#we're not being fed false information

[t-lostinworlds]

i hate talking politics with the older generation so much

[sonknuxadow]

sorry mild hater moment incoming but . idk what it is with s/onadow fans (not all of them. just a very loud subsection) specifically and making every little thing shadow does about s/onadow even if its the biggest reach imaginable and immediately going "omg s/onadow" every time hes confirmed to be in some upcoming thing . or being so obsessed with the ship and letting it warp their perceptions of things so much to the point where they act like every little thing is a hint from sega that theyre in love for real. and they cant admit that its not canon or that just because they choose to interpret certain things romantically doesnt mean that thats actually what sega/the writers intended even if theres an obvious non so/nadow explanation for it

before people take this the wrong way i dont hate the ship i dont think that its completely baseless or that everyone who likes it is wrong and annoying or anything . but some of you look like this if im being honest

[tiramisuc0ffee]

Warm Afternoons.

☆~~~~☆~~~~☆

pairing: Gojo Satoru x F!reader

Summary: After wrapping up a more than pesky mission, you and Satoru decide to laze about for a few hours before returning to Jujutsu Tech... which leads to Satoru being a lot more sentimental than you both are used to.

warnings/tags: Takes place before "The Ghost of You" (which you can read here), this is just a further look into the reader's dynamic with Satoru :), reader and Satoru are close friends, and themes of unspoken feelings, it's like pretty clear that they like each other.

word count: 1.9k (THIS IS MUCH LONGER THEN I THOUGHT OOPS)

☆~~~~☆~~~~☆

"God that was so annoying"

Your voice slices through the tranquil evening, disrupting and overtaking the buzz of cicadas and the gentle symphony of the wind as you approach a lonesome bench that stands planted before a river. The sky is a canvas of orange and yellow as the sun dips towards the horizon, its warmth kissing your skin. A gentle breeze rustles through the grass and nearby foliage, creating a mesmerizing, smooth oceanic hum that cushions your approaching footsteps.

A soft snicker meets your ears and you can't stop yourself from rolling your eyes as you prepare for one of his usual snarky remarks.

"You got knocked on your ass pretty hard. You sure you're okay?" Satoru speaks, his eyes meeting yours as you sit beside him on the bench. He sports a teasing grin but his eyes betray his demeanor as you easily spot the specks of concern lingering in them.

The mission the two of you had wrapped up no more than an hour ago had been undeniably frustrating. What was supposed to be a routine exorcism of two second-grade curses had turned into a chaotic struggle against two first-grades, both capable of using cursed techniques. While it was nothing more than a small adjustment for Satoru given his well-praised Infinity and Six Eyes, you definitely had been taken off-guard. Not anticipating the usage of cursed techniques and the sheer force behind them led to a few cuts and bruises that honestly stung more from frustration than pain.

You couldn't shake the feeling that you had been set up for failure by being fed false information by Yaga.

Scoffing at his words, you give his arm a gentle nudge with your elbow, sinking further into the curve of the bench, "Shut up, I was just caught off guard for a moment..." you murmur before a soft smile tugs at your lips, "But I'm okay. Just a few scrapes here and there.... I'll see if Shoko can patch me up when we get back..."

Satoru simply nods at your reassurances, a soft hum escaping his lips as he gives you a once over as if to confirm that you were actually telling him the truth.

It was annoyingly stupid how he tended to do this. He had these moments where he seemingly stared into you, seeing through your being, opening you up, dissecting and picking apart your every feature.

It made you feel so exposed—being under the microscope that was his cerulean eyes. His eyes were breathtaking, there was no doubt about that, but these moments made you realize how those blue oceans could be oh-so intimidating and you briefly wondered if this is how most cursed spirits felt when being face to face with his power.

You shudder slightly, and he quirks an eyebrow, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly before grinning, "what?" he asks, though his eyes never leave you.

You shake your head waving him off wordlessly, and you can't help but smile just a little wider before bringing the straw of your smoothie that you bought beforehand to your lips. You hum softly as the cold sweetness coats your tongue, bringing a refreshing calm.

After spending so much time with him since the two of you met in your first year, you've come to understand that this simply was his way of showing concern. He never was one for soft words or heartfelt expressions; his awkward attempts at sentiment were as endearing as they were clumsy.

"You don't think the higher-ups will be mad if we're a few hours late with our report, do you?" He then asks, shifting his gaze off of you and watching the sun through his dark round sunglasses.

You let out a soft chuckle, wordlessly pressing the straw of your drink to Satoru's lips watching him take a sip without hesitation.

He hums, smiling softly as the cool liquid coats his tongue. "Mango?" he inquires, his tone light and curious.

"Mhmm" you hum out, bringing the straw to your lips as he finishes taking another sip.

His arm slips around your shoulders, drawing you closer to his side. You find yourself leaning into him, the closeness feeling as natural as breathing. It's a simple gesture, but it's one that feels like a second skin for both of you. The way Satoru effortlessly bridges the gap between you two speaks volumes more than any words could.

You were magnetic to him. Being close to you, talking to you, being in your presence, it all just felt so correct, it felt so easy. He honestly couldn't pinpoint when this physical aspect of your friendship first developed...

Maybe it was when you welcomed him back with a bone-crushing hug after he had been away on a 2-week mission with Suguru. Maybe it was when he brushed and braided your hair during one of your many sleepovers in your dorm room, the two of you sitting on your bed, his long fingers, delicately touching your hair and somehow perfectly braiding your hair despite him insisting it was his first time.

...Maybe it was when he awoke the following morning, with you in his arms, your head resting on his chest and your arms around his waist.

He really wasn't sure when it became so normalized, but slowly, he was getting to a point where he stopped questioning why. When everything felt so right, why did he need to question it? This was just the way things were between you two.

Even though he knew for a fact that you weren't this way with anyone else just as he was only this way with you, there was no need to think too deeply about the implications, right?

"I'm sure they may have a lot to say if you're gone for too long, Mr. golden child of the jujutsu world," you remarked sarcastically, finally responding to his question with a smirk. He rolled his eyes at you, pursing his lips at your words, "Me on the other hand, I don't think they're all that concerned.." you then grumble, clearly still irritated by the miscommunication that occurred during the mission.

He laughs, the rumbling of his chest being felt against your arm as he saw through you so easily. "Don't pout too much like that, you'll get wrinkles and look like a grandpa," he teased, the hand around your shoulders reaching up to pull at your cheek. You immediately hiss swatting his hand away, "...don't pinch me, asshole," you said through teeth which only earned you another laugh from him.

You could be so crude at times, and he frankly adored that about you, because, he was the same. He wondered if that's why he felt so drawn to you since day one. He liked how you carried yourself with this lightheartedness, the way you were just so effortlessly... you. Dead serious when you needed to be, strong, dependable, but also the way you were able to keep up with him. Sending snarky remarks right back at him and telling jokes that were so stupid, he would genuinely laugh until his stomach hurt.

He smiled softly to himself, feeling a gentle warmth spread in his chest.

His eyes shifted to your face and he just... took you in.

Watching as you happily sipped on your smoothie, your fingers gently smoothing out the spot where he pinched you. You definitely looked a little more roughed up than usual... but you still... looked so nice.

As your eyes shifted to meet his gaze, he noticed a small scratch on your cheek, and thoughtlessly, his long fingers gently took hold of your chin. He tilted your face to the side ever so slightly, his eyes tracing along the split skin, taking note of the redness and irritation.

You nearly choked on your drink as your fingers gripped your cup a little tighter, crinkling the plastic. Not a word was shared as you looked at each other and you felt your entire being start to warm, a sense of shyness growing deep within you.

You awkwardly laughed, "You're acting like a creep, Satoru" you joked, trying to lighten the air and get some air into your lungs. His eyes snapped back to yours and you noticed how his eyes widened slightly as if he only just realized how intimately he was touching you.

"Sorry..." he murmurs, but not making any sort of attempt to remove his gentle hold on you.

His lips parted, then closed. His eyebrows furrowed, and his throat bobbed when he swallowed. You took note of each of these actions as they played out before you.

"You know.." he suddenly says after a beat of silence passes, his voice trailing off as his mind searches for the right words to say. He wanted to say something, he knew he wanted to express something to you. But he wasn't used to this, not used to soft words of gratitude and appreciation. He'd grown accustomed to interacting with others rather bluntly or in a lighthearted, sarcastic, joking manner, but ever since he met you, it was as if he had no choice but to break this routine of his.

He furrowed his eyebrows again. Fuck...He really was trying.

"I really do appreciate us... you-" he tried to continue, pouting slightly as he stumbled over his words, which led to you letting out a lighthearted chuckle.

"Are you being sentimental with me right now, Satoru?" you grinned widely, words carrying a teasing undertone as you attempted to mask your growing fondness.

He groans slightly, finally removing his hand from your face and letting it drop to your shoulder. "Could you not right now?" he huffs out, "I'm trying to say something nice to you".

And there's a certain look in his eyes that you couldn't quite decipher.

"Sorry, sorry," you giggle softly "I know you're trying...I appreciate you too Satoru" You smile softly at him, trying to reassure him that you understood what he was trying to communicate.

"It's not just that," he interjects, sighing softly as his free hand runs through his snowy locks and makes a mess out of them, "It's just nice... to have someone who simply, understands," his voice is quiet and delicate and his words are careful, coming out slow and precise.

"Having you here, having you with me... that means a lot to me... I know I don't normally say shit like this- but I do really appreciate what we have..." His eyes are now focused on the darkening sky as the sun officially says its goodbye, setting past the horizon.

"I hope you don't plan on going anywhere" he then chuckles, his smooth demeanor returning as fast as it left as he gives you a lopsided grin.

You're rendered speechless for a moment.

There's a lot you wanted to say, certain feelings that are just dying to be expressed sitting right at the tip of your tongue as you can't help but melt from Satoru's words.

But you let them sit there, those will be for another day. When it's right.

"You're stuck with me, that's for sure" You grin widely at him watching as his smile grows at your reassurance.

"Good," he says, gently ruffling your hair which has you whining softly. "...Let's head back, gotta get you all fixed up before you start crying from the pain" he snickers, removing his arm from you and standing up from the bench, offering his hand to you.

You laugh softly, taking his hand as he helps you to your feet. "Shut up..." you murmur before shoving his shoulder slightly once again.

The two of you walk side by side in a comfortable silence, the evening growing cooler and the river’s gentle rhythm growing distant. You couldn't help but smile to yourself, the fondness in your heart continuing to grow the longer you mauled over Satoru's words.

Yeah... you definitely didn't plan on going anywhere.

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A/N: I went overboard with this I can't lie LMFAO. I'm so sorry about the delay on this, I can't lie I've been putting it off because I have been drawing Gojo instead of writing about him hehehehe. This is 1 of 2 snippets I have planned as little prequels to "The Ghost of You" I will try to work on the next one as soon as possible. It will be ANGSTTYYYYY so prepare yourselves for it if you are interested in reading it!

also- like completely unrelated but I learned about the ask feature! So you guys can send me fun little messages now yippie!!

☆~~~☆~~~☆

Taglist: @hyori2 @kalulakunundrum @smolbeanzzz @numblytemporary @satxoru

(I hope I didn't miss anyone LMFAO)

[riverssongs13]

It was already established that Agatha is NOT a morally good character. We've been fed the information that she traded her son's life for the Darkhold, that she is a coven killer, and that she's Jolene, among other things. The Nicky for the Darkhold part may have been false, but that does not diminish the fact that Agatha is an atrocious, terrible person who killed countless people.

Given the knowledge that its presumable she did it to keep Rio busy does not excuse the fact that she did kill them witches. And of course she will have zero remorse over that, because again we're presuming she did it for Nicky.

So why are we suddenly finding issues with how remorseless Agatha is? Did we not spend 8 episodes fawning over the hot lesbian MILF who is unapologetically chaotic and murderous and whose ex is literally Death? Sorry but I don't see where the disconnect is.

"difficult to root for a character who takes advantage of people’s kindness or desperation, and shows zero remorse for it" Uhm again, Agatha is not a good person. She does not need some redemption arc that would cleanse her of centuries scamming and killing all those witches. She's written perfectly as she is.

The montage of Agatha's time with Nicky was not some form of penitence for all the horrible things Agatha has done throughout the centuries. It was just showing how her story started, and how it connects to the events of "now". It even has the "time lapse" of Agatha singing The Ballad with her false covens, which ultimately leads to the basement version. It was not "Agatha is actually not a bad person, see? She loved her son."

"Agatha is a horrible coven killer scammer grifter conman" AND "Agatha loved Nicky so much she pleaded with Death to not take him" are not mutually exclusive statements. They can be and are true at the same time.

Can we please appreciate "bad" characters for who they are? Not everyone needs to be "good". It's okay to like bad characters and its okay for them to be the protagonists. Loving Agatha for being the murderous, remorseless cunt that she is, is okay. Let villains be villains.

[atthebell]

yeah abt the hope thing i think it was a way to really show how far the feds will go and how they really don't care, that and i feel like it also somewhat served as an indirect threat to qcellbit as if to say "we're willing to go to any lengths to get what we want, so cooperate if you don't want problems" but that's just my interpretation

yeah no exactly, especially considering the timing-- the memories book was found august 30, just a few weeks after the reveal that the federation had been the ones directing cellbit's investigations and therefore had been the ones to threaten richarlyson's life. it's difficult to say if they would've followed through on that specific threat, but the fact that they were willing to make it at all was telling. and it was also part of why cellbit believed it wasn't the federation giving him this information-- like i said, the islanders had determined (falsely but understandably) that the federation wouldn't hurt the eggs. so cellbit was sure it wasn't the federation, until he went down that elevator on august 4th.

so yeah the timing of it and the fact that cellbit then had to go back and lie to cucurucho's face about what he found, that he had to continue to hide the existence of memories even though he wanted more people to know (and planned to tell people!!! his whole thing where he was going to fill the ordo hq with evidence and investigation stuff was to let people in on what he'd been investigating so it was information everyone had. but he didn't get the chance to do so). and also the fact that cellbit didn't even tell richas about it, that it was one of very few things he kept hidden from him (romero richas stuff, the threat against his life, and then this) because he didn't want to scare him.

anyway yeah memories being dead serves a really important narrative function so while i think people can do whatever they want and make cute aus and art and stuff where cellbit and roier adopt hope, it's important to recognize that in canon she died for a reason.

[cyborg-squid]

Saude

The introduction of Caiman and 'Reticent Employee', as well as Ezra being a part of LCD, got me thinking about the Limbus Company as a company and that... I don't think Saude, revealed in Canto V as having survived, is actually alive. I'd love to be proven wrong, honestly, but something about how she was revealed to be 'alive' feels off to me. We're told that she is, by Pilot, who claims to have talked to her over the radio and has a message from her to us, but we don't actually talk to her ourselves. I don't think Pilot is lying to us, I don't think he's capable of doing that to the Sinners (given how he idolizes them), but he may have been fed false information that in turn was given to the Sinners.

Because right after this reveal, iirc, is when Ishmael gets upset about how the LCCB has basically indoctrinated the kid with all the 'noble sacrifice' and 'paving the way' nonsense. And she's right! Rodya says as much, but, what she says after, is that "People need a way to endure that reality and go on living somehow".

Because once the Sinners (and maybe the reader as well) learn Saude is actually alive, they basically get a morale boost! They're pretty happy about that, particularly Sinclair. But I worry that, given that we don't see concrete evidence of life, and that Pilot has been pretty successfully fed the LCB corporate spiel, someone* has set it up to have the Sinners think Saude is alive in order to motivate them, get them to think better of the Company, or just get them through the day. *(I don't think that someone is Vergilius, it doesn't seem like his style, and given that Saude was one of the orphans at his orphanage, he wouldn't be okay with using her like that)

I don't know, maybe I'm just being suspiscous (but this is the City, after all), and I'll be more than happy to be proven wrong by later story stuff, but for now, I worry that both the Sinners, Dante, and the reader have been duped.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

Is it me or do other people find it jarring how Taika's haters try and distort reality and act like everyone loves him and they are the only one? Or that everyone acts like he's perfect and heaps him with praise for doing the bare minimum when from what I've seen no one who actually likes him does that.

I've seen people like 'if you're cancelling the last of us cancel ofmd cos Taika is zionist scum who supports genocide'.

Hi Anon! Oh interesting question. I don't know if I've personally seen a lot of that specific situation where they think everyone is blindly supporting him (I do tend to block after a certain point so maybe that's why?). If I'm understanding you correctly it sounds a lot like they're seeing any support of Taika as "HE IS PERFECT AND NO ONE SHALL CHALLENGE HIM" when most people who support him know he's not perfect (as no one is) and we accept him anyway.

Which is one of the things OFMD really drives home-- you're not perfect, that's okay! You can do better if you mess up! You are deserving of being forgiven!

Which I mean, in general I think that really points to your first point, that folks who are mad at him are kind of living in this distorted reality. But also too... I've seen this a lot in my personal life with ... various folks that some people see the world in a very black and white state. They see things as "if it's not this, it MUST mean THIS" -- in this case "If people support Taika, it MUST BE BECAUSE THEY THINK HES PERFECT", same with "If he asked for hostages to be released, HE MUST BE SUPPORTIVE OF GENOCIDE".

--- sorry long post is long, I'm in a rambling mood today sorry!---

Which.. to be fair there's a lot of cultural training for that.. as some folks have put in tags of other posts, it's lack of critical thinking and questioning skills. I know where I grew up they were super big into us questioning everything, but when I talk to some friends who grew up in other states here in the US, they didn't get the same focus on critical thinking in public school, and got more of it in college (and not everyone can afford to go to college). I had a really cool 11th grade English teacher who showed us a video in class one day. It was a parody of a documentary and was explaining how the earth was flat (which we didn't know at the time, they didn't tell us this wasn't real). It was weird because it didn't come out and say "the earth was flat" though, it came out with kind of vaguely reasonable sounding arguments from people with "Dr" in front of their name.

I remember looking at my friend who was really confused too and saying something like "wait is this for real?" and them shrugging at me. It wasn't until this part of the video where there's literally cows running around Antarctica that a lot of us were like, "wait this is totally not real". That English teacher.. after we got done with the movie started asking us when it was that we started questioning the validity of the video, and then went into this whole lecture about how especially when we're young, we're so used to just being FED information that sometimes we get fed completely false information and we just DONT know it. The whole exercise was all about questioning and critical thinking skills and how not every "teacher" or "doctor" is going to be as qualified as they try to tell you they are.

I found that whole exercise really eye opening because I had never really thought of people purposely trying to bias my education like that before. I'm sure there's thousands of ways that people learn these kinds of skills (and I know mine aren't perfect) but I found that one to really hit home-- so imagine never being taught that. Never being taught that if you start feeling like the thing being said doesn't sound quite right to question it.

Now of course, some folks are purposefully ignorant and that's a whole other issue, but I do think we need better critical thinking education all over the world (but especially in America what with the vastly different education depending on which region you're in).

ANYWAY omg im sorry -- I dont know if I even really addressed your point, so I apologize if I didn't (the ADHD is strong today I tell you)-- so if I didn't please let me know and I'll try again!

I hope the trolls aren't getting to you too much today, sending love anon <3

[ask-cal-cuttlefish]

Cal? What if Chloe was right? What if we're just being fed false information and these stupid aah shades wont! They let out a yelp the second their hands touched the shades and fell to the ground sobbing

What if we're doing something wrong ?....

- @cuttlefish-cabin

"...4, think about the facts... you're focusing on a few specific people and not the bigger picture!"

[shadowmaat]

Artificial Incompetence

The conversations around "artificial intelligence" are getting a bit bonkers. Not that they're really conversations so much as screaming matches. And not that we're talking about true artificial intelligence so much as algorithm blending programs.

I don't like the recent fad of ABPs. It has a lot of the same earmarks and defenders as NFTs had, and boy howdy did that not work out well for folks. I don't think ABPs have been tied to the fake currency market, but their current implementation is still going to do more harm than good, in my opinion.

I'm not gonna say that writing or art should be "hard" or that people need to "struggle" in order to create things. I do, however, believe that they need to do the goddamn work themselves. Feeding prompts into a content generator doesn't make you a writer or artist. Well, scam artist, maybe. It's taking words/brush strokes from someone else and claiming credit for it. Even if you mention you used an ABP you still didn't create the art yourself, you just fed a program some prompts or the name of some artists you like and it spat out something you claimed as your own.

That's one of the big hangups I have with this fad: taking credit for someone else's work. Reaping all the perceived benefits (kudos, reblogs, etc) without actually doing anything to earn it.

If I give someone a prompt and they write a fic based on it, that story isn't mine. Sure, they might mention I gave them the prompt, but they were the one to write the actual story. Not me. My name doesn't go on the author line and I can't boast to others about the fic I wrote. Because I didn't.

I'm all for accessibility tools to help people complete tasks, and if ABPs were being widely used to help make creative efforts more accessible, I might have a different opinion. As it stands, however, the vast majority of people currently using ABPs aren't using them to help with their own creativity, they're using them as a substitute.

The arguments about data scraping and plagiarism are important, especially if we want to make sure that ABPs stop doing that, but from where I stand it still all boils down to people trying to loophole past responsibility and effort.

It gets worse when you switch gears from fic writing to essays and articles. At least in fiction stuff is supposed to be made up, so, all jokes aside, if some details are wrong it doesn't really matter.

When students start submitting essays to their teachers that they didn't write or sites try using an ABP to write articles, facts become a lot more important. And ABPs are infamous for making shit up whole cloth, even to the point of citing imaginary sources for their facts. That is, quite frankly, dangerous.

You think the past few years (decades, centuries) of misinformation have been bad? It can get a whole lot worse. These programs can seed in just enough "real" information to sell their bullshit as legitimate, and if even some experts have to double-check stuff to figure out what's false, where does that leave the rest of us? Especially all the ones who don't fact check at all before reblogging/believing something they read?

I think the future of artificial intelligence- real artificial intelligence- could be incredibly cool, and when the first AI submits a fic to AO3 I hope I'm around to read it. Right now, though, it's less about exploring potential and all about exploiting it.

[introvertedlass]

Let's look at this logically

Say you're a HW star you've got engaged, would you really go to a hate account on Twitter to leak that information. Any other celebrity couple just release the article, I mean look at Naomi Watts who married Billy Crudup this week, no fanfare, no articles beforehand, just a picture outside after the wedding....that's how it's done legitimately, when it's real.

If this article drops...IF...then doesn't this then tell you it's all orchestrated and fake, that they need to leak a fake engagement to drive up numbers and gossip... which leads me to my next point.

If you are selling a product and no one is buying it, you then change your marketing, since the pap walk everything they've done has been ridiculed and debunked as set up and fake, so what they have to do next kick it up a gear, release an engagement article, this says, hey I'm serious, we're getting married, then they can break up and non one is the wiser.

That Twitter account is highly suspicious, I swear that they're being fed info (true or false) by someone, to keep this gossip going. We're the ones invested in this shitshow, the GP don't give a rats ass about him and especially her, she's a nobody . This is all for our entertainment.

I agree with everything you say except for the last sentence, lol.

I am not entertained.

[onigiram]

it's hard not to long for the city in the distance. pristine white walls and surely happy people beyond it; what was it like to be there instead of here? he shuffles a little closer to the other, lamb to ram, both closer to the soft-crackling campfire. it's cold tonight, and lonely as ever. eyes lift and they plead: go on, tell him a story. it didn't have to be the truth, not utterly, not entirely. he'd accept it.

' ... everything'll be okay, right? ' everything would work out someday. there'd be no more misunderstandings, no more lies or incongruence. ' we're doing good, right? we're just doing ... what we have to. ' nobody would understand otherwise, and he's tired, so tired of merely being accused, of having all his senses and feelings yet still being considered a monster. when the predator tacet discord beside him lifts its knife-limb, he cradles it closer. he might have been loveless, lost. but it was forever why he would always still long for comfort and direction.

' can you tell me about the kinds of things everyone will be able to do together in the end, scar? am i going to be able to fly wherever i want and still bring you snacks without having to steal them? ' would there still be stories? card-tricks? would the moon still sing to him?

Contemplation weighs heavily on his shoulders, the weight of it allowing limbs to sag as mismatched hues gaze into the flickering firelight. The air, heavy with unspoken fears and unfilled dreams, stilled his tongue from speaking false platitudes meant to disillusion the younger man further.

He shifts closer, his presence (hopefully) a comforting weight against the chill of the night. ❝Everything will be okay,❞ he echoed, the words a gentle caress against the raw edges of doubt that lingered. ❝We are doing what we must, navigating a path fraught with uncertainty. Our actions, although misunderstood and maligned, is the price we have to pay.❞

Scar's heart softens as a complex knot of empathy and resolve bloat from within his chest. ❝In the end, what matters is not the approval of others but the consequences our change will bring forth. We are not monsters, but survivors, carving out our own place in a world that fears what it does not understand. What it refuses to understand...❞

A breath of air is released, and with it the tension that had haunted him. He chortles quietly, mirth glinting in his gaze. ❝Yeah, yeah, you'll fly free as a bird, keeping us well-fed and well-informed. It'll be an honest life too, for once.❞ It was something to look forward to - something they needed to believe in to carry on.

Reaching out, clawed digits ruffle through a head of fluffy hair atop his fellow lamb's head, his silent vow of companionship and support. ❝So, let us dream of that future together. We will find our way, not because it's easy, but because it's our future. We'll all be free - no longer would anyone have to fear extinction.❞

A promise woven from the threads of their shared struggle; the night continued its silent vigil around them as the cries of the Tacit Discords grow distant from within the forest.

[nopenonoaaaahh]

Immaturity in The Summer I Turned Pretty

I think tsitp is really interesting, mostly because of the immaturity of the three main characters, and that leaks into the Fandom space as well. Each one of the characters is very immature at this current moment but in very different ways, and I really hope we'll get to see how they grow and mature next season.

First off we have Belly. Despite a lot of her actions I really like her mostly because of her space as an unreliable narrator. You have to read into scenes with a more precise lens because we're being fed false information as fact based on how Belly is feeling at the current moment. Which shows her maturity level. She is very insecure but also very self involved. She inflates her importance but often times in a negative way, which leads her to making these incredibly rash decisions and has her flip-flop on her feelings all the time cause she feels like she'll never get her chance again and tries to shield herself from hurt. With Conrad she never trusts his intentions because she's spent so long telling herself he is a fantasy that she can't trust he genuinely loves her or wants to be with her. And with Jeremiah you have kind of the opposite thing happening she never really entertained the idea until he brought it up so now she feels like she can always trust him to be there and love her despite the fact that he's been trying to move on.

With Jeremiah, he is competitive and overconfident. Belly's relationship with Conrad forces him to face both of those without him really wanting to. He does genuinely care for Belly but he gets jealous and scared that he won't be good enough because she's always been in love with Conrad. And it being Conrad just makes it worse for him, because we see that he's always felt overshadowed as the younger sibling and that Conrad was 'the golden boy'. We see with how he reacts to Cam. He is jealous, but he'd be willing to let her date him, barring a little teasing, because he wants her to be happy. But that doesn't happen with Conrad. The only reason he gave them his "blessing" is cause he didn't want to look pathetic. It's a competition and a way to prove he can truly win out over Conrad, and every time she chooses Conrad over him it's a hit to his ego. He wants Belly to be happy, but only if it's not with Conrad.

With Conrad his immaturity is shown in a very different way. Whereas Belly and Jeremiah are immature because of lack of experience and needing to learn, Conrad has had a lot of responsibility. Both of his parents aren't reliable. His dad's never around, and though I love Susannah, she is not flawless. She has a very common belief that you don't talk about hard things you plaster on a smile whether or not you're actually happy because you don't want to bring the people around you down. The problem with that is if you cannot express your emotions or how you're feeling you will either be completely unable to address and understand your feelings or you'll blow up. Conrad is immature in the way he refuses to address his feelings even when he's hurting people because he doesn't know how.

I just think it's really interesting to see especially how the Fandom reacts to it because a lot of us are immature in similar ways and we're going to relate to and care for the characters that act in ways we would.

Anyways I want to hear what other people think of this and any counter arguments to these ideas cause I really like analyzing these characters and their actions.

[creature-wizard]

Am I in a cult ? If yes, is there a specific name to this kind of pipeline ? Is that some kind of domestic-abuse-survivor-to-antivax-wellness pipeline ?

Sorry for the massive ask, it's very long, I'm planning to talk to a therapist about that.

For context : I live outside of US, in Europe, english isn't my native language. I've spent my early years in a very religious christian environment, then teenhood in New Age type of environment (they say it's not New Age, but I don't see any differences with that, it's repackaged Eastern spiritualities and religions mixed with pseudo-science self-help wellness cure-for-all-sickness).

I think I might spend all my childhood and teenhood in a cult environment. Very isolated. Very us-vs-them, we're specia and they're borinfg, mindset.

Multiple trauma layered within each other, school, home, medical, family, youth movements, deaths, suicides, being forced to watch horrific stuff for "good benevolent samaritan savior" reasons, other horrific stuff happened.

I'm still in it. This situation got worse with time since 2020.

My parents keep saying they're not partaking in cult interactions, they're skeptical and free thinkers, wich makes me even more confused. I mean it's like they're in a cult but it doesn't look like a cult and they say it's not a cult.

I'm not sure about it since it doesn't look like what I've seen portrayed online and in movies.

We don't go to church, attend public events. The only information sources and interactions are on social medias like youtube. Politicians talking about pfizer and "big pharma corruptions" and how freedom patriots will save everyone. That kind of tropes. But apparently it's not social media because it doesn't look like Facebook or Instagram. I stopped doing that very recently, 2021-2022. Seriously it was so hard to quit this habit, I'm so glad I did it.

Every time I learn about post traumatic stress responses, new age psychology cults, wellness spiritual healing mlm marketing, cult behavior, codependent issues, white supremacy pure blood tropes, I get terrified because I relate a bit too well. I'm living in this ideological nightmare. I had similar experiences in a different context.

I've been fed all kind of conspiracy theories (they're not "conspiracists" just skeptical and free thinkers), spiritual "healing", "I choose what happened to me and I'm a special soul" kind of karma tropes, had forced exorcism on me while having a mental crisis because I had "bad spirits" controlling me, heard all the time about apocalypse scenarios where vaccinated people would die within a few months, heard horrific stories about covid vaccines side effects, red-pill "we live in a society and others are mindless NPCs" stories, I can't even describe all the things I've gone trough those last three years.

I'm still really scared of the idea of escaping this pipeline. I don't even know what exactly it is, how to escape this, what to expect and how to leave properly when my parents will learn about that. It feels like it's been all my life. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just me being "psychotic" like they say.

How do I make sure I'm not interpretating and making false assumptions ? Most of the time, I don't even know how to check my own stories, beliefs, opinions from actual facts. Am I in a cult or am I making things up ?

Thank you for reading to the end.

Cults in real life rarely look like the ones on TV, which are based more on conspiracy theories about cults. Real cults look like the kind of thing you're describing. You are absolutely in a cult; you're literally describing the same stuff I'm talking about when I write about the bullshit that New Agers/QAnons/Q Agers are into.

There are support groups for people in your shoes, including ReQovery and QAnon Casualties on Reddit.

Maybe some of my followers have more ideas?

[chaotictarlos]

When I analysed my own reaction to Eps 1&2 of this season, I came to the same conclusion as you - At a subconscious level, I had cast TK as the protagonist and Carlos as the love interest. My intense discomfort to this season so far is definitely rooted in that.

But I don't think it's wrong/bad/a mistake that I ended up with that interpretation. I didn't do it on purpose. That's the way the story was told to me.

In the first two seasons, we learnt about TK's life, history, struggles, family. The only things we saw of Carlos is how he operated as TK's boyfriend. He stumbled sometimes but even those - a) were narrated in terms of how TK was affected and from TK's pov, and b) served as a vehicle to show how perfectly both men complemented each other, in strength and weaknesses. So, for me at least, I liked Carlos not because he was the perfect guy but because he seemed perfect for TK. It was romantic - after everything I knew TK had gone through, that he'd found someone as perfect for him as Carlos. We saw a bit of Carlos' individual traits in S3, but none of those qualities/patterns detracted from him being good for/with TK. When it came to choosing between his own discomfort or TK's wellbeing and happiness, Carlos always prioritised the latter, which may not have been fully realistic or healthy but again fed into my notion of him being the perfect LI for TK.

After the end of S3, I definitely wanted to know more about Carlos. But I realise now that, while I had been open to the idea of learning things I didn't know about him, I hadn't counted on the very basis of why I'd fallen for his character being questioned. So far in S4, what I've seen of Carlos does not make him appear like the 'perfect' fit for TK. His patterns of avoidance/repression are 100% understandable, make him so much more well-rounded as a character, but I suddenly find out that while he's currently not prioritising TK for understandable reasons, his patterns hadn't allowed him to do it in the past either, which was the opposite of what I'd known. And these patterns now open up the possibility of triggering TK's own insecurities about his loved ones hiding things from him.

It's felt a bit like whiplash, receiving this one piece of information that is suddenly making me look at everything differently. I have to get used to the idea of Carlos being more than just the perfect Love Interest. Which is fine, I'd love for his character to grow. But to claim that Carlos has always been more than just a Love Interest is, imo, false. I never got that sense at all in s1-3. Does Carlos (and for that matter all of the 126) deserve Main Character treatment? Absolutely. But that's a Now thing, which will take some getting used to. The audience will react according to how the writers have sold the story. It's perfectly fine to change the narrative, but there will be reactions and there's always a possibility that some people will never be able to fully wrap their heads around the new narrative. Which is also perfectly valid, imo, because that's not the story they thought they'd been following for 3 years now.

Wow. This is a lot and honestly really overwhelming.

First of all, you're very entitled to your opinion and the way you view the show - as am I.

If all you saw Carlos as though the seasons was a love interest for TK - that's fine, that's how you interpreted his character.

But I don't think that I'm false in seeing him as more than someone for TK to stick his dick into. If how each person views the show is valid, then how I personally view the show is valid too, right? Or does that not apply because I see Carlos as more than a love interest?

I get it, I do. We're not given very much about Carlos, he's 2-D and why should we care about him past TK wanting to fuck him? Because obviously that's what he's there for.

TK and Carlos are both wonderful characters. I love them both dearly and they both mean a lot to me in very different ways. To boil either of them down as a "love interest" isn't it. They are BOTH so much more than being a boyfriend to each other.

When I analysed my own reaction to Eps 1&2 of this season, I came to the same conclusion as you - At a subconscious level, I had cast TK as the protagonist and Carlos as the love interest. My intense discomfort to this season so far is definitely rooted in that.

I never cast Carlos as the love interest, I want that to be clear. I have stated that some parts fandom (maybe I wasn't clear on that) treats him like a love interest. You can ask my friends and check my blog, the way I write him, to see that he's never just been a love interest to me.

It's good you recognize that's where your discomfort comes from though. It's good to be self aware.

I didn't like the secret at first, I've admitted that and have been clear in that but it wasn't because I saw Carlos as some love interest. I felt it was OOC until I looked back at the seasons and analyzed them with this context.

But I don't think it's wrong/bad/a mistake that I ended up with that interpretation. I didn't do it on purpose. That's the way the story was told to me.

You are allowed to interpret the story the way you feel it was told to you. I interpreted the story differently. That's okay. Everyone has their own way of digesting media.

In the first two seasons, we learnt about TK's life, history, struggles, family. The only things we saw of Carlos is how he operated as TK's boyfriend. He stumbled sometimes but even those - a) were narrated in terms of how TK was affected and from TK's pov, and b) served as a vehicle to show how perfectly both men complemented each other, in strength and weaknesses.

I disagree. I don't think Carlos was just shown as TK's boyfriend. We didn't get a lot of storyline with Carlos but we got some. When he was introduced he was introduced through Michelle - as Michelle's friend. He also had storylines - such as Bad Call where he let the guy go and then followed his gut to find TK when TNT had been kidnapped. We have gotten plenty of glimpses of him being more than just a love interest for TK.

I don't think he's ever just "served as a vehicle to show how perfectly both men complemented each other, in strength and weaknesses"

So, for me at least, I liked Carlos not because he was the perfect guy but because he seemed perfect for TK. It was romantic - after everything I knew TK had gone through, that he'd found someone as perfect for him as Carlos. We saw a bit of Carlos' individual traits in S3, but none of those qualities/patterns detracted from him being good for/with TK. When it came to choosing between his own discomfort or TK's wellbeing and happiness, Carlos always prioritised the latter, which may not have been fully realistic or healthy but again fed into my notion of him being the perfect LI for TK.

Carlos has never been perfect. It has been shown he's not perfect. For example, season 2 when he wasn't upfront with TK about his parents. That's not a perfect boyfriend. It was a bad move and kind of shitty.

I agree that Carlos, most often throughout the seasons, has prioritized TK's comfort but, again, I don't think this boiled him down to a love interest. It was glimpses of his character and who was/is as a person.

After the end of S3, I definitely wanted to know more about Carlos. But I realise now that, while I had been open to the idea of learning things I didn't know about him, I hadn't counted on the very basis of why I'd fallen for his character being questioned. So far in S4, what I've seen of Carlos does not make him appear like the 'perfect' fit for TK. His patterns of avoidance/repression are 100% understandable, make him so much more well-rounded as a character, but I suddenly find out that while he's currently not prioritising TK for understandable reasons, his patterns hadn't allowed him to do it in the past either, which was the opposite of what I'd known. And these patterns now open up the possibility of triggering TK's own insecurities about his loved ones hiding things from him.

Carlos doesn't need to be perfect to be a valid match for TK. His patterns of avoidance have always been here and clear to see, not just in season 4. Again, the episode with his parents.

I agree that I am glad they're making him more well rounded. It's a shame it took 4 seasons to do that.

I'm glad people are uncomfortable with Carlos being more of a person. I'm glad it's challenging how people view him. Because people have put him in a role he hasn't always been in. People have projected onto him like crazy and they should be challenged for their views.

Media is more entertaining when it challenges assumptions.

It's felt a bit like whiplash, receiving this one piece of information that is suddenly making me look at everything differently. I have to get used to the idea of Carlos being more than just the perfect Love Interest. Which is fine, I'd love for his character to grow. But to claim that Carlos has always been more than just a Love Interest is, imo, false.

Like you said, that's your opinion and clearly we have been watching the show and digesting if very differently.

Carlos has never been just a love interest to me. From the beginning he's been more. He's one of my favorite characters. He's always been more than "TK's person."

I never got that sense at all in s1-3. Does Carlos (and for that matter all of the 126) deserve Main Character treatment? Absolutely. But that's a Now thing, which will take some getting used to. The audience will react according to how the writers have sold the story. It's perfectly fine to change the narrative, but there will be reactions and there's always a possibility that some people will never be able to fully wrap their heads around the new narrative. Which is also perfectly valid, imo, because that's not the story they thought they'd been following for 3 years now.

How people perceive a story and make it make sense in their own thoughts that they are entitled to. Their. interpretation of the story is not wrong.

Neither is mine. I don't appreciate my views being labeled as "false" because they don't match up with yours or anyone else's. I'm more than willing to have a discussion about the show, how views differ, etc.

[fazbear-entertainment-logs]

A Problem With Theorizing Final Part

Part 3

So why does this matter?

Well it's messed with how people view the lore of games and other media and created this behavior amongst theorist and people who even claim to only be presenting lore to defend what they are saying even if they are proven wrong. An unhealthy mindset.

Keep in mind in said interaction between MatPat and Inside A Mind he was telling him about his method, telling him he doesn't need to worry about everything and to brush aside that which contradicts a theory he is crafting. Something he probably he influenced the rest of Game Theory(Note will I can't say 100% for sure on this, given the context of everything I wouldn't be surprised.), let alone has caused others in the theorist community to mimic unintentionally on the latter.

But also people in general have been fed what is misinformation such as the Mario kills Toads thing, taken it as fact, and have spread it around the community. And while there is the claim "it's just a theory," it being based on information that ignores contradictory evidence shows it is not the case at all. Meanwhile MatPat has taken said theories seriously having shown himself to get upset over criticism and tries to wave it off. He has tried to imply that his theories are right 60% of the time, he has implied caused games to changed their story because of his theories being right, and implied theories like Dream Theory were correct all along. All while projecting and claiming his critics are doing the very thing he himself is doing.

MatPat in all this always mentions things like the lore of games and that he's in it for the lore. Saying things like "we're trying to immerse you in these worlds. I like the storytelling that's being done inside the games or should be being done inside these games." But purposefully brushing contradicting information aside all to further a theory is the exact opposite of that. This is not caring about the lore of the games, this is straight up making things about the lore which is known to be false.

But now remember the Myer-Briggs personality test thing? Yeah you thought I forgot about that didn't you? Well remember how I mentioned how uses this to basically his detractors something about them that just doesn't get it. Well the thing is the Myers-Briggs test is anything but science, it's pseudoscience and is as reliable as the pseudoscience that is the IQ Test. Such a test should not be taken seriously let alone called a spectrum given it's context.

With all that said as mentioned before this mentality has infected the way many theorist view games and their own theories. Alongside how they treat actual criticism that point out very valid problems with theories, and how they refuse to amend said theory or admit they were wrong. Let alone some are outright spreading misinformation.

With all that said I would like to make a little reminder. The information in this post by no means should you have a right use the information here to harass either Game Theory or MatPat let alone anyone connected to Game Theory. I would also like to make it known that I don't hate MatPat nor wish any ill will towards him. I am merely bringing up a major problem he mostly started with within the theorizing community.

I would also like to note not everything MatPat has theorized about falls under this category, and that I believe he has made some legitimate theories and really early on partook in amending his theories. I believe a decent portion of his theories on things that are meant to be speculated on like Duck Season are really good. That his Gary's Raticate video was pretty good. Or that his video on Donkey Kong Country and America's Secret Banana War might have some merit to it on the idea of inspiration. But also, the fact the games to imply there might have been a Kong War. But the approach he has made with other videos like Mario Is Mental and his FNAF theories are anything but like these videos.

[pelagic-crimson]

I know this isn't entirely the point of your post, but I think there's a more interesting and actually character relevant reason for why Dante's team kinda sucks - they're all pretty awful people wise. More specifically, Yi Sang and Meursault are too trusting and take everything at face value, while Faust is too abrasive. Which I'd feel is a pretty big issue given talking to people is a kinda important part of investigation. 

It's a pretty big plot point in both Yi Sang and Meursault's texts that they both really easy to manipulate because they blindly accept what people say without thinking about it, even when presented with explicit evidence showing otherwise. Yi Sang never questions why his wife says they have money issues while she's wearing brand new clothes and even when presented with the analin he still manages to find a way to blame himself rather than see what his wife really is, while Meursault defends Raymond and gives him a false alibi because he's his friend (as of last Tuesday when he bumped into him on the stairs) and why would his friend ever lie to him about his job or what's really going on with his girlfriend? Yi Sang is too away with the fairies (and/or too willing to give the benefit of the doubt) to question things properly while it genuinely never seems to occur to Meursault that people could lie to him and have their own agendas so he never doubts people or ask follow up questions. In addition to the two of them explicitly having issues with reading and understanding how people think and feel. Plus their entire lack of social graces. If they had to interview people it would at best lead to no conclusion because neither of them managed to ask enough questions, and at worst  end up manipulated by a suspect into interfering with the investigation. Also more generally, Yi Sang's knowledge does seem to be rather specific to certain areas, while I'd say the issue with Meursault's reasoning is that he refuses to make assumptions or judgements which would like, majorly interfer in a situation all about drawing conclusions and judgement from incomplete information. 

Meanwhile Faust is just, Faust. Even in IDs where she's among peers and doing something she likes like 7, she annoys super easily and shuts people down if they don't agree with her or if they take too long. Dante has managed to figure out how to deal with her, but the same can't be said about the average person and people could very well just refuse to talk because she keeps on interrupting and pissing them off. I also reckon she might end up making too many assumptions, especially about things involving what other people think because she's so sure of herself and her abilities. Also she (and also Meursault) seem to resort to violence surprisingly quick to get info, which could really screw with the politics of the situation. 

In contrast, Vergilus' team is obviously way better at social situations. They each have a different way of going about things and cover each other's blind spots. Hong Lu knows how to butter people up, Rodion is more about invoking solidarity (which given we're in a factory I think might be important), and while Ryōshū is also blunt and can't stand idle chitchat, she actually knows how to effectively threaten people and show dominance with it rather than it purely being about her being fed up with the situation. While I think there is room for some hidden genius moments (like Rodion and Hong Lu are pretty literary characters and Ryōshū is described as having a creepy amount of knowledge on dead things) but I think there's also a more straightforward element of "Dante why the fuck did you choose the turbo autism gang for an job that needs you to unravel people?"

*rises from the grave*

*trips and falls flat on my face*

Heyyyy, it's ya boy, your favorite chronically exhausted Hong Lu identity that forgor about posting to Tumblr. Hi. Hello.

So. Timekilling Time, huh? Very fun, very exciting, we love focusing on Sinners that are misunderstood both in and out of character. We love Rodya, Hong Lu, and Ryoshu focus. We love Ryoshu's butch mustache swag.

Anyway, allow me yap about it a bit, because I took frame by frame screenshots of the teaser and I haven't yapped on Tumblr in a while. I'll also give a general update on how I've been doing at the end of the post for those who are interested.

The first thing I've noticed in the teaser is Dante actually lays out the exact traits that their choice of Sinners would need. These being (exact wording):

Someone who can support Dante

Someone who can remain laser-focused on the case

Someone who can be free from biased judgement while making rational, quick spur-of-the-moment decisions

In other words, we need Sinners who will help Dante out, are able to stay focused, and who can think on their feet without relying on their own internal biases.

I think it's important to lay those out as clearly as possible, because it makes the selections made by Dante and Verg very interesting, and also kind of funny.

Let's look at Dante's picks - Yi Sang, Meursault, and Faust. These are all, at a surface level, decent general picks, as all three of them are seen as smart and rational. However, if we look at them while keeping the previously mentioned traits in mind, it turns out these three might just be some of the worst picks Dante could ever fucking make.

The biggest issue - none of these bitches can think quickly. Faust is especially notorious for this, as it's consistently pointed out how she always needs a long time to come to a conclusion or otherwise has to pause to come up with answers. We also know Yi Sang is the type of person to get lost in his thoughts and just meander instead of getting to the point. Meursault is a bit of an outlier in that we see that he can think quickly, but if he's not given any orders he's never gonna act on those thoughts. Admittedly, he has been getting better at speaking up over time, but he's still mostly in this "only does what he's told to do" mode of operations.

This is where their issues split up a little bit.

Yi Sang is probably the most likely to be supportive of Dante out of the three - we see that he cares about others and has learned to interfere and give advice when he feels it's necessary (though who knows if he's doing well enough to keep that up after Canto 6, oof). No, rather his other issue lies in the focus department. This is the guy who, as I previously mentioned, meanders all over before getting to the point. Again, like Meursault, he has been getting better at not doing that, but he's still got ways to go.

Faust and Meursault on the other hand have the opposite issue. While they're fairly goot at staying focused on what they have to do, the issue is that they never fucking speak up. They're probbably the furthest from being supportive of Dante. They're most likely to learn info and just keep it to themselves until everyone has wasted way too much fucking time. Hell, Meursault would probably make a decently good detective if allowed to do the case all on his own, but since he's meant to be a part of a group, he's unlikely to help out that much without Dante directly ordering him around.

Now, onto Verg's picks - Rodya, Hong Lu, and Ryoshu. This is where things get really, really interesting. Because we have the reverse situation to Dante's picks - on the surface the choices seem random and counter-intuitive, but if we look deeper, it turns out they all fulfill the requirements surprisingly well.

I'm about to go on a tangent here, but I find it extremely important that we're focusing on this group of Sinners in the first Intervallo between what I consider to be the most thematically different arcs within Limbus. The first half of Inferno has been pretty squarely about confronting one's past, whether learning to face it properly after running away from it (Gregor, Rodya, Sinclair), or learning to move past it after refusing to let go of it (Yi Sang, Ishmael, Heathcliff).

However, looking at the Sinners we have left, it feels like the second half of Inferno might be focused less on the past specifically, but more about the Sinners' general reality. Especially the next upcoming trio of Cantos - Don Quixote, Hong Lu, and Ryoshu - have some heavy thematic focus on the idea of one's perception of reality, especially fitting for the three Sinners with weird eye shit going on.

With Timekilling Time focusing on the Sinners most misinterpreted by others in-character (and out of character), it feels like the perfect intro to this switch in thematic focus - exploring the actual realities of people who are otherwise hard to understand.

Anyway, back to discussing how Rodya, Hong Lu, and Ryoshu fit Dante's requirements.

Supportive of Dante - this is the requirement all three fulfill pretty well. Let me explain.

Rodya is probably the most obvious - she's a hypegirl through and through, and happy to take the reigns in some way or another if nobody else is able to, as we see in Canto 2. She's often one of the first people to point out when someone is not doing well, and shares a lot of her insight if in the mood, but she also knows when discretion is necessary.

Hong Lu is a fun one here - he's extremely perceptive and insightful, often sharing his thoughts with very little prompting. His only issue is that he tends to backpedal when he feels like he said something wrong, or generally just words shit in weird slightly offensive ways. He's supportive, he just doesn't always talk like he is.

Ryoshu is one I find most interesting here, as a lot of people seem to miss this about her character - despite her short temper and peculiar manner of carrying herself, she's actually pretty understanding and helpful towards people she's on amicable terms with. She always explains her acronyms if asked (and when she doesn't it's usually because people stop asking or Sinclair translates instead), she listens when told to stand down or otherwise do something when asked of by Dante or Sinclair, and the reason she tends to stay quiet is because she only speaks when she feels what she has to say is important.

Staying focused - this one is a bit harder to judge, but I'd say the only one who might not fulfill this one is Hong Lu, but only by a margin. Ryoshu is shown to get so focused she gets impatient when she can't get to the point, and Rodya always has her goal in mind even when she might act like she doesn't. Hong Lu is a bit harder to judge, as he seems to be the type to prioritze gathering information and satiating his curiostiy over the main goal, but in a case like this that might just be a massive plus.

Unbiased quick thinking - again, all three fulfill the quick thinking part very well. Rodya shows it constantly throughout Canto 2, Hong Lu shows it best in social interactions, and Ryoshu just doesn't want to waste time and so she naturally thinks quickly as well. It's when we come to the unbiased part that things get extremely interesting.

As individuals, Rodya, Hong Lu, and Ryoshu are all very biased people. Rodya sees the world from the perspective of someone who suffered in the poor Backstreets. Hong Lu sees the world from the perspective of a rich Nest dweller coming from a family of dubious morality. Ryoshu sees the world from the perspective of (probably) an ex-Ring member obsessed with the art that is reality. Their backgrounds color the information they take in a lot.

However... this means that as a group, all three balance each other's biases out. Rodya's cynicism gets balanced out by Hong Lu's idealism, which is balanced by Ryoshu's realism. Their backgrounds couldn't be more different, and thus give the widest possible perspective when put together.

I think this is the point Verg is making with this selection. Dante's selection is the easy way out. It's people that Dante already knows how to deal with, and would rather pick even if their skillsets don't fit the situation. Verg is making Dante learn how to work with Sinners who might be harder to deal with, but have skillsets more fitting for the situation at hand.

Dante can't keep half-assing everything by always turning to the same few people. Every Sinner in the group has their use and are smart in their own unique ways. They have to figure what every Sinner's strong point is, otherwise they'll end up putting everyone in danger by relying on people who are simply not good in a situation while ignoring those who could help.

So... that's what I think.

Anyway, personal general update - I'm still alive! And also very swamped with college and constant exhaustion. So, things will have to change a bit moving forward.

Number one - I will not be returning to old analysis requests. There's too many at this point, and I just don't have the time to sit down and write longass posts whenever I want anymore. However, that isn't to say E.G.O and Sin analyses will never return! I have plaaans for what I want to do with those moving forward, it just may take some time to materialize.

Number two - I'm generally just more active on Discord than on Tumblr. Yapping on Discord feels more natural for me, as it's just... less formal than making a full post I guess. So, if you want to discuss things with me, or if you're on a server that you think would do well with having me yapping in there, feel free to shoot me an invite link in replies (or in DMs if you don't want it to be public)!

Number three - Go check out the Absolute Pride Resonance event on Youtube! I'm not a part of it maybe next time wink wink nudge nudge, but you should still check it out cause it's a bunch of cool people doing very scuffed streams, as is fitting for the scuff Project Moon is known for.

Alright, that's it. I still don't know how to end Tumblr Posts. Bye.