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chocolatepot · 13 days

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Hi! Can you elaborate on "Fuck GRRM's committment to 'historical realism' without knowing anything about medieval social history"? I would love to know about what GRRM gets wrong about medieval gender roles, specifically.

So Cersei learns at an early age that she has no agency, her only value is producing heirs and is barred from traditional routes of power so she has to use underhanded methods such as influencing men with sex or using underhanded magical means. I would love an explanation on why this doesn't reflect medieval queen consorts and noble women irl.

Sure! The basic summary is: GRRM "knows" the things that everyone "knows" about the middle ages, which are broad stereotypes often reflective of a) primary sources that deserve a critical reading rather than being taken at face value and b) the judgements of later periods making themselves look better at the medieval period's expense.

As Shiloh Carroll argues, building on the work of Helen Young, “readers are caught in a ‘feedback loop’ in which Martin’s work helps to create a neomedieval idea of the Middle Ages, which then becomes their idea of what the Middle Ages ‘really’ looked like, which is then used to defend Martin’s work as ‘realistic’ because it matches their idea of the real Middle Ages.”

Since you're mainly interested in Cersei here, I'd strongly recommend a book: Queenship and the Women of Westeros: Female Agency and Advice in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, edited by Zita Eva Rohr and Lisa Benz. It's an excellent read and speaks to exactly what you're asking about. The tone of the book is very positive and non-judgemental when it comes to GRRM and his depictions of women on the whole, but I think some of this is rhetorical positioning to not seem like "mean angry academics jumping on fiction for not being accurate," as the actual content turns the reader to thinking about how much agency and power medieval queens had in different European societies and how little of that worked its way into GRRM's worldbuilding.

It's true that women typically didn't inherit titles and thrones in their own right, and that they were usually given in marriage for political/dynastic reasons. However, they weren't seen as brood mares whose only duty was to pop out sons: both queens and noblewomen had roles to play as household managers, counselors, and lieutenants, actively participating in the ruling of their domains and in local and international diplomacy (women in political alliances were not just pawns sent to a powerful man's bed, but were to act as ambassadors for their families and to pass information back and forth), and they had to be raised with an understanding of this so that they could learn to do it. Motherhood was very important, don't get me wrong, but it's a mistake to assume as pop culture does that a wife's foremost duty being to provide heirs for her family meant that she was ONLY seen as a mother/potential mother.

Catelyn is a great example of what was expected of women in these positions. But in the books, Catelyn is basically the only woman who inhabits this role, and the impression given is that she's exceptional, that she's just in charge of the household because she's so great at it that Ned allows her to be his partner, and that he listens to her advice because she happens to be a wise person in his orbit - and also that Ned is exceptional for giving so much power to a woman, because in the world of ASOIAF, it takes an especially good man to do this. In GRRM's view of the medieval world, realpolitik and the accumulation of power are the most important things, so men in Westeros are extremely unlikely to give up any authority to their wives, even though this is historically inaccurate.

Cersei, on the other hand, is supposed to be a more realistic depiction of what would happen to an ambitious medieval woman. There's a chapter titled "Queen of Sad Mischance: Medievalism, “Realism,” and the Case of Cersei Lannister" in the book I've rec'd, and it deals with why this is problematic extremely well. (This is the source of the quote at the top of this post.) In it, Kavita Mudan Finn argues that Cersei embodies pretty much every medieval trope for the illegitimate wielding of power by a woman. She underhandedly gets people killed for opposing her, she seduces men into doing her bidding, she advances her family's interests and her own at the expense of the realm. She's made sympathetic through fannish interpretation and Lena Headey's performance, but in the text she's an evil woman doing evil things. Even when she gets to be regent for her son - a completely legitimate historical position that allowed women to handle the levers of power almost exactly like a king - she continues to do shitty things and not be taken seriously because she's just not good at ruling.

But even before then, from a medieval perspective she had access to completely legitimate power that she didn't use: she'd have had estates giving her a large personal income, religious establishments to patronize (giving her a good reputation as a pious woman and people she'd put in high positions being personally loyal to her), artists and writers to patronize as well, power over her household, men around her listening to her counsel. That she doesn't have that is a reflection of GRRM either deciding these things don't really exist in Westeros in order to make it a worse world than medieval Europe and justify Cersei feeling she had to use underhanded means of power, or not knowing that they were ordinary and unexceptional because he has a good working knowledge of the politics of the Wars of the Roses but little to no knowledge of social history beyond pop culture osmosis, and, imo, little to no interest in actual power dynamics.

There are a lot of books I'd recommend on this subject. There's a series from Palgrave Macmillan called "Queenship and Power" and nearly all the books in it are THE BEST. Theresa Earenfight's Queenship in Medieval Europe is a very readable introduction to the situations of queens in European societies across the continent. She also has a book, Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, that also addresses non-royal women's power. I'm also a huge fan of English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550: Marriage and Family, Property and Careers, by Barbara Harris, which really emphasizes the "career" aspect of women's lives as administrators and diplomats.

#medieval #asoiaf #queens #queenship #history #middle ages

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skaruresonic · 8 months

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The common rebuttal to "this reads like fanfic (derogatory)" is "read better fanfic," which is true in certain cases, but on the other hand, there is some grain of truth to the idea that you can tell when someone's primary mode of literary analysis is fanfic instead of... well... literally anything else. It's okay to like or even prefer fanfic, but if you want to take your craft seriously you also need to read books, dude. Published books will teach you a lot of stuff fanfic doesn't, like proper dialogue formatting and how to introduce your reader to unfamiliar characters. Even the crappiest book (well, if it's not After or 50 Shades, which started off as fanfic to begin with lol) will have been subjected to some sort of editing process to ensure at least the appearance of proper grammar. That's not a guarantee with your average fanfic, and hence why you can't always take all your writing cues from fanfic because it's "so much better" than commercially published original fiction or whatever. Frankly, fic writers tend to peddle some absolutist and downright bad takes sometimes. "Said is dead" is a terrible rule, though not because said is invisible and a perfectly serviceable tag; that's just part of it. Dialogue tags are a garnish, not a main dish that can be swapped out for more ostentatious words. If your characters murmur and mutter instead of simply saying stuff, your readers are going to wonder why nobody speaks up. "'I'm explaining some very plot-important shit right now lol,' she elaborated," likewise, is a form of telling. Instead of letting the reader extrapolate that "she elaborated" via the contents of the dialogue itself, you're telling them what to think about it. And that's why it's distracting: your authorial hand is showing. Writing is an act of camouflage. You, as the writer, need to make your presence as invisible as possible so as to not intrude on the reader's suspension of disbelief. That's the driving reason behind "show, don't tell." And overall, everyone could stand to cut down on the frequency of their dialogue tags anyway. Not every exchange needs "he said" or "she whispered" attached as long as you establish who is doing the talking before the exchange. Some people will complain of confusion if you go on for too long without a dialogue tag, and that definitely is a risk, but at some point you also need to resist the temptation of holding the reader's hand. If they can't follow a conversation between two people, chances are they weren't meeting you halfway and paying that much attention in the first place. In fact, you don't even necessarily need action beats in between every piece of dialogue, as Tumblr writing advice posts will often suggest as a fix. Pruning things often cleans them up just fine.

Another fanfic-influenced trend in writing is, I guess, beige prose? A heavy focus on internal narration with lots of telling. It's not a style I can concretely describe, but every time I click on a non-mutual's writing, I feel like it always has, like. This "samey" voice to it. There's no real attempt to experiment and use unique or provocative language, or even imagery half the time. It's almost a dry recital of narration that doesn't leave much room for subtext. I see this style most often in fanfic where you can meander and wax poetic about how the characters feel without ever really getting around to the plot. And it's like. DO something.

Other tells that the author is taking their cues from fanfic mores rather than books: >>too much minute description of eyes, especially their color and their movement >>doesn't leave much room for subtext (has a character speak their every thought aloud instead of letting the reader infer what they're thinking via action or implication) >>too much stage action ("X looked at Y. Y moved to push their seat in. X took a deep breath and stepped toward Y with a determined look on his face. 'We need to talk,' he said.") >>tells instead of shows, even when the example is about showing instead of telling ("he clenched his teeth in agony" instead of just "he clenched his teeth") >>has improper dialogue tag formatting, especially with putting full stops where there should be commas ("'Lol and lmao.' she said" instead of "'Lol and lmao,' she said." This one drives me up a wall) >>uses too many dialogue tags >>"em dashes, semi-colons and commas, my beloved" - I get the appeal but full stops are your friends. Too much alternate punctuation makes your writing seem stilted and choppy. >>"he's all tousled brown hair and hard muscle" and "she's all smiles and long legs." This turn of phrase is so cliche, it drives me up a wall. Find less trite ways of describing your characters pls. >>"X released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding" >>every fucking Hot Guy ever is described as lean and sinewy >>sobbing. why is everyone sobbing. some restraint, pls >>Tumblr in general tends to think a truism counts as good writing if you make the most melodramatic statement possible (bonus: if it's written in a faux-archaic way), garnish it with a hint of egotism, and toss in allusions to the Christian God, afterlife, or death. ("I will stare God in the face and walk backwards into hell," "What is a god to a nonbeliever?") It's indicative of emotional immaturity imo, that every emotional truth need be expressed That Intensely in order to resonate with people. >>pushes the "Oh." moment as the pinnacle of Romantic Epiphany >>Therapy Speak dialogue. why is this emotionally constipated forty-something man who drinks himself stupid every morning to escape gruesome war memories speaking about his trauma like a clinical psychologist >>"this well-established kuudere should Show More Emoshun. I want him to break down crying on his love interest's shoulder from all his repressed trauma" - I am begging u. stop >>"why don't the characters just talk to each other?" "why can't we have healthy relationships?" I don't know, maybe because fiction is not supposed to be a model for reality and perfect communication makes for boring drama?

>>improperly using actions as dialogue tags ("'Looks like we're going hunting,' he grinned") >>why is everyone muttering and murmuring. speak up >>too many adverbs, especially "weakly" and "shakily." use stronger verbs. ("trembled" instead of "shook weakly") >>too many epithets ("the younger man" or "the brunette detective") >>too many filter words ("he felt," "she thought," "I remembered")

>>no, Tumblr, first-person POV is not the devil; you're just using way too many filter words (see above) and not enough sentence variation to make it flow well enough. First-person POV is an actually pretty good POV (not just for unreliable and self-aware narrators) if you know what you're doing and a lot of fun crafting an engaging character voice. Tumblr's hatred of first-person baffles me, and all I can think is you would only hate it if your only frame of reference was, like, My Immortal. Have you tried reading A Book? First-person POV is just another tool in your toolbox, and like all tools, it can be used properly or improperly. But it's not inherently a marker of bad writing. The disdain surrounding it strikes me as about as sensical as making fun of the concept of characters. Oh, your work has characters in it? Ew, I automatically click off a fic if it has characters in it. like what.

#writing #obligatory disclaimer that I am speaking broadly and this is in no way intended to make anyone feel self-conscious

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deusvervewrites · 3 months

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The First Line

A lot of people out there will tell you that the first line of a novel is the most important. I've seen the wisdom that the first line must grab the readers attention, be some kind of a "hook" to draw them in deeper, or to tonally reflect the main themes. That the first line needs to throw the reader into the thick of it!

But how true is that really? It's been nagging me for a while now as someone who has started more fics than I've completed.

Out of curiosity, I grabbed a handful of my favorite novels and compiled their first lines.

"There are many legends about my mother." Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan

This line doesn't really establish much about the plot of this book. Not the narrator's name, goal, conflict, or even the setting. We can make some inferences from the existence of legends around someone, but 'legendary' only narrows anything down because of the book's title. It is, however, indicative of the narration style and the novel's prose.

"Mary Jekyll stared down at her mother's coffin." The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, Theodora Cross

This line puts us right into a scene. Some real In Medias Res. Except... it's not really an action scene. It's a somber affair. And from Mary's staring, it's safe to say she has some heavy thoughts on the matter.

We can also make some assumptions from the wording choice. Looking down at the coffin suggests that she is standing over it, so we know at once this takes place during the funeral.

Interestingly--and I'm going to break my soft rule of not addressing the rest of the text here--this line does not allude to the novel's framing device.

"The temperature of the room dropped fast." Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkand, Jonathan Stroud

This is another opening that's setting a scene instead of trying to introduce us to the cast or conflict, or even to the setting. Why is it getting colder? We can infer from the fact that the temperature is dropping fast that this probably isn't a good thing or at least not a normal thing.

"I've seen Steelheart bleed." Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson

This line fascinates me. It says a lot and, at the same time, very little. We know that someone named Steelheart exists, obviously. However, the narrator is giving gravitas to the sight of them bleeding. So we've already learned that Steelheart doesn't bleed very often, and seeing it was worth remembering. But who Steelheart is and why the narrator cares? Nothing in this line indicates that.

"Kendra stared out the side window of the SUV, watching foliage blur past." Fablehaven, Brandon Mull

I think this is the most relatable opening line I have listed here, since I can instantly in my mind picture the expression on Kendra's face knowing nothing else about her, or where she's going. We can guess she's probably not happy to be going there since she's staring out the window with what I would assume to be boredom. That's some conflict there. But, like, extremely minor conflict.

"The tired old carriage, pulled by two tired old horses, rumbled onto the wharf, its creaky wheels bumpety-bumping on the uneven planks, waking Peter from his restless slumber." Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Well this sentence rambled on a bit didn't it? But it's very evocative. It tells us very little about the story (beyond Peter's name) but it sets the scene beautifully. Not only is it evocative of the scenery, but the time period (from the horse-drawn carriage) and the tone as well. We also know that Peter wasn't sleeping very well, which indicates that he's either anxious about something or that sleeping in this carriage wasn't very easy. Or both.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

This is the kind of line that would get me murdered by a lot of writing advice that I've seen over the years. This line tells you next to nothing, not even whether or not its weird for hobbits to live in holes. What this line does do is ease us into the narration style that Tolkien employs, which is generally slow and descriptive.

Okay...?

So what was the point of all of that?

Well, this experiment has solidified my opinion on something. As I said, I've been having thoughts about opening lines, but I think that the actual first line of the book is not as important as the first scene of the book. None of these lines out of context are that good. Sure, The Hobbit is iconic, but that's not because that line itself is phenomenal. It's practically "Once Upon A Time."

But it works for the scene.

The first scene is far more interesting to me than the first line. I'm not so impatient that if the first line fails to captivate me I'll toss the book aside. And I know that's true for other people because H. Bomberguy posted a four-hour video on plagiarism and we all watched it.

What this means, I think, is that we don't need to treat our audience as if we're in an arms race against their dwindling attention spans as if we'll lose them forever to TikTok if the first sentence isn't the pinnacle of literature.

People will give a work a chance. That's what the summary is for; to tell people if they'll like it so they can know to give it a try.

If you were afraid to write, or to share your writing, because you didn't think the first line was good enough... I don't think that matters. I think that people won't hate it. Won't turn up their noses in disgust.

#writing advice

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celaenaeiln · 6 months

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What's the deal with fanon Tim bc I read some comics with Tim and I've seen him in cartoons but all I see people talk about is "haha coffee addicted nerd who doesn't sleep!" and that just seems weird and wrong. Like my view of Tim has always been "he's a nice and extremely smart guy who sometimes pushes things a bit too far and maybe a bit set in his own ways/Batman's ways" but now I'm not even sure of that because I really haven't read THAT much (mostly seen him in other series) lol

No you're right!! Anon you're so right!!!

What the heck is up with fanon Tim Drake??

The thing about him not sleeping is actually true though

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #937

Batman: Contagion Issue #11

(I agree with Catwoman, Tim is so cute)

So I understand where the coffee addiction in fanon comes from but Tim's not actually addicted to coffee in the comics. I actually don't recall him mentioning coffee at all. At some point he might have but if he did, then those instances are so little in the grand scheme of things it might as well be called negligible if it's trying to be called an addiction.

But more importantly, Tim is so much more than that!! My favorite Tim Drake aspect of him is how sassy and sarcastic he is, it makes him so endearing!!

UGH NO ONE APPRECIATES HOW MUCH OF A LITTLE SHIT HE IS!!

Robin (1993) Issue #58

CMON CMON CMON LETS TALK MORE ABOUT THIS!!

Tim, you little shit, you know exactly what they say - cause you did it!!

HIS SELF-SATISFIED SMILE!!!

In all honesty I find Tim the funniest of the entire batfamily to read because he's so-he's so wholesomely quirky in a mean way. That's such as awkward way to describe it but reading his comics, you just can't get enough of them because he's just too funny!

At one point he has a massive fever and stuck underground with a bunch of weird kids and one of the girls is just like "please get better, please get some rest!" as she's wiping away his sweat and Tim has like no breath or energy at this point. But with the last remains of will power, he uses his breath to push one last question between lips.

Robin (1993) Issue #70

And as the audience waits in baited anticipation we get this-

Robin (1993) Issue #70

It's actually a very valid question and shows his detective thinking and yada yada yada but THE COMEDIC GOLD OF HIS TIMING!!

Like his situation and his question there's a massive gap that's almost incomprehensible about it all which is why it's so fantastic!!

The way he sasses batman is top 5 fav moments with him.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat Issue #91

Thanks @paladin-of-nerd-fandom65 for finding it again <33

But Tim overall is just like a normal kid. He's what authors tried to do with Stephanie but failed. They were able to make him relatable to the audience because the way he acts, it's so quirky but funny. Yes, he's a boy detective genius but he likes messing with people, he likes solving crime, he likes hanging out with his big brother, he asks for relationship advice, he can get insecure, he can get upset without acting cold, he gets tired, he gets anxious, he's determined, and he's super dorky.

Robin (1993) Issue #25

Like really dorky.

But what I think really defines him is this panel

Robin (1993) Issue #48

This scene is probably what explains him best. Tim is someone who ponders a lot. He thinks constantly all the time whether it's about cases or his personal life, he just goes over the choices he makes constantly because he's just soul-searching alot.

He always means well even if he's awkward about it and he's just a diverse personality overall. The fanon interpretation of his character doesn't really do him any justice because it doesn't address how funny he is or confused or just a likeable, real person in general.

#fanon vs canon #tim drake #robin tim drake #red robin #cl anon asks #thanks for the ask!

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thepunkmuppet · 1 year

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reasons why lorne is queer coded and why I am confused no one talks about the gay icon that he is

he is a stereotypical effeminate gay man down to the voice (i hate that you know the one, but you know the one). he likes glitz and glam and showbiz and female celebrities and parties and pop culture and mimosas and nice clothes and just behaves the way gay men are stereotypically shown/seen to behave (especially in early 2000s media) so um yeah that’s straight up the definition of queer coding but THERES MORE SO IM CONTINUING

his innate passion for music is used as a clear allegory for being different, and by extension sexuality and gender. he was shunned for his unique interest in music by his family and culture, and hated for being different by everyone in pylea despite it being something he couldn’t seem to control. when he comes to earth, he is able to be himself and pursue his passions, and sees pylea and his family environment as literal hell. the culture in pylea is based around conformity and obedience and is run by a shady religious group, so him breaking free from that environment is super relatable for queer people who grew up in religious / anti-lgbt homes

caritas is most definitely a metaphor for a queer safe space / gay bar. there is no violence allowed, humans and demons exist there in peace with each other, and he created it personally from the ground up to provide a space for others like him who are different and might not want to go / be able to go to “normal” or human bars. oh and also there’s a club shooting scene where, despite most of the demons there being peaceful, the shooters are a, afraid of them and b, in this specific case, enjoy hunting and terrorising them for sport because they hate them so much. so. yeah that TOTALLY doesn’t reflect real life queer history and current events not at ALL

the women in the deathwok clan look like bearded men. lorne makes a few comments about cordelia’s beauty and availability as well as some pylean women from the past, but we know that the concept of gender and womanhood is different in pylea. so even if he is attracted to women, his experience of gender and gendered attraction is undeniably queer by human standards regardless

he clearly has a casual thing for angel. like he knows that man is gorgeous but he also knows that angel is in love with like fifteen different people throughout the series and he is just not about that drama

he uses affectionate pet names for everyone, especially angel, ALL THE TIME like honey, baby, muffin, sweetcheeks, angel-cakes etc

he fulfils the gay best friend stereotype very often in the role he plays in episodes, often furthering others’ arcs and the plots of episodes while providing sassy quirky advice and having no personal character growth. bad trope that I do not like but it’s true

he is a kind sweet mum friend and a sassy gay wine aunt at the same time and I love that for him

EDIT I realised this on rewatch recently, I had forgotten there is a scene where just straight up shamelessly asks angel out on a date to a concert. so.

basically I have a lot of feelings about him and I simultaneously relate to him and want him to be my mum and he is a very very special boy who deserves all the love in the world!!! so!!! lorne says happy pride month!!!!

edit: everyone in the tags and comments saying it is obvious you are completely true and correct!! which is why idk why no one talks about him!!!!! I just wanted to put my thoughts into words so here it is

#ats #angel the series #lorne #btvs lorne #ats lorne #krevlornswath #krevlornswath of the deathwok clan #buffyverse #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs

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television-overload · 19 days

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of our own making

(an X-Files fanfic)

Chapter 21/34 - eggs benedict

[Read on AO3]

It’s strange, staying with Sheriff Adderly and his wife Ellen during this case in Vermont. If he had his way, he’d be checked into a motel instead of infringing on their hospitality, but he’d been given no choice. They even refused reimbursement for their troubles, which did nothing to lessen the feeling—however true or untrue it was—of him being a burden to them.

Ellen Adderly had pulled out all the stops for their guest, preparing decadent meals on fine china for every meal, claiming she’d have done it whether he was there or not. He has a hard time believing that. He can’t imagine living in such a way every day of his life. He and Scully barely manage to set out real plates to eat on when they order takeout at home, and he certainly doesn’t expect her to have a three course meal set out when he gets back from work. Besides the fact that she’s always at work with him, it’s just not something he thinks is necessary. Is that something she’d want to do? He doesn’t think so.

The routine they have works for them, that’s all that matters.

But after getting a taste of his own personal brand of domesticity, it’s… odd… to see how others do it. He’d never have thought there were so many different ways to balance home life, much less enough that he’d start to form an opinion on them. His parents had been one way—not a particularly healthy relationship—and he and Scully are… well, they’re not really anything besides roommates, but that still counts, in his book.

Whatever they are, he likes it. Far better than this constant fussing, at least.

Mrs. Adderly must notice his discomfort, because at breakfast as she masterfully puts the finishing touches on his eggs benedict, she says “I get the feeling you're not used to anyone taking care of you,” and for some reason, that assumption grates on his nerves.

He takes a measured draw from his cup of steaming coffee, swallowing back his immediate retort.

“What makes you say that?” he asks instead. She probably hadn’t meant anything by it, but it still comes off as rude. He has someone to take care of him, thanks very much. Just not exactly in the same way as Mrs. Adderly insists on taking care of her husband… and apparently Mulder too.

“I’m sorry,” Ellen says, realizing her statement had come out somewhat offensive. “I just mean… I didn’t see a wedding band.”

She nods at his left hand sitting atop the table, and he follows her gaze to the bare ring finger.

“Do you have a significant other, Agent Mulder?” she asks.

Significant? Yes. Very. Other? That’s a good descriptor. Single, married, other. Yeah, he’d select other, if this were a multiple choice question. Although he’s pretty sure that’s not what she meant.

“I’ve– um…” he starts, wondering how best to describe his situation to this woman. “I’ve got a wife, actually.” He pulls out the ring on its chain to show her. “It can be dangerous in my line of work to have it on display,” he explains lamely before tucking it back into his shirt.

Ellen smiles. “Ah, well that’s good. Don't miss out on home and family, Mr. Mulder. I imagine with all the things you see, you need that refuge more than most.”

Her words hang in the air, a bit of sage advice from a woman he otherwise has very little in common with. But before he really has a chance to think about what she’s said, Sheriff Adderly makes an appearance, and it’s back to business. Ellen excuses herself to go check on their daughter, leaving the two of them alone to discuss the case.

Mulder remains seated at the table, staring down the sheriff with a knowing look. He’d begun to suspect—and now his suspicions are all but confirmed—that the man had been unfaithful to his wife, and it makes him feel sick. Here this man has it all; a loving wife, a sweet baby that they didn’t have to jump through a million hoops to get, and yet he’s willing to throw it all away for some cheap thrills.

He’ll never understand it.

The man is no more forthcoming about his knowledge of the case than he had been before, so Mulder lets it slide for now. The last thing he wants to do is show all his cards too early and spook him. He gives him just enough to leave him rattled. To let him know that he knows .

He lets the unspoken threat hang between them until the sheriff folds, squirming away to take a shower, or so he says.

He’s still seething in bitter disgust when Ellen returns, carrying her sleepy baby in her arms. It’s a well-practiced juggling act, Mulder can tell, as she goes about fixing herself a plate of her now lukewarm breakfast. With only one arm, she clearly struggles to transfer strips of bacon out of the pan, and Mulder gets to his feet.

“Here, let me help,” he says, joining her in the kitchen. What he’d meant was that he could help assemble her plate, but as he goes to reach for the spatula, he instead finds himself being handed a baby, and his eyes widen comically. “Oh, right,” he says, then plasters a forced smile on his face. Sure, this was what he’d meant to do all along.

The little girl is heavier than he’d expected. Like a sack of flour, though with limbs jutting out everywhere. It takes him a moment to adjust, his hands holding her awkwardly beneath the armpits.

“Hi,” he says conversationally, looking down at her like she’s a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. The baby just blinks at him, a blank stare on her face. “Okay,” he mutters to himself, lifting her to his hip and returning to the table. He makes every effort to not look like this isn’t the first time he’s held a baby in—well, basically forever, but he’s not sure he succeeds.

Ellen smiles across the table at him and digs into her meal.

“Do you have children, Agent Mulder?” she asks, “You and your wife?”

It still makes his heart flutter to hear someone refer to Scully as such, but he supposes that to Ellen, it really is that simple. Scully is his wife, that’s all she knows.

He’d always thought conversations like this to be so dull. ‘So, Dave, how’s the ol’ ball and chain? Kids staying out of trouble?’ But, now…

Well, it’s different now that he actually has something to contribute to the discussion.

“Yeah, actually, one on the way,” he says, giving a self-conscious little smile.

He’s never told anybody about this other than Skinner, but he supposes there’s no harm in telling this random woman in Vermont. It almost makes him feel… normal. Like he can relate to other people over the simple fact of his impending fatherhood. A shared human experience. A milestone in his life that doesn’t involve aliens, ghosts, ghouls, or any manner of cryptozoological entity.

“We’re adopting,” he further explains. “Only a couple months left till the birth mother’s due date.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Ellen exclaims, smiling up at him over her bowl of fresh fruit. “You must be so excited!”

“Very,” he says, looking down at the drooling baby on his lap. “We never really thought it was possible. That we’d ever—”

He pauses, the shrill tone of his cell phone breaking into their conversation.

“Speaking of my wife,” he says, flipping open the device. “Hey, Scully. How’s the stakeout going?”

Her voice crackles over the other side of the line, drawing a genuine smile out of him. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that, Mulder, so that I can give you the good news I just received.”

His stomach does a flip. “Good news?”

He pictures her nodding, sitting in that grimy, cold room surrounded by surveillance equipment, somehow brightening it with her smile. “Krista called and we had a little chat.”

Mulder looks up at Ellen from across the table, where she’s watching him with a knowing smile. “Oh?” he says.

“Mm-hmm. And you know what she told me?”

Scully is extra cheeky this morning, huh? He misses her horribly. This is the last time he’s letting Skinner split them up for a case. After this, no more. He’s putting his foot down. What are they going to do, fire him?

“What did she tell you?” he asks, turning to instead stare at the floorboards, giving himself the illusion of privacy despite the constant watch of Mrs. Adderly.

“She told me the sex of the baby. Would you like to know?”

His heart thumps in his chest suddenly, its rhythm erratic. This, he hadn’t expected first thing in the morning. He hasn’t even finished his first cup of coffee yet.

“She finally found out?”

“Yeah, Krista said she was a lot more cooperative at this appointment than the last one,” Scully explains.

Mulder freezes.

“She?” he says, his voice raspy with awe. “It’s a girl?”

He hears Scully release a shuddering breath before her voice comes back, with all the telltale signs of happy tears that he’s come to recognize in the last few months.

“It’s a girl,” she confirms.

It’s a girl. He’s gonna have a baby girl.

“That’s– that’s amazing, Scully! That’s… wow!”

“I know,” she says. “I’m– You’re not disappointed, are you?”

“Disappointed?” he asks, furrowing his brow. “Why would I be disappointed?”

Disappointed is the absolute last thing he’d be feeling right now. Elated is a better word. Maybe a little scared, but he’ll get over it.

“I don’t know, I just thought… You know, you talked about coaching little league, and I’m sure you want someone to watch basketball with you…”

He laughs. He can’t help but laugh. “Just because you don’t like basketball doesn’t mean other girls don’t,” he says matter-of-factly. “And have you seen girls softball teams, Scully? They’re brutal. You try getting hit by one of those giant neon yellow ostrich eggs at 50 miles an hour. I volunteered to practice with the girls once in high school. Almost lost an eye.”

“But what if she doesn’t like sports at all?” Scully asks, and he’d bet good money that she’s chewing on her lip right now, the way she does when she’s worried. “What if she’s on the chess team or plays the violin or the piano?”

Oh, Scully.

“Then I’ll learn all the names of her concertos and cheer her on at every chess tournament,” he answers simply. “Look, Scully, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you and I are both gigantic nerds. I think we’ll be prepared for whatever she’s interested in when she gets older.”

She . They can finally stop talking about her in abstract terms. A girl. A daughter.

“Your mom’s gonna flip,” he says when she doesn’t respond. Margaret Scully has a grandson, but no granddaughter. He can just see the little plaid dresses, frilly socks, Mary Jane shoes, and giant velvet bows in their future. She’ll be spoiled rotten.

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Scully says, sounding wistful.

“Me too,” he agrees. “When I get back, we’re going out shopping again. I think maybe this time I’ll be able to hold it together in the clothes section.”

That earns him a laugh.

“I’m willing to bet it will go the same way as last time,” she teases back, and she’s probably not wrong. Just picturing this baby, a little girl like the one he’s holding now, has him emotionally on edge.

“I– I’ll talk to you later, okay?” he says, glancing up at the clock. “Let the thought of warm baby snuggles keep you from freezing your butt off.”

She sighs, the annoyance of her less than ideal assignment returning. “Thanks for reminding me, ” she intones.

They stay on the line a moment more, waiting to see who will be the one to hang up. Eventually he hears a soft click, and he smiles down at the phone in his hand. Goodbyes have never been necessary between them. Maybe that’s just another way they’re weird, but he likes it.

The baby in his lap gurgles, and he sets his phone on the table to turn his attention back to her. He sees her differently now, with the knowledge that he has a little girl on the way too.

“You’re going to be an amazing father,” Ellen says, eyes shining as she watches him.

Mulder feels his cheeks beginning to burn. “Oh. Thanks.”

“No, really,” she says more insistently. “You seem to care a lot already. And wanting to be involved… Well, that’s everything. Your wife is a very lucky woman.”

“I’m the one who’s lucky,” he says, and he truly believes it.

He’s the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.

~~~

wife guy / girl dad mulder says you get another chapter :)

Chapter 22/34 - pizza boxes

The sound of keyboards clacking fills the dimly-lit room. A greasy bag that once held at least a dozen cheap tacos from the place across town sits atop a stack of empty pizza boxes, not that the inhabitants of this particular abode pay much attention to that kind of thing.

“Hey, here's something weird,” Langly says, looking up from the computer monitor, the unnatural light of it reflecting off his glasses.

“What? Is it Krycek again?” Frohike asks, crossing the short distance to lean over the other man’s shoulder. “What’s that little rat up to now?”

Langly adjusts the bright, warm-toned desk lamp to minimize the glare on the screen.

“No, just something strange in my sweep of government records,” he says.

“Mention of a virus? Shadow government stuff?”

Langly shakes his head. “It flagged a document mentioning Mulder and Scully's names.”

This bit of information piques Byers’ interest from across the room. “What agency? Homeland? DoD?” he asks, joining the other two at Langly’s computer.

“County court in Annapolis, Maryland,” Langly reads off the screen. “Dated December 24, 1999.”

“Open it!” Frohike demands impatiently.

It takes only a few seconds to hack the database, which is a little alarming. What would the public think if they knew how insecure county records are? But that’s a concern for another day.

The document slowly appears on screen, and three pairs of eyes take in the information all at once.

“That's… unexpected,” Byers says.

“Married? Since when?” Frohike exclaims.

Langly looks up at him with a condescending glare and smacks the older man in the stomach. “Since Christmas, idiot, haven't you been paying attention?”

“Not that, stupid,” Frohike says, quick to respond with a slap to the back of the blond man’s shaggy head. “Since when are they an item? Did I miss something?”

“You seen a rock on her finger lately? I haven't,” Langly comments.

“Get Mulder on the phone, that little sneak owes us an explanation!” Frohike snaps, pointing a finger at Byers.

The phone rings a few times before it connects, the voice of their friend coming through on speakerphone.

“Now's not a good time, boys,” he says. There's some kind of noise in the background, someone speaking, but they can’t make out who it is. It doesn’t sound like anyone they know.

“Mulder!” Frohike yells into the phone. “What gives, man?!”

“Yeah, bro, we'd have thrown you a bachelor party if we'd known,” Langly adds.

A sigh crackles through on the other end of the line, and Mulder murmurs something indistinguishable to someone before finding somewhere quieter to talk.

“How'd you find out?” he asks, sounding annoyed.

“Your marriage license record came up in one of our regular sweeps. No other threats, by the way,” Byers answers.

“Except maybe Frohike,” Langly jokes. “He might want to challenge you for her hand.”

Byers snickers.

“Shut up! I'm happy for them,” Frohike says, glaring at his friends.

Langly rolls his eyes. “You never stood a chance.”

“There's an explanation for this, I swear, now's just really not a good time,” Mulder says, insistent.

“What's there to explain?” Frohike asks. “You guys fell in love and got married without telling your best friends. No big deal.”

He’s not genuinely trying to guilt trip Mulder, but it does sting a little that they hadn’t said anything to them. Maybe just a little tiny guilt trip. A guilt excursion, if you will.

“It's not… really that simple,” Mulder says, his words hesitant.

“What do you mean?” Byers asks.

“I know you didn't knock her up, obviously, so what more is there?” Langly says, as delicate as a brick to the face.

“Well,” Mulder says, “I kind of did, in a manner of speaking.”

“Scully's pregnant?” Byers asks. This is shocking news. It should be impossible! “But—”

“No, Scully's not pregnant,” Mulder quickly corrects before the conversation can spiral out of control more than it already has. “But… we are expecting, actually. Hopefully.”

“IVF?” Byers asks.

“Not IVF. We tried that last year though, you're a little late to the party.”

Jeez, what haven’t they missed? Maybe the real conspiracy is whatever the heck is going on with Mulder and Scully.

“Then, what—?”

“We're adopting,” he says, interrupting them. They can almost hear his smile over the phone, all goofy and care-free. “There's a woman that selected us to adopt her baby when she’s born, so… I'm actually at this class for new parents with Scully right now. I should probably be getting back. Don't want the teacher to flunk me.”

“Wait wait wait,” Frohike says. “Adopting? How long have you guys been… you know?”

“Well we only started talking about it back in November. It's honestly moving pretty fast, but we're excited.”

“Not that,” Frohike says, waving his hands in the air. “You and Scully!”

“Oh,” Mulder says awkwardly. “Um, we actually aren't. A couple, I mean. If that's what you're asking.”

Frohike’s jaw drops. “You're kidding.”

“No, I'm not.”

“But you're married!” Langly insists.

“A formality.”

“The IVF!”

“Favor for a friend.”

“Yeah, right!” Frohike says with a laugh, sharing a disbelieving look with the other Gunmen.

“You love her, don't you?” Byers asks, sincerity breaking through his friends’ incredulity.

“If you're just gonna harass me, I'm going to hang up.”

Okay, so he’s done sharing for now. They’ll just have to try to get more out of him later.

“Mulder… what are we going to do with you?” Frohike asks, shaking his head.

“Listen, guys, I've got to go. We're learning how to change a diaper and I'd really like to not make a fool of myself, if at all possible.”

“Wait,” Frohike says. “Tell Scully congrats for us. We're happy for you, Mulder.”

“Yeah, we just think you're a complete idiot too,” Langly adds bluntly.

“Thanks, guys. We're really happy. Sorry I haven't been around, it's been crazy.”

Well, now at least they know why Mulder has been missing their poker nights and D&D lately.

“Don't worry about it, Mulder. Just—maybe tell us what's going on next time?” Byers suggests.

Mulder puffs out a laugh. “Sure, next time I marry my partner with the purpose of adopting a child, I'll let you know.”

Frohike points seriously at the phone, despite the fact that Mulder can’t see it. “Watch it, buddy, you're already on thin ice.”

“I'll talk to you guys soon,” Mulder says. “Oh, and if you're ever looking for me, I'm staying at Scully’s apartment now, by the way. I gave up my apartment.”

“Dude…” Langly says. There's something seriously wrong with those two.

“Alright, I gotta go. I'll tell Scully you say hi.” And with that, he hangs up, leaving the three amigos to take in everything they’d just learned.

“Aren't a couple…” Frohike grumbles, repeating his words. “They're a couple of idiots, I'll tell you that.”

Byers nods his agreement, and Langly shrugs.

“Lucky kid, though.”

~~~

Lovely tag list ♡: [if you would like to be added or removed, let me know!]

@today-in-fic @ao3feed-msr @agent-troi @angegova @baronessblixen @calimanc @captainsolocide @clo-thespin @cutemothman @danasculls @deathsbestgirl @edierone @enigmaticxbee @figureofdismay @frogsmulder @gillian-anderson-in-the-tardis @hippocampouts @invidiosa @monaiargancoconutsoy @msrafterdark @numinousmysteries @primrose19 @randomfoggytiger @skelavender @skylarksong @stephy-gold @teenie-xf @the-redhead-in-a-dress @vincentsleftear

#msr #txf #x files #xf fanfic #mulder and scully #my fanfiction #fox mulder #dana scully #of our own making #ooom #msr adoption fic #adoption

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gwydion-aacblog · 8 months

Note

Oh! I just saw that your special interest are fae and I wondered if you know about changeling children and their apparent similarities to autistic children. What’s your opinion on that?

changeling stories in many forms exist : some did try to explain disabled kids , and also kids born sickly or die suddenly .

that means sometimes in stories this changeling is real fae - possibly one that fae abandon on purpose , possibly swap with " original " child sometime after birth . in that case can argue that more often ( but still not always ) this story try explain traits and differences that now know as autism .

after all , there is overlap in what call fae traits , and what people recognise in autism : fae can be hard to understand and please , because not think " like humans do " . social customs normal for humans can upset and deeply offend fae , for example . that " swap " can also happen at time that early autism regression often would : where develop skills typically , then lose those skills . even if recover skills , probably will not be to same level as originally learn .

sometimes in stories fae steal away child , to replace with " changeling " object . that object have glamour magic to look like child , but will very soon " die " . this type story do more to explain why healthy child would so sudden die . sometimes would call these cases now as sudden infant death syndrome , sometimes would be health problems that people just did not know about ( and could not find ) at time .

and … sometimes these stories serve as lessons for families . " always watch , or else fae will take " - in these times , very many physical dangers like animals , health problems , even just risk that get lost alone , with much less measure to protect . if never find again to hear story , will never know what really happen . to warn about all these dangers was so so important , and something about fae especially strike fear - that might never find because fae steal away and child enjoy fae life more , or worse that fae might torture , enslave , and make suffer .

in those stories , sometimes have instructions to bring back child , which means first prove changeling is fae at all . some say bagpipes , because " no fae can resist urge to make music " , or do unusual things to draw out comments , like boil empty eggshells . from there , well ... instructions can get very cruel and graphic , all focus on kill changeling - and by miracle , real child will come back without harm . sadly would not surprise to think that sometimes , these instructions spread to other stories and advice , and families kill children - believe this would bring back - only to find … not .

do not get wrong , people absolutely did believe in fae as real beings , and spirituality is something that no one can prove universally true or false - that is why people today still do hold on and feel things true . maybe sometimes , these stories really did talk about real fae , and will never know !

but when look back , not hard to see how some could have explain other , more mundane things . can not ask these people to know , sadly .

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anneapocalypse · 5 months

Text

I have really complex feelings about the idea (often implied or tacitly agreed to be true even when it's not stated outright) that realism in sex scenes (and specifically sex scenes in fanfiction because that's what I'm thinking about) is always preferable and desirable. That it's always better to be more realistic, and any kind of unrealistic or fictionalized portrayals of sex are inferior--or in some cases, worthy of contempt and an indication of the inexperience/immaturity/poor writing skills of the author.

I have mixed feelings about it because I do think there's a place for realism. There are things that add realism to sex scenes that I really enjoy. I enjoy watching certain characters communicate their desires and negotiate activities. In some scenarios I like seeing characters employ safer sex practices like barriers. I will always enjoy when an author takes the time to figure out a form of lubrication that's appropriate and believable in the setting! I can even enjoy when a character gets up to pee after sex before returning to bed to cuddle; it's a very human touch to the scene that can itself be comforting and enjoyable to read. I like it when people who have experience with certain types of sex create helpful guides to writing those things, offering details you might not think of or know about if you haven't had that type of sex. It gives authors more to work with! It's a tool. Realism is a tool, and one that can absolutely enrich scenes and make them more interesting and fun to read.

And at the same time, something really does rub me the wrong way when I see posts that express contempt for a realism gap in fanfiction and imply that anyone writing it that way must be a) stupid, b) inexperienced (while kind of implying that writing about sex when you haven't had sex is inherently a problem, which I object to fundamentally), and c) completely unaware that what they're writing isn't realistic, which kind of points back to A. It's less on the nose than it would have been like ten years ago, when a lot more people were willing to just come right out and mock "stupid girls writing stupid fanfic" (and all the assumptions that go along with that) but still... that tone lingers. I won't even get into some of the smug posts that used to circulate about anal sex that ended up coming across as "don't you know anal sex is GROSS" in a way that was kind of lowkey homophobic, intentionally or not. Nor am I going to get into the prevalence of queer people telling other queer people they're doing queerness Wrong (in fanfiction, in original writing, in life in general).

To bring a personal angle to this, I'm a nearly-40-year-old bisexual cis woman, married and monogamous, chronically ill, and with some lifelong undefined sensory issues that I don't have any kind of diagnosis for so I'll just call them that. For me personally, due mostly to sensory issues and some physiological quirks, sex can take a lot of energy. Sometimes it's just a lot of work! That doesn't mean I don't want it or enjoy it, or that my partner is failing in some way; I have an active and fun sex life with a very thoughtful and caring partner (and I am not looking for advice on this post, so let's not get sidetracked). There's just challenges! And sometimes I wish my own body made it easier!

So sometimes, when I'm writing smut which is definitionally for fun and primarily for me and my own enjoyment, I find myself caught between: do I want to make this character's experience of sex very realistic in a way that's relatable to me? or do I just want to indulge in the fantasy of sex being easy and low-effort?

At this very moment I'm having difficulty answering that question about some things! There's pros and cons to both, and I don't think either one is wrong. Because at the end of the day, my own enjoyment is the goal of this piece of fiction. It's self-indulgence either way. No matter what I write, these pixel people I'm writing about are not real and their sex scenes are still a fantasy. It's just a question of what kind of fantasy I want to indulge in.

There was a good post I saw recently about the fact that a lot of problematic tropes are problematic not inherently but by scale--in other words, because their prevalence reinforces ideas and narratives harmful to specific groups. And I will be the first to acknowledge that even in the realm of fanfiction--a sphere with relatively low impact on the culture at large--it can be frustrating to constantly run into the same tropes that we find unrelatable or just plain unenjoyable, whether it's rigid top/bottom roles or easy vaginal orgasms. I don't want to come across as like, scolding anyone for just being annoyed, or venting about that sort of thing. It's fine. Some people's forms of self-indulgence are irritating to me, and my self-indulgence is undoubtedly annoying to someone else. I also want to reiterate that talking about what is and isn't realistic in the context of fiction is fine and good and there's absolutely a place for it, and that I enjoy a lot of elements of realism in fiction. I just also want to leave room for fiction to be fantasy. I think that's okay. And everyone's gauge for just how much realism is enjoyable is going to be different. I think that's fine too.

#well that got long!#writing stuff #talking about fanfiction smut sex some real life stuff

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dream-meister-translations · 1 month

Text

PERSONA 5 : THE PHANTOM X

PERSONA 5 : THE PHANTOM X BETA - PART 8

━

RUFERU : There’s only one thing to do…

RUFERU : We have to go to the Metaverse and steal something from Takeyuki Kiuchi.

RUFERU : That is to say… Become a Phantom Thief.

WONDER : Define “something”...

RUFERU : I call them Secrets. But first thing’s first…

RUFERU : As you know, there are many mysteries hidden deep within the Metaverse. As well as the existence of Shadows which are dangerous in and of themselves.

RUFERU : The only way to truly understand and put an end to this…

RUFERU : Is to go into business with me as your partner.

RUFERU : So how about it? Will you become a Phantom Thief?

WONDER : You’re asking me to…

RUFERU : Forget it… I knew you’d react this way…

RUFERU : After all, just yesterday you were yet another ordinary high school student. And now an owl is asking you to take on a job that puts your life in mortal danger.

RUFERU : But please remember this…

RUFERU : The masses being impacted by Kiuchi’s selfish desires are slowly losing their own desires in turn…

RUFERU : In the worst case… This can even lead to death…

RUFERU : You, on the other hand, managed to awaken your Persona through your abundant desire to live.

RUFERU : It is only by relying on the mask of your Persona that we can defeat this Shadow.

RUFERU : The only human capable of taking action in the Metaverse… Is you.

RUFERU : If Takeyuki Kiuchi is a being that leads others to death…

RUFERU : Then you are a being capable of leading others toward survival.

WONDER : Just what are you trying to do here, Ruferu?

RUFERU : We can discuss the details once you’ve become a Phantom Thief.

RUFERU : For now, I’ll leave it at this… It is my belief that possession of one’s desires is one of the most crucial aspects of human existence.

RUFERU : No… Not quite… That would be to force desires upon you…

RUFERU : The free will to make one’s own choices is another important aspect of human existence.

RUFERU : Please, forget what I’ve said here. You must make this decision of your own volition.

RUFERU : Perhaps a stroll around the central street area will help clear your mind?

RUFERU : You can also take the time to stock up on healing items if you so choose to join me.

RUFERU : I’ll stay here a while. If you wish to join me in this endeavor, please come and tell me.

━

After some time, Wonder returns to Ruferu and talks to him once more…

RUFERU : So, have you thought it through?

RUFERU : Am I to trust that you understand that you coming back to me means you’re willing to take the job?

Memories of what he’d just witnessed. Women being pushed and bullied around, fleeing in terror at threats of physical violence… His vision of the mother and her baby tumbling down the stairwell… All the while, questions tore at his mind…

WONDER : (If I turn a blind eye now…)

Echoes of the mother’s cries, the woman screaming in search of the baby… The man’s somber voice…

WONDER : (Then the worst may come to pass…)

Ruferu spoke up once more, breaking him from his reverie…

RUFERU : So… Have you come to a decision?

Yes, Wonder had…

WONDER : I’ll do my best to help…

RUFERU : Now that’s what I’ve been waiting to hear.

RUFERU : Well, now, let us set off for the Metaverse! You should have your navigator intact.

WONDER : Navigator?

RUFERU : Ah, yes, that’s the icon on your phone that looks like an eyeball.

RUFERU : If you click that it should transport you to the Metaverse.

Wonder does as Ruferu says and true to Ruferu’s advice, one tap of the icon has the world around them warping before their very eyes… Twisting into what was quickly becoming an all-too-familiar hellscape…

━

RUFERU : So, now our work has officially begun, first order of business: From now on, we will refer to each other by our code names.

WONDER : Code names…?

RUFERU : Right, I mentioned before that the Metaverse is the materialization of humanity’s collective consciousness…

RUFERU : That means that people knowing our real names will impact their perception of us.

RUFERU : And that risks them finding out our true identities.

RUFERU : As such, I want to use code names during our work as aliases to conceal our real identities.

RUFERU : And calling everyone by their fake names and their real names, don't you think it's a pain?

WONDER : Um… What?

RUFERU : Wait, you don't know what “a pain” is?

RUFERU : It means... like, a problem, an inconvenience… oh, c’mon, all the cool kids say it!

RUFERU : As for your code name… You’ve succeeded all my expectations thus far. In fact, you’re a human who surpasses my wildest dreams…

RUFERU : Let’s call you “Wonder” then, how about it?

WONDER : Wonder?

RUFERU : I’m trusting my gut on this one, and my gut tells me to call you “Wonder”.

RUFERU : As for me, you can call me Cattle.

WONDER : …Cattle?

RUFERU : I’m not sure I fully understand it myself… But I feel it in my gut. I’m “Cattle.”

RUFERU : So shall we get going, Wonder?

With their code names decided, Ruferu and Wonder set off down the tracks, deeper into the Metaverse. However, before they’d even taken five steps, a strong wind billows through the tunnel, the ground shaking as Shadows crawl out from pitch black holes forming in the ground.

RUFERU : Tsk. I can’t believe I didn’t sense them approaching…

RUFERU : If I had to guess, I’d say these Shadows were triggered by Kiuchi’s twisted desires.

RUFERU : Well, looks like we gotta mop the floor with these mooks, first!

Wonder and Ruferu swiftly deal with the attacking Shadows.

RUFERU : Okay, four shadows taken care of, let’s keep up the momentum!

On cue, three more Shadows crawl from the abyss.

RUFERU : Oh, come on, more of them!?

More Shadows spawn behind Ruferu and Wonder.

RUFERU : They’re jumping us from behind, as well? Oh, this is bad…

WONDER : Should we retreat?

RUFERU : Wish we could… They’ve blocked off our escape!

RUFERU : Cheaters! …Urgh… There’s nothing for it. We gotta hit ‘em hard!

RUFERU : I’ve got the Shadows at our six. You smash through the front!

Wonder is seen fighting off several Shadows, but nothing seems to keep them down. Behind him, Ruferu acrobatically dances around his own attackers. One of the Shadows manages to sneak through Wonder’s defense and knocks him back. He falls to his knees, the constant assault draining on his energy. As he looks up, three more Shadows burn their way into existence, stalking toward him. One of the shadows roars out and they charge to strike him in unison…

RUFERU : Wonder!!

And then… As Ruferu calls his name… In a blur of energy and motion, each Shadow is swiftly ripped apart one by one. They don’t even have a chance to react. And Wonder doesn’t have a chance to blink. A single blow to the back of the final Shadow has the creature crying out before dropping to its knees, and shortly after, crashing to the floor, revealing…

#persona 5 #p5x #persona 5 phantom x #p5x translation #translation #persona 5 x #persona 5 x translation #p5px #p5px translation #p5xpart8

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dysphoric-culture-is · 9 months

Note

Not dysphoric culture, sorry, but does mod have any tips on socially transitioning, especially in school? I’m not even out yet, but I like to make plans for what I’m gonna do to make me feel less stuck in the closet, but I’ve only ever really thought about medical transition and don’t really know how to go about socially transitioning. (Afab, nonbinary, want to be perceived as neutral/masculine, if that’s any help)

Don’t apologize anon, mod is here to (try) to give advice!

Mod actually came out at school a couple of years ago (a conservative middle/high school where mod was one of the first publicly out not binary people) so. Here is some stuff.

Support:

Find a good friend group, and ideally also a decent guidance counselor who will not out you before you’re ready

Some fake friends will continue to misgender and deadname you. If this continues for months on end and you keep reminding them, they may not be a real friend

Meet other queer and trans people in your school! Join a GSA/acceptance club if there’s one! Find a trans person in your school that’s older than you and ask them for advice!!

Older trans people in your school can sometimes help you buy gender-affirming products (ex: if they can have it shipped to their house and can use their card, and then you pay them back in cash, for safety reasons etc) or queer merch.

If you want your name and gender marker to be changed in the school’s system you often have to go through the guidance department. Depending on where you live you do not need parental consent for this and do not let the guidance department bully you into it. You shouldn't need a court order either

Google classroom/digitization of education has made life harder for trans students because you will see the wrong name and pronouns listed everywhere. Schools with ID cards have this problem but worse because even if you cover up the name with a sticker, whenever your ID is scanned it will out you. Some places even require students to scan IDs to use the bathroom- a double nightmare for trans students.

Student pictures are cringe. Try to dress as gender-affirming as possible for picture day and remember that you’re likely only being photographed from the shoulders up (chest dysphoria = not your biggest problem)

Not all school systems have a nonbinary marker. Mod’s school pretended not to have one and it took some digging and anxious waiting to get one (mod has since gotten it, is one of the first students in the school’s history to have one, and is spreading resources to other trans and nonbinary students in the school community). For you anon if you can’t get an X/O/N/etc marker you can get a M, which may not be completely accurate but it might make you less dysphoric as compared to a F

Yearbooks might have pre-transition photos of you or even elementary school photos of you so try to speak to someone on the yearbook committee/club about it. Senior year in general can be a nightmare if you’re trans/nb because so many pictures are taken of you and a lot of old photos/letters are dug up

The uncomfortable stuff:

You need to use the bathroom especially if you do after-school activities. This is non-negotiable and far too many trans people (especially transmascs + nonbinary people who were AFAB) get UTIs by avoiding the bathroom all day. Using a public bathroom may be dysphoria inducing but having to see a urologist/gynecologist is much worse. But it’s true that school bathrooms suck! Find one that is the least suck-y (clean, not used very often, ideally gender-neutral) and try to use that one. Not all schools have a gender neutral bathroom, and the ones that do may only have one dirty, single-person bathroom for the entire school (like mod’s). For your case specifically anon if you feel you pass well enough/don’t pass but have enough support at school you can try to use the men’s room. The thing about using the men’s restroom is you have to walk in with confidence (fake confidence is okay too!) and act unbothered.

Mod has never heard of a gender-neutral school locker room, at least below the college level, ever. The good thing is that a lot of students no longer have to change for gym, or that some schools will give nonbinary students the option of changing in the gender neutral bathroom instead. (At mod’s school, their ‘nonbinary inclusive’ policy [which likely did not exist until mod asked about it] is that nonbinary students can choose which gendered locker room they’d like to use! How very inclusive and totally not avoiding the problem! [sarcasm]) You can ask a gym teacher to keep your bag in their office or leave your bag in the gym to avoid the locker rooms.

Your peers:

They might be transphobic, they might be supportive, or they might just not care. Either way they will probably misgender you purely because they knew you pre-transition. Mod has people in school that mod went to elementary school with and many of them are literally the worst. It's a horrible feeling to know that some people will always see you as [deadname and what your AGAB was] even if you 'pass' or correct people. But unless you transfer to another school there is nothing you can do about that.

Just find people who support you, ideally fellow trans people, and ignore those guys.

Transitioning:

You've probably seen a bunch of tips for gender presentation and might have done some already. For masculine/masc-leaning neutral some are: men's clothing, shorter hair, makeup to contour, binding/packing, layered clothing, etc. Some behavioral changes are voice training (do not rely only on T to change your voice if that's your plan!), taking on more masculine speech patterns, walking more confidently, exercising (target certain areas to create a more masculine shape), etc.

The actual coming out part:

Coming out is scary. Friends can encourage you, but you also have to come out to them first.

Most teachers mod has talked to about being queer have been at least polite/tolerant about it. There hasn’t been any outright hostility, but there has been more subtle transphobia. And mod uses neopronouns in a conservative place! The only major issue was when mod sent a teacher an email about mod’s pronouns + nb inclusive curriculum and he sent the email to the principal without asking (wild stuff. He agreed to use they/them for mod, but also denied taking responsibility for his curriculum excluding queer people).

If you want to come out at school but not at home, you can email/talk to your teachers in person and tell them to call you ___ in school and your deadname/wrong pronouns in front of your parents. Some counselors will email your teachers for you if you’re scared of your parents reading your emails/searching your device

You can write your chosen name almost wherever you want! You do not need it changed it the system to use it and especially if you’re writing on paper you can use it.

You are your biggest advocate! You need to get really good at standing up for yourself. Catering to or being nice to transphobes will usually not help you. You will probably need to push people: 'my pronouns are ____' not 'I prefer ____', 'what is the policy on nonbinary students, and if one doesn't exist how are we going to make one' not 'is there a nonbinary policy', 'I will wear the _____ uniform' not 'is it ok for trans people to wear the _____ uniform', 'call me ____' not 'um I have a preferred name and it's ____ is that okay', 'how will you make room for me' not 'can you make room for me' etc. It is not rude to be assertive! Transphobes will call you rude for simply existing in a way they don't like. Make sure to be clear about what you need and don't give them room to evade your requests. Nonbinary students who will come to your school several years from now will thank you.

It’s good that you’re planning ahead for coming out anon because that can make it less overwhelming, but overthinking can also really get you. If planning your coming out (which may or may not happen soon) starts to only stress you out and not give you any joy then you maybe need to take a break.

There's a lot more stuff but this is just a general overview so if you have more specific questions please send in another ask! Good luck anon!

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fr0gc4t · 6 months

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a ramble/confession, and some non-dualism tips

if u seem to already consciously know that ur god AND also think in limiting beliefs, ur not alone. i do it too. it’s way more common than u think.

sometimes we understand a concept and think it’s true, but our egos don’t think in the way that would actually comply with that concept, and that stops us from fully shifting into belief and freeing ourselves from ego. “belief” and “knowing” aren’t always the same thing.

prime example: YOU knowing that ur “desires” r already urs, and then ur ego switching the process completely and being like “so where is it?”. we all know that happens to a lot of ppl in the loa/non-dualism community. the ego is tricky bc its nature is to try and intimidate us. then we slip back into ego-based thinking. happened to me, and is still happening atm. and also i wanna remind ppl that, like healing, awakening to ur true self is often not linear. and that’s totally ok as long as u don’t give up. i was pretty much almost fully realized but then i let my ego get to me again and since then i’ve been trying to get back into that state but just haven’t succeeded at changing my thoughts/improving my self-concept (adhd is making it very difficult).

look. ik it’s kinda weird to have someone post a ramble abt FALTERING at living non-dualism. most of the time, we talk abt the opposite to remind ourselves if our power. but i think it’s important to be open and vulnerable when ur struggling, especially when other ppl could learn from ur struggle.

like i said. not getting i right the first time is OK AND NORMAL. ik ppl say “changing ur self-concept is effortless” but LET’S BE REAL FOR A SEC: that’s not true for everyone, especially neurodivergent/mentally ill ppl, and ppl with intrusive thoughts (i’m all of those, btw), bc our egos r EXTRA spicy.

awakening to ur true self as the god of ur reality is healing, and healing is HARD. in this case, since whatever we are aware of is true, it doesn’t rly have to be, but when u have inner demons, MY GOODNESS IS THIS SHIT DIFFICULT (but still sooo worth it, i promise u).

so good for u if it’s not difficult. really, i’m happy for u. i just also want to bring to light my situation, which is: hearing ppl say “changing ur self-concept is effortless!!” just made it harder to change mine.

I AM NOT TRYING TO SAY ANYONE IS SAYING THESE THINGS MALICIOUSLY. I’M LITERALLY SO HAPPY AND PROUD OF U OMG. i just think that the non-dualism community should be a little more vulnerable, bc FAILING IS NORMAL WHEN TRYING TO CHANGE UR MINDSET, ESPECIALLY FOR PPL LEARNING HOW TO MANAGE NEURODIVERGENCE, MENTALL ILLNESS, TRAUMA, INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY ETC.

AND THAT IS TOTALLY OKAY!!!

i see ppl say things like “i don’t want any limiting beliefs near this page!!!” when limiting beliefs and learning to overcome them r a normal part of this process and should not be shunned, and should rather be met with compassion and understanding. AND SOME PPL DO MEET IT WITH THAT!!! but there r also many who don’t. i understand not wanting to hear ppl’s limiting beliefs in some situations, but not being open to hearing them at all just creates more stigma around being vulnerable abt faltering in this journey and needing some further encouragement or advice. positivity is only good until it becomes toxic positivity. (AGAIN, NOT POINTING FINGERS AT ANY ONE PERSON. I’M TALKING ABT ALL OF US, INCLUDING ME)

my adhd makes it so hard to stick to a new habit long enough to get used to it. and as a result, i have faltered a bit. okay, maybe a little more than a bit. AND THAT IS OKAY. THAT IS NORMAL. THAT IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO TALK ABT MORE.

maybe these stuggles r an “illusion,” but that doesn’t mean we should pretend like we don’t have them. we don’t always have to put on a happy face and go onto tumblr and vaunt to try and fight the intrusive thoughts. if u know anything abt the psychology of intrusive thoughts, FIGHTING THEM DOES NO GOOD. we should accept them and let them be there, knowing that THEY CAN’T HURT US.

even then, they might stress us out. and that’s when we might need to vent. and venting is NOT a bad thing. sometimes it’s the only way i can cool off. but instead of venting into ppl’s inboxes, we should make our own posts, like this one, in constructive language (i suggest writing the angry/anxious stuff first in ur notes, then, when ur calm, rewriting it in a constructive sense and posting it on tumblr). we need more openness to sharing our struggles. mental health struggles r sooo real (even if our human minds r illusions), and we need to make the non-dualism/loa community a safe place to talk abt those struggles and see if anyone can relate, or maybe used to relate and has adivice.

being gentle and open to this conversation is just as important as affirming that we have what we desire. bc, well, if u have the struggle i have, or something similar, u know how difficult it is. hell, i even thought abt going back to loa and trying to get into the void instead of keeping on my non-dualism path bc i thought it would be easier(???) and now i realize that that doesn’t even make sense bc both of these things require improving ur self-concept, which is what i was trying to avoid.

THAT IS LITERALLY AN EXAMPLE OF THE THING I EXPLAINED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS POST (which was supposed to be the main topic… i rambled a lot. oops.). i knew that i had to change my self-concept no matter what, yet i thought that getting into the void wouldn’t require that. sometimes the thoughts just don’t add up. and it’s bc of the ego! i actually only became aware of that now actually.

THE EGO JUST WANTS TO CONFUSE U AND TAKE CONTROL OF U. i’m just still letting mine have power over me… but now that i’m aware of it, i can try again, this time with a different perspective.

faltering is normal. not being able to change ur thoughts the first time is normal. having this kind of weird cognitive dissonance is NORMAL. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO NOT GIVE UP, AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER.

you failed to change ur mindset and ended up spiraling? needing a break from trying to change it? i don’t blame u, this stuff is hard. it’s okay tho! what u need to do now (or when ur ready) is: FORGIVE URSELF AND TRY AGAIN. and don’t be afraid to start the conversation of “can anyone relate to this?” or whatever helps u.

we can do this. we can change our thoughts, even with any obstacles we may face, bc we are stronger than our egos. WE’RE GOD, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! we can do ANYTHING.

the first step is knowing that faltering is okay. next is realizing that our knowledge of who we are doesn’t always match our thoughts, and that that is the nature of our brains. the next step is forgiving ourselves and moving on.

hopefully this rant wasn’t too jumbled or confusing, i kinda just wrote it here without any planning lolz. i need to figure out a format.

and i hope some of u could relate to my struggle. be as open as u want in the replies. i will not judge. if u need to make ur own little rant, it’s fine by me.

also, sorry for being gone for a while. i don’t use tumblr very much anymore. i’m slowly falling away from all apps except pinterest, amazon and depop 😅 but dw, i won’t let myself fall too far. i luv tumblr and the non-dualism and loa community has changed my life and opened my mind in so many ways. even if i haven’t succeeded at getting all my desires quite yet, it’s okay. i will succeed. maybe not right away, but i will. and so will u. (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

#this was a loooong post tysm for making it to the end!!#u have earned a cupcake for making it this far 🧁#archive ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ⊹#non dualism #non duality #nonduality #nondualism #advaita vedanta #advaita #manifesting #manifestation #law of consciousness

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rassicas · 1 year

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Hey, tried to reach you on CuriousCat but didn't hear back. Saw your work on the wiki with regards to Splatoon alphabets - we're dealing with a very similar problem with the uppercase 'Galarian' alphabet in Pokemon Sword/Shield/Scarlet Violet. Lots of gibberish, no 'valid' translations that we can see, lots of letter inconsistency (the F of GAME FREAK is an R for GALAR, fun stuff like that). Any advice on getting the 'true' alphabet out of this mess? Tried a bunch of stuff, but it doesn't seem to be working. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tz06e1q9dnXo29q9SpxELO_eDGEd6S08iA3NbkNHb8g/edit?usp=sharing https://www.pokemonaaah.net/research/galarian/galarwords/ ^our work so far, plus a decent chunk of the in-game body of text

Yeah my curiouscat is just about abandoned, this is a better place to contact me. Funny thing, I am aware with your guy's deciphering work of the Galarian (on the second website linked)! I remember it coming up in conversation some time ago while working on the deciphering of Splatoon's scripts. But the doc is new for me, and looking through that...i mean this with as much praise and respect as possible, you guys are insane. in the trenches over here. my god. I see some the progress on the lowercase, we used similar methods in solving some parts of the inkling languages too. for the uppercase...Going through and seeing real world decoding techniques applied... for a fictional script that likely was implemented for the sake of design rather than as a thing with secret meaning/consistency, you guys already figured it out, but it doesn't work. My two cents is that Galarian could be something like Splatoon's "Bold Script". this script has many letters that kind of look like latin script, and is often used to write things in game that look like real english words. when trying to decipher it however, there was a similar problem to Galarian: same symbols would be used to mimic different letters, just too much inconsistency. For years, it and the Inkling language as a whole was assumed to be totally indecipherable.

(TOWER RECORDS HICOLOR) But then the "true" alphabet that the splatoon team was using internally was solved for, and...

most of these don't resemble their latin letter counterparts at all, and then a few seemingly random repeats. There's also some glyphs we've found that looked like they'd be part of the deciphered form of the script, but only appeared in limited contexts and ended up not being a part of the alphabet. I think those extra letters were arbitrarily assigned to symbol keys, but its kind of impossible to know which. (those rare letters, like the G in game freak/galar could fall under that category of being an "extra" letter in the font and not part of the main alphabet?)

The "true" alphabet of Galarian may be something like this: comprised of many letters that resemble the latin alphabet that in font form, are assigned seemingly arbitrarily across the alphabet. And then to make something readable to the viewers, those letters are hand picked or modified to mimic words. Why go through all the effort to do that instead of doing a simpler decode-able thing? no idea other than "looks cool" "don't want people to solve it too easily" or "conveys information to the player". The splatoon team does both in the same games in the same writing systems. One key difference between Galarian and Splatoon's scripts is that splatoon has multiple scripts used within the same game, vs SWSH sticking with the one script. a lot of the deciphering work for Splatoon has involved comparing matching lines of text between a solved and unsolved script. If you're interested in the history of the deciphering of the Inkling language... there's a video for that ;) Without such points of comparison, and if the only way the script is used is to mimic words and doesn't exist in large bodies of text, the "true" alphabet of uppercase Galarian may be just about impossible to solve. (this is the case for a couple Splatoon scripts, like the Deepsea scripts)

ofc i'm not the one that's combed through Galarian so i'm not gonna claim to be an expert on it, but that's my two cents as someone who has extensively rotted their brain deciphering fake video game writing.

#asks #inkling language #pokemon #i probably have a few more things to say but this is getting long enough

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travelling-on-the-octopath · 1 month

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s i hope i'm not being presumptuous here but. i would like to hear your sylvain/seteth brainworms

MY AGENDA. IT'S WORKING.

Okay okay okay. Hear me out: (un)stoppable force v. immovable object, Sylvain being the former. Which isn't to say Seteth is a rigid stick in the mud--he can't be for this to work. Only that living for so long means his constant state (i.e. the thing he can't be moved from) is one of at least some adaptability. In other words: we have a volatile force who can (and does) at one point change for the better, and an object that's essentially a stalk of bamboo in the breeze.

The potentials here are endless.

I have another post somewhere in my blog about Setvain, but that's mainly pertaining to a blurb I had about them in Princes (in which they will not, unfortunately, be getting together). But I think Crests would invite a very interesting friction between them. Sylvain has a disdain for Crests that never really goes away. Seteth is one of the few people left in this world who understands what Crests are. And, as far as I'm concerned, Sylvain's attitude reminds him of how he felt when his people were first brutalized. To see the remnants of your family paraded around like trophies and lauded as blessings--I don't think the hurt that comes from that ever truly goes away. But once it's been done, it's done. You cannot strip Crests away from Fódlani society in one fell swoop without being utterly and indisputably morally bankrupt (read: dabbling in eugenics or creating a new social system wherein the Crested are on the bottom).

ANYWAY. Tangent over. Seteth has had time to come to this conclusion. Even if it'll never be true peace of mind, it's peaceful. The truth of the matter is that Sylvain has a Crest, and it is of value. I think Seteth is the perfect person to help him come to terms with that, given that Sylvain has a very nasty habit of objectifying himself, either as a son or potential spouse.

On the other hand, Sylvain has a very interesting and, dare I say healthy, relationship with duty. At least by the end of the game.

We're introduced to Sylvain as someone who's acting diametrically oppositional to how he knows he'll need to act in the future--but he never lets it affect him long-term. He enjoys himself (even if this enjoyment is debatably a method of emotional self-harm, given it feeds into his self-objectification), but when shit gets real he's one of the first to be on top of it. He's emotionally intelligent, even if it takes a while for him to become emotionally mature, and that informs a lot of his more level-headed beliefs. In this instance, when it comes to accepting the reality of the situation ("I'm gonna be margrave one day, might as well party-hardy while I can"), he's swapped places with Seteth.

Because Seteth has his own unrealistic ways about walking through the world, and they all boil down to Flayn.

Though not informed by nothing (see: that oft-forgotten genocide before the start of the game), he is incredibly, unhealthily protective of Flayn. I would argue he is unrealistically protective, the same way Sylvain has unrealistic expectations of women. Yes, some people are going to act the way you fear they will, but to let that inform every single decision you make in this one area of your life--flirting with someone or raising your daughter, for example--is to take the long route of shooting yourself in the foot. You become a self-fulfilling prophecy. You act as though women will treat you like meat, and so you're likely to attract those same women; you have been proven right. In Seteth's case it's more like confirmation bias, where he feared the worst and close to the worst happened, so all of his previous behaviours have been justified--though credit where credit is due, he does send Flayn to school in the interest of self-defence. (Emotional growth and human interaction being bonuses, I guess.)

Seteth does not need advice on how to raise his daughter, per se, but I think the input of someone who was raised with more weighty expectations placed upon him than he has fingers and toes would mean something. And depending on WHEN in canon we're talking about, this can take on different tones. Pre- any sort of relationship, before the kidnapping, and Seteth has actually managed to corner Sylvain and foist advice onto him? Sylvain would passive-aggressively offer advice he genuinely believed in pertaining to how Seteth managed his younger sister. Post-kidnapping, and perhaps a one- or two-night stand for stress relief on either end? Sylvain would be more earnest and serious in reminding Seteth he is not the goddess and couldn't have possibly done anything differently--not without making her hate him indefinitely for keeping her cooped up in a tower a la Rapunzel like he very clearly has the urge to at times. If he worded it specifically that way, I think Seteth would have perhaps a more volatile reaction--because while he isn't the goddess, he is her kin, and if the world were different he would have been able to use that truth of him to protect her more thoroughly.

So we now have two men who have been irreversibly altered by the world, in a way that allows them to offer a different, calmer perspective on the facts at hand, while at the same time giving them emotional blindspots that are perfectly in the field of vision of the other. We have the basis of what so profoundly intrigues me about them. Which leads me to my next and final statement:

I just think DDILF (dragon dad i'd like to fuck) dick would fix him <3 or at least calm him down a bit.

#sylvain has so many issues. i don't know how many of them are Freudian. but i know seteth is the solution to AT LEAST five.#shyd now i have fic brainworms. take responsibility for your actions!#s responds #nugylienshyd #fe #fe3h #setvain #seteth #sylvain jose gautier

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mk-wizard · 11 months

Text

Top 15 Games that SHOULD get a 100% Reboot/Restart

Hi. I felt like doing something positive especially after my last post, so as a follow up, here is a list of games that I think should get the reboot treatment. And when I say reboot, I don’t just mean remake with fancier graphics and bonus features. I mean restart altogether with fresh new storylines that go their own way though in some specific cases, all they need is a new look. Note that this is my subjective opinion and nobody here has to agree with it. It’s just a fun suggestion.

1- Metal Gear - I don’t mean Metal Gear Solid, I mean Metal Gear in general. In fact, I think the “Solid” should be retconned entirely because it not only stopped being about Solid Snake who is the hero, he was done dirty with a pathetic ending and the only sequels we get now are prequels. Not to mention the constant drama and tragedy became nauseating. My advice is to restart from the beginning by rebooting the games that date back to the NES as are with better writing and then after that, only do a half-reboot of Metal Gear Solid and then go its own way while respecting Snake as a main character. Solid Snake is a staple in war themed games and set the standard of how we create them. He should REMAIN the main character and have his endings always remain open with him still standing with dignity.

2- Dino Crisis - I don’t think I need to say much here. Everyone is dying to see this game get remade and it’s not hard to see why. With the exception of the third game and the spin off, Dino Crisis 1 and 2 are amazing. They are dinosaur themed games that actually feel like survivor horror games and not like shooter games with the dinosaur gimmick. This series deserved a reboot and a third game that gives it proper closure.

3- Parasite Eve - Like Metal Gear, this series did dirty to its main character (Aya Brea) in such a way that they wrote themselves into a corner. Only the first game feels unique and special while the second and third instalments have an identity crisis, a confusing weapons and spell system, and a tank control that never belonged. Only the first game should stay as is with a simple remake and then, its sequels should actually be true sequels that keep the battle, spell and control system as are. Let’s just forget that PE2 and The Third Birthday ever happened.

4- Silent Hill - Let’s be honest. Harry Mason is the most underrated male protagonist in survivor horror because unlike all the others, he is not a man of action, not a badass and very relatable for it. He is a widower, a writer, a pacifist and one heck of a dad who literally jumped into the underworld to save his daughter. Now, while I like a lot of the sequels, this series lost its way. With the exception of Silent Hill 2, I think Harry and his daughter should have remained the main protagonists of the series. Harry is proof that real men come in all flavors and having one like him is different while still showing the best attributes of masculinity.

PS: I know Silent Hill 1 got a reboot, but it was bad. Period.

5- Turok - Before there was Dino Crisis (and I’m not discrediting it), there was Turok. The titular hero who might I also add is aboriginal which is a very underrepresented group in fiction period who literally kills dinosaurs with his bare hands. He is a badass and he while he has gotten reboots before, none of them hit the mark yet, but creators should not give up on him. He is worth the effort and if they keep trying, they will strike gold.

6- Castlevania - This series is ICONIC and nobody ever gets tired of it. It should make a comeback and it is one of the few series where being 3D would make it better. And considering that medieval settings in video games is all the rage now, it would be great to see Simon Belmont back in action. Heck, I would even be open to seeing a Belmont fighting evil in our modern times in 3D.

7- The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - Now, I stand by that this series doesn’t need a reboot, I think this game specifically should get a remake because it is a great game that reshaped the series into how we know and love it now, but it was very buggy and the graphics were not that great even for their time. Everything else about it is great, but it does need a facelift.

8- Prototype - A forgotten gem if there ever was one. This series is unique in that it is the one game where you play as the monster who is also an anti-hero. Yet again, its series did its main character (Alex Mercer) dirty though on top of that, left too many questions unanswered. This series needs a reboot with a much better storyline. If you haven’t seen it, play the first game and you’ll see my point.

9- Tomb Raider - Now, we can all agree that this series has lost its way. While I am all for origin stories and I admit it makes sense for Lara Croft to not be hardened or toughened up from the start. Keeping her as a weak frightened girl doesn’t make her realistic nor does it make her a likeable heroine. And I am woman enough to admit that being athletic, confident, daring and badass is a part of Lara Croft’s character. I don’t want her to be realistic. I want her to be cool and fun to play. This series needs to go back to its roots when it was fun and Lara was allowed to shamelessly be herself.

10- Dead Rising - Another case of a game losing its way and its main protagonist becomes someone they’re not. The second instalment was the only game that felt true to what the series is supposed to be and even then, it felt like a spinoff not a part of the main story because Dead Rising is Frank West’s story. Another thing that also stood out about this game is that unlike most zombie themed games, the main character is not only not a fighter, he’s a total lover in all the great ways. Frank is (or rather, was) compassionate, honest and it isn’t for nothing that you only got the best ending when you would save everyone. Heck, he would save people who tried to kill him. This series should get a total reboot and a total rewrite after game 1. And can we please not give Frank a heart of stone? Him being loving is what made him great.

11- ObsCure - Another lost gem with a unique premise and group of protagonists. This game plays up our childhood fear of the dark because the monsters in this game literally are allergic to the light and the setting is in a highschool. It feels like Scream meets the Blair Witch Project making it a lot of fun, and the monsters are so delightfully creepy. Plus, the story was compelling. Sadly this series only got one sequel which was actually great, but never got that third instalment that would wrap everything up. I say we give this series a reboot, so it can finally finish what it started.

12- Resident Evil Outbreak - I know this is a spinoff series, but it’s one of the best in the series. It fills in a lot of gaps in the main storyline and any game that allows you to have your own tyrant fighting alongside you is awesome. It also has a multiple ending system which was well done and very rewarding when you get the best ending. I think this should get the reboot treatment and even have a third game that expands the aftermath further.

13- Resident Evil Dead Aim - Another one of the best spinoffs in the RE series because it expands the story specifically in how tyrants are made and how the variants work. And to be honest, I even liked the characters. I would love see new life breathed into this compelling game even if it just remains the only one of its kind.

14- Days Gone - I don’t care what anyone says. Any game that allows to play a biker with the spirit of an honourable warrior is badass. Also, can we talk about how this is one of the few games where the main protagonist is married and remains loyal to his wife even long after?! He may be white, male, straight and Christian, but he is still pretty progressive and embodies the BEST part of masculinity. The parts that drive a man to be romantic, noble and heroic. This game with extremely misjudged to the point of bigotry and it deserves a proper reintroduction because it was going places.

15- Half-Life - This series helped Valve get its jump start and it had the most unique and most iffy type of protagonist in an action/sci-fi game possible yet worked: a scientist. After all, who expect the skinny nerd with the big thick glasses to save the day? Yet, it worked and this game has tons of monsters that became iconic in video game lore. What’s really sad is that a third game was in works, but never saw the light of day. I say we reboot this series and give it the chance to honour its promise to give that third game at long last.

Bonus - Other honourable mentions here are Left 4 Dead because Back 4 Blood stinks, Alone in the Dark though I hear a reboot is in the works, Doom, Devil May Cry and the right way please, Bloody Roar, The Suffering, Fatal Frame, The Evil Within and any other fantastic game series that either went bad due to bad sequels or never got the chance to keep going.

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orbmanson7 · 1 year

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Removing Scheduled Breaks: An Analysis of Logan's Pragmatic Approach in WTIT

Logan utilizes a pragmatic approach to the situation in Working Through Intrusive Thoughts, but was that the right method to use?

Logan is very quick to recognize (though not quite understand) Thomas’ stress in Working Through Intrusive Thoughts and he tries to offer known ways to help alleviate that stress. This shows that Logan cares about Thomas, that his overall goal here is to help, and that he is able to use what he’s learned about psychology and his knowledge of what methods work best for Thomas to offer probable solutions in this scenario.

As much as he does care, he uses a pragmatic approach rather than an empathetic one, so his words can come off as matter of fact or rude simply because he’s trying to solve the problem as opposed to just listening to the problem.

We’ve seen in some cases in Sanders Sides that his pragmatic approaches don’t actually help, like in Learning New Things About Ourselves, wherein Thomas felt better after trying the others’ method of puppetry and singing. Even though he still had questions and the problem wasn’t actually solved, he explained to Logan that he believed the method worked because it made him feel better.

Now, allow me to explain this in more detail for a moment.

Empathetic approaches to issues often are about listening to the other person’s struggles and sympathizing with their emotional state. It's about responding to that emotion and pain with understanding and compassion instead of judgment, with the only real goal being to let the person know they are supported and cared for.

Pragmatic approaches, or analytical ones, are more about deducing the cause of the problem and finding ways to prevent it from happening again in the future, either by establishing a plan with logical steps to be taken to achieve a desired result or by correcting a wrong behavior and offering a better solution. And it’s not that someone using a pragmatic approach doesn’t care about the other person, it’s just that they see little point in “feeling good” when you can act to prevent the problem that caused you to feel bad in the first place. You can just “feel good” later when everything has been resolved, right?

While the desire to problem solve comes from empathy, it does not express empathy, which is why a pragmatic approach is often not very effective.

And, because pragmatic approaches often involve giving a solution to someone else’s problem, this can be considered unsolicited advice, which is when someone offers a suggestion or solution when they weren’t asked to. If a person is merely venting about their stress in a situation, they are not asking for someone to find a solution to their problem. They likely just want someone to listen to them and maybe offer some support or positive words so they can feel better, so they would prefer to be met with an empathetic response. Someone coming in to offer advice at that moment without being asked can be seen as rude, unsympathetic, and criticizing. This can be interpreted as someone seeking control or establishing a sense of power over a person or situation, regardless of what their true intentions in offering that solution may be. Even if using a pragmatic approach is still an attempt to help, the person didn’t ask for a solution, so it’s unsolicited and, depending on the circumstances, could even make their situation worse.

The way to deal with unsolicited advice is typically to establish and maintain boundaries on both sides, by making sure to listen to the person who doesn’t want advice and asking first before offering any suggestions or solutions, and to make it clear to the person offering that advice that if you want their suggestions, you will ask for them.

This puts the onus of the problem on the person using a pragmatic approach. They must learn not to assume anything and only willingly listen, but they also need to learn how to approach every social situation with the correct response and utilize empathy as needed, which is not an easy feat for anyone to do. Their preference for pragmatic responses may be unneeded or unwanted, so to avoid failure or confrontation, they either have to change that response to properly match each situation or simply not respond at all.

Tangent over.

So, when you relate all this back to Logan, you can recognize very quickly what happened in regards to his understanding of the situation in Learning New Things About Ourselves. Thomas preferred the empathetic response, and the others did not want Logan to give them unsolicited advice, so he stopped giving it. Over the next few episodes, we can see that he took more time to listen to Thomas and the others, only entered the discussion when summoned, and only offered solutions when asked for them first.

This is meant to be most of the solution to the problem of unsolicited advice, but it doesn’t give regard to the fact that Logan using a pragmatic approach was his way of trying to help. Offering a solution to a problem is not him lording control and power over the others, he is simply trying to make it so that the others don’t have to feel upset about it, which is often the case when someone uses a pragmatic response. Because empathetic responses require empathy, that means you have to sympathize or feel the other’s pain, but a pragmatic response allows you to keep a distance from those emotions.

But, as was seen in Learning New Things About Ourselves, Logan needed to learn that his way was not always the right way. And while he did learn this lesson, there was no attempt made to understand why he used a pragmatic approach in the first place, so Logan was the only one seen as being in the wrong and needing to change.

Weird how that works, huh?

However, let it be known that pragmatic approaches have been useful for Thomas in other situations. Take what happened in My Negative Thinking, for instance. Because the other sides were preoccupied, Thomas called on Logan to tell him he did good “objectively,” meaning he wanted Logan to use an empathetic approach to cheer him up. Logan points out that he does not typically do this and speaks very matter-of-factly about Thomas’ performance, until Virgil shows up to elicit a negative emotional response from Thomas.

Logan sees the root of the issue and recognizes Virgil’s sway over the situation. He then uses his pragmatic approach to accurately portray the events that had Thomas so worried and stressed, to help him remove the emotion that was clouding his thoughts. Combating cognitive distortions, Logan’s pragmatic response helped Thomas to feel better and more confident in the truth of the situation. Offering suggestions and solutions to help Thomas prevent future issues with cognitive distortions wasn’t seen as the wrong approach in that situation at all, even though what Thomas had initially asked for was an empathetic response from Logan. But he recognized the merit of solving the underlying issue and was able to understand why Logan would use such an approach by the end.

So, then we return to Working Through Intrusive Thoughts, and its premise being that Thomas was up late the night before and, in an attempt to avoid the fact that Nico hadn’t responded to his text yet, that he asked Logan to help him get his life together, starting with a cleaning schedule.

I shouldn’t have to clarify that he specifically requested that Logan do this, but there is little emphasis on the premise in the episode itself and the fandom was quick to interpret that Logan acted like that on a more regular basis, which was not the case at all. This was a rare circumstance, where Thomas asked Logan to give him multiple tasks to accomplish that day, meaning he was purposefully using Logan as a way to keep him distracted so he wouldn’t be thinking about Nico. This ultimately didn’t work, for the same reason that Logan explained in Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts about why you can’t just ignore intrusive thoughts.

Trying not to think about something just makes you think about it even more.

This is why Thomas struggled so much throughout the entirety of Working Through Intrusive Thoughts, because he was refusing to address his feelings about it and the thought refused to go away on its own, which only stressed him out further, worsening the issue.

But, remember, Logan has some control in this situation. Thomas asked for his help with this, specifically a coordinated plan that involved a pragmatic approach to the problem, so that means he can offer solutions.

He informs Thomas of the scheduled tasks, gives reminders, and offers suggestions to keep him on task. When Thomas gets overwhelmed by his thoughts or emotions, Logan pauses the task to address the concern pragmatically. He is understanding in so much as he recognizes where Thomas’ stress originates and that there’s research that shows possible solutions to better his situation, so he offers those methods for Thomas to relieve stress and take care of himself. Yes, it cuts into the schedule, but without the necessary focus, the task wouldn’t get done anyway, so he claims it’s fine.

Logan is very caring and willing to listen in these moments despite his pragmatic approach. And that’s because, at the core of all of this, he wants to help Thomas. This isn’t about control or power, it’s about offering something that will help. But, remember, using the wrong approach can make a situation worse, especially when it comes to unsolicited advice.

We see this come into play when Thomas stops eating his breakfast because he's too stressed, experiencing cognitive distortions that are preventing him from completing the task. When Thomas expresses his anxiety about something being in his oatmeal, that he's worried he may choke, Logan applies a pragmatic response that has worked in the past for a similar concern (My Negative Thinking) by bringing in the reality that this is unlikely to happen. This results in Thomas slamming his fists on the table and shouting, "You're not listening!"

This is because Logan was not using empathy. Thomas had expressed his anxious thoughts, which should have been met with empathy and understanding, but because Logan was using a pragmatic response to help alleviate the cognitive distortions (the root of the problem), he came off as judgmental and uncaring, regardless of his intention.

Often, when using a pragmatic approach, a person offers advice based on knowledge they already have, either by learning it through research or by experiencing a similar situation of their own. This means that the methods Logan uses in Working Through Intrusive Thoughts to help Thomas are likely a combination of things he knows can work due to what he’s learned from research, by observing what has already worked best for Thomas in the past, and what has worked in his own experiences.

Certain suggestions that appear in the episode, like pausing a task so that Thomas can color in a coloring book as a way to gain control of his situation and relieve stress, are likely learned through his research in psychology. These are methods that have worked for others and such a method can work for Thomas, too.

Similar to his comments about Thomas being unlikely to choke on oatmeal, he has observed that offering factual information and helping Thomas reframe his situation without intense emotion attached has helped in the past, so he uses this method, as well.

But there’s something Logan does near the very start of the episode, a suggestion that is very pragmatic and doesn’t lean to something learned through research on self-care methods or what may have worked for Thomas in the past. No, it seems like a suggestion born purely from Logan’s own experience.

It’s the first thing Logan does when he notifies Thomas that they are already behind schedule. The moment he states there’s a setback in the routine, he cuts out scheduled break times so that the amount of work doesn’t have to be reduced.

This shows that despite recognizing there is already underlying stress making a task harder to complete, he prioritizes getting things done over feeling good. To Logan, getting something done, even if you feel awful throughout the process, is better than being unproductive and getting nothing done at all. It’s an interesting strategy that relies on pragmatism and ignores empathy as much as possible.

Next, when Logan hands Thomas the quickly-adjusted schedule so he can set reminders in his phone, he’s giving Thomas the steps to resolve the issue they had both agreed to work on that day. Thomas immediately gives a sarcastic response, that he "appreciated" Logan breaking the schedule down into five-minute increments.

Through his tone, we can tell Thomas saw this as an overstep, something common in unsolicited advice. Instead of recognizing the help being given, he saw the excess instruction Logan used here as him being very controlling, as if he was only being so specific because he assumed Thomas was too stupid to know how to do these tasks otherwise. When, in reality, Logan was likely using timed increments to help Thomas keep a steady workflow (which left little time for him to think about negative feelings, the exact thing Thomas wanted) and make the multitude of tasks slightly easier to achieve by breaking them down into smaller, more clearly clarified steps (allowing for easier achievement of those goals).

Logan either picked up on this sarcasm or shared the underlying anger of his statement, because he then responds by telling Thomas not to mention it, a common polite phrase, only to add rather angrily that he doesn’t have the time.

This comment is what triggers the first major intrusive thought Thomas has in the episode and continues to feed into more negative thinking up until the end. Time slipping away, so many things to get done, no one to help him – all of it adds more and more to Thomas’ stress, and Logan constantly reminding Thomas that he doesn’t have time to take breaks doesn’t help with this at all.

Unlike what he’d learned in the past about there being multiple ways to solve an issue, Logan pushed for what he saw as the ‘right way’ in this episode. When Thomas waking up late meant the schedule was already off to a bad start, he didn’t rearrange the agreed-upon schedule or try to alter the list of tasks – his immediate first instinct was to remove the breaks, ones that he had added to the schedule in the first place.

But Logan isn’t heartless in doing this, he’s simply using a strategy that he has found to work (likely more so for himself than for Thomas). And he makes sure to still listen and look out for Thomas so that needed breaks and self-care can still be implemented when Thomas is too stressed to complete the task at hand.

Unfortunately, this is applying self-care in the exact way that Janus warned against in Putting Others First, that you can’t only take care of yourself when the situation is dire, you have to make it regular practice. By removing scheduled breaks, Logan was relegating their importance, deeming them only necessary if Thomas had already been rendered unable to stay productive and complete a task.

So while Logan, again, recognizes that it's important to take breaks, he does not see doing so as a priority. He believes breaks are something that can be removed or skipped over for the sake of efficiency, which likely means if he was in a position where he himself was struggling, he’d be more inclined to force himself to keep working instead of giving himself room to breathe. Which is not a great sign, nor does it bode well when he tries to apply this tactic with Thomas.

However, again, he is using this pragmatic approach because it’s 1) what Thomas requested and 2) what he has seen help Thomas with this type of situation in the past. Logan has a lot of reason to keep trying to make this approach work, even if it doesn’t seem to be producing the desired result.

Unfortunately for Logan, Thomas’ request was made in a desperate attempt to avoid negative feelings which actually needed to be met with an empathetic approach due to the underlying reason for why Thomas had requested the help.

But Logan didn’t know this, so he used the wrong approach, and when he realized Thomas still needed empathetic methods applied, he just sprinkled them in by enabling breaks and self-care when Thomas couldn't continue a task. However, the mindset that the work needs to be done and this break is just a minor setback to the schedule is very prevalent, so much so that when Logan tries to help Thomas get past his cognitive distortions, he's then resistant to doing so.

Logan tells Thomas, "Remember, in a situation like this, being hard on yourself is counter-productive.”

To which Thomas responds, "But THIS feels counter-productive," with 'this' being an indicator towards a method of self-care.

Logan may be explaining truthfully that studies have shown being hard on yourself or punishing yourself for something out of your control does not improve your situation or fix anything, but Thomas is picking up on Logan's true thoughts in the episode instead - that having to constantly stop what they're doing to 'feel better' is a waste of time.

Their conversation is an interesting insight into Logan's reason for using a pragmatic approach, because the alternative of an empathetic approach doesn't produce results.

Much like self-care itself, an empathetic response mostly serves to help someone relieve stress and feel good, but from a practical standpoint, it's often unproductive and doesn’t change the situation. However, it can empower a person to stay motivated and keep trying, it can improve their self-confidence and to see hope in a situation, and it can help them fight back against cognitive distortions.

And it just so happens that Logan identifies this as a root issue in the episode, when he tells Thomas, "You are fixating on a situation that is making you feel especially insecure. And that situation is out of your control. Dealing with this messy apartment would make you feel more secure, but it's also stressing you out because there's a lot to do, and you don't want to do it. All of that is a perfect recipe for intrusive thoughts, which you are not particularly well-equipped to handle right now given your low self-esteem."

So Logan can see that the correct approach should be an empathetic one, but he also knows that Thomas asked him to help him solve the problem of getting his apartment cleaned up, so he instead applied a pragmatic approach that would produce results. But the underlying reason to why Thomas asked him to do that was because he was feeling bad about the text situation, meaning he actually needed an empathetic approach, but he didn't tell Logan this.

This constant circling leads Logan to using an improper approach to handle the situation, which only leaves him frustrated when it doesn't work. He chose the approach that Thomas wanted and asked him to use rather than the one he needed.

And the more Logan tries to get his approach to work, the more he has to stop altogether because Thomas’ situation is only worsening, so he needs those breaks. With each break, Logan has to sacrifice the progress that should have been made, and since he had agreed to help, that lack of progress is his fault. And the more this keeps happening, the more frustrated Logan gets because he was using this method by Thomas' request despite it not being what Thomas needed, and in the end, Thomas makes very little progress but manages to achieve his true goal all along, which was to 'feel good'. He's so quick to dismiss everything he asked Logan for help with because the schedule meant nothing to him all along, and all he really wanted was to feel better.

And it definitely seems like Remus picked up on this from the get-go, considering his actions at both the start and end of the episode seemed more focused on bothering and impeding Logan than they did Thomas.

Logan was only trying to help, he listened and took what Thomas had to say into account to apply the desired approach, and he only gave suggestions and solutions because he’d been asked to give them. And yet, because he had chosen the wrong approach (because Logan has learned to give Thomas what he wants more than what he needs), the method didn't work and it only made Thomas' situation worse. On par with all the signs of unsolicited advice, Logan had taken into account what he was supposed to do instead, but this situation challenged all that, because it didn't bother to acknowledge Logan's side of things. The disrespect, lack of appreciation for any efforts he made, and the dismissal of his goals ultimately left Logan at a huge disadvantage, all because he tried to do what Thomas asked him to do.

At the end of the episode, when Logan speaks with Remus in an attempt to get him to understand his methods, he offers that "perhaps you could also see the merit in what I'm trying to do" because he wants there to be recognition for his efforts (mostly from Thomas) since he's been trying to so hard to listen and adjust to what the others want of him. He wants there to be more equal levels of give-and-take, ones that absolutely do not exist at this point in the series.

And, of course, Remus’ response to him is to ignore him, which is the exact thing Logan has been dealing with all this time. It’s no wonder he finally lost his temper, but Remus also gets to the root of Logan’s issue here - that he mostly wants to direct that anger at Thomas.

Logan’s insistence in using a pragmatic approach has caused problems in the past, but also had its uses for particular situations. Logan’s resistance to empathetic approaches is likely directly related to his desire to ignore and dismiss his own emotions, and, like most people who use pragmatic approaches to problem-solving, he wants to avoid feeling pain.

Having to experience what others experience can be difficult and also painful, and when someone reaches out to ask for help, it can be a lot easier to want to find a way to end that suffering with a solution rather than feel that pain alongside them. Empathy is not easy to use, and Logan doesn’t want to use it, and likely isn’t even sure if he can use it effectively if he tried.

But, maybe, if someone tried using an empathetic approach with him first, one that actually applied empathy towards his situation (and not just what the others have experienced themselves and expect to work for him, too), he may better understand why it can be so important and how improvement doesn't always have to be about results.

But, in the meantime, Logan is only going to do what Thomas wants.

But since Thomas doesn’t know what he wants, it’s even harder to know the right way to help him.

#logan sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides analysis #ts logan #working through intrusive thoughts #sorry for how long this is but i couldn't help it #and yes i am biased about pragmatic responses having merit in certain situations even if you do still need to apply empathy #thomas and the others need to realize that logan cares even if he's not doing things the exact right way #long post #orbs thought bubbles #thank you ame for inspiring me to finally post this after rewriting it a bunch of times <3

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