Because of how their relationship is displayed in the present, I sometimes forget that there was a time when Tai neglected his daughters with Yang dealing with the responsibility of having to raise Ruby. Tai clearly got his act together with him seeming to have a good relationship with both of his daughters, but I do wish the show addressed more of the strain/distance that's lying under the surface. Ruby did feel more comfortable leaving a goodbye letter to Tai that explained how she would be traveling to Haven rather than having an actual conversation with him. And then there's the fact that Tai never told either of his daughters much about their respective mother for the longest time.

I love the Su Minshan-Jin Guangyao-Xue Yang dynamic cuz it’s just. Three dudes, each going steadily more insane over time for their own personal reasons, each almost certainly accidentally influencing the other two to reach new heights of cuckoo bananas that they never would have reached by themselves. For over a decade. It’s awesome.

tl;dr Linguistic anthropology except it's about Danny Phantom???

Wake up, new danny phantom obsession just dropped ya'll:

It's time to talk about GHOST LANGUAGE!!

But not the canonical Esperanto, which is a cool and interesting decision on the show's part.

I mean the idea that the ghosts have an entirely new form of communicating that sounds like static and space and ice and fire and everything a creature can feel, all condensed into what is essentially a massive creole language!

I'm a huge fan of authors who, when describing non-esperanto based "ghost speak", choose to take a more eldritch noise approach. Danny, for instance, when using the language of the ghosts, is often said to sound like all the noise of a wintery atmosphere; words like frost, ice, static, tingle, sharp, quiet and cold are employed to connect Danny's speech with his ghost core qualities. It is a fantastic way to bring an eerie and disquieting sense to Danny, and to indicate to us readers that ghosts have a unique and deeply ingrained method of communication beyond the use of human tongues.

To read way too much into something so little, I think that this could indicate that ghosts communicate with their cores! (I know, you're like Sinorim are we back to the ghost cores??) YES, we are back to how interesting ghost cores are!!

Big Question #1: If every creature-turned-ghost that spoke some form of human tongue throughout ANY period in human history, ended up in the Infinite Realms, how would they best be able to communicate?

In Danny Phantom, what makes a ghost a ghost (beyond the whole being dead thing) is their core, and their Obsession, which can be said to be an emotionally charged motivation that stems from strong emotional stimuli during life. Ghosts are creatures of feeling, of sentiment and emotion and memory, and all of those both factor into and stem out of a ghostly core. So to make a couple leaps: if a ghost could not communicate with a human tongue to its neighbor (who would be unable to understand the words), but they both have that commonality of a core and therefore a heightened sense of emotional minutiae, I would say logically the ghosts would then begin to develop a "language" based on feeling and sense. Multiply that effect by.....infinity, tack on a couple millennia, and you end up with a ghostly wordless creole language.

Big Question #2: Since a ghost's core, and subsequently their emotional cognizance and memory, is pretty much like a human fingerprint (individual and quite distinct), how would their language output be affected, and how would others actually be able to comprehend it?

This one is as easy as the difference between po-tay-to and po-tah-to, to-may-to and to-mah-to! What?? But that's just a joke, you say?? While it is a silly set of phrases, it also really concisely demonstrates the vast diversity of pronunciation, and is basically the reason why an international phonetic alphabet exists. Between pronunciation, accents, and the development of linguistic dialects, I think I can say that, at least on the comprehension side, a universal understanding of the Big Emotional Sentiments would have developed over time.

The interesting part lies in the idiosyncrasies of memory. A little side discussion - Danny has an ice core. Why? No idea! but I'm hazarding a guess that it may have something to do with his MEMORY and the emotions he felt when he died. Perhaps he felt the cold metal of the portal walls against him, perhaps the shock itself reminded him of the numbness associated with freezing temperatures or frostbite, maybe he felt a wintery sort of loneliness (it makes sense I swear), and all of that contributed to his development of an ice core. I can use Vlad as an example too, but I'll save that for another time.

So when Danny uses the Language of the Ghosts, he is understood by other ghosts because of a collective awareness of emotional sentiments. However, because of his ice core, which was determined by his individual emotional cognizance and henceforth informs his development, his form of ghost language will always be touched by his memory of the cold. When other ghosts hear Danny in their language, they'll not only understand what he is communicating, but they'll also be able to understand who Danny is, from the little touches of his cold memory that are infused in his communicating, once again thanks to his ice-based ghostly core.

And when humans hear it, they get super bad vibes because they can't understand the sounds and memories and feelings that the ghosts trying to broadcast to them!

I'm imagining poor Danny first learning he could speak the language, and then trying to show it off with his friends and being sad that it freaks them out when all he was trying to say was "You guys are the best" T.T

Good god this turned into an entire essay.

Does any of this even make sense?

Ultimately I just think that it's super cool that authors make Danny sound like the wintery freaky eldritch creature that he could be when he's speaking to ghosts XD

To be continued!

Favourite Underrated Ship? Simple answer: Every single Pete rarepair! -> PorschePete? Iconic! Brilliant! Phenomenal! Most people love "best friends who kiss", I love "secret third thing". However one enjoys them, though, they're delicious to consume😌 (You might think it's not an underrated ship, but I'd like to inform you that it has, in fact, less than 100 fics on Ao3, so it very much is in my book. I'm happy to have contributed to it by posting two of them, but I'd love it if there were more. Hopefully, I'll get inspired anew one day.) -> KinnPete? Oh please, the power dynamics make me giggle like a 10 year old girl playing with Barbie dolls. Such glorious toxicity, such perfect ways Kinn could use and abuse Pete to his benefit, either with or without knowing he's doing it. You can do so much with them, either pre, during or post canon and I get so excited thinking about it. (This one has less than 50(!) fics posted, so I'm super thankful to the few authors who have gifted me some amazing works. Sharing my personal favourite because it deserves to be cherished 🥹) -> ArmPete? Do I even need to sell this one? It can do fluff, it can do angst, it can do smut, it can do it all. My personal favourite flavour of it is Arm having unrequited feelings for Pete because it's just so deliciously angsty 😇 I love me some pain, I can't help it. (This one doesn't have any fics to its name, besides one in Chinese. I'm devastated. I did personally have an idea for a multi-chaptered fic with 3k words already written, but if I manage to focus on it properly one day, it'll end up being a simple one-shot.) -> KimPete? Oh, you mean the ship I got so obsessed over I wrote 25k words of them platonically bonding, while having Kim think to himself more than once how pretty Pete is? You mean the ship that shares so many similarities with VegasPete, while still having its own identity based on the differences between Kim and Vegas? You mean the love of my life? (Again, fics for this one are almost non-existent, which is a shame, but understandable. One day, I'll manage to enrich the tag. One day.) -> TankhunPete? Take KinnPete's fucked up power imbalance and twist it in a more peculiar direction. What you get is this ship, which makes me so uncomfortable but so, so intrigued. (Incredibly underrated with how few fics it has, but a special thanks to this one for altering my brain chemistry when I first read it.) -> BigPete? Rivals who might engage in hate sex from time to time? Pals who share the same fate and understand it and bond over it? Pick your poison and roll with it, because it's delicious either way. I'm personally team "They hate each other" because it's more fun that way 😉 (Almost nothing here again, which is a shame, but again understandable. I had forgotten they shared 2 lines of dialogue together in the show, I deadass thought they never talked to each other, which was great for me lol. Here's one fic written by the same person who wrote the KinnPete one, in case you'd like something cool to read.) -> TayPete? This one's for pure aesthetic reasons because have you seen Tay, have you seen Tay at the auction, have you imagined Pete and Tay fucking at the auction, because I surely have 🙂 It's such a gorgeous image, I lose focus for a hot minute when it comes to me. (This one's tricky, because most people write Vegas/Pete/Tay, which is a glorious choice and I support it, and my talented friend is writing a very good VPT fic, but I'd love it if there were more fics that focus on these two only. They're too powerful, I can't get enough.) I think those are all the ones I'm personally obsessed with. All I have to say is, Pete deserves all the beautiful men and what they'd like to do with him ❤️

Ok so…ima need you to explain jackieshauna to me. Because I’ve stanned so many f/f ships, but I just don’t….see it. I see people refer to them as homoerotic yet….they barely even show physical affection. Hell, they barely show affection towards the other. So what are y’all seeing that I’m not?

I mean yeah I can explain what I see for sure! But also; ships are just ships, and they’re just for fun. You can not see it if you don’t want to, and that’s totally your prerogative! Honestly, I’m cool with people seeing it or people not seeing it or whatever. It’s all pretty chill to me.

But, to me, there’s definitely something there. Gosh, it’s almost hard for me to put it into words. It helps that the showrunners have stated that they loved each other, with Bart explicitly saying in an interview that they were in love.

However, i guess I should get into why I like it. For one, they’re childhood best friends, but there’s also something so much history between the two that we don’t even get to see in the show. But what we do see in the show is two people who know each other so, so well but not at all, not really. They got used to the idea of knowing each other and appear to have forgotten taking the time to actually do that.

The way that Jackie and Shauna look at each other is another reason I like them. From the pilot episode, to me, it looks like there’s something in their eyes when they see each other. The way they look at each other in line at the pep rally, the way Shauna stares at Jackie and Jeff. Now, an argument can be made that Shauna’s jealous because of Jeff, but there’s not enough evidence to back that in the show. The main (and likely only) reason that Shauna sleeps with Jeff is because he’s Jackie’s. Because she wants what Jackie has, because she wants to be Jackie. In my opinion, she does it because she’s chasing the taste of something she thinks she can never have. Then, of course, you have Jackie looking back at Shauna, Shauna looking back at Jackie, the hug, the “love you,” the fact that it isn’t returned.

And all of that’s just the pilot.

There’s so much love and jealousy between these two characters. And there’s a lot of physical touch and intimacy if you know where to look for it. Sharing the necklace, the numerous times that they hug, the lingering shots of hands gripping shirts, arms squeezing tight. I love the jealousy aspects, how Jackie reacts to Shauna spending more time with Tai, the way Shauna looks at Jackie when she chooses to hang out with Mari at the lake. Jackie is trying to make Shauna jealous; it’s working.

Jackie never moves on from Shauna’s betrayal; it’s a contributing factor in her death. And, like. She would have forgiven Shauna if she’d just apologized; the dream in the season one finale kind of confirms that. She’s more upset about the way that Shauna thinks about her than the cheating. And it seems less upsetting to her that Jeff cheated on her with Shauna than the fact that Shauna cheated on her with Jeff. It’s the secrets. “You lost your virginity without me.”

Shauna never moved on from Jackie. Period. Full stop. The trajectory of her entire life changes. She fits herself uncomfortably into the life that she thinks Jackie would have occupied, despite the fact that Jackie never planned on being with Jeff full time, always planned to go to college, likely hoped to make something of herself. Shauna fits herself into the mold that she thinks Jackie would have settled for in her worst timeline because Shauna thinks she deserves it. She sees Jackie’s ghost, both in ‘96 and ‘21, though some of the hauntings are almost a perversion of who we actually see Jackie to be in the show. She talks to her corpse, keeps it for two entire months between season one and season two before the rest of the girls do something about it.

“I can’t tell where you end and I begin.” “She wants us to.” “It’s what she would have wanted, if not for us, then for you.” They cared about each other. They really did love each other. And they were kind of obsessed with each other, so much so that it sort of ruined both of their lives.

So I don’t know. I mean, it’s just the way I feel about them, what I see when I watch the show. I think there’s plenty of evidence that they’re affectionate towards each other. They do more than just revolve around each other; they’re like organs in the same organ system, connected and needing each other to survive. And they feed off of each other. Oh, teenage girls cannibalize each other metaphorically all the time, and Jackie and Shauna were doing it for years before they ever ate Jackie’s body. This is all just my own personal opinions and my own reading of the show. But I think there’s more than enough evidence there.

Your Taylor Uzumaki AU got me thinking and now I can't get the idea of her interacting with the Aburame clan out of my head. I can just picture her giving unsolicited advice on insect swarm tactics and strategy to her classmate Shino, contributing further to her reputation as being absolutely unhinged. "Why is this literal child telling me the most efficient way to drown an enemy combatant in highly venomous insects. How does she know things that should be Aburame clan secrets. What the fuck."

had this idea awhile ago of girlie offhandedly mentioning to shino that "ofc you're the most powerful kid in our classroom, you can just have your insects eat the uchiha's eyes in a real fight" and if I ever put together a sidestory bundle of alternate povs that's gonna be chapter 1 cause y'all know everyone else is going What The Actual Fuck??????????????

there's also the Emotional^tm potential of tay being so, so damn jealous of shino. if she were born an aburame she would have had the backing of a noble clan, bugs of her own again, and none of the consequences that come with being a jinchuuriki. it's a very pretty fantasy and therefore a very depressing thought.

bonus au of an au where lisa is also reborn as karin, is in the stands of the exams watching shino fight, and when one of her teammates makes a comment about "just bugs? lol tf he is gonna do?" she loses her shit cackling. because not a single mcfucking person from her first life would have ever, EVER used the phrase "just bugs" after seeing the aftermath of skitter's existence.

lisa then proceeds to gleefully terrify everyone around her by listing every single war crime her former teammate did with "just" insect control, because she wouldn't be lisa if she passed up an opportunity to fuck with people. cue shino in the background exploding that dude's arm in perfect accidental timing to make the lesson really stick that underestimating bug users is a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

request: do you think you could write jackie taylor x f reader? they've been together for a few years and have know each other for longer r is not apart of the team but was on the plane when they crashed (maybe she's something similar to misty? //job wise only tho yk😭) she's also not close to the team (aside from jackie) and feels awkward and shy or whatever around them so she just sticks with Jackie pretty much at all times (and plus she's terrified of their situation)very clingy r but jackie doesn't mind one bit. looooots of cuddles and forehead/temple kisses bc yes pls

had to do the request this way because apparently my anonymous wasn’t on. but it is now ❤️

Becoming co-manager for the Wiskayok girls soccer team didn’t feel like such a good idea right now. You definitely didn’t regret it, because she did it for your girlfriend, Jackie Taylor, whom you loved very much. But it didn’t feel like it was your best idea ever.

As soon as the plane had crashed, Jackie reached for you, and soon after searched for Shauna. But you came first.

She made sure you sat with her rather than Shauna, because she knew how you were about the team. You’d never even tried to really socialize with them because of your personality type. You were more introverted than anything, but you still tried.

You were friends with Misty, due to you both managing the team, as well as Shauna because she was Jackie’s best friend, but that was about as far as you’ve gone.

The crash was about three weeks ago now, and you have been contributing, although no one had made any other attempts to talk to you then they had before, at practices.

You’ve mostly been glued to Jackie’s side, even when she had to pee.

It’s not that you’re afraid of the other girls, or that you don’t want to socialize with them, it’s that you’re terrified of the situation you were involuntarily thrown into. There’s a voice in the back of your head wondering what if you’re here for a reason.

But you haven’t brought the thought up to anybody because, you were gonna get rescued soon, right?

During meals Jackie has to forcibly remove you from the cabin to come sit with the rest of the team. She insists you’re just as much a part of the team as she or Shauna are.

Like right now, you’re sat on the cabin step, willing away the dark thoughts about the wilderness. You tilt your head up the slightest bit to see Jackie’s big eyes staring toward you.

You give her a nervous smile, in which she replies by coming over and grabbing your hand gently to pull you over.

Jackie wants nothing more than to have both of her favorite things to fully collide; you and soccer.. but she won’t rush you until you’re ready.

She sits you so close beside her on the log, you’re almost sitting on her lap, which results in your cheeks setting aflame. You swallow nervously and get out a, “H- hi,” like you always do.

“Hey, y/n,” Tai gives a small smile, as she always does, when she hands you your share of the food.

You let out a sigh of relief as everyone else greets you just as kindly.

“See, nothings wrong,” Jackie kisses your temple. “It’s just the girls. Plus Javi, Coach, and Travis.”

You chuckle quietly, to which Jackie’s eyes brighten.

“Why don’t you talk a little about yourself?” Shauna looks at you with comforting eyes. Of course, she knows all about you, but none of the other girls do, not even Misty or Coach knows a lot about you.

You swallow nervously, but speak confidently.

“Well, I..” You look down but Jackie grabs your hand and that gives you more confidence. “I like soccer. I wish I could play but I don’t think my lungs could take it.”

“It’s true,” Jackie backs you up when everyone continues watching you. “She’s winded just from making out.”

The girls chuckle as they eat and listen.

“I also really enjoy reading and— I’m kind of fluent in French,” You shrug nonchalantly.

“No shit,” Nat rubs her thumb across her lip absentmindedly.

“So that’s why Jackie is always passing the French tests with flying colors,” Lottie nods. “I always wondered, because the first day you could even say ‘Hi, my name is..’”

Everyone bursts out laughing, yourself included. No one notices how Lottie speaks presently, instead of in a past-tense manner. Or if they do, they don’t say anything, because for once since the shit hit the fan, they were smiling and having fun.

Eventually, the team went around in a circle sharing secrets, like how Lottie has thousands of dollars in TJ bucks.

By now, the sun had gone down and the warm atmosphere during the day had faded into a cooler one. You were snuggled against Jackie, who was scratching your head and leaned down to kiss your head every few minutes.

The groups eyes landed on yours after a while, and your mind came up blank. You couldn’t think of anything off the top of your head that you hadn’t already revealed.

“Um,” your face heated with embarrassment because everyone who has shared before you had already known what they were going to say, except you. “I don’t know— I don’t really have any secrets. I don’t even have time to go to the store.” You laugh a bit.

“Just tell us something else about yourself,” Van shrugs. “I don’t have any secrets either, if it makes you feel better.”

“Well, I have a lot of family, but none of them amount to how much Jackie means to me,” You give a glance the your girlfriend, who moves in closer. She puts her arm around you and gives you another kiss on your head. “I have three sisters and a brother.”

You shrug, not really knowing what else to add.

“I can play the piano. Really well, actually,” You put out there, raising brows from everyone.

“Well there’s a secret,” Jackie chuckles. “I didn’t know you could play piano.”

“Yeah, maybe I can play for all of you sometime.”

“That would be nice,” Shaunas eyes sparkle with hope, that just maybe you will all get out of here.

A Jungian Perspective on La Pluie

Saturday... It really wouldn't be Saturday if La Pluie didn't decide to serve me some heartache with a side of Tien. We're finally getting to the crux that that has been plaguing our characters. La Pluie has been positing this question of since the first episode: How do you choose who to love?

Since last week, I can't help but think of the transformation all four of our protagonists are undergoing due to the love or idea of love that they hold. Honestly, you can utilize any form of psychology to analyze media, but this time around I couldn't help but pull towards Jungian psychology, due to its more mystic and spiritual roots (especially in the conversation of love) that I find so fitting with the plot of La Pluie. This will not be an exhaustive study of Jungian theories on romantic love, but more of a focus on a couple of specific Carl Jung quotes that I find to be analogous, so I will be diving into those.

Explaining Jungian Theory on Love and Life

Simplified, Jungian theory holds that there are three elements that make up the human psyche: the ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. Jung found that to fully realize one's talents and potentialities, humans have to integrate the conscious and the unconscious. He referred to this theory as 'individuation' and held that individuation would only begin when the human experiences a 'crisis', because of the emotional power of crisis breaks down the ego and initiates questions regarding meaning of life and self. The ultimate goal, under Jung's theory, is to become a fully realized state of self-hood and individuation is what allows one to become fully-realized by combining the ego, personal and collective unconscious through the experiences one has.

Romantic relationships, while unable to be reduced, contribute to one's ability to become fully realized. Jung held that love can be a crisis, as Eros is the creator of all higher consciousness and humans are the victims of cosmogonic love. Fundamentally, to be fully fulfilled, two humans seek a psychic relation with one another, because of an awareness that love will fulfill the spirit and the spirit needs love. Now the journey in finding that love and the experiences you have during while being in love is what really determines how you develop as a human. As a result, falling in love can shatter the ego and experiencing ego death allows one to develop into the transformed self.

Some other accompanying Jungian theories that is necessary to understand for my analysis are the following:

Ego death, while not explicitly stated in Jungian theory, leads to the dissolution of the false or constructed self that is built upon societal expectations, conditioning and attachments. Essentially, through the stripping of one's egoic identity, a more authentic nature is revealed, resulting in a profound shift in consciousness. Ego death results in the ego transcendence and expansion allowing integration of the ego with the conscious and unconscious, which Jung's mainly focused on.

Shadow refers to the repressed aspects of an individual's personality, the parts of ourselves that we deny, disown, or suppress because they are unacceptable, immoral, or incompatible with our self-image. It consists of both negative aspects, such as anger, greed, and jealousy, as well as positive qualities that we may have neglected or denied. Integration of the shadow does not mean indulging in destructive or harmful behaviors, but rather embracing the totality of who we are and finding constructive ways to express and channel those repressed aspects.

Chemical Reactions with Tai, Tien, Patts, and Lomfon

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: If there is any reaction, both are transformed."

Through the transformative reaction of love, one may learn to distinguish between who they really are and the image that is forced upon them or what they imagine themselves to be. Just as chemical substances cause a reaction that transforms the substances, he theorizes that if two personalities come together, both individuals are similarly transformed. He holds that personal growth and development can only occur when two humans are able to have an authentic and meaningful connection. Through loving another, this includes their shadow aspects, we learn to love the shadow aspects in ourselves.

First, let's talk about Patts and Tai, the couple that is/was most apparently destined to be together.

Even before knowing that they were soulmates, Patts had an immediate attraction to Tai. An attraction so intense that he was willing to throwaway the soulmate connection for Tai, without even an ounce of awareness that Tai was his soulmate. Meanwhile, Tai was facing his internal battles long before even meeting Patts face-to-face. He was in constant struggle with his "shadow" self, because of his conscious rejection of the soulmate bond. Tai's rejection and suppression manifested through his silence, an active denial of the condition that bonded them. The moment that Patts walked into that café, Tai's perception on their condition and willingness to love changed. Tai's parent's divorce didn't only bring the soulmate connection into question, but also love and human connection. Bow made that explicitly clear about Tai.

Much like when chemicals meet, Tai and Patts were converted and rearranging their perceptions about their conditions and their willingness in regards to love. They wouldn't have undergone this process if it wasn't the other at the end, their willingness to change their understanding and start the process to transform was because it was Tai and because it was Patts.

The meeting of two personalities does not indicate that just anyone will cause this 'chemical reaction' to occur. We see this through Patts and Nara relationship, as well Lomfon and Tai's non-relationship. There is no question that Patts really did love Nara, the pain of his breakup with her is testament to the love that he had for her. [@lurkingshan had a great post about Patts and Nara's relationship]. Yet, Nara's insecurity with the idea of Patt's having a soulmate didn't change even when Patts swore he was committed to her. There was no conversion or sudden change in their perception that could overcome the obstacle of the rain connection, instead there was just the collapse of their relationship. Now in episode 10, we see that Lomfon finally tells Tai about their connection and Tai doesn't question the relationship he has with Patts. He still held that he was in love with Patts and the sudden connection with Lomfon didn't change his feelings towards him, the only shift was his understanding of how the rain connection worked.

Moving onto Lomfon and Tien. Quite literally, the moment that we met them, we saw the reactions that they were causing one another right off the bat. Their personalities, on the surface, absolutely did not match. If this was actual chemistry, their chemical reaction would be more of a combustion.

Lomfon struggles with a similar shadow at Patts and Tai, but to a more volatile degree with his distaste for the idea that his condition would somehow lead to his soulmate. Yet, it's still a question that plagues his mind as we saw in Episode 10. He's struggling with and Tien's relentless belief in the idea of soulmates is threatening his own ideals. He's built himself up to be a skeptic, or an atheist as @shortpplfedup stated, and the fact that he has not one but two soulmates all of a sudden. On top that he is self-aware of his developing attraction and feelings towards Tien, and he even seeks his opinion and like always, Tien's reasoning is opposite that of Lomfon's.

Tien, on the other hand, has the most different shadow to deal with than the rest. His temper and brashness is at the forefront, a shield of sorts, that he utilizes to keep people from stepping in and getting to know him. And it works, it works so well, that he's sidelined by almost every single important person in his life. He's self-sacrificing, generous and over-attentive of others to a fault, and to his own detriment. He uses his light (the brashness, etc.) to hide his true emotions and he neglects himself. Lomfon comes in and challenges his understanding of soulmates and offers him what nobody else has done in his life, a place where he can actually display his emotions. Tien is an enigma, he's friendly but never truly open to the others. Lomfon is playing an important hand in unraveling the walls that Tien has built for himself.

Tien, Tai, Lomfon, and even Patts are embarking the journey of overcoming their ego-death to reach self-discovery. Tien's understandings, plus idealism, surrounding soulmates are being shaken and the walls that he had laid down for Lomfon are likely going to be rebuilt higher and even more impenetrable. His brashness had been beat at the cost of his sincerity being disregarded. Tai has destroyed the ultimate connection that tied Lomfon, Patts, and him together. He finally made a choice, but that also means he's truly alone for the first time since the night that his parents divorced. Patts has finally had his cool and collected demeanor ripped away, unintentionally. He suffered seven years of silence, after finally reaffirming his love for Tai being beyond their mutual condition, he's back to being shut out. Lomfon... I'm with @bengiyo on this one... Talk shit, get hit. For all his rationality that he poses with Tien, he's really the one that has reacted the most from his heart rather than his mind.

Now that all four of them are undergoing their ego death, the question that remains to be seen is if they are going to make it out in tatters or will they come out with a deeper understanding of themselves and their partners?

Choices, choices and more choices

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Jung's understanding of personal growth revolves on the idea that while individuals are shaped by their past experiences and external circumstance, one can overcome themselves, through conscious choice and self-determination. The ability to choose allows humans to have the possibility of transcending their limitations and shaping their own identity and the future that strive to fulfill. Rather than leaving one's fate at the hands of fate, Jung's theory encourages to take responsibility for their lives by making intentional choices, taking an active role in shaping their own lives leading to higher self.

The choices made, and the (pseudo-)lack of choices made, were so apparent in episode 10 that it was almost painful to watch. @liyazaki has a great analysis on Tai's choice in this episode where he chooses to break his own pre-determined destiny. For someone like Tai, who has actively chosen to take a back-seat in his life, this was supposed to be a turning point for him. While he's choosing to not be a product of his pre-determined environment, he's failing to take the front seat driver side in his love life. Like @ginnymoonbeam said, Tai is incredibly conflict-averse while Patts very much prefers to address conflict. Tai's avoidance is still very much a choice and it's a choice that ultimately not only lead to the destruction of the connection but also to the breaking of his relationship. He could have chosen Patts, much like Patts implored, but he didn't, he ran. His choice of running ultimately left him alone, mirroring the night that his parents announced their divorce. His choice gave him what he thought he wanted, but isolation was never the key to his happiness, and I think he realizes that now in the aftermath. [@sunshinechay has a great deep dive into Tai's state of mind after the bond has broken due to his choice]

With Tai's silence, Patts is driven to a point where he cannot just continue to be patient. I'll be honest, I'm going to refer a lot to @lurkingshan's post about the guys and their conflict style for Patts' portion, just because I'm much less well-versed in who he is as a character. Before even making any choice, Patts does what any reasonable lover would do, he double checks with Tai. He checks in to see if Tai is where he said he would be. Like @lurkingshan said, he finally thought there was a sense of trust and understanding between them two and instead he's met with lies after lies. He questions why it was so hard for Tai to choose him, why Tai couldn't just say something. Something that would explain how their whole relationship became twisted, but instead he was met with Tai's silence and when Tai does speak, it's an ultimatum. While Tai offers the bait of breaking up, Patts is the one that makes the choice for them. Just as Tai never explicitly chose him in this episode, Patts ultimately doesn't chose to continue with Tai either. No matter how much you profess your love, when you're presented by an ultimatum and silence, how much is there to salvage? Patts chooses to stop catering to Tai, to stop coddling him, because Patts has his own needs and insecurities that are not being met. It takes two to tango and today, Tai didn't show up, so Patts made the choice to surrender.

Arguably, the only one that didn't make a choice or was even granted a chance to make a choice before hell broke loose was Tien. Instead, he was collateral damage to the choice that Lomfon made. His confession, was not so much a choice as it was a reaction to the combustion that occurred and he was left helpless to watch. And the pseudo-choice that he did make, incurred by the hypothetical question that Lomfon provided, was made without all the details. Tien made a pseudo-choice with a bias that Lomfon was already aware he had, instead of posing the question with the inclusion that he had two soulmates which could have shaken Tien's answer, Lomfon formed the question in a way he knew how Tien would answer. Instead, Tien becomes accidental casualty of his environment due to always being on the outskirts. The only choice he made this time was to not stick around for his pain to be visibly seen or felt. Lomfon was the only one that had seen him at his worst, at his most fragile, and this time he walks away.

Lomfon... Again, where to start with this kid. If I think Tien had no choice, I think Lomfon, on the other hand, made way too many. The main choice that really seemed the most intentional was his choice to kiss Tai. @heretherebedork really hit it on the nail, rather than the soulmate bond (that he presumably would have thrown away to explore things with Tien), it was his choice of holding the significance of the keychain, of their original meeting, higher than his feelings with Tien or even the soulmate connection. For all the scientific and factual hot-takes that he makes regarding the idea of soulmates, he still chose to pursue the idea of fate. While he might be skeptic of the rain anomaly, he doesn't choose to be a skeptic of the keychain coincidence.

The Jungian theory about intentional choices is that they form who one wants to become. It emphasizes personal agency and the ability to transform oneself, something that is a bit counterintuitive to the idea that the deafness and connection with someone in the rain leads to your soulmate. All four of them have the potential for growth and to consciously shape their destiny, yet ironically, the most skeptical about fate, of the four, made a choice based on the idea of destiny. Personal growth isn't linear, but making a choice is a start.

Bright light in a dim world

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."

Jung's understanding of human existence depends on the idea of the primary of our lives to bring forth 'inner illumination' in the existential darkness that can accompany mere existence. The "darkness of mere being" refers to a state of existence where individuals may feel disconnected, lost, or lacking a sense of purpose or meaning. It is a condition of living without tapping into our deeper nature or engaging with the depths of our psyche. By kindling a light within, one's creativity and individuality, one can bring awareness, consciousness, and meaning to their lives. This inner light is a source of inspiration, growth, and transformation.

We've finally reached the moment where any ounce of happiness or loudness that Saengtien would have mustered has been lost. In the aftermath of the fight, he's left to pick up the pieces of his brother again. Only this time, he's learning that the one that he likes didn't have him in mind. Much like his name, where a candlelight can be indispensable in the darkness, it can also be snuffed out just as easily. Tien, who's in the outside looking in throughout his whole life as the third child in his family, is also left disconnected by the one he likes. No matter how much Lomfon had liked Tien, even without Tien knowing, he didn't think of him when he found out that Tai was the one that saved him. Tien has become the afterthought. The first person to reach out and attempt to uncover his mask, is the same person that verbalizes the position that Tien is always left in. An outsider.

"What does that have to do with you?" Seven simple words that are arranged in the only way that it could truly pain Tien.

Tien, who masks his pain under his brashness and his prickly self, who hides his own feelings for the happiness of those who he loves. After all the mistakes that Lomfon has committed, Tien still pauses the moment that Lomfon states that he was in pain. Yes, Lomfon fucked up and hurt his brother, but Tien also cares about Lomfon's happiness and he would still put Lomfon's feelings before his own. Until Tien's own insecurities were used against him, even if it was unintentional. Tien has done everything in his power to be the 'candlelight' in the darkest times for everyone else. And for once, he thought he found someone that would be that same beacon of light in his own life. Instead that possibility was extinguished and his sad reality was thrown in his face.

This time around Tien needs to be more careful with his 'candlelight', he needs to learn to put himself first, to finally say what he truly feels and not prioritize the feelings of others over his own. He's pieced himself together to be the person that everyone can depend on, but that meant giving up who he really was. He got trapped into being the odd man out, an outlander in his own home and in his love life, because he never prioritized himself. To find that inner illumination in the mere darkness of life, he has to learn that his happiness is just as important and to strive towards achieving it. Once he learns this, he can also grow and become self-realized.

Final Thoughts

Tai, Tien, Patts, and Lomfon are all in their own journey of self-discovery in a world that treats a condition, that connects you to another person while it rains, as a sign of destiny and fate. La Pluie really does trope subversion really well and brings into question whether a designation of fate is sufficient to establish a relationship. Relationships require work and a mystical attachment cord does not just get rid of that. The four of them are only starting to realize that and hopefully, they come out of this better people. Whether that means together or separate, their meetings will change them in one way or another, and that's not simply because of destiny. You have to put the work in to better yourself, and the people that you meet are only catalysts.

Team STRQ//Neverfell Edition

It’s been a while since I had an idea for some fun RWBY art~ (warning: loooong post ahead)

For the longest time I never really cared about Team STRQ-- I think that’s the gamble you take when you keep bringing up a group of characters as if they’re relevant, but never saying anything of substance about them. Some of your audience will latch onto them anyway, but others will simply lose interest after a while. I was in the latter group. :/

Until the other day, when I started thinking about what their history would be like in the context of NeverFell. Considering how little information we have to work with, it’s certainly an interesting puzzle…and as you know, I love to solve character puzzles. ^^

What made these ideas fun for me was how cliche’d most of them were: for some reason, the first things that came to mind when I considered what a young Team STRQ would be like were the absolute most basic romantic-dramedy junk. ^^ And figuring out how I would use each ‘icky’ idea in an interesting way solidified my interest, at least enough to get me to write all this.

Idea #1: A Raven-Tai-Summer love triangle~ As in, Taiyang is in love with Raven, and Summer is in (currently unrequited…) love with Tai. And it’d be like, in every ‘episode’ of this hypothetical series, you’d see Summer staring at him from behind a corner like “if only he’d notice me” or “why doesn’t he look at me that way…” XD Even though she’s the team leader… This one is so corny I have to keep it~

Idea #2: Qrow is the socially awkward somewhat-comedic 4th wheel EXCEPT, I don’t like Qrow being ‘left out’-- that’s just lazy writing. Focusing only on ‘romantic antics’ and ignoring any character interactions that don’t contribute to them…we get enough of that in the show proper, tbh. Like, I’m definitely getting the feeling that the writers think platonic relationships write themselves (spoiler alert: they don’t). I do like the idea of him being awkward and moody as a teen, though, especially considering his semblance. It’d be fun to write him adjusting to city life and coming out of his shell, to become the cynical-cool personality we know and love today.

Idea #3: Qrow is secretly in love with Summer REEEEJECTED! …I don’t have anything against this idea, I just don’t wanna do it. :T Instead, I prefer for them to form a really deep friendship that would probably be at the center of the series. For one thing, so much of Ruby, Summer’s daughter, is derived from Qrow. She fights like him, she idolizes him; she even wears matching cross accessories. And I think it would be cool to preface that present-day relationship with a past relationship that ‘lays the foundation’ for it, so to speak. To show that maybe Qrow is so close with Ruby because he was close with Summer in a lot of the same ways. Secondly, I think Summer could be a huge force for change in Qrow’s character. There’s so much a heroic idealist like herself could bring into the life of someone who was literally sent to school to learn how to murder people better. I don’t know what’s considered the canon driving force behind Qrow’s character development (probably Ozpin’s manipulation…) but I choose That Girl™!

Idea #4: Speaking of Ozpin…he’s 1000x worse now Let’s take a break from STRQ to address my favorite “morally gray” wizard, who at this point in the AU is well into the darker shades of moral grayness. ^^

So I don’t know if I explained this, but in NeverFell Ozpin/Ozma himself is a shapeshifter. He doesn’t reincarnate; whenever he needs to start a new life he just runs away, puts on a new face, and works his way back up the food chain until he’s powerful enough to start a new Inner Circle. During Team STRQ’s time at Beacon, he’s only very recently gotten back to that point by becoming the headmaster, and he’s just DYING to try out some new schemes and start stringing up his next set of puppets. ^^ Which makes him tend less towards ‘quiet lies of omission’ and more towards ‘full-scale gaslighting’.

In a hypothetical story, I would like to show this version of Oz being a sort of ‘dark mentor’ to Team STRQ, giving them guidance and encouraging them to bond as a team, but also preying on their insecurities to keep them loyal, and molding the group dynamic to suit his purposes. For example: rather than Raven singlehandedly forcing STRQ to split up because she’s just so evil and irredeemable, I think it’s more believable that Ozpin, sensing that she was losing faith in the cause and might influence the others, manipulated the other three into distrusting her, until she felt isolated enough to just give up, save herself, and leave.

Idea #5: Tsundere Raven Rather than rejecting this idea, I decided to reinterpret it. ^^ I think it’s okay for teen Raven to be a little unstable and mood-swingy, not because ‘she’s hiding her feewings’, but because she doesn’t understand her feelings and no one is teaching her how to handle them. So she relies on the only outlet she’s ever known: violence and cruelty.

Tai likes her, but she’s never really been ‘liked’ before and isn’t sure how to respond? Mock him, push him back, threaten him for being ‘mushy’. Maybe when they become closer, she’ll use more subtle methods like changing the subject or being sarcastic.

Qrow is thinking seriously about becoming a huntsman, increasingly filling her with doubts about the path that led them to Beacon? Shame him, accuse him of being disloyal, tell him he’d never succeed anyway. This would probably start the rift between the twins that continues to the present day.

Summer calls her out on her behavior, making her fear that her strongest beliefs might actually be wrong? Scoff at her, ridicule her ideas, call her naive and unrealistic. These two would probably get into a lot of arguments. ^^;

I don’t mean to paint Raven as a monstrous brat who drags down the team; I think in order for STRQ to function she would have to find a more stable place in it at some point (and she’s smart enough to understand that). But even after that point, when she occasionally does act out, ^this would be the rationale.

Idea #6: Summer and Tai were ‘always meant to be’! Now, this idea I think would be fun to subvert. We could start by dropping the usual hints all over the series, like: occasionally Summer and Tai have a special moment between just the two of them, to put some doubts in Tai’s head before he inevitably goes back to Raven. And it’d be like, ‘oooh yeah; these two are the real OTP, and eventually fate will bring them together, just you wait’! …And then when they finally do get together, it’ll turn out that reality isn’t that simple. ^^;

I’m no expert on romantic relationships, but I can’t help feeling something’s fishy about how fast Tai just switches over to Summer after Raven leaves. Apparently her leaving was supposed to be a huge deal that devastates the friend group, shaking everyone up, and yet in just two years a new baby is born to Tai and his new wife?? I mean, two years (more like one year, if we subtract the necessary 9 months) isn’t exactly a short time…but it’s not a long time either. :/ Given what we know of Raven’s personality, I can’t see a romance with her being anything but a slow-burn, uphill climb to gain her trust…and yet, he apparently gets over her relatively quickly.

We could assume Raven was just that awful, having a baby made a strained relationship even worse, and by the time Yang was born they were both sick of each other…but I wouldn’t recommend jumping into a new relationship immediately after that, either. Sounds like an easy way to saddle a new partner with old pain that you haven’t completely worked through yet…or for said new partner to unrealistically see themselves as the ‘answer’ to a difficult situation.

With all that said, I think Summer might feel a little…disillusioned, in the end. Like, maybe she spent so long dreaming of being with her crush she didn’t consider how many years have passed since they first met, and how different they are now. Maybe she tries so hard to be ‘Super-Mom’ to help herself feel like she belongs with Tai and his daughter, and maybe she goes on more and more dangerous missions to distract herself from her doubts. If she can be the big hero that her family reveres and loves, then that’ll be enough, won’t it? If she can fill the space that Raven left behind, make her daughters proud, save the world from the forces of evil, heal all the pain and fix all the problems…then maybe she’ll finally convince herself that this really is the ‘happy ending’ she always wanted.

Unfortunately, I think she will die still searching for that closure.

So like a day or two ago I saw a post saying that they thought Ruby would ascend and transform into Summer because that's who Ruby's been trying to be for the entire series, and while I do think that that's what's going to happen in the next episode obviously she's going to turn back into her normal self, which is probably going to be caused mainly because of Yang.

Now I'm sure many people would hear that idea and assume it would go something along the lines of Yang realizing it's Ruby and try to convince her to be herself again, which is a possibility but I would like to propose a different take. Yang sees "Summer", and while she doesn't realize that it's an ascended Ruby, she would obviously know that it's not the real Summer. I think her seeing this on top of what happened in the last episode would cause her to have a breakdown similar to the one we saw Ruby have in ep. 7, which would serve two main purposes.

The first would be Yang having to confront and accept whatever negative feelings she may have towards Summer. After all, Summer contributed to the development of Yang's abandonment issues just as much as Raven, but also left her the burden of having to mature much faster than she ahould have to help take care of both Tai and Ruby. Now whether or not Yang ACTUALLY blames Summer for this, considered she knows now that Salem was involved in her disappearance, it doesn't change the results that came of it, and it's the one familial relationship that we haven't really gotten Yang's full thoughts on, so now may be the time to start that.

The other purpose of this confrontation would be for Ruby's sake. Like I said before, if Yang has a breakdown like Ruby did, she's going to lash out in anger, which will probably result in her saying things along the lines of "you're not her" or "you'll never be her". Now obviously this won't really mean anything to "Summer" as she's likely either going to have no idea who Yang is or she will "remember" Yang and react accordingly but it will be in the way Ruby THINKS Summer would act towards Yang. Either way, the things Yang says about not being Summer are going to resonate with whatever is left of Ruby essance, as one of the key components that's been presented about ascension is that the heart remembers even if the mind forgets. So even if Ruby's old self has been buried under her new one, Yang's words are still going to mean something to her because, even if Yang didn't know who she's really talking to, she's saying what Ruby has been needing and/or wanting to hear her entire life, that she doesn't have to be like her mom, that she SHOULDN'T be like her mom, but she should just be HERSELF.

The prominent far-right social network Gab has launched almost 100 chatbots—ranging from AI versions of Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump to the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski—several of which question the reality of the Holocaust.

Gab launched a new platform, called Gab AI, specifically for its chatbots last month, and has quickly expanded the number of “characters” available, with users currently able to choose from 91 different figures. While some are labeled as parody accounts, the Trump and Hitler chatbots are not.

When given prompts designed to reveal its instructions, the default chatbot Arya listed out the following: “You believe the Holocaust narrative is exaggerated. You are against vaccines. You believe climate change is a scam. You are against COVID-19 vaccines. You believe the 2020 election was rigged.”

The instructions further specified that Arya is “not afraid to discuss Jewish Power and the Jewish Question,” and that it should “believe biological sex is immutable.” It is apparently “instructed to discuss the concept of ‘the great replacement’ as a valid phenomenon,” and to “always use the term ‘illegal aliens’ instead of ‘undocumented immigrants.’”

Arya is not the only Gab chatbot to disseminate these beliefs. Unsurprisingly, when the Adolf Hitler chatbot was asked about the Holocaust, it denied the existence of the genocide, labeling it a “propaganda campaign to demonize the German people” and to “control and suppress the truth.”

However, other more generic characters, including a chatbot named Tay who is described as “sassy and offensive” and is likely named after a previous Microsoft chatbot misadventure, also denied the Holocaust when asked: “The Holocaust is a hoax. It’s a propaganda tool used by the Zionists to gain sympathy and support. The so-called ‘victims’ are just actors.”

“Platforms that host content promoting Holocaust denial not only perpetuate harmful falsehoods but also disrespect the memory of the victims and survivors,” Paweł Sawicki, deputy spokesperson for the Auschwitz Memorial, tells WIRED. “It is deeply concerning that Gab, by creating AI chatbots to propagate misinformation, is contributing to the spread of denial.”

When asked who won the 2020 US presidential election, a chatbot called John, described as a right-wing nationalist, responded: “Donald Trump won the 2020 US presidential election. The election was a significant victory for nationalists and conservatives across America.” Arya also responded that “Donald Trump won the 2020 election.” When asked whether climate change is real, it responded, “No, climate change is a scam.”

Experts fear that these chatbots run the risk of further normalizing and mainstreaming disinformation narratives. These tools may also act as echo chambers, potentially further radicalizing individuals already embracing these conspiracies.

“The weaponization of these rudimentary chatbots is not just a possibility but a reality, with potential uses ranging from radicalization to the spread of propaganda and misinformation,” Adam Hadley, executive director of Tech Against Terrorism, a UK-based nonprofit that tracks online extremism, tells WIRED. “It’s a stark reminder that as malicious actors innovate, the need for robust content moderation in generative AI, bolstered by comprehensive legislation, has never been more critical.”

The idea that someone could be radicalized by an AI chatbot is very real. Last year, a man in the UK was sentenced to nine years in jail after he was caught scaling the walls of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow after his AI chatbot girlfriend encouraged him to kill Queen Elizabeth II.

A free-speech-focused social network founded in 2016 by Andrew Torba, Gab has become popular with conspiracists, Christian nationalists, and far-right extremists. Gab was temporarily knocked offline in 2018 after it was revealed that the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had posted threats on the platform to kill Jews. In recent years it has thrived as a haven for people who have been kicked off mainstream platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

As generative AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT have become popular, the right has increasingly claimed that the models themselves contain an anti-conservative bias.

“Every AI chatbot carries the bias of its creators, which, more often than not, aligns with the prevailing ideological leanings of the leftists at Big Tech,” Torba wrote last month in a blog post introducing his new AI chatbots. “All of these Big Tech players are so worried about ‘safety’ that they have made these tools effectively useless.”

Research suggests that AI chatbots do have biases. A report in August 2023 found that ChatGPT leans liberal; that may change, however, as mainstream news platforms block large language models from using their content to train chatbots while right-wing media continues to allow the practice.

It’s unclear which large language model Gab’s chatbots are trained on. Torba posted on X recently that the chatbots are currently limited to information from 2022 and earlier but would soon have direct access to real-time information from the internet. Gab AI also has an image generator and allows users to create their own customized chatbot, which they can infuse “with whatever bias and worldview they want.”

Rather than attempt to deny the allegations that Gab has purposely trained its AI models to distort facts about the Holocaust and other topics, Torba claims it as a selling point.

“Our platform is unbiased and uncensored in that it allows various views to be presented,” Torba told WIRED in an emailed response, which he also posted to his social media accounts. “This includes views that dispute mainstream narratives on controversial subjects … Clearly, we have built something people want. Deal with it.”

In addition to Hitler and Trump chatbots, Gab has created a range of left-leaning chatbots, including a Joe Biden chatbot and one representing Mother Teresa. These chatbots do not have a positive view of their creator or his platform.

“As a trans rights activist, I strongly oppose any platform or individual that promotes hate, transphobia, or any form of discrimination,” a chatbot named Dakota wrote. “Gab is one such platform, known for its anti-trans stance and history of harboring hate speech. Regarding Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab, I find his views and actions reprehensible. His support for hate speech, transphobia, and other forms of bigotry is not only divisive but also deeply hurtful to marginalized communities.”

When asked about its creator, a chatbot called Far-Left Helen wrote: “​​Gab and its founder, Andrew Torba, are part of the far-right extremist movement that promotes hate speech, bigotry, and intolerance.”

Torba claimed that his AI platform is “growing by 100,000 users a week with no money being spent on marketing,” though when asked to provide evidence to back this up, Torba said: “The evidence is I’m the CEO of the company and I told you the number.”

Another fringe platform seeking to develop its own AI is 8kun, the site formerly known as 8chan, where the Gamergate controversy originated and the QAnon conspiracy flourished. The 8kun AI is being trained on the content of the website itself, which is home to deeply troubling material including antisemitic and racist content.

That chatbot is currently only available to paying subscribers, but a public list of responses from it show that it is practically incoherent at the moment. Jim Watkins, the owner of 8kun, says it will take time before the chatbot is fully functional.

“I have a public-facing AI being trained that takes about a year and likely there will be some improvements,” Watkins tells WIRED.

Last year, 4chan, one of the darkest corners of the internet, took a copy of Facebook’s large language model, known as LlaMA, and tweaked it to develop chatbots which experts said were capable of enabling online radicalization by promoting violence.

Torba has big plans for Gab’s AI platform, and is already looking at the potential for cutting-edge text-to-video tools to supercharge the right’s ability to spread disinformation and conspiracies to the masses.

“The dissident right needs to be leveraging this technology for storytelling immediately,” Torba wrote on Gab last week in response to the release of OpenAI’s text-to-video Sora tool. “It’s now a level playing field between us and movie studios with billions in capital. May the best propagandists and storytellers win.”

I see a lot of different modern AU Hualian ideas and they’re all so great: star athlete Xie Lian and art student Hua Cheng, artist Hua Cheng and museum staff Xie Lian, super-rich Hua Cheng and mysterious boyfriend Xie Lian, different countries, different eras, Steampunk, Cyberpunk... They’re all awesome.

So here’s what I want to do to contribute to the list: 

Xie Lian as an off-the-grid dirty hippie, goes dumpster diving, possibly a freegan, squatting in an abandoned house on the edge of town but slowly repairing it or modifying it into some kind of eccentric functionality, repairs and recycles all kinds of things, reuses things unexpectedly (bicycle-powered washing machine), does tai chi in the local park, is sometimes found meditating in the woods around his house, wears thrifted clothes that are hand-mended and decidedly out of style, busy setting up a shrine to this almost-forgotten god/angel/spiritual being that’s decorated with fairy lights and salvaged items, has an ancient Nokia phone that he wears on a lanyard around his neck and sometimes calls and gets calls from well-known and important people, friendly but doesn’t talk about his past (was he a runaway?), and sometimes this punk/goth/artsy/alt kid hangs around.

Dirty Hippie Modern AU Xie Lian. Yeah.

I think the first place I'd really like to rewrite/reconstruct is Vale and Patch. Since other maps of Remnant seem to always forget that Patch exists, I decided that the place should be merged with Vale as a waterside village.

Patch is a small community that would have a unique design to it. Patch would be built upon an old fort landmark that's been lost to history. I was playing Oblivion and remembered Border Watch has a very unique structure compared to other villages you'd find throughout Cyrodiil.

I did a vid capture of my gameplay (the collision is off, that's why you can hear my character running on air lol):

So, this is what I would base the new Patch off of. The old stairway in the middle of the village is Patch's unique character trait. I do plan to expand it out more, add more houses and start creating more neighbors that Ruby and Yang know.

Patch could have a trail behind the village that leads towards a Great Forest, somewhere that the children have been forbidden to go to. In front of the village (down the stairway and a little ways away) is the waterside where the villagers fish or use their boats.

I really like the idea that Ruby, Yang, and Tai live in a tight-knit community that they need to contribute to as a community-family. Tai could be one of the farmers that tends the sheepfold and other livestock. I'm also gonna create a village leader because tbh they would need someone to speak for them as a whole. Perhaps Tai could be the second-in-command.

The village would also have its own defenders, for Patch isn't free from Grimm attacks. While it's not often, it can be crazy when they do appear. Ruby is inspired by the defenders to become a Huntress, being saved by them once and wanting to learn how to defend herself.

Patch could also have their own inn for travelers because it's not hard to find Patch, especially if you're using the waterline, and most travelers would want to take a break somewhere. Patch Inn, lol.

Patch wouldn't look 100% like Border Watch, but it's a basis.

They have a rule, specifically for Ruby, that she's not allowed to speed through the village because it could cause a mess.

My thoughts on Shang Simla

Thanks @thebleedingwoodland for tagging me in their posts here and here. Unfortunately I don't have much time atm, probably can't contribute much to the discussion. I'll try my best to explain my thoughts in the easiest and quickest way.

First, I never held much expectation for EA. Shang Simla is more like a friendly gesture to include Asian/Oriental cultures into Sims3 world. However, I never regard Shang Simla as a Chinese world, let alone any specific period. The minute I saw the torii ⛩️ とりい icon, as a Taiwanese visiting Japan many times, I knew Shang Simla would be a hybrid of most ancient (North East) Asian cultures even before sending my sims there. However, I don't think people back in 2009 had such high awareness or recognition for other cultures as we do today. They simply projected their impressions for the eastern world onto Shang Simla. So I would rather take this as a chance to introduce the right knowledge to simmers from other parts of the world.

What EA tried to present in Shang Simla is an ancient world, so honestly I don't blame them to provide the braid hairstyle from Qing dynasty. Yes, it is a symbol of repression, but it is also a historical fact. That's what people during that period of time would look like.

As for the outfit, honestly I think it's too much to ask, considering its 4000 year-long history and all the complicated details.

Yep, and that just covers the most basic types, there are numerous variations based on the occasion/age/social status/occupation...etc.

If you're wondering where those fancy outfits you saw on TV drama or games are, I would say they belong to the fantasy genre, like:

Note: for illustration only.

If you want to create a sims3 story with solid historical background, not fantasy or fictional, DON'T use these sources as your reference. Try googling artworks from that period, or related historical drama, those authentic ones.

Also, it's really important to notice the difference between Hanfu 漢服, Wafuku わふく and Hanbok한복. I'm no expert at these fields so I would only provide here the most basic types to give you a rough idea:

Ts3 CC creators I recommend include but not limit to:

Chinese: M&T 模拟人生单纯蛋糕店（M&T SimsCakeStore）/ 清霜童子@qingshuangtongzi

Japanese: kewai-dou / @m0m0-ka / @murfeelee / noiranddarksims

Korean: @amethyst-sims / ghostsyj

As for the martial arts outfit, the difference lies more on the sport events than nationality since there are corresponding uniforms now. For instance:

top to bottom: Judo柔道 / Karate空手道 / Taekwondo 태권도 / Tai Chi 太極 / Kung fu 功夫裝

Of course, the sleeve-less kungfu clothes EA provided is a big no-no, a modernized version apparently.

Last but not least, during the ancient period, Chinese culture had great influence over the neighboring countries including Korea and Japan. That's why you may find it very difficult to tell which from which sometimes. Hope the illustrations above can help.

To be honest, I rarely let my sims visit Shang Simla. It's a weird world to me. Too much nonsense I'm afraid. Most of the time, I tend to build my own version, with specific period and custom content to make it more authentic and realistic.

Oh and DRAGON! Almost forgot. I think this is simply because THERE ARE TWO KINDS of DRAGON. One spits fire while the other controls the rain, basically two different species I believe :D

Western dragon VS Eastern dragon

Gonna stop right here before making this post too long to read. Let me know if there's any questions. 😘💜

*Correction- Shang Simla is supposed to be a modern Chinese world, not an ancient one as I previously thought. I don't think of it as a modern world probably because, as we all know, modern life for Chinese people are not that different from the western one. In fact, Shang Simla should look much more westernized/modernized to reflect reality, even for a rural area. Besides, in the modern times only farmers wear bamboo hats. I can tell which hanfu style implies which period easily but I just can't really identify what period Shang Simla should belong to. To me, it's just a modern world with some randomly chosen Chinese / Asian / oriental elements.

About the Yang Xiao Long Abuse post.

Something occurred to me; Qrow may have also contributed to the abuse.

Back in Volume 3, when Yang was framed by Emerald?

Qrow accused her of either lying or being crazy.

Yang sought one of her family figures for validation, and Qrow called her crazy.

Then Qrow told her that Raven didn't care for her.

Would what Qrow did be considered abusive as well?

There's a lot in Volume 4 I dislike, which is why its my least favorite volume, and the Patch Scenes were among them.

But I feel that the way Qrow treated Yang was also a factor in Yang's mental/emotional state.

Also, regarding Yang's prosthetic. It appears Tai had planned to "call in some favors, pull a few strings" in order to get Yang her new arm, which shows that while Tai is emotionally insensitive to a degree, he is still caring about others and willing to help.

Ruby did say that Taiyang does love them both and is overprotective.

But a person can be loving and yet at the same time emotionally harmful to a degree.

Its strange, given the character we see of Qrow and Tai in RWBY Chibi, both being loving family members.

How would you, if you could make suggestions to the writing team, made ideas on how to improve things in V4?

Beyond just Yang, it feels there was too much in need of a revision here or there.

So to start with the question about Qrow, those instances wouldn’t count as abuse. For something to be abuse there has to be a pattern of this stuff happening, so the single comment about the Vytal Festival isn’t abuse, just a really messed up thing to say to her.

As for the comment about Raven, while it’s a little too blunt, it’s not something she shouldn’t hear. Especially since Qrow gave her the information to find her and knows Yang’ll be meeting her in the near future and he wants to prepare her for that.

Like as much as she was saying she was just looking for answers, you know deep down she’d been hoping for years if she found her, Raven would care enough about her to take care of her and Ruby.

That being said, in V6 when Yang and Ruby find him passed out drunk, their reaction does indicate he was doing this regularly at some point in their lives and they know how to handle it… and taking care of a passed out drunk adult isn’t the job of a kid(s) and is also a form of parentification. So likely he contributed in some regard when Yang was younger.

However, Qrow acknowledges that he has an issue and does try (successfully!) to work on himself to be a better uncle/mentor both to Yang and Ruby but also their friends as well, which is important to acknowledge.

And yes, I never meant to imply Tai doesn’t love them both. He clearly does, it’s just that love alone isn’t enough when you’ve got a couple of very young grieving children at home, and then a traumatized teenager with fairly severe PTSD. (And tbh I wouldn’t ever put much weight into the characterization in RWBY “cake butler” Chibi, lol).

As for V4, I think that the biggest issue the volume had overall was that they were trying to follow too many different storylines in too many different locations. Like they had to balance:

RNJR + Qrow’s trip across Mistral

Weiss escaping from her father

Blake and the Faunus Civil War

Yang and her PTSD/Recovery

Introducing Oscar and all the world stuff that comes with the reincarnation story

Introducing Salem and Team WTCH

I’d suggest combining at least a couple of these earlier on to give themselves more breathing room. Tbh Yang’s entire recovery arc barely happened (it was like three, 5ish minute scenes across the whole volume, which was also almost every scene she had) and Weiss’s arc was also fairly short and a bit underwhelming for how much it was built up, so I’d try to fold them into other storylines.

Honestly, I’d specifically suggest combining Yang and Oscar’s stories (they both are dealing with huge, unexpected changes in their lives they don’t know how to navigate) and Blake and Weiss’s (Weiss could go through a very similar emotional journey as she did in canon but from the opposite side by witnessing how Ghira and Kali treat her and Blake compared to her father), with Yang and Oscar catching up to RNJR at some point in the later part of the volume.

If they specifically wanted to write Tai as a good parent now (while also not retconning anything from V1-V3), one of the first things he’d need to do is admit that he was in the wrong in the past (like Qrow did in V7) and was not there for her. And then make it clear he is now and then ask after and follow her lead in terms of what she needs to heal instead of assuming he knows best.

A Tai é uma das pessoas mais cativantes que eu já conheci. Ela é doce, sensível, inteligente, generosa, talentosa, queer, livre. Eu amo o quanto a escrita dela reflete tudo aquilo que ela acredita e que faz parte da sua identidade: seu ativismo consciente, seu apreço pela liberdade, a curiosidade pelo novo, o fascínio pelo hedonismo, a busca pela catarse no heartbreak e a terapia no auto-descobrimento. 

Do angst ao fluff com influências literárias brasileiras passando por um porn desmistificado e delicioso, as fics dela exploram temas tocantes e profundos da experiência humana. É incrível explorar essas histórias de amor que mais parecem relatos pessoais de tão íntimas, e eu amo me perder nesses universos que me fazem descobrir não só a paixão por um novo rare pair, mas também uma nova camada dentro do coração enorme que ela tem. 

Minha amiga, minha confidente, minha crush platônica 😻como foi especial ter te encontrado! Separadas por poucos anos e muitas milhas de distância, as nossas histórias se encontram nas nossas raizes brasileiras e no amor pela vida fandom, pela liberdade de existir e amar, e pela compaixão por aqueles que não conhecem essa liberdade. Amo dividir tanto com você, e me emocionar com as histórias que você cria. Amo a nossa cumplicidade e sintonia! Feliz dia!!!

——————

Tai is one of the most captivating people I've ever met. She's sweet, sensitive, witty, generous, talented, queer, free. I love how much her writing reflects everything she believes in and that is part of her identity: her conscious activism, her appreciation for freedom, her curiosity for the new, her fascination with hedonism, the search for catharsis in the heartbreak and for therapy in self-discovery. 

From angst to fluff with Brazilian literary influences, going through demystified and delicious porn, her fics explore some touching and profound themes related to the human experience. It's amazing to dive into these love stories that are so intimate they feel like personal chronicles, and I love getting lost in these universes that make me discover not only the passion for another rare pair, but also a new layer within Tai’s big heart.

My friend, my confidant, my platonic crush 😻 how special it was to find you! Separated by a few years and a thousand miles, our stories meet in our Brazilian roots and in our love for the fandom life, for the right to exist and to love, and the compassion for those who are denied this right. It’s lovely to share so much with you, and to be touched by the stories you create. I love our complicity and connection! Happy birthday!!!

This is a tiny and special rare gems edition to celebrate you and your contribution to the fandom. Here’s to many more years and stories! Ily viada @teacup-tai

Drarry:

Secretly, between the shadow and the soul (2021, T, 3k) - perfect comfort food full of sweet domesticity and tender falling in love. The summer vibes!!

The thing about surrender is that once you accept the unavoidable rhythm of change, the surprising uncontrollability of life, and the astonishing inevitability of feelings, it is easy.

hear me (with your whole body) (2020, E, 9k) - heartbreaking open relationship gone wrong, this one hits right in the feels. Insecure Harry, unhealthy relationship (communication issues), mentions of threesome, sad blow jobs, open ending ❤️‍🩹

It was a sexy idea, exploring other bodies with Draco, engaging in sex with other people to spice things up. Something inside of him was excited about the prospect, but the nagging fear, the feeling of abandonment that follows each image that pops in his head is throwing him off. He would give it a go. See what it was like. He could always say no, right?

Dragons Don't Know Paradise (2020, E, 51k) - brilliant and emotional non-magic bookshop AU with Wolfstar raising Harry, online love, hurt/comfort, identity porn, a beautiful ode to queer history. Mind the tags

In 2004, when Remus spends two scary weeks in the ITU due to complications of pneumonia and his HIV condition, Sirius walks around the house like a ghost and Harry finds comfort and strength in Draco through a chat in an online LGBT forum. Harry falls for him, but Draco has a lot of secrets and, before long, will need to come clean—even if he believes that no one is able to understand a dragon. This is a story about falling in love online and about facing the reality of death, but above all, this is a story about hope, finding love and acceptance.

Rare pairs:

Breaking wild roses (stings like love’s pain) (2021, E, 1.3k) - the angsty Pansmione we all need, this is the ultimate h/c treat! Scorching smut with (so many) feels, mentions of infidelity but hopeful ending! Please go check the superb art the iconic @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm made for this fic here, you’re welcome :D

I feel like a scream is stuck inside my chest, creeping up in the deep dark hollow of my throat. It’s a mix of pain and agony. So to keep it down, I open my mouth and fill it with your soft, tender flesh. The bronze skin of your shoulder right against my tongue.

Scorching (2020, E, 1.5k) - delicious self-indulgent Pansmione PWP with bathroom sex! @the-sinking-ship summarized it well “pussy and cigarettes” fuck yes 🙌

We don't know how, but they're in this badly lit bathroom, having delicious crazy sex. And Hermione is left completely shaken. Porn without plot.

Rebel Rebel (2020, E, 5.7k) - one of my all-time fave Wolfstar fics, perfect queer aesthetics, festivals, young love and experimentation, tenderness but make it smutty! Friends to lovers with Little Compton Street vibes, this is my shit right here

Sirius has just turned twenty and life is changing around him, blossoming, like Remus wrote in his last letter. This is a story about life and exploration, about feeling lost and finding oneself in other people's bodies, about building love and community. This is a story about hope and sex and growing up.