#it might be more true for me than you depending on where you're based
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Thank you for your service to the ghoul fucker community 🫡🤠
You mentioned that you have more headcanons for the Ghoul, can you share them with us? NSFW or SFW it is up to you
SFW Cooper Howard/The Ghoul Headcanons 2
(Follow-up to the SFW Prewar!Coop headcanons I posted here.)
I've said this before, but I firmly believe that this man doesn't sleep. Based on what we've seen about ghouls over the course of the franchise, I think that food, water, and sleep are basically optional; something that helps them feel and run better, but not things they can't survive without. With sleep comes vulnerability, both physical vulnerability and the vulnerability of being subjected to dreams. Cooper doesn't want to dream. His unconscious brain isn't nearly as good at shoving all the unpleasant things he doesn't want to think about down as his conscious brain is. The only true "sleep" he gets is when he's been knocked unconscious, whether that be by some enemy of the Wasteland or by one too many substances. He still will typically pick a spot to stop for 5-6 hours a night, put his feet up, get a little extra intoxicated. Sometimes he rests his eyes and feigns sleep when things feel especially calm.
He is a YAPPER! I've seen so many people theorize that for season 2 Lucy is gonna talk The Ghoul's ear off on their walk to New Vegas...I respectfully disagree. Have you ever met an old man? They never shut the fuck up at the best of times and this one has been without real companionship for so long; now that he's got an audience, he's never without something to say. I mean, the man was fancy waterboarding Lucy and standing there monologuing about some shit he read in the newspaper 200 years ago because he's lonely.
This man will absolutley start falling in love with you if you get ANY of his jokes or weird little references he makes to shit that hasn't existed in forever. Even if that's the first time he has positive feelings towards you, he's officially on that path. It would be a moment of genuine human connection, the kind he hasn't felt in so long. Even if it's innocuous, the poor thing is immediately gonna be a little obsessed with you.
Have fun if he DOES start falling in love with you, because initially it'll make him even more unpleasant than he usually is. He's confused at first, then he's annoyed by it when he realizes what he's feeling. He's gone this long without having to deal with that on top of everything else. Both emotions come with a hearty side of frustration and anger, as well as a general defensiveness you won't be able to wrap your brain around until his (reciprocated) feelings eventually come to light.
Marriage doesn't really exist in the same form he knew before, but if he was serious about you, he'd still wanna marry you. Depending on where you come from, whether you're a vault dweller or not, you might not even fully understand what he's asking when he proposes (which he would definitely still scrounge up a ring for, by the way; it wouldn't feel right to him if he didn't give you one). He takes it just as seriously as he took it the first time, and he's determined to be the husband he knows he's capable of being to you.
Not a headcanon so much as a musing, I suppose, but hear me out: what if the duster he wears is from the first person he ever cannibalized (or something similar)? Much to wonder about.
#cooper howard#the ghoul#cooper howard headcanons#cooper howard x reader#cooper howard x you#ghoulcy#vaultghoul#fallout tv show#fallout prime#submission
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Okay I've been thinking about this pretty much all day since I saw the hbomberguy and then todd in the shadows video i just have so many thoughts. While I wouldn't necessarily call myself a Video Essayist™ (I've only made a few over the years) as a youtuber and someone who has made video essays i definitely have more experience than the average person. There are so many things that stand out to me about this whole debacle i dont even know where to start.
First I want to just give a little insight into the process for making video essays from people who've never given it a shot and just how absurd it is to do the type of plagiarizing James has done. Video essays take a fuckton of research, even for pretty simple topics, but on top that you also have to make them with the medium of video in mind. it's really not enough to just take an essay you would write for a class and read it out loud. the flow is different, you have to have accompanying visuals, often background music, etc. They're a beast to make. My Twisted video for which i used literally two sources for my research (Sondheim's books and the musical Twisted) still took days of thorough reading, note taking, watching the musical, watching the musical again, watching the musical and taking notes, cross-referencing my notes, etc. For videos that synthesize multiple sources or are covering multiple pieces of media, that time goes up exponentially. Then there's writing, recording, gathering clips (often one of the most difficult parts depending on how obscure what you're talking about is), and editing. Even for a silly video like my Glee video, I still had to do a ton of research to make sure I was getting things correct, and that was a funny tier list about freaking Glee! There is just no way you could come up with a thorough analysis by just copying and pasting. Which brings me to my next point.
I think James may have thought (or more likely rationalized) what he was doing as analysis based on like the vaguest definition. When you do any kind of analysis, what you're doing is taking research from multiple different places (news articles, primary sources, existing analysis, etc.) and coming to your own conclusions, whether that's a synthesis of those different sources, or applying it to a specific thing like a movie. Really simple example is my Twisted video where I take Sondheim's writing and apply it to a specific piece of media (in this case Twisted). I'm using existing work but coming to my own conclusion. In the Spies Are Forever video, I took existing research about the Lavender Scare and the Hays Code, including primary sources from the time period, and applied it to the musical Spies are Forever. What James seem to do is take a bunch of existing scholarship, copy and paste it all together and then come to a "conclusion" that was not actually his own original thoughts but either "facts" he completely made up or something that didn't do anything to actually link his other "sources" together. I can see why it has the veneer of analysis, but making up a random "fact" you think might be true is not the same as a drawing a conclusion based on research.
I also think Todd made a really good point in the part about England's propaganda campaign against Italy around 9:30 that it's just really bad video making to not include examples of images from this so called propaganda campaign. I have a ton of examples of news clips, government reports, etc. in my SaF video about the Lavender Scare because...it was a real historic thing that happened! If something was supposedly so widespread and not even that long ago, you can probably find evidence of it somewhere. Kaz Rowe (who is also linked in the queer creators playlist on hbomberguy's vid) talked about this a lot in their video about tiktok misinfo where people often make these outrageous claims but the thing is if something so outrageous happened (like people constantly shitting on the floors of versailles), other people at the time would probably be talking about it somewhere. It's a big red flag when someone makes such bold claims and has no evidence to back it up.
Putting this last section under the cut because I go talk about WWII, Nazis, and HIV/AIDS a bit (watch Todd's video for some more context) so if you don't want to see that post is over here.
Lastly I wanted to talk about something else Kaz brings up in a lot of their videos when talking about historical topics and that is the tendency to dehumanize people of the past, often as unwashed, unintelligent masses who would just do any ridiculous disgusting thing because they were so stupid and disgusting. There are a lot of things to criticize about the people of the past and their actions obviously, but we cannot forgot that they were in fact, people. Real individual people with their own lives and dreams and ambitions and individual opinions and they have never been and never will be a monolith. Claiming anything is broadly true of "the victorians" or "the ancient egyptians" or whatever other vague historical group you want to talk about is usually a lot more nuanced than "they all thought or acted in this one particular way". I'm certainly not a historian and i've only done one history focused video but James Somerton seemed to make a lot of broad historical claims in his videos that I think fall into this trap.
The one that stood out most to me in Todd's video was the claim about Nazi body standards which is a whole mess in general that Todd goes into for a while, but the way he talks about WWII soldiers was just like...weird. Besides the fact that a lot of his claims about Nazis seem to be bordering on glorifying them and their aesthetics (gross), I think we should remember that WWII was less than a century ago. There are still over 100,000 surviving WWII vets in the US. My grandfather who was in the Army during WWII (he didn't serve overseas but he was an enlisted soldier I can literally look up his enlistment records in the national archives online) was a real person who I obviously knew personally and who died fairly recently. To think he enlisted because he was jealous of German fitness or whatever and wanted to prove how tough Americans are is an absolutely hilarious thing to think if you knew him. I'm sure there are as many reasons for enlisting as there were enlisted soldiers. When James talks about even as relatively narrow of a group as "WWII American soldiers," he's still talking about a very large group of real and diverse people and to make such broad claims that "most" or even "a lot" of them were just so taken in by strong german physiques or whatever is frankly insulting. I haven't watched the entirety of James video so maybe he does address this at some point, but from the clips I've seen it seems very generalized and implies some level of racism when WWII soldiers in fact included a lot of racially diverse people. IDK, i think if you're a supposed historical researcher and you're making a video about WWII and you don't know about groups like the Tuskegee Airmen or the Navajo Code Talkers, that's on you. I don't want to discount some of the really horrible shit that American (and obviously other countries) soldier's did in the war and how many of them held disgusting views (even my grandpa who I love dearly was not the most politically correct person to put it lightly) but Jame's claims are not criticizing any real ideology or the consequences of them, they're oversimplifying complex and harmful historical ideas and attributing them to something he pretty much made up. I'll also give you a little hint about something. When people fall into Nazi ideology, it's because they ultimately agree with the ideology, not for some surface level aesthetic reason of "fitness" or whatever. They are antisemitic, they are racist, they are eugenicists, plain and simple. They don't just think the Nazis are cool except for all their beliefs. I also think (and again I could be missing a part of the video here) the hyper focus on the Germans and the Soviets and not mentioning Italy is at the very least an oversight too. Mussolini, like Hitler and Stalin, had a pretty big campaign of promoting an ideal strong race which he tied to ancient Romans. Like this was also a country controlled by a fascist dictator that American soldiers fought in idk it just seems weird to me to leave it out. (okay edit i looked up the transcript and he does talk about Italian fascism a little bit but only about how Mussolini rose to power, nothing about his ideologies or anything really related to the main topic of body image).
And one more thing on that note that bothered me a lot. I think his claims about HIV/AIDS is probably the most well-known here on tumblr and has been pretty thoroughly destroyed by this point, but I do just want to say one more thing about it which is that AIDS isn't gone! I feel like they way he talks about it from what I've seen of this video makes HIV/AIDS sound like a problem of the past now that we have drugs for it, but that is just not the truth. There are still tens of thousands of new infections in the US each year and way more globally and yes, people do still die from it. I just don't like when people talk about AIDS as if it's this problem of the distant past, a separate era that people went through in the 80s rather than an ongoing epidemic that still does not have a cure. Safer sex, clean needle usage, and getting tested are just as important now as they were in the 80s and 90s and don't forget that.
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In celebration of me officially reaching 100 HOURS of fucking around in Hades 2, here's a couple of general gameplay tips from yours truly!
Preface
I am not the best Hades gamer out there, but I'd like to think I'm doing pretty good considering my still-standing 25+ win streak in the Underworld and 16 Fear clear on all weapon types, so this tip is meant for you guys who find Hades 2 weirdly difficult compared to the first game (I've been there!), or those who still haven't figured out good build and aspect combos. However, I will not be doing a deep dive of all the bosses except for the final bosses!
Obviously, spoilers abound under the cut, so tread with caution!!
Part 1: General Questions, Comments, Complaints, etc.
Q: Playing Melinoë is so difficult compared to Zagreus!
A: First of all, you are playing Melinoë, not Zagreus. Second of all, you are playing Lv. 1 Mel after being so used to Lv. 100 Zag (if you've spent an unreasonable amount of time playing Hades 1 like I did). These two have different playstyles! I myself am guilty of this mindset in my first 20 hours of gameplay.
Mel is all about using everything in your disposal to dispatch enemies. Additionally, the devs have designed the kit in such a way that none of your moves are an afterthought that you occasionally use every other room. The biggest example of this is Cast, which remains useful as a crowd control (CC) move even without a Boon attached to it. Use your Cast all the time!
Additionally, in case you haven't realized it, you can still move while charging your Omega Cast; however, the AoE will not follow you unless you have Local Climate (Demeter).
Don't forget that you can hold down Dash to Sprint. Lock enemies in place with Cast then sprint away if you need breathing room. However, do remember that you do not have i-frames while sprinting, only when dashing.
I have to concede that as of the current EA patch, dashing to dodge attacks still feels janky without the Swift Runner card, mostly because of the dash start-up animation being slightly but noticeably slower than Zag's dashes. However, after several runs with the Judgment card (where I can't activate Swift Runner, and that it might not activate further in the run), the rhythm of dashing with and without it is just muscle memory now. Keep practicing!
Q: Melinoë feels so squishy/slow/weak/etc.!
A: Hades 2 does feel much more Early Game Hellish™ than Hades 1, which imo is mostly because of the Arcana system's complexities.
You need various resources to unlock an Arcana, then you need sufficient Grasp to actually use the Arcana, THEN some Arcana have prerequisites for activation so you can't just use anything and everything you want. Very unlike H1, where you can just dump exactly one resource type into levelling the Mirror upgrades and the only true constraint is choosing one side of the Mirror over the other.
To mitigate the squishiness, Frinos with a fully upgraded Life Bond gives you a free 40 base HP. I prefer him over Toula because I fucking suck at bullet hells and Frinos eats up all those projectiles without flinching too much, and some enemies are really fucking annoying with their projectile attacks. Looking at you, hourglass thingies in Tartarus.
Another thing to note is that The Wayward Son card is a buffed version of Zag's health regen on room exit. At max level it heals 4 HP (8 if you're low), which also makes Chaos gate health drains trivial in Erebus and Oceanus, so go grab those Chaos boons.
If you think surviving against Chronos/Eris is difficult, try having at least 200-220 HP (adjust depending on Fear settings) before entering the fight. The Centaur and Titan cards are useful to achieve this. If you run a Hephaestus build, the Boon that adds HP based on Magick is also great!
Q: The Bosses in Hades 2 are more difficult... please help!
A: I see this observation often, but in my experience, the H2 bosses bar Chronos and Eris are actually significantly easier than the H1 bosses. Your experience gap between dealing with H1 and H2 bosses could also contribute. But anyways, here's some tips for each boss:
Hecate
The transformation Hex counts as a projectile and can be blocked by Frinos. If you haven't unlocked Frinos, simply dash back and forth into the hex (essentially abusing your dash i-frame) and it will eventually dissipate. Don't try to outrun it.
(Frinos ate the hex before I could fully demonstrate the dodging lol)
If you DO get transformed, dash and attack repeatedly to prevent Hecate's attacks from hitting you, because your attack in sheep form is a charge forward that helps add extra distance while waiting for the dash cooldown to end.
Scylla and the Sirens
They killed me an unreasonable amount of times early game because there's so damn much going on the screen, so my tip for that is kill the drummer first. The guitarist's arsenal is much less dangerous and her dash attack is heavily telegraphed. Even if the guitarist is the featured artist, I would still kill the drummer first. Additionally, the Night Bloom Hex* works in this fight. Have fun!
Infernal Beast
Mostly immobile boss that can't really turn around with heavily telegraphed attacks, so the easiest trick is to just stand behind it for free backstab damage and don't get hit. Paired with the massive hitbox, the boss becomes very vulnerable against Apollo/Zeus cast and Omega specials with Pan aspect on the Sister Blades.
Polyphemus
Sometimes he has sheep in the fight; if he eats them he gets healed. Gold sheep will block Omega moves in the radius indicated around them, while black sheep will charge at you. I find his most difficult attack is the boulder slam if he spots you. When he leaps, sprint away first for some distance, then dash into the shockwaves because they move FAST and staying near will guarantee you get hit.
Eris
All of her attacks count as projectiles, so Hestia's Soot Sprint turns the fight into a total joke. She also turns relatively slowly when firing; when she does the spread shots, stay directly behind her. The forward charge is also telegraphed by an animation where she rises a bit before charging, so dash towards Eris to avoid getting hit (because it also stuns you).
Chronos, in general
God I hate that bitch ass scythe throw attack SO MUCH. I find the most reliable way to dodge it is to dodge towards Chronos but in a counterclockwise direction because it always travels clockwise. DO NOT DODGE AWAY FROM HIM.
The thrown scythe counts as a projectile, so projectile slowing effects like Demeter's Cyclone debuff or Hard Target (Hermes) affect its move speed.
Additionally, Chronos himself is immune to any time-slowing effect, including from the Sorceress card, the Phase Shift Hex, and Hermes' legendary Boon. He can still damage you during the time stop in the Hex casting animation.
Lastly, the ring explosions that come after his slashing attacks are unblockable by any "Block" move e.g. Axe special.
Chronos, 2nd phase
He always begins the phase with a full screen attack that does 999 damage unless you stand in the highlighted safe spots... or if you have Coarse Grit (Demeter Infusion) that lets you take no more than 15 damage per hit (lol). The clock hands will also kill you this way, so stand well clear of its radius. When he does this attack he will stand in place, which if you're lucky lets you get a guaranteed Omega Cast or Total Eclipse strike, and even one or two fully charged Pan aspect specials if the "safe spot" is near him.
(* Night Bloom has an unintended interaction with the Judgment arcana that causes its effects to be triggered multiple times in the Scylla fight. I've reported this as a bug, but I guess you could abuse it until the next patch lol)
Q: What is your Arcana setup?
A: This! I find this to be the easiest setup for activating the Divinity card and also the "safest" build, with the drawback of being unable to change room rewards/Boon and Well of Charon offerings.
If I wanted more challenge, I would activate everything in the third row, and use the remaining 3 Grasp for either The Huntress or Death, depending on weapon:
When I do a Judgment arcana run, I only activate The Wayward Son, Eternity, and Excellence; the bonus with Judgment is that it also automatically activates The Queen, and keeps it active no matter how many more cards it activates later.
If you have yet to max out your Grasp and want to play it safe, the cards I recommend to prioritize are Eternity > Excellence > Origination > The Swift Runner/The Sorceress > The Titan > The Furies/The Moon/The Huntress/ > Night/The Unseen.
Extra tip: The Moon synergizes very well with pure damage Omega Casts e.g. Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon because it adds to the base damage. Naturally, this makes Apollo cast busted as hell.
Q: What are your recommended Keepsakes? How do I use them?
A: The ones from Hecate, Odysseus, Nemesis, Moros, and Narcissus. If you're good at not getting hit, Arachne's because it continuously stacks Armor per location as long as you stay above 1 Armor. Recently I've also been messing around with Chaos', which has been fun.
To elaborate:
Silver Wheel (Hecate) lets you regen Magick automatically, which was great for me in very early game until I got the hang of every Gain boon and evaluated which are the best ones. Essentially, it's a good crutch for learning how the game works. However, do note that the Keepsake regen is prioritized over any other Magick regeneration effects.
Knuckle Bones (Odysseus) is also a similarly useful early game crutch if you have difficulty against bosses or need to take a run to analyze their moves (very appropriate). It also gives you all-damage reduction against bosses. And fun fact: bring it to the Polyphemus fight multiple times for some unique interactions!
Evil Eye (Nemesis) is just a straightforward free ~30% universal damage bonus against the last enemy that killed you. Since mine was Chronos... well, let's just say I almost never spend a single DD in his fights ever since.
Engraved Pin (Moros) is functionally a better Stubborn Defiance. Triggering its effect will be prioritized over consuming a Death Defiance, and it works ONCE PER ROOM which is fucking amazing as a learning crutch and in high Fear runs. One of my favorite strategies if 1) my HP falls below the Pin's healing threshold, 2) its effect has not been triggered yet, and 3) I am 100% sure the encounter is about to end, I just die on purpose, kill everything that's left, and get a free heal.
Aromatic Phial (Narcissus) rarifies a random Common boon when you drink from a Fountain, which helps massively in no-Arcana runs or runs without Excellence/Divinity. It could also help if you grabbed Hera's Uncommon Grace but are unable to activate it because you have a Common boon. Lastly, the extra Fountain heal helps with survivability.
On the topic of Keepsakes, I encourage you to use the Olympian Keepsakes, because they now have the ability to increase the rarity of non-Infusion/Duo/Legendary Boons up to a certain rarity threshold and not just help you aim where your current build is going.
Rarification works especially well with Demeter's Rare Crop; one time Heroic Rare Crop managed to rarify my Attack, Special, and Cast somehow and I ended up blazing through Tartarus and Chronos like it was nothing.
End Notes (For Now)
I have some more tips prepared, but I'd like to know before I compile the next one:
Aand that's it for now. If I got something wrong or you know anything relevant to what I've shared above, do tell me in the replies so I can edit!
TL;DR: Don't forget to use Cast, get used to dodging with and without Swift Runner card, grab Chaos boons in early regions, be patient with grinding for upgrades, keep practicing, and have fun :)
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Prospero is my favorite character for many reasons and one of those is the fact he's from the first work of Edgar Allan Poe I read, therefore it has a special place in my heart. Having said that, his spectre disappoints me, AT THE TIME. It's true I don't know what the authors have in store but thus far, his spectre lacks severely to me. Spoilers for Masque of Red Death ahead, but he's based off of a story where a Prince hides away from a plague that torments his land until that "Red Death" enters the castle and follows him through a series of colored rooms, each one representing different things depending on how you read it. His spectre is not giving me any of that. It's a generic plague doctor with a staff as his most "unique" design choice. It tells me he lived through A plague but it doesn't tell me anything else from him just by looking at it on top of it being the weakest in terms of flare. Even Will's has more flare and that's...saying a lot. I trust that eventually the design might... make more sense to me and it might go through changes but as of right now, it's the most boring to me and that's a shame because I adore Prospero and anything related to him but I couldn't honestly say his Spectre is my favorite when it doesn't even look like anything more than a regular plague doctor... Especially since the staff is easy to miss or just doesn't add much. The rats could be a bonus too, but rats weren't really much of an element in the story either....
PS: I really don't mean this as hate or harsh criticism, it's just an observation and a mild hope someone sheds a new perspective on this that maybe I missed?
Can I call you PoeAnon? I'm calling you PoeAnon.
Oh, PoeAnon. How I love you, because this is what critique looks like. And you know what? I get what you're coming from. In a way, I actually agree.
Dear PoeAnon, here's what Prospero's design and abilities tell me, in regards to who he is and how he died —
Let's start with the whole Plague Doctor thing he's got going on. Personally, I love a good plague doctor, and I do think that the spectre could've used a little extra pizazz; but, here's where that design gets truly interesting —
The rats.
Yes, those damned rats. Let me explain.
It tells a great amount of how he died! Did you know that the Plague was spread by rats (then, fleas)? Apparently, the Catholic church was like, "Deport those cats, they're evil," and rats ran wild, spreading the plague like wildfire — the plague subsequently hit Italy, where Prospero is said to be from.
So, to me, it appears that Prospero died of the Plague in Italy, where he might have worked as a doctor in efforts to treat said plague. Or, he was the patient. (I think he was the patient who either died of the plague, or in surgery.)
To emhasize that he died of the plague, let's talk about the poem for a moment. The "Red Death" is a fictional disease that causes "bleeding at the pores."
Prospero is known to have a fear of blood — he gets queasy seeing his own blood, to be exact. Fits well, right?
I'll admit — I don't really understand the bat wings or the hourglass symbols on his staff.
I'll assume that the hourglass symbolizes death — namely, "running out of time," because getting the plague back then meant that you were counting your days. The bat wings stump me, though I assume it's because bats can carry some pretty serious diseases, too.
All this to say: I do like Prospero's spectre. As I said, I have a soft spot for Plague doctors, though I do understand that desire for more.
I wish I had more to go off of, too. But it's still a neat design, in my opinion! It's a classic, honestly.
What do you think, Nevermore tumblr?
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Jay how do you deal with certain realities that you want to shift to but have circumstance that are vastly different from this reality? for example if you were from an isolated country like NK or a war-torn country and war was all that you associated your country with but now you want to imagine that same country as a peaceful and developed one.
this question might seem weird but it's a problem that several friends of mine who have actually shifted struggle with, they would go to different realities easily but when it comes to situations like the one mentioned above they just fail to shit and mostly find themselves in different realities where the circumstances are still the same.
I have a lot of thoughts about that actually! I'm going to put them under a keep reading section since not everyone will want to see this.
TW: discussion of trauma and mental illness
People tend to identify themselves with their trauma. It makes sense, when things are traumatizing, it changes a person. It can change your personality, your fears, anxieties, how you think about life, how you act around others. It's especially damaging when people are stuck in that traumatized, survival mode for years. At that point, it feels like there's no return - like you'll never be able to get to a point where you don't feel or know that trauma.
And that's not necessarily true, but it's hard to get out of that mindset, especially if you're still living through it. Some people might call this a victim mindset but honestly I hate that, it's really a survivor's mindset. I mean, picture it this way, if someone lived through a zombie apocalypse for their entire life, it'd be odd to see them suddenly switch up and be okay even if you took them somewhere safe. Surviving has become their main goal and so much of what they do, how they think, and how they act is going to be based on survival. Expecting them to just... be okay after that is insane imo. It takes time and healing for people to accept a new, non-traumatizing lifestyle when they've known that pain for so long.
A lot of shifters struggle with this because it's hard to imagine separating yourself from the pain of normal day life in certain realities. If you live in a reality with war or murder or assault, that shapes the way you think, even if you've never personally been through it. It's hard to imagine yourself without the pain, fear, and anxiety that comes with living in these traumatizing realities. People know that they would think and act differently if they never had to deal with it, and that's why it's so hard to get away from it. You're not just shifting to a different reality, you're changing aspects of your own identity and personality.
As for how to actually deal with this, acknowledging it is the first step. After that, it really depends on the person. Some people find it helpful to just stubbornly shift to their DR without thinking about it. Others find it helpful to imagine how they might change in response to a safer, better reality. Or they might find it helpful to get excited about their DR and be relentlessly positive about these changes. And others find it more helpful to address their current trauma, fears, and anxiety before shifting. It really depends on the individual as everyone has different coping mechanisms and thoughts toward mental health.
Personally, I like to be really stubborn about shifting even when I know it'll be startling and potentially upsetting to see a reality that's so much nicer than others. It can make you feel really envious of people who were "born" in these nicer realities and it brings up thoughts of what you're getting away from. It's... not for everyone, but I know that being stubborn and just shifting regardless of how I'll feel later works for me in the end.
For your friends, I'd recommend asking them if they're thinking about the realities or themselves. For example, is it hard for them to imagine a reality that doesn't suck or is it hard to imagine themselves in a reality that doesn't suck? Are they unconsciously identifying themselves with their trauma? Do they feel like they wouldn't know who they are without their trauma? Are they overthinking what a better reality would be like to experience? Just get them to think about what could be "blocking" them so to speak. (obviously, nothing can actually block you - it's all in the mind.)
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Part Two — Main Focus will be Robert ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal, David Solomon, and inevitably the camp Rosie saw when tagging along with the Red Army.
Welcome to part two, you can find part one here. That part is entirely about the Band of Brothers series and Jewish identity. If you enjoy this essay, you'll enjoy the previous one! Find that one here: X
Let's talk about Rosenthal!! Let me start with; love him and this fandom better not overlook his Jewishness in their fics because this man is from… Brooklyn but more specifically Flatbush. Now, I know people who may not know exactly what Flatbush is and why I put any emphasis on that place. Many Yeshivas are in Flatbush and honestly it is very close to Crown Heights. Crown Heights is kind of like the orthodoxy capital of America. So, all that to say; I don't know the form of Judaism he observed but we can deduce he was Jewish and observing the religion. This is also backed by the fact he married a Jewish woman. So, when I say this man was raised Jewish, I mean it. So, don't dwindle him down to tokenism such as saying things about him loving Chanukah. It might be true but people outside of our religion use Chanukah like it's our holiest holiday. It's actually minor. It is important to represent someone who is of any minority correctly and Rosie (mwah) is no different.
Now in the documentary posted after the MoTa series ended we hear firsthand that the Jews of America KNEW what was happening in Europe. Rosie Rosenthal states this. Plain as plain can be. Which was his main motivation for joining the army air force. Rosenthal comes across a concentration camp which is based in truth. If you find this to be tokenism then sorry but you're wrong. In an age where I see people telling Jews that we are drinking children's blood, murderers, and denial of the holocaust. I think incorporating the reality of the sho’ah is essential. When I was doxxed for being Jewish. Fear showing my Star of David necklace— yeah, it is important!
Don't belittle representation of a minority especially if you are not part of the minority. It isn't your place to police if it was tokenism or not.
Let's address the concentration camp scene and its reality. Firstly, the pungently rotten smell of dead bodies permeates throughout the air whilst the Red Army is near it in the scene. We see Rosie is obviously disturbed by the smell and against his better judgement he goes to its source after asking to stretch his legs. In the following scene we see him discover the dead bodies in the camp uniform. Let's discuss this fact first and foremost. As the Red Army and Patton's Army were approaching the camps they did one of three things; Put them on marches to the interior of Germany (we see this happen in the show with POWs), kill everyone in the camp, or abandon the camp. Information on this particular camp leaves me to woefully say; Everyone in this camp was murdered or sent on death marches to a different camp so they couldn't be liberated. The town the concentration camp resided in was liberated by the 2nd Byelorussian front. More information on this camp can be found here: x
In one of the barrack rooms, which happens to be the one Rosie goes into, there were children. There is a drawing of a menorah, a magen David (which he touches), and Yiddish. Yiddish would've been taught more so than Hebrew in the 1800s-1940s European Jewry. Yiddish itself is a dialect of Judeo-Germanic. What does this mean? It means a Diaspora created a dialect using their native tongue and the regional language. Later on, it developed into its own language with its own dialects depending on where they were. Anyway, I shall digress and return to the true topic at hand. During this we see the words translated as; The judge of life will judge for life. It has religious tones to it but I am not here to explain what it may have meant. I'm not a rabbi.
Later on, when he is about to board a plane to go back to England— he encounters a survivor in the town. Their conversation displays something many survivors struggled with— did G-d remember them? How could tatty have forgotten us? Many Jews lost their religious beliefs after this, some stayed steadfast. I'm not sure how I would've reacted but there is no right or wrong way to react. What you see in this interaction is a genuine representation. Additionally, mass immigration and displaced persons camps were common from this point forward for Jewish people. They had to figure out where they were going to be safe.
On the other hand we have David Solomon... We see David Solomon questioned for being Jewish in the POW camp based on name. He is obviously Jewish. In the show, we see in a scene that after being questioned we hear the Major say; “We are all Americans.”. That didn't matter to the Nazis. I am sorry but the last name Solomon and first name David are nearly stereotypically Jewish. In the show and in this essay we need to address; He was treated differently because the Nazi officers knew he was Jewish. In an interview from 1980, also addresses the fact he too knew that there was a degree of persecution of Jews in mainland Europe. Solomon didn't wear his dog tags because it had H for Hebrew on it and the Jews in the military knew— they'd be treated differently. Even without the dog tags around his neck, he was still treated differently. Solomon was separated from the other members of the 100th and was told he was a spy. The reason for suspicion was due to him placing propaganda leaflets on his pyjamas shirts. I need to add he thought he was going home soon which is why he had the leaflets; He'd gotten them from some Royal Air Force plane that emergency landed the night before the downing of his plane and subsequent capture. Then, the day of the mission, he was in pyjamas because he assumed he was going home. Don't ask me. I don't know. All I know is this is genuinely what he said in the interview. Anyway, after this, he was roughly interrogated due to the suspicion of him being a spy (his words but I suspect this means possible torture.). Additionally, he lost around seventy pounds (est~ 190 lbs to 128) by the time he was liberated. David says Jewish American POWs were treated differently but he isn't sure whether or not Jewish POWs were killed. He also stated that amongst the higher ranking officers there was subtle antisemitism but there were some Jewish officers which balanced it out. Among the antisemitic officers, some had little to no care about what was happening to the Jews; Even if they knew. Many were just medal hungry— they wanted their medals, they wanted to look good. It was a lack of humanitarianism within the higher ranks. Finally, David Solomon says he doesn't consider himself a holocaust camp survivor to any degree (not sure who would).
After the war, those who told the stories were the refugees and newspapers. David Solomon met some of these refugees since some of his own (presumably) extended family members hosted refugees during the war. After learning all of the information, he went as far as to question (he admits this was wrong of him to question but) he goes on to say, “Why the atomic bomb wasn't dropped on Germany”.
You can listen to the interview here: x
You can find extra background information that I didn't include but read here: x
The Allies knew what was happening to the Jewish population of Europe. They. Knew. They could've stopped it but let me explain why they didn't. Through the American political lense— they put a quota on specifically Jewish immigration solely because they wanted to keep a majority Christian nation. They turned away Jewish refugees throughout the war. An example of this being Billy Joel’s (bye i keep using him as my example) parents who had to immigrate to Cuba during the duration of the war. After the war, they went to New York. However, a family that also tried going to America were the Franks. Yes, those Franks. Anne Frank, Margot, and Edith would have survived if America didn't refuse them.
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How do you differentiate, between atheist, agnostic, and anti-thiest? I've been reading your past posts about atheism, and I found it interesting how you defined atheism as an active belief in no higher power (might be misspeaking, please correct me if I am). I would call myself an atheist, but my atheism is not an "active" one - the label I find closest to what I am would be an agnostic atheist, where I can't say if there's any higher powers or not, but I live my life as if there aren't/don't ascribe or follow any particular religious guidelines. Would you consider this different from your atheism or idea of atheism? Why do you consider atheism an active belief versus a passive one (given that we're born without any beliefs in higher powers and pick that up later as part of how we're raised or choose to believe)? Sorry this ask got so long but I am very curious about your thoughts, I haven't read or had a discussion on atheism in ages.
There are a couple of asks in this ask, I'm gonna try to get into them individually if that's cool!
1. "How do you differentiate, between atheist, agnostic, and anti-thiest?"
Short answer: I don't!
(With the exception of "anti-theist", which is a much more defined ideological position, i.e., being actively opposed to theism.)
Long answer: I think there is a difference between commonly-understood definitions of identities and related labels, and personal use of said labels. "Queer" is a great example: it's a super useful catch-all in academic and broad-discussion contexts, but it has a lot of (often conflicting) definitions. Lots of the people you're referring to in those contexts don't identify with that word at all, even if they fit the definition you have in mind to a T. Sometimes, you'll also be using the word to describe some, but not all of the people who could be described by it- and sometimes, people you wouldn't typically include in the word are included in it anyway just based on the way you're using it.
I think "atheism" works a similar way. There are a few commonly-understood definitions, but even those are very context-dependent; what I mean when I say "atheist" in a conversation about my specific experiences with atheism and how it has shaped my life/values is very different from what an evangelical Christian means when they say "atheist". And both of those are very different from what someone in a completely different, non-Christian-dominant country means when they say "atheist".
Lots of people interpret or use the word differently, and that's fine! Lots of people do or don't identify in ways that contradict use of the word in academic or broader discussions, and that's also fine! It's okay if terms are flexible and vague; like "queer", that can actually make them much more useful than they'd be otherwise.
Which brings us to:
2. Why do you consider atheism an active belief versus a passive one?
I think the "active" vs. "passive" differentiation is actually kind of counter to what I'm getting at when I talk about this.
I think people tend to conceptualize atheism as a "lack of belief" because "atheism" is usually understood to mean "lack of belief in a higher power"; which is (broadly, not always) true. But the conclusion they reach from this point is "so atheism does not, and cannot produce any unique or original ideas".
That is what I'm arguing against.
The piece I see missing from "cultural Christianity" discourse is, imo, that people see atheism as a kind of "blank slate" state. The idea is that atheism is a Lack of something; it's a Void. It's Nothing. Therefore, other things (Christianity) will naturally fill that void. Unless you actively fill it with a different (religion-originated) belief system, you will just naturally "default" to whatever is most dominant in your surrounding culture (Christianity).
But that's not really true! Everything you believe or don't believe about the world influences the way you think about it, how you form your values, the rest of your beliefs... etc. Religions often have a set of values and an internal logic because when you believe one thing, there are lots of other things that necessarily follow from, and support, that one belief. It's just not that simple!
I talk about it more here, but atheism has influenced my own beliefs and values a lot.
I grew up atheist, raised by atheists, who were also raised by atheists. I grew up in a culture where a lot of things were taken for granted that I did not have any reason to believe, and because I had no reason to believe them, I questioned them. I interrogated my own ideas about the world constantly, from a very young age. And from that, I developed an internal set of beliefs and an understanding of the world around me.
I came up with my own answers to questions like, "what is the meaning of life?" and, "what is our purpose?" and, "how should we treat each other?" and, "why should we treat each other that way?".
All of those answers were based in atheism, even if I wasn't really thinking of it that way at the time. All of those answers stemmed from the core understanding that there was nothing, and nobody, to give life meaning, purpose, or rules for me.
It might be technically a "lack of belief" (in a higher power) (depending on context and who you ask), but like... it's not a void. It's not nothingness, it's not emptiness, it's not a lack of purpose, value, morality, ethics, kindness, and unique, original thoughts about the world.
This one idea creates other ideas, because that's how these things work. It's unavoidable. The idea that all of these things must come from religion- and simply do not exist without it- is frankly dehumanizing. Not to mention very culturally Christian, ironically.
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if you don't mind would you explain what you mean by "physical" in the post about explicit scenes please, because i am trying to figure out what an "explicit physical scene" might be or why the description needed to be physical AND sexual and am coming up question marks, suddenly doubting my ability to read english, etc.
Oh sure!
I was using sexual to describe explicit sex scenes. Like definite, no doubt about it smut. It's very common in romance novels to have a couple of these, but it's getting more and more common to have just an absurd number. Like half the book is just... explicit.
By "physical" I mean everything that leads up to that. Kissing, foreplay, etc. Lots of this gets snuck into "young adult" romance as a sort of replacement or compromise for not having sex scenes, but can be just as, uh, titillating as sex scenes themselves. They focus very much on the physical attraction in the relationship and are meant to be arousing.
I think they both miss the point severely. True love, real romance, that isn't based off of animal attraction. If you get drawn into a whirlwind relationship because they're just ~so hot~ you're going to have a horrendous heartbreak. You're ignoring the person in favor of their looks. You're getting deeply involved with someone you don't know. The wake up call is going to be rude, to say the least.
It just all feels so hollow, not to mention shallow. The girlies keep on coming back to Jane Austen because she knew What's Up. You have to respect (esteem) each other before you can fall in love. You don't have to respect each other to want to fall into bed together. Elizabeth was attracted to Wickam, but she didn't know or esteem him and didn't fall in love. On the other hand, Lizzie came to highly esteem Darcy and her feelings followed after that. 10/10. Lydia was attracted to Wickam, and was foolish enough to chase that. She ended up in her "hastily patched up marriage" and nearly ruined her entire family. They were poor, Wickam was a bad husband, and if they were happy at the beginning they weren't happy long. Jane was lucky to have both, but her feelings were more dependent on Bingley being exactly what a young gentleman should be (who he was as a person) than his appearance.
And in a period romance, where sex is extremely risky, it absolutely destroyed the illusion for me when characters are sleeping around before getting married. You could get a venereal disease! It could kill you! It could disable or kill your future children! It could render you infertile! You could get pregnant out of wedlock and have both you and your child die in abject poverty! It's utterly ridiculous to have these women run around and getting into steamy affairs without any sort of commitment from the man they're seeing. It ruins the illusion for me, to say the least.
I think it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of love and romance that is caused by our culture being obsessed with sex without consequences. And I think it does romance as a genre an incredible disservice.
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(feeling passionate, might delete later)
Every person complaining Loreen is "cheating" by using "an old formula" is redundant because if majority of people like it and the jury like it, that's the game. Like why are you mad that she is making music that people probably will enjoy listening to and therefore vote on accordingly?
Yes she has an advantage having won the competition before and having that reputation, but it's not like she can opt out of that.
This is perhaps a bit hypothetical, intuitive and kinda maybe subjective, but in my experience we humans do not only enjoy music on the basis of the elements in the music itself. It's also based on all of the associations that we have to the music, as well as to the act in this case. If you're with me so far, then it's a pretty safe to say that a lot of people have the 2012 performance and win associated with Loreen and probably also the joy that you potentially felt when that happened if you where one of the people that liked Euphoria. Then this would be the "bias" that I guess people seems to criticize Tattoo for "exploiting". This criticism rests on the assumption that this is a cheap way to gain favour because it isn't a "part" of the performance or the music I guess. But I would argue that these associations very much is, and should part of the performance and should count to the enjoyment of the performance just as much as anything else. Why should the association to Euphoria be discredited as a pleasure that Tattoo might or might not conjure forth, depending on your personal taste etc? If it's good to you, it's good!
Continuing on, she's an artist (just like everyone else in Eurovision) wich should mean that she wants to reach out with her art, so why would she not compete in eurovision?
I've read people who seems to be upset that she's competing because it's supposedly so extremely clear that she would win no matter what (and let's not forget that the reason for this would be because people enjoy the music right? which I guess god forbid we get music that we enjoy listening to wether it's because of nostalgia felt for the artist, their talent or the production). This is inaccurate for mainly two reasons in my opinion, the first being that she competed in 2017 (after she recently won with euphoria so the "bias" should have been a lot more strong than now, no?) And lost even though the song, in my opinion, was much more interesting than either euphoria (sorry, I might just be desensitised to it at this point) or Tattoo. Regardless of her "exploiting" her reputation as a good artist I guess. So now she's going back to a sound that resembles euphoria with tattoo wich is absolutely fair I feel like. The second reson is that it would take a true egomaniac and or a lot of balls to participate in melfest and count on winning just on the basis of your reputation, that would be to risk a flop in my opinion at least. The song (whilst not my taste exactly) is of quality, the scenography is interesting and unique and lastly she's just a damn good singer. That's mostly why she won I feel like. With the weight some people is giving her reputation it seems like she could have just stood on the stage in silence and won everything.
Having said all of that, I personally enjoy Finland's song and act more and I would be very happy if Käärijä wins. Although I think I would be equally thrilled to see Loreen win again just because of the spectacle, and also I think she's worth it just on the basis of what euphoria did for the development of Eurovision.
Mvh Mvh
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Dealing with Demons Chapter 10: Something Unnecessarily Personal Part 1: Riley
Masterlist with CW
Taglist: @demyxdancer @softvampirewhump @d-cs
Cliff Mason no longer lived at his last known address, surprising none but disappointing all. The team went to investigate anyway, looking for anything that might suggest where he was or what he was trying to do. Well, the team minus Riley.
Riley was stuck in the library looking up everything the Bureau had on symbolism based rituals involving demons. As far as Riley could tell, the Bureau had absolutely nothing. At least nothing in the database or the few relevant books they could find.
Unlike the lack of information on demons, the reason the shelves were so bereft of information on symbolism based rituals was because not a lot of information existed.
Normal rituals followed a known set of rules, but the rules for symbolism based rituals depended on, well, symbolism and the associations and intent the caster brought to the table. So that meant that each ritual was different, and Riley had to go through the collection of old spellbooks at the back of the shelves hoping that someone somewhere had tried to do the exact same thing in the exact same way and then had their notes confiscated by the Bureau. Which was unlikely, since not a lot of people attempted symbolism based rituals. The outcomes tended to be unpredictable in unexpected ways.
Riley slammed shut another useless book and put their head down on their desk. It was the end of the workday and all the other researchers had gone home, so no one heard them as they let out a frustrated groan. They should be out with the others. Well, probably not seeing as this was all they could do to help and someone had to do it, but they wanted to be out with the others. They wanted to be good for something other than research. If only they could cast spells! Then they could train to be more useful out in the field. Mike and Sil were always facing horrible dangers and Riley just had to sit there in the library and hope their best friends didn't die.
"Oh, so you get to nap while the rest of us investigate? I always knew you researchers were slackers."
Mike's teasing brought Riley out of their rapidly spiralling mindset. They lifted their head and smiled in relief. "Hey, what did you find?"
"A whole lot of nothing. Mason knows how to clean out a place, there was no sign of his plans, and nothing Sil could use for a tracking spell."
"You're kidding."
"No toothbrush, no hairbrush, not even a coffee mug. I've moved into places that had more of their last owner left in them than this apartment."
"Are you sure the landlord didn't clean it out?"
"Mason had the rent for the place paid in advance up through the end of the year, but no one's seen him around there since April."
"Damn. I'm sorry, Mike."
"Yeah, well, at least we're not completely out of leads. Avi's with Sil trying to remember everything they can about the room they were summoned to since it wasn't that place's basement."
"How did it go? Working with Avi without..."
"Without you as a buffer? Well, Sil kept things professional, which helped a lot. If not for her, me and your demon might have had a fistfight to determine who got to be the funny one."
Riley laughed then stopped abruptly as Mike's words caught up to them. "Th-They're not my demon!"
"Relax, I'm just giving you a hard time. They did complain that you weren't there, though."
"Yeah?" Riley was curious despite themself.
"Yeah, kept going on and on about how you're the only one on our team that knows anything true about demons."
"Oh god, what did you say?"
"Hey, why assume it was me? Sil could've messed up!"
Upon seeing Riley's incredulous face, Mike looked down at the floor. "Okay yeah, it was me. I asked them if they used to be an angel. And you don't have to tell me why I'm wrong, they went on a huge rant about how the difference is arbitrary and sin and virtue are human societal constructs and seriously, Riley, they would not shut up."
Riley's chest felt tight as they were struck with a sudden jealousy. And not because Avi's rant would have undoubtedly contained information about demons that the Bureau didn't know. Mike and Sil were Riley's team and they had spent the day... not having fun but at the very least bonding with Avi. Angry tears started to well up in their eyes.
"So, did you find anything?" Mike looked at them critically. "Riley?"
"Oh, um," Riley wiped the tears away. "I didn't find anything either. I guess today was a bust for all of us."
"Are you okay, Riley? Did something happen?"
"No, no, I'm just frustrated about the lack of leads."
"Yeah, me too... I hope Clara's okay. To go through what happened with Bell and then this..."
"Don't worry, we'll find her and get her home and her and Jessica will invite us all to their wedding."
"Yeah, that'd be nice. Ian's been complaining that I haven't taken him anywhere fancy lately."
"I can't imagine you in a fancy setting, Mike, it's just not computing."
"Hey! I can clean up nice when I want to."
Riley didn't doubt it, Mike was a good-looking guy underneath the lack of care put into his appearance. But that didn't mean Riley was going to stop teasing him. "Sure you do."
"Aw, screw you, Riley."
They both laughed.
"Come on," Mike said. "Let's go and report our lack of progress to Coleman."
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I wholeheartedly respect your honest answers during that ask game a few days ago when people asked if you all were friends, but it made me realize we really aren’t more than glorified acquaintances, at most, and that makes me sad.
I did answer those as honestly as I could. Anyone who looked at that long list of questions and chose that one to be answered publicly deserved honesty, and I don't make a habit of lying regardless.
However, it's important to note that I defined friendship for myself, and all of my answers were based on that definition. I answered questions like: Do we talk? How well does that person know me? How well do I know them? Would I turn to them in a time of need? Would they turn to me in a time of need? Is our entire relationship on Tumblr? Etc.
Because here's the thing, the word friend gets thrown around a lot. People call their mutuals they've never spoken to friends. People call people they've spoken to for all of five minutes friends. People call people they talked to a few times months ago friends. But if you step back, those aren't true friendships.
Even if you say "Well, online friendships are different." Okay, but not that different. If you think about it in relation to real life, you have acquaintances, friendly acquaintances, casual friends, friends you share this or that hobby with, close friends, best friends, friends that are like family... Like, there's a hierarchy. And it's the same online.
Kayla (@theyarnmaidstale) is one of my closest friends. I went to her wedding, and I trust her with everything. However, we don't talk every day. We don't need to. Nova (@catdadeddie) is another close friend, and I do talk to her every day. To the point where I gotta warn her if I'm gonna be MIA or my silence sets off alarm bells. AJ (@dorkydiaz) is a friend that I'm not as close to, but we built something when I first entered the fandom, and there's a level of trust there from back then that I don't really have with plenty of other people in this fandom. So, even though we don't talk every day, I would still consider them a friend.
And then you have to take into account that it's all about perception. I might consider AJ (sorry babe, I keep using you as an example 😂) a friend, but they might consider me someone they're friendly with. Not quite a friend but not quite an acquaintance. Or maybe something else entirely.
It gets lost in how easily we all openly share affection online, but true friendships online take just as much work as true friendships offline, and just because you aren't someone's closest friend doesn't mean you have no relationship at all. It doesn't mean you aren't friends at all.
Someone may consider you a Tumblr friend, a Discord friend, a Fandom friend, or just a friend. Or maybe something more. It all depends on how they define it. I went with a far more strict definition of friend, so the people who sent me that question generally got the response that we're friend-ly more than actual friends.
But that's not a bad thing. It's basically the same as saying we're casual friends or friendly acquaintances who sometimes chat and could hang out, but we don't know each other that well.
That can change with time and work just like every relationship. I can promise you that I'm pretty easy to befriend. I know that much. In fact, I regularly get told that I have too many friends. I got told that yesterday, actually. asdfasdfasdfa
That's mainly because I'm extroverted and enjoy socializing with people, so if you're someone I know and you want whatever relationship we do have to grow, you're just gonna have to reach out a bit. I rarely reach out to new people. Mainly because I don't really need to, I talk to a lot of people already. But I'm very open to people who reach out to me and wanna talk.
So, if it's something that truly bothers you, I promise it's not that hard to change with a little time and effort.
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I think what's especially annoying to me about the "culturally Christian" argument is that people pushing the phrase (as a way of referring to individuals) tend to argue that it's describing a difference in what you know about cultures and religions outside of Christianity.
That's how they justify applying it to atheists and agnostics who don't come from a minority religion background, right? You don't know about any other religion, you must know about Christianity no matter what because that's the dominant religion here, which means you're closer to Christianity than anything else.
But like.
I was raised atheist by people who were raised atheist. Adults around me knew about Christianity, but because we never talked about it, I didn't know anything about any religion for a good chunk of my childhood.
I found out Christmas was a religious holiday when I was like 9; I thought it was about Santa before that, and I literally did not know what the nativity scene was.
I thought Easter was about eggs and bunnies until I was about the same age. I did not understand who Jesus was when it was finally explained to me; I received that information in 7th grade social studies class, when my teacher was explaining the divergence of the three Abrahamic religions.
I learned the vast majority of what I know about Christianity in art history classes I took for my degree, and I was, at the same time, working at a Jewish afterschool program; a not-insignificant part of my job was helping to lead Shabbat prayers and teaching kids about upcoming Jewish holidays. We discussed Jewish values and how they related to the structure of the program very regularly. I cannot stress enough that this was part of a Jewish community center in which a Rabbi worked and relevant gatherings and celebrations happened.
I would say I know more about Christianity, but it's not a huge margin, and a lot of that is repetition; things I've learned about Christianity have been reinforced and repeated over time, and that's not really true of Judaism for me. Had I worked at the JCC for more than two years, my answer might be different.
I would say that I received a lot of Christian messaging growing up, because our broader cultural values are heavily rooted in those ideas. Everyone gets that messaging. What they do with it might depend on their family's culture and religion, and it might depend on their own internal processing. I can say, personally, that much of that messaging didn't stick for me; I realized there was no "real" reason for those beliefs at a pretty young age, and spent a lot of time obsessing over the internal consistency of my own value system. I rejected a lot of them, often without even knowing where they were coming from.
So yeah, you could absolutely say I know more about Christianity, I've been exposed to more of it, and that I've been surrounded by more of it. But everyone in this country experiences this too some degree; to draw highly individualized conclusions about that based on the fact that I'm an atheist alone feels disingenuous, to say the least. Atheism is why I was questioning those things, and rejecting many of them; how is that different from other beliefs? Why does the fact that there is no higher power involved make that less significant than for those who do believe in one?
Don't get me wrong, our culture is Christian. This has an impact on individuals, and I think it's fair to say that some people are more driven to challenge those ideas than others. I'd argue that atheism does require challenging Christian ideas on its own, but I can concede that as a generally self-directed thing, it's easier for folks to just not self-reflect in that way than it might be when going through a guided conversion process.
But.
That line isn't hard and fast, and it's unfair to insist that it is just for the sake of convenience. Particularly when Christians themselves are unwilling to include anyone different from them, especially for the sake of sharing their power.
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I’ve never heard of your OCs!!! If you’re feeling it, can you tell me ab them? Like, what’s their type, what kind of yandere are they, etc. I tried to search em but nothing came up so I guess they’re from the old blog lol
-Jojo
They are from the old blog, that is right! I've still got to update my tag post I've been using for searches on there-- but I'll post that and it should make it easier to read up on them! I'll reblog some stuff too!
I have two OC's and a third bastard child I never developed past like a couple of concept posts, and their names are Cyril and Dalton!
I thought it would be funny to name the idiot character "Dalton" Because of the insult 'dolt' -> 'dolt one' -> 'Dalton'.
And Cyril is named as such: 'see, here's eel' -> 'see, e're eel' -> 'Cyril'
Dalton came first, and he is a jellyfish merman based off the pink meanie jellyfish found of the gulf of Mexico. He has translucent pink skin that can change colours depending on what he has eaten, long messy hair, human hands, and a massive skirtlike membrane at his waist that acts as the natural fleshy cover for his thousands of thin tendrils-- each loaded with extremely painful toxin.
The venom is fast acting and makes your skin slough off from chemical burn damage, and if you don't treat the stings, you could potentially die from blood loss (not the venom itself). Dalton is dumb as a sack of bricks (inspired by the fact that jellyfish don't have brains), obsessive, delusional, and sadly for you: extremely affectionate, with a touchy disposition. He'll cling to you every chance he gets.
Dalton is so stupid that he cannot feel pain-- for most merfolk, walking on land is agonizing. Dalton can't fathom this, and just continues to beach himself until he can crawl, his fragile membrane and tendrils drying out and ripping, spilling vital goop as they shift into legs. Each step would be extremely painful, but Dalton can't understand what he's feeling, or what's causing it. And because he doesn't know walking is what's causing it, he'll continue to walk, searching for his "best friends" who must have gotten lost. Dalton believes that Cyril, and you, are his best friends. And you must have gotten lost on your way to find him again. So he'll go out and find you, and everything will work out in the end.
Cyril is a smarter, yet sadistic merfolk, based off of the electric eel found in South America's Amazon River and Oronocio basin. Cyril, unlike Dalton, is a freshwater merfolk, and is capable of being drowned in the brackish water Dalton prefers. And unlike Dalton, Cyril can comprehend the pain in drowning. As well as the pain in being stung by venomous tendrils, and walking. Cyril has chronic pain (as most merfolk do). If he can avoid walking, he will.
He has long, greasy black hair-- washing it does him no good, as getting wet just turns his body back into his natural form, which causes him to secrete slick mucus. His skin is opaque, unlike a jellymer. If he doesn't show you his true form, you might just assume he's a lazy but bougie guy, adorned in gold jewelry he's stolen from other's homes before having to flee the scene. Despite his inactivity, Cyrils' body is on the leaner side due to his high metabolism. He has no visible muscle, but who really needs that when you're an ambush predator that can stun others anyways?
Cyril has worked many odd jobs that helped him live a more lavish life than just hunting and eating whatever got close enough to the river bank. He's acquired a taste for grapes, sliced and microwaved. Any hot fruit would do, but grapes are his favourite. This has become an integral part of his lore, because once Cyril learns of fruit, and then heating the fruit up, and all the devices you can use to heat food up (not just fruit, though he thinks its the height of luxury), and where those devices are stored... It's how Cyril ends up breaking into his darling's home in the first place. They have shelter, water, and all sorts of devices with which to make hot meals. And he needs for this to be perfect is someone who he can force to fetch him things from other rooms once he finds the couch.
He probably doesn't even like you at first. You're just someone he's bluffing out of his ass to let stay here. Cyril will use whatever tactics needed to make you let him stay. He'll go the pity route-- he's a poor misunderstood man, kicked out of housing, turned down everywhere because people don't agree with his life choices... He just wanted to crash here for the night, he didn't know you were here, he thought you were on vacation and he could squat here.
If that doesn't work, he'll resort to threats. He doesn't want to hurt you, he wants to mind his own business here, but if you call for help or tell anyone he's here against your will, he will kill them and you, before eating you. As much as it pains him to walk, he'll trudge over to your bathroom with you in tow, to show you his transformation in your shower/tub. He's a dangerous monster, and you don't know what he can do! His long tail wraps around you, slime secreted from his skin soaking through your clothes, constricting your ribs as he slowly crushes you, before you get hit with a painful shock-- knocking you to the ground and convulsing with painful spasms. Life for you will be easier if you just do what he says. It's not like he's asking for much anyways.
And at first, he's not. He's just asking you to fetch him some food every now and again, or to refill the cup he's been using for water. To buy him a laptop so he can work from home-- this way he'll pay for his own food, and you're not against that are you? Unless you like him mooching off your budget.
Cyril slowly gets more possessive as time goes on. It's not that he likes you; he likes your things, and he likes making you serve him, and he likes hurting you when you do something wrong. That's completely different than liking you. And you were three hours late coming home the other day. Cyril had to get himself a glass of water. Scandalous.
And while he thinks of it, he's not really a good threat if you start thinking you can stay out of the house, and avoid him. How is he supposed to hurt you if you're not around?
He should add a new rule: You have to start staying home with him more, and you have to be in the same room. And if you don't... Then he's going to start breaking your things, changing your password on everything, texting everyone your compromising photos and destroying relationships...
And if you refuse to come home... Then he's just going to have to get up and go hunt you down. You may have forgotten he can actually walk from how little he does it, but if need be he can track you down to the ends of the earth. Eel merfolk have a heightened sense of smell, so Cyril can track you down.
Dalton may stumble upon either you or Cyril one day-- a terrible mix of fate, because the idiot has just been wandering following Cyril, and you know Cyril, which means you're going to all be best friends.
Dalton doesn't mind you doing your own thing, he just wants to watch. He follows you everywhere, forcing himself through doors that you'd closed until they bust down so he can watch whatever you're doing, holding your hand, a grip on your legs, or resting his chin on your shoulder. If you leave the house before he can know where you are, there's a chance he'll go out to look for you-- you must have gotten lost again!
But if he has faith you'll come back, then Dalton will spend his days exploring your home. What happens when he sticks his hand or face in your oven? In the freezer? Through the window? What if he puts your sheets in his mouth? What does your soap smell like? Taste like? Dalton wants to know. And he'll find out everything about you.
Including you. Dalton is clingy, but he's exceptionally touchy. It's not enough to have you next to him, he needs to constantly touch you. Holding your hand is a large part of his day. But his fingers will find their way to your gums to inspect your blunt teeth and bumps on your tongue. Your eyebrows. Dalton opens your eyes with his fingers as he stares at how your pupils shrink and grow in response to light or the air he blows onto them. Bending your fingers and legs as far back as they can. He doesn't mean to hurt you, Dalton is just curious.
Dalton and Cyril can maintain human forms if they stay dry, but if they get significantly wet, their body shifts back into their true forms. A full shower will have Cyril a writhing mass of a slimy tail. And getting caught in a thunderstorm will have Dalton crawling around, ripping his fragile bell membrane, ripping out his tendrils. And while Cyril can intentionally use his ability to shock you regardless of if he's in his true form or not, Dalton's tendrils are only a danger to you if he's soaked and in his true form... Something he rarely thinks to do. All he cares about is following his favourite people around and being close to them. But if Dalton ever gets in a body of water and you're in arms reach, he will drag you into the water, wrapping his tendrils around you, the pain making you pass out in the bloody water...
When you wake up, perched on top of his bell membrane, Dalton apologizes-- he didn't mean to hurt you! He just wanted to swim with you! He doesn't even know how you got hurt! Maybe you just need to be held tighter? A cracked rib is a small price to pay if it keeps you awake, and in his mind, happy.
As far as merfolk go, they're both disasters. As far as yandere's go, they're completely useless. You'd be better off with literal leeches than these two bleeding you dry.
#keep in mind my rules for how monster biology work may be different than other established canon. So like how I see cyril working is#not how the tweels from twst work. they aren't displayed to experience chronic pain. But I wanted one of my characters to have chronic pain#yandere mermaid#yandere merfolk#cyril my oc#dalton my oc#my writing!#yandere exophilia#jojo anon
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I have such a complicated relationship with grinding in RPGs.
On one hand, there's the obvious issues it can have: It is often mindless and tedious. Repeating actions that ceased to be novel or interesting long ago, sometimes because the balance of the game is roughly tuned in such a way that you might even feel forced to do this to continue with the good parts.
But on the other hand, when grinding is just not possible at all (for example, if there's only a limited number of premade encounters and possible XP/loot to gain) that can make me insane in ways that incentivize really strange behavior in me. If you're the kind of person who massacres Fort Joy in Divinity: Original Sin 2 you probably know what I mean.
And I am also the kind of person who can actually find certain kinds of grinding kind of soothing and satisfying, depending on how the mechanics work. I really like to see numbers go up and make progress that feels meaningful, and I'm very willing to grind unnecessarily if the progression pays off well and frequently.
For example, if leveling up gives you cool new abilities regularly and doesn't take too long then I'm often willing to grind out levels beyond what I need.
The types of grinding that are more unsatisfying are the ones where progress is slow, minor, or random. For example, grinding for an item with a very low drop chance or in a game where leveling up only gives you some small stat increases that take a while to add up.
So I think my ideal is a game where you don't need to grind (but may want to do a side quest or two in each area at least) but still have the option to do it and it doesn't take ages. Even if I end up not grinding, having the option is a sort of psychological relief for me. It means I don't need to optimize my gains through normal gameplay since I can just fall back on that if I feel like I missed on too much XP or something.
And yet despite all of this the first two Gothic games are some of my favorites even though those also have a limited amount of XP you can get. Enemies don't respawn in that game and there's no radiant quests or random encounters or anything to keep getting stronger.
But somehow those games don't make me insane in the same way. I think part of it is just that the scaling is much more balanced. An enemy that is a little bit stronger than you is not the same kind of wall that it is in Divinity: Original Sin 2, especially given that the games use a very skill-based combat system where getting good at reading the enemy and timing your actions correctly can allow even a weaker character to defeat a strong enemy through player skill.
This is especially true in the second game since armor works differently.
And in any case I understand why some games work that way. For example, Gothic has a carefully-designed world in which your exploration is primarily gated by strong monsters. If you were able to just grind levels in one area to unlock the whole map, it would be less satisfying than unlocking them more progressively, being challenged, and building an intimate relationship with each location.
It really feels like something that can't be judged in isolation from the rest of the design. Kind of like random encounters as a whole. Those have kind of a reputation for being tedious padding, and they can be, but they can also be more varied and interesting than that on top of having certain beneficial effects on things like resource management if used properly.
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"Oh, Celica! You're back! Gosh, how long has it been? I've missed you so much! Alm left Ram. Did you know that? Just up and LEFT! I'm so desperately lonely... Anyway, I thought about going after him just to teach him a lesson, but I didn't. I'd probably get killed by some foul beast out there on my own, you know? Hey, wait... Are you on a journey or quest or whatever? Then maybe I could go with you!" - Celica recruitment quote
[ setting the scene | Still accepting! ]
[ Oooo this is a crazy good one >:)
Now it's hard to get an exact solid grasp on this moment - being optional, reading nothing like an actual conversation with Celica, circumstances being heavily dependent on player action (ignoring Faye outright, ignoring Faye & Kliff, speaking to and denying Faye, etc.), but it says a lot about her general goals and mindset at the time.
Moreover, there is no goal or mindset. She just wants to get to Alm, and currently Celica is the one answer that she has.
Look at it this way: her recruitment dialogue contains next to no context to why Alm left or what his purpose in leaving is. Likewise, Faye does not push for more details on Celica's reason for travel. While it can just be a result of the one-sidedness of an optional recruit, I'd say it shows where Faye's true intentions lie in traveling. She was never in it for saving her country, the money, or seeing the land; she only has Alm on the mind.
Her hesitance to go outside of Ram is even shown here, in the line, "I'd probably get killed by some foul beast out there on my own, you know?" I like the choice of "foul beast" over something more realistic, when she should be aware that a civil war is active right outside of her doorstep. It really paints that she's in her own world when it comes to wanting to leave Ram Village.
To go back on that Celica train of thought real quick: Celica as a whole is a connection I want to spend more time working out, but this hypothetical scenario still presents an interesting base for it. This might again be a by-product of a one-sided interaction, but the way Faye delivers "missing you so much" sounds just...a little spiteful to me. Peeking into the future in Act 3 for a moment, look at (what is probably) the only other time Celica is mentioned by Faye post-Prologue:
Faye: You can’t expect Celica to understand what’s going through your head. Only someone who’s been with you the whole time could ever truly understand. Someone who knows you so well she thinks exactly as you do. [SoV Faye Base Conversation 2]
Sure the circumstances are a bit different, being after Alm and Celica's fight, but Faye's resolve is clear. She doesn't see Celica being worthy of Alm's love, as she does not understand him as much as Faye does. To her, Celica is a girl who just went up and left when they were a lot younger and nothing more. She doesn't want to even consider the priestess as worth Alm's time, seen as the focus of Alm in both the base conversation and here is Faye's relation to him.
At this moment, Celica is seen as a means to an end for Faye, one that is picked more for safety rather than comradery. Not to say that she does not see Celica as a friend whatsoever, but I doubt they have much to really talk about. Especially after Celica continues her pilgrimage. ]
#liaytolisia#~ ooc#~ asks#~ headcanons#(tysm for reminding me of celica route Faye this is a wild alternative)#(reminds me how I realized I really could've made my faye from a time where she didn't join Alm OR Celica after adding her to TOA)
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So...I have a question, (if you have the time!) because I'm not new to Fandom at all, but I'm not particularly vocal other than commenting. Like I don't respond to other commenters comments, you know? But is it acceptable (as not the author of the fic in question) to call out a commenter who's comment was solely a "hey will there be more of this?" variety? Or would that make the author feel like I'm then stepping out of bounds or starting a fight deal? Bc I think that comment is really not nice, especially when they don't say anything about the story that is posted! But I also know there's alot of etiquette around commenting and I don't want to upset the author even more you know?
Hello!
I think in this case it very much depends. I'm no expert myself but as someone who has gotten a fair bit of comments on continuing things, I think it depends a lot.
Someone asking me if I'm going to continue something—normally in question form or with a compliment attached—doesn't bother me personally. Now, I can't say what other authors may think but in that case, I assume good intentions.
My problem lies with people who are demanding things—or trying to guilt me into continuing something. Some of my fics are finished, some are not. There is normally a reason that I've not continued with something (as evidenced by my own personal ratio of finished to unfinished fics) and a request to finish it isn't a problem but I don't owe anyone anything.
When I originally joined fandom back in 2010, I loved it because of how community-based it was. I like sharing ideas and hearing ideas and bonding over something that was a big part of my life and I feel like we've lost that.
It's like the Tiktok of fandom to write nowadays. Your goal is to pump out as much content as fast as possible to become a BNF and if you do manage to get there, you aren't touchable (which is very not true as evidenced by the loss we've felt in the fandom in the last two years). I think more than anything it would probably be isolating, though I can really only speculate.
I've kind of found the friends and discord servers that allow me to feel the community that I thought was lost and that enabled me to be able to continue with what I do in a way that worked and felt good for me, but I feel as though for every one of me there's got to be so many people that we've lost who aren't able to find that connection.
So all of this is probably a bit off from your original question, please excuse my tangent but with that said this is what I think;
If you believe in someone, if you believe in what they do, your intentions are good and you feel as though they are being stepped on, by all means step in. If they were on the street you'd have said someone should do something. Just because we are behind screens doesn't change my opinion on that but also, be kind. I think that sometimes people don't understand the etiquette and your words matter.
If someone just doesn't understand something, getting angry won't change their mind and neither will unkind words. Trust me I've been there, where you are just tired of the bad and you snap at one person and more often than not I've regretted it. But that doesn't mean it's not a teaching moment. Stepping in to say something isn't cool—or to assure an author that what someone is doing isn't cool has always been something I've advocated for.
Because as fandom has gotten bigger—and by nature more diverse—you're finding more and more people either don't understand the etiquette or they don't respect it.
So if an author asks for critique. go ahead and give it.
But don't just randomly comment something negative on something provided to you for free. Don't create a place where authors are afraid to post because they might get a comment about 'xyz'.
God knows if you check on my first fic and my last fic there's a huge difference. In only three years, I'm miles ahead of where I was. But what if someone had posted a ton of negative shit and I'd walked away?
That's 82 fics gone from the Star Wars tag.
So if someone asks for you to just walk away when you don't like something, do that.
If someone wants to interact with the fandom, interact with them.
Bring back what made fandom such a big draw and you'll find that it will only get bigger. Whether people know it or not there are more people excited for it than against it. Let's start acting like it.
#musicsoul1982#musicsoul1982 speaks#i'm sorry for my tangent but not sorry for my words#your favorite writers are people too#star wars fanfiction
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