#zero sum game makes everyone lose

[tawdrytalk]

A Proposal to Solve the Pronoun Culture Battle

I was thinking the other day that there are already gender-neutral second person singular pronouns in modern (if archaic) English: thee, thou, thy, thine, and singular ye. I propose we make a serious effort and bring them back.

Even though they are not used in everyday speech often, people still understand them almost intuitively.

Usage

Thee - means singular you, her, or him as the subject of a sentence: I give thee thy book.

Thou - informal singular you, she, or he as the object of a sentence: Thou have/has many of thine odds and ends strewn about!

Thy - singular possessive pronoun as your, her, or his when preceding a word stating with a consonant: Thy nose is warty and misshapen, ye varlet!

Thine - singular possessive pronoun for words starting with a vowel: I dream of thine eyes of tawny gold, so bright and beautiful are they.

Ye - singular or plural second person form of you - Fly thee away, ye scalawag, before thy buttocks be thoroughly kicked!

You - formal singular or plural pronoun as the subject of a sentence. You are the Mayor of Burgerville, Mayor McCheese. Thank you for your efforts to build this community library! This use as formal will probably be disregarded, but that’s the historical context.

Your - formal singular or plural possessive pronoun: get off my lawn, you cretinous urchins; your lawn darts are ruining my daffodils!

She, He - gendered second person singular pronouns. S/he has been dancing on the roof in the rain; I hope she doesn’t fall off!

Me - first person as object: Jennifer threw the football in a perfect spiral to me; thirty meters is an amazing distance!

My, Mine - first person possessive pronouns where the next word starts with a consonant or vowel respectively: my book was sitting upon mine octagonal coffee table. I know this an archaic usage, but it would bookend with thy and thine nicely.

Just as an aside, mine and my had also been used as thine and thy had been used: before vowel led or consonant led words.

In my opinion, the gendered pronouns would eventually be used less frequently eventually, because in most instances, the gender of the person is not relevant. That would probably take a generation or two to come to fruition.

So, we have: I, me, my, mine, she, her, hers, he him, his, thou, thee, thy, thine, ye, you, your, yours, they, them, theirs.

This also solves the problem of singular they referring to a known individual, although it will still be used to refer to singular and plural unknown persons and known and unknown things.

There, I’ve solved the pronoun problem!

#pronouns #gender-neutral pronouns #culture wars #compromise #lovingkindness #trans rights are human rights #queer rights are human rights #language #linguistics #nerding out #love your neighbor #zero sum game makes everyone lose #zero sum game #smash the patriarchy

[gretel-moonlit]

the ADHD Celeste post

I've been thinking about making this post for ages so I thought I'd finally give it to you all

this post is absolutely a disorganized mess but I think that's on theme

once you get her started talking about something, good luck getting her to stop, you will be there for the next hour and a half hearing about whatever she's interested in

plus she has a few interests that she considers "acceptable" to talk about with others that fit her persona, ie. European history, card games, ect. so if any of those things come up in conversation she often ends up accidentally interrupting other people to talk about them

I also think she's very awkward in group conversations especially. In a good few of her V3 bounus mode and DRS events, it seems like she's seen as this weirdo who will come up to you and talk to you about things she's interested in or try to get you to play card games with her. I think she's not very good at group conversations so she tries to interact with people one on one but she's still very awkward about it.

literally in the game, she just stops to fully describe what a zero-sum game is when literally no one asked and no one pays any attention or cares that is peak undiagnosed adhd experience

so much rejection sensitivity good lord, literally you cannot invite her to any kind of game night (I personally think her talent only applies if money or something of value is on the line as a bet) because she will take it way, way, to seriously and if she loses she gets really upset

she also definitely over analyzes every social interaction she has with anyone the moment she's alone and will convince herself that everyone hates her

she stims a lot, she literally has a sprite where she's playing with her hair, bit I think she also likes to play with the frills on her clothes

I know some people think it's just bad writing, but her entire murder plot and trial scream lack of follow through to me

also I think she daydreams a lot, literally if you lose her attention for even a minute she is gone

she absolutely hates that she has no object permanence because she's torn between wanting to remember that things she has exist, and wanting to put everything away so her dorm looks nicer (even though her room is usually a mess anyway, but it's organized chaos, it's a mess, but she can tell you exactly where things are)

she has literally never paid attention in class in her life, she's the kid sitting in the back staring out the window daydreaming the whole time

#i don't know what this post is actually #headcanons i guess?? #just take it please im so sorry it's a little depressing #i never get to talk about my adhd headcanons so i got very excited i could definitely write more honestly #danganronpa #dr1 #celestia ludenberg #drthh #adhd headcanon #also i have adhd that's my qualification for writing this post

[elias-rights]

jonah magnus is just. what a guy. he somehow figured how to transfer himself into different bodies using eyes. he's a horrible bastard. he's hot. he's the essence of being pinned down by a searching gaze and found wanting. he's fascinated by human behavior despite having 200 years to watch everyone around him. he murdered a guy with a steel pipe that one time. he started the apocalypse. he became a conduit for an eldritch god. i want to see him in a corner and weakened just to watch him squirm. i want to watch him put someone else in a corner and watch them squirm. he desperately needs to control the narrative and it's never shown Why. he let his archivist be kidnapped and forcibly moisturized (and isn't That a sentence) for a month, just to make sure the Stranger's mark stuck. he's ruthless and practical and clever. he interacts with the world like it's four different chess games stitched together, and he's winning all of them at once. i want to see him grab someone jon by the face and talk in a very quiet threatening certain tone. i want to see him in his element. i want to see him out of his element. he's terrifyingly confident. he's the Ceaseless Watcher's creature and he's been of it for two hundred years. he's Such a guy and i have so many thoughts about him and now they're your problem too

And even further: He's an old man. He's a funny bitch. He's dramatic. He's shockingly subdued. He loves scheduling. He condemned the entire world to something worse than death because he feared someone would do it to him first. He's horny about being compelled. He likes cake. He compared Jon's wounds to swiss cheese. He makes puns. He wrote a ritual in iambic meter. Nobody finds out why he's like that. When Tim was going through his crisis Elias just told him to paperwork the sorrows away. He has so much repressed anger and yet he's so civil. He views the world as a zero-sum game. He won. He lost. I want him to thrive. I want him to lose everything he has in his pursuit and not realise it until it is too late. He's genre-aware. I want the narrative to love him as much as I do. He never used his powers on Gertrude and this was mutual. He killed her with a gun and said she died in the line of duty. Either he lied about watching Melanie's channel or he just browses paranormal YouTube for fun. He was the only one who figured out how the rituals worked. He had enough architectural expertise to modify Robert Smirke's blueprints to make them evil. He had a harem. He's even sexy.

#answered ask #anonymous #him #elias bouchard #jonah magnus

[z-iridest]

Yu-Gi-Oh: Renegade

Chapter 5:

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh: Renegade:

' "In 3 months, I will be holding a Derby Duel Tournament. It is open to all who wish to compete." Leon Dracnus announced on live TV.

"Look, everyone deserves to play the game they love without facing prejudice, without consequences… This baby," Yuko gently patted the broken down Phoenix Whirlwind, "is the key to jump starting that change. But, I'm gonna need you guys behind me on this."

"There'll never be a time you can't count on me." Adom replied.

"Good luck, Yuko, my girl." Pops told her before Yuko raced out of the garage and away from her chosen family.

"Remove your helmet and deactivate the gear, reject. I know you're a duelist, and one from the Jade Phoenix Duel Gang judging by the symbol on your back."  

"You have Derby Duel gear yourself, right, Takano? Duel me. If I win, I go about my business and you act like nothing happened." 

"And why should I listen to what a reject like you asks of me?"

"Winning against me means you could get redemption from the big man topside. See, you're right in assuming I'm a duelist, I'm the leader of the Jade Phoenix gang, their best duelist."

"You're on, Birdie. You're in for one heck of a match, I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, kid! Wait, that Duel Disk... Where did that come from?!" Yuko felt a smirk cross her face at the Chaser's shock of the tech she'd built herself.

"I built it into my gear!"

What have I gotten myself into? She thought nervously as a countdown began to the beginning of the duel.'

With the Duel World spell activated, the world around them had changed giving it a bluish hue. "Ready... Set... Duel!" The computer counted down. Both duelists took off, their Life Point counters set to 4000 Life Points. Wait, are my eyes playing tricks on me? Why are my Life Points only at 4000? Yuko thought, her brow furrowing.

"In case you aren't familiar with Derby Duel combat, allow me to explain the rules. In Derby Duels, our decks are cut down to 40 cards each and our Life Points are only set to 4000 points. Unlike Turbo Duels back in the old days, we're allowed to use normal spells, but we do have hurdles that make things harder. For one thing, in the actual arena, if you knock your opponent out of bounds, they automatically lose. The first two to take that first turn are the first duelists to begin dueling. If one of the duelists in focus gets knocked out, either by a duelist or an obstacle, either the duelist that butted them out or the duelist closest to the remaining duelist takes over the duel. Much like Turbo Duels, though, if you hit zero while Derby Dueling, your wheels will lock up and you'll be forced to wipe out." Takano explained.

"In other words, you wanna be the last duelist standing." Yuko summed up.

"Too bad it won't be you, Birdie." Takano smirked. 

"We'll see about that, Takano." Yuko glared.

"Ready... Set... Duel!" The computer counted off, the two taking off as soon as the countdown hit the go mark.

Yuko- 4000                                           Takano- 4000

"Ladies first, reject." Takano smirked. Yuko rolled her eyes as she drew. A frown crossed her face. Mystical Space Typhoon, Spell Shattering Arrow, Shield Crush, Blast Magician, Monster Reborn and Unexpected Dai... Not too much to work with defense wise, but one monster's better than nothing but spells the first draw... Yuko thought. "What's the matter, giving up already?" Yuko scoffed at Takano's taunt.

"You wish! I'll kick this off by activating Unexpected Dai from my hand! Since I have no monsters on the field, I'm allowed to Special Summon a Level Four or below Monster from my deck, as long as it doesn't have any effects... So, Flamvell Guard, take to the field in defense mode!" The metallic dragon roared to life, flames coming off its body as it curled up in defense mode (ATK/ 100 DEF/ 2000). "Next, I summon Blast Magician in attack mode!" Blast Magician spun his staff, taking his place next to Flamvell Guard and standing at the ready, his eyes trained on the enemy (ATK/ 1400 DEF/1700). I'll end my turn there for now. Your move, Takano." 

​​​Yuko- 4000                                           Takano- 4000

"My turn! I draw!" Takano observed the cards in his hand before smirking a bit. "First, I'll summon Honest in attack mode!" An angel looking monster took to the field on Takano's side of the field, his wings unfurled and his eyes glaring fiercely (ATK/ 1100 DEF/ 1900). "Now, since I'm not dumb enough to attack you with a monster that has less attack power than Blast Magician, I'll end my turn with a facedown." 

"Wow, who knew you guys were actually smart? It's my turn now!" Yuko remarked, but before she could take her turn, she noticed something hurtling her way. She moved to the side, dodging it by a hair. Takano laughed at her. 

"I told you there were hurtles... From here on out on every other turn, the Duel World field spell automatically throws obstacles our way. In an arena, it would have obstacles set up, but this isn't your typical arena." Takano revealed.

"You were hoping I'd get knocked down by one of those, didn't you?!" Yuko accused.

"Don't accuse me of such a ridiculous thing, girl, now take your turn or I'll take it as a surrender!" Takano threatened.

Yuko- 4000                                           Takano- 4000

"I draw!" Yuko kept a steady pace as she looked at the cards in her hand. While she'd gotten one spell card out of the way, she still had her original four, plus her trap card: Trap Jammer. Least he won't be able to do anything to me with a Trap Card this upcoming turn... Yuko thought. "Blast Magician, let's leave a scorch mark! Attack Honest!" 

"You won't be able to touch him, Birdie! I activate the trap card, Compulsory Evacuation Device! This card allows me to target one monster and return it to the owner's hand, and I choose my Honest!" Takano smirked.

"I guess your dueling skills are rustier than you thought, because all that does is switch Blast Magician's target from your monster to you directly!" Yuko called out his mistake as his monster returned to his hand and Blast Magician turned his attention on Takano. His eyes grew wide.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He shouted but it was too late, Blast Magician closed in on Takano and sliced through the Ex Chaser with his scepter. Takano stumbled due to the damage he took, but managed to get his footing back. Yuko smirked.

"I'll end my turn by throwing down a facedown. Your move, Takano." Yuko smirked.

Yuko- 4000                                           Takano- 2600

"You snot-nosed, insignificant little- AH!" Distracted by his need to insult Yuko, he was tripped up by an obstacle thrown his way, the teenager snickering as he barely managed to stay on his feet. "What?! You cheater! You did that on purpose!"

"You forgot one of the rules: Since it's just the two of us dueling and we're outside the normal arena, any time one of us takes direct damage, we have to avoid an obstacle at the end of the turn." Yuko reminded him, smirking. Takano growled in response. 

"I draw!" Takano drew a card, but the look he gained on his face made Yuko uneasy. What is he planning? She thought as she kept pace with the ex Chaser. "I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level Four! (Atk/1600 Def/1000)" Yuko's face paled as she came face to face with her own brother's dragon. There were 3 dragons with the same name: Level Four, Level Six and Level 8. Liam's entire deck had gone missing, and it chilled Yuko's blood to know that the dragons that her brother had once held dear were now on the hands of someone like Takano. Takano, meanwhile, smirked. "What's the matter, little duelist?! Dragon got your tongue?!" Takano cackled. Yuko glared.

"Take your turn, snake!" Yuko yelled. 

"As you wish! Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level Four, destroy her Blast Magician!" Takano announced the attack. The dragon roared and did as it was told, making Yuko cry out in pain as 400 life points were taken from her, her magician destroyed. "Now, his special effect activates! When I destroy a monster this turn, I'm allowed to send him to the graveyard and Special Summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 6 from my hand or deck!" He laughed as the level four dragon disappeared, it's Level 6 version taking its place. It roared, Yuko recognizing the pain it was in. Don't worry, I'll find a way to get you guys away from him... I promise! She thought, hoping the dragon could hear her. "I end my turn due to Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level Four's effect!"

Yuko- 3600                                               Takano- 2600

"Then, it's my move now!" Yuko shouted before she dodged the hurtle coming her way and drawing her next card. Keeper of Dragon Magic! Yuko thought, smiling a bit before schooling her features. "I summon Keeper of Dragon Magic in attack mode! (Atk/1800 Def/1300)" She watched as the dragon armored magician burst to life, facing Takano and the level 6 dragon. 

"What is it with you and Spellcasters! You know that magician's far too weak to beat my dragon!" Takano called out.

"I know, I'm not attacking with him!" Yuko called out. "I activate his effect! By discarding Spell Shattering Arrow, I can draw Polymerization from my deck to my hand. But, that's not all! By revealing a fusion monster from my deck, I can special summon one of the materials needed to summon it in defense position! So, Luster Dragon, join us on the battlefield as I reveal First of Dragons!" She showed the fusion card as she summoned Luster Dragon (Atk/1900 Def/1600) in defense position. "Now that the effect is complete, I activate Polymerization from my hand, fusing my Flamvell Dragon and Luster Dragon together to Fusion Summon First of Dragons in attack mode! (Atk/2700 Def/2000)". First of Dragons roared to life, his grey scales glistening in the street lamp light and his tail hitting the ground as he roared. Yuko smirked. "Now, First of Dragons, attack Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 6!" Yuko ordered the attack, and watched as a black lightning ball left her dragon and hit her brother's dragon, destroying it and knocking Takano's life points down another 400 life points. Takano cried out in pain and once again struggled to maintain his balance as Yuko took the lead, easily turning around to face Takano and skate backwards. The ex Chaser growled and the smirk on her face. "Now, Keeper of Dragon Magic, it's your turn, attack Takano directly!" She extended her hand, making Takano's eyes widen as the Spellcaster attacked, knocking his Life Points down another 1800 points and causing Takano to falter once more." I set two cards facedown and end my turn!"

Yuko- 3600                                                 Takano-800

"You no good reject! You'll be locked up for sure! I draw!" Takano barely avoided another obstacle before drawing his next card, and a flash of red caught Yuko's attention. The Dragon Kings were nearby...

"Says the guy about to lose this duel! Make your last turn count, Takano!" Yuko fired back. Takano suddenly started laughing.

"I plan to! I use the effect of Monster Reborn to bring my Black Flame Dragon Level 6 back from the Graveyard! Next, I summon my Honest back to the field! But, instead of attacking, I'll set one card facedown and end my turn!" Wait, why isn't he attacking? Yuko thought. It didn't make any sense...

Yuko- 3600                                               Takano-800

"I draw!" Yuko announced her turn as she drew a card. "I summon Dark Blade in attack mode! (Atk/ 1800 Def/1500)" She smirked behind her helmet. "Dark Blade, attack and destroy his Honest!"

"Not so fast, I activate the trap card Rising Energy! By discarding my Two Headed Dragon, I can give my Honest an additional 1500 attack points! (Atk 1100+ 1500= 2600)."

"Nice try, but you forget about my facedown! Trap Jammer! Using this trap, I can negate and destroy Rising Energy!" 

"WHAT?!" Takano exclaimed in horror as he watched his trap crumble and shatter.

"And that means Dark Blade is clear to keep his attack going!" Yuko exclaimed. Dark Blade's sword slashes through the angel, making it give a cry as it shattered and Takano yell in pain as he took the 700 point damage. He stumbled, barely managing to catch his balance for the final time. "First of Dragons, let's finish him off once and for all! Attack his Black Flame Dragon and end this duel! Black Lightning Attack!" She yelled out, the dragon roaring as it fired off another ball of black lightning, once again destroying the Black Flame Dragon. Takano cried out as the last damage of the Derby Duel rendered him down to zero, taking his last 100 Life Points and making him finally fall as Yuko came to a stop, standing tall.

Yuko- 3600                                         Takano- 0

"Should have attacked while you had the chance." Yuko snarled. "Now, you're going to give me my brother's dragons back right now. All three of them. It's the rules of a Derby Duel. Any rare cards the losing duelist has go to the winner." Takano growled, the snarl eventually growing so loud it eventually became a roar of rage!

"NEVER, I'M TAKING YOU IN!" Takano yelled in anger, but before he could lay a hand on Yuko, a punch came from over the female's left shoulder. When Yuko turned her head, she had to admit that she was surprised to see Kai Cunningham behind her, along with the other members of the Dragon Kings.

"Not in our turf. She beat you fair and square, and you had some of the rarest dragons in the game since the creation of the Blue Eyes. You don't deserve to be a duelist." Kai threatened, scooping up the cards Yuko had requested from the deck and glaring at him. Yuko tensed, ready for a fight if that's what it came down to. "Relax, Adonis, and take off your helmet already, Yang wants to see you." Yuko hesitated for a minute. "Look, idiot, you want your brother's dragons back or not?" He questioned. Yuko pressed a button on the side of her helmet that made the skates and her helmet collapse, allowing her to walk freely. Kai placed the dragons in her hand before leading the way toward the Dragon Kings' hideout. Yuko placed the dragons in her deck, smiling when she heard their spirits purring on happiness. Once inside the hideout, Yuko saw that it was a den, filled with members of the Dragon Kings either training or cooking a hearty meal, the smell of which made Yuko's stomach rumble. "Being this close to an entrance of Cypher City has its perks." Kai told her as he held her to the center of the den. "We also have informants all over Cypher City, they keep us updated if anyone even murmurs about an attack on the Underground." The closer they got to the center of the den, the warmer it became. Yuko noticed many of the members of the rival duel gang stopping to stare at her. Kai glared at them once they reached a door, making all of them head back to their stations. "Yang's through here." Kai opened the door for her, letting her go through.

"Thanks." Yuko spoke. "For the backup back there and bringing me here." 

"Just following Boss's orders." Kai replied before closing the door behind her. When Yuko turned her back to the now closed door, she found a haven of an office. Books of Duel Monsters history lines the shelves, titles listing the pat Kings of Games, their rivals and the history of the fame itself. A picture frame sat center stage in the middle of it all, a picture of a young girl with snow white hair and sapphire blue eyes next to a younger and much happier Yang.

"My younger sister." Yang clarified from the desk in the center of the room before Yuko could ask, not glancing up from whatever he was working on. "The last time Cypher City tried a raid, my sister was coming up the stairs and was killed. We were able to fortify the passageway to not allow anyone but residents of the Underground in, but the update came too late to save her. Her name was Kisa, and no, I don't want to talk about her other than to make you understand why I don't mention her." Upon closer inspection, Yuko noticed a locket around both siblings neck in the picture, a locket that still hung around Yang's neck now despite the pain it must have brought him to remember his sister.

"We're similar that way, I guess." Yuko responded, remembering her own grief as Liam's face flashed in her mind. She heard Yang's chair scrape against the floor before the sound of his boots marked him drawing closer to her.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're just as crazy as your brother. Risking your neck to go up top, all to take part in some tournament that'll just be another blip in the history of Duel Monsters and end with your death." Yang told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I have to. Especially considering I have the chance to kickstart the chance for people to be able to duel freely." Yuko replied, facing her rival. He easily towered over her, his ruby red streaked, jet black hair hung in his face, his hazel eyes regarding her.

"You know they'll be able to keep track of you with your prosthetic, Yuko. You're not an idiot, don't do this over one stupid tournament."

"The gang and I thought of that, Raven was able to hack the systems so my ID shows as someone else rather than who I am, and it's also why my hair and eyes are a different color. I'm two steps ahead of you, as usual." Yuko turned to leave but found her arm in Yang's grasp.

"Yuko, please. One leader to another, don't go up there. You'll get caught, tortured and killed and your friends will be left down here alone." Yang reminded her of the punishments that waited for her if she were caught.

"And you know why I have to do this. Any day now, a piece of vital information could slip past your informants, Dracnus could lead an army down here and then Duel Monsters would be destroyed forever. That risk is why I have to fight back for us, because no one else will." She argued. Yang stared at her.

"I still think it's a stupid idea... But, nothing I say or do is going to change your mind, I've seen that look enough times to know. You die up there, I'll kill you." Yang let go, leading her to a bookcase that swung open when he pulled on a book titled An Incomplete History of Underground City and other Adrenaline Junkies. Yuko gave Yang a deadpan look.

"Cliche much?" She asked.

"Hey, it hides it better than an out of place stone tablet that's impossible to move." Yang replied. Yuko passed him to climb up the steps when a thought crossed her mind and she stopped, facing Yang.

"If something happens to me up there, will you make sure my gang stays safe?" She asked. Yang nodded.

"You have my word." He swore.

"Thanks... For everything." A smile crossed her face before she ascended the steps without looking back, the secret door swinging closed behind her. Her boots smacked against the cement stairs as she climbed higher and higher until she reached a heavy metal door. She touched the center of it, causing it to slide upward. Once she exited the staircase, the door slammed shut behind her. She was in someplace that looked like a normal apartment. It was abandoned, covered in dust and most of the furniture covered with a white cloth. Where she had just come from was behind a dusty old bookcase. Really? Just when I thought that guy couldn't be more cliche? She thought, shaking her head as she looked around. Since the applications didn't open back up again until the morning, Yuko set to work sorting out the apartment, dusting and cleaning until it looked almost like a new apartment. Once she finished, she looked out the window she had just finished dusting watching the stars glimmer in the sky above her. She gave a small smile, taking the stars as a sign of what she hoped would be a bright and peaceful future to come

But only time would tell for sure.

(Taglist: @kitsunephantom09 @iheartbarbie)

#fanmade original #Yuko Adonis #Yu-Gi-Oh Renegade #Leon Dracnus #Ritsu Takano

[hunterofthehunters]

okay no vlr spoilers since i've just gotten past the first escape room (and voting segment) but

i genuinely cannot really think of a reason why anyone, under any circumstances, would ever vote betray in a game like this. friends and i spoke abt this last night and i can't get it out of my head.

it's not just "oh that's horrible, how could someone do that". it's "oh that's stupid. why would you ever make that mistake.

lemme elaborate:

first point. by itself, the usage of the prisoner's dilemma in this game works fine. it was designed to create a difficult choice wherein trust is hard and betrayal maximizes gains while minimizing losses. that's a sensible thing in a void.

but this nonary game isn't in a void. it's not an isolated situation. when you vote, everyone sees it.

meaning, when you vote betray, every person in the game is now aware you are willing to vote betray. this dramatically changes the voting dynamic. now that you've established you are willing to betray others, you're now stuck in a deadlock. your game ends. because why would anyone ever risk voting 'ally' with you? it's safer to vote 'betray'.

and with how BP works here, you're screwed. you forfeit the ability to gain points from then on. and if you're stupid enough to vote 'ally', you lose most of the points you gained by hitting betray prior. is it still net positive? sure, numerically. in terms of trust? why should anyone take that at face value after the first incident?

secondly. zero iii fucked up a bit in the intro with just one little implication:

the ambidex nonary games are not a zero sum game.

any number of players can exit the 9 door, as long as they have 9 BP.

this means there is no downside to other players gaining BP alongside you. therefore, ally has no effective downside. you don't need to worry about players trying to escape before you, and hell, if everyone hits all-ally at the start? you'll all hit 9 BP by round 3 (3 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 9).

in addition, voting ally doesn't really antagonize anyone or make them feel threatened, either. why would it? both parties benefit. both parties get closer to leaving. it's a sincere win-win.

"but what if... someone betrays me later? they could escape early if-"

math time.

say we start in round 1. as established, all players begin with 3 BP. betraying in this round would be idiotic, because

3+3 = 6

you're still short 3 points. "ah, but you see, i can betray someone in round 2 next, and--" if you think anyone will be stupid enough to ally so you can betray them at this point, you're literally huffing your own farts. i tore this point down already.

so, assuming you did the smart thing and built trust in round 1. 3+2 = 5, and you enter round 2 with 5 points. what next?

if we betray here...

5 + 3 = 8.

oof. owie. so close, but not quite! 1 point short, and it'd take 1 more round minimum to escape. the same as it'd take for you to escape if your stupid ass had just voted ally all 3 times.

and now you have a new problem.

"Oh i voted betray by mistake! We can ally again! mb! :)))"

you dumb asshole. you stupid dick. do you really think people will buy that? even if we assume everyone else is sitting at 7 except for your victim, do you seriously think they'd trust that? no. none of them would. not a one.

this also ignores the idea they could even like your victim. with them sitting at 3 points again, the game is extended another round if they want them to escape. you are intentionally dragging everyone's stay out for that.

i'm not even gonna discuss that zero never specified that players couldn't assault one another. i doubt the bunny would even outline that. they'd prob pull up a chair.

so, your betrayal strat moves to round 3. at which point... why? why bother? the only reason you would is because you'd actively want to leave a player(s) behind. and you'd need everyone else at 9 (assuming they all did the ally strat) to agree. are you confident you're gonna sneak by 8 other players for that?

all of this is just discussing the game itself, not the story around it. i trust uchikoshi enough to imagine he's got a plan for this that'll blast my enby dick right off.

but so far my read on VLR is that we have some fuckin idiots in this game that seem thoroughly convinced they are the smartest people in the room.

just vote ally. i promise you, pretending to be edgy and 'logical' isn't impressing anyone, phi.

#this entire post ended on a callout to phi whoops #and alice. and clover. and k. #i'm sorry i had this rant cooking in my head all day at work #zero escape #zero escape vlr #prisoner's dilemma #thoughts of loog

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What do you think is distinctly 'Meyer' about the Host? Which part clearly has her beautiful mind all over it?

I mean, the whole thing is delightfully unhinged and out of the box. Delightfully so in a world where so many sci-fi IP make the aliens too damn human (looking at you, MCU).

It's about these weird rednecks who live in a cave because Uncle Jeb ALWAYS KNEW THE END OF THE WORLD WAS GOING TO COME SOMEDAY! And this is the timeline where, against all odds, he gets to be right. And he's prepared. So, fuck all of you.

(And we can pretty much assume this is most of the human survivors: unhinged hermits who have been prepared for this for thirty years and finally have sweet vindication.)

We then get Wanda being nearly murdered by these people and beaten by them several times in as many months and yet they all somehow become friends. Sort of. And then poor Melanie gets to deal with the awkward aftermath of when Wanda's been shoved into a new body and all the children are still terrified of her because the parents spent so long poisoning them against her and there's no recognition of "oh no, that's just the meat sack. Uh, she's okay now."

The hilariously open and awkward end of "so, are we in a foursome or what?" with Melanie, Wanda, Ian, and Jared. As well as Ian's desperate insistence of, "I would totally love you if you were a dude or a super old lady!" to Wanda who can only respond with "Doubt."

The fact that, when choosing a new body for Wanda, they go for the most psychologically crippling face they can find based on their own cultural human biases that have nothing to do with how souls work. Just, the whitest, youngest, looking woman they could go for and they went "this is perfect".

The aliens themselves and how inhuman they are. That they're this strange altruistic society that acts like superficial tourists where, if they do start considering the sentience of their victims, leads to the implosion and extinction of their race.

It's almost a zero-sum game they're playing, and Earth may very well force them to lose if enough decide that "I cannot survive if it means stealing the will and life of sentient creatures".

The idea of this next generation of humans, growing up under the souls, who may be shipped off to be injected at the moment they become difficult or a nuisance that is never fully delved into and only brought up for a brief, damning, moment.

The insistence of everyone in Jeb's camp that all these aliens they have living around going native is totally cool now, totally, and we're all going to get along as happy friends and never going to be caught stealing massive amounts of supplies by the enemy.

The fact that Wanda is so vital because she's the only one who has any remote understanding of how souls work and think and that this makes her basically Jesus for the group who otherwise is flailing in the dark still thinking about the little green men and projecting human mannerisms onto them.

Wanda having her noble suicide ruined by these people who just stuffed her into another body and the unspoken thought of "these people are going to force her to be immortal and never going to let her die, huh?" Wanda will become a vital cornerstone of this community, one impossible to do without, and I bet you when this body gets old or compromised... They're going to find another meatsack for her for the survival of the clan.

Haven't figured that out yet, have you, Wanda?

It's a delightful book.

#the host #the host meta #meta #opinion

[willgrahambf]

what do you think their relationship is towards wills abdominal scar? ive read fics where hannibal can't even graze his hand over it, and fics where will views it fondly. do you think it's something that changes over time? or would it always be some sort of sore spot (ha) for them?

well by the end of the show, they've both accepted each other for what they are -- not the ideal. they've forgiven each other. will taking them over the cliff is the end of their zero sum game. they win together, they lose together. so in a post-fall situation, i don't think what happened in the past would necessarily be viewed as a negative or a positive. just that it is. it's what had to be. in the red dragon book, hannibal says this about scars:

"never forget who gave you the best of them, and be grateful, our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real."

the past is what makes everyone who they are. everything that ever happens to you is affecting you and shaping you and influencing you. changing you. yet as memory fades, it's easy to forget or distort the facts. i think will's scar would become a reminder to both of them that it was real, that he has changed, and that hannibal has changed. how they've changed. that it was important to their transformation. this is how they became what they are together. with the transformation complete, it's not so painful to look back. it's acceptance.

#ask #hannibal meta

[tethered-heartstrings]

what do you think about all the manipulation that hannibal did to will, in the 1s and 2s? i relate too much to will, and despise linking hannibal, i often find myself thinking that he was so cruel for what he did. like, why?? part of me wanted them to be together in a health way, and that part wonders why hannibal acted so cruel and merciless because i do think he did. but like will, i can't help but forgive him. idk. i would love to listen to your opinion, as i think your analysis towards the show find the exactly spot of the "truth"

also i'm not a native speaker of english, so sorry for any mistakes! 💗

I am sure this is far from the “truth” since it is still just me and my thoughts but: Hannibal absolutely manipulated everyone around him for his own benefit. Even manipulating Will to accept being a killer, that liking murder was okay, was still for Hannibal’s benefit. Hannibal wanted someone to understand him, to see him, to accept him. In season one, Hannibal saw potential in Will, by “Mukozuke”, he saw Will as his equal. In season 3, he saw Will as the only person to ever be above him. When Will gets out of prison, he joins the game and they manipulate the shit out of each other. I mean, it not called Will’s honeytrap arc for nothing. That becomes their dynamic. Both want the last word, the edge, the snarl as the other is on their knees losing. But neither can stand to lose for long, so they retaliate. It’s a game. It’s also a weird way for them to say “I would never put in as much effort as I am now for someone else. I’d kill them or just never give them the time of day. Yet here I am balancing your life in my hands, not giving you the satisfaction of death and ending this once and for all.” And they both keep subscribing to that. In “Digestivo” they even say to each other “When it comes to you and me, there can be no decisive victory” – “We are in zero-sum game?” They know neither will ever truly win or lose, and they want to win as much as see the other person win. They are only okay losing to the other. So, they will keep manipulating.

Season one is rough because Will really feels like he is losing himself. He doesn’t trust anyone to show them the cracks, and he consistently goes to Hannibal trusting him. Hannibal made Will think he killed Abigail, and let his brain cook into lost time and seizures. However, its not really up to us as an audience to forgive Hannibal, he’s fictional. Will does forgive him. Will still tries to kill Hannibal because he doesn’t see a world in which Hannibal can survive. But I think that is a different issue than forgiveness for what Hannibal has done. It is more a reflection on what Will fears for the future. If you find yourself aligning with Will, then it makes sense why you forgive Hannibal. Because the living person Hannibal hurt the most forgives him.

And the thing about Hannibal is he is a likable character. He is charming, and in a way, he’s manipulated the audience, too. There are multiple times he looks through the camera at you, the person watching. Will is the only one to see him as the Ripper for a long time. Hannibal knows what to say and how to act to fool people. We see all the awful things he has done unfiltered. Not through the eyes of a biased character, not through what he chooses to let us see, we see it all.

I enjoy their dynamic. It’s interesting and thought-provoking and just... not boring! On that same note, I also like the idea of them learning how to show love more healthily. For their own benefit as for the other. This is not to erase what makes them who they are, they can kill and cannibalize to their heart’s content. But maybe it doesn’t have to be so violent towards one another. Because in a game of one-upping, one of them will lose and it will be their life. And then they both lose, because they lost the one person who could hold their own against them, to be a challenge, who saw them raw and unfiltered as they are and still loved them and wanted more. I think its fitting for them to die at the other’s hand but I don’t want them to really die that way at all. I like the idea of them growing old together and appreciating the changes within one another that comes with that. They’ve been at the blade of the other’s knife, I want something more.

Also please never apologize for making mistakes in English. First language or not, you did more than fine!

#sorry this took so long #anonymous #the curious clown

[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #32 Quick Reaction

Among the many far-fetched concepts in Digimon lore is that Betsumon is in any way effective at convincing others that his impersonations are genuine. You wouldn’t think that could be played for drama. And yet somehow, years after drawing out some of Tagiru and Gumdramon’s best character moments in all of Hunters, he puts Gammamon through a kind of despair we can’t help but sympathize with. There’s no actual consequence to this episode and it stops trying to be interesting once the veil is lifted, but it might be one of Digimon’s best successes at getting us to really feel the kind of hell a character is going through.

We’re not exactly convinced that Betsumon could actually pull off this ploy. The episode doesn’t sell it that hard, and even plays it as ridiculous, especially as more join in and overrun the dorm. If anything, the lack of believability pulls us towards Gammamon’s side even harder. To him, it’s not an understandable mistake and that makes it all the more frustrating! What we do get from Betsumon to help us along is a process. He’s slowly gathering information to make his performance easier to swallow, slowly convincing everyone he’s the real thing until they forget what the real Gammamon looks like. It’s a troubling example of gaslighting, and its effectiveness leaves you completely siding with Gammamon as he loses all his allies and runs into other victims who now even question whether they themselves are the real thing. The fact that this is working as well is it does is raw and unsettling, made all the worse when it’s happening to Gammamon.

It’s very cute that what allows things to turn around is Hiro still showing kindness to the strange Digimon claiming to be his real partner, even if the actual climax is as lazy as they come. There’s the forced callback to Betsumon unable to handle sweets the way Gammamon can, then the battle where CanoWeissmon returns everything to normal just by going around and cleaning house. Clockmon ends up looking totally useless after interspersing himself throughout the episode, and apparently Meicoomon really was forgotten and abandoned forever, a strangely dark thread left to dangle forever in what’s ultimately a zero-sum story. But at least it is an ending, even if it doesn’t try very hard. It’s the easy path out when something more cutting would have served better, but there’s more than enough emotion before that to remind us what episodic Ghost Game is still capable of.

Initial Grade: B+

Want to support my site and/or my work? Buy me a coffee!

#digimon #digimon ghost game #quick review

[mysteriouseggsbenedict]

buckle up buttercups

this is going to be an analysis of The Breakfast Scene in Little Women

you know the one where it’s Christmas and they engage in good deed-doing by bringing their breakfast to the poor family

the question that i have ALWAYS had about this scene is why it’s presented as if the girls bringing food to the poor family means that they don’t get to eat anything. it emphasizes the goodness of their sacrifice by describing how hungry they are, but i feel like a really obvious plot hole is that surely they aren’t bringing literally all of the food they have in their entire house?

like. it can’t possibly be the case that the March family used literally all of the food that was in the house to make the Christmas breakfast, and that there was no additional food left in the pantry or ice box or whatever storage situation they had going on in the 1860s. especially because surely they would have had lunch and then dinner, even if Laurie hadn’t replaced the breakfast.

so why didn’t they do what seems to me like the obvious thing to do and eat something (maybe not something as good as the special christmas food, but something nonetheless) and then go deliver to the poor family? then they could have ALL had breakfast, and no one is hungry?

but when i thought about this more seriously, and not just to joke about how it’s a plot hole, it occurred to me that this actually a really common line of thinking. life is a zero sum game. the idea that if we help someone else gain, that inherently means that we lose. that self sacrifice is an essential part of helping others. i see this in charity efforts a lot— stuff where it’s like “i’m doing this unpleasant thing to raise money for a good cause” or even “i’m replicating the unpleasant experience that these people in need go through so i can experience it myself and to move you to donate”

like some examples i’ve seen are dancing for like 24+ hours straight and fasting for a cause. and i’m always like...bro.....you literally do not have to harm yourself to convince me that this is a worthy cause. i would be equally likely to donate money if you just explained the cause without inflicting pain upon yourself. 

it also comes up in just like general advocacy efforts where people who oppose things that would benefit other groups do so because they fear it will mean a loss for themselves. the “life isn’t pie” metaphor that some people use to describe this thinking is apt. 

and so i’m just left thinking about the March girls bringing their breakfast to a neighbor in need, framing their loss as something inherent to the action of helping others, not even considering that it would have been possible for everyone to eat.

i do think that laurie bringing them food in return is a good way to round this story out: one act of kindness begets another, and there are enough resources in a community to care for everyone. 

but i still think this is interesting to think about and even when i was a kid i immediately realized the inaccuracy of framing this scene as if the one breakfast was all the food that existed in the entire house

#little women #long post #not mbs

[rustchild]

love your wrestling as a tragedy post. wouldnt life too be a tragedy under this view though.

What defines life and wrestling to me isnt the inherent way that happiness or success will always end, but rather that as humans we have a neverending drive to seek and sacrifice for it that makes our triumphs worth fighting and losing over and over for.

Wrestling often ends in tragedy but the story it tells is of the triumphs, outnumbered by the failures and yet defined by our human nature to persevere, cause there may be no way to win but to leave, but you never truely leave wrestling. And you never truely win life. You just continue to strive for what gives you meaning

if that's how you enjoy wrestling, that's cool! i'm a big tragedy fan, so i'm definitely looking at it through my own lens. there's more than enough wrestling for multiple forms of engagement lol.

I think, for me, the thing that sets wrestling apart from life irt tragedy--other than all of the obvious things--is the fact that in wrestling a. everyone wants the same singular goal, b. only one person can have it at a time, and c. the pursuit of it is generally destructive to the body and mind. in real life, meaning is often found by diversifying your sources of joy, investing in what makes you happy and sharing it with other people. In wrestling, there is one (1) thing that everyone is going for, it probably will not actually make you happy, and one person having it means another person definitely cannot. It's a zero-sum game, in a way that life isn't, and it has to remain a zero-sum game in order for it to continue, because that's what keeps the stakes high.

My pat little maxim about wrestling is that it's a story about love told through a medium of violence. This is a gross generalization--obviously there's a lot of wrestling out there, about a lot of things--but in my opinion, the best wrestling stories are about people who deeply love something or someone and whose only way to engage with that love is violence, because violence is how stories are told in their universe. Which is tragic! When kevin owens screams at sami zayn to stay down because he doesn't want to hurt him, when mjf tortures cm punk while reciting back his own promo that mjf memorized as a child, when hangman adam page gets the title only to realize it doesn't solve the psychological damage that the rejection he faced from the elite did to him, that's tragic.

What i've realized while typing this out is that really, what i mean is that the best wrestling characters often have a central goal (be the best, win the title) that is actually incompatible with their underlying character motivations (love, be loved). and once that's true for even one character, they fuck it up for everyone around them. mjf can't just give cm punk a hug, he has to beat him, even if he makes both himself and punk miserable in attempting to do so. and that's going to keep being true, because it needs to be true in order for the matches to be interesting. the story incentivizes this discrepancy. if you learn to express your feelings in a healthy way and to put up emotional boundaries with people who can't, and to have a healthy perspective about how little winning a big belt actually means about you as a person, you become a less interesting wrestler.

Whereas in real life, yeah, suffering is inevitable! but it's not the meaning of life, or whatever. it's just a thing that happens, and you learn to avoid it when you can and deal with it when you can't. if there's a goal you're going after that's causing you untold harm to achieve, you can ultimately pick a different goal. and you can find joy and meaning in the trees changing color for the fall and in cooking a nice meal and in working a job that's just alright where you don't have to be the best at everything but you're making something you're proud of. if you want to compete over something, that's cool, but it's best not to stake your whole sense of being on it. Life's not a zero sum game. there's enough joy to go around, if we're willing to share it.

but like i said at the beginning--this is just my perspective, and i'm definitely confirmation bias-ing it! if you'd rather imagine Sisyphus happy, that's cool. we'll just enjoy our musclemen in sparky underpants fake punching each other in slightly different ways.

#again these are gross generalizations #wrestling is about a lot of things #but it bends towards a particular kind of storyline #this isn't even getting into the role of the crowd #and the give and take of love there #but yeah this isn't a complete analysis it's just my thots #i'll write my thesis one day. but not today.

[ziracona]

If you were in charge of how would the lostbelts go instead of how it goes in canon, what would you do? Like what stuff you'll change or expand on and such?

Instead of having these weird-ass "Which Is More Deserving Of Not Being Annihilated" Miss Universe semantic discussions every arc, because literally every fucking writer since Higashide in LB1 has somehow failed to grasp the plot of CitLB entirely, I would stick to the original formula. Which is, this is a tragedy. Foreign God/Disciples/Crypters ignored for the moment, everyone else involved in what is happening did not ask for this to happen, and only stands to lose. This never should have happened, and no universe 'deserves' to die--no society is so unworthy that the people living in it, all however many fucking billion--somehow no longer merit a continued existence. You cannot weigh lives on that scale. You just can't. It's wrong to even try. Which is something LB1 captured beautifully, and incredibly tragically. Nobody deserve to lose. None of them. But everyone has to fight for their own world, for their loved ones, themselves, for everyone who sacrificed to make their world exist, for everything they are. Including Chaldea. They all deserve to exist, and the tragedy is only one of them can. It shouldn't be about one world being 'better' or the 'right one' to be the future. Pursing that as some vague, unwinnable ethic discussion every arc is both grating, and morally wrong. It's not a fucking thought exercise. Even the worst cosmos still had humans in it whose fault it was not that what was wrong with the world was wrong, and who deserved to live.

Cosmos in the Lostbelt is a tragedy, and it should feel like one. It doesn't mean you can't have climactic battles full of righteous anger vs FG/Disciples/Crypters, or that Crypers cant dramalogue about how worthy and special they are, but that's not the point. It can't be--it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be a question if Chaldea/Original Earth 'deserves' to live either. Of course it fucking does. All of them do. It's not a fucking pageant. Somehow, every single god damn lostbelt after 1 has been like "Hmmmm. The conflict is uhhhh, who's right, right? So we need to uhhhh have enough good about the world that the enemies can have a valid case for being the Best World TM, and still also something very wrong so the Heroes TM can be the Big Good about ending it!" and that's so fucking stupid. They're missing the point. No world is perfect. And sure, Lostbelts suck more than Original Earth, but that doesn't matter. The point in LB1 was simply that things are, inescapably, tied together in a horrific, cosmic-scale zero-sum game. No one of those worlds did anything wrong. No one deserves to die, or worse, to never have been. But there is no escaping the fact that they are all, one by one, going to have to die, until only one remains. It's fucking cruel. It's Fate. That's the point of Fate. Fate is, historically, a series about tragedies, yet somehow the only FGO author who seems to remember how to write tragedies is Higashide (who--ofc he can. He starts Apocrypha going 'this is a tragedy. It's already over, and what happened cannot be changed. this is not a happy story, but it meant something' and the god fucking amazing opening shot for the theme song where the characters are represented by chess pieces? Eerie, because they're objects, being used, in a game. And the game is already over. And the game did not end happily. Not for anyone.)

So yeah, bit of a rant here, but I'd change the formula to LB1's, because other faults ignored for a moment, the BIG thing wrong with every single other arc has been they do not grasp what the conflict is, or should be, and it's grating and exhausting and disappointing. Everyone cares. In LB1, Patxi got many, many extended POV segments despite not being a PC or a summonable character. He was just a citizen. But even when what he was doing had nothing to do with the heroes, you got his life, because it mattered. The lives of the every day citizen mattered. And it matters to him. When he finds out about the zero sum game, he dies taking a bullet for Ritsuka, because he wants her world to live. He doesn't want her to give up and let it die alone. And once they win, which is an incredible finale, but also it is not a joyous one at all. It is painful, and quiet, and agonizing. They are not rejoicing. They are mourning. After it, Salieri stays to die with the world, playing the piano for the next three days straight, so the people of that dying cosmos have some small comfort and beauty to listen to. Because it mattered to him, like it mattered to all of Chaldea, that these people didn't deserve to die. They didn't deserve to die alone. Even Ivan, when he's fighting for his own world, is furious at Ritsuka for fighting him without the resolve to fight for her world, because the only fair, right way, is to fight as hard as you can, and accept the weight of the blood, no matter who loses. Everyone wants the other world to fight. They are participating in a death together, on a scale that has never even been imagined.

It was incredible, and heartbreaking, and awful, and wonderful, and all of cosmos in the lostbelt could have been like that, but the devs are being fucking stupid. Even when they make characters for you to feel sad about dying, they give them almost no screen time, and then they try to sanitize their fucking deaths to make them painless, which is SO stupid. Like Patxi mattered. Unsanitized deaths matter more, because you have to carry them. It’s such a cop out for them to die all happy in their sleep, painlessly. Patxi was shot and bled out and they stopped to bury his body before leaving even though that entire universe was ending in three days anything, because it /fucking mattered/. I genuinely cannot fathom how every other writer misses this so badly. It’s not a nice little ethics puzzle with a findable good answer. It’s real, and it’s awful, and it is not okay or right or good. Letting yourself feel that and know it and care, even when it is pointless on a cosmic scale, is the way you make it matter; that’s what humanity is about. It’s how you make suffering bearable. Not by pretending it isn’t suffering, but by facing how much it too, and going on.

Anyway, that's my answer. I'd have stuck to the Higashide formula. Other things I'd have changed of course too, but that's the core. That's the heart. You can forgive a lot, if the heart is beating strong. You cannot if it is hollow, or empty.

#ask #anonymous #cosmos in the lostbelt #cosmos in the lostbelt spoilers #fate go

[lenny-rambles]

About Garp, and the D's, a little

I'm taking a little break because the tutor is also taking a break, so yeah.

Honestly, a lot of people (justifiably) hate Garp. And I don't blame them, it's fair, Garp made a lot decisions. But I don't hate him. And I know some irls of mine agree that Garps is pitiful, very very pitiful.

Spoiler Warning for the Egghead Arc, and everything before.

Also, the ramble IS incomplete since writing takes more time than anticipated and I have a lot going on rn. But I still wanted this to be posted so yeah.

And like, if you despise Garp more than any other gray characters in OP, or even the bad guys, maybe don't read this. This is not what you are looking for. Consider doing something that will make you happy instead.

I just saw a short comic about Garp dreaming of ASL becoming Fleet Admiral and whatnot. And it made me sad, it's a funny comic, you should check it out!!! But it made sad. It made think about Garp actually caring for his family but being a man of principle in the end, chained to his duty. He said he remained a vice-admiral so he was free to do what he wants as a Marine, is that really freedom though? He was able to sacrifice his freedom for justice, did he think that's the only way he could be truly free, in a fair world?

It probably has to do with the "Hero vs Pirate" thing some characters have going on. Like, Garp is one of the characters to have a few epithets under his name: "The Fist" and "The Hero of the Marine". It makes me think, some epithets can be inherited, or have a direct callback (Black-leg and Red-leg, Marine Hunter and Pirate Hunter, to mention some) so there might always be a "Hero of the Marine", but not always a "Fist".

I think how Garp surely got "The Fist" first, when he wasn't a high-ranking Marine yet, before Roger. He probably prided in his strength, how he used it to help others, he probably believed in the cause, he believed in the Marines. He got known for that: brutal, straight to the point, nothing fancy, an honest-to-God sucker punch to the bad guys that terrorize towns like the one he's from.

Do you guys think of Foosha Village? A forgotten coastal village, with only a few homes and places. A frankly dangerous forest no regular person should venture into alone or unprepared, just in the outskirts, of the Greatest Dumpster to ever exist in the East Blue (Gray Terminal). You know Garp saw everything, how people treated others not from the city, how they treated him, a probably orphan feral child from the forest. ASL had Makino and Dadan, and the bandits, who did Garp have? And Dragon? (Don't get me started on Dragon)

Do you think Garp saw everything terrible in the world and thought he could change it? He should change it? He is a D! We have no Idea what that means, but that he is the Tenryuubito's sworn enemy... and they gravitate toward the idea of freedom. We've seen this with ASL, Dragon, Rocks, Roger, Law, Vivi, and so many more. What would make someone like him join the Marines? He grew up wild, he looked so much like Luffy (SBS material), and he is a Marine.

Maybe Garp saw the world, tried to fix it, and reached the conclusion it's a sum-zero game. For anyone not into Game Theory, it means that for someone to win, someone has to lose, always. So if he wanted to be free, would that take freedom from someone else? Luffy said no, Dragon said maybe and Garp said yes. Garp wanted to be a Hero, I believed he wanted to help, back to when he had no family. And a Hero shares his food and his sake to anyone and everyone without even asking. So he shared his freedom. Traded it for Justice.

With his sacrifice he was able to help lots and lots of people sure, but what about him? He became more of a set of rules and principles than man. His own rules and principles let me be clear, he choose to create lines and borders to limit where his freedom ends and where Justice starts. Annoying Sengoku and Tsuru? Free, going boring meetings with higher-ups? Justice, Getting to know petty criminals that actually are not bad people, fighting them and then letting them go? Justice, jailing up terrorists and assasins and bruising some wealthy people here and there? Justice. He becomes more Justice than Freedom by the time he even realizes what's going on.

Then there's Dragon. Falling in love, having a child? Freedom, it's a selfish action. Maybe his last selfish action for a while. Garp, growing up poor and alone, still wanted a lot of things now. All he didn't get as a child: Freedom, Justice, a Family. He got all of them. He thought he could have all of them. We know nothing of Dragon's mother, but we know she agreed to Dragon carrying the D. Remember that Garp wanted Dragon to carry the D with him.

Side note. Here's a personal interpretation that the D is another form of inherited will. So, if someone with a D names you a D, you have to options: accept it or not. We see this with the Monkey family, Ace, Law and Sabo. Of all the Monkey family, Luffy is the only one to publicly go around announcing his name to the world (I have things to say about Luffy's name being lost to history, another time). Claiming it as his. He doesn't even care about his family's history, it's His name.

Ace and Law chose different ways to hide it, Ace finds a loophole, Law remains silent. They both carry the D, and a lot of family-trauma related baggage, but that is Their Name in the end. And Sabo, I really like Sabo, because he wasn't a D at birth. Luffy gave it to him. Sabo is their brother, he has to share the D! And so Sabo has a D. But Garp hides his. For the Hero of the Marines, not having his full name resounding loud and clear is rather strange (even if he wasn't The Hero yet, his actions are what speak loudest).

Dragon makes sense, he wants to hide from the WG. But Garp? He is the Marine's poster child. He is the aspirational story they want to sell to children so that they enlist, "Vice-admiral Garp grew up with nothing and is the strongest Marine", "did you know the Hero of the Marines enlisted when he was 1x years old?", "don't you want to be like him, work for a better world for everyone?" (I know we haven't seen an actual "I want you" posters from the Marines, or Marine propaganda like that, but I wouldn't put it past them tbh). End of the side note.

So Garp keeps his name, and his lover and his son a secret, one final selfish act. So that he can become the man the world needs him to be. What he thinks the world needs him to be. He works and fights and helps thousands of people through the Marines. Maybe his lover died while he was away, now it's only Garp and Dragon. And Garp cannot be any more selfish, he already gave his son Freedom, somehow managed to keep a bit of his own, and chose to spread himself thin for the people who need him. A Hero shares his Freedom.

Garp tries to raise Dragon on his own, the best he could. But he didn't have parents and didn't know exactly what to do. So he gave Dragon the 3 things he wanted most his age (a child, he was a child): Freedom, Justice(Justice?) and Family. Dragon didn't need to see the state of the world, he could just trust in his father. Knowing he was looking out for him, for them, for everyone. Knowing he had the best intentions in mind, knowing his dad was a Hero. So Dragon grew up, enlisted in the Marine, like his Father, and kept his Freedom and Justice and Family in the same place Garp did. Rules and principles and Heroes and men.

But then Dragon saw the world, saw the Marines, and saw that in all the love and care his father had for him, it wouldn't (couldn't) hold a candle to his devotion to the Marines. He was more the Hero than he was his Dad. Garp couldn't (wouldn't) be more selfish as to aspire for it to be the other way around. He made his choice a long time ago, he was a man of his word. So when Dragon saw that Garp's dedication made him blind to the injustice he was perpetuating, something stirred in Dragon. He saw Garp's world, and saw slavery and injustice and terror. So Dragon had to change it. Dragon leaves the Marines. Garp cannot be selfish.

Dragon chooses Justice like his father, but not his father's. The deserter sails away, to find a better way, his own selfish way to bring peace to the world. His son chooses Justice and Freedom, Freedom that leads to Justice, Justice to keep the Freedom. Garp loses his family. Garp cannot be any more selfish, his son is taking and taking more Freedom and Justice, and there's only so much a man (a man?) like him can keep on giving. So he loses his Family, and lets Dragon keep what's his.

Ever the selfish man, however, Garp takes in apprentices. Lonely, lost kids (just like him) hoping to become something better. Teaches them a thing or two. Makes them strong, they are not quite his Family, but they learn his rules, share his principles, and Garp finds in them a bit of space to breath. A bit of Freedom and care from them. So Garp, still a D, still desperate for Freedom (no matter how much he tries to ignore it) takes it. Turns out Kuzan and Sengoku make for great Admirals, and give Garp a bit more of breathing space.

Then there's Roger, there's the Rock pirates and God Valley. And the truth Garp is running from is no longer following him, but hitting him in the face (a punch, a fist) and asking him "did you really think you could run away forever?" The Fist did. Garp did not. So Garp teams up with a straw-hatted pirate and Xebec is history. And Garp breathes, allows himself a bit of selfishness in the aftermath of the battle. Now there are only two men, two friends, gasping for air on the floor. The pirate is smiling at him and Garp can't help but to do the same.

He hears the Buster Call warning before the other man. The Hero of the Marine tells the Pirate to leave. The Pirate does. God Valley doesn't exist.

Garp gains a friend, a title, and a realization. He won't be free again. Once the story comes out to the public, he will not be Free again. Justice will take hold, and Garp cannot be Free again. Whatever he has left after that means next to nothing.

But he has a son. A son who doesn't use his name or freedom or justice anymore. Garp looks at The Revolutionary's Justice and thinks "I could work with that". Meets him half-way. Garp cannot go back, too many people depend on the Hero's freedom for him to go back. So he trusts his son and gains his family back, for a bit. He thinks he deserves it, hasn't he already given his all to them? Can he have his son back, now? Garp doesn't know that Sengoku thinks of the sound snow makes when it's falling (oh, so silent) and the smell of cigarettes when he tells him to shut up, get out of his office and get back to work.

"It'd be fine to stay like that", Garp thinks. But nothing is ever the same on the sea. Garp meets with his friend one last time and tells him his truth. "You brought this upon yourself", he knows, "there´s no other man I could trust this to" and he smiles. Garp frowns. And thinks. He is a Hero, what is another child to give a little bit of himself to more? He thinks back to a child alone in forest, beating tiggers and bandits and searching for treasure. He decides Justice is blind to a child whose greatest sin is the weight of a name not even his. The Pirate King is dead, Long Live the Pirate King. Garp loses a friend, freedom and gains some family back.

Garp must've missed the memo that every major criminal is now having children, because his son is back with another one. The child carries his name as ell. "You brought this upon yourself", he knows, "There's no other man I could trust this to". Garp doesn't know what to do. In a world of Kings, Revolutions, and Will, what is a vice admiral able to do? What are they expecting this man to do? Justice is blind again and Garp watches the silhouette of the most-wanted man in the world (now) leave ever more lightly, a weight of his chest.

Dragon told him what he wanted for the kid, his kid, Freedom and a Family. Turns out is son is quite the selfish man. Garp doesn't have any Freedom to offer him though, the white chains and blue leash he forged for himself can't be called that. However, Garp finds that in his Justice he can provide for something else, he could keep them Safe. Justice is blind, he can keep his kids Safe. Garp is selfish once again.

And another time, because Sengoku (his friend, Fleet Admiral Sengoku) now knows.

////

Holy Molly this thing has been on standby for 2 weeks. I'm still stuck on end-of-semester frenzy so I actually haven't had much chance to read a lot more. And, also, a lot of them haven't been updated since last... EXCEPT FOR DEAD ALIVE

I'm gonna talk about Dead Alive as soon as I get the chance, which is probably another 2 weeks but whatever.

I'm gonna finish the Garp thoughts sometime, because I haven't even started on the events that actually take place in the story as we follow it.

OH AND THE MANGA UPDATED!!!! THAT ALSO HAPPENED, OMGGG!!!!!

Anyways, thanks for reading this far if you did (why?). I hope you were able to think about Garp in a new light, kinda, because this thing is still unfinished and missing what is basically Garp's biggest character moment to date (_marineford_). And I have thoughts on that, and Egghead. If you weren't then that's fine too, everyone's entitled to their opinion. I still think it's very nice you made it this far, thanks again, have a good one! c:

#rambles #txt #garp #monkey d garp #vice admiral garp #monkey d dragon #revolutionary dragon #character analysis #kinda #boderline fanfic-y but ignore that

[crazyfilterlady2024]

"Unleashing the Power Within Secrets to Creating Viral Content That Breaks the Internet"

In the realm of creative expression, whether as writers, content creators, or YouTube enthusiasts, it's easy to lose sight of the collective journey toward success. As we ascend the ladder of recognition, it's vital to remember those navigating similar paths. Unfortunately, the allure of personal acclaim often eclipses our obligation to reciprocate support. We inadvertently monopolize attention, expecting more than we offer, thereby creating a universe where our names reign supreme. This self-centered approach not only impacts our own growth but also strains our relationship with our audience.

When a new follower joins our community, it's an opportunity to foster mutual support and camaraderie. By extending a simple gesture of solidarity—clicking that "follow" button—we affirm our commitment to a collaborative ethos. Yet, failure to reciprocate this support breeds disillusionment and disengagement among our audience. People tire of one-sided relationships and eventually disengage, unfollowing and disliking our content.

To thrive in the vast expanse of the internet, we must cultivate a culture of reciprocity and mutual upliftment. Together, we can navigate the intricacies of this digital landscape, bolstering each other's endeavors and collectively propelling forward. Let's shift our focus from self-centered pursuits to communal growth and collaboration. For it's in supporting one another that we truly ascend to new heights of success. Let's build a community where generosity and mutual support reign supreme, ensuring that our journey upward is sustained and collective. After all, in this interconnected web, our collective ascent ensures our continued relevance and impact.

In our pursuit of success, we're all striving to carve out our place in the world. Whether we're writers, content creators, or entrepreneurs, this journey is akin to a full-time job—a relentless effort to secure our slice of the pie. But in this endeavor, why do we find ourselves locked in unnecessary competition? We're not vying for the same space, nor are we encroaching on each other's territory. Just as your growth doesn't infringe upon my domain, mine doesn't encroach upon yours. It's not a zero-sum game; there's room for all of us to thrive.

Instead of viewing each other as adversaries, let's shift our perspective to one of collaboration and support. Imagine the collective strength we'd harness if we pooled our resources, shared our insights, and lifted each other up. Together, we can cultivate an environment where everyone's success is celebrated, where each milestone achieved by one of us is a cause for communal rejoicing.

By fostering a spirit of camaraderie rather than competition, we open doors to endless possibilities. Our combined efforts have the potential to amplify our reach, attract new followers, and cultivate a loyal audience base. When we support each other's endeavors, we create a ripple effect of positivity that reverberates throughout our respective communities.

So, let's embrace the mindset of abundance rather than scarcity. Let's recognize that there's ample room at the table for all of us to feast. Together, we can elevate not only ourselves but also each other, ensuring that success is not a solitary pursuit but a collective triumph. Let's unite in our quest for growth and prosperity, knowing that together, we're stronger, more resilient, and infinitely more impactful.

Let's build a community where collaboration reigns supreme, where success is measured not by individual achievements but by the collective progress we make together. Together, we can achieve greatness. Let's rise together.

At this moment, what we possess is crucial for our sustenance, for providing nourishment to our children or ourselves. This resource, whatever it may be, serves as the foundation upon which we build our lives and secure our well-being. It represents more than mere sustenance; it embodies our resilience, our ability to adapt and persevere in the face of adversity.

In times of uncertainty and scarcity, every resource becomes precious, every opportunity for sustenance a lifeline. Whether it's the food on our table, the income from our labor, or the support from our community, each element contributes to our survival and that of our loved ones. We must recognize the value inherent in what we possess, no matter how scarce or abundant it may seem.

Moreover, it's essential to acknowledge the interconnectedness of our existence. What we have isn't solely for our own benefit; it's also meant to be shared with others in need. By extending a helping hand to those around us, we not only alleviate their struggles but also strengthen the bonds of compassion and solidarity within our community.

In nurturing this spirit of mutual support and generosity, we create a more resilient and cohesive society. We foster a culture where individuals look out for one another, where no one is left behind in times of need. This collective effort not only ensures our survival as individuals but also enhances the well-being of the entire community.

Therefore, let us cherish what we have, recognizing its significance in our lives and the lives of those around us. Let us be mindful of the power we hold to make a positive impact through our actions, whether it's sharing resources, offering assistance, or simply showing kindness to others.

“Together, let us navigate the challenges we face with strength, compassion, and solidarity, knowing that by supporting each other, we can overcome any obstacle and emerge stronger than before”.

Love Always; Maria D.C Santiago Journalist © 2024 by Maria D.C Santiago is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International.

#EmbraceSolitude

#SelfDiscovery

#MindfulnessJourney

#FindYourPeace

#InnerReflection

#SoulNourishment

#QuietMoments

#SolitudeWisdom

#MindfulLiving

#EmbraceYourself

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#finance #money #breaking news

[edwardgdunn]

How A Spoiled Rich Kid Changed Himself And Became a Legend

“I know who you are and I know what you’re all about. But make no mistake, you will NOT bring any of that BS in here. If you do, you won’t be in here. This is a zero sum game. No second chances. Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good, take a seat.”

As a senior in high school, I was incredibly fortunate to have an extraordinary English teacher who left an indelible mark on me. As I have looked back over the years, my perspective regarding why her impact was so seismic, altering the course of my life in ways I am still unwrapping, has evolved. It seems that about every ten years or so, I see something else, some new thing I hadn’t realized before. There is little doubt that she ignited my omni-present passion for writing. She introduced me to the writers that inspire and teach me to this day…

James Joyce, Eudora Welty, Saki, Joseph Conrad, Kate Chopin, Ambrose Bierce – so may more.

But I have come to realize that one book she shared with me, perhaps more than any other, was a harbinger of things to come in my own life. It took me decades for the realization to fully materialize. And maybe, who knows, I might see it all differently, yet again, ten years from today.

The story is that of a young man who was raised in a privileged, affluent family. His parents, seeking to protect their young son from the proximate horrors of the world, kept him completely confined to the family compound. There, they reasoned, he had everything – every delight, distraction, and education a young man could want or need. The expectation was that he would follow in his father’s successful footsteps as well as his family’s religion. To his loving parents, he seemed fine with this arrangement. But the day finally came, as it inevitably will with all young men, that his curiosity and longing for independence became to powerful for him to further ignore. He ventured out of the compound and into the surrounding city.

For the first time he encounters the beggars, the sick, the mentally ill, poverty, and death. The shock to his coddled mind is overwhelming. The carefully curated illusion iss at once shattered into shards of incomprehensible bewilderment.

Upon returning to the compound, his word view in tatters, he sees that his only choice is to leave the cocoon that has been his safe harbor his entire life – to go forth into the world of sadness, sorrow, and struggle, His earnest hope is that there might exist a pathway the led through the hopelessness, confusion, and misery. A path that isn’t only available to those born to wealth and privilege but to everyone.

He joins a religious group who believe that happiness can be achieved through asceticism, a rejection of the body and physical desire. He loses his desire for property, clothing, sexuality, and all sustenance except that required to live. He successfully renounces the pleasures of the world.

After a time however, he is wholly dissatisfied. The path of self-denial does not provide the truth he is in search of. He realizes that the oldest of the adherents have lived the life for many years but have yet to attain true happiness of any real measure. So he leaves the group and ventures on.

He decides to embark on a life free from the spiritual quests he has been pursuing, and to instead learn from the pleasures of the body and the material world. He meets a beautiful courtesan who entrances him. But she will not have him unless he proves he can thrive in the material world. She convinces him to take up the path of the businessman. His hones his skills and takes the beautiful courtesan as his lover.

Soon, he is a rich man and enjoys all the pleasures an affluent life can afford someone. He gambles, drinks, and anything that can be bought is his for the taking. Yet, he sees it all as nothing more than a game, caring not whether he wins or loses. The more he accumulates, the less it satisfies him, and he is soon caught once more in a cycle of unhappiness that he tries to escape by engaging in even more gambling, drinking, and sex. When he is at his most disillusioned, he dreams that his lover is rare songbird is dead in its cage. He understands that the material world is slowly killing him without providing him with the happiness for which he has been searching. One night, he resolves to leave it all behind and departs without telling anyone.

Sick with sadness that perhaps the world is but unhappiness, misery and death, he considers drowning himself in a river in his path rather than cross it. But there he encounters a man who tends the ferry. The man seems to radiate the peace and happiness that has proven so elusive. He inquires how the man was able to attain such a state and the man simply replied, “By watching and learning from river. When the water encounters obstacles, rocks, fallen trees, it does not resist or combat them, it simply flows around them, through them, with them, always in keeping with its true nature. – always being the river.

The ferryman agrees to allow our journeyman to work and live with him for a time so that he too can learn the lessons of the river – and he does. Just as the water of the river flows into the ocean and is returned by rain, all forms of life are interconnected in a cycle without beginning or end. Birth and death are all part of a timeless unity. Life and death, joy and sorrow, good and evil are all parts of the whole – the One.

Armed with all he has learned over the many years of his long journey, he finally leaves the ferryman and the river and sets off  into the forest alone. He sits down underneath a beautiful tree and vows not to to rise until he has assembled and integrated everything he has learned. He sits for 49 days when in one enlightening instant, the puzzle is completed. He sees the world as it really is. He understands the cause of suffering and how it can be defeated. He clearly apprehends the path to true and lasting happiness. The remainder of his life, his learnings become his teachings that he freely shares with all who would seek to live in the light. He is happy. He is at peace.

The name of the book is Siddhartha. The author is Herman Hesse.

Check out the podcast episode…

Check out the Happiness 2.0 Podcast — https://podcast.edwardgdunn.com/

Happiness 2.0 Blog — https://edwardgdunn.com/blog

#PersonalTransformation #inspiringjourney #self discovery #success story #motivationmonday #personal development #well being #self care #emotional intelligence

[gz8manage]

Auction Management system

Solution

Auctions are suitable for buying raw materials, processed goods, travel, printing services, capital equipment, components and many other items. When the price is a key point of negotiation for the purchasing organization, auctions work best.

Using 8Manage Auction, you can get better results faster. It will help you stay competitive and provide a level playing field for all suppliers to bid in real time with transparency and fairness at the heart of activities. You can use it as a competitive procurement tool for raw materials, supplies and services. The benefits of 8Manage Auction include but are not limited to:

Reduce procurement costs by increasing competition;

Get better savings potential than your current "target" amount;

Save time by reducing the negotiation phase;

Improve the ability to meet deadlines by setting auction dates;

Increase transparency for suppliers because they have the same information at the same time.

8Manage Auction acts as the last stop for sourcing or tender, by encouraging competition to get the best price. Purchasing requirements must be clear when using 8Manage Auction.

You may need to go out to tender and have to assess qualitative criteria and make a shortlist. You can only use 8Manage Auction after creating a shortlist of suppliers with the aim of awarding contracts to the supplier who offers the best deal.

Pay attention to the following points while using 8Manage Auction:

Choose the right category/product/service and the right time

Not every category, product or service is suitable for an auction. For example, the best categories for it include (but are not limited to):

Direct Materials--from actuators, adhesives, aerosols, creams, air brakes, aluminum castings, components, baby wipes, bacon... to vegetable oils, vehicles, vending machines, vinyl, tiles, wafers and cones body, washer fluid, welding wire, wheel and tire assemblies, wine, work clothes, packaging/bags

Information Technology and Communication

Professional service

Facility management

Overhead and support

Once you have picked the right category, you have to study the market and understand your place in it. For example, if it is a seller’s market, you may not have the necessary interest for an auction. But if it is a buyer’s market or a competitive category, you may be interested in running a successful auction. Therefore, it is important to do your research in advance so that your market trends will work in your favor.

Set specific expectations

Communication is a major factor in a successful auction. You have to be very specific about what you are looking for so that competing providers can offer what you want, not what they think you want.

This means you need to be candid and transparent. Make sure your suppliers understand your selection criteria and what they are doing. Are you judging by price alone, or are there other factors at play? Communicate clearly and check if they understand you.

When communicating, make sure not to be persuaded not to hold an auction. Suppliers may offer deals to skip auctions. Resist the temptation and trust the auction process.

State the benefits to the seller

Auctions provide the buyer with the best benefit, but that does not mean it is a zero-sum game where sellers lose. Auctions are a form of fair competition because all sellers use the same set of information. They showcase everyone’s lowest price points, giving sellers insight into the overall market. It is important to communicate these benefits to your suppliers—especially when a supplier is making their first bid—because you need sellers involved in the process.

Make a pre-bid and check the mechanism

Because auctions involve technology, it is a good idea to make suppliers comfortable with the software. A pre-bid is a great way to engage suppliers in the process and serves as a check on specifications. It informs you that you are running a two-stage process.

Step 1: Pre-bid to check the 8Manage Auction mechanism and make sure everyone agrees on the specifications.

Step 2: Actual auctions.

We strongly recommend that you don’t skip the first step. Certainly, you don’t want your bids to suffer from technical misunderstandings.

Allow last-minute expansion and take out snipers

Setting a hard time stop in an auction means leaving money on the table. Because we are technology-dependent, it is strongly recommended that you do not stick to time constraints. 8Manage Auction has an auto-scaling feature. If a bid comes in the last few minutes, it is best to extend the auction time to allow others to counter-bid.

In essence, the extension discourages "sniping," where the later supplier bids may be higher than the current maximum bid, and there is no time for a counter-offer. You want all sellers to win your business fairly, so give others a chance to respond to last-minute bids. If not, close the auction and make a selection.

Award contract

Last but not least, make sure to communicate with all suppliers and inform them of your decision and be transparent about your process. Remember that your suppliers spend a lot of time preparing and engaging. If you don’t award the business at the end of the process, they are less likely to be involved in the future. Of course, if you don’t get good offers, you don’t have to accept one, but you need to explain why the business was not awarded to you that day.

A well-run auction can save purchasing teams a lot of money while giving suppliers a fair but competitive field. So, communicate well.