#(that's something directly from the post I'm thinking of)

[wilanco]

Bees produce in excess because they are smart little creatures that, like you and me, prepare for times of scarcity, like a rough winter, or unforeseen poor foraging times. It is kind of silly to think that millions of years of evolution would have produced a species that will 'overproduce' to the point of harm. It is similar with the sheep and wool argument. Sheep do not produce wool in excess naturally. We have bred them to do so and need sheering. You won't see wild sheep buckling under the weight of their wool, because their natural state does not 'overproduce'. Equally with arguments I encounter often like 'oh those poor cows they need to be milked or they'll be in pain'. Cows need to become pregnant and calve to produce milk. You can simply.. Not impregnate them and you won't need to milk them. But people like to make these examples into a 'service' we humans do for the animals, rather than something we do because we want products. I understand what you mean in that we're part of an ecosystem, but we are so far removed now from a normal place in the food chain that this is a rather moot argument. Something needs to change. We're animals with free will, we can choose to reduce harm, even if we've always done it this way. That's the vegan argument anyway.

I am not purposely 'guilting' you, I am relaying the moral arguments that move me and other vegans to choose not to consume honey and other animal products. I replied to this post because the post specifically adresses vegans, and I felt it more or less misunderstood the reasoning for vegans to exclude animal products from their diets. I'd like to point out that I haven't directly told anyone they should or shouldn't do anything, aside from saying you don't strictly need honey or agave. I'm just one woman on the internet, you don't have to listen to me. But if these arguments make you feel guilt, then that has to do with your own feelings, not me, and I'd invite you to look into why you feel like that.

Vegans of tumblr, listen up. Harvesting agave in the quantities required so you dont have to eat honey is killing mexican long-nosed bats. They feed off the nectar and pollinate the plants. They need the agave. You want to help the environment? Go back to honey. Your liver and thyroid will thank you, as well. Agave is 90% fructose, which can cause a host of issues. Bye.

[4sunnyday4]

Remembered post by @sillylittlecharacters about Odile and Isabeau pregame and I'm still thinking about Mirapg so what the heck I'm on a roll, let's ramble about this.

So when Odile reveals her suspicions to Isabeau and he defends Sif Odile says "Alright, bet" and they do make a bet, they both have three days to make a case of why Siffrin is or isn't guilty and debate it out Ace Attorney style.

You then have to choose between Odile or Isabeau, Isabeau will win no matter what but you get to see the story unfold from whichever POV you choose and it's still a fun mini game.

The dungeon sections don't change but in the in between breaks you take when you go to the town to buy potions and stuff you can hang out with Siffrin.

Isabeau's "investigation" takes place at day, air quotes because in reality he just hangs out with Siffrin and slowly realizes he has a crush on them.

Odile meanwhile interrogates Siffrin at night, you can use a variety of strategies to make Siffrin talk more about himself (invite him for some drinks, newspaper articles about the King, straight up intimidation) Siffrin lets out very little information about himself but what you do get is that you're making a case against yourself.

I say Isabeau wins but it's more like a tentative truce after they reach the consensus that Siffrin has no intention of killing Mira at the moment, Odile is frustrated about the lack of information though and decides she will confront Siffrin directly if they do something suspicious, this never happens because the day Odile was going to confront him Siffrin loses his eye saving Bonnie.

Also invoking @loop-lover-central (pretty please?) because an anon asked them about it and reading that fully cemented the idea in my mind.

[toranesu]

⌗ sub bottom. andrew graves x dom top m. reader — silver sable; section A.

cw. established relationship, post-therapy andrew&ashley (yes, i know they're beyond redemption), body worship, foreplay.

; REN: accidentally posted a draft.. now you'll have to deal with a story split into two parts, lol.

He's done it, now. Andrew Graves has finally, finally found the courage to heal. And he's brought his sister along with him, too. It's been a rough year, attempting to heal in a secluded area where no one would leak their information or spread whispers of their deeds.

Andrew Graves and Ashley Graves are beyond redemption — that's what he's sure of. His sister had dragged him with her, and he had dragged her with him. No one is to blame, he tells himself. But deep down, he wishes he could put the blame on someone else so he wouldn't have to stand this soul rotting guilt. His sister doesn't feel it, he's sure.

He glances at you, the man he had met at a bar one and a half years ago. His source of repentance, his source of change, his source of love. "I don't think we should do this," he murmurs, hands clenching and unclenching on the sheets underneath his head.

Andrew doesn't understand why you're so willing to touch him like this. Sure, you've been dating for almost a year — only starting once his psychiatrist gave him the green flag for it, that is. But your relationship was going fine without having to have sex, he thinks.

Why now? He's asked before. "Don't you want to?" Was the question I responded with. It'd be a lie if he said he's never once thought of it. But he can't. He couldn't. Not after.. not after everything.

"Why not?" Your voice breezes in just barely a whisper, voice only loud enough for Andrew himself to hear. A hand reached out to cup his cheek, thumb grazing against the bone lining across his skin to his jaw. Andrew purses his lips, eyes averting to think of something to say.

Anything. It's fine, he tells himself. I don't deserve this, anyway, he repeats in his head. "I had sex with Ashley," he breathes out, voice cracking as he keeps his gaze away from yours.

"In the last one and a half year?" Your response came gentle and nurturing, eyes never once leaving his face. He bites his lip, turning back to you. "No," he denies, almost defensively. As if trying to convince you, or himself, that he would never do that to you.

"I know," you whispered, thumb reaching to rub against his lower lip in an attempt to get him to stop biting himself. He almost teared up from that simple gesture. "It's gross," Andrew said, referring to the sex he had with his sister; referring to incestual sex.

You raised an eyebrow, pursing your lips into a thin smile. "It is," he frowned at your response, legs folding up to his knees in perplexity. "I'm gross," he clarifies, staring directly into your eyes.

"No," your reply came almost immediate, eyebrows furrowing in negation as your palm gripped his jaw a little tighter. He winced, looking away once more. "Hey, no," you frowned, tilting his face to make him look straight at you. "I never said that."

Andrew bit his lip once more — a tendency whenever he seemed to get frustrated, you noticed. "But you think it," he rasps out, hands laying dumbly on the sides of his head. "And even if you don't, it's true," he mutters just slightly above his breath.

You leaned down to place a kiss to his almost swollen lips, only to receive a knock to the forehead because of Andrew abruptly turning his head to the side. "Dude," your reaction could almost be mistaken for a wail if it weren't for your profound nonchalance.

He stayed silent, which led to an escaped huff out of your lips. "You're not gross, 'Drew," you say in assurance, gaze softening the slightest bit to show your sincerity. "You've done gross things, including fucking your sister," you trailed off, earning eye contact avoidance from Andrew once more.

"But that doesn't mean I think you're gross," you grimace, patting his cheek before taking his hand in your own, intertwining your fingers together beside his laid down head. "It doesn't mean I don't see the effort you've put in and the progress you've made throughout this year," you whisper, trying to search for his gaze.

Andrew's lips quivered, hand almost instinctively squeezing your own, returning the lace of your fingers with his. "That goes for your sister, too," you continue. Damn it. A guy who cares about not only him, but the only family he has, too, despite how fucked up they both truly were. He's truly scored — without deserving it the slightest bit.

His eyebrows furrowed once more, every hint of joy seemingly discarded by his own thoughts the moment they shimmer. "Thanks," he manages to grate out in a hoarse voice, hand weakly squeezing your own.

Your gaze softened, leaning once more to place a kiss to his forehead; which he gracefully accepted, this time. "Of course," you mumble against his skin, free hand brushing the hair out of his face.

"So?" Your voice interrupted whatever thought he was about to have, palm running down towards his cheek and jaw as you lifted your head back up once more. "You up for it?" So caring, he wanted to tease. "Or we can just cuddle and do it another time."

Andrew instantly shook his head. Though he refused to admit, sex with you did seem to often cross his mind. "No," he mutters, free arm reaching out to drape around your shoulder. "I want to," he says.

"No pressure?" The hand still clasping his own squeezes his, and he gives an affirming nod. "Okay," you lean down to envelop his lips in a sultry kiss, palm tracing along the arm draping on your shoulder.

You encapsulated his lips in a senseless frenzy, hands a little clumsy as they undressed his dimly built body. He's been trying to exercise a bit more along with you, after all. All these little things remind you of just how deep your love for him goes.

"I love you," your voice comes out in a weary whisper, hands trailing down his body as your head dipped right onto his barely existent cleavage. He doesn't really understand the things you're into; but if touching him at all makes him happy, then he's got no reason not to be.

His now free arm joined the other, draping around your shoulders as you trailed kisses down his wretched chest. The intrusive thought springs him awake, glancing down at his marked up body of scars and whatnot, yet also decorated in the kisses and marks I've dwelled parts of my love into.

Maybe this was fine, he tells himself. Maybe it was fine to let me kiss him; embrace him like this, despite everything, despite all that he is. Andrew gazes down as you trace kisses down his abdomen, reaching lower as your hands work their way smoothly to pull his pants down.

"I love you, too," he covers his face with one arm, only now realizing he's yet to respond to my three words of affection as your lips just barely grazed too close to his cock.

He wants this, he tells himself. Seeing that small smile on your face as you trail more kisses down his thighs, reaching to his legs only furthering the will to serve himself vulnerable before you. He's never taken it from behind before — never even thought to.

Andrew could remember the awkwardness he had felt while preparing himself; cleaning his ass out, fingering himself to stretch himself even just a little. He had wondered if and how someone like you would even go through touching a body as dirty as his — defiled, dirty, and gross.

But now, having you trace loving kisses, licks, and nibbles all over his skin without leaving an inch of his skin as if you worshipped him.. he's rendered speechless.

He let out a guttural moan as soon as he felt your longest finger coated with a cold substance pressing against his already swollen hole from his careless fingering. "Maybe you should let me stretch you out next time," your chuckle of understanding only left him further embarrassed.

"Be gentle," he wanted to rasp out. But was someone like him truly in any position to make demands? He doesn't think so. Therefore, he bites himself silent.

"Relax," your airy whisper came as soft as comfort, two fingers slowly finding home within his squishy, unintruded walls. "I'm not hurting you, am I, baby?" You rustled beside his ear, placing a kiss to the shell.

He shook his head. "No," Andrew let out a sound akin to both a sigh and a moan. His hands scrambled to reach towards your back, fingers digging into your skin ever so loghtly at the sensitivity of the newly found sensation.

Your fingers grazed against his prostate, and he let out the most delirious moan you never thought could exist. His nails dug into your skin, back arching as he buried his face in the crook of your neck. Despite what he says, Andrew is a sucker for physical contact.

( t.b.c. . . . )

[hudsonpatootie]

Bubbling thoughts

My last post about what it would be like to date Jihan and Jibeom made my mind explode with ideas—so many that I'm trying to write something for them. But for now, I'll just share a few loose thoughts I had about what a relationship with them might be like.

Warning: In this post, I'll be referring to both of them (choose which one you want to imagine in these situations). Later, I'll write separately, prioritizing the individual personality of each one. :)

Dating these guys is like being transported into the game Stardew Valley, where you aren't the protagonist but rather the single NPC they chose as their romantic partner. So, sit back, relax, enjoy the peaceful countryside, and watch their attempts to win you over.

As boyfriends, Jihan and Jibeom would visit you almost every day. Even with their duties of taking care of Chungcheong-Do and the family business, they would always make an effort to spend time with you. They would constantly gift you natural and handmade products, which you would use to prepare meals for them in return as a way to express affection. Over time, the boys have learned your tastes: artisanal honey and jams? Yes, please! Pet snakes or companions in the bath? -10 friendship points.

Romantic dates to celebrate milestones in your relationship? YES! They are hopeless romantics, and for them, the perfect date consists of taking you on tours around Chungcheong-Do, showing you the landscapes and animals in the countryside, and taking you to visit the beer and honey productions they manage. Sometimes, they would also take you to other provinces, like Seoul, where you would enjoy urban outings—shopping, going to the movies, and spending quality time together. If you're dating Jibeom, you'll definitely want to buy clothes for him. He’ll insist he doesn’t need new clothes, and you'll insist even more that he does. As the relationship becomes more serious, they would invite you to a more intimate date—a herbal and mineral salt bath, which would later become part of your routine together.

The Kwak brothers are very transparent with you regarding their duties in Chungcheong-Do and even their involvement as members of the second generation. They explain the basics of the dynamics between generations and groups but make sure not to involve you directly in these matters. They want you to continue living a peaceful life and would never forgive themselves if the relationship with them brought you problems.

Don't be fooled—Jihan and Jibeom always try to maintain a tough facade, hiding their feelings behind smiles and confident words. But in reality, both carry deep pain from the loss of Jichang. That pain has turned into fear—they are terrified of losing another person they love. It will take a lot of conversation and understanding to break down those walls until they finally open up to you about their fears, feelings, and insecurities. When that happens, your relationship will only grow stronger, and you'll both be certain that the only thing you want is to spend the rest of your days together.

In short, dating these two is a 10/10. They are incredibly sweet—a little impulsive, as was evident during their debuts? Absolutely. But nothing that a few good conversations can't solve. Please, PTJ, bring these men back! I need more content to write about them with more coherence!

PS: Hi everyone, how are you? This was my first attempt in years at writing something. I think the last time I did this, I was 14 years old and writing BTS and MHA fanfics, but that was quite a few years ago laughs. Please forgive any spelling mistakes—I'll try to improve.

I'm also using a translator since English is not my native language, so sorry if the translation sounds a bit off. Another thing is that I struggle with structuring my text properly. Tumblr is barely used in my country—I think I've only seen about four people from here using this platform—so I'm trying to learn how to use this app better (it took me five minutes just to find where the drafts were) and how its features work to improve the structure of my posts.

I think that’s all. Thanks for reading this far:)

[transfemme-shelterdog]

This is gonna be a vent and I understand if you don't wanna post it but I'm just feeling like I'm going crazy right now. I think my biggest frustration with leftists and the reason I have stopped seeking them out or hanging out with many is that I’ve never met one (irl, that is, I think you are leftist or the Canadian equivalent? and obviously, you don't think "TMES" have "afab privilege") that would say or even just agree that trans men are as oppressed as trans women/trans men don’t hold privilege over trans women/no group of trans people is more oppressed than another or that masculinity =/= privilege. Obviously, a stealth trans guy might wield some power over a gnc non passing transfem, but the reverse is also just as true. IME the most progressive leftists at best will skirt around the issue by saying something like they “try not to compare trans men and women”, which is really usually them admitting they see trans men as less oppressed but don’t want to argue. If you can’t say when directly asked that you think trans men are equally oppressed, that all groups of trans people are equally oppressed, then I don’t actually think you are a trans ally, even if you are trans/enby yourself. You might be good for transfem people, I don’t know, I’m not transfem and can't speak to that, but you aren’t good for transmasculine people, so you’re not trans ally because trans =/= transfem. I’m always having to walk on eggshells for being the ‘wrong’ type of trans person and the ‘wrong’ type of brown person. It's somehow never our turn to sepak, we are always relegated to being 'allies' to the 'real oppressed group'. I just see so many inherited beliefs from ba*ddelism, radical feminism, and white feminism rotting the left out from the inside and there’s such a desire from so many leftists to quantify oppression so that it’s all digestible and linear and sometimes it just isn’t. Sometimes everything and (almost) everyone is getting fucked over and that’s just how the real world works. And it’s so frustrating, because I know that centrists/right wingers aren’t actually safer for me to be around and that their politics are just as bad, but I almost feel safer with them because at least then I’m not having to pretend to have privilege and at least then I know I’m dealing with a snake in the grass. I might actually see it coming instead of getting stabbed in the back. I have found more self-identified centrists who have just been like "yeah, you don't have privilege over trans fems" or "Yeah, you as a brown person still have your own issues, even if you aren't Black/indigenous and you still deserve to be heard" than I have self identified leftists or socialists and it makes me feel crazy

Yeah a lot of so called progressive leftists really don't give a shit about trans men and only focus on trans women. They just assume that trans men have privilege and thus can't have any sort of oppression directed towards them, which is total bullshit.

It seemingly is worse for those that identify as Marxist Leninists for some reason, though I've seen Maoists being transandrophobic as well.

[gayest-pokemon]

Gayest Pokémon Tournament

Hi hello! I know Tumblr is big on polls, and tournaments. I've been here long enough to see everything from the Tumblr sexyman tournament to more highly specific fandom brackets for every niche category under the sun. Now it's my time to join. Presenting the (probably) once in a life time Gayest Pokémon Tournament.

Submission rules / seeding explanation. Or just click here to submit a Pokémon directly.

FAQ:

How does the tournament work, logistics wise?

I'm so glad you asked, nonexistent hypothetical asker. Before the actual tournament opens up I will have a google forms page up for people to submit pokémon. This is purely for seeding reasons, all Pokémon will be included in the tournament. That means that this will be an gigantic undertaking, but hey, why not. Seeding only helps me organize first round opponents, so we don't get something like Sylveon verses Ho-oh in the first round.

Form submissions will be open for an indefinite amount of time. Basically until submissions slow down and I go a solid 24 hours without any new entrees. A notice will be put out after that happens, so people will have a few hours for any last minute submissions. After that, it's closed and the tournament will start and run like any other.

Gayest? What does that even mean? How do I determine that?

Another good question! The answer here is: I have no idea! It's up to you, the voter, to determine what that means for you. That could be pokémon that mean a lot to the queer community (like Sylveon), pokémon that have pride like palettes (like shiny Toucannon), a pokemon that represents something gender wise (like Marill), or just a pokemon that you really like and think should be considered (honorable mention: Shinx, because they're my favorite and would go in this category).

Now, this includes all queer identities. The person running this blog (no identify given, I'm as mysterious as a mimikyu beneath its costume) uses both "queer" and "lgbt+" to refer to the community. If I catch you harassing other people for their gender or nitpicking my (or anyone's) use of "queer" or other labels, you're blocked. Trans rights 🏳️‍⚧️. Neopronouns are cool.

Propaganda?

Always accepted! I'll be putting them into both a general propaganda tag, and more specific ones for each pokémon. If you can't find a tag, it hasn't been made yet, since this is still a work in progress.

Tags used:

(putting these here for convenience, for filtering reasons, or to see all at once.)

Info posts - the minor important stuff that isn't important enough to be put here in the pinned.

Propaganda - (not created yet) here's where toy convince others to vote / submit your pokémon

Gayest Pkmn poll - (not created yet) where the actual polls will go once that tournament starts

Gayest response - answering questions

Talking tag - original general posts.

Gayest reblog - general pride and / or Pokémon reblogs.

Every Pokémon will eventually get their own tag as their polls go up and propaganda is received. These won't be linked here for obvious reasons. If your pokémon of choice has no search results in this blog, it likely hasn't been created yet, rather than Tumblr messing up.

And that's all! This is the part where I tag other blogs to get noticed. @who-do-i-know-this-man @pokemon-poll-party @pokemonunderdogtournament

[egophiliac]

don't think I'm not still obsessing over 7-12

[anghraine]

It's wild to me that I had heard of the prime Kirk/Spock content in various TOS episodes long before I saw them, but had never heard of what IMO is the shippiest moment of all thus far, in an interestingly O_o goddamn I do not want whatever you two have but you do you?? holy shit though what a moment way.

I'm of course referring to the otherwise rather mid episode "Requiem for Methuselah," in which Kirk has an underwritten love affair with a clueless woman whose various secrets have to be discovered before her inevitable death.

At one point in this relationship, her.......uh, guardian??? sort of???????? had Spock play the piano while she and Kirk waltzed, which (in-story) Spock did perfectly while somehow managing to silently exude even more intensity than usual. After the plot (and her life) were over, we end not with the usual cheerful bit of snark on the bridge that ends most episodes, but with a weary Kirk falling asleep with his head on his arms and Spock hovering not for away. McCoy exposits the last bit of detail and then goes on an unprompted and honestly pretty viciously racist speech about how Spock, unlike Kirk, will never suffer from the joys and travails of love because of his inherent lack of feeling as a Vulcan. The speech is longer than usual and just really mean-spirited as McCoy waxes rhapsodic about all the aspects of passionate true love that Spock will not and cannot experience as a Vulcan before he just leaves.

Spock then turns to look at Kirk, and now just bleeding intensity, takes a few slow, deliberate steps towards the sleeping Kirk, lays his hand against Kirk's cheek and neck, and then very obviously mind melds with the sleeping Kirk while murmuring, "Forget."

Is this healthy respectful behavior that honors Kirk's autonomy? No, obviously. Is it god-tier repressed homoerotic passion between two people who should probably just work their issues out and stop inflicting themselves on anyone else? Yes.

[backslashdelta]

I like to think that if you're in a fandom space posting AI art, it's because you just aren't aware of why that might be a problem.

So in case you aren't aware: the generative AI you might be using to create "fanart" is trained on a countless number of artworks created by artists whose permission was not asked. Or maybe it was, technically, intentionally buried in a terms of service document somewhere, or in an update which they could either accept or else delete an entire social media account with years of history. This "art" is only possible because of stolen art. When you post images created by generative AI, you are supporting that.

Also, fandom is about creation and community. Individuals and groups creating art of all sorts, and sharing it with each other. When you post AI art... you haven't really created anything. To me at least, that's kind of detracting from what fandom is about. I want to share and raise up works of art that my community has worked hard to create, not something generative AI spit out from a couple key word inputs.

I can't tell anybody here what to do. If you are posting AI art, I'm sure there are some people who will like it, who will share it, who will be happy to do so. But there will also be people who aren't happy about it. There will be people – and especially artists – who will be frustrated to see other people in their community who support this technology that has stolen directly from them. There will be people who will block you, who will refuse to interact with your posts, and it will make your community smaller.

I understand it's tempting, especially if you aren't an artist yourself. But if you want art that fits a specific prompt, there are other ways to get it that actually support the fandom community: submit your prompt to a fanartist who accepts prompts, or commission someone for a piece of art, or even give it a try yourself and start learning to actually make art!

I don't hate AI as a whole. I think there are a lot of really amazing things we can do with AI, if it's used correctly. But posting AI fanart is not one of them.

[vaguely-concerned]

I feel that during the first coffee date walk through the market, rye has a fraction of a millisecond's kneejerk trauma freakout of '...wait. wait. am I really catching feelings for a rich boy again. with how that went down last time. am I truly that stupid' (once derogatorily referred to quite openly at a party as 'young master anaxas' pet mortalitasi' to which the young master anaxas only grinned and shrugged and STILL you don't break up with his smug controlling ass for good for six more months because you have a desperate bottomless yearning pit where your self respect should go, twice shy lol). and then he actually looks at lucanis standing next to him getting harding spearmint to help with bad dreams and generally being so quietly thoughtful and sweet through the prosaic yet necessary medium of grocery shopping it makes me feel a little unwell to truly contemplate. and rye is like '*the softest fondest eyes anyone has ever turned on anything* ...you know what. I suspect we don't have to worry about that repeating, I think we're probably safe. I am comfortable being this level of stupid. (slowly dawning marital intent even at this stage)'.

(part of the reason rye buys NONE of illario's bullshit at all right from the beginning is that he's basically vaccinated against this exact type of dude after that relationship lol. charming suave guy who in the beginning pays you a lot of lavish attention and takes pains to make you feel special every time you're in a room with him -- but shallowly and mostly, it slowly dawns on you, when there's something he wants from you (and he's often doing it at the expense of someone else, raising you up to put someone else down and you won't believe this... it can turn into a seesaw at a whim. yay). and beneath that there's just a seething pit of resentment and inferiority complexes and bitterness left to fester until he can make it everyone else's problem and that IS going to start to bubble up between the cracks with you too if you stick around for long enough. no thank you been there done that wasted my youth and potential on it and all I got was this lousy shiny set of new emotional intimacy issues haunting me for life! trust me illario I HAVE, as it were, chosen the wrong dellamorte before, which is exactly how I know I didn't this time. go get him lucanis I've got your coffee

hilarious mental image: rye and illario sitting quietly together while everyone else is busy milling about during a cursed dellamorte family dinner (the vibes are so bad. you know the vibes are bad. sitting as still as you can and hoping for calm skies is your best bet without lucanis or teia favourite child privileges to work with) and rye out of the blue gazing thoughtfully into nothing over the edge of his glass with half-lidded eyes to go 'you know. you remind me a lot of my ex. not in a good way' and illario with absolutely no shame and hilariously also something that's the closest he ever gets to real sympathy going 'yeah, I get that a lot'. best talk those two ever had, unironically. their bond leveled up to its final form that day. *soulsborne boss defeated text* MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING REACHED)

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

having a hard time finishing this thought exactly but i feel like arthur just does not. want to react. to things. that happen to him. in general. and it's like a 50/50 of "we literally do not have the time to stop and process the shit that just went down so i'll shove all of my feelings abt it into The Box and then have a poorly timed breakdown when The Box gets too full" and also his belief that he deserves his suffering probably interferes with his ability to fully verbalize "that was fucked up. didn't like that. can we take steps to avoid that happening again."

but it's just like. he gets trapped in the Mystery Flesh Pit™ and it's disgusting and claustrophobic and there's a zombie and then he gets impaled and Dies and then his corpse gets filled with maggots. and then he gets better. and three days later he's like "sorry it's taken me three whole days to recover :/ you're probably sick of me bitching about it :/ hey would it be weird and cringe if i put some fucking armor on so i didn't get fucking stabbed again." and john's like. please god there is nothing else in this life that i want more than for you to take basic steps to protect us from getting stabbed again. wear the fucking armor.

[sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes]

I feel like when Virgil said he used to be scared of Remus he meant he was scared but would try to get a long with Remus. (While keeping distant lol)

Then Remus is madly in love and tries to get close to Vee no matter what lol

Yess

Whenever I think of them I think of that trope of a huge dark insane character that goes all dopey with heart eyes when that one character (who is usually much smaller than them) as much as lightly touches their hand (or, in other words, they are Morticia and Gomez)

I also like to think that in the past Virgil used to like listening to Remus' rambles every once in awhile because sometimes they involved things he likes (spiders, darkness, vampires, etc), and that was enough for Remus to decide that he was Good™

[theokusgallery]

Hi I hope this isn't weird or uncomfortable or anything but I've seen you talk about empathy a bit before and you don't really feel it normally, right? It just stuck out to me because I also am like that and I've never actually met anyone else before who admitted to it and like, IDK, I guess I wanted to say that I like, see you. You can answer this ask privately if you want (or not at all IDC)

Aw, man. Yeah, that's something I'm loud about specifically because "admitting to it" makes some people label you a Bad Person™ despite 1) the concept of bad people being nonsensical in the first place, 2) it being something that's fundamentally innate and that I can't exactly change. It took me over a decade to come to terms with the fact that it didn't make me a monster so I kinda just. want people around me to know it's okay not to have emotional empathy and it doesn't mean they're predestined to kill people or whatnot. Not having empathy has become normal to me (as opposed to. having been a ~Shameful Thing~ I ~Needed to Hide~ before, I mean) so I'm specifically vocal about it to let other people know it's chill lmao

Gonna dump this here for whoever sees this who isn't aware before I get screamed at about kindness:

There are different types of empathy — grossly, there's emotional empathy (I feel what you feel, the ability to mirror someone's emotions automatically → one might cry because they see someone crying even without knowing the context, for instance) and cognitive empathy (being able to tell, based on logical reasoning, what someone feels → This person is crying, therefore I think that they are sad).

While emotional empathy is something that is typically innate according to most research, cognitive empathy comes up later on and is acquired, in big part during early childhood. Cognitive empathy is something you can (and sometimes need to) work on and improve, contrary to emotional empathy in most cases. It's sometimes called "theory of mind" in developmental science as well!

Compassion, on the other hand, is the conscious act of comforting someone, supporting them, or accompanying them in their emotions. Empathy isn't a prerequisite to being compassionate, neither does it make it inherently easier or more likely.

[hecatesbroom]

did I finally manage to write a brand new fic? I sure did!! with many, many thanks to the lovely @eeblouissant for inspiring me with these beautiful drawings of Blanche dipping Dorothy (and the incredibly sweet follow-up with Rose playing the piano, after our chat about this scene!!) I hope I managed to do it justice ;)

Summary

When Dorothy mentions she’s never been dipped before, Blanche and Rose decide to take matters in their own hands.

[torgawl]

instead of just cross eyes and star eyes distinguishing dynasties in khaenri'ah, why do some khaenri'ahns cover one eye specifically? there’s many things that seem interconnected regarding the lore:

crimson moon turning around to look like an eye; irmin the one-eyed king; the unknown god’s cubes containing eyes in their design (same ones present in the cataclysm as well as the crimson moon), her glitching looking like arlecchino’s, and the four pointed star pattern that appeared when she showed up to the twins; forbidden knowledge and nibelung’s influence; fischl's auge der verurteilung aka eye of condemnation (crimson eye) and her skin's description "o holiest of sovereigns, high princess of immernachtreich (kingdom of evernight)!".

kaeya's note about the alberich saying "i saved this one memento from the fire 'father' made while he wasn’t paying attention. this was in violation of our principles. our clan's affairs should never be recorded" and "though we could not restore khaenri'ah to life, we of the alberich clan should lead lives as those who blaze like fire, rather than those who wallow in the embers [small piece of burning or glowing coal or wood in a dying fire]", father being in quotation marks and references to fire and ashes; the orphanage in khaenri'ah that wanted to house children from destroyed worlds and non-threats that leaked into the kingdom, in hopes of finding beings from beyond the sky who could transcend the gods; perinheri's first memory being transversing something like a chimney, filled with ash and being asked if he wasn't dead just for him to see the eye (crimson moon) and being told he was reborn; dust and the blood of of dragons (or dragon-like beings like durin and elynas) being connected to rhinedottir and the art of khemia; fire as rebirth and life but also, the balemoon blood specifically being connected to loss of memories and loss of memory being equivalent to death (not physical);  despite the orphanage never being able to find that transcendal person, it had many unusual individuals who became knights of the kingdom.

irmin as the first divine halberd (that once pierced the axis mundi [cosmic/world axis, world pillar, center of the world, world tree, etc.] and connected the nine worlds), the prinzessin der verurteilungas (fischl) as the last one; fischl and kaeya comparing themselves to one another and their parallels to irmin and odin; der ring des nibelungen, in which the dwarf (or nibelung) alberich creates a ring capable of controlling the world, using gold he stole from the rhinemaidens (or rheintöchter "rhine-daughters"). the conflict that arises over the ownership of this ring eventually leads to the destruction of the gods and their home, valhalla.

irminsul (irmin + sul) meaning great pillar and being a reference to the yggdrasil, the tree that supports the universe; the description of the item silver twig – collected in the center of the world - talking about a sage that hanged himself upside down in the irminsul tree to gain knowledge of the runes and the cosmos, then going into a secret kingdom down its roots [also a reference to hanged man in tarot that symbolizes wisdom, divination, sacrifice, prophecy, etc.]; odin who hung himself upside down from the sacred world tree, yggdrasil, for nine days and nights sacrificing his eye and throwing himself on his spear (gungir) as a ritual sacrifice in order to obtain secret wisdom; memories, fire and crimson moon hand in hand with the irminsul, king irmin and the concept of fate; the fake sky, the stars and being able to see fate but also fate being a means of the heavenly principles to control the world (neuvillette calling it puppet strings); khaenri'ah, a supposed godless nation but the crimson moon dynasty revering the moon (and hilichurls worshiping istaroth); the crimson moon having an eye on humanity and always being present associated with punishment and destruction (fall of gurabad, remuria and the catclysm).

crimson moon's semblance (arlecchino’s weapon) implying the crimson moon sought vengeance (“few survived the utter destruction of their kind, hiding in the shadows where the sun did not shine, longing for the crimson moon to decree their desire for vengeance be repaid”); the design of the weapon and arlecchino’s boss attacks resembling the double helix present in deathly statuette material dropped by abyss heralds, abyss lectors and shadowy husks, which has a single red eye. it apparently whispers "see, my child. all that lies under the throne of heaven shall be destroyed by upheaval. the eternal peace of the pitch-dark void shall embrace us all.” as you gaze at it.

the abyss order being founded by chlothar alberich and pierro being the first harbinger; the "sinner" – the crystal in chains from the chasm, protected by an abyss herald - not being a god but still worshipped by the abyss order. the voice stating to chlothar and the traveler’s twin that he "[knows their] fate well" and urged them to become a "transcendent one" saying he would "shed a tear at the end of time... as i gaze back upon your life". he also imbued chlothar with the power of the abyss, which alleviated his worsening conditions. the “sinner” refered to chlothar as “dear creature”; dainsleif, pierro and kaeya being examples of khaenriahns who hide their right eye; dainsleif being called “bough keeper”, bough is a branch of a tree, but also his constellation being a snake ring like ouroboros – representing the eternal renewal cycle of life, death and rebirth; the loom of fate being an operation of the abyss order first encountered during "a herald without adherents" quest.

“the threads of your fate lie in my hands” a quote by fischl connecting to the weaves of fate; fischl stating that if she does not obtain the divine halberd “...this world and everything in it is going to burn in hellfire” (legend of the shattered halberd vol. ii). some other excerpts of the book also include: “but unbeknownst to him, this was the greatest cursed sword of all, that had once burned the entire world to cinders: laevatain [in norse mythology, a weapon crafted by loki and the only capable of defeating the cockerel viðofnir, inhabiting the top of yggdrasil], the sword had extinguished after the world was burned, but... it burned bright once more. ‘the whole world... destroyed again...’ weiyang [fischl] fell unconscious as she spoke” (vol. iv), and, "the world is beyond repair. it shall be born anew from the ashes of the last” (vol. vi); dainsleif saying “none will escape the flames. see for yourself” but also neuvillette’s character story including “the puppet strings glossed as "divine rules" would one day be burned away by the fires of judgment” when talking about constellations; burning away the old world, project stuzha by the fatui and the image of dottore burning the irminsul; nahida saying fontaine's prophecy was engraved in the irminsul, implying the tree also contains the history of the future; sibylla, a prophetess who guarded the irminsul in an ancient city located in what later became the high seas (referred to as abyssal depths). she sacrificed her life for the sake of creating phobos, remus' grand symphony, but her lack of a will ultimately caused the project to fail, as her vague desire to "grant happiness to all in the world who are called humans" caused phobos to attempt to satisfy everyone's desires — including destructive and selfish ones — and set remuria towards the course of its self-destruction (possibly tying concepts of will and fate together); thinking of dottore's plan, it would make sense to burn the tree that holds memories with a fire able to erase them (arlecchino's balemoon powers) so that the world can be born anew breaking away from the shackles of fate.

there’s also the improvisation kaeya does during the play in his hangouts. "do you believe in fate? if fate decreed your life was to end in tragedy, what would you do?". he then throws a prop and we interact, choosing if we would face our fate bravely or challenge it and rise above it. kaeya then goes on saying "then so must it be! yes, so must it be! i shall discard this intaglio and rid myself of the shackles of fate", "fate means to send the machinations of war to every corner of the land to fan the flames of conflict till they ungulf the entire world… fate would see my sword tainted with the blood of innocents, that the bright banner of my homeland might fly in every nation known to mankind. but i shall not bow to the will of fate i am no pawn in heaven’s plan. i, qubad, will spend the rest of my days in a foreign land, 'till i breathe my last in a place far from home" and finishes the play with "but i must walk this path, or freedom dies by my hand. goodbye, my tribe and kin. farewell, sweet land of my birth". the prop we get from kaeya, the intaglio, symbolizes the noble origins of prince qubad in the play and the blood-red jewel (blood, red... funny, uh?) is said to be a crystallization of the question kaeya asked us about destiny. furthermore, an intaglio can be a type of engraved gem or metal signet ring.

[uncanny-tranny]

On the "darker" side of being comforted by one's immortality (not in the physical, but metaphorical), I've always been comforted by bone needles.

The idea that even after death, you've still been remembered by how you are used. No, bone needles probably weren't used with human bones, but it's a reminder that you aren't just going to... disappear. I'm comforted in the knowledge that I don't end in a "me" but in a "we," in nature. Everything about me is reused material so much more ancient than I am, and knowing that, I feel so much closer to the world.