#'for research purposes' lmao that's too real

[twistedwonderlandshenanigans]

"Stupid" Things the TWST Cast Believed As Kids

I was going to post this without a preamble but it just looked wrong LMAO -----------------------------------------------------

Heartslaybul

Riddle - He just mispronounced a lot of words out loud. This is actually common in a lot of kids that read a lot, they don't know how to say a word any differently than the way they've pronounced it in their head, so some examples: (Ladle -> would rhyme with Saddle, Rhythm had over-emphasis on the first 'h', etc.)

Trey - thought butter was made from the fat collected off of cow butts ('butt' was also the only 'naughty' word he knew for a long time). The thing is he had probably seen his parents make butter. either by accident or on purpose and it still didn't click for him.

Cater - only ate black beans, (when they were served). when he was a kid because he thought they were the same as coffee beans. He saw his dad eating chocolate covered coffee beans and got mad when he denied him the Delight Of Caffeine at Three Years Old so thought eating black beans was like. A super sneaky way of being like his dad.

Deuce - Chocolate covered strawberries came from a special plant, he didn't think his mom just set them up for him sometimes. He ended up asking more than a few times when his strawberries were plain when they could 'go back to the store and get the good kind' and would call the strawberries without chocolate 'rotten'.

Ace - For whatever reason, he didn't think bears were a real animal. Just. Teddy bears existed. And of course when his big brother showed him pictures of real bears he thought he was messing with him. Ace will not admit how long it took him to realize that bears are real.

Savannaclaw

Leona - Falena told him once that vanilla extract comes from 'beaver butt juice' and it was in all the vanilla flavoured desserts he's ever had. Yes Falena was messing with him to get his portion of desserts because Leona was too grossed out to eat them. It managed to last about 6 months before Leona was fed up and researched the information on his own.

Ruggie - His grandma protected him best she could from food scarcity, so he genuinely believed she knew how to make something from nothing. Same with his clothes.

Jack - Refused to eat hotdogs because he thought they were made from real dogs and cried whenever he saw someone else eating hot dogs. Even when they bough turkey hot dogs he thought they added 'turkey flavouring' to the Dogs.

Octavinelle

Azul - Thought cuttlefish were 'cuddlefish' and would get so SO upset when they didn't want to snuggle with him

Jade - When he first heard the word 'hermaphrodite' he thought it meant someone who just really really liked hermit crabs.

Floyd - Was SO disappointed to find out ice cream didn't scream while you eat it (I-scream)

Scarabia

Kalim - Used to try and eat really fast, so Jamil told him if he ate his food too hot his tongue would melt to the top of his mouth. (Yeah Jamil got in trouble for that one but it worked, Kalim savoured his food and he still makes sure his food is cooled down a little before he eats).

Jamil - Didn't eat yogurt for a long time because he didn't want to 'feed the bacteria in his belly'. That was his only reasoning.

Pomefiore

Vil - thought candy cigarettes were real cigarettes, this resulted in him biting one of his dad's or fellow actor's cigarettes and Regretting it. (Even the fake ones are filled with like an herbal blend, you don't want to eat it still)

Rook - kinda sad, but genuinely thought termites were considered dessert. They were fairly rampant in his home so he would eat them any chance he got (raw termites supposedly taste like pineapple).

Epel - yeah he thought he was a werewolf, there isn't much else to add.

Ignihyde

Idia - Thought that microwaving a spider/other bugs for a very short amount of time would mutate their DNA and he could keep it as a pet, despite many failed attempts, he continued trying.

Ortho - (insert ugly crying here thinking about baby boys early years) he really believed that one day Idia would find a way to bring the characters from tv/video games into 'real life' so they could have play dates with them. (Idia promised him he would try his best)

Diasomnia

Malleus - He thought computers were a type of pet people could have.

Lilia - Used to think that the stars were really big glow bugs

Silver - Fully believed the storks deliver babies thing. Not because of Lilia, but because of a story book and it made things easy so he just rolled with it anyways, until Silver was old enough.

Sebek - That the fountain of youth was real - he wanted to drink from it once he reached his prime so that he could serve Malleus always.

Others

Che'nya - Refused to believe that gum ever came from trees because he 'tried sap before and it didn't even taste like syrup so how could something sweet as gum come from trees'.

Najma - Thought she was able to talk to ghosts, it was just Jamil fucking with her lskjfhsldkjfsdf

Neige - Didn't know what owls were, called them tree penguins.

Rollo - Called ambulances 'Body Rescue Busses' because even as a kid he knew only God could save your soul. (you can take that seriously or as satire idc) -------------------------------------------------------- @fluffle-writes thank you for the compliments, and the motivation to write!! ljfkjdshflkjsdf

If you want to be on a taglist in the future lmk

[topazadine]

I often forget how much writing has enriched my life. Not even just giving me a purpose or whatever (or winning me money lol), but how it has forced me to expand my horizons and try new things so that I can write more accurately.

Like, I have always liked horses and I rode as a little kid, but I got back into it because I wanted to make The Eirenic Verses feel real and depict that bond between horse and rider. Six months later, I'm totally obsessed and can't imagine my life without Horse. I even put Mongolia on my bucket list because Breme is based on Mongolia :)

Now I'm going to start rock climbing because there's a scene in What Is That Cannot Be Unwritten where Mordrek has to free climb a mountain, no equipment or whatever. Of course, I am not going to go bouldering without safety equipment because that's insane, but I want to know what it feels like to climb so I can depict the muscle strain, the fear, the logistical choices. I'm really excited and know it'll help me with my social anxiety, too.

And, of course, as I mentioned, I'm planning to rejoin my local caving club so I can write caving romances lmao.

I'd never be willing to try these things if it wasn't important for my writing!

Oh, and writing has helped me process so many emotional issues. Wanting to write better is the reason I started going back to therapy, because I didn't want my dissociative amnesia and anhedonia to get in the way of my work. I wouldn't care so much if it didn't cause issues when I try to get into the mindsets of my characters. I worked through my feelings about being sexually assaulted and dealing with bipolar primarily by writing about it.

I highly recommend that you push yourself out of your comfort zone and don't just write about things with research, but actually try them out yourself so you can feel like your characters do. It's made me so much happier to give these things a shot, and I know it makes my writing feel more authentic, too.

[tomorrowsgardennc]

🍠 harvesting sweet potatoes 🍠

this was my second year growing potatoes, but my first year growing sweet potatoes specifically. when i grew normie potatoes, i ended up with less than what i put in the ground... that's how bad it turned out. while researching why i did so badly, i learned sweet potatoes grow totes differently so i decided i would try those this year.

i am very happy i did.

i started off by bringing my teeny tiny harvest basket assuming i did horribly, but after half of the first plant i had to go grab my big boi harvest crate my dad made me. i also found 4 baby carrots that i grew last year during my harvest. ignore those.

prior to harvesting, i turned to the internet out of habit to see what needed to be done. sadly, the internet had varying degrees of how to handle both harvesting and curing potatoes. then i remembered farmer mama used to grow these so i hit her up for the true knowledge. i shall put it here for y'all.

there's no need to wait until first frost, and actually it's prolly not ideal if you wait. it's going to be first frost pretty soonTM so right now is just fine. it's easier to diggie dig if you trim back all the vines first. i did prune back the vines and leaves the deer left for me, and i tossed them in as my first layer of compost for the garlic bed (garlic post soon, i'm running behind on planting them...)

now i can grab on to the neck of the plant and rip it up. totally not morbid to phrase it that way. to say i squeed with joy when i saw large and bountiful potatoes this time is an understatement. hubs was prepping the perennial flower area to plant those plants and he thought i was getting attacked by yellowjackets again. my yipee and my panic screams are the same so i don't blame him.

for digging, since this was in my tall raised bed i just used my arms and hands and dug around. i had my shovel handy, but my acoustic self prefers to use hands for everything, and also because the shovel could pierce the skin of the potatoes. which isn't horrible, but an annoyance and an extra worry when curing so just not worth imo. the potatoes didn't go further than 8 inches below the soil, so no reason to keep digging. you can also tell when the roots get smaller and smaller. i also learned that for sweet potatoes like 90% of the taters are right under that neck, so also no real reason to dig around too much except if you want to find those baby outliers.

so incredibly happy with this harvest 😍❤️🍠

the purpose of me growing these was because, well, why not, but also because i want to offer sweet potato slips at the farmers market next april. i offered only a few this year because i just didn't know what would happen and if i wanted someone else to grow it and see how theirs turned out to compare. why purple? well, why normie???? purple is so much prettier and i'm actually going to focus on a lot of purple produce in 2025 lmao. but i digress.

ok so i hit the tumblr photo limit just from talking about harvesting these gorgeous purple divas therefore i shall do a 2nd post about the curing stage. spoiler alert: i am curing the baby tubers because market slips next year and i washed the big chonkas in my outdoor sink and boiled them immediately.

boiling was a mistake. good news is i learned the kitchen would look pretty with purple floors 🫠 and that if you clean up purple potato water on kitchen floor with clorox bleach that it turns the purple color blue 🫠 i love science.

since i got too overexcited i boiled too much. i saved enough in the fridge to make a sweet potato pie later this week, ate some for dinner, and then froze the rest in ziploc bags. i have a feeling i'll be making multiple purple sweet potato pies this season because why the hell not.

don't worry i'll have photos of the pie when i make it. hehe.

ok chores real quick then on to the next post about curing the potatoes, very important.

[hopefull-mindset]

I've started reading The Great Gatsby (I've fallen into the reading classical literature trap 😔. I really need to finish Crime and Punishment.)

Anyhow I think it's really interesting how Asagiri chose to characterize many of the people in BSD. Especially after learning that irl Fitzgerald was more of a cynical person (at least towards the end of his life) than his animated counterpart. And it made me think of all the other characters of the show and how their characterized.

What was Asagiri's purpose as he came together with these characters? Why'd he have some characters act as their irl counterparts while others act more like the characters they wrote or people in their lives?

These aren't really questions that I wanted the answers to they were moreso just thoughts that I had. I'd love to have a peek into this man's mind and how it works

I think a lot of us have fallen into that trap LMAO. This is my favorite topic though. I could talk about this forever because Kafka Asagiri is an interesting person who has integrated a lot of literature into this one series. I don't know what goes on in this man’s mind and I know these aren't literal questions, but I am interested in sharing what I know!

As you've pointed out, some characters do act more like the people in these works written by them than the actual people. BSD isn't purely just taking these authors, their relationships, and then implementing them just like that. it also takes these authors’ literary personas, their impact socially, and their works to make them into who they are. Asagiri is doing this because it makes it more interesting, but also imagine writing about this authors where most of them lived depressing lives with qualities that don’t make uh, the type of story you want to tell.

I’m impressed with how creative he is.

I’m trying to limit myself on how much I should talk about this, but I fear that I’ll leave out important bits about how Asagiri incorporates these people into the work. I’m also just jittering and excited. Like I almost forgot to bring up the fact the reason BSD has a war narrative is because it takes Japanese authors from Meiji to Shōwa era, so about the time Western influence kicked in, forcing them to modernize and keep up with the rest of the world during what is a fairly short time for huge development like this, to post-war Japan where, you know, the Occupation of Japan is happening and they have to intake the traumatic repercussions of everything before that.

This can make The Great War functionally WW2, but obviously not a one to one match. I’m not a historian or anything, but this should come to mind for anyone who’s in the know about some Japanese history. Now that I’m bringing it up though, Mori’s attitude during the flashback with Yosano is put into context because he pretty much says himself that he needs his country to realize that they keep up with the rest of the world and that the battlefield is changing, and real life Japan did not care about how they did that.

With N, Chuuya, and Stormbringer too. I’m almost hesitant to bring this up because it’s so serious, but yes, Japan did do lethal human experimentation for that same purpose to keep up with the rest of the world and prove themselves.

Ahh, I went off track. Sorry, we were talking about how Asagiri writes characters, right? There is a lot of crossover between the real authors and their writing, so it’s sorta hard to tell with people like Dazai where the work influence ends and the the real person begins.

For me currently in my classic lit research period, I’m almost upset at myself for barley reading anything by Ryuunosuke Akutagawa because he’s my favorite character. I’ve just been so caught up doing my Oda Sakunosuke essay that I don’t have too much time for other authors. I’ve also picked up “The Similitude of Blossoms: A Critical Biography of Izumi Kyōka” recently (and A New Hamlet by Osamu Dazai, but that’s not important).

Ah, how much should I talk about.… hmm… how about Chuuya as an example of Literary Voice vs Real Person…. Lucy Montgomery and Edgar Allen Poe for Social Impact (for Japan specifically)…. and then.. Oh whatever, I’ll figure it out. One day I’ll talk about Kyouka, but not now. I’d feel ill prepared.

If you’ve ever read a poem by Chuuya Nakahara, taken in the emotion and deep feeling, and then found any fun facts about his interactions with other authors, there’s a huge contrast between those two modes that can be jarring. Im sure you can tell how that carries over to BSD. I’m impressed by how Asagiri is able to balance both the brash attitude of Chuuya and the inner literary voice that voices the emotion and care he has in him.

Edgar Allen Poe is slightly more obvious than Lucy’s influence (or maybe it’s Lucy’s, ah it depends), but both pop out at you when it’s pointed out. He was one of the first American authors to be introduced to Japan and fairly popular, but mainly we would point to Edogawa Ranpo as the most blatantly influenced by him and who his name is quite literally attached to. While Lucy Montgomery isn’t attached to anyone in particular, Anne of The Green Gables was wildly distributed in Japan when there were few english children books and became a hit.

There’s a television series too if you search for it. Any redhead, pigtail-braided girl you see in some Japanese media is because of her! It’s probably why these two have the most presence in the story currently compared to other members of the Guild and work with the Agency at times.

There are times when Asagiri will use influences outside of the author’s own catalog to create them, some literary like Albert Camus’s The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus (in writing characters like Dazai or Fyodor, I could make a post about that), and some just of his own anime/manga interests in other series like Jojo, Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon, etc. if you’re familiar.

I’d feel bad if I don’t at least show one example of this so, how about an Odasaku example with The Long Goodbye by Reymond Chandler? I was going to avoid talking about him until the essay, but I can’t help myself. Many have pointed out these parallels before, but Asagiri did point it to be his favorite book last year in an interview.

If you’ve noticed that the presentation for Dark Era in the anime comes off like a Noir film just like how Untold Origins came off like a black and white samurai film, good job! The Long Goodbye is a Noir novel about a detective named Phillip Marlowe who is unable to let go of a case involving a friend that was accused of murdering his own wife, but supposedly commits suicide and confesses to it before Marlowe is able to leave custody. By the end of the book, he uncovers the real perpetuator (a past lover of Terry Lennox’s before he was ever called by that name) and finds out where Lennox really is by poking into the story of where the message he got was sent.

He comes in with a new look and identity, and he asks if it’s too early for a gimlet. They say their last few words to each other, Marlowe flipping back and forth from acknowledging him as Terry Lennox and as a person he never knew, and then Marlowe tells him that “he’s not here anymore”. Marlowe had already told him goodbye when it was sad and lonely, so Lennox does the same here. That ends that mutual, long goodbye and he never sees Lennox again.

The immediate response I’ve see about this is how it parallels the relationship between Dazai and Odasaku. In The Day I Picked Up Dazai, just like how Marlowe brings him to his home to clean him up and meet up at the same bar for the next few months of their friendship, Odasaku also does so with Dazai and drinks a Gimlet for reasons he doesn’t know. In reality, Gimlets are a representation of the friendship between Marlowe and Lennox as it’s Lennox’s favorite drink. It makes it a little painful when Marlowe ignores him when he ask to go get a gimlet at that same bar they always went.

BEAST is more hyper specific about it by having Dazai ask the same question that Lennox asks when he gets smoked out and Odasaku asking for a gimlet with no bitters, which is specifically how Lennox takes it. Odasaku does not drink the gimlet at all though, showing that there is not friendship to start or accept or say goodbye to, as Lennox does ask Marlowe to drink a Gimlet to say goodbye to him in the letter. Just like TDIPUD is like their beginning, BEAST is their ending without ending because BEAST Dazai is not the same person he was friends with.

Odasaku fulfills being a detective and Dazai is the tragic friend with a past he doesn’t say anything about. Great. Now what I think people are missing when they entirely focus on Odasaku and Dazai when they talk about Lennox and Marlowe is that Lennox is narratively also Andre Gide.

If we were to split Lennox into three people just like his three identities, this is what it would look like:

The Friend: You help him out and don’t judge for his faults, in turn you go out to a bar with each other. It’s uneasy, but it’s worth a lot to the both of you. Eventually you have to part ways in death. (Dazai & Terry Lennox)

The Unknown: Is he someone you know? He acts like it, but he looks nothing like what you’ve encounter before. Maybe in some world you were, but that’s not now and it’s too late for this goodbye to be playing out. You let it happened though and you never see him again when he walks out that door. (BEAST Dazai & “Señor Maioranos”)

The Soldier: The past is right around the corner and its come to bite you in the ass. White hair and war memories haunting him with a scar as a reminder, he’s a reflection of you but maybe not. Who knows? (Andre Gide & “Paul Marston.”)

The initials “P.M.” of both his past name and Phillip Marlowe’s is meant to clue in how Eileen (the past lover) is connected to Lennox by her thinking of Marlowe as her past lover as she attempts to seduce him in some trance. What I’m trying to note here though is that you can take this as Lennox being another reflection of himself. It’s easy to do that reading for both Dazai and Gide as they’re both his foils and are purposely similar, but Gide aligns more with this past identity than Dazai does and retains his white hair.

Uhhh, wasn't planning to make a mini-analysis in the middle of my talking but okay. I'm leaving it off there. I went blank a lot while writing because I didn’t know what I wanted to comment on. There's too much to say about this large cast. I have way more literary fun facts and ideas to say, but nah.

[ebonysplendor]

Where Winter Crows Go Review ❄️🐦‍⬛

TL;DR: Chaga mushrooms ain't the only thing that Crowe be foraging, but this time he doesn't want to share the spoils with the squad for research purposes.

Game Link: https://prikarin.itch.io/where-winter-crows-go

Notable Features: Gender Neutral MC, Optional Reader-Insert with choice of pronouns, Yandere LI, 17+ Spiciness: 1/5 -- It gets a little flirty, but it's sweet and innocent LI Red Flags: 3/5 -- Manipulative, little hands on, has a temper

Want to know more? Well, let's get into it!

Okay, so, the full release finally came, and ya girl was SO excited! The demo was very promising, but I needed a little more convincing. That being said, this wasn't by any means one of the one's that I was the most ecstatic about, but I was still excited enough about it to check back occasionally for the full release. I just so happened to get lucky recently and saw that it had actually dropped back in November. So, I was late, but not embarrassingly so. Now, this review on the other hand... But listen! I just recently decided to take the plunge and start making reviews, so mind ya business lol.

Anyways, this isn't about me and my tardiness, this is about this pleasant little game that really went for it in the full version, and boi, did they go for it!

I'd classify this as one of those "slow burn" visual novels, simply because it's not obvious that our LI is a lil' psycho off the rip, and there's nothing too unsettling from the jump aside from getting caught in a blizzard. Actually, since we're on the topic, the LI -- his name is Crowe Lynn, by the way -- is actually pretty damn hospitable, and he's a full blown scientist. The most shocking part is, he isn't even doing anything sketchy! for the most part. He is deadass living in the middle of nowhere for research purposes and is writing books to know why nature is...well, naturing, for lack of better wording.

That being said, I think the intro is long enough, and I'm really excited to tell you more about this game, because you guys have got to play this whenever you get the chance! As always, I'm going to tell you as much as possible about the game without ruining the game itself.

So, boom. We're -- or Aspen, should you decide to play through their eyes, but I prefer self-insert -- going on a trip in our favorite run down car to get to some town where there is supposed to be this really nice place to let off some steam via skiing. Trust me, we did research on this; we know what we're talking about. Anyways, while driving, we start noticing how we've been on this same road for a long time, and yet, we haven't seen anybody for an equally long time.

Run down car? Long road? No one for miles? You already know what's about to happen.

Yep, you guessed it, we get a flat, and as you've also probably guessed, we have no spare tire, but bear with me! The game isn't this predictable, I swear! You've gotta understand that it can just be a little hard to get away from certain tropes, and let's be real, they kind've have to happen for plot purposes. I mean, think about if we actually had a tire in the trunk. We would've been outtie, we would've had a great trip, and there would've been no game lol. Sometimes, you just gotta cut the devs some slack.

Anywho, so yeah, flat tire and no spare. Naturally, we hike it to try to find some help, but the weather kind've picks up, and the clothes that we have, while appropriate for the cold, aren't adequate enough for a full blown blizzard. No worries though, because guess who comes to the rescue? This guy!

Everybody, this is Crowe. Crowe, this is everybody.

As you'd expect (I know I keep saying that, but lmao it's not a overly predictable game, I swear!), Crowe is this really chill dude. Actually, more than a chill dude, he's a massive nature nerd. That's actually why he's out in the middle of the woods anyways! Like I mentioned before, he's researching why nature be naturing, specifically -- at least, his current topic from the way it was worded is -- partial migration. If you've never heard of that, don't even worry about it, in the game he explains it to us. Like, I'm telling you. This man is super into this stuff, and we love a smart man.

Getting away from that though, he basically ends up telling us that the town that we're in is pretty much deserted with the exception of like 13 other people, and because of the blizzard, the time it'd take to clean the roads, the likelihood of there being another blizzard right behind the one that just happened, and cleaning up after that blizzard, getting to our planned destination just wasn't going to happen. ...Well, shit.

What are we going to do then? Our car has a flat, we can't travel, and there's not any resorts nearby. No worries though, because the bae came through! He said "Oh, you can just stay with me!" Oh wooooooord???

So guess what we do? Make ourselves cozy in this bomb ass cabin. I'm not even exaggerating about that. Like, this cabin is REALLY nice! Take a peek!

That's just our room and the hallway. You can only imagine how bomb the rest of the place looks. Like, I'm telling y'all, it's super cozy up in here. But we must stay focused! And by we, I mean me, because I could go on and on about how nice this cabin looks.

Back to the topic at hand though, we've agreed to stay with Crowe, even though, we honestly don't have much of a choice, but it was just dope that Crowe was cool with everything. That being said, during our stay, we do all kinds of pretty cool stuff! We go foraging with him for chaga mushrooms and winterberries, we create some powders to add to other stuff, and we make some medicines. Everything was going super smoothly ... until it wasn't.

Crowe kind've has...a weird temper. Like, we had accidentally gotten hurt, and he had gotten super pissed about it. We love a man that cares about his guest, but he was a bit overdramatic about it. You'd think we would've lost a limb or something. The main thing that got him really pissed, though, was when we had mentioned our car and implied leaving. He did not like that, and when I say we got into it bad? Oh, the insults were flying. Like, look at this!

So, yeah, we fought, and what about it? It's whatever. Forget him...

...Actually, we felt really bad about the whole thing, and so did he. We talked it out, and everything was all good again; however, now he's acting really weird, we're getting really suspicious, and we still have to get home. That being said, we call it an early night, borrow one of his books, and pretty much make a gameplan so we can figure out how to get home as well as what the hell is going on that is not only making Crowe act weird, but what is going on in general.

And we do! We sneak out the next morning and ... we actually make things worse because now, we're REALLY confused. I'm not going to get into the details, but just know that there are more questions than answers at this point. So, yeah, while the investigating helped, it only helped a little, and I genuinely mean only a little.

One thing that we know for sure though...

This man is definitely crazy in love with us.

And that's all I'm going to tell you! Lol I'm sorry! But if I tell you the rest, it'll literally be the ending, and it'll ruin it! You know how much I want you guys to play it, so no way am I going to spill the details, but like most visual novels, how it ends is completely up to the choices that you make.

Guys...the full game delivered.

I prefer choice heavy visual novels like Darling Duality and Forcefully Yours, but this still wasn't bad by any means. I actually thought it was quite good! Like I said, the most shocking thing to me about all of this is that this man is deadass a scientist! Like, he really isn't doing anything entirely sketchy out there! That was the biggest plot twist of the century to me! But, anyways, letting go of that. Let me tell you more of my thoughts on the game, and why I feel like you should play it whenever you get the chance.

The visuals are absolutely stunning, first and foremost. So far, my favorite VN visual wise has been Mushroom Oasis, but this is definitely a solid number 2 spot. I absolutely adore the art style. I also appreciate the revamp that they did with Crowe. There is nothing wrong with femboys by any means, but to me, Crowe was a little girly looking, and he very much so looked like a small child lol. Like look at the difference in this.

This is the old Crowe Lynn

And this is the new Crowe Lynn

Lol you see what I mean? He looked like a child that wanted to be a scientist when he grew up versus the actual adult him that chose science as a profession. The redesign was definitely a good choice, and I love how he looks now, especially with the longer hair and worn out lab coat. What do you think, though? Which did you prefer?

Aside from that though, you know what one of my favorite things about the game was? The fact that -- and listen close, because this is about to be a tip! -- the endings that you get are based more on how the character feels about Crowe versus how Crowe feels about us. How curious is that?

In a majority of visual novels, the endings are literally dependent on how far we push the LI or their affinity for us, but it's not like that in this one. We get a different ending based on if we trust him or not, if we flirt back with him or ignore his remarks, and some other factors that I don't want to include and possible spoil the story. I just thought that was a really interesting take, and that was super creative of the developer. It was definitely refreshing to play as more of myself and base the gameplay on my -- or rather my character's -- feelings versus playing for the LI and his feelings.

With all that in mind, I definitely say give this game a go! It has a nice mystery/suspense to it, and not to mention, there is a really bomb song during the credits. I was so sad to see that it was not on Spotify! Well, let me clarify, it IS, but it's not available to me which sucks ass. It's not even on YouTube, and it hurts me so bad! Ugh!

Anyways, in case my feelings and opinions weren't clear -- play this game, play this game, play this game, play this game! As always, be sure to leave your comments on the dev's page if you feel like they've done a good job, and you want to give them that extra reassurance to keep making games. Of course, donations are always helpful to them as well! Like mentioned at the very top, here is a link to the game so that you can play it for yourself, and I really want you to play it for yourself!

That's all from me! Drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

Where Winter Crows Go

[lonestarss]

sumeru boys redesigns + notes

as you may know, i redesigned the sumeru boys a few weeks ago because, as much as i love them to bits, their designs are well. not that great in some areas. also because i wanted to draw them more often without the roadblock of their designs being so complicated. i've mainly been drawing my cyno and tighnari redesigns, but i did also do alhaitham and kaveh, so i thought that i'd show off these redesigns in one post, along with some notes on why i made certain decisions. hope you enjoy!

(pre-note: just so no one gets confused, i also renamed everyone when i did my redesigns, giving tighnari and alhaitham first names and cyno and kaveh last names.)

tighnari ❀

(renamed abdullah al-tighnari; tighnari was made his surname because that was the case for the real guy he was based on)

i went into this thinking "how can i make this design more appealing to me while still retaining what the original design meant?". since tighnari is one of my favorites in the game overall, i put a lot of pressure on myself to make a decent design.

a lot of tighnari's design inspiration comes from moroccan (specifically amazigh) culture, which i kept in my mind through most of the drawing. this inspiration shows in his bead necklace (i forget the name), his belt, and his earring, which i remade to mirror the shape of moroccan headpieces.

gave him some muscles because there's no way a guy with his job wouldn't have them. also a bottom-heavy fat distribution for self-indulgent purposes.

the design has less layers and lighter/flowier clothes because of tighnari's canon sensitivity to heat. if you're living in the rainforest (a famously humid biome), you probably wouldn't be wearing what canon tighnari does, heat sensitivity or not.

gave him some traits that are popular headcanons, such as the flower thigh tattoo, the sharp teeth, the scars, the claw-like nails (with the middle and ring nails filed down for No Reason), and the lichtenberg figure. also gave him tan skin and wavy hair because i Cannot deal with canon nari looking like that.

sturdy shoes! archery gloves! his vision on his belt! quality of life features that an actual forest ranger would have!

i will admit that the slit pants, the shorts, and the tights were all for self-indulgence reasons, but i think they go together well with the rest of the outfit too.

a braid in his hair for cynari marriage purposes. (i hc that in sumeru, marriages are consummated by braiding each other's hair)

kaveh ❂

(renamed kaveh laghmani; surname is of iranian origin, but i forgot the meaning)

another real quick note: if i change a character's pronouns in their rewrite, i'll be using those pronouns in their notes. here, kaveh goes by he/she pronouns (she just like me fr).

his canon design is actually my favorite of the sumeru boys, so this redesign was more of a simplification while still keeping the original color scheme and such.

from my research, kaveh's mainly inspired by persian/iranian culture. this is what i had in mind with her shirt and her jacket... shawl... thing. idk what to call it.

kept him a skinny twink; imo, her being a twink in canon fits pretty well.

emphasized the bird of paradise motif with the thing on her side looking like feathers. you will see this again with alhaitham.

made him brunet for more cohesion with the color palette, also because i don't like the whole blonde-fading-to-brown situation he has going on in his canon design.

flowers!!! also giving him a pretty headpiece bc this guy is flashy. also also keeping the feather, it's cunty and fun.

i wanted to make kaveh obviously gnc/genderqueer without going into full-on feminine outfit territory. you can tell she's not quite cis but it's not super in your face yk?

made his vision one of his earrings like yae miko because i forgot to give it a proper place in my concept drawings lmao

quality of life feature: actual artist gloves that aren't cut off. seriously, them being fingerless in the canon design completely negates the point of artist gloves.

removed his braids because of the aforementioned marriage headcanon.

alhaitham ⚘

(renamed amir al-haytham; i wanted to give him the most basic name possible, though i fought with myself a lot on whether to write it as al-haitham or al-haytham)

my god i despise his canon design. it's so... not him. my goal with a redesign was just to give him an outfit that made sense for his character because jesus his canon design is an atrocity.

alhaitham is mainly inspired by either saudi arabian or general west asian culture (like what's constant and such). i was mainly inspired by casual saudi arabian menswear when i was designing him.

hot take but i don't like alhaitham being buff in canon. i made him chubby/fat in my redesign mainly for self-indulgent reasons, but also because it makes more sense to me. also gave him facial hair because yes

kept his color scheme mostly the same, along with the eye motif. emphasized the eagle motif slightly with the feather hip piece (see: kaveh's redesign).

gave him a headscarf (not a hijab or anything like that, just a regular headscarf) because he felt like the type, plus i got the design idea for it and went "well i can't not include it now".

wanted to give him the vibes of an npc who was forced to be a main character

no he isn't wearing his vision anywhere, he doesn't carry it around in my rewrite.

quality of life features: more sensible, looser clothes that are easier to live in- really the whole design is meant to be a quality of life improvement first and foremost

cyno ⚡︎

(renamed cyno al-sahrawi; surname meaning is "of the sahara" or more generally, "of the desert")

like kaveh, i'm gonna be using he/they pronouns for cyno here because that's what i put in my rewrite.

in my opinion, cyno's design is relatively solid, but with a few glaring flaws that kinda ruin everything for me. i'll bring them up as these notes go on.

they're very obviously inspired by ancient egyptian culture, specifically anubis. like, it's very blatant. with my redesign, i wanted to keep those inspirations in mind while making the outfit less stereotypical and make more sense.

why does this man, who's said to fight a lot, not wear a shirt? why are you letting the place where most of your vital organs reside breathe freely? also, why does this guy not have scars?

simplified a bunch of patterns, especially below the belt and with his headpiece. also made their helmet(?) a darker, more saturated purple to attract your eyes' attention to it.

gave him eye of horus makeup for a little cultural nod

the black piece in the back was made to look like a tail to further the jackal thing.

curly hair that resembles lightning bolts <3

the shoes were inspired by traditional egyptian footwear, because if this guy is out in the desert all the time, i'm not letting him go without some kind of foot protection.

quality of life features: a bit of armor on his arm (partially for aesthetic purposes), less flowy bits on his helmet and hips to prevent distraction or getting caught on things, the aforementioned shoes

added braids for cynari purposes, because i'm me.

hope you enjoyed reading this! please keep in mind that this is all off the top of my head and doesn't even go into color theory, how the designs mirror each other, and other smaller things like that. i might make a part 2 someday going into those things, but who knows with my memory lmao

reblogs are heavily appreciated!

[whetstonefires]

ask game for fanfic writers: 7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote (that you remember). OR 11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general? (yeah, I just want to listen to an infodump)

hi!!!!! lmao confession, the time lapse between when you posted that ask game and when i reblogged it from you was me keeping it open in a tab trying to send you an ask, like a polite person. but sending asks is, like watching television, one of those things that ought to be straightforward but which i find astonishingly difficult for no clear reason. so while cleaning out my tabs i just lowered my standards and reblogged it.

7. oh, this is a funny one actually! so this was around two years before i learned fic was a thing, so i'm in like the sixth or seventh grade. i had this really inexplicably intense dream about spiderman. i woke up and it stuck with me, you know.

so i was like, well loads of people write stories about spiderman, i don't need permission, i'll write it down and then it will leave me alone.

naturally i forgot over half the dream before i finished getting it down. but the plot definitely involved being stuck to the ceiling due to inexplicable spider-powers and a very strained conversation with spiderman on one of those external cornices you get on the fancier class of brownstone. i think whatever OC i was inhabiting was mad about spiderman existing and he was increasingly fed up with me being insane, but trying to be patient.

ig there was no plot. strictly speaking.

11. gonna answer these in reverse order.

so first, there's two classes of research for fic, as far as i'm concerned, probably because i spent too long in comics. there's general knowledge about real things, and then there's finding the correct reference points within the canon you're working from.

the first one i'm not that intense about. sometimes there's a thing i really have to Get Right so i go looking, or i'll commit to including something and then need to go read up for verisimilitude, but i generally do not get into the deep factfinding tunnels people talk about.

because i enjoy the process of learning and the process of writing, but i tend to find it very stressful to suspend the act of writing in order to pursue knowledge, so that particular constellation makes both experiences worse. so i'm more likely to redirect the story around a knowledge roadblock so i can keep moving, than really dig in to break through it, and i'm very willing to go 'okay that'll work' and return to the story if i do break for research.

rather than try to track down That One Datapoint, if i'm writing fic that requires or would benefit from knowledge of [subject], i will tend to do general reading on that subject, and then let my improved background knowledge and store of Fun Facts shape where i go with the story.

this is more fun and more likely to come in handy for other purposes later, and the writing result tends to be more natural. same approach with original fiction.

with the kind of research designed to get my fic latched into canon correctly, on the other hand, i keep trying to be more casual about this, especially for fandoms where the canon material is a hot mess, but i also keep regretting that attempt. because it lets me get a fic actually started rather than bogged down in preliminaries, but then i reach a certain point and get frustrated that this is a good fic except it didn't bother to be chronologically coherent and now it's too late.

i didn't write any ffvii fic until i'd played through the original game and taken notes, and i definitely don't regret that!

now, cool things i've found out...the first one I think of, i stumbled across an unexpected gem while browsing to brainstorm night hunt ideas for mdzs fic.

turns out one of the many many many many many archaic chinese words for ghoulies and ghosties, for which it's very unclear what the specific differences between one term and another were in any given usage, is wangxiang. translations proposed include both 'mountain spirits' and 'water demons,' but it's definitely some sort of supernatural entity, and an unfriendly one.

there's a semi-major plot point in the book where, when they were teens, Lan Wangji named a song he'd composed Wangxian, which is also their portmanteau shipname. which by his standards was a romantic declaration. but Wei Wuxian passed out, and didn't actually hear him say it. so whether it would have worked as a romantic declaration remains unclear lmao. lan wangji refuses to tell him again later.

i think a very funny element for an AU would be if he only almost passed out, and just went away believing the song was named 'wangxiang,' which sounds very similar and is a word he's reasonably likely to have relatively high in his lexicon on account of their job is monster hunting and his education is distinctly monster slanted, and was just like, 'what a creepy name for such a pretty song?? lan zhan is so weird lol.'

bonus misunderstanding points if he said it was creepy but didn't explain why and Lan Wangji was like i have been brutally rejected 😢

you aren't actually in that fandom though, so this feels like a lame answer. uhhhh.

for my Earth-3 fics when I put mirror Dick Grayson through a recovery/redemption arc and he was laying low in Europe to avoid both Bruce and Slade ('With Tongue of Wood'), i basically stuck a pin in the map and spun a dial in my head and was like he's in...Romania...working in a...bakery.

so then i had to take a hiatus to research Romanian bakeries and it turns out Romanian cuisine is in possession of many fantastic varieties of fancy pastry, and i want to eat them. it's been what, seven years? but still. curse of knowledge. there are delicious pastries in romania.

[arthurs-better-half]

heyyyy you mentioned your aus 👀👀👀

can you tell more abt them?

YEAH OF COURSE

Okay so my friend Jae and I bounce back and forth off each other to create these so I consider them Our AUs they're my favourite ever

Bird/winged AU (unnamed)

Fix-it AU (unnamed)

Two Times Trapped

So for 1 the bird AU is because birds are a special interest of mine so I came up with it because I get obsessed with wingfics in every fandom I'm in so I invented one. Mostly undeveloped, follows canon closely just with added bird wings, tails, some other features. I have the most fun with research with these so most of it is just finding birds for characters (Arthur - Falkland Steamer Duck (female he's trans), John - Pied Crow, Yellow - Malaysian Hawk-cuckoo, Bella - Yellow-crowned Canary, Noel is some sort of flamingo Oscar is some sort of dove and Marie is some sort of ostrich. Daniel is the same as Bella. No don't ask me how Faroe works with the hybrid species idk. Yes we know how ironic being part duck is with the whole. Drowning thing. That was partly what solidified Arthur's species LMAO)

I'll skip to 2xT because the Fix-it explanation is long so for Two Times Trapped this one is mostly mine it's a canon divergent scenario of Larson managing to separate John from Arthur in the s4 finale and John getting trapped in his head with Yellow. And then everybody survives the finale and Larson gets away and then it splits into two POVs of Arthur's side with Noel, Butcher and later Oscar trying to aid Arthur in getting John back (Arthur is still blind) while sorting through their own stuff (Kayne also takes his frustrations of his favourite duo getting separated out on Butcher and Butcher basically gets sent to chronic migraine hell instead of getting his head sploded. And the classical music in his head gets replaced with like modern day hyperpop he's not having a good time.) and Arthur is also slowly descending into madness and the others are seeing how unwell he is now that his filter is being stripped away.

And on John's end he has Larson's eyes, foot, and he and Yellow share possession of Larson's left arm (read: they fight over it constantly). Yellow and Larson are a laser focused deadly task machine and have their sights set on the Greystone except they Do need to get John to cooperate at least a little bit because it is hard to get anything done when you've got Only One That Can See Between The Three Of You That Alway Lies. Also Larson is really just using the concrete goal of the Greystone to distract John while in reality his real goal is to get John to reject the human side of him and embrace godhood so that he can be more powerful. And Yellow is on this also but Yellow's feelings are more complicated than I can explain in this post. But yeah these three are constantly bickering they're actually so unserious. Larson stubs John's toe on purpose several times a day to get him to shut up. Yellow and John have many simultaneous "SHUT UP, LARSON" moments. Everyone is always lying to each other to the point where no one knows what's actually true any more. John can't call Yellow out on his KIY act bullshit because then he'd be exposing his own KIY act and the same for Yellow calling out John's. I want to put them all in a tube and shake it.

Anyway enough on that for now for the Fix-it AU this one Jae came up with based on the premise of John getting his own body, marrying Lily, and Arthur living in their house with them. And then I proceeded to suggest that John is a system with Yellow as an alter (because throughout the whole podcast I've had the recurring idea of John being a subsystem and with s4 with the whole him and Yellow having to share the same plane of existence and memories and only one "existing" at a time that just further solidified that idea in my head) and got obsessed with that. So now it's human+plural!John, Arthur, Lily, Noel and Butcher are there too as their neighbours or something, Marie and Daniel are there too. Though I am nearly wholly focused on the system thing so give me one moment I'm putting this under a read more

(As a disclaimer I do a lot of research constantly and spend a lot of time around systems so this is second-hand knowledge and observations and such and from research not experience but anyway)

John's system consists of the main system (named Miles to Go) and a subsystem that he's part of

The King in Yellow subsystem:

John - Host/protector He got the body first, rarely ever not fronting or cofronting.

Yellow - Cohost/symptom holder (PTSD)/persecutor Yellow's role changes throughout the story. He rarely ever fully fronts and only ever cofronts in the beginning and mostly only as a voice. He has the worst time adjusting for a number of reasons but a lot of it comes down to Arthur and Larson. On the rare occasion that he does front he'll visit Larson in prison (or wherever the hell Larson is haven't actually figured that part out) and he's kind of the only person Yellow will willingly have full conversations with that don't immediately turn to pity parties or aggressively defensive shows of power. Also Arthur is not helping and Yellow is not helping either and nothing is going right for him really but it's fine he'll get there. It gets worse before it gets better for him but it does get better. I think about him a lot (Main brainrot for this au)

King - Prosecutor (later turned physical protector + emergency fronter) Mixtive of stories of the King in Yellow, Arthur's experiences, John and Yellow's fractured memories, Noel's stories (and factive!Noel's recounts). Literally just feels like those times when John or Yellow put on that big scary act when they're scared, King is that personified.

Outside of KIY:

Arthur - Factive, physical caretaker One who actually knows how to do human stuff. Also a litmus test for how well other Arthur is doing depending on how he treats this Arthur. John nearly jumped out of his skin when he first showed up because he had no idea that the system thing was not limited to just the KIY situation so when he heard Arthur he freaked out. L. First alter outside the KIY subsystem. Probably split when John was alone and panicking and Arthur wasn't there.

Noel - Factive, mask Most often fronts when they need to be around other people and act normal, but mostly doesn't front often. Split after Arthur probably.

There will probably be more, there are definitely littles and there is probably a Faroe factive little (from factive Arthur's need). Other Arthur does not cope well with this but it's fine they're fine.

I have like. Ideas of KIY differing headspace and body designs because those three definitely have the worst dysmorphia when it comes to the body (John has it easiest, Yellow worst). But yeah anyway John is studying to become a doctor Arthur is still a private investigator but mostly quit, just takes the occasional case (with John). Uhhh that's all I'll say for now before I go on about Yellow too much.

Okay yeah I have more to say on like all of them especially Yellow always Yellow. And playlists also. Because the brainrot is strong. They kill me always. And Jae is literally the best for making AUs with he's my idea guy for real

[the-nexverse]

@thicc-pirate oh boy this is gonna be a hard one

BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: all the knowledge i have about mental disorders is very basic and the most i'll do is read the disorders' wikipedia articles and maybe one or two other articles from trustworthy sources. also please note i'm in no way a psychology expert, so i don't know specific terms or variations, i'll go for a general view on the way they think and view themselves and the world around them, and if there's an illness that matches those conditions, i'll mention it. but again, i am no expert on this, i could very well be wrong about any of it

Agnes: my heart tells me some cluster B personality disorder, but with more of an isolation flavor. substance abuse, bursts of rage, lack of empathy and reckless behavior are there, but also a general internal void/lack of purpose that she fills by finding someone to follow. that could be a dependant trait, but not in the way DPD is described. she also develops depression during arc 3, and deals with depressive symptoms throughout arcs 4-5

Ryan: he has some narcissistic characteristics, but that doesn't really mean he has NPD. he's empathetic, maybe even too much for his own good sometimes, but he's also calculating and manipulative when he wants to, even if his goals aren't for his own gain/selfish reasons. he does have a very black-or-white view on certain topics tho

all of this is about arcs 1-2 Ryan. arcs 3-5 Ryan's issues could fill up an entire book lmao. being locked up, isolated, physically assaulted, tortured and so much more fucks him up in the head so much, but i haven't really developed that part of him too much. PTSD, C-PTSD or both. can it be both? i don't know. i have to look a lot into it, it's too complex

Lisabel: APD straight up from the DSM-5: disregard for others' rights, lack of empathy and remorse, bloated self-image and manipulation, sprinkled with sadism and straight up psychopathy. all of it completely untreated, and she's in no rush to get herself checked. she's perfectly fine!

Eric: ngl he might be the only neurotypical person in the room lmao

Léan: 100% autism spectrum. hyperfixations, sensitivity to loud sounds or bright lights, stimming, some compulsive behaviors, difficulties socialising, etc. Eric wanted to adopt someone who wasn't very likely to get adopted and give them the love they deserve

Rask'r: i doubt there's a lot of research on mental illnesses in TES, but he has dyslexia, and as a lukiul (an argonian that grew up away from the Hist) he has argonian-specific social autism, aka can't read body language and his own body language is undecypherable to other native argonians. add that to wolf-like behavior like tail wagging and you got yourself a complete mess of social cues!

Raz: also dyslexia, some degree of anxiety for sure, abandonment issues, general childhood trauma. another bundle of complicated things

Donovan: not a mental illness per se, but definetely suffers from acedia/apathy

Lee: can you diagnose a non-sapient being with mental illnesses? i think so. PTSD and social anxiety, but he gets rehabbed :]

Vreytus: unidenfitied identity issues and feelings of emptiness/lack of a goal in life (which he fixes by himself. it goes well. for real :) )

Bug: trauma from being experimented on and all the social difficulties of not having been socialised with humans. otherwise they're just weird

Voirdity/voirds: there are no existing words to describe Voirdity's issues

Chad: definetely checks most boxes for NPD, but with time and lots of forced practice he learns to tone it down. not the best therapy method, i know, but probably the best you can get during the post-apocalypse. also self-esteem issues after he became physically disabled

Lewis: social anxiety and autism spectrum. hyperfixation, difficulty with holding eye contact, stimming, autistic self-injury, big meltdowns. to be fair, he's exposed to a lot more of stressing stimuli (Half Life events) so his reactions are a lot more intense and uncontrolled

thanks for the ask!!

@creators-club

[corporatefrog]

꒦‧₊ ꒷ HEADCANNONS: tricking team craig into thinking you're a magician ✧.*

✧.* tags: college au, ✧.* Characters: jimmy valmer, tweek tweek, craig tucker, tolkien black, clyde donavan a/n: i wrote tweek's then had the panicked though "i haven't written tweek for any of my other team craig posts" even though that's literally not true and i forgot that i didn't forget him? idk i put myself through the ringer for no reason lmao

masterlist

Jimmy

Finally! The other half of his magic comedy routine! 

Instantly wants you to go on stage with him

You guys do the circuit to different bars and coffee shops in south park

Honestly he doesn’t care if it’s fake or real

All he knows is it’s PERFECT for marketing

“You don’t want to know how I did it?”

“All i need to know is if you can do it again at 6 pm tonight at tweek bros coffee for a crowd.”

Give him a lil top hat and sparkley vest and he’s THRIVING

He’ll purposely mess up tricks to make people laugh and then you amaze them with an awesome trick

The poster for the show is him in one of those boxes where your legs get cut off with you holding a saw

Tweek

Terrified of any and all magic

You’d do a simple trick and he’d be spiraling all day

“Is this your card”

“AHHHHHHHHHH HOWD YOU DO THAT WHERE DID IT COME FROM”

Probably avoids you for the next week

You walk down the hall, he’s diving into the closet room to avoid seeing you

Skips study sessions for the next week because they’re at your apartment

You need to show him how the trick works before he begins to calm down

Even then, he gets suspicious if you find something a little too quickly or catch a falling pencil a little too well

Craig

Doesn’t care. 

Well, he PRETENDS he doesn’t care

Until you find a way to put a quarter in his hat without being anywhere NEAR him

Suddenly you are a threat

“How did you do that.”

“A magician never reveals their secret”

“No but deadass how did you do that.”

“I would tell you, but seeing you annoyed that you can’t figure it out is so much more entertaining.”

Que him doing intense researching into magic tricks to figure out how the fuck you pulled that off

Constant side eye whenever you’re in the same room because he’ll be damned if he lets you get another trick past him

Won’t admit it but lowkey thinks you’re actually magic

Trick successful >:)

Tolkien

I feel like he would think it’s cool

Not in a genuine belief way, but just as someone who enjoys magic

Another magic phase person. He was the opener for kyle and stan’s magic extravaganzas 

Probably specialized in card magic and can do some pretty sick tricks

Doesn’t think you’re genuinely “magic” or anything

But he wants to know more about how you do your tricks

Asks you to teach him them too!

“Yeah when I showed Kyle and Stan they freaked out so much they didn’t sleep for a week because they couldn’t figure it out.”

“Teach me.”

“What?”

“You ruined stan and kyle’s week just with a magic trick. Please teach me.”

Definitely keeps the magic trick in his back pocket until stan’s gang annoys him so he can send stan and kyle spiraling

clyde 

Tried to learn magic when everyone else had their magic phase but could never figure out how to do the tricks properly 

So now he just gets pissed whenever someone else is good at magic

Doesn’t want to see it at first

But then you do a trick that’s a little too good

And now he’s invested

Wants to see more

Genuinely thinks you’re a wizard like harry potter style

“Can you dye my hair black?”

“That’s really not what I specialize in”

“Ohhh haven’t learned that spell yet. I got you.”

“...yeah definitely.”

[cookinguptales]

time to shill for Big Salt!!!

Okay, so like I said in my last post, I recently became a ~Vitassium Ambassador~, which is a fancy way of saying that I shilled for this company for free for so long that now they're paying me to do it.

In salt. Much like a deer.

Anyway.

Vitassium is SaltStick's line of products specifically for POTS, EDS, Cystic Fibrosis, Vasovagal Syncope, and other forms of autonomic dysfunction. Essentially speaking, SaltStick has been making electrolyte products for years, and when they realized that a lot of their patients buying them were doing it for medical reasons, they started doing research into creating products specifically for that purpose. And that's how the Vitassium line was born.

Vitassium generally has more salt and less magnesium/calcium/potassium than SaltStick's other electrolyte products, which is good if you need a lot of salt and you don't want to take too high a dose of the rest. Personally, I tend to use a mixture of both of their lines so I can get a little calcium/magnesium boost sometimes but more salt other times. (The amount of potassium is fairly similar in both lines, with a little more in the SaltStick line.)

Either way, it has a lot less sugar than Liquid IV, which I get sick off of due to sugar sensitivities. Like... *googles* 11g of sugar in Liquid IV vs. 2g of sugar in Vitassium, with the same amount of salt in each serving. I have to be pretty careful about my sugar intake, and I suppose I can't speak for everyone, but my stomach handles Vitassium a lot better than most of the other alternatives on the market.

So I've been using it for several years now and I'm really happy with their products! Like -- I may now officially be a shill for Big Salt, but I don't plan on lying or exaggerating anything here. I use their products every day, and sometimes that's the only way I can manage to take a shower.

(My fellow POTS/EDS-sufferers know, the shower struggle is real. lmao)

Anyway, they just sent me one of everything in their Vitassium line. They didn't actually ask me to show it off, but I'm doing it anyway because this is my blog and I cannot be stopped.

From left to right, we have a bottle of their electrolyte capsules (these are sugar-free extended-release salt pills with a bit of potassium added), both flavors of their electrolyte fastchews (chewable electrolyte candies that provide quick relief... think salty sweettarts), a cute bottle full of packets of their electrolyte drink mix, sample packs of the fastchews, and some stickers.

Personally, I mostly use the fastchews. I've tried salt capsules in the past and had some stomach upset, but now that they sent these to me for free, I guess I'll try them out again. The fastchews are basically sour candy full of salt lmao. (They also have about 2g of sugar per serving, just like the drink mix.) They really are effective, though, so I tend to take them as needed throughout the day.

I usually just keep a bottle of them in my purse, but the sample size bags are resealable and fit well in pockets, bags, etc. I'm happy that they sent me some little sample bags because now I can refill them, haha.

I used to just buy the normal SaltStick fastchews, and my go-to flavors in that line are orange, wild berry, and lemon-lime! I haven't tried the mango because I'm allergic, the peach is okay if very sour, the coconut pineapple is a nice piña colada taste but a little sweet for me, and I really hate the watermelon ones!

(Look, I promised to be honest with you. lmao)

The Vitassium fastchews are newer, and they only come in two flavors so far. I always buy the fruit punch because I despise artificial grape flavor. They just gave me a bunch of grape ones, so I tried them. Good for what they are, but I still hate grape.

(Do any of my chronically ill followers want these? lmk)

The drink mix is the newest Vitassium product! I like it quite a bit; the relief is quicker when you drink it vs. eat it, and speaking as someone who generally hates drink mixes, the flavor is pretty good.

I've tried both the fruit punch and the pink lemonade, and I think I prefer the pink lemonade. The flavor suits the salt a little better, imo, and I think weirdly it mixes a little better?

I usually buy the drink mix in the canisters because it's cheaper that way and produces less waste (the canister pictured there is one I already had) but the packets are very handy to keep in your bag. They're easy to tear open and even when you tear off the whole top, the opening is small enough that it pours smoothly into small-necked bottles. I like to put some ice in mine and shake it up.

(Side note: Vitassium has specifically designed all their packaging to be as easy to open and use as possible because they know that so many of their customers have arthritis, EDS, and other connective tissue disorders. Which, as someone with EDS, I truly appreciate.)

Finally, one thing I genuinely like about Vitassium is that they try to make their products as accessible as possible for their customers who use them for medical reasons. They have something called the Vitassium Club, which allows registered users who have a medical condition to get 25% off all their electrolyte products. You don't have to get a doctor's note or anything like that, just send in a quick online form and wait for them to change the status of your account.

That brings the cost of the product down considerably for the people who need it most, which is good because honestly? Electrolyte boosters add up fast when you need to consume that much salt every day.

Uhhhh, I think that's everything for now! If you have any questions, lmk! I'm fairly passionate about this kind of thing because when I was first diagnosed with POTS/EDS like... god, 15 years ago now, they didn't have anything like this. I remember struggling to develop a diet that worked for me with no one to teach me and honestly? That fucking sucked. I don't want anyone to be in that position.

So now here in 2023, I'm happy to pass on any chronic illness-related tips I have. Like drink Vitassium! And add salt while you're cooking, not at the end! The flavor will be less strong that way! And a packet of sugar-free hot cocoa mix will often have as much sodium in it as a bag of chips!

Stay salty, friends. 🧂💜😎

[la-noche-cae]

I think it's Extremely Relevant right now to talk about Skylanders' military propaganda [Edit].

I will not be graphic. But your further research on this... most likely will be, at least in a descriptive way.

A. Skylanders was created by Activision, the same company that made Call of Duty. Call of Duty (among others) is a game used to reel in youth for army recruitment. Just to picture what's the typical order of business for leaders at the company.

B. The whole idea of the Academy, ranks, "Us vs Them" mentality. "Light and order" vs "Darkness and anarchy". Regardless of your opinions on Anarchy as a system, darkness often equaling Kaos' workers such as trolls (and even gyps*es), and for Skylanders meaning dark skinned creatures, is pretty clear sign of their idea of evil.

[Edit: Light=Good and Darkness=Evil is not a universal experience. Multiple cultures consider it just as sacred, an equal, instead of an opposite to Light. Symbolically and Philosophically, there's more to it, beyond the typical eurocentric imaginary.

Speaking of eurocentric imaginary: to an uncritical consumer, this could potentially reinforce their ideas of good and evil. There is little wiggle room for these ideals to be challenged. They are exceptions of Skylanders' norm.]

C. Just in Superchargers, there are references to a Border being kept between Skylands and Outlands, High Volt being this "elite guard" that protects the border. Notice he looks like a riot police, in colors and gear- one of which is a riot shield. Protesting is a right, and in these parts of the world, it is often met with unhinged police violence. Regardless of your opinions on borders, the way such a thing is enforced in the USA is extremely violent. Even here in Puerto Rico, we have border patrol and constant surveillance (mostly aimed at keeping out our Dominican neighbors).

Do not get me started on the long history of Puertorrican oppression inflicted by USA Imperialism. (Agent Orange, Forced Sterilization, Vieques Occupation).

[Edit: Just... Copaganda in My video game? No, thank you. For ME, If I portray High Volt, I'd redesign and reinterpret him. He's like, a lightbulb. Perhaps he is part of a watch tower, but for other purposes].

D. Sorry, Nightfall here goes another problematic thing about you: Nightfall is dressed like a type of Navy admiral: A long coat with yellow buttons and yellow cord epaulets. She also has a vehicle called the Sea Shadow, referencing a real-life military ship designed for surveillance.

[Edit: Not every country has a military. And those who do have the biggest budget for it are typically using it as an imperial, colonial force. This is important, more so because Skylanders' target audience is the young eurocentric USAmerican. The parent company is Activision Blizzard, stationed in USA. The way other Skylanders talk about the Superchargers is like the Air Force are talked about by others in the army- they are the more "prestigious" ones with shiny new vehicles lmao].

E. The idea is that one can be a hero through this hard, thankless fighting... in another's land, "Securing" that land from the "evil ones". Sounds like Occupation and / or a Coup to me. Goes hand in hand with the point about Borders and Light vs Darkness.

[Edit: People. I am talking about this above with Manifest Destiny in mind. I am not claiming all the Skylanders are colonizers, lol! I'm saying there's way too many references to USA military propaganda to ignore. I ask you to use your own discernment / research to make your conclusions. There are things I didn't pick up.

I simply did Not appreciate Buzz telling Stormblade to do Psychological Warfare, or calling Glumshanks an "apple-polishing troll" when the guy just wanted to help. To me, this is not funny haha. It's funny like weird!]

___

These are the things on top of my head I've wanted to talk about for a while, but now more than ever is pressing to bring it up and discuss with intent to move forward. Don't go "You're overreacting" Please don't tell me I don't know anything about something I experience every day. Also, don't put words in my mouth, thanks. You can visit this post if you have questions.

If you can help it, don't give Activision any more of your money, for example, buying their newer games. Buy second hand.

Avoid spending at companies like Airbnb (which not just supports settlers but directly worsens my country's housing crisis), Apple, Hp, Motorola, McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Mars chocolate, Nestle are a few others that dont have a clean track record. Get familiar with modern-day imperialist interest around you on your own, or with friends.

👋[If your knee-jerk reaction to this is to hate me perhaps inspect why that is? I'm not a big influential blog. Why you threatened? I can't force you or bully you to do anything, I'm just making my opinions known].

[svpernovae]

a bunch of Florian hcs no one asked about (tw: arson/gore-ish mentions)

based on his deductions Florian's parents were scientists or possibly chemists. depending on the research, fire was used as either an aid or the subject itself since in the 19th century we start to see a rise in combustion based appliances and the revolution of gas/coal. the bunsen burner being invented during this era in a response for a need to control temperatures more accurately during experiments. that may explain why the family house went up in flames so suddenly and brutally, to the point his parents only had time to push him out of harms way. the deduction's imply this fire was the result of an accident, we don't know yet whose it may be, but perhaps it may have been Florian himself who accidentally caused the ignition trying to replicate what his father showed him.

the fire took his parents but it also took his right eye and ear. both as a child and as an adult he's seen using gauze rather than a leather eye patch, even though by then the burns should have been healed. my theory is that he chooses gauze for it's far more gentler on the scar tissue and it does not react as quickly as leather does to high temperatures, as leather goes rigid faster. i imagine it must be extremely unpleasant to feel it on the face when one's constantly throwing themselves into fire pits.

referring to his uniform, it's the typical 1866's english fire fighter uniform, the first of it's kind. the badge on his jacket should have a number that corresponds to his rank within the brigade, the lower the number the higher the rank and he should also carry an axe (also lmao did you know the oldest firefighting corporation is from my country? 1395...the more you know) to note though, fire investigators are not the same as fire fighters, as they only really approach the fire scene after the firefighters are done, as it's their job to inspect and research about the causes of the fire. during the 19th century a lot of domestic fires were caused on purpose for insurance money and Florian was most likely hired for this (and then used his position to his advantage to cover his tracks)

but lets get back to the past real quick cause this piece of lore is actually really interesting. the orphanage he was sent to after he lost his parents was White Sand Street Orphanage (i fucking hate this map), the one that was founded by Kreacher Pierson (Thief) and later on was converted into an Asylum. Based on his deductions, the entire reason the Orphanage managed to expand at all was at the cost of Florian bringing in investors as the "miracle". Since his deductions later mention nuns, Father Duke may have been the first investor and was already the head of the Orphanage by the time the fire happened. Sister Lorriane and Emily/Lydia (Doctor) may have already been there, as well as Emma/Lisa (Gardener) and Robbie (Axe Boy).

funnily enough a large reason why the orphanage was converted into an asylum was due to the claim that many of it's children suffered from mental illness, which wouldn't be wrong in Florian's case, as he is an arsonist. however, this illness only really manifested itself in the orphanage and as a way to call upon attention to himself again. though this too, was probably fueled by the drugs he was given in the orphanage, as his deduction mentions "These drugs cannot treat anyone, but they can help me in another way." referring to the instances before he causes the fire.

this deduction also proves that he has some understanding on chemistry and was privy to the drugs being worked on in the orphanage, as the note says "I'm sorry, Sister. I broke two vials by accident. Can I borrow your keys to get more from the storeroom?" if we add this to the scene in his trailer where he ignites the fire, it's possible he was previously helping the nuns making the drugs (but that's a theory... a game theo-)

and that's all folks!

[yeyinde]

I found your COD works on ao3 and there is quite literally NOTHING else that makes me ascend higher than your writing AAAAHHH your prose is incredibly seamless and blends so beautifully together that i find myself on the ground afterwards because EXCUSE ME?? They didn't tell us you could do that with words?? (youre the reason im researching a game ive never played before in my life at 3 am) how you are real

Anyway!!! I dont know if this was already asked, but i wanted to know about your writing process and how you got to where you are now

Thank you for always giving us your best work!! 🩷🩷🩷

it's only Thursday and here i am. just bawling my eyes out. this is incredibly sweet, and you are being way too nice to me, honestly!!! 😭 thank you so much!! and i'm so glad you've been enjoying what i write so far 🖤

i did my best to actually answer this in a way that was somewhat coherent but it's really hard to type through the tears.

i don't have much of a writing process, tbh! i mostly just shape things around a concept or a scene i want to write about, or one that i kinda picture in my head. the rest is mostly just filler to get us there.

i think i spend the most time on words—the placement, the meaning, the sound, and the way it looks/flows with everything else. i'm very particular about the ones i pick. i know a lot of it might seem like regurgitating a thesaurus (which it def is, tbh!!!), but i really love etymology. everything has a purpose. even though a lot of what i write is just gratuitous smut lmao

i also really love scripts. i don't write multiple drafts. what i end up posting is usually the first draft with minimal editing (because i am egregiously lazy and also hate re-reading my own work), but as i write, i like to make the outlines for scenes in the same style as a script. i think it gives me more flexibility to really dig down into what i want from a particular moment by framing it like a beat from a movie or play. it might not be for everyone, but it helps me focus on what i need to do—especially with dialogue.

as for how i got to where i am now: i definitely got much more confident in my particular style, which i think is obvious if you read my earlier stuff to now. i was very worried about how i came across in writing (like using rare words, dabbling in wordplay, going on very obscure tangents and making strange metaphors), but i'm a lot more willing to experiment with things than i was before. i also don't take myself seriously at all. everything i do is for the fun of it, so i've never felt pressured to stay within a certain genre or style. i just do what i want, mostly!

[micahsawyer]

What would Micah be like if he became a vampire?? (Annie wants to know for research purposes)

oof micah as a vampire would be... god. and maybe that actually works as a description because in his secondary verse, micah's already got such a fucking god complex when he kills. it's the main reason he kills... to feel like god. to feel close to god. (he won't ever admit the second). he doesn't have real motive for anything in any verse in which he kills. not even his victims have any kind of connection. he might find something about them interesting enough in the moment and that's it, it's a done deal and there's no further thought to it. and he gets to play god for a little while, relish in the way they scream and hurt for him. and he gets a sick kind of thrill out of it. i can only imagine that'd be amplified as a vampire. even in his first ending where he rarely (if ever) knows what it's like to kill, he still aims to hurt people, physically and emotionally, and unless you're close to him in some way you don't get a free pass. and maybe not even then... it just depends on how manipulative he feels on the day to day. that'll change with different ships, obviously, because every dynamic is different, but in general, micah is an awful person and i can't imagine the early years of him as a vampire being easy in any way. he'll spend too much time fighting his impulses and not enough time actually managing to hold them back. if we're talking tvd standards, he might be a ripper, he might not. it just depends on who he has around him and how strong their connection is... mostly meaning how much they're able to influence him.

presently, micah's got a grandiose idea of vampirism in his head. he's romanticizing it in a lot of ways and as always, he's self-aware so he knows that... he just doesn't really care. the thrill and the curiosity of it far outweighs anything else. i think micah would love it — up until the minute he doesn't, and it'll probably change day to day or even moment to moment. he's odd with feelings and if they're amplified, he might be freaking out a lot. lashing out in some way like he always does because being vulnerable feels off for him and he won't know how to deal. he'll resort to violence like normal, only this time he has so much more power than he's used to. it could be a recipe for disaster, but i imagine he'll eventually learn to manage it as the years pass, just like he's learned to manage... people and relationships and everything else in life. he'll learn and he'll adapt and eventually, he'll be a little less erratic and impulsive.

in certain ships, though (because i have to think about it), micah's liable to be heavily influenced by his partners. if they're the type to pull him back in some way (or if you can just straight-up overpower him tbh), he might be inclined to listen to reason. he's capable of being taught and even manipulated (seriously, you can pavlov's dog him lmao), but he's probably gonna be a whiny fucking asshole about it just so you're warned. if you're the type to let him off his leash, he's gonna cause complete fucking chaos. he's gonna have his cake and eat it too (violently). he'll clean up after, though.

also... let's talk about something a little more intimate (and gross) for a minute if i can (i can, i put it under a readmore it's fine). micah would be so entranced with the healing aspect of vampirism — specifically because he's been dreaming of being able to be sliced up without real consequence. in a perfect world, micah would like to slice and be sliced without consequence (the way he holds this fantasy up above anything else is insane)... and it doesn't matter how he gets there. that's one of the things he's glorifying about vampirism presently. the healing has him in such a chokehold. there's so many things he could do and experience without the weight of his fucking mortality weighing him down (he's cursing it all the time) and he would give away every cent he's got to experience immortality just for a day. just to feel the weight of it off his shoulders... and also a little bit...

[gross micah shit + gore tw] he would go absolutely fucking batshit wild and test the limits of his healing (would probably end up killing himself for real doing just that, but it's fine i won't let him). he watches a lot of gore shit and torture in his mind can be so romantic. can you imagine the intimacy of being gutted, a knife twisting in your insides? sharing with someone parts of yourself even you haven't seen? if he could rip his own heart out for someone he cared for, he would. he's gross and morbid and that would probably show, too, until he either gets bored or gets it out of his system.

vampire micah would be... a very specific treat.

[sarasometimes]

my message was too harsh, im sorry. as an artist i am just really exhausted by ai. i can tell your lyrics are original— honestly they’re really good. which is part of what made me feel so frustrated off the bat cus i was like “damn. shawty is spitting. but i’m pretty sure this is a robot being fed a really talented humans writing.” the voice filters do make it sound like ai though. assuming you’re being honest about them being filters, there’s no issue with that. do ur thing. but i would look into what ur distro is doing in terms of mastering the tracks with ai. could be something up with this but i’m ngl i havent heard of ai being used for this purpose yet so idk how they train the AI for mastering tracks or what that entails. again, i’m sorry for coming at u so aggro, that was not deserved and sometimes i need to learn when to take a chill pill and be less accusatory. that’s on me. btw, i think u have a nice voice :)

hey dawg its ok its a hot button issue n i understand bein frustrated. tbh i was kinda waiting for the 'are u ao' question to come eventually lol

'my name isnt sara' is an expirmental album of me exploring different techniques to try to produce a sound that lives on the line between human and inhuman. it doesnt quite work on its own yet but its a work in progress. i dont think im quite there yet in terms of what i want my sound to be so theres variation and inconsistency there. i know there's also some dubious sound editing going on thats a symptom of me fuckin around with different software. im a techie before a musical artist n shit like theory n composition is a bit beyond me atm but im tryin to learn by doing how to make a cool n unique sound.

beyond that tho, i do rely a lot on things like filters and adjustment tools n the like to bridge the gaps where im just not confident yet. i hope the more i practice the more confident ill get vocally.

eventually I wanna write a stage show n what im doing now is practice on my way to that goal. ill definitely be doing more research into distrokid n what its doing with mastering. I'll be honest that i really don't know that much abt that. But a for profit company jumping on the ai bandwagon with shady new tech is what tech companies do lmao

sorry if my reply was harsh too I got defensive real fast. i think at the end of the day i just dont want anyone to think im tryna run a grift or scam or anything. like im just a person with a soulless job i hate that discovered making weird music abt eating people n being bugs makes me happy.