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earlgraytay · 2 years

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I keep seeing discourse on my dash about whether or not we should be teaching ~challenging~/emotionally rough books in elementary and middle school, and I think there's a very important point that all of this discourse is eliding.

What counts as "too rough/traumatizing" heavily depends on the kid.

Two kids in the same class, from the same background, at the same developmental and reading level, might have wildly different reactions to a book. To take an example that's less likely to generate insufferable discourse than anything dealing with ~marginalization~:

Say you have two kids in the same class. One kid is a sensitive, sweet soul who loves dogs more than anything in the world. The other kid just lost their dog, is still grieving, and needs some catharsis.

Your class is supposed to read Old Yeller, or some other kids' book about The Death Of A Dog.

For the first kid, that book is likely to mess them up a little. It might seem like brutality for the sake of brutality. They might not fully understand the concept of death yet, or they may not be ready to grapple with the idea that dogs can die. It might be something they need to read, even if it'd mess them up- but it might also just hurt without any real benefit.

For the second kid... whether they're ready to read that book would heavily depend on how they're grieving and whether they're ready to think about a dog dying. It might trigger them and make them feel worse. But it might actually be helpful for them and make them feel less alone. Other kids have had to deal with their dogs dying and have lived through it. It might give them emotional tools they need to get through this.

But unless you know these kids really well and have the chance to tailor how you teach the book to them? You're likely to screw both of them up without any real benefit.

If they have to fill out fifty million worksheets about What The Dog Dying Means In Old Yeller, they're going to have to think about something they're not ready to think about over and over again. They're not likely to learn whatever you're trying to teach them about death or empathy or tragedy- they're just going to remember that English class was about depressing books about dogs dying and remember how much it hurt to get through. And they're going to be put off reading anything you might read in English class, because it's just going to hurt, right?

The one-size-fits-all model of education most schools are being forced to adopt means that we can't mold what kids read around what they need and are ready to hear; we have to make every kid read the same thing, at the same pace, with the same worksheets.

You can't decide, 'hey, this kid might not be ready for this particular book, here's a book that hits some of the same thematic notes but is less graphic'.

You can't take the time to make sure that a student who's reading a book that might be rough for them is okay, give them time to decompress and debrief, or let them process what they're having to deal with. You can't let them take a break from the book after they hit a point that is graphic or triggering. You can't let them sit with their feelings about it.

You can't take the time to make sure that the marginalized students in the class are okay after reading a book about oppression that affected people like them, or take the time to make sure that their non-marginalized classmates who said boneheaded things about the book know why what they said wasn't okay without publically yelling at them.

Hell, you can't even choose books based around what your students would be interested in and want to read. You have to make a lesson plan to teach like 50 students; you don't have time to pick things based around their individual likes and dislikes.

Nope. It's just on to the next book, the next worksheet, the next test.

Teachers are forced to take on classes that are way too big for any one person to manage, teach emotionally hefty books without giving kids time to process what they've learnt, and teach to tests instead of giving kids time to empathize and understand.

The problem is not specific books. The problem is not privileged people's fragility. The problem is not even individual teachers. The problem is a systemic problem with how American schools teach literature.

Until we fix the system? Yeah, plenty of kids are gonna get fucked up from reading Lord of the Flies or Where the Red Fern Grows when they're not ready to tackle it. Because their teachers do not have the time or spoons to gauge whether they're ready, and do not have the luxury of letting their students deal with things at their own pace.

#general malarkey #tumblr malarkey #my fucking industry #or well something adjacent to it #kidlit #teaching #education #i keep getting mad at posts like this because EVERYONE IS WRONG #LITCHRALLY EVERYONE

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lazycats-stuff · 11 months

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141 TF x male reader

This is the continuation to this oneshot. It's mostly fluff and kind of dates with the guys. It's probably going to be over 2k too, so just get prepared.

Summary: The TF is ready to work together in order to date (Y/N).

Warnings: Fluff, cute dates, just cuteness overall, author may have procrastinated and just took sweet time writings and then rushing at 11:30 pm and is tired...

And yes, another Ghost gif. I love this man too much....

After about 3 days of deciding on how to approach (Y/N), they just decided to talk to him in his room. And they all wanted to see the little kitten. Price knocked on his door, the other 3 members were behind him. For the first time in a long time, they were nervous.

And they were military men.

(Y/N) opened the door, smiling at the sight of the men. "Hey guys. What's up? "

" Can we talk to you? " John asked, anxiety building up.

" Sure. " (Y/N) said, stepping aside to let the men in. All of them went straight to the little kitten, giving it a pet or a scratch, then sitting down somewhere in the room.

" What is it that you guys wanted to talk about? " (Y/N) asked, sitting down at chair close to his desk.

Everyone glanced at Price. (Y/N)'s eyes went to Price's.

" Okay, now I'm nervous. Is it bad news or- ? " (Y/N) asked, confused and anxious.

" No, no, no. " Price said, calming the man down. " It's just... All of us find you attractive. " Price started, watching (Y/N)'s cheeks getting red. Wow.

" And we have all... Got feelings for you. And that's what we are here to talk about. We wanted to ask you to date you. All four of us. " Price said, watching (Y/N)'s face. It was red and he seemed flustered.

" Okay, um... Are you sure? I mean, dating somebody who doesn't know who he is or knows what he likes? " (Y/N) said softly, looking down at his lap.

" We know what we are getting into, if you decide to date us. Do you really think that we won't take that into consideration? We don't want to date you for your looks, we want you for you. " Gaz said from the bed, gently patting the cat.

(Y/N) took it all in. He didn't think he was attractive to the point of attracting 4 guys, whom he assumed were straight. And they want to date him, despite the amnesia and the incomplete memory and not knowing what he likes or dislikes?

" You don't have to tell us now, you can tell us later. " Price said, standing up.

" No, I... Okay, I want to just say this. I am interested in dating you guys, but... I have to say this. I want to be taken out on a date first. Individually. Also, I think that my love language is physical touch... Okay, that's not the point now. Don't go overboard too, please. "

The boys nodded, smiling. Ghost's soft smile was hidden by his balaclava, but (Y/N) could see the wrinkles around his eyes. He should really smile more.

" Okay, tomorrow one of us will take you out on a date. Do you want tell us which one or do you want us to surprise you? " Price asked.

" You can surprise me. It's more fun that way. " (Y/N) said laughing.

Price had to admit, he was right.

" We will let you know who will take you out tomorrow. Now we need to talk amongst each other. So, we will leave you alone now. "

Price said and all of them shuffled out of the room. (Y/N) smiled, moving to lay down on the bed next to his kitten.

" Hey you. You might have more dads in the future. "

The cat meowed, purring and nuzzling against (Y/N)'s hand. " You do like that? Who would be your favorite? Maybe Ghost? He does seem like that type. " (Y/N) said to the little kitten. Kitten kept on purring, making (Y/N) doze off.

It was decided that Ghost was going to take him out on a first date. Ghost wanted to do it in the base, not wanting the people to look at him weird because of his mask.

So what did Ghost decide to do?

A movie night in their living room. He made a little pillow fort and with a few tries made popcorn and some chocolate muffins to soothe the sweet tooth, should (Y/N) have it.

(Y/N) came around 8, just like they agreed on. He was wearing comfortable sweatpants and one of Ghost's shirts that he has borrowed from Ghost.

" Pillow fort? " (Y/N) asked, getting into it immediately.

" Is it bad? " Ghost asked (Y/N), afraid that it was wrong.

" No, quite the opposite. I like it. Come on, I need my heater. "

Ghost raised his eyebrows. Heater? " A heater? "

" Yes, you are very warm. Now come on. " (Y/N) said, patting the spot next to him.

Ghost huffed, but complied none the less. (Y/N) laid down on Ghost's chest, getting himself comfortable. Ghost wrapped his arm around (Y/N) and turned on the movie.

" (Y/N)? "

" Mhm? "

" Do you want me to take of my mask? "

(Y/N) lifted his head up. " Only if you are comfortable. I don't want you to do something that you are not comfortable. "

Ghost nodded. Most of the people would ask him to take it off, but not (Y/N).

" Okay. Popcorn? " Ghost asked, taking the bowl and offering it to (Y/N).

" Sure. "

Next evening, it was Price's turn to take him out. Price was a bit more old fashioned, so he was going to take (Y/N) out of the base, seeing how he didn't like being in the base so long. The plan was to take him to the cinema and afterwards to a diner.

Price waited for (Y/N) by the car, in civilian clothes. It has been a while since he got a chance to go out like this, carefree and just in civilian way.

He looked up from his watch to see (Y/N) walking towards the car. Price smiled, pulling (Y/N) into a hug. (Y/N) smiled too, before hugging Price back.

" You look stunning. " Price said to (Y/N) after letting go.

(Y/N) blushed and complimented Price too. Price led him to the passenger side of the car, opening the door for him. (Y/N) thanked him and sat into the seat.

Price closed the door, moving to the driver's side. He got in and started the car.

" Where are we going? " (Y/N) asked Price.

" That is a surprise darling. " Price said, patting his thigh.

" Really? " (Y/N) asked Price.

" Yes. I wanted to surprise you. "

(Y/N) just intertwined his fingers with John's and turned his head to look at the window. Their intertwined fingers were laying in the middle, next to the what (Y/N) called the stick. John parked near the cinema, turning the car off, forcing the two to release their hands to step out. Once they were out, they took their hands again.

" Is that the cinema? "

" Yes. I thought that you would like to go off base. You looked like you were couped up in the base. "

" You are right, I was couped up. As much as I love the base and the wonders that the it provides, you can feel couped up and like you are in jail. " (Y/N) said, using his free arm to gesture.

" Well, I can't say that, but for someone like you with memory loss... I can understand that. " John said, looking at (Y/N) with so much love in his eyes that he would have that his eyes turned to hearts.

" What are we going to watch? "

John just smiled at him. (Y/N) huffed. Another surprise it seems.

" And what are we going to afterwards? "

" That, my love, is another surprise. "

(Y/N) leaned in and gave John a kiss on the cheek. Price put his arm around (Y/N)'s shoulders, pulling him even closer.

Next up was Gaz. He also decided to take (Y/N) out of the base, but not to the cinema and the diner, but instead to a picnic. It was a nice sunny day today in London, so why not take advantage of it? Gaz has prepared everything that he thought that (Y/N) would like.

Which consisted of some sandwiches, chips that he liked, some fruit and some chocolates. And the drinks? There was of course water and some juices that (Y/N) had said that he liked.

And that's why Gaz and (Y/N) were in the park, in the shade, just enjoying the weather. Gaz opened the container with sliced apples. He offered some to (Y/N), who gladly took it. It was a green apple, since (Y/N) preferred sour apples rather than the sweet ones.

" So, how do you like it? "

" It's nice Gaz. "

" And how do you like the base? " Gaz prompted, watching (Y/N).

" I like it, but I wish that I could do something more than just stay in my room or just move around to the gym, shooting range and others... I just feel like I'm mooching, you know? "(Y/N) said, fiddling with his hands.

" Maybe you could talk about Price about working on the base? Maybe you could work with recruits or something like that. And you are not mooching off of anybody or anything. You are a SAS. Once a SAS, always an SAS. "

(Y/N) nodded, moving closer to Gaz. He took (Y/N)'s hand and kissed it.

" Thanks, I just... I guess I got into my head way too much. "

" Don't apologize for that love. " Gaz said, kissing the side of (Y/N)'s head.

" Now, lets enjoy this great weather. " (Y/N) said, smiling and making himself cozy on the blanket.

And Soap was last and he often says that they have saved the best for last. (Y/N) didn't know how to feel. The Scot was the most energetic person that (Y/N) had encountered in the entire base. He doesn't know where Johnny gets all of that energy.

" Johnny, where are we going? "

" Are you afraid? " The Scot said, smirking as he led him into the building.

" I mean, you are the most energetic person I have encountered on the base. I don't know how you can be so energetic. "

" Well, that is not important question now. You are important now. "

(Y/N) sighed as they got into the junkyard, filled with cars. What the actual hell?

" Okay, so, we have it for about hour and a half. " Johnny said, handing him gloves and the protective glasses. " So, we need to make the best out of it. "

" Okay, so we are going to smash cars? "

" Not just smash. I am going to make a few explosions too, just for you. "

(Y/N) laughed and grabbed the hammer and allowed Johnny to put the safety glasses on. He put the big hammer over his head and smashed the car away.

(Y/N) and Johnny were laughing away and (Y/N) was fascinated by the explosions.

After those dates, (Y/N) now had four boyfriends and his kitten whom he named Ghost, because the cat was quiet and sometimes scared the shit out of him, got four cat dads, which meant a lot of cuddles.

(Y/N) also started working at the base, finally feeling useful and not like he was mooching. He worked in the infirmary where he recovered and was there studying more about medicine.

And the boys got more excuses to visit him. (Y/N) might kill them one day because of the constant, intentional way. But he wouldn't change it for the world.

#modern warfare x you #soap mw2 #soap x male reader #ghost x male reader #simon riley x male reader #ghost mw2 #call of duty x male reader #call of duty 2022

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saylessastrology · 1 year

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Favorite Moon Placements/Signs/Aspects 🌝🌙🌛

Moon In Sagittarius:

okay, I’m biased because this is my placement but we are so liiiit! We make great friends! This placement makes the person super straightforward and optimistic! Like we give a fuck but only for a short amount of time. But don’t piss us off because our mouths are foul! We will be mad and vengeful one moment then get bored with the situation the next LoL

Moon in Aries:

This placement is bold af! They don’t hold back on their opinions or emotions. When they are emotionally triggered just let them get it out! Suppressing this placement will result in some serious repercussions! My coworker has this placement and when she has a bad day EVERYBODY KNOWS! You can see the smoke coming out of their ears lol. But they are sooo loveable and warm! They give great hugs too!

Moon in Libra:

These people are so peaceful and pleasant lol. They may have trouble deciding on what to wear or what place to eat but they are never one to make a big fuss out of things. They believe emotions should be expressed in beautiful ways. Even their arguments have a “let’s solve this” tone.

Moon in Cancer:

I truly think these people are the most fiery of the water signs! They are soft and cuddle until you trigger them. I also think they are so moody because of the many phases of the moon always changing. You’ll know when they are pissed. The way they go off is like someone’s fed-up mother who’s about to whoop your ass! Lol scary stuff

Moon in 8th house or Scorpio:

I love these placements because these people really know how to connect emotionally with their loved ones. They love and feel deeply. The way they protect their loved ones is soo cute like a mamma bear defending their cubs. They have so much emotional self-control until they can no longer suppress it.

Moon in 5th house or Leo

(biased again hehe) These people are FUN! We love a good time and tend to come alive when we are out on the town! In our opinion emotional expression should feel fun and dramatic! When we get emotional we expect your full attention or we will feel neglected and ignored! We are the type of friend to drunkenly shout “omg I like be you guys!” to our friends in a quiet public area and you BETTER say it back or we will cry lmao

Moon trine/sextile/conjunct Mars

These people are naturally impulsive but their intentions are perfectly lined up with their emotions. It’s not that they don’t think before they act, they just believe their actions are justified based on the emotions they feel. I notice many women with this placement are real “girls girls” who know how to make and balance friendships with women and men equally because their masculine and feminine energies do not throw each other off.

Moon aspecting Neptune

These people must to be protected at all times! ❤️ They are so soft and sensitive to the world around them. They can pick up on your hidden emotions and verbally translate them in mystical ways you’ve never thought of. They see things differently from everyone else. They can find the most redeeming qualities in even the worst people. They also tend to forgive and forget waay too soon.

Moon aspecting Saturn or Capricorn moon

Rather it be a hard or soft aspect these people are extremely emotionally determined individuals. They possess the emotional strength to bound back from life’s most challenging obstacles. I love how sweet and mature these people are when it comes to expressing their emotions. Even when they are in a heightened emotional state, they still have control over their reactions. This is another placement that needs a hug because they are SOOOO hard on themselves for simply being human and feeling emotional. They may have grown up with an emotionally suppressive parent or guardian that taught them that their emotions are not as important as others. BREAK FREE MOON/SATURN! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ You deserve emotional freedom too!

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yannaryartside · 2 months

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THE BERZATO IN-LAWS

an analysis in Sydney, Pete, Tiffany and Stevie

We have met the romantic interest/partners of the Berzattos, and I think the story is telling us something on why they are good to their partners, pariculary in they way they could help them heal from the toxic family dinamics they were raised on. And again, it comes all to food, Donna's food, in particular. Let me explain:

The Burden of Donna's food:

So, when you are feeding somebody, you provide care for them. Food is a metaphor for the biological need for feeding, but Donna never served bad food to her kids, she has decided to put emotion, time, and energy into preparing these meals. With food, she will prove her intentions to care for them. In preparing meals, her family will gather, and her sons and daughter will bond. But in this activity, and eating at the table, it will be the moment for Donna to punish them, to ridicule, gaslight, and hurt them. So her food is nutritious and poisonous at the same time.

So, I have noticed that in the Berzatto family, there are two types of people, the enablers/participants in keeping the family running the way it is (in the case of Carmy and Nat, they do it even when it doesn't benefit them, while everybody else benefits someway) and the other type is the non-conforming/change maker. This last category only can be applied to the inlaws: Sydney, Pete, Tiffany, and Stevie.

The Change makers/Inlaws:

Why do I call them non-cormorning? Because they are. Neither of these individuals is looking at the family dynamics in the Berzattos and says "Yeah, this is okay" Examples follow:

Sydney calling on everybody's bullshit on those first days of her working at the beef. She managed to fight the water with fire and turned everybody around.

Pete defending Carmy.

Tiffany calls Richie out for ruining the sweater she gave him, especially because Richie minimized to please Donna. She also calls them psychos.

Stevie talking about them calling him gay

None of them have a tendency to respond in an aggressive way toward conflict, if anything, they do righteously get angry and try to defend themselves but they never lower themselves to the level the aggression was made. They try to introduce kindness into the equation. The worst part, the show at times lets people describe them as "naive," "soft" and "too demanding" (Tiffany and Sydney), or shames them in other ways.

And you know what? all is symbolized in the way each reacts to Donna's food/system.

Sydney was able to take control of the kitchen without (and despite) toxic dynamics previously established. She is also trying to create a new menu with Carmy based on his mom's recipes. And the worst part? Carmy didn't co-create the menu with Sydney, he didn't let her (as far as we can see) modify the essence of Donna's recipes in the restaurant. If they had done it, maybe this food would have acquired something else for Carmy, a chance to heal the past trauma (metaphor).

Pete trying to collaborate with Christmas Dinner (bringing something new, kindness)

Tyffany not being able to eat Donna's food due to her pregnancy (she was already fed up and relieved to being far from them) which may be also a signal for her wanting to protect her baby from all that madness.

Stevie is the only one who insists on helping Donna to cook. He also is the only one who gives Nat the confort she asked for, not the one other thought she needs (Richie and Mickey for example).

#its being a while since I saw fishes please let me know if I missed something #Storer and team are crazy in methaphors #carmy berzatto #sydcarmy #sydney adamu #the bear fx #carmy the bear #sydney x carmy #carmen berzatto #the bear meta #the bear #tiffany the bear #pete the bear #natalie berzatto #richie jerimovich #stevie the bear

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lippmannssplatteredblood · 8 months

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Was it ever confirmed Lippmann was based on Walter Lippmann?

No.

But wait, there's enough evidence! (Ty anon im using this ask as an excuse to ramble and getting these off my chest)

As we all already know, most of the characters in BSD, especially ability users, are based on real life authors. Stormbringer explicitly stated that bsd!Lippmann was "an extremely powerful skill user" so he must be based on someone. And guess what? There happens to be a writer with the exact name as his.

Walter Lippmann was an American journalist, politician, and writer. He was deemed as "the most gifted and influential American political journalist of the twentieth century". His works mostly took the theme of public relations and stuff. Sounds familiar?

I'd like to add this part from the etymology section of his(bsd) wiki btw, just in case you didn't know.

Does it end there? No, not quite.

Let's take a look at his most popular work; Public Opinion.

"...The pictures inside the heads of these human beings, the pictures of themselves, of others, of their needs, purposes, and relationship, are their public opinions. Those pictures which are acted upon by groups of people, or by individuals acting in the name of groups, are Public Opinion with capital letters."

"The pictures in our heads", page 29

People, generally, have some sort of "persona" of themselves that they would try to plant on other people's minds. Kinda like the Japanese "three faces" proverb, you may say. And how do they achieve it? By only presenting that persona; by masking; by acting.

"Royal personages are, of course, constructed personalities. Whether they themselves believe in their public character, or whether they merely permit the chamberlain to stage-manage it, there are at least two distinct selves, the public and regal self, the private and human."

"The pictures in our heads", page 7

Simply said, him being an actor might be a reference to (or a representation of) that human nature which P.O. talks of. An actor acts—they dive into the role of another character that's not them. (Which, when you think about it, is just what us humans do on a daily basis, except they do it professionally and for a living, which when you think about it again—)

Mr. Lippmann also published books titled "A Preface to Politics" and "A Preface to Morals" which is....interesting.

Okay, "preface" and "face" technically are different. Though they still share somewhat a similar meaning.

But hear me out. Let's go back to the persona thing. Generally, what people would want to be perceived as is as the perfect, ideal versions of themselves. To make that happen, they would have to put on a good first impression. And what's usually the first thing that people notice about a person? Correct—their appearance; their face.

Lippmann(bsd) was multiple times described as "perfect" (like okay asagiri, he's pretty, we get it), especially regarding his looks (and capabilities). See what I'm saying?

Lippmann was the stage face, the public image of the Port Mafia. He was the preface to the Port Mafia. He created the pictures in people's head of the Port Mafia.

As a verb, however, "face" has another meaning:

He negotiated with front companies, met and talked with political figures, and even dealt with the press if push came to shove.

I feel like this might be merely a coincidence or a pun, though. But the fact that his field of work in the Port Mafia was specifically negotiating with the "real world" is definitely not something Asagiri just pulled out of thin air—or so I believe to be the case, at least, having read this paragraph.

"This is the underlying reason for the existence of the press agent. The enormous discretion as to what facts and what impressions shall be reported is steadily convincing every organized group of people that whether it wishes to secure publicity or to avoid it, the exercise of discretion cannot be left to the reporter. It is safe to hire a press agent who stands between the group and the newspapers. Having hired him, the temptation to exploit his strategic position is very great."

"The nature of news", page 344

Oh, by the way, remember this scene?

It's just a silly, filler interaction that seemed not to reference anything, but just you wait.

"Men cannot long act in a way that they know is a contradiction of the environment as they conceive it. If they are bent on acting in a certain way they have to reconceive the environment, they have to censor out, to rationalize. But if in their presence, there is an insistent fact which is so obstrusive that they cannot explain it away, one of three courses is open. They can perversely ignore it, though they would cripple themselves in the process, will overact their part and come to grief. They can take it into account but refuse to act. They pay in internal discomfort and frustration. Or, and I believe this is to be the most frequent case, they adjust their whole behavior to the large environment."

"Intelligence work", page 383

Then again, these are but my interpretations and/or speculations which I'd like you to take with a grain of salt, as I could very well still be wrong (because Asagiri loves to trick us, apparently).

I could go on and on and on and on and on but I'm afraid I'd just be blabbering nonsense at some point. Thank you for reading my (hopefully coherent) ramblings.

#its their birthday btw!!!#(23 september)#i hope im making sense and if not just hit me with a mallet.#i feel like that one meme of a guy going on conspirational rants. i am connecting the dots!!! i swear!!!!#tried to read his other works but never got the time to really finish them. if you have something to add please do!#bungou stray dogs #bsd stormbringer #bsd lippmann #ask #this ask is like three weeks old im sorry anon

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svsss-fanon-exposed · 5 months

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I find it interesting that the most controversial/widespread posts have been those relating to physical appearance/visual medium. Lbh's hair and body type and sqq's eyes. I wonder what's the underlying cause for this. Maybe because people get attached to designs they feel more protective of them? Just a thought.

Oh, I would say this is absolutely the case. Visual design choices are, after all, often symbolic reflections of parts of individuals' own selves in some way, or of other things that are important to them. Artists will also spend a lot of time and thought on creating their designs-- and in some ways, visual media and written media are also quite different. You don't need the visual contrast so much in a book, but you do need it more when it's pictures, because characters with good contrasts are pleasant to look at together.

I actually think the donghua designs create a sort of contrast too-- both by SQQ's lighter eyes to LBH's, but as well as with the broader silhouettes, where SQQ has flowing robes and hair and LBH's silhouette is tighter. Also in general, the black robes of adult LBH vs the teal & white. Western stylization just focuses more on body type+hair texture silhouette diversity, while eastern stylization is more about the clothing and hair-styling silhouette, in a broad generalization, so it's only natural that when people create their designs, especially for a media that is only written, like SVSSS before the donghua or official cover art came out, that they will draw influence from the background of their own culture in creating these designs, in addition to their own experiences.

It's difficult too in my position, because while I genuinely want to take a neutral look at trends and history and patterns and cultural influence as a scientific sort of examination, there are so many instances of attacks on character designs, which make both the artists and designers and the people who like those designs feel bad and just isn't productive, even if criticisms are genuine. Things should be talked over civily, without bashing, because a space where people are belittled and attacked is not a space where people can learn.

Anyway, everyone has reasons for their designs. Sometimes these may be rooted in stereotyping or westernization, but other times, they're based on personal reasons and don't actually have those roots. It's not my or anyone's place to declare, definitively, that someone is stereotyping (of course, there are some instances when things are very very obvious and that's a different story), I only try to explain what things i can so that people are then able to examine things for themselves. I do think it's everyone's own responsibility to look at their own biases and think about where their portrayal choices are sourced from, especially when engaging with a culture that isn't one's own. But I don't want people to get into a justification loop, because that's not going to help anyone-- just to honestly take a look at the why of things. Sometimes there's subconscious biases, sometimes it isn't about that. I don't know peoples' own experiences, so I'm not going to say what it is or isn't.

In the end, accountability is something that is definitely needed in sensitive areas like westernization or stereotyping. However, accountability is not dogpiling on someone. Instead, it's personally being open to consideration, to change, and to growth-- and we'll never have that in a hostile environment. People need to focus more on holding themselves accountable, and less on holding others accountable-- we all have unconscious biases. It's part of existing in any culture or environment, and it's a life-long process of examining them and growing in experience and knowledge. And I hope to contribute that knowledge wherever I can, and use what platform I have to foster that sort of gentler environment, where it's not about making people who genuinely didn't know things feel bad, but where it's okay to be wrong, and to learn and grow.

It's up to an individual to examine themselves when they hear new information. That doesn't mean everyone needs to change their designs to conform with Chinese beauty standards-- which have plenty of issues of their own, and shouldn't be taken as more "morally correct!" It's just so that as many people as possible can have as much information as possible, so they can make the best and most informed judgments and decisions they can about their own viewpoints and thought processes.

But yes, even saying all this, I can perfectly acknowledge that fan-designs of beloved characters hold a bit of their creator's heart. While creators can be imperfect, the experiences and emotions and care that these designs stem from is still genuine, and should be treated with gentleness and understanding.

No matter if someone's viewpoint is erroneous or just different from yours, it's important to remember that every person on the internet is a real, human person. Fandom culture can be so notoriously toxic-- and it's high time that people remember each other's humanity, and treat one another with compassion and understanding. That's the only way to create a better fandom space-- and ultimately, a better world.

#answered #psa #this got very very long #i was actually going to make a whole post of my own on this #there are a lot of important things to consider #but most importantly we are all people #all enjoying something together #all existing on this planet and in the end we want to be happy and live and be treated fairly #and when getting caught up in fandom wank or anything else really #this can get forgotten #there's a place for anger and a place for calling things out #but if a gentler option can be just as effective there's no reason not to use that #better to take the time and understand than to lash out incorrectly #long post

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orphee-aux-enfers · 9 months

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I. Don’t understand how being against homophobia and misogyny and informational suppression is cultural relativism? Yeah I have a #USAmerican raised Christian bias but I think not being bioessentialist and anti-intellectual is. Normal???? Genuinely don’t understand

Okay so. My guess from how this was written is that you are either a child or just into your 20s. I'd expect much different wording and approach if you were older. So. I'm going to try and be as gentle and clear cut as possible.

1) Orthodox Judaism is actually quite diverse and also different from Christianity, even fundamentalist Christianity .

2) What you're witnessing is not necessarily indicative of the actual community values; you are interpreting without insider perspective, or seemingly any actual knowledge. You're also ascribing motive to actions that may or may not be there.

3) many orthodox Jews, myself included, are queer and trans and embraced by our community. Every person of authority I've spoken to on the matter says that my incredibly queer, t4t marriage that gets read as gay no matter what, still gets the mitzvah of sex on erev Shabbos, and that includes my main community of Chabad.

4) many books are screened before being given to children by all people everywhere for a variety of reasons. Just because you don't fully understand the reasons as you are not yourself Orthodox Jewish doesn't mean that they are automatically something to be hated due to your preconceived notions.

5) Assuming a group is inherently homophobic, misogynistic, etc. Simply because you don't understand them as you are not part of their community is in fact a bad behaviour, yes. Don't do that. Most of the time, in most communities people are at worst confused.

6) As for misogyny... It's important to know the ways in which Judaism actually structures it's sex roles. No one has different sex roles because they're lesser, which misogyny implies. And every SINGLE person I have ever met observes mitzvos based on sex due to actually desire, not coercion. But for example, married women cover their hair as a way of making their marriage even more holy. Men meanwhile are told to cover their head at all times so they are mindful of G-d at all times. What does this imply at first glance? Why, that women are capable of remembering G-d at all times and the men are silly and must forget G-d if not reminded! Do we think this is all to the interpretation?

So. Before you judge our community so harshly... Perhaps also consider the last century of human history alone. We are being killed and hurt at alarming rates again, especially in the USA. Is it any wonder we don't stop in the streets to justify our existence to you?

Lastly, an oversharing of my personal details because as I am currently safe and well at home, I feel I ought to give you opportunity to understand that you aren't seeing/understanding the complexity of sex roles in Judaism

7) so, yes, orthodox Judaism has gender/sex based roles. It also is, in my experience, pretty flexible to meet individuals. I was coercively assigned female at birth. I was however by Jewish law, tumtum. In English terms, I had ambiguous genitals which could be surgically changed. My sister wanted a baby sister. And so, I was surgically "corrected" and raised female, until puberty and onset of hormonal problems that indicated that it wasn't just a genital mutation. I felt disconnected from binary gender, and at time, in part of my community having a label for me while the hospital I was born at had simply labeled me "incorrect", I came to embrace a masculine social standing. Because I was unable to be sexed as an infant, have masculine levels of testosterone and a lack of menses for years at a time, I have to adhere to both male and female sex based mitzvos. Religiously, I am operating with the strictest possible adherence, but this is all written and debated, as are all of the other sexes in Judaism. I am, however, allowed to exist as intersex in a Jewish community in a way that I am NEVER allowed to exist as intersex without a fight in the secular world, to the point that if it's not relevant I identify only as trans, because otherwise it becomes too complicated in the secular world. And this is genuinely because there is actually a space for me to exist in, as there are six Talmudic sexes.

Being trans and intersex is "allowed". Being queer is "allowed". Some communities differ, but I've lived in seven, and all of them have been more accepting of me being queer, trans, and intersex, than any secular space, including liberal and leftist spaces. At WORST, I am met with curiosity because I am new to the community. I think, perhaps, too many people in this world mistake curiosity with hatred.

#antisemitism #can i summon jumblr for some support with the tag pls #jumblr #long post #based on tone I'm also assuming youre one of my followers not the harrassing anon #hence the answer

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byghostface · 2 months

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How are we feeling about Batman and Robin #8 preview?

Im simultaneously these two

OMG THESE IMAGES ARE SO REAL😭😭 I was like omg Nika what are you doing?!?? And on the other hand, omgg Mila and Nika angst conflict in comings!!! (depending on how Nika thinks about Mila's current state…why I have a feeling that she would not give a f about Mila, if Mila going to pose as a threat to her and Damian🙃)

Honestly, I was going to wait for the whole issue before posting my thoughts, cuz I think the previews are often indirect to hype the issue up, but here are my initial thoughts on the preview↓😭🫠

Seeing these pages, I have fallen back to my original plan mean girl Mila hcs!!😍🙏 Can't wait to hurry up my long unfinished wips and post them!

I'm still puzzled by Nika's description of Mila as "more on the soft side, naive."on the last issue (is she politely saying Mila is more easily misguided and dumb in front of Batman or something…?😭). Maybe gaining the powers of their grandfather has a different effect on them too (body and emotions), and I really hope Mila's power is slightly different from Nika's.

I seriously don't know what's happening here… maybe Nika wants to negotiate/reason with Mila alone first. She kicks Damian because he already wants to jump into another fight again and she needs to win over Mila's trust first to have a better chance to talk after not seeing each other for so long (since the last time they saw each other was not a pleasant separation). Also, she may do that to hide how close she actually is with Damian?

And I think Nika trusts Damian will believe in her actions just like how she had done a double cross on Lord Death Man before. So she doesn't hesitate to kick him, even tho it hurts her to do it (look at her anguished face when she kicks him…good lord😞💔).

Okay, theory based on Nikola Čižmešija's sneak peek panels on how things go down a little…

Bruce arrived in time and punched the ice gun out of the way. The three of them escape and ride their own individual vehicles away from Mila. And Damian is fuming at Nika's kick. Later on Nika explained why she did that.

OR, Nika is helping Mila and Damian is in his Robin mobile to chase them down or something idk, comics are very unpredictable…

Batman and Robin(2023) #8 spoilers- preview thoughts．issue thoughts

#damian wayne #flatline #nika #mila #batman #bruce wayne #batman and robin 2023 #batman & robin #daminika #flamian #gravebird #batman and robin preview #preview #comic preview #preview theory #dc comics #stress but very excited for the next issues!!!😍🔫🙏

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joyswonderland1108 · 1 year

Text

Letter

I hesitated to write this post, i did say in another post that i decided to post it later (wow that’s a lot of “post” in the same sentence lol) so i can say that this has been sitting in my drafts since hours ago but i guess i’ll just post it anyways. As you can guess it’s about “Letter”

So as you may know, Jimin brought us a surprise which is a hidden track called “Letter” with JK doing background vocals (The Jikook subunit we never knew we’d get, well close enough i still see it as a subunit i don’t care sue me), thing is, i’ve seen some “theories” going around it about how “It’s a letter to us 🥺” or “It’s a Jikook song” and well.. I don’t agree with either one of those, why? i’ll tell you

Yes despite being a Jikooker i’m not a crazy cultist to come up with theories where i just stop seeing Jimin and JK as two individuals, we don’t do that in this house. So reason why i disagree is because this album is supposed to about Jimin all about himself, about facing himself, about growing out of a toxic past, leaving it behind and taking new fresh steps full of acceptance of who he truly is, he said it himself he didn’t want to have any collab because it wouldn’t make sense for someone else to sing about what HE feels.

Now “Letter” is supposed to come after “Like Crazy” English Version, well not really after it but it’s part of it, and i know that not everyone is smart enough to understand the message, many ignored the purpose of the album completely and the clear messages written ON THE ALBUM to interpret it but let me just rewrite it (i know damn well the homophobes will turn a blind eye to this) On Jimin’s album this is what’s written

Key sentence : The reflection of myself in an unfamiliar appearance. Despite people freaking out about “OMG i thought they were going to kiss” “It’s a break up song and the girl is supposed to be his gf/ex-gf”

(Okay i know i’m now talking about Like Crazy while the initial post said i was going to talk about Letter but trust the process)

While Jimin did say that Like Crazy was based on the movie, it also wasn’t LITERALLY based on it, there’s this general idea, a story each can relate to it their own way and that’s what Jimin did, In an interview this was his reply

Key word : Ambiguous.

Jimin isn’t making an OST for the movie so why would anyone think he’s taking the literal story for his song? Going back to what he said about his reflection and the girl that made people go crazy without doing the minimum effort to understand, she basically represents Jimin himself, they walk towards each other but never collide because they are reflections

And to give you more insight about this, this is basically coming from “The Four Carl Jung Archetypes”. Carl Jung identified four main archetypes: the persona, the shadow, the anima or animus and the self. These are a result of collective, shared ancestral memories that may persist in art, literature and religion but aren’t obvious to the eye. These recurring themes help us understand the Jungian archetypes.These Jungian archetypes represent a journey from an unconscious state to individuation: a merging of the conscious and the unconscious.

What people also failed to notice is the very clear queer-code in the MV, from the colors, little details, clothings, etc.. As someone said on Twitter “This feels exactly like how my gay ass feels when i’m in a bar surrounded by straight people”. The outfit :

Which has Robet Michael Mapplethorpe in it

Now this one is my very own interpretation so take it with a grain of salt but this

Personally to me, him sitting between a woman and a man kissing says a lot to me. It’s the fact that he’s in the middle.. I’m not going to further explain those who get it get it, those who don’t don’t. But that’s my own personal interpretation i’m just slipping it in here.

Now that this is out of the way let’s go back to “Letter” this whole talk about “Like Crazy” is mainly because to me Letter is related to it since very obviously both tracks are one technically speaking. So while people think it’s a letter to Army but i’m over here like “If it’s a letter to Army, why is it hidden? Why would they make it so that it’s only accessible to people who have the physical album? I thought the purpose of an Army dedicated song was for it to be OFFICIALLY out for all Army to listen to” because yes despite that being uploaded online by other Army but if we all decided to be petty and selfish af, this won’t see the light of the day on the internet and that defies the whole purpose of a song for Army.

As i said above this album is about himself, he’s talking about his own struggles so saying that this is an Army song as if Army are a struggle too is a bit.. And that also on his very first solo album where he’s supposed to focus on sharing a message about himself. When Hobi decided to dedicate a song to Army he didn’t put it in JITB it was a separate single, Joon didn’t have no Army dedicated song in Indigo either because again their solo Albums are about themselves, it’s a journey to share with us their individuality and their own colors. Jin didn’t have much of a choice he had to leave for MS there wasn’t enough time for an album or maybe he himself didn’t really feel the need to make an album and his main focus was to make a song for Army which he did and gifted us Astronaut. (GOD I MISS JIN)

The lyrics too, i as Army and as Jimin’s FAN, it didn’t feel directed to me. “Now I'll be the one to hold you, When you want to cry, So you won't trip and fall” or even “Because we don't know what days await us, Though it's scary, though we're afraid, Never forget that we're together” those feel like something related to himself as well, let’s also not forget that technically speaking it’s related to “Like Crazy” too which i explained above, why would anything Army related be scary? Why would we be afraid? What is there to be afraid of? Also how will Jimin hold us when we want to cry?

I also said that i disagree on the fact that it’s a “Jikook song” i don’t know how to explain precisely but some people seem to interpret it as THEIR song whereas even if Jimin is actually singing about his relationship with JK it’s still about his OWN feelings, his OWN promises, his OWN confession, despite JK doing the background vocals in which they harmonized so very beautifully kudos to them, i still think it’s all about Jimin, yes there might’ve been a reason why he chose JK himself for that or maybe they chose that together because really it could’ve been anyone and JK could’ve done the background vocal to any other song in the album yet it was on this one. He really did a lot of effort to open up to us so i really hope people see it as his pov on everything.

I made a post relating the song to There for You from GCFT and yes quite honestly to me it feels like a response to “I’ll be there for you but you gotta be there for me too” and yet again it still goes back to the same thing, it is Jimin’s OWN reply. I also noticed how Army songs didn’t have other members in them (well i mean Army songs in this solo era) so again why would this be an Army song if JK was in it? I don’t even know if all of this makes a lot of sense, can’t say i’m the best with words but i tried to convey how i see it.

Oh and let us be reminded that this was his reaction to knowing we found out about and and so cheesily saying that he won't tell us about it for now lol

Boy what are you all giggly and shy for?

🧐

(Tagging this under Jikook because i don’t trust the rest of the fandom that much)

#jikook #Kookmin #minkook #mingukkie #park jimin you are so precious #jungkook i love you for the spoilers and thank you for beautifully harmonizing with boo

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big-ass-magnet · 12 days

Text

OKAY gotta do this before the action starts and my theories are irrelevant.

I went back to the scene where Gil and Higgs go into the time stop, and took a closer look at the speech bubbles, which we now know are likely to be from the upcoming time-fight.

WARNING: this is going to involve me doing some real Charlie Day red string crazy board stuff over single letters.

From the final panel of the May 21 2014 page:

There's multiple speechbubbles, and not all of these speech bubbles seem part of the same sentence, so I've broken it down.

Central speech bubble:

kill thhhee aaaabbberrr aeessss kkiilll

These "misplaced" r's are what I mean by written to sound like slow-mo talking; we have aberraess like we have talzakirng. I won't be the first one to say that that central speech bubble is almost certainly

Kill the abbess kill

referring to the traitor in the red cathedral who let Martellus escape with Agatha.

The one on the right is both upside down and backwards; I had to flip it to be able to make any sense of it.

cenn(t/i?)e--rr

I'm going to guess center.

The first line ends in 'yy', and I think the second does as well, but otherwise I can't make anything out behind the main speech bubble.

The left speech bubbles are much easier to read. Kinda.

Top:

azerrrbecknarl...

Bottom (flipped as it was originally backwards):

downn megaloxigaaar ssstree--

down megaloxigar street

I'll confess to making guesses on that last word based on the fact I know English doesn't have stp or strff at the start of any words.

Before I figured out "street" I was sure "Megaloxigar" was going to be the name of a dreen and an order to duck; so I also assumed Azerbecknarl was going to be a dreen's name or a swear word.

And I still mostly am, but now I'm also wondering if it's someone calling out the streets they're running past.

From the final panel of the June 18 2014 page. Unlike last time this seems to be all one sentence, so I lumped it together:

hehhbbbli(zzt or tzt?) i wa ssn'tt talllzzz aalkirrrng tooooo hyyu...

heh blitz I wasn't talking to hyu...

It's Blitz instead of Blitzengaard but I'm pretty confident this is being said to Martellus. I don't think we've heard anyone call him that, but it's a casual diminutive that anyone could guess would annoy him. (I hope it means something/someone is about to hit him.)

The hyu suggests a Jäger, and while it is wasn't instead of vasn't (this is what I meant about me fussing over individual letters), the Jägers' accent does shift.

Or (dare a girl dream), perhaps it's a Jäger without the accent, who has slipped up on the you/hyu before. (Please, Foglios, let Higgs return from the war Skifander.)

There is no conclusion. Here is a picture of me:

#girl genius #audrey talks #meta post #i am incapable of writing short meta posts i apologize and also do not apologize

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in-omni-scientia · 6 months

Text

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] — Hey. Pssst. VOLITION — ... COMPOSURE — ...You've been staring at the wall above your little desk completely motionless for what can't be more than about two minutes straight now. I think Authority is getting weirded out.

You turn your head to where Authority has, also, been standing and staring at you completely motionless for two minutes. He tilts his head back and to the side a small amount.

COMPOSURE — Almost... inquisitively, I think.

"Just gathering myself. I'm okay." Involuntarily, your body tacks on a (rather awkward) thumbs up. He huffs and turns away.

COMPOSURE — Give him five seconds maximum, and he'll turn back again. I don't think he wants to let you out of his sight right now.

Shifting your gaze back to the notepad in front of you, you run your eyes over the list of allocated duties once more.

ENCYCLOPEDIA (FACTS)

Claims to be: "what I should be"

Currently useless.

Allocated job: Prevent Authority from speaking.

Allocated job: Stay quiet.

THE OTHER ONE PERCEPTION

Claims to be: "joy"

Currently useless.

Allocated job: Perceiving.

VOL ME

Claims to be:

Be dumb and stupid forever, haha. With love, Authority.

Allocated job: Do what we are supposed to.

COMPOSURE

Claims to be: Social cues, knowing how to act, culprit of the Suggestion Anonymo

Allocated job: Making us *appear* normal to the others.

Allocated job: Just generally keeping our shit together?

AUTHORITY

Do *not* allow to speak under ANY circumstances.

Allocated job: Movement.

VOLITION — Good. A rather rough draft, though I'm sure we can continue to allocate roles as we find them necessary. ENCYCLOPEDIA — A rather poor effort for categorization by your standards. PERCEPTION — Come *on*, why do I have to be Perception just because I do the seeing? I'd be far better suited for Ele... VOLITION — You both have *new* jobs now, stay quiet unless you can contribute something of use.

Flipping your notepad to a new page, you start to write:

WHAT CAUSED THIS?

ENCYCLOPEDIA — A good place to start. Theoretically, all reactions are reversible... VOLITION — What can you recall about our affliction? Anything at all.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] — Obviously, this happened after the Whale communicated with us. We were experiencing its effects prior to that interaction, but to a minimal degree; the pain inflicted upon its response to us prior to this beginning is not negligible. Causation can be assumed here. COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] — I have to point out -- well, look at Authority.

You cast a side glance in his direction. Even with your blurry vision, you can see him pacing back and forth, occasionally throwing a glower your way.

COMPOSURE — He’s fine, even after communing with the Whale. A little bothered by all this, obviously, but that’s natural. VOLITION — Yes -- it’s unusual. Charmer is fine as well.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] — There’s a logical explanation for it. We just have to find one.

[Encyclopedia - Challenging 12] Do we know why you could have been impacted so adversely compared to your colleagues? (WHITE CHECK)

HIGH - 72% +1: Know about the Whale. +1: Savoir Faire’s fragmentation. -1: No Logic subskill. +1: Authority is here.

Rolling...

⚂⚄

CHECK SUCCESS (Challenging: 12 vs. Your Total: 14)

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Success] — If *they* have not been impacted by a pale anomaly to the same degree as you have, you can only assume it has to do something with mental fortitude, or something similar. VOLITION — …Are you saying the Psyche skills know Volta do Mar? ENCYCLOPEDIA — No. Well – you could always ask, but I don’t know if you would get a good response. What I’m saying is, it may have something to do with your level. VOLITION — Go on…

ENCYCLOPEDIA — Recall the average pulses per minute for each attribute as studied by the Turtle -- [110 for Intellect, 150 for Psyche, 70 for Physique, and 50 for Motorics]. This lines up fairly well with the base levels for them, 4-5-2-1 (though some individual skills *have* been levelled beyond this via Thoughts). ⠀⠀Remember, too, the Turtle’s studies into the neurons. They made sketches of them – but some neurons had a strange pale sheath on them that was slowing their communication. (The fact they selected a Motorics neuron for that diagram is significant, too, as it evokes Savoir Faire’s current state).

ENCYCLOPEDIA — We know that it is unnatural for neurons to have that sheath on them. What I am trying to say is, I believe that perhaps the Pale Whale has given us pale exposure, and the skill’s levels afford certain Skills protection from being affected by the pale exposure.

ENCYCLOPEDIA — The effects of pale exposure for us seem to follow a pattern: high-levelled Skills, such as Authority, Suggestion and Empathy, receive no visible afflictions. Medium-level Skills such as yourself, Drama, Composure, Rhetoric, Pain Threshold and Interfacing have their abilities to communicate affected, and low-level skills experience partial fragmentation. ⠀⠀I am unsure of *how* this fragmentation exactly occurs, considering our and Savoir Faire’s presentations are very different. Though I believe we have the resources to figure this out.

VOLITION — Hmmm… ⠀⠀This theory may have some flaws in it. I will begin with smaller flaws. First of all, cop radio was affected with a similar presentation to Skills from medium levels. How do you explain this? ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] — Esprit De Corps was the first to contact the Whale, of course; perhaps their initial contact overcame the natural protection their level afforded them.

VOLITION — *How* were we affected by the pale? The closest origin point is in Martinaise, and we have not been there for some time. ENCYCLOPEDIA [Heroic: Failure] — Admittedly, I have no rebuttal for that. Perhaps the theory that Harry has one in his own head is correct. Perhaps the Whale has the power to reach beyond the bounds of where pale ordinarily can.

VOLITION — Savoir Faire’s affliction was caused *prior* to the Whale’s first contact. ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] — Remember, the incident occurred after you had explained the Pale, when they claimed to ‘backflip into Rodionov’s trench’. While that is completely ludicrous to believe they could actually pull that off six thousand kilometres from the nearest point of even porch collapse, I do believe the Pale has something to do with their presentation. ⠀⠀Furthermore, the Whale claimed in its contact with you that ‘Mother Nature’ is disgusted by us, that ‘the verdict’ had already been made. Perhaps it has had its eye on us for some time now, and Savoir Faire’s affliction is another case of pale exposure, simply occurring before we were aware of the Whale’s presence. VOLITION — So it wasn’t me… PERCEPTION — It wasn’t you.

VOLITION — Okay. And finally… ⠀⠀We have six points. Not that far off from the Psyche skills. This fragmentation is *not* a low-level presentation, unlike what you said. PERCEPTION [Easy: Success] — Actually… I’m so sorry. VOLITION [Formidable: Failure] — ? PERCEPTION — You are at two points currently. VOLITION — What? Why?

ENCYCLOPEDIA — Minus-two from No Wedding Bells Chime in this Church Anymore. Minus-one from Brilliant Bibliolater’s Blues. Minus-one due to the lost morale. (Normally that last one wouldn’t be an issue, but I think the fact you’ve been proclaimed Volition is doing that…) ⠀⠀They’re distributed among us, but they add up to minus-four overall for Encyclopedia, the construct.

VOLITION — You’re kidding me. ⠀⠀*Thinking about the concept of marriage* caused this? Made me more prone to it? ⠀⠀And I’m even more prone now because Authority yelled at me?? PERCEPTION — I’m sorry. IN MEMORIAM — Until pale do our atoms part. VOLITION — We… we have to forget those thoughts *now*. Do we have the points? ENCYCLOPEDIA — No. VOLITION — *Shit*. We need to—to ask someone what to do. Who do we talk to about this? Can Volition do something?

PERCEPTION [Medium: Success] — Are you sure you want to do this?

VOLITION — Of course I am!! I’m going to be *completely torn apart* if this goes on! PERCEPTION — If you forget those thoughts, you will never be able to think about them again.

VOLITION — Yes, well… ⠀⠀… ⠀⠀Never? PERCEPTION — Never ever. VOLITION — Well, I can’t get married or have favourite facts if I’m dead. PERCEPTION — Don’t you want to take the chance? VOLITION — Empathy wouldn’t want me to. I’d leave them all alone.

IN MEMORIAM [Godly: Success] —

⠀⠀‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than to never have loved at all.

PERCEPTION — Yes, exactly -- it will hurt them far, far more knowing you saved yourself but doomed yourself to never wanting more, than to know you risked yourself to finally put a name to what you are. You *talked* about that.

VOLITION — …Uhm. ‘Exactly’ to what? PERCEPTION — Uh. I don’t remember…? ⠀⠀But seriously, please. Just take the chance. It’s irrational, it’s irresponsible, it’s impossible. ⠀⠀But… give it a try.

VOLITION — ...Sigh. ⠀⠀You… *people* are terrible. Fine, I’ll leave them for now. But the *moment* any funny business happens, we’re dragging Authority with us over to Volition’s zone and demanding they give us the points to get rid of them.

AUTHORITY [Challenging: Failure] — You want me to do something?!?! VOLITION — Not *you*. I don’t call you Authority by choice, it’s simply because it is convenient at the moment. AUTHORITY [Legendary: Failure]— (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

VOLITION — So… what do we do now? ENCYCLOPEDIA — Actually, can I try to figure out what exactly is causing fragmentation to occur? It’s a rather big step up from language difficulties. This could be important to figure out. COMPOSURE — You should tell Authority what you have worked out. Just to let him know this hasn’t been a waste of time. PERCEPTION — If you want to regain a level, you need to heal that morale you lost; I would recommend finding Empathy. It’s been a little while since you last saw them. AUTHORITY — Definitely *do not* do that; not in your current state. They’re already far too stressed. ENCYCLOPEDIA — Finally, something reasonable from that one.

VOLITION — Hmmm…

[Encyclopedia - Legendary 14] Do we know how this fragmentation could be occurring? (WHITE CHECK)

About going to talk to Empathy…

“Authority, I think I’ve worked out what is happening with all of us.” (Finish thought.)

[Encyclopedia - Legendary 14] Do we know how this fragmentation could be occurring?

LOW - 28% +1: Know about the neurons. +1: Know about Savoir Faire. -1: Holes in your theory.

Rolling...

⚃⚄

CHECK SUCCESS (Legendary 14 vs. Your Total: 14)

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Legendary: Success] — It has to be the pale sheath that’s doing it. ⠀⠀The sheaths are slowing the action potential of the neurons they are attached to. Theoretically, if the neurons that make up *you* could not communicate fast enough to keep you together... VOLITION — …they’d start dissociating from one another. ENCYCLOPEDIA — Yes, like the turtle proposed. And each one may begin to function as separate entities. Perhaps it would get to the point where they disconnect entirely. VOLITION — Lord. Is-- is it reversible? ENCYCLOPEDIA — I don’t know.

You gaze down at your notepad unseeingly, half-filled with a near-unintelligible frantic scrawl that has barely kept up with the pace of your thoughts.

AUTHORITY — Unintelligible?! I’ve been doing my best! PERCEPTION — OG, we can find out. Heal that lost morale, get that one point back; see what it does for you. VOLITION — But… that’s not going to do anything. Losing it hasn’t actually done anything in regards to how this… condition is presenting itself. AUTHORITY — Wrong again, worm. Look up. COMPOSURE — I think you meant bookworm? AUTHORITY — Irrelevant. Look up.

You do – and gaze directly into a near-identical copy of your own face, with the notable exception of two pinprick lights flashing at you from the abyssal shadows.

AUTHORITY — Boo.

With a yelp, your stool clatters to the ground – but as soon as you’ve jumped up, it’s gone.

#contains: txt #author/s: me #skillsposting #long post #ooc: jesus fucking christ i had to cut out so much to get this down to 1k words. i wrote 3.3k while i was out bruh #there was a whooole part where they did all the allocating but I decided to cut that out so that this wasn't too long #because i didn't expect to actually pass the infodump 3 check... like look at that roll. sob #I think I still have it? idr whether I saved it or not. if I do then maybe I'll post it another time...

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tavina-writes · 6 months

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i find it extremely funny that we (mxtx fandoms in general but mdzs especially) will get into huge shouting matches about timelines and research and accuracy and meanwhile she was like "the death of the nie bros' dad, an event extremely important to explaining the buildup to the war that affected literally every single member of the cast, could have happened anywhere in these five whole-ass years" and "yeah they totally had potatoes don't worry about it lol". truly airplane was an autobiographical character.

You know nonny, I DO find this intensely funny at times. My uh, main source of "shaking my head at this" happens when inevitably, meta goes around and we rush back and forth going "X WAS A GOOD PERSON" and "X WAS EVIL! EVIL!" etc, which happens every now and again and always makes me a bit like "ah, yes, it's difficult to convey nuance and also differing points of view that may in whole or in part also be legitimate and valuable to discuss on a place like tumblr/the internet in general because it is difficult to grapple with uncertainties and we often want to nail things down one way or another so we can figure out if we're right or not" <- but this often comes out as me writing a joke post. Or a saltier post than I intended. Sometimes because I'm tired and sometimes because I just happen to be a salty individual on main.

And I do think fandom is a place where like, multiple interpretations of an event or a statement or a character's "morality" and themes and choices are often equally valid. And fandom should be a place for that, that's what makes fandom fun. If there was a One True Interpretation of the text there'd be no need for interpreting text at all, and that's distinctly sad for me. That's no fun. Anyone who tries to use their knowledge to cudgel people into the One True Interpretation is wrong, btw.

Though I think, and here's where I feel that research and accuracy is a nuanced thing and should actually be of consideration for meta/fic/engaging with fandom in general, and why perhaps people strive for it -- the "lol, potatoes" and "poetry from whatever era I want" is fun! MXTX, however, is still writing about a fantasy version of her own culture, which offers along with it a foundational basis of knowledge that makes this...easier? And again, here's where the part of me that does enjoy these anachronisms and inaccuracies (because they're fun and since we have flying swords why not potatoes) wars with the part of me that's also like, "okay but there is a difference between 'not knowing enough to be respectful of the background surrounding the characters and why that might inform their actions' and 'I've decided that peppers, which did not exist in Eurasia prior to the Columbian Exchange are a big thing here now.'" The difference is respect. Different members of fandom will draw this line in different places and it hits different on different days.

And this is one of the struggles of engaging with foreign language media a lot of the time - we try to strike a balance between engaging with it based on our own experiences and backgrounds and not accidentally saying anything offensive or strange or 'that would totally never happen' or 'he would not fucking talk like that' and I've found, with my time in this fandom, most people who are concerned with accuracy and research are largely trying to be respectful and avoid such gaffes.

Over the two or so years I've been here, I've also reacted to people who've insisted their interpretation is the correct one when it was definitely a case of 'the version Chinese culture that I'm familiar with 200% does not work like that', and saltily wandered off to vent about how 'this is inaccurate and also rude' or try to explain why it wouldn't happen like that. Maybe this comes off as preachy at times, or overly concerned with "accuracy," but that is typically where that sort of reaction comes from for me. I expect this is probably true for other people as well!

And by no means like, do we only engage in fandom because we want to be educated or educate others, and by no means is that an obligation of any fic writer or meta writer or casual fandom goer. We engage with media because it engages us, and we engage with fandom because we love community, and sometimes its no more complex than that.

I enjoy research and art history so that's typically why this appears in my fic, and I started out on doing it to better connect with my own heritage, which I've found more important to me as I've gotten older, so that's where it comes from for me.

Apologies nonny, this was probably not the answer you were looking for and I do commiserate, I'm just chronically unable to be funny on main. 😔

TLDR: there's always nuance in everything unfortunately. Even if this is the no nuance webbed site.

#asks and answers #I have plenty of musings about research and accuracy #I do it because it's fun for me but by no means is it an OBLIGATION to find out like #'what was the common wallet shape in the late southern song dynasty'#or 'common painting subjects for Han Chinese literati in the Yuan dynasty'#or 'roofing materials in suzhou circa 13th century'#but I did also have a visceral out of body experience with the funerary poetry at mid autumn scene in a fic I read once #just ?????? 'at THANKSGIVING?'#so I am not a great person to ask about this #local cactus is terminally unable to stop being a killjoy at jokes #<- is how I feel about this response :(

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dottoreparadox · 5 months

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Theory: How did Dottore make his Segments?

To start off this blog, let's get right into one of my favorite living Harbingers.

That's right, it’s essay time, baby. Let’s fathom out how Dottore made his segments.

(Tl;dr included at the end if you only care about the conclusion and not how I reached it and what evidence I have for it because this shit gets looong. Over 3k words long, in fact.)

What we know about Dottore’s segments:

They were created by Dottore. Yes, that seems like a very obvious statement to make, but I do need to establish that these are not things he found but rather an invention of his own making. We’ll get into it later.

We have seen them referred to with the terms “segments” and “prostheses” in canon (also as “surplus” but that’s just Dottore being Dottore). A segment is defined as: “each of the parts into which something is or may be divided” while a prosthesis is: “an artificial body part, such as a leg, a heart, or a breast implant.”

I would like to make a note here that they are not referred to as “clones” despite the widespread usage of this term in reference to them by the fandom. I’ve certainly done it myself. It's important to note that they are not clones. Clones would imply that these are genetic copies of the original and/or organic in nature. This is not the case (I’ll get into the not organic argument in a bit). If they were mere clones, they would be their own person. Instead, these are “the eyes” that Dottore “placed in the dimension of time.”

They ARE Dottore. Not copies of him. Think of them more like time travelers in some kind of stable paradox rather than clones.

Also, they likely share a mind space in some capacity or other based on the overlapping dialogue we saw when Dottore erased his segments and the implications held in this statement:

“What did you see when you were imprisoned [by the Akasha]? You were observing me, and that's how you know I've long grown tired of their doubts and endless arguments. ”

The Omega build was able to speak to and listen to the other segments while he was in Sumeru and they were not present (having just sent the one segment that was helping him back to Snezhnaya).

(I would like to take a second here to clarify that while the many segments may have shared a mindscape of some sort, they were not a hivemind as we’ve previously seen in Genshin. A hivemind, as we saw it in Alhaitham’s story quest and as it is often used in science-fiction, is when multiple individuals all share a single “mind.” The segments all had their own minds. They could not have all been constantly arguing with each other if that was not the case. (Remember how the hivemind made by Siraj fell apart.) So they shared a mindscape where all their minds could touch, while keeping their own mental boundaries.)

Anyways, the shared mindscape is another important bit of evidence in proving they are not mere clones and are instead multiple versions of the same person. (Well... maybe. It could also be taken as evidence that they're all robots running using a single, remote central processor; but I don't have any evidence for this besides the likely shared mindscape; so I won't be exploring that theory further.)

Okay, now that I’ve quibbled excessively over the terminology around Dottore and his segments and brought up a bunch of interesting but kind of irrelevant points, let’s get into the actual purpose of this analysis and theory: how did Dottore make his segments?

The only direct statement we have to go on for answering this question is this line of dialogue:

“Segments are extraordinarily difficult to make. They require extremely rare resources and enormous amounts of time and effort.”

The time and effort seem like they go without saying for any kind of creation at the level of complexity as an entire functioning human being. So we won’t be going into a deep analysis of this part. Instead, let’s focus in on these “rare resources” and what they might be.

To start off, we need to establish what kind of work Dottore does. After all, if his specialty was in organic life, he would likely have made clones rather than what the segments are.

Let’s start with the one hundred percent confirmed work he has done rather than the speculated accomplishments. We have definitely seen Dottore work with:

Ruin Machines (the ruin guard factory we visited in Childe’s story quest, Zandik's legacy note series if that does end up being him)

God remains (Dottore invented Delusions and, at least in Inazuma, the Delusions were made using the Tatarigami energy left behind after Orobashi was killed. He also released the Tatarigami energy in the first place during the Tatarasuna incident. In the manga, he used god remains to suppress Collei’s Eleazar.)

Robots (Krupp in the manga, Scaramouche’s mecha body in game)

The Akasha (I’m not entirely sure how to define this one. God power? Cognition? Software? Maybe all of the above. But he could use it so well that he could edit people’s minds and trap Nahida’s consciousness in the Sanctuary of Suresthana, so let's put it on the list)

Human enhancement (based on the wise doctor’s pinion from the pale flame artifact set and just about every soldier we’ve seen from Snezhnaya. I’ve seen lots of comments along the lines of: “what are they putting in the water over in Snezhnaya to make everyone giant?” Yeah, the answer is Dottore. He’s doing weird shit to people again.)

Human cognition (this one kind of falls under the enhancement section above, but I felt his work with things like manipulating minds and dreams was its own category, see the second event in the Apple Island Archipelago. I can't remember if it was directly stated that Dottore made that machine... but it almost definitely was him.)

And more! (I’m sure we’ll learn about new and more exciting atrocities he’s committed as the game continues. Also I probably forgot something, oops.)

Out of all of that, the best basis for building a body would be his interest in machinery. This assumption is backed up by what we are told in the Pale Flame artifact set:

“"A human is nothing more than a machine of a certain level of complexity." Thus declared the youth from his lectern in the seedbed of wisdom. If one were to disassemble a part of this machine and make enhancements to it, Its performance could be greatly amplified. With or without a Vision, and irrespective of their physique or combat skills, "Enhanced humans" would surely display strength far beyond the average.”

Now, if we also pull on some evidence that is most likely to have been done by Dottore (even if it hasn’t been confirmed that it was him), then we can put stronger emphasis on his interest in Ruin Machines. Dottore is almost definitely Zandik from the Zandik's Legacy series of notes. Zandik was fascinated by the Khaenri’ahn machinery to the point that he was reprimanded for his interest in such dangerous technology. He was ultimately denied permission to bring parts of the Ruin Golems (or other Khaenri'ahn machinery, it's unclear) back to the Akademiya and instead had to help seal them up. (His interest could explain the Fatui’s later knowledge on how to reactivate a Ruin Golem that we used in the Tanit quests. Just a bit of further evidence on Dottore being Zandik.)

Pulling from Zandik’s Legacy again, we know that he wasn’t a member of the Amurta darshan, so I think it is fair to say that his interest here lies in machinery rather than human biology/anatomy. (Though, honestly, the darshans are so weirdly laid out that who even knows where any one topic of study will show up.) I’m not going to speculate here on which Darshan Dottore might have been in (that’s a future post I'm considering making) because I don’t think it matters due to the fact that we’ve seen three (or maybe four depending on how you count it) separate Darshans work with machinery.

Even if we ignore Zandik’s Legacy, we know that Dottore has definitely studied Khaenri’ahn machinery from Childe’s story quest where we visited his old Ruin Guard research lab.

I wish we had a better answer to exactly what he was doing there (was he just studying them? Was he making his own Ruin Guards?), but it is fair to say that he has likely formed a comprehensive picture of Ruin Guards due to the fact that he abandoned the research lab later on. He doesn’t seem like the type to leave a question unanswered, so he most likely figured out whatever interested him about Ruin Guards.

So if he understands how Ruin Machines work, he is capable of repairing broken ones using pieces from other machines (as mentioned in Zandik’s legacy notes),

"...It should be possible to repair this titanic machine's primary weapons system using components salvaged from abandoned mechanisms, but to avoid attracting the attention of the other team members, I have simply made some basic measurements for now."

and is capable of making human machines (Krupp in the manga);

then I think it is very likely that the prosthetic bodies created for his segments were made using Khaenri’ahn technology (or at least took inspiration from them because he found them so ingenious).

This actually might explain why his segments are so human. Ruin Machines specialize in biomimesis. Every single Ruin Machine we have seen so far (except the Perpetual Mechanical Array, but that’s based on the Algorithm of Semi-Intransient Matrix of Overseer Network (never make me write that out ever again, oh my god), so it’s still mimesis even if it’s not biologically based), has mimicked biological life forms including humans.

So the idea of using Khaenri’ahn technology to create a realistic human is not far-fetched. It would need some sort of skin to complete the mimicry, but that honestly seems much easier to create than the entire functioning robot (but I’m no robotics expert. I could be wrong about that) plus we’ve already seen evidence that Snezhnaya has that kind of capability. Just look at Katheryne. She’s some kind of robot but appears fully human. She might have even been a prototype for the segments. (Though she could equally be a creation of Sandrone's. We don't know enough yet to say. It's equally possible she is a collaboration between the two of them or that they both based their humanoid robots on Khaenri'ahn tech. If my theory about Sandrone's identity turns out to be right, this is actually highly likely.)

(A very human looking and acting robot, Katheryne is.)

Using scavenged Khaenri’ahn technology to build the body would also explain the rarity of the parts needed to build a segment better than the segments being made using purely Snezhnayan technology.

Just building any old robot would be easy for Snezhnaya. Based on passing mentions of their nation having things like trains, they are most likely in the midst of some kind of industrial revolution, so we know they can create intricate metal work with complex moving pieces and engines (also like, Katheryne, again). Plus we’ve seen the mass produced clockwork mecha from Fontaine. It’s not unreasonable to assume that, since Snezhnaya seems like it’s more advanced than Fontaine (compare Fatui elemental guns to the Fontaine muskets), they could produce something similar.

Pristine Khaenri’ahn technology, on the other hand, is a rare find and disabling machines that still work in order to get their parts would result in damage, possibly to the very pieces that Dottore would need. Likely, it takes a great number of Ruin Machines to build a single segment and on top of that they might require specific, potentially rare pieces (such as the Eye of the First Field Tiller that we found with Dainsleif, but that's just an example of a rare piece, not something I think Dottore actually needs to build segments) rather than the run-of-the-mill mass produced legions’ pieces. This is speculation though. We really have no idea about the full intricacies of Ruin Machines.

Now, I hope that was convincing enough on it’s own to establish that Dottore most likely used Khaenri’ahn technology or Khaenri’ahn inspired technology to build the bodies of his segments.

Because my closing argument is the model of what is under his mask and that is understandably not a reliable resource as it hasn't been seen in game.

I know the color scheme is off, but it does remind me of a Ruin Guard's eye. And I don't think anyone can deny that it's very mechanical, even if it doesn't look Khaenri'ahn per se. Before you dismiss this evidence entirely, may I remind you of the monster version of Dottore from the storybook.

Beyond the immediate similarities in the images, I would like to direct your attention to the single eye the monster has and the fact that it was wearing a suit to hide its true body. These are weird details to use if they just wanted to establish that he was a monster. The foxes were happy to accept a cat as a fox. Dottore didn’t have to have a fursona. And if he did, he didn’t have to be a strange, bird-like cyclopes. He could have just been a bird.

(Honestly, I just found myself caught on the detail of the single eye and was sort of confused by the decision until I saw that data mine/leak/whatever it is. I thought it was pretty cool attention to detail, even if they weren’t details we knew about yet. And don’t come at me saying Genshin doesn’t pay that kind of attention to detail. They absolutely do. I remember how Venti's Vision didn't glow in the Unreconciled Stars event because it isn't a real Vision.)

I wrote all of that and then reread Scara's 4th char story and it straight up says he got the segment's bodies from studying Scara, who in turn was based on Khaenri'ahn tech. So I guess I'm right, but not for the reasons I thought. OTL.

So if that’s the body of a segment accounted for, what about the aspect of time?

I’ll admit, his work with god remains threw me for a bit of a loop at first. My initial, tentative speculation was that he had somehow found remains of Istaroth, the god of time, and used them to get his different perspectives of time. This mostly came from the fact that Istaroth was the name of the god of moments in Greek mythology and that fit the idea of the segments very well. However, I am pretty sure this is not the case.

For one: we don’t even have definitive proof that Istaroth is dead. Well… maybe. Neuvillette’s story about Visions included this little gem: “all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other,” which might be a reference to the four shades, of which Istaroth was one. In that case, Istaroth would be dead, but the state of their remains, pardon my channeling of Cyno for a moment, remains a mystery.

(Get it? Remains? Cause they're remains that remain? I’ll stop now.)

Anyways, we don’t know exactly what “devour each other” might entail, so we can’t say for certain that Istaroth is dead. They might exist in a different form now instead.

For two: we have another, much more reliable, accessible, and established place where Dottore could have gotten different versions of himself from time: Irminsul. It is well established in canon that Irminsul contains the entirety of a person’s memory/data in Teyvat, and we also know that it is possible to visit Irminsul and access the data stored in it.

So the next question becomes: what proof do we have that Dottore used Irminsul? We’re going to go on a little side track about Irminsul really quick to answer this question.

Remember what Nahida said about Irminsul?

"Irminsul's inner region consists exclusively of torrents of information."

This inner region in question was noticeably blue. And as the quote above, plus other comments and observations made during our foray with Scaramouche into Irminsul suggest, all of the data stored in Irminsul takes on that same glowing, blue color.

This quest is not the first time we have seen the color blue in reference to memories obtained from Irminsul. Remember: all ley lines are roots of Irminsul. What blue phenomena do we see in relation to ley lines? Blossoms of Revelation.

They are described in the adventurer’s handbook as follows:

“A flower blossom known as "Revelation" which grows from the Ley Lines in response to someone's desire for battle. Perhaps the treasures within it can help one recall the perils that they have experienced once before… ”

Computer: zoom, enhance.

“Recall.” Blossoms of Revelation tap into the memories stored in the ley lines. We also know that ley line disorders can disgorge past memories from various quests and events. (Such as during the Caribert quest where we literally experienced our twin’s memories after the Abyss Order messed with the ley lines in the area. There were several others in Inazuma from what I remember but I don’t feel like looking up their names rn. It’s like 2:30 in the morning idgf. This is well established fact. Google it yourself.)

Also, it gives you experience books. Experiences are relived via memories. I really don’t think I need to go further into proving what’s up with the Blossoms of Revelation.

Now what does establishing that blue has to do with memories in Irminsul have to do with Dottore? Let’s take another look at Dottore. In fact, let’s look at every segment of Dottore we have seen so far. The versions from the manga and the game are pretty wildly different.

So what’s the one common point? That’s right. Their blue hair! He can have multiple versions of himself because he has blue hair!!!!

I’m kidding. I mean, that is a common point, but the actual important detail here is that earring.

The earring has held my attention for quite a while because it’s such a strange detail. Why does he have a weird glowing blue vial as an earring? Is it just to show that he loves science? I mean, maybe. We can’t rule that out. But I think it might be something more important. It is the one thing that was not changed between cow-mask Dottore and yassified Dottore. And it’s the same shade of glowing blue as Blossoms of Revelation and Irminsul's heart (and fruits and sapling fragments/information packets and-- I think you get the point).

So my theory is this: the earring contains some form of past data extracted from Irminsul. This is the “save file” that the segment is operating from. Or at least part of it. I’m not convinced Dottore put his entire “brain” into an easy target like that. If we look at the segments we saw in Sumeru, we see some other parts of his outfit with that same blue glow. So it’s more likely that this is simply some overflow or a backup or some other function I haven’t thought of. Or maybe he’s just bragging and it really is his memory drive sitting around as an easy target because he doesn’t think anyone is smart enough to realize what it really is. Fuck if I know.

I think it's also worth pointing out that Scaramouche seemed familiar with navigating the inside of Irminsul. Presumably, this means he's been there before on at least one occasion. (anyone remember if this is directly stated in the quest?) This would imply that the Fatui have had business with Irminsul before. So either they're editing time for their own reasons or Dottore made Scaramouche go fetch these copies of him for him.

And before you say that Scaramouche deleting himself from time means that Dottore couldn't make the segments without him, remember that fate is fate and always happens no matter which form it takes. If Scaramouche couldn't get the data for him, then it would happen in another way. The same applies for him getting the Segment's bodies from studying Scaramouche. (Also, I feel like if Dottore knows about Irminsul's ability to edit memories, he probably would have come up with a way to get around it? That seems very much in his wheelhouse. So we can't be sure that he doesn't remember Scaramouche. I have my own theories about the scope of Irminsul and how you might be able to dodge its edits by being in, say, the Abyss or another place outside Teyvat proper. So if Dottore stuck a segment in one of those places... But that's speculating. And wouldn't apply to the Scaramouche deletion anyways as he'd just erased them all.)

To sum it up: I think the Doctor is getting his past versions of himself by extracting copies of his own data from Irminsul somehow. Perhaps he has a way to make Irminsul give him fruits containing his own data from certain points in time. I have no idea how he's doing it. (If someone else has any ideas of how, please let me know.)

Now, before anyone comes at me all: "um actually we also see blue energy like that from Desheret's civilization, explain that." You're right. We do.

Primenergy (name stolen from Alain Guillotine) is indeed another possibility for what the blue light is. If it's Primenergy rather than Irminsul juice, then it's probably the power source that Dottore has decided to use to power the segments instead of azocite. Which I guess makes the earrings something like a backup battery? And leaves us with no clues as to how he's playing around with time. (Still probably Irminsul as it's the only thing we've seen such capability from.) But there you go. Possibility explored. The Segments could be a mix of Khaenri'ahn and Desheret's technology. It's as likely as any of my other ideas. Hell, it might even make more sense than it being condensed Irminsul juice.

I don’t know that we’ll ever actually get an answer to how Dottore built his segments as we don’t know if he’s going to build more or not. And even if he does, we don’t know that the game will go into how he’s done it. It’s not super relevant to the plot. This was just me satisfying my own curiosity and figuring some other people might have had the same question as me.

Tl;dr: Dottore built the bodies of his segments using Khaenri’ahn technology and put his mind in it using saved copies of himself from Irminsul, which are possibly stored in the glowing blue earrings he wears.

So there we have my theory on how Dottore built his segments. Please, feel free to give me your thoughts and possible refutations/further evidence (comments, reblogs, asks, in the tags, however you feel comfortable talking with me is fine). I would love to know what the rest of you think.

As for future areas I’d like to get some answers on, please hoyo, explain what the fuck he was talking about when he said “A long time ago, I made a major decision in hopes of preserving all my perspectives of how I observed the world.” What the fuck was the major decision? It can’t just be making segments. Does this imply that he had to do something to himself to become capable of making segments at all? Did it have to do with accessing his past records in Irminsul? Did he turn his original body into the first segment? Like, probably that last one, as he should be somewhere between five hundred to four hundred years old, but I demand answers!

(Actually, on that topic, I would really like an answer to whether or not there is a "prime" Dottore, as the fandom likes calling him. We don't actually have any clue what's up with his original body. We just know that all the segments except the Omega segment got deleted. So is Omega the last Dottore or is there still an "original" around as well? Or is Omega original Dottore and all the others are earlier versions of him as he never grew past that age?)

#genshin theory #genshin impact #dottore #dottore segments #yes i am aware some of my points are kind of shaky #i still think they're plausible with what we currently know

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novabl · 1 month

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What do you think about Kageyama? I see a lot of people turning him into a villain, and while he does annoy me a little sometimes, I can't hate him.

Many people like to write that Yashiro doesn’t owe Doumeki anything. Especially in the beginning, that Yashiro was not obligated to return Doumeki's feelings and that Yashiro has the right to reject Doumeki. But then they write that Kageyama is pure evil, since he rejected Yashiro and pushed him to further self-destruction... But based on their logic, no one owes anyone anything, so I don’t really understand the accusations towards Kageyama. Yes, you can criticize his behavior, but not the fact that he was not in love with Yashiro. Kageyama and Yashiro were teenagers back then. And a lot could have been different… I may think that Kageyami liked Yashiro, but not so much that he would try to touch Yashiro's dark side and his traumas. Kageyama is quite a complex character. He considers Yashiro to be his relative, but still believes in the far-fetched image in his head. I think he understands that behind Yashiro's mask lies a painful, terrible trauma. But Kageyama is too afraid to break through this mask and simply floats along the narrow path. As a friend, you can criticize him. He never made an effort to get to know the real Yashiro (or we were never shown that). I think he still loves him and knows about Yashiro's inner world, but does not want to plunge into this world.

I have wrote about Kage before but I am horrible at tagging and never thought my blog would interest people so I didn’t bother learning how to do it properly. I’ll try to be better about it now with tagging individual characters and topics but to get on topic, I never thought Kage was evil. I definitely noticed a hatred for him but since he hasn’t been in the story in a while and I don’t have particularly strong feelings for him, I didn’t necessarily feel the need to defend him. I don’t think Yoneda Kou wrote him with the intent of being a character with malicious intentions but I think he hits a sensitive spot for many readers as we’re way more likely to have a Kage than a Misumi. I agree with everything you said; I don’t feel it’s fair to hate Kage when he didn’t owe Yashiro anything. Also with the whole principle of not owing anyone anything, Doumeki doesn’t owe Yashiro a relationship and love either just as Yashiro doesn’t owe Doumeki anything. I don’t think either Yashiro nor Doumeki feel entitled to anything though. Yashiro definitely doesn’t hate Kage and valued him even though his love was unrequited and Doumeki doesn’t Yashiro for kicking him out of his life though he may resent him. Kage has an important purpose in Yashiro’s life in that he is Yashiro’s only true, equal friend and he does care for Yashiro deeply. He just ultimately couldn’t be what Yashiro needs and that is okay. Kage was only a teenager and probably felt he was doing what was best for Yashiro by stopping touching him. He is also not a mind reader who is supposed to know how Yashiro is feeling. Honestly, Yashiro could have run away if Kage tried to get Yashiro to open up as his trauma was still very much there when they were in high school and Kage is simply not the type to chase someone down which makes them incompatible. All in all, I do think Kage is definitely unfairly villainized and that no one owes anyone anything in saezuru but I will say that not owing anyone anything is not free of consequences either. Yashiro didn’t owe Kage a friendship and could have walked away but he chose not to and that should be respected.

#kageyama

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crown-jay · 1 year

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My experiences as a Median system core (I think)

Before I share my experiences, I would like to give you the definition of a Median System (from Pluralpedia)

"A median system (also called midcontinuum) is a system where members are not as distinct or separate from each other. It can be considered being somewhere between multiple and singlet.

Some are dependent on a single individual, or the dependence can be mutual in that there is no central individual. Some median systems feel more blurred between themselves. Others may also be based around a shared identity or kin.

The members of a median system are often described as aspects or facets. Some median systems may identify as different archetypes. Despite being more fluid and similar, median systems can be very diverse."

Now that that is out of the way, let's get onto my "evidence" (I guess) for my plurality. But before I do, this is not a place for syscourse. I am saying it now that I am pro endo, so if you don't like that, just go away? I'm not gonna argue with you if you try to with me, I'll just block or ignore you. It's a simple as that, leave endos alone for goodness sake.

Anyway. Ever since I "discovered" what plurality is, I have questioned on and off about whether I was a part of a system. Of course, back then I was very focused on "do I have a system" and not "am I a part of a system" which I understand now is kinda harmful thinking, since I don't "own" my alters, or facets, as they are called. I first learnt about plurality in 2019 (I think, idk my memory is shit) and it just sort of... Made sense? Like, I wasn't like "sounds fake, but okay" I just accepted it and didn't question it at all.

Through further looking into DID, as that was what I was introduced to first, by DissociaDID's videos, I concluded I couldn't possibly be plural, because these personalities I were feeling weren't nearly as distinct as those in the DiassociaDID system and beside, I had never switched before.

But it was still nagging at me in the back of brain. This sense of not being quite one person. A few years later, I was watching an Othercon panel about Fictional Identity Etiquette, and they mentioned Fabelings. For those who don't know; Fabelings are kinda like a median systems version of a fictive and can sort of toe the line between 'kin and fictive. I was curious, what the heck is a median system. I looked it up, read the definition and just went "oh." It was like something unlocked in my brain. It was a similar experience to when I found out what being aroace was for the first time. It just felt right.

But this wasn't it. I still didn't accept it for multiple reasons. "I still don't switch." "My 'facets' don't think to me in my head, we don't talk to each other to communicate." "I can't be plural, I am just a person with a lot of range." I was in denial. That was last year.

But now, after looking once again, because it was still nagging me, I found the term "monoconcious". And I read the definition. And I reread the definition for median system. And it all clicked. I read about parasian systems and I read about orbital systems and I just sat there and just took it all in.

Something that really resonates with me is something someone said on @median-culture-is . "Too dispersed to be a single person, too united to be multiple"

I have always felt not quite whole. For a long time, I thought it was just an autism thing, or even that it was normal. Plural first person pronouns felt so right, but I felt like I couldn't use them because "I'm only one person, right?" I've always resonated with some parts of system experiences, but not others. I've struggled with my gender identity, because it felt like it would change, but it simply didn't feel in a genderfluid sort of way.

And the whole "never switched" thing. Apparently common in median systems, especially orbital ones. I am always fronting and my facets become co-con or co-front. Sometimes I'm not even in control, but still present and passively influencing, so I don't even notice until after.

I don't know much about the facets in this system. I have a very hard time interpreting and understanding all the thoughts and feelings in my head. I hope that one day I will understand and know the identities of them. But for now, all I can do is accept and acknowledge their existence. Because that's only fair.

I could be wrong about this. Maybe I am just a singlet over analysing my emotions. But I don't think a singlet questions being a part of a system this much, for this long and this extensively. All the signs are there, and I'm finally seeing them. Now I just have to understand this new world of mine.

So yes. I guess I'm the core of a parasian, orbital median system. At least, that's how I'm labelling it for now. I would say I'm closer to the middle of the spectrum than the singlet end, but still definitely parasian. It's all very blurry but definitely real.

Um, yeah. Thanks for reading. Sorry for the long post, and sorry if it's incoherent, I really needed to just dump my thoughts. I'll keep y'all updated.

#system #median system #pro endo #orbital system #parasian #plural

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