#I know not everyone thinks Wikipedia is reliable

[forsoobado137]

THE IN-UNIVERSE POSTS GIVE ME LIFE AHHHH

Definitely didn't break out into endless fits of laughter when reading them, nope, definitely didn't.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on countries/NPs in the Nations Revealed AU finding out they have their own Wikipedia pages, etc, like in a scenario where they've never known it existed in the first place and they hav just found out and maybe some get together to laugh at the inaccuracy and misinformation (the funny ones) within the articles?

(Not sure if anyone's asked this before, but curiosity killed the cat, hehe)

I feel like some would be kind of shocked like "holy shit I'm famous". Most already know about their fame so they wouldn't be too shocked.

Wikipedia is actually one of the more reliable sources of information about nation people. Nowadays, most articles are heavily researched and regularly updated to accuracy. But in Wikipedia's infancy, things were NOT as well regulated. I imagine there were even some nations becoming editors solely to embellish their articles/trash other articles.

Did you hear about that controversy where the Scots Wikipedia was written by a random American kid using a shitty translator? I imagine something like that has happened where articles about smaller nations were written by people who weren't from there and didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

Idk if every article about an NP is so consistently egregious that they all have a little group call and laugh at them. I feel like those are reserved for compilations of article vandalism, or maybe they laugh at articles from sites like Conservapedia.

Also I'm glad you like my in-universe posts! :D

[timeslipcamp]

honestly looking up the demons in the ars goetia was the worst because as i was reading through it and looking at some of the connections i was like DAMN this is really cool. aw man, now ive gotta do a whole post on subarus demon smh

spoilers through ep 15

back at it again with the crack theories!! it's what i do best, what can i say.

initially, when i was going through the demons in the ars goetia, i was like "huh, dantalion sounds a lot like dandelion. i wonder if that's going to have to do with us." and then i got further in my list and saw it was subaru's demon and there went that theory. and THEN i read more about dantalion and holy shit dude

anyways this is just a post going a lil more in depth on subaru's stigma, demon, and where i think he fits in the story

so first off, the ars goetia is fucking bonkers. in my professional opinion (i'm an opinionated nerd and a former humanities major), all grimoires that were written around the 13-15 centuries (and were widely publicized) are so goofy. the like, "modern" witchcraft thing is so funny to me because these experts were just making things up and making up their rules and all wildly contradicting each other in every book. i love the drama

but that's not what you're reading this for so i'll get off my soapbox

several of these demons are listed in a bunch of grimoires, but the tkdb wiki (however reliable) lists the ars goetia, so we'll go with that description

shoutout to wikipedia for having one of the only compilations of info that didn't have pretentious drivel to get through (i'm not being a hypocrite shh). tumblr mobile stop deleting my drafts challenge

as far as i can gather, the rankings in the ars goetia are meaningless lol. each demon has their title and their legions and satan rules over all. each demon is also listed as the things they were meant to teach, because the purpose of having these demons in a list was for summoning purposes. you would summon a demon, wear its seal so you could control it, and ask it questions based on what it had dominion over.

the demon's other abilities were what i was really interested in, especially in relation to subaru. the first one listed is the ability to declare counsel on anyone; basically he can read minds. he knows anyone's secret thoughts and can also apoarently change them to his will.

this one applies directly to subaru's stigma. his stigma is the ability to read residual thoughts from people and objects. there is zero doubt in my mind that if we were to enhance his stigma, he'd be able to read active thoughts. or more! luca summoned a whole ass creature with his and all he can do is guard or whatever. who knows what he could do? change thoughts maybe?

manipulate thoughts to the point of someone being intermittently amnesiac? side eyeing my incomplete taiga theory post

the next ability listed isn't as relevant, "cause love and show similtude", but the NEXT part: "show the same by means of a vision." could subaru, in theory and while using us, project the memories he's seeing so that everyone can see them as well?? i think so!!

the last part is also just so subaru, "many faces," meaning he can appear as anyone, man or woman. ngl, i thought subaru was a lesbian the first time i saw him and got so excited, but this is definitely referring to his ability to act. we saw a bit of it in episode 15 where he auditions for the haunted house and then acts like SUCH a freak in that room. love him.

there's also a part about the demon always being depicted holding the book but idk what that means yet, will revisit later

subaru's abilities are so fascinating and honestly he has so much potential to do some crazy shit with us boosting his stigma. i do think he fits aomewhere into my theory about what's going on with taiga's memory but again, i don't have a solid theory yet just because of how little information we have.

the main theory thatni have about subaru is that i think he did have something to do with taiga's memory issues, and i do think he's the type of person that could be blackmailed into helping the faculty and work against the ghouls. his stigma would allow him to get an insane amount of information on the other ghouls simply by touching things discarded by them. the galaxy express area is full of lost items, it'd be a field day for him. who knows how much he's found out about the campus just by grabbing things in there?

maybe he doesn't leave his room anymore because he found out too much last year. maybe he doesn't want darkwick to use him any more than they already have. who knows?

what we do know is that subaru is a squishy little freak and i'm so fascinated by him and his story. can't wait for the next sinostra chapter to come out and (hopefully) get more info on taiga.

asks and dms always open!

[novastar-creations]

Raphadoodle! Mikey Leo Donnie

AU Mastapost

Design notes below the cut!

First of all, I STRUGGLED. Men are not my strong suit, beefy men especially. Like all the previous ones, the poses are references (and one of the fits teehee)

First of all, | STRUGGLED. Men are not my strong suit, beefy men especially. Like all the previous ones, the poses are references (and one of the fits teehee)

My man's defining (turtle form) features include: yellow-y eyes, snaggletooth. That gives me nothing to work with, which means I can make stuff up. Yippee! I gave him a similar nose to Leo be those two have CLEAR parallels and if it's not expressed in their design, l've failed as a creator (jk).

He has a scar where his mask rip is (and probably would have some over his eye post Krang) - I was debating giving him a patch or Band-Aid or smthn but decided against it. Raph chasm is present for presumable obvious reasons? He has yellow eyeliner and spiky star eyelashes (?) because that's something that alligator snapping turtles actually have! Firstly, the FACE. My man’s defining (turtle form) features include: yellow-y eyes, snaggletooth. That gives me nothing to work with, which means I can make stuff up. Yippee! I gave him a similar nose to Leo bc those two have CLEAR parallels and if it’s not expressed in their design, I’ve failed as a creator (jk). He has a scar where his mask rip is (and probably would have some over his eye post Krang) - I was debating giving him a patch or Band-Aid or smthn but decided against it. Raph chasm is prominent for presumable obvious reasons? He has yellow eyeliner and spiky star eyelashes (?) because that’s something that alligator snapping turtles actually have!

Wikipedia ⬆️⬆️ (definitely a reliable source Imao)

Gave him a durag because I was too tired for hair and it looks like his bandana. Sue me ig. Also, I HATTTEEEEEE rendering silkier fabrics, I shoulda just left it flat colours (or drawn hair instead of being lazy lol). I also see him wearing a durag in most of the human designs, and I think that imprinted on my brain lol. Don’t fix what ain’t broke ig

The durag usually is tied up in a big ol’ bow because he’s a sap (and everyone knows). Sometimes it’s not tho bc practicality (also I forgot but shushshhhh)

I gave him ripped sleeves and a hooded jumper to mimic the bulkiness and jaggedness of his shell, but I tucked it in because ultimately, he is square. Rounded square, but square.

He’s probably got the most yellow undertones of all his brothers, mostly because if I gave him a red undertone it’d just be so much, and I needed to break up the colour pallet somehow.

His shoes say boss and hoss on them respectively, because that's the exact kinda dumb funny l am tbh. Also, I really wanted to do just... massive bulky shoes but I can't draw shoes AUGGHHHHJHGHVDGH. I just gave him whatever the RotTMNT equivalent of converse is (foot shack probs made something).

He still has his wraps (mostly because his arms look weirdly blank without them). ALSO a binder bc transmasc Raph makes me happy (ik a lot of people headcanon him as transfem but this is my design. I can do what I want.)

I gave him a little bandage under his binder tbh he has a bandage on his shell lol

His jeans are super ripped bc he keeps doing stupid stuff (like falling off of waterfalls or martyring himself to save Leo of all people) and it damages them.

I modified the jacket he has in clothes don’t make the turtle to be spikier bc, once again, I wanted to mimic the bulkiness and jaggedness of his shell.

Ghost bear merch because even tho GB is kinda a jerk, Raphadoodle still loves him! It's like how Mikey still kinda admires Swaggart. Speaking of Mikey, the bracelets were made by Mikey - one for sunset duo, one for the Mad Dogs.

I need to stop drawing the ones with the shiny noses from the side, it looks too goofy.

Cyaaaaaaa <3

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

When looking up Katara on Wikipedia, THIS comes up under her personality:

Katara desires to have someone to lean on as Sokka, Aang and Toph are far less responsible than her and she is burdened with the task of taking care of them. She quickly develops romantic feelings for Jet as he is older, wise, brave, determined, and became someone she could rely on for support. For the majority of the series, Katara mothers Aang, and despite her eventual limerence for him, views him as a younger brother rather than a love interest.

She is aware early on that Aang is infatuated with her, but chooses to ignore it and act oblivious. Katara is conflicted when Aang questions her if she views him as a brother and wants to begin a romantic relationship with her. Bryan Konietzko has described the relationship between Katara and Aang as, "that dynamic of being the young kid having a crush on the older girl, and she loves you but like a babysitter, you know, like a little brother or something".

ARE THE ZUTARA STANS TAKING OVER!?

Pal... it's wikipedia. Not only is it ridiculously easy to just edit it to say whatever you want it to (even stuff that go against the sites own rules), the people behind it literally have said, multiple times, that they just repeat the general popular consensus.

Considering Zutara's numbers, and that Bryke's original intention was indeed for Kataang to START off one-sided and grow into a mutual romance, it makes sense that her page acts like she is "conflicted" on how she views Aang - even though if you watch the actual scene, when Aang asks if she only thinks of him as a brother, she tells him "I didn't say that, an actor said that" aka "NO", and she actively feels bad or even jealous whenever he doesn't pay attention her.

As for the nonsense of her liking OLDER guys, or thinking everyone (except older guys, aka Jet and Zuko) are unreliable and immature, again, bigger numbers are all that matter in wikipedias, or wikis in general. You cannot take that shit seriously.

Wikis can be used to find out how many episodes/seasons a show has, if it was a success or panned, who were the producers, writers, directors, actors, etc. THAT is reliable information... usually (there's a reason teachers/professors often go "If you use wikipedia as a source for this homework/project/research, fuck you, instant bad grade")

But when it comes to actual analysis? It's no different than seeing a rando's take on tumblr, twitter or reddit. It can be accurate, it can be bullshit. YOU need to use YOUR critical skills - and that includes realizing that, sometimes, people will genuinely go "You think someone on the internet would lie? Just stand there, log in and lie?" with zero self-awareness and that there's nothing you can do about it except take a deep breath and respond with a very loud...

DUH, OF FUCKING COURSE

Don't fall for the nonsense of "appeal to authority" zutarians constantly try to pull by trying to get writers, actors, wikis, TV channels, streaming sites, internet forums and fanfic sites to validate even a fraction of their headcanons/interpretations. It doesn't matter who's talking, if their words contradict the scenes actually playing out on the screen, then their words are wrong. Simple.

Bryke says Ozai is evil and abusive, Aang is a good guy that will save the world, and Zuko is a flawed person that has good in him. I agree. They also say Azula is nothing but crazy and evil. I disagree.

Ehasz says it makes perfect sense for Zuko to become Azula's Iroh figure. I agree. He also says she'd be super over-apologetic and nice to everyone post redemption. I disagree.

Wikipedia says Avatar has three seasons, with 61 episodes. I counted and concluded that's true. But their take on Katara contradicts what I saw on screen, so I ignore it.

You can do the same.

[hungriesttable]

if the Sinners got a dog

(below the cut because I actually have a decent amount of thoughts on this)

Outis: one of the only (and possibly THE only) sinners committed to disciplining the dog. She’s a bit perturbed that the dog won’t reliably sit/stay on command because it tends to jump at random intervals instead (Don Quixote’s influence).

Has some belief that if she speaks in a voice that’s authoritative enough, the dog will understand what she’s saying. Is displeased when that doesn’t happen. “Why are you trying to sit on me? No.” “It’s because the dog likes you” “If she likes me she will sit politely on the ground as she is supposed to”

Rodya: She was the one who named the dog, and probably rescued it off of the street, insisting that they should keep the dog at least for a little while. Feeds the dog a bit of whatever the Sinners are having. “That’s not good for dogs!” “A little won’t do her any harm~”

Sinclair: He wasn’t sure what to make of the dog at first (it’s probably not vaccinated, and he only became sure it didn’t have rabies after a couple of days), but he’s pretty fond of it. Whenever he’s in need of company, the dog appears without him needing to say anything. It’s warm, soft, and close, and he definitely thinks of it as a family member. That being said he personally has a steep learning curve of “how to take care of a dog” (if he had one in his previous years then there was probably a butler to take care of it)

Heathcliff: I recently read Wuthering Heights. This gives me reason to suspect that Heathcliff would not be a big fan of the dog, at least at first. He’s fine with it from a distance, but protests to having to touch it (and to having it touch him). I’d imagine that it gets on his good side eventually, though, and he’d probably be one of those people who wants the dog to love him the most out of everyone.

Ryōshū: They weren’t really sure how she would react to the dog at first. She’s currently trying to teach it how to sic. Given the opportunity, she’ll examine the dog’s body. Her efforts of questionable motivation led to the discovery that the dog is missing a tooth.

Gregor: After 5.5, I think it’s safe to say that he’s the “dad with the dog he didn’t want”. He notices that the dog is repulsed by the smell of cigarettes and doesn’t smoke as actively when he’s around it.

Don Quixote: She wants the dog to be her sidekick. She’s taught the dog how to hug (ie how to jump and put its paws on her chest/shoulder), and is hoping to teach the dog how to do some advanced stunts. “Move forth, my companion, and fetch mine lance!” (Dog does nothing)

Yi Sang: The dog is his buddy. He’s a bit concerned about the idea that the dog could be involved in Limbus Company’s business, but has no problem with the idea of teaching the dog some more simple stuff (eg how to track scents and find lost people/things).

Faust: If there’s a City equivalent to a Wikipedia page on dogs, she probably read it. Several times. She wouldn’t say it, but the dog’s capriciousness often confounds her. In lieu of a microchip, she made a tracking collar for the dog.

Meursault: He and the dog share a certain special bond due to his willingness to walk, clean up after, and generally take care of the dog when others don’t feel like it. He’s not necessarily a fan of the whole “spontaneous tackling” thing, but he’s big enough to avoid being pushed over and has few other complaints about the dog. With the lack of interest in training the dog on the bus, he doesn’t see the use of disclosing what he knows about training dogs.

Ishmael: She likes the dog. Walking the dog often brings her mixed feelings, since it reminds her of the other experiences she’s had with being on the end of a guiding rope. She’s figured out that she can derail Heathcliff’s train of thought by invoking the dog, either physically or in name, and she’s greatly enjoying this ability.

Vergilius: He was dubious about the whole “dog on the bus” thing. Since Charon seems to enjoy the dog’s presence, however, he sees no point in objecting to it. He doesn’t dislike dogs, but the fact that anything bad happening to the dog could have catastrophic consequences means he’s always a little on edge around it. If the Sinners weren’t planning on doing their best to take care of it before, they certainly are after receiving some Red Gaze-brand reminders to be responsible pet owners.

Dante: Rewinding dog scratches is a small burden, but please, can SOMEONE cut the dog’s nails? They like the dog, but their clock head doesn’t seem to win them any canine popularity points. They’re both disappointed and relieved that the dog doesn’t count as a thirteenth Sinner.

[hana-bobo-finch]

FINAL PDBC POST OF 2024 WOOOOOO!! Yea so I loved a random background wasp I drew for a bug fables wip so much that I changed some stuff around and plopped her in pdbc as a bug person. meet my darling wasp child Gin

the culmination of my sudden wasp obsession and my undying PDBC obsession. This is just a rough sketch, ya gotta understand that she has only been in existence for literally one day lmao thusly there is hardly anything to her but HERE YA GO

HER NAME IS GINEVA!! I actually came up with it on the spot (more specifically her nickname, Gin) but it ended up fitting pretty well so let me ramble about that real quick:

It’s pronounced like Geneva. Like the Geneva Convention. Which she DEFINITELY violates on a daily basis but we’ll get to that. Her name is one R away from being the name Ginevra. Side tangent!! there is no R in the standard alphabet used on Fincg island, there’s a unique symbol that makes the R sound but don’t ask me about any of that special alphabet lore because that little tidbit is less developed than Gin herself. Point is, her name could very well be Ginevra, which is the name of King Arthur’s wife in some versions of the legends (according to Wikipedia at least!!! Yeah I know very reliable source but there’s no direct link to the source so I’m kinda just trusting Wikipedia on this lmao). That matters because if you don’t remember, pumpkin daddy is TERRIFIED of King Arthur. To an unhealthy degree. So I dunno I just thought it was a neat coincidence, not the most interesting thing in the world but I love adding small details in names like that so the fact that the name I chose on a whim is related to an already established piece of lore makes my brain happy. But MOVING ON her nickname, Gin, is also a reference to the fact that wasps are extremely sensitive to alcohol and can get drunk off fermented fruit which is the cutest thing in the world to me (I know drunk wasps realistically are just angry but I’m just imagining a lil wasp calling an uber for her and her lil wasp friends and awwwwww). So yeah she likes alcohol. a lot. she might have a bit of a problem but it’s FIIIIINE anyway I’ve yapped WAY too much about her name moving on—

She’s a queen Yellowjacket!! ALAS there are no other fully evolved wasp-people, so she is the queen of nothing. heartbreaking. She will still be a queen in all of our hearts. Though she miiiight be trying to speed up the evolution process a lil by messing around with the naturally occurring elements that are believed to have sped up the bugs’ evolutions but cough cough painfully underdeveloped lore cough coughI SERIOUSLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT THAT I CAN’T JUST HAVE THE EXPLANATION BE (IT JUST BE LIKE THAT SOMETIMES NOOOOO.

Being a queen she’s a bit taller and bulkier than the other bug people—most average around 3 and a half feet but she’s around four feet—though that was hard to portray in her design because…I don’t know how to draw buff wasps. but she is. she’s a buff wasp. She’s bulky compared to the other bug people I guess, they could probably be blown away by a stiff wind

She wears armor on her upper body as you can see, as bug people are quite fragile and are prone to injuries due to their rather rushed evolutions. And also it’s because she started off as a wasp soldier who had armor and I wanted to keep that but shhhhh be quiet I’m talking about my flawed bug biology lore. Despite a lot of people being scared of them, the bug people aren’t often outright attacked, but they do get injured a lot due to the standard societal standards of Fincg island. Aka people get punched. A lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but fighting is a pretty big cultural tradition there, and it’s the norm to slap people over minor inconveniences. No hard feelings, it’s just the way it is (though it’s agreed upon that hurting relatives, especially your children is unacceptable, but for everyone else? fair game, go punch that old woman). But it results in the bug people getting hurt a lot, and healthcare for the bug people is understandably underdeveloped, so Gin wears armor as to not. Yknow. die. Probably a smart move. I tried to give part of her armor a sort of plated look, to give her the look of having abs without her actually having them because shredded wasps would look strange, but eh. Whether or not I succeeded is up in the air

the obvious question is why is she juggling bombs. The answer is because she wants to. Despite being over-dramatically fragile she has no qualms with attacking people just for goofs. Which I know I just said was the cultural norm but she does it with bio weapons so maybe take her little bombs away. Yes she’ll throw biological weapons at you but she’ll put on a little show before she does it! It’s like those Turkish ice cream vendors that play around with your ice cream before they give it to you if anyone has any idea what the hell I’m talking about. She could use her knowledge for good (helping speed up evolution for the other bugs) or she could use it for bio warfare. She chooses both, what a queen 🥰🥰 literally 🥰please someone get her a hive to rule over so she doesn’t spend her time throwing bombs at people. Also worth mentioning—although she’s a juggler, she is NOT a clown. Do not even imply she is. I won’t get into the whole lore here but clowns were exiled from the island, a corny joke about juggling being allegedly one of the leading causes, so any clownish behavior has to be done carefully as to not get exiled with the rest of the clowns.

Anyway that’s all I have for her at the moment. Will she ever get more development, probably not, chances are she’ll be a barely relevant character if ever relevant at all. Do I love her anyway? Absolutely

[myemuisemo]

Suddenly we're three Letters from Watson into The Valley of Fear. I'm fairly sure I didn't read it during my late-childhood discovery of Sherlock Holmes, so my tabula is more than usually rasa.

In chapter 1, Watson refers to the date as being in the late 1880s. Since the serial started publication in September 1914, and was presumably written not too long before that, this would be like you or I writing a novel set circa 1999. Some of the readers who eagerly awaited their updates, back in the early weeks of World War I, would not have had adult memories of 1889-ish.

The events of chapter 1 appear to hang on Whitaker's Alamanack, which it turns out was in continuous publication until... wait for it... 2021. Here's the site with some information on the final edition. Whitaker's was a compendium of useful facts, updated annually. For Americans like me, the near equivalent would be the World Almanac, which may still be published. Both Whitaker's and the World Almanac started up in 1868, so apparently that year was a cultural moment of feeling that a person needed some handy way to understand an increasingly connected world.

The idea that "everyone" owns the same book, in the same edition, feels absolutely wild now, in 2024. This was true in my childhood for the World Almanac, though, and probably for a couple other books.

For Holmes' era, "Bradshaw" was, of course, the big railway guide. What ended its importance was not the internet, but railroad consolidation, with its influence waning as early as the mid-1920s.

As we get into chapter two, I am quite liking Inspector MacDonald, who is in on the stereotype of the practical, energetic Scotsman.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze was a real French painter in the 18th century, working in a soft, but very nearly photorealistic style (catalog). Per Wikipedia, La jeune fille a l'agneau also exists and sold in 1865 for more than a million pounds. I'm not surprised that Holmes is most interested in one of the "genre" paintings (scenes of everyday life) rather than the portraits of the famous, but it seems like an odd like insight that Professor Moriarty is, too.

I'm having a heck of a time identifying an online pic that is actually, definitely La jeune fille a l'agneau, rather than one of the many copies, reproductions, and pastiches. This raises a question that Holmes and MacDonald do not: could Moriarty's painting be a copy or reproduction? Greuze had multiple legit pupils who at some point copied his style: not only was copying a master's works a standard part of art education, but it would have been a normal practice for pupils to have painted portions of Greuze's works. Heck, if Moriarty is a master criminal, surely he knows a good art forger or two. I do not entirely buy that Holmes could distinguish a forged version from the original -- that's such a specific skillset. I do think Holmes would prefer his art to be originals, and he believes the same of Moriarty.

Master criminal Jonathan Wild is also a real person who was the real head of a crime ring, back in the last days of the reign of Queen Anne. Wild was also a professional thief-taker, recruited by London's Under Marshall (essentially chief policeman), Charles Hitchens. Hitchens was wildly corrupt, and his pals were known as the "Mathematicians"... at which point, honestly, is Moriarty a projection of Holmes' psyche? (I know that's the premise of The Seven Percent Solution, a movie I adore for its train chase. I just... never quite appreciated the fit before.)

Birlstone is the beneficiary (or victim, depending) of the phenomenon that reliable and extensive railroad travel made it possible to live in a quaint rural exurb while still conveniently doing business in London as needed. I feel like Birlstone wants very badly to be East Grinstead, which is about 15 miles from Tunbridge Wells, at the edge of the forest, and possessed of convenient manor houses.

As an aside, East Grinstead is known for the East Grinstead Martyrs, who were burned at stake for heresy in 1556, when (Catholic) Queen Mary I was slaughtering Protestants. I've been dabbling at 16th- and 17th century history a bit lately, mostly to appreciate how much Reign (which I adore for its batshit OTT drama) deliberately got wrong about actual history. I was surprised that although it was Henry VIII who split with Catholicism, it was not until Elizabeth I that English Protestantism was codified with distinct rituals and the Book of Common Prayer. Just not a thing I'd thought about!

We have a manor house with working drawbridge! Also, a suspicious couple, an even more suspicious brand on the mysterious (and dead) American husband, a suspicious friend, a butler, a note in code, and a missing wedding ring.

I started this one not sure how into it I'd be, since I'm not a great fan of the entire idea of Moriarty, but now I'm on tenterhooks to see what we find out about the dead American's past.

[jasper-the-menace]

Jasper's Barely-Hinged Discord Scorpion Rant

Alright, context, I started this rant because I was mad about how the tlincallis (of Dungeons and Dragons second and fifth edition) were designed and handled. I put my foot down at the point where they were reported to have eggs. No, I refuse to accept this.

PLEASE NOTE! While I will not be showing any actual images of real-life scorpions, there will be drawings of them and drawings of fantasy and sci-fi characters inspired by scorpions. Some of them are even weirder-looking than actual scorpions. Fellow arachnophobes, continue at your own risk.

We are also going to be talking about scorpion sex in the context of how they mate and launch babies out. This is my second Tumblr post on the subject and I'm afraid that this might become a repeating pattern. Everyone on Tumblr thinks I'm the scorpion person now.

With that said, have this barely-edited compilation of my feral Discord messages on the subject.

You can tell someone who doesn’t know a lot about scorpions wrote the lore for the tlincallis because there’s a heavy emphasis on egg-laying for their reproduction. Meanwhile, scorpions are one of the only arachnids that give live birth.

I’m not expecting WOTC writers to watch videos of scorpions molting or launching baby missiles over and over again, but I am expecting them to at least skim the Wikipedia article, ya know? I understand that I’m Scorpion Research Georg, but still.

Scorpions fuck weird. Both “sexes” have the same thing - an orfice known as the genital operculum (plural: genital opercula). In order to reproduce, the male will drop a sperm packet on the ground and “dance” with the female to lead her over it. If she’s game, she’ll squat and just kind of vacuum it up into her genital operculum. This is followed by what is called a “mating plug” to keep the sperm inside. The two scorpions will then split away from each other, because scorpions don’t believe in cuddles and aftercare.

Then we get to the actual birth. Or as I like to call it, the Fedex packages.

A scorpion will give birth to between 3 and 100 young, depending on the species - though notably, the size of the scorpion does not impact the number of babies they can have.

The babies are folded up very nicely inside of the mother, and when she gives birth to them, they launch out like little missiles into her waiting pedipalps and front legs, unfold, and then climb onto or are placed onto her back while their next sibling is launched. A mother scorpion is actually a super good parent, and the entire brood will attach to her with little suckers on their tarsi, because they can’t eat or sting yet.

Depending on the species, it will take between 5 and 25 days for them to undergo their first molt - in unison as a brood, taking between 6 and 8 hours - and reach the juvenile stage. Juveniles resemble small versions of the adults and can eat and sting, though they’re still soft and unpigmented. They’ll leave the mother’s back to explore in safety, but then scurry back to her if there’s danger around. Once their carapace hardens and gains color, they can start hunting on their own and will often leave their mother.

A scorpion will undergo an average of 6 molts to reach full adulthood, which, depending on the species, can take between 6 months and nearly 7 years. The average lifespan depends on the species, with some living up to 25 years.

Re: the biological terms I used, here’s a picture and explanation from the Wikipedia article:

1 = Cephalothorax or Prosoma; 2 = Preabdomen or Mesosoma; 3 = Tail or Metasoma; 4 = Claws or Pedipalps; 5 = Legs; 6 = Mouth parts or Chelicerae; 7 = Pincers or Chelae; 8 = Moveable claw or Tarsus; 9 = Fixed claw or Manus; 10 = Stinger or Aculeus; 11 = Telson (anus in previous joint); 12 = Opening of book lungs

Post-coitus cannibalism has never been reliably reported in scorpions.

Scorpions are also kinky fuckers but no one’s ready for that conversation.

So, I will give this much to WOTC writers regarding the tlincallis - most species of scorpions do actively hunt their prey. (Though there are several species that are just sit-and-wait predators.) They are also opportunistic hunters, eating primarily invertebrates but occasionally also going for things like lizards, snakes, and small mammals, though scorpions with larger claws will also go after earthworms and mollusks.

What I will not give them credit for is the method of hunting. A scorpion’s primary hunting tool is its claws. Only large and aggressive prey is given a sting - the method of death is still typically via claw, even in that case.

They also don’t chew. They rip off pieces of their prey and put those pieces in a pre-oral cavity, which uses digestive juices from the gut to start the digestion process. Once it’s liquid enough, it gets sucked right into the gut. Any indigestible matter is ejected at this stage.

They do have an anus separate from the genital operculum, and it runs up into the tail. Scorpions will eat a large amount of food in one meal, and when this is combined with their low metabolic rate and relatively inactive lifestyle, it means that they can survive for 6 to 12 months without starvation.

So no, Wizards Of The Coast, a band of scorpion people would NOT be migratory by compulsion, even if they were aggressive.

And yeah, scorpions are mainly found in deserts, but that’s so limiting. They’ve adapted to nearly every sort of biome and appear all across the world, except in Antartica. So you can literally put them anywhere.

The scorpion is found in Greek mythology (Artemis or Gaia sending it to kill Orion) along with in a page of the Anglo-Saxon Herbal.

Despite the scorpion’s usage in myths, stories, and weapons of war, very few of them are actually capable of killing a human (barring allergy). 25 species out of more than 2,500 have venom deadly to humans. Most of, if not all of these, belong to the family Buthidae, which is the largest family.

Now it’s time for “Jasper analyzes scorpions from different media”! I’ve already dragged the tlincalli for filth, so we’ll pivot to look at another WOTC media: Magic The Gathering.

Scorpions don’t get a lot of rep. At best, they appear as one-off cards. However. Thanks to vising two primarily-desert planes (Amonkhet and the Vorthos-panned Thunder Junction), we have some Guys.

We’ll start with the Scorpion God of Amonkhet. This guy did not used to look like this, but once Nicol Bolas got all up in everybody’s business, he twisted the Scorpion God, Locust God, and Scarab God into giant monstrosities and erased knowledge of their names, even from themselves, and then used them to “harvest” the mortals he had been cultivating to create an undead army. The Scorpion God killed the gods Rhonas, Oketra, and Kefnet, before finally being killed by Hazoret and a group of rebelling mortals.

He is notably the only one of the “twisted” gods to have been killed – the Locust and Scarab Gods both survived, as did Hazoret, and all three defended Amonkhet later from New Phyrexia getting all up in everyone’s business.

(Re: that third artwork, why is he kinda...)

Meanwhile, on Thunder Junction...

Oh, Thunder Junction. If not for the fact that no one in the design and writing department could agree on and work together to determine the right approach to Western tropes, you could have been interesting.

Having said that, the scorpion dragons? Not native to there. Instead, they’re from Gastal, a plane that was mentioned one (1) time back in the day. I’m willing to overlook some questions about these blokes for the sake of blaming the dragon half on everything I don’t think are scorpion-enough when it comes to these guys.

Now, for my third example... I’m going to preface this with the fact that LEGO’s Legends of Chima theme was a problematic mess in hindsight. I still love it with my entire soul, but it was a fucking nightmare.

But within that is the Scorpion Tribe, what is possibly my favorite current example of what you can do with scorpions in a (science-)fantasy setting.

The Scorpions were accidentally evolved with the magic MacGuffin of the series (Chi) thanks to some foolishness going on, and they were the antagonists of season two (or rather, wave two, as they were technically the latter half of season one and the beginning of season two). They’re led by a king, Scorm, and a general, Scolder. And yes, they all stick to the Sc- naming theme, with one exception from the online game.

So, how do you create an anthro Scorpion Lego figure? Like this, of course!

Now, something interesting to note is that because the Chi was not safely introduced to these guys, some of them didn’t “evolve” all the way and still have a scorpion lower body, like a weird centaur. Meet Scutter, posterchild for this, even though his brother Scrug speed-“evolved” to humanoid form.

Something interesting to note is just how flexible and catlike the tails of these Scorpions are. They can flick around and even hold things when curled up.

Another fun thing about Chima is that they don’t put my boys in the desert. Instead, they live in caves in a very hostile jungle. I’m so proud of them.

Analyzing the venom of these guys, though...

Scorpion God = full of god-killing venom

Akul = a "dark curse" that's basically fantasy tuberculosis

Scorpions from Chima = hypnosis mind-control agent that wears off fairly quickly

(Preface for this section: These were random additions that I sent a while later, with little connection to each other.)

Scorpion dads do tend to be deadbeats, but a scorpion mom figure? I would chew that right up.

Re: molting, it is a long, long process, even for something as small as a scorpion. So the bigger they are, the longer it's probably gonna take. It requires a lot of calorie-loading beforehand and can be predicted based on “air pockets” that appear at the sides of the exoskeleton, to give them wiggle room. Scorpions are soft for several days after molting and avoid eating anything until they harden back up.

And did I mention that scorpions glow under ultraviolet light?

So...yeah! Scorpions are so fucking cool, and this is just an overview! This isn't even getting into any particular species! There's just so much to explore in terms of scorpions in fantasy settings, so seeing them reduced to Desert Bad Guy over and over again annoys me.

Put these animals into some situations.

[genericnbbuddy]

Pressenting myself (and this silly little blog)

Well, I've been using this account for +2 years (according to Tumblr's notification system), so I think it's a good time to introduce myself...

"I'm the weirdest person alive"... You'll see why:

I'm autistic. That alone makes me really weird. "Now everyone is autistic these days" "You just want to feel special"... I have the diagnosis since 2012, way before autism was a "trend" (I don't have a better term)... So FCK YOU!

I'm a Linux enthusiast. However, I won't impose Linux on ya, even less any particular software (seestemdee bad, ooboontoo bad, kaydee-e bad >:c /j)

I'm a math nerd. If you know math blogs, let me know (better if they are college-level math, and even better if they're high-level math [topology, real analysis, functional analysis or more advanced])

I study computer science. Anything about computers and programming makes my day :D (I'm also into theoretical Comp. Sci., things like automata theory, lambda calculi, category theory, etc.)

Yes, as an Arch user btw, I'm queer af. My labels are: quadrigender (four genders at the same time), gender fluid (5%), pangender (5%), trans woman, transfemme (85%), xenogender (5%, I know how to define it but don't know if it currenty exists [if not, I'm gonna coin it]), fictionkind (I have the "soul" of a fictional race, if you will, more on it later), bisexual, panromantic, polyamourous

My interests are kinda limited. I love Undertale, Minecraft, Terraria, TBoI, Spiderman I/ATSV, D&D, Pathfinder and WoD. On the later, I LOVE Mage the Ascension, and my fictionkind race is a Orphan Mage.

I'm kinda into philosophy. I suspect I might have AHDH (not autodiagnosing tho), so I find kinda hard to start reading ACTUAL philosophers (specially people like Hegel and Kant, who ABUSE of weird jargon), but I usually read Wikipedia articles about the topic (which, despite misconceptions, it's actually a reliable source)

I'm an anarchist. I read a few anarchist and marxist authors back at the day, and I'm starting to do actual praxis. I consider myself an "anarchist without labels", as I see all anarchist branches having their valid point but also falling into fallacies and biases (DISCLAIMER: I don't see any right-winger "anarchism" as actual anarchism. If you're "anarcho"-capitalist/monarquist/fascist [yes, those exist, apparently], GO FCK YOURSELF!!!

And despite all the previous items (except 1st and 5th), I'm highly spiritual. I believe in anything mystical, religious, esoteric or spiritual there might be out there... And I mean EVERYTHING... I have my way to make sense out of it.

Welp, I think that's all...

[hectsliveblogblog]

I made a Reddit post about the historical context for Misericorde a while back, most of it I think is pretty well known at this point but I'm gonna post it here anyway, in part for my own reference. Since the conclusion of Vol. 2, it has been more-or-less confirmed Richard III was involved as a visitor to Linbarrow (by Tatiana's account, at least, and who knows how reliable she is?).

I've been obsessed with Misericorde over the last few weeks, and although I'm sad I've finished it I am consoling myself by trying to uncover its mysteries. One thought that's been nagging at me is - who are the two figures at the beginning of the game? Are they based on real people? I'm no historical scholar, most of my research has been done thanks to the online encyclopedia everyone can edit, but I think there are a few threads that can be tugged on. Again, my understanding is somewhat limited so I may get a few facts wrong, but here's the broad strokes as I understand them.

1482 is nearly the end of the Wars of the Roses, which was basically a series of conflicts fought over who had the right to be the King of England. There's a lot here but there are I think just a few that are relevant to Misericorde. There were two factions: the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Edward IV is the king as of 1482, part of the Yorkist branch of the family. His brother is Richard, Duke of Gloucester, also a York. He'll be important. The two figures in the prologue discuss how Edward's "habits" are likely to get him killed within the year, they are likely referring to his "habitual use of emetics, which allowed him to gorge himself at meals, then return after vomiting to start again." (Wikipedia). The timing of their prediction is accurate, Edward IV dies April 1483. The actual cause of death is unknown, though poison is not out of the realm of possibility.

Edward IV's son Edward (V) is presumptive heir. However, Richard, as mentioned above, is made Edward's guardian. Through some legal and clerical meddling, Richard has Edward deposed and Richard of Gloucester becomes Richard III. Edward V dies a few months after being locked with his brother in the Tower of London, sometime during the middle of 1483. Nobody's sure how, or when, at a certain point he and his brother just disappear. I think this is the exact kind of ambiguity that you can build a story around.

Richard III was supposedly a hunchback, though modern evidence (i.e., they found his body buried in a parking lot a few years ago) suggests he may have just had scoliosis. He was estimated to be about 5'8" from his skeleton, but that's without taking his scoliosis into account. Worth remembering when the prologue discusses the relative height of the two men. His Shakespeare play is the one that begins with "Now is the winter of our discontent" but that line continues to "/Made glorious summer by this sun of York", the "sun" being Edward IV and the summer being the beginning of his reign (and the Yorkists' ascendancy). Richard is being heavily sarcastic. The gist of that speech is "everyone is sooooo happy that Edward IV is king now but I'm a nasty little freak and nobody likes me and I'm going to make that everyone's problem." He supposedly had Edward V killed. Note that the Gentleman states that the matter of Edward IV's son is being "attended" to by "a piece that can be nudged". This piece may be Sir James Tyrrell.

Sir James Tyrrell is one of the suspects for the actual deed. He supposedly confessed to the murders in 1502, and in the Shakespeare play he the man who is hired by Richard III to do the job. According to shakespeareandhistory.com, "William Tyrrell, the father of Sir James Tyrrell was executed for his part in a plot against King Edward IV in 1462. Fortunately, the younger Tyrrell was not punished for his father's offenses and was able to ultimately inherit his lands."

Late in Misericorde we meet Bishop Richard Bell. Richard was a real person, the Bishop of Carlisle from 1478 to 1495, and if this site which is heavily invested in rehabilitating the reputation of a dead king is to be believed, he received his bishopric thanks to a favor from Richard III, but I have been unable to find any more solid source for that. If you're inclined to follow the more supernatural theories for this game, it's worth mentioning that Richard Bell's memorial has two figures which resemble dinosaurs on them. Weird, huh?

What can be drawn from this? Although I don't think you can concretely say who the two figures at the beginning are, I think it's obvious they are at the very least within Richard III's circle of influence (or is he within theirs?). They seem to be Yorkists but have shared goals in killing Edward IV and V. I think a case could be made for the gentleman being Richard III himself due to his wealth, goals, and being within Edward IV's court, but then again, he was in charge of the war with Scotland (as mentioned in the dialogue) and was appointed Lord of the North, so it's unlikely he would be spending much time at Edward IV's royal court.

Anyway, love the game, and hope to see more of it soon!

One thing I forgot to mention. The track that plays during the prologue is named Candida Navis. Besides being a jam, its title is Latin for "The White Ship". This is a particular ship that went down off the coast of England in 1120 and had a number of nobles on board, including the heir to the king of England. I believe there's a reference to this event in the text (someone refers to Marta being old enough to remember it happening, if I remember right). But the allusion is pretty clear: these people are trying to engineer events that will lead to the deaths of an heir in a similar 'accident'.

[manicpixxiedreambitch]

I need to vent (and settle an argument) My younger brother was born in 2010 and exhibits traits of a Gen Alpha. He keeps insisting, however, that he is Gen Z. When we look it up, most sources claim that Gen Alpha started in 2010, but the issue is, other articles say that Gen Z ended in 2013. I keep saying my younger brother is Gen Alpha because not only is he bratty and digitally addicted, he’s also entitled, and overall, born in 2010. But he keeps dismissing any evidence or claims I make and saying that his whole middle school is on his side and saying they are Gen Z, when they’re obviously not. He keeps making up bullshit claims that he is Gen Z and he keeps changing his reasoning. At one point he said the generation changed in the MIDDLE of the year, which has never happened. He acts like he knows everything. He acts like all the sources and citations I pull up are inaccurate and false, and says that a .com website isn’t a reliable source, despite him literally citing WIKIPEDIA as HIS source. He has also tried to claim that he gets to decide what generation he is because of the supposed gap. I keep telling him that that’s not how that works He curses at me and thinks he’s in charge and on more than one occasion, he has swung at me, pushed me, etc, just because he wants to. He claims he treats us all like we’re stupid because we all “Treat him like shit” when in reality, we’ve just decided we’re not letting him get away with doing whatever he wants anymore. He constantly takes passes at everyone, calling me a walking stereotype, taking digs at my mom, saying I side with my older brother more than him because we both have mental disabilities (my older brother has Autism and I have ADHD). And on more than one occasion he has said and done ableist things to both of us. He talks to himself loudly about us and then snaps at us when we comment on it or scold him for being rude, saying we should just know that he’s talking to himself whenever he does it. He has almost no manners, he thinks he should get whatever he wants, and he’s been low key homophobic as of recently. He drives me insane. He tells me to shut up any time I say anything he doesn’t like, he likes to tower over me (because he’s taller) and try to intimidate me to get what he wants, whenever someone takes something of his in the house he threatens them telling them that if we don’t give it back it counts as stealing and he can sue us. He once said this to OUR MOM after she took his phone away because he wasn’t doing what he was told. He always likes to make accusations and say that we treat him poorly but never has evidence or examples when we ask him. He just expects us to know everything all the time, and he gets pissed whenever he has to repeat himself, explain his actions, or even just plain communicate.

Keep in mind

My brother is 14.

Now here comes the argument I want to settle

[tprings-hair]

8 for the ask thing

8. Is there anything I wish people would write more about in fics? (A dynamic, an exploration of an arc, just a character that doesn’t get much screentime, etc)

oh my god, there are so many little character choices that the actors/writers/directors of tos have made that I am obsessed with, and I can't imagine how they don't have pages and pages of fic. these include:

- in spectre of the gun, the way the sheriff talked with kirk (putting his hands on his shoulders to keep him there, kirk looking up at him with that desperate look, the tone they took with each other) and the way kirk reacted to him made me wonder about his relationship with his father. shatner's novel collision course has a bunch of stuff about how kirk doesn't get along with his ex-starfleet father. I would be really interested to see a deep dive into that and how it shapes kirk as a leader. you can't just drop that scene of kirk getting angrier and louder than he's ever been with anyone in the show and expect me not to think about teenage kirk!

- kirk and shakespeare! you can't tell me he and spock and uhura aren't bouncing shakespeare quotes back and forth on the bridge to pass the time on boring shifts. I firmly believe he has said "do you bite your thumb at me, sir?" to an alien diplomat as a joke, only to find out it's either horrifically offensive or lewd. before beaming down for shore leave he would tell spock "parting is such sweet sorrow" just so he could see spock sigh at him. he has definitely quoted kent in act i scene ii of king lear in a fight. (I will elaborate on any of this in a fic if anyone would actually be interested.)

- uhura. just anything about her. we don't know how she grew up, why she joined starfleet, what's waiting for her on earth, or why her only real connections seem to be with her crewmates when she's so friendly and open with everyone. I know it's a side effect of being a black female character written by white men in the 60s but please, I want the kind of backstory and motivations for her that people make up for other characters like chekov and mccoy! it's not like we don't have material. she's got a fear of dying a long and painful death (see that one episode with the creepy kids in season 3), wonderful musical and theatrical talents, an insane amount of charisma (what's under that?), and she admits that she's afraid on the bridge and finds security in knowing that kirk has the situation in hand. we also have an underdeveloped last minute relationship with scotty, which actually makes sense if you think about it? she doesn't need a defender or a musketeer like sulu tried to be, she just wants to know she's going to make it out okay, and scotty is the one who makes sure the ship can take them home safely. plus, he's less vain and more reliable than kirk. it came out of left field for me, too, but I honestly see it now that I think about it. so yeah, I want more development for uhura as a character, and for her relationship with scotty.

- any of the women, really, but I'm a little obsessed with the woman in who mourns for adonais, lt. carolyn palamas (played by leslie parrish, who was according to wikipedia an activist against the vietnam war who created her own tv station to give the average american a more in depth look at their news! sounds very cool). her arc is literally the same one that the male main characters repeatedly get (seduced by alien, must choose between career/following orders and being lost in this new romance) and she's just so cool. imo this episode was more feminist than people give it credit for, not just for giving her that choice but also showing her as someone who is good at her job to the point of being absolute instrumental to the plan. she wavers, just like kirk is allowed to do, and she chooses duty in the end, and it doesnt make her two-faced. she's allowed to be human. I love her.

[marxistjughead]

tagged by @kommunarde to talk about five things i like. i can definitely do that :-)

1. i like history and recently i've been focusing on the nineteenth century for some reason because it's a time period we tend to not study a lot in schools anymore. and when we do study it i start having amnesia because of unrelated factors (in quatrième i was suicidal and in première i was too busy getting brain damage from supernatural. i only started really killing it in history class in my last year of high school when we talked about economy and politics as factors all the time). it has been crazy to realize specifically the articulation between the french revolution the empire the other revolutions in france the second empire the commune the first world war and so on and so on. like to me until recently there was a huge hole between 1794 and 1914 and i knew about the events that happened in between obviously but i wasn't really connecting them well. and right now i am making the connections it's actually maddening. for example victor hugo author of les misérables french poet novelist playwright politician and overall legend lived at the same time as karl marx which somehow never occured to me. but now it has and i feel like i've unlocked a secret of the universe. & we'll be studying a time period from the late nineteenth century to the 30s next year. i fr can't wait to go back to history class in september it's going to be so awesome!!!

2. dark netflix is one of my favorite tv shows of all time it's basically about becoming your own worst enemy and how fate might or might not be inescapable. it's a circular narrative spanning multiple generations and decades and universes. it's awesome it has everything important namely philosophy failed marriages and killing people with rocks. it's a crime tv show slash horror slash mystery except then it becomes something else i can't tell you about but fleabag voice this is a love story. it's like stranger things if stranger things was better and about something else entirely. it's incredibly smart and it's the only tv show i've rewatched so far in my life because it's just so well made i don't think i'll ever see something like that again. i can't tell you about it without spoiling it and it's definitely necessary to not look at anything online before finishing the show but please watch it please please please

3. i love falling into wikipedia rabbit holes!! everyone makes fun of me for it because apparently that's not a "reliable source" (some students don't go to the source section and look up the sources listed, and instead they mindlessly copy what the page says instead of going deeper in research or at least rephrasing it a little or just. at least at the very least deleting the hyperlinks. that could not be me! wikipedia is a great tool when you know how to use it and when you use it to its full potentialities. i could never hate wikipedia my beautiful website. it's just that some people are really not smart when it comes to plagiarism). and also because reading stuff for fun and remembering all of it forever is not "something everyone does" and i need to "get diagnosed with autism". WHATEVER. i'll remain cool and knowledgeable about many fun facts and you'll do nothing about it. what i have open right now: prépa as a system, the far left in france, a bunch of pages about the weimar republic, republican calendar, pierre-sur-haute military radio station, les cloches de bâle, rené girard, lycurgus, junge welt, sdaj (i've been looking up far left looking stuff i see stickers for as a desperate attempt to understand the political landscape of this country but alas it's something that wikipedia cannot bring me i think), harmodius and aristogeiton, maquis du limousin, acéphale. also chronology of social movements in france (i am cooking something)

4. okay bear with me for this one because it's going to sound insane and parasocial but i'm aware that it is so it's basically fine. maybe. it's not that i "like" him he's just extremely entertaining and something is wrong with him in a way that is also wrong with me. so there's this guy who used to be in charge of the social media strategy for arguably the most famous french left-wing politician (jean-luc mélenchon, our bernie sanders, even though that's not an adequate comparison because france is a pays finito as i like to call it but not as finito as the united states of america. anyway) and said politician is like 70 but every once in a while during the presidential campaign he made this really funny social media post and every jeune con dépolitisé was like oh mr mélenchon you know memes you're so cool i'm going to vote for you. not me because i'm a critical thinker and i can't even vote but i do love myself a good reformist grandpa post i'm sorry. the first half of 2022 was a weird time. and we knew the guy behind that it was the guy i'm going to be talking about next. so we did not win that presidential election obviously (insert image of me crying tears of blood) (it's fine haha reformism is a dead end) and we have this second round between margaret thatcher and a fascist. but since we do not have a loser mindset and need to bounce back (this country is rotten to the core and we are never going to win electorally or otherwise unless a biblical level miracle happens. when i talk to my neighbors and my family members and my classmates i realize how fucked we are and how truly awful it could get and how easy it would be for a lot of us to look away. it makes me a little sick to think about. but there is much pain in the world but not in this room right?) they said hey! vote for us in the legislative elections! and in france we have a constituency system basically you have a local mp. so our social media guy became a candidate! and he was elected! and then inexplicably (i've followed him for several years and can confirm it came out of the blue) the man turned into a hardcore robespierrist like a month into it. i got really into the french revolution in may to cope with well everything so i was like oh okay interesting that's cool. it's cringe because he's a grown man with a job but it's also sort of funny, in an absurd way. it's a waste of taxpayer money but he's a good mp as far as mps go and i don't pay taxes so i don't care. and at first it was just like a few tweets here and there, he also invited a ya author who makes educational tiktoks about the terror to the national assembly in robespierre cosplay, but recently well uh. he quotes either robespierre or the 1793 constitution literally every intervention. he wore a wig. we're technically in the same political movement because i was peer pressured into joining and in my city the choice is between them or maoists (which way modern man). but i don't have the time to be that invested unfortunately since i have to go to my beautiful torture labyrinth (prépa) every day. during the pension reform protests (don't even talk to me about it.......) a few videos of him surfaced going to face the police in order to well i don't know intimidate them with his écharpe de député into not being violent anymore. it didn't work he got hit tear gassed multiple times but then he had proof of police violence and he could say look at this it's not normal and it didn't achieve much because this country may be beyond hope but it's very brave of him i think. or in another video he was being kettled with a colleague and said colleague was like hey antoine can you quote an article of the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen at this policeman? and he did. like overall he's a really cool mp he's just also very dedicated to rehabilitating robespierre for some kind of reason. and the real life embodiment of this emoji combination 🤓☝️. and he has a child i think. and we're twitter mutuals

5. i like this poem i think about it so often i have bits of it memorized bouncing around in my head like a dvd screensaver. the way i want you has its own climate like how storms are magnetic. shortest war on earth. every room i enter is empty and i wake searching for you still. and so on and so on i actually want to chew on the poem a little it's like a really comfortable mattress but for my brain if that makes sense

okay this got long!! tagging @isaidilovedu2death @brutalistarchitecture2 @vassyflorence @sotiriabellou and anyone else who wants to do it really. please tell me about things you like!! i haven't written most of this tonight but tonight i am sad and there is a chance i'll be sad for a little while so tell me about you. i care. i love to hear about the things you all are passionate about. if not in public send me a dm. actually you can send me a dm about virtually anything

[clover-46]

David as a professor (ignoring the complications of this)

David who is a strict teacher, but everyone adores his class. (I could see him being a history professor) David leaning against his desk as he talks through the early periods of South Asian culture. Him knowing a headache is coming every time his best friend and teacher aide interrupts his lecture to slide in a joke.

David who believes that he should dress seriously if he wants people to listen, so he walks in each day with a freshly iron black dress shirt with matching dress pants. The sleeves get rolled up somewhere in the middle of the day and by the end a couple buttons are undone because he's really not a fan of formal attire. But if his students are really lucky, he might pair it with a form hugging vest. 🤤

David who fidgets with a ruler when he talks and he doesn't really notice what it does to his students as he taps it against his palm.

David wearing a simple string bracelet that a long forgotten friend made for him when he was a kid. Sometimes he wonders what happened to Caleb... Cal... Something along those lines.

David who looks sternly at anyone who starts to speak over him and gives a curt nod when they shut the fuck up.

Except this one student. They only grin at him before continuing their conversation.

Angel who doesn't even need to take the class to get their degree this year, they just heard the professor was hot and wanted to see if the rumors were true. And wowza they definitely were! They can already feel their nerves firing on all cylinders as David enters and puts his stuff down on the desk at the front and calls out a "Alright can we get this over with?" to get everyone's attention.

They love his fuck around and find out energy. And they've always been one to push the limits.

At first it's purposefully getting on his nerves, enjoying the way he clenches his jaw and forces himself to calm down. Then they start asking him for help on their essays (which is also because they actually do need help. Who knew history was so complicated. The American public schooling system didn't prepare them for this. This isn't just learning about the revolutionary war every year.)

David who is actually patient when Angel doesn't understand something. But Angel doesn't know how to handle that so they keep trying to flirt.

"No wedding band, huh Mr Shaw?"

"Don't forget to add commas. Punctuation saves lives and all."

"I don't have a wedding band either. Want to fix that?"

"wikipedia isn't a reliable source and you need to cite what reputable source you do have in the proper format."

Yeah... It's not working so well. But at least their grades are improving. It'd be nicer if their grades improved the way that the spicy films always showed though. They were pretty sure his desk was the perfect height to be on top or under. Or ben-

David who is proud of Angel and how far theyve come, although their pickup lines are getting any better.

"Professor Shaw, my phone is broken or something. I think it's missing a critical component..."

"if you say what I think you're about to say...

"it needs your number."

"oh God."

But the cheesy lines are beginning to grow on him. He finds himself looking forward to the conversations at the end of his class, or in the hallways, or his office, or those couple of times they both ended up at the same restaurant, store, and park. He wondering if it's an accident as much as Angel claims it is

And he thinks he would call Angel a friend.

Angel who finally graduated with their degree and immediately runs to find David to show it off. David who is proud of them because he knows how hard they tried. But hes also curious.

"why did you take my class? Was it for the credit?" He asks as Angel shoved a shot into his hand before downing their own.

"nope. I heard you were hot"

- 🙊

hello, 🙊 anon i see we’re back to our regular scheduled ficlets!!

“ignoring the complications with this” HAHAHAHHA

THIS certainly makes for nice imagery 🤤🤤

…. ☹️☹️☹️☹️

ANGEL IS SO SMOOOTH i aspire to be like them someday

i’m certainly not one to like student/professor tropes but it’s david thicc ass shaw and your writing is one of my favorites so i did enjoy this 🥰🥰

@messenger-of-stupidity

[excessively-english-jd]

Also Wikipedia is actually GREAT for academic citations. You know why? Because information on Wikipedia is (usually) cited!! A Wikipedia article is basically a giant list of papers, videos, and websites that are all potential sources that you can look at and cite yourself!! While you shouldn't really cite the Wikipedia page itself, you also shouldn't really need to.

Of course you have to be able to evaluate those sources yourself to see whether they are reliable or not, but if you're an academic that's basic shit. Honestly, I believe it should be basic shit for everyone.

My professors at university literally told us that when researching online, Wikipedia is a great starting place because it has a massive reference page full of papers and articles to check out, evaluate, and use. You just need to have the most basic critical thinking skills, and the ability to read an academic paper for information.

So when you have questions about something, go forth and research! Read the Wiki! Check the sources! I promise it's easy.

If I may, I must make the gentle request that people consult Wikipedia for basic information about anything.

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but more and more people coming to me saying they can’t find info about [noun], when googling it yields its Wikipedia entry on the first page.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll gladly say it again: You can trust Wikipedia for general information. The reason why it’s unreliable for academic citations is because it’s a living, changing document. It’s also written by anonymous authors, and author reputation is critical for research paper integrity.

But for learning the basics of what something is? Wikipedia is your friend. I love Wikipedia. I use it all the time for literally anything and everything, and it’s a huge reason why I know so much about things and stuff.

Please try going there first, and then come to me with questions it doesn’t answer for you.

[elytra404]

ok!! i've been thinking about this for far too long sooo here's my prediction list for the new marvel teams!!

Thunderbolts/New Avengers/ Avengerz

We already know this line up. Yelena, John, Bob, Alexi, Ava, and Bucky.

I think some of them might get new superhero names, specifically Yelena and Bucky, because it seems odd for Bucky to remain 'The Winter Soldier' but who knows? And Yelena doesn't really have a superhero name, so probably something like White Widow, or just straight up Black Widow (2.0).

Also I'm expecting these guys to become the MCU's West Coast Avengers, whatever they end up calling them.

Sam's Avengers

Ok so this is hard. Namely because we are restricted to government approved people for now. Meaning those who are willing to be public with identities, and maybe not criminals but who knows.

Sam's a given, so is the new Falcon, Joaquin.

For the rest I'm cross referencing the dooms day cast list. (Ignoring the X-Men on the list and the Fantastic Four btw cause they've always been their own teams)

So confirmed cast includes Hulk, Shang-Chi, Scott and Cassandra Lang, Shuri, Thor, Doctor Strange, and Daredevil.

We can cross out Strange and Daredevil because Strange had never worked on teams and Daredevil is deeply unlikely to become an Avenger in my opinion. (That being said I'm not 100% crossing out Matt, I just would be deeply surprised.)

Cass I'm also crossing out because I'm putting her on a different list.

I'm also crossing out Thor because he has a daughter now, and I honestly don't think it's his thing anymore. But it's possible.

That leaves us with Hulk Shang Chi, Antman/Scott, and Black Panther/Shuri.

Which adds up to 6! The past Avengers were also six, So it works out!

Also Shuri may be a stretch since Wakanda has never been one for consistent team ups like the Avengers, and I can't really see the US government being ok with the Wakandan leader being one of their Soldiers?

But I also can't see Thor or Daredevil being on the team let alone both, so either it's Shuri, Matt, Thor, or a new character.

Which leaves us with Sam, Scott, Joaquin, Shang Chi, Hulk, and an open spot for Shuri/Thor/Matt/A new character with my strongest bets being on a nee character or Shuri.

(Hulk and Shang Chi also have their own caveats but they just make the most sense and I don't think they're too much of a stretch.)

(This team is a struggle man. I don't think they's introduce a bunch of new characters but theres also only so many people that make sense on the list. Also Wong and Moon Knight are technically a possibility but... There's no way right? Right?)

Young Avengers

I don't know if they're definitely gonna be called Young Avengers but that's what they'd be in the comics so it's what I'm calling them.

We already have two confirmations for this! Kate/Hawkeye is collecting the team and is likely the team leader. And Kate showed up at the end of The Marvels, so Ms. Marvel/Kamala is also a given.

So this team seems fairly obvious to me, but not everyone who seems obvious is confirmed that I can find for Doomsday. So I'm splitting this into confirmed for Doomsday, rumored, and nothing I can find on Doomsday casting.

(Side note to remember; this all based on my googling. I know there was a live stream cast announcement but I refuse to go through the video, and wikipedia/imdb seem to hate being thorough.)

Confirmed (according to bunch of different places, idk how reliable this is): America, Riri, Peter.

Rumor: Billy.

Unknown: Tommy. (I can't find an 100% on who's playing him, so no way of knowing.)

Doomsday casting isnt an 100% way to know cause we don't actually know if the Young Avengers will be in it, but with the amount of them I can find confirmed seems like they will be.

Billy and Tommy seem obvious, they a large part in the comic's. Kate and Kamala are givens. Riri also feels like a given by now.

America and Peter are more complicated. I'm not sure how either of them would end up joining, but they just make sense. And honestly it's about time Peter gets a team, he could use the support right now. And I just want more of America.

X-Men

This isn't much of a debate. It's just not 100% cause this exact team changes a lot. Most likely seems to be Beast, Cyclops, Mystique, Nightcrawler, and Gambit, purely because they're the only ones I can find directly confirmed other than Professor X who I think will most likely be leader/behind the scenes as always.

I'm also expecting Jean and maybe Wolverine? Especially Jean cause I can't imagine the X-Men without her.