slightly furious reminder that fish do in fact feel pain and do in fact experience fear and distress when in pain since people seem to love spreading the myth that fish don't feel pain. what is it with people assuming a creature is incapable of feeling pain or emotion just because it doesn't have complex facial muscles. come on gang
As my main income, I work with fish in a specialty pet store that's privately owned (so I'm allowed to say no and be stern to customers when it's needed).
You learn really quickly that not only do fish have individual personalities and emotions but they also have memories and recognize people! There are certain fish who will only come out for me and hide for everyone else. The pufferfish spits at me because she gets pissy that I haven't fed her. The flowerhorn bites everyone but me and my coworker when we clean his tank. I trained a fire eel to come up and eat directly out of my hand.
Fish are beautiful complex creatures and I thank the universe everyday that I get to work in a place where I'm encouraged to tell animal abusers to fuck right off.
My elderly father started talking about how frustrating he finds “the pronouns thing” and I was like. Oh no. He had such a good stand on this, he’s been they/them-ing his cishet siblings for god’s sake! Is he regressing?? And he was talking about how difficult it is to remember, and how onerous it feels to expect strangers to keep track of it, and I’m like oh no oh no.
Then he says, “I mean, the problem isn’t the gender thing. The problem is four words: she, her, he, and him. We got rid of stewardess and turned it into flight attendant. It doesn’t matter if the flight attendant is a man or woman, so we got rid of it. We just need to get rid of those. I don’t need to know.”
“You don’t need to know… people’s gender?”
“No. I don’t care, I don’t need to know, and I don’t want to remember it.”
So we can relax. It’s just a continuation of his crusade to they/them the world. He doesn’t want to remember anyone’s gender. He’s abolishing the genders.
Thinking about the options given anytime the player is asked about Ralsei's wants and needs, and I just find it so interesting how it's presented.
(This isn't every instance, just the ones that particularly came to mind.)
There's obviously a right and wrong answer here, right?
One of these options always in agreement with Ralsei, letting her make her own choices and express her own opinions, while the other option (selected in yellow) always attempts to strip her of that agency, reinforce her current role, and deny her any change whatsoever.
This specific instance has, surely, been discussed plenty, but the specific gendered "bro" really drives home the player's option to consistently reinforce the status quo and stifle Ralsei's character growth. If Ralsei is to develop agency, she can't rely on the player like this.
But still, she almost always *asks permission* for what she wants, afraid of being responsible for her own decisions, as well as trying not to come across and unpleasant, selfish, or unfitting. And that's why I find Flowery's scene with Ralsei SO important for her development.
Flowery specifically states "don't worry about Kris", and the lack of mentioning Susie in that statement seems very pointedly about the freedom of choice afforded to the player (which often overrides Ralsei's own aspirations).
Especially considering the "Nah bro..." option presented earlier in the same chapter, Flowery's encouragement of femininity and dismissal of the player's choices, I can't read this as anything but intentional and vital to Ralsei's own agency and transfemininity.
Not even inherently in defiance of the prophecy, but in defiance of the player (at least in this instance).
Immediately following this scene, we as the player are, yet again, given the option to disregard Ralsei's wants, but very importantly, we aren't actually allowed to deprive her of those wants! Regardless of your selection, Ralsei will still end up with the blue-and-pink drink!!!
(even if it requires some intervention from Susie, if you attempt to take the blue-and-pink one for yourself)
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