#(out of a box I will admit)

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 108

So this time it wasn’t Danny’s fault, or even Boxy’s fault! And it wasn’t like Pandora’s box was open for more than a split second! But uh, still. This could be a bit of a problem, what with how it’s affected um, well, everyone. Living and ghosts. 

At least it’s not dangerous! Really, how bad can people getting animal aspects be? Well, besides the embarrassment. 

[ghostieblotts]

SAF Linguistics Lecturers AU

FINALLY I AM MAKING THE POST ON THIS.

So these are some of the initial ideas I have for a very random and niche Curtwen au where they are linguistics lecturers, which I came up with because of this post.

The premise of the au is reasonably simple: Curt and Owen are researchers and lecturers in linguistics. I might add in other characters as well, but for now, I've only really gotten as far as beginning to figure out Curt and Owen's research interests (and a brief thought for Barb). This is going to be a meandering and nerdy post, so I'm putting it under the cut :)

Apologies in advance to non-linguists for anything I don't explain clearly enough, and to linguists for anything I get wrong.

So! As part of this au, both Curt and Owen work in the same university department. Which university might that be? ...dear reader, I must admit that in my heart, this au takes place at my own university. However, given that I'm not going to tell you which one that is, kindly choose a university of your own, and we will chalk any inconsistencies that arise up to my own folly. Cool? Cool.

Something else to mention is that this is a modern au, for a few reasons - I am more familiar with the modern state of linguistics than the state of the field in the late 50s and early 60s, I don't want them to have to invent certain subfields that I want to see them in (though that would be funny!), and for one other reason that will become apparent later.

In terms of research interests, I would like to preface by saying that this is only one possible direction to take them in - I think there would be compelling arguments for either of them to be involved in a range of subfields. Do let me know which ones you would put them in! However, here are my ideas.

First, the elephant in the room: Owen Carvour is not a phonologist. I'm so sorry, but if we take the YouTube version's accent performances as canon, he is not a phonologist - this man cannot handle the allophonic distribution of a glottal stop. (Said with the utmost love for the original performances. Accents are hard.) No, this man does not do his work on the sound level of language. That's Curt's job!

Doctor Curtis Mega's research interests are a little trickier for me to pin down, so I would love to hear other people's thoughts on the subject - but I think he leans mostly towards working with sound. In the show, we see him criticise Owen's Russian accent, and he aims to toast with Tatiana in Russian (though I lack the experience to judge this performance myself). So, broadly, I think that his research interests would include sociolinguistics (language and society/social groups), translation, contrastive linguistics (comparing languages), and forensic linguistics (roughly, using sociolinguistics in criminal cases).

Part of my reasoning for having Curt have an interest in translation and contrastive linguistics is because of the kind of stereotype that a linguist is someone who knows lots of different languages - when, in reality, a lot of linguists are monolingual. To mirror canon Curt's James-Bond-superspy elements, in this au he therefore lives up to this stereotype about linguists in some ways. He's a polyglot, he's great at identifying and mimicking accents, and he's the kind of guy who knows the International Phonetic Alphabet inside and out (and can make most if not all of the sounds it categorises).

Forensic linguistics, in some ways, is where Curt deviates from the stereotype, as well as fulfilling another aspect of canon. Canon Curt channels the wants to "fight crime again" and "make a difference" into being a spy, so to me it follows that this au's Curt would be interested in forensic linguistics - using his knowledge of regional and social variation in speech sounds (as well as grammar and lexis) to help solve criminal cases.

So, if Curt's research leans towards sound, with some work on structure in there (dialect studies!), then what does Owen do? Thankfully, I think he balances Curt's interests quite well, as I see him leaning more towards the other end of the spectrum, so to speak - if we divide language roughly into sound, structure, and meaning, Owen works a little with structure, and predominantly works on meaning. Because, I swear, that man would be a pragmatician.

And yes, that is what it's called. Doctor Owen Carvour's research interests begin with, and always circle back to, pragmatics - roughly, looking at meaning in context - how words and sentences are used in interactions, how meaning is negotiated between speakers.

For the most part, I'm basing Owen's research interests on a specific line - "If it weren't for my spot-on aim and interest in foreign policy, well, I might have been an actor" - and also just generally what he's like as a character. Pragmatics relates to topics like implied meaning/implicature, conversational norms, joint commitment, cooperation, pretence - he would love it.

At the beginning of his career, I think Owen would have been solely focused on pragmatics. Over time, he gains an interest in Critical Discourse Analysis - carefully looking at things like how power is wielded and how ideology is embedded in language use, particularly in mass-media texts but useful in other text types too. And eventually, he gains another research interest, related to a particular methodology - corpus linguistics.

Modern corpus linguistics is characterised by the use of large bodies of text, called corpora, which are stored in formats that allow them to be analysed with the help of computer programs called concordancers. I think that Owen "I'd have all the world's secrets" Carvour would love concordancers. I think if you gave that man some corpora to sit down and analyse he would be content for hours.

This is part of why I want this to be a modern au, because otherwise I would need Owen to be inventing the machine-readable corpus in 1961, which would indeed be funny, but I'm not here to change the history of linguistics. Why do I want him to use machine-readable corpora, specifically? Well, before they were invented, corpora were on vast collections of paper, which took ages to analyse and required the hiring of large teams of analysts - and, well, what use will a massive group of analysts be when a box in a room can do their job in seconds?

(Another thing about corpus linguistics - it's quite handy for taking the guesswork out of linguistics. Barb designs concordancers is what I'm saying here.)

So - Curt is a sociolinguist, originally, who is also interested in translation, contrastive linguistics, and forensic linguistics, while Owen is a pragmatician who is also interested in Critical Discourse Analysis and corpus linguistics. What are they like as educators?

I think students generally like Curt's classes a lot. He makes the material engaging, and he's not super strict. I think he's also students' first port of call when struggling with referencing - since that did NOT come naturally to him, so he's generally very helpful with that. That's if you can get ahold of him, though - I don't think he's great at replying to emails, and students probably learn quite quickly that they're better off asking him questions in person.

Owen, on the other hand - instinctively I think he'd be the kind of lecturer that students are kind of intimidated by. He won't accept nonsense in his classes, and he's quite particular about the standards of student work. However, as soon as students have a class where Owen gets to talk more about his specific research interests, it becomes pretty clear that he's just a huge nerd at the end of the day. He's a lot less scary once you've seen him light up over some incredibly specific aspect of pragmatics, and eventually it turns out he's actually pretty funny. Jury's out on whether he actually sleeps, though - he's been known to have email response times under ten minutes at 2 in the morning.

Some students notice around their third year that if one of them is away at a conference or something, the other will be grouchier and have a shorter fuse. At events and sessions with the whole department staff, they are always sat together, and a few students have noticed them arriving or leaving at the same time. Around campus, in the earlier and later hours of the day, more studious students may notice that they are more likely to bump into both than just one.

Anyway. There we go! Do I have an actual story for this au? No. Have I properly developed the curtwen side of it? Also no. Have I gotten around to the other characters properly yet. Also no! But, if you read this far, THANK YOU, I hope this was at least somewhat fun or interesting - and if you have any thoughts on any part of this au PLEASE let me know as I would love to hear them! Is there a subfield they would love that I have missed? Do you have ideas for their teaching or their relationship? Do you have ideas about another character? Whatever it is I want to hear it!

[alongtidesoflight]

i swear my stepdad is so illogical AND stubborn it hurts

[doctorweebmd]

ok my OTHER reflection:

on the one hand its really frustrating to see the posts about docs and healthcare in general on here be so narrow-minded. bad experiences with certain providers have lead to a huge spread of misinformation and mistrust with the whole system. which can and HAS lead to people avoiding 'evil' doctors for perfectly treatable illnesses and dying from them (the vaccine bullshit, anyone?)

but on the other hand. it is TERRIFYING how some of these docs practice medicine. at times i think 'are you just burned out and don't give a shit or are you straight up just stupid?' and i work in critical care. where quite literally every case is life or death. even in the academic sector where there is supposedly a standard of excellence, some doctors i would not let touch my loved ones with a ten foot pole.

and that sucks. i know this is the no nuance piss on the poor webbed site but 'the medical system and people that work for it are fallible and aspects of it are morally questionable at best/unethical at worst' AND 'the field of medicine exists to help people first and foremost and mistrusting/avoiding it can be detrimental in the long run' can and DO co-exist

[dykedvonte]

I'm probably going to post about this on the MW subreddit, but I still find it pretty hilarious that most fans assume the "struggles" Jimbalaya was dealing with back on Earth were related to criminal acts (usually in order to demonize Curly) meanwhile most of the pieces of clues I've gathered from the HFIM dlc and the QnAs we got about the characters' lives have lead me to believe Jimbalaya's struggles were about poverty.

In the HFIM dlc we're pretty clearly playing a fish version of Jimbalaya, and the whole game is about how a capitalistic system ruins people (fish) and those that climb up help perpetuate the system and those that go down just get eaten. So it's pretty interesting to me that Jimbalaya fish even after consuming other fish and items... keeps going down.

But it was the third QnA that sealed it for me. Curly's hobbies are around a lot of friends and family that he could join interesting things. And of course play snow sports in Winter. Winter snow sports... which let's be honest is a pretty expensive hobby to have. Meanwhile, Jimbalaya can't afford any hobbies other than joining one with Curly.

I think this kinda just adds more fuel for Jimbalaya to both envy yet aspire to be like Curly.

I dunno, it's just fascinating to me watching so many fans claim the "struggles" were so obviously to do with crime when most of the current evidence I noticed seems to point towards money related issues.

-🌟 Anon

I think both are valid and valuable interpretations that’s the MW fandom makes but I think the major problem with it is the severity in which they make Jimmy out to be every factor wrong with men in society.

Like I think it’s interesting to use the idea he has some record, misdemeanors/petty stuff, that has complied to make his life more difficult. It’s all his own doing for his entitlement and general behavior but it can also be used to comment on Capitalism banking on desperation and envy. A lot of his actions are desperate because he knows his crimes on the Tulpar will make it virtually to climb any ladder, anywhere anymore due to their weight. Like in the end the problem is undeniably how the proverbial rat race creates environments that fosters Jimmy’s and creates ineffective systems like Curly represents.

Curly on the other hand benefits from the corporate part of it with his financial freedom, stability and prestige but he too is socially stagnant, deeply unhappy in the identities placed on to him and unrecognizable as anything other than a cog in the machine. I think this goes in tandem with the other members too as the identities placed onto them in the scenario all represent stages in capitalism and class discrepancies: Anya represents largely marginalized identities (particularly women in blue collar fields/harassment) and how they ultimately have to fend for themselves. Daisuke a sort of perception of both a class between Curly and the rest, protected no matter the effects of the establishment due to his home life but at the same time he is the metaphorical future gen, things stripped from him as the older generations squabble amongst themselves in private conversations leaving him unequipped. Then there’s Swansea being sort of those who have lived through it, knowing how it ends but ultimately still lack the skills, resources and want to change it, letting it cycle.

The entire thing with Jimmy circles back to the fandom ultimately wanting easy solutions to the events in the games, a face to blame and a weird black and white thinking to issues that are dangerous to view that way.

[boxofthings]

I really love exploring GhostRoach's dynamic with mute!Roach, especially since I hc Roach as American, so he'd likely be using ASL

I think Ghost would be proficient in sign, however, since BSL and ASL are very different, I just love imagining him going out of his way to painstakingly learn practically a whole other language just for Roach.

Just watching the progression of their relationship where it starts with Ghost needing someone else on the task force to translate what Roach is saying, to him becoming the designated Roach translator lol

I'd imagine once they get closer, Roach would start writing notes for Simon instead of having a third party translate. And for a while it'd probably be their norm, where Roach will automatically pull out a notebook to talk, but then maybe one day Roach will casually sign something, forgetting that Ghost wouldn't understand, but then Ghost will respond without a second thought and they'll just stare at eachother for a moment like "what?"

and boom. they kiss.

nah but just think about how cute it'd be?? Ghost probably isn't that great with words, so you'll see how he cares about someone more so through his actions, and him studying for months just so Roach can more comfortably communicate with him is just so??? soft??

and the effort isn't lost on Roach at all. He sees how Ghost abashedly looks away after the slip up and mumbles "It's just good to know american sign, too" (excuses), he notices how Ghost will try minicking hand signs when he thinks no one's watching, when he hangs around in Ghost's room, he notices the small stack of ASL dictionaries on his desk.

and Roach just becomes all the more infatuated with him. Big scary lieutenant who yells at all the new recruits and can kill a man with his bare hands but will go out of his way to learn a difficult language. All for Roach.

it'd be a cute way to progress their relationship. Every now and then they'll have tender private moments where Roach will try teaching Ghost more thoroughly, and sometimes Ghost will get frustrated or just sign wildly incorrect words, and Roach will just look at him all adoringly like ughhh they'd be so soft.

[smashwolfen]

Buddy of mine said I should share some of my pictures I took after my christmas eve snowfall we had here, so have some Canadian snow in sum sunlight XD

[averageludwig]

Ive been looking at your art for… i cant even remember how long. Like a couple months now, i love checking in on your account here to look at new art, or even old art! Everything you draw is unbelievably eye pleasing. The colours, shading, rendering, outfits, every single thing is so stunning, even to the last detail. And dont even get me started on how you draw Demo! Hes my favourite merc, hands down, always has been since i got tf2 a long time ago. He never had as much content compared to the rest and when i found your account it was quite literally like finding a big blue lake in the middle of a desert. You capture his character so nicely, give him his charasmatic flare and charm in every piece you draw. Ik this is a long thing im writing, my bad, i just feel like i should tell you. Dont listen to what any of those jackass people say either in your other asks. Keep on drawing man. 💗 -🦌

I honestly dont even know where to start. This is just so incredibly sweet, I honestly hadnt thought there would a reason people would wanna take time to write something like this to some artist they like. I don't mean that in a bad way whatsoever, It just really moves you, you know? I started this account just like any other art account i made before it but I only intended it to be an archive, I had gotten burnouts so many times and abandoned LOTS of twt accounts cuz of it but something about this tumblr account always felt easier to go to, no matter what I posted some people found it and liked it and it was a nice change of pace from twitters harsh algorithm lol and its really brought me so much confidence and my art has really changed since a few months ago!! I could never trade the support you guys have given me for anything, whether its simple reblogs or commissions. it means alot. really it does. :,,,,) thank you so much . thanks for supporting the crazy fixations i go through too <3

[moongothic]

On the train of your last ask, what are your thoughts on dragons sexuality?

Personally I think he’s Demi something (more attracted to personality than looks or gender)

Honestly because we don't know that much about the guy it's kind of hard for me to form an opinion, and if Crocodad Real then we're going to find out his orientation eventually (since we gotta find out if that was a contributing factor to the Dragodile Divorce (assuming they're divorced)) so I'm kind of okay with not forming any headcanons, since the headcanon could get thrown out the window

If anything, what interests me is how Dragon's orientation could impact the story-- like when I've discussed the Dragodile Divorce I have mainly focused on speculating how Crocodile would've felt about it, but how Dragon felt about that is interesting too

Because if he's straight then yeah that probably contributed to The Divorce, but how did Dragon feel about it? Learning that the love of his life is now happier than ever before after transitioning and being happy for him, while also losing the version of Crocodile that he fallen in love to begin with? No longer feeling thet draw to him because of the thing that has brought him so much joy and comfort? Knowing that even if they did take down the WG the family Dragon had hoped to have would never come to be, because their relationship would now end? And that it would be on some level his fault, because he's not attracted to Crocodile anymore?

Like even if Dragon took things well and the divorce happened "on good terms", it would've been sad for Dragon too.

But then there's a slightly juicier option, because what if Dragon was bi, but the Divorce happened under unpleasant circumstances (be it Dragon lashing out or things getting violent because he couldn't recognize Crocodile) and he didn't figure it out until it was too late?

Because you'd still have Dragon going through some if not all of those previously mentioned feelings, of having to come to terms with the version of his significant other whom he had fallen in love with no longer existed, the family had pictured in his mind would never become a thing, that those things were be kind of his fault and that he had hurt Crocodile deeply in the process. But then he'd be looking at some news article of Crocodile's most recent heroic stunt, seeing his handsome face with that usual, unbothered expression, and realizing he still loved him? That he still wanted to be with him, wished they were together, even now that Crocodile was a far more handsome man than he was? And then the realization that he's bi hitting him like a fucking truck But it's too late. The divorce already happened. He already hurt Crocodile too deeply. Knowing Croc, he had probably already moved on. There was no fixing it, the relationship was over. At least for now, trying to go see Croc could be dangerous due to the WG and not wanting to risk the WG finding out about them and The Kid and Croc would probably be furious if Dragon even risked that at this point, after what he had done. Oh, and then Crocodile killed thousands of innocent people attempting to usurp a country by manufacturing a civil war. Something Dragon can't forgive. (Not to mention, hearing he had been taken down by their own son... Oof)

But what if despite all that, and not knowing the full circumstances behind what had happened (like the fact that Crocodile didn't know who the hell Luffy was), Dragon still loved Crocodile? What then?

[thisisaname-whatahappyname]

something something episode six something something about how so far the show seems to be saying that people can grow and change, that being a bad or good person isnt eternal at all which makes the concept of hell and heaven eternal punishment or eternal bliss is stupid and unfair

[orcelito]

At some point soon ish I'll try to gather all my knives up for another group pic. It's been a while since I've taken one. I have so many fucking knives

[bleue-flora]

Hey same anon :]

Undiagnosed more in a "he's clearly some type of neurodivergent, but his parents refuse to acknowledge it and shame P!Tommy for any type of coping mechanisms he tries to form (stop shaking your hands, we're in public. Stop making that noise, it's annoying. You dont need the plushie, you're too old to carry it around. Cant you stop making things up for attention?) so sometimes he meltdown badly and gets completly overwhelmed even tho normally he doesn't mind/likes lots of noise and people"

And thats when he asks to go to Exile, because he's overwhelmed, doesn't want anyone to see him like that, and is deeply upset about how a happy moment turned sour so quick. + he doesn't want to scream at his friends if they try to talk to him :[

[context]

I mean you have a right to believe what you want or make up your own kid Tommy for this concept of it all being an imagination game between kids, but again in my mind I don't think any version of Tommy is or should be considered neurodivergent/autistic, he just doesn't have the characteristics and that's saying something considering that the spectrum is pretty diverse. And I say that as someone who is autistic and has ADHD, whose friends are pretty much all diagnosed or undiagnosed neurodivegent with autistic and/or ADHD, whose family has a whole bunch of neurodivergence and who sees a therapist regularly who specializes in autism. Now I'm not going to claim I know everything, but I think from personal experience both from being around others and my own life as well as having researched and studied it enough to say Tommy is an annoying kid, but that doesn't make him autistic. Some kids are just annoying and loud and stuff but that doesn't mean he's stimming or whatever. Plus we don't see cc!Tommy stim, we don't see c!Tommy stim so why would p!Tommy, a kid who plays c!Tommy in his game of make believe stim? It doesn't make sense.

Some common traits of autism (obviously not all inclusive) is logical minded, struggle to understand emotions, tendency to be honest to the point of rude (not to say we can't lie but it's not our default and if we are lying there's either a reason or it's part of masking), tendency to follow rules and like fairness and justice, tend to be good at patterns and puzzles... do those sound like Tommy to you? because while the spectrum is diverse these are just a few examples of him missing the mark entirely... or perhaps the biggest reason Tommy isn't autistic - he doesn't make sense to me. He lacks all logic and the things he does do not make sense to me or my autistic friends I've told, not because I am unempathetic or unable to see people's point of view (I have actually spent a lot of time working on myself to develop those skills), but because he is neurotypical and I will always struggle to understand them because my brain does not think like they do...

[catboytenya]

i decided to check your etsy on a whim and i just want to thank you and fizzy for adding petre/agere boxes <3 it gives me something to save money for!

that makes me so glad to hear!!!!

we're going to do an actual official announcement that we're open soon, it was a kinda soft opening where we put the boxes up but haven't really announced them yet!

the petre/agere boxes were actually inspired by the fact NONE of the ones i could find on etsy were up to my personal standards when i was looking for some to buy for myself/for some of my headmates in my system (no shade to the other shops on etsy, i'm just very picky and everything just kinda seemed like it was random from the dollar store to me,,,,) so i basically went to fizzy like....... hey can we do this i want to be the change i want to see in the world.

and with a lot of planning and figuring out prices, we're officially the change i wanted to see in the world!

i'm excited to work with you!

[spookythesillyfella]

This is quite literally my third time showing up and you're free to IGNORE because I don't wanna keep bothering you (I'M SO SORRY) I just wanted to be more positive this time and say I really love when you ramble and go into this really emotional and powerful depth when you discuss things so passionately. I know that's kind of weird to say and this will also be weird to admit but I could NEVER understand why people would call it "cringe"? It's actually really healing to me as someone who'd love to ramble a lot but can't get by the idea that people wouldn't like it I guess ^_^; WHAT I'M TRYING TO REALLY SAY. It's that time you put into what you create even if it's not related to the High Voltage AU, Because while yes you even inspired me to keep going with my dhmis story I certainly enjoy your posts all together! I like learning about other fictional medias you enjoy.. I also think about favorite characters you have and mental note them in my mind haha Probably just speaking really foolishly again and it's really not anything I've not told you before though I just have positive things to say about you often! I hope you don't stop venting either because you need to get it out. This is your account! You're free to post what you want and don't pressure yourself to perform to anyone's expectations because what you're doing now IS ENOUGH. I love you !! /p

(Natsuki is my favorite DDLC character :) I LOVE this game and comfort it a lot so it makes me happy seeing someone else enjoy it too! )

no . no . pleaze never apologize for passing by – it meanz so much to me that u remember my existence

ive generally alwayz been scared of talking too much about the thingz i like . becauze my interestz are like unique to me only – none of my irlz share thiz love for dhmis and / or vocaloid . so itz generally something that i don't talk about with them in order not to annoy them

you have no clue how much it actually meanz to have someone u care about tell u that they appreciate your love for such thingz . and that they actually like LURNING about it – more than anything else in thiz world

not to get all sad here . but ive alwayz struggled with the au – ive had [and admittedly still do] so many breakdownz over the fact i feel like my characterz are flat . or that my story iz too unoriginal or deviatez too much from the canon . generally anything i could be mad about . but the support ive gotten from u and the few other people on thiz platform who care alwayz help me feel like thiz work izn't pointless

not to mention . my time on thiz app and interacting with u made me develop my littlez in a way i probably weren't if not for thiz connection between uz [and im not just refering to shrig in thiz situation]

i can never fully express my gratitude to people – i feel like no word in any language could encapsulate just how much i care for each and every one of my friendsiblingz . so like . why even bother . right ? ahaha

thank u – thank u a thouzand timez over and over ; thank u forever more . for everything u've done for me . for everyone else . u utterly beautiful being 💌💌💌

[fite-club]

Ok my point still stands that it's not an inconsistency in logic to say that a lot of transmascs are in danger in a transphobic society and it isn't a man hating thing, it's a fear of transphobes. I'll take that this is a solution for people who are absolutely desperate but it wasn't posed like that in your original post. You were clowning on people for understandably saying this isn't an option for the majority of transmascs. I'm not saying my experience is the only experience but the way the U.S is going, this is just going to become a riskier and riskier thing and will result in hate crimes. I'm glad for you that you apparently live in a place that this is easy for you to access, but spreading that as an avenue without stressing the risk is going to get young transmascs hate crimed whether you believe it or not.

holy shit how are you STILL! acting as if anyone is literally suggesting that transmascs go and get hatecrimed!!! i'm sorry that YOU were missing the context of my post and that YOU continue to misinterpret "go ask a gymbro" as "the suggestion for all transmascs" instead of "a response to someone saying 'diy hrt for transmascs is possible'", but that is not MY fault! i don't CARE that you're afraid of transphobes because this isn't ABOUT you! and for the love of god can you cut it out with the "well YOU just must be SOOOO lucky to be so privileged unlike everyone else" bullshit it's insulting

[pinkcasket]

I may be one of like 4 people who prefer the royal opening to vanilla but I still think I'm right