#and none of this information is particularly useful it's just a well of Fun Facts

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

every once in a while I'm reminded that there are a lot of people who go through life without aggressively researching everything. I'm like that xkcd comic about geologists thinking everyone knows the chemical formula for quartz except I just assume everyone has late night googled their way to knowing all the common cognitive distortions, reads the wikipedia article for every medication they take, and understands why almost every calico cat is female.

#and none of this information is particularly useful it's just a well of Fun Facts #but I forget that they're new info to people #because I'm so bad at conceptualizing the idea that someone would like. get a cacti and not read a bunch of stuff about taking care of it #and thus not know about etiolation #textpost #my nonsense

[its-time-to-write]

OOOO what about Jamie having a huge crush on the reader so much so it’s effecting how he thinks like how he was in the show where he played against Man City. So Roy and Keeley follow him (like in the show) and see him spying/ watching (he’d never admit it) the reader whos working either as a waitress or a bookshop owner because he’s too nervous to go in. Or maybe even secret girlfriend where they follow him and accidentally meet the reader whos been in a secret relationship with Jamie. Lol I hope you can understand what I was trying to say 😅

Pretty sure I picked up what you put down! Here ya go!

don’t go wasting your emotion

Jamie Tartt is not acting like himself. 

The first person to notice is Roy, because it shows in his training. He seems… distracted. So he mentions it to Keeley, and asks her to keep an eye out. They have some big games coming up, and Richmond cannot afford a distracted Jamie. Keeley promises she’ll check up on him soon, but Jamie just keeps getting weirder.

He jumps and hides his phone when Dani plops down next to him on the locker room bench, passes the ball to the opposing side during practice, and keeps going offside. It isn’t long before the other coaches notice, as well as his teammates. The only one who doesn’t seem particularly worried is Sam. When Isaac asks him if he’s noticed anything off about Jamie, Sam just shrugs and says, “It’s probably nothing. I’m sure he’ll get over it soon.”

AFC Richmond does not have time to wait. They need Jamie to get his head out of the clouds and back firmly on earth. 

Shortly after Isaac’s talk with Sam, Colin catches Sam and Jamie whispering in the weight room. He catches snippets of words like, “can’t know,” “just do it,” and… “bookstore”? Surely he didn’t hear that right. Colin shrugs and heads to go see Trent. He’s an investigative journalist. He’s got to have some insight.

Colin presents this information to Trent, Ted, Beard, and Roy, none of whom have any real ideas. As they try to come up with plausible scenarios, Trent leans agains the door with his mug in quiet thought.

“You’ve been mighty quiet over there, Mr. Independent. What’re your thoughts?” Ted asks. 

“I’m not sure,” Trent replies. “We simply don’t have enough facts to come to a conclusion. What we need is someone to follow Jamie after work and see if that will provide any insights.”

“I’ll do it.”

The room turns to look at Roy. He looks uncomfortable. “Keeley and I have been meaning to talk to him anyway, and if he fucking catches any of you lot following him, he’ll never fucking trust you again. I’m your best choice.”

Beard looks at Ted, and they nod. 

Ted says, “Alright Roylock Holmes. You and Dr. Jones have fun tonight. Let us know what you find out,” and that’s that. 

—

Roy calls Keeley and tells her the situation, and it’s not hard to find a pretense for her to be with the team. It’s movie night, and she’s there more often than not. They have pretty much unanimously decided on Paddington, mostly to heal Dani’s trauma from hearing the Paddington Twitter account gave Richmond no marmalade sandwiches. That’s what they say, at least, but if they are crying within the first fifteen minutes, that’s not for anyone to say. 

Jamie sits in the back and he keeps looking at his phone. Sam pokes him and Richard catches something that sounds like, “Go- can’t expect- if you didn’t ask,” at which Jamie nods, looks around, and then slips out the door.

“Where’s he going?” Isaac asks Sam, who shrugs and says, “I would assume to use the restroom.”

Isaac turns back to the screen, but Roy and Keeley look at each other, nod, and quickly get up to follow Jamie. 

They trail him out the building and down the street, watching as he puts his hood up in an effort not to be noticed. They follow him for half a mile as Jamie makes a very purposeful trek through Richmond, unaware that he’s being followed.

Keeley and Roy turn a corner then stop, because Jamie has stopped. He’s just out of sight of some big glass windows. He checks the time, gives himself a shake, then removes his hood and pulls the door open. Keeley and Roy share a look and rush to the window.

It’s a bookstore. The sign on the door says they close an hour from now, at 9pm. Jamie is inside leaning on the checkout counter, talking and laughing with you, the cashier.

“Started that book you told me about,” he says. “You’re right. I hate it.”

“Right??” you reply. “Isn’t it awful? It makes no sense at all, and reading it makes you feel like you’re on drugs, and it’s supposed to be a classic! Thank god you only got it at the library and didn’t have to waste money on it.”

Jamie laughs. “Got any real recommendations this time? Trying to become more cultured.” 

You laugh too. “You know, you’re a lot more cultured than you think. You’ve understood most of my references, and you have an impressive vocabulary. You have a wonderful grasp on the difference between intellectual and conversational tone.”

Roy and Keeley can’t tell what you’re saying, but they’re thinking the same thing. Is Jamie blushing?

Before they can ponder this, you come out from behind the counter to lead Jamie to a shelf. You both look straight at Roy and Keeley, who duck. You turn to Jamie, humor on your face. “Friends of yours?” you quip.

“Un-fucking-fortunately,” he responds. “Oi!”

Roy and Keeley slowly pop back up and Jamie exasperatedly beckons them inside.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Roy, stoic as ever, just grunts. Keeley says, “We were worried about you! You were acting all weird and botching things at practice. We thought you were dying!”

Roy rolls his eyes. You’re doing your best to maintain a straight face. 

You know exactly who these people are. You know Keeley Jones because who doesn’t know about Keeley Jones? You know Roy Kent because he came up as a suggested search after you googled Jamie.

Jamie has been coming into your bookshop for a while now. At first it was to look for some book about forgiveness, but after you helped him pick that out he just… kept coming back. He’d lean against the counter, supported by his elbows, and stay from 8pm until closing. Usually, he was the only customer you’d get that time of night.

It wasn’t lost on you that he was a) gorgeous and b) definitely flirting with you. He wasn’t the first customer to fancy himself in love with you, but he was the first that you actually liked back. And the first who really read what you said you liked.

You just didn’t get why he hadn’t made a move yet, especially after looking him up. It didn’t make sense. You considered making the first move, but that freaked you out too much. Still, despite his inaction on that front, he kept coming back and talking to you. Sometimes he’d bring you coffee. He’d always help you close the store. You once joked that you should put him on the payroll, to which he looked at you, and deadpanned, “You couldn’t afford me.”

You’re pretty sure that’s the moment you actually fell for him. You’re a sucker for a good, stupid sense of humor.

“Why would you think I were dyin?” Jamie asks. 

Keeley shrugs and Roy answers, “Because you’ve been playing like shit.”

Jamie glares at Roy. “I have not, you dusty old twat. You take that back.”

Keeley clears her throat. “Well, actually babes, you kind of have. It’s been this whole thing. Everybody’s worried about you!”

Jamie pinches the bridge of his nose. “Jesus Christ. Why the fuck are you all in my business? Did Sam put you up to this?”

“Why the fuck would Sam put us up to this?” Roy asks.

“Because Sam caught Jamie looking at my Instagram,” you interject.

Three sets of eyes turn to you. “What?” you shrug. “Sam looked up my handle and messaged me about it. We’re friends now.”

Jamie shakes his head in disbelief and Roy says, “So Sam fucking knew about this?”

The tips of Jamie’s ears turn red as he says, “Uh, yeah, so Sam’s been telling me I need to ask her out for like fuckin ages now. Always on me about how it’s dumb to keep checking my phone for her texts, especially because I haven’t even asked for her number or some shit.”

You swear that is the dumbest, cutest thing you’ve ever heard. 

“You want my number?” your voice comes out an octave higher than you’d like it to.

Jamie turns to you. “Uh, yeah, yeah I do. Been meanin’ to ask you, but I dunno, I keep telling myself you’re just being nice to me ‘cause of your job. Didn’t want to be fuckin weird.”

You smile. “Jamie Tartt, for someone so intelligent you really are dumb sometimes.”

He looks pleased with the compliment, then offended, then he realizes what you’re saying. His face goes through those expressions in a moment and then your hand is on the back of his head, pulling him down for a kiss.

Keeley looks on with a smile and Roy stares at the ceiling uncomfortable.

You break apart and Roy says, “Oi, Tartt!”

You and Jamie turn to look at him, arms still around each other.

“This better mean you’re done fucking up practice.”

“Yes coach,” Jamie mock-salutes.

Roy gives him a singular nod, and with that, he and Keeley head out the door. Keeley gives you a little wave and a thumbs up to Jamie.

“Now, where were we?” Jamie asks. “Oh, right…”

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt x you #jamie tartt x y/n #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt #ted lasso

[inkpot909]

How They Text the Reader Headcanons

↳ Characters included are Bruno Brucciarati, Leone Abbacchio, and Guido Mista. Gender Neutral Reader with they/them pronouns.

A/n: I’ve always wanted to try my hand at doing x Reader text messages! This was very fun to make, and I do plan to make more of this kind of headcanon list for the rest of Bucciarati’s team.

Warning(s): None.

Bruno Bucciarati

Bruno’s text messages are straight to the point and utilize proper grammar like the mother he truly is deep down.

Not the type of person to send emoji’s… ever, really. This is because he views texting as a simple tool to use when he can’t just speak to you in person or over a phone call.

However, you prefer the funnier explanation of it actually being because he’s secretly very inept at using technology (this is very much so part of it he just won’t ever say so).

In all honesty, he prefers to call you and hear the sound of your voice more than communicating over text. He’s the type to call in order to converse about whatever mundane thing is on his mind instead of sending a text.

That said, he’s definitely the type to always tell you good morning or wish you goodnight with a sweet text message.

Also, because of his job, he’s often put into long-term situations where calling isn’t exactly ideal. That’s when he’ll text the most; he just wants to check up on you regularly when he can’t be there in person do so! This became especially true after rising to the position of Capo.

His text messages may seem… bland to those unfamiliar with him.

But since you know him as well as you do, they always ring as genuine and an extension of his polite kindness.

Admittedly, it is hard to argue against the fact that his straightforward style of text often leads to misunderstandings. This is due to his sometimes unreadable tone:

Leone Abbacchio

Hardly ever texted you at the beginning.

Since the two of you started going out, he’s gotten a bit better, though. Before, he was very adamant that if he has something to say, he’ll wait when he’s face-to-face with you.

But when he eventually let it slip that he often forgets what he even wants to talk to you about, you slowly began getting him to text you more.

Arguably the best method of doing so is to get him to tell you about something he feels strongly about. Whether it’s something positive like asking him about the music he’s been listening to recently, or it’s something more devilish like bringing up subjects that really bother him.

Leone is at least very reliable.

Meaning that, although he doesn’t often start a conversation over text himself, he will respond to you reasonably quick.

Tease him by claiming it’s because he has a soft spot for you and he won’t text for an entire day (you know he loves you).

He also prefers to use proper grammar and punctuation in his texts. That said, Leone does use emojis (usually just to express disappointment) and sometimes can seem more expressive in text than he is in actual conversation.

One sweet thing he does over text is that he always sends you a message after he makes it home after a particularly dangerous mission, informing you that he’s safe. He knows you worry, and although he often puts up a front claiming it’s annoying, he truly does take note of that concern.

Abbacchio’s just not completely used to having someone like you in his life who holds a special concern for him. He is adjusting; slow and steady.

And although he forms the habit of texting you more, it’s you and only you he has the energy to do this for (outside of probably Bruno). This leads to other’s on Bucciarati’s team to text you when they want to get a hold of him:

Guido Mista

Real talkative over text, especially in the evening after he’s finished with his dinner. He’s pretty expressive and uses a decent amount of emojis.

Will plop down on his couch with an exaggerated bounce, pull out his phone, only with the purpose of talking to you and doing nothing else on the device.

The two of you actually had to work on how late you’d stay up texting one another.

Hours disappearing in the blink of an eye and leaving you both extra tired the next morning. And on occasions that it was decided to take the conversation into a call… it’s easy to see why you both have slept in late more than once.

Although not as frequently as someone like Narancia, Mista will send memes every now and then. Not only that, but he always replies to the ones you send him.

He prefers to send you embarrassing or funny pictures of others in the group over memes, though. You’ve seen photos of Abbacchio and Fugo in particular that Mista could honestly use as blackmail.

This has bitten him in the butt quite a bit, though.

After discovering Mista’s been doing this, the others now send you every single unfavorable image they own of the gunslinger. Even Bruno’s sent his fair share.

And although Mista often forgets to say good morning to you through text, he always says goodnight to you.

Not only that, but Mista will text right after he’s completed with a mission. Although a bit of a goofball, he always takes work seriously, and will leave you on delivered on hours at a time depending on what he’s up to. But the minute things have calmed, he’s letting you know.

Mista will certainly ask one of his common out-of-pocket questions designed to get a conversation going via a text message.

This isn’t a bad thing per se, except for the fact that he has a bad habit of doing so at three in the morning.

Even still, they’re not the weirdest variation of texts you’ve ever received from him:

#johnny’s work #jjba #jojo’s bizarre adventure #vento auero #golden wind #bruno bucciarati #bruno bucellati x reader #leone abbacchio #abbacchio x reader #guido mista #mista x reader #narancia ghirga #pannacotta fugo #giorno giovanna #headcanons #fluff #fake texts

[gabessquishytum]

Had a funny idea that hit me while writing out my last warprize hob ask, of an incident when an envoy of foreign dignitaries arrive for a visit. 😁

The kingdom this envoy is from is very prudish, and vanilla. Clothes cover everything, any and all sex stays firmly behind closed doors, and there is very little information available about anything particularly kinky. The hedonism and practice of sex pets in Dream’s kingdom is incredibly shocking and vapor-inducing for these dignitaries, but Dream doesn’t really give enough of a fuck about them to change or hide any of it for them, so he and everyone else carry on like normal.

The dignitaries are all having quiet conniptions the whole time (though some of them are also having quiet sexual awakenings simultaneously), but none of them say anything on the grounds of 1) it would be incredibly undiplomatic and improper to speak out against the normal practices of another culture, and 2) Dream’s reputation as the Nightmare King is incredibly well-deserved, and it would be incredibly stupid to provoke him. So they all try to ignore all the sexual activities happening in front of them and power through, and try not swoon in shock about it.

There is one young and green member of the envoy who is rather taken with Hob at first sight, and is therefore utterly horrified on Hob’s behalf all the public humiliation and degradation he is clearly forced to go through. Not only is he made to service the king’s dreadful lust in front of all and sundry, but he is also locked with or stuffed full of toys (that to the dignitary’s untrained eye must be torture devices), touched and groped by any passing stranger (the horny part of his infatuation is guiltily very tempted to take advantage of the situation and also touch, but the romantic part nobly refuses to add to the poor man’s humiliation), and his exposed hole is spanked raw until he cries (through his rose-colored glasses he feels that Hob’s tears must be a direct appeal to him for help). Clearly he was meant to be Hob’s knight-in-shining armor, and he will whisk him away and they will live happily ever after (and make love behind the safety of closed and locked doors)!

So he somehow manages to arrange a moment alone with Hob, and dramatically declares his intent to rescue him from this life of depravity, only to be interrupted by Hob breaking character to glare at him and tell him to piss off. He’s got a good thing going here, his entire purpose here is to essentially have his every sexual need catered to, he is in fact utterly devoted to the king, and even if he wanted to leave it is incredibly presumptuous of him to think Hob would want to run off with some kid he doesn’t know instead.

Somehow Dream finds out about the conversation, either someone was eavesdropping and informed him or he happened to be looking for Hob and overheard himself. Normally he would be seeking revenge against the interloping upstart for the insult, or maybe use the incident to start a war if he was feeling particularly bloodthirsty, but he’s too distracted by the overwhelming need to fuck Hob hard against a wall or into a mattress with hearts in his eyes. He also makes sure to fuck Hob at least one other time in front of the dignitary, and both Dream and Hob look him in the eye as they do so, both with a smug look on their faces.

-🪽anon

Omg this is great. How fun to look at the whole situation from an outsider's perspective.

'Cause. All the sex pets at Dream’s court, they're all kind of acting? Obviously they're not pretending to get sexual satisfaction, that's all genuine. But they've got "roles" that they play, when they're on display and working. While they're relaxing, they might act totally different. For example, Hob tends to act a lot more helpless than he really is, because he likes to emphasise the power-play between Dream and himself. He's a totally different guy when he and Dream are just hanging out.

But the stranger from the foreign land doesn't know any of that! He's totally convinced by Hob’s acting, and thinks that he'd better hurry and rescue this poor man. Deep down he thinks that Hob is probably a chaste and shy person who has been terribly wronged by the king. He's sure that Hob will gratefully take the chance to escape and live a proper, moral life.

When he gets Hob alone, the stranger finds a very different person from the scared, weepy sex pet he's used to seeing. Hob laughs so much he nearly falls over. And then he pulls out a knife, seemingly from nowhere and he's like "Do not ruin this for me, I'm finally in a job I enjoy, I get the best food and the king likes me a lot. I will cut your balls off if you fuck my life up."

Dream also laughs a lot where he hears about this encounter, and of course it only makes him love Hob even more. He even invites Hob to share his private apartment on a permanent basis, not wanting him to be so far away. So really the foreign dignity kind of did Hob a favour? The poor kid is so humiliated and honestly a little bit heartbroken, but it's his own fault for trying to be a white knight!

Hob is more in love with his king than ever, and he's quite happy to prove it be bouncing on his cock in front of the assembled crowds. Afterwards he lies over Dream’s lap, having his over-sensitive dick and hole played with by both Dream and the other courtiers, and for the first time he just can't stop grinning. It's very gratifying to know that the king clearly loves him too.

#🪽anon #the sandman #dreamling #nsft #warprize hob

[dark-audit]

Deconstructing the Ticking Time Bomb

It goes a little something like this: You’re a member of an intelligence agency, and you’ve caught one of the bad guys. You know this guy has planted a bomb somewhere in a crowded civilian area, and the bomb is fitted with a timer that will eventually lead to its detonation. You don’t know where the bomb is, but the guy isn’t talking, and time is quickly running out. If torturing the would-be terrorist will reveal the location of the bomb, in turn giving your agency time to diffuse it, saving the lives of countless innocent civilians… well, should you do it?

This essay isn’t going to argue as to whether or not torture works as a method of obtaining reliable information from an unwilling subject (it doesn’t). Instead I’m going to criticize the rhetorical, ethical, and political underpinnings of the ticking time bomb thought experiment and its derivatives, and on that basis, spoiler alert, eventually conclude that it has a whole lot of flaws that might be relevant to the debate on torture.

On a Surface Level

The ticking time bomb scenario, as Alex Adams points out in their 2016 book How To Justify Torture, might be posed as an open-ended question, but the conclusion which respondents are expected to reach is never really up for debate. To boil it down to its roots: if you can stop something very bad from happening by doing something that is less bad, you should do it. This thought experiment is designed, through the use of various forms of appeal, to guide participants to a predetermined conclusion, being that while torture is normally reprehensible, it can in certain special emergencies be morally justified. In effect, this makes the ticking time bomb less of a genuine thought experiment in ethics, and more of a rhetorical argument.

Because the average person typically views torture as morally repugnant, proponents of the ticking time bomb scenario need to quickly establish torture as a rational and reliable option within this pre-supposed emergency. Analyzing the ticking time bomb at a superficial, pragmatic level will quickly reveal a set of presumptions which are made to solidify this rational framing of torture.

The investigation preceding the scenario has been reliable: We definitely do have the right guy, the bomb threat is real, not acting will lead to dire consequences, etc.

No other forms of interrogation or negotiation will be effective, and neither will other forms of non-physical coercion, such as blackmail, threats, or intimidation.

Torture will not only be effective at reliably extracting the right information, but it will also achieve this in a way that is swift. Torture will save the day here.

The act of torture is assumed to have negative consequences only for the person being tortured.

None of these presumptions are particularly realistic, and in real life, scenarios like this are pretty much unheard of. Contentions about realism would significantly muddy the water as to what rational utilitarian value you can derive from the use of torture, but because you’re not actually supposed to engage critically with the ethics here, realism can be ignored. The framer might also comment that you must be fun at parties, just to drive that point home.

Let’s talk appeal

You can glean quite a bit about where an argument comes from by dissecting what it’s trying to appeal to. This essay, for example, largely appeals to reason (logos) through the use of logical arguments. It also implicitly appeals tothe character and credibility (ethos) of me as the mediator of these arguments, through the use of tone, structure, the fact that I tell you about theory, etc. Later on, I will tell you loosely about certain real-life uses of torture, which, along with tone and word choice, are both an appeal to emotion and imagination (pathos). Using appeal isn’t inherently a sign of dishonesty – in fact, it’s impossible not to use any form of appeal – but analyzing it will give you a good idea of what a the author of a text wants you to take away from it.

Which types of appeal are present within the ticking time bomb scenario? Well, let’s break it down.

The appeal to common sense and intuition, made evident in that the answer to this thought experiment seems clear-cut and obvious to participants, is one of those appeals that doesn’t take long to disentangle. A feminist finds it intuitively obvious that men and women are equal. A homophobe finds it intuitively obvious that gay people are degenerates. That should show you the inherent meaninglessness of this type of appeal.

Appeal to rationality, in that torture itself is portrayed as the rational tool for purpose. The implicit premise behind this thought experiment is that when torture is used, the result is swift, predictable, and reliable. (It is none of those things.)

There’s an appeal to fear in that this particular thought experiment deals with the threat of terrorism. Furthermore, the fear of terrorism specifically is common in right-wing political thought. Although it is never explicitly mentioned, it’s not hard to imagine that your average conservative probably pictures the terrorist in this scenario as brown-skinned. For a good chunk of participants, therefore, this thought experiment will specifically be an implicit appeal to tribalism and out-group bias.

Appeal to consequences, as inaction in this scenario will lead to the loss of innocent lives.

Appeal to urgency though the use of the “time bomb” itself – it’s ticking, remember? You have to make a quick decision. The appeal to urgency is notably quite common within reactionary thinking.

Appeal to heroism, or a savior complex in that your ultimate goal is to save the day. Torturers are made tough through this thought experiment. It is argued implicitly that they are willing to make a difficult decision for the sake of the greater good. You can go so far as to imply an appeal to the hypermasculine ideal of protecting the weak from harm.

The appeal to authority, in the ticking time bomb’s use of police/military organizations. As mentioned, the investigation preceding the thought experiment is presumed to have led to the right suspect, something that realistically wouldn’t be as clear-cut.

There is an implicit appeal to righteousness in that the person you are torturing planted a bomb with the intent to kill civilians. You might even go as far as to call it justice. This can also be interpreted as an appeal to the hypermasculine ideal of establishing dominance over others, in this case, specifically a bad guy. This is a rabbit hole of its own within torture justifications.

In fictional derivatives of the ticking time bomb scenario, the emotional appeal is often made even more personal. Now, the terrorist has specifically planted the bomb in the school of your child, or in the shopping mall where your wife works. This is another powerful appeal to emotion and urgency; the question is no longer Is torture sometimes justified?, but instead, Do you love your family?

You might notice that these appeals seem to snugly align with certain spheres of political thought. And make no mistake – this is more often than not by design. The purpose here is not to get you to think seriously about the ethics of torture; it is to lead you to a specific conclusion about torture through reactionary aesthetics.

As a participant, you are being asked to accept the use of torture in certain cases. If you’ve done some research on the topic, you’ll notice that the CIA seems to be convinced that torture works for interrogation (it doesn’t). So, regardless of the reactionary aesthetic, what if the CIA is correct? Shouldn’t we at least take this thought experiment seriously?

Well…

Utilitarianism 101

As previously mentioned, we can boil the ticking time bomb argument down to its ethical root, which is: if you can stop something very bad from happening to lots of people, by doing something that is less bad to one person, you should do it.

This in and of itself appears straightforward, but as people much smarter than me have pointed out, ‘the lesser of two evils’-type arguments invariably lead to the acceptance of some capacity of evil, which is why they should be approached very carefully. The ticking time bomb specifically makes use of utilitarian ethics – torture is given utility – and for that reason, I think it’s important to consider some basics of utilitarian ethics that the scenario and its proponents are suspiciously quiet about.

Utilitarianism is an other-focused ethical framework that states that our behavior should be aligned with the facilitation of the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.Here, the word good refers to predetermined axiomatic values, which are obviously highly subjective, and that’s a deep dive in and of itself. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to shorten the debate down to its most agreed-upon conclusion: it is bad when humans suffer: therefore, it is good to minimize human suffering.

Let’s have another classic thought experiment, the basic premise of which should sound familiar. You have a neighbor who kind of sucks. He sits around on his couch all day playing video games and drinking, he doesn’t produce anything of value to other people, he’s just kind of a bum. Coincidentally, down at the local hospital, five people are waiting for an organ transplant. If these five people don’t receive an organ transplant, they will die. Is it justifiable, in this scenario, for you to murder your neighbor so his organs can be harvested and used to save the life of the five transplant patients?  

Act utilitarianism posits that any act is moral if the end result leads to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Here, it would conclude that murdering one person to save the lives of five others would be morally good, because one person dying is less badthan five people dying. Overall bad, it would argue, has been reduced in this scenario.

Rule utilitarianism is a direct response to act utilitarianism, and posits that you can justify most acts through edge-case exceptions, precisely like the organ murder thought experiment does (or indeed like the ticking bomb does). It posits that instead of judging each act independently, we ought to live by rules that overall lead to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This version of the theory is much more focused on long-term consequences of our rule of behavior, as opposed to the here-and-now short-term utility of any particular act itself. Rule utilitarianism, in this regard, is capable of acknowledging that while certain acts can have a positive outcome in the short-term, they might also have a negative outcomes in the long-term, and vice-versa. (There is an argument to be made here that rule utilitarianism eventually loops back around to just becoming act utilitarianism, but because I’m appealing to people who aren’t in the deep end, I won’t get into that in this essay.) In the case of killing your neighbor, rule utilitarianism would acknowledge that while it is true that the immediate consequence of one death for the sake of preventing five other deaths is good, the act of murder as a rule leads to much more bad than good, and should therefore not be something we accept or facilitate within our moral framework. Rule utilitarianism would argue that even if murder has utilitarian value in exceptional cases, facilitating a rule of behavior in which murder is “sometimes permissible” is in and of itself counter to our axiomatic values.

This might all sound abstract and inconsequential to you, but in praxis, it’s the difference between a government committing a war crime and not committing a war crime. It’s why I think it’s so important for people to be familiar with the basics of ethics.

According to rule utilitarianism, the ticking time bomb scenario deals with the short-term and implies that torture in this scenario is good, but it fails to consider the possible long-term consequences of permitting the use of torture into our prescriptive framework of ethics – the rules we ought to live by.

How might the use of torture on this terrorist be viewed by other like-minded people? Is it possible it might lead to further radicalization – potentially leading to even more terrorists planting even more ticking time bombs in the future?

Torture polarizes people. How will the use of torture be perceived within the state that allows it? Is it worth the further polarization of our internal political climate? This polarization has the potential in and of itself to lead to politically motivated violence, after all.  

Straight tribalism appeal: if we use torture against them – wouldn’t it also be acceptable, then, for them to use torture against us? Are we willing to accept that?

Is it possible that allowing police or other government bodies to engage in torture might have a negative impact on these organizations’ interrogative efficacy down the line? Might knowledge of an organization’s use of torture discourage people from volunteering information, or make suspects less likely to cooperate in the first place? Joe Navarro, who is an expert within the FBI in regards to questioning techniques, has stated: “Only a psychopath can torture and be unaffected. You don't want people like that in your organization. They are untrustworthy, and tend to have grotesque other problems.” Following this line of reasoning, is the use of torture in exception cases worth the possible risks of employing torturers?

Allowing for a government-sanctioned use of torture in and of itself has massive connotations. Is the use of torture compatible with a society that strives to uphold human dignity? Is our willingness to disregard this human dignity in “edge cases” worth the utility we could get from torture?

Even presupposing that torture works as an interrogation method (which it doesn’t), proponents the ticking time bomb scenario need to actually demonstrate that the potential short-term positive outcome of using torture outweighs the long-term negative outcomes of accepting torture into our prescriptive ethical framework. This thought experiment and its derivatives within fiction, through the use of emotional, reactionary appeal, actively seeks to discourage participants from engaging with this aspect of the discourse. The rule that might reduce overall long-term suffering is disregarded in favor of the short-term good of the act.

If you take a look at ethical committees across the world, you’ll notice they don’t engage a whole lot with the ticking time bomb thought experiment. This is because at best, it’s incredibly vapid in terms of base-level ethics – and at worst, it’s a deliberate ethical fallacy.

Hang on… if it’s an ethical fallacy, then why are we still talking about it?

Running a pedo sex trafficking island in the Caribbean is usually considered morally wrong, yes. But let’s say aliens came to earth and told you they were gonna vaporize the whole planet, unless you ran a pedo sex trafficking island in the Caribbean and then invited all your buddies, allegedly including Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton? In this hypothetical scenario, would it not be morally justifiable to do so? Well, maybe the best response to a thought experiment like this isn’t an immediate acceptance of the “lesser evil”, but instead posing a question back to the framer: why the fuck, exactly, are you asking me to accept a moral justification for pedo sex trafficking?

It's about politics. Duh.

And now that we’ve finally established that, we can criticize this “thought experiment” within its historical, material context. Because here’s the thing: governments and state leaders regularly frame the use of torture, following the ticking time bomb philosophy, as a necessary, justifiable evil in certain edge-case exceptions, which implicitly denies atrocity as a way to avoid accountability. Torture, you know – that thing that is internationally recognized as a war crime. In this way, the ticking time bomb scenario isn’t just a political argument – it is a legal argument.

Researchers will tell you that the public discourse around torture seemed to shift after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and that this shift was spearheaded by the Bush Administration’s “War on Terror.” The war on terror notably included actual on-the-ground military invasions throughout the middle east, like the invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, the effectiveness of which are highly disputed by experts, to say the least. And a notable project to go along with these actual, literal wars, were the systematic propaganda campaigns that the United States government propagated alongside. You’ve probably already read about the US military’s funding of action movies, books, and video games, and probably (rightly) assume that these in part served to influence the public perception of the US’ participation in foreign invasions. And given what was brought into public awareness by the leak of a classified Red Cross inspection report from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in November 2004, it’s not so surprising that the US government would want its citizens to be more, ahem, openminded about the use of torture on enemy combatants. They did this by appealing to reactionary thinking. They turned torture into a terrible, but under certain exceptions, intuitively righteous act. And through the use of euphemisms – “enhanced interrogation methods” – the United States’ use of torture was even distinguished from the torture used by other (browner) nations, as a rational, even civilized act.

And this framing can still be seen in US politics to this day, most commonly along the republican party line. I don’t want to talk about Donald Trump for longer than I need to here. Let’s just say he’s been very outspoken about his support for the use of waterboarding – “or worse” – as an interrogation method, both before, during and after his presidency. This is one of the most powerful men in the world, who has a real chance of being re-elected this year, telling you explicitly that he intends to commit war crimes.

In reality though, justifications for the use of torture as morally permissible in edge-cases aren’t a new phenomenon, and it wasn’t invented by the United States. The reason the 9/11 shift comes up so often in research is that the US, as much as I hate to admit it, is the cultural epicenter of the world, and these ideas have gained global mainstream traction through Hollywood specifically. But you don’t need to look hard to find examples that predate the war on terror.

The ticking time bomb – not just the argument behind it, but that specific thought experiment – was actually popularized by French writer and former soldier Jean Lartéguy in his 1960 novel Les Centurions, which was set during the 1954-1962 French-Algerian war. Later on, General Marcel Bigeard claimed that the use of torture by the French military was a “necessary evil.” Another French general, Paul Aussaresses, wrote in 2001: “torture became necessary when emergency imposed itself.” The French army used a wide variety of torture against Algerians, including beatings, burning, electroshock, waterboarding, mutilation, and rape. Funny how bad ideas always trace back to colonialism.

Who else? The Nazis, the British in Kenya (at least they’ve finally officially admitted it was torture, I guess), South African Apartheid forces, Russian military in Ukraine… I feel like I’m missing someone relevant…

Oh.

The use of coercive interrogation, another euphemism for torture, was reviewed by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1999 and deemed “unlawful, though permissible in certain cases.” Sound familiar? Torture is practiced by Israeli forces both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the use isn’t always limited to adult detainees. Torture techniques include beatings, sleep deprivation, stress positions, breaking limbs with clubs, and non-physical torture, such as endless lectures along the lines of, quote: “All Arabs are Bedouin, and Bedouin are Saudis, so Palestinians should go back to Saudi Arabia where they came from. You don’t belong here.” The fog of war sure make things foggy, but I’d imagine torture isn’t above the IDF’s paygrade in the current Israeli attempt at a Palestinian genocide. Considering that allegations of torture have been coming out steadily for months now, I feel like I’m not off base here.

Do you see how the “clear-cut” argument presented within this innocent hypothetical is used by governments to shrug off accountability? Torture is described as necessary in the case of emergency – the words necessary and emergency sure do shift quite a lot depending on who’s talking, but the basic arguments are all based on the same ethical fallacy, one that conflates useful with sometimes justified. I would argue, based on actual utilitarian ethics, that when you accept torture as sometimes justified into your ethical framework, bad shit tends to happen.

Ah, and then there’s Hollywood. Popular culture is a part of public discourse, and all art, as you might know, is inherently political. Fictional portrayals of torture in western movies and literature before 9/11 tend to come away with the conclusion that torture is unjustifiable under any circumstances, and torturers are almost always portrayed as being in the wrong. Since then, portrayals have shifted to favor various derivatives of the ticking time bomb scenario. One of the most famous examples of this is Jack Bauer from the TV-series 24, who frequently makes use of torture as an interrogation method – in fact, he uses the same techniques that the United States used during the war on terror – and the show, in turn, treats him as heroic for being willing to do this. Other examples of ticking time bomb derivatives can be found in The Dark Night trilogy, Supernatural, Stranger Things, Daredevil, Taken, Fast and the Furious, Dirty Harry… Zootopia? Yeah, um, sorry, mr. Pixar, was the torture apologia scene perhaps really necessary to include in this children’s movie?

Along with the discourse seen by lawmakers and political figures, fiction influences the opinions of regular people all the time – it all adds up, you know? And I haven’t been able to find more contemporary sources on this, but according to a poll from the Pew Research Institute from 2016, 48% of Americans believed that torture is acceptable “in some cases.” According to a 2019 poll from the nonprofit Freedom From Torture, 43% of Britons are “unsure” if torture is always wrong – 29% believe that there are “some circumstances” in which torture is acceptable. In a global survey from 2014 by Amnesty International, 74% of Chinese respondents said that torture is a “necessary and acceptable” way of gaining information. Conversely, Brazilian respondents, who scored highest in regards to the fear of being tortured, scored among the lowest favorability in the world, with only 19% saying that torture can be justified “in some cases.”

Globally, over a third (36%) of respondents said that torture can be justified “in some cases.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the debate around torture isn’t whether or not it’s good or bad - the vast majority of people will agree it’s bad, we’re all on the same page there. The really insidious idea is that torture is useful (which it isn’t), mixed with the fact that your average person doesn’t know the first thing about basic utilitarian ethics. Useful, to them, is tantamount to justifiable in some cases. As I hope to have shown you, this in and of itself is an ethical fallacy, and it is inherently reactionary.

Conclusion

I guess I wouldn’t mind if you were a bit concerned.

But my greater point, perhaps, is that you should take “thought experiments” like the ticking time bomb with a tub of salt, especially if you know your grasp of ethics isn’t particularly strong. If I want you to learn anything from this essay, it’s that reactionaries will sometimes make use of arguments that seem very convincing at first glance. They mostly do this purely on accident, to be sure, but appeals to intuition often require 4100 words at least to fully break down, and since nobody likes to read, a good chunk of people are going to take the ticking time bomb scenario at face value, and then go on to believe their opinions on torture stem from actual critical thought. Maybe don’t be like them, is my point.

And if you’re a writer, I guess I’d also like to ask you to be extremely careful of using ticking bomb derivatives in your stories. Ask yourself if your story might accidentally justify the use of torture, explicitly or implicitly. Ask yourself how the torturer and victim are portrayed – how the act itself is portrayed. Ask yourself what the scene is supposed to convey, and who you might be appealing to. Think about it, actually.

Because if you don’t, there’s a good chance that a third of your audience will walk away from your writing having learned precisely the wrong lesson from it.

#nonfiction #torture #torture apologia #ethics

[imagineanime2022]

It's A Promise

Asmodeus X FTM!Reader

Word Count: 772

Requested: @your-next-daydream @tiddyanon-official

Request: Hello darling!!! Me again! I have a bit of an odd request but I'll do my best to word it. May I have Asmodeus from obey me with an insecure reader? Here's the context. Reader plays otome games as well because it's fun, none of us can lie they are fun. And reader will see the characters they interact with and see how perfect they are compared to them and will just get in their head about how they don't look good at all. I do this unfortunately it's more of a bodily dysphoria with the fact that I am trans (ftm) and I also don't particularly like myself. But you don't have to write all of that. I also hope you aren't getting tired of obey me…the fandom has seem to found your page quite well. Anyway thank you for reading I hope you are doing well in your studies! <3 AND Obey me with a closeted FTM reader that looks like a masculine Lilith? And one day, they're hanging out with one of the brothers, and they accidentally call him "sister." And at first the brother's just upset because they're reminded of their youngest sister's passing, but then they're surprised as MC just bursts into sobs at the (ACCIDENTAL) misgendering.

Warning: Accidental Misgendering, Insecurity, Slight body dysphoria

You had been coming to terms with who you were and what you wanted for yourself before you were teleported to Devildom. The demons there helped somewhat because of the fact that there was very rarely a gender normal for them. You found yourself growing closer to Asmo for that very reason, you felt that he was less likely to judge you should he ever find out about your gender identity. Levi was the other brother that you had found yourself growing closer to due to your interest in otome games.

That being said you were still hiding your transgender status and with no support system things started to get the better of you, you’d often found yourself focusing on problems that others may not have even noticed and in most cases don’t notice. Like most things these observations mounted until you couldn’t ignore it when you walked past a mirror. You spent more time playing otome games which didn’t help as you found yourself comparing yourself to all of the characters and greater defining your problems.

Asmo became a welcome distraction as he would spend time talking and messing around with you but today wanted to play dress up and you were his doll and it started out well he complimented you and you thought that it was going to get better but then he stopped his hands resting on your shoulder “you look amazing… Like Lilith did, the perfect little sister.” He said. Asmo didn’t realise that you were upset by the sentence, only snapping out of his sadness when he felt tears on his hands. “Hey what’s wrong..? Hey.” He slowly moved your face so that you were looking at him. “Sorry.” You said softly and he shook his head. “What are you sorry for?” He asked. “You haven’t done anything.” “I know you didn’t mean it.” You informed him and now he really was confused and you could see it. “You're going to have to explain.” Asmo finally said and you looked at him and nodded, you knew that he was right there was no way that you were going to be able to get passed this without telling him what was going on. “I’ve never told anyone this, so you have to bear with me.” You said voice shaking with the nerves that you were feeling, he nodded relocating you both to the bed where it was more comfortable, you had taken to playing with his fingers as he waited patiently for you to talk. “Alright…” You took a deep breath “before I came here I was in the process of figuring out something about myself.” You informed him and he nodded along with what you were saying but you had a feeling he knew where it was going and you thanked him silently for still letting you say it “I’m Transgender from female to male so when you referred to me as the perfect sister earlier.” “I’m sorry, I never meant for that.” He said as he squeezed your hands in reassurance. “I know, you didn’t know, it was difficult for me to tell you all, you were all so happy with the way that you are, you know… All demons seemed comfortable in their own skin. I started comparing myself to characters in the games that I was playing and fell further into this self deprecating hole.” You explained, it was easy to talk to him, there was nothing about him that said that he was judging you. “You my love after perfect as you are now and will continue to be perfect if you change. Do you know why?” He asked, you frowned as you waited for him to continue hanging on to every soft spoken word. “Because it’s a choice you made to make yourself happy, I want to see you smile, I want to see you choose something because you want it.” “Asmo… Thank you.” You said softly. “Can I hug you?” He asked, your heart swelled at him seeking permission. “Yes.” You nodded and he pulled you into his lap wrapping his arms around you. “You come to me when you are ready, okay… we can go shopping, get you new clothes and we can tell the others, I’ll be right by your side no matter how long it takes or who you decide to be.” He said. “You promise?” You asked. “It’s a promise.” He said softly, tightening his hold on you and hoping that it conveyed how safe you were with him and that no matter what you’d look back and see that he was ready to catch you.

Request Here!!

#obey me oneshot #obey me #obey me imagine #obey me x reader #asmodeus oneshot #asmodeus imagine #asmodeus #imagine #oneshot #one shot #reader insert #x reader #transgender reader #FTM

[password-door-lock]

Mystictober Day 4-- Royal/Rebel

Maybe it's a weird way to think about a scruffy-looking stranger crashing into your apartment, boots first, through the window, but as far as you're concerned, your prince has come to rescue you. After all, Rika’s apartment may as well be an enchanted tower, and you may as well be an imprisoned royal heir straight out of a fairy tale, for the fact that you are stuck here alone. Anyway, the hacker isn’t really any more of a stranger than the members of the RFA , though he, at least, seems to want to get you out of here. That’s good enough for you.

Besides, you haven't been getting very much out of your guest coordination experience thus far— you feel a bit awkward talking to the RFA, so you've barely even used the messenger, only scrolling through the chat rooms once or twice a day to gather the contact information for potential guests. You're willing to send out invitations, but you have no interest in anything beyond a working relationship with the other members of the organization. Unfortunately for you, many of them strike you as being interested in something... more. You can't help but feel a bit trapped, waiting patiently to be rescued by the first person to get the better of the fire-breathing dragon— or, in this case, the bomb, but same difference— that guards you.

Well, here's your hero, then. He doesn't bother stepping over the shards of broken glass from the window he just tore through; instead, they crunch under the soles of his heavy boots as he crosses the room to reach you. "Stay where you are, okay?" His voice is smooth, even and measured, like he body-slams shatter-proof glass every day and has no reason to be at all shaken by the events of the past fifteen seconds. "You might hurt yourself if you step on glass."

He's got a point— you’re wearing no footwear more protective than a pair of fluffy slipper-socks. You bite your lip, nervous despite the relief you feel at the prospect of escape. You haven't so much as felt fresh air against your skin since the special security system was hacked three days ago, and the night breeze seeping through the gaping hole in the window is providing a very pleasant change of pace. "Who are you?" You already know, of course, but it's all that you can think of to say.

"I'm your knight in shining armor, prince(ss). I'm here to rescue you from your boring task," he cackles, making the threat that he poses abundantly clear. You would have to be a fool to actually go anywhere with this man, even if he seems more interesting than the members of the RFA. But, then again, you would also have to be a fool to break into a stranger’s apartment at the behest of a complete stranger, so perhaps your track record is working against you. "I thought you would have fun talking to those people, but you’ve barely even looked at the messenger. You must really hate it here— but I didn’t expect you to get bored of them so soon." He doesn't sound particularly apologetic. If anything, he sounds mildly amused by your refusal to be predictable, like you're a puzzle that he's looking forward to solving.

He's reached you by now; the hacker is close enough to see that you're shaking like a leaf. As much as you'd love to ask him why he thought you would cooperate in the first place, there are much more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. "Somebody from the RFA will be here soon," you inform him. You're sure of it— they won't let you get away so easily. One of them will come, convinced that you need to be rescued, without bothering to ask for your opinion. They may mean well, but none of them seem to have considered your feelings, being lured into a strange, demanding organization in the middle of a work week— not that the hacker is any different. He has yet to ask you if you want to leave with him, although you suppose you could have refused to even humor his request when he sent you to the apartment in the first place. It's clear to you that you're nothing more than a pawn to the hacker; he is using you as a means to whatever end he desires, the same way that V and his followers are using you as an excuse to host a party. That being said, you have no interest in watching a battle between the hacker and the RFA unfold. When push comes to shove, you’d rather make the decision for yourself.

The hacker, for his part, seems to agree with your assessment of the situation. "You're sharper than I thought," he decides, appraising you with glimmering eyes. "Do you already know what’s going to happen? If you’re so excited to leave this place, then you and I must be a little bit similar... I think we'll have fun together." He reaches out, and his meaning is clear— maybe he's only giving you the illusion of choice, but it's your call whether you'll stay loyal to the RFA or transfer your allegiance to him, at least for the time being.

"We should probably get going." You've made your choice. Anything is better than staying in this stuffy apartment, even jumping out the window with someone you just met. 

"Let's go, then, prince(ss)." The hacker smirks. This is all a game for him, but you don't care half as much as you probably should.

You could kiss him for how relieved you are to get out of Rika's apartment— to your surprise, he doesn't lead you to the window when you take his hand, but across the room to the door. He did say that he didn't want you stepping on glass— maybe he cares about your safety, or perhaps he only wants your loyalty. "Thanks for saving me." You give his hand a little squeeze in a vain attempt to demonstrate your gratitude.

"Of course." The hacker sounds amused as he walks you to the elevator. "You were already mine from the beginning, anyway."

"If you say so," you shrug. As far as you're concerned, anything is better than being trapped in this small suite, inviting strangers to a party about which you could not care less. It doesn't even occur to you that you might be trading one locked door for another, a picture window for a wall of glowing monitors.

#we love a bad ending #this month will probably be full of those lol #MM_mystictober2023 #mystic messenger #mystic messenger drabble

[yourqueenb]

Out of all the mystery books on Choices, were there any that you found particularly fun and/or well written? I'm not sure if it's just me bcs it might be a matter of taste which is super subjective, but something about the way PB does mystery stuff feels kinda...lackluster? I'm not sure what exactly it is about their mystery books (like TUH and MAH), but while they're not necessarily terrible they usually don't feel super satisfying

It’s def not just you. Idk how many times I’ve talked about this, but PB can’t do mystery. I believe that 100%. Maybe in the very beginning they could because I remember enjoying Most Wanted. But I haven’t played it in forever. And all of their mystery books after that have been lackluster as you said. (And I do mean all of them, including VoS and CoP, which are fan favorites).

I think one of the issues is that they always feel the need to make us investigate whatever noble pursuit the person had along with their death. And they really play up the fact that the victim was basically a saint and loved by all. And it’s just like 9 times out of 10, I do not care. It gets annoying and old. One of the other issues is that they also always do the collectibles for clues and stuff. And it’s usually either that you need almost all of them to understand whodunnit, how, and why (see: TUH) or pretty much none of them because they’re actually just extra pieces of information that aren’t all that interesting (see: MaH). Of course the former is worse because paywalling plot/other important story aspects is flat out ridiculous. But the latter annoys me too because premium content should add something to the story, not just little factoids.

I think writing a mystery book is a balancing act. And we all know PB already struggles with balance outside of that. They don’t know how to set the stage, build intrigue, and stop throwing in red herrings to let the story come to a conclusion at the right time. Or if they do manage to build intrigue, they still can’t craft a proper twist that feels shocking but makes sense/is believable at the same time. So that’s why VoS had a good setting/all that suspense throughout, but fell flat in the end. And that’s also why MaH never really found it’s footing as a mystery to begin with imo.

Didn’t intend to write an essay, so last issue I’ll speak on is the fact that PB also rarely writes good villains/a good dynamic between the MC and the villain. I think what their mystery books are missing is the feeling that whatever we’re investigating is a puzzle that needs to be solved. And one of the ways they could create that is by writing both villains/antagonists and MCs who are actually intelligent and fun to go up against/play as! It’s usually that the villain is 10 steps ahead. And not because he/she is particularly crafty but because they dumb MC down to drag the story out for 16-20 chapters. CoP is an exception because MC was actually pretty smart, but we had the dumbass murderer and her even dumber minion. So I truly believe that if we had characters who didn’t just bumble their way through the story and were legitimately formidable adversaries to each other, we would have a lot more fun maneuvering around the obstacles/red herrings/etc. thrown at us and solving the mystery OR being surprised by the twist/resolution but able to pick up the breadcrumbs and connect the dots after it’s revealed

#choices #choices stories you play #playchoices #choices app #choices ask #of course they don’t *have* to do the whole ‘the villain is a mastermind’ thing to write a good mystery #Glass Onion is a prime example of that #but (excluding MW bc I don’t really remember what happened in that book at all) PB has never done an intelligent villain/MC combo— #— in their mystery books imo #so I just think that would be a lot of fun #but even if they never decided to do that there are still a number of things they could do differently #to make their mysteries not so mediocre #but I’ve been on my soapbox for long enough 😭 #I’ll just say that if it isn’t already clear I do not think any of PB’s recent mysteries are particularly well written anon #there are certain aspects that made them fun — namely the LIs and/or MCs #but as you said the mystery parts themselves aren’t terrible they just aren’t satisfying either #and I’ll also say again that MaH specifically should’ve been like a 5-7 chapter slasher that’s it

[purrincess-chat]

I must admit that the idea of prpr is so deeply ingrained in the fandom culture that it's hard to give up on it. I saw lots of old fanarts of Adrienette, and they all are supposed to be post-reveal. I remember reading a reddit post saying that Adrienette basically cannot happen pre-reveal. Even when S5 has started airing, fans speculated that if they dated pre-reveal, there wouldn't be more than one date, and then they would inevitably break up. I think those who are upset about pre-reveal Adrienette, are mostly upset about the fact that they couldn't foresee that.

I've talked about this a little before, but fandom is a double edged sword. It's perfectly fine to speculate about what you think is going to happen or to come up with headcanons or AUs or silly ideas that are fun, but that's all they are. Speculation and fun. You have to draw a line between canon and fanon and also recognize that all of these analysis posts (even mine) while they may sound smart and true, we are all operating off of limited information, and therefore none of our takes are 100% accurate. People get stuff wrong all the time because new episodes come out that completely change the game. The analysis I wrote yesterday could be completely uprooted by a single episode if canon so decided. That's why I tell people to take everything you read in fandom with a grain of salt. Because even the "smartest" and most well thought out takes can be wrong because we don't have all of the episodes. I'm not an authority on this show by any means, nor is any other fan. Even the fans that got hired by Zag aren't privy to every single detail about the show. They know what they're told, and even then, stuff can change last minute. It's fine to speculate about what we think is going to happen, but if we're wrong, that's not canon's fault.

And look, prpr is a fun idea in fanon, but I never foresaw it being canon. Look at the what if episodes, those two jumped immediately to being a couple, so I never had a reason to think the actual reveal would be any different. The thing about building up these fanon ideas in your head is it sets an unrealistic expectation for canon, and you're setting yourself up for disappointment. You have to separate the two. Keep fanon in fandom, and let canon tell the story it intends to. Because the thing is, we aren't the ones in the writing room. We don't know all of their plans or what things need to happen in order for the plot to work. We can speculate all day long based on the little clues we have, but canon can still throw a curve ball. I mean, after the s4 finale, did we expect to get reverse love square and canon Adrinette midway through s5? Clearly not 😂 But here we are. Canon is going to do what canon is going to do whether we like it or not. It's fine to not particularly like some decisions canon makes, everyone has preferences, but to say canon is ruined or bad or should have done some popular fan idea instead is not only entitled behavior it's also childish lol. Canon is ruined for you. And that's fine. But it doesn't mean canon is inherently bad just because you didn't care for the direction it's going in. A lot of people would do well to remember they are one person, and no one is making them watch. If they don't like canon anymore, don't watch it anymore. 🤷‍♀️ As some have pointed out, there are tons of shows that do high school romance better, so go watch one of those.

Idk, I think people are crossing too many lines and blurring fanon with canon. Fan ideas are meant to be fun for fans, not to influence and predict canon. If something makes it into the show or we guess something correctly, great, but that's not guaranteed or owed to us. There also isn't a rule that says if canon contradicts your fan idea that you have to stop doing it in fandom? Fans can still write, draw, and make headcanons for prpr or romantic LadyNoir if they want, but like it or not, Adrinette is still canon, yall. Even all the way up to episode 20, and I doubt it's going to change in the last few episodes. Get used to it. Or go watch something else idc 🤷‍♀️

#cat replies #asks #ml spoilers #s5 discourse

[bitletsanddrabbles]

WIP Whatevaaaaaaaaaargh!

Awhile ago I decided that i wasn’t going to post any more Island of the Gays snippets, no matter how much inspiration I got from @alex51324 ‘s work, simply because my brain has been having too damn much fun lately going “OOO! Inspiration for a SHORT piece!” then, as soon as I have three paragraphs, insisting that the short balloon out to twice the length and then wandering off to play with dandelions rather than write it.

It’s frustrating and pointless.

HOWEVER. I have just reached my 50k goal for NANO and let me tell you, 50k has never felt less satisfying. I don’t know what it is this year, but everything just feels flat as a road kill flatworm. So since this thing, which has been pestering me off and on for I don’t know how long to be written, and was, in fact, what got me over the finish line, I’mma post a bit.

Is it good? Not really. It’s a rough draft, so it needs editing. I need to reread the entire story to get people right. Rouse in particular is probably all kinds of off kilter. But it’s a THING, damnit, and I can, so I’m going to. So there.

As if he didn’t have one himself, Thomas thought, but none-the-less produced his own lighter. Once he’d lit the other man’s fag for him, he decided he’d better get one for himself. Something told him that whatever this was about, he wasn’t going to particularly like it. When he’d taken a lungful of smoke and breathed it out without the other man starting an actual conversation, Thomas decided that he’d better take the initiative or else Gordon really was going to wind up doing the entire paper himself. “Look, Rouse, what is this about?”

The other man was leaning against the stone wall that went along the edge of the road, helping to keep the bluff in place during high storms. He tilted his head back, staring up at the sky, and said, calm as you please, “According to certain people we’ve talked to, you have a bit of a past with the Duke of Crowborough.”

Thomas was suddenly very happy for the cigarette. Warily he answered, “Yes.”

“What would you say to his coming here?”

The question caught Thomas like a blow to the gut. If he’d had smoke in his mouth, he’d have choked like a novice. “Here?” he demanded. “I’d say no, absolutely not. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“You don’t,” the other man informed him, blowing out a plume of smoke.

Thomas stared. Two years and he’d started to feel settled. To feel safe. Now the doctors were going to drop Phillip into his life? “Damn it, Rouse, I am not leaving this island, I was here first!”

Rouse chuckled, although there wasn’t any humour to it. “Well, glad to hear that, and not just because you’d take our tobacconist with you.”

“You’re serious.” Thomas wasn’t sure he’d ever hated anyone so much as he hated Rouse right then, except maybe Phillip himself. Even Carson hadn’t left him wanting to punch something this badly. Then something hit him. “Oh God. The VIP. He’s going to be here next week?”

“Calm down,” the other man replied, still studying the sky, and Thomas was vaguely aware he’d shouted that last bit. “It won’t be next week, it’ll be the week after. Maybe the week after that. There are things to attend to on the mainland. We gave told you at the paper now so there’d be lots of time for people to get used to the idea.”

The words coming out of the other man’s mouth refused to make any form of coherent sense. “What, you mean you’re giving us his name for the paper?” he half spat.

“Yes.”

“Why? You never do that!” Everything about the situation was so irregular that Thomas half expected the other man to say it was a joke, except this was Rouse. He’d never be that sadistic.

“Look, Thomas,” Rouse sighed, finally looking down and meeting Thomas’s gaze. “You’re hardly the only man on this island who’s going to be less than pleased to see His Grace. Hell, I’m none too happy about it, and I’ve only heard about the man. I think Lord Hexham’s the only one who knows him hasn’t reached for a proverbial pitch fork when we told him about it. We’re giving everyone as much time to come to terms with it as possible.”

“But there’s nothing you can do to stop it?” Thomas asked, feeling deeply betrayed. After all, Rouse had fought the idea of Lord Hexham coming here, and he was one of the nicest toffs Thomas had ever run across! Still a toff, of course, but at least willing to chip in where needed, and he didn’t look down his nose at you. And the other man had still insisted that if they were going to take him, they had to take Gordon. Now though… Thomas couldn’t see behind the scenes, but it seemed like he was giving up without a whimper. From what they’d been told, there wasn’t even another working class bloke coming to balance things.

To his utter shock, the other man replied, “I’m not trying to stop it. Not this time. He maybe a toff and an utter ass, but…” Rouse paused, taking a smoke, then shook his head. “I’m a psychologist, Thomas. I can’t just say no this go around. There’s more to it.”

“What more could there be?” Letting go of his temper and his volume both, Thomas flat out started screaming, his fists balling at his side. “Damn it all, Rouse, do not tell me you’re letting bloody Phillip out here without telling me why!”

His protest earned him a worn out look. “Do you want me to start telling details of your life to anyone who asks?” Rouse countered. “All I can tell you is that he’s not coming willingly.”

Thomas didn’t buy it for a second. “And how do you force a Duke?”

Rouse shook his head, still not divulging any further information. “Look, I’m not asking you to be happy with it. I’m not asking anyone to be happy with it. I’m just giving you warning and asking that you not punch him the second he arrives, all right?” His expression became very pointed. “If you do, there will be consequences.”

Consequences. For punching fucking Phillip. No man on earth deserved punching more, but naturally Thomas would get in trouble if he did. There was proof that even on the Island, some things never changed. “Right,” he spat, eyes narrowing. He forced his fists to unclench. “Noted. May I go now, Doctor?” He threw the title like an insult.

Rouse eyed him for a moment, then sighed and shrugged. “Yeah, you may go.”

“Thank you.” Thomas spun on his heel and stalked away from the other man. The entire trip back to the print shop he kept remembering things. Phillip’s laugh. Phillip’s smile. The way Phillip kissed him.

The sight of his letter’s going up in smoke.

The look on Phillip’s face when he asked if Thomas wanted to stay.

Why?

Why after all of these years was fucking Phillip being brought back into his life?

Dr. L. would do it for the money, Thomas knew, except Phillip didn’t have money. Not unless he’d gotten married and his wife died and left all of her millions to him. Assuming there was something of her millions left and it hadn’t all been spent on the estate.

But why Rouse? Why the fucking hell would the island’s representative of the working class welcome Phillip with open fucking arms? And why would they tell everyone it was happening, but not why it was happening?

Thomas slammed the door of the press open hard enough to rattle the hinges, stalking through the front room and giving the inner door the same treatment. Gordon must have heard the first slam, because he was already half way through the room when Thomas made his entrance.

The younger man took a quick step back. “Here now, wot the hell are you het up about? We’ve got a paper to finish.”

“Fuck the paper,” Thomas spat, earning himself a gobsmacked look. “Fuck the paper and while we’re at it, fuck Rouse! Come on, leave that. We’re going to the pub.” He didn’t even check the time to make certain they’d be open. For this, Tully would let him in as a friend, and probably give him as much whiskey as he wanted.

#downton abbey #downton abbey fanfiction #thomas barrow #frank rouse #terrance gordon #the duke of crowborough #wip #island of the gays #fanfiction of fanfiction #fighting frustration tooth and nail here

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

They Call Me Wicked (That Makes Me Glad) (pt 5/?)

[<<First],,[<Prev],[Next>]

Word Count: 2604

Rating: Teen

Pairings: none in this part (future Moceit, Analogical, Rosleep)

Warnings: perceived transphobia (? I guess), B&E, magic

~~~START~~~

Logan was absolutely fuming.  

Where does that dwarf get off? He thought balefully.  

During their tour of Auradon Prep, Remy had taken him aside while the others were distracted by the useless electives offered by the school. He’d asked Logan if he felt safe and comfortable sharing a dorm room with one of the others.  

Safe and comfortable!  

Logan wondered if the Prince and princess also thought so little of him; he may not be as obviously strong as Remus, or as intimidating looking as Patton, but he was hardly incapable of defending himself. He’d come out on top of the few fights he’d been in on the Isle using either his superior wit or agility.  

Safe and comfortable, bah! 

What he wouldn’t give to see Remy spend a day on the Isle of the Lost. The poor sap wouldn’t even last an hour.  

In fact, Logan had yet to see a single person in Auradon who’d last more than a day on the Isle.  

Safe and comfortable indeed.  

Logan ended up sharing a room with Remus — not his first choice, but a significantly better option than his twin, at least this one had a brain (it was significantly lacking compared to Logan’s, but still miles ahead of Roman’s).  

The dorm room ended up being bigger than Logan’s whole house on the Isle. The beds were soft and covered with more pillows and blankets than any one person could possibly need. There was a large bookcase already full of — completely undamaged — books, two large and well-stocked desks, a seating area complete with a leather sofa and two armchairs, and the absolute largest television screen sitting above the fireplace. They’d even each been given computers — an item that never made it to the Isle.  

It was large, it was opulent, and it was only a dorm room. No wonder Auradonians were so soft.  

As soon as the Prince and company took their leave, Remus overturned his satchel, and dumped a pile of stolen items onto his bed.  

“I see you waste no time,” Logan observed, glancing distastefully at the pile. “Is that the princess’s ring?” 

“Yeah, you want it?” Remus cackled, holding the black band out to Logan, who simply rolled his eyes.  

“No, I think not.” 

“Your loss,” Remus shrugged, tossing the ring over his shoulder. It made a plink when it hit the bare wood flooring, but neither boy paid it any attention.  

Logan surveyed Remus’s bounty for a moment before selecting a bookmark with a blue tassel and a gilded tree on it.  

“I am taking this,” he informed his roommate. He didn’t particularly have need for this specific token, but Remus hardly had any use for it.  

“Sure,” Remus replied dismissively, too busy trying on the different accessories he’d pilfered.  

Patton and Roman didn’t join them until after sunset, in which time Remus had become bored of his treasures and had discovered some sort of interactive game on the television, and Logan had set upon himself to figure out how the computer worked.  

“You’re going to get us caught!” Patton hissed, taking in Remus’s pile. “If they send us back to the Isle before we find that wand because you can’t help but steal anything that so much as sparkles–!” 

“Chill, boss man,” Remus sighed, pausing his video game. “These rich kids probably misplace things all the time; I doubt they’ll even waste the time searching for these; they’ll just buy new ones.” 

“You don’t even need these things! What’s even the point of taking them?” 

“Uh, fun?” Remus laughed. “Because I can? Since when do I need a reason?” 

“SINCE YOU'RE PUTTING THE ENTIRE PLAN IN JEOPARDY!” Patton yelled before forcefully reeling himself in. “This is our one chance to prove ourselves to our parents; our one chance to prove that we are evil, and vicious, and ruthless, and cruel!” He seethed through his teeth. “You can take anything you want after we take over Auradon.” 

“Spoilsport,” Remus muttered. “We don’t even know where the wand is. Fairy Godmother certainly isn’t just carrying it around with her.” 

“That’s what mom gave me this for,” Roman said, waving the little mirror around before taking a seat at the table. “Mirror mirror, on the table; show us Fairy Godmother’s wand– er, if you’re able?” 

“‘If you’re able’?” Patton mocked, coming up behind him to look at the mirror.  

“It had to rhyme!” 

“Did it though?” Logan asked, taking a seat across from Roman at the table.  

“Yes! I–” 

Remus snatched the mirror from his brother while he was distracted and held it aloft. “’Sup Mirror, where did my dumbass brother hide his diary?” 

“HEY!” Roman jumped to his feet, trying to take the mirror back before Remus found what he was looking for, resulting in a tussle between the two.  

“If you break the mirror before we find the wand, I will make both of you regret it,” Patton hissed. “Do you understand me?” 

“Aww, what’re you gonna do?” Remus teased, allowing Roman to take the mirror back from him (though Logan had no doubt that he’d gotten what he was looking for first). “You gonna spank us, daddy? Spank our bottoms like the bad little boys we are?” 

Patton’s face turned from green to red. He tried valiantly to make it look like the change came from anger, but Logan could tell that it was more from embarrassment than anything else.  

“Magic Mirror, where is Fairy Godmother’s wand?” Roman asked in an attempt to move on from this subject completely.  

The mirror displayed an image of the wand that Maleficent had shown them earlier. It was on a golden stand, but other than that, the image was too close to display any indications of where it was.  

“Is that the best it can do?” Patton asked.  

“Magic Mirror, not so close,” Roman tried again. 

The image zoomed out until it showed a large building with a sign above the door that read “Museum of Cultural History”.  

“Where’s that?” 

Logan typed “Museum of Cultural History” into the search bar of the computer and clicked on the “Map” option.  

“It is less than three miles from here. The building is closed for the night.” 

“Great, then no one will notice us stealing it,” Roman reasoned.  

“We have to get in first,” Logan pointed out. How were four teenagers — who were vastly unfamiliar with the technology of Auradon — supposed to break into a museum and steal the wand, surely there would be complex security systems in place.  

“That’s what I have this for,” Patton said, holding up his mother’s spell book.  

Logan wasn’t particularly convinced — seeing as how Patton had just gotten the spell book and had absolutely no experience performing magic and all — but he was outvoted and ignored as the four VKs made their way quickly and discreetly out of their dorm building, across Auradon Prep’s campus, and through Auradon’s capital city of Beladam to the Museum.  

The museum thankfully was surrounded by a wooded area that, according to a plaque on site, was “dedicated to an interactive history experience.” Regardless of whatever that meant, the remote location of the museum gave them room to move without too many chances for witnesses.  

“Check the mirror,” Patton ordered as they approached the building, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.  

“Why?” Roman asked. “Is my mascara smudged?” 

“The wand, Roman!” 

“Oh, yeah. This way.” 

Roman led them around the side towards a back entrance labeled “EMPLOYEES ONLY”. Through the windows of the doors, they could see a security guard sitting with his back to them in front of a bank of monitors.  

“Now what?” Remus asked. “We’ll never get in without him noticing.” 

“Hold on a sec.” Patton pulled out his mother’s spell book, flipping through it quickly. “Okay here. Prick the finger, prick it deep; hurry now, it’s off to sleep.” 

On the word “sleep” he drew a “Z” in the air with his pointer finger. Almost instantly, the security guard’s hand drifted over to a pencil, his finger pressing slightly over the sharpened point; a moment later his head was lulling to the side, and a loud snoring started up.  

“Wow,” Remus commented, impressed.  

Truthfully, Logan was rather impressed himself. Growing up on an island without magic, he’d never seen anyone actually cast a spell before; he wasn’t aware that they could work so quickly, and with such little experience from the spellcaster.  

“Now we just need one to open the door,” Roman pointed out, pushing uselessly at the door to emphasize his point.  

“Leave that to me,” Remus cackled, taking a few steps back in order to charge the door.  

“Door that’s closed, undo the lock; open up without a knock,” Patton recited quickly as Remus began his charge. The door flew open right as Remus was about to make contact, causing Logan’s roommate to fall, unceremoniously, onto the floor of the museum.  

“I could’ve done it,” Remus complained, picking himself off the floor.  

“Yeah, sure you could’ve,” Roman rolled his eyes, giving his twin a shove, which dissolved into a shoving match between the two.  

“Roman!” Patton hissed, growing impatient.  

“Right, right, the wand. Y’know, he started it.” 

“Did not!” 

“Did so!” At Patton’s glare, Roman got back to the matter at hand. “This way!” 

The fourth of them took off, running through the tile halls of the museum at the direction of a tiny hand mirror. Down the hall, up the stairs, down a different hall and finally through a room displaying… 

The statutes were larger than life. The intimidating poses and artistic interpretation casting them as the malicious powerhouses they had once been.  

The Hall of Villains.  

Maleficent was in the center of the room, cloak black as night, dragon wings spread out behind her, acting as arches over the walkways of the display room; her scepter in one hand, faintly glowing and raised to strike. Above her, suspended from the ceiling, her trusty crow, Blight; as big as an eagle, and with his talons ready to grip and tear anyone who got in the way of his mistress.  

Next to the door stood Evil Queen, young and beautiful, and dressed in only the finest robes made with the most expensive pigments. She held a box in her hand — the box that the huntsman had given her, claiming it held Snow White’s heart — and faced away from a large, ornate mirror-frame that hung from the ceiling. on the other side of the frame, an old hag was hunched over, with her back to the frame and holding out a bright, delicious looking red apple to the audience in front of her.  

On the other side of the door, Jafar was coming out of a lamp; his legs were but a tail of smoke ascending from the spout, but his torso and above were extremely human. A giant cobra had its tail curled around the entire display, its head coming up from behind Jafar, its eyes perfect rubies. The parrot, Iago, sat perched on the lamp’s lid, watching the scene before unfold with malicious glee.  

In the back of the room, visible past Maleficent's right wing, Gaston stood, his left leg on the ground, his right on the carcass of a bear. His gun was drawn, and it was aimed directly at the door. Even though he was only a statue (and likely created by someone who had never directly met Logan’s father) the look of pure loathing in his eyes was so painfully familiar, Logan couldn’t look away.  

Peripherally, he was aware that the others were having similar reactions to the statues of their parents. There had to be at least a dozen statues in The Hall of Villains, but none were as terrifying as their own parents.  

“We should,” Logan said eventually, never breaking eye contact with his father. “We should go. We must be nearing the wand by now.” 

“Right,” Roman agreed slowly, still staring at his mother. “Right. It’s, uh, it’s right through here.” 

He pointed hesitantly towards the back of the display room, where Logan was certain a door must be located, hidden from view by Maleficent’s form.  

Logan followed Roman slowly through the room, never taking his eyes off of Gaston as the less logical part of his brain whispered that he might be real. He might not be just a statue.  

He breathed a sigh of relief once they were finally out of that room, away from those terrifyingly life-like statues.  

The twins continued on, but Logan noticed that Patton had failed to make it through The Hall of Villains.  

“Patton!” He called into the display room as loudly as he dared.  

No response.  

“For the love of all things evil,” Logan muttered under his breath as he steeled himself to go back into that room.  

He avoided even so much as glancing in Gaston's direction this time as he walked back through, rounding Maleficent’s statue to where he had last seen the woman’s son. Patton had drifted into the hall, but had stopped directly in front of his mother’s statue, staring at it with the same level of awe and fear that Logan was sure he had sent his father.  

“Patton,” he tried again, placing his hand on the other boy’s shoulder.  

Patton’s wing shot out to defend him, but luckily it just missed hitting Logan.  

Slowly, Patton came back to himself, eventually turning to look at Logan.  

“If we fail,” he said quietly, almost as if he were afraid of Maleficent hearing him. “The punishments will never end.” 

“We will not fail,” Logan assured him. “Auradon has grown complacent in our parents’ absence; they will never see us coming.” 

“Because we’re rotten,” Patton recited, still somewhat in a daze.  

“To the core,” Logan finished.  

“Right,” Patton said, his resolve visibly strengthening. “We’ll get this wand, and then we’ll show Auradon exactly why they should fear us.” 

He brushed past the statue without further ado, leaving Logan to trail after him.  

By the time they caught up to Roman and Remus, the twins had already located the wand.  

The wand was in the center of a room that had other, lesser, magical artifacts lining the walls. It was resting on top of its golden stand which stood on a pedestal with a glass bell over it. Surrounding the whole pedestal was a barrier that was reminiscent of the one around the Isle of the Lost.  

There was some serious security to deal with before they could access the wand.  

Patton, to his credit, immediately began flipping through his spell book. Remus on the other hand… 

“Stand back,” he grinned, walking right up to the barrier and raising his fist. “I’ve got this.” 

“Wait!” 

“Remus don’t–!” 

But neither Roman, nor Logan’s words could stop him before his fist connected with the barrier.  

The force of Remus’s punch was redirected back at him by the barrier tenfold, sending him flying back through the door towards The Hall of Villains. At the same time, a piercing alarm rang out through the museum to alert security to the breech.  

They ran.  

Roman asked the Mirror how to avoid the security guard, who’d been awoken by the cacophony, so at least they were able to make it out without being caught. Logan even shut off the alarm using the codes that the guard had conveniently left by his station before someone higher up the chain was alerted to the break-in.  

“Nice going, Remus,” Patton groaned as they ran back through the streets towards Auradon Prep. “Now we actually have to go to school tomorrow.” 

~~~END~~~

I love Remus so much and I kinda want to tell you guys why I love him (in this fic) but I also kinda wanna just let it play out

General taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @knight-shives @misunderstood-shadowling

#sanders sides #ts sanders sides #logan sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #descendants au #thursday writes #my writing #sanders sides fanfiction

[wondereads]

Personal Review (05/01/23)

Dragonfall by L. R. Lam

Summary

Arcady is a thief, but they dream of joining Loc's academy and discovering the truth behind their grandfather's conviction and death. Everen is the last male dragon in a dying world destined to save his kind. One night, using an experimental spell, Arcady pulls Everen through the Veil separating their worlds, and they end up with a half-formed dragon-rider bond that hasn't existed for ages since the humans betrayed the dragons and banished them. Everen is tasked with killing Arcady and opening the Veil for the rest of the dragons, but Arcady is focused on a heist that could change their life for good.

Plot 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

This plot could be a little slow in places, but it was really interesting. Despite a lot of this book being dictated by an old prophecy, the one concerning Everen saving the dragons, a lot of it felt character-driven. I appreciated that a lot of the decisions felt pretty reasonable. Before they meet Everen, Arcady is already looking for a partner, someone to trust during their planned heist. The book takes place over two months, so none of the decisions or developing relationships feel particularly rushed. Everen is trained by Arcady for quite a while, and there was a natural progression from event to event.

The worldbuilding of this book was so much fun. Everen being about as foreign as one could get means a lot is explained to him about Loc and the surrounding world. There's a good amount of information about daily life in Loc and the political situation, and I really like the way Lam made gender work there, even if some of the explanations were a little clunky. I loved the way magic worked, draining energy and causing literal hunger. Repercussions for careless use of magic is immediate and visceral, turning people into Starvelings that attack mindlessly. Arcady's family's involvement in the history of Loc is also quite interesting; I have a feeling there will be some good reveals in that area.

Speaking of reveals, there are some in the last few chapters that really work. One of them in particular strikes a great balance between a little bit of foreshadowing that still took me by surprise. I think the ending of the book as a whole is very good. It wraps up nicely with the contained plot (the heist and the thing they're stealing), but there's still so much going on that it definitely makes you want to continue. As someone who struggles with read-one-book-of-a-series-and-never-pick-it-up-again syndrome, it was great.

Characters 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

The characters are so strong in this book. Arcady and Everen are likable protagonists, and their motivations are clear and easy to understand and root for. Despite the fact that they're on different sides of an ancient conflict (though Arcady doesn't really know that), they have surprisingly similar goals. They both want to get revenge for the people they care for—Arcady's family and the dragons—and that drives most of the plot.

Their bond situation is one of the best written ones I've read in a while. The bond forces them to spend time together since any injury to one of them affects the other, but it doesn't cause them to like each other or anything like that. Instead, Arcady and Everen spend a ton of time together over the course of multiple months, and their relationship builds slowly and realistically. One crucial part of the bond is that any skin-to-skin contact drains Everen's magic to Arcady, so they avoid touching as much as they can, which leads to them literally dancing around each other at some points. The tension between them is just so well done, and I was thoroughly invested.

As for the side characters, there are two major ones who regularly get their own POVs. Sorin, an assassin trained by a mysterious priest with a very complicated relationship to him, and Cassia, Everen's sister stuck back in the world of the dragons, Vere Celene. I found Sorin in particular very interesting since her verging-on-worship devotion makes me hesitant about the man she serves, Magnes, but I really can't get a read on him. Cassia was a great look into how things were going back in Vere Celene, but I do think her own personality isn't quite a fleshed out.

Of the other side characters, I want to mention the Marricks, an organization of thieves that Arcady has a contentious past with. Arcady's relationship to their leader, Larkin, was complicated to say the least, and I can't help but hope that they get an opportunity for reconciliation at some point.

Writing Style 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

I absolutely love how Lam worked with perspective in this book. First, the two main characters, Arcady and Everen, have their chapters in first person while any extra POVs, such as Sorin and Cassia, are in third person, which is a strategy I've seen used before. However, one unique trait was that in Everen's chapters, Arcady is referred to as 'you' instead of by their name or any third-person pronouns. First, it's a clever way to work with Arcady since they use any pronouns; even though most characters default to they/them for them (hence my use of it in this review), a true representation of their identity would be switching, which can get confusing for a reader. Second, it makes Everen's perspective much more intimate, hints towards the end of the book, and helps the reader connect to Arcady that much more.

As for the writing itself, it didn't blow me away or anything, but it was still great. Like I said before, the tension between Arcady and Everen is immaculate, and I also really like the descriptions of magic, especially the hunger that accompanies it.

Overall 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

I'm really glad I got an ARC of this book because I really enjoyed it! I particularly liked Arcady, Everen, and their relationship, but the plot is solid and interesting, and the writing does something new. The only downside to this is that it's going to be at least a year before the next book comes out. While there's some intense cliffhangers at the end of this book, I don't really know how the next one is going to go, and I am very curious. In the meantime, I do recommend this book, especially for anyone looking for a slow burn fantasy romance with a bit more substance to it. And dragons, which is a good enough reason alone to read any book.

The Author

L. R. Lam: British (expatriate American), 34, also wrote the Micah Grey series, Seven Devils, and Goldilocks

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every week, and I do themed recommendations every once in a while. I take suggestions! Check out my about me post for more!

#books #reviews #dragonfall #l r lam #fantasy #na #fantasy romance #dragons #high fantasy #forced proximity #prophecies

[azuryuu]

twst yuusona profile - yuu h.

« isn’t it funny, how you can live so near and never notice. »

yuu h. is a first-year and the one (out of the two human students in his dorm) who holds the position of dorm head of ramshackle. he is generally well-liked by both peers and professors alike due to his cordial and obliging nature. it is intelligent and mild-mannered, but tends to keep to himself, so it is easily forgettable.

technical information

name: “yuu” 

japanese: ユウ

other names: 

herbivore (leona)

ghostie (moon)

shrimp/y (floyd)

monsieur rusé (rook)

child of man (malleus)

prefect/class pres[ident] (by most students)

dorm leader/dorm leader yuu (kat, only to tease/taunt)

voice claim: vy2 yuuma [sample 1] [sample 2]

biographical information

gender: gender apathetic

pronouns: he refers to itself using he/it pronouns. it doesn’t particularly care what others call him.

sexual orientation: greyromantic asexual

age: 19

birthday: 28th of august (chosen by ace and deuce since he cannot remember his real birthdate)

starsign: virgo

height: 160cm/5′3 (?) [i am not american]

eye colour: umber brown almost black

hair colour: soot black

homeland:  P███, F████

family: unnamed father, unnamed mother, unnamed older step-sister, unnamed older step-brother

professional status

dorm: ramshackle

school year: first

class: 1-A | student no.14

occupation: student | prefect/dorm leader | class president/representative

club: equestrian club

best subject: magic analytics/enigmics | potions/potionology | flying

worst subjects: none 

disability accommodations: modified PE grading due to health reasons

fun facts

dominant hand: right

favourite food: spicy stir-fried octopus (nakji-bokkeum)

least favourite food: raw red onions

dislikes: complacency | oversleeping | going too far behind schedule | being ignored

hobby: playing the piano | reading | learning new things, studying

talents: lockpicking | going unnoticed

appearance

yuu has short straight dark brown hair, with the fringe being parted to the right. the fringe is slanted to the point that the hair on the left side is noticeably much longer than the right, ending just barely past his left eye, only just grazing the bottom of it. because of this, its left eye is usually obscured.

his eyes are a much darker brown than his hair, so dark that it almost appears fully black, the pupil blending in and indistinguishable from the iris, even from up-close. sometimes, they are able to take a lighter quality, glinting almost ivory. it usually wears rimless oval glasses that he removes when appropriate (completely removed during PE uniform & suitor suit, or when wearing goggles in his labwear & beans day outfit).

he has a beauty mark below his lip on the left side of his face and below his right eye on the bottom-left corner. under his typical night raven college uniform wear, yuu has a rather lanky and almost frail-looking body. despite his tan skin, it’s marked with such sickly pallor that he almost looks like he could drop dead at any moment.

its outfit consists of a white short-sleeved dress shirt and grey waistcoat under the typical nrc black suit jacket with golden accents which it leaves unbuttoned, and a striped bow around his neck, which he seems to always tie crooked. tied around his left arm is a white ribbon with a black stripe running down its length, fastened in place by the golden dorm crest. it also wears a pair of black slacks and light grey socks accompanied by black oxfords.

personality

yuu is rather well known on campus, for not only being only one of two magicless student who ended up in a prestigious private school for highly talented magical practitioners, but also for being incredibly highly accomplished despite its lack of magical affinity. its professors enjoy its presence for yuu is very diligent and industrious, excelling in all classes; its peers enjoys its presence for yuu is very pleasant to speak to and overall, very helpful (even if the more opportunistic students ends up trying to take advantage of yuu’s generosity - they quickly learn that yuu can quickly become very unsympathetic and stern, however). 

regardless if it’s about classes, note revisions, tutoring, or even mediating conflict between students or student & professor, yuu proves itself to being a very capable class representative, unfaltering and unintimidated by anything. naturally, he is very polite and composed, but also affable, always speaking demurely with a small smile that makes him look friendly and approachable. it is very clever and always chooses its words so that the person he is speaking to feels as though they are listened to, makes them think that they are smart and are the one controlling the conversation.

but under his surface level geniality, yuu has the emotional range and reactivity of a dead fish. he is someone that is easy to be acquaintances with, but hard to be friends with. he is someone you don’t hate, but you don’t particularly like either. it is very hard to get close to it as it rarely speaks about itself, nor does it start conversations or reach out to others, always passively responding to questions, only speaking when spoken to. it is distant and indifferent to most, and tends to be aloof and keep to itself. because of this, it is very good at being boring and being ignored

in that end, it is very good at being forgettable. all it needs to do is stick its nose in a book, and it is like he has disappeared into thin air; yuu is someone that puts forwards the image of someone dull and unremarkable: ‘he is a good student, but not much else beyond that’. yuu is an uninteresting person and doesn’t try to associate with the other students beyond pleasantries and favours.

yuu is a stranger, and its cordial demeanour and unassuming disposition belies a more cunning streak.

skills and abilities

despite being magicless, yuu is able to thrive by being a jack of all trades.

social butterfly yuu has the ability to adapt to and work with just about anyone, able to endear itself and integrate into any group. not many people can say that they dislike him, and many people can vouch for his convivial and considerate nature. this works to his advantage as people seldom suspect him or believe accusations towards him, even when he is actually the culprit behind something.

↳ “captain of köpenick” yuu is very good at pretending: he can ‘fit in’ in any situation or environment, able to do whatever he wants to achieve by acting as if he already has the authority to do so in the first place; his act is so organic that no one really questions it, despite nrc not being in any shortage of sceptics - even if someone does suspect him, they’re not quite able to tell what yuu’s motives are.

notable example includes the time yuu began regularly attending dorm leader meetings despite never being invited in the first place, due to ramshackle’s (and therefore his title’s) provisionary status.

↳ negotiator owing to his familiarity with psychology and social engineering, along with being raised around his politician father, yuu is adept at navigating social situations, knowing the precise words and phrases to get or hear exactly what he wants, to make others think and feel how he wants them to, to project a specific image of himself that is tailored for the other’s consumption. 

on the flipside, this skill has become very useful in helping him peacefully resolve any conflicts or disagreements, and defusing arguments from becoming fights. talking one’s way out of trouble comes in handy as yuu possesses no magic to defend himself with, and it’s very good for his (and his dorm’s, including the other one student in it) reputation.

↳ grey rock his amiable personality can easily be switched on and off at yuu’s convenience. when it has no need to garner attention, yuu easily shuts himself off and makes itself as dull and boring as possible, becoming uninteresting and unremarkable. indeed, outside of being helpful and being a good student, his peers don’t know much about it as a person.

sometimes, the best defence is simply to be underestimated and unnoticed.

sure-footed despite the usual drag of his feet, it’s really only a habit he enforces when he wants others to hear him. yuu actually has naturally good balance and silent steps, as proven by how agile and light-footed he is, taking full advantage of his smaller stature. ergo, yuu is very good at running away, dodging, and avoiding. its good balance has led to him quickly picking up flying and becoming rather skilled, albeit still green.

↳ regal he has a very prideful, dignified way of carrying himself that almost demands respect and attention, which he tones down unless he’s at a formal function where he needs to appear noble. this was a disposition he had been groomed into from a young age by his parents, and becomes something akin to second nature to him, much like the honeyed empty flattery that he spits out easily.

↳ scrappy when running away and becoming avoidant, his usual m.o., is no longer viable, yuu is capable of holding his own in a fight. landing a hit on him is actually rather difficult as it is a small, nimble target. but due to its lack of formal self-defense or martial arts training, yuu’s way of fighting is erratic and unpredictable, but inefficient. nevertheless, he makes up for his lack of technique with sheer violence and abject refusal at admitting defeat.

quick study yuu has a very strong memory and is naturally clever, able to quickly pick a subject up, whether it be humanities or sciences, even something it has never seen before, very quickly when interested or obliged to. as such, he can learn the essentials of new material he was introduced to in twisted wonderland with remarkable speed and ease. coupled with his passion to learn and irreproachable studiousness, it would be hard to imagine yuu anywhere but at the top of his grade’s ranking board. 

↳ investigative when something has piqued yuu’s interest, it is skilled at sleuthing out clues and can competently gather information from others. on top of having very good memory that allows it to recall minute details that was mentioned months prior, yuu is highly capable of parsing through its thoughts and findings to come to a(n often) correct conclusion.

notably, yuu was capable of deducing fairly early on that scarabia’s vice leader’s UM has to do with manipulation by using the dorm leader’s slip up, and has therefore quickly grown distrusting and wary around him.

↳ artful yuu is someone who can craft a way out of any situation, his perceptive and calculating nature coming together into a fearsome cunning. he is not someone who acts on impulse: he plans and deliberates before speaking, before making his move, and with it, he has already thought of a plan B, and a backup plan for that plan B to go with it. this way, it ensures it will always come out the victor and have the last laugh by outsmarting the other.

it is a facet of yuu that people seldom think he possesses due to his unassuming and guileless disposition, causing others to underestimate him and believe him to be naïve, which works to its favour. 

↳ polyglot yuu is fluent in at least 12 languages, 10 of which are languages spoken in his original world (including french). the rest are the languages he has since picked up in twisted wonderland, which includes the “universal language” spoken in that world and the different tongues he has learnt in animal languages class.

it enjoys learning different languages as a way to challenge itself, but also because the connection between languages fascinates it, loving how the more languages he knows, the easier learning the next one becomes.

lockpicking a skill that yuu actually picked up on a whim. he had started watching videos about lockpicking once on youtube and got hooked, wanting to try his hand at it. after ordering the proper tools and practicing, it came to learn that it was rather talented at the act. it’s now incredibly proficient at the trade, capable of breaking into complex locks within seconds. for the most part, it continues to practice to keep its fingers occupied and dexterous, not to mention that it also enjoys finding out what mechanisms makes up a new lock he hasn’t encountered before, applying past experiences to deduce how to unlock this one.

trivia

yuu is not his real original name. he made it up on the spot when crowley asked for his name;

yuu’s second home is the campus library, almost always found there studying, to the point that yuu has become highly acquainted with the library’s collection. if someone needs to find a certain book or wants a complimentary reading for a class, yuu would be able to provide guidance;

being an avid reader, yuu devours books at a shockingly rapid pace. he can get through 3 books a day and over 100 books a year. his room in ramshackle is a mess of book piles as he has run out of space in his bookshelf and has begun stacking books on the floor, which grim takes great glee in knocking down;

it always wakes up at 5am every morning;

in book 3, yuu reveals he has self-diagnosed thalassophobia - the fear of large bodies of water;

a nautilus shell is tied to his messenger bag for decoration. yuu likes to bring it up to its ear because it can hear the sound of the sea from within;

after the events of book 6, yuu starts wearing a plain silver ring on his right index finger;

if yuu had magic, he would probably be sorted into octavinelle or pomefiore;

#twisted wonderland oc #twisted wonderland mc #twst oc #twst mc #twst yuu #-; yuu stranger lore #-; my writing #the skill part was a stupid amount of fun to write #it was like making a skill tree

[yomiurinikei]

Like LINJU has great designs for majority of the characters, to big details to the small things. (When I was sdra2 Utsuro I thought the design was so cool, lol I just liked the jacket on shoulders) but then Kinjo's design was messed up. I'm a bit of a fan of the eye being there always to show how Tsurugi life was in Utsuro hands but I don't understand why it looks like it hurts his skin? Like we don't see that for the void and none of them mention about their eye hurting (aka, Nikei cause he would probably the only one who could tell them). Kinjo deserved better.

sorry sorry sorry anon i am so sorry i just want you to know this ask may be the thing that ends my like. over four years running this blog. not this ask particularly but i’ve been seeing such. wildly different takes from what i’m used to and it’s. they’re not wrong. but i have -3 clue where anyone is getting their information and on the one hand, semi seriously, im nervously remembering back when unintentional misinformation was huge and people ended up believing a bunch of like… headcanons to be fact…..

but on a more lighthearted note. man i just remember everyones theory being that tsurugis eye was to show his negative development and the way the game messed him up. objectively worse than the others, and that the scarring was from him trying to gouge it out, like… landslide plays in the background oh my goddd 😭

anyways anyone remember my planned series talking shit about linujs designs? i canceled it (as opposed to just never finishing it) but damn there’s another example….

ANYWAYS sorry i did not answer your question whatsoever i just rambled. anyways. yeah the theory i always stuck with was that the discoloration was a result of an attempt to. “fix” his eye brought on by not being well mentally which resulted in just hurting himself, hence the discoloration (with it here being like… scarring!)

we also never got much explanation on the eyes in general… i always viewed them as just being a thing linuj included for dramatic effect cuz that kinda stuff is fun and then the kinjo eye was parallels yk yk

[trshltna-blog]

Social Media, Memes and….*sighs*, Malaysian Politics

Before I begin, I’d like to address that I am not particularly fond of Malaysian politics, but will try to explain this week’s topic through the mind of someone who regularly uses Social Media, just not for politics.

Generally, social media has been a primary source for politics in terms of sharing information and announcing unexpected political happenings. In Malaysia, it is known that most politicians are on social media applications such as Twitter and Instagram. With the platform presented to them, they’re able to advocate for their standing party and have the freedom to say what they want to say. Comparing traditional media and the media we consume now, it is certain how much social media has a one up the game for politics. News gets spread faster, and not only politicians are involved, but generally the people of the country who voted. Even those who didn’t vote, get the participate.

All thanks to the freedom of social media, and yes, this is where memes come in.

Let’s go back in time shall we? To the year 2020…

When everything Covid-19 related happened around the world and in Malaysia, Malaysia was also going through a political crisis where there was a sudden switch in the cabinet. There was an immediate meeting of leaders that was held on the 23rd February 2020, about 3 weeks before national lockdown. Crazy, right? Everything else was happening and these people decided to make even more controversies within the country. Then again, I was only 18, an avid user on Twitter whilst scrolling thru my feed of constant tweets about the changes happening. Leaders from several factions of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) were called to Sheraton Hotel, Petaling Jaya, which somehow, lead to Tun Mahathir Mohamad resigning as the Prime Minister, and then forming a whole new government under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Zainuddin 2020). This whole situation was then known as the “Sheraton Move”, where they planned to topple the PH government. To sum all that up, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin ended up being the Prime Minister, with the 3rd ever government we have in Malaysia (IISS 2020)…

…only to step down the following year on the 16th of August 2021 becoming the caretaker Prime Minister, with Ismail Sabri Yakoob replacing him as our Prime Minister, for now.

Okay, I’m going to stop here, it’s getting confusing, but you get the gist. Malaysian politics are a full on mess.

While I have to admit I only knew the full story today because of this week’s topic blog, memes have helped me somewhat understood the situation and honestly made the whole thing lighter and more engaging. Personally, I do think memes are this generation’s way of coping with almost anything, considering the fact that we’ve been told that we’re unserious and unaware. But, I don’t think that’s the case. With social media, the birth of memes were born. What better way to convey the slight snooze-fest of politics with none other than.. fun loving memes? Relating to last week’s post, our generation loves visuals, and memes just sums up all that. A whole situation or message being conveyed in 1 fulfilling meme. Quite entertaining if I do say so myself.

With that, I do believe that memes and politics somehow do go hand in hand together, especially in this decade. Jokes aside and all, considering memes are joke-filled, memes grab the attention of most social media users. People like me who aren’t really aware, get attracted to these memes posted only to be curious about the context behind it. For me, that works, and I’m sure it works for other people as well. One can put it in a way as if memes are a head start before a plane takes off, thus the plane being any types of news. In this case, political news.

Take this meme below, for example. I saw this about a year ago circulating on Twitter and was really confused at first on what was going on. From there I made the initiative to search up what all this was about, and it seemed like it was just Dr. Mahathir and his tricks, as usual.

Okay enough of that, it’s in the past now.

As I’m typing this out, GE15 candidates have been announced so do vote if you can! For the betterment of Malaysia and many more political memes to come 🇲🇾

#mda20009 #week5 #politicalengagement

References :

[iwannaban0nym0us]

So, I’m back! The trip was really fun and we did a lot of cool outdoors activities (including a snowball fight which was so fun) but y’all get to hear the queer and emotional parts of the story

So, to start off, my grayfriend was supposed to go on this trip with me but got covid a couple days before and therefore couldn’t come. My grayfriend collects snow globes and was planning on buying (at least) one on the trip. I’m really happy because i was able to find one (that’s a frog (which must be gay) none the less) that I bought for them and will give to them in person as a gift next time I see them

Switching gears now; I’m really happy that I was passing most of the trip. I think almost every single one of the strangers and guides and such read me as a guy which was really awesome since I’m transmasc. Oh and also my ticket had my chosen name on it even though my name hasn’t been legally changed yet!!!

Ok, next part of the story—bathrooms, every trans (and particularly nonbinary) person’s worst nightmare when traveling. Before I get into what happened on the trip for context I came out at the very beginning of the school year and am pretty openly trans. I’m transmasc and I present really masculine, despite the fact that I’m not a binary guy. This makes figuring out which bathroom to use really hard. At school it’s much easier since there’s gender neutral bathrooms (however out of the way they may be) while only like 3 places on the trip had that option.

I’m pretty sure that once we got on the bus for the first time every time I used the bathroom I ended up using either a gender neutral bathroom or the men’s room which is still kinda insane for me to believe. What I discovered during the trip is that girls I know even a little bit don’t question me if I go in the women’s room, while guys I know only a little bit give me weird looks in the men’s room but guys I know decently well are chill if I use the men’s room. Whereas when it comes to strangers I didn’t get a single weird look in the men’s room the whole trip while the like 2 times I used the women’s room at the airport I had 2 different people walk in see me and then turn around and look to see if they were in the right restroom. Which I guess means I’m passing but also really sucks because that gesture feels like them saying that I don’t belong there, and if I don’t belong there where do I belong? 

Given all of that information you’d probably think it’s an easy decision and I should just use the men’s room, right? Wrong. I don’t have a stp nor do I really want one which means that I can’t use a urinal. The problem with the men’s room is that it’s a toss up if there will be enough stalls for there to be one open for me to use. While in the women’s room I know there’s only stalls and if all the stalls are busy it’s normal to wait in line for them.

I did end up choosing the men’s room most of the time, partly because I went to the bathroom with guy friends and at least at the beginning of the trip I was not confident enough to go into any bathroom alone, and partly because I don’t know if I could of have taken any more of those questioning looks from random women. Surprisingly I think I only ran into the problem of all of the stalls being full like twice and one of those times was at the airport on the first day where I just ended up using the women’s room so idk if that one really counts.

Also it drove me crazy that our bus driver would constantly say things like ‘ladies and gentlemen’, ‘boys and girls’, ‘men and women’ and so on since he basically implied that I don’t exist.

Alright, last point, I think. So my crush who’s a cis guy on the boy’s soccer team and the programing sub-team on the robotics team went on the same trip as me. Before the trip I knew him maybe a bit better than someone who I’m not friends with but like have classes with. The first day or so I was way too nervous to do much more than say hi to him even though he was sitting across the aisle from me on the bus. I told my grayfriend about this and vae tried to hype me up and give me a little bit of their confidence but it didn’t work that day. 

Since none of my crushes friends were on the trip he ended up rooming with one of my friends and like through that I slowly started to talk to and hang out with him more. By the end of the trip I think I may be at the point where I could consider him a friend, or at least pretty close to one. Conversations with him don’t feel one sided at all anymore and he’s started initiating conversations with me instead of purely the other way around. Also like we were in the same group for most of the activities on the last like 2 days, including him sitting behind me when we went rafting and doing a trail run together (along with a few other friends).

Also because he spent a lot of time with my guy friends I also spent a bunch of time with (like purely) my guy friends which was super euphoric.

Overall I feel like the trip was a pretty big success for me as a transmasc mspec gay.

#me #personal #gay #trans #transmasc #mspec gay #crush #enby #nonbinary #bathrooms