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#someone pointed it out to me and now I cannot unsee it

mokulule · 1 year

Text

The Number You Have Called Cannot Be Reached 6

Part 1|Part 2|Part 3|Part 4|Part 5

Ship: Dead on Main (Danny/Jason) Warnings: angst/depression and canon typical violence

Bruce sighed, absently feeling the air on his hands folded in front of his face. He stared unseeingly ahead. His frowned deeply, at a loss of what to do. Worry picked at his self control.

Something was up with Jason. Ever since the other night, something had happened between the thief and Jason. It had left him unsettled and off balance, that much was obvious. They’d all been able to see it.

Now, today, Jason had lost control. He’d been agitated of course, but Bruce hadn’t expected the outburst. Jason was usually good at managing his anger these days, at least in the family. He didn’t get physical with them anymore in anger. Except today Jason had suddenly pulled him up by the shirt, and Bruce had honestly expected him to punch him. Jason had shaken it off, but then he’d fled.

The urge to move, to do something, itched at him. He wanted to get answers, but confronting Jason was out of the question. Their truce was fragile, and it seemed every time he spoke to Jason he said the wrong thing. He didn’t know what to do except control the urge to go after his son. He couldn’t fight his demons for him. He could only try not to make it worse.

And so he sat there, staring, unseeing.

Dick’s footsteps, came down the stairs, easily recognizable: light and almost dancing to a rhythm only he could hear, skipping a step every now and then.

“Hey B, thought you were going golfing with the mayor, keeping up the old appearances and all that” he greeted brightly, as ever immune to Bruce’s mood. Or maybe Alfred sent him down to deal with him, that was also an option.

“Oh I love these,” Dick reached forward over Bruce’s shoulder to grab a protein bar from the backpack. He opened it and started to eat it without hesitation.

“Dick,” Bruce sighed, “this is evidence.”

Dick snorted and leaned on the console so he could look at Bruce. “You’re serious.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

Dick snorted again, of course Bruce was serious, then he pulled the backpack over and started rooting through it. Much to Bruce’s exasperation he opened another protein bar.

“Dick, they could be drugged.”

“As if you’d have let me take the first one if that was the case,” Dick mumbled around the mouthful of granola. Bruce mentally conceded the point.

“Anyways,” Dick swallowed and continued, reading the name tag on the inside of the backpack, “Danny Fenton, who’s that?”

Bruce sighed.

“The thief.”

“The Ghost!?” Dick looked up in excitement, “so we have a name now?”

“Presumably, it may not originally have been his backpack.”

“True, doesn’t help much either does it? Danny is very common and Fenton may not be Johnson, but it’s not exactly unique.”

“I haven’t looked it up yet.”

Dick narrowed his eyes.

“This has anything to do with why you’re brooding?”

Silence stretched between them, but Dick could be surprisingly patient when he wanted to. There was no point in dragging things out, it wasn’t a secret, Dick could easily find out through the surveillance if he wanted, Bruce would rather he didn’t.

“Jason was the one who delivered the backpack.”

“Ah.” There was the worried frown Bruce would have liked to avoid. He leaned down a bit to better face Bruce.

“You had a fight?” The question was posed carefully, softly, not betraying any inkling what he thought of that, in a way to gently pry the answer from Bruce, but Bruce knew his eldest son well enough to know he was already mentally running damage control options. That was Dick, always trying to keep their family together tooth and nail. There was a soft pang of appreciation in his chest he couldn’t articulate, instead he focused on the problem at hand.

“He’s convinced the thief needs help, I don’t actually disagree.”

Dick sat back in realization, his eyes flickered to the backpack and its sorry spoils.

“But he could still be working for someone,” Dick recited with a sigh, it was an old lesson. One he knew Jason wouldn’t have appreciated, not if he felt Bruce was dismissing his concerns. “B.”

“I know.”

Do you? Dick’s eyebrows asked, but he had the grace not to actually say it. He clapped Bruce on the shoulder instead, squeezing slightly.

“He’ll warm back up.”

“You think so?” He asked unable to look up at Dick.

“Hey,” Dick said brightly in a way that naturally drew attention to him, “we’ve come back from worse.” And there was that bright smile and that pang of appreciation was back, along with another warm feeling in his chest: hope.

“Well, I gotta get going, I’ve got work tomorrow. Just gotta grab a few more of these.”

And the feeling was gone.

“Dick.”

“We shouldn’t waste perfectly good food, B, also they’re W-Mark exclusives, they don’t have them in Blüdhaven.” He grinned, pockets stuffed with contraband. Invariably reminding Bruce of a younger version with pockets full of candy he’d been denied. Brat already knew he had won. Bruce waved him off with a sigh.

Dick practically skipped towards the stairs. Then he paused.

“Oh and B, if I was you, I’d check the phone at the bottom of the bag. It’s not a brand I recognize.”

With that he was off.

Bruce stared after him. Pride warred with annoyance. He’d been so absorbed in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed Dick checking out the bag more thoroughly than the cursory look he himself had done when Jason had handed it to him.

He grabbed the bag and rooted around a bit, and just as Dick had said, there was a phone.

He pulled it out, and turned it over in his hands. It was made from dark blue plastic. The logo on the back, a stylized V in front of a globe, wasn’t one he recognized. It looked old and scuffed, had actual buttons and a jarringly small screen when you were used to modern smartphones.

It was also out of power.

With how old it looked, it was unlikely cordless charging was an option. He looked at the bottom edge where there was an actual mini headphone jack, along with what he assumed was the charging port - it wasn’t a type he recognized.

He frowned and got up. He wouldn’t be too late for his meeting with the mayor if he left now, not something he couldn’t brush off as eccentric forgetfulness at least.

He could drop the phone off at Tim’s on the way. Tim would get the phone working one way or another.

Oo o oO

Danny stayed underneath the pavement long after the not-ghost had left. The feeling of almost giving in was a crawling like ants underneath his skin. The threat of almost capture was like a noose around his neck - if they captured him, if they managed to contain him, he would never get home.

Eventually the bone deep tiredness of using his powers too much hit him, and he dragged himself back to his haunt, invisibly and intangibly, because he’d had much too much excitement today. He was raw and empty inside when he dropped onto his blanket pile and rolled up. He would get food some other day. Never mind that he was completely out. It wouldn’t end his existence, just weaken him. Ghosts at the core ran on willpower, and Danny wanted to go home.

A small squeak and rustle, had him opening his eyes a crack and turning his head to look to the far side of the room. There the rat was going his trash, the packaging probably still smelled like food.

He huffed and closed his eyes again. If he got truly desperate he could always eat the rat - It wouldn’t be the worst thing he’d eaten.

Masterpost for subscription

Sorry, it's not the longest part this time, but we got to appreciate a few other characters, yay! Hope you enjoyed, cause Danny sure isn't enjoying himself.

703 notes · View notes

fragmentedblade · 3 months

Note

Can you expand more on Ratio's philosophical influences? You seem super knowledgeable!

I've been sitting on this for some time because I didn't know what prompted this message and thus I didn't know what to answer and how. I guess it may be the comment I wrote about him having a socratic but also a sophist air?

There are a lot of details in Ratio's overall design that point towards philosophical references. I want to draw attention to the fact that since this is a vague message on anon I don't really know what to focus on or what could I skip because it's information already known, so what I'm going to say is a very brief summary of many ideas, which of course makes such ideas but the shadow of an echo of themselves, so faint they almost become untrue. I fervently advise to look more deeply into any of this if something catches anyone's interest. And I also want to point out that the problem of knowing a little bit of something, even its existence, is that seeing turns to seeking, and an excess of seeing is also a blindness; what I mean by this is that I'm not sure how much of what I am going to say was intentional by the developers/writers and how much is just me suffering the blindness of seeing too much haha

However, I also want to clarify that I do think many of the things I’m going to say are present even if perhaps not intended by the writers/designers. This is due to the fact that Ratio’s main influence is platonism, and platonism is everywhere in western philosophy and in general western culture; once you see it you cannot unsee it. So perhaps I am reading too much or making correlations between things in his design that were not meant to be linked, giving a depth to the character that is probably incidental, but that I would say nonetheless exists because it pertains to a certain philosophical tradition in which the elements stem from each other. I hope this will become clearer in its development if it isn’t right now.

Ratio has an Apollonian air. At first that and his mask made me wonder if he was going to be linked to the Mourning Actors, who alongside the Masked Fools for now remind me a lot of the Nietzschean Apollonian and Dyonisian dichotomy. This was conjecture on my side so I won't go on about this on this ask.

Ratio retains however the Apollo air. When I saw his splash art he reminded me instantly of the Belvedere Apollo, down to the strap under his chest like the sculpture has the quiver's strap. His sixth eidolon too recalls that sculpture, since it seems to be a mix of the pose in Michelangelo's David with the cloth in the Belvedere Apollo. Among other things, Apollo is a god linked to truth, medicine, archery and divination. The owl seems to be a reference to Athena, though.

Ratio also has the laurel or bay branch on his head, which is one of Apollo's traits. Laurel on someone's head became linked to victory as well as academic and artistic merit (I know in Italy people still use it when graduating, for instance; I mean, that's where the word comes from). The fact that he has half of it is most likely due to an aesthetic choice, especially given how the character designs are pointedly asymmetric in this game; however, I think it works well with how, no matter how much he achieves and how hard he tries, Ratio is never gazed upon by Nous nor accepted by the Genius Society with the frustration, bitterness and questioning that brings both himself and others.

This last point, being ignored by something akin to a divinity, works also with his Apollonian air, I'd say. Given his Apollo look, his snake-like pupils made me think instantly of Delphi. Delphi was where a temple to Apollo was (linked to a mythological snake, and snakes thus became associated with Apollo in imagery), and it was famous for its prophecies. Socrates (the master of Plato and main figure in his dialogues) is said to have started the habit of questioning he is mostly famous for because a friend of his went to the temple in Delphi and was told by the Oracle that the wisest man in Athens was Socrates. Socrates was perplexed by this because he knew nothing, and started posing questions to supposedly erudite people about the matters about which they were experts, only to come out of that feeling unsatisfied with the answers. Thus, Socrates thought the Oracle may be right after all, but he was only the wisest man because he at least knew that he knew nothing.

This works very well with Ratio because Socrates starts the journey by being distinguished among his peers, gazed upon, by a god (Apollo was supposed to possess the Pythia, or at the very least the prophetic power came from him), while Ratio never gets that recognition, and seems resigned to that already ("If this day I have not gained the recognition of Nous, it stands to reason that I never will at any point in the future" and "One day, I received a letter from the Interastral Peace Corporation (...). I could tell the solemnity of the invitation, so I excitedly passed it on to Mr. Ratio. Yet, he said nothing. I could sense his heavy silence even through the headgear. He then politely asked me to leave. The moment I closed the door, I heard a grim sigh followed by a self-deprecating laughter... Perhaps he realized he would never be accepted into the Genius Society..."). The mix of arrogance and humbleness, although enhanced in Ratio in a comical degree, is already somewhat present I would argue in the way Socrates talks in Plato's dialogues. Arrogance was also a trait Heraclitus, the author of the line cited in the name of his banner (“Panta rhei”), was famous to have.

So Ratio takes the position at the IPC. The Intelligentsia Guild is "often seen as a vendor of knowledge", and is looked down upon by the Genius Society. This is where I think the philosopher/sophist dichotomy comes in. Sophists were teachers, and were paid. They also were known to use rhetoric to convince (I would say there's a reference to this in one of Ratio's daily messages). In the political landscape of Athens, they were very useful for young men interested in politics. Some sophists became quite rich and famous. Usually philosophers, who didn't receive any money and did everything for the "love of knowledge" itself, looked down on them. At least in the texts of Plato that's often the case, although some sophists are portrayed under a better light even there; btw many of the things I've been saying come from Plato, but since this is an intricate subject on its own that isn’t directly pertinent to the ask I won't dwell on it right now.

Education in ancient Greece consisted of both intellectual and physical training. Intellectual education included music, poetry, mathematics, astronomy,... Physical fitness was held as something very important in a young man's curriculum as well. I think this is where the fanservicey choice of making Ratio so fit and pretty comes from. And I say “pretty” because beauty too is an important concept for Plato, and ancient Greece in general. It is also part of what linked the need of a young man to develop himself both intellectually and physically. Beauty is linked to harmony and order, both on an individual basis and cosmologically, often in some philosophical trends to a mathematical level; pythagoreanism has a lot of this.

Indeed I think pythagoreanism has to do somewhat with Ratio's design, considering his link to mathematics and geometry, and given his name ("Ratio" made me think of the golden ratio and in general pythagorean ratios even before it made me think of "reason" tbh), but in general the main philosophical reference in Ratio seems to be Plato, who was influenced greatly by pythagoreanism; this is one of the perhaps unintended indirect yet present links I mentioned at the beginning.

Platonism is very present in many ways in Ratio. It's noticeable even in his visual design, with how buff and handsome he is, arguably the references to Apollo and Athena, the geometry imagery, and even the sculptures he creates with his technique, but the influence is seen throughout his entire character, story, dialogue lines,... Part IV of Ratio’s character story, the way he talks with Roseth and what he says, has in my opinion an echo of platonic dialogues, as does his line “To spread knowledge, we must first make people realize their folly” recall Socrates. In the Trailblaze mission the main character had to argue for their innocence, which to me brought to mind the Apology of Socrates. On the other hand, the way this was done was very reminiscent of the socratic method, both in the discussion and counterargument mechanic of the game as, and especially so, in the use of memory. The main character had already the knowledge they seeked, yet they had forgotten about it, and had to retrieve it through memory guided by the intense questioning of Ratio; this, if applied to the research of a more essential knowledge instead of circumstantial, is the core of Socrates' maieutics. Maieutics is "midwifery". Socrates called by that word his method because he thought he was helping give birth to truths or knowledge that were already present in people's minds, if forgotten. It's what Ratio's skill, "intellectual midwifery", references.

The fact that Socrates' method, the "intellectual midwifery" to put it in in HSR terms, works in platonic philosophy is because it is taken that there are eternal truths, something Ratio believes as well (“The beauty of truth is that it never changes, even when no one understands it. Well, that's true for me, at least”). This has to do with what is called the theory of Forms or the theory of Ideas. The world that we see is but the shadow of that other conceptual abstract world, of which we have but forgotten memories and that we can access only with the mind's eye. Our soul once saw/was part of that other world, which is why it can remember it. Plato was influenced by the pythagorean view of a sort of journey or reincarnation of the soul after dying, to put it some way. This is also extensive, it has to do with orphism, is at the core of a lot of philosophical and theological western traditions, and thus I will say only this, even though it feels very close-to-fake simplistic haha. To summarise, there’s the other abstract perfect world of which everything in this world participates from and is but the shadow of (everything beautiful participates on the Idea of Beauty, eternal and inextinguishable, but it’s never as perfect as that Idea, only but its echo). The idea that the world is but the shadow of the other world is present in Ratio's English line when he is ko-ed, "Mere flesh…" (in Chinese, though, if I’ve understood correctly he says “«Mediocre»… hah”, which is very different if still lore-heavy). This of course implies a strong ontological dualism.

In this sense it is extremely interesting to me that Ratio’s banner is named “Panta rhei”, because Heraclitus is the epitome of the defender that all things were in constant change yet all things are One, the process of “becoming”, the constant struggle, at the core itself of reality (this too is harmony). He was pointedly monist, and is often contrasted to Parmenides, who spoke of eternal unchanging truths and beings. Both are cornerstones in the development of western philosophy and influenced Plato, but the choice calls my attention. In the Japanese wiki the line was linked/took to the buddhist concept of impermanence; while not necessarily related to that, this wiki suggestion made me wonder whether the choice of making “Panta rhei” the name of Ratio’s banner was done to further enhance another aspect of the many parallels between him and Ruan Mei, who also talks about life as something seemingly diverse and changing, hopes to obtain permanence, and talks about a something that transcends the multiple faces of life and that unifies them all (“Life is countless and varied in form. I firmly believe in that. Its beauty is like a myriad of flowers, and I want to pluck the one that never wilts”; “I wish to discover "the true essence of life," something that all individuals possess unknowingly, whether it is the materialism of their existence or an unknown entity beyond corporeal realms”; “The core of all existence is unity”). Even beyond that, in the context of everything else Ratio has going on, the mention of Heraclitus brings very intriguing food for thought to the table; yet I think this may be another instance of things that are, yet were most likely not meant by the writers.

Moving on, I’ll give a quick comment on the more explicit philosophical references we can find in Ratio’s traces, attacks and voicelines, and will dwell a bit only when I think they work well with the subjects and concepts I already commented Ratio plays with, otherwise this response will be eternal.

Summation (trace): in Chinese this is more clearly linked to the inductive reasoning, which in context it is obvious this is what this trace references; I don’t know why they chose to translate it this way. It is a method of reasoning that comes from the observation of particularities to generalisation, hence “summation”. It works well with Ratio causing more damage per debuff, and with the references to empiricism in Ratio’s attacks. The consequences in inductive reasoning are not truly ensured by the premises (the typical example is how you can’t ensure that all ravens are black by as many black ravens as you observe).

Inference (trace): this baffled me because again it is more clear in Chinese that this is referencing deductive reasoning, but every language translates “inference”, whereas in the “deduction” trace the characters are exactly the same as the ones in the Chinese wiki for “inference”, but every language translates “deduction”. I don’t know what’s happening here, I wish I knew Chinese and found this less confusing, but at least both words are present in his traces. Deductive reasoning is the one that goes from premises to conclusion. It is heavily linked to logic and it doesn’t necessarily require empiric knowledge.

Deduction (trace): this is what is called “inference” apparently in Chinese (if someone knows about this I would love to know what is happening in Chinese in these two traces). Inferences are, well, the process of reaching conclusions. It can be either through deduction or induction (or abduction, some would argue, but that’s another can of worms).

Mind is might (basic attack): in latin this is “scientia potentia est”, and while at this point the line is very detached from its context, initially it was linked to Bacon and Hobbes. I honestly think this is just a very convenient name for an attack of a character following a philosophy/sciences/knowledge thematic.

Intellectual midwifery (skill): Socrates, and platonism. I talked about this before.

Syllogistic paradox (ultimate): Syllogistic paradoxes were one of my favourite things when I was studying. Syllogisms are a form of logic reasoning, which consist of two premises and one conclusion. Though the premises may be true, and though the reasoning may be sensible, at times contradictory or illogical conclusions may be reached. This is a syllogistic paradox. Why this happens is because of a myriad of reasons, like the differences between natural and logical language, or the development of theories (the paradoxes in set theory are among my favourite things ever). I personally like to draw a strong distinction between paradoxes and contradictions. Anyway, I have a lot to say about this haha In general, this is what the name of the ultimate is referencing. It works well with Ratio’s traces. It also goes well with some of the other subjects present in his characterisation, like platonism, Descartes and such; there are a lot of paradoxes that arise from many of the theories that play with such topics. I think reading Alice in Wonderland’s apparent madness through the lenses of logic makes us see that most of those incongruences are actually pretty logical; many of them iirc are syllogistic paradoxes. Carroll was a logician. I mention this because this, as well as many other ideas present in Ratio, work extremely well with Penacony.

Cogito, ergo sum (talent): this is a line by Descartes, a rationalist. This too is something that fits Penacony incredibly well. Descartes starts doubting knowledge, ends up questioning pretty much everything, establishes inspired by mathematics and logic a method of acquiring the truth, and in the research of true knowledge he starts doubting everything with a methodical doubt to be able to tell what knowledge stands after being hit by doubt, and why, and try to reconstruct knowledge from there. Ratio’s lines about “seeking answers with a negative hypothesis in mind”, “When one is immersed in academic research, scepticism comes more naturally than belief” or “Pursuit tinged with negativity is still pursuit, and it is capable of leading us to the right conclusion” reminded me of Descartes’ method. One of the steps in the process is doubting one’s own existence, but since I (pardon the “I”, but the first person is very important in Descartes) doubt, then I think, and since I think, then I exist; cogito, ergo sum. This is closely related to platonism in some senses, and while Descartes’ philosophy comes in part from a criticism of scholasticism, it still has ties to it, but Descartes was a massive breakthrough in the history of Philosophy. I also won't dwell on this, but this is fascinating imo haha

Anyway, Descartes’ doubt about the existence of reality, of the world, is heavily linked to dreams, because in dreams we believe things are real but are not, so equally we could be at every moment in a dream and not be aware of that; only the existence of oneself is clear of this doubt (Zhuangzi’s text about the butterfly plays with this too; I comment this because butterflies have appeared in Penacony and the Zhuangzi’s text seems to play in an interesting way with the concept of “I”, taking it a different route than Descartes, which is a very intriguing idea but I don’t know much of Chinese philosophy at all). The concept of simulated realities, Matrix-like settings and such, all are strongly linked to this conception of Descartes, even though similar things existed previously (such as Plato’s allegory of the cave), and this works very well with Penacony again. Obviously, Descartes’ theory is strongly dualist, and it’s even established a body-mind dualism. The idea of the ghost in the shell also comes in great part from Descartes. Descartes’ view of the body was not too unlike that of a machine.

This was in a time in which clockwork and automatons were quickly advancing and fascinating people. Physic theories started to look (even more) like clockwork, with the universe as clockwork and god as a watchmaker that put it into place and then let it run its perfect course, needing or not (depending on the theory) adjustments from the watchmaker from time to time. I said before that harmony was linked to both the cosmos and the body, with the body in part being a reflection of the cosmos, and even linked to it by the harmony of the spheres. This new way of approaching the cosmological and human issues and developing Physics still has echoes of that. Newton, who is referenced in one of Ratio’s idle animations, is one of the epitomes of this concept of the universe as clockwork. Again, I don’t know how much they’ll do with these ideas nor even if they were written on purpose, but it all works so well with Penacony it would be a pity if they did nothing with this.

Another thing I want to note about Descartes is that besides mentally detaching himself from everything while doubting in his deconstruction and construction of knowledge, seeking undoubtable truths, he famously did so physically as well for some time when he first started thinking about the matters in his Discourse on the Method one night: “having no diverting company and fortunately also no cares or emotional turmoil to trouble me”, while he “spent the whole day shut up in a small room heated by a stove, in which I could converse with my own thoughts at leisure”. This reminded me a lot of Ratio’s head and how he uses it: “with the headpiece on, isolated from my five senses, i can think without interference”, “he put on a headgear to keep away all external distractions and completely focus on thinking? Who else in the world could manage that?”.

Mold of idolatry (technique): this links mainly again to the theory of Forms of Plato, with that representation of something else that is what is real. The name of the technique and what it does works well also with the idea of idolatry, especially of idolatry of false gods, idols or even falsehood in general, and how Ratio criticises people’s blind infatuation with geniuses. It also reminds me of Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophise with a Hammer. Among other things, Nietzsche heavily criticises platonism and platonic philosophy, and mostly all western philosophers (he has kind words for Heraclitus, for instance).

Wiseman’s folly (ultimate’s effect): the idea that knowledge or beholding the truth brings to something similar to madness or ends up leading to foolishness is a very common one. Many of the Ancient Greece philosophers were said to have been extravagant. Diogenes the Cynic and Heraclitus were two such examples. Democritus was said to have plucked out his own eyes. Empedocles is said to have killed himself in a volcano. There’s Nietzsche, Georg Cantor, Kurt Gödel. It is the idea of the wise ending up being very much like the fool, but also the idea of the wise ending up losing sight of basic truths I believe, in that alienation from the world.

Know thyself (eidolon): this is what was inscribed in the temple of Apollo in Delphi I spoke of before. This is linked to Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato and platonism, of course. I think when it comes to Ratio that’s it, really. But this maxime has had a lot of implications and interpretations in different contexts and at different times. It could be seen as just a salutation, recommending temperance, the idea of knowing oneself and one’s limitations as key to succeed when approaching subjects or problems, the first step of getting to know anything at all, humans and the world being closely linked and even reflection of god so studying one helps studying the other, etc.

Vincit Omnia Veritas (eidolon): the translator says this means “eternal truth” in Chinese, which would play way better with the philosophical ideas and concepts present in Ratio while still playing with his name, “Veritas”. I won’t dwell on this because I’ve already talked about the link between eternal truths and Ratio a lot, and besides I can’t even confirm this is the true meaning because I don’t know Chinese.

Eidolon “The divine is in the details” seems to be a reference to a Chinese idiom that comes from a book. I don’t know if it has greater significance, but if anyone knows I am all ears. The other eidolons obviously work with Ratio, but I don’t see obvious philosophical influences so I’m skipping them.

Esse est percipi (ultimate line): “To be is to be perceived”. This is a line by Berkeley and linked to his philosophy. He criticises both dualism and materialism. The core idea is that the world’s existence is entirely dependent on the mind, that things don’t exist unless they are perceived and thought. His justification for one’s own existence seems to come from this perception, as Descartes’ came from thinking: “I do nevertheless know that I, who am a spirit or thinking substance, exist as certainly as I know my ideas exist”. Parmenides has a similar idea in his poem. I don’t think this was intended to be read too much into when it comes to Ratio, but I think it fits nicely with the other topics he has going on, and the dichotomy they often entail. It also works well with Ratio’s plaster head, with how he says “I don't have to set eyes on stupid people. Of course, they don't want to see me either”, with how he uses it to go unnoticed or unrecognised in both Herta’s Space Station and Penacony, and I think it could be overread or taken to more exaggerated levels in a juicy manner reading this under the notion of nothingness, mediocrity and being disregarded by Nous.

One of the listed researched achievements of Ratio is in the field of epistemology. Epistemology is the field that studies knowledge. Although studied in particular at times, it is of course often linked to ontological conceptions; all the philosophical theories I’ve stated carry with them epistemological implications as well as ontological. In one of Ratio’s character stories there’s a mention to epistemic logic which is, speaking broadly, a logical approach to the analysis of knowledge.

Another one of his listed achievements is in natural theology, which is the study of god through reason and logic instead of things such as transcendental experiences or revelations. This is very common in philosophy in general. It often has to do as well with the world as a harmonious whole, god as watchmaker/the universe as clockwork, and teleology. I will mention Newton and Darwin here because Newton is referenced in Ratio’s idle animation, and Darwin because he broke up with the teleological tradition when it came to the world. Ratio’s work is named Aeons: A Natural Phenomenon, and the title and its description, how its “Aeon non-theism”, makes it seem to me like he wrote of Aeons as if they were just another form of life or something that pertains to nature itself and not detached from it, which although very different from Darwin’s ideas did remind me of how he dismissed teleology in nature. This also clearly links, in my opinion, to Ruan Mei.

Other than that I also want to note Ratio’s final speech to Screwllum about inspiring doubt and scepticism when it comes to established ideas and geniuses. It reminded me of Socrates, how he was said to have “perverted” youth inspiring all that questioning among other things. It reminded me of Nietzsche, how he fervently encouraged individuals to use critical thinking, question dogmas and preconceived ideas they could have, and come up with their own conclusions that does not mean necessarily negating absolutely everything they held true before the questioning (this exchange between Screwllum and Ratio: “Screwllum: «You wish to uproot the researchers' blind worship of geniuses». Dr. Ratio: «I am only laying out my questions».”). It also pointedly reminded me of Kant's “Sapere aude!”, “Dare to know!”, and his text What Is Enlightenment?, in which among other things Kant talks about the lack of courage, not of intellect, of people to think for themselves, how humanity lives in a constant immaturity or adolescence of the mind, and urges them to get out of that state, to dare to know. Kant was greatly influenced by rationalism but said to have awaken from the rationalist slumber thanks to empiricism; the plays on rationalism and empiricism, deduction and induction, and the presence of idealism in the rest of Ratio’s writing as well as this fervent push for people to snap out of their lack of criticism and dare to think for themselves are what made me think of Kant here.

There’s more things to talk about Ratio, like his view on mediocrity and geniuses, and how that view is constructed and described in traces through fragments in his lore, the character stories, snippets of conversations; how he seems to be so similar in character and drive to geniuses, but never accepted as one, and how he is regarded as very different and eccentric by “normal” people, even in the Guild. In short, how he is detached from both the “normal” people and geniuses, like suspended between both states without being either completely, and how it makes so much sense in this context that he tries to breach the rift between both. I couldn’t help but mention this, to avoid forgetting this aspect of his characterisation in the future, but I won’t dwell on this because it isn’t really directly linked to any philosophical influence that I can think of.

I think this is it. Hopefully I didn’t forget anything important. And I’m sorry it is so long, but I really tried to summarise. As I said, I may well be reading too much into some of these things, but I also think that since Ratio plays with many of the core authors and concepts in the history of western philosophy, some things I expect were not intended by the writers still are present somewhat, because mentioning this or that thing alongside this or that other thing ends up having implications if you know a bit of the context.

I hope this was clear enough. However, I can try to explain myself better or further if I wasn’t. Philosophy may look unapproachable and dry at times at first, but it really isn't, it just needs one to get accustomed to some basic terminology, and it becomes fascinating and beautiful, and lifechanging haha. I would love it if Ratio is making people get a little bit more invested or interested in it, or open to explore it. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a good place to check the main ideas, texts and authors that may spike someone’s interest if anyone wants to read further about anything I've said or compare sources, but tbh I think even Wikipedia can be useful with getting a first feel of some basic ideas to know what to look for. And although I am not an authority or the most trustworthy source at all, I will help as best as I can if someone reading this has any further question. I recommend reading the texts firsthand though, with historical context in mind and footnotes perhaps if possible, and making one's own mind about everything.

#Dr. Ratio #Veritas Ratio #Ratio #Dr Ratio #Honkai Star Rail #Sorry for all the tags but I want to try to reach the person who asked this since it's been some time #If you are still around and see this I would appreciate confirmation that you saw it just to ease my mind a bit xD #Ratio fits Penacony so much I hope they do something with it #I talk too much #I should probably delete this later #And reread it just to make sure everything is alright after copypasting the text to tumblr #Traces

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that-one-i-think · 1 month

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Someone DM'd me an said that my Liochant reminds them a lot more of Dev Patel in the Green Knight and how they are both equally as anxious and I cannot unsee it. (They also pointed out the fact that the previous Liochant image looked older than Garroth) So I had to change all my moodboards. Thank you anon who doesn't want their name broadcasted so I am awkwardly acknowledging you here!

Honestly, this does look better because now Liochant actually looks younger than Garroth and not older. I also get the weird Green Knight kick expressed so a win is a win.

#aphblr #aphmau #aphverse #garroth #oc #aphmau mcd #mcd

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riverwithoutbanks · 1 month

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Since we’re doing s16 wish lists, here’s what I wanna see (in no particular order except for the first one):

Reunion episode(s). Can take up to three episodes because I’m okay with suffering. There are several ways this could go and I have a couple fics on the back burner about it so I won’t elaborate.

Beach episode: they planned to spend a few days near the sea, but a case falls on their laps. Dean is in denial and just wants to chill. The universe seems to be on his side as every time something supernatural happens, he barely misses it (think Linda from Phineas and Ferb). Cas, Sam, and Eileen are slowly losing it, being bullied by a giant squid. Dean is in a long chair, reading Vogue, and sipping Piña Coladas. Jack pops by and goes ‘wow, you guys look like shit!!’ (Dean fell asleep and got a massive sunburn).

Weekend at Bobby’s but Cas, and more comedic. I want this one to expose the shit out of the brothers. Have them be in a middle of a tiff and make it everyone’s problem. Point of the episode being, Cas loves them (especially Dean) a lot. But sometimes he wants to throttle them.

Bittersweet episode about aging. I’m thinking parallels with a monster/human relationship and hunters who got out. Saileen talking about having/adopting children question mark. Potentially dismissed after hearing Dean and Claire having a row whilst Cas tries to defuse the situation (he makes it worse).

Theee Destiel episode (they’re all more or less destiel but this is the big one. Can take place during the reunion arc). They talk about it ™️. It can last the whole season as long as they end up in a relationship by the end. I’m not particularly into domestic portrayals (nothing against them, just not my cuppa tea) so you can make the drama last. Especially if it’s getting on everyone’s nerves.

Oblivious Sam. ‘He meant as a friend, right? 😀🌸’. Would be especially funny if Dean is trying to talk about it but Sam is just not computing. Especially especially funny if he tries to defend their friendship being all like ‘yeah they’re weird but you’re an arsehole for assuming that there’s something more!!’. Dean and Cas look like they were dragged through a hedge backward and mugged by a pack of clowns. Turns out Sam’s right in the end, they weren’t doing anything YET. But now that he has contemplated the possibility, he can’t unsee it. To be continued

Continuation of the previous episode. Sam is looking for a memory erasing spell because he just CANNOT with those star crossed losers. He find Naomi’s… what the fuck was her lobotomy stuck, anyway? Some kind of sonic screwdriver? Moving on, he realises it’s been used recently (traces of grace or whatever, pick your poison. The magic system doesn’t make any sense anyway). Oops :) looks like someone has been messing with them. Wait. Wasn’t there someone else? Where’s Eileen?

The Big Bad. I love me some Chuck won and possessed Jack so it would go in that direction. The sonic screwdriver was in the bunker because Eileen caught Chuck!Jack’s new creation fucking with their brains. I wish it could be a cool uncanny monster, but let’s be real it will probably be just some dude ™️. She walked in on it lobotomising Cas (because it’s iconic<3) and tries to fight the thing off. Epic and terrifying chase scene through the bunker, especially since Eileen can’t hear the creature. She hides in a room where they keep spell ingredients and finds Sam’s conveniently placed recipe for calling Rowena. You can figure out the rest.

[end of part 1]

#might add to this post later #I have to study now #spn #destiel #supernatural #spn s16 ideas #for later

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havinghorns · 5 months

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I've thought a while about the anon ask who asked stuff about passing and "posing like a girl" (and you pondered after it what specificly are the things that would make you or someone not pass as a man)

I hope this does not cause you distress, but I think its something fundamental about the shape of your face and shape of your body from head to toe that in many peoples minds must clock you as a "woman", and sometimes posing and feminine things emphasize that. Some roundness in shapes and proportions that human brain cannot really unsee.

Which is fine I mean I do still see your style and how you express yourself and the way you look as very gay and masculine. If I didnt know better and just saw some picture, I'd propably think you are a really muscular gay woman. There are some pictures where Id propably say I am looking at a man.

There are some things we are born with that we cannot escape, some people who transition have more passing looks than others from the beginning. I dont know if you pass as a man in your daily life or not and will or can it change or not but what I do want to say is that either way you are really cool, dont let those things ever get in the way of your art and self expression and you being you. I know dysphoria and the pain and anxiety it causes wont just magically disappear like that but I'm still going to tell you that youre great as you are.

I guess this is hardly an "ask" but something that has lived in my brain for days.

I gotta say Anon, I'm not...entirely sure why you sent this? Like it's not hurtful but I also don't really understand the point. I feel vaguely patronized here but I'm going to just assume the best that you're...trying to help?

I mean...yea I know that LOL. I'm not delusional--I'm 5'4", I have a very round face and big legs, a high voice and a not particularly butch way of standing/walking/emoting/speaking. People just day-to-day probaby do often see me as a muscular woman, and like, if it's not someone that I need to interact with regularly, that's fine, who cares? It hurts no one (not even me, really)

When I say I'm interested in the things about me that maybe read as more masculine/feminine, it's not like...so I can change these things, or even to really identify them for myself. I just think it's interesting on like, a social level. Like at a certain point it's hilariously reductive--literally nothing else I've done has changed "ma'am" to "sir" then cutting my hair really short because that's just how society's brain is wired. But I like long hair so...it stays.

Any interest in "passing" really comes down to being vaguely masc enough that all the dudes trying so hard to keep their eyes on their own dick in the restroom don't catch enough femme vibes out of the corner of their vision to start a fight TBH.

And uh. Yeah no it hasn't stopped my self-expression or art or anything for...yeah 35 years now so I think we're good?

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sofoulandfairaday · 10 months

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I LOVE LOVE LOVE your hc posts, do you have any for Our Lord (Voldemort) and Saviour?

I don't know who you are, so I cannot give you credit, but Our Lord Voldemort and Saviour is not only now mineTM but also the title of a future fic. I will make it the title of a future fic. It's possibly the best thing I've ever heard.

A bit of a kleptomaniac (I think this is canon, actually). He wills himself to stop, but the urge to take take take still remains strong in him. He steals at Wools, he steals at Hogwarts from the purses of boys too rich to notice, he steals ancient artefacts around the world in his travels, he steals other people's wives (yes, yours, Rod).

He wasn't well-liked initially at Hogwarts (poor mudbloods usually aren't) and graduated as the most popular boy in Slytherin. He managed to master the perfect, intoxicating, charismatic personality that allowed him to rule his first followers by both fear and love; he would shed the latter when he switched to Death Eaters.

Inferiority Complex the size of the sun (this is also canon); the same can be said for his Superiority Complex.

He doesn't really believe in pureblood superiority. Of course, he despises Muggles and Mudbloods, but he doesn't do it for blood, he does what he does for power. Anyone who says differently fundamentally misunderstands his character. There is no one in his life he doesn't see as a tool or a pawn. He is fond of people but it will never be unconditional. This is also a dealbreaker in reading about him: when he does something that goes against his best interests for someone else it immediately screams OOC.

Following this point, my headcanon is that he murdered most of his former classmates. They all die suspiciously young, and the closer they were to him, the earlier they were offed. This is what happened to Rodolphus and Rabastan's father (they were none the wiser), Evan Rosier's uncle (he wasn't either), Orion Black (who already had one foot in the grave after Reggie's death) and many many more.

The wizard closest to him in his later years (the beginning of the First Wizarding War) and right-hand man was Antonin Dolohov, the only one who was there for part of his travels and who he met in Eastern Europe. He was already Lord Voldemort then.

This title was later snatched by Bellatrix Black Lestrange, the only true Dark Arts protégée he ever had.

However, he did enjoy teaching. He had various pupils, during the years, to whom he taught something of his own. Especially during the last years of the First War, he grew close to his younger recruits. Whereas his old classmates could never fully unsee the Tom Riddle behind Lord Voldemort, his younger Death Eaters (Severus Snape, Barty Crouch) were desperate for his approval, fierce, and brilliant. (The same qualities he had found in Bellatrix some years prior.) This is why they became his favourites. People who, like him, were hungry and misunderstood and had a rawness that his pampered, aristocratic “friends” had never possessed.

Where did he go during his travels? Where didn't he go during his travels. Anything written by @ meanwhiletimely's Vagaries and Vagrants is canon to me, but also: Italy, Egypt, Russia, Greece, Persia, Germany, and many more. He wreaked havoc everywhere (I have a cute little story in the works). He fled before they could get to him, but he is effectively banned from a dozen countries.

I, for one, am not a believer in the Lestranges' divorce in a hypothetical Voldemort!wins AU. He wouldn't marry Bellatrix ever, he also wouldn't want her to divorce Rodolphus, because having Madame Lestrange is far more appealing to him than having Miss Black. With the former, he is taking away what is someone else's. It's just better that way.

Is he straight, gay, bi? Ace? I used to see him as ace, actually. But then someone pointed out to me this enlightening quote: “Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power.” And I thought bingo. So I would say bi, leaning towards women, because he was raised in a Muggle possibly Christian orphanage in the 1930s. Homosexuality only became legal in the UK in 1967. But he would do anything and I mean anything to get what he wants, so... He's def done it before.

Also: Religious Trauma. Was definitely dragged kicking and screaming to a priest for an exorcism, maybe more than once.

Alphard Black liked him, then was turned off by the fact that he was very clearly EvilTM. Also, he did have sex with his cousin Lucretia or, as Walburga put it, defiled her with his Halfblood touch.

Very Thin. Also, less and less attractive every year. He used to look like a Greek god pre-Horcrux, but I don't see him wanting to be that at forty. He's vain, but not in that sense. He hates his Muggle father's Muggle face. Also covered in scars (some from the physical punishments at the orphanage, some from his experiments with dark magic). Actually carless with his body, which is only a mere vessel for the soul anyway.

This is getting a little long, and I do have an exam tomorrow so I'll leave it at that, but I will probably do a part 2. Now that I'm re-reading it is all sounds pretty vague.

#lord voldemort #tom marvolo riddle #answered #asks #headcanons

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corpus-chorus · 2 months

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Hi there! I hope its not too random,i was Always curious to hear if you had favorite hcs regarding mark egos ?

so it's been straight up three months since you sent this and i have once again let an ask I really wanted to answer fester in my inbox for way too long.

Gonna put this one under a read more outta courtesy :]

Okay, but headcanons! I actually don't have a huge amount, since I tend to lean towards strictly canon or just exploring different ideas rather than having specific hcs. But for a few:

Illinois is ace or aroace. I don't remember who I first saw say it right after Heist came out, but I mentioned it to my (ace) wife as an example of what a headcanon was 'cause she didn't really understand them. And then she got really invested in it and now I just have an attachment to it lol. But just, I love the suave, sexy, put together stereotypical adventure hero who's very aware of his charm and sex appeal just having . . . zero interest in pursuing it. The whole "married to the work" and especially the line "Sorry if you fell in love with me - they always do". It just makes me happy lol.

Dark isn't anywhere near as strong as he pretends to be. I was such a Dark whore in like 2017/2018, but the more time I spent exploring him as a character, the more he really started to shape into this manipulative posturing thing, and I just really like the idea of him not actually being that strong. So much of his position and "strength" comes from his reputation and image instead of things he's actually done. And even if he is still strong, he'd be disincentivize to show off just how strong, since others being afraid of how strong he might be based off rumor and image is better than someone realizing they might be stronger than him. Idk if that makes any sense, but god I just love the idea of all of Dark being a lie XD

Bim Trimmer is a cannibal. I literally cannot unsee this one. This motherfucker just has teeth filed to points in my head and eats people. Zero idea why, that's just . . . that's just his entire character to me. Markipler-flavored Hannibal Lector.

#ryo rambles #markiplier egos #headcanon #idk man i've never been much of an hc person myself #but there are a few things that just live rent free in my head #headsquatters if you will #ryo's writing rambles

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nellieofthevalley · 4 months

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Uhhhhh List of actors I see as certain killer frequency characters. Not all of them because I only have a couple face claims

I dont know a lot of actors because most times I just enjoy the movies instead of paying attention to a lot of the names behind them, which may be an issue but Unless im really into something I typically just enjoy it and move on.

I also know some of these people are kind of obscure, I watch a lot of Random movies and shows and sort of just picked up characters that immediately made me think of killer frequency characters.

Marie Campbell- Jodhi May, I feel like she could perfectly portray maries sort of character well especially after her performance as Queen calanthe! Shes really good at showing off female rage and I think that she would really shine if she put herself “under the mask” hehe.

Sandra Sharpe - Cara Buono, Im sorry Ive always seen Sandra as looking kind of like Mikes mom in stranger things. It just works for her so well that I cant help it.

Henry Barrow - Finn wolfhard. I really hate giving this kid anyone conventionally attractive but I honestly think that it could work for him- so I wanted to settle for someone relatively younger. I almost chose James Russell because of his performance in “the boy” but I think he looks a little too old for Henry.

Carrie - Young Winona Ryder. I say young winona ryder simply because the second I heard Carrie speak for the first time my first thought went to ‘Veronica Sawyer’ from heathers. I feel like after her performance as Veronica she could make a really good Carrie. I could also see Tessa Thompson making a PERFECT Carrie after Her performance in annihilation.

Peggy Weaver - this one was really hard, Peggy I personally cant see as white, But Mariecampbellenjoyer pointed out as well that her canon design looks a lot like Ellen Ripley from alien. Now I cannot unsee her as young Sigourney Weaver, But if I were to choose someone else I think America Ferrera, she has peggys face and I think could really pull off her positive attitude!

Teddy Gallows JR II- Toby Regbo, That man can play a woman hater so well and I saw it in the last kingdom. He also has a good face for teddy, and with a new haircut I honestly think that it could work pretty well. Honestly the guy is just so good at playing male characters that are JERKS to women.

Forrest Nash - Would yall be mad if I said David Harbour? I feel like He usually plays big tough chatacters but I would honestly adore seeing him as forrest. I think that he just fits the role of forrest really really well.

#killer frequency #marie campbell #the whistling man #henry barrow #sandra sharpe #carrie #peggy weaver #teddy gallows jr #Forrest nash #I couldnt sleep so I did this instead #I have an hour long road trip tomorrow and school #im so tired

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jazzy-mass · 2 years

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Okay okay so

I've seen some posts about this -

Specifically this post

And it talks about how that panel looks like the three of swords. Which if you don't know the meaning, the original poster does a good job with that.

But someone else pointed something out to me that I think is very important

It's not just a three of swords. That's a freaking Tower. In most depictions of the Tower, there is a foundation, a crumbling tower, and something that strikes it, usually lighting or fire.

This is the card of extreme change. It's an upheaval, something that shakes the foundation with sudden clarity or loss. It can often mean a loss of a loved one, a job, catastrophy like huge disasters. It can also mean a complete shift in perspective or an awakening to something you've never thought before. Essentially, some foundation is weak and needs to be torn down so something new can take form.

Take from this what you will, but I cannot unsee it now that it's been pointed out to me. We absolutely know that whether Bakugou makes it or not, this moment is going to absolutely shake Izuku and Bakugou to their cores.

I for one cannot wait to see what is built after the rubble clears.

#bakudeku #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bakugou katsuki #bnha spoilers #bnha 367 #mha spoilers #listen i have a somewhat basic understanding of tarot #but oddly enough i know these two almost by heart #bkdk #midoriya izuku #horikoshi is really just hammering that in there huh

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aprillikesthings · 3 months

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I had originally promised msyelf I wouldn't live-tweet or live-blog my rewatch of she-ra (mostly bc it will make it take FOREVER to watch the whole thing) but...fuck it

THIS IS A REWATCH. I've forgotten plenty of it, but I still remember plenty too, and that's all going to bias how I react to things, and obviously there will be spoilers, and also I don't plan to react to EVERYTHING bc it would just take too long okay? okay

Edit: ....yeah this took me nearly two hours for one episode oops

First of all let me point out how hilarious it is to me that when scrolling back through my tags I found myself posting MULTIPLE TIMES that I wanted to write the kind of fic I'm working on but knew I'd need to rewatch the whole series to do it right and now FOUR YEARS LATER I'm finally giving up and doing it.

why am i like this lol

ANYWAY

NETFLIX IT HAS BEEN A COUPLE OF YEARS and I know he's legally changed his name WHY is Nate/ND's old name still on here

THat's....that's Angella. That's a terrible propaganda poster of Angella. I'm cracking up how did I not notice that before

Okay the very first time Adora says Catra's name I lol'ed bc I've watched this fanvid (which came out after s2) a truly bananapants number of times and it's just what I immediately thought of

youtube

I started reading a fic recently that I couldn't get into and gave up on, but it pointed out something that seems OBVIOUS NOW: the reason the Horde is all children/teenagers is like, the whole "destroying the villages of Etheria" thing. Just slaughtering the parents and stealing the kids.

Then again maybe they said that in canon and I forgot. Dumb shit like that is of course why I'm rewatching.

Someone pointed out that both Adora and Catra obviously have ADHD and I cannot unsee it

I mean yeah that's...that's her entire motivation

(I mean not quite in the way Adora means it here but)

I will never, ever be over how fast this show started baiting them as a pairing. I remember the first time I watched the first episodes saying "the people who made this came from fandom and they know exactly how to get us."

Catra nails Shadow Weaver's motivation--"She's just mad she doesn't have any real power that doesn't come from Hordak and everyone knows it." And then calls Adora a "people-pleaser." She's not wrong.

Like, Catra understands the motivations etc of everyone but herself

(...something something abused children something C-PTSD something hypervigilance)

Catra's tail swishing just like a real cat's does when angry is A+

Re: stealing the skiff: Catra's supposed to be the one with bad impulse control but Adora is just as bad!! (it's the ADHD)

...pulling a random pretty sword out of the ground that's lit up like a quest in a video game is also poor impulse control lollll

I still crack up at this one and am still surprised I haven't read a fic that makes a big deal out of hair-pulling

Bow folding up random laundry on the floor and asking where it goes while talking to Glimmer is some nice early character-building. "This boy is not a sexist douchebag."

I mean the outfit helps too lol

Okay so on the one hand I know character age wank is fucking stupid, but also I get why people were like "...are these all minors or what" considering Glimmer's being grounded and then arguing with her mom like a high-schooler. My own parents (who were more controlling than most) stopped actually "grounding" me once I was 18--they just forbid me from using the car for anything but work or school because they owned it. Which is why they owned the car. Anyway.

(True story: that was their punishment for me getting bad grades at community college, and my response to this was to quit school, buy my own car, and move in with my then-boyfriend's family)

I wonder if Adora running off to do things on her own in order to attempt to protect people she cares about without asking them if that's even something they want her to do will be a continuing theme for her 🤔

omg the way they did her eyes/face makes Glimmer look so fucking creepy here

SO MUCH HAIR-PULLING poor Adora

I FORGET WHAT THIS SAYS I know it's an actual "alphabet" and people get tattoos and shit

(so, SO many tattoos of the failsafe...)

(okay but let's be honest a tattoo of the failsafe from the last episode is a really great way of finding other nerdy sapphics, they'd be the only ones to recognize it)

This is kinda heavy-handed ("don't just believe everything authority figures tell you, kids!") but also this show was aimed at like 12-year-olds so

Yeah this absolutely reminds me of conversations I've had over multiple decades about LGBT people and how people who know us as friends, coworkers, neighbors; realize we're Just People and are less likely to be dicks to us--not always, but often. Adora has never met a princess, so it was easy for the Horde to convince her they're all evil.

OH MAN this scene reminds me SO MUCH of the one in Arcane where Ekko is talking to Caitlyn about how Piltover/the Enforcers are fucking over the people of Zaun/the Undercity

Yeah good lord I could do a line-by-line dialogue comparison.

"Woman who has always been on the side of what she thought was The Law finds out everything she's ever known is a fucking lie and actually, she's been part of a force oppressing and destroying other people and immediately wants to fix things"

*squints at Caitlyn and Adora*

We never do find out who Grayskull is, but that's because Netflix doesn't have the rights to the He-Man stuff, and I admit this was probably the best way to keep She-Ra's signature line without getting into that

OKAY FIRST EP OVER omg

#april rewatches spop #there I have a tag #Youtube

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dragons-bones · 2 years

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FFXIV Write Entry #26: Toi Toi Toi

Prompt: break a leg || Master Post || On AO3

Rereha clutched at her face, golden eyes wide and unseeing, and chanted, “What am I doing what am I doing what am I doing—”

Rerenasu adjusted the glittering jeweled pins in his daughter’s rose hair a final time, ensuring the emeralds and yellow diamonds would catch the light just so. “You are doing a recital that you have been practicing for for the past six sennights,” he said fondly.

“What idiot said I was ready?!”

“Your music tutor.”

“Why did I listen to him?!”

“Because normally you have the self-confidence of a mediocre princeling who believes he’s Hydaelyn’s gift to economics.”

“Papa,” Rereha said, appalled, even as she couldn’t help but grin, forced from her panic by his ridiculousness.

“Rereha,” her father said in a similar tone.

Rereha groaned, covering her face with her hands now. “I cannot believe I agreed to this,” she moaned.

Her father scoffed and grasped her wrists, gently pulling her hands away. “You’ll do just fine,” he said. “You’ve been practicing nonstop. And you’ve performed in front of people before.”

“You and mom and Granny and Synnove and Heron and the twins don’t count!”

“Sure we do,” Papa said, easy as you please. “And we’re all in the front row, so you can just focus on us, hm?”

The bustle of backstage was increasing, and her father glanced over at the nearest chronometer. He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Time for me to go,” he said. “You’ll be amazing.”

Rereha took a deep breath, wiping her sweaty hands on her dress, not watching her dad leave because otherwise she’d run after him and bawl, and bobbed and wove her way through the crowd of conservatory students performing tonight alone or in duets or quartets towards the stage. A curious peak through the curtain during a lull in performances had her yanking the cloth closed again—too many people, was half the damned Diamond District here?! Oh Thal’s balls, is that someone in the royal box?! Is the sultana here?!

She hurried back to her little corner of the chaos to clutch her violin case and stare blankly at her music sheet. Like the little idiot she was, she had agreed to go last; her tutor had finagled it, as even though she wasn’t a formal conservatory student, he said she was one of the finest talents in the city, if not all of Thanalan, and the final performance of the night was reserved for the best student. Her ego had loved that bit of news earlier in the sennight, but now the thought of it just made her want to be sick, because it meant she had to wait.

Still, if Papa had left, that likely meant she should be up soon. Ish.

Fuck.

Rereha put her head between her knees and struggled to breathe.

She had mostly pulled herself together and was sitting upright when an attendant came by, gently touching her on the shoulder to get her attention. “Five minutes,” the Hellsguard said kindly.

Rereha gave her a weak smile, and hopped down from her seat to open her instrument case. Her violin gleamed in the backstage lighting, and her bow was freshly rosined, and she knew she knew her music forward and back and everything in between, so no point dawdling. She checked her hair pins, and straightened her dress, and picked up her violin and bow, and off she went.

Another attendant pointed to her waiting place as she came up to the stage, and gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. (She’d give everyone credit, even though she was one of the private students, everyone had been stupidly kind to her tonight. But a scared thirteen-year-old is a scared thirteen-year-old no matter what, she guessed.) Rereha blew out a heavy breath and bounced on her toes, and then the string quartet was walking off stage, and her name was being called.

She straightened her spine, and didn’t bother to put on a smile—her tutor had told her that her posture was more important than her expression. If she could walk with confidence, the rest would follow. So, she put one foot in front of the other, again and again, and bloody damn well faked confidence until she came to center stage and stared out across the hall.

With the way everything was lit, she couldn’t actually see from this spot, and she realized what a blessing that was. But she could see the front row, and just like Papa promised, everyone was there.

Heron and Synnove and her baby twin sisters, Ruruha and Roroha, all gave her two thumbs up and giant, toothy grins. So did Granny Rerema, though her grin was sporting significantly less teeth. And Mama and Papa both beamed at her, with Mama blowing her a kiss.

All of the tension suddenly bled from Rereha’s shoulders, and she took another bracing breath. All right. Cool. Neat. Awesome.

She could do this.

Rereha tucked her violin beneath her chin, set bow to strings—and played.

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#ffxivwrite2022 #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #oc: rereha reha #dt's writing #i promise this is not three days in a row of crying #:D

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destinyc1020 · 2 years

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Destiny I love the fact that you're balanced and make sense, but you have to concede of those 8 films/series you posted, 3 are wholly British productions. They are with fully British (or Irish in Saoirse's case) productions made in England with fully British crews (Lady Macbeth, Emma, Mary Queen of Scots). And shading Saoirse who made her film (not Disney TV) debut at 11 and was nominated for an Oscar at 13, so you cannot equivocate someone with that much experience with Z who has simply not had the same experience or worked on non-US productions. Z chose to go the dance/sing/model/Disney route without having left Disney until Spider-Man. And you can't say "she didn't get Black Widow" because she was already in the MCU.

I fully accept that racism exists, but Z would never have got the same chances at Saorise, Florence and Anya because she is American, and because the UK industry is smaller, but with a major number of successful productions. And they can also do American accents. Those UK/Ireland girls didn't start working in the US until they had big UK portfolios under their belts.

So all I am asking is to be reasonable because there are a lot of false equivalences here ... although Z could have done a brilliant Lady Bird, now I can't unsee that!

I was mainly pointing out the fact that here are some of Z's peers who have already had leading roles in several films...many of which are critically-acclaimed.

And I wasn't "shading" Saoirse at all. I like her as an actress! 😅 She's very talented! I've been knowing of Saoirse since "Atonement". But yea, there are tons of films (even American ones) that a lot of these other actresses have had the privilege of doing over the years that more than likely don't get passed across Z's desk.

With regards to Marvel, my main point was Florence got a pretty major supporting role playing opposite Scarlet Johannsen, and is yes, in a Marvel film as well, but isn't just regulated to playing "the girlfriend". That was my main point. She also got way more screen time. But if you want me to compare Z with more American actresses... Okay... Let's do that shall we??

Shhhhhooot...I'll even go younger.... 😅🤣

I mean...the list goes on and on and ON....

Idk how much more I have to say? I don't think woc in Hollywood are given the same amount of opportunities as their white female counterparts, but hey, feel free to believe whatever you want! 🤷

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the-cloudy-dreamer · 1 year

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What about 2, 7, 9, 13, 17, 19 and 20 for Violence Asks??

My friend, my beautiful server-wife you really ASKED all of the questions, huh?? Took me a while but here are my dubious answers! Thanks for sending them 🖤

2- A compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

My favorite is Orpheus and I consider him my son —so I’ll retain a mother’s prerogative of NOT knowing if their children fuck! let my OG Greek blorbo be please 🙏

7- What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Now this is an easy answer for me and that answer is Corinthian.

Listen, he is a good character! I do get the appeal, I do! unfortunately in the early days of this fandom I ran into some Corintheus fics some which I read out of curiosity and there was this one in particular that triggered me very badly all because of lack of proper tags on it.

So quick PSA—please, please tag your stuff properly specially if you are going to add r*ape or any sort of non-con elements to your fics!

Ever since then I keep away from anything that heavily involves Corinthian as a character. And developed a quick recoil response to anything Corinthian related.

13-worst blorboficiation

Dream of the Endless—any facets of him! I won’t comment further as to not dwell on spoiler territory but maybe add some respect to the King of Nightmares and make him a bit less pathetic sad little meow meow? He is a big boy I get the whumpification of his character specially post fish bowl but I think there’s a line between “I went through something traumatic and I’m living one day at a time” into “helpless victim will never be capable of ever doing anything beyond their trauma” and that I dislike!

17- there should be more of this type of fic/art

Sandman is a story about stories so I would love to see not necessarily shippy stuff but more things inspired by larger narratives if that makes sense!

And Mythology we need much more of this. AND of Orpheus! Please give my son the love that he deserves.

19-you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Someone pointed out at the Dreamling Nation Server that BDSM is sex for autistic people and I cannot unsee that about myself now.

Am I ashamed though? No. Please give me all the gentle dom! hob fics I don’t care.

20-part of canon you found tedious or boring

Nothing comes to mind right now I think the day I truly become bored will be the day I stopped being an active participant in fandom and I don’t see that happening any time soon!

#ask game #sandman meta sort of?#thanks for the ask friend!

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ladyfenring · 2 years

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and now for something completely different

for @aadmelioraa

Aldhelm barely has time to register the blood-soaked body on the ground before he sees movement out of the corner of his eye; when he looks up, he sees an all-too-familiar cloak whipping over a rooftop, followed by a pair of feet.

The teenage boy on the ground groans, stirring feebly in the pool of his own blood.

The bloody fool didn’t finish him off. He never does. He’s too impatient. There might be a chance for the boy’s survival…but if he does live, he’ll tell someone what happened, and Aldhelm simply isn’t willing to risk it.

He takes out his knife, gingerly avoiding the puddle of blood.

“Sorry about this,” he sighs, pushing the knife into the boy’s throat.

The boy goes still, his eyes staring, unseeing, into the distance, and Aldhelm steps back, wiping his knife on the boy’s shirt before he tucks it back into his belt. Heaving another sigh, he mutters, “Damn it, Aethelred,” and takes off in the direction he’d seen the vampire crawling in his lizard fashion.

He finds another victim on Piccadilly, and another on Pall Mall, both of whom require Aldhelm’s dispatching; certain now of his quarry, he forces his screaming knees and gasping lungs to keep going until he’s in the heart of St. James’s Park, where he finds Aethelred feasting on a man faintly moaning in distress.

Aldhelm wheezes as he catches up with the vampire, trying to catch his breath. “Aethelred, you cannot simply feed on people as you please, this is the nineteenth century. These feeding sprees of yours are all over the papers–”

Aethelred releases the man roughly, letting him fall to the ground with a small wail. The vampire raises his arm, wiping the blood from his fangs with his sleeve. “You know perfectly well that I need to feed or else I’ll starve, Aldhelm. If you would just bring me victims I wouldn’t have to go out and hunt–”

“I’m not going to do that, you know how I feel about delivering up people just for you to kill,” Aldhelm said irritably. “It would feel like I was the one killing them.”

“I don’t always kill the ones I feed on,” Aethelred pointed out.

“No, you just leave them on the street for me to finish off, lest they tell someone what they saw, and then we’re both done for! I’m getting too old for this, Aethelred.”

“I have offered to make you a vampire, you know. Then you wouldn’t get old.”

“And I’ve told you why I won’t do that.”

The man on the ground moans.

“Why aren’t you dead yet?!” Aethelred demands. “Aldhelm, finish him.”

Aldhelm heaves a sigh, drawing his knife. “You are done for, my friend,” he tells the man on the ground, sliding his knife into his throat. “As we may all be done for.”

“You’re so melodramatic,” Aethelred scoffs. “I don’t–”

“Oi!”

They both look up and see a wide-eyed constable take in the dead body on the ground, the knife in Aldhelm’s hand, and the pair of them standing over the dead man. The constable’s wide eyes get even wider as he opens his mouth to shout for help.

“Damn it,” Aldhelm whispers.

Aethelred is on the constable in an instant, fangs sinking into the man’s neck and silencing him permanently. The constable sinks to the ground, twitching as Aethelred drinks.

But before he’s killed the man, he sits up, wiping his mouth.

“What are you doing?!” Aldhelm hisses. “Of all the people you’ve fed on tonight, you can’t let this one live to tell the tale!”

“I know, but…I’m full,” Aethelred says pathetically.

Aldhelm grips a handful of Aethelred’s golden curls, pulling his head back so Aethelred can see that he means business. “You are going to finish your meal or else.”

Aethelred’s pupils are blown wide–the only sign Aldhelm has that his words have landed, since the undead Aethelred has no pulse and no breath. He licks his fangs, giving a small nod; once Aldhelm has released him, he lowers his head to the constable’s neck, his eyes locked with Aldhelm’s.

#i don't know #aldred #aldhelm x aethelred #the last kingdom #fic by me

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nek-ros · 2 years

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kinda wanna say shit about cookie run kingdom character design for absolutely no reason

#someone pointed out that espresso's cape has 2 different patterns on the inside of his collar and cape #and now i cannot unsee this and it bothers me

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