I am a being in my physical twenties with no gender and am hereby pronounced gender-unbound.
I love to write stuff and I’m working on a big project, but things are keeping me from publishing anything. (In the process of being rewritten)
I most certainly have posting anxiety, but I’m getting better... I think.
Sometimes posting art with my obsessions or things others have requested.
I have entered the domain of blue skies: https://bsky.app/profile/cervidaecorpse.bsky.social
Please leave me alone if you think that looks, heritage, sexuality and gender is something that is to be looked down upon (or doesn’t exist). I don’t deal with racists, homophobes, transphobes and all of that stuff very kindly. Same thing for individuals who think that going for minors or other non-consenting parties is okay. I will not discuss these things with you. Get out!
To leave this on a brighter note, here are some shows/games/books/etc. I have found enjoyment in (I’m a filthy casual so don’t test me lol):
Assassination Classroom
Attack on Titan
Castlevania (AoS/DoS/OoE)
Cattails
DanganRonpa (Main/UDG/DRA/Brave/DESPAIR TIME)
Darker than Black
Detective Conan
Fullmetal Alchemist (both)
Gravity Falls
Hatoful Boyfriend
Hetalia
InuYasha
Kimi Ga Shine / Your Turn To Die
Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler
Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? (only there for the spider, really)
Mission Invisible
Murder Drones
Paleontology
Path of Titans
Plague Doctors
Pokémon (Mystery Dungeon/Ranger/Main Series from third gen onward)
so many people ive known have pushed themselves to burnout trying to deny their disabled reality, skipping accommodations, skipping rests etc. and the world convinces them that the solution to their burnout is to push even harder. it’s a huge tragedy. i know social pressures make it tough but i want more disabled people to make things easier for themselves where possible, to opt out of things that harm them when possible, to quit while they’re ahead. be that person today! protect yourself where you can! take micro breaks while doing your hobby. get that shower chair. sit to brush your teeth. lie down in the middle of the day, even if only for 5 mins. these things add up and it’s so worth it.
“Because the truth is, tech doesn’t have an image problem. It doesn’t have a message problem. It has an intention problem. What’s wrong with the axe murderer who broke into my house is not that he hasn’t successfully persuaded me to buy into his narrative. What’s wrong is that he’s trying to kill me with an axe. Similarly, when you launch a product that’s designed to put millions of people out of work, block access to sources of verifiable truth, replace human creativity with slop, and lower the barriers to every sort of atrocity, the problem isn’t that you haven’t told the public a good story about those things. The problem is that you are trying to do them.”
Something very important to her character is that she's lonely. She and her mother spent good part of her childhood moving from one place to another. As a result, and despite her mother's best efforts to provide her with companionship, Floriana doesn't have friends beyond her starter Pokemon.
(In the hypothetical fangame, there would be three starters to choose from: Sprigatito, Cinderace and Froakie. Them being from different regions shows how she and her mother have lived in many places.)
Outside of her mother, the only relationship she has with a human that could be considered close is with Blue. When she and her mom moved to Pallet Town in Kanto, these two developed a sense of rivalry and a desire to best the other on sight. Floriana was jealous of Blue for having a big family (at least in comparison to hers), and Blue was jealous that Floriana wasn't constantly being defined by and compared to hers. Blue was good at math and science, and Floriana was good at languages, which only vexed them both even more, because they hated feeling like they were falling behind the other in any way and in any thing. Him being the only kid her age in town only added another layer to their rivalry and jealousy of one another.
This loneliness may be one of the reasons she wants to be a Pokemon Master. Because being a Master is a vague goal, and there are many ways for being considered one, but if there is one thing it obviously requires, is training several Pokemon. And in the mind of a teenager, this obviously means getting to make lots of friends.
Likewise, it explains why she befriended Chase (male protagonist of Let's GO, repurposed for this story) so quickly, and why she rushed into a romantic relationship with him despite being unsure of her own feelings when he confesed to her.
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Her initial battle style reflects parts of her personality that need to be polished, or flaws she must overcome. Floriana isn't conscious of how the way she battles reveals her flaws, and I doubt she will ever realize it.
During the first arcs of her story, her battle style is fast. Hit first, hit hard, and be agile so no move can hit you. It reflects her impulsiveness, impatience and tendency to rush into things.
(As a nice detail, all starter Pokemon you can obtain in this hypothetical fangame are very fast and hit super hard, but are also very fragile. This not only acts as the representation of her impulsiveness out of universe, but also shows why she battles that way in-text — her starter Pokemon's strength and weaknesses have shaped the way she battles.)
It is a very effective style in the beginning. What her Pokemon lack in raw power, they have in the agility to avoid hits, the speed to get multiple good hits in a short time, and the determination to push themselves to the limit so they can improve. This, mixed with a still-unpolished skill to create good strategies, makes Floriana and her team able to get far enough in their journey to take part in the League. Something many people need multiple years to achieve, Floriana did in just one.
But all battle styles have weaknesses. Determination can only get you so far when you don't have the ability to strategize, create good synergies with your team, or trust with your Pokemon. And while a harsh defeat, her loss at her first League is the result of her shortcomings as a Trainer.
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Determination is Floriana's middle name. This girl doesn't know when to give up. Not a single defeat manages to keep her down for long. She loses her first battle against Blue? No problem! She will train hard so she wins next time. Doesn't get her first Gym badge? She'll try again tomorrow!
This drive to keep trying even when the world is set to make her fail is a core aspect of her character. Her very first appereance has her fail the exam to get her Pokemon Trainer license for the third time, and Floriana decides to study hard so she can try again. To put it simply, this story would not exist without Floriana's determination.
It's a good trait, where Pokemon battles are concerned. But the reactions of others to this drive have made her life more difficult. Her will to fight for what she wants is misunderstood as a denial of reality, and many people act condescending towards her for her supposed naivety. It intimidates others, even her friends, and makes her feel isolated.
For over a year, she stayed in a relationship that did not make her happy because she didn't want to give up on the love and friendship she shared with Chase. She tried to make it work despite their different and often incompatible goals in life, and she ended up repressing parts of her character so this romance would work. Chase asks things of her she is not comfortable with giving, but she does regardless because, no matter her doubts on the attraction she feels towards him, she loves him.
This conflict between her dream of being a Pokemon Master and her relationship with Chase makes her realize she cannot have it all. There are dreams, people and relationships she will have to give up on. There are things that, no matter how much she wants them — or thinks she wants them —, will not make her happy.
Floriana has to give up on Chase, or herself.
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She is not an academic. The theorical side of things is not something she has any interesting in. During lectures she spends half the time astral projecting out of sheer boredom, and the other half trying and failing to put the words together. Textbooks only manage to get one sentence in each paragraph into her head. Educational videos and presentations never stay in her head for long.
Despite her lack of book-smarts, however, Floriana is very clever. It's a sort of intelligence that often goes overlooked, because it's not taught in school, but it's very important — even more so for the career she's chosen.
She's a strategist, and has the markings of one since the very beginning of the story. She neutralizes a powerful and aggressive Pikachu because she notices it's going through an overload of electricity and takes advantage of it. In her first ever Gym battle, she notices the weak point of Brock's Onix, though her Pokemon are too weak to exploit it fully.
Floriana's mind functions best under pressure. She comes up with the best plans when in tense situations, and observes the Pokemon she's fighting against in search for exploitable weaknesses. Based on their posture, body language and minor details of their physical appereances, Floriana is capable of predicting the sets a Pokemon has been trained in. Beyond that, she makes connections most other Trainers wouldn't think of making. She uses and combines moves in creative ways, exploits abilities and takes advantage of a Pokemon's physical aspects, hers or the opponent's.
She is a clever and attentive girl who thinks outside the box, and this makes her unpredictable. This is a skill that makes her very dangerous in battle, because many Trainers rely on the opponent employing conventional tactics, and are at loss when the person they're facing deviates from the patterns.
(I may make a list of all the out of the box tactics Floriana uses in the future once I have more ideas.)
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Floriana wants to be everyone's friend and make people and Pokemon happy. You know the stereotype of the sweet protagonist who wants to befriend all other characters? That's her.
All her team is loved as they are, and she will not pressure them to evolve; it's their full body transformation so it should be their choice, not hers and if they say no, it's no. She doesn't care if it takes her Pokemon months, years or decades to be ready to evolve, or if they choose to never evolve.
She doesn't hide behind her team, she stands by their side in dangerous situations, such as the battles with Team Rocket. (Her Pokemon battle the grunts' and she's punching them in the background lol). She protects them when they're down, and takes care of them when they need it. She regains the loyalty of a Pokemon that's been disobeying her for months because she refuses to abandon him and takes care of him while he's badly injured.
Even for Pokemon that aren't hers, she's willing to go great lenghts to help. In her eyes, every Pokemon is friend-shaped and a creature that deserves to be cared for and respected. She will get into fights with people who don't treat their Pokemon right.
With people, she comes across as awkward but earnest. A person who genuinely wants to help, is giving her best but isn't always sure how to do so. She listens and comforts others when they need someone to lean on, even if she has no advice to give. She's very supportive of her friends chasing after their dreams, is enthusiastic about the path they're taking and asks lots of questions and does research on the topic, and is delighted with their successes.
Floriana is the kind of sweetheart that stops and takes a moment to care. She wants to know if the people around her are struggling and need help. She says it's nice to meet someone, and chances are she means it whole-heartedly.
When she's asked what she wants to do if she succeeds in her goals of becoming a Pokemon Master, helping people is the first thing that comes to mind. She thinks she can help civilians and beginner Trainers cross through the more dangerous routes inhabited by powerful and aggressive Pokemon. She considers mentoring Trainers who have just started out.
But it's not something instinctual. It doesn't come naturally to her. It's an active choice she makes over and over. It's more tied to her ethics, to what she believes is right and what people should get and be like, than an innate sense of empathy.
She may struggle to relate to the experiences of others. Maybe putting herself in someone else's shoes doesn't always come easily. Perhaps being a comforting presence tires her out. But it doesn't matter. People and Pokemon deserve a supportive friend, a fair and understanding partner, a kind neighbor, a compassionate stranger. And she refuses to let them down.
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Floriana's character arc goes full circle. If you put the Floriana of the beginning of her arc and the Floriana that has already completed it side by side, they will appear very similar.
She's compassionate, determined, hopeless with academics, and full of faith for the world and the people around her.
But if you look beyond the surface level, you'll see Floriana has changed in more ways than perhaps even she realizes.
She's cleverer, more resourceful, a brilliant strategist when she didn't know what she was doing initially. She's decisive and thinks before committing to a course of action. She knows some things have to be let go for her own wellbeing. She's confident of her place in the world, and isn't desperate to find connections with others because she's already surrounded by friends — humans and Pokemon alike.
At the end of her arc, Floriana is a person that has polished her virtues and overcome her biggest flaws. The story is about how she gets there.
She's a character I'm still polishing, one I've put lots of love into, and I really like the direction the writing has been going. I hope you like these additions to her character!
Watched a documentary about abuse and advice one guy said to give children was, "Tell them that if someone is hurting them, to tell someone - and don't just tell one person. Tell as many people as possible, and keep telling as many people as possible until the abuse stops." and i really liked that
Bc so many ppl focus on the idea of telling A Trusted Adult, but even a well-meaning individual can fuck up and let abuse fall through the cracks or not know what to do
Whereas if a child tells LOADS of adults AND other kids, there's far less opportunity for an abuser to do damage control
Consistently telling their story and spreading it around disempowers the abuser to control and coerce the flow of information, or to utilise gaps and weaknesses in systems of reporting or welfare to isolate the child
Just really good advice. Not suprised I don't hear it more often.
This is really good advice and, in the UK at least, also applies to “adults at risk” as well. It’s what I did when I had problems with my social care provider that amounted to a safeguarding concern earlier this year.
If your school safeguarding lead, youth worker, scout leader, neighbour, doctors surgery, local citizens advice office etc. all make referrals and follow up on them to make sure they’ve been received and taken seriously then it’s more likely that it will be taken seriously and that action will happen.
