Midnight Teatime #1 - Mother's Day
Added 2020-05-19 06:26:33 +0000 UTCEdit: remember to save your essays elsewhere, y'all! Patreon has been spiriting away posts 🤧🤧
Deepest thanks to Emily and Lola for putting together the Midnight Teatime prompts with tons of love and affection for the MPL universe 💕Special thanks to Alice's Bookies - y'all know who you are 😘
Welcome to the first edition of Midnight Teatime <33 I hope you're all as excited as I am to get started! You can expect to see some changes made to this segment, until everything is running smoothly. More importantly, I'd like everyone to join in and have fun, and unleash your inner essay nerd because we are HERE FOR IT. Let's jump right in 🔥🔥🔥
For detailed info on this segment, please see this post. For today's prompt and MTT guidelines, read on below.
This Week's Essay Prompt:
For today's topic, let's discuss the role of maternal figures in Midnight Poppy land. Mother's Day is over now, but it's never too late to celebrate the trials and tribulations of Motherhood. A person's core personality traits -- their openness, self awareness, social behaviors, etc -- are often first shaped by the parental figures in their life. In the story so far, we have only fleeting background information on the character's families. Using our beloved Granny Alice as a starting point, discuss how the current characters have acted as a maternal force in another character's life. You may choose one or multiple characters for your essay.
Guidelines:
1) Essay Prompts are posted twice a month. "Essay" = any written analysis, opinion or theory based on the prompt. Research the topic and learn something new, or let your mind run away with the question. Basically, just have fun!
2) As soon as you've completed your essay, post them in the comment section below. There are no deadlines, but do finish up your essays before the next prompt is up, so more people get to read it.
3) There are no word count requirements, but feel free to link to an external document (eg, Google Doc) when necessary.
4) This exercise is open to ALL Patrons, so...
• If you are a non-Fast Pass user, note that there will be spoilers, so do navigate the posts with your own discretion.
• If you are a Fast Pass user writing about FP content, you must mark your post with the *SPOILER WARNING* tag. Fast Past-related posts without a spoiler tag will be removed immediately, but you may re-post it with the tag in place.
5) Please be respectful and courteous. Everyone's thoughts and opinions are equally valid and welcome. And if your opinion is a strongly negative one, do be gentle with it.
6) This exercise is meant to open up more in-depth discussions, so even if you're not posting an essay, you are always welcome to leave your comments, and dive into more discussions with the essay contributors. (I'm still figuring out how this should work, so for now, let's keep this free-and-easy!)
Final note from Lily: This is a fun, informal writing exercise, and while I respect all theories and analysis, the essays presented here are not necessarily conclusive to the main MPL storyline.
Comments
Oh I know you can’t turn it off... I feel like Socrates or some smart ass scholarly dude reading your shit k! 🧐🤓😎 📚
Darla (Tora’s THOT)
2020-06-05 07:25:59 +0000 UTCYep!! I'm convinced he's really a nerd on the inside, he's just never been given the environment to access it! I also cannot wait for more tantrums! 😂😂
larosamorada
2020-06-04 17:56:17 +0000 UTC@Darla- girl, I'm sorry...my academic brain got super activated when I write like this. I go into full on research paper mode. I even tried to leave our personal pronouns. My brain just can't shut that off 😂😂
larosamorada
2020-06-04 17:54:37 +0000 UTC@Emily- you're so right! Tora was definitely raised by the clan. I think therapist me just wanted to block them out because I don't feel they're truly supportive 😭 (except maybe Gyu and Quincey?). But yes, for better or for worse, that's a big chunk of the village he grew up in. Also, yes to smashing those gender stereotypes about male parents- they can be nurturing and loving when societal expectations don't hold them back (and I've seen it, so yay for this generation of parents!). Lastly, Erdene is reminds me of a certain group of friends I have, just smooshed into one character. 😘😘 @Lola...girl, I didn't meant to make you cry!! 😭 Sending all my hugs! 🤗🤗
larosamorada
2020-06-04 17:51:42 +0000 UTC*cries at work*
2020-06-04 17:15:59 +0000 UTCLOVED THIS. Of course. For many reasons: 1. The “village” idea. It’s not just one person who contributes to someone’s upbringing, and while Alice and Joe sure did a great job from what I can see, I do have one counter point to your essay- you mention that Tora’s village is smaller. I both agree and disagree. His positive/maternal one must be tiny, but unfortunately his village as a whole was probably large. He had the whole clan to “teach him” and I’m sure that was a far cry from the nurturing “Village” we like to think of 😭I’m just thankful at least one of a groups that parented him had strong enough positive intentions to nurture that pure soul of his! 2. Poppy’s dad as a maternal role. YES. Parents don’t have to be boxed into a gender, and Poppy’s dad’s parenting seems to take on a very maternal nature. I do hope to see a bit more of him soon! 3. Erdene is best-girl. She is totally a wonderful guiding light in Poppy’s life, and I love seeing her continue to support Poppy and raise her up ❤️🙌
Emily Basso
2020-06-04 15:00:36 +0000 UTCTotal sweet dweeb! Omg love that so much!!! And tantrum boy!! LOLLL soooo stinking cute! Yes she is sooo patient with him which is wonderful! She is slowly chipping away at his shell!
Darla (Tora’s THOT)
2020-06-04 14:22:40 +0000 UTC@Darla, yes! I totally see the nurturing side of Poppy...she is just *so* patient with Tora- I don't know that many women would be, and indeed, outside of Alice, no one yet really has. They all see this one-dimensional piece of meat, not knowing there's a total sweet dweeb underneath. I think that's what Alice and Poppy sense when they're around him. But I also love how, while Poppy is patient, she still takes no shit. I've been so happy to see moments where she gently holds Tora accountable (tantrum boy, anyone?). That is the mark of true empathy- she doesn't bend over backwards for him like a martyr and still maintains her warmth. @Blue, thank you dear, I'm glad you enjoyed it! 🥰 @Willow- YES!! I can't tell you the number of times I have that discussion with clients. A lot of the time it's helping them understand that they may be asking for something that their biological parents just aren't able to provide, for one reason or another. And so, we have to fill the gaps where we can- we can find our own paths and make our own families, no matter what they look like. 💜💜
larosamorada
2020-06-04 13:43:30 +0000 UTCthat last line is absolutely true -- "it’s not the family you’re born into, but the one you choose that has the most impact." i enjoyed reading this Patty!♥️
2020-06-04 12:34:23 +0000 UTCThat was beautifully written. I enjoyed it very much.
BlueCaty
2020-06-04 08:53:35 +0000 UTCGirl I speak fluent fucking English and had to repeat them big ass words like 50 times in my head to get by! LMFAOOOOO 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ok anyway- I agree 100% with everything you said, Alice, Erdene are totally moms!! But my favorite is that you touched on is Poppy!! She is totally a milf to Tora! Ok first off, she accepts him for him, and tries her best to not pass judgement on him cause she can feel his true aura! And the fact that she took that sweet precious time to make him the bento just to cheer him up! That shit is not easy! It’s freaking tedious cutting out all that shit and only a mother’s or father’s love will drive you to finish to make (typically your child) happy! I just love that she is helping tora grow as a person! He needs her warmth and unconditional support!! They would be so perfect!!
Darla (Tora’s THOT)
2020-06-04 05:51:12 +0000 UTC*screeches in on two wheels, super late to the party* Finally finished this baby, hope y'all enjoy. Now I can finally read all of your wonderful pieces. *nerd engage* Oh yes, SPOILERS through Ep 34. ;) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mPzxPgpxVOf2wckb3uqwVb2mSztaUv3Y5LmVB88ec90/edit?usp=sharing
larosamorada
2020-06-04 04:34:09 +0000 UTC
