#Some of the concepts here are based on their ideas

[lostyesterday]

A frustrating thing about Voyager that many people have discussed before is the way in which B’Elanna is seen by the characters and the narrative itself as inherently or naturally angry and aggressive regardless of her actual actions in relation to the actions of those around her. It would be one thing if the narrative itself questioned this assumption of the characters (including B’Elanna herself), but in fact the narrative generally supports this idea.

Obviously this whole concept falls very much into racist tropes in relation to Klingons in general, and for B’Elanna specifically, into racist stereotypes about Latina women. But even going purely based on her onscreen portrayal, I think it is genuinely an inaccurate reading of B’Elanna’s character to call her more angry or aggressive than the other characters around her, despite this clearly being the intention in a lot of episodes. If you actually pay attention to the behavior of other characters interacting with B’Elanna in situations where she is “angry”, it is often clear that treating her emotional and verbal reactions as indicators of some sort of inherently aggressive temperament makes no sense at all.

This is especially evident in many of her interactions with Tom. Here is one example from the episode “Night”:

In this scene, Tom describes B’Elanna as being angry “twenty-four hours a day” while B’Elanna says that everything is a joke to Tom. This is a common way for Voyager to represent the issues in B’Elanna and Tom’s relationship. The problems are supposedly caused by B’Elanna being angry all the time and Tom never taking things seriously. Tom, of course, is never irrationally angry and that could never contribute to their arguments. But if you actually pay attention to this interaction, it’s clear that Tom is at least as angry and aggressive here as B’Elanna is, if not more so. His “jokes” are intended as verbal attacks. To see this scene as indicative of B’Elanna’s inherently aggressive nature but not Tom’s is extremely questionable.

In isolation, this scene doesn’t indicate much, but when B’Elanna’s actions are continuously interpreted as indicative of some kind of innate aggression regardless of the context or how they relate to those around her, the bias becomes clear.

[syncsnzthings]

SFW OC snzfic - lab experiment - Rowan and Daniel

I've been obsessed with this concept for a while, I can't stop thinking about it.

SUMMARY: Rowan agreed to be the test subject for his friend, who works in/runs a lab that tests pharmaceuticals for companies that make allergy meds. He has no idea that he's not testing an antihistamine; it's something a lot more interesting. WARNINGS: Sneezing, long holdbacks (in a way), mild scientific malpractice if you squint, something akin to sneeze torture but not really WORDS: 3,100

━━━━━»•»🌺

The door to the lab finally opens and Rowan's head perks up to see Daniel wheeling in a tray covered by a thin sheet of cloth. Rowan, ever eager to help, had agreed to be the first test subject for a compound Daniel's lab had produced. Although he works in data entry and has no connections to the actual lab practices—save for his friendship with Daniel—he always ends up getting dragged into these things. He has such a hard time saying no when he's the best test subject any of them can think of.

Daniel and his lab associates do contract work for various pharmaceutical companies, mainly companies that produce allergy medication. Because of this—and factors unknown to Rowan, though he knew there were some—Daniel had taken up a project in creating his own compound with some of the research money the lab had been granted.

The basic rundown he was given was that this medication was supposed to prevent him from sneezing. It's a challenge finding something that will halt Rowan's allergies entirely; he seems to be allergic to everything under the sun, and he's never found an allergy medication that completely mitigates all of his symptoms. Hence, he's the perfect test subject for whatever Daniel and his associates cook up.

"Rowan," Daniel greets him with a friendly smile after he crosses the short distance from the door to the side of the medical cot Rowan is sitting on. He stills the cart, adjusts it slightly to be within reach but not in the way, then turns his full attention to Rowan. "Are you ready to test this out? You haven't taken your usual allergy medication today?"

Rowan returns the smile , his back straightening up in anticipation for the test. "Just like you said. I hope it's worth it, I've been itchy all day."

"Even in the winter, with no seasonal allergens around, your nose is insatiable," Daniel replies, dry amusement coloring his usually professional tone. "And you swallowed the liquid ten minutes ago?" Rowan fixes him with a look. "I have to cover all my bases. It's important that everything is accounted for."

"Yes, I took the stuff when you told me to and then came right here," Rowan says. "I've been waiting here for you forever, you know."

"Ten minutes is hardly forever," Daniel says distractedly. He pinches the thin cloth covering the cart between gloved fingers and tugs it aside, folding it haphazardly and placing it on the counter lining the adjacent wall.

Rowan finally gets a glimpse of what's underneath. He's used to a sight similar to this because of his history of volunteering as a test subject: a tray of allergens, each guaranteed to produce some kind of reaction in him. Usually the tests are for antihistamines, so triggering his allergies doesn't make him react too horribly. This time, he finds himself getting slightly nervous. Daniel had never used the word antihistamine this time, he only said that it was supposed to stop him from sneezing. Daniel is nothing if not precise, so the sudden switch in vocabulary had instantly struck Rowan as odd. He's off his usual allergy meds, and he has an unknown substance working its way through his blood.

"Are you ready to begin?" Daniel turns his eyes back to Rowan, a flash of something Rowan doesn't recognize passing over his expression.

"Well, as ready as I ever am, I guess!" Rowan replies, trying to sound chipper despite his increased nerve.

Daniel nods once. He reaches for the tray on the cart and picks up a long feather, pointed at the tip but quickly morphing into soft disarray closer to the base. Rowan takes in a quick anticipatory breath as Daniel's hand approaches his face. The sharp tip of the feather begins tracing a gentle path along the rims of Rowan's nose and his breath catches again, this time caused by the tickle that instantly spreads up through his sinuses. Whatever it is that Daniel had him take, it did not make his nose any less sensitive to the stimulus.

Rowan pauses, his breath hitching sharply for a long moment. He's entirely prepared to sneeze and let Daniel mark this one down as a failure for now. But nothing happens. His breath evens out again only to pick back up into quick hitches and gasps. He sniffles and blinks his eyes open to look at Daniel.

"Wahh- hih! What's hahhppening? I need to… ihh!" Rowan stutters through his unsteady breathing. His vision is slightly unfocussed, but he swears he sees Daniel's lips quirk up into a satisfied smirk.

"It looks like the compound is working perfectly," Daniel offers as a simple, unhelpful answer. He continues teasing Rowan's nose with the feather, turning it on its side now to let the soft, flexible plumes rub against Rowan's sensitive nostrils.

Rowan twists his head to the side and Daniel lets him do it, lowering his hand to watch intently for a reaction. Rowan's hands hover uselessly in front of his face, steepled to catch a sneeze that doesn't seem to be coming. His shoulder shake with rapid breaths and his face is pinched in pre-sneeze agony. "Haa-! Hih! Ihhh! Ahh… HIH! Uhh…"

After a moment, the immediate need to sneeze seems to pass with no real result, leaving Rowan itchy and irritated. He brings the heel of his hand up to scrub at the underside of his nose, trying to rid himself of the tickly feeling. He turns watery eyes to Daniel. "Wha-hat's going on?"

"This compound is designed to stop you from sneezing, not remove the urge to do so." Daniel watches Rowan rub his nose, then reaches out with his unoccupied hand to gently take hold of his wrist and pry Rowan's hand away from his face. "It's going to take some… extensive testing to be sure it works to its full capacity."

Rowan lets out a shaky breath and sniffles softly. "How much testing?" His eyes fall down to the tray piled with allergens and he suddenly feels much more apprehensive than earlier.

"I'd like to see how far I can trigger your allergies before your body fights the compound entirely. If it does at all, that is." Daniel doesn't wait for a response before reaching down to set the feather back on the tray. He switches to a small, unlabeled glass container with a spritzer. He unscrews the cap, extends it out to Rowan, and lifts it. "Go ahead and give this a sniff."

Rowan can already smell the strong scent wafting out of the container. It's definitely a perfume. His nose twitches with a renewed tickle without even needing to sniff the substance. But Daniel keeps the container held out to him, so Rowan reluctantly leans forward and gives the pungent fumes a tiny sniff. His eyes glaze over with moisture and his nose twitches again and his breath catches.

Daniel urges the container forward. "Again. I need you to take a deep breath through your nose."

Rowan makes a small noise in his throat, half way between a whimper and a gasp, but he does it again. He sniffs the perfume until he has to pull back to gasp again, his nostrils flaring in instant irritation. His sinuses burn and his breath catches, his chest heaving with the rapid inhalations.

Daniel looks satisfied with that and he replaces the cap back on the top of the container. He considers for a moment, then seems to decide on something. He aims the spritzer directly at Rowan and gives a few sprays. The droplets land everywhere; on Rowan's shirt, on his face, on his lap, on his hands which are once again poised in front of his face ready to catch the sneeze that won't come.

Rowan's eyes widen in distress for a brief moment before they flutter shut again. The scent of perfume surrounds them, invading every inch of Rowan's allergic nose and giving him no reprieve from the overwhelming burning, ticklish sensation. He gasps in shallow, rapid breaths that brig him closer and closer to the relief he so desperately needs. It's being kept just out of his reach, driving him wild with need. His hands begin fanning in front of his face like it'll help him escape the feeling.

"Still working as intended," Daniel notes, his own interest barely masked by scientific detachment. He watches as Rowan struggles against his allergies.

Rowan is stuck like this for several minutes, unable to get a single breath in past his desperate hitching and sniffling. He briefly tries to rub at his nose again, but the scent of the perfume is still stuck to his hands and only causes him to break out into another fit of helpless gasps. Allergic tears well up in his eyes and he doesn't have the control to blink them away.

Wordlessly, Daniel lifts a cut sprig of goldenrod blooms from the tray of allergens. As soon as Rowan's breath has almost returned to a manageable pace, Daniel brings the pollen coated flowers up to his face and rubs them directly against his pink, twitchy nostrils.

Rowan's nose is a sight; bright pink, quivering uncontrollably, reacting to even the slightest stimulation. The pollen sets him off again nearly instantly. There's a light dusting of golden dust coating his flaring nostrils and tears streaming down his cheeks. The way he's desperately sucking in breaths is starting to sound closer and closer to whimpers and moans of distress.

"You're quite a sight like this, you know," Daniel comments. He sets the flowers on the cot next to where Rowan is seated and steps directly in front of him. He can see the way Rowan's nose is running, the way he's only barely managing to contain the mess by sniffling nearly constantly—as often as his frantic breaths will allow.

Daniel lifts his hand up to Rowan's face. He uses his thumb to swipe away a tear that falls down his face, then drags it across his cheek toward his nose. Gently, he presses the pad of his thumb against the twitching tip of Rowan's nose. Rowan only reacts by gasping deeply and then returning to his efforts to mitigate his suffering. Daniel can't help an amused hum. He begins rubbing a small circle on the tip of Rowan's nose, adding pressure to manipulate and squish the flesh under his finger.

"The effects of the compound can only reach so far. If we stimulate your nose enough, you might just be able to get a sneeze out," Daniel says thoughtfully, his eyes laser focused on Rowan's nose. He presses up on Rowan's nose and watches his nostrils flare frantically with every breath. "You'd like some relief, wouldn't you? We'll have to increase the discomfort before you can let it out, obviously, but it'll be worth it."

Rowan can only nod rapidly in response, the movement causing Daniel's thumb to rub and press against his irritated skin. Daniel's lips quirk up and he removes his hand from Rowan's face. He looks down at the tray again and takes a moment to scan his options. While he puts together a plan in his mind, he takes a vial of chinkni in his hand and absently holds it near Rowan's face.

"Here, sniff as much of this as you can," he instructs. He doesn't even have to look to know Rowan is eagerly following his instructions. He can hear the desperate little sniffs and feel the puffs of breath against his hand.

Once he can no longer feel Rowan's breath on his hand and he can hear his test subjects whines rise in pitch, Daniel sets the vial down and reaches for the feather again. He tips another vial on its side and sprinkles a layer of dust over the length of the feather, coating it entirely. He does the same with a pepper shaker, then lifts the feather to inspect it, making sure the entire thing is coated in the substances.

Daniel's eyes flick over to Rowan before he decides to start. Rowan has completely given up on sniffing back the tide of runny mucus in his nose, instead just letting it drip down his upper lip in a steady stream. Allergic tears are flowing non stop from his eyes and he looks like he might break at any moment. Daniel plucks a tissue from the small packet on his tray and uses it to wipe the clear mucus from the underside of Rowan's nose.

"If this doesn't make you sneeze, then I don't know what will." He tosses the tissue into a trash bin in the corner of the room, then brings the feather up to tease Rowan's nose once again.

The light tickling against the outside of his nostrils doesn't seem to do much of anything anymore. Rowan is too lost in the throes of his allergies to notice the light stimulation. Daniel hums shortly and begins inserting the tip of the feather into Rowan's nose. He doesn't stop, slowly pushing until every inch of Rowan's nostril is filled with the tickly plumes of the feather, coated in layers of dust and pepper. Immediately, he uses his fingers to twist the feather in a circle, dragging the instrument against the sensitive inner flesh of Rowan's nose.

Rowan gasps wetly and his nose twitches uncontrollably. The entire appendage seems to be quivering with anticipation of the release. His tears fall in thicker streams and his chest heaves with the frantic, rapid breaths he manages to pull in. Despite all of this, he tilts his head back to allow Daniel better access to his nostrils. He's so desperate to sneeze, he'd let Daniel do anything to him if it meant he could finally get relief.

But still, nothing seems to be happening. He whimpers as the tickle builds and builds, but nothing comes of it. Daniel slowly begins pulling the feather out of Rowan's nostril, the agonizing stimulation causing him to whine in protest. Once the feather is almost completely withdrawn, Daniel shoves it back in as far as it'll go. He repeats the process, quicker now, until he's thrusting the feather in and out of Rowan's desperate, trembling nose. With a quick flick of his wrist, he withdraws it completely, then wastes no time in inserting it fully into Rowan's other nostril to do it all again.

To Rowan's dismay, and to Daniel's enthusiastic interest, Rowan still can't seem to sneeze, no matter how helplessly allergic he gets. Daniel pulls the feather free, watching as a string of mucus connects the tip of it to Rowan's red, twitching nose. With his free hand, he plucks another tissue free and uses it to break the string and pinch the mess away from Rowan's nose.

"Still nothing? This compound is more effective than I thought." Daniel drops the soaking wet feather into the trash bin along with the tissue. He pulls a few more fresh tissues free and guides them into Rowan's hand. "Here, you're going to need these. I have a backup plan."

Rowan's hands tremble as they weakly grip the tissues. He doesn't use them yet, too preoccupied with hitching around several false starts. Daniel watches him for a moment; takes in the sight of his nose, which is bright red, irritated, and wriggling with a mind of its own. Rowan looks like the picture of allergic misery.

After allowing himself to indulge for a moment, he turns to pick up an unlabeled container resembling a sinus spray. He steps closer to Rowan. "This should completely counteract the effects of the compound. You need to be ready, because the effects will be nearly instantaneous. Are you ready?"

Rowan gives a small nod and Daniel nods as well. He lifts the nozzle of the small container to Rowan's nostril and presses it inside. The cold plastic makes Rowan's nostril flare.

"Get your tissues ready. As soon as I spray this, you'll need them." Daniel waits for Rowan to lift his hands, still clutching the tissues, then sprays a mist of the liquid directly into Rowan's nostril. He quickly pulls it away and steps back to allow Rowan a bit of space.

Rowan's face scrunches up at the feeling of a foreign liquid in his nose, but that only lasts for a moment. His sinuses are instantly filled with the tickle that has been building up this entire time. He clumsily lifts the tissues to his face but he doesn't even get them there before he's exploding into a wet, desperate sneeze.

"Haa'tISHhuhh!! Ha-ahh-! 'tISShhUH!!" The force of the sneezes has him jerking forward into the soft tissues. A shaky whimper of relief bubbles out of him.

"Bless you," Daniel supplies, knowing full well that Rowan is nowhere near done.

"I-ihhHH!! Hiih'tISCHHuh!! Ha'TSCHHh'tISHH'TSCHHuhh!!" Rowan can't drag in a single productive breath. Every inhale sends him into another fit of wildly desperate sneezing. "Hih'tishHh'tiSHhh'tSSCHHH! HaahH'tisHHUUHH! Ih'tSHUH! Hih'tshUH! Haa-ahhHH-!! HahHH'TSHUUh!"

Daniel stands a comfortable few feet away from Rowan and watches him dissolve into a helpless, desperate sneezing fit. After a moment of just watching, he reaches to take a few more tissues. He steps forward and gently takes Rowan's hands, swapping out the wet, used tissues with the dry, clean ones. He guides Rowan's hand back to his face, then disposes of the soiled tissues into the waste bin.

"Bless you," Daniel says again, his voice soft as he watches Rowan's attempts to soothe himself.

Rowan stutters through an attempt to speak, ultimately interrupting himself once again. "ThahhH- hih! Thahh'ank y-yo-ouhhH'tISCHHH! Ihhtshh'tiSHhuh! S-Sorhhuu'tiSHhhUH!" He gives up on it and instead buries his lower face completely into the tissues and gives himself over to the reaction. "IhhH'TIShhuHH! Haa'tshUH! Hihh'TSHhh'TISHHhh'TISCHHhuuhh!"

"Wow. Bless you," Daniel muses, a smile tugging the corners of his lips up. "You're a mess without your antihistamines, aren't you?"

Rowan cracks his eyes open to look at Daniel. He tries to shoot him a glare, but all he succeeds in doing is looking water eyed and miserable. He can't keep them open for long, either, because he starts sneezing again.

"Okay, okay," Daniel relents. He hands Rowan another bunch of fresh tissues, swapping them out for the used ones again and discarding them in the bin. "This has been really valuable information. I almost want to do a longer test to see if I can run the compound through its course. Another time, though."

"And… h-hh… hopefully a… Hihh'tSCHhuhH! Proper warning next time," Rowan requests.

"I can arrange that." Daniel smiles at him again before turning to pack up the cart.

[blonndiec]

Yuri Plisetsky Ice Prince 👑

This was illustration was intended to for the cover of a magazine -that you can find in the previous link, please go check it out if you want- mentioned at the closing of my one-shot 'Well, Good Luck! (Babe)' part of a series before and during the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics taking pace in 2026. Yuri is supposed to be 25 years, and prior to this, he had long hair and Coach Viktor had the idea to hard launch Yuri's new look and make some noise prior the Olympics. You could say this is only the photoshoot for the cover...

Viktor: Yura, you're so camera ready. Even your scowl looks amazing! Yuri: ...Ugh, I'm never leaving you in charge again. Viktor: But I'm your coach! It's my job to make you look good after a makeover montage.

Explanation of the creative process and chaos leading to this, below:

This idea sat on my Clip Studio Paint WIPS for a long time - I had all the sketch and line art done, though things in my art/creative process and style changed over the past 6 months. So between redoing part of it, base color and mostly rendering I worked non-stop on this for my last 5 days of holiday break.

And the layout design for the cover had been on my brain also, for months (which is here and you can go and give it some love if you want) and I had so processed already (the concept) that I spend an hour doing, at 3 am. all in Photoshop -though I really wanted to do it on InDesign for a full experience (for me) and maybe I will if I decide to print a copy on a nice paper for me-. Anyway, I wanted to share my creative process. If you read this far, thank you!

Edit: @ korruptbrekker’s tags made me think it would be good to mention my style inspiration and that indeed are Korean Manwhas. Specially the artists P (Under the Oak Tree), Spoon (Who Made Me A Princess and King The Land), Roal (Father, I Don’t Want This Marriage!) SUOL (Villains Are Destined to Die) and Cheong-Gwa (The Broken Ring.) But also I want to mix it with Japanese anime/manga style, so I’ll be exploring this style further 💖✨

[undertalecookingwithkindness]

Happy 1-Year Anniversary to Undertale Cooking with Kindness!

(Art by Sockhead)

It's hard to believe, but yesterday marked the first anniversary since the idea for Undertale Cooking with Kindness was born, including many of the characters and concepts we've come to love!

(That's me, btw)

This past year has been a blast, and frankly, I wouldn't have wanted to spend so much of it thinking and working on all the scrimblos we've been making at the Eclipse. I want to take this moment to give my deepest thanks to all the team members who've made bringing this ludicrous idea to life.

Thank you to our artists, for bringing the characters and settings of UTCWK to life, to our spriters for their constant incredible work and ability to draw these character's life out in sprite form, our composers, for their consistently magnificent music and outstanding skill, and, perhaps most of all, our labouring programmers for being the underappreciated backbone of the project that makes it so a fangame is even an imaginable idea, despite the constant engine and backend struggles.

As the director of the project and person who's at least dabbled in every corner of development, I know perhaps better than anyone how passionate everyone is about UTCWK and how hard it can be to keep up the motivation and effort on a project a year into its life without a proper demo to show for it.

Still, as this is a celebration of UTCWK's birth, I want to give a special thanks to the team members that have been with us since the beginning, and that have helped build up the project and its foundations.

The first day of project conceptualization was led mostly by me, @wolfkitty42, @charoyrator and one more anonymous spriter that's still with the project to this day. Then, Nikazio joined and quickly established themselves as our primary artist by designing Luna and Sunny's now iconic designs, based off of some concepts that had been done by that point. @lavacake1212 also quickly joined as a character designer, and though they have since taken a step back from the project, many of the designs they made at this stage have stuck around. Then of course, we have our co-director and main programmer Snosisnob, who worked alongside the rest of the team for the first month to decide on and test on the engine we would build UTCWK in (Which ended up being Kristal.)

The last person I want to thank is KhanShotFirst, who, despite not being a part of the team, was the person from which the initial idea for UTCWK spawned from. Crazy how an innocuous message can lead to something so meaningful.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I hope this coming year of development can be as fruitful as the last. The trailer is still on track to be done by the end of the month, and after discussion, we think it might be feasible to get the full first demo done this year! It's still early, but at our current pace of progress, I think it isn't unreasonable to expect the demo to come out this year.

To hear further updates and announcements regarding cwk's potential demo release, follow us here on Tumblr, or on our Gamejolt page!

[dailyadventureprompts]

Fundamentally I think we're seeing an all too common DM problem in that Matt had two promising ideas and compromised the structure of his campaign by doing both of them.

Idea 1: since each campaign takes place on a different continent, let's focus on Marquet this time since it's the least explored so far. Lets do a bunch of dense world-building like we did for Wildmount to make the place feel real. Oh, and because we had a big war narrative last time that the party didn't quite engage with, lets have this bit of history set during the uncomfortable aftermath of war to make the politics extra spicy™️

Idea 2: since this might be the last Critical Role campaign set in Exandria/using the d&d system lets have a big cosmic threat that upends the status quo, interfaces with Exandria's stormy history history with the divine, and asks some existential questions about the relationship between mortals and their gods. Lets also use this as a chance to tie off any outstanding plotlines (Like how Ludinus was likely the first draft endboss of campaign 2 before he was supplanted by player backstory villains of Trent and the 9 eyes)

The problem is that the first of these ideas is great for an emergent campaign (in the style of the Mighty Nein) and the other is great for a cinematic rollercoaster (like the later half of Vox Machina). The thing is, they can't work together because the world-ending danger of idea 2 HAS to take priority, despite the fact that all the early game stuff is based around idea 1 and setting up worldbuilding that goes nowhere.

Ideally, you'd make idea 2 the Vassleheim/Issylra campaign, having the the early game take place in the shadow of the gods/their temples and letting players form opinions about them through their backstories/early adventures. Then at the mid point you have the layline fuckery, the gods going silent, and Ludinus's big villain speech as your Chroma-conclave showstopper. Because the players have been dealing with the gods since day 1 (including the abuses done in their name) they have a real personal stake in whether the deities stay or go, leading us to themes of questioning/renouncing/recommitting to faith (it also makes downfall hit harder)

While I'm here, I also want to point out that this division between campaign concepts also reflects itself in Bells Hells, and might be why the group has seemed the least cohesive out of all the ones we've had so far: Dorian and Ashton are distinctly Idea 1 characters, based out of Marquet with great big "Lets explore my home town and childhood trauma" questhooks attached to them. Meanwhile FCG & Imogen are clearly idea 2 characters, mixed up with the gods and the nature of the soul. Everyone else is sort of a gab bag of concepts that don't quite fit with either idea but the players were obviously eager to use before they hopped settings/systems.

I think one of the problems with C3 is structural. Matt seems to be wanting to tell a story with themes about Gods, Divinity and Religion, which, great. But if you're going with those themes one of the worldbuilding questions that should at least be thought about is "in a world where the Gods are real, what does that mean for culture, society and community?" and the answer seems to be "it doesn't". It's like the religion parts are worldbuilding-adjacent, like, "I guess they're religious too." And this was fine for the previous campaigns and literally any other story, but for what C3 is doing, it should at least have been minimally addressed.

Part of it was that Matt could have gone in pre-campaign-prep, "For reasons, your character needs to have an opinion on the Gods that is rooted in your background." Something like, "the orphanage that Ashton grew up in was run by Lawbearer people and they came down hard on even minimal rule breaking, which made it a miserable place for a kid like Aston to grow up in, so he's understandably bitter." Or, "of course Chetney prays to the All-Hammer, he's a craftsman, he tries to go to the temple on his holy day, but he hasn't managed it for the last 20 years, and he feels vaguely guilty about it." That would have at least given the PCs some connection to the larger narrative.

It's also that in the whole first arc the Gods weren't relevant unless the BHs specifically needed a priest for something. And themes of religion could have been there from the beginning, which could have connected with the overall Predathos narrative. I think something really interesting could have been done with Jrusar, and worship of the Lawbearer and the Wildmother, and civilization rising from the wilds. It needn't have been particularly invasive, just there in the background, the same way the governmental structure was explained but not particularly relevant for what the BHs were doing there.

And it's such a shame, because Matt is really good with personal faith, and individual interaction with the Gods, but it seems to break down with organized religion. And I don't know if it's a blindspot, or if he was so busy during pre-campaign-prep that he just went with what he had, which, again, would have been perfectly fine for literally any other story, just not this one. It's just that this whole campaign feels like missed opportunities, and the feeling like it could have been so much better. 

(Like, for example, a personal frustration is that the Vasselheim parts could have shown diversity in forms of worship for different parts of Exandria, and diversity in ritual from priests of different Prime Deities, and show that despite their differences they are all working together towards a common goal. Instead in communal situations, we get fantasy-Protestantism, with a sprinkle of fantasy-Catholicism ritual on top. (And don't get me started on the alcohol ban, don't the fruits come from the Wildmother's bounty, grown and harvested under the Dawnfather's aegis? Isn't the All-Hammer the God of all craftsmen, including the vintner and the brewer?) It could have still been a bleak and hard place, just rooted specifically in the religions and Gods of Exandria.)

[le-trash-prince]

I know this website has been shared in BL fandom before, but I just want to pull some information from fujoshi.info that I think can be really enlightening in regards to how TERF rhetoric is used against BL fans, namely the idea that BL fans are straight women or that BL is made for the consumption of straight women.

I grew up having things like this said to my face as a young queer by people who knew I read BL, and it made it that much harder to accept both my gender and my sexuality, which, ironically, BL helped me to process. So I have little patience for these kinds of statements regarding BL. They are invalidating of many people's queer experiences.

Here is my stance: BL is made for BL fans. It's not made "for the hets" or "for people who aren't queer." It's made for BL fans. That includes us queers. We are and have always been part of the audience that BL is made for.

BL authors and fans come in all different shapes and sizes. Trans men and cisgender men both read and produce BL media. Based on multiple surveys of queer BL fans the majority of fans, male or female, fall on the bisexual spectrum. (source)

There is more, in the link above, about BL demographics, under the "Misconception 2" tab, that I think is well worth the read.

Second of all, I think the idea that "some BL is made for queers and some BL isn't" is just a repackaged TERF talking point that BL is made for straight women. Let me be clear: I am not implying that people who say things like this are TERFs. But you are parroting TERF talking points and propogating their ideology by implying that the people for whom these shows are made must not be queer.

Under gender critical ideology, trans men in fandom are treated as ‘hetero sexual female fujoshi’ who consume too much ‘sexual gay male content’ only to later ‘come out as “gay trans men”’ (Anti-fujoshi 2023). Gender criticals refer to trans men (and by extension fujoshi) as ‘homophobic’ due to their belief that trans men are heterosexual women forcing their way into authentic (i.e. cisgender) gay male spaces (Anti-fujoshi 2023). (link)

Unfortunately, this concept has long since been picked up by people in the queer community who think they're fighting homophobia... and TERFs love it.

I hate fujoshi but we’re even more astounded how [social justice warriors] [took] our statements as some pro-LGBT agenda […] [and] swallowed our thinly veiled gender critical statements […]. We’re ‘transphobic’. (link)

Here are examples from fujoshi.info of TERF talking points regarding BL fans being cishet women. These are quotes from actual TERFs, and I am placing them under a cut because they can be triggering, even though this is only just a sampling. But statements like these are the roots of the idea that BL is made for straight women, and I want people to understand the implications of what they are saying.

To keep my conclusion above the cut, I just want to say that it is dangerous to play into this agenda by making claims about who BL is made for. KinnPorsche was made for me. Pit Babe was made for me. Kidnap was made for me. Queer people have always been part of the BL audience, whether the series reflects what any given person considers to be "an authentic queer experience" or not.

"Yaoi is made only for women by women and seeks to commodify MLM identities and love while oppressing them and denying them their rights. “Fujoshis” are not friends of queer liberation."

"the idea that we should just let cishet women have a fetish for gay men at the off chance they might be gay or trans is fucking insanity"

"No fujoshi is a proper LGBT advocate. They are all straight women pretending to be bi."

"Fujoshis just started calling themselves non binary and gay trans men and most of you just fell for it huh?

"[fujoshis] refers to specifically cishet women who only consume and create m/m content because they view it as something sexual because it is taboo and don't care about actual gay men, along with blatantly hating gay women [...] We cannot dilute what the term fujoshi means and the severe homophobia that mindset is rooted in."

[irrealisms]

it's different this time, there's water liner notes

fic here if you haven't read it!

the original title for this fic was the (possibly) last summer, from this margaret atwood poem. this has been true for a couple months, since it was just a fic idea that i probably wasn't going to write. i was so excited for it! i love They are hostile nations & i haven't gotten to use it for a fic title yet! and i Do still very much recommend it both qua poem and as a pairing for this fic

(i got the fic idea after the first vitalasy stream on s6; it changed from "fic idea i probably won't write" to "yeah okay i need to write this" after the second one)

but then i was struggling with Writing Happy Things and batting around ideas of what specifically they're doing in the fic and got the idea for a Funnest Room Competition Take Two, and soooo recently i had been thinking and talking about the vitalasy & zam conversation i transcribed, where zam is convincing vitalasy to come down a 1x1 hole and vitalasy mentions the moment from s4 where zam jumped down a similar 1x1 in order to kill herself on dripstone and vitalasy followed immediately and died as well, and zam says It’s different this time, there’s water and I’m down here. the way that this is a physical representation of the ways it's different: in s4, when zam wanted to prove her love to vitalasy, she killed herself, in a microcosm of so many of the problems in their relationship. in s6, she tries to recreate something that vitalasy loved. it's safe; there's nothing there to kill herself or anyone else. you can't take fall damage or die on dripstone. there's water. and-- in the original Funnest Room, vitalasy's room had a secret entrance which led to a room with a lectern. the room with the lectern (and what was hidden behind the lectern) is, i think, familiar enough to all eclipse fans that i don't need to belabor the point too much, but it's a similar concept: making their base again, but it's different this time. no dripstone, no secret passages. they're trying again, but this time they're doing it without the problems that tear them apart. so. new title

btw have new fans seen the OG funnest rooms. they're so incredibly ugly. i love them so dearly. look at these and know that they all three have even more details that i couldn't get in the screenshot, such as "an end crystal" and "concrete powder being repeatedly shot up and then falling back down"

look at them. aren't they wonderful. anyway back to the fic

i...sort of considered either "zam-and-subz conversation about eclipse" or "zam coming out" having more of a presence. but it was never more than sort of; i was pretty solid early on that i didn't want this to be a reconciliation fic, i wanted it to be a post-reconciliation "tentatively learning to love each other again" fic. all the big dramatic moments are in the past. now: a moment of happiness, together.

something i wanted to make clear is that it's a very temporary moment of happiness. vitalasy is only on the server for very short periods of time. zam and subz have other plotlines and alliances going on (or, in subz's case, lifesteal public) that they can't & don't want to drop. the server itself is going to end. but....it's still real? and what it symbolizes in their relationship, that they're repairing it and getting closer as friends again, is going to keep being real.

the idea to intersperse some of the most painful moments of s4 is one i went back and forth on a bit but eventually decided in favor. they have a lot of very genuinely hurtful history that is sort of coloring every interaction. in the present day, they're able to move forward from it, but it's not...small? it was really bad, they all hurt each other a lot.

related to moving forward. something i said on discord about this fic: "i have written two Not A Fix-Its that do canon divergence from s4. i have broadly maintained my stance that they are doomed from the moment they got together & you cannot fix them. but it turns out that you can fix them and the way to fix them is by going forward instead of backwards."

uhhhhh i'm not sure how obvious this is but all three of them are sort of on high alert trying to Be Careful and Manage everything so everyone stays happy and nothing explodes horrifically. this is most obvious from vitalasy bc he's the one whose pov we're in but rest assured: zam and subz are doing it too. this will get better with time as they get used to each other & nothing continues to happen.

which: i do think that in fact it will not explode horrifically! not only have all of them grown as people since s4, there's also a thing of... eclipse federation only went as bad as it did in s4 because their long-term season goals were fundamentally opposed and vitalasy had important reasons that he could not tell zam the full truth about things. neither vitalasy nor subz have long-term season goals in s6; none of them have material reasons to lie to each other or keep secrets. i think they'll be fine.

change vs staying the same is another big thing. subz isn't a builder anymore, zam is. zam's a girl. but also there's the same hammock, the same familiar friendship. the things that are the same, the things that are different. once again this ties into the title & where it came from & why it applies to the fic.

uhhhhh zam gives subz slime blocks bc they were the walls of subz's funnest room. what zam may not know is that they were ALSO the walls of the post-s4 vitalasy&subz house. anyway that's a thing

vitalasy's cat isn't referred to by name because its name is vitalapuss and vitalasy is a PG streamer who tends to avoid the name. sorry vitalasy.

vitalasy smiles a LOT in this fic and there are two references to vitalasy's face hurting from smiling. this is because i watch vitalasy pov when he streams on s6 and when he puts on facecam he is ALWAYS smiling so so so big and occasionally mentioning how his face hurts from smiling so much. lifesteal makes him happy 🥺 (this in turn makes me happy)

similarly: vitalasy cubito often spins when Particularly happy and i so rarely get to include this bc i usually write vitalasy miserable. but he gets to spin here!!!

behind the scenes fact: i wrote the entire first draft of this fic a week ago in a single 6-hour sitting, from 11pm to 5am, while incredibly sick and off-and-on feverish. and then a week later (today) i did a bit of vod review, did 50 words of edits, and posted it. halfway through writing the first draft vitalasy tweeted that he was going to upload again accompanied by a gif of eclipse federation. i take nothing but Ws forever

discord message by me at 3am: "i cant believe he did this. he Heard me writing eclipse federation happy ending and was like Not to worry. i will make this real for you"

also i mentioned this earlier but i struggle SO MUCH with writing happy things. i'm proud of myself for both this fic and my previous one (memory foam, the tgcf fic, not the previous lifesteal fic) for being happier than my usual? in both of those fics there's still very much The Past Horrors but i'm expanding my repertoire! and from the reaction i think i did a good job of it ^w^

for eclipse fed particularly though there's also a thing of.... the reason i didn't see myself writing happy things for them wasn't just bc i'm bad at writing happy things, it's also bc they were doomed when they were together and incredibly unhappy when they fell apart and i couldn't imagine a path from where they started to a happy ending. certainly not in s4, and s5 didn't really give me hope there, either, with zam refusing to talk to vitalasy about the previous season, and then with subz and vitalasy both banning themselves off the server and quitting content creation (cutting off the possibility of any future reconciliation or even further interaction within the context of the lore). and then, well, s6 happened. vitalasy and subz are back; vitalasy and zam had a genuine conversation about s4 which went better than i could have imagined. this happy ending hasn't happened for them, and it may never, but i have genuine hope for them and the future of their relationship on lifesteal in a way i never have before, even when they were together the first time. i'm-- genuinely, truly so glad to have been wrong.

[training-trio-irl]

Pokémon AU, anyone?

[zaahvi]

and here's the full ref!

ren started as a random "what if i made an ancient elf oc to ship with felassan?" thought and a few weeks later here i am, sitting on several pages of backstory, character relationships and an entire romance plot.... i'm deep in this already i fear

loredump: (mostly summarised because it's long and headcanon heavy)

renan was a spirit of devotion who (willingly) made a body to join their mentor, dirthamen. they're now one of his chosen, and arguably the closest person to him as he's kind of reclusive by that point (far post-titan war).

anyway, my hc goes that dirthamen struck a truce with solas & the rebellion after one of his followers came across the rebels' plans against him. the trade was that any of dirthamen's subjects could freely join the rebellion if they wished, and in return dirth would get any information collected on the other evanuris. he assigned renan to the rebellion as his sole agent. solas, of course, didn't trust either of them, and so told felassan to basically keep an eye on renan in case they did something suspicious.

well... that's how solas learned that exposing two people with the same brand of unhinged to each other is a terrible idea, because they ended up hitting it off and over time started developing feelings for each other. though it was very much a slow burn because... well mostly renan was panicking because the two of them are technically still on opposite sides and what if things suddenly go to shit and they lose each other? but in the end they get together because they figure that even if something bad happens, they'll just regret the lost time if they don't.

anyway, of course something bad happens. the other evanuris find dirthamen's involvement in the rebellion, give him a second chance so he has to choose between the two. of course he chooses the evanuris out of self preservation, and his betrayal is pretty much how they're able to get their hands on the lyrium dagger and kill mythal.

and renan... goes with him. they're a spirit of devotion devoted to him and fighting against him could twist them against their purpose... felassan agrees with them too because he doesn't want that to happen to them like it did to solas. so.. they had to part :/

after solas imprisoned the evanuris and disappeared, renan & felassan both felt kind of lost, they still loved each other but were officially on opposing sides. they both entered uthenera and would meet in the waking dreams, trying to ignore that their relationship was essentially doomed if either of their gods woke up/broke free.

ok there's more after but i've already written enough and that's just a summary lmao. some tidbits

the pattern on ren's cloak is their original spirit form

they can shapeshift, they mostly use raven form :]

while dirthamen & renan start off as mentor and student, it's less formal, and over time (mostly near the end) becomes more like a father/child bond.

i mentioned ren mimicked some of his personality traits and mannerisms, they also based some of their appearance off of his. i posted bust concepts of the twins here if you wanna see how i imagine dirthamen :)

solas thinks renan is weird as hell even though they're actually pretty normal... at least compared to the rest of dirthamen's followers lmao

dirthamen also thinks felassan is weird but in a way that he thinks it's funny

mostly been working on wips for the past few weeks, but i wanted to post something before the end of the year soo allow me to introduce my ancient elf oc!

this is renan ("voice" in elven), former spirit of devotion turned elf, now an agent tasked with gathering intel about the other evanuris for the rebellion as well as for their own god, dirthamen :)

[shannondiazs]

wait so apparently some people get mad if someone else writes fanfiction based on headcanons they shared on tumblr??? so now i got to ask

[hauntingjasper]

We need candy Marshall and vampire Gumball!!!

Waow okay anon imma give you a lil concept, sorry for making you wait too long 🥹

My current takes on Candy Prince Marshall Lee and Vampire King Gumball

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Been seeing a lot of other people's takes for Flatlander Bill cross my dash, and I thought I'd dabble a bit with some of my own potential ideas for both him and Mina.

[mad-hunts]

here comes a list of the different levels of friends that you can be with barton, because i said that i would explain what being a ' level 2 friend ' to him would mean and i fully intend to keep that promise! so here we gooo.

level 1 friends: you're the type of friend to barton that he would wave to whenever he sees you. he would also complain about his work with you, but NEVER about his second 'business.' ( his organ trafficking && dollmaking. ) and in turn, he would let you complain about your work to him as well, or anything that might be bothering you. barton isn't really serious about your relationship emotionally, but he will encourage you and praise you for accomplishments / achievements. you two also may share a few interests, which barton enjoys talking with you about.

level 2 friends: you're the type of friend to barton that he is now moderately emotionally invested in. barton will DEFINITELY share his number with you at this stage, so expect him to call you if he needs something, or even if he just wants to talk with you. he also trusts you to a medium level and will help you reach your goals without ever being asked for it. barton does subconsciously have the expectation that you are willing to do the same for him, however, which is really neither a good thing nor a bad thing. you two go beyond just having similar interests... you share certain values with him and/or ideals, and because of that, barton sees you as someone he can depend upon. he would also save you in an emergency situation, BUT i can not say for sure that he will be willing to die for you.

level 3 friends: barton is now FULLY emotionally invested in you, so don't expect to be getting rid of him anytime soon! because you're stuck with him now, MUAHAHAH. barton will do things like raising a toast to you just because you're friends and will reach out to you himself whenever he sees that you're struggling with something. barton also lets you take a glimpse at what's really going on in his head sometimes, and in return, he'll be there for you as well whenever you need him. at this stage, literally, all you need to do is be around barton to make him smile. expect him to feel safe enough to be as silly as he wants around you and do things like give you unprompted hugs + allow you to cuddle with him. barton trusts you with his life, and he would put himself at risk of dying to protect you. so, yes, he would be willing to die for you.

[sysig]

Me, looking at Charm: Mm, she’s not deranged enough Me, looking at [Purple Text]: Mm, they’re not deranged enough!

Ft. an old idea (Patreon)

[waywardsalt]

Linebeck is the Maui to Link's Moana. Or more accurately the Peter B Parker to Link's Miles Morales. He could have the most interesting and heroic past, but he has the vibes of Just Some Guy. I'd kill for a game set after Phantom Hourglass (but before Spirit Tracks) where we learn more about Linebeck's history, and how it plays into his newfound parental relationship with Link

Linebeck being more or less Just Some Guy compared to Link being this weirdly competent pre-teen is a fun part of their dynamic a lot of the time. There is a lot of time between PH and ST and that obviously is an opportunity for more storytelling between those characters, plus considering that we have very limited information on Linebeck's history or... anything, exploring him further is always a lot of fun, and could make for an interesting subject for anything before or after PH (or during), and further going into his relationship and dynamic with Link has a lot of potential for... a lot of different stuff!

[phanboyo]

The notes kind of went wild so I'm just going to ignore most of them.

But yeah I feel like this is essentially correct. I mean Danny uses phrases like "ghost half" and "ghost powers" and we can argue about whether or not he actually died, or if he actually counts as a ghost or just a human with very ghostlike traits (this is why morphology-based phylogeny is problematic and I think it's kind of up to interpretation) but in the show he never really says he died or half-died or became a ghost or anything. And it's perfectly valid to say that it's a kid's cartoon so they wouldn't say that, that's very possibly true, but the point of this post is to point out that the common interpretation of Danny having died and revived in the portal is not technically canon. It doesn’t contradict canon but it's not canon either (unless you count Phantom Planet but hardly anyone ever does and I really don't blame them lol).

And while I also tend to default to the interpretation of "Danny somehow half-died" because it opens a lot of cool doors for the exploration of a lot of cool themes, there is merit in exploring the other interpretations as well. Especially with superhero crossovers being so popular recently, an accident with cutting-edge experimental tech that altered your DNA and left you with otherworldly powers is right up that alley (mostly because it was supposed to be a superhero show but still).

I think it'd be cool to see the theorized implications of some other interpretations of canon, and no, it's not a bad thing to make posts remembering what canon actually is when participating in fan spaces, especially in large fandoms where a lot of people aren't super familiar with the source material. It leaves more room for concept interpretation and creates more genuinely transformative works :)

Y'all know Danny isn't canonically a ghost, yeah? That his "half-ghost"/halfa status is because he got ghost DNA infused into him? That he didn't die/half-die and become a ghost/half-ghost and just has ghost-like powers? He's supposed to be a Spider-Man rip off, Danny's not a ghost the way Peter's not a spider. Danny is a Ghost Mutant: mutated to be ghost-like, the way Peter is a Spider Mutant: mutated to be spider-like.

Canonically anyway. Sure, I personally like the interpretation and angst of Schrodinger's Boy, alive and dead at the same time, but it is fanon and not canon.