#which is why usually i leave them to actually competent people

[comicaurora]

A bit of a strange question, but if there were any of your videos you were to "remake" today for any reason (ex: you feel like you misrepresented the original text or spread misinformation), which would it be and why? None of them is a perfectly valid answer

Again: bit of a strange question, but I've been thinking about my own creations and how I could have done so much better with some of them, but I also know that is a sign of my growth and constantly chasing "what if I did this instead" isn't always healthy for nurturing a creative mindset, and I was wondering what your opinion might be as a Creator of Things with a bit more experience than I

There's been a few trope talks where I've thought later of other angles I could've explored that might warrant sequels or part 2s, but I don't dislike any of the summaries enough to justify a rework.

I always find "I could've done this better if I made it now" to be a bit of a fallacy. I'm only better at making things now because I made all those earlier things. If I knew everything I'd learn from making a project before I started the project, it wouldn't come out the same.

I think when it comes to the "rework remake perfect" instinct, it helps to zero in on what the impulse is really grounded in. In my experience, more often than not, it's not actually about making the art better, except incidentally. It's usually about showing that you are better. It's demonstrating your competence and your higher standards and your skills, and more importantly it's overwriting the proof that you were once less than perfect. If people look at your old work and think that's all you're capable of, they'll be judging you poorly!

If that's the motivator, it's a very unhelpful one. You can't control for being harshly or incorrectly judged. It's a fruitless effort to stave off potentially upsetting outdated criticism, and it's not even going to work. Fear of critique is an unreliable and untrustworthy motivator.

If it really is about making the art itself better, perfecting your magnum opus with your newly leveled-up skills, that's a little more solid. But from where I'm standing, it's always better to use those skills to make something new instead of polishing something old. The older, unpolished work has already acquired its audience that finds it appealing for reasons that might never occur to you. Trying to bury or overwrite it just deprives that audience of the thing they like, and maybe makes them feel bad for having liked it in the first place. Also, usually when you look back on the older work, you'll conclude that the problem is everything and it'll need to be torn down and started from scratch. I know when I revisited the first three chapters of the comic, when I let my critic brain spin up, it wasn't shading or lineart I wanted to fix - it was panel composition, overall pacing, the entire structure of the chapters as a whole. I would've had to make them all over again to be happy with them, and they wouldn't be the same story by the end.

I've been thinking a lot about the Discworld through this lens lately. It ended up over 40 books long, but everyone agrees that the first two are not what you should start with, because they're the worst ones. They're entirely parodic, purely referential of at-the-time major fantasy series, and borderline mean-spirited in places. If you haven't read Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Dragonriders of Pern, you're not gonna understand like a full 50% of The Colour Of Magic.

It's clear that when he started in on them, Pratchett was entirely focused on taking the piss out of a genre he found mostly shallow and unimpressive. But the Discworld wouldn't leave his head, and everything he made fun of he clearly eventually found himself overthinking. He'd make little one-off jokes in the early books about Dwarves having no women and a hundred words for gold, and then twenty books later he'd have a Dwarf gender revolution make waves across the Disc, and then he'd write Thud!, a book that delves deeper into the nuances of Dwarf societal structure than Tolkien ever did.

If you look for them, there are continuity errors everywhere in Discworld. In his introductory book, Carrot defused a dwarf bar full of rowdy brawlers by guilting them all into writing to their poor lonely mothers back home. Shortly thereafter, Carrot will be outraged at the mere concept of an openly female dwarf. Pratchett even eventually wrote Thief of Time, a book that loosely explains that the Disc makes no sense because history has been broken and put back together incorrectly twice, and therefore any continuity errors are because of that.

He's the writer. He could've gone back and fixed it, edited the reprints to be less disruptively discontinuous with the later books. Instead he continuously moved forward and allowed the world he made to grow without cutting it off from its roots. And because he didn't bury his older, far worse work, we have the privilege of following the Disc's evolution from the very start, and seeing how this shallow, stock fantasy world parody became something incredibly rich and complex without ever pretending like its early installments never happened.

Anyway, that's why I think it's better to move forward. You make more good stuff that way.

[fluentmoviequoter]

Finally Home

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!shy!military doctor!reader (r is Lucy's adopted sister)

Summary: You enlist your boyfriend Tim to help you surprise your (adoptive) sister Lucy after being deployed for several months.

Warnings: brief angst and depictions of loneliness/depression, then lots of fluff!

Word Count: 1.6k+ words

Picture from Pinterest

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

Being adopted into the Chen family continues to be the best thing that ever happened to you. It didn’t help your shyness much, but the love and sense of belonging you’ve found outweigh all the bad you’ve experienced. When you joined the military, becoming a military doctor, you overcame your shyness enough to be a great doctor. However, when you stop being a doctor, you’re back to the shy sister Lucy knows and loves.

The last time you were stateside, you met Tim Bradford and fell for him quickly. During the six months you were home, Tim learned nearly everything there is to know about you, and he loves all of you.

Now, in your seventh month stationed in Europe, you look forward to your weekly call home. You call one of two numbers: Tim or Lucy. They’re always together when it’s time to answer, so you know you’ll get a chance to talk to both of them and grow shy from across an ocean. Your dog is sitting beside you as the call begins.

“Hey, sis!” Lucy greets happily when the line connects.

The picture is blurry today, but you smile when you see your sister. She’s in her uniform, in an empty office at the police station. Being seven hours ahead means you usually catch her or Tim while they’re at work.

“Hi,” you answer. “Is Tim there?”

“He’s actually on patrol,” she answers. “I’m sorry; there’s a huge problem here right now so they’ve got a ton of people out there.”

“That’s okay. How are you?”

Lucy looks up when a door opens and turns the computer away.

“I’m pretty good. I want to hear about you, though, because not much has changed here.”

“Move,” Tim demands.

You can only see his hand as he reaches for the computer, and you duck away from the camera as they compete for your attention.

“Chen,” Tim says.

“Which one?” you ask.

“The one whose badge I can take. Just let me say hello.”

“Why don’t you just sit together?” you suggest. “Not to say I don’t enjoy this.”

Tim huffs as he pulls a chair beside Lucy, forcefully turning the computer so you can see both of them. He smiles, and you forget what you were going to say.

“Any word on when you’ll be home next?” Lucy asks.

“Nothing. I’m hoping to hear something soon though. There isn’t much happening, so they’ll probably need to move me soon anyway.”

“Then they should let you call more often,” Tim comments.

“I agree. I miss you.”

Tim elbows Lucy gently.

“She meant both of us,” Lucy argues. “Didn’t you?”

You nod and look up suddenly.

“I have to go,” you explain. “I’m so sorry. I love both of you and I’ll talk to you as soon as I can.”

“I love you,” Tim replies.

“Love you, sis. Be safe,” Lucy adds just before the call ends. “I miss her, Tim.”

“I know.”

Lucy continues staring at the blank screen, and Tim asks her about something he noticed days ago.

“What’s going on?”

“I just- I’m sad all the time. I don’t know if it’s just because she’s gone because I’ve been dealing with her deployments for years, but the only thing I want, have wanted for weeks, is to see her. It’s hard doing everything without her when she’s the only person I want to share things with.”

“I’m sorry, Lucy.”

“Bradford, Chen, we need you back out there when you’re done. This crime spree is getting worse each time we try to make progress,” Wade says.

“Lets go, we’ll ride together,” Tim offers.

“Like the good old days!”

“I hope not exactly like those.”

✯✯✯✯✯

“Superiors are giving you a choice,” your MC commander begins. “Transfer to Germany or temporary leave before being stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas.”

“What would I be doing in Texas, sir?” you ask.

“Continued training and teaching, mostly. And the temporary leave is only two months, but after all this time in Europe I assume you’d return to sunny Los Angeles.”

“I’d like to take the Fort Bragg position, sir.”

“Okay, I’ll let the Surgeon General’s office know. I’m sorry to have interrupted your call; video broadcast has ended, but if you’d like to make a phone call, share the good news, go ahead.”

“Thank you, sir.”

You walk into a private office, dialing Tim’s number and hoping he’s alone. Lucy has been down the last two times you’ve talked. She hides it well, but you’re her sister and can see through her.

“Bradford,” Tim answers.

“Chen,” you reply. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah, I am. What’s going on?”

“Is my sister okay? She’s seemed really sad.”

Tim sighs before he answers, “She misses you. A lot.”

“Then I need your help with something. I’m coming home.”

“When?” Tim asks. “I mean, I’ll help you with anything, but I’m so happy to get to see you again.”

You press your lips together, feeling heat rising in your cheeks.

“I should be there in a week or so, but I’ll let you know a date when I have one.”

“Okay. And the help?”

“I want to surprise Lucy. Any ideas?”

“Well, there is a restaurant she can’t stop talking about.”

“Tim? I’m going to be home for two months.”

“I get you for two months?”

“I can’t wait,” you answer sarcastically.

“Give me a date and time and I’ll get Lucy there.”

“Will she get suspicious?”

“Who do you think I am? She won’t have a clue.”

✯✯✯✯✯

A week later, Lucy has been checking her phone nonstop. She hasn’t heard from you since you abruptly ended the last call, and her concern and sadness about missing you are beginning to overflow. All of her fellow cops have noticed, so when you call and ask a few of them to meet at Lucy’s favorite restaurant to cheer her up, they happily agree.

“Get ready,” Tim demands at the end of the shift. “We’re going to dinner.”

“Why?” Lucy asks.

“Because we’re both worried and need a distraction. She’s fine, but you’re going to make yourself sick worrying like this, Lucy.”

“Okay. Give me ten minutes. Where are we going?”

“Your favorite.”

Lucy smirks as she walks to the locker room. Tim checks his phone but hasn’t received any message saying you landed.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Easy, boy,” you whisper, patting your dog over the Military K-9 vest as the plane lands.

The other passengers are kind enough to let you get your duffel bag and exit the plane first, rushing to the car rental counter and leaving for the restaurant. You’re running late, and don’t even think about letting Tim know you’re back in Los Angeles. As you park, seeing the ‘Service Animals Welcome’ sign on the door, you realize you forgot to tell Tim your dog is with you.

“Let’s go introduce you to my family.”

Pulling your phone from your pocket, you call Tim.

“Hey,” he answers. “I don’t have long before your sister shoves me over a balcony to talk to you.”

“Patio?” you ask, smiling.

“Yep.”

“I’ll be over in a minute.”

“Is that my sister?” Lucy asks, attempting to pull Tim’s arm away from his ear to take the phone.

“Tim, I have to go. I love you. Tell Lucy I said hi,” you say before ending the call.

✯✯✯✯✯

Lucy sits down, dejected. She tries to enjoy the appetizers and her friends sitting around her, but she wishes you were at the party. The door opens, and Lucy glances over before picking up her head and giving her full attention to the person walking through the door. Her jaw drops as she watches you walk toward her, a dog at your side. Lucy’s shock turns to a smile as she jumps from her seat to hug you. As you return her hug, smiling as you whisper how happy you are to see her, Tim’s hand covers yours as he takes the leash from you.

“Hey, bud,” he says to the dog. “Lucy, could I get a turn?”

“No,” she says against your shoulder.

“Hi, Tim,” you greet, turning your face away when he smiles.

“Hiding from my smile,” he muses. “Can you survive two months with me?”

“Two months?!” Lucy repeats, pulling back.

“I like your dress,” you murmur, seeing her for the first time in too long. “And, yes, I have two months of leave before I move to Fort Bliss.”

“Where is that?”

“Texas.”

“You’re staying stateside?” Tim interjects, wrapping an arm around your waist. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

You shrug, turning in his arms to hug him.

“Welcome home,” he says, kissing your jaw as his arms tighten around you.

“Thanks for helping me with the surprise.”

“I’ll always be here with you.”

“So will I!” Lucy adds.

“Are you going to fight to hug me now?” you ask.

“Yes!” everyone at the table answers.

“And you brought a dog!” Lucy cheers, lowering her hand to pet your dog.

“I love you,” Tim says, pulling a chair out so you can sit between him and Lucy.

“I love you,” you reply softly. “I have one more thing I didn’t tell you, though.”

“What?” Lucy and Tim ask together.

“The position I took is a teaching job, so I’ll have more time to visit.”

They hug you simultaneously, no longer fighting over who gets to go first. You drop your chin towards Tim’s arm and smile. When your dog puts his paws in your lap and joins the hug, you know you are finally home. Sitting at a table with the two people you love most in the world, you know the next two months will be amazing, even if you're shy the entire time.

[remember-digimon]

Next up is my favorite, Matt!

Wow what a cool guy.

So, Matt is usually described as a loner, Tai's rival, and the Angsty Cool Guy. None of these actually describe who he is, so let's dive into that.

1. Loner. Matt isn't a loner, he's lonely. Big difference. He keeps others at a very long arm's length as a self-preservation mechanism; due to his parents' divorce basically breaking his little heart at a really young age. He learned then that other people could hurt him by leaving, and decided from then on he wouldn't give them the opportunity to hurt him. His loneliness is so deeply rooted that it's interpreted by others as aloofness, while he is only 11 years old. Like damn wtf

2. Tai's rival. Outside of the Cherrymon incident, which was just good ol' manipulation to get the two most powerful Digimon in the group to fight, Matt was really only considered Tai's rival in early promotional stuff that had a little bio for each character. Matt likely gets interpreted as Tai's rival because they fight a lot, but it's not that simple. Matt doesn't want to compete with Tai, he doesn't want to be the leader. He butts heads with Tai because they're basically opposites. Matt is acutely aware of the group's feelings and needs, while Tai remains laser-focused on the goal at hand. This dynamic isn't like Ash vs Gary, where they're actively competing with each other. Matt gets frustrated with Tai very easily, and he feels things so intensely that he can't really help but blow up.

3. Cool Guy. Let's get one thing straight, this kid right here is not cool. This was more of a thing in the dub iirc, but regardless, his attitude is just a cover to keep people from getting too close. Hell, it takes Gabumon a few episodes longer than the other Digimon to really get close to Matt; before that point, Matt certainly isn't a total dick to Gabumon, but he isn't fully trusting yet either.

Matt's relationship with TK is an interesting one. He feels like it's his sole purpose to protect TK, not just from monsters but from anything unpleasant in life. All of the familial love and affection he gets comes from TK so it's understandable why he would feel this way.

One complaint I often hear about Matt is that his breakdown in the Dark Masters arc when TK gets kidnapped by Puppetmon is way overblown, that he wouldn't normally react that way. He left TK at the amusement park during Weregarurumon's Diner, and when he couldn't immediately leave he didn't break down like that.

The difference in these situations is obvious if you pay close attention. First of all, from the time the kids get up on the day Bakemon raid Odaiba to when they're back at the digital world and split up after talking to Homeostasis, is all one day. It feels much longer because of how many episodes that is, but they're all on at least 24 hours without sleep or taking a break. Also, keep in mind that Matt woke up earlier than the others, before sunrise, as his dad got him and Gabumon to the warehouse to keep them from getting abducted by the Bakemon.

Second, in that span of time the kids have all realized what they're up against. They've lost Wizardmon, Chuumon, Piximon, and Whamon in quick succession, the last three to the Dark Masters. Learning that his little brother has now been captured by one of these Dark Masters would lead Matt to fearing the worst.

Then there's the big fight he had with Tai just prior to the breakdown. He accused Tai of being obsessed with fighting and ignoring the others' grief at the loss of their Digimon friends. By the time he and TK are in the tree with their Digimon, he's already showing signs of wanting to break away from the group, saying that they don't need the others.

Matt also feels that his growth is stagnant compared to the others; this is untrue, as Gabumon would not be able to digivolve to higher levels if Matt wasn't growing and changing. But his self-image is so damaged that he always sees the negative aspects of his personality when comparing himself to his peers.

And of course we have to talk about the Dark Cave. Because of how the Digital World operates, Matt's depression materializes and manifests as a cave that he can't escape until he comes to terms with it. Obviously this quick recovery from a depression spiral is not based in reality, but this is an episodic kid's show so I'm surprised we even got this much.

Matt's experience in the cave is one that a lot of people who have dealt with depression and loneliness can relate to. He says he wants to be alone, but Gabumon calls him out on that and makes him realize that isn't what he wants, actually. He wants to be more open with people, he's just under the impression that he's not really important, not wanted, so it's better off to just not even try. His relationship with his mother is highly strained because of the divorce, and because he has an overwhelming sense of loyalty he probably feels he has to be cold to her for his father's sake.

As for his father, Hiroaki is at work more often than not. Every time we see Hiroaki and Matt interact, Hiroaki is either brisk and business-like or even annoyed; when Matt meets up with him at the TV station, Hiroaki is angry that he didn't stay hidden. Obviously this is out of concern for his son, but still. A moment later, when TK shows up, suddenly Hiroaki is much softer in speaking. So I imagine that this dynamic would also have an impact on Matt's mental health; his dad is almost always at work, and when we do see him with his dad, Hiroaki is a bit tough with him.

But it isn't all sad times and angst with Matt. He loves music, later forming a popular band in middle school and high school. Once he realizes that he can open up to people, and they won't intentionally hurt him, he's able to create real, lasting relationships that aren't based on the cold exterior he uses to protect himself. It's clear that he needed to learn to let others in, and once he did learn that, he becomes much happier and more willing to open up and let those walls down. Even if it's just a little bit.

[macabrecabra]

And the last set of characters for the Pokemon AU, End of the Line! Sort of the part highlighting the pokemon fighting side of the worldsetting, which is how they got grouped together!

Pokemon fighting is a HUGE money maker, but it leaves it marks on those that are in it... read below for more info on each character! <3

LIAM BRENIM (Breloom) A rising star in the realm of Pokemon fighting competitions, Liam is aiming for the top, inspired by the long career of Cometti, both a good friend, fellow fighter, and his mentor. Liam is a spry fighter with a lot of go and ambition, if sometimes a bit lost in his work as he puts everything into training and growing stronger. He was sad to see Cometti go and is sort of still in contact, just to keep tabs on his mentor and friend whom he is concerned about...given everything that had happened.

Design Notes: I had no idea what this character's pokemon type was at first! He was just a concept and character without a face, so I let followers help me figure it out! Breloom came up a lot and looked like a fun design, so Liam was born!

YUAN QIU (meinshao)

A long retired champion in the Pokemon League and once an international star in their own right, Yuan has retired to a peaceful life running the Sweet Berry Tavern in Viridian Village, more than content to let the world go by and keep to themselves. They were a mentor of Cometti and at hearing what had happened and their one-time student's decline, was the one who urged Cometti to consider an early retirement and come stay with them to clear his head. They are a sly sort with an eye for things and well aware of the questionable pasts of people they associate with and have friends in places they can call upon. However, they like to keep to themselves and focus on running their inn.

Design Notes: I named this character after the landlady in Kungfu Hustle because it just felt right and lent itself to their Chinese aesthetic. Always liked the shape and profile of this pokemon, so was a lot of fun to design that into a character!

COMETTI TYCUS (Hitmonchan)

Cometti Tycus, once known as Unstoppable Comet, was a huge fighter in the pokemon world. Internationally known, competing in both the Pokemon Battle League and Pokemon Champions League, he was the face of the competition and was an inspiration to so many. He was at the peek of his career when a horrific accident took place which completely destroyed his mental health and he began to lose fight after fight, falling into heavy depression and alcohol abuse. Eventually he would retire under the advice of Yuan Qiu and move out to Viridian Village to get away from it all.

A tough soul, he is known to not have much of a sense of humor and a savant knowledge of battle. He tries to distance himself from battling though, taking up small jobs fixing up the inn and places around the village. He isn't the sort to let others struggle though, which is why he adopted a young Magikarp he helped get away from an illegal pokemon trade ring. Usually he keeps his gloves off, although by law, all hitmonchans must keep their gloves on hands given their punches are far more devastating when the gloves are off...

Design Notes: Oddly enough, his design and character idea came from James Braddock, a real heavyweight fighting champion during the Great Depression! Having a tough character with a heart of gold appeals so much to me and it really fit in with the story I'm telling, as well as being a solid mentor for many of the characters. WATARU TYCUS (Magikarp) formerly named NOGI WATARU

Wataru doesn't remember his parents or where he actually came from. All he remembers is people coming into their village and stealing all the magikarp children to then sell for 500 poke dollars a piece to become house servants. A fate he managed to escape from where he ran into Cometti who helped get him to safety. Despite best efforts, they never could locate his parents, thus Cometti adopted him as his son. Magikarps are more or less treated like absolute trash by the population, seen as useless, dime a dozen pokemon that cannot evolve, just labor and workforce to exploit at best. Wataru though wants to become a champion fighter and prove that even a magikarp can be a powerful fighter, although...he still just only knows how to splash. Cometti though is doing his best to try and train the little fish and help him find his dream.

Design Notes: Should start with this: the knowledge of Gyarados and evolving into one has been lost to time, thus in the present day, no one is aware of Gyarados being a thing, save a few scholars. Wataru is named after Lance from Pokemon and also is a shiny pokemon to show those DO exist! That all influenced his design a lot. He's a little booger who plays a sweet and important part in the story.

[indignantlemur]

So I was re-reading Emigre and was thinking about Thoris (who ranks in my top three and needa more appreciation). In chapter 8 after Dagmar is slightly warmed up by a cuddle sandwich, he wakes her up/surprises her. It made me wonder. Does he sleep in the communal area? Also in the area where everyone seems to be cuddling at least a little, I can't help but struggle to see him in there.

Love the story and can't wait for more.

Hey! You're absolutely right to be dubious - Thoris does not sleep in the communal area!

Being a significantly higher rank than most of the Andorians at the embassy, and a higher-risk asset security-wise, Thoris retires to a more isolated area and shares his sleeping quarters with very few people. This would probably bother most Andorians, and rightly so, but Thoris has had a long time to get used to being held apart from his subordinates.

Thoris is a Very Important Person, and most of the time VIPs don't get half as much personal freedom as ordinary folks do. He can't just wander off to a coffee shop, or go for spontaneous walks, or share sleeping spaces with the rest of his retinue. In fact, the vast majority of his day-to-day life is dictated by his security detail, which might seem odd given how much authority he wields in Andorian society - but that authority is precisely why he can't be left to his own devices. Andorians prize experience and competence, and Thoris has both of those in spades to be sure, but what makes Thoris especially valuable is his unusual ability to find fair compromises with alien diplomats without yielding ground or losing face. He may be bad-tempered and difficult to get along with, but he's very, very good at what he does. Most similarly experienced Andorian diplomats are too proud and too arrogant to even consider compromise unless beaten into submission first, and no one on the intergalactic stage would respect them afterwards. Accordingly, his loss would be a terrible blow for Andoria, and he must therefore be monitored closely not only for his own safety but for the benefit of his people.

Sadly, this means there are no giant cuddle puddles for Thoris in his downtime. He sleeps just fine on his own, of course, and he'll actively deny anything else if asked.

As for who Thoris does share his sleeping quarters with, he can share with his spouses and children just fine, as there is a low-grade psychic component there which alerts him to who's present on a subconscious level. Otherwise, there are very, very few people outside of his family unit who are welcome to join him at all.

Can Thoris share a sleeping space with another person, or several other people? Yes.

Is he generally permitted to? Not unless they're pre-approved individuals who've passed the prerequisite background checks.

Does he actually want to have other people around? Meh. He's gotten used to minimal company, so he can take it or leave it.

He can tolerate Thelen, Shral, and a small handful of other security folks in his personal space, but he doesn't demand their presence. Those individuals usually split their time between ensuring the ambassador doesn't become a complete recluse and sleeping in the larger rooms with the rest of the retinue so they, themselves, don't become similarly isolated.

[spotlightlowlife]

Writing for Millie should be hella easy

Stereotypes and cliches can work.

Right infront of us we have a tought southern farm girl, already a half written character. Millie's family, the first full family we meet, who don't even get to say much were actually crucial for her character building, they're a big family who are set in their ways, they're loving but not supportive of Millie's choices in a very passive aggressive way.

All these episodes later, these points are barely touched upon.

We would learn the Millie likes attention, she enjoyed playing a character who was the coolest person on the scene who could show off

which makes sense if you look at her rowdy upbringing, which could also explains why she is giddy at Moxxie's grand gestures and adoration of her.

Yet why did she have to play a role and take herself out of her usual setting in order to enjoy herself? This made sense for Moxxie who's sensibilities and hesitations aren't heard and is constantly frustrated, but why give Millie a similar storyline (not the first time a couples stories were awkwardly and disproportionately merged)? Having moved far from her family, having a supply of attention on tap from her biggest fan of a husband, working with a coworker she gets along fine with Loona and Mille worked together just fine when Blitzø and Moxxie got snatched, there were no differences between them, they actually appear to have hardly engaged with eachother?

and a boss who she's on excellent terms with in their small company, a boss who's intrusive ways she sees no issues with

which could also go back to having a big, noisy, busy body family who are slack with respect and boundaries something many people can relate to, why exactly did she need this moment in the spotlight?

Perhaps she's phased by being friendless?

Loona is

I she even friendless? Who knows. Her relations don't matter outside being a plot device, she even got sidelined in her families episode several times because it served to introduce Striker and show how much of an outsider Moxxie is.

On the topic of relations

Why do Millie and Moxxie have the same ex?

Why did neither of them know this?

What difference did it make?

Why such hostility?

No reason, nothing matters, none and ?

An ex would have been yet another person needed to give her some content but it would have been character building none the less.

Where did they meet and what would have been the mutual setting that lead to this guy being in both their lives then them coming together?

Has Millie had a life away from the farm as a single woman or did she leave home for Chaz? So many possibilities. Being that she is the stereotype rough and tumble country girl, she could have consciously decided to go to the city to hang about in places where those supposedly unlike her are so that she could stand out and be appreciated without having to compete with anyone. She would have her own thing going on and this would be a good way to meet hipster Chaz and thespian Moxxie.

Of course, Millie could have shown up one day and met Moxxie on the job.

Blitzø and Moxxie being the buddy cop type lead characters is fine, it's clearly the dynamic that's intended and on the few occasions we see them working together this is what we get.

The lack of characters doing the jobs we are told they do is an issue that affects all characters.

Being a side character should offer a load of flexibility, not having to carry the story offers room to be busy doing irrelevant stuff, or serve as a voice of reason or scepticism to help move the plot forward, side characters can wrap up side plots writers can't be bothered with, but side characters being ignored serves nothing.

There have been shows that have a leader and their more competent sidekick who quietly does the work and never shares in the credit.

This could work for Mille, however dispite her lack of content, she is not the quiet sidekick. We are sold a praised and admired bruiser whose performance isn't up for criticism, someone not always clued up when faced with a challenge but that's fine, challenges are rare and she's someone we have no reason to believe is a pushover, she is also someone happy to have more of a say but also fine with how things are. OK, what next?

Neutral.

Why not commit and tone her up?

Play on that country bumpkin casting. So far Millie is the fun and violent scrapper which fits but this role is also totally appropriate, someone is going to fill it, other than that she's, just there, with no say.

In and out of work, why not have her behaviour be socially neurotic, inappropriate, possessive and apathetic?

Why doesn't she stand up for Moxxie more? Is the casual workplace bullying something she's used to, comparable to the regular fun mockery that circulates throughout the family home/town banter etc? Is she used to not being heard? Growing up not having her own things, having to answer to someone, ignorance, comparassion and lack of personal space could result in someone who doesn't like being challenged or ignored, doesn't like a lack of control but has been sheltered enough to not take consequences too seriously? Anything goes after all.

It works for Blitzø, whose modest and tragic past, isolation, guilt and loneliness has lead to a sympathetic, overbearing and desperate hustler

I actually think Millie's character is fine but is she just a decent side character who is only 'fine' because she's underutilised? I'm not sure?

[egg-emperor]

Thankful for The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog giving some good examples the exact kind of Eggdad Eggfam dynamics stuff that I really wanna see if it has to be a thing in the games. Would be very happy to see more of this. It's been going around out of context but I like it in context much more

I like how he encourages his robots to compete to impress him and be "rewarded", which keeps them motivated and loyal in serving him. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I've been fucking talking about in my Eggdad tag!!! WIN

Then you end up with robots built with the desire to serve him! Them specifically being programmed with those desires makes it seem a lot more artificial and shallow and that's why I like it, it feels very accurate because both Eggman and his creations prioritize pleasing him.

And he takes pride in their sentience and loyalty only being possible thanks to his genius, of course 🥰

And I like how this also plays a part in the Mirage Express' crisis about the conductor leaving, as that is what it saw as its bounty and all and the wish it had

The turning people into robots for Sage to play with thing is good because it can be a way for him to try to get her to see and use people as play things, just like he does.

His 'parenting' involves evil and it can be a way of having a bad influence which is another thing that can be helpful in getting his creations to be on the same page and agree with all his beliefs and desires too.

I also like that Sage is red not blue so she's evil again, which I highly expect in the future main games because there's no way he'd revive her as a good person over who he actually created her to be if he can do anything about it, like Flynn was seemingly hinting at too

I also appreciate Eggman being as big of an angry asshole to Orbot and Cubot as usual and them not acting like he's ever been genuinely nice to them

And I like to think Eggman approved only shirts for his "kids" to wear that hype HIM up. Whether he has them made or not, it's funny that's the case instead of them having like "best daughter/son" shirts, it has to be all about him like he always wants hehe

Something that would make it funnier is that it could potentially also be Metal's "birthday" in the game too, since he shares an anniversary with Amy because maybe that's why they have party hats and yet it's still all about Eggman over the potential birthday boy lol

[majorasnightmare]

FREE DIRGE LORE!!! 8, 20, aaaand 22 pleaseee

FREE DIRGE LORE ON NAADYS BIRTHDAY!!! as a present he offers an inside out torso 🕷️🕸️🕷️

8. How does your Dark Urge feel about the wilderness?

I think his feelings about the wilderness surprise him, because hes actually really fond of it. He enjoys the simple and consistent behavior of animals, even if he has to kill them, and he really deeply enjoys the distance from people. Hes also really fond of natural water sources, a remnant of growing up next to the Chionthar, which was one of the only places in the city where the Urge wasnt quite so loud. He doesnt quite realize how much he enjoys the wilds until he gets back to Baldur's Gate and fucking hates it lmao

20. Is your Dark Urge open about their Urge or do they try to hide it? Why?

Hes SOOO open about it to a RIDICULOUS degree. Pre tadpole he identified completely with the Urge so anyone who had the privellege of knowing him As He Is (and not when he was trying to stealth through the city) would know who and what exactly theyre dealing with. Post Tadpole, he feels he has to rely heavily on this group of strangers for his own safety and sanity, and tries to be as open and forthcoming as possible about the Urges, first because it scares him and he wants help, and then when he gives up on the idea of receiving help as a matter of responsibility. He owes it to them to tell them when he might fly off the handle in case they have to put him down for everyones collective safety. He doesnt even try to hide Alfira's murder, and its everyones reaction to that event that solidifies his decision to both tell everyone whenever the Urges risk them (his own mental health is an acceptable sacrifice), and his decision to handle them almost entirely by himself

22. What first impression does your Dark Urge give off to strangers?

It depends on how much effort hes putting into "passing" as it is. Act 1 is when hes at his most offputting, a twitchy mess poorly concealing the burning desire to kill, and most peoples first impression is that theyre interacting with someone very deeply sick. By the time Dirge is leaving the Grove behind, hes stabilized enough to no longer come off like someone on a very bad LSD trip trying to ground himself. The general impression he gives off is one of lethal competency and assured unflappable confidence, with a fairly easygoing but professional attitude, which persists all the way to the end of act 1, throughout act 2, and only starts collapsing in Act 3

Once he learns hes a bhaalspawn, the combined stress of that revelation plus the ones hes learned in moonrise towers has started puncturing holes in his carefully constructed facade into a frankenstein of his Act 1 and 2 vibes. The end result is someone with the same lethal competency as before, but teetering on a very unstable knife's edge. Some of the twitch has started to come back, and hes snappier and more irritable than usual, because there just isnt any relief from the endless pressing throngs of people, and its driving him up a wall. The confidence is now taken as anticipation of bloodletting, and his general affect is more unsettling for it, like someone trying ever so slightly unsuccessfully to hide the fact theyre actively fantasizing about peeling your skin like a banana. Hes aware of it and tries to talk as little as possible to as few people as possible, made more difficult by the fact that by this point hes established himself as the partys go-to haggler and interrogator-of-npcs.

thankies for dirgeposting oppurtunity, heres him in the faded drow leathers dyed in his usual colors!!

[ranahan]

Mandalorian clans & government

Headcanons ahead! You have been warned. Approximately 1% of what I’m about to write is canon. But I’ve been thinking a lot about how a clan based space-age society would function (how do you pay taxes? what’s the government like?), and I thought others might get a kick out of my musings too so I finally put them down and here we are.

I want to star by saying that what I describe here is far from a utopia. I wanted to explore a Mandalorian society that would be functional (no, their government is not only based on a magic sword). But I also wanted to explore where all these conflicts within the Mandalorian society come from. In my experience, some conflicts do stem from ideological differences, but most of them actually go a bit deeper and are questions about who has the money and power? Who wins and loses economically? Whose accustomed rights are being infringed on? So I wanted to explore what kind of legitimate grievances the different factions of Mandalorians might have against each other. Because that’s where stories would get interesting, organic conflicts from. I’m not interested in reading or writing perfect, can-do-no-wrong characters or sides. Give me people who have legitimate wrongs they want to fix, and other, sympathetic wrongs they want to commit. Give me people who want to do the right thing, only their right is in conflict with another people’s right. When it comes to stories, interesting is so much better than morally pure.

The origins of the Mandalorian clans

I imagine that the Taung, the original Mandalorian race, either was a clan-based society or developed into one during their wandering days after leaving Coruscant and before settling Manda’yaim. For a nomadic people, their clan would be their safety net and their basic social unit.

I also like to think that the archaic Mando’a word for a clan derives from a word for a ship: the Taung were not just nomads, they were space faring nomads. In those early times of space travel, it would have actually been the ship that was the basic social unit and the ship crew would have been the origin of the clan. And that’s why the words belly and home are related: they both derive from archaic words for a ship or a ship part. Aliit is a Modern Mando’a word that derives from a ’command group’, and was coined by Neo-Crusader recruits.

When the Taung settled on Manda’yaim, they had to adapt to a more sedentary lifestyle with permanent bases and sharing space with other ships’ crews. But when a nomadic culture adopts a sedentary lifestyle, they don’t just abandon their culture. And that’s the origin of clans—the Taung built up their organisation and government on top of the existing command structures. Ship captains became clan chieftains, ship crews became clan members. Very traditional old clans might have kept still some other positions.

And they also kept certain social attitudes: a crew is not based just on family ties (although in the early days of space travel, the crew would certainly have had their families on board). Additionally, when the Taung settled a new planet, they began as resource-rich and people-poor. So the basic social dynamic developed into one where clans compete for skilled workers and strong warriors, who in turn are free to choose which clan they want to belong to. If a particular clan has a tyrannical leader, they would start haemorrhaging workers to other clans with better leadership and/or better perks. That leads to the clan losing income and resources. Eventually the remaining members would overthrow their old leader and choose a better one. That dynamic only got reinforced when Mandalorians started conquering the nearby regions of space: war requires a lot of bodies.

In the modern days, an adult person may choose which clan they wish to belong to. Usually that’s the clan of one of their parents; sometimes though, they come to a better agreement with another clan. When you marry, you and your spouse typically decide which of your clans you want to belong to. Sometimes spouses decide to stay belonging to their clans of origin, but that’s fairly rare. Children belong to their parents clan until adulthood, at which time they may decide which of their parents clans they want to belong to. Poaching young adults for another clan is highly frowned upon, although it might be technically legal in some circumstances (it used to be completely legal, but then some assholes abused the system and now there are some additional laws and agreements in place).

Administration, bureaucracy and taxes

Administration and bureaucracy got built over top of the existing Taung command structures too. The Mand’alor is effectively the commander of the entire fleet of ships (=clans), but expects the ships (=clans) to largely function independently. The clans would pay a tithe to the Mand’alor which would finance larger public works like space ports, but a lot of local infrastructure and works would either be completely financed by local clans or at least supplemented by them. Many large endeavours would also require the Mand’alor to get additional financial backing from the clans, because the Mand’alor doesn’t directly tax their subjects.

That’s right: the basic taxation unit is the clan. In the modern days, most people choose to file their taxes under their clan (and let the numbers guy in their clan worry about it), and work out their fair contribution and tax rate with their own clan leaders. This is a fairly flexible system: when you are down on your luck, you can rely on your clan for welfare; when you prosper, so does your clan. The clan then uses a certain amount of funds to e.g. provide medical care and schooling for its members, and to pay their tithe to the Mand’alor. Originally, the tithe was based on the number of able-bodied and armoured warriors the clan could muster; today, it’s in practice based on the number of adult members in a clan.

Taxes might sound boring, but I cannot stress this enough: without taxation base and tax records, the Mand’alor cannot govern. (Did you know that the first thing most historical peasant rebellions on Earth did, was to burn the tax records?) The Mand’alor rules only with the support of the clans. The Mandalorian government is not a democracy, but it’s not a dictatorship either. In effect, an aspiring Mand’alor needs to get the backing of the clans: most critically, the big houses, but they would also receive a steady trickle of smaller independent clans and even individual people swearing to them.

Guilds and Houses

Guilds would have started out as co-operative organisations for people who either come from very small clans or don’t want to financially associate with their clan. A guild would generally provide a similar package of benefits for its members as a clan: medical care, life insurance, filing income taxes, etc. The House system is another adaptation to this dynamic. Smaller clans can band together or under the protection of a larger clan. Effectively most Mandalorians either belong to a fairly big clan, a House, or a guild. In the modern days, there is an option to file your taxes independently, but few people choose to do it—its easier and more flexible to work things out within your own House. It’s more popular in Sundari and other areas with more centralised governance (that typically hails from the caretaker government post-Dral’Han) and more public services. Belonging to any of these organisations is in no way mandatory—pretty much the only one you need to declare for any official purpose is your clan—but belonging to none is a pretty precarious way of life.

Oh and the schools and hospitals and other such institutions? Most are private, fairly affordable due to being subsidised by donations from local rich clans and big companies (Mandos have a strong tradition of contributing to the community) and operate on a sliding scale of payment. Some (e.g. small local schools) are wholesale owned by local Houses. If you belong to a clan, its most likely your tuition was (at least partly) paid by the clan instead of your parents. Ditto for your medical bills. There’s also a healthy competition in the market: if you don’t like or cannot afford a school or a hospital, you go somewhere else. Sundari and the other domed cities have more publicly funded services, since a tightly packed city inside a biodome requires centralised administration to function.

tl;dr: The clan, the House, or the guild is the basic unit that provides welfare services for an individual. Usually, the school/hospital/etc. is a private enterprise or a foundation, with ties or contracts with local clans or Houses.

Mining and land rights

The land and its mining rights belong to a clan. The ancestral clan lands go all the way back to the original settlement of the Mandalorian worlds. Since the discovery of beskar, land- and mining rights have been hotly contested and have been the source of many civil wars and inter-clan conflicts.

That means that technically beskar belongs to a clan. Indeed, it is the clan’s duty to arm its warriors. In practice, beskar’gam is partly earned by the individual and partly given by the clan. Beskar is sufficiently rare that only the richest and oldest clans can afford to clad their warriors entirely in pure beskar. Most make do with beskar alloys of various quality (the beskar content of many plates has gone down over the years and their many reforgings). Many wear partly or all durasteel or even composite. However, because of the cultural significance, usually at least the kar’ta beskar is actual beskar (or beskar alloy), even if the rest of the plates are not.

In the olden times, clan tithes could actually be paid in beskar, and often were by clans with good beskar mines. And thus the Mand’alor could then gift (or sell) the beskar to other deserving clans or warriors.

Since the land belongs to the clans, most farmers are either clan members or tenant farmers, although the tenancies are generally given to families (=family lines), not individuals, and the tenant farmers receive many of the benefits of the members of the house if they’re not members themselves (which they often are). The clan that owns the land would usually pay for infrastructure projects and the like, often with manpower provided by the communities living on their lands.

Fishing and hunting rights and other natural resources similarly generally belong to the clan who owns the land.

As an aside, this system unintendedly contributed to the Ba’slan shev'la after Dral’Han. Many clans had their lands and livelihoods obliterated, and faced a choice to seek refuge in one of the less-affected areas of Mandalorian space (which were crawling with other refugees who had recently lost everything in their name), or leave and try their luck elsewhere in the Galaxy. Many chose to leave not because of some grand strategy or masterplan, but to find work, make a living, and raise their children somewhere that was not a radioactive desert.

Disasters like the Dral’Han have left many Houses land-rich and people-poor: it’s not unusual for them to grant lands for smaller clans and families swearing to them. It’s in everybody’s best interests that the land and its resources gets managed—preferably of course by a loyal vassal clan, who pays tithes to you.

Government and law

I like to think the Mandalorians have a split system of law, kind of like common law vs. statute law. There would be the military law and the military tribunal—or in Mandalorian terms, the Mand’alor’s law, with the Mand’alor acting as the supreme commander of the armed forces. And the other branch would be the other powerhouse in Mandalorian society: clans.

I imagine there’s a Mandalorian equivalent of the House of Lords, or what might be called a Moot: a body that consists of all the Mandalorian clan chieftains. When they vote about anything, the votes are probably weighted based on the number of warriors (historically) or adults (in modern times) in their clan. In practice, a lot of the smaller clans belong to a House which would also act as a voting block—almost like a political party. This is another dynamic that makes Houses compete for clans and warriors declaring for them.

The original function of this body would have been to decide matters that are beyond any one clan—and furthermore, to arbitrate matters between clans or intra-clan grievances that cannot be solved within the clan. And this could lead to them developing into a body that handles a lot of the high-level civilian matters—or appoints civilian administrators and judges to handle them. There’s probably some wiggle room and a lot of power plays about which matters belong to the Moot and which to the Mand’alor and which perhaps are decided by the Moot, but require the Mand’alor’s agreement. On Earth, that has historically been the case between monarchs and their Houses of Lords too.

The clan law is effectively a huge pile of historical precedents upon historical precedents. So it’s a customary law in character. It’s the Mand’alor’s law that’s the more flexible one: they can just give executive commands, effective immediately. But then the next Mand’alor might countermand all of their orders. In practice though, the military law is again a pile of previous Mand’alore’s executive orders building on top of each other—that’s a part of why Jaster’s Codex was 700 pages or whatever. In this way, the Mand’alor’s position could be compared to the president or the prime minister of some democracies: they’re the highest executive power, but they don’t make the civilian laws and don’t control the courts. I do think the Mand’alor has more power than Western presidents/prime ministers though, and that they e.g. name their own cabinet. Although politically savvy Mand’alores would in practice fill their cabinet with members of powerful clans to keep them happy.

Oh, and the magic sword as the basis of government? It’s a cool prop, but it’s hardly the whole story. The right by combat sounds to me like a very old tradition preceding the Darksabre. The Darksabre just got caught up in the old tradition, and became a visible symbol of having won a duel against the old Mand’alor. However—and it’s a pretty big however—like I said previously, no one rules Mandalore without the support of the clans. There are probably many stories of some hotshot young warrior thinking to make themselves into the next Mand’alor. And they might actually manage it—for about five minutes, until the old Mand’alor’s warriors line up to challenge them. You might win one duel, but no-one will win a hundred duels in a row. Even if they would manage to keep the Darksabre, if the clans didn’t support them, they would shortly go bankrupt, and find their armies going home when they stop being paid.

So there are probably some five-minute-wonders in the history, who are quickly succeeded by the previous Mand’alor’s second or third in command. I’d also like to point out that there’s an incentive to leave the previous Mand’alor alive: they are still (often) the clan head or at least the commander of a significant number of troops present in the capital, and if they’re alive, they can order those troops to stand down. If they’re dead, those troops may choose to fight instead and hope to make the challenger’s reign very short indeed.

The New Mandalorian government

Now on this stage comes the Republic, who in 738 BBY bombs key Mandalorian worlds and leaves large swaths of them inhabitable. They also installsa caretaker government to make sure that the Mandalorian threat would not rise again. And I imagine that from the get go, this Republic oversight would have been universally loathed. But it also split Mandalorians between those who on principle refused to recognise the Republic’s puppet government, and those who saw that Mandalore was in no position to evict them militarily, and needed to do everything to ensure the Republic navy didn’t have a reason to come back and finish the job. So they chose to work within the system to fight tooth and nail for an independent, Mandalorian government.

And, well, that itself is a huge source of friction. Mandalore essentially has two governments, which don’t recognise each other: the post-excision government that grew from the Republic’s caretaker government and the Mand’alor. The clan Moot would probably be something of a grey area: perhaps it was recognised but reorganised by the post-Dral’Han government; or perhaps it was not, but traditions are not so easily killed and it still holds a lot of power in practice. Individual Houses operate in between all of these separate systems of power, striking a deal here and giving a nod there.

But I also think that a lot of the Core-inspired laws installed by this post-Excision government, and the laws that are needed to make the tightly packed domed cities run, come into conflict with the traditional Mandalorian laws. So now you have what is effectively a tripartite system of law. And there’s certain friction between all of these parts, and lots of arguments about which law applies in which case and who has jurisdiction.

This is also how the Mand’alor can be a rather hands-off position (depending on the Mand’alor) after the Dral’Han—there are two other forms of government to keep things running.

Citizenship

Let’s start with a couple of basic assumptions. First, the basic unit of Mandalorian society is the clan. Aliit is also a part of the Resol’nare. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that one cannot be a Mandalorian without a clan. I mean, in a religious sense, you have to be adopted into a Mandalorian clan to become a Mandalorian and share in the Manda. That’s why the adoption vow is literally ”name and soul”. Well, that’s the orthodox, religious view anyway. I imagine modern attitudes are laxer, but older views are probably reflected in many laws still.

Secondly, a lot of the Mandalorian space was originally conquered by the Taung. The conquered peoples could become Mandalorians, but I always got the vibe that it was an individual choice (both of the adoptee to want to become a Mandalorian and of the clan to accept them)—conversely, there must have been many people who decided not to convert. I doubt they were all put to sword either, especially after Mand’alor the Ultimate’s reforms.

So this creates a situation where there are both people who are Mandalorians by creed and by clan, and people who live on Mandalorian worlds and are not one or the other or neither.

And I like to think that Mandalore, by the accident of history, effectively has two kinds of citizenships: ”full” citizenship for members of Mandalorian clans, and ”civil” citizenships for residents of Mandalorian worlds who are not considered Mandalorians. And that these two kinds of citizenships come with different rights and responsibilities. For one, only the Mandalorians have representation in their House of Lords. Conversely, only Mandalorians are expected to answer the Mand’alor’s call and to serve in the military. Yes, this came about because I wanted to explore that whole are Jaster and Jango Mandalorians or not, and who even is a Mandalorian debates. Where do they come from? Could there be some reasonable explanation that gets garbled in the translation to Basic? In my version, there’s both a religious/creed aspect to being a Mandalorian, and a legal citizenship aspect, that overlap. So perhaps Jango was born on a Mandalorian world, but not as a Mandalorian. Just a thought.

Now the people who aren’t born Mandalorians but wish to become one by creed, they have an easy precedent available to them. They either get themselves accepted into a clan (the most common way); or I like to think there’s some kind of a provision for people who for one reason or another don’t want to be adopted. Perhaps they need to have a sponsor who’s a citizen of good standing (this would be the adopter for those who are adopted into clans, or perhaps the spouse or the spouse’s clan head for those who marry in), and let’s say two witnesses who testify they have completed their verd’goten or an equivalent trial. A clan can’t really be just one person, so I imagine that if a clan shrinks to just one member, they keep their lands etc., but lose some other e.g. political privileges until they became a clan (of more than one) again, and conversely, newly minted mandos who don’t have clans don’t get all the benefits and representation either.

Then we have people who are neither. Now these people could have legitimate grievances against how the political system operates, because it disadvantages them. And I think that’s an interesting point and an interesting conflict. Which is what stories are all about.

And then we have New Mandalorians, at least some of who are Mandalorians by clan—but they refuse some duties that come with that, and which probably actually are codified into traditional Mandalorian law. So that’s a legitimate grievance on the part of the old guard against the New Mandalorians: they want all the benefits, but dodge the draft and other legal duties. But it’s also a legitimate grievance of the New Mandalorians (mandatory military service is a violation of individual rights as their government defines them & answering to a Mand’alor who is not recognised by their laws). And what else would they define citizenship by, if not birth and residence on the Mandalorian worlds?

And I imagine that New Mandalorian government either defines or wants to define citizenship in a new way that’s not based on creed and being a member of a clan. And this is also a source of grievances and conflict. The traditionalists feel that being a Mandalorian is a creed, a choice; and that choosing to walk the way of the Mandalore has been a foundational right since the time of the Mandalorian Wars. After all, all of the modern day Mandalorians are descended of people who made that choice.

[oldtvandcomics]

Pulptober 2024: 26 - Not Like We Remember

"It's inevitable that, through the adaptation process and the passage of time, people's ideas of what a character is changes. This is for characters where this is...particularly drastic such that the way people envision them is often radically different from how they were originally." - Original prompt by @krinsbez

I have A LOT of thoughts about this, so I'm going to change my usual pattern of going for a character and write an essay instead.

TL;DR: In my experience, one could argue that this is true for all stories that have gone through some adaptations. At least it is in the minds of the general population. Fans who are invested enough to watch/read the original might be a little different, depending on which character you're talking about.

Many fans have pointed out fandoms' bad tendency to simplify and occasionally twist characters in order to fit them into neat narrative boxes, and the way that this hurts fanworks, because they now fail to interact with any of the things that made said character unique to begin with. What I would like to propose:

Mainstream adaptations and popular perception of a story do this too.

Trends that I have observed to happen during adaptations:

All clever characters -> insufferable genius who is full of themselves and keeps rubbing this into everyone's face (Sherlock Holmes; the Doctor, occasionally)

The one woman important for the story -> the hero's love interest, if he didn't originally have one (Irene Adler; Lenore "Casey" Case; Lieutenant Uhura*; Dan Reid Sr.'s wife (who also appears to have changed her first name from Linda to Rebecca in the process? *The 2008 Star Trek movie is ALSO guilty of erasing two out of the three important female officers, leaving only Uhura. If you were to give Spock a love interest, why didn't you stick with Nurse Chapel?! But those movies are a rant for another time.)

"Cool" male hero -> Insufferable asshole who thinks that he is cooler and better than anyone else and treats women like assets to get across how cool he is (Captain Kirk; Han Solo too, at least I personally would argue so)

White hero + partner who is a person of color, both more or less equally competent -> White guy is a complete idiot who wouldn't be able to keep himself alive + partner is insanely competent and does the work for both of them without receiving any thanks (The Lone Ranger + Tonto; The Green Hornet + Kato)

Any period typical prejudices that might have been present in the original get amplified by ten (The Green Hornet; The Lone Ranger; Sherlock Holmes; the First Doctor)

Two very close male friends -> They hate / barely tolerate each other (The Lone Ranger + Tonto; The Green Hornet + Kato; Kirk and Spock (!!); Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson)

Any woman in a leading position -> Girl with a sword and very 21st century attitude (Nimue that one time; Not sure how much Enola Holmes counts because she is an original character, but....)

Woman who is NOT in a leading position but doing her thing -> Screaming damsel in distress (Susan Foreman; Lois Lane in the minds of those who don't actually consume these stories)

There are absolutely more, these are just the most obvious ones that are bothering me. My general attitude towards older stories is to approach them with the best possible intention, and try to read past any outdated language and tropes. There is SO MUCH beauty and diversity there if you do that! But I really have the impression that the people making these adaptations don't always approach the original with the same good faith, if they really read/watch/listen to these stories at all. And then there is of course the inevitable game of telephone between people who know the original and understand the cultural context it was made in, people who know the original but don't understand the context, and people who only know the original through pop culture osmosis.

IDK, the only solution I see is to drastically shorten copyright, so that the people who get to retell these stories are the ones who actually love them, and of course to give Hollywood writers the time and resources to actually do their research. None of which I see happening.

[lamarseillasie]

Le Docteur Marat #01: Marat's medical competence

Salut, citoyens!

With the aim of informing and making an analysis based on primary sources about Marat's medical career, a career that, unfortunately, is little known - and, when known, usually ridiculed or belittled in various ways - by many, i have decided to start a series of posts in which i intend to dissect on subjects related to Marat's medical experiences as well as his writings. These posts will contain all primary sources at my fingertips, and i apologize in advance for my terrible English, as it is not my native language and i am still learning.

In this first post, we will address the following question, so controversial, doubted and misrepresented by many historians over the centuries: Was Marat a good doctor?

Before this question can be properly answered, it is necessary to be aware that the image of the historical character that Marat eventually became has been constantly counterfeited, adulterated and inaccurately represented by countless sources over time. Even in life, Marat was frequently attacked by many of his contemporary adversaries, who invented lies and false rumors about him and his life - especially his pre-revolutionary life. It is no coincidence that Marat was in the habit of constantly defending himself and justifying his actions in issues of his newspaper, L'Ami Du Peuple. When he died, many of the lies attributed to him were perpetuated and many were also developed by other biographers, writers and historians. Understanding that Marat's pre-revolutionary life was the target of several attempts to defame his image during the course of history, it is possible to understand the reasons why many people question whether he was really a good doctor.

Marat's training as a physician is thought to have begun during his stay in Bordeaux from 1760 to 1762 (Marat being 16-19 years old), at which time he worked as a tutor to one of the sons of Paul Nairac, a merchant. It is likely that his father, Jean-Mara, had some influence on his medical career and other of his academic interests. In his Portrait de l'Ami du peuple tracé par lui-même (1793), Marat mentions his father:

"The temperament of my soul comes from nature, but I owe the development of my character to my mother; for my father never aspired to make me anything other than a scholar."

It is not known for certain whether Jean-Mara was in fact the one who led Marat down the path of medicine. What can be conjectured is that he seems to have studied extensively from 1762, when he moved to Paris and then moving to England, where he does indeed seem to have started his career. In his Essay on gleets (1775) he mentions his "10 years practice" in the field. Little information, however, exists about this time, and the beginning of Marat's medical career unfortunately remains somewhat obscure.

But what were Marat's real qualifications? What can prove that he was a truly competent doctor in the field in the eyes of other doctors?

He received an M.D. degree from Andrews University in Scotland on June 30, 1775. The full diploma, as well as other documents and correspondence, can be found in F. Chèvremont, Jean-Paul Marat. I will leave it here below:

Even with a properly attested diploma, written and signed by two competent doctors, it is to be expected that those who oppose Marat have created assumptions and myths about his qualification. Many of his smearers claim that he bought the degree, since he has not defended any thesis. Clifford Conner debunks this story in Jean-Paul Marat: Tribune of the French Revolution [pg. 19-18]:

"His detractors have claimed that because there is no record of his actually having attended classes there, he must have bought the degree. His diploma was signed, however, by two medical examiners who officially certified Marat's competence as a physician. One of them, Dr. William Buchan, was a prominent medical authority whose books were published in multiple editions in both English and French."

"The way St. Andrews bestowed its degrees seems lax according to modern standards of medical education, but such comparisons are anachronistic. When Marat received his M.D. in 1775, he had already been practicing medicine for ten years. It was common in the eighteenth century-and in France even well into the nineteenth-for universities to confer degrees as a way of certifying the professional competence and educational preparation of working practitioners who had not actually attended classes at those institutions. Despite the illustrious Dr. Johnson's famous quip about St. Andrews "growing richer by degrees," the university was not regarded as a mere diploma mill. Benjamin Franklin, for one, expressed pride in the doctorate it had awarded him. Marat's M.D. was unquestionably authentic by the standards of the day."

In addition to the diploma, which is more than good evidence that Marat had skill in the field of medicine, it is possible to see his vast experience and evolution in the field, or at least in human anatomy and physiology, from his A philosophical essay on man (1773). This work, being a kind of treatise divided into three books that renew the ideas of his Essay on the human soul (1772), is of a more philosophical nature, although it makes it clear that Marat was at least a great connoisseur of the human body and its peculiarities. None of the thinkers and philosophers who criticized Marat's work at the time denied his full knowledge of the physiological theories or the anatomy of the fluids he presented, revealing that he had an excellent command of the various areas of the human body, something that certainly indicates an undeniable medical wisdom.

This ability to understand physiology is evident in several passages in volume 3, de l'homme. Here's one of my personal favorites:

"The human body is an admirable machine. If we look at it from the structural point of view, what a multiplicity of parts! What a prodigious number of forces! What justice, what precision in their effects! What intimacy in their union, what harmony in their dependence! Not only does it bring together all that is most beautiful in mechanics, but it surpowers them infinitely by the simplicity & play of its refforts. But the most marvellous thing is that the organs that make up these different machines all have different functions, when examined as a whole. In the body, not a single spring is isolated, but all are linked to one another, in mutual dependence, and thus contribute to forming a harmonious whole. Even less admirable for its structure than for its functions: if you look at it from this angle, what an astonishing variety of functions all rolled into one! A machine that plays & holds itself. A machine that can wind itself up. A machine by means of which the Soul relates to windowed objects. Machine by means of which the soul can act on bodies. Machine by means of which the Soul knows pleasure & pain. Machine in which the Soul paints with energy. Machine capable of reproducing itself."

But what were Marat's methods? What were his cures, his specialties?

Well, Marat himself is the main source able to confirm his own healing methods. Throughout his pre-revolutionary academic career, he produced a packed collection of works, letters and accounts relating to his experiences as a physician, describing situations and cures he performed on various patients. There seems to be no reason to question the reality of these cures, since, in Essay on gleets, Marat states that his patients (all named by their initials, so as to remain anonymous), "would not refuse confirmation of the truth if other patients wished a private interview. They even promised me that." [pg. 18 in Payennevile's French translation].

It is known that he cured the Marquise de L'Aubespine of a disease that other doctors considered incurable, and so his notoriety as a doctor began to grow. But Marat's clientele is a subject for another post. It is impossible to talk about his medical techniques without mentioning one of his greatest passions and specialties in the scientific field: electrotherapy. Marat constantly defended and disserted on the effects of electric fluid in medicine, describing situations in which he had used electrotherapy to successfully treat some of his patients. He is above all a nuanced and lucid theorist, although fascinated by the progress of the discovery of electricity; even so, he does not allow himself to be carried away by mesmerism, which he openly opposes in his Mémoire sur l'életricité médicale (1773).

Moreover, it is important to mention observation as one of Doctor Marat's main methods. In all the branches in which he operates to some extent - even in his philosophy - observation is the most present, most striking feature, and the one most demonstrated by Marat himself as being his most effective technique for developing and associating healing methods. He seems to have a passion for observation and for relating the various sciences through in-depth analysis, which explains the thoroughness with which he shows he treats each of his patients. Although the cures and therapeutic procedures carried out and proposed by Marat did not deviate so much from what was common in the Age of Enlightenment, it is more than possible to consider that he had an early mentality and far beyond his time for an 18th century physician. This is evident in his writings on the treatment of blenorrhagia, for example.

In a number of letters to the Gazette de Santé, Marat describes the cures he performed on patients. This set of letters reveals precisely the medical techniques he used at the time in each case - including dilutions, infusions and decoctions - and also discusses electrotherapy. These letters prove that Marat was undoubtedly competent as a medical observer and that he often linked his medical practice with the physical knowledge he so valued. Marat's concern to assess each illness as an isolated case and examine its symptoms is noticeable in almost all the letters.

This excerpt from a letter written by Marat in response to the husband of one of his patients clearly shows his concern with the clinical evaluation of symptoms in order to formulate a diagnosis:

"Does the patient have any chest pain? Is there any tearing when she coughs? Does she sleep on both sides or on her back? Is his sputum stained with blood? Is there any pus? Has she been prone to colds? Does she experience any change in the atmosphere? Does she hemorrhage, and has she? How is her appetite? Does she have night sweats? Does she hemorrhage, and has she? Does she have a low-grade fever? Is she in a slump?"

The full letter, along with some other information about it, can be found on pages 130-132 of Marat inconnu (1891), by Docteur Cabanés.

For a good period of his pre-revolutionary life, Marat was a typical physician and scholar of the Age of Enlightenment, demonstrating in his writings - however much they may have been purely publicistic - an undeniable wisdom in physiological, electrotherapeutic and physical knowledge in general. He has been, since his youth, a voracious reader, a real scholar and invariably a sage. Observation proved crucial to his medical technique, and the numerous letters and testimonies quoted above confirm the importance Marat attached to factors such as climate, diet and the behavior of his patients during their respective treatments. It is no wonder that he was able to cure many people with apparent effectiveness.

Marat evidently had a great deal of expertise in gonorrhea and eye-related diseases, cases in which he usually felt comfortable using electrification as one of his healing methods. All these characteristics of Marat's medicine are present in his letters to the Gazette de Santé, already mentioned above, and can also be seen in his medical works. In his book Marat (1996), Professor Olivier Coquard comments on this:

"On the whole, Marat appears as a typical representative of the doctors of the Enlightenment, despite training essentially acquired on the job. It targets a wealthy clientele, who pay dearly for their consultations and through which they want to integrate into society. His medical practice associates the use of the most traditional medicines with a very enlightened and precocious concern with clinical observation.

At the same time, the integration of electricity into the panoply of therapeutic instruments translates an essential aspect of Marathi's conception of science and the world: everything is interdependent. For the doctor, it is essential to master not only physiology, but the set of scientific disciplines."

What can we conclude from all this?

Marat was, in fact, a competent physician. He proved to have much more than a basic knowledge in medicine, and to claim that he was a quack in this field is quite wrong. The knowledge he possessed about anatomy and its different functions combined with his passion for the physical sciences and his autonomous, work-based experience and pure observation about treatments for eye diseases is groundbreaking in the historical context in which he found himself. Doctor Marat was very wise about his therapeutic techniques with electricity, the latter having been the target element of his studies for several long years of his life. In a future post, I would like to delve deeper into each of the cases and patients treated by Marat, exploring his clientele and his correspondence with Roume de Saint-Laurent, who was a great supporter of his scientific and medical career.

I end this long (?) post here. As much as we cannot witness his methods or watch his work live, there is no doubt that Marat was an advanced mind for his time as far as medicine was concerned. For various reasons, including his academic ambitions, his relationships, his scientific passions and his self-promoting ability, he was able to consolidate himself for a time very comfortably in this field, being known as Doctor Marat, who, possessed of a relatively well-off clientele, would probably not have imagined himself to be one of France's main revolutionary leaders in the near future. I am of the opinion, as is Dr. Jean-François Lemaire in his book Marat: homme de science? (1993) that Marat was an excellent doctor. His memory should therefore be taken seriously. Dr. Marat, an efficient, apt and prudent doctor, deserves to have the slanders against him debunked, so that people can understand that, before being a Friend of the People, he was above all a fine eccentric example of a Man of the Enlightenment.

Vitam impendere vero.

* I've taken a lot of inspiration from the biographies of Olivier Coquard and Docteur Cabanés to write this post, and so I'm being careful to design them the credits for most of the things I've written and the information I've used! :)

* Some of the images are photos taken by me on my cell phone, so I ask for forgiveness if they are a bit bad to read.

* I apologize for my bad English, it is not my native language and that is why it took me a long time to write this post. The translations of the letters may also contain errors, as I was the one who translated them.

[doberbutts]

Absolutely do not care what anyone does crop/dock wise, actually curious here. Does crop or dock affect anything with bite work/sport? I know a reason for crop/dock I hear is that they won't get grabbed if a dog attacks so I was wondering if it made a difference as this is not my sport or breed. You're dogs look happy and healthy and that's what's truly important imo

No.

Bitesport is a sport. The only thing that crop/dock affects is whether the FCI will let you play, because currently the answer is "no" for cropped/docked dogs no matter what country they're in or the standard and laws for that country.

That's why you see a lot of people in the US say "I'm leaving them natural because I'm doing bitesports"- the AKC does not sanction bitesport trials and refuses to do more than acknowledge them in the regisered name (which you have yo pay for, so yeah they'll take your money to add some letters to your dog's name). So since AKC won't sanction these trials, someone has to. And that someone goes back to the FCI one way or the other. Currently we're able to compete in this country's trials with cropped and docked dogs, but it's very possible the FCI will change that eventually.

As far as in a real working scenario... I'll be honest, the majority of dogs working in real world protection are malinois and german shepherds, neither of which are cropped or docked and both of which have plenty of hair and skin to grab. Unlike the doberman which was literally developed for the job of personal protection in the real world and not bitesports, which originally had their ears and tails entirely removed as well as being bred to have sleek fur and tight skin.

And, um. Well I'm sure a combattant or two has gotten a lucky shot to the ears or tails. But also most real world protection dogs die from getting stabbed or shot, not from being grabbed. And in this scenario, most people being bitten and shaken like a ragdoll by a dog are not thinking clearly enough to target ears and tails (small, fast moving, easy to miss targets) but are usually aiming blows ti the face and to center mass.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Constantine (2005)

Constantine comes from the era of comic book film adaptation when we were just happy to get ANYTHING. This allowed writers, directors and executives to do whatever they wanted to make the stories and characters more accessible and bankable without mobs coming to their doors with pitchforks and torches. Unfortunately, this often resulted in generic, forgettable films. The less familiar you are with the Hellblazer comics, the more likely you are to appreciate this less-than-faithful take on the character. I enjoyed it just enough to give it a mild recommendation while hoping a better adaptation will someday leave this one in the dust.

In LA, cynical occultist John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is surprised to find a demon attempting to enter our world through its possessed host, rather than simply puppeteering her the way demons usually do. Meanwhile, Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) is shocked when her twin sister, Isabel, commits suicide. Isabel knew this mortal sin would condemn her to Hell, which prompts Angela to suspect she was actually murdered. These strange events are somehow linked to a strange spearhead discovered in a ruined church in Mexico that possesses a man (Jesse Ramirez) while granting him near-invincibility.

With his American accent and black hair, this Constantine feels a lot more like a traditional cynical hero than the blonde from Liverpool you'll find in the pages of DC/Vertigo's comics. There are worse things your movie could do, but it doesn’t help make the story memorable. There's got a mystery that leads to a big threat, which is a good spine to build your skeleton upon. We’re introduced to several rules about the world. Turns out that God and the Devil (Peter Stormare) are competing for mankind’s souls and that neither demons nor angels can directly interfere; they only “influence” people. “Half-breed” angels and demons can walk around doing what they want, however, and when they go too far, Constantine puts them back in their place. He’s doing this to win himself a spot in Heaven. Our favorite exorcist has terminal lung cancer - that’s what you get for smoking non-stop. Maybe this case will be the one to get him his golden ticket. I dunno. Doesn’t it feel like more could be done with this? When you boil it down, Constantine isn’t much deeper than End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger and is that really where we want to be?

It’s the details of the world that wind up interesting us in the end. The visions of Hell we see are unique. It’s like a perpetual nuclear sandstorm ripping apart a parallel Earth, with damned souls squirming in agony below while demons prowl about. Getting there requires you to perform simple but convincing-looking rituals, which is one of the standout moments. Rachel Weisz and Keanu Reeves have some pretty good chemistry, even if it would be a cliché for her to fall for a man who didn’t even hold the elevator door open for her the first time they met. Pruitt Taylor Vince as Father Hennessy has an inventive encounter with a demon. Shia LaBeouf plays Chas Kramer, Constantine’s driver and apprentice but he’s gone for such large chunks of the movie you wonder why he was even included. Tilda Swinton has a memorable but small role as the Archangel Gabriel. At this point, I feel like I’m just going through a list of things about the movie, which anyone could do… but maybe that’s all there is to say. How does the movie make you feel? Excited while Constantine is shooting demons with his cross-shaped gun or punching them with holy brass knuckles, I guess. Intrigued when we’re piecing together the clues behind Isabel’s death, I guess. Not exactly a rousing endorsement but the film is not boring. It moves, you want to see what’s coming next and once it’s over, it’s out of your mind.   Could it be that I’m nostalgic for Constantine? I do remember seeing it when it was released on DVD. In fact, I specifically remember buying it. I went to HMV looking for V for Vendetta. This was going to mark my official transition from VHS to discs and when I got to the store, I saw they had an exclusive 2-pack that included Constantine for free. Maybe that’s what's tipping me over the scale; the fact that I didn’t have to pay anything to see this film. If you decide to check it out, stay all the way to the end of the credits for a bonus scene. (August 16, 2022)

[ajaxiscat]

The Little Sprout 4/9

Taglist: @torakan

Word Count: 2276

Creaks and Squeaks

Three days after the paint incident, loud bangs rang throughout the house. Evie covered her head with her pillow, trying to shut it out. She didn’t know what was going on, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to. After about five minutes they subsided. She quickly left the current vent and looked out into the kitchen, nothing. In the bathroom, nothing. She finally went into Orenchi’s room, but he was there, his legs off of his bed, blocking her view. She tried to angle her head and then she saw it. He had hung up her portrait next to his door. All the paint supplies were cleaned up, which was surprising considering he was generally a messy person when it came to his hobbies. 

“You know I heard you leaving the vent right?” He heard her? But how? He didn’t usually say anything though, so there wasn’t a way for her to know. “I used to think it was just the house creaking, but I’m guessing it’s you. Considering the last time we saw each other, I heard the same noise when you left.” Oh. “You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, I just wanted to let you know that I heard you.” It wouldn’t hurt to talk to him again, right?

“Yeah… it's me.” She creeped out from beneath the bed. Going around his legs, she stood in front of him.

“What made you want to come to my room?”

“I heard loud bangs.”

“Right, sorry I was nailing a canvas to the wall. It probably hurt your ears huh?”

“Yeah, borrower ears are typically sensitive.”

“Borrower? Is that what you are?”

“Shit. Yeah, at least that’s what I’ve been told we call ourselves.”

“I presume it’s because you ‘borrow’ as you’ve said. Though it’s more like stealing.”

“Well yeah, but borrowing sounds better.”

“I’m not mad, I just think it’s funny. ‘Stealers’ probably would get you confused with a sports team. And ‘Thieves’ just sounds demeaning.”

“Sports team?”

“You don’t know what sports are?”

“I think I’ve heard of it before, but I don’t know the definition.”

“It’s like a game. Please say you know what games are…”

“Interesting, but why is it classified separately”

“So you know the word classified, but not what sports are. Curious. Anyways, sports are pretty much when two groups of people compete against each other for entertainment or fun.”

“Like war, but fun?”

“OH! No no no! How do you know what war is?!”

“The last house I lived in, the ‘person’ who lived there liked history.”

“Speaking of your last house, where did you used to live?”

“Ah… you know your neighbor, Arthur? I lived in his house for about six years.”

“Oh, Arthur! You used to live with him. He’s nice but he can be a bit of a know-it-all. He’s not my favorite neighbor.”

“Yeah. Anyways you were talking about sports.” She did not want to talk about him.

“Right, well two groups compete against each other for points, and in most cases whoever gets the most points by the end of the game wins. These groups are called sports teams, one that’s popular is called ‘The Steelers.”

“I see. That’s… odd.”

“I’d imagine most human things are odd to you. Speaking of you being a borrower, are your pointy ears just part of that? Or is that like a mutation?”

“Some borrowers have pointy ears, I’ve been told some have tails and animal ears. All the ones I’ve met just have pointy ears.”

“Other borrowers? Like your family.”

“Right, my family. I’d prefer not to talk about them if that’s okay?”

“No no no! It’s totally okay! Also your hair, it’s half orange and black. It’s really pretty! Do most borrowers have half and half hair?”

“Oh no, I have normally black hair. I think borrower hair is like humans, naturally one color.”

“Then how did you get it orange?”

“I bleached it.”

“But how? I don’t imagine you have much access to professional hair products?”

“With bleach… isn’t that what humans do?”

“...You just… put actual bleach in your hair?”

“Is that not the right way? I mean I do get burns but I thought that was normal…”

“NO! Hair bleach is different! Cleaning bleach isn’t safe for hair.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that. I probably should stop using that then.”

“I can get you hair bleach. When you want to bleach your hair I can help you.” “Wait, really? That… That would be nice.”

“Of course. Though I do want to know, do you just take my hair products?”

“Um… yeah. I have a little tub I wash my hair in, and I keep the hair stuff I take in little thimbles.”

“Wow… that’s… surprising? I mean your hair doesn’t look dirty! It’s just inventive for someone like yourself.”

“I don’t like having dirty hair, it makes me uncomfortable. I try to take care of myself like I’m a human. It’s much nicer than not.”

“I would imagine so. Also, it’s almost lunchtime. I don’t know if you eat at the times humans do, but would you like me to make you something?”

“I… um.” No one had ever offered something like that. She always took care of herself. Even if she said yes, she wouldn’t know where to start with what to eat. Though, the promise of warm food was tantalizing. “Yes, that would be really nice actually…”

“Great, what would you like?”

“Well, I don’t really know what you have right now. Or what you could make…”

“I have some pizza I could heat up, and I could give you a little piece.”

She had heard about pizza, but she was never lucky enough to try it. It was something humans usually put away before she could try it. And it would probably be warm if he made it for her. “That sounds great. Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me.” To him, it was just food he could get whenever he wanted. But to her? He was offering food to her, something humans never did, especially something humans seemed to like so much. 

“Don’t worry about thanking me, plus I was planning on making it anyway. I don’t mind sharing my food with you, plus you probably can’t eat much. Do you want me to bring you to the kitchen or do you want me to make it and bring it back?” 

A human picking her up? At first, she wanted to say hell no. Yet, when she thought about it, those damned butterflies came back. She did trust Orenchi more than him. He would let her go if she was uncomfortable, she was confident about that. “You can bring me there.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t seem too content with it last time we spoke.”

“I think I’m okay trying it, just go slow please.” He lowered his hand to her.

“I’ll be slow, let me know when you’re ready.”

She slowly climbed up onto his hand, settling down into his palm. “I’m ready.” He slowly lifted her up, to about chest height.

“Is this okay?”

“Yeah.” If anything, it was comfortable. She hadn’t expected that. Usually the thought of being held terrified her, and stirred up her gut. Though now the only thing stirring in her gut were butterflies. 

-Orenchi-

I could barely feel her weight in my hand. I slowly brought her to the kitchen, but when we got to the counter I was reluctant to set her down. Regardless, I wanted to respect her boundaries, so I set her down softly. Yet I couldn’t seem to will my hand from not settling behind her.

“Was that alright?” 

“Yeah… Thank you for going slow. I appreciate it, I get motion sickness.”

She had been picked up before? By who? Several questions swirled in my head, but I shoved them down. She could tell me what she wanted when she was ready. “I’ll get started on the pizza.” I hope she likes pepperoni, it’s the only flavor I like, and the only one I bought last week. I took it from the freezer and preheated the oven. I could feel her eyes on my back. I still relish her company. After a couple of minutes of silence between us, the oven beeped and I put the pizza in. “It should take around ten minutes. Have you had pizza before?”

“Oh no, humans usually put it away before I get to try. But I’m curious to try. From what I’ve heard most humans like it.” “It’s pretty popular. How about pepperoni, have you tried that before?”

“I know it’s a pizza topping, but I don’t think I’ve tried it.”

“I only had pepperoni pizza, so I hope you like it. Did you see those red circles on the cheese?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s pepperoni, but if you don’t like it, I don’t have to give you any with it.”

“I’m up for trying it. As a borrower, you can’t be picky, so I like most food. Except for those slimy meat things, I think they’re called fish? They make my throat tighten up and they taste weird.”

I think she’s allergic to fish. “Fish shouldn’t make your throat tighten up. Honestly, no food should do that. Has this happened with anything else?”

“Oh yeah, those little yellow things. They’re called cobs I think.”

“That’s corn. A common way to eat them is keeping them on the cob, which is where they grow from.”

“Huh. Well, that also makes my throat tight.”

“Usually throat tightness when you eat food means you’re allergic. So you probably have corn and fish allergies.”

“Oh… I’ve heard of allergies before. Humans can’t eat what they’re allergic to, right?”

“Yeah, which means no more fish or corn for you.”

“Happy about the fish, but I liked corn.”

“Sorry. How about this, what foods do you like that you aren’t allergic to?”

“Granola. Most humans have it in their homes, it keeps for a while. It breaks down easily which means it’s easy to take small chunks off. I also just like the taste.” She answered so quickly. I keep it around for my yogurt. I’ll let her try it in yogurt someday.

“You watch me, so I assume you know I like it in yogurt.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Want to try some later, in yogurt?”

“That sounds good. Thank you.”

The timer went off and I pulled open the oven. The pizza was done, and I set it on the stove. “Have to wait sometime for it to cool down. Ever tried ranch?”

“No. I haven’t tried most things that go in the fridge.”

“Some humans like their pizza with ranch. Would you like to try it?”

“That sounds good. Thank you.” I sat down on the floor, so I wasn’t looming over her. Now I was at her eye level. She backed up slightly so she was a couple of inches away. Is that red on her cheeks?

-+-

He was so close. Evie’s cheeks went flaming hot. She stumbled back.

“I’ll grab the ranch and a plate.” He got up again and she tried to straighten up, her legs slightly shaky. When he got back with a bottle and a plate she moved out of the way. “You okay if I get a pizza cutter?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Don’t want you to think I’m gonna hurt you.”

“You wouldn’t. I know that.” 

-Orenchi-

She trusts me. She trusts me. It means more than I can describe. “Thank you for trusting me.” 

“You’ve given me no reason not to.”

“That’s true, it’s just it’s only been a week, and we’ve only interacted like three times.”

“I know, but you’ve helped me a lot in those interactions. Hell, you’re making me food. It means a lot.”

“I see you as a friend” maybe more, wait what? “And people help their friends.”

“Thanks.”

“Pizza is probably good to eat by now.” I sliced it up and set a couple of slices onto a plate “So how big should I cut it?”

“About half a centimeter. That should work”

“Still want some pepperoni?”

“Yes please.”

I cut off some pizza and then I ripped off a piece of pepperoni and set it next to her bit. “There you go.”

“Thanks.” 

I started eating and watched her smile as she bit into her food. Her smile is so cute. 

“I can see why humans like this so much. Pepperoni is really good too. There's some flavor in it I can’t quite name, it’s really good.” “I assume you know what savory is, so it’s probably not that.”

“It feels like it’s stinging my tongue but in a good way.”

“The spiciness in it. That’s probably what you’re tasting.”

“I like it a lot, what other ‘spicy’ foods do you have?”

“I don’t have many in my house right now, but I can get you some?”

“Please do, it’s really good. Better than granola.”

“I think if I get you better quality human food, granola won’t be in your top five.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Would you like more pepperoni?”

“Yes please.”

I took some more off of my slice. I want more moments like this with her. We talked a bit more about her food likes and dislikes. Eventually, she and I were full. “I assume you want to go back to those vents of yours?”

“Probably, I’m a bit tired.” She yawned, another thing I seemed to adore. I assumed she would get up as always, but instead, she yawned again, leaned over, and promptly passed out.

“Evie?!”

[affluent-havoc]

Naegami Fluff and/or Shenanigans 13

Byakuya only lets a select amount of people in his life actually touch him. If it was his way, he’d only have a select amount of people talk with him or be in the same room as him. The world is not like that though so, unfortunately, the heir just has to deal with it and interact with people he doesn’t like which is basically almost everyone. That’s not to say that he is incapable of connecting with others. It’s just going to be a slow burn. However, once he begins to get attached to someone, things get... interesting for him. All his life, he never believed he would ever have a connection with anyone. It'd just be more of a contractional thing as him being the heir to the Togami conglomerate and all. So, when it actually occurs, he's not so sure what to do. Especially since he did not at all predict it'd be someone like Makoto. He never would have guessed that Makoto and his ways, his mind, his simultaneous idiocy and slight competency, it'd leave him intrigued and wanting to learn more. Just as a sort of experiment though. The heir would never willingly go out and talk to a peasant of any kind to befriend them. And he'd never get attached! Not a chance! Or well, that's just what he likes to tell himself. Regardless though, the heir goes out on his "totally logical and not at all an excuse to speak with his sorta maybe crush" mission! It starts out brief. Just Makoto popping into the library and Byakuya immediately glaring at the boy before telling him to leave the area. Great job, Byakuya! Things DO improve though. Makoto's a lot more stubborn than the heir gave him credit for. And, that determination paid off for him. Slowly, without the heir realizing it, he was getting MUCH closer to Makoto and even his other peers. No matter how many times he told them to "Back off" or to "Leave", it was only ever temporary. And, sure. Not a lot of his classmates really LIKED him. They could at least tolerate him though! Maybe even work together with him on a class project with minimal disputes. Back to Makoto though, Byakuya starts to let him in more, albeit unintentional. Like letting Makoto stay in his dorm a bit after Makoto fell down a flight of stairs, (no worries! he just needed a few bandages!) or telling Makoto about his past a bit. And sure, there was some miscommunication and assumption making on Makoto's part that upset the heir. However, Byakuya was able to forgive Makoto for his initial feeling that Byakuya was "just another silver spooned rich guy who lived off of his parent's success" And... he lets Makoto get juuuust close enough where the boy decides one day to hug the heir. From that moment, Byakuya felt... weird. After Makoto escapes the hug and apologies profusely for not asking before hand, the heir continued to feel off. The usual rule for him and contact was off kilter. He still hates others touching him and being near people. Yet... he didn't mind it as much with Makoto. In fact, there are times the heir realized that he might even LIKE it. Not all the time but more times than he'd ever had in his life. From Makoto holding his hand to an awkward fist bump the boy attempted to initiate with him. It felt weird for him to enjoy the company of another, yet, he did. Thus, cue the internal gay panic. Meanwhile, Makoto's oblivious to this though he definitely notices Byakuya's new, strange behaviors. It's like the heir is a bit more, fidgety now. He looks away more and seems to be more hesitant at times with his words. Not stuttering or anything but pauses in his sentences. Makoto decided not to pressure Byakuya about this though. He may not understand the heir in full, however, he could tell this is new territory for Byakuya. Makoto took it slow. He asked before he initiated any contact. One time he even went as far as to say something along the lines of "Hey, Byakuya? Maybe I poke your shoulder to get your attention?" Yeah. He immediately realized why that was a dumb thing to ask. Dumb moment's aside, Makoto took it nice and easy.

[kingofthewilderwest]

Your tags on the 'whose smarter' poll made me flashback to that episode of DoB. Final ep, I think, Cast Out prt 2? And anyway it literally ends with Snotlout (disobeying Hiccup) and acting recklessly with his plan. Hiccup tells him "You proved sometimes recklessness can be courageous" and I just remember being like "THIS from the kid who took on the Red Death on one dragon with a flammable tail fin. Like the similarity/hypocrisy got me--when Hiccup went after the Red Death he was a hero.

I love this. It's really about framing. The HTTYD series provides us certain narrative perceptions, lenses, by which they have us view the characters. Going outside the lenses to look at characters's actions more objectively, and there's that... bias... haha, yeah!

Hiccup constantly doing reckless things is treated as more permissible by the show's framework. His reckless and/or impulsive decisions are treated as gutsy, genius solutions rather than haybrained schemes. And Hiccup tends to be rewarded for those wild plans narratively by having those succeed.

Even though Hiccup gets semi-called out on unnecessary recklessness in RTTE - like testing a flight suit - it's portrayed narratively to viewers as humorous rather than flaws to learn from (as per Snotlout). And when Hiccup makes mistakes, the narrative treats feedback from "equals" like Astrid or people in greater authority like Stoick as what we viewers should care most about. It's not that Ruffnut, Tuffnut, or Snotlout lack feedback about Hiccup's decisions, but it's not treated as criticially. We're not "meant" to reflect on it, most of the time.

"You just proved sometimes recklessness can be courageous" is so much a part of Hiccup's choices that the phrase could be etched on his tombstone. But it's Snotlout taking a moment of gumption that's called out as so risky it's potentially "dumb." And frankly, across the entirety of DreamWorks Dragons, Snotlout brings up many points of prudent caution.

There's a hierarchy the narrative gives us - Hiccup the leader, Astrid and Fishlegs as "more competent" members of the group, and the twins and Snotlout as "less competent" members of the group (our comedic relief). The narrative wants us to sometimes treat this as a gang of equals, especially by RTTE, but the way conversations and situations get presented, solved, and saved means that this internalized hierarchy never leaves. That means that who the audience members take most seriously gets impacted.

I mean, as you said yourself, it's Snotlout disobeying Hiccup - a word that carries authority, as Hiccup is the leader of the Dragon Club during the early DreamWorks Dragons series. In HTTYD and HTTYD 2, Hiccup disobeying Stoick, while ultimately resulting in good ends, also carries consequences. Hiccup disobeying Stoick resulted in the village nearly getting killed. Hiccup disobeying Stoick brought Drago's attention onto them. But by the TV series, I think Hiccup's disobedience is usually seen as a good (by my shoddy memory), but Snotlout's disobedience is seen as him not being "as good as" Hiccup - but is that actually, objectively the case, outside the show's framing?

I don't have the Freaktastic Knowledge I did in ye olde days of analysis where I could list off three hundred specific examples to prove my points, but this is my memory impressions of the series. Snotlout balks at Hiccup's plans lots of the time - and he doesn't not have a point. In another series, Snotlout would be correctly identifying three hundred things that could go wrong, might have gone wrong, or will actually, in fact, go wrong. But Snotlout as a comedic relief character, and then a defiant character opposing Hiccup the Hero who comes up with the correct plan because he's got protagonist armor... means sometimes Snotlout's legitimate points get lost to viewers.

There's a reason why, even now, ROB's Defiant One's conversation between Hiccup and Snotlout still resonates clearly in my memories.

Snotlout: Oh, you are so smug! Hiccup: Me? Snotlout: Hiccup's so smart! Hiccup's so brave! He killed the Red Death! He trained the dragons! He's got the metal leg! Hiccup: Metal leg? That's what's bothering you? That's where you're going? Metal leg? Snotlout: No! It's everything the leg is attached to!

Snotlout made mistakes in Defiant One. Let's not forget that context. But while Snotlout yelling at Hiccup can be read as Snotlout not being "as good as" our hero Hiccup who saves the day... it strikes me because it shows the imbalance of treatment between Snotlout and Hiccup. "Everything the leg is attached to" is the prioritization of Hiccup and - by this point - Hiccup expecting to be prioritized.

Actually listening to Snotlout is a fantastic way to experience the TV series. He's bitter. He's grumpy. He's defiant. He's downer. But that's because he sees holes. He has a **PRACTICAL** side that butts heads with Hiccup. I'm someone whose thinking processes are similar to Snotlout - it's easier to shoot down a solution for its mistakes than come up with a new one - but it's an important role to have. In an actually existing friendship group, you need someone who's down to earth enough to make sure your out-of-the-box thinking friend (Hiccup) doesn't come up with something so wild it's not really going to work. We need an intelligence that sees holes. Otherwise, we start floating off into things that won't work as we expect them to, or adopting ideas that haven't been tested with robustness.

Snotlout's a legitimately smart guy. The fact that Astrid and the others shoot him down is partially because of his character, partially because sometimes he can be a dummy (as can we all), but partially because of their own flaws. Listen more to Snotlout, y'all. Some of Hiccup's plans work because Luck.

Similarly, we can talk about the framing of Fishlegs spewing facts (treated as providing information) versus the Thorstons spewing facts (treated as a novelty quirk rather than intelligence). Just because the Thorstons do it in a dorkier, more trollish matter does not negate the fact that they are BRIMMING, purely BRIMMING, with an ENORMOUS amount of factual knowledge! Does Fishlegs actually have more factual knowledge than them? No, it's just a different area. He's got concentrated knowledge on dragons. They've got in depth, niche knowledge of a large variety of topics. Fishlegs, Ruff, and Tuff are all dang smart.

From a meta standpoint, the twins's intelligence is treated inconsistently. But I prefer me my smart Thorstons who just have spacey heads, trollish senses of humor, and thrillseeking behavior.