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ti-bae-rius · 5 years

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Can we stop acting like Kit is a saint for falling for someone who’s autistic?

No one ever SAYS that, but the undercurrent is disturbingly present in the fandom. No one would SAY “Wow Kit is really great for dealing with Ty” but that shit oozes from some posts.

All the people who imply Kit has “coped” with so much with Ty, all the people who totally invalidate Ty’s displays of love as less important than Kit’s (“ohhh Kit was REJECTED or FRIENDZONED (which isn’t a thing and also isn’t a BAd thing), Kit has his heart BROKEN”), this one is for you:

Yes. Yes he did. And is that kind of lack of understanding part and parcel of being in love with someone who’s autistic? Yeah, sometimes.

Kit is not a martyr for loving someone with autism, just like my friends aren’t saints for loving me, just like the girl I’m dating isn’t angelic for dating me.

Autistic people - disabled people in general - aren’t charity cases. We aren’t loved “in spite” of our disability - or we shouldn’t be. We should be loved by people who don’t love us “in spite” but “with” our disability or (even better) because of it!

The girl I’m seeing said she likes me because she likes that I will say things to her that no one else would ever say and that makes her feel special. I say that she makes me feel like when i laugh moths in my stomach see the light from my mouth and start dancing in my stomach. She likes that she can tell I’ve had a good date because I skip. She likes seeing me stim when I’m happy or when she compliments me. I am not a charity case.

Ty is not “interesting” or “unique” or “quirky” or all those things. He’s not a science project. He isn’t “hard work” to love. He isn’t a story of love against all odds.

He isn’t someone to love against all odds.

He’s someone Kit loves. End of.

And the people who seem to think Ty will be someone totally different after the Scholomance, all the TWP!era headcanons that make him more neurotypical, like he’ll just “grow out” of being autistic is equally aggravating. Truthfully, autism does change a bit over time in the ways it manifests, but between like 15 and 19, through puberty, it’s pretty consistent. Puberty can even cause regression, meaning autism seems more “intense”. Your Scholomance!Ty shouldn’t be neurotypically-coded. Your Scholomance!Ty shouldn’t suddenly magically adjust to a “mainstream” schooling environment.

No one - not Julian, not Livvy, not Kit, NO ONE - is a good person for loving Ty. No one deserves praise for loving him. The perpetuation of this shit is what continues the myth that autistic people can’t or don’t date, can’t be loved or be in relationships with neurotypical people.

So often I hear “why would you date a neurotypical person?” from an NT. I know exactly what they mean. I know they mean “why would a normal person date someone with autism? Why would they pick you over someone who’s less work?”

And to that I say: you’ve clearly never met an autistic person. We’re a goddamn privilege to love. We are not high maintenance or hard work, we’re not charity cases or science experiments. We’re just people craving the same stupid thing as everyone else: someone to care about us.

So, in summary:

Ty isn’t about to grow out of being autistic so note that down TWP!era fic writers

No one deserves praise for loving Ty

Kit doesn’t deserve a medal for loving someone with autism

Like Jesus Christ oh my god really??? Like REALLY???

Please stop glorifying loving someone??? Who happens to have a neurological condition??? Jesus????

Seriously. Stop.

This has been a PSA

#this has been a psa #cassandra clare #tiberius blackthorn #ty blackthorn #tda #the dark artifices #tsc #kit herondale #kitty #kit and ty #twp #the wicked powers #positive autism feel #autism pride #autistic pride #autism #autistic #autistic dating

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pof203 · 4 years

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Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Quotes Kingdom Hearts Edition (Xion)

I’m at the limits of my creativity here. I just don’t know what to have the characters say anymore. Partly because some of these Dissidia characters I don’t know anything about and don’t know what to say about them. If any of you have any ideas, I would love to hear them. Thank you.

To Other Characters:

Warrior of Light: “I was never really into the knight in shining armor thing.”

Garland: “If you wish to fight, I’ll let you have it.”

Firion: “You think I could see your dream, too?”

The Emperor: “You don’t deserve that throne!”

Onion Knight: “I should try changing Classes, too.”

Cloud of Darkness: “Do you actually fight like that?”

Cecil Harvey: “Which of us know more about balance?”

Kain Highwind: “I don’t want you to upset about anything.”

Golbez: “I know what it’s like to lose hope.”

Bartz Klauser: “You collect feathers? I collect seashells.”

Exdeath: “I was in the Void once. I won’t go back.”

Gilgamesh: “Will I win this challenge?”

Terra Branford: “I have experience in this, too.”

Kefka Palazzo: “Are you suppose to be funny or scary?”

Locke Cole: “Don’t let her down.”

Cloud Strife: “Are all SOLIDERs like you?”

Tifa Lockhart: “Don’t give up on him.”

Sephiroth: “Is that long blade even legal?”

Squall Leonhart: “Being alone is no good. I should know.”

Rinoa Heartilly: “I wonder if I should get a pair of wings, too.”

Ultimecia: “I think time has no effect on the likes of me.”

Laguna Loire: “You should visit the beach. You might find something for your article.”

Zindane Tribal: “I feel that tail’s not for show.”

Kuja: “I won’t let your song of sorrow make me more unhappy.”

Tidus: “What is it about dreams and me?”

Yuna: “Just don’t Send me while you’re at it.”

Jetch: “Can you give me some Blitz Ball lessons if I win?”

Shantotto: “I need a refresher on my magic.”

Prishe: “How do I become as strong as you?”

Vaan: “I want fly freely with my friends.”

Garbranth: “I’ll win this trail no matter what!”

Vayne Carudas Solidor: “Your high and mighty attitude won’t help you.”

Lightning: “Your rose petals will dance with my blade.”

Snow Villiers: “I wonder if me and Roxas can also…”

Y’shtola Rhul: “We can practice our magic together.”

Zenos yae Galvus: “How regal.”

Noctis Lucis Caelum: “It must be nice to travel around.”

Noctis Lucis Caelum: (alternate line) “Your notebook gives me an idea. I wonder if Roxas…”

Arydn Izunia: “I won’t let you continue to hurt others!”

Ramza Beoulve: “Worthiness isn’t everything.”

Ace: “If you could go back, would you?”

Sora: “I hope Kairi’s feelings won’t be too much of a problem.”

Kairi: “So this is how it turns out, huh?”

Riku: “This time, it’s not a sham.”

Roxas: “Roxas, don’t hold back!”

Lea: “I hope I can beat you this time.”

Xion: “Was Vexen experimenting again?”

Terra: “The Darkness has nothing on either of us!”

Aqua: “Won’t we be evenly matched?”

Ventus: “Let’s get some ice- Sorry, I forgot.”

Young Xehanort: “Don’t even start. Really, don’t.”

Shinryu: “You won’t hurt anyone again!”

To Xion:

Warrior of Light: “No matter what, I sense your heart is true.”

Garland: “Can a puppet like you really defeat me?”

Firion: “I see a real spark in your eyes.”

The Emperor: “Puppets should remain stringed up.”

Onion Knight: “Real or fake, this battle is starting.”

Cloud of Darkness: “The curtain falls.”

Cecil Harvey: “You have a strong resolve. We should fight more often.”

Kain Highwind: “Will your Keyblade best my lance?”

Golbez: “We shall see who is for real!”

Bartz Klauser: “You don’t seem tough. But I’ve been wrong before.”

Exdeath: “What does a puppet know about me?”

Gilgamesh: “I want to see the strength of your heart!”

Terra Brandford: “We’re like sisters, you and I.”

Kefka Palazzo: “Time for me to play puppeteer!”

Locke Cole: “Don’t shoulder it all yourself.”

Cloud Strife: “Just don’t drop on me, okay?”

Tifa Lockhart: “You have someone like that, too? I can relate.”

Sephiroth: “What would happen if I cut your strings?”

Squall Leonhart: “You better not break on me.”

Rinoa Heartilly: “Ready for what may happen?”

Ultimecia: “Your Light maybe true, but you are still a doll.”

Laguna Loire: “You like ice-cream? You and Ellone should talk.”

Zindane Tribal: “I bet you and I can perform something great.”

Kuja: “Shall we dance the song of your heart?”

Tidus: “Did the Fayth dream you, too?”

Yuna: “You have such a strong heart. You should try being a Summoner as well.”

Jetch: “Don’t go crazy on me now.”

Shantotto: “You are no mere doll. Give me your all.”

Prishe: “Some beach time would do some good.”

Vaan: “A land where you fly with pixie dust? I’d like to see that.”

Gabranth: “All puppets are destined to be chopped up!”

Vayne Carudas Solidor: “Is there any truth to this?”

Lightning: “You should fight with your own moves.”

Snow Villiers: “Alright, we should get this done.”

Y’shtola Rhul: “I can’t wait to see how this will go.”

Zenos yae Galvus: “I will not be so gentle with you.”

Noctis Lucis Caelum: “I think you made it clear you’re real.”

Ardyn Izunia: “A mere puppet should remember her place.”

Ramza Beoulve: “Shall we see who is stronger here?”

Ace: “You’re lucky. You have your friends here to help.”

Sora: “Xion… Just who are you, really?”

Kairi: “The clash between our hearts begins!”

Riku: “Here we go again.”

Roxas: “Please don’t disappear again.”

Lea: “Don’t forget: I’ll always be there to bring you back.”

Terra: “Show me just how real this can be.”

Aqua: “I’ll train you as best as I can.”

Ventus: “Why do you always confuse me for that guy?”

Young Xehanort: “Say what you will. You will always be just a doll.”

About Summons:

Ifrit: “Time to put out this fire!”

Shiva: “How elegant.”

Ramuh: “Hope my Keyblade doesn’t act like a lightning rod.”

Odin: “Will I get to keep the horse after this?”

Leviathan: “A little water never hurt anybody or nobody.”

Alexander: “You’re just a judge! Not jury and executioner!”

Bahamut: “You don’t scare me! I’ve seen worse!”

Summoning:

Ifrit: “Flames of Destruction!”

Shiva: “Blanket them in your power!”

Ramuh: “Feel the surge!”

Odin: “Slice them and dice them!”

Leviathan: “The tide shall strike!”

Alexander: “Shine your radiant power!”

Bahamut: “This force is on my side!”

BTW, I just realized that Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia should have a Kingdom Hearts event. I don’t know what may happen. Will Sora be able to see his friends again? Or will it happen if during the events of Kingdom Hearts III? Also, do you think I should do Dissidia quotes for Isa, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy?

#dissidia final fantasy #quotes #kingdom hearts #xion

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do-what-the-knight-tells-you · 4 years

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Blood is Rare (and Sweet like Cherry Wine): 8/8

Short Ficlets in a Witcher!AU for Sterek Valentines week

Beginning: tumblr / Ao3

(also, this one has a readmore cuz it got a lot longer than the other installments. whoops. sort of.)

For valentine’s, a bit late, First Kiss

(also I had a prettier twilight-on-river shot initially, but i figure the misty element probs matches the witcher show tone better. I’ll throw the pretty one on the end.)

7- Destroy with a Sweet Kiss

The fight goes sideways.

Derek was not supposed to be there, was supposed to be safely away, but the kikimore they��d been tracking had clearly turned and decided to track them, and it had caught them. Derek got out of the way fast, hauling on Roscoe’s reins to keep her clear of the fight while Stiles engaged, and slapped her into a short run once he thought they were unlikely to attract the attention of the embattled pair.

Stiles was holding his own, but twilight was falling, and the monster clearly had better vision (and more limbs). Derek knew Stiles had a potion he normally took to improve his vision during the hunt, but he hadn’t had a chance and, though Derek had seen a hand go for that pouch several times, it looked like he might not get one. Not seeing a better option, and not able to stand there and watch the person he loved be dragged into death, one small gash at a time, Derek got a stupid idea.

He picked his way around to the opposite side of the fight from where Roscoe had run off, collecting moderate sized stones on his way. Once on the other side, and with his eyes on his escape route, a clear path and large tree, much taller than the kikimore, Derek began to lob his projectiles at the monster.

By the third rock, it worked, Derek saw it lose focus and begin looking for him, saw Stiles get a hand into his pocket in the gathering dark… and realized he needed to make a run for it.

He tried.

Even as fast as he could be when he really made the effort, Derek was not fast enough, and not experienced enough still, clearly, to know better.

The creature caught him in midair, just as he was leaping for the lowest branches of his chosen tree. Derek had one profound moment to recognize the impact and change of trajectory, to wonder why there was force but no pain, before he hit another tree, and knew no more.

The next thing Derek was aware of was wetness on his face, and pain in his ribs, back, his whole torso. He tried to draw breath and it caught and he coughed, white-hot agony coursed through him.

He opened his eyes. Stiles was staring at him.

“You- you’re alive? How…”

Derek forced himself to look, to acknowledge the fucking tree branch protruding from his miserably destroyed doublet, grimaced and tried to get his breathing under control enough to say something, anything.

“Get. It out.”

Stiles looked so sad.

“Derek. It’s, you’ll bleed to death. If I pull it… you’re going to… there’s no way…”

Derek shook his head, coughing and spitting blood once more.

“Won’t” he managed to grind out.

Stiles just shook his head mutely.

Derek reached out with one hand, limply grasped a shoulder piece on the Witcher’s armor.

“Please.”

Stiles looked so resigned, so regretful. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if drawing strength. Opened them with determination.

“Are you sure? I mean there’s no… you’re not going to survive this either way, but… there’s maybe time…”

Derek shook his head, grabbed Stiles weakly with both hands, and tried to pull himself off the spike of wood.

Stiles made a noise almost like a sob, partially drowned out by Derek’s deep grunt of pain, slid his hand up Derek’s back, braced the other on the tree, and pulled.

With a sickening sucking sensation and sound, Derek came free, nearly passing out again in the immediate blood loss Stiles had known was coming, but Stiles, despite clearly believing it was futile, clearly believing he was witnessing his friend’s last moments, still did his best to apply pressure to the hole in Derek’s chest cavity. Derek clung to consciousness by his finger tips, focused on breathing.

Several minutes passed, and though the Witcher was still stooped with agony and grief, Derek cradled in his lap… Stiles’ look of desolation began to be edged out by confusion, and then, with the realization that the blood pool had stopped expanding, and Derek still wasn’t dead yet… maybe even a little hope?

After twenty minutes, twenty minutes of lying in Stiles’ lap, trying to figure a way out of the coming conversation and failing, Derek finally decided he was patched enough to talk without tearing something open.

“Are you okay?”

Stiles gaped.

“Am I? Am I okay? You ass. You utter… how are you alive??”

Derek offered a little smile.

“Destiny?”

“Shut the fuck up. You are so full of shit, you… seriously. How. What… what are you?”

And it was Derek’s turn to look away. All this time, and he still didn’t know how to say it, but it looked like his time was up.

“You, do you,” he paused, cleared his throat, and sucked it up. “When we first met, do you remember. The song?”

The witcher paused.

“Bisclarvet. The lai of Bisclarvet.”

Derek nodded, waiting for it to sink in, knowing he was probably healed enough to sit up, being completely unwilling to.

“You’re…” Derek could practically see the wheels turning. “You’re a werewolf.”

Derek forced himself to nod in a way that did not betray how badly he wished he could run. He turned his head at least, not wanting to see the moment his friend’s surprise turned to anger at the lies, hatred of what Derek was. Had always been.

He was surprised a moment later, when Stiles touched his face, gently, turned him back so there was no hiding.

“You can’t… I don’t know how you hid that from me all this time. I can usually…”

Derek smiled, a tiny bitter thing.

“I’m not just fastidious by nature.” It was mild, but the herbs he added to his personal oils and soaps had natural scent-suppressive properties. A decent enough feature in products meant to keep one smelling fresher and cleaner than one was, and as long as he didn’t do anything to enhanced that part of his scent, transform, or anything… “And I’ve a charm.”

Stiles frowned, touching his witcher pendant, “I would know…” his eyes went distant. “It’s on Filivandrel’s Lute, isn’t it?”

Derek nodded. He had figured, correctly it appeared, that the elf lord’s instrument was magical enough that Derek’s little notice-me-not charm would, indeed, be overlooked in the general swell of enchantment.

Stiles looked back at him, and Derek could quite clearly see the hurt in those normally guarded golden eyes. There was a song in that somewhere…

“Why… did you never… do you have that low opinion of me, that you would think I’d, I’d find out and could ever…”

Not really, but Derek couldn’t, it was a risk he could never… He sighed. Stiles had earned the whole story, many times over, and if he chose to depart Derek’s company after, then that was more than understandable.

Derek took a deep breath, and was distracted coughing again. Stiles, now fairly confident Derek was not about to die, propped Derek up against the faithful tree, whistled Roscoe back, and was offering Derek a water skin by the time he could breath again.

Fairly sure all his internal organs were intact, Derek drank greedily, realizing suddenly how desperate he was to replace all the fluid he’d lost.

Stiles sat in a sad silence until he’d drained the water completely, and then held out a compressed cake of nuts, fruit and honey, which Derek gratefully accepted.

Finally, Derek could put it off no longer.

He told him. He told him about falling out of trees as a child, about long golden afternoons on his family’s estate, rolling and frolicking, and being so happy and alive in their skins, he and all his siblings, safe in the knowledge that nothing could ever harm them, that no one would ever cross their mother.

He told him about the growing political tensions as he grew, and the thread of instability that crept into the pack when his uncle left, the fights he was not supposed to hear… and the woman in town to whom he went when it all became too much.

Derek forced himself to tell Stiles of his great mistake, how foolish he’d been, and what a price had been paid, by everyone but him, half the pack dead, their secrets aired to the world, their target hung neatly in the hunter halls for any newcomer to try to make his mark.

How, when he was old enough, he did what his remaining family could not bring themselves to ask him to do.

He left.

He’d always been drawn to music, had a good ear for it, liked the way performance and composition could let him forget sometimes, take him out of himself… he joined a bardic college, and didn’t go home.

He told stiles about his plan, his sorry little dream, his hope that, between the coin he sent home, and the sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of folk like himself he tried to spread, he could begin to pay back the damage he’d done, in his youth and arrogance.

His surprise to meet stiles, but the instant knowledge that this was it, this was how he made that difference, this was how he learned what could nt be found in books of men, and how he reached the far reaches of the known country.

Derek faltered a little, Stiles’ face betrayed nothing once again, and Derek decided enough damage he likely already been done. He took a swig from the new skin Stiles had passed him partway through the tale, and went for broke.

“And, I know that sounds like I only valued you for what you could do for me professionally, and it may have started out that way, but it hasn’t been like that for a long time. For a long time now, I’ve… And I know I’ve no right to ask for, for forgiveness or understanding, but I want you to know, that you are… you are everything. You have so much integrity, you’re kind and generous, and funny and brave, and, and beautiful, lords, and if I could ask one boon of the universe, it would be to be always by your side, in whatever capacity you would have me. I lo-”

And Stiles lunged forward, and kissed him.

It was not a gentle kiss, but Stiles was still clearly using every bit of his Witcher strength not to press upon any of Derek’s so recently knitted flesh, and Derek, as his brain finally caught up with his mouth (okay, he had a limited supply of blood to work with at the moment), decided his did not give a shit about guilt, or pain, or whatever, and he was going to take what was on offer, apparently. Goddamnit. He mustered his strength, and shoved back at Stiles, taking one moment to appreciate the look of surprise on the Witcher’s face as he fell on his ass, before following him down, claiming his mouth again, and laying them both out on the rocky ground.

—

Eventually the pain, and thirst was enough that they had to come up for air. Also Derek found he could only ignore the putrid mess of kikimore stuck to Stiles’ outfit for so long. Also, did he mention, really needed to be having a greater blood volume than he had if he wanted to be taking things much further. It took little persuasion, though a deal more coordination than Derek was prepared for, to get them both stripped and in a river (thank all gods it wasn’t winter).

Derek himself had drunk about half his weight (and made stiles go back for the rest of the honey cakes and jerky), by the time he deemed them both clean enough to not foul their fresh(ish) clothes and bedding, and began to make his way out of the water, when Stiles pulled him back. Derek would have been all for some swimming hanky-panky in other circumstances (his self-imposed celibacy/punishment on the circuit had not, in fact, diminished his libido, or increased his modesty a bit), but he really was still a little too light-headed to be sure of his ability to stay upright on the slick rocks for anything more than they’d already been up to… but the look on stiles face wasn’t lustful. There was a hunger there, Derek thought, but… oh.

Stiles was gently tracing the fresh pink skin on Derek’s torso.

“I had wondered,” the witcher began, swallowed, began again, “I had noticed that you had no scars to speak of. Your being genteel was not a surprise, though I had also wondered why, for as much as you play, your hands were still soft.” There was wonder in Stiles’ voice, as he traced the shape of Derek’s light musculature, traced the slight protrusion of collar bones, up his neck, finally across his face. Derek closed his eyes instinctively, as Stiles’ rough fingertips, only slightly softened in the water, glided across cheekbones and eyelids, thumbs joining a moment later to smooth the length of Derek’s brows. There was a long pause, and Derek let his eyes flutter open again, surprised, as ever, by the way the witcher practically glowed in moonlight.

“Show me?” Stiles whispered, and Derek knew what he meant. And for the first time in decades, it was easy, first to let the blue bleed into his eyes, and then to let the rest of the beta shift flow over him.

Stiles gasped a little, but didn’t pull away. His hands resumed the soft caress, and Derek had never felt so whole, complete, and seen, in his entire life.

fin

End notes:

Who knows, we could come back to this, I feel there’s still a lack of witcher/werewolf sex, which can’t help but be good (mutual scent kiink anyone? Also neither having to hold back, because they are well matched in physical strength/durability. But also also probs some real tender lovin’ at some point, probs at least once when stiles truly processes the idea that he might have found a partner whose lifespan could match his own holy shit he might not have to bury Derek). But also, I felt like Derek needed some sleep first, and didn’t want to start a new section. So that’s it for now!

Bits that didn’t make it in:

Stiles being grumpy over the idea of spoiled, genteel werewolves. Derek coming to their defense, explaining that Laura and Cora, his two surviving siblings, were actually much more, uh, physically inclined than he was, Laura training to be the next alpha, presumably, and Cora, a knight, in service to a bit of a warrior queen (lydia, absolutely).

Stiles insisting that derek needed:

1. Fighting clothes

2. To learn how to fight properly. Like, stiles was not intended to subject him to the worst of the hunts, but the showing derek had put up with the kikimore was pitiful, and even a werewolf probs couldn’t survive being beheaded or eaten, so. Self-defense at least.

Eventually, Stiles helps Derek decide to go home again. Cue teary reunions, forgiveness, and maybe Derek getting called out on having found his mate and not telling anyone. Including, oops, well, now the witcher knows. XD

[Masterlist]

#sterek #teen wolf #sterek ficlet #sterekvalentineweek2020 #my stuff

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fierceawakening · 4 years

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Against empathy Liveblog 18

“Batson and his colleagues put subjects in a situation where they have the opportunity to do something nice—such as donating money, taking over an unpleasant task from someone else, or cooperating with someone at a cost. Some of the subjects are told nothing or are told to take an objective point of view. But others are encouraged to feel empathy—they might be told: “Try to take the other person’s perspective” or “Put yourself in that person’s shoes.”

Over and over again, Batson finds that these empathy prompts make subjects more likely to do good—to give money, take over a task, and cooperate. Empathy makes them kind.

Batson finds these effects even when helping is anonymous, when there is a justification for not helping, and when it’s easy to say no. He concludes from his work that these effects cannot be explained by a desire to enhance one’s reputation or a wish to avoid embarrassment or anything like that. Rather, empathy elicits a genuine desire to make another person’s life better.”

I’m VERY interested in how this is so bad you recommend people stop.

“Even among psychologists who should know better, images derived from PET or fMRI scans are seen as reflecting something more scientific—more real—than anything else a psychologist could discover. There is a particular obsession with localization, as if knowing where something is in the brain is the key to explaining it.”

Bruh.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and you’re making very strong versions of your claims. Please acknowledge that.

“If you’re one of those people who doesn’t believe something is real unless you see it in the brain, you’ll be relieved to hear that empathy actually does exist. It really does light up the brain. Actually, at first blush, empathy looks as if it’s everywhere in the brain. One scholar describes at length what he calls “an empathy circuit in the brain,” but this “circuit” contains ten major brain areas, some of them big chunks of brain stuff, larger than a baby’s finger, like the medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior insula, and the amygdala—all of which are also engaged in actions and experiences that have nothing to do with empathy.”

Interesting. Yay data!

“It turns out, though, that this the-whole-brain-does-it conclusion arises because neuroscientists—along with psychologists and philosophers—are often sloppy in their use of the term empathy. Some investigators look at what I see as empathy proper—what happens in the brain when someone feels the same thing they believe another person is feeling. Others look at what happens when we try to understand other people, usually called “social cognition” or “theory of mind” but sometimes called “cognitive empathy.” Others look at quite specific instantiations of empathy (such as what happens when you watch someone’s face contort in disgust), and still others study what goes on in the brain when a person decides to do something nice for another person, which is sometimes called “prosocial concern” but which one normally thinks of as niceness or kindness. Once you start pulling these different phenomena apart, which I’ll do below, things get more interesting, and you see how these different capacities relate to one another.”

Fair—I can see how people might looks at a whole brain going FWEEEEEE and assume the thing is super important, only to miss that they’ve over defined the thing.

Still not sure you haven’t under defined it, let’s see what you have to say

“The first finding is that an empathic response to someone else’s experience can involve the same brain tissue that’s active when you yourself have that experience. So “I feel your pain” isn’t just a gooey metaphor; it can be made neurologically literal: Other people’s pain really does activate the same brain area as your own pain, and more generally, there is neural evidence for a correspondence between self and other.”

For the people who think “how can you feel MY pain? Is that magic, NTs? Lolol.” What we mean!

“As you might be able to tell from the title of his book, Hickok is critical of the claims that have been made about mirror neurons, and many scholars would agree that they have been overhyped. One strong objection to the view that they explain capacities such as morality, empathy, and language is that most of the findings about mirror neurons come from macaque monkeys—and monkeys don’t have much morality, empathy, or language. Mirror neurons cannot be sufficient for these capacities, then—though they might help out with them. Nevertheless, the more general finding of shared representations—the discovery that there exist neural systems that treat the experiences and actions of others the same way they treat the experiences and actions of the self—really is an important discovery about mental life.”

Caveat.

“You can see this overlap between self and other as a clever evolutionary trick. To thrive as a social being, one has to make sense of the internal lives of other individuals, to accurately guess what other people are thinking, wanting, and feeling. Since we’re not telepathic, we have to infer this from information we get from our senses.”

Ding ding! It’s a perceptual apparatus, like eyes or ears. It’s not wizardry.

Now... while I concede there are times when covering my ears or eyes make it MORE easy for me to perceive something important. It doesn’t follow that I should pluck out my eyes or eardrums.

Yet in a previous chapter you said “if you’re considering what to do and trying to feel someone’s pain, you should stop.” Implying T the very least that I should have my eye mask at hand at all times.

Seems odd. I get that disabilities aren’t death sentences but this is parsing like “blind yourself so you can truly hear.” Nah?’

“But there’s an alternative. We can take advantage of the fact that we have minds ourselves, and we can use our own minds as a laboratory to bring ourselves up to speed on how others will behave and think.”

Porquenolosdos.gif

“We can do the same for subjective experiences. Which would hurt a stranger more: stubbing her toe or slamming her hand in a car door? You could try to figure this out from scratch, like a scientist looking at the biological workings of a novel species, but a better way is to assess memories of your own pain (or just to imagine yourself in those situations) and assume that the other person will feel the same way you do.”

Which is why I say ditch the eye mask and remember you’re capable of both.

“Our occasional success at understanding individuals who are different from ourselves shows that simulation can’t be the whole story in understanding other people. Hickok points out that we can often successfully read the minds of dogs and cats, figure out what they mean when they bark or purr, wag their tails, put their tails up high, and so on, but surely we’re not simulating them. Those who are quadriplegic from birth can have a rich understanding of other people, figuring out their mental states based on their movement—she has loudly slammed the door, she must be angry—even though these quadriplegics are not in any sense simulating the actions.”

Is anyone arguing against this?

“And, of course, there has to be a brain difference between self and other because there is a psychological difference. Watching someone getting slapped in the face doesn’t really make your cheek burn, and watching someone get a back rub doesn’t make your aches go away. We may feel the pain of someone else, in a limited sense, but in another sense we really don’t. Relative to real experience, empathic resonance is pallid and weak.”

But thinking about it in a detached way isn’t? How do you know?

“Our empathic experience is influenced by what we think about the person we are empathizing with and how we judge the situation that person is in.

It turns out, for instance, that you feel more empathy for someone who treats you fairly than for someone who has cheated you. And you feel more empathy for someone who is cooperating with you than for someone you are in competition with.”

Fair. But that’s why I said don’t rely on empathy alone, except maybe when you need to make a very quick decision or when interacting with people you know.

“People said that they felt less empathy for the person who became infected through drug use—and their neural activation told the same story: When they viewed this individual, they had less activation in brain areas associated with pain, such as, again, the anterior cingulate cortex. And the more subjects explicitly blamed the drug users for their fate, the less empathy they said they had and the less brain activation there was.”

Does rational compassion suffer from a similar problem? (Still not sure what it is exactly.) That is, are we sure this goes away when we appeal to something other than empathy?

Do professed rational actors, for example, reason that addicts deserve less help because they put themselves at risk doing something they don’t have to do, like someone getting a transfusion has to?

“Empathy is also influenced by the group to which the other individual belongs—whether the person you are looking at or thinking about is one of Us or one of Them.”

Fair, which is what o was trying to say with the stories help post—stories help us make Them into Us. Real stories are better but imagined can work, which is why I was okay with them too, anon.

“Subjects found these pictures to be disgusting and showed correspondingly reduced activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a chunk of the brain involved in social reasoning. Although this study didn’t directly look at empathy, the findings do suggest that we shut off our social understanding when dealing with certain people: We dehumanize them.”

Fair.

But I still want to see whether this changes when you see pictures of people you find disgusting stubbing their toe or having a birthday party. Do you savor their pain and feel disgusted by their pleasure, or do you relate to them in spite of yourself? Does it vary? When?

“I’ve been using the term empathy in the sense of Adam Smith’s sympathy—feeling what another feels. But one can ask how this sharing of feelings relates to the ability to understand people’s psychological states. I’ve repeatedly pointed out that we sometimes call this empathy as well—“cognitive empathy”—and one might wonder whether they are one and the same.

If they were, it would call into question my argument against empathy. You can’t make it through life without some capacity to understand the minds of others. So if feeling the pain of others arises from the same neural system that underlies everyday social understanding—if you can’t have one without the other—then giving up on emotional empathy would be giving up too much.”

Fair

“One system involves sharing the experience of others, what we’ve called empathy; the other involves inferences about the mental states of others—mentalizing or mind reading. While they can both be active at once, and often are, they occupy different parts of the brain. For instance, the medial prefrontal cortex, just behind the forehead, is involved in mentalizing, while the anterior cingulate cortex, sitting right behind that, is involved in empathy.”

Do they tend to go on at the same time, or different times? Can doing one cause doing the other?

“One recent scientific article struggles with the question of whether these troubling individuals are high in empathy or low in empathy. For the authors, the evidence suggests both: “Psychopathic criminals can be charming and attuned while seducing a victim, thereby suggesting empathy, and later callous while raping a victim, thereby suggesting impaired empathy.” So which is it?

The authors try to resolve this apparent paradox in terms of a distinction between ability (one’s capacity to deploy empathy) and propensity (one’s willingness to do so). They suggest that these criminal psychopaths have normal empathic ability but adjust it like the dial of a radio—turn it up when you want to listen to the lyrics, turn it down if you want to focus on passing a slow truck on the I-95.”

That’s what I’d heard, maybe from the same article?

No... maybe not. The one I read said empathy by default is “on” in neurotypical people and has to be “turned off” by fatigue or encouraging callousness, but “off” by default in psychopaths. So if you want them to care how their actions hurt others, you have to call attention to it and “flip the switch.”

“So criminal psychopaths don’t have to be fiddling with a single dial of empathy: A simpler explanation is that they are good at understanding other people and bad at feeling their pain. They have high cognitive empathy but low emotional empathy.”

Fair. But that makes it sound like affective empathy is good? And something that people should use, and might be bad if they dont?

So far anyway.

“None of this is to deny that understanding and feeling are related. Smell, vision, and taste are separate, but they come together in the appreciation of a meal, and it might be that the act of adopting someone’s perspective in a cold-blooded way makes you more likely to vicariously experience what they are feeling and vice versa. But these are nonetheless different processes, and this is important to keep in mind when we think about the pros and cons of empathy.”

Hey! I might be right!!

“Why would empathy make us nicer? The obvious answer—the one that comes to mind immediately for many people—is that empathy allows our selfish motivations to extend to others. The clearest case of this is when someone else’s pain is experienced as your own pain. The idea is that you will help because this will make your own pain go away.”

Yep. And you soothe yourself AND somebody else! It’s win-win!

“It’s not clear, though, that selfishness can explain the good acts that empathy leads to. When empathy makes us feel pain, the reaction is often a desire to escape.”

That’s what I think we need reason for, but I don’t see why we should throw affective empathy out.

“People often cross the street to avoid encountering suffering people who are begging for money. It’s not that they don’t care (if they didn’t care, they would just walk by), it’s that they are bothered by the suffering and would rather not encounter it.”

Fair. I do this. But is that the whole story? For some it surely is. For me, I’m sure it’s part of the story, but part of it is that i feel that what I do in my job is more likely to substantially help homeless people more than giving money. I think I’d feel more guilt about letting my anxiousness around contagion and dirt make me move if I didn’t have another way to help that triggers my disgust less.

“I favor Batson’s own analysis that empathy’s power lies in its capacity to make the experience of others observable and salient, therefore harder to ignore. If I love my baby, and she’s in anguish, empathy with her pain will make me pick her up and try to make her pain go away. This is not because doing so makes me feel better—it does, but if I just wanted my vicarious suffering to go away, I’d leave the crying baby and go for a walk. Rather, my empathy lets me know that someone I love is suffering, and since I love her, I’ll try to make her feel better.”

Seeems fair.

“It’s not that empathy itself automatically leads to kindness. Rather, empathy has to connect to kindness that already exists. Empathy makes good people better, then, because kind people don’t like suffering, and empathy makes this suffering salient.”

Then what makes people kind?

#the empathy discussion #against empathy liveblog

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torunarigha · 4 years

Text

i made this the other night and honestly its not as cringe as i thought it would be! its a get to know the hertha players + my dumb commentary...

hertha squad smash or pass bc apparently i’m already too exhausted from school work to have a brain

1. Thomas Kraft:

Legend against Frankfurt, sexy saves, but pass

12. Dennis Smarsch

tall and large boi™, our future when he shapes up, pass bc he’s always posting cute shit with his gf (also gives off basic white boy vibes)

22. Rune Jarstein

octopus KING, saves my life every game, along with sala my first favorite player, smash the saves, pass on the father of three daughters (me and his two actual ones)

13. Lukas Klünter

squirrel man from köln that was the fastest runner in the bundesliga last year, was called most consistent man under covic and now is less so, i want him to SHINE but i also want him to stay with us forever bc i’m selfish, i cannot explain but smash 1000000%, e v e r y t h i n g .

17. Maxi Mittelstädt

square faced spandau berliner boy!!! i call him maxi n cie after the quebecois grocery store but that’s neither here nor there. he’s still got some work to do but he’s getting so much better and i’m SO proud of him. more my son than anything so pass for now (emphasis on for now...)

20. Dedryck Boyata

honestly what a cute and beautiful man. killer defender (we miss you! get well soon!) if it wasn’t for man city comment and connection might be smash...but looking at this pic i just want to hug him...so pass (when he comes back with them sexy tackles that answer might change)

21. Marvin Plattenhardt

poor marvin...only call up was for the world cup 2018 (why i’m putting germany jersey pic here). free kick skills through the roof when it happens and solid player...pass bc not my type.

25. Jordan Torunarigha

what a man WHAT A MAN! he is an INCREDIBLE defender, a MYSTERIOUS instagram caption maker, and a HEART that beats more blue and white than anyone in the world. i can’t wait to watch him flourish as an amazing german defenseman and yes that is of course a smash for my bae jordan ...

4. Karim Rekik

ah karim...i always had mixed feelings about him as a defender but now i miss him...as a person i always thought he was cool. he honestly has a gorgeous face and that could be a smash just for that...but i’m gonna say pass. frustration lingers.

5. Niklas Stark

ah nik...the one hertha player everyone on this site knows and loves and my one pride on the NT <3 he made me VERY MAD at the beginning of the season and that tarnished my opinion of him. but he has an incredibly attractive face and seems chill ! i think i’d smash if the chance presented itself !

11. Mathew Leckie

where on EARTH did this man go?? only Australian footy man i know...tbh completely forgot how he plays at all...the mustache ruins it for me, pass

15. Marko Grujić

sexy soft doe who makes dumb tackles sometimes! brilliant footballer, drools over the PL a little bit too much but i do love his love of liverpool. gives off sweetest man in the world vibes when off the pitch (on the pitch, quite the opposite). smash smash and more smash

16. Javairô Dilrosun

okayyyyyy this picture gives off different vibes than i normally associate with my always smiling super talented dutchboy but i’ll take it. literally would give the world for him. please stay at hertha. we love you. originally wrote smash but i cannot legally say that...too much sun/son vibes...pass my sweet legend

18. Santiago Asacibar

uggggghhh my least favorite transfer of all time. he’s ok. he’s been solid so i can’t complain. but a hard pass.

23. Arne Maier

the amount of love and affection i feel toward this berliner born in 1999 man for the amount of time he has actually played in the last while is...incredible. please don’t be a dumb bitch and move and that all the headlines were just made up. you’ve been injured !! be patient !! you’re too much homegrown talent for us to squander you i promise...not my normal type but smash...

3. Per Skjelbred

norwegian that gets up early and looks confused all the time. he’s been solid for us but apparently we’re selling him according to...will miss this deer in the headlights...pass

30. Marius Wolf

he just transferred sometime last season and he’s bffs with EVERYONE honestly respect but the guy freaks me out of bit...can’t explain it. super inconsistent but when he’s good he’s great. his instagram hashtag under every picture is #UNLEASHTHEWOLF ... when will he be unleashed ???? hard pass tho

6. Vladimír Darida

plays one (albeit incredible) game. twitter: BEST MAN OF THE VORRUNDE (honestly though some people’s opinions make me feel like i don’t understand this sport). he is pretty great though, not denying that. pass but respect. lots of it

8. Salomon Kalou

if this man doesn’t get a great send off i WILL riot. incredible presence on the team, nicest happiest funniest man alive. goals that he scores when he actually gets playing time ??? beautiful. couldn’t smash this man though, he’s the uncle i never had. i’ll pass him off to someone who loves him like he loves them.......

9. Alexander Esswein

couldn’t tell you much about ole essy over here...he’s not done much. he’s one of my friend’s exact type so i’ll save him for her. pass.

14. Pascal Köpke

the lad is TRYING! being the son of the NT goalkeeper coach is never easy. its hard to just be thrown on the pitch for the first time and be expected to create magic. hope he just gets better! solid pass bc his face looks like a prof of mine...yikes

19. Vedad Ibisevic

*gently strokes picture* i didn’t know how good i had it. yes i get annoyed at his aggressive testosterone-yness but lordy does he love hertha and is a good captain. i miss seeing him on the pitch and scoring those goals, saving our asses. props, old man <3 definite pass though.

27. Davie Selke

what CURSE has davie fallen victim to??? this man has no aim anymore and i miss his speedy legs and fancy goals !!!! absolute passion to sometimes ridiculous levels on the pitch but i love his heart. off the pitch, most down to earth nice sympatisch guy ever...hard smash

28. Dodi Lukébakio

oof...OOOF. i really really REALLY like him. he shuffles cards well, his voice is so soothing, his smile is INCREDIBLE. and yeah...incredible goal scored and weaver around defenders. and so chill !!!! i hope he stays with us for a long time. smash. marry.

BONUS

(on loan at norwich) Ondrej Duda

my heart grew three sizes when i saw this picture and now my eyes are all misty... he and sala have made my days so good when they were otherwise bad. his goalscoring last season incredible. he barely played this season at all. i don’t understand it. i hope and pray he comes back for us. duda...i love you (pass tho for the same reason as sala...)

#thoughts

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bluespiritfire · 4 years

Text

Dissidia NT ideas/wishlist

Just a list of characters/things I’d like to see in NT and maps that could come with them.

Spiritus

XIII - Caius Ballad Vanguard Memory/Map: Etro’s Throne (Unseen Realm version turning into the dark LR version or visa versa) or Valhalla beach (could have some really cool second stage effect with time gates opening/closing and maybe Amber and Garnet Bahamuts flying in the air, or the huge green glass thing shattering.) (I will never not be salty that Snow got in the (first?) antag spot when Caius is responsible for like...everything. Snow was just depressed and needed a hug and some support, like Noel.)

VII - Genesis Rhapsodos Vanguard Memory/Map: Junon SISTER Ray (Second stage could be the cannon itself suffering from mysterious slash damage, cutting it apart.) or Banora (second stage being after the bombs drop around the battlefield and turning into nighttime with the Mako glowing in the distance)

XV - Ardyn Izunia (seriously where is the gourmet trashcan? I hope that article wasn’t lying) Specialist? Assassin? Walking trashcan with a thousand hats? Memory/Map: Insomnia - Throne Room (Give Noctis a reason to use that voice line guys)

XV - Ravus Nox Fleuret (He’d make a good antag if Ardyn’s moveset is too copy/paste) Vanguard Memory/Map: Zegnautus Keep

Materia

XIII - Serah Farron Marksman or Specialist Memory/Map: New Bodhum (something similar to Besaid with the time of day changing to night with Cocoon lighting up on the horizon)

XIII - Noel Kriess Vanguard or Assassin Memory/Map: 700 AF aka Dying World

VII - Zack Fair Vanguard Memory/Map: Aerith’s Church (Second stage could be the Church aging from Crisis Core through to Meteorfall and ending with the flowerbed bursting into the water fountain from Advent Children)

VII - Aerith Gainsborough Marskman Memory/Map: Forgotten City

XV - Lunafreya Nox Fleuret Marksman Memory/Map: Altar of the Tidemother

IV - Rosa Joanna Farrell Marksman Memory/Map: It’s been so long since I played 4 I can’t remember, but maybe somewhere in Baron? All I know is a healing archer would be BOMB.

Other fun ones I don’t know enough about would be, of course, the rest of the Chocobros - Gladio would add to the Giant Swords Club that Garland, Cloud and Jecht have going, but he could also have a shield. Ignis would be another nice fast dagger wielder, maybe with some emphasis on magic? And Prompto would be a great gunner, along with LaGUNA *loud violent coughing*

I haven’t played a lot of the games, so I don’t know the various casts very well and who is popular enough to join the Dissidia ranks.

Oh and bring back L A G U N A and Prishe please. And Gilgamesh (if he’s not already in the works).

Non Character Wishes

MORE 13-2 MUSIC K THANKS. Etro’s Champion is such a lackluster track from that game???? Like....??????!??!? Come on? You have a dozen others that are amazing? Unseen Abyss? Followers of Chaos?! There’s some sick AF battle music in there guys! BEAUTIFUL HEROES! Sub point: Also more LR songs too please? YUSNAAN HAS SOME AMAZING THEMES GUYS. YOU COULD HAVE ADDED THAT IN WITH SNOW. And Crisis Core music would be GRAND.

Free outfits (Legatus of the XIIth Zenos is an amazing example of this. The helmet even filters his fricking voice, go and grab it now if you haven’t already). Even if you just add them to the Gil shop. Like...recolours are bland. Bring back the ones from previous titles and don’t make them cost an arm and a leg. I love KH Squall and Cloud but I’m not paying $30+ AUD for them. Where’s Golbez’s Duodecim one???? Where’s Kain’s Exile outfit? WHERE. IS. DANCER. BARTZ?! AND EMPERORS CRAZY COUTURE BATHROBE?! Terra’s pretty Narshean Princess outfit, and her black and white one?? AND NO SHIRTLESS SEPHIROTH THIS TIME?! C O W A R D S ! (Will say Kuja’s alternate is actually really pretty this time).

Don’t make us pay for characters and looks we already had in the previous installments. That’s shitty. (Wishful thinking I know *sigh*)

Please make the Manikins more than just poorly looking recoloured models. Make them look like they’re actually made of crystal again (the super garbled voices this time around are great though, really makes them feel not right)

More on Spiritus and Materia would be really cool. Give us more on Washing Basket and Discount Ansem please! PLEASE! I’m pretty much asking the way Catelyn Stark says at the Red Wedding here, Square.

We need. MORE. STAGES. Can we have Ultimecia’s Castle, Dream’s End, and Crystal World from the last games back? M.S. Prima Vista and Orphan’s Cradle would be bomb also. AND SNOW’S PALACE FROM LR WOULD BE FRICKING AMAZING? Why wasn’t that added with his release!?

Can we just have some new stages for new people? Like I said, Snow’s Patron’s Palace would’ve been so cool, with the big ice monument and the party decorations strewn everywhere in the panic, like in the opening cinematic for LR. Zenos could’ve had the Royal Menagerie or the throne room.

There’s probably more but I’ve been sitting on this for ages. How about you? Anyone you’d like to see added?

#dissidia NT #dissidia #final fantasy #I'm a simple gal Squeenix #GIVE. ME. THE CHILDREN.#in case it's not obvious I MISS LAGUNA #I LOVED THE SNIPER GUN IN DUODECIM #Man EX skills were something else in the old games *sigh*#Also the lack of shirtless Seph comment was made like...a LONG TIME ago. Safer Seph is a good option.#but i wish it wouldn't surely cost my KIDNEY

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accio-fan-fiction · 6 years

Photo

Title: Arrangements

Part One Part Two Part Three

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: Swearing

Summary: When Asgardian Royalty arrived at your door, you knew what you were expecting. The same rude, arrogant and brutish personalities as every other prince to ever make your acquaintance. Not this time, however. This time you have to make a choice; one that will change your life forever.

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: I honestly do not know what happened to this chapter, and honestly I was kinda drunk writing bits of it but oh well, hopefully, you enjoy it anyway. Please send feedback. Also, there will probably only be one more part to this so let me now if you want tagged

--------------------------------

Part Four

“Don’t worry. She will still have to leave, even if she marries him.” He spat to your mother but aimed it at you.

“I'm sorry, ‘leave’?” You didn't understand exactly what he meant, “what do you mean leave?”

Your parents both look surprised when you questioned them, making it obvious you weren't actually meant to hear what was being said.

Silence. They refused to answer your question; instead deciding to share glares with each other then aim glares at you, as if you were the one who had done something wrong.

“Well?” You demanded

Your mother sighed in a deeper annoyance than you had ever seen before bowing her head down. You could see the faint hint of a smile before her menacing grin broke over her face. Then, the most chilling cackle you had ever heard escaped from your her mouth and her head flew backwards. You backed away slowly, fully ready to run if necessary. Your father simply smiled behind her.

“You really haven't figured it out, have you? You claim to be so smart yet can't see the obvious when it's staring you right in the face!” She was still laughing. Your mind was racing in a desperate attempt to understand what was happening.

“Tradition Y/N” Your father finally decided to speak up, still standing behind her, still smiling.

Of course. How could you be so naive? When two people from different realms are married, they eventually move. You’d have to leave Vanaheim. It all made sense. They wanted you gone. And Thor-

“By marrying Thor you’d have to give up all rights to the Vanaheim throne,” your father explained, “Even if something happened to your sister, or she relented the throne, you could not take that responsibility, no one can be Queen or King of two realms.”

Those manipulative conniving cu-

“It’s why we put you forward for marriage instead of your sister. The only condition that Odin and Frigga had was that you could choose between the two brothers”

-nts.

“Of course, we assumed you’d choose Thor, become queen and relinquish all rights to the Vanaheimian throne, but clearly, even when you don't know whats happening, it becomes a natural instinct in you to disappoint us” Your mother berated you.

How could you be so blind? The sudden announcement of your marriage. They needed to make sure that you wouldn't find a way out. At least you knew completely now that Loki truly had no knowledge of what was happening. However, that did not ease your current situation. You had to get out. You had disappointed your parents enough times to know that it does not end well. Ever.

They had started walking towards you, tried to back you against the wall. But something in you snapped. You were sick and tired of being manipulated, of being used as an object to further your parents' agenda.

Your mother reached out to grab you with her bony hands, but before she could, you summoned a small dagger and quickly slashed it across her cheek. Before either of you had time to react to what happened you pushed her as hard and as far back as you could, then made a beeline for the door and kept running, willing yourself not to look back.

You kept running, replaying the events of the last hour in your head, while your actual thought process was blank. You knew that your parents would only be momentarily shocked into stillness, then they would come after you. You just kept running, unsure of your destination. Eventually, you found yourself outside the ballroom, where the guests had taken it upon themselves to continue the celebrations. You tried to make your way through the crowd, annoyed by their constant need to congratulate you, when any other group of people could clearly see the distress you were in. You were losing hope of finding any of the Asgardians, though you weren't sure what you would say if you did find them. Your anguish was only increased when you heard your mother and father rejoin the party as well. You could tell they were still fervently looking for you, the only relief you were given was knowing that they would also be stopped by the guests at every opportunity.

You kept running, leading yourself back to the room behind the stage where you hoped to find someone who could help you. Loki sat alone, using his magic to project visions of what your wedding would look like. He had a look of pure contentment on his face and for a moment you forgot why you were there. Then he looked up.

All traces of happiness drained from his face once he saw the distress on yours. He rushed to his feet, the apparitions vanishing as quickly as he made his way over to you. He wrapped you in his arms, providing you with the most affection you had received in an extremely long time. It was only when you let go of him that he finally pulled away. He reached out to wipe away tears you hadn’t realised had been running down your face, concern evidently plaguing his face.

“What happened to you?” He asked. He tried to stay calm but you could hear his voice wavering.

“We have to leave, where are your parents?”

“I don’t know where - just, just tell me what’s going on?” he pleaded. You were trying to usher him out of the door but he was even more stubborn than you were.

“Y/N, please,” He was desperately trying to figure out what was happening.

“Listen,” you said, looking directly into his beautiful eyes, “do you trust me?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “yes, of course, I trust you.”

“Then we need-”

Your parents burst in through the door, clearly rattled and ready to slaughter anyone who got in their way.

“Of course you ran to him, this vile loathsome evil little cockroach,” your father spat at you both, clearly no longer concerned with keeping up appearances or reputations. Your mother, on the other hand, chose not to speak. Her face was practically dripping blood from when you cut her, clearly deeper than you thought you had, but you were still able to see the pure hatred burning you through her eyes.

“Come on Y/N, let’s go,” Loki tried to remove you both from the ensuring conflict, to no avail, unfortunately.

“And where will you go? With him to Asgard, and abandon the people you claim to care so much about” your mother boasted.

You hated it, but she was right, you couldn't desert your people and leave them in the hands of your parents.

“Give Annabeth the crown” Loki interrupted. You looked at him, amazed that he could think of something so quickly that could so easily solve your problems. If they gave your sister the crown you could leave. You'd never have to see your parents again and Vanaheim would be in safe hands.

“Y/N, if Annabeth was given the throne, would you come with me to Asgard?” His eyes were full and bright as if he had allowed himself to get his hopes up for the first time in a long time. You studied his face for a moment and all you could feel was overwhelming affection towards the man you met only days ago. He barely knew you, yet he was willing to offer you a place in his home on Asgard.

“Yes. Yes of course” you whispered to him. “Mother, father, if you relent the throne to Annabeth and then leave Vanaheim, I will leave, you’ll never have to see me again. As long as the people of Vanaheim are safe in Annabeth’s, and only Annabeth’s hands, you can distance me from yourselves as much as you would like.”

Your parents appeared to share a telepathic conversation. They were speaking entirely through their facial expressions, which you couldn't decipher enough to make out what they were thinking.

They turned to look at you. You feared the worst, believing that they were simply going to laugh at you. For the first time, your parents pleasantly surprised you.

“Deal. If we relinquish the throne to your sister, and we leave Vanaheim and its politics in her hands, we never have to see you again.” Your mother spoke very matter of factly. You thought for a moment about what she had said to ensure that the wording wasn’t vague enough that she could go back on her word.

“Swear it!” You commanded just to be safe.

“I swear on my troth,” she smiled, which unnerved you, “we shall leave tonight in fact, as long as you do as well.”

You looked at Loki, to see him glaring at your parents as they left the room you were in.

“I am so sorry if I overstepped, I just couldn't bear to see you in such anguish,” he seemed genuinely worried that he had in some way offended you, which you thought only made him more endearing.

“It’s okay. Thank you,” you smiled at him, to which he happily returned the favour. He held his hand out to you, almost bashfully, and continued to smile. You took his hand and walked as he led you out of the small room you were in.

You eventually found the room that your sister and Thor were talking in and explained the situation to them. Your sister quickly took you away from the two princes to discuss the arrangements further.

“Are you sure you want to do this,” she asked, clearly worried about you.

“Yes,” you glanced over at Loki, who was smiling at his brother, completely oblivious to your staring, “I’m very sure.”

Your sister noticed your gazes towards Loki and smiled. She knew you were leaving for the right reasons and was happy to take the throne to allow you to do so. Her relationship with your parents was much more healthy than yours anyway, so you knew she’d be alright. Besides, you would be allowed to see her anytime, as long as it wasn’t on Vanaheim, at least for as long as your parents were alive. She’d also be allowed to ask for your advice on ruling, so you felt more at ease knowing you weren't abandoning your people. You had the opportunity be happy and guilt-free. Sure, in ten years you might end up hating Loki, but that seemed unlikely to you; he was what you wanted, and for the first time in a long time, you were going to be happy.

_______________________________

Tag List (Which is open btw, just send me a message, dont reply to the post, i might not see that)

@zeddlocket @dianaarelyfernandezgarza97 @1dforeverandalwaysfan @orighami @theworld-is-ahead @fangirl-who-dreams @tchallaholla @fleckeshummel @spac3unic0rn @waywardsoulpainter @dmv49 @herorea08-blog-blog @tetsurii @chelseaxteens @geekgoddess2 @oddly-drawn-muse @angry-clam-fucker @embrel @boldlyoriginalkoala @nowisours-nowisforever @ptprocrastination @awesome-eccia @greenhands5 @onebloodypoet @josiehosiedaninja @dianaarelyfernandezgarza97 @zeddlocket @1dforeverandalwaysfan @frostymoon11 @paulinka97 @ashleygrrrl @greenhands5 @slutforbuckybarnes @you-are-my-all-and-more @fangirl-who-dreams @galaxylemonadechickens-are-life flowersnbeer purplekitten30 mdgrdians stxrmqueen canarysfrost abadhiddlestonlokiblog @hp-madness @lillyrosegirl 707-deserves-better val-kay-rie capandbuck vanessabarnes cow whisperer keshuasd @tom-is-a-god myteenwolf-world @truestrengths band-trash-as-frick @lolaynay fangirldreamsandstuff demoncrypt1066 @disappointingyellowhighlighter @tathompson220 @jclements919

#Loki Laufeyson #loki #loki fanfiction #loki odinson #loki x reader #marvel #thor #thor ragnarok #tom hiddleston #loki imagine #loki series

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queenmercurys · 6 years

Note

hey love :') ALL the odd numbers for the ff asks??

NOTE: I realize now that this said all the ODD numbers, but me being an idiot, I just read “all numbers” and went for it. oh, well. here’s answers no one asked for :P and the ones you asked for, thanks, ems ;))

this is why you’re the greatest friend in the entire world ;D okay, here we go!! i’m gonna skip the ones i already got asked, but there’s still plenty to do ;P thank you so, so much, I love you!

2. Least favorite game?

well, out of the ones i’ve played, i’m gonna have to go with type-0, at least for now. it’s pretty good, i like the story, but the gameplay is crazy hard (and this is coming from someone who has played final fantasy since she was 8) and i’m not like crazy in love with any of the characters. they’re all good, but there’s not that thing that i have with basically every other final fantasy. but i’ve not finished it yet, it has plenty of time to change my mind!

3. Which games have you played?

i have played vii, viii, ix, x, x-2, xii, xiii, xiii-2, lightning returns, xv, world of final fantasy, type-0 and dissidia nt. however, i would like to note that i’ve watched crisis core so many times that i have basically played that, too. and i would, if i had a psp. anyway, i recently bought vi, so i’ll be playing that next, and then going backwards. the only ones i am not actively trying to play are xi and xiv. i’m not into multiplayers. but anyway, i also know the stories of the dissidia games, and i know the stories from i to vi, so nothing is really unfamiliar to me. it’s an amazing franchise and i love it.

4. Most underrated game?

i have to say x-2. it gets so much hate and for no reason whatsoever. it’s such a joyous, beautiful game with wonderful characters, the best turn-based gameplay and surprisingly fun minigames and sidequests. i stan x-2 100%.

5. Most overrated game?

if i were less biased, i’d say vii, but i’m not perfect, so i’m gonna go with my other pick: vi. i am sure it’s absolutely wonderful, and everything seems great based on what i have heard, read and watched. however, the fact that the cast is literally cramped with 20 million different characters throws me off a tiny bit. i can’t see it being that easy to give good character development to all of them, and i guess that hasn’t happened. but yeah, i honestly can’t say much before actually playing it. but i suppose part of the praise is largely due to nostalgia - as it is with vii, too.

6. Favorite protagonist?

that would be my perfect darling, cloud strife.

7. Favorite antagonist?

this was a bit of a tough one, but i’m gonna go with ardyn izunia.

12. Best looking male?

cloud strife for sure. he’s really, really handsome, okay.

14. Character you would most like to marry?

well, this may come as a shocker, but cloud strife.

15. Character you hate the most?

i appreciate him for everything that he is, i think he’s a totally epic villain, but after everything he’s done to cloud, to aerith and to everyone else, i am definitely gonna have to go with sephiroth. but he is iconic and the franchise wouldn’t be the same without him.

16. Which game had the best cast of characters?

even though it’s not my favorite game, i’m gonna go with vii. it has such a large, engaging multiverse to itself that it’s had a lot of time to develop the characters and make them more interesting and fleshed out. and i love so many of them so much. like my darling cloud, or sunshine boy zack, or aerith, or tifa, vincent, yuffie, cid etc etc. i think the cast of characters is really awesome. but that’s not to say i don’t love the other casts, because i do, very much so.

17. Which game was the saddest?

crisis core. what made it worst was knowing from the start that zack was going to die, and then living through it all, seeing how happy he was. watching him fall in love with aerith, befriend cloud, and even hang out with sephiroth and genesis. it’s so heartbreaking watching that boy try so hard, and then eventually die protecting his best friend a few miles away from his goal. it’s really not fair, and watching the ending always breaks me. that’s not even counting the pain that cloud had to go through in crisis core, but if i take that into consideration, it just strengthens my argument: crisis core is definitely the saddest game.

18. Which game was the funniest?

x-2. i know it’s a bit cliche and maybe even a bit cringe, but i love every bit of it. it’s pure joy, and watching yuna be happy and carefree even for a bit warms my heart. and personally, what i think makes it even better is that the game also has so many heartbreaking, sad moments. it balances itself out very nicely.

19. Which game had the best love story?

i am definitely gonna go with x. the story of yuna and tidus is well fleshed out, it’s romantic, it’s tragic, it’s sweet and above all (because i love this aspect in couples) it’s angsty as fuck, and that is exactly what i want from any fictional couple. they are a big part of why i love x as much as i do.

21. Which game would you sooner die before doing the above ^?

since i picked x-2 for the game i’d like to insert myself into, i am gonna go with… xiii for the game i would not like to be in. the world is gorgeous, but the divide between the people of cocoon and the people of pulse, and the dictatorship-like way the world is ruled, yeah, no thank you. besides, i could never replace lightning, i have literally none of her good qualities.

22. Which game’s world would you most like to live in?

this was really hard for me to pick, but i think i would actually go with the world in viii. it’s a world that has technology (which, as a child of the 90′s, i do need), and it still has many fantasy elements to it, not to mention some really, really gorgeous locations, like fisherman’s horizon, balamb town etc.

23. Which specific location (e.g. Besaid Island) would you most like to live in?

if we’re going with specific locations, i think i would like to live in tenebrae from xv. it seems like such a gorgeous, peaceful place, i think i would be very happy there.

24. What’s your favorite job/class? Is this the same class you would want to be if you entered a class-based Final Fantasy game, or would you rather be a different one? If so, which one?

my favorite class is probably summoner, but i also have a fondness for the white magic, the black mage and the knight/any other variation of that job class. i think i would probably be a white mage myself.

25. What is your favorite ability?

summoning is always something i find very useful, obviously, but i also like noctis’ warp strike in xv. using weapons with abilities like stone strike is also really satisfying in x, too.

26. Favorite boss fight?

i really love the final boss battle against ardyn in xv. the main reason for this is because in the fight, ardyn doesn’t have an elaborate second form (tho i don’t mind those either), it’s literally just two men fighting each other. and the end, how ardyn loses because he can’t summon up the sword of the father, i think that’s really meaningful and i’ve always liked it a lot.

28. Your favorite spell?

well, i sure have grown very fond of curaga over the years, but in terms of something that i just consider really cool… i’ve always liked holy quite a bit, not really sure why.

29. Favorite summon?

the knights of the round from vii. other than that, probably shiva. i also really like alexander and bahamut.

30. Least favorite battle/boss fight?

i am not a huge fan of the fight against cid raines in xiii. i don’t know why, but that fight took me forever, and multiple tries. just… nope.

31. Do you have any theories or headcanons you swear by (e.g. Rinoa as Sorceress)?

i used to swear by the “squall is dead” theory just because it seemed super interesting, but nah, i love squall too much. he ain’t dead. i think the theory i am very fond of is that vii and x are connected. the theory that the kid shinra in x-2 eventually started developing a technology that would eventually lead to the shinra company in vii. it’s grim, but it’s entirely possible.

32. Are there any fanon theories/headcanons you just can’t believe?

i mean, there are a lot of weird ones that i don’t buy into, but i guess one that i don’t believe is that cloud actually killed aerith (aka he killed her by drowning her because sephiroth’s sword didn’t actually kill her, but paralyzed her instead, or something). i am pretty sure he checked if she was breathing, give him some credit.

34. Which canon couple do you think is most likely to break up sometime after the credits roll?

umm… well, considering that they weren’t really even together, ever, i guess it doesn’t qualify, but i’m gonna say cloud and tifa. i just don’t see how it would work, romantically. i get that there are feelings there, but actually as a functioning couple? idk about that. everyone can think what they want, though, what do i know? my second pick would probably be snow and serah. i find them very cute, but that’s another ship where i can’t see how they would actually work in everyday life.

36. And your least favorite non-canon couple?

please don’t throw cloud and sephiroth at me, i really can’t. i have literally nothing against m/m ships, my favorite non-canon ship is strifehart. i just don’t ship these two and i think cloud deserves soooooo much better. again, just my opinion though.

37. What do you think makes a game a “quintessential” Final Fantasy game? (In other words… some people say the new games don’t feel like Final Fantasy games to them. What FEELS like a Final Fantasy game, to you?)

well, since my first final fantasy was x, i might not be the best one to answer this because my first one wasn’t one of the “classics”, really, but… to me, they all feel like final fantasy. the games don’t have to all be same, nor should they be. but for the sake of the question (which is a very interesting question btw), i think that there needs to be a big bad, and a group of mismatched, troubled heroes who do what they can to defeat that big bad. that’s literally all i need from a final fantasy game for it to feel like a final fantasy. plus, at least one engaging character who i can root for.

38. What things did/would bother you when/if they were put in the games (i.e. what things DON’T belong in Final Fantasy games)?

nothing’s bothered me much yet, but i guess what i don’t really care about are those weird collabs, like xv + assassin’s creed or something. i get why they do it, but ehh. i think those rather “pointless” dlc additions are just that: pointless. i am, however, on board useful and important dlc additions, like story additions or new fighting arenas, like with dissidia nt.

39. What is your favorite prequel or sequel?

my favorite prequel is definitely crisis core, and my favorite sequel is x-2 (does advent children count? if it does, then ac, too).

40. Square-Enix hands over the reins to you, to make a prequel or sequel for any game of your choice, even ones that already have those things. What do you make?

first i make a sequel to vii to see what happened to cloud after advent children, then i make x-3, and then i make a sequel to viii. it absolutely doesn’t need a sequel, but i want it in glorious hd.

42. Worst character design?

no one looks bad, to me anyway, but i guess some characters are pretty weird, like cloud of darkness’ design for dissidia nt. i get that she didn’t really have any clothes on in the original, either, but that crap must be very impractical in battle.

43. What is your favorite weapon?

cloud’s buster sword, and cloud’s fusion sword.

44. What cutscene do you wish you could cut out of any of the games?

the date scene with iris and noctis in xv. why did they do that???

45. What creature do you most wish was real? (Chocobo’s, moogles, etc.)

oh, moogles would be so adorable. so would moombas.

46. Best soundtrack?

i think all the soundtracks are freaking fantastic, final fantasy music is the best music ever created, but i am gonna go with final fantasy xv. my close second pick would be final fantasy viii.

47. Favorite overworld song?

the one from viii, just because it brings back memories of me wandering around for hours, grinding for magic spells and items.

48. Which game had the best opening cutscene?

they are all freaking amazing, honestly. like honestly, all the games are so beautiful and perfect in this aspect, but i guess if i have to choose… probably x. the destruction of zanarkand is pretty powerful stuff, especially for an opening cutscene.

49. Which game had the best ending?

i’ve always said this, and i will always say it: final fantasy x-2. it’s called the perfect ending for a reason. and yes, i mean the ending where tidus comes back and he and yuna are reunited.

51. Favorite non-vocal song?

somnus and somnus ultima from xv. honestly the most gorgeous song i have ever heard in my life.

52. Favorite limit break/overdrive/trance/you-get-the-picture mode and/or ability?

cloud’s omnislash for sure. can’t wait to see that in the remake.

53. Are there any plot-holes or questions you have about any of the games that you wish would be resolved?

nothing that bugs me too much. i guess the one that bothers me the most is that, why was ultimecia’s summon called griever?? has anyone ever explained this? if ultimecia isn’t rinoa, then why?? it worries me. i don’t know why, but it worries me.

54. What scene had the most impact on you?

there are plenty, but here is the top 5: yuna and tidus’ goodbye at the end of x, aerith and zack saying their final farewells to cloud in ac, noctis calling the kings of lucis to help him bring back the dawn and they all proceed to kill him in xv, luna and noctis getting married in the afterlife in xv and that scene at the end of viii when rinoa is pointing to the sky, we think she’s alone and then she turns and squall’s there, smiling for the first time in the entire game. okay, no, i’m cheating. also the ending of crisis core, for sure.

55. Which game did you play first, and when (how old were you, etc.)?

i played final fantasy x when i was around 8 or 9. i got introduced to it by my friend’s sister. we watched her play for days and weeks until i finally asked my dad if i could have the game, too. and i got it, and i loved it. i still do. what a game.

57. What game that has yet to be released are you most looking forward to?

*laughs nervously* final fantasy vii remake. square… please?

58. What do you think of the Final Fantasy fandom in general? Do you think it is a good one? Any complaints?

oh, i think it’s a very good one! i’m not one to get too involved in fandoms anyway, so if there is bad blood, i don’t know about it. but everyone i’ve met has been super friendly, very talented and just genuinely wonderful. no complaints :) ok, maybe one. it doesn’t matter if you ship clerith, zerith, cloti or whatever you want. everyone can ship in peace. it’s all good.

59. Do you have any favorite works of art or fanfiction that you always go back to, and/or basically accept as canon?

i have no shame in admitting that i basically consider it as canon (tho this goes into the kh story, too) that squall and cloud are basically the fathers of roxas and sora, and they’re the best, happiest family ever. i go back to a lot of strifehart fanfiction, and plenty of awesome fanarts i’ve seen.

60. If you got the chance to work at Square Enix making Final Fantasy games, at any job, regardless of your skill set (they offer you paid training), what would you most like to work on or do?

hmm, i think i would like to be a character designer, but i would also really, really love to be involved in the story creation and writing, too. maybe i could do both?

thanks so much again, hon, you’re the greatest and i had the best time answering these :D talking about final fantasy makes me so happy! love you

#long post #elevsen #BLESS YOU #you are the best and i love u #final fantasy #ask

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we-are-eldritch-knight · 6 years

Text

The man in the shattered mirror

((Be warned, this is a long post))

Ro had heard some rumors, recently. Odd ones that brought her some deep concerns. They could be true, she thought. That would be ridiculous. She turned the corner to the training room to see a familiar face wielding a runic blade surrounded in raw, arcane energy.

“Harkin?”

The man turned, the left side of his face covered in burns. He stared at her for a moment, but his eyes spoke volumes. There was almost nothing there of Harkin. “Ah, you must be Ro. Harold told me of you.”

The silence was palpable. But Ro had been right, the rumors were wrong. This was not the Harkin she knew. She had had some hope, slight as it was, that the man she knew, the man she had come to respect, the man she had come to see as... She couldn’t bring herself to speak about it, simply greeting his kindness in turn. “Yes. I am the Collective’s current Eldritch Knight.”

The man smiled looking at her. “Well, I am pleased to see I left such a capable apprentice.”

Ro calmed her mind. Everything felt like a trick. Like someone just wanted to hurt her. “So, are you the *real* Harkin. Or are you another universe’s?”

He looks away, letting his blade fall to his side. “According to quite a few mages, I am of this world. Though, no one can determine why my memories have left me.” He seem exasperated, letting out a heavy sigh. “My apologies. I wish I could tell you more but nothing I can do seems to remedy these circumstances.”

“How about some tea?” Ro responded.

Harkin gave a gentle smile. “That...would be lovely.”

The two made it tot he kitchen in relative silence. It was too early in the morning to see most faces in the guild hall. Ro began a pot of hot water letting it boil before either of them would say a word.

“Mint and chocolate I presume?” She asked, knowing the answers.

“A bit early for that, but certainly a lovely choice.” He smiled, it was a pleasant surprise for her to know his taste in tea. Though the truth of the matter bit him. “Tell me, Ro, what is your full name?”

She hesitated. She knew the answer to this question, but the way it was asked stuck her. Was it a challenge? No, something different. “For a time, it was Ro-el’tai Vartis. But after an issue within my family, I changed it to Ro-el’tai... Saldorek.” Her stare was cold, not letting herself betray any emotion.

“if I may ask...” He could barely bring himself to speak. “Why did you choose to change your name?”

Ro couldn’t think. She stared at man so familiar, so important to her, but had no memories to speak of. She inhaled slowly. “My mother demanded I leave your apprenticeship, saying that it wasn’t beneficial to our family to continue. We argued a short while before you entered the room. You defended my choice, going so far as to state my mother was unfit to call herself my family.” She gave a brief pause, watching Harkin’s response, but he still seemed stunned by everything.

“I’ll be honest, I’d never had someone fight for me like that before. Most of my life, my family taught me that I had to prove myself worthy of their name. Of my family. That it was an honor to be of a house. But coming here, you help me learn the truth. That family is not a set of rules or something that needs to be earned.” She looked away. “It is love shared between people, regardless of blood. I..” Before she could speak, Harkin embraced her, sobbing.

“I’m so sorry.”

Ro was stunned, only managing to get a single word out. “Why?”

“I left you. I left all of you. I was reckless.”

“Harkin, you died. You can’t be blamed for that.”

There was a silence, as if the whole world stood still. Harkin sat back in his chair, composing himself. “Maybe so, but my reckless actions lead to my death. And I had far too much to protect. I let hatred blind me.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Even if I know I can return.”

Ro sat in silence for a moment before responding. “Now you’re fucking with me.”

Harkin let out a chuckle. “I so very wish. No, my story is rather old. In truth, Harkin was not my name, but the only name left. I was born in a demiplane controlled by a powerful entity known only as The Starved Mind. This monstrosity feeds on memories. Apparently, my mother served him, sacrificing me along with an entire village to act its play thing. Of the shattered pieces I could gather, she used me as a puppet, creating and devouring memories as they pleased.” He grimaced at the thought.

“I have no idea how many lives I lived within that realm. I do know that it pissed of a very powerful demon. So much so that she sent her daughter to pull me out of that plane as revenge, going so far as to imbue me with infernal magics.” Harkin held out his arm, the skin still appearing as if a fire was underneath. “It called that day The Shattering. That demon left a terrible mark on me and my memories were still of the life i had lived to that point.”

He took a sip of tea. “I must have lived many more live after that. The Shattering left me in a cycle. Every time I died, I returned to The Starved Minds realm, xer influence permanently sticking me in the memory of life where I was released. I spent many life times returning to the various planes, dying, and being reborn. It was not until a kind, simple cleric of a goddess of the mind saved me that I managed to change the cycle.”

“It was a death like I must have had before. Fallen to some trap or foe or beast. The young dwarf rushed to save me. However, by the time his spell had finished casting, he had already forgotten me. Instead, only his god remembered me. A god of mind and memory. She gave me an offer. I could retain my presence in this world, but I would have to relive the day in which I was freed. And when I did, I would not have control over where I ended up.”

“So now, here I am. Torn between the whims of three entities, reincarnated at random until I live long enough to reshape my memories. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But I had thought myself wise from keeping truth from you. I was a fool to believe, with your might and will, that we would nt meet again.”

Ro attempted to process this information. “So you’re telling me, that you are basically the most incompent immortal being to ever exist?”

Harkin smirked. “I’d say second or third, but yes. I’d also say I’m the luckiest.”

“And why is that?”

There was a long-drawn silence once more, as Harkin attempted to pull the words from his soul.

“Because no being alive could be so lucky as to leave you as their legacy.”

#long post #story #Harkin Saldorek #Ro-el'tai Saldorek

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artificialqueens · 7 years

Text

The Lost Princess {Biadore} Chapter 1 -C*NT

A/N: This was a prompt that was sent to my sideblog, and I thought this would make a great multi-chapter AU because it’s looselybased off of my favorite Disney movie ever Tangled. I’ve changed quite a few things around, there’s more of a back story for Flynn/Roy, I felt uncomfortable using Roy’s moms real name so I decided to name her Isabelle. Some other Rugirls will be making appearances as well (Jinkx as Mother Gothel, Manila as the Queen’s maid etc.). Adore will be a cisgirl in this fic so I apologize in advance because I know that’s not everyones favorite thing in the world to read. This chapter is on the short side to start the story off, but I promise I’ll spoil you with extra long chapters as the plot thickens. 😉 TW: Murder/Death that could be potentially interpretated as a way to commit suicide, please read at your own risk-it is a small scene but I still like to warn. TW for Depressive thoughts as well. Sorry for my obnoxiously long A/N, please enjoy the story!

Long ago, a golden drop of sun fell from the heavens and onto the soil below, just on the outskirts of what would become the kingdom of Corona. From that single drop, an enchanted flower grew and blossomed; and for many years it laid untouched on the edge of a high cliff.

An old red headed witch named Jinkx, was traveling from deep within the forest in search of herbs was the one who stumbled across the flower first. She had grown ill with a deadly plague and was in search of medicine. The flower had a bright golden aura around it, one that she had never seen before. As she sang and picked up the nearby mushrooms, she noticed the flower began to radiate with light. Her hands that were old and brittle felt strong again, and she heard her voice become clear and young once more. Realizing the flower had mystical powers, she decided to hide it under a wicker basket, and keep the flower hidden from any travelers passing by.

Many, many years passed and her secret fountain of youth remained untouched: until now.

—————-

The summer night was dark and swampy, an evil energy settling slowly upon the forest. Something was not right, and it wasn’t just because the Queen of Corona was ill, and still expecting.

“Mom, I don’t want to keep going into the woods.” The young boy cried, being drug by his mother’s soft, tender hand. They had been hiking all day now, and Roy wanted nothing more then his own bed.

“Roy, we have to go.” The woman cooed, leading the way out of the city and towards the depths of the forest. “There’s a flower I need to heal your father, and it’s buried deep within the forest.”

Roy pouted, making a disgusted face as he wiped his hair out of his eye. He was 5, and already had enough of the outdoors to last a lifetime.

His father had fallen ill with what the village doctors believed was a deadly virus. The doctors said there was no cure: but Roy’s mom believed the only thing that could help him was a mythical golden flower that was gifted from the sun. It supposedly grew on a cliff many miles outside of the city; which is where they were headed now.

“Mom, how can you believe in something you’ve never seen before?” Roy asked.

“It’s called hope. Hope is when we see light, despite being surrounded by darkness. We must always have hopes and dreams Roy, never forget that.”

“I have a dream! One day we’ll get to go meet the new princess and the king and queen!” Roy exclaimed.

His mother smiled at him, stroking his face sweetly.

“You can do anything you set your mind to. Guess what? We’re almost there honey.“ She comforted, holding his hand as they padded through the forest. Suddenly, Roy felt a chill go down his spine. He shivered as they continued to make their way down the dirt path.

Something didn’t feel right to Roy, he wasn’t sure what it was but he knew he wanted to leave.

“Mommy, I want to go home.” Roy whimpered, grabbing onto her dress.

The two of them stopped at what appeared to be a cliff ledge. There was a small basket over a small golden light

“Could it be?” She breathed. She ran towards the basket, lifting it up slowly. Underneath it was the golden flower they had been looking for!

“It’s beautiful.” She murmured. Roy gazed down at it in awe. The flower was glowing a bright gold. It had purple flecks in the center and smelled incredibly sweet. Roy’s mom began to dig up the flower gently, but was interrupted shortly after she began to remove the roots from the earth below.

“Just what do you think you’re doing with that?” An ominous voice boomed from behind them. Roy jumped up, scared as he looked around.

“Who’s there?” Isabelle called. She motioned to Roy to hide behind a nearby rock where she could still see him.

“The owner of that flower, my pretty. I wouldn’t dare take it if I were you.”

“No one owns this flower, besides I need it to help heal my husband.”

“You were clearly misinformed.” Jinkx retorted.

“I don’t believe I was. You can’t stop me from taking it.” Isabelle began to pull the plant close to her chest when a woman with vibrant red hair appeared out of the deep woods.

“I warned you, you are not to take the magical flower.” Jinkx approached, glaring at the younger woman.

“What are you going to do about it?” Isabelle challenged, gazing into the red heads beady brown eyes.

Jinkx smiled sweetly, snapping her fingers as she began to sing a song. Roy covered his ears, the witch sounded terrible; and he didn’t want to risk getting caught up in whatever was about to happen. All he could do was watch on with horror as his mom froze in place.

Jinkx cackled after she was finished singing, approaching her with ease. She stroked the magical flower with her long white fingers, removing it from Isabelle’s hands easily.

His mom was frozen in place from whatever spell Jinkx had just cast, Roy realized. After she replanted the flower below her feet, Jinkx stared at the young woman with pity.

“You’re much prettier then most of the ones who try to take this from me. I guess I’ll spare you a slow and painful death.” Jinkx groaned. With a swift shove, Isabelle was thrown off of the ledge of the cliff and down into the deep canyon below.

“No!” Roy screamed, running out from behind the rock.

The witch cackled, placing the basket over the flower.

“You’d be a fool to try and take it.” Jinkx warned as she dissappeared into the forest.

Roy stared down at the golden flower, and realized there was nothing he could do now. If he tried to take the flower, the witch would kill him too. He sat down in front of it, and realized he had no chance of saving his father either. He would most likely be an orphan by the time he got back to the city.

He couldn’t dare look over the cliff ledge where his mother had fallen to her death. He knew that night, that something had changed within him. He was not the same sensitive little boy that he was only hours ago. This morning he was innocent, skipping through the town square with his friends and daydreaming about the future. He couldn’t allow himself to feel anything right now, he had to find his way back to the city without dying.

Roy laid down next to the flower and allowed himself to weep softly. What was the hurry in getting back now?

Shattering the silence of the forest, 5 palace officers with torches had approached.

“Halt! Hands up young man.” The large man ordered.

Roy sat up and threw his hands up in the air willingly.

“Roy? What are you doing so far away from home? Your dad has been worried!” The large man, Roy had nicknamed ‘Bunny’ asked. Roy would follow Bunny around the city and play pranks on him with his friends. Somehow, Bunny had taken a liking to Roy, and always let him off easy with a warning whenever they got into trouble.

“Me and mom came for the flower.. but she was killed.” Roy sniffled.

The guards all exchanged a sympathetic look, nodding their heads in agreement.

“Bunny, take Roy back home.” The captain paused. "This is the flower right?”

“That’s it, but there’s a witch hiding in the bushes who will kill you!” Roy yelled.

Bunny leaned down to crouch on the ground so that he was eye level with Roy. He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“That witch won’t be bothering us Roy. You see, we’re big men with weapons and she would be a fool to want to mess with us.” Bunny grinned, picking Roy up and flinging him over his shoulder.

“Why do you guys want the flower? Are you going to bring it to my dad?” Roy asked hopeful.

The captain frowned and avoided eye contact with him. Roy felt Bunny tense as he set him back down on the ground.

“I’m sorry Roy, but we won’t be bringing the flower to your dad.” Bunny said sadly. “We have royal orders to bring it to the Queen.”

“For the princess.” Roy realized, tight lipped. These guards really didn’t care about him. They just wanted the flower for the unborn princess and the queen. They could care less about the poor boy from the city with no mother and a dying father.

He was realizing people really didn’t care about one another; it really was every man for himself.

“Are you okay buddy?” Bunny asked, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

“I’m fine.” Roy said shrugging the guards hand away. “Just take me home.”

The officers finished removing the flower with ease, but deep in the woods Jinkx watched with rage as the men left.

She knew they could only want it for one thing: to save the queen and her unborn child.

Which meant the princess would possess all of the magic. Her lips curled up in an evil smile as she began to hatch a new plan. Hope was not lost for Jinkx.

————-

"Your highness, the magical golden flower that you requested.”

The king took the flower, examining it with awe. He smiled for the first time in weeks, happy to finally have something that would help his wife and unborn daughter feel better.

“It’s beautiful.” The queen whispered before coughing violently. Her body heaved as she tried to stop, but the more she tried the longer she coughed. To the King’s horror, Queen Bonnie was deteriorating in front of his very eyes. Her plump pregnant belly was the only sign of life left on her tiny frame.

“See that the cooks receive this at once to make into a soup for the queen.” He ordered.

“As you wish sir.” The maids scurried off into the kitchen to have the magical flower made into a healing soup.

“I promise, you and the baby will be okay.” The King of Corona stroked his wife’s forehead.

“I hope so.” She smiled weakly, holding his hand.

——————–

Bunny had escorted Roy inside of his house before he followed the rest of the guards back to the palace. Roy was greeted by Courtney, a young blonde woman who had been the family’s doctor for years. She was quite beautiful, and had piercing blue eyes and pale skin. She frowned as Roy approached, not knowing how to tell him the news.

“I’m so sorry Roy, but your father succumbed to his illness late this afternoon. Where is your mother?” Doctor Courtney asked.

Roy looked off into the distance and shook his head. He didn’t want to go into detail, it’s not like she cared.

“She’s dead.”

“What?! What happened??” Dr. Courtney exclaimed, reaching out to touch the young boy. Roy shrugged her off, and moved away quickly.

“She was killed by a witch.”

“A witch?! What did she look like?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll never find her. Just take me to the orphanage.” Roy said coldly. Roy was sick of the sad look in all of the adults eyes. He didn’t want to be pitied for losing both of his parents, especially since he knew no one cared enough about him to actually adopt him. It cost lots of money to adopt, he knew because his parents had wanted to adopt a baby girl before his dad had gotten sick.

Dr. Courtney looked down at the young boy and nodded her head in understanding. She reached out and tried to hug him again, but once again he shut her out. She gave up, and eventually escorted him to his new life in the orphanage.

——————

The queen drank the soup slowly, the flower gleaming beautifully in the gold colored bowl. When she finished drinking the broth, she left the flower inside the bowl and handed it back to one of her maids.

“Your highness, you should eat the flower too; it will do wonders for your health.” The chef suggested watching carefully.

The queen nodded her head, already feeling the strength re-enter her body from the broth. It was the first thing she could keep down in days. She grabbed the flower and chewed on it daintily, surprised that it tasted so delicious.

She finished it quickly, realizing she felt whole again. She sat up in bed, stretching out her arms and the maids clapped with delight.

“Are you feeling better your highness?” Her lead maid, Manila asked.

“I feel great Manila. See that the team that retrieved the flower receive a generous reward from me personally.” Queen Bonnie said. Manila nodded her head and exited the room rapidly, no doubt already preparing the rewards.

Suddenly, Bonnie felt a large cramp in her lower abdomen. She moaned out in pain and grabbed her stomach, gripping it tightly. She felt liquid flood her sheets and realized it was finally happening. She was going to meet her little princess.

“It’s time.” The Queen gasped

#c*nt #biadore #the lost princess #rpdr fanfiction #submission #bianca del rio #jinkx monsoon #tangled au #fairytale au #m/f au

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stimtoybox · 7 years

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Your blog is safe haven for me. It means so much it makes me tear up!

Oh, anon. It means everything to me that you said that, it really does! I’m tearing up!

The horrible thing is that I don’t have a good, easy answer for you. I wish I did, but I struggle with assertiveness in verbal conversations, especially when I feel unsafe. I’ve been bullied by my family my whole life for my autism. For needing to have the same pillows to be able to sleep. For not eating a varied amount of foods. For finding things too loud. Right now I’m in a kind of quiet war with Mum because she can’t understand that I don’t just dislike her perfume - it makes me sick. Because she doesn’t hear me when I tell her it does make me sick (as in she hears the words but they don’t fit her worldview, so they don’t have meaning for her) it looks as though I’m being nagging and demanding when I ask her not to wear it. That lack of comprehension, that feeling that I am being demanding, results so often in teasing or just blank refusal to accommodate us.

The terrible, tragic, utterly unfair truth is that we can’t make someone else understand. There’s a high chance that this may not work, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about that. We can’t make someone else listen. We can only try to present the information in ways they’re more likely to accept, but if they don’t, anon, this is not your fault. Some people will not understand, no matter what we do.

I am assuming, anon, that you’re verbal enough to have a spoken conversation, although I think everything below applies for most other methods of communication. I’m choosing to focus more on verbal conversation because that, as wrong as it is, is largely the only sort of conversation these sorts of bullies accept and is more often the form in which you’ll be forced to have this conversation.

What I do know about assertiveness is this: subtlety and politeness does not help you get what you need. Hinting, suggesting, adding five pleases and five thank yous … the social rules we’re taught about being polite, respectful humans don’t teach us how to look after ourselves. Be direct, say as few words as possible and don’t bother yourself with their feelings. (They’ve shown that they care little for yours.) The best ever response to a cis straight dude lecturing me about how “that’s so gay” isn’t offensive was me snapping and going, “I’m queer. I don’t like it. Stop it.” No arguing, no debating, no explaining, no attempt to justify why I didn’t like it. He stopped, then and there.

(Note: “say as few words as possible” is unfair. ND communication tends to be indirect. We generally talk in many words, extra detail, repetitions and tangents. See this entire blog as a case in point! We should not have to master their preferred (direct) communication to be heard, but results are better for us if we can. I say this because I’ve done assertiveness training with a couple of different psychologists, and they’ve all taught me direct communication without ever acknowledging that my natural, indirect communication is valid - that the problem is the bullies’ unwillingness to comprehend me, not my method of speech. So I will acknowledge it here. We communicate just fine. They just choose not to understand us and force us to jump through extra hoops to be heard. And that is a thousand kinds of wrong, but it’s better for us if we can attempt to jump those hoops, in terms of effectiveness.)

When we hint and suggest, when we try to be nice about getting people to respect our health requirements, people have this strange idea that we’re not serious about it. People think that extra words and extra politeness means it’s not really necessary to accommodate our request - even though this thing is so important to us that we’re smoothing it over as much as possible in the hope that they accommodate us. This is largely because they don’t want to help us, so anything that isn’t direct bluntness is used as an excuse to not bother.

So we don’t give them those excuses. We say what it is we want. We don’t be rude, we don’t be aggressive and we try our hardest not to be angry (they’ll use all those as excuses to not listen to us, too) but we say what it is we need as simply and clearly as possible so they have the fewest possible excuses to avoid accommodating our needs.

If you’re dealing less with bullies and more with people who can’t comprehend how they’re creating a toxic environment for you, it really helps a lot if you can offer up a solution to the problem, something they can do in response:

“The noise from your game is bothering me. Can you use your headphones?”

“Your perfume creeps into the whole house. Can you spray it outside?”

(Please note: if the solutions are not workable for you, don’t offer them. But if their using headphones cuts down on the noise driving you to distraction, it’s in no way unreasonable to ask them to do this.)

If you can make these comments without judgements on the thing making your space unlivable (you’re making a bloody racket, your perfume stinks) this is more likely to work. Mum’s perfume smells like petrol to me, but telling her that makes her wear it more, not less. Take that from hard-earned experience!

If you’re dealing with bullies or there is no modifying action they can take other than to not do the thing, just tell them to not do the thing. Don’t try to justify; keep explanations brief. Don’t mock them, don’t rage at them, don’t accuse them of anything or get sarcastic. Try, as hard as you can, not to cry. (As a serial crier, this is incredibly difficult and ridiculously unfair, but my family has the magical ability to stop listening to me as soon as tears leave my eyes.) Just tell them directly what it is you want:

“I don’t like it when you tease me about lights. Stop it.”

“I need you to turn down the speakers.”

“You know why I stim. Stop turning it into a joke.”

“Don’t use this scent inside the house. It makes me sick.”

Be direct. Unless your stims are causing them stress/discomfort in some way (I do not mean NTs being bothered by ND people daring to be ND, but something like the sound of your spinner causing irritation) you’re under no obligation to compromise here. (All of this is impacting your health, comfort and safety. You don’t compromise on those things.) I do recommend that you pick your battles in the beginning: work on those things you truly can’t stand, and leave those things you can tolerate grudgingly for later on. Pick one thing, if that feels more comfortable for you, and start with that before moving on to something else.

Anon, this is going to be really hard. I’ve done this stuff, and I know it works, and I still struggle to apply it on a regular basis (consequently, the perfume). It requires communicating in a form of communication (verbal speech) that is genuinely difficult for us. Script it. Write it out in a journal. Practice speaking to the mirror, or a soft toy if you’re uncomfortable looking at your reflection. Practice speaking to a friend, if you have one with whom it is safe enough to do this. Practice saying (speaking, not just writing or thinking) the words. If you spend three weeks practicing saying the words each night, you might be surprised, one day, at how they just slip out when needed.

Lastly, this might not work at all. Bullies be bullies. It says nothing about you if they don’t change in response to direct communication. Nothing. Unfortunately, it’s all on them, because you’re already going to an extreme amount of effort here to try and communicate what you need (something you’re already telling them through words and voice and body language - you’re telling them; they’re just refusing to listen) in ways they’re more likely to hear. If they don’t? Absolutely not on you.

Anon, you are entitled to stim. If you’re not causing someone else or their possessions harm and you’re not being disruptive, you’re entitled to stim. It doesn’t matter if this is fidgeting with a fidget cube or swaying while you talk or windmilling your arms. Toys make our stims a little more acceptable, and that’s why they’re important, but they are not the be-all-and-end-all of stimming. You have the right to stim without enduring abuse (bullying is abuse) for being yourself. Absolutely.

Thank you, by the way, for this ask, because this was something I think I needed to write out and relearn for myself.

If anyone has any better advice for our anon, please comment. But, anon, we’re cheering you on, okay? Because you deserve to be safe, happy and accepted. You deserve to stim without being bullied. You deserve to live in a comfortable space. It’s wrong that you have to fight so hard for this, but the stimmers in this little corner of the internet are so cheering you on. And if I can’t make you safe anywhere else, I’ll try my hardest to make sure you’re safe here.

- Mod K.A.

#ask #anon #text #discussion post #stimming discussion #ableism discussion #abuse and bullying discussion #neurodiversity discussion #long post #very long post #not a toy #off topic #mod K.A.#queer mention

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