting in real time.

This time, I was there almost from the start, and I was later directly named as someone who had a role to play in the controversy, which dragged me much closer to the conflict than I was comfortable with. This is partly why I’ve found it difficult to write up this post, because this time, my connection to the drama is significantly more personal and direct. In writing these posts, my goal was always to offer a deconstruction of events that was emotionally distanced, fair and objective as I could possibly make it, and being “close” to the action as I was (and the accusations) made that nearly impossible last week.

I have now reached a point where I believe I am able to report on the situation without letting my ego or my emotions muddy my thoughts too heavily on the subject. However, I think it’s important that people read this post being fully informed of the fact that this time, I am not a neutral third-party, and to take that into account as they read. However, I hope that my timeline can still help, for some.

So, with that being said, here is my breakdown of what happened:

TWs: non-explicit references to BDSM, kink, kink communities, darkfic (including rapefic/nonconfic).

1) On January 23rd, a user (who has consented to be identified here by their tumblr handle @ironpines) received an ask on tumblr expressing fondness towards “old” Zutara fics that depicted “Stockholm syndrome” and “abusive capture” dynamics. Ironpines responded positively to the ask, agreeing that writers and readers who enjoy darkfic should not be shamed for it and expressed support for a “don’t like don’t read” position towards fiction containing “problematic” tropes.

2) Soon afterwards, another user, who will be identified here as User X, responded to an ask that stated “someone is literally in the Zutara tag whining about how there isn’t enough r*pe porn anymore”. User X expressed agreement with their anon ask, and suggested that “problematic” fiction was previously an oversaturated medium in the Zutara fandom, and that they “died for a reason and we’re so much better for it now.” 

3) Later that same day, on a Zutara discord server that I am part of, ironpines and User X initiated a heated debate on the topic of BDSM kink. It is my understanding that the argument initially stemmed from the anon asks mentioned above, and thus was limited to the context of BDSM kink in fiction, but this was soon abandoned in favour of discussing the practices of BDSM and kink communities as a whole.

User X expressed various opinions critical of BDSM kink, those who participate in it and BDSM communities in general, comparing BDSM to self-harm, sexual exploitation, abuse and predatory behaviour, and accused kink communities and participants of enabling or glorifying abuse or abusive structures. Ironpines took a heated stance against these arguments, asserting that BDSM is more comparable to activities like martial arts, paintball, tattoos etc - (in other words, activities that generally do not garner social condemnation due to the element of willing and informed consent despite the inherent element of risk). User X argued that the gender disparity she has observed in dom/sub dynamics are a natural extension of misogynistic power structures in society, and that most women (particularly submissive women) who claim to enjoy kink are victims of cult-like pressure/brainwashing that are enabled by these societal structures, at one point comparing kink in kink communities to abuse and rape within the Catholic church. Ironpines took offense to User X’s beliefs, arguing that her claims were ignorant, and that the rhetorical framework for these views were infantilising and rooted in sexism stemming from an adherence to radical feminist ideology, that seeks to pathologise female sexual agency/liberation.

As previously mentioned, the debate spiralled into passive-aggressive and unproductive territory fairly quickly. Examples include User X telling ironpines at one point to “get well soon <3” (implying that their perspective is that of a mentally unwell person), and ironpines declaring that “zuko is going to have so much fun cnc’ing [Katara], bye” (declaring their intention to continue writing fanfics of Zuko and Katara in a BDSM dynamic despite, or perhaps even because of, the discord argument.) 

Two other users acted mostly as bystanders throughout the fight: one who has consented to be named here as firelxdykatara, and another who I will call User A. At the very beginning of the argument, User A objected to the comparison between BDSM and self-harm, arguing that this was not a fair analogy to make, though she did not elaborate further on this assertion. Towards the end of the debate User A told User X that her arguments were “alienating a lot of people in the server”, before ultimately shutting down the debate as it “[wasn’t] going anywhere and just talking in circles”. Firelxdykatara’s involvement in the debate was to assert, similarly, that “kink is not self-harm” and that User X’s perspective was “inherently invalidating & infantilizing to adults who are capable of making their own sexual decisions''. To my knowledge, that was the extent of these users’ participation/involvement in the discussion. 

About two hours after the argument ended, I entered the channel and skimmed over the debate. Having studied sexual sadism/masochism in both a formal (university) context, and in an anecdotal context (from friends who profess to enjoy kink to some degree, whether in real life, or in their writing/fanfictions, or both), my understanding of kink and kink communities differed greatly from the opinions I saw User X express. I also saw that while several of her assertions had been categorically rebuffed, the rebuttals provided little elaboration or explanation.

I have a strong personal dislike towards dogmatic approaches to discourse, and skimming over the chat, I felt like there were questions raised in the discord argument that deserved a more comprehensive answer (not necessarily even for User X’s sake but also for the benefit of any lurkers who might be curious, yet hesitant to participate directly given the intensity of the debate). In an attempt to not stoke the flames any further than had already been stoked, but also to try to provide some answers, I posted a link to an essay that explained, in depth, the harms of many anti-kink arguments (including but not limited to, “kink is equivalent to self-harm”, “kink should be kept only to yourself, never written and shared to a wider community”, “kink is only valid for abuse/rape survivors and even then, what they really need is therapy”, etc etc). I also attempted to give my take on why kink and self-harm are not analogous behaviours, speaking as a Psych major who’d formally studied Abnormal Psychology. To the best of my recollection, that was the extent of my involvement in the Discord Argument. 

4) Shortly afterwards, User X was banned from the discord server. There were various reasons for this; the main reason that I’m aware of is that heightened suspicion developed before, during and after the discord argument, that User X was the user who leaked the previous screenshot(s) during the Zutara Smut Week drama, and that her continued access to the server was thus a lingering threat to user privacy and safety. 

5) Around the same time, ironpines began receiving anon asks on their tumblr, ranging from mocking to vilifying, for the arguments they expressed and/or experiences they shared in the aforementioned discord argument. Ironpines responded relatively aggressively to these asks, and on multiple occasions both directly and indirectly accused the anon(s) of being User X. This appeared to fuel a vicious cycle, where ironpines’ reactions to the anon asks (including one response which included ironpines telling User X to “choke on the radfem dick you’re eating rn”) resulted in more anon backlash and accusations of misogyny/harassment/bad-faith conduct, which resulted in more hostile responses from ironpines, which resulted in more anon asks condemning their hostility, and so on and so on. 

6) On January 25th, a user presenting themselves as a third-party to the discord debate, approached an A:TLA “confessions” blog claiming to have “receipts” (screenshots from the aforementioned discord argument), proving that ironpines was the primary aggressor towards User X from the beginning. They alleged that ironpines’ behaviour, both in the discord chat and thereafter, was simultaneously unwarranted and unconscionable, summing up that User X had “questioned certain violent fetishes over discord” and that ironpines had responded to this with vindictive anger and harassment.

This user additionally claimed that the screenshots implicated three other individuals who had “sided with ironpines”, a position they could not tolerate and urged others not to tolerate also. They identified these three users by their tumblr handles: [User A], @firelxdykatara, and sneezypeasy (myself). 

7) In an attempt to protect user privacy, the nsfw discord channel was quickly deleted as soon as this post was made public.

8) Following this, User A, firelxdykatara and ironpines received a large volume of anon asks questioning or accusing them of behaviour ranging from bad-faith conduct, to harassment, to espousing “pro-rape” ideology. Multiple asks also contained rape and/or death threats. Again, responses to these asks appeared to have resulted in something of a positive feedback loop, where hostile responses prompted increasingly hostile asks, and vice versa.

On the flipside, several anon asks submitted to the “confessions” blog (and responses from the blog itself) misgendered ironpines, who uses they/them pronouns. Accusations of transphobia quickly followed, buttressing the argument that sympathy for User X’s perspective was rooted in radical feminist ideology, a connection both ironpines and firelxdykatara explicitly highlighted in their own posts on the situation. 

It is my opinion that by this point, the well had been quite well and truly poisoned, and productive discourse was past attainable.

(I should add here, as I believe it is likely relevant context, that both ironpines and firelxdykatara claim to have been on “mutual block” with User X for some time. Both ironpines and firelxdykatara contend that by blocking User X, they have fulfilled their obligations of shielding User X from any potentially hurtful or triggering content they may post on their blogs, including posts that are directly referring to or addressing User X in a hostile manner.)

Edit #2: I have been told that at some point during all of this, prior to the “confessions” blog leaking a series of screenshots of the discord chat, see point (9) - ironpines posted several screenshots of the same chat to tumblr in an attempt to combat the narrative that they had harassed User X or had acted as the primary aggressor. I have searched ironpines’ blog and cannot find any evidence of these screenshots, so if any screenshots were indeed posted between January 23rd and January 27th, they must have since been deleted.

Edit #3: I have now seen the screenshots in a reblog of one of ironpines’ posts; so the screenshots were indeed posted, and then deleted or removed some time later. The screenshots were posted on January 27th, the same day the confessions blog released their screenshots, and show User X summarising the discord argument “for the lurkers” and accusing her opponents of bad-faith conduct and “glorify[ing] something triggering to punish [her] for daring to speak up”. A second screenshot depicts User X sharing an inflammatory anon ask to the channel to ask “which one of you sent me this”.

9) On January 27th, the confessions blog released a series of screenshots they had received from the user in point (6), and presented the screenshots as satisfactory evidence that User X’s position/role in the drama was largely sympathetic, summarising that User X’s "reasonable questions” about “systems & structures” within kink communities was met with immediate hostility in the form of “personal attacks and strawman arguments”, and that ironpines’ subsequent tumblr posts (and the conduct of their supporters) were highly disproportionate and malicious in response.

Publicly and privately, ironpines (and their supporters) have responded to the “receipts” by arguing that the evidence instead shows User X applying radical feminist rhetoric to demean and invalidate consensual kink, even using derogatory and ableist language to support her position against iropnines. In supporting User X, the “confessions” blog has been similarly accused of blindly accepting radical feminist ideology (at best), to platforming and advocating for it (at worst). 

10) Meanwhile, behind the scenes, several users on the discord server identified multiple pieces of circumstantial evidence which suggested User X was a primary suspect for the “leaker” of the discord screenshots, both in Zutara smut week, and in the current drama. User X’s history of having written BDSM dynamics herself (including female-on-male rape, dubcon, sadism and masochism, bondage and submission etc) prevented many users from being able to sympathise with her firm stance against Maledom/femsub kink. Edit #1: User X has reached out to me personally, to clarify that her intention of exploring these dynamics in her fics were to “portray abuse and a victim’s response to it”, and opposes the comparison of her fic(s) to “a genre of stories in which victims fall in love with their aggressors, thus justifying the abuse.” Multiple users have, both publicly and privately, accused User X of engaging in double standards, hypocrisy, sexism, and lack of integrity. This, combined with the increasing suspicion that User X was the “leaker” as well as the user who had approached the “confessions” blog in point (6), resulted in many users rapidly withdrawing support for User X and her “side” of the drama.

In summary, users who have “taken sides” on the conflict at present seem to fall under two camps:

The “pro-user X” side believes the screenshots vindicate User X. Either they agree that User X’s perspective on kink are valid, that ironpines acted as the primary aggressor, or that ironpines engaged in disproportionate and malicious retaliation towards User X for her stated views, or some combination of the above.

The “anti-user X” side believes the screenshots vindicate ironpines. They typically argue that User X’s perspective is unacceptable due to its basis in radical feminist ideology, that User X and her supporters acted as the primary aggressor (and continue to do so by weaponising User X’s “false victimhood”), or that ironpines’ responses did not reach the level of what could be labelled harassment or unwarranted/disproportionate aggression, or some combination of the above. 

And… I believe that is where things are right now. I will be amending/editing this post, correcting details or adding more information as needed. I am apprehensive towards including direct links as the drama is still relatively “fresh” and I am nervous about escalating it any further or inciting harassment/more harassment to the individuals involved. If anyone wishes to see “citations” of anything I’ve claimed in here, dm me and I will provide (names-censored) screenshots (unless it’s of the individuals who have consented to be named in this post).

This has been an admittedly stressful couple of weeks for me, much of it for personal reasons, and I’m aware that I am in a somewhat awkward position to give a balanced report, but I hope that some people might still find this helpful.

[windvexer]

Give Better Readings: Define Your Boundaries As A Reader

Part of a series - go to the masterpost to see them all

The person you are reading for is only 50% of the equation. You are the other half. If the reading is not good for you, then it is a bad reading. Never let yourself be pushed into reading questions or people that make you feel uncomfortable.

Define What You'll Read About

Many readers have categories they will not read for. Common examples include:

Love and relationship readings

“Spying” on a third party

Questions set in the far future

Questions exploring inner traumas or painful memories

Think about the categories of questions you do not want to read for, and stick to your guns. It’s a good idea to clearly state examples of readings you will do, and readings you won’t do, on your services listing.

Be Upfront About Your Specialties

Part of setting boundaries is being comfortable saying,

“accurately reading for that question is above my skill level right now.” Just because someone is a competent, accurate reader for a certain type of question doesn’t mean they should be expected to be able to read everything. If you’ve only been able to accurately predict the future up to 6 months and someone asks for a 5-year outcome, it’s definitely okay to just tell them that’s not where you’re at with your readings.

Limit Question-Loading

Don’t be afraid to separate multi-part questions by telling the querent you can read for one thing they want to know about, but not everything.

Some querents, especially those who don’t understand the time and energy it takes to read, try to present a paragraph full of questions for something as simple as a three-card draw.

In these situations, it might help to explain to the querent the limitations of the tool or spread you’re using, and tell them what kinds of things you can answer for the kind of reading they’ve chosen.

Don't Give Space for Arguments

You don’t owe clients an explanation for why you do not want to read for them.

In my experience, offering an explanation gives them a chance to argue with you and tell you why your reasons don’t apply to their situation.

“This is a personal boundary I have set for myself,” without any follow-up, is a very valid response to many situations.

Be Brave

When I was staffing at a large Discord divination group, I would often get DMs from readers with the same kinds of problems:

“I’ve been giving this guy a private reading for 3 hours and he just keeps asking more questions, what do I do?”

“I told them that I’m not doing love questions but they rephrased their question, is it okay for me to still tell them no?”

“I’m thinking about leaving the server, too many people respond to my reading offers and it’s exhausting reading for fifteen people in a row.”

Unfortunately, many people see diviners as a resource to be used, not a hardworking person whom is spending time and energy to help them. These were all kind, empathetic, and compassionate readers who believed they were being mean if they told someone no, I am not doing this reading for you.

And it’s not necessarily as easy as just saying “no.” Believe me, querents can really twist the knife. For the vast majority of my reading career I have only ever done free readings. These are some responses I have gotten when I gave free readings:

- They would not take my reading unless I proved myself to them as a psychic by telling them their own full name or home address details

- After I couldn’t complete a draining experimental energy reading (because a psychotic abuser randomly showed up and started banging on the front door), they let me know they should never have expected anything from a free reading

- After letting a querent know an energy reading would take at least 15 minutes, and performing a detailed 15 minute energy reading about their own aura (including lengthy details and interpretations), they returned to main chat and said they were sad that the reading was so short and the only information they got was that their aura was the color red

My point is that while it's easy for me to say "set your boundaries and stand firm," it's really not that easy out in the field. Be prepared for inconsiderate people who make you feel bad about not giving more of yourself to them.

These Aren't "If" Situations

People will take advantage of you if you cannot set boundaries - this is a when, not an if, situation.

Some clients may try to tell you your boundaries are invalid, guilt-trip you into pushing yourself past your limits, or even lie about readings you already did to try and get you to deliver more. These aren’t hypotheticals, but real situations I’ve seen play out many, many times in reading groups.

As readers, we have to be able to stand our ground. Being able to say, “no, I’m not reading this question,” or even, “no, I’m not reading for you,” are vital skills (also, “no, I did not under-deliver, I provided the reading exactly as advertised.”).

If you want to be a professional reader whose able to stick with it, be ready to refuse certain clients or certain readings that aren't good for you.

If it's not good for you, it's not a good reading.

Part 1: Connecting With Querent Concerns

Part 3: Format & Write Down the Question (yes, seriously)

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash