#knows what the truth of ORFs is really like

[not-poignant]

That excerpt got me excited to read the next chapter of UtB! Kadek is a character we didn't get to explore much in FFS so I'm pumped. Question: does Kadek's past actions at the other rehabilitation facility still effect him? Does he see himself as a perpetrator or deal with any self-hatred? Does he suffer from his PTSD or something like second-hand trauma? I know that being violent towards others/hurting others or seeing other people suffer can cause a trauma response. So I'm curious

Hi anon,

A person who can honestly call what they've done 'rape' instead of 'oh I mean technically it was rape and they still wanted it' is definitely in the arena of seeing himself as a perpetrator and still being affected by it. He literally says to Efnisien that he's allowed to think of Kadek as a monster, because Kadek was a monster. He calls the story 'a sad story.' The story is literally in relation to him talking about how fucked up the world is. So a lot of the answers to your question/s are actually in the excerpt that mentions all this stuff in the language Kadek is using.

People who haven't taken responsibility for their actions talk about the act of rape in a very different way. And Kadek will talk more about it and it should become a lot clearer even after those first two paragraphs talking about the story.

(More to follow, also just a correction that it's not at all secondhand trauma to hurt someone else, that is 100% primary trauma).

Also, being a rapist isn't 'secondhand trauma.' It's just straight-up traumatising to many people, and fractures their personality to a degree where they can often no longer confront reality afterwards. It's especially traumatising to people who don't realise they're raping someone (usually due to ignorance / lack of education / misogyny) and then become aware, and then have to deal with the aftermath of that. Intentional rapists experience a different journey to people who really don't think of themselves that way, and then find out they're in the category of rapist anyway, which is what Kadek is.

Accidentally inflicting trauma on someone and realising later is traumatic. It's not 'secondhand trauma' by default (though that can be there too - there's 100% primary trauma). If you hit an animal with your car and kill or hurt it, that's not 'secondhand trauma' because the animal was likely more hurt than you were. That's primary trauma, it often can cause post-trauma and even PTSD. If you hit/injure/kill someone with your car, that's not secondhand trauma, even though the other person died and you still lived, that's a hell of a primary trauma likely compounded with survivor's guilt.

Even Efnisien in Falling Falling Stars doesn't have secondhand trauma from hurting Gwyn. He has primary trauma over it, that's why he has panic attacks when he thinks about hurting people and animals in the future. That's just straight-up PTSD. You may not have read that though, anon! But it's a decent exploration of perpetrator + victim PTSD if I do say so myself. :)

People who learn they have hurt other people or animals, and who didn't want to do that, experience primary trauma if they're genuinely able to comprehend the hurt that they've caused.

So we know from the excerpt that Kadek sees himself as the perpetrator because he calls it rape and calls himself a monster, and talks like someone who has owned the reality of what he's done. When folks use this kind of language (and they're not intentionally being manipulative, and we have no reason to believe Kadek is), it means they're owning responsibility. It is people who defer or refuse to own responsibility who will not see themselves as a perpetrator. These people do not call what they've done rape. In fact they will go out of their way to call it literally anything else.

Generally, a person who calls themselves a monster has experienced some self-hatred over what they've done (Falling Falling Stars actually confronts this too!)

As for everything else, you'll find out in the chapter! :D Kadek's definitely talking about the story of how he found out that what he was doing was bad, so we will get to hear how that happened, and what the aftermath was.

#asks and answers #kadek setiawan #efnisien ap wledig #underline the black #people who can say 'this is rape and i've done this' #are people who see themselves as perpetrators #but yeah i wanted to be clear that is 100% not secondhand trauma #it's just straight up trauma to the people who realise #that's why it's so hard for folks when they hit someone with their car #and people who discover they've sexually assaulted someone #after the fact #often go through a similar process of realisation #it doesn't have to hurt your body to be profoundly traumatising #i'd say kadek more than anyone else at Hillview #knows what the truth of ORFs is really like #but Hillview all along has been very clear that they are places where rape happens #and we know that this is where Kadek comes from #since Gary shares that with Efnisien in an early chapter lkdsfjsa

[sasster]

Orf, feel free to like. Disregard this question, but may I ask why not just...casually put a knife through Dominion since you had future sight and his trust? Certainly it wouldve fixed stuff? Mainly asking out of curiosity, and if Harlan is acting as some important keystone that killing(in Zurven time period) would lead to an even worse timeline somehow.

Cause, like. I know you two were close. But if the oppurtunity arises any of the trio would probably maim him, and we'd not want to deviate into a worse timeline.

>Okay, he was gently crying before but now he is full on bawling. The fun police is really not going to be happy about this one. He reaches to wipe his tears away in vain. They continue to fall.

>Don't you understand what it means to be hopelessly devoted to someone? To have known someone for your entire life and loved them so completely? It was clear, Orfuses only goal was to help him. He did not want him gone, he wanted him to get better.

"Kill him? You wanted me to kill one of the loves of my life! The first love of my life? A piece of me certainly would have gone with him.."

>He sniffs, he clears his throat. He tries his damnedest to get the tears to stop. But he can't. He failed Harlan. He failed Veylin, and Zurven, and Benjin. The truth was simple, even if he were standing directly in front of Harlan right now.

>He would not be able to plunge a knife into his heart. That was his best friend, you animal. He loves him.

"My timeline jumping friend.. You will find, just as previously discussed. I am a flawed man."

"Fret not about our trio killing him, his death will not come for a long time yet."

#the evocator #anonymous #askter

[leoninapelliolovesconchitawurst]

ENGLISH TRANSLATION (by me)

"FAZ" Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 01.12.2019

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/conchita-wurst-tom-neuwirth-ueber-drag-queens-16511939.html

Interview by Tobias Rüther

Photos by Tobias Schmitt

I love myself incredibly

Why is the truth in the costume? A conversation with the man who became famous as Conchita Wurst - and now brings Drag Queens to German television

"I knew as a young child, I'm a star," says Tom Neuwirth, also known as Conchita Wurst. "Now I know it again." The picture was taken behind the scenes in the rehearsal building of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra

Nuremberg. End of November: Tom Neuwirth, world famous as Conchita Wurst, is in town to perform with the symphonic and jazz arranger Thilo Wolf in the Meistersingerhalle. In 2014 he won the Eurovision Song Contest as a beautiful, bearded singer, Conchita with "Rise Like A Phoenix". Now the 31-year-old Austrian with short hair in black overalls appears for discussion, which takes place between the meter-thick walls of the Congress Hall where the symphonic musicians are at home. Just now "Truth over Magnitude" (Sony) has been released. On his third album, the artist operates under: Wurst.

FAZ: You're doing electropop now. Nonetheless, on the new album, it always draws you back to the theatricality of "Rise Like a Phoenix". Do you see yourself as an artist?

My musical interests range from Céline Dion to Björk. There is a lot possible. But this drama will never be lost. That's how I perform, that's how I live music. I really enjoy electro-pop, but in the end it's always the same voice that sings.

FAZ: Do not you have a picture of yourself when you sing?

No, I see the emotion that triggers the song in me, and I have pictures in my head. For some songs, I need a speed in how I move, how I look at the audience. I translate that. And sometimes these are big gestures. And sometimes smaller ones.

FAZ: You have created an art figure, but wearing your heart on your sleeve. This tension between - I play a role but I have important things to say: how do you deal with it?

Of course it is inauthentic, especially in terms of the visual. And maybe it's the language that Conchita spoke. But it is a part of me. That's all me. I can be anything from the friendliest person who can cross your path, to the most unpleasant of all. That's why I'm sometimes extremely theatrical and sometimes not at all. That's why I think less about whether that is a contradiction. I'm just like that. I do what my body tells me.

FAZ: There is an artistic tradition of being able to play a role in order to act out on stage, something that you can not show in everyday life - but then just protected in this role.

Of course I have a different attitude when I'm wearing a long-haired wig or short hair. But I do not restrict myself. Not in private. If it turns out, I can also entertain people at the supermarket. That's why it is less dependent on the surface, although of course the inside and outside mix.

FAZ: You often tell how you, as a little boy, wore your mother's clothes even before you had a word for what you feel, that you are gay. But the costume had already given it a shape, as if it were a liberation.

What I probably did not know before. Probably that's it. When I come across early interviews, I often think, Ah, I've really learned in recent years. Also about me.

FAZ: At the moment you are part of the jury of Heidi Klum's "Queen of Drags", in which ten candidates compete against each other. Drag queens have played an important role in homosexual emancipation. Again, this tension: The truth is in the costume. No one sits there with a guitar around the campfire and sings his soul out of his body. A facade is created, and yet it is about the innermost of the innermost.

But it has exactly the same authenticity as campfire music. The worlds that these ten artists created, that they have come up with. That is their truth of beauty and aesthetics and form. Yes, it has absolutely something inauthentic, but at the same time something incredibly authentic.

FAZ: As a boy, you played Shirley Bassey, you slipped into a picture, also to find out a truth about yourself. Is this dispute completed?

For me it's all positive. Because I get to know so many facets of myself and perhaps learn much more than other people can or want. That's why I do not see the conflict. I can be this. And I can be that too. I have a variety of things that are good for me, where my heart tells me what the truth is. As a young child, I was incredibly self-confident. And then come all those norms that society puts on us and then you become so incredibly insecure. To come back from there, to say: I knew as a little child, I'm a star, now I know it again.

FAZ: You also said that you wanted to become famous because you are the best at it.

Also there I learned to be famous is in itself totally worthless. But I felt that way, because it is also lived: All who are famous, are happy. Of course that has nothing to do with it. Over time, I have understood that for me the most important thing is to have fun in my life. I want to be able to sit in a crashed plane, sit back in a relaxed mood and say: Okay, when it's time, it's time. I have not reached this condition for a long time yet. But: That's what drives me. I love my friends about everything, I love my family - and I love myself incredibly. Incredibly.

FAZ: Congratulations, that does not succeed for many.

Yes, thank you. And everything that I do, I do, because the way to the final product, like the new album, is the most fun - and this output is the other thing. That's like breathing. I can not express it myself. I also have an opinion on everything. I do not always say it. But that's the engine that drives me. My life goal is to make me happy. I would not say that I'm selfish, but I'm incredibly egocentric.

FAZ: You once called Conchita a "president's wife." Has the over-figure you created become a burden to you?

In between already. That's where the President's wife comes in: she can do certain things, not others, she has to do certain things. I reduced myself extremely to this one color of my character. This has made me unhappy and sick, that has made me lazy, I have lamented - and for a long time did not understand that I am responsible for how my life is going. I've never had a problem with people associating so much with this character because I always step back and say, I say what I say and I do what I do. But not any more.

FAZ: Conchita was immediately understood as a representative of the growing movement for equality of minorities. Did not you exactly plan it?

No, I did not have a plan. I grew up in an inn. Welcome culture is part of the job, and so I was not educated with prejudice. On the contrary. If someone was not treated properly, my parents were the first to say that in our house, that's not possible. This may not be understood as a small child yet. But the older I get, the more I realize that I am also the product of my parents.

FAZ: When Conchita came on stage, she obviously had a responsibility, whether she wanted it or not. And now has to face wishes and demands.

Yes. Others say that. I do not say that. I do not have to do anything. I have to do what my heart tells me.

FAZ: But you understand the wish? You have created a figure that provides such an identification potential that desires come as automatically.

Of course I understand that. But that's where ego-centric comes into play.

FAZ: These claims to Conchita are also loud at "Queen of Drags" again. The show has been criticized for using a subculture for entertainment, moderated by Heidi Klum. And Conchita joins in. Has that bothered you? Or did you think: the next stage to make something visible?

Meanwhile, I also see that the community exploits Heidi Klum. That gave us this slot. Of course it's entertainment and not a science show. But still shows people. Any comment that I see on social media and that says, hey people, I have not seen it that way yet, is already for me: "Yes!" It was the first season. Of course, everyone in the production department thinks: It was a learning process, we already know what we can do better. But I think we are going in the right direction.

FAZ: Science show is an interesting association. Because the question arises, how accurate you must be and how popular it can be, if you have a scene that is so refined ....

... of course it's a scene. But "we" and "the", I find that difficult. Even if it is a community, there are branches that are entertainment. And then there are branches that are serious. Respectively serious. And this show wants to enlighten people in a fun way.

FAZ: Then please clarify me: what's the art of putting on a dress and singing playback?

To be a drag queen means to do everything yourself, at least in the beginning. And you have to do that over a period of time in order to have a certain notoriety, success, in order to earn a living with it at the end. You have to have a sense of aesthetics, be able to make hair, make-up, choreography, you have to be able to dance and, if it's not singing, at least understand how to look at it. At best, one is also good at negotiating contracts. It is an accumulation of talent and know-how, diligence and perseverance. And that you do not stop, even when headwinds come. And then you have to invite people into your own head.

FAZ: "Queen of Drags" is the next reality TV show that brings a minority or subculture to the wider public. There is no Drag Queen show on ARD or ORF, which would do the same thing, but the format "Reality TV" remains suspect.

That's the spirit of the time, right? We do not know what the lever is in fifty years. Kim Kardashian is the face of this decade. It used to be the muses. But I think I do not take it all that seriously.

#conchitawurst #wurst #tomneuwirth #singer #artist #esc2014 #escwinner #music #performer #celebrity #lgbt #interview #translation

[darkestwings]

September 2018 Reading Wrap-Up

The Dream-Maker's Magic by Sharon Shinn (Safe-Keepers, book 3) Rating:  ★★★★★ - loved it Review:  No Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 3 - 6 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  Kellen's time at the Parmer Arms. Least Favorite Thing:  Frederick can choke.

Man I'm so glad I decided to go through this series because this book was so worth it. I will definitely be reading this book again!

My Posts About The Dream-Maker's Magic

I Don't Know What You Know Me From by Judy Greer Rating:  N/A Review:  Yes Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 8 - 9 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  That one quote I pulled? Least Favorite Thing:  So boring!

I really wish I could have liked this book, but I just couldn't find it interesting...

My Posts About I Don't Know What You Know Me From

The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales Rating:  ★★★☆☆ - liked it Review:  Yes Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 8 - 9 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  The bizarre-ness of the case. Least Favorite Thing:  There wasn't really anything I didn't like.

I feel like this was a strange book to like, but I really did like it.

My Posts About The Bling Ring

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno Rating:  ★★★★★ - loved it Review:  No Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 10 - 11 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  The writing style. Least Favorite Thing:  I did not like Lyle even when I was meant to.

Read this book! Read this book! Read it! It is so good I'm going to buy it first chance I get.

My Posts About The Half Life of Molly Pierce

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson Rating:  ★★★☆☆ - liked it Review:  No Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 14 - 19 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  Living Room Theater Least Favorite Thing:  Skeevy Sam gave me the creeps...

It took about half the book before the pace picked up and I could really get into it, but I think that might just be that I don't read contemporary as often. I did enjoy it once I got into it though.

My Posts About Since You've Been Gone

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff Rating:  ★★★★☆ - really liked it Review:  No Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 20 - 22 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  Hannah's extreme thirst for Finny Boone lol No, I'm kidding, it's the homemade Ouija board. Least Favorite Thing:  Hannah's friends all suck.

This is not even a little bit the sort of book I usually read. It's a mystery, a murder one at that, and a little bit spooky which for me is a lot spooky because I'm paranoid as hell.... So I was surprised at how much I liked this story. The beginning seemed a little slow, but it picked up soon and then I couldn't put it down. I definitely recommend this book.

My Posts About Paper Valentine

Orfe by Cynthia Voigt Rating:  ★★★☆☆ - liked it Review:  No Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 23 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  The descriptions of how Enny felt listening to the music. Least Favorite Thing:  All the boyfriends were garbagio.

I read this book for bibliophilicwitch's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon.

My Posts About Orfe

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher Rating:  ★★★☆☆ - liked it Review:  No Format:  Audiobook & Print Reading Dates:  September 23 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  Carrie's poems. Least Favorite Thing:  I can't think of anything...

I read along and listened to this book for bibliophilicwitch's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon.

My Posts About The Princess Diarist

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen Rating:  ★★★☆☆ - liked it Review:  Yes Format:  Print Reading Dates:  July 18 - September 25 Read Count:  2 Favorite Thing:  The chaos of the Wish catering gigs. Least Favorite Thing:  My fear of being too old to relate to these books, and therefore not enjoying them quite as much, has officially been realized.

It took me forever to finish this, my goodness! But I finally did it and even mini-review'd it.

My Posts About The Truth About Forever

Need by Carrie Jones Rating:  ★☆☆☆☆ - did not like it Review:  Yes Format:  Print Reading Dates:  September 26 Read Count:  1 Favorite Thing:  I too would like to leave a trail of glitter wherever I go. Least Favorite Thing:  The entire premise.

Welp, looks like I'll be donating this book... But at least I can cross one more off my TBR Shame List.

My Posts About Need

In Progress

WordPress Book Blog | Goodreads

#bookish #booklr #september 2018 #reading wrap-up #september wrap-up #op

[realtalk-princeton]

Don't know whether to major in ORFE, COS, or ECON. I really love the financial sector in NYC and always wanted to work as an analyst in nyc for a group like goldman or jane street. Do you guys have any suggestions? I'm looking to major in something that will prepare me with the skills needed for finance jobs.

Response from Sulpicia:

Literally dozens of graduates from each of those majors go to jobs like the one you want every year, and so I wouldn’t consider one necessarily “better” than the others. I think that the most important thing is taking coursework across all three departments (plus other relevant departments) that will give you the skills you need, rather than just picking a major. Have you looked at the Finance certificate yet? That might interest you.

Since you can basically go into finance with any major and there’s a lot of crossover between the ones you picked (e.g. it’s totally doable to be an Econ major and get a COS certificate), I would consider which discipline/department you would feel the most comfortable spending two years with. Do you want to be AB or BSE? AB will likely provide more flexibility, but if you have a lot of AP credit BSE might let you take more classes in your area of interest and fewer in random distribution areas. Do you have friends in any department? Ask them what their classes and independent work are like. What sort of academic work do you imagine yourself doing? Ultimately, you major doesn’t matter THAT much because of the flexibility of Princeton coursework, so pick the place where you feel like you will be happiest and most engaged.

Response from Sushi:

Sulpicia ninja’d me but I hadwritten all of this already so I will add it here.

Iwill defer to Pichu, Edamame, Maybach, Harvey, or other contributors if theyhave different opinions on this question since they have more experience in thefield. They are free to delete my answer if they think it’s wrong/insufficient,but I wanted to provide some input from a not-completely-finance perspectivesince you asked about COS as well. I am speaking from the position ofinterviewing at companies such as Goldman/similar companies, as well asinterviewing at trading companies such as Jane Street/similar companies. I alsodid a Princeternship and another program at Jane Street, and lastly, I haveworked at a similar company in the past.

First,I think that you have to define which jobs you are interested in within the“financial sector.” There are hundreds of different kinds of niche jobs infinance. Investment banking is very different than private equity, working fora venture fund, etc. Since you asked about Goldman and Jane Streetspecifically, I will speak to my knowledge of those.

Ananalyst at places like Goldman is very different from being an analyst atplaces like Jane Street. This is evident even from the interviews. I have foundthat Goldman/similar interview is very focused on financial knowledge(terminology from ECO 362 but information from beyond ECO 362). If you applyfor a quant position at Goldman/similar, you will also have to demonstratebasic coding skills (my friends passed the bar with just COS 126). But you doNOT need COS at all for a job at Goldman/similar. You may have to do some extraself-studying because the knowledge gained by the finance certificate is notenough, but it’s mostly just qualitative econ knowledge that you have to know.

Onthe other hand, a Jane Street recruiter told me that they don’t look atpeople’s resumes unless they’ve already taken probability theory (ORF 309 here)for trading positions or functional programming (COS 326 here, they also lookfor algorithms COS 226) for software engineering positions (or have done theequivalent and have sufficient evidence to prove that, such as high level mathcompetitions for trading and a coursera/etc. course and sufficient sideprojects for software engineering). Also, at one of the companies similar toJane Street, a recruiter told me that they don’t even care whether you have anyfinancial background, they just want you to have the problem-solving ability,modeling/statistical analysis ability, and coding ability to take on a positionthere, and they will teach you all the finance when you join.

AlsoI think another consideration in choosing a company that you will ultimatelyend up in is the work-life balance. The lifestyles at these companies are alsovery different: I’ll give two different examples here since both Goldman andJane Street are near the middle of the spectrum of no work-life balance towork-life balance. I’ve heard that at BAML interns work 120+ hours a week,whereas at some more tech-focused trading companies like Citadel, there’s morework-life balance and it’s the very typical 40 hours a week workweek.

Sothe first step is realizing that you probably will need a different skillset tosucceed in acquiring a job at either of these companies. The people I know whointerned at Jane Street are COS or Math majors. The majority of people I knowwho interned at Goldman are COS, ORF, and ECO, though I do know plenty ofhumanities majors there too. Goldman also has a variety of positions. Theirtypical summer analyst position compared to more engineering type quantpositions (though if you want to do quant I would suggest not doing it at an IBplace, since you would probably have a better experience).

Second,however, you can get a job in finance regardless of what you major in, as longas you pass the resume screen and interviews, and you have the requisite skillsneeded for the position. As I said before, I know plenty of non-econ humanitiesmajors who get jobs at Goldman. If you want to work at Jane Street, any of themore mathematically-oriented majors would work, as long as you take therequired ORF/ECO/MAT classes to be considered. I believe Maybach has written atlength about this, and you can view it through the search bar, but it does noteven matter if you are math track or frat track econ to get these jobs. As longas you can pass the interview (there are plenty of resources online about this,also check Glassdoor for specific questions for specific companies), you willbe fine. Just choose a major where you can make sure that your GPA is above 3.5(3.6 preferred, higher for more selective companies like Jane Street) so thatyou pass the resume screen cutoff.

Also,I would like to add that if you are 100% sure you are going into industry, youdo not need to consider independent work strongly in your major choice. This isbecause you will spend more time prepping for interviews/interviewing in thefall/recruiting for interviews in the spring than doing your independent work(and most of the people I know who wanted to go into industry were 1) bse sothey didn’t have to write a thesis or 2) just wrote bs independent work so theycould graduate).

Hereare some courses that serve as baseline knowledge for the interviews for thesecompanies:

Goldman/similarANALYST: ECO 362 plus lots of self-study, no cos necessary

Goldman/similarQUANT: ECO 362 plus self-study, COS 126/226

JaneStreet/similar QUANT: COS 126/226, ORF 245/309/524/526, no econ necessary

JaneStreet/similar SOFTWARE: COS 126/226/326, no econ necessary

Response from Pichu:

^yeah sushi’s right for the most part and also why would i delete your answer you wrote so much lol. to OP: i would add ORF 335 to the list of courses for more quantitative roles. it’s the same as ECO 362 except you learn the derivations behind everything and actually understand what everything means.

goldman and jane street are pretty different types of companies, in regards to the types of roles available and culture. it seems like you just threw those 2 names out there because you heard people make a lot of money there. so from that it seems like youre not very intellectually driven, in which case the less quantitative and technical roles are probably more for you. so like investment banking or sales & trading at a bank, but basically everyone wants to do that so you should be prepared for some pretty intense competition (and long hours).

In the off-chance that you actually are intellectually curious and are actually interested in things like applied math (which is the same as ORFE) or math, then yeah like sushi said just get good at probability and apply to prop trading places like jane street or optiver. some will expect you to know some finance, some won’t care. if you put anything finance-related on your resume like a class you took, then be prepared to be asked about it. but yeah the culture there is a lot different than at banks, most people at prop trading firms are math/cs people, kinda nerdy, casual dress code that kinda thing.

but truth be told, no job will be super quantitative, even ones with the word “quant” in the name. if you’re actually interested in real quant work, a masters/phd is the way to go. this comes from multiple sources who are pretty experienced in the “financial sector in NYC” as you like to call it

[rejectedusername-trashfics]

Madness is Contagious: Chapter 6- Mad With Benefits

Summary: After the Mad King is put back in jail, one of two his nieces is appointed CEO of Monarch Labs. The niece seems disinterested in the company, but in keen on figuring out how to cure her uncle’s madness. His other niece wants to keep the madness alive. After an attempt at a cure goes aerie, the madness is transferred to Vav. X-Ray ends up getting captured along with the new CEO niece. Will Hilda, Rusty, and the sane King be able to make things go back to normal?

Chapter: 6/10

Word Count: 1,232

First / Previous / Next / AO3

Hilda was starting to gain some clarity on the situation. It was still very confusing, but at least she knew who Poppy was asking her to find now. She still wasn’t completely sure if she could trust it all, seeing as it was the Mad King who told her the information. But the Mad King wasn’t even “mad” anymore. It was all a bit hard to fully accept.

Hilda gave the Mad King, or Ryan as he wanted to be called, an up and down look. “So, this ‘Timothy Rimulus’ is the other kid you gave powers to, and you know where he is?” she asked.

Ryan nodded. “I did some research to find him. He’s still in the city working retail, I think.”

“I got a question,” Rusty interjected. “If you gave these kids super powers, how come they never wanted to become superheroes?”

“Hmm,” Ryan thought about it. “I think Poppy might have feared ending up as a villain as well. and Jer used to want to follow her to the ends of the earth.”

“Jer?”

“Jeremy, Timothy’s middle name that he always went by.”

“Okay, so you’ve explained who he is, but how can we trust him?” Hilda asked, skeptically.

“Well, if you’re willing to trust me, I’d tell you that he and Poppy were somewhat similar in interests.”

“Trusting you is still something I’m not sure how I feel about.” Hilda interrupted.

Ryan sighed. “I know. I can’t undo what I did when I was ‘mad’. But I’m cured now, so I think I’d like to correct some of my wrongs.”

Hilda considered that for a moment. Then she realized an answer to a question she previously had. Everything clicked in her mind. “Your madness wasn’t cured.”

“What are you,”

“It was transferred.”

Ryan blinked in surprise and tilted his head in confusion. “To where?”

“Into Vav.”

“What? That’s preposterous.”

“Well, Vav’s a bad guy right now. And I think your powers transferred too. Only they changed from mild telekinesis to major pyrokinesis,” Hilda attempted to explain

“Well, that explains why Poppy isn’t able to free herself, but Madness shouldn’t be able to transfer.”

Hilda scowled. “Well, it did,” she grunted.

“If it really did, well, I love Poppy very much but, that sounds like a very rookie mistake. It sounds like she’s never made a ray gun or tried anything like that before.”

“She told me before that inventing, or ‘Mad Science’, was never of any of her interest in the past.”

“Yeah, I think I heard her say something about studying botany before, or something,” Rusty added to clarify again.

“Botany?” Ryan raised his finger to protest, then lowered it. “Actually, botany makes the most sense with her, all things considered.

“And now we have no plan to go rescue her with except this ‘Tim’ guy that she asked us to find,” Hilda continued to explain.

“I have one more question,” Ryan started. “If Vav is the one who turned evil, why can’t his ex-partner, X-Ray, go and save my niece himself? Can he not do it alone or something?”

“No, he already tried to rescue her on his own.”

“But it didn’t work?”

“Mad Princess captured X-Ray.”

“Oh…”

“He didn’t really go into the rescue with a plan. He never goes into anything with a plan if it’s spur of the moment thing,” Rusty added to the explanation.

“I think his plan was, get the girl because if Vav got a love interest ‘last season,’ then it had to be his turn to get one.” Hilda clarified.

Ryan narrowed his eyes. “Did X-Ray really think he ever had any shot with my niece? He never had a chance.”

“Well, Poppy did always seem very disinterested in all of his flirting attempted,” Rusty thought aloud.

“What, would you have tried to be overprotective and beat him up if he had tried anything with her?” Hilda asked.

“Oh no, Poppy’s rarely ever needed protection. She’s always had a good hold on keeping herself safe, even when society has been against her.”

“Then why do you say he never had a chance?”

“’He’s, uh, not her type.”

“Not her type? Does that mean she’s,”

Ryan motioned his hand to cut him off. “If you’re about to ask me what I think you’re about to ask me, do NOT ask me that out loud,” he commanded.

Rusty nodded, “Fair.” Then he walked over to Ryan and whispered his question into his ear.

“I’m going to be a terrible uncle here and I wouldn’t be surprised if I regret revealing this but,” then Ryan sighed, “yeah, she is.”

“Ha! I was right!”

“I mean, she’s kinda known since she was little. And she’s been quote, ‘proud and loud,’ about it ever since she learned there was a term for what she is.”

“Excuse me?” Hilda called, calling attention back to herself, “Not her type; what she is? What exactly is she?”

Ryan sighed, “So I guess not that ‘proud and loud.”

“Proud and loud about what?”

“Look, I already was a horrible enough person by telling him,” he pointed his thumb at Rusty, “I mean, I know I’ve been a horrible person besides that, but that’s not my point. My point is that it’s not my right to tell you what she is. If she wants to come out and tell you, that’s her business, not mine.”

“And I already told you, I don’t out people. But I don’t get how you haven’t picked up on it considering how ‘nice’ she been to you,” Rusty added.

Hilda rubbed her shoulder, “At first, I just thought she was being nice so she could gain my trust then stab me in the back and try to beat X-Ray and Vav. Then she told me the truth about her and her sister. After that I just thought she was being a flattering employer she so she could encourage good work.”

“Hilda, you may be a genius, but goddamn you are oblivious.”

“Oblivious of what? What am I missing?”

“I can tell you what she is, Miss Hilda,” ORF chimed in.

“What is she?”

“She’s a,”

“DON’T SAY IT! You’re not supposed to tell people that about other people!” Ryan nervously yelled.

“Scanning internet for confirmation,” ORF replied as they scanned the internet to see if in society, it was okay to tell people things like that. Then ORF turned back to Hilda, “I cannot tell you what Miss Poppy is because telling people without the person’s permission is seen as mean and cruel.”

Hilda pinched her brow, “Okay, so is whatever Poppy is so evil, what we’re not allowed to reveal it?”

“Oh, it’s not evil,” Rusty explained.

“It’s just… different,” Ryan clarified.

“Alright, so I’m never gonna find out. Whatever. We got off topic. We were talking about going to get that Tim’ guy,” Hilda changed the topic.

“I can show you where his apartment is,” Ryan offered.

“Excellent.”

The four of them walked over to a wall and Rusty lifted it. “Lead the way, Sane King.”

“I’m, uh, not quite sure how I feel about being called that,” Ryan replied, nervously.

“Well, it’s more accurate than being called ‘Mad King’,” Hilda justified.

“Fair point.”

“Like I said, lead the way,” Rusty repeated.

Ryan nodded and the four of them exited the box, and started to head to a downtown apartment complex.

#madness is contagious #xray and vav #fanfic #rt fanfic

[ninavale]

Just a little theory I know nobody will agree with..

But...I was thinking about Qrow lately and one of the theories that he is based orf Scarecrow from Wizard of  Oz. Now all of the heroes who went to Wizard went to him for something, they sort of had all along. Like Lion and his bravery. For example when they met with  Kalidahs. The Lion stated he was afraid of them, in fact he says it constantly that he is afraid of every-frigging-thing alive but when they are all in danger from two creatures BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN HIM, and did I mention TWO? Lion orders Dorothy to hide behind him and tells her he’ll fight them to death. and he was quite ready to do it. So he wasn’t such a coward(I personally think that it comes from lion equating courge with HAVING NO FEAR AT ALL instead of what it really is-doing the thing DESPITE of being afraid. There is also a scene where he roars at Wicked Witch, even though he is caged up and every time tells her he’ll bite her. He is in cage,and he is standing up to her, If he really was a coward he’d agree to drive her chariot around. He doesn’t.). and in the same scene it’s clearly said that Scarecrow who though he had no brains came up with a plan for them to get to safety. It;s like they all have been told and lead to believe they are brainless or cowardly or have no heart but truth was different. Qrow’s Bad luck seems to be very much the same. It’s HIM who tells us he is bad luck charm, and we believe it because he tells us so, but that’s the catch. HE tells us. In FIRST person, and that’s a bit subjective because obviously he’ll tell us what he believes about things. Like with Mankind Creation story with the gods...he believes it to be true, but it stands in contradiction with previous version(and in before...Ozpin didn’t correct Salem about it, plus it doesn’t mention faunus just mankind so I don’t trust it. and Ozpin is like Dumbledore isn’t exactly most transparent person. We have reasons to be weary of him). But back on the track, what if Qrow BELIEVES he brings bad luck because HE HAS BEEN TOLD MOST OF HIS LIFE HE DOES. And it’s not that difficult to believe in such thing. If he was conditioned by his clan/tribe to think that when something bad happens it’s his fault then he’d naturally take every thing bad that happened as proof of it. because bad things, failed plans ect are things that do happen and happen all the time, so if he believes he is bad luck charm ofc he’d interpret those things as doing of his semblance. Now why do I think it might just be him?

-He saved Ruby and Yang from Grimm in last minute and nothing bad happened to them

-He trained Ruby with scythe which is dubbed to be most degerous weapon and she didn’t die

-Neither Tai nor Yang nor Ruby died or nothing bad happened to them even though Qrow was around and yes he had to be around because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to have such strong bond with either Yang and Ruby, and since we’ve seen him play video games with them then it wasn’t just combat training.

-He is a teacher at Signal

-Ozpin  employed him and I don’t think he’d employ someone whose semblace would clearly ruin everything. And he let Qrow in quite close. I don’t think he’d take such huge risk. I mean he didn’t employ him TO INFILTRATE SALEM’S GROUP AND WORK FOR HER. Qrow work’s for Ozpin and gathers information for him and such. 

-Qrow saved Ironwood last minute

-Even Amber, if Qrow hasn’t shown up then Cinder would have had the full power much earlier and he severed the connection at least giving the Ozluminati some time to come up with a plan. 

-Qrow saved Ruby and RNRJ and him following them was the reason they didn’t meet with many Grimm and didn’t  run in more trouble

During his fighting with Tyrian a part of building falls off but it’s on the other side of the village and doesn’t affect anything nearby. It legit has ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT ON ANYTHING. The building that fell on Ruby? did nothing to her, the villige is old and burned and they are jumping and shooting all over it, things will come apart and again. Nothing bad happened to her. 

His fight with Winter? It happens in a VERY PUBLIC PLACE of course it will draw attention and someone will come. It’s not up to luck

Yang losing at a game is not really anything powerful and it could also be up to distraction over the suddenly ended story. 

And in before someone brings Summer. It’s never been stated anywhere that he has been there with her on the mission, that’s one. It’s a fanon theory, and secondly THEY ARE HUNTSMEN it’s been stated over and over that this is a degerous job and people MORE OFTEN THAN NOT die young, so WHAT HAPPENED TO SUMMER IS NOT SOMETHING EXTREMELY RARE.. So,it’s not a very good example of anything. Same as fight with Winter

Like I know it’s probably incostant bad writing on RT’s side but they have been quite good with the character’s and the allusions to the work’s they’re based on. and scarecrow as I said THOUGHT he was stupid but wasn’t in reality. and a lot of us I think can sympathise with something like that because a lot of us on this site have anxiety and anxiety affects your self image. When you have anxiety you do think everything is your fault and you do sometimes get scared and paranoid. You count things over and over 10 times in a row because ‘what if you counted wrong?’. I personally check things I copy paste because what if-even tho it’s automatical so if I copy it’ll paste as I copied it- somehow magically I screw it up. Like I copied a table where x was in quantity 2, but I check if again because what if even tho I copied it and pasted it automatically there was another number and it somehow changed because I did something wong, eve tho copy paste is automatic function. I’m often scared to speak, even if I know the subject or am asked about something. For example someone asks me how do you say something or about a word that is pretty obvious but my brain, even tho I KNOW this is how you say it or this is what the word means goes ‘what if it doesn’t mean that?’. Or when my friend from work asks something or calls my brain at once goes ‘omg what If I did something wrong? what could I have fucked up?’ even though they might just want to ask me if something is ready or just want to ask me if I know this or that. 

I know I might be wrong, but with some of the things that did happen in canon and with the possibilty of Qrow=Scarecrow maybe it is the thing? Maybe Qrow believes he is bad luck charm while in truth good things happen when he is there. He just doesn’t see them because much like heroes from Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he believes differently. 

@dreams-of-atlantis

@qrowst-with-the-most

@once-upon-a-salty-empress

@sssn-neptune-vasilias

@rwby-rants-and-theories(I know you’re on hitaus but for future) 

#theory #rwby #qrow branwen