Messages

31

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: September 20, 2019, 09:18:09 pm »

I'm not getting the vibe that Regina is 'with' Crest.  I'm not sure how much time has passed but I think they are both still kinda at least emotionally recovering from the Horror and murder/mutilation of their friends before their very eyes!  Buzz & Glyph were close friends to Regina.. and they were literally shredded before her eyes... Its a mark of high caliber and proof of how strong a person Regina has become but she was heavily emotionally invested in Glyph... I doubt she's ready to that close to someone else yet ~ even the Big Damned Hero Crest!

Right now they are both taq-dancing around the subject of where the rest of the Phalanx member are I would suppose trying to ease Maytag and Bernadette into the gruesome news.  There is still an issue about what was really going on.. did Suspiria 'create' the evil in the pit? That can't be the whole story as WE all know Melter had multiple Mary's {a Nightmarish Fact at the Very least} with him under his control to investigate the pit, and Supiria was there to investigate the disappearances from the prison, and Mary's remains did find something at the bottom of the pit? The Thin Man/Lehm clearly did something to Suspiria that ruined not only her life but brutally ended the lives of many others but what is Qtalda's part in this?  I STILL do not believe ~ "oh the mad sorceress made me and the conclave high counsel admit to conspiracy to murder her parents", BULLSHIT she spouted even if Suspiria was not entirely stable, I do not believe that lame-ass story exonerates Qtalda of not being a World Class Villian in the works!  There are magical threats out there certainly the Thin Man's callous regard for his experiments... but who is really pulling both Lehm's and Melter's strings?  I think Qtalda is somehow involved... and I think Crest is there to enlist the insightful Maytag and skillful Bernadette in getting to the bottom of what is really going on!

Well, it looks like they are a thing.

More than anything, I think it's survivor's anxiety. Kinda like WWI/WWII/Great Depression, and ppl started having kids like crazy. I think a good portion of this is because they were the only "normal" people to survive this hellish event (Moby basically can't be counted as normal because she drove Suspi into a psychological corner and tried to rape Crest, and the others are either turned to stone or lackeys of the Thin Man). So there was probably a lot to talk about offscreen.

32

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: September 17, 2019, 11:16:30 pm »

I'm not getting the vibe that Regina is 'with' Crest.  I'm not sure how much time has passed but I think they are both still kinda at least emotionally recovering from the Horror and murder/mutilation of their friends before their very eyes!  Buzz & Glyph were close friends to Regina.. and they were literally shredded before her eyes... Its a mark of high caliber and proof of how strong a person Regina has become but she was heavily emotionally invested in Glyph... I doubt she's ready to that close to someone else yet ~ even the Big Damned Hero Crest!

Right now they are both taq-dancing around the subject of where the rest of the Phalanx member are I would suppose trying to ease Maytag and Bernadette into the gruesome news.  There is still an issue about what was really going on.. did Suspiria 'create' the evil in the pit? That can't be the whole story as WE all know Melter had multiple Mary's {a Nightmarish Fact at the Very least} with him under his control to investigate the pit, and Supiria was there to investigate the disappearances from the prison, and Mary's remains did find something at the bottom of the pit? The Thin Man/Lehm clearly did something to Suspiria that ruined not only her life but brutally ended the lives of many others but what is Qtalda's part in this?  I STILL do not believe ~ "oh the mad sorceress made me and the conclave high counsel admit to conspiracy to murder her parents", BULLSHIT she spouted even if Suspiria was not entirely stable, I do not believe that lame-ass story exonerates Qtalda of not being a World Class Villian in the works!  There are magical threats out there certainly the Thin Man's callous regard for his experiments... but who is really pulling both Lehm's and Melter's strings?  I think Qtalda is somehow involved... and I think Crest is there to enlist the insightful Maytag and skillful Bernadette in getting to the bottom of what is really going on!

The entire story with Qtalda is crazy. Pretty sure I don't believe it, because it fails the logic test (fairly easy for Qtalda to mess with one person's mind and make Suspiria doubt her parents; while a Nibelheim scenario from FF7 is not entirely unthinkable, just that it would take an unreasonable amount of power). The hatred of the Conclave could not have come from nowhere, so there was clearly some bullying going on. Plus the story as explained seems to be totally implausible unless we understand it as shifting blame away from Qtalda, especially since have (1) a group of four or more people suddenly doubting what they see, (2) after the encounter with Qtalda they all decide they need to investigate this town, (3) Qtalda just conveniently produces these parents  and we have a smaller enough crowd that their memories can be tampered with.

 However, I believe Melter. Mostly. I believe she did turn herself into a monster because shs noticed the scar, and I believe if she did remember her parents dead, it's because she needed a reason to hate Qtalda. I believe Crest and Suspiria do love eaxh other, but it's in a cute quiet way. However, her image of Crest is distorted by leftover feelings. And many of the characters are colored by her impression of them (this is NOT the same thing as mind-control, rather it's like a passive impression of a person that creates a self-fulfilling propohecy).  She sees Moby as a crappy girl, and it exaggerates her behavior to the point where she tries to rape Crest and causes Suspiria to basically snap and turn to stone. But here too, Suspiria's feelings come out. Both her affection for Crest, and her guilt, are projected in Moby's own words. Effectively, she trapped herself in an accusation, and made the pit worse than it should be.

Breaking seals without a Dissolving Seal means Suspiria is only really in control of about 3 levels. She however has a large amount of passive powers. Melter also mentions that in order to do this, the seed affects chemical balance of the brain. He mentions control over emotions, sense of self, anf a firm grasp on reality. All of which she kinda skipped. So the emotions part screws with people's hearts and minds, sense of self is allowing her to mess with her body, and reality warping... well basically the Pit got worse. 

Edit: Re-read the chapter. The explanation about the dead parents is that she loved them and basically saw most of the Conclave as taking her away. So yes, Qtalda still manages to be a piece of work, but she's not a murderer. But neither is Suspiria, really.  She's more like a radioactive person.

33

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: September 13, 2019, 09:33:49 pm »

A lesson for Crest. Even though she's stone now, Suspiria might get jealous if he hooks up for real with another girl.

Update: Could have something to do with the content of the second test.

The test was about practical ability and honesty. She confessed her feelings to Maytag (2) and she pushed her limits in the Pit (1).

34

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: September 05, 2019, 03:07:37 pm »

Well, the "tradition" in America seems to be either:

• Getting stuck spinning your wheels getting a month to month apartment that never gets anywhere
• Getting a house on credit and and being in debt for 30 years, until you die or something (why they call it mortgage)
• Living with parents (that's what I do, and I've come to terms with it, but they won't live forever... unless I somehow undo death, cuz I'm gonna do it, I tell you)

I dunno. :massive_shrug: Third friend online from Germany, yay! I think maybe that's a real estate agent's euphemism for "There's a lot of immigrants in Germany (and Sweden) now, so you won't likely find any real estate deals, but the prices are great at OUR end because demand far exceeds supply! Yay for us!"   

35

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: September 02, 2019, 02:46:16 pm »

Right now... she's working on a librarian assistant's pay.  Librarians btw, have a very personally satisfying job (unless you don't like the boss), but not a financially satisfying one. That is, a real librarian earns about what a high school teacher makes, but this is after they get done paying off TWO master's degrees (average accredited librarian).  As librarian's assistants, we  made roughly $9.12/hr and that was after salary went up (used to be $8.75 or so). Older sister is the only assistant that earns fulltime pay, the others are two retired older women and a black dude who took my spot after I left. The rest of us probably average 30-50 hr every two weeks.  So let's crunch numbers of her using the best estimate (but it's probably in the 40s).  Biweekly, so 9.12 x 2 (twice a month) x 12 = $10k (not counting taxes, car payments, and probably whatever invisible costs doing stuff like driving out of her way to go to Williamsburg on Sunday morning to give her niece a haircut is, since this crap seems to actually happen), while her sister makes more like $17k and dumps all of her problems on her.   

The best way of looking at this is to ask her how much this house is worth to her.  Because that's exactly how much not resolving this family thin is costing her.  $165k was the low house estimate if she doesn't want a tiny house.  And honestly, a tiny house up to liveable standards for her (I kinda know that she's not really the roughing it type) plus land plus utility install costs would probably add up to this. Being able to tell her sister off is worth exactly that. I'd actually consider helping her board here, but (1) we don't really have the moving in together level of relationship, (2) the two available rooms are either sharing the bath with me and I don't do a great job cleaning or sharing the bedroom with loads of toys (since my own mother has difficulty saying no, in this case to the grandkids), and (3) it would create a lot of strange parking issues. 

Tbh, I don't think she has this money realistically yet or maybe for another 10-15 years with solid cutting back expenses (how I'd do it, since I refuse loans or standard credit cards, preferring check card/ATM) or debt , depending on whether she spends).  I mean, I could be surprised and she moves next year.  But I feel like this is years of misery for a relatively minor bonus of living alone.   

Before that, I'd suggest couch-surfing.

36

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: August 31, 2019, 09:39:09 pm »

Well, if someone swallows frustration for a long time, at some points they explode and make choices that can turn out to be very bad. Big choices like the choice to move somewhere should ideally be made with a calm and collected mind. And rent in a city tends to be higher than in towns. And cities tend to be noisier than towns, so unless the noises of specifically her family are the problem, then moving to the city won't change that for the better at all.

But maybe she's just fed up with having to be an unpaid(?) nanny? She could try nannying part-time for other families and get paid, if she likes nannying in general. I mean, ultimately her sister's kids are not her responsibility. Her sister + husband made the choice to have two kids, so if you make kids you gotta take responsibility, like it or not. And if she ends up moving away they'll have to take responsibility anyway.

I kinda want her to make Polly's choice, and just move to the outskirts of town.  Her dream house is open-concept, 3 BR, 3 BTH near the main road (but she doesn't want it near the main road in this town bec "everyone will know from my care where I live" and aforementioned creepy guy included) with "not a lot of acres because I hate mowing" but a big backyard  .  Found her 3 BR 2.5 BTH modern wood cabin, with a nice basement in the back woods (technically is a big backyard that nobody cares if you don't mow).  Basically her house goals are hilariously contradictory, except oddly this one mostly works.




The problem with moving as far as she intends (a major city like 3 hr away) is she will have to quit her job.  The problem with this is unless she gets a job immediately, her nice peaceful home dream suddenly turns into a nightmare.  Or she just plain tell her sister "(1) we need to convert one of the 1/2 bathrooms in this house to a full one, because I am tired of having to compete with your children for shower time and (2) if you want me to be a nanny, pay me.  You have me raising your kids, and then you get to go off and have a breadwinner dream while I'm an emotional wreck, and (3) how about you move out instead since you have more money?" These few words would save her hundreds of thousands.

Honestly, I could probably tell her to just buy a cheap property, and get a tiny house.  It really is just her and her parakeet. Sure, it's nice to think of a spacious 3 bedroom with and entire room for her bird, one for her, and one for guests. But come on.  Are you going to have guests often enough to make it worth paying 3 bed price when you really need 1 bed and an art room?

https://www.newfrontiertinyhomes.com/
(Probably the $70k one)

That plus an art shed. 

https://home.costhelper.com/storage-shed.html

Probably alot less than a huge home even considering land costs.

37

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: August 20, 2019, 04:35:29 pm »

I feel like Brion is writing some sort of very heavy allegory where this couple represents something or other.  But every time I try to puzzle out what Bern, May, and Polly is supposed to represent, I wind up with a headache instead. 

My best theory?
- May represents love of self. She a kind of grey character, down to her costume choices. Similar to Gaara in Naruto, she's not totally suited for company. But Bern has decided to love her anyway.
- Bern represents virtue, which is why she's frequently super-moral, and her willingness to sacrifice and put herself second often gets her into  trouble.
-And Polly represents vice.  This is not to say that she's wrong for Bern.  She's actually an okay person. But she's kinda like that person you meet who has been abused in the past and has traces of toxic behavior. You sorta see this in the Arena where she is willing to torture people, and can't understand Bern being unable to do so.

Update: Omg, is that ever true. About not being able to say what you wanted to say.
My best friend and/or crush has been talking for years about buying a house and moving to the big city.  Having made numerous trips over the years - South Africa (including both safari areas and cities like Cape Town), UK, Ireland, China, and much of the mainland US - I can honestly say that I'm pretty well disgusted with travel. So basically it feels like a slap in the face to everyone who cares about her when she basically decides that her family is cramping her style (more about this later), and yes there is a creepy guy in town that probably needs locking up as a sex offender.  This totally justifies moving to the city when people like me and her were able to make poverty wages, and she might wind up without any friends and stranded. With just an apartment, I had issues with bad housing. With a real house, if things go south, you have to sell it. Nevertheless, I like her alot, and I wanna try to be supportive, even though I am really worried about the success of this. And also really worried that she's gonna save for years on it (as a librarian, she has part-time hours), putting aside happiness she could have made for herself actually trying to go out and enjoy what thw town has to offer.
She does have a great deal of stress, to be clear, since her sister has two children but is one of these deadbeat moms that either has an even worse deadbeat husband who doesn't earn enough so she works full-time, or maybe she thinks it's responsible to be a full-timer when you let your sister be your nanny. And the house is crowded and noisy, and she's all thinking that they never treat her right, but I have never seen her stand up for herself. So what, she hates living with her folks which is rent-free, so she's gonna pay property tax in the city, plus utility, plus food, plus likely to commute everywhere even to meet friends. Yes, some ppl do live in the city just fine, but if you can manage with your family, you can manage without. If you can't, problems will probably recur.  If you at least live nearby, ppl can help out! Sigh...
Honestly, I do not think she'll afford most houses, but still the idea of her moving away is very sad, because she is one of the first ppl who actually made me really feel like I belonged here, and there's not much to replace her.
Today, I decided to help her look at one of those catalogues, and I think I got kinda too nosy. Even wanting to help her and stuff, not so much.

38

Flipside Discussion / Re: Mistake Thread

« on: August 14, 2019, 11:46:31 am »

Page 35 (currently newest) there are two blank bubbles from Bern.

It's possible this is still unfinished?

39

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: August 09, 2019, 01:48:10 pm »

Yeahhhhh... it's possible that May may not be the angel of light Bern idealizes her as, and there may be toxic elements to their relationship.

I'm gonna bring up this link because idealizing love is an actual problem.

https://markmanson.net/love

What a relationship needs to work is actual work. If May is willing to do that, sure that's fine. But there is a chance things will crash and burn in the future.

Recall though that in fact one of these partners is an extremely principled person. The other one is not a a hypocrite inasmuch as she didn't claim Bern couldn't have an open relationship, Bern just decided not to take her up on it.  Which is kinda the point. Yes, it seems like "but May is the only one in the wrong here," but the fact of the matter is Bern's moral rigidity is an actual issue for those around her.  May don't really care about faithfulness, yes. But Bern has such issues with faithfulness that she can't forgive it easily, whereas May can.

The point made is both of these are issues.

I don't predict Bern becoming a polygamist. But I do predict her learning to forgive May more for her indiscretions. 

40

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: August 08, 2019, 05:03:48 am »

Because Polly is there, and she's basically explaining to Polly what May is like. What's more interesting to me is that they didn't mention this before, but I guess Bern didn't know Polly was condering leaving before.

41

Flipside Discussion / Re: Mistake Thread

« on: July 04, 2019, 04:51:40 pm »

It's "feisty." But it's one of your better mistakes.  The "i before e" rule doesn't always apply, and that's one of them.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_not_following_the_I_before_E_except_after_C_rule

42

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: July 01, 2019, 05:40:54 am »

From my experience the worst ppl to deal with are those that hate themselves.

43

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: June 21, 2019, 06:54:38 pm »

While we're on topic of songs...

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=bcLazPauA1c

Something about that sunrise scene here.

44

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: June 13, 2019, 08:43:56 pm »

Why do I feel she's gonna go from asking a simply favor in a cheery voice to like :doomface: in a single page asking Polly serious questions.

Uhm.. what was that look Maytag gave her in Cell 2?  That's the dangerous Maytag look... what gives?

:doomface:

As I said.  She's hardcore plotting something. 

Or just annoyed the Polly seems to be resisting her ploy to jump her bones. 

45

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: June 08, 2019, 05:18:36 pm »

Why do I feel she's gonna go from asking a simply favor in a cheery voice to like :doomface: in a single page asking Polly serious questions.

46

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: June 05, 2019, 01:03:25 am »

Might not Be As Simple As All That...

Basically, Polly is emotionally like the younger sister of Bern, with an even deeper sense of sacrifice (we saw this when she offered to bid lower than Bern).  Like Bern she's annoyingly principled.  So despite May being okay with it, and Bern sorta wanting it, it would be a hard sell. Not impossible, but very hard. 

47

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: June 04, 2019, 05:22:57 am »

Ahhh, so that's it. 

And yeah that's pretty decent and noble of her. 

However it's a little like your family and friends sticking around while you suddenly can't get in touch with your client for your job.  They're relationships that serve different roles, and one can simply be friends with former benefits in the worst case.  I'm not saying it's not a good idea if she wants to leave, but Bern is clearly attached.

The sorta religious law most often cited with regards to adultery is the Ten Commandments, which kinda says "Ummm don't do that."  However, unlike staunchly Christianity which basically codified monogamous relationships and which is a dualism, Judaism is a monism and... well it's complicated. https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-monism-and-dualism/

Basically, the Jews believed matter is all one substance, and despite having multiple wives in Jacob's and David's and I think Solomon's case, they had a rule that says adultery don't do it. Which seems VERY hypocritical that you have multiple wives in a system against adultery, until you understand monism. In dualism where this and that are two different things (God and human, God and... well not God, man and woman, two different partners) this means literally "keep faithful to the one you love" or to quote a 50s or 60s song "be true to your school, like you would to your girl."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdffgfM_YWQ
Judaism as I say, however is a monism.  They say stuff like the Shema Yisrael for exorcism.  (Basically that God is One, so the reason it's for exorcism is that it means evil spirits cannot exist) Read this way, it's kinda similar to saying "don't commit adultery because you really can't, there's no difference between you, me, and the other girl. We're all one, and this is a sin because you're hitting a false perception that I could be jealous. I'm only jealous when you stop seeing me as your lover."  This is kinda similar to what May's been saying, and remarkably similar to this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuZE_IRwLNI

You know, the real reason I went into this religious history discussion was so that I could shamelessly plug songs.   

48

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: May 27, 2019, 08:19:33 pm »

Notice she didn't call it a magic bed.  But it totally could be! 

Also, notice the brick in the bathroom. Obviously Brion's trolling us with a recurring joke which normally shows up in the filler sections.

Btw, what are the features of these magic rooms? Does the water simply remain hot or does it scrub better or bubble bath?
Does the sink have garbage disposal or other features?

49

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 53: Discussion

« on: May 11, 2019, 02:14:58 am »

Oh goody.

This title can be one of two things. A flashback of Polly's life (much like some of Bern's and May's chapters) or where things get kinda awkward and stuff. Well, I suppose it could be an action chapter too...

Oh yeah, or it could be a troll chapter like Tom's famous one page Chapter 55 (which consisted of one page or so before changing the subject).  We did hear that after this arc, the teams would join up, so maybe midway through the chapter, stuff happens to meet up with more of the team.

Judging from the hairstyle, I'd say flashback.

50

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: May 08, 2019, 02:49:58 pm »

May's hardly a saint.  I remember Crest calling her on one of her affairs where she was all like "no big deal."

But she is a sweetie, even though she has some spotty bits in the past. 

As for everything not being alright, Bern has no idea.  Crest and Regina are emotional wrecks, Suspie is kinda stone-washed, and there's probably gonna be issues because Bern probably will always have some feelings for Polly (or vice versa).  And then there's whatever's going on with the demons or whatever is guarding areas like the Pit, and the whole computer program of magic.  There's probably quite a bit to worry about long term, it's just not as tense as last chapter. 

...Holy crap, when did the Pit chapter begin? Because it's dated 2017, and it's now 2019.  Hold up.  Three times a week, that roughly 20 weeks per chapter, right? So it takes about a year to do about 3 chapters?

51

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: May 03, 2019, 03:32:32 am »

It's like she said though. Hasn't really betrayed her.  Betrayed is when you lie and say "this is not what it looks like" when clearly it is. Bern, the entire time cared about how her Dearest felt, and wanted to tell her what she was doing. Even though it hurt. Even though she feared she would leave her.

This is much different from the characters I wrote who had a threesome. The initial two were kinda friends before that, but... well it was an odd relationship because the guy (Elias) wanted the girl (Aqorm) mainly for conversation and company but wasn't really into sex or family. The other girl (Lilith) was a horny demon in both senses of the word, and didn't really care about conversations. Aqorm loves them both as if they're parts of a whole person. But it's so screwed up, that I can't feel like the first one even gets much in the way of conversation after that.  Things got so awkward even though it was consensual on all parties, that there is not much to talk about. And Lilith secretly also hung out with Michael, an angel, but after getting him pregnant ( don't ask), she kinda wants nothing to do with him, because Michael is an andel and all, so about four people in the group aren't close.  Meanwhile, the lesbian couple (Azrael and Anideshi) who are never written as having sex at all are still joined at the hip, the main heroes (Ambrosia and Nevras) are still doing okay aside from a whole trust issue involving time travel and kinda hiding a previous breakup, and the token villainous heroes (Yazim Jianne and Selqui) are having depraved adventures too. I guess the moral of the story is polygamy/adultery is harder to write a good ending for.

52

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: April 24, 2019, 04:26:37 am »

Bern: Well, there was that time where we had sex in the Arena, does that count?
May: :sweatdrops: Hmmmm.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: April 08, 2019, 10:45:04 pm »

She knows because of Bern.

That speech she gave to the Thin Man about having accomplices.  Bern is telling her everything she needs to know without saying a word.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: April 04, 2019, 02:16:07 am »

Polly admits to having sex with Bern.

Narrator: Now most people would become insanely jealous. But not Maytag!

55

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: March 31, 2019, 06:42:38 pm »

Huh. No sooner do I say this than I see Dio Brando. He's pretty much spot on what I mean, charming, successful, and ruthless as anything.

:Kicks a dog: "Oh I didn't mean to! I thought it was trying to bite me!"

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: March 31, 2019, 04:34:22 am »

An extremely large number of writers mishandle psychopathy/sociopathy, which is probably why the world is a lot worse than it should be.

They tend to make "psychopaths" to be mustachioed types that look sketchy or oily from the start, have a wicked laugh, and are so reeking of evil that everyone can tell. Or they make fun of people who have trouble expressing their emotions (like Maytag, when she's not doing her dramatic dual personality). Or they decide people who hear voices or have weird behavior are psychos (this one really annoys me, because it means autistic ppl and scizophrenics get feared and/or mistreated).

The person on the bus that you should sit two seats away from isn't the smelly woman who mumbles to herself "ash nazg durnatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul..." not unless her eyes glow or head turns backwards.  It's the charming "confident" guy or girl who seems to have no sense of restraint.  This is a warning sign of about three dangerous social disorders: sociopathy, psychopathy, and toxic narcissism.  And you will later discover that lack of restraint also means lack of remorse.  If something bad happens, it's someone else's fault, or some excuse.  I believe Kohlberg was right, that there are stages of ethics.  The psychopath, when written correctly, is someone stuck at the preconventional morality, they avoid punishment.  Now, how many politicians does this sound like? If you said, "All of them" you're unfortunately probably right.

I find the D&D idea of good/evil overly simplistic.  It's too much like the melodrama with eirher ppl in mustaches or people with chainmail armor and swords and shields.  It also fails to account for complex motivations. Except there are nine instead of two.
 Law, Balance, and Chaos is the model of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Korra, and some other media.  The difference between this an D&D model is that chaos doesn't necessarily mean crazy as you can also be lawful and crazy (as Kuvira was), and good and evil are the result of actions not the cause of them.  That is, you don't do things because you're evil, you do things because of personal motivations, and if suffering results, you're out of balance and something evil has happened as a result of you. Keep doing evil things, and it makes you an evil person. Not the other way around.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: March 29, 2019, 11:54:08 am »

So basically she's this?

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmbiguousDisorder

The difference between a sociopath, psychopath, schizoid, and autistic (for quick reference):

• When a sociopath sees someone get hurt, they pretend to be sad and sometimes are sad, but can just as easily not be
• When a psychopath sees someone get hurt, they pretend to be sad, but have a weird grin when people leave the room

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Psychopath_vs_Sociopath

• When a schizoid sees someone get hurt, they are often sad, but it is extremely difficult for them to cry.
• When an autist sees someone get hurt, they might laugh or cry, but it is not always appropriate.

It's not as simple as that, though because there are also something called a covert schizoid, someone who tries to feel emotions even though they can't really do it well.

58

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: March 28, 2019, 10:29:28 am »

She's neither. I've asked this question to Brion before. As I remember he said no to her being a psycho.

She might be schizoid, one of the milder autistic spectrum disorders, or simply have flat emotions.

But she actually does care for people. She just can't show it.

59

Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: March 26, 2019, 04:20:21 am »

...And she's milking it for all she's worth.  May knows that aside from creepy psycho cook making monsters, most of the Thin Man's crew aren't really dangerous, and Lehm is on the side of government exposure (i.e. truth). And most of the ppl who have been memory erased can't ask to be taken under Conclave wing because they don't remember what happened.  The Conclave itself knows that unlike legit terrorists, the Thin Man isn't a real threat (though he does in some ways undermine their authority). But because May knows Lehm isn't an issue, and Conclave knows he isn't an issue, but Conclave doesn't know May knows, and the public cannot be allowed to know, she is given protective custody and a snazzy room.

Yup, I was right.  "Poor little me, I was KIDNAPPED by the EVIL Thin Man, and forced to do all kinds of horrible things. Here's his last known location.  What? He moved? GASP!!! Yes, by all means, I will need witness protection, and btw, my friend here, you're gonna give her a place to live? No, you say? :steps closer with Eye: You will!!! How wonderful!"

 Once she gets inside... "Yay! Free housing!"

 As to people saying this is a dead end, well Eye can go outside (better) and May has a secure house and travel with Bern. Hopefully, at some point, Eye while not losing her power can contain it.

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Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 52: Discussion

« on: March 19, 2019, 05:11:36 am »

...And she's milking it for all she's worth.  May knows that aside from creepy psycho cook making monsters, most of the Thin Man's crew aren't really dangerous, and Lehm is on the side of government exposure (i.e. truth). And most of the ppl who have been memory erased can't ask to be taken under Conclave wing because they don't remember what happened.  The Conclave itself knows that unlike legit terrorists, the Thin Man isn't a real threat (though he does in some ways undermine their authority). But because May knows Lehm isn't an issue, and Conclave knows he isn't an issue, but Conclave doesn't know May knows, and the public cannot be allowed to know, she is given protective custody and a snazzy room.