i'm so in love with wrio. that man is the embodiment of mercy and compassion. he is so... human. despite the deep disdain for atrocious acts that hurt others, especially acts that remind him of his own pain and traumas, he is able to keep himself in check and hold on to his values. despite being so proactive in fixing the wrongdoings of people that actively harm those under his care and assuring that everyone is supported in the best way possible; despite knowing he could have not controlled other people's hearts once they were in too deep in their own sins, he still feels helpless and incompetent. he recognises he cannot fully empathise with those who have been hurt for he has not experienced what they have and he understands that some wounds might not be able to heal even with all the attention and efforts, or at least not that easily. and it pains him. his whole life he's been trying to protect others. all his hard work during his time at the fortress and taking over it's administration has granted him the power and resources to actually change lives in a more restorative way, with a bigger amplitude than just the people who he's close to. yet he's only human. and not everyone wishes to be saved. and he doesn't hold back from breaking his own rules if means he is guaranteeing the best outcome for the greater good, for the well being of all of those he's sworn to protect. and although he earned himself a respectable title and even got used to being referred to in that way, he doesn't see people at the fortress as innmates but as equals. he never stopped being the little boy that was sentenced to live over a decade of his life there. and he is so good at what he does and he is so successful at restoring people's hopes in life, at giving them a second chance to become who they want to be, that there's people who actually want to stay there. he is the literal personification of turning your own pain into goodness, into love. love for community and love for others. he found meaning in making the world a better place and i just think that's really fucking beautiful.

I'm asking this in good faith and I hope I don't come off as rude. How could story theory be canonized at this point? I thought that DCTL debunked it pretty thoroughly. Are you suggesting a theory where everything (or at least, the existence of the ink demon and the creation of ink creatures) in DCTL is false? That would make an interesting theory. Small point, but I think it's reasonable that Joey wouldn't want to talk about magic in his autobiography as he plans to kill people for it.

Reading TIOL, there’s just so much of Joey lying and calling his lies “magic”, it gives me a deep fear that DCTL is going to be dismissed as another story by uncle Joey. Of course, TIOL could be a red herring intended to make people think that.

As for your last point, TIOL was written in 1942, 4 years before the ink machine’s creation, so Joey isn’t planning to kill anyone yet. I don’t think he would have a reason not to boast about knowing real magic tricks.

Finally, I’d say that if M&M couldn’t think of a way to include horror elements in a horror book, then they should’ve thought of writing a different book, or at the very least they should’ve talked with Scholastic to sell this one under a different genre. The novel is already down to 2 stars on Goodreads, and I really think that the genre inconsistency is the reason why. There’s a certain feeling of disappointment when you’re reading it and expecting something scary or unusual to happen, you get to the middle and think to yourself “is the plot finally going to start now?” before realizing that there really isn’t a plot to this book, or at least not the kind of plot you were led to expect. I’m personally not a big fan of philosophical slice-of-life books, and if this novel was about any character other than my favourite, I may even have tossed it aside at that point.

At the very least, there could’ve been more about the characters we love, or more lore details that actually matter to the central plot of the franchise. Reading about Joey interacting with a bunch of OCs with no relevance to the games just isn’t as satisfying as reading the parts with Sammy or Henry, which were only at the very end, and much too brief. I feel like lately M&M have been so terrified of any potential spoilers, that it comes at the cost of substance in their recent works. Compare it to the Fazbear Frights series, which is not only chilling to read on its own, but also serve as an allegory for the plot in the games, so you can use it as a theory fodder. So while FNAF fans are having a thousand threads freaking out about the true identity of the Golden Freddy, or MatPat mpreg and what it means for the franchise, or other crazy things in the books, Bendy fans will have very little to discuss after reading TIOL other than “Is Joey gay?”, and this kind of topic should be an icing on the cake, not an icing without the cake.

I realize that all of this comes across as very negative, and don’t get me wrong, it’s not a badly-written book, and I do believe that there’s an audience for it, but I also feel like people have the right to know what they’re buying. Obviously, the fault is with the publisher, not the author. While TIOL is not a bad book, it fails as a horror book, and I hope the next book will be more in-line with the genre, or at the very least advertised more appropriately.

Why I think Sailor Moon lends itself so well to fanfiction

It’s no secret that there is a very active Sailor Moon fanficiton community.*

Whilst every fandom has its fanfic authors in my experience Sailor Moon fanfiction proportionally forms a far larger part of the fandom than in many other fandoms, the only exception I’ve encountered would be say Harry Potter. I do not for example find as many people posting or discussing fanfiction within Power Rangers, Lord of the Rings, Marvel, DC or Doctor Who circles.

Oh, there are plenty of people who talk about ideas and concepts they have. But there seem to be far fewer actually making stories themselves, or at least willing to post/share them, nor even discuss making them.

Why is this?

Well, I’m sure there is a discussion to be had regarding fanfiction, female authors, female audiences and obviously that’d tie into how Sailor Moon is primarily aimed at (and enjoyed by) a female audience.  

But I’ve not really researched that so I don’t feel confident enough to dive into it.

To me though, when we break down the nature of Sailor Moon’s story, I very much feel it practically encourages fanfiction and taps very directly into the sort of things fanfiction writers and readers seem to like.

One stereotype of fanfiction that, in my observations, is absolutely true is that there is A LOT of romantic and/or sexual content. In fact it’s an open secret that professional erotic fiction pales in comparison to the breadth, quantity and quality of fanfiction ‘smut’.**  

One might argue ANY story that features romance in it is therefore ‘encouraging’ such fanfiction. But the situation with Sailor Moon is a little different as romance is utterly baked into its foundation. The first story arc, initially intended as the entire story, revolves around Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s relationship. Between the manga and the anime the love life’s of almost every single major character is touched upon one way or the other. Minako’s affections for Allan. Rei’s disdain for men in the manga and romances with Mamoru and Yuichiro in the anime. Makoto’s sempai and her tragic string of men even vaguely similar to him. Ami and Ryo’s relationship in season 1 and her shyness about anything romantic thereafter. Even side characters like Reika, Motoki, Unazuki, Umino, Naru, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite make their love lives at least discussed.  

Then of course you have Haruka and Michiru, who’s relationship also clearly hints that they’ve become physically intimate.  

Often with more sexually explicit fanfiction the authors are diving into parts of the characters’ lives rarely even discussed (if at all) in the original canon. Whilst Sailor Moon’s focus upon romance made sex a logical leap, the show plays a Hell of a lot with innuendo, symbolism and subtle hints to the point where it was giving fic authors plenty of ‘ammo’ to work with already.  

This of course extends into the realm of queer pairings. Another stereotype of fanfiction (and again, I’ve not really researched this so I dunno how true it is) is that they engage in romantic or sexual stories where the characters have a different sexualities from their (apparent) canon ones. Perhaps the most famous (infamous?) example is Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Between Haruka and Michiru, Mamoru and Fiore, Zoisite and Kunzite and implications a plenty in the manga and anime (especially under Ikuhara’s rule) writing the characters as interested in people other  than the opposite sex was a relatively easy and believable leap, hardly even breaking the verisimilitude of the canon.

Speaking of verisimilitude, Sailor Moon…didn’t make sense. I love it and adore it but we all know this is true. Even beyond the mindblowing miraculous magic it employed there was more than several instances where characters did not behave realistically or even consistently. Contradictions in the anime especially were rife.  

Regardless of what that does or doesn’t say about the canon, for the purposes of fanfiction, this is something of a boon. It enables all sorts of wacky riffs and directions that aren’t going to create too large of a cognitive dissonance for the writer nor the reader.  

Want to write a story that wouldn’t be realistic? So what? This was the story where the world almost ends but society is never fundamentally changed.  

Want to write a story with elements that’d be anachronistic So what? Our heroes were named after planets that didn’t get those names until thousands of years later.  

Want to do a story that unfortunately would contradict a canon fact or canon characterization?...Have you watched SuperS…?

The flipside to the messier parts of the canon is that it equally encouraged some authors to engage in fix fics, to address what they felt were problems with the characters and narratives.***

It’s very much a getting your cake and getting to eat it too situation!

Additionally, the ‘monster of the week’ format for the show enables all sorts of wacky riffs and spins to be imposed on the characters and narrative since these monsters each had their own gimmicks. Body swap characters? Make them shrink? Make them evil? Alternate Universe? Space travel?  

Ostensibly anything and everything is on the table for fic authors to work with, just as it was for the official creators of Sailor Moon.

Alongside the ‘monster of the week’ format, the innate concept for Sailor Moon encourages the creation of original characters. There is no end of stories about ‘Sailor Sun’ and ‘Sailor Earth’ of course. But since any planetoid, celestial body or what have you in theory could have a Guardian authors could go nuts, drawing upon real list astrology or simply invent their own planets for whatever story they are doing. So the story is ripe for world building and expansion!

However, things need not go to that scale. Sailor Moon, especially the anime, revolves around the everyday lives of teenaged characters. Their ages means authors have the opportunity to write the characters growing up or having grown up and take them in any direction they like and again not create too much of a cognitive dissonance with the canon. And they can do that by drawing upon their own life experiences fairly easily without having to consider what the first day of college might’ve been like for someone on Middle Earth or whatever.

Furthermore, because romance was baked into the story, there was a greater focus in the stories upon the characters internal thoughts and feelings. This wasn’t strictly about their romantic feelings, but my point is a good 2/3 of your average Sailor Moon episode will be taken up with slice of life stuff before the Senshi go into action.  

Why is this relevant? Because that kind of internal exploration lends itself far better to the prose format than action set pieces, especially action set pieces trying to emulate those of a visual format like a manga or an anime.  

All the above actively encourages the creation of fanfics but there is aso something deeper going on.  

After all, plenty of movies leave room for characters to be expanded. Plenty of manga offer opportunities for world building. Plenty of TV shows make the creation of original characters a synch. Plenty of comic books have contradictory continuity that warrants patching up. And romantic elements are present in the overwhelming majority of fiction, even fiction that isn’t predominantly about that.

What makes Sailor Moon a particular strong candidate for fanfiction though is that it has all those things whilst also having strong concepts, endearing characters and a rich mythology to hook people in the first place.

In other words, the fact that Sailor Moon was good made people love it. And that love I think is the essence of why they wanted to read and produce more  of it.

*For the purposes of this post you should understand that by ‘fanfiction’ I’m specifically referring to prose fanfiction, i.e. the stuff you’d find on FFN and predmonantly on Ao3. Obviously audio plays, comics, art, cosplay performances can all fall under the label of fanfiction to one extent or another. And in some cases these are far more prevalent than prose fanfiction.  

E.g. there is plenty of fan art in the Marvel fandom and there is a frightening amount of audio based Dr. Who fanfiction.

**Even I know that and I do not typically care for that type of stuff myself.  

***Or expand upon characters they felt there was more to do with. I know many people who feel that way about the manga versions of the villains and the Senshi (sans Usagi), the anime version of Mamoru and the supporting cast like Usagi parents.

The Idiot Effect

(Marinette the Flirt AU) 

AO3

Summary: 

It starts as a game about their mystery love interests.

“He’s really smart. I’m sure he’ll pick up on it one day.”

“Oh really?” Chat goads. “Then for them to realise, let’s see who can flirt better.”

Yeah... turns out there’s a lot more to realise.

(Or the fic where Marinette’s a ruthless flirt, Ladybug and Adrien are dense, and Plagg can’t stop laughing at everyone)

Notes: the fact that a few actually wanted this crack mess is concerning, and it seems some have brought “expectations” so i’ll kindly ask you to leave those at the door. thank you!! (and there’s more chapters coming im so sorry)

-

Listen.

Marinette stuffs up but when she stuffs up it’s with class, alright? When there’s a problem, her own or not, she fixes it because that’s just what she does. She spews garbage and has the composure of a flailing eel trying to stand upright – but she’s a pillar source of entertainment for it. She’s a normal girl, with a normal life (except for the superhero thing), so excuse her for trying to be adventurous once and a while.

Adventurous, flirtatious; whatever.

She’s made it to school two minutes after waking up before and was recently (6th Grade Graduation) voted “Sweetest Classmate”, so yeah, she’s quite up there. And ever since (unwillingly) sprouting the wings of a brave superheroine she’s tried her hand at a bit of confidence, despite those continual dignity stuff ups she’s played off gracefully (the tripping happens no matter what, she can’t control that, okay?) The Guy may be the son of a famous fashion artist—that has, in fact, recognised Marinette’s talent and sent her self-esteem higher than Chat’s puns make her want to throw him—and is entirely out of her league,

But see, usually that would cease her pursuits, if not for, you know, the fact she’s an epic superhero and he’s the biggest snack she’s ever seen.  

Kindness? A literal angel? Most wholesome grace?  

A model?

As if she’s not flirting with that.  

She shivers remembering the ignorant days (half a school day) where she was under the idiocy that Adrien Agreste of all celestial beings had the tenacity to be an entitled jerk with an inheritance long enough to rival the list of times Dupain-Cheng had sliced from Chloé’s lips through the years.  

And yeah, that couldn’t have been further from the truth, but genuinely, genuinely, flaws and all, Adrien Agreste is the sweetest being she’s ever met.  

That she’s stuffed up her chances with, countless times.

But she’ll work on that.

Chat Noir knows how to flirt. He’s not too relevant – her miraculous partner in battle, black suit clad teenage girl idol, the best friend she’d kill herself and everyone she knows for – you know, the least of importance right now. But she’s got to admit, he has some good ones when she’s suited up. Only difference between him and her is that on Ladybug, it’s all fun and games with no meaning. But with Adrien,  

she’s serious.

(Most of the time. The lines are pretty eccentric.)

She loves him. It’s whatever. She doesn’t know if he loves her back but she’ll make it work. He can’t pick up a hint for his life — causing completely no progress— but the way her indications of affection propel over his halo is just a spanner in the mission to conquer his heart; a mere stain to the golden-hearted persona she adores so much; so much as a friend, too.

Because, you know,

“We’re friends,” Adrien tells his capped bro as though the suggestive nudges up the courtyard would lessen, an attempt that fails, because an arm is slung around him instead in such a buddy-buddy way he knows is saved for interrogating or persuading purposes.

“You didn’t hear what she said to you?”

How could he not.

He didn’t mind. If anything, he found it humorous. “Yeah, she’s just messing around like that.”  

“Mmmhmm… sure,” Nino says in a way that totally isn’t assuring. “I don’t even have Alya telling me we should share a locker to hide in during an akuma attack. And we’re dating.”

“That’s because Marinette’s joking around. Since we’re friends.”

“Since you’re soulmates. ”  

“Mmmhmm…” he mocks, cheek twitching, “sure.”

One-hundred percent sure, according to Marinette the next day.

It’s some chemistry lesson half the class doesn’t pay attention to because they’re overreacting (ha) to their assigned lab partners, and Adrien’s fine since he’s paired with Good Friend Marinette. And although he doesn’t like her like that – after all, Ladybug’s a thing – she seriously is lovely company without so much as an awkward fence (excluding the way she stumbles heading to the bench) to hinder their bonding (haha).  

Because, for those in the back, they’re just friends.

She’s funny and kind and all that, talented too – class rep, master of the arts, always doing things for others. Her confidence is mystifying but not unappreciated. In fact, having a crush on her would baffle him since she’s so out of his league (he says, dressing up as a cat and going after a superhero) , or at least impossible considering how much she’s definitely kidding with her flirtatious behaviour. No matter what Nino says.

The equipment clinks on the benches as his partner sets up. Distracted by Chloé whinging about Alya for a lab partner, he’s oblivious to the manner about how Marinette scoots next to him.  

“Look at us together. I bet we were paired because we have so much chemistry,” she says, out of nowhere, and yet completely expected at the same time as he turns back. “I guess we just work so well together.”

His lips tickle, but he sterns himself by moving an elbow dumbly, knocking a small beaker of water so the contents spill across a ripped page of discarded notes. Her old work fuses to the bench as the ink bleeds and they watch. “Apparently not.”

Marinette cracks a grin. “You suck.”

“You suck.”

“You—”

The lesson is a blast.

Marinette doesn’t know how someone can get any more dumb. Or is it dumber? Whatever. They’re tied for English, anyway (“The A + stands for Adrien plus Marin—” “Shut up.”). And she knows it’s not her who’s the dumb one because, you know, you need to have the supremacy of a genius to have the flirtatious skills she can dish out, possibly a degree of some kind.

Adrien’s smart, but he’s not—

He’s not there sometimes. It’s because of her absolute lack of progress (and she knows the lines are just Too Good for her to not be at fault here) that she often wonders if retreating to the long-abandoned pink-cheeked and shy character would’ve made things any more obvious.

Not that she thinks they can.  

“When we get married, I shots the left side of the bed.”

Seriously.

“You’re only getting the prime bed spot if you take the most dishwashing days,” he plays along, musing irresponsible blond tuffs with the towel Kim’s tossed him as he slinks from the locker room. “That includes Sunday morning. Saturday nights are major guest nights.”

His lacrosse game couldn’t have gone better, even if Nino and Alya were babysitting and didn’t attend. He scored most of the goals and the pride warming Marinette’s expression as she greets him is what tops the cake. He still hears Alix, Kim and Ivan chatting jubilantly of their win as the door swings behind him.

“You’ve obviously thought about this before.”

Adrien snaps the towel at her, purposefully missing, but water that’s been tipped on his head spurs from it and Marinette’s composure is quelled as the assumption of sweat drives her over.  

“You wish.”

Boy does she ever.

They break into step down the hall. Adrien pats down his arms and side-eyes her. Her blue pools of comfort are already beaming at him.

“I did that good for a marriage proposal, huh?”

“Yep!”

He does little to hinder the bashful chuckle.  

“And you touched my shoulder twice yesterday. That’s sixty-eight percent more than usual according to Max.“

“That doesn’t mean we’re married, Marinette.”  

Her lips quirk. “Totally does.”

tagged 💕:

@aplayfulplatypus @wegan97 @soap-lady @poisonouscephalopod @woodsbeyond1 @spartanxhunterx @laadychat @mochegato @gelana-12 @heldtogetherbysafetypins @galaxiesanddaisies @melicmusicmagic @legallyspawned @aarushi-03 @purple-people-eaters-productions @gothfoxx @glassesandcardguns @princess-of-fangirls @mewwitch @emeraldpuffguide @johnlockfeels @kittyynoirr @aryamanbose @paintedbirdsong @trubel43 @lulumatthews

My thoughts on Chameleon (Overanalysis... kinda)

Before starting let me remember you that: 

Overanalyze: to analyse (something) in too much detail.

So don’t expect this to be super realistic ok? This is gonna be absurdlyyyyyy long and I tend to blow things out of proportion a lot I’m just saying

So let’s start with the less important and more boring stuff (Actually I’m analysing scenes in order of appearance, but there’s not really much to say about the beginning aside from “Lila is a bitch lol”) 

ok so,

guys,

GUYS

Idk if you all have realised that from all the students in the class, they chose to use Sabrina to be serving Lila, which is kinda weird. If you pay attention, it makes sense for all the other people around her to be there (Mylène and Rose love helpinh people, Juleka is always hanging out with Rose, Max is the nerdy type so he probably loves learning about the bs Lila is making up and since Kim isn’t exactly smart he’s fascinated with Lila’s lies too) but SABRINA?!?! That girl is always following Chloé everywhere, one of these two things has to be happening here:

1. Sabrina had an argument with Chloé? I’m sure Chloé wouldn’t let her hang out with other people so easily (She doesn’t have anyone else to be with if Sabrina hangs out with other people)

2. Since Adrien is nowhere to be seen in this scene either I’m assuming both Chloé and he don’t have lunch at school, which makes sense, they’re the rich kids™ . This means this is the only time of the day when Sabrina can spend time with her other classmates, and she’s using it to serve another person, that’s kinda sad.

I think it’s more likely to be the 2nd one, but anyways this could be foreshadowing that we’re not going to see Sabrina with Chloé that much anymore? (Miraculous can be VERY subtle with foreshadowings) 

Honestly, even if Sabrina is the character I like the least, I can’t say I’m not going to be mad if she stops going after Chloé to go after Lila. On the positive side this implies that Chloé would be forced to look for new friends, and obviously she’d go to Adrien, and do you know who Adrien hangs out with???? Yeah you’re right Marinette, Alya and Nino!! Does this mean Chloé could be part of the main squad in the future? :o I mean they already have to deal with her in superhero mode

Ok let’s continue;

This isn’t really important but lmao I can’t believe Lila has been 5 mins inside the school and she already knows about Mari’s crush, this girl is so obvious

(FJASHFJDFJHJKFHJSDK HER FACE IM SORRY) 

“I only tell people what they want to hear”

When I heard this line the first time I found it interesting, I wonder if it has to do with Lila’s backstory (If she even has one), or if she has come to the point she believes her lies are true, since she never seems to admit she’s “lying”... This is also what compulsive liars tend to say, but I think we all already knew that she is one lmao

Anyway, shortly after that, Lila switches to this pose:

(Chloé’s picture is from Season 2, Malediktator)

And as you can see, this pose is Chloé’s pose (Like seriously I can’t be the only one who instantly thought of Chloé when she did that pose). In my opinion this small gesture is trying to tell us that she’s the new rival, kind of like a substitute for Chloé who is now supposedly redeemed, we don’t have to fear Chloé anymore Lila is the new villain in the school and she’s much much worse. (jfhasjkfdhk I just realised right after this scene Marinette says something like “I thought Chloé was evil but Lila really takes the whole cake!” so I guess I was right lol)

Nothing important, just wanted to mention that she looks like hawkmoth when he says “*Akumatized person name*, I aM hAwKmOtH”,,, I guess that’s intriguing

Ok so after this we have an angry marinette and then a short scene with adrien and lila which I don’t really care about, tho in that specific part, her voice in the english dub sounds so annoying (”sO I hEaRd YoU pLaY pIaNOoOOoOo”)

Then the episode cuts back to Marinette in the bathroom stall, she’s angry so the akuma comes closer.

I know it’s painfully obvious, but, now we know that akumas fly directly into the miraculous! For some reason I always assumed that if she or adrien were to be akumatized the akuma would fly into Mari’s purse or Adrien’s bag.

Why does this matter? Well, this confirms that Adrien getting akumatized would be much worse than Ladybug getting akumatized, because if Chat was akumatized no one would be able to destroy the miraculous to take the akuma out of it, but if Ladybug was akumatized Chat could use cataclysm and after that and Mari could purify the akuma and everything would be ok again

YOU CAN GRAB AKUMAS WITH YOUR HANDS 

This might seem silly but this implies that you can fight akumas lol,,, seriously tho I wonder if you can kill akumas or something by crushing them into the wall or stepping on them. This also proves that akumas can’t get into living objects which is great I guess, we don’t want to slice people just to purify an akuma.

Another thing that I have to mention is that she put the akuma in her earring, in. her. EARRINGS. Like at this point I’m sure this is foreshadowing that she’ll get a miraculous, I don’t know how but come on

The first time she got akumatized the akuma landed into a fake fox miraculous

(Season 1, Volpina)

The second time she got akumatized the akuma got in her bracalet (Turtle miraculous? Anyone?)

And now it’s her earrings

Like I don’t know what this girl is planning but I’m 99.99% sure she’ll get her hands on a real miraculous, and it’s gonna be real dangerous if she does. Maybe she gets to steal the Ladybug miraculous? Maybe the Cat one?

(I’m gonna talk about the leak now so skip the next few lines if you don’t want to know) 

Imagine that Volpina gets the Ladybug miraculous and tries to get the cat miraculous by herself without Hawkmoth’s help, Chat being confused asf goes to see Master fu (supposing he finally learns about him), he gives him a miraculous, like he usually does when marinette comes,and Adrien chooses the mouse miraculous. Obviously he gives it to her good fRIEND Marinette.

TALKING ABOUT THE LEAK IS OVER

Dude I love Lila but why does she have to be so evil dammit 

ok let’s proceed

lmao this screenshot

“Hawkmoth, I am Lila.”

THIS IS SO COOL BECAUSE at this point Lila thinks she’s in control but she’s really not, I’m 100% sure she’ll end up being used by Hawkmoth and then “thrown away”, Hawkmoth  has the powers after all. Yet by not even letting him start talking she’s showing that she thinks she’s superior and that she’s the real villain, she doesn’t even realise that without Papillon she isn’t anything. Can’t wait to see how their relationship evolves or if she’ll really get betrayed by Hawky AAAAAAAAA

This is not relevant but, honey... What friendship? You (Adrien, not Lila) have ignored him for a whole season.

THIS. SCENE.

I’m dying because I KNOW this scene means something but I can’t figure it out, doesn’t Lila hate BOTH Ladybug and Chat Noir? Doesn’t she hate all superheroes?? And still, even if she doesn’t, why would she take Chat Noir’s balloons??? WHAT DOES THIS REPRESENT? Maybe there’s nothing behind it?? I don’t know man

After that Lila throws Adrien (herself) once again from the Eiffel Tower, she knows that Adrien is important for Ladybug, she took the CN’s balloons before, dammit does she know their identities?????? It doesn’t look like it but perhaps she’s the only smart parisian who figured out their identites (I mean, the fact that Adrien and Marinette are the only ones who know she’s lying makes them suspects right?? I feel like I’m reaching with this tbh)

Lila once again with her superiority attitude and going against Hawkmoth plans, lots of villains do this so it isn’t surprising but still. Interesting how she is convinced she is in control, I’m curious if this “bad attitude” with Papillon will grow bigger and bigger in the rest of the season... I mean, akumatized people always have a little bit of respect for Hawkmoth

Our boy Nino out here having an existential crisis over losing his cap lol

Oh BOY we’re going to see much more from Lila in this season. With her and Mayura season 3 is going to get dangerous asf for Mari and Chat. Again, I’m really excited to see what she’s planning, I’m really excited to see what everyone is planning tbh

And lastly, we have this small conversation between Marinette and Adri. I know that what Adrien said caused a lot of backlash but in my opinion it makes sense. 

At first I thought he said so because it’s unecessary to cause more drama and the class wouldn’t believe her anyway, so what’s really the point? But then I realised he was saying so because of Lila’s probable response, she gets really angry when she gets caught and she wouldn’t even want to admit she was lying even if it were obvious that she was. As Chat Noir, his job is to make people not upset so there’s less akumas, specially Lila since she’s proven that she’s a tough enemy. Also, he’s right about not making the bad guy suffer, it never works so that’s another thing.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I’m convinced that sharing this secret will help them bond, I can see them ranting about Lila’s lies or Adrien comforting Mari when Lila gets her on her nerves. This is not the best way to make evolve the love square but I’m all here for it, even if Lila’s lies are not the best thing to bond over, it’s their little secret.

Maybe when everyone is hanging out around Lila these two will keep company to each other uwu (And probably Chloé, Alya and Nino will end up joining them as soon as Lila mentions the other heroes)

oh hi there hawky

SO I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, I’m sure I’ve missed lots of things (Although I skipped some stuff because they’re everywhere on Tumblr already) So please add the interesting stuffs you’ve seen on the episode!! Also feel free to debunk all of what I said!! That’s cool too! Don’t worry I’m not an expert on Miraculous and it’s better not to spread “false” theories

Hello Ariel and welcome to New Orleans, the city of The Damned. Thank you so much for applying, you have been successful for the role of Katherine Pierce. Welcome to the family, but for now it’s time to get down to business…

Head on over to the New Member Checklist, careful not to go down any dark alleys, it’s not safe here.

OUT OF CHARACTER:

Name: ariel!

Pronouns: she/her

Age: 22

Timezone/Country: est/canada

Triggers: NFP

Activity Level: 6/10 I work during the day, but I work at a desk so I’m using still checking the dash and messaging people for plotting and sometimes even working on replies, but my evenings and weekends are pretty much free aside from a class I’m taking.

How Did You Hear About Us: tvd rp tag and I love a good crossover rp. Honestly, it’s just kind of refreshing to have a bio crossover rp. And also a crossover rp that doesn’t include legacies.

Anything Else?: I do want to say that I feel that my apps are often unimpressive, but I do have so much muse for this character, I just adore playing her. I also feel I really play best when I’m writing to another character specifically because Katherine is such a versatile person who morphs so much to each person she’s interacting the voice she uses changes. So to me samples are really hard because it’s just most internal monologue and at the beginning of an rp ( especially when changes have been made to a character ) I feel like that part is not as crystallized. Anyway, I hope you like the app, I’m in love with this rp and would just die to join fghjk.

DESIRED CHARACTER:

Desired Character: Katherine Pierce

Why This Character?:

The loml. I’ve played Katherine so many times over the years. She’s always been my favourite I feel like she’s so under appreciated because she’s an antagonist of the show but she’s never really wrong in my eyes. I just think there’s so much fun to be had with her character, she’s a boss ass bitch but she’s got such a deep heart. AND MY GOD the wounds she’s had inflicted upon her heart, she’s had to become the person she is to survive. I started really playing Katherine a lot when she was done so dirty on TVD and they killed her off. I just felt like her character had so much more and it just didn’t feel authentic to me.

Any FC Changes?: n/a

Ships/Anti-ships: god who don’t I ship Katherine with is the real question. I think TVD had a real sterefine agenda, but I think her love with Elijah was so much more real and true. So of Kat’s ships Kalijah takes the cake for me, but I’ve played out every possible ship for Kat—even a bunch with crossover rps. She’s not a woman who holds back from what she wants. I feel like I don’t have any anti-ships, but it does have to make sense with the plot. Like Katherine and Klaus aren’t about to pop off for a quickie at this point in the plot but if it’s developed and done right even incongruous ships can be made to work.

Headcanons:

Katherine’s favourite colour sways from red to blue, often settling on purples and pinks when indecisive. Blue was her favourite colour in Bulgaria, but after certain events in England, Katherine began to feel drawn to the warmer colour. When she is most conflicted the deepest of purple is worn, a near black. She knows that her true humanity, that Katerina Petrova is lost somewhere and that Katherine Pierce consumes her now, but it is very easy to find little pieces of both mixed in her.

Katherine has only turned off her humanity a handful of times and only for extremely short periods of times. The difference between the two is surprising. Katherine finds that without her humanity things become rather tedious and plain for herself. She is already one who feels very little guilt and remorse (she will not apologize for keeping herself alive) and so nearly every time is duller than the previous. She enjoys the fire that her humanity instils in her, the passion and emotions that it brings. She hasn’t turned her emotions off since sometime around 1720.

Around when she stopped turning her humanity off was also when she started taking vervain. It’s taken years to build up the tolerance to the level it’s at now and she’s still always working to take in more. She also has built up a pain tolerance like crazy. You know how the wolves shift over and over to be free of a sire bond? Katherine’s essentially done that to try and prevent anyone, especially Klaus, from using pain to get anything from her.

Please Provide At Least One:

See some of my posts from Katherine last time I played her here

a really old mock blog for kat

Also plot wise, I really want to work in past with the teen wolf characters, maybe even some of originals only characters. Like MARCEL!! I feel like a lot of times Marcel has been in an rp where I played Kat, Marcel was swayed to help keep Katherine safe from Klaus as yet another bargaining chip. I’d obviously have to work that out with a Marcel player, but that’d be such an interest thing to really flesh out.

Pinterest

CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE:

How Does Your Character Feel About The Peace Treaty?: Its probably one of the only things keeping Kat in NOLA. It’s not exactly a guarantee that Klaus will keep off her, it is however a reasonable excuse to get other supernaturals involved in protecting her. Katherine has no problem playing up her desire for peace if it means keeping her safe. Besides, she doesn’t really care what you are, more if you’re useful to her.

Slice of Life: Now that she’s in the same town as Elena it’s changed. Before it was shopping, socializing, laying groundwork. Now she cultivates a lot of time learning about Elena’s life (gotta know how to play up being the doppelgänger), avoiding Klaus, still shopping (she’s not about to stop being herself), and working schemes. She’s got many a relationship to smooth over and many a local to win to her side. She’s not going to end up dead. When possible she likes to sleep in and let the sun wake her up, but often she’s got plans and she’s gotta deal with them. In the evening’s you’ll almost always find her in a bar socializing. She may be on the run, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have fun.

What is Your Character’s Greatest Fear? How Does This Affect Your Character?: I think a lot of people would say death for Kat, but I think that’s like surface level. She’s a survivor and that will also be super relevant in her life, but I don’t think it’s her greatest fear. Her real fear is probably anonymity. She wants people to love her and think about her. She may slip in and out of people’s lives but her expectation is that she’s not forgotten. ( I mean Klaus could forget about her n that would be great. ) Sometimes I think her desire to be remembered makes her do things that aren’t always the wisest. She has the two parts of her fears that battle it out. The Passion and Calculation mix and fight and that’s why she’s such a complicated character.

SAMPLE:  NFP

Day 33 - Rio Dulce, Guatemala

1. A lovely sleep in this morning and relaxation! There was an option to visit the town of Livingston but everything I'd read about it said it's not worth doing a specific trip just to go see (and everyone who went came back confirming this). However they did say the boat ride was nice to be with nature. I was quite happy being one with nature chilling at the ecolodge. Tomorrow we gave a long bus day to Antigua so I also used this time to download some Netflix onto my phone (thanks mum and dad for letting me mooch on your account all over the world!). I've sadly come to the realization that it might not be possible to do all of Central and South that I want to do in this trip if I also want to be home in the current year (flights right now looking best early December, otherwise not till February). Spent a bit of this morning looking at maps and what to do in countries for where I go and what I miss. If I skip rest of central (go from Guatemala to Colombia) then I'll get about 4 months in South but also Costa Rica and Panama would be good but then that only leaves 3 months for South. For Colombia alone (which I won't be missing either way) I want 4-5 weeks. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out! What first world problems to have.

2. I didn't want to completely waste away the day chilling so in the afternoon I'd signed up to go to a hot waterfall. Given the only way to get to the hotel is via boat this is also the mode of transportation to the waterfall. The boatride was so nice. I love being on the water. It was about a 30 minute journey. Went past an old castle and saw lots of wee villages and buildings on the waterfront. I think it's more related to Lake Atitlan so possibly less relevant here but I've read how when locals move country and earn lots of money, they don't necessarily see the banks as a safe place to keep money. So instead they buy building supplies with their earnings and slowly build homes. It's for this reason that you often see half built houses because they build it and buy the supplies as they earn the money. After the boatride we then had a car ride to the falls. The first car was a wee 4x4 with everything removed. No roof, no doors, two seats and a tray at the back. So obviously the car could fit 8. It was a bumpy journey past paddocks of cows and random pigs walking around.

3. The arrival at the falls was great! Although I did feel sad for the old man that carried out chilly bin. He obviously wanted to because he got paid but I tried to offer to help (each of us take a handle) but he refused (me using bad Spanglish). Instead he carried it on his neck. Gosh we have it good back home. At the waterfalls there was only a local family hanging out. We quickly hopped in and oh my word was the water warm. The actual stream was lukewarm but the water coming down the falls was hotter than any shower I've had this last month! In fact it was warmer than most showers I've had at home. I chilled a medium distant from it to be warm but not overtly (plus still avoiding splashes in my ear where possible).

4. I watched a bit of suits before I left and also a bit while I've been gone. Well part of the waterfall included getting local mud as an exfoliator. So embracing our inner Lewis Litt we were very soon all mudded up! It actually felt pretty good so let it soak in before washing off again. I mentioned the chilly bin earlier as we had some snacks and also drinks with us. Initially a road beer (boat beer?) for the ride over and also a couple of bottles of rum. The reason for the rum was the coconuts that came around for sale! After buying fresh coconuts and removing the tops we drank some of the water. One of the best coconut waters I've had in a long time! Then poured in the rum and wallah, very fresh coconut rum drink out of a coconut. No complaints here! Might have to try this one at home. After chilling in the water a while longer at 6pm we repeated the morning journey of the car ride and then the boat ride.

5. It was one of the girls on the tours birthdays. For dinner the majority of us left the hotel and headed to the wee town. Once there we went for pizzas. I feel I'm a pretty good pizza assessor after 5 years working at a pizza shop plus eating endless amounts in Italy last year. I have to say the pizza in rio dulce was bloody good! Perfect base crispy levels, good quantity of cheese and all round flavors. I shared a large and it was way more than what I should be eating but so good. Given it was Synovas birthday Salvador had also organized a cake for her which was cool! Vanilla and coconut! After chatting with everyone I decided to call it a night. The restaurant was busy and had open mic on. For mw trying to hear the person next to me was near impossible. Wee bit scary in the dark but I caught the boat back on my own and chilled / packed for the longish journey to Antigua tomorrow.

Tally:

Pizza slices: 4

Boat rides: 4

Ice creams eaten in 3 days: 4

For Gian's birthday, what about you trying to get him the perfect gift/throwing a surprise party but something goes wrong? And in the end you have to make do with what you've got? Hopefully that gives you some inspiration! I can't wait for another imagine!

TANTI AUGURI GIANLUCA!!! May all your wishes come true!

Obviously I couldn’t let this day pass without a relevant imagine and thanks to this great idea I am able to continue my tradition of birthday imagines :)

Before I leave you to it, I would like to take this chance to thank everyone for your patience and support! I’m sorry I haven’t been active recently and I’m afraid it will stay the same, but I promise I’ll write as much as I can!

DON’T FORGET TO LIKE, REBLOG AND LEAVE A COMMENT!

Xx

~•~

“Ercole!”

“Prego?”

Grandfather and grandson turned around simultaneously. The resemblance they bore was remarkable. Your husband and son looked like two drops of water and -let’s just say- your father in law’s photos from his youth could very much be Gianluca’s Instagram filtered Pictures.

“Ercole Jr”, you clarified giggling.

Your son jumped off the couch and jogged to the kitchen.

“Yes mama?”

Ruffling his black curls, you opened the refrigerator door and revealed the cake you had spent all morning meticulously preparing.

“Wow! It looks delicious”, he praised your baking skills and licked his lips. “Can we have some now? Pleaaaaaase?”

The puppy eyes made for an angelic face, nearly impossible to resist to.

“If you take it carefully to the dining table, I promise you’ll get a slice as big as you can eat.”

His face lit up adorably.

“Bigger than papa’s?”

“Yes”, you replied giggling.

It was amazing what the prospect of eating cake could do to a five-year old. But, after all, he was Gianluca’s son and if the tittle “sweet tooth” had to be awarded to only one in the family, that would most certainly be your husband.

The boy put on a proud face and walked away from the kitchen, carrying the cake firmly in his hands.

Everything was going on schedule. All day you had struggled, yet managed, not to wish Gianluca a happy birthday and so did his parents, brother and close friends. When he would try to remind anyone why that day was special, all he would get for an answer was an important football match for the road to the tittle.

That match actually provided the perfect coverup for the surprise party. Ernesto had managed to find some tickets, buying you time to prepare everything perfectly. Piero and Ignazio made it right on time and joined the small company. All that was left was for Ernesto to text you that they were reaching the house.

You were just washing up the used pots, when an exclamation of pain filled the house, followed by a mother’s most terrifying sound. The sobs were all too familiar to confuse.

You dumped everything and rushed to your son. He was lying on his stomach with his hands extended to protect his head from the impact. The cake had miraculously landed unflipped, yet a good third of its surface was ruined under Ercole’s head. It was the worst thing that could possibly happen, a surprise party with no cake, but your mother instincts would only focus on your son. You didn’t even think about how you were going to save the party.

He pushed himself up as you knelt down to check up on him. The remains of the cake on his cheek and hair would make for a hilarious sight had he not been hurt.

“Are you OK Ercole? Are you hurt?”

You combed his hair and gave him a small reassuring smile to cover your worry and make him feel better. The guests had made a circle around the two of you, worry evident on their faces.

“I ruined the cake”, he managed to say between the sobs and brought his hands to his eyes.

“Aw, honey, don’t worry about the cake. We’ll figure something out. Are you in pain?”

His negative nod was followed by a loud sob. You hugged him tightly and caressed his back.

“I didn’t mean it mama. There was some water on the floor and I didn’t see it because I was trying to make sure I wouldn’t drop the cake.”

“I know you didn’t do it on purpose Ercole. Look! It didn’t flip, you did a good job!”

“But it’s ruined”, he insisted.

“Look at me. Today is a day to celebrate. Papa will be sad to see you crying. You don’t want to make papa sad on his birthday, right?”

He nodded negatively again and wiped away his tears, trying to calm his breathing.

“Go to the bathroom and wash your face and let me worry about the cake, alright?”

He did as you said and soon everyone started throwing ideas to salvage the dessert.

“Everyone shush! I’m trying to think here.”

“(Y/n), you want to read this. Ernesto sent a message, they’ll be here in less than 15 minutes”, Piero informed you.

Great, you thought, it couldn’t get any worse.

“Alright, don’t panic”, you told yourself. “Can someone please check up on Ercole?”

You made eye contact with Eleonora and she walked away immediately.

“Now, Ignazio, there’s a mini market around the corner. I want you to go there as fast as you can and pick up all kinds of candies you can find, twix, mars bars, anything.”

“Consider it done”, he assured you and jogged out of the house.

Five minutes later he came back with a bag full of candies. Everyone put their unwrapping skills into practice and soon you were able to cover the dent of the cake, making it look like a fountain of all sorts of treats.

Little Ercole finally decided to leave the bathroom, after the zillionth reassurance that the cake was actually better than before and admitted it himself with an expression of pure awe and amazement. Everything was ready and everyone went to their positions as the familiar sound of Gianluca’s car became audible.

The house seemed empty, the lights were out and everything seemed drowned in a deadly silence. Gianluca unlocked the door with disappointment weighing his heart. He nearly fell on the door as he jumped up in astonishment when the lights went on, people appeared out of the most obscure places and started singing “tanti auguri”.

He covered his dropped jaw with his hands and looked around with wrinkled eyes, as the people he loved the most wished him a very happy birthday. You and your son were at the front, wearing the biggest smiles in the whole wide world.

“Make a wish”, you reminded him before he could blow the candles.

He chuckled, closed his eyes momentarily, but instead of proceeding, he picked up his son and said “together”. Everyone clapped and cheered and Gianluca leaned in carefully and kissed away your “happy birthday”.

“I thought you had forgotten.”

He voiced his fear so quietly only you could hear it.

“How could I?”

Adjusted priorities

Last week I talked about the importance of printing and what it could potentially mean to future generations. This week's topic is related...how do you prioritise what you spend on your wedding?

Obviously I have a slight bias here, but I think my thoughts have merit.

What is the most long-lasting thing from a wedding? Hopefully it is the marriage...but after that? Not the cake. Not the music. Not the dress...although you may want it to be passed down through the generations...you only have boys...and it's not his size. Not what you spent on booze...only the bartender remembers that!

There is a pretty good argument for the honeymoon...

None of these even come close to the photographs. They are the truly enduring record of your special day. So why do people baulk at spending the money to employ a professional?

A confession here...I have been married three times. Some would say I am crazy (they might be right) but I am very happy. The first two were pretty traditional...the third we eloped. The photos from the first two are in my past, so not something I have a desire to regularly look at. However, I know they are there and they are relevant to my children.

There are times I wish there were more photos of our elopement...over time memories fade. And that is something else a photo has the ability to do...awaken memories. So it's not just a two-dimensional representation of a slice of time... it elicits emotion, brings back conversations, smells and smiles.

Most people spend a lot of money on their special day...so how about giving a bit more thought to how you prioritise that expenditure and who to trust with the responsibility of recording it for history.

Masculine Frame

h/t @TRPgurus 

It is all about building a strong internal frame. It is about being proactive rather than reactive to external factors outside oneself. It’s about doing the work of a man (your purpose) not for the praise or validation of others but to reach a state of self-fulfillment. Accepting the universal factors that lay outside of your control and remaining indifferent, remaining indifferent to pain or pleasure and staying focused on your purpose.

​The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

Hypergamy is just part of nature and lies outside your control. Being angry at the existence of hypergamy is just like being angry at the existence of mosquitoes. You are being emotionally reactive to the nature of things outside your control and further more wasting your mental energy that could be put to better use working on oneself and towards your purpose.

You are your frame, to build a frame is to build one's self; this is the key difference between real change from within and “acting alpha”. If you set aside the moral aspects from Meditations it reads as a general guide on how to be a strong, well-rounded man. Being unfazed by the factors outside oneself and ensuring that validation comes from within rather than external factors. This is your frame. You are your frame. Frame is the extent of which you are controlling your own reality and the truth is, often you have little control/influence of external factors. To build frame one must focus on what he can change, what one has control over and let go of the things he doesn't. This is why there is a common theme here of people starting their own business and being self employed; it’s directly linked to building frame. Becoming self sufficient puts you in a position where you never “have” to do anything you don’t want to. Being the boss, being in control of the decisions being made and the actions that follow is operating within your frame. When you are working for someone else, you are operating in their frame. If the date location you chose was somewhere you think she would like (without considering of what you want) you are operating in her frame. Damn, if the only reason you are lifting weights is to impress the girl next door you are still serving her reality. You are your frame but only to the extent of the things you have done and created on your own, for the sole purpose of furthering oneself. If you build great things people will naturally want to be a part of that. This is where we can derive real power, by remaining in control of the direction of our own lives and even start to influence the directions of others. Why? Because that’s one tasty looking cake you’ve baked up and they’re keen for a slice. Now you have the power to decide if you want to give them some. What can they provide for you? What's the going rate? What's your next best option? Fuck it! Eat the whole cake if you want, you can do whatever you want in this situation. Now you have others operating on your terms, within your frame.

I’ve used cold showers as part of my meditation every morning. It reinforces two concepts. It helps build resistance to seeking pleasure and to become indifferent in the face of pain/discomfort. We all know that pleasure seeking weather it be porn, drugs or Netflix is counter productive towards self development. Furthermore being outside your comfort zone can be uncomfortable at best and agonizingly painful at worst; but it's where we have to be if we want to grow. During the first week of taking cold showers I’d be hesitant before I entered, I would almost squeal as my body flinched and my breathing accelerated when the freezing cold water fell upon my body. It didn’t take long before I learnt to control my breathing and with no hesitation jump straight into the shower with indifference, as if it were a steaming hot shower on a cold winter's morning.

I’m staying calm and collected as I chose to be, not reacting to the freezing water. I am not allowing cold water to control my actions. I’m behaving in accordance with how I have chosen to behave, I am standing my ground, I am holding frame.

Achieving a state of being unfazed by discomfort is the reward.

The idea of not trying to control or react to anything outside of us is huge. I think too many guys are still stuck at trying to control shit outside of them. 'How do I get her to go out with me?' 'How do I avoid rejection?', etc. 'How do I pull her into my frame', type stuff.This (with the links) shows that one's power should only ever be focused within oneself. The ability to hold YOU, regardless of outside things.

Stoicism teaches you that your negative emotional reactions are un-constructive; that you should be indifferent to the opinions of others; and that you are supposed to have compassion for others, as they too are humans struggling.The end result of that in a social conservation is that if someone challenges something you say, you shrug your shoulders; you don't need to defend yourself and you don't have an incentive to lash out at the other person. In fact, one major tenet of stoicism is to respond to insults with humor such as "you're right, and you don't know the half of it." If you think about it, that is just another way of saying "agree and amplify."

​

"Being unreactive". It's the same thing as holding frame. You act, you don't react. Your frame remains intact when confronted with external (or internal) influence. Your path doesn't change. Your intentions, desires, actions and emotions are maintained when faced with obstacles. They can be internal as well, such as doubt. You act from your center and do what you're supposed to do, deep down. You don't sit there passively waiting to be led by external forces. YOU, that is your beliefs, opinions, decisions and so forth, aren't changed by someone else. You bring your prize mentality, she brings her bitch mentality, you don't yield, eventually she does. SHE reacts to YOU.

​

The term "the lens through which you see the world" refers to your personal interpretation of facts. You choose what you take in and what you ignore. If for instance you are condescendingly told that genius can look like crazy to stupid people, you thank them for sharing their experience... the notion of you being dumb and not a genius doesn't register in your mind, because the notion that you are indeed a genius does not change due to external (or internal) influence. That is the frame that you bring to the table -- I'm a genius. That is your interpretation of reality, the 'lens through which you see the world', it's a frame, yet, that is still YOU. That is the part of YOU that is relevant in that situation. Frame is YOU, it is your SELF. Not changing it/you when confronted, is what Holding Frame means.

Frame is you, it is your self. The more (contextually relevant) parts of it that you keep intact when faced with external (or internal) influence, the stronger your overall frame, i.e. the better you are holding it.

Frame is YOU. It's your SELF. When your frame is strong, you will not be reactive, but active. Your focus, intentions and emotional state will not be broken by attacks. You will stay on topic and not justify your position, you will laugh at their idiocy and not get triggered, you will twist their accusations and make fun of them instead of accepting the accusation as the platform that you're obligated to operate on. You'll transcend the earthly context and become a god.

There are no wooden frames through which you see the world, no imaginary bubbles in which you exist that, if stronger than the bubbles of other people, will break their bubbles and suck those people in. There are only persons interacting. There is only YOU. So no need to complicate it. This is what we're talking about, at the most fundamental level that can be described; people interacting. Frame is YOU. YOU are your beliefs, thoughts, desires, decisions, focuses, attitudes, emotions, actions and words. When you are able to keep those things intact, i.e. yourself intact when tested, you are Holding Frame, meaning that you are keeping yourself intact, or the parts of yourself that are relevant in a given context, intact. Such as eye-contact in a staredown, tone of voice and amused masculine state of mind in an interaction with a bitchy bitch, confidence and calm in a battle of wits, or ignoring ad hominems and staying on topic in a debate. Or a calm demeanour and good posture in a 50-second k-close with a bitchy woman, or your assumed leadership role and abundance mentality in a 50-year marriage (I said 'relevant parts of YOU in a given context', since something like your faith in Satan might not be relevant in the 50-second k-close, whereas your flirty choice of words would be). Holding frame is a sign of power. If your focus, decisions and feelings can't be rattled, you are obviously powerful. Power and hierarchy are innately understood by us. That's why you hold your ground when a dog postures. That's why a hurt child curls his lip and holds his tears; he acts unprovoked, because being unreactive, unchanged, is powerful. That's why you don't back down from your outrageous claim when a woman shit-tests you about it, because that would be weak, and weakness is unattractive, whereas power is attractive. As you can probably guess, truly not GAF, feeling jolly and having a high opinion of yourself, will handle most of your frame holding; when those parts of YOU are good and unbreakable, the other parts of YOU will often follow. Strength of frame is one's level of Alpha, one's strength, one's power over oneself. Testosterone creates confidence and euphoria. I mean, connect the dots. The pieces fall into place.

Want to build impeccable frame? Allow yourself to fail again, again, and yet again. Be extremely open to experience. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, emotionally and mentally. Trust that your intuition will guide you throughout the process. Ask to see what is, not what you hope and wish things to be. Go through the painful humiliations, pain and sadness in order to succeed. Frame is not an ethereal idea you put in your head that says “I am this person.” You are much more than that.

Thus, we have to learn to be stoic, unmoved, non-reactive when our frame is tested, and the only way to do that is to face rejection. Anyone who does cold approach knows this. The first ten, twenty, or thirty times you feel like shit after a girl rejects you, but after awhile, you realize it doesn't matter, you learn how to pass shit tests, and ultimately, you learn how to hold frame and maintain your internal state in spite of rejection.

10 From The Best Places On earth (PHOTOS).

Arizona has been a significant retirement destination for years, and once and for all factor. The controlling gamer puts a clutter cloud token for each part of the ship within assortment some of the significant ship. Although the competition aspect from The Flavor isn't really specifically intriguing (just like The Vocal) and also the bitchiness in between the judges (Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, and Marcus Samuelsson) could ultimately grate, the meals itself is actually absolutely nothing but alluring and also delicious. There's an account on CNN concerning a nutritionist lecturer that takes place a Twinkie diet plan (all snack food pies) plus all he consumes are snack birthday cake junkfood type things however confines his caloric consumption to below 1800 calories a time. Puerto Vallarta is even more expensive in comparison to various other spots where you could consider living or even retiring overseas, but in Puerto Vallarta that's certainly not the aspect. Meals refuse throughout arrangement and usage is actually a worrying concern, however meals reduction during manufacturing is usually ignored, despite the fact that it's where most food items misuse stems. The Food items & Consume application, powered through Bing, pulls in 100,000 brand-new recipes, a wine encyclopaedia and also plenty of culinary tips. The challenge experiencing many business is actually to locate economical answers that are actually end results oriented. WIC, obviously, is a fair bit various in comparison to SNAP, even though each courses are administrated by the USDA's Meals and Nourishment Company to deliver health and nutrition assistance to low-income houses and maintain all of them out of poverty. When http://blog-dietatippek.info catch her elbow joint and also her workmates couldn't get this to shift, the 30-year-old girl had actually attempted to meet a packet of crisps which landed in the food items rack. Nowhere are actually these divides additional obvious in comparison to in point of views about health food and food having genetically customized components. Read Even more Most of the exact same points matter when hiring a visuals professional, also. http://blog-dietatippek.info -up examines the switch in nutritional designs because of urbanicity (conditions that are actually specific to non-urban vs. city areas), climate adjustment, and the globalization of the meals market. The Castle's spot at the nexus of numerous critical mass relays has actually resulted in its make use of as the capital urban area from the galaxy's governing body system: the Manor Authorities. A place like Footfall will definitely have Transportations coming in with only army quality provisions imo - a staggering quantity. That will be wonderful to observe a health and nutrition graph or pyramid as well as some brief sessions regarding healthy protein, saturated as well as unsaturated excess fats, cholesterol, and other type of carbohydrates. On a special offer for the joyful season, the vineyard scenic tour package deal is actually available in 7 different locations around the UK, ranked 4.5/ 5 by over 1000 customer reviews on internet site. I desired to discover the science and also relevant evidence concerning exactly how food can influence my and child's wellness for far better or even even worse. The subject recall influences 5 great deals of food that were actually generated off its own provider's great deal of beef, which is exclusively made use of for the Piece from Beef product and also not one other products. Creepy-crawlies have been de rigeuer in night markets and also street food items means years, specifically in places like Asia as well as Mexico. MEALS NETWORK CELEBRITY CHILD is actually a preparing food competitors that tests 10 hopefuls to slice, grill, as well as platter their means to results: a Food items Network internet series starring the winner. Given, the title is certainly not one of the most safe-for-work out there, however don't panic, meals adult is actually completely upright. Food Street is the perfect bistro control game for any type of follower from cooking, farming or cooking video games. This is actually possible that Under Armour will utilize the IBM Watson expert system body along with rational records to offer individuals with idea right into their tracking and also health and nutrition data. The sophisticated, voiced-recognizing computer services in vast usage are actually virtual cleverness," basically a sophisticated variation of Siri-- very skillfully set, yet certainly not independent. Nutritional search could look up the differences between Fla or The golden state avocados, for instance.

The best method, as it needs no extra tools, is to just store meals the animal suches as in your hand as well as that will follow you like a famished creature at a petting zoo (as observed in the screenshot over), any place you go as long as you do not manage also swiftly off of it. The foods items each animal likes are outlined in the reproducing graph found in the following part. For example, compared with the 1930s, the fruit and vegetables our company currently eat contain around 20% less minerals like zinc, calcium mineral as well as magnesium mineral according to bodies off The Food Payment. The staff additionally desires to expand the application's data source from dietary stats and customer reviews to feature dining establishments, so consumers could find exactly how healthy a food items facility is, Segal claims. Because I have a great preventive situation as well as armband that maintains it in location and also dry, I've been catching with the iPod. Absolute best Dining establishment Health and nutrition Quick guide plus Meals Score Calculator in one app for iPhone/iPad or iPod! In their developing disenchantment along with conflicting authoritative resources, individuals have the tendency to end up being less competent to any kind of nutritional advice whatsoever. This procedure has been processed eventually as well as now in regions like Peru and also the Canary Islands, workers acquire Cochineal insects and then mix the grain with an acidic alcoholic drinks service to create. carminic acid, which is actually at that point turned into carmine, which is at that point become Natural Reddish # 4 for usage in foodstuff. As you can easily find from the accounts above, food photographes are nothing at all to laugh about. Aspect 4 though, that effects have to be actually direct and immediate for a player to experience impact as well as discover: Although this is actually the best common method (and also very created in video games) we're viewing games like Mass Result and also the Witcher 2 deliver ambiguous selections to the player which can have unanticipated outcomes much better down free throw line.

A Big Pile of Ash

Enough with the bloody ash already! Yes, it's MasterChef, and while last year's series posed the question 'to burn or not to burn', this year we receive an answer - char, sear and completely incinerate if it makes you sound pompous enough. Twice this week contestants produced dishes topped with ash, one of them had frazzled a leek into black dust and the other had burnt some... umm, hay. I'm not certain that qualifies as human food in its natural shape, let alone combusted, and while I hate to shatter the dreams of aspiring chefs, I have to admit that to me, all ash tastes the same whether from lettuce or broccoli. I am quite happy about the return of MasterChef, I should point out. For the last few months I've resorted to obscure American tripe on the Food Network, so some honest, home grown cookery presided over by an Australian whose eyes lead straight into the inferno and  a butterfly who woke up one day as a bald bloke is just what my customer order. Things are more or less the same, only even more pleased with itself than ever. One contestant managed to demonstrate this admirably when she made 'Russian sushi'. When john told her she was running out of time she said, and this I quote, "You cannot rush perfection". I’m not sure why that was relevant, John was obviously rushing HER. John then managed to be even more ridiculous by alluding to a program he's obviously never watched. "As they say on the Eurovision Song Contest, 9.5", he declared with confidence. As anyone who has ever watched Eurovision will know, a country can only be scored up to 8, then 10 or 12 points. Certainly not 9.5. Hell, not even nine - the man can't even get his mistakes right. And that's not the only reference John decided to drop this week, he commented on a cake by saying how Mary Berry would check for a soggy bottom. Now, I could give John the benefit of the doubt, but that sounded a little bit like bragging to me. One could almost believe he was only making the connection to point out that HIS show, was safely entrenched on the BBC still. I would not be surprised if by the end of the series we find him and Greg dancing about in Mel and Sue masks singing "We're still here! We're still here!". Anyway, I have to comment on one cake we saw this week which offended me greatly, as we were promised a layer cake. What we got was two slices of a flat plain sponge laid next to each other, which the lady then piped a long pink turd in between. Contestant wise, no one stands out particularly, everyone I mentioned so far is gone, as is Scottish Billy who has the misfortune to look a bit like James Cordon. My favourite is the doctor, who hasn't made any ash yet, but likes putting fruit everywhere. She put pineapple in a spring roll and topped it with jam for a starter. "I wish it was a dessert", commented Greg, but then he wishes everything was a desert. She put fruit in some of her other dishes as well. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd want her as a doctor as I'd be slightly worried that I'd come around after an operation to find she's replaced my liver with a dragon fruit. Mention also must be made of one of the chefs who made it through, Steve or Stuart or something. His winning dish was some peas. With some more peas. He cooked a frickin' lot of peas. I don't know what he did to make the dish not just a plate of peas, but he did it well. Changing direction again, very very quickly, I watched High Rise on Monday, and didn't have a clue what happened in it. Nothing made any sense. I would happily condemn it to the scrap heap of the overly sexual and slightly boring, but it gave me one of the beast scenes I've ever seen. There is something glorious about that bit in the supermarket where Tom Hiddlesbottom beats someone up over a can of Dulux. He tops it perfectly with a guttural scream of "ITS MY PAINT!". The film was rubbish, but well worth it just for that. Next week, more MasterChef, and complaints about the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. I liked Peter Capaldi, I'll be sad to see him go.

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How to Avoid Info-Dumping in Your Novel

Yes, info-dumping. Y’all know what I’m talking about.

That wall of text that shoves years of world-building down a reader’s throat in the span of six pages. That thousand-headed hydra that pops up sometimes, even in the most well-written of stories. The bane of readers everywhere.

Yes, it might be convenient for writers to get all that info out of the way in one go, but…

Well frankly, it’s lazy.

There. I said it. Let the fire come for me.

But seriously, info-dumping tells readers that a) you didn’t care enough to integrate it better and b) they’d better buckle up, cuz this ride’s gonna be bumpy.

Luckily for you, y’all got here a helpful guide on how not to do the thing, and how to instead do a better thing.

…

I’m a writer I swear.

Anyways!

Info dumps can be about a number of things, although the most common are about how things or characters work. This includes but isn’t limited to magic powers, government, technology, creatures and races, and personality.

Be Mysterious

No, I don’t mean vague. That’s something entirely different.

I mean, only tell the readers what they absolutely need to know. When reading, people like to figure things out for themselves. Instead of tapping out somebody’s life story on page three, leave a trail of breadcrumbs.

A particular color they seem to like. A complicated expression they have when looking at someone. A reaction to someone’s appearance that seems odd or out of place.

List out everything the readers need to know to have the plot move forward. Not the things you want them to know, the things they need to know.

Then, find somewhere you can put those things in without breaking immersion. A sentence or two is all you can have before a reader’s eyes start to glaze over, so make it count!

Don’t turn on the lights, give them a torch and let them blunder their way through.

Distract Them!

If you find you need to explain something at length, don’t just have the characters sitting around a table. Distract them!

Not only will this keep the reader interested, it’ll also have the needed effect of streamlining the explanation. If they took their time talking around bites of pie, the words would go on for the entire chapter. If, however, they needed to give the explanation while at the same time trying to deactivate a bomb…

They’d be a little clipped, yeah?

Fit the distraction to your story, maybe even condense the plot with it! If they escape a sinking ship a few paragraphs later, why not explain while they escape instead of breaking it up?

Include Only Relevance

Go through your manuscript and pick out everything that is guilty of info-dumping. Really take a look at each piece of information and, after a few moments, ask yourself a question or two.

“If I take this out, will I lose people? Will they still be able to understand?”

If the answers are no and yes, cut that piece out like a slice of cake! You might be able to fit it in somewhere else though, so keep it handy.

If the answers are yes and no, respectively, consider shortening it. Instead of detailing how your character got stuck in a tree because they’re scared of dogs and their aunt was visiting with her dog and the dog started barking and chasing your character around…

Just say, “They broke their arm falling out of a tree last year.”

Then, later, you could mention when they’re visiting said aunt that, “They kept an eye out for her dog. That thing was the reason they broke their arm last year.”

(Obviously be a bit more verbose than that but you get the picture.)

Write More

I know, you probably just got done with writing, but it’s gonna have to happen sooner or later!

If you’re expounding on the past a bit too much, this might be a sign your story starts too late. If you have a huge bout of info-dumping at the end that spans pages and pages, consider extending the story to show these things instead of simply telling them.

Otherwise, consider writing a few more scenes in between what you have now. Instead of skipping over that trek to the crag in the earth that leads underground, show the characters hiking through the woods. During this, your protagonist could tell their friends how they fell down and was healed by the otherworldly energies emitting from an interdimensional portal that whispered cosmic secrets into their ear.

Wait.

Actually.

I’d better write that down…