#having things in common but plenty of things not. to always keep it interesting. adapting n shaping to who is around too

[astrojulia]

Navigation:   ੈ♡˳Masterlist    ੈ♡˳Template

       ੈ♡˳Askbox    ੈ♡˳Arts Credit

11th house through the signs

ARIES: You have a natural ability to connect with others and form meaningful friendships, and you enjoy spending time with people who share your interests and passion for physical activities. While your outgoing nature can sometimes create confusion about the nature of your relationships, you are always willing to lend a helping hand to those you care about and value their trust and loyalty in return. Your courage, resourcefulness, and determination are key strengths that can help you achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams. Building strong and lasting friendships can also provide support and encouragement on your journey. You thrive in group settings and enjoy socializing with others, though you may find that some friendships lack depth and don't last long. As someone who is attuned to the dynamics of groups, you are quick to notice and address any negative behavior, such as dishonesty or insincerity. While this can sometimes be challenging, you have the drive and stamina to effect positive change and revitalize the collective spirit of your social circles.

TAURUS: In making new friends, you tend to seek out individuals with whom you share common interests and values, creating lasting and meaningful relationships. You place great value on the people in your life, and while you may not have a large social circle, you cherish the relationships you do have. You enjoy spending time with friends, often engaging in creative activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. As you work towards your goals, your friendships play a crucial role in your success. By working with friends who share your interests, you can achieve great things together. You approach your objectives with patience and planning, knowing that hard work and determination will help you reach your desired outcome. Along the way, your close friendships provide support, encouragement, and opportunities for growth. While you may face challenges in finding your place in society, you have a strong sense of security and fulfillment in your personal relationships. You are selective in who you choose to associate with, knowing that the right friendships can lead to wealth accumulation and other promising opportunities. Your approach to building and maintaining relationships is a key factor in your overall happiness and success.

GEMINI: You're someone who tends to attract a wide variety of friends, though not all of them may end up being long-term companions. You have a real appreciation for people who are intellectually stimulating and those who work in fields like journalism or publishing. Whenever you travel or visit new places, you tend to have plenty of opportunities to make new acquaintances. At the same time, it's essential to keep in touch with your old friends through regular communication, as this can be really beneficial. One thing to bear in mind is that friendships can be unpredictable and may change over time, but that's just part of life's ebb and flow. Your aspirations and goals are likely to evolve as well, and that's perfectly fine – change can often be a good thing, especially if you're aiming high. You have plenty of casual friends who you enjoy spending time with, and you need social interaction to keep your mind stimulated. It's not uncommon for you to have several dreams or goals that you're working towards simultaneously, or to switch between them frequently. You're adaptable within your social circle, but sometimes, too much change can lead to conflicts or misunderstandings. By focusing on improving your communication skills, you can overcome any negative tendencies and create stronger, more fulfilling relationships with those around you.

CANCER: You have some amazing friendships in your life, and you value them deeply. Your friends are like family, and you cherish these relationships which tend to last a lifetime. You love to have fun and socialize, especially at home where you feel most comfortable. Your home is a place where you can be yourself, and it's the perfect setting for creating new memories with loved ones. The idea of owning a plot of land and building your dream home excites you. You have a knack for design, and with the help of your talented friends, you know you can create something truly special. You also have a strong desire to start a family and pass on your family traditions to your children. You love hosting dinner parties and get-togethers with your close-knit group of friends. You are always there for them, and they are always there for you. You also have a big heart and enjoy giving back to those in need whenever you can. When working in a group, you fully immerse yourself in the project and enjoy collaborating with others. You are highly sociable and enjoy inviting colleagues and acquaintances to your home. However, you are also careful about who you share your future plans and ideas with, as they are precious to you.

LEO: Your outgoing personality and positive attitude attract many people to you, and you have a talent for forming close friendships. You love spending time with young people and kids look up to you with admiration and respect. You'll meet people from diverse backgrounds with interests in science, literature, art, and philosophy, which makes for an exciting social life. Your closest friends often seek your guidance and advice on personal issues, and they appreciate your sense of fairness and impartiality. As time goes on, you'll have more opportunities to connect with influential people in society and business, and your long-time friends may even help you achieve your biggest dreams and aspirations. You have a natural leadership ability and stand out among your peers. While you have a wide circle of acquaintances, you also have a small group of loyal friends whom you cherish. You aspire to be well-respected and admired, and you know that having a powerful supporter can help you achieve your goals. You always strive to meet their expectations because of the deep respect you have for them. You put a lot of effort into your work, always seeking out creative and innovative ways to achieve your objectives without breaking the bank. Overall, you're a positive, outgoing, and friendly person who values the people in your life.

VIRGO: You are a true social butterfly and thrive on being around people. As a friend, you are always reliable, thoughtful, and attentive to the needs of others. You love being part of a group and contribute to the dynamics of any club or organization. However, you can be a bit demanding of those who don't meet your expectations, but hey, everyone has their standards! You tend to click well with people who work in educational institutions, newspapers, publishing firms, bookstores, and research institutes. Short and mid-range travel is an excellent way for you to explore new places and meet new people. You're also into health, cleanliness, pets, diet, and working engagement, which are all great topics for conversations. Compatibility is essential to you, and you prefer to have a small but tight-knit circle of friends that you have chosen with care. While you don't have many friends, the ones you do have are fiercely loyal and always there to support you in any way they can. You have a practical approach to achieving your goals, and you're not afraid to put in the work required to make them a reality. You know that the fulfillment of your deepest desires and dreams is not only about being precise with your criteria but also about being flexible and adaptable to different situations.

LIBRA: Having this placement means you're in for a treat when it comes to friends, happiness, and good fortune. You've got that charm factor that effortlessly attracts people, making it super easy for you to make new friends. In fact, you're often considered one of their closest buddies. It's like you have this magnetic personality that draws people to you. You've got specific interests that naturally bring you in touch with others who share the same passions. Whether it's art centers, gardens, parks, salons, hairdressing businesses, or even the worlds of interior design and architecture, you're likely to find connections and establish strong bonds in these areas. Oh, and let's not forget the music scene! It's a whole other world where you can thrive and connect with fellow music lovers. The good news is that your hopes and dreams stand a great chance of coming true in due time. You're the peacemaker, the one who brings people together and acts as a mediator when conflicts arise among your buddies. You've got a big circle of friends, and you genuinely care about each and every one of them. Who knows, you might even find true love within your friend group! Sometimes, though, you might feel a bit unsure about what you truly want in life. But hey, that's okay! You've got a unique perspective on collective issues within your social group, and you're always there to lend a helping hand and find solutions that benefit everyone. Your ability to work effectively as part of a team has a positive impact on your life, and it helps you develop some seriously awesome diplomatic skills.

SCORPIO: So, when it comes to your friends and close acquaintances, you're the kind of person who forms strong connections. You're all about staying in touch with people who share common interests, whether it's running a business together or enjoying recreational activities. If you hang out around marinas, ports, or go on fishing trips and recreational boating adventures, you've got a great chance to meet new people and build friendships. And hey, sometimes those friendships with folks of the opposite sex can even turn into romantic relationships. Just make sure everyone's on the same page and no one's cheating on their partner. Jealousy and anger can pop up among your less close friends, but it really depends on your own attitude and perspective. You're drawn to influential friends who share your outlook on life. You're picky about who you associate with, but once you've chosen your crew, you're loyal as can be. You can get totally captivated by your goals and work tirelessly to achieve them. And because you've got that natural entrepreneurial spirit, you know how to rally others to help you succeed. You're all about managing the team, setting clear goals that everyone's invested in, and of course, looking out for yourself too. Anything that happens within your social circle is taken to heart, and you attach a lot of emotions and meaning to it.

SAGITTARIUS: You're a fun and entertaining companion who loves to travel and explore the world with friends or in groups. You also enjoy setting your own unique goals for the future. There's a strong sense of camaraderie among your close buddies, and everyone loves to have a good time and be in a festive mood. Engaging in indoor or outdoor activities and sports together can enhance everyone's enjoyment. Watching sports events can also bring people together, whether it's at a stadium, racetrack, or gathering around the TV. Who knows, you might even have a knack for making some profitable bets at the racetrack. When it comes to going abroad or combining business with travel in foreign countries, you can be sure to meet fascinating individuals. Making friends comes naturally to you, even though some may come and go in their own time and way. Your deepest aspirations and desires may change as circumstances evolve, but your closest friends will always be interested in and supportive of your goals. You have friends from various backgrounds, although most of them are just buddies. You enjoy engaging with people who can have spirited debates with you. Your ambitions are grand, and no matter how big they may seem, you have the ability to make them a reality.

CAPRICORN: When you were younger, you might have been a bit shy, but as you've grown older, you've gained confidence, making it easier for you to form solid and lasting friendships. Your business associates can even become close personal pals, and being part of a club or organized group can connect you with people who share your broad interests. Friendship is something you take seriously, so you tend to be cautious about getting too attached too quickly. Your aspirations and goals drive you to work hard and achieve greater success both economically and socially. As you enter the second half of your life, you can expect the fruits of your labor and planning to bring you greater rewards and a sense of accomplishment. You may not have a large circle of friends, but the ones you do have are cherished. You're willing to put friendships on hold until you feel you've accomplished your life objectives. You're a hard worker, determined to make your dreams a reality, and you don't rely on anyone's help. Above all, you value consistency in yourself and others, always striving to build unshakable security against various challenges. So, when selecting friends, you prioritize qualities like dependability and a conservative mindset.

AQUARIUS: This house is all about your long-term outlook and it attracts some seriously interesting people into your life. They may be a bit quirky, and their ideas can be pretty progressive or even radical. You're naturally drawn to forming friendships with folks from different ethnicities, faiths, or cultures. Your friends are known to be unique characters, and you absolutely love them for standing out in a crowd. Inventors, aviators, scientists, educators, and leaders of avant-garde movements are just a few of the cool pals you have. You've got idealistic aspirations, and your strong altruistic side makes you an awesome friend to those who are fighting for a worthy cause. You're all about hanging out with intriguing, creative, and one-of-a-kind individuals. Group settings bring out the best in you, and you might have a bit of rebellious streak in you. Your dreams have that special touch, and you're not afraid to take unconventional paths to make them come true. Sometimes even the smallest change in your life can lead to parting ways with someone you once considered close. But hey, here's the upside: you connect easily with younger people. Working with teenagers and young adults is more your jam. You have the skills and expertise to relate to them and you know how to handle a group of people.

PISCES: You naturally desire warm and personal friendships, and you enjoy building relationships with individuals who can be your companions. Being there for others in times of need or when a friend is unwell and requires assistance comes easily to you. While you may develop long-lasting friendships, there may also be many people who enter your life and then leave, some leaving a lasting impact that may fade with time. Due to your empathetic nature, it's important for you to be discerning in choosing your friends, as some may take advantage of your helpfulness and urge you to make sacrifices on their behalf. Your aspirations and goals are typically modest, and you find contentment in your life's achievements. You're willing to go to great lengths for your friends, but it's crucial to accept them for who they are and recognize your own boundaries. You have a generous nature, often giving more than you have. Your dreams often revolve around helping others or are filled with wonder. When you make mistakes or disappoint your loved ones, you experience a lot of self-imposed pressure and may be too hard on yourself. It's also possible to feel let down by someone you considered a friend, leading to self-criticism.

(CC) AstroJulia Some Rights Reserved

#astrojulia #astrology #witchblr #all about astrology #astroblr #astro community #astro observations #astrology notes #astrology basics #witch community #11th house #aries 11th house #taurus 11th house #gemini 11th house #cancer 11th house #leo 11th house #virgo 11th house #libra 11th house #scorpio 11th house #sagittarius 11th house #capricorn 11th house #aquarius 11th house #pisces 11th house

[funkymbtifiction]

Do you have any examples of different ways Ne manifests? Because I feel like especially with me being a 6w7, my Ne manifests differently.

Ne can be... big picture thinking, seeing how this is going to affect that, reading between the lines ("knowing" what is happening behind the scenes, forming assumptions about people/situations and operating off of them as if they were factual/real), moving between different concepts easily (easily changing conversational topics), saying one thing one day and thinking the opposite 8 hours later, etc. There's lots of examples in the enfp x esfp tags here on funky mbti.

For me, being high Ne and 6w7... I doubt myself the most when it comes to sensory situations -- learning to adapt quickly, being super anxious about going new places and not knowing where anything is, I even procrastinated about learning to drive until I was 19 because I was fearful about my spacial awareness (how close IS that pole!?). I will often reach accurate assumptions about people, but then second-guess them or keep generating alternatives -- and it will turn out that I should have trusted my intuition / insight, and all of that over-thinking was unnecessary. :P

Like I don’t really relate to all Ne doms; I Can be shy and socially awkward, but also extroverted (didn’t even know I was an extrovert til high school). Sometimes I’ve wondered of being Se (and question it a lot because sometimes being intuitive doesn’t feel like a possibility).

I just spent the afternoon with my ESFP sister and... we're nothing alike. She's very hands-on, confident in the sensory realm, and eager to "do" -- I am more interested in talking about MBTI / Enneagram, psychology, my writing, etc. She goes rock climbing in her spare time or jumps out of airplanes, I write books and answer asks online ;) She does things, I communicate with words instead. She has a specific thing she wants to accomplish within her business (low Ni) and I have no clue about what my future holds or what it might look like, but I come up with different possibilities on a regular basis (high Ne).

I do question cuz I feel like Ne is characterized as being philosophical and always asking about deep topics and I don’t feel like I do that. Like I still talk about shallow topics like love and school but I can also do deep topics too, maybe not often. Idk if you feel like that but I do.

I love depth, but it's not a requirement for being an ENFP. Plenty of ENFPs are just people who have a good time and who pick up stuff and abandon it quickly. I would say the one thing all ENFPs have in common is dreaming about how this thing is gonna be life-changing for them and being super motivated to do it, and talking about it, and then a week later they're not doing it anymore.

Please read my ESP and ENP sections on funkymbti.com. :)

#question #mbti #enfp #esfp #esfp x enfp #enfp x esfp

[2econdlaw]

𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁 𝚂𝙸𝙶𝙽𝚂

*     ᶜᴴᴬᴿᴸᴼᵀᵀᴱ ᴼᴸᴱˢᴱᴺ ᴬᴾᴾᴱᴬᴿᴱᴰ ᴼᴺ ᵂᴱᴰᴺᴱˢᴰᴬʸ ᴶᵁᴺᴱ ¹⁸ᵀᴴ,  ²⁰⁰⁸ ᴬᵀ ¹⁵:³⁹ ᴬᵀ ᴬ ᴰᴵᴺᴱᴿ ᴺᴱᴬᴿ ⱽᴬᴸᴱ,  ᴺᴼᴿᵀᴴ ᶜᴬᴿᴼᴸᴵᴺᴬ,  ᵁᴺᴵᵀᴱᴰ ˢᵀᴬᵀᴱˢ.          her astrology report is as follows:

SUN     ☼    GEMINI:

there is a strong urge for self-expression.        CURIOUS TO A FAULT,  these natives are often just as interested in collecting information as they are in sharing it.       they are flexible and changeable people.       their ability to adapt quickly to new situations generally gains them plenty of friends and social contacts.       usually quite clever and witty,  geminis enjoy intellectual conversations and they are easily bored if they are not getting enough mental stimulation.       often quite adept at fitting in with others, geminis easily adopt the moods of those around them.       they are friends to people from all walks of life and are not easily intimidated.       their ability to detach themselves can make geminis very objective and observant,  but a little difficult to get close to.       it can be difficult to know what gemini really feels at any given moment.       there is usually a nervous air to geminis that can make more personal characters a little UNEASY.       it is not always intuitive to trust geminis to be loyal or to keep secrets.      geminis often flit about,  moving quickly and keeping busy every step of the way.       restlessness is especially common with this position of the sun.     usually quite affable,  geminis enjoy the “light” side of life.       this tendency to take things lightly makes them quite pleasing to be around;   but it can be maddening to people seeking support on the deeper issues in life.       at the very least,  GEMINIS WILL SELDOM BORE YOU.         she is an opportunist.       she can express herself easily and tends to learn quickly.

MOON     ☾     SAGITTARIUS:

more than anything,  lunar sagittarians have a need for personal freedom and space.  they are extraordinarily happy and easygoing folk,  as long as they don’t feel caged in or cooped up.  meeting new people,  going out in the world,  and travel are all important to their sense of well-being.       they love open spaces and,  in their homes, a roomy and bright environment.      they easily forget appointments and the like and some are even considered irresponsible.   however, it is hard to stay angry at a lunar sagittarian!       they are so cheerful and upbeat and their optimism is catchy.    many people with this position are outdoorsy types.       at the very least,  THEY HAVE A GREAT LOVE FOR FRIENDLY COMPETITION.       they don’t like to be caught up in routine for too long,  and they simply need to escape.       there’s a blind faith in lunar sagittarians that is admirable.       not much for making detailed plans, people with moon in sagittarius prefer to wing it.       they’re very adaptable and generally on the go.       she likes to throw herself INTO THE UNKNOWN and into adventure;   she is agile,  tough,  and enthusiastic.       however,  she may take great risks in throwing herself into the unknown and into adventure,  being too audacious,  bold,  and rebellious.       she is unable to stay in one place,  always ready to risk everything to achieve her goal.

RISING     ↑     LIBRA:

everybody seems to like libra ascendant natives.      they just come across as nice, pleasant, and fair.       look a little closer at their lives,  and these nice people may have had quite a few problems in their relationships.       some of them have had a string of relationships,  and it’s not hard to imagine why!       these natives attract others to them effortlessly.       besides,  they simply don’t know what to do with themselves without a significant other.       libra rising generally appear to be smoothing everything over.       they have charming smiles,  a gentle approach with others,  and an easygoing image.       even if they were not endowed with good looks, they are attractive.       most pay a lot of attention to their personal appearance     –  the colours they wear,  their hair,  the way they walk.       libra rising people can be enormously persuasive,  although they will almost always use a “soft sell” approach when they want to win others over,  which is all of the time!       libra rising natives are usually attracted to competent, active partners.       their relationships are often characterized by bickering or competitiveness until they learn to drop their sweet image once in a while and to stop blaming their partners for everything that goes wrong.

#CHARACTER.

[mylocalskill]

How to Shine Bright in the Crowded IT Job Market

The IT job market is like a bustling bazaar in today's fast-paced world. There are plenty of opportunities, but it's also crowded. It's almost like finding the juiciest apple in a giant fruit market. But fret not! I'm here to share some simple tips that can help you stand out in this competitive IT job market.

Tip 1: Tailor Your Resume Like a Savvy Shopper

Your resume is your calling card, and just like dressing to impress at a job interview, it should be dressed to impress too. Tailor your resume for each job application. Highlight the skills and experience that match the specific job description. Remember, a one-size-fits-all approach won't cut it.

Tip 2: Network Like a Pro

Imagine the IT job market as a big party. You won't get noticed by just sitting in a corner. Attend tech meetups, conferences, and webinars. Join LinkedIn groups and engage in meaningful conversations. Your network can be your ticket to the dream job. Also, consider reaching out to an IT staffing agency. They can connect you with job opportunities you might not find on your own.

Tip 3: Keep Learning, Always

The IT world evolves faster than you can say "upgrade." Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies. Sign up for online courses, get certifications, and attend workshops. The more skills you acquire, the more valuable you become to potential employers.

Tip 4: Don't Skip the Soft Skills

Sure, you might be a coding wizard, but don't underestimate the power of soft skills. Communication, teamwork, and adaptability are like the icing on the cake. Employers often look for these qualities when choosing a candidate. So, polish those soft skills too.

Tip 5: Build a Killer Online Presence

Think of your online presence as your digital résumé. Create a professional LinkedIn profile. Share articles and insights related to your field. A strong online presence can make you more appealing to recruiters. It's like putting up a neon sign that says, "I'm the one you're looking for!"

Tip 6: Be Interview-Ready at All Times

Interviews can pop up unexpectedly. Always be prepared for them. Practice your answers to common interview questions. Dress professionally even for video interviews. Show up on time, and be polite. These little things can leave a big impression.

Tip 7: Customize Your Cover Letter

Your cover letter is your chance to shine a spotlight on your personality. Use it to tell your story and explain why you're the perfect fit for the job. Don't send the same cover letter to every employer. Customize it to show you've done your homework and are genuinely interested in the position.

Tip 8: Showcase Your Achievements

Your resume isn't just a list of your responsibilities; it's a showcase of your achievements. Use numbers and data to demonstrate how you've made a difference in your previous roles. Employers love to see measurable results.

Tip 9: Stay Positive and Persistent

The IT job market can be tough, and rejection is part of the game. But don't let it bring you down. Stay positive, keep learning from each experience, and keep applying. Persistence often pays off.

Tip 10: Seek Help from an IT Staffing Agency

IT Staffing agencies are like matchmakers for job seekers and employers. They have inside knowledge of the job market and can help you find the perfect match. Don't hesitate to reach out to them for guidance.

Conclusion

Standing out might seem challenging, but with the right approach, it's entirely possible. Remember to tailor your resume, network actively, keep learning, and don't forget those all-important soft skills. A killer online presence, interview readiness, and customized cover letters can work wonders. Showcase your achievements, stay positive, and don't hesitate to turn to an IT employment agency if you ever need assistance.

#it staffing agency #it recruitment agency #it staffing services #it employment agency

[headphonesquality]

Does A Bobcat Sound Like

Have you ever heard a bobcat sound? It's an intimidating noise that can make your skin crawl. I certainly remember my first time hearing it and the fear it caused me! In this article, we'll discuss what a bobcat sounds like and some of their most common vocalizations. Bobcats are relatively small cats compared to other members of the Felidae family, but they have powerful voices that travel far distances. They use these loud vocalizations for communication purposes with one another or in territorial displays towards potential predators or intruders. Read on to learn more about different types of noises made by bobcats and why they communicate using sound!

Calling Sounds

I've always been fascinated by the different sounds animals make. For instance, a bobcat's calling sound is quite unique compared to other cats. It has a loud and distinctive whistling noise that can be heard from far away. When it meows, it often has two short syllables followed by a long trill. I find this particularly interesting because it isn't like the typical meowing sound domestic cats make. On the other hand, when listening closely you may hear some familiar noises in its call. Some people say they detect similarities between their pet cat's meow and the bobcat’s call! Although both species of felines have distinct cries - there could be some truth to this statement if you listen carefully enough. It's no surprise that these wild creatures have adapted over time to form their own language through vocalizations. Whether or not you think the bobcat sounds like your housecat, one thing is for sure: hearing them makes us appreciate nature even more!

Purring Sounds

Moving on from the calling sounds of a bobcat, let's talk about purring. Bobcats are known for their loud and distinctive meows, but they can also make softer purring sounds like those made by house cats. When bobcats purr it usually indicates that they're content or happy with their surroundings. Generally speaking, if you hear a bobcat purring in its environment then everything is alright. Purring is not only a sign of contentment - it can be used to communicate too. A mother bobcat might use her purrs as a way to call out to her kittens when she senses danger nearby, while young cubs may use soft purrs when asking for food or attention from mom. Similarly, adult bobcats will sometimes purr when looking for mates or trying to establish dominance over another animal in their territory. Bobcats do have other vocalizations besides purring and meowing; they hiss and growl just like any other feline would. However, these noises are typically reserved for aggressive situations such as fights with predators or inter-species conflicts between two male cats competing for the same female mate. All in all, the sound of a bobcat’s voice provides an important window into understanding its behavior and emotions within its natural habitat!

Growling Sounds

I'm sure you've heard the eerie growling sound of a bobcat. It's often described as spine-tingling, and it can be unsettling if you're not expecting it! But what many don't realize is that these noises are part of the animal's hunting habits and mating rituals. Bobcats usually make their signature sounds when they're on the prowl for food or trying to attract mates during breeding season. They may also vocalize with loud caterwauls in order to ward off other males who might be competing for the same female. These calls typically occur at night, so keep your ears open if you happen to be out in nature after dark! In addition to their distinctive growls and yowls, bobcats will sometimes hiss or even purr like domestic cats do. This behavior could indicate fear or aggression—or simply pleasure from being petted by humans! No matter what type of sound they make though, one thing is clear: Bobcats have a unique way of communicating which makes them fascinating animals indeed.

Hissing Sounds

I'm sure you've heard plenty of cats meowing, but what about a bobcat? Bobcats make a variety of vocalizations that sound different from your typical house cat. From yowling to hissing, these sounds can be quite distinct and easily distinguished from the usual meows we hear from our feline friends. Bobcats are known for their distinctive yowls, which can sometimes resemble an infant’s cries more than something found in nature. They usually use this type of call when communicating with other members of their species or when trying to establish territory boundaries. In addition to yowls, bobcats also produce short bursts of sound made up of various tones such as purrs and growls; the purpose of these is often unknown. Hissing is another common vocalization associated with bobcats. This tends to happen when they feel threatened or want to ward off potential attackers. It's important not to mistake this defensive gesture as aggression – it's simply how they communicate fear! All in all, bobcats have unique noises that set them apart from other felines and will leave you feeling like you just encountered something special out in the wild.

Chirping Sounds

Leaving the hissing sounds behind us, let's move on to chirping sounds. These are high-pitched noises that sound like a bird whistling or tweeting. Chirping can be heard from many creatures such as crickets, birds, and bats. It's also possible for animals like cats and dogs to make these types of noises too! As well as chirping, screeching is another common type of noise in nature. This sound occurs when two hard surfaces rub together quickly – think a chalkboard being scraped with a fingernail! It might not be pleasant to listen to but it certainly serves an important purpose; it alerts predators (or potential prey) that there may be danger nearby. The last thing we'll cover is whistling sounds, which come in all shapes and sizes. From wind blowing through trees to whales singing underwater - they're everywhere! Whistles have been used by humans since ancient times as ways of communicating over long distances and alerting others of their presence. All in all, these three different kinds of natural vocalizations allow living creatures to interact with one another and tell each other what’s happening in their environment--without ever having to say a word!

Frequently Asked Questions

How Far Away Can A Bobcat Be Heard? Bobcats are territorial creatures and their vocalizations can often be heard over long distances. Depending on the environment, a bobcat's calls can travel up to 1 mile away! These vocalizations may include yowling, mewing, growling or hissing noises which all help them mark out their territory. It is important for bobcats to make sure other cats don't encroach upon their space. So next time you hear a strange noise in the distance it could well be a distant call from one of these fascinating animals. How Often Do Bobcats Make Sounds? Bobcats make sounds for a variety of reasons, but they're most commonly heard during the breeding season. During this time, male bobcats will make loud calls to attract mates and show off their territory. They also have fear calls which they use when they feel threatened or scared - these sound similar to a housecat's hiss! All in all, bobcats are quite vocal creatures and can be easily heard if you know what you're listening for. Is There A Difference In The Sounds Made By Male And Female Bobcats? Yes, there is a difference in the sounds made by male and female bobcats. Male bobcats make loud mating calls to attract potential mates while females will usually purr or growl when content. During territorial disputes between males, they will yowl or scream aggressively as warning signals. It's important for both sexes of bobcat to be aware of their surroundings when making these noises so that predators can avoid them! How Does A Bobcat's Sound Compare To The Sound Of Other Animals? When it comes to how a bobcat's sound compares to other animals, there are some similarities and differences. Bobcats use their vocalizations for territory marking and night hunting, which can sound similar to the chirps of birds or the yowls of cats. However, they also make distinctive sounds that you won't hear from any other animal—hisses, growls, and purrs with a unique rhythm. All these sounds together create a signature call that is unmistakably the cry of a wild bobcat! How Can You Tell If A Bobcat Is In Distress Based On Its Sounds? If you're wondering how to tell if a bobcat is in distress based on its sounds, it's important to understand the feline communication process. Bobcats make a variety of vocalizations, such as chirps and yowls, which are used for different purposes like mating or warning others away from their territory. Depending on the context, these vocalizations can indicate wild behavior or stress. If you hear loud cries that sound almost like screaming coming from a bobcat, this could be a sign they're feeling scared and need help.

Conclusion

In conclusion, bobcats are capable of making a wide range of sounds that can be heard from quite a distance. Male and female bobcats have distinct vocalizations and their sound is actually quite different than other animals in the wild. While it’s not always easy to tell if a bobcat is in distress based on its sound alone, there are some cues you can look for that may indicate something’s wrong. Listening out for the unique call of the bobcat is one way you can enjoy hearing this majestic creature without disturbing them too much. So keep your ears open and try to catch a glimpse of these wonderful creatures! Read the full article

[rahulkamra65]

What Is The Keto Flu And Its Symptoms

Yes, the keto flu, also known as the “carb flu,” is a real thing. It can happen to you if you drastically and suddenly remove carbs from your diet. If you’ve been interested in starting the ketogenic diet then you may end up experiencing these flu-like symptoms.

 

What Is the Keto Flu?

Your body's reaction to entering ketosis can frequently copy the side effects of seasonal influenza, hence the name " keto flu." Basically, you're feeling the side effects of withdrawal from carbs. Your body consumes sugars (glucose) for energy naturally so changing to a fat-consuming cycle confounds your body. When carb admission is radically diminished, for example, on the ketogenic diet, your body is exhausted from putting away glucose and on second thought goes to consuming unsaturated fats for energy. This is the metabolic course of ketosis.

 

Common Symptoms of Keto Flu:

Dizziness

Sugar cravings

Cramping

Muscle soreness

Irritability

Headache

Nausea

 

How Long Does Keto Flu Last?

Side effects of keto flu for the most part start inside the principal little while of eliminating carbs. For a typical individual, keto flu can most recently last a week or less, yet in outrageous cases keto flu can endure as long as a month. In any case, contingent upon your hereditary qualities, you might in all likelihood never experience keto flu. Certain individuals are normally "metabolically adaptable," meaning they can move metabolic states effectively without encountering wellbeing side effects.

 

How to Manage Keto Flu Symptoms?

Start slowly

When making harsh diet changes, it’s always helpful to ease into it. The best approach would be to start with a typical low-carb diet and give your body time to adjust. Try that a week, and then you can go the full extent into the keto diet.

 

Stay hydrated

Hydration and loss of minerals is a huge factor of the keto flu. Make sure you’re drinking lots of water. Staying hydrated helps with headaches and boosts your energy levels. One way to help yourself remember to drink water is to set a reminder on your phone, or always keep a full glass of water within reach. Most people don’t know how much water to drink every day, but it’s easy to determine — just take your current body weight and divide it by two. That’ll give you the minimum ounces of water to drink every day. If you’re very active, make sure you drink a little extra on top of the minimum ounces you need.

 

Consume more fat

When on the keto diet, admission of solid fats is vital, as low calories can prompt keto flu side effects. Try not to lessen your calorie consumption to an extreme, and make an effort not to go low-carb AND low-fat. Inclining up your fat utilization can assist with accelerating the progress of consuming fat rather than glucose for fuel. Have a go at eating one portion of an avocado and some bacon, or stacking up on egg yolks at supper.

 

Get plenty of rest

If you’re having a hard time falling asleep or sleeping through the night, try taking an Epsom salt bath, as it will help calm and loosen up your muscles as well as further develop electrolyte retention. You can likewise add on a keto-accommodating home grown tea with a mix of spices that quieten your sensory system to assist with advancing a more profound rest. Chamomile is an extraordinary choice.

 

The keto flu symptoms sound very unappealing, so use these suggestions to help prevent it. Remember, everyone’s body deals with the keto diet differently. 

#keto flu

[seo411]

How to Choose a Reputable AV Integrator

There's room for an AV system in every organization, but AV is one of those things that companies can have trouble getting started with. That's why the typical business turns to a reputable AV integrator to install and support their AV projects. The integration process is complex and requires expertise and commitment to the job. That means the challenge for your company is finding a reputable integrator to work with. Here, we've outlined what to look for in an AV integrator, so you can get the most from your AV solutions. Certification with AV Technology and Design is a Must No matter the industry, certification is a proven way to boost standards and skills. That's also true of the AV industry, where there are plenty of certification tracks to choose from. Ideally, organizations should choose an AV partner with a wide range of certifications, and here's why: - Integrators handle a staggering amount of audio and video technology – Reputable AV integrators must be familiar with a huge variety of AV products. That includes major solutions like video conferencing, wireless presentation systems, digital signage, interactive displays, and audio enhancement solutions. It also includes emerging solutions like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). There's a lot of knowledge to keep up on, clearly, and certification can help AV professionals do just that. - Certification demonstrates a commitment to success - Certification takes work to attain and maintain. There are also many certification options out there, so it takes even more work for a professional to round out their skills through education. This education is vital for job performance, and it indicates a desire to do the job properly. - Certified integrators can handle a full range of AV services - It's very common for organizations to expand on their AV goals once an initial solution is in place. That's the power of effective AV. However, even if you have your needs mapped out, an integrator will be able to adapt when those needs inevitably change. What Certification Tracks are Available to AV Integrators? Among AV professionals, there is no shortage of certification tracks to choose from. However, the most popular and reputable certification programs are produced and delivered by the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association (AVIXA). A couple of AVIXA's standout certification offerings include: - Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) - AVIXA's CTS certification is a leading option for AV integrators, offering a strong collection of fundamental AV concepts. This includes the basics of audio and video, along with proper system design, installation, and networking. With CTS certification, AV technicians can develop and further their careers in many directions. - CTS-I and CTS-D certification - Two of those directions include AV system installation and design. For technicians interested in installation, there's the CTS-I certification track, which focuses on proper installation processes and practices. For design-minded professionals, there's the CTS-D track, which teaches students the techniques involved in visualizing and crafting an effective AV solution. - Vendor-specific certifications - In addition to AVIXA's certification options, there are many additional vendor-specific tracks. Certification in these tracks can help technicians specialize with certain products, like those offered by Poly or Crestron. Many organizations have one or more preferred AV brands, and it's better for those organizations to work with technicians certified in those brands' products. Experience with Organizations Like Yours is also Important Certification is one of the ways that integrators can demonstrate their experience, but it's always a good idea to consider that experience in depth. For example, you'll want an integrator who has worked with partners similar to your organization. Why? Every company's AV needs are different, but if your integrator has helped similar companies succeed in the past, then they will have a better idea of what you'll need from the start. Reputable integrators know that AV solutions are a big investment, so they're ready to provide examples of their work and references so you can connect with previous clients. This can provide an idea of what to expect from the integrator and whether their work is sound. AV Systems Require Ongoing Maintenance Following Installation. Will Your Integrator Provide It? To extract maximum value from your AV solution, ongoing maintenance is highly recommended. Like with any technology, time and use will affect your system's performance. To ensure your AV solution provides long-term productivity, an experienced integrator will offer ongoing support through a maintenance agreement. That agreement typically includes the following: - Responsive onsite and remote technical support - The foundation of any maintenance agreement is technical support and service. It's common for integrators to offer this support through multiple channels, including e-mail and phone. If on-site service is needed, the integrator should be able to provide it during business hours, though some maintenance agreements come with 24/7/365 support. - Preventative maintenance - Preventative maintenance spots emerging system issues before they cause downtime. During a preventative maintenance appointment, the technician will arrive onsite and inspect any equipment covered by the agreement. If there are any performance issues, they can be handled quickly. - Assistance with warranties and shipping - Sometimes, hardware needs to be sent in for repair or replacement. There may be warranty-related concerns to consider during the process, too. It's practically impossible for organizations to keep up with details like equipment warranty status unless the task is delegated to someone specifically. As part of a maintenance agreement, this task can be delegated to the integrator. Further, the integrator will handle and oversee all shipping between the client and the manufacturer. - Additional training - Training is a standard part of the integration package, but the occasional refresh or skill expansion is nice to have. As part of a maintenance agreement, the integrator will frequently offer additional training to keep user skills up to date. Ready to Launch Your AV Project? Our Team is Ready to Partner With Your Team If it seems like there's a lot to check before partnering with an AV integrator, there's a good reason for that. The quality of your AV system design and installation will determine how effective the solution is, and if your organization is committing to AV, then it makes sense to secure the best AV installer and designer available. Choose a reputable AV integrator that has provided services to a range of commercial and educational clients for decades. It’s important to work with technicians that have attained dozens of certifications and apply best practices and standards to their client’s projects. Read the full article

[autistic-paul]

Paul Matthews is autistic, a masterpost

It's been a while since I've made any sort of masterpost about the autistic Paul headcanon, so I think I'll give it another shot. It's a long one, so strap in! First off, none of this was intentional. Paul was not written to be autistic. Jon has always been supportive of how people view Paul, and that's wonderful, but please don't give Starkid credit for representation they didn't actually include. None of this is concrete, either, it's a collection of traits that can be viewed as neurodivergent traits if someone chooses to do so. I personally do, but at the end of the day, he's just a character that fans can perceive however they want.

- Paul struggles with anxiety. The source of his anxiety in the majority of TGWDLM stems from a change in his routine, of the world he knows drastically changing overnight. He had no reason to get so clearly distressed from what was clearly just a flash dance (That he knew of, at least), even considering his distaste of musicals. But it threw him off quite a lot.

- He's quite blunt and often rude. Whether you believe it's intentional or not, he has a tendency to shut people down when he doesn't want to do something, and makes no attempts to soften the blow or be polite. Telling Bill he didn't want to help him reconnect with Alice, turning down softball, getting worked up with the Greenpeace girl called him out and taking him off his social script. All of these things aren't ways that society expects people to communicate. It's not for lack of caring, Paul truly loves Bill and considers him his best friend, he's just straightforward and says exactly what he thinks.

- The social awkwardness isn't just him being blunt. He's only briefly in Black Friday, but there's plenty of evidence. In other filmings of the show, Paul attempts to shake Tom's hand, and hesitantly pulls it back when it's not taken, and then also tries to shake Tim's hand. He knows that's considered the social script, that's how you greet people in professional situations. He doesn't easily adapt to different social dynamics, considering he tries to shake a child's hand. He just does what he knows. Emma had to cut him off after the bumper cars line, he would have continued to escalate the situation otherwise. All of his parts in Black Friday showcase his difficulty in social situations.

- He's very reliant on social scripts. He repeats himself sometimes, like with the caramel frappe for Bill and also for Mr. Davidson. He says thank you for your service to Tom without hesitation in BF, because that's the thing you say. A small one, but worth mentioning.

- He has little to no ambition, and despite not liking his job according to Forever and Always, he has no intention of changing his path. Nick has said Paul has worked at CCRP for close to a decade. He's settled into the life he has, and change in any capacity is distressing to him. He goes to work, he gets his coffee, he goes home. Emma is the only change we've seen him welcome. In the bunker, Hatchetfield was overrun by aliens, and he said he still didn't want to leave.

- His reactions to stress are not particularly neurotypical. He seeks out familiarity and comfort, such as immediately making his way to Beanies to calm himself down after LDDDD, to indulge in his routine. When he was in the alleys with Emma, he brought up movies and board games, despite the fact that it was an odd time to try to discuss interests with someone he barely knew. If we count Jon's original audition for the character, we can easily infer that Paul has a special interest in film. At the very least, he has strong opinions on it, and wanting to discuss an interest even when the timing isn't appropriate is common for autistic people.

- The stims. Oh, the stims. He wrings his hands quite often, he taps his fists on top of each other, and he repeats words over and over. (The okays can be seen as a form of echolalia, which is a type of vocal stim!) Keep an eye on his hands throughout the whole show, they're moving very often, and particularly intensely in times of stress.

- His body language. There's the ever-present discomfort, of course, and the stimming, but there's more than that. He's extremely tactile, I can't count the times he touches people near him, or grabs them to pull them away from danger. He mimics other people's body languages, especially Emma's. His posture in CCRP at the start vs. His posture in the bunker with Emma are drastically different, and they reflect the people around him. In Black Friday, he touches Emma's back to support her, crouches when she does, holds her at the very end of the show. I'd argue that he struggles with a sense of personal space, honestly.

- As an add-on to the last point, he touches other people very freely, but when other people touch him, he flinches. All the touching in LDDDD have him looking disgusted, and doubly so in LIO, but it's not just that. Ted touches him by the trash cans, and he jumps and looks very uncomfortable. He's tactile, but only on his own terms.

- He's extremely expressive. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and does not seem remotely adept at hiding them. Emma knew he had a crush on her the second they met. It's not just his words that are straightforward, it's all of him. He just doesn't hide things.

I suppose that's it for now. Honestly, if I started picking out every little thing about him, I'd be here all day. There's so much about the way he speaks, moves, and expresses himself that makes him seem autistic to me. Simply put, it's about the vibes, my dudes. He's autistic because I choose to believe he is.

#paul matthews #starkid #tgwdlm #black friday #nightmare time #jon matteson #autistic paul matthews #long post #mine #oh god this is so long #i apologize #i know it could be better but i wanted to get all those notes out #i'll add more if i think of them #not much forever and always stuff here because. i haven't thought has hard about it. whoops #maybe someday

[niseamstories]

10 Lessons on Realistic Worldbuilding and Mapmaking I Learned Working With a Professional Cartographer and Geodesist

Hi, fellow writers and worldbuilders,

It’s been over a year since my post on realistic swordfighting, and I figured it’s time for another one. I’m guessing the topic is a little less “sexy”, but I’d find this useful as a writer, so here goes: 10 things I learned about realistic worldbuilding and mapmaking while writing my novel.

I’ve always been a sucker for pretty maps, so when I started on my novel, I hired an artist quite early to create a map for me. It was beautiful, but a few things always bothered me, even though I couldn’t put a finger on it. A year later, I met an old friend of mine, who currently does his Ph.D. in cartography and geodesy, the science of measuring the earth. When the conversation shifted to the novel, I showed him the map and asked for his opinion, and he (respectfully) pointed out that it has an awful lot of issues from a realism perspective.

First off, I’m aware that fiction is fiction, and it’s not always about realism; there are plenty of beautiful maps out there (and my old one was one of them) that are a bit fantastical and unrealistic, and that’s all right. Still, considering the lengths I went to ensure realism for other aspects of my worldbuilding, it felt weird to me to simply ignore these discrepancies. With a heavy heart, I scrapped the old map and started over, this time working in tandem with a professional artist, my cartographer friend, and a linguist. Six months later, I’m not only very happy with the new map, but I also learned a lot of things about geography and coherent worldbuilding, which made my universe a lot more realistic.

1)  Realism Has an Effect: While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with creating an unrealistic world, realism does affect the plausibility of a world. Even if the vast majority of us probably know little about geography, our brains subconsciously notice discrepancies; we simply get this sense that something isn’t quite right, even if we don’t notice or can’t put our finger on it. In other words, if, for some miraculous reason, an evergreen forest borders on a desert in your novel, it will probably help immersion if you at least explain why this is, no matter how simple.

2)  Climate Zones: According to my friend, a cardinal sin in fantasy maps are nonsensical climate zones. A single continent contains hot deserts, forests, and glaciers, and you can get through it all in a single day. This is particularly noticeable in video games, where this is often done to offer visual variety (Enderal, the game I wrote, is very guilty of this). If you aim for realism, run your worldbuilding by someone with a basic grasp of geography and geology, or at least try to match it to real-life examples.

3)  Avoid Island Continent Worlds: Another issue that is quite common in fictional worlds is what I would call the “island continents”: a world that is made up of island-like continents surrounded by vast bodies of water. As lovely and romantic as the idea of those distant and secluded worlds may be, it’s deeply unrealistic. Unless your world was shaped by geological forces that differ substantially from Earth’s, it was probably at one point a single landmass that split up into fragmented landmasses separated by waters. Take a look at a proper map of our world: the vast majority of continents could theoretically be reached by foot and relatively manageable sea passages. If it weren’t so, countries such as Australia could have never been colonized – you can’t cross an entire ocean on a raft.

4)  Logical City Placement: My novel is set in a Polynesian-inspired tropical archipelago; in the early drafts of the book and on my first map, Uunili, the nation’s capital, stretched along the entire western coast of the main island. This is absurd. Not only because this city would have been laughably big, but also because building a settlement along an unprotected coastline is the dumbest thing you could do considering it directly exposes it to storms, floods, and, in my case, monsoons. Unless there’s a logical reason to do otherwise, always place your coastal settlements in bays or fjords.

 Naturally, this extends to city placement in general. If you want realism and coherence, don’t place a city in the middle of a godforsaken wasteland or a swamp just because it’s cool. There needs to be a reason. For example, the wasteland city could have started out as a mining town around a vast mineral deposit, and the swamp town might have a trading post along a vital trade route connecting two nations.

 5)  Realistic Settlement Sizes: As I’ve mentioned before, my capital Uunili originally extended across the entire western coast. Considering Uunili is roughly two thirds the size of Hawaii  the old visuals would have made it twice the size of Mexico City. An easy way to avoid this is to draw the map using a scale and stick to it religiously. For my map, we decided to represent cities and townships with symbols alone.

 6)  Realistic Megacities: Uunili has a population of about 450,000 people. For a city in a Middle Ages-inspired era, this is humongous. While this isn’t an issue, per se (at its height, ancient Alexandria had a population of about 300,000), a city of that size creates its own set of challenges: you’ll need a complex sewage system (to minimize disease spreading like wildfire) and strong agriculture in the surrounding areas to keep the population fed. Also, only a small part of such a megacity would be enclosed within fantasy’s ever-so-present colossal city walls; the majority of citizens would probably concentrate in an enormous urban sprawl in the surrounding areas. To give you a pointer, with a population of about 50,000, Cologne was Germany’s biggest metropolis for most of the Middle Ages. I’ll say it again: it’s fine to disregard realism for coolness in this case, but at least taking these things into consideration will not only give your world more texture but might even provide you with some interesting plot points.

 7)  World Origin: This point can be summed up in a single question: why is your world the way it is? If your novel is set in an archipelago like mine is, are the islands of volcanic origin? Did they use to be a single landmass that got flooded with the years? Do the inhabitants of your country know about this? Were there any natural disasters to speak of? Yes, not all of this may be relevant to the story, and the story should take priority over lore, but just like with my previous point, it will make your world more immersive.

 8)  Maps: Think Purpose! Every map in history had a purpose. Before you start on your map, think about what yours might have been. Was it a map people actually used for navigation? If so, clarity should be paramount. This means little to no distracting ornamentation, a legible font, and a strict focus on relevant information. For example, a map used chiefly for military purposes would naturally highlight different information than a trade map. For my novel, we ultimately decided on a “show-off map” drawn for the Blue Island Coalition, a powerful political entity in the archipelago (depending on your world’s technology level, maps were actually scarce and valuable). Also, think about which technique your in-universe cartographer used to draw your in-universe map. Has copperplate engraving already been invented in your fictional universe? If not, your map shouldn’t use that aesthetic.

9)  Maps: Less Is More. If a spot or an area on a map contains no relevant information, it can (and should) stay blank so that the reader’s attention naturally shifts to the critical information. Think of it this way: if your nav system tells you to follow a highway for 500 miles, that’s the information you’ll get, and not “in 100 meters, you’ll drive past a little petrol station on the left, and, oh, did I tell you about that accident that took place here ten years ago?” Traditional maps follow the same principle: if there’s a road leading a two day’s march through a desolate desert, a black line over a blank white ground is entirely sufficient to convey that information.

10) Settlement and Landmark Names: This point will be a bit of a tangent, but it’s still relevant. I worked with a linguist to create a fully functional language for my novel, and one of the things he criticized about my early drafts were the names of my cities. It’s embarrassing when I think about it now, but I really didn’t pay that much attention to how I named my cities; I wanted it to sound good, and that was it. Again: if realism is your goal, that’s a big mistake. Like Point 5, we went back to the drawing board and dove into the archipelago’s history and established naming conventions. In my novel, for example, the islands were inhabited by indigenes called the Makehu before the colonization four hundred years before the events of the story; as it’s usually the case, all settlements and islands had purely descriptive names back then. For example, the main island was called Uni e Li, which translates as “Mighty Hill,” a reference to the vast mountain ranges in the south and north; townships followed the same example (e.g., Tamakaha meaning “Coarse Sands”). When the colonizers arrived, they adopted the Makehu names and adapted them into their own language, changing the accented, long vowels to double vowels: Uni e Li became “Uunili,” Lehō e Āhe became “Lehowai.” Makehu townships kept their names; colonial cities got “English” monikers named after their geographical location, economic significance, or some other original story. Examples of this are Southport, a—you guessed it—port on the southernmost tip of Uunili, or Cale’s Hope, a settlement named after a businessman’s mining venture. It’s all details, and chances are that most readers won’t even pay attention, but I personally found that this added a lot of plausibility and immersion.

I could cover a lot more, but this post is already way too long, so I’ll leave it at that—if there’s enough interest, I’d be happy to make a part two. If not, well, maybe at least a couple of you got something useful out of this. If you’re looking for inspiration/references to show to your illustrator/cartographer, the David Rumsey archive is a treasure trove. Finally, for anyone who doesn’t know and might be interested, my novel is called Dreams of the Dying, and is a blends fantasy, mystery, and psychological horror set in the universe of Enderal, an indie RPG for which I wrote the story. It’s set in a Polynesian-inspired medieval world and has been described as Inception in a fantasy setting by reviewers.

Credit for the map belongs to Dominik Derow, who did the ornamentation, and my friend Fabian Müller, who created the map in QGIS and answered all my questions with divine patience. The linguist’s name is David Müller (no, they’re not related, and, yes, we Germans all have the same last names.)

#enderal #dreams of the dying #worldbuilding #resource #writeblr #writing tips #mapmaking #cartography #illustration #realism #writeblogging #novelwriting #writing research #research #writing

[shezzaspeare]

Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

Blessie presents – The Science of Fanfiction: A Study In Sherlock (2021) • Next

Follow me! • My Carrd | My YouTube Channel

SOURCES • Pinterest, Google Images, Wikipedia, Literary Terms, Conan Doyle Estate, Definitions, The Sherlock Holmes Book, and Google

#the science of fanfiction #sherlock #sherlock holmes #johnlock #bbc sherlock #dracula #enola holmes #lord tewkesbury #jeremy brett #shezzaspeare #bram stoker #acd #canon #fanfiction #pastiche #holmes #adlock #sherlolly #molly hooper #greg lestrade

[charming-2d-boys]

Hello! Your writing is so awesome omg I was wondering could you do some soft NSFW headcanons for the adultrio? Not hardcore NSFW ones but soft ones. Maybe just how they engage with their partner sensually?

Hey and thank you so much! I'm glad you like it! 🤗💕

And of course, I aim for the softer side of things anyway, so this is right up my alley 😄

Thank you for the request and I hope you'll like this as well! 🙇

Also, you might want to check this, since I might be using some of the things I wrote before.

Warning: long, NSFW(-ish? maybe? Idk anymore), but soft

Chrollo

we all know that Chrollo is a gentleman and a romantic

this usually applies even more so in private and is intense when it comes to his partner

loves knowing everything about his partner, hence why he usually pays a lot of attention to them, their hobbies...

and also what they like when it comes to being more intimate

you like being kissed on the neck or jaw? that’s where his lips will be

like hickies? he loves marking

win-win situation

how about him paying more attention to certain parts of your body?

Chrollo will do his best and take his time just to prolong it

he loves teasing you and having you desperate for his touch

and his patience is one of his most well-known traits

of course, he can’t read minds, so he’ll definitely ask you about your kinks

but what about his kinks?

well, he’ll talk about them, sure

but he’s pretty vanilla, so there really isn’t anything that might feel like too much - in his opinion

and he’d prefer showing you, just so he can also see how you react

as I’ve said before, Chrollo loves praise, both giving and receiving

of course, he can word it so well that he could probably make you come undone with his words and barely a few fleeting touches alone

his touch is extremely gentle and he always pays attention - to your face, the noises you make, your body language

he wants to know what he’s doing well and what you like, storing it for later and using it to his advantage

if he can, he wants to hold onto you or your hand(s)

loves it when you squeeze his hand as you’re in the throes of pleasure

leaves at least a few love bites, usually in more inconspicuous places, somewhere where probably no one would see but the two of you would definitely know

wants to make you cum at least 2 times, 3 if he’s not too tired or if you can keep up

doesn’t really like toys because he thinks that his body is enough

and he’s right

he will use his hands, his mouth... his whole body if he has to

one way or another, he’ll make it work and leave you both happy and probably wanting more

he always leaves you more than satisfied and a little sore, but it’s worth it

as for positions? missionary, doggy style and with you in his lap

Chrollo just prefers those positions where he can cage you in, hold you close, in his arms and be close to you physically

he’s possessive so he wants you pretty much all to himself

aftercare? superb

whatever you want and however?

your wish is his command

always smiles and feels butterflies in his stomach at the sight of your smiling face, knowing that he was responsible for it

has to fall asleep with you in his arms and just know you’re there with him

the intimacy of it all is something that he craves very badly

so he’s very thankful to have you and actually feel something positive

Hisoka

Hisoka can be a bit of a freak

what I mean by this is that he has an open mind

that means that no matter what kinks you might have or are too afraid to try or voice out, especially with pretty much anyone else if you were in a relationship with anyone?

you can tell him, he won’t judge

he’s got plenty of his own kinks that he’s very happy to indulge in

but most of those were reserved for his one night stands who might’ve been into them

when he’s with you, things will change a bit

of course, if you two have any common kinks, you’ll most probably use them

and even if you aren’t, Hisoka is adaptable

you only have to tell him and he’ll listen

he doesn’t really care where you’re doing it

bathroom? done it.

bedroom? plenty of times.

kitchen? almost burnt it down and you banned him from coming in when you’re cooking.

living room? you almost never get to the movie credits.

always praises you and your body

half of the pleasure comes from knowing that he can make you feel good, whether it’s from his words or his body

loves the sounds you make and the fact that they’re because of him and his actions

the difference between a one night stand and you?

he’s a lot more passionate

a lot softer

and actually cares very much about how you’re feeling, before, during and after

also, Hisoka is one of the best when it comes to aftercare

everything is ready: bath/shower, something to eat and/or drink, soft, fluffy blankets and fresh sheets

he’s always ready to spoil you and make you feel happy and comfortable

he doesn’t really mean to do it, not always

but he gets so into it sometimes that wherever he’s holding onto your body will have bruises in the shape of his hands or fingers

hickies for the win, and in plain sight too

and he’ll kiss you constantly, whether it’s on your cheeks, neck, lips, forehead, shoulders, collarbones, whatever

Hisoka just likes feeling the heat of your skin on his lips, and maybe even more because he likes playfully biting you

and he’ll always cuddle with you when you’re ready to sleep

you’re pretty much trapped, but he’s so warm and soft and comfortable that you don’t really want to leave at all

Illumi

Illumi is one of those cases

theory? 10/10

practice? ummmm, yeah... about that

thing is, he’s not really comfortable with being touched by others unless he knows them well

and you’re one of the few who get this privilege

you can hold his hand, touch his face, his hair - you can play with it and braid it!!!

he actually likes being touched by you because your touch is really warm and gentle

doesn’t really vocalise that he wants to sleep with you, not always and certainly not in the very beginning

he mostly just pulled onto your wrist gently, towards the bedroom

and it would honestly be a bit cute

but now?

now Illumi’s gotten bold

he literally comes and asks you if you could go into the bedroom for some private time together

yes, he’s bold, but he won’t just come out and ask you if you want to have sex

especially if it’s in front of others

yes, he doesn’t really feel comfortable doing it anywhere else unless it’s his bedroom

maybe the bathroom connected to his bedroom counts as well

Illumi just knows that he wants what happens between the two of you to stay private

now that he’s got you, he wants to try different things that he’s heard or read about

kinks? they’ll be discussed and if interested, will be tried at least once

toys? what is it, how do you use it, where does it go and it’s pretty much a deal

he’s okay with toys as long as he knows that it’s meant to help your bond strengthen and not replace him

he really likes when you’re pulling - gently - on his hair

possessive as heck, he’ll leave hickies, love bites, bite marks, everything of that sort, but nothing to hurt you - unless you want that

Illumi just loves oral, there, I’ve said it

and yes, both giving and receiving

and again, yes, your thighs will be full of bite marks and love bites as well

really loves having your legs over his shoulders because your skin is very warm and soft and he likes the feeling of being “trapped there”

could probably spend hours doing it

really likes having you on top

he gets to control you and watch you, so why not?

always asks if what he did was okay and how he can improve

not really one for aftercare, but if you tell him what to do, he will do it

he just wants you to feel pleasure and happiness with and from him alone, especially during such intimate times

#hxh #hunter x hunter #hunter x hunter x reader #hunter x reader #chrollo #chrollo lucilfer #chrollo x reader #chrollo lucilfer x reader #hisoka #hisoka morrow #hisoka x reader #hisoka morrow x reader #illumi #illumi zoldyck #illumi x reader #illumi zoldyck x reader #hxh chrollo #hxh hisoka #hxh illumi #hxh writing

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I'm very curious to hear your take on Zuko as a disabled character? All of your analyses of disability in fiction have been very interesting to read so far, thank you for sharing your thoughts/expertise.

Thank you!  Follow-on from this post about Toph.

What I mean by saying Zuko is a disabled character: the social model of disability basically states that disability is any bodily difference that gets problematized and/or treated as abnormal by society.  This definition includes facial differences, AKA any scarring, skin marking, and so on that leads to staring by nondisabled society or other forms of stigma based on the person’s appearance.  Part of the reason for this inclusion is about complicating the disabled-nondisabled dichotomy; facial difference and facial scarring are identities within that framework.  Part of the reason comes from the U.S.’s history of Ugly Laws, which literally made it illegal for people with facial differences to appear in public in some cities as late as 1974.  Part of it is the huge overlap between ableism (giving more privileges to the nondisabled) and lookism (giving more privileges to the normatively beautiful).

Avatar: The Last Airbender has some high-quality anti-ableism in showing Zuko’s story, including how other characters respond to Zuko and how Zuko’s appearance informs but does not define his characterization.

One of the ways this comes out is by turning nondisabled characters’ gaze back on them:

In “The Serpent’s Pass,” Jet says to Zuko “You know, as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were…” and then goes on to describe his almost hilariously wrong conclusion that Zuko’s a Freedom Fighter waiting to happen because Zuko’s village was presumably also destroyed by the Fire Nation.  We get to see Zuko’s moment of terror that he actually has been recognized turn into incredulity as he then gets invited to join a guerrilla force opposing everything he (currently) stands for.  Jet looks stupid for jumping to conclusions based on appearances.

In both “Zuko Alone” and “The Cave of Two Lovers,” that same jumping-to-conclusions works in Zuko’s favor, because both Song’s mother and Li’s parents assume that anyone with a burn scar must be a veteran of the fight against the Fire Nation.  Again, the emphasis is on the fact that the people judging Zuko based on his appearance are wrong.

In “The Chase,” Azula becomes the only person we ever see mock Zuko for his appearance, when she covers her own left eye to draw out the “family resemblance” for Aang.  The moment gets a horrified reaction out of Aang — Zuko’s his enemy, but Aang also realizes that this is a nasty thing to do — and helps to establish Azula as not just a villain, but a sadistic one.

In “The Beach,” Zuko blows up at Ty Lee for commenting that stress can cause breakouts.  His response is unnecessarily mean-spirited, but it also draws attention to the relative level of privilege (the biggest skin problem she has to worry about is acne) that informed her careless comment.

In “Crossroads of Destiny,” Zuko assumes that, when Katara calls him “the face of the enemy,” it’s a way of calling him frightening to look at — and it’s Katara who looks like a jerk for implying it, even accidentally.

The other big way that this comes out is clapping back at the implied treatment of disability as demanding explanation, or the “But why are you like this?” form of ableism:

The show makes it clear that Zuko does not owe anyone — not Song, not Li, not Jet, not his crew, not his friends — an explanation for why he looks the way he does.  None of the Gaang ever ask Zuko what happened, and the few characters who do (Li, Song, Lieutenant Jee) don’t end up looking good when they do so.

“The Cave of Two Lovers” clearly underlines the show’s theme of “my body, my business” in the scene where Song tries to touch Zuko’s face.  The tone (including literal musical tones) signals that Song is being inappropriate and invasive.  It’s understandable that she wants to make a connection, but it’s also emphatically not okay to touch body parts of strangers one has not received permission to touch.

To be clear, taking people’s ostrich-horses is also not okay, Zuko, but Baby’s First Grand Theft Auto helps drive home just how thoroughly Song has let her curiosity and rudeness sour a budding connection.  It also shows that, while she’s right that she and Zuko have some things in common, she has privileges he lacks because she doesn’t have to disclose her scars if she doesn’t feel like it.  Plus, that moment contrasts to Katara and Mai both touching Zuko’s cheek — Katara just after they’ve shared a moment of vulnerability, Mai just before they start smooching — because they’re both doing so in a way that’s respectful to Zuko himself.

When he wakes up from a dream of turning into Aang, the first thing Zuko does is touch his left eye to make sure he’s still himself.  It’s part of his identity, and the only time we see adolescent Zuko without it (earlier in the dream sequence) it’s a way of showing that Zuko isn’t truly himself.

Zuko grapples with the fact that he’s always going to bear evidence of having survived abuse, and a big part of his character journey is concluding that he’s free to make whatever meaning he chooses of that scar, regardless of what Ozai might’ve intended.

There are other elements of Zuko’s story the Avatar writers do well.  He bears a superficial resemblance to the thousands of villains (especially in SF) who become villainous because they incur facial scarring, but of course his story is infinitely more humanized and nuanced than “skin bleached in a vat of acid, might as well go rob banks now.”  His appearance incurs very different reactions depending on his current wealth and political power, emphasizing the intersections of disability and imperialism.  He discusses the possibility of a cure with Katara, but also goes on to live a long and fulfilling life without one.

Maybe there’s no clearer evidence that Zuko counts as disabled in the sense of “society treats your body as a problem that needs to be solved” than the way that adaptations of AtLA treat the scar.  They tend to minimize, hide, or otherwise avoid it.

[Image description: Sepia-toned image of the Gaang from a Legend of Korra promotional that appeared on the Nickelodeon website.  Zuko has his head turned and his hair swept forward in such a way that none of the left side of his face is visible.]

[Image description: Screenshot of Zuko from the 2010 adaptation The Last Airbender.  Dev Patel has a very subtle amount of makeup meant to convey minimal scarring around his left eye.]

Like I said: facial difference counts as a disability because society treats it like one.  In the social model, that’s what counts rather than, for instance, how much peripheral vision Zuko does or doesn’t have.

I’m not linking to any of many works of fan art that depict Zuko tilted to the right, occasionally even when other characters are presented facing directly ahead.  Nor am I going to link to any of the equally-plentiful works of fan fiction that keep most other elements of canon the same but specify that Zuko’s face is unscarred.  (A similar number, it’s worth noting, also make Toph sighted.)  This isn’t a callout.  It’s an explanation of how Avatar does an effective job of showing how Zuko’s facial difference informs his identity without making that difference the sum total of his identity.

#avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #nothing to do with animorphs #long post #disability representation #ableism #facial difference #social model of disability #prince zuko #zuzu #his firelordiness #zuko meta #atla meta #anonymous #asks

[johnbly]

[FIC] winter is for family

Summary: It’s winter in Askr, and there are plenty of opportunities for Iskra to spend time with their favorite Heroes.

Word Count: 2,492

Note: This is my @summonersecretsanta​ piece for @canislupus-13​! I hope you enjoy, and have a great holiday season c:

While the snow continues to pile on the grounds outside, Iskra sits nice and cozy in the castle’s library. They can hardly even hear the shouts of the Heroes who’ve decided to play outside. Reading the book in their lap makes it easy to tune out the noise entirely. It’s the first in a series that had been recommended to them, and so far it seems promising. If nothing else, it’s giving them plenty of ideas for their own. Askr is always full of inspiration.

After a few chapters, Iskra is ready for a change of pace. They’ve read books in one sitting before, of course, but they want to make this one last a little. The second book is currently in someone else’s possession. While they would surely not mind giving the book up to the Summoner, Iskra has no interest in robbing anyone of their reading time. There’s no rush, after all. They set aside the fiction and open up the other book they’ve been spending time with: a study of various spells used for common tasks around a house. Hopefully they’ll find some that they can adapt for something more interesting than simple chores.

The lighting in the library shifts as the sun continues to move through the sky. Periodically they glance up at the windows, but they don’t pay much attention to how much time has passed. It even takes them a few looks to realize that the snow had stopped at some point. With it stopping, there’s no real reason for them to keep checking outside. Time slips away from them more than ever with every turn of the page.

“I knew I’d find you in here!”

Iskra’s head shoots up in surprise, a Polish curse escaping them out of habit. They’d been so invested in thinking of alternate uses for a that they hadn’t even heard footsteps. Specifically, Nino’s footsteps.

“What’re you reading?” Nino asks, sitting in the open armchair across from Iskra.

It takes Iskra a moment to find the words, still recovering from the interruption. “There have been so many things to set up around the castle lately that I thought it would be a good time to learn some new practical spells.”

“Oooh, good idea. Find anything good yet?”

Shaking their head, Iskra glances back down at the pages. There’s no shortage of interesting, new spells, but none of them feel useful at the moment. One day they’re sure they’ll return to them. Until then, though, they’re just doing a lot of filing away information and not a whole lot of learning. Luckily, the Summoner likes filing away information just as much.

Nino makes a thoughtful noise and taps her chin. “Was there anything specific you were thinking about? Maybe there’s one I’ve heard of.”

“Not really,” Iskra says. “I was hoping I’d think of something while reading.”

“What if you’re trying too hard? I’ve heard some mages talk about how if they think too much about a problem, it’s even harder for them to solve it.”

Iskra considers the theory. It sounds a lot like writer’s block, which they (unfortunately) know to exist. They have been in the library for quite a while. Maybe it’s time for a break. They close the book and stare at their friend thoughtfully. 

“You know what you need?” Nino says.

“...No?”

“To play in the snow! I haven’t seen you out in it all day.”

“I don’t know, Nino.” Iskra frowns. There are sure to still be a lot of Heroes outside, and while they value them all, that doesn’t mean they want to be surrounded by so many at once. “It’s probably loud.”

“Oh, it’ll be fun. Trust me. We can do something off to the side if you don’t want to get in the middle of everything. Besides, I’ll be with you the whole time.”

Knowing she’ll be there does make Iskra feel a little better. And it would be a bit of a shame if they didn’t go out and see the snow at least once. Even if they don’t want to participate in any of it themselves, there is a special kind of joy at seeing Heroes have a good time. Iskra stands, and Nino smiles brightly.

“I need to get a warmer jacket first,” Iskra says.

“Me too. Should we meet at the entrance?”

“That sounds good.”

They leave the library together, and that means they’re together when they bump into Larcei. She’s standing in front of one of the castle’s many windows, looking down into the courtyard. Iskra guesses she can’t be too happy about the weather interfering with her training. There are plenty of places for it indoors, but there’s nothing like being outside for it.

“Hi, Larcei,” Iskra greets.

Larcei turns, a small smile on her face at seeing who’s arrived. “Hey, Iskra. Let me guess: you’ve been in the library?”

“Yep.”

“Well, it’s a good day for it. There’s not much you can do down there.”

Nino steps up to the window. “How can you say there’s not much you can do? Look at everything going on!”

Iskra can’t resist a look of their own. True to Nino’s exclamation, there is, in fact, a lot going on. Some Heroes are building snowmen, while others are in the process of forming snow angels. The biggest event is undoubtedly the snowball fight. The white orbs fly through the air from all directions, younger and older Heroes alike participating. From the ones Iskra can identify from this distance, there’s a mix of magic users and those who favor steel. Iskra may have agreed to go outside, but they’re not sure about participating in the battle.

“Iskra and I are going out,” Nino says. “You should come with us, Larcei. I bet you’d be really good in the snowball fight.”

“I’m not joining that.”

“Why not?” 

“Because it’s childish,” Larcei says, like it’s obvious.

Nino gestures to those participating in the fight. “Do they look like kids?”

“They’re acting like it.”

“They’re having fun. And there’s nothing wrong with acting childish sometimes!” Nino notes the continued doubt on Larcei’s face and puts her hands on her hips. “Training can look like playing if you don’t know what’s going on.”

Iskra has to admit Nino has a point there. Sure, Larcei’s sword training doesn’t much look like playing, as seriously as she takes it, but there are plenty of Heroes who always look like they’re having a good time. Sometimes mages in particular seem to be playing a sort of game as they practice their spells.

“It could be a really good chance to practice wind spells, Iskra.”

That does sound like an interesting test, and they’ve always hated to tell Nino no. “Okay,” they say. “I’ll do it.”

Larcei huffs out a sigh. “Fine, I’ll come too.”

After quick detours to ensure everyone is properly layered, the trio step out into the courtyard. Immediately, a snowball smacks Iskra in the shoulder. There’s a pause in the action, perhaps as everyone wonders how their Summoner will take the attack. With a smile, Iskra brushes the snow off their jacket and sends a quick burst of wind at the Hero, knocking them back into the snow. 

Everyone laughs and returns to the fight. Iskra can tell they’re pleased that they’re enjoying themselves. They’ve heard plenty of pleas to relax over the months they’ve been in Askr, but often they lose themselves in a project and forget about everything else altogether. Maybe this is a good idea, to let loose a little. Sure, the most fascinating parts of this world are the ones that don’t exist in theirs, but that doesn’t mean the shared pieces can’t be interesting too. And with two of their favorite people at their side, how can they not have fun?

“That was a good one!” Nino compliments after Iskra uses wind magic to fling a snowball from their hand into Sharena’s back.

“Thanks.” Iskra beams. Then, because they can’t resist, they scoop up some snow and drop it on Nino’s head.

Nino gasps -- both from the cold and the surprise -- and uses her more powerful magic to stir up the snow around Iskra’s feet. The flakes spin up and around the Summoner, like their own personal blizzard. It’s freezing, but they’re still giggling from their ambush on Nino. Their laughter keeps them just warm enough, and it’s not long before Nino is giggling too, and she loses her concentration. The snow drops back down like it had never moved.

A battle cry breaks through their moment. Both look around for the source. It’s Larcei, firing off a snowball at her latest target. Iskra can’t help but laugh again. After all of Larcei’s stubbornness, there she goes, taking the fight as seriously as any of her trainings. Iskra and Nino exchange a conspiratorial look, then both nod. Both build a snowball, and after Nino counts down from three, they both toss their ball at Larcei -- the extra guidance of their magic ensures that both find their target.

Larcei whirls around. For a moment, she seems stunned that the two had teamed up against her. Then she gives a short laugh and charges them. Iskra does their best to dodge, but Larcei easily catches them, shoving the snow in her hand down the back of Iskra’s jacket. With a shriek and shiver, Iskra breaks free. For someone who had called the snowball fight childish, Larcei has sure picked out some childish strategies!

“Just wait until you get snow down your jacket, Larcei,” Iskra warns.

“You’ll have to catch me first,” Larcei challenges, grinning.

Iskra knows their friend is in better shape, but that doesn’t stop them from chasing them through the snow. Nino hurries after them, unable to resist tossing a few more snowballs in the process. With other Heroes still throwing theirs across the courtyard, it’s a dangerous chase. Iskra manages to flash some magic to direct some away, but it’s hard to concentrate on the magic when they’re still trying to grab Larcei.

Just as they had in the library, Iskra loses track of time. It’s only once they start shivering that they realize they should head back inside and warm up. There are plenty of fireplaces to enjoy in the castle, but which one should they try? Perhaps a return to the library? Surely by now their brain has cleared the spell-thinking block…

A snowball thumps into their back and they realize they’re just standing in the middle of the courtyard. Larcei stands several feet away, victorious with having escaped their revenge. That is, until a snowball hits her square in the face. Iskra laughs.

“I guess that’s karma for the snow in your jacket,” Larcei says.

“So there.” Iskra can’t help but stick out their tongue. “I’m going back inside now.”

“I’ll come with you,” Nino says. “I’ve been wanting to go back inside anyways and try to make some warm sweets.”

“That sounds like a good way to warm up.”

“Do you want to help?”

“Sure.”

Larcei walks to them. “Well, if you’re both leaving, I don’t want to stay out here. I’m not a cook, though.”

“You can read us the recipe,” Nino suggests.

“I can do that.”

So just as they’d entered the snowball fight, the three leave it together. Before heading to the kitchen, they make sure to change into dry clothes. Iskra is already feeling much better as they make their way towards the kitchen. Once they walk in, they’re hit with a new wave of warmth. Nino is already there, staring at the spread of recipe cards she’s set on the table. Iskra reads them over her shoulder.

“I think I’m going to make those cookies that have the hazelnuts in them,” Nino says, gesturing at the card.

Iskra’s mouth waters just thinking about it. “I love those.”

“Me too! I’ve never made them, though.”

“Me neither.”

“We’ll learn together then.” Nino pauses. “Well, once Larcei gets here.”

Picking up the card, Iskra skims it. “I can read it off until she gets here…but she would be upset if we started without her. Why don’t we gather the ingredients so we’re ready for when she arrives?”

“Sounds good to me!”

The two move around the kitchen, grabbing each ingredient as Iskra reads it off. It takes them some time to find their way -- there aren’t many labels, since the normal cooks know where everything is. Just as Nino sets the final spice on the table, the door opens. 

“I didn’t need an escort,” Larcei grumbles.

“I’m not escorting you,” Shannan says. “I’m walking with you, because we’re going to the same place.”

“Hi, Shannan,” Nino says, waving. “Are you coming to cook too?”

Iskra knows Shannan had raised Larcei, but the mental image of him cooking is still strange. What if he used Balmung as a knife to cut bread? A giggle escapes them. Shannan looks their way with a raised eyebrow.

“Is the idea of me cooking that strange?” he asks.

“A little,” they admit, “but it’s not wrong! I just imagined you using Balmung in the kitchen and it was funny.”

He looks almost scandalized at the thought. “The blade can do many things, but it’s not meant for that. I’d rather not be the first.”

“I wouldn’t either.” There are a number of sacred weapons in Askr, and the idea of using any of them for anything as mundane as cooking is equal parts amusing and terrible.

“But if you want an extra hand, I can aid you with a normal blade.”

Iskra nods enthusiastically. They’ll never turn down a chance to spend more time with the man who’s come to feel like a father. Nino, of course, has no objection either. Shannan joins them on one side of the table, while Larcei remains on the other with the recipe. It’s only a matter of time before she joins in too, Iskra thinks. But even if she doesn’t, the Summoner is just happy that their friend is there with the others.

“What’s up first, Larcei?” Nino asks.

Larcei skips over the ingredients and heads to the first step. “The nuts need to be chopped so they’re ready to be mixed into the dough once it’s made.”

Shannan picks up a knife and gets to it, and neither Nino nor Iskra mind him taking charge on the sharp object part of the process. There are plenty of jobs for everyone. At Larcei’s direction, Nino and Iskra begin to make the dough, mixing the wet ingredients with wet and the dry with the dry until it’s time to put it all together. The treat has hardly begun to be made, but Iskra is already excited to see their work coming together.

And standing there with Shannan and Nino and Larcei, standing with their family, Iskra is reminded all over again of how much they’ve come to love being in Askr.

#summonersecretsanta #summoner secret santa #canislupis-13 #my writing

[wild-west-wind]

What are coywolves and are they really taking over?

Coywolves, or Eastern Coyotes (or more amusingly Woyotes) are wolf/coyote hybrids, and not really, but kinda.

So, before I dive in, note that I’m not a biologist, and I’m not from a place these hybrids exist, so if someone with real background in these animals wants to pop in I’d love to hear your input.

Image: A male coyote wanders in a meadow on the lookout for prey. Moments later he succeeded in catching a small rodent.

So, let’s start big picture: Coyotes and wolves use similar landscape, and have for millennia. Where coyotes and wolves share range, coyotes tend to act as scavengers, and predators of small prey, while wolves are taking down large prey, ratting only when young, or in the spring when easy prey is scarce.

In areas where there is a fairly natural balance between coyotes and wolves, they do not get along. Wolves eat the vast majority of their prey, but are known to kill coyotes and leave them to rot over territorial concerns. Coyotes meanwhile tend to avoid wolves. In some areas they live in different locales, with coyotes preferring more open space than wolves, who are comfortable hunting in forest.

In areas where wolves have been extirpated, Coyotes, being fairly clever animals, begin to exploit larger prey, deer especially. Now generally Coyotes ‘packs’ tend to consist of monogamous pairs, with pups, but in such situations where large prey is available, coyotes have been known to form large, temporary packs to hunt it down.

Image: A lone female black wolf stands in a green meadow in spring. She watches as bison (out of shot) snort at her, as she comes to understand she will not eat bison for dinner that night.

Now another step back: All canids are pretty closely related and many are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. In fact the last common ancestor between wolves and coyotes probably either came about due to, or just generally had, genetic exchange with Dholes!

So, where is this going?

So all through US history, and really up until very recently, it has been the goal of this nation to kill every wolf in its borders, and it was largely successful in doing so. Wolves are removed, and coyotes move in to try and exploit their niche. They do okay with smaller ungulates. Surprise! There are still some wolves around, and as they disperse they end up in coyote-rich habitat. Not having options, lone wolves and plentiful coyotes occasionally breed. You’ve now got a 50/50 coywolf.

The coywolves you hear about in the news are not 50/50 splits. Remember, Coyotes and Wolves don’t generally get along. Coyotes are more receptive of strange new canids than wolves, they’re less territorial (except while denning), more likely to join up with unrelated coyotes. As a result the coywolves you hear so much about are more like 65% coyote mixes (the rest being Eastern and Western Wolf, and Dog) hence the shift toward using “Eastern Coyote.”

Image: An Eastern Coyote walks through the snow, shoulders low, looking over its shoulder toward the camera. (www.ForestWander.com via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-3.0))

The Eastern Coyote is only 10-20 lbs heavier than a Western Coyote on average, it’s not any more likely to cause folks harm (at least that I can find). What’s special about them is that they are well adapted to moving and hunting in forested areas, and they are less frightened of human noise, meaning that they are more comfortable than extremely skittish wolves living at the edges of towns.

The Eastern Coyote further shows little sign of recent hybridization. The initial cross probably occurred in the north east US or southeast Canada in the nineteen teens or twenties.

What’s even more interesting is that this is definitely not the first time such an event is happened! While there is argument about the exact genetic history of the Western Wolf, Eastern Wolf, southeastern Red Wolf, Mexican Wolf, and Coyote, there are signs of mixing all over their genetics. There are black coyotes carrying a gene they must have gotten from either domestic dogs or indirectly from wolves. Red Wolves show many coyote markers from ancient admixture, despite many (if not most) researchers considering them a separate species from other wolves and coyotes!

Ultimately the Coywolf/Woyote/Eastern Coyote is a byproduct of humans upsetting the natural world, and the amazing ability of our world to say “Yeah, no.” When disturbed, nature starts to course correct, and an animal that can fill a niche will rise to fill it.These animals exist because we created an opportune environment for them, they now number in the millions, and will probably continue to exist, diverging from all their ancestral species into something fascinatingly new!

Living with predators can be complicated, but it’s a step we all need to take. Overpopulation of herbivores, a direct result of centuries of bad wildlife policy eliminating wild predator populations, causes billions of dollars worth of damage every year, and has resulted in new, and worsening, diseases in those herbivores. Predators are a critical part of our ecosystems, and it’s time we make peace with that. If Eastern Coyotes can survive alongside us, I say let them “take over.” Keep your pets in at night, don’t leave food out accessible to them, and make peace with the fact that nature might not be healing, but it’s figuring out a way to work despite us, despite destruction, just as it always has.

Again I hope someone with a stronger biology background can step in to weigh in on this. I’m a Park Ranger, I live around Western Wolves and Coyotes, I’m familiar with them, but I’m not super clued in to the current work being done on them. I am not in my lane writing this up, and while I hope I did the issue justice I’m sure there are things I don’t fully understand, and subjects I have not done justice to.

#in which i am a park ranger #wolves #coyotes #coywolves #woyotes #eastern coyotes #predators #Anonymous

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Do you find Moonshadow culture becoming a little less... likeable? (but not less interesting) It seems like they hand out Ghostings like candy with no path to forgiveness and no belief in a person’s ability to change and reform themselves. The pressure and anxiety those elves must be feeling at all times has got to astronomical. What are your thoughts?

I have plenty of thoughts, as always! Less likeable than what, though, anon? Maybe you’ve missed most of my posts on Moonshadow society over the last year...

Moonshadow society is a disaster, poor thing. It’s a tightlaced corset, pretty but restrictive with long term consequences. It’s a queer neurodivergent elf who just wants to do their very best but all the rules that are supposed to help them out with that end up hurting them too and they don’t know how to stop or change and so yes they’re dancing gracefully in the moonlight and yes they express themselves through beauty but if you get close enough you can hear the constant pterodactyl screech of their soul too. (Did I extrapolate extra hard from “Runaan is the most Moonshadow of the Moonshadow elves”, maybe yes)

Moonshadow society is deeply flawed and it needs help, but it’s so big and pervasive that it may be impossible to change its course without severe consequences, just like last time (aka moving east across the border and becoming assassins that took out humans). The elves can only do so much to alter their own fates from inside their own society.

Some may leave and never return. Some get ghosted and want nothing more than to re-enter the fold because they still believe in its ideals, like Feathershawl. Some probably try to change things from the inside, whether subtly or obviously. And others embrace the rules with both arms and try to mold themselves into The Perfect Moonshadow Who Can Do No Wrong, in order to remain safe and to belong.

But that’s a spectrum you’re going to get when perfectionism is a big part of your cultural philosophy. Everything has to be Just So for so many aspects of these elves’ lives, and it’s Very Not Good for them. Yes, they’re pretty. But mandating prettiness is just as bad as mandating other aspects of personal choice and free will.

As for ghosting, I really don’t think Moonshadows just yeet those left and right with little care for the consequences. I do think they’re too harsh with their shunning! Shunning, giving up, turning their back in a relatively permanent way, that’s not a good solution. Learning and adapting are important, and knowing that you have time and room to practice and adjust is so important for mental health and stability in your society. Living in constant fear of minding the rules or getting even perceived to be doing something incorrectly is such a drain on your energy.

But I do think that the Moonshadows have strict rules for what deserves ghosting and what doesn’t, just as they do for other stuff. The details of Feathershawl’s ghosting are theirs to keep, and I assume any Narrator could flesh those out however they chose during a playtest, whether to make their situation more or less sympathetic for the players.

But my take is this: Moonshadow elves revere life very deeply, and they work constantly to serve each other and their whole community, as they hold themselves together and celebrate their continued existence on every level they can. When someone in a position of big responsibility for the health, well-being, and lives of so many Moonshadow citizens messes up in such a bad way that there’s a plague and lots of elves die--lose their precious lives, lose those connections with others, leave their families torn and distraught and unable to focus on their own duties due to heavy, soul-sucking grief--when one elf causes this level of arcanum-deep catastrophe, I can absolutely see why the other Moonshadow elders would be horrified and grief-stricken, and furious. It’s a very un-Moonshadow thing to have happen, especially with how hard they’re all trying to be so very Moonshadow all the time.

Feathershawl had a position that gave them authority over the food sources that kept a good number of the Forest’s elves fed and able to live their lives without privation. And they screwed that up somehow. They were trusted with a basic staple of everyday life--food--and they got it wrong in such a horrible way that there are a lot fewer Moonshadow elves as a result.

Moonshadow elves need each other’s support and presence as part of their communal network, and anything that tears at that fabric goes against everything that Moonshadow philosophy stands for. Feathershawl themself had literally dozens of family members, whose illusions were kept in their crystal. That’s a lot of family! If it’s common for Moonshadow elves to have that many family members, then a plague would probably touch every family multiple times and leave everyone multiply devastated. It’s just Bad All Around.

There’s probably a lot more to Rayla’s ghosting than we know, since we only learned of it from her POV and she’s not in the habit of sharing Moonshadow secrets with Callum just yet. Knowing that Moonshadow families are so thickly intertwined, and how heavily they rely on each other to help support and cheer each other through standing strong together and mutual services, it’s no big stretch to imagine that Rayla’s biggest crime in Moonshadow eyes wasn’t her supposed running away, it was that her actions cost the Silvergrove their assassin leader, one of their elders and one of the strongest moral guiding hands they had. Rayla cost the Silvergrove their most Moonshadow Moonshadow.

Without Runaan, the Silvergrove is probably reeling quite a bit, and Rayla’s failure is to blame, in their eyes. They’re all suffering, and they need to put the blame somewhere--other than themselves--so they can start to move forward again.

It’s far from ideal. It’s very shame and blame oriented. But it does hold to some internal logic that seems to bear out through the three ghostings we know of for sure so far.

Another things Moonshadows are very good at is quick action. The moment they think there’s been a “mistake”, they move to address it. Whatever feelings they have on the matter, they process it in half a second (if at all) and jump straight to rectification. You attack the Storm Spire? Lain’s gonna kick you down the stairs. You think the Silvergrove ghosted you unfairly? You literally run to Ethari for help. You see Rayla trying to stay on the mission? You grab her wrists so she can’t draw her weapons. You see your workshop doors open but no one’s there? You stop working and fetch a hammer in case you need to smash a vindictive ghost. You think your friends failed their duty and dishonored you? You take everyone you can to go uphold that honor, including a 15 year old girl. (Holy cats does that mean everyone on Runaan’s squad was family, oh god) Swift action is a reassertion of the rules, of what’s right, so no one forgets. That’s got to include ghosting for things that are really terrible.

What I do find interesting is that Eljaal, the homesick assassin who is afraid to return home, may not be worried about ghosting specifically? But it’s a little unclear. I think there is something else they fear, perhaps a lesser punishment? But still one they can’t yet bring themself to face, poor elf.

I do think Moonshadow society is very stressful on the mind, and all these elves have become very skilled at hiding, mitigating, and otherwise working around their stresses and traumas. The greatest illusion that Moonshadows play is the one that Everything Is Fine, because there is always more work to do, and they keep telling themselves that they’re the ones who must do it, for everyone elses’s sakes. Laziness and selfishness are probably the same thing to Moonshadows. Hmm, maybe that’s why Runaan lets his family drag him off to picnics on his birthday, so he doesn’t seem selfish for wanting alone time.

In very very long, anon, Moonshadows are a Mess tee emm, and they’ve been designed that way from the start: doing their best inside a flawed system. This is the heart of their imperfection. They will probably benefit from spending time with literally anyone else aside from just themselves. They really really need to get out more, or to let someone else in, because the strictest of their own traditions are actually ruining the life and beauty they work so hard to celebrate.

#asks #moonshadow elves #ghosting #moonshadow culture #rayla #runaan #ethari #feathershawl #eljaal #let them all rest

[yahargul]

i feel like the mxtx critical crowd doesn’t know what being critical towards your interests actually means??? like every piece of media is flawed in some way & different people are gonna like/dislike different things, so naturally everyone is critical of the things they enjoy to some extent. but literally everytime i come across one of the mxtx critical ppl in the mdzs & tgcf fandoms they’re always just the most self-flagellating people ever and it’s.... just embarrassing.... 😬 like for a group of people who are so dead set on criticizing pretty much every aspect of a piece of media they supposedly enjoy at least somewhat, they really have zero critical thinking skills lol. i’ve seen some of them say that they wish they never discovered mdzs or tgcf and at that point it’s like okay then why the fuck do u have a blog dedicated to this piece of media. like y’all need to move on bc you clearly aren’t having a good time 😭 my god just watch or read something else!

LITERALLYYYYYYY like yes you can and should criticize the media you consume but if your criticisms are made from baseless assumptions, lack of understanding about the genre you're reading, lack of cultural understanding, or utter misinterpretations that go completely against what's actually in the text no i'm not taking you seriously. its especially hilarious when the mxtx crit crowd will post a clip or line from an adaptation and go 'the adaptation actually gives the character depth and personality' and its just. a scene DIRECTLY taken from the novels.

its also very weird to me that people are only doing this with chinese creators. i see people blog about plenty of imperfect media and i think most people with common sense understand one can like a thing and be critical of it but for some reason we gotta single out these anonymous chinese women for what exactly. to let everyone know that you think you're too good to like the thing you're constantly talking about?? who is forcing you to be here? i especially side eye white people who go on and on about how much they hate mxtx to the point of wishing physical harm on her but refuse to stop obsessing about her works, sitting here pretending that cql sprouted up out of the ground and trying to remove any association mxtx has with her own creation so they can keep consuming her content guilt free its so fucking weird?? like okay why are you obsessed with a specific genre created for and by chinese people and going out of your way to demonize chinese creators. actually lets go a bit further why are you so convinced chinese women are your enemy why are you so convinced they are malicious why are you so convinced that you understand the works better than the people who wrote it?? these people calling mxtx a fetishist while cql blogging maybe should look in the mirror first

#anon #answers