I Think If You're Going To Love A Young Boy Character Who's Filled With An Inescapable Sadness And Overperforms

"you're squeakin' me!"

—me when you're squeakin' me

I've been reading some stuff on punitive justice, and it made something click for me that I've observed a lot online but haven't been able to put into words before.

When someone does something wrong, that's bad, and the damage it does needs to be repaired while the person needs to try to do better in future to minimize repeating harm. We learn it in preschool - say sorry, don't do it again. If they keep at it, remove them from the situation where they can do the harm until they prove they're responsible enough to go back in.

So if it turns out someone DIDN'T do anything wrong, that should be a relief! There's no damage to fix, no internal errors to correct. Less work for everybody, literally no harm done. False alarm, all good.

The thing I've observed is, lots of people want them to have done something wrong. There's almost disappointment when it turns out there's no harm done. And I think that's because of this general undercurrent of punitive justice as morally righteous and desirable: someone does something wrong, you get to punish them. Turns out they're innocent? That's disappointing. Find another reason you get to punish them, or find another bad person you get to punish. But at the core of it is that desire to punish someone. Someone you can hurt in a way that makes you a better person for hurting them.

This particular brand of almost cannibalistic pseudo-justice is super common in tumblr, one of the most ostensibly liberal spaces on the internet; I see more borderline savagery in online discourse here than in the actually toxic parts of the internet that are just openly cruel for cruelty's sake. It's always thrown me for a loop, and has frankly also hurt me, because on the rare occasions I get personally dogpiled, it only actually stings when it makes me worry that I've legitimately hurt someone. If I did something wrong, or more realistically when I inevitably do something wrong, that would make it good and right for people to give me shit about it every day until I'm dead.

The thing that clicked for me most recently was this bit in Ijeoma Oluo's Be A Revolution:

Punitive justice is specifically, uniquely appealing to people who have suffered injustices. Of course it's the Tumblr zeitgeist. Everyone here is a marginalized person failed by at least one system. Punishing someone for perceived injustice is how someone the system has deemed worthless proves their value in blood, even if the person being punished hasn't harmed you directly - even if they haven't harmed anyone. "Righteous" anger isn't about the target in these cases, it's about the inflicter. This is how much my pain is worth.

And that kind of violent validation is so alluring and so very dangerous. It seeks an outlet, wearing the justification of justice. Who's in reach? Who's an acceptable target this week? What's a good reason to use?

Is there anything they could do that would make me stop?

A large part of housecat vocalisation toward humans isn’t goal-directed communication, but rather, affiliative signaling: a simple call-and-response protocol which establishes that the participants are part of the same social unit. Amongst themselves, most housecat affiliative signaling is non-vocal, but humans aren’t really physiologically equipped to respond to such signalling in a feline fashion, and cats, well, they’re adaptable.

Which is to say that when your cat yells, and you yell back, so the cat yells again, and so forth, what you’re really saying to each other is “hiiiiii~”.

I love to see art, especially kink oriented art/writing, that I absolutely am not into at all - or even makes me uncomfortable! The amount of effort and care that goes into a craft when it's something the artist is so passionate (and/or horny) about is honestly a beautiful thing to behold

Like seeing stuff involving stuff that I'm not into at all, and I'm just like "what a fucking exquisite way to describe and/or show this, 10/10"

I love seeing ppl express themselves well and truly and being put outside my comfort zone has only made me appreciate the craft of it more.

mousegirl gf who is so so sleepy snoozy, so you cover her in a kraft single so she sleeps warm and has a snack when she wakes up

This adds an interesting irony to Deltarune with Kris seemingly struggling to "be themself" while the red soul is inside them.

the red soul

(undertale spoilers)

each fallen human has a specifically coloured soul associated with them. these colours can be seen on the coffins in new home, asgore’s soul containers, and the photoshop flowey boss battle. little is known about these souls, but what can be inferred is that each soul colour represents a unique trait. accessing this information requires multiple rounds of “ball game” in the snowdin forest. if the game is completed fast enough and the red flag is obtained, the following message appears.

however, red soul’s trait is never mentioned. or is it?

determination is not a trait

before exploring the red soul’s trait, it’s time to explain why determination is not the red soul’s trait. while it is a popular choice, it ultimately does not work for a few reasons. unlike the other traits, every human soul has determination. 

rather than being a trait, determination is more akin to willpower or resolve. it’s a power that gives human souls “the strength to persist after death.” furthermore, this determination is extracted from the six human souls and injected into a golden flower, bringing flowey to life and giving him the power to control the underground’s timeline. this same power is what gives the humans the power to save and load.

unlike all the other traits, determination is inherently inside all humans. furthermore, “determination” is never mentioned in the ball game. it’s also never specifically linked with the red soul nor is it ever written in red text. the word “determination” is only written in white or yellow. 

there is nothing that suggests determination is an exclusive trait to the red soul. it is merely a component in all the coloured human souls.

» read more: determination is yellow

the ball game

the different soul colours each represent their own positive traits according to “ball game.” the first time the red flag is achieved, the following message appears.

these are the positive traits of all the souls besides the red soul. when the ball game is won a second time in the conditions for the red flag, a new message appears.

it’s important to note that the ball game can only be played as long as snowdin is not cleared of monsters. if genocide is successful in snowdin, then the snowball will be gone, rendering the ball game useless. this is the only time the ball game cannot be played. in the neutral and pacifist routes, the game can be played even after reaching snowdin or after defeating papyrus.

the mirrors

from the red flag, the phrase “be yourself” is important. the idea of “being yourself” is seen repeatedly throughout the game, so long as the genocide route is not in motion. if frisk is still on the neutral route, frisk can look into the mirror in toriel’s home, and the following is said:

in new home, frisk can look into a second mirror and see the following:

this text appears in every route, except the genocide route. whether this is a reflection of frisk is up to interpretation.

in a pacifist route, after defeating asriel, frisk can look into the mirror in home once more to see this:

one of the most important elements of the pacifist route is the reveal of the protagonist’s true name, frisk. it highlights how frisk’s identity, or even their true self, is only revealed at the end of a pacifist route.

in contrast, the genocide route makes it clear that frisk is not themself from the start.

the red soul’s trait: being yourself

ultimately, the ball game holds the most important clue. the statement seems rather vague, until the one-word limitation is removed and the trait is seen as a phrase.

“being yourself” is seen in two ways in the context of undertale. the first is more obvious, with the phrase referring to how frisk is only themself in the neutral route and pacifist route. once the genocide route is in motion, frisk is no longer in predominant control – chara is. interestingly enough, when chara is in control during the genocide route and the snowdin forest is cleared, the ball game is unavailable, perhaps highlighting the fact that frisk is no longer truly themself.

the second way the virtue of “being yourself” is used in game is by its definition. “being oneself” means to be genuine, honest, or true to one’s character. along with determination, it is what allows frisk to keep going, especially in the pacifist route. sans alludes to this when he judges frisk in the last corridor.

“so as long as you do what’s in your heart” can be seen as another way to say “be true to yourself.” there is another reference to this trait in sans’ judgment should frisk have killed any monster.

while subtle, sans stresses the importance of being true to "yourself,” even in the face of committing a terrible crime.

“being yourself” may seem synonymous with integrity, but there is a difference. integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” while both are a quality of being honest, there is a difference to what that honesty is towards. those with integrity are righteous, fair, and of good character. however, integrity is not needed to be yourself. being yourself is to stay true to who you are, regardless of what that may be. perhaps a word for this could be “individuality,” “nonconformity,” or “sincerity.”

conclusion

while the other soul virtues are clearly defined by their colour coded trait, the red soul remains much more ambiguous. perhaps this is because frisk, chara, and the player persist as such different individuals despite being intrinsically linked, therefore the common trait between them can only be just that: their individual “true” self.

Best Mousegirl Monday ever, squeeeak! 😽🐭

designed my girlfriend @ferntasie a fursona :3 she likes cheese and i like biting her so i thought a mouse was appropriate lol

guys help?? for some reason i opened up my animal crossing game and petri was the only villager ever???? nintendo i sincerely hope you dont fix this bug 🙏🙏