#// TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WITH TRANSCENDENTAL ABILITIES???

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

As a therapist, an Autistic TM, and the trans child of a trans drag king, I spend a lot of time thinking about the concept of performativity, and frankly I think it gets a bad reputation despite its capacity as a subversive technique and tactic.

When we hear the word performativity, most of us think of the concept of being superficially engaged, of skin-deep participation, of wearing the aesthetic without being able to back it up by walking the walk. It has a quality of being inherently lesser and incomplete. "Performative allyship" is one of the more damning things one can be accused of in radical circles because it means you're all talk, no substance.

The thing is, performance has been such an integral part of so many subversive communities since their inception. Performance has been a crucial form of self-expression for those same communities for just as long. It has historically held layer upon layer of meaning, to the point that calling it superficial would be akin to calling yourself unobservant. At a certain point, using performance and performativity to define superficiality is deeply irresponsible and erasive of our own cultural contexts when the word superficial is *right there*.

Everything about me is performed. From my personality, to my social graces, to my gender presentation, to my political praxis, to my professional therapeutic presence, to my embodiedness, to my version of learned empathy, to my sexual practices and desires, to my morality. Without that performance, those things don't materially exist, and I intentionally and precisely craft each performance for very specific outcomes and effects. A good deal of that is probably the autism, but I have significant doubts that every single one of these elements of selfness are completely beyond the intentional creation of everyone, autistic or allistic.

Performance is intentional, chosen action. It is a meaningful act of self-creation. Any performance, embodied long enough, becomes selfhood. The belittlement of performativity, as far as I can tell, is a belittlement of one of the most transcendental and radical acts of self-narration, change-creation, and meaning-making we as human beings have access to.

And I imagine that the immediate response will be "but there are people who are only *pretending* to embody the spirit of the performance and that's who we're calling out when we call out performativity!"

To which I say: Let's say I believe you have a 100% success rate in identifying who's a true believer in the awkward midst of change-making and who's a wolf in sheep's clothing never intending to make good. Why does the performance, the tool of change making, the cultural heritage that serves us, have to become the origin point of confrontation? Why can't we do the work of trying to call people in without degrading the tools of disidentification and meaning-making? We do a disservice to everyone, including ourselves, when we suggest that intentional performance is somehow lesser than spontaneous action. It removes our own ability to conscientiously do the right thing while still learning what that specifically means in a given context, and as human beings there will always be something we are still learning about. It compels us to question our own authenticity and ability when imposter syndrome rears its head because imposter syndrome relies on the idea of intentional performance of role as distinct from innate knowledge of the same role. It contributes to sanism/ableism around low/no empathy comrades who intentionally choose to perform to high standards of morality and equitable praxis because somehow their choice to do so means less since they aren't also emotionally self-flagellating when they make a mis-step. It contributes to transphobia by forcing us to argue over whether or not gender is a performance and whether or not that means trans people's existence is valid when we could just accept that gender includes performativity for some, both cis and trans.

There are so many upsides to embracing notions of performance. I find myself wondering why doing so has remained so contentious up to this point. Especially when so much of the scholarship around marginality DOES embrace performativity. The contention seems to remain in the public sphere, and I'm curious where that comes from. Most importantly, I'm curious why anyone would want to cut themselves off from the primary form of self-creation. It feels very much like the sort of thing that got snuck in early on as a self-sabotaging element against the possibility of revolutionary meaning-making.

[morelorethenthereseem]

Braymourne is The land that the heart of creation lays, All around the heart of creation impenetrable walls and barriers were formed, except for north, there the mountains did the job. it’s not inhabited by elves or humans. But There are very very rare exceptions, those who made it in, and had children too.

The Braymourne collective (also called the old Gods faithful or “the order”) are Those who still grieve the gods of old. The Organization acts both as religion and government and was formed to preserve the ideals and rules of the gods after their deaths, Each of these were dubbed virtues, and as the gods embodied aspects of reality, certain individuals Embodied the Principles and ideals of the gods.

There are 19 virtues, but 8 were lost the time, here are the remaining 11 that are still known of today:

2 Creation, to create, make the world a better and fuller place. This covers art, architecture, cultural advancement, unfortunately, such a core value basically makes abortion illegal under this government, despite the other principles.

3 Protection, To protect, to protect yourself, and to protect others, To protect the order and protect the land, and to protect the heart of creation too.

4 Perseverance, to follow through and go on, To live. To continue. To never quit, a simple principle. perseverance is to walk through hell and arrive on the other side, A fortitude and inner strength

5 Allowance, to be allowed, to let one make Their decisions. Although this seems like a good tenant at first, it’s underlying implication. Is that something being allowed is not the default, you are allowing them to be allowed to do something, so to speak, but at least it’s encouraging people to do so, “within reason”

7 Understanding, to be empathetic, to put yourself in anothers shoes, the capacity to acknowledge and accept, the ability to understand, Or to agree, or to agree to disagree. Or simply just knowing what someone’s talking about.

8 Preservation, to maintain, to stop the towers from crumbling to dust, To keep your body clean. To keep the world alive, and to help those who cannot.

9 Reflection, The ability to reflect, introspect, contemplate. Ponder, to *think* about yourself, and you role in the world, And the worlds role in you.

10 justice, to see wrongs righted, they have the crooked be set right, To ensure recompense paid and wrongdoers punished,

11 cooperation, to comply, to collaborate, to obey and get along and not kill each other, To do what you were told when you need to and to work together to achieve something great.

13 wonder, to imagine, to see the world with a fresh perspective, To see the strange in the mundane, to search for the wonders of the world, to think of how miracles could be made.

14 transcendentality, to be more than you are, and to know that you are not forever, To leave behind you a better path than you had walked, to be great.

And 19 volition. To pray, to grieve, to trial your will, to test it, or to measure it, the will of the individual, and will as a force of reality. That is why each and every member of the order prays every single day. To grant meaning to the meaningless. May it raise the gods.

Here are the ranks and their structure:

Morner: a general faithful, without any obligations or authority within the order, except for under investigative compliance.

above the Morner are the disciples, those under direct control and care of the witnesses, usually serving as a custodians, or assistant.

Above disciple is the Witness: the lowest real position that holds any sort of power, usually residing over a local area, on the low end, they can take care of a single building all the way up to a few cities in some cases. Their obligations are mostly informative, keeping the organization up-to-date with local affairs, and keeping the people informed about the organization, spreading the word

Above the witness is the Guide: The guides are agents of the inner order, they hold executive power over any witness, however, such actions of a guide over a witness, must be filed under record and can be vetoed at any time, although, generally, the guides are only above the witnesses in certain scenarios they do command much more power, witnesses if required also double as internal affairs officers and investigators, however the power to act with such authority can only be granted by those above the virtues, but once granted, they maintain this power as long as they’re set task is complete, but, their every move is watched.

Above the guide is the overseer: overseer is actually a blanket roll with multiple levels of station. An overseer is usually assigned to a certain person of asymmetric rank, this can range form a witness to above a virtue, commonly the job of an overseer is to watch over and control a number of guards or sentinels, and is the only other rank able to issue direct commands to soldiers besides wardens. Overseers usually command units on their own, but sometimes they’re forced to cooperate with other overseers. Although some overseers do you have authority over others, to request the assistance of another overseer they need to file an admission of aid, but once the request has been approved the higher placing has complete authority over the other.

(Here is each level:

Officer (4-1) officers usually assigned to a witness, usually has control over a singular unit of guards ranging from 8 to 30, Although some 1st and 2nd overseer officers are known to be put in the assistance of a guide.

Lieutenant (4-1) lieutenants have authority over officers and are usually tasked with looking over a large number of troops, ranging from 100 and 300. They can, and usually do request the assistance of 3 to 1 officers. They can also make requests for aid from one of the elite inner units, and in extremely extenuating circumstances, they could even be given direct control over one.

Captain (4-1) captains have the capacity to command the elite inner units although this is rare, and only usually happens temporarily well a division overseer is busy. Captains have authority over lieutenants and officers as well as all of their previous privileges. Division overseer: a division overseer is someone who has the authority and capacity to completely oversee and command, captains, lieutenants and officers as well as multiple elite inner units,

division overseas, commonly work with the virtues, as each virtue has their own elite squad. Although a virtue technically has authority over a division overseer, it is fairly common for those above the virtues to give a division overseer extra special privileges, authority and command, making them ostensibly equal.)

Keeper: keepers are archivists and filers, where other ranks might collect information keepers Maintain it, they keep records. Keepers are permitted authority to ask for any information from any rank below division overseer, they also have authority to command guides to perform an internal investigation.

Guard: the way in which the rank of guard is positioned within the order is a tricky one, the only people who have direct authority over them are the overseers, the virtues and above, but they can be stationed anywhere from under a 4th overseer officer in the single prayer house of whatever witness there assigned to being directly under a virtue, if the circumstances permit.

Sentinel: these are the troops that make up the elite inner units that can range anywhere from a shadowless infiltration to the personal bodyguards of a virtue, to a juggernaut massacre. Only overseer captains, division overseers and virtues have command over them.

Virtue: virtue is the highest rank known to the public and lower ranks (with previously specified exceptions) each one aims to embody one of the 12 remaining core ideals, additionally, each virtue has their own inner elite unit, virtues have authority over keepers, witnesses, overseers, guides and sentinels and guards.

Devotee: “the secret hunters,” “the silent breaths,” “the whisper men.” “The utility knives of the order” Loan agents who can be sent out by lieutenants, captains, division overseers as well as virtues, guides, and wardens. The devotees fill a wide spectrum of roles with some overlap with the inner elite units, only on a strictly individual level. These guys are heavy hitters However They don’t like violence and they don’t have experience in battle, despite their power. They sometimes work as scouts, assassin’s investigators, etc. they are highly skilled in many areas and they do what they are told.

Warden: the judicial position among the order, they often work in tandem with guides who they are of equal rank to, and witnesses, keepers and even devotees who there above. although guides are responsible for internal investigation, the virtues can still veto their searches, as such guides often go to wardens who have special authority over the virtues. The wardens are to everyone else what the guides are to the order. There are the cops and the courtroom.

Enchanter: after an assassination attempt on the virtue of perseverance enchantment in Braymourne was made illegal to everyone but the government or those the government permits, an enchanter is someone permitted and paid by the government to enchant legally.

Affiliate merchant: merchants partnered with the order, They give a cut of their earnings to the order in return for certain negotiated things.

Founder: although not an official rank, it isn’t uncommon to know that there are those above the virtues, and logic would follow there Has to be somebody at the top of the order, so it was that rumours spread and common belief became that the founders whoever they may be, witnessed The Fall, and are still living to this day, a council that runs the order.

(order command structure.)

But no matter there rank All in the order still pray for the dead gods, it’s a test of will, or a measure of it, the will of the individual, and how weak will as become as a force of reality.

(Also of note This is only one of many organizations that worship the dead Gods, but it’s the only one that really knows more than nothing.)

So why do I tell you this all to you? Well, A Devotee Of the Braymourne collective known as “of the black bones virtue” was sent north from the heart of creation alone with an enchanted lantern to investigate the Many MANY claims That a few of the old gods are back standing in the land of life, So to speak.

Normally such claims would be ignored because of their absurdity but not this time, this time, it was too many…

The following is the section of the devotee’s journal that was written just after crossing out of the Ule ruins:

“It was seen.

Over the mountains, thousands of years ago.

There was talk of a great kingdom, And then there was the talk of the end of a great kingdom, after so long, I had assumed the peril would’ve died down a notch only to discover that now in our time as I am passing through it is worse than I ever imagine the peak of the chaos to be, I shutter to think what horror it would have been, to be here in the destructions prime.

Would it Have killed me not to think the mountains were the hard part?”

#fantasy #lore #art #fantasy art #worldbuilding #magic #mediaeval fantasy #mediaeval fantasy art #magic art #character art #small artist #artists on tumblr #oc artist #queer artist #furry artist

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

I'm curious, what's the statue in your pfp?

i'm glad you asked because i like talking about this! :3

it's a character from a stop motion animated film by polish experimental film maker Piotr Kamler. the film is calle "Chronopolis" (1982). it has a very experimental soundtrack too.

i used to be obsessed with traditional animation to the point of considering studying it and this film is one of the factors responsible for it. now i'm more casual but i still love a good animated film!

i watched it for the first time when i was 6 yo and it had a huge influence on me, on what i find mysterious and what i'm drawn to in art and why mysticism is so appealing to me.

it's a very transcendental science fiction film. there is an ancient race creatures, immortal giants, who perform magick/have highly advanced technology and posses the ability to change matter. and there is a human, trying to reach their ancient city.

it's a very psychedelic film. a few people who watched it with me told me it reminded them of Tool's videos.

for me it reminds me of ancient forgotten knowledge and lost technology. there are many megalithic structures that look like temples in the city of immortals. i saw similar buildings on big doses of shrooms.

i highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you're insterested in spirituality ^_^

#ask #chronopolis #chronopolis 1982 #stop motion #animation #piotr kamler #experimental cinema #psychedelic science fiction #not anon

[mee-the-people]

PAC Reading #4: Spotify Shuffle Messages For The Current Week (Week of 9/4/2022)

Hello again! Glad you could stop by :) Today’s reading will be song lyrics from my Spotify playlist songs relating to messages you need to hear this week. There won’t be any tarot or oracle decks used for this, just some intuition tools and calling on spirit before shuffling my playlists of over 500 songs haha. As I’m learning to trust my intuition more and gaining more confidence in my tarot abilities, I’m wanting to try something different every time I do these. Please pick one of the three skincare/beauty products below. Pile one starts with the Clinique Gel Moisturizer. If you resonate with the messages, please like, comment, and reblog this post to spread the word! And if you have any recommendations on what topics I should do a reading on next, please let me know. If you don’t resonate with any of the messages, no worries at all! Thank you for being here and I hope you have a great rest of your day :)

Disclaimer: This is a general reading, so take these messages as they resonate! I’m not a divination expert by any means, I’m still learning, so please do not see these messages as expert advice. (This reading is more general guidance.) Additionally, please do not use these messages in place of therapy as I am not a licensed therapist or medical expert. 

Pile One (Clinique Gel Moisturizer): ET by Katy Perry

“Boy, you’re an alien

Your touch so foreign,

It’s supernatural

Extraterrestrial”

Perhaps my favorite song by pop queen of the 2010s Katy Perry, this song is about falling in love with someone different from you or a foreigner in general. She talks about how transcendental the experience is when she realizes the depth of her love for this person. She uses space metaphors to describe her feelings which gives me Doctor Who vibes when she says “...wanna feel your powers, stun me with your lasers.” She even talks about how every move of her lover is “magic.” With these intense lyrics, it’s safe to say that you are experiencing this kind of love in your own life, pile one. Has this experience been life-altering in some way? Do you feel like you’re in another dimension? If you feel this way, allow yourself to fall deeper into this once in a lifetime love, but don’t forget to honor yourself! The last thing you would want in this situation is to fall in love with someone having lost yourself in the process. If you are not falling for someone different or you don’t even have a crush, maybe you are falling in love with a part of yourself that you once rejected. And that’s a beautiful thing! Give yourself this time to learn more about yourself and what you are all about. Priorities change, people grow and change, and you’re going through this stage of your life where your values are shifting and you’re becoming a better version of yourself… without needing anyone else to realize that for you. If this is your situation, all I can say is to just sit back and enjoy the ride, pile one!

Pile Two (CeraVe Sunscreen): ON by BTS (lyrics that I mention from this song are the English translations I found online as I don’t speak Korean)

“Even if I fall, I come right up, scream

That’s how I’ve always been

Even if my knees drop to the ground

As long as they don’t get buried” (part of Suga’s verse)

So far, I’ve gotten intense songs in my readings, so this feels significant. BTS sings about how they’ll plod through as long as they’re able. The chorus where they sing “bring the pain on” implies that they are ready to handle anything that is thrown at them even if it’s painful. And that’s the message I need you to take with you this week, pile two. Whatever you need to do this week that is going to be demanding, you need to do it with gusto and a can-do attitude like BTS sings about in this song. There is also mention in this song where everyone around them says “win no matter what,” but that he (Suga who raps this part) says “I don’t give a uhh.” While you should give whatever you do this week your all, pile two, you do NOT have to win no matter what. At the end of the day, as long as you gave it your best shot, you’ve already won. There’s a saying that closely matches Suga’s verse up above that says “Success is failing 7 times and getting back up 8 times.” Promise me you’ll do that this week, pile two? 

Pile Three (Nail Polish Remover): Take A Chance On Me by ABBA

“Gonna do my very best

And it ain’t no lie

If you put me to the test

If you let me try”

While the messages in this song are more romantic in nature, I think they can apply to perseverance and continuation with whatever endeavors you’ve taken on, pile three. You may be in a situation where you are eyeing a promotion at work and you want your boss to “take a chance on you,” as you are a reliable and hardworking employee. Or this really could be romantic, and you want your crush to know that you will be there for them when times get tough and that’s why you want them to take a chance on you. The messaging in this song is all about being put to the test for something and leaving it unscathed and stronger than before. A very specific scenario for some of you is that you may have a friend who is going through a lot right now, and they might feel like no one understands what they are going through which is why they are distancing themselves. If this is your situation, pile three, reach out and let them know that even if you can’t empathize with them, you can certainly sympathize. Give them time- don’t bombard them with messages especially if they want to be alone, but let them know that you are there for them whenever they feel like talking! 

#pick a card #tarot #spirituality #manifestation #growth mindset #pick a pile tarot reading #pick a pile love reading #pick a card tarot reading #pick a card love reading #katy perry #bts #abba #weekly guidance #on bts #et katy perry #take a chance on me abba #music #messages #jin bts #suga bts #jhope bts #rm bts #jimin bts #v bts #jungkook bts

[soul-dwelling]

Maybe it's just because of my personal views, but I wish Ohkubo would have maybe subverted his whole "God is just human imagination/subconsiousness" thing in the end, cause the thing he did seems just very standard for manga (heck Berserk did that in the late 80s with the idea of evil). Like it was teased that Arthurs father was an actuall prophet, and he wasnt really involved with the white clad. Maybe leave it ambigious that maybe sometimes mirracles happen that cant really be explained? Idk

In theory, I don’t mind an author pursuing “God is the totally of humanity’s imagination.” It’s very transcendental, oversoul kind of stuff. It’s “Sympathy for the Devil” kind of talk, that what humans consider God and the Devil is just manifesting whatever good or bad we see in ourselves, a way to excuse ourselves from saving ourselves or from our own responsibility for harming ourselves. 

It just isn’t the story Ohkubo was telling. 

I do think ambiguity would help here. I’m going to end up talking about how I wish some things were more concrete in Fire Force (how did the Tabernacle get there, why does it resemble Amaterasu). But the metaphysical, the philosophical, the allegorical? Leave that stuff vague to perpetuate discussion and let this text mean more than one thing, rather than just one thing. Religion is rarely just one thing, one message--we have multiple denominations of religions not only due to humans bickering but also because ethics vary, meanings vary. 

So, sure, yeah, let Arthur’s dad just be a prophet, that’s fine. The story is silly enough, you’re not breaking anything by just letting some things just happen because they happen. I know, I want the Amaterasu and Tabernacle stuff explained--but I also don’t need everything about pyrokinetic abilities, weapon transformations, and why the Sun and the Moon are like that explained: after how badly Fire Force turned out, I have learned that lesson, just let some things be vague. 

Plus, Soul Eater in canon has gods. Like, not just Lord Death. One Soul Eater audio drama had Poseidon--does Fire Force now retcon that, or did Shinra somehow create literally Poseidon? Tezca Tlipoca may not be the same literal god Tezcatlipoca--but isn’t it fun to imagine that he may be? I thought Soul Eater was more interesting that these gods just existed because; I didn’t need an explanation that saps some of that magic by saying, “First there was our godless real world, then an apocalypse that made everything into a 2D cartoon, then an edgy teenager made the Soul Eater universe because he saw a woman in a cloak and skull stuff on his commander and his teammate and this guy who tortured him as a child.” So, if the gods existed anyway, sure, let a prophet exist. 

(Again, I speak as an agnostic, but giving me a story that says, in our real world, all religions are bullshit, hence the Evangelist just tapped into belief systems to fashion their own religion to trick people, then have Shinra make Lord Death as the primary god? Again, agnostic here, but I find this offensive--it discounts all religions just to make a story that says, “Nah-uh, the fictional religion I make in my fictional story is the only real religion!” …Then just make Soul Eater without the prequel, literally no one was thinking somehow other religions were made invalid because Lord Death was walking around. Hell, various religions didn’t get voided in Marvel Comics just because Thor, Hercules, Jack Kirby as the Abrahamic God, and other deities were walking around.)

#long post #dwells whines about fire force

[mermaidsirennikita]

Could you recommend your favorite HRs where sex is character development?

I mean, tbh I think most (not sexless) romance novels have sex as character development on some level because the sex is meant to be a part of the progression of the relationship. Just because not every sex scene is followed by a transcendental state of "Oh now I understand my crisis" doesn't mean it isn't a part of character development, you know? I actually think that books that aren't romance are much more likely to have sex "just because". For romance novels, sex is a part of that development of intimacy--and so often, the issues romance protagonists have surround their inability to allow emotional intimacy. Honestly, a romance that has little conflict is less likely to use sex to progress character because there is nothing gained or lost with the sex from a story perspective--it's not creating anything monumental, it's just something they could really do at any point so why not.

I think the obvious one is Devil in Winter. I always think of the differences in the full-length sex scenes in that book (there are three, I think? Though obviously other shit in between). The first time where Evie is so shy and acquiescing and Sebastian is extremely dominant... until the end, when his reaction to her throws him off guard. The next one, where she's in control and seductive and dominating, while he just kind of has to go with it--and even resists a little, because he wants to prove himself to her so badly. And the last one, which like... I really hate it when people use "make love" but like... Yeah.... It was that. In theory that scene is similar to the one in the beginning, but it's actually not because it's like... An expression of love. Also, contextually this scene happens right after he literally tells her he wants her to have his baby, which imo is really significant. He shied away from family and even said he didn't care if she had a kid with another man in the beginning, but there's definitely the subtext of him actively trying to create a family with her in the last scene. A LOT.

Lisa does this a lot in general. The first time Derek and Sara have sex in Dreaming of You is followed by him like, literally cuddling her and talking about how he's actually pretty much the closest he's ever been to happy--in contrast to the callousness with which he treats sex otherwise. Derek Craven's relationship with sex is really interesting in general, because he's one of the few romance heroes I've read who's supported himself through sex work, which (in his case, though not all sex workers feel this way of course) has made his relationship with it extremely transactional, as we can see in his interactions with Joyce.

Imo, Scarlett Peckham's books do a great job with using sex to reflect and progress character development. In both books of hers that I reeeeally love, The Duke I Tempted and The Earl I Ruined, kink is a key component and the heroes' abilities to be vulnerable and open about their preferences is part of their development. I mean, the "is scared of being open about their kink" is a bit of a stereotype, but in the societies these people live within it totally makes sense. Their abilities to not only have sex with the heroine, but have openly kinky sex with her, is a part of their progressing relationships with the heroine.

But like, really, if I enjoy a book or have recommended it the sex is probably a part of character development.

#romance novel blogging #book recs

[denimbex1986]

'All of Us Strangers started its "journey" in Greek theaters on February 15. The nostalgic and metaphysical story directed by the British Andrew Haigh stars the excellent Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy.

The emotional burden of the film rests on the shoulders of the protagonist Adam, played with disarming confidence by Andrew Scott. Adam is a forty-year-old gay screenwriter living in a skyscraper in London. He is an orphan. He has no relationship and is lonely. He bears the burden of mourning when he lost his parents in a car accident when he was still young. Cliché, as he himself says.

The role of Paul Mescal in All of Us Strangers

Harry lives in the same block of flats as Adam, and after proposing to his neighbor for a boozy night, he eventually becomes romantically involved with him. Their passionate and transformative love story gives them both a transcendental boost. The role of Harry belongs to Oscar nominee Paul Mescal. "I think the loneliness they feel is reflected back to each other," Mescal says of his relationship with Adam.

"He feels like a little kid, like someone who should be happier and people tell him he can, but he doesn't. He hides behind sex and pleasure, he has a difficult relationship with alcohol and drugs. He's trapped," continues the actor. " I recognize him in small elements of myself and my friends, but also in the new men in the world ."

Mescal is undoubtedly a gifted actor and has given performances that stretch his talent and ability. With such a story emerging from the strength of the characters, Haigh knew he could count on Mescal. "Paul is an unassuming actor and I've always liked him," says the director. " She combines sensitivity with strength. She has something that draws you in and that's what I needed for Harry ."

His chemistry with Andrew Scott

While the chemistry between two extremely talented actors can be an unpredictable and undefined force, Haigh explains how he made sure the characters build the rapport they need. "We went to a concert, we went out, we talked about our lives. The chemistry was there from the beginning and my role was just to tame it."

Scott was grateful to work with Mescal, confirming Haigh's belief that the trust they had in each other behind the camera helped enrich their performances.

"Paul is incredibly talented and I would be in a very different situation with someone else," says Scott. " We did a lot of love scenes together and it's important to have someone you laugh with and look after you. The story has a lot of sadness and he can perform with a lightness that a lot of actors lack."'

#Andrew Scott #Andrew Haigh #Paul Mescal #All of Us Strangers #Jamie Bell #Claire Foy

[guildielove]

     meechi. SCREMS

#magnate meechi | out of character #// spoilers #// I JUST A READ A POST WITH A SMALL PARAGRAPH FROM 55 MINUTES #// TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WITH TRANSCENDENTAL ABILITIES??? #// AND HUGO WAS MENTIONED #// HE WAS MENTIONED ONCE BUT HE'S THERE #// HE'S AN ACTUAL BSD CHARACTER AND APPARENTLY HE'S OP AS FUCK SDKBNDSVBK

[gliklofhameln]

The key to the story of the first humans lies in a sequence of three sentences at the end, whose juxtaposition seems to make no sense at all. They begin with Adam’s curse for having eaten the forbidden fruit:

‘By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’

The man named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

(Genesis 3:19-21)

What is the connection between mortality (’to dust you will return’) and the man giving a new name to his wife? And what is the connection between that and God making the couple garments of skin, as if he were giving them a gift as they left the garden?

To understand the passage we have first to realise that it is not a myth but a philosophical parable about language and relationships, the difference between species and individuals, nouns and names, and about what lifts the relationship between husband and wife from the biological to the anthropological, from animal reproduction to human relationship and love.

The story of the first humans in Genesis 2 begins with God giving Adam the ability to use language to classify things. He names the animal: ‘Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.’ He sorts and labels them as species. But human beings do not function at the level of species. They are conscious of themselves as unique individuals. They are not merely alone, a physical state. They can also feel lonely, a psychological state. So, ‘for the man no suitable helper was found’. He is not alone, but he is lonely. Animals form species; humans are individuals.

God then creates a partner for man. But if we listen carefully to the poem he speaks on seeing her for the first time, we note something odd: ‘She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’ He names the woman as he named the animals. He uses a generic noun. She is ‘woman’, not a person but a type. She is ‘taken out of man’, ‘helper to man’, but not an individual with her own fears and feelings. Adam does not understand her otherness. She is, for him, merely his mirror image: ‘bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh’.

Eve rebels against this by striking out on her own. The conversation she has with the serpent is the first conversation she has. Adam has spoken about her but not to her. She eats the forbidden fruit. She gives some to her husband, who also eats. She has become the prime mover in the relationship, but still they have not spoken.

Then comes the discovery of their sin. God confronts them both. Each responds by denying responsibility. Adam blames the woman. The woman blames the serpent. Still they are talking about self and other as if they are not free and choosing individuals, but mere things caught up in the forces that operate on things.

Then Adam suddenly hears that he is mortal. Dust he is, and to dust he will return. Suddenly Adam understands the difference between individual and species. Species live on; individuals die. There was a world before we were born, there will be a world after we die, but we will not be here to see it. In the knowledge of our mortality we discover our individuality.

But if Adam is an individual, so is the woman. And God has said to the woman, ‘With pain you will birth to children.’ Within the curse is a blessing. Humans may be mortal, but something of them survives their death, namely children. But children are born only when man and woman are joined in a bond of love. That is when Adam gives his wife the name Chavah, Eve, meaning ‘mother of all life’. The point is not which name, but the fact that it is a name, not a noun. Species have nouns, individuals have names. The woman is now, for the man, not ‘woman’, but Eve. Adam has discovered personhood, uniqueness, individuality, and thus the difference between biology and anthropology. Animals form species, humans are individuals. Animals mate, humans relate. Animals reproduce, humans beget. Animals have sex, humans have love.

The rabbis said that Adam became the first penitent and was forgiven. God then shows kindness to the couple by making them garments of skin. The rabbis said that they were made of snakeskin, as if to say: The very thing that led you to sin (the serpent) will now protect you. Your physicality, which first caused you embarrassment, can be made holy when transmuted into love and sanctified by a bond of trust. Far from ending on a note of condemnation, it ends on a note of divine grace.

The story teaches us about language and love, and about the difference between biological reproduction — a property of the species — and the human family, which is always made up of individuals who are more and other than their similarities. Even clothing, which God endorses with his gift, signals that we are not naked and transparent to one another. There is a part of each of us that always remain hidden. In Hebrew the word chavah, Eve, also has the meaning of ‘hidden’.

There are two subtle hints in the narrative that this is what the story is about. The first, often confused in translation, is that the text speaks throughout of ha-adam, ‘the man’, not adam, ‘Adam’, which is, like Eve, a proper name. ‘The man’ becomes Adam only when ‘the woman’ becomes Eve.

The second is that the name of God changes too. In Genesis I, God is called Elohim, a noun meaning roughly ‘the totality of forces operative in the universe’. In Genesis 2 — 3, he is called Hashem-Elokim, and in Genesis 4, immediately after the Adam-Eve story, he is called Hashem alone. Hashem is God’s proper name, just as Adam is Adam’s and Eve, Eve’s. Our experience of God mirrors our experience of other people. When we relate to other people as persons, we relate to God as a person. Or, to put it differently, God as Hashem is the transcendental reality of interpersonal relations. We love God through loving other people. That is the only way.

The story of the forbidden fruit and the Garden of Eden is less a story about sin, guilt and punishment and more about the essential connection between mortality, individuality and personhood. In one sense it is a pre-emptive refutation of the neo-Darwinism argument that we are all just animals, selfish replicators. We are precisely not animals, not because we are biologically unique — they and we are mere dust of the earth; nor because we have immortal souls — we may, but they are wholly absent from the narrative. We are not animals because we are self-conscious, because we are aware of each other as individuals, and because we are capable of forming relationships of trust. We have culture, not just nature; anthropology, not just biology.

It is also a parable about otherness. Adam’s poem about ‘bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh’ sounds beautiful, but it leads to moral failure because it fails to acknowledge the otherness of the other. Until Eve is Eve, not merely ‘woman’, the man does not know who she is.

The biblical word da’at, ‘knowledge’, does not mean in Hebrew what it is normally taken to mean in the West, namely knowledge of facts, theories, systems and truths. It means interpersonal knowledge, intimacy, empathy. The ‘tree of knowledge’ is about this kind of knowledge. True knowledge that the other is not a mirror image of me, that he or she has wants and needs of her own that may clash with mine, is the source of all love and all pain. To know that I am known makes me want to hide: that is the couple’s first response after eating the fruit. The turning point comes when the man gives Eve a proper name. Love is born when we recognise the integrity of otherness. That is the meaning of love between people. It is the meaning of love between us and God. Only when we make space for the human other do we make space for the divine Other.

God created the world to make space for the otherness that is us.

     — Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l, in The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning

#jumblr #judaism #rabbi lord jonathan sacks #myposts #bereshit

[tamuramachi]

Top 10 Manga Picks: the Origins of Manga-Loving Yumi Tamura!

Loosely translated from the Da Vinci Magazine August 2020 issue.

"Tamura has been creating works that span mystery, horror, fictional warfare, action, and fantasy genres. What kind of manga has she been reading up to now? We asked her to introduce the 10 works that inspired her to start drawing manga, as well as what she considers her heart's bible. Includes comments from Tamura herself!"

Yumi Tamura's Comments:

1. Cyborg 009 by Shotaro Ishinomori

"When I was little, I watched the anime first and loved it, and then I read the manga around the time I was entering junior high school. I wanted to be 003 and go into battle with friends in the same way. I feel like it was my emotional support during the period of my 2nd year in junior high when I was having a hard time and ran away from it all."

2. Lolly no Seishun by Kimiko Uehara

"When I was in the 3rd or 4th grade of elementary school, Uehara drew a lot of one-shots in Betsucomi ('Lolly' was a weekly comic), and they were so interesting and moving every time that I was constantly in a state of emotion. I think because of that, I began drawing manga in my notebook, splitting up the pages into panels. Dramatic & rich with emotion, the depicted characters by Uehara, whether men or women, are full of charm & utterly brilliant. The energy and willpower of the female characters is really wonderful."

3. Thomas no Shinzou by Moto Hagio

"Of course I love 'Poe no Ichizoku' & '11-nin Iru!' too. Needless to say, Hagio is the greatest treasure. When I was in the 1st year of junior high, my friend & I were crazy about 'Thomas'. I liked Juri and my friend liked Oskar... we talked about going to Germany someday. It links together my own happy memories. I'm sure I didn't understand everything Hagio was trying to draw, but in the end, even now I cry at the image of Juri smiling faintly in a small panel."

4. Hamidashikko by Jun Mihara

"To me, this work is like the bible. It relentlessly strikes the deepest part of the heart and brings forth a flood of pain and tears. It wraps you up in a warmth that's helplessly miserable, sorrowful. Sincere gazes and intense dialogues. The power of the dialogues is truly unbelievable. The way the dialogues are presented along with the drawings make the best use of that power. Mihara's careful thoughts are at the root of all this. Even though I'm already this grateful, I will never get used to it. It's just amazing."

5. Kyoufu Shinbun by Jirou Tsunoda

"This is the most terrifying manga I've ever read. It's so captivating, & even decades later, it's still ingrained in me. There are various scenes that I'll recall whenever something happens. My younger sister & I would look at each other & go like ‘it's that’ or ‘that one scene, right?!’ & it would send shivers down our spines. We're already at a level of trauma. It's uncommon for a main story line to be most interesting while introducing all sorts of horrors."

6. Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu by Kazuo Umezu

"If I was told to read a manga now that would make me cry right away, then I would choose this one. Particularly the last scene of the mother crying. This work is unbelievably fierce, grand, rich in ideas, & just too fascinating. And the themes are so broad & deep that it makes you think about many things. It's a rare transcendental masterpiece that will, in the end, leave you feeling comforted & positive, thinking ‘it was a good ending,’ even though the journey is extremely scary & painful. Also, my contempt for Sekiya is strong.”

7. Macaroni Hourensou by Tsubame Kamogawa

"This is explosively entertaining. Fun. Cute. Cool. I love it! 25-year old Toshi-chan is the best! He's so cool. I don't know how many times I've read this. I still say the lines out loud even now. This is a very popular work that I can only describe as fun. There are not many other gag manga that make me burst out laughing quite like this one. I love it!”

8. Akaaka Maru by Minako Uchida

"I just can't stop admiring this work in general. The drawings, the rhythm, the stunning midpoint [?], the ability to think in a scientific way. And the proficiency of observing people. I admired it so much that I tried drawing contours of people & handwriting with permanent markers & brushes, but my drawing skills were so different that I ended up with nothing but doodles. ‘BOOMTOWN’ & the short stories are also very interesting & fun!”

9. Genji by Yun Kouga

"Innovative, I thought. I could clearly understand it. Kouga seems to be the kind of person who has a lot of sense. I've always thought it was amazing how her work & she herself had leadership qualities of the time to pull others along. I would very much love to know what kind of ideas Kouga has in mind for the rest of this work, since it hasn't been completed yet.”

10. Nodame Cantabile by Tomoko Ninomiya

"There was a period when I was having a very tough time, & it got to the point where I was having unhealthy thoughts like, ‘Is manga even enjoyable?’ But then this work came along & I was like ‘Aah, manga is fun after all! Thank goodness, I'm okay!’ So, this is a super popular & famous work to which I owe a debt of gratitude for making me realize & genuinely feel this way. I think it would be the greatest if I could portray the world in a similar way with such thoroughness. I envy that power of Ninomiya's! It's magnificent!”

Additional side comment from Tamura (in the speech bubble):

“I wanted to include the Bijohime series (Hana no Bijohime) & PARTNER by Tomoko Naka too! (I think it's obvious that these have an influence on my characters.) Other works that also left a strong impact on me are Ryouko Yamagishi's Arabesque; Yuko Kishi's Tamasaburou series and short stories; Rising! (Saeko Himuro/Author, Kazuko Fujita/Artist); the Palm series (Yasei Kemonogi); Astro Kyuudan (Shirou Toozaki/Author, Norihiro Nakajima/Artist); & Dark Green by Junko Sasaki. Makoto Kobayashi's Judo-bu Monogatari & Nanae Haruno's PaPa told me are also excellent! There’re also many other works that I'll never forget, such as those by Shinji Wada & Udou Shinohara, which have all influenced me in some way. I've always loved TONO's Karubania Monogatari too.”

#Yumi Tamura #Tamura Yumi #Cyborg 009 #Shotaro Ishinomori #Lolly no Seishun #Kimiko Uehara #Thomas no Shinzou #Moto Hagio #Hamidashikko #Jun Mihara #Kyoufu Shinbun #Jirou Tsunoda #Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu #Kazuo Umezu #Macaroni Hourensou #Tsubame Kamogawa #Akaaka Maru #Minako Uchida #Genji #Yun Kouga #Nodame Cantabile #Tomoko Ninomiya #Tomoko Naka #Ryouko Yamagishi #Yasei Kemonogi #Junko Sasaki #Makoto Kobayashi #Nanae Haruno #TONO #Shinji Wada

[thevindicativevordan]

Why I Like Superman

This is a post I’ve been going over and over in my head, trying to suss out my feelings. The simple fact is I love Superman, and I have for as long as I can remember. I wore Superman pajamas as a kid. I watched cartoons like Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Legion of Superheroes, and was hyped as hell when he showed up on The Batman cartoon. I drew variations of the S-shield all over the sides of my school notebooks, and I tied a towel around my neck and pretended I could fly.

One of my favorite Xbox games to play was the Superman Returns tie-in game (remember those?), because it was the only game I could play that let me fly around, shooting off heat vision and freezing people with arctic breath. I still remember the opening that had you destroy asteroids, and being absolutely wowed as a kid by the big finale which had you slam into the largest asteroid at supersonic speed to destroy it. Took me forever to beat the Warworld arena level though because I didn’t know how to block.

Because there were no local comic shops near my home for me to go buy issues at (not that I even knew what a local comic shop was at the time), I kept up with his, and the rest of my favorite DC heroes adventures, via reading the DC wiki. I spent so much of my time waiting for my mom to get off the computer so I could go online and catch up that my parents installed parental blocks because they were worried about what I was doing.

In short he’s been a constant favorite of mine throughout childhood, through my teenage years, and straight on into adulthood. I never developed the dislike or distaste for him that some people did, and he never dropped out of the top spot for me like he did for others. There were times when he shared the top spot for me with Batman and Spider-Man, until One More Day wrecked my relationship with Spidey and I grew bored of the endless cycles of Batman being a dick to the Batfamily and then learning he needs them. But even throughout his lowest points (and God have there been so many of those in the last decade), he’s remained the top guy for me.

But why? I think it’s in part because of the type of genre he embodies. He is of course The Superhero, and he lives in the genre he founded, but he also lives in a type of optimistic science fiction genre that’s downright extinct nowadays. As a kid I was a massive science fiction fan, and my dad was friends with a guy who was also hugely into science fiction. This guy had a basement full of science fiction books written from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, up until the cyberpunk era kicked off in the 1980s. He was happy to hand novels off to me, and his private library beat the hell out of our public one. I devoured stories of fearless heroes in space exploring new worlds, first contact with alien races, mindbending new technologies that seemed like magic, about transcending our mortal flesh and becoming part of a universal, transcendental whole, stories that didn’t just talk about technology but about the human condition. Stories that while sometimes bleak, painted a positive picture of the human ability to overcome our inherent flaws and be a powerful force for good. And ultimately Superman speaks from the same source.

It’s not just about the powers, although those who completely dismiss their appeal are making a mistake I believe. It’s about humanity, about our ability to transcend our base natures, reflected in this Strange Visitor from Another Planet, who embodies our virtues and our vices, who is torn between the fear of doing too much and the fear of doing too little. Who hides his true self behind a pair of glasses because he craves the fellowship of humanity more than any amount of glory or riches. His no-kill rule a firm affirmation of the value of life, all life everywhere no matter it’s form. His greatest love, Lois Lane, is his co-worker and greatest rival as a reporter, who has everyone’s number in her phone, be they crime lord or living saint. His greatest friend, Jimmy Olsen, is the guy everyone else ignores or bosses around, but is a rich kid weirdo who gets up to all sorts of bizarre adventures that keep the Daily Planet afloat. His childhood friends are superheroes from the future, his home City of Metropolis is 10 years ahead of everyone else in terms of technology, his dog can shatter concrete via barking at it, his home den is a ice crystal castle situated at the North Pole, like Santa’s Workshop. In short his life is one where even the mundane corners hide fantastical attributes. By living among us, he helps to elevate us, to make our daily grind interesting by seeing through the lens of his life. As others have said, we walk our dogs around the block, he walks his around the solar system.

But it would be a mistake to assume that Superman doesn’t tackle the darker sides of life too. Even the most optimistic sci-fi novels that I read as a kid had dystopic elements in them, intended or not. His home planet of Krypton was our technological superior, yet ignored the warnings of it’s chief scientist, and died a victim of it’s own greed and arrogance with Kal-El as the Last Son. His birth parents died in the fires of self-perpetuated genocide, his adopted parents the Kents often fall to mundane heart diseases or accidents, which even his power can not save them from. His greatest enemy Lex Luthor, is the one person who can understand his loneliness, his need for the public’s approval and acceptance, and yet the shared enmity between the two has ruined any chance of them forming a friendship that could have been. The shining City of Metropolis venerates Luthor as well as Clark, reflecting the greed, selfishness, and callousness of it’s other favorite child. Suicide Slum stands as a testament to the limits of how much Superman can improve life. The Phantom Zone is a spinechilling example of the inhumane treatment of prisoners. His foes ran the gauntlet from greedy businessmen out for money at any cost, to victims who have suffered at humanity’s hands and seek revenge, to sociopaths who treat other peoples pain and lives as a source of amusement, to murderers who care not from where the blood flows, only that it does, to tyrants who seek to crush all resistance underneath their heel, to gods who wish the elimination of free will itself. Each of them force Superman to confront the fallibility of human nature and wrestle with whether or not his faith in both them and himself is justified.

In a sentence? I love Superman because he’s a character you can do almost anything with, from comedic hijinks, to serious dramas, to distributing horror stories, to exciting adventure stories. He reminds me of the best type of science fiction stories, ones that explore people and existence from all sorts of angles, that never lose sight of the emotional human core at the heart of all the high concept existential concepts. He’s made me laugh, cry, think, get motivated, get angry, and sometimes just get writing. He brings the big ideas and the human emotions that keep me reading comics throughout all the Big 2′s bullshit. He still believes in the human capacity for good, in spite of our flaws, in spite of how few of us seem to believe in that capacity ourselves, and he shows us that it’s still there by touching our hearts through his stories. That’s why I like Superman, and why he’s my favorite superhero.

#superman #dc comics #lex luthor #lois lane #me

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia! I'm a huge fan of your work and deeply enjoying FFS rn, it really shows the love and care you've put into this world and characters and it's an amazing read 🥰🧡

Idk if you've actually answered this question before or if it's a bit too much? So feel free to skip it. Do you have any advice on how to write a therapist and sessions with them? And to go along with that, a therapist&patient relationship that doesn't feel inauthentic but that's a healthy one?

I've had to visit both psychiatrists and psychologists a couple of times along my life, which has almost always been a positive experience to me, but when I get down to business and want to write a character going to therapy, I fall into a bunch of the psychoanalytic clichés US films have hammered us down with, even if I'm not from an Anglophile country!

Thanks a bunch in advance!! Ilu, have a nice start of the year🧡✨

Hiya anon!

I have a few thoughts about writing therapy sessions so I’m just going to put them down in no particular order.

Firstly, I don’t actually think it’s always a good idea to write therapy in stories, and a lot of the time I avoid writing it even when a character is actively seeing a therapist. This is particularly true in The Wind that Cuts the Night where all we see of Alex and his therapist are snippets, and nothing more than that, because therapy sessions would slow down the pacing, focus and value of the story.

Where possible, characters don’t see therapists, but talk to people in a way that is therapeutic, usually with love interests or members of the ensemble cast (Augus and Fenwrel in The Court of Five Thrones, Jack and Eva in The Golden Age that Never Was, Jack and North in From the Darkness We Rise/Into Shadows We Fall, Cullen and Cassandra, Cullen and Bull in Stuck on the Puzzle). All of those characters need therapy, but writing therapy sessions tends to slow down the pace of a fic pretty dramatically, and even I had misgivings about writing Efnisien’s sessions with Dr Gary at first because I’m acutely aware of the fact that:

1. Therapy sessions can be draggy and boring 2. They often take away important emotional realisations from other characters, ruining potential hurt/comfort and character relationship development moments with your actual cast / love interests 3. Fiction is meant to be fiction, not reality. 4. A lot of therapy sessions are actually not that interesting to sit in or write or observe, which is why writers do often find themselves falling into certain cliches while writing them to make them more interesting. Even I cut out huge chunks of sessions to get to the more interesting parts, lol. 5. You can write a character going to therapy without writing the therapy. You can just choose to have the character remember bits and pieces of the session later as it’s relevant to their life. 6. Therapy is different for everyone, and some readers (myself included) don’t enjoy reading it when the therapy is a kind that doesn’t resonate or feel right.

So you really need to ask yourself why you want to write therapy specifically, because a lot of the time it gets boring or - as you point out - falls into cliched territory. Writing a character going to a doctor a lot in detail for regular injections is boring. Writing them thinking about how they have to do this in brief while their love interest is sympathetic to them getting those injections is more interesting. Writing a character suffering from an illness that they need regular injections for, with their love interest comforting them? Interesting.

Falling Falling Stars is a unique fic in that Efnisien has no one before he meets Arden, except for Dr Gary and Gwyn. If you’re writing an FFS style fic, writing therapy sessions might be appropriate. It might be worth really thinking about the kind of fics you want to write, why you want to write therapy, how that will affect your pacing, etc.

If you’re still dead set on writing therapy sessions, then I have some suggestions re: writing more realistic/healthy therapy and how to find that knowledge yourself, and I don’t really know how to shorthand some of it:

1. Get books on therapy that are designed for the therapist. These are often expensive, but sometimes libraries stock them - and university libraries in particular will often have photocopy abilities (or you can just photograph the pages you need) because these books look at how sessions should be structured. Books with case studies are ideal, since they often show dialogue chains between the client and therapist. Books that obviously deal with the mental illnesses you’re planning on writing about are the most ideal.

2. With a view to this, learn about different therapeutic modalities (for example are you trying to write psychology or psychoanalysis or both? Are you writing social work? Are you writing cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, expressive therapies, narrative therapy, transcendental therapy?) Be aware that different modalities have different session structures and learn what they are. Wikipedia is your friend, but your closest friend will be actually acquiring textbooks on the subject. This is a pretty significant financial barrier at times, I’ve been collecting books like this on psychology since like 1997.

3. Learn about your character’s mental instabilities that require them to go to a therapist and then look up the most recommended forms of therapy for your character’s specific issues. Will they suit your character? Why/why not? Will they have a therapist who realises and switches modality if it doesn’t suit? Or will they be lucky and find someone who helps them straight away?

4. All therapy sessions have a structure to them. And therapy often has a narrative arc through the course of therapy over many sessions. They should generally have the attempt at a beginning (greeting / setting up the problem to be discussed), middle (highlighting the source of conflict or inner conflict) and end (helping the client to focus on less stressful things, possible homework assigned, and potentially talking about future work/sessions). Learn this structure. Even if you’re not writing the whole session, you need to know where in the session you’re writing, beginning/middle/end will be different tonally. Structures will be different per therapeutic modality, and a therapist that knows many different modalities (like Dr Gary) will often be using slightly different structures each time depending on the character’s mood/issue.

5. In a healthy therapist/client relationship there will be the ability to discuss boundaries, grievances and the therapist won’t be revealing much about their personal life at all (unless anecdotally it’s super relevant and even then it will be deliberately vague). This is one of those things that will - in many cases - make for more boring sessions on the page, depending on the ‘client.’ For example, if you’re writing someone seeing a therapist for the first time, it might realistically take months or years before they start showing progress or trust. That’s not interesting (there’s a reason ‘therapy fiction’ isn’t a genre), so of course it’s tempting to shortcut into more dramatic moments.

*

I would say if you’re finding yourself leaning towards more cliched or dramatic forms of writing re: therapy, your writing brain may sense that the entire scene/s may not be suited to the story, and is trying to find a way to make them more interesting to yourself and the reader. If that’s not the case, then a lot more research is needed! It’s time to sink many hours into actually understanding what you’re trying to write. This doesn’t matter as much if you’re writing unrealistic or unhealthy therapy, but it’s 100% necessary when you’re trying to write healthier therapy depictions.***

Also a couple of sessions of experience is a start, but you might want to watch or find a way to watch more therapy sessions, because you’ve missed out on experiencing longer arcs, different modalities etc. (This is where my hands on experience with 19 therapists since 1995 is actually really helpful, lmao - I’ve had close to like 800~ sessions by now, with good and bad therapists; I cannot pretend that hasn’t given me a knowledge base that most people don’t share). You can still learn that stuff via research, MedCircle on Youtube is a good place to start, since it offers 30 minute snapshots on what CBT and DBT sessions will look like etc. and has some great playlists.

Most fics I’ve read don’t do a great job of depicting therapy, but the Babes!verse series by @rynfinity has probably some of the most realistic and still really interesting sessions I’ve read as an ongoing arc. The series is long, because it needs to be re: what it’s dealing with, but it’s great, and I definitely recommend looking at another example of how an author tackles these sorts of scenes. Out of the Mouths of Babes / The March of the Damned are the two intertwined series.

I apologise if this sounds discouraging overall, or daunting, but I just want to stress there’s a reason that I’m often not writing therapy in my writing, as anything more than the occasional scene with a non-therapist, or snapshots that are reflected on and that’s it. Falling Falling Stars is the exception to the rule, and unless you’re writing an exception to the rule as well, it’s really worth reflecting on the first six points I wrote - it’ll save you a fuckton of time and research. And if you go ahead with it, I wish you well! :D

*** Also disclaimer: But I still am writing very indulgent therapy that is not beholden to being either a 100% healthy or 100% realistic depiction. The fact is, real therapy sessions are pretty boring for observers except for maybe ten or twenty minutes in the middle at times.

(ETA: It’s just occurred to me that therapy fiction does exist, esp. in the mass media, but that it is - afaik - all unrealistic, dramatised or unhealthy. But if you want to watch a great show - I highly recommend In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne, just by aware that it is depicting, for the most part, unhealthy dynamics which are more character studies than anything).

#asks and answers #pia on writing #pia on psychology #it's even worth being away that clinical psychologists often frown on psychoanalysts #and psychoanalysts often frown on the rigidity of clinical psychology curriculums lol #dr gary works within both schools and is a bit of a rebel in that sense #anyway yeah like #even i was really wary of writing too much dr gary #and only really gave into it indulgently #when people revealed they were enjoying those scenes and dr gary himself #but like #i would hate him as a therapist #he's pushy and sometimes pretty impatient #even what i write re: therapy #is not necessarily a reflection on what a real life person would experience #in the same circumstances #Anonymous

[uncannychange]

It's a heck of a thing to sit and watch a full-grown man dissolve like a candle in a frying pan over high heat.

However that's what Doctor John Cameron Ice and billionaire Marcelo Zucchero did years ago, and while frighting to watch the pair regarded the event with optimism as the start of what they hoped would be a world-changing discovery.

Dealing with impairments their whole lives, Ice having a badly curved spine, and Zucchero struggling with a congenital heart defect. Ice had come to the billionaire with a proposal for a radically new form of treatment that would cure them both, and offer the same for thousands of other conditions, up to and including old age. He financed it fully.

Until at last the first full-blown clinical trial was held and William-X became a puddle in a vat. And yet he still lived because as he was so reduced his every cell was rejuvenated and re-calibrated and most fantastic of all the mysterious substances known as Dark Matter and accompanying Dark Energy was made a part of him as it bonded with his Y chromosome turning it into a very special Neo-X chromosome.

Then the pair watched as the man listed only as William-X in their records started to reform into a human.

But what a human! No longer an elderly man in his mid-80s William was hale hearty and a woman who appeared to be in her early 20s.

Oh, and due to the Neo-X chromosome possessed of what could only be called superpowers far beyond those of ordinary mortals. While having the mind of his former self William-X was otherwise a whole new person. And frankly, she went more than a touch mad.

Deciding her only choice was to dash out and fight crime and or evil, unable to stop her the being what soon became known as The Indelible She-Funk (the name hints at her powers, but in case you're eating we won't go into detail) made quite an impression on the public.

At first, thinking that the experiment was going to be a failure. After all, it only worked on men (doesn't work if you already have an X chromosome) and there was no telling what weird powers the new women would have.

Then Marcelo's money-making instincts kicked in and so was born.

Supreme Ultra-human Genetic Augmentation Regimen Strategies, or SUGARS.

Housed in their all-white cube-shaped headquarters, The Sugar Cube, men without families go in, their identities are erased, and outcome a new breed of super-heroines for hire The SUGARS!

Led by Ice and Zucchero, who themselves have gone through the process, emerging as the telepathic super hypnotic powered Empress Bee, and Blizzardella the princess of polar powers.

Crime has never been more scared or turned on.

Below are some of the new Super Women.

Hector Hensley: The Starry Knight

Hector on finding himself turned into an attractive young woman exclaimed “Oh man! I am spacing out here!” and then she did... shoot out into space.

Seems she has the ability to teleport herself and up to twenty-two other people, animals, or objects anywhere in the world, after first taking them on a dizzying spin in outer space.

Impressive if you ignore the two or three people who always lose their lunch on landing at the destination.

Guy Bright: Good Knight Nurse

Gained the ability to control the body functions of other people. Blood pressure, blood sugar levels, temperature, etc... 

Which led to GKN's most famous way to take out the baddies, the orgasm blast. 

Which led to the Good Knight Nurse also taking special stealth training at The Sugar Cube to become sort of the de facto “dark knight” of the SUGARS, not so she could sneak up on others, but so she could better hide from people following her demanding “blast me! blast me!”

Marsh Marshall: Ballistic Ballerina

Marsh, an ex-motorcycle racier rose from the vats at The Sugar Cube with super-human agility, and the ability to run at super-speed (max velocity 444 MPH) on her toes!

However, she still insists that SUGARS get her the best bike they could find which she still uses to get around from place to place, saying “Hey, those damn toe-shoes are expensive!”

Jim Yates: The Transcendental Technician

Found she had the ability to “commune” with technology and machines. Said Neon, “when they said I was going to be a super-heroine I was thinking more along the lines of Wonder Woman smashing into villains, not going around and setting on copying machines to see what they had been used for.”

Joel Walton: Nun Better

Can force a confession out of anyone, has a flock of telekinetically controlled 12-inch rulers, and can cause elemental changes in small objects (if she tosses some small bland cookies or a glass of wine at you they might change into explosives or knock-out gas when they arrive.)

Says Nun “This is all so weird, I'm an agnostic!”

Paul Aaron Flynn: The Pink Avenger

Not only did his trip through the SUGARS process give his super-powers, but it also seems to have turned him into a Japanese woman... with pink hair!.

Her very unusual power is the ability to fire pink force bolts that cause anything struck by them to have their reality altered becoming feminized, eccentric, and leaving behind the scent of Shiseido Ever Bloom Fragrance.

Such as the team of bank robbers who found themselves turned into a middle-school cheer-leading squad from the '50s or the mad bomber who found himself turned into a living version of Betty Crocker and his bomb a plate of toll house cookies.

Alfred Ferguson: Puzzle Boxer

Alfred really, really wanted to be a knockdown taken `em out rough and tumble sort of super person. 

But the SUGARS process does its own unpredictable thing and instead, Alfred found she now had the ability to break any code, solve any puzzle and defuse any bomb or trap. She insisted on being trained in all the combat skills The Sugar Cube had to offer, and on being called not the Puzzler as PR suggested but the Puzzle Boxer so people would think she was mainly a fighter.

But as the SUGARS process had also turned him into a five-foot-one-inch cutie no one is really buying it.

Henry Hiroto Kazuhiko: The Clone Ranger

The only single person in the world that if she wants to talk to herself, has to use Zoom.

Maximum clones: 15.

James Jasper Mueller: Obsidian Rose

Turns into a shadow, walks through walls, phasing through a person knocks them out.

But that's not the important thing with Obsidian Rose. James on finding himself turned not only into a woman but a rather spooky one at that did not take it well.

Plus on being handed the bill for being healed by the SUGARS  process (talk about out-of-network NONE of it is covered by any insurance) with the only real way out to sign an exclusive five-year contract to work for SUGARS as a super-heroine for hire.

The former Mr. Mueller said screw this and went rogue founding a team with other disgruntled SUGARS that she calls Adventuresses, Mercenaries, Outsiders & Killers or AMOK.

Which is just as well, because what's a bunch of supers if they don't have another bunch of super baddies to fight? Pain in the neck, that's what they are.

And boy howdy does this ever help with the merchandising from The Sugar Cube.

#gender bender #satire

[zalrb]

SE Preview

The beginnings of this fic have been in my drafts for a while and I just decided to add to it and make it a preview since I get so many asks about how I’d write Elena leaving Stefan for Damon, so I’ve put two scenes here that aren’t back to back scenes but scenes that will be in the fic so you can get the gist.

“I don’t get why I can’t do it on command, I did it yesterday.”

“Because you smelled blood,” said Stefan. “It was purely instinct, purely impulse. You don’t know how to do anything yet so you’re just reacting but all you need is time to figure out how everything works. Think about it like taking your first steps.

Elena laughed. “So I’m a baby now, is that it?”

Stefan pressed his lips to her ear. “Exactly,” he whispered and Elena’s eyes rolled to the back of her head.

“Alright,” said Stefan, returning to his serious voice. “It’s like the starting line of a race.”

Elena sighed.

“So you just push off with every ounce of strength that you have, OK?”

“I was a cheerleader, I sucked at track!”

“Just concentrate, ‘kay?”

Stefan put his hands on her waist and Elena immediately forgot about what she was supposed to be doing, all she could think about, all she could feel was his hands on her body. How did he expect her to concentrate when he was touching her like that? His grip was firm but sometimes his finger moved, brushing against her sweater and chills erupted all over body, and everything in her wanted his mouth on her. Everywhere on her.

She shook her head, smiling.“I can’t, all I keep thinking about is your hands on my body.”

“Oh OK.” Stefan let go of her waist and took a step back.

“No no no no.” Elena was surprised by the violent desperation of her reaction.  as she reached behind her and put his hands back around her waist. “I didn’t say to take them off...”

“Mmm.”

“It feels good.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded.

“What does it feel like?” said Stefan, skating his hand up and down her arm.

Elena heard it, the mischief, the huskiness in his voice, the drop in the tenor. He knew exactly what he was doing, exactly how to drive her crazy.

“It feels like you’re touching every nerve of my body.”

His hand stroked hers, caressing her face. His lips pressed against her ear, his breath causing her to shiver. “Everything is heightened...”

Elena’s heart was racing, her breathing was shallow --- this was torture.

“...touch...”

Stefan pressed his lips to her neck. No, this was torture. The best kind of torture. Everything in her ached for him in a way that would surely drive her crazy if she didn’t get him.

His hand. On her stomach. Over her pants. Her hand on his. His teeth grazed her neck and she felt it deep in her ache, and she almost felt herself release right then. No, she couldn’t do this anymore. She was going to die.

Elena turned around and the second she did, Stefan picked her up and smashed her against a tree, the trunk cracking from the force. Everything was quick and urgent and riotous. His clothes. She hated his clothes, the inconvenience of them, she never thought she could hate a shirt with such passion. Off. Pants. Off. Everything stripped, bare. Skin on skin. Her lips, his tongue, gasps, moans, cries of ecstasy.

Life would be amazing if they could stay like this, buried in each other, breathless and urgent and just in the moment. She wouldn’t let him come up for air, she wouldn’t let him breathe, let herself breathe, she just wanted this. Constantly. Nonstop. They’d never leave these woods. They’d stay here forever. God yes, forever. Of this. Of limitless desire, limitless passion, they’d never tire, never let up, just pure, utter, sheer sensation... ... ...

Elena didn’t know how long they’d been in the woods, how much time had passed, when things changed, when their movements got softer, slower. When they took a moment to gaze into each other’s eyes, to trace patterns on one another’s skin, when they went deeper than wild abandon and connected on a spiritual level she didn’t know existed before now. It was transcendental, it was nothing short of miraculous. She’d never before experienced this kind of intimacy. He brought out everything in her, saw her, and it brought back history, memory, of them, of him, of her. Together, entwined. Ecstasy, yes, and love. So much love. She was herself again, herself as she was now, herself as she was then, together beneath Stefan’s gaze, he loved her, then and now, always, she could see it in his eyes, feel it in his motions, hear it in his breathing,and it inspired her with an emotion so intense, it brought tears to her eyes, it was overwhelming, how he made her feel, it was so much, much too much.

--------

When they reached the boarding house, Elena was still coming down from the blood high, her head buzzed, her eyes fluttering slightly, the frenzy still hadn’t left her system, she was wired, she was powerful, she was still too caught up in the moment to think about how she felt, think about her life, think about anything.

Stefan was silent for a few moments, lips pressed together, and when he spoke his voice was careful but stern

“Elena, I get that you want to use your abilities, I get that you want to do what comes natural but the risk of people seeing ---”

“So just compel them to forget! Compel them to obey!” She laughed like was half-drunk, stumbling slightly into the living room. “Is walking always this painful for you?”

“You get used to it.”

“Why?” she asked, her eyes bright. “Why get used to anything with this kind of power in your body?”

Stefan blinked. “Because if we don’t, people can get hurt.”

Elena nodded her head, sighing. “You mean like tonight.”

Stefan didn’t say anything right away. “You would’ve killed her if Caroline hadn’t stopped you and Damon, you understand that right?”

There was a slight pang in Elena’s chest. Shame. Her buzz was ebbing. No, no. She had to hold onto it.

“I don’t want to talk about this with you.” She turned to walk away but Stefan was already in front of her when she faced the other direction.

“Stefan,” she said, clenching her teeth.

“Why don’t you talk about it?”

“Like you want to hear,” she snapped.

“Want to hear what?” he challenged. “Huh? That it felt good? Draining her?”

“Stop it.”

“That’s what you don’t want me to hear, right? Or is that not what you want to say?”

Elena threw her hands up in the air. “Yes, it felt good!”

Stefan nodded his head, his eyes blazing. “Yeah?”

“YES,” said Elen. “It felt AMAZING.”

“The rush when your fangs pierce skin?”“

“NEVER FELT ANYTHING LIKE IT.”

Elena jutted her face into Stefan’s as they yelled at each other. There was anger and defiance and … heat and desire and love and guilt, it was all just too confusing, he made her feel too many things!

“And when the blood hits your tongue?”

“It’s like my entire body comes alive!”

“The thrill of the hunt, of the chase, the fear.”

“INCREDIBLE.”

“AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT ALL STOPS?”

Elena paused.

“How do you feel right now?”said Stefan, his voice lowered but his tone harsh.

She gritted her teeth. “I feel like...” she could feel the tears brimming her eyes. “I feel like I should take off this daylight ring and walk into the sun. I feel disgusting. I feel terrible.”

Stefan held onto her arms, his expression earnest. “Because you know what you did isn’t right.”

Elena wrenched out of his hold, she couldn’t bear for him to touch her.“Only because I’m letting myself feel that way!”

“What’s the alternative, Elena? Hmm? Look, I know it’s difficult, I know it feels unbearable. We’ve all been there. This is what it feels like when you first turn, you just have to get past it and learn how to adapt.”

Elena shook her head. “All I’ve done is learn how to get past tragedy and adapt to new circumstances. I’m tired of doing that. Why can’t I just enjoy this feeling inside of me? Why can’t everyday just be like that day on your bike?” She stared at him and felt herself overcome yet again. “And now you’re looking at me like - like - I’m broken or something, like - like I’m a toy you need to fix!”

Stefan furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m looking at you like you’re a reflection of me before Lexi found me! You think I don’t know, Elena? I told you about the time in my life when I had thought everything about this was a gift, when I reveled in parts of vampirism that...” Stefan cut himself off, lowering his head. “Look, I made choices during that time. Choices that will haunt me forever. Literally forever.”

She knew that. It was just easier for her to think of him as looking at her like she was something that needed to be fixed, it made what she was about to do a little bit easier even though she hated herself for it.

“Everyday can be like that day on my bike,” said Stefan. “But you know what you were doing wasn’t the same and what you felt tonight wasn’t what you felt that day.”

“And this is why I fed with Damon because I knew

Stefan got still.  Elena had a desperate urge to tell him to forget it, that she didn’t mean it, but she forced herself to stay firm.

“So, is that what this is all about then? Damon.”

“No.”

Dejection hollowed out Stefan’s expression. “Don’t spare my feelings now, Elena, let’s be honest with each other.”

“Fine, Stefan. Am I attracted to Damon? Yes. Do I care about him in a way I never thought I would? Yes. But it has never mattered because it has never changed me loving you.”

“Then why did you bring him up? Why did you feed with him tonight?”

“Because--”

“You want him,” said Stefan. 

“I---”

“Well, you just said you were attracted to him.”

“It’s not about wanting

him.”

“Then what is it about?”

“It’s about wanting what he can give me!” she screamed. “What you can’t give me even if you tried!”

“Which is what, Elena?”

“Oblivion! I just want to forget, Stefan! I don’t want to think about the animals I feed on, I don’t want to think about Alaric being gone or Jenna or my parents, I don’t want to think about how many times I’ve nearly died or the fact that I’m a vampire! I just, I want it all to go away, I want it all to stop and it can’t stop with you because I love you and that makes me feel everything! Every good thing, every bad thing, everything else in between. And I can’t handle that right now, I can’t handle everything that comes with loving you! I - I - I can’t---”

“Be with me?”

Elena felt a hole open within her, it was going to tear her apart, leaving him, but she also knew that soon, it wouldn’t matter because she was leaving all feeling, all history, all conscience, to be consumed.

#stelena #stefan salvatore #elena gilbert #the vampire diaries #dobsley #stelena fanfiction #fanfiction #tvd #anti-tvd #anti julie plec #paul wesley #nina dobrev

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

Sorry if you already talked about this before! In Chapter 81, it says, "Once, ability users changed wars, and the countries that adapted triumphed." So, ability users didn't exist before the Great War?

Hiya anon! I actually haven’t been asked this before, no worries. 

Honestly, the whole Great War situation has interesting implications about the timeline. There were ability users pre-war, as almost all of the characters with abilities were born before the war (14 years pre-canon). But that line, as well as a lot of Mori’s reasoning for drafting Yosano, seem to imply that ability users had never been used as weapons before. 

Which is really odd. If a country had civilians with supernatural powers, it would definitely be in their best interest to turn these people into weapons. This implies one of two things. 

Firstly, that ability users as weapons were not a viable option. Perhaps they were too rare, or abilities weren’t all that useful for combat. I don’t see, say, Kunikida as someone whose ability would get him drafted, for example. Yes, it’s useful to a degree, but what makes Kunikida deadly is his own skill, not his ability. This is more likely, I think.

Secondly, that ability users are a recent phenomenon. Perhaps they started cropping up a few decades prior to the war. This would explain the lack of any stories about legendary ability users. But at the same time, Fukuchi’s sword is literally magic. I’m not entirely sure how it could have been made without an ability user doing something to give it wibbly wobbly timey wimey powers, and the sword is hundreds of years old. 

So, in short, ability users did exist before the Great War. But I’m not sure how much time before the Great War, or how recent ability users as a phenomenon are. It’s unclear. I hope we get more information on the Great War if Asagiri ever talks about the Transcendentals, as they were a group active during the war. 

Anyway, I hope my rambling answer helped! Have a great day, and stay safe.

#bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd #bsd meta #theory #great war #anime #manga #mori ougai

[mikauzoran]

Lila Fake-Dating/Emotional Blackmail Adrienette: Betting Against the House: Chapter Two

Read it on AO3: Betting Against the House: Chapter Two: Playing the Role

“You’d better make this look good.” Lila whispered the threat and threaded her arm through Adrien’s as they approached the classroom door just a handful of minutes before the final bell signaling the end of lunch was due to ring.

“I know you’re a good actor,” she continued in a quiet, level voice that somehow still managed to have a dangerous, lethal edge to it. “Make sure you look happy.”

“How about sheepish?” he suggested, mentally steeling himself for what he was about to put himself through. “I’m kind of shy and often keep things private. I think it would be more realistic for my character to be embarrassed.”

“So long as you give them all the impression that our dating is good news for you,” she stressed, short of patience. “Don’t step on the toes of my artistic vision. Your character is utterly smitten with me.”

Adrien took a long, slow inhale, tramping down the desire to fight. “Right. Got it.”

“I want you to walk me to my seat,” she instructed. “Once you drop me off, do that thing you’re always doing to Marinette.”

“What thing?” he inquired as she slipped her satchel off of her shoulder and shoved it at him, ordering, “Here. Carry this. Are you a gentleman or aren’t you?”

“Why should I be when you’re no lady?” he wondered ungenerously but obediently took her bag and looped it over his left shoulder along with his own.

“The thing where you take her hand and bow over it and kiss the back of it,” she clarified, knowing it would break her rival’s heart and maybe get Marinette or Chloé akumatized into the bargain.

Adrien’s heart sank, and his stomach soured at the thought of bestowing a romantic gesture he had thereto reserved only for his Lady and his Princess on Lila of all people.

Lila turned her head to glare menacingly, her grey-green eyes flashing as they bore into him. “Am I understood?”

“Yes, Lila,” he muttered as they came to the classroom door.

She pinched his arm. “Smile. It’s showtime.”

Almost on instinct, a practiced grin slid into place, plastering over the helplessness and the misery he was feeling.

He was used to covering up his true emotions and showing people what they wanted to see. After all, he’d been doing it for as long as he could remember. His father reprimanded him for his outbursts of temper, so he’d learned to bottle it up and smile. His mother had been upset by his tears, so he’d learned to cry on the inside instead.

Now, Marinette’s future and happiness depended on his ability to outwardly express elation he didn’t feel, so he would manufacture it and fool them all.

He could do that. She was worth it.

“Ready when you are, Ma Fleur,” he decreed with a smirk and a signature wink.

The grin that spread across Lila’s lips was nearly manic with glee.

“Good,” she purred in satisfaction. “Very good.”

 Their classmates were congregated in loose clumps around the classroom, leisurely making their way back to their seats at the end of lunch when Adrien opened the door.

He bowed Lila through ahead of him with a playful, “Ladies first,” and, once he followed her and was back at her side, she slipped her hand into his.

“Everyone, you’ll never guess what happened,” she announced with a squeal of barely contained excitement, her right foot kicking up in her joy.

The varied discussions came to a stop, and the class turned their heads as one.

“What happened?” Alya inquired on the behalf of all.

Once Lila was certain she had everyone’s undivided attention, she let the bomb drop: “Adrien finally asked me out!”

Rose and Mylène rushed up to congratulate Lila and gush over her good news. Juleka and Alix followed soon after.

Some of the guys came up and started congratulating Adrien, giving him playful shoves and thumping him on the back or ruffling his hair, telling him how lucky he was.

He did his best to smile and laugh sheepishly, to look embarrassed yet happy.

Some classmates were notably absent from the fray: Nathaniel was busy sketching, seemingly unaware of the scene playing out at the front of the classroom, and Sabrina was trying to comfort a screeching Chloé who was outraged at the news and practically foaming at the mouth. Nino, Alya, and Marinette were also missing.

Adrien made the mistake of looking in the direction of his closest friends.

Nino was sitting at their table looking mystified while Alya stood in the aisle next to Marinette, her hand resting comfortingly on her best friend’s shoulder and a conflicted look on her face.

Marinette sat at her desk staring poisoned blades at Adrien. Her expression was frigid, but her eyes screamed hurt, betrayal, and repulsion.

He could read the disgust and condemnation in her gaze clearly, and it made him want to drop the farce and defend himself to her.

He considered taking her aside and explaining that evening when he was over at her house with Alya and Nino for their game night, but then his better judgment kicked in and told him that was impossible.

If Marinette knew what Adrien was doing to protector her—what he had been doing for her sake for three years now—she would never accept it. She’d be furious and demand that he denounce Lila publicly. When he told her he couldn’t because it would cause a fuss and upset his father, she would go on the warpath herself.

And no one would believe her. It would just look to them like jealousy. They would write it off just like all the other times Marinette had tried over the years to open their eyes to Lila’s duplicity.

Marinette would fail, and Lila would win, and nothing would change. Marinette’s life would be ruined, and it would be all Adrien’s fault because he’d selfishly decided to clear his name to preserve Marinette’s opinion of him instead of doing the right thing and protecting her.

No. Adrien would just have to grin and bear Marinette’s accusatory gaze and lie when she inevitably interrogated him as to how he could be with a lying, conniving snake like Lila.

He reminded himself that this was about Marinette, not him, so let her hate him. So long as she had friends and her reputation intact. So long as she went to a good university and advanced in her career. So long as Lila didn’t steal her chances at success and making her dreams come true.

He forced himself to look away and smile as Ivan offered him warm congratulations and Alix gave him a teasing elbow in the ribs.

 Meanwhile, Nino was beyond confused and somewhat seriously considering that his best friend had been abducted by body snatchers.

Adrien did not like Lila. At all.

Sure, he was civil towards her, and as much as Nino had heard Lila go on about how sweet and flirty Adrien was with her, Nino had always assumed that she’d read too much into the fact that Adrien was painfully nice to everyone. He was a natural flirt and treated everyone with respect and compassion, so Nino could understand how Lila might think that he was only that way with her and see romantic overtures where there were none, but…

What was transpiring in front of Nino’s very eyes made absolutely no sense to Adrien’s best friend who knew for certain that Adrien was stupid (keyword stupid) in love with Marinette.

“I’m so sorry, Sweetie,” Nino heard Alya whispering to the true object of Adrien’s affections in the row behind him.

“I know it’s rough, but…try to focus on being his friend and being happy for him,” Alya coaxed. “It’ll get easier with time. I mean, we’ve all been able to see this coming for years now. They’ve just got so much chemistry. It was bound to happen, and we all knew that.”

Nino twisted in his seat to quirk an eyebrow at his girlfriend. “Chemistry? What chemistry are you talking about, Al? You mean when they act like ions who both have positive charges and repel one another? Because normally Adrien wants nothing to do with Lila if he can help it. I think you’ve been looking at too many pictures from those photoshoots they do together.”

Alya was about to respond when Miss Bustier came into the classroom to start the Literature lesson and urged her pupils to return to their seats.

The class watched as Adrien gallantly escorted Lila to her desk at the back of the room. He returned her satchel and, on his way back to his own place, caught her hand in his own, bowing as he brought it up to his lips.

“Have a nice class, Ma Fleur,” he whispered loud enough to be overheard. “I’ll miss you.”

“Not as much as I’ll miss you, My Prince,” Lila returned with saccharine sweetness, batting her eyes at him and blowing him a kiss.

There was much cooing (particularly from Rose) as Adrien made his way back to his seat at the front.

Nino stared at his friend expectantly as Adrien sank down onto the bench beside him and let out a barely audible sigh of exhaustion.

Nino arched an eyebrow as he noted the subtle ways in which Adrien dropped the act.

He kept a soft smile on his lips and a positive expression on his face, but the feelings didn’t reach Adrien’s eyes. Adrien eyes looked dull and tired.

“Mec,” Nino whispered meaningfully as Miss Bustier turned to write “Transcendentalism” on the board.

“Hm?” Adrien hummed in response, pointedly not meeting Nino’s gaze.

“What the heck is up with you and Lila?” Nino demanded, still baffled by what he had witnessed.

“We’re dating now,” Adrien replied in a perfect neutral. “Aren’t you happy for me?”

“I would be if you were happy about it,” Nino snorted quietly. “But you don’t like Lila.”

“…Of course I do.” The careful smile subtly slipped from Adrien’s lips as he answered. “Why would I date a girl I didn’t like?”

Nino pursed his lips, growing irritated by Adrien’s evasiveness.

They were best friends. They were supposed to be able to tell one another anything, no matter what, without fear of judgment. Why was Adrien dodging his questions on this?

“…That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Nino grumbled, keeping his voice down. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“…Not right now,” Adrien sighed, his shoulders sagging with the weight of his charade.

“…Okay,” Nino reluctantly relented, giving Adrien’s shoulder an affectionate bump with his own as he slipped a small, plastic-wrapped cube of pistachio-flavored halva into Adrien’s hand. “Later.”

“Thanks,” Adrien whispered, heart filling with gratitude for his friend as he snuck the sweet into his mouth and let it melt.

That small, thoughtful act of sharing a homemade treat made Adrien feel less alone, and it gave him the strength he needed to get through the rest of the day.

#Adrinette #Adrienette #Marichat #Lady Noir #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrien Agreste #Lila Rossi #Lila Gets Exposed #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Nino Lahiffe #Happy Ending #Fake Dating #Emotional Blackmail #Bullying #Mikau's Writings #Betting Against the House