#why not I post non-canon compliance all the time

[emry-stars-art]

Goofs and gaffs in the chat about mer Jean and Kevin seeing sunshine pirate/fisher/general beach enjoyer Jeremy and immediately deciding they need to somehow get his attention

[nofomogirl]

Good Omen's problem with having two canons

They're fundamentally different. That's the problem. That's my point.

For quite a while I focused almost exclusively on the new season of Good Omens, but now I am slowly delving into analysis that takes the entire show into account, and I've encountered a little obstacle. Namely, things from S1 can be really tricky to interpret.

Fair warning: this post is going to zig-zag between various points but I want you to trust me and take this scenic route with me. It will take us somewhere eventually, I promise.

The Arrangement

It's one of the core elements in the Good Omens universe and at the same time a perfect example of the issue I want to discuss. So let's have a closer look together.

In the book, the Arrangement is presented to us in two passages:

the first one, where it is first - very briefly - mentioned:

Aziraphale had tried to explain [free will] to him once. The whole point, he'd said - this was somewhere around 1020, when they'd first reached their little Arrangement - the whole point was that when a human was good or bad it was because they wanted to be.

and the second one, where it is properly introduced and explained:

The Arrangement was very simple, so simple in fact, that it didn't really deserve the capital letter, which it had got for simply being in existence for so long. It was the sort of sensible arrangement that many isolated agents, working in awkward conditions a long way from their superiors, reach with their opposite number when they realize they have more in common with their immediate opponents than their remote allies. It meant a tacit non-interference in certain of each other's activities. It made certain that while neither really won, also neither really lost, and both were able to demonstrate to their masters the great strides they were making against a cunning and well-informed adversary. (...) And then, of course, it had seemed even natural that they should, as it were, hold the fort for one another whenever common sense dictated. Both were of angel stock, after all. If one was going to Hull for a quick temptation, it made sense to nip across the city and carry out a standard brief moment of divine ecstasy. It'd get done anyway, and being sensible about it gave everyone more free time and cut down on expenses.

In the show, the Arrangement is presented to us in two original scenes in the cold opening of S1E3:

(I am quoting most relevant dialogues only)

537 AD, Wessex:

C: So we're both working very hard in damp places and just canceling each other out? A: Well, you could put it like that. It is a bit damp. C: Be easier if we both stayed home. If we just send messages back to our head offices saying we'd done everything they'd asked for, wouldn't it? A: But that would be lying. C: Eh, possibly, but the end result would be the same. Cancel each other out. A: But my dear fellow... well, they'd check. Michael's a bit of a stickler. You don't want to get Gabriel upset with you. C: Oh, our lot have better things to do than verifying compliance reports from Earth. As long as they get paperwork they seem happy enough. As long as you're being seen doing something every now and again. A: No! Absolutely not! I am shocked that you would even imply such a thing. We're not having that conversation, not another word!

1601 AD, The Globe Theatre:

A: I have to be in Edinburgh at the end of the week. A couple of blessings to do. A minor miracle to perform. (...) C: I'm meant to be heading to Edinburgh too this week. Tempting a clan leader to steal some cattle. A: Doesn't sound like hard work. C: That's why I thought we should... Well, bit of a waste of effort, both of us going all the way to Scotland. A: You cannot actually be suggesting what I infer that you are implying. C: Which is? A: That just one of us goes to Edingburgh, does both. The blessing and the tempting. C: We've done it before. Dozens of times now. The Arrangement- A: Don't say that! C: Our respective offices don't actually care how things get done. They just want to know they can cross it off the list.

S2 doesn't actually reference the Arrangement. But it does reuse the dialogue about free will where the 1020 date is dropped. We will get back to it.

The challenge of adapting Good Omens

Good Omens shares a certain characteristic with all of Terry Pratchett's solo books I've read - it couldn't care less about "showing instead of telling". Which I love, just to be clear. A book is a written medium. It's made with words and one of words' major strengths is that you can use them to just tell things point blanc.

Good Omens does it a lot and it's fantastic.

Look at that second passage from the book I quoted earlier.

From just those few sentences we learn a lot about the relationships between:

Heaven and Hell (opponents and competition)

Aziraphale and Crowley (two individuals in the same position and in direct contact with each other)

Aziraphale/Crowley and Heaven/Hell (field agent and a remote HQ that are not in direct contact)

Aziraphale/Crowley and Earth (two individuals and a space they live in)

Heaven/Hell and Earth (a board where the game is played, only winning or losing matters, what actually happens on a board does not)

It's really an extra condensed worldbuilding gem sprinkled with humor, so it's no surprise it's become one of the most iconic passages from the book.

I mean, just browse through some interviews with David and Michael - especially the ones from 2019 - where they explain what Aziraphale and Crowley are about. You'll be hard-pressed to find any where they don't reference that specific paragraph, consciously or otherwise.

But it's only this neat on the pages of the book, where narration like this takes mere seconds to absorb. It's impossible to convey the same information in a visual medium with anywhere near the same efficiency.

The fact that the majority of Good Omens is like this was, in my opinion, a main challenge the adaptation faced. The book is very narration-heavy. It's full of fun facts about characters, side jokes, hilarious comments, etc. Some of that precious material was salvaged by introducing God as a narrator, but there was only so much of it you could squeeze into a TV show. The rest had to either be fit into dialogues or lost in translation from the written medium to the visual one.

Obviously, in the case of the Arrangement, it was the dialogues.

Book canon and show canon

We all know they're not the same. Neil Gaiman also pointed it out several times. But I think our mistake is that we still tend to think about them as complementary.

Look at the Arrangement again. The show canon seems to merely expand on the book canon. Add extra details and fill in the blanks. The Arrangement works the exact same way, except now we also know more about how it started.

If we compile what we know from the book with what we know from the show, we get a more detailed timeline:

Crowley first proposes the Arrangement in 537 (show).

The Arrangement starts in 1020 (book), ie. Aziraphale finally agrees to it (show - deduction); we don't know for sure if it's a "basic version" (not getting in each other's way), or a "full version" (doing each other's jobs) but we can assume it's the former.

In 1601 "full version" of the Arrangement is in place for some time (they've done it dozens of times) but Aziraphale still objects and needs convincing.

But read that description from a book once more.

Does it really fit into the version of events shown in the TV series?

The Arrangement in the book is something that just happened. A natural, and in a way inevitable result of Aziraphale and Crowley's circumstances. We are never told who came up with it first because it doesn't matter. Because it could have been either of them. Because after five millennia on Earth, they were both ready to do it. They were both of the same mind. For all we know it might have been an unspoken agreement all along!

But for the show, the creators had to come up with a good reason for the Arrangement to be discussed out loud. And what could be a more natural situation for someone to describe and explain an idea than trying to sell that idea to someone else?

For that practical reason - among many others, no doubt - the Arrangement is not only explicitly Crowley's idea, but an idea Aziraphale vehemently rejects at first. He needs to be convinced and even when he finally relents he's never entirely comfortable with it. He keeps objecting and it requires Crowley's constant effort for them to keep cooperating in any way.

The fact that Aziraphale is reluctant gives Crowley a perfect reason to keep convincing him ie. talk about the Arrangement. But the fact that he needs to explain and keep convincing Aziraphale means that Aziraphale is no longer a person who understands the same things and feels the same way.

That is a huge change.

Of course, you may say that what I've written about the Arrangement in the book is just my interpretation. It's true that technically there's nothing there that would contradict the events from the show in any way. The thing is, the events in the show aren't very compatible with the overall characterization of the ineffable duo in the book.

Evolution of Aziraphale and Crowley

You might have read that our leading pair was originally conceived as a single character that Neil and Terry eventually decided to split into two separate individuals.

My reaction when I first learned about it was: "Of course they were! That makes so much sense!" Because honestly, as a person who watched the show first and then read the book, I was surprised at how few differences there were between the two in the original text. If you squint your eyes really tight, you can see how book!Aziraphale and book!Crowley are two versions of the same character. They're far more similar than their show versions.

Most importantly, their attitudes toward Heaven and Hell are pretty much identical. Perfectly mirrored in every regard. What Hell is for Crowley, Heaven is for Aziraphale. What Hell is for Aziraphale, Heaven is for Crowley. In. Every. Possible. Way.

Allow me to present some evidence from the book.

Exhibit #1: the end of the scene where Crowley convinces Aziraphale to interfere with Warlock's upbringing

'You're saying the child isn't evil of itself?' he said slowly. 'Potentially evil. Potentially good too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality, waiting to be shaped,' said Crowley. He shrugged. 'Anyway, why're we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that.' 'I suppose it's got to be worth a try,' said the angel. Crowley nodded encouragingly. 'Agreed?' said the demon, holding out his hand. The angel shook it, cautiously. 'It'll certainly be more interesting than saints,' he said. 'And it'll be for the child's own good, in the long run,' said Crowley. (...)

When Crowley first points out that good and evil are just names for sides, and then insists it's something they both know, Aziraphale doesn't react in any way. That's because these aren't things that book!Aziraphale disagrees with. He does indeed know it and doesn't deny it.

Also, please note just how cynical the angel is here with his comment that influencing the Antichrist would be a more interesting project than influencing saints!

Both would be rather OOC for show!Aziraphale.

Exhibit #2: the scene just after Warlock Dowling's birthday party, when it becomes evident he is not the Antichrist

'You said it was him!' moaned Aziraphale (...) 'It was him,' said Crowley. (...) 'Then someone else must be interfering.' 'There isn't anyone else! There's just us, right? Good and Evil. One side or the other.' He thumped the steering wheel. 'You'll be amazed at the kind of things they can do to you, down there,' he said. 'I imagine they're very similar to the sort of things they can do to you up there,' said Aziraphale. 'Come off it. Your lot get ineffable mercy,' said Crowley sourly. 'Yes? Did you ever visit Gomorrah?' 'Sure' said the demon. 'There was this great little tavern where you could get these terrific fermented date-palm cocktails with nutmeg and crushed lemongrass-' 'I meant afterwards.' 'Oh.'

Can you imagine this kind of exchange in the TV series? Can you imagine show!Aziraphale being this realistic about Heaven, and show!Crowley so naive about it? There's no way.

Show!Aziraphale genuinely believes that Heaven is good at its core.

Book!Aziraphale knows Heaven isn't any different than Hell and would punish him just as ruthlessly and unfairly as Hell would Crowley.

Show!Crowley understands both Heaven and Hell on a very deep level and is highly aware of their true nature.

Book!Crowley buys a piece of celestial propaganda about ineffable mercy and actually expects Heaven to be forgiving.

Let the magnitude of that difference sink.

Exhibit #3: same scene, a bit further

'So all we've got to do is find it,' said Crowley. 'Go through the hospital records.' The Bentley's engine coughed into life and the car leapt forward, forcing Aziraphale back into the seat. 'And then what?' he said. 'And then we find the child.' 'And then what?' The angel shut his eyes as the car crabbed around the corner. 'Don't know.' 'Good grief.' 'I suppose (...) your people wouldn't consider (...) giving me asylum?' 'I was going to ask you the same thing. (...)'

This is just a cherry on top, really.

Yes, in the book, when things go pear-shaped, both Aziraphale and Crowley consider seeking asylum on the opposite side.

Do you need more proof that book canon and show canon really aren't as compatible as they may seem?

Free will

As promised, let's get back to that dialogue because while it may not be obvious at first glance it really illustrates perfectly the problem arising from balancing between two canons.

Here is the full quote from the book:

Aziraphale had tried to explain [free will] to him once. The whole point, he'd said - this was somewhere around 1020, when they'd first reached their little Arrangement - the whole point was that when a human was good or bad it was because they wanted to be. Whereas people like Crowley and, of course, himself, were set in their ways right from the start. People couldn't become truly holy, he said, unless they also had the opportunity to be definitively wicked. Crowley had thought about it for some time and, around about 1023, had said, Hang on, that only works, right, if you start everyone off equal, OK? You can't start someone off in a muddy shack in the middle of a war zone and expect them to do as well as someone born in a castle. Ah, Aziraphale had said, that's the good bit. The lower you start, the more opportunities you have. Crowley had said, That's lunatic. No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

And here, for comparison, is how it was reused in S2E3:

A: There is a stolen body in that barrel! This is wicked! C: Oh, I'm down with wicked! Anyway, is it wicked? She needed the money. A: That is irrelevant. Look, I am good. You, I'm afraid, are evil. But people get a choice. You know, they cannot be truly holy unless they also get the opportunity to be wicked. She is wicked. C: Yeah, that only works if you start everyone off equal. You can't start someone off like that and expect her to do as well as someone born in a castle. A: Ah, but no, no. That's the good bit. The lower you start, the more opportunities you have. So Elspeth here has all the opportunities because she's so poor. C: That's lunacy. A: No, that's ineffable.

I'll be honest with you - I didn't like that scene in the show. It felt jarring and off. Aziraphale was acting like it was his first day on Earth and it was frustrating to watch.

Then, on one of the rewatches, just as I was rolling my eyes at "that's ineffable", a bulb lit in my brain. That line didn't work there because it wasn't created to be there! In the book and in S1 "it's ineffable" was kind of Aziraphale's catchphrase but in S2 it only appears this once. More importantly, in the book and S1, the fact that the angel would say that was all a build-up to the scene when he threw it in Heaven's face at the Tadfield Airbase. Using that word in S2 was like trying to make a running joke that has already reached its destination run again.

And just like that one line the entire dialogue didn't fit because it wasn't meant to be there. It was created for an entirely different context.

What's the difference?

Firstly, book!husbands' conviction was very shallow and it wasn't uncommon for both of them to spout slogans without meaning them. Therefore, book!Aziraphale's words didn't carry that much weight. The very fact that the conversation took place at the same time they formed the Arrangement tells us something about how serious he was. But show!Aziraphale's relationship with his beliefs is different, so when he says things like that it's a much bigger deal.

Secondly, the book explicitly states that Aziraphale and Crowley only developed free will on Earth, due to extended exposure to mankind. The show never really makes a stand on the matter but based on what we've seen so far I think we can safely assume that angels and demons are capable of making their own choices as much as humans do.

In other words, in its original context, the conversation was just Aziraphale talking about a concept he didn't fully grasp, quoting propaganda he didn't fully subscribe to. He was being ignorant and mildly obnoxious in an endearing way.

But using the same dialogue verbatim in the Resurrectionist carried a completely different meaning. Aziraphale who utters it in the show has no reason to be so ignorant about free will. Aziraphale who utters it in the show genuinely tries to defend Heaven. Most importantly, Aziraphale who utters it in the show, doesn't just idly bicker with his friend about general things but is judging an actual human individual that's right in front of them. That, more than anything else, makes it sound heartless and ignorant.

What is the problem with having two canons, exactly?

It's time to wrap things up.

In the opening paragraphs, I've mentioned that I've noticed the issue while interpreting scenes from S1, and yes, that was the case and I do believe that the existence of two canons is especially problematic for S1. That's because pretty much every scene in S1 is potentially like that dialogue about free will in S2, except subtler and harder to spot.

A grand majority of what we see and hear in S1 comes directly from the book. But while words and actions were kept, in some instances things that gave them their original meaning might no longer be valid in the show universe. Sometimes they easily take new meaning, and we don't even notice. But sometimes there's this dissonance that's not as easy to work around.

S1 deviated from the book and created its own canon. But the difference didn't seem to go very deep and it seemed perfectly reasonable to use some trivia from the book to shed some extra light on the content of the show. I used to do it in my head, even though I was aware of the changes that were made.

But S2 expanded the show canon so far beyond what was in the book that I'm really not sure it makes sense to compile them anymore.

There are a lot of things that were only explicitly stated in the book that I keep clinging to. But perhaps it's time to let go...

Thank you for your patience.

I know all of the above isn't exactly a revolutionary discovery, but I needed to get it off my chest before writing anything else.

[xtruss]

You've Got Mail: Teaching Osama bin Laden's "Letter to the Americans"

— Author: Irfan Khawaja | Date: Winter 2017 | From: Reason Papers (Vol. 39, Issue 2) | Publisher: Reason Papers

— Document Type: Critical Essay | Length: 3,704 Words | Lexile Measure: 1550L

"For against an objector who sticks at nothing, the defense should stick at nothing."

—Aristotle, Topics V.4 (134a1-3)

I use the phrase "dialectical excellence" in a somewhat revisionary way to name a set of moral-intellectual capacities canonically associated with a "dialectical" tradition in philosophy that includes the Platonic dialogues, Aristotle's treatises on dialectic and rhetoric, Cicero's dialogues, Thomas Aquinas's Summas, and John Stuart Mill's Autobiography and On Liberty. What makes these texts "dialectical" (as I see it) is their attention to philosophy as a conversational activity, with particular attention to the adversarial or polemical features of philosophical conversation. Philosophy in this tradition vindicates or refutes controversial claims in order publicly to demonstrate their truth or falsity to an educated but potentially indifferent, skeptical, or even hostile audience. As conceived in this tradition, "dialectical excellence" names the capacity, in adversarial contexts, to refute a sophistical argument in a rhetorically effective way.

So understood, dialectical excellence demands three sets of skills of its practitioners. One set is intellectual: the capacity to identify sophistry and factual inaccuracy at the weakest and most fundamental junctures of an adversary's arguments. A second set is rhetorical: a facility with language (ideally, more than one) that enables one to put one's case in its most rhetorically effective form, rousing the moral passions of one's audience, without exploiting the ignorance or irrationality that so often accompanies such passions. A third set is psychological: the disposition to maintain confidence in one's case without losing one's composure, lapsing into dogmatism, or giving in to intimidation. Dialectical excellence, we might say, requires the integration of all three skills in a single person, along with the readiness and ability to use those skills in the right way at the right time for the right reasons. (2)

Over the past several years, I've had students in upper-division philosophy and political science classes read and engage with Osama bin Laden's so-called "Letter to the Americans" (3) (hereafter "Letter"), a manifesto posted on the Internet in Arabic about a year after the 9/11 attack, later translated into English, but ironically almost entirely unknown to its putative addressees. In brief overview: the "Letter" offers an extended justification for the 9/11 attacks, blaming Americans for having brought the attacks on themselves, promising further attacks if the U.S. government continues its present policies in the Near East, and enjoining Americans both to change those policies and to convert immediately to (bin Laden's form of) Islam. In overarching form, the Letter is a not-very-subtle ultimatum threatening mass murder in the event of non-compliance, adding some gratuitous insults along the way.

Why promote such a document--raving in demeanor, murderous in prescription--to prominence within the undergraduate curriculum? The answer, I think, is that the Letter is an extraordinarily good counterfeit of dialectical excellence, and like all good counterfeits, offers the perfect opportunity for exercise in recognizing (and in this case, acquiring) the real thing. (4) Its cleverness and rhetoric skillfully conceal its inaccuracy, incoherence, and immorality, a fact that takes some difficult but instructive work to grasp.

Rhetorically at least, bin Laden's Letter exemplifies dialectical excellence to a higher degree than most American political or theological discourse intended for a comparably broad audience. As a purely formal matter, the Letter has the structural integrity of a Scholastic questio out of Aquinas's Summa Theologiae. As Bruce Lawrence puts the point: "In a feature of the Arab fatwa tradition, opinions are here couched as detailed responses to specific questions, [and] broken down into sections and subsections in such a way as to emphasize the irrefutable logic of jihad." (5) The result is a document that, on its own terms at least, makes a clearer and more cogent case than almost any comparable American work.

Form aside, the Letter manages to say more than comparable recent American documents, and seems to presume a higher intellectual level on the part of its audience. Where, for instance, George W. Bush's 2002 State of the Union Address focuses pointillistically and in amnesiac fashion on the 9/11 attacks and their immediate aftermath, (6) bin Laden's Letter puts the attacks in a wider and more informative historical context, marshalling a wealth of evidence to demonstrate that (on bin Laden's terms) the U.S. has for decades been a systematic aggressor deserving of massive retaliatory response. Where the speeches of American pundits, clerics, and politicians circa 2001-2002 serve up an embarrassing hash of bravado and sentimentality, bin Laden offers his audience what one commentator calls a "magnificent," "eloquent," and "even at times poetic" expression of moral self-assurance, (7) and what another has described as "the authentic, compelling voice of a visionary," expressing "what can only be called a powerful lyricism." (8) Little in Vital Speeches of the Day from the last few decades survives rhetorical comparison with bin Laden's Letter, and as far as I know, no comparable American document exists that rebuts his claims as thoroughly as he makes them.

Having appreciated the Letter's narrowly rhetorical merits, however, the fact remains that morally and intellectually, its argument is an abject failure. Morally, much of what bin Laden says in it consists of platitudes insufficiently determinate to settle any dispute between bin Laden and his American adversaries. As bin Laden's moral claims become more determinate, they also become more controversial, but the more controversial they become, the less he offers in the way of argument for them beyond question-begging citations of Scripture, question-begging even from an orthodox Islamic perspective. Moral claims aside, almost every historical or political claim in the Letter is either straightforwardly false or else ridiculously under-argued, a fact that bin Laden brazenly evades throughout the text. Finally, the Letter practically radiates illogic and bad faith: this is a document that, on the one hand, rationalizes mass murder on the grounds that "the Americans" have stolen "our" oil (whose oil?), and, on the other hand, rationalizes the same act on the grounds that the Americans show insufficient concern for the perils of anthropogenic global warming. Incoherence of this sort is par for the course throughout the Letter, and indeed, throughout the entire bin Ladenite Corpus.

I've assigned the Letter to undergraduates at Felician in three courses: an upper-division course on ethics where the topic of moral and cultural relativism comes up (PHIL 301, Moral Philosophy); a basic course on international relations where terrorism comes up (PSCI 303, International Relations); and an independent study I've designed on cultural conflict between "Islam" and "the West" (PHIL 420, Islam and the West: Encounter and Conflict). Regardless of the course, the basic question at issue is whether an objective verdict on the Letter's claims is possible, and if so, what the verdict ought to be. After a class session or two of discussion, I ask students to write a short paper defending their own views on that question. Given the unfamiliarity to them of bin Laden's historical and political assertions, I allow them to remain agnostic where they lack the knowledge to reach a verdict, but ask that they identify what further facts they would need to know in order to reach one. Since, I suggest, any thinking reader would have to reach a verdict of some kind on bin Laden's claims, it is worth knowing whether such verdicts can be defended, and if so, how. I insist, sincerely, that I am open to any verdict, positive or negative. Counterintuitive as it may seem, that insistence is central to the pedagogical value of the exercise.

The results are pretty disheartening; indeed, few assignments so starkly reveal students' dialectical weaknesses as this one. The reactions I usually get fall into two rough categories, which I call fideist resistance and thoughtful acquiescence. In some cases, these categories represent two distinctly different groups of students; in other cases, they represent the same student at different phases of engagement with the Letter. In both cases, I suggest, they represent dialectical failure.

The fideist resister is a priori convinced that the Letter's claims must all be wrong; that Americans everywhere are and have always been innocents; that the U.S. government could "never have done" what bin Laden accuses it of doing; and (paradoxically) that even if the U.S. were entirely guilty of bin Laden's indictment, its guilt would have no bearing on the cogency of his case. According to the fideist resister, it is our duty categorically to condemn bin Laden, whether or not we have an explanation for why he attacked us, and whether or not we are capable of evaluating the reasons he gave for doing so. The vehemence of our repudiation of bin Laden is the measure of our virtue, and there is apparently no better guarantor of virtue so conceived than the steadfast refusal to deal with anything that might cast doubt on our moral beliefs.

I've stated the view in its extreme form, but commitment to it comes in degrees. In its more moderate forms, fideist resisters will engage with the Letter in a half-hearted way, taking issue with this or that claim, but ultimately expressing impatience or exasperation with bin Laden's tendency to dwell on "ancient history." Since the history in question is unfamiliar and temporally distant, such students infer that historical considerations must themselves be irrelevant to so recent an event as 9/11. (9) Fideist resisters tend not to notice that their argument (such as it is) cuts both ways: If historical claims are irrelevant to the justice of bin Laden's claims, they must equally be irrelevant to that of his victims. On the fideist resister's view it therefore becomes our duty to veto historical inquiry into bin Laden's case, even if we have to forswear the discovery that the facts are on our side.

The thoughtfully acquiescent reader rejects the dogmatic and self-defeating character of the fideist resister's strategy, and resolves instead to give bin Laden a fair hearing. Having done so, however, this reader quickly runs into alien territory, and then gets bogged down in it; bin Laden's accusations against the Americans are practically designed to strike this sort of reader as both maddeningly obscure and yet vaguely guilt-inducing. Within a few sentences, the fair-minded but dialectically inexpert reader encounters a barrage of obscure but overheated references to "your" atrocities at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as those in Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon, Algeria, and the Philippines. The reader is held personally responsible for environmental degradation and the evils of globalization, and is treated to a detailed guilt-trip over "your" addiction to drugs, pornography, and lucre. The guilt-trip seems at once over the top and yet troublingly plausible. The acquiescent reader has no idea of what to make of bin Laden's history lesson, and (being both acquiescent and allergic to history) is disinclined to seek clarification. But bin Laden's attack on capitalism, hedonism, and consumerism doesn't need clarification; the thoughtfully acquiescent student has heard all of that before, and is prepared--even eager--to allocute to the charges. (10)

And so, this student concludes, bin Laden must surely "have a point" about all the ancient history he brings up. Since he does, it must be safe to take his version of historical events roughly at face value. The less dialectically expert the student, the greater the tendency to turn "roughly at face value" into "essentially at face value," and eventually into fundamental acceptance of bin Laden's version of twentieth-century history. Having accepted bin Laden's historical narrative without a fight, our thoughtful reader is now surprised to discover how "reasonable" bin Laden sounds. For what is he saying but that al-Qaida attacked "us" because "we" attacked "them" first? And how wrong could he be, if "we" were by all accounts occupying "his" lands with "our" tanks and "our" troops? In that case, bin Laden is probably right to suggest that things would go better if only we dealt with one another (in his words) "on the basis of mutual interests and benefits." Doing so surely seems preferable to fighting bloody and interminable wars against "his" people. In my experience, students rarely if ever quarrel with bin Laden's use of pronouns, buying into it, and conceding most of his case right from the start.

Like the fideist resister's view, this one comes in degrees: sympathy for bin Laden's case co-exists in guilty and confused fashion with vehement expressions of rejection, revulsion, and contempt, and with expressions of patriotism. But the essential feature of thoughtful acquiescence is the assumption that acquiescence in bin Laden's case is more expedient than inquiry into it. We are, on the thoughtful acquiescer's view, entitled or obliged to treat bin Laden's assertions (particularly his historical assertions) as a substitute for such an inquiry, and to offer a verdict not on the facts as such (which are regarded as inaccessible on principle) but on his assertions, taking their approximate truth essentially on faith.

The upshot of the exercise is that whether they are fideist resisters or thoughtful acquiescers, our students have a predisposition to believe what bin Laden wants them to believe. The fideist resister resists inquiry into bin Laden's case because he fears that bin Laden might well turn out to be right. The thoughtful acquiescer resists inquiry into that case because she sees no reason to think that bin Laden could be that wrong. What seems lost on these students is the possibility that moral and historical inquiry into bin Laden's claims might yield a verdict that was objectively true, rationally justified, and yet thoroughly negative. Unfortunately, this is just another way of saying that what seems lost on them is the idea of moral inquiry into history as such.

In my view, the dialectical ineffectuality of our students (or at least my students, defeasibly taken as representative of a larger population) points to serious weaknesses in American higher education. Powerful institutional biases militate against the inculcation of dialectical excellence there, all of which deserve challenge. Consider three problems from a much longer list.

For one thing, dialectical excellence demands high intellectual standards along with what Aristotle calls paideia, the general educatedness that makes a person a good judge in every area of life that calls for judgment. (11) Despite the wearisome talk of "assessment," "rubrics," "mission statements," "Bloom's taxonomy," and so on foisted on us by bureaucrats, accreditation agencies, and administrators, we lack any serious way of assessing or rewarding success at paideia, and so, lack the thing itself. To be more specific, I would argue that dialectical excellence requires a more concerted emphasis on informal logic as conceived of in the Aristotelian tradition (a.k.a., "critical thinking"), and a more serious emphasis on the study of history, especially world history, conveyed less by textbooks than by real historiography. (12) Unfortunately, allegiance to the usual disciplinary (and other) tribalisms makes this an unlikely outcome, as does the loss of interest in non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields, along with the widespread skepticism and cynicism about the value of higher education now prevalent in the United States. (13)

Second, dialectical excellence demands rhetorical facility and research skills that are nowadays almost entirely the responsibility of overburdened Departments of English, where the modus operandi is to cram everything into that old standby, English 101 ("English Composition," "Writing the College Essay," etc.). Despite the efforts of the faculty who teach such thankless courses, there is no way to wrest dialectical excellence from functional illiteracy in a single semester, and no way to retain whatever literacy is achieved if the gains of that single semester are forgotten or subverted for seven (or more) subsequent semesters. Suffice it to say that if real literacy is the object, we need to rethink how things are done.

Third, dialectical excellence demands a certain psychological toughness from its practitioners that is incompatible with the "sensitivity" that is now routinely expected of both students and faculty in the classroom. We all like to be liked, but a good dialectician gives higher priority to the task of refuting sophistry and exposing falsehood than to popularity or niceness, something guaranteed to hurt the feelings of those folk in the grips of such things. At a certain point, we simply have to admit (and get administrators to admit) that hurt feelings are an integral part of real intellectual life. Many dire fears are expressed, some of them justified, about the consequences of teaching students controversial subjects in a less-than-welcoming academic environment. Much less is said about the incoherence, ignorance, and lassitude that are the predictable result of a low-pressure classroom environment, where everyone is allowed to emote with impunity because the work of dialectical contestation would generate more discomfort than is currently thought tolerable. But as matters stand, I would suggest that the "sensitive" classroom has done at least as much damage to American higher education as has the "mean" one, not that those options exhaust the possibilities. In any case, the fact remains that the "sensitive" classroom is systematically insensitive to the psychological requirements of dialectical excellence, a fact that has to be entered into any credible cost-benefit analysis.

Excellence in any field is easier discussed than achieved, and dialectical excellence is no exception. But if achieving it seems optional, consider the consequences of dialectical mediocrity. It may seem hyperbolic to suggest that we face a choice between dialectical excellence on the one hand, and murderous insanity on the other, but it's a hypothesis worth considering. As the twentieth century ought to have taught us, a society's discursive mediocrity leaves a vacuum easily filled by sophistry in the service of mass murder--think of Czarist Russia, Weimar Germany, or the colonial and post-colonial Near East. Bin Laden's Letter teaches us that lesson once again. We owe it to our students to enable them to learn it. (14)

— Irfan Khawaja, Felician University

(1) The most easily accessible online version of bin Laden's 2002 "Letter to the Americans" is the one posted at the website of The Guardian, accessed online at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver. An earlier version of this article was first presented on April 16, 2011, at the 17th Annual Conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, two weeks prior to Osama bin Laden's death at the hands of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Given my focus on bin Laden's message rather than his person, however, I refer to that message in the present tense throughout the essay.

(2) Cf. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Terence Irwin (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 1999), II.6, 1106b20ff.

(3) I refer throughout this article to students I've taught over the last decade at Felician University (2008-2018), a small Catholic-Franciscan liberal arts institution in New Jersey. Though I have not specifically taught bin Laden's letter outside of the United States, I have discussed related topics (Islamism, terrorism, U.S. foreign policy) with undergraduates at Forman Christian College and University in Lahore, Pakistan, and with undergraduates, master's students, and law students at Al Quds University in Abu Dis, Palestine. Pakistani and Palestinian students' claims on this topic are, to put it mildly, radically different from those offered by American students. I hope to discuss this issue on a different occasion.

(4) Thanks to Amy Lynch for a helpful conversation on the expertise involved in recognizing counterfeit currency.

(5) Bruce Lawrence, "Editor's Commentary," in Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, ed. Bruce Lawrence, trans. James Howarth (New York: Verso Press, 2005), p. 160.

(6) Accessed online at: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html.

(7) Bernard Lewis, "License to Kill: Usama bin Laden's Declaration of Jihad," Foreign Affairs vol. 77, no. 6 (November/December 1998), p. 14.

(8) Lawrence, "Introduction," p. xvii.

(9) Of course, as time passes, 9/11 becomes less and less recent an event, so that a fair number of students regard it as "ancient history," and are reflexively bored by the mention of it.

(10) Contrary to a frequently repeated claim, bin Laden does not restrict his criticisms of the U.S. to the imperialist features of its foreign policy, but repeatedly and explicitly attacks the theory and practice of American freedom as such, treating American foreign policy as one expression of American freedom among others. An egregiously inaccurate version of the claim has been promulgated for years by ex-CIA agent Michael Scheuer; for a representative instance, see his interview with Fox Business (March 4, 2013), accessed online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES-xWjzZwZE.

(11) Cf. Aristotle, De Partibus Animalium, trans. D. M. Balme, rev. Allan Gotthelf (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), I.1, 639a1-12; Aristotle, Metaphysics, trans. W. D. Ross, ed. Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), IV.4, 1006a5-7; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, I.3, 1095a1-12.

(12) For an excellent discussion of the teaching of history, see Christopher Hitchens, "Why Americans Are Not Taught History," in Christopher Hitchens, Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays (New York: Nation Books, 2004), pp. 265-78. For further thoughts on teaching 9/11, see Irfan Khawaja, "'Why They Hate Us': A Pedagogical Proposal," Philosophy of Education in the Era of Globalization, eds. Yvonne Raley and Gerhard Preyer (New York: Routledge Press, 2010), pp. 91-109.

(13) For example, in the fall of 2013, my own institution conducted a "prioritization review" based on advice offered by Robert C. Dickeson, author of Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services: Reallocating Resources to Achieve Strategic Balance (Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2010), and President and Principal of Academic Strategy Partners, a consulting firm. Though Dickeson makes pro forma reference to Aristotle in his book (on paideia no less, p. 45), I can attest--as the primary author of the prioritization review for Felician University's Philosophy Department--that a standard-issue "academic and administrative prioritization review" is little more than a bureaucratic assault on the existence of non-STEM academic programs, carried out in the name of something called "strategic balance." For a good discussion of the trend I have in mind, see Benjamin Ginsberg, The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

(14) I dedicate this essay to Marilyn Bornstein, Benjamin Estilow (1930-2010), and Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), my first mentors in dialectical excellence. Thanks also to George Abaunza, Fahmi Abboushi, Kristen Abbey, David Banach, Joseph Biehl, Carrie-Ann Biondi, Jeff Buechner, Richard Burnor, Donald Casey, Michael DeFilippo, Gerald Graff, Christopher Hitchens, Amy Lynch, Julie O'Connell, Charles Persky, Gail Persky, Hilary Persky, Neil Robertson, and Joseph Spoerl for many helpful conversations on the issues discussed here.

— http://www.reasonpapers.com/default.htm

[adamskasfanboy]

Alright, @coffeemakesmeahappybean you’ve done it. you’ve convinced me to post. 

My contribution to The Sorrow and Ocelot discussions happening lately. Wrote it sometime back in August. Cut it a bit for length.

I hope I did Major Ocelot justice. I obsess over him enough it’d be real sad if I didn’t. Haha. So in this fic, aside from the obvious non-canon compliance, Ocelot is aware that The Sorrow is his dad, but not aware who his mom is (which is canon compliant.)

wordcount: 2563

((()))

“Major, you should come back with me, it looks like it’s about to rain.”

It was a real concern, to be sure. The nights lately had been bitterly cold. To be stuck in freezing, pouring rain had been the death sentence of many good men even in the short time Ocelot had lived and trained in Russia.

The young major turned his gaze to the sky, his bright silvery irises catching the dying light. He hadn’t smelled the rain coming, which was strange. He usually could scent it on the wind hours or even a day away, depending. The cloud must have formed directly overhead… but was that even possible? He shrugged, supposing rain clouds had to come from somewhere, so why not here?

“Thanks for the offer, Dmitrii, but I’m going to check around for a little longer. That cloud won’t break for at least an hour.”

He was lying, of course. The clouds were fast dominating the sky and growing a deeper shade of purple and blue even as he spoke. It probably would actually break before Dmitrii even took two steps from these woods.

“Affirmative. Sir…” Dmitrii hesitated.

He looked like he wanted to say something further, so Ocelot stared at him and waited. The soldier’s eyes were strikingly green, he couldn’t help but notice, and marked with no shortage of apprehension. Ocelot narrowed his own eyes, repressing rising impatience.

Perhaps sensing how fast his welcome was wearing thin, Dmitrii finally made the most irritating decision he could’ve. He turned tail as if nothing had happened.

“See you at Groznyj Grad, Major,” he called as he made his way swiftly through the woods. “Please be back before nightfall!”

Ocelot sighed heavily, averting his gaze and twirling his gun. Just as he suspected, the first pattering of rain fell upon his face not a minute later. He closed his eyes and leaned back into it. Despite everything, he’d always enjoyed the rain. Just as much as he enjoyed these tiny moments of solitude which had become so very rare lately.

But something felt… off this time.

He couldn’t quite place it at first. Didn’t really understand the unease creeping into the back of his mind. After all, it wasn’t often someone managed to sneak up on him.

He didn’t have to see the intruder to know their exact location. He stepped off from the tree and caught his revolver mid-flip. Sliding into the proper stance with practiced ease, he prepared to catch the recoil as he took aim. There, within the tree line just five yards off, was a distinctly human shape. Confusion graced his features as he examined what could only be described as a person-shaped shadow. There were no features to be identified.

Sure, it was dark out, what with the sun gone below the horizon and the deepening rain clouds above, but Ocelot had night vision to match his namesake. He should have been able to make out… something. All he could tell was that the man wasn’t wearing any of the usual Soviet regalia. Instead he wore what appeared to be a long dark coat. The hood was up, shadowing his face completely. Dressed like that he looked civilian, but that simply wasn’t possible. Not only was the compound secreted far away from any sort of civilization, it was crawling with guards at every entry and vantage point. Not even the highest ranking official would dare venture out this way dressed like that unless they were looking to be shot by mistake. 

“I don’t recognize you,” he stated in a clear, high voice, “Identify yourself.”

The man remained unsettlingly quiet. He didn’t even appear to be breathing.

“Identify yourself,” Ocelot reiterated as he pulled back the hammer, “Or I’ll shoot.”

That cold fear crept down his spine as he began to try to rationalize what was happening, only to each time fail miserably. He should have heard the guy approach long before he’d reached where he was currently standing, yet he hadn’t. It was as if the man had simply appeared. He should have been able to see him as more than just a shadow, yet he couldn’t.

“This is your final warning.” He spoke, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice by tightening his jaw. “I don’t miss.”

“We know, Ocelot.”

The mocking voice came from his left and much, much too close. Ocelot leapt sideways and fired off a shot directly at the voice. What should have been a hit did nothing to the man now standing barely five feet away. The man tilted his head, then pointed to a very obvious bullet wound centered above his right eye. It wasn’t bleeding. He smiled and shook his head.

“Even someone as talented as you can’t kill a man twice. Sorry, kid.”

The soldier spat that last word like the insult it was. Ocelot snarled and pulled back the hammer for another shot, but hesitated mid-squeeze. Something didn’t feel right about this. He didn’t recognize this guy as anything other than a KGB operative; the man could have been anyone.

He pulled back his weapon with a twirl and scoffed.

“Is this some kind of joke?” he demanded, not just looking at the ‘apparition’ but also glancing around at the forest-- at anywhere a 3D projector could be hiding. He knew the things could be convincing. During his training he’d witnessed such trickery several times. The device would be covered by a camouflaged waterproof tarp, but the light coming out of it would give it away if only he could locate it.

He looked back to where the first figure had appeared, but it was gone now. He frowned a bit, still unnerved by that one. Not seeing it was almost worse than seeing it. At least being able to see it meant he’d know if he was about to be ambushed. The rain began to pick up, then, each drop cold and sharp as ice as it found his skin with increasing ease.

“I’ve seen these tricks before, I know what you’re doing.” Ocelot spoke, though as he raised his voice those final several words sounded strangely distant, as if someone had covered his ears with cotton.

He didn’t have time to be confused by that as the world seemed to shift beneath him. Sudden vertigo nearly took him off his feet. His eyes stung horribly when his head tipped back, hurting worse than any amount of rain, tears, or even sweat ever had. He cringed with a hiss and blinked several times, the pain only intensifying. Quickly he rubbed his eye and came away with an even darker streak of red upon his already ruddy leather glove. Shocked by this, he ran his hand over his face and looked again only to see the same result.

He was bleeding.

Immediately he was certain he’d been shot. He’d heard of how bullets to the head bizarrely never seemed to hurt the recipient, even if they remained conscious for many minutes after. Primal fear crawled down his spine. Ambushed, indeed. That projection had been a distraction to get him off guard and though he’d seen through it, it had worked anyway. The only reason he could come up with for this was that he’d been had; discovered as the spy he was.

He’d been so sure he’d done everything right. So damn positive. The anger at himself, at the world, at whoever had just shot him, was almost enough to drown out the fear, but facing death wasn’t an easy feat for anyone let alone a nineteen-year-old boy. It mattered little how well he’d been trained and how deeply ingrained the knowledge that death could come at any moment in this line of work was in him.

His surroundings began to blur as his heart rate surged. The trees became shadows of themselves. The fog turned black as smoke and the sky darkened even further. He realized, then, that the forest was on fire, but he couldn’t smell the smoke. Why couldn’t he smell the smoke?

Was this some kind of near-death hallucination? Maybe the bullet had hit something related to his ocular facilities?

In a fit of dizziness he collapsed to his knees, his gun falling with him to land dully upon the moist earth. He stayed like that for a moment, watching as the apparition before him grinned and faded away. Slowly, he felt his composure crumble.

“Oh god,” he breathed, high voice raising just a little higher at the tail end of a terrified whisper, “Oh god, no…”

He tried not to blink as he yanked off his glove and shoved it in his pocket, his eyes narrowed with stinging pain. With his bare hand he searched his scalp and the back of his head, trying desperately to locate the wound. All he found was soft, unsullied hair and unbroken skin, wet with rain but not blood. Bewildered, he inspected his hand to make damn sure what he was seeing was correct.

He wasn’t shot…? Then why…? What was happening to him!?

Lightly he touched his cheek and looked upon his fingers. Fresh, cherry-red drops clung to their tips. He was shaking so bad that one fell to the forest floor like just another drop of rain.

He made a frantic dash to the edge of the river and skidded to his hands and knees to get a look at himself. His heaving chest stopped moving at the sight that the ripples slowly unveiled. Deep red tracks ran like tears from the corners of his eyes all the way down his cheeks, nearly reaching his mouth. If he hadn’t smeared it so much, he’d have had an almost perfect pair of cheetah lines. He lifted his hand from the water, trembling, as realization began to set in. He had it all wrong, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the reality of the situation any better.

When he’d gone to work alongside the Cobras, everything he could have learned about his father he’d done so from them. It was only natural to be fascinated by the one parent he knew about, one who was a legendary soldier, no less. No one seemed to enjoy talking about the man, however, always looking over their shoulders or getting fidgety when he asked questions, but it never stopped Ocelot from trying. That was his father and therefore he deserved to know.

These were the things he’d learned, every one of them happening right at this moment. The rain. The ghost. The tears of blood. Sure, the first could be coincidence, the second explained (barely), but there was no ignoring the blood streaming from his eyes. Even as he stared, petrified, a teardrop of crimson hit the water’s surface.

It took him a moment to notice the faces staring back at him.

He gave a sharp yelp and leapt back from the water. On his feet he spun to face the newcomers. They had surrounded him in a loose circle; a whole congregation of ghosts, translucent and riddled with various amounts of bullet holes. Two had knife wounds opening their throats, others had knife wounds elsewhere. These were all very obviously men Ocelot himself had killed. He had a technique when it came to one on one fights and those typically ended with slit throats and multiple shots to the chest.

Instinct drove him to reach for his guns, but he didn’t. What use would that be against dead men? That KGB soldier had simultaneously said and proved it himself. Ocelot had no defense here.

“Hello again, pretty boy.” Said a man to his left.

He whipped around to face him, only to see the man advancing swiftly. He backed up, easily dodging a grab at him. As he continued his retreat his back hit something cold and solid. He nearly sprang right out of his skin when that cold, solid thing started grabbing at him and hissing.

“You can touch me!?” he shouted without meaning to.

“Oh, yes, we can.” The first ghost laughed, grasping at the lapels of Ocelot’s coat.

“Lucky us,” said another one of them with equal mirth.

Ocelot tried to shove him back, but his hands went right through the spectre without making contact. This caused the ghost to laugh again. The awful, rattling sound only drove Ocelot’s usual confidence further into the dirt. Before he knew it, all seven of the apparitions were trying to grab him.

With enough flailing and kicking he was able to break free, though he was unsure of how. The adrenaline pounding through his veins was turning everything into a blur of motion. The next thing he knew he was being snatched and thrown against something very solid. At first he thought it was a tree, until the ghosts which caught him were shoving him down onto it. His bare hand found the surface to be stone, as did his eyes when he looked around frantically to his attackers.

Every ghost was there. It was as if he had never gotten away from them at all.

They want revenge.

The thought hit him like a hammer. He’d never imagined this. Never heard of whatever The Sorrow communicated with being aggressive, or how such a thing might’ve been dealt with. Only when splayed out and beaten bloody as a child had Ocelot ever felt this helpless and afraid. It was the only thing that still gave him nightmares, but it likely wouldn’t be after this.

A hand closed about his throat. The fingers felt solid and cold like dull claws. He gasped and tried to claw upward at the figure now sitting astride him. The fact the spectre was grinning didn’t even phase him anymore. More hands fell upon him, pulling at his belts and, more alarmingly, grasping at his thighs.

Then, all at once, they stopped.

Ocelot was left struggling for breath as all hands pulled away, even the one around his throat. He glared through bloody tears up at his attacker and saw him staring off to the right somewhere into the dark. Quickly, the spectre got off of him and made to back away from whatever it was he apparently saw. Ocelot looked at the others as he got up from his prone position and saw them all doing the same. Now he was facing them and they were staring at something past him.

He crouched as he turned to look. Nothing which put fear in ghosts was something he wanted to have his back to.

It was a person…? No, it was the same hooded figure he’d seen before, only now he was much closer and more tangible. Ocelot could see the glint of his glasses and the shadow of his features. He crouched a little lower as he stared, disbelief and awe mixing in equal measure within him. As the panic drained from his body so too did his strength.

“Father…?” he barely managed to speak.

He was no stranger to the sparks and lights dancing around the corners of his vision, but he couldn’t fight the encroaching darkness this time. He was too far gone; too winded from a panic attack which was still only just fading. His hands slipped against the wet stone beneath him. His whole body listed as he fell unconscious, dropping, then, like a shot deer.

[jestbee]

Jestbee Fics: In Stats

If you’ve been here for any length of time you know I love a spreadsheet, and graphs, and all thing sweet, sweet data. Ao3 doesn’t allow me to export stats about my fics which is really annoying, but I’ve been tracking fics I wrote over the past 5 years (and 1 fic this year) by the following: 

- Year posted - Pairing - Rating - Relationship Status - Canon compliancy - POV

And I’d like to share some insights with you. Mostly about Phan but there are some stats about other pairings in the first bit under the cut. 

Here’s the number of fics I posted per year since 2017. There are some posted as early as 2014 on my ao3 account but I chose to omit them as they were fairly inconsistent. I have been declining in my output but I think that makes sense given irl factors. 

I’m putting the rest of that juicy juicy data under a cut so as not to bother non-data loving folks. 

Pairing

Pairing written by year as a percentage of everything posted. I had a few solid years of only writing Phan or associated pairings (same fandom tag in a03 actually, just separated out for the purposes of this data). It’s only the past couple of years I dabbled in other stuff. I’m not defining these ship names btw, if you’re curious look it up. (but I’ll concede for dwhite - it’s Dye/White from Monochrome which is a phan fic I wrote fic of. v complicated but v fun)

Obviously the majority of my fics are Phan, and so in all following sections I will just show stats for that pairing as all others are negligible at this point. However, I think it will be fun to revisit this the same time next year to see how it has changed. 

Rating

for Phan only, ratings as a percentage of total fics posted per year. What I find interesting is that the number of E fics I write stays basically the same even as the overall number I post drops, which means as a percentage E rated fics are now higher. I also had a pesky habit of not rating fics until about 2019, glad to see I no longer do that. (Also 2019, no G fics, I really don’t know why)

For all Phan fics, here is the distribution of ratings. Kind of an even split even though I think people would probably guess that I write more E/M rated than anything else. But I think the amount I wrote in earlier years and the way the number of E fics I write has remained consistent it why that’s the case.��

Relationship Status

I actually think these numbers make the most sense when looked at in conjunction with Canon Compliancy since when I first get into a fandom I tend toward canon compliant and then later AU, which in the case of Phan means established relationship early on and Getting Together AUs later on. I prefer strangers to lovers to friends to lovers, even though my all time favourite trope is Friends with Benefits to lovers. You’ll see I wrote one early on and then restrained myself in 2019 (seriously, was was 2019?) until finally giving in. If I really let myself go those percentages might be much higher but I guess we’ll never know. 

Quick look at the overall. Unsurprisingly Established Relationship is highest given that my output of fics was higher during the time that was my preference. 

Canon Compliancy

Firstly I need to do a little definining of terms since this data was subjective and so the terminology I use might be different to how you would define things. So, for the sake of this data I have used terms thus: 

Canon Compliant - They have been together since 2009, events happen just as they have done up to the point of the fic being written (with the exception of 1 where I actually predicted the future so yay me)

Canon Adjacent - Mostly canon compliant, all events happened up to the point of the fic being written except usually for them being together. (I drew the line at calling these solidly AU because I wanted a way to be more nuanced)

Canon divergence - All events are compliant up to a point in time where something went differently. (eg, they break up, lose touch, Phil takes the internship etc)

AU  - What is canon? Who is she? Dan and Phil have totally different jobs, probably aren’t together, might not even know each other at first, and I can’t wait to find out how they fall in love

So like I said before, I prefer canon compliancy when I first join but soon discard canon and run with my imagination. Honestly AU is where I feel more comfortable, especially in Phan where the canon is basically a fic all of its own and there are only say many ways you can write the same scenario over and over. 

obligatory look at distribution across all Phan fics. 

POV

We’re only look at Phan fics here, but Other applies to outside POV. I did a couple early on but have since given up the practise. I like them, but I don’t gravitate toward them without a challenge or a specific prompt. 

I think these were the most surprising to be honest. I didn’t realise I favoured Dan POV as much as I do but that makes sense. I’m a Phillie, and Dan is the ultimate Phillie so I vibe with his point of view. lmao

Anyway that’s it for my little graphs, if you read this far without being bored out of your mind then let me know if anything surprised you, or if there’s any other data you’d like to see. I didn’t do anything about word count in here becuase I have my other tracker but maybe seeing wordcount by relationship etc might be fun. I also toyed with kudos/comments data but ultimately decided against it (mainly because these values change often - PLEASE ao3 let me export this data on a monthly basis and track it I beg) 

I also didn’t do anything about tropes or other tags because I thought that would be too subjective but I could look at it if people are interested. (Heck, I’m interested and could definitely see myself doing it one day)

Right. I’m going now. Come validate this post so I’m not just a crazy woman with a spreadsheet and too much time. Thanks <3

[pebblysand]

[the thoughts on canon-compliance you did not ask for.]

last night between 2 and 3 in the morning (look, i couldn’t sleep, got up to write, then got caught up, okay? don’t judge me for my terrible sleeping patterns please) i had a super interesting discussion with a few people on the hinny discord channel about the definition of canon-compliant-ness. i think this is fascinating because to be honest, before getting into the hp fandom, i didn’t even think this was something one could disagree about. to me there was what was canon, and what wasn’t. a very black-and-white sort of system. i’m finding that it’s not.

through the discussions that i’ve had both on my fics and other people’s fics, it seems that i can narrow down - in the hp fandom - three elements of canon.

i. the events of the books/films

now, as a general disclaimer, you can obviously argue about whether the films are ‘canon.’ you can also argue whether cursed child is canon. there’s a lot of elements which differ between those and lots of opinions about how to look at them. personally, i tend to ignore cursed child. as to the books v. films, i pick and choose what suits my story more. generally, that’ll be the books. but for instance, i’m writing a harry&hermione friendship one shot right now, and there are a lot of movie-isms in that story because that is an aspect that was more explored in the films. however, for the purposes of this post, i’m mainly considering the source material to be the seven books. nothing more or less.

having said that, to me personally, that’s what ‘canon’ is: the events of the story and the characters that gravitate around those events, as described in the source material. things like: tom riddle killing lily and james, or harry, ron and hermione rescuing the philosopher’s stone. anything departing from that is, de facto, an ‘au.’ the whole world of what-if scenarios: what if Harry was sorted into slytherin, what if dudley was a wizard, all of those, to me, are aus.

generally, both as a reader and a writer, those are not scenarios i’m particularly drawn to. my default answer to those what-if scenarios is: ‘well, if harry is sorted into slytherin, there’s no story.’ or at the very least, there’s no story as i know it, and if there’s no story as i know it, then i’d rather read/write original fiction. it’s obviously a very personal preference and there are exceptions to this preference. i loved the changeling [1] for instance, and love the self-aware style of dirgewithoutmusic’s aus [2]. but as a general rule, that is not my preferred genre.

now, aside from the what-if scenarios, there’s also the question of filling in the gaps of the story itself. like, i find it interesting that we only make tsunamis [3] is labelled as ‘canon-compliant’ because i get the feeling that a lot of people would disagree that a fic in which hermione is harry’s first kiss is canon compliant. but, by exploiting the silence sometimes left by the author and turning it to your advantage, are you writing an au? is a negative space canon? is silence canon?

again, as a matter of personal opinion, i would not push my definition of canon-compliance as including blank spaces. to me, as long as it does not contradict the letter of the text, adding in events to the books to suit your story (i’ll address character in point ii) does not make your fic an au. to give another example that was brought up to me regarding my own work, i don’t believe that the events described in chapter nine of castles [4] are au because they exist in a blank space of the books. the fact that harry didn’t notice the 1:1s between ginny and amycus doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, it just means that they’re not in the positive space described by the books.

ii. the characters/characterisation

(as a quick vocab note, please note that below, i’m using the terms ‘ooc’ to mean that the characterisation of a character in a fic is not canon-compliant. they’re synonyms to me.)

now, while the above was pretty straight forward, i believe that this is where i perhaps differ from the masses in my interpretation of what “canon-compliance” means. more i discuss with people, the more i realise that i don’t really think there’s a real ‘canon’ characterisation. or at least not in the big things. like, yeah, it’s canon that harry likes treacle tart, because that’s a fact. but anything that is down to psychology or perspective of the character is, to me, generally up for grabs.

as a human, i believe that there’s things that people do, events that they go through, that condition them to act a certain way. while there is a core to every human being, i personally believe that in life, anyone would basically be capable of doing anything, given the right circumstances. i’ve recently - rightfully - been told my writing is all about the power of choice in our life, the reasons why we make those choices and the people those choices lead us to be. for example, do i think i might murder someone tomorrow? probably not. do i think i might be capable of murdering someone in wartime? perhaps? i don’t know, that’s not the world i live in and my life choices have not lead me to find out the answer to that. however, my point is: to me, good ‘characterisation’ is down to the circumstances and choices outlined in any work of fiction. hence, good characterisation is essentially, to me, equal to good writing.

i often say that good writing could make me believe anything and i mean it. i don’t tend to gravitate towards these fics because these ships are not my personal taste but i genuinely believe that good writing could make me believe in drarry or rarry if it tried. it’s funny because over the course of the discussion yesterday on discord, this was brought up ‘well, no one tags drarry as canon compliant,’ and i’m kind of like, i don’t know whether or not they do because i don’t read it but if they did and none of it contradicted the events as detailed in the books, perhaps it could be? like, that would take really good writing (imo), but good writing has - on occasion - made me believe in dramione a couple of times, so why not? in ‘til the sirens come calling [5], good writing made me 100% believe that harry and hermione would have an affair together. in we only make tsunamis [3], it makes me believe that they had this quiet little relationship building throughout hogwarts that we never knew about.

now, though, i suppose the question isn’t: do i believe it? the question is: is it canon? and, i think that’s where i differ from most people because to me, it is. to take ‘til the sirens come calling [5] as an example, i believe the fic is an au because hermione marries victor krum in the end. that’s going against the hard fact presented by the epilogue, and thus makes it an au. but i don’t believe the concept of a harmony affair is inherently au, because nothing is inherently au, character-wise. it’s about how you write it. how those people get to that place. that’s what makes canon-compliantness, in my opinion.

for example, for that fic, truth be told, we don’t know what those nineteen years include per canon, so they could very much include an h/hr affair. and whilst i don’t believe that the characters as they are in the books would have an affair together, i believe that the characters as they are presented in the fic, with the events and hardships that they go through, definitely would. good writing, to me, is - in part - recognising that characters are moving on a spectrum and that whilst their decisions/actions might not make sense in book-verse, they make sense in fic-verse. good writing is convincingly moving your characters from book-verse to fic-verse, and it not feeling ‘off.’

if it does feel off, that is bad writing to me, and that is also ooc-ness/non-canon compliant. it means that for whatever reason, the writer has not successfully transitioned and explained said transition through the events outlined in the story. with the right prose, you could make me believe draco decided to take on a career as a ballerina dancer after the war, and it would still be ‘canon-compliant’ to me. on the other hand, i have read fics (i won’t name them because that would be shit and also i don’t keep track of my ‘bad’ reads) where harry, ginny, hermione, or ron all act according to book canon and yet, their motivations felt off to me and completely ooc because the writing didn’t successfully lure me in. specifically, there was a lack of character evolution that i found uninteresting. i read mostly post-war stuff because i want to see my characters grow up [6].

as a last, additional note on characters, i also think that the characters in a story only exist within the prism of how we view them. this means that to me, locking my own understanding of a character's personality as 'canon' is particularly difficult because my understanding of a character is unique. i believe there are as many harry-s or ginny-s or hermione-s as there are readers. so i think saying someone's interpretation of a character isn't canon-compliant is odd because i don't actually believe there's any wrong or right answer. as i said, do i believe it likely that draco would become a professional ballerina? no. but if that works within your understanding of his character as described in the books, who am i to say that is or isn't canon compliant? i'll admit, the idea makes me sort of lol though.

iii. tone

lastly, i’ve come to find (in potter particularly) that canon-compliance might include tone. as in: hp is a story that is a) written in a certain style and b) written for children/young adults.

regarding style at a), this is honestly the main reason why it took me 15 years to write potter fic, despite the fact that i’ve been a fan for even longer than that. i genuinely thought you had to write like jkr. and i, well, don’t write like jkr. i love the books, but i don’t even particularly like her style. i like: camus, and sorj chalandon, and sally rooney, and dirgewithoutmusic and copper_dust [7]. i have zero ambition to write like jkr and don’t particularly want to read stuff that is written like her stuff either. it’s a style that imo works for her, but it doesn’t work for me as written by other people. i don’t particularly think you need to stick to her style to be canon-compliant.

which brings me onto my actual point: b) hp is a story written for children. young adults perhaps, for the later books. it sometimes explores dark themes but the writing style, the tone, etc. is lighthearted enough that it appeals to a younger audience. there’s snogging but there’s no sex, there’s violence but the torture is mostly off-screen, etc. issues like sexual assault, substance abuse, etc. aren’t explicitely brought up in the books, although they would one hundred percent fit in a book about a war that wasn’t necessarily aimed at children. the question is whether this setting and tone is part of what we call ‘canon-compliance.’

honestly, i don’t know. i didn’t think so until it was brought up to me that castles might be a dark!au and i was like: maybe? like, if you want it to be? i know what i like to read in fanfic: i love the exploration of serious themes that were not explored in the books, or explored differently due to the fact that they were written for children. one thing i will say and insist on is that i don’t think castles is all dark. i actually make a point of having lighthearted moments in each and every chapter, even just a notch, because i am attached to the fact that life as a concept is a mixture of good and bad, and you could laugh at the funeral of someone you loved, again in the right circumstances. but yeah, to me the post-war world is dark. so if tone is part of canon-compliance, then yeah in that way castles (as well as most of the stuff i read, to be honest), is a dark!au.

as a last side note, i’m not sure what that means for my other, lighter stuff though. like are the wolf’s just a puppy [8] or slipped [9] more canon-compliant than castles? i never thought about it in those terms but perhaps? it really opens up a world of questions in my mind and i don’t really have the answers to them.

conclusion:

so in sum, as a reader, what i mean as ‘canon compliant’ is basically a) the events as described in the source material and b) the characterisation of characters as they are at the start of the fic. if character evolution is sufficiently justified and well-written in the following thousands of words that the fic has, then said characterisation can still be canon-compliant, even if the characters act different than they would have in the source material itself. i’m a fan of good writing and good writing can make me buy into literally anything. it takes me places that i've never been before and convinces me that those places are the ones i should be in.

as a writer, i hope that regardless of 'compliance,' whatever i write at least makes ‘sense’ to people within the universe, even if they don’t consider it canon-compliant, per se. i feel like i can’t really be the judge of that. from the discussions we had last night, i feel like there are as many versions of what is and isn't canon-compliant as there are people.

.

.

---

[1] the changeling by annerb

[2] the boy with a scar series by dirgewithoutmusic

[3] we only make tsunamis by disOrdely

[4] castles by yours truly

[5] ‘til the sirens come calling by vexmybones

[6] as a side note and to take my own stuff as an another example, i totally agree that harry in castles isn’t harry in the books. i don’t think there’s much debate to be had in that assertion. i wrote him like this frankly because every other fic i’d read didn’t. they often had him sort of continue to be perfectly himself after the war, which i felt wasn’t speaking to me on a deeper level. imo, i think the war’s done a lot of scarring and the fic is about him growing into a new version of himself. so, to me, if i get a comment that says ‘i don’t think harry would act this way but i really love your writing’ it’s somewhat flattering but also confusing because i don’t really understand how one can enjoy the writing but not the characterisation. to me, they’re so intrinsically linked. what the comment tells me is: i think you did a very poor job at explaining character evolution and justifying character x’s [harry’s] choices but i still like your writing, somehow? i suppose that’s nice, but it doesn’t particularly compute in my brain. like, if the character feels off, it means the writing feels off and thus, why are you still reading? i appreciate all and every comment that i get but it doesn’t mean they always make sense in my own brain. if i’m honest, these comments often send me into an ocean of self-doubt about how shit my writing must be.

[7] copper_dust’s work and profile.

[8] the wolf’s just a puppy (and the door’s double locked), again by yours truly

[9] slipped (and said something sort of like your name), same.

[rpmemesbyarat]

As someone in the Marvel RPC, I see a lot of “my character was kidnapped/created in a lab and turned into the perfect weapon” or “my character was captured by scientists because she was an alien/supernatural creature/etc and they wanted to study her” and inevitably, both involve a lot of gratutitous torture. The key word being “gratuitous”. Either due to wanting drama or being misinformed by popular media depictions of such things (Bucky Barnes, Laura Kinney, etc) the general assumption of fandom seems to be that scientists are basically sadists and that “experiments” are little more than exercises in how to cause their character the most pain possible. The thing is though, a lot of the reasoning for all this is. . . bad. And while canon ---be it Marvel or something else-- may do that, I would also like to discuss more realistic options and point out a few general mistaken assumptions or things people don’t tend to think of. - If a bunch of scientists are trying to create an augmented supersoldier, “perfect life form”, or whatever, that’s not an experiment, that’s a PROJECT. There is a big difference between the two. - Who/what is your character being created or augmented to fight? No one is gonna spend the time/money/effort to make a supersoldier just to have one around for fun. The enemy they are supposed to face or job they are supposed to do is going to influence EVERYTHING about the abilities they’re given and how they are “designed” not to mention how much independent thinking it’s practical to give them. For instance, for some jobs, being able to think and make decisions on their own will be a must, and that’s a risk. For others, there’s really no need to leave their free will intact if you can avoid it. Someone being “built” for espionage will be much different than someone being designed as a living tank. Likewise if someone is going to be sent into a desert environment versus expected to go for long periods underwater, and so on. Knowing what they’re designed to be going up against is CRUCIAL. - Why are living weapons the best option to fight this thing? Because generally speaking, there can be a lot more disadvantages to those than to guns and guided missiles and androids and shit. What about this enemy required a lving sentient supersoldier instead? - If a specimen is rare or valuable, it’s unlikely that it’s going to be dissected or otherwise treated in a way that will deliberately damage it. Your characters might FEAR that if they’re found the men in white coats might “cut them up” but this is actually unlikely. If scientists are trying to learn about something and it’s not a thing they can easily replace, they’re going to try to do so WITHOUT destroying or damaging it. The reason that real-life lab animals are treated so callously is because there’s lots of them, and we already know a lot about how they all work. When a scientist dissects a lab mouse, they’re not losing anything when it dies. If the first alien on Earth dies, or some super-soldier they worked really hard to create dies, they’re losing either a lot of potential information that can’t be gained anywhere else, or something they worked really hard to create and won’t be able to do again without a lot of time or effort. They are going to want to avoid that, and in this age of ultrasounds, X-Rays, and other non-invasive technology, that’s very easily done, especially in a setting where they probably have higher level tech than the real world if they’re creating super-soldiers and such in the first place. And they definitely have NO REASON to want to cut a specimen up ALIVE. - If their goal is to study a person or creature, such as the aforementioned alien, or a mermaid, or whatever else, they actually will probably want to avoid causing it stress. Stress causes behavioral changes as well as physiological ones, and if this is a never-before-seen or rarely-examined species/person, scientists will want to examine them in their default state first. Once they’ve learned everything they can about them in their “normal” state, then, yes, they may begin to deliberately induce stress to study what changes. However, they’re still likely to try to avoid damaging the specimen or inducing ill-health in it (which prolonged and/or serious stress can do) Again, the reason that regular lab animals get treated like their lives don’t matter is because THEY DON’T. Lab mice, dogs, etc., are just models for which to study humans most of the time and have well-documented behavior and physiology, they’re not rare or unknown creatures. So the approach is completely different. A literal or figurative unicorn would not be treated like that. - Likewise, if this specimen is something that was created (or augmented from an existing animal/person) it’s unlikely that the scientists are going to torture them, either for fun or through painful “tests”. Again, they don’t want to damage their hard work, either through physically wrecking them or through reducing them to a useless traumatized heap. It doesn’t matter if the scientists are mean cruel people without a bit of kindness or empathy, it’s impractical. If this being was created for a purpose, fucking it up (or turning it against you) defeats that purpose. And whoever is funding them isn’t going to be happy about that. And if whoever is funding them is the one who wanted to torture this creature/person. . . why do they need it to be specially modified or whatever? That really doesn’t make much sense, especially considering it’s virtually guaranteeing that this thing you have GIVEN SUPER POWERS TO is going to want to murder you. - Sure, it’s possible that one person on the staff might just personally be a sadistic bully or have a grudge against the character/creation even when none of the others do, like Kimura with Laura Kinney, but in all likelihood they’d be found out and fired. “But they take pains to hide it and erase security footage and--” Okay, if you really really want that, you can find a way to do it. Just know it’s not at all going to be acceptable procedure even in the most illegal of operations, not because it’s morally wrong but because it fucks with the product. And I would also ask yourself---if your character is already a lab rat, do they need to be tortured as well? Why? What does that add? Does it not feel “traumatic” or “dark” enough that they, a presumably sentient being, is already owned and imprisoned and kept from anything approaching a normal life? Why is that not “bad enough” to you that their story needs over-the-top torture as well? I’m not saying you can’t do it. I’m saying to think about why you’re doing it. Because a lot of times, in my experience, it basically comes down to cheap angst and sympathy points, often at the expense of, as discussed, logic. - “But they want to make them loyal out of fear!” Okay. That works only up until they get an opportunity to escape. Because if they’re afraid, they’ll take that chance. It’s true they might be too afraid to even try---that’s the case for many abuse victims---but I’m not sure that an organization wants to gamble that will be the case and risk losing their valuable asset the moment send asset is put in the field. And, again, risk the damage to them. This one is doable, you just have to be logical about it and think from the perspective of the people running things, not from the perspective of “what’s the most dramatic?” - “But it’s to brainwash them!” Brainwashing does not mean constant egregious torture that just somehow magically produces sudden loyalty one day. I know that tons of movies and comics have showed you this, but torture does NOT brainwash people. It actually makes people MORE resistant and hateful towards the people and group doing it. People under torture may confess to anything to make it stop, but that’s a short-term compliance and far from actually altering their minds in any way. It most certainly does not render them into obedient loyal sheep; typically the reverse, in fact. If you want to read more about this misconception and what the reality is, I’d check out these posts HERE and HERE and HERE which go much more in-depth and cite real-life sources. If you would like to read more about actual brainwashing, HERE and HERE . - “The torture is necessary for their training!” Again, this works to a point, but most people take it absurdly far in their depictions. Training is to build a person up; if it grievously injures or mentally traumatizes them, that’s counter-productive, as it decreases their usefulness. Being pointlessly cruel to your “living weapon” is just counter-productive. Training can certainly still be intense, and even un-ethically or dangerously so, but if it crosses into just coming up with ridiculously over-the-top ways to make the character suffer, it’s too OTT and clearly for angst-fuel, and most readers will probably roll their eyes because it’s just ridiculous after a certain point. Here are some good articles from SPRINGHOLE.NET relevant to this topic: Things To Know If Your Character Will Be Augmented Or Experimented Upon Things About Training & Teaching Writers Need To Know Tips For Writing Dark Stories, Settings, & Characters Pointlessly Edgy Tropes To Reconsider Using Basic Tips To Create Better Characters With Tragic & Traumatic Backstories Note that this is not to say that your lab rat character cannot have been mistreated, abused, or otherwise traumatized by their situation. Indeed, it would be unrealistic if they were NOT, since treating a sentient being as a tool under the control of others and having them commit violence, even if they do so “willingly” because they don’t know any better, is an inherently traumatic thing. But because it’s inherently traumatic, the unrealistic torture porn is just that much more unnecessary and frankly kind of silly. It’s also lazy, and the ways that many writers go about make no actual sense, as has been discussed. Going back to examples from Marvel, a favorite little-known X-Men character of mine is Darkstar, aka Laynia Petrovna. Laynia and her twin brother Nicolai were mutants born in the USSR. They were taken away by the state at birth, and raised by government scientist Professor Phobos in a “school” (read: facility) for super-soldiers. They were trained in combat and taught to be loyal to the USSR above all else. They were also told that their parents had abandoned them (when in fact their mother died in childbirth, and their father was told they had died too) and were NOT told that they were siblings, instead being given different surnames so that their familial loyalty would not supersede their loyalty to the Soviet Union. It wasn’t until they were adults and discovered their bio-father during a mission that they ever found out they were related. Yet, despite this, and despite occasionally joining superhero teams in the USA (Champions) or aiding the X-Men (X-Corps), Laynia has remained loyal to her country first, though she has often turned her back on its government (though she has returned to serving it now that the USSR is no more) What I really like about Laynia’s backstory is how different it is from most “I was raised as a weapon” stories in that it lacks overt abuse or trauma. She seems to have been treated just fine, she was never tortured, there was never shown to be any needlessly brutal training or treatment of her and the others, etc. She was raised to be a loyal servant to the state, and she was treated in a way that would actually facilitate that, and IT WORKED. So many scientists/trainers/etc in fiction seem to think it’s a great idea to treat your living weapon in ridiculously over-the-top violent, abusive ways for no real reason (except, of course, THE DRAMAZ) and will often be portrayed as insanely sadistic towards their pet projects…even though that’s obviously the LAST thing you would want to do with a valuable asset that you wanted to be loyal to you and have no desire to escape or turn sides. And as I said, it WORKS with Laynia. One of her biggest and most constant struggles FROM THE START is her loyalty to her country, versus her own conscience when she’s asked to do things she finds questionable. She also finds out again and again that she’s been lied to or manipulated by the people in charge of her, and sometimes she’ll defect, but she always ends up back again. And while she’s angry at the things that government asks her to do to others, or has done to others, she never really questions what was done to her. We never see her actually being like “holy shit, I was kidnapped and brainwashed and exploited and I’m really fucking angry about this!” like so many characters in similar situations realize (and often very quickly despite supposed brainwashing; even when still “loyal” they’re usually portrayed as hating their captors) And you know why? Because, again, what was done to her WORKED. Like she has a MOMENT in the issue where she finds out her real history and vows she won’t blindly follow a government ever again, but…she still sticks with the USSR, then Russian, government. She may not be “blindly” following, but she doesn’t seem ever able to leave them for long either. And her brother Nicolai/Vanguard strays even less than she does. And the writers never focus much on this. There’s never been a story that focuses on Laynia’s mindset or giving her a journey that helps her grow in any way or even just examines all this. Partly I think that’s because she’s so minor and has never had a story IN GENERAL that focuses on her. Partly I think it’s because writers just aren’t INTERESTED in a story like hers UNLESS it involves all the dramatic grimdark “tortured test subject” cliches, and they assume readers aren’t either. But I think this does a disservice to readers. One of my pet peeves, perhaps my MAJOR and BIGGEST one, about abuse in fiction is that it is ALWAYS portrayed as BLATANT and EXTREME, committed by people who are OBVIOUSLY monsters and who act like said monsters 24/7. They might get a shallow charming veneer to fool people, but the victim and audience both know that under that they’re un-nuanced, two-dimensional demons. And some abusers are like that. Some abuse is super extreme. But lots of abusers are much more nuanced, and lots of abuse is far for subtle. If only the most extreme types of abuse and abuser are portrayed, that’s all people learn to recognize “real abuse” as being. And real-life victims of abuse already have enough problems feeling that they weren’t “really abused” or “abused enough” to qualify. So I think stories like Laynia’s are important, and they’re worth exploring. They don’t treat abuse as torture porn, something to lingeringly emphasize to the audience in every gory detail for sheer shock value even when it makes NO SENSE for what the abuser is trying to accomplish. Instead, her story makes sense for what the government and its scientists employees were trying to do, and it has an accordingly realistic effect on her that manifests in a far less subtle but no less meaningful way than dramatic “media portrayals of PTSD” cliches. And it’s a story I’d be interested in seeing more of and finally unpacking fully, if any writer ever steps up to the plate ready to treat it with the sensitivity it deserves. Not every story of this sort needs to be like Laynia’s. But not every story of this type needs to be like Logan’s either. Figure out what works best for your character, question why you want it and what purpose it serves, and just make it make sense.

[acerace]

How does Last Life fits into the feau? Do all the members just disappear from their home servers all of a sudden or do they willingly participate in it again? Who takes the return to the game the worst and who takes it the best? Why do the members try to stay together with different members than before even if they have made up for the killings? Hope this isn't much of of bother but I just really really like your feau :]

anon I am sending you a bouquet for this ask

All of this with the preface that I actually have no idea what Last Life will be like in feau until a few more sessions have passed! Also I might add in some funky "the boogeyman wasn't planned" stuff depending on how it goes :D

So! To explain Last Life I need to explain some stuff about 3rd Life. 3rd Life was originally meant to be a fun game started by Grian towards the end of Hermitcraft s7 including a bunch of his friends. However, when the group all went to the 3rd Life world and tried to start the game, they had to reset everything several times, and the game eventually glitched from all the resetting and wiped everyone's memories. 3rd Life continues very closely to canon with the caveat that they have no idea it is a game, that this isn't Really life or death, that they're supposed to be Friends. When everyone dies, they regain their memories and the game ends, and they realize, oh. Oh G-d. We did that to each other. There was no supernatural entity forcing them to slaughter each other, it was all them. Their decisions.

So! After some post 3rd Life trauma and slow healing, Grian, who in feau is not very good at processing his issues, tentatively decides to try again, as an apology to the others, in a way. Last Life is going to be a game- they'll have more lives, be able to share them, and they'll have their memories! It'll be fine. Nothing bad will happen this time around. They're all friends. It will be fine. The non 3rd Lifers (like the Hermits, the Empires folks etc) don't fully know what happened, just that their buddies are all traumatized and Not the same, and a few of them think this might be a bad idea, but what can they do?

The 3rd Lifers all agree to try again (not go back- it's a different world), though some are more reluctant than others. Impulse and Etho think, oh this is a terrible idea, for example, while Grian and Scott, whose preferred method of dealing with their emotions is to pretend they don't have any, approach Last Life like it means absolutely nothing and like they both don't have nightmares about their partners dying. The newbies take Last Life the best- not so much Lizzie, Joel told her about 3rd Life- Mumbo and Pearl know the basics, think they know what they're getting in to, but they really don't, and it's very obvious to the 3rd Lifers that they aren't prepared. They try to form different alliances this time around, something they discuss beforehand, because it's Not 3rd Life, no, this is Last Life, they can make conscious decisions armed with all the information they need! It's fine. Old alliances split up by choice, they're gonna hang out with different people, there are no residual bad feelings or fond feelings, nope, this is a clean slate and a fresh start! It's fine.

Obviously, things will not be fine. Session 1 has Grian getting his head hacked off. The actual direction feau!Last Life takes is TBD, but the answer is probably going to be lots and lots of angst :D

(Alternately, I am strongly considering pulling a "we have been taken against our wills to fight to the death by some angry or bored god" kinda thing with Last Life depending on how the series goes. Maybe throw in Martyn's voice? I don't think I wanna do Watchers since they're the focus of 2 fics already but we'll see. I really, really like the vibes of that- of them disappearing from their own servers, waking up with dread and realizing they have to do it all again, that more of their friends are getting dragged in, too, now. Gotta wait and see, but I do have ideas for this take on the series too, though it will be way more canon divergent than 3rd Life's canon compliance)

[animerunner]

I am not going to say one last thing. Because when I do it never ends up that way.

But I do want to say this.

Heads up this is another long one so its under the read more.

I love AUs.

No really I love them.

I love reading them, I love writing them. Before I started writing TOH I really didn't do canon compliance fics. Because I love doing AUs that much.

The only AUs I don't do are non magic. And that's just because if I'm reading fics for a magic universe. I really don't want to read non magic fics. I'm here for a thing, I don't want not the thing.

Much like the beta fics for TOH. They just aren't my cup of tea.

My posts were and never aren't meant to attack AUs as a whole.

I just wanted to address a problem that I've seen multiple times.

This wasn't even the first post I've made on it. I made a longer one back in April. That I'm not sure if its the timing or what. But went a whole lot better. Than my post this week.

Like I said in that one post. I've made multiple posts on this. And none of them were meant to be an attack.

It was meant to simply talk about this kind of problem we have. Where some AU writers decide to make Eda's curse disappear.

Which I'm going to be honest. Even if its not a disability parallel. It's still erasing a parallel that someone might find comfort in because of another illness.

And considering how little of those there are. Its maybe not the greatest thing to do?

And I don't know why but that one person took it personally. I'm not sure if I even ever read their fics TBH? Like it was not meant to be a personal attack on anyone. It was supposed to be a comment on the behavior over and over in the fandom.

Because I've literally seen people use the 'loves cures all trope'. Which as someone who has a CI is a trope that actually really hurts because intentional or not it sends some extraordinarily bad messages.

I guess this isn't even limited to AUs. Its a fandom overall problem. And like I said even eliminating the Eda issue.

There's been a whole lot other behavior from the fandom that is not great. I just use Eda's curse as a platform because that's the one I can most easily talk about.

There are other stuff I could talk about.

Like how it wasn't great that I've seen one art mocking Lilith using an actual medical condition. That I also have.

Or the dense thing with Luz.

But I talk about Eda because that's what easiest.

Also I don't name names. Because I don't feel comfortable doing so.

[spaceorphan18]

Author Spotlight: Kuhlaine Day 3

Author: @kuhlaine

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

It depends! My first draft is always just a rough 'get the words on the page' type of draft. If it's un-beta'd, I'll transfer the rough draft to a new document and do a fresh pass through the following day to fine tune, then work on formatting and do one last pass through for spelling errors after giving myself a break from looking at the material. If it's a beta'd project, I'll go through and start adding my comments/concerns and shoot them off to my beta. Once we've worked through all of theirs and my comments I do one last pass through for any last minute changes and I'm good to post! 

tldr: two and a half-ish drafts for un-beta'd works, closer to four drafts for beta'd projects!

If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

I'd revise Cross the Line, which was the first fic I ever posted! I took a 9 month hiatus before posting the last chapter (which I'm so, SO sorry about, I promise I won't do it again), and I always worried that it felt like there was a distinct shift in the tone of the story once I posted that final chapter months later. I'd want to do a proper outline for that fic and draw out the last few chapters a little more. I had originally wanted things to go down slightly differently, but I felt like it was too late to scrap that draft when I was already months behind posting my latest chapter.

What do you look for in a beta?

I've been working with my beta, Adri, for my past two multi-chapter fics and my next WIP, and honestly I'd say I'd look for someone like her, as shameless as that is to say! She's amazing - none of my work would be what it is without her guidance and influence on the writing process.

Usually, my greatest concern with my work is that the logic is always sound. Sometimes things that make sense to me don't make sense to someone else - likewise, I created these characters, and I control their thoughts and actions. Sometimes I may know why they chose to act a certain way, but the reader might not - so having someone who's able to call things like that out, for clarity and context, is SUPER helpful! A great memory is also amazing because I have a bad habit of forgetting some of the more minute details in my fics (and also forgetting that Adam exists).

If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Oh gosh, that's so tough... I feel like most of my favorite fics end in really wonderfully fitting ways. I think it'd be fun to take a crack at a Little Numbers sequel - the fic is absolutely astounding on its own, so this would just be a shameless chance to get to try out writing in that very unique format.

Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

I definitely take liberties! I like to weave in nods to canon throughout my fics just for fun, and because they make for intriguing plots when put into a new setting/context, but I'm really not one for canon compliance - since I'm not a huge fan of some of the details in canon.

Talk about a review that made your day.

Lots of reviews make my day! I'm very easy to please, honestly. If you say you like it, it makes my heart swell. 

One review that particularly stuck with me was someone who said it had been years since they'd read a newer fic, and had taken a chance on one of my fics. When I first rejoined the fandom I was definitely hesitant to read newer works, and wanted to stick with the classic fics that I knew and loved at first - knowing that someone took a chance on me as an author who was very late, and very new, to the fandom really meant a lot to me!

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

Not really! This is a wonderfully supportive community and I've never gotten anything but kind and lovely comments.

I'd like to think that if I got a negative review I'd leave it be and forget about it - but realistically I'd probably obsess about it for a long time, forget about it for years, then it'll come back to me in the middle of the night years later.

As for critique/constructive feedback - I welcome it! My writing is critiqued/workshopped pretty much every day at work, so it's something I'm always very open and welcome to hearing!

What advice do you have for people just starting to write?

Don't be discouraged if the kudos/comments are slow to start! When I first started posting fic, it took me quite a bit to start getting kudos/comments, but I kept going because I had this thing I really wanted to write, and figured I might as well share it regardless of whether anyone was reading, because I knew I was going to write it either way. I posted (somewhat) consistently, and eventually readers started to come along! 

And write what YOU want to write! Don't write something that you're not passionate/excited about or that you feel like you /have/ to write, it'll just make the writing process unnecessarily difficult for you.

Which fic do you most like to discuss with other people? Why?

I'll talk about The Sidhe to anyone who will listen - it's one of my favorite fics of all time.

As for my own fic, I don't talk about many of them very often to others! I'm generally very vague when talking about my non-work-related writing to my friends. Though, I'm adapting Even Then, Especially Now into an original work, so that's the only project I've talked about a little more explicitly with them.

What's one aspect of writing fic that gets you really excited?

Creating worlds! I don't write fantasy or sci-fi, but I think you still do a great deal of world building with any story - you're creating characters and friend groups and social constructs and settings. I love those first few chapters when you're really setting the scene, introducing your cast of characters and what their world is like and how they operate. 

I also LOVE finally getting to the climatic point in a story and just writing my heart out! It's the moment I've been waiting for as a writer, and usually the moment the reader will have been waiting for, and it's so exciting to do all this building and just dive right in to this insane, emotional, rollercoaster of a moment.

***

Check out Kuhlaine’s Fics

The First of Many -  Kurt Hummel is overworked, exhausted, and desperately needs a drink. Or two. Blaine Anderson is underpaid, heartbroken, and dreading the thought of heading home for the holidays. When the two meet at neighboring bachelor/ette parties in Las Vegas, they wake up with more than just hangovers - a sky high room service bill, and a pair of wedding rings.

My Personal Hell -  Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson have never been able to get along, much less stand to be in the same room alone for more than 10 minutes. When their petty rivalry causes them to miss their bus back home to Lima after a glee club competition in Middle of Nowhere, Illinois, they'll have to do more than just spend 10 minutes alone together.

You've Got Kudos! -  In which Blaine gets tipsy and posts fanfiction about himself and Kurt on Archive of Our Own.

[snarkwrites]

12 | gangsta; sweetpea

NOTES:

It's been a while. I've had these two chapters written for a while now but I haven't had time to sit down, edit them a little better and post them. Since I have time now, I thought I'd go ahead and do that, whether you guys asked for these next two chapters or not.

Sorry this took forever! Sorry I'm so slow, I've been settling into a new house and taking care of some IRL stuff / taking a little break. I swear, I'm going to update everything sooner or later. >.>

I love you guys.

WARNINGS:

NON/ LOOSE CANON COMPLIANCE - this is the biggest warning, so if you’re into things that follow exact canon plot you are… definitely not going to like this. ANGST & SLOW BURN, HEAVY SEXUAL TENSIONSTARTING NOW, ACTUALLY - this is just so everyone who started reading this thinking the smut would transpire in a hurry knows that apparently, it is not. VIOLENCE / SWEARING & FIGHTING, POSSIBLE UNDERAGE DRINKING AND OTHER SHENANIGANS- look.. it’s high school. shit happens. also apparently, my ofc Alyssa uses the word fuck like all the time?…EVENTUAL SEXUAL CONTENT / A VIRGIN ORIGINAL CHARACTER- this one is self explanatory. yes, i plan to write a smutty chapter in this at some point. when? i don’t rightly know. it’s got a while before we get there. STALKER TW - this chapter marks the true appearance of Alyssa's ex, Dave Novak. It's hinted heavily that he's a gross asshole who likes to play mind games.

If you're under 18+, probably not a good or wise idea to continue reading this series. Because there are going to be a few dark and adult themes within. I'll warn here, of course, but you need to understand that I don't control you. If you continue to read after having read the warnings and you're upset or don't like something... Totally on you, friend.

PAIRING:

Andrews!Sibling OFC x Sweet Pea.

TAGGING:

@brithedemonspawn is the only person on my Riverdale tag list. If you want to be added, the link to do so is below.

OTHER PARTS:

ONE - TWO - THREE - FOUR - FIVE - SIX - SEVEN - EIGHT - NINE - TEN- ELEVEN - soundtrack

OTHER STUFF:

[ about my writing - tag list doc ]

T W E L V E.

[773 - 589 - 7956] attachment

[773 - 589 - 7956] I think I decided how you can repay me, scarlet…

[773 - 589 - 7956] Better enjoy your quiet and happy little life while you still have it, scarlet. Because soon it’s all going to be ripped right out of your pretty little hands.

[773 - 589 - 7956] That boyfriend of yours isn’t even gonna be able to save you this time, scarlet. You’re mine.

[773 - 589 - 7956] See you soon, scarlet.

Each new text that came in had me tensing up. Careful to keep my phone out of sight of anyone who was nearby. My heart was about to beat right out of my chest and my stomach felt like it sank to the floor. I was barely listening to anything being said around me and I guess it was more obvious than I thought because Toni cleared her throat, nodding to the phone in my hand.

Gazing at me in concern.

“Everything okay? You look like you’re going to be sick.”

“Yeah,yeah. Everything is fine.” I lied. I think at that particular point in time, I was just trying to convince myself that this was all some kind of bad dream. Or worst case scenario, Dave was making empty threats.

Toni eyed me suspiciously. I tried to give her a convincing smile, but I’d have had to be an idiot to even think for a second that she believed me. She eyed my phone and reached for it. I managed to shove it in my pocket.

“Trust me.” I pleaded. She gave me a wary look and sighed, grumbling “Fine, okay. Alright.” under her breath.

And I did my best to push the texts out of my head. Jumping in the conversation she had going on with Cheryl and Veronica. Laughing and talking as if nothing were wrong.

Lying through the skin of my teeth.

XXX

“What’s got you so jumpy?”

The question caught me off guard. I wanted to tell someone what was going on, I really did, but… I didn’t want to worry anyone, either. I was at least 99.9 percent sure that there was absolutely no way that Dave would show up in Riverdale, at least that’s what I was hoping.

I did my best to play it off. Shoveling french fries into my mouth just so I didn’t have to answer right away. My cell phone lit up and I flinched before I could stop myself.

Toni reached for it and I quickly grabbed it and shoved it in my pocket. She gave me a concerned look and I muttered quietly, “Probably just Reggie...again.”

“Reggie’s with that new girl though?” Cheryl spoke up. Gazing at me thoughtfully. My breath caught in my throat because if anyone would catch on to there being something truly wrong with me or something off in the way I was acting, it’d be her or Polly.

So far, I’d managed to fool everyone else into thinking I was alright, even my dad and my brother.

,, Dave won’t come here, it’s not worth the hassle. He’s just playing mind games. That’s all this is. Pull yourself together.” the thought came and I managed a smile, shrugging.

“You’ve been acting weird all week, now that I’m thinking about it.” Cheryl was the one who said it and she gave me an expectant look. Waiting.

“I have not.”

,, I do have one secret I can spill. Maybe if I tell them about my crush on Sweetpea…” and so that’s what I did. Sighing as I reached for the shared plate of fries between the three of us. Raking my fries through my vanilla milkshake and taking a few deep breaths to kind of collect myself, both from Dave’s harassing texts and what I was finally about to get off my chest about having feelings for Sweetpea.

“You have. Start talking.” Toni spoke up, watching me. Sizing me up. If I had to guess, I’d pin money on her sitting across the booth, trying to figure out what was up with my jumpy attitude all week.

“Okay, alright. Fine. But what I’m about to tell you two does not leave this table, okay? It.. It can’t. If Sweetpea ever found out, pretty sure he’d start avoiding me and things would get weird.”

Toni and Cheryl exchanged a look and then Toni nodded. Chewing a mouthful of fries as she muttered calmly, “Go on.”

“ I may or may not have a crush on Sweetpea.”

“Oh, you definitely have a crush on him. It’s kind of obvious.” Cheryl gave a soft teasing grin and I sighed. Dragging my hand through my hair and taking a few seconds to let her words sink in. I almost dreaded asking, but I felt like I had to given that she said it was obvious. “Oh god.. He doesn’t suspect anything.. Right?”

“Oh, he’s the only one whose oblivious. But the rest of us, we’ve known a while.” Toni teased me. Then asked calmly, “Is that all? Why’s that have you so jumpy?”

“Because I know how bad I am at hiding things, okay? I was kind of… I dunno, freaking out I guess.” I eyed her, waiting. Searching her face in the hopes that she accepted what I said and didn’t keep pushing. A few seconds passed and she laughed softly. Took a sip of her strawberry milkshake and asked with a smirk, “Are you gonna do anything about it?”

“Probably not. Every time I even think about it, I manage to talk myself right out of it. He’d laugh his ass off, okay? Besides, remember all the flirting he was doing with Josie when they had to work together during the play?” I pouted as I pointed it out.

Cheryl and Toni exchanged looks and Toni laughed. “He was doing that to make you jealous. Or that’s what I think he was doing. Either way… I think you should do something. He’s not going to and trust me… I’ve known the guy my whole life. I know him well enough to say that I know he has a thing for you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so cranky when you two first met?”

“I thought he was just naturally grumpy?”

“Oh, he is, but the way he was towards you was totally different. He’s only that grumpy when he’s trying to keep his defenses up.” Toni informed me before finishing off her shake.

The door to the diner opened and Sweetpea walked in, Fangs in tow. The two of them were laughing about something. I gave both Cheryl and Toni a pleading look and Cheryl seemed to pick up on my unspoken plea to change the subject thankfully, because she asked, “Are you going to F.P’s retirement party at the Wyrm?”

“Yeah.” I answered, finishing off my milkshake. Sweetpea flopped into the booth beside me, carelessly slinging an arm over the back of the seat. His hand brushed against my shoulder and I swear just the small brush against me felt like someone had taken a livewire and dragged it over my body real slow.

Toni smirked at me, nodding at Sweetpea while he was too busy wolfing down french fries to notice and I shook my head.

“I dare you. No… I triple dare you.. Flirt with him.” Toni gave a teasing grin as she mouthed the words to me and I swallowed hard.

She’s not playing fair. She knows I can’t turn down a dare.

I happened to glance out the window of the diner and when I thought I saw Dave standing there, leaning against a streetlamp, one hand in his pocket and a cigarette dangling between his lips, I nearly choked. This prompted Sweetpea to start hitting me on the back lightly as he laughed and looked at me in concern. “Damn cherry, are you trying to kill yourself?”

Toni’s brow raised and Sweetpea explained what happened earlier in the day, how I’d nicked myself with the scalpel in our first period class while doing a dissection. What Sweetpea didn’t know was that when it happened, it was because I thought I’d seen Dave standing outside in the parking lot, only to blink and the parking lot be empty.

I have got to stop letting his stupid mind games get to me. It’s just because he’s texting me again. It’s just because he knows how to work me up and get me all scared, he used to be good at it when we dated.

He’d never come to Riverdale. He’s just doing this to me for his own sick amusement and every single time I let him get to me, especially when I’m to a point where I’m so paranoid I’m imagining that I see him everywhere lately, it’s letting him win and that pisses me off more than anything.

I’m supposed to be stronger than that, damn it.

Toni eyed me suspiciously and I braced myself. When she didn’t bring up my skittish behavior, I relaxed a little.

I wanted to tell someone what was going on, but at the same time, why? I’m pretty sure this is just Dave, being an absolute bag of dicks.

It has to be that. It has to be.

XXX

He stood outside some podunk little diner right in the heart of town. The hazy red neon gave off a comforting and inviting warmth and he lit his cigarette, fuming in anger as he watched her sitting inside.

“I know you’re not ignoring me, scarlet. I know you’re not.” he muttered, mostly to himself as he turned the collar of his leather jacket up against the wind and started to walk towards the South Side.

Maybe it was time he paid his old buddy Eric a visit. Eric was out of prison. Eric was the one who’d told him where Alyssa was to begin with, though he didn’t realize it.

Dave chuckled and shook his head as he walked towards the shitty apartments on the opposite end of town where Eric lived. Eric owed him a few favors. He was coming to collect.

“Did you really think I was jokin when I told ya I have friends all over? That you weren’t ever gonna get away from me?” he mused to himself as he knocked on the door of a first floor slum apartment.

Eric opened the door, leaning in it lazily. Blinking at him in a daze and smirking. High fiving him as he asked him why he was in town.

Dave whipped out his phone, showing Eric a picture of Alyssa. At first he gave him some story about her running off while he was in the pen. Eric wasn’t buying it, he could see it written in the expression on his face. And that only made him angry. Eric owed him. He was here to collect the favor owed. All he wanted was for Eric to help him out on this one little thing.

Eric shook his head, chuckling in disgust. Gazing at him with a brow raised. “I think you need to leave, man. Now. You don’t want the heat this is gonna bring down on you. And I’m not about to get on a Serpent’s bad side, even if the Serpent in question is just a damn kid.”

“See, I’d like to just put this all behind me, man... but she’s the whole reason I even went to prison to begin with. Then I get out and find out not only is my girl not loyal, she’s also the one who snitched on me?” Dave eyed Eric. Getting irritated because this was not how he saw the conversation going.

“I’m telling you, you need to leave. Forget about Alyssa. I see her around all the time with some kid… Sweet Pea or Green Bean, some shit. The Serpents are not people you fuck with, man. Not around these parts.”

“You know the Serpents aren’t shit to me… Right?” Dave quipped, smirking. “I’ve got this under control. I just need you to help me out a little… C’mon, man. You owe me.”

“I don’t fucking care. I’m not helping you do whatever it is you’re here to do. What I oughta do is put a bullet in your fucking head for even thinking I’d be down for this shit. She’s a kid, man. A fucking kid... Favor or not, man… I’m on the Serpents side with this. Not yours. You need to leave.” Eric warned, giving Dave a firm glare as he folded heavily tattooed arms over his chest.

“Oh, so that’s how you’re playin, huh? Okay. Alright. All I wanna do is see her again. I’m not going to do anything. I just want to straighten things out. Get a little closure on the situation...”

Eric scoffed. “This coming from the king of overreaction. I don’t trust you.I’m breakin code of my gang by even talking to your ass. Nope. The answer is no. I’m not helping. Do whatever you have to do to me, but I’m not about to help you scare some kid. I’ve got better things to do with my time, buddy...”

Dave’s arm shot out and he pinned Eric against the door of his apartment. Smirking at him calmly. “I know you haven’t forgotten just how much your sorry ass owes me. Because that’s what this sounds like.”

“I guess that’s what it is then. Because I’ve seen what the Serpents can do. I’m not about to bring all that down on my head.” Eric stepped back inside his apartment, slamming the door in Dave’s face, leaving him to glare at the closed door and take a swing.

“Guess I’m doing this all by myself.” Dave mused as he turned and wandered down to a shitty dive bar nearby. He needed to have a few rounds. Come up with a plan.

And a little after midnight, after finding himself a few new talkative friends in some local Ghoulies, things were starting to look up for him. And he was slowly forming a plan.

Now he just had to wait. Pick his moment. Toy with her a little more.

“I’m so close I can almost touch you, scarlet. Soon… Soon you’re going to pay for running your mouth to mommy about me...” he smirked to himself as he unlocked his hotel room and stepped inside.

[myvividreams]

Copyright, Creatives, and Why the Criminalization of Fan Culture Needs to Change

So. I had a couple of people on Facebook and Discord ask me about the final paper I wrote on copyright and the criminalization of fandom. Well, I got an A! And permission to share it with whoever’s interested in reading 2700 words on the love-hate relationship we creatives and fanworkers have with copyright

-

With the advent of the internet and social media, fan culture—a form of participatory culture where fans not only consume but also create content often based on existing creative works[1]—has grown phenomenally in the last two decades. For example, attendance to the San Diego Comic-Con, proclaimed by Forbes as the largest fan convention in the world, has almost tripled between 2000 and 2019. In such conventions, fans get to interact with their favorite content creators, from the people behind their favorite series to their fellow fans who create content online that they consume. In the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con alone, attendees spent around $88 million directly on events and merchandise in the convention, not counting what they spent on other costs, like transportation and housing for the duration of the con! That is a lot of money going around publicly for what is essentially a black-market hub. And these conventions, like many other aspects of fan culture, are as much hubs of illegal activity as they are incubators of creativity. This needs to change.

In the context of this essay, I will be using the term fan culture to describe the lived experience of fans both casual and serious. This is to differentiate it from the term fandom—which I will be using to refers to, collectively, all the ideas, interactions, characters, fans, and derivative/transformative works associated with a particular creative work. Fandom will be used in this discussion to describe the virtual place within which fans interact, create content derivative of, and negotiate the meanings surrounding the originating work.

I choose to discuss fandom in the context of place rather than community because places, as defined by Pelletier-Gagnon and Diniz, are “site[s] of meaning where agents create, efface, and accumulate symbols”, which are delineated by contours rather than characteristics and can exist within images, sounds, and videos as well as locations.[2] As far as fandom is concerned, a fandom will continue to exist though fans may enter and leave at will. Fandoms are countoured with recognizable characters and settings, and the fans within them create new meanings and interpretations of the originating work—while keeping within said contours—through posts, discussions, and derivative creative works like fan art and fan fiction. Often times, fandoms aren’t occupied by any single community, they’re occupied by several who each compete over interpretations of characters and character interactions. Sometimes, such communities can even develop around derivative works—enough so that the derivative work becomes the anchor and contour of another fandom![3]

As rich and diverse fan culture within fandoms can be, however, that does not detract that many activities prominent within fan culture go against copyright law. As it exists right now, much of copyright law is obsessed with copies.[4] It (ideally) grants creatives a set of exclusive rights to their original creations as incentives to produce more work, giving copyright owners (not always creatives!) the right to control the reproduction and distribution of copies of their work as well as the right to prepare derivative works based on said copyright work.[5] You can imagine, then, how easily creatives within fandoms can cross over the line to copyright non-compliance: they do it every single time they create fan works celebrating their love for the original work.

Fortunately, most fan works online fall under the fair use doctrine, which allows the reproduction of works for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.”[6] There are four criteria works are evaluated by to qualify as fair use: the purpose of the work (commercial or non-profit?), the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the copyrighted work used, and the effect the such use of the work would have on the market for or the value of the work.[7] Generally speaking, fan works like fan art, fan comics, fan fiction, gif sets, animatics, and AMVs that are shared online for free fulfill at least the first and the fourth criteria for fair use, which are the criteria usually prioritized by copyright holders.

The problem arises when fan creators start monetizing their fan works—creating merchandise featuring copyrighted content, selling them online, selling them in cons, doing commissions—basically, doing anything that constitutes distributing their work for profit. Thousands of such merchandise are being sold on sites like Etsy and Redbubble or featured on their creators’ social media pages for sale, and they come in many different varieties—from art prints to enamel pins to dolls to clothing. The creators of said merchandise also fill the aptly named Artists’ Alleys in conventions to sell their products in person. Groups of creators sometimes band together to create and sell magazines—often referred to simply as zines—or even fan comics for their fandoms.[8] Of course, murkier cases also exist, like let’s play vloggers profiting off of posting their playthroughs of copyrighted videogames online or fan writers and artists earning money through their followings on Patreon.

Copyright owners’ responses to such activity have varied widely throughout the years, with differing degrees of success. Consensus as of the present seems to be to leave it alone unless the fan profiting from their derivative work is experiencing significant success or making significant sums of money from the monetization of such work. At that point, the fan would be asked to take the work off their online store or, if they’re a vlogger, take the offending video down from their channel. What constitutes as significant is often up to the copyright owner.

Historically, however, this was not always the case. In the 2000s, many copyright holders famously sent cease-and-desist letters to fan creators, specifically fan fiction authors, and made their dislike of fan fiction—or specific types of fan fiction—well known. Anne Rice, author of the then-popular novel series The Vampire Chronicles, was one of them, having posted a notice on her website in 2000 that effectively banned all fan fiction of her works online.[9] Following such, several individuals online reportedly received cease-and-desist orders and threats on their businesses unconnected to their activity as fan creators, and several commenters on a viral thread on tumblr claim that they left the Vampire Chronicles fandom entirely because of it.[10] [11]

On the other side of the scale, Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of the Darkover series, dove into the fandom surrounding her series headfirst. Although the controversial Contraband incident she is connected to took place long before the internet truly caught on, it bears sharing as it is often used as a cautionary tale for copyright owners and professional creatives against participating too actively within the fandom surrounding their original work. In the two decades after she published the first book in her Darkover series, Bradley had fostered an extremely close connection with her fans, commenting on fans’ derivative works, providing feedback, curating/editing their zines—often even adopting ideas proposed by fans or introduced by fans in their fan works as canon (true) to the Darkover universe. This all came to a head in 1992 when Bradley approached one of her fans offering money in exchange for being able to use elements from the fans’ published fan works in what was supposed to be Bradley’s next novel, Contraband. The fan disagreed, and the incident ended with cancellation of the novel and the discontinuation of Bradley’s active participation in the Darkover fandom.[12]

Both these examples have played a large part in how copyright holders’ current attitudes towards fan culture are playing out. Copyright holders tread the line between too much and too little exercise of their copy rights. Too much, and they may end up losing their fanbase. Too little, and they may lose profits and control of their public image to the more prolific members of their fandom. Fan culture, to copyright holders, also presents a largely mixed bag of feelings and viewpoints that varies from holder to holder. Each copyright holder tackles the issue differently. Some, like JK Rowling, welcome it. Some, like Anne McCaffrey, tolerate it with stipulations. And others, like George R. R. Martin, dislike it but will tolerate it as long as fans don’t send their fan fiction to them (art and other works usually fall under different considerations). Whatever their approach is, the general consensus among copyright holders seems to be that they tolerate (maybe even like) fan works as long as they aren’t sold commercially and, if said fan work is a piece of fan fiction, that work isn’t sent to them with the expectation of said author reading it and acknowledging it publicly.[13]

Note, however, that none of the current popular approaches to dealing with fan culture that I listed above includes the outright banning of fan activities. Copyright owners and creatives have learned from the examples of Anne Rice and her contemporaries in the 2000s that restricting fan culture—and taking advantage of or treating fans badly—is a good recipe for a shrinking fanbase and the non-success of their copyrighted work. They have also learned how an active fandom can rapidly propel a copyrighted work to success.

James Boyle, in his article Fencing off Ideas: Enclosure & the Disappearance of the Public Domain, posits that “a large leaky market may actually produce more revenue than a small, tightly-controlled market.”[14] With the phenomena of fandom as my example, I concur. Original works anchor and draw fandoms around themselves, but the creative outputs of fandom act as both gifts to the communities of their originating fandoms and free advertising for the originating work of said fandom. In fact, according to a report published last year by a collaboration between Fandom, Inc. and Ipsos, fan content plays a large role in driving discovery of new creative works. 59% of Explorers, the market segment that makes up half the fans in the United States, claim that fan content they encountered influence them to try new content.[15] At least part of the success experienced by popular creative works online—and on social media specifically—can be attributed to the robust participation of fans in creating, curating, and sharing derivative works both online and offline.

Because of this, fandom is often seen as a hub for developing creatives. There, amateur (and even professional!) creatives can hone their skills on existing characters and settings they already love. They can also build up a following and be cheered on, supported, and guided by their fellow fans and creatives in the fandom. Some of these creatives who got their start out of fandom even go on to create the “original content” they consume themselves! This usually happens in fandoms surrounding longer-running fictional series, such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Star Wars.[16] And other creatives who have grown up within fan culture also go on to create their own original works and publish their own series. Cassandra Clare, author of multiple bestselling series (including the Mortal Instruments series), famously got her start writing fan fiction for the Harry Potter fandom in the 2000s.[17] Naomi Novik, award-winning author of the Temeraire series, admits to still writing fan fiction and actually co-founded the Organization of Transformative Works[18] in 2007![19]

None of this, however, changes the fact that much of fan culture operates by the grace of copyright holders—or that much of it is, in fact illegal due to copyright. This needs to change.

Lawrence Lessig, in Remix: How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law and In Defense of Piracy, talks about the criminalization of Gen X and their culture of piracy through peer-to-peer sharing and YouTube remixes. But it isn’t just gen X anymore. It’s the criminalization of an entire culture. To participants of fan culture, copyright has become something ignored until it is useful or relevant, which damages the credibility of law. By criminalizing an entire culture—one that is still growing no less—we’re creating a culture where it becomes alright to break the law or at least consider it lightly. In the context of fan culture where breaking copyright law is often ignored, the continued criminalization of fan culture is telling fans, especially younger fans, that it is alright to break the law if you can get away with it. By doing so, we’re compromising the very value of law.

Moreover, as both Boyle and Lessig have said, copyright as it exists now is strangling creativity.[20] [21] [22] As copyright laws become increasingly stringent and skewed towards copyright owners, the sandbox other, younger creatives can play in legally continues to shrink as well. Additionally, said laws are skewed towards estates and corporate copyright owners rather than the creatives they are supposed to incentivize. Current copyright laws in the US award copyright to creatives for the duration of their lifetime plus 70 years before their works are released into the Public Domain for the creatives of the day to play with. As it stands, there are thousands of works lost to the public, which means that there are thousands of works that will not be able to inspire another generation of creatives.

I’m not saying that copyright should be abolished. Creatives should be acknowledged and compensated fairly for the time and effort they put into creating their works. I’m saying that a system must exist that reconciles the interests of copyright owners and fan creators without criminalizing one side or the other. There must be a way to bring balance back to the relationship between copyright owners and the next generation of creatives. I can think of one—bringing the duration of copyright back down to at least the lifetime of the creative (which is the longest most reasonable duration in the context of incentivizing creatives!)—and I’m sure there are more. We just need to find them.

 ----

[1] Grinnell College. Fandom & Participatory Culture. n.d. 6 May 2020. <https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/fandom-and-participatory-culture/>.

[2] Pelletier-Gagnon, Jérémie and Axel Pérez Trujillo Diniz. "Colonizing Pepe: Internet Memes as Cyberplaces." Space and Culture (2018).

[3] See the Dreaming of Sunshine fandom which emerged surrounding the popular Naruto fan fic of the same name. Similarly, there’s the Nuzlocke fandom which has spawned several fan art, fan comics, fan fics, and let’s plays based around the idea of playing through one of the mainline Pokemon RPGs under a certain set of self-imposed rules. There’s also the more recent Maribat fandom, which came into being more recently (that is, sometime mid-last year) and created a space overlapping two very different parent-fandoms: (1) Miraculous Ladybug and (2) DC Comics (specifically Batman).

[4] That’s why it’s called copy-right!

[5] U.S. Constitution. Art. 17, Sec. 106.

[6] U.S. Constitution. Art. 17, Sec. 107.

[7] U.S. Constitution. Art. 17, Sec. 107.

[8] Sean Thordsen, Esq. The Law of Anime Part II: Copyright and Fandom. 15 Feb 2013. Article. 6 May 2020.

[9] Jackson, Gita. It Used to Be Perilous to Write Fan Fiction. 16 May 2018. 6 May 2020. <https://kotaku.com/it-used-to-be-perilous-to-write-fanfiction-1826083509>.

[10] fandomlife-universe. "So I'm on AO3 and I see a lot of people who put." Fandom Life. April 2016. <https://fandomlife-universe.tumblr.com/post/140771184680/so-im-on-ao3-and-i-see-a-lot-of-people-who-put-i>.

[11] So I'm on AO3 ... (the forgotten history of disclaimers). n.d. Web. 2020 6 May. <https://fanlore.org/wiki/So_I%E2%80%99m_on_AO3_...(the_forgotten_history_of_disclaimers)>.

[12] Coker, Catherine. "The Contraband Incident: The Strange Case of Marion Zimmer Bradley." Transformative Works and Cultures 6 (2011). Web. <https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2011.0236>

[13] Authors of /r/fantasy, how do you feel about fan fiction of YOUR works? 2019. Forum. 6 May 2020. <https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/b3e6jh/authors_of_rfantasy_how_do_you_feel_about_fan/>.

[14] Boyle, James. "Fencing off Ideas: Enclosure & the Disappearance of the Public Domain." Daedalus 131.2 (2002): 13-25

[15] Fandom Insights Lab. "The State of Fandom." 2019. PDF. <http://fandom.com/state-of-fandom/fandom-ebook.pdf>.

[16] Petrin, Katelyn Mae. How the rise in fandom culture changed the media industry. 21 June 2017. Web. 6 May 2020. <https://qrius.com/how-the-rise-in-fandom-culture-changed-the-media-industry/>.

[17] Jackson, Gita. It Used to Be Perilous to Write Fan Fiction. 16 May 2018. 6 May 2020. <https://kotaku.com/it-used-to-be-perilous-to-write-fanfiction-1826083509>.

[18] Most famous for being behind ArchiveOfOurOwn, one of the three most popular fan fiction hubs on the internet today

[19] Tor.com. Naomi Novik Talks Fanfic-Inspired Fantasy and Ending Temeraire in Her Reddit AMA. 25 Feb 2016. Web. 6 May 2020. <https://www.tor.com/2016/02/25/naomi-novik-reddit-ama-highlights/>.

[20] Boyle, James. "Fencing off Ideas: Enclosure & the Disappearance of the Public Domain." Daedalus 131.2 (2002): 13-25.

[21] Lessig, Lawrence. "In Defense of Piracy." The Wall Street Journal 11 October 2008: 1-3.

[22] Lessig, Lawrence. "Remix: How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law." The Social Media Reader. Ed. Michael Mandiberg. New York: NYU Press, 2012. 155-168.

[sakurarebin]

Digimon Adventure 03

I’m posting my newest fanfiction project here for anyone interested:

Summary: It's been three years since ‎Belial Vamdemon was defeated and digimon have been slowly incorporated into our daily lives. However, not everyone approves of the digimon in our world. When digimon partners start going berserk in our world, can Taichi and the others solve the mystery and prove digimon are truly beneficial to our world? Taichi/Yamato, Sora/Jou

Notes: In terms of canon compliance, this follows season 1, 2, Our War Game, and the two and a half year break CD dramas. Non-Epilogue compliant. This features the new characters from Tri, but with my own interpretations on the characters, so they may not be exactly what you expected. Please enjoy it! I do not own Digimon.

Chapter 1: The Adventure Evolves Again

Taichi smiled as he strolled into the large field carrying his soccer ball while Agumon, who was excitedly looking around at all the trees, waddled close beside him. The late spring sun shone down on the pair and the cool winds brought the smell of the sea into the park as they casually made their way deeper into it to play some soccer. As they approached the field, they could see a group of elementary school-aged kids were playing tag and laughing with a handful of small digimon. The brunette recognized a couple of the digimon from his time in the digital world; the blue tadpole-shaped one was an Otamamon, while the Yukimibatomon reminded him of a small white mochi bun with mouse ears. However, he didn’t recognize the yellow bug digimon or the small tapir-like one with a hard metal shell on its head.

“Taichi, do you want to see if they want to play soccer too?” Agumon's question drew the teenager’s attention back to his own digimon partner who was staring up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

“That's fine by me, Agumon,” he responded, smiling fondly at his small orange-amber dinosaur-like companion, earning him a wide toothy smile. With that, they headed towards the group of children, some of whom were looking over at him with a mix of curiosity and excitement between the digimon and the soccer ball. A dark haired boy scooped up the yellow bug-like digimon with black lightning-shaped eyes and black lightning stripes down its back before running over to Taichi and Agumon as they got closer. 

“Do you want to play with us?” asked the boy excitedly, approaching the pair, although he was staring at Agumon when he asked the question.

“Nee, Haruto, do you really think you should be asking a stranger to play with us?” asked a girl with long blond hair as she stepped towards them, holding her Yukimibotamon in her arms. She hung a little ways back from Taichi, eyeing him a little suspiciously.  

“It's okay, Keiko! He has a digimon- see!” Haruto exclaimed, pointing at Agumon. The other children and digimon moved closer as well.

“And Taichi is a good person,” added Agumon, who moved closer to the other children, excitement shining in his eyes as he looked back at Taichi. Taichi inwardly cringed for a moment, noting that just having a digimon wasn’t a good reason to trust someone, but he was the one who had approached them and he didn’t want Agumon to be disappointed.

“It’s okay,” he reassured the other kids. “You guys can play soccer with Agumon, if you want to.” Taichi said as the children formed a semi-circle in front of him with Haruto in the middle. Haruto nodded enthusiastically. 

Otatamon looked up at Taichi. “Are you not going to play with us too, Tama?” asked the little tadpole-like digimon, “You’re the one who helped wake up ShogunGekomon-Sama with the princess, right?” Taichi blinked in surprise.

“You’re one of the Otamamon from the ShogunGekomon palace? I didn’t realize that some of you became Digimon partners.”

Haruto’s eyes grew even wider as he listened to Taichi. “Onii-san, you’ve been to the Digital World! That’s so awesome! Can you tell us about it?” Haruto looked up at Taichi with a look of amazement and adoration. Soon the other kids surrounded Taichi, asking him various questions about the digital world, the game of tag and the soccer ball long forgotten. Agumon added little bits of details to the stories, sometimes causing Taichi and Agumon to bicker playfully.

“Augmon can become Wargreymon!” Interrupted Haruto at one point, “Wow, that’s so cool! Hey look what I can do!” He held up his digivice.

“Hey, stop being a show off,” complained another boy with a mess of red hair while the tapir-like digimon sat by his side, “Not everyone can evolve their digimon yet.” 

Haruto looked over at the boy who spoke. “Stop whining Shinjiro. You guys will be able to evolve your digimon soon, too.” A sour face crossed the other boy's face as Haruto held up his Digivice towards his partner digimon.

“Kunemon shinka…Kuwagamon!” Light shone around the small insect digimon and a large stag beetle digimon took its place. Haruto reached out to touch Kuwagamon and the digimon leaned into the touch affectionately.

“See? I can evolve my digimon now-”

“You're still being a show off,” accused Shinjiro, cutting off his friend, which sparked a small argument between the two of them. Taichi couldn’t help but look at them with fond amusement, remembering the fights that he used to get into with Yamato. The look faded when the memories of the dream he’d last night resurfaced in his mind. Yamato had been in it, his eyes closed as the blond leaned further in, their lips almost touching. Taichi’s heart started to race again and he felt out of breath.

“Are you okay, Taichi?” Agumon’s worried voice brought Taichi out of his daze to find Agumon and the kids staring at him intently. Taichi fought down the blush and shook his head.

“I’m fine,” Taichi lied, forcing a smile to his lips before turning his attention back to the two boys in front of him. However, before he could say much more, Kuwagamon stole everyone’s attention once again as the digimon took to the air. Agumon pressed up closer to Taichi as they all watched Kuwagamon fly in awe. The sun glinted off Kuwagamon’s red shell as he flew higher into the air. Then, something happened. Kuwagamon jolted in the air, his entire body freezing before beginning to jerk and contort in weird ways. Taichi put his hand above his eyes in an effort to block the sun so he could see what was going on more clearly. Then Kuwagamon started snapping his pincers and turned, circling back towards the group fast. Taichi’s eyes went wide as he realized that Kuwagamon was going to crash right into them.

“Get out of the way!” he cried as he grabbed Haruto and Shinjiro, who were the closest to him at that moment. The other kids scattered to the other side and Kuwagamon crashed into the ground hard.

“Kuwagamon!” shouted Haruto as he struggled against Taichi’s grasp, forcing Taichi to let go. He bolted straight towards his digimon.

“Haruto, wait!” Taichi tried calling out to the boy as he and Agumon dashed forward behind him, but Haruto wasn’t listening. He reached out towards his digimon as he ran, but Kuwagamon turned towards the dark haired boy sharply. Taichi saw Kuwagamon’s pincers clench menacingly, but he knew that he was too far away to do anything himself.

“Taichi!” Agumon called out, turning towards his partner. Taichi nodded in understanding. The digivice in his pocket reacted as he reached in to grab it and light formed around Agumon.

“Agumon shinka… Greymon!” Agumon’s large orange and blue striped t-rex-like adult form stood where Agumon had been moments before and he quickly moved into action. Stepping over Haruto, Greymon put himself between the boy and Kuwagamon. Kuwagamon’s pincers clamped around Greymon, who grunted at the impact, but stood his ground.

“Get away from here,” said Greymon to the wide-eyed boy, his voice much deeper and more gravelly than before. Haruto was frozen in place, but Taichi had continued forward. He pulled him back to safety as Greymon pushed Kuwagamon back, lifting the large digimon off the ground. Greymon used his massive strength to throw Kuwagamon to the side, away from any of the kids. The kids ran to Taichi, many of them hiding behind him, although their digimon moved forward to help Greymon.

Kuwagamon caught himself before he crashed into the ground, using his wings to pull himself higher into the air before diving straight back for Greymon. As Greymon braced for the attack, Otamamon jumped into the air and shouted “Bubble Lullaby” as she released a stream of bubbles which circled around Kuwagamon, putting him to sleep. Kuwagamon hit the ground, leaving a trench across the soccer field and light shone around the large insect digimon as he reverted back to his child form.

“Kunemon!” Haruto called out, rushing over to his digimon partner’s side, everyone else following close behind. Haruto picked up Kunemon, cradling the sleeping digimon in his arms. Taichi breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Kunemon. Greymon returned to his child form, and Agumon moved back to Taichi, taking his place by his side.

“Onii-san, why did Kuwagamon start attacking everybody?” Haruto asked quietly, still looking shaken-up by the whole thing. “Will he be okay?” His eyes were filled with worry and tears started forming.

Taichi dropped to his knee so that he was eye level with Haruto. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” stated Taichi firmly. With that, he pulled out his D-terminal, and started a message to the other chosen children.

There's an issue with the digimon of one of the younger chosen. His digimon started attacking him and other chosen children in his group. Has anyone else encountered anything like this?

-Taichi

Taichi put away his D-terminal and took a deep breath, surveying the situation. Kunemon was still sound asleep in Haruto’s arms, thanks to Otatamon.

“Maemi, how long do you think Kunemon will stay asleep?” Haruto directed the question to Otatamon and her human partner, a girl with long straight black hair.

“I have no idea. Do you know Otatamon?” She looked down at her digimon partner, but Otatamon shook her head.

“Last time I saw someone go to sleep, they slept for over a hundred years.”

“Over a hundred years! But, I don’t want Kunemon to sleep for that long!” Taichi looked over to see Haruto on the verge of tears.

“Don’t worry, Haruto. I think Otatamon is referring to ShogunGekomon in the digital world and that was a different circumstance. I don’t think that Kunemon will be asleep for one hundred years. I’ll bet the effects will wear off soon.” Haruto wiped the tears off with his sleeve and nodded his head. About that time, Taichi heard the D-terminal ping a couple of times, alerting him to incoming messages. Taichi flicked open the screen to view the first message, which was from Koushiro.

I haven’t heard anything like that, but I’ll check within the digimon community to see if anything has come up.

-Koushiro

Taichi brought up the next new message, which was from Hikari.

Takeru and I haven’t heard anything like that. Are you still at Shiokaze Park? We can meet you there to help in a few minutes.

-Hikari

Taichi smiled at the message from his sister and created a quick response for both messages..

I’m still there. That sounds good, Hikari. See you two soon.

-Taichi

Thanks, Koushiro. Please keep me updated. Currently, Kunemon is asleep, but we have no idea how long the effects will last or how Kunemon will act once he is awake.

-Taichi

Taichi hit send before a noise drew Taichi’s attention away from his D-terminal. Kunemon stirred in Haruto’s arms.

“Kunemon!" Haruto shouted, relief apparent in his voice. Kunemon however struggled in the boy’s arms, forcing him to let go. Kunemon dropped to the ground and turned around, preparing to use its electric web attack. However, all that happened was a gurgling noise emitted  from his stomach. The small insect digimon retreated from the group, trying to crawl towards some bushes nestled in the nearby trees.

"I guess Kunemon isn't back to normal," said Haruto sullenly. "What do you think is wrong with him?"

“Do you think he could be sick or something?” whispered Keiko.

“Can digimon even get sick?” asked Haruto, turning towards Keiko, who shrugged.

“Digimon can get sick,” confirmed Taichi, remembering Gabumon’s cold in the digital world. 

“If he’s sick, maybe I can help,” said a very soft feminine voice and it took Taichi a moment to realize that it came from the tapir-like digimon by Shinjiro’s side.

“What do you mean, Bakumon?” asked Shinjiro, looking down at his digimon partner.

“I can cure viruses,” stated the small digimon.

“Really?” Shinjiro and Haruto said it at the same time, although Haruto was a lot more emphatic and enthusiastic than Shinjiro.

“Can we try it out then?” Haruto was turning, pivoting his attention between Shinjiro, Bakumon, and Taichi. Shinjiro shrugged.

“If Bakumon is fine with it, I am.”

“It’s worth a shot, if nothing else,” agreed Taichi. Bakumon moved closer to where Kunemon was hiding.

“Virus Delete!” cried out the small Digimon and a giant syringe appeared above Kunemon, inserting itself into the insect digimon. The entire group watched, unable to look away. Haruto was holding on tightly to Taichi’s arm. The syringe disappeared and Haruto rushed forward to reach out to his partner digimon. Kunemon didn’t move for a few moments. However, soon Kunemon started to stir once more. He looked up at Haruto and started rubbing against his arm affectionately. Tears of joy formed in Haruto’s eyes and he hugged his partner digimon tight against his chest.

“Onii-chan!” Taichi turned around at the sound of his sister’s voice to see her and Takeru and their partner digimon, but his heart throbbed when he spotted Yamato and Gabumon. The small group slowed to a stop as they approached Taichi and the others. Patamon landed his chubby orange and white body on top of Takeru's white hat slightly messing up Takeru’s blond hair as the hat shifted, falling over his face. Takeru laughed a bit at Patamon’s antics, lifting his hat out of his face and earning grins from the rest of the older chosen children.

Taichi used Patamon’s antics to snap himself out of his momentary shock and got back to his feet. “Yamato, you’re here too. Didn’t you have band practice today?” Taichi could still feel his heart fluttering in the quick staccato beat of dokidoki, but he put the feeling on ignore. 

“Yeah, but practice got cancelled because our drummer caught a really bad cold,” Yamato replied. 

“That bites,” sympathized Taichi, but Yamato simply shrugged.

“Shoganai. Anyway, where is the digimon now?” the blond asked, looking around and noting the calm atmosphere. Taichi put his hand on the back of his neck and a sheepish look crossed his face.

“Actually, we just solved the issue. Kunemon is fine now.” Taichi was all too aware of the cheesy grin on his face, especially as Yamato arched an eyebrow at him. Haruto held up Kunemon for the others to see and Kunemon made happy chirping noises at the new arrivals.

Hikari gave her brother a slightly reproachful look as Patamon moved from his perch on top of Takeru’s head to get a closer look at Kunemon. 

“Kunemon looks like he’s feeling much better to me,” Patamon noted flapping his orange wings as he circled around Haruto and Kunemon, who was making more happy chirping noises as he watched Patamon.  

“What happened?” asked Tailmon, Hikari’s white catlike digimon, who was currently standing by Hikari’s side.

Taichi crossed his arms over his chest. “Apparently Kunemon caught a virus that made him start attacking people.” That statement made the others frown.

“How do you know it was caused by a virus?” asked Yamato, turning his attention away from the small digimon and back towards Taichi.

“Bakumon has an ability to cure viruses and it worked on Kunemon,” Shinjiro explained.

“But we have no idea what caused the virus,” clarified Taichi. Yamato nodded at Taichi and turned towards Haruto.

“Did anything weird happen lately before this?” Haruto looked thoughtful for a few moments before shaking his head.

“I can’t think of anything.”

Taichi’s D-terminal beeped once more and Taichi flicked it open, seeing Koushiro’s reply.

There is one other report of a similar case with someone in Osaka. I gather some of the chosen children from that area are dealing with the situation already. How are things there for you?

-Izumi Koushiro

The others checked their own devices, which pinged with Koushiro’s message. Taichi quickly responded to Koushiro’s message. 

We managed to resolve the situation here. Some sort of virus was affecting Kunemon after he evolved into Kuwagamon. Greymon and Otamamon stopped Kuwagamon before he was able to cause any damage and Bakumon was able to cure the virus. 

-Taichi

“Another digimon in Osaka is having the same issue, huh? What could be causing the digimon to act like this. In the Digital World, digimon have attacked,but it was always something like the black gears or the black rings,” Taichi wondered aloud and bit his lip slightly as he pondered the question, oblivious to the fact that Yamato’s gaze was drawn to the movement.   

“It can’t be an effect of the digimon staying in the real world, or else it would have started with our Digimon,” Takeru noted, also pondering the situation.

Taichi turned towards Takeru. “I was thinking the same thing. This whole situation seems weird.”

“Could the virus be coming from the Digital World, somehow?” Gabumon asked, looking up at Yamato. 

“Why would a virus from the Digital World be affecting digimon in our world,” Yamato mused, as he stroked Gabumon’s white and blue fur, absentmindedly.  

“Maybe some sort of digital virus is spreading and affecting the digimon here?” supplied Keiko, as she clutched her Yukimibotamon tighter to her chest. 

“That’s possible. But it doesn’t really explain why there are only two digimon affected…”  Takeru noted. 

“Taichi, I’m hungry,” Agumon whined pulling at his partner’s blue t-shirt and was confirmed by a loud growl that emanated from Agumon’s stomach. 

“Getting some food for lunch isn’t a bad idea. We can discuss what is going on more while we eat,” Taichi noted. Yamato and the others nodded. Their D-Terminals pinged again alerting them of a new message. 

Are the kids still there? We need to see if there are any lingering effects on the digimon. I’d like to copy the data from his digivice. If Kunemon only started attacking after he evolved into the next stage, perhaps his digivice has something to do with it. I’ll send a message to Gennai to see if he knows anything about the situation.

-Izumi Koushiro

“Gennai should be able to let us know if anything is going on in the Digital World or if the digivice is being affected in some way,” noted Taichi as he read through the message. Yamato and the others nodded. 

“Who’s Gennai,” asked Haruto, looking up at Taichi. 

“He’s a… servant of the Digital World,” Taichi had to think for a moment. Had Gennai ever given them a straight answer about his role in the Digital World? He was definitely a servant or follower of the entity that sent them into the Digital World in the first place and possessed Hikari. 

“The Digital World has servants?” asked Shinjiro, disbelief apparent in his voice and face. 

“Maybe servant isn’t the right word,” Taichi admitted, but no one had a better description for Gennai without a much more detailed explanation. That gave Taichi an idea though. 

“Ah! My friend, Koushiro, wants to check your digivice and digimon to make sure everything is okay. Can you all stay here and wait for him? He’s also spent more time than anyone else with Gennai, so he can answer your questions when he gets here.” 

All four of the kids nodded in excitement at the prospect of learning more about the Digital World. 

“Are you sure it’s okay to just dump that onto Koushiro?” Yamato hissed quietly as he leaned in closer to Taichi. Taichi steered his thoughts away from how close Yamato’s lips were to his ear as he shot back a comment.   

“Koushiro wanted them to stay here so he could find out more information about the incident with Kunemon. At least now they are all excited about staying here and waiting for Koushiro. And it’s true. Koushiro has spent more time with Gennai than anyone else in the group. If anyone can answer his questions, it’s him.” Yamato still frowned a little bit, but acquiesced to Taichi’s statement. Agumon’s stomach growled again, breaking the moment of tension between the two and Taichi laughed merrily at his digimon partner as he complained about being hungry again. Taichi shot a quick message to Koushiro, confirming the kids’ decision to stay there at the park.

“Let’s go get some food,” Taichi said with a bright smile directed towards Agumon, who gave Taichi another wide toothy grin in response. 

Taichi and the others left the park with their digimon partners in tow and headed towards a small family diner located nearby. They settled into one of the large booths to fit them and their digimon. 

“So, I know that Sora is seeing a new movie with Mimi and one of Mimi’s classmates and Koushiro is at his office. Any idea where everyone else is?” Taichi asked as they made themselves comfortable in the booth. Taichi eyes were drawn towards Yamato during the comment, hoping for some sort of reaction. Yamato’s and Sora’s break up had been several months ago, but neither Yamato or Sora had spoken much about what had happened. They didn’t seem to be on bad terms though. 

“Jou’s at a medical science convention that is lasting through the weekend,” responded Yamato, 

“Miyako is at a computer programming class with some of her classmates, Iori is at a Kendo tournament, and Ken has an important event going on at his private school today,” Takeru started after the waitress came around to take the orders and Hikari nodded, “No idea where Daisuke is, do you have any idea Hikari?” 

But, Hikari shook her in response after the waitress came by to take their orders. “As far as I know, Daisuke didn’t have any particular plans today.” 

“Well, we can always try contacting him more if necessary. I’m kind of curious about how everything is going in Osaka at the moment and what caused all of this to start…” Taichi sighed as they all waited for their orders to arrive, “If Koushiro doesn’t hear anything from Gennai, soon we should make sure everything is okay in the digital world. With all of our digimon in our world, we don’t really have a clear idea if similar things are happening in the Digital World.” Taichi looked up at the others at the table as he spoke. 

“But wouldn’t Gennai have contacted one of us if something happened?” Gatomon noted, from her perch on Hikari’s lap. 

“Probably,” Taichi admitted, “But it is better than sitting around doing nothing.” 

“We aren’t doing nothing,” Agumon interjected, “We are having lunch with our friends.” 

“That’s true,” Taichi said with a smile, patting Agumon on the head as his digimon happily chowed down on his lunch, “But, we need to come up with some sort of plan of action. Koushiro is handling the situation in our world. But, we haven’t heard from Gennai in a long time, so we don’t even know if he’s okay. We can’t leave everything up to Koushiro.” 

“Do you have a plan?” Yamato asked, eyeing him with a classic Yamato look, although he was fighting down a smirk and the teasing tone to his voice. 

Taichi flashed the blond his trademark grin. “When do I not have a plan?” a Yamato’s face dropped to an actual frown. 

“You do actually have a plan, right?” Yamato asked more than a little bit concerned. 

“Hey!” Taichi squawked indignantly, “I always come up with something, even if it is on the fly.”

Yamato sighed. “So that is your way of saying that you don’t actually have a plan.

Sweat drops appeared on the back of their sibling’s head and all of their digimon as they listened to the two of them lightly bicker. 

“I didn’t say that. But we need more information before we can come up with a good plan. If we can talk to Gennai in person or one of the Digimon that lead the areas, then we may be able to find out more. Or we might be able to tell as soon as we get there, if it is really bad. Although I hope that isn’t the case. If we don’t find anything there, then we can rule out there being a problem in the Digital World and focus our attention here on Earth.” Taichi paused for a moment as the food was served. The table was fairly quiet except for the sounds of eating as all of them considered Taichi’s small speech. 

“My dad is away on a business trip right now, we can go through a computer at my apartment,” Yamato said once they were done with the meal. Taichi grinned in response. 

Taichi turned to the rest of the group. “Now, that is settled- let’s go to the Digital World!” 

[independence1776]

Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray review

This is a bit of a coincidence with my posting this review today, but it's certainly apropos: twenty years ago today, The Phantom Menace had its US theatrical release.

First off, this is not an unbiased review. It's about as biased as you can get for two reasons:

I wholeheartedly love the Jedi Order.

I've had a crush on Qui-Gon for twenty years.

That said, on to the review. Cut for serious spoilers. Possibly a bit more on the meta side in parts than outright book review.

My overall thoughts: it's a solid, enjoyable book. I have a few minor quibbles with it and two major ones (one out-of-universe, one in-universe), but it's good enough I'll likely buy it when it's released in paperback. So of course, the quibbles take up more room than the good things. *rolls eyes at self*

Good Things

~ The characterization of Qui-Gon is excellent: he's the perfect mix of "that makes sense" and "I want to shake some sense into him."

~ Obi-Wan is bit less so, though I do think he's more or less in line with how he is in TPM.

~ Jedi Temple worldbuilding: gardens, mediation rooms, a meditation path/maze, aquatic levels, areas specifically for Padawans with no Masters allowed (which likely means there are Master-only areas), everyone not living in the creche has their own room, etc. And the best thing: it's another nail in the coffin of the Legends Jedi Apprentice books where if you don't have a Master by age thirteen, you're kicked out of the Order. This book explicitly says that thirteen is young to become a Padawan. (These details are, uh, a significant factor in why I want the book. I did mention I love the Jedi, didn't I? :P)

~ The Jedi Council asks Qui-Gon to join it specifically because they want his unorthodox viewpoint.

~ Dooku left the Jedi years before Qui-Gon died! No one knows why, either. But he was already starting to fall while he was training Qui-Gon; he's heavily implied to use Force lightning at one point (as in: the only reason I can't say states is that Qui-Gon didn't see the Force lightning itself).

~ The main plot is an action-adventure plot that probably a little more convoluted than it needs to be given the climax and resolution could easily have been another chapter, but the book seemed to run out of page room first. The middle drags a little, too. Overall, that aspect makes me go: "Self, you're never going to be hired to write a Star Wars novel; you just can't manage action/adventure plots of any length."

The subplot is not as much fun; it's very much a miscommunication novel where people don't make the effort to talk to each other even though they know there are communication problems. On the other hand, that makes complete sense given how those two do and don't communicate in TPM, so clear communication would have been somewhat out of character to me.

~ I really like Rael Averross and want to see more of him. He's a great example of a somewhat non-traditional Jedi… and how coming late into the Order (he was five) can be a problem. And it's not like the Jedi don't try to help him adjust; the text says they made leniencies for him but he was determined to stand out.

Minor Quibbles

~ There were a couple of worldbuilding details that make no sense if you spend more time thinking about them than on a surface level. One of these is that it doesn't seem that it's standard practice to teach Jedi younglings how to swim! This despite 1) their missions drop the Jedi all over the galaxy in all environments and 2) this book establishes that there are aquatic levels in the Temple for amphibious/aquatic species.

~ My quibble with Obi-Wan's characterization is that the book makes a point of showing over and over how much he loves flying… until the very end when a bad experience with an autopiloted ship turns him off flying. That makes no sense given that he thinks droids should be pilots. It feels a bit like the author tossed in the "loves flying" angle as a deliberate twist on expectations without doing the work to support it.

~ Prophecies… I roll my eyes at them in general. I knew it was a factor in the book because Qui-Gon (and the blurb), but that element was not much to my taste overall. Welcome to one of the reasons I kept wanting to shake Qui-Gon.

~ The male secondary lead character is very much of a "logic wins the day; emotion is bad" type who gets the girl after he realized emotions are a good thing when her capture makes him confront his feelings for her. Tiresome trope at best. I know there are parallels between him and Rael (Pax was raised by protocol droids from the age of five, which is why he is how he is; that's the age Rael entered the Order and had problems because of it), but Pax was simply annoying.

~ The climax of the book is a little muddled, not in the action sense, but the thematic sense. And why ties into what I'll rant-meta about below. It also wraps up in a couple of pages of "hey, actually, due to XYZ, everything turns out okay after all" kind of storytelling that I'm growing more and more annoyed by.

Major Quibbles

Okay, so here comes the meta.

~ Quibble 1: the book takes place quite a few years before TPM, when Obi-Wan is seventeen. Apart from a thematic connection of prophecy aka Anakin the Chosen One, there is no reason the epilogue should be set moments before Qui-Gon's funeral in TPM. This wouldn't bother me so much except that it might be the beginning of a pattern; the Padmé-and-handmaidens YA novel Queen's Shadow epilogue is set after Padmé's funeral despite the story itself ending after her first year in the Senate.

Either one on its own would have been an "okay, this is how you chose to end the story" moment. Together, they become, "Actually, forget about a happy ending; we have to remind you these characters are dead." That's… not what I want from EU novels set years before the characters die. Can we not have moments of triumph untainted?

~ Quibble 2: Until now, what I've read of the new EU was pretty consistent in avoiding the attachment = love misinterpretation of the Jedi's "no attachment" rule. And I am flatly sure that this is a misinterpretation.

Reason 1: George Lucas explicitly stated that attachment is not love; that love is fine for a Jedi; it's obsession that's the problem. Also that Jedi aren't celibate, which this novel also contradicts. I know I'm in a minority when it comes to word-of-god stuff (especially because I don't enjoy actor/director/whatever interviews and behind-the-scenes material so don't watch or pay attention to it outside of this), but I come from a fandom where word-of-god and canon-compliance/knowledge is important. In this instance, I do think what Lucas says about the Jedi, as their original creator, is vital to understanding them. I just wish he'd been a better scriptwriter so this distinction between attachment and love would have been clear in the movies.

Reason 2: The Prequel Trilogy itself shows Jedi caring for each other (when Qui-Gon is dying and Obi-Wan is really emotional), Obi-Wan telling Anakin that he considers Anakin to be his brother and that he loves him (end of Mustafar battle), and those are just the first two scenes off the top of my head. Plus, there's Luke redeeming Vader through love. Caring and love are not attachment.

(Also, what would that mean for Kanan/Hera in Rebels S4? Kanan is a Jedi. If attachment was love, he wouldn't have been in a relationship with Hera. But he was able to put others above his life despite that he would have rather lived and that's what a healthy relationship is for a Jedi, not putting his own desires first. The opposite is why Anakin fell.)

But this confusion about attachment/love is why the climax is muddled: it really only makes sense viewed through that prism. Yes, Rael loved Fanry… but that wasn't his problem. His problem was his attachment to his belief that he knew Fanry and was working for her when her own desires (bad ones, as it happens) were actually quite different; Rael was unwilling to see what he didn't want to.

In Conclusion

Despite the flaws, this novel is in my top three new EU books; the other two are Star Wars: Propaganda and A New Dawn. It's definitely the top EU novel I've read so far. I love being able to see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan again.

[riffmusicpony]

Where I’ve been and Patreon

So I’ve been busy and lately haven’t been updating my Patreon. My bad guys. I’ve been focusing all my energy on my gig at Avalon Hollywood. I wanted to gauge the venue on some of things. Professionalism, how they treat guests, VIPsand the sort. And I gotta say, that night went WAY more smoother than my time at OC Live.  It’s been kind of hectic and fast paced. I immediately hopped on a booking date about week or two in advance and had to plan a way to bring in my friends. And glad to say they got in this time with ease and made it to the end half of my set!  I gotta say, I really love the atmosphere and the courteous staff. Unlike my last experience I can walk in early, find my room and even a staff member showed me where my room was and guess what, I got to soundcheck!  It just happened so fast, my first real gig. And I loved it. I want to spin again for them but I should be planning things out properly, like how we used to for cons like EQLA and PPC. Plus promotion and hype too. Gonna try to allocate funds to setup a true dedicated website on Wordpress.  Press photos! I need press photos at gigs, and just in general. This is the right time to rebrand myself in the best possible way. I might hit up Dante for that. I still have a job at Outback Steakhouse which is still kind of meh. But it’s what keeps my business afloat. Also more than half the crew digs my Outback Radio station. Oh by the way, I have my own private radio station. Now entering Season 2 with just about 18 total episodes last season in beginning of Summer. It’s all genres inclusive with my coworkers as guest radio DJs and some can phone in requests. Every episode is just over an hour long with segments broken up between non sponsored ads. BECAUSE this is NOT a LIVE RADIO BROADCAST, I won’t post the radio station anywhere. But please, feel free to check out my Spotify where I have playlists that sort of tie in to episodes of the Outback Radio. It’s called Outback Radio because I work at Outback Steakhouse, no relation. Its a great way to get me to discover newer music as well as rediscover old classics.  I’ve also hired a team of artists and graphics designer to create artworks for my singles. I had just left Reverbnation for Distrokid and in compliance with Distrokid’s TOS I’ll be releasing all the singles and tracks I’ve been holding on to. This was because RN only allowed singles to be uploaded and distributed with a small time fee every time. With Distrokid there’s unlimited uploads for an annual fee. This way, I can help give exposure to my wonderful talented team of artists and get them in a long term business plan. Problem is, Outback cut my hours, but more than half. That’s part of why I set up a Patreon.  I want to be able to afford my team to see this Singles Program I had envisioned but work’s kind of been putting a choke on me. I also always wanted to teach music in all sorts of levels to all musicians. I know the big $1k is impossible but I know what I want to do if I ever reach that goal. I know camera rigging setups tripods and dynamic dolly shots bring out an interview and grab the audience’s attention. I know that having a proper mic setup means more than just a lapel to a DSLR, which for some reason my Canon t5 is incapable of. So it’s extra editing work to have to manually sync audio files to video files. And I have no editing team, so it’s all just me doing setups, tear downs, compositing, editing, mixing and producing my own content. That’s why RiffMusicPony 2017 took nearly a year and half to edit. It was all me. And it’s not like I have a lab where I can edit, it’s just my laptop in a room that heats up very quickly so editing in the summer is a pain in the butt. All that aside I want to be able have a setup where I can professionally convey all the tips tricks and techniques I’ve learned over the years in college and in the field. As of right now I do have a music notebook right on Tumblr that has some informational material in the world of recording and some terminology that the pros use to get an understanding of how it all works. Also in that blog are personal written accounts from myself in and out of bands, touring, recording and college life.  I do plan on releasing more of my college notebooks at some point in the future but like I said (TL;DR) busy busy busy and not enough time in the day. I will try my best.  I wanted to be as transparent with all of you, everyone, anyone at this point. Trying not to look back at the past so much cuz I get lost in the past too much, but when I do, I always said “I believe I made the right choices at the right time” because even when things go wrong, and even horribly wrong, it was the way it was meant to be. When things go right, I don’t brag or celebrate, I just like to lean back and smile. The one’s who know me best know this.  I’m sorry if I’m not over the top crazy or relevant like an “influencer” but I’m just a guy with a dream.  I, David Suarez have a dream. And that dream is, no matter what happens, no matter what doesn’t happen, I will give people the show they came out to see. That is my creed.

[thoughtsonargentdawn]

On the matter of “claiming land”

We’ve all seen this happen, we may have been involved, or even perpetrated it in our inexperience. I myself in my younger days got tied up in the courtly politics of Silvermoon on the issue. Roleplayers have always wanted a little “area” as their own to say - ‘this is our patch, we control this zone’. The problem is that in such an environment where the physical limitations of the game systems simply mean players have to share the vast majority of the game world with other players - the nature of an mmo after all - this is exceedingly difficult to do without causing some sort of problem, some beef or even a vendetta between groups. These problems are more associated with guilds that have more of an explicit claim to power over implicit, though not exclusively. Examples are primarily those tied to a certain zone - Guards/Grunts/Military themed guilds generally claim an area as their “protection” zone. Historical and recent range from the Barracks in Orgrimmar, the Town Hall of Darkshire and Lakeshire, City Hall in Stormwind, along with the Command Center, the Temple of Blood and Sunfury Spire within Silvermoon City. Now from the point of view of the guilds in question and in trying to rationalise this myself they would claim that as their roleplay involves the defence and general protection of that particular area, town, settlement or building they would obviously take some sort of ownership. The issue is when this ownership then translates into exclusionary measures. I am sure you’ve all experienced the power fantasy guilds of guardsmen, grunts and the like making human - or orc, or elf - walls to deny “access” or impose “martial law” - good lord grant me strength - in a particular area. They claim that they are “providing” roleplay for people in doing this. As you may recall I’ve already covered the flaws of being a “provider” of roleplay in this previous post. Flaws aside, the other main problem with this is their roleplay is predicated on assuming other characters are already opted-in to their system. All roleplay is based on consensus, despite what anyone else may say that that their way is better or another persons is wrong or “degenerate” for engaging in another type, I pay a subscription, you pay a subscription, we all pay the same. So attempting to exclude players from an area or - in more extreme cases, entire zones - over some concocted “authority” is complete nonsense. Be the guild in question a Guard/Military guild, or some other self-authority granted guild such as ones claiming to represent part of a state body, or as is more common those claiming some sort of aristocratic privilege - ie. house guilds - that means they can “own” an area insomuch as their roleplay dictates, of course the easy solution is you could just be facetious and claim your own roleplay idea contravenes their supposed authority though this rarely leads to anything more than dull and cyclical drama that just wears down the parties involved. The obvious solution is for reaching that consensus, a give and take from both sides, dialogue as to mean there is limited trouble in the future. Lamentably however in this current year such things are almost non-existent. Those roleplaying in a similar environment or idea who do not fit into a particular group’s ideal paradigm are pressured into compliance with the mob pack, if this does not work then the tried and tested tools of undermining ranging from blatant sabotage - either through direct means, looking at the likes of you Mr Stonemug - or indirect means, rumour spreading and forging of false evidence to tarnish the non-compliant party all the way to emotional and psychological manipulation of others through all manner of social engineering techniques. It is surprising how many guild leaders treat their position as a sacrosanct place that cannot be assailed by criticism, the previous post on the circumstances that may lead a player into this type of mindset elaborates more on this. To conclude, this issue will always remain a present problem in the server community, unlike places like WRA and MG where there is a general consensus building process about what is considered lore and canon. Argent Dawn completely lacks this with its dogged insistence on atomising itself into various small closed off cliques that treat one another as mutual and hostile threats over potential partners to make stories with. Why this is the case is the topic for another discussion (More individualism, ego? Who knows). A solution from Blizzard -for the short term- could be the implementation of controlled “RP phases” where people who wish to engage in a particular avenue of RP in that place at that time could toggle a phase and jump into it. This has worked extremely effectively on privately ran RP servers. Now the naysayers may say this will only lead to further segregation and atomisation. I say however, considering the general breakdown in the willingness to compromise and discuss things rationally -look at the official forums for example- there is going to be no player led drive to mending the gap any time soon. Short of Blizzard forcibly banning key figures on the server responsible for driving the quasi-cult of personality, crypto-fascist element modes of leadership -which itself would be a hard task with blizzard’s current state of community managers- minimisation of the issue is the best I think we can hope for. A longer term solution would be something akin to how other popular MMOs have implemented various tiers of player or guild housing in the likes of The Elder Scrolls Online or Final Fantasy XIV.