#Literally so many that I can't think of any

[serpentface]

Comparing livestock color-words.

Both the Chenahyeigi and Wardi languages are derived from peoples who have been pastoralists for millennia, and both have an absolute ton of words for livestock coloration.

Both languages have had at least some mutual influence for about a thousand years (to varying extents by dialect, depending on geography/trade connection) so you'll see similar or identical words crop up here and there.

THE WORDS:

Hneya - [hne:ʝɑ] or [hne:jɑ] (whether the ʝ sound is retained in speech and to what extent varies by dialect)

Straightforwardly refers to bright reddish-orange color, but is mostly used for animals rather than other orangeish things. The word Was probably influenced by an older form of the Wardi 'reyla', and absorbed with the introduction of orange colored cattle. It may have been merged with the Chenahyeigi '(h)ne', which is the root of several red color-related terms.

Reyla - [rejlɑ]

This is a Wardi word for most reddish-orange hues in general. When applied to livestock, it refers to solid orange coats without spotting/masks/notable countershading.

Fels akhri - [fels] [ɑ:khɾi]

Translates readily as 'storm cloud' (the 'storm' here specifies thunderstorms). When applied to livestock, it describes fur that is rich dark blue-gray with white guard hairs.

Aganne - [ɑgɑ:ne]

This doesn't actually translate to 'night sea' in a straightforward manner, but as a color word it's poetically associated with dark seas, at night or in storms. When used for livestock, it describes this coloration exclusively.

Woud et lleng - [woʊd] [ɛt] [ɬeŋk]

Woud is the word for rich moist soil specifically, lleng refers to laterite and its association with iron deposits. This phrase is used to describe livestock with dark brown heads and and orange-brown bodies.

Tsipanibe - [t͡sipɑnibe]

This would be more literally translated as 'ochred'. Many Wardi words with the -ibe stem from verbs or nouns modified to indicate that the subject matter has 'received' an action or concept. (Examples of such words are long-established linguistically, you can't just add '-ibe' to any noun or verb). This one takes the root 'tsipan' (ochre) and applies it to the subject matter (cattle coloration).

Livestock with a dark brown or black head and orange-brown body are given this description, the idea being that their bodies look like they've been painted in ochre. This word is extremely rare outside of this context (you would usually just say the full 'ochre-painted' to convey this idea for other things)

Drengh yipeg - [dɾeŋg(h) yɪpɛ:g]

This is pretty straightforwardly 'little moon'. Yipeg comes from the same root as the Wardi 'hippe' for 'small', while drengh refers to the appearance of the moons in the sky (rather than the gods they embody). It's used to describe small round white blaze marks.

Ipalen hamita - [ipɑlɛn (h)ɑmitə]

Straightforwardly 'star marked', used for small round white blaze marks. Wardi actually does have a 'moon marked' (ipalen amit) to describe round white blazes that entirely cover the animal's forehead.

Brinyavir - [bɾi:nʝɑvir] (ʝ is retained for this word in most dialects)

This one is not directly translatable, 'celestial' or 'heavenly' just function closely enough. The word conceptually relates to stars but most specifically describes a layer of sky in which the afterlife rests (brinyavir is part of the phrase I translate as 'celestial fields'). The cattle there are said to have these markings. The stars in the night sky are sometimes playfully described as the spots of these cattle (though not literally, in Chenahyeigi cosmology stars are spirit-inhabited bonfires lit along pathways through the heavens).

As a color word for livestock, brinyavir refers to this rare (I Think nonexistent irl) white-spotted black coloration, due to both resembling the stars and the cattle that are moved among them.

Asi inwetadi - [ɑsi in:wetɑ:di]

This directly means 'like night sky', and is applied to this coat pattern with a similar underlying logic- it looks like a starry night sky. You will often see asi (like/akin to) retained in place or animal names like this, and it is sometimes part of names for people (the name Asinya is derived from a contracted 'like the sun').

Ogriye - Chenahyeigi: [oʊ:gɾije] Wardi: [oʊgɾi:je]

This word is (or was) a way to say 'gravel' or 'gravelly' in both Chenahyeigi and Wardi, and is pronounced very similarly in both (with the only significant difference being emphasis)

In Chenahyeigi it is a loanword from the Wardi language family, most likely received in the exchange of cattle of this coloration. It is retained in general speech as a word for gravel, more specifically the adjective 'gravelly'.

The word is mostly obsolete in contemporary Wardi, speakers do not know it used to mean 'gravel' (though it sounds close enough to assume a connection, the word is 'ogri') and exclusively use it to describe this livestock coloration (one of the more common among Wardi native cattle).

---

Also here's some cow lore.

There's some fairly tremendous diversity in Wardi cattle herds, given they have genetic influence from at least two separate aurochs domestication events (also distant and negligibly minor influence from one instance of bison domestication) and from multiple relatively isolated domestic cattle populations. Present day herds within Wardi provincial territory near-ubiquitously have at least some ancestry from the kulustaig and the Burri tepang cattle.

The ancestors of the Wardi native cow have been in the region for at Least 5,000 years. Burri cattle Possibly could have had tiny, isolated introductions between 2500-3000 years ago (this is extremely unlikely, but maize Was probably introduced by seafaring proto-Burri peoples at this time) or at more recent points since, and the tepang was certainly introduced during Imperial Burri occupation. High quality cattle are also occasionally received in diplomacy with the present-day Different Entity that is the Burri Republic. The kulustaig cattle arrived with proto-Finnic migrants starting 1500 years ago, and is the biggest external genetic influence on Wardi herds. Small populations of Yuroma native cattle arrived with migrants 540 years ago, though these have been wholly absorbed into Wardi herds, with their biggest trace being genes for naturally polled horns. Some Finn cattle were extracted in the recent two decades of Wardi occupation, though not enough to have a noteworthy genetic impact on any herds.

Most of the cattle in this post show predominantly Wardi native cattle + kulustaig ancestry (this takes place in the Ephenni riverlands, where the ancestry of herds tends to be around 2:1). The one with the blaze has a delicate sloping muzzle that suggests Burri tepang ancestry, and also likely has a wild aurochs grandparent (the white ring around the nose is a telltale sign, as it usually vanishes within a few generations of introgression).

Diversity in color and coat pattern is culturally favored for Wardi cattle herds, and selective breeding for aesthetics is usually limited to the purpose of preserving unique coats. The average herd tends to be very colorful, though the one shown here is a bit of an outlier, the universe having mysteriously put in place perfect conditions to compare the words for a variety of coat patterns.

[captain-huggy-bear]

can you do the tiktok prank i can’t pay the mortgage this month with clayton, i feel like his reaction would be so funny

Big requests/full fic/big idea requests are closed at the moment but drabble and prompt requests are still open. Writing Masterlist

"Clay..." You're twisting your hands together, shoulders hunched while you bite on your lip. The sort of look that screams nervous, something you very rarely are around Clayton. It stops him dead in his tracks where he's playing with Lucky because you're never nervous like that around him, because you have no reason to be...you look like you think you're going to be in trouble.

"What's wrong, baby?" He's assessing you, eyes scanning you almost urgently from head to toe, like he expects to see something wrong with you. A cut, a bruise, maybe you accidentally broke something and think he'll be mad (which he'd never be).

"I'm really sorry..." He's expecting you to tell him you broke something, maybe knocked a glass off the side or maybe you tried to play some golf (which you're notoriously bad at) on the green outside and broke a window or something.

"Hey, hey, whatever it is, it's okay, baby." Clay's reaching for you easily, simply, hands cupping your cheeks because the last thing he wants is you to worry that he'll get mad at you for something like an accident. You're clumsy, it happens. Lucky is whining at your feet, feeding off Clay's worry, wet nose pressing into your leg.

"I just, I can't pay my share of the mortgage this month, Clay, I bought too many hockey cards." You force a little wobble to your bottom lip as you stare up at him with wide eyes, internally giggling at the way he freezes.

It would be fair to say he short circuits a little, freezes, hands against your cheeks as his expression shifts from soft and soothing to completely and utterly confused. Eyebrow raised, scar shifting with it as he looks down at you like you've hit your head, like maybe you're concussed.

"Sweet girl, you've never paid any of the mortgage." His voice is slow, careful because what are you going on about? You've literally never paid the mortgage, he's always refused to let you because he earns so much more than you.

"I just...I can't pay it..."

"Baby." Long fingers slide down to your throat, resting there in reassuring weight as his other hand brushes your hair behind your ear, "Even if you could, why the fuck would I let you pay a mortgage on a house when I earn $7 million a year?" It's a point of pride really for Clay, always has been. He takes care of you. That's his thing. He earns enough so that your own money can be spent on frivolous things, things you enjoy rather than necessities. The idea of him ever letting you pay for the mortgage is actually offensive to him, do you think he's some bum who can't even take care of his girl?

"But-"

"Uh, no. Who am I, baby?" The grip on your throat tightens, not painful, just firm, a reminder that he's there. More reassuring than anything as his thumb rubs the hollow of your throat.

"Clayton Keller..." You mumble it out, lips pursed which seems to him like you're feeling scolded. In reality you're pursing your lips so you don't laugh out loud.

"Good girl, and who am I to you?"

"My fiancé..."

"Okay, good, I thought you forgot for a minute because last I checked, no fiancé of mine is paying the fucking mortgage. That's my main job, to take care of you so that you don't have to worry and can buy all your hockey cards of me." Because they're almost all of Clay. It's your silly little thing. That you collect any and every card of him you can find, that you sit there and show him each one and he patiently nods his head and oohs and ahhs over them.

"Clay..." You're trying to stop his ranting, the way he's getting redder in the face, nostrils flaring because you've ever contemplated paying for the mortgage of all things. It's cute, in the sort of way that Clay can be when he's adamant about something.

"No, I'm serious, baby, if you think for a second I'd let you pay the mortgage you're insane. My job is to take care of you and if I ever let you pay the mortgage? Get Bainer to come beat the crap out me." He's already contemplating phoning Jack right now to set it in writing 'if I ever let my girl pay for the mortgage please take me out back and break my nose', seems like a quick way to get him back to his senses.

"Clay!"

"And who put this idea into your head because I actually canno-"

"Clay! I'm joking! Baby...I know, I know I've never paid the mortgage and I never will...I know." You're laughing as you interrupt him, arms wrapping around his neck, fingers twisting in his chains as you grin from ear to ear.

"...you're joking..." The looks he gives you is blank, eyes blinking slowly as if he's still just about processing the fact that he didn't actually need to get so upset in the first place. Lucky is whining at your feet, pawing at Clay's leg and you feel a little bad because Clay looks so so done.

"It's a stupid tiktok trend, baby..."

He groans, face planting itself on your shoulder, murmuring into your shirt, "Delete that fucking app."

"Nope, if I did that I'd never get to see you all cutely defensive of your ability to look after me." You run your fingers through his hair, it's grown longer, more shoulder length now than anything else. Your nails scratch across his scalp in a way that eases some of his prior frustration.

"I can take care of you."

"I know, you take such good care of me, Clay, the best." You huff out a laugh as you twist strands of his hair between your fingers, pressing a kiss to the top of his hair because you really do feel bad...

"Damn right I do."

[mrcrawly]

Dr. House is some of the best unintentional autistic representation I have seen in popular media

I think the title is a slight overstatement, but I honestly feel this way. I'm not finished with House MD by ANY means so do keep that in mind, but I'm almost finished with season 2 so this is based off what I have seen.

Also: I am aware that there is an episode where they discuss the possibility that House has Asperger's. Obviously that term has fallen out of favor because Asperger was, you know, a Nahtzee, but I am going to emphasize that House has particularly low-support needs. My source is that I'm autistic and this is a topic I'm relatively familiar with. (Also. please take this with a grain of salt because David Shore also created "The Good Doctor" which is a comparatively pretty poor representation of autism, but I'm going to talk about House MD in its own vacuum.)

Lack of knowledge or concern for social cues. I don't really think this needs explaining, but House doesn't seem to have much regard or respect for social norms. He doesn't care much for social approval or maintaining relationships. I don't necessarily characterize this as specifically being an autistic trait, because this can greatly vary, but this is something I see in myself and other autistic people.

Strong sense of justice and morals. I see a lot of people calling House a "sociopath" simply because he isn't particularly empathetic. But the word sociopath gets thrown around a lot and it really doesn't characterize him well at all. I would argue that House feels cognitive empathy rather than the more emotional sense of empathy that most people experience, but equating empathy and morality is a big no-go. House has little concern for some ethical principles, as the show points out pretty often, but House is never looking to hurt anybody. House is always pretty dry and easily annoyed, but the only time we see him openly angry and upset is when someone endangers a patient. When Chase fucks up the angiogram, potentially putting a woman's life in danger, he holds it against him for ages. And in "The Mistake," when a woman dies and it has to be determined whose fault it was, House yells at Chase in the middle of the lobby over his negligence. Also, House does actually have empathy when it's necessary. He typically softens himself around younger patients and will make an effort to be calm, and when Stacy admits that she and Mark have been fighting and becomes upset, he tries to help her calm down and doesn't try to make the situation about himself. When he thinks that his "nemesis" from school is faking the results of his migraine medicine, he goes out of his way to prove that he's right - partially because, yeah, he wants to be right and get Weber back - but also because he sees this as cheating, and knows it's ultimately harming people.

Very few, specific interests. House doesn't seem to have a lot that he's interested in. His job is one of them, because he gets joy and satisfaction out of solving medical problems. It's also established that he's deeply invested in General Hospital and monster trucks (although I wasn't sure if that was a House thing or a Wilson thing? But he seemed pretty excited about it too). Other than that, he doesn't have many obvious or noteworthy things he's interested in.

Difficulty maintaining interpersonal relationships. Wilson is House's only friend, and House seems to be (mostly) content with that. He cares about other people, in his own strange way, but he consistently struggles to create and maintain personal relationships, whether because of his disregard for social niceties or because of his fear of vulnerability. Again, this may not necessarily be in relation to autism, but it's worth noting.

Odd speech patterns. I'm sick of media making it seem like all autistic people can't comprehend sarcasm. It is common for autistic people to take things literally, but autistic people also sometimes use sarcasm and metaphors more than the average person in verbal communication. I do this all the time. House is constantly saying weird, offbeat things, or making strange, vague metaphors, especially when he's deep in thought.

Stimming. Throwing his ball at the wall. Pacing. Spinning his cane around. Tapping his cane on the floor. Spinning it like a baton when he's alone in the room and trying to think. Sometimes he also nods his head back and forth when he's thinking.

Routine. This one is a little hard to spot, because House actually does seem to thrive when things are changing or new things happen. I see this mostly in House wearing the same things all the time. He's usually wearing some button-up and a blazer/jacket over it, and typically jeans and the same pair of shoes. The shoes are most likely for his comfort, but sometimes autistic people like to wear the same things a lot because it's what's most comfortable or they don't have to worry about unpredictability. Also, it seems like he eats the same thing a lot, since everyone knows he gets a dry Reuben sandwich.

This is just what I noticed and based on my personal experiences as an autistic person. This doesn't mean I think the show discusses autism in the most graceful or meaningful way - I just really like to break down my favorite characters and analyze them.

[thejolteonmastertj]

I really need ppl to understand 99% of the reason why Rulie's portrayed the way he is in fanfics is a combination of two factors:

1.) Jojo actively encouraged the fandom to write fanfic long before she even decided to make an actual long-form comic of her own.

2.) During this time period, & for quite a while after that, the majority of what the fandom had to work off of for Rulie's personality is from this doodle page, & this description for his personality literally straight frm Jojo herself.

... 2.5.) It should also be noted Jojo hadn't played Adventure Of Link until about halfway through the Sunset arc, as evidenced by this post (we know this is Jojo's sister b/c the official LU tumblr credited her for one of the goofy Sky panels).

Now, since then the way Jojo portrays Rulie didn't change drastically overnight, the Magic Sword comic did happen beforehand for instance... but I do think the level to which Jojo plans to focus on particular traits from Rulie's original design has evolved over the course of development for the comic.

More recent (and, uh, mostly discord-exclusive, so I can't give too many details here) commentary from Jojo indeed emphasizes plans to highlight Rulie's determination above all else, quite contrary to how she used to describe his character (it hasn't changed, probably, it's just a matter of plot-driven emphasis).

Fanfic writers aren't stupid, we're literally just working with what we have-AND, Rulie himself, as a very nuanced & layered character, is going to be portrayed in wildly different manners depending on context & genre.

If you want to see more of Rulie's sassy side,

1.) Read more recent fics (Alas you will likely have to search by recently updated, as the first wave of popular fanfic tends to get enshrined forever at the top of the list when searching by kudos & comments.)

2.) Don't read angst (Sorry not sorry but angst & vent fics are going to make up the majority of works in any fandom, & in these fics a character's vulnerable side tends to get spotlighted. Don’t like don’t read.)

3.) Respectfully Ask for recs instead of barging in & just straight up telling fanfic authors what to do. That's rude.

[elf-trash]

thanks for such a reasoned response!!! you're totally entitled to feel the way you feel about the game, and I'm genuinely glad you enjoyed it. like I said, so did I, but I still felt it was lacking in some really fundamental ways.

and I do kinda wanna address some the things you brought up point by point, if that's okay. I actually think the lack of reaction to a Qunari Rook bothered me even more than the elf situation, because Tevinter is quite literally at war with the Qunari, and there really are not very many Qunari NPCs in Dock Town (I'm pretty sure that one guy in the pawn shop working with the Shadow Dragons is the only one, actually). so that was actually the one that felt the most odd to me! and like, sure you could probably handwave it away somehow, but that doesn't change the fact that it's not addressed in the game and felt conspicuously missing, to me, and it felt less like an intentional choice by the writers to illustrate something and more just a flattening of the player experience, if that makes sense.

and to be clear, I don't think the issues with the approval system are just mechanical in nature. I actually think the bigger issue is that the companions don't appear in dialogue cutscenes with NPCs in this game, for the most part (unless it's a pre-scripted part of a companion quest), the way they do in previous games. so this really robs the ability of the companions to comment on decisions Rook is making in the moment, the way they do in the other titles. I don't personally care if the characters can leave or not, I just wish they were slightly more reactive overall, or that Rook was able to question and engage in dialogue with them at the Lighthouse the way you could, once again, in all the other games, outside of scripted plot cutscenes.

I liked the conversations you can have with Bellara and Harding as an elf and a dwarf respectively, but overall it still felt a bit lacking, to me. it also really bothered me that Rook never has a chance to confront Solas directly about the content of the mural revelations - this felt like a huge oversight to me! the only time they're ever directly addressed by Solas is in the companion banter at the very end of the game that are one or two lines total and very easy to miss. once again, it it's hard to suspend my disbelief and accept that Rook wouldn't have some follow-up questions for Solas about all the crazy shit they just learned (potentially about their own heritage) when they have the person directly responsible for it all essentially trapped in their head with nothing better to do than talk to them/answer their questions. and if Solas loves anything, it's answering questions! so this is also a big part of why I felt Rook was presented as being fundamentally incurious.

and yeah, sure, Rook can talk about their factions with the companions. but they can't meaningfully question really any aspect of those factions. Rook can nerd out with Emmrich about the finer points of necromancy, but neither of them can voice thoughts or concerns about whether they still align with the values and ethics of the Mourn Watch, or even discuss what those values are. all the more distasteful elements of each faction are painted as solidly being in the past (like Isseya), or the result of a few bad actors (like Hezenkoss or Illario or the First Warden), rather than indicative of problems with the organization or institution as a whole. Isseya is a perfect example of this - she's solidly in the past, and the actions and goals and methods of the Wardens as they are now are never really called into question or brought for closer examination. it's not that I wanted these factions to all secretly be evil or something - the lack of complexity and nuance is exactly the issue. I just wanted Rook or the companions to be able to at the VERY least, acknowledge these things, and then decide, from a roleplaying perspective, whether my Rook would align with those goals wholeheartedly, have reservations but agree to work with them anyway, or decide NOT to work with them (the way you can choose between the mages and the templars in Inquisition, for example). this is something that Dragon Age has handled particularly well in the past, so the lack of nuance and depth of conversation/inquiry in this area felt really glaring to me!

so I guess my criticisms largely boil down to less of an issue with what's actually present in the game, and more of an issue of what's not, hence why I say it feels a bit shallow and flat. there are just so many missed opportunities to really dig into these fascinating themes and questions the story raises. it's not about wanting this stuff spoon fed to me - I actually feel like that's what the game as it currently stands DOES, because it really simplifies a lot of these concepts and ideas rather than letting them exist in their complexity and nuance and letting Rook or the other characters meaningfully engage with that complexity. so yeah, idk. it's not a bad game, it just doesn't feel complex and challenging in the way I've come to expect from a Dragon Age title, and that feels like a true loss, to me, because to me it's what always set Dragon Age apart as a franchise. I love the characters and concepts introduced in Veilguard, and I wish they'd gotten the same depth of treatment and care and thoughtfulness in their rendering that all of these elements from the previous games received.

appreciate the conversation and sorry to everyone on my dash having to scroll past this!!!!!!

So, people keep saying Veilguard is "sanitizing" Dragon Age because it’s not letting random NPCs hurl slurs at your character anymore, and listen. I get it. There’s a real fear that the game is smoothing over the sharp edges that made Dragon Age’s world feel raw and oppressive. But here’s the thing: oppression in storytelling isn’t just about how much overt cruelty a game throws at you. It’s about how a world is structured, how power moves, and what choices the player is given to respond to that.  

Veilguard isn’t getting rid of trauma or struggle—it’s just shifting the focus. Instead of telling a story where the PC is explicitly victimized because of their race or status, it’s exploring grief, loss, and the way people hold onto each other through suffering. And yeah, maybe that’s not the same power fantasy as "you called me a slur so I’m going to stab you in the town square," but does that automatically mean it’s bad.. What it does mean is that Veilguard is asking different questions.  

Origins threw you into a world where the first thing you did was fight back against the system that tried to break you. Veilguard is looking at something else: what happens when fighting back isn’t an option? When your world has already fallen apart? How do you rebuild? How do you find strength in kindness instead of just revenge?  

veilguard recognises that oppression isn’t just big, dramatic acts of cruelty; it’s also the slow erosion of hope, the systems that make resistance feel impossible, the way grief isolates people and makes them vulnerable. And what Veilguard seems to be doing is giving the player a different set of tools to push back.  

Because let’s talk about mechanics for a second. Veilguard is letting you build alliances, resolve conflicts, and use emotional intelligence as a tool and that’s not a weak approach to oppression. That’s a different kind of power fantasy. One that says, hey, maybe dismantling oppression isn’t just about vengeance. Maybe it’s about survival. Maybe it’s about finding people who won’t let you fall apart. Maybe it’s about healing.  

Like, yes, I understand why people loved the City Elf origin. It was cathartic! It was painful and messy and let you tear down the people who hurt you. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only valid way to explore oppression in a game. Power isn’t just swinging a sword—it’s also choosing to be kind in a world that tells you kindness is useless.  

Veilguard isn’t saying "oppression isn’t real." It’s saying, "What if we looked at the ways people actually survive it?" And if the idea of a game that values understanding and emotional resilience as forms of resistance makes you uncomfortable, maybe ask yourself why you think the only valid response to oppression is cruelty in return.

[ziorre]

✨Commission info✨

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* you can find more examples on my page by the commission tag ** a helpful post describing a right order for your refs

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✨ OTHER: - I don’t correct the art after you approved the finished version. - I don’t copy other artist’s work. - I publish every commission on my social media, if you don’t want it to be published, just let me know. - If you’re not sure about the art idea, I can suggest you 4 sketches with different poses/concepts/angles for extra $20 and you pick the one you like the most. - For significant corrections or a lot of small ones at any stage of work, an additional fee may be charged (this doesn’t apply to some small adjustments or details witch I missed). There are 3 free changes at the each stages of the work (sketch, finished version), further - $2-$5.

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And of course I can't skip to say a huge thank you to those who commissioned and continue commissioning art from me! It means a lot! For real! This is not only material support, but also moral one, saying that I’m not wasting my time and energy in vain, that I’m moving in the right direction, that people like what I do! I can't tell how inspiring it is!! 360 commissions! I’ve never imagined that one day I would draw so many art for others! Just.. wow!! Thank you again so much for trusting me bringing to life your ideas! I truly appreciate it!😌

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I think this is it, right? If you have any questions, feel free to DM me ;)  

I’ll be VERY grateful for your reblogs!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤ (and thank you very much for this in advance, it helps me A LOOOOOOOOOT, you are the ones who keep me alive literally! I see each and every one of you doing that! You’re the best!!!) Thanks for your attention! Have a good day =)

[ukulelegodparent]

I think a thing that is criminally overlooked in a lot of fantasy world building (and when it's done it's often done badly) is dancing. Like dancing was such an important element of polite society. It played such a huge role in people's lives. Like literally for a lot of European history you really didn't have someone who'd explicitly teach you manners (as a noble/upper class person) bc that was the job of your dance teacher. In the baroque era how to walk properly, how to sit properly, how to greet people on the street, that was all considered a form of dancing.

And it was in many ways considered almost a more important skill for men than for women at times. On the one hand because dancing teaches you a lot about balance and if you are living at a time where sword fighting is in any way still considered a relevant prestigious skill for men, you should really have impeccable dancing skills. A lot of sword fighting manuals explicitly talk about how it is good for a fighter to also be able to dance well BC it will drastically improve their footwork. And also all that complicated footwork in many dances? If you're wearing a long dress nobody is gonna see what your legs are doing. But if you're wearing pants or (more likely) hot pants and stockings, people will see what your feet are doing and judge you for it.

It was considered the thing that teaches you how to move your body with grace. How to keep your posture.

I am exhausted by the amount of times I've had to read about feasts in novels without there being any mention of dancing. My brother in Christ THE DANCING IS LIKE THE MAIN REASON FOR HAVING A FEAST. Dancing was how you met people, how you snuck in a conversation. When Elisabeth Bennet complains, that Mister Darcy doesn't talk while dancing this is BC that is what dancing was for. Especially Playford Longways are notorious for this BC in most of them one couple has very little to do while the other is dancing a lot. These days many dancing masters use variations of these dances where couple two has more to do, because these days the balls where these dances are danced are generally not to find a potential partner in marriage but rather BC you enjoy dancing.

So please please please, make your characters dance more. And don't make them not dance bc they are not 'girly' and don't make them be bad at dancing without there being a good reason for it and without other people making it a thing. (Aka if they can't dance BC of a disability that is fine. If they can't dance bc of their low standing or BC they can't be bothered to learn this will be considered a moral failing). They can not like dancing. They can be bad at it BC they have two left feet and no sense for rhythm. But please make them dance. And if you point out particularly bad dancers, please, maybe consider also pointing out incredibly good dancers.

For some examples through the ages: we have Lo Spagnoletto, a 16th century Italian dance written down by Cesare Negri, La Bourgogne (one of the more important dances of the Baroque era, here without period clothes, but notice both the arm and foot work. I am learning this one right now and even the feet alone are so difficult to get right) or the Quadrille Francaise, one of the most important dances of the 19th century, here in a version that is like I learned it, although very ballet-like (and I am told very Italian, but the person I learn 19th century dancing from is on a lot of balls in Italy so it makes sense that he has that style of dancing. This is another thing: even when dances themselves were widespread different styles still emerge and are still present/redeveloping today. 19th century dances are danced very differently in Russia compared to say the UK) or here in a version that doesn't require quite as much waiting by having all four couples do everything at the same time.

Now, do note that these (except for the Quadrille) are generally considered to be the more difficult dances of their time. At least in the modern historical dance community. Many people dance only Arbeau (a French 16th century dancing master who wrote perhaps the most well known 16th century source on dancing, the Orchésographie) and John Playford (who published the Arbon dancing master, which is a very important source for baroque dances, although it should be said, that Playford is often danced with very simple steps, BC his descriptions are very minimal but in the scientific community it is generally believed that this is BC it was assumed that people knew the proper steps that are described in more detail in other dancing manuals of the time)

If you have any questions about dancing please feel free to ask me. I am far from an expert but I have been doing this for many years now, I have read some dancing manuals and I have experience with dances spanning several centuries.

[ckret2]

I'm now hopelessly enamored with your Aku hcs... do you have any more? Are you interested in Jack/Aku - is that something that could even work out?

Oh boy do I ever. This is 1/2 headcanons and 1/2 extreme elaboration/extrapolation from canon info.

I'm gonna put this under a read more with a ✨table of contents✨ both so I remember what's under here and so anyone who's only intrigued by one or two of these can skip the rest.

Aku's literally a tree, like not as a meme joke, he's a tree

You make an Aku with a tree+darkness+poison+fire+arrow+curse

That's the reason the future, although devastated, isn't deforested

"Samurai Jack & Powerpuff Girls are the same universe and Aku is Chemical X" is the oldest headcanon in the fandom but I have it too. That tree is Mojo's dad. He'll also accept credit for Buttercup.

Lulu, sweet thing

Aku sorta remembers being a space blob but his life/identity didn't "start" until the poison flaming arrow

Aku likes techno music. He has solo dance parties.

Aku doesn't have any friends

here's a list of Aku's friends

Aku could have friends

Here's what Aku's attracted to (idk what Aku's attracted to)

Aku's a total homebody, he doesn't wanna go places and do stuff, he wants to sit at home in his castle and rule his one planet.

Before Jack, Aku was genuinely super happy. Like this: ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻

Aku would have the same emotional reaction to doing good things as good people have to being forced to do evil

Aku's actually very polite. This isn't even a headcanon, it's just an intrigued observation of canon.

I'll answer the Jack/Aku question in another post because my god this one is long enough already.

1. I know we make plenty of "lol aku's a tree" jokes but like, I headcanon he's literally a tree. As in the forest of suspiciously tree-shaped spikes he came from was ACTUALLY, in some biological sense, a hideous mutation of trees. Some tree got The Ooze™ on it and that was the basis of Aku long before magic poisons got involved. If you say "don't think just answer what are you made out of and you can't say 'evil' or 'darkness'" Aku would say "wood." He still considers himself a tree. When he's in his default form his "skin" feels like bark. Evil bark.

2. beyond just a tree, in a magical sense Aku is "made of" Pure All-Consuming Darkness, trees, poison, fire, an arrow, & a curse. These are his component parts. This is what you need to create him. The official Aku Recipe. He wouldn't exist if any of these parts had been missing in his creation. Is it any wonder that Mr. Darkness/Poison/Fire/Arrows/Curses (Also Trees) named himself Evil. Those are some pretty evil things. Except for the trees.

3. because he's Tree—you know how many lush jungles and beautiful old growth forests and such Jack travels through? Seems kind of weird for a planet that's been ruthlessly exploited with zero environmental protections for thousands of years, yeah? Why hasn't Earth been deforested to hell and back? When we're told that Aku's wrung Earth so dry of resources that he started inviting in aliens just to get more resources to exploit... it's weird that there's still so much of Earth that looks decidedly un-exploited and un-devastated.

And I headcanon that Aku, just. he fuckin likes trees, man. Not in a "good" way—he doesn't leave forests alone for the good of the environment, he doesn't do it to live in peace and harmony with nature, he doesn't do it because the beautiful savage wilds are more pure and morally uplifting than the polluted overdeveloped modern urban cities or any creepy bunk like that. He's still evil. In the most morally neutral way possible, Aku likes trees.

So if he doesn't see any particular benefit to exploiting a forest—like, if he doesn't KNOW there's magical rubies or whatever beneath the forest—he goes "ah, this place is worthless. Leave it alone and let's move on." If a town or mine or whatever has already had every drop of usefulness squeezed out of it, rather than like, maintaining this blighted land as a barren wasteland, he's like "right, this place is a waste of resources now, I don't want it anymore, abandon this place and leave it to be reclaimed by the wild. No, of course the nearby village can't take over the abandoned warehouse and use it to house their devastated community. In fact, burn down the village for asking."

Aku uses up swathes of Earth until they have nothing left to give and moves on. But Jack's (and the audience's) idea of a used-up wasteland is like that burned forest with a single tree Jack shows Ashi. But that burned forest is the exception: it's Aku making an example of this place. Aku's idea of a used-up wasteland is a forest. A forest that's grown over a land that's given all it has to give, a forest that's tangled and unbalanced and poor in useful/edible plants because it's been uncultivated by human hands, a forest with no people because they've been stolen away and shipped somewhere they can be put to work.

Aku likes forests. Aku doesn't care for forests.

He doesn't set up natural parks or nature preserves or anything. He does sometimes set up fences & guards if he thinks a forest might have temptingly useful resources to a nearby human settlement and he thinks it'd be fun to deprive the humans of those benefits.

He doesn't advertise that he likes trees, because an asshole like him has a lot of enemies; and when Aku wants to hurt an enemy, he finds out what the enemy likes and wants and needs and then goes about depriving his enemy of that in any way possible just to make them miserable so he can laugh at them. Would not his enemies do the same to him? Would they not burn the wilderness of a whole continent to the ground just to break his heartwood?

(Propose this to Jack and he'd look at you like you're nuts. He doesn't think like Aku.)

4. I'm not the first person to headcanon this, I won't be the last person to headcanon this, there are people out there who think that this headcanon is actually canon, and there are probably even more people out there who are tired of this headcanon. However. I think Aku is the source of Chemical X in Powerpuff Girls. Powerpuff Girls takes place in the post-Samurai Jack world where Aku was killed a mere 8 years after his reign began and the rest of the world was never conquered. Aku's dead, but the pit of hate—the goo pool he came from—remains.

So here's what you gotta do. You take some evil goo. Then you mix up a specific formula that happens to be very poisonous, you set it on fire, you propel it at high speed into the goo, and you shake it up a bit. And bam—you've got Chemical X. Just don't pour the Chemical X on something, like a tree, or it might turn evil; and for the love of god don't place a curse on the evil tree or it might come alive.

There's a single tar pit in Japan that sources the goo needed to create Chemical X. Professor Utonium's ancestors come from that area of Japan. (Probably someone in the lineage leading to him was a maternal ancestor, he doesn't have a very Japanese last name.) His family has been fuckin around with that goo for centuries—keeping people away from it, experimenting with it, cleaning up the mess when it breaks containment and does something terrible like get on a tree that someone placed a curse on yeah you can figure out where this is going, "Utonium and Jack are related" also isn't a new or original headcanon.

Get Chemical X on anything and it gets Akutized a la Jack with the Aku Infection. Symptoms of Chemical X poisoning include: turning void-black with green features and possible reddish accents; aggression and violent tendencies; power-hunger; an ambition to oppress, dominate, or conquer the area and/or world; a fascination/attraction toward darkness, evilness, or villainy; a craving to collect vast material wealth and riches; and if you get a really big dose sometimes a vaguely Japanese accent and an urge to adopt a more menacing/badass name.

In other words, you get Mojo Jojo. He's basically the direct heir to Aku's legacy. He has no idea who Aku is.

At lower doses, other symptoms include abilities that some people might consider superpowers, such as super strength, time travel, and laser eyes.

The "everything nice" in the Powerpuff Girls' recipe balances out the evil in the ingredient at the base of Chemical X, hence why they don't have most of the symptoms of Chemical X poisoning. But the girls didn't get an equal amount of "everything nice."

The girl who got the least is the one who has black hair and green eyes; glories in opportunities to commit violence for violence's sake; received a single dollar and immediately got so unhinged with greed that she declared she now understood Mojo, attempted to knock out her sister's teeth so she could trade them to the tooth fairy for more money, and finally went around assaulting villains for their teeth; briefly had a baby-crush on the leader of the lowkey-villainous Gangreen Gang; at one point decided to become a "cooler" superhero by making an actual goddamn demonic bargain to gain the ability to turn into a pitch-black living shadow with glowing green eyes and adopting (a kindergartener's idea of) a menacing/badass name ("Mange"); and, let's be frank, whose hairdo would fit right in amongst the Daughters of Aku.

Buttercup is essentially as "related" to Aku as the Daughters are, and maybe a little more since they didn't really inherit his personality/tastes.

"Hey, why have you put so much thought into this headcanon?" I think it would be fun if after Jack comes back from the future and thrashes Aku around some more, Aku panics, creates a second time portal and jumps through it himself, lands in the future, and gets told these three adorable little crimefighting girls are his daughters and this monkey is his son. Imagine it. Imagine Mojo looking up at Aku with awe in his eyes and asking if he could please hear another story about taking over the world... father. 🥺 Imagine someone plopping Bubbles in his hands and going "and this is another one of yours!" Imagine the look on his face as he stares at this sweet-hearted giggly little pigtailed thing and tries to make sense of that. His face would look like 8C

5. I don't think Lulu made it. I'm sorry.

6. I think Aku vaguely remembers being a big evil space blob, but like, not very well. Kind of as a distant dream. I think he considers "himself" as starting the moment Jack's dad arrowed him; he has memories of the stuff that was around before then, but none of that was Aku, it was just the raw materials of what would become Aku. That was some other guy that got blasted by the gods. I think he's vaguely aware that he's the scion of the space blob, but he doesn't regard it as a parent or an elder or a superior, if the space blob survived and Aku met it I doubt he would have an emotional attachment to it. But he's sort of aware that the space blob's enemies are his enemies—anyone who wanted it dead wants him dead—and so he sorta tries (unsuccessfully) to stay off their radar.

7. it's not clear what Aku's relationship is to the rave music used to mind-control the teens. It's called Aku's music but like, did he literally compose it? Did he commission it to be composed to mind-control kids? Did he just go "yeah this is groovy" and slap his stamp of approval on it? Was the CD handed out to kids in town like an Aku's Favorite Club Hits compilation album?

Anyway my headcanon is that Aku just,, really likes rave music. His scientists approached him like "Aku we have discovered a way to mind-control people using music—" "YES! WE WILL BRAINWASH THE YOUTH WITH TECHNO!" "Lord Aku, it could be any genre of music—" "WITH TECHNO!!!"

the logical next question is does Aku go to raves. And no. I don't think he's social enough for that. He just hangs out alone in the Pit of Hate blasting psytrance and grooving by himself.

8. I don't think Aku, like, has friends. This probably isn't a groundbreaking opinion. He's not very friendly. But sometimes evil supervillains have pals anyway y'know? I don't think he does. He doesn't go out to socialize with anyone (unless he's up to something in the IDW comics I don't know about), he doesn't invite people over, everyone who comes to his castle—refugees, employees, contractors, would-be assassin—is there purely on business.

I don't think he's lonely—or if he is, he has no idea and no urge to change it. I think he does have a need to socialize, but talking to ten strangers for two minutes each would be just as satisfying as talking to one well-known well-trusted long-time underling/ally for twenty minutes.

Every once in a while a well-known well-trusted long-time underling/ally will decide they're friends with Aku and Aku will go "well, that's fine" and accept that it's happening until the friend dies and/or screws up enough for Aku to kill/imprison/exile them. Their professional relationship/utility to Aku always outranks the friendship, but like, if it's an entertaining friendship he might be 5% more lenient with screwups. If he ever gets a hint that they're just sucking up in the hopes that being nice to him will get them some professional/political advantage, it's the Pit of Hate for their impertinence.

9. out of the characters we see in the show:

Scaramouche has decided he's Aku's friend. Aku's fine with this because Scaramouche understands that it's more important to be a good assassin than a good friend—and he's a very good assassin.

It's not a lot of mere assassins that get Aku's private number—and are permitted to call it enough times to memorize the melody of the buttons being pressed.

Sometimes Scaramouche texts Aku memes. on average about one out of twenty will get a "HAHA" in reply.

Demongo assumed—or, perhaps, hoped—he was Aku's friend in some small subservient way. Demongo was wrong. He didn't figure out the trick is that you've gotta be the one to decide it and then Aku will go along with it. It probably wouldn't have saved him. (It didn't save Scaramouche.)

Some of Aku's top scientists have been friendly with him—thinking of the little troll who gave X-49 emotions, doubt he could get away with little experiments like that if he wasn't firmly on Aku's good side—but generally they aren't friends with him.

I don't think we've ever seen anyone else in the show who qualified as a friend, near-friend, or potential-friend. Maybe the DJ might've been? That seems like the type of position that could've started with Aku having hired this guy for several gigs and the DJ seems like the kind of person to get casual with his boss. The three-eyed alien who spies for him, I feel like she keeps it professional with the boss. They're on friendly-but-not-friend terms. Like, they'd nod to each other on the street but they wouldn't say hi. That might be the whole list out of characters we've seen.

10. I headcanon he is capable of feeling friendship though, even if he isn't actually exercising that capacity in any way. Primarily because my ace/aro ass is sick and tired of "they can't feel desire like a NORMAL person, they're LOVELESS unlike a GOOD person" being used to indicate how evil an evil-in-their-soul villain is, and i'm gradually extending that to aplatonic characters too.

Therefore if you're calling a character inherently evil i'm gonna say well then he does have the capacity for friendship and attraction even if he isn't using it; because if the lack of friendship & love isn't inherently evil, then the presence of it isn't inherently good, and i'm gonna get up on my soapbox about this.

And aside from me just preferring it that way, I like experimenting with "so what CAN an inherently evil character do (i.e. what are the limits of what's ACTUALLY evil vs what's morally neutral but a lot of people like it and thus decide it's good)?"

11. God only knows WHAT Aku would consider attractive though. what's sexy to a tree? Flowers?? Is he into flowers??? Flowers with a wide stigma and a dozen stamens???? Who knows.

i think he runs into someone that meets his criteria like, once every five hundred years at MOST. Tells no one. Immediately cuts them out of his life. Moves on.

I feel like Aku being attracted to someone/something isn't dependent upon "here's a list of traits he automatically considers appealing/attractive" but some complex network of relationship building and prior interactions and psychological reactions. "so you're just saying he needs to get to know someone before he can be attracted to them?" No. It's Not That Simple. You Don't Understand. "Then explain." no.

12. I think he's perfectly content with, like, JUST ruling earth. No ambitions to go conquer the rest of the galaxy or anything. He's got his cozy little planet he can exploit, torment, and terrorize as much as he pleases, if he wants MORE evildoers around he can just fling open his doors and invite them over and they'll come pouring in...

And on top of that the dude's a complete homebody. He can leave earth in seconds any time he wants but he doesn't, except once, to hire a band of hunters and then immediately go home. Which is WILD since like, it would be so goddamn easy to avoid Jack forever by just ruling earth from the moon and banning spaceships. he could be teleporting to all kinds of helpless planets without the technology to fight back and then just pillaging and plundering them. But no, all he wants to do is keep on squeezing Earth.

There's no sign he has any political ties or alliances (or rivalries or brewing wars) with the dictators of other planets; there isn't even any evidence that he goes to normal non-dictator-ruled worlds like "I heard you have too many criminals and you want to get rid of them! I have a suggestion: are you familiar with the concept of Australia?" Instead he just sends out an invite and hopes criminals find it.

And when he's on Earth we never see him, like... GO places. The only times he ever seems to leave his castle are when it's necessary to deal with some business, usually dealing with Jack: to attack him, to recruit someone to attack him, to raise some zombies to attack him, to pretend to be a hot babe and/or a hermit and/or another hot babe to mislead him before attacking him... like he never goes down to the slave mines to laugh at his slaves, he never goes to gladiatorial rings to watch the fights, he never just wanders around his cities kicking puppies and stealing candy from babies and handing murderers gift cards to Weapons R Us, never goes on cruises...

He really is a tree: rooted in one spot, and it's a pain in the ass and a huge chore to uproot him and drag him somewhere else.

If you were to stick him in a modern human AU he'd be that guy with a work-from-home job who spends all of his spare time customizing his home's interior decor—buying new furniture online, painting the walls himself, gets all his groceries via delivery, hasn't seen the sun in three months and hasn't noticed. And he's perfectly content with it.

13. And that's another thing about him: he's content. I truly believe that, before Jack shows up, he's happy and living his best life and absolutely thriving. He's got bingo on his Maslow's hierarchy of needs. He's living out his wildest dreams. He's reached all his life's ambitions and they were just as good as he expected and now he's making fresh new ambitions. He's doing SO great. He's the happiest person on Earth, and not just because he's making everyone else miserable.

A lot of times in stories (and in life) you expect evildoers doing evil to be secretly miserable and depressed and broken and hiding from their psychological demons and that's the reason they're so cruel in the first place. But like, that applies to humans, who are generally psychologically wired to find fulfillment in doing & receiving the things that most of us agree are "good," and so if a human's doing wicked things most of the time it means it's because something's gone terribly wrong in their lives to make this course of action seem necessary or correct.

But Aku's born evil, wired evil, spiritually evil. What breaks a human's soul nourishes Aku's soul.

14. You know how sometimes after a villain with a tragic backstory does something evil and everyone's like WHY, they break down, and in tortured anguish—likely with bitter angry tears—they explain what horrible tragedy befell them to make them this wrong, this twisted, this broken, and how this experience they went through and the terrible things they're doing now are poisoning them from the inside and hollowing them out into a bitter crumbling husk of the person they should be?

That's the kind of reaction you'd get if Aku helped a little old lady carry her groceries home.

he donates money to a charity to end homelessness and is sick with guilt & disgust & self-loathing. He helps a child do their homework and feels like he's dead inside, he goes home and stares in the mirror and wonders if the real him is even alive anymore. What terrible tragedy would have to befall him to turn him into such a broken shadow of his former self.

a lot of times inherently evil characters are written as like "well they're not really INHERENTLY evil, they've just been convinced evil is good but they can be changed and that'd be good for them" or as like "they're evil so they treat goodness like it's got cooties and it's played for laughs." I think we can push the envelope, take it more seriously, try to REALLY imagine the world from the character's perspective. Wouldn't an evil character doing evil feel the same way as a good character doing good? Wouldn't an evil character doing good feel the same way as a good character doing evil—and wouldn't it take the same sort of extreme circumstances to push them to act against their morals like that?

15. Aku's got pretty good manners? We see this several times: the two that most prominently come to mind to me are the moment he's born, when his very first words are "You! Thank you!"; and the time he ordered an (EXTRA THICC) mercenary and was a very polite and patient customer on the phone, like if you're working in a call center a customer like Aku is a dream. Apparently good etiquette is morally neutral. Add to this some other unexpected traits he has that are usually considered "good": tidy, hates messes (in his home, anyway). Sees children mockng him and decides to read them bedtime stories rather than murder them? Leaves an away message to let visitors know he's unavailable when he's occupied being a depressed lump.

In a lot of ways, Aku would make, like... an ideal neighbor, housemate, roommate, customer, etc. Except for all the evil, and the way he eye lasers anyone the moment they annoy him. But if you put aside the evil he's a well put-together guy with generally quite pleasant habits. He'd probably put the toilet seat back down after using it. But he probably lifted the toilet seat in the first place because he was flushing your still-living pet hamster down the toilet.

And that's enough of that I think.

[keysnocar]

we repost just so i can move his etching

@ghotstx HERE im sorry for clickbaiting you here :)

Also I can’t make this up, I literally mixed up ur username w another person so..welcome.? Haha

@ghostbny

Anyway, I'm FINALLY getting time to add to my TF Prime Numbers AU, starting with a little Orion ref/doodle sheet. This mostly helps me get to know what kind of character I'd like this version of him to be. (and ngl the plot has been whooping me idk what's happening or why sometimes :() )

This is Orion! Or, as the other bots know him,"37." (I’ll explain it later gng)

Here, he’s been with the autobots for around four vorns, (since he was just over 13 vorns old.) 

His Weapon isn't the familiar star saber or Zeta Prime's Axe. This choice involves his 'childhood', as does his design. I kept his lovable boxyness (well i love it) but made him less detailed, with less armor in general- though specifically around the joints. This is mostly because I wanted him to be a smaller bot, with an emphasis on his agility and flexibility, rather than being a heavy hitter. (at least in his youth.)

The Matrix also has a bit of change in its functionality, use, and importance to the plot.

Both of which I'll expand on in a separate post.

DON'T BE MISTAKEN by my choices in drawing him, he's never without the face mask unless alone.

-------------------------------------------------

The little doodles I have of him are more so to solidify his personality while he's this age range, but this is dependent on what’s going on around him as well. His age has proven to complicate some of my plot, but since he’d bonded with the Matrix at 13, it made sense to me that he’d been gradually reformatted in that short span of time between that and joining the autobots by the Matrix . So he appears much older. (I’ll explain it later gang Ik it’s weird but its important hshgjfhd)

Since taking up residence in the main Autobot Outpost on Cybertron, Orion, or "37" works mostly in solo reconnaissance, scouting territories, or pathfinding for small teams on other kinds of missions. When on base. He focuses on compiling the small amount of data the Autobot faction has managed to gather or receive on any prominent threats.

He ‘moved in’ with the Autobots around an earth year after the ‘ Fall of Gold.’ (as many bots had not-so-fondly begun calling it.) This event being the night that Decepticon forces raided, and then destroyed the large informational hubs of Iacon. This included but was not limited to the Senate Hall, Multiple high class Universities, and the Records tower. To many this marked the true beginning of the war- as the attack and largely successful destruction of such a profound city solidified the danger of the rapidly growing Decepticon movement.  After Iacon fell, the other strongholds of the planet have been slow, but surely following.

In his free time, he’s always reading, thinking, filing, sorting, polishing, solving- 'doing' something. there isn't a spare second he's not busying his mind, or if he can't at least manage that, his servos. 

Orion is not social in the SLIGHTEST with new bots. (this being all of his Autobot peers)  It 100% creeps everyone else out when he attempts to be. (he's got these large, piercing, non-emotive optics that seem to stare past and yet into anyone who's got his attention- and WOW is it an alarming, unreadable, gaze to be caught in if you don't know him well.)

The rare moment or two he does find himself in a conversation about something other than strategy or information he'd gathered- others find his conversation.. lacking at most. It's not that he isn't interested, not at all. It's more so that any personal information he dares to give away may end up doing more harm to his goals among the autobots than good. It sure is a lot easier to keep your origins to yourself, if everyone's too intimidated or put off to speak with you.

It's mostly because of this, that he prefers quietly watching and taking things in, over putting himself into a conversation. It's simply how he's accustomed to and has been taught how to function. Observing and compiling, interpreting and mimicking.

(That being said he is still a ‘teenager’ so it sort of sucks trying to keep himself isolated.)

His more reclusive behavior tends to keep other bots from bothering him. His quietly observant posture and constantly active tendencies often leave the others assuming he's got no time for- or interest in talking.

 He sees all of this as a good thing, the first few vorns of living with the bots, as he’s committed to putting all of his focus on figuring out this weird matrix thing. More importantly, keeping the fact that it forced its way onto his spark and won’t come off-  a secret. (Not to mention he can’t afford to be distracted by bots he doesn’t entirely trust.)

But considering Commander Magnus and Medical Officer Ratchet have already been looking at him as if trying to remember something they’d once known- he might not be able to make that last.

…let's hope no one puts the pieces together on where he came from before he can figure out how to explain it.

Admittedly, this style has a different feel than the ones I'm accustomed to creating in- and trying to keep the characters to a consistent level of both simplistic and shapey is already proving to be a fun challenge. I’ve been working on this idea for a while, and I have a lot of other little details or broad stories to fill in. PLEASE I can talk and brainstorm about this all day. I've already got a google doc and MAD plotholes.

(Vorn = 83ish earth years, which I use interchangeably with an earth year for easier understanding, because of the long lifespans.)

[ghostinfragileshell]

Hi, tumblr.

Did you notice Viktor has many common things with Kali, the Indian goddess of chaos?

I am no expert, and honestly do not think that the Arcane creators have consciously implied these things, but I like the concept.

Let's go.

Kali the Godess is associated with time, death and destruction. She is also connected to transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who provide liberating knowledge.

The main theme of many myths about Kali is Kali's pacification. She is both creation and destruction, she is as close to death as possible, she is transcendental knowledge.

Now, we have Viktor dying and then rising from the dead. Viktor is "I can't fight this time now". For a time, Viktor was connected to all transcendental knowledge of the arcane. He had started a literal apocalypse because he wanted people to live without pain, without any physical borders that hampered him so much. In countless universes he succeeded in destroying the world, and creating it anew (with questionable results, but well, who are we to question gods?)

Coming back, Kali's name means "who is black". In art forms Kali is painted mostly with deep blue skin - this is not about race and skin color, but rather a metaphorical representation of chaos and death she symbolizes. Then we have Viktor, who was transformed by the Hexcore to have deep blue skin fused with arcane metal, when he "rose above humanity", and lost the last parts of human-like skin when he became the Herald, as close to a God as you can get. His "final form" has three arms and deep blue skin, and moreover, his transformed face is similar in form to the crown Kali is depicted wearing.

All in all, we have Viktor who can comprehend all time and space and their possibilities through the arcane, and can manipulate them enough to influence universes (and save Jayce over and over, he who gave him the blanket fused to his every form)

Finally.... I mean, just look at him. Then look at Kali (there is one traditional art and one modern one). And one Viktor art! I express my gratitude to the artist (@azuriteseagate), because without that pic I would have never had that idea.

Anyways, I just think that it's neat. Once again, I'm no expert, so if you can add/fix/infodump, please do. Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

[ghoulishhx]

I've got way too many thoughts as of late but Frank Castle with an artsy girl gives me the serotonin I need given I do lots of crafty shit myself.

I've got a patch jacket with around 350 hand studded spikes on the shoulders and do my own embroidery, just the image of Monochromatic Frank Castle with a brightly decorated art girl just brings me joy. Especially if she slowly integrates stuff into his clothes like sewing a simple but endearing patch over one of the tears in his shirts or jackets is just too cute

aaah thank you SO much for the request. im finally gonna try and get some sleep after posting this and i will work on the others tomorrow! if anyone wants to leave me any more asks, you can do so here :3

honestly, in my humble opinion I truly believe frank castle and an artsy girl go hand in hand. the juxtaposition between both personalities is just SO perfect to me. literally the ideal pairing.

a quirky, bubbly, artistic girl with tattoos, eccentric dress sense next to his stoic grumpy self, dressed in monochrome is just chefs kiss.

I can also imagine frankie is absolutely OBSESSED with his girl's work, calling each new project a masterpiece and genuinely taking time to look at every single stitch, brush stroke etc (he doesn't know a damn thing about any or it but you genuinely astonish him with your talent).

and the studded patch jacket omg I am SO jealous it sounds so cool!! thinking about frank watching you add all the studs one at a time-

"jeez sweetheart I dont know how ya do it, so much detail.."

him just wanting to assist you in any way

"ya need any help? lemme see doll, can't be that hard.."

when in reality he struggles massively. his big calloused hands fighting with the glue and the individual studs, cursing under his breath only wanting to help his girl UGH IM OBSESSEDDDD

──── ୨୧ ────

anyway here's a tinyyy little drabble to go along with my headcanon tehe

no content warnings, just pure fluff!

frank was a man of many talents, arts and crafts was definitely not one of them. and that's where you come in, his perfect girl.

he swears your work is the best damn thing to grace this planet, his words not yours. he takes your fingers and kisses them, tightly squeezing muttering how everything you touch turns to gold.

you wanted to repay him for his unwavering support. show him how much his words truly inspire you.

whilst putting away laundry on a Sunday evening, you look through his drawer full of his shirts, all as black as the night. but your eyes are drawn to one piece in particular.

it's old, you can tell he hasn't worn it in forever due to the sheer amount of cuts within the fabric. a light bulb goes off in your head, knowing EXACTLY what to do.

he catches you that evening, sewing away. the sight doesnt surprise him, youre always getting stuck into different crafts. he places a kiss to your forehead, trying to take a peek at your work but you shoo him away, not allowing him to see until the final result.

standing up from your chair, holding the material behind your back as you order him to close his eyes. he does, smirking not knowing what comes next as he is told to hold out his arms.

what he's met with when he opens his eyes, genuinely knocks the wind out of him.

his old favourite shirt, the one he wore on his first date with you (which he then foolishly decided to also wear on a work night, ruining it forever).

except it can't be, right? it was all torn up..

he hold the shirt close to him as he squints, noticing you've patched every single one of the slices. making it brand new.

this alone was enough to choke him, the gesture of you going through the trouble to do this, for him, fills him with a sense of importance.

you gesture to the long sleeve,

"frankie that's not all I did y'know" you giggle, raising the sleeve to his eyes. you watch as his eyes gloss over at the embroidery you added.

F C ♡ Y / N, followed by flowers. but not just any flowers.

peonies.

Maria's favourite.

"baby girl.. this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," he whispers, tracing each stitch with his forefinger, hardly believing his eyes. hardly believing anyone would do this for him. let alone someone like you. "thank you sweetheart. it's the most beautiful thing ive ever seen."

he pulls you close to his chest, stroking your hair and kissing the top of your head. not once tearing his eyes away from the work of art you bestowed upon him.

"I love ya, my sweet girl. the most talented person on the goddamn planet."

in conclusion, frank + artsy girl, a match made in heaven.

[lucabyte]

What's your favorite way to characterize your ocs? (if u want a challenge try not to answer with any homestuck related category)

mine is how many siblings they have!

Ok so this is a genuinely interesting question bc i had to actually like... Think about how to word this in a way that isn't complete nothing?

So. My favourite way to characterise my ocs is via their interests. (... something i think homestuck does very well via making sure every character has a grab bag of cool & uncool, intense & wayside interests instead of just a bunch of cool stuff they like equally, but i digress)

That said, it's not so simple as just giving them a likes and dislikes list. in fact i fucking hate likes and dislikes lists cant stand them, they always feel really flat to me. I know they have their uses but I usually can't flatten characters down that way. Likes are ephemeral-- Likes can be shit like 'warm days' which. Duh.

Something i'm a little mean about related to this is what i call "Likes: Friends Dislikes: Bullies" which is something you see on character likes and dislikes in one form or another a LOTTTT. This is because like... Yeah? That can be assumed of everyone? It tells me nothing about the character. Telling me your character likes Pleasant Weather or dislikes Gross Food is like. Uh Huh?

It's not specific! It tells me nothing! But that's the secret.

Specificity and Contradiction are where it's at. Now a character who hates pleasant weather and likes gross food? Now that's a weirdo. Or maybe even that they dislike 'gross food'-- But by their definition that's like... Anything that's not literally raw? Now that's characterisation! Now you get to ask why the fuck are they like that.

And this is how I like to approach things. I like to dig into a character's interests on the surface level by assigning them some, sure. But the fun comes from digging in and making them specific and contradictory. (And usually if a character is unfinished, to me, it's because they're still on that surface level of Just Having Some Interests) (Also, it goes without saying, one of the best places to find these interests for characters in the first place is by joking and riffing for as long as humanly possible. A core joke will carry you farrrrr)

so my actual favourite way to characterise characters? Giving them really specific dislikes, in relation to their interests.

So, for example, (because they are always the example...) Ali is a stagehand and decent actor, and loves plays. In fact, they love plays so much they are outright dismissive of other art forms. They don't play games, they don't really watch TV, their main intakes of media are books, screenplays, poetry and filmed productions or bootlegs. (and hey, bringing up bootlegs: that probably means they participate in the weird bootleg-trading-ring people have going on online. Look at that! A weird niche activity I can give them!)

But, they HATE musicals. Think they "lower" the art form-- Despite (or perhaps because) they're the most popular type of play to put on, especially in the local productions they help out on. They value the scary intimacy of a theatre production, being in a near silent room physically with the performers, they think it elevates it. Makes it unique. They don't like that musicals are like... fun and loud.

But let's go even more specific. Do they have any exceptions? Any begrudging respect?

Well, I think they'd respect musicals like Cats. Things that are pure spectacle, where the music and intefacing with the audience in a chaotic manner are the point. They like that Cats "Doesn't even pretend to have a story. It's not actually trying to compete with plays, it's doing its own thing. It's practically Theatre of Cruelty."

And furthermore, they also enjoy animated or movie-original musicals. Because, well, film is a medium they don't care about as much. It's okay if it lowers itself by being silly. Plus!! Animation is like, fake, for children, and has a heightented requirement for suspension of disbelief! It's perfect for musicals! They're nothing but spectacle! In fact, that's what makes them the perfect medium for them!

^ You may notice that the above is like, while logical, is very dismissive of other mediums! It's a little bit anti-art in places!

And thatt's the other thing. I like to make characters who don't hold the exact same opinions I do.

While there's parts of my actual opinions in there-- I do believe animated is a great medium for musicals due to the whole suspension of disbelief & fun thing-- Um. I would hope it's obvious that as an animation graduate I don't think animation is for children or inherently less serious of a medium.

But Ali is a weird little snob who will hopefully get some slightly more nuanced opinons when they're not literally only 19. So it makes sense that they're being elitist about things. They're insecure, and hanging a lot of their self-esteem on being "an artist with good and refined taste". Of couuuurse they've got a stick up their ass about musicals (something I myself am not a superfan of, but usually enjoy when I watch them. I think Ali is missing out!)

But yeah, that's just from digging in and getting specific about one interest: Theatre.

By digging into the contradiction of "Likes Theatre and Dislikes Musicals" I can find a reason for why. And I can avoid making characters just Mouthpieces For My Own Opinions by giving them opinions i disagree with.

I follow this logic a lot, though not always so straightforwardly.

Chrome is a musician who doesn't really like music, and thinks all artists are just vapidly doing it for attention. (Which should immediately clue you in to what's wrong with him.) It's a more selfish version of the same kind of reasoning Ali has, but one Ali would find ghoulish.

Ess, meanwhile, is a Pedologist. A soil scientist-- A very specific thing you usually get to via being like... A geologist, or chemist, or something more general-- But I've said he was basically on that shit immediately-- Which is a funny concept to me. He didn't go on a journey of scientific discovery to find a niche area of study-- He just loved that niche ever since he was a kid.

So, you'd expect that I'd maybe make Ess dislike other sciences then? Nah, I think he's more nuanced than that. Because, following his very polite and politically aware demeanor, I think it would make more sense for him to be very respectful of all sciences, even if he has no real interest in them outside of how they relate to his field. Instead, he is conciously trying very hard not to form a grudge with more 'popular' sciences-- He knows why they're more popular, and he knows it's not the fault of the people who love the field that they get a lot more funding than him. It's not their fault, it's just a result of science having to be so capitalistic.....

See! Polite little man, very nuanced. That's because most of his contradictions come instead from being a terrified and anxious soul who is doing illegal shit right now while being very scared because they know it's for the greater good. (see! politically aware again. He knows trespassing is illegal, but his morality does not line up with legality. He's exposing governmental malpractice, ffs. But! Not a cool punk! In fact a very scared guy!)

Ess there does get to be a bit of a mouthpiece for me, since obviously I also believe you should trespass to go get evidence of the government knowingly dumping biohazards into the fucking water supply for cost cutting reasons. But he gets to balance it out because every time I have to do research into soil science my fucking head hurts.

Pulling back away from Ess and back to Ali and Chrome again I think I have one last really good example of letting characters have opinions that are different to mine, that's about something that isn't an interest, per se, but hits on the reason I like to do this so much.

It is so fucking fun to make characters argue.

In an earlier purrgatorio that im not going to re-look-at because its early enough the writing quality might make me dry heave, i let ali and chrome have a bit of an argument (with tabitha as a weird mediator who has the closest to my real opinions LOL.)

So. Chrome has what i can describe as "Basically my opinions, but worded in the most bad faith way possible." If I saw someone arguing my point like this i'd want to either smack them or disagree with them on principle.

Whereas Ali has "The opposite to my opinion, but worded with all of the arguments for that point of view that I genuinely respect." They're the talking points I've observed that I genuinely find to be decent reasoning, and I would be hard pressed to disagree with in polite conversation.

They're arguing about religion. Ali is religious, following a small gnostic sect that's basically only practiced by their immediate family. Chrome is bluntly atheistic, but coming at it from a conception of religion that only has room for (a pastiche of) american big-box puritan protestantism, and is assuming every religion to be the same way.

I am an atheist myself, but cannot fucking stand the culturally-christian reddit atheist talking points. So I gave that kind of thing to Chrome (part of this irony being, Chrome is far more spiritual than he thinks-- having internalised a LOT of protestant work ethic), and Ali is from a small cultural religion that couldn't be further from it-- And is also a modern-day internet user with a bitchy streak-- So of course they've memorised every rational and reasonable counter-argument to this kind of thing.

(The full on irony being, that they are fictional and thus Ali is acutally in a sense... Right that there is a demiurge. Lol.)

Even if I do ultimately take the side that uh. Idk dude i dont think god is real. Giving that opinion to the guy who's being a shithead about it makes it more interesting to write?

I treat a lot of things like this. Chrome has a bad anti-art anti-intellectual streak that I follow the logic of, but think is dangerous and flawed. Markus loves scientific knowledge and biology, but is too naive to really know how to chase it-- or when to stop. Miao has a lack of academic smarts, and deeply undervalues her other skills because she's internalised that they don't matter in comparison. Lupus believes there's good in everyone, and can't comprehend the logic of cruelty-- Leading her to equivicate legality with morality in a very childish manner.

Everyone gets an ideology. I should be able to follow the logic of everyone's ideology even if I don't agree with it. And interests are both an extension of ideology, and a window into it.

Chrome's anti-art anti-intellectualism leads him to barely partake in media-- But also undersell his own academic smarts because his skills in physiology are "just dumb meathead shit about how to stay jacked". Lupus' disagreements with Mafioso over criminals being 'cool' betray her inflexibility in categorising actions as 'good' or 'bad', because she wants no-one to suffer-- And assuming an unjust police absolutely turns that to dust.

It's all about putting characters together like a big jigsaw to make them have unique worldviews-- To then be able to look at a real world thing and go "who of my characters would like that/act like that/think that?"

(Now. Uh. I can't say I'm like. The Bestest At This-- That would be a touch egotistical given my lack of Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is And Writing A Big Story For Everyone To Look At. But um. We'll get there? I hope lol.)

But yeah, TL;DR:

My favourite ways to characterise characters are:

Give them specific, contradictory and ironic interests

Interrogate their reasonings and how it informs their self-perception

Give them opinions that don't always align with mine

Interrogate whether they are actually coherent when discussing these opinions

[transmutationisms]

hey ! i was wondering if you had any thoughts on dissociative identity disorder or more specifically the "theory of structural dissociation" that says DID is 'caused' by going through heavy dissociation-causing trauma before the ages of ~9, (that number might be different depending on who you ask, i've seen 6--12 as well) which causes a fractured sense of self due to not having an integrated personality until ~9+ and experiencing disruptions to the development/integration due to the trauma+dissociation/amnesia. the whole theory feels a little silly to me, but it seems to be the only largely accepted one? how do we know a personality is integrated around age 9, what even is a 'personality' in this context–how do we measure/define that, what is considered integrated vs not integrated, etc. there's just a lot that seems to rely on assumptions and norms and doesnt make sense to me. and almost all of it falls apart when you consider the 'culturally normal' forms of multiplicity that cannot be diagnosed bc they are typical within a culture or community, but multiplicity is still being experience regardless. ie: if meeting the TOSD's terms is the way multiplicity is developed according to clinical perspective, how do ppl in cultures where multiplicity is a norm develop it? what abt ppl who develop multiplicity later in life, after the age of supposed identity/personality integration?(in the DID community, they largely just say these people aren't real or are incorrect about what they think theyre experiencing or have experienced–often a trauma history is superimposed on the subject and told 'you DO have trauma, you just can't remember it bc of your condition). the theory only (and barely) seems to make sense in a vaccum. yet the DID community seems really strict about adhereing to this theory. my thought is that its a very 'validating' (see, my trauma is bad enough, it was *so* bad and occured at *such* a young age that it literally fractured my entire psyche/sense of self/personality/whatever--proof!) theory so many who have been through complex trauma cling to it as some sort of evidence of their hardships and validation of their reactions, and any other theories feel 'invalidating.' i think DID (and more broadly all multiplicity) has long been a highly stigmatized and debated condition in psych circles, it is way outside the norm of what is considered allowable or even sometimes possible, and this has caused the definition and cause of the condition to become stricter and narrower to rationalize and 'corral' it in a sense, which is validating and ?possibly helpful? to the ones who can meet that criteria, but fails and punishes those who cannot but may still be living with some kind of multiplicity. ntm the founders of the theory all have a bit of controversy for patient abuse, i think that's relevant but often goes dismissed. i'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject and the broader treatment and discussions of multiplicity from a psych abolition perspective.

sorry for any typos/grammar errors!

so in terms of professional discourse i think what we see more accurately is that definitions of 'dissociative' (not really a defined term itself lol) conditions were broader and tended to get described under different diagnostic umbrellas (including sometimes hysteria) before the schizophrenia diagnosis was reframed in biomedical terms in the early 20thc. then schizophrenia is redefined and widened in a few ways throughout the century, and many psychiatrists turn out to really prefer dxing schizophrenia, which is like a professional concept that comes from them, over dxing (old terms for) DID, which has long been associated with sideshow and medical demonstrations like hypnosis, & is depicted as sensational and splshy in pop culture and often learned about that way.

in the 90s there was a brief boom in anglo medical literature about DID but in truth i would not say it has ever been an uncontroversial dx among The Professionals. generally more of the psychiatric field thinks this is iatrogenic/culture-bound performance-interpretation of distress than thinks it is a traumagenic disease and i think that has largely always been true & will probably always be true as long as they are working off professional diagnostic schemata that have other, more 'scientised' descriptions of 'dissociative' presentations to funnel patients into. you see you can certainly get psychiatrists to challenge their own field but they have to believe that they're excising a diseased little local bit in order to legitimate the whole. they try to do this when anyone mentions the chemical imbalance theory too and they act like they all obviously already know it's bunk and they weren't just personally hawking it to you five seconds ago because they do Science doncha know.

as far as DID itself yeah i basically agree with what you've said about multiplicity. i wouldn't exempt this dx from anything i've said re: psych in general. there's nothing magically more pre-discursive or pre-social about it.

[violetjedisylveon]

Shadowpeach Angst AU, where Macaque is worried about the future battle with heaven, and uses his Future Hearing + meditation to know all the possible futures (while Wukong + the Brotherhood watch him)...

Macaque hears NO possible future where they defeat Heaven... and in most possible futures, Macaque + Wukong lose their relationship... and in some futures, Wukong kills Macaque...

Macaque wakes up from his meditation screaming and traumatized + Wukong tries to comfort Macaque, but Macaque doesn't let Wukong touch him...

Macaque tells Wukong + the Brotherhood that there's NO future where they win, and then BEGS everyone to stop the battle against Heaven... (Macaque doesn't give them the details about Wukong's eventual betrayal)... But nobody listens, Wukong believes they can change the future...

But Macaque was so hurt + traumatized by Wukong possibly killing him, that when the Brotherhood was asleep... Macaque had left... Wukong was heartbroken, and Macaque hated himself for being a coward...

Macaque traveled the world in a disguise for years, then he meets Pigsy, and becomes MK's 'Mortal Uncle'...

When MK becomes Wukong's apprentice, Macaque gets nervous... While Wukong thinks that MK's 'Mortal Uncle' is oddly familiar... While Macaque wants to both protect MK + make sure Wukong DOESN'T learn the truth... 😅

Gay Uncle Macaque AU!

He's the cool uncle who let's the kids do things that the parents would never allow while keeping an eye on them to make sure they were still safe.

I imagine he probably met Pigsy's and Tang soon after they found MK, drawn by the energy of this kid that's very similar to his mate's. He's been living as a normal mortal monkey for centuries, traveling around like the rest of his kind after FFM was burned (he definitely went back and saved as many as he could which Wukong doesn't find out about until after the journey).

And he hears the couple struggling with the little kid when he got overwhelmed and let's himself in to help out.

They are very alarmed this strange monkey broke into their home to help with their kid, but it works?

MK is immediately calmed down by Macaque's presence as one of his own kind, being monkeys, and Macaque clocks in that this kid ain't a human kid, strips off the glamor and reveals the little monkey, much to his parents shock.

He explains to Pigsy and Tang that some monkey demon probably wasn't up to taking care of their kid, being too young, too old, injured or whatever, and wanted a better more stable life for their child than the one of a monkey demon so they disguised him and left him to whoever would take care of him.

He offers to hang around and help them get the hang of raising a monkey until the kid is old enough to glamor himself as a human for ease of getting around, they accept, all become bros.

After a certain incident involving attempted kidnapping, Macaque hides MK's celestial primate-ness and leaves him looking like just a normal monkey demon, and he can't leave the kid alone now, Macaque never ends up leaving.

He is now and forever, Cool Uncle Mac.

He's also MK's godfather in case anything happens to Pigsy and Tang, happened after the attempted kidnapping, and somehow Mei got her parents to make Mac her godfather too, nobody knows how that happened.

Back to Wukong!

Wukong was heartbroken when Macaque just disappeared, and once he's been defeated, he attributes their defeat to Macaque leaving them, weakening them by leaving them without one of their strongest fighters, and he's raging in anger for years, until the journey happens.

Tripitaka hears Wukong ranting and raving about Macaque and starts to work him through his issues, and when Wukong does tell him that macaque warned them, he sides with Macaque's choice, because Wukong literally had a person who can hear every possible future tell him his plan was going to fail, and he ignored him.

Is it any wonder that Macaque left after his warnings were ignored?

Tripitaka explains what he can guess was Macaque's reasoning behind his choice with the information he has, which Macaque obviously hears and is very appreciative for and helps him with the guilt.

Tripitaka and Macaque are cool here. They never meet but they are chill and would probably be buds. And Macaque and Tang are buds!

Because Macaque did do the right thing for himself by walking away from not the healthiest group dynamic

By the time of the show, Macaque has had his actions and feelings validated by his therapist, he and Sandy go to the same one, they are buds and hang out for tea and kitty time while Macaque fills Sandy in on all the stuff he's been missed out on with Pigsy's life.

So Macaque is a lot mentally healthier and okay with himself and his past actions.

And then Wukong shows up again.

Macaque never heard Wukong confirm any sort of closure over what he did so he is reasonably weary when the guy shows up, then he's pissed because Wukong is putting his nephew/god son in mortal danger!

He doesn't know Wukong's feelings on Liu'er Mihou enough to feel safe coming out as himself, so he only interacts with him as Macaque, MK's protective uncle/god father.

Wukong is also pretty quick to figure out MK's also a monkey demon, he doesn't exactly hide it and will drop his glamor whenever to get around easier, feet hands make climbing around the city so much easier, but he can't figure out that MK is anything more than that.

He does initially assume that MK and Mac are biologically related, but it's pretty quickly explained that no, Mac broke in and decided he was gonna live with/near them like a stray cat, he heard a baby monkey crying and monkey instincts did the rest.

Macaque is very disapproving of Wukong's leaving MK in season 2, and he, unlike Wukong, fills MK (and others) in that a demon called the Lady Bone Demon is back and she's very dangerous.

She's the one who tried to kidnap MK as a child after all, so he's super on edge for all of season 2, practically staking out MK's room every night , because he hears really bad things happening in the future and is guiding things towards the less bad stuff.

Over the years the noodle fam learned to trust his "intuition" and he's happy to have a family that trusts and listens to him.

Wukong is facing down two angry dads + a pissed off uncle at the end of season 3. He's cooked.

Thanks for asking!

[abottleofkarlheinz]

while we're on the topic of how dl fans like to ignore how actually fucked up their favs are can we also talk about the double standards they have especially with characters like cordelia. like when are ayato and laito stans gonna stop being so scared to talk about how they aren't any better than her?? and i'm saying that as a diehard ayato stan lmfao like laito could literally be a serial rapist and ayato is one of the most physically and emotionally abusive boyfriends you could have 😭 this has always bugged me so much not the hating on cordelia but how people never hold the diaboys to the same standard

[I was gonna answer this yesterday but I forgot 💀 sorry anon]

I think I talked about something like this before on here a few years ago and my opinion hasn't changed much or at all, so basically my thoughts are:

You're obviously correct about how horrible those two are and I personally share your opinion on them not being much better than her.

That being said this is an otome game and the focus is on the LIs so I'm not really surprised by the double standards or favoritism, I feel like that's just a standard reaction to any main characters in any fandom (whether those main characters are good or horrible people). The diaboys are basically there to be romanced/thirsted after by the group the game is targeted towards to (masochistic women) so of course the fandom is going to care more for them than cordelia, or any non LI character. Plus all of the other family members of the boys are kinda made to be antagonists in the game, so it's really a matter of perspective. The boys are main characters in their respective routes and we find out a lot about them so it's easier to sympathize. Like we see their thoughts and personalities way more than those of the mothers or karl so it's easier to care. It's just that the antagonists are not as complex. [Not that I believe that the LIs themselves are too complex even tho a lot of the fandom would disagree, but rejet has to many changes from game to game for the characters to be completely consistent, plus the plot has more holes than a fucking swiss cheese. But honestly it doesn't matter, this game's in not really a philosophical work on the consequences of child abuse it's just a thrasy otoge about vamps]

What I have a problem with is when they try to pass some sort of moral judgment. Like the LIs are literally not all that better that most of the antagonist and "they changed" is not a valid argument (and even when they change they're still not really good partners by any normal standards). Plus the only reason they changed is because of yui/mc, so who's to say that the other charas would not change too if they had someone like her?

I think the other reason it's so hard for people to like karl and the moms, specifically cordelia, is cause the bad shit they did was towards their own family, so there's the added factor of "damn they were that horrible to their own blood" and I totally get that, but.....when you remove those feelings and look at it a bit more objectively, the damage they did to the other sacrificial brides is not any better, honestly some may say it's even more cause they straight up murked them. like they're dead, gone bro. no returning lmao.

But I guess my overall opinion on the topic is that I don't care that much.

Like obviously I wish more people would openly talk about how truly morally corrupt and disgusting the boys are and just admit that they like them as that cause this is fiction and it doesn't matter. And obviously I see the fans who refuse to as hypocrites, but also I just don't wanna try to change anyone's opinion. If someone tries to tell me one is way worse than the other and I can't like who I like I'll just tell them to fuck off my blog and keep it pushing.

Sorry for yapping, I just wanted to say as much as I can about this cause I will most likely not be answering anything about this topic again. Not because I minded this ask, but because I think there's no need to repeat myself any further, plus I do feel like the fandom has gotten a bit better now in regards to this matter then it was before. I remember seeing actually insane people in this fandom back in 2015-2019. I'm old (22)

[ckret2]

tell us about aku/scaramouche

thank you anon for indulging me

listen. I'm banging my fist on the table. Aku/Scaramouche. Why isn't this a THING. Why after digging halfway to hell into the tumblr tags have I only seen two people total shipping Aku/Scaramouche. It is RIGHT THERE.

Scaramouche bases like 50% of his identity around being Aku's #1 specialest little guy. He's called Aku often enough to have memorized both his phone number and the unique tune the buttons make when he dials the number. He crossed half the damn planet AS A HEAD to give Aku some good news as fast as possible. He's known Aku long enough to make it to #1, so he must know how often Aku breaks his bargains—even with people that handed him Jack on a silver platter—but he's unflaggingly confident that Aku will happily pay off Scaramouche's debts as a reward. He's just as confident that the guy who instantly eye-lasers anyone that displeases him will be thrilled to chat after Scaramouche breaks into Aku's locked down castle.

And Aku IS willing to listen and DOESN'T kill Scaramouche for breaking in. He gives Scaramouche a new body—as far as I can recall, the ONLY on-screen example of Aku rewarding an underling in the entire show. He's willing to do a stupid victory dance with Scaramouche. He brings Scaramouche along to gloat at Jack (altho it didn't end well RIP Scaramouche The Merciless you'll be missed). He gave Scaramouche his number in the first place—possibly during the span of time when he's so depressed he'll hardly get out of bed, much less talk to anyone. Aku even accepts collect calls from him.

And there's SO many ways you can write it.

Are you into "villain and his most loyal henchman"? Boom. You've got it.

"Godlike figure and the little person who (figuratively or literally) worships him"? Boom. You can effortlessly spin it that way.

"Murderous remorseless evil power couple that mocks the good guys together"? Boom.

"Creepy dark doom guy who radiates grumpiness and his ball of radioactive sunshine and optimism"? Boom.

"The one guy who can get away with shoving his way into the misanthrope's life without being sent packing"? Boom.

"Guy who looks dark and scary but when Jack isn't stalking him is a font of unhinged evil glee and guy who looks fun-loving and cheerful but is also a font of unhinged evil glee."

"The Statler and Waldorf at any group social function if Statler and Waldorf really liked slaughtering whole towns and mistakenly assumed they were the two coolest guys in the room."

"Guy who's so miserably depressed he can hardly drag himself through the day and guy who goes to the ends of the earth to give him the one thing that can make him smile again."

"Guy who has all the riches in the world and his hot young thing that confidently tells everyone he meets that his sugar daddy evil boss will pay for anything he asks."

Boom boom boom. I could go on. You can do anything with this ship. "Oh I want a monsterfucker ship but I can't tell if I'm in the mood for demons or robots" WHY CHOOSE, HAVE THEM BOTH.

My personal preferred way to interpret them—you're getting my headcanon now, I'm holding back the general Scaramouche headcanons and sticking to the ones relevant to the ship—I think Scaramouche's model is the next-gen upgraded version of the X-model line. The X-49 experiment proved that giving robots emotions made them better at killing and helped them survive longer so they can kill more. So, give them all emotions. Make a couple of tweaks: you don't want them doubting their jobs or understanding right from wrong, so don't give them consciences or the capacity for remorse, let 'em have fun killing while keeping the rage and self-preservation that made X-49 so successful. And rabid loyalty to one living being seems like a great way to motivate them, but we don't want any more robots dragging home stray dogs. Program them for loyalty to Aku.

So here we've got a bot who has an entire whole personality of his own—dude probably dresses himself, he has very strong opinions on Jack's hair, and I'm sure Aku's not the one who went "you know what would make this assassin unstoppable? the flute"—and yet, and yet, the core of his existence is obsessive devotion to Aku. Everything's about Aku, everything's for Aku, he kills for Aku, he travels the world for Aku, he sings and dances for Aku, he breaks Aku's commands for Aku. All he wants to do is everything Aku could possibly want him to do. And he must be succeeding because he's Aku's #1 assassin.

When Scaramouche is slaughtering a whole town just to lure Jack out so he can kill him, Aku is telling his scientists he's given up on sending anyone to kill Jack and pretending he doesn't even care anymore—and that must mean Aku didn't send Scaramouche after Jack, Scaramouche decided on his own that that's his target. It's not like he needs to impress Aku—not THAT much anyway—he's already #1. He's trying to figure out what will make his depressed-as-hell boss finally happy. He's calling Aku as often as he can get away with, to hear his voice, to make sure Aku approves, to ask what now, what can I do for you next.

Eventually, ultimately, if you wait long enough and dig deep enough, his every thought revolves around Aku. It's what he's programmed for, after all. He worships Aku. He wants Aku. He loves Aku.

... Scaramouche you weren't programmed to feel loyalty that way. Scar. Scaramouche what are you doing. None of the other bots in Scaramouche's line did this. (Which is good, because if he thought that a bunch of bots with the potential to be just as competent & useful as him were his rivals, he might just destroy them all.) These emotion chips are wild, the second you flip them on they start adapting and changing and it's impossible to predict how they'll affect a bot's personality. Maybe a bot will decide purple overcoats are cool and fall in love with his boss. You never know. Well... whatever's going on in his head, it seems to be effective. He is Aku's #1 assassin.

For Aku's part? If the show's plot had gone a little bit differently and he didn't blow up anybody's head and they'd both lived long enough for Aku to find all this out himself?

How rare must it be for anyone to want him?

Not his massive store of riches—him. Not a piece of his political power—him. Not offers from him of cushier jobs or better bounties—him. Not his protection as an indestructible shapeshifter—him. Not his favor, a village spared, a prisoner freed—him.

Him—and not in spite of the billion red flags, but heedless of them. Him—with no fear of the potential consequences that come from being so close to him, the greater risk of misstepping and ending up in the Pit of Hate or worse—not because his suitor arrogantly thinks himself immune to those risks (well—maybe a little bit), but because anything he can get before that last mistake would make it all worth it. Him—not because this suitor imagines some secret better nature hiding inside of Aku, but because of what Aku clearly is on the outside—even when he's feeling at his worst and most pathetic—because Scaramouche is devoted to Aku the way he is, because he must be devoted to Aku the way he is, however he is.

The fact that it's programmed doesn't make it any less sincere. And anyway, it was never meant to be programmed like that—from the default code, this arose naturally.

And Aku may have been pursued a few times in the past, primarily for political alliances and the like, but he's never been wanted like THIS before: with the steely-opticked determination of an unstoppable killing machine.

And this demon, this monster, this tree-ogre, who sees children celebrating his would-be murderer and—instead of punishing them or even telling them made-up stories about how good is lame and evil will always win in the end—tries pathetically to convince the children that he's the hero protecting them, tries to steal that hero-worship for himself...

It's possible Aku may have never noticed how awful it feels to be eternally, universally unwanted... until he's wanted for the first time.

And once he feels it, once he's convinced it's real, he'll crave it with all the avarice with which he ever hungered for the rest of the world's vast treasures.

Do you see my vision. Can you feel the potential. Please. Please. I'm on my knees. Is anybody listening.