yossipossi

[yossipossi]

The problem is that it's a no-win. If Sarah McBride makes this An Issue and fights, then she's giving the GOP another opportunity to campaign on "Democratic wokeness gone amok - and in the Halls of Congress!!!!!!!" and also really double-down and ramp up the offense and harassment. And also not make any impact and spend more time on this than on legislating.

If she goes the route she's going, she gets criticized for weakness and also has to put up with an incredibly and horribly toxic and hostile (possibly violent) environment politically and personally, and still empowers the haters and bigots.

My hope/inclination is to think that the Dem Caucus can come up with a way to help resolve this or deal with this and that they don't back away from her or only offer perfunctory support.

[yossipossi]

Also, I’ve been thinking, if Byrnes had like, a daughter, would the misogyny and overall vileness still apply to her?

Because in my experience, men like that (not to this extent maybe) are such a mixed bag when it comes to their treatment of women in general vs their families. Idk if it’s some kind of in-group/out-group thing or ego or whatever… but what do u think?

I mean, I can't quite comment on how misogyny translates to family members in general, but Byrnes is canonically not a parent. In the RFR form, I listed him as divorced/widowed.

If Byrnes did have a daughter, I can imagine his misogyny would manifest less as direct disdain but rather in his unconscious/conscious decisions while raising her. Encouraging child-rearing over any other future and/or suppressing intellectualism or interest in non-maternal subjects, for instance. He would certainly love her, so as long as she stayed in line.

Though, again, not something that I can personally comment on, both as not having direct experience with the subject and not having done research on it.

[yossipossi]

Smoking that shit that made the house leave

[yossipossi]

I have been thinking about fitting ends for Byrnes in between imagining healing arcs for Lillian, and I had a very interesting thought. Do people who work for the foundation, retire and get amnesticised, and then die, regain their memories when they go to hell? Do they know why they are being punished? Because while I’m sure that there’s some anomalous bullshit that gives them their memories back, I honestly think them not remembering is worse.

Imagine you die after your retirement, surrounded by friends and loved ones, thinking you’ve done the best you can do, and you wake up in hell. You wake up in hell and you are being horrifically tortured every day, and you don’t know why. And when you ask why, you are shown a life you do not recognize, inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on human beings and strange creatures for reasons you can’t understand.

Imagine you are shown torturing a woman horrifically for over a year, and you. Don’t. Remember. Any of it.

(Obviously the amnestisation won’t magically make Byrnes not a mysogynist, but I feel like watching yourself torture someone and not remembering any of it would still have a heavy affect on you. What else are you forgetting?)

I mean, from a theological perspective, I'd imagine you'd regain those memories. I dont believe in Hell like Christians do (I'm Jewish) so the point of eternal torment is a bit lost on me.

But yes, that form of logic was what I envision the O5 Council had in mind while writing the "Ethical Post-Amnesticization Act". If you can't remember committing the crime, there's no purpose to punishment. Unfortunately this has the unintended(?) consequences seen in 8980 itself, where Byrnes gets off scott free.

[yossipossi]

SCP 8980 has been living rent free in my head, its awful/amazing How did you get so hauntingly in character with both her and him?

I can't say there's one hidden technique that makes you good at characterization, but I can give some tips that I generally employ.

Study how people in real life react and respond to various situations and stimuli. Watch people in public (in a non-invasive or creepy way, obviously) and see how they talk and behave. Read studies on how people act in particular situations. If you have specific situations, see if there's accounts online of what people who went through similar situations experienced.

Understand and encapsulate odd psychological phenomenon in your writing. For example, learn what cognitive dissonance is, figure out how people act when they lie, study how people fail to convey emotion and their emotional reaction to that failure. The list goes on, but learning these things intellectually too also helps you wield them like a weapon in writing.

Flesh your characters out. Know who your characters are and what they're doing. Add and remove and modify characters to perfectly fit the mold of your story, and then make sure they're consistent throughout it (accounting for character development and such). You don't need to know their favorite pizza topping, but you do need to know their deepest fears and why they feel them.

Empathize with your characters. Specifically, I mean know who they are and what they do. Whenever you write their dialogue, envision yourself in their shoes, in that circumstance, with their personal experiences and background, and then imagine what you'd say as them. Helped me quite a lot.

I hope these tips are helpful and I'm not just rambling incoherently.

[yossipossi]

While I’m at it, now that I’ve gotten my initial emotions out of the way, do you ever see yourself writing a recovery piece for Lillian Marley? I realize the story takes place in the Site 17 Deepwell/Fire Suppression universe, but I feel like it would be a good future project (When you recover from the absolute monster masterpiece you’ve just written, of course)

I suck at motivating myself to write, but if I can push myself to do it, I may very well try my hand at it. The idea would be to have her transfer to Site-43 after the events of SCP-7777, and then... well, I'd have to write it with more detail, but TL;DR she slowly begins recovering.

[yossipossi]

You really fucking stole the show in the anthology series, huh? Every single story in that collection was good, but nothing hit me as hard as 8980. You have absolutely no idea the violent whiplash it is going from showing my mother my old Webkinz account to the most violent misogyny I’ve ever seen in fiction. You have the absolute range in story telling, going from 5001 to 6969 to 7777 to now.

I want to violently torture every character (Except Lillian) in that story for as long as humanly possible, ESPECIALLY BYRNES. He deserves a fate worse than death, amnesties be damned.

I appreciate the compliment! Yeah, my range in stories is pretty wide since I tend to jump from one genre to another in search of stuff that interests me to write about. I feel that it keeps things fresh :p

[yossipossi]

kinda funny that i recently got back into SCPs real hard again, found your name a bunch in the community incl. declassified, and then started using tumblr again where i suddenly now have met you elsewhere

great fuckin writing btw hyped for future stuff

Thank you so much! Before I've had some moments where someone would rb something I post and go "WAIT, *THE* YOSSIPOSSI IS ON TUMBLR??" as though I was famous outside of the scp wiki and I can't imagine that's going to get any better after posting 8980 haha.

[yossipossi]

i read 8980 a couple days ago and i'm just now getting around to seeing people's thoughts on it. i feel like a lot of people neglect to mention that, while it is extremely heavy and well done horror, it is real horror. it is not a story that exists in a vacuum to be admired from afar and then to move on, like most scps that exist in the public eye. it isn't just, really really scary or something. it's completely and utterly dread inducing and gut wrenching and horrible (in the emotional sense). it is something that can happen in real life. it is something that has happened and will happen again. the way yossipossi wrote this particular piece is extremely moving in how much it grips you with its message that it is something extremely real. it is not your average horror story, and i feel the way people talk about it (even just in passing remarks or jokes) does not truly convey 8980's true nature.

if you have not read it and plan on reading it. please please please heed the content warnings. it really does mean each and every one of them. it is a fantastic piece but it is a heavy one.

[yossipossi]

hiya yossi!!! super cool to see you have a tumblr, i hope you're doing well :-) it's been a hot minute since we've been in the same circles together (we might've briefly spoken in early 2020 but i don't quite remember) but it's really good to see you're still writing some amazing stuff. absolutely fantastic job on the new SCP entry <3 wishing u joy and peace my friend

I don't recall your username, but I appreciate that you still follow and enjoy my writing <3

[yossipossi]

Are you considering a tale series revolving around SCP-7777?

Possibly! I've had several ideas for the setting in the past, though none have particularly clicked for me yet. SCP-8980 was the only one I felt had enough oomph (and clearly I was right with this reception, whew). If I do write more about 7777, it will probably be a side story rather than a direct sequel, though I'm sure a direct sequel is plausible at some point.

[yossipossi]

* scp 8780 got me so fucked up i ranted to everyone i knew about it. encouraging them to read it and weep with me. i finished it like 10 minutes ago. im not ok

Very happy you "enjoyed" it! ^_^

[yossipossi]

Thank you, Yossipossi, for finally being the one to teach me how useless an emotion hatred is. It’s like a knife with no handle, and a sharpened tang. So I’ll let it go, if only to spare my own hand. But all that leaves me with is pity and empathy and a sheer, bleak horror at the world. I’d ask for permission to write a her kindness, but it’d suck. Like a bad poultice on a fresh wound.

Hatred has its purpose, but your heart should always be bigger than your fist.

You have permission, even if it sucks.

[yossipossi]

So you're that motherfucker that wrote SCP-8980, aren't you?

Fuck you, seriously. That was the most emotionally devastating article I've ever read, and I hope you rot in hell for the pain you've caused me.

(Also, it was really good and I hope to never read it again)

ON YOM KIPPUR????????????

[yossipossi]

Very glad you "enjoyed" it! It was an extremely difficult piece for me to write, I hope for obvious reasons. Took me about 6-8 months and I was suffering the whole time. Hopefully, the piece will be able to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. 🩵

nothing like going "hehe i'm gonna read through this year's SCP halloween anthology series, won't that be fun" and then SCP-8980. jesus fucking christ.

i think that is easily the most horrifying short story i have ever read, and NOT in a fun way. excellently written, but good lord, definitely heed the content warnings (accessible by clicking this i icon at the top).

[yossipossi]

Inktober Day 7 - SCP-8980 (Oof)

On a whim decided to check out the SCP wiki for the first time in like a year because hey there’s fun creatures there that are suitable for Halloween drawings surely - clicked on whatever the most highly rated for the month was and 20k words later this is my best summation of it

[yossipossi]

big fan of saying shit like "who knows" and "who's to say" when I am the one who knows and is to say