#(since they're the most likely source of the absurdity in question)

[matan4il]

hi quick question: what do u know about the lavender ai post that's circulating? i saw it on this fact checking blog i follow and they made it seem legit but im not convinced

Hi Nonnie!

Before I get into this specific subject, I just wanna tell you that for me personally, this war has been an eye opener about how little some "fact checking" sites are worth. I've read several articles on that type of site, which could have used some fact checking themselves. In some cases, they had author names attached to them, and when checking the authors out, it was easy to find that they were not free of bias themselves. So... yeah. Take "fact checking sites" with a grain of salt. Even journalists sometimes get it wrong, and they're held to higher standards, and have more personal accountability, than most "fact checking sites," not to mention that the latter often simply rely on a selection of journalistic sources, but sometimes without really taking into account which are reliable, and which aren't.

As for the lavender AI issue specifically, I heard it briefly referenced on the news, during a discussion panel, and it was brought up in the context of recent conspiracy theories about Israel. The panelists were so clear on how obviously false these all were, they didn't even really get into refuting any of them.

A bit like how, in the past, when watching panelists discussing antisemitic tropes reincarnated as anti-Israel lies, I saw them bring up the one claiming Israel set up a field hospital in Haiti after the earthquake in order to harvest organs, which is obviously a new version of "the Jews are bloodthirsty" without bothering to refute it, because to Israelis, it's evident that it's bullshit. Not only because we're aware that we're not actually those evil creatures, lusting for death and destruction, that the anti-Israel crowd likes to portray us as, but also because we know that the constant terrorist attacks here have made Israel a world leader in the field of emergency medicine (here's an example: even the antisemitic UN had to admit an IDF unit was the best medical emergency team in the world), so that's the actual reason we set up that field hospital, much like we use our experience to help others in basically every disaster around the world that's willing to accept aid from Israel (and sometimes we operate even in places like Syria, where technically, we're defined as an enemy state, so all of the aid had to be provided directly to private people, and while keeping their identity a secret, so their own government can't presecute them for receiving it).

Anyway, since the TV discussion didn't get into refuting what they clearly saw as an absurd, hateful lie, I went online in search of more info, and found that this news venturing into mainstream media happened in The Guardian, a British news source known for its anti-Israel bias, to the point where a female black, non-Jewish journalist of theirs felt the need to point it out all the way back in 2003, and in Nov 2023, a Jewish employee of theirs had published a personal piece about feeling unsafe there, and looking for another place of employment. But the source that The Guardian is quoting, is actually not a proper journalistic publication, it's an anti-Israel propaganda blog based magazine, which includes Israeli anti-Zionists and Palestinians, publishing in English since its audience is very much not Israelis despite claiming that they want to inspire change in Israel, and responsible for systematically vilifying the country and spreading lies about it.

If I, as an Israeli, thought that something was wrong with a system the IDF is using, and wanted to see real change in my army, I wouldn't go to a publication that isn't journalistic in nature, that doesn't publish in a local language, that most Israelis have never heard about, and that those who did, don't trust, because of its known anti-Israel reputation. That in itself makes me suspicious.

The IDF gave a statement in response to questions presented by The Guardian, based on the aforementioned piece. It's a bit long, but here are the main references to the claimed AI system Lavender (emphasis added by me):

Some of the claims portrayed in your questions are baseless in fact, while others reflect a flawed understanding of IDF directives and international law.

The process of identifying military targets in the IDF consists of various types of tools and methods, including information management tools, which are used in order to help the intelligence analysts to gather and optimally analyze the intelligence, obtained from a variety of sources. Contrary to claims, the IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process. According to IDF directives, analysts must conduct independent examinations, in which they verify that the identified targets meet the relevant definitions in accordance with international law and additional restrictions stipulated in the IDF directives.

The “system” your questions refer to is not a system, but simply a database whose purpose is to cross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organizations. This is not a list of confirmed military operatives eligible to attack.

For each target, IDF procedures require conducting an individual assessment of the anticipated military advantage and collateral damage expected. Such assessments are not made categorically in relation to the approval of individual strikes. The assessment of the collateral damage expected from a strike is based on a variety of assessment methods and intelligence-gathering measures, in order to achieve the most accurate assessment possible, considering the relevant operational circumstances. The IDF does not carry out strikes when the expected collateral damage from the strike is excessive in relation to the military advantage. In accordance with the rules of international law, the assessment of the proportionality of a strike is conducted by the commanders on the basis of all the information available to them before the strike, and naturally not on the basis of its results in hindsight.

The IDF outright rejects the claim regarding any policy to kill tens of thousands of people in their homes.

Some things about the claims in that piece don't work out IMO. Like, the number of fatalities if indeed there's an AI system, which produced a list of 37,000 Hamas and PIJ terrorists, with an automatic green light to kill between 15 to 100 civilians per each, especially in the first months of the war, and even assuming they couldn't target them all during that period of time (we do know most Hamas units have been destroyed). There are about 1,500 terrorists in a Hamas battalion (source in Hebrew), and 4 are left in Rafah, so only about 6,000 Hamas terrorists are in the last area the IDF has not operated in yet. That would mean roughly 31,000 terrorists were accessible targets. Just for the sake of erring on the side of caution, let's assume 10 killed civilians per Hamas terrorist, instead of that piece's claimed 15-100 approved per target. This would produce somewhere around 341,000 people killed in the first months alone. Let's go even lower, let's say 5 civilians killed per terrorist instead of 15-100. That would mean 186,000 killed during those months. We are exactly 6 months into the war, and even Hamas' numbers (likely inflated) don't claim more than 33,000 as the total number of fatalities. The given numbers and directives in that so-called "article" just don't match the reality on the ground, but claim to explain it, and to prove that Israel is being callous with civilians' lives in Gaza.

I'll also add that the AI-based decision making described doesn't take into account the possible presence and harm to the lives of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza. That's another thing that makes me doubt that piece, because the IDF commanders have repeatedly stated their commitment to bringing back all the hostages, and as many alive as possible, and Israeli soldiers more than once risked their own lives to get them out, whether it was living people, or the bodies of Israelis who deserve to get to be buried back home, with their loved ones there, as in tact as possible. This scenario only works if we assume the Israeli commanders and soldiers have no sentiment for the lives of their own kidnapped civilians.

I guess that's what the piece's aim is. To play on people's fears of AI determining whether people will live or die, and to paint Israel as an evil, unfeeling, bloodthirsty entity, capable of anything, including of the inhumanity of letting computers decide the fate of human beings. The ease and speed with which people believe this, and spread this notion, before anyone has verified that Lavender is anything other than a database, just like the IDF says, feels like a demonstration of how all antisemitic blood libels are spread.

I hope this helped!

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #ask #anon ask #lavender

[licncourt]

I totally understand your opinion about amc Lestat but don't you think this could just be Louis' perspective on him? Or Claudia herself? They portrayed Lestat as a demon in first book, I want to give a chance to the 2 second , the show plays a lot with things from point of view and memory, I think people are giving up too soon...

I've talked about this before, but it was over a year ago now so I'll explain again.

While I understand where you're coming from, I honestly don't think it would matter to me. Even if what happened in ep 5 was 100% something Louis or Claudia dreamed up, I would still have major issues because:

Even though ep 1 had a content warning for Paul's suicide, there was absolutely nothing before ep 5, something that the viewers had established trust with the creators to do. I think there's one now on AMC+, but that was added weeks later after backlash. The showrunners doubling down and the episode director almost mocking fans who were upset was incredibly tasteless as well.

The story as pitched by the showrunners feels very much like bait and switch false advertising. It was pitched to the viewers as a gothic love story that was "the most faithful adaptation of IWTV ever". Not to mention the insane tonal shift into something that moved from fantasy violence against NPCs to brutal domestic violence and the vampire version of sexual assault. Anyone coming from the books had no reason to anticipate this dynamic between Loustat, nor would anyone who checked out the source material prior to see if they would be okay with it

If they go the "Louis/Claudia imagined this/made it up/misremembered the events" route, I think that's a questionable at best and offensive at worst narrative to put forth about domestic violence victims since the showrunners seem to not see anything wrong with it. Portraying it is one thing, not seeing how presenting domestic abuse as "the fallibility of memory" is pretty messed up is another

Especially considering Rolin Jones' comments after one of the episodes that he wanted to "play with race" as a white man, I find the ep 5 events combined with the dynamic in ep 6 gross as hell. It's explicitly referred to as being like a master/slave relationship, that's insane considering the stated goal of the show was to make the story modern and racially aware. Obviously AMC wants Loustat to be romantic endgame, but they're starting off with a white man basically owning his black partner and child like animals

My problems with the episode also extend to Claudia's sexual assault. Again, not something that was in the book at all but rather added by a white male creator because I guess that's the only way women are allowed to face adversity in media. Claudia is already an incredibly tragic character, that was absurd to add for what, drama? Having Daniel make cruel comments about it to Louis and having Lestat (a canon sexual assault victim) mock her for it is the cherry on top.

Overall it was just a really shitty thing for the creators to do no matter what the ultimate outcome. Several of my good friends who are book fans were extremely triggered by the scene and totally blindsided by something that felt completely gratuitous and honestly like shock bait to be edgy and generate social media buzz. Again, unbelievably tasteless.

I don't have any faith in the good intentions of the creators anymore, and that sucks because there were a lot of good things about the show before that.

#obligatory reminder that enjoying the show is fine! these are just my reasons for disliking how it went #i also don't really want to argue about it or discuss it a ton bc that's not what my blog is about! #answered #amc hot takes

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Idea #85: The Old Guard, but make it Assassin's Creed

My brother has always been a big fan of Assassin's Creed, but I never gave the games a shot until recently, when it seemed a natural progression from all the Crusades research I've been doing for The Old Guard fic I want to write but probably never will. Once I realized Isu bullshit could be a perfect explanation for TOG immortality, this (incredibly self-indulgent) crossover was born.

Or: What if Merrick Pharmaceuticals was a competitor of Abstergo Industries?

Just imagine it:

Pharmaceutical research is an expensive, cut-throat business. Viagra is a $2 billion dollar a year industry. Humira, the blockbuster drug of 2018, sold nearly $20 billion in the US alone. So I imagine if you're a pharmaceutical CEO of limited morals and great ambition, it might seem like a better idea to steal ideas from your competitor who seems to hit it out of the ballpark every time instead of pouring billions of dollars into what may turn out to be an unfruitful venture.

Enter Hugh Merrick, father of Steve Merrick and founder of Merrick Pharmaceuticals. Needing a blockbuster and desperate to get one over on Abstergo, he hires a hacker to slip into Abstergo's servers and find him the ripest, juiciest plum they can sometime in the early 2000s, before the (modern) events of the games or the 2019 TOG movie.

The hacker comes back with the schematics for the Animus.

The idea of genetic memories seems absurd, but Hugh figures that if Abstergo has been using the Animus since the 1980s to get ahead, there's no reason he can't do it too - all he needs is a single Piece of Eden and all his problems are solved.

Hugh builds the Animus and has the hacker go back into Abstergo's systems looking for a candidate to put into it. But finding someone with Assassin blood seems dangerous - they're likely to be an assassin too and could be dangerous if they try to escape, plus the Templars killed off nearly all of them. Templar descendants are out because most are Templars themselves and if Hugh's plan is to succeed he heeds to stay off their radar for as long as possible.

The hacker returns with Abstergo's list of people who may be useful if all other avenues fail. It contains a list of people who were peripherally involved during the invents that interest them - mainly high-ranking courtiers close to Popes Alexander VI and Julius II - and their descendants. They might know things about events of Ezio's time.

Enter Joe and Nicky.

For the past few hundred years, their primary cover identities involve being the children or grandchildren of their previous cover story, all the way back to their first deaths. There are fewer questions and you get to "inherit" all your old stuff.

This method has worked quite well for them - until Merrick learns that their "ancestors" were part of the court of Pope Julius II from 1497 (when he was still Bishop of Ostia) until his death in 1513. Nicky was his private secretary, Joe was a court painter, and contemporary sources suggest they were highly placed enough to know whatever Pope Julius II knew about Ezio's apple. Such as where Ezio might have hidden it.

It's not an unreasonable plan, except for the pesky fact of Joe and Nicky's immortality. After all, the animus is designed to draw on genetic memory, not the subject's own memories. And even if it can be used to view memories laid down in their own genes 500 years ago - which is doubtful, - there's a high likelihood of it killing them - and if Hugh were to learn of their immortality, things would only get worse for them. But they have little choice once they're captured and brought to Hugh's secret research bunker somewhere north of Inverness.

What follows is a largely self-indulgent stroll through the more interesting episodes of Joe and Nicky's life together.

Nicky's first go in the animus is a jumbled, confused mess as Hugh's tech minion learns the ropes as she goes. Nicky ends up hopscotching through his early memories - for instance, a memory where he's learning how to use a sword as a young squire jumps to him using the same move during the Siege of Jerusalem. That strand of memory continues on for a bit until another interaction gets him sent into the memory of another battle/training session/conversation with the person in question and so on.

Joe's first time in the animus goes a little better, as Hugh realizes that his minion needs to learn how to program the animus before they put their most valuable subject into it, and so let's her learn with Joe. Hugh's minion (who is really beginning to regret taking this job) succeeds, pulling Joe into the genetic memory of one of his ancestors: al-Kahina, an Amazigh religious and military leader who led indigenous resistance to the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. There should be suggestions of a Sword of Eden somewhere in events, but since they don't share Precursor knowledge, Hugh's not interested in letting the memory play out.

Nicky's second session gets them to the time period they want, but his memories have next to nothing to do with the PoE. The same holds true for Joe, when his second session puts him through his POV of that time period. And though Hugh has his minion take them up and down every memory of that time period searching for the smallest hint of anything that might point them in the right direction, there's nothing to find.

Or, rather: Nicky and Joe did meet Ezio once or twice, in waiting rooms or reception areas or the like, but they spent that time talking about art, or the weather, or philosophy - nothing about politics, or Ezio's travels, or PoEs at all.

Otherwise, most of Nicky and Joe's memories of early 16th century Rome involve Joe's rivalry with Michelangelo, who among other things persisted in flirting with Nicky even after he made it clear he wasn't interested. (Joe was, among other things, responsible for getting Michelangelo the commission for David in Florence to get him out of Rome and away from Nicky.)

There's some Vatican politics as well - Nicky's part in organizing the Swiss Guard, Joe's in organizing the Vatican Museums, and the removal of the Borgias from power - and some global politics - the 1503 dispensation for Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, etc. But most of their memories are largely Joe and Nicky being Joe and Nicky in the High Renaissance (and rather hating their jobs, as neither of them particularly like working for Julius II but were blackmailed into it to avoid being labeled as Ottoman spies.)

This goes on for several days until Hugh orders his minion to start looking for the memories of other "ancestors" - essentially, to refine the animus and her technique while he gets his hacker to find better candidates for the animus. And if this accidentally destroys Joe and Nicky's minds in the process? So be it. The plan was always to kill them at the end of their usefulness anyway.

Hugh's minion spends a day doing as asked - there's a few tantalizing glimpses of Joe and Nicky at the court of Kublai Khan in the 1270s - before she has an opportunity to act on the guilty conscious that's come to plague her.

The minion helps them escape - destroying the animus, wiping the records, and blowing the place sky high to cover the bloody swath they have to cut to get out of the secret research bunker. Amongst the casualties is Hugh Merrick, propelling his son Steve into position as youngest CEO in Pharma.

Joe and Nicky rejoin Andy and Booker - who'd been doing their best to cut their own bloody swath through anyone tangentially related to the mercenaries who kidnapped their brothers - and decide to turn their attention to tracking down PoE and destroying animus technology wherever it can be found, believing there are no peaceful uses for either. As a glad you escaped present, Booker tanks Merrick Pharmaceutical's stocks so badly the company never recovers, eventually going bankrupt.

As for the minion? Maybe she's a young Rebecca Crane prior to her recruitment by the Assassins and it’s her experiences with Hugh's animus that get her recruited by the Assassin Order. Maybe she's just a random OC who sets herself up with a new identity halfway around the world and watches gleefully as Merrick Pharmaceuticals and Abstergo Industries both eventually crash and burn.

Bonuses include: 1) Joe and Nicky being the most passive aggressive kidnapees in the history of kidnappings - on the face of things, going along with exactly what Hugh asks of them, but doing their best to focus on innocuous memories and figuring out how to purposefully make memories "skip" between similar episodes without Hugh ever noticing the glitch. Also, playing up the Bleeding Effect so that by day three they're only speaking in Medieval Italian; 2) Hugh being a better class of villain than his son. Immoral? Unethical? Yes, but in a sophisticated businessman way, not a jacket and hoodie, stab a man with a letter opener type way. For some reason I'm imagining him as Jean-Luc Picard, if Picard ever had a Mirror Universe alternate; and 3) Interludes of Andy and Booker searching for Joe and Nicky after they've been kidnapped. This should be part action-thriller along the lines of Taken, part buddy comedy, and involve an arc wherein Andy learns of Booker's deep unhappiness with his immortality and helps him come to terms with the feelings that would have otherwise eventually led to the events of the 2019 movie.

And that is surprisingly more than I thought I would have had. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you decide to do anything with it.

More TOG Fic Ideas | More Terrible Fic Ideas

#plot bunny #fic ideas #the old guard #assassin's creed #ezio trilogy #tog #ac #alternate universe #assassin's creed au #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #yusuf x nicolo #immortal husbands #isu technology #genetic memory #abstergo #ezio auditore #animus #andromache the scythian #sebastien le livre #rebecca crane

[joons]

there is a certain type of elvis fan — or elvis author — who makes it a mark of personal pride that they will read anything and everything written about him. the assumption, i'm sure, is that in reading widely, from the perspectives of multiple people believed to have known or met him, that they will naturally sort out the truth between them all and come to a more accurate picture of who he was. this might take them toward obscure sources whose motives and factual bases are much harder to determine than those of the better-documented friends and family members who spent time with him. some of these obscure sources cannot be verified by anyone and can sometimes contradict absolutely sure facts about elvis' life, such as what city he was in on a certain day, or they are conveniently lacking in any evidentiary value.

despite the problems with these sources, there is a tendency among more indiscriminate readers to hold themselves above other fans who stick to a stricter "canon" of books that can be verified. there is some sense that because they are more adventurous in their sourcing that they are getting to the "true" story, that anyone who doubts some of these little-known accounts are clinging to a whitewash. when confronted with questions about these sources, they accuse other fans of being "naive" about elvis' drug use, infidelities, or spiritual beliefs, or whatever the source purports to reveal, and thus they can categorize any pushback as an attempt by the "naive" fan to preserve an idealized/idolized version of elvis that doesn't exist (never mind that this is rarely the case; "beloved" or "defended" are not synonyms for "idolized").

but whatever naivete they may ascribe to more discerning fans, surely it takes more naivete to ignore the fog of puerile, absurd narrative-making that has surrounded elvis since the start of his career (earlier, if we take school bullying into account). this is someone who was believed to be possessed by the devil, to have faked his own death, to have drug-fueled orgies and 20 unknown lovechildren and an incestuous relationship with his own mother. and yet, in spite of all these obviously false narratives that have taken hold, these fans and authors still seem to find it completely inconceivable that many, many people lie about elvis and their involvement in his life. it is absolutely "naive" to believe that anyone putting pen to paper is basically truthful, especially when it comes to someone who is arguably the most famous american figure in popular culture. these fans have no trouble believing books about secret affairs that conflict with elvis' known whereabouts (or, on the side of elvis critics: believing rumors of racism that were found decades ago to have been invented wholecloth) just because they are a touch less outlandish than claims of cloning or secret siblings. the standards are on the floor, and yet some fans keep picking them up and dusting them off like they're (cr)edible.

uncritically accepting every source obscures the man so much that "reading widely" hits a point of diminishing returns, distorting him in the way he most feared. and, for some reason, i see it rationalized as a needed counter to a perfect elvis strawman, as if some fans' love or credibility is stronger because they "acknowledge" invented faults.

even memoirs from people we know absolutely spent lots of time with elvis are frequently self-serving and outright misleading, and those are the best ones. other narrators seem willing to contradict themselves and leverage their access to speak with authority they don't have. that alone takes an enormous amount of care and study to ensure that elvis' story is being told accurately and respectfully. but beneath that, there are accounts from people never known to have spent any time with him that are given the same weight as elvis' closest friends. while this might "suit" tabloid journalism just fine, it has no place in published works or curated fan pages that value the truth.

at the heart of every fictionalized elvis account, positive or negative, bigger-than-life or oddly intimate, is the same impulse for the storyteller to weave themselves into his life, by claiming they were the only one who loved him, the only one who saw through him, the one he kept a secret, someone who found their identity and worth in believing they're his child or confidante or drug dealer. and there is nothing, nothing, grounding any of them in reality. if there is any truth there worth seeing, it is in how he affects people so much that they want to leave their mark on him, to leverage their fleeting glimpses of him into something bigger, something meaningful and worthy of notice. while that is an understandable impulse, it cannot come by clawing at someone else's life and filling in the spaces with whatever you hope to find.

and that's something we as fans have to avoid as well. it's just as true that today's historians, writers, and fans must avoid assuming that they know him best just because of their willingness to dive into material that continues to exploit him and create funhouse mirrors that reflect whatever we want to see in him. studying his life and career will always be subjective and interpretive, so it is all the more necessary to stick to credible accounts and verifiable facts, instead of relying on the One Neat Trick of believing the real elvis presley is buried at the bottom of all the sludge.

#elvis presley #something i have been chewing on for a while #i think there is a big responsibility that comes with verifying information that we can't shirk just because we're not professionals #not when the 'professionals' are often the ones most guilty of sloppy research and defensiveness #(alanna) #anyone can get tricked by some not-so-good sources but it's not something to brag about

[cosmicjoke]

Hi! If you have already answered something similar I apologise in advance for repeating the question.

why are some people so adamant to use those q&a (Isayama said in an interview..) that happen on fan events as “proofs” when nothing has never been confirmed in any source material or canon manga? Kawakubo Shintaro (AoT editor) has asked and advised not to take everything mentioned at some fan events as strictly canon, as some things mentioned may be subject to change. Since most of the time these questions are asked in an informal manner, fans are asked to take this information as not strictly canon.

Most of those so called “proofs” don’t come from any official places anyway, the source is usually either twitter or tumblr aka fan blogs where those questions and answers can be easily fabricated, taken out of context, edited to one’s liking. I don’t really see any of this as a proof of anything.

Also, some of these people love to state that OVA’s aren’t canon. And some questions asked in an informal manner are!? Like?????

Yeah, this is (mostly) about shipping. And yes it’s about Levi. I am not a shipping™️ person myself, I don’t support any ships, Im not interested in any. And I don’t mind other people shipping things as long as they aren’t pushing their ships onto me… but unfortunately some people are… well pushy.

Hi there,

Well, I can't really speak for others, why they do and don't do certain things. But my guess would be that people who want to see their ships as canon will latch on to anything they can use as "proof" of said ship. So any sort of quote or piece of information which they can twist to fit their preferred ship, they'll jump on immediately and try to push it as proof of the ship's canonical existence. Of course it's ridiculous. All romantic relationships in "Attack on Titan" are very obvious. Eren and Mikasa, Historia and Ymir, etc... So this notion that Isayama is hiding some secret relationship between Levi and... whoever, between the lines, or in the subtext or whatever, is absurd. He's not. Levi isn't with anyone romantically in either the manga or the anime, and I don't know why it's such an issue at all. Levi loves his friends. But they're friends, you know? And just because they're friends doesn't make his relationship with, say, Hange or Erwin, or anyone else, any less meaningful. I think people want Levi to only care about one, specific person, above all others, and so they try to float this idea that he's romantically involved with said person. But Levi cares about everyone equally, I think. He values everyone's lives, and tries his best to protect everyone. It's part of what makes him such a heroic character.

#Levi Ackerman

[qqchurch]

Linus was an S-Rank adventurer, like Gadhio, but still only 24 years old. Ever since he was a child, he’d always been more gifted than his peers, and even at this young age, he’d experienced more than some people did in twice the time. Currently, his finetuned intuition was letting off warning bells.

The single most common reasons why parties fell apart wasn’t monster attacks or money troubles. It was interpersonal relationships.

“I just hope nothing truly terrible happens before we reach the Demon Lord’s castle.”

Even as Linus wished this with all his might, his ample experience told him things were unlikely to play out in their favor.

one staple of the "banished/exiled/kicked out of the party" micro-genre is that the B-plot is usually what happens to the party in question after the MC is gone

the answer is that these parties fall apart most of the time, but the severity of their "pride before the fall" scenario is usually tied to how petty the author wants to humiliate them for harming the MC, and the unacknowledged contribution the MC was providing before they left

much like the rest of the stories published in LN/WN/Manga, the trend of making things flashier, more absurd, and more ridiculous also happens even in micro-genres like this, so we could have premises where the MC has a hidden power that's the actual source of strength the rest of the party were relying on, and now that they're gone they're going to eat shit and die in humiliating ways, often to satisfy the schadenfreude of the audience

or, you could have a more subtle touch and have the MC just provide things that aren't easily tangible and could be glossed over like smoothing over interpersonal interactions in the party, keep the morale up with little gestures like keeping someone company or preparing their food in a way that suits their tastes. errands, basically, but definitely things that someone would be desperate to provide if they're saddled with accompanying a group that's on a Big Mission

either way, I think the basis of this micro-genre is probably venting against the feeling of alienation while working in black company and wanting to feel acknowledged and rewarded by the backbreaking amount of work they have to do for them

#qq posts #qq reads: roll over and die

[leandrafalconwing]

Watching Avengers: Infinity War right now, and it got to the part where Gamora asks Peter Quill to kill her rather than let Thanos take her, and something occurred to me. There are apparently people who blame Steve Rogers for not having Wanda destroy the Mind Stone and therefore Vision right off the bat, but it seems to me that’s an awful lot like blaming Gamora for not just killing herself before the Guardians ever went to Knowhere. After all, if she’d done that, Thanos would not have been able to find the Soul Stone, and he might not have had someone to trade for it, either. Now, maybe there ARE people who blame her, but if so I haven’t seen it. And it’s not exactly the same situation as Vision, no, but a key factor in both of those situations is that there were still options. The Guardians didn’t know Thanos had already made it to Knowhere and gotten the Reality Stone. As far as they knew, Gamora could still keep away from Thanos. And in Vision’s case, it was possible to disconnect him from the Mind Stone, which would allow them to destroy the stone WITHOUT killing Vision. Gamora and Vision were both willing to die to prevent Thanos from getting those stones, but that doesn’t mean they had to die immediately. Not while there were still options that meant they could survive.

#there are other reasons that's a stupid thing to blame Steve for #but this is the one that occurred to me today #anti Tony stans #(since they're the most likely source of the absurdity in question) #heroism and sacrifice often go hand-in-hand #but that doesn't mean you should rush to sacrifice yourself if there are other alternatives

[askyourwritergrandma]

Hello!

How do I get over the feeling of my writing being cringe? Any tips?

Thank you.

Hello anon!

This is a difficult question to answer because most of the answer has to come from you. The first thing that you need to think about is why it feels "cringe". Do you feel like it's not as good as you want it to be? Not as good as the things you've read? It's silly, absurd or embarrassing (for writing style, or content)? Do you feel this way because it's how you see others react to their writing? Because you've seen, heard or participated in poking fun/laughing at 'bad writing'?

I do have some general suggestions about how to learn to love your writing, but in order to be able to embrace your work and move past the 'cringe' you need to figure out where that feeling is coming from.

Stop listening to people online - I've been writing since middle school and in that time (and it's been a time), I have met every sort of writer from the one claiming to have simply created perfection without effort to the nervous nelly type that cannot be parted from their fiction because it hasn't reached an imaginary perfection state. What I know after all of that, despite whatever someone tells you, nobody woke up one day with the ability to write. Nobody created a masterpiece without effort. They're selling you a fantasy to make themselves look good because they're exactly the same as the rest of us, they want it to be true and they want to be complimented and looked up to. Avoid the person who says they put no effort into their art, they're only after your admiration.

Avoid spaces that glorify self-doubt - It is 100% normal to need to vent about your writing. It is 100% normal to have doubts about. It's 100% normal to want to just complain about how it didn't turn out as well as you'd hoped. These are all good and normal things. However, there are internet places and people who endlessly bemoan their lack of skills, progress, or success. They'll say things like 'oh I'll never be as good as _____ no matter what I do'. But not once in a while when they're feeling discouraged, just all the time. Depression, self-recrimination and failure are their loudest traits. That atmosphere might feel cathartic at first but it will suck the soul right out of you. Vent when you need to, focus on motivation and progress. As silly as it sounds, putting yourself in positive spaces helps you stay positive.

Focus on Progress/Process not Product - I read a bit of advice that said when working with children you should always make sure to comment on their effort rather than the end result because it lets them know the hard work they're doing is what's important. It's not easy to apply in practice and it's not easy to apply to your own work, but if you're rereading your fiction and you start to feel 'cringe' about it, take a breath and find something you did better in this story than you did in the last one. Find something you want to do better at in your next story. Just one thing, just something as simple as "I want to add one more line of description with my dialogue". It's small, it's attainable and its a challenge.

Love your creation whole-heartedly - Look, the original bold title for this was going to be 'F*ck the world' but I'm trying to be a wholesome grandma type. I'm not sure if the source of cringe is content or style, but the vast majority of my early writing progress was attained through writing just so many mpreg stories. So many ridiculous, absurd, laughably silly mpreg stories. I love them intensely, and not because they're good (because they are not) or because they are literary masterpieces (because they are definitely not that) but because I wrote them. They were part of the process and I'm better for it now. I would post them now if someone asked, no shame and no embarrassment. Those stories are like a baby falling over when they're learning to walk. Its frustrating when you're the baby landing on your diaper time after time, but you do figure it out if you keep trying.

This last one is the hardest. When I was writing these stories, or any of those stories I wrote when I was very young, I didn't love them how I do now. I didn't think they were good. I shared them without sharing my doubts, I ate every piece of feedback I got. I cried over my friend's scathing review of my work. I started writing fanfiction and I was drowning in the feeling that I would fail. When I succeeded my ego soared but my skill level didn't. When I failed, I thought about giving up.

No matter where your writing aspirations take you, you will have to work to get there. You will have doubts, you will have worries, you will have setbacks. You will wonder if its worth it.

There is no one single answer to that. Is it worth it? It was for me, because I love writing and because writing makes me happy. Despite the hardships, despite the cringe, despite everything, I am happier when I'm writing.

Shut out all the voices and all the nonsense and concentrate on what matters. You, a blank page, and the story you want to tell.

I hope that helps, anon.

#writing help #writing motivation #writing compassion #we've all been there anon #or we will be #anyone who says otherwise is fibbing

[plan-d-to-i]

Thoughts on this https://sapphicdalliances.tumblr.com/post/673266218401169408 please!

LINK - proof that people will really like and reblog anything...

If you've ever asked yourself how obtuse and absurd JGY stans are the above post should answer all your questions ...

"i genuinely feel like The Whole Point of Jin Guangyao’s demise is that it was not justice. in-universe, it did not actually come about because of any of his deeds that we the modern audience would consider the most heinous. Nie Huaisang plotted against him because he killed Nie Mingjue specifically"

Revenge, when justified, is justice in-universe which is what matters when discussing the story. So the whole argument has zero actual worth. JGY's demise came as a result of NHS avenging his brother, which MXTX considered righteous enough that she saw no reason to have NHS caught :

JGY wasn't advertising the messed up shit he was doing, it only started coming to light as NHS, who had seen his true face, started exposing him.

"Mingjue explicitly and with pre-meditation tried to kill Jin Guangyao three separate times, with the novel (my preferred text source) heavily implying he only started playing the evil music after that third time. this could very reasonably be argued to be self-defense."

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. This isn't how "premeditation" or "self defense" work... 🙃

And ofc we can't have a post about JGY without the fucking "watchtowers" ! This is a pretty big reach from what is actually written in the novel, op's "preferred text source" lmao.

"and since I’m being petty anyway, I’ll once again throw out the fact that the person who affected the largest-scale positive societal change was in fact JGY, whose watchtowers were repeatedly praised for saving countless civilian lives, by the narration and by WWX himself"

-petty is the wrong word here... 🌝. So is "largest- scale positive societal changes" ... but wait bc op also says this earlier!

friend izzy points out that in the world of MDZS, “justice only happens on a personal scale”. there is no societal change.

lol 🤔🌝

People who attacked a guy and are big mad he didn't just let them kill him =/= finding out your brother's sworn brother used him for status and legitimacy then with a smile, slowly poisoned him with what was supposed to be healing music until he died painfully and violently, then chopped his body and soul into pieces 🤡

"i’m making this post because a lot of people have told me point blank that JGY “earned” his miserable ending by doing bad shit, that Jiang Cheng/JGY/LXC/whoever the person thinks is an antagonist because they were mean to wangxian were “punished” with horrible fates, and this is how MXTX is codifying who the villains and who the heroes are, and the story is actually explicitly about moral uprightness prevailing over repugnance. and i just think that’s kind of a lackluster reading for a text that’s so blatantly explained that in this universe, good or bad things will simply happen to people completely regardless of whether or not it’s fair."

MXTX explaining why NHS is not a villain:

( translations x )... MXTX has a whole extra about how XY and JGY are villains. She assumed ppl would fucking come to her story with a bare minimum level of reading comprehension (her bad). In universe bad things can happen to good people sure, but people still have control over how they react to those bad things, over their own actions. They're still held accountable. What's morally reprehensible are ppl like jc, like jgy, like xue yang who take out their personal shits on others who are innocent. Op's hot take "summation" is just Xue Yang's mentality lol:

"Xue Yang stood up and kicked the stall over.

The vendor himself had been busying himself all over the place. He was shocked speechless by the kick. He stared as the young man perpetrated his assault and, after the kick, said nothing as he turned around to leave, a wide grin on his face. Only a few moments later did the vendor realize what happened. He caught up and scolded, “What are you doing?!”

Xue Yang, “Wrecking your stall.”

The vendor was half-dead with anger, “You’re sick! You’re mad!”

Xue Yang didn’t move an inch. Pointing at his nose, the vendor continued, “You little bastard! You eat my food, you don’t give me money, and you have the guts to wreck my stall?! I…”

Xue Yang’s thumb shifted. The sword at his waist was unsheathed with a ‘clank.’

The sword shone coldly. He gently patted the vendor’s cheek with Jiangzai’s blade, his voice saccharine, “The dumplings were nice. Add more sugar next time.”

After he finished, he turned around and continued to march forth.

The vendor was a mixture of shock and fear. He was mad, but he didn’t dare say anything, gaping as he walked into the distance. Suddenly, he was filled with rage and frustration. A moment later, he let out a furious roared, “… Under broad daylight without rhyme or reason—why, why?!”

Xue Yang waved his hand without even looking back, “There’s no why. There are lots of things in this world that happen without rhyme or reason. This is called an unexpected disaster. Goodbye!”

lol ...

Night had already fallen. It was quiet all around, with few passersby. The two talked as they walked, passing a street side stall. The vendor was in the middle of dejectedly tidying his tables. He looked up and suddenly screamed, jumping backwards.

His scream and his jump were both quite frightening. Even Jin GuangYao paused, his hand moving to Hensheng’s handle at his waist. When he saw that it was only the average street vendor, he immediately ignored it. Yet Xue Yang didn’t say a word before he went over and kicked over the booth again.

The vendor was both shocked and terrified, “It’s you again?! Why?!”

Xue Yang grinned, “Haven’t I told you? There’s no why.”

I mean... quite obviously there's is a why.

#mdzs #answers

[onewomancitadel]

How do you feel about other ships that could potentially threaten Knightfall? Theres the possibility of them pushing White Knight since they're the only characters at the moment who aren't paired up yet but some people are also suggesting that Silent Knight is also possible because both Jaune & Neo have lost a partner and think Jaune will help Neo with that but theres the other possibility that Rose Garden is just a red herring like Black Sun and they were preparing for Lancaster the whole time.

Sorry if this turns up in the ship main tags. I censor ship names in the body of text to stop that. Tumblr can be a bit silly sometimes, but I'm a Jaune/Cinder shipper and I only speak of Blake/Yang and Ruby/Oscar positively here.

Thanks for your ask anon, it's kind of a big topic and this post got very long but I hate using cuts because they're so annoying (for me as a reader). Hope you enjoy.

This is where I started writing and I was so salty:

Jaune/Neo is not remotely a canon possibility and it's absurd to consider it, I'm shocked it's taken seriously at all and Jaune/Cinder is treated like a crackship.

I get that Neo is sort of a cult favourite, but don't attribute narrative importance to her where there isn't any. It's fine if you ship it, but I'm discussing canon here!

If anything I think her most important arc is obviously in relation to Ruby (forgiveness arc in the Fallen Place?) and her fractured partnership with Cinder is a dark echo of Ruby and Weiss, as @branwyns has pointed out. So, in how she's been brought back, it's in service to Ruby's struggle.

I also don't know what position Jaune's going to be in, if he's going to be able to offer Neo anything when he's sort of in the middle of an identity crisis. If there is anything there, though, I don't see how it's suggestive of a romance, especially given that Neo's a minor side character. Jaune's a very important character, he's one of the two major male protagonists, his love interest has to be someone important.

I wouldn't call Blake/Sun a red herring as such.

I think it's a childhood romance alike to Jaune/Pyrrha, Ruby/Penny which doesn't survive, and toys with anime tropes. Like Jaune/Pyrrha isn't really fairytale True Love and everything is sad, Ruby/Penny doesn't really happen because the shoujo love interest has bigger things to do (also her Snow Maiden allusion is another post, but the Snow Maiden dies when she finally truly loves someone - Winter, platonic in this case), Blake/Sun ends up being a friendship because it doesn't have, again, intense fairytale True Love (and in a lot of ways I think Blake/Sun is similar to Jaune/Pyrrha, but whatever), and so on and so forth. Jaune/Weiss is also the aborted childhood romance. So on and so forth.

I think that Blake/Yang is probably the romantic key to understanding the rest of the ships, which is that it's a) intense and vulnerable, b) answers thematic questions in the series (Salem/Ozma, Raven/Tai so team STRQ), c) directly plays with the Beauty and the Beast intertextuality and d) also has all of that magical colour matching and union of opposites. Most importantly, I get the sense that the Beauty and the Beast it plays with in the context of the romance is the older, extant French textual source (Beaumont).

The Jaune and Ruby friendship is one of the things I really like in the show, and no, I don't think they're setting up for a romance on that front. Whilst him mercy-killing Penny can lead to some dramatic angst to fulfill criteria a), I think here it's more to suggest their ideological split as respective leaders. In terms of b), there might be more argument here, but then again I don't think Tai and Summer were all that romantically involved and there was sus stuff going on with Ruby's conception. (A baby born of utilitarian need who then becomes dearly loved/must draw on the memory of her mother to use her inherited power is very thematically ironic and interesting).

And on that front, Ruby and Oscar are a 50/50 Salem/Ozma split respectively, whereas pretty much structurally Jaune is a straight up Ozma and Cinder's a straight up Salem, which again, is why they pair better if you're addressing that.

In terms of c) they share no intertextuality. It might be argued on this front Ren and Nora don't, but in their case I'm pretty sure their intertextuality, like the childhood romances, is anime itself, and they're the one endgame romantic example (but involves a reconstruction of the trope with Nora's separation).

And if we're going Jungian, Jaune and Cinder are Ruby and Oscar's archetypical Shadows. That's more evidence for that pairing up.

Regarding the canonicity of Ruby and Oscar, well, a) there's now separation and intensity given the end of V8, with potential Cupid and Psyche elements b) I'm not even sure if I have to cover how they answer Salem/Ozma as fluffy happy children meeting again and fixing the mess, also I think Ruby getting a happy ending answers Summer's bad ending, c) intertextually, the Little Prince (one of Oscar's allusions) loved a rose. The RG's have way more on this than me but this alone is enough. Also d), which is a lesser point, red/green and silver/gold are match lol. No one else pairs with her silver like that.

So yeah, I think RG and Knightfall will probably happen in respect to one another, alike to their confrontations in V5 being very similar.

Now to address Jaune/Weiss. I have some complicated feelings about this topic because I have read meta which addresses the alchemical element of this pairing, but to be quite honest I don't really want to stir up drama in terms of how I disagree with that. More prominently I want to point out that two major Jaune/Weiss interactions both feature Cinder and it's very very suspicious to me. This could be a separate post and I have posted about it before to some degree, but I sort of think Jaune/Weiss might actually be the red herring.

Of course, a lot of people who aren't otherwise interested in their characters or only just a bit take this as totally endgame, and if you have a different opinion you're probably just a crazy shipper. Whilst I am crazy, I think that framing Jaune/Weiss as the only reasonable narrative answer misses a majority of the thematic concerns in the show.

Okay, I'll just put it in this post: Jaune fully realises his Semblance when he saves Weiss. It's a big moment, right? This should basically indicate to us that they'll end up together. Let me readdress my criteria: a) he saves her like he couldn't Pyrrha, so maybe fulfills vulnerability/intensity, b) Weiss is a Salem/Ozma split, Jaune's more of a straight up Ozma; Weiss is a STRQ Qrow, and Jaune's a Tai... c) no intertextuality, other than maybe Jaune being the Huntsman in her story. Blake has a few Beasts, so we can double up on the Huntsman front (Weiss is both Snow White and a Huntress, and she has her own knight). In terms of d), one of the lesser points, their colours don't go together.

So I'm just going to supply these screencaps:

Jaune never mentions Weiss in particular. Not necessarily a huge deal: I'm contrasting this with Blake and Adam, and one of the things that really made me convinced Blake/Yang was a thing

Adam, the sacrificial bull (I'm not sure if the Campbellian bull-leaping in V6 was intentional, but if it were, then it was a sacred marriage for Yang and Blake) is not the same as Cinder. I think the contrast is purposeful.

I think there might be some intentional foiling with Blake/Adam, where Adam is the straight up irredeemable enemy love interest and Cinder isn't - like, the way she responds to Emerald and Mercury leaving is not with possessive jealousy and murderous rage.

Going back to the big daddy, Salem/Ozma, as above. Again, I view Jaune/Cinder as a regenerative answer to Salem/Ozma.

Anyway, Cinder targets Weiss. Earlier in that sequence, Jaune doesn't make specific mention of Pyrrha. Cinder only has reason in this sequence to target an apparent love interest because that's her narrative role to do (and what everybody expects).

It's probably easy to brush off Cinder being involved as just the baddie causing trouble but basically the entire thrust is Jaune and Cinder's interaction; Jaune and Weiss don't really have much to say to each other and it doesn't carry the same romantic relief Blake and Yang do! If anything, I think confronting Jaune's self-sacrifice, Cinder's worldview, and their respective spiritual evolution and subsequent fall is like, the whole point. There's nothing that really feeds into Weiss' character arc here, that's why I remain puzzled; it's a big deal for Jaune, because he learns how to be protective, and it's a big deal for Cinder, because she's had the whole, 'They matter!' thing thrown right in her face, and also she's using a sword like Rhodes so she's in a bit of a personal crisis.

The underestimated thing here is that conflict with his anima here leads to him realising his Semblance, which is the purpose of anima confrontation (spiritual evolution)... so in the background there's Jaune/Cinder stuff going on. Which is why, given what they did with Blake/Sun, Blake/Adam, Blake/Yang, I'm sensing something odd here.

The second sequence, which notably involves Jaune and Cinder's fight over Penny, of course has him kill Penny to stop Cinder hurting Weiss again. That should be indicative, again, of Jaune/Weiss. But I'd expect there to be something again here, but instead the focus is on Jaune and Cinder. I don't know how else to describe this, but all of the angst and pain of Penny is not a concern in Weiss' character. Weiss knows what's happened, though, and it's fair to say she'll be involved in helping establish what happened with the others, but how that goes remains to be seen and is a totally separate topic. But if we're leaning hard on Tai and Qrow there, well, Tai and Qrow clearly have something going on in the sense of a personal dispute.

But the part I want to focus on is where Jaune is helping Weiss to safety which has, um, how shall we say

someone looking verrrrrrrrrrrrry upset - borderline jealous? - and I get that Cinder doesn't like Weiss because Weiss represents all of the failings of Atlas, but wow, that's insanely clever to make your romantic rival also represent everything you hate and rebel against.

You could argue here if you're a naysayer this is about her fucking with Winter, but Cinder's made no indication here that this is about fucking with Winter. This seems personal.

It would probably be easy to say that this is just setting up Jaune/Weiss with unrequited feelings on Cinder's part for Jaune, and then some confrontation ala Adam, but Cinder's not abusive towards Jaune. Also, what would unrequited feelings narratively achieve? In the case of Blake/Sun, Sun's feelings lead to a type of selflessness which helps him mature, and in the Vacuo arc I think that will become relevant, especially if you-know-who's a Maiden. In the case of Jaune/Weiss, his unrequited feelings for her are meshed with the pressure he feels to fulfill a particular masculine ideal. (Which is more evidence against the ship).

Cinder and Jaune have never been in a relationship, there's no trust to break, the only hurt between them is as enemies, and even then when they actually fight they barely hurt each other. In some ways I think the writers are sort of aware that like, yes they need to be enemies but there are probably people who would be upset if they did actually meaningfully harm each other directly, beyond Pyrrha and Weiss who serve narrative roles.

Jaune only chips her mask. She breaks his sword. That's the real harm they do to one another, it's transformative.

So if Cinder's being set up for a redemption arc where Adam isn't, then I think it's probably fair to argue that Jaune/Cinder is being set up as a positive relationship.

Also on this front, Adam was not one of the lead antagonists, he didn't carry the same special narrative role Cinder does as Ruby's Shadow and the Fall Maiden. So to say that her story will play out exactly the same as his when it's been contrasted purposefully is just silly. I mean, he has that big manipulative reveal of his scars to Blake, and it's obvious to us he did that to her a lot.

Meanwhile Cinder's own past, what others know of it, is used against her by Salem and Watts to manipulate and hurt her. So yes she's a very naughty villainess, but she's not an Adam.

I would make the argument here that of the three pairings - Blake/Sun, Blake/Yang, Blake/Adam - Jaune's equivalent three - Jaune/Weiss, Jaune/Pyrrha, Jaune/Cinder - follow a similar, but slightly different pattern.

Firstabble, the anime trope romance which is reconstructed: Jaune/Pyrrha, Blake/Sun

Secondabble, the historical romance which was one-sided: Jaune/Weiss, Blake/Adam

Thirdabble, the endgame fairytale true love: Blake/Yang, Jaune/Cinder.

So yeah I think Jaune/Weiss is only endgame if they decide to be really boring, play into vomit 'nice guy waiting for girl' trope for some bizarre reason that the show has broadly rejected, and decide to break the entire thematic and mechanical thrust of the show.

Let me quickly fit Jaune/Cinder into that earlier ship paradigm: a) very very intense and vulnerable, b) they are literally just straight up Salem and Ozma in reverse, they're even framed the same way, and also Raven/Tai, not explaining anymore but that's the same as Blake/Yang too, c) intertextually, Jaune's been set up as somebody's Prince Charming, and the bloke who cheated into a fucking Huntsman academy and was ostensibly a shit one being the real and best Huntsman/Prince for Cinder's story is endlessly, endlessly amusing. There's also all of the Rhodopis stuff (alike to Blake and Yang's allusion background) I have gone on about ad nauseam and then Jaune's own Joan of Arc influence involves crowns and a saint whom she hears from breaking out from the belly of Satan to free herself, so like, please do not get me started. Then, d), which is the lesser point and why I'm including it but not making a big fuss, Jaune and Cinder's colours oddly match, but it depends how hard you lean on her pin being indicative of her future colours (purple and blue), given that she's transitioned into black. But the orange and blue eyes do match so you can't take this away from me.

I also think that, like Blake/Yang was a pleasant surprise, Jaune/Cinder has the potential to be a pleasant and interesting twist. It's just the most interesting story you could tell, and I think we're due for something transcendentally happy, since that's the direction the show is going in. To be honest, I think that this is the long way around to Salem's happy ending. It's fitting to me that analogues of her in the story also fulfill that in some way.

So yeah I actually think the reason Jaune/Cinder has a chance is sort of exactly because people underestimate it and don't expect it. It makes perfect sense, though. It's very very very clever and I like it a lot.

I mean, where are we right now in the story? Cinder has recommitted to trying to be clever and smart and manipulative, even turning it on her own master. Jaune's mercy-killed Penny, the healer with bloody hands. There are some peope who think Cinder's redemption arc has been rejected, some who think Jaune won't have any angst or pain. I think there's something interesting to do with their respective characters from here. If they redeem Cinder, it almost definitely has to involve him. Everybody before him, Rhodes, Salem, Emerald, Mercury, Watts, only ever wanted something from her or of her. Staying quiet and doing as she's told, and enduring imprisonment. Imprisoning her again under the guise of a false freedom. Safety, food, love, shelter. Watts, his own motive and ends (no idea how people think him interacting with her was the point of no return for her morality). All of these failed attempts should indicate she can't be redeemed, right?

After all, how many tried to climb the tower to free the maiden?

But all of them only wanted something from her: her hand, the riches, the glory. There was just one knight who didn't care about any of that, and only did it because it was the right thing, and then they fell in love.

Which pairing am I talking about? (:

#seraphina's asks #user: anonymouse #knightfall #long post

[divinity-infinity]

[id: a digital colored sketch of my 2 ocs, Hiraeth and Aiden. They are standing next to each other holding bisexual pride flags in their hands near the middle of the drawing. Their other hands near the edges of the drawing are at their side. Text at the top of the drawing read, "Pridewrite day 3: bisexual" and "@divinity-infinity".

Hiraeth, on the left side of the drawing, is a light skinned Filipino-Japanese teenager with fluffy black hair. He is wearing denim overalls over a white sweater. There are two pins on his overalls, one with the colors of the bisexual flag, and another with a demiboy flag. He is smiling with his mouth open.

Aiden, on the right side of the drawing is a dark skinned Filipino-American teenager with curly, 3B type, black hair. He is wearing a brown blazer over a pink sweater tucked into brown pants. He is wearing round, thin framed glasses, and a pendant necklace with an eye. He is smiling with his teeth showing.

The background of the drawing is a pastel colored background divided into three sections. The section behind Hiraeth is blue, the section behind their hands holding the flags is colored purple, and the background behind Aiden is pink.

/end id]

Day 3 of @pridewrite2021! These are my 2 of my bisexual ocs, Hiraeth and Aiden who I adore So Much. Some info:

- Aiden (he/him, cis but gnc) started out as a background fictional character (who I've long forgotten) that I developed so much he's unrecognizable from the original source character.

- He's also my first OC, but Ironically I'm still figuring out what his last name should be (peeps sned suggestions)

- His whole aesthetic is basically Dark Academia and if he were in TMA his entity would be The Eye. His favorite Obey Me Demon brothers are Belphie and Beel.

- He's also in my oc canon going to marry Damien (another oc) and they were in love since the year they met

- Hiraeth (he/him, demiboy) also started out as Developed Background Character and I also included some bits and pieces of other characters into him. He's also part Japanese because I recall that his original source character was from an anime but I honestly at this point can recall which one hdbdndn

- did i mention that both of these characters are Tall???? Both of them are like over 5'8??? And they're like in the same Main Four™ squad oc group as the two gremlins, Divinity/Rey/Skye and Damien (you'll get to meet them later)

- Hiraeth would be an avatar of the spiral and his spiral domain would be a non euclidean art gallery building of abstract paintings that make the viewer question the absurdity of life and all that

- I've also had trouble naming Hiraeth for years since i first converted him from developed bg character to OC but I've settled on the name Halley Hiraishi. Hiraeth is a nickname.

- Most of my OCs don't have birth anniversaries. Hiraeth and Aiden are two of them.

- Aiden is fond of Starkid musicals and praises Professor Hidgens' fashion sense @twentifourhours

- I like to think that Aiden's voice sounds just like Reeve Carney's Orpheus voice. Hiraeth's voiceclaim is Thomas Sanders, specifically the voice he does when he acts as Sleep/Remy

#my a(r)t #art #digital art #pride month #bisexual #pridewrite2021 #hiraeth #aiden #pw3 #original art #ocs