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#i sometimes feel like our society has just forgotten that it's a thing. or that society has forgotten that it's A SERIOUS THING.

alpaca-clouds · 9 months

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Media does not understand forgiveness

(And to be honest, neither does society.)

Kinda based on what I wrote yesterday about the redemption arcs... Because it has a lot to do with each other. See, people do not understand one thing. Mostly, because Media does rarely ever portray it. (I could like name one book that got it right, but only one.)

Forgiveness should be about the person who forgives - not about the one forgiven.

Let me explain. In our everyday live the entire concept about apologies and forgiveness tends to be kinda trivial. Husband forgot to take out the trash. He apologizes and is forgiven. Kid threw a tamper tantrum and broke some plates. They apologize and are forgiven. Wife got angry for the thing she thought had been done but that was not true. She apologizes and is forgiven.

The thing is that in those circumstandes it is more about the person in the wrong admitting that wrong and admitting responsibility. The forgiveness is not hard to give. Because those are tiny slights that tend to be forgotten a week from now.

I could obviously go into a whole rant about the idea that a forced apology is basically no apology at all, because an apology has to be about taking responsibility - not just doing some lip service to it. But... I am gonna leave it at this for now.

But when we are talking the kind of dramatic storytelling we see in media, it is nothing like those examples. It is usually much more horrible stuff. Oh, yeah, your one friend killed your other friend because there was no way out of it. Your former villain has killed your parents. Oh, and that one guy, yeah... He also is a reformed villain and once held you prisoner for weeks, torturing you every day. Also, that other guy there? Yeah, he raped you.

That is the kinda stuff we deal with in media too often. And yet... in those cases most media still is gonna follow the social script being laid out above. Bad guy says they are sorry, bad guy gets forgiven. Sure, maybe he has to go an extra step or two. But it is the basic script.

And this just completely and utterly ignores trauma.

Come closer, please. I am not letting you in onto a secret. Ready? If you are a mass murderer and realized that murder is wrong, no survivor forgiving you is gonna make you feel any better. And also: That survivor does now owe you that forgiveness.

What people tend to ignore in our society at large is, that violence in any form - like actual violence - tends to leave trauma on both sides of the conflict. A ton of people struggle to admit to it, especially on the perpetrator side, but... It is a thing.

Because - as I will harp on in this blog again and again - humans have evolved to be pretty social animals. And contrary what so many stories will tell you, we are kinda neurologically opposed to violence (unless trauma or brain injury changed that). That is why military and the fucking police put their people into boot camps to kinda... traumatize the brains into being okay with violence.

And suddenly, that violence that gets apologized for... it is all about trauma. It really is.

Actually forgiving someone - and meaning it from your heart - is about coming to a state of acceptance towards the trauma. To accept it has happened and it cannot be undone. This is a step taken by the victim and only the victim. Sometimes the victim might never get there. But even if they do... This process of arriving at this forgiveness is something that first and foremost afflicts the victim, because...

Even when the victim goes to the perpetrator of whatever violence and tell them: "I forgive you for what you did to me/my friends." It doesn't do shit for said perpetrator.

Because what happenes - on a purely psychological basis - is, that when that person realizes they did wrong, their brain usually will also tell them: "Jo, man, you are aware that we like have lots of trauma from doing this, right?" And their victim(s) forgiving them is not gonna take it away.

What needs to happen - and what people hate in that regard happening, because they have been trained to see that as wrong - is, that this reformed badie has... to forgive themselves for what they had done. Because nobody else is truly able to forgive them. Because in those cases the forgiveness is about the person, who forgives, healing... And not some karma getting somehow balanced.

And, heck, yes, this can also be true in the other way around. Because heroes being the heroic type will at times actually feel bad for what they might have done to the antagonist, especially when the antagonist reforms and joins the good side.

But there, too... The reformed antagonist saying: "I forgive you." Well, it won't the hero make feel better. Because they gotta reach that stage of acceptance and self-forgiveness on their own.

And yes, all of that is kinda... messy. But it is realistic. And I kinda hate, how it is ignored in so much media.

I personally like to play around with it a lot in my stuff (turns out it comes up a ton in both my original stuff and the fanfics). With people getting told by their victims or their reformed villains: "It's alright. I forgive you. You had no other choice." And their trauma brain reacting with: "That's to fucking easy! Not buying this."

#redemption arcs #writing #psychology #character development #reformed villain #apology #forgiveness #trauma

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dazedpuppydairies · 7 months

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Sometimes I feel conversations surrounding ace-spec and aro-spec experiences are presented to monolithic. Of course I'm not referring to when people are specifically describing their own experience; however, when speaking about the communities as a whole I wish there was more emphasis on the diversity of experiences amongst ace and aro people. I'm not saying this is always an issue in ace and aro spaces, but it has negatively affected me personally. If this isn't something that you've noticed that's fair. Maybe this is a niche topic, not sure.

For example when people broadly say aromantic people don't date that generalization feels exclusionary to me. A lot of aromantic people myself included do date and even if most aromantic people don't date it doesn't make that generalization a good representation of the community as a whole. I have a similar issue when people broadly say asexuals don't have sex. My friend's old partner one time essentially harassed me in my own discord server for identifying as a sex favorable asexual because I was apparently misrepresenting the community. She also repeatedly told me it just sounded like I'm demisexual.

Though I don't personally identify as demisexual or demiromantic myself I do have the impression this issue is part of why demi people are often so othered. I've noticed this in the ace community especially, demisexuals are sometimes othered and seemingly seen as kind of separate from the ace community. I think this is also because demisexuality is a very misunderstood identity too. I just wanted to highlight demi erasure because I think it's a part of this conversation even though I'm not demi myself.

I think in conversations about asexuality and aromanticism it's sometimes forgotten the orientations describe having little or no sexual and/or romantic attraction. Having little or no attraction doesn't necessarily dictate your desires. Yes asexual and aromantic can also describe a disconnect from normative societal expectations, due to feeling repulsed by sex/romance, or being uninterested in sexual/romantic relationships, but they're not mutually exclusive. You can have little or no sexual attraction or romantic attraction and still be interested in sex and/or dating. You can want to participate in traditionally sexual coded and/or romantic coded things and still be asexual and/or aromantic. Both are valid experiences that should be equally represented while defining the community as a whole.

Rather than saying, "aromantic people don't date" if that person said, "a lot of aromantic people don't date" I feel simply including the "a lot of" part would make the statement so much more inclusive. I recognize that it's likely most asexuals don't engage in sex and it's likely most aromantics don't engage in romance as a part of their asexuality or aromanticism, but that doesn't change that there's still a chunk of ace and/or aro people who do.

I feel kinda bad making such a big deal of this, but again it is something that has genuinely negatively affected me. I understand do to amatonormativity not being interested in sex or romance can be an extremely alienating experience in our society and I want to respect that. I understand why it's so important emphasizing the validity of not being interested in a sexual or romantic relationship for example and I want to uplift aces and aros with that experience so I feel kind of shitty making a big deal out of this. I recognize because I do date for example in that way I fit more into amatonormative standards and I'm not trying to overlook that. At the same time as an aroace who does participate in sex, dates, etc I often feel like I don't exactly belong in either space which is very frustrating.

I just wanted to share my feelings on this and feel free to give constructive critique.

#lgbtq+#queer #asexuality #aromanticism #aromantic #asexual #ace #aro #amatonormativity

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gwendalyn · 8 months

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Girlhood Pt.1

Hermione x Reader Fem!

I’ve always had a crush on Hermione so I wanted to write a fic between reader and Hermione. It’s more of a friends to lovers story, but doesn’t exceed into a relationship yet. Just bonding with one another as being surrounded by boys and connecting over girlhood.

I sat down at the table. Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Fred, George. Then Hermione. So I sat across from her. Today was just one of those days where everything seems to go wrong and you just want to either scream as loud as you can or curl up in a ball and cry your eyes out. I decided to go to dinner instead, since I hadn’t eaten all day. Hermione looked at me with concern as I rest my head in my hands for a few seconds. “You okay?” She mouths as I look up, and I nod. She didn’t seem convinced though.

Then I help myself to food. My hands shaky, I pick up a slice of pie, that then falls off the serving utensil. And I’m not sure why that was the final straw. But it was. I try my hardest to hold back the tears that wanted to expell out my eyes. But they came, alongside sobs. The boys at the table looked at me with confusion, but sympathy. But only Hermione knew what was going on. She got up and went around the table to sit next to me, as the boys watched in confusion. Then she held onto my arm and helped me up as we walk out of the great hall. I find it impossible not to sob, even though I feel embarrassed by doing so. I notice everyone staring at me as I sob. My eyes strained and my face just damp with tears.

Hermione speedily walks us out of the room to somewhere private as she knew the feeling. When we get there she just says nothing and hugs me. I hold onto her sobbing. Then I look up and shes starting to tear up herself.

“I’m sorry.” I tell her.

“Don’t be. I’ve been needing a cry recently.” She says with a slight chuckle with a shaky voice from her crying.

“Did anything happen or is it just one of those days?” Hermione asked.

“Just one of those days. Can’t get my hair right, my tie isnt going right. I forget everything. I stumble over myself. Everything is overwhelming. But on top of the usual with Snape taunting me in class because I kept dropping things.” I tell her.

“Arsehole!” She practically yells, referring to Snape. We both laugh at that before she looks at me.

“And I think you look great today. Seriously.” She says with a smile.

“You’re just saying that because you’re kind.” I say, thinking I look a mess.

“No seriously. You look beautiful. I promise.” Hermione tells me.

A wide smile forms on my face.

“See look, a pretty smile to go along with it!” She says.

We look at each other for a few seconds, before I glance back into the Great hall, seeing if anyone was still watching, or hoping they had forgotten. Hermione glances to see too.

“Boys.” She scoffs, aggrivated that they were clueless to what was going on.

“Hey. Don’t worry about it. They’re clueless. They’re probably just talking about the Quidditch match on saturday. And if they do say anything, I’ll sort them out. Don’t worry about them.” She says.

“I hope you know I’ll do the same for you.” I tell her.

“Sometimes I just feel like I don’t even like boys that way. Because how do they not understand emotion past the level of basic emotional intelligence. It really has me questioning myself.” Hermione says.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve never liked any boy that way for that exact reason. Maybe out there there’s one. But even then I dont know.” I tell her.

She smiles at me.

“We should just run off to the woods together and setup a society of only girls. I’m sure we would both be much happier without boys at our side.” Hermione jokes, only slightly though. Because we both wanted that to be real.

“We could get married and have a little forest wedding.” I jokingly but not jokingly suggest.

“Please! That would be perfect.” Hermione says.

Even though it was a joke between us, I longed for that to be real. I could practically see the forest and the little treehouse we would live in. Then I picture Hermione. Smiling at me before she leans in to kiss me underneath the trees. I saw us in love, running through the confetti all the other women throw at us after we marry, and just having comfort in one another.

I had never thought about anyone like this. Especially no boy. I come back into the zone, and notice Hermione smiling at me. Sadly it wasn’t followed up by a kiss like I had just imagined.

‘Sadly?’ I think to myself. I realised I wanted Hermione to kiss me. Or I wanted to kiss her. Either way. I just wanted to lock lips with her.

“You ready to go back out, or do you wanna stay here. Or we could hang out in our room.” Hermione suggests. I like the third option.

“Lets go to our room. I think I just need to chill.” I tell Hermione.

“Ok, let me just get my stuff from in there, I’ll get yours too.” Hermione says.

“No, I’ll help you.” I insist.

She smiles at me before we walk back in together.

“Just going back to our room. See you guys.” Hermione says.

“Oh um. Okay.” Harry says

“Bye.” Ron says confused.

We walk off together laughing with all our things and holding hands.

#hermione granger #hermione x reader #hermione x reader fem #hermione #hermione sapphic

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tumblydovereviews · 5 months

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A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving- Does it Still Hold Up?

Ah, the American Thanksgiving. The one day of the year where it is socially acceptable to eat as many carbs as possible and watch as much football known to man.

A typical Thanksgiving for my family and I includes tuning in to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and gawking at the specially crafted floats, eating as much mashed potatoes, jollof rice, and pie as possible, and, sometime in-between the hustle and bustle, snuggling up and watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

The Peanuts have always held a special place in my heart. Ever since I was younger, I've been reading the books, laughing at the comics and watching all the specials like a die-hard fan. For a while, I considered The Peanuts Movie to be my all-time favorite movie, to the point where I even purchased a DVD of it. And, although my interest in Charlie Brown and Snoopy's escapades isn't as strong as it once was, I'm still happy to have considered these group of friends a crucial part of my childhood.

But enough about me. Is this special itself actually good? Outside of the rose-colored glasses everyone views childhood with, does A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving still manage to be the timeless classic critics consider it fifty years later?

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving revolves around our titular, block-headed, down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself needing to host an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner for his friends after Peppermint Patty invites herself to his house, expecting a giant feast and party. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown and his family won't be in town for the festivities- they will be at their grandmother's house for the holiday. But not wanting to disappoint Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown, his friend Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock all work together to create as good as a Thanksgiving dinner as possible for both Patty and the two friends she's invited with her- Marcie and Franklin.

Charlie Brown's concept of a Thanksgiving dinner- buttered toast with popcorn, milkshakes and jellybeans on the side- offer only the simplicities that a child could. For Charlie Brown, Thanksgiving isn't all about the flourish and festivities- it's about spending time with his companions and making them happy. “I don’t feel bad for myself." He once says during the special. "I just feel bad because I’ve ruined everyone’s Thanksgiving."

Contrast that with Peppermint Patty, a more traditional type who believes in saying a prayer before the meal- which must consist of turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Upon realizing that Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving feast contains none of those things, she berates 'Chuck' and leaves him in a state of regret.

Marcie, Peppermint Patty's wise and knowledgeable best friend, acts as a mediator to this conflict. While comforting Charlie Brown, she also explains that Peppermint Patty's harsh words didn't come from a place of malice but a place of love for him. Marcie goes on to explain how even if his life seems horrible at the moment, Charlie brown still has something to be thankful for- just being together with his friends.

"Thanksgiving is more than eating, Chuck. You heard what Linus was saying out there. Those early Pilgrims were thankful for what had happened to them, and we should be thankful, too. We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by ‘Thanksgiving,’ Charlie Brown.”

Nowadays, society is so focused on promoting wealth and consumerism that some have seem to forgotten the value of the holiday. According to Relevant Magazine, in 2014 alone, over half of the money Americans donated to churches in an entire year was used on Black Friday alone.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving challenges the stereotype of the 'perfect' holiday. Despite the limited food and the small amount of guests, after Patty warms up and apologizes to Charlie Brown, the kids are still able to enjoy the holiday, even singing on their way over to Charlie Brown's grandmother's house. The kids didn't need all the good food and items to have a good day- all they needed was the companionship of each other.

Not only does this special teach an especially relevant moral to this day, but it also contains a good amount of humor. The subtle nods to Charlie and Patty's relationship ("He's all yours, Priscilla!",) Snoopy casually creating an entire meal in a chef's outfit, and Woodstock and him eating pumpkin pie during the closing credits, this special still manages to put a smile on my face, even despite all of these years.

This year, Thanksgiving didn't go as planned for me. An unexpected event ended up derailing all of the plans my family had to celebrate, and although I wasn't too upset, a wave of inevitable, mild disappointment still washed over me. This special reminded me that novelty is better than monetary gain, which allowed me to still enjoy the holiday even despite the interruptions.

So, let's answer our question: does A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving still hold up? Yes, yes it does. In fact, the special's message has even managed to age better in the modern day. I'd highly recommend watching it if you are looking for a short, but fun watch to celebrate the holiday season.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, everyone!

#a charlie brown thanksgiving #charlie brown #peppermint patty #marcie #peanuts #thanksgiving #snoopy #woodstock #tumblydovereviews #linus

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breakerwhiskey · 9 months

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006 - SIX

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

Transcript under the cut.

[click on] Ugh…

[click]

Jesus Christ. I–

[click]

The last time I had a hangover, I believe I was twenty-eight years old. I’m not twenty-eight anymore.

Not that I’m old–least, I don’t feel it. Sure, maybe in a usual circumstance I’d be well into suburban adult life or something. Maybe. Probably not. I was never the get hitched and have kids type. Folks in my line of work usually don’t–

[click]

Ughhh god, I don’t even know if I can drive today. My head is pounding. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to spend a day just…resting. I’ve been driving most of the day for the past week after years of barely driving at all.

It’s been harder on my body than I thought it’d be. Though I guess that might be the after effects of bourbon talking.

[click]

I guess I’m not used to sitting down for so much of the day. Those first few years after everything happened, it took a lot to find a spot we’d be safe in and then to set that place up. By the time we got everything running smoothly, I’d forgotten what it was like to sit still.

Not that I did much of that before. My life has always been taken up moving around, fixing things, breaking things.

I had to learn how to garden these past six years.

[click]

Who am I kidding. Harry did most of that stuff. I figured out how to butcher chickens I guess. Chop wood. Fix the roof. Rewire the house.

It’s not like I had a purpose really. Other than keeping myself alive and trying not to strangle Harry every time she wasted a ton of flour trying to reengineer a goddamned croquembouche she had in Paris in 1962 from memory. That no-good pretentious—

[click]

I can’t figure out if I have less of a purpose now or more of one. I’m still trying to keep myself alive, though I’ve gotten pretty good at that. And there’s not as much…hazard, on the road, as I expected. I’ve got enough food to last me…months, probably. Water’s a toss up sometimes but boiling works in a pinch. As long as I can find gas, I’m good to drive around indefinitely.

Which, you know…

[click]

Is that a life? Has any of this been? I wasn’t expecting to get past our driveway and find that the whole world had gone back to a normal, civilized society–I’m not even sure I would’ve wanted that. The fear of it is half the reason we never tried to contact anyone–

[click]

But there’s gotta be something–someone–out here somewhere. There’s no way in hell that Harry and I are the only two people who survived…whatever it was.

So, once again, I’m begging–if you can hear this. Come and find me. I’m at a little house with a red door off Route 33, take left at the bridge and then the third right you come to. I’ll stay a few days, take a beat, and wait.

[click]

And just to be clear, if you come here and try something I don’t like, well…as I said, I have a lot of experience in breaking things.

Alright, Whiskey out.

[click, static]

#breaker whiskey #audio drama #episode #transcript #Spotify

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cosmotheo · 4 months

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PF2E Classes and Dating Dynamics

Episode 1: Bard

Bard + Alchemist: Wedded Weirdoes. Sharing a love for the boundaries of the known world, and even moreso pushing past those boundaries into the unknown. Eclectic, odd, and idiosyncratic, but never out of sync with one another. There is at least 1 mutagenic used in the bedroom nightly.

Bard + Barbarian: The Wolf and its Howl. Barbarian feels numb to the world due to their grueling training, and Bard reminds them the beauty of small, gentle things. Who is protecting whom differs depending on which you ask.

Bard + Bard: Songbirds. Cute little love ballads to each other, coming up with the stupidest rhymes with each other's names. Calling each other pet names like "Muse" and "My Sweet Sonata". Nasty freaky sex.

Bard + Cleric: Would you still love me if I were a Bookworm? They meet in a class discussing the Theological importance behind Likha, The Teller. Both are quiet, so as not to gush, until an obscure bit of trivia leaps from their mouths in unison. They spend the night together in the dorms, but they're far too busy talking to sleep. Two lovable gray ace dorks.

Bard + Champion: Hype and Hyper. Champion slays and kicks ass for their god. Bard thinks that's badass, starts playing some sick trumpet. The excitement is electric, and sparks form between them. They have a sex playlist, and Def Lepperd is on it.

Bard + Druid: The Spider and the Fly. No one understands the Druid quite like the Bard. There is a roughness, a viciousness to love that society has shorn off. Filed the points from our fangs to distance ourselves from beasts. The Bard remembers. The Bard can sing the old songs, just like the Druid can. Stare them in the eye, no matter their shape or size, and refuse to blink. Their love is raw gold in the belly of a forgotten cave, and that's just how they like it.

Bard + Fighter: Knight and Squire. Bard has ballads set aside just to tend to Fighter's wounds. Fighter learned to pick up a shield so that no one hurts their Bard. They lift each other up, holding each other to a fierce, almost competitive standard, only because they believe in each other so much.

Bard + Inventor: Experimental. Societal standards are stupid and identity is what they want it to be. Transhumanists who love each other's ability to ebb and flow. Music, fashion, expression, and even bodily configuration change day by day, and yet their hearts never drift apart.

Bard + Kineticist: Hearts Aflame. A Bard in awe of a dangerous powerhouse of fire. A Kineticist baffled by this Bard's insistence on being around despite constantly getting (slightly) incinerated. Their love is sacrifice and compromise, hard earned and Aloe scented.

Bard + Magus: Battle Buddies! Have you ever noticed how combat is like a dance? These two have! Magic, steel, song, dance, blending together in beautiful harmony. It's no wonder they get along so well, they're like puzzle pieces fit tightly together.

Bard + Monk: Order and Entropy. Sometimes, we must shed blood for peace. Sometimes, our silence must speak loudly for us. The Bard's creativity is tempered by the Monk's discipline. The Monk's form is made flowing by the Bard's song. In life and love, all things must be brought into balance.

Bard + Oracle: Strangers Together. An Oracle's burden is a heavy one. Nightmares wrack their restless nights, and alienation riddles their everyday life. If not for the lullabies of the Bard, they wonder how they would sleep at all. They hold hands, staring together at the Enigma, and for a moment, they feel a little less alone in this weird, wild world.

Bard + Psychic: Dark Side of the Heart. Bard will never forget their first meeting. Psychic will never remember it. The power of a Dark Persona is mesmerizing, like looking into the eye of a storm. Bard has tried and failed a hundred times to capture that feeling into a song. Psychic eventually stops apologizing for its existence... and feels a lot less lonely now that they have someone to confide their darkness into.

Bard + Ranger: Folk Heroes! Any talking that is done in this relationship is very one sided. The Bard will tell you all about how their partner slayed the evil giant with one hand tied behind their back, or pole vaulted across the sea with a single bamboo chute, or lifted a whole town out of the way of a volcanic eruption! The Ranger, smiling quietly, will simply add "That's true, mostly."

Bard + Rogue: Starcrossed Sneakthiefs. They meet in jail, both imprisoned under different circumstances. This isn't either of their first jailbreaks, but its their first one together. They turn robbery into romance, and second story work into soulful serenades. The only thing they need is each other... and everyone else's stuff too.

Bard + Sorcerer: Forbidden Feelings. Who else would understand? The way that society treats us different...the way they cast their looks of shame down upon us. We were born this way! We had no choice! If only they knew just how heavy it was... the burden of being...just so horny for dragons.

Bard + Summoner: Pet People. It's not often you find your true soulmate, or a trusty animal companion that'll stay by your side. Even rarer, the Bard finds both in the Summoner. Eidolons, the truest shape of one's soul, have a kind of "people sense" that cannot be overstated. It is no surprise then that the Summoner's face turns bright red when, for the first time ever, their Eidolon bends its head down to allow the Bard to give the goodest boy some pats.

Bard + Swashbuckler: Theater Dropouts. They met in the detention center of their college. One had switched the prop swords with real ones to show their prowess on stage. The other had cast Sleep on the lead to make them miss their entrance. It isn't their fault that the stage isn't big enough for them, someone ought to build a bigger stage! When they look into each other's eyes, minutes before facing their possible expulsion, they realize it doesn't matter. They'll star in this adventure together, two leads unbound by petty things like direction and criticism.

Bard + Thaumaturge: Hobby Hubbies. Bards, like crows, are known for their love of shiny things. Any Thaumaturge worth their weight in salt has a plethora of trinkets, doodads, and gizmos that have been marinating in hundreds of years of esoteric lore. You know what they say, couples that treasure hunt together stay together.

Bard + Witch: Love Through Spite. Listen, patrons suck. They're flighty, they speak in riddles, they have stupid expectations, and half the time they don't even know what they want. The only difference between ours is that yours is the Spirit of Winter and mine owns a villa in Tian Xia. Let's bitch together until the pain stops.

Bard + Wizard: Bitter Rivals. These two are the absolute bane of any unsuspecting lecture goer's existence. It starts off simply, one will answer a question provided by a teacher, or give some small anecdote. Like volatile chemistry, the other will react with something snide. Snideness turns to rudeness. Rudeness turns to vitriol. Vitriol manifests in nasty spells slung across the lecture hall. With all of the fighting they do, it's a wonder (and a nightmare, really) to all their classmates why they always end up in the same classes. The truly keen are left with an even larger mystery: why has the Wizard been repeatedly spotted leaving the Bard's dorm in the wee hours of the morning? The world may never know.

#theoposting #pathfinder2e #ttrpg #pf2e #rpg #dnd #romance #fantasy #dating #shipping dynamics #shitposting #shitposts that I worked way too hard and long on but whatever it's a writing exercise so like it counts as being productive or something

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enbyleighlines · 5 months

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Leigh plays Tellius prt 9

It's time to get the knight ring from Naesala!

I love Ike's attitude here. That being said, I did make the decision to have Janaff talk to Naesala, because there's no way that I'm going to fight Naesala. I like to imagine that Janaff did it of his own volition.

This map took me waaaay too many tries, because I was determined not to kill any crows. The crows did not make this easy for me. Additionally, drawing Naesala out without him destroying any of my units proved to be... a bit of a challenge. Finally, I just used Tanith's recruitment skill to summon some nameless NPC's to do that job for me. Sorry, random pegasus knight! Your sacrifice will never be forgotten.

A man with a killer axe attempted to attack Nephenee, but I gave her vantage, and she decided to one-shot him with a crit of her own. Oh, Nephenee, you absolute bloodthirsty menace you.

Time for the big reveal! I forgot this happened so soon.

Gosh, such a powerful visual. Poor Elena and Greil. They both deserved so much better.

Some people typecast Titania as the team mom, and I have no objections against it, but I think her sass is terribly underappreciated. I love how often she beefs with Soren, who at this point in the story looks like a literal child.

Two points here:

First, I (ironically) love how Mist's medallion is stolen the morning following Ike and Volke's conversation. If only Nasir had stolen it a little earlier, Ike would have had a very different reaction. Like, yes, family heirloom, it sucks that it's gone, but it's not the end of the world.

Second, I (sincerely) love how Ike is allowed to be a bit of an asshole sometimes. Like, when he gets stressed out, he lashes out at people. He gets cranky and irritable, like in that conversation with Jeorge about battle tactics. And it makes sense. He has a lot to shoulder during PoR, and he never asked to be put into any position of leadership in the first place. He's allowed to be angry and bitter about it.

I always forget that, on top of their prejudice against laguz, Daein is also anti-immigrant. Really, the toxic patriotism of Daein feels so painfully familiar at times. I feel like someone could write an entire essay on this subject. Additionally, I wonder if Jill has experienced anything like this, or is it different because she was born in Daein?

Man, I both do and don't feel for Shiharam. Like, okay, he's a good man. But he's also a man who allowed his daughter to participate in laguz hunts. I know it was all for the purpose of gaining the king's trust, but still. He kind of made this bed for himself. I don't know. It's such a complicated matter, and I like that he's a complicated character. My feelings about him just keep flip-flopping all over the place.

Gotta love Soren's pragmatism! I love how he deeply understands how society functions, while also being critical of the systems in place. I feel like you usually see this sort of pragmatism from characters who are rich and full of themselves, blaming the underclass for their own misfortune. Soren knows why things are the way that they are, knows that, because the people rely on nobility for protection, there is a huge power imbalance between nobility and the common folk. As he says earlier in Begnion: "From the moment of our birth to our final dying gasp, we commoners know we are not allowed to defy the upper classes."

So while Soren's lecture here is extremely brutal, I don't think it comes from a place of bad intentions. In his eyes, Elincia is naive and inexperienced, and has thus far been ignorant of the true horrors that the average Crimean has had to endure. He is angry because he cares. He is angry because he's worried about the future of Crimea.

I'm just... I love Soren. As Ike says, deep down he's a big softie.

And I finally got Mist to second tier! With this, I have officially gotten all of my main units to class up.

The Talrega map was a walk in the park compared to the previous one. I basically had a small group (which included Jill, Ilyana, Rolf, and Astrid) squat by the houses in the upper left section of the map, and their only job was to destroy as many wyvern riders as possible.

Everybody else just rushed towards the boss at top speed.

Next time: time to lay siege to Daein Keep!

#leigh plays tellius #fire emblem path of radiance #path of radiance #fe9 #tellius

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bonyfish · 6 months

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I can't sleep so here are some fun facts about my upbringing

When we were little, my dad trained me to be good at chess and my sister to be good at poker. Sometimes he'd do endgame drills: he would set up a board with just a king and pawn on his side and a king, pawn, and knight or queen on mine, and he would see if I could beat him. I am not remotely good at chess anymore but my sister still has a very impressive poker face.

I don't eat meat anymore but my first clear memory is of sashimi

When I was in high school my dad taught me to do some basic stunt driving, controlled skids and the like. I have mostly forgotten how though.

When I was in my late teens or early twenties, my dad booked my sister and I a half-day pistol training intensive course with a heavily tattooed ex-military guy named Jeremiah who had incongruously stunning eyelashes. We started at maybe 6 in the morning because it was July in Indiana and well over 90 degrees by the time we finished around noon. We learned how to field-strip a Glock 19 and did target practice. By the time we were done, my right hand was so sore that I was a better shot with my left, which is very much not my dominant hand.

Relatedly, if you search my birth name online, I think you can still find a photo of my dad teaching me to shoot at the age of 7.

We didn't really eat together or have formalized meal times, and I didn't quite get the hang of using silverware until college. I could manage a single fork or spoon, but when cutting things I would hold my implements in my fists and clumsily mangle my food. My high school girlfriend taught me to cook.

After I moved out, my mom sent me a book purporting to be a guide on how to live through an EMP attack. It had a whole section on how important the Christian bible would be to rebuilding life after the collapse of society as we know it, including specific passages that may be of use. I called my mom up and asked very tentatively if she had actually read the book before sending it to me, on account of we're Jewish and various flavors of agnostic. She said she skimmed it.

When I was 7 or 8, an animal got trapped in the wall between our kitchen and bathroom, and it would scrabble around in there and make a very alarming scuttling-scraping noise. I found this very frightening, so my mother decided to give the animal a name, like a pet, to make it less scary. (The name was Egbert.) This was a creative solution and might have worked, but we had never had pets, so I had no frame of reference for how I was supposed to feel about that. Egbert later chewed his way out and emerged from a pile of dirty dishes before disappearing under the oven. He was tentatively identified as a southern flying squirrel.

One time in high school some friends tried to drive to my house and got lost for two hours.

#me posts #story time #i like to say i was raised by wolves but “feral libertarians” is also accurate #i am mostly tame now. i can tie my shoes and make muffins and stuff.#my parents didn't care that i am queer but being some sort of nebulous collectivist was truly difficult for them to countenance

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bookouvre · 2 months

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Intriguing things amaze us all!

Have you ever read about Carl Jung's interesting theory of personality? Moreover, have you ever analysed the whole point of it or doubted the whole logic of it? Let me take you to this amazing and interesting topic you might hop into!

Think of yourself. I didn't mean to think about your MBTI! It's completely different.

Don't you ever get that eerie feeling when you try to suppress your insecurities within yourself? Don't you feel a voice saying something at the back of your head? Why do you even feel like that? What's the use of it? Have you ever wondered?

Carl Gustav Jung was born in 1875, on July 26 in Kesswil, a town on Lake Constance in Switzerland. His father, Johann Paul Jung was a minister in the Swiss Reform Church and his mother, Emilie Preiswerk Jung, was the daughter of a theologian.

Psychological criteria or levels of state

Conscious: Conscious mind is the one that is altered or sensed by ego. It is not the core of the personality but remains as the sub-character in the back of our mind. Self is the ultimate core of personality but it remains inactive or unconscious most of the time. Individuals or silhouettes are generally in contact with their conscious mind, however this cannot be ascertained that they're always attached with it. Sometimes they just let their unconscious self delve into them and enjoy the time of the being. An individual dive into such state to acquire individuation.

Personal unconscious: Reminisces all the suppressed, forgotten or perceived experiences in one's life. It's unique for everyone and it fascinates oneself. Contents of the personal unconscious are called complexes. It's one's habitual or toned experience which develops the core of emotions and feelings.

Collective unconscious: Has roots in the ancestral past of the entire species. Inherited and pass from one generation to the next as psychic potential. Distant ancestors’ experiences with universal concepts such as God, mother, water, earth, and so forth have been transmitted through the generations so that people in every clime and time have been influenced by their primitive ancestors’ primordial experiences (Jung, 1937/1959). More or less the same for people in all cultures (Jung, 1934/1959). Responsible for people’s many myths, legends, and religious beliefs. Humans, like other animals, come into the world with inherited predispositions to act or react in certain ways if their present experiences touch on these biologically based predispositions.

Archetypes

Persona: The side of the personality that people show to the world. Refers to the mask worn by actors in the early theater. No.1 personality (Jung’s life), should project a particular role that society dictates to us to become psychologically healthy, must balance between the demands of society and what we truly are.

Shadow: Archetype of darkness and repression, qualities we do not wish to acknowledge but attempt to hide from ourselves and others. Morally objectionable tendencies, it is easier to project the dark side of our personality onto others, to see in them the ugliness and evil that we refuse to see in ourselves. Achieve the “realization of the shadow”.

Anima: Feminine archetype in men. Represents irrational moods and feelings. To master the projections of the anima, men must realize the feminine side of their personality. Originated from early men’s experiences with women—mothers, sisters, and lovers. Source of misunderstanding in male-female relationships, but also be responsible for the alluring mystique woman has in the psyche of men. In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung vividly described this experience. Intrigued by this “woman from within,” Jung (1961) concluded that

she must be the “soul,” in the primitive sense, and I began to speculate on the reasons why the name “anima” was given to the soul. Why was it thought of as feminine? Later I came to see that this inner feminine figure plays a typical, or archetypal, role in the unconscious of a man, and I called her the “anima.” The corresponding figure in the unconscious of woman called the “animus.” (p. 186 of his analytical book of psychology)

Animus: Masculine archetype in women. Represent symbolic of thinking and reasoning. Like the anima, the animus appears in dreams, visions, and fantasies in a personified form. In every female-male relationship, the woman runs a risk of projecting her distant ancestors’ experiences with fathers, brothers, lovers, and sons onto the unsuspecting man.

Self: Each person possesses an inherited tendency to move toward growth, perfection, and completion, and he called this innate disposition the self. Archetype of archetypes because it pulls together the other archetypes and unites them in the process of self-realization. Symbolized by a person’s ideas of perfection, completion, and wholeness, but its ultimate symbol is the mandala, which is depicted as a circle within a square, a square within a circle, or any other concentric figure. It represents the strivings of the collective unconscious for unity, balance, and wholeness.The self includes both the conscious and unconscious mind, and it unites the opposing elements of psyche—male and female, good and evil, light and dark forces.

There are more archetypes, psychological characteristics and levels that I have yet to cover but these are some of the main and essential features that help everyone to know their states of minds and have a spiritual connection with their inner self. I may have left out some criterias so please pardon me.

All these features and criterias are from the renowned sources and books so credit goes to all these amazing analysts. I have just researched and added my perspective into this post.

I hope you find this helpful! :)

Do support me for my work!

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tarnishedxknight · 18 days

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A Bit About Lost Civilizations and the Muses' MCU Verse

{out of dalmasca} I've got some thoughts about how I've structured the MCU verse on this blog with regard to Ivalice being a past civilization that's been forgotten by the modern world. Below the cut for length. =)

So I was watching “Paranormal Caught On Camera,” which… it’s an entertaining show, I’m not gonna lie, but let’s be real, it’s kindof kooky, heh. It’s full of pseudoscience, wild speculation, and testimony from “experts” that are anything but. However, they were discussing how these three pyramid formations in Boznia and Herzegovina that were previously thought to be largely naturally formed, might actually be manmade. And people have gone inside them and investigated things and whatnot and it kindof devolved from there because they’re finding spirit orbs and commenting that the air quality inside is better than outside and that the insides of the pyramids are “self-cleaning.”

Just a side note on that because the teacher in me feels the need to clear some things up, lol. As an environmental scientist, I can tell you, it’s probably just that we weren’t producing the same kinds or levels of air pollution back then that we are now, haha. So the air inside the sealed pyramid might be “cleaner” relative to the particulates, ozone, greenhouse gases, and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that we are either pumping into the air or causing the production of through our destructive human industrial activities. Also, underground structures sometimes have better air because soil, sediment, and plants can filter the air through various metabolic, chemical, and microbial processes. I’d… do an air test for toxic mold, though, haha, because that’s one of the things that has been known to cause the supposed “curses” that befall those who open sealed Egyptian tombs.

Anyhoo… all of the speculation of the “experts” on the show about this led to some to be like… well maybe they knew how to purify air better than us or who knows what their society was like. I was laughing at this point, but actually what one of the commentators said made me this of the MCU verses for my muses on this blog, where they’ve been yeeted from their “ancient” time to the present day. She said, and I’m paraphrasing because she was talking faster than I could type, and I type pretty damn fast, lol:

“The idea that entire human civilizations have been lost and aren’t even recorded in our history books is not a new one. Take the lost city of Atlantis, for example, lost beneath the sea. Who knows what they were capable of, what they knew. It isn’t just that an entire civilization disappeared under the sea, it’s that an intelligent, knowledgeable, and well-informed civilization disappeared under the sea. There is a theory that what we think of now as ancient history, with caves paintings and the invention of the wheel and production of fire and everything… that that was actually a reset button from this earlier, incredibly capable, potentially magical age of human culture that has now been completely lost to us.”

My brain went right to the idea that Ivalice was a lost, dead-end path in human (and others too) civilization that, although it existed before present day civilization, did not directly lead to its evolution. The progress in science, technology, warfare, and magic that Ivalice had was lost, and whatever pieces of it we have now had to be reinvented at some point, organically, from square one. It’s the idea that whatever befell civilizations like the mythical Atlantis, or Ivalice in the MCU verse on this blog, was so catastrophic as to obliterate enough of civilization to cause the majority of its progress to be permanently lost to future generations. And that’s such an interesting fictional, hypothetical rabbit hole for my mind to go down, it’s like total brain candy.

I’m going to stick with the MCU verse on this blog going forward, so I’m talking about Ivalice being in the past of the modern world. What this means is… whatever we “still have today” that’s “left over” from Ivalice… actually isn’t. Those are things that mankind invented again. Developed again. Led to again. Had a need for again. And anything that we don’t “still have” from that lost time period (e.g. magic or certain types of weaponry, aviation technology, alchemy, magic, etc.) were things that were needed then but not now. Or they were things that were invented on a whim, by luck, in a perfect storm type of moment, that didn’t happen again in the “reset button” path that civilization took following the destruction of Ivalice.

And even things like non-human races, ores, flora, fauna etc. that existed back then but not now, have either been lost to extinction, or still exist today… but by a different name. Nethicite poisoning mimics or parallels radiation poisoning in many ways. What if nethicite and uranium are actually the same thing? I mean, I realize they’re different colors when ignited, heh, but it’s all fictional, I’m just using it as an example. What if chocobos were just larger versions of or precursors to the dodo? What if a lot of the “magic” of Ivalice can now be explained today with physics, energetics, chemistry, or other science and technology fields? Or, what if some people capable of “magic” were actually performance artists practicing sleight of hand type tricks and master illusions like today’s magicians? What if some of them just knew how to manipulate or influence the perceptions of others through psychological techniques? My point is, it’s possible that mankind did go down some of the same paths of reasoning, discovery, production, and innovation that they did earlier, and that this is just the natural way that humans evolve their intelligence, but that those things are called very different things and are thought of in very different contexts in more modern times.

I… have absolutely no point to this rant other than that what that one commentator said on this show sent my brain reeling into a really fun mental candy store and I felt like sharing, haha. But I would love more threads that deal with these sorts of things. I don’t know if I interact with any muns who have muses who could/would fill these sorts of roles, but… threads about teaching people from Ivalice to fly modern aircraft or even just showing them quinjets or helicopters and having that meeting of their tech vs. modern tech. Threads about magic users casting different spells and measuring/studying the energy scientifically and actually measuring the resulting effects of the spells to see what’s going on and whether it’s similar to anything they know today. Or taking them to a museum to see the bones and recreated figures of animals, insects, and other things to see if they recognize anything, or showing them relics of what we call “ancient civilizations” to see if they mean anything to them.

I’m obviously not saying do these things in detail in the threads, haha, but I mean just an overview of putting them in this situation and having that collision of past and present. That would be so interesting to write. I volunteer any of my people on this blog for those kinds of threads, and I could also volunteer people like Tony Stark as guest muses if we need someone to take them to museums or to scientifically measure things. But otherwise, thank you for coming to my TED talk on this subject! XD

#{ out of dalmasca } ᵒᵒᶜ #{ headcanons }

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maya-matlin · 2 months

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Can we talk about the generally overlooked Mike Dallas?! I love that we both almost included him among our top 12 characters. What do you see as his primary strengths and weaknesses? In what ways do you think he's similar to and different from Alli? The scenes where he reacts to Cam's death really changed my perception of his character - and the actor - for the better!

We definitely can! I feel like Dallas was a pretty popular character when seasons 13 and 14 were airing, but nowadays he's kind of forgotten outside of being Alli's best boyfriend. It's sad.

Strengths:

1.) Dallas is extremely loyal to the people in his life. He stood by Drew through everything. He never wavered from his feelings from Alli. Even when we see him trying to have flings with other girls, she's never far from his mind. Dallas is loyal to his teammates. Though it takes him time to come to terms with teen parenthood, Dallas is very adamant about being a good dad to his son.

2.) While not notable at first glance because Dallas is defined as being a jock, Dallas is incredibly people smart and very socially adept. For instance, when he protested Romeo and Jules. Eli was prepared to fight against the homophobia only for Dallas to outsmart him by being "offended" by the glorification of suicide.

3.) He's very ambitious and determined to achieve his goals no matter how hard he has to work for them.

Weaknesses:

1.) His intense loyalty sometimes means that he can't be objective. He refuses to consider that any of his basketball teammates could be guilty of sexually assaulting Zoe. He's so overconfident and certain that it isn't until there's irrefutable proof that he'll see things differently.

2.) Anger. Dallas often struggles to keep his temper in check.

3.) Though Dallas starts to grow out of this trait, he isn't the most progressive thinking person. He can get caught up in the way society has taught him things should be, leading to some toxic masculinity type of thinking. He isn't personally homophobic, but he isn't above making it clear to Cam "acting gay" is something to be embarrassed by. He struggles to get past the idea that Alli could have a sexual past and yet still not want to sleep with Dallas in the present.

Edit: I forgot to answer to rest of your ask, so I'm going to do that now. In my opinion, one of the main differences between Dallas and Alli is that Dallas is much more confident in himself than Alli is for most of her time on the show. Maybe this is an unfair comparison. We knew Alli for four grades and seven seasons. Dallas was only around for three seasons, or roughly a year and a half. We missed the beginning of his high school years and the things that made Dallas the guy we later met. Regardless, I think it took Alli a very long time to be okay with herself and to find her independence. Dallas was already confident and didn't seem to struggle to find his place, if that makes sense. He was just a natural born leader. Alli wanted to be this type of person, but seemed to fail whenever she'd try to fit herself into a role that didn't suit her. Once we see her finally embracing her more academic, scientific side, she's unstoppable because she's finally in her element. I also feel that Alli is more sensitive than Dallas. He can be very thoughtless and matter of fact. To be fair, sensitivity doesn't always equal niceness for Alli. But generally speaking, she's much more comforting than Dallas is.

#mayamatlinscello

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nothingimportantanywhere · 5 months

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For the fic ask thing, after re-reading Genesis, I've just gone over and over this passage so many times and I need to know what is going through Orpheus' head at this time. What is our boy feeling, thinking I just need you to peel him apart for me for this part:

Then she feels Orpheus’s hand on her cheek, and he calls her the word that only the Shu’kyani should know. She stares up at him, and he must see the question in her eyes. “My mother called me that,” he says. “But it seems to have been forgotten amongst our people.” “Probably on purpose.” “The githzerai -” the word seems almost obscene in his mouth. “Still use it. But they have stripped it of its meaning. They use it to refer to a child who has been hurt in a training exercise.”

Behind him there is a pail filled with steaming water, and a bundle of rags. She cannot quite believe it when he picks one up and starts to dab away the dirt on her face. The varsh scrub them down after, of course, but like they are removing stubborn dirt off the floor.

There is a pile of dirty rags on the floor before she can ask him if it was true the Vlaakiths, the first ones, had been chosen from the ranks of the Shu’kyani.

“I do not know about the first,” he says. “Why my mother chose her is a mystery. But the others? Voss says it was so. He says before the lich-queen, Shu’kyani were trained in tactics and history and anything else a Queen might need to know. And the best of them was chosen to be Queen, and to take the name. Lift your foot.”

He kneels before her, and scrubs the sole of dirt and blood. The tattoos on his skull remind him of the lightning strikes that she sometimes sees across the sky in the material plane. Something in Pa’zeth makes her reach out and touch him; for a brief moment she thinks he will lay his head into her naked lap. But after cleaning her legs he stands.

And just anything else you wanna add about it, and also how Voss is feeling too. I'm so obssessed about Pa'zeth are her disdain towards Voss because it's so real and raw and completely understandable to want to rip his face off. urgh.

This is about tenderness and connection. And, of course, about Gith, his mother. I think that I base a lot of Orpheus's characterisation around the loss of his mother. I think Gith did love her son, and he knew that, and he is proud that she was willing to do anything to save her people...but at the end of the day, she still left him behind. And with our mutual h/c about Zerthimon being his biological father, he's lost both of his parents, in a society that doesn't place any value on familial bonds. Not even Voss can really understand it, and perhaps he doesn't understand it either, really, because he can't articulate it; of course he thinks/knows his mother did absolutely what she thought she had to, but perhaps some part of him believes she's still going to come back. Some part of him is always going to be a little boy waiting for his wild, dangerous, clever, brave mother come back from raid. But to vocalise this is dangerous, because he needs to present this aura of absolute certainty. And here is this person, who is probably the only person not to have either cursed him out or fallen to his feet, who is as close to a mother as githyanki is, who stands there and says: you are wrong, and here's why. She's not cowed by Voss, or by the fact she might die for saying the wrong thing. She bears herself as bravely as any warrior, and perhaps he sees her as carrying the spirit of Gith with her; not in the way that she is a conqueror or violent, but in the way she says: this is my value, and I know it, and I would rather die than accept that I am less.

He also is confronted with the messy realities of what reproduction looks like for Githyanki now. Pa'zeth is literally bleeding talking to him. She is tired and dirty. There is honour in it but no dignity. And that viscerally offends him, because what did Gith fight for if not for the Gith to be more than animals? So he's giving all that he feels he can give to her, right now: dignity. Acknowledgement. Reassurance. What I feel like he's saying to her, "you should have been given much more than you've had." This is the only place Vlaakith has allowed tenderness in Githyanki society, because it was beneath her notice. But it's not beneath his. And he craves this tiny part of it for himself. In the same way that Pa'zeth wants to be more than an animal and in this moment he wants to be less than a Prince. He wants to be a boy again, just for a moment. At some point in his past he'd have sat with his mother after battle and washed the mud off her face. The true tragedy in this moment is that he can only give Pa'zeth what she wants by denying what he wants. Tenderness and vulnerability are still seen as weakness and he can't afford to display either. As for why Pa'zeth hates Voss? Because in her eyes, he's entangled with Vlaakith. At the end of the day, as far as she sees it, he's got everything he wants; silver sword, dragon, status and he has lost...nothing. She's not only seen all of her contemporaries die, but is now experiencing the loss of someone younger. And he's now there, thinking he can tell her what to do, how to act, what to feel. Perhaps unfairly, she sees him as complicit in a system that has killed millions of their people. Plus he manages to say all the wrong things, which, not his fault, but there's a reason Orpheus sends him out.

I am here, and I am listening to you.

#githyanki #githyanki lore discussion #my writing #shu'kyani #oc: Pa'zeth #prince orpheus

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theomnicode · 2 years

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Saitama's powers deconstruction part 2:

The Super-ego, Consciousness & Divine power

Part

Warning, this is an extremely long post of both theory, OPM meta, speculation and lots of wikipedia abuse.

Super-ego:

Now with the super-ego, things get a bit trickier. Super-ego plays the role of the critic and moralizing role in the psyche. Mainly unconscious parts of the psyche that may or may not manifest as actual powers but rather as (exaggerated) personality traits. Saitama's psyche in general is intact, but the manifestation occurs in multiple ways or how he possibly wills it to happen.

The super-ego aims for perfection. It forms the organized part of the personality structure, mainly but not entirely unconscious, that includes the individual's ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency (commonly called "conscience") that criticizes and prohibits their drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. "The Super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt. For example, for having extra-marital affairs." Taken in this sense, the super-ego is the precedent for the conceptualization of the inner critic as it appears in contemporary therapies such as IFS.

The super-ego works in contradiction to the id. The super-ego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id just wants instant self-gratification. The super-ego controls our sense of right and wrong and guilt. It helps us fit into society by getting us to act in socially acceptable ways.

The super-ego's demands often oppose the id's, so the ego sometimes has a hard time in reconciling the two.

The super-ego tends to stand in opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and its aggressiveness towards the ego.

So what is the ego-ideal in psychology?

In Freudian psychoanalysis, the ego ideal (German: Ichideal) is the inner image of oneself as one wants to become. Alternatively, "the Freudian notion of a perfect or ideal self housed in the superego," consisting of "the individual's conscious and unconscious images of what he would like to be, patterned after certain people whom … he regards as ideal."

In the French strand of Freudian psychology, the ego ideal (or ideal ego, German: Ideal-Ich) has been defined as "an image of the perfect self towards which the ego should aspire".

So what we can gather is that the Super-ego part of the psyche represents ego ideal, morality, spiritual goals and conscience. Basically, Saitama's inner image as one wants to become (the hero) is the ego ideal, his infallible sense of morals, his spiritual goals and the oftentimes humorously portrayed conscience, like how big of a deal he made about losing his wallet and subsequently not being able to pay for his fries. But just like in psychology, his super-ego and id were in conflict when it comes to objective, his own desires to get away from punishment versus not leaving without paying for the meal, where the super-ego acts as a type of conscience and punishes misbehaviour with feelings of guilt.

Rationally, he could have just explained the situation and come back later with money. But his inner critic, the conscience, would not allow it. So the very second he saw a way to get out of the situation for self-gratification to satisfy his ID, he took it.

Then he later gets guilty about leaving Fubuki there to pay for his food and had even forgotten their small conversation lol.

Actually an amazingly well constructed scene now that I think about it on this analysis.

Justice Enforcement:

It is possibly a superpower on it's own right. Where he has the innate sense of right and wrong that manifests to deal heavy dose of justice. It even has it's own theme, which is Saitama's theme Seigi Shikkou. And somehow he also (almost always) arrives at the nick of time to save the day.

But what else is there in super-ego and how can we read it in terms of OPM? The perfect version of the ideal self, the combination of the unconscious and conscious mind. The ideal hero. The superior being. The higher self.

And when you think about it, Saitama has never used the conscious and unconscious parts of his abilities in tandem. Not in the extreme levels anyway. So ironically, Saitama who is limitless, has not even realised or used his full potential in the series yet.

The logic defying, reality warping, methodical powers and the energy to create a supernova without breaking a sweat.

Yea that sounds kind of scary allright. It honestly sounds omnipotent if anything. Truly limitless. What CANNOT he do with this kind of powers?

"He who has evolved himself beyond the limiter has power beyond common sense."

Literally.

So scary in fact that his mind probably employs a lot of defensive mechanisms around it to preserve his sanity as he tries to resist the idea of harmonising his consciousness and unconsciousness, the super-ego resistance. That's why despite the ideal hero being his ego ideal and what he wants to become, he resists becoming what he considers to be the perfect hero, as seen when he told King that striving for becoming the ideal hero is boring.

"Thus the ego, driven by the id, confined by the super-ego, repulsed by reality, struggles…[in] bringing about harmony among the forces and influences working in and upon it," and readily "breaks out in anxiety—realistic anxiety regarding the external world, moral anxiety regarding the super-ego, and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id."[27] It has to do its best to suit all three, thus is constantly feeling hemmed by the danger of causing discontent on two other sides. It is said, however, that the ego seems to be more loyal to the id, preferring to gloss over the finer details of reality to minimize conflicts while pretending to have a regard for reality. But the super-ego is constantly watching every one of the ego's moves and punishes it with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inferiority.

To overcome this the ego employs defense mechanisms. The defense mechanisms are not done so directly or consciously. They lessen the tension by covering up our impulses that are threatening. Ego defense mechanisms are often used by the ego when id behavior conflicts with reality and either society's morals, norms, and taboos or the individual's expectations as a result of the internalization of these morals, norms, and their taboos.

Object relations theory tended to see superego resistance in terms of a patient's relationship with an internalised critical/persecutory parent figure. Reluctance to end the 'security' of the bond to the internalised parent strengthens the superego resistance. Where the ego ideal is harshly perfectionist, or represents an internalised mother who idealised suffering over enjoyment, superego resistance takes the form of a refusal to be 'corrupted' by the progress of the therapy.

In group therapy, superego resistance may be externalised or internalised. In the first case, a moralistic sub-group may form, which is hypercritical of other, less conformist members; while in the second case (of internalisation), the severity of the inward conscience, and the need for punishment, may lead to action destructive to the self and to the progress of the treatment

Kinda like when he threw that Very loaded emotional punch at Garou in chapter 166 that was going to shatter the planet. Ego defence mechanism to dissociate because his emotional display conflicted with his morals.

And the therapy is to coincide these two forms of consciousness, as resisting will only either transform or even shatter his psyche further. It has already transformed irrevocably when he experienced physical and psychic death and clawed back from the brink with his sheer will, so he can now manifest the effects of his own psyche into the external world.

Conscious, Unconscious and Preconscious:

Conscious:

Hopping into Freud's earliest theories, if we're talking about the Ego, The ID and the Super-ego and how they work with the mind, we also need to talk about potential abilities within the conscious, unconscious and preconscious mind that were missed.

Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience or awareness of internal and external existence. Sometimes, it is synonymous with the mind, and at other times, an aspect of mind. In the past, it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition. Today, it often includes any kind of cognition, experience, feeling or perception. It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, or self-awareness either continuously changing or not. There might be different levels or orders of consciousness, or different kinds of consciousness, or just one kind with different features.

Volition or otherwise known as will is easy enough to understand. Saitama has a lot of willpower to do what it takes. Including not getting moved by someone else's willpower like esper.

He is also perceptive of other people, such as reading social cues and what people are thinking.

He can also be somewhat imaginative at times, like with Serious side hops.

Unconscious:

The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind which occur automatically and are not available to introspection and include thought processes, memories, interests, and motivations.

Empirical evidence suggests that unconscious phenomena include repressed feelings, automatic skills, subliminal perceptions, and automatic reactions, and possibly also complexes, hidden phobias, and desires.

The concept was popularized by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. In psychoanalytic theory, unconscious processes are understood to be directly represented in dreams, as well as in slips of the tongue and jokes.

Thus the unconscious mind can be seen as the source of dreams and automatic thoughts (those that appear without any apparent cause), the repository of forgotten memories (that may still be accessible to consciousness at some later time), and the locus of implicit knowledge (the things that we have learned so well that we do them without thinking).

Saitama's dream scenario does indeed represent how he might have learned/wished to fight before it actually became completely redundant.

Automatic skills and automatic reactions:

Saitama has greatly enhanced reflexes and reaction speed and automatic responses whenever he gets attacked, but as it's unconscious action in response to stimulus, just not feeling like he's going to get harmed by something may be enough to lessen the need to actually dodge an attack even if he saw it coming, as he does not feel any pain if he does not want to or gets physically hurt. Aside from a cat scratch that is. That's a thought.

Subliminal perceptions:

Subliminal stimuli (/sʌbˈlɪmɪnəl/; the prefix sub- literally means "below" or "less than")[1] are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to supraliminal stimuli (above threshold).

Saitama can perceive stimuli like whispers and visual cues that are below his conscious perception levels, such as God and god's whispers and how Phoenixman and Child emperor were talking in the spiritual space. But he cannot accurately gauge the contents of what is being said or what he can see, only that there is something. Like when he looks up when God gives Garou powers and says "Something is coming."

The "talking in bathroom"-comment references to the fact that Garou's sound is actually echoing all around Saitama and he perceives it, because God is still present in the scene and close quarters (yea so basically a giant monster man is right above Sai on this scene lol). Bathroom echo occurs because textures used inside the bathroom cause different kinds of sound vibrations as they bounce back in enclosed space as they do not absorb sound as well as soft materials usually found in living room.

This subliminal skillset in perception is also probably the cause for Saitama's sensitivity for loud sounds, misophonia, which causes him to get pissed off at certain stimuli. So chances are it's really, really annoying when someone is plabbing their mouth off endlessly if he can actually perceive whispers in spiritual realms. I mean you Genos, but hey, he learned well. 20 words or less and no loud noises around Saitama. Else he will get pissed off and smite you with his divine power supernova lmao.

Preconscious:

The preconscious can also refer to information available for cognitive processing but that currently lies outside conscious awareness. One of the most common forms of preconscious processing is priming. Other common forms of preconscious processing are tip of the tongue phenomena and blindsight.

Blindsight is the ability of people who are cortically blind due to lesions in their striate cortex, also known as the primary visual cortex or V1, to respond to visual stimuli that they do not consciously see.

An addition to the subliminal perception and I doubt it means that Saitama is actually blind even if he has the "eyes of a dead fish".

Tip of the tongue is funnily represented when Saitama always forgets Sonic's name and other names.

Priming is a phenomenon whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention.The priming effect refers to the positive or negative effect of a rapidly presented stimulus (priming stimulus) on the processing of a second stimulus (target stimulus) that appears shortly after.

Processing speed essentially. All those reflexes and reaction speed ain't much if you can't process what is happening.

Special mention:

Genos core becoming unbreakable needs to be noted, as it seems that only Saitama's belief in that it will not break is stopping it from breaking as he imbues it with power. This can be either seen as combination of multiple sets of skillsets, like willpower or desire.

Divine Power and the Cosmic Origin:

His divine power, the cosmic power that he uses as fuel for emotional responses seems to be Sunlight or Solar energy, as the sun is being used to depict the explosion of the extreme Serious Punch squared effect.

Supporting argument of Carnage Kabuto fight and how Carnage Kabuto saw into the UV light spectrum

Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. When direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and radiant heat. When blocked by clouds or reflected off other objects, sunlight is diffused. Sources estimate a global average of between 164 watts to 340 watts per square meter over a 24-hour day; this figure is estimated by NASA to be about a quarter of Earth's average total solar irradiance.

The ultraviolet radiation in sunlight has both positive and negative health effects, as it is both a requisite for vitamin D3 synthesis and a mutagen.

Ultraviolet A or (UVA) spans 315 to 400 nm. This band was once[when?] held to be less damaging to DNA, and hence is used in cosmetic artificial sun tanning (tanning booths and tanning beds) and PUVA therapy for psoriasis. However, UVA is now known to cause significant damage to DNA via indirect routes (formation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species), and can cause cancer. Visible range or light spans 380 to 700 nm. As the name suggests, this range is visible to the naked eye. It is also the strongest output range of the Sun's total irradiance spectrum.

The existence of nearly all life on Earth is fueled by light from the Sun. Most autotrophs, such as plants, use the energy of sunlight, combined with carbon dioxide and water, to produce simple sugars—a process known as photosynthesis. These sugars are then used as building-blocks and in other synthetic pathways that allow the organism to grow.

Heterotrophs, such as animals, use light from the Sun indirectly by consuming the products of autotrophs, either by consuming autotrophs, by consuming their products, or by consuming other heterotrophs. The sugars and other molecular components produced by the autotrophs are then broken down, releasing stored solar energy, and giving the heterotroph the energy required for survival. This process is known as cellular respiration.

His gloves steam when he starts to collect the energy for a good punch as it gives off radiant heat. Quite many times his bald head is used as reflective surface to reflect light sources like the sun, the intro to OPM season 1 has his glove catch into flames and burst into white bright light. Just like sunlight, most of the spectrum is not visible to naked eye whenever he punches people, unless it's the strongest output of his power, the death punch where it's emotionally charged punch. Destructive use of his divine power in emotional expulsion causes harm to DNA, so basically his punch atomizes people. Makes sense as that seems to be accurate depiction of what happens to those he punches, they just vaporize.

Actually, this means that Boros clung to life against his Serious Punch because he can regenerate. Huh. Maybe Boros is actually truly alive and Boris, Blasts's teammate, is Boros. (Love that fandom name).

Solar eclipse is used for symbolism when Garou is being influenced by God, as god is symbolised by the moon and Saitama symbolises the sun and we've also had couple covers with moonlight reflecting off Saitama's bald head and Saitama standing atop the solar corona. Solar eclipses are treated as ill omen in myth and and full eclipse only happens when moon is totally aligned with the sun and when moon is closest to the plane of earth's orbit and obstructs the sunlight from reaching earth.

This has some... very worrisome connotations with the parallels between God and Saitama and what God's goal with his machinations truly is.

And the last but not the least important bit, sunlight is a fuel for nearly all life on earth.

Combine divine power with his extreme emotional discharge, desires, reality bending and common sense breaking abilities and you can get...

Yea, exactly. :D

But it will be an unconscious manifestation of his skillset, so he won't know what the hell happened.

The ideal self:

Psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow had major influence in popularizing the idea of self-concept in the west. According to Rogers, everyone strives to reach an "ideal self." He believed that a person gets to self-actualize when they prove to themself that they are capable enough to achieve their goals and desires, but in order to attain their fullest potential, the person must have been raised in healthy surroundings which consist of "genuineness, acceptance, and empathy", however, the lack of relationships with people that have healthy personalities will stop the person to grow"like a tree without sunlight and water" and affect the individual's process to accomplish self- actualization.[9] Rogers also hypothesized that psychologically healthy people actively move away from roles created by others' expectations, and instead look within themselves for validation. On the other hand, neurotic people have "self-concepts that do not match their experiences. They are afraid to accept their own experiences as valid, so they distort them, either to protect themselves or to win approval from others."

Self-actualization in this case being attaining his full awakening by having genuine support.

This is the allegory of the Cactus ONE has mentioned before. No matter how much Saitama tries to nurture the Cactus, it will not ever bloom.

As he cannot nurture himself alone to become the Ideal hero without help and he does not know how and keeps doing it wrong.

And letting other heroes prove themselves so they too, can self-actualize by proving themselves capable of reaching their goals and desires.

Conclusion:

The important bit here is that Saitama never stopped being who he is or that his personality or the aspects of his mind changed. He's still willfull, he still has low self-esteem, he's still just and has other personality quirks and he's still passionate.

Saitama also has normal human physiological needs when he is not in a state that actively defies this logic, such as being detatched from his ID that governs his body's psysiological needs.

But if he wills and imagines or plans something to happen, he can probably do it. It would take more mental energy to expend extreme amounts consistently though, akin to espers.

What he gained from breaking his limits is the potential to manifest the workings of his own psyche into the external world, not unlike Espers who use their mind powers. But his psyche is that of the conscious, preconscious and unconscious variety and behaves with this ruleset, at least for now. Conscious skillsets are used consciously and unconscious skillsets are used unconsciously and he may not be aware of the entire extent of the powers he has on the unconscious scale.

Saitama saying he goes full power because Garou can take a beating means he's going to use his Conscious skillset to beat him down, as he is cognizant of the abilities he possesses but does not often use.

After completely surrendering to his unconcious mind, he has no memory recall of what happened during the high emotional discharge of the death punch. But Saitama is cognizant of emotional discharged punches but only wanted to name it so he'd have some kind of reference point of how much emotions he needs to use as fuel for the destructive attack.

Unclear whether Psyche power and Divine powers being sunlight are all manifestations of divine power in different ways or whether Psyche powers emerged from Ego-death and Divine cosmic powers emerged from the Body death.

Saitama can use his abilities in tandem with his other abilities and there seems to be no interference between ability usage, unless within the extremes as that seems to be the current limit. Synthesis of information.

Killing a mosquito is an exception, rule of funny. He tries to slap the mosquito, but not wanting to feel any pain means he unconsciously may have depowered his own slap from harming himself, thus causing conflict between the rational ego and the impulsive id and letting the mosquito go away. Further conflict makes it more confusing scenario because the mosquito is seemingly now invincible and he stops rationalising it away when he gets pissed.

Slipping into extremely intelligent-cognizant or emotional mindset seems to prohibit using abilities from the other spectrum to their full extent unless said ability is unconsciously always in use.

The stress from using his psyche this much is probably what caused him to go bald in the first place. As Genus has commented, such powers are not without a price and the price he paid for using them was going bald and overwhelming sense of alienation from being way too strong and his powers breaking any sound logic and common sense, and apathy. Using any extreme of his powers seems to cause him to receive negative feedback from expulsion, so it stands for a reason that any extreme usage of logic defying abilities would erode his sanity, while any extreme expulsion of emotional would erode on his feelings and cause apathy and dissociation.

(Zombieman implicating that the power to remove his limiter is literally the same power that blew away Genus whole ideology, which would be true if one of Saitama's powers is to judge the self and cause a shift the ideal ego)

We've yet to see the most extreme version of his common sense and reality bending powers. And if he did, he might have a manic episode and go temporarily crazy in a bout of insanity.

That's why the mind employs defence mechanisms to repress this ability and possibly his memory of said events happening too. At least in my hypothesis.

Saitama's hero journey may never be satisfied unless he brings his abilities together and repairs his own psyche. In buddhism there are many references to ascension and gaining enlightenment by attaining higher consciousness, full awakening.

The dangerous part about having separate consciousness is that the longer they are split, it may cause them to distance even further away till the psyche shatters completely into separate consciousnessness and causes mental disturbances. He is already depressed and apathetic.

God as a being who has no identity and no emotions and no morals and no humanity, seems to work on the exact same premises as Saitama (powers of psyche and divine powers), which brings some uncomfortable parallels between God and Saitama into forefront.

God below the earth is unconscious, empty husk and the God above ground in the moon is an active consciousness that crawled from the physical body and only acts in it's own interest in cold rationality, no emotions and no sense of morality. Ergo only Ego, no ID nor Super-ego.

Funnily enough, the God's unconsciousness inside the earth is disrupted whenever God makes a centipede and it is actually called Centipede's dilemma or Humphrey's law. Lmfao.

"The Centipede's Dilemma" is a short poem that has lent its name to a psychological effect called the centipede effect or centipede syndrome. The centipede effect occurs when a normally automatic or unconscious activity is disrupted by consciousness of it or reflection on it. For example, a golfer thinking too closely about their swing or someone thinking too much about how they knot their tie may find their performance of the task impaired. The effect is also known as hyperreflection or Humphrey's law.

As God's unconscious form automatically crafts monsters, the active craft of a centipede disrupts this automatic process, like when happened when Orochi crawled to the altar and got sacrificed.

This may mean that God's unconscious form is awakening more and more. Every time something is sacrificed on the altar.

If god is a limitless being who also experienced ego death and physical death, then there is very likely chance that if Saitama continues like this, his consciousness would separate entirely like God's seems to have.

That the God also happens to be bald, but still has ears, has human form, lacks humanity, has similar powers but on a larger scale and the sun and moon parallels...

Power imbuing is also exactly what Saitama is doing to Genos core on chapter 167.

God is attempting hard to remove Saitama's identity, his emotions and his humanity purely on goal-oriented basis and that does not bode well.

Other notes:

The basic tenets of psychoanalysis include: A person's development is determined by often forgotten events in early childhood, rather than by inherited traits alone. Human behaviour and cognition are largely determined by instinctual drives that are rooted in the unconscious. Attempts to bring such drives into awareness triggers resistance in the form of defense mechanisms, particularly repression. Conflicts between conscious and unconscious material can result in mental disturbances, such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, and depression. Unconscious material can be found in dreams and unintentional acts, including mannerisms and slips of the tongue. Liberation from the effects of the unconscious is achieved by bringing this material into the conscious mind through therapeutic intervention. The "centerpiece of the psychoanalytic process" is the transference, whereby patients relive their infantile conflicts by projecting onto the analyst feelings of love, dependence and anger.

Therapeutic intervention meaning bringing repressed feelings to the surface as counterbalance to the emotional discharges that eat away at his emotions, feeling without constant discharges. And possibly actual mind therapy from espers. Reconcilation of the two split consciousness into harmonious unity.

Serious series: Serious Therapy time. And that concludes the deconstruction and theory on Saitama's powers and how he applies them.

#opm #one punch man #opm spoilers #opm manga panels #saitama #saitama's powers #opm meta discussion #psyche #ego #id #super-ego #long post #text #sigmund freud #psychology #psychoanalysis

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tellurian-in-aristasia · 9 months

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Aristasian Customs and Manners

How Aristasians behave — and Why

Until recently, learning about Aristasian customs and etiquette has been a thing that happened only in "real life". In Elektraspace it was not necessary. With the advent of Virtualia, that has changed. Aristasians, both established and new, are meeting in virtual environments and visitors are encountering Aristasia and being received as guests at the Virtual Embassy and in other Elektra-venues.

The time has come, therefore, to explain a little about Aristasian customs and etiquette so that the newcomer need not feel confused.

The first thing we should like to say is — don't worry! We are used to newcomers. We do not expect you to be au fait with Aristasian ways from the start. If you do not remember this page at all, that is fine. You will learn as you go along. This is just here as a resource you may wish to consult to make things clearer and perhaps explain a little of the background.

Aristasia is a whole world, not a single nation, so customs vary in different parts of the Empire. The ways you will encounter are the ways of the far West. There is a degree of Estrenne influence because of the involvement of the Novarian Navy and diplomatic service in the founding and administration of Virtual Aristasia, and in any case a certain degree of West-Estrenne conduct is inherent in the more formal Quirinelle manner.

However you may be relieved to learn that on the whole, the manner of Quirinelle prevails, which is generally the least strict and formal of any in the Empire. Our level is a little above that of Quirridip Espresso-bar society! — But still relatively relaxed by Aristasian standards.

Respect

Respect is the keynote of much Aristasian conduct. It is considered proper to treat each person with the highest respect she might be entitled to. This means you will give each person her title. Usually this will be Miss. In some cases it will be a military rank or other distinction. Teachers at all levels are addressed as ma'am, as are grown-ups by children and anyone of distinctly superior station to oneself. There are other titles, but you will probably not encounter these at first.

When addressing a person as Miss, you may use either Miss [Surname] or Miss [First name]. The first is more formal. It should be used when you first meet someone. As in Telluria (at least until recently), moving onto first-name terms is a sign of developing intimacy. To use a first name with a stranger can cause genuine puzzlement ("Does this person think she knows me? — Oh gosh, I hope I haven't completely forgotten her!")

In Quirinelle,and especially in the atmosphere of Virtualia (where welcoming new people and forging a community are central to the whole project) this first level of intimacy often develops quite quickly — once people feel they know one another. However, although you use the first name, do not drop the "Miss". To address someone by first name alone is in Aristasia a thing that happens between family members, sweethearts, childhood friends and (sometimes) very close adult friends. First names alone are also used in schools (especially among blondes) and by superiors to their very distinct inferiors — to children, by mistresses to maids, teachers to pupils etc. Though at University level a lecturer will address her undergraduates as Miss [Surname]. If the teaching relationship is close, she may move on to Miss [First name], but the pupil will not return this. She will at all times address her teacher as Miss [Surname] or ma'am. A spiritual teacher, or close personal guide may sometimes be addressed as "Raya". This is also used as a courtesy title for some other persons and for titled ladies. Priestesses and ministers of many ranks and denominations are addressed as "Matri". These will probably not arise immediately. Do not worry about it — just call people what other people call them.

Someone has suggested as a guideline that in Aristasia one would not use the first name alone (without Miss) to anyone whom one would not call "darling". In Tellurian terms this may be a reasonable guide, but in Aristasia terms like "darling" and "sweetie" may be fairly frequently used, especially by blondes. It is quite possible to say "darling" to someone one would never dream of addressing by first name alone.

Which brings us to another important point. Affection is very abundant in Aristasia. If the higher degree of formality suggests coldness or distance to you, you must put that idea aside entirely. In Iron-Age Telluria, with its unbalanced-Vikhelic nature, rivalry and competition are common bases for relations with others. In Aristasia, love and appreciation of other girls is very deep. Seeing someone dressed beautifully pleases us. It may also inspire us to do better ourselves, but our first thought is: "How lovely; and how nice of her to make our world prettier". Affection is really quite overflowing in Aristasia, and there are many kinds of friendships and relationships. The idea of one jealously-guarded relationship, surrounded by (and sometimes causing) rivalry and wariness everywhere else, is very alien to Aristasia. Aristasia is regarded as a family with the Empress as the mother of all (sometimes termed the Little Mother of the World — because God is the Great Mother).

Love between Aristasians at all levels is one of the fundamentals, and showing respect is, in Aristasia, a way of showing affection. Of course one shows respect even to those for whom one may not feel affection, but for a good Aristasian, affection is almost universal. A thing the newcomer needs to understand, though, is that an Aristasian may often show someone more formal respect because she loves her, rather than less.

Rayati and the Reverence

"Rayati" is the universal greeting in Aristasia. It means "Hail to the Sun (in you)". It is a greeting addressed to the Divine Essence, or Solar Heart in each person. It is used to begin and end a meeting or encounter, like both "hello" and "goodbye" (though hello and goodbye are sometimes used as well). To a traditional Aristasian, a meeting with a friend, or friends constitutes a special state, almost a very informal ritual (just as eating a meal at a table, or visiting a person's house is a ritual). The word Rayati is the opening and closing word of that ritual. Any words said after the closing "Rayati" are regarded as a sort of postscript. Occasionally in the West, and in very informal company, the greeting is omitted (this is regarded by traditional people as a sign of Westrenne decadence), but if it is given by either party, failure to respond with "Rayati" is an immense gaffe and could even be seen as an insult.

Among Military personnel and on some formal occasions, the greeting is Rayati Raihiranya ("Hail to the Empress as an incarnation of the Sun"). This might also be said at, say, a school assembly where the mistress conducting would greet the assembly with it, and the girls would reply in unison.When a civilian is greeted by a member of the military with "Rayati Raihiranya" it is usual to give the civilian response "Rayati", but it is perfectly in order to reply "Rayati Raihiranya". Occasionally this is shortened to "Raya" among the military — normally only when addressing each other. It is rare for a civilian to use "Raya" as a salutation, even when so saluted. Other military salutations are "Chalwë" and "Ehr Chalwë". You will probably not hear these, but if you do, you may respond with "Rayati" (more usual) or "Chalwë". Incidentally, the implication of responding with "Rayati Raihiranya" or "Chalwë" rather than "Rayati" is one of a certain kind of comradeship. It is saying "we are all soldiers in the same Cause". It is more common among brunettes than blondes.

Another ending of an encounter (used after "Rayati") is "May She be with you". This tends to be used a) among more religious people and/or b) as an expression of additional affection. On leaving a house the hostess may say "May Dea go with you", to which the response is "And may She remain with you".

The Reverence is used a great deal in the East. In the West it is sometimes omitted, and in some company not used at all. It is not de rigeur in the West (except in schools and other institutions that require it, which many do). It is essentially a bow that accompanies the greeting "Rayati". It is made at some other times as well — for example when accepting an order from a superior, when it is a sign of the recognition and formal acceptance of the commission or prohibition; also when thanking or apologising. Although it is sometimes omitted in the West, the Bridgehead Authorities recommend the use of the Reverence by all Aristasians in Telluria.

The reverence can take various forms, but most usually it is done either with the hands at the sides or folded over the solar plexus, or with the hands placed before the chest in the position associated in Western Telluria with prayer. It may be only an inclination of the head or it may be a deeper bow. This has to do with degrees of respect. An inferior will reverence more deeply. An superior may reply with an inclination of the head, or in some cases not at all (it is rare for a mistress to reverence her class, though they will reverence her).

Here is another thing newcomers must beware of misunderstanding. While Aristasians will often actively seek out reasons for using respectful words or gestures (for example, a brunette may more deeply reverence a blonde as a blonde, even if she is somewhat her inferior), the absence of them does not imply disrespect or arrogance (unless it is a misplaced absence). A mistress could well reverence her pupils, since each of them has the Solar Heart within her; but part of her way of serving them is to be a "rock" for them and to represent a secure and immovable link in the Golden Chain. In a very minor sense, she is Dea to them, as a spiritual Ranya may be in a much greater sense. This is also why obedience is a very important virtue in Aristasia, for "obedience to elders is obedience to Dea" (elders here means "superiors" without necessarily a reference to age).

A still more respectful reverence is made by raising the hands (still in the Tellurian attitude of prayer) to the level of the forehead and bowing deeply. There are numerous other styles of reverence, but these are the ones most commonly encountered in the West. Also among Westrennes, some blondes may curtsey rather than reverence.

Military salutations are accompanied by a military salute, or by the military version of the reverence, which is performed by standing erect, as if at attention, bringing the heels sharply together and making a crisp bow from the waist.

Virtual note: At the time of writing, we have not animations either for the pressed-hands style of reverence or for the most usual form of Aristasian military salute (in which the right fingertips are touched to the left shoulder). However we have a simple bow with the hands at the sides — which is a fully acceptable style of reverence in Aristasia — and a Tellurian-style military salute.

Personae and Functions

In Aristasia-in-Telluria it is common for girls to have multiple personae. Readers of Children of the Void will recall that the book had twenty-one characters but only seven physical bodies . Some girls are even "ambis", having both blonde and brunette personae (this is not the norm, but it is not rare).

For some girls personae are not important. Some have no extra personae. Some have only, perhaps, a schoolgirl or a schoolmistress necessary for her school life. At this point persona shades of into Function — an important concept that we shall discuss shortly. Other girls have two or more very distinct persona, so that no one supposes she is talking to the same person when she knows the two of them — as, indeed, she is not. Some girls find this aspect of Aristasia alone a huge liberation, and wonder how they could ever have gone through life with only one personality! It would have been as if part of them were missing.

In Virtualia at present, it is usual to have only one Avatar and one persona. So in a sense it may be said that Virtualia, with all its flying and teleporting, is a little more staid than Physicalia! There is actually no reason why girls should not eventually have second personae (it may indeed be interesting to have personae that are not "tied" by a similar physical appearance), but at present this is not the case.

Nevertheless, a somewhat related phenomenon is that of Function, and that needs to be understood in the light of the relatively formal nature of Aristasian society. When one performs a Function in Aristasia, whether as a mother, a teacher, a minister, a military officer or even a subordinate Function, such as a daughter, a pupil etc., one is manifesting an Archetype. This is an important point for the newcomer to understand, because the modern Tellurian West — especially since the cultural Eclipse of the 1960s, when an extreme individualism has attempted to expunge even the vestiges of true Function — is at the opposite extreme from this consciousness.

In Aristasia, each Function is ruled by one of the Janyati — a musician by Sai Thamë, for example, a military girl by Sai Vikhë, a nurse by Sai Sushuri. Actually, it is more complex than that. A teacher, for example, is ruled by Sai Mati insofar as she imparts knowledge, by Sai Thamë insofar as she imposes order, by Sai Sushuri insofar as she gives love to her pupils, by Sai Rhavë insofar as she corrects them. However we look first at the primary Janya for each Function, and, indeed, traditionally a maid would invoke the tutelary Janya of her Function (or of a particular aspect of her Function) before performing it. This is very often omitted in the modern Aristasian West (another example of cultural decline), but even when it is, the principle behind it is not forgotten.

In the light of this, it is perhaps easier to understand why Functions in Aristasia are regarded more seriously than "jobs" or ""roles" in the Pit. A girl performing a Function is usually addressed by the title of the Function and will be treated almost as a different person in and out of her Function. Teachers, for example, are accorded great respect in Aristasia, and while in the role of teacher, even those who know her more intimately at other times will regard the officiator of that role almost as a divine representative (which, on a certain level, she is). The idea of calling a teacher by her first name (with "Miss", of course) would be unthinkable, even in the case of a person who is regularly addressed so at other times.

The point here is that while the Pit regards the individual as paramount, in Aristasia, the Function is paramount. When a maid takes on the mantle, or "mask", of a higher Function, it is the Function, or Archetype, that is paramount. Aristasian pupils (like pupils everywhere) may not always be above criticising their teachers as individuals, but during the actual "ritual" of the lesson, the perception of the Archetype should be to the fore. This does not mean there is never a joke in class — sometimes there is — but it does help to explain why classroom disobedience is a) much rarer and b) regarded as what Pit-dwellers might consider to be a disproportionately serious offence.

We have taken the Function of teacher as an easily graspable example, but similar remarks might be applied to any Function,

Pit-dwellers distrust masks as devices to hide the face of the all-important Individual (which to them is the only reality). Aristasians revere them as the means of actualising a supra-individual Reality that is in no way false, but is, in a very important sense, closer to the Solar Heart that we greet many times daily with the word "Rayati".

We would suggest that the above paragraph sums up as succinctly as possible the underlying difference between Aristasian forms and manners, and those of the Pit. It is worth meditating upon.

To finish, we should just like to reiterate what we said at the beginning. While this may sound difficult and complicated, please do not worry. Aristasia-in-Virtualia is there to welcome newcomers. You do not need to know any of this. Many girls have come in before this page was written! You will learn simply and gradually as you go along.

We are simply waiting to welcome you.

Good luck to you in your magical adventure into the Motherland.

And Rayati!

https://web.archive.org/web/20230627113119/https://aristasia-info.aristasia-central.com/customs.html

#aristasia #aristasian #chelouranya #miss martindale

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mygaymindpalace · 1 year

Text

I absolutely HATE when fans pester celebrities for new content, specifically new music. AJR put out an album a year and a half ago and just finished touring and people are ALREADY DEMANDING A-FUCKING-NOTHER ONE.

CREATORS DON'T OWE US ANYTHING SO STOP ACTING LIKE THEY DO & DEMANDING THINGS FROM THEM.

AJR has ALREADY mentioned that another album is already in the works, so it'll be out in due time. You can shut the fuck up and wait until then. They have 4 ½ albums (½ because they released a deluxe version of one) already out. I know that when you absolutely love an artist a lot can sometimes never feel like enough, but that simply DOES NOT give you the right to go in comment sections and aggressively talk about how you "need a new album right now". For 1. THEY'RE ALREADY FUCKING WORKING ON ONE AND HAVE TOLD US SO and 2. NO ONE OWES YOU ANYTHING!!!!!! Celebrities don't work for you; they don't. And somewhere along the way society has forgotten that. Yes, they make things that we enjoy but they do not work for us and tend to our every need.

Celebrities -singers, actors, writers, musicians, dancers, animators- are human. They deserve rest and time to relax. They don't deserve people constantly asking for things from them. And no, this is not "what they get for putting themselves in the limelight and getting famous". They're still people, and they're still entitled to their privacy, their free time and being treated with basic human respect & decency.

Your favorite people are just that: people. Stop hassling and pestering people who've already given you so much. It makes you a bad fan. Don't be a bad fan especially if you really do love the *band, actor, singer, writer, influencer, etc*. They love you too and chances are more stuff will be released eventually. Just be patient.

#rant #random stuff #random #ajr #celebrities #celebrities are people too #be kind #please stop #no one owes you anything #ranting #don't be a dick #ajr brothers #ajr band #random rant

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