#It’s really up to your interpretation this time

[cameronsbabydoll]

CLUMSY GIRLFRIEND ʚɞ RAFE CAMERON

WARNINGS — wrote this in mind with the vibe of my babydoll reader but you can interpret it however!, mentions of cuts and bleeding.

Rafe knew it wasn’t unusual for you to trip over your own feet or hurt yourself accidentally by just walking around the backyard. Rafe knew that you were always going to be clumsy, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when you walked into Tannyhill with a cut on your pouty lips and a scrape on your left knee. 

Most of the time the injuries were never too serious, but Rafe knew that you could be a bit dramatic and that you got overwhelmed easily, so when Rafe saw those tears streaming down your cheeks, he wasn’t surprised at all.

“R-Rafe,” you sniffled, stepping into his grand bedroom, placing yourself on his bed. Rafe looked up from his laptop, setting aside whatever work he was doing to pull you into his lap. “Oh, babydoll, what happened this time?” 

“Can you help me, Rafey?” You ask, wiping away the spare tears on your face, and you look up at him expectantly, your doe eyes filled with tears and your lip slightly bleeding.

Rafe carried you to the bathroom, setting you on top of the bathroom counter. He grabbed the medical kit and disinfectant wipes from the shelf; he gently wiped the cuts and wrapped the cuts. “Don’t worry, doll.” 

“I—I just… I’m really clumsy… Just want to be less clumsy, Rafe,” you spoke between sniffles.

“Don’t you worry, baby,” Rafe assured, wrapping his arms around you, “I’m always going to be here to clean you up, I promise.”

[bunni-v1]

May we get some crk thoughts, my liege? I too have a hyperfixation—

Shadow Milk Cookie Headcannons (SFW & NSFW)

🍓Thank you for the excuse to write this shit, I feel less insane being asked to do it lol. I still think this might taint my public image, so lets hope none of my future employers fuck with tumblr. Anyway only smc since he's who I'm obsessing over. I was gonna add pv, but I write wayyyy too much to include both of them on one post. Maybe I'll do him if someone asks nicely. I'll have a mix of both sfw and nsfw so beware lol.

MDNI (I'll find u)

TW: Shadow Milk Cookie; Obsessive behaviors; Stalking mentioned; Nsfw under the cut; unedited

Info: Shadow Milk Cookie x Reader; Sfw & Nsfw headcannons

Credit for Beast Bite Idea: @rollingeevee (go give them love I adore this AU)

-To start I'm gonna say, he's insane, like genuinely. He leans into a lot of yandere-esque behaviors, but I firmly believe he's not a full-on yandere, just really fucked up in the head (trauma and such, poor thing, wah wah wah.)

-Pre-Corruption Shadow Milk surely had a lot of admirers, but admiration is very different from genuine love and connection. He was, in a very literal sense, on a different level than all the cookies on earthbread. He's immortal, a god meant to care for all cookies, romantic relationships with cookies (other than the other heroes) just aren't an option in his mind. (For the sake of these, none of the beasts have had any romantic interaction with him, because I don't wanna deal with that can of worms rn.)

-All that to say, it's highly unlikely he has much experience in relationships. Maybe he's had flings, and some sexual encounters, but I doubt he would commit to someone he would inevitably lose to time. And, sure, he certainly could artificially extend their lifetime... but that's unethical and unfair to his partner. The burden of immortality is not one a regular cookie is baked to bear.

-So when he is inevitably corrupted and sealed away, romance isn't really a thought on his mind. He's very fixated on escaping that stupid tree and enacting his revenge. Which he does, at least in part, and with his freedom comes half of his powers and ensuing chaos.

-There are not many ways he could meet you if I'm quite honest, so I'll leave that up to personal interpretation. However you do meet him, though, you have to be intriguing. He gets bored of people easily, so you have to stand out -- be that in your demeanor or the way you speak or how you challenge him, it just has to be interesting. Once he's interested he's hooked.

-He's rather... mmm... obsessive? He likely stalks you for a while before he makes any moves. He wants to learn your patterns, the cookies you surround yourself with, the things you like, your job, your favorite foods, what flowers you like, and how do you feel about his chaos? He'll even manipulate things around you, just to see how you might react. (Is it fucked up? Yeah, lol! But isn't it equally endearing? He seems to think so.)

-You have frequent reoccurring dreams about him in this period of time. You've only seen him from a distance at this point, but you can't quite shake him from your thoughts. What's very important here is that you realize that your thoughts are not your own. Acknowledge that he's watching, and make sure that he's aware you're aware. Be that by purposefully doing something he could recognize as acknowledgment, or outright saying that you're aware he's messing with you. He values curiosity and intelligence in a person, if you can break yourself out of his cycle he's 100% sold on you.

-It doesn't take much longer after that for him to make his first official appearance. Bowing gracefully in front of you as he materializes from thin air, smiling like a man driven mad by infatuation.

-Believe it or not, he's really not all that creepy or pushy. He's very playful and charming, and while you have the knowledge he'd been watching you for a long time at this point, it's hard not to fall for him. He flirts with an ease that no other cookie really has, and he's so very funny never failing to get a smile out of you at his jokes.

-Now, this may go against what others characterize him as a lot, but I don't believe he's the type to steal you away and lock you up. Shadow Milk is a cookie who wants to be wanted, he doesn't want his feelings to be entirely one-sided, it would really hurt him to pour himself into someone who does not want to reciprocate his passions.

-He's unbelievably patient with you. Despite what the mental manipulation from earlier implies, he allows you to set the pace and make the moves, mostly nudging you gently in the direction he wants you to go now that he has your attention. Again, he wants you to choose him. He wants you to love him, so he will happily wait as long as it takes for you to realize and accept your longing for him.

-He gives you the flowers you like, and listens to you talk about your exceedingly boring days (with rapt attention, of course, he loves listening to you talk as much as he loves talking). If you ask, he'll take you anywhere you'd like to go on earthbread with a snap of his fingers, showing you sights you'd only dreamed of seeing. (Whether or not these are illusions are still up for debate).

-It's very hard not to fall for him with all this considered, and he knows that of course. He was just waiting for you to confess, and you have to confess. He won't do it even if you make it clear you want him to. It's not something he'd ever admit to you -- or himself -- but he doesn't want to risk even the slightest bit of rejection. It would break him more than he's already been broken, so you'll have to do it for our poor little jester.

-When you do though? Oh, he's over the moon! Practically swooning as he scoops you up and spins you around in celebration. He's so overjoyed. He is wanted, there is someone in this world who loves him genuinely. There's no false platitudes or any worshipping done, just raw affection between the two of you. (Just the tiniest bit of manipulation at the start, but obviously you've dismissed and forgiven that at this point).

-Again, he doesn't immediately take you away from your life if you don't wish to be. He does heavily encourage you to come spend your days with him, though. He can take care of you, he's literally a god, you'll never ever want for anything so long as he can control it (which he can, duh).

-I feel it very important to emphasize that in a relationship with him, you are equal. Even if you literally cannot be equal in stature and power, you are equal in the relationship -- if anything you have more sway over him than he does over you. He's very, very in love with you, and he will do just about anything you ask of him so long as it doesn't interfere with obtaining his souljam.

-Having established that, let's get to the fun stuff.

-Shadow Milk Cookie is very physically and verbally affectionate. If you are around him it's likely he's touching you in some way. Whether that's him literally hanging off you like a baby monkey or just a hand on your arm, he likes to have a physical tether to you.

-Plenty of messy wet kisses all over your cute little face, he loves seeing you get all flustered and feeling your dough burn up from his barrage of affections.

-It's also very common for him to carry you around in various different styles. Over the shoulder, piggback, princess style, like a sack of potatoes... doesn't really matter. It's also a regular occurrence that you fall asleep as he floats around the spire of all knowledge. He doesn't need sleep, and he does not sleep often, but he likes holding you while you do so. It's proof of your trust in him, and he usually uses the time you are sleeping to be more genuinely affectionate. Soft words whispered in your ears bringing you sweet dreams as he runs his hands up and down your back, kissing the crown of your head with such love it would make a grown man blush.

-He calls you cute little nicknames, like shortcake or sweet thing. The most common, and his favorites, are doll/dolly and little star. (Little star is something he hums with such affection it makes you weak in the knees. You know he's feeling more adoring when he uses it.) Talks about how cute you are, how pretty you are, how desirable you are. How any cookie would be so lucky to have you -- too bad they could never compete with him!

-That being said, most of his affections are pretty surface-level stuff at the start of the relationship. At least, what you get to see. He has a hard time opening up to others, he's a very sensitive cookie deep down in his dough. It takes quite a while to get him out of his shell and start showing you who he is as himself.

-Who he is, is a very aching cookie. He lost so much, struggled with his own corruption, and still hasn't fully accepted it himself. He feels as though he has been betrayed and discarded by everything he once loved, it's no wonder he has a hard time showing you such ugly sides of himself.

-You warm him up, melt him slowly, and you get to see peaks of genuine love and adoration behind those heterochromatic eyes. He may never allow you to see all of him at once, but you do get to know him. If you continue to love him despite seeing the uglier side of things, there is a distinct shift in the way he showers you in affection.

-Initially, he's very showy with everything, his love is a spectacle for the two of you to watch. It's almost like he's put himself outside of the relationship rather than in it. After he opens up, it's quieter, more intimate. He's more involved in it, like it's less about showing you how much he loves you, and more about sharing that mutual feeling between the two of you.

-You didn't have much room to show him how much you cared for him, but now you do. He allows you to initiate physical affection and doesn't flinch away at the touch. He accepts your words of admiration for what they are, not questioning your intentions for any reason.

-Kisses are softer, more full of emotion. Less like he's drowning you and more like he's trying to swallow you up. Desperation to have you as close to him as possible can take him over quite frequently during make-out sessions, and they leave you breathless and fuzzy rather than burning and flustered.

-Now, you can't write Shadow Milk without acknowledging how fucking jealous he is all the time. Now, I believe it's less of a jealousy thing (though, that really is something that is frequent), and more of a possessive/protective thing.

-He doesn't get jealous of the average cookie, alright, not unless you show interest for whatever reason. They're not really a threat to him, and why would they be? He's secure enough to know that you wouldn't leave him for some random half-baked simpleton. HOWEVER, he DOES get jealous of the other beasts and especially Pure Vanilla Cookie.

-The other beasts aren't as powerful as him, but they're still powerful and cunning (some of them at least). Truly, on a level of divinity and ability to care for you, they are his closest competition. Even still, he only gets jealous if one of them seems to want to stake a claim on you, or you become too fascinated with one of them.

-If neither is the case, he highly encourages you to form relationships with them. They are cookies that, seemingly, he cares for. While they can be difficult to get along with, if you are someone Shadow Milk deems worth his time, you are someone they will also deem worth their time.

-Ah, I should also mention he gets... pouty about Black Sapphire and Candy Apple. He doesn't see either of them as a threat, so I couldn't say he's jealous... he just gets annoyed when you're being attentive to them when he's around. Black Sapphire is smart enough to set hard boundaries with you to start, for both of your sakes, but your relationship with him is very positive. You are Shadow Milk Cookies partner, after all, you're a very important Cookie and Black Sapphire has no reason to be unkind to you.

-Candy Apple Cookie on the other hand is the one who's jealous here. You find her positively adorable and her little crush on Shadow Milk is nothing but endearing in your eyes, but she very much is huffy about your relationship with him. Of course, she can't do anything to you, that would only turn against her in the end so she just pouts. You can win her over slowly, though, just by being sweet to her and comforting her when Shadow Milk rejects her once again.

-Your relationship with them seemingly pleases Shadow Milk, though you can't really tell if he's happy or not. Sometimes he seems pleased, other times he's pouty, so who really knows other than him.

-However, the cookie that really seriously gets under his skin the most is Pure Vanilla. He does everything in his power to keep the two of you as far away from one another as possible, but it's almost inevitable that you meet PV, especially when he becomes Truthless Recluse.

-Pure Vanilla is everything Shadow Milk is not. Kind, gentle, patient, soft-spoken, and of course truthful. He's very afraid you may meet PV and realize that you do not want to be with him anymore. You would rather have someone like Pure Vanilla Cookie to dote on you in a fashion that he cannot bring himself to do openly yet.

-Of course, you don't, but that doesn't stop the fear from seeping into his dough. The only way to ease him is by being patient and displaying your loyalty through and through. He won't really be calm until Pure Vanilla is take care of, but you can assure him that you won't be leaving him for his other half anytime soon.

-Circling back to his possessive and protective tendencies, Shadow Milk does see you as an object of his affection. He is fully aware you are your own cookie, you are not something he ever wishes to control entirely and remove autonomy from, but you are his. His to keep and love and protect.

-He's very obsessive about your well-being and happiness. If something hurts you (alive or not), it's gone, destroyed. He won't even make a show of it, it just disappears. If you are upset, he is there doing everything to make you feel better. Whatever you want, whatever you need! He's here for you, please rely on him (he needs you to rely on him).

-If you are out and about he keeps an eye on you, which you are aware of. It's rather obvious, so even if he doesn't tell you, you can feel him watching you. Ignoring it becomes easier with time, but if anything happens to you he wastes no time in popping up and taking care of whatever happens.

-This leads into my next headcanon (inspired by the ever-talented @rollingeevee go check them out!), he has a bite of sorts that he uses as a means of monitoring you. It's something he uses to pinpoint where you are at all times, even when he's not monitoring you actively. The bite acts as a connection between you and him, emotionally and physically tying the two of you together.

-You can feel what he feels through the bite, anger, sadness, joy, pretty much anything he feels you can feel. It also acts as a reminder to you that you should not stray too far from where he is, sending an uncomfortably heavy feeling through your dough. (This is a manifestation of his worry, and it only really happens when he notices you've gone somewhere a little too far from the safety of the spire).

-However, this goes both ways. He can also feel what you feel at the same intensity that you feel it. You can, likely less so, also tell where he is. There is a pull in the back of your mind from the magic telling you where to find him at all times, and it only lets go when you are in proximity of him. If you miss him, he feels the same heavy feeling in his dough reminding him that you would like him by your side.

-Now, finally, we have to address the topic of mortality. Shadow Milk is likely more aware than you ever will be of how mortal you really are. This is why he's so very protective and possessive of you, he doesn't want to lose you prematurely.

-However, if you are okay with it, he is completely fine with artificially extending your life span. In fact, he does it happily. He might even start doing it without asking if the topic hasn't been broached in a certain amount of time. He wants to spend as long as you'll allow him by your side, and if that means breaking a few rules of magic and cookie society then so be it. He's a god after all, he doesn't have to answer to anyone (other than the witches).

-Anyway, let's get to the shit you freaks are really here for. (Me, I'm freaks.)

-I don't really think sexual intimacy is something Shadow Milk desires all that much, but he more so likes it because it's... interesting? I'm sure he derives physical pleasure from sexual intercourse, but less so than the average cookie might. Most of his enjoyment comes from seeing you enjoy yourself.

-It goes without saying, but Shadow Milk Cookie is a freak. He's into pretty much anything under the sun (except maybe one thing...), and so long as you're down to try something he's happy to oblige you.

-He is a switch, but he leans dom most of the time, and you won't get him to sub early on in your relationship. That requires a bit too much trust for him, so he'll need time to be cool with giving you that kind of control over him. But he will bottom for you as your relationship progresses, and that's a whole different side to him.

-Lets start with him in a dominant role, though, since it's more common to get from him.

-Obviously, he's a tease, through and through. He loves to watch you squirm and react to the things he does. Tantalizingly light touches drawn over your dough, teeth grazing your soft body almost piercing but never quite getting deep enough, heated breath blown over your most sensitive spots but never relieving you with his mouth as you so desperately need.

-Truthfully he could spend another thousand years just tracing over you, committing each inch to memory until he's satisfied in knowing every inch of you. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), he's not nearly as patient in the bedroom as he is outside of it. Not with all of you on display for him, so trusting and open, ready for him to defile you. Oh, his sweet, sweet little dolly~

-Even with his impatience, his teasing does not stop. His hands continue to ghost over you, making sure you're still squirming even as he succumbs to his need to taste you.

-Oh, and tastes you he does. He doesn't have to subscribe to regular cookie physical limitations, so he somehow manages to swallow you whole. Jaw unhinging so he can get as much as he needs from you, tongue splitting itself to give you attention everywhere, and god is it long and dexterous. He can reach so very deep and it moves with such precision, it makes you cum embarrassingly fast.

-That is if he allows you to cum in the first place. He's a big fan of edging, which shouldn't be a surprise. He likes to get you so close, then deny you of your pleasure. Your whining and grumbling is the cutest thing on all of earthbread, don't you know? He can't help but edge you when you're so damn cute every time.

-Your pleasure is in his hands, and it requires such relinquishing of power and trust. In a weird way it makes him feel warm and fuzzy inside, especially when you thank him over and over once he finally allows you to come undone after hours of teasing.

-Speaking of, he is a big fan of being praised for the work he does on you. Your moans and pleas are reward enough, but if you mumble out about how good you feel, how much you love him, how amazing he is he'll become drunk on your praise. Chasing after it with fervor, meaning he's going down on you with so much more excitement somehow.

-He's into blood (jam?) play. He likes leaving physical reminders of your relationship all over your body (yes, even ur vag/dick if you let him). With how sharp his teeth are, it's impossible for you not to bleed when he does so, and he does really like the sight of your jam. It's so pretty and so different from his own, another reminder of how different you are, and how much you trust him. (He'll lick it up and purr at the taste.)

-Bruises are also littered about your dough, his grip on you is tight, like you might slip away from him. The treatment is rough and harsh, but it feels so nice to be manhandled by him. The bruises are just nice little reminders of who you belong to. (He gets all proud when other cookies worry about them, like he's done something worthy of praise).

-He likes watching, he's very much a voyeur. Occasionally requests that you pleasure yourself for him so he can watch you struggle to get off, and he'll only help you out when you're near tears begging him.

-He prefers coming across you by himself, without having to request it. Or just feeling waves of pleasure through your bite. He'll watch you quietly fuck yourself without letting you know he's there. (Though, you most certainly can feel his eyes on you, that's what makes it so fun right?) Sometimes he'll join you after, and other and times he'll leave you be, it's 50/50 either way and regardless you still end up happy.

-If anyone else walks in on you when you're alone, he's very unpleasant. Accident or not they'll learn to be more aware of their surroundings next time.

-That doesn't mean he's against being watched though. Actually, he finds the idea of someone else seeing how well he treats you enticing (especially if it's someone like Pure Vanilla hehe). If you are together and someone walks in (or spots you in public), he won't stop. Instead, he'll lock eyes with them and smile big and wide, showing off his favorite little dolly for them.

-He's just so proud of you, and you're so very pretty beneath him, the whole world should get to see how you fall apart for him. He'll even make you look at them just to see how you fluster.

-If the offender tries to do anything other than watch, though, well... I really hope they didn't want to live for much longer. He's very much not a sharer, at all. The idea of anyone even thinking they could touch you and make you feel good both makes him laugh and want to tear them apart at once.

-He's very much into roleplaying and can get really into it. To the point, it loses the sexiness and is just the two of you playing around, which can be a bummer but is usually really fun. He likes things that lean into power dynamics but explicitly avoids god/king and worshipper/subject. A little too close to home for him, and would honestly be too boring and basic for him.

-He loves it when you dress up for him in pretty little outfits, be it lingerie or something more cutesy, he adores it regardless. Going out of your way to pretty up for him is a huge turn-on. He also loves it when you let him dress you up how he likes. Regardless of what you're wearing, it's not coming off the whole night. It will get ruined and he won't apologize for it. Besides, he can just replace it, right?

-Sex is more fun for him, but he can be intimate when he wants to be. Usually, when you're in control, he is at his most gentle. Yes, he's a brat when he bottoms and he'll fight you tooth and nail, but once you get him to submit he's the softest and sweetest you've ever seen him.

-He looks at you like you're the god, wide eyes taking in everything you do with such admiration it might make you crumble on the spot.

-He's much quieter, treating it less like a spectacle. Moans soft and squeaky, like he's not used to using his voice in such a way. He clings to you like a vice at each little movement, almost afraid you might disappear if he lets you go.

-Oh, and he praises you so much. 'So good', 'Thank you', 'You're perfect', and 'I love you' all tumble from him with such genuine gratitude.

-Being allowed to let his guard down and have you take control is cathartic for him, which is why it's so uncommon to have it happen. It's why he fights you for control so hard because this is an intimacy he isn't used to. It is hard for him to allow you to see him so weak, but you never use it against him. You're so very sweet and loving, and it makes him melt like butter in your grasp.

-If you have the bite I mentioned earlier, it only makes things so much more intense. Both of you can feel the raw emotion connecting the two of you, making the pleasure heighten further.

-In fact, when he gives you the bite it's the first time he allows you to top him. To connect you to him makes him very vulnerable, so he would naturally have to be in a vulnerable state already when he does so.

-It's unlike any of his other bites, it's far more painful when he initially bites down, but when his magic flows through it your body feels light and airy. The pleasurable feeling wrapping itself around your spine, and you feel what he's feeling. All that adoration pours into your being at once, and it's overwhelming to really feel how much he loves you.

[sirfrogsworth]

I'm still getting comments from people saying they've never seen Mr. Rogers.

It's clear this is my mistake. I really thought I made it clear I was just using that as an example. People are exposed to miniature photography all the time. Mr. Rogers was just a very strong memory for a lot of folks and I was trying to use that to gain interest. But after so many comments of that nature it seems I failed to convey that.

People also question the psychological aspect. I was really hoping to do an in depth explaination of the psychology of perception as an addition to this post. But shortly after I started feeling horrible and I never got around to it.

But there is one fun fact I found that I was really excited to share.

It is theorized that up to 90% of our visual perception is created by our brain based on past experiences.

Up to 90% of what you are currently looking at is your brain using old information to help you make sense of the immense visual input.

It is constantly making shit up and it makes me wonder if ghosts and UFOs and strange phenomenon are often caused by this.

You can look up Richard Gregory's "visual assumption theory" if you want to go down a rabbit hole.

There is also top-down vs bottom-up processing which is really fascinating too.

Top-down is stuff you've already experienced. It helps you read faster. You can see words instead of individual letters. Y_u ca_ ev_n re_d when letters are missing. Sometimes you will not notice misstakes or or duplicate words. Your brain can actually correct them as you read if you are not actively searching for them.

Bottom-up processing is new stimuli. Your brain has to figure out what it is looking at from scratch. I remember just a few weeks ago I saw a photo showing a perspective I have never encountered before.

At first, my brain literally didn't know what I was looking at.

I was confused and disturbed and I was just trying to interpret all the shapes and features to parse what I was seeing. And finally my brain noticed the hooves and teeth and then magically I saw a horse. And now when I look at the photo I can't not see a horse.

Basically everything we've experienced (or not experienced) influences our present perception. There is too much stimuli in the world for our brains to compute so it fills in a lot of blanks as we go.

People wondered if you hadn't seen Mr. Rogers (or the countless other examples of miniatures), would you still see tilt-shit photos as a miniature. And I'm not really sure. That would be difficult to prove. Once you've seen a stop motion movie or a toy advertisement, your brain already has stimuli to work from. It's going to use it if it has it in the data banks.

I think it would be a matter of intensity. I noticed that some folks mentioned certain tilt-shift photos did not give them a strong feeling of being miniature. Whereas I had a very strong sense of that for every photo. Probably because I have studied this a great deal and have absorbed countless examples.

So I would say you *might* still get a sense things are miniature without any previous experiences. There are other factors in tilt-shift photos that contribute to the effect. But once you have those experiences, they are going to inform and intensify your perception from then on.

The short answer is... a tilt-shift lens.

The slightly more complicated answer is... Mister Rogers.

Depth of field is the area in front and behind your chosen focus point that remains in focus and then slowly gets blurry as you get farther away.

Shallow depth of field only has a narrow slice of the image in focus and gets blurry super quick. This is caused by a large lens aperture and being close to the subject.

Deep depth of field can extend through the entire picture if your aperture is small and you are super far away.

Usually the depth of field lines up with the image sensor of your camera. So if it is tilted forward, the plane of focus matches.

The stuff outside the green area would be blurry. The edges of the green would be slightly blurry. And the dashed green line would be the sharpest area of the photo.

But the tilt-shift lens allows you to create chaos with your plane of focus. In most cases, you would use this to flatten the depth of field so you can get a 2D plane entirely in focus.

If you were to use a normal lens, the bottom left and top right would be blurry.

But with a tilt-shift lens you can do this.

The green area is taking a little nap on the floor.

However, there is an unintended side effect created by this lens. (The "Scheimpflug intersection" if you want to go down the rabbit hole.) You can choose absolutely wacky planes of focus that create a very narrow depth of field over a geographically large area.

Believe it or not, this is when psychology comes into play.

And possibly Mister Rogers.

Our only reference for such a large area having a shallow depth of field is our memories of miniatures on TV. So Mister Rogers and Thomas the Tank Engine trained our brains to see this effect as... small.

Depth of field shrinks the closer you are to something. And when filming miniatures, you are placing the lens close to the scene. But the scene represents something big in our minds. We buy the effect, but not 100%. That blurriness wouldn't be there at a regular scale. So our subconscious remembers we are watching small things pretending to be big. It just files that away in the back of our mind.

And then when we see something like this...

Our brain is all, "Look at all that tiny shit!"

Without Mister Rogers, our brains may have never made these connections and tilt-shift photography may just make us wonder why everything is all blurry. That connection to past experience is vital for this effect to be convincing.

Brains are neat.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I think Voldemort’s resurrection was botched

I was always of the belief that Wormtail messed up the resurrection ritual and that Voldemort’s body wasn't supposed to look like that. Voldemort didn't mind his appearance too much, but he wasn't supposed to look like that.

I was rereading the graveyard scene and found possible evidence for this reading:

Voldemort looked away from Harry and began examining his own body. His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat’s, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness. He held up his hands and flexed the fingers, his expression rapt and exultant. He took not the slightest notice of Wormtail, who lay twitching and bleeding on the ground, nor of the great snake, which had slithered back into sight and was circling Harry again, hissing. Voldemort slipped one of those unnaturally long-fingered hands into a deep pocket and drew out a wand. He caressed it gently too; and then he raised it, and pointed it at Wormtail, who was lifted off the ground and thrown against the headstone where Harry was tied; he fell to the foot of it and lay there, crumpled up and crying. [...] Wormtail’s robes were shining with blood now; he had wrapped the stump of his arm in them. “My Lord . . .” he choked, “my Lord . . . you promised . . . you did promise . . .” “Hold out your arm,” said Voldemort lazily. “Oh Master . . . thank you, Master . . .” He extended the bleeding stump, but Voldemort laughed again. “The other arm, Wormtail.” “Master, please . . . please . . .”

I mean, why did he throw Peter like that right after examining his body? Literally, the only thing going on before he does this is Voldy examines his new form, and Peter whimpers off to the side. And after he throws him away he goes over to call the Death Eaters.

To me, this reads like a quick violent reaction since he's unhappy with the results. This looks like a punishment. Why would he punish Peter for giving him back his body unless he got it wrong?

The main flaw with this interpretation is that Harry describes Voldemort’s face as "exultant" which is a sort of extreme joy, usually about a triumph — a positive emotion. This could be attributed to him being happy for having a body at all or, perhaps having a hard time controlling his new form's facial muscles and the expression coming off weird.

But I do admit that if he's unhappy I wouldn't expect his face to be "exultant".

But then again, why did he throw Peter like that when he wanted to use the dark mark? Or if Peter did good, yk? You don't punish someone who does something well, so it's really weird. If he just wanted to get him closer I'd expect it to be phrased a little differently. Like: "and then he raised it, and pointed it at Wormtail, who was lifted off the ground and thrown at Voldemort's feet" since he wanted to activate the Dark Mark. But that's not what he did.

Just thought I'd point it out as a piece of evidence towards: Voldemort didn't look like that before he died the first time.

(I think he looked a little off, not saying he didn't. I think his eyes might've been red even before, but he had hair and looked like a sickly human (not a snake!) in the interview with Dumbledore in 1967 (I think he didn't look as bad as in the interview either because of how Harry describes his appearance) and he didn't make more Horcruxes between then and the night he killed the Potters, so it doesn't really make sense he'd look snake-like before his death)

[lustlovehart]

Oh wow, the Modern! Monster! TWST AU is so good <3 Now I’m imagining how it would go down with the other dorms.

Influencer!Reader heading to the savanna to investigate rumours about an ancient cursed tomb. Exploring through the vast chambers of the tomb, they come across an elaborate sarcophagus. “I bet there’s hidden treasure inside.” Reader tries to open it to no avail. It’s too heavy. Kicks the lid half out of a genuine attempt to get it to budge and half out of frustration. The good news: it actually worked this time. The bad news: the lid didn’t so much budge from Reader’s kick as it did fly open through the actions of the occupant of said sarcophagus. Reader is now face to face with a pissed off mummy, glaring daggers at having his rest disturbed. Reader, with a smile frozen on their face, slowly backs away…and makes a run for it. Scooby-Doo esque chase scene ensues.

Chat: “Who’s the actor? Looks uncannily similar to depictions of that one dead prince I saw in history class. Kudos for research!”

Ahh, I love this interpretation for Savanclaws's version ( ˘ ³˘)♥ Since so many people enjoyed the Modern Monster!Twst, I do plan on writing the rest of them if people are still interested!

Cw: Mostly just Leona x Influencer!Reader, but the others are mentioned, Murder, Reader low-key flirts with Leona even though he just killed their friend

Maybe you go in there having set up a fake tomb, one with your friend stashed inside so you can coincidentally open the cover and have them pop out. When you enter and set your sights on the coffin, it looks a little different from when you last saw it... The gold trimming is more extravagant, and it looks a lot more expensive... Whatever, if anything, your friend must've been really set on making it as realistic as possible; it'll make the video even more believable!

Then, when you get to actually opening the damn thing... It won't open. You even put down the camera to get a better grip on the cover. No matter what you do it just won't budge...!

"Gosh... This is embarrassing..." You swore it was way easier to open this thing before. Then, you finally kick it! and nothing happens... "Damn it, what are you doing in there-!" before you can even say your friends name, the tomb shoots open, and you're met with a person.

He's wrapped in bandages, threaded with real gold, though blood and old age wear down the luxurious style. His eyes are covered with a faint glow of green behind the cloth. and... are those lion ears on his head...? they're pierced, which you didn't think animal ears could- Why does that matter?! He's looking at you with murder in his eyes-!

"What the hell are you doing?"

...

You slowly step back, picking up the camera and looking at the chat as you record him. It only serves to piss him off more.

"Raw"

"Till his bandages come off"

"He looks a lot like the prince from my history class. Good casting"

"Can I cast him as my groom? To like, my wedding."

Well, if you die, at least you have footage of a dead prince look alike...! You think...If your streaming career fails, maybe this is what makes you famous...?

He steps out of the coffin, tilting his head as his bandaged tail swings back and forth. If you could see his eyes, you're sure he would be glaring daggers at you. Actually, he probably is.

You're about to ask him if those ears and tails of his are real. Better yet, that you sorta had a film set up here. But then you look to your side, the tomb you originally set up propped on the wall.

Blood covers the prop, the lid tightly sealed. When you look back to the man, he laughs once, a flick of his hand opening the cover. Your friend, dressed as a mummy, all sign of life seemingly sucked clean from them.

...

Why do you keep killing all your friends!?

"You gonna end up like them?" You can sense the confidence in the mummy's answer, his feet slowly stepping closer to you before he's face to face at you. You're so shocked your body can't move, even when he places a hand on the nape of your neck, his mouth leaning in, slightly jarred. He's ready to suck all vitality from your body, but then he pauses. "Wait... you're-"

You break free from his grasp, tripping over nothing, and despite his deep voice shouting at you to stop, you don't. Even as your surroundings turn to sand, bandages emerging to grab hold of your limbs, you run.

Not without recording this epic chase, of course. If you don't, no one will see!

You're just about to make it when you trip over your own foot. You don't even have the chance to fall before he catches you, wrapping you all in his bandages.

Oh, come on! You already have to deal with ghosts, zombies, and a stitched up corpse in your own home. This too?!

No matter how hard you shake in the cloth, you can't break free. His hands reach out and pull you in, chest to chest. He looks at you like he's inspecting some fine treasure with a close eye, centimeters away from your face.

"You're that human Ruggie and Jack watch."

...

You should be freaked out that other monsters know you too, but... You can't help but feel flattered you're known in the monster community. Even if they're the things you fake hunt in your videos...

Well... fame is still fame.

You fall back in his arms, having the beast follow along. Your back hits the wall, both your chests still touching as the mummy cages you between his body and the sandstone.

"Tell me more." Despite the fact he could very easily suffocate you, whether with his hands or controlled bandages, you continue your ministrations. You look to the side, making contact with your camera lens that faces the two of you, recording the interaction.

Sometimes, it's good to change up your content.

... Little do you know, on the other side of that camera, your other diligent monster followers watch a Mummy Prince, that they know all too well, practically breathe in your scent. Well, that's not fair at all... It’s no matter, they can always just commission you to come to their haunted locations too :)

[queer-froggit]

i'm ending it here because i'm boutta be here all day lol

ramble under the cut!!!!

lust's friend group is very tiny because everyone judges him for his job, but they're also all sanses so they're like "eh, not my problem" and really just ignore him, and even besides them lust has to work to get people to respect him. horror and lust are frenemies because they HATED each other at first sight- horror was very vocal about his prejudices and lust doesn't take shit from anybody. however, they're both old men just trying to get through their hell of a day without killing themselves, and they find common ground in that (same thing with lust and cross, except for them it's more lust teaching cross how to take himself seriously and turning into rivals instead) in my interpretation, lust dated a lot of people before realizing he was aro, with blue being his longest relationship. a lot of shit happened, but they're besties now.

horror and wine are frenemies because lthough they relate to ecah other, they do it in a "i pity you way", which pisses them both off. horror could never work for the royal guard, and i like to think horror takes his brother to move in with farm after leaving nightmare. it's basically saejun teaching him how to be a person again, and i think geno and farm would also make nice friends, since "old men who have finally learned to be content with what they have" trope. speaking of geno, i think he HATES reaper, like hate hate. i still haven't read aftertale, my only sources are analysis and pages out of order, but it just feels right to say? reaper likes pissing people off, so he sees geno as a pal because of this hate.

reaper and wine are dreams mentors, since reaper was supposed to have an appearance in dreamtale. reaper is more of a "using to learn your god powers" mentor while wine is "using your societal power", but they basically teach him that not everyone is going to want to be buddy buddy, and that's not something he should see as a failure (since they both have gone through the horrors). wine sees black as a more upbeat version of himself, but nox is always trying to be an opp, so he sees to reason to be friends. also they all hate fell because they think he's lazy and all bark yet no bite lol.

dust and fell are obviously friends in canon, but i feel like they especially relate because of their feeling of being trapped in hell and having to be guarded all the time (they're SO 30 for 30 by sza coded it's ridiculous), and if not romantic, i think that feeling can get familial. horror sees fell as a fake though, because he thinks underfell is just "undertale but they say fuck", so he thinks fell is all talk while he knows he wouldn't survive a DAY in horrortale (no one would), but dust and horror are friends, so horror forces himself to tolerate fell and give him advice about surviving (but more in a condescing tone).

sci and fell are a secret third thing because i could see them being siblings, rival friends or romantic (curse you cpau) so idk. same thinf with wine and cross because they're both royal guards who have gone through dictatorships, so they should relate to each other, but tehy're both bitches so they would probably be enemies, but them sparring would be so perfect???? maybe like a "my mentor is a bitch but it's to train me to do better", which works perfectly because cross is always trying to get people to see him as a superior, and wine always feels superior (but it's to do the same thing as cross), so wine talking down to him riles him up enough to try and beat him, and they can both let their stress out when they spar :) (they eventually realize that they've been living in a dictatorship where rheir leader has been incredibly selfish, don't worry)

swap and blueberror... idk how to explain it. i think they're very jinx and ekko coded. blueberror is the more hyper and blunt version of swap, and swap has to calm him down sometimes, but they would be besties because they bounce off of each other 👍

nightmare and ink are colleagues beacuse i said so :) ink is nightmare's equivalent of people watching video essays as background noise. also nightmare wanted to study fresh because he sees him as an anomaly (someone whose emotions he can't read, yet feels uneasy around him, depsite not knowing who he is), but then learned like one thing about him and decided not to open that can of worms. fresh just thinks nightmare is weird.

i think that's it... thank you for the chart sign!

I FORGOT TO ADD THAT HORROR AND SWAP ARE IN A QPR AND CROSS AND DREAM ARE BESTIES! IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU KNOW THIS (also blue and cross are frenemie)

Ship chart but it’s not a ship chart it’s a friendship/found family/QPR chart

[dawnatdaybreak]

EDEN 4164616D Lyric... process??

hello :) I wrote the lyrics for EDEN 4164616D on MACHINA MORI and a few other people are doing little lyric analysis/writing process things and I was like hey! I could do that! if you have your own analysis of these lyrics that might differ from how I wrote them initially: do not let my "official" interpretation make yours any less valid! feel free to share your analysis before you read this (or after!) if you want, I like to see what people think of my writing! but the main thing is that whatever EDEN made you feel, my intended meaning should not take that away from you

there are a few things I might keep a little secret for now because I might still be working on some lore that will be revealed later ;) but I'll talk about the main writing process and ideas I wanted to convey with this song in and of itself and you can dig into the lore later once it's done!

Giving content warnings for: Biblical imagery, talk of mortality and death. Analysis is all below the cut!

First of all, the little disjointed "a-a-a-a-ah" at the start was an intentional idea from me! I wanted it to sound kind of like a startup sound or like Rei was initializing her vocals for the first time. The background "ah"s later on were entirely Dav-P's doing though I cant take any credit for those! I can suggest you give them a careful listen though :)

The entire song is written to be directly from the perspective of EDEN's Rei, and I had something of a narrative in mind for it. It's a story as much as it's a song, and I put a lot of parallels in some of the verses between each other that I had a lot of fun with. I love writing I love words I love music I love this song!! I really am so glad I got to write it.

undefined Adam electric amalgam sparks intertwine in this vessel of steel sculpted in your image what am I?

This first section doesn't have a whole lot to dig into, it's mostly setting up for something later on and giving the impression of EDEN's Rei at initialization and how she feels (or rather, doesn't.) The use of the phrases "this vessel" and "sculpted" in place of the more human terms she will use for herself later in the song is very intentional! "Undefined Adam" is a very early lead in to the biblical imagery I used occasionally throughout the song, and also sets up the very basic premise of how Rei views herself and the world she is being born into: she is to humanity as Adam is to God, a new being made in the image of man as man was made in the image of God.

I cannot be one of a kind show me everything I want to feel the wind on my face the sea against my skin if you'd call it that

This section is largely also here to establish Rei's feelings, but she has a few more of them to dig into now! She is capable of want and what she wants is to feel, even if her wanting that shows she already has the capacity for it. She has this desire to experience the things that humans wax poetic about, the sea breeze and the waves on your skin. "If you'd call it that" refers directly to the mention of skin- Rei is a machine made of metal, so it's hard to really say if skin is what the surface of her body should be called. She's humanizing herself to an extent here, but she's also backtracking, putting that distinct separation between her body and a human body even though her initial instinct is to call them the same.

hello world teach me how to fly make me feel alive I don't know what am I? trapped in endless time

Hello, world! I was honestly worried that line would be a bit of a low hanging fruit and everyone was going to use it, but I couldn't resist it. And I'm glad I did put it in after! I'm pretty pleased with the second use of it but that's getting a bit ahead of myself.

This section is largely about Rei "waking up" more, coming to terms a bit more with her feelings and circumstances. She wants to learn what it means to be a person, but not necessarily "human"- there's still a big divide between her and humanity that should become clearer as the song progresses. "Teach me how to fly" is largely metaphorical here, but there might be something fun that comes of that in the lore later if you want to stay tuned for it ;) "Trapped in endless time" refers to the immortality of machines. Rei does not think her time on Earth will ever end, and while she knows that separates her from humanity she isn't really sure what that makes her.

hollow and heartless emptiness I can't fix somehow I find you reflect in me oh make me in your image divine light

"Hollow and heartless, emptiness I can't fix" is meant to show how Rei views herself here as empty and lacking in a heart in both a literal and figurative sense. She views herself as incapable of doing anything about this because she lacks the power over herself that her creators have over her. "Somehow I find, you reflect in me" is in reference to a common trope I may have borrowed for this, in which an android/machine's creators won't treat them with any sort of kindness or love no matter how human their creation is meant to be. EDEN Rei's creators view her as a means to an end and nothing more- her heartlessness is reflected in them. "Make me in your image" and its variations will be a recurring phrase, once again intending to draw on the biblical imagery of humans being made in the image of God. "Divine light" further refers to this- Rei views humanity and all of its facets as divine and unreachable to her without outside intervention.

the way I see you I want to be seen too strip away my inhumanity oh make me in your image heart and mind

This entire section is meant to establish how Rei wants to be seen as a person and granted the respect humans have for each other. She is made so similar to a human, but she is still not owed the respect being human commands, so she wants to be more similar to her creators. There is still a separation between her and them, hence, "make me in your image, heart and mind".

I cannot forget how she cried the stars in her eyes I want to know how did she catch the divine? is her dream lost to time? should I make it mine?

This is yuri by the way. The "she" referred to here is largely a secret for now, but she is someone Rei fell in love with, and she is also a machine. "How did she catch the divine?" may imply that this other machine actually grasped the human emotions Rei has been chasing... but "is her dream lost to time?" implies there wasn't a happy ending to this story. The main takeaway from this for tying into the rest of the song is this: Rei has loved someone, and that someone is now out of her reach.

hello world or is this goodbye? did I do this right? I don’t know why am I running out of time?

Hello, world! I actually wrote this section before the other hello world section, and "hello world, or is this goodbye?" is probably one of my favourite sets of lines I wrote for this song. This is meant to be a somewhat direct parallel to the earlier section- where before Rei was "trapped in endless time", she is running out now. She isn't sure how much time she has left or if she has any at all, and she doesn't know whether she's used any of her time existing effectively. There's meant to be just a bit of fear or grief in the lyrics here: where before Rei's "I don't know" was in the context of not understanding the world around her and being inquisitive about it and her place in it, it's now in a context of not being sure she lived up to whatever expectations she found for herself, and not being sure she has enough time to change any of it.

burn with a new flame agonizing outbreak I don't want this but I'll never escape unmake me in your image I won't fight

"Burn with a new flame, agonizing outbreak" refers to the sudden and painful experience Rei is having with her own mortality, and is meant to imply anger or hatred towards the creators who made her feel this way. "I don't want this, but I'll never escape" as well as the "I won't fight" is here largely because despite everything she is feeling right now and her newly realized anger, Rei is not going to fight the fate she sees laid out in front of her. "Unmake me in your image" is to indicate that Rei knows she is about to be destroyed, and she's accepted this.

poetic irony everything denied me finally felt just a moment too late unmake me in your image why do I cry?

"Everything denied me, finally felt, just a moment too late" is another of my favourite lines I wrote for this, possibly one of my favourite lines I've written in general. "Everything denied me" is emotion, "just a moment too late" is indicating that it doesn't matter anymore. Despite her acceptance of her fate, Rei is hurting. She asks "why do I cry?" which is as much a question of why she is literally crying as it is a question of why it hurts so much to feel the things she has viewed this far as divine.

tell me how I'm meant to feel tell me if my heart is real make me what I wasn't meant to be tell me why, god, why? tell me why, god, who then am I? tell me why

This section includes the vocals that continue into the last two sections and is meant to kind of be the last few questions Rei has about her creation and destruction. She was built with the capacity to feel, but what was she supposed to do with that? If she is able to feel, does that mean she truly does have a heart? "Make me what I wasn't meant to be" is her final way of rebelling against her creators: she still wants to be human, to be divine, even after everything. The final questions are to do with her death. "Tell me why" is a demand for answers to everything. Why was she made? Why does she have to be unmade? "Who then am I?" is the question of who she is now, but also who she was supposed to be from the start.

pre-defined Adam electric amalgam fingers entwine in my body of steel you unmake me in your image  scrap and wire

We get to revisit the first section now! This is a direct parallel to how Rei felt at the start of the song, while also showing that she is being disassembled in this moment. "Pre-defined Adam" in comparison to the earlier "undefined Adam" is to show that Rei knows now that who she was supposed to be was decided for her. "Fingers entwine in my body of steel" is meant to evoke the idea that someone is actively taking her apart in these last moments, and also parallel the earlier mentions of her body as "this vessel". Rei has come to view her body as hers, as opposed to just a vessel as she did at the start. "Scrap and wire" is simply what Rei knows she will become after she is taken apart.

mourning my own fate artificial heartbreak why do I love if I'm made just to hate? you unmake me in your image I don't want to die

This is probably my favourite section from the whole song I'm very proud of it. "Mourning my own fate" is fairly straightforward: Rei is about to die and she has to mourn herself. "Artificial heartbreak" mostly just sounds cool but also has to do with that grief, and in part to do with how Rei still doesn't view herself as human but instead as something else. "Why do I love if I'm made just to hate?" seems to be a line people really liked but unfortunately I can't say much about what it means here... it might have something to do with the circumstances around EDEN Rei's creation though! The rest is mostly more of the same and also self explanatory. Despite everything she has been through to reach this point, in her final moments Rei views herself as alive, and she doesn't want her life to end.

The scream at the end was also my plan and is meant in part to parallel the "startup sound" at the beginning! It's also where Rei dies, being fully disassembled by her creators. Although, maybe her consciousness could have escaped somewhere...? Been uploaded, maybe...? ;)

so yeah that was long and some of it was probably a lot more in depth than it needed to be but that's my writing process and main ideas for EDEN 4164616D! I really am proud of how this came out as a song and as a narrative, and I hope if you were interested enough in it to read this far you'll also be interested enough to keep an eye out for something that may or may not be related to it that might crop up either shortly before or after the MV releases!

if you're at all curious about anything else I didn't talk about here feel free to send me an ask about it!! I love talking about my writing process and seeing what people liked and disliked about what I made (and talking about anything else too!) so I'd be happy to see what people are curious about :)

[fearcutsdeeper]

Hi, I’ve really been enjoying your Temeraire posting! I saw in the tags of one of your posts recently (I think the one about the Laurence+Rankin friendship era in book one) that you read Laurence as autistic and the idea really tickled my brain! I’m a new fan of the series and I haven’t thought of him that way before, but now that you pointed it out it makes so much sense. I was wondering if you’d be willing to elaborate a bit on that reading of his character? It’s a super interesting idea and I’d love to hear more of your thoughts if you feel like sharing!

Absolutely!!! The first time I read the books I was really flying through them and too caught up in the character arc I could feel taking shape before my eyes to really dwell on the character as he is, if that makes sense. I'm reading more slowly this time and really considering his thoughts and actions in context, and they feel... like, very relatable to me in a specific way.

(Disclaimer: this is a personal reading, not trying to claim this is an objective truth about the character or anything, etc)

One thing about the way a lot of people discuss autistic or perceived-as-autistic characters is that they'll recognize them as autistic based on straightforward expression of symptoms/traits that you might read off a list. This isn't doing it wrong or anything, and the characters in question can easily be read as autistic! But those aren't usually the characters I see myself in.

I'll pretty often start seeing a character as autistic not because they're outwardly showing symptoms, but because their behavior strikes me as learned compensation for symptoms. Data from Star Trek is very frequently seen as autistic coded not just because of his frequently expressed lack of understanding for social conventions but also because he then explicitly writes himself new subroutines to account for what he learns. A lot of autistic people (including myself) go through their lives kind of accumulating "scripts" – like, oh, I seem to have missed that X was a signal, but the person's reaction tells me that the appropriate response would have been Y. Next time I encounter X, I will do Y.

Now, Will Laurence builds his ENTIRE LIFE around the elaborate rules of British propriety and honor and duty. He tells us that he enjoys Society – "conversation, dancing, and friendly whist were his favorite pursuits". All three things listed are, in Georgian wealthy society, things with a strict and learnable structure and rules – he likes when what he's supposed to do is clearly laid out for him! He's in I think his late thirties when the series starts. I'm basically reading him as an autistic man who realized that people didn't make sense to him the way they did to other children and then spent his entire life Learning The Rules so no one would notice.

Every time he's engaging with propriety and Proper Behavior, he's thinking very consciously about it. And when someone else violates his understanding of the rules, he's internally scrambling for the proper response, because his script has been disrupted. (My personal favorite it when he'll go "the only satisfactory response would be a challenge to duel but I'm not allowed anymore")

So, he's been doing this all his life, he's learned all the rules for the life track he's put himself on (which is a highly structured one!), and then, boom, the plot hits.

The Rules of aviator society are totally different. Laurence is affronted and scrambling. I find it notable that Berkley basically plows right through Laurence's attempts at propriety and immediately starts talking to him like he would any other aviator, and it WORKS. Laurence is kind of taken aback, because his rules would interpret the way he's being spoken to as an insult, but Berkley certainly isn't acting like he means to give insult, so Laurence doesn't respond like he's received one. There's also the bit where he notes that the woman serving him has violated protocol by greeting him instead of being silent – but he returns the greeting and isn't offended.

He's mirroring like hell! (This is a common autistic trait.) He's working out what the expected behavior is and returning it as much as he can manage. And when he's with Rankin, he reverts to his society scripts, with so much relief that he ignores some warning signs.

And this makes his whole arc of disillusionment with the British Government SO interesting, because Laurence, I think anyone would agree, takes the honor that the government pays lip service to dramatically more seriously than most members of the government and Admiralty. And, until he gets the truth shoved in his face, he has enormous trouble conceiving of that. It really reads as autistic to me – like, what do you MEAN the elaborate system of morals you told me to structure my personality around is only window dressing to you? It's sure as hell not window dressing to me!

In this reading, in addition to all the other incredible things that his story is about, it's also about an autistic guy becoming increasingly uncomfortably aware that the systems of rules and parameters which he painstakingly learned and have successfully guided him through most of his life are fundamentally in conflict with each other, and eventually being forced at gunpoint to decide which of those rules really truly matter, throw out the rest, and rebuild from scratch.

Which is to say: my man is in hell. At least he has a dragon?

[hollybrooke]

First chapter of the sociopolitical interpretation of the minecraft lore i’m writing, rest of the story will be on ao3! :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58970947/chapters/150328720

Steve goes up to the village and he’s totally a normal guy there is nothing odd about him anyways he needs to buy a bunch of illegal things.

The bell above the shop’s door chimed as he stepped, tiptoed, through the threshold of the entryway. He was assaulted by the smell of mint, lavender, and fresh air whisking its way into the store from the open window by the front counter. The interior always had a homey feel to it. Soft lights, floor rugs, burning candles, and hanging vines adorned the interior of the retailer.

Glancing around, he took in the sight of an underwhelming selection of goods. Hmm, that’s strange. It was a smaller shop, but the shelves were stocked full of books, herbs, and miscellaneous trinkets. Well…usually. Seems like they’re running out of stuff. Looks like there’s still plenty left in stock, but he’s never seen so much vacant space on the shelves before.

Alright, get the brewing ingredients to make the potiony stuff for Willamine and get out before having to talk一

“Steve!”

Oh god dammit.

Steve quickened his pace to duck in between shelves. “Oh, hey…hi, Makena, didn’t know you’d be working today,” he dismissed as he perused through the aisles. Specifically the ones out of her line of sight. No ulterior motive there. His gaze trailed along jars of herbs and bottles full of vibrant dyes that glittered from the golden rays of sunshine peeking in through the shop’s windows. Please leave me alone please leave me alone plea一

“This is my shop. I'm like the only one who works here,” Makena countered. She twisted her way through the aisles to meet the disheveled traveler halfway through her store.

The store seemed much brighter with her now in view. Her sunny yellow sweater livened up the space. A sunbeam glittered against the woven pile yarns. Interesting choice, pairing them with mauve dress pants but hey, Steve is no one to tell anyone about fashion. He got scolded regularly for his wardrobe choices.

The place was a small hole in the wall, sort of mom-and-pop joint, that carried your usual essentials like herbs, tools, textiles, nothing special really. But they also carried just enough of the other kinds of goods that the bigger more monitored retailers wouldn’t dare carry. Another reason to like this little middle-of-nowhere village. No one paid attention to the rural poor folk growing wheat and smithing a few swords maybe. Made it much easier to believe a few of them wouldn’t be smuggling treasonous ingredients.

Tariffs, embargoes, and a full-on ban on potion brewing, magic, fun, etc. made certain products harder to find than others, let alone buy. The Overworld was in a political, control-hungry chokehold hellbent on squeezing the life, power, and resources out of anything still left to their own devices. But what is Steve gonna do about that? Actually go to hell? The Nether isn’t great this time of year…or any time of year. And the End isn’t much better.

And today is not the day Steve wrestles a creeper for gunpowder. He'll buy it from the smuggling rubbernecker whose eyes follow him on his way back home a little closely. Thank you very much.

Steve continued to weave through the aisles, browsing at the items on the shelves. Gunpowder, gunpowder, gunpowder…

“Where've you been?” The girl peeked her head into view of the aisle Steve was browsing.

Steve sighed. “Oh, yanno, just around.” He picked items off the shelves and investigated them at random to make himself appear busy. He wasn't in the mood for conversation.

“Around?” she pressed with a curious smile on her face.

“Yeah, well, yanno from place to place, always places to be…hah anyways一“

“What kinds of places?” Makena interjected.

Steve deflected her question. “I’m looking for gunpowder, the uh一fine stuff for brewing yeah? Have any in stock?” Finding where she rearranged the goods for the millionth time was always pulling teeth with her.

“Always business with you.”

“I’m a busy guy.” Steve swished a glass bottle of herbs in his hand, studying the ground leaves swirling inside the container. The crushed plants became more vibrant when a brilliant ray of sunshine reached toward the bottle from the window.

“Surprising. You being familiar with brewing that is,” she elaborated. Makena placed her fingers around the neck of the bottle and plucked it from his grasp. Steve flinched when their fingers brushed each other. The bottle was placed back on the shelf with utmost care.

“It's not your business.” Steve shuffled his way down the aisle to find something else to aimlessly pretend to care about.

“Humans and witches don't necessarily get along. Makes those sorts of things very hard to come by.”

What was she getting at?

“It`d be a shame if you knew one who could actually brew potions. Even worse if they say, I don't know, shared some potions for a discount? Free stuff from here? It'd be terrible really,” Makena rambled to the other.

That wasn't happening. Willamine would totally do it if Steve wasn't there to intervene. She had no impulse control and saw strangers as an opportunity to make friends. Strangers were an opportunity to get shot. Especially if they were a naive witch with an optimism problem stuck in a cave city for their entire lives. Steve didn't entertain Makena`s proposal on account of how stupid it was.

He was the only other one in the shop with her so he had the pleasure of getting all of her undivided attention. He detested attention.

Makena twisted the knitted fabric of her yellow sweater in her hands. “We’ve been hoping you would stop by, actually.”

“Oh, is that so?” Steve replied. Whatever she was playing at, he wasn't interested.

“Yeah, you see, we need a bit of help with a bit of a situation.” She continued to fiddle with the yellow yarns at her midsection.

“Hm...shame I can’t stick around,” Steve dismissed.

“A job. A, uh...quest if you will,” she pressed further.

“No.” Steve attempted to shut down Makena’s efforts for his coerced participation in events that would cause destruction and conflict under his name. He’s had enough of that for one lifetime. And Serephine still had him ‘running errands’ for her. If they could even be called that. He had enough on his plate.

“Steve一” the village girl pleaded. Her desperate deep brown eyes bore into him. Do not let her guilt trip you.

“Absolutely,” Steve started.

“If you would just hear一“ She tried again.

“Not.” He finished. No way was he being peer pressured into something stupid again like a creeper wandering too close to their blacksmith. Or like that time their ‘golem was acting up’ and all he had to do was clean out the redstone chamber. Or like that other time that a spider made a web inside the bell tower. This village needed to learn how to solve its own stupid problems. Steve was not their gun for hire for menial projects with simple solutions.

“一us out.” She deflated before him.

Makena set the gunpowder on the counter in front of Steve rather dejectedly. At least she got the hint. Steve opened a small, worn leather pouch and reached for his money. Her eyes downcast, she opened the drawer. “Twenty,” she said with no emotion left in her voice. Her spirit dripped out of her before Steve`s eyes. He tried his damnest to not feel bad but he just couldn't keep helping them. It drew too much attention. She placed a hand out for the silver coins. He tilted his hand to let them fall into her grasp. She looked miserable. Don't you dare feel bad he reinforced to himself.

Steve grabbed the box of gunpowder and then made a beeline for the door. “Thank you.” He flicked his hand in the air towards the shopgirl on his way out.

Makena closed the drawer. “I’ll be gone by next week. Most of the town will be too. I’ll leave some gunpowder in the back closet for the next time you stop by. On the house,” she called towards the exit.

What was that supposed to mean? Steve stopped dead in his tracks, turning around to face her. “What?”

“Things have been getting worse…we're all packing up and leaving this week, coupla’ convoys towards the big city. I know it`s already under rule there but at least it's safe there. For now,” Makena explained. She leaned forward to rest her arms on the counter. Her fingers slid back and forth to twirl a spare piece of hair resting on its surface.

“I’m not following,” Steve spoke as he cocked his head to the side.

“I mean, yeah, we kinda figured. You’re not really the ‘travel in numbers’ sorta guy一didn’t really expect you to follow us to the city.” Makena gave a dry laugh at him, a sad smile taking over her features.

Steve gave the girl a puzzled look as he readjusted the crate.

“No, I mean what’s going on?” He asked more firmly.

“You’ve been traveling一said so yourself. It’s not just our village; it's everywhere.” She was studying the lock of hair in her grasp with a bored expression. She let her body melt into the flat surface to rest her cheek on her folded arms. The rest of her hair slipped down onto the shiny counter. A light breeze rustled the stray pieces as it blew in from the window above her. She looked defeated.

Steve didn’t understand. He had to be missing something. How could one of the only truly free settlements be relocating? Certainly, they wouldn’t be safer anywhere else.

Living above one of the last remaining independent mob settlements had unknowingly given them protection from the Brine family’s conquest of the overworld. Sure, they didn’t know that, but they had to have at least figured out they had some sort of immunity given they had always been left alone despite the rest of the human population centers having been absorbed into Brine territory. And now they’re leaving one of the last regions safe from the glowy-eyed mafia? Stupid. They didn’t know it was stupid, but it was. The worst part was that Steve couldn't even explain why this was a terrible play in the tedious game of chess the Overworld civilizations were competing in.

If these people left, they would be taken care of rather quickly by authorities. And not human authorities.

“What do you mean? You’re all just…jumping ship?” Steve set the gunpowder down on the hardwood and approached the despondent shopkeeper.

“Nautical pun! Hah, that’s, uh, bad timing, man.” Makena cringed at him.

“What?” he questioned the girl.

“Why was the timing for your joke bad?” She gave him a trivial expression. It was weird that for once he was the one who lacked information. Normally it was the other way around with the villagers.

“No, why the hell are you all leaving?” He clarified.

“Strength in numbers. We’d be safer, especially since our Sheriff skipped town.” She threw her hands up. That was apparently a sore spot for her. Wait wasn't Makena seeing the sheriff? Or was it the town clerk? Steve tried to avoid any sort of involvement with the village from a social standpoint. Nonetheless, pretty low class for the Sheriff to skip town if there was some sort of threat.

He still didn't have the full story. Or any of it. “Makena what the hell are you talking about一whatever you think I’ve seen一I haven’t?”

She studied him. Her gaze pierced right through him. “You seriously don’t know?” She landed on.

Steve shook his head.

“Well…the pillagers are making more frequent stops here. Few rogue enderman are really upset with us? We’ve never had issues with them, but these ones are weird: dressed differently, acting strange, causing trouble for us, is all. And it just seems the ocean is at war with everything that’s not in the ocean, so, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would’ja?”

Oh, so this was less of a stupid problem and more of a terrorist problem. She should have started with that. He had a gut feeling the enderman and drowned were probably looking for them and not a human village.

Given the circumstances, this was likely a Steve problem because it was technically a Haggstrom problem. And any Haggstrom problem is a Serephine problem which she always handed off to him. This was a Steve problem now, wasn't it? Great. Well not the pillagers, Haggstrom had nothing to do with them. Those guys were probably just bored but it would be an easy fix. He could make quick work of idiots with bows. Historically, the pillager tribes that hung around these parts had terrible aim anyway. Maybe that one could be a Shiloh problem, Steve’s dad was great with bows.

The purple sparkly enderman, a species known for being some of the most cunning warriors who could also teleport because why not? then the warring seas taking their conflict to the surface would be a much more challenging fix. Still his responsibility though. Ugh. Dad should have kept them in the mountains. The only thing that tried to kill them there was the snow.

“The endermen and the pillagers I can fix. Probably,” Steve resolved with an apprehensive breath of slight certainty. He had no idea what he was getting into but when did he ever?

“And the ocean?” Makena sounded hopeful. Too optimistic. If she’s seen the things Steve has seen…

“Yeah, I’m not fighting the ocean.” Steve shook his head. “You guys are on your own for that one.”

One problem at a time. And the ocean was kind of more of his mom`s thing. Steve and Dad did stuff like this and Mom handled everything under the water. Steve would ask Serephine to send a wire down to his mom about her war getting a little too close to home.

“Okay, never mind. The angry water zombies then一“

“Hey, that's offensive,” Steve interjected. He liked the angry water zombies. They were on good terms.

“We are so relieved that you'll help with the endermen and the pillagers!” A sigh escaped Makena. The tension softened from her body, whisked away by the promise of salvation from a world she and her village couldn’t hope to understand in any way that meant anything in the perspective of their everyday, mundane lives.

“Look, I’ll stop home, talk to a few of my…colleagues, then I’ll be back at nightfall to see what I’m getting myself into. All I need from you is to keep everyone inside tonight.” Steve placed the box on the floor and began rifling through his bag distractedly.

“Tonight, huh?” Makena leaned in. She batted her eyelashes with interest at Steve`s plan. Oh, not her too.

“Yes, I’ll be back tonight with more supplies to get a better idea of the whole situation going on here,” Steve answered her.

She responded with a pensive look and another go at a strand of hair. “Funny. Always say you’re not from around here, always say you’re just passing through, traveling, and that home is very far for you. And yet you can stop home and come back within a few hours,” Makena stated一accused.

Shit.

Deflect, diffuse, abort, adjectives that also meant avoiding open communication, etc.

Steve sputtered to come up with some sort of explanation as a lifeline. He met her gaze with wide eyes. His hand slowly raised from his bag, “I, uh,” he cut himself off. He blinked several times and started again, “Well, you see, I一” He placed a hand on his chest to make his explanation seem more sincere.

“Lied?” Makena cut him off. She directed a devious yet curious smile in his direction. After trying to pry information out of the elusive traveler to no avail time and time again, the victory of chipping away a tiny piece of his rough exterior felt good.

He pursed his lips, fiddling with the strap of his crossbody. Steve’s gaze wandered around the store and he shifted on his feet several times.

“I don’t have any answers to the questions you have. I’m just around sometimes, and that’s all you need to know.”

“I feel like you at least owe us some answers,” Makena countered.

“You asked me for help. I’ll tell you what you need to know. I never lied about being a traveler. I’ve seen more of the world than you have, and I can tell you it’s dangerous. If I tell you any more than that you could be in danger. Trust me, it's best if you stay out of it.”

“That`s cryptic dude. Who the hell are you? No, really—” Makena stepped forward to challenge him. She allowed her arms to swing through the air in frustration at the lack of information Steve let on.

“Tell me about the enderman. That’s what I’m worried about right now and that should be our first priority. Pillagers, yeah, they’re mean, but they’re just twisted angry humans which makes them much less of a threat. Now endermen on the other hand, that’s higher on my list.”

“Well, they’re not the normal ones spotted on the miners’ trips or seen late at night lurking on the outskirts of town, these ones are different.”

“You said they were acting weird and dressed weird一how?”

“Well, they’re dressed in uniforms. All wearing the same uniform. Seems military but no military garbs I’ve ever seen. Got the hats, jackets, lapels, the whole nine yards. Normally we leave endermen alone. Sure they take our stuff, but if we turn the other cheek, they don’t take our lives. Now…they’ve started getting closer, approaching, aggression without being provoked, talking to us…that’s not normal.” Makena recounted in distress.

They weren't wearing street clothes and the only uniforms they had in the city were the police and they didn't take calls above the surface. These endermen were not Haggstrom civilians then. Another complication.

“Uniformed endermen, that’s a problem.” Steve pressed a palm into his forehead and then spoke again. “And none of you looked them in the eye?”

“No!”

Steve stopped. “Wait一you said they talked to you. What did they say?”

“Nothing we could make heads or tails of,” she dismissed.

“Maybe I could. Makena, I need to know what they said,” Steve begged of her. He hated begging people for things.

“Not like it'll mean anything to you but they kept asking for us to ‘let them in the city.’ That they ‘came for the city’, and they needed to be ‘granted safe entry.’ But Steve, we are in the middle of nowhere. If they’re looking for a city, there’s got to be some sort of mistake. They kept asking to speak with our leader, some duchess or a ‘Serephine,’ but obviously, there’s been some sort of miscommunication because the closest thing we had was our sheriff who turned tail as soon as we suggested he go make contact since our mayor is still bedridden,” Makena rambled, the cadence of her voice became ever more frantic with each syllable.

“Have they hurt any of you?” Steve asked with a serious tone.

“Not bad. Roughed a few of the tougher ones up but…I think if they really wanted to hurt us, kill us, they would. I think they’re lost?” She asked out loud as if trying the theory for herself.

“Nope, they’re definitely in the right place…They just don’t know how to get there. And if Serephine hadn’t mentioned a squad of Enderian soldiers coming to meet with us, and if they were, they certainly wouldn’t be traveling topside. We’d just open our portal for them so they’d already be in the city.” Steve paced the wooden floorboards and tapped his index finger on his chin.

Makena laughed in both fear and disbelief.

“Steve, what are you talking about? What’s going on?” Makena looked terrified. He didn't blame her. These people had nowhere to go. The safest place for them to be would have been Haggstrom but they struck out given they were human. And Steve was a…special case.

“I think it’s a trap,” he concluded.

“You think the endermen are trying to trap us? If they wanted to do that, wouldn’t they have done so already?”

“It’s not a trap for you,” Steve said with grave words and a hardened expression. He clenched his fists at his sides.

“What are you saying?” she pried.

“That you need to keep everyone inside until I give the all clear. I’m going to speak with Serephine and figure out how to handle this without anyone getting shot. I’ll be back as soon as possible. Do not make contact with the endermen. Stay inside.”

“Who’s Serephine? Ugh, never mind!” Makena let that question go in favor of sharing something else. “There’s one other thing. Our men cornered one of the endermen. It didn’t teleport away, it just…cowered. Like…like it was afraid? Then the enderman ran off into the tree line.”

“Ran. Not teleported,” Steve confirmed.

“Yup. It dropped something too,” Makena sidestepped to reach a satchel at the other end of the wooden counter to rifle inside and remove a small flat object that reflected against a ray of sunshine. “It seems like some sort of identification card? It’s written in common which surprised us all, we thought endermen spoke their own language. Maybe this will help you and Serephine, whoever she is,” Makena handed over the shiny badge to Steve.

Steve accepted the small card and studied it. He turned the card between his fingers, playing a few tricks with the tiny object before flicking it out between his pointer and middle finger to be at eye level.

“Atticus Kingsetter,” Steve read aloud. “What are you doing here? And why didn’t you teleport?” Steve murmured.

[tlatollotl]

@kholexcx I had a whole answer written out for you about the Toltec and West Mexico. But I tried saving the post as a draft while I tried to understand why my 75 page West Mexico bibliography on Google Doc was apparently deleted. By the time I found an archived version on the Wayback Machine and made a new Google Doc, my draft was apparently not saved by the Tumblr app it is now lost. So, I have switched to my laptop and will try and remember what I wrote.

I took a screenshot and reblogged this because I want more people to see what I am about to write in case they don't check the comments. My intention isn't to at you or call you out.

One of the interesting things about West Mexico is how the idea that the Toltec were some sort of dominating force in Mesoamerica collapses under the weight of scrutiny. When one looks at the archaeological record of West Mexico and compares it to Central Mexico there is no evidence that the Toltec had any sort of influence in the West.

None.

Nada.

Zip.

"But wait!" you may exclaim. Why do some things look Toltec in the West? Why do the artifacts start looking Toltec from their previous weird and odd shaft tomb tradition aesthetic?

The answer is that the West and Central Mexico were settled by migrants from the Bajio in Guanajuato, Queretaro, and Zacatecas. Starting in the 6th century, a long term drought hit northern Mesoamerica. This forced the inhabitants to do one of two things: chance subsistence strategies from only agriculture to a mix of agriculture and hunting and gathering OR leave.

A number of them did chance subsistence strategies. Eventually to the point where some of them were mostly hunting and gathering with some agriculture (AKA Chichimecas by the Late Postclassic). But a heck of a lot of them decided to leave. How did they know where to go? Well, the Bajio was along the trade routes connecting Mesoamerica to the American Southwest and its precious turquoise. A lot of the turquoise that made its way to Mesoamerica did so more to central and southern Mesoamerica, but some of it did make its way West. So, the people of the Bajio packed up and followed the trade routes eventually settling in areas like Tula, Hidalgo and the Atamejac and Tequila Valleys of Jalisco. Because these groups came from a common point of origin, for a time they continued in parallel despite the distance between them and lack of communication. Eventually, they diverged enough to become distinct. That's why we have the Toltec in Hidalgo, the El Grillo in Jalisco, the Aztatlan in Nayarit, and El Chanal in Colima.

In West Mexico, these migrants displaced, killed, or integrated with the previous shaft tomb tradition practicing peoples (Teuchitlan Culture, Ixtlan del Rio, Comala, etc.). We're still not clear what happened exactly, only that everything changes in the archaeological record. Different ways of making pottery, differing ways of making tools, different tools, different mortuary practices, different public architecture, different domestic architecture, different settlement locations. Everything. All of it. There is, as far as we can tell, zero continuity between the Classic and Epiclassic periods in West Mexico.

The REALLY interesting thing about grappling with the Toltec's lack of exertion is taking a critical eye to Chichen Itza. And let me tell you, it is a house of cards on a foundation of sand of bad interpretations.

And that is the great thing about West Mexico. It forces you to not be myopic and only concentrate on your small area. Instead, you need to look more broadly. You need to understand the variation and similarities across Mesoamerica in order to make more sound and grounded interpretations of the archaeological record. It's why I love the area and do my best to try and get people interested in it. Although, I am a poor salesman and probably don't do the best job of selling it.

If you are interested in reading more on West Mexico, here is a newly published Google Doc of my incomplete bibliography on West Mexico.

If you want to know more on Jalisco and the Epiclassic, I suggest the following publications by my former MA advisor Chris Beekman. You should be able to get most of them on researchgate.net. But if you can't, send him an email and tell him that Tony sent you asking for PDFs. Or DM me and I'll send them to you.

Beekman, Christopher S.

2019 Migrations in Late Mesoamerica, edited by Christopher S. Beekman. University Press of Florida.

Beekman, Christopher S.

1996 El Complejo El Grillo del Centro de Jalisco: Una Revision de su Cronologia y Significado. In Arqueologia e Ethnohistoria de las Cuencas del Occidente de Mexico, edited by Eduardo Williams and Phil C. Weigand, pp. 247-291. El Colegio de Michoacán, Zamora.

2015 Causes and Consequences of Migration in Epiclassic Northern Mesoamerica. In Migration and Disruptions: Toward a Unifying Theory of Ancient and Contemporary Migrations, edited by Brenda J. Baker and Takeyuki Tsuda, pp. 73-96. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Beekman, Christopher S., and Alexander F. Christensen

2011 Power, Agency, and Identity Migration and Aftermath in the Mezquital Area of North-Central Mexico. In Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration edited by Graciela S. Cabana and Jeffery J. Clark, pp. 147-174. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Beekman, Christopher S., and Alexander F. Christensen

2003 Controlling for Doubt and Uncertainty Through Multiple Lines of Evidence: A New Look at the Mesoamerican Nahua Migrations. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 10(2): 111-164.

Do you want to tell us about Western Mexico in Mesoamerica?

It's an older meme I made, but it holds true. I could talk for hours if people let me. Especially if I had a screen to share images, show citations, etc.

But instead I will take this opportunity to address many of the tags in the reblogs asking why West Mexico has been ignored.

There's no definitive answer as to why, but more just a collection of small reasons that has resulted in a different historiography. Other than the Kingdom of Tzintzuntzan, there were not large states for the Spanish to conquer. It was much more fragmented, politically, culturally, and linguistically, than other parts of Mesoamerica.

To add to that, after the Mixton War of 1540, many parts of West Mexico were depopulated as a result of the war, enslaved and sent east, killed as retribution for participating in the war, or fled to other areas of Mesoamerica (such as the mountainous areas to the north of the Chichimeca area of north-central Mexico).

There's also the colonial and historic history of Mexico to consider. Mexico City was the center of New Spain and later the country of Mexico. So the focus was on Central Mexico, as a political center, trading center, and cultural center.

After the revolution about a century ago, Mexico began building its nationalism and part of that hinged on the history of Central Mexico (and also the Maya, who have a long and drawn out conquest history, history of rebellions in the colonial period, and general resistance to anyone that isn't Maya) leaving many areas of Mexico's cultural heritage to languish.

There was also a misconception about West Mexican archaeological potential beginning in the late 19th century. Because there were no large states other than the Kingdom of Tzintzuntzan, it was assumed there had never been states before the Postclassic. So one really tried to look for settlements and surface architecture. Instead, interest in the region stemmed from the ceramic figurines most often looted from shaft and chamber tombs located underground.

Those are some of the big ones that come to mind.

[bayleavesfromthevine]

What's your top 5 windbreaker characters!

Oooo! I love this question! 1. Kaji - He's my absolute favorite in the series. There's something so emotional about watching him struggle and fail time and time again via his backstory & chapters 123-129. We're introduced to him as someone similar to Sakura, only more realized in his role as grade captain & in Furin as a whole, but then we're slowly shown the lowest moments of his life and how he's worked to come back from them.

He quite literally hates himself (or has hated himself in the past) and yet he still chooses to have trust in his friends when they tell him that they don't view him the same way that he views himself. I also appreciate how that support/"the power of friendship" didn't automatically "fix" all of his insecurities, but rather they're something that he still grapples with on the daily & that the support he's received gives him the space, confidence, and safety net to work on himself. It's realistic and makes him feel like he still has so much room for growth.

I also think it's beautiful how he tries to mentor Sakura so that he doesn't make the same mistakes Kaji made, or fall into the same mindset he did the year before. You can really tell that he's trying to impart all of Hiragi's teachings onto Sakura and it's such a heartwarming way to watch a character pay it forward.

(I have a HC that Kaji's blinding rage episodes are the result of a brain injury/head trauma that he sustained from a fight during his childhood. Someone please take him to a doctor for some scans, I beg.)

Also, I'm adding a cut here because this is a long one lol

2. Tsubaki - (For the record, in my heart Tsubaki is she/her, but the series uses he/him pronouns so I'll use that for the sake of clarity and to not cause confusion.)

Tsubaki is quite literally everything and honestly we need a spin-off manga where he's the protagonist. Tsubaki quite literally steals EVERY scene he's in, I cannot be bothered with other characters whenever he's on the page and I cannot wait until he's animated. The fashion? The pole-dancing?? The being in love with Ume??? I hope they end up together in the end, that's the only ship I really want to become canon (for context, I usually don't like when ships become canon because then ship wars and arguments happen and it ruins all the fun lmao).

Also, the way that Tsubaki's theme of living in a way that is truthful to yourself & not trying to suppress who you really are (i.e. gender expression) is juxtaposed with Suzuri's theme of wealth inequality and obtaining basic human needs (i.e. food & things that make life worth living) is beautiful to me because having them see eye-to-eye and relate to each other in the end is ultimately (in my interpretation) the author saying that even though these two themes look vastly different from each other, they are both basic human rights and they are both necessary to be alive. Like, their arc was political as fuck and I was SO moved by it. I should probably go into that more and bring in specific examples at some point because I know I didn't do that great of a job explaining it lol.

Also, Tsubaki's fights are incredible like? pop off girlie, eviscerate a man in your high heels as a treat, you deserve it <3

3. Sakura - MY SON. MY BOY. MY FERAL CAT CHILD.

Sakura is such a great protagonist. His development is slow and authentic, which speaks to how well he's written, and his history is so mysterious. There's so much that we don't know about him and I'm thoroughly enjoying having information revealed little by little. Not only does it give us the chance to theorize about him and who he was before enrolling in Furin, but it also (to me) reads as a trauma response. We spend most of the series in his POV and him not revealing his backstory is indicative of his unwillingness to recall it. We only get flashes of his past when they're relevant and paired with how that trauma is starting to heal in his new circumstances (i.e. remembering his lonely summer vacations in the past as he's about to go to the beach with his friends. Or explaining how isolated he felt via that tightrope analogy just as he realizes that he doesn't need to live that way anymore & can safely exist with others who care for him).

I love seeing how he grows to care for others and empathize with them. He's so different now than he was in the beginning of the series and I just wanna give him all the hugs.

4. Umemiya - Ume's philosophy about food is my favorite theme in the entire series: food tastes better when you eat with your loved ones & we are all made up of the foods we eat and the people we meet. (At some point, I also wanna write about how the theme of food plays into the story, but today is not that day.) It reminds me of this quote I read forever ago from one of those Michael Pollan books LOL: “Cooking is all about connection, I've learned, between us and other species, other times, other cultures (human and microbial both), but, most important, other people. Cooking is one of the more beautiful forms that human generosity takes; that much I sort of knew. But the very best cooking, I discovered, is also a form of intimacy.” ― Michael Pollan, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

Also this: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates

I love how he uses food as a means to connect people and build his family. I would love to see him have a genuine conversation with Suzuri at some point.

My biggest fear with Ume is that, because of his role at Furin, at some point he's going to have to be removed (either by graduating and leaving on good terms, or via some crazy action conflict). The series is very calm right now, and even when there are enemies, we all know that Ume is only a phone call away. But removing him would destabilize everything we've grown attached to thus far. So much hinges on him just being present, which is part of why I adore him so much as a character.

5. Suo - Suo is a little fucker and I love him to the moon and back. He's so respectfully disrespectful in the most hilarious of ways and I cannot wait to know more about his backstory. Is it probably the most tragic out of everyone's? Yes. Am I ready for it? No. Do I still need to know it right tf now? Also yes.

It has been pointed out how Suo never eats with the others, which definitely connects to Ume's/the series' broader themes about food and eating together as a means to build community. Suo does feel the most emotionally distant out of everyone, clearly hiding something, and I imagine that the moment when we finally see him eating with the rest of the cast will be intensely emotional.

Also, I'm probably wrong about this, but I do NOT think that motherfucker has anything wrong with his right eye. I think he wears that eyepatch to mess with people, as is his right. I support his gremlin nature.

For the record, if we knew more about Kotoha, she'd be on this list because I absolutely adore her. She also compliments the main themes of the series and expresses them through a non-Furin perspective, which tbh I think this series needs more of. I think we need to see more of the town/community that our beloved main characters fight so hard to protect, especially when it comes to moving the plot/Sakura's development along. (This series also needs more women, but I digress LOL)

[theresattrpgforthat]

Sci-fi games with minimal crunch - ideally that can be played solo, or at least converted into solo play!

THEME: Solo Sci-Fi

Hello there! I definitely have a bunch of solo sci-fi games, so I tried to mix it up a little bit - there's some games with space and aliens, but others that focus on other elements of sci-fi, like androids, the digital world, and time travel! I hope there's something here that works for you.

Tranquility Outpost, by KingDunnad.

Tranquillity Outpost. Humanity’s singular moon colony, located in the Sea of Tranquillity. Last week, you stopped receiving messages from Earth. From what you can tell, it doesn’t look good down there. Help who you can and we’ll all thrive here.

This is a tarot-based solo journaling game where you will take on the role of a moon outpost’s administrator while grappling with emotions of your own. It explores themes of grief, loneliness, hope, altruism, and the ways we can raise each other up.

This game uses the Major Arcana to represent each visitor, representing the kind of archetype they represent.These archetypes might be relational (the Father, the Child, The Leader) or they might be more related to societal roles (The Priest, The Patient, The Addict). The Minor Arcana are separated into four different piles, representing your character's current emotional state.

When you meet a visitor, you draw a card that represents how you're feeling when they visit. The Minor Arcana card that you draw will flesh out the themes of the visitor's request, but much of the suggestions are rather broad, which I think is very fitting for a tarot-based game.

Altogether, Tranquility is a highly interpretive game, so if you want to take the over-arching themes given to you and make a personalized story, you might like this game.

The Vacant Lot, by Invisible Cuts.

In this small solo game, you are a Vacant Lot, an android left to wait out in a tower after the end of the world slowly becoming sentient.

As you define who you are by your acts of violence, in relation to what you've learned of 'people' on 'the net', you will create a unique encounter to be used in your Corp Borg or Cy-borg game.

The Vacant Lot is combat-focused as well as descriptive: your stats are ambition, base programming and self-awareness, which feel very narrative, but you also have Rage and Energy, which can build or be depleted as you strive to avoid failure. The game requires three different-colored d6s; you place these dice on a wheel that represents your personality, and ink it in as you play.

The pattern by which you ink your wheel will connect to various advancements, such as extra damage, control over other machines, or an increase in motivation.

This game can be paired with a multiplayer game by turning the Vacant Lot into an encounter in either a Corp Borg or Cy_Borg game. I really love games like this, that can be paired with a group game down the road, although I don't think that you necessarily have to do that for this game to be fruitful in itself.

Net Divers, by Reyes Makes Games.

The digital landscape runs far and deep, some say there is a piece of all of us hiding somewhere. It is your job to collect those pieces, no matter how deeply buried they are. And this new job has perhaps the most obscure information yet. Its location is fragmented across the Net, and it is up to you to track down these pieces and the final hiding place. Do you work alone? Is this a favour or a task bestowed by something greater than you?

Net Divers is a solo tabletop journaling game about scouring the web for a secret. It can be used solo as is or adjusted for use with other game systems requiring research or Net Running. It is inspired by games like Hypnospace Outlaw and Welcome to the Game.

Net Divers is great for folks who like their polyhedral dice; it uses a good number of different sizes to roll for various stats and tables. You have three tracks: Stress, Peril, & Net Instability, which will all affect how well you're able to navigate the netscape and recover the fragments that you need to find.

When it comes to narrative and randomness, Net Divers has a nice mix. Your mission, the websites you visit, and the number of fragments you need to find are all randomly generated, but your user's personal details, like their name and their wallpaper, are all under your control.

Thematically, I think Net Divers is both an homage and a lament for the early internet, when it was interconnected, free and full of creativity.

Project Benthos, by Meghan Cross.

You are a member of the Biological Team for the Exploration and Examination of the Natural Terraquan Habitats of Obscure Subnautical Species, more colloquially known as Project BENTHOS, an elite research team devoted to uncovering the mysteries held at the bottom of the ocean. You and the other four members of Project: BENTHOS are stationed at The Forge - a first-of-its-kind ocean floor research station, equipped with everything needed to support life on the ocean floor for a four month deployment.

Earlier today, one of your colleagues left The Forge on a routine sea walk. It is now several hours past the time they were supposed to have returned and a tremor of anxiety is beginning to shake the station. There is only enough equipment for one person to go out in search of them, and it has been determined that you will be the one to go. You have four hours of oxygen, a finicky GPS unit, and a vague idea of where they were heading, and that is going to have to be enough. As you step into the airlock, you make a promise to them and to yourself - you will bring them back to The Forge, or die trying.

Project Benthos uses a deck of cards; you toss them around your room to replicate the sea floor, which feels like a very dynamic way of inviting play! It feels like there is the potential for horror, although the game is not categorized as such. I suppose that it might be a horror game if you want it to be. Since this is a journaling game, I suspect that most of game play has to do with drawing prompts from the floor and figuring out what they mean for you.

Stellanati: First Contact, by Drone Garden Studios.

Not much happens in the sleepy town of Annabell, Texas. Which made the bright light and thundering crash on your property in the middle of the night all the more surprising. You discovered a wrecked machine and an injured creature. Being the kind-hearted soul you are, you take in the creature and try to nurse it back to health. It shares with you visions of its home-world, which is desperate to return to.

But how can you get it home if you don't even know how to heal it?

Stellanati: First Contact is a game based on the The Wretched, which has been popularized as the Wretched & Alone game engine. Most of these kinds of games are expected to end in horror or tragedy, so don't expect a happy ending for you or Stellanati.

For this game, you need a deck of cards, a d6, a bunch of tokens, and (optionally) a tumbling block tower. Each house of cards represents a different kind of theme surrounding the care of an alien being. You technically have a chance to succeed, but in order to do so, you need to avoid drawing all 4 kings and having the tumbling block tower fall down on you before you can get Stellanati to full health.

If you want the experience of interacting with something alien from yourself and you like giving your characters a terrible time, perhaps consider Stellanati: First Contact.

Maintenance Log, by Damn Golem.

Maintenance Log is a solo rpg. You are a maintenance engineer on a decrepit colony ship.

This is a game with a lot packed onto two pages, revolving mostly around ticking tracks and trying to manage a number of problems all at once. Fill the wrong track too quickly, and you could alter the ending of the game, which inevitably comes once you've borrowed enough energy from the cold sleep pods.

One thing that gives me Traveller vibes about this game is the fact that your age determines your expertise: the younger you are, the more time you have to do maintenance on the ship, but the less equipped you are to deal with problems. You can only work until you hit your 70's, which limits the time you have to keep the ship running.

Maintenance Log doesn't have to be a journalling game, but it can be if you want it to be. If you want a game about managing resources as best as you can in the loneliness of space, then you might like this game.

Close the Loop On Your Way Out, by the_spongmonkey

Use a mysterious time device to travel in time and grab random items in your vicinity. Uh oh, now strange and dangerous things are trying to kill you as a result of your temporal meddling! Use those items in inventive ways to prevent your untimely demise. If you make it out alive, just make sure to return those to when/where you found them. That's right, CLOSE THE LOOP ON YOUR WAY OUT!

Close the Loop On Your Way Out feels like a lighthearted game, even though you're racing against the consequences of your actions. There are three stages to this game: the initial romp of finding random items, the consequences of meddling with time, and then your mad dash to try and put everything to rights.

The bulk of the game is focused on dice-rolling, but I think that if you want to add to it, you can journal all of your attempts to put things back together before the timeline falls apart.

Some More Thoughts..

If you want some more solo sci-fi offerings, here are some runners-up I was considering!

UFOs over Varginha, by Nekyia TTRPG.

Escape Velocity, by Euan.

Countdown, by buttersmooth.

Redshift Blueshift Generations, by Dallas J. Haugh

Digital Nightmares, by Uncharted.

If you like what I do, you can always leave a token of appreciation at my Ko-Fi!

[tamamatango]

(Lack of) Anime News Update: Sadly, I was right to be skeptical

THEY TOOK ALL MY COPIUM

A few months ago, a rumor emerged about the new Keroro anime project being a series in 2025 and a movie in 2026. I did a longer write-up on it here, but the tl;dr is that I said there was a chance due to the usual reliability of the leaker but that it could also be a misinterpretation of another source. I leaned toward more likely than not (hopium perhaps), but I did advise caution and to not strictly take it at face value.

I guess that was the right call because, well, here we are mid-February. The spring anime season starts in about a month and a half. And…no official news. Zip. Nada. The waiting game continues, it seems.

So, what was that Oizaki quote about? We don’t have hard confirmation, but my guess is that the spring 2025 series part was about a completely different seasonal anime Oizaki is directing set to begin in April. (Yes really I know the premise sounds ridiculous but it’s an adaptation of a light novel, sky’s the limit with those things.) This was revealed back in December. As for what the movie is, it seems to be still unknown. My guess is either an original project or something involving Kaleido Star, which also had a major anniversary recently. The interpretation of the Japanese that the series and movie were connected was in hindsight a mistake, but I wasn’t the only one to propose that reading, and it could’ve gone either way. Gotta love/hate ambiguity.

I could go more into how I think this mix-up happened but then I’d have to talk about twitter anime leaker drama, and while I am unfortunately pretty knowledgable about this subject, it is not fun to talk or read about so I’ll spare you the details. The main conclusion I have is that this account was not deliberately trying to trick anyone and rather just made an assumption and reported the info before actually checking against the evidence because they really wanted to be fast and get interactions, especially because a perceived to be competing account reported a less sensationalized, more accurate version a few minutes before. SugoiLite’s sources aren’t usually publicly visible but this time they pretty much played themselves.

What does this mean for Keroro, then? Personally I still think there will be a series (for reasons I explained in my post from last spring about the whole reveal) and I still think it will be this year, but in either summer or fall. That will have been at maximum a year and a half after the announcement (summer season starts in July, fall in October), which gives it a pretty standard anime production time, assuming the teaser trailer was released during early production. As for the movie? There’s not as strong of a reason to speculate that happening, but next year is the 20th anniversary of Movie 1, so the timing would line up pretty well. That’s just based on vibes, though, rather than any evidence at this time.

Look, I’d be pleased as punch for the Keroro PR account to prove me wrong tomorrow, but I’m quite confident that we lost the coin flip on this one. Before you get too down in the dumps, don’t forget that two major dates are around the corner: AnimeJapan in late March, closely followed by the next anniversary on April 3. I think we will see some kind of preview or at least a progress update around that time. If not…then maybe I’ll start worrying a bit about the chances of it making this year, but we’ll cross that bridge if and when we get to it. So hold onto your butts for just a little while longer! I think!

[zolo-san]

#this hits the nail on the head of a lot of concepts i’ve bee struggling to concisely phrase myself#i would like to see how law’s resistance to being ordered around by luffy factors into this interpretation#he doesn’t like being told what to do or having decisions made for him#even if it was what he was gonna do anyways#and this SPECIFICALLY comes up with luffy#also his general pretty naive lense on wanting to wrangle luffy into his own logic#instead of appreciating/respecting luffy’s way of doing things#it’s kinda an interesting point when you consider how similar luffy is to corazon yk?#and how law interacted with corazon#op if you see this id like to see your thoughts on that

@gatheryepower

oooo that's actually something really interesting that I didn't really think about too much until you mentioned it I think there are probably several contributing factors to Law's dislike of being given orders, especially when coming from someone like Luffy (oops I had to make this a read more because I rambled for too long again~)

First of all I think that Law is a pretty fiercely independent person - he sort of has to be to be a captain - but I think it goes a bit deeper than that I think that Law's need to be independent and make his own choices/act on his own will and I think that stems from a very intense need for control (this is also probably why I think Luffy can drive him a bit crazy at times, because Luffy is very much not a person who can be controlled) When Law was younger a lot of control and self agency was taken away from him in a lot of ways Fist there was the sickness of his town, then his sister, the death of his family and friends, and general eradication of the town - through all of that he could do absolutely nothing to stop it, despite desperately trying to Then there was his own illness - there was nothing that could be done and at a very young age, Law had to resign himself to death (tho I don't think he every truly did, he clearly wanted to live, he just felt it was hopeless and I think that his false resignation to death as his fate was him grasping for some control) After that, there was Corazon's death - another thing he had absolutely no control over despite all his efforts I truly think that Law suffered a lot from feeling helpless as a child and at every turn, he's tried to take back control when he can I think that's what lead him to where he was when he joined Doflamingo's family His declaration that he wanted to destroy everything and everyone he could before he died was one of desperation - Law was very clearly looking for something he could do, some control he could have over everything And I think that's also a contributing factor as to why Law is, and enjoys being, a surgeon It allows him to have some control over life and death~

So, as a result, I can't help but feel like being in control of his own decisions and actions is something very important to Law He has to feel like his actions are his own (I think this is also why being a pirate really suits him, because he's definitely not someone who could stand to sit still and let a corrupt government tell him what to do)

And I think it's this need to be the one to call the shot, to make his own decisions, coupled with the fact that he can't control a loose cannon like Luffy, is why he has such a big problem with taking orders from Luffy I don't think that's the only reason, however

Tying back to Law's image of himself as a selfish person and his inability to see himself as "good" I think it's actually really jarring to him to see someone whom he considers to be such a good person, like Luffy, have the same thoughts as him I also think that Luffy inherently knowing that Law agrees with him because Luffy can see that Law is a good person, is also something that is very hard for Law to accept A really good example of this is when Luffy agrees to help Momonosuke at the end of Zou and Law gets upset with Luffy for not checking with him first and Luffy just sort of gives him a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "I know you're gonna agree" as if it's the most natural thing for him to expect of Law

Related to this, I think that Luffy being the type of person who doesn't hesitate when it comes to morally good decisions is another contributing factor as to why it upsets Law when Luffy "makes decisions for him" even if that was what he was going to do anyways I think Luffy's lack of hesitation is something that Law, in a way, envies Law feels like the type of person who can get very caught up in his own head He really thinks thing through and mulls them over before coming to a firm decision and I think part of this is because he fears making a wrong step and loosing control of everything So, as a result, he hesitates Not normally for very long, but he is not the type of person who can truly surrender himself impulse (partly because I really think Law doubts himself at times because he doesn't think he's a good person) Luffy on the other hand, is someone who truly runs on instinct He trusts his gut and acts on it without question And for Luffy, his gut tells him that Law is good and will make the right choice as well

I think that Luffy's confidence in Law as a good person is something else that makes him similar to Corazon He believes in Law without hesitation But I don't think Law sees himself as someone deserving of that but that's another thing that Law has no choice in: who loves and trusts him and weather or not people think he is good He couldn't stop Corazon from loving him and he can't stop Luffy Despite it all, I think Law still tried to have some control over his relationship with Corazon - for the longest time, he resisted him and tried to push him away Just like he tries to maintain control over his relationship with Luffy - trying (and failing miserably might I add) to keep him at arms length and define their relationship as an alliance despite it obviously being much more than that At every turn, he still tries control Luffy and bring him to his level of thinking and logic but it's all futile and I think Law knows that, he just hasn't accepted it yet~

This is also why I think, however, that people like Corazon and Luffy are so important for Law to grow as a person - They push him in a way that forces him to be a little uncomfortable so he can move past his trauma and past his need for control and finally learn to live his life freely

I think there's also a lot to be said about Law needing to properly find his reason for living and what he wants (this is something that Corazon really wanted for him and I think Luffy does too) When Law was younger, he was living to die Then he dedicated his life to getting revenge on Doflamingo After that I feel that Law is almost set a drift and has to find what it is he truly wants Yes he's a pirate, but I don't believe that he has any real interest in becoming the pirate king like Luffy does He became a pirate as a means to an end, but along the way he gained a family that I don't think he every thought he'd have So I am interested to see what Laws real dream is/will be After Dresrosa, it feels like he's very much reacting to the fall out of it all, but he's not driven by any real intense desire What is his reason for living?

Some thoughts on Law and his image of himself

Law clearly has a lot of conflict around being seen as "good" or a "good guy" I think he want to be a good person, and he actually is, but he doesn't see himself that way, so he has a hard time accepting when people try to suggest that he is good And I think that there are several reasons for that

Law and Survivors Guilt

Law clearly holds a lot of survivors guilt throughout his life and I think it takes a big toll on him When he was younger, not only did he out live his parents and his whole town, but he "failed" to save his little sister as well We see him go out of his way to try to save her specifically, but in the end, he's still not there when she needed him the most The loss of his family also lead him down a path of which he chose to be angry and violent (ooooo we love the stages of grief lol) and take out his feelings of guilt and resentment on others despite being raised by a family of caretakers As a doctor, his father put everything he had into trying to help the people in their town and I think that Law would have looked up to him and wanted to be just like him, but after everything that happened something really broke in him I can't help but think he would feel bad and like he failed again after he moved past the angry violent reaction - just like I think he later felt quite a bit of guilt over stabbing Corazon after the fact Corazon tried everything to save Law and gave everything to him and I think that that too would add to Law's feeling of guilt, especially because it took him so long to realize that he had been too guarded and untrusting to see that Corazon was genuinely trying to help him Once he was able to accept and recognize that, however, Corazon ended up dying shortly after Obviously, Law has a lot of guilt, specifically survivors guilt, surrounding Cora's death Corazon not only risked his life for Law to live, but Law was unable to use his fruit to save him because he didn't know how, then when Law did try to get Corazon help (against Cora's wishes) he managed to "get help" from the wrong person and put Corazon in more danger, leading to his death

Ironically this is not dissimilar to the way his sister died Law had told her to hide while he get help and not only did he not get help, but when he returned, his sister had been killed

I also think that Corazon's confession to Law about being in the navy as he was about to die adds to Law's guilt because he already knew that to be true and I think it hurt him to realize that someone who cared so deeply for him and was literally dying for him still felt bad and was worried he's disappointed him

There's also something to be said about Corazon dying with a smile and the fact that Luffy is also someone who always has a smile on his face, especially when it comes to helping others I think this very much molds the image that Law has of who a "good person" is

Law lived because he knew it was what Corazon wanted for him It was all Law could do for him (I do wonder if there's also some guilt he feels about dedicating the life Cora gave to him to revenge)

Law and Selfishness

I think Law truly sees himself as selfish for many reasons, one being that he was so driven by revenge, and I think he has a tendency to overlook the good that he does because of this

I think he even sees him saving Luffy at Marineford as a selfish act

I think that seeing the efforts that Luffy was going through to save his brother made Law feel that he had failed his sister all over again He would feel that he never tried that hard And I think that it's partly for that reason that he felt compelled to save Luffy

I can't help but feel that Law, without realizing it, was trying to absolve himself of his own "sin" of not saving his sister by saving Luffy I also think the idea of Luffy, after all his efforts failing to save Ace, really broke Law's heart and he couldn't stand the idea of Luffy having to go through something like he did, especially after all the effort Luffy put in

But because of Law's view of himself and his actions as being selfish, I think that Jinbe thanking him for helping Luffy was already too much for him He didn't see his act as selfless or "kind" he saw it as him acting in self interest and I think that's why he tries to present it as such He claims that he essentially saved Luffy because he thought it would be a shame and a waist to let someone with Luffy's potential die then and there, but I think there's so much more to it and I think a lot of it has to do with Law viewing Luffy as an actual good person and something that he's not Law leaves before Luffy can thank him because he doesn't think he deserves thanks

The next we hear of what Law did during the two years that Luffy was training, we hear about his collecting pirates' hearts and becoming a warlord He does this all as part of a plan to exact revenge on Doflamingo and as part of this plan, he leaves his crew behind with no explanation and fully expecting to never see them again (tho he doesn't tell them this) This brings up an interesting fact that even though Law claims he never intended to fight Doflamingo, he also never expected to live through it

I think that Law feels incredibly guilty about leaving his crew behind because he does really care about his crew and I think that lying to them knowing full well he's going on a suicide mission hurts him a lot But I think that despite his choice being fueled by a want to protect his crew, he would feel that it's a selfish choice When he's on Punk Hazard, Law is fully in the throws of pretending to be this other person that he isn't at heart He's trying to be that cold, selfish person he sees himself as, but I don't think he can really do it So I think for this all these reasons, Luffy's mater-of-fact declaration that he is "a good guy" would make Law incredibly uncomfortable I think he sees Luffy as the type of caring, honest, and straight forward person he wishes he could be When he thinks of a good person, he thinks of someone like Luffy - someone like Corazon - who doesn't hesitate to help others at his own risk and would die for his crew and the people he cares about

Luffy obviously shares a lot of traits with Corazon and I don't think that's lost on Law So having someone like that imply that Law is the same as him is something Law can't handle

In addition to this, I think that Luffy's willingness to fight for Law at every turn and his inherent trust in him only adds to Law's feeling of inadequacy next to Luffy And I think that his survivors guilt and the fact that he feels that he's nowhere near as good a person as Luffy are all contributing factors as to why he decides that if Luffy dies fighting for him then he has to die to

I genuinely think that the idea of surviving someone so good like Luffy (and Corazon) again is something that Law cannot handle and cannot allow to happen This is also why I can't help but think that we will see a point where Law attempts to kill himself via his fruit to save Luffy I think Law would rather he die knowing that he insured Luffy's survival than to outlive someone so kind and good Though I think there would be a lot of guilt and conflict here as well I think that whenever we get to this point, it will be abundantly clear to Law that choosing to kill himself for Luffy would also be a selfish act that Luffy would never forgive him for How could he curse Luffy to eternal life knowing that Law died to give it to him?

But regardless of Law's own self image, we see repeated examples of him actually being a good and kind person He has a strong sense of right and wrong and cannot abide injustice, especially the mistreatment of innocent, good people And even if he didn't go about things the best way when he was a kid, this feeling of right and wrong and a need for justice (not in terms of the law but more in terms of karmic, moral justice) was something that was instilled in him at a young age He was taught by his family to care for others in need and to put others before himself And he tries desperately to do so when his town is being erraticated He reaches out to Luffy at Saboady when he sees, in Luffy, the same moral values and the same demand for moral justice and fair treatment of others (something I think is very important to Law given the treatment he faces for his condition as a child) Law then saves Luffy out of compassion for him, whether he's willing to admit that out loud or not He goes out of his way to try to make sure his crew is safe when he goes on his suicide mission to take down Doflamingo and even tries to assure them that everything is fine to ease their concerns When in Dressrosa while he was obviously focused very much on Doflamingo, his plan also helped benefit so many other people in Dressrosa and the world who were suffering because of Doflamingo He also refuses, at every second, to leave Luffy's side and nearly kills himself several times in the process (not to mention taking a beaten and battered Luffy into his care for the second time at his own risk) When they get to Zou, he leaves to get to his crew fairly quickly because he want's to be sure their okay and he accepts their love and happiness at his return with no argument And when Luffy asks him about altering the plan so he can go get Sanji, Law's first thought is of the people of Zou

I think this is partly because he can't stand the injustice of what happened to them, but also because he knows that insuring their saftey is something very important to Bepo since it is his home country and his people (even if he didn't really grow up there)

The people of Zou thank Law for this and he immediately shrugs it off because he doesn't see himself as someone worth thanking (especailly not after he heard of all the good the strawhats did - how could he compare?) Despite it all tho, Law makes room for Luffy - he accommodates Luffy's request because he knows how important it is to him to get Sanji back And again, he does this all selflessly and at his own risk, tho he doesn't see it as such, Law changes his plan to help Luffy and he does so without really any hesitation

There are other examples of Law going out of his way to do good and be a good person despite the image he has of himself (I'm just currently only just finishing up Zou so I haven't gotten there yet, I just know things~)

But in short, Law clearly doesn't see himself as "good," tho he desperately want to be a good person, but regardless of how Law views himself, he is clearly "a good guy"

[pancakeke]

hiiiii can I get a court of public opinion to comment on an argument/my current drama issue? long ass post under the cut

I put numbered questions in bullets under screenshots + explanations. you don't gotta respond to all 12 questions but if you could reply with a number and a corresponding answer I'd really appreciate the outside perspective.

background: my friend and I are both autistic. yesterday he used the term "migrant labor" in a way that I interpreted to refer to an individual. my running gag is to call him a capitalist and accuse him of exploiting people at any opportunity cause he's openly a communist and it's funny to mess with him. he makes jokes back to me and neither of us have ever had issue with this. so i said he loves to exploit migrant workers. his response to insist that I didn't understand the concept of the term "migrant". after accusing me of being wrong a lot and a lot of me trying to figure out what he was talking about, he finally explained that he was talking about "migrant labor" as an economic system, even though I was talking about "migrant workers" as individuals. like I even used a different term so i really don't understand his pivot. but I digress.

before he actually explained what he meant by arguing about the term "migrant labor", my repeated questions about what he was trying to correct led to this:

context: he is canadian and I'm american. we frequently joke about how we spell words differently, but also throughout this conversation he brought up different laws, so I didn't know if he put "labor" in quotes as a joke to discredit the source for being american under the reasoning of "fuck what america thinks about any topic" or he was indicating that the link was american and that meant its information wouldn't apply to canadian laws/definitions that he may have been trying to reference.

I requested clarification for this and other things he said but did not receive explanations. he claims the message in the screenshot provided a sufficient answer.

this is the link i sent him on discord. it is very relevant to this post.

Question 1: do the options I came up seem reasonable or do they seem like wild guesses?

Question 2: you think it's possible that both of my assumptions could be wrong?

Question 3: does his response of the word "labor" in quotes bring to mind an obvious explanation that I didn't consider or mention here?

I again said that I didn't know what he meant and asked for more detail.

he has still not explained what he meant by responding "labor" in quotes and insists that it was a sufficient response that provided necessary context for me to understand what he meant by it. now he is focused on telling me that the encyclopedia britannica is an american publication.

Question 4: is it clear that I was aware the encyclopedia britannica is american before he repeated this information?

Question 5: using your own personal knowledge of the encyclopedia britannica and considering the words making up that URL I shared, do you understand why he repeated this information?

Question 6: given the screenshots so far, do you have any reason to believe that an explanation of the nationality of the encyclopedia britannica provides the remaining context needed to clarify what he meant in the first screenshot when he replied "labor" in quotes?

Question 7: understanding that he was actually making this statement to provide additional context to his previous statement, do you believe it was reasonable for me to follow what he was doing here?

note: my messages time stamped 1:00 is related to the information I had been given before he sent that screenshot. it's not a response to the screenshot.

ultimately this was the whole issue: he refused to believe that my link was credible because it used the american english spelling of "labor" rather than the british english spelling which is "labour". he felt that pointing out the spelling was enough information and context for me to draw the same conclusion.

going back to that link I initially sent: ultimately he made an incorrect assumption from the text of the url. i do not know why the url uses american english, but the actual encyclopedia britannica page only uses the british english spelling "labour" (except when citing book titles that use the american english form). despite being fully capable of viewing the page, he refused to click the link on principle and based this entire argument on the basis that his assumption was correct.

Question 8: do you believe he provided adequate explanation before sharing the the wiki?

Question 9: would you say it's an easy to start with the information "the encyclopedia britannica is an american publication" and conclude that "it is published using british english, not american english"?

Question 10: would you consider it a "direct explanation" that he sent the screenshot without saying anything about it in text form?

Question 11: were you personally able to come to the conclusion he expected me to understand using only the first screenshot in this post?

Question 12: was it reasonable for him to insist he knew the contents of the encyclopedia britannica web page based only on its url?

this is not the first time this friend has done something like this to argue despite quoting "Socratic method" all the fucking time.

Bonus Question: how well would you say my friend employed methods of socratic debate in these screenshots?

[thebiscuitlabryinth]

How do you understand the character's personalities so well?

Writing has always been difficult for me, especially characterization. Even if I look up people's character analysis I can't seem to make sense of it either. They end up being OOC when I try or it just sounds weird :,)

Maybe I'm just dumb but I really want to learn from you, I love how good you can grasp the characters' personality.

ooo now this is a difficult question to answer because. if i'm being fully honest, i'm not sure how I understand them so well either? actually, i'm never fully confident with my interpretation of characters when i first start writing them. that builds up once i get reassurance from either other people or. canon, i guess, in shadowvanilla's case lol

I do put a lot of effort in characterization, though. that's one of the most important things about writing for me, especially fanfics. in a way, all of my fics are, to some degree, character analysis. For me, that requires a lot of very close studying of canon. I'll reread everything at least a couple of times - in shadowvanilla and smilk's case, back last year, I went a bit extreme and ran through all their scenes with at least four different dubs and their dialogues (because i was and still am insane. i did this with the recent updates too) to get an overall gist. then i consolidated the consistent themes and vibes and behold! my understanding of the characters and their dynamic.

i also think that it can be helpful to read other people's character analysis, but it can also sometimes backfire and end up muddying your own understanding if you're not already confident in it. always focus on your own interpretation of canon first. once you feel like you generally understand a character, seeing other people's interpretations can help build on top of that!

also, like i said, sometimes your characterization is actually perfectly fine, and you're just too stuck in your head to realise it. unfortunately, writing is a detail-oriented business, and that leads to problems with perfectionism